MacOS Catalina

steelyman

steelyman

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Feeling very brave, I went ahead and installed Catalina on release.

So far, so good. I will miss Dashboard and had one application (Rosetta Stone, a language learning tool purchased in 2015) that didn’t survive.

I was concerned about the Windows VM I use (Parallels) but that seems fine.

I haven’t yet tried but one new feature I’m curious about is Sidecar which is advertised as allowing an iPad to be a secondary display for the Mac.

And... iTunes looks much better organized now that it’s split into pieces. Like a breakup of a previously-bloated corporation.

[ADDED] I also hoped that DigiKam, an open-source tool for working with digital images (an alternative to software like Lightroom) would work. It looks OK but I’m not using the latest major release.
 
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Wow, you are definitely brave. I'm going to wait a while.

I have a VM set up in Parallels to run a few old apps in Windows 8, and I'll keep doing that.

I also set up another VM with the current MacOS (Mojave) so I'll be able to run a number of older 32-bit apps that probably won't be updated to 64.
 
Well, one can be brave and lazy too. “Brazy”? Great for early retirees [emoji4]

The reason I didn’t try Sidecar is that my iMac and iPad are on different floors in my home. I just tried it and they connected like a charm and fast. No wired connection needed, just wi-fi/AirPlay.

But Parallels intervened with a pop up on the iPad that I couldn’t dismiss. No biggie, I’ll figure it out. Later...

[ADDED] Here’s a piece from macrumors about Sidecar:

https://www.macrumors.com/guide/sidecar/

If that list of supported Macs is correct, I barely made the cut (late 2015 iMac, 27” Retina).

[ADDED] Pop up problem solved. Used the Apple Pencil (mine is 1st gen).
 
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I just realized I'm still on High Sierra. I should probably upgrade (MBP, mid-2014 Retina display), almost everything I have is cloud-based (file storage, browser settings), so it should be fairly painless, unless I have to reinstall work apps.
 
My installation got stuck on "setting up your mac." After some web searching this seems to be pretty common and can be fixed by simply powering off the computer (which caused some puckering to be sure!).

Webroot, my virus scanner that came free courtesy [-]of the OPM security breach[/-] [of somebody I forgot who], doesn't work and gives constant popup errors. The only way to fix that was to uninstall it. I'll keep an eye on that developer's website for an update.

Sadly, my ipad is too old for sidecar.

[Edit to add] I was glad to see that Google Earth Pro still works, despite the warnings it gave over the last six months that it wouldn't be compatible with future versions of OSX.

[edited again to correct reference to Webroot]
 
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GalaxyBoy said:
My installation got stuck on "setting up your mac." After some web searching this seems to be pretty common and can be fixed by simply powering off the computer (which caused some puckering to be sure!).
Click to expand...

Thanks for the warning, you might save my sphincter a workout! :LOL:

GalaxyBoy said:
Webroot, my virus scanner that came free courtesy of the OPM security breach, doesn't work and gives constant popup errors. The only way to fix that was to uninstall it. I'll keep an eye on that developer's website for an update.
Click to expand...

Huh, I never noticed that! Is it available on the OPM myIDcare website? I don't see anything like that there, although I don't know if I'd bother using it, it would be nice to have another free option.
 
GalaxyBoy said:
My installation got stuck on "setting up your mac." After some web searching this seems to be pretty common and can be fixed by simply powering off the computer (which caused some puckering to be sure!).
Click to expand...


That happened to me when upgrading to (I think) Mojave. Being relatively new to MacOS at the time, it was definitely “oh, $hit!”. But as you say, a power cycle resumed that install.
 
GalaxyBoy said:
Sadly, my ipad is too old for sidecar.
Click to expand...


That’s unfortunate. I’m thinking that Sidecar may allow me to remove Chrome Remote Desktop from my iMac. I’d set it up initially to connect to the iMac from my Chromebook and it worked although I was never comfortable about the connection to Google that involved.

But as I’ve since acquired an iPad with keyboard, the Chromebook’s role for me has diminished (it’s also past manufacturer support although still works).
 
Normally I would wait, but I am getting an iPhone 11 this week, and my understanding is Reminders app only works if I upgrade to Catalina, so I will have to give it a go. My old copy of MS Office is 32 bit, so I will be using LibreOffice going forward.
 
The Cosmic Avenger said:
Thanks for the warning, you might save my sphincter a workout! :LOL:



Huh, I never noticed that! Is it available on the OPM myIDcare website? I don't see anything like that there, although I don't know if I'd bother using it, it would be nice to have another free option.
Click to expand...

I must be confusing my myIDcare account. Never mind.
 
Prompted by this thread I went and upgraded to Catalina today. The upgrade went fine. Took about an hour which was fine as I left the house to go to a gym class and on returning it was all complete.

I did check the compatibility of the apps first as my wife can't upgrade until it supports her genealogy software.
 
I will not upgrade for a few months. One of the apps we all use will likely be compatible, but it isn't listed as supported yet. Not worth the risk yet.
 
If one waits to install and there is a bug fix for the new release, do you get the old release with the bug still in it when you upgrade?
 
DFW_M5 said:
If one waits to install and there is a bug fix for the new release, do you get the old release with the bug still in it when you upgrade?
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A bug fix is released as a new version, so when you upgrade you will get the newest one containing all current bug fixes.
 
braumeister said:
A bug fix is released as a new version, so when you upgrade you will get the newest one containing all current bug fixes.
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That’s one benefit of software distribution/upgrade/fix over the Internet rather than the old CD-in-a-box model.
 
I upgraded from Mojave on my MacBook Air last night. I lost my desktop, and it would not come out of sleep.

So, I spent all day trying to get back to Mojave.

I did a command R during boot and tried to recover from my TimeMachine backup. For some reason, it would get errors an hour or so into it. I tried a couple of different points in the TM timeline. So, I just reinstalled Mojave from scratch, and then tried to use Migration Assistant to load from TimeMachine. Again, no success (errors from TimeMachine).

I have a Mac Mini, so I used Migration Assistant to suck everything over from there to my MacBook Air. This pretty much worked, and of course all my icons are scrambled on the desktop (ok, I have too many of them), but MS Office lost its license (I had to buy another one, $5.99 on eBay :)), Quicken could not find the data file (but I eventually fixed that), and finally Norton Security says there is an error but can't seem to fix itself. I'll try reinstalling Norton next. Also, my Mac Mini now claims my iCloud drive is full, but it actually has plenty of space. I guess I will tackle that next.

So, I *highly* recommend waiting for the next dot release.
 
^^^^^ BTW, I am rather peeved that my TimeMachine backups did not work. I run TM on my Synology NAS. I suppose I need to reconsider that and switch to using an SD card, in the currently vacant card reader slot on my MacBook Air. That would eliminate networking and Synology.
 
I upgraded last night. Install went well. OS seems faster. I started a time machine backup (35GB) to a USB drive but it was running very slowly, would have taken a few days to finish. Killed the backup and noticed that I had not logged in to my apple id with the new OS. Did that and it also asked for my phone unlock code. Rebooted and started Time Machine again and it quickly backed up the 35GB. Noticed it changed my Thunderbird unread mail Subject line from Bold to marking an icon next to Subject but it's the same version Thunderbird as before.
 
steelyman said:
That’s unfortunate. I’m thinking that Sidecar may allow me to remove Chrome Remote Desktop from my iMac. I’d set it up initially to connect to the iMac from my Chromebook and it worked although I was never comfortable about the connection to Google that involved.

But as I’ve since acquired an iPad with keyboard, the Chromebook’s role for me has diminished (it’s also past manufacturer support although still works).
Click to expand...


I decided to and did nuke Chrome Remote Desktop from my iMac and Chromebook. It was easier on the Chromebook because the Mac had background processes (aka “daemons/services”) that had to be killed first.

I’m still not convinced I’ve removed all traces of CRD from the iMac but will take a closer look in a few days. I’ve tried to minimize the external/third-party software I add to the machine to avoid problems/conflicts but, realistically, that’s an impossible dream.

Sidecar won’t fill the bill completely as its range seems pretty limited, in my home anyway. But it’s a nice feature to have.

I also really like Screen Time on Catalina.
 
I have Majove on my MacBook Pro and got the notice to upgrade to Catalina but when I checked my apps I see that I have several that own't survive including the app to download pictures from my camera and the app for my printer. It looks like my Cannon wireless printer will no longer work if I download Catalina. What are folks doing about things like printers that will no longer work with Catalina?
 
harllee said:
I have Majove on my MacBook Pro and got the notice to upgrade to Catalina but when I checked my apps I see that I have several that own't survive including the app to download pictures from my camera and the app for my printer. It looks like my Cannon wireless printer will no longer work if I download Catalina. What are folks doing about things like printers that will no longer work with Catalina?
Click to expand...



My HP printer stopped working but they literally dropped a new driver today and after installing it all is ok.
 
The loss of software functionality (in my case, Rosetta Stone) due to incompatibility with newer OS releases can have positive side effects.

My copy of RS came in a box with 5 CDs for Windows/Mac installations and associated manuals. That box has been taking up space in my office bookshelf since 2015.

Today is trash/recycle pickup day for me and the software/packaging are on the way out. The easiest and best way to declutter is steadily and slowly. No rush, just say adios and do it!
 
Applecare will be very busy. I'm on Mojave and will stay here awhile. Will read about the challenges and fixes.
 
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