Catalina Opinions?

[denniscampbell]

has anyone gone to catalina and what is your take ....currently on sierra and like it....( tired of moving and getting used to a new school )
thanks

 

[pigoo3]

As I'm sure is known...Catalina is not officially released yet. Probably a lot of folks holding off until an official Catalina release is available. But maybe we have some pre-release adopters.

- Nick

 

[RadDave]

has anyone gone to catalina and what is your take ....currently on sierra and like it....( tired of moving and getting used to a new school )
thanks

Hi Dennis - well, a number of members are using older macOs versions for reasons you mention, which may be: 1) Your hardware is dated and cannot accept the newer versions (see below); 2) You're happy w/ the current features and not interested in the updates; and 3) Security updates are still being offered by Apple for your older macOS (IMPORTANT!); and likely other reasons could be added.

You will be 3 versions behind when Catalina is out of beta and released officially (as shown below) - again if you are not getting security updates for Sierra (looks like you are fine as of now - Source), then a reason for a newer macOS. For myself, I don't do 'betas' (but others here may 'chime in' w/ their experience), however, I plan to upgrade to Catalina on my 3 Macs (iMac maybe for the last time necessitating a some new hardware?). Finally, Apple is breaking up iTunes into 3 apps (plus, I believe iOS backups will be in Finder?), so if you 'hate' iTunes, then another consideration. Dave
.

 

[chscag]

Big thing to remember about macOS Catalina before upgrading is that it will no longer run 32 bit apps. If you have 32 bit apps that you use and do not want to replace or stop using, then it's probably best to not upgrade.

 

[RadDave]

Big thing to remember about macOS Catalina before upgrading is that it will no longer run 32 bit apps. If you have 32 bit apps that you use and do not want to replace or stop using, then it's probably best to not upgrade.

Hi Charlie - this 32-bit issue will likely be a topic of discussion here - last year when updating my 3 macOS machines to Mojave, I 'cleaned out' a number of the 32-bit apps, but just looked on my 2 laptops (screen captures below show the remaining non-64-bit software remaining) - on both laptops, there are two 'Apple' listings (one has a 64-bit version as noted, the other not); on the MBPro, two Google listings are present w/o 64-bit equivalents - not sure how to delete these, if even necessary? Finally on the Pro is a 32-bit LaCie app which I do not use (have a LaCie SSD for BU of this laptop), however, the LaCie Backup Utility which is used is 64-bit (not sure if the two are interdependent - doubt). I don't feel there is much to do here when I upgrade to Catalina? Dave
.

 

[chscag]

I have the same two that show up in my Apps listing. You can delete them if you wish, however, that will happen automatically when you upgrade to Catalina. The next time I boot to my Catalina beta, I'll check to make sure both of those apps are gone.

 

[RadDave]

Well, just checked my wife's iMac for 32-bit apps - the first two were deleted along w/ CardWorks (business card maker) and CIGDown..... (not sure but gone), so just left w/ the Canon Apps which have 64-bit equivalents and the two @ the bottom, discussed previously - believe my 3 Macs are ready for a Catalina install - Dave
.

 

[RadDave]

This afternoon, I was reading the most recent issue of MacWorld in Zinio on my iPad - the app Go64 was reviewed which scans Mac computers for remnants of 32-bit software - free download which is saved as an *.app file - ran Go64 on my MBAir (2nd pic below) and several 'other lurkers' were found vs. what I posted earlier w/ System Information - worth a try to get all of those '32-bit cobwebs' removed - not sure if the two additions below need much attention, if any? Dave
.

 

[MacInWin]

iPhoto was the predecessor to Photos. You should have moved to Photos a long time ago. If so, iPhoto is not important.

Trim Enabler won't work now because of Mojave security. Again, not important.

 

[RadDave]

iPhoto was the predecessor to Photos. You should have moved to Photos a long time ago. If so, iPhoto is not important.

Trim Enabler won't work now because of Mojave security. Again, not important.

Thanks Jake - I did move on to Photos but iPhoto is just a leftover that I'll delete - as to Trim Enabler, the app was not working (as you state), but a new version is available below - not sure if this is compatible w/ the upcoming Catalina? BTW, on the GO64 app, the by an entry means mainly a 64-bit app w/ some minor 32-bit components implying that the app would likely work in Catalina, I guess their assumption? Dave
.

 

[chscag]

Hi Dave:

Yes, the yield sign warning means the app may have some 32 bit dependencies and might not run with Catalina. My testing of these types of apps with the Catalina beta has shown for the most part that they will run okay. I was only really concerned with one specific app - CrossOver. I've tested it numerous times with Catalina and it runs as per normal. Several other apps that show up like that are not important to me and if they do hang up under Catalina, I will delete them.

 

[MacInWin]

I don't think you need Trim Enabler any more. Originally macOS didn't support TRIM by default, as I recall, so products came along to turn on TRIM. Now TRIM is enabled in the OS for the internal SSD, so no need for Trim Enabler.

 

[chscag]

I believe but not sure, that there is a way to turn on Trim Enabler for external SSDs. External SSDs are becoming very popular and prices have come down on them. I'll try to find the command which turns it on.

Just found it:

sudo trimforce enable

This command will not affect any Apple branded SSD that is already installed. It's only for non Apple SSDs.

 

[RadDave]

Thanks Guys for the helpful additional comments - I've deleted some old items, including iPhoto on my Macs despite switching over when Photos was the replacement. Need to refresh my knowledge on TRIM - I now have 3 external SSDs being used as backup drives - their prices have indeed dropped a lot in recent years. Dave

 

[usagora]

View attachment 30250 View attachment 30251

For some reason, I've had it stuck in my mind that neither of my Macs would be compatible with Catalina (late-2012 iMac and mid-2012 MBA), so I'm relieved to see they actually are compatible and I have more time to save for a new Mac!

 

[dtravis7]

Did anyone here just get a new Beta? It seemed to come out early today as when I checked yesterday it was not available then. Anyway reason I ask is I always run activity monitor with the 8GB ram in the iMac to see how it's using RAM. Well after the update the windows on Activity Monitor are missing the graphs for each app. Just the name of the app with nothing after it! I hope its a bug.

 

[chscag]

Did anyone here just get a new Beta?

I installed it last night Dennis. And it's a buggy beta update.

First, it would not automatically reboot the machine and hung up 2 times. I had to force quit both times. Finally, I was able to reboot manually and it installed.

After installation I noticed it created a folder on the desktop with a little arrow - (alias folder) and was labeled "Reclocated items". The items in the folder were all hidden items that are normally shown under the System Library (not user library).

I was tired and didn't go through my normal item by item checklist but I suspect that the entire beta update may be a bit buggy. I'll try to check it out completely later on today when I have time.

Charlie

 

[dtravis7]

I installed it last night Dennis. And it's a buggy beta update.

First, it would not automatically reboot the machine and hung up 2 times. I had to force quit both times. Finally, I was able to reboot manually and it installed.

After installation I noticed it created a folder on the desktop with a little arrow - (alias folder) and was labeled "Reclocated items". The items in the folder were all hidden items that are normally shown under the System Library (not user library).

I was tired and didn't go through my normal item by item checklist but I suspect that the entire beta update may be a bit buggy. I'll try to check it out completely later on today when I have time.

Charlie

Same here! Wow. That folder threw me for a loop! I had just woken up and was still 1/2 asleep!

Thanks for the heads up.

 

[Slydude]

I got that same folder last night. In my case this beta seems to be Ok so far but I haven't had time to do serious testing. I finished the install kinda late last night.

In my case I've had issues with the previous beta. It started out fine but about a week ago I started getting weird crashes/panics. Something as simple as accidentally triggering the hot corner for my screensaver would cause a crash. I spent the last few days doing a clean install of Catalina then reloading apps from my HS install.

Somewhere along the way my Mojave clone went bonkers and no longer boots.

 

[dtravis7]

Sly if you get a few free, open Activity Monitor. All the graphs here are blank with just the process name and nothing after and that is on every tab.