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macOS Catalina: is it safe ?

DougDolde

Well-known member
And why is Capture One going to version 20 ? Obviously to synch with the year but who cares?

I am not so concerned with anything except not being able to
use my old version Microsoft Office which I believe isn't 16 bit
 

Knorp

Well-known member
To answer a few questions ... :rolleyes:

Q: What is Capture One 20?

A: Following on from Capture One 12, Capture One 20 is the next generation of Capture One.

Q: Why did you skip 13-19? Why is it called 20?

A: Capture One 20 is more powerful than ever and will deliver the next generation of photo editing tools. So with a new decade taking off in 2020, we decided to mark a new era of photography and image processing with Capture One.

Q: When is the new version being released?

A: In support, we cannot comment on future releases. However, we’ll definitely be sharing the news of the launch via emails, the Resource Hub and our social media channels – so stay tuned.
:watch:
 

Godfrey

Well-known member
Given that I've heard that LR v6.14 would run successfully in the macOS Catalina environment with an "install-over" installation, I considered installing Catalina on my current mid-2012 Mac mini. But then I reconsidered and felt that my original plan to keep the 2012 mini frozen on Mojave with LR 6.14 forever as a backup to all the work that I've done with Lightroom since 2006, and buy a new Mac mini for Catalina and beyond, was a more sensible and prudent plan going forward.

So yesterday I ordered a new Mac mini configured with the higher end six-core processor, 32G RAM, and 1T internal SSD. I need a TB2 to TB3 adapter to enable continued use of my Apple Thunderbolt Display 27", and adapters to connect my current USB3 drives through USB-C ports. All of my photo data other than the Lightroom catalogs themselves are on the external USB3 drives, my current keyboard and trackpad will work just fine. I need to check compatibility of the Xrite i2 Display Pro with both the USB2 to USB-C connector as well as my CD/DVD drive and SD/CF card readers. I'll build up the new system afresh when it arrives. I suspect PS and LR will no longer be installed on the system at all.

A new adventure beckons. I look forward to it. :D

G

No matter where you go, there you are.
 

k-hawinkler

Well-known member
So, my late 2013 “trashcan” Mac Pro was overheating and shutting down with a fairly light workload. It didn’t seem to have any airflow through it. Oh boy, do I need a new fan?

Nope. I found one video out there where someone removed the outer shell and used a soft brush to clean the air intake all around the bottom of the “trashcan”. Upon inspection I found that after 6 years of continued use the air intake was completely plugged up. After brushing off all the small dust and fiber particles, airflow has been restored and the “trashcan” runs cool under any workload. Problem solved.

The 1 TB internal SSD is now running the latest version of Mojave and I will keep it frozen that way so that I can keep using PS CS6, an old version of Nik, and a free plug-in for Helicon Focus that I use in combination with Capture One Pro for my cameras from various makers. I also have an old version of LR that I don’t use any longer.

I ave also added a 2 TB external SSD to run Catalina on. I have noticed that a bug in Catalina has been fixed so that the latest version of SoftRAID can be installed without a workaround.

Generally I like using Catalina a lot. But unfortunately it doesn’t support some of the functionality I still rely on. Unless I can replace those under Catalina lost functions with supported ones I will keep switching between Mojave as my primary OS and Catalina as my secondary one.
 

Godfrey

Well-known member
The adventure begins:

The new Mac mini (Catalina pre-installed) arrived yesterday, a week early, and is waiting for me to get to work setting it up. I'm working out just how I want it to be configured and with what... Fun fun fun!

G
 

darr

Well-known member
Godfrey, good luck with the Mac Mini. I just received my 16" MacBook Pro with Catalina pre-installed. So far, so good. Most/all of my apps have caught up with Catalina. No incompatibilities discovered yet.

Joe
Hi Joe,

Have you used Lightroom 9.x and/or PS 2020 with your new MackBook Pro?
If so, any problems encountered?

Thank you,
Darr
 

Godfrey

Well-known member
The Adventure Continues ...

I'm running on the new mini now. I decided to do my setup by initializing the system with its defaults and then using Migration Assistant to pull over everything from the 2012 mini using a Thunderbolt connection. After initialization, the migration required a TB2 to TB3 adapter in addition to the one I bought to run the display. It completed the pull-over of everything in about two hours total. Not bad for 800 Gbytes of data to transfer.

Since then, I've been checking operations and deleting no longer useful applications. The different port availability and need for an external CF/SD card reader means I probably have to add a small USB3 hub to configure all the peripherals the way I had them before... of course, I have to decide whether that's really needed or what I want.

My old PS 5.1 was dead already since I hadn't installed the Java engine it requires. LR 6.14 perpetual license is dead as expected. I have a fresh copy of On1 Photo Raw 2020 to install, and I have RAW Power and Affinity Photo already installed. And I have Luminar on tap to play with too. (I really have to learn how to use Photos a bit more before I get comfortable with RAW Power...)

The 2012 mini is as it was, and can be hooked up and brought into service in two minutes for access to LR 6.14. It'll be interesting to see how often this is necessary until I'm fully converted to using new software.

Onwards...
G
 

Godfrey

Well-known member
More in The Adventure Continues ...

Since they're nonfunctional on Catalina, I went through the hoops required and removed Photoshop CS5.1 and Lightroom v6.14 from the new machine. AND the collection of LR catalog folders as well. They're all untouched on the old mini, why waste the space? And that space was considerable ... almost 100Gbytes of my terabyte startup drive.

QT Pro 7 no longer runs, as well as a bunch of other old utility apps that had been lingering. All gone now. Some updates to various and sundry other apps installed.

I updated Adobe Digital Negative Converter to current. I'll install Hasselblad's Phocus when the 907x arrives, meanwhile I've got On1 Photo RAW 2020 installed as well as FastRawViewer and one of the RawDigger versions. And RAW Power. Now to learn how to use Photos, RAW Power, and On1 for real.

Obviously, I'm in no hurry. Things proceed apace... :)

G
 

darr

Well-known member
I updated my 27" iMac last night and ran the most current versions of Lightroom and Photoshop without problems.
Adobe sent updates for these programs yesterday that contained Catalina fixes
So far everything on my end is running fine.

Kind regards,
Darr
 

Pelorus

Member
As far as Capture One is concerned my dealer told me today not to go to 10.15.2...they had been advised of issues apparently. 10.15.1 seems to be fine.
 

Godfrey

Well-known member
So, I've been through all of the foundation course videos for On1 Photo RAW 2020. The software impresses me in many ways, but irritates me in others. The courseware is not particularly good ... It has little sense, to me, of building on the fundamentals and expanding your understanding of 1) how the app operates and 2) how to use it effectively in a good workflow ... It's too much "Oh and you can do this this way and it's really cool" rather than "here's what this does, and after you do that try this or that to get to the next step..."

The toolset is scattered (literally) all around the UI and not well organized in flow or order of use. I have spent a lot of time trying to remember which edge of the window to look at to find the next tool I need to use. Etc.

The long and the short of it is that I think it's a decent app but I'm not thrilled with the UI, the tutorials, or the workflow at this point, after four days of study and practice. It's not by any means intuitive or simple to get a simple task done. It seems to make some difficult tasks a bit easier if you're willing to forgo actually understanding the details and just slap a "style" on, then tweak that until you get something you like. But that's not the way I tend to work. I develop my own 'styles' from first rendering principles, and I need to understand how the app works in terms of where it's storing its information and what it's doing to my files.

The long and the short of it is that while I don't think On1 was wasted money, it's not getting the job I need done. Time to move on to the next contender and see whether it does me better.

Meanwhile, I actually have a couple of projects that need to be done now. I guess I can use Lightroom Classic for a couple of months and see whether it still works the way I expect. Of course, Adobe will do their damnedest to try to pull me into their Creative Cloud thing, which I have no use for whatever. Sigh.

I actually enjoy the challenge of all this, but there comes a point where I just want to my work done and stop futzing about with awkward tools. LR perpetual license did that for me for a very long time...

G
 

Godfrey

Well-known member
To rub a little salt into the wounds of trying to find the right image processing software, my new mini has demonstrated a fault with its Bluetooth hardware. The exact same magic keyboard with extended function keys and magic trackpad 2 that have always worked flawlessly with the old mini sometimes will not pair at all, sometimes work perfectly, and sometimes just won't work worth a damn unless I plug them into the computer via USB. Very, very irritating. I did all the due diligence one can do at home with hardware and software diagnostics, reinstalled macOS twice (once with an install over and once with wiping storage completely first), and the system is now over at Apple for a new logic board and a new bluetooth sub-assembly. It's most likely a poor connection on the Bluetooth antenna. PITA!

Meanwhile, my old mini is running happily and, wonder of wonders, my decision to a) use LR Classic for a time and b) move my Catalogs folder (with all my LR catalogs) onto the working external drive means I can keep going on what I was doing by simply installing a fresh copy of LR Classic onto the old mini. Removing the antique version of Photoshop and Lightroom 6.14 perpetual along with the catalogs freed up 150 Gbytes of space on its boot drive. And since I've now been running on Catalina for two weeks and know exactly what to expect, I will install Catalina on this system as well ... no reason to keep it frozen to Mojave any more.

For this to work, I have to make the move to LR Classic on both systems because, of course, Adobe update the catalog database structure for LR Classic so any new work I did on that catalog is not compatible with LR 6.14 anymore. Sigh yet again.

Sometimes, practical realities of getting stuff done override any philosophical notions of doing things the way I want... :D

G

"No matter where you go, there you are."
 
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