Re: macOS Catalina: is it safe ?ne
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!
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"No matter where you go, there you are."
Thought I'd wrap this one up.
Apple replaced the motherboard and antenna sub-board. I reset everything, reinstalled Catalina and my stuff. No change. Another couple hours discussion with the good support folks at Apple and it remained unresolved. Ugh—it was looking like I would have to always used the trackpad and keyboard connected through USB.
That wasn't acceptable, so I decided to use some of my connections to see if I could find a better solution. One of my good buddies is pretty high up in hardware engineering at Apple, so I shot him a note describing what was going on and asked if he had a moment whether he could look into it. He came back to me two days later. "Try removing your USB3 hub entirely ... disconnect it and disconnect it from power."
I thought I'd tried that config but went at it anyway. I connected up the three critical external working/archive drives using USB-C to USB A dongles, other USB connections with the two USB ports directly, and beat on it for a couple of days. No problems with the trackpad and keyboard running Bluetooth connection! I sent him another note.
He "Yeah. USB3 and USB-C devices are electrically much more active in the RF domain than previous USB protocol devices (mostly due to the higher speeds and greater amperage available for power distribution), and with four USB-C and two USB3 ports, the 2018 mini is quite active if you're using several devices on the USB bus. The theory is that many older, poorly shielded USB3 hubs can emit enough RF in the Bluetooth frequency range to cause a problem, and sometimes you need higher-end shielded BT cables as well to eliminate problems if you have a complex configuration. Moving the hub and or devices further from the computer can help, but the best solution is likely to replace your older hub with a new one that will have better shielding."
That certainly seems to be the case with my configuration. A new Sabrent 10-port USB3 hub is on the way from B&H Photo now. The keyboard and trackpad run smoothly and cleanly on Bluetooth connection, etc.
The new six-core mini now works splendidly: Rendering one of my Light L16 files to full resolution DNG and JPEG output with Lumen, which used to take about 3-4 minutes, now takes about 15-20 seconds. Catalina seems to be rolling along with no issues.
Fun fun fun ...
G