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Desktops (Apple) Operating Systems Apple

macOS Catalina is Available To Download Today (engadget.com) 57

Posted by msmash from the major-os-update-day dept.
It's happening a little later in the season than usual, but Apple's latest version of macOS is available to download today. From a report: Catalina arrives on the heels of iOS 13, which saw several back-to-back updates after an initially rough launch. For what it's worth, I've been using successive versions of the Catalina beta as my daily driver for months now and can assure you that the latest build is stable enough to safely install. [...] Speaking of games, today also marks the first time that Catalina beta users will have been able to play Apple Arcade games. If you're wondering how the heck you'll play those titles from your Mac, it's worth a reminder that many Arcade games support Xbox and PlayStation controllers.

Also new in this release: As you browse episodes in the podcast app, you'll see avatars for guests and hosts. Apple also says it's made some small usability tweaks to Sidecar, the feature that allows you to use an iPad as a secondary Mac display. You'll also notice more promotional Apple TV+ material in the new TV app, which makes sense -- the streaming service launches November 1st. It'll cost $4.99 a month, but Apple is offering a free year with the purchase of a new Mac, iPhone, iPad or Apple TV. Further reading: Apple's MacOS Catalina Opens Up To iPad Apps; Apple Will Permanently Remove Dashboard In macOS Catalina; Apple Replaces Bash With Zsh as the Default Shell in macOS Catalina; and Apple Finally Kills iTunes.
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macOS Catalina is Available To Download Today More

macOS Catalina is Available To Download Today

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  • it's ready (Score:3)

    by hawk ( 1151 ) <hawk@eyry.org> on Monday October 07, 2019 @01:19PM (#59279750) Journal

    I'll finish installing after my morning reading as I go to the other machine.

    The betas have been on this machine for month now without a problem.

    hawk

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by antdude ( 79039 )

      So, you don't use any 32-bit apps?

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by hawk ( 1151 )

        I have a 2011 iMac that's topped out on High Sierra.

        The only 32 bit app that I still use is an old version (8?) of Acrobat pro that I only use for redacting documents.

        And the Scansnap app, but it's connected to the same computer, and apparently getting/has a replacement.

        Otherwise, I pretty much just use libreoffice, some things on pages/numbers, browsers, and development tools which always stay at bleeding edge.

        hawk

      • That's my problem, Audacity I use all the time and utorrent I use rarely, enough that I'm not ready to upgrade.

  • What is the catch? Seems to always be one when OSes update like this.

    • Re: The catch? (Score:4, Informative)

      by KixWooder ( 5232441 ) on Monday October 07, 2019 @01:43PM (#59279860)
      End of all 32-bit apps.

      • Which is a deal breaker for me. I don't update anything unless I positively have to. And there hasn't been a new feature in any of mine that screams, "Do it!" for the past two to three years.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by antdude ( 79039 )

          Ditto, but then mac OS Sierra v10.12.6 is now unsopported by Apple in this 2012 13.3" MacBook Pro. I am thinking of upgrading to v10.14, but its 500 GB SSD only has about 75 GB free and upgrade will take up even more room and probably break old softwares like Office 2010. :(

          • FWIW, Office 2010 is not supported by Microsoft on MacOS 10.14 but works just fine for me. Not on 10.15, obviously.

            • Re: (Score:2)

              by antdude ( 79039 )

              Thanks. I assume it is because it is 32-bit. Can Office 2010 Mac be installed cleanly in mac OS v14? I know 2008 version won't install in mac OS El Capitan v10.11.6 on a 2008 15" MBP. :(

              • Mine was installed on an older version of MacOS X. It continued to work after the upgrade to 10.14. For a while I did experience frequent crashes with one particular spreadsheet (whenever I tried to save it) but that problem went away at some point, probably after a minor MacOS update.

                You can always try installing 10.14 on an external disk to test it before you make the switch.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by hawk ( 1151 )

          "sidecar" (or whatever its called) would be that for me.

          Being able to mirror part of my screen to an iPad during final document review and revision with clients had been a holy grail . . . mirroring to another fixed screen just wasn't the same . . .

      • Including Wine, which is a lightweight container for what are still largely 32-bit apps. Running Wine in Catalina would appear to require a much heavier weight container.

        This isn't the Catalina Wine Mixer from Step Brothers [gq.com]. This is the Catalina Wine Killer.

        • You simply can run an older macOS in VirtualBox ...

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by tepples ( 727027 )

            Provided your Mac has enough RAM to run two copies of macOS plus your application. At Apple prices, that isn't guaranteed.

            • The OS does not need much RAM ...
              And macOS/OS X supports virtual memory just fine.

              • Re: (Score:2)

                by tepples ( 727027 )

                The OS does not need much RAM ...

                How much for host and how much for guest?

                And macOS/OS X supports virtual memory just fine.

                Until you start thrashing swap, at which point memory accesses become literally a million times slower than RAM: 8 ms instead of 8 ns.

    • Comment removed based on user account deletion

    • There's also an issue with not being able to boot normally if you have certain supported models of external graphics cards connected to a Mac Mini.

      https://forums.macrumors.com/t... [macrumors.com]

      This worked fine with Mojave.

  • So there are no actual features? What are the bugfixes, then?

  • Lots of fun setting Catalina options for Tomcat on an OS called Catalina. Yay no fun.

  • Warning: 32 Bit app support removed (Score:3)

    by williamyf ( 227051 ) on Monday October 07, 2019 @02:44PM (#59280290)

    Even after an extensive clean-up I still have a bunch of 32 bit apps and games....

    So, I'll stick to mojave until it stops getting security patches (In more or less two years time, apple does not have an official Roadmap), then move to a higher MacOS version.

    And given the direction that Apple hardware is taking as of late, perhaps the two Macs I currently have are my last Macs, so... when the time comes to replace this HW, maybe I'll have to mve to Greener Windows or Linux pastures...

    I hope to stay Mac, but only time will tell...

    • I was also raised under the impression that the purpose of an Operating System was to run applications. The fact that this one is able to run about 15-20% LESS applications is certainly not MORE...
      uTorrent, Steam, many steam games, my version of SketchUP, Google Talk Plugin, Android File Transfer, Remote Desktop Connection, Google Earth, UnRarX. If only one of those was not working anymore I'd probably wait. So yeah, new Macs tend to be no longer downgradable; so this might also be my last Macbook Pro or f

      • I was also raised under the impression that the purpose of an Operating System was to run applications. The fact that this one is able to run about 15-20% LESS applications is certainly not MORE...

        uTorrent, Steam, many steam games, my version of SketchUP, Google Talk Plugin, Android File Transfer, Remote Desktop Connection, Google Earth, UnRarX. If only one of those was not working anymore I'd probably wait. So yeah, new Macs tend to be no longer downgradable; so this might also be my last Macbook Pro or for that matter MacOS based computer. Sad.

        And HOW long have those Devs. had to recompile their stuff in a current version of XCode, and emit 64 bit code?

        Sorry, but the onus is on the Application-Devs., not the OS-Devs., to keep up. We're not talking about chasing around severely "breaking changes" every major OS version; rather, this is a change that has been foreshadowed and outright warned-about for at least or 3 years. The last time I can think about this kind of change was back in the MacOS (Classic) System 7 days, where Applications had to be

        • And HOW long have those Devs. had to recompile their stuff in a current version of XCode, and emit 64 bit code?

          Yes, victim. Suck Apple's rainbow-colored cock.

          You can still run many DOS programs on even 64 bit windows by simply using compatibility mode. And if not, well, you can always just run 32 bit Windows in a VM. But Apple goes out of their way to prevent you from doing that.

          Microsoft enables you to run old software. Apple prevents you. Apple is actually worse than even Microsoft.

          Linux, of course, is superior to either, as usual.

          • But Apple goes out of their way to prevent you from doing that.

            That's not true -- you'll allowed to virtualize macOS on any Apple hardware, and can do so with any common VM software.

            Yaz

          • You can still run many DOS programs on even 64 bit windows

            Actually, no. You're wront. That's not even physically possible.
            There's no Virtual real-mode available when a CPU is in x86-64 long mode [wikipedia.org]. Windows 64bits cannot directly run DOS programs.

            You're either using a solution like DOSBox that relies on emulation (and/or dynarec where available) - (so it's entirely running 64bit native code).

            Or you need a whole lot larger solution...

            And if not, well, you can always just run 32 bit Windows in a VM.

            Yes, you're right: you would need CPU virtualisation and a 32bit VM running in 32-bit mode (which in turn HAS virtual real mode availabl

          • But Apple goes out of their way to prevent you from doing that.
            Since when, and how?

        • Well first, Xcode is not the only way to write code, even on a Mac. And it's not that hard to keep support for 32-bit, no one has required developers to support 32-bit, the problem is that *customers* have 32-bit apps and want them to still work. There's no actual technical need for removing the 32-bit support, they're just doing it to save on some OS developer's time.

          As customers our goal is not to justify some Apple bean counter's decision or call them "courageous", the customers should demand to get the

          • And it's not that hard to keep support for 32-bit

            Actually, it is. You need to keep duplicate copies of all the system libraries, along with additional low-level code for memory mapping between 32-bit and 64-bit addressing modes. Anytime you have to fix a bug in the core libraries, you likely have to fix it in two locations -- once for 32-bit, and once for 64-bit. Then there's the effort you have to maintain to ensure both are adequately tested and validated.

            Having both doubles the amount of code residing on the system, and potentially doubles the attac

        • And HOW long have those Devs. had to recompile their stuff in a current version of XCode, and emit 64 bit code?

          The developers of many of these applications are no longer in business. So under current law, there's a 95-year lag time before a (legal) disassembly can appear from which to port the app to whatever tech has replaced 64-bit by then.

          • If the developers are no longer in business, they can not sue you.
            Keep in mind: copyright cases can only be filed by the copyright owner.

            • If the developers are no longer in business, they can not sue you.

              Correct. Instead, the person who bought the defunct developer's copyrights at auction can sue you. This happens fairly often with patents being sold to nonpracticing entities (NPEs), sometimes called "patent trolls."

        • And HOW long have those Devs. had to recompile their stuff in a current version of XCode, and emit 64 bit code? Sorry, but the onus is on the Application-Devs., not the OS-Devs., to keep up. We're not talking about chasing around severely "breaking changes" every major OS version; rather, this is a change that has been foreshadowed and outright warned-about for at least or 3 years.

          It's not just a little matter of clicking a checkbox and recompiling. I'm a hobby programmer with a few apps in the Mac and iOS app store and just spent a couple of months of my spare time rewriting my relatively simple brick game Colibricks for 64-bit.

          The game started out many years ago as a classic Mac app. I then had to convert it to Carbon to support MacOS X. Rewrote the graphics code to use OpenGL. Converted to Intel code (which was not as trivial as it seemed, either). Now Carbon disappeared (it's 32-

      • uTorrent, Steam, many steam games, my version of SketchUP, Google Talk Plugin, Android File Transfer, Remote Desktop Connection, Google Earth, UnRarX.

        Some of those titles are available in 64-bit versions, you just need to upgrade them. I know that Steam has been upgraded, however the auto-update feature won't upgrade you to the 64-bit version (you have to go and re-download it from Steam's website). I believe Google Earth is also now available in a 64-bit version (or so I've seen reported). Remote Desktop Connection was replaced with Microsoft Remote Desktop, which is 64-bit.

        I don't now about the rest, but for at least half of your list the issue is

    • Even after an extensive clean-up I still have a bunch of 32 bit apps and games....

      So, I'll stick to mojave until it stops getting security patches (In more or less two years time, apple does not have an official Roadmap), then move to a higher MacOS version.

      And given the direction that Apple hardware is taking as of late, perhaps the two Macs I currently have are my last Macs, so... when the time comes to replace this HW, maybe I'll have to mve to Greener Windows or Linux pastures...

      I hope to stay Mac, but only time will tell...

      Apple has been warning users of the impending 32-bit removal for at least 2 years (and longer if you are a Dev.). I hate to lose some of those old Applications, too; but time never stands still in the computer world.

      And the end result is a much leaner, somewhat faster, more secure, and easier to test, maintain and Develop-for Operating System. All that regression-testing doesn't come for free in cost or time.

      And besides, there is no (practical) way macOS can switch to Apple's A-Series ARM CPUs/SoCs without

  • Already received notices to not use it (Score:3)

    by Hasaf ( 3744357 ) on Monday October 07, 2019 @03:24PM (#59280494)
    I have already received notices to not install it.

    Aparantly it will not work with the Lego EV-3 Programming Environment (this is the programming environment for the Lego robot; as a total aside, it is running Linux).
  • ...you insensitive clod!

    • ...you insensitive clod!

      No need to feel left out!

      http://dosdude1.com/catalina/ [dosdude1.com]

      The Compatibility List does include your 2012 Macbook Air, to wit:

      Late-2008 or newer MacBook Air or Aluminum Unibody MacBook:
      MacBookAir2,1
      MacBookAir3,x
      MacBookAir4,x
      MacBook5,1

  • I mean, all that works is chrome but what else am I supposed to do with a mac anyway?

  • I look forward to installing it and seeing my Mac's speed tank. Better buy a new one I guess.

  • I have no use for the iCloud stuff, and neither used iTunes (and thus neither for its progeny). And I use free software whenever it's a good alternative; think iTerm, Firefox, SimpleNote, etc. So what I immediately noticed, is that a fresh installation provides zsh instead of bash.

    I like it so far. I have to really get used to the tab completion of zsh though.

    • I've used zsh on my MBP since I got it back in 2k15 (I'm a big zsh fan, use it on all my linux boxen as well), so it's good to see it's the default. The loss of 32-bit app support is a dealbreaker for me, for now.

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