Home Forums Mac Software Mac Operating Systems Ventura questions (easy)

I wouldn't be in a hurry to turf the old scanner until I see if there's a software solution. When I moved up, Epson would no longer support my V500 which I've had a long time. Based on recommendations from FineTunedMac, I tried VueScan which you can find here. When the other stuff gets sorted out, send them an email and see if they have a solution for your model. I found them to be quite responsive to inquiries and they have a Try-it-for-free option, to be sure it works for you.

Before you go out and by a new scanner, check out VueScan. The software has been around forever and supports over 7400 scanners. Much cheaper than a new scanner.

I'm not quite understanding why Photos does not show your old stuff. Yes, there was a changeover from iPhotos to Photos, but Photos can convert the old library to the new format. See this how-to on the Apple Forum.

Ok. I've got the scanner working. (gulp!) With no help from Apple or HP. It was a YouTube video with was tremendously helpful and pointed me in the right direction. With half an hour's experimentation, I learned how to scan in colour and black and white. I had to ignore a lot of stuff such as selection, AND output file type. Well Done Me.

Photos. I had to work out how to convert the iPhotos images into Photo images (with one keystroke), then they all came across from the library. HOWEVER, they are all in one lump, not in my tidy-organised-folders, but worse, this software found many photos which I did not realise were there on the old Mac. Then I had to work out how to delete them. Now I'm left with a jumble of my images which will have to be sorted out into folders one day when I've got time on my hands. Sigh.

iTunes works. Hallelujah.

I wonder if this Mac will still connect to and download photos from my camera. Confidence is low.

Meanwhile, another puzzle. This Ventura iMac INSISTS that wifi is not running/working. ATM that doesn't matter because we're all hard-wired on the router, but I frankly didn't believe it, since my router has all green lights steady as it should. Last night, tired out from hours of Mac-Update-Stress, I took my little Samsung pad to bed with me to play a card game up there. Just out of academic interest, I hit the wifi button. The Samsung pad connected to this router INSTANTLY, by wifi. (I checked out some websites to make sure I wasn't seeing things.) So, Venture/Mac, wifi is not working, eh?

I cannot help but remark that all my Ventura-update issues have already been noted by hundreds if not thousands of people before me, on the internet. (Thank goodness, otherwise I'd think it was me....). But what does that tell you?

That I'm lucky? I upgraded both my machine and my daughter's without a hitch. I find the extent of your challenges to be quite surprising.....and beyond my knowledge to be able to offer any solutions.

GOOD FOR YOU! I am willing to bet that most of us here were more confident of your ability than you were.

Don't get in too big a hurry to reorganize your photo library. Photos has evolved over time, and I am not sure specifically when it happened, but somewhere along the line Photos automatically applied some organization of its own, but if I recall correctly the process too a good bit of time -- like days to complete.

But the Music Store has changed

I would be surprised if it didn't work.

Your router is creating the network, and there are two different ways of connecting to that network, either by Ethernet or by Wi-Fi, but it is still the same network and you should have contact with any device connected to the network, regardless of whether it is connected via Wi-Fi or Ethernet. Your computer should only be connected by one of those two ways. Since you have the Ethernet plugged in, Ethernet is probably the active connection.

Go to System Settings > Network and you will find a listing of the various network Ports on your Mac, most of which you probably never thought of as "network" ports, and which of those ports are connected. Wi-Fi is one of those ports, and there may be multiple Ethernet ports. If you click on Wi-Fi, you will see its connection status.

If you prefer to unplug the Ethernet, simply disconnect the cable then in System Settings > Wi-Fi set Wi-Fi to ON, select your network ID when it appears, and you may or may not need to enter a network password. All of that would likely have been avoided IF your Ventura Mac had bee properly prepped by the vendor.

That is VERY interesting, Thank You! I wonder why that explanation didn't come up in any of my researches. Instead, "they" wanted me to twiddle with wifi settings.

Thank also for the encouragement: I need all the encouragement I can get. Some people have said that "I don't like change/new things", which I didn't take very well. When I get a new thing, usually a device, it could be a dishwasher or a car or a camera.....I'm full of enthusiasm and tell anyone who will listen all about it. What gets me down is when new things Do Not Work As Described.

Meanwhile, I've just done my first supermarket shop on the new iMac. My God, it just FLEW through the process, it took about a quarter of the time it usually does! Internet banking doesn't nag me any more to get an up to date browser, the gas company website (finally) works properly, and I've downloaded a free card game from Apple to replace the one which wouldn't move over. Even a reddit page I look at now and then, works properly for the first time in weeks.

In troubleshooting, it is all too easy to become so focused on a tree that you forget the forest is burning (I do it all the time.) "They" responded to your question about why the Wi-Fi was not connected and because "no one uses Ethernet anymore" focused on the Wi-Fi and never went beyond that to look at the big picture. To put it another way, they focused so tightly on the symptom they never considered there might be an underlying cause, if they knew enough to recognize the cause.

Or the instructions are written for someone who already knew what to do. When I was in industry, we would hire non-engineering types as technical writers, because they could write in a way that non-engineers could understand. Within a couple of years, they would pick up enough "tech-speak" they could understand the engineers but had lost the ability to write for non-engineers.

Apple continually urges their customers to keep their software up-to-date. There are two reasons, the stated reason is keeping the system safe from exploits but there is a hidden reason. Technology is constantly evolving and the rate of evolution is constantly increasing. Evolution inevitably involves new learning and the longer you put off updating, the more changes will have occurred, the steeper the learning curve, and the more intimidating the climb to the new level. Don't settle in at Ventura, Sonoma is already middle-aged and its replacement will be coming sooner rather than later. The future will be less problematic if you ride the wave crest.

OK. RIght now I have some free time to conduct more experiments with this Ventura. I'm only posting this in the hope that it will help some other readers of this forum.

I connected my camera via USB as usual, and switched it on. Nothing happened. Hitherto, when the Mac detected 'another device' it would fire up iPhotos and invited me to download pictures from the camera. This time I had to open Photos first. Then it did that - recognised 'another device'. Click on that, and off we go. I downloaded the entire lot, and it all came over very fast, but as before, all in one lump. So here's a question, Apple Mac.

Why the heck do you destroy a (loyal) user's carefully organised folders when importing from a camera to a new iteration of the OS? Hmmmm? Eh? WHY?

Moving on. Fairly interesting. Having imported all my own photos into "Photo", suddenly Screen Saver offers me more options! Now, instead of the bloody boring slabs of plain colour as a Screen Saver, it offered me the option to use my photo library. I previewed that............I don't think so. I don't want so many photos of my husband in hospital up there full screen, thanks.

Some more unbelievably patient experiments later, I found that SOME of the screensaver options DO work. Not all of them as suggested/offered/raises ones hopes. (So, again, Apple, why do that? WHY?) I've chosen the least repulsive other-option, which is "Drift". I really wanted "Classic", but that was not allowed. (rolls eyes)

I've got my card game back, but only by downloading and paying for it from Apple. That took a lot of twiddling too, but now it's here again. The free one was awful by comparison.

The calculator app (which used to be a widget) is NOT intuitive. I had to ask Apple support forums how to make the darned thing work, but finally I get it.

I really believe that developers live in their own little worlds, and over-think everything.

How many OS versions did you skip? I don't recall the exact sequence of events and what OS versions were involved, but I recall at least a couple of times when upgrading the OS and the included iPhotos/Photos the newer version included converting the previous library to a new format. Skipping upgrades may have also skipped that step. No guarantees you understand, as I say I have slept once or twice and my memory is not that precise. Another reason to stay current.

I have a collection of images collected from a variety of sources including previous versions of macOS,stored in ~/Pictures/Desktop and switch them out periodically. There are several online resources such as 4kwallpapers and 512pixels. (I used to use Wallpapercave but my system currently blocks them because some of their images contained malware.) All of these images can be used either as Wallpaper for your desktop of screensaver images. In Sonoma the screensaver is essentially another instance of wallpaper.

NOTE: Screensavers were initially created to prevent images from burning in on older displays, leaving a permanent shadow of the desktop on the screen. The eye-candy was a means to the end. Display technology has changed dramatically and is effectively immune to "burn-in". Today's Screensaver is intended to protect the user's work from being seen by casual passers-by.

I use Pcalc that appears as a widget in the menu bar, and can be configured to use RPN or regular notation, keep a running "tape" of work, and handle virtually any kind of math and can be tailored to your preference of style and work. It can even use Reverse-Polish Notation for those like me that started out with Hewlett Packard calculators.

Yes, but because they are surrounded by others like themselves, it is almost impossible to believe anyone thinks differently. As my old Operations Research professor observed, "The intersection of those who can write good code and good English is infinitely small". My personal corollary to his statement is, "The functional half-life of a tech-writer is roughly one year. After that, they become so acculturated they begin to write like the engineers." The same is true of the developers, but it takes at least a couple of years to become a competent developer. Get the picture?