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Posted By: joemikeb Santa Catalina is running for me... - 06/26/19 01:57 AM
After
  • downloading and launching the Catalina install tool,
  • using the install tool to download the 6.45GB Catalina installation package,
  • waiting out the usual macOS installation process
  • being presented with a window identifying the sole remaining 32 bit app on my system along with assurances that it would not run and instructions to follow up with the developer
I was at long last presented with this gorgeous desktop image and a warning that Safari Technology Preview 85 was ready for download.

So far I haven't had time to do much more than assure myself my critical apps are running (so far they all are working flawlessly🤞) and discovering that System Preferences has been re-shufled and new pref panes added.

INITIAL IMPRESSION:
  • visually impressing
  • It feels smoother than the initial public beta releases of Sierra, High Sierra, and Mojave (so far so good at least)
  • I have a feeling the learning curve won't be too steep
  • So far I like what I have seen and there have been no surprises.
Posted By: artie505 Re: Santa Catalina is running for me... - 06/26/19 05:01 AM
"Gorgeous" is an understatement for the desktop; it's truly a gem!
Posted By: joemikeb Re: Santa Catalina is running for me... - 06/26/19 01:52 PM
Even better, it is one of those images that changes through the day according to the sun's location in the sky. Apparently it is cued to Pacific time because at the moment it appears to be pre-dawn and slowly getting brighter. Not for a day of play with my new toys Catalina, iOS 13, and iPadOS 13. I am thinking about enrolling my watch and AppleTV in the beta program as well.
Posted By: artie505 Re: Santa Catalina is running for me... - 06/26/19 02:03 PM
My days have got only 24 hours; how many have yours got? grin
Posted By: joemikeb Re: Santa Catalina is running for me... - 06/26/19 02:45 PM
Not enough and that is for darn sure. I also have woodturning projects backed up in the shop, yard and camper cleanup that is overdue, the dryer vent hose needs to be replaced, I have four new Homekit light switches/dimmers to install, I need to move the town dolly in our driveway, my wife wants me to shampoo the carpet, and the list goes on — and on — and on...

But playing with Catalina and woodturning are FUN and satisfying, so you can guess what will be at the top of the priority list. 😜
Posted By: artie505 Re: Santa Catalina is running for me... - 06/26/19 02:55 PM
Content deleted erroneously: My deepest apologies to Artie for the mis-click blush I recovered your text from an email:

I thought about beta testing, but I'm just not enough of a user to make it a worthwhile endeavor; I'll stick to beta testing my apps.

I"ve only done one woodturning project in my life (8th grade), and I enjoyed it, but I really loved machine shop back in high school; both require more patience than I've got, but woodworking of any sort is far and away the more demanding of the two (and I haven't got a single Earth sign in my chart).
Posted By: joemikeb Re: Santa Catalina is running for me... - 06/26/19 05:10 PM
In answer to a frequently asked question and misunderstanding of what was said at the WWDC "Where did iTunes Content go in Catalina?" The answer is...
  • Tunes (owned or streamed) & Playlists ➡︎ Music
  • Pod Casts ➡︎ Podcasts
  • TV Shows ➡︎ Apple TV ➢ TV Shows
  • Movies ➡︎ Apple TV ➢ Movies
  • Purchased or Rented Movies & TV shows ➡︎ Apple TV ➢ Library
Posted By: joemikeb Re: Santa Catalina is running for me... - 06/26/19 10:42 PM
Originally Posted By: artie505
I"ve only done one woodturning project in my life (8th grade), and I enjoyed it, but I really loved machine shop back in high school; both require more patience than I've got, but woodworking of any sort is far and away the more demanding of the two (and I haven't got a single Earth sign in my chart).

I can vouch for woodworking, in my case specifically woodturning, requiring patience and these days a deep pocket for decent wood. But watching a bowl, a box, a candle holder, or even a perfectly proportioned tool handle emerge from a chunk of Mesquite, or Texas ebony can be a really soul-satisfying experience.

But lets drop this before I am forced to chastise myself for getting so far off topic.
Posted By: joemikeb Re: Santa Catalina is running for me... - 06/28/19 01:35 PM
Catalina Public Beta 1 Features and Bugs

I will be adding to this list as new items are encountered: NOTE: this is not intended as a comprehensive list but a list of features and bugs encountered in the day to day use of Catalina.
  1. FEATURES
    • Fingerprint recognition everywhere if your computer has a Touch Bar that is. This started in Mojave but has been greatly expanded in Catalina. One of the few places where fingerprint authentication does not work is the App Store (see Bugs ➢ App Store)
    • Lots of new permissions: xxxx wants to download a file OK? xxx wants to access Bluetooth OK? xxx wants to access this drive OK? etc. If you are security conscious you will recognize the benefit of these precautions, if not you will probably find them annoying. (I do not find them annoying.)
    • Password prompts: It seems I am being prompted for my password or fingerprint far more often in Catalina but that may just be because there are a lot of first time accesses since this is a new OS, I haven't tried to keep a list.
    • Pages and Keynote get "styles" like every other word processor. Unfortunately I haven't been able to try them out yet (see Bugs ➢ App Store below 🤬) NOTE: The new versions of Pages, Numbers, and Keynote are available in Mojave as well as Catalina. The list of new Pages features may be found here and Numbers here
  2. BUGS
    • App Store: Apple ID Password not recognized in App Store — Everywhere else it works correctly NOTE: this is just about the only place where fingerprint authentication isn't available.
    • DEVONThink 3 filenames do not appear until the file is selected. It works perfctly in Mojave. Apple and DEVON Technologies have been notified.
  3. NEITHER OF THE ABOVE
    • File/Folder Visibility ???
Posted By: joemikeb Re: Santa Catalina is running for me... - 06/28/19 09:49 PM
A bit off topic, but I am taking this opportunity to shout out a compliment to Other World Computing. I purchased an external Thunderbolt 3 Envoy Pro EX SSD from them for use with Catalina so I could have two high speed SSDs one for Mojave and the other for Catalina. Unfortunately the drive had a faulty TB3 cable and was unusable for any purpose. An online chat with OWC tech support in which I described all of the troubleshooting steps I had gone through to eliminate my MBP as the source of the problem immediately and without question resulted in an RMA and free UPS return shipping label. I dropped the drive at a UPS store on Tuesday, OWC received it Thursday and the replacement drive shipped that same day. It could arrive this evening, but I expect delivery Monday.

My hat is off to OWC for their outstanding customer service and unbeatable product return policy.
Posted By: artie505 Re: Santa Catalina is running for me... - 06/28/19 11:23 PM
Originally Posted By: joemikeb
My hat is off to OWC for their outstanding customer service and unbeatable product return policy.

Truth be told, I've always been far more impressed by their customer support than by their products.
Posted By: joemikeb Re: Santa Catalina is running for me... - 06/29/19 10:19 PM
HMMM? This is interesting and perhaps an indication of the parallel code development between iOS/iPadOS/MacOS and Apple's code once, run everywhere development platform.

My Apple ID Password so far has worked everywhere I have tried it (including Music, iCloud, and Mail) in all three OS variants except in App Store on any of my beta running devices. As a reality check it still works in App Store if I reboot my MBP into Mojave. This is why early beta testing is not for everyone. 😜
Posted By: joemikeb Re: Santa Catalina is running for me... - 06/30/19 10:01 PM
Random Observations:
  1. I cannot change the name of the boot drive: 👋
    • I wanted to change the name of the boot drive from Macintosh SSD to Catalina to differentiate it from my other boot volume Mojave. (Notice the clever naming scheme? 🤡). It was easy to do with the Mojave volume but so far Macintosh SSD has resisted every effort to change its name.
    • I thought of changing the name while booted into Mojave, but given Macintosh SSD mounts in Mojave as two separate volumes since installing Catalina on it I have been VERY reluctant to attempt that.
    • I can't determine if this is a Catalina quirk or a quirk of encrypting the entire drive. Any thoughts?
  2. Display Crispness and Clarity: 👍
    • It may be my imagination or it may be different default fonts, but it seems to me the display under Catalina is noticeably crisper than under Mojave.
    • I know there has been a lot of tweaking of the graphics engine in Catalina so it may be more than just my imagination.
  3. Third Party Software Updates
    • Tinkertool and TinkerTool System: 👍 Marcel Bresink's very useful utilities have been updated to run under Catalina although there are features TBD in Catalina that are available in Mojave.
    • Graphic Converter 11: 👍 the latest iteration of Lemke Software's perennial macOS graphics standby is an upgrade an has some nice new and improved features. The first new feature I noticed is that it recognizes the Retina display and offers appropriate scaling options when opening a file.
  4. The App Store Logon Still Does Not work: 👎👎👎
Posted By: joemikeb Re: Santa Catalina is running for me... - 07/01/19 03:41 PM
NEW PREFERENCE PANES:

  1. Apple ID: All the functions necessary to manage your Apple Account including:
    • Name, Phone, & email
    • Password & Security
    • iTunes Store, App Store, & Book Store purchases
    • What apps can use iCloud
    • Managing iCloud Storage
    • Touch ID for purchases
  2. have been moved to System Preferences > Apple ID which appears at the top right of the System Preferences window
  3. FAMILY SHARING: all of the functions for setting up Family Sharing including:
    • Purchases from iTunes Store, App Store, Book Store
    • iCloud Storage
    • Location sharing
    • Screen Time
    • Apple Music
    • Apple News+
    • TV Channels
  4. has been placed in this preference pane found at the top right of the System Preferences window.
  5. COMMENT: This is a huge improvement over the previous practice of scattering these function over iTunes, Sharing pref pane, and other usually obscure locations. 👌
Posted By: joemikeb Re: Santa Catalina is running for me... - 07/02/19 02:10 PM
DISK UTILITY— DMGs

Disk Utility in Catalina allows the creation of disk image, sparse disk image and sparse bundle disk image files formatted APFS and those images may be partitioned and/or have multiple APFS volumes.

I don't envision needing that ability very often, but it could be invaluable.
Posted By: Ira L Re: Santa Catalina is running for me... - 07/03/19 05:44 PM
Without re-reading all of the above posts, have you found the following (posted on MacInTouch) to be the case:

"Mike Bombich, whose company makes Carbon Copy Cloner has stated in this podcast… that external backup drives in Catalina can no longer be HFS+ but must become APFS."

And does it really matter, or in what cases would it matter?
Posted By: joemikeb Re: Santa Catalina is running for me... - 07/04/19 12:16 AM
Originally Posted By: Ira L
Without re-reading all of the above posts, have you found the following (posted on MacInTouch) to be the case:

"Mike Bombich, whose company makes Carbon Copy Cloner has stated in this podcast… that external backup drives in Catalina can no longer be HFS+ but must become APFS."

And does it really matter, or in what cases would it matter?

As far as I can discern it all depends on the definition of a "backup drive". Time Machine only works on drives formatted HFS+ and that is true in Mojave as well as Catalina.

I have an experimental version of Mike Bombich's Carbon Copy Cloner that has not been thoroughly vetted with Catalina but appears to work satisfactorily. The Note that accompanies it reads
Originally Posted By: CCC
  • The current build of CCC will not make a proper backup of a macOS Catalina startup disk. Don't attempt to back up the startup disk, and ignore any suggestions to reformat the destination as HFS+.
  • Your Catalina startup disk will not appear in CCC's sidebar.
  • If you would like to make a backup of your user data on a Catalina volume (not that you should be using it in production!), you may drag the /System/Volumes/Data folder onto CCC's Source selector to specify the Data volume as the source for a backup task.
  • Stay tuned for another beta release that will address most of the "backing up the Catalina startup disk" issues.
  • No, we don't have a timeline. The changes in Catalina that affect backup processes are more significant than any previous macOS release. CCC can make a bootable backup of Catalina (we had a proof of concept just days after Apple's announcement), and we will be ready for Catalina before it is released in the Fall. We will post another beta when we have addressed the bulk of the known issues. It's a long list, we appreciate your patience!

OBSERVATI0N: Mike Bombich has never been a fan of APFS so I tend to take his comments in light of that.
Posted By: joemikeb Re: Santa Catalina is running for me... - 07/04/19 12:33 AM
PUBLIC BETA 2
  • App Store still does not accept my Apple ID password 👎
  • App Store is the only app I have found so far that does not recognize fingerprint authentication. 👎
  • Safari appears to be more unstable. It crashed three times as I was writing the previous post, but when relaunched nothing was lost so I just started where it crashed. 🤷‍♂️
  • It now appears that the two volume structure of the boot drive (Macintosh SSD & Macintosh SSD - Data) may be a feature? at least for now it is a fixture. 🤷‍♂️
  • DEVONThink 3 still does not show filenames but I suspect that is not Apple's Problem 🙅‍♂️
Posted By: joemikeb Re: Santa Catalina is running for me... - 07/04/19 05:23 PM
MORE CCC DISCOVERIES

This morning I tried using CCC (Carbon Copy Cloner 6.1.10.b1 (5741) to clone my Catalina volume to a sparse disk image bundle file, a common operation. In the attempt I discovered...
  • CCC would not create a disk image of any variety. Click on the option to create a new disk image file and nothing happens. 👎
  • Catalina's Disk Utility will happily create a disk image, sparse disk image, sparse disk imagebundle, and they may be encrypted with either HFS+ or APFS formatting. 👍
  • No matter what name I entered for the created disk image in Disk Utility it ended up named "untitled" 👎
  • When I selected the boot drive as the CCC source drive…
    • If I selected "all files" it would immediately switch "some files" 👎
    • Some files turn out to be what appears to be the Recovery Drive 👎
    • I could find no way to see, much less select, the boot drive - Data volume which is the system files applications and all the user accounts and files. 👎
  • CONCLUSION: In its present form CCC cannot create a clone of the boot drive. I cannot determine without a LOT of work whether this is a function of...
    • Catalina
    • APFS
    • or both
  • 🤷‍♂️
  • For now I will forego cloning Catalina 😡, but I will be particularly careful to keep good Time Machine Backups. 😀
Posted By: joemikeb Re: Santa Catalina is running for me... - 07/05/19 01:49 PM
MISCELLANEOUS OBSERVATIONS

  1. Updating the Environment: I am not sure what to call this, but I have noticed in Catalina that when something changes, a shared volume/file name on a server, Launchpad when an app is deleted, etc. that change is not reflected in Catalina until I log out of my account and back on again. Whether this is a permanent change of behavior or just a bug in the 2nd public/3rd Developer beta I don't know. Hopefully it is the latter. 🤞
  2. Time Machine: Not sure what is going on here, but the first Time Machine backup of the Catalina drive has been stuck at "Preparing Backup" for two days now. 🤷‍♂️
  3. iCloud Drive similarly uploading to the iCloud Drive remains hung. I suspect this may be related to the Apple ID password issue although the password works to logon to iCloud through Safari and I can access iCloud through the Finder. 🤬😡
  4. In the meantime something is accessing the drive that I was previously using for Time Machine backups — a LOT. Is this another case of not recognizing changes? ❓
  5. DEVONThink under Catalina is a curiously mixed bag…
    1. DEVONThink Pro Office 2.11 works well in Catalina and as far as I can tell is fully functional 👌
    2. DEVONThink 3 beta (functionally and visually a huge improvement over DEVONThink Pro Office 2.11) works flawlessly in Mojave but display issues make it essentially unusable in Catalina 🤬
  6. Drive Renaming: I was finally successful in changing the boot drive name from Macintosh SSD to Catalina by making the changes while booted into Mojave. To make it stick I had to change two names Macintosh SSD and Macintosh SSD - Data. Both of those names appear in Disk Utility or while booted from another drive (🤦🏻‍♂️), but if that is the boot drive only Catalina (nee. Macintosh SSD) appears in Finder 🤷‍♂️
  7. COMMENT I have participated in a lot of Public Beta tests going all the way back to the OS X 10.0 pre-release. The first two or three beta releases typically have some significant functional problem(s), but Catalina seems to have more issues than most. Certainly it has presented me with more challenges that either High Sierra or Mojave‼️ At the WWDC the keynote focused on Catalina's new features and there are a bunch of them. I suspect had I attended some of the Developer sessions I would have discovered those new features are merely the tip of the iceberg and there are a number of perhaps more significant changes "under the hood". Suffice it to say I bought a high speed Thunderbolt 3 external drive so I can easily switch back and forth between Catalina and Mojave without sacrificing performance. This is the first time since the OS X 10.0 beta I have had the need to do that.


AFTERNOON FOLLOW UP

The App Store and iCloud issues are fixed thanks to a hint gleaned from the Release Notes. 👏 The solution was to log completely out of the App Store account and my Apple account then log back in to both.

The GOTCHA' In both cased typing in the password refused to work and it had to be pasted in from 1Password 🤦🏻‍♂️ (It is more convenient than Keychain Access). That same password can be typed in successfully in Mojave, it is only the Apple ID password in System Preferences > Apple ID and App Store > Account > Sign In that it doesn't work❓ Weird 🤷‍♂️‼️

NOTE: Although App Store downloads are working they are for whatever reason painfully slow and I am on a really fast (400 Mbps+) network connection. 🙄

NOTE 2: After reformatting the Time Machine target drive one more time now Time Machine is in the process of completing its first backup. 👏

EVENING EDITI0N

Vuescan released a Catalina approved version yesterday, July 4. Just in time because buy Fujitsu ScanSnap software cannot "see" the scanner but Vuescan can.
Posted By: joemikeb Re: Santa Catalina is running for me... - 07/06/19 01:58 PM
SECURITY FEATURES

For those of you concerned that you may be losing control of your Mac, that is hardly the case in Catalina. In fact it borders on going the user too much control. Unless an app is "sandboxed" almost everything you do requires granting the app specific permission or access. I just attempted to save a screen shot I had edited in Graphic Convertor 11 to the Desktop only to be told the app did not have permission to do that. The fix:
  1. quit GC 11
  2. Open System Preferences > Security & Privacy > Privacy
  3. Select Full Disk Access
  4. Enter the admin password (or fingerprint)
  5. Add Graphic Converter 11 to the list of apps
  6. Check the checkbox next to GC 11
  7. Close System Preferences
  8. in a couple of cases a reboot was required at this point
  9. Reopen GC 11
  10. Re-edit the screen shot
  11. Save the Screen Shot to the desktop where it had been in the first place
NOTE: Access to Files and folders on removable volumes is a separate checkbox for some apps.

There are 15 different OS functions that apps have to be individually granted access to. (I have denied two games request for "access to the keyboard in other apps" — which appears as input monitoring in System Preferences > Security & Privacy — because I cannot imagine a legitimate reason for such access.)

Opening a non-Apple validated dmg requires a trip to System Preferences > Security & Privacy because
Quote:
Apple cannot see inside to verify the dmg does not contain malware
Apple will happily validate the dmg for developers but it must be sent to Apple for testing before they will validate it.

Turn on automatic login and Catalina will automatically remove Apple Wallet and all stored credit card data from your system — but only after giving fair warning.

I find I am spending more time in System Preferences > Security and Privacy than just about any other app in Catalina except Safari and Airmail granting permissions of one sort or another. Of course this is all in the name of SECURITY and should slow down as Catalina is used. Rather than taking control away from users this puts far more precise control in the hands of the user, but I have to think it is going to be annoying for a LOT of non-technical or security-complacent (that's you Artie 😉) users.
Posted By: MacManiac Re: Santa Catalina is running for me... - 07/06/19 02:34 PM
I can just imagine the background conversations that are taking place within Apple as they are making their adjustments to the user interface to accommodate the security policies that they are trying to mechanize......

"So, Ollie, THIS is another fine fix you've gotten us into!"

...."So what do you think? Shouldn't we just make ALL the security decisions for ALL of our user-base? After all, we're so much smarter than ALL of them are!!! Wait, is that being too much like that OTHER OS from those OTHER guys?"...as I recall, that didn't end all that well.

Posted By: joemikeb Re: Santa Catalina is running for me... - 07/06/19 03:20 PM
Originally Posted By: macmaniac
...."So what do you think? Shouldn't we just make ALL the security decisions for ALL of our user-base? After all, we're so much smarter than ALL of them are!!! Wait, is that being too much like that OTHER OS from those OTHER guys?"...as I recall, that didn't end all that well.

I don't see it that way at all. On the contrary it seems to me Apple is adding lots of security policies, which in today's environment does not seem unreasonable, but ameliorating the effect by allowing the user to choose which apps can do what. I have denied a lot of apps access to a lot of Catalina features while permitting other apps access to those same features when it seems appropriate. Apple provides the opportunity to have more control, but it is up to the user when to exercise that control.

This is annoying because initially there are a LOT of decisions to be made and as per my example often involve many steps to accomplish. My concern is how may users are well enough informed to make those decisions. At least the uninformed user will have to pause and think about their decisions which is better than nothing, but I suspect results will be mixed. My wife is properly cautious and if she doesn't know is more likely to deny access (or ask me). My friend, who thinks of himself as a power user (he is actually whatever is farthest from that), is more likely to say "yes" and I will end up walking him through yet another session with the Recovery Drive and reloading from a badly out of date clone or a Time Machine backup that he runs only irregularly.

It occurs to me a case of one of us being the glass as half-empty while the other sees it as half-full. Generally I tend to be on the half-empty side but perhaps not this time. 😇
Posted By: artie505 Re: Santa Catalina is running for me... - 07/09/19 07:50 AM
Originally Posted By: joemikeb
I find I am spending more time in System Preferences > Security and Privacy than just about any other app in Catalina except Safari and Airmail granting permissions of one sort or another. Of course this is all in the name of SECURITY and should slow down as Catalina is used. Rather than taking control away from users this puts far more precise control in the hands of the user, but I have to think it is going to be annoying for a LOT of non-technical or security-complacent (that's you Artie 😉) users.

I've been dealing with Accessibility and Full Disk Access for several versions of macOS already, my apps that have required one or the other have all requested it in advance of their actually needing it, and I'm surprised that Graphic Converter doesn't do the same. My biggest culprit in the sandboxing area will be Butler; I wonder how it will address the issue?

As for other features, I hope there'll be a means to turn off those we deem unnecessary, as can be done with Gatekeeper and SIP.

And what I can't avoid, I'll deal with, but as you've suggested, much, if not most, of it will be one time only.

And as for my "security complacence," I suspect that aside from Gatekeeper and SIP it refers to my password scheme, so I'll make you an offer: Call it bartender's instinct or stupidity, but I trust you implicitly, and I'll be happy to send you my list of innocuous sites, login IDs, and my universal password for you to take a swing at to see if you can hit a home run...if you've ever got time for such an endeavor between beta testing.
Posted By: joemikeb Re: Santa Catalina is running for me... - 07/09/19 03:56 PM
Originally Posted By: artie505
And as for my "security complacence," I suspect that aside from Gatekeeper and SIP it refers to my password scheme, so I'll make you an offer: Call it bartender's instinct or stupidity, but I trust you implicitly, and I'll be happy to send you my list of innocuous sites, login IDs, and my universal password for you to take a swing at to see if you can hit a home run...if you've ever got time for such an endeavor between beta testing.

I appreciate your trust in my integrity, but I don't have the time, talent, tools, or desire to take on your challenge. However, I am confident that there are those out there that would be glad to do that and in return could easily wind up owning your entire worldly goods and collecting your Social Security and other retirement benefits. If you want to test your security try placing an add in a Ukrainian or Russian newspaper 😄
Posted By: artie505 Re: Santa Catalina is running for me... - 07/11/19 08:43 AM
Originally Posted By: joemikeb
I am confident that there are those out there that <snip> could easily wind up owning your entire worldly goods and collecting your Social Security and other retirement benefits. If you want to test your security try placing an add in a Ukrainian or Russian newspaper 😄

I'd love to sit down with you over an ice cold beer and discuss the specific risk you think using the same password at n different websites, NONE OF WHICH has any more information about me than my address...possibly my phone number poses. OK, a few of those sites make me enter credit card info (None of them has EVER had my SSN.) but do NOT retain it, and Amazon does retain it, but I delete it instantly.

Caution, maybe even extreme caution is necessary on the Internet, but it seems to me that your position in this instance crosses over the line to paranoia.

Tacit, where are you?
Posted By: joemikeb Re: Santa Catalina is running for me... - 07/12/19 08:03 PM
GRANTING ACCESS

I have already mentioned the necessity of granting apps access to various system function on a app-by-app basis but there are additional complications…
  1. some apps throw up a Preview or Safari window with instructions to
    1. open System Preferences > Security & Privacy > Privacy
    2. enter your password
    3. add the app to the appropriate permissions list
    4. check the box next to the app on the list to activate it
  2. Some
    1. open System Preferences > Security & Privacy > Privacy for you
    2. you then must enter your password
    3. add the app to the appropriate permissions list
    4. check the box next to the app on the list to activate it
  3. Other apps will launch System Preferences > Security & Privacy > Privacy and fill in the app name so all the user has to do is
    1. enter their password
    2. check the box next to the app to activate it
  4. still others
    1. Throw up a dialogue box requesting permission to access the resource
    2. all the time
    3. one time
    4. deny access
  5. and some just ask permission to access the resource with no information on whether it is all the time or one time only.
  6. I have encountered cases (mostly older apps I beleive) where the app simply quit or quit with a notice that it was denied access to the resource.
Obviously how this is handled is the app developer's choice but if they have not provided for getting permission the Catalina steps in and doesn't permit the app to run. If you see this happening go back to case 1 to fix the issue. It appears it will be the rare app that does not need at least some tweaking to not run into access issues in Catalina.

The good news is most of those permissions can be easily revoked by the user at any time. The bad news is there are some legacy apps that apparently can get around these permissions — until Apple can figure out how to shut them off and give the developers time to come into line that is.
Posted By: joemikeb Re: Santa Catalina is running for me... - 07/22/19 09:00 PM
In case you ever wondered if Apple Trouble Reports are ever read, I received this email this afternoon…
Originally Posted By: Apple
As a result of your feedback, there are software changes in build 19A512f that have resolved this issue.

Has this issue been fixed for you?

Feedback ID 6525156, App Store Download Hung

Do not reply to this email. Please login to Feedback Assistant to let us know if the problem is fixed for you.

Unfortunately although build 19A512f was released to Developers over a week ago, it has not been released to the Public Beta testers, so I can't tell if the problem has been fixed or not. 🤷‍♂️
Posted By: artie505 Re: Santa Catalina is running for me... - 07/22/19 10:34 PM
I know from experience that attention is paid to the Bug Reporter, but I"ve got my doubts about the Feedback page.

I've reported issues that have never been addressed, and I know of others reported by others.
Posted By: joemikeb Re: Santa Catalina is running for me... - 07/27/19 05:00 PM
SAY WHAT???

Don't ask why I haven't discovered this before but here is the Scenario…
  1. System Preferences > Apple ID > iCloud > iCloud Drive > Options > Desktop & Documents Folders is checked (✔) just as it is in Mojave
  2. I decide to drill down from the Drive to the user account Documents folder (/Users/myaccountid/Documents) using Finder
    • result — THERE IS NO DOCUMENTS OR DESKTOP FOLDER. 😟
  3. I repeat the exercise, this time using Finder > Go > Go to folder (⇧⌘G)
    • result — I find both the Documents and Desktop folders as expected ⁇
  4. I go digging to find where the Documents and Desktop folders are actually located and find them in ~/Library/Cloud Storage/iCloud Drive along with all the other files that are synched to iCloud
  5. It appears the new location is hard-linked(?) in the system and can be accessed by what appears to be a normal file path that points to the new locations instead of where we are used to finding them.
  6. To verify this I check my wife's Mac mini that is also running Catalina and the situation is the same. I suppose moving those files accounts for the initial sluggish performance when Catalina was first installed.
This is taking a while to mentally adapt to the new situation and I can only speculate why the change was made. Among my speculations are:
  1. Hiding the Documents and Desktop folders to reduce the risk of uninformed user deletions
  2. Make the actual location of the folders more closely match their physical location in the hierarchy and at the same time preserve their logical location for the users. (As a software designer this has a lot of appeal to me.()
  3. this change presages a forthcoming security enhancement
  4. This is intended to make the logical file structure in macOS closer to that of iOS.IpadOS.

BY-THE-WAY: If this bothers you too much you can still use Apple aliases and/or Smart folders to create your own unique hierarchical structure.
Posted By: joemikeb Re: Santa Catalina is running for me... - 08/04/19 08:25 PM
CATALINA PUBLIC BETA 4

  1. For some unexplained reason Software Update has refused to recognize or install public betas 3 and 4. 🤬 Today I "fixed" that by booting from the Recovery Drive (⌘R) and re-installing Catalina which, of course is, the public beta 4 build.
    • Problem solved — at least until Public Beta 5 😳
  2. The good news is most of the significant problems I had previously encountered have been resolved in Public Beta 4 😀
    • DEVONThink 3 beta runs perfectly and I have been able to remove DEVONThink Pro Office 2.11 👍
    • So far Safari & Safari Technology Preview have been very stable 🤞
    • Files placed on the Desktop are uploading to iCloud Drive almost immediately which is the desired performance
    • A bunch of system files and folders on the drive root have disappeared and I can't find where they have disappeared to. 🤷‍♂️
    • One of my scanner apps still refuses to recognize the scanner 👎 but Vuescan still sees the drivers and works just fine 👌
  3. So far I have been able to close 10 problem reports as either unrepeatable or solved by PB 4 👏
  4. Unless I run into something unexpected Catalina has reached the stage of being a fully usable OS with only some minor quirks and issues needing to be worked out by third party software developers.
NOTE: In spite of this relatively robust stage of development, I am confident there are still lots of bugs I have not encountered and on top of that there are several very significant planned features that have yet to be introduced and each of those has the potential for creating new issues in any and every part of the OS.
Posted By: MacManiac Re: Santa Catalina is running for me... - 08/06/19 02:17 PM
Joe, just in case you might be able to pick the scab and replicate my "discovery"....

On my 2017 MBP 13" with Touch Bar MacOS 10.14.5, I had lost the ability to print PDF's to my HP LaserJet M1536dnf MFP which had been working fine for years....it would now print the following error message instead of the chosen page:

ERROR: limitcheck
OFFENDING COMMAND: imagemask

STACK:

(r)
(Sys/Start)
(Sys/Start)

This was unveiled when I couldn't print my USAA updated insurance cards....

Before deleting and reinstalling the printer, I tried:

1. sending the PDF to the Preview app prior to sending it to the printer - same result

2. changing the default printer driver from "AirPrint" to the HP M1536 driver - same result

3. printing the offending file from a different computer (and from my iPhone using AirPrint) - SUCCESS! So it wasn't a corrupted PDF.

4. my other multi-function printer, a Brother MFC-985DW worked just fine with printing and scanning using the Print / Scan prefpane....

Upon deleting then reinstalling the HP M1536 printer I discovered that the new printer was no longer recognized as a multi function device, and there was no longer a SCAN option.....very annoying!

So now I went through the driver update process with HP's support site to ensure that I had their latest releases, deleted and reinstalled the printer again and still no scan option....even more annoying!

Looked a little further on the HP support site and discovered a later firmware release for the M1536 MFP, however, there was no MacOS way to get that into the printer....now I'm digging out a legacy Windows computer to run the firmware installer. End result, it will now print the PDF correctly, but still no scan option using my MBP....now I'm starting to get concerned.

Ran the MacOS 10.14.6 update (and supplemental)....still no scan option using the System Preferences Print & Scan prefpane.

Ultimately researched the scanning work-around solution to be:

Use the Image Capture app that Apple now includes since 2018 in the Applications folder.

This new app has the same UI as the previously functional Scan portion of the Printer/Scanner prefpane, so once you find it you are on familiar territory.

Immediate issue resolved....it prints correctly and I can use a different work-flow to scan.

Now, the rest of the story.....

Same OS, same printer, same network, 2014 Mac Mini.....no change to the ability to print PDF's correctly....no error messages, no loss of Scan option using the Printer / Scanner prefpane, no need to use the Image Capture app as a work-around.

Any suggestions for me on kext research/comparison between platforms? FWIW, the HP scanning software that was in their latest release also works just fine (their older scanning software utility was 32 bit...)
Posted By: joemikeb Re: Santa Catalina is running for me... - 08/06/19 02:56 PM
My wife ran into a somewhat analogous situation in Catalina (although she/we did not explore it as deeply as you). It was resolved by resetting the print system...
Originally Posted By: Mac Help
  1. On your Mac choose Apple Menu  > System Preferences > Printers &* Scanners
  2. Hold down the control (∧) key as you click on the list at the left, then choose "Reset Printing System" on the menu that appears. After you reset the printing system, the list of printers in Printers & scanners is empty
  3. Re-add any printers
For one reason or another, I have had to reset the print system every six months to a year. Deleting and re-installing a printer doesn't get the job done, rather I have found it necessary to completely flush CUPS (Common Unix Print System).
Posted By: MacManiac Re: Santa Catalina is running for me... - 08/06/19 03:12 PM
Thanks Joe, I'll give that a try and report back.....it could go one of two ways - I'll either regain the Scan option for my HP M1536 MFP, or I will lose my Scan option for my Brother MFC-J985 multi-function printer.

Wish me luck!

....and the answer is.....

You nailed it!!! I regained all lost functionality on the HP and didn't affect the functionality of the Brother.

edited to update the result of resetting the print system...
Posted By: joemikeb Re: Santa Catalina is running for me... - 08/07/19 02:27 PM

👍

Posted By: joemikeb Re: Santa Catalina is running for me... - 08/08/19 05:59 PM
Thread on Services Menu: Print Selection split into it own topic at this point.
Posted By: joemikeb Re: Santa Catalina is running for me... - 08/10/19 10:13 PM
CATALINA CROSSES THE RUBICON

There are still some notable things not working or not working 100% in Catalina Public Beta 4. the most prominent to me is Fujitsu's ScanSnap Home which refuses to "see" the Fujitsu scanner (I think that all is in Fujitsu's court). But many of the really annoying glitches such as Safari's & Safari Technology Preview's annoying tendency to crash any time I selected a block of text have completely disappeared and I have found at least usable if not ideal workarounds for others like the aforementioned problem with ScanSnap Home. Some third party developers such as Mike Bombich seem to have come to terms with the internal changes — Mike's Carbon Copy Cloner Version 5.1.10-b6 (5769) now deals with the structural changes including Recovery Drive quite nicely. And on top of all that this morning I realized I had not booted into Mojave in weeks.

While I can't claim any scientific findings or well thought out rationale for this decision but when I found the CCC beta update I decided the time had come to declare Catalina as my production OS. The Mojave installation is officially history, having been replaced with a Clone of my Catalina drive.

While this is definitely NOT a step for the faint of heart or the technology challenged, I think it is significant the beta has become sufficient stable that I feel I can rely on it.
Posted By: joemikeb Re: Santa Catalina is running for me... - 08/11/19 09:39 PM
PHOTOS SURPRISE

This afternoon I opened Photos in Catalina for the first time, and was immediately reminded of all the promised new features (although IIRC they were mostly mentioned in relation to Photos on iPhone/iPad) by in a immediate paroxysm of
  • Gathering Favorites
  • Composing Layout
  • Detecting Duplicates
  • Analyzing Scenes
  • Curating Best Photos
and a subtext of
Originally Posted By: Photos
Leave device connected to power
This has been going on for a couple of hours now and the progress bar would leave me to believe the tasks are ~20% completed, & it doesn't seem to be progressing. Either that or it is progressing v e r y s l o w l y.

I have four comments at this point:
  1. I hope that the tasks eventually completes
  2. I am curious to see the results
  3. I hope the results are worth all the CPU cycles
  4. I am SO glad I didn't start this on my iPhone!
Posted By: joemikeb Re: Santa Catalina is running for me... - 08/14/19 02:49 PM
UPDATE ON PHOTOS

All of the processing finally completed sometime late in the afternoon. I was anxious to see all the new features, but at this point it turns out stability is an issue. Every time I try to do something with slideshows, Photos crashes 😢 More Feedback to Apple and hopefully this will. be fixed in the next Catalina beta.

On the other hand the enhanced editing features work very well and are a nice upgrade. While Photos is no competition for Adobe Photoshop or Affinity Photo, and even Graphic Converter offers more features, but it should satisfy the photo touchup and enhancement needs for a good 90% of users. It is easy to use; offers automatic, select the image, and tweak the details levels of editing. Even better, with appropriate adaptations to accommodate the screen size, this is all replicated the in the iOS and iPadOS versions of Photos. (NOTE: I don't do much editing on the iPhone. Even when I am wearing glasses the image is too 🤬 small for any level of detail work.)
Posted By: joemikeb Watch For An Upgrade Soon - 08/29/19 02:02 PM
PROGRESS REPORT

From my viewpoint the Gold Master should be close. The one lingering major incompatibility (Fujitsu ScanSnap was unable to "see" the iX500 scanner) was fixed by last weeks Catalina beta update, but that update broke Banktivity 7. (That was fixed by a quick update of Banktivity yesterday morning). As of today I have three open bug reports:
  1. one minor App Store app (Radium) that still crashes immediately on launch, but it has not been updated in two years and may no longer be supported. It would be no big loss if it doesn't get fixed.
  2. An interesting situation with a beta version of DEVONThink that has to be quit twice unless its window is on the MBP's display
  3. One third party app that displays perfectly in "dark mode" but is unreadable in "light mode".
…and none of those are in Apple's control. A new Catalina update yesterday afternoon didn't break anything and did not introduce anything new.

Watch for a MacOS upgrade soon!

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