PaulBrit Loc: Merlin, Southern Oregon

Yes, it was so quaint and primitive!

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

The other side of that equation is the growing frequency of security exploits via malware. Big Sur and Catalina BOTH got security updates this week. I'm not sure about Mojave. Various Epson drivers and Photoshop were updated this week, too. Some of those updates were security related.

Personally, I'd rather use safe, up-to-date subscription software than expensive packaged software that is out of date in the box. Updates have to be downloaded, anyway.

It won't be long before Apple no longer sells Intel-powered Macs. They've been planning to dump Intel ever since Paul Otellini passed on developing chips for iPhone. They've made their own systems on chip for the last decade for iPhones, iPads, Apple TV, Apple Watch... Now the Apple Silicon Macs are such a quantum leap forward, the handwriting is on the wall. The M1 is already trouncing everything else in its price class. M1x or M2 should be VERY speedy.

What's that mean? 64-bit ARM-powered SOCs are Apple's future. Big Sur is the start of a break with the past (the Intel era for the Mac).

Your older Macs with Mojave or earlier OS will continue to work, but for your own sake, keep it OFF the Internet. I have several older Macs. I've disabled networking on all of them, and dedicated them to isolated tasks or reference use only. Another use for recent Intel Macs is to install and run Win 10, via Apple BootCamp. That works safely, if you install a good anti-malware utility.

lbjed Loc: New York

Was having a problem when running Catalina. Spoke with Apple support who advised me to upgrade to Big Sur. Problem solved. FYI

a6k Loc: Detroit & Sanibel

I did it today and encountered these problems so far. My setup is a 2018 MacBookPro plus a BenQ monitor, external keyboard and Gen1 Apple Magic Mouse.

1.I had the monitor connected with HDMI. Big Sur refuses to admit that the monitor is there with HDMI I had to switch to USB-C which is a nuisance because all my ports were already in use. Some users could not even connect that way.
2. My cameras' (2) SD cards would not show up in the side bar. The fix that I had to research with YouTube was to name the cards. Now they show up. I had to click on the top item in the sidebar (user's MacBookPro) and that is where I could see and rename the cards. PITA finding out what was wrong.
3. My iDrive backup system was failing to log in. I close all parts of it down and then it was able. This took about half an hour to figure out because it was telling me to look at the firewall and that was not the problem.

Apple used to be a lot better than this. After all the time and all the users to still have a problem with HDMI monitor connections and SD cards that worked fine until the upgrade - that's really, really inexcusable.

I just updated it today and now it's telling me it will do an update to the OS tonight. I wonder what else will go wrong?

I haven't tried Mail yet but some users have reported issues with that. I also have not tried any photo programs yet except FastRawViewer which worked fine.

PaulBrit Loc: Merlin, Southern Oregon

That’s very interesting. You are clearly a more knowledgeable person than I.

Moondoggie Loc: Southern California

None here. Works fine, and just updated with their latest version.

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

Most of the issues you mention have been addressed with the 11.2 update.

The BenQ monitor issue is unique to that brand. It has been reported elsewhere.

UNIQUELY naming all media is an important step in ensuring the media mount and read properly. One more thing to do: All removable media should be formatted in a scheme that is compatible with both your devices (cameras, audio recorders...) AND MacOS. For cards 32 GB and larger, that is almost always ExFAT.

So... SD cards used in cameras should be formatted in the camera and never on a computer, because even though the media format is standard, individual cameras differ in the folder structures and private (hidden) or proprietary files they place on the card to facilitate operation of the camera.

No one likes dongles, docks, or hubs, but if you're starved for ports, check out the reasonably priced USB-C hubs at https://www.charjenpro.com, and the much more pricey best of breed docks and hubs at https://eshop.macsales.com/shop/docks. Both of those brands are the ones Matt Granger (YouTube) picked in his latest test of over a dozen such items.

I bought the CharJen Pro Premium Hub (about $45 or less) for my son's new MacBook Air. It is as advertised... It did not slow down the fast 2TB Samsung SSD we plugged into it, even while a second SSD of the same speed was copying files to it through another port. It has a pass-through-power port, HDMI, three USB-3 type A ports, and FAST Micro SD and SDXC readers. It connects to any USB-C compatible port with a short cable, and is very light and compact.

EVERY new release of MacOS has some growing pains for someone. The same can be said for Windows. Although many of us never have a problem with a particular OS upgrade, Neither Apple nor Microsoft can predict what peripherals people will attach. All they can do is publish support specs.

traderjohn Loc: New York City

Are there any compatibility problems with Big Sur and a Wacom PTH 451 Tablet??

a6k Loc: Detroit & Sanibel

burkphoto said:Most of the issues you mention have been addressed with the 11.2 update.
I am already on 11.2. I only installed it today. See picture please.

The BenQ monitor issue is unique to that brand. It has been reported elsewhere.
Good to know. Thanks.

UNIQUELY naming all media is an important step in ensuring the media mount and read properly.
That may be a good rule, but it worked as-is since 2012 or earlier. It should not, therefore, arbitrarily stop working.
...snip..

So... SD cards used in cameras should be formatted in the camera and never on a computer, because even though the media format is standard, individual cameras differ in the folder structures and private (hidden) or proprietary files they place on the card to facilitate operation of the camera.
True but not relevant here. These were cards that were already working well the previous day and worked fine again as soon as renamed.

No one likes dongles, docks, or hubs, but if you're starved for ports, check out the reasonably priced USB-C hubs at https://www.charjenpro.com, and the much more pricey best of breed docks and hubs at https://eshop.macsales.com/shop/docks. Both of those brands are the ones Matt Granger (YouTube) picked in his latest test of over a dozen such items.


I bought the CharJen Pro Premium Hub (about $45 or less) for my son's new MacBook Air. It is as advertised... It did not slow down the fast 2TB Samsung SSD we plugged into it, even while a second SSD of the same speed was copying files to it through another port. It has a pass-through-power port, HDMI, three USB-3 type A ports, and FAST Micro SD and SDXC readers. It connects to any USB-C compatible port with a short cable, and is very light and compact.
There are no reasonably priced port expanders which supply additional USB-C yet. I do have a AUKEY expander already. There is a technical issue with USB-C standard which will eventually be solved but meanwhile, it does not daisy chain like earlier USB standards. I am not, therefore, short of USB-A ports but the MBP only comes with 4 USB-C ports and one is needed for power.

EVERY new release of MacOS has some growing pains for someone. The same can be said for Windows. Although many of us never have a problem with a particular OS upgrade, Neither Apple nor Microsoft can predict what peripherals people will attach. All they can do is publish support specs.
You are correct in general about the growing pains. I never install a major OS upgrade until a couple of point releases for just this reason. No, Windows is not better; it's worse and that is why I have a Mac (I have 3). They most certainly can and should anticipate SD cards in USB readers. I tried two different readers connected two different ways. Both had worked before. The naming issue is a new requirement. I will concede the point about BenQ but there have been reports that applied to all HDMI connections.

I spent many years as an IT consultant inside an IT department of 2000 people supporting a huge IBM mainframe and 10,000 Windows computers. From time to time I headed development teams. We used to joke that users are just a big test base. But Apple, for me, since 2012, was a lot better than this.

AndoverBob

I had nothing but trouble with Catalina - dropped bluetooth devices, crashing like Windows 95, lots of memory leaks. Big Sur fixed all of that. I have one residual problem I need to call Apple about, but its a carryover from Catalina. This is the best OS Apple has made in years, IMHO.

Retiredin12 Loc: Florida panhandle

Don’t do it. I’m an Apple user for 10 years, and this OS is horrible. I didn’t think anything could make me go back to a PC, but Big Syrup has. Maybe with a new Mac, but it slows my 2017 iMac, and every time I restart I have to go to settings and ok location services. There is so much ... JUST SAY NOOOOOOO!

Rab-Eye Loc: Indiana

If you use super Duper as a back up, they have not found a way to make it work with Big Sur yet.

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

I misspoke. 11.2.1 is out. It is a critical security update over 11.2.

OWC has thunderbolt hubs that make one Thunderbolt/USB 4 port into three, each of which can be daisy chained.

Sentinel4

The update will not work with the current version of Webroot- the anti virus program.
Sentinel4

xt2 Loc: British Columbia, Canada

Why rush???