OSX Catalina dropping 32 bit app support

[Ian A Dalton]

I just read an article explaining OSX Catalina is going to drop support for 32 bit apps. This means Rocksim as we know it today will fail to work if you update your computer.

https://www.cnet.com/how-to/your-ma...ff-32-bit-apps-heres-what-that-means-for-you/

Any other software for rocketry we know will be impacted by this?

Anyone know if a fix going to be released for Rocksim?

 

[dpower]

Bummer! Hopefully Rocksim will be updated, but it may take a while - IIRC they contract that work out. I'm still on High Sierra (10.13), last time I attempted to upgrade to Mojave (10.14), WiFi wouldn't work, so I restored back.

 

[manixFan]

The Perfectflite Datacap application is only 32 bit. OpenMotor and OpenRocket are 64 bit, as is OpenSCAD. An easy way to check your system:

• Apple Menu > About This Mac > click System Report
• Once generated, click Applications under Software
• then sort by 64 bit (right most column, just click on '64-bit')
• 32 bit apps will be listed at the top (will say No)

I have a Windows laptop that will run the Datacap app so not a huge deal, but it would be great to get an updated version. That and a Mac version of the Featherweight altimeter software.


Tony

 

[mpitfield]

Don't upgrade.

 

[manixFan]

Don't upgrade.

For me the compelling feature is Sidecar - the ability to use an iPad as an extended display. I do a lot of Photoshop and Illustrator and the ability to use my iPad Pro with the Pencil as a second display is pretty compelling for me. I've tried several 3rd party utilities but none have really done all that I wanted. Sidecar looks to be very capable, allowing the iPad to be either a second display or work surface. But I will make a full backup to an external drive in case things don't work out so I can revert back to the old OS.


Tony

 

[Arsenal78]

If Apogee would update the damn software it wouldn’t happen. For the outrageous price they’re asking for it, I’d expect some updates such as 64 bit.

 

[cwbullet]

If Apogee would update the damn software it wouldn’t happen. For the outrageous price they’re asking for it, I’d expect some updates such as 64 bit.

And I can't stand their serial number process.

 

[afadeev]

If Apogee would update the damn software it wouldn’t happen. For the outrageous price they’re asking for it, I’d expect some updates such as 64 bit.

Apogee doesn't update Rocksim, they just mark up, and resell it.
Rocksim was written and is maintained by Paul Fossey, though you wont find his credits on Apogee's web site.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/paul-fossey-658575b/

a

 

[cwbullet]

Either way, it is in a bad need of an update.

 

[mpitfield]

For me the compelling feature is Sidecar - the ability to use an iPad as an extended display. I do a lot of Photoshop and Illustrator and the ability to use my iPad Pro with the Pencil as a second display is pretty compelling for me. I've tried several 3rd party utilities but none have really done all that I wanted. Sidecar looks to be very capable, allowing the iPad to be either a second display or work surface. But I will make a full backup to an external drive in case things don't work out so I can revert back to the old OS.


Tony

That sounds like a compelling reason for you to upgrade. One way of running 32bit apps in Catalina would be to install something like VMware Fusion and run a copy of Mojave to run your 32bit apps. I had VMware Fusion running on my MacBook Air 2010 running a virtual Windows 7 Pro 32 bit machine. I can't recall the macOS version, I think it was Snow Leopard, but it worked very well.

 

[BryRocket]

Well, I just got a new computer and upgraded my other. Everything is running Catalina now and yep, DataCap is not working. Any thoughts on another mac app to download them (outside of a VM)? I guess I can email PerfectFlite to see if there will be an update.

 

[Rocketjunkie]

In Windows, if you find the app's .exe file, you can right click and select properties. From there you can run it in compatibility mode of a previous version of Windows. Does OSX have a similar function?

 

[WillMarchant]

I just read an article explaining OSX Catalina is going to drop support for 32 bit apps. This means Rocksim as we know it today will fail to work if you update your computer.

https://www.cnet.com/how-to/your-ma...ff-32-bit-apps-heres-what-that-means-for-you/

Any other software for rocketry we know will be impacted by this?

Anyone know if a fix going to be released for Rocksim?

https://www.apogeerockets.com/RockSim/System_Requirements Describes the Catalina process.

Tim is working on a fresh release of RockSim as announced at NARCON-2020.

 

[SmurfTacoSupreme]

Well, I just got a new computer and upgraded my other. Everything is running Catalina now and yep, DataCap is not working. Any thoughts on another mac app to download them (outside of a VM)? I guess I can email PerfectFlite to see if there will be an update.

VM's aren't allowed. Just tried to run RockSim v10 in a Win7 VM on my Mac and got a license activation error saying: "RockSim 10 activation failed. installation inside a virtual machine or hypervisor is not allowed. Please contact the product vendor."

Pretty weak given how common virtualization and containerization are these days. Fortunately I got it running directly on my Mac, but my heart skipped a beat when I saw that error message.

 

[mpitfield]

VM's aren't allowed. Just tried to run RockSim v10 in a Win7 VM on my Mac and got a license activation error saying: "RockSim 10 activation failed. installation inside a virtual machine or hypervisor is not allowed. Please contact the product vendor."

Pretty weak given how common virtualization and containerization are these days. Fortunately I got it running directly on my Mac, but my heart skipped a beat when I saw that error message.

Wow that is very disappointing to say the least! If they don't run on VMs then they should write it for 64bit. What was your work-around?

 

[SmurfTacoSupreme]

Wow that is very disappointing to say the least! If they don't run on VMs then they should write it for 64bit. What was your work-around?

I temporarily disabled Gatekeeper app protection with "sudo spctl --master-disable" via Terminal. Then "installed" (drag to Applications folder) RockSim v10. After verifying that RockSim was working I reverted Gatekeeper to the original setting with "sudo spctl --master-enable".

 

[dpower]

Is anyone successfully running Rocksim v9 or v10 on Mac OSX Catalina? Is Rocksim v10 a 64-bit app? Nothing on the Apogee website or their rocksim v10 videos indicates one way or the other.

 

[SmurfTacoSupreme]

Is anyone successfully running Rocksim v9 or v10 on Mac OSX Catalina? Is Rocksim v10 a 64-bit app? Nothing on the Apogee website or their rocksim v10 videos indicates one way or the other.

I'm running RockSim 10.0.0f118 on Catalina and it does look to be 64bit:

engedit.app/Contents/MacOS/engedit: Mach-O 64-bit executable x86_64
rocksim.app/Contents/MacOS/rocksim: Mach-O 64-bit executable x86_64
turboactivate.app/Contents/MacOS/turboactivate: Mach-O 64-bit executable x86_64

 

[dpower]

Thanks! I’ve been reluctant to upgrade to Catalina until I’m sure Rocksim will work. Now if the developer could only get it Apple approved so we don’t have to disable gatekeeper.

 

[kentsarff]

Thanks! I’ve been reluctant to upgrade to Catalina until I’m sure Rocksim will work. Now if the developer could only get it Apple approved so we don’t have to disable gatekeeper.

Keep in mind that gatekeeper needs to be inactive for only the short period of time when you install Rocksim 10. After it’s installed, reenable gatekeeper and you’re good to go