macOS 15 Sequoia Beta Fun

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CommanderJameson

CommanderJameson

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  • #1
    So, mainly to get access to the only way to bulk import passwords into one’s Passwords (i.e. the macOS Passwords app), I installed the developer beta of macOS 15 Sequoia. M1 Pro MacBook Pro, 8/14 cores, 16/512 storage.

    En gee ell, this thing is very, very similar to macOS 14. However there are changes, and early signs seem good:
    • Passwords is good. Needs a bit of polish (especially around resolving items that don’t import - this UI is dogshit rn. It basically gives you a list of things that didn’t work, in a dialogue box you have to dismiss, but you can’t save the list but even if you could the only thing you’d know about each one that didn’t work is “conflict”) but functionally, it works really well.
    • Maps can now do fancy custom routes (but it’s still far from obvious how to create these), and has had a bit of a visual overhaul.
    • Messages lets you do bold and italic formatting (and maybe others, but that’s what I tried).
    • There’s window tiling now, but it’s a bit meh right now - I expect this to improve through the beta though.
    The tiling will be great when they finish it, but today, it’s fiddly, finicky, and almost completely undiscoverable.

    mactile.png

    The new “Macintosh” wallpaper is sick:

    MacWallPap.png

    So, who else is jumping in early? Anyone running this on Intel?
     
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    Honeybog

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  • #5
    I thought about partitioning my MBA and running a beta partition, but I’ll probably just hold off for the final release. This does remind me that I should check if there’s a Safari beta out.

    CommanderJameson said:
    Maps can now do fancy custom routes (but it’s still far from obvious how to create these), and has had a bit of a visual overhaul.
    Click to expand...

    That’s an exciting change! I don’t do as much long-distance driving anymore, but custom routing is just about the only thing I’d still use Google Maps for.

    CommanderJameson said:
    There’s window tiling now, but it’s a bit meh right now - I expect this to improve through the beta though.
    Click to expand...

    I’m guessing this works like Magnet and BetterSnapTool.
     
    kenada

    kenada

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  • #6
    Can someone on an Apple Silicon Mac running the macOS 15 beta tell me whether the following works? It fails on macOS 14 due to a bad CPU type, but Rosetta 2 should support AVX2 in macOS 15, which should also allow it to support x86_64h executables.

    Bash: 
    $ cat <<EOF > test.c
#include <stdio.h>
int main() {
    printf("Hello, Haswell!\n");
}
EOF
$ clang -arch x86_64h test.c -o test
$ ./test
# Should print “Hello, Haswell!”
     
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    grahamb

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  • #10
    CommanderJameson said:
    So, mainly to get access to the only way to bulk import passwords into one’s Passwords (i.e. the macOS Passwords app),
    Click to expand...
    You can do this now, in the Passwords pane in Settings.
    CommanderJameson said:
    Passwords is good. Needs a bit of polish (especially around resolving items that don’t import - this UI is dogshit rn. It basically gives you a list of things that didn’t work, in a dialogue box you have to dismiss, but you can’t save the list but even if you could the only thing you’d know about each one that didn’t work is “conflict”) but functionally, it works really well.
    Click to expand...
    This is exactly the same behaviour that exists now, in the Passwords pane in Settings. All the new app is is a standalone version of that with (hopefully) some better UI, and access to some items from the Keychain (wifi passwords).
     
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    Entegy

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  • #13
    kenada said:
    Can someone on an Apple Silicon Mac running the macOS 15 beta tell me whether the following works? It fails on macOS 14 due to a bad CPU type, but Rosetta 2 should support AVX2 in macOS 15, which should also allow it to support x86_64h executables.

    Bash: 
    $ cat <<EOF > test.c
#include <stdio.h>
int main() {
    printf("Hello, Haswell!\n");
}
EOF
$ clang -arch x86_64h test.c -o test
$ ./test
# Should print “Hello, Haswell!”
    Click to expand...
    I wanted to try this, but running clang made the system ask me to install Developer Tools and for some reason the download is failing on my machine. It's probably more our corporate firewall than Apple's systems not being ready considering there are people using the Xcode beta.
     
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    drak

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  • #15
    kenada said:
    Can someone on an Apple Silicon Mac running the macOS 15 beta tell me whether the following works? It fails on macOS 14 due to a bad CPU type, but Rosetta 2 should support AVX2 in macOS 15, which should also allow it to support x86_64h executables.

    Bash: 
    $ cat <<EOF > test.c
#include <stdio.h>
int main() {
    printf("Hello, Haswell!\n");
}
EOF
$ clang -arch x86_64h test.c -o test
$ ./test
# Should print “Hello, Haswell!”
    Click to expand...
    On an M1 Mini with macOS 15, it unfortunately prints "bad CPU type in executable: ./test"

    Code: 
    $ file test
test: Mach-O 64-bit executable x86_64h
$ pgrep oahd
632
     
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    kenada

    kenada

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  • #17
    drak said:
    On an M1 Mini with macOS 15, it unfortunately prints "bad CPU type in executable: ./test"

    Code: 
    $ file test
test: Mach-O 64-bit executable x86_64h
$ pgrep oahd
632
    Click to expand...

    CommanderJameson said:
    For reference, my computer doesn’t have Rosetta installed:

    View attachment 83148
    Click to expand...

    Thanks! That’s unfortunate. I was hoping we might be able to target x86_64h in nixpkgs, but it’s not worth the effort if it’s still not supported by Rosetta 2.
     
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    Bonusround

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  • #21
    Installed the Sequoia beta on a M1 mini (named M1ni) that I‘ve dedicated to beta development.

    First impressions:

    • It’s quick, seems stable, and is damn-near identical to the last one. Sonoma with a new wallpaper.
    • Passwords is fine; I’ve never cared for Reminders‘ categories UI but that’s what they’ve gone with here. Keychain Access is MIA, I wonder if that means it’s gone for good.
    • Window snap works and feels equivalent to BetterSnapTool. The rect indicating position can be difficult to see especially in light mode. All ‘Windows’ menus have a new submenu with the full suite of snapping options, meaning these will be universally present and available for custom keyboard shortcuts.
    • No AI to play with yet, that’s due for later betas. But the XCode beta did download its ‘Predictive Code Completion Model.’
    • Safari‘s ‘New Tab’ UI changed the presentation of iCloud tabs and I hate it.

    Overall ho hum for now. Having played with Mac betas going way back I still marvel that we‘ve come to a place where the WWDC drop of a new OS is solid, quick to install, and immediately usable. Thank you, Apple!
     
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  • #22
    A glance at Activity Monitor showed me a few new members of Club Sequoia, one of which has been especially busy of late:

    Screenshot 2024-06-15 at 6.49.15 PM.png


    Having made its acquaintance, I followed this daemon back to its home where they introduced me to a bunch of their friends; some of them had such fun names! I exchanged numbers with PriorBeliefs and DiningOutModelTrial...

    Screenshot 2024-06-15 at 6.51.50 PM.pngScreenshot 2024-06-15 at 6.57.11 PM.pngScreenshot 2024-06-15 at 6.57.39 PM.pngScreenshot 2024-06-15 at 6.58.51 PM.png
     
    kenada

    kenada

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  • #26
    Entegy said:
    CommanderJameson said he didn't have Rosetta though.
    Click to expand...
    If macOS prompts to install Rosetta 2 when an x86_64 binary is run, then shouldn’t it have shown a prompt? It presumably didn’t. Anyway, as far as I can tell, the error is originating from the kernel when it parses the Mach-O binary for compatible architectures and doesn’t find any.
     
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  • #27
    japtor said:
    Do keychain notes and wifi passwords and such show up in the Passwords app then?
    Click to expand...
    CommanderJameson said:
    No. Yes.
    Click to expand...
    Hmm. I clean-installed Sequoia so can’t say how it migrates secure notes, but will need to pay attention to that because I have my own share of them stashed away in Keychain.

    With Notes.app having introduced its own locked notes perhaps that‘s a migration path for Apple to pursue. Doing so might raise an issue that I’ve frequently seen Apple bungle: backwards compatibility for sync’d assets.


    NB, new favorite AI resource from the post above: “LOITypeToOneHotTransformer.mlmodelc”
     
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    Entegy

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  • #28
    kenada said:
    If macOS prompts to install Rosetta 2 when an x86_64 binary is run, then shouldn’t it have shown a prompt? It presumably didn’t. Anyway, as far as I can tell, the error is originating from the kernel when it parses the Mach-O binary for compatible architectures and doesn’t find any.
    Click to expand...
    In my experience, command line tools and bash/zsh script stuff don't always trigger the Rosetta download prompt. I had some automation scripts that would simply error out until I realized one of the tools I was using required Rosetta, so I had to modify the first part of my script to check for, and download Rosetta if needed.
     
    CommanderJameson

    CommanderJameson

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  • #31
    Beta 2 just dropped. The big thing seems to be iPhone mirroring - this is similar to the old iPhone screen duplication feature from before, but now you can control your iPhone from your Mac. More of a “remote desktop, but your phone” thing.

    developer.apple.com

    macOS Sequoia 15 Beta 2 Release Notes | Apple Developer Documentation

    Update your apps to use new features, and test your apps against API changes.
    developer.apple.com developer.apple.com
     
    Arcturus

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  • #32
    Because I'm an idiot and love pain, I fired up the betas for daily use. iPhone mirroring is pretty awesome, if for nothing else having all of the notifications flow to my computer when my attention is there. I've already changed settings to kill more annoying notification this morning than I I have quite some time in the past.

    I'll be sure to come back here and let you make fun of me when this all ends in sadness when my datas are gone from a tragic bug.
     
    kenada

    kenada

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  • #35
    Bonusround said:
    Gotta say that the iPhone mirroring window design is slick. The virtual phone presents as a perfectly clean, ‘screen-only’ round rect, and only reveals its window chrome by hovering past the top of the iPhone screen. A bit special and unique – good work.
    Click to expand...
    That doesn’t sound very discoverable.
     
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