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Isaac for Mac crashes on High Sierra and Mojave

Posted: Thu Oct 25, 2018 5:00 am
by Velocomp
Apple introduced intrusive, additional security "protections" in High Sierra and Mojave.

1) If you are using Isaac for Mac successfully on your Mac, you may completely ignore this post.

2) If you have NOT YET installed Isaac for Mac, please go to the link below for installation instructions, AND FOLLOW THE INSTRUCTIONS EXACTLY!! IF YOU DON'T FOLLOW THE INSTRUCTIONS EXACTLY, ISAAC WILL CRASH WHENEVER YOU LAUNCH IT!

https://velocompforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=5318

3) If you have already installed Isaac for Mac and it crashes when launched, read-on!

THE PROBLEM

High Sierra introduced a new security layer, affecting customers who are making a first installation of Isaac on their Macs.

If Isaac is crashing, then it was not installed properly. Unfortunately you will have to go through the painful process of removing Isaac, NI VISA Runtime, and then reinstall both, following exactly the instructions.

Here is what to do:

Remove iBike 2 folder

0) Make sure that Isaac is not launched

1) In your Finder, go to the Utilities folder

2) Open the Terminal utility

3) (I assume you have administrator privileges on your computer). Copy paste this command into terminal

defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles YES

4) Press return

5) Hold the ‘Option/alt’ key, then right-click on the Finder icon in the dock, then click Relaunch

6) Now, you will be able to see all your hidden folders.

7) Go to your user folder (the name you use to login), and follow the path

(user)/Library/Preferences/Velocomp/iBike 2

8) Rename the folder “iBike 2” to something else (for example, “iBike x”). This will preserve your old (possibly damaged) folder, but “disconnect” it from Isaac.

9) After you’ve done this you’ll want to return to normal your computer so that its hidden files are not shown.

10) In terminal, copy/paste the command

defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles NO

11) Press Return

12) Relaunch Finder, as described in step 5

13) Quit the Terminal utility

This will return your Mac to “normal”

UNINSTALL ISAAC AND NI VISA RUNTIME DRIVERS

You need to remove two pieces of software:

1) Isaac app

2) NI VISA Runtime

Isaac app

1. Go to Applications and remove “Isaac for Mac” app. Put in trash

NI Visa Runtime

1. Go to “[your hard drive]”/Applications/National Instruments/NI VISA/Uninstall.txt You will find an Uninstall.txt file in there

Here is the file that is in the folder (you will need to unzip the file to read it)
NI VISA RUNTIME UNINSTALL.txt.zip
(1.84 KiB) Downloaded 362 times
3. Open the Uninstall.txt file and then delete ALL of the "NI_VISA Runtime" folders and files identified in the .txt file. Note that some of the files are in the Application Support folder in Library. It is very likely that the cause of the crashes is NI Visa, so make sure to get rid of all the Visa Runtime files and folders!

RE-INSTALL ISAAC

Follow the instructions below. It’s important that, when first installing Isaac, that you cancel the install process as shown in steps 9) through 12). You might want to print these instructions so that you can follow them while doing the work on your Mac.
Isaac SW Installation082019.pdf
(2.67 MiB) Downloaded 293 times
When installing the drivers it's important to follow the security preferences procedures.

If you follow these steps things should be OK.

Re: Isaac for Mac crashes on High Sierra and Mojave

Posted: Sun Apr 07, 2019 8:47 pm
by schinpe
Really? This is shameful. I’d love to be a supporter but at the moment I’d rather just send the device back if this is the kind of trouble shooting customers need to go through.

Re: Isaac for Mac crashes on High Sierra and Mojave

Posted: Mon Apr 08, 2019 5:50 am
by Velocomp
schinpe wrote: Sun Apr 07, 2019 8:47 pm Really? This is shameful. I’d love to be a supporter but at the moment I’d rather just send the device back if this is the kind of trouble shooting customers need to go through.
I understand your frustration but it is Apple, not us, who has really screwed-up the installation process, with all of their security "improvements".

We are working now on a new version of Isaac/Mac that hopefully will get rid of this unfortunate problem.

Re: Isaac for Mac crashes on High Sierra and Mojave

Posted: Mon Apr 08, 2019 8:07 am
by schinpe
Thanks for the reply. I’ll probably be less frustrated once I get it working.

Re: Isaac for Mac crashes on High Sierra and Mojave

Posted: Sat Jun 22, 2019 10:33 pm
by Tarmac31
Any update on a smooth and successful download yet?

Re: Isaac for Mac crashes on High Sierra and Mojave

Posted: Sun Jun 23, 2019 2:42 am
by Velocomp
Tarmac31 wrote: Sat Jun 22, 2019 10:33 pm Any update on a smooth and successful download yet?
64it Mac is a major undertaking. Apple has removed some of the key libraries we used in 32bit Mac, and we are creating replacements.

Re: Isaac for Mac crashes on High Sierra and Mojave

Posted: Sun Jun 23, 2019 2:43 am
by Velocomp
Velocomp wrote: Sun Jun 23, 2019 2:42 am
Tarmac31 wrote: Sat Jun 22, 2019 10:33 pm Any update on a smooth and successful download yet?
64it Mac is a major undertaking. Apple has removed some of the key libraries we used in 32bit Mac, and we are creating replacements.

That said, we have confirmed with many users that, if our installation instructions are followed exactly, Isaac/Mac installs properly on the lates versions of Mac OS.

Re: Isaac for Mac crashes on High Sierra and Mojave

Posted: Wed Jun 26, 2019 12:15 pm
by jeffwhitfield
Question now is: Will the new version of Isaac be ready in time for the release of macOS Catalina? I can run Isaac in a supported version of macOS using Parallels Desktop but not everyone can do that. Users who upgrade to Catalina will likely be bit by this. The reason is that Catalina is the first macOS to be 100% 64-bit…no 32-bit software will be allowed! So…hopefully a new version of Isaac will be ready. Fingers crossed! :D

Re: Isaac for Mac crashes on High Sierra and Mojave

Posted: Wed Jun 26, 2019 4:05 pm
by Velocomp
jeffwhitfield wrote: Wed Jun 26, 2019 12:15 pm Question now is: Will the new version of Isaac be ready in time for the release of macOS Catalina? I can run Isaac in a supported version of macOS using Parallels Desktop but not everyone can do that. Users who upgrade to Catalina will likely be bit by this. The reason is that Catalina is the first macOS to be 100% 64-bit…no 32-bit software will be allowed! So…hopefully a new version of Isaac will be ready. Fingers crossed! :D
We are working diligently on this. This is not an easy problem to solve but we will do our best!

Re: Isaac for Mac crashes on High Sierra and Mojave

Posted: Sat Jul 06, 2019 8:30 am
by lorduintah
The term "intrusive" used in describing Apple's requirements is a bit harsh to say the least. Apple, more than many of the other computer manufacturers providing commercial products to the general public, has guidelines. Some of those guidelines are part of the evolution to provide secure operating environments. The necessary removal steps as described were necessary but could have been easily been accomplished if National Instruments had provided the shell scripting files for removing as well as reinstalling the numerous files that make the use of the USB interface to load ride files. Their software has been around for some time and has not been updated as far as I know to accommodate the enhanced needs for data security as outlined by Apple. The term "uninstaller" could have been supplied by National Instruments - NI. Even though the steps necessary to remove and reinstall the files supporting Isaac seem complex, in a Windows environment having to jump into the registry (as well as directory paths) to delete the links to supporting files is at least just as complex, if not more so, unless an "uninstaller" was provided.

Velocomp is not to blame for these complexities. They have done what is necessary to cleanly provide the steps necessary to work around what other vendors have not done.

Re: Isaac for Mac crashes on High Sierra and Mojave

Posted: Sat Jul 06, 2019 6:47 pm
by Velocomp
lorduintah wrote: Sat Jul 06, 2019 8:30 am The term "intrusive" used in describing Apple's requirements is a bit harsh to say the least. Apple, more than many of the other computer manufacturers providing commercial products to the general public, has guidelines. Some of those guidelines are part of the evolution to provide secure operating environments. The necessary removal steps as described were necessary but could have been easily been accomplished if National Instruments had provided the shell scripting files for removing as well as reinstalling the numerous files that make the use of the USB interface to load ride files. Their software has been around for some time and has not been updated as far as I know to accommodate the enhanced needs for data security as outlined by Apple. The term "uninstaller" could have been supplied by National Instruments - NI. Even though the steps necessary to remove and reinstall the files supporting Isaac seem complex, in a Windows environment having to jump into the registry (as well as directory paths) to delete the links to supporting files is at least just as complex, if not more so, unless an "uninstaller" was provided.

Velocomp is not to blame for these complexities. They have done what is necessary to cleanly provide the steps necessary to work around what other vendors have not done.
Maybe "intrusive" is not exact but "arbitrary" is very close...

The problem here is that Apple makes changes that ALWAYS benefit them, but without necessarily benefiting users:

1) In 64 bit Mac, some of the key libraries used in 32bit Mac are now missing. Why are they missing? What exactly is the benefit of 64 bit vs 32 bit? The only thing we know for sure is that it is expensive for us to upgrade Isaac, and we do not forecast ANY end user benefit

2) Our PowerHouse app is currently incompatible with iPhone X guidelines. Some of the key buttons that were visible in the current version of the app are now invisible. It is going to cost us a lot of $ to upgrade the app. What will be the user benefit? Zero...

3) As described here and elsewhere, Apple's security "improvements" are prone to user error during installation. And if the user makes an installation mistake, it is a horrible process to go backwards to fix the problem. What is the end user benefit of these security changes? We have no clue.

Re: Isaac for Mac crashes on High Sierra and Mojave

Posted: Mon Jul 08, 2019 1:43 am
by bkit1805
I followed the install instructions for Mojave and don't have a problem with Isaac crashing, but rather it is not connecting to the Powerpod. The USB connection is not green as it's supposed to be. I've tried to follow the instructions to delete everything and start again but I can't find a National Instruments folder in Application Support. I don't understand the instruction in the Uninstall.txt file 'Before removing this component run 'launchctl remove nilxid' as root' so I'm not sure if that's having an effect?

Re: Isaac for Mac crashes on High Sierra and Mojave

Posted: Mon Jul 08, 2019 6:14 am
by Velocomp
bkit1805 wrote: Mon Jul 08, 2019 1:43 am I followed the install instructions for Mojave and don't have a problem with Isaac crashing, but rather it is not connecting to the Powerpod. The USB connection is not green as it's supposed to be. I've tried to follow the instructions to delete everything and start again but I can't find a National Instruments folder in Application Support. I don't understand the instruction in the Uninstall.txt file 'Before removing this component run 'launchctl remove nilxid' as root' so I'm not sure if that's having an effect?
Reinstall the SiLabs drivers. This is likely where the problem is.

Re: Isaac for Mac crashes on High Sierra and Mojave

Posted: Fri Jul 26, 2019 8:34 pm
by jeffwhitfield
Velocomp wrote: Sat Jul 06, 2019 6:47 pm Maybe "intrusive" is not exact but "arbitrary" is very close...

The problem here is that Apple makes changes that ALWAYS benefit them, but without necessarily benefiting users:

1) In 64 bit Mac, some of the key libraries used in 32bit Mac are now missing. Why are they missing? What exactly is the benefit of 64 bit vs 32 bit? The only thing we know for sure is that it is expensive for us to upgrade Isaac, and we do not forecast ANY end user benefit

2) Our PowerHouse app is currently incompatible with iPhone X guidelines. Some of the key buttons that were visible in the current version of the app are now invisible. It is going to cost us a lot of $ to upgrade the app. What will be the user benefit? Zero...

3) As described here and elsewhere, Apple's security "improvements" are prone to user error during installation. And if the user makes an installation mistake, it is a horrible process to go backwards to fix the problem. What is the end user benefit of these security changes? We have no clue.
There is actually quite a few benefits 64-bit over 32-bit programming. First, you get more RAM. The ceiling for 32-bit programs is 4 gigs. Now, for Issac, that might not make much difference. Second, 64-bit apps run faster thanks to the ability to run more operations per cycle. You're effectively doubling the operations over a 32-bit program which, for Issac, that can actually translate to faster calculations for graphs and such.

When it comes to both Apple and Microsoft, the need to upgrade libraries is unavoidable. I get it, you're trying to support both platforms and you likely opted for a third-party library system to develop your apps. That company is solely responsible but, to be frank, the problem you're having isn't unusual. Every 5 to 6 years, you're likely to have to put in some time to significantly upgrade your apps, possibly even fully redevelop them. It's the cost of doing business in this day in age. Technology moves fast and both Microsoft and Apple do things to adopt to these changes. End result is that stuff will break and you'll have to adapt to those changes.