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Apple Seeds Fourth Beta of macOS Sierra to Developers

this is supposed to be so major they went back to the old name. any developers here? any major improvements to the kernel or the file management system? will it increase the speed of a machine running a 4th gen i5 with 4gb ram? fewer spinning balls? faster system calls?
or do I need to go back to the old listservs to find this info?
I stopped caring about this stuff between 10.5 and 10.6. now, I feel we need more light shed on these hype campaigns. God I'm getting grumpier by the month.
 
mmomega said:
for me, positive note. Auto unlock works like a champ on the new mac pro now.
I jsut have it sitting about 1 foot out of range of where I normally rest my hands at the keyboard when I sit down.
The MP is about 3 1/2 feet away. If I move my wrist inside of the 3 foot mark it works every single time.

I also found out you HAVE to have wifi enabled for this function to work. I normally only use ethernet on the Pro and when I tried auto unlocking the computer the lock screen said to enable WiFi functionality for this to work.
Click to expand...

That's good to know. How's the rest of the OS feel? Mail, Safari, Finder etc. How about any Pro Apps?
 
Avieshek said:
Hope, the 17" comes back. I just don't understand, why the bezels can't be thinner when you'll never hold it like an iPad. [And those that complain, it's certainly more portable than an iMac]

http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/17-inch-macbook
Click to expand...
I believe the 17" MacBook Pro was discontinued after 2011. Although a brilliant machine it is highly unlikely Apple will resume production.
Another area found wanting is OS X Snow Leopard a brilliant release and still running on many Macs due to Hardware restraints, the need for Rosetta to run PowerPC applications or consumer choice. In well need of an update. As it stands Snow Leopard is a ticking time bomb with increasingly less third party software being compatible.
[doublepost=1470127471][/doublepost]
ghostface147 said:
So I take it Fusion still throws an internal error when trying to use a VM?
Click to expand...
Same old issue when ever a new release of OS X has come along. With macOS Sierra it will be no different we will all get drawn in to the VMWare Fusion/Parallels Desktop annual upgrade.
That being said Parallels Desktop 11 with the latest update applied works well with macOS Sierra.
[doublepost=1470128007][/doublepost]
tywebb13 said:
Here's something a bit cheeky from Sierra - I don't really like it but some people might:

Email from apple to developers includes the following info:

"To make it even easier to update your system, this beta is available as an automatic download for El Capitan 10.11.5 or later. If you have set your Mac to download automatic updates in the background and receive beta software updates, the macOS Sierra beta 4 will download automatically and you will receive a notification when the download is complete. Simply click “Install” to begin."

So you can go from 10.11.5 or 10.11.6 directly to 10.12 DP4 via automatic downloads. You don't need to already have 10.12 DP3 installed. This is quite a new way to update.
Click to expand...
It is my understanding as with previous releases you need to have macOS Sierra DP1 installed first to update to following builds. Even then if you were to install DP1 you would need to apply DP2 then DP3 then DP4. It is not possible to go straight from DP1 to DP4.
 
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Guy Clark said:
It is my understanding as with previous releases you need to have macOS Sierra DP1 installed first to update to following builds. Even then if you were to install DP1 you would need to apply DP2 then DP3 then DP4. It is not possible to go straight from DP1 to DP4.
Click to expand...

It used to be the case for previous versions but is no longer the case for Sierra DPs.

In fact if you install DP1 now you won't even be able to update to DP2 via a delta update. The DP2 delta update has been removed - as has the DP3 one. At this time only DP4 will show up as an update. These are behaving like combos now. So it is different for Sierra.

Furthermore, what apple are now saying is that you can even update to 10.12 DP4 starting from 10.11.5 or 10.11.6 i.e., you don't even need Sierra to begin with to update to DP4. That is also quite a new way to update. So why do you think apple emailed developers about this? ....... Because it is different! (i.e., not the same as before!).

Even the DP1 full installer itself has been removed. If you go to the purchases tab in the mac app store to redownload the Sierra full installer again, you won't get the DP1 full installer. You will actually get a full installer of DP2. And this can update to DP4 directly, skipping DP3 altogether.

What applied for previous versions clearly does not apply to Sierra.
 
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I am just getting Apple's version of Windmills of your mind - "an ever-spinning reel" on App Store looking for Sierra PB3. I hope this cures printing problems with Adobe apps (Acrobat, Photoshop and Lightroom), when it does finally arrive.
 
A minor bug:
  1. I allowed App Store – not softwareupdate(8) – to initiate the update routine
  2. following installation, there was notification that some software had not been installed automatically
  3. I allowed that notification to open App Store
  4. the Updates page of App Store shows nothing applicable
  5. the installed update is not listed as installed
– App Store discrepancies such as that are no great surprise.

Postscripts

The App Store discrepancies

I worked around one discrepancy by running 'softwareupdate -l' – that check from the command line caused one item to appear as applicable in App Store.

Then, a quit from App Store followed by command line reinstallation of the item:

Code: 
Mashemite:~ grahamperrin$ pkgutil --packages | grep iTunesX
com.apple.pkg.iTunesX
com.apple.pkg.iTunesXPatch
com.apple.pkg.iTunesX
com.apple.pkg.iTunesXPatch
Mashemite:~ grahamperrin$ pkgutil --pkg-info com.apple.pkg.iTunesX | grep -i version
version: 12.5.0.0.1.1188253749
Mashemite:~ grahamperrin$ sudo softwareupdate -i -a
Password:
Software Update Tool
Copyright 2002-2015 Apple Inc.

Finding available software

Downloading iTunes
Downloaded iTunes
Installing iTunes
Done with iTunes
Done.
Mashemite:~ grahamperrin$ pkgutil --packages | grep iTunesX
com.apple.pkg.iTunesX
com.apple.pkg.iTunesXPatch
com.apple.pkg.iTunesX
com.apple.pkg.iTunesXPatch
Mashemite:~ grahamperrin$ pkgutil --pkg-info com.apple.pkg.iTunesX | grep -i version
version: 12.5.0.0.1.1188253749
Mashemite:~ grahamperrin$ time softwareupdate -l
Software Update Tool
Copyright 2002-2015 Apple Inc.

Finding available software
No new software available.

real    5m16.003s
user    0m0.069s
sys    0m0.049s
Mashemite:~ grahamperrin$ date ; uptime ; sw_vers
Tue  2 Aug 2016 13:22:51 BST
13:22  up  1:18, 5 users, load averages: 2.90 3.02 2.71
ProductName:    Mac OS X
ProductVersion:    10.12
BuildVersion:    16A270f
Mashemite:~ grahamperrin$

Recovery OS

ProductBuildVersion 16A270f

Code: 
Mashemite:~ grahamperrin$ defaults read /Volumes/Recovery\ HD/System/Library/CoreServices/SystemVersion
{
    ProductBuildVersion = 16A270f;
    ProductCopyright = "1983-2016 Apple Inc.";
    ProductName = "Mac OS X";
    ProductUserVisibleVersion = "10.12";
    ProductVersion = "10.12";
}
Mashemite:~ grahamperrin$
 
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Cuban Missles said:
other faces on my ipad
Click to expand...
Are you also doing the iOS 10PB? iOS 10b4 Release Notes state (first entry):
Functionality not in iOS 10 beta 4
  • Faces in the Photos app do not sync across your devices.
And, FTR:
Photos
  • Face data will be reprocessed in iOS 10 beta 4, resulting in any named, favorited, or merged face data being reset.
  • People syncing is not enabled via iCloud Photo Library in iOS 10.
  • Memories, Related, People, and Scene are not supported on 32-bit devices.
 
ScooterComputer said:
Are you also doing the iOS 10PB? iOS 10b4 Release Notes state (first entry):
Functionality not in iOS 10 beta 4
  • Faces in the Photos app do not sync across your devices.
Click to expand...
No I am on the PB. But this probably applies and something I should have read. Now I just feel silly. :oops:

Thanks for the update however. I will assume that the PB drop today or tomorrow will also not have the sync.
 
Cuban Missles said:
No I am on the PB. But this probably applies and something I should have read. Now I just feel silly. :oops:

Thanks for the update however. I will assume that the PB drop today or tomorrow will also not have the sync.
Click to expand...
The release notes are a PITA to find most of the time. I get them from [beta.applebetas.tk]. I'm guessing the PB and Dev drops are going to be the same this week.
 
tywebb13 said:
Here's something a bit cheeky from Sierra - I don't really like it but some people might:

Email from apple to developers includes the following info:

"To make it even easier to update your system, this beta is available as an automatic download for El Capitan 10.11.5 or later. If you have set your Mac to download automatic updates in the background and receive beta software updates, the macOS Sierra beta 4 will download automatically and you will receive a notification when the download is complete. Simply click “Install” to begin."

So you can go from 10.11.5 or 10.11.6 directly to 10.12 DP4 via automatic downloads. You don't need to already have 10.12 DP3 installed. This is quite a new way to update.
Click to expand...

I don't see the logic behind this change. Hopefully Apple won't expand this policy to public beta because developers are expected to be far more knowledgeable than regular users...
 
Ebenezum said:
I don't see the logic behind this change. Hopefully Apple won't expand this policy to public beta because developers are expected to be far more knowledgeable than regular users...
Click to expand...
Why not? Just makes it simpler for people who have opted into all that to stay on top of the latest beta updates so that they are running the most current beta.
 
Cuban Missles said:
I am on the PB so expect to see that drop tomorrow. In the meantime, I reported a problem to apple with Photos that I would be interested to see if it was fixed. Basically, I tagged faces in Photos on my mac and other faces on my ipad. the tags don't seem to sync, so the tagging is different across my devices. even the tags on the phone are now different from the ipad or on the Mac. Has anyone played with this and seeing the problem or figured out a workaround?
Click to expand...

This is expected behavior right now on the beta and is not a bug.
 
C DM said:
Why not? Just makes it simpler for people who have opted into all that to stay on top of the latest beta updates so that they are running the most current beta.
Click to expand...

Yes but if Apple decides to expand this kind of behaviour it should be clearly documented. One email isn't enough in my opinion.
 
Ebenezum said:
Yes but if Apple decides to expand this kind of behaviour it should be clearly documented. One email isn't enough in my opinion.
Click to expand...
Seems like the actions of opting into automatic update as well as into the beta program would inherently imply the fairly straightforward logical consequence of receiving beta updates automatically. And if there's an email further re-iterating that that's even more of a reminder of that.
 
ncbetz said:
Do you know if there is an ETA for the unlock with Apple Watch? Was a specific beta set?
Click to expand...
It´s been out for a couple of betas. I use my apple watch to unlock my mac. It usually works well, although it does take a few seconds too long to actually work. Typing my password is usually faster.
 
Shaun said:
Here is my problem with this... I'm sitting at my desk with the Mac, iPad & iPhone all switched on. I say "Hey Siri" and all 3 devices will answer because they don't know which device I'm talking to. I had to disable Hey Siri on the iPad because of this problem and it's going to be the same with the Mac. This just isn't going to work.
Click to expand...

Haha totally - the system completely breaks down when you're in the same room as multiple devices. I had to just forego Siri on my iPad a long time ago.
 
Avieshek said:
Hope, the 17" comes back.
Click to expand...

17" is back, but you must know where to look within a hidden .plist file, and I can not break confidentiality to tell you where the file is in the operating plistem.

redheeler said:
2.12 GB, this is a big one.
Click to expand...

Bigger than the previous developer beta because the previous included the 17" MacBook UItra.

Developer Beta 4 also includes a prototype Apple Watch and next gen iPad Ultra (not hugely different from the Pro, but take a close look at the pencil after your Mac restarts following the update). I'm surprised that all three items of hardware fit within the 2.12 GB item of software. That's an impressive compression algorithm. Who says that Apple no longer innovates?
 
MacRumors said:



Apple today released the fourth beta of macOS Sierra, the newest operating system designed for the Mac, to developers. macOS Sierra beta 4 comes two weeks after the release of the third beta and almost two months after the software was first unveiled at Apple's 2016 Worldwide Developers Conference.

Developers can download today's beta update through the software update mechanism in the Mac App Store or through the Apple Developer Center.

macossierrabeta-800x450.jpg

macOS Sierra is a significant update bringing Siri to the Mac for the first time, allowing users to conduct voice searches to quickly find files, look up information, and more. New Continuity features offer an "Auto Unlock" option for unlocking a Mac with an Apple Watch and a Universal Clipboard for copying something on one Apple device and pasting it on another.

Deeper iCloud integration makes files stored on the desktop or the Documents folder of a Mac available on all of a user's devices, and Photos features deep learning algorithms for improved facial, object, and scene recognition. There's a Memories feature for displaying photo collections, and Messages has rich links, bigger emoji, and "Tapback" response options.

Apple Pay is coming to the web in macOS Sierra, with payments authenticated through an iPhone or Apple Watch, and new features like multiple tabs, Picture in Picture multitasking, and optimized storage are also available.


During the beta testing period, Apple will tweak and refine the features introduced in macOS Sierra. In macOS Sierra beta 4, Apple has introduced new emoji promoting gender equality and introduced a new look for many existing emoji with new textures and design tweaks.

macOS Sierra is currently available to developers and public beta testers, and it will see a wider public release this fall. For full details on all of the new features included in macOS Sierra, make sure to check out our macOS Sierra roundup.

Article Link: Apple Seeds Fourth Beta of macOS Sierra to Developers
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[doublepost=1470295953][/doublepost]I have had major issues with Beta 4. I've wondered if anyone else has. I've had to reinstall from a boot disk. Spent all day just getting to that point. I've encountered strange login screens with nothing but two fields, and after I recovered I get constantly bombarded by keychain authentication. It's an endless loop I can't exit. I'll have to do it again, and wait either for the next update, or be force to reset back to another version if possible. I'd like to know if anyone else had issues. I tried to report it.
 
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