Mojave is just iOS inspired garbage. Terrible update

[fisherking]

AFAIC when it comes to Mac Mini late 2012, there's problems under the hood AND there's not much happening in the "hood" as I'm not finding the solutions to the problems. I suspect that whilst the Mini was eligible for the OS update, it really can't handle it. I would've liked to have known that before going down this path. I've been told that I need to "buy 3rd party applications to replace the Apple bundled apps because they don't work so well".
This is a clean install, 16GB RAM. No disk problems (apart from not being SSD). I've reset NVPRAM, SMC and no 3rd party apps have been installed - YET ( I shudder to think what might happen – I need to reinstall MAMP etc. ANYONE PLEASE tell me if you think I should step backwards to Sierra/HighSierra).
The current issues I haven't resolved:
bluetooth keyboard typing backwards
TextEdit takes 30-secs to perform a cut and paste.
Mail app can't/won't read by previous mailbox database and so I have to buy a 3rd party app to transfer the contents.
After Mojave what I've got is a giant desktop iPad without a touch screen.

have you tried reinstalling the OS? also, your drive could have damaged sectors. and you can't import your older mail? have you tried importing as mbox? which bluetooth keyboard? if it's 3rd-party, check with the developer (for example, there may be a new driver for it). the whole point of the apple apps is that they do work well with the OS... 3rd-party apps won't fix those issues.

you can try setting up a 'test' admin account, log into that, see if the keyboard works, textedit works; that would, at least, tell you that the OS isn't the problem, it's something in your account (ie a preference issue, etc).

seriously, if an OS reinstall doesn't help, and you're up for it, get something like carbon copy cloner and a 7200rpm external drive, and... clone your mac, then reboot into the external drive, and see how things go.

good luck with this!

 

[Sedulous]

AFAIC when it comes to Mac Mini late 2012, there's problems under the hood AND there's not much happening in the "hood" as I'm not finding the solutions to the problems. I suspect that whilst the Mini was eligible for the OS update, it really can't handle it. I would've liked to have known that before going down this path. I've been told that I need to "buy 3rd party applications to replace the Apple bundled apps because they don't work so well".
This is a clean install, 16GB RAM. No disk problems (apart from not being SSD). I've reset NVPRAM, SMC and no 3rd party apps have been installed - YET ( I shudder to think what might happen – I need to reinstall MAMP etc. ANYONE PLEASE tell me if you think I should step backwards to Sierra/HighSierra).
The current issues I haven't resolved:
bluetooth keyboard typing backwards
TextEdit takes 30-secs to perform a cut and paste.
Mail app can't/won't read by previous mailbox database and so I have to buy a 3rd party app to transfer the contents.
After Mojave what I've got is a giant desktop iPad without a touch screen.

No SSD is the problem. 100% certain.

 

[Anakowi]

have you tried reinstalling the OS? also, your drive could have damaged sectors. and you can't import your older mail? have you tried importing as mbox? which bluetooth keyboard? if it's 3rd-party, check with the developer (for example, there may be a new driver for it). the whole point of the apple apps is that they do work well with the OS... 3rd-party apps won't fix those issues.

you can try setting up a 'test' admin account, log into that, see if the keyboard works, textedit works; that would, at least, tell you that the OS isn't the problem, it's something in your account (ie a preference issue, etc).

seriously, if an OS reinstall doesn't help, and you're up for it, get something like carbon copy cloner and a 7200rpm external drive, and... clone your mac, then reboot into the external drive, and see how things go.

good luck with this!

Thanks for the suggestions. Tackling the "typing" issue at this stage. So far testing indicates an Apple Magic Trackpad problem. Paired with an old Mac (snow leopard) the trackpad is working perfectly. On Mojave it fails to recognise that I've finished selecting/highlighting a section of text - so if I don't tap (which I shouldn't have to) and the cursor moves to a new xy point OR I hit any key on the keyboard NOTHING happens until I touch the trackpad again at which point it acts on the cursor movement or key-hit – hence a whole document can get badly messed up. After trying SAFEMODE the problem still exists.

I'm about to try reinstalling Mojave.
[doublepost=1551247144][/doublepost]

No SSD is the problem. 100% certain.

I'd like to know more. Once I've rectified the "typing" issues I'll start on the other glitches. Why does Mojave prefer SSD? And how might a "slower" HDD make such a difference? I suppose this would explain why doing a restart and booting up takes a horrendous long time.

It's not really an option for me to replace the HDD. I'm on zero income and if that were the case I'll need to be saving up to buy a new Mac mini. Moving off Windows/DOS 20 years ago was justified in that the MacOS was very generous in it's longevity, even if you couldn't easily rebuild/upgrade the box – but the new models don't get much shelf life (or time moves far too quickly these days).

 

[fisherking]

have you tried changing the trackpad settings in system prefs? 'click' and 'trackspeed', for instance. just to see how that affects the issue.

an SSD won't magically fix things; apps will load faster, but, once you're working, you're in RAM, not the SSD. better to try to sort out the issues. again, try setting up a clean 'test' admin account, see if the problems happen there...

 

[Sedulous]

Thanks for the suggestions. Tackling the "typing" issue at this stage. So far testing indicates an Apple Magic Trackpad problem. Paired with an old Mac (snow leopard) the trackpad is working perfectly. On Mojave it fails to recognise that I've finished selecting/highlighting a section of text - so if I don't tap (which I shouldn't have to) and the cursor moves to a new xy point OR I hit any key on the keyboard NOTHING happens until I touch the trackpad again at which point it acts on the cursor movement or key-hit – hence a whole document can get badly messed up. After trying SAFEMODE the problem still exists.

I'm about to try reinstalling Mojave.
[doublepost=1551247144][/doublepost]

I'd like to know more. Once I've rectified the "typing" issues I'll start on the other glitches. Why does Mojave prefer SSD? And how might a "slower" HDD make such a difference? I suppose this would explain why doing a restart and booting up takes a horrendous long time.

It's not really an option for me to replace the HDD. I'm on zero income and if that were the case I'll need to be saving up to buy a new Mac mini. Moving off Windows/DOS 20 years ago was justified in that the MacOS was very generous in it's longevity, even if you couldn't easily rebuild/upgrade the box – but the new models don't get much shelf life (or time moves far too quickly these days).

Modern OS expects rapid access. While it is true once loaded in RAM, operations are faster but it seems like perhaps more things are exchanged between RAM and storage. Even highlighting text seems to cause an old drive to spin up. All those little background read/writes cause a rotational drive system to become laggy and unresponsive. Do yourself a favor and drop $50 for a SSD.

 

[Anakowi]

Modern OS expects rapid access. While it is true once loaded in RAM, operations are faster but it seems like perhaps more things are exchanged between RAM and storage. Even highlighting text seems to cause an old drive to spin up. All those little background read/writes cause a rotational drive system to become laggy and unresponsive. Do yourself a favor and drop $50 for a SSD.

Thanks. Makes sense and worth considering... haha $55 in Australia for a 250GB SSD - then jumps up in price.
[doublepost=1551312940][/doublepost]

have you tried changing the trackpad settings in system prefs? 'click' and 'trackspeed', for instance. just to see how that affects the issue.

an SSD won't magically fix things; apps will load faster, but, once you're working, you're in RAM, not the SSD. better to try to sort out the issues. again, try setting up a clean 'test' admin account, see if the problems happen there...

Yes, thanks I'll try that now - a test account and tweak the trackpad sensitivity.
[doublepost=1551314643][/doublepost]@fisherking - THANK YOU for your persistence. I've resolved the problem.
Creating the test account meant going through all the Trackpad settings again - and wondered why I couldn't drag a window. I'd forgotten that I encountered this problem with my first installation of Mojave – the controls aren't in the usual Trackpad settings but via Accessibility.
"Drag with lock" wasn't an option in my previous OS. I've disabled it.
I won't forget that again in a hurry.
I suspect the lag issues would improve with SSD. As for mail - maybe that's an opportunity to not look backwards.

 

[LauraJean]

Dont use apple apps, my MBA 2010 el capitan is running non apple apps waaaaaaay much better after i switched iTunes, pages, safari, mail and photo just to name a few with free linux apps i use with my other computer in a linux environment with no crashes!
Hooe this helps!

This is very interesting. I have two questions:

1. Did you have to move all your photos to a new storage place in order to use a linux photos app?

2. Can you sync your iOS 12 mobile devices to download apps, music, photos, books, and audiobooks with your iTunes-style linux app?

My current plan is to stay with Sierra, iOS 10/11, and iTunes 12.6 to preserve the non-icloud way I like to sync, a method which Apple "innovation" took away.

 

[harriska2]

This is very interesting. I have two questions:

1. Did you have to move all your photos to a new storage place in order to use a linux photos app?

2. Can you sync your iOS 12 mobile devices to download apps, music, photos, books, and audiobooks with your iTunes-style linux app?

My current plan is to stay with Sierra, iOS 10/11, and iTunes 12.6 to preserve the non-icloud way I like to sync, a method which Apple "innovation" took away.

I just moved 30 years of email, pictures, files, and music from windows to mojave mac and use stock apps. I find it quicker and more solid than my Outlook/Windows 7 machine. Chrome and Firefox had serious memory leaks. I find Safari does everything I need. I use Photos but leave the photos in my dated folders and reference to them. Mail, contacts, and calendar just work. Some Calendars are shared with 2 other people. It works very well.