Jump to content

EasyABC and macOS Big Sur - end of the road?


adrian brown

Recommended Posts

I've just needed to replace my aging Macbook and discovered to my horror that there's no version of EasyABC that will work with the latest MacOS. Has anyone found a work around for this, or will I have to keep my old laptop going solely for working with abc files? I've just discovered that MuseScore 3 will import my abc files, but really I miss being able to have a whole collection of tunes in a single file. You know you're getting old when every announcement of an operating system upgrade fills you with angst!

 

Adrian

Link to comment
Share on other sites

27 minutes ago, adrian brown said:

I've just needed to replace my aging Macbook and discovered to my horror that there's no version of EasyABC that will work with the latest MacOS. Has anyone found a work around for this, or will I have to keep my old laptop going solely for working with abc files? I've just discovered that MuseScore 3 will import my abc files, but really I miss being able to have a whole collection of tunes in a single file. You know you're getting old when every announcement of an operating system upgrade fills you with angst!

I haven't looked at in detail (because I'm not a Mac owner/user), but there is a  recent thread on melodeon.net

which addresses this problem. Here it is:

 

http://forum.melodeon.net/index.php/topic,26569.0.html

 

The claim seems to be that it works, though it does look as if you will have to go to SourceForge and fanny about downloading and installing stuff.

 

Good luck - I've recently been trying (with remote assistance) to install a programming language on a Macintosh which is not on the Macintosh 'approved' list. And here's me thinking Windoze users had it hard...☹️

Edited by lachenal74693
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Wow that was quick - thanks so much Roger!

 

Actually having read through the threads, it's really easy, since somebody has assembled a .dmg file (installation file on macs) which works a treat. The link to the package is here:

 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1mnXH6DD_PYFSrjyLvFpJ_m0ZA90qgmaG/view

 

I think I'll keep a copy myself just in case the uploader removes the link and somebody else here has the same problem.

 

Thanks again, I'm one happy bunny this morning 🙂

 

Adrian

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks. Just downloaded it, haven’t tried it yet.

 

For years I’ve been struggling with the version that Jon Warbrick was working on, described here, but it couldn’t make sound or produce PDFs. At least I could see on-screen notation while I was working. Then I would airdrop it to my iPhone , where Tunebook could play it and make a PDF.

 

But boy, do I miss BarFly!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

<grumble> 😖

 

It’s only marginally better than what was previously available. I still can’t get it to make any sound, double-clicking abc files or dragging them to the application icon opens the app with a blank window: the only way to actually open an existing file is to open the app first and then choose “Open” from the File menu. But it can export a PDF.

 

Adrian, are you having any better luck?

Edited by David Barnert
Link to comment
Share on other sites

30 minutes ago, David Barnert said:

<grumble> 😖

 

It’s only marginally better than what was previously available. I still can’t get it to make any sound, double-clicking abc files or dragging them to the application icon opens the app with a blank window: the only way to actually open an existing file is to open the app first and then choose “Open” from the File menu. But it can export a PDF.

 

Adrian, are you having any better luck?

 

Yes David, playing is fine for me and exporting as pdfs. Clicking on an abc file never worked for me anyway, I always had to open it from within the program either as 'open file' or in 'recent'.

 

I've made a screenshot of my settings and will attempt to attach it here:

 

Nah, it didn't want to attach - i've sent it to you as an e-mail David - hope this helps,

 

Adrian

Link to comment
Share on other sites

37 minutes ago, David Barnert said:

 

Thanks. My settings match yours, but I’m still getting no sound (and yes, my internal speaker is on and playing other sounds appropriately).

Have you tried clicking on browse to make sure the files themselves are sitting in the correct place? Sorry if this is something you've obviously done, I'm not much more advanced in these matters, but I'm sure somebody else can chip in?

 

Oh, and can you play midi files independently and get some sound out? A few OS'es ago, the sound output of midi files was so low, I could only work with headphones, but they solved that in a subsequent update.

 

Good luck,

 

Adrian

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm using a Mac  - OS Catalina, ver 10.15.7 

I find the ABC editor provided by the MONTREAL SESSION TUNEBOOK very useful here :-

 

ABC editor

 

As you type your text into the box your tune appears below and there are options at the top of the pages to download PDF, PNG or midi.

They also have a fairly extensive library of tunes.

 

Jake

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Oh dear, my supposed 'solution' seems to have caused more problems than it solved.

 

Everyone got it working yet?

 

I ask because some time down the road, I will need to get my hands on a Mac to create

an executable for one of my programs.

 

This will involve installing a programming language not usually found on a Mac (though

I know it has been done), and then copying across the program source and compiling it

to generate the executable.

 

Your experiences so far do not fill me with much confidence that I will be able to do this

without a struggle...☹️

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, lachenal74693 said:

This will involve installing a programming language not usually found on a Mac (though

I know it has been done), and then copying across the program source and compiling it

to generate the executable.

 

Which language? Is it a command line program? I have a few Macs, though the newest is nearly 10 years old and none of them can run the most recent OS.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

20 minutes ago, alex_holden said:

Which language? Is it a command line program? I have a few Macs, though the newest is nearly 10 years old and none of them can run the most recent OS.

It's a language called Icon which has been around since the 1980s. These days it exists as a  sub-set of

the larger Unicon language. Icon has been my programming language of choice for more than 30 years.

 

It's whatever you want  to be - the program I'm talking about can be run as a 'drag-and-drop' program, or

from within a command window. The problem is not so much OS-related, but overcoming the reluctance of

Macintosh to allow folks to run software other than Macintosh-approved programs on their machines. It's a

pain, and will be until I can get to a library with Macintoshes - ie: The Central/City Library in St. Peter's Square

(I'm guessing you know where I'm talking about😎).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, JimR said:

Is wine a possibility for EasyABC (or a programming language developed in my adopted home of Arizona )?

It must be worth a shot? Though, I have been told (in the context of an entirely different, non-music

application) that WINE doesn't work on the most recent version of the Macintosh OS. This was in

June 2020, so that should help tie it down for the Macintosh-based EasyABC users?

 

I know it sounds weird, but I'm starting to wonder if Macintosh users with older machines and/or

operating systems might be in a slightly stronger position here?

 

-----

Aside: Out of curiosity, what's the other language you refer to?

Edited by lachenal74693
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, lachenal74693 said:

It must be worth a shot? Though, I have been told (in the context of an entirely different, non-music

application) that WINE doesn't work on the most recent version of the Macintosh OS. This was in

June 2020, so that should help tie it down for the Macintosh-based EasyABC users?

 

I know it sounds weird, but I'm starting to wonder if Macintosh users with older machines and/or

operating systems might be in a slightly stronger position here?

 

AFAIK the most recent version of Wine works on the most recent version of MacOS. No idea if it would help you with EasyABC, which as I understand it is actually a Python front-end for several command line programs.

 

Apple tends to periodically make changes that break compatibility with older software (Microsoft is way more reluctant to do this), and it sometimes takes third party software developers a while to catch up and release a new version of their program that supports the new OS. If the program in question isn't being actively developed any more, it may be permanently broken. The latest Apple Mac computers use a different CPU architecture from the previous generation, and the latest OS has a translation layer that allows software compiled for the old architecture to still work (with some performance penalty). I feel sure from past experience that in two or three years they will release a new OS that doesn't have the translation layer any more, and a bunch of older unsupported software will stop working. It's all part of a system designed to keep everyone buying new computers and devices every few years (I say that as a fan of Apple products).

 

A separate issue is that you have to know the administration password and change a security setting before the OS will allow you to install third-party software that didn't come from the official Apple App Store. This is meant to make it more difficult for users to accidentally install trojan horse software that takes over their machine. I believe Microsoft now does the same thing in an even more annoying way (a while ago my dad asked me how to install LibreOffice on his new Windows 10 laptop, and it took me a long time to figure out how to do it).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I can't comment on any of the recent posts here as it goes way beyond my technical ability, but I can reiterate that the link I found via Roger's original suggestion leads you to an installation package for EasyABC that works fine on the latest macOS  (OS 11.1 -Big Sur). You do have to open it for the first time using the control key, as you do with all third-party software, for the reason Alex mentions, but then it works fine.

 

David has a midi issue which I think is something to do with his abc2midi executable, but he managed to find a different workaround for playback.

 

As someone with middling to poor computer literacy, I do find it perplexing that you have to persuade your new computer to run your old favorites. I quite understand that an old computer will say 'no' to more modern software, but that these things can't be automatically backwards compatible... 

 

Thanks again for your help though - I was really stumped until Roger's suggestion.

 

Cheers,

 

Adrian

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...