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Significant USB delay with telescope mount after Sequoia 15.1 upgrade

I use my 2021 Macbook Pro to drive a Sky-Watcher EQ6-R Pro telescope mount over a USB 2.0 A/B cable through a USB hub. For years my setup has been relatively stable, using an open-source solution called KStars, which can drive all kinds of astronomy equipment (mounts, cameras, focusers, even domes) through INDI device drivers (also open source). It's continuously developed by an active community of mostly volunteer devs.


After I upgraded to Sequoia 15.1, my mount began responding sluggishly, with what appear to be lengthy communication delays between initiating a command (initialization, move, stop, start tracking the Earth's rotation, stop tracking, etc.). My USB 3.0 peripherals are fine, I've tried multiple cables without success, and the mount works just fine on a different M1 Macbook running Ventura (just tested it - connects quickly, no delays).


The mount itself uses a Prolific USB chip, which has had spotty support from Apple in the past, but again, works fine on Ventura.


Doing astronomy on a Mac is a labor of love, as the vast majority of the software is exclusive to, ahem, other operating systems. I would love to continue to use my Mac as an observatory tool, but Apple has to quick breaking USB connectivity with these OS updates.

MacBook Pro 16″, macOS 15.1

Posted on Nov 16, 2024 4:55 AM

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5 replies

Nov 16, 2024 10:31 AM in response to telescope_dog

http://developer.apple.com/


I must profess I'm not a licensed developer, although have occasionally offered bug reports as part of their free online developer program. Sometimes you get hints when someone says it is a "duplicate reported bug." But only rarely do they ask you to reproduce the issue with additional details. And obviously anything discussed there is under strict non-disclosure agreement, which includes not disclosing on this board.


Apple has a "seed" program for developers, and a June conference for developers to discuss past bugs and features for the following fall's new operating system.


On a side note, I do work at an office filled with HP laptops and e340 monitors from HP which have their own firmware update for better compatibility with attached devices. So it is not beyond reason to think that whatever monitor you have may have suddenly gotten out of sync with whatever new standards are out there.

Nov 19, 2024 11:08 AM in response to a brody

Right, so this isn't a monitor. It's a 45-pound hunk of iron that uses stepper motors to rotate around two axes. There's a ton of legacy equipment out there that people actively use that isn't actively patched according to Apple's current understanding of changes in the USB standard. I just wish that all the stuff that works continued to work when Apple pushes a new update... I'm seeing a ton of posts around the web about USB equipment that isn't working as intended following the release of 15.1. Would be lovely if Apple could release a statement about why that's happening, or better yet, what their plan is to restore functionality.

Significant USB delay with telescope mount after Sequoia 15.1 upgrade

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