Can Mac mini be used for long-term offline installations?

Totally missed the "from the internet" part. I saw just "in isolation" and took it to mean not being readily accessible.

There is no real requirement for it to be connected to the internet constantly and not being connected should in no way cause crashes.

Considering the crashes are very specific in terms of time, I would look into scheduled items. There might be something running at that time that is failing. Possibly the Driver for the Midi interfaces or Focusrite that has some specified scheduled task that is failing.

I would look into the crash logs and see if it specifies what if anything is causing it to falter like that so consistently.

The internet is not a requirement for operation. Not sure why the so called "leading software engineer" would say that. An internet connection is not, nor has it ever been a requirement for the Mac to work and the lack thereof would definitely not cause an issue like the one described at all, unless something is trying to access the internet for some reason, and is coded poorly enough so that failing to connect to whatever it is trying to connect to causes it to catastrophically crash and take the system with it. Which is rather unlikely.

"I have recently been informed by an unknown ‘leading software engineer(!)’ that Macs are no longer built to run in long term isolation from the internet."

Bottom line? Complete, absolute blathering nonsense from an idiot pretending to be an expert.

reuben142 wrote:

I have recently been informed by an unknown ‘leading software engineer(!)’ that Macs are no longer built to run in long term isolation from the internet.

There is no reason a Mac "must" be connected to the internet except for certain activities. Once it is installed and runnning, and apps are installed & running, it can certainly run, and continue to run, "isolated" from the internet. I suggest that an "unknown leading software engineer" making a flat statement like that doesn't really know what he's talking about, or at least has not provided any meaningful details.

Certain things do need an internet connection but all are manageable and none require a constant internet connection:

• macOS & app installers, macOS updates, security updates & app updates ... basically you can only get them via the internet any more
• initial app licensing ... most apps now require you to be online at the time you enter your license codes
• ongoing app licensing ... certain apps require a live or periodic online sign-in in order to enable ongoing use of the app. MS/Office 365 & Adobe Cloud apps come to mind
• cloud applications and cloud storage, file sync & backup
• email, messaging, video conferencing, VOIP phone, etc.

Not sure what you mean by " used like hardware in isolation as part of a permanent installation".

Are you saying you will never again have access to the Mac mini? Ever? If anything happens and it fails or has to be restarted or updating or anything that requires access to it, it cannot be done?

You don't need to change its location if that's what you mean, but as with any computer, updates and other issues may arise that require access to the device at some point to fix or complete, so completely isolating the Mac can lead to being unable to resolve any issues that may arise and cause issues with whatever its running as part of the installation and well make it so it can't do what it was set to do.

Computers can crash, they can halt, then could even restart lose power, get hung up and need some kind of human intervention to return them to a functional state. Macs and even Mac Mini's are not immune to this.

This is true and has been true for every model of Mac, including Mac minis of the past. So, nothing really has changed in how Mac Mini's work in that regard.

If what you want to is t set it up once and forget about it for the next 20 years until you replace it, then probably not. There's no guarantee something won't happen to cause it to stop doing whatever it was set to be doing.

Otherwise, please be very clear what it is you expect the Mac to do. And someone may be able to advise.

One possibility - check each of your apps' settings. Many apps have their own individual setting to "Check for updates." Perhaps one of them is doing an update check on Sunday morning, failing to make a connection and then crashing. Some apps allow you to specify an update timeframe (daily, weekly, etc.). It may even be an installed app that you don't use. Make sure all the update settings are turned off.

What do you mean by the MainStage app receiving a system overload? A power overload on the mains? Or is the hearing system connected to your Mac and conflicting with MainStage? Or are the radios for your Mac & hearing system (WiFi and/or BT) interfering with each other? Or is it something else?

Are there no system logs that show any activity or failure at the critical time?