Mac mini M1

Here you can discuss topics such as focus stacking, stitching and other techniques that relate to the processing of micrographs.
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MichaelG.
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Mac mini M1

#1 Post by MichaelG. » Sun Jan 02, 2022 8:01 am

I started 2022 by ordering a Mac mini
https://www.apple.com/uk/mac-mini/

16GB RAM & 256GB storage seemed the optimum arrangement, for two reasons:
  • I need to become better-organised
  • third-party external storage is much more economical
Question:
Is anyone else using the M1, and are there any special features/issues worth discussing here ?

MichaelG.
.

Note: It appears that Zerene Stacker is in the process of being optimised for “Apple Silicon”
http://zerenesystems.com/cms/stacker/softwaredownloads
… see the fourth bullet.
Too many 'projects'

DrPhoxinus
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Re: Mac mini M1

#2 Post by DrPhoxinus » Sun Jan 02, 2022 5:36 pm

In the event you want to run Windows as a secondary OS, you have to use Parallels. It will direct you to a Windows 11 ARM version.

You can buy a Windows 10 Home key for about $15 at CAS-cdkeys.com

That key will activate Windows 11 as would any Windows 10 retail key

DrPhoxinus
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Re: Mac mini M1

#3 Post by DrPhoxinus » Sun Jan 02, 2022 5:38 pm

Damn auto correct

CJS-cdkeys.com

Parallels is about $79

Alexander
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Re: Mac mini M1

#4 Post by Alexander » Sun Jan 02, 2022 5:58 pm

Never found a reason to run an operation system as inferior as Windows on a Mac.

DrPhoxinus
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Re: Mac mini M1

#5 Post by DrPhoxinus » Sun Jan 02, 2022 6:21 pm

See the recent post for Motic Images in this forum.
It isn’t the OS, it’s the apps

PeteM
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Re: Mac mini M1

#6 Post by PeteM » Sun Jan 02, 2022 6:55 pm

I'm about ready to retire an old Power Mac. It has 32gb of RAM and till runs fine -- but Apple is sunsetting the operating system. So, I'll be curious about how your new Mac works for you. By all accounts your new Mini should smoke my Power Mac taking up about 20x the volume and weight.

I've also heard rumors that Apple may release a Mini that's even faster sometime in 2022. Either dual M1 chips or their "Max" version. That could be terrific for anyone doing deep focus stacks.

DrPhoxinus
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Re: Mac mini M1

#7 Post by DrPhoxinus » Sun Jan 02, 2022 7:11 pm

Having felt ripped off by buying a Intel Mac at Costco with a 128GB SSD (not enough storage to download and upgrade to Big Sur) I can tell you that the M1 Mac is a different animal.
Even with 8GB of ram it runs both Mac and Windows easily.

Further Intel should be very afraid. Instead of building frying pans using a 100 watts, Apple went the other way.

Expect to see the M1 follow ons soon

https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2021/10/ ... ver-built/

Alexander
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Re: Mac mini M1

#8 Post by Alexander » Sun Jan 02, 2022 7:55 pm

DrPhoxinus wrote:
Sun Jan 02, 2022 6:21 pm

It isn’t the OS, it’s the apps
Using Windows-only apps it is pointless to buy a Mac.

MichaelG.
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Re: Mac mini M1

#9 Post by MichaelG. » Sun Jan 02, 2022 8:08 pm

Thanks for the replies

… Delivery is about 10 days from now [no pick-ups available from the Apple Store at present], so I will have to wait patiently.

On-line reviews look very promising, although there have been some worrying comments about USB connectivity under Monterey.

Here’s hoping !!

MichaelG.
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75RR
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Re: Mac mini M1

#10 Post by 75RR » Sun Jan 02, 2022 8:14 pm

.
What can I say, please read the small print!

Digital processing
Here you can discuss topics such as focus stacking, stitching and other techniques that relate to the processing of micrographs.

Keep it real folks - there is no computer section in MicrobeHunter
Zeiss Standard WL (somewhat fashion challenged) & Wild M8
Olympus E-P2 (Micro Four Thirds Camera)

MichaelG.
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Re: Mac mini M1

#11 Post by MichaelG. » Sun Jan 02, 2022 8:37 pm

75RR wrote:
Sun Jan 02, 2022 8:14 pm
.
What can I say, please read the small print!

Digital processing
Here you can discuss topics such as focus stacking, stitching and other techniques that relate to the processing of micrographs.

Keep it real folks - there is no computer section in MicrobeHunter
.

My post was about my purchase of a new tool for the jobs listed above
Question:
Is anyone else using the M1, and are there any special features/issues worth discussing here ?
… Is that seriously a misdemeanour in your eyes ?

and yes, I read the ‘small print’ before posting.

MichaelG.
Last edited by MichaelG. on Sun Jan 02, 2022 8:44 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Mac mini M1

#12 Post by MichaelG. » Sun Jan 02, 2022 8:40 pm

DrPhoxinus wrote:
Sun Jan 02, 2022 6:21 pm
See the recent post for Motic Images in this forum.
It isn’t the OS, it’s the apps
I had missed that recent post, but have just responded

[hopefully with a constructive comment]

MichaelG.
.

Ref. __ viewtopic.php?f=27&t=8075
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Re: Mac mini M1

#13 Post by vadimzinchuk » Tue Jan 04, 2022 12:08 am

What Mac microscopy apps attract you the most to run on the new Mac mini?
Vadim Zinchuk, M.D., Ph.D.
Department of Neurobiology & Anatomy
Kochi University Faculty of Medicine
Kohasu, Okoh-cho, Nankoku, Kochi 783-8505
Japan
Email: zinchuk@kochi-u.ac.jp
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vadimzinchuk/

MichaelG.
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Re: Mac mini M1

#14 Post by MichaelG. » Tue Jan 04, 2022 1:09 am

vadimzinchuk wrote:
Tue Jan 04, 2022 12:08 am
What Mac microscopy apps attract you the most to run on the new Mac mini?
.
Zerene Stacker … as mentioned in my opening post.

After that, it will be a voyage of discovery !

MichaelG.
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vadimzinchuk
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Re: Mac mini M1

#15 Post by vadimzinchuk » Tue Jan 04, 2022 2:28 am

I hope you will be able to find native Mac apps optimized for Apple Silicon suitable to your needs. Are you interested in Mac apps for image editing as well?
Vadim Zinchuk, M.D., Ph.D.
Department of Neurobiology & Anatomy
Kochi University Faculty of Medicine
Kohasu, Okoh-cho, Nankoku, Kochi 783-8505
Japan
Email: zinchuk@kochi-u.ac.jp
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vadimzinchuk/

MichaelG.
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Re: Mac mini M1

#16 Post by MichaelG. » Tue Jan 04, 2022 9:03 am

vadimzinchuk wrote:
Tue Jan 04, 2022 2:28 am
I hope you will be able to find native Mac apps optimized for Apple Silicon suitable to your needs. Are you interested in Mac apps for image editing as well?
Thank you … Yes I am also interested in more general image editing.

As I understand it:
  • To ease the transition to Apple’s hardware, many ‘Intel’ apps will run quite well under Rosetta 2
  • The Monterey OS also allows IPadOS Apps to be used on the Mac [although it seems that individual App developers have a choice of whether or not to permit such use of their product]
I need to wait a few more days, for delivery of the box … but I am quietly confident that it should serve my purpose nicely.

When I am comfortable with the basics, I will see how I get on with Fiji

MichaelG.

.
Ref: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosetta_( ... #Rosetta_2
Ref: https://fiji.sc/
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Re: Mac mini M1

#17 Post by vadimzinchuk » Tue Jan 04, 2022 10:19 am

MichaelG,
Thank you … Yes I am also interested in more general image editing.
When you get a Mac mini M1, please post an update. I will gladly share the names of a few general image editing apps you may find useful.
As I understand it:
To ease the transition to Apple’s hardware, many ‘Intel’ apps will run quite well under Rosetta 2
The Monterey OS also allows IPadOS Apps to be used on the Mac [although it seems that individual App developers have a choice of whether or not to permit such use of their product]
- Yes, Rosetta 2 will ease the transition to Apple Silicon, although some not yet updated apps could run slower.
- Yes, theoretically. Practically, though, there are very few apps that will do it. This universality applies to the very latest apps developed in the last year or so. And it will most likely never be the case with ImageJ.

Vadim
Vadim Zinchuk, M.D., Ph.D.
Department of Neurobiology & Anatomy
Kochi University Faculty of Medicine
Kohasu, Okoh-cho, Nankoku, Kochi 783-8505
Japan
Email: zinchuk@kochi-u.ac.jp
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vadimzinchuk/

MichaelG.
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Re: Mac mini M1

#18 Post by MichaelG. » Tue Jan 04, 2022 10:34 am

vadimzinchuk wrote:
Tue Jan 04, 2022 10:19 am
And it will most likely never be the case with ImageJ.

Vadim
.
Thanks for the comments, Vadim

Perhaps I am being naive, but:
Given that ImageJ runs under Java … I wasn’t expecting to have any problem with Fiji
[ nor would I anticipate any need for it to be optimised for the Apple Silicon ]

… am I missing something important here ?

MichaelG.
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vadimzinchuk
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Re: Mac mini M1

#19 Post by vadimzinchuk » Tue Jan 04, 2022 11:03 am

MichaelG,

ImageJ should work fine on your upcoming Mac mini M1, I meant that Java apps will probably never run on iPads.

Vadim
Vadim Zinchuk, M.D., Ph.D.
Department of Neurobiology & Anatomy
Kochi University Faculty of Medicine
Kohasu, Okoh-cho, Nankoku, Kochi 783-8505
Japan
Email: zinchuk@kochi-u.ac.jp
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vadimzinchuk/

MichaelG.
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Re: Mac mini M1

#20 Post by MichaelG. » Tue Jan 04, 2022 2:10 pm

That’s fine, thanks

MichaelG.
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PeteM
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Re: Mac mini M1

#21 Post by PeteM » Tue Jan 04, 2022 7:36 pm

Michael, I'll also be interested to learn how your new M1 Mini works for you.

Somewhat out of bounds, but has anyone found a proper word processor to work on the Mac? I'm not keen having it all in the cloud or being held hostage to an annual subscription. Word intermittently crashes with copy and paste operations. I still need a full set of capabilities for formatting, bookmarks, hyperlinks, etc. -- and full backward compatibility to old Word (and even WordPerfect) docs. Scope related? Some of these documents are for our "Micronaut" program.

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Re: Mac mini M1

#22 Post by dtsh » Tue Jan 04, 2022 7:38 pm

PeteM wrote:
Tue Jan 04, 2022 7:36 pm
Michael, I'll also be interested to learn how your new M1 Mini works for you.

Somewhat out of bounds, but has anyone found a proper word processor to work on the Mac? I'm not keen having it all in the cloud or being held hostage to an annual subscription. Word intermittently crashes with copy and paste operations. I still need a full set of capabilities for formatting, bookmarks, hyperlinks, etc. -- and full backward compatibility to old Word (and even WordPerfect) docs. Scope related? Some of these documents are for our "Micronaut" program.
Libreoffice?
https://www.libreoffice.org/get-help/in ... wto/macos/

I'm not a Mac guy, but I'm curios to hear how Apple's Rosetta handles running microscopy/imaging programs written for x86_64 on ARM.

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Re: Mac mini M1

#23 Post by vadimzinchuk » Wed Jan 05, 2022 12:04 am

I'm not a Mac guy, but I'm curios to hear how Apple's Rosetta handles running microscopy/imaging programs written for x86_64 on ARM.
Which programs in particular do you have in mind?
Vadim Zinchuk, M.D., Ph.D.
Department of Neurobiology & Anatomy
Kochi University Faculty of Medicine
Kohasu, Okoh-cho, Nankoku, Kochi 783-8505
Japan
Email: zinchuk@kochi-u.ac.jp
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vadimzinchuk/

MichaelG.
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Re: Mac mini M1

#24 Post by MichaelG. » Wed Jan 12, 2022 12:32 am

Just a very brief update …
The Mac Mini arrived safely, and is everything I hoped for.

It’s quiet, fast, beautiful … and more relevant to this forum : Happily runs Zerene Stacker and FIJI

Warning: The FIJI update was [if I recall correctly] a 583MB file, which had an estimated download time of 37 hours
I have no idea where that time estimate originates, but the full download and installation was done within about 30 minutes, and was totally painless.

There is a steep learning-curve ahead of me, but everything appears fine so far.

MichaelG.
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Re: Mac mini M1

#25 Post by MichaelG. » Wed Jan 12, 2022 12:43 am

dtsh wrote:
Tue Jan 04, 2022 7:38 pm
I'm not a Mac guy, but I'm curios to hear how Apple's Rosetta handles running microscopy/imaging programs written for x86_64 on ARM.
.
I have a [free] imaging App called Seashore
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seashore_(software)

The system recognised that it needs to run under Rosetta 2, and prompted me to install that.
… A few seconds later, I had Seashore running, and Rosetta is basically ‘invisible’

I will try ToupLite tomorrow.

MichaelG.
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dtsh
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Re: Mac mini M1

#26 Post by dtsh » Wed Jan 12, 2022 1:11 am

MichaelG. wrote:
Wed Jan 12, 2022 12:43 am
dtsh wrote:
Tue Jan 04, 2022 7:38 pm
I'm not a Mac guy, but I'm curios to hear how Apple's Rosetta handles running microscopy/imaging programs written for x86_64 on ARM.
.
I have a [free] imaging App called Seashore
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seashore_(software)

The system recognised that it needs to run under Rosetta 2, and prompted me to install that.
… A few seconds later, I had Seashore running, and Rosetta is basically ‘invisible’

I will try ToupLite tomorrow.

MichaelG.
Nice, I like it when vendors provide an option for keeping your old stuff instead of forcing users to buy again. Given I understand it's not selfless and helps drive adoption, but still nice.

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Re: Mac mini M1

#27 Post by photomicro » Wed Jan 12, 2022 11:29 am

MichaelG. wrote:
Wed Jan 12, 2022 12:32 am
Just a very brief update …
The Mac Mini arrived safely, and is everything I hoped for.

It’s quiet, fast, beautiful … and more relevant to this forum : Happily runs Zerene Stacker and FIJI

Warning: The FIJI update was [if I recall correctly] a 583MB file, which had an estimated download time of 37 hours
I have no idea where that time estimate originates, but the full download and installation was done within about 30 minutes, and was totally painless.

There is a steep learning-curve ahead of me, but everything appears fine so far.

MichaelG.
Glad to hear it Michael. As someone with an older iMac, this sort of thing is good to know.

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Re: Mac mini M1

#28 Post by MichaelG. » Wed Jan 12, 2022 12:25 pm

Now for the first disappointment :

I downloaded ToupLite ... but have been warned against it
.
Screenshot 2022-01-12 at 12.19.32.png
Screenshot 2022-01-12 at 12.19.32.png (143.44 KiB) Viewed 18101 times
.

Hopefully. ToupTek will get its act together soon.

MichaelG.

.

Edit: __ I have just spotted this: http://www.touptek.com/news/shownews.php?id=16&lang=en
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Re: Mac mini M1

#29 Post by vadimzinchuk » Wed Jan 12, 2022 2:05 pm

Hopefully. ToupTek will get its act together soon.
This warning may be displayed if the developer didn't properly sign the app

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202491

or sometimes when the developer chose not to distribute the app via Mac App Store. It also may happen with apps that were not updated for a long time. It does not automatically imply that the app is malware. You can still try it (search how to bypass this warning - it is fairly easy). But, of course, you should be more careful when using the app.
Vadim Zinchuk, M.D., Ph.D.
Department of Neurobiology & Anatomy
Kochi University Faculty of Medicine
Kohasu, Okoh-cho, Nankoku, Kochi 783-8505
Japan
Email: zinchuk@kochi-u.ac.jp
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vadimzinchuk/

MichaelG.
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Re: Mac mini M1

#30 Post by MichaelG. » Wed Jan 12, 2022 2:46 pm

I am aware of that thanks Vadim

My disappointment is not with Apple but with ToupTek

Michael G.
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