Moving on to an M2 Mini - anything I should know

[EphraimGadsby]

Hello fellow WeatherCatters,

Today is exciting, and also filled with apprehension. I have a shiny new Mac Mini (M2 2023 model) and am just about to migrate WeatherCat over to it.

Is there anything I need to know, or to watch out for?

I have migrated once before to a new machine, and it went well following these intructions:

https://wiki.trixology.com/index.php?title=Moving_a_WeatherCat_installation_from_one_computer_to_another

I have just finished backing up all these files to an external drive (including the com.trixology.weathercat.plist file, which I have read in another post on this forum can help after moving to Sonoma / Sequoia.

As I am running a Davis Vantage Vue, I have also downloaded the latest version on the Silicon Labs Serial to USB drivers (6.0.2 as I was still running on 6.0.1).

Is there anything else??

NB I am currently WeatherCat 3.2.0 as I didn't want to update to the latest version and risk upsetting things when I knew I would be migrating to a new mac soon. I note in the release notes for WeatherCat 3.3.0 it mentions "Native Apple Silicon Support" as the first feature. What does this mean? Does this replace the need for the Silicon Labs USB Driver, or is there some other issue (to do with the Apple M chips) this fixes?

I plan to install WeatherCat 3.3.0 on the new Mac. Will it be OK to install 3.3.0 but to transfer the folders that I backed up that have been created out of 3.2.0?

As I am jumping from an old Intel Mini to a new Apple Silicon one, I have missed all the troubleshooting you braver pioneers have gone through. Though I have tried to read through the forums and manual as much as possible to find out what I need to need to know. The move from Intel to M2 just feels a bigger jump than normal!

Wish me luck.

Ephraim.

[Blicj11]

It's always nice to have some new kit from Apple, so congratulations on the new hardware. I suggest you update to WC 3.3.0 on your old machine before you migrate. Check it out to make sure it's working, then migrate. It's very simple to go back to 3.2.0 if you need to. All you need to do is save a copy of the WeatherCat app before you upgrade. Close WC, rename it from WeatherCat.app to WeatherCat 320.app. Install the 3.3.0 upgrade and restart WC. If you need to go back to it for any reason, close WC, get rid of the new WeatherCat.app and rename WeatherCat 320.app to WeatherCat.app. Restart WC. I have done this many times and it works flawlessly.

You will still need the Silicon Labs USB Driver. Native Apple Silicon Support means it will support the Apple M chips, in addition to Intel.

Best of luck, and enjoy.

[EphraimGadsby]

Thank you.

It was the Silicone Labs driver bit I wanted to clarify before I migrated.

I shall go and get sorted now, and hopefully report back with 100% stress-free success in due course.

Regards,

Ephraim.

[Steve]

For some of the functionality, you will also need to install Apple's Xcode tools. I forget what it's needed for, but you can find the reason searching for "Xcode"

I made the move from a 2017 iMac to a M2 Pro Mac mini last year, and it was pretty painless. Just follow the wiki instructions. I run mine as a headless server, mounted under my desk. It runs applications that need 24 hour connectivity (WeatherCat, Plex Server, Roon, SecuritySpy) and everything else is on my MacBook Pro.

Good luck. But if you just got the Mac mini, you might consider returning it for the new one just announced yesterday for a bit more power and longevity. Plus any Apple Intelligence stuff that might interest you.

[EphraimGadsby]

So, first things first - It's all working!

Got everything migrated across, the silabs driver installed and the Davis is detected and the historical logged data downloaded. All good.

Next, I have a pop-up which might be related to the Xcode stuff you've mentioned - "The python3 command requires the command line developer tools. Would you like to install the tools now?". Can anyone tell me what it enables, as most things appear to be working  - though I haven't started to set up things like email alerts etc.

That's as far as I go on my weather station though - logging and altering. I don't export data out to webpages, or other services, or use any other custom features.

Re: New mini coming out - They announced it 6h after I ordered mine. I am not too interested, as I don't really use my Mac mini that much so don't need too much power - It's really here just run WeatherCat and to act as a "general headquarters" for syncing my iOS devices (music, photos, etc.).

I was quite surprised to be contacted by Apple before they shipped last night to say that they were changing my invoice to reflect a substantially reduced price in light of the new Mini being released. All in all, as I don't need the extra power for my needs, I'm happy with the bargain.

Cheers all.

[EphraimGadsby]

EDIT - had a look on the forums, and it looks like the Xcode/Python/Command Line Tools is indeed needed to get emails to send. So I will go ahead and sort that next.

Hopefully it'll be a few years before I need to touch anything again

[Blicj11]

Glad you are all set and got a nice unexpected discount on your Mini.