Aperture to Photos.app - preparation (And CYME's Avalanche)

Original 10/31/2019

I despise Apple in general and Tim Cook in particular. I wasn’t always that way. In the 00s I was kind of fond of Apple.  That ended with the way Cook killed Aperture in 2014. Apple could have provided an exit, but they didn’t.

Being unable to leave Apple has not improved my mood over the past six years. The exit cost is too high. On the bright side my Apple resentment has made it easier to resist the Apple watch. So I have a bit more time in my life for family, bikes, skis, and CrossFit. Thanks Tim!

I’ll still be on Aperture into 2020, three years beyond my original plan. The Catalina catastrophe has made staying on Mojave more agreeable. I’ll have to switch sooner or later though, almost certainly by 2021. So I’m working on a list of what I need to do prepare. I’ll update this post with items I think about:

1. Eliminate all stacks. I have hundreds of unwanted stacks created by Apple’s original hacked up iPhoto to Aperture migration (that was horrible). I need to edit each of the stacked images and remove the duplicate.
2. Flatten the keyword hierarchy (the marvelous hierarchy is from a time when giants walked the earth).
3. Regenerate images from RAW (this will take eons and is high risk).
4. Be sure image locations and face recognition (never worked) are turned off.
5. Simplify all smart albums not supported by Photos.app.
6. Create an empty shell of current Library, then use that to import all images from past Library. Confirm everything is correct.
7. Rebuild database to confirm no errors.
8. Per Apple’s migration directions, create full-sized “previews”.
9. Ensure iCloud is empty of images and that Photos.app destination library is empty with no iCloud sync. Disconnect from network.
10. Import into Photos.app
11. Validate.

This project will take many months, many backups, and purchase of at least one other 1TB SSD.

Update 2/17/2020: Avalanche claims ability to migrate from Aperture to Lightroom (Mojave and up). I'm looking for reviews.

Update 1/9/2022: Still on Aperture! Reviewing this post I decided to copy Apple's directions for migrating to Photos. (For older photos consider reprocessing before generating previews.)

Choose Aperture > Preferences, click the Previews tab, then change the Photo Preview setting to Don't Limit. Close the preferences window.

From the list of projects in the Library inspector, select all of your projects. For example, click the first project listed, then press and hold the Shift key while clicking the last project.

Click the Browser layout button in the toolbar, so that all photos are shown as thumbnails.

Choose Edit > Select All to select all of your photos.

Press and hold the Option key, then choose Photos > Generate Previews.

Aperture now generates full-size previews for every photo in your library. To follow its progress, choose Window > Show Activity from the menu bar. Quit Aperture when processing is complete.

Open the Photos app, then choose your Aperture library when prompted, as pictured above. If you aren't prompted to choose a library, press and hold the Option key while opening Photos. If your Aperture library isn’t listed, click Other Library, then locate and choose your library.

I tested CYME's Avalanche "export to file system". Unfortunately it doesn't export previews, only the master file. It's designed to translate Aperture's lossless edit directions to an alternative format, then have the receiving system generate the Previews.

Black Diamond Spot User Guide (manual)

I’m swearing off Wirecutter. Again.

It’s not that their recommendations are awful, they’re just kind of inexpert. They don’t actually use the products they recommend, they just test them.

Like the Black Diamond Spot headlamp. I needed something for an upcoming trip and it wasn’t mission critical, so I used the Wirecutter recommendations. The Spot actually works ok, and seems well made, but it’s ridiculously complex. The Spot is what happens when you give bored Chinese engineers some chip space.

Serious climbing headlamps have maybe two settings — basic and high. This has at least 6 settings based on combinations of switch press, hold and side tap. My brain looked at the directions and shut down.

And those directions — they go on for pages and pages in many languages, but the core is a small series of pictures. Sure to be lost, essential to reference, and not available online.

So here’s my scan of the part of the Black Diamond Spot User Guide that matters

You’re welcome.

Here are all the friggin modes (I put them in a note on my phone). Die Wirecutter, Die.

TOP BUTTON modes

Not Powered On (why it needs a lock mode)
- press and release 1x: turn last active light on
- press and release 2x: toggle between spot and wide angle light
- press and release 3x: strobe
- press and hold 2s: red light on
- press and hold 3s: always turns on spot light
- press and hold 4s: toggle lock mode (small blue light blinks for a few seconds in lock mode)

Powered On
- press and hold: goes to bright then dims as hold
- 3x: strobe

TAP RIGHT SIDE
(light tap when powered on)
- activate BOTH spot and wide angle

Best way to get Scrivener content into a blog post

After various experiments the best way I’ve found to get Scrivener content into a MarsEdit blog post is to complete to HTML then copy/paste the rendered HTML into MarsEdit.

Everything else messes up paragraphs.

Mountain bike dropper posts, a very quick review

A public Facebook group featured the best review of dropper posts I’ve read, by TB R-A. Reposting here so it’s not lost...

I’ve owned the RockShox Reverb, Fox Transfer, Specialized Command, Bontrager whatever it is called, and 9 Point 8 Fall Line. Of them all the Fall Line has had the best actuation and has been the best performing.

The Reverbs are a pain because they need bled. The bleed process is easy enough, but still a pain. Also, if the line would be damaged or cut out on a long ride you’re SOL. You can’t fix it in the field.

The Transfer worked well enough, but it makes a sucking noise at the top and bottom and drove me nuts.

The Specialized was a bit finicky, I don’t remember much more about it. The Bontrager was OK, but not nearly as nice as the Reverb in terms of quality or performance.

Right now I have the 9 Point 8 Fall Line on both of my bikes. Performance has been flawless and you can easily repair it on the trail should you need to. The upgraded lever made by WolfTooth is really nice, good ergonomics and you can just replace pieces of it should something break (which happened when I loaned my bike to someone). You can release the rail from the head on one side to access the air valve, it’s pretty slick. So, the Fall Line is my choice. I replace the seals annually on it, which takes about an hour. Aside from that nothing really needs done.

Dropper posts are expensive still, though the cheap clones are emerging. I like the idea of the wireless rockshox, but it’s $800 for now. The Bontrager is less costly than the 9 Point 8.

Bleeding Avid (SRAM) XX/XO 2012 hydraulic mountain bike brakes (scan of manual)

I’ve now bled my front and rear 2012 Avid XX brakes. I did the front first and got an excellent result. I did back twice, the first time it sucked the 2nd time it was good but not as good as the front.  Tricky business! You really need to follow directions fairly precisely.

Want to get some quick notes out here mostly for my use. Maybe later I’ll fill in the rest.

• If you’re going to bleed brakes buy a set of fresh pads to insert. No sense bleeding with old pads.
• The Avid/SRAM (SRAM bought Avid) kit I bought for my 2012 XX vintage brakes is amazing. Full of bits and pieces. For bleeding only need a few. Everything feels surgical quality. The procedure felt more like a medical procedure than a bike procedure.
• The brake block for my Avid XX 2012 is the one in the manual with the prongs. You can use it with the prongs and the pads in place, or with the pads out and the thick end. There’s a right and wrong way to insert, all the cutouts and notches have a purpose. You’re supposed to remove the pads for and use the thick end, but I’m not sure it isn’t better to use the prongs with fresh pads. You’re running risk of getting fluid on pads, that’s supposed to destroy them and the bicycle and surrounding neighborhood.
• The 2012 manual that came with the kit I used is excellent. I couldn’t find a copy online save from scurvy services that vacuum up PDFs and reserver them. The 2019 manual isn’t as good. It’s sad SRAM didn’t keep this one around, I’ve uploaded a brake fluid stained scan of my copy.
• Take your wheels off so they don’t get brake fluid on them or tires.
• They describe the brake fluid as quite toxic. First time around there were drops on the ground and I really needed a clean lint-free rag. Would be easy to get in eyes. Wear eye protection. Wear latex gloves. If you’re sloppy wear crappy clothes. Do it outdoors.
• The kit includes a small Torx wrench. If you have a magnetic torx bit driver you’ll be very happy.
• They are serious about that 75-80mm lever distance.
• You should have lots of isopropyl alcohol around to clean with. I washed my bike with soapy water.
• Make a copy of the directions so you don’t get brake fluid on your only (paper) user guide
• The clamps on tubing were super stiff at first. Needed pliers to close clamp. Gets better after use but still a pain.
• There are lots of online directions and videos but for me the old manual worked best.
• I think you need the bike somewhat horizontal, don’t have it in a stand where the brake lever is lower than the caliper.

I really like my SharePoint list based blog that's not a SharePoint blog

I don’t think anyone is terribly interested in this, so I’m not going to provide a lot of detail, but if you want to know more just email jgordon@kateva.org.

So why am I writing anything? I’m writing because this thing has worked very well for years. Alas, nobody at work appreciates the simple genius of how it works. So here I can vent.

I ignored SharePoint’s clumsy native blog. I built my blog off the SharePoint announcement list which has basically worked the same way for 10-20 years. Like every list in SP it has an RSS feed (deprecated in newest versions of SP alas) and email notifications with user controlled update frequencies. So the subscription side works fine.

I added a couple of fields to the basic list. One is for tags. Tags let me create topical views of the list by creating SP views that filter on tags.

The other field (and this worked better than I imagined) was to create my own PUBLICATION_DATE field and sort the blog (list of announcements) by publication date. The default value is the date created — but I can edit the publication date without changing the post URL!

The last is wonderful. Instead of having to point to an old post and perhaps add some new additions, I just update the old post and revise the publication date to current. SP regenerates email notifications to subscribers, updates the RSS feed, and the view shows the updated post at the top — but the URL is unchanged so links don’t break.

It’s really simple, it’s worked very well for 2-3 years, it should work indefinitely. I wish other blogs worked that way — let me revise publication date, sort by that date, don’t break links.

PS. Why SharePoint? Because where I work that’s what we have. We aren’t getting anything better.

Chrome: Default pjkljhegncpnkpknbcohdijeoejaedia quit unexpectedly

For years I’ve launched gmail and gcalendar on my Mac using apps in my user/application folder I’d named gCal.app and gMail.app. I loved them. Not only did they let me go directly to gCal and gMail from spotlight they also opened in my preferred user profile rather than the last user profile I’d used.

Today they crash on use.

Intermittently I got this error message:

Default pjkljhegncpnkpknbcohdijeoejaedia quit unexpectedly.

That looks like malware, but apparently pjkljhegncpnkpknbcohdijeoejaedia is an undocumented internal Google Chrome extension. (Very cute Google.)

After a bit of research I believe those apps were known as Chrome apps, and years ago Google supported creating them on the Mac. Google ended support in 2017. I think the apps lived in a Chrome folder that was removed, but on my machine they survived because I’d moved copies into a user folder.

Today my extended use luck ran out. Now they crash [1] under Chrome 75.0.3770.100. I suspect my Mac was updated today or yesterday, this version of Chrome was released June 18.

I REALLY miss the desktop app functionality. “Progressive Web Apps” were supposed to replace it but I don’t think they happened [2]. I might try this 2018 tip to see if I can restore it.

Or maybe the next release of Chrome will fix the crash :-).

- fn -

[1] sample start of log

Process: app_mode_loader [1087]
Path: /Users/USER/*/gCal (jfaughnan).app/Contents/MacOS/app_mode_loader
Identifier: com.google.Chrome.app.Default-ejjicmeblgpmajnghnpcppodonldlgfn-internal
Version: 4.5.6 (2564.97)
Code Type: X86-64 (Native)
Parent Process: ??? [1]
Responsible: app_mode_loader [1087]
User ID: 502

Date/Time: 2019-06-29 14:33:12.397 -0500
OS Version: Mac OS X 10.14.5 (18F132)
Report Version: 12
Anonymous UUID: C285F89D-D3A8-7245-0199-81B760782A83

Time Awake Since Boot: 2100 seconds

System Integrity Protection: enabled

Crashed Thread: 0 Dispatch queue: com.apple.main-thread

Exception Type: EXC_BREAKPOINT (SIGTRAP)
Exception Codes: 0x0000000000000002, 0x0000000000000000
Exception Note: EXC_CORPSE_NOTIFY

Termination Signal: Trace/BPT trap: 5
Termination Reason: Namespace SIGNAL, Code 0x5
Terminating Process: exc handler [1087]

Application Specific Information:
dyld2 mode

Thread 0 Crashed:: Dispatch queue: com.apple.main-thread

[2] No, didn’t happen on Mac. Over a year late now:

Progressive Web Apps on Desktop 
Progressive Web Apps now work on the desktop, including Chrome OS and Windows, with support for Mac and Linux coming soon.

For Google macOS is not a priority platform.