Retroactive VS darktable

No need to keep Mojave to run iTunes — iTunes can be run on newer macOS, by using Retroactive [1] to patch it.

Regarding running a newer macOS on older hardware, check out OCLP [1] — do make sure you make full backups and have a working recovery plan before trying anything with OCLP though. I know that might sound somewhat obvious to a lot of folk, but you'd be surprised at the amount of folk that jump in and try OCLP on their main system without any backup plan.

Note that are some gotchas re installing OCLP on some older h/w, and it will help to read up on possible issues before wading in. e.g. during installation it might be necessary to use a wired keyboard and mouse, via a USB hub, until the installation is done, you might also need a wired network connection during install, similarly. Depends on h/w (I've not patched MacBooks myself, yet). Once the patcher is done, these should not be needed anymore.

Official support for OCLP is only via Discord — but there is a very active unofficial peer/user support group on FB [3]

HTH!

[1] https://github.com/cormiertyshawn895/Retroactive

[2] https://dortania.github.io/OpenCore-Legacy-Patcher/

[3] https://www.facebook.com/groups/opencoreprojectlegacy

Or use Retroactive.

That said, my 2020 Mac Mini M1 also works great with the USB iPods - I used an app called Retroactive to get iTunes 11.4, which works fabulously to load my iPods. Can't say how well it works with the Firewire iPods, as I don't have all the requisite Thunderbolt adapters to make it work.

There's a project called Retroactive https://github.com/cormiertyshawn895/Retroactive/ that lets you install iTunes 10-12 on Catalina and newer OS. You could do that and still keep your playlists, etc.

you can run Aperture on newer Macs https://github.com/cormiertyshawn895/Retroactive/ just in case you want to check.

There's also darktable which is open source but rather .. involved. It's incredibly powerful but has a steep learning curve. https://www.darktable.org/

> the while loop of death (source: https://github.com/darktable-org/darktable/blob/darktable-4....)

shudder

Yeah, I too wouldn't want to volunteer to contribute to a project which is OK with this.

https://www.darktable.org/ or https://www.rawtherapee.com/ both free, open source and cross platform

Author has a blog post here, https://ansel.photos/en/news/darktable-dans-le-mur-au-ralent..., which exhibits some example code, for example, this: https://github.com/darktable-org/darktable/blob/darktable-4....

That's a far cry from what I'd find acceptable in any project.

Darktable - Price: Free Free and open-source photo editing software for Mac that features advanced editing tools and a user-friendly interface.

The base M2 is plenty cheap and pack a lot of punch in it, it flies through my RAW edits in darktable (https://www.darktable.org/) even with just 8GB of RAM. (Granted I don't have much things else running when using darktable).