5 ms·

They must be scrambling for ways of applying their tech now that their main cash cow has been subsumed by Catalina. But I don't think this is it ...

rvz 6y ago
Hardly. Apple has a strange definition of what 'cross-platform' means and still sucks at making their technologies available on non-Apple platforms and AstroPad realised this so the answer is obvious [0] [0] https://astropad.com/windows-faq/ https://astropad.com/windows-faq/
- yreg 6y ago
  I'd bet a big portion if not the majority of AstroPad users run macOS, so no, not 'hardly'. They've been sherlocked [0]. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sherlock_(software)#Sherlocked_as_a_term https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sherlock_(software)#Sherlocked...
  - scarface74 6y ago
    No they weren’t Sherlocked. There has been a method to use your iPad as a second screen since shortly after the iPad came out. http://www.mactips.info/2011/07/how-to-use-your-ipad-or-iphone-as-a-second-monitor http://www.mactips.info/2011/07/how-to-use-your-ipad-or-ipho...
    - musicale 6y ago
      "Sherlocked" refers to the platform owner (Apple) cloning an app (Astropad, Duet Display, Air Display et al.) or its prime function (using an iPad as a secondary display) into the OS (macOS.) Since Air Display was not part of macOS and was not created by Apple, we could probably say that Air Display (like Duet and Astropad) was Sherlocked by Apple/Sidecar. That being said, it's a pretty obvious feature that I've wanted since the first iPad. I started using Air Display when it first came out, but it always felt clunky and I wanted a simple wired solution that was included in the box and "just worked."
  - rvz 6y ago
    And the answer to being 'sherlocked' is by going cross-platform. Astro also owns their own hardware and is not limited in software so they can support Windows, Android or even in some cases Linux platforms, not just macOS. In this case, SideCar is enabled on newer Macs (Catalina) and iOS 13, requiring people with unsupported Macs or iPads to upgrade their hardware to these requirements [0] which is unnecessary for this feature when AstroPad supports older Macs, Apple Pencil and iPads on the minimum requirements. [1] So, yes. Hardly sherlocked, unlike several software only companies who get completely sherlocked in all areas every WWDC. [0] https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT210380#systemrequirements https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT210380#systemrequirements [1] https://lunadisplay.com/pages/frequently-asked-questions https://lunadisplay.com/pages/frequently-asked-questions
  - checker659 6y ago
    I bought their dongle after side car was released, because 1) apple is really slow in releasing new features / updates 2) mac -> mac doesn't work.
- seltzered_ 6y ago
  Yeah. I'm rooting for astropad (or duet display, or anyone else) to be the multi-platform solution people will pay for. Akin to how some of us pay for password managers instead of browser-centric solutions. I'm still waiting to see how ipadOS evolves, but I'd would consider using using such a setup with a mac and a surface go.
qubex 6y ago
In my experience, SideCar provides a very poor experience. (I’ve never tried their product, but at the moment I’m writing on an iPad Pro and I’m VNCing into my Mac using Edovia Inc’s Screens, which is an excellent iOS/iPadOS VNC client).
- ericlewis 6y ago
  I agree, SideCar is insanely bad. Trying to use it with new iPad + trackpad and that doesn’t work at all.
  - deleted 6y ago
    [deleted]
- mbreese 6y ago
  Sidecar was horrible for me, but then I had some issues reinstalling my virus/firewall software (required for $WORK). For the brief window when the third party firewall wasn’t active, everything actually worked great. I don’t know about you, but all the issues I had were completely unrelated to Sidecar and instead related to an overly zealous firewall config. Now that the firewall has been “fixed”, it’s back to not working for me, but for that hour or so, it was actually quite nice. (That’s ignoring the new weekly crashes that the virus/firewall scanner now causes... which is another story).
- paypalcust83 6y ago
  SideCar (using the enabler trick) between a Mac mini (Late 2012) and an iPad Pro 10.5 was very laggy over USB. It wouldn't work over wireless. I'd rather try an app instead. I've been trying the built-in screen sharing VNC, and that too is very laggy. The Mac mini has tested fast (iperf3.. latency and bandwidth are good) over WiFi, so I think an app has the potential to be fast.
- musicale 6y ago
  Sidecar shines in wired mode, connected with a USB-Lightning cable. Fortunately this is my exact use case. Your use case seems to be different.
bluedino 6y ago
The product is still pretty useful, they support far more hardware than Sidecar does.
cactus2093 6y ago
Side car is good and works really well, but still has a long way to go to be as game changing as it really could be. Adding touch support on the iPad second screen for one. And then supporting macOS devices as a sidecar screen - use an iMac as an external screen for a laptop, or for an iPad Pro.
- ejstronge 6y ago
  > Adding touch support on the iPad second screen for one What do you mean by this statement?
  - hundchenkatze 6y ago
    I took it to mean being able to interact with macOS by touching/dragging/zooming the windows directly on the iPad.
    - musicale 6y ago
      I don't see this happening soon, as macOS screen interaction is largely optimized for precise pointing (mouse, trackpad, Apple pencil) and less for gestures/multitouch (though some are supported on the trackpad) and Apple seems reluctant to change that. But you never know. Personally I'm extremely happy with Sidecar and being able to use an iPad/pencil as a smaller Cintiq.
- musicale 6y ago
  > use an iMac as an external screen for a laptop, or for an iPad Pro RIP Target Display Mode. ;-(
w0utert 6y ago
I have to concur with the other comments. I got a Luna USB-C key right before Apple announced sidecar and back then I was pretty bummed I spent the money on something I would not have any use for anymore once Catalina would be out. Turns out sidecar doesn't nearly work as well as Luna Display. Sidecar loses on all things that matter: image quality, user friendliness, responsiveness, stability. The only thing it wins on is price, hard to compete with free. I recently found another use case for my Luna display by the way, when I wanted to play some real-money online poker in the garden (shelter in place makes you want to do things like that ;-). Apple does not allow gambling applications on iOS, and screen sharing Pokerstars on my Mac Mini using VNC was a really shitty experience. So what I do now is start the Luna app on the Mac Mini, connect the iPad to it, then take it out into the garden (which has its own wifi AP) and put it on full screen. Responsiveness and touch control are excellent that way.

rvz 6y ago

Hardly. Apple has a strange definition of what 'cross-platform' means and still sucks at making their technologies available on non-Apple platforms and AstroPad realised this so the answer is obvious [0] [0] https://astropad.com/windows-faq/ https://astropad.com/windows-faq/

yreg 6y ago
I'd bet a big portion if not the majority of AstroPad users run macOS, so no, not 'hardly'. They've been sherlocked [0]. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sherlock_(software)#Sherlocked_as_a_term https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sherlock_(software)#Sherlocked...
- scarface74 6y ago
  No they weren’t Sherlocked. There has been a method to use your iPad as a second screen since shortly after the iPad came out. http://www.mactips.info/2011/07/how-to-use-your-ipad-or-iphone-as-a-second-monitor http://www.mactips.info/2011/07/how-to-use-your-ipad-or-ipho...
  - musicale 6y ago
    "Sherlocked" refers to the platform owner (Apple) cloning an app (Astropad, Duet Display, Air Display et al.) or its prime function (using an iPad as a secondary display) into the OS (macOS.) Since Air Display was not part of macOS and was not created by Apple, we could probably say that Air Display (like Duet and Astropad) was Sherlocked by Apple/Sidecar. That being said, it's a pretty obvious feature that I've wanted since the first iPad. I started using Air Display when it first came out, but it always felt clunky and I wanted a simple wired solution that was included in the box and "just worked."
- rvz 6y ago
  And the answer to being 'sherlocked' is by going cross-platform. Astro also owns their own hardware and is not limited in software so they can support Windows, Android or even in some cases Linux platforms, not just macOS. In this case, SideCar is enabled on newer Macs (Catalina) and iOS 13, requiring people with unsupported Macs or iPads to upgrade their hardware to these requirements [0] which is unnecessary for this feature when AstroPad supports older Macs, Apple Pencil and iPads on the minimum requirements. [1] So, yes. Hardly sherlocked, unlike several software only companies who get completely sherlocked in all areas every WWDC. [0] https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT210380#systemrequirements https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT210380#systemrequirements [1] https://lunadisplay.com/pages/frequently-asked-questions https://lunadisplay.com/pages/frequently-asked-questions
- checker659 6y ago
  I bought their dongle after side car was released, because 1) apple is really slow in releasing new features / updates 2) mac -> mac doesn't work.
seltzered_ 6y ago
Yeah. I'm rooting for astropad (or duet display, or anyone else) to be the multi-platform solution people will pay for. Akin to how some of us pay for password managers instead of browser-centric solutions. I'm still waiting to see how ipadOS evolves, but I'd would consider using using such a setup with a mac and a surface go.

qubex 6y ago

In my experience, SideCar provides a very poor experience. (I’ve never tried their product, but at the moment I’m writing on an iPad Pro and I’m VNCing into my Mac using Edovia Inc’s Screens, which is an excellent iOS/iPadOS VNC client).

ericlewis 6y ago
I agree, SideCar is insanely bad. Trying to use it with new iPad + trackpad and that doesn’t work at all.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
mbreese 6y ago
Sidecar was horrible for me, but then I had some issues reinstalling my virus/firewall software (required for $WORK). For the brief window when the third party firewall wasn’t active, everything actually worked great. I don’t know about you, but all the issues I had were completely unrelated to Sidecar and instead related to an overly zealous firewall config. Now that the firewall has been “fixed”, it’s back to not working for me, but for that hour or so, it was actually quite nice. (That’s ignoring the new weekly crashes that the virus/firewall scanner now causes... which is another story).
paypalcust83 6y ago
SideCar (using the enabler trick) between a Mac mini (Late 2012) and an iPad Pro 10.5 was very laggy over USB. It wouldn't work over wireless. I'd rather try an app instead. I've been trying the built-in screen sharing VNC, and that too is very laggy. The Mac mini has tested fast (iperf3.. latency and bandwidth are good) over WiFi, so I think an app has the potential to be fast.
musicale 6y ago
Sidecar shines in wired mode, connected with a USB-Lightning cable. Fortunately this is my exact use case. Your use case seems to be different.

bluedino 6y ago

The product is still pretty useful, they support far more hardware than Sidecar does.

cactus2093 6y ago

Side car is good and works really well, but still has a long way to go to be as game changing as it really could be. Adding touch support on the iPad second screen for one. And then supporting macOS devices as a sidecar screen - use an iMac as an external screen for a laptop, or for an iPad Pro.

ejstronge 6y ago
> Adding touch support on the iPad second screen for one What do you mean by this statement?
- hundchenkatze 6y ago
  I took it to mean being able to interact with macOS by touching/dragging/zooming the windows directly on the iPad.
  - musicale 6y ago
    I don't see this happening soon, as macOS screen interaction is largely optimized for precise pointing (mouse, trackpad, Apple pencil) and less for gestures/multitouch (though some are supported on the trackpad) and Apple seems reluctant to change that. But you never know. Personally I'm extremely happy with Sidecar and being able to use an iPad/pencil as a smaller Cintiq.
musicale 6y ago
> use an iMac as an external screen for a laptop, or for an iPad Pro RIP Target Display Mode. ;-(

w0utert 6y ago

I have to concur with the other comments. I got a Luna USB-C key right before Apple announced sidecar and back then I was pretty bummed I spent the money on something I would not have any use for anymore once Catalina would be out. Turns out sidecar doesn't nearly work as well as Luna Display. Sidecar loses on all things that matter: image quality, user friendliness, responsiveness, stability. The only thing it wins on is price, hard to compete with free. I recently found another use case for my Luna display by the way, when I wanted to play some real-money online poker in the garden (shelter in place makes you want to do things like that ;-). Apple does not allow gambling applications on iOS, and screen sharing Pokerstars on my Mac Mini using VNC was a really shitty experience. So what I do now is start the Luna app on the Mac Mini, connect the iPad to it, then take it out into the garden (which has its own wifi AP) and put it on full screen. Responsiveness and touch control are excellent that way.