Hi Blueys,
has anyone tried out the new MacOS version with a BlueROV yet? Is Catalina compatible with GGroundControl? It supposedly supports bluetooth gamepads from Sony and Microsoft (+ others), but will these pads be able to run QGC out of the box? Also, is the annoying usb error (search for “Macbook crashes” in the forum) finally solved on the Mac side? I hesitate to update my laptop, but the wireless connection is tempting …
Cheers,
Kai
Hi Kai, I haven’t heard about the issues you experienced for a long time. As far as I know, QGC is working ok on the latest MacOS, but as it is new only time will tell as we wait for more users to upgrade. Let us know how it goes!
It is great that they are supporting joysticks out of the box. We will be sure to check this out and update the docs accordingly.
Hi @KaiH, It looks like there remains some problem with Bluetooth connected joysticks on MacOS 10.15:
Hi Jacob and any Macies,
I finally upgraded to MacOS 10.15 and …
… nothing much happened. QGC and ROV still work, and the bluetooth joystick (Xbox) doesn’t. I had the same experience reported elsewhere on the forum from older MacOSses, that I cannot map the joystick buttons properly. QGC recognizes more buttons (20) than can be mapped (15). Those that do work are fine, so I am looking forward to a solution. Latency is still 1 - 2 seconds, and I I still get that crash message every time I quit QGC. I also once experienced the crash with the bluetooth joystick mentioned above. Now that Apple has decided to support certain wireless controllers officially, I have hope that they will eventually solve the problem. A little hope at least.
An interesting feature is “sidecar”, where you can use an iPad as an extra wireless screen. This seems nifty, but you need fairly recent hardwire for it to work properly. My 2015 MacBook Pro can barely make it, but it is nice to show another person what is going on on the screen.
All the best and Seasons Greeting,
Kai
Hi @KaiH, we are trying to work out the kinks in QGC joystick on mac. Can you update your mac and try the latest daily build of QGC? We are talking about the problems here, and they seem to have gone away: MacOS: crashes with bluetooth joystick connection · Issue #7980 · mavlink/qgroundcontrol · GitHub
Hi Jacob,
I just did what you asked, and hey, everything seems to work just fine. That is, in the office, not in the field yet.
Mac mini with MacOS 10.15.2
QGC daily build
Xbox One bluetooth wireless controller
I had to change some of the buttons (I had „arm“ on 3 or 4 buttons), but now everything works like it did with the usb Logitech controller. Some buttons are a bit slow to work and I have to push twice (lights for example), but this is probably due to interference on the desktop (usb 3, wlan and bluetooth are acting up on my Mac mini). Also, the latency seems better, and QGC did not crash, when I closed the program (because I did not have the usb controller?). However, I am missing the audio and the „video on“ control on the main screen.
Can you recommend using the daily build version on my field laptop? So far I stuck with the latest stable version to minimize the crash risk in the field (never change a winning team). But the latest QGC and bluetooth support are quite a big step forward…
I will do a bit more testing in the Baltic soon and let you know how it goes. Thanks for keeping me up to date!!
Cheers,
Kai
Can you recommend using the daily build version on my field laptop? So far I stuck with the latest stable version to minimize the crash risk in the field (never change a winning team). But the latest QGC and bluetooth support are quite a big step forward…
We never recommend the daily build for something that is mission-critical. We always keep our recommended stable build linked in the bluerov2 software setup docs and at Downloads
