Installing MinimWatch 2 on Mac
Installing Java on Mac
Installing Java on Mac (Intel)
Installing Java on Mac (Apple Silicon)
Installing or updating MinimWatch 2 on Mac
Uninstalling MinimWatch 2 on Mac
Installing Java on Mac
MinimWatch is written in Java and needs the Java runtime to be installed.
If you are running MinimWatch on an Intel-based Mac, see the section Installing Java on Mac (Intel) for details of how to do this.
If you are running MinimWatch on an Apple Silicon-based Mac (M1 or M1X), see the section Installing Java on Mac (Apple Silicon) for details of how to do this.
Installing Java on Mac (Intel)
On Intel-based Macs, MinimWatch 2 supports all versions of Java from Java 8 onwards. You can install the JRE (Java Runtime Environment) for Java 8 as follows:
- Visit the Java Download page and click the "Java Download" button.
- After the download has completed, double-click the downloaded file.
- You should see a window containing a package icon. Double-click this icon and follow the installation prompts.
Alternatively, you can download a later version of the Java Development Kit (JDK) from the Oracle Java Downloads page. For some downloads from this page, you need to have an Oracle account. For most users, the JRE is more suitable as it is quicker and easier to install.
Note: For macOS 10.12 (Sierra) and earlier, you cannot use JDK 11 or later versions of Java because these versions of Java have been built using a code signing scheme that requires macOS 10.13 (High Sierra) or later. If you get a JVMLoadError message when starting MinimWatch, this is the reason for the message.
Installing Java on Mac (Apple Silicon)
For Apple Silicon-based Macs, download the latest version of the Java Development Kit (JDK) for macOS (arm64) from the Oracle Java Downloads page. To find the correct download, select the macOS link, then select the "Arm 64 DMG Installer" file.
See the "Installation Instructions" link on this page for details of how to install the downloaded package.
Installing or updating MinimWatch 2 on Mac
Before installing MinimWatch, install the Java runtime if it isn't already installed. For installation instructions, see the Installing Java on Mac section.
- MinimWatch 2 is compatible with MinimServer 2 and also with previous versions of MinimServer. MinimWatch 2 can run on all versions of macOS and Mac OS X from Lion (10.7) onwards.
- If a previous version of MinimWatch is installed, click Exit from the minim icon and drag the MinimWatch application to the trash.
- On the MinimServer 2 Downloads page, find the macOS row in the table of MinimWatch downloads and click the 'Intel and Apple Silicon' download link. This link selects a "universal" macOS download that can run on Intel-based Macs and also on Apple Silicon-based Macs.
- Accept the license and download the installation package. The downloaded file is .
-
Open your Downloads folder and double-click the file you have just downloaded.
This opens a window containing two files: LICENSE.txt and MinimWatch.
Drag the file named MinimWatch from this window into your Applications folder.
Note: The MinimWatch file must be dragged into the Applications folder before you try to run it. If you try to run it from inside the .dmg window, it will not work correctly.
- Start MinimWatch by double-clicking the MinimWatch application in your Applications folder. You might see a message saying '"MinimWatch" is an application downloaded from the Internet. Are you sure you want to open it?'. If you see this message, click Open to confirm that you want to run MinimWatch.
- You might see a message saying 'Do you want the application "MinimWatch" to accept incoming network connections?'. If you see this message, click Allow and then click Refresh from the minim icon on the menu bar (see below).
- On macOS Big Sur or later, you might see a pop-up saying that MinimWatch notifications may include alerts, sounds and icon badges. Close this pop-up.
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The MinimWatch icon (a musical minim note) will appear towards the right of the menu bar.
If you click on this, you will see a menu with various selections. There might be more
than one of these minim icons.
Note: You can't interact with MinimWatch via normal menu bar selections such as Edit and View. Also, there isn't a MinimWatch application icon in the Dock. Instead, you need to use menu selections from the minim icon in the menu bar.
-
You should see a minim icon for each MinimServer
instance that's running on another computer or NAS on your local network.
The colour of the minim icon shows the status of the MinimServer instance:
- If the icon is pale yellow, MinimServer is starting
- If the icon is transparent, MinimServer is running normally
- If the icon is red, MinimServer has detected an error
- If the icon is white (pale blue on some versions of macOS), MinimServer is stopped
- If the icon is dark grey, no instances of MinimServer were detected
Note 1: If MinimWatch can't see MinimServer, it might be blocked by the Mac firewall. To resolve this, you might need to delete MinimWatch from the Mac firewall list of applications allowed to receive incoming connections and add it back again.
Note 2: A MinimServer instance running on the same computer isn't displayed as a MinimWatch minim icon. This would be confusing because it's already displayed as a MinimServer minim icon.
- For each minim icon that isn't dark grey, you can use the icon's pop-up menu to configure and manage the MinimServer instance that the icon represents. See the Controlling MinimServer using the minim icon section for details of the available menu selections.
Uninstalling MinimWatch 2 on Mac
Before uninstalling MinimWatch, make sure MinimWatch isn't running.
To uninstall MinimWatch, drag the MinimWatch application to the trash.
Uninstalling MinimWatch doesn't delete your MinimWatch configuration settings. This is useful if you want to reinstall MinimWatch or move up to a newer version.