Adobe Photoshop CS6 Extended and Apple OS what's the last upgrade?

[Chrissy]

I've searched several times and read conflicting posts on various parts of the internet telling me which Apple OS I can or can't use with my Adobe Photoshop CS6 Extended software.

Let's start with the assumption I don't want to pay an Adobe monthly fee because I only use Photoshop, and I believe I originally paid enough for how much I use it when I bought it. My copy of Photoshop currently runs perfectly well on High Sierra. Does anyone know which OS can I upgrade to and still be able to use it?

I would be really grateful for any information that anyone has. Thanks

[Yazeh]

Chrissy, I cannot help you with CS6. However, I can tell you that the transition with Big Sur has been interesting. Now it's smoother. But in the beginning I couldn't even watch YouTube videos on Safari for a few days. I didn't mind it, though. It was quite refreshing

However, according to this thread, which you've probably read is an hit or miss....

[Chrissy]

Chrissy, I cannot help you with CS6. However, I can tell you that the transition with Big Sur has been interesting. Now it's smoother. But in the beginning I couldn't even watch YouTube videos on Safari for a few days. I didn't mind it, though. It was quite refreshing

However, according to this thread, which you've probably read is an hit or miss....

Thanks. Yes that's one of the threads I found.

[Yazeh]

Chrissy, I cannot help you with CS6. However, I can tell you that the transition with Big Sur has been interesting. Now it's smoother. But in the beginning I couldn't even watch YouTube videos on Safari for a few days. I didn't mind it, though. It was quite refreshing

However, according to this thread, which you've probably read is an hit or miss....

Thanks. Yes that's one of the threads I found.

Alternatively, if you're not a heavy Photoshop user, and If you want to update to Big Sur you might want to look into a Free Gimp or a 50$ Affinity.

[carlos.q]

You could also check out the new features in the Mac's Photo app. Picktorial and Gimp 2.10 are also free options. There is also the subscription based Darkroom.

[FredRydr]

I am waiting at my local Apple Store for a battery replacement, and I posed the question. The issue is Adobe Photoshop was unable to run on the new Apple M1 chip, but the technician said his understanding is Adobe has released a compatible update/version.

[penwash]

Have you considered Gimp, Chrissy?

I don't know what features you use on Photoshop CS6, but I've been using Gimp for years now and I don't find it lacking for my purposes.

[Chrissy]

I am waiting at my local Apple Store for a battery replacement, and I posed the question. The issue is Adobe Photoshop was unable to run on the new Apple M1 chip, but the technician said his understanding is Adobe has released a compatible update/version.

If they have I haven't heard of it for seen any information about it. The updated version might only apply to the subscription only cloud version. No updates are available for old versions.

[Chrissy]

Have you considered Gimp, Chrissy?

I don't know what features you use on Photoshop CS6, but I've been using Gimp for years now and I don't find it lacking for my purposes.

You could also check out the new features in the Mac's Photo app. Picktorial and Gimp 2.10 are also free options. There is also the subscription based Darkroom.

I wish I knew what features I use that are available on Gimp. I've heard of it before and it might even have the facilities I need as I don't use very much of Photoshop.

[Yazeh]

Why not download Gimp, play around with it and see if you like it?

https://www.gimp.org/downloads/

[Chrissy]

Why not download Gimp, play around with it and see if you like it?

https://www.gimp.org/downloads/

I might do that and see what it's like. The main things I need are a curves layer for making my paper white and ensuring the ink colour is correct, copying and moving some things around when necessary say if I've misspelled something and resizing as I always resize to 1040 pixels across the page otherwise the image is too big. I think these are all pretty standard.

[FredRydr]

I am waiting at my local Apple Store for a battery replacement, and I posed the question. The issue is Adobe Photoshop was unable to run on the new Apple M1 chip, but the technician said his understanding is Adobe has released a compatible update/version.

If they have I haven't heard of it for seen any information about it. The updated version might only apply to the subscription only cloud version. No updates are available for old versions.

Well, it's only an issue if you've bought a new Mac M1.

[penwash]

Why not download Gimp, play around with it and see if you like it?

https://www.gimp.org/downloads/

I might do that and see what it's like. The main things I need are a curves layer for making my paper white and ensuring the ink colour is correct, copying and moving some things around when necessary say if I've misspelled something and resizing as I always resize to 1040 pixels across the page otherwise the image is too big. I think these are all pretty standard.

Chrissy, Gimp does curves and layers very well, in fact, the interface resembles Photoshop.

Like you, I use it to set the white level on my pen photos, and then in the same interface, I can use the curve to do some more fine tuning.

Usually I finish with a non-aggresive Unsharp Mask just to give the photo a nice "crispness".

I think you'll like Gimp and there's no subscription to deal with.

[Chrissy]

Chrissy, Gimp does curves and layers very well, in fact, the interface resembles Photoshop.

Like you, I use it to set the white level on my pen photos, and then in the same interface, I can use the curve to do some more fine tuning.

Usually I finish with a non-aggresive Unsharp Mask just to give the photo a nice "crispness".

I think you'll like Gimp and there's no subscription to deal with.

Thank you Will, I wish I could finish with a "non-aggressive Unsharp mask to give the photo a nice crispness" but sadly that tutorial seems to have passed me by and isn't something I've ever managed to do. It sounds good though. Especially for jPegs that lose definition when edited.

When I make blunders or miss out bits that I need to put back in somehow I use the rectangular marquee tool to copy and paste parts that need to be edited and moved about or transformed. Does Gimp do that too? It sounds like it might be all I need. I have already assumed that I will lose Adobe Bridge and that won't be part of Gimp.

[penwash]

Chrissy, Gimp does curves and layers very well, in fact, the interface resembles Photoshop.

Like you, I use it to set the white level on my pen photos, and then in the same interface, I can use the curve to do some more fine tuning.

Usually I finish with a non-aggresive Unsharp Mask just to give the photo a nice "crispness".

I think you'll like Gimp and there's no subscription to deal with.

Thank you Will, I wish I could finish with a "non-aggressive Unsharp mask to give the photo a nice crispness" but sadly that tutorial seems to have passed me by and isn't something I've ever managed to do. It sounds good though. Especially for jPegs that lose definition when edited.

When I make blunders or miss out bits that I need to put back in somehow I use the rectangular marquee tool to copy and paste parts that need to be edited and moved about or transformed. Does Gimp do that too? It sounds like it might be all I need. I have already assumed that I will lose Adobe Bridge and that won't be part of Gimp.

"non-aggressive Unsharp mask to give the photo a nice crispness"

My goodness, that does sound like gibberish, doesn't it?
All I meant to say was that I apply the Unsharp-Mask filter (an algorithm that make your picture sharper and the details more pronounced) with a dialed-down parameter than the default. It's a pick, preview and go filter, nothing to it

And yes, Gimp has all the marque tools that Photoshop features, square, round, magic-wand, lasso, etc. So you can do what you described above.

As for Adobe Bridge alternative, I heard good things about digKam. Haven't tried it myself though.

[Chrissy]

Chrissy, Gimp does curves and layers very well, in fact, the interface resembles Photoshop.

Like you, I use it to set the white level on my pen photos, and then in the same interface, I can use the curve to do some more fine tuning.

Usually I finish with a non-aggresive Unsharp Mask just to give the photo a nice "crispness".

I think you'll like Gimp and there's no subscription to deal with.

Thank you Will, I wish I could finish with a "non-aggressive Unsharp mask to give the photo a nice crispness" but sadly that tutorial seems to have passed me by and isn't something I've ever managed to do. It sounds good though. Especially for jPegs that lose definition when edited.

When I make blunders or miss out bits that I need to put back in somehow I use the rectangular marquee tool to copy and paste parts that need to be edited and moved about or transformed. Does Gimp do that too? It sounds like it might be all I need. I have already assumed that I will lose Adobe Bridge and that won't be part of Gimp.

"non-aggressive Unsharp mask to give the photo a nice crispness"

My goodness, that does sound like gibberish, doesn't it?
All I meant to say was that I apply the Unsharp-Mask filter (an algorithm that make your picture sharper and the details more pronounced) with a dialed-down parameter than the default. It's a pick, preview and go filter, nothing to it

And yes, Gimp has all the marque tools that Photoshop features, square, round, magic-wand, lasso, etc. So you can do what you described above.

As for Adobe Bridge alternative, I heard good things about digKam. Haven't tried it myself though.

Thanks Will. When we finally upgrade the Apple OS and lose Photoshop I will get Gimp. I feel much better about the prospect of losing what I have now.

[KrazyIvan]

I have the monthly sub through my work and it works on Catalina. My machine is a mid-2012 iMac so Catalina is the highest it will go. I don't know how much longer I'll be using Photoshop on that machine.

[INeedAFinancialAdvisor]

Warning, incoming rant, TLDR available at the bottom.

you can go to Mojave and still have CS6 working (I do, and I have no problems)

In Catalina (2019) they removed 32 Bit support and that's where problems come in, there is some weirdness I don't want to be quoted on but i THINK it worked out to: if you already have it installed, and you do an upgrade, you'll be ok, but the INSTALLER for CS6 is 32 bit and therefore you cannot install or re-install on Catalina or newer. Pls do not quote me on this.

Big Sur is RIGHT OUT from everything i've read.

I'm still on Mojave as a consequence of not wanting to lose 32 bit support. There are too many old games i want to keep playing, AND i don't want to lose photoshop for the very rare times i use it. (and I'm sure as heck not gonna pay what adobe wants, that's robbery and they only get away with it because businesses pay it)

and yes, I've tried GIMP, more than once. and i will bullet point my problems with it:

1- NOTHING comes included. Want to use "content aware fill"? no problem, just go here, and download this, and install it this way and then change this setting and blah blah blah and THEN you can use it. This applies to soooooooo many things that should just BE INCLUDED, or AT LEAST have a "one click install". So many things i've read about work out to "oh, gimp can do that, but you need this script..." ugh. Ef it. and Back to CS6 I went. Glad i never uninstalled it. If i wanted to still be working as a programmer, I would be doing so.

2- When that content aware script fails/screws up somehow, 'cause its a weird script from the internet... well, that's it, its buggered. completely uninstall and re-install to get it working again... no thanks. Back to CS6 i go.

3- And this is the biggest one: why the F&*(&*(* is EVERYTHING in a different place and named differently from in photoshop? ?....
Darktable rips off Lightroom, and most things (from what little i've seen) are mostly in the same general place and named the same general way... but GIMP? oh no buddy, just basically relearn EVERYTHING from scratch.

but hey, at least it's free...
unfortunately, someday when i end up on an M(Whatever) Mac, I will be forced to learn to use it, or, more likely, i will just never do anything in graphics again.
Yes, i hate gimp THAT MUCH.
Yes, it's made me THAT pissed off.

end rant.

TLDR: - you can go to Mojave and CS6 will work just fine.
- GIMP sucks, but its free, and CAN be powerful... apparently.

Edit: it may have been the super sampling/upsampling script that blew up my install of gimp vs the one for content aware fill... either way, that was the last straw and i ripped gimp out of my system as savagely as i could.

[Chrissy]

Thanks for all of that valuable information. I have checked out my copy of Photoshop CS6 Extended several times and it's all 64bit. Adobe gave me that copy to replace the copy I already had when we swapped over from PC to Mac in 2015.

I've been advised by a senior Adobe tech that CS6 will definitely work with Mojave and might work on Catalina if it's already installed on the machine - some have it working - but it definitely won't work on Big Sur. It's not that they would need a quick fix with a bit of code but a complete rewrite and they just aren't doing that for a piece of software that is 14 years old.
He has offered me 3 months worth of subscription for free but fas far as I'm concerned that is a problem delayed rather than solved. I don't want to pay £10.99 monthly for the rest of my life.

Gimp does't sound like it's easy software to run. At the moment we're still on High Sierra, but will upgrade to Mojave soon. We don't like upgrading the OS until the last minute when all of the potential bugs have been ironed out but will have to get that sorted before they withdraw it.

[INeedAFinancialAdvisor]

https://www.stclairsoft.com/Go64/

That software will check to see what you have that is only 32 bit
(i just can't upgrade if it means i'll lose Sid Meier's Pirates 3D...)

Here's what it shows on my computer (it just basically confirms what i thought I had read and what you were told.

I totally agree with the 3 "free" months just being a delay to a problem. I DESPISE "software as a service"
And yeah, it's a re-write for Adobe, but they don't actually CARE, they just want you on the subscription.
These are the people who are ACTIVELY undermining the "open" PDF standard by saving a completely different type of file under the guise of being a PDF, (It's NOT a pdf, its a proprietary Adobe standard) and then NO OTHER software except theirs can open it. At ALL. Worst of all, Adobe Acrobat users have NO IDEA that this is happening.

So... I guess good luck leaning GIMP eventually. I hope you have more patience than I do, 'cause i've tried AT LEAST twice, I think maybe three or 4 times, and i HATE IT. I hope you have better luck.

FWIW: Mojave has been dead stable for me, I've been running it since a month or so after initial release.