Analog Discovery 2 does not work on macOS Catalina.

[TomShio]

My Analog Discovery 2 was working well on Mojave with WaveForms.
I updated macOS from Mojave to Catalina last week.
After that, WaveForms doesn't start on Catalina.
I also tried re-installing latest WaveForms app v3.10.9. But it doesn't help.
What should I check to work it on Catalina?

OS: macOS Catalina ver 10.15
PC: MacBookPro 15inch 2017

[attila]

Hi @TomShio

Try to disconnect the device, reboot and connect it again.
Some Macs require the driver to be installed from the WaveForms DMG package, others do not require this.

For me, the devices are working properly with MacBookPro 15 late 2014 macOS Catalina, even with and without the driver.

[TomShio]

Hi attila,

I already re-installed WaveForms by using DMG package and reboot mac and app without the device.
But it still doesn't work.

When I run app, error dialog appeared below.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
WaveForms quit unexpectedly.

Application Specific Information:
/Applications/WaveForms.app/Contents/MacOS/WaveForms
*** Terminating app due to uncaught exception 'NSInvalidArgumentException', reason: '-[NSTaggedPointerString count]: unrecognized selector sent to instance 0xfe97abc28d0f667d'
abort() called
terminating with uncaught exception of type NSException
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[TomShio]

Hi attila, 

I solved this issue.
I removed all related files such as caches before installing WaveForms.
And installed WaveForms, then the device is working properly with Catalina.

I used "appcleaner".
https://freemacsoft.net/appcleaner/

Thanks!

 

[attila]

Hi @TomShio

Thank you for posting the solution.
Probably the font or other options used in Mojave were invalid in Catalina...

I wanted to tell you to try starting WaveFroms with the following argument, to clear the application settings:
$ exec /Applications/WaveForms.app/Contents/MacOS/WaveForms -safe-mode

[GregB]

Had a similar problem in macOS 10.15.2, followed above suggestions but no luck.

Solution turned out to be to reinstall the FTDI driver from their website. The one dated 2019-12-24 worked:

https://www.ftdichip.com/Drivers/VCP.htm

The previous built-in driver wasn't working; potentially had been replaced (by me) when testing other FTDI linked peripherals (Arduino, FadeCandy etc), and maybe stopped working when 10.15.2 updated.

[attila]

Hi @GregB

Thank you sharing your observation.

The WaveForms application (dwf/adept) uses the D2XX library and no VCP driver is used. WF v3.12.2 contains the latest d2xx v2.4.2
https://www.ftdichip.com/Drivers/D2XX.htm

The VCP looks like a driver filter and a previous version of this might have blocked the access to the AD2 through D2XX library.

In earlier macOS versions (<=10.13) a VCP-like driver was included and in order to access the AD2 you had to install the DigilentFtdiDriver.pkg .

You can find/remove such extension in mac under /Library/Extensions.

[GregB]

Thanks, that sounds accurate. Also the older VCP driver has likely caused issues with other applications that use D2XX.

I originally hadn't even tried to remove it - thought it was system-provided.

One other thing - I've found *completely* removing .kexts in Catalina required booting in recovery mode and doing it from Terminal