To those that have a Mac only,
I am new to the Glowforge community and upgraded to Catalina for my Mac. Now I find out that Inkscape is not supported because it is a 32 bit program, and Catalina only supports 64 bit. I tried GIMP, too technically difficult to use, adobe illustrator is too expensive for a monthly or yearly license for a crafter. Is my best option to downgrade to Mojave, which supports 32 bit programs, or is there another option?
You could try the Inkscape 1.0 beta which is 64 bit compliant:
Oh, and just to clarify, GIMP is a bitmap program like Photoshop, whereas Inkscape is a vector program like Illustrator. Ideally you would want to learn both types of programs to get the most out of your Glowforge.
Another excellent option for us mac users is Affinity Design. It is Catalina-compliant and is only $50 for a permanent license. Check out https://affinity.serif.com/en-us/designer/ for more info. Oh, and there is a free trial available.
There are a number of AD experts in the Community that use it for all their GF vector designs.
cynd11
you are awesome. I downloaded the beta and it opens and appears to function as expected. I have a lot of experience with auto cad, smart sketch and other similar
programs and can make this work. Thanx bunches. Can I ask another question?
Some of the community files are often loaded as chromium and I get a warning about “may dance” my system. Do you know of a work around or solution to this issue as a Mac user?
I am actually Rose’s husband and trying to get this working before she gets back from visiting our grandkids. A surprise and gift for her - Ken
You got her a surprise Glowforge? You are awesome!
Sorry, I don’t know the answer to your question—I’m still on Mojave and I’ve never gotten that message.
She’s worth it…just trying to figure out the issues…you though are awesome. 
Well, we look forward to meeting her, too. 
(Not a mac user, so can’t help you on that specific issue… but I will say that inkscape 1.0 is definitely beta, so there may be some weirdness until it’s finalized.)
I have to say as a mac user since 1984 (and an apple user since 1979), I have never seen that as an error message (not exactly sure what that means). Also chromium is the open version of the chrome browser so not sure what uploaded as chromium means (do you mean uploaded by chromium?)
As a suggestion for the future, I suggest that when ever you update your Mac OS that you install it on an external hard drive. That way you can boot in both old and current operation systems. This eliminates losing the function of any software applications not compatible with the new OS, plus eliminates the need to re-purchase any software.
I started this years ago when I had to re-buy PhotoShop and Parallels. Also, Apple no longer lets you download some of their old operating systems, so once you upgrade, you are SOL in some cases. Finally, if you don’t download current software, like iMovie, you also lose the ability to do it when Apple releases an update. Since Steve Jobs passed, Apple has steady gone down hill.
Thanks Cynd11…I found out that once I loaded GIMP and Inkscape, many community programs default to those programs and the issue is now moot.
To all those that replied and helped. I found that once I uploaded GIMP and Inkscape beta, the community files defaulted to those programs and is no longer an issue. Better lucky than good huh?
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