Looking to possibly switch to KiCad from our older cad/cam software. We use a Mac. My question is, does KiCad really require the latest OS? Looking at the OS requirements page, it seems it supports only the last 1 or 2 OS versions, and for Mac, it says 10.14 goes out of support in August. Would we need to upgrade the OS every year to keep KiCad running? We don’t have a Mac dedicated to cad, so there is other software we would need to consider. Obviously sticking with an older version would eliminate that issue, but each version seems to add a lot of helpful features. Creating a VM for it might be an answer, but that comes with its own issues. Just making sure I understand the OS needs for KiCad.
Kicad follows the end of life periods by the OS maintainer. Apple has dropped 10.14 support in November 2021 and that’s when official kicad support ended. It gets increasingly more time consuming to support older versions as apple breaks the support in newer versions to do so.
I understand Apple is difficult and has their OS locked down pretty tightly. But KiCad MIGHT still work on older OS, just not officially supported? Or won’t the app even install? I’m just trying to think ahead if we decide to go this route what we might be in for.
If it helps the current release works on 10.14, its just not officially supported. I personally think the issue will mainly come about when it moves to the new mac architecture and not the older intel one.
It might work is the answer. The problem with 10.14 is the sole Macos maintainer lost the ability to package for 10.14 as the tooling in the latest versions broke building for 10.14 and he is a one man operation.
There is an unofficial 10.14 package floating about but we can’t christen it because the kicad team didn’t build it and has no way to verify the binary.
OK, I understand now. Too bad there aren’t more Mac users to justify more attention.
There are many Mac users here. Its just difficult to deal with Apple’s requirements. We are running on 10.15 here at the shop.
Keep in mind, you can always use a VM (virtual machine) to run Windows on your mac.
you can always use a VM (virtual machine) to run Windows on your mac.
True, but then you need to use the Windows interface, which is why we use a Mac in the first place. 
Might be better to create a Mac VM and just update the OS on it as needed. But then that’s what we are hoping to avoid, having to use a VM at all.
I agree with you. We too like the mac performance and have been using Apple computers since they switched to Intel. I’m not happy with their decision to leave Intel, but I understand the reasons. Clearly the ARM approach to hardware design is better than Intel. So, I guess we’ll need to upgrade our computers at some point in the future.
We have moved to KiCad from Altium and are very happy with the decision. KiCad’s team is very dedicated and responsive, and version 6 is very good and improving by the day.
Part of the deal with mac/Apple is you keep giving them money every year to upgrade 
In exchange they give you interface.
It is like drug deal
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Like giving an OS to schools. First taste is free.
Hi @marekr, Our Macs are not new by any means. However, they still run circles around PC’s with newer hardware. And, knock on wood, work 12-13 hours a day without freezing, crashing and annoying constant Microsoft updates (when you want to shut down and go home).
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