Why does Mac OS 12-14 not number identical USB items like OS 10.12-earlier

After discussing things with Mac Tech support we found out that as of somewhere between OS 10.12 and os 12, the Mac OS abdicated the responsibility of numbering items that were identically named.


I'm in a very unusual pickle by the fact that this is almost a problem singular to just me.


I use sq11 cameras mainly because they are the only cameras you could put side by side and get true stereoscopy without any bug-eyedness, cockeyedness, or any other stereoscopic imperfections. The problem is they are multitude by multiple Chinese companies and none of the Chinese companies has any software to let you change the name of the sq-11s.


Therefore I'm reliant on the Mac OS to deal with multiple sq-11s so that I could properly rename them, so I won't get confused.


OBS quits if you look at too many cameras with the same name.


When the Mac OS numbered any identically named items like it didn't OS 10.12, OBS could handle literally 14 cameras and not go down because it's confused.


OBS has been severely hampered because OBS can barely deal with seven identically name things even at its most basic level and has trouble with at least two identically name things.


Some people suggested get a different camera. I would if I could find a camera that is easy to place 2 inches apart from pupil to pupil along the same horizontal plane.


Most of your webcams are either too wide or too tall or usually both and you can't easily stick two cameras that close to each other and be in the same plane.


As far as I know the sq-11 is the only camera that could do it. I understand that's primarily a security cam/body cam/cop cam but it really does come in handy for stereoscopy.


Assuming no one else makes a camera that could be placed 2 inches apart pupil to pupil, then the people at Apple told me no everything requires smart USB devices even Windows machines assume everything is smart.


The problem with assuming everything is smart is if the OS can't talk to the USB device then the chain is only as smart as the dumbest thing in the USB chain.


I thought Mac OS was better than that. I thought Mac OS was more intelligent and could number things with the same identical name. At one time I had 12 identical cameras and Mac OS 10.12 handled it perfectly fine and OBS under OS 10.12 handled it perfectly fine.


Someone told me it might be a security issue that if the OS has access to the USB name then something bad might happen to the OS if it tapped it.


But obviously this can't get done on a PC because Windows now doesn't number multiple items with identical names so switching to PC is of no use.


Anyone who had a middle school understanding a programming with software like basics knows there was such a clause like if Name(A)=Name(B) then Let Name(A)=Name(A)+Index(Name(A))


They may not know how to express it in the particular language they're dealing in but if you understand the logic of computer programming you know that that is a possibility.


Now I know nothing about web security, and if it is a security issue you probably will not give any details that are not well known. But I'm literally stuck at computers that go offline every time I try to change the computer and an OBS program that always gets confused every time I answer new cameras.


If Mac OS was so smart, then it should be able to be the brains that the sq-11 cameras cannot be.

Mac mini, macOS 14.0

Posted on Oct 1, 2023 2:34 PM

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3 replies

Oct 1, 2023 6:34 PM in response to leroydouglas

Yes the question is "Why does the Mac no longer do automatic numbering of multiple USB devices with the same name?"


Not being able to do it hurts functionality for me.


How does removing that ability help functionality of other things?


Because if it doesn't help for other things then it was a completely destructive feature.


And I really can't find a substitute for an sq-11 anywhere. Most other webcams occupy too much width where you cannot lay them even and within 2 inches of each other pupil to pupil on the same plane.

Oct 1, 2023 7:22 PM in response to tripletopper

tripletopper wrote:

Yes the question is "Why does the Mac no longer do automatic numbering of multiple USB devices with the same name?"


You're not talking to Apple here, but to other users.


Chances are that nobody here knows why Apple changed the way that it worked. You speculated that the change might have something to do with security, but I'm drawing a blank.


You could try submitting feedback to Apple at


Product Feedback - Apple


but this seems like a pretty obscure issue.


Why does Mac OS 12-14 not number identical USB items like OS 10.12-earlier

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