I have an old iPad Mini, first gen. It hasn't received an OS update since iOS 9, and most apps have passed it by. Yesterday, the last useful thing I used it for also passed it by.

I won the iPad Mini at a company event. They were new, and I wasn't sure what good they might be. I had a laptop, with which I could do all the things, and a smart phone, with which I could do all of the portable things. I'd played with other people's iPads, and they seemed neat, but it seemed more gizmo than functional. I've since found uses, and have had several replacements or upgrades, and can do about half of my job on my iPad now.

The original iPad Mini was destroyed in a motorcycle accident, but was replaced under AppleCare. I'm not usually one to go for those extended warranties, but that and other things on other Apple devices have let me see the value, so I just figure everything costs $50 more than the advertised price. This iPad has toughed out the last 7 or so years with style. It's got a couple dated stickers on the back, so I know it's mine, and used to sport a smart cover, which is around here somewhere. For the last couple of years, it's been mounted on a stand next to my work laptop, connected using an Astropad Luna Display, turning it into another monitor.

As the iOS upgrades stopped coming for the iPad, the things it could do started dwindling. No more Netflix on the side. Can't use the GMail client, although I can still use the Apple Mail client to look at e-mail. The browsers still work, so it can do that, mostly. But so many other things have dropped off. Alas, Astropad stopped updating the app on the iPad, but it still worked with the updated apps on the MacBook Pro.

Until yesterday.

Early, when the iOS updates stopped, and the MacBook got an update but the iPad wasn't allowed, I reached out to Astropad, concerned that my then fairly new adapter purchase was in vain. The nice person assured me that while the 32-bit iPads weren't compatible with their new updated software, the screen-sharing protocol was not changing, and that the old iPad would still work. Sure, it's a lot slower, but it's a nice little bit of extra real estate.

I used to keep Slack on the iPad screen, moving it to the other display when I needed to engage. This left it always visible, and always popping up notices when messages came. Lately, I'd shifted to putting Zoom on there, too, which shows my agenda always, and lets the meeting windows go to the other displays without blocking. The screen is still bright enough and has enough resolution that I can read it just fine, so it was a great addition of a little bit of screen real estate.

Until yesterday.

Yesterday the upgrade was offered. I didn't check, having trusted a few updates since that last conversation. This time, the screens disconnected, as they do, and the MacBook software updated. It immediately offered another update, a third dot, so I did that, too. It then said it needed to update the Luna Display firmware, so I clicked the "ok" button and waited for the app to restart again. When it did, both devices stopped at the "turn on the other app" screens. It hasn't connected since. I've tried going through all of the connection options, and the old iPad seems to not be able to see the new MacBook version of things.

I reached out to Astropad support, and hope they can shoot me a link to download and reinstall that last older version. If not, the old iPad just turned into a very fancy clock. The mostly-working browser doesn't add a lot of value. The mail app is better on my other iPad, so that's not adding any value. Right now, I have the World Clock open, showing me my favorite six time zones, and a neat picture of the sun/shade on the distorted map.

I don't have any reason to use the Luna Display on this MacBook any more. The OS supports Sidecar, and my other iPad also supports Sidecar, so I'd probably use that when I wanted to use the iPad as a second display instead of this add on. The Luna Display does have a nice benefit that it really seems just like a different monitor to the Mac, and isn't a special Handoff add-on. I suppose I could consider putting Luna Display on the newer and bigger iPad, especially if I upgrade to one of the even newer iPads. It is a slick system that transparently lets the tablet behave like a monitor.

I have my other older MacBook, which also has a Luna Device, and I can use it there. I don't use that laptop as often, though, and it isn't positioned as neatly on the desk to have the second display...simple enough to fix, sure. Maybe I'll put the gooseneck arm back on the desk and hang the iPad over the other display. That older MacBook hasn't received an OS update for a while, either, so it's stuck and will start having the same problems. Rather, it will continue to have more of the same problems, as it has already started hitting "some things don't update or work any more" with what's on it. I will be careful not to update its Luna Display, though!