I suppose I am in a similar situation. I have an SC1 plotter 24" (using SCAL3Pro) that worked great on my WIndows 11 (13 year old) laptop. The laptop is showing its age and slowing down. I am now a Mac (M1) user. I upgraded, installed and activated SCAL5Pro on the Mac M1. The software seems to have more features and works great...until I go to cut. The plotter will begin to work as expected. Then it begins to jog down the page, then across the page, then back again. Sometimes in moves to one side or the other of the plotter and jogs along the plotter edge. And then eventually it moves to a point and then freezes completely. I have tried the SCAL3 and SCAL5 files all with the same result. I ruled out static since I can still cut using the old windows laptop.
One big difference, which it may very well be the issue, but I am not sure how to address it is that the Mac only has the Thunderbolt ports. I am currently using a USB to USBc adapter (I use the same type for my mouse/keyboard. I have seen there are different Serial to USB cords and adapters available. Has anyone been able to use SCAL5Pro with an older SC plotter and M1 Mac? If so, what cable/adapter was used?
I have contacted SCAL with this issue, they responded a few times with follow-up questions (to which I responded), but I am now 3 weeks from the last response from them, and I have resent my response to them every couple of days.