Isn’t there a socat binary for the ‘Mac’ without having to compile it manually?
I think I missed that somewhere along the lines. I have a cheap ethernet shield and it works fine. I personally think it’s better to put effort in getting ethernet to work than USB, because via USB it’s pretty limited as to what you can do.
@Costas no unfortunately not, because of the system integration.
@Lichtsignaal that must by why I have never touched an Apple product in my long life 
@skipzone users obviously want to use the products they have to hand but Blynk will tell you themselves that USB and Ethernet are rubbish compared with the real Blynk.
For me it has to be the Wemos D1 Mini at $4. Works like a dream.
I started with USB and as I have a real computer (Windows PC) it was quite straightforward. Even USB with the Pi is easy enough. Then I did Arduino with ESP, reasonably good. Then ESP-12E standalone, very good but Wemos is the best I have found so far.
I think some of the Blynk guys make it look and sound easier than it is as they are real pros but for many people there is a steep learning curve whichever hardware you go with.
True enough, but I got it up and running on my very old (2010 …) Macbook in a matter of minutes, so it’s definitely possible. I do however have a technical background in IT so I guess that is an advantage.
I had some moments in time where I wanted to give up, but I got it working straight in he end. Ethernet and Wifi are both very powerful connection methods.
Furthermore I do concur that Wifi has the best potential for the future. It will be the best solution for the majority of situations.
It would have been nice to be recommended the Wemos D1 R2. Is it possible to use their installer rather than trying the FTDI utilities?
It intrigues me what the ‘real Blynk’ is… have I missed something?
The idea was to get it running on my Mac and then get my son to follow the same but slower procedure on his Raspberry PI … ironically!
Thanks everyone … I’ll have another go when I buy some more time.
No offence to @skipzone but I think you have a lot more IT experience @Lichtsignaal
@skipzone The Rapsberry Pi Foundation don’t lockdown their hardware like Apple so it is much easier and it has a very active user community. I think Apple users are ‘elitist’ so I gather they don’t have communities.
I would go for setting it up on the Pi for your son and I think you have all the steps now.
sudos, file permissions, socat, scripts etc.
If I find a minute I will see if there are any decent instructables for Blynk Pi USB.
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It’s basically Linux, so the Linux guide can probably be followed to the letter.
I think socat can also be installed through MacPorts!