Mac OS X 10.3.3 Update Released

joelhayhurst writes "Mac OS X 10.3.3 is now available via Software Update. Full details are available on the Apple site - key enhancements include: 'Network volumes are now available in the Finder sidebar and Desktop for easier access... Improved file sharing and directory services for Mac (AFP), UNIX (NFS) and PC (SMB/CIFS) networks... Improved PostScript and USB printing... Updated Disk Utility, DVD Player, Image Capture, Mail and Safari applications... Additional support for FireWire and USB devices... Improved compatibility for third party applications... Previous standalone security updates and Bluetooth Update 1.5."

Comments

Downloading it now...

[Kethinov]

Funny. I was downloading the update only a few minutes before this article was posted.

I sure do hope the improvements to the SMB protocol are substantial. I've had no end of problems using it to access SMB shares on Windows and Unix. :(

Re:Downloading it now...

[lullabud]

I've had plenty of SMB problems when network connectivity was lost on either end, or when my laptop would go to sleep while having an SMB share still mounted. I hope this resolves all those issues...

YES YES YES

[reconbot]

You have no idea how much

Finder and applications that allow you to browse the file system will now refresh the contents of a remote network volume's folder or directory when the folder's contents change.

and

Addresses an issue in which Finder unexpectedly quits if the View menu option "Show icon preview" is enabled while dragging a significant number of icons to another location.

mean to me.

When ever I used a network share and I changed something from the server or from another computer I'd have to play with the finder for a long time to get it to refresh.

I happen to like the icon preview and I had it on globally by default. The first time I hooked up my digital camera the finder jumped to 100% cpu usage and stayed that way even after generating all the thumbnails.

I'm glad they're fixing these bugs.

-Francis

Re:YES YES YES

[Maserati]

Procrastination pays off again ! At the office we have one Appletalk Zone split over 4 TCP/IP subnets. It hasn't been showing up in 10.3.2 under the Netwrok sidebar in the Finder. I've been meaning to "look into that", but I've been stuck planning a font audit (the last thing you EVER want to do in a design shop) lately. 10.3.3 comes along and there it is !

Thanks Apple - even if it did take three updates.

Re:YES YES YES

[dswensen]

Addresses an issue in which Finder unexpectedly quits if the View menu option "Show icon preview" is enabled while dragging a significant number of icons to another location.

Yeah, this is a great fix... shame it isn't actually fixed.

I just installed the update and restarted, and it's still doing it. So obviously there is still some work to be done.

Mail.app bug

[OmniVector]

They STILL haven't fixed the Mail.app bug that i probably submitted in October last year. If you use a mail server with imap-ssl that doesn't have a verified certificate, you get a pop up complaining whenever you open mail. If you click show certificate, there's a certificate icon you can supposedly drag to the desktop and then use in keychain according to apple's support webpages. Well, dragging that image still crashes Mail.app (and hard).

I always figured "complete crash" bugs were high priority. sigh.

Re:Mail.app bug

[milkman_matt]

They STILL haven't fixed the Mail.app bug [...]

I'm just hoping they fixed the junkmail issue i've been having, where my mail.app crashes whenever you tag something as spam/not-spam, i've read that lots of people are having it (and yeah, i've tried the fixes, deleting certain files and such, which fixed it until I marked about 15 mails as spam, then it picked up)

-matt

Re:Mail.app bug

[weave]

That works for unsigned certs, but not for signed certs where you have your own CA (where it can't run the chain to a trusted root cert). Do you know how to install a new CA into OS X? I tried to insert into keychain, still doesn't work.

And by the way, I get the same hard crash that the parent poster said.

Not mentioned in the support articles

[filmsmith]

Anyone know if the bug with Energy Saver not working on mondays is fixed? I don't know when I'll get to update my machine and am curious if this was tended to. They didn't mention it in the support document, but it's such a minor bug anyway...

fs

Re:I hope wake-from-sleep is fixed....

[Anonymous Coward]

>1) Sometimes (10% of the time?) I just get a black screen on wake and have to reboot (CAPSLOCK key LED turns on/off though...so it ain't "dead").

same thing happens with 12" PB. i've noticed that the problem is usually when i put the machine to sleep when it's "busy." for example, you can reproduce the problem almost every time if you plug or unplug an USB mouse then shut the lid immediately.

the screen goes black, keyboard LEDs work but the machine will not wake up. my solution has been to give the machine some time before you put it to sleep after you plug/unplug stuff or launch some apps.

Network Browser fixed and iPhoto 4 blurring fixed

[calstraycat]

The 10.3 Finder's Network Browser now seems to be finished:

1 - Connected servers now appear on the Desktop and in the Sidebar when the preferences have been set for this option.

2 - Connected servers can be ejected via normal means.

3 - Password options are now present including Keychain functions.

4 - User folders no longer appear twice.

I'm a happy camper.

Also, a blurring problem when in edit mode in iPhoto 4 appears to be fixed as well.

Re:Snappier

[erikharrison]

My suspicion that the "snappier" feeling comes from the massive prelinking that the OS goes though when installing stuff.

While OS X has nothing approaching the DLL hell of Windows, prelinking associations can at least theoretically break, and I am fairly sure that the entire OS is only prelinked when installing a major update. Otherwise installing apps would take even longer than usual

Re:I hope wake-from-sleep is fixed....

[MoeBot]

I get a similar problem consistently on my old FW PowerBook:

- put machine to sleep with an external monitor attached
- remove monitor
- wake machine before the case is opened (by attaching a USB mouse while the machine is plugged in)

the machine will awaken without recognizing that a screen is attached. The drive will be spinning, the caps lock will work and you can connect to it if you're attached to a network. You can hit the power key and return to make it shut down in a controlled manner.

Because it doesn't recognize the LCD, closing and opening the case won't trigger sleep (on my old 'book, at least), and therefore won't force it to detect monitors after a proper case-opening awakening.

My lame solution is to leave the machine until it falls asleep; a better solution is to have a script that detects monitors attached to a function key. Even better would be if this update fixes it outright, but I'll be waiting a few days for bolder people to test this patch out before I try.

NFS?

[krray]

Ok, I give up. I have NFS volumes exported/mounted across a few Linux systems (no issue). OS.X mounting the same Linux NFS mount can only handle 2.something gig files (it's bigger than 2 and smaller than 3 is all I know right now).

A 4,707M file shows as 611M on OS.X. No, I can not create files larger than the "limit" -- they eat themselves. The same applies to both the command line and the Finder. Any /. ideas out there?

(yes, I want to move 50G files around sometimes :)

Re:NFS?

[krray]

Not an issue. Locally all disks are HFS+ extended and I have routinely moved and worked with 10,20, and 30G files no problem. I've done the same on the Linux end.

It is when I access the Linux partition as a NFS volume on OS.X that there is an issue (Linux Linux can deal with 10G files no problem as both ends are also ext3 formatted).

Ironically I have no issue when running a Samba server (Linux) and access it via OS.X that way. It makes absolutely no sense to go Linux Microsoft SMB networking OS.X at all ... and speed wise NFS will smoke SMB hands down.

I still it's odd that Apple's OS.X would still be using such broken NFS daemons (and haven't given up that I have the wrong set of flags used -- though Linux works perfectly my BSD boxes as well). I also found it odd that I could download the Garageband update for the addition packs set ($$) -- and simply navigate the app's structure, find the .pax files and unpax them and simply install them myself. Apple's good, but not perfect. Am I the _only_ one with NFS issues? Yikes.

Re:NFS?

[krray]

Hopefully not a dead thread... :)

I specifically call -3 when calling the mount with NFS Manager. It's nagware and does a great job IMHO.

I've been hitting this same wall since I hit the 2G limit with ext2 on the Linux end. That forced my migration to ext3, then updated it's NFS then updated the Mac then it still doesn't work. :()

Today I still resort to SMB connections and for backup use DeJaVu to a SMB connected sparse disk image (works like a charm). Why does NFS suck bunnies through straws with your experience? In mine I am able to saturate 100Mbit and 1,000Mbit connections (~9M/sec and ~90M/sec) with the right equipment on either end (1Gbit connected, SCSI-320's, etc :) ... all via NFS. I'm lucky to see 6-7Mbit/sec speeds with a SMB connection it seems (100Mbit). ssh loses about 5-10% in speed (from saturation) and ftp/http are also mechanisms I've used for transferring as they can go full speed. WebDav isn't bad either, but I want my NFS! :)

Does anyone know if they fixed the Ox911 FW bug?

[Bob Davis, Retired]

I realize that Apple doesn't officially acknowledge problems with the OX911 chipset (only the 922), but does anyone know if they have fixed the bug yet?

All other bugs are low priority for me, as I have a TiBook and external storage that needs to be accessed - RELIABLY!

Java apps

[wandazulu]

Is it only me, or are all Java-based apps now unusable? I tried a few and they all start (show up on the dock) then disappear. I haven't done anything to Java external to Apple's updates to make this happen. Not critical as I don't really use Java that much, but I do have a couple of handy ldap tools written in Java that would be nice to get working again.

The mysterious freezing bug

[Avumede]

Here's hoping the mysterious freezing bug a lot of people have experienced, including me, is fixed. It was evidently introduced in 10.3.2.

Re:Disk space usage bug fixed?

[Hes Nikke]

this is less of a but and more of the finder being stupid.

i NEVER, EVER trust what the finder says because it only updates that figure once every 10 minutes or so. a much more reliable option is to open up the terminal and run df -h. this tells you the current usage information for all mounted disks. (rather than the free space of the disk that is up to 10 minutes out of date) just like in every other unix environment.

the good news is that this update does have the finder updating other stuff correctly, so this may be covered. i still won't ever trust it again.

One problem

[teamhasnoi]

Usually, I am first in line to install new updates (no problem with the infamous 10.2.8), but this is a new one.

I updated my Quicksilver at work and had it save the update. Update went fine, so I copied it to my 15" AL PB. When I start the installer on the PB, it runs the 'little program' then goes to the list of updates. Then the buttons on the install screen die, and I have to force quit out of the installer.

Leery to install, but perhaps it's because I didn't do the software update version.

Performance doesn't seem to be lacking on the QS, but I didn't give it a good run-through either.

core midi=no reason??

[lavaface]

I just updated and now Reason won't recognize my M-Audio usb keyboard (Core MIDI error). Aaaarrrgggh!! Beware . . .

Nevermind

[lavaface]

I deleted some extraneous Keystation drivers in MIDI Setup Utility and all is well . . .

Re:Give me a whole new (old) Finder

[capmilk]

The pre-OS X Finder was fine for a few folders with a limited number of files. OS X on the other hand has so many directories and soooo many files that column view is the best way to deal with it most of the time.

Sure it would be nice to sort by date in column view - but there has to be something to "invent" in 10.4, right?

Lacie DVD R/RW-drive doesn't work after update

[rautell]

And I can no longer play DVD's with my Lacie DVD R/RW-drive.
"There was an initialization error. A valid DVD drive could not be found (-70012)
Does anyone else have that problem after updating?

mLAN

[Steve Cowan]

Of particular interest to audio professionals, this update includes native mLAN support.

mLAN is a standard developed by Yamaha which allows lots of audio and MIDI info to travel over FireWire.

Yamaha's hottest new box, the 01X, has been without OS X drivers since it began shipping a month ago, and as of today it will finally work (in theory anyway)...

Of course time will tell how effective this new version of mLAN will be in terms of latency and stability. Now if you'll excuse me, I've got some downloading to do!

Re:If you've modified your /etc/rc file..

[c13v3rm0nk3y]

I've been burned by this one too many times on a variety of UNIX systems. I've had a policy for some time now that all edits to precious config files (regardless of where they reside) are done against an RCS archive.

A simple rcsdiff now tells you exactly what has changed so you can accept or edit, lock, and checkin your munged changes to the archive. A bit more straight-forward than trying to figure out which installer-created backup copy is the last "good" one.

Guards against accidental deletion, as well. Also especially helpful when testing with a variety of settings for a new daemon you are configuring. You can always go back to a known good condition, and/or save those clever tweaks for posterity!

Remember kids: ci -u is your friend.

12" pbook- try this

[Anonymous Coward]

Yank the added memory and reboot. I had a number of kernel panic probs with the same model due to the memory stick I'd added.

3d Modellers Untie!

[log0n]

(hehe)

Anti-aliased lines have long been borq'n under Panther, but no longer! AA lines now work properly with both my GF4MX card and Powerbooks Radeon 9600 (Maya & C4D).

Mathematica 5.0.0 license broken by update?

[pmdboi]

I just installed the update about a half-hour ago, and upon trying to launch Mathematica 5.0.0, I was greeted with the registration screen. I went through it and the program generated a different machine number than it had before (I checked it against the old one in the email). Did anyone else have this problem?

Trouble with OpenGL performance

[TomorrowPlusX]

First, I want to make it clear I'm a hobbyist developer... not a professional.

So, after reading largely good comments about this update I installed it on my laptop, my development machine. I'm developing a simulation framework for development/testing of behavioral AI agents. The simulator uses the ODE physics engine for dynamics and OpenGL for visualization. Ho hum. Only 10'000 CS students have done the same thing. But this one is mine.

I'll be the first to admit I'm not a professional OpenGL programmer. I'd never written a line before June 2003, but I did the Right Thing and bought the _Red Book_ and went through it from nape to nuts. I also made the requisite vists to NeHE and gamasutra for performance tips.

Anyway, until I installed 10.3.3 my opengl code amounted for a whopping 5 to 10 % of my program's running processor time. In other words, no problem. The physics engine took up another 10 to 30% and that left *plenty* for the separately threaded AI logic. It worked beautifully on my rev A PB 12" -- most of my simulations ran at 100% "simulation/real" time. Which is to say, I set a fixed simulation timestep to 0.05 seconds, allowing for opengl @ 20fps and 20 synchronized physics steps per second. Enough to be "smooth" but not so much as to take away too much processing time from the AI. This on average left 2 or so millis per frame for AI logic, if you want to think of it in a single threaded way.

Immediately ater installing 10.3.3 my average performance dropped to 35% to 50% "real" time. Meaning my average simulation timestep was taking not 0.05 seconds but at least 0.1 or more. No good.

I sharked it ( http://developer.apple.com/tools/shark_optimize.ht ml ) and found that OpenGL's the culprit. There's nothing I can do about it! At least not that I know of. My OpenGL code's not the best in the world, but it's simple and fast and caches all geometry in display lists and so on and so forth. I spent a fair amount of time profiling and optimizing already.

I'm so frustrated... I used to be able to run my simulations in real time but now I can only site and watch it crawl ( and listen as my PB's fan kicks in ). Considering it often takes several minutes observation to determine if a new behavior has improved or ruined an agent's performance, it's quite a pain to have to wait at least twice as long.

Let's just hope that this is a dorked driver, and apple releases an update. & perhaps, I can somehow dig up the 10.3.2 opengl drivers somehow.

Oh well. Since I love cocoa programming, and since I love my PB, and since I drank Steve's Kool-Aid long ago, I still love apple.

What would love be if the object of your affection didn't disappoint you now and then?