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Mac OS X 10.4.3 Released

parry writes "Software Update just delivered the Mac OS X 10.4.3 update to my PowerBook. Key changes include improved responsiveness when searching in Spotlight, Safari now passes the Acid2 test, better performance for MS-DOS formatted volumes and numerous bug fixes."

219 comments

  1. What will it be for early downloaders... by xactuary · · Score: 5, Funny

    Trick or Treat?

    --
    Say hello to my little sig.
    1. Re:What will it be for early downloaders... by knoebelsPT · · Score: 1

      Treat. When was the last time a OS X update broke my machine?

    2. Re:What will it be for early downloaders... by TinyManCan · · Score: 1, Insightful
      You say this in jest no doubt. Or at least I hope you are joking.

      Unfortunately there are more than a few stories about OS X updates that broke peoples machines around the internet.

      Usually nothing major mind you, and typically easy to resolve. The bad thing is that there are many people who don't have other machines around or are missing the original install disks, and a non-booting computer presents a problem.

      On the whole though, I would say Apple does a better than average job with these upgrades. It damn near impossible to be perfect every time given the differences from install to install and the wide range of uses people put the machines too.

      To directly answer your query, I've never personally had an OS X update go bad on me, but a data set of one is no data set at all.

    3. Re:What will it be for early downloaders... by Uart · · Score: 3, Interesting

      OSX updates are usually pretty solid. I haven't installed this one yet, but I will before I go to bed (and therefore don't have to stop everything to reboot. I am always VERY confident to install Apple updates -- I personally haven't experienced any problems, except with Safari when it was still "beta" and that hardly counts.

      Yeah, there is a chance that this update will wreak havoc, but considering how responsible Apple is about these sorts of things, I can't imagine that it would.

      --

      Opinionated Law Student Strikes Again!
    4. Re:What will it be for early downloaders... by Jeff+DeMaagd · · Score: 0

      I haven't had an update go bad on me either, though I would just plan on a problem coming and do something to prevent further trouble. It's a good idea to do an backup of the system partition before upgrading. I just started the backup now, despite having done a backup a couple days ago. Once that is done, I will download the update.

    5. Re:What will it be for early downloaders... by Shanep · · Score: 0

      Treat. When was the last time a OS X update broke my machine?

      We don't know, it's your machine. You tell us.

      Updates from Apple have been retracted in the past, since they cause more problems than they fixed.

      I prefer to wait a few days, unless I really have to update.

      --
      War crimes, torture, lies, illegal spying... Would someone give Bush a blowjob, already, so he can be impeached?
    6. Re:What will it be for early downloaders... by domefreak · · Score: 2, Interesting
      I am always VERY confident to install Apple updates...

      I administer an office of 15 macs, and I mostly share your confidence in installing Apple updates. I do, however, remember setting up a 15" Al p'book, and running software update on it right after I plugged it in. It updated from 10.3.x to 10.3.(x+1) (perhaps it was 10.3.4 or something - i don't recall) and promptly refused to restart.

      My local Mac store (where I had just purchased it) informed me that OS version didn't work well on that model, so I re-installed from the system DVD and started again--fortunately there was nothing installed on it yet--and all was fine. This is the exception to hundreds of updates, however, and seems quite different than the experience that some Windows-using friends must have had to believe that one should never update the OS from the one that comes installed, 'cause it's just asking for trouble.

    7. Re:What will it be for early downloaders... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I just update without backing up and I had no problem. Waited an hour before rebooting after the install though cause I was playing wacraft LOL :)

    8. Re:What will it be for early downloaders... by drsmithy · · Score: 0
      When was the last time a OS X update broke my machine?

      Your machine ? No idea. Never, by the sound of it.

      Other people's machines ? Ridiculously often, given how small their product line is.

      When a Windows service pack breaks 5% of the machines it gets installed on, that's understandable because of the millions of different hardware combinations out there.

      When OS X updates break stock standard Mac configurations - and it's happened several times in the past - it's ridiculous.

    9. Re:What will it be for early downloaders... by Shanep · · Score: 1

      Updates from Apple have been retracted in the past, since they cause more problems than they fixed.

      That should probably read:

      Some updates from Apple have been retracted in the past, since they caused more problems than they fixed.

      Reading it a second time, it sounds like I'm stating this about many updates. Which I'm not.

      --
      War crimes, torture, lies, illegal spying... Would someone give Bush a blowjob, already, so he can be impeached?
    10. Re:What will it be for early downloaders... by plj · · Score: 0

      AFAIK most of the problems caused by Mac OS minor version upgrades are due to invalid system volume permissions. So, to ensure that everything goes smoothly, always run "Repair Disk Permissions" from Disk Utility before installing them.

      --
      “Wait for Hurd if you want something real” –Linus
    11. Re:What will it be for early downloaders... by Onan · · Score: 3, Informative
      Unfortunately there are more than a few stories about OS X updates that broke peoples machines around the internet.
      I actually think that "few" is a pretty good characterization of the number of complaints I've heard about machines broken by osx updates. Not "none", but "few" seems fair. (Especially complaints that are consistent across multiple people, rather than just correlation-without-causation instances of that reboot just being the time that somebody's hard drive or power supply didn't come back up and so on.)

      The only two that I remember are a version of--I think--10.2.8 that broke ethernet interfaces on one non-current model of powermac, and a recent 10.4 update that broke fat applications (which mostly don't exist yet). I may very well be forgetting a couple, but twoish instances of very limited breakage in the span of every osx update ever released does strike me as "few".

      To directly answer your query, I've never personally had an OS X update go bad on me, but a data set of one is no data set at all.
      Certainly true. Unfortunately, the more common data set is "all the people that had problems and complained", which of course isn't any more useful for predicting failure rates.

      So while yes, there have been complaints in the past, my best judgement still leads me to happily installing updates as soon as they're available, rather than waiting for other people to guinea pig them. Neither I nor anyone I know directly have had any cause to regret this yet.

      I guess this puts me with the grandparent, sans jest.

    12. Re:What will it be for early downloaders... by sexysasian · · Score: 0

      Oh yeah? What about the time 10.3.6 f-ed up everyone's (with the Oxford 911) Firewire drives? Pretty shitty treat if you ask me; har har.

    13. Re:What will it be for early downloaders... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Not too long ago Apple released an update that screwed up so many G5's.

    14. Re:What will it be for early downloaders... by HTH+NE1 · · Score: 2, Informative

      That still was not as bad as an earlier version which would overwrite the partition map of random Firewire drives on launch of Final Cut Pro. An OS update fixed that (10.0 to 10.1 or 10.1 to 10.2--this was also when FCP would run on a non-AGP Mac without modification).

      My guess was it was attempting to communicate with every Firewire device to query if it was a capture device and for drives the query was written atop the start of the disk. After it ate my drive the 5th time I disconnected all Firewire drives and it would run non-destructively.

      --
      Oh, say does that Star-Spangled Banner entwine / The myrtle of Venus with Bacchus's vine?
    15. Re:What will it be for early downloaders... by ksheff · · Score: 1

      Didn't they also have an update that broke a lot of things if the computer had volumes with spaces in the names?

      --
      the good ground has been paved over by suicidal maniacs
    16. Re:What will it be for early downloaders... by Juanvaldes · · Score: 1

      it deleted it. And I think that was a iTunes update.

    17. Re:What will it be for early downloaders... by Swift2001 · · Score: 1

      And it was 1999, I think. I downloaded it, but hadn't used it much (and had no problem) when they pulled it and released the fix the next day. Or thereabouts. It was a *doh* error.

    18. Re:What will it be for early downloaders... by CountBrass · · Score: 1

      You also need to account for "all the people who complained but don't even own a Mac". :-)

      --
      Bad analogies are like waxing a monkey with a rainbow.
    19. Re:What will it be for early downloaders... by Ilgaz · · Score: 1

      I guess he was joking. You should remind the evil g5 firmware update which didn't break anything since machine didn't boot at all :)

      Only way to boot was removing 3rd party (!) RAM.

      I don't even mention OS X 10.4 broke my own Apple installed internal modem functionality (yes,no hacks,apple) and I had to buy an actual fax device :)

    20. Re:What will it be for early downloaders... by Langley · · Score: 1

      It was definitly Trick for me.

      I was greeted with my very first kernel panic on my lowly MacMini. Too bad I can't just choose my previous kernel from a Grub menu, anyone know how I can choose the previous kernel in Open Firmware?

  2. Yes, it is snappier! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    ... even my old Dell inspiron running Win XP is snappier now that 10.4.3 is out!

    1. Re:Yes, it is snappier! by tyagiUK · · Score: 1

      My iBook G4 1GHz (640MB) has been losing it's snappy in recent months. Since the 10.4.x updates have arrived, it's been feeling more sluggish and has even required a reboot to refresh its snappy. There are some "workarounds" for Safari to improve performance, but I've found that even Finder and other apps are making 10.4.x require a reboot every now and again.

      --
      Contribute to the online videogame encyclopedia: GamerWiki
    2. Re:Yes, it is snappier! by Johnathon_Dough · · Score: 5, Informative
      I had the same problem on my wife's ibook, so i disabled dashboard and spotlight (she used neither) and it got a whole lot better.

      to disable spotlight try spotless

      and instructions on disabling dashboard.

      --
      If you are one in a million, then there are six thousand people who are just like you.
    3. Re:Yes, it is snappier! by Mononoke · · Score: 5, Informative
      Clean off your desktop.

      Seriously.

      I had been watching Activity Monitor, and an app called WindowServer was taking vast amounts of CPU, especially during startup of other apps (things would bounce 'forever' in the doc before opening.) It wasn't a pre-binding problem either. I finally thought I might clean off my computer's desktop (there were about 340 items there, as it's both my default download folder and the place I drag images and clippings to from Safari.) I simply dragged everything into a folder that I created on the desktop, restarted for luck, and all the snappiness was back.

      WindowServer is behaving itself now, and everything loading quicker and working more as expected. I don't know exactly what WindowServer does, but I do know it hates a 'dirty desktop.'

      --
      NetInfo connection failed for server 127.0.0.1/local
    4. Re:Yes, it is snappier! by Halfbaked+Plan · · Score: 0, Offtopic

      My Sun Sparc IPC is even snappier. (it now has OpenBSD running on it as of tonight)

      --
      resigned
    5. Re:Yes, it is snappier! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      or it could have been your restart which reset memory allocations

    6. Re:Yes, it is snappier! by andrewski · · Score: 0, Informative

      After the initial installation, when Spotlight indexes the whole disk, it hardly takes up any processor time. This can be verified with top or Activity Monitor.

      And Dashboard never loads if you never activate it.

      So, your wife's machine was slowing down for other reasons.

    7. Re:Yes, it is snappier! by tyagiUK · · Score: 1

      So if I never use Dashboard, or load any applets, it'll not chew resource? That would be nice.
      When I first got 10.4, I configured a small bunch of applets for the Dashboard. A week or two later, I was running Top, and noticed just how much memory/CPU these things chew up. I immediately disabled them all.

      If Apple wants Dashboard to succeed, they've got to make it much more resource efficient. Even switching to the Dashboard on my iBook G4 1GHz is sluggish - like several seconds while things slowly come up.

      --
      Contribute to the online videogame encyclopedia: GamerWiki
    8. Re:Yes, it is snappier! by Senjutsu · · Score: 1

      WindowServer is responsible for handling moving windows, drawing the frames of windows, hidding and unhiding them and the like. It doesn't handle the desktop and drawing the items on it, Finder does that.

      Likely, WindowServer got itself all tied into knots for some other reason entirely, and rebooting put an end to all that, not clearing off the desktop.

    9. Re:Yes, it is snappier! by skinfitz · · Score: 5, Funny

      Windows runs faster with a clean desktop too. They must have copied that from Microsoft...

    10. Re:Yes, it is snappier! by Mononoke · · Score: 1
      Likely, WindowServer got itself all tied into knots for some other reason entirely, and rebooting put an end to all that, not clearing off the desktop.
      Nope. Previous reboots (and there were several in the troubleshooting process) had no effect on the amount of CPU used by WindowServer. Clearing the desktop was the only action that fixed the problem.
      --
      NetInfo connection failed for server 127.0.0.1/local
    11. Re:Yes, it is snappier! by tgv · · Score: 1

      The dashboard itself uses some memory, but the widgets don't, until you activate them. At least, that was the way it was under 10.4.2. You can check it using the "Activity monitor" (in the Utilities folder).

    12. Re:Yes, it is snappier! by tgv · · Score: 1
    13. Re:Yes, it is snappier! by nine-times · · Score: 2, Interesting
      there were about 340 items there, as it's both my default download folder and the place I drag images and clippings to from Safari.

      Holy crap. 340 files on your desktop?

      I've been in IT for a while, and this seems to be a particular neurosis or Mac users. Inexperienced Windows users will throw everything on their desktop, but with Mac users, even many of the experienced ones do it. Everything is on their desktop, or just on the hard drive (by which I mean, not sorted at all, but in the root directory), and they never close their applications. I really don't get it. Maybe it's a hold-over from the old pre-OSX days, before Macs had a proper file structure?

      Anyway, before people jump on me for being a troll, I'm a Mac user. I really like OSX a lot. I have an iPod, 2 powerbooks, and a Mac mini. But geeze, man, OSX gives you a whole home directory with a nice little Desktop/Documents/Pictures/Music breakdown-- learn to use it...

    14. Re:Yes, it is snappier! by lunax · · Score: 1

      If you don't launch Dashboard it doesn't waste your resources. Once you launch it, the applets stay active and start draining your system. I hardly use Dashboard but when I do I'll kill the dock when I'm done. This quits the applets so they aren't active in the background. I use an apple script that is launched by control-f12 that kills the dock for me.

    15. Re:Yes, it is snappier! by derflammenhund · · Score: 4, Funny

      Macs did have a proper file structure before OS X: it was whatever you wanted it to be. Personally, I stuck to the Applications/Documents format Apple presented me with on our first mac back in 1995. I still use this format, but the OS let you create as many subfolders wherever you wanted, so whatever organization scheme worked best for you was the one you used. Unfortunately, with OS X, and especially with the removal of things like Favorites-as-a-default, the HD icon is the only folder you see on the desktop at startup, so it's probably quite a bit more compelling to put things in there if you don't "know any better."

      I'd guess there's some compulsion to try to simply drag files to My Computer on windows machines for some people.

      As a more stereotypical guess, mac people tend to have relied on visual layouts in folders to deal with filesystem issues, so those people like to see all of their files in one view. A professor I have to deal with during the course of my job is like this; he has 400 files on his desktop, and then on top of that he keeps nested folder after nested folder of files for his class presentations on his drive. I have no clue whatsoever how he gets anything done, especially as one of his main subfolders is labled with his name.

      Ugh.

    16. Re:Yes, it is snappier! by nine-times · · Score: 1
      Macs did have a proper file structure before OS X: it was whatever you wanted it to be.

      "Whatever you want" may be fine for some users of single-user systems to don't care much about security, but it's not what I would call a "proper file structure". I'm not saying the system should necessarily keep you from doing whatever you want, but users should understand that storing your files in some places makes sense, and storing them in others does not. The OS should also encourage the proper behavior (using someplace in their home folder as the default in "save as" dialogues) and discouraging improper behavior (requiring administrator authentication to move documents to system folders).

      Now, admittedly, storing everything on your desktop is a different sort of problem from storing everything in the root of your hard drive (though someone who didn't understand computing wouldn't understand why). However, both tend to reflect, IMHO, a sort of carelessness and ignorance. Of course, people are allowed to be careless and ignorant with their own data on their own computers, but I wouldn't advise it.

    17. Re:Yes, it is snappier! by Petey_Alchemist · · Score: 1

      Tell me about it. This update is brutal. My 1.2 GHz Powerbook is freaking out--taking nearly ten minutes in total to reboot, even after I rested it for several hours after the update crashed it.

      I think the verdict is trick. Do not download this if your Mac is running fine already.

      --Petey

    18. Re:Yes, it is snappier! by porcupine8 · · Score: 2, Informative

      Part of the problem is that Safari's default download folder is the desktop - and every time you open a PDF it downloads it there. It's easy to accumulate tons and tons of PDFs on your desktop if you don't clean it up regularly. And Firefox is no better, because if you choose "Open with Preview" instead of "Save to..." it saves it to the desktop as well - even though if you had saved it, you could have chosen a location.

      --
      Warning: Apple/Nintendo fangirl. Likes her electronics cute & cuddly. May be rabid.
    19. Re:Yes, it is snappier! by Mononoke · · Score: 1
      But geeze, man, OSX gives you a whole home directory with a nice little Desktop/Documents/Pictures/Music breakdown-- learn to use it...
      I do know how to use it. My desk gives me nice drawers and hanging folders for filing things, too, but incoming mail, reference books, etc. still sit on top of that desk. Sometimes longer than they should, but I shouldn't be penalized for using that desktop for its intended purpose.

      Or at least there should be a warning somewhere.

      --
      NetInfo connection failed for server 127.0.0.1/local
    20. Re:Yes, it is snappier! by Hes+Nikke · · Score: 2, Informative

      WindowServer is responsible for handling moving windows, drawing the frames of windows, hidding and unhiding them and the like. It doesn't handle the desktop and drawing the items on it, Finder does that.

      Yes and no. WindowServer, or to be more specific, the Quartz Compositor (itself a part of the WindowServer process) is also responsible for compositing all the windows into one image to send to your graphics card. While the Finder draws the items that reside on the desktop, it sends them to WindowServer to composite the images of each item onto the desktop. one. item. at. a time.*

      By having 300 items on the desktop, WindowServer now has 300 MORE things to composite (yes, even if it most of them are covered by a fully opaque window) it's going to start using more CPU time.

      *With Quartz Extreme, and Quartz 2D Extreme, some (but not all!) of this work is pushed onto the graphics card. It still takes CPU horsepower to put the data into a graphics card friendly format. [details]

      --
      Don't call me back. Give me a call back. Bye. So yeah. But bye our, well, but alright we are on a shirt this chill.
    21. Re:Yes, it is snappier! by nine-times · · Score: 1
      Yeah, I know. I don't think it's really the best behavior, but I think Apple does it in an attempt to make downloads easy to find, and draw their attention to the fact that they've downloaded things. As for myself, I have a general habit of setting up user profiles to have a "Downloads" folder on their desktop, and point Safari (or any other web browser/FTP program) to download there as the default.

      In the end, I just think of file management as a necessary skill for using computers-- almost as much as typing, or even reading. Yes, technically you can use a computer without those skills, but that doesn't mean you're using it well.

    22. Re:Yes, it is snappier! by porcupine8 · · Score: 1

      I don't see why there's not a temp directory for browsers to use on files that you choose to open rather than save, that's automatically emptied now and then. I, too, usually make a "Downloads" folder on my desktop - but it takes constant maintenance to sort out the stuff I actually wanted to save from the stuff I wanted to view once and forget about. Letting Safari download to two places - an automatically-deleted temp folder if you don't choose "save", plus whatever you specify as your download folder if you do - would make things *so* much easier.

      --
      Warning: Apple/Nintendo fangirl. Likes her electronics cute & cuddly. May be rabid.
    23. Re:Yes, it is snappier! by tyagiUK · · Score: 1

      This is a very interesting point.

      I'm mainly a unix user, so have developed good discipline about directory structure in my /home. I tend to carry this same structure over to other OS that I use, Windows, OS X, etc.

      Now with the advent of Spotlight, I've found myself wondering whether I really need to structure my files at all, or whether I should just throw them all in to my /home and just use Spotlight. Do we need to have this organised approach to filesystem management any more, when the technology "solves the problem for us"? When "Pictures" or "Documents" is just a Spotlight view on an aggregated blob of files, why should I try to organise my stuff any more?

      Yes, backing up may be a problem, but only if there isn't an AppleScript I can write to interface with Spotlight to pull out the necessary files efficiently and reliably.

      The whole "meta view" (there's some nice management buzzphrasing) thing could really change the way I manage my personal data.

      --
      Contribute to the online videogame encyclopedia: GamerWiki
    24. Re:Yes, it is snappier! by nine-times · · Score: 2, Insightful
      Well, as far as this temporary directory that you're suggesting, there is an internet cache, and that's where most things go so long as they're viewable in Safari. The only occasional exception to this, AFAIK, is PDFs, and I believe that it's just a bug due to the fact that Safari used to be unable to open PDFs in the browser.

      For files not viewable in Safari, however, Apple faces a dilemma. Do you allow people to open them, supposedly without saving them, and have people wondering where those files went? Or do you risk "downloading" files (download in quotes, because of course you're downloading either way) that the user won't really want.

      I think Apple is doing it the better way. It diminishes the risk of losing data. For example, Microsoft's e-mail products (and IE) will offer to open files (in the case of e-mail, attachments) "where they are", and not "save" them. The file goes into some temporary directory, the user edits it, saves it, closes it, and... whoops, where'd it go? It didn't overwrite the original file, wherever that is, but you saved it, so you'd expect it's safe, somewhere. So where'd it go?

      Sometimes it's just gone. Sometimes it's still on the hard drive, but it's in a hidden temp directory where normal users will never find it. In any case, for most people, the data is as good as gone.

      Therefore, I say anything that's being opened in an external viewer (and therefore potentially an editor) should be saved somewhere. If you ask me, the browser shouldn't even open external editors. Anything that can't be opened in the browser should only be allowed to be saved.

    25. Re:Yes, it is snappier! by derflammenhund · · Score: 1

      Something worth noting, however, is that if you're accessing your directories from a point other than the console itself, you won't be able to hook into all that nifty spotlight gadgetry. until they do that, and until we have solid proof that desktop search databases don't suffer corruption at the drop of a hat, it's probably a good idea to keep using your preexisting notions of directory structure. As long as tools like spotlight continue to have their own interfaces, you won't notice the difference when you're using spotlight as opposed to AFP or the terminal or whatever else.

    26. Re:Yes, it is snappier! by nine-times · · Score: 1
      Yes, I'm aware that many people are hoping that database-like file systems and such will remove the need for file management. I like spotlight, but I don't think it's to a point, yet, where I'm comfortable with the idea of just throwing your data wherever. For example, if I need to run a search for any documents opened today, I'm not sure I'll really get all my documents because Apple has a specific definition of a "document" that doesn't match up with mine. If I ask it to show me all files accessed today, I'll get a lot of crap that I'm certainly not looking for. So this is one place where it makes sense to have at least some sort of file structure sorting.

      Additionally, I would say that there are times where I can simply click on the "Documents" icon or "Pictures" icon in the sidebar, and what I'm looking for is right there. Trying to figure out how to come up with the correct search parameters to find that same file, and then typing it in, would take longer.

      To be completely honest, I'm not entirely convinced that searches will replace file structures. People are very spacial, and sometimes it's easier to think of these things in terms of "where it is". At the very least, we can think of these sorts of metaphorical "locations" as an extra piece of metadata that can make our documents easier to find. I like spotlight, and I really like smart folders. These innovations may make organization far less necessary, and perhaps your file structures don't need to be as rigorous as a result. However, I don't believe I've seen a system that can sufficiently serve as a replacement for traditional methods of file management, and I'm a bit skeptical about the possibility of such a thing happening in the near future.

    27. Re:Yes, it is snappier! by solios · · Score: 1

      Actually, "runs faster with a clean desktop" has been an issue since early versions of MacOS. You know, when people still thought DOS was a good idea.

      MS swiped it from Apple, Apple swiped it back. ;^P

    28. Re:Yes, it is snappier! by Em+Adespoton · · Score: 1
      Part of the problem is that Safari's default download folder is the desktop

      Actually, sometime recently, this changed -- I now find that the default download folder is a date stamped folder within the default download folder -- this confused me for a few downloads when it first happened, until I eventually noticed the date stamped folder sitting there, opened it up, and discovered 10 copies of what I had been trying to download.

    29. Re:Yes, it is snappier! by Van+Halen · · Score: 2, Informative

      Wow, there's a whole application to make a simple edit to a config file? Sheesh. I'm sure it's good for typical command-line-fearing Apple users, but this is Slashdot. Just edit /etc/hostconfig and change SPOTLIGHT=-YES- to SPOTLIGHT=-NO-. Heck, it even says that right on the Spotless download page.

    30. Re:Yes, it is snappier! by Van+Halen · · Score: 1

      Why don't you suggest it to Apple? They won't do it if nobody asks and they don't think of it themselves. Feedback or Bug Reports, depending on how direct you wish to be.

    31. Re:Yes, it is snappier! by bursch-X · · Score: 1

      I think keeping your filesystem as a way of organizing things is still the way to go, and Spotlight for me makes it just a bit more convenient to find things I cannot remember the location of immediately, or if I have to look for something like "any image that shows a tree", there could be many images in all kinds of job folders.

      Spotlight ist just a convenient way to find things, I don't think it makes a good replacement for staying organised.

      --
      There are two rules for success:
      1. Never tell everything you know.
    32. Re:Yes, it is snappier! by porcupine8 · · Score: 2, Interesting
      due to the fact that Safari used to be unable to open PDFs in the browser.

      Now THIS is what they REALLY need to fix. *sigh*

      As for the rest, I sometimes forget about the need to idiot-proof (or at least, newbie-proof) things. I think the ideal solution would go something like this:

      - You click a file that opens in an external program, like preview or WMP.
      - You get a dialog box where the choices are "Save to..." and "Open and Store a copy in *path of temp directory*" (The temp directory shouldn't be as well-hidden as the Windows ones are. Something at the top of your home directory, for instance.
      - Somehow, the computer won't let any program but Safari (perhaps this would be editable to add other web browsers) save to that directory, so if you try to save the file, it automatically makes you "Save As" and pick somewhere else to save it. I have no idea how feasible this is, but I said "ideal," now didn't I?
      - Temp directory is automatically cleared out at a user-defined time or space interval (a month, or when it reaches 100 MB, for example)

      --
      Warning: Apple/Nintendo fangirl. Likes her electronics cute & cuddly. May be rabid.
    33. Re:Yes, it is snappier! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The update worked great for me. The first reboot took a little longer then normal, though. I'm happy that FBOs are supported in OGL now.

    34. Re:Yes, it is snappier! by Gulthek · · Score: 1

      Indeed. Since the advent of spotlight I find myself organizing files and folders less and less. I still bulk separate them into "Pictures" "Documents" "Movies" etc, but I'm already thinking that they're all just files so why not let them all sit in one huge directory and be smart sorted and organized to my whims on the fly?

    35. Re:Yes, it is snappier! by Mononoke · · Score: 1
      WindowServer, or to be more specific, the Quartz Compositor (itself a part of the WindowServer process) is also responsible for compositing all the windows into one image to send to your graphics card. While the Finder draws the items that reside on the desktop, it sends them to WindowServer to composite the images of each item onto the desktop. one. item. at. a time.*
      Thank you very much for this information. That's what I (and I'm sure many others) really wanted to know about what WindowServer was doing.
      --
      NetInfo connection failed for server 127.0.0.1/local
    36. Re:Yes, it is snappier! by Macgrrl · · Score: 1

      Personally, pre-OSX, I always had alias files in me Apple Menu Items directory of my Documents directory, my Applications directory and my HDA. That way I could get to anything on the HDA via the Apple menu. :)

      --
      Sara
      Designer, Gamer, Macgrrl in an XP World
    37. Re:Yes, it is snappier! by JulesLt · · Score: 1

      Might be just me but spotlight seems somewhat snappier, or at least working in a more logical way (I have 'Applications' set as the top category to use Spotlight as a launcher - yes, I know, but every alternative also eats up some resource too) - previously it was taking maybe 4-5 seconds to return a result for 'Activity Monitor' as Top Hit. Now it seems satisfyingly instant. Although less so if I just type 'i' - still taking a while to list all the i- apps.

      I don't understand the issue with Dashboard - So long as you don't call it, none of the widgets start running / using resource. Once it's running - well, it's like having any other active program running. I'm quite happy to leave it sat there and not use it.

      Spotlight - I'm less sure what the issue is with spotlight. mdimport uses up a lot of CPU (and disk activity) when it goes off, but that is periodic and theoretically only occurs when system is idle - otherwise I don't really see Spotlight chewing much resource at all (20Mb of real memory for all related processes. 12Mb for the main spotlight and the rest for the background jobs). If I don't call it and there is no indexing going on, the CPU usage is 0.

      So I'm not sure if people are experiencing a genuine problem with Spotlight - I guess on small systems, an extra 20 Mb of memory could be significant (equally less processes / threads, even if idle). Or is there just, as with Dashboard, an instinct that 'disabling things will make my system better'?

      For instance - the 'Disable Dashboard' link implies the widgets always use memory and CPU - well actually is does say 'open widgets' but it doesn't make clear that widgets are only open once you have used Dashboard at least once.

      Anyone have a scientific reason why disabling both will improve performance? (The only good one I've heard with Spotlight is for users who use a lot of swapped external drives, as it will keep trying to index them each time they change computer).

      The thing that's really annoying me is that at some point, something has happened that is now keeping my HD active all the time (looks like OpenBase, which is related to StickyBrain, which ironically enough I'm not running - so demo software has left me with a background process - which just goes to show that you should always pay attention to what gets installed).

      --
      'Capitalists of the world, unite! Oh ... you have' (League Against Tedium)
  3. Seems to work fine... by knightinshiningarmor · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I installed it a few hours ago and everything seems about right. The only problem I've had so far is in starting up Safari:

    Safari 2.0.2 (v416.12) has not been tested with the plugin PithHelmet 2.6.1 (v70). As a precaution, it has not been loaded. Please contact the plugin developer for further information.

    Any ideas on getting this working?

    1. Re:Seems to work fine... by mmmgood · · Score: 2, Interesting

      I replaced PithHelmet with SafariBlock a while back. It's more like Firefox's AdBlock.

  4. Re:Shnappy Shnappy by ScottAuth · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Actually, yes... [osx86project.org].

  5. I love my MacC by QuantumG · · Score: 1

    it's much better than those MacB's.

    --
    How we know is more important than what we know.
    1. Re:I love my MacC by QuantumG · · Score: 1

      Next time how about fixing the BLATANT errors in the story BEFORE you post it?

      If I was a Slashdot subscriber I'd ask for my money back.

      --
      How we know is more important than what we know.
  6. Anyone with iTunes 5 done the OSX upgrade yet? by artifex2004 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    If you have, did it stealth update to iTunes 6?
    I don't want 6, yet.

    1. Re:Anyone with iTunes 5 done the OSX upgrade yet? by pomo+monster · · Score: 2, Informative

      I'd be surprised if it did, since the update is delivered as a single package and there's no changes listed for iTunes, hence no reason to include it in the package. In any event, couldn't you just right-click iTunes.app and make a backup archive?

    2. Re:Anyone with iTunes 5 done the OSX upgrade yet? by rowanxmas · · Score: 1

      yes it seemed to. not sure what the change is....

    3. Re:Anyone with iTunes 5 done the OSX upgrade yet? by artifex2004 · · Score: 2, Interesting
      yes it seemed to. not sure what the change is....


      What do you mean? Does it come up as iTunes 6? If so, you should be able to get videos from the iTunes store.
    4. Re:Anyone with iTunes 5 done the OSX upgrade yet? by artifex2004 · · Score: 1
      In any event, couldn't you just right-click iTunes.app and make a backup archive?


      Maybe. I'm new to Apple and their package updating scheme, so I'm worried the update might change other dependencies or my ability to update it back to 6, later. Anyway, no harm in asking and avoiding an issue, than having to fix it later. :)
    5. Re:Anyone with iTunes 5 done the OSX upgrade yet? by pomo+monster · · Score: 2, Informative

      If you archive iTunes.app before updating, you can always restore it later. Let us know how it goes... I'd be pretty disappointed in Apple if they'd go behind your back like that, updating iTunes without your knowledge. I can't remember that they've ever done it before--but that doesn't mean they haven't, or won't.

    6. Re:Anyone with iTunes 5 done the OSX upgrade yet? by itwerx · · Score: 4, Informative

      I'm new to Apple and their package updating scheme, so I'm worried the update might change other dependencies or my ability to update it back to 6, later.

      There speaks a Windows refugee... :)
            Fear not! A - the iTunes updates are always separate, so if it shows up in the list just deselect it and B - it is just an app, so if you make an archive of whatever you've got then if you did accidentally grab 6 by mistake just delete that, un-archive and you're good to go!

    7. Re:Anyone with iTunes 5 done the OSX upgrade yet? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      On Windows, it's not "just an app" ... it comes with drivers and various other lowlevel drm junk. Perhaps on OS X that stuff is packaged seperately, but considering that iTunes 6 introduced "FairPlay2", I doubt it.

    8. Re:Anyone with iTunes 5 done the OSX upgrade yet? by itwerx · · Score: 1

      On Windows, it's not "just an app" ... it comes with drivers and various other lowlevel drm junk.

      That's a very good point. Anyone coming from Windows could be expected to assume a similar implementation of iTunes for the OSX version.
            However, to be fair, all except the DRM (which is also present in the OSX app) is baggage that is required by the Windows environment!
            So the baggage-less OSX version is much more self contained and better behaved...

    9. Re:Anyone with iTunes 5 done the OSX upgrade yet? by jpkunst · · Score: 1
      If you have, did it stealth update to iTunes 6?

      I don't have it yet, but iTunes is not mentioned in the list of changes from Apple: http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=301 984.

      JP

    10. Re:Anyone with iTunes 5 done the OSX upgrade yet? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That's simply untrue. All the baggage is there. It's just packaged in OS upgrades rather than with the app.

    11. Re:Anyone with iTunes 5 done the OSX upgrade yet? by Onan · · Score: 1

      Well...

      I'm quite a fan of Apple and osx, and filled with loathing for Microsoft and Windows, but I think it's fair to admit that this is an area in which Apple has been guilty of exactly the type of behaviour about which the grandparent was concerned.

      Yes, Apple happens to have never updated iTunes as part of a system software package. But they regularly update Safari, Mail, Terminal, and the like without them being separately-selectable packages. Indeed, the very update we're discussing alters Mail and Safari.

    12. Re:Anyone with iTunes 5 done the OSX upgrade yet? by artifex2004 · · Score: 2, Informative

      Okay, the update worked fine. No need to pull out the archive. That was my first time using the contextual archive feature, too. Every day I am finding or being shown more cool stuff with this OS.

    13. Re:Anyone with iTunes 5 done the OSX upgrade yet? by artifex2004 · · Score: 1

      Yeah, I know, that's why I said "stealth" :)

      Anyway, the OS update went fine, and didn't mess with iTunes, that I could tell.

    14. Re:Anyone with iTunes 5 done the OSX upgrade yet? by Pius+II. · · Score: 1

      That's because Mail, Safari and Terminal are all part of the OS. iTunes, OTOH, is part of iLife. So it's quite natural they would be updated.

    15. Re:Anyone with iTunes 5 done the OSX upgrade yet? by ldd23 · · Score: 2, Informative

      I've still got iTunes 4.9, and the 10.4.3 update left it alone.

      No need to worry about stealth iTunes update.

    16. Re:Anyone with iTunes 5 done the OSX upgrade yet? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Unless my Google-fu isn't all that good, FairPlay2 came with Quicktime 6.5.1. It dosn't make a difference if you're using itunes 5 or 6.

      And if I'm not mistaken, Quicktime does the actual DRM nastyness.

    17. Re:Anyone with iTunes 5 done the OSX upgrade yet? by rdoger6424 · · Score: 1

      What .cx site is very famous on the internet? I don't know!

      --
      "Hello 911? I just tried to toast some bread, and the toaster grew an arm and stabbed me in the face!"
  7. Re:Shnappy Shnappy by QuantumG · · Score: 1, Insightful

    As always, The OSx86 Project does not condone piracy. Downloading these files is a crime. We have not and will not be a party to illegal activities. This information, like all our news, is to keep you up-to-date on the latest news. Please don't steal.

    What a bunch of idiots. No-where on earth is it illegal to download a file. Thing is, they could make it illegal tomorrow and no-one would complain because you're all happy being criminals.

    --
    How we know is more important than what we know.
  8. Non-iMacs using Front Row beware by rshane · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Although I've had no problems with Front Row since I upgraded my Mini, there have been several reports of Front Row failing to work for those not using iMacs (shame on you, pirates! ;)) after this upgrade. Use at your own risk.

    --
    Shane
    1. Re:Non-iMacs using Front Row beware by Max_Wells_SH · · Score: 1, Interesting

      Front Row is still working on this 10.4.3 mini too, but the Fkey openfrontrow.app trick isn't working for me anymore. A swift press of F13 will switch to Front Row but won't bring up the FR menu as in my salad days of yesterday, without hitting Esc first. Spoooooky!

      --
      I read Slashdot for the articles.
    2. Re:Non-iMacs using Front Row beware by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      Yeah, I had the same problem. Try this script in Script Editor:
      tell application "Front Row"
      quit
      end tell
      tell application "iTunes"
      quit
      end tell
      delay 0.005
      tell application "Front Row"
      activate
      tell application "System Events"
      tell process "Front Row"
      key code 53
      end tell
      end tell
      end tell
      Save it as an Application bunch and use it to activate Front Row.
    3. Re:Non-iMacs using Front Row beware by Iron_Yuppie · · Score: 0
      Front Row still working on a QS 933 with 10.4.3. I have to launch the Open Front Row.app and hold escape for a few seconds, but it still works. Yay!

      : D

    4. Re:Non-iMacs using Front Row beware by Warhaven · · Score: 1

      Arrrrrrrr! I be stopping global warming with me pirating!

  9. Q2DE by cvkslashdot · · Score: 1, Informative

    Q2DE Quartz 2D Extreme gets LESS support? WTF? I turned on right away, to see if it would crash. So far it is working BETTER! It would previously be unreliable.

      Machine Name: Power Mac G5
        Machine Model: PowerMac7,3
        CPU Type: PowerPC G5 (3.0)
        Number Of CPUs: 2
        CPU Speed: 2 GHz
        L2 Cache (per CPU): 512 KB
        Memory: 1 GB
        Bus Speed: 1 GHz
        Boot ROM Version: 5.2.4f1

    1. Re:Q2DE by Yaztromo · · Score: 1

      I'm at somewhat of a loss myself. I've never had any problems with Q2DX enabled -- no kernel panics, no video corruption.

      I only have two guesses as to what is going on here:

      1. Some models of Macs, and/or Mac video cards, have problems when running in Q2DX mode, but not all of them, or
        1. Some important Apple or third-party software (like the Pro apps, or MS Office, or Photoshop or the like) has serious issues when Q2DX is enabled.

          Quartz Debug still claims that it has enabled Q2DX (when you run it and turn Q2DX on) -- but this was the case for 10.4.2 as well, so I'm not sure what has actually changed with this update in this area.

          Yaz.

    2. Re:Q2DE by lucas+teh+geek · · Score: 1

      just curious, what are your reasons for calling it previously unreliable? I've (previously 10.4.2... havent checked on x.3 yet) noticed certian pdfs fail to render properly when not viewed at 100%, but apart from that no problems. the pdf's are all powerpoint slides turned to pdf (i assume my lecturers used an adobe pdf printer or something... cant imagine them doing anything more complex) and where the slides should be i get black boxes, so i guess its something pretty specific since it doesnt happen to any other pdf files i view.

      --
      TIAEAE!
  10. RE: getting PithHelmet to work by KURAAKU+Deibiddo · · Score: 5, Informative

    here is probably the easiest way, since I don't know if you're using Apple's Finder or not. Path Finder (which I use instead of Apple's Finder) allows you to look at the contents of a package or app, which would be easier for this edit if you want to use the GUI all the way.

    first of all, you may want to make sure you have version 2.6.1 of Pith Helmet (the latest version). then open the Terminal. paste or type this line, all on one line:

    open "/Library/Application Support/SIMBL/Plugins/PithHelmet.bundle/Contents/Info.plist"

    (this will open the file you need to edit in the Property List Editor.)

    click the triangles to expand "Root", then "SIMBLTargetApplications", and then "0".

    Change "MaxBundleVersion" to "416".

    it should look like this.

    then hit Cmd-S to save, Cmd-Q to quit, and you're all set to use Pith Helmet. i've tested it for a bit, and so far it works perfectly.

    let me know if you have any questions.

  11. Quartz 2D Extreme disabled? by sg3000 · · Score: 1
    According to their tech notes:
    Disables Quartz 2D Extreme--Quartz 2D Extreme is not a supported feature in Tiger, and re-enabling it may lead to video redraw issues or kernel panics.

    I'm confused. Is Quartz 2D Extreme a Mac OS X "Tiger" feature or not? Quartz is listed as a Tiger feature and there's a page that describes it. But 10.4.3 sounds like it disabled it.

    Then again, John Siracusa at Ars Technica says it super fast, but I thought I had read it wasn't ready for 10.4.0. so is it there or not? Was it ever? Does it matter?
    --
    Insert simplistic political, ideological, or personal proselytization here.
    1. Re:Quartz 2D Extreme disabled? by TheRaven64 · · Score: 5, Informative
      You are being confused, I think, by the fact that three technologies have very similar names.

      Quartz 2D (often just Quartz) is the 2D rendering system used on OS X. It uses a display list format that has a 1:1 mapping with PDF display lists, allowing resolution-independent UI elements to be drawn.

      Quartz Extreme was the hardware accelerated compositing system introduced with (I think) Jagwyre. Each window in Quartz 2D is rendered to a buffer. Originally, these were then composited in software. With QE, they were rendered to OpenGL textures and then composited in hardware. This allowed things like translucent windows to be drawn quickly, and made effects like Exposé possible.

      Quartz 2D Extreme moves a lot of the things in Quartz 2D into hardware. For example, each character in a font is rendered into an OpenGL buffer with Q2DE, and then composited in the window by the GPU. This makes text rendering much faster with Q2DE (assuming that the GPU is fast enough).

      Apple never advertised Q2DE. It was mentioned at the WWDC, but that is a developers conference - and developers can enable it for testing purposes. They advertise Quartz 2D and Quartz Extreme, because these are shipping features.

      --
      I am TheRaven on Soylent News
    2. Re:Quartz 2D Extreme Disabled? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      There's a difference between Quartz, Quartz Extreme, and Quartz 2D extreme. Don't worry, Quartz and Quartz Extreme both still work. Quartz 2D extreme has never been advertised by apple, and has never been enabled.. the disabling simply disables it for people who haxied it on. Quartz 2D extreme is a replacement for quickdraw(i believe) and should be enabled for leopard (at the latest, hopefully 10.4.5 or so)

    3. Re:Quartz 2D Extreme Disabled? by avalys · · Score: 4, Informative

      Quartz 2D Extreme is a developers-only feature that could be enabled for testing in previous versions of Tiger. It was never enabled by default, you had to run a special application to enable it. And it was always buggy.

      This is not the same thing as Quartz or Quartz 2D - those are still enabled. There is a post a few above yours that explains the difference more fully.

      --
      This space intentionally left blank.
    4. Re:Quartz 2D Extreme disabled? by Herbmaster · · Score: 1

      Apple never advertised Q2DE. It was mentioned at the WWDC, but that is a developers conference - and developers can enable it for testing purposes. They advertise Quartz 2D and Quartz Extreme, because these are shipping features.

      Q2DE was, once upon a time, listed as one of the coming attractions in Tiger on www.apple.com, back before 10.4 was released. Like, months before. So it's an understandable disappointment that it didn't actually ship working. Anyway, from the 10.4.3 release notes I get the impression it can't be enabled any more, even for testing purposes.

      --
      I'm not a smorgasbord.
    5. Re:Quartz 2D Extreme disabled? by drunkenbatman · · Score: 1
      Apple never advertised Q2DE. It was mentioned at the WWDC, but that is a developers conference - and developers can enable it for testing purposes.


      WWDC is now as much of an advertising and announcement thing as a developer thing, but to your point: They did have it as one of the coming things in 10.4 (They used to have a section of their site on what was coming in Tiger) and then demoed it to developers as coming in 10.4, and even had a video of it up on their site.
  12. NOTE: If you didn't install the Developer Tools by KURAAKU+Deibiddo · · Score: 3, Interesting

    someone brought it to my attention to that you will only have the Property List Editor if you installed the Developer Tools. not to worry, if you don't have it. all you need to do is use TextEdit (or BBedit if you have it). the command for that looks like this (again, all one line):

    open -a "TextEdit" "/Library/Application Support/SIMBL/Plugins/PithHelmet.bundle/Contents/Info.plist"

    about two-thirds of the way down, you want to change this bit:

    <key>MaxBundleVersion</key>
    <string>412</string>

    to:

    <key>MaxBundleVersion</key>
    <string>416</string>

    it should look like this (with the changed line highlighted in green.

    again, save and quit and you should be all set. apologies for forgetting that Property List Editor requires the Developer Tools to be installed in the first post.

  13. Re: getting PithHelmet to work by knightinshiningarmor · · Score: 1

    This worked just fine.. Many thanks!

  14. One small change by Matthias+Wiesmann · · Score: 2, Insightful
    I installed it nothing seems to have been broken on my powerbook.

    One interesting thing I noticed is in the Finder's preview pane for applications. It basically lists the architectures the application is built for, the information does not appear in the 'get information' window. At this point in time, only the developers tool include the intel binaries. Maybe it was there before, but I did not notice it.

  15. Is MacGPG OK with the update? by tyagiUK · · Score: 1

    The last update of Mail broke MacGPG compatibility (fixed with an updated download from http://macgpg.sourceforge.net/). Can anyone using the update tell me whether it is affected with this update?

    --
    Contribute to the online videogame encyclopedia: GamerWiki
    1. Re:Is MacGPG OK with the update? by kybred · · Score: 3, Informative
      I just ran Software Update and then tried Mail with v1.1 of GPGMail; it seems to work just fine.

      kybred

    2. Re:Is MacGPG OK with the update? by tyagiUK · · Score: 1

      That's the app I was refering to, sorry, my mistake.

      I've also tested this now and it appears to work fine with the update.

      thanks.

      --
      Contribute to the online videogame encyclopedia: GamerWiki
  16. No firewire on Blue and White or FireLynx by obirt · · Score: 1
    I was greeted with

    using 1310 buffer headers and 1310 cluster IO buffer headers
    9AppleLynx is not compatible with its superclass, 14IOFireWireLink superclass changed?
    \^[[33mFailed to load extension com.apple.driver.AppleLynx.
    \^[[0mCouldn't alloc class "AppleLynx"

    and don't appear to have firewire. Ioreg still shows the device node, but nothing attached itself to it.

    --

    I use to be indecisive, but now I'm not so sure.
    1. Re:No firewire on Blue and White or FireLynx by psergiu · · Score: 1
      Make sure your hardware can run Mac OS X Version 10.4 Tiger
      • Mac OS X Version 10.4 requires a Macintosh with:
      • PowerPC G3, G4, or G5 processor
      • Built-in FireWire
      • At least 256MB of physical RAM
      • A built-in display or a display connected to an Apple-supplied video card supported by your computer
      • At least 3.0 GB of available space on your hard drive; 4GB of disk space if you install XCode 2 developer tools
      • DVD drive for installation (get CD media for $9.95)
      --
      1% APY, No fees, Online Bank https://captl1.co/2uIErYq Don't let your $$$ sit in a no-interest acct.
    2. Re:No firewire on Blue and White or FireLynx by saintlupus · · Score: 1

      A Blue and White G3 does have firewire.

      His machine's firewire is not responding now that this update has been installed.

      --saint

    3. Re:No firewire on Blue and White or FireLynx by squiggleslash · · Score: 2, Informative

      He said a Blue & White G3. While the Beige G3s do not have built-in Firewire (or USB), the B&W's most certainly do. I have one sitting right next to me.

      --
      You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
    4. Re:No firewire on Blue and White or FireLynx by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      i run Tiger on a Beige G3/233 though.. add a pci graphics card and it rocks for mp3ing amd some internet related tasks. Google for XPostFacto (you rule Ryan) to get the Pre-Colored Hardware drivers needed to run the Installation DVD.

  17. mail.app snafu? by FFFish · · Score: 2, Interesting

    In Mail, I can not access the "advanced" panel of Junk Mail Preferences; nor can I edit the rules listed in the Pref Pane. :-(

    --

    --
    Don't like it? Respond with words, not karma.
    1. Re:mail.app snafu? by alphafoo · · Score: 1

      That is bizarre. I am not seeing either of these problems after my upgrade.

    2. Re:mail.app snafu? by Rosyna · · Score: 1

      Disable any mail bundles you might have (like Mail Tags) in Library/Mail/Bundles/

    3. Re:mail.app snafu? by FFFish · · Score: 2, Informative

      Turns out that MailActOn or MailTags was at fault! Problem solved.

      --

      --
      Don't like it? Respond with words, not karma.
  18. Re:Shnappy Shnappy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    >> No-where on earth is it illegal to download a file. Incorrect. I dunno if anyone's ever applied this legal argument, but there is the crime of receiving stolen property. Usually that's only prosecuted against people who know that the property was stolen. But based on my admittedly limited knowledge, it might be possible to say that someone who downloaded a copy of OS X for Intel that was already used by someone else in a method not allowed for in the license agreement, that that makes it "stolen" property. (I've learned to never underestimate the craziness of lawyers...)

  19. Re:Shnappy Shnappy by QuantumG · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    Stop smoking the crack.

    --
    How we know is more important than what we know.
  20. Re:Shnappy Shnappy by cpt+kangarooski · · Score: 4, Interesting

    He is incorrect, as downloading is capable of being copyright infringement, which can rise to the level of a crime in the United States. But you're incorrect too. You can't use a stolen property law as a substitute for a copyright law; this was settled decades ago by the Supreme Court.

    --
    -- This and all my posts are in the public domain. I am a lawyer. I am not your lawyer, and this is not legal advice.
  21. I Broke Safari's ACID2 Support by nuxx · · Score: 3, Interesting

    By visiting the ACID2 test and then scrolling downward in Safari using my Apple Mighty Mouse I'm able to break the ACID2 test rendering. Here is a screenshot of it. The face breaks and the better part of it scrolls across the page. I don't think this is the expected behavior, but I guess I may be wrong?

    1. Re:I Broke Safari's ACID2 Support by Yaztromo · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Perhaps not. Part of the Acid2 test is to test various positioning mechanisms. Some are static, some are more relative. It may just be that the elements which were left behind were the static elements.

      AFAIK, Acid2 isn't really designed with scrolling in mind. I'm surprised you're able to scroll the page at all.

      Yaz.

    2. Re:I Broke Safari's ACID2 Support by nuxx · · Score: 1

      That's what surprised me. A friend with the iScroll2 driver installed for his touchpad wasn't able to scroll. Also, if you note, the scroll bar isn't shown.

      Unfortunately (as you know) there are no other ACID2 compliant browsers to test against. :\

    3. Re:I Broke Safari's ACID2 Support by Warlock7 · · Score: 1

      Strange, it works perfectly with the latest Safari update from 10.4.3 here.

    4. Re:I Broke Safari's ACID2 Support by leuffi · · Score: 2, Informative

      This is strange. I have iScroll2 and if I go to http://www.webstandards.org/act/acid2/test.html directly I can't scroll, but if I follow the link to it from http://www.webstandards.org/act/acid2/ I can scroll and things break. Note that this before taking the test, if I take the test if works as expected.

    5. Re:I Broke Safari's ACID2 Support by HTH+NE1 · · Score: 1

      Using Mozilla 1.7.11 on Red Hat 9, I can scroll up and down too in the Acid2 test with my scrollwheel. Indeed, I can scroll up past the top of the page. No special drivers installed.

      I do however use a userContent.css draw an inner border for divs. I find this works around a problem with some pages on Apple's website where, if your browser window isn't wide enough, content is positioned off the left side of the window where you cannot scroll to it.

      --
      Oh, say does that Star-Spangled Banner entwine / The myrtle of Venus with Bacchus's vine?
    6. Re:I Broke Safari's ACID2 Support by mh101 · · Score: 1

      When I access the test from my work PC, using Windows XP, Firefox 1.0.7, and a logitech wheel mouse, I can scroll the Acid2 test page fine. I don't see any scrollbars though.

      --
      Duct tape is like the Force. It has a light side, a dark side, and it holds the universe together.
    7. Re:I Broke Safari's ACID2 Support by Lars+T. · · Score: 1

      Try iCab 3.0 beta.

      --

      Lars T.

      To the guy who modded me down from perfect to terrible Karma - Apple haters still suck

    8. Re:I Broke Safari's ACID2 Support by Warlock7 · · Score: 1

      Wow, me too. I couldn't get it to scroll before, but with the second link you provided I can scroll.

    9. Re:I Broke Safari's ACID2 Support by jellomizer · · Score: 1

      Safari is the first browser I have found that actually passed the ACID2 Test. And I tried a lot of them. Firefox, And a couple other Mozilla variants, OmniWeb, iCab, Opera, IE 5, IE 6, Netscape, on OS X and Windows. Am I missing a big one, or is Safari the first major browser to past the test?

      --
      If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
    10. Re:I Broke Safari's ACID2 Support by tgibbs · · Score: 1

      I can't reproduce this problem--I couldn't get it to scroll at all--but I did find that the face broke apart when I resized the window. Re-running the test with the new window size restored the face, but it was again disrupted when I resized the window again.

    11. Re:I Broke Safari's ACID2 Support by ModernGeek · · Score: 1

      The mighty mouse has an extra mighty scroll wheel. At times, it is so powerful that you can scroll where you can't normally scroll. If he tried this with a logitech mouse, it would have never worked, and the test would have passed.

      --
      Sig: I stole this sig.
    12. Re:I Broke Safari's ACID2 Support by Blue+Lozenge · · Score: 2, Insightful
      From the explanation of how Acid2 works: http://www.webstandards.org/act/acid2/guide.html

      In the markup, the row is represented by a p element which is fixed to the window rather than the scrollable canvas. If the Acid2 page is scrolled, the scalp will stay fixed in place, becoming unstuck from the rest of the face, which will scroll.

  22. Re: getting PithHelmet to work by mikeburke · · Score: 1

    Apple. It Just Works.

  23. (OT) by SPY_jmr1 · · Score: 1

    Your sig link is busted, FWIW...

    Hope it comes back soon, if it's what i'm thinking of, it's a pretty funny picture.

    Either way, just lettin' you know.

    SPY

  24. Re:Shnappy Shnappy by QuantumG · · Score: 1

    Downloading is not capable of being copyright infringement. Uploading is. That is why the No Electronic Theft act requires an exchange of infringing materials.

    --
    How we know is more important than what we know.
  25. Bugfixes are nice by Toothpick · · Score: 2, Informative

    10.4.3 fixes the annoying bug that prevents X11 windows from raising to the top when switching apps. Dashboard is noticeably snappier.

    But hey, I've only been a Mac owner for three weeks. The Finder still drives me batty.

    1. Re:Bugfixes are nice by nekura · · Score: 1

      Try Path Finder. I've been running it for a year or so and don't think I'd ever be able to go back to regular Finder. I just wish the 4.0 update would hurry up and get here, as it's shaping up excellently.

      --

      "Programming is like sex - one mistake and you'll have to support it for the rest of your life."
    2. Re:Bugfixes are nice by HTH+NE1 · · Score: 1

      Does it fix the problem where other apps will open their windows in front of the current app? That's one thing Mac OS 9 had gotten right that Mac OS X has still failed to do.

      Also, try opening 20-or-so QuickTime Player video files at once and watch your display get corrupted beyond the borders of the windows. Try it with files that use various codecs and video sizes.

      I'd try it myself, but I can't do it until tonight, and the one report of failure to recognize the built-in Firewire ports on a B&W G3 is of great concern to me.

      --
      Oh, say does that Star-Spangled Banner entwine / The myrtle of Venus with Bacchus's vine?
    3. Re:Bugfixes are nice by anaesthetica · · Score: 1

      I tried Path Finder but thought it sucked. Instead, I paid for Launchbar, which works perfectly. I use Spotlight to fill in for the few minor areas in which Launchbar doesn't get everything. I've almost completely stopped using the Finder, and I've set the Dock to auto-hide now. Frees up a lot of screen real estate, and makes using the Mac much faster.

    4. Re:Bugfixes are nice by Listen+Up · · Score: 1

      That's because you are used to using Windows. The Finder is actually extremely useful and productive, you simply have to learn how to use Finder properly.

    5. Re:Bugfixes are nice by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Naw way, Quicksilver http://quicksilver.blacktree.com/ is way better than both Finder and Spotlight. Well, good for opening apps; especially if you are a command-line user.

    6. Re:Bugfixes are nice by Bazzalisk · · Score: 1

      Wouldn't it be embarassing for you if it turned out he'd switched from Linux, BSD, Solaris, FreeDOS, OpenGEM, NeXt sTeP, etc ... :)

      --
      James P. Barrett
  26. Apple's record isn't that great by BortQ · · Score: 1

    Apple have released updates that broke Java compatibility multiple times. One uptime introduced conditions where a user's home folder could be deleted! There have been some other issues with Apple updates. They are far from a spotless record.

    --

    A Multiplayer Strategy Game for Mac OS X, Windows, and Linux
    1. Re:Apple's record isn't that great by CountBrass · · Score: 1

      Care to back that up with some evidence?

      --
      Bad analogies are like waxing a monkey with a rainbow.
    2. Re:Apple's record isn't that great by BortQ · · Score: 1

      apple update breaks: 7,470,000 results
      apple update breaks java: 2,010,000 results

      --

      A Multiplayer Strategy Game for Mac OS X, Windows, and Linux
  27. Improves the handling of Hebrew and Arabic text ? by alphafoo · · Score: 1

    The 10.4.3 description page reports "Improves the handling of Hebrew and Arabic text." I am not noticing any differences with Arabic and I'm curious what they changed. The little artifacts that are sometimes left when characters are deleted are still there. And I have often wondered why is the default font size for Arabic so teeny? I have to Cmd-+ about 5 times before the Arabic is as visible to me as the default Latin characters.

    I wonder if this improved handling is tied to any particular bug reports that we can see?

  28. Despite rumors, no tabbed iChat by pemerson · · Score: 1

    There were rumors flying that this update would include an improved version of iChat that would support tabbed chats in a single window, like Adium does. Alas, no joy. I like Adium well enough, but I like the tighter integration of iChat with the rest of the OS (showing who's online in Mail.app, for instance).

  29. Re:Shnappy Shnappy by cpt+kangarooski · · Score: 5, Informative

    Wrong.

    Copyright infringement is the infringement of any of the exclusive rights of the copyright holder, per 17 USC 501. One of the exclusive rights is the right to reproduce the work in copies, per 106(1). As it happens, the courts have generally considered the reproduction of works into RAM, hard drives, etc. to qualify, and to be infringing. The MAI and Intellectual Reserve cases are examples of this.

    This is too well settled for you to be able to truthfully dispute it. You can argue that it's dumb, but that doesn't mean that it's not the current law.

    The only question left is whether it is criminal copyright infringement, which is a subset of copyright infringement generally. Per 506(a), copyright infringement of the reproduction sort is criminal if it is willful and either a) is for the purpose of commercial advantage or private financial gain, or b) involves the reproduction during any 180 day period of works with a total retail value of over $1000.

    Private financial gain is defined in 101 to include the "receipt, or expectation of receipt, of anything of value, including the receipt of other copyrighted works." That's what the NET Act added, to cover warez trading. Presumably it isn't applicable for a mere downloader. Of course, making a copy through downloading, where you anticipate someone will return the favor by making a copy of something for you would qualify. Uploading without any receipt or expectation of receipt would not. So it's more complicated than whether data went up or down, as you seemed to think.

    In any case, if the retail value of the downloaded work -- or all the downloads over the last 180 days, as your typical downloader probably downloads a lot -- is over $1000, then it is irrelevant whether or not he planned to trade warez. He's a criminal infringer anyway, if he infringed willfully.

    You really ought to try reading the statutes instead of relying on just the laws that tweak them, or more likely, the sort of gossip and hearsay that most people on the net seem to believe in.

    --
    -- This and all my posts are in the public domain. I am a lawyer. I am not your lawyer, and this is not legal advice.
  30. Re: getting PithHelmet to work by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Couldn't you just use the "Show package contents" option in the contextual menu on the app instead of this "Path Finder" thing?

  31. Re:Shnappy Shnappy by QuantumG · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Thanks for agreeing with me. If you just download a file without uploading anything you cannot be prosecuted under the NET Act and therefore are not in violation of criminal copyright law. As this is the most extreme criminal copyright law in the world I stand by my original statement. Oh, and what we were talking about was the x86 edition of Mac OS X. This currently has no retail value as it is not available for sale.

    --
    How we know is more important than what we know.
  32. New version of Safari Enhancer... by Hamster+Lover · · Score: 1

    to coincide with Safari 2.02 and, by extention, 10.4.3. Main change is that most features now do not require admin access to enable.

    Can be found at http://www.lordofthecows.com/

    Tinker Tool still appears to work with 10.4.3, but it's pretty safe given that it makes changes to preference files that can also be made through terminal.

  33. some issues on a G5 2x1.8GHz by inio · · Score: 1

    Installed. Restarted and walked away. Returned to KP at the login window.

    Restarted. Logged in. KP while trying to type first KP report.

    Restarted. Logged in. Send in KP report. Spotlight remix kicks off and things seem OK.

    Only other thing I've noticed is that the fan behavior and power supply noises seem to have reverted sorta to the way they were before the 10.3.3 update. PSU noise is more intermittent and unpredictable and the fan behavior has the aggressive responses of pre-10.3.3 but total average levels of recent versions.

    1. Re:some issues on a G5 2x1.8GHz by xiao_haozi · · Score: 1

      Yes I have noticed a DRASTIC change in fan noise/behavior. I now realize it was after the 10.4.2 upgrade that mine had gone somewhat awry but had originally attributed it to different usage possibly.

      All well now!

    2. Re:some issues on a G5 2x1.8GHz by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      My fans are wacky post-10.4.3 update as well. First gen G5 here that every version from the 10.2.8 G5 special build up to current release and never before have I had this happen.

      The system is hardly loaded but every few minutes the fans rev up. They speed up to being audible, then back off a little, then even faster pick up more speed. They do a few steps like this until they have hit about half the top speed and then they slowly wind down to the norma level of inaudible compared to the awful power supply. This is really damn annoying and if there's not some fix I'll probably be going batty by the weekend.

  34. Crash/Quartz 2D Extreme? by tgv · · Score: 2, Funny

    My dual 2.5GHz G5 crashed after upgrading. Second time around, it booted well. Perhaps it was due to the fact that I had Q2DE turned on...

    1. Re:Crash/Quartz 2D Extreme? by prockcore · · Score: 1

      Depends, how did it crash? The trackpad on my ibook stopped working after the first reboot. Triggering expose with the keyboard showed the mac wasn't locked up, but the mouse wouldn't move at all. I rebooted again and everything was back to normal.

  35. Re:Shnappy Shnappy by cpt+kangarooski · · Score: 1

    I do not agree with you.

    First, the NET Act is merely a modification to title 17. No one is prosecuted under that act alone; rather they're prosecuted under the Copyright Act as a whole. As already noted, it is entirely possible to be a criminal copyright infringer without touching on the provisions added by the NET Act. Why you have such an obsession about that specific act, I cannot imagine.

    In fact, even if you were to upload the work in question, I suspect that a case prosecuted under FECA (i.e. 506(a)(1)(C)) would be more likely than one prosecuted under NET (i.e. 506(a)(1)(A)).

    Second, while I'd want to look at some cases involving determination of retail value in the context of criminal copyright infringement, I would not rely on the idea that x86 OSX has no retail value at all. Courts don't like infringers, as a rule, and would likely feel free to interpret this in a manner that is bad for the defendant.

    --
    -- This and all my posts are in the public domain. I am a lawyer. I am not your lawyer, and this is not legal advice.
  36. Re: getting PithHelmet to work by Onan · · Score: 1
    here is probably the easiest way, since I don't know if you're using Apple's Finder or not. Path Finder (which I use instead of Apple's Finder) allows you to look at the contents of a package or app, which would be easier for this edit if you want to use the GUI all the way.
    Actually, the stock Finder is happy to give you access to the contents of bundles as well. Right-click on any bundle, and the contextual menu will include "Show Package Contents".
  37. iChat encryption - but fist you have to pay tax by Ragetech · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I got excited about iChat encryption - it'll help it move up to some of the requirements companies have for video conferencing software. But then I got this:

          "You need to sign up for a .Mac account to enable iChat encryption."

    What the Frell? I have to pay the .Mac tax to get a feature on the core OS? For shame, Apple... for shame.

    Additionally, I had a major issue when I upgraded, and I wasn't alone according to the discussions on the Apple support site. All my firewire devices freaked out and wouldn't come online. Not my LaCie, not my EyeTV.

    I rebooted once, after the initial 10.4.3 reboot load, and everything started behaving. But now I'm a bit scared to reboot again.

    RageTech

    1. Re:iChat encryption - but fist you have to pay tax by beelers · · Score: 1

      Use Adium (http://www.adiumx.com./ It's had encryption for a long time now and doesn't limit you to AOL AIM.

    2. Re:iChat encryption - but fist you have to pay tax by (startx) · · Score: 3, Informative

      You you bothered to click "Learn More" it would have brought you to the .Mac welcome page, where it explains you can now get .Mac IM accounts for free. Yes, it kinda sucks you can't use encryption on Jabber or AIM right now, but they aren't charging you to use .Mac IM.

    3. Re:iChat encryption - but fist you have to pay tax by zaren · · Score: 0, Troll

      I've poked around in the .Mac pages, but see no reference to getting a free .Mac IM account. Haven't done 10.4.3 yet, so could you provide more info about this feature?

      --
      Come to the University of Mars! Classes starting soon!
    4. Re:iChat encryption - but fist you have to pay tax by (startx) · · Score: 1

      I can't find the page now that it took me to last night, but basically you sign up for a 60-day free trial, and at the end of the free trial if you don't want to pay for .Mac, you still get to keep your .Mac id for using IM, or activating .Mac at a latter date if you want. I'll post the specific URL this evening after work if no one else does it before then.

    5. Re:iChat encryption - but fist you have to pay tax by (startx) · · Score: 2, Informative

      Found it. From http://www.mac.com/1/mac_faq.html

      Q: Can I continue to use my .Mac Mail address as an AIM or iChat screen name after my .Mac trial or paid account has expired? Yes. Your screen name will remain valid.

    6. Re:iChat encryption - but fist you have to pay tax by jelwell · · Score: 1

      Yes, you can keep using your screen name. This is limitation with AOL's service.

      Anyways, you clearly didn't try this because @mac.com screennames that are not paid for do not allow encryption. I just tried it with my old @mac.com account. Yes I can log in, but I can't enable encryption - iChat says I'm still not allowed.
      Joseph Elwell.

  38. WARNING!!! 10.4.3 render iBook G4 not bootable!!!! by carboncopy79 · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Updated two machines simultaneously. PowerMac G5 1.8GHz single processor and iBook G4 1GHz.

    The PowerMac G5 was sent for reboot after finish updating. While iBook was sent to shutdown after update completed.

    Now, iBook G4 is spinning wheel at grey apple. The longest I waited was about 15 minutes before hard shutdown. I have put it into Target Disk Mode to be Verified by PowerMac G5, the filesystem is not corrupted.

    I can hear the harddisk clicking in iBook which makes me salivate (I don't know why). Might have to reinstall Mac Os X Tiger. That means a chance to install some Linux on it first.

    So, be warned. I'll wait for 30 minutes of spinning wheel to see whether that make any difference.

  39. iChat encryption? Think again, and pay the tax! by Ragetech · · Score: 0, Redundant

    I got excited about iChat encryption - I think iChat with iSight is phenominal, and I regularly use three-way video chat with my parents and sister back in the States (from Japan). The video compression and rendering is excellent - it's saved a fortune and it's better even than the mega-buck one we use at my fortune 500 company. I regularly talk to upper managment (all who use OSX .. coincidental?) about it and they've questioned why we pay so much for VC software when iSight costs ~$150/camera (1 mac for each conference room would be a drop in the bucket).

    So I thought encryption would help iSight/Chat move up to some of the security requirements some businesses may have for video conferencing software. I try to enable it at home and I got this:

          "You need to sign up for a .Mac account to enable iChat encryption."

    What the Frell? I have to pay the .Mac tax to get a feature on the core OS? For shame, Apple... for shame!

    Additionally, I had a major issue when I upgraded, and I wasn't alone according to the discussions on the Apple support site. All my firewire devices freaked out and wouldn't come online. Not my LaCie, not my EyeTV.

    I rebooted once, after the initial 10.4.3 reboot load, and everything started behaving. But now I'm a bit scared to reboot again. Lesson learned? Don't upgrade on the first day :-)

    RageTech

  40. Re:WARNING!!! 10.4.3 render iBook G4 not bootable! by carboncopy79 · · Score: 5, Informative
  41. Re:Shnappy Shnappy by QuantumG · · Score: 1

    Courts don't like infringers, as a rule,

    No, they prefer their corporate paymasters.

    --
    How we know is more important than what we know.
  42. Insight from ArsTechnica on this. by interactive_civilian · · Score: 4, Funny
    From the ArsTechnica Mac.Ach 10.4.3 thread:
    Posted by MightySpoon:

    Quote:why has apple dropped the development of Q2DX in tiger?

    To avoid potential lawsuits from Vanilla Ice.

    (Say Quartz Two Dee Extreme out loud and then try not to shoot yourself in your face. You can't do it.)

    The truth hurts, doesn't it? ;p
    --
    "Empathise with stupidity, and you're halfway to thinking like an idiot." - Iain M. Banks
  43. First reboot WILL BE LONG !!! by dmdimon · · Score: 2, Informative

    First reboot after this update WILL BE LONG.

    A lot of minutes on G5 2x1.8 (YMMW)
    Just wait.
    And after second reboot all will be ok.

    There are some heavy things system doing during first reboot.
    Don't shut it down or hard reset!

    1. Re:First reboot WILL BE LONG !!! by Winterblink · · Score: 1

      Yep, it seems to do some kind of firmware update maybe. You get stuck at a grey screen with a spinny, and the cpu fans flip to their highest spin rate for several seconds.

      Probably depends on the system, it took about a minute on my 1.7GHz iMac.

      --
      "I'm a leaf on the wind. Watch how I soar."
      -Hoban Washburn
    2. Re:First reboot WILL BE LONG !!! by dmdimon · · Score: 1

      Updated 2 macs today - seems like it more depends on startup HD clutter - 2x1ghz G4 booted faster than 2x1.8 G5

    3. Re:First reboot WILL BE LONG !!! by assantisz · · Score: 1

      That's not my experience. After the update was installed I rebooted and did not experience a longer startup time. That's on dual 2GHz PowerMac. I read so many frightening stories about this update that I enabled verbose booting (Cmd-V) but nothing happened. At all.

  44. Is anyone else seeing this problem? by earthbound+kid · · Score: 1

    My volume and brightness keys on my 12" PowerBook don't seem to be working. Is anyone else having this problem? They used to work relatively well (if sometimes slower than I'd like).

    1. Re:Is anyone else seeing this problem? by LKH · · Score: 1

      Tried it just now - works for me no problems -although sometimes a little slow , as you say. Upgraded this morning - 12" 1.5GHz Powerbook.

    2. Re:Is anyone else seeing this problem? by earthbound+kid · · Score: 1

      The problem went away after I installed the Aiport update then reset. Mysterious.

  45. Re:WARNING!!! 10.4.3 render iBook G4 not bootable! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Worry not. 10.4.3 rebuilds the spotlight store from scratch at the first reboot..

    it will work perfectly afterwards.

    cheers

  46. Acid2 Support by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Sure Safari can now pass the Acid2 test, not quite sure I'd call the support complete though.

    Everything kosher - http://img263.imageshack.us/my.php?image=picture17 mz.png
    Scrolling - http://img263.imageshack.us/my.php?image=picture22 an.png
    Disable plug-ins - http://img263.imageshack.us/my.php?image=picture36 tp.png

    Why plug-ins would effect CSS is beyond me.

  47. Are icons windows? by Judge_Fire · · Score: 1

    I have this piece of trivia stuck in my head from the early days of Mac OS X, which I recall as "icons are actually windows" and that there was talk of keeping the desktop clean already back then.

    Either my Google-Fu is particularly bad today, or I'm making it up, or this is a huge cover-up. Anyone got details?

    J

  48. Re:Shnappy Shnappy by Compulawyer · · Score: 1

    Thanks for sharing the burden of shining the light of legal reasoning into the darkness of FUD.

    --

    Laws affecting technology will always be bad until enough techies become lawyers.

  49. Re:WARNING!!! 10.4.3 render iBook G4 not bootable! by Repugnant_Shit · · Score: 1

    I boot my powerbook G4 in verbose mode. It seems to hang after mv'ing files...but I waited awhile and it then it continued booting.

  50. Re:iChat encryption? Think again, and pay the tax! by Br'fin · · Score: 1

    On Apple's site I found this information on Secure iChat AV:
    http://www.mac.com/1/ichat.html

    In summary:
    You need a full .Mac account, even a second email under another .Mac account won't cut it.

    The Tax is a curiosity. But I wonder if it's a result of trying to balance ease of use and all that. Seeing as the .Mac identity key is automatically generated and all on the .Mac servers. And well, is most likely to be there regardless of which Mac you use.

    However, I could see corporations wanting the security and not wanting to allow .Mac iDisk connections or what not. Mayhaps other folks could play with it and send feedback for better privacy options?

  51. Re:WARNING!!! 10.4.3 render iBook G4 not bootable! by coldwd · · Score: 3, Interesting
    It looks like this is not an apple issue, the user had their own version of /etc/ttys that 10.4.3 had an issue reading:

    I think I found the culprit: the updated system didn't like my version of /etc/ttys (that used to work under 10.4.2). Therefore, loginwindow couldn't start. I figured that out when adding my extensions file by file...

    I had /etc/ttys configured to open a LoginHook, and seems there somehow was an additional newline character.

    All seems to be working fine, now. Thanks for all your suggestions.

    I'd be very wary anytime I updated if I'm changing stuff in /etc. Do you have any local modifications going on that could be the cause of your issues?
    --
    "I wish I had a Kryptonite cross, because then you could keep both Dracula AND Superman away." --Jack Handy
  52. It's in there already... by argent · · Score: 1

    If you want encryption in iChat, use a Jabber server.

    From what I can tell from the little information available (I'm not running Tiger), all this means is that Apple's supporting Jabber protocol on the .Mac servers.

  53. Re:Shnappy Shnappy by Overly+Critical+Guy · · Score: 1

    Hey, dumbass, when you download something on P2P, your downloaded chunks are shared and uploaded to others simultaneously. You ARE exchanging infringing materials.

    Besides, simply downloading alone is enough to infringe. You've already been owned by other posters over this, so I leave it to them.

    --
    "Sufferin' succotash."
  54. Re:Non-iMacs using Front Row by claudebbg · · Score: 1
    • Update downloaded and installed : checked
    • Stability : checked
    • iApps : checked
    • FrontRow for Mac mini : checked

    By the way, for those who tried the "Bezel" thing, it doesn't seem necessary (and didn't in 10.4.2). The little applescript app was not really necessary too, just press ctrl-esc when Front Row menu is there.

    As a remote I use my phone + Romeo (and a simple plugin to start, map keys, quit), the only tricky thing is the fast forward that works with long cursor key down, which is not simple with a phone, could perhaps be done with some applescript.

    I still prefer VLC as a player (faster, more formats) but Front Row is just perfect for music, clips, video podcast)

  55. Re:WARNING!!! 10.4.3 render iBook G4 not bootable! by carboncopy79 · · Score: 2, Informative

    Please note that I did not change /etc/ttys before or after the Update.

    Got my iBook revived! (my blog)

    The detailed steps is in my blog, basically, what I did was, download Mac Os X Combo using a working Mac, boot dead Mac into Target Disk Mode, apply the patch using the Combo package, reboot the dead Mac.

  56. And the newest Finder Fukup is... by nystagman · · Score: 0

    (I sent this observation to Macintouch this AM)

    Just when you think it's not possible to make the Finder worse...

    For some reason that I have not been able to appreciate, the spacing for windows that have been set to view "as Icon" has been changed. In 10.4.2 and earlier, there was a larger white buffer space between the left edge of the window and the left edge of an icon. For 16x16-pixel icons, at least, this white space has been so greatly reduced (from about 12 to 4 pixels) that it now that much harder to visually distinguish a window's contents from the background.

    I could understand this sudden urge to conserve pixels if 1) we were all using 640 x 480 monitors, or 2) Finder windows weren't incredibly wasteful of space in almost every other way possible.

    If I were the tinfoil hat sort who looks for conspiracies, I would suspect that there is a plot to force everyone to use Column view, by the unceasing chipping away at the usefulness and appearance of Icon and List views.

    This is NOT the attention to detail that I used to expect from Apple. While it is possible to argue the aesthetics of the Finder's evolution of late, there is no way to defend it from a functional point of view. Almost every change goes against what I have learned studying visual science.

    Have a looksee for yourself to decide if you agree:

    http://www.omlab.org/OMLAB_page/Personnel/jbj/misc /spacingchange.jpg

    --
    Theory and practice are the same in theory, but different in practice.
    1. Re:And the newest Finder Fukup is... by porcupine8 · · Score: 3, Informative
      If I were the tinfoil hat sort who looks for conspiracies, I would suspect that there is a plot to force everyone to use Column view

      No, if this were true, they'd make it easier to get windows to open in column view by default. I adore column view, but it's a bitch to get it by default. Sure you can tell it to "open new windows in column view" - but that only works when you actually choose "New Finder window" or hit command-N, neither of which I ever do. If you open a window by double-clicking on a folder or drive, it opens in some other view - anything but column. I finally found out on the Apple discussion forums that if you hold shift when you close a window, the next time you open that particular folder or whatever it will open in whatever view you closed it in. Which is nice, but until I've closed every folder that way I still have to change stuff back to column view a lot.

      Personally, I was wondering why they gave us this great new view and then made it so incredibly hard to make Finder use it.

      --
      Warning: Apple/Nintendo fangirl. Likes her electronics cute & cuddly. May be rabid.
    2. Re:And the newest Finder Fukup is... by guet · · Score: 2, Informative

      No, if this were true, they'd make it easier to get windows to open in column view by default.

      Finder > Preferences > General

      Tick the box that says 'Open new windows in column view' and be happy.

    3. Re:And the newest Finder Fukup is... by aardwolf64 · · Score: 1

      Did you bother to read the comment you replied to?

    4. Re:And the newest Finder Fukup is... by porcupine8 · · Score: 1, Troll
      a) Did you read my comment? I mentioned this in it.

      b) Have you actually tried this? As I stated in my comment, that only applies to new windows created by hitting command-N or choosing "New Window" from the file menu - neither of which I ever, ever use. When you just open a window by double-clicking on a folder or drive, it doesn't work.

      --
      Warning: Apple/Nintendo fangirl. Likes her electronics cute & cuddly. May be rabid.
    5. Re:And the newest Finder Fukup is... by guet · · Score: 1

      er, guilty as charged, I didn't read it properly. You're quite right, it is inconsistent as it doesn't remember that you've chosen column view for that view before if you double click a folder.

    6. Re:And the newest Finder Fukup is... by Confuzzled · · Score: 1

      To make the finder have a default window type this is what you do. Close all Finder windows (make sure there are none minimized to the dock), set the window exactly as you want it (column view, size, etc.) and close it. That's it. New windows will open this way from now on. Enjoy.

      -c

  57. Re:Shnappy Shnappy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

    ...but does it run on Intel?

    Yes, in fact, it does. I've got a Developer Transition Kit machine and 10.4.3 was actually released a few weeks ago (Oct 13) on the ADC site.

    (posting anonymously due to NDA)

  58. Safari Problem with graphics by skinfitz · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Check this out. Google ad running down the side obscuring the text for anyone else? I've been seeing it on a lots of sites since upgrading the PB to 10.4.3. Think I'll hang on for the updated update before patching the G5.

  59. How is this different than 300 items in a folder? by douglasq · · Score: 1

    Asking out of ignorance: How is 300 items on the desktop (on Mac or Windows) any different than 300 items in any other folder? How is the desktop folder any different than any other folder as a potential drag on performance (or start up time - assuming you had a folder other than the desktop with 300 items in it open when you restart)?

    --
    "Form should follow function...unless it's just plain ugly."
  60. QuickTime Pro bug? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
    Can someone check this...

    When I load QuickTime Pro... I see 2 "Help" menus... they look identical but for one being a little further to the right...

    Also, and this was there before the update, and its not fixed (or is it a 'feature')... when viewing multiple movies, say 20, and I use Expose to select one other than the one I've selected (the top most movie), and I hit ?F to go full screen, it takes the movie I was previously selecting rather than the one I selected from Expose to the full screen.

    1. Re:QuickTime Pro bug? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      This is a bug in the DivX 5 Quicktime Codec. Remove the divx 5 component from /library/quicktime.

      Cheers.

  61. Re:WARNING!!! 10.4.3 render iBook G4 not bootable! by tezbobobo · · Score: 1

    I'm writing this on an update 1.2G ibook which has been updated with no problems. Try booting with no services enabled.

  62. It's not a problem with Safari... by argent · · Score: 2, Informative

    Google ad running down the side obscuring the text for anyone else?

    Yep, and I'm not even using Safari. I just tested it, and it's doing the same thing for Safari 1.3.1 on Panther, on Camino, on Firefox/Mozilla.

    Complain to the people who run the site, their HTML is broken... I suspect they only tested it on one version of Internet Explorer, ever.

  63. Re:How is this different than 300 items in a folde by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    it would be no different if you had the folder open in finder, but if those 300 items are in a folder, and not on your desktop, finder doesn't have to send them all to quartz composer

  64. Re:How is this different than 300 items in a folde by Chuckstar · · Score: 2, Informative

    The Desktop folder is always on screen and all items are visible. Most folders that contain 300 items only show a portion of those items at a time. If my hypothesis is correct, a folder with 300 items opened full-screen with all items showing should result in the same slowdown (or close to it -- as the desktop is a special case and might work slightly differently than a typical folder).

  65. Re:Truth? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    All I heard was "The truth. Hertz. Doughnut?" O.K. Now I'm really confused. :o)

  66. Re:WARNING!!! 10.4.3 render iBook G4 not bootable! by jeffasselin · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Warning from Logic Central:

    Singular events cannot be used as a basis for generalisations.

    Thank you.

    My iBook G4 is running very well. So far it's 50/50 and we do not have the numbers for a significant statistical analysis.

    --
    If he explores all forms and substances Straight homeward to their symbol-essences; He shall not die.
  67. Where do I put my pr0n? by chia_monkey · · Score: 1

    there were about 340 items there, as it's both my default download folder and the place I drag images and clippings to from Safari.

    Only 340? That's just one night of pr0n surfin' for me! And now I gotta put it all in a folder? Sheesh.

    --

    "He uses statistics as a drunken man uses lampposts...for support rather than illumination." - Andrew Lang
  68. As a matter of fact Safari is snappier by saha · · Score: 1
    The good:

    Safari is now passing all or many of the webstandards and color standard tests. Apart from passing the Acid 2 test again, which it did once back in April '05 in Panther

    It also passes the International Color Consortium ICC version 4 test again, which also worked on Safari 1.3. Prior to Safari 2.0.2, Safari 2.x only passed ICC version 2 test.

    Javascript speed seems a hair faster and gives Opera a good run.

    Javascript benchmark

    Mac Mini 1.25 GHz w/ 512MB RAM
    OS___________Version _______Trial 1_________Trial 2
    Mac OSX 10.3.8 Safari v1.2.4___ 85.28 seconds___86.28 seconds
    Mac OSX 10.3.9 Safari v1.3____ 10.97 seconds___10.39 seconds
    Mac OSX 10.4.0 Safari v2.0____ 09.48 seconds___09.30 seconds
    Mac OSX 10.4.2 Safari v2.0.1___ 09.41 seconds___09.07 seconds
    Mac OSX 10.4.3 Safari v2.0.2___ 08.41 seconds___08.54 seconds


    iMac G5 1.8 GHz w/1GB RAM
    OS___________Version _________________Trial 1_________Trial 2
    Mac OSX 10.4.3 Opera 8.5__________ 07.45 seconds___07.39 seconds
    Mac OSX 10.4.3 Safari 2.0.2_________ 08.51 seconds___08.79 seconds

    Mac OSX 10.4.2 Opera 8.5__________ 07.31 seconds___07.88 seconds
    Mac OSX 10.4.2 Safari 2.0.1_________ 09.02 seconds___09.12 seconds
    Mac OSX 10.4.2 Camino 0.8.4_______ 15.13 seconds___15.33 seconds
    Mac OSX 10.4.2 Firefox 1.0.7________ 21.04 seconds___20.84 seconds
    Mac OSX 10.4.2 Internet Explorer 5.2.3 40.87 seconds___36.94 seconds
    Mac OSX 10.4.2 Mozilla 1.7.12_______ 44.11 seconds___43.54 seconds

    Mail.app 2.0.5 fixes the annoying problem with replicating new messages twice or thrice for IMAP email.

    Get Info and Finder now shows Architecture the application binary runs on. Guess this will help with the transition to x86 to identify which applications are PowerPC only or Universal. I assume people aren't going to be writing exclusively for Intel X86 Mac OS X applications for a long time.

    The bad:

    Quartz 2D Extreme is still not part of Tiger. Hopefully it will make it in Leopard.

    "Disables Quartz 2D Extreme--Quartz 2D Extreme is not a supported feature in Tiger, and re-enabling it may lead to video redraw issues or kernel panics."

  69. Better support for MS-DOS volumes?! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Wow! I really wanted better support of FAT16! I mean, FAT32 and VFAT support was pretty good, but lowly FAT16 was getting old. So now, we can, what? Read FAT16 disks faster than ever before?

    <humor off> Okay, stop calling it 'MS-DOS format'. MS-DOS is dead. MS-DOS has been 100% dead for 10 years now; and its spawn (Win95-Me) dead for 4 years. MS-DOS never supported anything better than 8.3 filenames on a 2GB-max partition, FAT16. Call it 'FAT' now.

  70. Folder management by miller701 · · Score: 1

    If you have files with the same name it can get messy.

    My first thought is the VIDEO-TS folder when using Mac the Ripper (Yes, I only use it for my own DVDs, handling DVDs on the whims of a two-year old leds itself to DVDs getting droped, scratched, etc). I'd hate to have to remember that VIDEO-TS1 is for Nemo and VIDEO-TS35 is for the best of Thomas.

  71. Re:NOTE: If you didn't install the Developer Tools by tim1724 · · Score: 1

    Instead of "open -a TextEdit" you can "open -e" :-)

    --
    -- Tim Buchheim
  72. Re: getting PithHelmet to work by hackstraw · · Score: 1

    Path Finder (which I use instead of Apple's Finder) allows you to look at the contents of a package or app, which would be easier for this edit if you want to use the GUI all the way.

    I've never used Path Finder, but the Apple finder opens packages and apps when you control click on it and select "Show Package Contents" from the menu.

    Now if anybody can tell me how to make the list view the default for the finder, I would be happy.

  73. Troll -5 by mrraven · · Score: 1

    I KNOW it's not possible, if it was we might see less of this crap. Posted from a dual G5 Mac, if you want to mod me down for being a "fan boi," so be it..

    --
    Tired of all the isms, don't exploit people as an employer, or a government, mmmmK?
  74. Re:Improves the handling of Hebrew and Arabic text by mbennis · · Score: 0

    I use arabic on PC but i wonder if it's possible to buy a mac and use it for arabic language. You seem to use arabic on your mac. Do you have some advices on this topic ? word processor ?
    Thanks

  75. Running OSX on older macs. by chowhound · · Score: 1

    I'm running 10.4.3 on a G4/400 w/1gb RAM and 10.3.9 on a G3/400 w/800mb RAM without problems. I would have loaded Tiger on the Yosemite but I figured Dashboard and Spotlight would slow things down... and it's just a surfing & homework machine for my 9-year-old.

    Personally, I've found OS X to be wonderfully compatible with older machines. My G4 is 5 years old, and the G3 is 6 years old, yet they run like a top.

  76. Powerbook hosed, but only after slow painful death by lodurr · · Score: 1

    10.4.3 left my G4 PBook so hosed it won't mount in target disk mode and can't be made to do anything more than display directory listings in single-user mode. Took about a day and a half of moderate usage for the system to fail, so don't assume from first impressions that everything is hunky-dory.

    Keep generational backups and keep an eye on the system performance -- that's the giveaway: Finder file listings will update more and more slowly. Eventually, applications won't start when executed from the dock, and you wont' be able to restart the system.