Recycled Computing

The Lion Sleeps (on My MacBook) Tonight

- 2012.07.05

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Short link: http://bit.ly/Oa7S9q

"....the Lion sleeps tonight...."

I promised an update to my adventures to install Lion on my 2007 Black MacBook, and here it is.

First, I love Low End Mac because it's loyal readers are quick to lend a helping hand. I'd like to give a shout-out to Rick Karrer, Scott Newman, and, especially David Walker. Everyone pointed me to making my own OS X 10.7 Lion thumb drive using the App Store download. Instructions are on the Internet in a number of places (TUAW is the site I used), and using the directions, you can save yourself $40 and and have an external install drive.

Before I began the install, I ran a Time Machine backup and cloned the MacBook's hard drive to an external hard drive. My logic was to have a copy of OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard (with all my data) to boot into if the Lion install proves problematic.

With my belt and suspenders all set up, I plugged in the Lion thumb drive I had made and started up my MacBook. I pressed the Option key on the keyboard and then selected the USB thumb drive as my boot drive.

No alarms. I used the version of Disk Utility on the thumb drive to erase the contents of my hard drive and then ran the Lion installer. Everything ran okay - it just took time. When I was done, I decided to play around for awhile before migrating my other apps and identities or data. I liked some of the new stuff: The full screen apps are nice, and I definitely like adding my laptop to Find my iPhone. I like Launchpad, but doesn't it sort of duplicate the Dock?

LaunchPad in OS X Lion
Lion's LaunchPad

I have to say that Mission Control is good. It allows me to get to something that I want without having to close or store on the Dock applications or documents that are in my way. I was a little disappointed that the only things I can use on my MacBook's touchpad are the scrolling and the two button access to contextual menus. But my MacBook is five years old, and if I really want to, I could buy a Magic Trackpad.

Mission Control in OS X Lion
Lion's Mission Control

The next day, feeling adventurous, I decided to migrate my documents, applications, and settings from my Time Machine backup to the MacBook and its fresh Lion Install. Time was taken, and I patted myself on the back for replacing my PowerPC (PPC) applications with Universal ones about two months ago, since Lion doesn't support PPC software.

However, I forgot about iPhoto. It was still a PPC version, so I guess I have to buy iWorks - unless somebody knows about a substitute?

I think that because I did a fresh install, I did not encounter the problems that some folks have encountered when moving to Lion. Lion is okay and features Apple's new iCloud, and so far I haven't run across any problems (except for not updating iPhoto).

I will update everybody with any new events, but so far, Lion is working out okay.

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