Mac OS News & Links

Mac OS X is probably the most revolutionary thing to happen to the Mac since Apple began using the PowerPC processor in 1994. Apple's software engineers have been working to combine the best of the Mac OS (great interface and ease-of-use) with the best of Unix (rock solid stability, incredible performance) - with a smattering of NeXT, Copland, and Linux thrown in for good measure.

Linux fans, visit our Linux page. And for Unix purists, there's also MacBSD.

• Mac OS X Mailing Lists. The Macintosh Guy now offers seven OS X lists, each with a different focus.
• Floppy driver for beige G3, Darwin Development

Recent Headlines

• I can no longer move files using Mac OS X, Dan Knight, Mac Daniel, 2007.11.05. Drag and drop stopped working. Here's how to make things work again.
• Mac OS X 10.2.5 - How fast is it?, Macs Only!, 04.14. "...there are basically no speed differences among the three most recent Mac OS X versions."
• Thoughts and musing on the OS X 10.2.5 upgrade, Charles W. Moore, OS X Odyssey, Applelinks, 04.11. "...MacFixIt is reporting kernel panics after restart , as the most worrisome glitch with this version so far."
• Mac OS X 10.2.5 available through Software Update, downloadable, Bryan Chaffin, Mac Observer, 04.10. Updater is about 38 MB - or available on CD for US$19.95.
• Internet sharing a breeze in OS X, Dan Knight, X-Basics, 04.07. Another OS X advantage - sharing an Internet connection is very easy.
• Mac OS X 'Panther' on track for September, Matthew Rothenberg, eWeek, 04.02. "...sources report that the "Panther" release will reach end users in mid-September."
• USB floppy disk striped RAID under OS X, ohlssonvox, 04.01. Five USB floppies plus OS X RAID software yields one 4.22 MB floppy array. Wierd and impractical, but it works.
• Good news and bad news about the Jaguar update and other thoughts on OS X, Dan Knight, 10 Forward, 04.01. Turning the Jaguar upgrade into a full installer, OS 9 vs. X, pros and cons of OS X applications, thoughts on the dock, and more.
• OS X floppy support - not, Charles Moore, OS X Odyssey, Applelinks, 03.18. "...'dead' or not, there is nothing quite as convenient as the old floppy when you just want to tranfer a small file or two between two computers."
• Wanted: Conflict Catcher for Mac OS X, Adam C. Engst, TidBITS, 03.17. "...it's clear that Mac OS X and its applications are just as vulnerable to problems in their support files as they ever were."
• The definitive desktop environment comparison, Eugenia Loli-Queru, OSNews, 03.17. WinXP, BeOS 6, OS X, KDE, and Gnome compared for look and feel, usability, stability, and much more.
• Memory Usage Getter's developer on OS X memory issues, Charles Moore, OS X Odyssey, Applelinks, 03.03. "...the fact remains that Mac OS X loves as much memory as it can get, and it uses all of the available RAM very agressively."
• Windows, Macs, OS X, and real world performance, Adam Robert Guha, Apple Archive, 02.14. As Mac OS X improves and hardware gets faster, complaints of sluggishness will become nothing but a memory.
• Safari update, Mac OS X 10.2.4, a neat haxie, and how Mail can better fight spam, Dan Knight, 10 Forward, 02.14. Safari mostly improved but adds a glitch, 10.2.4 seems just fine, a better CPU monitor, and ways Apple can leverage Mail to better fight spam.
• OS X: Carbon vs Cocoa: The speed issue, Unsanity.org, 02.14. Are Carbon applications really faster than Cocoa ones? The debate rages on.
• OS X: Apple releases Mac OS X 10.2.4, Jim Dalrymple, MacCentral, 02.13. "...Address Book, Classic compatibility, Finder, FireWire, graphics, OpenGL and Sherlock all feature improved functionality and reliability under this new release."
• Software: File Synchronization 1.1, Nemsys Software, 02.12. Indispensible OS X utility has the ability to synchronize multiple pairs of folders or files.
• Using Jaguar's Finder for FTP, Alan Zisman, X-Basics, 02.11. You don't need any special software to upload and download files via FTP; it's already built into Jaguar.
• Importance of updated OS X printer drivers, "old" as a computer insult, a couple Safari tips, and more on the value of a low end Mac, Dan Knight, Low End Mac Mailbag, 02.07. Readers share their thoughts on outdated printer drives, the use of "old" as a disparaging term, two helpful Safari tips, and thoughts on Mac vs. PC upgrades.
• Advocacy: Easy ways to adapt to Mac OS X, Gene Steinberg, Mac Night Owl, 02.06. "You just have to look at it with an open mind and not fear the future."
• Making a bootable OS X CD, Why Apple should choose AMD over IBM, iMac startup problems after OS X install, and more, Dan Knight, Low End Mac Mailbag, 02.03. Also reflections on Mail, errors in our Aqua article, upgrading a beige G3, Moore's Law, and new vs. old Power Mac G4 value.
• Software: Moore's omnibus Mac email client roundup - 2003 edition, Charles Moore, Applelinks, 01.31. Mac email clients from Eudora to Zoe - covering both OS X and the classic Mac OS. (We still love Claris Emailer.)
• Extreme wireless for older Macs, Dan Knight, Mac Musings, 01.22. Apple's AirPort Extreme isn't the only game in town. Other vendors offer PC Cards and PCI cards that give older Macs access to 802.11g "extreme" wireless networking.
• Who's taking a beating, Apple or Quark?, Stephen Van Esch, Mac Scope, 01.22. Quark users may postpone upgrading to new Mac waiting for an OS X version of XPress - or Quark may lose them completely to InDesign.
• Opinion: AirPort Extreme: In the key of G, G Fleishman, A Engst, TidBITS, 01.20. Great on the local network, but keep in mind that most Internet connections are far slower than Extreme's 54 Mbps.
• The value of a refurbished iBook with Jaguar, Steve Watkins, The Practical Mac, 01.21. How well old iBooks hold their value - and the value of buying a newer factory refurbished iBook with Jaguar and Quartz Extreme.
• What happened to the low end at Low End Mac?, Dan Knight, Mac Musings, 01.21. "Low End Mac has gone from being a site where all Macs were appreciated to a place where only the most recent, cutting edge systems are recognized and discussed."
• Macinschool: Lots of thoughts on Mac in education, Steve Wood, Educators' News, 01.17. Helpful thoughts on AirPort Extreme, viability of OS X in the classroom, and use of new software at school.
• Jaguar troubleshooting, Combo drive for older TiBooks, compact USB hub, retractable FireWire cable, and more, Charles Moore, The 'Book Review, 01.17. Also a new Bluetooth adapter, PowerBook icons, 'Book and iPod cases, and bargain 'Books from $99 to $3,798.
• More on Apple Education, disk images, cloning systems for the classroom, a low-cost education Mac, and OS X Server, Jeff Adkins, Mac Lab Report, 01.16. Follow up on Apple education initiatives, working with CD-ROM disk images, cloning Macs with FireWire Disk Mode, the need for a low-cost education Mac, and issues with Mac OS X Server.
• Advice: Superior ad blocking on OS X, Jon Gales, MacMerc, 01.14. How to block lots of ads right in the OS, not just in one specific browser. Clever.
• Gimp-Print to the rescue: Letting Macs with Jaguar print on Windows networks, Alan Zisman, Mac2Windows, 01.15. Gimp-Print adds support for a plethora of printers not otherwise supported by Mac OS X.
• Don't buy the new 'Books quite yet, Dan Knight, Mac Musings, 01.14. Because the new aluminum PowerBooks won't boot the classic Mac OS, you may not be able to run your disk utilities should a problem occur.
• I switched (from OS 9 to OS X), Dan Knight, 10 Forward, 01.13. A year with OS X, a week with Jaguar, and I've finally made the switch from the classic Mac OS to OS X.
• Opinion: Why are so many Mac users holding back from upgrading to OS X?, Charles Moore, OS X Odyssey, Applelinks, 01.09. "Five million OS X switchers/adopters means that about 20 million Mac users have not yet made the move."
• Advice: How to deal with common Mac OS X 10.2 Jaguar problems, Randy B. Singer, Mac Attorney, 01.09. "OS X (especially Jaguar) is easier to deal with and troubleshoot than OS 7/8/9 was."
• News: OWC shows XPostFacto 3.0 beta, Dennis Sellers, MacCentral, 01.08. Wow, next version of XPostFacto should allow booting pre-FireWire Macs from FireWire drives via FireWire PCI cards.
• Things I really like about Jaguar, Dan Knight, 10 Forward, 01.08. Independent windows, the dock, PDF screen capture, faster finds, and better browsing are positive aspects of Mac OS X.
• News: Apple's Mac OS X Adoption Soars With More Than 5 Million Users, Apple, 01.07. We rarely link to press releases, but 5 million OS X users and 5,000 native apps is good news indeed!
• Changes in Jaguar compared to 10.1.5, Dan Knight, 10 Forward, 01.07. Some of the ways Jaguar is different from Mac OS X 10.1.x.
• Opinion: I was a dual-booting fan before OS X, Charles Moore, OS X Odyssey, Applelinks, 12.30. Author has been dual-booting since setting up a Mac Plus to boot either System 6 or 7.
• Quartz Extreme empowers the G3, Dan Knight, Mac Musings, 12.31. It looked like the G3 was on its way out, but Quartz Extreme brings new life to the low end.
• Opinion: Can you learn to love Mac OS X?, Gene Steinberg, The Jaguar Report, Mac Net Journal, 12.29. "...it's not the similarities that Mac users who prefer Mac OS 9 focus on, but the differences."
• OS X: The Quartz Extreme conundrum, Charles Moore, OS X Odyssey, Applelinks, 12.27. Is 16 MB of VRAM on the 700 MHz iBook adequate for Quartz Extreme, or does it really cry out for 32 MB?
• Web browsers for OS X and the classic Mac OS, Charles Moore, Miscellaneous Ramblings, 12.30. Thoughts on Chimera, iCab, Internet Explorer, Mozilla, Netscape, OmniWeb, and Opera for the Macintosh.
• Opinion: Should you have to work to like an operating system?, Charles Moore, OS X Odyssey, Applelinks, 12.24. "...I really have been trying to like OS X for over a year now, with some success, but those missing features are fact, not fancy."
• OS X: 10.2.3 download; slowdown remediation report; Netscape 7.0.1, Charles Moore, OS X Odyssey, Applelinks, 12.23. Six-hour 10.2.3 download over dialup, end of gradual Jaguar slowdown.
• OS X: Jaguar 10.2.3 update musings and more on slowdowns, Charles W. Moore, OS X Odyssey, Applelinks, 12.20. Thoughts on the 10.2.3 update, Unsanity Haxies slowdowns, indispensibility of Windowshade X.
• Advice: Troubleshooting Mac OS X 10.2.3: CD-RW failure; startup problems; more, MacFixIt, 12.20. Read this before you decide to upgrade your copy of Jaguar to 10.2.3. Forewarned is forearmed.
• Advice: Whatever you do, install the OS 9 disk drivers, Rob McNair-Huff, Mac Net Journal, 12.19. "...you cannot boot from an OS 9.x installer CD in order to run a disk utility like the $70-plus DiskWarrior program...."
• File Synchronization: One step closer to OS X, Dan Knight, 10 Forward, 12.19. Clever shareware program removes one more obstacle in the slow migration toward Mac OS X.
• More about Jaguar on the 800 MHz iBook, Korin Hasegawa-John, My Turn, 12.18. Hidden dock vs. column view, the journaling file system, and IP over FireWire.
• News: Apple: Certain Macs will boot OS 9 until June 2003, Jim Dalrymple, MacCentral, 12.13. "Apple said that certain models of the current product line would be made available to educators until June of 2003 to help the transition of educational institutions."
• OS X: Mac OS X v 10.2.2: Workaround for HP product incompatibility, system degradation, Hewlett-Packard, 12.11. "When drivers for HP Photosmart printers, Scanjet scanners, PSC and Officejet all-in-one products are installed on Mac OS X v 10.2.2, overall system performance will continually degrade...."
• Software: Carbon Copy Cloner 2.1.1, Bombich Software, 12.11. Indispensible utility for migrating OS X to a new drive or partition.
• OS X: A mystery slowdown, and repairing permissions, Charles W. Moore, OS X Odyssey, Applelinks, 12.02. Mac OS X 10.2 kept getting slower and slower and slower. Why?
• A smooth switch with Move2Mac, Steve Watkins, The Practical Mac, 12.03. Want to switch but worried about your PC files? Move2Mac can handle most of the transfer effortlessly.
• OS X: Is the 10.2.2 update a disaster?, Gene Steinberg, Mac Night Owl, 11.18. "...if you depend on your Mac for your livelihood, it doesn't hurt to be a little cautious and not accept the Software Update message on the very first day."
• Plucker puts Web on your Palm for free, Dirk Pilat, Down But Not Out, 11.18. No OS X support from AvantGo? No problem - Plucker comes to the rescue, and it's free.
• Is OS 9 still useful?, Adam Robert Guha, Apple Archive, 11.15. "Face it, OS 9 is obsolete - and has been for quite some time - but that doesn't mean it's useless."
• Advice: Enable a journaling file system on OS X 10.2.2 Client, Mac OS X Hints, 11.12. How to use the journaling file system Apple just added to Mac OS ßX 10.2.2.
• Problems upgrading from 10.1 to Jaguar, Jeff Adkins, Mac Lab Report, 11.11. Partition too small to use the upgrade, and you can't install the upgrade without OS X already installed.
• Opinion: Major improvements needed for Mac OS X's Mail application, Pierre Igot, Applelust, 11.08. "...I already consider Mail a perfectly usable tool. It is just that certain things do not work the way they should, as well as they should...."
• Forum: Is Mac OS X slow?, Slashdot, 11.07. "...have you noticed operations that seemed slower using Mac OS X compared to similar operations on other operating systems?"
• Advice: OS 9.x clients can't connect to my OS X Server from the Chooser, Damien Barrett, AppleTechs, 11.03. How to use NetInfo Manager to Mac OS 8.x and 9.x machines can see your server over AppleTalk.

Links: OS X index, 2002 archive, 2001 archive, 2000 archive, 1998-99 archive, OS 9 overview