Low End Mac's OS X Guides

Jaguar Info & Links

Mac OS X 10.2 "Jaguar" was released on August 24, 2002 and was last updated on October 3, 2003, when the 10.2.8 update was released. There are rumors that 10.2.9 will be released in mid-2009 to address several bugs and vulnerabilities that remain in version 10.2.8.

This was the first version of OS X to support Safari and the last the ship with Internet Explorer as its default browser. Apple's release of Safari was Microsoft's excuse to leave the Mac browser market.

Jaguar improved performance across the board, especially for Classic Mode, and introduced Quartz Extreme, which lets the operating system offload graphics tasks to supported video cards (ATI Radeon and Nvidia GeForce 2 AGP and later video with at least 16 MB of VRAM).

OS X 10.2 includes Inkwell, which ports the Newton handwriting recognition technology to the Mac. Inkwell requires an external tablet. Bonjour is Apple's technology that allows Macs to find each other and other Bonjour-aware devices without user configuration. It also improved support for Windows networks. Jaguar includes CUPS, which provides support for a lot more printers than earlier versions of OS X.

Jaguar lost one feature that had been with the Mac since the beginning - the "Happy Mac" startup icon was replaced by a gray Apple logo.

Jaguar requires a PowerPC G3 or G4 CPU, 128 MB of RAM, and is incompatible with the "Kanga" PowerBook G3 - the only G3-based Mac never supported by any version of OS X. While 10.2 can run with 128 MB of RAM, 256 MB is a more realistic minimum for decent performance (the OS itself can use from 96 MB to 200 MB of RAM), and going to 512 MB or beyond will really unleash its potential.

Jaguar List, Low End Mac's email list for Mac OS X 10.2 users.

Jaguar Links

Mac OS X 10.2 Jaguar Can Unleash the Power of G3 iBooks, Carl Nygren, 2008.06.17
Internet Sharing a Breeze in OS X, Dan Knight, 2003.04.07
Good News and Bad News About the Jaguar Update and Other Thoughts on OS X, Dan Knight, 2003.04.01
Using Jaguar's Finder for FTP, Alan Zisman, 2003.02.11
Making a Bootable OS X CD, iMac Startup Problems after OS X Install, and More, Dan Knight, 2003.02.03
The Value of a Refurbished iBook with Jaguar, Steve Watkins, 2003.01.21
Gimp-Print to the Rescue: Letting Macs with Jaguar Print on Windows Networks, Alan Zisman, 2003.01.15
I Switched (from OS 9 to OS X), Dan Knight, 2003.01.13. Today marks 10 days since I installed Jaguar (Mac OS X 10.2.3) on my 400 MHz PowerBook G4.
Quartz Extreme Empowers the G3, Dan Knight, 2002.12.31
Beefing Up Windows Networking in OS X, Alan Zisman, 2002.10.07
The Mac and Windows Compatibility, Adam Robert Guha, 2002.10.04
Groveling: Jaguar Is Not Fat, Slow, and Deeply Flawed, Dirk Pilat, 2002.09.25
Jaguar Joyride, Steve Watkins, 2002.09.24

Recommended Software

These are generally the latest version of these programs that run on Jaguar. Some may require Mac OS X 10.2.8, the final version of Jaguar. Programs are free unless otherwise noted.

Browsers

Browsers are listed by how up-to-date they are. We strongly recommend Opera 9.6.x (the only browser for Jaguar still being updated), Firefox 2.0.0.20, and Camino 1.0.6. Keep Internet Explorer handy just in case you find a site that requires it.

Opera 9.6.4 - current version (June 2009), most up-to-date browser for Jaguar, Opera 10 alpha not compatible with Jaguar
Firefox 2.0.0.20 (Dec. 2008)
iCab 3.0.5 (Jan. 2008) - shareware, use the PowerPC version
Camino 1.0.6 (Aug. 2007)
Safari 1.0.3 (Aug. 2004) - installed using Software Update, update using Software Update, quite outdated
Internet Explorer 5.2.2 (Sept. 2002) - IE 5.2 installed with Jaguar, update using Software Update, most outdated browser for Jaguar

Misc. Software

Kompozer 0.7.10 - WYSIWYG HTML editor, based on Netscape Composer, version 0.8 requires Mac OS X 10.4 or later

System Preferences

uControl 1.3.5 - keyboard remapper, useful for swapping the Command and Option keys when using a Windows keyboard, as they are reversed from what Mac users are used to

Mac OS X v10.2 Jaguar Updates

Mac OS X v10.2 Jaguar Updates
Individual Updates
For PowerPC G3 and G4 Processors

Update	Description
10.2.1	Updates Mac OS X 10.2 to Mac OS X 10.2.1
10.2.2	Updates Mac OS X 10.2.1 to Mac OS X 10.2.2
10.2.3	Updates Mac OS X 10.2.2 to Mac OS X 10.2.3
10.2.4	Updates Mac OS X 10.2.3 to Mac OS X 10.2.4
10.2.5	Updates Mac OS X 10.2.4 to Mac OS X 10.2.5
10.2.6	Updates Mac OS X 10.2.5 to Mac OS X 10.2.6
10.2.8	Updates Mac OS X 10.2.6 or 10.2.7 to Mac OS X 10.2.8
10.2.8 (6R73)	Updates Mac OS X 10.2.8 Update (Build 6R65) to Mac OS X 10.2.8 (Build 6R73). [2]

For PowerPC G5 Processors

Update	Description
10.2.8 (G5)	Updates Mac OS X 10.2.7 to Mac OS X 10.2.8

Combo Updates
For PowerPC G3 and G4 processors only.

Update	Description
10.2.2	Updates Mac OS X 10.2 to Mac OS X 10.2.2
10.2.3	Updates Mac OS X 10.2 to Mac OS X 10.2.3
10.2.4	Updates Mac OS X 10.2 to Mac OS X 10.2.4
10.2.5	Updates Mac OS X 10.2 to Mac OS X 10.2.5
10.2.6	Updates Mac OS X 10.2 to Mac OS X 10.2.6
10.2.8	Updates Mac OS X 10.2 to Mac OS X 10.2.8

Related Links Installing software updates. Notes [1] Descriptions are the same for both the 10.3.4 Individual and Combo updates. [2] Mac OS X 10.2.8 (Build 6R65) was withdrawn almost immediately after release. While this build had several flaws, some installations performed without problems. Installations which had not experienced problems with Build 6R65 could install the 10.2.8 (Build 6R73) Update, which is smaller than the full 10.2.8 Individual Update. No "About this Update" document is available for the 10.2.8 (6R73) Update.

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