|
Cool Mac Gear• iPod Video • iPod nano • iPod 1G-2G • iPod 3G • iPod 4G • iPod Mini • PowerBook-iBook • Garageband |
I downloaded the OS 10.2.2 updateer weeks ago, but haven't installed it. By policy and temperament, I am not an early adopter, and my usual modus is to wait and see what others discover and report before making system upgrades. With any Mac OS update, through the Classic years as well as the OS X era, comes reports of problems, broken applications, and so on, so one does not get alarmed by those sort of anecdotes as a rule, but OS 10.2.2 seems to have generated a lot more than its fair share of such complaints. Even some enthusiastic early adopters have conceded that they have "downgraded" back to OS 10.2.1 after encountering intolerable levels of problems with 10.2.2. Then yesterday, MacFixIt posted a "Reverting to Mac OS X 10.2.1" tutorial on how to downgrade from 10.2.2. I can't recall that ever happening before, and it reinforces my misgivings about this particular version update, which I'm now pretty much resolved to sit out. ANovember OS 10.2.3 update is expected sometime this month, and I am hoping for better reports from it. I don't doubt that there are folks out they're getting along fine with OS 10.2.2. Problems with system version updates tend idiosyncratic, due to the wide disparity of computer models and software configurations involved. For example, when I installed the OS 9.0.4 update on my WallStreet PowerBook back in 2000, I had more crashes in the first four days then I had had in the previous six weeks. I soon got fed up with that and reverted to all OS 9.0 by booting from another desk, trashing everything I could find that was labeled 9.0.4, plus the System, the Finder, and several other bits, then running the OS 9.0 installer. It was a relatively quick process and worked like a charm, with no reconfiguration hassles. Stability was restored, and I continued using that "downgraded" system install for over a year, eventually upgrading it to OS 9.1. That sort of flexibility and resilience is one of the things I love about the Classic Mac OS. I should mention that OS 9.0.4 worked perfectly on my G4 Cube, although my son also had stability problems with it on his Lombard PowerBook. I don't doubt that the OS 10.2.2 problems are similarly specific to certain machines and configurations, but the potential benefit just doesn't seem to be worth the risk of having to downgrade if problems were encountered, a much more time-consuming and complex procedure than it was with OS 9.0.4. Captain FTP 2.0.1 FTP Client Released Captian FTP 2 has been out less than a week, and already a .1 bugfix release.
The new Captain FTP version's new features include segmented download, which allows Captain FTP to split a large file (recommended for file size over 1MB) into multiple parts and use multiple transfer connections to download those parts simultaneously. These parts are recombined into a single file upon receipt.
New in Captian FTP version 2.0
More incremental improvements to this excellent little application.
New in this version:
Recent enhancements:
For more information, visit:
Odyssey 213: OS X input devices Screenshots Mystery slowdown re: OSX Odyssey 213 - A Mystery Slowdown From Krishna M. Sadasivam Hi Charles, I'm writing to confirm that I sometimes find that my dual G4/450 slows down to a crawl using Jaguar. Just as you have already mentioned, I, too, have run the Apple Disk Utility to repair permissions. This seems to do a decent job -- I also run another utility called SpeedMeUpPro -- which does an optimization and binding on OSX. This seems to help things as well. Regarding the responsiveness of OSX vs OS9 -- I echo your statements about OSX 'ragged' performance. I've wondered whether adding a 32 MB AGP card to replace my stock Rage 128 Pro would better address this issue. So far, I've upped memory on my Dualie to 960 MB, and made sure to use the latest peripheral drivers -- but this doesn't seem to dramatically improve things. I'd love to hear feedback as to whether or not replacing my Rage 128 Pro would improve the overall response of the OS. On that note, which video card would you recommend for someone on a budget that needs fast 2D performance in OSX? I'm not really into gaming, so 3D performance is not a factor. I've considered the Radeon 8500 AGP edition, but at $170+, it seems to be a bit overkill. Thanks again for an excellent write-up!
Happy Holidays!
Hi Krishna;
I don't know whether replacing the RAGE 128 would help with the pointing device "misfire" issue, but I'm pretty sure a more gutsy video card with more VRAM would enhance Finder response in general. I would suggest at least a Radeon 7500 with 16 MB of VRAM, which should give you some of the benefits of Quartz Extreme. 32 MB for full QE support.
In ATI's words:
Seasonal best wishes to you as well.
Odyssey 213: OS X input devices From Michael Snider Charles, your bias is showing.You wrote:
But as numerous writers have pointed out before, this (and other distractions) may not be a problem with OS X but with your installation of OS X--and, in your case, it might also be the OS X drivers for your non-Apple pointing devices rather than the OS itself. I don't have any such problems with ignored mouse-clicks--has your son reported the same problem? Have you seen similar complaints on user forums? I'm glad you're are not shy about pointing out the shortcomings of the products (including Apple's) that you review, but with OS X you sometimes seem to ignore obvious candidates for any difficulty in favor of blaming OS X. I enjoy your writing, and consider your column a valuable resource, but I've learned to put an extra shake of salt on your complaints about OS X.
Best,
Hi Michael:
As I've pointed it before, chronicling things that are actually happening does not constitute bias.
I have noticed this same phenomenon of undependable and erratic mouse click response in OS X since I first installed version 10.1. Also see Krishna's letter above. I recollect other reviewers mentioning it, although I can't document who, where, or when exactly.
I have noticed the problem with more than half a dozen different pointing devices, both Apple and third-party ones. and except for Wacom Tablet mouse, and the Logitech Cordless Mouseman, none of them use proprietary drivers, and the problem exists using Apple mice as well. There seems to be no noticable difference using different devices, so I'm doubtful that it is a hardware or driver issue, and of course as noted, it never occurs in OS 9 using the same equipment, which is part of my point. Whatever the reason, this problem is unique to OS X in my experience. That's not bias; it is experienced fact.
Charles From Jeremy Scott-Joynt Dear Charles, I haven't really paid attention to the screenshot debate that crops up vis-a-vis OS X periodically, both in your columns and elsewhere. But until this evening I broadly saw your point - jpegs seemed to be the logical route, with an option on TIFFs; Jaguar's switch to pdf was baffling. It's amazing how dumb one can be sometimes, though. I've just been taking a screenshot for a print publication, and bemoaning the usual problems of adapting a 72 dot-per-inch image to the 300dpi minimum for print purposes. But I needn't have worried: the scalability of pdf means that one simple screenshot came out as a 12-inch-wide, 300dpi image ready to be resized at will. Absolutely wonderful. Twenty seconds' work in the fabulous Graphic Converter (the best US$35 anyone who ever uses pictures in their Mac life will ever spend, incidentally) and I have a pic sized, saved and ready to send to the printer. Now I appreciate that for your kind workflow jpg would make a great deal more sense, but in terms of cutting your cloth in such a way as to fit as many needs as possible, the pro-PDF argument is unanswerable. Not that there shouldn't be an option somewhere to allow you to choose... but that's a different and altogether broader debate about OS X, I guess. Best wishes as ever, j
Hi Jeremy;
Good point, and it's nice to hear that there actually is one to the PDF screenshot default thing.
However, for my purposes PDF's are not useful. I just drag then to the little Kunvert utility and convert them to something I can use.
As you say, there should be a non-PDF screenshot option.
Charles From Nicholas Sorensen Charles: RE: your gradual slowdown on Mac OS X over the holiday weekend (which I hope was pleasant). It never really works well to diagnose from afar, but I would be suspicious that you had run out of hard drive space, especially since you've previously described your OS X partition not having much extra room. Did you notice whether your HD was getting accessed heavily during the slowdown? One way to check this is to run the top command in the Terminal and see if there are a large number of pageouts.
Sincerely,
Hi Nicholas;
Now that you mention it, that sounds like a plausible explanation. I did notice that there was a lot of hard drive activity whenever I tried to do anything. Unfortunately, I didn't think of checking to see if I had run out of free hard drive space before shutting down. I', running the OS 9 right now, but I just looked at my OS X partition Info, and there is 954 MB free. It's a bit alarming that a gigabyte of free space could have been used up in four days of activity, but I guess it's possible.
Charles
The OS X Odyssey archives may be accessed here: Note: Letters to Moore's Mailbag may or may not be published at the editor's discretion. Correspondents' email addresses will NOT be published unless the correspondent specifically requests publication. Letters may be edited for length and/or context. Opinions expressed in postings to Moore's MailBag are those of the respective correspondents and not necessarily shared or endorsed by the Editor and/or Applelinks management. If you would prefer that your message not appear in Moore's Mailbag, we would still like to hear from you. Just clearly mark your message "NOT FOR PUBLICATION," and it will not be published. CM
Page: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 |
| ||||
|
| ||||||
