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Eudora 6.0.1 The latest version of Eudora for OS X contains Panther compatibility tweaks. The most significant ones are listed below. Appearance, which was changed (IMHO not for the better) in the version 6.0 release is unaffected. I've been using Eudora 6.0.1 since Friday, and it feels significantly quicker and more responsive, which is good news, because recent OS X versions have been a tad sluggish. Another new wrinkle is a dialog that appears on the first startup after installing the program asking if you want to make Eudora your default email handler. This was something I have been meaning to get around to but never did. Now I won't have OS X Mail starting up when I occasionally click a Mailto link. Eudora remains my choice as the best all-round email client to have if you're only having one. It's not perfect, but it is thoroughly developed, has an excellent search engine, an incredible depth of features and customization options, and uses standard mbox archive files that can be opened with a text editor if necessary, and which are also incredibly compact and wonderfully flexible compared with other storage modes like the metafile used by Microsoft email applications. I've been using Eudora as my primary email client for seven years, and my accumulated archive of tens of thousands of email messages is still only about 100 MB. Eudora is also multithreaded for convenient multitasking, and is cross=platform compatible (OS X/OS 9/ Windows). A very fine spam filtering feature is built into the $49.95 commercial software version.
New in this version:
System requirements:
Eudora is freeware/adware/$49.95 commercial software (all three options available in the same download).
For more information, visit:
Download
The Panther FireWire 800 Data Loss Bug Apple's special message for Firewire 800 disk drive users reads: Apple has identified an issue with external FireWire hard drives using the Oxford 922 bridge chip-set with firmware version 1.02 that can result in the loss of data stored on the disk drive. Apple is working with Oxford Semiconductor and affected drive manufacturers to resolve this issue which resides in the Oxford 922 chip-set. In the interim, Apple recommends that you do not use these drives. To stop using the drive, you should unmount or eject the disk drive before doing anything else. Please check this web page for further updates.
For more information, visit:
FireWireDirect Oxford 800 Firmware 1.0 Fix Avoids Panther Data Loss Apple Computer has discovered a serious issue with their "Panther" operating system in the operation of FireWire storage products employing the the Oxford 922 FireWire 800 chipset (firmware version 1.02), a problem serious enough that it can result in loss of all data on your FireWire drive. This update is for individuals whose computers are using Macintosh OS X 10.3 (Panther) with Oxford 922 based storage devices such as our Slimline Ultra III 800, Stingray 800 and Spark 800. If your drive was shipped after October 31, you do not need this updater. All drives leaving FirewireDirect after that time will be updated before they are shipped.
For more information, visit:
OWC Mercury Elite FireWire 800 Firmware 1.0 Panther fix for Other World Computing/Oxford Drives The number one question about this issue is "Do I need to update my older FireWire 1394A Oxford 911 and 900 drives to use Mac OS X 10.3 "Panther"?". The answer at this time is NO. Apple Computer, Inc. has only addressed issues pertaining to the Oxford 922 1394B chipset and this article is specifically targeted at drives using that chipset. If more information about possible required updates to older drives becomes available, this page will be updated with that data. After sporadic reports of data loss and corruption with FireWire 800 devices operating with the new Mac OS X 10.3 "Panther" operating system, Apple Computer made an official press release to indicate this problem has been traced to Oxford Semiconductor's 922 Firmware used by nearly all FireWire 800 devices, including the OWC Mercury Elite 800 series. While Oxford Semiconductor and Apple Computer disagree over what has led to this issue (there is absolutely no issue under any circumstance with OS 10.2.8 and earlier), Apple has confirmed that the issue is limited to firmware v1.02 and prior. No OWC Mercury Elite FireWire 800 product has a firmware version lower than v1.02, but it is our recommendation that you follow the enclosed link to our v1.05 firmware update page. There you will find the the instructions and software which will enable you to upgrade your OWC Mercury Elite 800 drive to the latest v1.05 firmware version. Apple Computer, Inc. is working with Oxford Semiconductor to fix this problem within OS X 10.3 Panther in a way that would not require the later Oxford 922 firmware version, but we here at OWC are happy to provide the firmware update information as an immediate and total solution regardless of what Apple and Oxford may do in the future. Please make note that this issue has only affected a small number of customers but we take this issue very seriously and highly recommend that all customers either update their drive's firmware revision. Update your OWC Mercury Elite FireWire 800 drive today to avoid any problems with Mac OS X 10.3 "Panther". The safety of your data is of the utmost concern to us here at Other World Computing.
System requirements:
For more information, visit here. LaCie Silverlining Pro 6.4.8a 10.3 fix for d2/Big Disk Firewire & USB Drives Critical firmware update for d2 and Big Disk FireWire 800 disk drives. Resolve issues with Mac OS X 10.3 (Panther) systems. With the retail release of Mac OS X Version 10.3 Panther, LaCie has learned that a compatibility issue exists with FireWire 800 drives and Apple's new operating system release. We believe this problem affects all manufacturers of FireWire 800 drives. LaCie has been actively investigating these reports to identify the cause of the problems, and to provide our customers with a solution. Products Affected: At this time, we have not isolated any issues with other LaCie FireWire products with their use of Mac OS X Panther. LaCie FireWire 400 products are not affected by this issue and require no special handling.
LaCie products that may be affected:
These drives can be identified by looking at the rear panel of the hard drive. There are two FireWire 800 9-pin connectors, and 1 USB 2.0 connector. (See illustration)
Solutions:
1. Immediately unmount and disconnect your FireWire drives from your Macintosh computer before installing Mac OS X Version 10.3 Panther, before shutting down your system. 2. Go to http://www.lacie.com/support/drivers and follow the instructions for updating your FireWire 800 drive. An updater is available immediately for users with access to Macintosh computers that can boot Mac OS 9. LaCie plans to release a Mac OS X compatible updater as soon as possible.
For further information on this problem, go to:
Also, updated firmware for d2 FireWire 400 drives. New firmware improves performance. Updates Big Disk FireWire 400 (Oxford 911) and Big Disk FireWire 800 (Oxford 922) to latest firmware. Requires Windows 98SE, ME, 2000 and XP with OHCI FireWire port.
For more information, visit:
Jaguar Vs Panther Advice on upgrade to Jaguar Font fuzziness Font Book woes From dxtr
Hi Charles,
Thought you would be interested in this. Looks like olé two mouse Charles will be back soon...
seeya
Hi dxtr;
Am I interested? Hallelujah! No this is something that will light a fire under me getting upgraded to Panther.
Thanks for the heads-up.
Charles
From Richard Dalziel-Sharpe Hello Charles,
Greetings from Australia, and thanks for your always interesting saga. I have had Panther (OSX10.3) up and running for a week now and the improvement in stability and speed over previous incarnations of OSX has to be experienced to be believed. There are many small changes all over the interface and they are all improvements over Jaguar.
I do, however, share your reticence re the intervening OS10.2.8 update. I had the misfortune to download the first version of this and had a couple of nasty crashes requiring some hard shutdowns, but luckily did not suffer any data loss. I found that 10.2.6 was very slow on both our machines though and Panther is really like throwing off the shackles. Wait, if you are really cautious, for the first bug fix. But then go for it, I think you will appreciate the changes, almost as you have from dear old OS9.
Kind regards,
Hi Richard;
Thanks for the report. I'm convinced. Just have to work out the logistics.
Charles
From Sumeth Chaochuti Dear Charles, As laughable as this may sound, with all the buzz about Panther, I’m planning on upgrading to 10.2 ;) You said you have found 10.2.6 quite satisfactory; and if it’s good enough for you then I’m sure it’s good enough for me. When I bought my iBook 600 MHz, it came with 10.1.4 CDs which I have later updated to 10.1.5. When my daughter went back to UCLA grad school last fall, I told her to buy a new iBook as a backup for her original iMac. I had also asked her to wait till Jaguar came out and she finally bought the 700 MHz iBook with Jag installed. Upon my advice, as her personal technical support, she switched back to using 9.2.2 so that I can troubleshoot any problem which may arise. I myself use 9.2.2 because, as a writer, I need the Thai Language Kit which provide better support for Thai language than 10.1.5. On the other hand I saw a demo on using Thai script with Jaguar which supports other language much better than earlier version of X, and think I may find it acceptable. My daughter is coming home this Christmas at which time I plan to make our books a clone to one another. I intend to have a partition of 5 GB for 9.2.2 just so I can keep all the OS9 stuffs on it. The remaining HD space would be left for 10.2 as I have learned from your excellent Odyssey that it requires a lot of space in which to work. Since it would be difficult for me to go back to reading all your articles in the Odyssey series, would you be kind enough to give me brief advice as to what steps should be taken prior to, or during the upgrade, besides the one that are provided by Apple. I seem to remember something like repairing permission and that kind of stuffs. Can I use my daughter’s (iBook 700 MHz/Jaguar) Restore CDs on my 600 MHz iBook and then upgrade up to 10.2.8? Actually I was planning to upgrade straight through Panther, bypassing Jaguar altogether, and also to buy David Pogue’s The Missing Manual Panther Edition as my reference which is scheduled to be published by December. And I’m wondering whether I should just stick with the plan, or simply play around with the free Jaguar for a while till Panther has been rid of some of the bugs. So it’s a $69 question as my daughter could get me a copy of Panther now for that much money as opposed to paying nothing if I just stop at Jaguar. Your advice would be greatly appreciated.
Sincerely yours,
Hi Sumeth;
I'm not laughing. After all, I spend several hours every day in OS 8.6 on my PowerBook 1400.
However... while I'm currently very happy with how well OS 10.2.6 is performing on my laptops, I do fully intend to upgrade to Panther in the near future. The reported speed gains alone on these G3 machines are enticing, let alone the 150+ other new features.
As for upgrade strategies, I've successfully upgraded the OS X system on my Pismo PowerBook all the way from OS 10.0 to 10.2.6 (I skipped a few versions) without doing a clean reinstall, and with no notable problems. I do recommend running system maintenance routines on a regular basis, and certaily before upgrading the system. There are a gaggle of utilities that automate those chores for you. My current fave is OnyX, which is freeware, and available here:
As for using your daughter's iBook 700 system restore disk in your iBook 600, I can;t say whether it will work, but the disk from my 700 MHz iBook won't mount in my Pismo (I tried using it to run Disk Utility), and I'm somewhat doubtful.
My advice would be to skip Jaguar and go directly to Panther, since your daughter can get the education discount price. Presumably, OS X's language handling capabilities will be even further refined in 10.3.
Charles Panther Install From David Johnson Charles After reading the weekend edition of MacsOnly, I think I figured out what went wrong with my laptop install I wrote about last week. I neglected to uninstall the pref panes before installing Panther. On the desktop machine, I removed most of those and all the login items before installing but didn't with the laptop. Got in a hurry. David
Hi David;
"The hurrier I go, the behinder I get?"
Thanks for the update.
Charles
From Jay Scheuerle Hi Charles, Chris Ellens (and others) may want to know that OSX uses a different font-smoothing scheme than OS9 did. OS9 used Quickdraw and "hints" to increase fonts readability at the expense of typographic accuracy. OSX attempts to remain true to the fonts letterform shapes regardless of the size, which often leads to fuzziness at smaller sizes, as though a page has been scanned in. Some like. Some don't. - j
Font Book woesFrom Chris Long My Apple FONT BOOK application story: I added 1/2 dozen fonts to the base font set installed by Panther. I turned a few on and off. that's about it. Some hours later, out of the blue, my apps were crashing left and right. I checked my computer > library > fonts folder and discovered that most of my base fonts were gone. (!) -- a quick search revealed that these fonts were no longer on my Mac. Long story short: nothing short of a complete OS reinstall fixed the problem. My advice: don't EVER, EVER under any circumstances whatsoever even OPEN the Font Book application. Personally I'm waiting for the next major release of same before I even LOOK at it again. It's not ready for use, in my opinion. That's it.
Chris
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
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