9571 One aspect about the imminent Leopard upgrade that has blindsided me a bit is that I've just, somewhat belatedly I guess, discovered that there will be no Classic Mode runtime environment support in Mac OS 10.5. I suppose it had to end sometime, but I wasn't expecting the coup de grace quite so soon.

Of course, Classic support has been passé for nearly two years now for users of Intel-based Macs under Tiger, but one of the reasons I chose 21 months ago to stick with a PowerPC machine through one more system upgrade cycle rather than upgrading early to MacIntel was Classic Mode support, and I had assumed that Classic Mode would continue to be supported in OS X for as long as the PowerPC processor is. Never assume.

This revelation is a significant disappointment, and creates a real dilemma for me in the context of upgrading to Leopard. There are still a couple of Classic applications that I depend on as production tools, one being the superb little text-only Web browser WannaBe, for which there is no all OS X native substitute or alternative that comes even close to being satisfactory, There are some OS X text browsers, but I find them just to geeky and un-versatile compared with WannaBe. The other is Microsoft Word 5.1, which I originally bought back in 1993, and still use for accessing the hundreds of archived files I have in Word 5.1 format.

Aside from those apps., I've pretty much left Classic behind, although I find it no hardship and sometimes a major convenience to be able to fire up other Classic applications.

For me, WannaBe support latter is less critical. As regular readers no doubt have had more than enough of me complaining about, I live in a broadband access dead zone, and a fast, lightweight, pure text browser is a life saver and survival tool for someone like myself that has to do a lot of online research over a dial-up connection.

Turning off the images a regular browser isn't nearly as satisfactory and I find that page load times even with the the pictures disabled takes two or three or four times as long as with WannaBe.

The word processor issue is more tractable I can open Word 5.1 documents using Tex Edit Plus, albeit without formatting or inline graphics supported. Yes, I know that Word 2004 can open Word 5.1 documents, but Microsoft is not getting my money, and the word processors I do use, Pages and Papyrus, while they open and save more recent Word documents, don't read the ancient Word 5.1 format.

Being as I really want to upgrade to Leopard sooner rather than later, I guess I am going to have to alter my work habits, probably depending more heavily on my two G4 upgraded Pismo PowerBooks, which I intend to continue using Tiger on even if it turns out to be possible to hack a Leopard install.

While I'm at it, Leopard's iChat system requirements may also prove daunting hardware-wise. A new Apple Knowledge Base article notes:

• For any audio-only chats, you'll need an iSight or any microphone.
• For any video conferencing, you'll need a microphone and a camera. What kind of camera? An iSight, FireWire webcam, Digital Video (DV) camcorder with FireWire, or USB Video Class (UVC) webcam.

Minimum requirements for audio conferencing

1-to-1 Audio Chat 10-Person audio conference

To Initiate System required All Leopard-compatible Macs are supported 1 GHz G4, dual 800 MHz G4, any G5, any Intel

[This is a bit confusing, as the press release this week said Leopard would essentially support all Macs of 867 MHz or faster, with a few qualifications for some functions with sub-1.6 GHz G4s. So are the dual-processor 800 MHz machines an exception, and what;s this about 1 GHz G4s?]

Bandwidth required 56 Kbps Internet connection (up/down) 128 Kbps Internet connection (up/down)

To Participate

System required: All Leopard-compatible Macs are supported All Leopard-compatible Macs are supported

Bandwidth required 56 Kbps dial-up connection 56 Kbps dial-up connection

Minimum requirements for 1-to-1 video conferencing

Good Better Best
Video resolution (in pixels) 160-by-120 320-by-240 640-by-480

System required: All Leopard-compatible Macs are supported 1.8 GHz G5, 1.66 GHz Intel Core Duo 1.83 Intel Core Duo or Dual 2 GHz G5.

Bandwidth required 100 Kbps Internet connection (up/down) 300 Kbps Internet connection (up/down) 900 Kbps Internet connection (up/down)

Minimum requirements for 4-way video conferencing

Good Better Best

Video resolution (in pixels) 80-by-60 160-by-120 320-by-240

To initiate System required: Dual 1 GHz G4, any G5, any Intel Dual 1 GHz G4, 1.8 GHz G5, 1.66 GHz Intel Core Duo Dual 2 GHz G5, 1.83 GHz Intel Core Duo

Bandwidth required 384 Kbps Internet connection (up/down) 600 Kbps Internet connection (up/down) 1800 Kbps Internet connection (up/down)

To participate System required: 1 GHz G4, dual 800 MHz G4, any G5, or any Intel 1 GHz G4, dual 800 MHz G4, any G5, 1.66 GHz Intel Core Duo Any G5, 1.83 GHz Intel Core Duo

Bandwidth required 100 Kbps connection 200 Kbps connection 300 Kbps Internet connection

Minimum requirements for Photobooth Effects

• Intel Core Duo processor or faster.
• At least 128 Kbps upstream and downstream bandwidth.

Minimum requirements for Backdrop Effects

• Intel Core Duo processor or faster.
• iSight camera, external USB Video Class (UVC) camera, or Firewire DV camcorder with fixed focus, exposure and white balance.
• At least 128 Kbps upstream and downstream bandwidth.

Minimum requirements for Screen Sharing

• All Macs that support Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard.
• At least 128 Kbps upstream and downstream bandwidth. At least 300 Kbps is recommended.

Minimum requirements for AV Recording

• All Macs that support Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard. Resolution and frame rate may vary based on the computer.
• At least 128 Kbps upstream and downstream bandwidth.

Minimum requirements for iChat Theater

Side-by-side view is available on all Leopard-compatible Macs capable of participating in a multiway video conference.

Side-by-side Replacement Mode

Sender System required:Dual 1 GHz G4, any G5, any Intel All Leopard-compatible Macs are supported

Bandwidth required 384Kbps up/down, 900Kbps up to send 640x480 resolution Keynote files 128Kbps up/down, 900Kbps down to receive 640x480 resolution Keynote files

Receiver System required: 1 GHz G4, dual 800 MHz G4, any G5, or any Intel All Leopard-compatible Macs are supported

Bandwidth required 128Kbps up/down 128Kbps up/down

For more information, visit:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=306687


Charles W. Moore

Login   or   Register    

Name:

Email:

Location:

URL:

Smileys

Remember my personal information

Notify me of follow-up comments?

Submit the word you see below: