October 24, 2007
You’ve got questions? We’ve got Leopard.
Posted Oct. 24, ’07, 9:25 PM PT by Dan Moren
Category | Software
By now, it all seems old hat, right? The 3D dock; Stacks; Time Machine; Spaces—we know everything there is to know about Leopard, right? Perhaps, but part of the joy of a new OS is finding out what’s flown under the radar. So allow us to be your sherpas upon this spiritual journey, your gurus upon the path to OS X enlighten—you know what? Never mind.
See, we’ve got the final version of 10.5 installed in the MacUser HQ and we’ve been eyeing it like a starving man eyes a steak dinner. So here’s the question for you, dear readers: what do you want to know? You’ve no doubt perused the extensive list of Leopard’s myriad new features, even listened raptly as our overlords at Macworld picked their favorite new additions. But what do you want to know about the latest version of OS X?
Post your questions in the comments below and we’ll do our best to answer them. Here’s a freebie: Yes, the translucent menubar is irritating. But we’ve got some suggestions for dealing with that coming your way a little later. Fire away!
[Answers after the jump]
MTigerV: I did a clean install on my OS X partition, and my Boot Camp partition is still present and accounted for. -DM
Paul: It appears to just zoom in and get bitmappy, like Tiger. No sign of resolution independence there as far as I can tell. -DM
Marcelo: My first impression is that it’s snappier than Tiger. Now, I did a clean install, so that might just be removing some of the cruft from the system, but I’ve found everything pleasantly responsive on my Dual 2GHz MacBook. Even resizing Finder windows! And apps seem to launch pretty speedy too. I’ll have more first thoughts in a little while. -DM
Kyle: I did a clean install on my MacBook’s OS X partition, so I can’t speak to the upgrade process, but anecdotally I’ve heard that it’s smooth as well. In both cases, you may have to contend with apps having minor issues (of which more to come). My installation went smoothly, although migrating some of my data (which I did manually, because Derik scared me :P) had a few bumps. -DM
Cmillis: I only have Office v.X, but I installed it, the latest update, and ran it. I played with a few things and it all seemed to respond as expected. So, quick answer, it looks like it works. -DD
William Gates: It’s running absolutely fabulous on my 12” Powerbook G4 (1.33 GHz). -DD
Phalkone and Vincent: Running java -version yields:
java version “1.5.0_13”
Java(TM) 2 Runtime Environment, Standard Edition (build 1.5.0_13-b05-237)
Java HotSpot(TM) Client VM (build 1.5.0_13-119, mixed mode, sharing)
So it looks like no 1.6. -DD
HP: SuperDuper’s developer said it wasn’t compatible already. As for Parallels, I haven’t tried it yet, but VMware’s Fusion worked just fine. -DD
Maccast: I don’t have Time Machine up and running yet, and we don’t have an AirPort Extreme available to test with, unfortunately :(. Update: Mr. Frakes at the mothership informs me that it does not. -DM
Michael Winterholler: I don’t have a copy of CS3 to test wtih. -DM
Ward: While I don’t have Time Machine up and running, my understanding is that it sort of takes over the drive. My suggestion would be to use a partition, which is what I’m planning on doing. I’ve partitioned a 400GB drive and use one half for my desktop’s Super Duper clone, and planning on using the second half for my MacBook’s Time Machine backup (currently it’s storing the old Tiger clone I made before updating). -DM
jonathansmith68: As I said, I don’t have a copy of CS3 to test with. As far as third-party apps, I’ll be posting some first thoughts later in the day. The upshot is that most of them seem to work fine, with the occasional glitchiness you’d expect. Some add-ons (Input Managers, for example) seem to work better than others. I’ll elaborate on that later. -DM
Anonymous: As Wes, says, the Apple page on Time Machine says that this should be possible. -DM
SharedThought: Haven’t had a chance to get Back to my Mac running yet, as I’ve only got one machine running Leopard. -DM
kirbyrun: Sorry, I don’t see any option for that in Mail. -DM
GP: Unfortunately, we don’t have those test systems. I can tell you a Core Duo 2GHZ MacBook with 2GB of RAM seems pretty good. And Derik’s got it installed on a PowerBook G4 and Mac Pro, and I think it’s working well for him too. -DM
Darren: I don’t have Time Machine set up yet, but this is something I will definitely investigate. I’m in the same boat of having my MacBook be my primary computer. According to Apple’s site, Time Machine will keep track of which files it needs to back up when you next connect your external drive. But we’ll give this a more thorough look. -DM
KPE: Of the input managers I’ve installed, I got SafariStand to work mostly (it clearly has some glitches). SafariSIA didn’t work at all. I’ll try a few others and get back to you. Update: PithHelmet won’t install.; Update 2: I installed Saft, but no dice. My guess seems to be that Input Managers which insert their own pane into an app’s preferences don’t seem to show up and that SafariStand works because it inserts a menu into the menu bar. Will investigate further. -DM
Joel: Quicksilver seems to work fine. I loaded up iSync, but I have no synchronized devices. .Mac has all been offloaded into its own preference pane, and my iPhone is handled through iTunes. But iSync is still there, so there’s that. I don’t have Photoshop CS2 to test, and I haven’t tried mySQL on it, though I would guess that it will probably install. -DM
Michael Mistretta: As above, we don’t have an AirPort Extreme to test on. I will check with some of our Macworld colleagues to see if they have any dirt on it. Update: Mr. Frakes at the mothership informs me that it does not. -DM
Andrew: I clean-installed both iLife and iWork with no problems. Just make sure you write down your iWork serial number somewhere, and you can just re-enter it. For both iTunes and iPhoto, I had to copy over my libraries, but Migration Assistant will probably handle this smoothly as well. -DM
CR: A trip to the Bluetooth pref pane and a search of the Help yields no mention of AD2P. I’ve got a pair of Bluetooth earphones, however, and will attempt to test them out later. -DM
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Does Microsoft Office work?
Will I be able to upgrade without damaging my bootcamp install?
So what method did you guys end up using for the install? I became a Mac user during Tiger's reign and thus haven't done the move up to a new OS... I'd like to just have Leopard perform an upgrade, (having backed up my system before hand, for safety). I'm not sure on the details of the archive and install or other options, and would feel most comfortable that way. Should it go smoothly?
When zooming on the screen (eg. CTRL-Mouse Wheel) does the display show resolution independence or is it the same as Tiger?
Thanks
Paul
Is it slowest than Tiger? Same? Whats your first impression about perfomance? Thanks!
Does TimeMachine work with AirDisk? Does it work with other NAS solutions? Does it work with a shared disk connected to a Mac or PC on the local network?
How does it perform on a Powerbook G4?
Does CS3 run/work??
When you pick a drive for Time Machine, does it take over that entire drive, or can you restrict it to a directory on that drive? I.e. can I use the drive to store other files without interfering with Time Machine and without Time Machine interfering with the other files?
does adobe cs3 work? did you have any problems with any 3rd party apps at all?
I'm just wondering if you can sync' 2 machines running Leopard( macbook and iMac-Intel) to share Time Machine on one external drive???
Which of the popular applications won't work unter Leopard?
E.g. what about Superduper, Parallels, ...?
Does it include Java 1.6?
The real deal is on the way to Oz.
Dear Apple Customer,
We are pleased to inform you that we have shipped your Leopard OS order and delivery is expected on Oct 26.
Delivery to locations outside metropolitan areas and major regional centres will require an additional 2 working days.
Thank you for choosing Apple!
Sincerely,
Apple Store Customer Support
Can you tell me what's the result of the
java -version
command in the terminal.
thanks a lot.
Vincent
What format is the data stored on a Time Machine disk - i.e. can I look at the files that have been archived on the drive itself without using the Time Machine application itself? If you can view individual files and directories, does this still apply if your home directory has been encrypted using File Vault?
Basically, I'm trying to see if the Time Machine backups are less secure than your local disk, particularly if you were using encryption.
Anyway Time Machine works over the Airport Disk in the Airport Extreme? That would rock!
I plan on doing a clean install like you:
i have ilife 07 (disc that came with computer) and iwork 08 (retail disc). is it better to clean install these, or should i migrate the programs over? As for iwork, do i have to do something kooky with the licence key (deauthorize/reauthorize)?
Is there a way to use the Back to My Macs feature with someone elses mac? To help my mom troubleshoot...for instance? Would I need to use iChat for that?
When I ran a beta build a few months back (which was an upgrade... not fresh install). Photoshop CS2 was barely useable. Could not get an `open` dialog box. Any problems with the gold master?
Also, has anyone gotten MYSQL 5 running on Leopard?
OH! QUICKSILVER! (fingers crossed)
And is ISYNC any better?
Does Back to my Mac allow a remote client to access the external drives of the host?
@anonymous
It's in the Time Machine description on the apple website. Yes, you can sync two or more Macs to a single drive.
whoops... I should let you guys answer the questions :P
The one things I've been waiting for...
Does Mail.app FINALLY let you queue messages instead of sending them right away? Believe it or not, this is the ONLY issue that is keeping me from switching to Mail...
Does it slow down you power book with 512RAM? How About a intel mac mini with 1gb RAM? HOW much ram do you really need to not see any slowing of your system?
Does Time Machine have an option to set backup times? I use a PowerBook and don't want to be tied to the external HD every hour.
What about input managers for Safari? Like Saft, PithHelmet, SafariPlus? Do they still work?
Are there any programs that should be uninstalled before doing an upgrade? I've heard that Little Snitch has to be uninstalled, any others?
Does Classic still work on PowerPC Macs running Leopard or has Apple killed it across the board?
Is Airport on the MB/MBP any more reliable with 3rd-party routers than it is with Tiger?
That's the only compelling reason for me to upgrade, as Tiger more than meets my needs in every other respect.
Does it support Bluetooth A2DP, as rumored?
Do the top left and right corners still have a curve? If so, is it the same size curve?
@Carl Byers: The curve, alas is dead. The top corners of the screen on both side are now square. It's the end of an era.
What about resolution independence?
I am a future switcher and every time I go from a 90dpi monitor to the laptop's 120+ dpi screen I have to change font sizes to not get an eyesore (I generally need at least 10pt). This is annoying because 1. its a chore 2. fonts in windows scale horribly - even the latest cleartype fonts (try Consolas 9pt then 10pt then 11pt)
I've seen no indication of resolution independence so far. Apple's feature page doesn't list it either. Not sure if it's just an under-the-hood thing that they don't expect end users to be interested in, or if it was removed.
Can I asign a custom to icon to a folder on a NAS device? Currently I can only do this to local folders.