Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger Incompatibilities and Workarounds
I won't upgrade before 10.4.1, but even then this is a good list to review. I'm a bit stunned that there still seem to be firewire drive problems.
Monday, May 02, 2005
Troubleshooting Safari: try deleting cookies.plist
PLISTs, caches and permissions cause an unusual number of OS X problems:
MacInTouch Home Page: "After doing an 'Archive and Install' with Tiger I was having a lot of problems visiting various websites with Safari 2.0. I kept getting an error page saying that Safari had 'Lost the network connection' and gave the following error 'NSURLErrorDomain:-1005'. One of the problem websites was in fact www.apple.com.
After a ton of troubleshooting I found the solution to the problem. I had to delete my Cookies.plist. The file is located in ~/Library/Cookies. Once this file was removed all sites could be loaded again."
MacInTouch Home Page: "After doing an 'Archive and Install' with Tiger I was having a lot of problems visiting various websites with Safari 2.0. I kept getting an error page saying that Safari had 'Lost the network connection' and gave the following error 'NSURLErrorDomain:-1005'. One of the problem websites was in fact www.apple.com.
After a ton of troubleshooting I found the solution to the problem. I had to delete my Cookies.plist. The file is located in ~/Library/Cookies. Once this file was removed all sites could be loaded again."
Sunday, May 01, 2005
Photo management using Gallery
Gallery :: your photos on your website
A very impressive and free project. Albums have RSS feeds. Most would want to keep their albums on a local machine and mirror remotely to publish.
A very impressive and free project. Albums have RSS feeds. Most would want to keep their albums on a local machine and mirror remotely to publish.
Saturday, April 30, 2005
RAW data in digital cameras and the fight against standards -- and especially Adobe DNG
RAW storm in a teacup? Dave Coffin interviewed: Digital Photography Review
As in cameras, so in every domain.
The only way this will stop is if people start buying cameras based on their support for Adobe's (public) DNG format. I know it would weigh heavily in any buying decision I would make -- but I'm hardly a typical consumer. (BTW, Adobe is no more noble than the camera vendors, it's just that in this case Adobe's interests are aligned with consumer interests.)
As in cameras, so in every domain.
9. Is there a place for a standard 'Open' RAW format or does that raise too many issues to do with the sharing of proprietary image processing between competitive manufacturers?Camera vendors want to lockin customers to their cameras and their software. If they could do it they would ensure that photographers pay a regular fee to retain access to their images -- forever.
Adobe Digital Negative (DNG) is a great format -- I totally redesigned dcraw for maximum DNG compatibility. But you won't see much enthusiasm from the camera makers. This Joel essay explains why:
http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/StrategyLetterV.html
Photoshop and digital cameras are complements. Adobe wants to commoditize the digital camera, and the camera makers want to stop them.
The only way this will stop is if people start buying cameras based on their support for Adobe's (public) DNG format. I know it would weigh heavily in any buying decision I would make -- but I'm hardly a typical consumer. (BTW, Adobe is no more noble than the camera vendors, it's just that in this case Adobe's interests are aligned with consumer interests.)
Friday, April 29, 2005
Do not update OS X systems to 10.3.9
Apple - Discussions - 10.3.9 problem with multiple users
This is a nasty one. Systems start having login problems - non-admin accounts can't login. On my 10.3.9 system I haven't had this problem, but I've discovered folders in ./Library/ that have a non-admin owner and the admin group has read-only privileges. This doesn't make sense.
Repair permissins doesn't fix the problem. I suspect it has something to do with the 'floating ownership' behavior in OS X -- that may have been broken in 10.3.9.
Based on the desccriptions of this problem in the Apple discussion forums, and the lack of a fix for over a week, I'd recommend NOT updating to 10.3.9 until this is fixed.
This is a nasty one. Systems start having login problems - non-admin accounts can't login. On my 10.3.9 system I haven't had this problem, but I've discovered folders in ./Library/ that have a non-admin owner and the admin group has read-only privileges. This doesn't make sense.
Repair permissins doesn't fix the problem. I suspect it has something to do with the 'floating ownership' behavior in OS X -- that may have been broken in 10.3.9.
Based on the desccriptions of this problem in the Apple discussion forums, and the lack of a fix for over a week, I'd recommend NOT updating to 10.3.9 until this is fixed.
Thursday, April 28, 2005
The ultimate Tiger/Unix/MacOS review and tutorial
Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger : Page 8
I'm a geek, but I am not in this league.
This is extraordinary. It's sort of a review, sort of an OS tutorial, sort of a UNIX tutorial, and basically a display of geek versimilitude. The UNIX file permissions and ACL tutorials are among the best I've seen anywhere, and they're only one "chapter" in this book.
The ACL description makes me think the old problems with repairing permissions may finally go away -- someday. It's not really a part of 10.4.0 standard (server only).
Meanwhile, it looks like there will be some pretty significant speedups with 10.4.1
Take my money Steve, even if you are getting weirder and more manic.
I'm a geek, but I am not in this league.
This is extraordinary. It's sort of a review, sort of an OS tutorial, sort of a UNIX tutorial, and basically a display of geek versimilitude. The UNIX file permissions and ACL tutorials are among the best I've seen anywhere, and they're only one "chapter" in this book.
The ACL description makes me think the old problems with repairing permissions may finally go away -- someday. It's not really a part of 10.4.0 standard (server only).
Meanwhile, it looks like there will be some pretty significant speedups with 10.4.1
There's one final barrier to hardware-accelerated bliss. Quartz 2D Extreme is disabled by default in Mac OS X 10.4.0. That's right, the whiz-bang new technology you just read all about is not actually used in Tiger unless it's explicitly enabled using the Quartz Debug application. Even then, it only applies to applications that are launched after it was turned on. It also appears that Q2DE is re-disabled when you quit the Quartz Debug application.For most of us very happy with Panther, 10.4.1 will be the real Tiger, and this is what our ace reviewer recommends:
Why develop something as impressive as Quartz 2D Extreme and then leave it turned off by default? My inquiries to Apple have gone unanswered, so I can only speculate about the reasoning behind this decision. My best guess is that all of the bugs could not be excised from Q2DE in time for Tiger's launch date, and that it will be enabled by default in a subsequent update—perhaps as early as version 10.4.1.
If you're still running Jaguar or earlier, you really owe it to yourself to upgrade to Tiger. It'll be the best $129 you've ever spent on an operating system. If you're happy with Panther, I strongly recommend going to an Apple store and checking out Tiger in person. Chances are good that there'll be at least one or two features that you'll decide you need, if not right way, then soon. As with any new release, it won't hurt to wait for version 10.4.1 or later.Lastly, as I read about the various advanced functions of the OS that Adobe won't touch (needs to stay cross-platform) I keep thinking "iPhoto Pro", "iPhoto Pro", "iPhoto Pro" ....
Overall, Tiger is impressive. If this is what Apple can do with 18 months of development time instead of 12, I tremble to think what they could do with a full two years—let alone the length of time it took for Mac OS X 10.0 to first ship. The productivity of Apple's Mac OS X development team has increased tremendously since 10.0; they're now firing on all cylinders. While I dearly wish someone would steer them in the direction of the eternally neglected Finder, I can't help but be proud of the little OS team that could.
Mac OS X started its life as the most ambitious consumer operating system ever produced. Apple abandoned its existing, 16-year-old code base for something entirely new. Out of the gate, Mac OS X was a technical curiosity with few applications, and a performance dog. A scant four years later, Tiger is a powerhouse that combines the best Unix has to offer with a feature-rich, user-friendly interface. The increasingly capable bundled applications are just icing on the cake. We've come a long way, baby.
Take my money Steve, even if you are getting weirder and more manic.
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