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01 January 2002
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Apple
| Review | |
Installation & Documentation |
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On September 25th, at Seybold San Francisco, Apple announced the release of Mac OS X 10.1. This was the 'Big One' - Apple finally admitted that the original May release had not been ready for prime time, and promised that 10.1 was the OS that we were supposed to get first time around. Mac OS X 10.1 is a mammoth system upgrade that not only addresses many of the issues that plagued the original release, not the least of which was overall speed and performance, but adds a slew of new features and improvements. Bring it on ??
Read Me
As with most Macintosh products - and, indeed, with previous Mac OS system upgrades - installation is a simple double-click away. The installer can be run in either Mac OS 9 or Mac OS X, but in both instances you're prompted to restart.
Having booted into the installer, you're then surrounded by the glory of Aqua, the stunning, liquid graphical end of OS X as it prompts you to select your destination disk. Installation was lengthy, taking about 45 minutes on my machine, although there is a selection of foreign language packages, which can be deselected, dramatically speeding the process. I had previously installed Mac OS X 10.0.4 straight over the top of 9, as with a hard drive this small (6 Gb), partitions quickly become a pain to manage. For me this setup doesn't pose any particular problems, although it does make uninstallation slightly tricky and not for the faint of heart.
OS X for newbies
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Take a dip
After installation and reboot, you're back in Aqua - and what a place to be! Once you've had a poke around in OS X you'll never want to go back to the grey, flat world of other operating systems with their tiny icons and grubby fonts. But beauty is more than skin deep. Behind the glitz and glamour of the user interface, Apple has presented a robust OS based on UNIX, the industrial strength system on which most heavyweight computing in the world is based.
The Mac OS X experience is somewhat different to what most users will be used to. Like other UNIX systems, Mac OS X has long directories full of mysterious files and folders, much like Windows, and requires the use of 'user accounts'. User accounts allow different people to log in, each with their own preferences, settings and 'home' folder, much like the Multiple User feature of Mac OS 9. Users can be added or removed from the Users control panel in System Preferences, but one account, which automatically logs in at startup, is probably fine for most people.
Finding it
The Finder is also a different beast these days. While you can have your desktop pretty much the way you are used to, by far the quickest and easier way of getting around is to use the column view, which allows sideways navigation across your folders. Good for finding what you want, but dragging and dropping the way I'm used to required some practice. Gone are spring-loaded folders, which is unfortunate, and fingers crossed it will make a welcome return soon, although there are third party apps that will allow this feature.
The differences between 10.1 and previous versions can be broadly divided into three categories; bug fixes, improvements, and additions.
Squashed!
Most of the annoying bugs or omissions from 10.0.4 appear to have been addressed in 10.1, and for me there are several fixes that are an absolute delight. Users with Apple Pro Keyboards (and some iBooks and PowerBooks) now have functional volume and eject buttons, the former now accompanied by a rather stylish on-screen graphic, while the latter even opens a CD/DVD drawer-loading drive without any media in it, something which is an advantage over 'Classic' Mac OS. Modem sounds have thankfully reappeared, although the Apple Internal Modem script appears to be corrupt, necessitating the selection of a different script in the Network panel of System Preferences. Annoying, but fixable, and I haven't had any trouble using the Apple:GV 56K script instead. Having said that, the menu bar clock is still shows a US-format date, and steadfastly refuses to change to a 24-hour display.
Xtra info
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Put ya foot down
By far the largest criticism of the original Mac OS X release was overall speed, and although the quick succession of updates did something to improve the situation, navigating the Finder or launching applications still felt like swimming in treacle. With 10.1, things are much improved. Navigating windows is back to a usable speed, although still not quite as snappy as in Mac OS 9.2.1, and application launching is satisfyingly fast.
Alas, it's not all good news. Owners of older Macs - myself included - will be rather disappointed that Apple is still not providing support for older ATI graphics cards - including, in my case, the ATI RagePro C. With 6Mb of VRAM it may be puny compared with today's behemoths, but a lack of 2D or 3D graphics acceleration leaves us with no OpenGL, a crippled QuickTime, and even hits use of the Finder and Aqua. It's annoying knowing that you're not getting the best out of your machine or OS X, and fingers crossed Apple is working on a solution as we speak.
Given that these older machines are all listed as OS X compatible by Apple, I'd certainly hope so - it's easy for them to suggest I buy new machine, but not so easy for my bank balance!
Whassup?
So, what's new? Well, heaps actually. From resizeable columns in the Finder to a new logo for the Apple menu, 10.1 is full of little surprises. Most notable amongst the new features are menu extras, little icons that hark back to the control strip and which live next to the menu bar clock, allowing quick access to a number of commonly-accessed controls, including displays, sound, modem connection, battery and airport signal strength. These nifty gadgets are found in /System/Library/CoreServices/Menu Extras, and can be dragged on or off the menu bar as desired. This is a big improvement in my books, and although it adds a tiny bit of clutter, it certainly makes OS X easier and friendlier to use.
Quick Keys New to 10.1 is Full Keyboard Access, which allows full navigation and use of the Finder, including menus and the dock, as well as any application, without use of the mouse. |
Dock
The dock has also been tweaked, with new options allowing repositioning of this launcher/task bar hybrid to the bottom, left or right.
System Preferences have been redesigned, and rather than a large screen of control panels, they've now been neatly divided into four categories: 'Personal', 'Hardware', 'Internet & Network', and 'System', which makes management of your operating system much clearer.
Judgment Day
So, do you switch to Mac OS X, or do you stay with 'Classic' Mac OS?
If you have a new Macintosh, I'd suggest you take the plunge and have a go. It's nice and slick, and boasts features such as preemptive multitasking and memory protection, which means you can do several things at once, and when something goes wrong it won't take the whole system down with it.
If your Mac is compatible, but getting on a bit, then 10.1 is probably worth a look, although the lack of graphics card support makes use somewhat more limited. Either way, it'll take a bit of getting used to, but it's a lot of fun!
Ready?
I don't think everyone can really change to Mac OS X as their primary system yet. Major applications like Photoshop are still not X-ready, although a giant leap forward has been made with Microsoft's new Office suite getting the X make over.
If you're a graphics person, or an audio one, you still need Classic to run those old apps, and some will require you to reboot in OS 9.
And perhaps tellingly, Mac OS 9.2.1 is still the default system on new Apple hardware that ships with both X and 9.2.1 pre-installed. This awkward situation is unlikely to change for some time, and Mac OS X won't really be our new OS until the time comes when we no longer see 'Classic ?? starting up.' appear on our screens.
© Parkside Media 2002
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