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Computer related questions => Mac computer questions, tips and how to's => Topic started by: happypaddler on September 04, 2009, 06:36:16 PM

Title: Snow Leopard
Post by: happypaddler on September 04, 2009, 06:36:16 PM
Have any other mac users upgraded? I took the plunge and installed it last saturday. So far only 2 issues - MacSpeech Dictate will not run (they say they are working on an update - which can not come quick enough for me as its possibly my most used and most useful every day software). The other is Glims (Safari plug in) which also needs an update. I opened CS2 and it seems to work - though I've not really used it - just opened a couple of photos to see if they opened, they did.

The new quicktime is pretty good - though why the need to trim within it when new mac's have this in iMovie? I seem to have a lot more options within my printer driver - which is really good. Most changes seem to be "under the hood" so to speak - once I get the updates to MacSpeech I'll be much happier!
Title: Re: Snow Leopard
Post by: anglefire on September 04, 2009, 09:15:24 PM
I was thinking about getting the upgrade - its £25 I think. Is it worth it?

FWIW I have none of the programs you mentioned, only Office (I got it via work and one of the MS offers - was about £16)
Title: Re: Snow Leopard
Post by: happypaddler on September 05, 2009, 03:06:33 PM
Hmm, from what I have read Apple have spent a lot of time sorting out various security bits and bobs within this update. Some Microsoft peeps have argued that its really a service pack update and should have been free - perhaps they have a small point? There are a few differences to the UI which make it a bit more easy to use. A couple of eg's which I thought were just for show - but I seem to be using them a lot, are the new methods of viewing docs & movies without opening them up. On Leopard you can click space bar and you get a good look at the doc/movie. However now you can make the thumb nails a bit bigger and play movies/flick through pages of docs right there in the finder window - so if you know a specific layout of a file (often in my case a journal article/statute/case law report) you can find the one you want without having to mess around (or alternatively just be more organised than I can sometimes be :legit:).

A not so well known fact is that many machines will not run at 64 bit unless you hold down 6 & 4 when booting up the machine. Though Apple say even if you do not, when you use a 64 bit software it will work. This is an area of behind the scenes which I think will become useful as more 64 bit software progs become available. Snow Leopard provides developers with the tools to code properly.

One of the biggest things for me is that Mail can now do MS Exchange and I have been able to fully remove all traces of Entourage (Outlook) from both my macs.  The other is the new voice over changes that they have made - when my MacSpeech update arrives I expect it to be even better as it should take advantage of these new improvements.

If you use movie editing software such as final cut I have herd that the new quicktime is an issue at present. I herd a colleague tell me that there is a list of incompatible software on the web somewhere - I've not had a look to find it as I only (so far) have 2 issues and both companies have said they are working on upgrades. If you are going to do it, I'd seek that list out first and check compatibility with all of your software.

So is it worth upgrading - in all honesty its a yes and no answer. If you have compatibility issues, wait until upgrades for those problem softwares are available. If you want to feel a bit safer (I never felt vulnerable before) that your mac is secure then yes its worth the money. If your thinking of upgrading to the new iLife and iWork at somepoint perhaps worth waiting until the new box set is out.

Edit: Forgot to mention the vastly improved expose function...

Title: Re: Snow Leopard
Post by: anglefire on September 05, 2009, 04:17:33 PM
As I say, I've only really got Office on it, but I was in the Apple store in Solihull today and bought it anyway!

I'll do a time machine I think before I start - though not sure if that will help! I've got a spare 120Gb EHD to use.
Title: Re: Snow Leopard
Post by: happypaddler on September 05, 2009, 07:29:09 PM
I hope that the installation process and after-effects go well. Actually you should find that if you compare your HDD space before and after installation you will have been given back some disk space following the installation. Also Time Machine seems to be quicker within snow leopard at backups. I have as yet, not had any issues with Microsoft Office. I have even this evening, managed to get my MacSpeech dictate software working (I went into the .plist file and changed its maximum OS from 10.5 to  10.6, not everything but most of the software is now working).

Enjoy!
Title: Re: Snow Leopard
Post by: picsfor on September 06, 2009, 10:51:52 AM
Quote from: happypaddler on September 05, 2009, 07:29:09 PM
Also Time Machine seems to be quicker within snow leopard at backups.

Can't be any quicker than with an EHD connected via Firewire 800 surely? Mine already appears to update "on the fly" as i'm typing!

Should it be free or should we pay? Microsoft arguments about paying have never washed with me - given their take on how to generate revenue.
If it has added functionality then it's an upgrade and it's payable. If it only fixes problems for which some increased functionality occurs as a side effect then it should be free.

The 64bit argument doesn't do anything as my iMac (if i've read correctly) is a 32bit machine so wouldn't gain by having access to 64bit code.
Are there any iMacs out there that are capable of benefiting from 64bit?

But thanks for raising the issue. Would be interested to see how Mark gets on with his upgrade.
Title: Re: Snow Leopard
Post by: anglefire on September 06, 2009, 01:26:13 PM
Well, whenever I've upgraded the os on a PC, the only real way was to format C: and start again.

I did do a time machine before I started, but after that, it just was 1 click on the app and it did it. I heard a couple of reboots, then finally a short video played once complete.

Impressive actually!
Title: Re: Snow Leopard
Post by: picsfor on September 06, 2009, 03:43:09 PM
So, that's the upgrade done without the usual Microsoft challenge - not to see how the Mac is performing after the event.

My local shop is closed today but will be in there tomorrow!
Title: Re: Snow Leopard
Post by: Jonathan on September 07, 2009, 07:44:36 AM
Yeah - let me know how you get on....

SL won't run on the gallery machine so I'd need to upgrade the MacPro first.  And that scares me a little.

I don't see any killer features so I'll let you guys go first for a bit.
Title: Re: Snow Leopard
Post by: anglefire on September 07, 2009, 08:24:22 PM
The only problem I've had so far - was that the screensaver didn't work and had to be upgraded! Well that took a long time! Not!

I don't use it for photoshop or anything else, so I'm not expecting any major problems. And as I am still very new in the MAC world, I don't know the short cuts to half the things that the old OS did let alone the new ones!
Title: Re: Snow Leopard
Post by: happypaddler on September 08, 2009, 12:01:56 AM
Friends of mine from across the pond have just pointed me towards a "Lab Rats" episode looking at Snow Leopard. Apparently the, rotund chap is a huge windows nut with a number of books out explaining how to do various MS stuff. The thin chap is his polar opposite and a mac man. It's quite a good outline of Snow Leopard with a few criticisms along the way (and a few of the useful things I've found and use not mentioned). I downloaded in on iTunes, but it can also be found at: http://labrats.tv

Title: Re: Snow Leopard
Post by: picsfor on September 08, 2009, 10:07:25 AM
What a nice little video. Like the QT X with the feature that allows you to record how to do something on your screen.
The wife likes the ability to re-size thumbnails on the fly as her vision is somewhat suspect at times.
It will make a whole difference to the "how to" questions- no explanation needed anymore - just a quick QT video clip recorded whilst it was being done and voila!

Haven't installed mine yet as i spent yesterday helping the wife's friend with her computer problems. (no internet, one of the laptops not working and no manuals or anything).

Now i'm off for a few days to explore Dorset and hopefully Lulworth Cove.
So - back to Windoze on my laptop and dongle for a few days.

It will probably get installed with a vengeance at the weekend!
Title: Re: Snow Leopard
Post by: picsfor on September 13, 2009, 08:05:43 PM
well, i finally got round to installing it.

Pretty much as Mark said it would be. Insert DVD, click yes in a couple of places and go thrash Mr Nadal on Grand Slam Tennis on the Wii.

Yep - he was well and truly thrashed by the time it had completed. As of this time i have tried almost all of my software without any issue, though in fairness my software comprises CS4, LR2, Office 2008, Notebook 3 and 2 other minor pieces of software. Those 2 i haven't tested yet -but all that i have mentioned have worked with out effort including scanner and 2 printers. As my wife is of Kowloon decent i have found an excuse to install the improved chinese language interface - but i doubt she'll use it  :)

Now to wait and see what the fuss was all about and if it was worth paying for!
Title: Re: Snow Leopard
Post by: pocketwitch on September 19, 2009, 09:51:05 AM
I pre-ordered mine from The Apple Store so had it as soon as it came out.  Didn't do a Time Machine, just stuck the disc in and off it went.  The only thing that's been disabled is the growl notification in Mail, and Firefox doesn't seem to like it much, having said that I tend to use Safari mostly.

I did notice yesterday tho, that when I was about to install the software that came with my new camera, Nikon's website reckon they're not guaranteeing it'll work with Snow Leopard just yet.  For this reason only I've installed it on my Windows laptop for now!

Pocketwitch
Title: Re: Snow Leopard
Post by: GBOBM on October 03, 2009, 10:09:37 AM
I've only really got a few issues with snow leopard so far.

1.  It won't shut down, and because of this I have to crash it and it takes an age to startup.
2.  Occasionally when cropping images in Aperture, you get a fuzzy corrupt image.  You can just recrop and it appears fine again, but should really be sorted.

Have held off installing it on my macbook until I can get these issues sorted on my imac
Title: Re: Snow Leopard
Post by: happypaddler on October 05, 2009, 10:33:02 AM
It won't shut down. That surprises me - I have it on 2 machines and its also on my parents and my sisters - they all sleep and shut down when requested. Without trying to teach you to suck eggs - you may already have done both of these, but...  Have you tried resetting - Shut down the computer. Before turning it back on hold down Command, Option, P, and R. You will need to hold these keys down simultaneously as you turn on the computer, keeping hold of them, the screen will go grey, keep them pressed down until it reboots and you have herd the second start up chime, once you have herd this let go of the keys. Let it boot up properly and see if it works. Also try repairing the disk permissions - Finder, Applications, Utilities, Disk Utility, then verify the disk and then repair the permissions.
Title: Re: Snow Leopard
Post by: Mick on October 14, 2009, 10:15:18 PM
Snow Leopard bug deletes all user data  :doh:   You Mac guy's might already have seen this.  :legit:

"Several posts on the Apple Support forums (1, 2) dating back to 12 September indicate that some users have been losing all their data due to a nasty bug in Snow Leopard, a.k.a. Mac OS 10.6.

On Saturday iTWire reported on the bug which rears its head when a user logs into their Mac's Guest account and then tries to log back into their regular account."

Read more here, http://blogs.zdnet.com/Apple/?p=5006&tag=nl.e550
Title: Re: Snow Leopard
Post by: Jonathan on October 15, 2009, 07:57:39 AM
Worrying stuff.

In their rush to blow the whistle on this I can't help noticing that ZDNet missed 4 important points.

1. The bug is incredibly rare.  Millions of Snow Leopard installs and dozens of people have found this.  It certainly doesn't happen every time you log into a guest account.  It's roughly at the level of "your iPhone could spontaneously explode".  Without the other points in this list it's just an alarmist story.  ZDNet used to be better than that.

2. It is NOT confined to Snow Leopard.  (This was pointed out to them by a reader after their article).  There have been very very rare reports of this for 2 years.  Which means that the implication in the ZD article that you're safe if you didn't upgrade is just wrong.

3. There's a fix on the way.  Until then the sensible advice (repeated just about everywhere but not mentioned by Ziff) is do not use guest accounts.  Most home users probably don't do that anyway (though arguably they should).  Rather than ZD's implied advice "don't use Snow Leopard".  Which is foolish and wrong.

4. You're running Time Machine, right?  Because that downgrades this bug from an "OMG my life is over fubar" to a 10 minute inconvenience.  CNET's "technique" for magically recovering the data starts "go into Time Machine".  If you're running a Mac on an OS that supports it then turn on Time Machine now.  If you're on an OS that doesn't support it then upgrade now ;)
Title: Re: Snow Leopard
Post by: Mick on October 15, 2009, 09:37:51 AM
Quote from: Jonathan on October 15, 2009, 07:57:39 AM

Worrying stuff.


That's what I thought.  Though I didn't post this to worry anyone, but to make sure they back everything up throughly just in case you were one of the unfortunate users affected by this bug.  It says you can't recover the files, and I'd hate to see someone loose all their stuff.  :(
Title: Re: Snow Leopard
Post by: Jonathan on October 15, 2009, 09:51:42 AM
Quote from: admin on October 15, 2009, 09:37:51 AM
Quote from: Jonathan on October 15, 2009, 07:57:39 AM

Worrying stuff.


That's what I thought.  Though I didn't post this to worry anyone, but to make sure they back everything up throughly just in case you were one of the unfortunate users affected by this bug.  It says you can't recover the files, and I'd hate to see someone loose all their stuff.  :(

Yeah it would be pretty bad to get hit by it.  I'm kind of saddened by ZD's new standards in journalism though.  They used to be better than that.
Title: Re: Snow Leopard
Post by: hevans on October 15, 2009, 10:50:01 AM
Quote from: Jonathan on October 15, 2009, 09:51:42 AM
Yeah it would be pretty bad to get hit by it.  I'm kind of saddened by ZD's new standards in journalism though.  They used to be better than that.

To be honest, it's standard Journalism as is usually applied to whatever the latest Windows OS "crisis" is. Only difference is that this time it's for a Mac. Is it time for the Mac Monks to grow a thicker skin and accept that nothing is perfect :P?! There have been similar issues presented for Windows machines: "OMG! I could lose everything", but again, for very isolated cases. In those cases the media jumped all over it as well.

Most importantly: it shows you shouldn't rely on a single system and how grateful you'll be for backups when the need arises. Out of interest, how does the frequency of this data loss stack up against, say a hard drive failure? Which is the greater threat/risk? I'd guess there will be more HD failures (either, mac, windows or linux) today than guest account wipe-ages. Will the time machine help against those types of failures? No, best to have a proper backup.

H.
Title: Re: Snow Leopard
Post by: Jonathan on October 15, 2009, 11:16:34 AM
Quote from: hevans on October 15, 2009, 10:50:01 AM
I'd guess there will be more HD failures (either, mac, windows or linux) today than guest account wipe-ages. Will the time machine help against those types of failures?

Erm, yeah.........

My boot drive broke a few weeks ago (actually it started becoming increasingly bad at booting but when it was running it was fine).  5 mins to swap for a new drive from the nice chaps at eBuyer.  Power on and get the message "oh, your entire OS appears to be gone along with all the data - would you like Time Machine to fix this for you?".  Sure.  Couple of hours later everything was as I remembered it.  Not bad for a 250GB restore on a drive I never "make backups" of.

For a "one click and forget about it" solution it's actually very cool.  Plus it looks pretty.
Title: Re: Snow Leopard
Post by: picsfor on October 15, 2009, 06:02:46 PM
any one who hasn't tried time machine doesn't know what they're missing.

Countless re-builds i've done with windows and most require 2 or 3 stages and some data lost - usually nothing important.

My wife unplugged the mac the other week whilst it was shutting down and completely corrupted the hard drive.

System allowed me to boot into time machine and perform a full restore after formating the hard drive and at this moment in time i do not have appeared to have lost anything.
Procedure required 3 clicks of a mouse button and about 20 minutes and that was me up and running again.

One day all computers will have Time Machine for system back up
Title: Re: Snow Leopard
Post by: anglefire on October 15, 2009, 08:28:09 PM
I use time machine to backup to a usb hd - what i'd really like to do is use my nas drive, but for some reason it won't play and i've not had time to look into it!

To be fair i don't have much data on the mac, so it wouldn't be a major issue if it did go down.
Title: Re: Snow Leopard
Post by: happypaddler on November 11, 2009, 11:53:12 AM
Finally my MacSpeech update has arrived and is now fully functioning once more! I also decided to plug the printer back into the Time Capsule to see if it would work now (it only partially worked under Leopard). I noticed the printer driver for my Canon iP4500 changed drastically in the update to Snow Leopard - when I plugged it into the TC, told both the MacBook and iMac to talk to the printer wirelessly through Bonjour, it all works as it should - duplex printing, changes in printer settings et al all as they should be. Will save some messing plugging and unplugging usb's etc.