More Panther 7B21 Details

[MacRumors]

Various articles have appeared, detailing more features of the latest Panther build:

- AppleInsider (http://www.appleinsider.com/article.php?id=126) posts some screenshots and short Quicktime clips of Panther in action. Overall speed improvements, built in Zip compression and and application switcher are detailed. More screenshot and quicktime clips can be found in this thread. (http://forums.appleinsider.com/showthread.php?threadid=28338&perpage=40&pagenumber=2)


- MacMegaSite (http://www.macmegasite.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=974) shows screenshots of Sherlock, the Activity Monitor, and Exchange Server support in Mail. ThinkSecret details (http://www.thinksecret.com/news/pantherexchange.html) this support and also notes Address Book syncronization with Exchange.

- 3d Chess Screenshot (http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?threadid=33910) - new in Panther.

[mangoman]

Very cool. Looks like the Mail attachment problem is being dealt with... Finally.

[Snowy_River]

Nice screen shots. I'm really looking forward to getting my hands on Panther and trying it out on my PB...

(Anyone else notice that the captions below the images at AppleInsider are wrong for the last two?)

[AppleMatt]

Why has someone rated this negative? Is it beacause they/you are against leaked shots?

Still having trouble downloading this build, at around 0.7K/s. :(

One day I'll experience it for myself. Perhaps I should just wait for the next one.

The finder zoom looks so cool.

AppleMatt

[P-Worm]

Wow there seems to be no end to the updates they are adding to Panthar. That upgrade is getting more tempting day by day.

P-Worm

[MrMacMan]

Well yeah, good linkage.

Even I didn't play chess yet... :rolleyes:

[AppleMatt]

Is anyone else having rendering problems with the AppleInsider linked page and Safari 1.0?

AppleMatt

[esome]

panther is starting to look like an upgrade that's actualy worth paying for. now $129 might be a but steep...

[pivo6]

Everything is looking pretty good. I don't however have the guts to use it until it's released. Trying out apps in while they are beat is one thing, trying out the beta OS is another.

[daveL]

Originally posted by AppleMatt
Is anyone else having rendering problems with the AppleInsider linked page and Safari 1.0?

AppleMatt
First, I'm surprised that you are still getting slow 7B21 downloads. Are you downloading the segments or the original full images? After they fixed the downloads Tuesday night, I got my full 512Kb DSL Wednesday. If up started to download before Tuesday night, you might want to consider restarting with the segmented images, which are all that's available now. Also, after they made the change, I was unable to initiate the ftp's with Safari 1.0. I ended up starting up IE, starting a download, right-clicking the download mgr item and getting the info window. That gave me the session password, and I was able to use ftp directly to access the site. HTH.

Second, AppleInsider didn't render correctly with Safari 1.0, but it does under 1.1.

This build just screams. Safari 1.1 is even snappier (a technical term) than 1.0. Who needs PB updates, anyway :)

[LinuxGigolo]

Well that could be useful. Though, really only useful if iCal is gonna synch the calendar part and Address Book will also handle the global address lists. Then it could compete with the hopefully-soon-to-be-released Entourage w/ Exchange support.

[AppleMatt]

DaveL, thanks for the advice.

I've been considering re-starting them, but when you've been waiting this many days (i've left it over night downloading a few times), it's pretty hard to cancel and start again!

My ISP will cap me when I get to 20KB sec anyway, so it's still a slow process lol.

AppleMatt

[daveL]

Originally posted by AppleMatt
DaveL, thanks for the advice.

I've been considering re-starting them, but when you've been waiting this many days (i've left it over night downloading a few times), it's pretty hard to cancel and start again!

My ISP will cap me when I get to 20KB sec anyway, so it's still a slow process lol.

AppleMatt
Well, you don't really need to restart completely. Since your getting so little bandwidth, you could simply start a new ftp session against the new segmented images in parallel.

Just a thought.

[cnladd]

I'm really curious about the AddressBook/Exchange integration and what they mean by that -- if anyone has any details, please let me know.

I've been able to access addresses on our corporate Exchange server through AddressBook and Mail while using both Jaguar and the WWDC Panther. I simply went into AddressBook->Preferences->LDAP, added a new entry, and set the Exchange server as the LDAP server.

So, I guess what I'm looking for is how much better is this new AddressBook/Exchange synchronization?

[macphoria]

Built in Zip compression utility? That is sweet. That would make things easier to backup, email, etc.

[Pancake]

Originally posted by esome
now $129 might be a but steep...

No need to get vulgar :p

[nanotopia]

Well, I've been playing around with the build (don't ask me for a copy - you will be ignored).

Two immediate bugs appeared when I was using it. First, AddressBook crashes if you have a USB Bluetooth module connected. Take out the module and it works perfectly. Put the module back in, and you'll be lucky to even see the AddressBook window before it crashes.

Another bug, which is actually kind of silly, has to do with iTunes and iTMS. If you play song, or basically navigate anywhere, and then click on the Home link/button, you're hosed. iTunes (at least for me) crashes everytime!

Other than that, the entire new OS seems awesome. There are a lot of new intuitive tweaks added to places like Network Prefs. For example, if you want to share a printer, you can go to the Printer/Fax icon in Sys Prefs, instead of having to go to Sharing (but it's still there).

Another feature that is new is the ability to ask for a password after sleep. Before, I had to run a little 3rd party program that would automatically start the screensaver upon waking up, which would in turn ask for my password. Now I can chuck that program.

Everything else everyone has already heard about. Expose is absolutely amazing. It is soooo damn cool and useful. Mail runs better (and looks better), iSync is v.1.2, the new Font Manager is powerful and elegant, and most of the other Mac programs are updated. I'm assuming that they'll offer these updates to Jaguar users too. I can't wait to get my hands on gold. This will be a great release.

[AppleMatt]

DaveL,

It's working! 18K a sec, I'm gonna kill the original now to get that extra 2K, and pray this one doesn't drop off (I doubt it will). Now all I've got to do is prevent myself ringing the cable company and upgrading my connection. Although it's such good value...

Hooray :D

AppleMatt

[daveL]

Originally posted by AppleMatt
DaveL,

It's working! 18K a sec, I'm gonna kill the original now to get that extra 2K, and pray this one doesn't drop off (I doubt it will). Now all I've got to do is prevent myself ringing the cable company and upgrading my connection. Although it's such good value...

Hooray :D

AppleMatt
Great! I wouldn't worry about it dropping off. If it does, you only have to reload the broken segment.

I had never run into the segment thing before, so I was a bit confused as to how to burn the image, since its all in pieces (which I locked as soon as I uncompressed them). I couldn't see any way to put them back together. Turns out you just select the .dmg piece to burn and the rest of the pieces are automatically included. Of course, you may already know this.

[wrldwzrd89]

I tried to access the AppleInsider forums page, only to get a message that my IP address was banned! What's up with that? I have never registered for their forums and I hardly ever visit the site.

[mangoman]

Sounds like your Karma ran over their Dogma...

[SiliconAddict]

Originally posted by wrldwzrd89
I tried to access the AppleInsider forums page, only to get a message that my IP address was banned! What's up with that? I have never registered for their forums and I hardly ever visit the site.

Who's your ISP? I've seen forums ban the total AOL IP range before. It may also be possible that if you have DHCP from your ISP someone on your network was being an @$$ once upon a time and they up and banned them. Or as mangoman said you may have had a brush with bad Karma. Call up your ISP ans ask them to reset your IP. Should take all of 30 seconds. If you are dialup. Disconnect and reconnect.

[mike czech]

I have a question about Mail 1.3 in Panther:

can you add a signature at the cursor when replying - NOT only at the very bottom of a reply email?

[daveL]

Originally posted by mike czech
I have a question about Mail 1.3 in Panther:

can you add a signature at the cursor when replying - NOT only at the very bottom of a reply email?
No. I'd like that, too.

[Snowy_River]

Originally posted by LinuxGigolo
Well that could be useful. Though, really only useful if iCal is gonna synch the calendar part and Address Book will also handle the global address lists. Then it could compete with the hopefully-soon-to-be-released Entourage w/ Exchange support.

Check out this thread. (http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?threadid=33867)

[applemacdude]

Interesting pic...Even though I think its just to trick us...

[ianpagano]

Originally posted by mike czech
I have a question about Mail 1.3 in Panther:

can you add a signature at the cursor when replying - NOT only at the very bottom of a reply email?

According to Apple's Panther preview web site, you can.

"If you have a preference for how you’d like your signature to appear — above or below quoted text — Mail now can make it so."

http://www.apple.com/macosx/panther/mail.html

[jaedreth]

Keep in mind, the PowerBook G4 12" was originally named the iBook G4. Marketing changed it. They felt it didn't fit the consumer market. At the last minute I might add.

With current dynamics, I don't think Apple would shoot themselves in the foot and move iBook to G4.

Get a better G3 chip, and eventually move to G5 after everything else, is my bet.

Jaedreth

[inkswamp]

A friend and I both are wondering if the speed of pop-up menus from the dock have been addressed. One of the threads on AppleInsider commented that threading in the Finder is vastly improved and that the short pauses when opening folders with lots of items has been addressed. When you put your hard drive or home folder into the dock you can click and hold to get a pop-up menu of items. I used to do that with my applications folder, but got tired of the long wait for the Finder to build the menu. Anyone here with the developer release of Panther have a moment to see if the speed of dock pop-ups have been improved. Thanks. :)

[nanotopia]

All of the menus seems much faster and snappier. However, when clicking on the Applications folder from the dock, there wasn't any noticible difference in speed. Although the initial menu popped up quickly, there was an annoying delay for the Utilities subfolder to show its contents.

However, I must say that after I did it once, it was much faster the second time. But I would contribute that to cache/memory, instead of better programming.

[IDTheft]

I've got $129 burning a hole in my pocket. Panther is going to be a must have upgrade!

Not only is Apple so smart as to put in all these nifty features like exposé, but they made sure everybody would want to upgrade when they show how even a 500mhz imac would run almost 30% faster.

I'm glad they are also making it easier to use mail with Exchange eventhough you could download mail from Exchange now if you have outlook web access enabled in Exchange. Being able to hook up with corporate mail is probably one of the major hurdles to getting a foothold in the enterprise. Go Apple, Go!

[CaptainScarlet]

Hello!!

Panther 7b21, well it's better in a lot of ways then the first version of Panther. But I have issue with it, with my system.

Adobe Indesign Crashes at startup, can use toast to burn CD's...It has some dock/ minimized window problems. ...Safari 1.1 still has cache problems...

BUT!!

Mail is improved BIG time!! You can add a exchange account. The UI is pretty....A lot of things are faster.

Finder pref. have change to tabs now....instead of one page of stuff to do....


I haven't played with it to much on my test machine....Overall Panther seems to be heading the right direction!!! I can't wait the that ********** G5 and Panther!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


I'll send PIC later....

CS OUT.............

[liloconf]

so is this update delivered through software update or apple's dev site?

[nanotopia]

Gotta have the CDs from Apple Dev

[scan300]

It's good news to see almost a plethora of vendors tackling Mac-based corporate network integration with Windows services. (Apple, Microsoft, Snerdware).

I've always felt that one of the major hurdles to justifying Mac unit purchases in a corporate environment has been Windows integration. It's even better that Apple has taken on this responsibility, meaning that the ability to use a Mac in a Windows world is tied to the fortunes of Apple.

This takes one more anti-Mac argument out of the equation and allows purchasing decisions to be made on the merits of architecture, design, value and user experience.

Now... if only Quicktime can export a Windows Media Player compatible file with worthwhile compression.

[liloconf]

i have to say the above poster is right overall but i have a problem with mac osx as it stands right now in the windows integration front. Due to the fact that most broadband cable isp's give you seperate subnets for each ip given in your household, it makes tcp/ip file sharing near impossible without a router.

I use a hub in my configuration to get each computer its own real ip, unlike the fake ones routers give out to share one ip. So without ipx support (the only prot. that works in this situation) i can't get my mac to see my pc's, though they see each other fine, with ipx turned on. I have been told that ipx will not be supported ever at least from apple's stand point, and i think that blows. samba is nice but doesn't work in this configuration due to the lack of ipx, and i think anyone that goes through comcast and doesn't like fake ip's from there router will have the same opinion as me on this one.


So yes i like the way things are headed but untill Apple see's that things aren't perfect yet it will make boasting about my mac hard in this household.

[visor]

Originally posted by liloconf
iI use a hub in my configuration to get each computer its own real ip, unlike the fake ones routers give out to share one ip. So without ipx support (the only prot. that works in this situation) i can't get my mac to see my pc's, though they see each other fine, with ipx turned on. I have been told that ipx will not be supported ever at least from apple's stand point, and i think that blows. samba is nice but doesn't work in this configuration due to the lack of ipx, and i think anyone that goes through comcast and doesn't like fake ip's from there router will have the same opinion as me on this one.


Well, this is a very strange setup you have for a personal household. Honestly, i've only heard that peaople go extactly the opposite direction, not wanting actual IP adresses of the internet anywherein the house.

a) extra ip's cost extra
b) public connection without router is far easier to attack
c) ip's tend to change all the time
d) private networks allow much better resource sharing (as you know)
e) routing over the ISP doesn't make any sense in a private network, it just slows things considerably.
f) ipx is really old news...

[joesporleder]

I am interested in the changes coming to Mail in Panther. Does Panther Mail have a "send all" function? I participate in a lot of mailing lists, and sometimes I am offline with my iBook, or my email server has an occasional short term glitch, and being able to send 3 or 4 emails at one time would be handy instead of sending them one at a time.

One thing I liked about Outlook Express in MacOS 9 is being able to navigate to next message/previous message using a 2 pane setup, with up and down arrows embedded into the message toolbar. I realize this can be done with the keyboard in a 3 pane setup with the preview, but I prefer the added space afforded by a 2 pane layout.

[SiliconAddict]

Originally posted by visor
Well, this is a very strange setup you have for a personal household. Honestly, i've only heard that peaople go extactly the opposite direction, not wanting actual IP adresses of the internet anywherein the house.

f) ipx is really old news...

I agree with everything but this. IPX old news? Sure
But the protocol is perfect for small networks that don't want to dink with setting up a DHCP server or manually code the IP addresses in their systems. Macs are suppost to be simple :)

[daveL]

Originally posted by ianpagano
According to Apple's Panther preview web site, you can.

"If you have a preference for how you’d like your signature to appear — above or below quoted text — Mail now can make it so."

http://www.apple.com/macosx/panther/mail.html
Well, I tried it, there was no preference for it, and it always appeared at the bottom of the message. Maybe it's just not there, yet.

[daveL]

Originally posted by nanotopia
Gotta have the CDs from Apple Dev
Where did you get this information?

You are incorrect. The images are one the "paid" portion of the ADC download site and have been for a week. If you are a paying ADC memeber, you can download them. I expect the CDs will also be in the ADC mailing that went out on the 28th.

[nanotopia]

I believe the CDs have a more updated version of the OS than the download (could be wrong though), and they also have the signature above the quote feature that you couldn't find in Mail. I know this, b/c I installed off of the CDs, and I DID see the sig option in Mail.

[daveL]

Originally posted by nanotopia
I believe the CDs have a more updated version of the OS than the download (could be wrong though), and they also have the signature above the quote feature that you couldn't find in Mail. I know this, b/c I installed off of the CDs, and I DID see the sig option in Mail.
Hmmm ... 7B21 CDs haven't arrived here, yet, so I can't check mail sigs. I have the downloaded images from the ADC site. I tried the mail sigs on those images when I saw the original post, and it always showed up at the bottom. Maybe I missing something. What's the build number (vXXX) on the mail app from the CDs?

[guifa]

Originally posted by nanotopia
Two immediate bugs appeared when I was using it. First, AddressBook crashes if you have a USB Bluetooth module connected. Take out the module and it works perfectly. Put the module back in, and you'll be lucky to even see the AddressBook window before it crashes.

I don't have a USB Bluetooth module, I've got the one built into my 17" powerbook.

Any ideas on how to tweak stuff so I can get it to work? Or am I gonna have to wait for Apple to retest software update? :)

[nanotopia]

The version is Mail 1.3 (v.581), and the sig prefs clearly shows the addition of the ability to put a signature above quoted text. I tested it, and it works great. It's about time they added it.

http://excessory.com/images/2.gif

http://excessory.com/images/1.gif

[nanotopia]

I use a usb dongle. I don't know about built in. Regardless, if it doesn't work for you either, then yes, I'm sure you'll have to wait for an update.

[daveL]

nanotopia: thanks for the mail sig info. That's great! I'll check it again on my downloaded version. Maybe I just missed it, somehow.

[copperpipe]

This update will rock. One more reason to buy a brand new G5, and get the latest OS along with it!

[Phil Of Mac]

Originally posted by nanotopia
Another feature that is new is the ability to ask for a password after sleep. Before, I had to run a little 3rd party program that would automatically start the screensaver upon waking up, which would in turn ask for my password. Now I can chuck that program.

Um, you can already do that by turning on the screensaver and then putting it to sleep. I did that for months.

Originally posted by mike czech
I have a question about Mail 1.3 in Panther:

can you add a signature at the cursor when replying - NOT only at the very bottom of a reply email?

There's a feature that's been in Mac OS X forever that pretty much makes up for that. It's called "cut and paste".

Originally posted by inkswamp
When you put your hard drive or home folder into the dock you can click and hold to get a pop-up menu of items. I used to do that with my applications folder, but got tired of the long wait for the Finder to build the menu.

Use LaunchBar (www.obdev.at) for your application launching needs. It's much better, trust me.

Originally posted by joesporleder
I am interested in the changes coming to Mail in Panther. Does Panther Mail have a "send all" function? I participate in a lot of mailing lists, and sometimes I am offline with my iBook, or my email server has an occasional short term glitch, and being able to send 3 or 4 emails at one time would be handy instead of sending them one at a time.

Ever since I've used Mac OS X Mail, whenever I tell a message to send, if I'm offline, it just sits in the outbox. Next time I'm connected and I check my mail, it automatically sends everything in the outbox. Also if I try to send another message while I'm connected, it'll try and send everything it the outbox then.

[nanotopia]

Originally posted by Phil Of Mac
There's a feature that's been in Mac OS X forever that pretty much makes up for that. It's called "cut and paste".

No kidding. I can also select the text and drag it. Big whoop. The point is usability, not adding an extra step. Although it's a small addition/tweak, it's a very welcome one as far as I'm concerned.

[AppleMatt]

Originally posted by Phil Of Mac
Um, you can already do that by turning on the screensaver and then putting it to sleep. I did that for months.


It's an extra step, and reading reports on Macfixit and the like, I'd rather not leave my systems security to an insecure screensaver.

AppleMatt

[mdouglas]

I've got a question for those of you beta testing Panther and the new version of iSync. One of the things that disappoints me about the current iSync is that my addresses from my Palm handheld PDA don't have their "catagories" ported over to the "group / directories" section of the Apple Address book. This wouldn't matter if I only had a few addresses, but I have a few thousand addresses all neatly organzied in "catagories" on my Palm PDA.

Do any of you guys know if this has been fixed with the new version of iSync that's going to come with Panther.

TIA, Mark

[cnladd]

Originally posted by daveL
nanotopia: thanks for the mail sig info. That's great! I'll check it again on my downloaded version. Maybe I just missed it, somehow.

This feature exists in the WWDC version of Panther, as well.

[cnladd]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Phil Of Mac
Um, you can already do that by turning on the screensaver and then putting it to sleep. I did that for months.


I think most people who are looking for this feature have done that for months, as well. It's all about usability and getting rid of an extra step.


There's a feature that's been in Mac OS X forever that pretty much makes up for that. It's called "cut and paste".


And before "cut and paste" was invented, you could just type your .sig every time! What a concept!

Again, see usability. I don't want to have to cut and paste my signature into every e-mail I send, nor cut and paste it into the "correct" spot. Especially not when I have several automated replies that gets sent out on a regular basis.


Use LaunchBar (www.obdev.at) for your application launching needs. It's much better, trust me.


Might be better for you, but that doesn't mean that everyone else will feel the same. Personally, I love the product -- been using it since the OPENSTEP days -- but not everyone's going to fall in love with it. Trust me.

[macduf]

I was wondering if panther brings back the booklet printing on postscript printers? This is one of the few things I still need Classic for (Adobe PS).

[adamfilip]

why cant i download the panther betas. is it cause im only a apple student developer or am i just not looking in the right place in connect.apple.com?

[daveL]

Originally posted by adamfilip
why cant i download the panther betas. is it cause im only a apple student developer or am i just not looking in the right place in connect.apple.com?
It's under Download Software>What's New. For whatever reason, you can't start the download successfully with Safari 10. or 1.1. I sent a report into ADC on this problem. At least it didn't work for me; I had to resort to IE.

If you don't see it, I guess you can't access it as a student developer. Maybe Apple is afraid you'll immediately put it up on BT :)

[Cobalty]

I've been playing with the new build myself, but I have my warnings.

When I tried to update Jaguar with Panther, it corrupted the hard drive and I had to pull my data off and reformat. This was the WWDC build. I got 7B21 and installed, and all was well until I set my ipod to be handled manually, then every time I opened itunes it would crash. A reinstall wouldn't even fix this. I gave up and reinstalled Jaguar but now I can't get my itunes library to load, it must be different under Panther. Other than that, I really like Panther, can't wait till I can actually use it.