Mac OS X Panther Tips and Info

[MacRumors]

With Panther's arrival, many users are getting comfortable with the new operating system. A few interesting articles have been posted to help users familiarize themselves with the new version of Mac OS:

MacOSX Hints posted (http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20031024080947854) a summary of all their Panther Hints.
MacWorld (http://www.macworld.com/2003/10/features/panther/): 40 Mac OS X 10.3 Features, Tips, and Tricks
Panther Video (http://www.apple.com/macosx/video/) from Apple's Store at the Grove... with your guide, Omar.
Expose: New Window Management (http://www.igeek.com/articles/Interface/Expose.txt)

[alset]

I'll say it again.... Thank goodness for osxhints.com. Robg really opened up the potential to exploit our Macs, and I love him for it. Similarly, I am enjoying the hints thread on this site. I've seen quite a few tricks during Robg's downtime (Sunday).

Dan

[teetoo]

10.3 is fantastic except for one small thing - I've just noticed Macromedia Flash MX has dynamic fonts problems - font outlines are not embedded correctly.

More importantly I then upgraded to Studio MX Pro to see if it work ok there and all the 2004 MX application crash/auto-quit on loading.

I'm gonna have to downgrade to 10.2.8 so I can do my work again, I'll have to upgrade again when a fix comes out either from Apple or Macromedia.

[punter]

Originally posted by Macrumors

Panther Video (http://www.apple.com/macosx/video/) from Apple's Store at the Grove... with your guide, Omar.


I like a bit of subtle humor in the rumors reporting! That video certainly is identifiable as the one with omar in it.

[misr12]

Before I upgrade I would like to know if my printers are supported before I upgrade. I have a MFC Brother 8300 laser and Canon s600 inkjet (they are supported in OSX 10.2.8). More importantly the MFC Brother 8300..... It's a tank and is vital to my SOHO.... Does apple offer a program for download the checks or offers a compatibility list?

Thanks in advance!

Tom

[hobbes3113]

These sites are fantastic. They really help in the transition

[cdkf92]

Man, that OS X video is terrible.:eek: How long has that been up?

It's a long drop from Chiat's minimalist commercials to this "in your face" style of sales video.

[tny]

So far: Expose is very useful. I'm gradually learning when to use it, though having to work on a PC during the day is making things annoying with acculturating myself to this feature. I'm also finding that the new finder is more usable (I'm talking about the sidebar; of course the sheer speed of the new finder is the best part of the update).

I haven't been using the iDisk or labels as much as I thought I might. Also, I haven't seen much app speed up (I'm using a G5).

[ViRGE]

Originally posted by cdkf92
Man, that OS X video is terrible.:eek: How long has that been up?
Agreed. Sorry Steve, you deserve a swift kick for this.

[macnews]

Just got my upgrade today. Expose` is the most exciting feature I am looking forward to. I also have some concerns about other accessories (printer and scanner) working. Normally, I wouldn't worry but if there has been one consistent problem with OS X is the unpredictability in support for these items. Keyword is unpredictable - NOT unsupported.

[pgwalsh]

Originally posted by ViRGE
Agreed. Sorry Steve, you deserve a swift kick for this. I think the video is good. It shows that people are hyped about panther and I think people should be. No harm in showing you're excited about something. :p


Any reports on how Panther works with G3 based computers? Fast/Slow?

[phgreer]

Originally posted by pgwalsh

Any reports on how Panther works with G3 based computers? Fast/Slow?


i've got it installed on my G3 600 MHz iBook. It starts up and shuts down a LOT faster.

I don't have the rotating cube effect for multiple fast user switching but that's just asthetics and it works the way it is supposed to work otherwise.

I was doing some web design work this weekend and Expose made that a LOT more manageable!


I did the upgrade not a clean install. I dumped Acrobat Reader and will be using Preview -- it's all I need for now and I like the speed of that.

[pgwalsh]

Originally posted by phgreer
i've got it installed on my G3 600 MHz iBook. It starts up and shuts down a LOT faster.

I don't have the rotating cube effect for multiple fast user switching but that's just asthetics and it works the way it is supposed to work otherwise.

I was doing some web design work this weekend and Expose made that a LOT more manageable!


I did the upgrade not a clean install. I dumped Acrobat Reader and will be using Preview -- it's all I need for now and I like the speed of that. Any speed differences other than starting up or shutting down? I don't restart my system often, so this isn't a big deal. However, I've heard windows and applications are slower on a G3 and I wanted to verify if this was true or not?

I'm on a B/W G3 800(upgrade) with 1 gb ram. Have the Radeon 7000 installed, but may switch back to rage 128

[cubist]

Originally posted by pgwalsh
I think the video is good. It shows that people are hyped about panther and I think people should be. No harm in showing you're excited about something. :p

The video is great! I wish Apple would make commercials like that and put them on TV. Start talking about the products and not being so "artistic".

[vitrector]

No doubt, Expose is the best thing since the mouse! Wonder if Apple had the foresight to patent this baby - hey if Amazon can patent "one-click" then Apple should patent OS innovations. That would so bug Gates & Co not to be able to use one of their regular developer's ideas for free ...;)

[Rower_CPU]

The auto-complete tip from macosxhints is great, especially when you enable multilingual spell checking.

http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20031019214026732

[nycmacartist]

"Man, that OS X video is terrible. How long has that been up?

It's a long drop from Chiat's minimalist commercials to this "in your face" style of sales video.



OMFG,
I can't believe you people. Apple commercials have be criticized for showing the hardware, or cute stoned girls talking about homework. They have never shown a Mac in action. Anyone who thinks windows people should more about OSX, will be happy with this.
I think it was great. I'm running 9.2 and seeing this makes me want to get it ASAP.

[bennetsaysargh]

not!
god! i don't know why, but this omar guy is annoying!
im sorry omar. i hate that video.

[technocoy]

HAs anyone else had the crashing problem? wondering if i should wait...

thanks,
technocoy

[teetoo]

I was just reading on versiontracker.com's (Flash MX 2004 review) that the crashing problem for 2004 apps happens if you've installed 2004 before installing 10.3

Apparently if you install 10.3 first and then 2004 it's fine. I'd used up the 30 day trial back on 10.2.8 before installing the studio pro on 10.3 - guess that's why it doesn't work for me.

I'm going to try a clean install on my powerbook at some point, then install 2004 again to see if it does the trick.

[ITMediaCo]

Originally posted by teetoo
10.3 is fantastic except for one small thing - I've just noticed Macromedia Flash MX has dynamic fonts problems - font outlines are not embedded correctly.

More importantly I then upgraded to Studio MX Pro to see if it work ok there and all the 2004 MX application crash/auto-quit on loading.

I'm gonna have to downgrade to 10.2.8 so I can do my work again, I'll have to upgrade again when a fix comes out either from Apple or Macromedia.

I have yet to upgrade... I am kind of nervious after seeing the Flash problem post.

Has anyone else discovered this problem?

[Phil Of Mac]

You guys are all wrong, Omar is the MAN! He better be the next Phil Schiller. I'm lovin the dreds!

[Phil Of Mac]

Sorry for the double-post, but I can't edit and attach a pic.

THE NEXT APPLE CEO:

[Rower_CPU]

Originally posted by Phil Of Mac
Sorry for the double-post, but I can't edit and attach a pic.

THE NEXT APPLE CEO:

Omar for VP Marketing: I'll scare you so bad you'll buy whatever I say!

;)

[teetoo]

OK, I'm now making some progress with Flash 2004 & 10.3. I've just installed Flash MX 2004 on my cube which is running 10.3 and all is well so far, Flash starts up with no problem. This machine had not had any MX 2004 apps installed previously.

Also the issue of Flash MX (2003) on 10.3 rendering font outlines incorrectly seems to be ok in the 2004 version (installed on same machine). Now I've managed to get a working verison all I've got to do is to try and catchup on the work I should have done today.

I get well hacked off when problems like this aren't documented by Macromedia or Apple, it must have come out in the beta testing weeks ago, I've wasted so much time on this.

[Les Kern]

I'm normally a careful sort... I was going to wait until all you brave souls loaded Panther, suffered, then solved. I'd move in at that time. But I was sitting here holding Panther in my hand, and staring at my new AlBook. Should I? I did. Heck, I have enough gear that I didn't even bother backing up much less following the fine tips here and at MacFixit.
The install went fine, and Panther successfully booted right after. I fixed disk permissions, rebooted, then proceeded to explore. All my apps worked fine (about 30 high-end thingees like Dreamweaver MX, PS 7, Office, etc. etc. but I didn't check Palm or Docs to Go since I didn't have my Tungsten on me). It IS speedier, and there are no font issues. Printing to HP lasers worked FASTER. The finder is excellent, and I particularly like the server window instead of "go". Access to my iDisk is like it's in the next room compared to the spinning clock in 9 and the ball in 10.2. Expose, rather than being eye-candy, is going to increase my productivity right now. All in all: Panther is simply the finest OS I have ever used... and that's only after playing a few hours. I know I might come back to Earth, but I say "might" and frankly I doubt it. Buy Panther like yesterday, man. Note: I have XP on an HP tablet, and it's even more of a joke now. How can ANY sane person justify using XP? Brainwashed fools.

[pigwin32]

I don't know if anyone else has noticed this but an amazing thing just happened. I bought an upgrade to my operating system and it made my computer *faster*. I run a TiBook 667 with 512MB and a very sweet 7200RPM 60GB Hitachi drive. I installed 10.3 over the weekend and I'm impressed, the whole system is more responsive, startup times are awesome, and I'm sure text is easier to read on screen.

But the most amazing thing is, 10.3 improved my system performance. Have you ever upgraded an OS in the Windows world? Generally you pay for the upgrade and then pay for the extra RAM you need just to get performance back to an acceptable level. This is normal. In most cases you are better off just buying a new computer with the new OS already loaded.

The downside of this for Apple is that I'm now sticking with my TiBook until at least rev A of the G5 AlBook (actually I was planning to anyway but now I've got a good excuse).