Apple's Newest Snow Leopard (10A314) Shows Steady Improvements

[MacRumors]

Apple seeded developers with the latest build (10A314) of Mac OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard) today. The latest beta version of Snow Leopard is said to be more stable than previous builds. Specifically, QuickTime X is said to have made significant strides since the previous version.

Apple, however, has not yet deployed the "Marble" user interface changes that have been rumored for Snow Leopard.

An exact release date for Snow Leopard has not been established , though recent rumors have suggested it could be as late as September. Apple will likely make further announcements and demos of Snow Leopard at the World Wide Developer's Conference in June.

Article Link: Apple's Newest Snow Leopard (10A314) Shows Steady Improvements

[talkingfuture]

I hope we do get a demo in June, I am looking forward to seeing this in action.

[MarkMS]

Originally Posted by talkingfuture

I hope we do get a demo in June, I am looking forward to seeing this in action.

Same here my friend.

[fastbite]

Originally Posted by talkingfuture

I hope we do get a demo in June, I am looking forward to seeing this in action.

Dying to get my hands all over it too.

[Bakafish]

It's a bit hard to believe. Obviously Apple's doing a lot of intense work on the OS, and there are surprises waiting for us, but they outlined a pretty limited and achievable feature set that was locked in a long time ago. I'm sure they will ship it when it's ready, but it will be given to dev's (I'm sure at the dev conference) before it gets released to the general public, and that will give us a much better idea about release dates. One of the reason they wait so long to announce the dev conference dates is so they can be sure they are putting this kind of thing in our hands.

It doesn't mean that it won't get pushed out until late in the year, but I wouldn't bet on it. Apple will give dev's a month to get their apps into shape and ship it (assuming there isn't anything terribly dodgy about it.)

[cg0def]

it about time people stop with the speculations. Apple will announce Snow Leopard at WWDC and it will get released a bit after that to everyone. You probably won't see all of the changes in the test releases until WWDC. Also it's not a big deal that there is no marble interface in the new dev release. After all it's a skin that does not really need to be tested by a large number of people and all that is if it really does exist. Either way it doesn't really change anything.

[jabingla2810]

2 random questions, but seems as good a place as any to ask

1) How much does the new OS usually cost. (£ Pounds)

2) When installing it, will I have to back up my stuff on an external, or will installing it not delete anything?

[iBug2]

There are still lots of performance enhancements need to be made. The release is stable but generally slower than Leopard itself. Lots of work to be done, I don't think this will be ready for June, not at all.

[coolfactor]

Originally Posted by cg0def

it about time people stop with the speculations. Apple will announce Snow Leopard at WWDC and it will get released a bit after that to everyone. You probably won't see all of the changes in the test releases until WWDC. Also it's not a big deal that there is no marble interface in the new dev release. After all it's a skin that does not really need to be tested by a large number of people and all that is if it really does exist. Either way it doesn't really change anything.

Sounds like you are fairly new to the Mac scene? Or maybe you're just new the rumors scene? Anyway, a September release of Snow Leopard would not be unrealistic at all. Leopard (10.5) didn't come out until October 2007. And the Marble interface is much more than a "skin", as you alluded to... it's a very critical aspect of the user experience, so yes, extensive testing is needed.

[coolfactor]

Originally Posted by jabingla2810

2 random questions, but seems as good a place as any to ask

1) How much does the new OS usually cost. (£ Pounds)

I'm guessing about £89, based on $129 USD.

Originally Posted by jabingla2810

2) When installing it, will I have to back up my stuff on an external, or will installing it not delete anything?

During installation, you have 3 options:

1) Upgrade
2) Archive & Install
3) Erase & Install

Both Option #1 and #2 preserve your files. Option #2 is best since it moves the existing system aside and does a fresh install of the system files. Your home folder is not touched.

[coolfactor]

Originally Posted by talkingfuture

I hope we do get a demo in June, I am looking forward to seeing this in action.

We'll definitely have a demo at WWDC. No doubt in my mind.

[Macmel]

Originally Posted by coolfactor

Sounds like you are fairly new to the Mac scene? Or maybe you're just new the rumors scene? Anyway, a September release of Snow Leopard would not be unrealistic at all. Leopard (10.5) didn't come out until October 2007. And the Marble interface is much more than a "skin", as you alluded to... it's a very critical aspect of the user experience, so yes, extensive testing is needed.

Leopard release was delayed until October because Steve had everybody at Apple working like crazy on the iPhone. That's not the case this time and it seems that SL is not going to be as new as Leopard was, compared to Tiger. It is reasonable to expect an early summer release of SL. Take also into account that Windows 7 is also due around that time, so most likely release dates are going to be more influenced by marketing decisions than developing schedules.

[Mackan]

Originally Posted by cg0def

Also it's not a big deal that there is no marble interface in the new dev release. After all it's a skin that does not really need to be tested by a large number of people and all that is if it really does exist. Either way it doesn't really change anything.

People said the same thing before the Leopard release, when there also was a rumour about a new skin. It never showed up in the dev releases, and not in the final release. Maybe it's time we learn something.

And by the way, a new "unifying" skin isn't really exciting. What would be exciting is if Apple supported themes, and even provided some themselves. Although I guess that never will happen, Apple has never been about giving the customer options.

[allbrokeup]

If people could remember that Mac OS X Leopard 10.5.0 9A581 was released on the 26th of October 2007. So, if Apple manage a June/September-y release it would be much earlier than the original Leopard....................I SWEAR on the under the MacRumors Oath that I will not be buying Windows 7.



allbrokeupp!

[mdriftmeyer]

Originally Posted by iBug2

There are still lots of performance enhancements need to be made. The release is stable but generally slower than Leopard itself. Lots of work to be done, I don't think this will be ready for June, not at all.

Debug enabled operating systems are always slower than released OS candidates.

[xUKHCx]

As seems usual these days Worldofapple has posted the seed notes.

Apple has seeded developers with the latest build of the next major Mac OS X upgrade, Snow Leopard.

In the latest build Apple is pushing developers to begin developing using the new 64-bit kernel included with the build. Although rumoured the “Marble” interface is not present in 10A314.

Seed notes can be seen below.


Known Issues

• It may take 5-10 minutes to get to the Mac OS X Installer when using a DVD.
• Setup Assistant sometimes crashes when migrating users. Please reboot and try again if you encounter this.
• iCal, Mail or Safari may hang sometimes due to a backround process (configd) crashing. Please reboot if you encounter this.
• If multiple users are editing the same documenut simultaneously over an AFP connection it may result in data loss. Only 3rd party applications that support this behavior, such as database applications, will hit this. Editing files with Finder, for example, is OK.
• Finder may crash on 32-bit machines when viewing movie previews through QuickLook, Finder’s column view or the Get Info window.
• Changing SSL setting for a Microsoft Exchange 2007 account refetches all of your messages.
• Mac Mini’s with a Core Solo CPU will run very slowly.
• ‘Repair Permissions’ in Disk Utility reports spurious errors.
• Portable Home Directory accounts cannot be created.
• Switching between Finder windows with Cmd-` does not work in this seed.
• The initial Welcome Page in Safari is blank.
• The contextual menu for the Finder icon in the Dock is missing some options.
• VoiceOver cannot be started in Setup Assistant using Cmd-F5. Workaround:

1. When you hear “Mac OS X has a built in Screen reader..” press escape.
2. Press the right arrow 13 times to get to the screen that reads “Congratulations, You have learned how to use..”.
   Wait for this screen to finish reading and VoiceOver will launch.
3. You can then press the right arrow or escape key to return to Setup Assistant with VoiceOver running.

Developer Notes

64-bit
We strongly encourage you to start developing and testing 64-bit versions of your KEXTs. To help you along we’ve included the 64-bit transition guide with the seed.

• Launch Xcode in Snow Leopard
• Go to Help menu
• Select Documentation Viewer
• Search for “64-bit Transition Guide”

We’ve also enabled the 64-bit kernel, for development purposes only, in this seed on the following configurations:



Using 10A314 and one of the K64-capable machines listed above, simply boot the Mac with the ‘6′ and ‘4′ keys held down to use the 64-bit kernel. Observe that uname -v reports RELEASE_X86_64. Machines listed as “Default” will run K64 automatically when loaded with 10A314.
You can also set arch=x86_64 in your boot-args NVRAM variable, using nvram(8). When you’re done, you can remove the boot-arg, or if you can no longer boot into an OS to unset it, hold command-option-P-R to zap NVRAM.
If you just want one partition to boot x86_64, edit the file /Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/com.apple.Boot.plist and add arch=x86_64 to the kernel flags.
If some functionality is not working and you must revert to using the 32-bit kernel, you can either reboot with the ‘3′ and ‘2′ keys held down or set arch=i386 in your boot-args.

Xcode Changes Since the Last Seed

• A new startup screen allows you to open recent projects directly from the startup window.
• The list of project templates for New Project has been trimmed and all templates have been updated for Snow Leopard.
• The Build Results window has been updated with new options for grouping information.
• Code completion now adds opening or closing square brackets where needed.
• The tab key can now be used to advance to the next CodeSense placeholder token; ‘Enter’ or ‘Return’ reduces the placeholder to editable text.
• “Add Frameworks” now brings up a sheet of relevant frameworks in the current SDK.
• Significant performance improvements when building, searching, or indexing due to adoption of Grand Central technology.

Known Xcode Issues

• xcodebuild issues build commands as if building all files in the project, rather than just the ones that need to be built. It is not actually recompiling the files, simply retrieving the persisted build results.
• Similarly, the build status line may show a larger number of files to be rebuilt than actually need to be.

From http://news.worldofapple.com/archive...tes/#more-2970

[twoodcc]

we should at least get a demo in june, if not more. september seems a long time away

[hacksaw-C87]

Originally Posted by coolfactor

And the Marble interface is much more than a "skin", as you alluded to... it's a very critical aspect of the user experience, so yes, extensive testing is needed.

How likely to people think the Marble GUI is to appear? The way people are talking about it almost makes it sound like a cert. Is there any links to the rumours about its appearance. I'd really love a new user inerface, not so fussed about being able to change my own themes but just a fresh looking option other than all the grey would be nice.

[diamond.g]

Originally Posted by xUKHCx

As seems usual these days Worldofapple has posted the seed notes.

It seems Apple is still having some problems with the 64-bit kernel transition. Hopefully it will be default for all x64 capable machines. Telling devs to do 64-bit ktexts now makes it sound like there may not be 64-bit drivers for everything right out the gate.

[spydr]

Will be demoed in June and shipped in october last week.

[scottishwildcat]

Originally Posted by Mackan

And by the way, a new "unifying" skin isn't really exciting. What would be exciting is if Apple supported themes, and even provided some themselves.

Oh, please no. As soon as you make a GUI themeable, you have to dissect it into themable parts that people can swap in and out with their own versions. That inevitably means losing the ability to tweak the visual design right down to the very last pixel for specific applications or combinations of controls like Apple does in OS X (in much the same way that the best fonts tend to have an extensive kerning table, and provide good ligatures).

Just look at Linux desktops like GNOME and KDE. They've been themable from the outset, so they've had years of practice. And much as I use those desktops and admire their achievements, even the 'best' themes for those look unbelievably clunky compared to OS X. There are always some things that don't theme quite right in some applications, or some new widget that's introduced into the toolkit that doesn't theme at all until every theme author updates their themes.

Themeing is something that works for some individual apps because of their limited scope. But it's just a horrid way to design a whole desktop. In any case, the look and feel of OS X is a big part of Apple's branding, as instantly recognisable as an iPod's clickwheel or the Apple logo itself. So I can't see them wanting to relinquish any control over how it looks.

[awpitchy]

Cant wait!

[nick9191]

Originally Posted by jabingla2810

2 random questions, but seems as good a place as any to ask

1) How much does the new OS usually cost. (£ Pounds)

2) When installing it, will I have to back up my stuff on an external, or will installing it not delete anything?

1. Normally £85, but based on the current exchange rate it's looking more like £99.

2. http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1545

[RichardI]

Man! Things move fast in the Apple world. Too fast maybe. I'm just getting used to Leopard.
And I've only had a Mac for two years. If I buy Snow Leopard, it will be the third major OS I've had in two years! I'm not all that enthused about Snow Leopard to be honest. I'm still trying to learn "Mac" from "The Missing Manual Tiger Edition".

Rich

[Wayfarer]

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