Latest Mac OS X 10.5.6 Seed; Rosetta Becomes Optional in Snow Leopard?

[PeterQVenkman]

Drive space. I find this reason a bit silly, but I KNOW there are people out there who take the time to strip other languages out of iLife programs to save a few MB, so someone out there will like it for this reason.

Just reformatted my brand new MacBook. By eliminating all the unneeded extras like fonts, languages, and printer drivers (3.1 GB of printer drivers! No wonder things "just work" in Mac OSX!), X11, and iDVD/Garage band extra content, you can cut the 15 GB Mac os X install down to 6 GB.

That's a lot of stuff to clear out!

 

[Erwin-Br]

Drive space. I find this reason a bit silly, but I KNOW there are people out there who take the time to strip other languages out of iLife programs to save a few MB, so someone out there will like it for this reason.

As for me? I won't be installing it because I want to have the fastest experience possible. If I come across a program using Rosetta I either upgrade it or ditch it for a different program.

I try and keep track, but sometimes one slips by me for awhile and I don't notice it until I check my 'process' report window.

Being told right away: "This program won't run" would make me happy. I'll be glad to have this option.

Both my HP printer AND scanner use PPC software drivers. And they're not THAT old that I want to replace them, so I'm glad they will still support it.

 

[rosalindavenue]

i bought a ppc mac in nov 2005.

I bought the last G4 ibook in August 05, after the intel switch had been announced but before it was implemented. I didn't want to wait to get a mac. It was well worth it. I've never upgraded it to Leopard. I've since bought 2 intel macs but the ibook is still in use. Anyway, I don't think there will be a whole lot of grumbling about the intel-only status of Snow Leopard.

 

[jellomizer]

But, but... Snow Leopard has pretty shinies!

*goes back to scrounging up pennies in the couch to put towards his Intel Mac fund*

Don't forget those pretty shinies will probably make your PowerPC mac that much slower.

My Intel MacBook Pro has just past its 2 year mark. While still doing fine it is no longer considered the speed daemon, it once was. It will do its jobs well for a couple more years barring any major hardware failure. But for those with Power PC Macs Those days are numbered and people with Intel Core (1) Duo Macs are probably starting to ready themselves for an upgrade in 2009-2010

 

[yetanotherdave]

Drive space. I find this reason a bit silly, but I KNOW there are people out there who take the time to strip other languages out of iLife programs to save a few MB, so someone out there will like it for this reason.

As for me? I won't be installing it because I want to have the fastest experience possible. If I come across a program using Rosetta I either upgrade it or ditch it for a different program.

I try and keep track, but sometimes one slips by me for awhile and I don't notice it until I check my 'process' report window.

Being told right away: "This program won't run" would make me happy. I'll be glad to have this option.

I'm a drive obsessive, I run xslimmer to trim my universal binaries, I'm at 10% drive space free now, but I can't see a few Mb being a good enough reason for Apple to allow it's removal, it will make things not "just work" and we know they like to keep things standard.
Personally I will be installing it, given the option. I can't think of anything specific, but why not have that functionality?

 

[chuckiej]

Everyone brace for the PPC owner backlash in this thread...

Well, yeah. Since I plan on keeping some of my PowerPC stuff for media servers and the like I would like to have the "cleaned up OS" to run on them. I would certainly want them to clean it up first for all of us - then go all Intel for 10.7

 

[ztigerpaw]

Sigh, getting harder and harder to run my 5 year old PowerBook.

Does that count as a backlash?

Just be glad Apple gave developers the option for Universal applications are there be an even bigger backlash right now.

 

[jaw04005]

Nope 10.5.6, apple is currently working on both 10.5.6 and 10.6 concurrently. The build referenced is for the next update to Leopard.

I would like to see both of those Mac OS X teams in action. How do they decide who works on what? If you're a semi-good programmer you get to patch the current operating system, and if you're really good you get to work on 10.6?

I would imagine most of the software engineering team would prefer to work on the new operating system.

 

[gnasher729]

Everyone brace for the PPC owner backlash in this thread...

PowerPC owners don't need Rosetta.

 

[rychencop]

Sigh, getting harder and harder to run my 5 year old PowerBook.

Does that count as a backlash?

5 years? it's time to upgrade anyway. bite the bullet!

 

[rikers_mailbox]

it's a shame. 10.6 with better OpenCL will better utilize discrete graphics cards. Yet the slower PPC processors that could really benefit from the technology won't be supported.

My 1.33 GHz Powerbook struggles to keep up with anything H.264 and the latest HD YouTube clips. Getting some optimization for running these would breath new life into the older machines.

 

[Small White Car]

I can't think of anything specific, but why not have that functionality?

I notice more crashes when things are running in it.

When I used to run MS Office in Rosetta I would see Final Cut crash a lot more often. Since I moved to Pages I see less of that.

Both my HP printer AND scanner use PPC software drivers. And they're not THAT old that I want to replace them, so I'm glad they will still support it.

And this kind of thing worries me MOST of all! When is a print-driver running? When I print? Sure, but for how long after? Does it shut down and go away, or remain in some sort of stand-by mode? Is it affecting my stability the same way other Rosetta programs have in the past?

I haven't got a clue to any of these questions which is why I'll be glad to be rid of the whole thing.

 

[Mr Skills]

What would be the advantage of not installing rosetta? If it's not running, surely there's no overhead.

Does it take up a lot of space? Maybe they are doing everything they can to get a slim install of Snow Leopard. That would be useful for something with lower hard drive capacity like a netbook or a tablet.

 

[the vj]

I have 5 power pc and one intel based...

And I do not feel the need of installing Leopard on the power PCs...

I have one 17" MBP with Leopard and I am fine with it because somke features here and there but I have a quad G5 and I am fine with it.

I mean, OSX'a on Macs are actually up to you, I do not see any improvement in performance and I work with 3D animation.

 

[infernohellion]

5 years? it's time to upgrade anyway. bite the bullet!

I agree. My MBP is 2.5 years old and it's started to fall apart. I am waiting for the 17" Unibody MBP. Once its out...

 

[BigD58]

The times...they are a changin'

 

[billandy]

Just reformatted my brand new MacBook. By eliminating all the unneeded extras like fonts, languages, and printer drivers (3.1 GB of printer drivers! No wonder things "just work" in Mac OSX!), X11, and iDVD/Garage band extra content, you can cut the 15 GB Mac os X install down to 6 GB.

That's a lot of stuff to clear out!

gosh, now with an average 160GB+ hard drive space, is it really worth to save that 9GB of space trading off great convenience which is the very reason most switchers made their decisions. probably makes more sense to macbook air users, but definitely i suppose most macbook/macbook pro users are very happy to let os x take that little extra bit of space. my guess would be that pretty much all mac users wouldn't care about this too much just like they wouldn't bother to separate the layers of toilet paper just so they get 3x value.

 

[Jon the Heretic]

Why shouldn't there be?

Everyone brace for the PPC owner backlash in this thread...

Why shouldn't there be?

 

[Amdahl]

I disagree with "forced."

Until Apple provides five years of security updates after last date of retail sale for an OS, the upgrades are forced.

 

[Amdahl]

i bought a ppc mac in nov 2005.

Yes, Macs were not 'completely Intel' until October 2006 when the Mac Pro shipped. Quad G5s were sold for months afterward in the stores, since intel apps were not widely available.

 

[steve9013]

Since when is Rosetta an PPC "emulator"?

 

[darwinian]

As far as I know, the only PPC app I still use is MTR. There's really no substitute, though.

 

[fleshman03]

Out with the old and in with the new.


BTW - with rosetta being optional, what does that actually mean? Can I simply choose not to install it when installing 10.6?

 

[talkingfuture]

Removing rosetta would make sense for those who don't need it. I've been using Macs since May 2006 and only used rosetta to run MS Office on my Macbook. Now I've got an iMac and use iWork. I have no need it for it taking up room on my machine.

 

[arkmannj]

it's a shame. 10.6 with better OpenCL will better utilize discrete graphics cards. Yet the slower PPC processors that could really benefit from the technology won't be supported.

My 1.33 GHz Powerbook struggles to keep up with anything H.264 and the latest HD YouTube clips. Getting some optimization for running these would breath new life into the older machines.

I would guess Apple is hoping people will be encouraged to purchase new machines.

As a side note, is anyone out there wanting to sell an older (even core 1's) macbook or macbook pro, please PM me.