Mac OS X 10.5.1 Update Finalized?

[kingtj]

re: stacks and folders on the dock

Yeah, I think almost everyone can agree that "Stacks" is half-baked right now. On the other hand, I did use folders in the dock in Tiger, and I always felt like that was a bit "half baked" as well. Sure, it did the job ... but it made people ask "Why not just have an alias to the folder on your desktop itself, instead of down in the dock, where it takes up valuable space?"

(If you have a lot of applications you use regularly, your dock gets overcrowded quickly enough anyway - leading to very small icons down there, etc.)

The thing is, "Stacks" needs to offer some kind of unique functionality to go with the new appearance. Then it would make sense. (EG. I could see it serving as an elegant way to solve my above complaint of the dock getting too crowded. How about a way to create a "stack" for each of a group of folders containing all your software, like a "Games" folder, a "Utilities" folder, an "Applications" folder, etc. Then design "Stacks" so it only shows actual launchable apps when you click it, vs. showing you all files in that folder. It would effectively give you multiple "docks" within the main dock that way.)

Quoted for truth, this is the best description I've heard as to why Stacks Suck (and they do), I suspect the people who like them never used folders in the Dock in Tiger.

 

[cohibadad]

Im starting to think the 10.4.11 update has been scraped.

No it hasn't.

Well I'd love to see Airtunes support put back into Front Row, but I doubt we will see it for a long time.

I don't know exactly how Airtunes works but if you are talking about sharing music across your network Front Row has that. But the best part IMO is the sharing of Movies! across your network streaming to 1 or more machines simultaneously. wow. My prediction is that Apple is going to activate Back to my Mac for the iPhone to allow streaming content from your home Mac to your iPhone, music and video. All the parts are in place.

 

[InLikeALion]

Icons for Stacks

And of course the biggie, that you can no longer heirarchically navigate folders sitting in the dock.

My biggest problem, as you mention, is the ever-changing icon. As I mentioned a while ago in another thread, I have several folders docked, and use each of them for various media files while I work, plus the downloads folder and my documents folder.

As I work, download required files, shift stuff between my media folder and documents folder, the icons are not only changing each time but often end up as the same thing (ie, a Quicktime movie icon, an AC3 audio file icon). Within a few minutes I'm totally lost.

Absolutely ridiculous.

I haven't been able to read through all the posts yet, but I'm just posting this work around for the stack's icons here because I haven't seen in mentioned in any of the threads I've read:

http://arstechnica.com/journals/apple.ars/2007/11/12/enhance-stacks-with-stacks-overlays

Like I said, it's a work around, but seems like it might be preferable to any other options so far? I don't have Leopard yet - I'm just trying not to assume everyone knows about this, just in case people haven't tried it yet.

 

[puk]

Time Machine on MBR Disk

Any word on whether it will fix Time Machine backups to disks with MBR partitioning schemes?

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=306932

I'm about to go through a painful backup/restore process to repartition, would love it if I didn't have to.

-puk

 

[morespce54]

Can't wait to try it.
after everyone else has.

No problem. I will install it the minute it comes out... Can't wait to have all those icons problems sorted...

You know, the shares icons that don't show up or that always shows up even when I'm disconnected, or icons that simply vanishes and then comes back, or stacks that don't *really* get sorted by names, you know, that kind of stuff

 

[Peace]

Any word on whether it will fix Time Machine backups to disks with MBR partitioning schemes?

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=306932

I'm about to go through a painful backup/restore process to repartition, would love it if I didn't have to.

-puk

Fix? That's not a bug.MBR is for DOS and Windows.OS X uses the GUID Partition table.Has been that way for quit a while.Time Machine uses the GUID scheme.
It's not for Windows.

 

[jazzkids]

hope they fix Automator and renaming finder files

 

[slackpacker]

I haven't been able to read through all the posts yet, but I'm just posting this work around for the stack's icons here because I haven't seen in mentioned in any of the threads I've read:

http://arstechnica.com/journals/apple.ars/2007/11/12/enhance-stacks-with-stacks-overlays

Like I said, it's a work around, but seems like it might be preferable to any other options so far? I don't have Leopard yet - I'm just trying not to assume everyone knows about this, just in case people haven't tried it yet.

With all the other things that could be wrong about an Operating system.... The Stack issues are really Trivial & Cosmetic.

 

[Eduardo1971]

As for you guys that are clearly getting all moist about 10.5.1.. Seriously guys, get a grip of yourselves.

Ahh, you might want to rephrase that.

 

[mwp98223]

This doesn't make them perfect, but it really, really helps!

http://t.ecksdee.org/post/19001860

I HIGHLY suggest using these!

(NOTE that it's not a hack or a program...just icons you drop in each folder.)

I loaded this up last night and like it. I would have enjoyed a little color with the drawers, but it definitely "fixes" the changing icons "bug" with stacks. One issue this creates is forcing a sort by date modified. Sorting my name can be more useful, especially in the applications folder.

 

[MrCrowbar]

With all the other things that could be wrong about an Operating system.... The Stack issues are really Trivial & Cosmetic.

Thanks so much!
On that site, it says you can just make an alias of a folder and drag that alias onto the dock. You can then delete the original alias and you got a nice folder icon in the dock that opens the folder in Finder when clicked. yay!

EDIT: Damn, after emptying the trash this no longer works. You have to keep the original aliases somewhere. I suggest a folder inside your documents or something

 

[Eraserhead]

Thanks so much!
On that site, it says you can just make an alias of a folder and drag that alias onto the dock. You can then delete the original alias and you got a nice folder icon in the dock that opens the folder in Finder when clicked. yay!

EDIT: Damn, after emptying the trash this no longer works. You have to keep the original aliases somewhere. I suggest a folder inside your documents or something

Except then the "Stack" doesn't appear for the folder .

 

[xenotaku]

Wah, wah, wah!

I am getting so tired of hearing this stuff about stacks. They are missing the ability to customise the icon on the top and the ability to navigate the stack. Big deal. It's already been implied that the functionality will likely be added back soon as well as the ability to use "smart stacks."

For cripes sake it's a brand new feature in a 1.0 version of the new dock in the new operating system. Give them more than a week or so after launch to get things right before you start putting Steve Jobs' head on a pike maybe?

Personally, I was hyper-critical of a lot of Leopard stuff, but since I installed it at home last week I like it a little bit more with each passing day. The new dock enhancements like the stacks have actually improved my productivity as they might for you "anti-stack-ites" if you just relax a little and try to use it.

Tiger is already starting to look crummy, and feel "clunky" to me. Can't wait until it's gone forever!

I used "stacks" in Tiger and hell was it awesome. It might not have been called stacks, but placing folders on my dock was a heck lot more functional that stacks. There is nothing new about stacks, its just a shiny less useful version of something many of have been doing for many years. The only people that don't mind stacks are the people that didn't fully utilize their docks in Tiger.

 

[wngraham]

i have no major problems with 10.5 what was wrong with 10.4.10 why you all want .11 so badly somebody fill me in

It allows use of the period (.) in sentences.

 

[Small White Car]

I loaded this up last night and like it. I would have enjoyed a little color with the drawers, but it definitely "fixes" the changing icons "bug" with stacks. One issue this creates is forcing a sort by date modified. Sorting my name can be more useful, especially in the applications folder.

Re-name the icon as "0" and it should always come up first when sorted by name.

 

[Darkroom]

globs and blobs

I dont know why, but I dont have half the problems you guys have... iChat has never crashed on me in Leo - I use it every day. Multiple chats (in multiple spaces), video, screen sharing on local network, screen sharing across internet, etc. Safari hasnt crashed either.

And Google Earth works just fine.

except for that glob on the left in Google Earth that's suppose to represent text? looks the same way on all leopard machines i think...

Overall Leopard is working well for me and I like it.

But I'm experiencing a problem with Safari not rendering some pages correctly, which it used to render perfectly well in Tiger. This is affecting the Seller's Page on Amazon.com. All the text on this page appears as extremely tiny unreadable clumps.

Also there are several other little things I wish Apple would fix:

• The Dock doesn't redraw correctly after you quit a graphics intensive app such as the Zinni Zeala pinball game. Some of the icons appear as green blobs.
• When running the "repair preferences" feature of Disk Utility, the progress bar doesn't give any useful info like it used to. Also reparing preferences only took around ten seconds or so on Tiger, but on leopard it takes about 5 minutes - why?
• When you select a file name in the Finder, the extension remains unselected - so I then have to reselect all the text.

I'm just hoping that Apple has read my feedback and are fixing these bugs in this release.

any screenshots of the blob? i'd love to see it...

 

[Siemova]

I like stacks but I absolutely want to be able to click a folder in the dock and have it open a folder window! To fix this, they simply need to add to the View As menu item. In addition to Fan and Grid, they need Folder. When set to View As Folder, the icon in the dock should remain a folder, it should open a folder window when clicked, and a hierarchical menu when pressed - like in Tiger. Easy and clean.

Sounds like a simple, elegant, awesome solution. I'd be all over it.

 

[vassillios]

Quoted for truth, this is the best description I've heard as to why Stacks Suck (and they do), I suspect the people who like them never used folders in the Dock in Tiger.

I still don't understand why people can't click on "show in finder" in the stack. sure, it's one more click, but you can still open a finder in the dock this way AND get the stack view.

I agree this doesn't fix the contextual menu heirarchial view in the dock. And i also agree that it should be an option to totally bypass the stack option and go straight to folder view.

 

[milo]

except for that glob on the left in Google Earth that's suppose to represent text? looks the same way on all leopard machines i think...

I don't have a glob on my leopard machine, in that spot it says "Add Content".

 

[Siemova]

I read somewhere--and now I can't for the life of me remember where, unfortunately--that 10.5.1 will enable Apple software to be updated regardless of its location. So we'll be able to put Apple programs into subfolders of the Applications folder, or even another folder altogether. I hope that's true. Could make Stacks a lot more useful. Right now I'm using a bunch of folders full of aliases instead.

 

[tgildred]

No but they improved the Stacks engine and it will now suck much harder

and faster.

 

[vassillios]

I used "stacks" in Tiger and hell was it awesome. It might not have been called stacks, but placing folders on my dock was a heck lot more functional that stacks. There is nothing new about stacks, its just a shiny less useful version of something many of have been doing for many years. The only people that don't mind stacks are the people that didn't fully utilize their docks in Tiger.

This is an incorrect statement. I utilized folders perfectly in Tiger. The reason Stacks can be better is that:

a) a large icon represents the application instead of just a file name
b) extra unncecessary windows are not opened. why do I need to open an extra finder window to launch an application?

I think that some are not utilizing Stacks properly. For me, I created an extra folder called "Music Apps" and put aliases of all my music applications in this folder and moved this folder into my dock (did the same for all final cut apps).

Now I just click on my "Music Apps" stack and click on the app I need. I can find it easier because a big 'ol icon shows me what I need...AND I don't need to close an extra finder window later.

I love stacks but do feel the idea can be improved upon by bringing back tiger elements to dock folders for those who need them.

 

[EagerDragon]

I think that's one of those "That's not a bug, that's a feature!" kind of things. Probably so if you accidently named a document wrong, you don't accidently change the extension.

Most people want to change the name and not the extension, this is a feature for those users that accidentaly change the extension and end up not being able to open the file or opening it with the wrong application.

 

[EagerDragon]

Nothing is wrong with the firewall, guys who read FUD

Seriously. Its an Application Firewall, not a port/network firewall. Its purpose is to allow or disallow applications from accessing the internet to protect you from malicious servers/apps. It is separate from what you think of as a firewall - ipfw. ipfw still exists in Leopard and works well. What you think of as a firewall is ipfw and works great.

What Apple does need to do is change the terminology of the App Firewall so that its better understood (instead of just being in a KB article) AND add basic IPFW configurability for advanced users.

Sorry but ipfw is no longer enabled/actively filtering by default and the user either needs to jump into the console or needs to download an application to make the rules.

The simple test is a port scan using TCP and UDP, I think you will notice the difference. Run it against Tiger and then Leopard. Also the fact that by default, the Leopard firewall is in allow all mode, makes no sense. Those on laptops or that are otherwise mobile, will not have a Nating router to protect them while on the road.

Any reasonable firewall (port or app based) need to deny by default all connections with just a few exceptions. Not be on allow all and disallow a few.

And the worst part is that no matter how hard you worked in securing the system via the Tiger firewall, Leopard upgrade undid your work and some users did not know to check. I have never heard of an OS, messing with the settings of the firewall if they were set by the user. And in the few cases where LInux changed the entire firewall, it was disabled and you knew ahead of time to redo the work.

 

[Manatee]

Ok, the mini-MacBook may not be what I'm hoping for, and the new iPhone features may not be what I'm hoping for, but I think this update is going to be exactly what I want!