Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard - What, Where, When, Why & How much
- Thread starter t0mat0
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
To Install Snow Leopard without burning the image to a DVD:
Boot in to OSX, mount the image, open terminal, type:
sudo "/Volumes/Mac OS X Install DVD/System/Installation/Packages/OSInstall.mpkg"
That'll start the install app. You can go through the entire install in Leopard. Sometimes it forgets to mark the disk as bootable (you'll know this because it doesn't show up when you hold ALT when you boot). In this case, enter:
sudo bless --folder "/Volumes/<X>/System/Library/CoreServices" --bootinfo --bootefi
where <X> is the name of the Volume you installed Snow Leopard to, in to the terminal.
Lots of people have been having trouble with this, so I thought I'd give them a hand.
Boot in to OSX, mount the image, open terminal, type:
sudo "/Volumes/Mac OS X Install DVD/System/Installation/Packages/OSInstall.mpkg"
That'll start the install app. You can go through the entire install in Leopard. Sometimes it forgets to mark the disk as bootable (you'll know this because it doesn't show up when you hold ALT when you boot). In this case, enter:
sudo bless --folder "/Volumes/<X>/System/Library/CoreServices" --bootinfo --bootefi
where <X> is the name of the Volume you installed Snow Leopard to, in to the terminal.
Lots of people have been having trouble with this, so I thought I'd give them a hand.
I can say it all again if you like, but I have already said it at least once.
I recently bought two new Macs. I want to wipe the drives and partition both of them and then install Mac OS X on one of the partitions on each Mac. I haven't done it yet because I haven't had the time. Because Snow Leopard is going to be released in September, then I want to wait until then to do it. I do not want to have to reinstall Leopard first just to install Snow Leopard over the top.
I'm not making it more difficult for myself at all. It's actually easier and quicker to install Snow Leopard once after I wipe and partition the drive than it is to be forced to reinstall Leopard and then install Snow Leopard over the top. I also know of other people that like to start completely fresh when a new version of Mac OS X is released, even if it is more difficult for them to do it that way. It's up to each individual, and there isn't a right or wrong preference regarding that. If some people choose to simply erase and install, then good luck to them.
If some people choose to completely wipe and and securely overwrite their drive first and then install Snow Leopard on a completely empty and clean bed of zeros, then that is their preference, even if takes longer. If it is not your preferred option, then that is not right or wrong either, just your preference. Each new version of Mac OS X has given everybody the choice to do this if they like, and I certainly hope that Snow Leopard is the same.
Also, there may be users that are planning to replace their hard drive when Snow Leopard is released. They may want to install a larger and faster hard drive in their Mac. They shouldn't have to be forced to install their copy of Leopard first, just to install Snow Leopard over the top, or side by side in the case of archive and install. Surely Apple will allow Snow Leopard to be installed on an empty drive and will require some other form of Leopard ownership confirmation.
What copy of Leopard on the drive?
The drive will be empty as I have said because I plan to partition them both when Snow Leopard is released.
Has Apple set precedent before on update only media vs full stand alone OS install media in recent OS 8 -> Leopard times?
Miss the Snow Leopard theme background? It's here
Snow Leopard on a touchscreen?
Erica Ogg talks about how Snow Leopard here. Interesting to note that the “Mac OS X State of the Union” at WWDC 2009 was this year changed to “Core OS State of the Union”. Note the “OS X” user base graph was OS X, not Mac OS X (i.e. it included Touchs and iPhones).
Gizmodo's take here
Snow Leopard's current look when first logged in:
Safari 4:
- Web spots
Chris at MyAppleGuide has some HD Snow Leopard videos on youtube (that haven't been pulled yet...) here - The Snow Leopard "Video Tour Series":
Intro
Finder
Stacks
Quicktime X
Preview 5.0
Jamaican meets Philly meets irish accent? Can't quite place it. if you want a video for the 10A380 seed on a certain feature - hit their forums to make a request.
Snow Leopard is now apparently using Base 10 counting for defining storage space available and used. ie 1MB = 1,000KB not 1024MB
Parallels demo on a Mac Pro with Leopard here - 2 virtual machines with direct control of one Quadro card each.
Miss the Snow Leopard theme background? It's here
Snow Leopard on a touchscreen?
Erica Ogg talks about how Snow Leopard here. Interesting to note that the “Mac OS X State of the Union” at WWDC 2009 was this year changed to “Core OS State of the Union”. Note the “OS X” user base graph was OS X, not Mac OS X (i.e. it included Touchs and iPhones).
Gizmodo's take here
Snow Leopard's current look when first logged in:
Safari 4:
- Web spots
Chris at MyAppleGuide has some HD Snow Leopard videos on youtube (that haven't been pulled yet...) here - The Snow Leopard "Video Tour Series":
Intro
Finder
Stacks
Quicktime X
Preview 5.0
Jamaican meets Philly meets irish accent? Can't quite place it. if you want a video for the 10A380 seed on a certain feature - hit their forums to make a request.
Snow Leopard is now apparently using Base 10 counting for defining storage space available and used. ie 1MB = 1,000KB not 1024MB
Parallels demo on a Mac Pro with Leopard here - 2 virtual machines with direct control of one Quadro card each.
ill give my two cents.
it seems that the snow leopard disk for $29 is just an upgrade disk.
meaning, you wont be able to install it without a previous install of leopard.
but apple also suggests that if you are upgrading from tiger, that you buy the Mac Box Set, that has snow leopard, iwork, and ilife. so if you wanted to do a clean install, that would probably be the way to go.
but circumventing that process seems difficult.
well, the snow leopard disk must have a restore/ erase function, so hope for an erase function while upgrading. i think leopard had that option, where you could erase the drive during an operating system upgrade...
it seems that the snow leopard disk for $29 is just an upgrade disk.
meaning, you wont be able to install it without a previous install of leopard.
but apple also suggests that if you are upgrading from tiger, that you buy the Mac Box Set, that has snow leopard, iwork, and ilife. so if you wanted to do a clean install, that would probably be the way to go.
but circumventing that process seems difficult.
well, the snow leopard disk must have a restore/ erase function, so hope for an erase function while upgrading. i think leopard had that option, where you could erase the drive during an operating system upgrade...
If they do that they're just asking for piracy. I know I wont buy it if it's only an upgrade disk. I want a clean install without having to worry about Leopard ever again
You do realize that for majority of people who already has leopard, 29$ for SL is a much better price than 129$ in this economy and they are just going to buy it right off the bat and those same people don't really care about full clean install, they're happy with the upgrade considering the fact there is no major GUI changes at all.
Apple might actually have more sales at 29$ than 129$ ever could with full copy of leopard.
Piracy is not going to be increased for SL, it is more likely to remain the same or less.
Plus Apple doesn't really care about piracy, the majority of money they make are from hardware sales not software and if they reallly care they would install some DRM or serial numbers but they didn't.
I've looked around the Internet, and it seems that many people will be wiping Leopard and then installing Snow Leopard on an empty or new hard drive. From what I understand now, this can be done, and not just an update for the people that have Leopard already on their hard drive. I am a Leopard owner, but I won't have Leopard on either of my Macs when I install Snow Leopard, and nor should I have to.
"Drop-in DVD's" are in fact a full retail copy of Mac OS X that requires a previous copy of Mac OS X to be installed, although there are ways to get around that. I think the Leopard owners that qualify for the $9.95 version of Snow Leopard for their newer Macs will get a "drop-in DVD," while the Leopard owners with older Macs must buy a $29.00 version of Snow Leopard that does not ask for a copy of Leopard to already be installed. Rightly so too. What a pain it would be to have to install two operating systems on to a new hard drive if the original hard drive failed sometime in the future.
That's what I plan to do. Just wondering if any of the forum pros have had such an experience with Apple's Up To Date program with previous releases.
Hardware Up to date program
For those reading this thread, looking to get Snow Leopard - who've bought a Mac since June 8th - I'd recommend purchasing early, in the possible ways on the page. The Terms & Conditions do state they give up to 4 weeks leeway for the disc to ship to you, so you're best off getting your order in soon (assuming first come first served) to reduce that waiting time.
http://www.apple.com/uk/macosx/uptodate/ and http://www.apple.com/macosx/uptodate/ (presumably there are other country specific uptodate program links.
Would be nice to be able to buy the OS at a Mac store at the reduced price (just coming in with the money, and the proof of qualifying purchase) but it might not be likely to happen. Not too shabby still, for an 10.x update.
Grand Central Dispatch
PDF from Apple on Grand Central Dispatch here. To recap - GCD is Apple's approach to multicore computing, to shift the responsibility of managing threads and their execution from applications to the OS. We'll see how it pans out - it isn't a universal panacea. To quote and mention a few sections:
Units of work are described as blocks in a developer's code. Queues are used to organize the blocks based on how the developer believes they need to be executed. This moves away from threads and thread managers. GCD reads the queues created by each application and assigns work from the queues to the threads it is managing. The threads are managed based on the number of cores available and the demands being made at any point in time on the computer. Apple lists the benefits of GCD as improved responsiveness, dynamic scaling, better processor utilization and cleaner code.
Blocks are an extension of C (and Obj-C and C++). A block in code is denoted by a a caret at the beginning of a function. E.g. To declare a block and assign it to x:
x = ^{ printf("hello world\n"); }
Turning the variable x into a way of calling the function so that calling x( ); in the code would print the words hello world.
"What’s really powerful about blocks is that they enable you to wrap much more complex functions—as well as their arguments and data—in a way that can be easily passed around in a program, much as a variable can be easily referenced and passed."
There is mention on the Snow Leopard Refinements page of the Xcode the Instruments application - part of the Xcode tools supplied with every OS (10.6) disc provides capabilities to analyse GCD usage and performance on multicore Macs. Developers using 10A380 discs might be able to analyse Apple's apps to see what their use of GCD is. (Also of note - this will be relevant to iPhone developers also, as the iPhone will go multicore in a year).
A numbers versus an animal
Paul Thurrot from winsupersite.com (who is also on TwiT with Leo Laporte on Windows Weekly)
has an article on Windows 7 vs Snow Leopard here.
I'd disagree on some points (saying that every 10.x update have not been major updates). Are both Windows 7 and Snow Leopard are minor, evolutionary updates, technologically? Thurrot states that Windows 7 is a major update from a user experience perspective, while Snow Leopard is not. part 1 of a series...
Edit - It is interesting to see him hold his position (that he can't do Mac, that his wife shouldn't etc) on Microsoft - he does admit to certain things - if you selectively quoted him, he'd be a Mac guy. Least he ain't as bad as Enderle or Dan Lyons.
Intel rebranding, renaming
Intel has given a statement explaining branding in the future. The Core CPU range will be split i3, i5 and i7 categories, each with different tiers of performance.
i3 - Lower performance
i5 - Mid-range
i7 - Maximum
But then of course, wouldn't CPUs need to be rebranded each year, as they become slower than newly released CPUs?
Lynnfield, the upcoming desktop chip, will fit into either the i5 or i7.
Clarksfield mobile chip will be an i7
The Centrino brand is being phased out and will in the future be used for Wi-Fi and WiMAX.
VP & Director of Corporate Marketing at Intel Deborah Conrad: ""In the back half of this year you'll begin to see Core i5 and more Core i7s coming to market. Then by the first part of next year you'll begin to see Core i3, and i5, i7. Then the old names will get retired as those products get phased out."
So they'll have:
Celeron for entry-level computing
Pentium for basic computing
Atom for all those devices they can cram it in.
Core i3 desktop and mobile
Core i5 desktop and mobile
Core i7 desktop and mobile
Clarksfield (a slower Lynnfield quad-core based on 45nm Nehalem)- will become Core i7.
Some Lynnfield CPUs might end be Core i7 slower ones Core i5.
Arrandale (32nm mobile) will initially be Core i3, then Core i5 and Core i7 as well.
Clarkdale (32nm desktop) will be Core i3 & Core i5.
In an attempt to simplify, we've got a year or so of both naming schemes on the market. Maybe a way to obfuscate the Clarksfield, Arrandale release period as well as clean up some confusion for normal customers (bigger i is better)
The problem, is that faster clock speed isn't necessarily better, you have to take into account the number of cores, if its 45nm or 32nm etc. You've got to factor in GPU and how well it works with the CPU now. The digital divide as this article calls it.
For those reading this thread, looking to get Snow Leopard - who've bought a Mac since June 8th - I'd recommend purchasing early, in the possible ways on the page. The Terms & Conditions do state they give up to 4 weeks leeway for the disc to ship to you, so you're best off getting your order in soon (assuming first come first served) to reduce that waiting time.
http://www.apple.com/uk/macosx/uptodate/ and http://www.apple.com/macosx/uptodate/ (presumably there are other country specific uptodate program links.
Would be nice to be able to buy the OS at a Mac store at the reduced price (just coming in with the money, and the proof of qualifying purchase) but it might not be likely to happen. Not too shabby still, for an 10.x update.
Grand Central Dispatch
PDF from Apple on Grand Central Dispatch here. To recap - GCD is Apple's approach to multicore computing, to shift the responsibility of managing threads and their execution from applications to the OS. We'll see how it pans out - it isn't a universal panacea. To quote and mention a few sections:
Units of work are described as blocks in a developer's code. Queues are used to organize the blocks based on how the developer believes they need to be executed. This moves away from threads and thread managers. GCD reads the queues created by each application and assigns work from the queues to the threads it is managing. The threads are managed based on the number of cores available and the demands being made at any point in time on the computer. Apple lists the benefits of GCD as improved responsiveness, dynamic scaling, better processor utilization and cleaner code.
Blocks are an extension of C (and Obj-C and C++). A block in code is denoted by a a caret at the beginning of a function. E.g. To declare a block and assign it to x:
x = ^{ printf("hello world\n"); }
Turning the variable x into a way of calling the function so that calling x( ); in the code would print the words hello world.
"What’s really powerful about blocks is that they enable you to wrap much more complex functions—as well as their arguments and data—in a way that can be easily passed around in a program, much as a variable can be easily referenced and passed."
There is mention on the Snow Leopard Refinements page of the Xcode the Instruments application - part of the Xcode tools supplied with every OS (10.6) disc provides capabilities to analyse GCD usage and performance on multicore Macs. Developers using 10A380 discs might be able to analyse Apple's apps to see what their use of GCD is. (Also of note - this will be relevant to iPhone developers also, as the iPhone will go multicore in a year).
A numbers versus an animal
has an article on Windows 7 vs Snow Leopard here.
I'd disagree on some points (saying that every 10.x update have not been major updates). Are both Windows 7 and Snow Leopard are minor, evolutionary updates, technologically? Thurrot states that Windows 7 is a major update from a user experience perspective, while Snow Leopard is not. part 1 of a series...
Edit - It is interesting to see him hold his position (that he can't do Mac, that his wife shouldn't etc) on Microsoft - he does admit to certain things - if you selectively quoted him, he'd be a Mac guy. Least he ain't as bad as Enderle or Dan Lyons.
Intel rebranding, renaming
Intel has given a statement explaining branding in the future. The Core CPU range will be split i3, i5 and i7 categories, each with different tiers of performance.
i3 - Lower performance
i5 - Mid-range
i7 - Maximum
But then of course, wouldn't CPUs need to be rebranded each year, as they become slower than newly released CPUs?
Lynnfield, the upcoming desktop chip, will fit into either the i5 or i7.
Clarksfield mobile chip will be an i7
The Centrino brand is being phased out and will in the future be used for Wi-Fi and WiMAX.
VP & Director of Corporate Marketing at Intel Deborah Conrad: ""In the back half of this year you'll begin to see Core i5 and more Core i7s coming to market. Then by the first part of next year you'll begin to see Core i3, and i5, i7. Then the old names will get retired as those products get phased out."
So they'll have:
Celeron for entry-level computing
Pentium for basic computing
Atom for all those devices they can cram it in.
Core i3 desktop and mobile
Core i5 desktop and mobile
Core i7 desktop and mobile
Clarksfield (a slower Lynnfield quad-core based on 45nm Nehalem)- will become Core i7.
Some Lynnfield CPUs might end be Core i7 slower ones Core i5.
Arrandale (32nm mobile) will initially be Core i3, then Core i5 and Core i7 as well.
Clarkdale (32nm desktop) will be Core i3 & Core i5.
In an attempt to simplify, we've got a year or so of both naming schemes on the market. Maybe a way to obfuscate the Clarksfield, Arrandale release period as well as clean up some confusion for normal customers (bigger i is better)
The problem, is that faster clock speed isn't necessarily better, you have to take into account the number of cores, if its 45nm or 32nm etc. You've got to factor in GPU and how well it works with the CPU now. The digital divide as this article calls it.
He is right in that he stated from a user's perspective, both OS are minor updates. However from a technological point of view, he was definitely wrong in stating that SL is a minor technological update and SL is a minor system update. He already stated that he knew it would upset some mac fans which shows he's not even trying to be more right.
Windows 7 is different from Vista. I played with it and I have to say that W7 is a major improvement from Vista, everything about it is clean and simple as well as "light and thin" where Vista (pre-SP2) was dark, fat, slow and confusing.
SL is just a refined Leopard with non-noticeable huge technological changes that would define the next several versions of Mac OS X and for all Mac developers who will be taking advantage of the SL' APIs.
When it comes to user's perspective, W7 wins, when it comes to technology, SL wins, both in terms of comparing both updates to previous OS versions (W7>Vista, SL>Leo). Overall, SL is a winner.
That's my SL vs. W7 review, simple and cut to the point.
Windows 7 is different from Vista. I played with it and I have to say that W7 is a major improvement from Vista, everything about it is clean and simple as well as "light and thin" where Vista (pre-SP2) was dark, fat, slow and confusing.
SL is just a refined Leopard with non-noticeable huge technological changes that would define the next several versions of Mac OS X and for all Mac developers who will be taking advantage of the SL' APIs.
When it comes to user's perspective, W7 wins, when it comes to technology, SL wins, both in terms of comparing both updates to previous OS versions (W7>Vista, SL>Leo). Overall, SL is a winner.
That's my SL vs. W7 review, simple and cut to the point.
First off Thurrots a moron and I don't even click on his flamebait anymore. He's got nothing offer as far as technological wisdom as far as i'm concerned.
Windows 7 is most definitely a leap forward in usability and is markedly better than Vista not because it brings forth new innovative UI but because Vista was so craptastic.
Leopard was a nice jump forward with a slightly revamped Finder improvements, Spotlight improvements, Quick Look and more. No one was screaming about how ****** Leopard was.
So when someone tries to compare the Windows 7 update to Snow Leopard they have to provide proper context.
Vista - dissapointing
Leopard - fastest selling OS version in Apple history
Nuff said
Best change ever! It has irritated me for years and i can't believe it took Apple six major releases of OS X to fix it.
As I already stated, no problems at all. It backed up, encrypted it, synced and transfered apps,music,notes up to iTunes without any issues.
Moronic. You won't click the link so you won't see how it was a sensibly written article.
You are saying Vista was disappointing based on the bad press at release, ignoring that its now very stable and even the cheapest hardware can run it. I don't believe you have used Vista at all recently.
But keep living in your blinkered little world.
I really hate the stupid play button on movie icons now. You cant double click the middle of icons anymore because it will just play the thumbnail instead of open... you have to click the edges to open them. Are they nuts? Keep all the gimmick stuff in cover flow view please.
I also dont like how you cant have the files play automatically when you open them since they took out the preferences for Quicktime. It just doesnt make sense, why would anyone want to double click the file then click the play button? If they opened the file then obviously they want it to play. Augh.
Quicktime still needs a lot of work, it seems really unstable. Im hoping preferences will return too. The way SL handles movies so far is really irritating.
Stack navigation is of course really nice.
I also dont like how you cant have the files play automatically when you open them since they took out the preferences for Quicktime. It just doesnt make sense, why would anyone want to double click the file then click the play button? If they opened the file then obviously they want it to play. Augh.
Quicktime still needs a lot of work, it seems really unstable. Im hoping preferences will return too. The way SL handles movies so far is really irritating.
Stack navigation is of course really nice.