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Mac OS X Panther 7B34 and Server 7B32

Quartz Extreme is the name for the graphics engine built into OS X, it combined the power of OpenGL, Quicktime, and the various features on your computer's graphics card to render all the cool effects that OS X is capable of, and yes, your computer has it. The cube thing is how Fast user switching works...if you go to Apple.com and go to the OS X and then Panther preview, they explain it with pictures to depict how it works.
 
Oh, and I have a question of my own for all those users with Panther...when you use Expose, do you have to keep your mouse button/keyboard button pressed the whole time, or does it activate and stay in Expose mode until you actually select a window or invoke Expose again? I'm just curious, especially with the show desktop mode, if it will hide the windows and keep them there so you can work with the desktop without the windows flying back.
 
Originally posted by Powerbook G5
Oh, and I have a question of my own for all those users with Panther...when you use Expose, do you have to keep your mouse button/keyboard button pressed the whole time, or does it activate and stay in Expose mode until you actually select a window or invoke Expose again? I'm just curious, especially with the show desktop mode, if it will hide the windows and keep them there so you can work with the desktop without the windows flying back.
Click to expand...

At least with the mouse, yes, you can have Expose remain active with one quick click.

I assigned the middle mouse button to have Expose show all windows on the screen and all I'd have to do is press it once and it will stick in Expose mode. I used this a lot as I just sit back and watch all the little windows since they are updated even in Expose mode. When I want to activate a window, I'd just click on it or press the mouse button again.

You can also hold the mouse button down for a lengthy amount of time and when you let go, the windows will snap back.
 
Originally posted by Powerbook G5
Quartz Extreme is the name for the graphics engine built into OS X, it combined the power of OpenGL, Quicktime, and the various features on your computer's graphics card to render all the cool effects that OS X is capable of, and yes, your computer has it. The cube thing is how Fast user switching works...if you go to Apple.com and go to the OS X and then Panther preview, they explain it with pictures to depict how it works.
Click to expand...
Well, not exactly ... Quartz is the 2D graphics engine for OS X. OpenGL is the 3D engine.

Quartz has two components:Core Services, which is the window manager and such, and Core Rendering, which, you guessed it, handles all the rendering.

Quartz Extreme is the bit that offloads alot of the rendering chores to the GPU. You have to have a fairly recent (last couple of years) graphics chip to take advantage of this.
 
Originally posted by gadg
What exactly is Quartz Extreme? And does the 12" Powerbook have it? And what's the cube thing? :)

Excuse my ignorance!
Click to expand...

Quartz Extreme is an extension of the Quartz window manager that offsets certain display tasks from the CPU to the GPU, thereby allowing the CPU to get on with other tasks unhindered.

The PowerBook 12" supports Quartz Extreme yes.

The 'cube thing' is an effect taken from Apple's Keynote presentation software where the screen is placed onto one side of a cube, and other users are placed on other sides of the cube. When you switch users the cube rotates (on QE systems) to reveal the other users desktop. It's very cool, and you can see it in action in the Webcast still available on Apple's site, along with Expose, which has changed slightly from the WWDC.

AppleMatt
 
Panther should run on your iMac just fine, the only system I'd be unsure about is the older Beige G3 systems since the beta versions seem to be missing that from the compatibility list.
 
so will panther run on a g3 imac? or only a g4+?
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It will run on a G3 (you will miss the cube effect but oh well) and it will make it quite a bit speedier too if I am to judge from what it has done on my 12" PB
 
Originally posted by Powerbook G5
Fast user switching looks cool, but since I am the only one who uses my computer, I won't have any need for that besides the cool factor.
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I think there are a lot of uses for fast user switching, even for a computer that is normally used by one user only:

  • Set up multiple workspaces for yourself (programming, graphics, music, VirtualPC, ...)
  • Create a guest user for surfing that can be used by your friends when they drop by, and lock your main account with a password
  • Use it for presentations to quickly switch between your presentation and a program you want to demo

If it is really that fast, I am probably gonna use it like virtual desktops under Linux. Very useful if you only have a small screen.
 
That's true...it could be a pretty cool virtual desktop on demand sort of thing...I guess you have to think outside of (or on) the box (pun very much intended) :)
 
That's what I do, I have my account, a test account (for new software and checking exsisting software etc), and a guest account.

I'm always switching between mine and the test account, even more with fast user switching.

AppleMatt
 
I have a setup like that on the family Dell with XP on it. There are the normal account that my parents have, then I made one for when I have to use it with all those graphics and crap turned off and lots of tweaks so when I have to use Windows to play games and stuff, it runs that much faster. I personally think the Windows 2000 look to the stripped down XP looks much better than the "Windows meets Tyco meets Crayola" look it has normally, plus it feels snappier, too.
 
Originally posted by crenz
I think there are a lot of uses for fast user switching, even for a computer that is normally used by one user only:

  • Set up multiple workspaces for yourself (programming, graphics, music, VirtualPC, ...)
  • Create a guest user for surfing that can be used by your friends when they drop by, and lock your main account with a password
  • Use it for presentations to quickly switch between your presentation and a program you want to demo

If it is really that fast, I am probably gonna use it like virtual desktops under Linux. Very useful if you only have a small screen.
Click to expand...
The problem I see with this is that you have to create the other "users" without passwords for it to be at all convenient, which leaves you wide open to getting hacked. If you use passwords, it's a major pain to switch between workspaces, since you are continually logging in.

Another problem is that you can't cut/copy/paste between workspace "users".

I think I'll continue to use Virtual Desktop from CodeTek.
 
If you don't already use a password for your main account, how would extra accounts leave you any more vulnerable than you currently are? As for the copy and paste...I wouldn't be surprised to see a work around with some kind of universal clipboard feature.
 
This is a good point - your machine is only as secure as your weakest point, so if you have one user that isn't protected, you have a hole, no matter how many other clients have password protection. Granted, if it's a simple user account without admin access, it's more difficult, but is still possible. You're best off using different accounts with different passwords on ALL of them to keep yourself safe, if this is a computer that will be used by multiple people. If it's just at your house, then security is only as big an issue as you perceive it to be.

And if it's that big of an issue, you shouldn't be looking at those websites anyway ;)
 
Well I wouldn't have to worry about my family since we have four computers at our house and I am the only one in my family who uses a Mac. As far as at school, my roommates both have their own laptops, so I doubt they'd have any reason to use mine.
 
Security

I just don't take security for granted if I'm connected to the 'net. Even a firewall doesn't ensure safety; there's always the possibility that the f/w has a whole/bug. If you're on the 'net, it's just insane not to have passwords on all your accounts.
I guess I've seen too many port scans hitting my router to think I'm not vulnerable. The good news is at least I'm not running Windows.

Just my take on it.
 
Re: Security

Originally posted by daveL
The good news is at least I'm not running Windows.
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But at least Windows has a kick-butt RPC implementation. ;)

I'd see the biggest issue with using Fast User Switching as a virtual desktop solution being that you're creating different users -- that involves the headaches of multiple UID's and home directories.

Though, if you're feeling really brave, break out your copy of NetInfo Manager and instead of creating accounts in the normal way (i.e.: through the Accounts prefs pane) just create clones of your regular user, each with a different name.

If you keep the same UID, GID, home directory, etc. then anything you do on any of the virtual desktops will appear to the system as if it's done by a single user.

daveL: What's been your experience with CodeTek Virtual Desktop and Panther? I tried it a couple of weeks ago, but had problems when mixing CTVD and Expose. Is that still a problem?
 
I did install VPC 6 under 7B21 and it seemed to be working correctly. I didn't do any extensive testing, or try running it and exercising Expose or FUS. When the next seed comes out, I'll try it again.
 
Originally posted by daveL
I did install VPC 6 under 7B21 and it seemed to be working correctly. I didn't do any extensive testing, or try running it and exercising Expose or FUS. When the next seed comes out, I'll try it again.
Click to expand...

My problems came about when I had a few windows on multiple desktops and then I executed "F9" (don't remember what it's really called.) Expose made a "place" for the windows on other desktops and when mousing over the "place" it highlighted it in blue, but never showed the actual windows themselves.

That's just with my regular ol' laptop display. Add CodeTek Virtual Desktop with Expose and throw in multiple monitor support and it gets seriously whacked. (Expose works beautiful with multiple monitors, by the way.)
 
Originally posted by cnladd
My problems came about when I had a few windows on multiple desktops and then I executed "F9" (don't remember what it's really called.) Expose made a "place" for the windows on other desktops and when mousing over the "place" it highlighted it in blue, but never showed the actual windows themselves.

That's just with my regular ol' laptop display. Add CodeTek Virtual Desktop with Expose and throw in multiple monitor support and it gets seriously whacked. (Expose works beautiful with multiple monitors, by the way.)
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Sorry, I didn't catch your CTVD reference the first time. I know there has been a recent CTVD release that mentions Panther beta, but I don't know if that's the issue for you. I've been trying to use Panther sans VirtualDesktop, just to see if Expose is enough. We'll see.
 
Originally posted by gadg
What exactly is Quartz Extreme? And does the 12" Powerbook have it? And what's the cube thing? :)

Excuse my ignorance!
Click to expand...
Here's some info...
Quartz Extreme is a way of using a graphic card's processor to do more Quartz work (Quartz is the OS X display system.) More (slighty marketing-ish) info can be found here. And, yes, the 12" PowerBook supports it. As for the "cube thing :)", when you do fast user switching in OS X v10.3 with QE, a metallic-looking cube spins from one user's desktop to the other. Pictures can be found here.
 
Originally posted by theipodgod16
so will panther run on a g3 imac? or only a g4+?:confused:
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Apparently Panther will run fine on a G3 (I hope so, I have one too.) One person who apparently has a developer preview of Panther runs it on an iBook G3 700. However rumors are that Panther no longer will run on Beige G3's.
 
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