The "Bring Back Translucent Menus" Thread

[TheSpaz]

Definately disable the hack BEFORE updating to 10.5.3. I didn't and 10.5.3 failed to boot (stuck at the gray Apple loading screen) On investigating the crash logs I found out it had something to do with the translucent menus. I had to Archive and Install and combo update to 10.5.3. All working OK now. But no translucent menus

That's what happened to me, so I SSH'd using the Terminal and I was able to put the backup files back into place. All is working (except I don't have the translucent menu option in the Desktops and Screensavers control panel).

 

[macrem]

I'm waiting before upgrading to 10.5.3 for a solution to restore translucent menus.

 

[thefunkymunky]

That's what happened to me, so I SSH'd using the Terminal and I was able to put the backup files back into place. All is working (except I don't have the translucent menu option in the Desktops and Screensavers control panel).

Strange. The option is there for me...and it works. On 10.5.2 with the hack installed I couldn't use the Translucent Menu Bar option.

 

[siorai]

Definately disable the hack BEFORE updating to 10.5.3. I didn't and 10.5.3 failed to boot (stuck at the gray Apple loading screen) On investigating the crash logs I found out it had something to do with the translucent menus. I had to Archive and Install and combo update to 10.5.3. All working OK now. But no translucent menus

Oh man.. Is that what hosed my system? Ah well... Back to normal now after a reinstall.

 

[Fuzzy-Wan]

How are we going to hack this now? The old hack doesn't work anymore.

Oh, this totally sucks. And my little shell scripts are superfluous now (undoing the hack will be a little easier for me if no one else).

I want my translucent menus back, you bastards!

[Dramatically shakes fist in the general direction of Cupertino ... from a point 2,611 miles away. Realizes the futility of said gesture and drowns sorrows in a pint of Ben & Jerry's.]

 

[iomanoid]

I am FURIOUS about this. Like most of you, I had been hoping/expecting for Apple to include an option for menu translucency in 10.5.3, after the furore the 10.5.2 update generated. Not only have they failed to do this, but it seems that what little translucency was left in 10.5.2, has now GONE COMPLETELY.

I'm almost certain that selling a retail product with a feature enabled and then removing that feature later for no good reasons amounts to a plausible form of false advertising or plain deceit, and thus opens up the possibility to address this via legal action. As others have said, I paid for my translucent menus. Since it seems clear the "nice polite request" path is futile, I for one am now prepared to get my hands dirty.

 

[macrem]

Yeah, it makes no sense whatsoever to force feed us opaque menus. Is pissing off customers their goal? Unbelievable!

 

[The General]

My menus are still transparent, they are just BARELY transparent. You can see if if you tilt the screen way back, or if you photoshop a screenshot. I think it is pointless, and I would prefer total opacity.

The menus have always been this opacity.

10.5.3:

10.5.2:

 

[kuwisdelu]

My menus are still transparent, they are just BARELY transparent. You can see if if you tilt the screen way back, or if you photoshop a screenshot. I think it is pointless, and I would prefer total opacity.

The menus have always been this opacity.

This has been brought up before. Yes, there is still some transparency still there, but nothing like in 10.5.0-1. I did a comparison, and the current transparency is equal to about 95-97% opacity in GIMP. We want out 10.5.1 menus back, not some useless 3% transparency.

 

[Fuzzy-Wan]

Um ... guys?

Tonight I reversed the hack and installed 10.5.3 through Software Update. I noticed that the menus still had some transparency -- not what I wanted, but not totally opaque as some have reported.

So I ran the hack again.

Don't ask me why it's working for me and not other people, but it's plain as day. And I'm not complaining...

 

[bobertoq]

I like the transparent menus

Tonight I reversed the hack and installed 10.5.3 through Software Update. I noticed that the menus still had some transparency -- not what I wanted, but not totally opaque as some have reported.

So I ran the hack again.

Don't ask me why it's working for me and not other people, but it's plain as day. And I'm not complaining...

I like it and I also like the dock

 

[Fuzzy-Wan]

I like it and I also like the dock

That comes courtesy of Mirage, the Best Dock Hack Ever.

 

[TheSpaz]

Tonight I reversed the hack and installed 10.5.3 through Software Update. I noticed that the menus still had some transparency -- not what I wanted, but not totally opaque as some have reported.

So I ran the hack again.

Don't ask me why it's working for me and not other people, but it's plain as day. And I'm not complaining...

Holy Crap it WORKS! You're a genius! I think I know why the hack broke... I think when 10.5.3 ran the scripts, it tried updating those core files instead of writing completely new ones in their place. Now that we've replaced them completely with the whole ones from 10.5.1, it works again. Brilliant! (I could be wrong though, I'm glad it's working however... nice!)

 

[Stratus Fear]

Holy Crap it WORKS! You're a genius! I think I know why the hack broke... I think when 10.5.3 ran the scripts, it tried updating those core files instead of writing completely new ones in their place. Now that we've replaced them completely with the whole ones from 10.5.1, it works again. Brilliant! (I could be wrong though, I'm glad it's working however... nice!)

Sorry I didn't get around to this earlier, but it's good to see someone tried it and it still works.

The reason your OS died is that Apple updated HIToolbox, but not CoreUI. Installing the new file through 10.5.3 put back in a version of HIToolbox that was trying to make a call to a method that doesn't exist in pre-10.5.2 CoreUI. Because of this, no GUI related stuff would be able to load. I figured this out before installing 10.5.3, but I didn't get much of a chance to try the hack on .3 because the update hosed my MBA on something completely unrelated (machine locked up during install). Thank god for Time Machine backups. But between that and a busy weekend, I haven't had any time to look at it.

Thanks Fuzzy-Wan for trying it out!

 

[Stratus Fear]

It definitely works. Screen right here.

 

[macrem]

Awesome, thank you for figuring this out Fuzzy-Wan! And thank you again StratusFear for making it possible!

After seeing Fuzzy-Wan's message, I put back the 10.5.2 files, then upgraded to 10.5.3, then copied SF's files to the system...

Now we are the few who have what a majority of users want: cool transparent menus with the blur effect (which look awesome, are readable & are consistent with other transparent elements such as the menubar) + all the latest software updates

Let's hope that Apple will finally get the message in time for 10.5.4 and provide an option that suits both the minority of dullards who prompted Apple to take away transparent menus and people with a flair for coolness At least it looks like we're set until then...

 

[Stratus Fear]

Yeah, I definitely hope Apple gets the idea. There could be a point where 10.5.1 files just won't work on a newer patch. That wouldn't be cool

 

[Fuzzy-Wan]

Glad I could help. It would've been a real bummer being stuck with solid menus.

But I have to thank TheSpaz for discovering (the hard way ) that the hack breaks 10.5.3, and posting the news here. Otherwise I would've been totally oblivious and spent Saturday night restoring from backup after the update turned my Mac into a paperweight...

And let this be a lesson to you, Apple. We will not be denied.

 

[TheSpaz]

Glad I could help. It would've been a real bummer being stuck with solid menus.

But I have to thank TheSpaz for discovering (the hard way ) that the hack breaks 10.5.3, and posting the news here. Otherwise I would've been totally oblivious and spent Saturday night restoring from backup after the update turned my Mac into a paperweight...

And let this be a lesson to you, Apple. We will not be denied.

You wouldn't have had to restore from a Backup if you have SSH access to your Mac from another computer. I actually installed the update over VNC from work and then noticed I could no longer VNC into my computer, so then I figured out that SSH was still working and running, so I did ssh myusername@my.ip.address and restored the backup files that I had from 10.5.2 and rebooted and everything worked again... hehe. All from work!

 

[Fuzzy-Wan]

You wouldn't have had to restore from a Backup if you have SSH access to your Mac from another computer.

SSH is one of those things I think about every once in a while but never get around to setting up. (Which is a little odd, because I've been using VNC and the like to remote control Windows for years.) Whether I would have realized it was the menu hack is another question.

Call me paranoid or a Windows victim, but I would never try a major OS update via VNC. I installed a run-of-the-mill security update once and it borked my system, so I always do a backup immediately before an update.

 

[TheSpaz]

SSH is one of those things I think about every once in a while but never get around to setting up. (Which is a little odd, because I've been using VNC and the like to remote control Windows for years.) Whether I would have realized it was the menu hack is another question.

Call me paranoid or a Windows victim, but I would never try a major OS update via VNC. I installed a run-of-the-mill security update once and it borked my system, so I always do a backup immediately before an update.

You don't install OVER VNC, you simply use VNC to download the update on the remote computer and install the update and then clicking restart... that's all I did.

 

[Fuzzy-Wan]

You don't install OVER VNC, you simply use VNC to download the update on the remote computer and install the update and then clicking restart... that's all I did.

Yeah, I know -- what I mean is, I don't trust an update unless I'm in the same room with the machine.

I could VNC into the office right now and install XP SP3 on all of our PCs, but I'd be insane to do that.

Not to suggest that you're insane, of course.

Randall

 

[TheSpaz]

Yeah, I know -- what I mean is, I don't trust an update unless I'm in the same room with the machine.

I could VNC into the office right now and install XP SP3 on all of our PCs, but I'd be insane to do that.

Not to suggest that you're insane, of course.

Randall

What's insane is that I was still able to fix it remotely... haha. I guess I have guts. Hehe. I didn't wanna wait til I got home to install the update, that's how eager I was. I was looking forward to better 8800 GT drivers, but hasn't seemed to fix ANY of the driver bugs... hmm...

 

[dsharits]

Well, it didn't work for me in 10.5.3. I did everything exactly as described, but on the restart it hung on the gray Apple screen. Fortunately, I was able to restore the original files and start it right up as normal.

 

[TheSpaz]

Well, it didn't work for me in 10.5.3. I did everything exactly as described, but on the restart it hung on the gray Apple screen. Fortunately, I was able to restore the original files and start it right up as normal.

Could it be that you're using a PPC machine and the files were taken from a MacBook Air (Intel)?