Tiger - What's the Verdict?

[Xtremehkr]

No problems at all.

Did a regular install on my G5 iMac and everything worked well.

Then I linked my G3 iMac to my G5, rebooted and did a transfer from the G5 to the G3 since the G3 does not have a DVD drive. Installed Tiger on my G3 as well. It took quite a while on the G3, at least an hour. I don't know if that was because I was transferring info or because it was a G3.

What is interesting is switching back between the two and seeing what Tiger can do on a G5 and what it will do on a G3. The differences are seamless, but they are there. Without missing a step, the G3 just won't do certain things that the G5 will.

No problems per se, but the program is a little rough around the edges in some areas. Little things that don't pose a problem but will no doubt be fixed in coming updates.

Either than that, the fans on my G5 have been running a lot less than normal. And overall the system is faster.

10.5 is going to have to have some considerable improvements for me to leave Tiger behind. I think OSX has just about reached its pinnacle as far as improvements that are worth $129 go. But I wouldn't be upset if Apple surprised me with some more good stuff.

 

[840quadra]

connection issue.. duplicate post

 

[840quadra]

so far so good.

I am working with some minor application issues with DVD processing, but other then that I have had a stable system. I am about 80% completed with my checklist of to-do items before I migrate off of my G3 to make the G5 my primary box, and make the transition to my G5 complete.

 

[840quadra]

Connection issue.. duplicate post

 

[840quadra]

Connection issue.. duplicate post

 

[ghostee]

Did a multiple pass zero-out before installing Tiger. Installation went great, no problems what-so-ever. Played around for a bit, and began downloading the latest versions of all the programs I use. Also copied some archived data from Panther (bookmarks, address book backup, mail folders). The only problem I encountered was in Mail. I tried importing the mailboxes from a backup of what I thought were the neccessary files from my past Panter setup. Well, it didn't work, and I guess I'm going to call it a loss and start fresh without my custom boxes and saved messages (only a few, luckily).

Other than that, have had no crashes or noticed anything abnormal. I havn't played around too much yet, just been using the system like I always do. I have setup some widgets on Dashboard and they have never caused a problem. The iTunes one had considerable lag in detecting I had iTunes open and playing before giving me that information, but I removed it early on so I don't know if that is normal or a freak instance.

ACTUALLY, Safari was giving me intermittent problems loading up a few websites that would load fine in Firefox. (ex: circuitcity.com) The issue was intermittent and worked fine last I tried.

So the verdict is good. Only a few problems, which are to be expected in a .0 release. Definately worth trying on a non-production/vital system.

3rd party apps that work fine: Azureus, SoulseeX, x-Chat aqua, VLC, Firefox

 

[nospleen]

Did a multiple pass zero-out before installing Tiger. Installation went great, no problems what-so-ever. Played around for a bit, and began downloading the latest versions of all the programs I use. Also copied some archived data from Panther (bookmarks, address book backup, mail folders). The only problem I encountered was in Mail. I tried importing the mailboxes from a backup of what I thought were the neccessary files from my past Panter setup. Well, it didn't work, and I guess I'm going to call it a loss and start fresh without my custom boxes and saved messages (only a few, luckily).

Other than that, have had no crashes or noticed anything abnormal. I havn't played around too much yet, just been using the system like I always do. I have setup some widgets on Dashboard and they have never caused a problem. The iTunes one had considerable lag in detecting I had iTunes open and playing before giving me that information, but I removed it early on so I don't know if that is normal or a freak instance.

ACTUALLY, Safari was giving me intermittent problems loading up a few websites that would load fine in Firefox. (ex: circuitcity.com) The issue was intermittent and worked fine last I tried.

So the verdict is good. Only a few problems, which are to be expected in a .0 release. Definately worth trying on a non-production/vital system.

3rd party apps that work fine: Azureus, SoulseeX, x-Chat aqua, VLC, Firefox

Excuse the dumb question, but how do you zero out the drive before installing Tiger? I usually just choose 'erase and install', but what is the proper way to totally zero it out?

 

[MyLeftNut]

I dont believe this...

I'm reading through these and Im a little surprised by the bitching and moaning here...I mean cmon, there is alot under the hood that is very impressive even if you don't particularly like the new features. Read this great article if you havent already:

arstechnica.com/reviews/os/macosx-10.4.ars

This is cutting edge technology people. You don't think MS will have even more problems when they release Longhorn? Sure, there are third party issues and some minor bugs but these will be sorted out shortly. If you have mission critical stuff then make sure you carefully backup otherwise wait for the next update. Simple.

BTW my only major issue was with my Wacom tablet, no proper driver yet but they answered my query very quickly with this work around:

The Intuos 2 driver that will work on 10.4 is coming, but for now,
you can install the latest Intuos 2 driver then immediately install the
latest Intuos 3 driver over it. Both drivers can be downloaded from the
following link:
http://www.wacom.com/productsupport/select.cfm
This should take care of you until the new driver is released.

Well done Wacom.

Seriously I am having a ball with Tiger. Everything is much snappier and from what I understand from John Siracusa article above, there are even more amazing things coming down the pipeline in future. Just ride the wave people...

 

[monty77]

I did nothing. After upgrading i went into word and tested a print. At first it said "No printer" or whatever... went into System Prefs. and it showed my ip3000 as an option and i just clicked it and all of a sudden my print started.

Thanks for replying ... I did a fresh install, perhaps that's where my problem was.

Cheers,
Adam

 

[Jalexster]

Tiger Review in a nutshell:

The new version of Preview sucks. Therefore, Tiger sucks. Honestly.

Also, everything feels... cluttered. Nice clean streamlined context menus are now stuffed with crap. It broke all my custom reassignments of file formats to applications (MP3s default back to opening with iTunes instead of Quicktime, etc...).

Overall, Tiger is a worthy upgrade. I'm just pissed off with the new version of Preview. It just plain CANNOT do what I want it to. How hard is it to make a program that will open a series of images in a single window, all at actual size, and allow me to view them by advancing images with the space bar, and scrolling from the upper half of an image, to the lower half of an image, also with the space bar.

 

[micropop]

I'm a little disappointed that it sounds like Apple released Tiger as a beta. I'm always telling my PC friends that Macs "just work" and "just do what they're supposed to do". From reading this thread I don't feel I can say that at this point.

A friend of mine installed it and when he transferred his address book it lost all the URL's. Too many little things like that. Ain't right.

 

[jeffchapmanjc]

Archived and installed Tiger last night on 17" iMac G5

Process took about an hour to complete - I was impressed with the speed and ease of this install (my first full-fledged version uptick since switching back in 10/2004). Only had to reinstall the HP All-in-One printer and Palm Desktop/Sync software... that's it!

Everything is noticebly faster - Safari now loads full pages in a blink instead of drawing them out. I was so concerned with checking the aftermath (making sure everything works as I have a LOT of programs installed) that I didn't really have time to play with Widgets and Tiger's other add-ons. I did, however, find Spotlight to be incredible! It indexed my entire system in under 15 minutes and is a breeze to use.

Only word of caution to those who haven't taken the plunge and have a Palm - be sure to make a backup of your conduits! After you startup Tiger (after either an archive/install or erase/install), it's gonna complain that your Palm startups aren't working. Remove them from your account startup list, restart, reinstall Palm Desktop and drag in your backed-up conduits.

All in all, a very smooth experience. After I was confident that the installation didn't hose my apps, I trashed the 3 Gig (!!!) previous system directory. Now to review these posts and remind myself how to put these cool Widgets on the actual desktop!

 

[beatle888]

How hard is it to make a program that will open a series of images in a single window, all at actual size, and allow me to view them by advancing images with the space bar, and scrolling from the upper half of an image, to the lower half of an image, also with the space bar.

i dont know why dont you tell us after you wright the app.

 

[Plymouthbreezer]

Aside from needing an erase and install (due to hard disk problems), some hellish backup issues (which were my fault), a few buggy widgets, and some apps needing to be reinstalled, everythings fine and the computer's running great. I'm still makin sure everything "works" like it did in Panther just before I wiped it clean. Overall though, I think most people are getting a bit too upset over small issues; others just like to whine.

 

[me_94501]

Is it good? Is it too buggy? Is it worthwhile to install or better off to wait until they fix some of the bugs? What are the pluses and minuses?

I've had relatively few problems with Tiger, but parts of the UI are ugly as sin. It has me running to ShapeShifter (Aqua Extreme works fine on Tiger even though it was made for 10.3) and hacking Mail to make it look good again. Overall, a decent upgrade, but the more I use it, the more disappointed I find myself. If you're on Panther, be sure to play with it for a good amount of time before buying it.

I agree with an earlier poster--Preview sucks. I copied Preview from the 10.3 install on my iMac.

 

[micropop]

I've had relatively few problems with Tiger, but parts of the UI are ugly as sin. It has me running to ShapeShifter (Aqua Extreme works fine on Tiger even though it was made for 10.3) and hacking Mail to make it look good again. Overall, a decent upgrade, but the more I use it, the more disappointed I find myself. If you're on Panther, be sure to play with it for a good amount of time before buying it.

I agree with an earlier poster--Preview sucks. I copied Preview from the 10.3 install on my iMac.

What parts do you find to be ugly?

 

[azrussell132]

No problems here. Glad I spent my $199.00. Made both my macs faster.

RS

 

[DaveinJapan]

100% the same here. No problems. To note I did a clean install AND zero'd my disk.

I would just take the plunge now, you'll only have to wait a short while until 10.4.1 comes out anyway, so its not threatening putting up with the bugs.

How do you "zero your disk"?

Is that like wiping it clean or something? I need to do a re-install (again) and would like to do it right. I'm assuming a "clean install" means deleting all the old stuff before starting with the new installation?

Can anyone give me a step-by-step on this?

 

[0098386]

i think Tigers brilliant. I'm out of the honeymoon period now but i couldn't go back to Panther, unless i really had too for some reason.

RSS is so pointless in my opinion. what does it do? just shorten down news articles? back when i was using Windows, happy with IE6, Firefox people would keep begging me to use Firefox because of RSS implementation. but now im there in Safari 2; its useless.

Dashboard is ok, its not really a life important feature to me yet. i have 4 weather tracker telling me the weather in my homes abroad in Poland and Spain. which is a little bit interesting but meh.

for me its all down to the speed. Tiger boots up so much quicker than panther did for me, im starting to dig CoreImage after playing around with Quartz Composer and CoreImage Fun House for a bit too. this whole Quartz 2D Extreme has gotten me interested, and i cant wait to see it fully implemented into the OS.

tiger? good.

 

[gwangung]

Yes, consult the arstechnica.com article....very in-depth examination of changes, which may not mean much now, but will mean LOTS in the future.

There's a lot of small stuff that works more smoothly now (some improvement to Finders, like, quicker addition of new files to folders...ahem...). There are some strange bugs, too (USB2 ports seem to drop out with reboots....).

Worth it to me for the educational price, but YMMV, of course....

 

[mickhyperion]

...BTW my only major issue was with my Wacom tablet, no proper driver yet but they answered my query very quickly with this work around...

Well done Wacom.

Glad to hear this. I haven't purchased Tiger yet, but having heard of others having Wacom issues I asked Wacom about a Tiger compatible driver for my Graphire 3 tablet and they assured me that the current drivers for the Graphire 3 and the Intuos 3 would work. They also mentioned working on solving any legacy tablet issues.

Nice to see that they are on top of things.

 

[eyerah]

RSS

I got Tiger today!

I think it's really good, everything works fine, however I feel as if there should have been more in it for my money...

Dashboard is very handy because I use the calculator a lot and especially conversions (dollar to pound) and the calendar is good too. 5/5

Spotlight is fast, does everything it's meant too, however, I won't really use it much.

Automator looks too complex (I haven't really had a deep look at it, but I just said 'woah!' when I opened it up).

Love RRS, but i'm not really sure what it's all about...could someone explain? Do I subscribe to things? Why does it leave RRS mode when I click a link in RRS mode?

You can read about RSS here: http://reviews.cnet.com/4520-10088_7-5143656.html

 

[iSaint]

Upgraded on my iBook (stats in sig) with no issues at all! The edu price of $69 shipped (+ tax) is a great deal IMO. I'm enjoying it, but I'm learning about it, and Apple Computers, all the time.

 

[Applespider]

RSS is so pointless in my opinion. what does it do? just shorten down news articles? back when i was using Windows, happy with IE6, Firefox people would keep begging me to use Firefox because of RSS implementation. but now im there in Safari 2; its useless.

I'd have agreed until I played around with it at the weekend. I think it's useless for generic news; the BBC RSS feed updated so often that it just annoyed me. I'd rather just go to the website and read the home page.

But for 'specialised' news, it's pretty useful. Say you have a favourite sports team and you want to read all the articles about them but each paper doesn't write an article on them every day; now instead of having to go to each newspaper site on a daily basis to find out whether they've changed, you can set up an RSS folder for your 'sports' stories and just look when new stories appear.

I've set one up for the various widget sites so I can see which new widgets have been uploaded.

It wasn't until this weekend that I realised you can bookmark 'searched' RSS feeds. So you could go to the RSS field for cnet or BBC technology, type in Apple and bookmark that. It will then only tell you when there's a story about Apple on those pages.

 

[micropop]

Any new screensavers in Tiger?