Why I don't think Panther 7B85 is GM

[Captain Code]

As every rumor mill states, 7B85 is supposed to be the GM, but that build contains (old)development builds of some programs such as PERL 5.8.1-RC3, while 5.8.1 Release is out already.

There are other versions of other unix programs that are not final versions in 7B85, even though there are final versions out now.

But I guess we will see in a few weeks when people get their Panther box.

[fryke]

My own "rumour mill" for example has stated doubts about 7B85 being the final version, Captain! ;-)

There might be some reason for Apple not to use newer versions of certain UN*X software. They might also issue these things in an update down the lane. It's not _that_ important to always use the newest version of everything. Sometimes it's more important to keep at a certain status and make sure that the whole machine runs stable.

My guess is that Perl was kept at RC3 for some such reason... Or it was simply forgotten. But the Final Candidate phase's issues are more on the not-so-unixy side of Mac OS X, i.e. the UI fixes and stability issues with applications/utilities.

[Captain Code]

Well there is also the fact that Panther crashes and burns with my GeForce card, but most people probably know about that by now

Further evidence from the Apple student developer's mailing list. Names are taken out to preserve privacy, although this is a public list and anyone on it will have seen these emails already:

On Wednesday, October 8, 2003, at 02:23 PM, ADC member wrote:

I don't care.... I DO want to talk about it.. or rather gripe about it..

Panther (B85) is just totally unusable for me.. QE accelerated scrolling and live window dragging produces total garbage. I can't believe that they either didn't know about this bug, or simply ignored it.
I hope that B85 is not the final...

and samba is at 3.0rc2, and they have a 3.0 final out, so I that also makes me think this is not the final version.

here is some screen captures of it in action:
http://osex.homeftp.org/B85_QE_Fu**ed2.jpg
http://osex.homeftp.org/B85_QE_Fu**ed1.jpg

anyone else have this problem?


btw, I have a G4 500 (agp 2x) with a geforce2mx (from a quicksilver 733)

On 8-Oct-03, at 7:50 AM, another ADC member wrote:

- Are we WWDC people (and others with legal access to seeds) still under NDA until it ships, or can we start talking about it without fear of Apple's Black Ops Commandos?

It looks like the author took the screen shots offline, but I can guess as to what they looked like because it sounds exactly like what happens for me.

[fryke]

Hmm... However: ADC members still haven't even got 7B85, so... ;-)

My guess is that soon enough, ADC members will get the GM build (whatever number that really is), because Apple needs some time to package it.

I can't say much about that GeForce 2mx issue, but I haven't heard of people who have 'original' Macs with that card speak up... Does nobody on here own such a Mac?

Still, The provided driver shouldn't produce garbage in the final build of Panther, I'm sure... But maybe Apple _did_ f*** up with this and Panther final _will_ have these problems?

[Captain Code]

Well, some ADC members have it

There has been one person that said their GeForce2 mx has worked fine, but that's only one out of at least 5 people that I know of.

Anyways, I hope they do fix this, and that 7B85 isn't the GM because I really want to buy Panther, but I don't want to have to buy it plus a new vid card.

[Zammy-Sam]

Beside the point about the bugs that are supposed to be in 7b85, why would it be important to know, if 7b85 is the GM? I mean, could you use the beta as the final release? Would you be able to install the upcoming software-updates on the beta? Does the beta run for lifetime, or is there any limitation?
I am asking since I got the feeling, some ppl might stay with their betas and not go for the GM...

[fryke]

Simple example from the past (and that's all we know, right?):

6C106 was a late beta of Jaguar.
6C115 was GM.

Both were seeded to ADC Select and Premier members.

Now, if someone was to 'get' 6C106 and install that and stay there, he simply couldn't update to 10.2.1. I'm not sure whether the betas have an expiration-date (Public Beta of 10.0 did), but they're not updatable, as the updaters look at the build numbers etc. Maybe you could trick the updater by manually doing something to the system, but I don't think so.

However, there's a simple rule. If you're an ADC member and have access to the betas, you also get the GM version of the operating system. Sent to your house. And via download.

If you're _not_ getting the betas and the GM from Apple, you buy the software. Simple.

[lucasraggers]

I used 7B49 for some time and iCal expired one day. So the same thing will happen with 7B85, I guess. That's why I'm not getting 7B85 and rather wait for the GM version.