# Apple News: MacOS 10.3.3 Update Released



## Zammy-Sam (Mar 15, 2004)

Check out SU!

_Key enhancements include:

network volumes are now available in the Finder sidebar and Desktop for convenient access
improved file sharing and directory services for Mac (AFP), UNIX (NFS) and PC (SMB/CIFS) networks
improved PostScript and USB printing
updated Disk Utility, DVD Player, Image Capture, Mail and Safari applications
additional support for FireWire and USB devices
improved compatibility for third party applications
previous standalone security updates and Bluetooth Update 1.5


For detailed information on this Update, please visit this website: http://www.info.apple.com/kbnum/n25711_


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## cockneygeezer (Mar 15, 2004)

First come, first served...

Downloading it now, as I type. I hope that this update the graphics drivers as past posts have indicated as I want my Spearhead to work.  

I will post later on my findings, hopefully, nothing will go wrong ::angel::


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## wolwol (Mar 15, 2004)

optimizing now, 93%.....
eh, 95% as i type now


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## pwharff (Mar 15, 2004)

I see no mention of graphic driver or OpenGL updates.  I hope they didn't remove this at the last second!


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## Racer D (Mar 15, 2004)

no change in the graphics. got the same fps in quake timedemo as with 10.3.2

btw, what do they mean with network drives in sidebar / desktop, they've been there before...


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## drustar (Mar 15, 2004)

Racer D said:
			
		

> no change in the graphics. got the same fps in quake timedemo as with 10.3.2
> 
> btw, what do they mean with network drives in sidebar / desktop, they've been there before...



why dont u try ut 2k3 or 2k4 or halo. i want to see how those games run.


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## Racer D (Mar 15, 2004)

cus I don't have them  quake3 is the only game on my disk


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## soulseek (Mar 15, 2004)

yey  took me less than 1 minute to download the update. is that fast ? just wondering


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## Viro (Mar 15, 2004)

I'll have to get it tomorrow when I'm in the office. Dial-up sucks.


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## Zammy-Sam (Mar 15, 2004)

well, have it installed and don't know where to start to check. Maybe I will just hit the bed..


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## fryke (Mar 15, 2004)

Ah, I was _right_  It's wonderful to be right once in a while. 7F44, I said, and Monday.


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## Stridder44 (Mar 15, 2004)

Oh I so hope they didnt remove the graphics updates...can someone please verify this? I cant d/l it right now to see for myself...


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## wolwol (Mar 15, 2004)

no change in graphic i think....


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## fryke (Mar 15, 2004)

Yep, strangely, the updater is smaller than the beta versions and doesn't mention the OpenGL stuff at all. I'm now thinking that I have a strange mixed version which has newer OpenGL drivers than others' 7F44... Lemme look at System Profiler... Graphics Driver version is 1.3.8, it seems...


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## cockneygeezer (Mar 15, 2004)

pwharff said:
			
		

> I see no mention of graphic driver or OpenGL updates.  I hope they didn't remove this at the last second!



It seems that Apple have   

No mention whatsoever in the Read Me, either in the Installer or on the website.

That could explain why 10.3.3 updater is 20MB smaller that the betas.

Shame on you Apple...


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## uoba (Mar 15, 2004)

Well, it's been an hour or so, and I don't notice anything different whatsoever (and no problems either  ) I never had any SMB share issues anyway, and what's this about network drives now appearing in the side-panel thing and the desktop, they always did!


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## Satcomer (Mar 15, 2004)

Well, I'm glad I repaired permissions. That were a lot of corrections (and I repaired just before the update too). All seems good, so far. I'm glad Apple acknowledged the Networking issue for SMB and it looks like it is fixed.


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## brianleahy (Mar 15, 2004)

downloading now....  Get yours today!


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## perfessor101 (Mar 15, 2004)

Just completed five trouble free updates to 10.3.3. So far the most notable change to me has been is the vastly improved network connection routine.  This is a big update, 58+ MB and when I downloaded the software update server was running S L O W. So if you have more than one machine to update, be sure and use the update and save or straight download option in Software Update. Not surprisingly 10.3.3 is not available on Apple's download site yet. Maybe tomorrow or Wednesday.


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## wolwol (Mar 15, 2004)

most prolly they couldn't solve the bugs on the graphic driver and OpenGL...or they gonna have a 'small' update of 10.3.3.1 for graphic only? lol


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## Ripcord (Mar 15, 2004)

Well, so far one of my little problems has been fixed, and the two things that I was most interested in don't appear to be included/fixed

The bug where keychain info isn't used when connecting to SMB servers is still there (I'm prompted for a username/password when connecting to a server regardless of how many times I've checked the "add to keychain" box, and what permissions I've allowed in the Keychain Manager)

I don't see any OpenGL performance improvements, though my driver date is now 3/7/04.  What was the version of the ATI drivers in 10.3.2?  I didn't think to look before I updated.  Currently mine's the same as Fryke's, 1.3.8.

The problem where if more than a hundred or so servers showed up in the "Add printers" server list (connecting to Windows print server), it would truncate (not show all the entries).  It's showing them all for me now.


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## Ripcord (Mar 15, 2004)

Anyone have any clue what's new in Safari or Mail?


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## andychrist (Mar 15, 2004)

Safari is loading Java applets much faster!


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## Ripcord (Mar 15, 2004)

No, I take it back.  The printer choosing bug I described is still there.  

In fact, it's not printer dialog at all.  It's in the network browser, period, I guess I just never noticed before (I never use the Browse feature)

God knows what they've been doing for the last 4 months...


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## Ricky (Mar 15, 2004)

Satcomer said:
			
		

> Well, I'm glad I repaired permissions. That were a lot of corrections (and I repaired just before the update too).


Mac OS X updates seem to screw with permissions, because I always have to repair them after an update.


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## Arden (Mar 16, 2004)

http://www.macosx.com/forums/showthread.php?t=42270


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## Randman (Mar 16, 2004)

I repaired permissions after downloading out of habit but only had one thing that needed repairing. I don't see any difference with mail... yet.


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## Zammy-Sam (Mar 16, 2004)

I am wondering why they dropped the new graphic drivers from the package.  If I got Fryke right (btw, you were not right, Fryke. It was on sunday night! ), there was no bug. So, what is it? They want to keep those updates for 10.4?


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## fryke (Mar 16, 2004)

Depending on time zone and sleep rhythm. ;-) ... Build number was right and I actually said 'early next week'. Sunday night is certainly VERY early this week. ;-)


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## Zammy-Sam (Mar 16, 2004)

lol, forget about my post. I just realised it's tuesday today and not monday


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## Viro (Mar 16, 2004)

They fixed the function keys problem on Powerbooks  Now there's the option of getting the function keys (F1 - F12) to behave like function keys without holding down the fn key. You only need to hold down the fn key to access special functionality, like controlling brightness and volume.

That's so cool. Now I can get back to coding....


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## Zammy-Sam (Mar 16, 2004)

Viro said:
			
		

> They fixed the function keys problem on Powerbooks  Now there's the option of getting the function keys (F1 - F12) to behave like function keys without holding down the fn key. You only need to hold down the fn key to access special functionality, like controlling brightness and volume.
> 
> That's so cool. Now I can get back to coding....


Really?? Not here. Still need to hold down the fn key to access the function keys. Default F keys are brightness and sound...
I am actually perfectly ok with this, just wondering how this happened to you


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## Viro (Mar 16, 2004)

Its under System Preferences->Keyboard mouse. My mistake for not mentioning you need to toggle this 

Now, I can easily click ALT+F1 in Netbeans to bring up the Javadoc. Woohoo!!


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## Jason (Mar 16, 2004)

on server, server admin and workgroup manager appear a little faster


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## Zammy-Sam (Mar 16, 2004)

Viro said:
			
		

> Its under System Preferences->Keyboard mouse. My mistake for not mentioning you need to toggle this
> 
> Now, I can easily click ALT+F1 in Netbeans to bring up the Javadoc. Woohoo!!


Oops, actually my mistake. I kinda didn't read your "option of getting.."  Sowwy

However, showing lan members in the finder works much faster now.


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## Alex x (Mar 16, 2004)

Mail is loads more stable. It used to crash lots when moving lots of messages or updating junk status on some messages.


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## wolwol (Mar 16, 2004)

how about address book? when am using it for sms with a bt phone, the address book crash intermittenly, without any reason, haven't been able to verify this yet.


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## Randman (Mar 16, 2004)

Maybe it's a no-brainer but I had to redo safari enhancer and pithhelmet after installing.


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## tk4two1 (Mar 16, 2004)

can anyone tell me if IOSCSIParallelFamily.kext and/or IOSCSIArchitectureModelFamily.kext was updated with 10.3.3?


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## MBHockey (Mar 16, 2004)

Zammy-Sam said:
			
		

> Oops, actually my mistake. I kinda didn't read your "option of getting.."  Sowwy
> 
> However, showing lan members in the finder works much faster now.



How do you show lan members thru the Finder?


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## Total Konfuzion (Mar 16, 2004)

Bah, i updated and it's not letting me in anymore, haults at "login window starting".  Wonderful


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## MBHockey (Mar 16, 2004)

Total Konfuzion said:
			
		

> Bah, i updated and it's not letting me in anymore, haults at "login window starting".  Wonderful



Can you boot to a cd and repair your permissions?


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## Total Konfuzion (Mar 16, 2004)

No go even after the permissions repair.  Hmm...and of course it happens right before i'm planning to fly on a trip....joyous rapture


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## btoth (Mar 16, 2004)

Well, the "Combo" update from Apple's download page is 77MB and mentions the graphics card drivers.  Doesn't say anything about versions.


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## btoth (Mar 16, 2004)

Hmm... after only a few minutes with 10.3.3 I like the option to switch my function keys on my PowerBook (this should've been the default from day one).  However, as far as "improved networking"... yeah right.  Now I can't even browse to my shared folders, the computers never show up in the Network folder.  At least before my biggest problem was that some of my shares showed up as empty Mac folders rather than network folders.  Now they don't exist at all.  Figures.  And I was hoping that "more USB devices" may have fixed the problem with the 15" PowerBook not supplying enough power through it's USB ports (assuming it was a firmware issue)... oh well. Safari update is a whopping 0.0.1 update.  I was also hoping that Column view may have been improved, but I guess not.  And I have no idea what they mean by "network volumes available on desktop and sidebar" either.


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## cybergoober (Mar 16, 2004)

btoth said:
			
		

> And I have no idea what they mean by "network volumes available on desktop and sidebar" either.



They mean that when you connect by browsing the network the shares are mounted on the Desktop/Sidebar


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## btoth (Mar 16, 2004)

cybergoober said:
			
		

> They mean that when you connect by browsing the network the shares are mounted on the Desktop/Sidebar



Ah... I might have noticed if it would let me connect to my shares.  Maybe something got screwed up somewhere.


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## Meltdown (Mar 16, 2004)

Can someone please check the calculator?
When updating the currency exchange rate under the convert menu the app quits on me every time. Bug?


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## thisbechuck (Mar 16, 2004)

Um... looking to the future, I read somewhere that the PMac updates were held up on something relating to optimized coding in 10.3.3. Any word on this?


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## pwharff (Mar 16, 2004)

Meltdown said:
			
		

> Can someone please check the calculator?
> When updating the currency exchange rate under the convert menu the app quits on me every time. Bug?



Checked mine, works fine. "Last Updated: 3/16/04 8:56 PM"


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## pwharff (Mar 16, 2004)

btoth said:
			
		

> Well, the "Combo" update from Apple's download page is 77MB and mentions the graphics card drivers.  Doesn't say anything about versions.



Hmm, is it possible that it could have been left out from the "Software Update"?  Everyone was talking about how 10.3.3 was suppose to improve graphics!  Well mine did not!   Is there a way to see if my drivers were updated?


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## Racer D (Mar 16, 2004)

btoth: use the connect to server (command + k) option in finder...


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## Zammy-Sam (Mar 17, 2004)

Meltdown said:
			
		

> Can someone please check the calculator?
> When updating the currency exchange rate under the convert menu the app quits on me every time. Bug?


works fine here as well.


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## Meltdown (Mar 17, 2004)

Thanks for testing the calculator guys.
I wonder what is wrong with mine.
Did a permissions check and deleted the preference file for it.
It works fine until updating the exchange rates. Bang quit.


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## fryke (Mar 17, 2004)

Well, what exactly _do_ you change in the exchange rates? Maybe you're entering a comma instead of a point or something? (Although that shouldn't lead to a crash either...)


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## Zammy-Sam (Mar 17, 2004)

could it be a network problem? Can you synchronize the time?


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## btoth (Mar 17, 2004)

Racer D said:
			
		

> btoth: use the connect to server (command + k) option in finder...



That's what I have had to do.  Today the network browsing is working again and I noticed that when clicking on a networked computer it no longer lets you _browse_ through the folders like it used to, now it just brings up the Connect To Server window that lets you choose what share to mount. So, instead of improving network browsing, they just removed it all together?  Hmm.


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## hulkaros (Mar 17, 2004)

I installed first the stand alone update of 10.3.3... No new graphic drivers... I installed the Combo Update of 10.3.3 and new graphics drivers:

Voila!


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## Zammy-Sam (Mar 17, 2004)

Huh? Combo Update? You mean the version that is available on the web (versiontracker.com)?
Do you see any improvement in graphics?


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## MacMuppet (Mar 17, 2004)

Randman said:
			
		

> Maybe it's a no-brainer but I had to redo safari enhancer and pithhelmet after installing.



Doesnt surprise me - funny thing is I didnt have to....


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## hulkaros (Mar 17, 2004)

Zammy-Sam said:
			
		

> Huh? Combo Update? You mean the version that is available on the web (versiontracker.com)?
> Do you see any improvement in graphics?



Get YOURS here:
http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/ 

As for improvements... I'm still testing things


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## ex0dus (Mar 17, 2004)

It says that their are new ATI and NVIDIA graphics drivers on the read me for the combo.  http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/macosxcombinedupdate_readme.html


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## Meltdown (Mar 17, 2004)

> Well, what exactly _do_ you change in the exchange rates? Maybe you're entering a comma instead of a point or something? (Although that shouldn't lead to a crash either...)



Doesn't matter if i put in any data or not.
Clicking exchange rates is enough to crash it.
The strange thing is that the calculator works fine otherwise.
The calculator uses the net for updating the exchange rates. 
But i don't have any problems with networking like surfing the net or email.
Very strange.


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## naodx (Mar 17, 2004)

Well I just tried the combo updater, and the graphics drivers are the same as the graphics driver from the system update version.....oh well didn't hurt to try.


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## Viro (Mar 17, 2004)

So.... did they update the driver or not?


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## Viro (Mar 17, 2004)

hulkaros said:
			
		

> I installed first the stand alone update of 10.3.3... No new graphic drivers... I installed the Combo Update of 10.3.3 and new graphics drivers:
> 
> Voila!



I saw your screenshot. They're the same version as mine. I did the software update version, so either they're not updated , or mines updated too


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## naodx (Mar 17, 2004)

Well I booted off of my TechTool eDrive, which I setup when still in 10.3.2, and the drivers are 1.3.4 as reported by System Profiler.

So it looks like they did update the drivers both via software update, and the stand alone updater.

Haven't noticed any difference in performance personally. I tried Unreal 2004 last night (still haven't tried Halo again), it worked fine. Didn't notice any increase in the fps, but I didn't really have any issuses before with my geForce 4 Ti.


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## Viro (Mar 17, 2004)

Yeah, I've tried MOHAA and there doesn't seem to be any (tangible) improvements. Ah well...


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## Ripcord (Mar 18, 2004)

hulkaros said:
			
		

> I installed first the stand alone update of 10.3.3... No new graphic drivers... I installed the Combo Update of 10.3.3 and new graphics drivers:
> 
> Voila!



Glad that you tried it, but those are the same drivers that everyone else has said that were installed with the non-combo 10.3.3 throughout this thread.  And that we've seen no measurable change/improvement.

I asked way earlier though - what are the ATI driver versions in 10.3.2??


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## naodx (Mar 18, 2004)

As I posted above, System Profiler listed the graphics drivers for 10.3.2 as 1.3.4.

Hope that was what you where looking for.


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## Richman67 (Mar 18, 2004)

Hi Guys,

My $0.02.  I agree with btoth.  It was nice surfing through the finder into the network shares. Rather than just clicking, and maybe waiting a second or two while the directory info gets sent through the network, now, I have to goto the finder, tell it which folder to mount, let it connect the share, go back to the desktop or sidebar and THEN browse.  Plus, if my network hasn't quite finished transmitting the directory information, finder crashes to the desktop.  IN 10.3.2, it would just pause while waiting for the info.

While I agree it is nice to have desktop/sidebar access to my network shares, If I reset and/or turn off my machine, the aliases disappear, and I have to remount the shares anyway...so whats the point?

Ahhh, vent mode off...

Best,
Rich


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## Racer D (Mar 18, 2004)

Richman67 said:
			
		

> While I agree it is nice to have desktop/sidebar access to my network shares, If I reset and/or turn off my machine, the aliases disappear, and I have to remount the shares anyway...so whats the point?



drag & drop your share into your startup items, it makes it mount ehn you log in


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## 3mors (Mar 19, 2004)

Is there a way to use the old "Net Browser"?
The new one is the same as CMD+K done in finder. It lets you to mount a shared partition one by one. I want to be able to browse all the partition of a mac without having to choose what to mount every time.
It should be useful if finder shows on the left bar the entire mac and not only the partition, so I could be able to rapidly check what mac I entered.

Sorry for the english ;-)


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## steven_lufc (Mar 20, 2004)

I just reinstalled and played Civ III on 10.3.3 which I haven't played for a long time. It was much quicker and less jerkier with less lag. The whole playing experience was more enjoyable and less frustrating. This could also be the fact that the last time I played was in Jaguar, so Panther as a whole has improved this, not specifically 10.3.3.

Looks like I'm now re-addicted to CivIII. It took me so long to get off it!!  Back to long long nights infront of the mac trying to dominate the world etc....


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## btoth (Mar 20, 2004)

3mors said:
			
		

> Is there a way to use the old "Net Browser"?
> The new one is the same as CMD+K done in finder. It lets you to mount a shared partition one by one. I want to be able to browse all the partition of a mac without having to choose what to mount every time.
> It should be useful if finder shows on the left bar the entire mac and not only the partition, so I could be able to rapidly check what mac I entered.
> 
> Sorry for the english ;-)



You'd think if Microsoft could pull it off, so could Apple.


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## bbloke (Mar 20, 2004)

Hmm, a quick question...

Has anyone else noticed that the Combo update (http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/macosxcombinedupdate.html) is supposed to be 77 MB, but when downloaded it is more like 67 MB (67.6 MB according to Safari during the download)?  When decompressed, the resulting package is 70.1 MB.  I'm wondering why this discrepancy exists.


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## Ripcord (Mar 20, 2004)

Because to some people 1MB = 1,048,576 bytes, and to others it is 1,000,000 bytes, maybe?  Who knows...

Here's a completely unrelated one.  I just noticed that when I go into Calculator.app, type in "70.1" and then hit the "*" key, the value in the field lists as "70.09999999999".  I can't actually get "70.1" to stay in the screen, and it DEFINITELY affects calculations.  Does anyone else have this problem?


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## Viro (Mar 21, 2004)

Nope. I've typed 70.1 * 2 and I get 140.2.


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## MDLarson (Mar 21, 2004)

Ripcord said:
			
		

> Because to some people 1MB = 1,048,576 bytes, and to others it is 1,000,000 bytes, maybe?  Who knows...
> 
> Here's a completely unrelated one.  I just noticed that when I go into Calculator.app, type in "70.1" and then hit the "*" key, the value in the field lists as "70.09999999999".  I can't actually get "70.1" to stay in the screen, and it DEFINITELY affects calculations.  Does anyone else have this problem?


I've had a similar problem before...

The answer I got was basically "Well, computers inherently have a flaw in them that produces this result".  I can't remember the reason.  And while that's not helpful at all, maybe it will help you feel better?


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## MBHockey (Mar 21, 2004)

MDLarson said:
			
		

> I've had a similar problem before...
> 
> The answer I got was basically "Well, computers inherently have a flaw in them that produces this result".  I can't remember the reason.  And while that's not helpful at all, maybe it will help you feel better?



If i type in 70.1 and hit the multiply command, it stays as 70.1


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## Viro (Mar 21, 2004)

MDLarson said:
			
		

> I've had a similar problem before...
> 
> The answer I got was basically "Well, computers inherently have a flaw in them that produces this result".  I can't remember the reason.  And while that's not helpful at all, maybe it will help you feel better?



That's due to the way computers represent decimal places. For more details on the why and how of this format, check this page out. http://www.cs.utah.edu/~zachary/isp/applets/FP/FP.html


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## Ripcord (Mar 21, 2004)

MBHockey said:
			
		

> If i type in 70.1 and hit the multiply command, it stays as 70.1



Ah, try turning precision up to 15.


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## pjeski (Mar 22, 2004)

Why?


			
				Ripcord said:
			
		

> Ah, try turning precision up to 15.


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