Observations of Mac OS X

gduncan

gduncan

Registered
Well, I've installed OS X on my Mac and I've been playing with it during the past 24 hours. Below are my observations on the Desktop and Finder in the next generation of the Mac OS:

My Setup:
Blue and White G3
450 MHz
256 MB RAM
6 GB ATA hard drive
(2) 8 GB SCSI hard drives
Apple supplied Adaptec SCSI card

Installed OS:
Mac OS X Public Beta (build 2E14)
Mac OS 9.0.4

The Desktop/Finder:
The Desktop looks great! Apple's implementation of Display PostScript is excellent and it shines throughout most, if not all, of the native applications.

The absence of icons on the Desktop is difficult to get used to. For the past 10 years I've been accustomed to double-clicking on my hard-drive icon and have it's window appear showing the drive's contents. Now that has all been changed by the new Finder. Apple should at least make this an option available to the user.

The trusted Apple and Application menus are also missing. This is another feature that Apple should make as user option as well. The Apple Menu has been available to users (at least since System 7) to allow them to easily customize the way that they use their Macs. The Application Menu allowed the user to easily switch between running applications, and now that task has been given over to the Dock. I guess that the Dock is a useful feature. It does portray an accurate representation of all of your open files, but I believe that it is more "gee-whiz" eye candy than anything else. Don't get me wrong, I think it's cool and I'm amazed each time an item is minimized or maximized with the Genie effect, but it would be nice to have the Application Menu still available as an option. Apple should continue these features in Mac OS X.

Greg

 
I mentioned in the above post that Apple should re-implement desktop icons in Mac OS X. I'd better clarify my position before countless numbers lodge protests regarding my ignorance.

I know that you can set the Finder Preferences to auto-mount removable media icons on the desktop, which is part-way there, and that you can drag aliases of the internal hard drives to the desktop, but this isn't quite the same as the clasic Mac OS. I believe that Apple should build these features back into OS X for those who've grown accustomed to it.

Greg
 
In order to log onto this website and read all the latest and greatest regarding OS X, I must re-boot my Blue G3 into OS 9. My ethernet is not available to me under OS X. Therefore, without ethernet, I do not have access to my DSL modem.

A couple months ago, my G3 was the unfortunate recipient of a lightning strike. Lightning is a rather common occurance here in "sunny" Florida.

Rather than pay $500-$700 for a new motherboard, I splurged $35 on an ethernet/PCI card from Macsense. It works great under OS 9 but there are no drivers available for OS X. So I'm having to re-start back and forth between OS 9 and OS X a couple times a day.

I'll just have to wait for Macsense to update their driver software. In the meantime...

Greg
 
In order to log onto this website and read all the latest and greatest regarding OS X, I must re-boot my Blue G3 into OS 9. My ethernet is not available to me under OS X. Therefore, without ethernet, I do not have access to my DSL modem.

A couple months ago, my G3 was the unfortunate recipient of a lightning strike. Lightning is a rather common occurance here in "sunny" Florida.

Rather than pay $500-$700 for a new motherboard, I splurged $35 on an ethernet/PCI card from Macsense. It works great under OS 9 but there are no drivers available for OS X. So I'm having to re-start back and forth between OS 9 and OS X a couple times a day.

I'll just have to wait for Macsense to update their driver software. In the meantime...

Greg
 
gduncan:

This has been mentioned on the net in a large number of spots (here, probably, too). Apple has built-in the functionality of disks/trash on the desktop, but simply not enabled them as of yet.

You can get around this yourself in the terminal if you want - just type the following two commands into a terminal window, and then logout/login (or quit the desktop via the process viewer as an alternative; it will relaunch immediately):

Code: 
defaults write com.apple.finder Desktop.HasLocalVolumes 1
defaults write com.apple.finder Desktop.HasTrash 1
Replace the 1 with a 0 to disable. Alternatively, there's a "showdrives" program available (check VersionTracker) which will do exactly the same thing without using the command line.

-rob.
 
griffman:

I know that these thoughts concering the Desktop and Finder have been posted here and elsewhere on the net. I apologize if I seem to be beating a dead horse with my post.

I'm just a guy who's been a long-time Mac user and I've finally made the plunge into the brave new world of OS X. I'm just here pointing out the differences and similarities between OS X and the Classic Mac OS. I'm not a UNIX/Linux gear head, my experience with each is limited, so my approach here is a little different than probably most others here in this forum.

I will, however, try out the commands you listed in your post. I'm just playing around with OS X at this point, feeling it out.

Anyway, thanks for your input. Your response, and others like it, are what I was aiming for in this thread.

Greg
 
Sorry, didn't mean to offend -- I thought you were saying that the features just weren't there; I was trying to point out that they were.

Apple left them turned off, probably because they aren't quite working yet (if you double-click the trash on the desktop, you won't get the contents of the trash, for example).

I'm hoping they either enable them, or make it painfully obvious how to enable them, in OS X final.

Believe it or not, I'm also not a gearhead - my UNIX experience prior to OS X was limited to learning "ls" and "rm" for my web site maintenance! ;-)

It's a strange new world...

cheers;

-rob.
 
It is interesting- I too was uncomfortable with the changes in the UI (11 year Mac customer ;->). I downloaded the various 3rd party packages to accommodate my muscle memory.

After using X for several weeks I found I wasn't touching the desktop items or the Apple/Process Menus. The Dock/Column view provides quicker access to the hard disk than the desktop (fewer clicks and never hidden).

I put all my aliases into "Drop Drawers." Drop Drawers replaces and extends tabbed folders. I no longer need the Apple Menu.

The Dock is the process menu ;-).

I left in the Menu Clock (I have seen two clock applications). They are simply a better use of space and provide time at a glance.

Get used to X's UI layout. If you are like me- you'll grow tired of MacOS9.
 
griffman:

I did not mean to construe that your post offended me. Rest assured that it didn't.

But thanks for the hacks you provided. I applied them as soon as I logged off from here and tried them out. I was pleased to find the drive icons and the trash icon in their expected places. But I was puzzled by the contents of the Trash window, just as you described in your next post, when I opened it.

I then turned off the Trash icon feature but left the drive icons on the desktop.

Do you know if the Apple and Application menus are also available in this release, but just turned off? If not, perhaps Apple will listen to fhe many users out there, like me, who are hoping that they will return these features to the desktop.

Greg
 
I'll be putting together a website with screenshots of my adventures with OS X. The address will be http://208.61.174.67/macosx/.

I've not yet put it in place yet. Will try to have something there before midnight tonight (Tues, 11/28).

Greg
 
This is an honost question - not a flame.

Why do you wish to put the static items on your desktop?

The dock trash is available to all applications, it floats (does not get obscured) and does not cause a context switch.

The smiley face in the dock, like the trash, floats and opens with a single click. The column view then has single-click bi-directional navigation of all your hard disks.

I know Apple needs a Window's Start Menu like icon but that Smiley Face does not cohere to Apple's own icon guidelines.

I still use the desktop as a temporary dumping ground.
 
>>Do you know if the Apple and Application menus are also available in this release, but just turned off? If not,<<

I don't think that's the case (haven't heard if it is, at any rate). The only way I know of to get the Apple menu back is via a third-party program (search under OS X on Version Tracker for 'Apple menu'). The only semi-stock application switcher I know of is a trick - you can tear off the one that comes with OS 9 under Classic, and you'll still be able to see it under OS X. Weird, but it works (looks ugly as heck sitting there in Aqua, with its platinum appearance!).

>>perhaps Apple will listen to fhe many users out there, like me, who are hoping that they will return these features to the desktop.<<

Make sure you submit your comments to their feedback page; that's the best way of making sure our collective voices are heard!

cheers;

-rob.
 
greg,

any chance I could grab build 2E14 off you. Just kidding. Did you get seeded or something? I didn't think there was an update.

peter
 
there were 2 versions of the public beta, but AFAIK the update only added more language support.
 
This progress report is to report that there has been no progress.

I've not done anything with my OS X web site in quite a while, nor have I done much of anything with OS X. It's not that I don't want to do anything with either, but rather that I've been occupied with other things between work and home, especially during the holidays.

Now that the most of that is over, I'll try to work on both soon. But first, I'm waiting for a friend to return from the Macworld Expo in San Francisco. I've not heard anything to the contrary, so I'm hoping that he may arrive with another update of the beta OS X.

If he does return with such an update, I'll install it and make all further reports regarding the newer version since it should be more like the shipping verison. Since Apple has announced the return of the Apple Menu and the Menu Clock, perhaps there are other things of note that are changed. From what I've seen on their website, however, it appears that desktop icons are still not the default.

Stay tuned...

Greg
 
Hello all.

It has been a while since I last posted to this thread. I've been busy with quite a few projects lately which have kept me away from playing with OS X and also updating my web pages. I hope that will change this weekend.

In the meantime, I wanted to post my latest experience.

I've installed OS X version 10.0 and then applied the 10.0.1 update and installed the Developer Tools. Evertyhing seems to work fine, even in Classic mode, with the exception of my ethernet connection. As stated in a previous post, my on-board ethernet port is dead due to power spike during a thunderstorm. I've since installed a Macsense PCI ethernet card which works fine under OS 9 but there are no OS X drivers for it. Therefore, I have to boot back and forth between the two OS's just to get an internet connection.

If anybody knows of another OS X driver that may work with this card (Macsense FE551 (Realtek 8139)), then please let me know.

Greg
 
Originally posted by gduncan
If anybody knows of another OS X driver that may work with this card (Macsense FE551 (Realtek 8139)), then please let me know.
Click to expand...

Have you tried the latest version of the driver for those cards from MacUpdate?

Dominik Hoffmann

P.S.: You are not the Greg Duncan of "Private Franchising in a .com World," are you?
 
Originally posted by DominikHoffmann


Have you tried the latest version of the driver for those cards from MacUpdate?

Dominik Hoffmann

P.S.: You are not the Greg Duncan of "Private Franchising in a .com World," are you?
Click to expand...

Wow! Way to revive a year-old thread!
 
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