OSX10.4.8 out

It actually fixed a third party USB 2 hub that was giving me occasional sleep problems. This fix worked on my Dual G5 and TiBook G4 so I am happy.
 
I was hesitant about installing this update after hearing all of the horror stories, but my shiny new MacBook updated without a hitch!
 
quick warning to anyone using Front Row Enabler on their system -- best not to update until Enabler 1.4 comes out. 10.4.8 will apply OK, but if you try to re-enable Front Row using Enabler 1.3 it will prevent OS X from starting up. I had to perform an archive and install to repair OS X. oops.
 
My system was a horror story after this update - and I did the combo this time, just to be on the safe side. I ended up having to reinstall, because of errors in Application Support and WebKit frameworks. A clean re-install fixed my problems, though.
 
Hmm... Rare. You didn't happen to save a log file of the installation, I guess?
 
I ditched it after the reinstall, but I think I tracked down the cause of the problem. I had installed Aperture when it first came out, just to test it. It updated the ApplicationSupport framework. I removed Aperture by just deleting it.

The 10.4.8 update also updated this framework, however it was counting on files to be there that were not found.

I assume Apple tested this out and it worked fine if you either have Aperture, or never had Aperture. If, like me, you had only trialled a copy before deleting the application file, then the update would not have detected the application, the Application Support files would be incorrect, and before you know it you've got real trouble.
 
The update has brought some problems for Matlab users. It seems the update borked some X11 files, as Matlab fails to run now, and exits with a segmentation fault. The only solution is to run it with the -nodisplay option, removing the ability to plot graphs :(.

I really really should have chosen something else instead of Matlab for writing the majority of my PhD work in. Its been so much trouble on OS X....
 
On the plus side, it looks like raw files on my Pentax *ist DL are now supported natively, so I am well chuffed. Thanks, Apple. :)
 
Forgot to mention that it only affects the Intel Macs, that run Matlab under Rosetta.
 
I just noticed that Apple has finally fixed the terrible performance of animated gifs the first time through the animation. This problem used to affect any program that displayed animated gifs using WebKit or NSImageView. Now gifs run at full speed immediately.

Now if only they'd fix that PNG color bug that's been around since 10.0....
 
They've improved the performance of OpenGL too, I think. Played a little World of Warcraft yesterday, and it was noticeably smoother, even when I bumped the resolution up to native (1280 x 800 for my macbook) and set the environment and texture details to high.
 
Rosetta. The whole PPC emulation layer was probably replaced for the improvements, so there's more code. Also, much Tiger code is still PowerPC only for PowerPC, while it's universal on intel machines AFAIK. This will change with Leopard, where we all get Universal code, which will probably mean that the harddrive requirements for PowerPC Macs will go up a tad.
 
The made huge changes to the Rosetta layer, most particularly with the BLAS/LAPACK libraries, which is used heavily by science apps. That's what I was looking forward to in this release, as I thought Matlab would run much faster. Turns out, they broke the X11 stuff, so Matlab doesn't run at all :(
 
What does Matlab development say about the issue? I don't think nobody tested this against 10.4.8 before release... Is there an update in the making? I get that it's a problem - and it happened for other apps in other system updates as well. But it's not like Apple usually just "f** up" a whole part of their system without testing it properly. Usually, it's a change they _have_ to make in order to achieve something. And that would lead to some development effort for companies using that specific area. Are other X11 apps affected?

As far as I can see, Matlab is still in heavy development for Mac OS X (intel). There should be a beta version for Professional users. Might have a look at their site (although I only found info on it on www.macresearch.com through google...)...
 
Matlab is supposedly in development for Intel and it's scheduled for release in early... er... Fall 2006... no wait, Spring 2007. Assuming they do not push back the release date further.

The beta program exists for professional users and students, and I'm lucky enough to have managed to sign on to the beta as a student. Will be getting my CD any time soon.

My experience with Mathworks is that they're a really $h!t company, and they've been sitting on improving the Mac port for years. Mathematica ported their suite to Mac OS X in 6 hours, while Matlab has taken over a year and a half to deliver the goods. It's a shame that Mathematica isn't as suited to numerical analysis, if not I'd switch in a heart beat. R for Mac OS X, which is free is far far more polished than Matlab for Mac OS X is, and I have doubts the 2007 release of Matlab will come anywhere close.

From my 3+ years of experience with Matlab, I honestly cannot recommend Matlab to anybody. Especially if they're on the Mac. If you've purchased the student version, you'll have to purchase a new copy if you want to get any service packs. Yes, you do not get free patches. You do not even pay a nominal fee for a patch. You pay the full price of a new copy for a service pack. Oh, and service packs break whatever toolboxes you have purchased, so you'll need to buy new versions too.

When R15 comes, sometime in 2007, students will be forced to pay the full price of a student copy again. If you want me to name a company that is the epitome of evil, it's not Microsoft. It's not Apple. It's Mathworks.
 
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