November 07, 2003
misc panther notes

I've been meaning to blog about Panther for a while. This has been done all over the web already, but if just for my sake alone, here is:

Random Panther Thoughts in NPO:

  • Panther is Fast - There is an immediately noticeable speed increase in Panther. Of course we all love that. :)
  • Smooth Scrolling - It's not perfect, but I find I like it much better than without. My eye seems to not get lost as easily while browsing a long web page in Safari.
  • Exposé - Very cool! No question about the wow factor on this one. I love showing it off to my PC friends. They wonder how to do that on their Windows machine. I just laugh. :) Now I just have to actually use it...thus far I never remember to use it when it would actually improve productivity instead of kill time wow-ing others. ;)
  • Postfix - I was happy to see Apple included postfix and made it very easy to enable and start using. I have yet to get it configured exactly how I want, but most users don't try to use it to send to their mailing list either. ;)
  • Mail - I switched to Mail.app for my email needs in 10.2 on my office machine. I continued to use Eudora at home. Now I admit I've gone completely over to Mail. The Panther update to Mail is a huge improvement for my needs. The speed is definitely my favorite new feature. I deal with a large amount of email, and Jaguar Mail was painfully slow at fetching email.
  • Bluetooth - Okay, so this one is not necessarily Panther, but since the first time I used Bluetooth was on my G5 under Panther, I'm putting it in this post! I used it to transfer files and apps to my Palm Tungsten T. Wow, very cool! I love wireless! There is just something inherently cool about not having any cords or wires and adding a new time killing game to my Palm. :)
  • System Profiler - It's about freakin' time! That thing was so dog-slow before that I dreaded any circumstance that made me have cause to launch it. Vastly improved both in speed and interface.
  • Disk Utility - Not much of a fan. Early in the seed process, I couldn't find my trusty Disk Copy, and it surprised me to find the functionality had migrated to Disk Utility. A friend who is new to macs tried to use it to burn a CD and was pretty confused. I don't think that was a wise move.
  • Preview - Well, it's fast and improved in about every way. Great stuff.
  • "New" Aqua - It really has grown on me. My first impression was not good. (WWDC Developer Preview) But after using it for a while, I find that I much prefer it over the Jaguar Aqua.
  • Networking (Finder) - Wow, it sucks. This thread at MacNN talks about many of the same issues I have had.
  • Finder - I won't bother to go over what's new, but I do like it better than the "old" Finder. Not anywhere near perfect, but it's improved imho.
  • FUS - With all the fuss about FUS (haha!) if you haven't tried it out, you should. I don't share my computer with other users (greedy I am), but I still find the need to switch to other user accounts fairly often. And that cube thingy makes Fast User Switching a joy.
  • Stability - Last and definitely least, is stability. For some odd reason, I have had three complete freezes (OS 9-ish!) and one no-wake-from-sleep. I did not have these problems before with Jaguar. At this point I am not blaming it on Panther. I tend to test a bunch of alpha software and do various other mean things to my computer, so it may be my fault. More time and investigation is required.

So if you can't tell, overall I really like Panther. I think Apple has done a great job with it. I still wonder at a whole bunch of things they could or should have done. Why the option to make icons in the Dock semi-transparent when they're hidden is not a standard option the the preference pane is just one example. The Dock feels aged now. It hasn't had any major changes in too long. Plenty of room for improvement there Apple, get on it! ;)

Now for that elusive Apple branded two-button mouse...(don't flame me, I want it and nothing anyone says it going to change that!! ;) )

UPDATE: I just crashed the Finder in 10.3 and got a chuckle...there was no "submit a bug report to Apple?" option as there usually is. I guess they don't want *that* many reports coming in. ;) Oh, and yeah, it was while trying to connect to my office mac from home that it "beachball of death"-ed me and then crashed completely. It connected fine, but timed out while trying to browse. I still love Panther btw.

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 Posted by brian at November 07, 2003 01:09 PM

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Tracked on November 10, 2003 8:12 AM




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Comments

Brian,

I admit that I was, for the very first-time, not going to be an "early adopter." However, my wife and I were shopping and I saw Panther and then fell into my own trap as I started talking with other MacHeads'. Well...I bought and jumped headfirst as usual. Friends warned me that external firewire drives were crashing. What was the first thing I did? I tried to crash my external firewire drive to no avail (SmartDisk). There are some minor issues, but all-in-all Panther is a monumental leap for Apple. Now, if Apple can only get its act together on so many other fronts? Panther is exciting and I await to see what Developers' will do with it.

P.S. I also purchased Smart Scroll, because I had supported this Developer in the past. I am not disappointed.

Posted by: CREB on November 7, 2003 2:08 PM

Now for that elusive Apple branded two-button mouse...(don't flame me, I want it and nothing anyone says it going to change that!! ;) )

Brian,

Although not Apple, I use and I am very content with Microsoft's IntelliMouse Explorer. I know, I know, but Hewlett Packard makes the mouse for MS and since my wife works for HP I support her stock options in my own little way.

Posted by: CREB on November 7, 2003 2:10 PM

Panther is great, I'm in love with it with the exception of its networking. One type of networking please with an option to show all servers on the desktop.

The freezes sounds like bad RAM to me. This happened to me when I went from 10.2.6 to 10.2.8. Seems like each version gets more picky about RAM. I'm using two Apple sticks in my 17" Powerbook now without any problems. I'm seeing this problem a lot in my clients machines as well.

Posted by: Cleo on November 7, 2003 2:16 PM

Good notes on Panther. I like it in every way over Panther except for stability. iTunes, QuickTime, and Camino have crashed probably a total of five times in the past week, and I don't even remember an app ever crashing with Jaguar. I've also had a bizarre freeze, but I'm almost positive it was due to minimize-in-place.

Posted by: Matt Martinez on November 7, 2003 2:29 PM

Matt,

Did you do a "clean" install? I've not had any of those issues.

Posted by: CREB on November 7, 2003 4:01 PM

Yes, I did.

Posted by: Matt Martinez on November 7, 2003 4:48 PM

I'm having absolutely no problems. No app crashes at all.
Running all the time,
Mail, Mozilla, ICQ, iCal, Address book, CopyPaste, IE, ImageReady, GoLive, BBEdit, Terminal, Stickies, Suitcase 11, SpellCatcher, and iTunes.

I never close the above. I also open another dozen or so programs regularly including Gimp. I'm running WindowShade, Default folder, and the Kensington mouse driver, nothing else.

Syncing with my T610 and iPod is finally working fast and without problems. Using my T610 with GPRS is also working great when I'm on the road.

When I'm home I plug into a external monitor. No problems with sleep or anything else. I also am using FUS for a testing account. I never restart other then to do an upgrade.

I did an easy update to 10.3 from a fresh copy of 10.2.8.

I have not done a lot of networking yet, only some AFP, but that works well other then I hate the drives not showing on the desktop. Yes I know can use Command K. I also have not used any FireWire 800 drives, but no problems with 400 drives.

Honestly I've never seen my system this stable and fast. I've started to slowing upgrade some of my accounts. So far so good.

Posted by: Terri on November 7, 2003 5:21 PM

I agree with you on the 2-button mouse!

Posted by: NetworkShadow on November 7, 2003 8:53 PM

does anyone know how to import address book from eudora 601 to panther mail.app? could you please e-mail me directly?

thanks

Posted by: vitaly on November 8, 2003 6:17 AM

Brian,

More importantly, as I am finishing up my Christmas card list this weekend...how do I send one to Unsanity?

James

Posted by: CREB on November 8, 2003 8:40 AM

James,

It's not even mid-November - you are on top of your game!

Wow, should you feel so inclined, we'd be honored:

http://unsanity.com/company.php

That page has our address.

Posted by: Brian on November 8, 2003 9:02 AM

I find that allowing Expose to be triggered with hot corners works the best. If you have a ton of windows open and forget which button you need to hit the only think you need to remember is bring your cursor the necessary corner and, zip, it's good to go. A huge time saver.

Best Regards,
Eric Czarny

Posted by: Eric on November 8, 2003 9:09 AM

Wow Brian blogged! As for me, I like panther! in fact, I love panther!

My issue isn't necessarily a two-button mouse from Apple, (although I would love to see it) but a split clicker on PowerBooks! Trying to hold down control and using the trackpad cramps my hand all up! =)

Posted by: Andrew on November 8, 2003 9:52 AM

enable postfix to send mail in a jiffy... love it!

http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/21479

Posted by: greg on November 8, 2003 10:43 AM

I use a two button mouse when I'm home, but find click and hold to get a contextual menu works just fine when I'm using my Powerbook.

I like a two button mouse, but a lot of people don't.

Posted by: Terri on November 8, 2003 10:52 AM

Andrew,

pooint your browser to this site, download "Sidetrack", assign the control click to "tapping the trackpad" and never look back! At least not until Apple does come out with a Powerbook that has a split clicker ;-)

Btw, the "sidetrack" function rocks, too!

Posted by: eff on November 8, 2003 4:21 PM

Brian,

Is Cee Pee You safe to use with Panther? I've been doing so to show off my PowerMate.

Posted by: on November 10, 2003 11:09 PM

I've been using Cee Pee You since the WWDC Preview build and it has been working perfectly.

Posted by: Rincewind on November 11, 2003 2:30 PM

I see some of you are getting ceepeeyou to work but it does not work for me on my 12" PowerBook rev.A. Panther killed it somehow. Anyone help?

Posted by: Michael Pearce on November 11, 2003 2:36 PM

I like the new Disk Copy's migration to Disk Utility. It is a lot faster and more reliable. It is also easier to eject disk images.

I also like Mail.app much better once I disabled Quickeys 2.0.2b6 as it kept causing Mail.app to crash every few days. I had to keep deleting Mail's preferences and rebuilding them.

Posted by: Paul Randall on November 11, 2003 3:54 PM

Today, I threw away my Apple diskettes of System 7.

Posted by: CREB on November 13, 2003 11:13 AM

A little off topic, but here's a suggestion for Unsanity once they have some free time:

How 'bout an APE module that loads themes for different applications? In other words, instead of modifying your Extras.rsrc file and risk system unbootability, just set up an APE module that will make the changes on the fly.

Not only that, but if the theme crashes your system, just restart and hold down the shift key when you log in. Get rid of the theme, and no harm done! No booting into single user mode to restore your original Aqua Extras.rsrc file!

Also cool is then you can load different themes for different applications, disable themes for apps that look bad (VLC Media Player, for example).

That's my 2¢

Thanks for your time.

Posted by: Inspired on November 13, 2003 2:32 PM

Yesterday, I found my Apple System 6.0.8 disks. And kept them. :)

On other topics, any way we could get a haxie to restore "Command-`" to cycle windows? I was startled actually when I went to type that and... nothing happened. It's gone system-wide. Expose is awesome, but not that useful when you're flipping back and forth between a couple windows at once.

Posted by: Joshua on November 14, 2003 8:02 AM

Slava,

You took down the blog regarding "FinderLove." I guess I was probably the only one who saw it and downloaded the .ape. What happened?

Posted by: CREB on November 14, 2003 10:50 PM

Joshua: Check System Preferences, Keyboard & Mouse, Keyboard Shortcuts. Scroll down to the shortcut for Rotate Windows, and make sure it is set to Cmd-` (or whatever else you want) and that the checkbox is checked. That should get you your rotate windows command back.

Posted by: Rincewind on November 16, 2003 8:48 PM

Rincewind, if you ever fall off the edge of the Earth, I'd be glad to come after you. ;)

Thanks a LOT!

Posted by: Joshua on November 16, 2003 9:23 PM
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