Mac OS X 10.3.4 Build 7H41

[singletrack]

I hope they improve Safari in this release. It's my one complaint over these updates - Each seems to make Safari slower and the redraw less intelligent. v1.0 was fast, v1.2 is much, much slower.

If I'm running low on ram (I only have 384MB!), getting a beachball each time I click on a form element in Safari, attempt to scroll or type in a text field gets tiresome, particularly when Firefox, running at the same time, doesn't beachball and doesn't redraw the whole page. Maybe it's the lack of VRAM (only 8MB in this iBook so no QuartzExtreme) but it's odd that Firefox runs fine and Safari doesn't.

 

[ingenious]

Do you repair permissions and run MacJanitor regularly? I have 2 Macs right now and upkeep 5 or 6 others and have not ever had kernel panics or really bad crashes (unless I do something stupid, or there is faulty hardware). This is especially true with my 12" PBook.
On some of the machines I take care of when their owners tell me something is wrong, it's usually lack of upkeep.
Make sure you do these things and you should be in good shape. And remember- don't turn off your Powerbook, just put it to sleep. But do run MacJanitor (search VersionTracker.com) every other week or so.

hey im not a mac newbie, of course i run repair permissions whenever something starts to act up. the kernel panics have not happened since 10.3.3 either, now that i think about it. My PB actually runs better when I shut it down at least once a week (isnt that recommended by apple [every 10 days?]). Usually i just log out and close the lid. or switch users. I haven't tried mac janitor.... i will tho.

 

[ingenious]

Under what conditions do you get kernel panics? I presume you are a "power user"? (Isn't that a flattering title!? )

now that i think about it, i dont think ive gotten one since 10.3.2, maybe one, but usually its when i have several programs open: Safari, Mail, iChat, MSN Messenger, iTunes. That's not very many, I know, (maybe im just maxing out my Rev. A 12" PB.... ) but if i open iMovie or Photoshop, instead of it just slowing down, the dock dissapears, i get a partial desktop picture, and expose dissappears. then, it will sometimes have a kernel panic and i have to restart. i know this shouldn't be happening, i just can't figure out why it does! Yes, i do repair permissions regularly.

 

[ingenious]

<again off topic>
To add to the Kernil Panic stuff on 10.3... CHECK YOUR RAM. I bought a couple of sticks for my G4 and started getting crashes and 1 kernel panic. It was obiuos it was the RAM.
Make sure the RAM in your machine is not causing the issue if you have additional RAM...

i have (*gasp* i know, i know) no additional RAM and it only did this under Jag whenever I was trying to copy a PC CD-ROM (which shouldn't have caused it either, but it would not let me do it! i tried six or seven times and got a kernel panic each time.). I am not saying i liked Jag better, by all means, no! I'm just saying that I hope i can get this resolved.

 

[ZildjianKX]

The browse option is still there. So you actually have a choice. Frankly, I like having it on the desktop better. Then its right there when I need it.

How do you enable browsing without mounting?

 

[neonart]

i have (*gasp* i know, i know) no additional RAM...

AS you are aware, running OSX, and 4-5 apps on 256MB does not help your problems. Buy a 256MB stick. It's cheap.

Take care.

<Back to the 10.3.4.5.6.7 topic>

 

[SiliconAddict]

Do you repair permissions and run MacJanitor regularly?

<More offtopic goodness. Sorry>


Guys. I pointed a user in the office I work to the local Apple store about 2 weeks ago. He picked up an iMac. He is NOT computer savy. Should I have him install MacJanitor on his system for preventative maintenance purposes? I don't want to look like a putz, being the IT person, by having him come back to me in a few months telling me he is having problems if it can be simply avoided by having him install this software. Thoughts?

 

[matthew24]

Surprise

I had a lot of issues with 10.3.2. (when running Mail, Safari and .Mac synchronisation at the same time, plus wake/sleep problems). These were all solved with 10.3.3. In fact 10.3.3. has been so stable that is does surprise me that they are bringing out another 10.3.x release before 10.4 I believe that 10.3.4 is more about polishing/performance improvement than bug-fixing, and I don't expect another update before 10.4.

I really appreciate the Apple attitude of continueing improving an already almost perfect OS.

 

[Windowlicker]

the thing i like most in panther is the new finder. also some other improvements, but what bugs me off is the fact that I get more app crashes than with 10.2.8. I hope this next update changes things even a little.

btw kill bill 2 rocked!

 

[rdowns]

<More offtopic goodness. Sorry>


Guys. I pointed a user in the office I work to the local Apple store about 2 weeks ago. He picked up an iMac. He is NOT computer savy. Should I have him install MacJanitor on his system for preventative maintenance purposes? I don't want to look like a putz, being the IT person, by having him come back to me in a few months telling me he is having problems if it can be simply avoided by having him install this software. Thoughts?

Absolutely. Found this on a quick Google search for Mac OS X maintenance:

MacJanitor is designed to be used on a periodic basis by Mac OS X users who don't leave their computer on (and awake) 24 hours a day. MacJanitor is provided as freeware as a service to laptop and energy-conscious home users.

The Unix subsystems on Mac OS X were originally written for machines that were typically never shut off. Mac OS X inherits this assumption in version 1.x, and has many system maintenance tasks that are scheduled to run between 3 am and 5 am. In addition, there are scripts designed to run weekly on weekends, and once a month in the middle of the night.

If these maintenance tasks are never run (such as on a laptop that is always shut off at night), many log files and system database will grow extremely large or fail to get backed up.

MacJanitor provides a way to run these system tasks at the click of a button. Laptop users could click the 'daily' button every morning (or every few days), or office workers could click the 'weekly' button on Mondays.

If you've been leaving your machine off at night without allowing the maintenance tasks to run for several weeks or more, the first time you run them using MacJanitor may take several minutes. Also, if your log files have grown extremely large and you are low on disk space, the tasks may have problems moving the files around and compressing them. After that, it typically takes less than a minute for each task.

The output of the task is displayed in the scrolling view in the bottom part of the window. If for some reason you feel the need, you may print the output of the system maintenance tasks (but why?...).

You can't really hurt anything by running the tasks more frequently than is intended, and they don't need to be run on a strict schedule. Just run them periodically when you get a free minute every few days or weeks.

Hopefully, this will be addressed in a future update of Mac OS X.

 

[littlejim]

I'm looking for a Safari update too

I hope they improve Safari in this release. It's my one complaint over these updates - Each seems to make Safari slower and the redraw less intelligent. v1.0 was fast, v1.2 is much, much slower.

If I'm running low on ram (I only have 384MB!), getting a beachball each time I click on a form element in Safari, attempt to scroll or type in a text field gets tiresome, particularly when Firefox, running at the same time, doesn't beachball and doesn't redraw the whole page. Maybe it's the lack of VRAM (only 8MB in this iBook so no QuartzExtreme) but it's odd that Firefox runs fine and Safari doesn't.

I'm really hoping for some improvements to Safari too.

I've now changed over to FireFox for the time bieng as Safari become too 'Beachball-y' on my PowerBook 12'.

 

[mangoman]

I use Cocktail. Same functions as Mac Janitor, more or less. Frequently updated, and running fine in 10.3.3

 

[Benjamin]

I remember when i was so into the jaguar builds.. hehe but i haven't really been keeping up with panther builds at all. Anyway i think the rapid builds that apple has been pushing is great. Even if the software might have been released to early it just shows that apple is committed in fixing problems and change their software.

 

[backspinner]

@ safari slowness: trash the caches and the form auto fill stuff (search in the forums for more info)

@ kernel panics: I only get them while using MSN Messenger. Something is defenitly wrong with that program.

 

[numediaman]

It's strange for me to hear all this talk about Safari performing slowly. On my PB Safari flies -- but I have some interesting circumstances that may be helping my computer perform faster:

Recently I needed to have my logic board replaced. When my computer was returned, I had a clean hard drive and a clean install of Jaguar. I immediately loaded Panther, did all the upgrades, and re-installed a minimum of software, including new iLife.

Ever since then all the Apple software has been lightning fast -- including Safari. My computer has not crashed once (the battery falling out not counting, of course!).

My only point is that with the newest Apple software, where I have added the new Panther optimized software on top of my computer, performance drags. But on my laptop, where a clean install has taken place, the new stuff performs very well. Just a thought.

 

[mklos]

How do you enable browsing without mounting?

No you can't browse without mounting. Say I want to connected to my iBook. I can open a Finder Window and click on Network and it will show up (thats browsing), or in the Finder I can go to the Go Menu and then down to Connect to Server and put afp://ibook/mklos and it will do the exact same thing. Maybe I'm not understanding what you mean?

 

[ClimbingTheLog]

Guess they're not touching SAMBA anymore... shame they reverted back to mounting all Samba folders instead of making them browsable like windows does.

Actually, for the client side, Apple isn't using Samba, they're using their own client forked off of a bsd client a couple years ago.

 

[mklos]

i have (*gasp* i know, i know) no additional RAM and it only did this under Jag whenever I was trying to copy a PC CD-ROM (which shouldn't have caused it either, but it would not let me do it! i tried six or seven times and got a kernel panic each time.). I am not saying i liked Jag better, by all means, no! I'm just saying that I hope i can get this resolved.

If you only have 256MB of RAM in your PowerBook and your running even 3 or 4 programs at a time and getting locks up then that is exactly why! Boy you need more RAM!!! I don't care what kind of computer you have whether its an iMac, or a Dell. If you try to run multiple programs in OS X or XP with 256 MB RAM then of course it will crash and slow down. Get another 256 DDR SODIMMM and then see how much better it runs. I guarantee you that it will not only stop kernel panicking, but you will also see a nice jump in the speed of the machine.

I can't believe you were complaining about kernel panics with only running that amount of RAM. Especially if your someone who like to have 4 or 5 programs open, big programs too like Photoshop and things like that.

Buy more RAM!

 

[mklos]

I hope they improve Safari in this release. It's my one complaint over these updates - Each seems to make Safari slower and the redraw less intelligent. v1.0 was fast, v1.2 is much, much slower.

If I'm running low on ram (I only have 384MB!), getting a beachball each time I click on a form element in Safari, attempt to scroll or type in a text field gets tiresome, particularly when Firefox, running at the same time, doesn't beachball and doesn't redraw the whole page. Maybe it's the lack of VRAM (only 8MB in this iBook so no QuartzExtreme) but it's odd that Firefox runs fine and Safari doesn't.

I don't know whats wrong with your Safari, but every new version has gotten faster and more things seem to work. I also have an iBook with 8 MB VRAM and 320MB of RAM and it works fine in Safari, or any app for that matter. It scrolls nice and redraws the page like its supposed to. Maybe I would delete Safari and download a new one and try that.

 

[awulf]

Mac OS 10.3.3 on my Power Mac G4 466 DA couldn't work better, everything is fast and stable. I don't use any third party utilities, but I do occasionally leave it on during the night, but it's usually put to sleep.

Safari is the only thing that causes me any troubles, at times it gets really slow. But if Safari agitates me I just switch over to Camino.

 

[SiliconAddict]

I hope they improve Safari in this release. It's my one complaint over these updates - Each seems to make Safari slower and the redraw less intelligent. v1.0 was fast, v1.2 is much, much slower.

If I'm running low on ram (I only have 384MB!), getting a beachball each time I click on a form element in Safari, attempt to scroll or type in a text field gets tiresome, particularly when Firefox, running at the same time, doesn't beachball and doesn't redraw the whole page. Maybe it's the lack of VRAM (only 8MB in this iBook so no QuartzExtreme) but it's odd that Firefox runs fine and Safari doesn't.

One word: Firefox

 

[SiliconAddict]

If you only have 256MB of RAM in your PowerBook and your running even 3 or 4 programs at a time and getting locks up then that is exactly why! Boy you need more RAM!!! I don't care what kind of computer you have whether its an iMac, or a Dell. If you try to run multiple programs in OS X or XP with 256 MB RAM then of course it will crash and slow down. Get another 256 DDR SODIMMM and then see how much better it runs. I guarantee you that it will not only stop kernel panicking, but you will also see a nice jump in the speed of the machine.

I can't believe you were complaining about kernel panics with only running that amount of RAM. Especially if your someone who like to have 4 or 5 programs open, big programs too like Photoshop and things like that.

Buy more RAM!

We have Dell 1.7Ghz, 128MB RAM in the office I work in and it runs acceptably fast with Windows 2000. No system should EVER crash from lack of RAM. The system should be paging out to the pagefile and that shouldn't take a system down.

 

[El Duderino]

this is kinda off the topic but is it possible to run OSX on systems other than apple, for instance....an athlon 64 notebook?

 

[crees!]

this is kinda off the topic but is it possible to run OSX on systems other than apple, for instance....an athlon 64 notebook?

The processor architecture is completely different.. so my answer would be no. Unless there is a VirtualMac emulator which I haven't heard of one.

 

[El Duderino]

i just checked the AMD website and it says that it is "designed to run all 32-bit x86 operating systems" and ive seen "x86" term used before, so this match up with OSX?