10.6 Snow Leopard post 2, electric boogaloo
Posted on 02. Sep, 2009 by zevmo in Uncategorized
Well, I have had some time to play around on MacOS 10.6 (Snow Leopard), and overall it seems to have been worth the upgrade cost ($10). I did, however, run into a couple fo snags. Understandably, there are a few bumps that need to be ironed out, namely software not developed by Apple. For example, Plaxo, Flip4Mac, Perian, and Growl.
The main issue that I experienced was with QuicktimeX. Trying to stream NASA TV (WMA) was an experience in frustration. And this was after upgrading to the relevant beta software for Flip4Mac. Not only did I have to play around with it, when I found difficulty with the site in Safari, I went to Firefox to play it there and it opened up the file into Safari, again. Fun stuff. In the end, the answer was to play the file right in QuicktimeX (auto-launch from Safari), which it did just fine.
Other notable observations, the general feel of the OS is one of stability and lighter weight. There are parts of the interface (GUI) that were definitely tweaked, nothing major, but just enough to make it feel shiny. I did appreciate the changes in the firewall preferences, and in several other system pref panels. Start-up/Shutdown/Sleep times are faster, for sure.
As far as the 64-bit kernel start-up issue goes, I tried it both ways (shut-up), and changed it back to default. According to Siracusa:
If it makes you feel better to know that your kernel is operating more efficiently, and that, were you to actually have 96GB of RAM installed, you would not risk starving the kernel of address space, and if you don’t have any 32-bit drivers that you absolutely need to use, then by all means, boot into the 64-bit kernel.
For everyone else, my advice is to be glad that K64 will be ready and waiting for you when you eventually do need it — and please do encourage all the vendors that make kernel extensions that you care about to add K64 support as soon as possible.
So, just leave it be, in my opinion.
Install times on my machines varied. My new MBP took about 20 minutes, my older one, 70 minutes (b/c the first install try just stopped before the reboot- 25 minutes after the force quit+retry). And why Rosetta wasn’t part of the default install, I think this was a inner-Apple middle finger to application developers to try and get them to completely drop the PowerPC platform-only development all together, if effect to really emphasize Universal dev. Honestly, installing (or rather being prompted to install) Rosetta afterwards, is no big deal at all (doesn’t even require a reboot).
Space, space, space. On my older MBP I got 21GB back… 21GB! Holy crap! My new MBP, ONLY 11GB. Thanks for that since my older MBP has the 70GB HD in it, the newer 500GB didn’t really experience the proverbial foot to carpet reaction (see Die Hard) that my 1.88 enjoyed.
All-in-all it was a good move for Apple to just take a breather, and reorganize themselves (like they did moving to FreeBSD). This new OS should be seen moving its way into the AppleTV/iPhone platforms, as well, so I expect some performance bumps there as well.
