Mac OS X Update 10.3.1 Available 99
Milanek writes "Mac OS X Update 10.3.1 is available via Software Update. It includes both security updates and it should also address problems with FireWire 800 drives." Apple recommends that you update your firmware updates for your FireWire / Oxford 922 / firmware 1.02 drives, even with the fixes in 10.3.1. The update also includes fixes for printing, WebDAV, and FileVault.
TiVo writes "SecureMac is reporting that Panther's FileVault does not securely delete the files after encryption." Anyone know if this is fixed in 10.3.1?
Installed (Score:4, Interesting)
Unfortunately, it hasn't fixed the one bug I've been experiencing so far, which is with certain pop-up menu widgets. If it has a text-entry box and a pop-up widget, the menu will pop up for a split second and then go away, even if I keep the mouse depressed. This does not happen with normal pop-up widgets.
Odd.
Re:Installed (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Installed (Score:1, Insightful)
don't blame apple for being uninformed.
Re:Installed (Score:4, Informative)
Mac OS X 10.2.8: Can't Connect via Ethernet After Installing Update [apple.com]
His other statement (about waiting a few days before installing an OS update) is good advice, echoed by Mac troubleshooting websites such as MacFixIt [macfixit.com] and MacInTouch [macintouch.com]. Both offer excellent coverage of (and cures for) issues brought about by Mac OS updates. Reading the troubleshooting reports before installing an update can prevent a lot of unnecessary grief.
I'll also note that Apple's own Discussion Forums [apple.com]) provide a place to seek troubleshooting advice and/or a place to vent your frustrations. Since Apple employees monitor the discussion threads, it's possible that at least some of what's posted there is noted and acted upon.
D.
Re:Installed (Score:2, Informative)
FileVault (Score:5, Interesting)
It is said that this update fixes bugs with Filevault, and I have installed it, but i am still
Besides, It would be better to enable it by folder (any folder) instead of simply the home dir. I would love to just encrypt my documents dir and leave my music available. That would make more sense, and probably speed things up as well.
Re:FileVault (Score:3, Informative)
it is sad though, that such a cool feature is having initial difficulty. hope everything gets ironed out completely by Apple.
Re:FileVault (Score:3, Informative)
Re:FileVault (Score:1)
And no, OpenFW passwd does not protect against booting to single user mode - you can reset it by altering the amount of system RAM - easy, as you can't enforce physical security with a laptop -
Don't assume... (Score:5, Informative)
It's not possible for someone to reset your password to circumvent FileVault.
It's a symmetric encryption system and your password is being used as a key to encrypt your home directory. If somebody were to boot single user and change your user's password then login they'd just get an error because the new password couldn't unencrypt your home directory.
This release looks like it cleaned up those nasty home-directory-gets-nuked bugs and is probably pretty solid.
Re:Don't assume... (Score:1)
Well, that was exactly the information I was looking for! Thank you.
Re:FileVault (Score:1)
Filevault uses the same method. It creates a encrypted growable sparse disk image that is mounted upon logon as your home directory. diskutil can recover space in these images just as filevault does and i'm willing to bet that all filevault is doing is passing commands to diskutil to do the work.
Re:Lack of secure erasure upon enabling verified. (Score:2, Informative)
"From my limited experience with FileVault, it securely deletes files...Or at least it did to me, when it nuked my entire keychain and nearly required a reinstall to repair" the issue of files bein
Re:Lack of secure erasure upon enabling verified. (Score:2)
I wasn't talking about the securemac article. I was talking about how filevault nuked my entire keychain quite securely. Part joke, Part discussion on the merits of the 10.3.1 update. If I had forseen the confusion with the SecureMac article, I would have elaborated a bit more.
Re:FileVault (Score:4, Funny)
And they'd yell back "Suck on THIS! Here's a subpoena; now decrypt the volume or become a felon!"
:)
Re:FileVault (Score:3, Funny)
Re:FileVault (Score:1)
Hmmm... Contempt of court vs. $150k per song...? That's a tough one. ;)
-T
Re:FileVault (Score:3, Insightful)
5th ammendment? (Score:2)
When does this become self-incrimination?
Re:FileVault (Score:3, Informative)
That's easy enough to do, just make an encrypted disk image using Disk Utility (Disk Copy in pre-10.3). Copy everything you want encrypted to it. Then just open it when you need your stuff, it takes only a second to open. You can even make it a login item and save the password in your keychain so it automatically opens on login.
The only difference is you'll have a documents volume instead of a documents folder, no big whoop th
How About Fixing Windows Printing (Score:2)
Comment removed (Score:5, Informative)
Comment removed (Score:5, Informative)
Re:How About Fixing Windows Printing (Score:2)
I think people get accustomed to the notion of 'ease-of-use' and forget that being a UNIX based Operating System the odds are something in the foundation communicating has been misconfigured.
This is true for Linux as well, NeXTStep, Solaris, etc.,.
For Systems Engineers or Systems Administrators in the Enterprise one is so accustomed to customizing deployed systems and testing the verbose outputs that such oversights are less common.
On the downside it is
Re:How About Fixing Windows Printing (Score:2)
While I was very impressed with the OS in general (and I'm saving my lunch money for a G5 myself) I was very unimpressed with its printer support.
Re:How About Fixing Windows Printing (Score:2)
I Wonder ... (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:I Wonder ... (Score:3, Informative)
Also, the installer doesn't force you to restart that instant; just hide it, go on working, and restart at your convenience.
Re:I Wonder ... (Score:2)
anyways, the gist could be in that they want you to restart(and not just dismiss it) because otherwise the secure updates wont really kick in.
though, if it's possible to just (re)load up the libs inpendent of each other.. why they don't do that automatically bea
Re:I Wonder ... (Score:1, Insightful)
Re:I Wonder ... (Score:2)
the point is, that if it is an important security update, you shouldn't wait needlessly. and mentioned calculations and transfers that make it unfeasible to reboot could last for DAYS.
having to reboot for updates sucks on both windows and macs, and anywhere else you need to do it. in windows it's super annnoying how some program installers hook some trivial things to the boot scr
Re:I Wonder ... (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:I Wonder ... (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:I Wonder ... (Score:3, Informative)
Re:I Wonder ... (Score:4, Interesting)
I plugged it into the network, and loaded up IE... *nothing*, IE reports no internet connection.
Hmm, that should'nt happen, I'll go take a look in the Internet configuration options...
Ah, there's the problem, silly XP didn't/doesn't detect it has a network now, I'll just go to the LAN settings and change them... there we go, Accept>OK.
Type in an address...
Weird says I, that should have worked. Went and ran through the Internet Connection Wizard...
Yes I want to connect to the internet via a network, Yes it's a home network, Yes I'd rather like you to find the settings automatically.
WINDOWS XP WIZARD: "Windows XP is setting up your internet configuration, please wait"
(Window with animation of computer sliding down a wire toward another computer)
Still waiting...
Still waiting...
Still waiting (now taken a few minutes
WINDOWS XP WIZARD: "The Windows Internet Configuration Wizard has now successfully set up your internet settings (I'm ever so clever)."
ME: "Joy! At last!"
WINDOWS XP WIZARD: "But first of all, Windows XP needs to restart before these new settings take effect"
FFS - this is the LATEST operating system from MS, and I am REBOOTING to get it to access the internet from a HOME NETWORK!?!?!?!?
I couldn't believe it... My PowerBook on the other hand, I took it out of the box, it was already charged, and I powered it up, and it found the (wireless) network instantly, I had internet access straight away. (And the PC was connected with CAT 5 to the Router, so it didn't even need to bother with the added complexity of wireless). Sigh... I remember XP being bad... but I really actually gave it more credit than that.
Re:I Wonder ... (Score:4, Insightful)
No matter which way you call it, it's just as, if not more sloppy than OS X's update restart thing. If I know what the security update is changing, I sometimes force quite the app that's telling me to restart and then reload ssh (or whatever component has changed) from the command line. If the uber-geeks at Slashdot would stop projecting or (if they're not blatantly trolling) start looking at problems objectively, they might gain some valuable skills.
"After patching Linux I can do X and keep my machine on!"
"Well have you tried a variation of X in Mac OS X to keep your machine up and benefit from updates? No? Why not?"
Re:I Wonder ... (Score:2)
Re:I Wonder ... (Score:2)
but it doesn't matter, does it... (Score:4, Insightful)
That's fine and good, and I see your point (assuming the XP machine was patching itself)... but at the end of the day...
He plugged in the XP laptop and it didn't want to work right away. The Mac laptop did. Now, if you are an 'average user', do you care about what's going on there? Or do you just want the damn thing to work?
Re:I Wonder ... (Score:2)
So, first put in the card. Found new hardware, install the drivers. Restart. Okay... Now run the connection wizard. Restart again. Didn't work - can't see the network... Oh, I see, it's still trying to use the Cat-5 port. Change that - whoops, restart again. Still can't see the network, have to run the wizard ag
Re:I Wonder ... (Score:3, Interesting)
A relative comes to visit, plugs in their shiny new $2500 Dell with Windows XP, and it won't connect to the network at all. It has an internal 802.11b card that won't connect to my 802.11b network - no matter what I try. So I give up, disable the wireless and try hardwired to the internal Ethernet port. Nope, still won't see the network. It took almost three ho
Re:I Wonder ... (Score:2)
Yeah I can see that. Of course there's situations where you basically want to make damned sure that people restart. Such as when applying security patches. When you have to restart for changes to take effect you don't want some boob clicking "later" and then rebooting the machine 12 days hence. And with the stability of today's operating systems that's easy to do. At least Ap
/usr/sbin/softwareupdate (Score:5, Informative)
The command for the 10.3.1 upgrade is
Now go upgrade your work machine from home, or your home machine from work... :-)
Re:/usr/sbin/softwareupdate (Score:2)
This works for me but not all the time. Sometimes it fails, as it is doing consistently with QuickTime 6.4 on a machine running 10.2.8 (I know this is a Panther-related main topic but bear with me). The update gets only to 50% installed and then hangs there, I have tried several times. I have succesfully updated this machine on the command line since failing to do QT 6.4. It's just this one update. Any advice for getting it to work remotely (I am 3500 mil
Re:/usr/sbin/softwareupdate (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:/usr/sbin/softwareupdate (Score:2, Informative)
NV17? (Score:2)
window selection (Score:2, Interesting)
One cool feature he pointed out was the ability to zoom out all the windows. You could then click on one you want, which is then zoomed into the foreground with focus.
I thought that was the coolest thing under the sun, no more alt-tabbing craziness.
Any idea if someone could implement this ability into X or the current top window managers?
Re:window selection (Score:3, Informative)
You're talking about expose.
If you have apple's X11 server installed (comes with panther, but not installed by default) the xwindows are just like regular windows and expose cleans them up and lets you pick the one you want-- along with all the other open windows. Or just among the open x windows if you choose the "pick from apps windows" version of expose.
The x integration seems pretty well done, though I haven't used it much.
Re:window selection (Score:2)
Re:window selection (Score:1)
http://macintouch.com/panreader08.html
to activate the card under Panther. It worked, and much to my surprise, Expose works quite well on this ancient, non-accelerated card.
Re:window selection (Score:1)
Pretty much no. (Score:2)
I say "mixed" because Apple's approach has some fairly significant overhead for even the simplest of operations, but very complex operations (like Expose) are pretty much free beyond that.
You also see with with the "genie effect" by w
Re:Pretty much no. (Score:2)
Instead of "mixed" I would say "forward-
Re:Pretty much no. (Score:1)
This functionality already exists with Expose, by default bound to F10. All you have to do is uncheck "Enable tabbed browsing" in Safari's preferences
Why anyone would continue to use tabbed browsing given the existence of Expose is beyond me. Perhaps if Apple were to have the windows display their titles superimposed as soon as Expose is active, rather than o
Re:Pretty much no. (Score:2)
I would agree with you if I thought that tabbed browsing was only useful for having lots of windows without the clutter. As it turns out, I use tabs to *organize* my browsing experience. So there are many times when I have a set of tabs open for my teaching mater
Re:Pretty much no. (Score:1)
You're right that four collections of five is better than one collection of twenty. I still think that's better served by virtual desktops than some other paradigm, but I don't ever have twenty panes on the go so I've never really given tabbed browsing much time.
And as far as "mousing over" the windows in Expose goes...please. What do you think keyboard navigation is for?
I think it's for someone who would rather cover O(n) rather than O(sqrt(n)) distance to reach a given window
Anyone else (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Anyone else (Score:1)
Re:Anyone else (Score:1, Insightful)
I installed 10.3.1 with my customary (and statistically well-earned) Mac user confidence. No problems to report, as is the usual Mac custom.
Funny how the many years worth of seamless Mac updates never make news.
Re:Anyone else (Score:3, Interesting)
Er, and don't forget the other notable anomaly, one of the first iTunes updates forgot to handle spaces in file names (which are common on Macs) and could delete vast swaths of your stuff.
Other then those two I can't think of any bad upgrade experiences from Apple.
Re:Anyone else (Score:1)
one would think that it's pretty tough to screw up a 1.5mb patch.
New terminal how-to (Score:3, Informative)
Software Update Tool
Copyright 2002-2003 Apple Computer, Inc.
Software Update found the following new or updated software:
! MacOSXUpdate10.3.1-10.3.1
Mac OS X Update, 10.3.1, 1292K [required] [restart]
==========
The 10.3.1 Update delivers enhanced functionality and improved reliability for the following applications, services and technologies: FileVault, Printing, WebDav, and FireWire 800 drives. This update also includes the latest Security Updates.
Important Note: Apple has identified an issue with external FireWire hard drives using the Oxford 922 bridge chip-set with firmware version 1.02 that can result in the loss of data stored on the disk drive. Even with the improvements available in this update, Apple recommends you update the firmware on your FireWire drive. Please contact your drive manufacturer for more information.
Who cares about insecurely deleted files? (Score:2)
Re: I care. (Score:1)
Notify me of incoming calls (Score:3, Informative)
The 10.3.1 update did not fix this bug either.
Anyone else having problems with this flakey feature?
It used to work for me in Jaguar reasonably well.
Any problems with 10.3.1 yet? (Score:2, Insightful)
Anyone installed this update? with firewire drives attached?
Anyone come across any problems?
Once burned, now even more paranoid than usual
Re:Any problems with 10.3.1 yet? (Score:3, Insightful)
Apparantly there was a problem with the firmware in those drives as well - and the actual problem required TWO things to be exactly right. A certain condition in Panther had to exist at the same time as a certain condition in the firewire.
The simple fact of the matter is that no one party is at fault. Things like this happen, and it is impossible to protect against every possible variable that can exist!
As is true wit
Re:Any problems with 10.3.1 yet? (Score:1)
Active directory roaming profiles (Score:2, Informative)
Anyone else having this problem?
Free Update ;) (Score:3, Funny)
I'll just sneaky sneaky download and patch my 10.2.6 system with 10.3.1.
Re:Free Update ;) (Score:2)
Re:Free Update ;) (Score:1)
Secure Erase and Defragmentation (Score:2)
I'm only just now ordering Panther.
powerbook "sleep" light dimmer? (Score:3, Interesting)
Anyone else seen this?
Lid closes versus open (Score:4, Informative)
Close the lid, instead of choosing sleep- or close the lid while it's asleep. Believe it or not, "lid open" sleep mode uses a much dimmer light.
I suppose it's possible Apple got a lot of complaints about the brighter mode(I know it was annoying as hell at night in my bedroom, felt like I was about to be abducted by aliens) and just set it to dim all the time.
Re:Lid closes versus open (Score:1)
And yeah, the bright blue light drove me insane at night. I've taken to putting a towel over the machine while it is charging. Any Mac Haxors out there know how to modify this behavior?
The Update - A One-Man Psychodrama (Score:5, Funny)
We see THATGUY, sitting in front of his POWERBOOK. On screen, an ICON is hopping up and down like an overcaffeinated Chihuahua. THATGUY signs heavily.
THATGUY
Oh no... it's here. 10.3.1.
(drums fingers on desk rapidly)
THATGUY
This probably fixes FileVault, and that FireWire bug.
(drums fingers)
THATGUY
And other stuff. Fuck.
In the BG, we hear audio of a CHORUS OF VOICES shouting negatives like NO DON'T DO IT, and ARE YOU INSANE and HAVE YOU NOT LEARNED YOUR LESSON? A single voice becomes louder in the din.
THATGUY
Must... update....
His FINGER reaches for the pulsating UPDATE NOW button.
ALL-POWERFUL SLASHDOT VOICE
Are you seriously going to do that? Really?
THATGUY
But I must! It'll be better... Apple is almost always bet-
APSV (BOOMING)
YOU FOOL. DON'T YOU REMEMBER THE ITUNES BUG? THE 10.2.8 DEBACLE? THE VERY BUGS WE JUST ENCOUNTERED IN PANTHER?? You have got to be the STUPIDEST L0SER EVAR!!11!!1
THATGUY
but... the Panther, she is beautiful, and I must help fix the-
APSV
IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT IF YOU LOOSE YOUR DATA
THATGUY
I have backups!
APSV (BOOMING again)
THOSE CD-RS ONLY HAVE A SHELF LIFE OF 6 YEARS YOU KNOW, SURELY YOU HAVE A WEBDAV-
As the voice is booming, THATGUY reaches and quickly clicks the UPDATE button. A stunned silence. He looks sheepish.
APSV
.....FOOL! YOUR IGNORANCE IS YOUR UNDOING. DON'T ASK ME FOR HELP WHEN YOUR DRIVE IS FSCK'D.
THATGUY Well, you wouldn't help me before, now, would you?
APSV
True. FADE OUT
Don't update Panther Beta (Score:3, Informative)
My developer 7B85 updated to 10.3.1 just fine (Score:2)
Re:Don't update Panther Beta (Score:2)