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OS X Businesses Operating Systems Apple

Mac OS X 10.3.3 Update Released 239

Posted by simoniker from the version-plus-plus dept.
joelhayhurst writes "Mac OS X 10.3.3 is now available via Software Update. Full details are available on the Apple site - key enhancements include: 'Network volumes are now available in the Finder sidebar and Desktop for easier access... Improved file sharing and directory services for Mac (AFP), UNIX (NFS) and PC (SMB/CIFS) networks... Improved PostScript and USB printing... Updated Disk Utility, DVD Player, Image Capture, Mail and Safari applications... Additional support for FireWire and USB devices... Improved compatibility for third party applications... Previous standalone security updates and Bluetooth Update 1.5."
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Mac OS X 10.3.3 Update Released More

Mac OS X 10.3.3 Update Released

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  • Downloading it now... (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Kethinov ( 636034 ) on Monday March 15, 2004 @06:27PM (#8573467) Homepage Journal
    Funny. I was downloading the update only a few minutes before this article was posted.

    I sure do hope the improvements to the SMB protocol are substantial. I've had no end of problems using it to access SMB shares on Windows and Unix. :(

    • Re:Downloading it now... (Score:5, Insightful)

      by notsoclever ( 748131 ) on Monday March 15, 2004 @06:30PM (#8573482) Journal
      Really? My experience has been just the opposite - MacOS has had better SMB access for me than Windows! Though I've only tried connecting to Samba shares.
      • I've had plenty of SMB problems when network connectivity was lost on either end, or when my laptop would go to sleep while having an SMB share still mounted. I hope this resolves all those issues...
        • Same problem here. I looked around for a utility which would connect to the windows box and keep the connection alive when the powerbook sleeps, but so far, nothing substantive turned up.

          I've heard there are few shareware apps, like DAVE 4.0. It seems like an overkill for such a minor annoyance.

          • Re:Downloading it now... (Score:4, Informative)

            by lullabud ( 679893 ) on Monday March 15, 2004 @08:18PM (#8574348)
            I'm seeing this problem in two situations, neither of which would be either of the computers going to sleep. The first is when I switch wireless networks. Even though I can still ping the other computer, if I didn't unmount an SMB share before switching I will have problems. The second situation is when I go from wireless to wired, which I often do at home as I wander up to my desk after fixing dinner and unwinding a bit. Even if the share I'm connecting to is in the same subnet as my PB's en1, if I plug in my en0 while I still have that SMB share mounted the connection will go sour. I'm guessing that the SMB mount is adapter specific and wants to keep sending out data on en1, but the OS wants to use en0 since ethernet takes priority in OSX. In any case, I hope, but don't expect, that this update fixes the problem. No biggie, there's always afp, scp, ftp, http, and even sneaker net. Good thing we have so many choices out of the box with OSX. =)

      • Re:Downloading it now... (Score:4, Informative)

        by Kethinov ( 636034 ) on Monday March 15, 2004 @06:36PM (#8573535) Homepage Journal
        My biggiest issue is I have to "connect to server" then type cifs://netbiosname/sharename

        It works, but if you just browse the samba network with finder, then try to connect to a server by selecting it and hitting "connect" it doesn't work right.

        • Re:Downloading it now... (Score:5, Informative)

          by cioxx ( 456323 ) on Monday March 15, 2004 @07:41PM (#8574096) Homepage
          Hit Command+K in finder, it'll bring up the connect dialogue. type in the share name, Add it to the list of favorites (plus sign) and it should stay there.

          Anytime you need to connect to that server, you won't need manual typing. Just Command+K ==> Select share ==> Enter.
        • Do you have your workgroup properly set in the utility located in /Applications/Utility/Directory Access? You need to set your workgroup name there before OS X will be able to properly browse all the samba shares on your network. I had the same problem as you did before I stumbled upon this fix and haven't had any samba problems since.

      • Comment removed (Score:5, Informative)

        by account_deleted ( 4530225 ) on Monday March 15, 2004 @06:42PM (#8573577)
        Comment removed based on user account deletion

  • YES YES YES (Score:5, Interesting)

    by reconbot ( 456259 ) * <wizard@rPERIODoborooter.com minus punct> on Monday March 15, 2004 @06:31PM (#8573487) Homepage Journal
    You have no idea how much
    Finder and applications that allow you to browse the file system will now refresh the contents of a remote network volume's folder or directory when the folder's contents change.
    and
    Addresses an issue in which Finder unexpectedly quits if the View menu option "Show icon preview" is enabled while dragging a significant number of icons to another location.
    mean to me.

    When ever I used a network share and I changed something from the server or from another computer I'd have to play with the finder for a long time to get it to refresh.

    I happen to like the icon preview and I had it on globally by default. The first time I hooked up my digital camera the finder jumped to 100% cpu usage and stayed that way even after generating all the thumbnails.

    I'm glad they're fixing these bugs.

    -Francis

    • Use Nudge to update Finder views (Score:5, Informative)

      by SimonDorfman.com ( 697156 ) on Monday March 15, 2004 @08:22PM (#8574367) Homepage
      If this update doesn't fix it, try using Nudge [versiontracker.com] to update your finder windows.
      Product Description: This Contextual Menu "nudges" the Finder to update the information it displays about a file or folder. Use it on any item (or groups of items) if you suspect the Finder hasn't updated its view. This should work for most attribute changes, icon changes, size changes, files that have been saved but don't appear, and so forth. Unfortunately, some attribute changes are NOT properly recognized. This includes the "invisible" and "package" attributes. For changes to those attributes, you must quit and restart the Finder. On Panther, you can also control-click in the empty space on any folder (or on the desktop) to nudge the folder itself, without needing to select anything.

    • Re:YES YES YES (Score:5, Interesting)

      by Maserati ( 8679 ) on Monday March 15, 2004 @08:25PM (#8574389) Homepage Journal
      Procrastination pays off again ! At the office we have one Appletalk Zone split over 4 TCP/IP subnets. It hasn't been showing up in 10.3.2 under the Netwrok sidebar in the Finder. I've been meaning to "look into that", but I've been stuck planning a font audit (the last thing you EVER want to do in a design shop) lately. 10.3.3 comes along and there it is !

      Thanks Apple - even if it did take three updates.

    • Re:YES YES YES (Score:3, Interesting)

      by dswensen ( 252552 ) *
      Addresses an issue in which Finder unexpectedly quits if the View menu option "Show icon preview" is enabled while dragging a significant number of icons to another location.

      Yeah, this is a great fix... shame it isn't actually fixed.

      I just installed the update and restarted, and it's still doing it. So obviously there is still some work to be done.

  • Mail.app bug (Score:5, Interesting)

    by OmniVector ( 569062 ) <see my homepage> on Monday March 15, 2004 @06:31PM (#8573491) Homepage
    They STILL haven't fixed the Mail.app bug that i probably submitted in October last year. If you use a mail server with imap-ssl that doesn't have a verified certificate, you get a pop up complaining whenever you open mail. If you click show certificate, there's a certificate icon you can supposedly drag to the desktop and then use in keychain according to apple's support webpages. Well, dragging that image still crashes Mail.app (and hard).

    I always figured "complete crash" bugs were high priority. sigh.

    • Re:Mail.app bug (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Usquebaugh ( 230216 ) on Monday March 15, 2004 @06:35PM (#8573529)
      Nope.

      Sevrity of Bug * Number of users affected, is the usual way to assign priority.

      How many users are going to experience that crash of yours?

      • Re:Mail.app bug (Score:5, Informative)

        by Zoop ( 59907 ) on Monday March 15, 2004 @09:22PM (#8574818)
        Well, I experience it. I'd say just about anybody who checks their work mail from home where they've configured IMAP is going to be affected. That may not be over 50%, or even 20%, but I'd think it's fairly common.

        There is a workaround, if you have access to the certificate (say, you're friends with your sysadmin, which you should be):

        Accepting a mailserver SSL certificate permanently
        1) open Keychain Access (it's in "Utilities")
        2) select the menu item: File--Add Keychain...
        3) navigate to /System/Library/Keychains/
        4) select X509Anchors and click 'Open'
        5) close Keychain Access
        6) copy the .pem certificate file from your server to your local machine.
        7) open the finder and navigate to where you copied the file
        8) double click it
        9) import into X509Anchors
        10) quit Keychain Access and restart Mail - it shouldn't ask for you to accept the certificate anymore

    • Re:Mail.app bug (Score:5, Informative)

      by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 15, 2004 @07:04PM (#8573781)
      Why don't you just download the certificate and install it using Keychain? Safari makes this a pretty painless, and brainless, procedure. Just download the certificate and double-click it.

    • Re:Mail.app bug (Score:4, Interesting)

      by milkman_matt ( 593465 ) on Monday March 15, 2004 @07:05PM (#8573793)
      They STILL haven't fixed the Mail.app bug [...]

      I'm just hoping they fixed the junkmail issue i've been having, where my mail.app crashes whenever you tag something as spam/not-spam, i've read that lots of people are having it (and yeah, i've tried the fixes, deleting certain files and such, which fixed it until I marked about 15 mails as spam, then it picked up)

      -matt

      • Re:Mail.app bug (Score:4, Informative)

        by SeanAhern ( 25764 ) on Monday March 15, 2004 @08:08PM (#8574297) Journal
        That bug is listed as having been fixed in this update.

      • Re:Mail.app bug (Score:4, Informative)

        by Arkham ( 10779 ) on Monday March 15, 2004 @08:25PM (#8574391)
        Well, according to the Docs page [apple.com], the new fix specifically addresses:

        Addresses an issue in which Mail could unexpectedly quit when marking some types of unsolicited messages (or "spam") as Junk.

        So, yes, I expect it will address that bug, which I have experienced too many times to count. I'm also happy about these:

        Enhancements to /Network browsing include: Servers appear on the desktop and in Finder window Sidebars, AFP Authentication options are available, and you can disconnect a server by dragging its icon on the desktop to the Trash or by clicking the Eject icon in the Sidebar.
        Improves Fan Control system function for Power Mac G5 computers
        A UPS (Uninterruptible Power Supply) panel is available in Energy Saver preferences, as well as a UPS menu bar item, when a UPS power management system is connected to the computer. Overall support for UPS systems is improved.

        • Re:Mail.app bug (Score:5, Informative)

          by Maserati ( 8679 ) on Tuesday March 16, 2004 @02:30AM (#8576347) Homepage Journal
          * The Fan Control System update showed up on one of the 10.2.8 machines. This may be a noise abatement update.

          * Network browsing is working for Appletalk in Zones spanning multiple subnets. This is a fix from 10.3.0 - 10.3.2.

          * I see a half-dozen spam a day through our filtering service, and I haven't had a crash yet.

          * Entourage will no doubt continue to corrupt databases in 10.3.3. We are so migrating to Apple for a basic workflow solution: Mail, Address Book, iCal. I am so frelling sick of rebuilding databses - somebody is gonna lose something important. I want mail stored as one .mbox file per folder - like God intended it to be.

    • Re:Mail.app bug (Score:5, Informative)

      by Moogaboo ( 106930 ) on Monday March 15, 2004 @07:38PM (#8574065) Homepage
      This is easy to fix. See this thread [macosxhints.com], specifically the comment by "thecloud", or, if you prefer a GUI, supposedly CertToolGUI [macupdate.com] is handy.

    • Re:Mail.app bug (Score:3, Informative)

      by FunkyMarcus ( 182120 )
      I always figured "complete crash" bugs were high priority. sigh.

      Every time I experience this bug, it's a "complete hang," not a crash. Subtle.

      I work around it by using "openssl connect" to grab the certificate and stick it in a .cer file manually. Recently, while helping a switcher friend set up shop, I discovered that if you cancel when the certificate warning first pops up, then wait for Mail to become quiescent and issue a "check for new mail" command, you'll be able to option-drag the certificate s

    • Re:Mail.app bug (Score:3, Informative)

      by tonywong ( 96839 )
      Have you tried verifying your keychain to make sure it's not corrupted?

      Keychain Access -> Window -> Keychain First Aid

  • Not mentioned in the support articles (Score:3, Interesting)

    by filmsmith ( 608221 ) on Monday March 15, 2004 @06:31PM (#8573497)
    Anyone know if the bug with Energy Saver not working on mondays is fixed? I don't know when I'll get to update my machine and am curious if this was tended to. They didn't mention it in the support document, but it's such a minor bug anyway...

    fs

    • Re:Not mentioned in the support articles (Score:3, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward
      Anyone know if the bug with Energy Saver not working on mondays is fixed?

      Sorry, but bugs that occur on Mondays shouldn't be the responsibilty of Apple. I suggest you clean up your karma and start donating to charitable organizations.

  • I hope wake-from-sleep is fixed.... (Score:4, Informative)

    by Snarfvs Maximvs ( 28022 ) on Monday March 15, 2004 @06:34PM (#8573520)
    I'm having the darndest problems with wake-from-sleep on my 1GHz AlBook 15.

    1) Sometimes (10% of the time?) I just get a black screen on wake and have to reboot (CAPSLOCK key LED turns on/off though...so it ain't "dead").
    2) Disabling my Bluetooth mouse and kbd reduces the frequency of this occurring but doesn't eliminate it.
    3) When wake succeeds, sometimes I spontaneously lose my Bluetooth connections
    4) When wake succeeds, I have to manually make my Airport Extreme card connect to my 802.11b WAP.
    5) For the life of me, I cannot keep my Airport Extreme card from disconnecting from my WAP whenever I use Fast User Switching.

    C'mon, Apple, fix these please...

    • Re:I hope wake-from-sleep is fixed.... (Score:4, Informative)

      by Udo Schmitz ( 738216 ) on Monday March 15, 2004 @06:42PM (#8573580) Journal
      Sometimes (10% of the time?) I just get a black screen on wake and have to reboot

      Any chance you ran something (game, iTunes visuals) that changes screen resolution? Plus having activated a screensaver? There was an article in the knowledge base recently, covering something like that, where it said the field to enter your password is actually there but you won't see it. Don't remember exactly what you had to do though, hitting escape or something ...

    • Re:I hope wake-from-sleep is fixed.... (Score:2, Interesting)

      by Anonymous Coward
      >1) Sometimes (10% of the time?) I just get a black screen on wake and have to reboot (CAPSLOCK key LED turns on/off though...so it ain't "dead").

      same thing happens with 12" PB. i've noticed that the problem is usually when i put the machine to sleep when it's "busy." for example, you can reproduce the problem almost every time if you plug or unplug an USB mouse then shut the lid immediately.

      the screen goes black, keyboard LEDs work but the machine will not wake up. my solution has been to give the mac

    • have you contact apple? (Score:5, Funny)

      by Numeric ( 22250 ) on Monday March 15, 2004 @06:57PM (#8573727) Homepage Journal
      i dont know if a posting on /. counts as filling a bug report.

    • Re:I hope wake-from-sleep is fixed.... (Score:5, Informative)

      by medeii ( 472309 ) on Monday March 15, 2004 @07:08PM (#8573834)

      Had a similar problem with my 12" AlBook, but a call to AppleCare told me I could probably fix it myself by resetting the PRAM. Instructions. [apple.com]

      You can also try resetting the PMU. [apple.com]

    • I get a similar problem consistently on my old FW PowerBook:

      - put machine to sleep with an external monitor attached
      - remove monitor
      - wake machine before the case is opened (by attaching a USB mouse while the machine is plugged in)

      the machine will awaken without recognizing that a screen is attached. The drive will be spinning, the caps lock will work and you can connect to it if you're attached to a network. You can hit the power key and return to make it shut down in a controlled manner.

      Because it does

      • Re:I hope wake-from-sleep is fixed.... (Score:4, Informative)

        by Analog Penguin ( 550933 ) on Monday March 15, 2004 @10:21PM (#8575293)
        Couldn't you hit power key and then "s" to make it sleep? That always worked on my iBook, and if it works to hit return to shut down, "s" should work for sleep. It'd be faster than waiting for auto-sleep, surely. Good luck!

      • Re:I hope wake-from-sleep is fixed.... (Score:5, Informative)

        by Hes Nikke ( 237581 ) on Monday March 15, 2004 @11:57PM (#8575882) Journal
        if you push the power button (but don't hold it) the computer asks if you want to shut down. all 4 of the choices are hot keyed... return for shut down, escape for cancel, 'r' for restart and 's' for sleep. next time your 'book does that (i've seen it on every model PowerBook that Mac OS X runs on, and i would assume that iBooks with the OF hack do it as well) just push the power button, count to 5 (some times it takes a while for that window to show up) and simply push 's'. problem solved.

        what is even stranger is when you don't attach/detach any devices and it does this. i can only assume that it's having a bad dream and the PMU wakes it long enough to see that the screen is still closed.

        i actually have these directions printed and attached to the palm rest of a client's Lombard because his does it twice a month. frequently enough to be annoying, but not frequently enough to remember the steps to get out of it.

    • Comment removed (Score:5, Informative)

      by account_deleted ( 4530225 ) on Monday March 15, 2004 @08:32PM (#8574429)
      Comment removed based on user account deletion

    • Re:I hope wake-from-sleep is fixed.... (Score:4, Informative)

      by CatGrep ( 707480 ) on Tuesday March 16, 2004 @03:23AM (#8576464)
      1) Sometimes (10% of the time?) I just get a black screen on wake and have to reboot (CAPSLOCK key LED turns on/off though...so it ain't "dead").

      I've seen this happen once on my PowerBook as well. You're right, your machine isn't dead and it doesn't need to be rebooted.

      What you need to do is to increase the brightness by pressing f2, that's all. For some reason sometimes after waking from a sleep the brightness stays turned all the way down.

      I discovered this because my PowerBook was sitting in front of the window and it was sunny out. You know how the Apple logo glows when the screen is lit? Well, it works both ways - when the backlight is off light can shine through the Apple logo as well and you can see an Apple-logo shaped area of your screen that's readable. So I could tell that there was still stuff on the screen. I moved the cursor around till it showed up in that small lit region. Then I tried turning up the brightness and it worked.

      No need to reboot.

  • Snappier (Score:4, Informative)

    by macmaniac ( 734596 ) on Monday March 15, 2004 @06:36PM (#8573532) Homepage
    Altogether feels snappier to me. I've now updated both my iBook 800 and my 1GHz iMac, and everything just feels snappier on both.

    Nothing broken so far in this update...

    • Re:Snappier (Score:4, Interesting)

      by erikharrison ( 633719 ) on Monday March 15, 2004 @07:38PM (#8574075)
      My suspicion that the "snappier" feeling comes from the massive prelinking that the OS goes though when installing stuff.

      While OS X has nothing approaching the DLL hell of Windows, prelinking associations can at least theoretically break, and I am fairly sure that the entire OS is only prelinked when installing a major update. Otherwise installing apps would take even longer than usual

      • Re:Snappier (Score:5, Informative)

        by tim1724 ( 28482 ) * on Monday March 15, 2004 @10:32PM (#8575386) Homepage Journal
        If prebinding breaks for a particular application (this could happen if one installs a new version of a Framework) it's really no big deal. The only "bad" thing that happens is that the binding of symbols in shared libraries has to be done at run time. This may add a bit to the launch time of an application (typically about 10-30%, or a few extra "bounces" in the Dock) but when the dynamic linker notices this happening it will actually redo the prebinding on that application so the next time you launch the application it will be nice and snappy again. :-)

        Nothing will break, the application will just have a longer than normal launch time once or twice until the system redoes the prebinding.

        The automatic prebinding update feature was added in Jaguar.

        Apple has documentation concerning prebinding here [apple.com] and here [apple.com]/

        Also, see the man pages for update_prebinding [apple.com], redo_prebinding [apple.com], and fix_prebinding [apple.com]

      • Re:Snappier (Score:5, Informative)

        by SewersOfRivendell ( 646620 ) on Tuesday March 16, 2004 @12:39AM (#8576026)
        In 10.3 (possibly in 10.2, don't recall), the dynamic linker will update prebindings on the fly, so the OS update really shouldn't make a difference in that respect.

  • Yeah ... (Score:4, Funny)

    by Udo Schmitz ( 738216 ) on Monday March 15, 2004 @06:37PM (#8573538) Journal
    Yeah, I know, I know. You were expecting a 20th Anniversary Mac, but this will have to do. I'm sure Steve had a keynote presentation in Moscone Center solemnly unvealing a 10.3.3 box raising out of the stage floor ... OK, I'll stop now.

  • Network Browser fixed and iPhoto 4 blurring fixed (Score:5, Interesting)

    by calstraycat ( 320736 ) on Monday March 15, 2004 @07:21PM (#8573946)
    The 10.3 Finder's Network Browser now seems to be finished:

    1 - Connected servers now appear on the Desktop and in the Sidebar when the preferences have been set for this option.

    2 - Connected servers can be ejected via normal means.

    3 - Password options are now present including Keychain functions.

    4 - User folders no longer appear twice.

    I'm a happy camper.

    Also, a blurring problem when in edit mode in iPhoto 4 appears to be fixed as well.

  • I got a Kernel Panic. (Score:5, Funny)

    by gearwhore ( 690744 ) <jrees&canhomepub,com> on Monday March 15, 2004 @07:57PM (#8574222)
    My 12inch pb 1ghz does not boot anymore, just boots to a kernel panic. Time for a fresh install.. good thing i was a windoze user before a mac user.

  • NFS? (Score:4, Interesting)

    by krray ( 605395 ) * on Monday March 15, 2004 @08:24PM (#8574383)
    Ok, I give up. I have NFS volumes exported/mounted across a few Linux systems (no issue). OS.X mounting the same Linux NFS mount can only handle 2.something gig files (it's bigger than 2 and smaller than 3 is all I know right now).

    A 4,707M file shows as 611M on OS.X. No, I can not create files larger than the "limit" -- they eat themselves. The same applies to both the command line and the Finder. Any /. ideas out there?

    (yes, I want to move 50G files around sometimes :)

  • Everything seems ok (Score:3, Informative)

    by Espectr0 ( 577637 ) on Monday March 15, 2004 @08:29PM (#8574412) Journal
    Just updated. Nothing broken so far. Waiting to see if they fixed my top bug, which is that finder often hits 100% cpu use without doing nothing and i have to kill -9 it. Don't know what triggers it, but probably is related to having special view options like keep arranged by name, or something weird when receiving files over amsn. I reported the bug, but my .mac trial expired so i dont longer have access.

  • Versiontracker (Score:5, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 15, 2004 @08:33PM (#8574434)
    For all those not in the know VersionTracker is THE place to go for update info. Anything that goes wrong can generally be found there. http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/ 8848 [versiontracker.com]

  • SMB/CIFS Browsing via WINS Now Works! (Score:5, Informative)

    by good soldier svejk ( 571730 ) on Monday March 15, 2004 @09:32PM (#8574896)
    Wohoo!

    I was actually a beta tester, so this has been working for me for a while, but my number one bug in Jaguar and Panther is officially fixed. WINS resolution now works for SMB network browsing!

  • fixed a printing problem (Score:3, Informative)

    by sonatinas ( 308999 ) on Monday March 15, 2004 @10:23PM (#8575318) Journal
    I use an old lexmark E210 printer with osx. When i upgraded to panther, i would have to turn off and on the printer to print with ghostscript and samsung gdi printer drivers from linux printing.org. Now, everything acts normally and i dont have to turn off the printer.

  • Java apps (Score:2, Interesting)

    by wandazulu ( 265281 )
    Is it only me, or are all Java-based apps now unusable? I tried a few and they all start (show up on the dock) then disappear. I haven't done anything to Java external to Apple's updates to make this happen. Not critical as I don't really use Java that much, but I do have a couple of handy ldap tools written in Java that would be nice to get working again.

    • Re:Java apps (Score:4, Informative)

      by oacis ( 212298 ) on Monday March 15, 2004 @11:07PM (#8575593)
      I have updated, and everything seems to be going ok. I use java a lot - for both development and usage. I still get an error with jEdit that tells me that the Mac OS Plugin requires a newer version (happened ever since I upgraded Java to the latest and greatest version).

      Everything else - including JBoss - works as it should.

      You should check the logs (/Applications/Utilities/Console.app) that may be able to provide some insight into what is going on inside the java apps.
    • Readerware is working fine for me, and those apps are pure Java.

  • The mysterious freezing bug (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Avumede ( 111087 ) on Monday March 15, 2004 @11:04PM (#8575582) Homepage
    Here's hoping the mysterious freezing bug [apple.com] a lot of people have experienced, including me, is fixed. It was evidently introduced in 10.3.2.

  • One problem (Score:3, Interesting)

    by teamhasnoi ( 554944 ) <teamhasnoi@yahoo. c o m> on Tuesday March 16, 2004 @01:26AM (#8576187) Journal
    Usually, I am first in line to install new updates (no problem with the infamous 10.2.8), but this is a new one.

    I updated my Quicksilver at work and had it save the update. Update went fine, so I copied it to my 15" AL PB. When I start the installer on the PB, it runs the 'little program' then goes to the list of updates. Then the buttons on the install screen die, and I have to force quit out of the installer.

    Leery to install, but perhaps it's because I didn't do the software update version.

    Performance doesn't seem to be lacking on the QS, but I didn't give it a good run-through either.

  • Working as intended. (Score:4, Informative)

    by Squozen ( 301710 ) on Tuesday March 16, 2004 @01:46AM (#8576233) Homepage
    Updated, rebooted, working fine. Network shares seem to be working well (Samba and W2k/XP boxes), Mail, Safari are both running, no sirens are going off... I remain a happy Mac user. ;)

  • more detailed list (Score:5, Informative)

    by madbeaner ( 568435 ) on Tuesday March 16, 2004 @02:01AM (#8576265)
    Enhancements

    These are some of the enhancements that are part of Mac OS X 10.3.3 Update.

    Networking and .Mac enhancements

    Addresses issues, such as a lost network connection, that could occur when connecting to a network device that forces the network speed and/or duplex setting (known as a "locked" device).
    AppleTalk Browsing is now on by default.
    Resolves an issue in which name conflicts could occur among Network Service Entities.
    Available servers can be seen when browsing Windows Workgroups or Domains.
    Enhancements to /Network browsing include: Servers appear on the desktop and in Finder window Sidebars, AFP Authentication options are available, and you can disconnect a server by dragging its icon on the desktop to the Trash or by clicking the Eject icon in the Sidebar.
    Improves synchronization between .Mac and your computer. .Mac no longer attempts to automatically sync files over a wireless network (or "hotspot") before the computer is authorized to use the network.
    Enhances an Open directory plug-in, which is used in network environments: The Active Directory plug-in is no longer sensitive to the case of the domain; the plug-in now works in ".local" domain environments; the plug-in is now less sensitive to DNS records that don't have matching reverse lookup.
    Improves compatibility with certain third-party wireless networking PC cards, such as the Honda AH-G10. More...

    Enhances the IrDA menu item when IrDA networking is active.
    Finder and applications that allow you to browse the file system will now refresh the contents of a remote network volume's folder or directory when the folder's contents change.

    DVD Player enhancements

    DVD Player will no longer quit if an unsupported PCI video card is installed in your computer. More...
    DVD Player supports more DVD video discs that are designed to play automatically.
    Improved DVD playback when "Digital Audio Output" is selected in DVD Player preferences.
    DVD Player now recognizes and plays DVD+R media.

    Application enhancements

    Images retain their characteristics when you import them in iPhoto. More...
    Addresses an issue in which Mail could unexpectedly quit when marking some types of unsolicited messages (or "spam") as Junk.
    Addresses issues that may cause Address Book and other applications to unexpectedly quit if the Classic Mac OS fonts are disabled in Font Book.
    Text shadow opacity and color are saved in RTF documents and preserved when you copy or paste.

    Image Capture can now import files whose names begins with an underscore character ("_") .

    Finder enhancements

    Improves security by requiring an administrator to authenticate for each Finder action that needs authentication, such as installing software. In earlier Mac OS X Panther versions, an administrator who authenticated may have unknowingly given elevated priviledges to the non-admin user for 5 minutes. This change also prevents a normal user from performing administrator actions if an administrator user has authenticated during their session.
    When you use an Open menu command to choose a file in Finder or an application, the flashing button now says "Choose" instead of "Open".
    Addresses an issue in which Finder unexpectedly quits if the View menu option "Show icon preview" is enabled while dragging a significant number of icons to another location.

    Other enhancements

    Improvements in start up time that some computers experienced under some installations of Mac OS X 10.3.2 Update. More...
    Improves print operations when a pending print jobs is moved to the queue of a printer that has different capabilities. More...
    Improves recognition of Hi-Speed USB devices by PowerBook G4 and iBook G4 computers when woken from sleep.
    A UPS (Uninterruptible Power Supply) panel is available in Energy Saver preferences, as well as a UPS menu bar item, when a UPS power management system

  • New Keyboard Pref: Real Fn Keys! (Score:5, Informative)

    by Devil's Avocado ( 73913 ) on Tuesday March 16, 2004 @02:44AM (#8576380)
    This is a nice detail for PowerBook users. One persistant annoyance with OS X on PowerBooks for programmers has been the way it forces you to hold down the fn key to use the function keys. If you don't hold it down then you get, for example, the brightness or volume controls. This is really annoying to programmers, who typically have macros bound to function keys and need them infinitely more often than the brightness controls. There have been a variety of hacks, such as uControl, to enable "real" function keys.

    With the 10.3.3 update there's a new checkbox in the keyboard preferences pane labeled "Use the F1-F12 keys for custom actions". If you check it then you get "real" function keys, where holding down fn gives you the brightness, sound, etc controls. Kudos to Apple for this -- it's always nice to be able to drop a hack in favor of an official feature!

  • MySQL warning (Score:5, Informative)

    by capmilk ( 604826 ) on Tuesday March 16, 2004 @05:06AM (#8576721)
    If you use MySQL on OS X Server, you might want to read the Knowledge Base article about the
    update before you install it. Here it is:

    Additional Information for MySQL

    Data stored in MySQL databases with the version of MySQL that is pre-
    installed Mac OS X Server 10.3.2 or earlier must be exported and re-imported
    in order to be compatible with version of MySQL that is pre-installed on Mac
    OS X Server 10.3.3, in which a byte-ordering issue is fixed.

    As with any upgrade install, you should back up your old data. In this
    particular upgrade, the following process is recommended to convert the data
    to the correct byte ordering:

    Before the upgrade, use the terminal to export the data from your pre-10.3.3
    database:

    # mysqldump -p table > backup-file.sql

    or

    # mysqldump --opt database > backup-file.sql

    After the upgrade, and after initializing the MySQL database, import the data:

    # mysql -p table backup-file.sql

    or

    # mysql database backup-file.sql

  • If you've modified your /etc/rc file.. (Score:3, Informative)

    by Etruscan ( 105528 ) on Tuesday March 16, 2004 @07:12AM (#8577024) Journal
    .. you'll have to update it again. Just in case any here might have hacked it as I have; ie: switch where dynamic_pager points to for swap creation (have a separate UFS non-journaled partition). It appears it's been overwritten again, as can happen with the system updates (not whining, just fyi'ing).

    • Re:If you've modified your /etc/rc file.. (Score:5, Interesting)

      by c13v3rm0nk3y ( 189767 ) on Tuesday March 16, 2004 @09:56AM (#8578006) Homepage

      I've been burned by this one too many times on a variety of UNIX systems. I've had a policy for some time now that all edits to precious config files (regardless of where they reside) are done against an RCS archive.

      A simple rcsdiff now tells you exactly what has changed so you can accept or edit, lock, and checkin your munged changes to the archive. A bit more straight-forward than trying to figure out which installer-created backup copy is the last "good" one.

      Guards against accidental deletion, as well. Also especially helpful when testing with a variety of settings for a new daemon you are configuring. You can always go back to a known good condition, and/or save those clever tweaks for posterity!

      Remember kids: ci -u is your friend.

  • mLAN (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Steve Cowan ( 525271 ) on Tuesday March 16, 2004 @09:32AM (#8577784) Journal
    Of particular interest to audio professionals, this update includes native mLAN support [mlancentral.com].

    mLAN is a standard developed by Yamaha which allows lots of audio and MIDI info to travel over FireWire.

    Yamaha's hottest new box, the 01X [01xray.com], has been without OS X drivers since it began shipping a month ago, and as of today it will finally work (in theory anyway)...

    Of course time will tell how effective this new version of mLAN will be in terms of latency and stability. Now if you'll excuse me, I've got some downloading to do!

  • 10.3.3 Raid Problems (Score:3, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 16, 2004 @11:05AM (#8578703)
    If anyone installs the 10.3.3 update while using OS X software raid stripe setup be aware that you may not be able to boot into the system, it will give you a kernel panic error / screen. The way to get around this is to reset the NVRAM / PRAM. For those of you that don't know it's command / option / p and r during boot up.

  • Bluetooth Caller ID not fixed (Score:4, Informative)

    by thatguywhoiam ( 524290 ) on Tuesday March 16, 2004 @12:03PM (#8579410)
    Apple has not fixed the bug introduced in the last Bluetooth Update (1.5, which is included with 10.3.3)... the Caller ID window for incoming calls stays focused with the Address Book app and does not pop to the front. Which basically makes it useless.

    I hope they fix it soon - its great to be able to leave your phone on silent in your jacket pocket, so you can use your headphones...

  • Software Update from the command line (Score:5, Informative)

    by revscat ( 35618 ) on Tuesday March 16, 2004 @12:57PM (#8580115) Journal
    In case any one is interested, you can run Software Update (remotely, if you wish) just by running the "softwareupdate" command from your terminal window.

  • 3d Modellers Untie! (Score:4, Interesting)

    by log0n ( 18224 ) on Tuesday March 16, 2004 @01:57PM (#8580784)
    (hehe)

    Anti-aliased lines have long been borq'n under Panther, but no longer! AA lines now work properly with both my GF4MX card and Powerbooks Radeon 9600 (Maya & C4D).

  • Mathematica 5.0.0 license broken by update? (Score:3, Interesting)

    by pmdboi ( 545811 ) on Tuesday March 16, 2004 @05:20PM (#8583057)
    I just installed the update about a half-hour ago, and upon trying to launch Mathematica 5.0.0, I was greeted with the registration screen. I went through it and the program generated a different machine number than it had before (I checked it against the old one in the email). Did anyone else have this problem?

  • Trouble with OpenGL performance (Score:3, Interesting)

    by TomorrowPlusX ( 571956 ) on Wednesday March 17, 2004 @11:50AM (#8589401)
    First, I want to make it clear I'm a hobbyist developer... not a professional.

    So, after reading largely good comments about this update I installed it on my laptop, my development machine. I'm developing a simulation framework for development/testing of behavioral AI agents. The simulator uses the ODE physics engine for dynamics and OpenGL for visualization. Ho hum. Only 10'000 CS students have done the same thing. But this one is mine.

    I'll be the first to admit I'm not a professional OpenGL programmer. I'd never written a line before June 2003, but I did the Right Thing and bought the _Red Book_ and went through it from nape to nuts. I also made the requisite vists to NeHE and gamasutra for performance tips.

    Anyway, until I installed 10.3.3 my opengl code amounted for a whopping 5 to 10 % of my program's running processor time. In other words, no problem. The physics engine took up another 10 to 30% and that left *plenty* for the separately threaded AI logic. It worked beautifully on my rev A PB 12" -- most of my simulations ran at 100% "simulation/real" time. Which is to say, I set a fixed simulation timestep to 0.05 seconds, allowing for opengl @ 20fps and 20 synchronized physics steps per second. Enough to be "smooth" but not so much as to take away too much processing time from the AI. This on average left 2 or so millis per frame for AI logic, if you want to think of it in a single threaded way.

    Immediately ater installing 10.3.3 my average performance dropped to 35% to 50% "real" time. Meaning my average simulation timestep was taking not 0.05 seconds but at least 0.1 or more. No good.

    I sharked it ( http://developer.apple.com/tools/shark_optimize.ht ml ) and found that OpenGL's the culprit. There's nothing I can do about it! At least not that I know of. My OpenGL code's not the best in the world, but it's simple and fast and caches all geometry in display lists and so on and so forth. I spent a fair amount of time profiling and optimizing already.

    I'm so frustrated... I used to be able to run my simulations in real time but now I can only site and watch it crawl ( and listen as my PB's fan kicks in ). Considering it often takes several minutes observation to determine if a new behavior has improved or ruined an agent's performance, it's quite a pain to have to wait at least twice as long.

    Let's just hope that this is a dorked driver, and apple releases an update. & perhaps, I can somehow dig up the 10.3.2 opengl drivers somehow.

    Oh well. Since I love cocoa programming, and since I love my PB, and since I drank Steve's Kool-Aid long ago, I still love apple.

    What would love be if the object of your affection didn't disappoint you now and then?

  • No time to reboot (Score:3, Funny)

    by gtrubetskoy ( 734033 ) * on Wednesday March 17, 2004 @12:11PM (#8589627)
    What's funny is I always run for the update anytime I see an announcement like this, then when the "Shutdown or Restart" dialog comes up, I just ignore it and continue going about my business thinking I'll reboot at the first available opportunity. Guess what - it's been over two weeks since the last time I ran software update, and I still have not rebooted - the SU is just sitting somewhere in the background waiting for me to answer...

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