The second update to Apple’s Tiger operating system will continue to focus on stability and reliability, delivering dozens of bug fixes to the month-old operating system.
Mac OS X 10.4.2 update to patch dozens of Tiger glitches
About The Author
Eugenia Loli
Ex-programmer, ex-editor in chief at OSNews.com, now a visual artist/filmmaker.
Follow me on Twitter @EugeniaLoli
Eugina,
As a tester of 10.4.2, and reading ever change log, the term dozens stikes me as a bit of an exaggeration… I can’t post the change log as it would be in conflict with the NDA I have with Apple.
The news item is ALWAYS the FIRST paragraph of any news item we link to. If you have a problem with the text, email the web site in question, it was not me or OSNews who wrote that phrase.
I’ll wait till 10.4.2 arrives and see whats fixed and the feedback afterwards. So far I’m happy with 10.3.9 on my iBook G4.
What I would really like is a preference option to switch off as much eye candy as possible but still keep the overall look and feel. It would be seriously useful on slightly older machines and would go down a treat in a corporate environment.
Anon
Eugenia 🙂
Is it just me or are these OSX updates coming out really fast, 10.4 is only a month old and we are up to 10.4.2 almost? Do they know about these bugs and decide to fix them later on just to get 10.4 out as quick as they can?
That’s the feeling I get from this quick patching. But then again, since apple controls the hardware specs and everything else that goes into a mac, they don’t need to do any sorta heavy compatibility tests on updates before they put them out.
I guess it pays to have total control over everything.
So far my problems with MacOS 10.4 have been best defined as “quirky”. It clobbered my “Billgatus of Borg” desktop wallpaper for my primary login when I did some very fast Fast User Switching. Resetting that is trivial fortunately. It also might have clobbered at the same time my Samba login info for that same account and would not let me re-enable it without first resetting the account password. Toast Titanium 5.2 complains that a file is open and needs to be closed on a CD-ROM I’m trying to duplicate when it tries to unmount it. Once you dismiss the dialog the disk is unmounted anyway and you can proceed normally. Also, Windows network via Samba appears to be less responsive than in 10.3.9. However, the improvements in the GUI interface for dealing with it is much improved.
Do they know about these bugs and decide to fix them later on just to get 10.4 out as quick as they can?
It’s not uncommon for this to happen. And that’s not just an Apple thing, software developers in general will often push something out the door knowing there are bugs in it.
One reason for it is just that they keep testing the whole time. So, they fix all the bugs they’re aware of, and while the CDs are being pressed and boxed, they’re finding more bugs. By the time you have the CDs in your hand, they’ve found quite a few.
Another reason is, there’s an accepted notion that software just isn’t going to be perfect. If you refuse to release software until it’s absolutely perfect, you’ll never release. So instead, developers will set certain goals, and when they reach those goals, and they’ve managed to get it so there are no show-stoppers, nothing that flat-out doesn’t work, nothing that’ll cause data corruption or anything else huge (at least not that they’re aware of), they’ll release.
So, I’d guess that probably, by the release date, Apple already had a list of urgent bugs that they were going to fix in release 10.4.1, and some less-urgent bugs that would be addressed in 10.4.2.
hopefully the Mail fixes will fix Mail not using my IMAP folders correctly. when i check leave Junk mail on server and move all junk mail to junk folder, why is it still in my inbox when i check my mail? and why cant it save drafts to the server?
Eugenia, maybe the site should find a way to more clearly distinguish between original content and linked content. People are always jumping on your neck about issues with linked articles forcing you to venture into the forums to clarify the source of the article.
This is simply impossible. Mac OS X kept getting better and better for so many revisions now, that it has long reached and surpassed the state of perfection.
I’ve actually had more problems with 10.4.1 than 10.4. Applications randomly quiting like I’ve never seen before on OS X and an overall sluggish feel to everything every now and then are my two main peeves after upgrading to 4.1.
Why do I get a reacurring vibe from people in this discusson board that whenever an Apple-related article appears, there are people posing as users acting as if they’ve used the product but never touched it, but report issues as if they were active users.
It happens far too often as compared to other OS sites.
Over the course of the last month I have sadly concluded that X.4 is more bling than bang. I have had several problems with the upgrade path, fortune-atley
no data loss or coruption. I await the arrival of X.4.2 and if that does not correct the problems back to X.3.9 i go…
I have Tiger on almost five systems with zero problems, all on wireless-G with WPA.. firewire networking is a snap for quick file transfers, World of Warcraft runs great, connectivity to my Windows box works. Maybe you others have weird software conflicts? I have a G4 tower circa 2000 (massively upgraded hardware inside), a 17″ Powerbook G4, a 12″ Powerbook G4, a 12″ iBook G3, and a 400 MHz iMac DV circa 1999.
Maybe. I have Tiger because it came preinstalled on my new iMac G5. I wouldn’t have paid $129 for it, but it is more refined than Panther and adds some value to an already incredible machine.
some value == some bugs == keep the mac user busy
Original content appears in some sort of red (the title).
The only problem I have with Tiger is my battery life went from 4.5+ hours to 2 hours even after resetting the PRAM (command-option-P-R).
“connectivity to my Windows box works”
Apparently you are requiring SMB digital signing on the windows box.
I have found 10.3 to be a needed upgrade over 10.2. It was that much better. I can’t say the same thing for 10.4 which is not a bad thing.
I’m working on my mini, in whatever application and the screen turns blue and comes back again… No error message, nothing… And this happens alot.
From working desktop to blue screeen to working desktop, just like that, in a slow flash.
What’s wrong? And it’s a fresh install.
sounds like its trying to change your monitor refresh rate or resolution, try a different setting and see if the problem persists.. never heard of it before, but the slow fade in and out makes me think this.
atom wrote:
hopefully the Mail fixes will fix Mail not using my IMAP folders correctly. when i check leave Junk mail on server and move all junk mail to junk folder, why is it still in my inbox when i check my mail? and why cant it save drafts to the server?
It can. What they aren’t explaining well is that you can define any Folder you create, on the IMAP Server as a Saved, Draft, Junk or whatever.
Try it out by defining unique folder names and see what happens. Once you create a new subfolder in your imap directory structure you must select it.
Then from Mail->Mailbox->Use this mailbox for-> {Drafts, Sent, Trash, Junk}
It will update your set up for Mail2.app.
10.3.9 works fine for me. I’ll upgrade to 10.4 when it matures a bit, but for now there really aren’t any killer features I need with Tiger.
One nice thing about Mac OS X is that it keeps getting faster. 10.4 was a nice boost over 10.3.x, especially system startup and login. While it’s no speed demon, even my spare 500mhz G3 benefited noticeably from 10.4. My similar-vintage 666mhz P3 lost half its performance the day I upgraded it to XP (had to), and SP2 has only made it sadder. Of course I also use more modern hardware, but when using these older boxes the difference between the platforms is magnified.
‘Course I doubt this point release will make much of a difference.
My situation at work may be out of the ordinary but I haven’t had any problems with upgrading to Tiger. We do have a broad range of Macs though. I know some of you out there have these models, so here’s my experience with them:
The studio I work at has upgraded 2 slot loading CRT iMacs, 3 old as hell 350 Mhz-450Mhz G4 systems, my Dual G4 and the owners G5 to 10.4.1 So Far I haven’t had any problems at all with these systems. My iBook G3 at home has had no problems either, besides some shareware i like not working with it yet. Most of the systems are littered with 3rd party upgrades as well.
Why is it that anything related to Apple is automatically considered “cool” even though this is a bug fix!?!?? boggles my mind — Its like someone posting everytime Microsoft puts out a security patch – now that would get annoying.
I’ll be purchasing an iMac G5 (the rev B with the Radeon 9600) in a few days. I haven’t previously owned a Mac. Does it make more sense to get Panther pre-installed on the system instead?
The one critical app that I need to work is SPSS (for Statistics work). SPSS doesn’t work on Tiger and the company making it seems to be slow patching it.
Tiger to me only seems adavantageous over Panther for the Spotlight and Dashboard: both seem rather gimmicky to me. I just want the better hardware and software.
Dashboard is kind of gimmicky, but Spotlight is not gimmicky at all.
Most of the changes Apple made in Tiger are under the hood. They have rewritten parts of the kernel, created consistent APIs, revamped key technologies (such as QuickTime), etc. So while the user may not feel much difference from Panther, Tiger is in fact a much better OS. However, whenever you make large changes to an OS kernel, there are bound to be teething problems.
Probably due to the fact the Apple chooses to fix things ASAP versus making users wait months or a year for problems to be addressed.
Actually, it’s only always that way when you when post. David is pretty good about sumarizing the story itself, which is much more useful that subjecting your readers to free ads for the sites you link to.
It’s pretty unprofessional, no? It seems to imply that you don’t know enough to discuss the merits of the piece on your own.
And it gives the false impression that you’re making those statements yourself (or otherwise endorse the content of the site by reposting it). Fisher was not off base in thinking that you were making those claims yourself.
Bad form.
Your post bums me out. Tiger needs dozens and dozens and dozens of bug fixes, so if it is only a handful like the .1 patch, I will be disappointed.
And don’t get me wrong, Tiger has great promise and Apple as a lot to be proud of.
But Tiger is so buggy it is completely unacceptable. They obviously should of given Tiger a couple more months.
“But Tiger is so buggy it is completely unacceptable.”
I’m calling this one BS.
Alot of people don’t take into account that Tiger is the killer for early model G4s. Sure you can run 10.3 on a G3, but does it run REALLY well? Not so much.
Tiger is intended for the fastest of the G4’s and the G5’s.
Anyone that installs Tiger on a G3 is insane in my opinion. Its like putting Windows XP on a Pentium 2. I am assuming since hardware specs aren’t posted with complaints, most of the complainers are on older hardware. Tiger is fantastic on my G4 933.
My 2¢
Well, I actually installed WinXP on my Pentium 233 MMX (that’s right, not even PII) with 256 megs of RAM and it ran pretty well even with themes on (will all the other eyecandy turned off). I think I even used 3ds max on it =)
Tiger has made my iBook 600Mhz/640MB G3 a bit faster and is has totally acceptable performance. The beachball rarely shows up anymore too. So in my experience, yes, it does run “REALLY” well. I’m always running Safari, Mail, iTunes, iChat, Preview and the Terminal on it at the same time. The performance is great for that, no waiting for anything really. Obviously not as good of performance as the Dual G4 or the G5s I work on, saying that it’s intended for high end G4s and G5s is quite an exaggeration though.
WinXP Penium 233 – Couldn’t have possibly ran 3DS Max *that* well. I am sure you can make it look good, I have a Pentium 300 NEC laptop that looks cool, with Win XP (256mb ram)…but it runs like crap anytime I try to do more than 3 things at once on it.
In regards to the iBook 600 – I am sure all those apps run great, but they are very minimal apps. My opinion is based on my personal daily computer use: Photoshop, Indesign, Quark, Illustrator, Mail, iChat, Safari, Macromedia Flash, Extensis Suitcase, Acrobat, PrintSmith, Terminal, Text Edit, etc. etc. Even early G4’s running 10.3 would have problems running all of those apps. Core Image (as far as I know) doesn’t work on any G3’s (with apple standard video card) and just a handful of the G4s.
Its more than obvious that with every 10.X update Apple phases out another “Generation”. Its how they work. Gotta have the latest of the latest, the best of the best all the time.
Nah, ‘t is not so.
I have the issue with a new user not showing up in my Accounts dialog, which kind of bums me out.
But since I don’t really need more user accounts, I’m more bugged with the fact that I can’t send my photobooks out, the data transfer falls flat on its face after a minute or so [this is not the issue where the progress bar shows 64k but transmits in the background – I see that one too, but my transmission such screeches to a halt, and I have no idea why].
I did notice that I’ve got over 170,000 files extra on my computer since upgrading [and I have an installation of 10.3.9 on another disk so I can compare [yes, of course I make new files every day, but not 170,000 since installing the new system], and the swap file is now… let’s see… 8.65Gigs, twice what it used to be. Kinda scary, really.
Ever since I got my Mac, updates have made my system more responsive and speedier. For example, I’ve noticed that after the last update (10.4.1) my Quicktime is nowhere near as jerky when playing hi-def movie trailers on my iBook. Has anyone else noticed this change in Quicktime?
I don’t mind the updates. If they fix a problem before I ever even know that I have one, then they’re doing their job well and are earning my loyalty.
I would be happy if…
a) I could finally reboot without having to turn off my Powerbook which hangs during shutdown
b) SMB would just _work_, it has so many problems it hurts
I always read these sort of comments with total amazement. If I ever write Mac software, I won’t bother to optimize my code and use only the easiest algorithms I can find, even if they’re completely inefficient. Then, every time I need to release a patch to fix bugs, I will also replace one of the dumb algorithms with an optimized one. That way, all my users will ignore the fact that my software’s buggy and that I’m too lazy to optimize my code, and concentrate on how fast the new update is. Thank you Apple for a great idea.
the blue screen appears if the cable to your mini gets slightly disconnected. specially if you use dvi to analog. I have this sometimes, if I push my mini or touch the cable. check that is good connected and that it doesn’t hang down. the dvi to vga + vga connector is quite eavy and there are no screws or so to hold it tight
I am glad to see iCal in the list of apps being focused on for this next update. The only major issue I have seen since upgrading is that publishing calendar groups results in duplicate entries in the published calendar. I am getting tired of unpublishing and re-publishing when I need to make updates. Hopefully that will be fixed. Other than that, Tiger is running just fine on all 3 Macs in our house.