I’ve been working with Mac OS X Tiger since its release — at first on my developer machine, and now on my everyday production PowerBook. (You know, it just gets to a point where I don’t want to work in Panther anymore…)
There were a few gotchas in the first release of Mac OS X 10.4. A curious one was that my Tiger didn’t want to roam. I have two APs in my studio — an AirPort Extreme and an AirPort Express — and if I moved out of range of one and into range of another, Tiger would get lost. Fortunately, the Connection Doctor works very well and would get me reconnected quickly. BTW: I haven’t read much out there about the Connection Doctor, but it’s a very cool feature that deserves some praise.
Also, I had a cell phone version of a buffer overflow with iSync. When I synced my SE T637, iSync would try to upload every ToDo I had every written resulting in a full memory message. That was a bit frustrating.
Last night I downloaded Mac OS X 10.4.1 via Software Update, and have been using my Mac gleefully ever since. So far, the update has addressed the issues above, and everything else seems fine too. iSync works really well now, and it’s quite fast.
If you’ve been waiting for the first wave of bug fixes before upgrading to Tiger, it appears that the coast is clear. And I think you’re really going to like this release of Mac OS X.
(Side note for those already using Tiger: have you noticed that you can tell who has Tiger and who doesn’t by looking at their phone icons in iChat? Those with Tiger have layered phone icons representing the ability to group chat. Panther users still have the single layered icon.)
Oh, one other thing. This evening on Mac DevCenter we’re publishing a cool article on the new Migration Assistant. This tool will really help you make the jump to Tiger, whether as a single user or as a sysadmin for a group of Macheads.
Going Well for Me... How About You
So far, I'm having very good luck with 10.4.1. If you've updated and tested, please post your first impressons.
Update much better
My D-Link router no longer crashes when my Tiger makes a DHCP request and iChat doesn't log off every hour. So far, the problems that we're flying in my face seem to be gone.
10.4.1
derrick, the wi-fi roam problem you had was with me, too, but it strangely disappeared after i did a clean install (i had done an archive/install previously). 10.4 itself might not have been the culprit.
some other things i've noticed with 10.4.1: the world clock widget is snappier; the dock hang bug is gone; fast user switching is still slow; exposé seems smoother.
T637 problems continue for me
It's still trying to copy down every todo item that I've ever entered, so it's not adding any calendar entries. I've set iCal to delete to-do items more than 2 days old, so we'll see how that goes...
Waiting on iChat fix
No problems, but no fix to iChat disconnecting every few hours.-Chris
RE: T637 problems continue for me
That should solve the problem. I backed up my AB database and trimmed my ToDo list too, and everything works fine now. But there are also some improvements in iSync itself that seem to help along the situation.
RE: 10.4.1
Very intresting about the WiFi situation. It felt to me like a Tiger-induced problem, especially since 10.4.1 seems to have made it go away. But that's good to know about the clean install... Thanks!
Waiting on iChat fix
I have this one, too. As well as "bandwidth exceeded" in videoconferencing. A note on Macintouch implied that it might be due to packets being labeled "high priority" and some ISPs dropping such packets on the floor. Guess I should try calling Comcast.
G4 iBook Performace???
I've been reluctant to upgrade my G4 iBook. I've read that Tiger sucks up more processor and RAM than Panther.
Can anyone relate their experience with this?
Updated, but still having .Mac problems
I just updated my G4 PowerBook last night in the hopes that the update would take care of the problems I have had with .Mac syncing ever since I upgraded to Tiger, but no go.
Is anyone else having problems with syncing their .Mac accounts?
If so, does anyone no how to resolve the issue--maybe I'm just doing something wrong, but everytime I go to Sys Prefs to sync my .Mac account manually I get a cannot login properly error or something, but it does seem to pull some information down (such as my Safari bookmarks). Any help would be great.
FTP broken
Wonder if the update fixes the ftp problem. the unix ftp tool and RBrowser Lite can logon to a FTP server but can't do the "ls" command. Been reported on Mac discussions.
pj . . .
does switching Apps takes 5 seconds of CPU time for you?
Since installing Tiger, switching applications (like applemail to firefox, or firefox to netnewswire, or ...) causes my CPU to spin for 5 seconds or more. According to menumeters it is in user time not system time.
Does anyone else have this problem, or better, a solution? It is really annoying.
-brewster
brewster@archive.org
FTP broken
It might be an active vs passive issue. I'm not sure what RBrowser Lite is, but I think the unix 'ftp' in os x is lukemftp which defaults to PASV, so you'd have to wait for that to timeout before defaulting to active and making your command work.
does switching Apps takes 5 seconds of CPU time for you?
Ok, figured it out (with apple's support help). It was fixed by deleting /Library/Caches and ~/Library/Caches as well as running the repair permissions in the disk utility.
I guess the tiger installation triggered something...
I am posting this in case others have this problem.
-brewster
RE: does switching Apps takes 5 seconds of CPU time for you?
Hi brewster, thanks for posting both the Q and the A :) Very helpful.
I'm still having good luck with a clean-installed Tiger. But for those of you who chose the upgrade-Panther route, I do suggest perusing FJ's article Everything you need to know to install Tiger. I realize that it's very "comprehensive," but I think it's often one of those "little things" that cause problems.
FTP broken
Were you able to get this to work? I've noticed FTP doesn't work for me either. Unfortunately, I upgraded at the same time I switched to Comcast, so I don't know the cause, if it's the ISP or the Tiger.
I'm able to see the server using the finder and upload via Terminal, but can't use any FTP clients. Your thoughts? Thanks!
I have been having nothing but trouble with Tiger 10.4.4. First it crashed my computer when I installed it. After I got my Mac back from the shop where they managed to fix the damaged User Folder and other problems, it now crashes just about every software I open from Adobe Creative Suite to Word to Explorer and Safari. Something is horribly wrong. The Spotlight thing is making it hard for me to find files too-- I typed in the exact name of a document on my desktop to test it, searched it on the desktop, and it still didn't find it. I want my old OS back.