OSX Mavericks

[hochopeper]

So, new OSX for free. Who's taking the plunge early? Anyone (Dave?) used golden master? Thoughts on any of the new features?

 

 

 

I'm holding off for a few days because I use a lot of little other utilities from outside of the App Store [conda for non Apple scientific Python distribution and homebrew for opensource tools package manager and these sometimes take a while with new compilers etc] Regardless I'll be doing a backup tonight and keeping an eye on things over the weekend and maybe Sunday afternoon's Indian F1 race will see me hitting go on the upgrade.

 

 

NB. There is a thread in the digital audio subforum on how the OS changes might (or might not) affect SQ, this is thread is more about the things other than music that we use computers for.

Edited October 22, 2013 by hochopeper

[Guest JohnA]

go apple, free software

 

come on microsoft, follow their lead.

 

I may try the new osx if i have time to do it over the weekend

[sir sanders zingmore]

I'll wait for the dot 1 version

[henry218]

thanks chris for the headsup, didnt know the mavericks are for FREE. 

 

cheers

henry

[proftournesol]

I'll wait for the dot 1 version

I should but never do

[hochopeper]

I've just finished reading the OSX review on arstechnica. As usual it's extremely thorough and worth a read, even if you just skip to the parts that interest you directly - http://arstechnica.com/apple/2013/10/os-x-10-9/

 

Things most interesting to me are:

 

1. Tabs in Finder
2. Improved power usage and system responsiveness (timer coalescing, app nap etc)
3. Improved memory usage for integrated GPUs and compressed memory
4. multiple display improvements (I need a second display soon for some work I'll be doing and I remember this being annoying when I had dual screens previously)
5. No more awful linen and leather textures
6. Safari's per site per plugin security controls

[davewantsmoore]

Anyone (Dave?) used golden master?

 

Yep, I have a few different versions installed over the past 6 months, and have run it on various vintages of hardware .... haven't given them that much of a major workout though (life is busy).

 

 

Everything you read is true.

• Multidisplay improvements are nice
• Airplay display works very very well  (even over a 3G/VPN...hehehe, lol)
• Finder fullscreen and tabs are nice, but about 10 years overdue
• Apple still pushing tags... it must be catching on with someone, but nobody I've ever seen  :-/    (evernote here)
• Performance and battery life are the "same" on various hardware tested   (supposed to be improved, I haven't noticed)

 

 

Can't think of much else to report.   It's just another incremental update to a stable / mature OS.

 

Apple coping a bit of flack from some media for not making a "big change" .... IMHO I don't agree (and hope they don't bow to pressure any time soon) .... Negative opinion I've read so far of it is "feels a bit stale" but I actually think that's a good thing, an OS shouldn't be "exciting"   --- Certainly much better than the MO of their major competitor.

[davewantsmoore]

1. No more awful linen and leather textures
2. Safari's per site per plugin security controls

 

Ah yes, I'd forgotten about these.

 

I had previously hacked my apps to remove the leather, so didn't notice so much.   The new looks generally simple/refreshing though.   It definitely reinforces the OSX MO of the GUI getting out of the way  (very few highlights, colour, bling ... keeps the content in focus).

 

I don't use safari.... but might go back.  v7 seems to have some nice bits.

[davewantsmoore]

I should but never do

 

Yes, I will upgrade everything ASAP too.

 

If you have a backup (eg. timemachine) then there's no danger....   Reinstalling the previous OS, and pointing it to your timemachine during the installation is easy and quick.

[hochopeper]

As usual on these things Dave, total agreement. 

 

 - I use Evernote here too, not sure why I want tag metadata in the filesystem, seems out of place.

 - I use Chrome 99% of the time but you're right Safari does look interesting with new updates. I haven't used Firefox or Opera in a while.

 - I'm not interested in significant changes every year (or version bump) in a desktop OS UI. I tend to spend time helping the OS get out of the way. I've got a browser, a text editor, a word processor, a terminal and scripting language(s) then I'm happy. OSX does this and makes the config stage painless so for a main workstation OSX gets my vote unless I need something specific then I run another OS in a VM.

 

I'm pretty OCD about upgrading ASAP but issues on last version with some of the homebrew stuff needed a week or so to settle down.

Edited October 23, 2013 by hochopeper

[davewantsmoore]

I'll wait for the dot 1 version

 

I'm trying to think back through the 10 releases to when there has ever actually been an issue which has required this.

 

Aside from:

• 3rd party software which wasn't compatible
• 10.4 to 10.5, which was a bit munted, but all issues fixed by installing 10.5 fresh (not upgrading).

 

I can't think of anything but very very limited issues.   The biggest in my memory being 10.6 issues with sleep and SSDs, which wasn't properly fixed for many releases  (or even properly until 10.7 from memory).

[davewantsmoore]

Compressed Memory

[proftournesol]

so far all good except the automatic java update doesn't work the first time you start an app that requires java, you have to download it and manually install it.

[hochopeper]

Well this has been a good reminder that I'd been forgetting my backups. My timemachine external hdd died (well still worked but the case was shorting to 5V so I decommissioned it) and it slipped my mind to put something back in its place .... oops. Last night I set up timemachine on synology NAS over wifi from opposite end of the house ... this might take a while!

[Keith Anderson]

I've upgraded the laptop but not my main photo machine.

 

Creating a boot USB is not as easy as it was with Lion and ML. But so far so good. 

[oldrose]

I've been using it since the the first Developer beta with few issues, mostly solved by updates to applications. As I use a triple monitor setup the new full screen app mode is now properly useable. I'm not so sure of the multiple menu bars but that may just be muscle memory taking a long time to overcome. 

[betty boop]

looking forward to maverick

[Ralph]

Uploaded and installed last night - no issues at all. Not much different to look at ( initially ).

 

However, be prepared for a big download (5Gb)  and the accompanying updates (pages, keynote etc) another 4Gb +

 

Ralph

[manchu]

_{Updated last night without any issues.}      

 

_{I was really only looking forward to the improved multiple display function,  which seems to work well.    I can now keep working on the mac while streaming to appleTV as a  second screen,  not just mirroring the laptop screen.}   

[Phantom]

Installed mine last night with zero dramas but FFS don't tell Dave.

I don't want to spoil his weekend

[betty boop]

updated our macbook pro as well no probs. like that it updates iphoto and imovie as well following. also excellent that apple are doing os and basic packages like note etc for free

[Jventer]

Is it faster? E.g. Safari.

[DoggieHowser]

On an MBPR 2012 seems much zippier than Mountain Lion

[hochopeper]

Just upgraded my mid 2011 iMac, seems to have gone well. I really like that the Time Machine status icon isn't animated anymore, I like having it there but found it distracting every time it moved. 

[hochopeper]

Small things that make me happy ... .bash_profile untouched by the installer