Mac :: Apple Quietly Testing First Beta Of OS X 10.5.8
Jun 9, 2009
Apple this week is reported to be testing the first internal builds of Mac OS X 10.5.8, one of the final updates, if not the last, slated for its current Leopard operating system software.News of this particular maintenance update is significant for owners of PowerPC-based Macs, given that Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard requires a Mac with an Intel processor. That means Mac OS X 10.5.8 or 10.5.9 will likely represent Apple's final push towards solidify and stabilize Leopard before shifting the majority of its resources towards the first point release of Snow Leopard, which will arrive this fall.
I know developer previews have at least one specific goal at giving third party devs early access so they can get a sense of new APIs and start updating/creating apps, but they also serve for bug reporting. Do you think Apple should open up OS X beta testing to a larger community of users?
During last six months Paragon (www.paragon-software.com) has been working on our first software for Mac OS X - Paragon NTFS for Mac OS X. This product allows Mac users to use Microsoft NTFS file system as Mac OS X native. Now the product is almost ready and we want to offer you its Public Beta version. It's the first time when we do public beta testing. There is one big reason for that: we do want to make Paragon NTFS for Mac OS X a useful tool for every Mac user. That's why we need your opinion about it.
What we expect from you: 1. Bug reports (though we hope that there won't be many). If you find a bug, describe in details the way it can be reproduced. We need every detail, every step. Write your OS version and CPU architecture. 2. Usability issues. We want to make the product as easy to use as possible. Write us what is to be improved or changed. Make your suggestions detailed and reasonable. This will help us to understand them and implement in a right way. 3. New feature suggestions. In fact we don't have much time before the release date to implement new features. Though if a suggested feature is easy to implement or requested by many people, then we will do it.
To download the public beta version, please fill out a short web form and download it - http://ntfs-mac.com/ Meantime you can look at our short Product Description. There is not much text http://ftp.paragon.eu.com/Mac/Produc...ta_Testing.pdf We will read your feedback in this thread very carefully. We also excuse in advance about lack of replies. We won't be able to reply all your posts, but we will do "summary" replies once or twice a day in this thread. We appreciate this forum community very much. That's why we selected this forum for our Public beta testing. In exchange to your help we will be glad to provide the most active beta testers with free versions of this software. The rest will have 30% discount.
Today I ordered my new iMac 24" 2.4ghz with 2gb of ram and got the wireless keyboard and mouse. I am wondering if apple updates the iMacs can I send mine in becuase I probably won't get mine for 3-5 days and the updates would come on Tuesday. If I can send it I'm what do I have to do and how can I do it. Also if they changes the ram to 2gb standard do I get 100 back because I updated it. Apple updated it to the new imacs at no aditional cost, I now got this: 24" imac 2.8ghz, 2gb ram, 320gb hdd, 256mb ati graphics card and wireless keyboard and mouse. Also from amazon for 200 dollars less than what apple charges i got the logitech z-5500 digital 5.1 surround sound speakers.
Apple on Wednesday issued a broad beta distribution of Mac OS X 10.6.4, the fourth planned maintenance and security update for its Snow Leopard operating system that has been under development internally for several weeks.The pre-release software, labeled Mac OS X 10.6.4 build 10F37, made its way to Apple Developer Connection (ADC) members just one day after a more elite set of testers belonging to Apple's Apple Seed program got first licks at the beta.
Adobe's chief executive revealed this week that his company is currently testing an optimized version of Flash built specifically for Apple's newly released MacBook Air.
In an interview at the Web 2.0 Summit this week, Shantanu Narayen said that Adobe is looking to improve battery life on the MacBook Air with a new custom build of Adobe Flash, currently in beta testing in the company's labs. According to Engadget, he noted that battery life performance depends on hardware acceleration.
"When we have access to hardware acceleration, we've proven that Flash has equal or better performance on every platform," he said.
His comments come after testing of the new MacBook Air found that ditching Flash improved battery life by two hours. The new notebook gets six hours of uptime loading pages in the Safari browser, but that dips to four hours once Adobe Flash is installed.
Apple caused a stir in October, when it released its newly redesigned MacBook Air models, but shipped them without the Flash plugin preinstalled. Apple portrayed the change as an advantage to consumers, as leaving the user to install Flash ensures they have the latest version.
Apple and Adobe have been at odds in 2010, in a feud that gained considerable steam after Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs published an open letter criticizing Flash as old technology that is unfit for the modern era of mobile computers. Apple does not allow Flash onto its iOS-powered devices, including the iPhone and iPad.
Jobs also revealed that Flash is the number one reason for crashes on the Mac platform. For its part, Adobe fired back and said that any crashes of Flash in Mac OS X are not related to its software, but are instead the fault of Apple's operating system.
While the first two beta releases of Apple's Mac OS X 10.5.8 Leopard update signaled a focus on underlying service technologies, a third pre-release made available to developers overnight expands upon those areas to include several forward-facing apps and additional frameworks. People familiar with the beta, labeled Mac OS X 10.5.8 build 9L16, say the Mac maker has for the time being tabled its focus on components such as Bluetooth, Automator, graphics drivers, iDisk syncing, Spotlight and Sync services.
Apple on Tuesday afternoon pushed out another private beta of Mac OS X 10.6.3, asking its developer community to test font compatibility and stability alongside a handful of other components that have been in need of evaluation for the past several weeks.
Those other components include iCal, QuickTime and graphics drivers, according to people familiar with the beta software. The last private beta, distributed March 5th and labeled build 10D567, also listed those components as focus areas, in addition to Rosetta and third party printer drivers.
When it's released later this month, Mac OS X 10.6.3 will bundle an update to QuickTime X that improves security and compatibility while also enhancing overall reliability of the media software.
The Snow Leopard update will also include tweaks that enhance the performance of Apple's 64-bit Logic pro audio suite and deliver better compatibility with third-party printers and OpenGL-grounded applications.
Other fixes baked into the release target issues with mail messages displaying the incorrect background color and problems copying files to a shared Windows volume.
The latest beta carries build number 10D571 and weighs in around 700MB.[ View this article at AppleInsider.com ]
Apple on Thursday evening delivered to developers a new build of its forthcoming Snow Leopard operating system that addresses a number of outstanding bugs but also delivers a couple of interface tweaks.
"This Snow Leopard Developer Preview Update is recommended for all users running the Snow Leopard Developer Preview Build 10A394 or later," Apple said. "This update includes general operating system fixes for stability, compatibility, and security."
The new build, labeled 10A402a, weighs in at roughly 1.3GB and was distributed via Snow Leopard's Software Update mechanism. It's the second such build to arrive in that manner in as many weeks, signaling ongoing tests to the new version of the system's automatic software updater.
In their brief experiences testing the new build, people familiar with the software claim it to be more responsive overall, as Apple focuses on optimization and stability ahead of a release planned for this fall.
Additionally, developers have noticed a couple of obvious interface tweaks, the first of which has seen the Dock's contextual pop-up menus re-skinned in a charcoal motif with white text. In previous builds, these menus were know to sport the same interface as traditional Finder contextual menus, which include black text on a platinum backdrop.
Snow Leopard's new Dock contextual menus | Source: The Quantum Byte
Apple may also be fiddling with the design of other Mac OS X interface elements, such as slide knobs, which now appear to feature a deeper, more vibrant shade of blue.
At its annual developers conference last month, Apple said it plans to release Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard in September as a $29 upgrade for all owners of Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard.
Apple has released a new beta of the Mac OS X 10.6.2 update with fixes for various performance issues dealing with AirPort, graphics drivers, and Apple TV, among others.
Those familiar with the build, titled 10C540 have said that it contains fixes for AirPort performance issues on the newly released iMacs and also resolves a problem which arose when plugging and unplugging a system to an Apple TV. A VMWare fix is also included, presumably for the newly released Fusion version 3.0.
The new build also fixes reported panic issues with USB, Apple Filing Protocol, and some video cards.
In the 10.6.2 update, Apple plans on fixing and tweaking nearly 150 OS X components.
Some components slated for fixes include: AppleBacklight, Battery Menu, Dictionary, Expose, FileSync, Family Controls, Fonts, Front Row, HFS, Inkwell, iPhoto, MobileMe, OpenCL, Parental Controls, QuickTime, Screen Sharing, Spell Checker, Spotlight, Time Machine, and USB.
Mac OS X 10.6.2 is expected to be released sometime in November and will reportedly be around 480 MB in size.[ View this article at AppleInsider.com ]
Apple has launched its new beta V2 update of the MobileMe web-based Calendar, sending users announcements that allows them to opt into the new program, which brings shared calendaring and an iPad-like appearance.
Opting into the new beta upgrades the calendar data in a way that makes any changes connected to the new format. Users who choose to leave the beta will lose updated changes, as Apple warns in the signup process.
The new Calendar requires users to upgrade to the latest iOS 4 for iPhone and iPod touch, the latest Mac OS X 10.6.4 or the most recent MobileMe Control Panel 1.6.1 for Windows, and demands a modern web browser, minimally Safari 4, Firefox 3.6, or Internet Explore 8.
Apple also notes that the new calendar beta does not support Microsoft Outlook behind a proxy server, and does not support push updates for Windows and iPad users. The iPad will fetch new data when its Calendar is opened, while Outlook running on Windows will fetch new event data every five minutes. Other iOS devices and Mac will continue to receive push updates normally.
Users with lots of calendar data may be warned that their older data will be incrementally upgraded over the next hour.
The new MobileMe Calendar features an iPad-like slider control at the bottom for rapidly navigating to future and previous months, and a calendar and notes view that appear to be tear off pads of paper. Also like the iPad Calendar, it presents a Day summary and List view of upcoming events.
MobileMe users can opt in to the new beta by logging in and requesting an invite. The new Calendar update is the latest in an overhaul series that began with Mail. The new updates use the latest SproutCore frameworks to create a very desktop-like experience.
Apple on Tuesday announced a public beta of Safari 4, a new version of its share-gaining web browser that packs a powerful new JavaScript engine and support for the latest web standards. Dubbed "Nitro," the engine in Safari 4 is said to run JavaScript 4.2 times faster than Safari 3. Other new features include Top Sites, for a visual preview of frequently visited pages; Full History Search, to search through titles, web addresses and the complete text of recently viewed pages; Cover Flow, to easily flip through web history or bookmarks; and Tabs on Top, to make tabbed browsing easier and more intuitive. "Apple created Safari to bring innovation, speed and open standards back into web browsers, and today it takes another big step forward," said Philip Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. "Safari 4 is the fastest and most efficient browser for Mac and Windows, with great integration of HTML 5 and CSS 3 web standards that enables the next generation of interactive web applications."
Performance In terms of performance, Apple claims Safari 4's new Nitro JavaScript engine executes JavaScript up to 30 times faster than Microsoft's IE 7 and more than three times faster than Firefox 3. It's also said to load HTML web pages three times faster than IE 7 and almost three times faster than Firefox 3. Safari 4 also represents the latest chapter in Apple's efforts to maintain its leadership role in defining and implementing web standards, with built in support for HTML 5 and CSS 3 -- two technologies critical in supporting an entirely new class of web applications that feature rich media, graphics and fonts. Safari 4 Beta tracks the sites you browse and ranks your favorites, presenting up to 24 thumbnails on a single page.
Specifically, the Cupertino-based company said the new browser includes HTML 5 support for offline technologies so web-based applications can store information locally without an Internet connection. A recent technology demonstration by Google highlighted the advantages this technology when it showed off a version of Gmail running offline on the iPhone's mobile version of Safari, which already includes support for some HTML 5 standards. Apple also said that Safari 4 is the first browser to support advanced CSS Effects that enable highly polished web graphics using reflections, gradients and precision masks. Similarly, it's said to be the first browser to pass the Web Standards Project's Acid3 test, which examines how well a browser adheres to CSS, JavaScript, XML and SVG web standards that are specifically designed for dynamic web applications.
Cover Flow offers a highly visual way of reviewing your site history and bookmarked sites, presenting full-page previews. Safari for Mac, Windows, iPhone and iPod touch are all built on Apple's WebKit, which the company has billed the "world's fastest and most advanced browser engine." Apple developed WebKit as an open source project to create the world's best browser engine and to advance the adoption of modern web standards. Most recently, WebKit led the introduction of HTML 5 and CSS 3 web standards and is known for its fast, modern code-base. Some of the industry's newest browsers are based on WebKit including Google Chrome, the Google Android browser, the Nokia Series 60 browser and Palm webOS. Safari 4 relocates the tab bar to the top of the browser window to provide "more room for you to enjoy the sites you're reading".
New features Safari 4 also includes a handful of new user interface features, including: Top Sites, a display of frequently visited pages in a wall of previews so users can jump to their favorite sites with a single click; Full History Search, where users search through titles, web addresses and the complete text of recently viewed pages to easily return to sites they've seen before; Cover Flow, to make searching web history or bookmarks "as fun and easy as paging through album art in iTunes;" Tabs on Top, for better tabbed browsing with easy drag-and-drop tab management tools and an intuitive button for opening new ones; Smart Address Field, that automatically completes web addresses by displaying an easy-to-read list of suggestions from Top Sites, bookmarks and browsing history; Smart Search Field, where users fine-tune searches with recommendations from Google Suggest or a list of recent searches; Full Page Zoom, for a closer look at any website without degrading the quality of the site's layout and text; built-in web developer tools to debug, tweak and optimize a website for peak performance and compatibility; and a new Windows-native look in Safari for Windows, that uses standard Windows font rendering and native title bar, borders and toolbars so Safari fits the look and feel of other Windows XP and Windows Vista applications. In total, Apple claims over 150 features in Safari 4. The public beta is available for download here. [ View this article at AppleInsider.com ]
My add-ons are all installed, and enabled, but most are not working. The plugins are all just gone, such as flash. I installed flash again, restarted, and it still doesn't have flash.
I don't know if this is the right place to ask this question, but today my Apple Account forced me to change my Apple ID. Just moments ago, with all my prior Apple ID info intact, I downloaded the Beta for Messages. Is that involved?
I like Safari's U.I. very much, but, everytime I load around 5 pages at the same time it starts to freeze and give me the rainbow circle on the mouse pointer. If I open the same sites with Camino everything works great and even faster than Safari.
I do not want to quite switch to Camino, because its UI is ugly, but its really superior to Safari on speed terms and has the same compatibility as Firefox, because its Gecko engine (?). I will miss Top Sites and Safari's UI so much
How your Safari works? Is it fast and freeze free?
My macbook pro (a1150 series) has started to act out of line and just when i think that I have it figured, the odd behavior starts giving symptoms of another problems. I.E- slow computer behavior indicates bad HD but then it acts more like it didn't have enough ram. So... I want to test the machine from top to bottom.
I CAN get access to them, but they are in Edit Bays at a friend's Production Office...and the Editors keep weird hours.....and they are wired in with lots of extra video/audio/disk drive stuff that I have to disconnect/move....and if one died or I caused bad Hard Drive corruption I would be SHOT ON SIGHT......etc.
So, if there is a video card enthusiast in Hollywood,CA area who has an EFI-64 Machine and would like to be part of this experiment, PM me.
FYI...there is a good chance this will work...on the other hand, there is also a good chance that Apple/Nvidia/EVGA placed an additional STOP to flashing and upon boot we will see a lovely black screen.
Whats in it for you? Immortal, undying glory ! A beer ! And when I figure out full process, I will make one for you with GTX285 you bring me. gratis
I have removed the 128K chip it came with and installed a 256K chip. I then flashed Mac EFI ROM onto it. On my first Gen it runs exactly as before. Boots into OSX with help of Netkas Injector Package, but not until desktop. (also requires additional Nvidia card)
It appears to be ignoring the Mac EFI due to it being 64 instead of the 32 it "requires".
I got Lion working locally, then with the latest updead with my web address. After some work (ok, I'm sugar coating -- a LOT of work) I appear to be able to connect my client to the server and establish a VPN. When I do that, I can access shared folders. Here is the rub, however. I can do the same with the VPN NOT established. This makes me wonder if anything is going though the VPN at all and if all my stuff is wide open to the world. I know clicking All Traffic should do that trick, but I really don't want to if I don't have to. How do I test to see if my files are being shared securly though the VPN?
Most of the results were OK but the "User Interface" one. It got a 13 at 61 refresh/sec.
This computer is a Macbook Pro (Early 2008) C2D 2.6 with 4gb of RAM and the 7200rpm HD, and comparing the results in the xbench site there is clearly something wrong.
The problem is that I don't have a clue of what exactly is "User interface" testing and how to fix it, does anybody know something about this?
Whatever your situation is, if you need to test your RAM, Memtest OS X is the best tool for the job for your Mac. Yes, there's Memtest86+ - I always use that for all the PCs I own. However, there's a bug in Memtest86+ where it could give false positives on EFI machines (which all Intel Macs are).
Memtest, by the way, is open source. So why, then, do you have to pay to download it? You have to pay to download both the binary and the source. I believe this violates the GPL, which Memtest OS X, and Memtest before it, are released under.
So I'm attaching Memtest right here in this thread. Now you can download it for free, without having to pay. Unfortunately, I don't have the source .
What should I be doing to my drives before building arrays with them?
Hitachi do a Drive Fitness Test and Seagate something similar but I have not been able to get either to work on a BootCamp Windows partition.
I tried formatting in Disk Utility and pulling some data on and off. I'm now running a scan for bad blocks in Drive Genius (is this worth it? It's going to take about a week at this rate). Anything else I should do?
What is the standard tool to test your hard drives read/write speeds? I'd like to test my new SSD to see how fast it really is. I've heard you cant trust XBench for that which is the only thing I have to use.
However it seems like OSX does eat up quite a fair bit of memory and Rember doesn't seem able to find the fault when I am running on one stick (it is probably used up by some block of code that has yet to run yet!)
Is there such a thing as the equivalence of memtest86 for Macs? Or even better will memtest86 even boot on a Intel Mac, now that it supports BIOS?
Did anyone tested this Kensington Dual Monitor Adapter on iMac. I currently have one monitor connected to my iMac and I wouls love to add another one I am just not sure if this is going to work.
I have tested the WAN to LAN speed and WAN to WiFi speed on Apple's latest Airport Extreme out of curiosity.
The test is done with two Unibody MacBook Pro; one connected to the WAN port, the other to LAN. The test was done over FTP with one of them set as server. A 85MB file was transferred
