Mac OS X Jaguar

I'd like to start my first column with an introduction to Mac OS X Jaguar, which really all you Mac users on Lamma should be using. The only caveat at the moment is that Jaguar (OS X 10.2) doesn't yet include Traditional Chinese (i.e. written Cantonese) but does support Simplified Chinese (Putonghua). Traditional Chinese support is coming in OS X 10.3 due out in July/August.

The only other requirement is that you must have a Macintosh that supports OS X - that is any iMac, iBook, G3 Tower, G4 Tower or Powerbook G3 (Bronze keyboard only) or Titanium Powerbook (G4). Lots of RAM is good too and a decent sized hard drive (10 GB or more). You must also be running currently OS 9.1 or above. When you install OS X, your System 9 and all your current applications and documents will be untouched. Your System 9 will be used to run Classic, which is an emulation of System 9 used in OS X to run your System 9 applications. The only applications which will not run under Classic will be the ones that directly address hardware such as modems, scanners and printers but all the drivers that run peripherals such as scanners, printers will have OS X versions on their manufacturers websites for free!

So you might ask - why run OS X? Good question which I will try to address in as simple a fashion as possible. Mac OS 9 is a very old operating system and all development work on it has finished. All new Macs you buy now will only run OS X but OS 9 is there as Classic so you'll still be able to run your old OS 9 applications if you want to, but they cannot boot OS 9 natively.

The advantages of OS X:

• No more crashes! OS X won't crash but applications might "unexpectedly quit", but this is very unusual and you won't need to reboot your computer. The offending application can be launched again. I've rarely seen this happen and it generally only happens with beta (pre-release) applications.

• Pre-emptive multi-tasking - in simple you can do everything concurrently - no more waiting for one task to finish until you start something else.

• Protected memory - in simple terms you won't crash!

• Loads of great included applications plus a lot of new free Apple applications. On installation of OS X you get Address Book, Mail (includes a "smart" intelligent spam filter and imports your mail from any other mail application), Internet Explorer, Sherlock 3, Internet Connect, iChat, iMovie 3 (a simple but powerful digital movie editor), iPhoto, iTunes (mp3 player/recorder and internet radio, Acrobat Reader and all the usual stuff, such as Calculator, Stickies etc. iMovie is for editing your video from any video camera that has a FireWire connector (all video cameras sold in the last 3 years have this included and there's no need to install any special driver software - iMovie recognizes the lot!). The same applies to iPhoto - it too will recognize any digital camera that has USB. More features...

• New free Apple applications for download, such as Safari (a blazingly fast web browser - knocks the shit out of Internet Explorer and Netscape), iCal (a calendar application with downloadable modules for Hong Kong Holidays, Jewish Holidays, Sports schedules and lots more), iSync (sync your AddressBook and iCal appointments with your other Macs, PDA's, iPod (I recently set up an iPod to run the music in the Lamma Bistro BTW) and mobile phone - certain models only), a new improved iTunes 4 (better quality and share your music collection over the internet with your friends).

• No viruses or worms to worry about.

• X11 - a windowing environment that allows you to use Unix applications recompiled for OS X - one really good one is OpenOffice.org, a free totally compatible alternative to Microsoft Office!!

• Loads of freeware and shareware applications which are really neat - can be found at MacUpdate, VersionTracker and Tucows.

• Last but not least it's FUN!! No more crashes, no more re-installs, no virus problems - just enjoy!!

Disadvantages of OS X:

• Slower launching of applications compared to OS 9, but not if you have a dual-processor G4.

• You may need to buy or acquire - there are ways and means -nudge, nudge......;-) new versions of your current software for OS X if you want to completely go native.

Well that's it for this column - please send feedback and questions to me directly.

If you need more advice or help on setting up OS X - Contact me by email or phone on 9425-6871