Linux Format forums

Re: I did two OS upgrades: Mac and Linux

spottedcat — Tue Nov 13, 2007 10:15 pm

Author: spottedcat

Posted: Tue Nov 13, 2007 10:15 pm

wyliecoyoteuk wrote:

Apparently, you can buy a downgrade disk to take you back to XP

I know the getamac ads are getting a bit passé now, but Apple have recently released a couple which nicely take the piss for all this going back to XP. Getamac Link. Look at "Podium" and "PR Lady".

Re: I did two OS upgrades: Mac and Linux

wyliecoyoteuk — Tue Nov 13, 2007 9:55 pm

Author: wyliecoyoteuk

Posted: Tue Nov 13, 2007 9:55 pm

Diagmato wrote:

It could be worse - imagine "upgrading" to Vista, finding out its too slow, amongst your TV card or whatever not working, only to move back to XP and find out that your licence key wont work as its now a Vista key. (I take it once you move to Leopard, you can still use Tiger, right?).

Either way, Upgrading to a new Ubuntu, or Fedora (from each respective distro) is just far more convenient.

Apparently, you can buy a downgrade disk to take you back to XP

RE: Re: I did two OS upgrades: Mac and Linux

Rhakios — Tue Nov 13, 2007 7:03 pm

Author: Rhakios

Posted: Tue Nov 13, 2007 7:03 pm

That's the benefit of a clean install, it doesn't matter what was on the computer before you started, formatting gets rid of the lot. It looks like an archive install wouldn't have produced any problems either.
Still, after over two years, I thought a good clean out was in order.

RE: Re: I did two OS upgrades: Mac and Linux

donoreo — Tue Nov 13, 2007 3:05 pm

Author: donoreo

Posted: Tue Nov 13, 2007 3:05 pm

I had backed up everything on the Mac. I ran a repair disk, permissions, etc, all before starting and it still messed up (now I know why, thanks for the link above).

The Linux box, I just did it, no prep work.

Re: I did two OS upgrades: Mac and Linux

Marrea — Tue Nov 13, 2007 2:22 pm

Author: Marrea

Posted: Tue Nov 13, 2007 2:22 pm

spottedcat wrote:

I should imagine you'll need the patience of Job.

No problem. A prerequisite for any Linux user, surely?

spottedcat wrote:

... you might find this video useful .... The most interesting revelation from that video is that the tool recommmended by Apple for opening a Mac Mini up is a putty knife.

Not managed to view the video yet (for the reasons you cite) but I was well aware of the sophisticated tool for opening the case! Annoyingly, as so often happens, fairly soon after I bought my Mini they upped the memory to 512MB in the entry level model. I think I'd better stick with what I've got for now. The upgrade path sounds a bit too expensive!

Re: I did two OS upgrades: Mac and Linux

spottedcat — Tue Nov 13, 2007 12:30 pm

Author: spottedcat

Posted: Tue Nov 13, 2007 12:30 pm

Marrea wrote:

pressed the power button and waited.

That long?

Marrea wrote:

But if I decided I wanted to upgrade to 10.5, would my Mac Mini be able to cope I wonder? I've had mine for about two and a half years and it's the entry level 1.25GHz G4 with 256RAM. It seems to be the norm these days that if you upgrade an o.s. you also have to upgrade your hardware at the same time.

So long as you upgrade the memory, the answer seems to be yes, although with that processor I should imagine you'll need the patience of Job.

From the Apple Leopard page:

Quote:

Minimum System Requirements

* • Mac computer with an Intel, PowerPC G5, or PowerPC G4 (867MHz or faster) processor
* • 512MB of physical RAM
* • DVD drive for installation

but I should think you'll be better off with 1G. If you're tempted to replace the RAM yourself, you might find this video useful. Warning - sizeable video and slow server. The most interesting revelation from that video is that the tool recommmended by Apple for opening a Mac Mini up is a putty knife.

Re: I did two OS upgrades: Mac and Linux

Marrea — Tue Nov 13, 2007 12:21 pm

Author: Marrea

Posted: Tue Nov 13, 2007 12:21 pm

lok1950 wrote:

Still some teething pains with f8 according to thee forums

I'm very glad you told us this. I shall be sticking with 7 for now.

Re: I did two OS upgrades: Mac and Linux

Marrea — Tue Nov 13, 2007 12:18 pm

Author: Marrea

Posted: Tue Nov 13, 2007 12:18 pm

spottedcat wrote:

You mean you think it might have upgraded itself to Tiger without even being switched on? I knew Mac OSX was a good OS, but...

Much excited by this thought, I just had to check didn't I? In eager anticipation, I wiped the dust off "the white and silver biscuit tin" this morning, pressed the power button and waited. But no, oh dear, inexplicably it still seems to be running 10.3. What a disappointment.

But if I decided I wanted to upgrade to 10.5, would my Mac Mini be able to cope I wonder? I've had mine for about two and a half years and it's the entry level 1.25GHz G4 with 256RAM. It seems to be the norm these days that if you upgrade an o.s. you also have to upgrade your hardware at the same time.

Re: I did two OS upgrades: Mac and Linux

Diagmato — Tue Nov 13, 2007 1:25 am

Author: Diagmato

Posted: Tue Nov 13, 2007 1:25 am

It could be worse - imagine "upgrading" to Vista, finding out its too slow, amongst your TV card or whatever not working, only to move back to XP and find out that your licence key wont work as its now a Vista key. (I take it once you move to Leopard, you can still use Tiger, right?).

Either way, Upgrading to a new Ubuntu, or Fedora (from each respective distro) is just far more convenient.

Re: I did two OS upgrades: Mac and Linux

Rhakios — Mon Nov 12, 2007 9:09 pm

Author: Rhakios

Posted: Mon Nov 12, 2007 9:09 pm

My installation of Leopard went flawlessly, but then I did the same as I do with Linux, back up the data, do a clean install. It also gave me the opportunity to get new versions of the various apps I was using. In any event, I thought it would be rather rash to jump from Panther to Leopard via an automatic update.

Installing Fink via bootstrap has been quite time consuming though. It's almost as bad as running Gentoo

Re: I did two OS upgrades: Mac and Linux

lok1950 — Mon Nov 12, 2007 7:55 pm

Author: lok1950

Posted: Mon Nov 12, 2007 7:55 pm

Still some teething pains with f8 according to thee forums so i won't be changing my hat for a few weeks yet most seem centered on pirut and the new Pulse Audio system not working for non root users.

Enjoy the Choice

Re: I did two OS upgrades: Mac and Linux

spottedcat — Mon Nov 12, 2007 4:55 pm

Author: spottedcat

Posted: Mon Nov 12, 2007 4:55 pm

Marrea wrote:

I'm still running Panther on my Mac Mini. Or at least I was when I last turned it on several months ago.

You mean you think it might have upgraded itself to Tiger without even being switched on? I knew Mac OSX was a good OS, but...

Re: I did two OS upgrades: Mac and Linux

Marrea — Mon Nov 12, 2007 3:52 pm

Author: Marrea

Posted: Mon Nov 12, 2007 3:52 pm

spottedcat wrote:

By the way - I'm putting off upgrading to Leopard until the new year. I'll let others discover other as-yet undiscovered bugs. Do keep us informed.

I'm way behind the times. I'm still running Panther on my Mac Mini. Or at least I was when I last turned it on several months ago. Far too busy upgrading 5,000 different Linux distros to even think about Mac. Only just got Fedora 7 sorted and along comes 8.

RE: Re: I did two OS upgrades: Mac and Linux

Dutch_Master — Mon Nov 12, 2007 3:24 pm

Author: Dutch_Master

Posted: Mon Nov 12, 2007 3:24 pm

It's not a bug, it's an undocumented feature Be aware that Apple may charge you extra for it

Re: I did two OS upgrades: Mac and Linux

spottedcat — Mon Nov 12, 2007 3:09 pm

Author: spottedcat

Posted: Mon Nov 12, 2007 3:09 pm

donoreo wrote:

I started the Mac first. I was upgrading from 10.4 "Tiger" to 10.5 "Leopard". Mac is the "everything just works" platform. I did a straight upgrade on the Mac. When it was done an hour or so later, it would not boot. Came up to the grey screen with the Apple logo and then would shut down. I searched online and found someone else that had the same thing and solved it by doing an archive and install. That worked, an hour and a half later.

Aha! You've run foul of the infamous Application Enhancer buggers your Tiger > Leopard upgrade glitch. Much as I hate defending a proprietary OS on a Linux forum, this is the fault of an allegedly heavily-criticised piece of stealthware, rather than Apple itself.

Actually, it has a funny side - if you have a cruel sense of humour like me. Imagine all the Apple fanchildren rushing to their nearest Apple shop on release day to buy their Leopard discs. They get home and start the upgrade, only to be confronted with a permanently-frozen piece of hardware and the Apple support line can't help, because they don't yet know what is going on. Several hours later, someone posts a howto for deleting the offending bits of software. But, shriek, horror , you have to open a terminal and - gasp - type in terminal commands. I doubt whether they've got over it yet.

But I'm glad Fedora behaved itself.

By the way - I'm putting off upgrading to Leopard until the new year. I'll let others discover other as-yet undiscovered bugs. Do keep us informed.