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Other World Computing
div. of New Concepts Development Corp.
1004 Courtaulds Drive
Woodstock, IL 60098
815-338-8685
OtherWorld Computing Links:
OSX
Software Update 02/18/03
*****************************************
The Apple Software Update 'application' included with OS X makes keeping
your system up to date a snap. Either automatically on a scheduled frequency
you set or with your manual request, the Software Update app will check
across the internet to Apple's site to see if any new updates are available
for installing. If there are, you just leave checked the ones you want
and click the install button.....
But, what if you have more than one Mac? What if high-speed internet
access isn't available to all the machines needing these updates - or
at
all? Some of those updates can be pretty big and at dial up speeds they
take
quite a while to download! What if you just want to download the update
and install it later when it won't interfere with your work?
A simple option exists that gives you the flexibility the auto-download/install
does not. Normally, to start the download and installation of these updates,
you simply click on the install button that is in the lower right hand
corner. This week's Quick Tip shows you the other way!
Rather than clicking the install button to start the download of selected
updates, you can instead select from the 'Update' pull down menu the
option "
Download Checked Items to Desktop". After the download is complete,
you can then click on the install button to do the installation or doubleclick
on the updater file that is now on the desktop to accomplish the same.
So what's the point?
When you just click the Install button without prior doing the download
to
desktop option: #1 - it will do the update installation as soon as the
update(s) are down downloading which then usually results in a restart
being
required. #2 - After the update is installed, the update file is deleted.
There is a record of the update file in </YOUR HD/Library/Receipts>,
but
those files are not the update images and are unusable. By downloading
them to the desktop and then installing, you now have at will use of
these update installers.
Except for FIRMWARE updates that are machine specific(a Firmware update
won't run on the wrong machine anyway), all OS X software updates are
universal, just like the OS X install itself is. So, rather than downloading
the various updates on multiple machines you can just as easily transfer
the
files between your different machines... Then just run the updates
accordingly on those machines. Also, if you save your update files and
then
at some point end up with reason to install OS X from scratch again,
rather
than downloading all those updates again, all you need do is use those
files
you've already got. And if you miss something, Apple's Software Update
app
is right there to tell you so.
So there ya go, a quick and tip for more flexibility and potential use
out
of those pretty regularly provided updates! And hey - 10.2.4 is now out,
can
use this tip right now today. :)
OS X Duplicating 02/21/03
*****************************************
In the time before OS X, making a copy our our boot drive, or even all
of
our data, was just that a simple copy procedure. Under Apple OS 7.x-9.x(and
probably prior, just don't recall), to copy something was just a drag
from one drive or partition to another. To create a backup right on the
same
drive (maybe prior to 'experimenting'), all you had to do was select
the
folder and then duplicate. No hidden files to worry about, just select
what
you want and copy or duplicate away.
With the new modern OS X operating system, it isn't quite so simple.
Unlike
the prior Apple OS versions, the actual operating system has lots of
hidden
files. Yes, you can copy with great success any of the files you can
see...
But when you try to copy your boot system, what does copy lacks the hidden
files that are required for operation. Installing OS X can be very time
consuming, certainly it's something you'd probably like to have a bootable
backup of, but how?
He was a guest presenter in our booth at MacWorld SF, his shareware
application comes with every FireWire drive we ship(we encourage all
that
use it to support him and pay the fee!), Mike Bombich created the best
utility out there when it comes to copying OS X! This excellent piece
of
software is called Carbon Copy Cloner and with it, copying your OS and
anything else you want is just a couple quick clicks.
I've personally used 'CCC' to backup my PowerBook's internal drive to
an OWC Mercury FireWire. The coolest part is that more than just a backup,
CCC gives you a fully functional copy of the original. If my internal
drive
decided to take a dive, that FireWire backup I have is a fully functional,
fully bootable backup of everything I had on the internal up until
yesterday. Because OS X is a universal install, I can even take my FireWire
backup and boot it off ANY other Mac that supports FireWire startup.
The tip of the week is simple and actually two fold. Regardless of the
OS,
you should always make regular backups. Hard drives are the most likely
part of any system to fail and in the still unlikely event that yours
does bite
the big one, the pain is much more limited when a current backup is at
your
disposal. OS X can't just be straight copied over due to those hidden
files.... Carbon Copy Cloner is the best solution I've seen for the making
sure you're copying all the files needed to have a reliable working copy
of
your OS X system.
Learn more about Carbon Copy Cloner and download it here:
http://eshop.macsales.com/link.cfm?id=9615-1768
And remember, this is shareware and excellent piece of shareware at that.
If
you like and use it, support the author as you should for any
freeware/shareware/donationware app. For the record, we do not receive
any
financial consideration for our part in promoting this excellent software! Performance
Maintenance 02/28/03
*****************************************
I don't have the explanation for the whys, only that I have experienced
and
read about other's experienced OS X slow downs that are easily remedied
with some simple maintenance.
Issue #1 concerns disk permissions.
OS X is built on a Unix core where
access to files is based on user level and permissions allowed. For
whatever
reason, these permissions seem to require a repair to keep them in
proper
synch. While having errors in the permissions can go practically
un-noticed,
as they accumulate, processes take longer and longer due to complete
- and
in some cases bad permissions can even cause unexplained behavior
of the
system.
Fortunately, the fix is simple! Just
run the 'Disk Utility' application located in the YourHD/Applications/Utilities
path. Click on the 'First Aid' tab, select
your hard drive, and then click on the 'repair permissions' button.
You can
only repair permissions on the OS X boot volume and that's also
the only
place that you need to worry about for this as well. Doing this
once a week
will keep your system permissions in optimum order for optimum
system
performance. Issue #2 relates to the system updates and the apparent
excess baggage they can leave. The solution to this excess update
baggage is updating the pre-binding. While Apple says that OS 10.2 eliminated
this issue (which was very visible under 10.1.x), I am not so sure. Either
way, a very simple piece of software called 'Pacifist' takes care of
this issue nicely. When you run this program, it offers a button 'Update
Prebinding Information...' and you just click that button and it does
the rest. For 10.2 and higher,
Apple does state this shouldn't be necessary.... I know doing this
doesn't
hurt and on my personal system, I could see a noticeable difference
in the
CPU Monitor display while at idle. Before optimizing, there was
a about 10
blocks of load on the CPU even idle right after startup... After
running the
update, the CPU Monitor reported just a single block of load, the
minimum.
Pacifist is a shareware application that is downloadable here:
http://eshop.macsales.com/link.cfm?id=502-8647
This software actually does a lot more than just the prebinding
optimization
and it's a pretty nice shareware value at $20. Shareware is all
about paying
for something if you like it... And if you like a Freeware/Shareware
app you
are using, sending in that check helps insure its continued support
and
development + you're paying the author his due for the application
you like
you like to use. Neither OWC nor I personally receive compensation/benefit
from user support of Pacifist.
CPU Monitor is included with OS X by Apple. It is located in the
path
YourHD/Applications/Utilities - same place where you find Disk
Utility.
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