OS X v10.2
AKA Jaguar

Can Eden tame the
Cat with his Beige
G3 Minitower?

by Eden Maxwell

I had OS X v10.1.5 running on my G3 working fairly well by the time the Cupertino Apple came to the Big Apple. This past July, I attended the 2002 MacWorld Expo in New York where Apple introduced Jaguar. With great fanfare and product demonstrations, Apple promised that this major upgrade, with it’s more than 150 new features, would elevate computing to a new level.

Okay, I was game for Jaguar.

I was also apprehensive since getting my current OS X system up and running on my G3 had stretched my patience and stamina (as readers of my previous OS X articles may recall). My setup had two internal ATA hard drives, the original 8-gig and a new 80-gig, working well. I had installed a Tango USB/FireWire card from Sonnet that upgraded my machine to the new digital hub standard. My new printer and a Wacom graphic tablet populated Tango’s two available USB ports (USB devices are necessary for printing and using the tablet in the OS X environment). For less than $15, I added a USB adapter hub with four connections into which I plugged a media card reader (also less than $15) that made downloading images from my digital camera into my computer, using iPhoto, a snap. I also plugged in a USB flatbed scanner.

My five-year old Kensington Turbo Mouse was connected via the ADB port and a Castlewood Orb removable hard drive was plugged into the rear SCSI port (both worked with OS X). Users who have a SCSI Orb, however, are not stuck if they buy a USB Macintosh. Get a SCSI to USB adapter directly from Castlewood or other third-party manufacturer. In addition, I have to disconnect my Orb when I need to connect my Olympus ES-10S 35mm SCSI film scanner. As there is no driver update for this scanner, I have to go retro and boot off OS 9 in order to use it. As for connectivity my computer was a hybrid of technologies.

[APB: Wanted—Mac user in London, England with an Olympus ES-10S 35mm SCSI film scanner. If you would be willing to lend your scanner for a bit to Ed Hamrick, the genius behind VueScan, he would no doubt be able to write a new driver for making this great little device OS X compatible (a boon for all those who have this unit). Contact Ed through his website.] http://www.hamrick.com

Pandora’s Box, Or No

Although Apple said it’s new operating system was supported, if not optimized, on my machine, I wasn’t sure if Jaguar and my computer would get along. I had scoured various newsgroups to see if Jaguar was causing conflicts. I read about installation woes, Internet configuration glitches, and problems with Microsoft Office X and Internet Explorer on new Apple computers.

Still, I was committed to putting Apple’s word about OS X v10.2 support for my G3 to the test. The Jaguar box sat on my desk for a few days before I opened the cage. Since I was upgrading from an earlier version of OS X, I selected the archive feature that saved the old system to a separate folder. I also clicked the preference setting to preserve my user and network settings. Using these options made me feel more secure and, when the process began, I was definitely and pleasantly surprised. I had to update a few apps and drivers to suit Jaguar and that was it; all my user and network settings were preserved as promised.

I was in business.

Although my desktop booted with my familiar default settings, things were different, and for the better. OS X had always felt twitchy when shutting down on my G3. There were too many, obnoxious Kernal trap warnings. To the contrary, Jaguar was smooth, responsive, and, characteristically, catlike; a refined operating system making earlier versions of OS X seem as if they were the betas.

Apple should have given OS X users a special upgrade price instead of charging another $100 plus. Despite the price, however, the new operating system did fly off the shelves. And, on balance, Apple had developed a superb cross-platform operating system with significant improvements and applications for an integrated communications hub, and that’s where the personal computer is heading.

Continued
 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | Next >>