Apple's Mac OS X 10.5.8 to fine tune service technologies

[AppleInsider]

The next, and potentially final, upgrade to Apple's Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard operating system will address loose ends in the software's underlying service technologies with a particular focus on networking and syncing.

Just two betas of the Mac OS X 10.5.8 Update have made their way into developers' hands thus far, the first of which was labeled build 9L12 and arrived for an extremely limited group of testers early last week. That distribution was quickly followed by the release of build 9L14 to all registered Mac OS X developers this past weekend.

Unlike Mac OS X 10.5.7, which addressed roughly two dozen system components and applications, Mac OS X 10.5.8's focus appears more narrow from the onset. People familiar with the update say Apple has asked developers to concentrate their evaluation efforts on just a dozen key technologies, only two of which represent forward-facing applications: Automator and iCal.

The remainder of the update addresses underlying service technologies that include 802.1x wireless protocols, Apple Filing Protocol, AirPort, Bluetooth, graphics drivers, iDisk syncing, networking, Spotlight indexing, Sync Services, and USB.

Similarly, many of the roughly two-dozen code corrections already baked into the first two pre-release builds also target underlying networking and syncing technologies. For example, Apple has reportedly made note of fixes to AFP and TimeMachine syncing, iCal time and calendar syncing, execution of startup items on Network home folders, and problems with DHCP client and 802.1x integration.



New Mac owners wrestling issues with their DisplayPort to DVI/VGA adapters should also see improvements with the release of Mac OS X 10.5.8, though Apple has reportedly failed to provide any color on the specific issues being addressed. Those users experiencing issues where their Mac inexplicably fails to go to sleep a second time around will also reportedly see relief to their problems.

[ View this article at AppleInsider.com ]

[el3ktro]

I doubt this will be the last update to Leopard. After the release of Leopard, Tiger also received some more updates, and I guess Apple will do the same with Leopard, esp. not every Mac user will be able to upgrade to Snow Leopard (think PPC).

[nagromme]

I'm glad to see WiFi listed. My 1st-gen MacBook Air and Time Capsule still don't get along 100% of the time on wake-from-sleep. In those instances it takes 2-3 tries from the menu icon to connect. Yet they both talk to any OTHER device over WiFi instantly. And this is on wideband N, so interference from other signals is unlikely. I'm thinking 10.5.8 may be just about my last hope! (Interestingly, they connect to each other just fine every time if I use G--but I do have neighbors who interfere on that frequency, and I want my Time Machine backups at N speed.)

[macinthe408]

I'm no scientist, but how many updates to Time Machine are needed? You copy a file from a disk to another disk, update a file with timestamps, end of story.

I suppose 98% of the issue is from the superfluous UI.

[steviet02]

Originally Posted by macinthe408

I'm no scientist, but how many updates to Time Machine are needed? You copy a file from a disk to another disk, update a file with timestamps, end of story.

I suppose 98% of the issue is from the superfluous UI.

Pretty thorough design you got going there!

[Prism]

Maybe they will do something about the speed of the Time Capsules drive throughput as well.
8MB/s on a 1 Gbit/s connection is ridiculous. My Thecus NAS which is hooked in on the Time Capsules switch gives 25MB/s.

[Virgil-TB2]

Originally Posted by macinthe408

I'm no scientist, but how many updates to Time Machine are needed? You copy a file from a disk to another disk, update a file with timestamps, end of story ...

You are definitely no scientist.

As long as TimeMachine regularly throws errors on backups they should (and probably will) keep working on it. It's also beyond obvious that Time Machine is an integral part of the OS and has ties into many different technologies and areas.

[steviet02]

Originally Posted by Virgil-TB2

It's also beyond obvious that Time Machine is an integral part of the OS and has ties into many different technologies and areas.

It's not an integral part of the OS, it can be shut off.

[Virgil-TB2]

Originally Posted by nagromme

I'm glad to see WiFi listed. My 1st-gen MacBook Air and Time Capsule still don't get along 100% of the time on wake-from-sleep. In those instances it takes 2-3 tries from the menu icon to connect. Yet they both talk to any OTHER device over WiFi instantly. And this is on wideband N, so interference from other signals is unlikely. I'm thinking 10.5.8 may be just about my last hope!...

The same thing happens to me with my AppleTV, but unfortunately AppleTV is "automatic," so the only way to deal with it is to physically force it awake by turning on the TV and switching to AppleTV input.

This is infuriating given that the AppleTV and my TimeCapsule router are brand new with all the updates and running on a secure "all-N" 5GHz network, on a clear channel and situated maybe 4 metres apart with nothing between but a wood and plaster wall.

ARgh!

[melgross]

Originally Posted by steviet02

It's not an integral part of the OS, it can be shut off.

That's not so. Not all services are used all of the time. Integral simply means integrated. You tell it whether you want to use it, and it complies.

[melchman]

ANyone else having Bluetooth problems in 10.5.7? Right around battery changing time I have the weirdest "I can see, but not pair it" issues with Bluetooth stuff. Hopefully 10.5.8 fixes it.

[stuffe]

Originally Posted by steviet02

It's not an integral part of the OS, it can be shut off.

Not true, it relies heavily on the whole FSEVENTS daemon which runs full time all the time on every copy of Leopard, and has done since Tiger even though there was no Time Machine then. It's used for more than Time Machine, for example Spotlight would not work unless this daemon was working properly.

You don't have to use TM, true, but the stuffe that does the heavy lifting for TM is balls deep in the OS regardless.

[wprowe]

Originally Posted by melchman

ANyone else having Bluetooth problems in 10.5.7? Right around battery changing time I have the weirdest "I can see, but not pair it" issues with Bluetooth stuff. Hopefully 10.5.8 fixes it.

I get periodic freezes of the mouse. By that I mean, I get no message indication lost connection, but the mouse icon on the screen doesn't move when I move the wireless mighty mouse. If I disable and enable bluetooth, the mouse starts working again.

[UltimateKylie]

Originally Posted by melchman

ANyone else having Bluetooth problems in 10.5.7? Right around battery changing time I have the weirdest "I can see, but not pair it" issues with Bluetooth stuff. Hopefully 10.5.8 fixes it.

Ya I have had disconnects occuring with my Bluetooth Mighty Mouse ever since 10.5.7

Hopefully .8 fixes this.

[steviet02]

Originally Posted by melgross

That's not so. Not all services are used all of the time. Integral simply means integrated. You tell it whether you want to use it, and it complies.

I won't argue the semantics. When I hear integral, it means 'essential to operation' , whcih TM isn't for the OS to work. It may be that the OS is essential for TM to work, but again semantics...

[steviet02]

Originally Posted by melchman

ANyone else having Bluetooth problems in 10.5.7? Right around battery changing time I have the weirdest "I can see, but not pair it" issues with Bluetooth stuff. Hopefully 10.5.8 fixes it.

I was having no problems at all with my BT Stereo Headset (Mot S9) until .7. Now I have to delete and repair the headset often to get it to work right.

[stuffe]

Originally Posted by steviet02

I won't argue the semantics. When I hear integral, it means 'essential to operation' , whcih TM isn't for the OS to work. It may be that the OS is essential for TM to work, but again semantics...

The backup portion of Time Machine is to a large extent just the friendly nomenclature for the whole FSEVENTS workload that goes on under the hood. It's absolutely a part of the OS, it's actually a part of the Kernel - it doesn't get much more integrated than that.

So while you might turn your backups off, you should know that the wheels are still turning on the daemon, and it's still providing functions to other portions of the OS - so there's every reason to keep tweaking it. As for what they are actually tweaking or patching, who can say, but your man in the street doesn't want to hear about filesystem kernel extentions and daemons, he want's product names. Hence it's TM getting attention in the update log - but you still need it, even if you don't use it.

[pairof9s]

My Airport Extreme worked flawlessly along with an Airport Express in my home network. 2 Mac minis, an Apple TV and a MacBook Pro ran through it, all with at least 3 but usually 4 bars of strength.

Every since 10.5.7, the reception has dropped substantially as well as my Bluetooth connections. Wireless keyboard & mouse lose reception only 5-6' from the Mac mini. My MacBook Pro only gets 2 bars in my bedroom where it always got 4 and now using the internet is like being on 56K modem. It's awful!

I dropped down my AES's firmware to 7.3.2 from 7.4.1 after a post on Apple's support boards; however, that did nothing for the reception issues. I've restarted, reconfigured and reinstalled any and all software with no improvement. It's been a lot of work for naught; I regret having updated again to 10.5.7 now.

I for certain can only hope that 10.5.8 works well and comes quickly. 10.5.7 has been a complete failure in my opinion.

/

[fseesink]

Originally Posted by steviet02

I won't argue the semantics[...]

And yet, that's exactly what you just did. Sorry, couldn't resist.

[steviet02]

Originally Posted by fseesink

And yet, that's exactly what you just did. Sorry, couldn't resist.

It's like starting off a comment 'Not to be rude but [...]'

[HappyPhil]

"New Mac owners wrestling issues with their DisplayPort to DVI/VGA adapters should also see improvements with the release of Mac OS X 10.5.8, though Apple has reportedly failed to provide any color on the specific issues being addressed."

I am one of those thousands of people who can no longer use my HDTV as a monitor for my Macbook since updating to 10.5.7. I can't give presentations, watch HD movies, Boxee, Hulu, or edit videos and Photos on a big screen, until Apple fixes this blunder.

[Damn_Its_Hot]

Originally Posted by pairof9s

My Airport Extreme worked flawlessly along with an Airport Express in my home network. 2 Mac minis, an Apple TV and a MacBook Pro ran through it, all with at least 3 but usually 4 bars of strength.

Every since 10.5.7, the reception has dropped substantially as well as my Bluetooth connections. Wireless keyboard & mouse lose reception only 5-6' from the Mac mini. My MacBook Pro only gets 2 bars in my bedroom where it always got 4 and now using the internet is like being on 56K modem. It's awful!

I dropped down my AES's firmware to 7.3.2 from 7.4.1 after a post on Apple's support boards; however, that did nothing for the reception issues. I've restarted, reconfigured and reinstalled any and all software with no improvement. It's been a lot of work for naught; I regret having updated again to 10.5.7 now.

I for certain can only hope that 10.5.8 works well and comes quickly. 10.5.7 has been a complete failure in my opinion.

/

I have had problems with 7.4.1 and backed down to 7.3.2 but it had nothing to do with 10.5.7 - I upgraded to 7.4.1 when I got a message saying it was available - I used it for a very short while (a couple of hours) because it was causing both of my laptops to lose connections (one PB500 running Tiger and a windoze vista Acer). I went back to 7.3.2 and now am back to all bars all the time. I wish Apple would let us know what these updates were supposed to help. A look at the log files while I was at 7.4.1 was not very helpful.

[MassMacMini]

Originally Posted by melchman

ANyone else having Bluetooth problems in 10.5.7? Right around battery changing time I have the weirdest "I can see, but not pair it" issues with Bluetooth stuff. Hopefully 10.5.8 fixes it.

Interesting as I had that issue with both my wireless mighty mouse and wireless aluminum keyboard prior to 10.5.7. Since the upgrade, I haven't had that problem.

[phelix_da_kat]

I am still waiting for that elusive HOME sync feature...

I reckon a lot of people/homes have more than one Mac, how about either:

1. a complete sync (super duper style) and incrementals of your hard drive

2. partial sync (super duper style) and incrementals of your user only

3. a subset or single folder PLUS your iPhone/iPod profile (as that has iCal, address book and the keys playlists for your media)

Although this would likely depend on the size of both hard disks, how much you actually want to carry around and the speed you want the sync.

Of the above I would find option 3 the most user friendly (think consumer... ) and 1 for the power user.. 2 is good if say you share computers..

Fingers crossed.. although if we see a iTablet (or rebranded Mac"book") with SSD/1.8" drive - by 2010 or when Steve wants to do his first presentation, we may get option 3.

[skate71290]

i swear to god if they dont sort out the Time Capsule issues i'm going to kick some ass.... can't stream video without it lagging (strangely audio doesn't but video does) and Time Capsule randomly just doesn't respond in Finder (however Internet still works)... pretty sure its Tc problem though... as it requires a Hard Reboot (pull plug out).... i'm on 5GHZ N... any suggestions please... can't wait until Snow Leopard and New iPhone 3GS on July 8th x

[Cubert]

I just hope they finally thin out the molasses that they use to run iCal.

[jonnyboy]

i'm praying this will come out during july. otherwise i'll be forced to revert to 10.5.6 in the hope it'll fix my bluetooth mouse connection problems

[Prism]

Still waiting for MobileMe sync to take RSS feed info as well.

[JupiterOne]

All I know is that 10.5.7 brought back an annoying bug that I had up to 10.5.6. About 70% of the time when my MacBookPro wakes up from sleep, it wakes up in some kind of 800x600 video resolution. I then have to go into System Preferences and set it back to what I had it at. This went away with 10.5.6 but suddenly came back right after 10.5.7.

[kaiwai]

Originally Posted by steviet02

It's not an integral part of the OS, it can be shut off.

I guess integral isn't the most accurate, but I guess what he was trying to say is that Apple has made Time Machine a pretty big thing to push to customers as one of the benefits of Mac OS X and how Apple controls the hardware and software. I'm sure you could accomplish the same thing with Windows but it wouldn't be easy to accomplish as it is with a Mac.

[kaiwai]

Originally Posted by skate71290

i swear to god if they dont sort out the Time Capsule issues i'm going to kick some ass.... can't stream video without it lagging (strangely audio doesn't but video does) and Time Capsule randomly just doesn't respond in Finder (however Internet still works)... pretty sure its Tc problem though... as it requires a Hard Reboot (pull plug out).... i'm on 5GHZ N... any suggestions please... can't wait until Snow Leopard and New iPhone 3GS on July 8th x

Have you tried 2.4Ghz N? I could never get 5Ghz working properly - either with Apple's own router or infact any router.