Its debut was greeted by mixed reviews, but now that Mac OS X 10.2, or Jaguar, has arrived, the critics have returned their latest verdict: OS X is a stunning operating system.
If you've been avoiding an upgrade, your excuses are probably sounding a little hollow by now. Availability of applications is no longer an issue. Quite the reverse, in fact, with the arrival of free OS X-only applications such as iPhoto, iCal and iSync. And Apple's decision to release new machines early next year that won't be able to boot up into Mac OS 9 is further evidence - if any were needed - that Classic's days are numbered.
But there are some remaining worries that recalcitrant upgraders still voice: availability of native drivers for peripherals and a sense of disorientation under OS X. Which is where this troubleshooting guide comes in. It aims to identify any remaining issues and point out ways of solving them - all to help make the transition to OS X that much easier.
At first glance, OS X looks pretty much like its predecessor. But subtle changes to the menu system mean that many users may very quickly find themselves disoriented. Familiar Mac OS landmarks such as the Chooser and Application switcher have disappeared, with much of their functionality offered elsewhere. OS 9's Control Panels have been grouped together in the System Preferences pane, applications are now launched from the Dock, network connectivity options have moved to the Finder's Go menu and print functions have shifted wholesale to the Print Center application.
The Apple menu, meanwhile, has been emasculated. While it retains some of its OS 9 heritage, such as the Recent Documents submenu, and has even added functionality - sleep, restart and shut down options are now available here - it has lost flexibility. Under Classic, users could add any files or folders to it to provide hierarchical file navigation. All is not lost, however. Near-identical functionality is now offered if you drag the volume's icon to the right-hand side of the Dock.
For most users, it is simply a matter of getting used to the way OS X does things. But for those who don't want to change, third-party add-ons, such as Unsanity Software's Fruit Menu, allow you to tweak the Apple menu as in OS 9, while the Classic Application Switcher has been resurrected by freeware OS X utility ASM.
Desktop matters
On the Desktop, things have changed too. By default, Finder windows have their own toolbars and open in the same window, but this behaviour can be tailored to work as it did under OS 9. If you click the Lozenge button in the top right of an open Finder window, the toolbar disappears. To retain traditional Mac navigation, select Always Open Folders in a new window from the Finder's Preferences menu, or simply command-click the folder for a more ad hoc solution.
If hard disks, removable media or connected servers are not appearing on your desktop, don't panic. Make sure options to display them are selected in the Finder's Preferences dialog.
Because OS X is a multi-user system and each user has their own desktop folder, you can't share the same desktop between OS X and OS 9. Handily, OS X places a link to your OS 9 Desktop Folder on its desktop, but if you boot back into OS 9, this behaviour isn't reciprocated. You can do this manually by creating an alias (the Desktop folder is inside the relevant Users folder on the OS X volume) and placing it on your OS 9 desktop.
Permissions
OS 9's Multiple Users feature was not exactly a commonly used function. But under OS X it is impossible to avoid. Each user has their own Home folder, which can't be viewed by others.
To determine who has the right to view and edit files on a machine, OS X uses file permissions. These can be viewed using the Get Info dialog. For single users, file permissions will rarely be an issue unless they alter without the user's knowledge. This can sometimes happen with a poorly written installation program. Often the first time you'll notice corrupted permissions is when you can't delete a file in the Trash. There are ways of using OS X's Terminal to remove these files using the command line, but if you don't want to get your hands dirty, it's easier to boot up in OS 9 and empty the Trash there.
Old file names and folders
One problem with upgrading to OS X is that files or folders may not be linked to a creator program under OS X. If you know it will work with an OS X application, you can drag it over the relevant application's icon in the Dock or highlight the file in the Finder and select Get Info. All applications that claim to support the file type are listed under the Open With section. Either select one from the list or browse to choose another and click the Change All button.
Invisible files
As with its predecessor, there are restrictions on naming OS X files and folders - you can't include colon characters, for example - but now there are new limitations to trip up the unwary. Volumes shouldn't contain forward-slash characters '/' (this is used as a path name separator between files and directories in Unix), while files and folder names beginning with a dot, acceptable in OS 9 and earlier, render files and folders invisible in OS X. You can locate invisible files in OS X 10.2's Find dialog by clicking the Add Criteria button to search for files with visibility off. Invisible files can be made visible again by renaming them in Terminal, but again, it's just as easy to reboot into OS 9 to correct matters.
Scheduling
OS X's scheduling abilities don't match those of OS 9. While you can set your Mac to sleep after a period of inactivity, you can't tell the computer to shut down or startup at a specified time. This is more of an indication, along with OS X's lightning-fast wake from sleep times, that OS X isn't designed to be shut down in the first place - many of OS X's vital housekeeping functions take place during the night and require the Mac to be on.
Printer works
One of the greatest disincentives to upgrading your operating system is sitting in front of your computer and calculating the retail value of the peripherals attached to it. Dare you risk rendering them redundant and then having to fork out for some new kit?
Scare stories about the paucity of OS X-native drivers are not without foundation, but they are less relevant than they were when the operating system first came out. In fact, OS X comes with drivers and PPDs for a wide range of Apple and third-party PostScript and inkjet printers and the most popular digital cameras will function without the need for additional drivers. The Apple Web site maintains a list of the latest driver updates.
Understandably, printer manufacturers have been concentrating their driver efforts on currently available devices so many older, perfectly usable printers have been sitting idle through the lack of supporting drivers.
The good news is that the arrival of Common Unix Printing System (CUPS) in Jaguar looks set to change this. CUPS supports IPP (Internet Printing) and LPD/LPR (Line Printer) protocols and effectively provides a shared framework for creating printer drivers. As CUPS is already established in the Linux world, there are a number of drivers available - a good starting point is the list at www.linuxprinting.org/driver_list.cgi. Third-party CUPS tools, of which the best known is GIMP-Print, provide a series of high-quality drivers for Lexmark, Epson, Canon and PCL printers.
Scanning for drivers
One of the stumbling blocks to greater OS X adoption is the current limited availability of scanners offering native support in the new operating system, with only HP offering consistent driver support. As well as offering better support for some SCSI-based scanners,
OS X 10.2.1 marks a small step forward as TWAIN support has now arrived. As yet, few developers have made use of this new ability, although Epson has posted a beta TWAIN driver, Epson Twain 5.75 T3, which supports TWAIN Acquire in OS X 10.2.1.
If your scanner doesn't work natively under OS X, you have two options. You can either use it under Classic - many scanners work without problem in the Classic environment - or introduce a third-party alternative. The best of these is Hamrick Software's VueScan, a standalone scanner application that supports an impressive range of scanners, including many film and SCSI devices.
Broadband issues
While dial-up users will have few hardware problems connecting to the Internet in OS X, users of ADSL connections will have found life tougher. Alcatel's SpeedTouch USB modem, supplied as standard with BTOpenworld and a host of other ADSL suppliers, has been the source of occasional frustration due to unreliable drivers. For users of OS X 10.2, Alcatel has only just released a compatible update.
In the long term the best solution may be to look at an Ethernet ADSL modem. The advantage of Ethernet is that unlike USB devices, they don't require drivers, so your hardware is effectively future-proofed against further system upgrades. They are also inexpensive: some Ethernet modems - such as NetGear's DG814 Modem Router - cost little over £100 and even offer a built-in router, which means that multiple computers on a local network can share the same connection.
Housekeeping and backup
One of the hardest adjustments that new OS X users have reported is in disciplining themselves to keep files in the locations where OS X expects them to be. Akin to a benevolent landlord, OS 9 lets you have the run of the place: there were no limitations to where you could keep applications, and file-sharing was flexible, which allowed you to share individual folders on your hard disk. Thanks in part to its Unix heritage, OS X can feel more restrictive. For example, it insists that you place items that are to be shared in the Public folder in your Home directory, and expects applications to be kept in the Applications folder. In some circumstances, you can put them elsewhere. Generally speaking, any application that doesn't require a reboot after installation is flexible about where it lives. Others, most notably Apple's iApps, need to stay in the applications folder. If they are moved, you could possibly run into problems - especially when upgrading them.
Anyone who has either upgraded their Mac or switched their hard disk will appreciate that it is relatively easy to duplicate important files to an external disk or server, or even move their entire system on to another disk. Under OS X, the procedure is not quite as straightforward, but if you've adapted to the discipline of OS X, copying your Home folder will almost certainly duplicate your most critical files, including the Documents and Desktop folders as well as the Library folder, which contains Application Preferences, Mail data and Address Book information. Backup tools, such as Apple's own Backup, are preconfigured to back up folders in your Home directory. A full-scale backup of your entire Mac is another matter, however, as the Unix foundations of the operating system populate the hard drive with a multitude of small and invisible files that are usually overlooked when copied manually. Use a third-party utility - Carbon Copy Cloner is the best - to copy entire volumes to attached FireWire disks without destroying their integrity.
In summary
To the uninitiated, OS X can make you feel as if you're a stranger in an unknown land, holding the map upside down. But if you're prepared, you will find that it provides a rich and rewarding landscape to explore. As OS X has matured since its initial release, many of the barriers thrown up in the early stages have disappeared. So if you haven't done so already, there couldn't be a better time to make the leap - and it needn't be a leap into the unknown.
Click Next Page below for step-by-step guides to Partitioning your disk [page 5], Printer sharing [page 6], Using a CUPS printer [page 7], Setting up an Internet connection [page 8] and Further hints and tips [page 9].
Author: Tom Gorham
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