Apple Macintosh users have been waiting years for a rewrite of the classic Mac OS. After the delays and cancellations of Pink, Taligent, Copland and Rhapsody, Apple finally released Mac OS X in March of this year. Unfortunately, version X is sluggish and has very few native applications--basically it was aimed at early adopters. Apple CEO Steve Jobs said the transition from classic to OS X would take a year, and 10.1 comes at the midway point. To date there have been four minor OS upgrades, and now 10.1, a major update. All new Macs are shipping with OS X installed. With the release of version 10.1, OS X has gotten significantly faster and is quite usable. Application launch, menu access and window resizing are all speedier.
Apple sent me a dual 800-MHz G4 with Superdrive (CD-RW & DVD-R burner) for testing, and I upgraded my first-generation iMac (233-MHz G3) from 10.0.4 to 10.1 for an additional speed-comparison test. I got the gear, made some Kool-Aid and was ready to test.
Want Onion Rings With That Apple?
The biggest concern about switching to Mac OS X right now is the lack of applications. OS X is a new architecture, so existing applications don't run natively. Most of today's 15,000 Mac applications should work fine in the classic compatibility environment: When you run a classic application, the machine boots a copy of Mac OS 9 into memory and runs the two OSes simultaneously. This adds a delay to the initial launch of a classic application--I clocked it at about 15 seconds on the G4. To speed things up, I configured my machine to start up OS 9 on login.
BSD Base
The BSD subsystem on which the operating system is based assists with the porting of open-source software that has been written for a Unix-like system. Sendmail and Bind 8.2.3 are included with Mac OS X 10.1, but both are off by default and there is no GUI interface to turn them on.
Web pages are served via Apache, and remote access is available through OpenSSH. Both these enablers are off by default but can be turned on through the GUI by an administrator. Other available packages include Pine, Emacs and an X server. OS X 10.1 also includes CVS (Concurrent Versions System) installed, and SourceForge has added OS X 10.1 to its compile farm.
Apple claims that 1,400 Mac OS X "carbonized" applications are available. Native OS X applications can leverage the protected memory and multiprocessing capabilities of the carbonized applications.
The carbonized version of Microsoft Office is scheduled for release this month. Adobe Illustrator, Alias Wavefront Maya, Bare Bones Software BBEdit, Claris FileMaker Pro, Intuit Quicken, Macromedia Freehand, Microsoft Internet Explorer and Pica Software Canvas have already been "carbonized." Additionally, Adobe says the next major release of Photoshop will support OS X natively.
Because a good number of traditional Mac programs have been carbonized, it makes sense to start your upgrade process now. The upgrade is a platform change, and you'll need time to learn how to administer the new system and train users on the new interface. Your Photoshop users may prefer to wait until Adobe releases a native version, but those using Office and Internet Explorer could switch today.
System Changes
Apple has increased support for mounting shared drives. You can now connect to servers via AFP (AppleTalk File Protocol), SMB (Server Message Block), NFS (Network File System) or Samba servers. I was able to connect to my Microsoft Windows NT box by typing smb:// Borgcube/share me and supplying my Windows NT user name and password. You cannot yet browse the Windows network, so you must know the server's name and shared directory before you can connect.
The error messages I encountered weren't very informative; in fact, when I entered a wrong password, the error message merely said I should try again later. This should be addressed in version 10.1.1.
NetInfo, which NeXTstep aficionados may be familiar with, handles password, user-name and domains management. Information on integrating OS X in an NIS environment, which may play nicely in some existing Unix shops, is also available. Apple representatives have told me that Unix administrators will love OS X.
Burning Love
Support for burning data CDs can be found within the finder. When you insert a blank CD in the drive, it appears in the Finder as a normal volume. Copy the files you want to burn (just like you would if backing up to a regular disk) and select the burn menu command. Owners of Superdrives, available on the higher-end Pro line, can burn data DVDs the same way.
The location manager is a great feature, especially for laptops. I installed an AirPort card and set up IP addresses on the built-in Ethernet and wireless adapters. When I unplugged the Ethernet connection, it failed over automatically and started to transmit traffic over the wireless adapter. A laptop user with OS X 10.1 can switch between the corporate LAN and home wireless with no user intervention. You also can use the multihoming feature by setting multiple, simultaneous IPs on the Ethernet cards.
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Vendor Information
Mac OS X version 10.1, $129, shipping and handling of the upgrade for existing Mac OS X users, $19.95. Available: Now. Apple, (800) MY-APPLE, (408) 996-1010.
www.apple.com/macosx
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With the Unix underpinnings, remote access and administration should be easier, compared with those functions in the classic OS. Unix knowledge is not required, and you don't need to see the Unix underside to use Mac OS X--but it's there if you want it. This is by far the friendliest and simplest Unix derivative available.
In addition, by installing the developer tools (available on CD or by free download), I had access to a project builder and C/C++ compiler. I've searched for free C compilers for the classic Mac OS before and couldn't find any. Now anyone can be a Mac developer, which may mean a revival of the Mac shareware community.
With the new remote capabilities, Mac security will be a bigger deal and will need to be examined more carefully over the next few years. Fortunately, most services are turned off by default, and OS X comes with a built-in ipfw firewall, a software firewall with GUI shareware tools.
Mike DeMaria is an associate technology editor for Network Computing. He has been using and administrating Macintosh computers for eight years. He built system images and repaired damaged Macs at Bethpage, N.Y., School District early on and worked in Mac tech support for the residential campus network at Syracuse University. He also owns a Newton for no good reason. Send your comments on this article to him at mdemaria@nwc.com.
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