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Apple Computer, Inc. Price: $99 list, $19.95 Mac OS Up-To-Date upgrade
October 19, 1998 (rev. 3, 11/11/98)
Brought to you by Macs Only! Copyright 1998 by Bill Fox
Mac OS 8.5 was officially introduced on October 17th. Reading information about this new OS for the past several months has been a lot of fun as 8.5 has taken shape as the most awesome Mac OS yet. It is not just a minor update as some have characterized it. 8.5 is a giant leap forward from Mac OS 8.0/8.1. Steve Jobs called 8.5 a "must have" and I agree with that description for many of us. If you do research on the web, Sherlock (the new search utility that sprung from Apple's relatively lame "Find" utility) will blow you away. In addition, Open Transport 2.0.1 is incredibly faster, especially on an intranet with an AppleShare server, and more stable than previous versions. If you do complex repetitive tasks, AppleScript in 8.5 will blow you away. If you are an average Joe like Macs Only!'s senior staff who uses a computer for general work and/or fun, you will enjoy the many functional and cosmetic changes from 8.0/8.1.
Background Reading and Help
Here are my recommendations from among the many helpful web sites:
Apple TechNote on Mac OS 8.5 by Apple's John Montbriand for technical details. It is available for download as an HTML or Acrobat Reader document.
Macworld On Line for David Pogue's in depth review of all 8.5's major features and most of the minor ones.
MacFixIt's Troubleshooting Mac OS 8.5 Page for Ted Landau's extensive compendium of problem solving tips, tricks and pitfall warnings.
VersionTracker's 8.5 Updates Page for a listing of application updates for use with Mac OS 8.5.
deal-mac's Mac OS 8.5 Buying Guide for Dan de Grandpre's leads on the best buys.
Installation and Setup
Before getting started, here are four principal tips that I want to offer right up front.
Second: Do things right! Really do a clean install this time, I mean really. Why? Because Apple has reduced the number of system control panels/extensions by combining some and some of them have new names. There's no reason, with one exception, that I am aware of to keep a system file from a previous Mac OS version. The one exception is Apple CD ROM v5.3.1 (Mac OS 7.6) which is the only version that "works" for many non-Apple CD drives, including with 8.5. This is the time to clean up your System Folder. And make sure that you back up your data that you can't afford to lose. This is especially true since there have a few cases of people losing their drive altogether and Apple is investigating to see if the incidents have anything to do with installing 8.5. Reinstalling your applications is a good idea if the number is manageable for you. As a corollary, this is a good time to recondition your hard drive. After backing it up, use Drive Setup 1.6 from the 8.5 CD to do a low format and install the new Apple drivers but only if you have an Apple compatible drive. If you use an non-Apple compatible drive (either Anubis or FWB drivers, etc.), make sure that you use the latest drivers that are compatible with 8.5 and also do a low format. Then you can skip the Install Drivers step during the installation of 8.5.
Third: If an application or utility doesn't work after installing 8.5, try reinstalling the application. QuickTake 200 "Camera Access" is one that I use that doesn't work after installing 8.5 but works after a reinstallation of its software. Unlike previous Mac OS updates, virtually everything else (software) that I use works fine with 8.5.
Fourth: The COMPLETE installation process will take longer than the 15 minutes that you've read about so plan accordingly. Just running the installer takes a few minutes under 15 for the fastest computer CPU/CD drive to install a complete Mac OS 8.5 but it can take up to 35 minutes for a slow Mac. That doesn't count time for preparation, set up or completing a clean install.
Preparation
2. Run Disk First Aid, Norton Disk Doctor, TechTool Pro or etc. to correct any disk problems in order to prevent the installation from being interrupted--it happens. This is what I did without problems but, as pointed out above in tip #2 above, this may be the time to reformat your hard drive.
3. Clean up the hard drive to make a lot of hard disk space available, up to 200MB if you want to install everything. Otherwise, the installer quits in the middle of the installation and says that there is not enough space.
4. Back up the data on your startup drive that you can't afford to lose to another disk. Applications can always be reinstalled. There have been a few reported instances of loss of the hard drive after installing 8.5. Apple doesn't know why yet.
5. Open "Extensions Manager", select the set "Mac OS x.x All" and quit even if you don't do the recommended clean install. Make sure that "Apple System Profiler" is loose in your Apple Menu Items folder in your System folder so that it will be replaced with the new version.
6. Insert the 8.5 CD in your CD drive and Shut Down.
2. Double click (D-C) the Mac OS Install icon and the Welcome Screen appears listing the four principal installation steps. Click "Continue".
3. The Destination Disk Screen appears. b. Check the disk space message to make sure that there is enough space to install 8.5 which needs lots of it for everything. If there is not enough space, you missed a step in preparation or you can install less of Mac OS 8.5 when you get to the Install Screen in a couple more steps. c. Click the "Options" button and check "Perform Clean Install". You don't have to but I strongly recommend it. Either way, click "OK". d. Click the "Select" button.
4. Important Information Screen. Read or skip if you did in step 2. Click "Continue".
5. License Screen. Read and click "Continue". On dialog box that comes up click "Agree".
6. Install Screen.
b. Click "Options" and you get two choices that are checked by default. You may want to uncheck "Update Apple Drivers" if you already followed Tip #2 above or don't want them or can't use them with a third party hard drive. This will save you a little time and needing to respond to a dialog box saying it can't update the driver and having to click "Continue". I now suggest that you not try non-Apple drives at this point in the installation even if more and more drives are Apple driver compatible or if you want them instead of FWB HDT or some other driver. See Tip #2 above for the reason and suggested way to do it. Click "OK".
c. Click "Start" and its off and running. First it checks the hard drive, then it installs the new driver (if previously selected to do so) and then it sequentially installs the items checked in Step 6a.
d. The Installer stated (estimated) that it will take 10-15 minutes to finish depending on the computer, with one exception. It actually took 8-12 minutes on all the computers that I installed it on except for my 7100/80. For the much slower 7100/80 with a 4X CD drive, the Installer estimated 33 minutes and actually took 35. I don't believe anyone who says they completed the entire installation in 15 minutes unless they didn't count the preparation time, didn't install most of the Mac OS 8.5 components, didn't do any setting up or run any of the Setup Assistants and didn't do a clean install. Completing the latter manually is a bit tedious and will normally take nearly 15 minutes by itself for any but the simplest configurations with few applications and utilities.
e. When the installer finishes, click "Restart".
When Mac OS 8.5 finishes loading, there will be four alias icons on the desktop and the Mac OS Setup Assistant screen. If you know what you're doing, you can dismiss the Setup Assistant and go about configuring your computer. This is what I normally do but I went through the whole process one time to describe what happens.
2. Select the country format (time, date, money, keyboard layout, etc.), click the right arrow.
3. Fill in your name and company, if applicable, fields. If you are on a network and have a specifically-assigned name or user ID, then use it here to get the right name/ID entered when accessing the network. Click the right arrow.
4. Check the date and time and fix it if need be. Click the right arrow.
5. Select your geographic location. Click the right arrow.
6. Do you want a Simple Finder? I recommend a "No" unless you know what the Simple Finder is and specifically want it. Click the right arrow.
7. Enter any required local networking information. Click the right arrow.
8. Fill in the computer name and password fields. Don't worry about what password or if you want one. Enter your name for the password if you want--anything--because if you don't you'll get an error message and have to come back and do it anyway. Click the right arrow.
9. Enter the correct Shared Folder information if you have one, otherwise leave the default selection and just click the right arrow.
10. Select your printer connection, direct or via a network. Click the right arrow.
11. If you selected "Direct", you'll be presented with a printer list that may not include yours. Just select any one and remember to visit the Chooser when you are done to select your printer. If you selected "Network" and are not connected you'll get an error message, so just dismiss it and you'll have to visit the Chooser later. Click the right arrow
12. Conclusion. Click "Go Ahead" and the Setup Assistant does its job.
There are a couple of introductory screens that ask if you want to use the Internet Setup Assistant and if you have an internet account. I picked "Yes" for both, clicking the right arrow afterward. If you have an ISP already be sure to have all the configuration information needed below.
2. Name the configuration that you are setting up and select the modem or printer port that your modem is connected to. Click the right arrow.
3. Select the modem settings from the popup menus, i.e. the make/model and port, and select tone or pulse dialing. Click the right arrow.
4. Enter the "Remote Access" control panel configuration information, i.e. phone number, login name or user ID and password.Click the right arrow.
5. Select whether your ISP requires a PPP connect script or not. CompuServe is one of the few that does. Click the right arrow.
6. Select whether your ISP assigns you a permanent IP address or not. Most do not. Most assign it dynamically when you call in. Click the right arrow.
7. Enter the Domain Name Server address like 155.154.99.01 and the Domain Name like "compuserve.com". Click the right arrow.
8. Enter your email address and password and select the quoting character you want. The latter default is the ubiquitous ">". Click the right arrow.
9. Enter your email account information, i.e. POP or incoming mail server and SMTP or host server for outgoing mail.Click the right arrow.
10. Enter your news group server. Click the right arrow.
11. Select whether or not you are using a proxy server. Usually not. Click the right arrow.
12. Conclusion screen. Check whether or not to connect to your ISP when finished and click "Go Ahead". In a few seconds a dialog box with a "Quit" button appears, click it and you're almost done.
Finish the Clean Install
Your old System Folder files are located in a folder called "Previous System Folder" (PSF). Open it and your System Folder (SF) side by side and displayed with a list view.
2. Sequentially open the companion Apple Menu Items, Control Panels folders, Control Strip Modules folders, Extensions folders, Font folders, Preference folders, etc. and move the third party files and folders from the PSF companion to the new SF companion. You may also want to move a few of the PSF system preferences that contain your internet settings if you have not run the Internet Setup Assistant, like "Remote Access" folder and "TCP/IP Preference".
3. Move the entire Control Panel (Disabled) and Extensions (Disabled) folders from PSF to SF as they contain most of your third party items and none of the old system files if you followed Preparation Step 4.
4. Close up everything. You might want to save your PSF for a week or so to ensure that you haven't forgotten anything. If you are intrepid, however, go ahead and trash the PSF.
Four (Maybe Five) Desktop Icon Aliases
If you selected to install the Mac OS Info Center, then that icon is one of them. Click it to open it. The other four are:
2. "Get QuickTime Pro" asks you to register to update to QuickTime Pro.
3. "Browse The Internet" opens Microsoft Internet Explorer and connects you to the internet using the settings that you entered or copied over.
4. "Mail" opens the Microsoft Outlook Express email program.
That's it!
Comments and Tips
2. PowerBooks Wake From Sleep Very Slowly -- Put your PowerBook to sleep. Hitting a key will bring up the desktop with blank windows, no desktop icons and it seems to take an eternity for the windows to fill out and become active and the icons to appear. This is especially frustrating if you're running low on battery juice and there is no place to recharge, like on a plane.
3. Mac OS 8.5 Uses More RAM on every computer than did 8.1. Most went from using 9-15 MB to 12-18 MB. However, my 7100/80 went from using 8.9 MB with TCP/IP always active to 18.5 MB, over double! However, after several restarts and use it only uses 11 MB for some unknown reason. Remember, however, that I loaded most of 8.5 whereas my 8.1 installations had been pruned substantially over time. Clearly, I need to do the same for 8.5.
4. Control Panel Consolidations/Replacements:
Energy Saver and PowerBook SCSI Disk Mode absorb the functions of PowerBook and PowerBook Setup.
Remote Access replaces PPP
b. Aliases: Selecting a "broken" or "orphaned" alias brings up a search utility to relocate the original file (or another if you like) instead of a dialog box that just tells you that it's broken. This is terrific when installing new versions of applications.
c. Single-click on the application switcher list menu at the upper right to display the open applications, then click the desktop (or drag it loose) to create a floating menu of open applications. No need to go to the menu bar again to switch applications.
d. The zoom box on the floating application switcher flips between icons with text and just icons.
e. Desktop Pattern: Waves Bondi replaces Copland Blue as my favorite.
f. If your system crashes, Disk First Aid 8.5.1 is run automatically on the next startup. This minimizes the accumulation of disk-related problems that could cause "The Big One."
g. New System Fonts. At least for now I am enjoying the new "Sand" font instead of Espi Sans, my previous favorite.
6. Some Problems That Have Arisen:
Hard Disk Damage - This continues to be the number one concern, a very scary one. For what it is worth, I have installed Mac OS 8.5 (many betas and the commercial CD) on numerous varied Macs and clones, desktops and PowerBooks, with no disk drive problem whether an Apple drive or not. However, this appears to be a real and serious problem for a few people. The biggest concern is that no one has been able to diagnose the problem's cause(s)--see MacFixIt 10/28 for a description of UMAX's efforts to find the source as drives were destroyed without finding out why. No solution. [Update: Apple posted Drive Setup 1.6.1. The ReadMe file does not mention the disk damage problem but it is recommended that everyone using Apple or Apple compatible drives use 1.6.1 to update their driver preferably before installing 8.5.]
Finder Unexpectedly Quits - Soon after installation of 8.5 the desktop icons disappear and an error message saying "The application finder has unexpectedly quit" appears. Clicking the OK button occasionally brings back the desktop and everything appears normal until it happens again. Sometimes a freeze occurs before being able to click "OK" or right after. This happened to me many times with Mac OS 8.5 betas but also once with the commercial CD. In every case, reinstalling 8.5 as a clean install resolved the problem. Solution: Re-install Mac OS 8.5 using the clean install option.
Startup Freeze With Overclocked CPU Upgrade Cards: In my case and at least one other, an overclocked G3 CPU Upgrade Card froze when trying to startup Mac OS 8.5 installed from the commercial CD but not the beta files from a hard disk. The problem turned to be that the CPU and especially the backside cache could not be overclocked as far with Mac OS 8.5 as they could be with the beta versions or Mac OS 8.1. Solution: Reset the CPU and backside cache to their rated speed (MHz) before installing Mac OS 8.5. Then re-optimize the card after installation.
Laserwriter Select 310 Can't Print - According to readers there is no solution unless Apple updates the driver. Here is the Apple TIL provided by Chris Adamson. Reader Scott Smith suggested trying the Apple Printer Utility in the CD Extras folder but from the TIL this may not work. Reader Eric Hudson noted that Johnny Kosh is registering Select 310 users to disseminate information and to petition Apple to update the driver.
TechTool Pro v2.1.1 Shutdown Freeze - When TechTool Protection is enabled to automatically run at shutdown, the computer freezes at shutdown. TechTool Protection can be run manually by clicking the button "Execute Now" under "Preferences" in the Control Panel. Solution: Download updated files from MicroMat's server.
. . . and I am proud to be an Evangelista! . . . 
. . [Macs Only!]