Hands-On Report: Mac OS 9

By Bill Fox
October 23, 1999 (Updates: 10/24,10/25,10/26)

Apple Computer, Inc. Price: $99 list, $79 Upgrade, $19 Mac OS Up-To-Date Program

Brought to you by Macs Only! Copyright 1999 by Bill Fox

Mac OS 9 was officially released by Apple today. I visited the two CompUSA stores nearby and both had a modest supply of the new OS on display. Here are my comments on it after rushing back and installing it on a bunch of Macs and a clone . This report will be augmented from time to time.

Computers

• PowerBook 2400c/180
• PowerBook 3400c/180
• PowerMac 7100/80 (with MAXPowr G3 PDS 210/105)
• PowerComputing PowerBase 180 (with OWC Mercury G3 350 in CarrierZIF at 360/180)
• PowerMac 8500 (with PowerLogix PowerBoost Pro 225 604e at 250 MHz)
• PowerMac 9600 (with PowerLogix's brand new PowerForce G3 500/200)
• iMac 333
• Blue & White PowerMac G3 [Rev.1] (with XLR8 MACh G3 350 MHz)

Installation

- My pre-installation tips:

1. Run Disk First Aid, TechTool Pro or Norton Utilities on the hard drive where Mac OS 9 is going. Fix all disk problems before doing anything else. I had to rebuild the directory on one drive using Alsoft's Disk Warrior 1.0.4, the greatest hard disk utility invention of all time in my opinion. Occasionally the Mac OS installer will detect disk problems that terminate the installation process. Fixing the HD first eliminates this irritation.

2. Use Extensions Manager to select the "Mac OS x.x All" set from the "Selected Set:" popup menu and restart. This places almost all, but not necessarily all so be careful, of your third party control panels and extensions onto the disabled folders making it easier to finish a clean install. Just move both disabled folders from the "Previous System Folder" to the new "System Folder" and move any remaining third party inits in the old Control Panel and Extensions Folders. Then move any preferences--I usually just move my Netscape, QuickTime, Remote Access and TCP/IP preferences. Third party application preferences usually contain serial numbers which have to be reentered if they are not moved to the new Preferences Folder. Marc Moini has a free utility called "Clean-Install Assistant" that accomplishes the same thing but more completely and elegantly. A link to get his utility may be found in the Resources section below.

3. PowerBase Owners. If you are running your CD drive with Apple's CD ROM v5.3.1 from Mac OS 7.6, make a copy from your system folder to the Desktop so you don't accidentally trash it.

- Install Notes:

1. In all cases but two I started up from the hard drive, put the CD in the CD drive and clicked the "Install" icon. The 7100/80 requires a startup from the CD instead of the hard drive. This is the case for all "NuBus" first generation PowerMacs (6100, 7100 and 8100). This may be true for PowerPC Performas earlier than the 6400. For the 2400, I first copied the installer from the CD in my B&W G3 over my ethernet network to the 2400's hard drive.

2. Mac OS 9 is not an updater. When the "Select Destination" screen comes up, be sure to click the "Options" button and check the "Clean Install" box.

3. At the "Install Software" screen click the "Customize" button. Everything is checked for installation but English Speech Recognition, Language Kits and Network Assistant Client. You may wish to check one of them or uncheck some of the other packages.

4. Also at the "Install Software" screen click the "Options" button and make sure that the "Update Apple Hard Disk Drivers" and "Create Installation Report" are checked. The former is necessary for some systems and should be installed for all Apple-formatted and Apple -compatible hard drives. If yours doesn't qualify, the installer will tell you so later and, if so, just click "Continue". The latter produces a nice SimpleText file of what was installed and where. That information may come in handy later. Click the "Start" button and the "Continue" button to begin installing the software.

5. The estimated installation time ranged from 8 to 38 minutes on my computers. The median time was 10-15 minutes. The longest installation was on a PowerMac 7100/80 with a MAXPowr G3 210. The G3 CPU is disabled during installation from the CD because, of course, the necessary extension is not on the CD.

6. The installation proceeded and finished normally for all computers.

Issues

1. RAM Usage: Everyone is concerned about the amount of RAM that is used by a Mac OS upgrade. The Mac OS RAM usage, like that of most applications, increases with each update. Mac OS 9 is no exception. Here is the RAM usage on my computers with and without Virtual Memory turned on:

In general, the newer the computer, the more RAM is used. The two "native" G3 computers, iMac and B&W G3, are head and shoulders above the others in RAM usage. When RAM gets cheap again (i.e. less $1 per MB), I recommend bulking up since RAM usage will only continue upward.

2. Startup and Shutdown Times: Mac OS 9 seems to take longer than 8.6 to startup, i.e. reach the desktop, especially if the Multiple Users feature is enabled. It also takes longer to shutdown than 8.6. Not a big deal but the additional time is noticeable. I haven't actually measured the time difference, though.

3. Speed and Stability: It doesn't seem any faster than 8.6 once Mac OS 9 is loaded although it may be. As for stability, I have not had one finder quit or crash on any of the computers yet. With this short trial Mac OS 9 appears to be more stable than 8.6 which is prone to finder quits.

Here are the MacBench 5.0 scores for my PowerMac 9600 with the brand new new PowerLogix PowerForce G3 500/200 CPU daughter card with the System Bus set at 50 MHz and Virtual Memory off (no LibMoto):

4. Software Incompatibilities: So far I've found only two among the software that I use extensively:

• NewerTechnology's free SpellTools v1.3.3
• NewerTechnology's MAXPowr G3 PDS Extension v1.0.3

Eric Dahlinger, NewerTech's Communication Director, replied to my email inquiry, "The MAXpowr G3 PDS is not compatible with OS 9. A release date for an OS 9 update is not available yet. We will post details about the fix to the website. There will be no further support for SpellTools."

Most of the other major applications that I am aware of that had problems with Mac OS 9 now have an updater, including Adobe Type Reunion Deluxe, Adobe Type Manager, Adobe Type Manager Deluxe and Retrospect 4.1. Only Hewlett Packard stands out as a laggard with most of its DeskWriter and DeskJet printers rendered nonfunctional and no driver revision in sight--there's no legitimate excuse for this.

5. Hardware Incompatibilities:

a. Orange Micro Grappler 930U SCSI Controller/B&W G3 -- Version 1.1.8 of the firmware results in a freeze with a gray screen at startup on my B&W G3. The more recent and OS 9 "compatible" Version 1.2.5 of the firmware results in a gray screen startup freeze if and only if my SyJet or UMAX 1200S scanner is attached externally. Disconnecting the external SCSI chain allows a normal startup. I have notified Orange Micro.[10/24]

b. Adaptec 2930U Power Domain SCSI Controller/B&W G3 -- A reader reported the gray screen startup freeze on his B&W G3 when trying to boot from either the Mac OS 9 CD or the target boot drive with Mac OS 9 installed the way I did it, i.e. booting with the internal hard drive and then installing off the CD [10/24]. To check this I pulled my 2930U out of my 9600 and placed in my B&W G3 (Rev.1). I have the same problem, a gray screen freeze at startup. Removing the 2930U allows a normal boot. People have written saying that many have 2930Us and experienced no booting problems. Some suggested the problem is with other devices, particularly USB devices. There may be an interaction problem but with my B&W the 2930U is at least one of the culprits [10/25].

c. Global Village 56K Modem /Ethernet Combo -- Dead [10/25]. My inexpensive Zoom 56K, MegaHertz 33.6K and MacSense EtherCard PCMCIA cards work fine in my 2400c. My Best Data 56K USB modem and Supra 336 serial modem also work perfectly.

d. Apple USB Mouse/ PowerMac G4 -- The mouse loses it horizontal tracking ability. Trashing the preference file provides only a temporary fix.

As more issues are discovered they will be added here.

Features

This section will be expanded as I use the major new features of Mac OS 9.

1. Keychain: I have only begun to explore the abilities of this feature. To login at work I have to enter a password four times, one for each server. Keychain allows me to enter just one, the Keychain password, after dragging and dropping the server icons onto the Keychain window and entering the individual passwords. Unlocking the keychain automatically enters the password for each server as it is encountered during the login process. However, I have yet to figure out how to add my work email application (ccMail) password or the passwords of servers that I encounter on the web like that of The New York Times. Readers reported that PowerMail and Eudora Pro 4.2 support Keychain [10/25].

2. Multple Users: Since I am the only user of my principal computers I won't get much use out of this feature. It is cool, even though it needs some work. The Voice Recognition alternative password is a bit tricky. Background noise during recording or during login affects its ability to work. My voice is apparently too variable for the recognition algorithm. No matter how hard I try, I get a message suggesting I re-record it (four times each) for better security. However, when I try to login, it fails some 30 percent of the time for all three tries and I have to type in the password. This happens on several computers that I've tried so its not computer specific.

3. Startup Disk Selector: I saw this work on an iMac DV SE at CompUSA this morning since it only works with UMA board Macs: iBook, new iMac and PowerMac G4. The iMac had only one drive so only one icon was displayed by pressing the "Option" key during startup. There was also a circular arrow and an arrow pointed to the right for controlling the feature.

4. Sound Control Panel: It allows you to set the alert sound, input, output and adjust the attached speakers. There are several new alert sounds. I decided on "Submarine" which sounds like the sonar ping used in movies. "Purr' is also cool. The speaker window allows one to run a test to balance the external speakers if any.

5. Software Updates: Just like Phil Schiller demoed, if a device is attached with no driver in the System Folder then a dialog box pops up right after the desktop appears asking if you want to search for it on the web. This is okay if you have a permanent connection to the internet but if you use a dialup connection the query is useless during startup since you're not connected. My first attempts to play with this feature so far didn't locate a driver for my SIIG SmartMedia card reader on the web after I pulled it out to try the feature. The control panel allows you the option to check or uncheck "Update Software Automatically". There's a button to update manually. It found nothing when I pressed it.

6. Sherlock 2: The new version uses folders of the plugins to create "channels" like your hard disk files, shopping, internet, people, news etc. Apparently new plugins have to be written to use the channels. Old Sherlock 1 plugins are all supposed to be placed in the Internet folder. My only gripe is that there are few shopping plugins that come with Mac OS 9.

Resources

Clean-Install Assistant v1.2 - Marc Moini

Mac OS 9 File Manager Compatibility Checker - Alsoft

About Mac OS 9 - Apple

Late Breaking Tips - Apple

System Requirements - Apple

Installing Macs OS 9 - Apple

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