![]() But even without these fixes, 10.5.5 brings welcome improvements to the table, and it seems to do so without any obvious downsides. There are, of course, still some annoying problems I hope are fixed in 10.5.6-the aforementioned Automator/iCal issue and the ability (which we had in 10.4) to add more columns to Spotlight's results view are the two at the top of my list. Overall, OS X 10.5.5 seems like a solid mid-lifecycle product release. ![]() ssh, which is actually OpenSSH and is used to securely connect to other hosts, jumps from version 4.7p1 to 5.1p1, bringing it up-to-date with the latest available release. While most of these are minor updates-the version number on php, for instance, didn't change, but the new version was created two hours later than was my existing version-some are more notable. Many of the updates were for printing applications (lp, lpstat, etc.) and network applications (dig, nslookup, and so on.). There were also quite a few non-X11 Unix commands updated in 10.5.5. The version number has climbed from 2.11 to 2.15, and many of the X11 utilities (in /usr -> X11 -> bin) appear to have been updated as well. One relatively major change not covered in the update notes is a new version of the X11 X Window System (which allows you to run X11-based applications in OS X). Unfortunately, Apple doesn't offer a less-expensive version for those of us with "only" a few Macs in the house. If you liked those extra buttons, you'll have to shell out $299 for a 10-machine version of Apple Remote Desktop 3. ![]() The section on enabling the Bonjour browser still works, but the ability to add more buttons to the toolbar has been removed. Sadly, that's not the only hint that's broken in OS X 10.5.5-a tip for adding more power to 10.5's screen sharing is now only partially functional. Sadly, while some Automator workflows were updated (mainly those dealing with PDFs), the bug that broke the Create iCal events from anywhere hint is still present that oh-so-useful workflow still won't work when used outside Automator in 10.5.5. Most of these, however, were quite minor-for example, it seems that Dictionary has been given some new words, and the workflows in the PDF Services folder have been updated. So what else did Apple update that it didn't feel like talking about in its update notes? I noticed quite a few undocumented changes while browsing the upate's bom file (a file that lists all files installed by the installer in 10.5, you'll find them in /Library -> Receipts -> boms). While Apple has occasionally had trouble with previous system updates, this one seems to be trouble-free, at least thus far. If there's a fundamental issue in 10.5.5, though, I've yet to run across it. I'm certain, however, that someone out there has had issues with the update-it's almost a certainty, given the huge number and variety of Macs out there. ![]() I've upgraded four machines now, ranging from my aging-but-still-beloved 12-inch PowerBook G4 up to my Quad-core Mac Pro, and I've yet to experience so much as a hiccup. In a word, my experience thus far could be best described as uneventful-and with something like an OS upgrade, that's a good thing. First, for those sitting on the fence waiting for user reports, I'm sure you'd like to know how well OS X 10.5.5 works. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |