Comments on: The Leopard Experience http://andypiper.wordpress.com/2007/11/05/the-leopard-experience/ a weblog from Andy Piper about technology, photography, and life Wed, 16 Dec 2009 05:47:19 +0000 http://wordpress.com/ hourly 1 By: Time Machine and Airport Disks, redux « The lost outpost http://andypiper.wordpress.com/2007/11/05/the-leopard-experience/#comment-116880 Time Machine and Airport Disks, redux « The lost outpost Tue, 12 Feb 2008 19:25:48 +0000 http://andypiper.wordpress.com/2007/11/05/the-leopard-experience/#comment-116880 [...] been wanting this for a long time (with “long time” being relative in the tech world!). Over-the-air backups seem like an [...] [...] been wanting this for a long time (with “long time” being relative in the tech world!). Over-the-air backups seem like an [...]

]]> By: Review: Shure SE210 earphones « The lost outpost http://andypiper.wordpress.com/2007/11/05/the-leopard-experience/#comment-115785 Review: Shure SE210 earphones « The lost outpost Mon, 21 Jan 2008 10:47:12 +0000 http://andypiper.wordpress.com/2007/11/05/the-leopard-experience/#comment-115785 [...] I was able to try out a set of the Shure SE210s (the successors to the E2Cs) at MacLive Expo in London back in November, but I resisted getting them at the time. Now I’ve finally [...] [...] I was able to try out a set of the Shure SE210s (the successors to the E2Cs) at MacLive Expo in London back in November, but I resisted getting them at the time. Now I’ve finally [...]

]]> By: Adrian Spender http://andypiper.wordpress.com/2007/11/05/the-leopard-experience/#comment-103475 Adrian Spender Tue, 13 Nov 2007 08:45:59 +0000 http://andypiper.wordpress.com/2007/11/05/the-leopard-experience/#comment-103475 Andy, I'm not sure I'd get too hung up about not being able to backup over the network. In my experience data transfer over wireless to NAS type external disks sucks, big time. For instance I am currently transferring ~180GB of FLAC files (approx 25MB per file) from my iMac over 802.11n to an Airport Extreme to an ethernet attached NSLU2 with a 200GB USB2 Maxtor drive. By this morning it had been going for 36 hours and still had 60GB to go. Admittedly the hourly backup done by TM will be much smaller than this, but I really hope you don't have any virtual machines on your MBP... Andy,

I’m not sure I’d get too hung up about not being able to backup over the network. In my experience data transfer over wireless to NAS type external disks sucks, big time. For instance I am currently transferring ~180GB of FLAC files (approx 25MB per file) from my iMac over 802.11n to an Airport Extreme to an ethernet attached NSLU2 with a 200GB USB2 Maxtor drive. By this morning it had been going for 36 hours and still had 60GB to go. Admittedly the hourly backup done by TM will be much smaller than this, but I really hope you don’t have any virtual machines on your MBP…

]]> By: Dogear Nation » Blog Archive » Dogear-Nation - Episode 30 - Are the Leopard’s Spots Real? http://andypiper.wordpress.com/2007/11/05/the-leopard-experience/#comment-103268 Dogear Nation » Blog Archive » Dogear-Nation - Episode 30 - Are the Leopard’s Spots Real? Mon, 12 Nov 2007 15:31:07 +0000 http://andypiper.wordpress.com/2007/11/05/the-leopard-experience/#comment-103268 [...] Andy’s Experiences - http://andypiper.wordpress.com/2007/11/05/the-leopard-experience/ Apple’s Blue Screen - http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=306857 Network Support [...] [...] Andy’s Experiences – http://andypiper.wordpress.com/2007/11/05/the-leopard-experience/ Apple’s Blue Screen – http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=306857 Network Support [...]

]]> By: Naquada » Blog Archive » Fixing Stacks on Leopard http://andypiper.wordpress.com/2007/11/05/the-leopard-experience/#comment-103027 Naquada » Blog Archive » Fixing Stacks on Leopard Sun, 11 Nov 2007 14:45:57 +0000 http://andypiper.wordpress.com/2007/11/05/the-leopard-experience/#comment-103027 [...] The issue of Leopards confusing, or untidy stacks has been a questions thats ranged for some time, as I pointed out over on Andy Pipers blog [...] [...] The issue of Leopards confusing, or untidy stacks has been a questions thats ranged for some time, as I pointed out over on Andy Pipers blog [...]

]]> By: Andy Piper http://andypiper.wordpress.com/2007/11/05/the-leopard-experience/#comment-101869 Andy Piper Tue, 06 Nov 2007 06:51:40 +0000 http://andypiper.wordpress.com/2007/11/05/the-leopard-experience/#comment-101869 Tedious, yes, I pretty much do have my backup drive on the desk where my laptop lives overnight. That means it gets ~10 identical incremental backups through the night but at least one new one a day. I agree that Time Machine is impressive. Justin, I only heard on Saturday night that you've left again! sounds like an unpleasant install experience. At least you are up and going now... right, I agree on the folder icons not being the best, and the way some things work isn't quite as amazing as it all seemed with the sheen of marketing... but overall I am still impressed. Tedious, yes, I pretty much do have my backup drive on the desk where my laptop lives overnight. That means it gets ~10 identical incremental backups through the night but at least one new one a day. I agree that Time Machine is impressive.

Justin, I only heard on Saturday night that you’ve left again! sounds like an unpleasant install experience. At least you are up and going now… right, I agree on the folder icons not being the best, and the way some things work isn’t quite as amazing as it all seemed with the sheen of marketing… but overall I am still impressed.

]]> By: Justin http://andypiper.wordpress.com/2007/11/05/the-leopard-experience/#comment-101844 Justin Tue, 06 Nov 2007 03:51:43 +0000 http://andypiper.wordpress.com/2007/11/05/the-leopard-experience/#comment-101844 Good to hear the install worked for you however, I spent 3 hours trying to get it to install on my MacBook! The first time, it went half way through the install to then say "Sorry, and error occurred. Please try again", then I tried again but when it came to the step to ask what disk to install to, my HDD had an exclamation on it, and would not allow the install to it. I ran disk utility to verify the disk was OK, and it was. I then rebooted into Tiger to make sure it was OK, which it was. I couldn't get rid of the exclamation mark so decided to backup all the data, and try the format option. This time the install started, but then came back with a error "Couldn't write file....". My HDD was formatted now with no OS on it. Great. Tried once more, failed. Then tried another time with another format. This time it worked! So, now have to install everything again. So much for a seamless installation process! The MacBook was all very standard, no real interesting software installed, etc... I also got a copy of iLife '08 and got that up and running as well. After playing around with it, I am with you Andy that I am underwhelmed. The folder icons are horrible, and the way stacks are displayed is totally unintuitive, and there is too much gray (I think they should have followed the way Camino looks for a guide to redo the l&f, but that is just my 2cents). Good to hear the install worked for you however, I spent 3 hours trying to get it to install on my MacBook! The first time, it went half way through the install to then say “Sorry, and error occurred. Please try again”, then I tried again but when it came to the step to ask what disk to install to, my HDD had an exclamation on it, and would not allow the install to it. I ran disk utility to verify the disk was OK, and it was. I then rebooted into Tiger to make sure it was OK, which it was.

I couldn’t get rid of the exclamation mark so decided to backup all the data, and try the format option. This time the install started, but then came back with a error “Couldn’t write file….”. My HDD was formatted now with no OS on it. Great. Tried once more, failed.

Then tried another time with another format. This time it worked! So, now have to install everything again.

So much for a seamless installation process! The MacBook was all very standard, no real interesting software installed, etc…

I also got a copy of iLife ‘08 and got that up and running as well.

After playing around with it, I am with you Andy that I am underwhelmed. The folder icons are horrible, and the way stacks are displayed is totally unintuitive, and there is too much gray (I think they should have followed the way Camino looks for a guide to redo the l&f, but that is just my 2cents).

]]> By: Tedious http://andypiper.wordpress.com/2007/11/05/the-leopard-experience/#comment-101738 Tedious Mon, 05 Nov 2007 18:37:50 +0000 http://andypiper.wordpress.com/2007/11/05/the-leopard-experience/#comment-101738 Keep the backup drive in the same place you usually charge your laptop while you're home. Time Machine will pick up where it left off when you unplugged it. It's not as convenient as "Time Machine Over Airport", but it's better than pretty much everything else available for laptop backups. Read the Ars Technica article on Leopard (17 pages!) for the reason why Time Machine is actually more impressive under the hood than on it's face. Keep the backup drive in the same place you usually charge your laptop while you’re home. Time Machine will pick up where it left off when you unplugged it. It’s not as convenient as “Time Machine Over Airport”, but it’s better than pretty much everything else available for laptop backups. Read the Ars Technica article on Leopard (17 pages!) for the reason why Time Machine is actually more impressive under the hood than on it’s face.

]]> By: naquada http://andypiper.wordpress.com/2007/11/05/the-leopard-experience/#comment-101722 naquada Mon, 05 Nov 2007 17:14:23 +0000 http://andypiper.wordpress.com/2007/11/05/the-leopard-experience/#comment-101722 Andy... migration assistant moved everythign over for me.. that included photoshop CS (installer) OfficeX (installer), Scanner drivers, all my email from apple mail, preferences, icons, all documents applications and gubbins... i did need to upgrade my scanner driver as under leopard it was 'broken' but all drag and drop AND installer type applications moved just fine... it took about 2 hours to move 64 gig of applications and documents over.. it also setup all the user accounts for me and michelle... it's big.. and its clever :) Andy… migration assistant moved everythign over for me.. that included photoshop CS (installer) OfficeX (installer), Scanner drivers, all my email from apple mail, preferences, icons, all documents applications and gubbins… i did need to upgrade my scanner driver as under leopard it was ‘broken’ but all drag and drop AND installer type applications moved just fine… it took about 2 hours to move 64 gig of applications and documents over.. it also setup all the user accounts for me and michelle… it’s big.. and its clever :)

]]> By: Andy Piper http://andypiper.wordpress.com/2007/11/05/the-leopard-experience/#comment-101721 Andy Piper Mon, 05 Nov 2007 17:10:53 +0000 http://andypiper.wordpress.com/2007/11/05/the-leopard-experience/#comment-101721 I agree that TM is easy to set up, and to be honest if only I didn't have to physically put the machine down somewhere and plug it in, it would be perfect. I like the concept, though, and what I do see of it, looks great. Don't get me wrong, I'm using it... but I reckon a SuperDuper backup every now and then is going to be at least as useful today, until they get the wireless stuff back in officially. I agree that TM is easy to set up, and to be honest if only I didn’t have to physically put the machine down somewhere and plug it in, it would be perfect. I like the concept, though, and what I do see of it, looks great. Don’t get me wrong, I’m using it… but I reckon a SuperDuper backup every now and then is going to be at least as useful today, until they get the wireless stuff back in officially.

]]> By: Patrick http://andypiper.wordpress.com/2007/11/05/the-leopard-experience/#comment-101719 Patrick Mon, 05 Nov 2007 17:02:32 +0000 http://andypiper.wordpress.com/2007/11/05/the-leopard-experience/#comment-101719 I've had a much better reaction to Time Machine than you did, possibly because it fits my style of working better than it fits yours. I just plugged in an old 400 GB firewire drive I had, and accepted the pop-up asking me if I wanted to use it as the Time Machine backup. I haven't fiddled with it afterwards (except to open the System Preferences Time Machine and watch it tell when the next backup will be, then just for fun watching it do the backup at that time). I've dismounted the external drive a few times, also rebooted the machine (after bootcamping into Windows) and Time Machine just picks up where it left off. For me it's perfect. However, I can see that if you want more control (shorter time between backups) or if it doesn't do something you want (backup wirelessly) then it's not for you. I’ve had a much better reaction to Time Machine than you did, possibly because it fits my style of working better than it fits yours. I just plugged in an old 400 GB firewire drive I had, and accepted the pop-up asking me if I wanted to use it as the Time Machine backup.

I haven’t fiddled with it afterwards (except to open the System Preferences Time Machine and watch it tell when the next backup will be, then just for fun watching it do the backup at that time).

I’ve dismounted the external drive a few times, also rebooted the machine (after bootcamping into Windows) and Time Machine just picks up where it left off.

For me it’s perfect. However, I can see that if you want more control (shorter time between backups) or if it doesn’t do something you want (backup wirelessly) then it’s not for you.

]]> By: Andy Piper http://andypiper.wordpress.com/2007/11/05/the-leopard-experience/#comment-101713 Andy Piper Mon, 05 Nov 2007 16:17:33 +0000 http://andypiper.wordpress.com/2007/11/05/the-leopard-experience/#comment-101713 I'm tempted by the fresh install option now! What I'm intrigued by is whether it will restore apps like Lightroom which use installers rather than just the "drag-to-Applications" method of installation. I've also got stuff like camera drivers, scanner drivers etc. buried in the system so I'm wondering whether the migration assistant will deal with those levels of customisation. The nice part about the upgrade is that the amount of customisation I've had to do is minimal, it's still the same system. I’m tempted by the fresh install option now!

What I’m intrigued by is whether it will restore apps like Lightroom which use installers rather than just the “drag-to-Applications” method of installation. I’ve also got stuff like camera drivers, scanner drivers etc. buried in the system so I’m wondering whether the migration assistant will deal with those levels of customisation. The nice part about the upgrade is that the amount of customisation I’ve had to do is minimal, it’s still the same system.

]]> By: naquada http://andypiper.wordpress.com/2007/11/05/the-leopard-experience/#comment-101710 naquada Mon, 05 Nov 2007 16:03:56 +0000 http://andypiper.wordpress.com/2007/11/05/the-leopard-experience/#comment-101710 thanks for the link andy... I've actually now done 8 installs 4 upgrades and 4 fresh of leopard, and weirdly a fresh install with formating seems to run faster than an upgrade once the system is up and running (I confirmed with on the new iMac being upgraded.. then being fresh installed..) the apps seems zipper and faster as did the screen animation.. what I have REALLY loved in leopard is the screen sharing (not through ichat as I havent tried that yet) but through the finder.. its really impressive.. I also have Back to My Mac via .mac as well and that seem quite good.. what you might find worth doing is a time machine backup of your system, format and reinstall and use the migration assistant to restore your apps etc onto the clean install.. my moneys on the system will run much faster.. (migration assistant now allows migration from a time machine backup!!) i have found myself using spotlight alot more for finding apps.. and completely agree with you on the stupid decision to make the doc icon for stacks to be the last icon used (or newest), in actual fact its ALL the icons in the folder, and you just see the last one... meaning.. if your clever and following <a href="http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20071102051313346" rel="nofollow">this hint</a> you'll be able to assign your own icon to each stack.. I have applications, downloads and documents in my dock... thanks for the link andy… I’ve actually now done 8 installs 4 upgrades and 4 fresh of leopard, and weirdly a fresh install with formating seems to run faster than an upgrade once the system is up and running (I confirmed with on the new iMac being upgraded.. then being fresh installed..) the apps seems zipper and faster as did the screen animation..

what I have REALLY loved in leopard is the screen sharing (not through ichat as I havent tried that yet) but through the finder.. its really impressive.. I also have Back to My Mac via .mac as well and that seem quite good..

what you might find worth doing is a time machine backup of your system, format and reinstall and use the migration assistant to restore your apps etc onto the clean install.. my moneys on the system will run much faster.. (migration assistant now allows migration from a time machine backup!!)

i have found myself using spotlight alot more for finding apps.. and completely agree with you on the stupid decision to make the doc icon for stacks to be the last icon used (or newest), in actual fact its ALL the icons in the folder, and you just see the last one… meaning.. if your clever and following this hint you’ll be able to assign your own icon to each stack..

I have applications, downloads and documents in my dock…

]]> By: Alex Nguyen http://andypiper.wordpress.com/2007/11/05/the-leopard-experience/#comment-101706 Alex Nguyen Mon, 05 Nov 2007 15:36:34 +0000 http://andypiper.wordpress.com/2007/11/05/the-leopard-experience/#comment-101706 Nice. I agree with alot of that! I was a lucky one i had a very straightforward install :) And its been great so far! Nice. I agree with alot of that! I was a lucky one i had a very straightforward install :) And its been great so far!

]]> By: kellyd http://andypiper.wordpress.com/2007/11/05/the-leopard-experience/#comment-101704 kellyd Mon, 05 Nov 2007 15:30:54 +0000 http://andypiper.wordpress.com/2007/11/05/the-leopard-experience/#comment-101704 and you got a nifty t-shirt as well. :-) and you got a nifty t-shirt as well. :-)

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