Macopinion

Early Days Yet, But OS 10.5.5 Feels Like A Winner On My Old G4 PowerBook

I finally got around to installing the OS X 10.5.5 update on my G4 PowerBook over the weekend. I had wasted no time downloading the Combo Updater file, which for me involved driving to the nearest (not very fast) WiFi hotspot 12 miles away and an hour and a half of watching the progress bar creep ever-so-slowly as the 601 MB compressed disk image downloaded. Then anti-climactically I sat on it for two and a half weeks before finally running the updater.

Part of the reason for my procrastination was simply time, or lack of it. I'm not one to just blithely hit the Install button without some preparation first, which I will get to in a moment. Secondly, there seemed to be rather more than the usual volume of bug reports from early adopters of the 10.5.5 update, which I suppose was to be expected given the magnitude of bugfixes and (hopefully) refinements in this one.

However, that initial tide has ebbed, and I hadn't noted anything raising particular flags for G4 PowerBook users, so on Sunday I finally got down to it. As is my custom before installing system upgrades or updates, I ran a set of maintenance routines - Repair Permissions, the daily, weekly, and monthly cron job scripts, and some cache dumps using OnyX. I know that some suggest doing so is a waste of time, but while you can't prove a negative, my degree of success in running OS X updates without unwanted drama or hassle over the years is at least circumstantial evidence that cleaning up your existing system before upgrading may help avoid unwelcome outcomes. I figure it's worth the bit of extra time invested in the interest of avoiding potential problems with what for me is a vital tool of my trade. I don't believe the world would come crashing down around my ears if I neglected to execute these preparations, but I like to proceed with things in an orderly and unhurried fashion if possible.

I also chose to go with the Combo Updater (the one that can update any OS 10.5 install to version 10.5.5) for this update, even though I was only moving up one notch from OS 10.4.5, which has been a reliable performer on my old PowerBook. I used the incremental "Delta" upgrade when I moved from OS 10.5.3 to OS 10.5.4, so especially given the proliferation of changes in 10.5.5, and since the OS 10.5.5 "Delta" is a whopping 316 MB, so I figured I might as well go for the only-twice-as-big Combo installer even though for me that involved probably 45 minutes longer download wait boredom. For those fortunate enough to have a speedy broadband connection, the Combo Updater should be the no-brainer choice even for one point-number updates. As for using Software Update, I wouldn't even consider doing an operating system upgrade without at least shutting down all other applications. Now, I expect millions of Mac users will opt to just let Software Update to its staff, and the vast majority of them will achieve perfectly successful results, but then there are those who will encounter contretemps like the variety of post-upgrade issues that get reported on MacFixIt, MacInTouch, and other forums, including Apple's, after every OS upgrade or Security patch release. Maybe I would have done just as well using Software Update, but the thing about precautionary principles is that you take pre-emptive action before there is a problem in hope of preventing problems. If all goes well, as it has for me taking this approach, at least one has done no harm. I remain strongly convinced that for the best prospects of a hassle-free upgrade outcome, the best policy is the one I use - system maintenance followed by the freestanding Combo Updater, with the machine offline.

Actually, I used to also do disk optimizations or even defragmentation runs using AlSoft's highly-regarded Disk Warrior utility before running major system upgrades, but I haven't been doing that for the past couple of years, and so far so good. With today's larger hard drives, the time investment involved with that sort of disk maintenance has become more daunting.

Some also recommend booting the Mac into Safe Boot Mode (hold down the Shift key during a reboot before running the installer); note that starting up in Safe Boot Mode takes a long time because it runs a media scan during the bootup process, so be prepared to wait about five minutes or so before the login screen appears, which it will in Safe Boot even if you have automatic login configured, - I have to admit that I'm usually a bit lazy about that last one, as I was with this install, and I settled for a fresh normal reboot after the OnyX maintenance run), I can only repeat that my anecdotal success with Mac OS X upgrades and updates has been excellent, although I can't affirm categorically that my precautionary approach has been key or just coincidental to that.

This time I found that on my old 1.33 GHz G4, the upgrade process took about half an hour or more. I'm not sure exactly how long because I just set it up and went away to do other things while the installer did its stuff. The installation was declared successful, followed by the now-familiar double-pump reboot and some passage of time while the system sorted out the changes.

I haven't noted anything really dramatic in terms of differences from OS 10.5.4, but so far it's been all good. Finder response seems a bit snappier, and it seems that POP 3 and SMTP email throughput has been significantly improved, although it's still more sluggish than with OS 10.4 Tiger and previous OS X versions. However, crappy email performance has been perhaps my biggest complaint about OS 10.5 Leopard for nearly a year now, so any improvement is welcome now that they've evidently gotten around to it.

Sometimes there's just an intangible, je ne sais quoi "feel" about an OS version update that provides the impression that it's a good one (more common in the higher point number updates). Its slightly early days yet, but all indications are that my old PowerBook is going to be a happy camper running OS 10.5.5 .

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Appendix: Changes In the OS 10.5.5 Update

If you;re interested, here's Apple's official changelog list for the OS 10.5.5 update. I expect that there's a lot more under the hood, but these are the high spots, so to speak.

General

• Includes recent Apple security updates.


• Addresses stability issues with video playback, processor core idling, and remote disc sharing for MacBook Air.


• Addresses an issue in which some Macs could unexpectedly power on at the same time each day.


• Resolves a stability issue in TextEdit that could be found when accessing the color palette.


• Improves Spotlight indexing performance.


• Fixes an issue in which contacts might not sync properly with PalmOS-based devices.


• Improves iPhone sync reliability with iCal and Address Book.


• Includes improvements to Active Directory (see this article for more information).


• Improves Speech Dictionary.


• Fixes Kerberos authentication issues for Mac OS X 10.5 clients that connect to certain Samba servers, such as Mac OS X Server version 10.4.


• Includes extensive graphics enhancements.

Address Book

• Addresses stability issues that may occur when creating a Smart Group.


• Resolves a printing issue with address cards containing information that spans more than one page.

Disk Utility and Directory Utility

• Improves reliability when rebuilding a software mirror RAID volume in Disk Utility.


• Improves reliability of server status displayed in Directory Utility.

iCal

• Updates iCal to more accurately handle repeating events.


• Improves performance when choosing meeting attendees.


• Resolves an issue in which the "Refresh All" option may be dimmed ("grayed out") in the contextual menu for certain calendars.


• Fixes issues with read-only calendars.


• Addresses an issue that prevents an invitee from moving an event to a different calendar.


• Resolves an issue with syncing published calendars.

Mail

• Addresses performance issues related to displaying IMAP messages.


• Resolves an issue with SMTP settings for AIM, Compuserve, Hanmail, Yahoo!, and Time Warner Road Runner email accounts.


• Addresses stability issues that may occur when dragging a file to the Mail icon in the Dock.


• Addresses an issue with the "Organized by Thread" view in which the date does not appear when the thread is collapsed.


• Resolves an issue in which RSS feeds could temporarily disappear from the sidebar.


• Improves Mail robustness when sending messages.


• Improves reliability when saving drafts that have attachments.

MobileMe

• Improves overall sync reliability.


• Improves Back to My Mac reliability.

Time Machine

• Improves Time Machine reliability with Time Capsule.


• Addresses performance issues that may affect initial and in-progress backups.


• Fixes an issue in which an incorrect alert message could appear stating that a backup volume does not have enough free space.


• Time Machine can now back up iPhone backups that are on your Mac, as well as other items in (~/Library/Application Support).

I'm certain there is more than that, and I'm hoping for some more general refinement as well.

Mac OS X 10.5.5 Combo Update - 601MB
Mac OS X 10.5.4 Update Delta - 316MB

Mac OS X Server 10.5.4 - 341MB
Mac OS X Server Combo 10.5.4 - 729MB

Download site:
http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/
or
http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/macosx1055update.html

For more information, visit:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2405



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