rssSo teach us to number our days that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom. - Psalm 90:12
2009, September 07
Snow Leopard upgrade preparation
Snow Leopard brings another reason for the G3 iBook.
On July 2, I made the change from Tiger (OS X 10.4) to Leopard (OS X 10.5). This involved learning about Spotlight, which I did not like, and disabled, and Time Machine, which I also did not like. So a new back up routine had to be established with Carbon Copy Cloner and a new way to find files, EasyFind. SpotLight and Time Machine made large database file in the deep recesses of the unix system; so did FileVault, which I also turned off. Gigs and gigs of space were used by all these databases, which did not serve a useful purpose for me.
Another big change was the elimination of Adobe Photoshop. I have converted to the open source program Gimp. So there has been a lot of learning going on, and getting accustomed to new routines.
With Snow Leopard, Apple has given me another reason for keeping the G3 iBook on the network. OS X 10.6 has dropped AppleTalk as a way to connect to printers. So I must keep the driver for my beloved LaserWriter 4/600 PS on the G3, then turn on Printer Sharing to allow the computers on the network to print from the LaserWriter.
I have had this printer twelve years, it is workhorse that never gives me any trouble. Refill cartridges are available on-line, and I will run this printer as long as possible.
I will always need a pre-Intel Mac computer to run Panther for QuickTime 6.5. The printer driver works through OS X 10.5, but since the G3 iBook is right there for QT, I will use it for the printer driver too.
Hopefully, Snow Leopard will be at about 10.6.3 by January 2010 and will have some bugs fixed, so I can upgrade without pain. Perhaps the change to Snow Leopard will not be as drastic as the change to Leopard; at least the whole change will have been divided into two parts.
