Upgrading to Leopard
I received a shiny box with a copy of Leopard in it in my stocking this Christmas, and I was just wondering if anyone has any caveats regarding the upgrade. Have you had any problems with software compatibility, etc? I have noticed that I will have to upgrade my copy of Little Snitch (no problem, only $12.95), but have yet to look into other software. Any help would be appreciated.
Also, since we are on the subject, how do those of you who made the switch feel about new OS?
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It's a beautiful thing.
I'm running Lepoard on the MacBook but have yet to install it on my main workstation. The MacBook has purred very smoothly since the upgrade and with each day that goes by, I'm more tempted to take the plunge and follow-suit with the G4 and the MacBook Pro. Both of which are dedicated to client work.
Post back here and let us know how everything went.
Terry Thornhill
e-zign Design Group
...
Yeah, thats kind of the situation I am in right now. I work from home and my G5 is my everything-machine. I just hate upgrading, then going to use a bit of software under a deadline and finding out it doesn't work...
CS3
All the Adobe CS3 apps in their latest versions are digging Leopard. I don't support Quark, so I can't comment to that. Believe it or not, Freehand MX is still purring without a hitch.
Hope this helps.
Terry Thornhill
e-zign Design Group
Existing Programs
When I upgrade, am I going to have to reinstall my existing programs, or will it leave them alone? (Adobe products and such)
Existing Programs Will Be Fine
When you upgrade it will leave all other apps alone. It will only update the OS.
well, some things don't work
Here is a site that tracks which applications are having issues with Leopard.
http://guides.macrumors.com/List:Applications_Not_Compatible_with_Leopard
Another site
And another site with incompatibility info:
http://www.macintouch.com/leopard/compat.html
A particular note on pre-CS3 apps:
And another site dealing with print issues/compatibility (warning, seriously print geeky!):
http://printplanet.com/discuss/thread.jspa?threadID=868
And ID3 incompatibility issues in depth:
http://indesignhelp.com/indesign-cs3-leopard-compatibility/
And ID3 issues from an adobe blogger:
http://blogs.adobe.com/indesignchannel/2007/10/indesign_and_leopard_update.html
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Powerpoint is not a design application
Parallels
If you have parallels, you may run into problems. I have an older version of parallels that won't create a virtual hard disk using boot camp in leopard. According to their website: "To ensure a seamlessly experience with Leopard, it is highly recommended that Parallels Desktop customers only run Parallels Desktop 3.0 Build 5582, after Leopard has been installed."...which means purchasing an upgrade for forty bucks. This is the only problem i have had so far, besides some widgits that would not function on leopard. But everyone is slowly jumping on the leopard bandwagon!
All apps work fine on
All apps work fine on Leopard and it's great. The only thing that doesn't work is pirated InDesign, but nobody can complain about that! ;)
Some points ...
Anyway, with the 2D dock it's a shiny and nice OS with lots of improvements.
See my (german) review here:
http://blog.tice.de/beitrag.php?file=2007_11_03_1409&language=englisch
I'm using Leopard in a full
I'm using Leopard in a full production environment, on a G4 and MacBook. The only two issues I've had are Little Snitch not working and my capslock and numlock keys were reversed on my MacBook. The later was fixed with the 10.5.1 update and everything is fine now.
Overall it's a nice upgrade and CS3 seems to be very happy with it.
Update
Well, I decided to play it safe and install 10.5 on a partition of one of my hard drives. That gives me a dual-boot capability so that I can keep on working if Leopard decides it doesn't want to play nice. Software Update did its thing and I am running an up-to-the-minute version of 10.5.1, as well as 10.4.11 on another drive.
I have CS1 and CS2, but when I installed CS2 on the Leopard drive, it told me that I needed to transfer my license, which I suppose means I will have to shut it down on the 10.4 drive to make it work on Leopard. I would prefer to install CS on Leopard until I take the full plunge, but I am not sure it will work. That will be my next step. Suitcase comes next, but I checked the website and downloaded an update from Extensis that should work fine.
Here I go again...... lucky I don't have too much work to do today.
Ditch Suitcase
Why are you still using Suitcase? Go FontExplorer: it's free and freakin awesome.
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Powerpoint is not a design application
I agree
It's great. I've bought fonts with it and it works like iTunes. Fully integrated and easy.
Habit, I suppose...
I will definitely give Font Explorer a whirl, since it seems to have a hearty thumbs-up. I guess I just use Suitcase by default since I own it. No problem giving it up in place of a worthy replacement, though. Can't hurt to try.
Right, suitcase blows. Font
Right, suitcase blows. Font explorer is aweeeeesome!
I just have regular CS and it runs fine on Leopard.
Leopard is fine
Leopard is probably the first OS upgrade that made a very visible difference in speed for me. Going from CS2 on a MacPro running Tiger to CS3 was horrible. It ran like garbage, slow and crashing a lot. After the Leopard upgrade, CS3 rocks!
Most all apps launch much faster, and other than the obvious blunders by Apple with Stacks and the Dock, the Finder is much more responsive and useful.
The feature additions Leopard brings are quite nice, too.
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Visit The Graphic Mac for graphics and Mac OS tips, tricks, tutorials and commentary
I haven't upgraded to Leopard yet...
but the two designers that I work with recently received brand new computers and of course, they both came pre-installed with Leopard. The ONE issue that I know of that seems to have problems is fonts. However, only one of the guys seems to have problems, not both. Not sure what that means, but I guess out of 2,000+ fonts on his system, he was only able to import maybe a hundred or so? I never followed up on that, so I'm not sure what's going on with it these days.
They are both on vacation, and today is officially my last day, so I guess I won't know if the font problem gets better. I do know that these guys are dead-set on using Font Book (Mac's own font management application). I have been trying to get them to upgrade to Font Explorer as I, too, love it!!! Maybe that's the problem?
I'd be curious to know since I am actually going this weekend to purchase a brand new 24" iMac, that will also have Leopard pre-installed.
BTW Ivan—how do you know that it doesn't like pirated InDesign??? Hmmm...LOL
suzanne maestri-walters :: graphic designer :: www.onegirlcreative.com
Yes
In a word, yes. :)
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Powerpoint is not a design application
That's what I keep telling them...
But they won't listen to me. Their excuse is, they want to keep it within Mac's interface and apps. To me, that doesn't make sense at all. That's like saying because Adobe is not affiliated with Apple (or maybe they are???), then I won't be using CS programs. Stupid, if you ask me.
Maybe they're blowing sunshine up my butt! LOL
suzanne maestri-walters :: graphic designer :: www.onegirlcreative.com
FontBook holdouts
Oh godddd. Idiots. Don't they know FontBook is a very LIMITED FEATURED font app?! More here:
http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20040113020917306
FontBook just doesn't manage a lot of fonts well and it's a horrible app for pro designers. Turn them on to FontExplorer, have them use it for a week and they will never go back. It's SO much easier to use and is almost issue free. I've used it for 4 years now without complaint.
It's INSANITY for them to hold onto a system that obviously isn't working. FontExplorer gives you font sets and built in font repair tools that frankly blow just about every other font tool out there out of the water! And FontBook doesn't even auto-activate fonts!
FontBook is made for the casual user with a few hundred fonts. Your friends aren't 'casual users' are they? :)
Another great article: http://www.macworld.com/article/43652/2002/07/fontfrustration.html
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Powerpoint is not a design application
My latest web design work
Since today is my last day...
and they are both gone on vacation, I sent them e-mails with these links so they can read the articles themselves. No, they're not casual users because one is an art director and one is a creative director at the publication where I work (however, not after today).
I hope they take my/your advice, but you never know. One of them is stubborn. =P
Thanks for the articles, Nato!
suzanne maestri-walters :: graphic designer :: www.onegirlcreative.com
Change
Sure, you're very welcome.
If they want their comps to keep crashing, they can remain stuck in their ways. It is insanity to do the same thing and expect a different result. Change is hard, but this change is definitely good. :)
If they want more proof point them to cb and have them search for 'fontexplorer' and see all the designers who use it, web and print.
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Powerpoint is not a design application
My latest web design work
Two thumbs way up on Leopard
Leopard has been great for me. Still getting used to some of the features, but Spaces really comes in handy, even on my dual monitor machine.
Not that you asked for font management advice, but I'll throw in for FontExplorer too. Its so good that I don't even notice it. Font problems? What font problems?
~ spigotdesign.com