November 5th, 2007
New Apple support docs target Leopard
Apple late last week and over the weekend dropped a bunch of documents into its support library. A number of the articles discuss recent problems reported with Leopard, including disappearing volumes during installation, Leopard-only packages and echos with A/V chats.
Shortly following the recent release of Leopard, I pointed to installation concerns around “disappearing” internal and external storage. Apple addressed the issue with the note: Mac OS X 10.5: Installer destination window does not show drive.
According to Apple, the status of the disk check routine isn’t reflected in the installer GUI, just as predicted by the discussion board thread. Apple’s advice is to wait. Users who want to check the routine should enter ps auxww | grep fsck in the Terminal, which lists all processes for fsck, the file system consistency and repair command.
Wait a few minutes for the volume(s) to appear.
The Mac OS X 10.5 installer window does not show hard drives that are still being checked in the background, and there is no status indicator regarding this. The larger the disk volume, the longer it may take for this to complete. After the disk check has finished, the drive(s) will appear and be available for installation.
As The Apple Core has mentioned before, it’s a good idea to run Disk Utility’s Verify routines on your drive before beginning the Leopard installation and repair any problems it reports. This will speed things when going into the Leopard install.
Why can’t I install some software? Some installer package files work with Mac OS X 10.5 only
Apple’s installer is sometimes smart. It knows that certain software applications can only work on Leopard and won’t install them on a Tiger system. However, the Installer just quits without telling users the cause for the failed installation. Everything looks fine but just won’t work.
Some installer package files (files whose name ends with “.pkg”) are intended for use with Mac OS X 10.5 only. Such package files may cause Installer to “silently quit” without installing, in Mac OS X 10.4.x or earlier.
However, by my reading some package files with Leopard-only software might be installed. So, be on the lookout for Leopard-only versions and notice where you’re installing them, such as an external drive that you move to Tiger machines.
Hello! (Hello … hello …) Mac OS X 10.5, iChat: Echo in audio or video chats
Apple warns that two (or more) Leopard users may hear an “echo” during a video or audio chat (those are Apple’s quotes as if we don’t know what an echo is). It seems that iChat’s echo cancellation isn’t working correctly.
The document gives a process to adjust external microphones and tweak the sound input and volume settings. Or just restart the conference (perhaps that should be the first thing to do, rather than the last).
Remember, if you hear echo when you speak, then it is the remote side that must make these adjustments. Conversely, if the remote side says that they hear echo when they speak, then it is likely you should make these adjustments.
David Morgenstern has covered the Mac market and other technology segments for 20 years. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
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