I installed Panther last week and am very happy with the OS
improvements. However, there are a couple of things that need to be
fixed by Apple before 10.3 is rock solid as well as some
maintenance necessities that every user should consider.
First, my machine is an "old" Pismo, albeit with upgraded HDs and I
GB of RAM. (Been a real workhorse. I still love it.) Prior to
Panther, I was on 10.2.8, which for me was problem free. Depending
on your equipment profile, YMMV.
BEFORE UPGRADING:
1. Repair permissions.
2. Rebuild your directories using DiskWarrior or Drive 10 (or even
TechTool Pro if your machine will boot that CD.)
3. Consider optimizing your drives. I always do but there are a lot
of Unix pros who take issue with optimization.
4. Make an inventory of all the little ancillary bits of
shareware/haxies or whatever currently on your system and see if
they have requisite updates for Panther. (Default Folder X, as an
example, will crash Panther in it's old iteration.) Take a look at
your login items and disable any that do not come with Panther
certification.
5. Make note of any "weirdness" that seems to afflict your
pre-Panther version of the OS. Is everything rock solid? If not,
you may want to alter upgrade strategy. One way to test is to set
up a new user (test user) and see if whatever troubles your system
disappears when logged onto the new user. If so, there is a problem
in your home directory that may cause more problems with Panther.
6. Keep repairing permissions as you update any software.
7. Back-up everything!!!!
8. If you use a FW drive as your back-up device, research the
current issue with corruption of the directories and seek out the
firmware updates issued by various manufacturers.
SELECTING UPGRADE METHOD
If your system is rock solid (no "weirdness") and you have attended
to any necessary updates of software, choose the
archive-and-install option. This will build a completely new system
but keep all of your user preferences intact (provide that you
check that option in the installer).
If you have nagging problems with your current OS/home directory
that have not been solved with permissions and directory
maintenance, I'd advise a clean install with plans to either
reinstall your software or restore from back-up copies. (Note that
the $19.95 upgrade disks from Apple will not let you install
Panther on a fully clean disk. You will have to do a 10.2.x install
first.)
INSTALLING
1. DISCONNECT any peripherals including all USB and FW devices.
2. If you are installing on laptop, consider inserting an old
battery to prevent any install quirks from shortening your "good"
battery's life.
3. Pay attention to the installer's options, which allow you to
select what you want installed, including printer drivers and
languages. Allows opt for the least amount of either that you need.
4. Be patient.
RUNNING PANTHER
1. DO NOT reboot with FW drives attached until Apple posts a tested
fix for the directory issues even if you drive seems to be safe.
You can mount these drives after start-up. Just unmount and
disconnect before shutdown.
2. DO NOT enable File Vault. There is a problem with how the
application recovers disk space, resulting in loss of user
preferences and other nasty things. Apple will fix this but until
they do, swear off File Vault.
3. After the first restart, repair permissions.
4. Again rebuild drive directories (Drive 10, DiskWarrior et al)
5. Use Cocktail or Xupport (my favorite) to run the cron scripts
and re-prebind files. Xupport also enables selection of a
non-startup volume for swap files. Very nifty.
Panther is great. Do the requisite housekeeping and you will love
the improvements. Have fun!
--
Best,
Pat
http://www.pbase.com/minicucci
