Mac OS X 10.1 [Old Version] :: Education by Design Store

Editorial Review
Mac OS X, Apple's next-generation operating system, debuted to great enthusiasm, but ultimately left users wanting more: more speed, more applications, more usefulness. Sure, it looked pretty, but you had to boot up into OS 9 when it came time to do some real work. That has all changed with the recent release of Mac OS X 10.1.

Improvements across the board within the operating system and support from numerous vendors have made OS X a viable upgrade. Internal improvements have brought the performance and reliability up to professional levels, while software from such vendors as Canon, Epson, and Hewlett-Packard make compatible a wide variety of printers and scanners. As soon as 10.1 was released, we upgraded our Dual G4/450 with nothing but positive results. With multiple hard drives on our system, we're able to dedicate drives for booting into either OS 9 or OS X, thus ensuring backward compatibility.

However, since upgrading over a month ago, the only times we've needed to boot into OS 9 was for using a FireWire card reader (for reading compact flash cards from a digital camera) and only because the drivers aren't yet available. But you don't need a high-speed G4 to use 10.1. It's now become the default OS on our PowerBook G3/400 (FireWire model), responding quickly and running reliably. Airport networking works flawlessly, and Internet and intranet access is rock solid.

In addition to performance improvements, Apple has added DVD-video playback. Since OS X is a true multitasking operating system, you haven't really watched a DVD until you've made it a half-size window in the background while checking e-mail, shopping at Amazon.com, and copying files at the same time--without skipping a frame. iTunes for OS X will play and encode music, as well as burn audio CDs using an internal or external CD-R/RW drive. If you need to burn data CDs, simply insert a blank disc. OS X will detect it, and ask how you'd like to format it: Mac/PC data or audio CD?

Customer Reviews

Watch out for USB driver problems and kernel panics

2004-02-03
Six months into using OS -X started having Kernel panics (Apple's blue secreen of death). Not running non-Apple programs, multi-tasking, or running peculiar non-standard hardware (Logitech tracball, HP printer/scanner). 5 trips to the repair shop - new hard drive, new RAM, new system board, upgrade to 10.2.8; 4 phone calls to Apple "Support." Kernel panics returned. Lots of web searches - found lots of boards where people have the same experience, and found the only permanent solution was downgrading to OS9 or upgrading to OS 10.3. "Support" denies it's poor USB software.

I love OS X, but be wary of the server version

2003-04-03
my advice is to make sure you need it before you buy it, but if you know you need it, then buy it. How will you know? If you need it, you would already know that you do. If you don't know that you need server version, then you probably don't need it. Most day to day tasks are done by the normal version of the os in ways that are much simpler than the server tools. Now you do get a variety of nice things with the unlimited client, such as server managment systems, monitoring systems, etc., but if you are just doing a basic install without a complex networking or users/groups system, then you probably should try to do what you need to do with a 10.1 or 10.2 and see if you actually have to own the server. I would say the ideal application of a server install is for a medium to large lab install using netboot, where the actual cost of doing it via server will lower the TCO significantly.

OS X best ever

2003-01-30
Hands down the best OS right now! This update is crucial before you upgrade to Jaguar. It's simple, doesn't crash, easy to use even supports right clicking!

buy it and never be disappointed!

Stable but Often Slow 2002-11-14
Mac OS 10.1, the long-awaited gift from Apple, is impressively stable. The stability of this OS gives it an edge over the older build of Mac OS 9 (and older systems). Dynamic memory allocation and preemptive multitasking are positive aspects too.

However, I would not suggest OS X on a G3 unless you are ready for slow resizing and tediously long launch times.

Indeed, even though it is slower, I feel that I am obliged to use OS X on my 600 MHz iBook - not because Apple is phasing out "classic" support. The only thing that truly binds me to OS X is that it is much more stable than OS 9. However, seeing how good things are coming with the new ideas from Apple as they update the system, I would suggest keeping an eye open. Perhaps OS X will speed up soon.

good... needs improvement in speed 2002-10-02
It's definitely an improvement on MacOS 10.0, which was really a beta. I have been using it for 6 months, and have been overall impressed with its stability. Speed and usability are two areas that need improvement. Go for 10.2 Jaguar...

X marks the spot!! 2002-08-28
Mac OS X, Apple's next-generation operating system, debuted to great enthusiasm, but ultimately left users wanting more: more speed, more applications, more usefulness. Sure, it looked pretty, but you had to boot up into OS 9 when it came time to do some real work. That has all changed with the recent release of Mac OS X 10.1.

Additional improvements in AppleScripting, a customizable dock, video card and printer drivers, and networking add to the appeal. One important missing feature is the ability to print to a remote USB printer. With OS 9, Apple included the USB Printer Sharing control panel, which allowed remote Macs to print to any USB-connected printer on a local Mac. This worked flawlessly for us when printing from our PowerBook to an Epson 1280 connected to our G4. However, there seems to be no such facility for printing to remote USB printers under OS X. Aside from that, OS X 10.1 on a contemporary Mac is a solid performer and a glimpse of how things ought to work. --Mike Caputo

Great update to the Mac OS line 2002-08-28
I found 10.1 very stable and secure. Installation was a snap. Having worked with both mac and windows computers, I have to say this installation is the most easy of any OS upgrade I've done. My g3 400mhz iMac runs the OS very smoothly. Native applications load quickly, and classic apps load only marginally slower than they did in 9.1. Speech recognition software was a nice surprise, and seem sto work about 70% of the time (though I haven't finished practicing it). The interface is much different from 9, and the learning curve is slight, but the voyage is fun. A good upgrade.

Apple Gives Up, Goes UNIX 2002-07-26
The title is correct--OS X is simply UNIX. Yet, it's Apple-flavored UNIX, and that makes all the difference. Unlike Linux or other flavors of UNIX, OS X is easy to use, easy to add hardware that is instantly recognized, and easy to modify. You don't have to ever enter the shell if you don't want to, but just because you don't want to doesn't mean that software developers don't want to, and this is much more powerful than any previous Apple operating software.

In fact, if you like old Apple OSs, there's still OS 9 around, which OS X will run in an emulation mode (that's right, you get two OSs in one). And, if you really are strange, you can buy Virtual PC and run Windows in emulation mode here, too--AT THE SAME TIME. Now, that's a powerful OS.

Kudos to Apple for doing a total rewrite of their OS code, rather than simply continuing bloatware that had long become full of spaghetti-code inconsistencies.

BIG improvement and some great features!! 2002-07-25
WOW! Applications are interacting much more smoothly, and my computer is definately faster. Even my internet has improved! I had also, in the past, been unable to upload JPEG's to the internet with Appleworks, and now it's no problem at all! The mail system is generally more sensible (I have 2 accounts on it, both with different servers). MacOSX features a cute toolbar with icons that bounce when something happens (like getting an alert message, or an instant message on AIM); the icons sort of roll out when you scroll over them (very silly and cute, but it doesn't get in the way). With internet, I can "hide" a page, and a thumbnail of the website appears on the toolbar! iTunes is also great. I can finally download MP3's and share music! Some things are basically the same, and there's a lot more "flash" than previous verisons, but i would definately recommend MacOSX!!! A+!!!

Mac OS X: A truly amazing peice of software 2002-07-22
Mac OS X is a truly amazing piece of software. It's graphics are exceptional, it is much, much faster that Mac OS 9, even if it's running multiple programs. It comes with an arsenal of free software, and, once you get used to it, X is extremely easy to use. And that's only for starters; there's a lot more good things a. The only real downturns are that OS X can be hard to use at first, and you often need to download a "Carbon," or a OS X, version of a piece of software.

When I have to switch back to Mac OS 9 for some bizarre reason, I realize what an eyesore it is compared to X. Probably my favorite graphical change is the menu bars at the top of a window. It looks so much better than the menu bars on 9. There are some very good Desktop pictures to choose from. Mac OS X features a lot of redesigned graphics, like the ? symbol in the upper left hand corner or the hard drive. Because people are often making their desktop a lot bigger, the wonderful people at Apple made icons larger, so you can actually see them. Oh, and someone at Apple really likes blue, not that that's a bad thing, though.

It so nice that you don't have to wait for windows to open and applications to open. I don't know how much faster X is, but it's a lot. The nicest thing is that X has a new multitasking system- even if you have every application open, the computer's running as fast as ever (I've tried it). Right now I have AOL, TextEdit, Sherlock, System Preferences, and iTunes playing music,. along with several windows.

Mac OS X probably comes with about 50 free shareware programs. The ones that stand out to me are iTunes (You better know what this is), TextEdit (A much better version of Simpletext- it about matches Appleworks), Chess (A chess program designed to show off the abilities of X: The graphics are great and on the lowest setting is nearly impossible to beat), A DVD player (I pity you if you don't know what a DVD is), Mail (A nice program that lets you take your e-mail on you computer: sadly it doesn't work with AOL), iMovie (Lets you make you own movies), and I think they've started shipping it with iPhoto, but I'm not positive. It also comes with a much improved Stickies, with different colored backgrounds, different fonts and styles. Sadly, the calculator is horrible by X standards. It's basically the same thing as in 9.

At first X seems very foreign and different than 9, you get used to it pretty fast, especially with Mac OS X: The Missing Manual by David Pouge, which teaches you everything you need to know about OS X. X almost never crashes (the actual finder, not applications). Mac OS X gets rid of a lot of stuff you had to do manually in 9, like giving out RAM or dealing with extensions. Extensions and extension conflicts don't exist in X, instead programmers write startup application. (Don't ask me what those are- I got it from that wonderful book I mentioned above) Another nce program is Home, which replaces the folder each family member used to have in my family. Home holds things like your preferences, different folders (I have folders like writing, downloads, pictures, games, etc.), and your favorite applications. Also, the Dock is very useful. It holds applications, folders, your home, and trash- just about anything that is in you hard drive. System Preferences replaces Control Panels, and is much easier to use.

Like I said above, Mac OS X hay seem a little foreign at first, but you get used to it quick. When you buy Mac OS X, get Mac OS X: A Missing Manual along with it. That should solve all your problems. If it doesn't, then go to the Apple website (the little @ sign on a spring in the dock, or http://www.apple.com/macosx).

You often have to get Carbon versions of programs for Mac OS X. The are a lot of printer drives already on the computer, in the Printer folder that's in the Library folder. For everything else, try going to the downloads part of Apple.com, and if it's not their, go to the developer's site. It is very mportant to get internet up and running early, so you can do this.

Mac Os X is a very good program, and if you need a new Operating System and you have a compatible computer (actually there's a way to get X onto older computer; it's in the Missing Manual). However, it might be a good idea to ait a little while so there's more compatible programs, but that shouldn't stop you.