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This is really the first time that I have upgraded to a new OS.  I reformated when I went from Tiger to Leopard, and since I just recently put a 1.5TB drive in my iMac, I didn’t really want to go through the hassle of reformating again.

The entire process took me 37 minutes.  Not too bad.  I stepped away from my desk, and when I came back it was waiting at a log in for me.  There were no buttons needing pushed, everything was cake.

Upon logging in, I only noticed the the default Aurora screen is a bit different, when you right click the dock, it’s dark instead of silver, and mail.app has to reinitialize your settings.

Oh, and the fact that I got 13GB of disk back.  From what I have read, you can expect to recoup anywhere from 3GB to 30GB of space!  A friend of mine got back 23GB.

It broke the Logitech Control Center software that I run for my MX revolution mouse, so that kinds sucks (but the logitech software isn’t known for it’s reliability) I have also tested Aperture, iPhoto, iTunes, cyberduck, adium, firefox, safari, iCal, all my dashboard widgets (like 4 of them), Transmission, Photoshop CS4, and Quicktime.

I didn’t choose to install quicktime 7 because I didn’t see any point.  I fired up some Top Gear episodes that I had, and my first impression is that I like the borderless window.  I normally watch full screen when using quicktime, but it’s nice to no have a border when you don’t.  However….  quicktime locked up twice on me thus far, trying to play an .avi  I don’t know if this is Perian or what, I have not yet looked for any updates from Perian.  *update* There are currently no Perian updates, and I usually don’t care for VLC.  I downloaded the latest VLC version (1.01) and it locks up on the same part of the videos as Quicktime does.  This is a big bummer thus far.

I also noticed a few System preference panes had to close and reopen in 32bit mode.  A little annoying.  Growl seems to be borked.  Connect 360 appears to work after a quick test to my Xbox 360.

Overall, this is a pretty transparent update to OSX, you may not notice a big difference in your day to day usage, but trust me for $25 bucks in comparison to what it’s going to cost to update Vista, it seems like a steal.  I timed my boot sequence and it takes 22 seconds now.  I don’t know what that means as I rarely reboot.

98% of what I do has been unaffected, but there are a few Aperture plugins that have stopped working or crash all together (Aperture to Adoramapix exporter)

All in all, I say this is just a stumbling block for the few things that are not working right now.  Some of my custom workflows are screwed for now, but in due time this will improve OS X a great deal.

Here is a list of what I can find that’s different.

http://is.gd/2Eiub

I was a huge fan of PictureSync while I was using iPhoto.  Recently though, I have purchased a digital SLR, started shooting in RAW, and begun using Aperture solely as my Digital Photography software. (see original post I made)

For awhile I was exporting my Aperture projects into iPhoto so I could upload via Picture sync since the upload features for Gallery2 are less than useable for me.

I grew weary of that really quick, and dug up a plugin that allows you to manage all your uploads from Aperture to Gallery2.

Ubermind to the rescue.  First, it lets you create folders in your gallery:

As you can see it is very easy to create new albums.

Next, it will allow for easy description, short name, and comments for your album

Last but not least, it lets you format your photos however you see fit:

Another option (seen in the first screen capture) you can have your images renamed to whatever you like as well.

Visit the Authors Site for download

After getting my Mac, I had a hard time figuring out how to batch upload my pictures to my Gallery2 site. I ran across this fantastic program that is free and works better than anything I had used on my Windows machine. Best of all, it works with Leopard (As well as Windows).

PictureSync

I can’t say enough good things about this application. I works wonderfully and took all of 5 seconds to figure out. It has support for the following popular picture hosts:

Flickr, Fokti, Facebook, Gallery2, photobucket, just to name a few.  Plus FTP and folder uploads.

I have used it on the last few uploads that I have done on my Gallery.  I only wish I would have found it sooner!  I love gallery2, but it really has some sucky batch uploading built in.  This offers your one stop shop for uploaded your pics to multiple hosts. And did I mention it was free*?  See site for the skinny on usage.

Enjoy!  I know I have

I finally got my copy of Leopard which only cost me $10 since I bought my iMac in October.  I tried the update but since I only had about 2 weeks vested in my Tiger load, I went back in and wiped and reloaded.

Generally I wipe and reload, but that’s from coming from the Windows world.  Everything seemed to work when I just did the update, but……  I still think I would rather start from scratch.

Also, there are tons of sites out there that answer the questions you may have:

MacWorld 

MacNN

Engadget 

Gizmodo

My take on it = it flippin’ sweet.

It’s been such a joy to sit down and play on the computer.  The apple kool aid, I have drank it.

Having a new computer with all new sets of needs, rules, etc, you need to figure out the right applications to use. I found one really good site with lots of useful links for some useful apps for OS X.

Essential Mac Software

Pure-Mac (better list)

So a few weeks ago my aging computer finally took a poop. I got it originally when I was working at Gateway and we received a discount on an Intel 865 Motherboard, a 3GHZ HyperThreaded P4, and XP Pro for $200. I think at the time it would have cost close to $800 if you were to buy it retail.

Well, three video cards, three hard drives, various PCI cards, a few optical drives, and two sound cards later, it was finally laid to rest.

I researched my options and came up with about $600 to upgrade just the Mobo, Proc, and RAM (Intel Core 2 6750, Asus P5k, and 4GB of cheaper ram) and although I would have a hell of a lot faster machine, I still had to deal with not having a very good monitor (old Viewsonic 19″ LCD) first gen sata drives, a crap soundcard, a DVD/CD burner that won’t burn CD’s etc.

About 2 months ago I started a “Buy a Mac” fund by putting money I got from selling a few old cell phones on Ebay. I told the wife that once this got full, I was gonna buy a Mac. I never really thought I would, but I told her that anyway.

So, that leaves me with a few hundred saved up in a tin can, and a computer that won’t work (power connection on the motherboard I think)

And well, I did it. I took the plunge and bought a Mac. I was going to do it for as cheap as possible, but that still left me with a crappy monitor and not much hard drive space (Mac Mini). When the new iMac’s came out, I was enamored with them, so that’s what I decided on. Once again, I was going to go for cheap and buy a refurb off the Apple store site. Then I thought about it, and convinced the wife to let me get what I actually wanted.

So I have been running this for about 4 days now, and I have to say that there are things that I need to get used to, (remember, I make a living being a Windows Administrator) and many more things that I have learned already. I must say that every accessory that I own has worked like a charm and have had zero problems getting them configured.

I plugged my still camera in.. Boom iPhoto

Plugged my 5 year old video camera. Boom started importing

Found my Brother Network printer and since its new it pointed me in the right directions to get the proper driver.

External Hard Drive, my Samsung phone, my wifes Blackberry, my logitech keyboard and mouse.

All of it “just works”

It doesn’t hurt having a 24″ screen that looks crystal clear. I was worried about the glossy screen, but that’s a moot point since I have very little ambient light at my desk.

Do your self a favor, and look into getting yourself a Mac if your in the market for a new PC. You won’t regret it.