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The Disaster-Free Upgrade to Mac OS 10.1

by Derrick Story
09/28/2001

The question I hear over and over again about Mac OS X is, "When should I make the jump?"

If you've read earlier installments from the Disaster-Free Upgrade series, you know that I've limited my recommendation of Mac OS 10.0.4 to advanced users with modern PowerBooks. And even for those users, I suggest they partition their hard drive and use one of those partitions to house their existing OS 9 environment. (If you're new to Mac OS X, you might want to read the previous Disaster-Free Upgrade articles before proceeding with this feature on 10.1.)

Now that 10.1 is ready for primetime, I think more Mac users can consider making the jump to Apple's innovative operating system. If your primary Mac setup includes:

and you don't need on a daily basis...

Screenshot.
Two new additions to Mac OS 10.1 are the menu bar icons at the top and the ability to connect via AppleTalk. The icons from left to right are adjustments for AirPort, monitor, sound, battery, and time. The mounted volume, "Dex's iMac" on the lower right, is connected via AppleTalk on a home AirPort network.

Then I would seriously consider upgrading to OS 10.1. If you're "on the bubble" with older G3 PowerBooks (except for the first one, which won't run Mac OS X at all) or with Blue and White G3 towers, then it may or may not be time to upgrade depending on your particular situation.

To help you decide, I'm going to walk you through an upgrade from OS 10.0.4 to 10.1 on a PowerBook G3 (Pismo) running at 400MHz and with 384MB RAM. I'm using this configuration because Mac OS X isn't really optimized for this machine, and how the OS behaves on a Pismo might help you visualize how it will work for you on your machine.

But before we walk through the upgrade to 10.1, I want to list some of the new features that I've come to appreciate during the short time I've been using this OS. Features are an important consideration for deciding whether to upgrade or not. In my opinion, Apple has done a good job of listening to customers and adding the functionality they really want. Does that mean everything is included in this upgrade? No. But I will say that I've been working happily in Mac OS 10.1 for the past few days, and haven't even had to launch Classic mode to get my work done. Here are a few reasons why.

Some of my favorite enhancements in 10.1

The more I use the operating system, the longer my list of cool features gets. But at some point I had to stop and publish this article, so here are some of my favorites to this point.

Screenshot.
The improved Show Info box is outstanding. Here I've changed the application association for a JPEG file to IE, even though I originally created it with Graphic Converter.

If some of these features are enticing to you, then read on and I'll show you what's involved with the upgrade.

What's included in the 10.1 upgrade package

The packaging of the 10.1 upgrade is terrific. The Mac OS X disc is snugly secured in a sturdy folder that also includes full-color, 34-page manual, the License Agreement, and a Mac OS 9.2.1 update CD.

Screenshot.
So you want to connect to an AppleTalk server? No problem in 10.1. Just use the handy "Connect to Server ..." command.

If you live within driving distance of a authorized Mac dealer, you should be able to pick up the 10.1 upgrade package for free during the month of October (according to Steve Jobs at the Seybold keynote address). You can also order the upgrade through the Apple Store for USD$19.99. I was fortunate to secure my copy for free at Seybold, and after putting it to use, I feel it's worth every penny.

The System 10.1 upgrade will only install if you already have a version of Mac OS X on your hard drive. If you haven't installed OS X yet, then you need to buy the full version of 10.1 for $129 from the Apple Store or authorized dealer.

Performing the 10.1 install

Comment on this articleIf you've upgraded to Mac OS 10.1, let's hear your comments about its performance. Make sure you include some information about the hardware you have. Also, if you have questions about the upgrade, post them here.
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Previously in this series:

The Disaster-Free Upgrade to Mac OS X -- You're tempted to upgrade to Mac OS X, but you need all the existing functionality of your laptop. Here's how to upgrade your laptop to OS X safely and still run your existing tools.

The Disaster-Free Upgrade to Mac OS X -- Part 2 -- In the second part of this two-part series, Derrick Story describes a safe migration to Mac OS X for laptop users.

Right off the bat, I noticed that Apple engineers have gone to great lengths to take the pain out of the software installation. I fired up Mac OS 10.0.4 on my Pismo, inserted the 10.1 upgrade CD, read the "Read Before You Install" PDF file, then double-clicked the "Install Mac OS X" installer icon.

As a side note: If you haven't updated your firmware for a while, I'd take a look at the information in the Firmware Updates folder located inside of the Utilities folder on the Mac OS X disc. For my Pismo, the 4.1.8 firmware update improves Firewire target disc mode, network booting, and overall system stability.

When you're ready to run the actual 10.1 installer, make sure you have your system administrator password handy, because you'll need it to proceed. Soon you'll be offered the "Easy" or the "Custom" install options. Unless you have some particular configuration in mind, I recommend the "Easy" option.

At this point, the computer goes on upgrade auto-pilot. It restarts and boots from the 10.1 upgrade disc, then begins the installation process. You might want to have a book on hand or consider catching up on television news, because the upgrade took about 25 minutes to complete on my Pismo.

Once the installer has finished, your Mac will automatically restart again, and you'll be greeted with a brand new OS 10.1 login screen. At this point, you can celebrate knowing that the upgrade was a success.

Next page: Updating Classic to 9.2.1

Updating Classic to 9.2.1

Now that you have Mac OS 10.1 up and running, you'll want to upgrade your Classic environment to OS 9.2.1. Why spend the time to upgrade this too since you already have 9.1 installed and running fine? There are two reasons: 1) Many non-Carbonized applications will run better in 9.2.1, and 2) 9.2.1 is faster. For example, in a very non-scientific test on my Pismo, OS 9.2.1 launched as Classic in 1 minute and 30 seconds. But it took OS 9.1 a full 2 minutes, 40 seconds to launch in Classic mode. And believe me, that 1 minute, 10 second difference feels like a lifetime when you're waiting to go back to work.

So now that I've talked you into updating your Classic environment, insert the 9.2.1 update disc, and read the "Update to Mac OS 9.2.1" PDF file. Then open the folder of the language of your choice (English, in my case), and double-click the updater icon.

Your Mac will launch Classic if it isn't already running, then verify the 9.2.1 updater to make sure everything is in order. Be patient because the verification takes a couple minutes.

After verification has completed, you'll notice that nothing seems to happen, and you might even start to wonder if something has gone out of whack. Fear not! Go back and look on your Mac OS X desktop, you'll see a Mac OS 9.2.1 Update volume sitting there. Double-click it and a window appears containing the Before You Install ReadMe file and the actual updater (plus Utilities and Software Installers folders that you really don't need to be concerned about at this point).

After scanning the ReadMe file, double-click on the "Mac OS Install" icon. You'll be greeted with the standard OS 9 sequence of install screens. The first one of consequence is the "Select Destination" screen. If you have a partitioned drive, as I recommended in the earlier Disaster-Free Upgrade articles, you actually have two System 9 folders on your computer -- one on the Mac OS X partition, and one on your other partition, which is your old OS 9 environment.

For now, I recommend that you leave your old environment alone. After all, the whole point of having it occupy half of your hard drive is to always have a stable fallback system in case you run into an incompatibility with these new system upgrades.

So for this update, choose "Mac OS X" as your destination disk.

Finally, you're presented with the "Install Software" screen. Unless you have a special situation, simply click the Start button and let the installer do all the work. If you need to adjust an aspect of the install for a specific reason, click the "Customize" button and make your changes before proceeding.

Once the update has finished, you only have one more step to complete. Go back to Mac OS X, open the System Preferences panel, and click on the Classic icon. If you have two System 9 volumes listed, as do those who have partitioned hard drives ala Disaster-Free recommendations, make sure that the Mac OS X volume is highlighted for Classic startup.

By doing this, you've instructed your Mac to launch the new 9.2.1 operating system on your Mac OS X partition instead of the older, slower 9.1 system on the other partition. Now you have the best Classic environment available.

Clean-up your dock

Your new 10.1 operating system has many enhancements and a couple application upgrades. It adds files to your various folders and to the menu bar at the top of the screen, but it doesn't necessarily update the icons on your Dock. Now it's time to do a little Dock housecleaning.

For example, I was using iTunes 1.1.1 with system 10.0.4. Great application. But I had seen in 10.1 demos that there were new iTunes controls available directly from the Dock icon. Much to my initial disappointment, I didn't see any of those enhancements when I launched iTunes after my upgrade.

Little did I know that 10.1 also installs a new version of iTunes, 1.1.2, in my Applications folder. But it didn't update the icon on my Dock. So I removed the old iTunes icon from the Dock, launched the new iTunes from the Applications folder, and added the new icon where the old one had resided. Now I have all the new iTunes features available to me via the Dock. I went on to check my other Dock icons and removed a number of outdated ones.

After you finish cleaning up your Dock, you might want to go through your Applications folder and trash the older versions of duplicate programs still in there.

Add new applications

If you haven't checked recently, there are lots of new applications available for Mac OS X users. One place you can see what's happening is on Apple's Mac OS X web page. Another terrific resource is the Software folder on your iDisk (you have signed up for iDisk, right?). I just checked my Mac OS X folder there and found lots of great applications waiting for me to play with.

You won't always find the exact application you're accustomed to using in OS 9, but there are many alternatives appearing that will work nicely and allow you to stay in Mac OS X as much as possible. Here are a few of my current favorites:

All of these applications allow me to stay in the Mac OS X environment without having to switch to Classic mode, or worse yet, reboot to my OS 9.1 partition. And we'll see this list grow considerably in the coming months.

A few words about performance

Apple promised improved performance in 10.1, and they delivered. Most of my applications now open within 2 to 4 bounces; this is a tremendous improvement over the 6 to 8 bounces I was enduring with Mac OS 10.0.4. Window behavior is also snappier, as is mousing and application controls.

Screenshot.
Uploading digital camera images just got a whole lot better with the included Image Capture application.

I ran a little DVD performance test on my Pismo where I moved the DVD playback screen around the desktop while the movie was playing. I had seen this test on a dual-processor G4, and no frames or audio were dropped. Even though my Pismo didn't fare quite as well at the G4, I was impressed with how the movie kept playing even as I harassed the application.

I did get some hesitation when I minimized a QuickTime movie during playback. The window did retreat to the Dock, but it did so with a little jerkiness, although it continued to play even after residing in the Dock.

All in all, not bad for an "old" G3 laptop.

I did find a way to make the operating system freak out, and that was by messing with the network settings while it is working online. But certainly, if I'm crazy enough to do that, I deserve what I get.

So, overall, I think Mac OS 10.1 is a thoughtful, well-executed upgrade. I feel comfortable recommending it to many more Mac users than previous versions of Mac OS X. If Apple continues to show this level of skill and commitment to their new operating system, I think it is well on its way to becoming the premier Unix desktop environment.

Derrick Story is the author of The Photoshop CS4 Companion for Photographers, The Digital Photography Companion, and Digital Photography Hacks, and coauthor of iPhoto: The Missing Manual, with David Pogue. You can follow him on Twitter or visit www.thedigitalstory.com.

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