Radio UserLand Notes

OK. Tiger is cool. Let's get that out of the way first.

Dashboard now makes sense once I've had time to arrange it. Press F12 and you get a variety of goodies: weather, time, calendar, dictionary and more.

Spotlight is fast on a G3/700 with 640MB of RAM. Use it--it's like Google's Gmail searching. Don't think, just search.

The new Mail.app? Still getting used to it, but the searching there is fast. I'm looking forward to smart folders and such.

Rex Hammock: back up and install the Tiger. I found out what my Backup and restore issue was--I was doing too much at once. After the first reboot, get everything set but don't run any apps, then reboot again. Restore from backup and you're done. Mail.app correctly imported junk mail settings, address book, keychain, rules, everything.

More tomorrow after I've had it for 24 hours. A solid upgrade--nothing earth-shattering--but worth my money.

Reboot went fine. Walking through the setup screens. You are asked for your Apple ID--fine--but it includes this text:

"If you don't have an Apple ID, just click Continue. You will set one up later."

Ominous. What if I don't want to set one up later?

I've started the install after running Backup and manually copying some files. My copy of Radio is running on a remote PC, allowing me to post during the process.

First impressions of the install are good. Upon opening the box, I noticed a nice bonus: a "trial" version of iWork '05. Interesting to see how it works and is "activated" into a working version. The rest of the box contained the typical EULA, instructions and proof-of-purchase coupons.

My steps:

I inserted the DVD, read the "read me" and ran the backup. I double-clicked the install app, fed it my password and waited for the reboot. Machine came back up and the install dialog appeared, arranged vertically instead of horizontally at first. Moving along, I chose "erase" instead of archive because my backup will have all of the important stuff and I don't want to chance another type of install. Next, I chose custom install and deselected a load of unneeded languages and printer drivers. Note: Lexmark and HP drivers take up nearly 300MB a piece. I use one type of Lexmark printer and three types of HP. No where did I get the option to only install drivers for *my* printers. Yuk. Finally, I reviewed my choices, doublechecked settings and hit "continue".

The installer spent nearly 5 mintues checking my DVD, a fact I found curious. Copy protection maybe? It's installing the basics now. Side note: BSD subsystem is no longer an option to check/uncheck during install. Let's hope it's there by default.

More after the reboot.