Howto Upgrade to Mac OS X Snow Leopard

I completed my upgrade to Snow Leopard (Mac OS X 10.6) on Friday (driving by the Apple Store twice was more than my restraint could take) and it is very easy to say that writing this HowTo will take more time than I spent on the install of Snow Leopard.

The total install time was about 1.5 hours, but I less than 3 minutes (including screen shots).  I started at 22:26:55 per the first screen shot and entered the admin password to start file copying at 22:28:16.  A blazing  2 minutes and 15 seconds.  And if you are wondering, those screen shots are the actuals from the install, not ones taken afterwards for this post.

Here are the step by step instructions.
1. If you don't use Time Machine (shame on you) then make sure you have a good backup.  If you use Time Machine,  you should be covered.
2. Insert the Snow Leopard Install DVD.  You will be presented with the following window.  Double click the Install Mac OS X icon to start.

3. At the next screen, you can simply press continue, unless you want to access any of the utilities (including Disk Utilities) which you may need if you are doing a clean install, but for Snow Leopard, an Upgrade over your current operating system is the recommendation from Apple and is what this HowTo assumes.

4. After pressing continue, the installer will search for your hard disk.

5. You may want to check out the optional components to install.  To display the optional components, select the Customize button.  For my install,  I deselected Language Translations to save some disk space.  If you have older Mac applications, you may want to select Rosetta.

6. Once you have chosen your options, you can go back to the install screen.  Select the Install button and you will be presented with an authentication box.  Type in your administration user name and password, click OK and the install will proceed without further input required from you.  At the completion of the upgrade, your mac will reboot and you will be running Snow Leopard.

Post Install Notes.
For the most part every application I have works, except Microsoft Sync, which does not seem to be able to connect to the Microsoft Sync Web Site.

Some applications, such as Mail, will perform an upgrade the first time you start them, and certain other items (for example the iPhoto based screen saver settings I use) may need to be tweaked.

But overall, you can expect a simple, painless upgrade that leaves you with a faster, more robust operating system and a few (only a few) handy features.

Snow Leopard is out and why I'm choosing to upgrade

Apple's Lastest Version of Mac OS X (10.6), known as Snow Leopard, releases today.

I don't know how soon I'll upgrade, but at $29, I will definitely be upgrading.  As with any upgrade, you should make sure you are getting your moneys worth.

With a $29 price tag, that should be pretty easy, but the four features for me that I am looking forward to (and using to justify the $29) are:

• 64-Bit and Grand Central Multiprocessing ... This provides what apparently is a significant performance boost.  Since my Mac Mini is over 2 years old, any performance boost is a welcomed addition.
• Quick Time X.  This update to quicktime has a few nicities that will make dealing with video clips easier.  With my new Flip camera and every cell phone and digital still camera able to take video clips, the ability to quickly trim and share these right from Quick Time without pulling up iMovie will be a benefit.  Also, Quick Time X has a feature that allows you to record your screen (screencast) without using third party apps.  
• Built-in Cisco VPN support.  A nice features that eases the use of a Mac in todays business environment, wether it is just for logging in using my home Mac, or perhaps helping with the introduction of Macs for work, we will see.
• Exchange Support.  Like the Cisco support, this is a push at helping to integrate the Mac into thw workplace.  Even though I won't be taking my Mini to work, this is a feature that I desire for the future, so I'll chip in a bit now.
  

The Flip Video and Battery Pack Charging

I just got a new Flip Ultra HD, and it is a pretty nice piece of technology, small size, HD resolution, 2 hrs of video and it supports both a rechargable battery pack as well as being able to use AA batteries. In general, I am very happy with my new Flip (http://theflip.com/).

 

I have been having a specific problem though, and it is related to charging the Flip via it's USB connector.  Typically when I have gone to charge the Flip, I often get an error message stating

"Charging has been paused, please check battery pack".

This is very frustrating, and reduces my confidence in the product.  I contacted technical support and they responded with the following:

If your battery pack is not charging properly, please try the following:

1. remove the battery pack from the camcorder
2. connect the camcorder to a powered USB port on your computer
3. when the "Connected" indicator comes on, insert the battery pack into the camcorder
4. safe eject your camcorder from your computer
5. reconnect your camcorder to your computer
6. the battery pack should now begin to charge within the camcorder

 So I tried this and it seems to resolve the issue on my Dell laptop, however the issue periodically persists on my Mac Mini. 

 

I contacted Tech Support again and they are suggesting that the Flip needs to be replaced and has sent an RMA.  I have hesitated to complete that request for a few reasons, I want to confirm that they will be sending a new Flip and not a refurbished one and I want to try a few more tests to make sure it is not some other random problem with other devices connected to the USB that are consuming too much power, causing the charge not to happen.

 

Stay tuned