Mac OS X 10.3.7 to improve FireWire drive compatibility

Apple Computer this afternoon seeded developers with build 7S210 of Mac OS X 10.3.7, a maintenance update to the company's "Panther" operating system, currently under development.

With this latest latest build, Apple has asked that developers focus their testing efforts on audio, printing, storage or audio-based FireWire devices, and graphic intensive games that utilize OpenGL.

In a three page seed note accompanying the build, Apple said that Mac OS X 10.3.7 will offer a compatibility fix for installing Xsan and improved DVD Player performance with ATI Radeon 9800 cards.

The company also informed developers that the update will improved compatibility with FireWire drives that have previously failed to mount. Developers testing this feature are encourage to power cycle their FireWire drives after installing the Mac OS X 10.3.7 updater.

Last week Apple seeded build 7S206 of Mac OS X 10.3.7, noting SMB printing compatibility between Mac OS X 10.3.7 and Windows Server 2003. Earlier builds have revealed improvements to FireWire Audio, better compatibility between PDF printing and HP raster printers, and color collaboration fixes.

Mac OS X 10.3.7 is reportedly scheduled for released within the next 4 weeks.