Slash Lane
Apple Inc. on Monday provided its developer community with yet another small update to its upcoming Leopard operating system, this time adding a couple of bug fixes and proceeding with tests on the system's software update mechanism.
Instead, Apple reportedly initiated the release to test "new features" of Leopard's embedded Software Update mechanism. It also repaired issues with wireless networking and RAW image viewing under the next-gen OS, expected to be released sometime later this month.
Apple issued two similar automatic software updates for Leopard testers about 10 days ago, with which it also claimed to be evaluating the system's software updater. The company then quickly followed up with a full-blown Leopard build release in which it instructed testers with HP printers to deselect any and all HP printer drivers from the Leopard installer. Apple said those drivers could be obtained via Leopard's Software Update mechanism once the new build had been installed.
It was later disclosed to MacNN that HP and Apple are working together to allow users of the finalized version of Mac OS X Leopard to instantly receive the the latest versions of HP's printer drivers over a new version of Software Update that will ship with the operating system later this month.
"HP has a large market share with Apple customers and is very pleased that Apple has chosen HP drivers and software to test with the latest Leopard developer seed and software update process," a representative for HP said.
Apple has said it plans to release Leopard in October and recent pre-release builds of the software are believed to be approaching release candidate status, if they are not already considered as such.
AppleInsider also recently cited sources who note that Apple in recent weeks determined that it would need to increased the requirements for Leopard to exclude 800MHz PowerPC G4-based system. Instead, it's now believed the software will now require Macs with "an Intel processor or a PowerPC G4 (867 MHz or faster) or G5 processor." Other system requirements will include a DVD drive, built-in FireWire, at least 512MB of RAM (additional recommended), and at least 9GB of hard disk space.
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Wesley Hilliard
AppleInsider Staff
Andrew Orr
Amber Neely
William Gallagher
32 Comments
It'll go GM tomorrow or the next day or the next or the next day or...
I have had nothing but problems with the Software Updater--only Leopard issue I have--since the last update to it just prior to the 9A559 release. It will download some data and then stalls. It will sit there indefinitely doing that. I have to Quit (not Force Quit) Software Updater and restart it. The silver lining is that it keeps a record of the data from the previous download so it can start where it left off. This 1.5MB download took three attempts to get the whole thing. I hope this one fixes it.
F**k, I thought it was a bomb to blow up Aqua, darn.
This can't be the GM just yet. One of the known issues with 9A559 was a risk of data corruption when upgrading a PowerPC machine. You can't fix corrupt data with Software Update.
Does the Automatic Updates window still say there are new updates after you've installed all the available updates? I can see why it does, but it's always bothered me just a bit...