Jeff's Tiger review/tipsheet

(Page last updated 5/4/05)

General Upgrade Tips

Unless you have a pretty simple, relatively untouched system, I recommend choosing the "Archive and Install" option in the Tiger installer. My Powerbook hasn't really been modified much since the original Panther install so I just did a regular upgrade. However, with my "baby" (the G5) I did the archive and install option. Note that you need many, many gigs of free space to do this (like 4.6 I think?), but it's for the better.

Archive and Install does introduce some issues though. I actually ran out of disk space after the install so I immediately tossed the Previous Systems folder. That was a bad idea as it turns out, as some things needed files that weren't brought over in the installation process (see below).

Stuff that didn't work after the install

Adobe Photoshop CS2 - Had to reinstall since Application Support files were lost and I deleted the Previous System folder (oops). Also had to reactivate it, which was not a problem. I didn't have either of these problems on the Powerbook that I just did the upgrade for.

Belkin KVM - Long story short, I have a "hack" on my KVM so I can use a modern Apple keyboard with it. Now Tiger complains about it each time I restart.

Deja Vu - my backup software. it disappeared during the install and I can't reinstall since it's not compatible yet. Grr..

Macromedia Dreamweaver MX 2004 - Had to reactivate it; again only on the G5.

Printers - I had to setup my printers again. That took like 10 seconds.

Stuffit Expander - Had to reinstall

USB Overdrive - Had to reinstall

USBVision - I doubt any of you use this, but I do and it needed to be reinstalled.

Stuff that needed updating for Tiger compatibility

Airfoil - Great stuff if you have an Airport Express

BBEdit -- Okay, I didn't have to update it, but I did anyway. From version 7.1 to 8.2 ($49).

Ecto (blogging app) - It's still funky, the keyboard shortcuts don't seem to work properly.

Fire - now I'm using this instead of ICQ. I still use iChat too

Transmit - for all your FTP/SFTP needs

WeatherPop Advance - Even with the new widget I still use this!

Initial Impressions

The Powerbook updated without issues. The G5 locked up after the initial install but has been fine since. Dashboard crashed on the Powerbook a few times but has been rock solid on the G5. Everything feels a lot snappier (TM), especially on the G5.

Dashboard

Dashboard is basically a flashy ripoff of Konfabulator. If you've got a fancy Mac the "ripple" effect when a new widget appears is worth the upgrade alone. You get maybe 15 widgets in the base install and Apple lists even more here.

The built-in widgets that I am using include Flight Tracker (because it's cool), Dictionary, Conversions (goodbye BalancePro!), Yellow Pages, Weather (of course!), Calculator, Stocks (go DNA!) and Calendar. I also downloaded Package Tracker, Yahoo Local Traffic, JiWire WiFi Hotspot Finder, and VersionTracker. Hula Girl remains tempting.

Dashboard is one of those things which is a good idea but it needs refinement. Why can I keep some of these things on the desktop at all times? I don't want to have to hit F12 or go to a hotspot in the corner of the screen in order to see them. This is really annoying with the calculator, as the minute you return to your other apps the calculator is gone. I expect this will be changed in due time. Also, Dashboard crashed repeatedly on my Powerbook (though it's fine on my G5).

Update: You CAN keep widgets on the desktop after all! Go to the Dashboard and drag a new instance of a widget out of the tray on the bottom. Keep holding down that mouse button and put it wherever you want it to be. Now instead of letting go of the mouse button just press F12 and it'll stay on the screen at all times! Yes!

Hint: To close something on the dashboard, hold down option and mouse over the widget you want to close. The close box will appear!

Spotlight

I honestly didn't care about Spotlight before I bought Tiger, but now that I have it I'm really loving it. Spotlight is new search technology that's found throughout Tiger (including Mail and Safari). After it indexes the stuff on your hard drive it do find just about anything.

I like Disneyland, so let's search for that:

You can see that it found e-mails, images, files, and music related to Disneyland. If I was better at categorizing things the results would've been even more accurate. Let's say you click
"Show All" -- here's what you'll get

As you can see, you now have all kinds of options when it comes to viewing your search results. I should add that all these results load almost instantly -- it's really impressive.

As I learned, Dashboard is a great way to load files that aren't easy to find too. Need to load Automator (something I haven't really explored yet) and it's not in the dock? Just hit Command-Space and start typing it:

Now that's time saving!

Mail 2.0

This is one app that got hit hard by the ugly stick. What did they do to it? And why did they take away the status line that said things like "Downloading message 3 of 2032" -- I don't want to open the activity monitor!

Also, Mail doesn't seem to remember the column widths. For example, when I change to my Junk folder to look for something that shouldn't be there and go back to the Inbox, the column widths are messed up again. Grrr...

Spotlight has made it into Mail, as you can see above. It's pretty easy to use and a great to find what you're looking for. You know, like when you're looking for false positives in your junk folder.

Speaking of finding stuff, the new Smart Mailbox feature works as advertised. Here I set one up to find anything related to Disneyland (just an example, really!).

If you get a lot of e-mail with pictures in it, the new Slideshow feature is for you. Just click one button in your message and the images can be viewed full screen one by one, or in thumbnail view like so:

You can easily jump from one picture to another by clicking on the one you want. And yes, Jackson loves getting baths.

Safari 2.0

Okay so it's a little faster and that's nice. And there's also an RSS reader which is all I'm going to show:

And that's it... you can bookmark RSS feeds just like any other website. You can also search the feed, change how much is shown on screen, etc, etc. On some websites you can click the RSS button in the location bar to jump right to the feed, though it hasn't worked on most of the sites that I've tried.

Dictionary

I didn't even know this existed until after I started writing this! So far I've only tested this in Mail, Ecto, and Safari but if you mouse over any word and press Command-Control-D you'll get this:

Boy do I need this sometimes! Pressing "more" opens the Dictionary application like so:

Nice!! With the click of a button it can also be used as a thesaurus. I wonder if the data is stored locally or if it's retrieved over the web (that would be my guess)?

Update: Per Jon's comment below, the dictionary is stored locally.

You can find the Dictionary app in the Applications folder.

QuickTime 7

Okay, if you have a G5 and lots of bandwidth then you must go to Apple's QuickTime HD gallery and watch the sample movies. They are awesome -- H.264 rules!

Don't you just love the irony of the sample movie that I watched? My screen isn't even wide enough to display it (upgrade time? haha).

Being an avid QuickTime user, I quickly shelled out the $30 for QuickTime Pro.

References

MacInTouch Tiger Report, Software Updates, Incompatibilities
MacCentral Tiger Software Update Summary
macosxhints
MacUpdate
Apple Tiger homepage
Apple Dashboard downloads
QuickTime HD gallery

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Okay that's all for now... I still have much more exploring to do! If you have any tips, questions, or comments, leave'em below!