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Patrick Chinn
pchinn@oregon.uoregon.edu
Mac OS X brings countless changes for technical support personnel, and the
differences between Mac OS X and its predecessors can seem overwhelming. After
using and supporting Mac OS X since its days as a beta release, I've
discovered that drawing on the similarities between the two operating systems
makes the transition easier. To that end, this article will compare and contrast
Mac OS X and its immediate predecessor, Mac OS 9.
In prior versions of Mac OS the location of a file was noted using a path,
with the colon ( : ) separating objects. Mac OS X shows its Unix underpinnings
by using the forward slash ( / ) in place of the colon.
For instance, the Preferences folder in Mac OS 9 is located in Macintosh
HD:System Folder:Preferences. In Mac OS X the system-wide Preferences files
are located in /Library/Preferences. Note that the name of the volume
is omitted in Mac OS X and included in Mac OS 9. The leading slash is meant
to indicate the root of the volume, regardless of its name.
The other difference in convention is the use of the tilde character ( ~ ).
Because each user on Mac OS X system has a folder in /Users, we use tilde to
mean "the home directory of the user currently logged in." Since each
user has his or her own folder full of preference files as well, the path is
shown as /Users/~/Library/Preferences. (Often the leading /Users/
is omitted since the location of the user home directory does not change, leaving
us with ~/Library/Preferences in shorthand.)
BSD Unix, on which Mac OS X is built, is case and space sensitive, so watch
what you type at the command prompt. File or folder names with spaces need to
be enclosed with single or double quotes.
CLI is short for Command Line Interface (think Unix) and is new to the Macintosh.
You can issue commands using the Terminal application (found in /Applications/Utilities).
Mac OS X does not require knowledge of Unix; you can learn most of what you
need to know on the fly with the help of a good Unix reference book.
Currently, you can perform most repair and recovery functions by using a host
of freeware applications available on the Internet (see http://www.versiontracker.com/macosx/).
Many of these programs are simply GUI shells that perform command line functions.
Knowing how these utilities work behind the scenes is not required, although
possessing a conceptual understanding will help.
Helpful applications include Carbon Copy Cloner, which copies the Mac OS X
files and your data to another volume, and Process Wizard, a menu bar/daemon
combination that allows you to fine tune process priorities.
On startup Mac OS X loads the core operating system from the System directory.
It then launches the items in /Library/StartupItems. (This folder is
analogous to Mac OS 9's "Startup Items" folder, although it's used
more frequently in Mac OS X to start background processes.) The next step is
to enter your username and password, and the Finder loads.
The new Finder performs much like the one in Mac OS 9. The major difference
is that OS X's Finder is just another application.
Mac OS X does not have control panels and extensions, eliminating potential
concern with extension conflicts and startup crashes.
Control Panels have been replaced by preference panes, which are accessible
from the Apple menu or from the Dock. Most preference panes have similar functions
between the two operating systems. User-added preference panes are located in
~/Library/PreferencePanes.
Extensions have been replaced by background applications, sometimes referred
to as a service, process or daemon, depending on its function. For instance,
the auto-protect feature of Norton AntiVirus runs as a background process that
checks for virus activity as you work.
Applications run in their own protected memory space so if one application
freezes or crashes nothing else is affected. In this event, you'd simply force
quit the application (option-command-escape) and continue to work. Mac OS X
version 10.1 and later have proved to be very stable.
The Library is a significant addition to Mac OS X. It is the repository for
files that are system-related (fonts, preference files, ColorSync profiles)
but not core system software (System, Finder, BootX). Open the Library folder
and take a look around.
When applications behave badly, sometimes the cause is a damaged preferences
file. The solution is to simply remove the damaged file and allow the program
to create a new one. Finding preference files in Mac OS 9 was easy: they are
located in the Preferences folder in the System folder.
Mac OS X handles preference files differently due to its multi-user design.
System-wide preferences are stored in /Library/Preferences. Each user also has
his own set of preference files located in ~/Library/Preferences.
Just as in Mac OS 9, these preference files can be removed, as the application
will recreate the file.
When troubleshooting preference file problems in any version of Mac OS, I recommend moving the preference file to the desktop rather than deleting it. If the file is not the source of the problem simply drop the file back into the folder from where it came.
Configuring network connections is greatly simplified compared to Mac OS 9.
In X, connections are configured using the Network preference pane. Each network
interface--such as Ethernet, modems, and wireless cards--has its own set of
configuration tabs specific to the type of device.
In Mac OS 9, various interfaces and protocols had to be configured using a
variety of control panels. Mac OS X pulls all of these elements together into
one preference pane.
Modems and wireless cards, which require additional information to make a connection,
are first configured in the Network preference pane and then later controlled
by an application called "Internet Connect" ( /Applications/ ).
For modem users, Internet Connect is the Remote Access control panel of Mac
OS X. From here you can dial and disconnect modem connections. Internet Connect
is also the place to configure Airport wireless cards.
As mentioned earlier, Apple has retired the Chooser. To find and log in to
a server, select "Connect to a server..." from the "Go"
menu. You can simply type the name of the server you wish to access or use the
browser to find it.
Apple has greatly depreciated AppleTalk in Mac OS X, so the servers are not
listed by AppleTalk zone. Instead, they're grouped into one large listing. Fortunately,
users can add frequently accessed servers to their favorites list.
Mac OS X also supports WebDAV (web-based storage systems like iDisk) and SMB
(old style Windows server protocol) for expanded connectivity.
For printing, Apple has removed the Chooser and replaced it with Print Center.
This application creates and manages local print queues.
Print Center is located in /Applications/Utilities/ and functions much like
the Desktop Printer software found in Mac OS 9, although Apple has included
improved support for printing via TCP/IP.
Non-postscript printers, mainly inkjets, require printer-specific drivers to
function. Apple says that most USB-compatible printers by Epson, Hewlett-Packard,
and Canon are supported out of the box. Postscript-compatible printers generally
work well, but you can gain additional functionality by using the PPD specific
to your chosen printer.
Since Mac OS X eschews AppleTalk for TCP/IP, Print Center has built-in support
for printing via LPR (a fancy way of saying you can print using TCP/IP). In
Mac OS 9, you had to use a separate application to configure a desktop printer
to print via TCP/IP.
This comparison of Mac OS 9 and Mac OS X covers some of the bigger differences. There are many other minor changes that are too numerous to cover here.