Computer Related > Apple OS X Mavericks - Available and Free Miscellaneous
Thread Author: rtj70 Replies: 38

 Apple OS X Mavericks - Available and Free - rtj70
They seem to have dropped the Mac bit, but OS X Mavericks (so OS X 10.9) is out and is free. Last upgrades have been cheap but this is free. I might risk an upgrade on the iMac if I run a backup tonight. I might then do a full clean install. I've had this Mac since 2009 and done upgrades each year - if this was a Windows machine I'd have done a clean install long ago :-)
 Apple OS X Mavericks - Available and Free - Zero
Let me know how it goes, thinking of doing my MB air.
 Apple OS X Mavericks - Available and Free - rtj70
I downloaded it last night - about 5.3GB. Now need to decide on when to upgrade. Toying with the idea of a clean install and then restore files/apps from a backup. Although I might as well try an upgrade first.

If it works like the 10.8 Mountain Lion install, it should be painless and fairly quick.
 Apple OS X Mavericks - Available and Free - rtj70
Well I ran the install and it took about 45 minutes to complete. Your Macbook Air with an SSD will probably be quicker. Came back to it now to have a look. A few cosmetic differences are apparent but it looks very similar to Mac OSX 10.8 (Mountain Lion). They don't feel the need to tinker with the UI like Microsoft did with Windows 8.

I wonder when what is now known as OSX (the Mac bit is dropped) will show up on iPhones and iPads? iOS of course is a variant of OSX but cut down. Now we have 64-bit ARM processors in the top end iPhone and iPad it would make sense to use the same OS.

One thing you now get is Apple Maps... not sure if that's a benefit or not with Google maps available online. And Safari is now version 7.
Last edited by: rtj70 on Wed 23 Oct 13 at 20:31
 Apple OS X Mavericks - Available and Free - rtj70
For anyone with more than one Mac to upgrade, a tip is to copy the 'Installation Application' somewhere safe before letting it run the install. It will delete the package when the install is complete and you'd need to download the 5.3GB again.

If you want to do a clean install (it's an upgrade) then you need to write the installation to a USB drive. And reboot with the USB drive inserted and the Option key depressed.
 Apple OS X Mavericks - Available and Free - R.P.
Going to take my 13" MacBook to work today and plug it into their 72mb feed - I'll consider whether to update the older one afterwards.
 Apple OS X Mavericks - Available and Free - rtj70
Take a copy of the Application that gets installed for the upgrade. It gets deleted after the install is complete. If you copy this 5.3GB file onto the older machine (assuming it will support Mavericks) then you don't need to download it again.

In actual fact, the Application is a container where the important file is a disk image file (dmg) in the application container.
 Apple OS X Mavericks - Available and Free - Zero
did it keep all your apps and data in place?
 Apple OS X Mavericks - Available and Free - rtj70
Yes I've kept all the apps. The upgrade was like all of the other OS X upgrades. The only app it flagged (more a plugin) that's not supported was Flip4Mac. I did check for upgrades on a few apps I had installed before I did the upgrade and made sure OS X itself was also up to date before installing.

What I did do before I installed was to take a full backup first. But you'll be doing that as well I would imagine. You can use Carbon Clone Copy trial for 30 days and that will make a full bootable backup on a USB drive. It will even flag you should have the hidden recovery partition on the cloned drive too and sort it for you.
 Apple OS X Mavericks - Available and Free - rtj70
I said I used CCC - got the words the wrong way. It's Carbon Copy Cloner. An alternative is Super Duper!
Last edited by: rtj70 on Fri 25 Oct 13 at 15:23
 Apple OS X Mavericks - Available and Free - Zero
Installed, less than an hour inc download, all working super dooper on my MB air.

Seems a bit perkier too.
Last edited by: Zero on Sun 27 Oct 13 at 21:26
 Apple OS X Mavericks - Available and Free - rtj70
>> Seems a bit perkier too.

I did some cleanup before I installed like running Onyx. But I think it's running better. I thought of a clean install because occasionally I'd get the 'spinning beach ball' but not anymore so no need to clean install for now.

OS X 10.9 is more a tune up under the hood so is meant to improve battery life for some MacBooks and also supports memory compression. Not seen the latter in operation yet because I've got 8GB and it seems to be caching a fair bit. Could test soon.

Whether I install this yet on my Core i7 2600K 16GB 'Mac' is another thing. That runs fine and very fast anyway.
 Apple OS X Mavericks - Available and Free - R.P.
Did my 13" MAcBookPro overnight - slow download here at the moment. Works like a dream - feels quicker. Will do the same with the 15" tonight.
 Apple OS X Mavericks - Available and Free - rtj70
I hope you copied the 5.3GB download before running the install on the 13" Macbook Pro. Otherwise you'll have to download all of it again. If you took a copy then you can use that on the 15" tonight.
 Apple OS X Mavericks - Available and Free - Zero
where did it store the download?
 Apple OS X Mavericks - Available and Free - rtj70
When you download it from the App store it is in the Applications folder. It is a package/container that includes the disk image for the install - and a few resources etc too. If you don't move/copy it from the Application folder when you run the install, it will then remove the application/package when it has completed the install.

You can download it again but that's another 5.3GB which depending on speed of connection and any monthly usage caps might be an issue. Hence me saying higher up in the thread to copy the package somewhere if you intend installing it again or on something else.
 Apple OS X Mavericks - Available and Free - R.P.
It was a one off download - I'll do it again for the 15" - just let it cook overnight. Safari whizzes along now a lot quicker than Chrome. Seems to do what I expected.
 Apple OS X Mavericks - Available and Free - rtj70
I'd let it download overnight, then copy the 5.3GB file/app for future use. And only then do the upgrade. From the downloaded package you can create a bootable install from a USB drive (only way to do a clean install). Might come in handy.

Although if the MacBook's a recent you can boot into recovery mode and boot/install over the Internet.
 Apple OS X Mavericks - Available and Free - Zero
Ok, that was a bad move.

My copy of Lotus Symphony is not working now,

When I have apps on full screen mode, moving the mouse to the bottom does not bring up the dock.


The new updated copy of iMovie stinks, and the iPhoto library is not compatible with the old one.


All in all, I should have stuck with the old one.
Last edited by: Zero on Tue 29 Oct 13 at 09:16
 Apple OS X Mavericks - Available and Free - Crankcase
Ah well, you see, never upgrade to version 10.9 of anything.

 Apple OS X Mavericks - Available and Free - VxFan
>> All in all, I should have stuck with the old one.

Just like you've done with your iPhone IOS.
 Apple OS X Mavericks - Available and Free - Zero
yer
 Apple OS X Mavericks - Available and Free - rtj70
You didn't need to upgrade iMovie or iPhoto - but it does keep the old iMovie and it could be reinstalled if you have the source disk/files. Or if you had done a backup just restore the iMove app and remember not to upgrade it if you're offered the chance. They have also apparently dumbed down the iWorks apps to make them more like the iOS versions.

You are complaining about upgraded apps - the OS is working fine for me. And maybe there's an update to Symphony? Anyway you can always put it back how it was by restoring the back you took before you ran the upgrade.
Last edited by: rtj70 on Tue 29 Oct 13 at 12:29
 Apple OS X Mavericks - Available and Free - Zero
>> You didn't need to upgrade iMovie or iPhoto - but it does keep the old
>> iMovie and it could be reinstalled if you have the source disk/files.

Thanks for the clue, the old one was left behind in the apps folder. I have dumped the new one.

 Apple OS X Mavericks - Available and Free - rtj70
I did wonder if they had done something with iMovie which was as step-backwards when I spotted the old one there. I've not looked at the new iMovie yet. I tend to only use it to make photo slide shows with transitions (exported as an MP4 file).
 Apple OS X Mavericks - Available and Free - Zero
reluctantly dumped the lotus suite off and installed libre. There will not be a fix coming out of IBM, the product is end of life.
 Apple OS X Mavericks - Available and Free - Zero
and now I find CC cleaner is not working.


 Apple OS X Mavericks - Available and Free - rtj70
I didn't realise Piriform offered CC Cleaner for the Mac. I'm not sure a Mac needs something like CC Cleaner, assuming it does similar to the Windows app. I've just downloaded the free version and it's installed.... and indeed they say OS unsupported. I'm sure they will update it. I'd say try Onyx but the version I have installed doesn't support Mavericks either :-)
 Apple OS X Mavericks - Available and Free - swiss tony
>> All in all, I should have stuck with the old one.
>>

Just go back to the old one then!
 Apple OS X Mavericks - Available and Free - rtj70
>> When I have apps on full screen mode, moving the mouse to the bottom does not bring up the dock.

The limited number of apps I've checked do show the dock... might be something on your setup preventing this?
Last edited by: rtj70 on Tue 29 Oct 13 at 22:12
 Apple OS X Mavericks - Available and Free - Zero
>> >> When I have apps on full screen mode, moving the mouse to the bottom
>> does not bring up the dock.
>>
>> The limited number of apps I've checked do show the dock... might be something on
>> your setup preventing this?

No because its variable, it does work eventually if you keep wiggling the mouse off the bottom of the screen. Its a bug.
 Apple OS X Mavericks - Available and Free - rtj70
I'd follow the advice on by the likes of RF then that you don't install an initial release of Apple operating system. I'm happy with the upgrade - performance seems to be as good as when this iMac was new.

Sorry if my positive experience (and I did take an initial risk) was an influence to upgrades. But I did say take a bootable backup.
 Apple OS X Mavericks - Available and Free - Zero

>> No because its variable, it does work eventually if you keep wiggling the mouse off
>> the bottom of the screen. Its a bug.

Smells like a screen driver issue. Problem goes away if I chose another (not optimal) resolution. The native resolution for this panel is ever so slightly badly timed. Its a couple of thou left and a couple of thou low.
 Apple OS X Mavericks - Available and Free - Rudedog
My son did the upgrade on his MacBook so I thought I'd give it a try but although I have the right level of OS it seems my MacBook is a year too old, not sure what I'm missing for Mavericks not to run?
 Apple OS X Mavericks - Available and Free - Zero
that'll be an unsupported video card.
 Apple OS X Mavericks - Available and Free - Fandango
I´m still not sure bout the upgrade since my last two Updates (ios7 on a iphone4 and Leopard vs Lion on an older iMac) were definetly NO good decisions and I regret both of them til now.
So, to all you "Mavericks" out there. Are you still happy about it or do you wish you´d never done it?
 Apple OS X Mavericks - Available and Free - rtj70
I'm happy with Mavericks on my iMac (2009 model) with 8GB RAM, my MacBook Pro 13" Retina (2013) also 8GB RAM, and my Hackintosh (Intel i7 2600K, 16GB RAM). The iMac just seems a bit slow these days launching things but the Macbook Pro and the Hackintosh both have SSDs.

Some programs I had didn't support Mavericks straight away but updates have been made - I'm thinking utilities here like Onyx or CC Cleaner.

If you upgrade a Mac that's fairly new, you can also install the later versions of iLife too. I wouldn't get newer iLife on the older iMac but did on the Macbook Pro. So copied that over to the iMac. But the later version of iMovie is a bit cut down but it does leave the older iMovie on the Mac too.
Last edited by: rtj70 on Fri 24 Jan 14 at 14:23
 Apple OS X Mavericks - Available and Free - Zero
Its a POS. Wish I had never moved.

.*********

There is no reason to move, so don't do it.


(and don't mention the latest version of iMovie - I would cheerful kill the prick that rewrote that)


Edit - so many bad words in there the swear filter blocked it all.
Last edited by: Zero on Fri 24 Jan 14 at 19:39
 Apple OS X Mavericks - Available and Free - rtj70
Why not take a full backup of apps/data/etc then:

1. Reinstall Mac OSX 10.8
2. Restore the files and applications from your TimeMachine backup?

Just a thought if you wish you'd not upgraded. If it all went wrong you could restore the full Time Machine backup to make it 10.9 again. But I've wiped a machine, rebuilt it and then restored only data and some apps.

Make sure you totally wipe the drive because there is the hidden restore partition which is used to grab OSX from the Internet to re-install.
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