Section 15.1. Installing Mac OS X 10.4


15.1. Installing Mac OS X 10.4

If your computer came with Mac OS X 10.4 already installed on it, you can skip this write-upfor now.

But if you're running an earlier version of the Mac OS and want to savor the X experience, this chapter describes how to install the new operating system on your Mac. It also prepares you for the inevitable arrival of Mac OS X 10.5, 10.6, or whatever else comes down the pike.

15.1.1. Four Kinds of Installation

Mac OS X requires a Mac with a G3, G4, G5, or Intel processor, 1.5 gigabytes of free disk space, and (for reasonable speed) 256 megabytes of memory or more. If all of that checks out, then read on.

The Mac OS X installer can perform a number of different installations. For example, it can put a copy of Mac OS X 10.4 onto a hard drive that currently has:

  • Nothing on it . If you one day have to erase your hard drive completelybecause it's completely hosed, or, less drastically, because you you've bought a new, empty external hard drivesee "The Basic Installation" on the next page.

  • Mac OS 9 on the hard drive . See "The Basic Installation," below, for step-by-steps.

  • Mac OS X 10.0 through 10.3 . The 10.4 installer can turn your older copy of Mac OS X into the 10.4 version, in the process retaining all of your older preferences, fonts, documents, accounts, and so on. See "The Upgrade Installation" on the facing page.

    On the other hand, a substantial body of evidence ( specifically , hundreds of moaning Mac fans online) points to the wisdom of performing a clean install , described next, rather than an upgrade installation. (Apple calls this the "Archive & Install" option.) A clean installation provides a healthier, more glitch-proof copy of 10.4. See "The Clean Install" on Section 15.1.4.

  • Mac OS X 10.4 . In times of dire troubleshooting, you can actually give yourself a fresh copy of 10.4, even though 10.4 is already on the hard drive. This process is called a clean install , and it's an infinitely simpler procedure than the clean install in Windows. See "The Clean Install" on Section 15.1.4.

15.1.2. The Basic Installation

The installation process takes about an hour , but for the sake of your own psyche, you'll probably want to set aside a whole afternoon. Once the installation is over, you'll want to play around, organize your files, and learn the lay of the land.

Here's how you install Tiger onto a drive that doesn't have any version of Mac OS X on it already:

  1. Insert the Mac OS X DVD (or CD). Double-click the Install Mac OS X icon. When the Restart button appears, click it .

    The Mac starts up from the disc and takes you directly to the first Installer screen.

    The installer will soon fall into a pattern: Read the instructions, make a couple of choices, and click Continue to advance to the next screen. As you go, the list on the left side of the screen reveals where you are in the overall procedure.


    Tip: You can back out of the installation at any time before step 6, just by choosing Installer Quit Installer. When the Restart button appears, click it. Then eject the Mac OS X disc, either by holding down the mouse button while the computer restarts or, if you have a tray-loading CD drive, by pushing its eject button during the moment of darkness during the restart.

    Work your way through the Select Language screen, Welcome screen (scroll down for important information), and Software License Agreement screen, clicking Continue each time .

    The Software License Agreement requires you to click a button confirming that you agree with whatever Apple's lawyers say.

  2. On the Select a Destination screen, click the disk or partition on which you want to install Mac OS X .

    Icons for all of your disks (or partitions) appear on the screen, but ones that are off-limits to Mac OS X (like CDs and USB hard drives ) appear dimmed. Click the icon of the drive or partition that will be your new main startup drive.


    Note: If a yellow exclamation-point triangle logo appears on a drive, it probably has a newer version of Mac OS X on it. (Click it and read the message at the bottom of the dialog box to find out.) That's the case if you're trying to install from the original 10.4 DVD, but you already have 10.4.2 on the hard drive, for example. No problem; you should be reading "The Clean Install" instructions on Section 15.1.4 anyway.
  3. Click Continue .

    You arrive at the Easy Install screen. The easiest way to proceed here is to click Install. But you can save a few hundred megabytes of disk space if you take the time to click Customize.

    The Installer shows you a list of the various chunks that constitute Mac OS X. A few of them are easily dispensable. For example, if you turn off Additional Fonts, Language Translations (for Japanese, German, French, and so on), and the printer models that you don't own, you save a staggering 3.8 gigabytes . It's like getting a whole minihard drive for free!

  4. Click Install .

    Now you're in for a 25-minute wait as the Installer copies software onto your hard drive. (If you're working from CDs that you ordered, you'll be asked to insert Disc 2, Disc 3, and so on.)

    When the installer's finished, you see a message indicating that your Mac will restart in 30 seconds. If you haven't wandered off to watch TV, click the Restart button to end the countdown and get on with it.

Mac OS X is now installed on your Macbut you're not quite ready to use it yet. See "The Setup Assistant" on Section 15.1.6.


Note: Every kind of Tiger installation puts iCal, iTunes, Mail, Dictionary, Address Book, and Safari on your hard drive. But what if, in a fit of troubleshooting or carelessness, you find yourself wishing you could reinstall one of these programs? Or what if you declined to install the foreign-language fonts or printer drivers, and now change your mind?To install these on demand, double-click the Optional Installs installer on your Tiger DVD. It lets you choose which individual programs or "additional install" options you want, without making you install all of Tiger.

15.1.3. The Upgrade Installation

If Mac OS X version 10.0 through 10.3-point-anything is on your hard drive, the Tiger installer can neatly nip and tuck its software code, turning it into version 10.4. Everything remains just as you had it: your accounts, folders, files, email, network settings, everything-else settings, and so on.

As noted earlier, this sophisticated surgery occasionally leaves behind a minor glitch here and there: peculiar cosmetic glitches, a checkbox that doesn't seem to work, and so on. If that possibility concerns you, a clean install is a much safer way to go.

If you're still game to perform the upgrade installation, follow the preceding steps 1 through 3. On the Select Destination screen, however, click Options.

Now you're offered four variations of the basic installation. The one you want is Upgrade Mac OS X. Click it and then click OK. Proceed with the previous step 4. (The button described there now says Upgrade, though, instead of Install.)

15.1.4. The Clean Install

In Windows, the clean install is an essential last-ditch troubleshooting technique. It entails installing a second Windows foldera fresh one, uncontaminated by the detritus left behind by you and your software programs.

But in general, you and your software can't invade the Mac OS X System folder. The kind of gradual corruption that could occur in other operating systems is theoretically impossible in Mac OS X, and therefore the need to perform a clean install is almost completely eliminated.

That's the theory, anyway. In fact, somehow or other, things do go wrong with your Mac OS X installation. Maybe you or somebody else has been fiddling around in Terminal and wound up deleting or changing some important underlying files. Certain shareware programs can perform deep-seated changes like this, too.

The point is that eventually, you may wish you could just start over with a new, perfect copy of Mac OS X. And now, thanks to the new clean install ("Archive and Install") option, you canwithout having to erase the hard drive first.

Start by following the preceding steps 1 through 3. On the Select Destination screen, though, click Options. Now you're offered four kinds of installation. Turn on "Archive and Install." ("Preserve Users and Network Settings" should be on, too.)

This powerful option leaves all of your accounts (Home folders, documents, pictures, movies, Favorites, email, and so on) untouched . As the option's name implies, it also leaves your network and Internet settings alone. But it deactivates your old System folder (you'll find it, later, in a new folder called Previous System Folders) and puts a new one in its place. And that's exactly what you want.

Click OK and then continue with the previous step 4. When it's all over, you'll be confident that your Mac OS X installation is clean, fresh, and ready for action.

15.1.5. Erase & Install

The final installation option is called Erase & Install. As you can guess, it erases your entire hard drive and installs the ultimate clean, fresh, sparkling new copy of Tiger and its applications there. Use this "nuke-and-pave" option when you're about to sell your Mac and want to ensure that no trace of your former stuff is still there.

If you're absolutely certain that you won't regret completely erasing the computer , follow the preceding steps 1 through 3. On the Select Destination screen, though, click Options, and select Erase & Install. Continue with the previous step 4.

15.1.6. The Setup Assistant

When the Mac restarts after a basic installation, an Erase & Install installation, or an Archive and Install installation where you didn't also click "Preserve Users and Network Settings," the first thing you experience is some jazzy music and a fancy parade of 3-D, computer-generated translations of the word "Welcome." Once Apple is quite finished showing off its multimedia prowess, you arrive at a Welcome screen.

Once again, you're in for a click-through-the-screens experience, this time with the aim of setting up your Mac's various settings. After answering the questions on each screen, click Continue.

The number and sequence of information screens you'll encounter depend on whether you've upgraded an existing Mac or started fresh, but here are some possibilities:

  • Welcome . Click the name of the country you're in.

    (At the bottom of this screen is a special message for visually impaired people: "Do you need to hear instructions for setting up the Mac? To learn how to use VoiceOver to set up your computer, press the Escape key now." If you do so, you're treated to a crash course in VoiceOver, the screen-control/screen-reading software described on Section 13.23.2.)

  • Do you already own a Mac ? If you choose "Transfer my information from another Mac," the installer will assist you in sucking all of your old programs, files, folders, and settings from the old Mac to the new one. Of course, that won't help if you're switching from a Windows PC.

  • Select your Keyboard . Different countries require different keyboard layouts. For example, if you choose the Canadian layout, pressing the ] key on a U.S. keyboard produces the symbol. Click Continue.

  • Select a Wireless Service . This is your chance to introduce the Mac to any wireless networks in the vicinity. Click the network name you want to join, if you see it. If you don't see it, click Rescan to make the Mac sniff again in an attempt to locate the network. Or if there's no wireless service at allhey, it could happenclick Different Network Setup.

    In that event, you're offered choices like AirPort wireless, Telephone modem, Cable modem/DSL modem, Local network (Ethernet), and "My computer does not connect to the Internet." (Bummer!) When you click Continue, you may be asked for specific informationthe local access number, account name, password, and so onregarding your Internet account. See Section 9.1.2.3 for information on where you can find these settings on your old PC.

  • Enter your Apple ID . Here, you're offered the chance to type in, or create, an Apple IDwhich is your email address. An Apple ID doesn't cost anything, but it makes life easier if you want to buy songs from the iTunes Music Store, order gift books or prints from iPhoto, and so on. (If you have a .Mac accountsee Section 5.4.2put that account info here.)

  • Registration Information . This is your chance to become a grain of sand on the great beach of the Apple database (and set up your own "card" in Mac OS X's Address Book program).


    Tip: If you're not interested in providing your personal information to Apple, or if you've already done so during a previous install, press -Q. A message offers you Skip, Shut Down, and Cancel buttons . If you click Skip, you jump straight ahead to "Create Your Account," below.
  • A Few More Questions . Where will you primarily use this computer? What best describes what you do? Do you want to get junk mail from Apple?

  • Create Your Account . Most of the steps up to this point have been pretty inconsequential, but this is a big moment. You're about to create your account your Administrator account, in fact (Section 12.1.2).

    All you have to do is make up a nameusually a short variation of your nameand a password. Choose carefully , because you can't easily change your account name later. (If you're the only one who uses your Mac, it's perfectly OK to leave the password blank empty.)

    What you come up with here is extremely important, especially if several different people use this Mac at different times, or if other people connect to it on a network. See Section 12.1.5 for details on creating a password and a hint that will help you remember it.

  • Select Time Zone, Set the Date and Time . These screens help you set your Mac's built-in clocka surprisingly important step, because it determines how the files you create will know whether they are older or newer than other versions. (To change the date, either click the appropriate date on the calendar, or click its digits and then type over them using your keyboard. To change the time, you can either drag the clock's handsfun!or, again, click the digits above it and then retype.)

  • Your .Mac Billing Information . If you have a .Mac membership (Section 5.4.2), Apple cheerfully lets you know when it will expire.

  • Thanks for being a .Mac member . Aw, shucks.

  • Thank You . This screen clues you in on some of the excitement you're about to have with Tiger. When you click Go, you wind up at the Mac OS X desktop, just as described in Chapter 1.



Switching to the Mac[c] The Missing Manual
Switching to the Mac[c] The Missing Manual
ISBN: 1449398537
EAN: N/A
Year: 2006
Pages: 371

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