macgirl Posted June 9, 2008 Share Posted June 9, 2008 "Contrary to rumors that Apple would drop PowerPC architecture support with its newest OS, a tipster and possible Apple insider was able to get his hands on the most recent build of the yet-to-be released 10.6, and found some evidence that Cupertino might be keeping the chip alive." http://gizmodo.com/5014251/source-os-x-106...t-powerpc-chips Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Master Posted June 9, 2008 Share Posted June 9, 2008 Well, what a surprise. No way Apple will write off the G5 for at least another two product cycles. Duh. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A Nonny Moose Posted June 9, 2008 Share Posted June 9, 2008 Idiots will believe any rumor. It's nice to see some facts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
borisbadenov Posted June 10, 2008 Share Posted June 10, 2008 You can do better than that...yeah, we get it snow leopards...no spots...and spots = features. But, animals in colder climates have more body mass..and Snow Leopard is supposed to be a lightweight..Oh!! I get it..Snow is Light, Right?? I think its just confusing...couldn't you have picked a better name?? And wow, this announcement comes so fast after Leopard's release. Imagine what the world would say if Microsoft announced such a release after a major OS upgrade? Well, We can sort of see it with Windows 7. That Microsoft got Vista wrong. But Jobs? Oh no, this will be an improvement. (this was typed with sarcasm) How about just making an OS that does not rely on major updates every two or three months? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ai Haibara Posted June 10, 2008 Share Posted June 10, 2008 We have got some proofs now http://www.macrumors.com/c.php?u=http%3A%2...mp;t=1213100103 As you can see, all the applications (well, except Boot Camp) are still Universal Binaries, so there's no doubt Snow Leopard will support PowerPC processors (or at least, it's supporting them now). Now, talking about the lack of new features. I don't think it's right to say "Snow Leopard has no new features": it's more like it has A LOT of new features, but they're under the hood. Let me just quote some of them from the Apple page: • Multicore: “Grand Central,” a new set of technologies built into Snow Leopard, brings unrivaled support for multicore systems to Mac OS X. More cores, not faster clock speeds, drive performance increases in today’s processors. Grand Central takes full advantage by making all of Mac OS X multicore aware and optimizing it for allocating tasks across multiple cores and processors. Grand Central also makes it much easier for developers to create programs that squeeze every last drop of power from multicore systems. This seems pretty good, uh? Finally an OS that can run at incredible speeds even in low-clock situations and that can redistribute tasks over many cores. • Media layer: Using media technology pioneered in OS X iPhone, Snow Leopard introduces QuickTime X, a streamlined, next-generation platform that advances modern media and Internet standards. QuickTime X features optimized support for modern codecs and more efficient media playback, making it ideal for any application that needs to play media content. Finally an update about QuickTime Media layer! It was just too old to run all the new graphics effects at a decent speed. • OpenCL Another powerful Snow Leopard technology, OpenCL (Open Compute Library), makes it possible for developers to efficiently tap the vast gigaflops of computing power currently locked up in the graphics processing unit (GPU). With GPUs approaching processing speeds of a trillion operations per second, they’re capable of considerably more than just drawing pictures. OpenCL takes that power and redirects it for general-purpose computing. This seems good too. I mean, it's just more power that we can use for better performances. And finally the most important one: • ZFS For business-critical server deployments, Snow Leopard Server adds read and write support for the high-performance, 128-bit ZFS file system, which includes advanced features such as storage pooling, data redundancy, automatic error correction, dynamic volume expansion, and snapshots. So, I think these are really great new features: even if Snow Leopard graphics won't change a bit, the core of the OS will be really different from the current one in order to achieve heavy hardware acceleration. Sherry Haibara Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djet Posted June 10, 2008 Share Posted June 10, 2008 And it's about time! Hehe, not really, but it is nice to see that the OS will be going faster now. Should be a nice stepup and put OSX a peg higher than Windows, although I would hope that Microsoft doesn't come out with a statement tomorrow about how Windows 7 will be focused on speed...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sarahbau Posted June 10, 2008 Share Posted June 10, 2008 Not that I think Apple will abandon the PPC so soon, but just because a developer build supports it, it doesn't mean the final build will. OS X Developer Preview 2 (for 10.0) ran natively on my 604e-based PowerMac 8600, but the final release of OS X only supported G3 and newer CPUs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
macgirl Posted June 10, 2008 Author Share Posted June 10, 2008 Yes, but not because it couldn't, XPostFacto anyone? Is like Those PPC G4s that can't run Leopard, not because they cant, but a "restriction" in the installer. I ran 10.1 on a 9600. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XweAponX Posted June 16, 2008 Share Posted June 16, 2008 Haha! I got a 9600 sitting around somewhere... I have an LC-II in my back room, I like it, it is really cool for what it is... Cos back when the highest PCs had Dos 6.22 and "optional" windows, the LC-II already had a pretty good GUI. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
InorganicMatter Posted June 17, 2008 Share Posted June 17, 2008 No it won't. Wait and see. What you are seeing in snow leopard is the leftover powerpc code, due to it being based on leopard's codebase. Its the same reason that the first previews of vista all looked exactly like xp, and some of the prompts still read "windows xp," and much diagnostic code reported "nt 5.1." All the powerpc code will slowly be purged with each release, until it is all gone from the final version. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loccy Posted June 17, 2008 Share Posted June 17, 2008 All the powerpc code will slowly be purged with each release, until it is all gone from the final version. And this will be a good and marvelous thing. I don't know about anyone else but I am fed up with having a shedload of useless PowerPC bytes clogging up my hard disk (and yes, I know, there are utilities to strip the PPC code from executables - I shouldn't have to use them though). And I can't believe my MacBook ships with half of the contents of its OS and system folders actually useless to the machine they're installed on, just to support an obsolete architecture that's no longer sold. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sarahbau Posted June 17, 2008 Share Posted June 17, 2008 And this will be a good and marvelous thing. I don't know about anyone else but I am fed up with having a shedload of useless PowerPC bytes clogging up my hard disk (and yes, I know, there are utilities to strip the PPC code from executables - I shouldn't have to use them though). And I can't believe my MacBook ships with half of the contents of its OS and system folders actually useless to the machine they're installed on, just to support an obsolete architecture that's no longer sold. Just because something is no longer sold, it doesn't make it obsolete. Despite people often saying things like "a computer is obsolete by the time you get it out of the store," good computers take many years to actually become obsolete. There are many people still using G5s and even G4s every day. It's been less than two years since the G5 was discontinued. As a comparison, when 68k support was dropped in 8.5, many people thought it was too soon. If 10.6 really comes out in a year, then PPC support will be dropped about 6 months faster than 68k support. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A Nonny Moose Posted June 17, 2008 Share Posted June 17, 2008 Yes, but not because it couldn't, XPostFacto anyone? Is like Those PPC G4s that can't run Leopard, not because they cant, but a "restriction" in the installer. I ran 10.1 on a 9600. You do't even need XPostFacto if you know how to hack OpenFirmware. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loccy Posted June 17, 2008 Share Posted June 17, 2008 There are many people still using G5s and even G4s every day. It's been less than two years since the G5 was discontinued. And they'll still be able to use them, with the OS it was originally supplied with. Nothing will suddenly stop working for them. But to expect Apple to continually maintain a codebase for an entirely different architecture is crazy. That's development resource that could be better deployed elsewhere, more productively. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
~pcwiz Posted June 18, 2008 Share Posted June 18, 2008 And this will be a good and marvelous thing. I don't know about anyone else but I am fed up with having a shedload of useless PowerPC bytes clogging up my hard disk (and yes, I know, there are utilities to strip the PPC code from executables - I shouldn't have to use them though). And I can't believe my MacBook ships with half of the contents of its OS and system folders actually useless to the machine they're installed on, just to support an obsolete architecture that's no longer sold. You know, I was thinking, when you install OS X to a mac from the retail disc, why didn't Apple make it so that it auto recognizes the machines architecture and then strips out the code for the other architecture? In fact, I think I could actually make a simple shell script that does exactly that using "ditto", and then set it to run at the end of the install. That would be sweet, something to consider if I ever make my own OSx86 distro. Would save a lot of disk space, and its such a simple and easy to implement idea. I agree that PowerPC has to go sometime, but discontinuing support for all the poor people who bought G5 Quads doesn't seem right, and it doesn't seem like Apple. Maybe by 10.7 or 10.8 but definitely not only 2 years after the discontinuation of the G5s. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rollcage Posted June 18, 2008 Share Posted June 18, 2008 • ZFSFor business-critical server deployments, Snow Leopard Server adds read and write support for the high-performance, 128-bit ZFS file system, which includes advanced features such as storage pooling, data redundancy, automatic error correction, dynamic volume expansion, and snapshots. Me wants bootable ZFS. Can't wait to see how much faster 10.6 is than 10.5 though! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Superhai Posted June 18, 2008 Share Posted June 18, 2008 You know, I was thinking, when you install OS X to a mac from the retail disc, why didn't Apple make it so that it auto recognizes the machines architecture and then strips out the code for the other architecture? Because one of the ideas behind OS X is that you should be able to move one installation between different hardware without reinstallation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SticMAC™ Posted June 18, 2008 Share Posted June 18, 2008 Has anybody(except Netkas) been able to run 10.6 on a Hack!? SticMAN Me wants bootable ZFS. Can't wait to see how much faster 10.6 is than 10.5 though! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
f41qu3 Posted June 18, 2008 Share Posted June 18, 2008 SticMAN: yup! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CLiDE FTW!!1 Posted June 18, 2008 Share Posted June 18, 2008 Apple should drop PPC support anyways. It'll force the PPC zealots to get a REAL processor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
~pcwiz Posted June 18, 2008 Share Posted June 18, 2008 Because one of the ideas behind OS X is that you should be able to move one installation between different hardware without reinstallation. I see, thanks for the clarification But once they drop PPC, installs will get much smaller. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paranoid Marvin Posted June 18, 2008 Share Posted June 18, 2008 Apple should drop PPC support anyways. It'll force the PPC zealots to get a REAL processor. Not everyone can afford to upgrade when Apple decides they should Believe me, I would buy a Macbook Pro to replace my Powerbook, if I had the money. And I will, when I have the money. But this needs to get another two years before it's going anywhere. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CLiDE FTW!!1 Posted June 18, 2008 Share Posted June 18, 2008 Not everyone can afford to upgrade when Apple decides they should Believe me, I would buy a Macbook Pro to replace my Powerbook, if I had the money. And I will, when I have the money. But this needs to get another two years before it's going anywhere. Yeah, I definitely see Apple keeping the PPC around for awhile to come. I just hate fanboys. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
macgirl Posted June 18, 2008 Author Share Posted June 18, 2008 Wow, what a coincidence, I hate hateboys... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Azurael Posted June 18, 2008 Share Posted June 18, 2008 I'm pretty sure Apple have somewhat officially stated they'd support PPC, at least through 10.6, though I can't find where right now. To what extent that will be (might mean dropping G4 support, but I doubt it at the G4 mini lasted a long time...) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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