New version of MacOS X, Panther (aka 10.3), is now running on the desktop as well as the laptop. I wasn’t in a hurry, until my sister bought an iSight in the Burlingame Apple Store yesterday. We wanted to test iChatAV between the laptop and the desktop, so that set off an afternoon of backing up, both to CDs and the external FireWire hard drive. Fortunately, those backups appear unnecessary for the moment… especially fortunate because it’s unclear whether or not the FireWire hard drive problems that have been cited by many, and acknowledged by Apple, are limited to FireWire 800 or 400 drives. Apple only owned up to the 800 drives, and my external is a FireWire 400, so less reason to be concerned. But data is data.
Anyway, I’m checking all the various applications, and things appear to be in good shape, via the Archive & Install upgrade method. I did appreciate the peace of mind offered by Take Control of Upgrading to Panther, the $5 e-book from the publishers of TidBITS.
Of course, the catalyst for the install still hasn’t worked fully… the iSight works beautifully, but using our FireWire DV camera, a Canon, isn’t yet giving us video, although the audio is definitely functional. Hmmm… let me know if you have any tips/URLs to consider. I’ll be muddling through today.