Troubleshooting Mac OS X 10.3 (#23): AppleTalk access; Software Update; "Other" option at login; LDP changes; more
Troubleshooting Mac OS X 10.3 (#23): AppleTalk access; Software Update; "Other" option at login; LDP changes; more
In our experience, this problem can often be solved by opening the Directory Access application (in /Applications/Utilities), clicking the padlock icon to authenticate, and then enabling AppleTalk. Click the Apply button to save the change.
Change in Software Update functionality Under OS X 10.2 (Jaguar), if you had previously downloaded update packages via Software Update, you could use them with Software Update to update other Macs by simply placing the packages on the Desktop of the currently logged in user; Software Update would recognize that the packages were present and install them immediately -- skipping the download process. Even better, if multiple updates were being installed, Software Update would install all the updates in one shot, obviating the need to restart after each update. This was a convenient feature for users upgrading a number of Macs, as it only required you to download each update package once.
Unfortunately, this feature is no longer available in OS X 10.3. You can still download update packages, which will be placed in /Library/Packages. However, if you download a package on one computer, and then place the package in /Library/Packages on another computer, it will not be recognized by Software Update. In fact, if you choose to install the update, Software Update will download it again, replacing the copy you placed there. Placing the file on the Desktop, as you would have done in OS X 10.2, also doesn't work. Software Update simply does not recognize previously downloaded updates.
You can still install downloaded updates manually using OS X's Installer utility, but you will need to restart each time an update requires a restart. (In other words, you can't install all the updates at once as you could in 10.2.) Although you can force-quit the Installer instead of restarting, this isn't a recommended practice.
UPDATE: Several readers have pointed out that the Installer utility can now open multiple installation windows simultaneously, so you can install several updates "at once"; you simply wait until all of the installations have completed before clicking the Restart button on one of them.
"Other" option missing from login window Over the past couple weeks, we've received a number of reports that the "Other..." item is missing from the login window. This is despite the fact that the root account has been enabled (usually the Other option is visible after enabling the root account).
Although we aren't sure why the option is disappearing for some users but not for others, we do have a couple of workarounds. If you want to force the "Other..." item to appear, download the excellent LoginWindow Manager, which allows you to enable it. If you don't really care if the "Other..." item appears, but just want to be able to access the name/password dialog from the list of users (i.e., without permanently switching to the name/password display in Login Options preferences), when at the login window, press option-return and then click on any user. This will bring up the name/password dialog.
Legacy LPD changes On Monday we covered a reader report that Panther has problems printing to legacy LPD servers. A post on Apple's printing list for developers by Michael Sweet (who works for Easy Software, which maintains CUPS, OS X's underlying printing system) outlines the cause of the "problem" and explains why the workaround posted Monday works:
"The default in CUPS 1.1.19 (what 10.3 is based upon) is *not* to reserve a priviledged port. This is a change from previous releases, however it was done to avoid running out of priviledged ports, since CUPS does not use the LPRng hack of using any priviledged port, just the ones that are defined by the RFC.
"Since most network printers and many LPD print servers no longer require a priviledged port, and since the reliance on a priviledged source port for security == no security at all, we changed the default behavior of the LPD backend to not reserve a priviledged source port.
"You can tell the LPD backend to reserve a priviledged port by adding '?reserve=yes' to the end of the printer's device URI. Keep in mind that since there are only 11 ports available, you can't have more than 11 LPD printers active at any given time..."
Problems with Help A number of users who upgraded to Panther from OS X 10.2 have reported problems using Apple's Help system, ranging from Help not working at all, to Help providing information that appears to be applicable to Jaguar, not Panther.
We had a similar problem on one of our Macs here at MacFixIt, and deleting the folder ~/Library/Caches/com.apple.helpui (inside the user-level Library folder) fixed the problem. We've seen similar reports around the Web, including one that claims you only have to delete the "TOCCache.plist" file inside the com.apple.helpui folder.
Cisco Airnet problems (or not) Yesterday we covered reports from several readers that since upgrading to Panther their Cisco Airnet cards no longer work. We've since received emails from several other Cisco Airnet users who have had no problems since upgrading to Panther. We've specifically heard from Lombard and WallStreet users (the latter who installed Panther via XPostFacto).
Panther Problems? Drop us an email at Late-breakers@macfixit.com.
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