Mac OS X Tiger/Installing Tiger

Introduction

Getting a new version of the Mac OS feels like christmas for most Mac fans. As soon as you finish installing, you'll see an immediate increase in speed and discover lots of cool new features. But if you feel daunted by the task of installing Tiger and are putting it off, this appendix is made for you! It lays out in plain English what you need to do, and will let you get installation over with in about a half hour.

Types of Installations

Before you begin, you should pick how you're going to install Tiger. There are four choices, although depending on your current configuration, you won't be able to choose all of them. The choices are:

• Upgrade Install - An Upgrade Install takes a copy of Mac OS X 10.2 or 10.3 (Jaguar or Panther) and turns it into a copy of Tiger, by going under the hood and modifying only what's been changed since your current Mac OS version. It eliminates all extra installation headaches... but upgraded copies of Mac OS X tend to be slightly buggier than copies installed via either of the two methods below.
• Archive and Install - Archive and Install shrink-wraps your current OS, be it an early version of Mac OS X or even (heaven forbid) Mac OS 9, stores it in a folder, and puts a fresh copy of Tiger in its place. Among Mac users who are "in the know", this is the most popular choice. You will need to tie up a few loose ends afterwards, though, so weigh the extra hassle against the slightly inferior reliability of an Upgrade Install.
• Erase and Install - Erase and Install completly obliterates the hard drive you install Tiger on and starts fresh - it's like getting a new Mac. Obviously, you'll want to make sure that any important files are backed up first.
• Basic Install - A Basic Install puts a copy of Mac OS X on a blank hard drive. If your hard drive isn't blank, then you can't choose this option.

Pre-Installation To-Do List

Before you install Tiger, make sure you've done these five simple things.

1. Printing this Appendix - You can't connect to the Internet while installing Tiger, so it's important that you print this Appendix before installing so you can refer to it as you go. It's very simple to do this; in almost all web browsers, choose File > Print and press the blue Print button in the dialog box that appears.
2. Checking the Weather - Yes, you read that right. You should check the weather before you install Tiger and make sure conditions are good. High winds, snow, or thunder could knock out power to your house, and a power outage during installation is not a good thing.
3. Plugging In - If the computer you're installing Tiger on is a laptop, plug it in, since installing Tiger will consume a lot of power.
4. Repairing Permissions - This trouble-shooting procedure essentially smooths out any wrinkles that may have formed over time in the UNIX underpinnings of your current Mac OS, prepping it for being moved, deleted, or upgraded. The process of repairing permissions is simple and potentially beneficial. To Repair Permissions:
   1. Open Disk Utility in the Applications > Utilities folder.
   2. Select your internal Hard Drive in the sidebar along the left.
   3. Click the "Repair Disk Permissions" button.
   4. Enter your administrator credentials.
   5. When the repairs are complete, quit the Disk Utility.

You don't need to do this if you are doing the Erase and Install option.

1. Backing Up - It's a good idea to back up your important files before installing Tiger. While the chance that something goes wrong during installation is tiny, it's not worth the risk when you can easily back up. Have every user of your Mac burn a copy of their entire Home folder to a CD or DVD before you install, or do it for them. While CD Burning is described in Chapter 4, here's a quick tutorial on backing up a home folder:
   1. Open System Preferences' CDs & DVDs pane and make sure that your Mac is set up to "Ask what to do" when you insert a blank CD or DVD (depending which you intend to back up on to).
   2. Log into the user you want to back up's account.
   3. Insert a Blank CD into your disc drive.
   4. Open the Users folder on your main hard drive.
   5. Drag the user's home folder onto the Blank CD's icon on the Desktop or in the Finder window's sidebar.
   6. Choose "Burn Disc..." from the Finder window and follow the dialog boxes' instructions.
   7. Repeat steps 2-6 for all other users.

Installation

The Tiger Box

Tiger comes in a little black box with a big chrome "X" logo on the front. Open up the box and take a peek inside. You'll find:

• The Tiger Disc - A black DVD in a paper sleeve.
• A Trial Version of iWork - A small gift from Apple, this is Apple's iWork productivity suite, minus the secret code included with the boxed version that keeps it running past 30 days.
• A card or two advertising some other Apple products.
• Another card explaining how to buy an AppleCare warranty for Tiger.
• A hard copy of the license agreement you agree to when you install Tiger.
• An "Installation and Setup Guide", which is similar to this guide, only not nearly as well-written and helpful.
• A black "Getting Started" booklet, essentially an illustrated list of new features in Tiger.

Starting the Installer

Take the black Tiger DVD out of its protective paper sleeve and put it in your Mac's DVD drive.

It should appear on your Desktop as a special black disc. The disc contains PDF versions of some of the printed material in the Tiger box, an "Install Mac OS X" application, and a folder called "Xcode Tools".

Double-click on the "Install Mac OS X" application, and the Installer Starter application opens.

Click the Restart button, and your computer will shut down and restart from the DVD in your drive. This is a slow and laborious process due to the fact that CDs spin much slower than hard drives, so don't panic if your computer takes a very long time to start.

The Introduction and License

After selecting a language, the first thing you'll see is a simple welcome page. Click the continue button at the bottom. The next thing you see is the contract you agree to by installing Mac OS X. Read it if you'd like to, press "Continue", and say that you agree. Remember that you have a hard copy of this contract, or "license agreement", which came in the Tiger box.

Choosing a Destination

The next step is choose the volume (disk) you want to install Tiger on. Most of the time, this will be your computer's internal hard drive, which is usually called "Macintosh HD". Click the disk so that it's circled and click the "Options..." button.

Choosing an Installation Type

On this sheet, you must select which type of Installation you wish to perform. The choices were explained at the beginning of this guide.

• Upgrade Install - If you want to perform an Upgrade Install, make sure that "Upgrade Mac OS X" is selected and click OK. You'll need to be currently running Jaguar or Panther in order to do this, otherwise this option won't appear.

• Archive and Install - If you want to Archive and Install, select "Archive and Install" from the list. You then must choose whether or not you wish to copy all of your settings into Tiger, which you probably do. Click OK.

• Basic Install - If you want to perform a Basic Install, select "Install Mac OS X" from the list and press OK. If you already have a copy of Mac OS X on your hard drive, this option won't appear.

• Erase and Install - If you want to Erase and Install, select "Erase and Install" from the list and press OK. yeah

Customizing the Installation

Now you must choose exactly what gets installed. You have two options: go with Apple's picks, or pick and choose components yourself. We'll assume you want to pick the components yourself, since it's generally worthwhile.

Click the "Customize" button. You'll be given a list of components with checkboxes for toggling each one on and off.

• Essential System Software - This is the stuff that will be installed no matter what. That includes the Tiger system and all of the extra apps that come with it, like Dashboard and Automator.
• Printer Drivers - Printer Drivers are the bits of software that let your Mac connect to various printer models. By clicking the flippy triangle next to this item, you'll see specific brands that you can choose to install or ignore. Without printer drivers for a brand, you can't install any of that brand's printers without going hunting on the Internet for drivers. If you're squeezed for disc space, you might want to skip the brands you don't think you'll use, but otherwise, it's generally a good idea to have all of these drivers handy.
• Additional Fonts - Another good pick, you probably already have these fonts installed in your current version of the Mac OS, although you won't have them under Tiger if you uncheck this box. Fonts take up next to no space, and having a few extra fonts handy will help you spice up your documents and presentations a bit.
• Language Translations - Clicking the flippy triangle next to this item reveals a list of languages that you can use Tiger in. Removing the translations you think you're least likely to need will save disc space and speed up your installation. Please note, however, that it's fun to try using a computer in an obscure language from time to time, so you may want to leave a few extra translations in just for fun.
• X11 - This is a tool that lets UNIX nerds run certain graphical UNIX applications under Mac OS X. It isn't covered in this wikibook, and if you don't know what it is, you definitely don't need it.

Leap of Faith

At this point, it's time to make up your mind once and for all.

If you want to install Mac OS X, click "Install" or "Upgrade" (the wording depends on which Installation type you chose). Once you do this, you cannot quit the installer. Make sure that if you have a laptop, it's plugged in. If you don't want to install Mac OS X, you can return to your current Mac OS by choosing "Quit" from the Installer menu in the menu bar, clicking "Startup Disk", choosing your system folder, and clicking "Restart".

Your Mac's Turn

Once you press install, your Mac will get to work on copying, moving, deleting, and modifying all of your system files, slowly building a copy of Tiger on your hard drive. This process takes fifteen minutes to a half hour, so go ahead and make yourself a snack while you wait.

Finishing

When Tiger is finished installing, restart your computer.

The Setup Assistant

Depending on how you installed Tiger, you may be serenaded by a little program called the "Setup Assistant" when using Tiger for the first time. After the snazzy introduction movie finishes playing, this app will guide you through the process of setting up your Mac.

BACKGROUND: The introduction movie is a famous part of the Mac experience, and a different movie is used in each Mac OS version. The music for Tiger's movie is a song called "Bytecry" by the artist "Weevil". Incidentally, the song is available on iTunes for 99 cents.

Post-Installation To-Do List

As soon as your Mac comes to, you'll probably want to explore Tiger's new features immediately. However, you'll have to do two things first.

Run Software Update

Choose  > Software Update to add the latest updated features, bug fixes, and security enhancements to your copy of Tiger.

Remove Previous System

if you chose to Archive and Install, then your old Mac OS is sitting in a folder called "Previous System". Drag this folder into the Trash and empty the Trash to remove your previous OS once and for all.