NLE Mac / Final Cut questions from 2002

[Mark Sloan]

Well, I haven't run scripts on PCs in a long time, but I believe all you need is a file called autorun.inf and have code similar to below (just create this in a plain text file):

[autorun]
open=autoplay.exe
icon=war3.ico

I got this 3 lines of code from my WarCraft3 CD.... I don't think the icon part is necessary. Correct me if I'm wrong Rob...

[Ken Tanaka]

Like every other OS upgrade I've performed for the past 20 yrs (mostly on MS systems) this one has been less than thoughtful or trouble-free. After what seemed to be an extraordinarily long update process (approx 40 mins) I discovered all the usual droppings of this process. Specifically, so far "Jaguar"
- broke my Wacom tablet driver,
- broke both of my print drivers (HP G85xi and Epson 2000P)

Unlike Jeff, my Office seems to operating correctly, as does my Airport and FCP3 (so far).

The wreckage is not yet cleared (4 hrs later) since I'm still having a nasty time getting my HP printer running again. But I took a breather and toured the new OS a bit. My impression: Big deal. Aside from features such as AOL kiddie chat, incremental enhancements to Mac Mail (which I don't use) and a handwriting rec utility (who cares) I see -absolutely nothing- of added value so far. Performance is unchanged from any practical perspective. All in all, "Jaguar" looks mainly like an enhancement to Apple's 2002 earnings rather than an enhacement to Mac users' computing experience.

Ante-ing up to update your computer's OS is inevitable if you plan to stay current with your applications. It's the perennial financial wind beneath the software industry's wings. But I'd recommend that anyone contemplating a "Jaguar" upgrade ignore the hype hurricane and put it on your Christmas list. At least that way you will not have spent your own money for this "upgrade" and, perhaps by Dec 25. 2002 peripheral vendors will have some 10.2 drivers.

Microsoft, Apple...not much difference on the OS upgrade front. I like my Macs but personal computing is personal computing no matter whose brand you use.

Summary: Disappointing.

[John Locke]

Jeff,

Looks like you'll have to do the ole' add fonts one-by-one back into the fonts directory routine to find which is the culprit (be sure to leave the base system fonts in, though...I'm sure you know that, but figured I'd better say it just for "public posting" sake). If you have any font names beginning with a period or a number sign, take those out first and give it a try. Usually that does the trick.

[Jeff Donald]

Thanks John. I tackeled the job last night, with some 2000 fonts I didn't relish the task. I rounded up the usual suspects, but to no avail. So, I just kept taking half out until I got Word to run. What was strange was I did the install that made a copy of your old files. So when Word didn't work I suspected the fonts and just replaced the new fonts with the old. It still didn't work. I've got it narrowed down to about 100 fonts. Under 10.1.5 Word loaded slow and didn't have a snappy feel to it. Now, with the bad fonts out, it loads in less than 2 seconds. But I find it a little strange that something in 10.2 makes Word more selective about font files. I wonder if it has to do with Quartz Extreme?

Jeff

[John Locke]

2,000 fonts! Wow! I thought I had a lot...

Just wondering if you've checked out the downloads on the Mac OSX site--they have these programs that might help:

FontDoctor - for diagnosing font-related system and software problems
http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/imaging_3d/fontdoctor.html

FontAgent X - organizes fonts into libraries
http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/imaging_3d/fontagentx.html

Font Reserve - souped up version of the above
http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/system_disk_utilities/fontreserve.html

Also, I can say from experience that Extensis Suitcase works pretty well. I used it to manage my fonts pre-X. Just never got around to getting the new X version since making the switch from classic...but I've missed it. They have a demo at
http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/system_disk_utilities/extensissuitcase.html

Soooo...having 2,000 fonts...you wouldn't happen to have the type of font they used for the title on "Sleepy Hollow" would you? Kind of a creepy, rough-edged, Victorian script. I have about 1,000 fonts...let me know if you ever need anything. We can swap!

[Paul Sedillo]

I loaded Jaguar last night and everything seemed fine until I tried to run Illustrator. Each time I tried to load the app it would hang. Other than that things appear to be fine.

Looking forward to digging into the OS.

[Rob Lohman]

mark has it partially right. You need to create a PLAIN TEXT
file in the root of your CD called autorun.inf. Now there might
be two ways to get your movie to play, i suggest you cut a CD-RW
first to try which one works (i used an mpeg file as an example,
ofcourse do not include the dashed lines, only what is inbetween)

--- first try ----
[autorun]
open=movie.mpg
-----------------

if that does not work:

--- second try ---
[autorun]
open=start movie.mpg
--------------------

either two of these should work. If that does not work, send me
an e-mail (to make sure i notice) and I'll find a solution that does
work for you. Good luck.

[Jeff Donald]

I've always had problems with Illustrator. The installer still won't update 10 to 10.0.1 I think it's on the third installer now. GoLive 6 was updated today and posts are up all over about the installer not working. However, Photoshop 7 updated just fine. I think Jaguar has a more noticable affect on the older systems. My dual 450 seems much more responsive, snappier. I was at a studio today running a dual gig with FCP and it didn't seem all that different. Quartz Extreme is very nice. It won't run on mine because of too little video memory and being PCI based.

Jeff

ken+any one w/ gripes,
check out the new coreaudio implementation. we finally have some incredible audio/MIDI capabilities in OS X, which will, w/ the release of Logic, most likely soar above and beyond that of competing Windows systems.

in general i'm extremely pleased w/ Jaguar. i've found performance to be much snappier, and i do dig the new Sherlock. i even get better airport range. i have had no trouble w/ any applications whatsoever, and have plugged into numerous USB printers and run the drivers fine. all the "little bugs" are fixed. boot up time is WAY faster (like 3x faster)... time from hitting power button to opening my first application is around sixty seconds. this is all on a 667 mhz G4 tibook w/ a gig of ram.

i wouldn't say that i think jaguar is oh so uber kick-ass, i would say that i'm glad we finally have a real OS. even 10.1 was essentially a beta OS or very close to it.

sorry you've had so much trouble ken. is that still keeping up? i was quite displeased w/ the 40-50 minute update as well.

[Ken Tanaka]

Dave,
Well I'm glad to hear that 10.2 offers you some features of value. Expanded MIDI capabilities are not my cup of need.

Yes, indeed, I've since discovered that HP does not yet support Jag for its multifuction peripherals (such as my Officejet G85Xi). In response to my email inquiry HP (to its credit) has already told me that they do plan to offer support "...at some future date.". The scanner of the G85 seems to work fine, but the printer belches jibberish.

To lurkers: Make sure that your printers and other peripherals are supported with 10.2 drivers by their vendors BEFORE you install this update. Apple seems to have changed some of its driver architecture...for reasons only they will know. My earlier recommendation to ask for it for Christmas seems even sounder today.

[Jeff Donald]

Hi Kevin,

You might want to read this AppleCare document http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=75074 I hope that answers most of your audio questions. When you say the clips need to be rendered to you mean the audio or audio/video. If your having to render the video, your preferences are not set right. If the audio needs to be renderd, either the bit rate (16 or 12) is set wrong or the frequency is wrong (32KHz, 44.1KHz or 48KHz). These are also set in preferences.

[Jay H. Thompson]

Well, I did figure it out, and boy I kinda feel real silly.. There is a switch on the front of the SR-VS20U that allows you to change the Dubbing direction, DV -> SVHS and DV <- SVHS well it appears that it has to be in the DV <- SVHS setting for FCP to pick up the SVHS portion of the deck, other wise it just says allocating drive space and locks up... My bad. I realized this when I booted into 9.2 and was getting the same error.. I knew then it was nothing with 10.2, Oh, well I guess you live and learn.. Now if I could just control that portion of the deck with FCP I would have it made.. :)

Thanks so much for your help, hope I did not send you on to big of a chase..

Yeah, I'm all kinds of red right now, it's not everyday I get to make an id10t out of myself in front of all these good people.

JayT

[Ken Tanaka]

Thanks for the update and the info Jay. Certainly you did not make an idiot of yourself. On the contrary; you've given us all an answer to a puzzle that may well arise many months after this thread is buried in the archives.

[Rob Moreno]

An article on DVD Studio Pro in the lastest issue of Macworld says that all audio streams on a DVD take up bandwidth whether they're being used or not. Which means I was actually making my situation worse by putting both AC-3 and PCM audio tracks on my DVD! Fortunately, I read the article before building the final disc image and making 30 copies of this DVD project.

[Kevin McCarthy]

Hi Jeff,

The rendering issue was my settings. My capture settings were different from my sequence. I made them the same and everything is fine. It still has the red bar indicating unrendered, but it plays fine.

I'll check out that article and let you know how it went.

Thanks

Kev