Leopard 10.5.3 Update available for Mac

Apple released today the 10.5.3 update for leopard, it is available through the system update as a 420M download or via the Apple support site as 10.5.2 update or comboUpdate.

this release is not ready for hackintosh yet, but it will be soon enough, it include several bug fix, Time Machine improvements, Clearer images for Spaces, and some bugfix for other apps like iCal, mail etc.

the complete list of changes and download is available at these links:

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1141

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1222

Shay.

How to make menus transparent/translucent in 10.5.2

One of the annoying upgrades you got in 10.5.2 is the removal of translucent menus, many people complained about the transparency of the menus and menu bar, thank god the menu bar transparency can be enabled disabled (look in post for how to), but apple forgot about the menus,

actually if you look closely the menus are translucent but barley something like 5% transparency.

so in order to get them back this is what you do:

1. download the attached files or goto this address and get the 3 files.

a. HIToolbox

b. CoreUI

c. SArtFile.bin

2. save the files into a folder on the desktop named: "DownloadedFiles"

3. enable root user and login in this way:

a. go to Applications->Utilities->Directory Utility

b. if the lock icon is locked then click it, enter your password 

    when requested and press OK

c. from edit menu select "Enable Root User"

d. if you don't know the root user password change it from the 

    Edit menu->"Change Root Password..."

e. log out from your user

f. use the new "other..." option appears in the login window in order to 

    login as root and the password you set

4. another way to turn root user login on is to do this:

a. open terminal and write these lines:

b. sudo -s

c. enter your password and press enter

d. passwd root

e. enter a password

f. re enter the password

g. logout and use the new "Other..." option from the 

    login window and login as root with the password you entered

5. once logged in as root execute these lines from the terminal:

sudu -s

[enter your password and press enter]

mkdir ~/Desktop/Backup

chmod -R 777 ~/Desktop/Backup

mv /System/Library/Frameworks/Carbon.framework/Versions/A/Frameworks/HIToolbox.framework/Versions/A/HIToolbox ~/Desktop/Backup

cp ~/Desktop/DonwloadedFiles/HIToolbox /System/Library/Frameworks/Carbon.framework/Versions/A/Frameworks/HIToolbox.framework/Versions/A

chmod 755 /System/Library/Frameworks/Carbon.framework/Versions/A/Frameworks/HIToolbox.framework/Versions/A/HIToolbox

chown 0:0 /System/Library/Frameworks/Carbon.framework/Versions/A/Frameworks/HIToolbox.framework/Versions/A/HIToolbox

mv /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/CoreUI.framework/Versions/A/CoreUI ~/Desktop/Backup

cp ~/Desktop/DownloadedFiles/CoreUI /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/CoreUI.framework/Versions/A

chmod 755 /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/CoreUI.framework/Versions/A/CoreUI

chown 0:0 /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/CoreUI.framework/Versions/A/CoreUI

mv /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/CoreUI.framework/Versions/A/Resources/SArtFile.bin ~/Desktop/Backup

cp ~/Desktop/DownloadedFiles/SArtFile.bin /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/CoreUI.framework/Versions/A/Resources

chmod 755 /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/CoreUI.framework/Versions/A/Resources/SArtFile.bin

chown 0:0 /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/CoreUI.framework/Versions/A/Resources/SArtFile.bin

6. logout from root and login back into your user your Done!

in order to reverse the procedure copy the backed up files into the original location and execute the chmod and chown lines for every one of them, logout and get back into your account.

Note that if you do not execute these lines using root account you may see all the icons of Finder, Safari and other apps messed up like this:

some people reported that the menu bar translucent enable disable feature disappeared, some complained that FTP and SSH stopped working, so keep your backed up files until you are satisfied that this change suite you.

I first read this post here.

Enjoy

Install new Kernel / Boot from alternate Kernel

this post will display how to install new kernel,

and it will also display how to boot 

from alternative kernel, 

plus some trouble shooting advices.

1. what is a kernel?

Kernel is the core and center of the OS, it interface the hardware and it is the nearest code to hardware there is, it gives the OS and the applications services on the computer (such as CPU, memory access, threading, networking, filesystem etc.) for further reading you can refer to my dev blog post: Kernel Basics.

2. why would i like to update it?

the reasons mostly comes from bug fixed, features added to hackintosh and not available with the version you are using, or just to know you are up-to-date (any new post in insanelymac, netkas or on the net will relate to your version), if you are not confidant in your abilities to update the kernel, then avoid it until you must, it can crash your system (although can be easily reversed)

3. where can i get new kernels?

• EFI supported kernel are available at netkas blog links from the irc channel.
  
• you can also download the latest kernel and its relevant kext from the open source darwin project, compile it, and patch it using netkas EFI patch using this procedure(for more advanced users - not recommended).

4. how to install new kernel?

once downloaded (probably from netks blog) backup your current kernel (/mach_kernel), copy it to the root file system and rename it to "mach_kernel", fix permissions, and your done.

now for the step by step procedure:

a. download the binary mach_kernel file into a folder (for instance desktop)
b. copy the file from downloaded folder (e.g. desktop) to the root folder

• open terminal
  
• write: sudo -s
  
• enter your password when prompt and press enter
  
• cp ~/Desktop/mach_kernel_9.2 /

c. backup your current kernel by renaming it

• mv /mach_kernel /mach_kernel_9.0
  

d. rename the downloaded kernel to the mach_kernel file name

• mv /mach_kernel_9.2 /mach_kernel

e. fix permissions and reboot

• chown 0:0 /mach_kernel
• chmod 755 /mach_kernel

5. how to boot from alternate kernel?

if you do not trust the downloaded kernel, you can ask darwin boot loader to load from a different kernel file, just by stating the full path of the kernel as the first parameter in the boot prompt.

for instance if the downloaded kernel name is: mach_kernel_9.2 then you copy it to the root of the files system using finder or terminal, (from command line: cp mach_kernel_9.2 /).

next, in the boot prompt you write: /mach_kernel_9.2 -v

i added the -v so you can see where other parameters goes.

6. what if something goes wrong?

you can easily reverse the procedure, first you can use the boot from alternate kernel, and booting into the backed up kernel (/mach_kernel_9.0 as first parameter to darwin boot loader).

second you can boot from the install DVD into single user mode, mount the file system and rename the new kernel, copy the backed up kernel as /mach_kernel file name and reboot (i will add a post regarding single user boot, mount, and other unix shell commands needed for the procedure).

here is a 3pg video displaying several options of booting from alternate kernel file. (poor qulity video, opens with QuickTime)

Enjoy.

Should i install Tiger or Leopard or both

my first question was should i install Tiger (10.4) or Leopard (OS X 10.5) or both.
at first i installed tiger, then i installed leopard as an upgrade to the tiger in a different partition,


Side Note: i tried tiger for a while to get the feel of the OS learned what is so good in mac, that was a quite a reprogram of my habits and knowledge regarding how OS should be, Microsoft has ruin us all but i was willing to learn and try, once you get the hang of it you understand how good the OS is, and, little by little i found that all new features that i was exited about on MSOS was just a rip-off a copy from OS X and not only that, but a bad copy, a heavy copy and slow copy! so today i enjoy both worlds since i have parallels and dual boot, but you should know that i use MS only for gaming purposes although most of my games i use in OS X many more accessible only to MS, i am an average joe but i develop, do office stuff, surf the web, blog,see video, listen to music, gaming, torrents... etc. but i have yet to find why i need MS OS (beside gaming) but again on mac i can get both worlds.
a cute youtube movie on that:

then i upgraded to leopard, that was an amazing leap from windows especially from vista, after leopard i had no need for tiger, i upgraded the tiger partition into leopard as well, so at this point i had two separated installation of leopard, i use the tigerToLeopard partition as a test partition and every install that can crash (Panic) my system i test there, kind of a sand box. after perfecting the install i deleted the partition and joined it with the primary leopard installation but that how-to will be covered in another post.


also note that since leopard (that i used, i assume all other hackintosh are also upgrades) is upgrade to an existing mac, so it is mandatory to install mac os x before leopard, if you try to install it without previous system it will display the welcome video in a loop 3 times and crash

i tried in the "Do you already own a Mac" screen to choose "do not transfer my information now" but it looped through the welcome screen, so the conclusion (4 me) that Tiger is mandatory, but if you find a better method please comment here.




Note: i think tiger is a very good OS it has all the basics of leopard that i love and enjoy, it is more stable and less hardware demanding, but leopard has made the final leap and got me converted, it has spaces and time machine that realy leaves no question as to if i will indure windows for another year or two,