OS X 10.5.7: The hidden fixes
I really didn't have any complaints about the latest Mac OS update. It went smoothly on 3 Macs, and I didn't hear any complaints from friends or associates. While many people moan about things that didn't get fixed, I'm somewhat concerned about the things that the 10.5.7 update DID fix that I didn't know about.
A bit of background: For about a year I've had a Logitech Webcam. It was designed for the Mac, and was meant to replace the iSight firewire webcam that Apple unceremoniously discontinued.
The Logitech unit, a Quickcam Vision Pro for Mac, has a wonderful crisp image and a nice wide angle view. It is plug and play. That's the problem. As some other users have seen, its internal aperture adjustment sometimes goes haywire, and you have to unplug it, and re-plug it in again to get a picture that is not really, really dark. It's kind of plug and play, then unplug or don't play. Then plug it in again.
I went on the Logitech forums, and saw many others with the same issue. Logitech said the issue was a feature, not a bug. Yeah, right!
It was clear it wasn't going to get fixed, so guess what? The OS X 10.5.7 update did fix it. That's right. The camera comes up perfectly every time now. So maybe it was a bug in the way the Mac handled some USB webcams. The problem is, this isn't documented anywhere. Not on the Apple web page that details the update fixes, or anywhere else that I could find.
This is a disturbing and continuing habit of Apple documentation. There really is no depth on the updates, just kind of a high altitude view that hits the main changes. Make no mistake, I'm happy about this fix, and I'm sure there are many other 'invisible fixes' as well, but I'd sure like to know what really is in the update. I wonder how many people deep-sixed their Logitech cameras not knowing this fix was coming, or was implemented? Apple can do better. I think secrecy is fine before products come out, but not after. At least my video chats look OK now. If you have had some similar experiences, let us know.
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I really didn't have any complaints about the latest Mac OS update. It went smoothly on 3 Macs, and I didn't hear any complaints from...
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Apple seems to have tuned the multi touch trackpad better to better resemble the sensitivity of the iPod Touch and iPhone. I noticed in 10.5.6 Preview was awful jumpy, but now its very smooth and sensitive like the Touch is with rotating and zooming.
Thought i'd just comment that.
Reporting a bug fix means admiting there was a bug in the first place. And I don't think it's something apple likes to do.
May 24 2009 at 6:03 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply"I wonder how many people deep-sixed their Logitech cameras not knowing this fix was coming, or was implemented? Apple can do better."
Are you saying it's Apple's fault people got rid of them before the fix was even created?
I don't know if other people are seeing this, but I see a dramatic improvement in re-encoding times using avidemux after upgrading to 10.5.7.
May 22 2009 at 11:00 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyWhen did the Energy Saver icon change to a low energy lightbulb?
May 22 2009 at 3:17 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyI just purchased a Logitech Vision Pro and on 3 different MacBooks, the image is flipped horizontally, like looking in a mirror. I have it in the front of the conference room, facing the table, and from the camera's point of view, most people sit on the right side, but in Skype, they show up on the left side of the screen. If I hold up a newspaper to the camera, the text is all reversed. Has anyone else had any similar problems?
May 20 2009 at 7:32 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyI dont know if its just me missing out on this before or something but I can now right click from the trackpad (holding a second finger on the pad) on my old Powerbook, something I don't think i could ever do before...
May 20 2009 at 4:08 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyIt also fixed the problem with Office 2008 & Spaces where it would break the formatting pallet.
May 20 2009 at 2:22 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyMy PowerBook had a problem pre-10.5.7 that would make it inaccessible via Bonjour and eventually IP as well.
I reckon it was just a bad install though. Four Leopard-running machines and it was the only one with a problem.
OMG, 10.5.7 fixed my issue to. I had a draft N wifi usb doggle and it just worked after I rebooted. I'd normally have to unplug it and replug it after every restart. It would work after waking from sleep, but restarting was a different story. Woohoo!
May 20 2009 at 8:45 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyHot Apps on TUAW
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