compatibility posts

iStopMotion now Snow Leopard happy

by Mike Schramm (RSS feed) on Nov 5th, 2009

Just in case you were waiting for the stop-motion app on your hard drive to be compatible before switching to Snow Leopard, you can stop waiting -- even if you're using some other program to do stop motion, iStopMotion is the best and brightest, and with the brand new update to version 2.1, it's completely compatible with the newest version of OS X.

OK, you probably weren't waiting for this upgrade to bring the OS up to date, but hey, Snow Leopard compatibility is a nice selling point with any app. This upgrade also includes the ability to put markers (with their own name, color, and description) in the timeline of your video, as well as a full Japanese localization, to go along with the English, German, and French already in there. It's a free update for all current users, and considering that iStopMotion has made quite a few appearances in various Mac software bundles, odds are you've already got it anyway.

Tags: boinx-software, bundles, compatibility, features, hgg, japanese, macheist, markers, os-x, snow-leopard, software, update, version-2.1

Filed under: Software, Snow Leopard

SnowChecker will help you make the jump to Snow Leopard

by Steven Sande (RSS feed) on Nov 2nd, 2009

Most of us here at TUAW jumped aboard the Snow Leopard bandwagon immediately after receiving our upgrade disks -- and I mean immediately. We didn't bother to check out what apps would or wouldn't run, and could have cared less about compatibility with scanners and printers or anything else important like that. No, we just dived into the lake before determining whether or not it was shallow, full of piranhas, or contained hydrochloric acid. That's just us, though -- we like to be able to tell TUAW readers what to expect, good and bad, when a new OS version is delivered. Our friends at Download Squad, however, must still be a little queasy about making the leap, since they posted a quick app review today for SnowChecker.

SnowChecker is a free Mac application that does one thing -- it tells you whether or not your applications will run under Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard. SnowChecker performs a scan of your hard disk for apps, then compares the list of found apps against compatibility info stored at snowleopard.wikidot.com. It displays the the results, noting which apps are OK, which might have slight compatibility issues, and which will be totally hosed under Snow Leopard. SnowChecker uses a simple green, yellow, red color scheme to pass along the information to you, and often provides quick notes telling you about workarounds or updates that will help get all of your apps working smoothly.

If you're a bit on the shy side when it comes to doing upgrades, SnowChecker can make you feel a lot better about making the jump to Snow Leopard.

Tags: compatibility, download squad, DownloadSquad, lifehacker, snow leopard, snowchecker, SnowLeopard

Filed under: Software, Odds and ends, Snow Leopard

A roundup of Snow Leopard compatibility announcements

by Steven Sande (RSS feed) on Sep 10th, 2009

Now that the shock of Mac OS X 10.6's early release has worn off, many developers are announcing that their products are now completely compatible with Snow Leopard. Here's a list of the latest devs to speak up.

Realmac Software announced that RapidWeaver 4.3 is now available. This newest version of Realmac's popular website development tool adds several improvements, but the main attraction is full compatibility with Snow Leopard. Existing owners of RapidWeaver can update for free by using the built-in Check for Updates feature, or download the update here.

Users of Cocktail, the Mac utility from Maintain, can now rest assured that the application will run properly under Snow Leopard. Cocktail 4.5 Snow Leopard Edition has not only been tested for compatibility with Mac OS X 10.6, but it also adds 64-bit support and major speed improvements to Pilot. Maintain also updated Automator actions and the help files, and Cocktail 4.5 contains an updated version of the Sparkle software update framework. The update can be downloaded here.

Read on for even more Snow Leopard update news.

Continue reading “A roundup of Snow Leopard compatibility announcements”

Tags: compatibility, mac os x 10.6, MacOsX10.6, snow leopard, SnowLeopard, update

Filed under: Gaming, Software, UNIX / BSD, Snow Leopard

CrossOver Games 8.0 released

by Mike Schramm (RSS feed) on Sep 3rd, 2009

Codeweavers tells us that they've released version 8 of their Crossover Games software -- I tried it out a while ago, and found that while it was a pretty good way to play their recommended games, once you went off the reservation, things got a little hairy. Then again, that was a long time ago, and since then, they've updated the recommended games list quite a bit -- they're now saying that version 8 will allow you to play most of the Steam games, including the excellent Left 4 Dead, and the new Tales of Monkey Island episodic games.

Additionally (and perhaps we're burying the lead a little bit here), this version is completely compatible with Snow Leopard. So while you still may be banging your head against compatibility for some apps (I'm actually sort of glad now that SL was sold out at Best Buy when I went by to pick it up -- think I might just wait until the compatibility issues get ironed out), Crossover Games should work just fine.

And it of course works on both Mac and Linux, so if you have a spare 'nix box sitting around and want some Windows games running on it, there you go. Existing customers with a support entitlement can upgrade right away, the app can be bought for $40, or there's a free trial to try out as well if you'd rather do that.

Tags: codeweavers, compatibility, crossover-games, games, issues, left-4-dead, linux, mac, released, snow-leopard, steam, tales-of-monkey-island, version

Filed under: Hardware, Software, Snow Leopard

Apple lists Snow Leopard-compatible printers and scanners

by Dave Caolo (RSS feed) on Sep 1st, 2009

I'll come right out and say that I don't like scanners. Granted, I haven't used any high-end models, but in my experience, scanning a simple image to my Mac was akin to piloting a space module. As a chimp.

While Mac OS X Snow Leopard includes a great number of scanner (and printer) drivers, some readers are reporting trouble with their particular machines. This week, Apple has published a list of both scanners and printers that are known to work. You can read it here. I've got an Epson R300, and luckily it's covered. Heck, even my beloved HP 952c still works under Snow Leopard. It's a comprehensive list, and we're hoping your machine is there.

Of course, if your peripheral stopped working after installing Snow Leopard, you ought to visit the manufacturer's website for an update. And by "visit" we mean "pester."

[Via Victor Cajiao]

Tags: compatibility, drivers, printers, scanners, snow leopard, SnowLeopard

Filed under: Software, Snow Leopard

My Snow Leopard casualties: what's not working in 10.6

by Brett Terpstra (RSS feed) on Aug 31st, 2009

Overall, I'm very happy with Snow Leopard, and loving all of the little refinements I keep stumbling upon. However, I want to mention a few pitfalls I ran into with my upgrade, on the off chance that anyone has a similar setup and might benefit from some advance warning, or any of the fixes I've found.

Safari & Input Managers

There were a few things we knew to expect (and maybe dread), mostly having to do with 32-bit vs 64-bit processing and compatibility. Input Managers were known casualties. Two of the major victims for me were my 1Password and Evernote plugins in Safari. In 64-bit mode, at least at first, they didn't show up at all. See the Switcher's Blog for updates on 1Password and Snow Leopard. The current 3.0 beta of 1Password is working for me in 64-bit, I just have some keyboard shortcut issues to work out. Hopefully the Evernote blog will start offering more updates soon.

In the meantime, there's a partial fix: if you select the application (Safari) in your Applications folder, go to the File menu and hold down the Option key while selecting Get Info, you'll get the Inspector panel (also accessible with a simple Command-Option-I). For applications which have 64-bit capabilities (such as Mail and Safari), you'll see a checkbox to force them to load in 32-bit mode. That gets Evernote working for me, so I'll run it in 32-bit until things get straightened out. I'll be keeping an eye on the Glims blog, as well.

Update: There's a press release & a blog post from Agile this morning that reiterate the company's compatibility stance for 1Password v2: it should work fine on Snow Leopard in all browsers except Safari, and will work with Safari launched in 32-bit mode. Version 3 will be fully supported with Safari in both 32 and 64-bit configurations.

Continue reading “My Snow Leopard casualties: what's not working in 10.6”

Tags: compatibility, Snow Leopard, Snow-Leopard, SnowLeopard, upgrade

Filed under: OS, Odds and ends, Snow Leopard

A roundup of Snow Leopard-related software announcements

by Steven Sande (RSS feed) on Aug 28th, 2009

As our readers and staff are out buying copies of Mac OS X Snow Leopard today, we thought we'd also start rounding up news about software updates related to the OS update.

We're getting a lot of emails today with news about Snow Leopard compatibility updates for applications, so we'll be listing the updates in this post. Be sure to check back from time to time today, as we'll be changing this post frequently. If you're using the new and free TUAW iPhone App [App Store link] to read this, be sure to tap the icon in the upper right corner of the screen to view the entire post.

Continue reading “A roundup of Snow Leopard-related software announcements”

Tags: 64-bit, compatibility, monitor, snow leopard, SnowLeopard, software, update

Filed under: OS, Peripherals, Universal Binary, Snow Leopard

Getting ready for Snow Leopard: Think about your applications

by Steven Sande (RSS feed) on Aug 27th, 2009

Ahhhh, there's nothing quite like the feeling of knowing that tomorrow I will be spending much of the day upgrading the Macs in my house to Snow Leopard. I received an email from Apple this morning telling me that Snow Leopard had shipped, so now I just need to be available to sign for the package tomorrow.

Regardless of how many Mac OS upgrades I've done over the years, there are always one or two drivers, application enhancers, or full applications that just don't run properly on the newly installed OS. With Snow Leopard, these situations should be rare as many developers have already done compatibility checking and worked out the bugs. Before you slip that Snow Leopard DVD into your Mac tomorrow and start doing the upgrade, there are a few things you may want to consider.

Continue reading “Getting ready for Snow Leopard: Think about your applications”

Tags: 32-bit, 64-bit, applications, compatibility, drivers, Intel-only, snow leopard, SnowLeopard, system preferences, SystemPreferences

Filed under: Software, Features, iTunes, Leopard

Tabulator: Alarm clock showdown

by Mike Schramm (RSS feed) on Feb 8th, 2008

Mac users must be extremely heavy sleepers, because there is no shortage of alarm clock software for your Mac. If you need to wake up, your Mac will get you up. But which one rules the rooster?

Aurora, a popular choice, recently updated to version 4, and went from donationware to a licensing setup (a single copy will now run you EU$15.00. And Awaken was recently included in the Macheist bundle, but could it be that a donationware app like Alarm Clock 2 will do what you want, or is Koingo Software's Alarm Clock Pro the way to go?

We decided to wrap them all up into one big table-- app vs. app vs. app vs. app for a wakeup showdown. After the jump, find our first Tabulator battle (thanks to sister site Joystiq for the slick formatting) and discover which clock and timer program deserves to press play on your wakeup playlist.

Continue reading “Tabulator: Alarm clock showdown”

Tags: alarm-clock, alarm-clock-2, alarm-clock-pro, aurora, awaken, compatibility, egg-timer, showdown, sleep-timer, tabulator, wake-up

Filed under: Software, Freeware, Security, Leopard

Usable Keychain Scripting updated for Leopard

by Mike Schramm (RSS feed) on Jan 8th, 2008

Daniel Jalkut put together a little app called "Usable Keychain Scripting" a little while ago that was designed (what else?) to make scripting the Keychain a little more usable -- the interface included in OS X is bad, to say the least. He was apparently hoping that it would be better in Leopard, but no dice -- we're all using the new version, and it's still a pain to access the Keychain with AppleScript.

So he's updated UKS to version 1.0b3. It's still a free download (and I'm guessing he still hasn't added the ability to set values of Keychain items, but only because he was justifiably worried that doing something wrong would have terrible consequences). If you've already been using it, you should be happy to see a new version, and if you haven't tried it yet, but do a lot of Keychain scripting, hopefully it'll make the interface a little less painful.

Tags: 1.0b3, applescript, compatibility, daniel-jalkut, leopard, update, usable-keychain-scripting, version

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Portables, Software, Cool tools, Productivity

Remote Buddy releases version 1.7.1

by Mike Schramm (RSS feed) on Oct 9th, 2007

Remote Buddy, the do-it-all remote program for OS X, has reached version 1.7.1. I haven't taken a look at this app in a long time, but they've come a long way, baby-- a few months ago they added support (via AJAX) for the iPhone, and that has added a whole new universe of functionality to controlling your computer via a remote unit. If you haven't seen it lately, check it out.

The 1.7.1 update fixes a few bugs in the AJAX module, adds a warning if you don't have an Airport Express setting correct, and adds a newly rewritten driver for Front Row control. And this is all in addition to last week's big release (1.7), which added a ton of new stuff-- almost a complete rewrite of the AJAX remote, and compatibility with a ton of new programs, everything from ComicBookLover to VoodooPad.

Very impressive. Applications like this are what make it so great to be a Mac user. Remote Buddy is available for 19.99 € or as a free 30 day trial version over on their website.

Thanks to everyone who sent this in!

Tags: airport-express, bugfixes, comicbooklover, compatibility, front-row, iphone, remote-buddy, version-1.7.1, voodoopad

Filed under: Software, Internet Tools

Shiira 2.2 updated for Safari 3 beta's WebKit

by David Chartier (RSS feed) on Jul 23rd, 2007

When Apple makes changes to WebKit - the open source rendering engine that powers Safari - like they just did with the Safari 3 beta, many, many other Mac OS X apps that have anything to do with websites need to do a little catchup so things continue to run smoothly. Shiira, the feature-packed alternative browser, is just such an app that fortunately just made the leap to Safari 3 beta compatibility. Aside from the twelve new localizations introduced in this new v2.2 update, I can't tell what else has changed. Still, if you installed the Safari 3 beta and noticed that Shiira has been misbehaving one way or another, this new version should calm the waters.

Tags: beta, compatibility, shiira, updates, webkit

Filed under: Software, Tips and tricks, Internet Tools, Mods

On the Firefox 2.0 beta, extensions and compatibility

by David Chartier (RSS feed) on Sep 1st, 2006

If you want to play with the Firefox betas, but don't want to break your existing extensions, there is an add-on available that can bring your existing extensions along for the 2.0 beta ride. Nightly Tester Tools is an add-on (extensions are being rebranded as 'add-ons' in the new Firefox) that brings a number of developer-related features to Firefox, but it does two fantastic things for regular end users like you and I: it can make *most* extensions/add-ons work with versions of Firefox they weren't necessarily meant to, even new ones you want to install.

Long story short: the way I understand it, Firefox add-ons need to specify which version of Firefox they're compatible with, in case there is version-specific code they require to function. Most add-ons, however, don't have that version-specific code, so Nightly Tester Tools (basically speaking) futzes with add-on version lists so (ideally) more recent versions of Firefox - i.e. this shiny new 2.0 release - can use these add-ons just fine. The one catch I've personally run into is that it seems Nightly Tester Tools needs to be installed on a v1.5.x of Firefox in order to be able to work with v2.0 (ironic, isn't it?). I stumbled across this because I recently wiped my MacBook Pro and reinstalled Mac OS X (I needed to start from scratch to get that new version of Vista running on my MBP). Along with this fresh system, I tried installing Nightly Tester Tools into a Firefox 2.0 beta, and it wouldn't budge. Turns out I had to degrade to 1.5.x, install Nightly Tester Tools, then bump up to 2.0, but YMMV.

I need to give a shout out to Download Squad, as it is they who first found this add-on which makes playing with Firefox betas so much sweeter.

Tags: add-ons, addons, beta, compatibility, extensions, firefox, nightly tester tools, NightlyTesterTools

Filed under: Software

Another Rosetta Compatibility List

by C.K. Sample, III (RSS feed) on Feb 1st, 2006

Following up on yesterday's post about a Macintouch Rosetta compatibility list, I found that MacFixIt has a much more comprehensive list.

This hopefully will help assuage the lamentations of readers such as EatingPie, who found the Macintouch list much too tiny.

Actually, let us know if you spot any other Rosetta compatibility lists out there. Perhaps, if we find enough of these lists spattered around the Internets, we can gather them together into a TUAW uber-list.

Tags: compatibility, list, rosetta

Filed under: Software, Universal Binary

Rosetta compatibility list

by C.K. Sample, III (RSS feed) on Jan 31st, 2006

To supplement creativebits' list of what you cannot run on a Mactel, the Mac Internets now has a Rosetta Compatibility list courtesy of Macintouch.

Does anyone else find it completely laughable that the company with the most incompatible programs under its name is Apple?

Of course, at this point, the list isn't too exhaustive, so some other company could edge Apple out of that spot, but still... why the delay? Are they waiting for the pro machines before they release the pro apps in Universal Binary?

Tags: compatibility, intel, rosetta

Tip of the Day

Holding the Command key (aka the Apple key) and pressing Tab will cycle through your open applications. It's easier to Cmd-Tab if you are Copy (Cmd-C) and Pasting (Cmd-V) to and from various applications.

Learn More

TUAW flickr Pool

www.flickr.com

Featured Galleries

TUAW bloggers (30 days)

#	Blogger	Posts	Cmts
1	Steven Sande	52	4
2	Dave Caolo	36	1
3	Mike Schramm	32	0
4	Mel Martin	31	0
5	TJ Luoma	25	28
6	Joachim Bean	19	2
7	Victor Agreda, Jr.	17	7
8	Michael Rose	16	15
9	Erica Sadun	16	2
10	Josh Carr	13	22
11	David Winograd	12	17
12	Sang Tang	11	1
13	Ken Ray	11	2
14	Brett Terpstra	9	8
15	Megan Lavey	5	9
16	Tim Wasson	4	1
17	John Burke	4	3
18	Kent Pribbernow	4	0
19	Chris Ullrich	4	1
20	Chris Rawson	3	0

More Apple Analysis

AAPL on BloggingStocks The Apple category feed from BloggingStocks.com
AAPL Quote, News & Summary The AAPL financials page from AOL Money and Finance
iPhone analysis from BloggingStocks iPhone tag feed from BloggingStocks
Macintosh news and reviews on Download Squad The Macintosh category feed from Download Squad