Considering OS X

OS X, Apple's future-generation OS, has established itself as aserious contender in the graphics market, which is why graphicdesigners using a Mac should learn this new and improvedsoftware.

Over the past three years Apple Computer has staged a great comebackwith OS X, the foundation on which Apple is staking its graphicsfuture. Although the early versions of the new OS lacked DVD supportand a few other omissions that slowed adoption by Mac users, version10.1 was released in September 2001, answering the majority of users'concerns. This has been followed up by a steady migration ofhigh-profile graphics products, including Combustion 2, Maya, andLightWave, as well as OS X versions of many standard Mac graphicsapplications. A new version of Final Cut Pro 3, the HD Cinema screen,and the intriguing acquisition of high-end compositing developerNothing Real have helped convince the graphics community that Apple isserious about the film- and video-production industry.

Since then, the online buzz for OS X has increased substantially. AtMacWorld 2002 in San Francisco, as the Mac user base ogled the latestG4s and Powerbooks, the first serious migration to OS X began.

OS X is really the next OS, and you have to admire SteveJobs' perseverance in finally selling the assets of his post-Applevision — to himself. The base architecture is UNIX, which shouldbe interesting to serious graphics artists with a programmingbackground. The irony of Apple — the company that popularized thefriendly GUI — bringing back the quintessential, command-line OSis sweet. But Apple really has not changed its basic approach: OS X isdedicated to hiding anything that is not icon-based from the majorityof users. UNIX is available in the Terminal, but the push-button slickGUI is what most Mac users will interact with.

Frankly, OS X does not provide a long list of new must-havefeatures. The list is short but the items are essential. There are alot of small innovations and, of course, Apple's trademark designelegance (called Aqua), but the main reasons for users to make the leapto OS X are stability, protected memory, and multithreading. Here's whyyou should be learning the new system tomorrow.

Reason One: OS X is rock solid. Windows users have beenjustified in ridiculing the frequency with which Macs bomb. Severalcrashes a day are not uncommon. Crashes are often caused by software,but the old Mac OS was not designed to survive a software crash. WithOS X, when the software fails, simply restart the program, not thesystem. OS X may run for months (if not years) without crashing. That'sUNIX for you.

Reason Two: Protected memory. This is why the new OS X cansurvive software crashes. It also dynamically allocates memoryefficiently and makes use of virtual memory without the significantslow downs users encountered prior to OS X. On the other hand, whybother with RAM, as affordable as it is?

Reason Three: Multithreading. OS X lets you do more than onething at once. Or to be more accurate, it lets you work while thecomputer processes other tasks in the background. Again, this is afamiliar capability for Windows users and was a significantdisadvantage for the Mac prior to OS X.

Apart from the Mac GUI, most Mac users think of the file system whenthey think of ease of use. In the original OS, you could place filesanywhere and the cascading windows and folders had a simple logic.Unlike Windows, Mac apps did not install files over the hard drive, anduninstalling software was a breeze. The Mac avoided the file-namingconventions of DOS and Windows and gave Mac users enormous freedom.However, backtracking through the hierarchy meant opening lots ofwindows that quickly filled the screen. The windows themselves werejust frames that led to other files/frames. OS X supercharges windowswith new tools for finding and viewing files. Once you understand theviewing options in OS X, you will be well on your way to understandinghow the new OS works.

When you first launch OS X, you will probably do what you havealways done: go to the root hard drive and create a folder for yourwork. But that's not the way it works in OS X. To understand the newparadigm you'll want to answer two questions: Where is the old stuff?How do I set up my files? Here are some helpful hints:

To find old OS items, take 10 minutes and check out all of the menuitems in OS X. You'll find quite a few of the things you remember, butnot always in the same place. Next, visit the Dock. This is anall-important tool bar that sits (hidden) on the border of the screen.Just move your cursor to the far edge of the screen, and the Dockappears. You'll have to try each of the four edges of your desktop tolure the Dock from the edge because it can be configured for any sideof the screen. The default location is the bottom.

Buy a third-party manual. Amazingly, Apple does not supply acomprehensive OS X manual with the software. The appropriately namedMac OS X: The Missing Manual by David Pogue is an excellent bookthat fills the gap. It includes an appendix with a list of all the oldMac OS items and where you will or will not find them in OS X. Otherresources are OS X instructional products from www.TotalTraining.com (CDs) and www.Lynda.com (CDs andonline training).

In the past, your files would be organized and nested according toyour personal filing system — usually with folders that you'venamed and placed on the top level of the directory. The old Mac OS letyou set this up any way you wanted. OS X is more structured than thisand at first this may offend free spirits. In OS X you don't begin atthe top level, but three levels down at Home. When you first logged onto OS X you registered your name and that is what your Home folder iscalled. You will find your Home folder in the User Folder on the mainhard drive named OS X or OS X/User Folder/Home.

Home is your base of operations, where you will place most of yourfiles. The idea behind this system is that OS X was designed to be usedon a network or in a group environment, such as a school or in afamily. Each user gets a Home folder that they can customize. Again,that's how the file structure is set up: Hard Drive (OS X)/User/Home.There is also a Root drive (Computer), but for the most part you willnot need to access this. The Home folder comes with a suggested filestructure of eight existing folders: Desktop, Document, Library,Movies, Music, Picture, Public, and Sites.

OS X, Maya is among the high-profile applications porting to OSX.

Understanding the way the Desktop folder functions in your Homefolder helps explain how OS X is structured. The Desktop holds all thefiles and folders you put on the desktop that fills the screen of yourmonitor. This is specific to you. Every individual user gets his or herHome folder when they log on with their unique name. That invokes theirDesktop folder (in the Home folder) to be active, and so it shows theirversion of the big desktop, not yours. Conversely, other users can'tview your desktop arrangement or files unless they have your securitypassword.

The Document folder is where you will store work; the Library folderis for fonts, preferences, and help files. Next are the three datafolders: Movies, Music, and Picture. They are the default destinationwhen you do a Save As in Apple media applications like iMovie or iTune.Public is a folder to share files with anyone using your computer oraccessing it over a network. It's like an FTP site. Sites is forInternet use because OS X comes with a built-in web server.

You can create new folders in the Home folder, and you are not evenrequired to follow OS X's pre-ordained folder categories. You can trashany folder you might not use, for instance, the Public folder, if youare the only one using your computer.

OS X adds to the old windows-on-top-of-windows structure with thenew, empowered Finder windows. Windows now have buttons along the topthat provide much greater control over how files are found and viewed.Understanding this is a big step to understanding OS X. The mainfunctions you need to know are the View options: Icon, List, and ColumnView. Icon is the familiar image-based representation of your folders,except that you have much more control over the appearance of Icons.List View is the same as in the original OS and displays thetraditional column of files and folders. Twirly arrows still openfiles, which appear to the right of folders.

New in OS X is Column View. This is a way of showing the filehierarchy from within one window by displaying folders and theircontents left to right in panes. In the past you could view folders andfiles in List view, but you would have to click your way backward toextract yourself. Or, you might end up opening half a dozen windows tofind a file. Column View is like a master control center that combinesthe list view overview and the ability to look at your files as if froman open window. For example, you can play a thumbnail of a QuickTimemovie in Column View. The new Finder capabilities are one of OS X's bigimprovements.

This is a storage strip for Application Icons (aliases), SystemPreferences, Trash, and any folder that you need easy access to —a cousin of the old Mac seat belt. You can put it anywhere and add ordelete icons simply by dragging them on or off the Dock. It can beeasily customized but also sports lots of icon animation that maybecome annoying over time. Still, it is a great way to organize yourworkspace for speed.

That, believe it or not, covers the majority of organizationalchanges in OS X. Once I understood the Window Finder layout andbuttons, the Dock and the file structure in which Home is the top ofthe file hierarchy (for my work), I was able to navigate within OS X.There are dozens of useful shortcuts and tricks for each new feature,but that comes with time.

In the foreseeable future Apple will be supporting three operatingsystems: OS 9, OS X, and the Classic (OS 9) system running from withinOS X. This is a necessary evil because not all hardware and softwarehave been upgraded to OS X. To get to the old standby OS in a nativeconfiguration you have to select it as the Startup disk and reboot.Classic 9 is a version that can be launched instantly from within OS X.It's there for people who are still not comfortable with OS X'sconventions but want multitasking and protected memory. A good exerciseto learn OS X is to compare the file structure of the two systems andsee how your files are presented in each. Eventually, OS 9 will goaway. For now, Apple has done a good job of taking care of theinstalled user base by covering all OS options.

OS X is a major step forward for graphics professionals using Maccomputers. Switching operating systems means consulting a manual oronline help for several weeks. There is also the safety net of OS 9 andClassic, if you panic. But the advantages of the new OS are well worththe effort.

It was certainly important for Mac to change the OS. Windows hasabsorbed the majority of Apple's GUI innovations and added a few of itsown. I strongly suspect that without OS X you would not be looking atMaya on a Mac. One major point that Apple does not stress is that insome ways OS X makes the Mac more Windows-like. The file structure willseem more familiar to Windows users than any previous version of theMac OS, and that certainly encourages more defections. UNIX is also abig magnet for many graphic professionals in the digital-effectsindustry. OS X is a necessary step for Apple to be considered a seriousgraphics platform in the future. Learning OS X is equally important forMac graphic professionals.

Aja's Kona realtime HD card is the first uncompressed 10-bit YUV,dual-stream HD QuickTime card built from the ground up for Apple's OSX. And only for OS X. The Kona card features read like a wish list:realtime effects; realtime offline JPEG captured directly from HD-SDIto Firewire disk; WYSIWYG video output of the Macintosh desktop to avideo monitor or LCD for true preview of HD color-space and artifactswhen using Photoshop, After Effects, Combustion, etc.; native OS X6-channel, 24-bit, 48kHz AES/EBU audio (there's a sample-rateconversion for each input for seamless mixing of asynchronous ormismatched sample rates without pops or clicks); and provision forsimple firmware updates of new features as time goes by. List price:$11,000.