- May 23, 2012 14:00 PM Join us for a conversation between Carla Wolfe, one of the main characters in this story, and Chris ...
- May 23, 2012 14:00 PM Jon Arnold’s presentation will review the trends and drivers that have brought us to the present s ...
- May 23, 2012 14:00 PM Join Bank Systems & Technology, Netop, and Forrester Research for a free one-hour webcast that explo ...
Loading Carousel Data, Please wait ..
How To Prepare Your Mac for OS X 10.7 Lion
Category: Operating systems, Desktop PCs
BYTE -- Before you download Apple OS X Lion, you've got to prepare your system.
This will be the first time Apple releases a major OS X update entirely through its Mac App Store. That means no DVD for you. It also means system requirements are a little more stringent. This update leaves a lot of legacy hardware behind -- there is zero PowerPC support, for example.
So first, make sure your Mac has what it takes. If you're already running OS X 10.6.8 Snow Leopard, you're good to go. Well, almost good to go. Macs using Intel's Core Solo or Core Duo won’t support Lion. But if your system includes a Core 2 Duo, Core i3, Core i5, Core i7, or Xeon Intel processor, you're ready CPU-wise.
Make sure your system has at least 2GB RAM. I recommend 4GB for best results. Check your processor type and amount of system memory by going to Finder and clicking on the Apple menu. Now click on About This Mac. A window will open that looks like this:
Check compatibility for your applications, too. Contact the software developers behind your favorite applications to find out what will work with Lion. If the software is "universal" and supports Intel CPUs, you’ll be fine. If you need an update, now’s the time to do it.
Check out crowd-sourced compatibility information about a plethora of OS X applications at RoaringApps.com.
You must find all your applications that require PowerPC or Rosetta support. OS X Lion supports neither and will effectively kill off anything that amounts to PowerPC support. OS X no longer includes Rosetta, the translator the Mac uses to translate Power PC code to run on Intel processors.
It's easy to find the applications on your system that require Rosetta or a PowerPC processor. Go to Finder and click on the Apple menu. Now click on About This Mac. A window will open that looks like this:
Click on the button labeled More Info. System Profiler will open a new window.
Click Software on the left hand side of the System Profiler window. Select Applications.
Now drag the window to open it wider towards the right expanding the window until you see a column heading that says Kind. Click Kind to sort applications.
Scroll through the list and find all applications that say PowerPC under the Kind heading.
Before upgrading, check the health of your startup drive. Head to /Applications/Utilities and select your startup drive, click the First Aid tab. Click Verify Disk Permissions.
If Disk Utility reports problems, reboot either from the DVD set that came with your Mac or another bootable volume on DVD or USB. Select Repair Disk Permissions
Before you upgrade to Lion, make a really good backup. I recommend you make a mirror image of your Mac's startup drive. For this, you'll need an external USB, FireWire or Thunderbolt hard drive that is as large as or larger than your startup drive.
The best kind of Mac backup is a clone of the source drive and bootable, too. Shirt Pocket’s SuperDuper is one of my favorite utilities for this kind of backup. It's available for free and under $30 for the full version, which is what I recommend.
If you really want to get the best use out of new features like Mission Control, Launchpad, and full-screen applications on OS X Lion that use the enhanced mutli-touch gesture support in the new OS, think about getting the Magic Trackpad.
That's an optional gadget, of course, but you'll really like it with OS X Lion. Or, if you're using a Mac with a built-in trackpad, you're good to go.
I've upgraded three Macs up to OS X Lion and so far I haven't encountered any screaming problems. Just make sure you get everything prepared before you make the leap.
Based in Houston, David Martin is a technologist at BYTE. Follow him @David_W_Martin or email him at David.Martin@BYTE.com.
Related Reading
 |
To upload an avatar photo, first complete your Disqus profile. | View the list of supported HTML tags you can use to style comments. | Please read our commenting policy. |
COMMENTS
Tune In to BYTE
Related Webcasts
- Thriving in a Multi-Platform World: Integrating Mobile Device Management into Your Overall Security Strategy
- CTO to CTO: Scott Davies, VMware, and Jim Davies, Mitel, Give Voice to the Virtual Desktop
- What Impact Will Windows 8 Have on the Tablet Market?
- Entering the Scrum: Taking the First Steps on Your Agile Journey
- Unlock the Value of Your Business Data: IBM's Integration Solution for .NET Environments
Whitepapers
In this paper you will learn the five trends shaping
the future of enterprise mobility. Learn how the rise of social media as
a business application, the lurring between work and home, the emergence
of new mobile devices, the demand for tech savvy employees and changing
expectations of corporate IT will fundamentally change the workplace.
In a survey of more than 1,700 information workers
(iWorkers) in North America, notebooks, desktops, and smartphones were
found to be “must-have” devices, while tablets, slates, and netbooks
were relegated to “nice-to-have” status, according to a commissioned
study conducted by Forrester Consulting on behalf of Dell and Intel.
Upcoming Events
Oct 20: Becoming a Security Detective - Gathering and Analyzing Security Intelligence in the Enterprise
In this all-day virtual event, experts will offer detailed insight in how to collect security intelligence in the enterprise, and how to analyze and study it in order to efficiently identify new threats as well as low-and-slow attacks such as advanced persistent threats. Register today!
Platinum Sponsors: ArcSight, NetIQ, Proofpoint, Thawte
Gold Sponsor: Q1 Labs
October 6: InformationWeek 500 Virtual Event: The Need for Speed
At the 2011 InformationWeek 500 Virtual Conference, C-level executives from leading global companies will gather to discuss how their organizations are turbo-charging business execution and growth.
Platinum Sponsor: ArcSight, Workday
Gold Sponsor: IBM
Aug 25: InformationWeek & Dark Reading present: How Security Breaches Happen and What Your Organization Can Do About Them
Attendees will get insights on how to prevent breaches from happening, how to research and identify the source of a breach, and how to remediate a compromise as quickly and efficiently as possible.
Platinum Sponsor: ArcSight, NetIQ, Thawte
Gold Sponsors: Lumension, NetGear, GFI
Silver Sponsor: Motorola
July 28: InformationWeek & Symantec present: Infrastructure at Risk -- Taking Decisive Action to Secure Your Critical Data Assets
Join the editors of InformationWeek and leading security experts from Symantec for an in-depth look at the current threats faced by large and small organizations, and the implications for your business, your customers, and even your country. You'll hear how today's threat landscape is changing drastically, and learn the latest countermeasures and best practices to keep your company's precious data assets out of the hands of determined cybercriminals.
July 27: Electronic Health Records -- Moving from Concept to Reality
At this InformationWeek Healthcare Virtual Event, we will talk with healthcare practitioners, IT professionals and other industry experts about issues surrounding EHR selection, deployment and use.
Platinum Sponsor: HP, Intel, GBS, Geotrust, NextGen
Silver Sponsor: Proofpoint
On-Demand: InformationWeek & Interop present: Business Mobility Unleashed
In this virtual event, the leaders behind InformationWeek Business Technology Network and Interop zero in on the top mobile technologies and techniques you'll need to understand and master to ensure your organization thrives in the wireless world.
Platinum Sponsors: Alcatel-Lucent, APC
Gold Sponsor: HP
Silver Sponsor: Emerson Network Power
Bronze Sponsor: Skybot
On-Demand: Cybersecurity Best Practices
In this half-day virtual event, experts assess the state of cybersecurity in government and present the latest strategies for creating a more secure, attack-proof IT infrastructure. This event will help CISOs and other information assurance professionals in federal, state, and local government stay on top of the latest developments in the field.
Platinum Sponsor: GeoTrust
Gold Sponsor: Bit9
On-Demand: Data Center Transformation
Data centers are undergoing incredible transformations that create
both opportunities and challenges for IT professionals. Server virtualization enables rapid provisioning,
more efficient use of resources, and improved disaster recovery. That trend will continue with storage and network virtualization,
allowing IT pros to further abstract -- and optimize -- data center resources.In this virtual event, you will learn how prepare your organization for a data center transformation.
Platinum Sponsors: AMD, APC, Cisco, Eaton, SunGard
Gold Sponsor: Emerson Network Power
On-Demand: Cloud Computing Roadmap: Controlling the Cloud - Managing, Optimizing and Integrating Cloud Services with Your Existing IT Infrastructure
In this virtual event, you'll learn how to craft your own strategy for successfully embracing and integrating new cloud computing capabilities without derailing or destroying your current IT roadmap.
Platinum Sponsors: ArcSight, GoToAssist, SunGard, thawte
Gold Sponsor: Symform
Silver Sponsor: Skybot
On-Demand: Plugging the Leaks -- Finding and Fixing the IT Security Holes in your Enterprise
In this virtual event presented by Dark Reading and InformationWeek, you'll find out how criminals target the flaws in your IT environment, and you'll get some insight on the best methods for finding and fixing your vulnerabilities -- before you're hit by malware or unauthorized access.
Platinum Sponsors: NetIQ, Novell, thawte, Webroot
Gold Sponsors: ArcSight, Bit9, OpenText
Silver Sponsor: Application Security, Core Security, Lumension
The 2011 Informationweek 500 Conference will be held at the beautiful St. Regis Monarch Beach Resort, Dana Point, CA. Mark your calendars for September 11-13, 2011.
InformationWeek Healthcare IT Leadership Forum
Related Reports
Related Whitepapers
