Applications not Visible under OS X & Network Trouble

[brianmiller]

The following is a copy of the message I sent to apple. If anyone else has experienced these problems or has solutions please let me know in your reply. I hope this info helps the overall user community.
-------

Greetings,

I received and installed the Mac OS X Public Beta on one of my iMacs today (iMac DV SE 500/128/30) and was quite disappointed with the results.

The machine has 4 partitions and I installed the Public Beta on a 2GB partition (HFS+) with absolutely nothing else on the partition.

The installation process went fairly well, and the set-up assistant was acceptable (if not as refined as the one that came on the iMac when new). On restart I entered my name and password and after a few moments I finally had my first glimpse at aqua... truly breathtaking.

Once I found my way around the new finder and dock and discovered the system preferences things started feeling pretty good. I wanted to try out some of the spiffy new applications but when I clicked upon "applications" in the finder it showed that I had none. I knew this could not be so as I had launched I.E. from the dock without any trouble (more on this later). I launched sherlock and had it search the drive with Mac OS X and it could not locate, Preview, Address Book, Grab, etc.

Very frustrated and not being able to "do anything" with the OS I rebooted to Mac OS 9 and looked at the same partition and lo and behold, all the apps appear to be there. This is not good, not good at all. After erasing the partition and attempting two more re-installs with exactly the same problem I have given up.

My business relies on the Mac OS for all of our system critical functions. I was hoping to get a glimpse of what goodies Apple has in store for us in the future. Instead I was welcomed by a promising looking OS that could not recognize and launch it's own built in apps. I am sure this has not been everyone's experience, but hopefully you can learn from my experience to be sure that another Mac faithful isn't so let down and terrified by their experience that they are actually contemplating a platform switch. After my initial experience with the Public Beta the thought had crossed my mind several times.

The following is a list of additional problems I encountered with the Software:
- Under the first install the Network control panel (for lack of a better term) would not launch properly. I would have to Force Quit the System Prefs each time. On my second install I indicated that I was not on a network in the set-up assistant and after that it would work and I could specify MOST settings needed to connect to my network.

- At no time was I able to connect to the internet properly via our LAN. The computer seemed to be communicating with the DHCP server properly and was assigned and I.P. address (and router address) but would not communicate to the internet via the router.

- We were not able to connect with any of our Mac OS 9 computers via AppleTalk OR TCP/IP. Interestingly enough I do not believe this was the fault of Mac OS X PB. I read that File Sharing over TCP/IP must be enabled on Mac OS 9 based Macs. I attempted to enable this setting on each of our 5 Mac OS 9 based Macs and on each one the computer crashed just as soon as the check box was clicked. Regardless of extension sets the File Sharing control panel on these computers will no longer open at all. Trying to open them immediately causes the computer to lock up. I am not sure how this all plays together but it does mean that even if our OS X system was working well we would STILL not be able to communicate with our OS 9 based Macs.

- Some type of internet sharing needs to be built in by default. The newest Win systems have this and with Cable Modems and DSL becoming mainstream and most Mac users having at least 2-4 machines or more it only makes sense. Even a licensed and friendlier version (aka Applefied) of I.P. Netrouter would work.

- Under Mac OS X PB if I made any changes to the network settings I was informed that a restart was required to make them active. This is a HUGE step backward for the Mac OS and I do not believe that users will go for it. Changes to the Network settings need to be immediate and hassle free just like they are in OS 9.

Well, that is my experience. The OS looks really good but unfortunately for me I was unable to DO anything with it other than run classic and why would I want to do that when OS 9 runs faster when booted as the core OS. No Internet, no apps, no fun. I really feel like I threw away my forty-bucks ($29.95 + $10 s/h) and I am now afraid that Mac OS X will not be the solution for those of us who have stuck with the Mac from day one. I am now left to contemplate rather all my Win using friends have been right all along.

I hope that this message reaches the engeniers, designers, and people who really want Mac OS X to work as much as I do. It looks like the team is heading in the right direction, I fear that by the time they reach their destination it may be too late.

Please let me know if you have any tips for installing the PB and getting it to work properly. If you already know the answers to the problems listed above please share them with the Mac community. If this Public Beta is to work then the lines of communoication MUST flow both ways. Help us Mac users continue to help Apple with the development cycle by posting new info and work arounds quickly and in a publicly accessable place.

Thanks for your time, I hope this info helps the overall Mac experience.
--
Brian Miller

[ravEdog]

This has been a long running ordeal hear in the forums. Thre seems to be some problem with the Finder and "disappearing" files. There is no current remedy, since it hits at random and only to some people. The best thing you can do is email apple everytime you have a new problem, so that they can get on it for the next bug fix release.

You might also want to search the forums first for your problem to see if anyone else is experiencing the same issues.

Remember it is BETA and it still has a ways to go.

[buddycat]

Originally posted by brianmiller

-------

Once I found my way around the new finder and dock and discovered the system preferences things started feeling pretty good. I wanted to try out some of the spiffy new applications but when I clicked upon "applications" in the finder it showed that I had none. I knew this could not be so as I had launched I.E. from the dock without any trouble (more on this later). I launched sherlock and had it search the drive with Mac OS X and it could not locate, Preview, Address Book, Grab, etc.

Very frustrated and not being able to "do anything" with the OS I rebooted to Mac OS 9 and looked at the same partition and lo and behold, all the apps appear to be there. This is not good, not good at all. After erasing the partition and attempting two more re-installs with exactly the same problem I have given up.


Brian Miller

Brian,

I had the same problem you had with the disappearing applications. I even reinstalled a couple of times. But, I found another post on a different forum suggesting that the applications were disappearing if you had a volume (partition or HD) with the same name as the folder. After I renamed my "Applications" partition on my hard drive, all my OS X apps reappeared. I hope this helps!

[palndron]

Do you know if OSX is on the first 8 gigs of the hard drive?

[brianmiller]

Thank you. I do have a partition called "Applications". I''ll try your work around.

Thank you.

P.S. I am sure that the OS is NOT on the first 8 Gigs of my HD. Is there some documentation that requires this?

Thanks too.

[brianmiller]

I renamed my partitions, re-installed OS X and now I have Applications that work.

Thank you for the help.

Now if we can just get OS X to access the internet via our Router all would be well.

Thanks again!

Brian

[palndron]

Hey brian,

Yes, it should be in the late breaking news.

[pottersang]

I've seen the finder not display stuff too - it seems to be an established bug that Apple is likely aware of. - john.