Apple
Apple Darwin known as Apple Mac OS X is a derivative of “BSD” the open source operating system 4.4BSD-Lite2 and FreeBSD with a bespoke GUI
So what is really the difference between, say, Debian Linux and FreeBSD? For the average user, the difference is surprisingly small: Both are UNIX® like operating systems. Both are developed by non-commercial projects.
The first version released was Mac OS X Server 1.0 in 1999, and a desktop-oriented version, Mac OS X v10.0 “Cheetah” followed on March 24, 2001. Releases of Mac OS X are named after big cats: for example, Mac OS X v10.6 is usually referred to by Apple and users as “Snow Leopard”. The server edition, Mac OS X Server, is architecturally identical to its desktop counterpart, and includes tools to facilitate management of workgroups of Mac OS X machines, and to provide access to network services. These tools include a mail transfer agent, a Samba server, an LDAP server, a domain name server, and others. It is pre-loaded on Apple’s Xserve server hardware, but can be run on almost all of Apple’s current selling computer models. Apple also produces specialized versions of Mac OS X for use on four of its consumer devices: the iOS for the iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad, and the new Apple TV, as well as an unnamed version for the previous Apple TV.
Information
- Fix It
- Mac Strategy
- Every Mac
- iPad or MacBook
- iPad
- Value of your equipment
- Gadget Value
- Samba2
- Run Linux Live USB on Apple equipment
- Apple Refurb
- 2nd chance pc
Email : Temp Email anti-spam
Compression
- Keka : a free file archiver for Mac OS X the main compression core is p7zip (7-zip port) Compressionformatssupported: 7z, Zip, Tar, Gzip, Bzip2, DMG, ISO Extraction formats supported: RAR, 7z, Lzma, Zip, Tar, Gzip, Bzip2, ISO, EXE, CAB, PAX, ACE (PPC)
Remote Access
Web Browser
Chrome
The fast, free browser that’s built for
the modern web.
Time Machine
- TimeMachineEditor : TimeMachineEditor is a software lets you change the default one-hour backup interval of Time Machine. You can change the interval or create a more sophisticated scheduling
Emulator / Virtualisation
Finder Add-ons
Not compatible* post OS X versions 10.10 Yosemite
- TotalFinder : brings tabs to your native Finder and more!
- XtraFinder : XtraFinder add Tabs and features to Mac Finder (Free)
AppleAppStore Free software Search
Top Apps not in AppStore
Comms
- Viber
- Skype
- ooVoo for Mac
- Zoiper : A great “SIP” client. Get use a free sip landline on your Mac. 100% free and open source get your free sip account at sipgate.co.uk
Video
- VLC
- MPlayerX
- MP4 Joiner
- HandBrake : DVD ripper and MPEG-4 / H.264 encoding. Very simple to use.
- clipconverter.cc : Online YouTube to MP3, AAC, MP4… Recorder, Converter and Downloader!
Audio
Utils
Productivity
- LibreOffice : Is a powerful open-source office suite
Graphics
- Gimp
- GimpShop (Check compatibility)
- Fotor Photo Editor
History of OS X
This eighth release of OS X brings us around 250 new features, many of which are inspired by Apple’s mobile-device operating system, iOS.
Unlike previous versions of Mac OS, it isn’t delivered on a disc (though Lion flash drives are due in August, for £55).
Instead, it’s purchased, downloaded and installed from the Mac App Store. The App Store was introduced with OS X 10.6.6, so if you’re running Leopard or earlier on a Mac that’s capable of running Lion, you must install Snow Leopard before upgrading to the latest version of the operating system.
OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion
The latest edition of Apple’s operating system for Macs — arrives within days of Lion’s first birthday. What a party pooper. Like an obnoxious neighbour, it’s turned up with smarter clothes and better toys, and robbed the birthday boy of his guests’ attention.
Also known as OS X 10.8, it’s neat, it’s fast and it’s packed with new features.
OS X 10.9.x Mavericks
The tenth major revision of OS X, Mavericks, marks an attempt at a fresh start.
Oh yeah, and it’s available as a free download! Apple has decided it should treat the Mac community in the same way it has been treating iOS users and ship the update free via the Mac App Store.
Mavericks introduces new features that are aimed at professionals, updates major interface components, it overhauls the system’s branding. Big cats are out, and California locations are in (Mavericks being a surfing hotspot).
The default desktop picture can be seen as a huge wave, washing away the overbearing textures most often attributed to Scott Forstall.
While Mavericks is designed to bring Apple’s desktop and mobile closer together, this isn’t a radical iOS 7-style redesign. It’s more a refinement of OS X’s existing design language that just happens to be simpler and cleaner.
FOR
- Tabs in Finder
- Useful new apps
- Enhanced performance
- Great multi-display improvements
- Price – FREE {Available from App Store}
AGAINST
- Suboptimal tagging
- Some elements still pig-ugly
- Few moments of excitement
- Feels a bit unfinished
- Does not support all legacy hardware
OS X Yosemite is the newest version of the Mac operating system, including a revamped look and a number of new features like iCloud Drive and Continuity. It was released to the public on October 16 and is immediately available for all Mac users at no cost.
FEATURES
- Complete redesign with “flatter look”
- Expanded Notification Center with widgets
- iCloud Drive file storage
- Streamlined design for Safari
- Mail and Messages enhancements
http://www.macrumors.com/roundup/os-x/
If you’re wondering whether you should make the leap from Yosemite to OS X 10.11 El Capitan, the answer is ostensibly yes. That being said, let’s take a deeper look at Apple’s latest, including its highs and lows, to see why you should consider the upgrade.
Latest news
With OS X 10.11.6 purportedly the last update for El Capitan, its successor, macOS Sierra, will leave the OS X moniker behind in the dust, likely by mid-October. And, if you’re still rocking an older Mac, your computer might go along with it.
With a solid release date expected at Apple’s September 7 event, macOS Sierra – at long last – adopts Siri integration, improved Continuity features and even Apple Pay support.
Though sales of El Capitan-equipped Macs have been all but impressive in recent months, the introduction of macOS Sierra alongside the MacBook Pro 2016 and MacBook Air 2016 hardware lineups, effectively replacing the MacBook Pro and MacBook Air of yesteryear, could restore Apple’s brand power in the PC space.
- Price – FREE {Available from App Store}
macOS 10.12 Sierra
Apple’s desktop operating system has found its voice
Supported Macs
Here are the Mac models that are compatible with macOS Sierra:
- MacBook (Late 2009 and later)
- iMac (Late 2009 and later)
- MacBook Air (2010 and later)
- MacBook Pro (2010 and later)
- Mac mini (2010 and later)
- Mac Pro (2010 and later)
Siri lands on the Mac
With Siri’s arrival on the Mac, owners of Apple’s computers no longer have to look at iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch owners with envy. Apple’s personal assistant is arguably even more useful on the Mac than it is on the company’s mobile platforms as you can drag and drop Siri’s search results from the Notifications pane and into other apps for sharing or accessing on a later date.
Those results include images pulled from the web, which appear as thumbnails along the right-hand edge. Siri can also retrieve other information as part of searches, including maps results, location data and user reviews courtesy of Yelp.
As far as its basic operation goes, Siri works just the same on the Mac as it does on other devices. You click the purple icon in the top right-hand corner, instead of holding a button, before speaking into your Mac’s microphone. You’re given a five second window before Siri gives you what can only be described as a digital nudge and reminds you of what phrases you can ask.
You can also retrieve a list of actions that Siri can perform by simply asking, “What can you do?”. Some are basic, such as asking Siri to open a folder on the Mac or launch an app. It’s also possible to start a FaceTime call, set up a meeting using the macOS Calendar, or find photos from a particular date. If you’re a social media addict, the ability to post updates to Twitter and Facebook could prove a big time-saver.
So, how well does it work? Very, in fact: Siri’s voice recognition engine is near-flawless. Even in my strong regional accent, it picked up what I was saying almost every time. Siri only struggled with words that sound the same but are spelled differently. For example, she repeatedly failed to distinguish the difference between questions based around the country Wales, and ones about whales.
Siri commands to try
Things that you can ask Siri include:
- Tell me what movies are playing today
- Read my latest email
- Text John ‘See you soon smiley exclamation point’
- Find a table for four tonight
- Call Dad at work
- Find me books by C.S. Lewis
- How’s the weather in London on Saturday?
- Did Manchester United win?
Keeping tabs
It’s now possible to use tabs in any almost application, whereas El Capitan restricted them to OS-specific apps such as Safari, and Finder. Apple’s apps that support tabs from the off include Mail, Maps, TextEdit and the three iWork apps – Pages, Numbers and Keynote. Apple says that you can open tabs in any app without the need for extra coding from developers, but that depends. That is the case where the app can open multiple windows, but you aren’t suddenly going to be flicking through tabs in ones like Spotify, Ulysses or Evernote, which already have their own sidebar-based navigation systems.
Apps that currently support tabs let you activate tabs using the View menu. The obvious benefit here is that you don’t have to open as many new windows to multi-task, which comes in especially useful in split screen mode. For example, somebody writing up an essay could position Safari (or any other browser) on the left and Pages on the right. Previously it would have only been possible to view one website at a time in full screen mode, whereas tabs allow multiple webpages to be opened.
This can be particularly useful when used in conjunction with note-taking services such as Evernote. Suddenly it’s possible to flick between multiple notes open in various tabs for retrieving information while maximizing the amount of information that can be displayed on the other half of the screen. It’s especially useful for owners of Apple’s Macs that don’t offer much real estate – including both sizes of its MacBook Air and even the 12-inch MacBook.
Finder has remained largely the same, featuring the same visual design and the option to open multiple windows within tabs, as you now can in applications. It’s a shame that Apple is yet to offer more customization features in El Capitan.
Apple long ago removed the option to skin the operating system’s look and feel, with only a few third-party applications like cDock allowing any customization at all. It was rumored that Sierra would feature a dark move that would apply to Pages, Safari and other of Apple’s applications, but unfortunately it hasn’t happened
The only update to Finder is that iCloud now has its own group in the sidebar. That’s because the latest version of macOS now comes with the option to sync your Desktop and Document folders to iCloud. Apple says that the desktop is still the place where people dump most of their files without a second thought, and it’s something that we’re still guilty of despite being signed up to every cloud storage service out there.
Placing files on the desktop means you don’t have to worry about sorting them until you’re ready, and you’re given instant access to them on other Macs, other iOS devices (via the iCloud app), and iCloud.com.
Universal clipboard
Getting information from one Apple device to another has always been a bit clunky. Most people send it to themselves in a messaging app or, more commonly, email. Apple has looked to solve this problem with Universal Clipboard, a new feature that allows you to copy and paste information from a macOS device to one running iOS, or visa versa.
The act of doing it is so simple that it requires no instructions. You press copy one device and then paste it on the other. There’s a slight delay the first time this happens as the content is transferred over your wireless network, but from then on the action is instant.
Picture-in-picture
It’s been around on iOS for a while, and it’s now possible to use Picture-in-Picture mode on your Mac. The viewing mode is in a limited form right now, with Vimeo and a few other video sites making full use of it. The idea is that you can float video from Safari or iTunes around the desktop allowing you to carry out other tasks while having it running in the foreground.
It’s activated by clicking on a darkened button on the bottom-right hand corner of the video screen, which pops it out. The video can then be moved to one of the top or bottom corners depending on where you want to place it, and it can also be resized to take up most of the screen. The miniaturized video window will stay put even if you switch spaces.
Optimized storage
Running out of storage is a common problem for Mac owners – especially if you’re using an older machine such as the 11- or 13-inch MacBook Air. Thankfully, Apple has included a new storage-management feature in macOS Sierra.
Accessed using the About This Mac menu and then clicking on storage, it works by automatically deleting files from certain folders and locations to reclaim space. You can choose to move older photos and videos to iCloud, in addition to removing TV shows and movies that have already been watched. If you’re unsure of what to get rid of, Sierra also lets you review and delete files individually.
Apple Pay
Apple Pay has now rolled out to the web, allowing you to make purchases using an iPhone 6 (or later) running iOS 10 or an Apple Watch with watchOS 3. Apple says that 300,000 websites are expected to add an Apple Pay button like the one in the picture below. Tapping it to complete a purchase then requires one of two things: on an iPhone it’s authenticating using TouchID or a passcode. On an Apple Watch, it simply involves giving it a double tap – if you’re already authenticated.
Using Apple Pay is undoubtedly more convenient than having to sit through payment information forms each time you buy something, and the company reckons it’s more secure than regular checkouts as all transactions are encrypted. That said, you probably aren’t going to be buying that many expensive items on a regular basis, and the speed benefits will be felt more once Apple Pay has rolled out to a wider number of online store fronts.
Messages
Apple has made sure that iPhone and iPad owners haven’t got all the fun by adding new features to its Messages app. They include web links that now appear in conversations with content previews, and you can watch videos without leaving the app.
It’s all what you would expect from other modern messaging apps, such as Whatsapp. Additionally, Apple has added tapbacks – short, quick ways of sending emoticons that sum up your response – such as a heart, a thumbs-up icon or a cartoon-esque question mark.
