Jaguar Drivers

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Drivers let you run devices, and because Jaguar is still new(er), there's lots of things that still don't work quite as well. The things that do work, work well (sometimes even better). But this is gap analysis, and what can't I do that I used to be able to.

  • 👎 Mouse tracking - this sounds like a little issue. But the Mac always felt smooth and predictable. There's some new tracking in OS X (including Jaguar) that I've never gotten used to. The velocity curves are different, and it skips and jumps. Sometimes it stutters and before I know it, I've added things from the dock or pulled them out. Huh? It feels, well, like Windows to me. It is actually slightly better than Windows and is closer to a Mac, but it isn't yet don't right.
  • 👎 Cursors - The I-Beam cursor sometimes works, sometimes not (especially in the finder). Same with the silly little spinning CD-ROM cursor (the SBBOD: Spinning Beach Ball of Doom). Has anyone figured out that while this might have made sense when the NeXT cube had an optical drive, it makes no sense today (with Hard Drives)? Apple's watch was much better metaphor. I like cursor shadows and cusror look and detail. Everything else in new cursors is a step backwards.
  • 👎 Game controller support - Apple used to have input sprockets for gaming. There are ways to do it using USB drivers, but few have done it, or done it well. So step backwards.
  • 👎 Analog Audio/Video - You used to be able to just plug a VCR or camera or plug in a mic. Apple pulled out (or hasn't implemented) some support on this stuff.
  • 👎 Power Management - I used to get 4 real hours out of the TiBook in OS9. I'm lucky to get 2 hours on a batter with Jaguar and it runs hotter. We can discuss all the reasons why it doesn't work (UNIX VM disk thrashing and so on) but in the end they are excuses; it used to work better.
  • 👎 Timed events - I do not leave my machine on all the time. It turns out that OS X expects that I do and it runs maintenance tasks accordingly. I used to script things like "boot at 2:00 AM, backup and 2:15 AM, shutdown at 3:00 AM until 5:00 AM, then get up before I did so when I went downstairs it was all warm and booted for me". Minor stuff, but not yet supported.
  • 👎 Portrait monitor" - OK, so I'm the only geek left with an old one-page portrait (Vertical) display. But I liked it I and am annoyed that it doesn't work.
  • 👎 Happpy Mac on boot - now honestly, why did that have to go? It isn't a huge deal. But there's a difference between evolution and change for change's sake. They could have made it better and do more. Instead they just made it different. Not instead of being greeted with an inviting happy Mac, I get cold disk that flashes until an Apple logo.
  • 👎 Function Keys - I used to be able to set function keys to do things, like run Applications? This worked for 10 years, but new Apple just broke it and doesn't seem to care.