Sorbet Leopard - Your Power Mac Unleashed

[wicknix]

Since i acquired a new to me G5 last week where i replaced the old hard drive, i figured it'd be a good time to try the final release. Works really well, and i like the tweaks/hidden gems. As i did with my ubuntu remixes, i'm sure you had a lot of fun creating this. I think it's a keeper. Good job.

 

[flatjuba]

I'm doing an install now with CCC - there are ways and means you can set it to leave particular installed files intact - though you'd do that at your own risk.

Actually with my previous Sorbet, I installed several applications there...with CCC, do I get a fresh installation of OS, or simply the old apps & files intact?

 

[Dronecatcher]

Actually with my previous Sorbet, I installed several applications there...with CCC, do I get a fresh installation of OS, or simply the old apps & files intact?

You would have to set CCC to not overwrite certain files.

I wouldn't like the risk factor - I'd backup important data and reinstall any apps to prevent problems.

 

[PowerBookG4Enjoyer]

I installed Sorbet using the Disk Utility's Restore function on two machines without any problems.

 

[weckart]

Actually with my previous Sorbet, I installed several applications there...with CCC, do I get a fresh installation of OS, or simply the old apps & files intact?

I did this with two installations over a previous R1.4. Setting CCC to only update existing files and not to delete any, it took only a couple of minutes to update. I rather suspect, however, that CCC is going by file modification date and may not necessarily have updated all of the system files.

Bear in mind, that if you go this route, you will need to run it from another OSX volume altogether as CCC will not replace system files on the boot volume. On both of the machines in question, I had both a Sorbet Leopard and a Tiger volume and ran the updates via CCC from the Tiger volume.

 

[bramcote]

I have sorbet 1.5 on my second disk but using CCC to get my users on there my admin account is now a standard account. I cannot access accounts in systemprefs as it insists on an admin user to unlock the prefs. Anyone able to help.

Ged

 

[Amethyst1]

I have sorbet 1.5 on my second disk but using CCC to get my users on there my admin account is now a standard account.

Try adding your user to the admin group in single-user mode. To get there, hold the “Command” and “S” keys while booting.

 

[Doq]

I should note though that if someone were dedicated enough, a complete replica of 10.5.9 could probably be recreated using a fully-updated 10.5.8 base system and the 10.5.8 to 10.5.9 R1.5 Changelog alone, if each one of the ~75 individual and grouped changes were translated into an all-in-one shell script or installer of some type. And in fact, I might assemble a brief resource to assist that process, should someone ever take it on.

This might be taken on sooner than you might think.

More on this later.

 

[z970]

@wicknix On average, I tend to have a lot more fun updating reFlash and AquaWeb. Revision 1.5's development cycle (and Sorbet's as a whole) was, in comparison, a little bit destructive. For me, OS development is a very different beast to isolated apps and websites and has 10 times the moving parts involved -- and if that's not respected, everything breaks.

Call me an architectural zealot, but this project was born slightly more out of love than fun, in all honesty. Although it was definitely a good learning experience on the whole.

With that being said, one of these days, I have got to install one of your famous remixes.

@Doq Before the idea was canned, I did assemble an ordered archive of all Leopard updates that the user was intended to install manually after installing the base system from disc, before opening the actual 10.5.9 installer. So, I can send that archive to you to save time on your end while packaging the final product; if that task is indeed taken on.

-

On another note, it would be interesting to see if anyone takes over future development of Sorbet at some point down the line. As Darwin is open source, one of the things I wanted to do was include a custom performance-optimized kernel that took as many pointers from Darwin 10 as possible, without actually using the PPC-compatible version from the SL alpha. But even so, configuring and compiling it was too ambitious even for me and the stock Darwin 9.8 had to suffice.

And more desirable than that, there was also 10.4.12 for G3 CPUs ...

But I digress; these are just stationary ideas.

 

[SpecialK6466]

On another note, it would be interesting to see if anyone takes over future development of Sorbet at some point down the line. As Darwin is open source, one of the things I wanted to do was include a custom performance-optimized kernel that took as many pointers from Darwin 10 as possible, without actually using the PPC-compatible version from the SL alpha. But even so, configuring and compiling it was too ambitious even for me and the stock Darwin 9.8 had to suffice.

This is actually something I've been looking into a month or two ago. First I tried copying one of the kernels from the Snow Leopard betas and got a kernel panic (though I didn't try things like clearing caches or permissions) then I tried building the Darwin 10 xnu kernel on Leopard ("no target" errors) and on a x86 Snow Leopard just to run into some issues that a developer (rather than a sysadmin) would be able to solve, I believe.

Either way, I agree 100% with wanting to see a custom kernel for PPC Leopard. Also an updated BSD "coreutils" like Tigerbrew or MacPorts installs for the user and Classic if the scene ever figures out how to backport it from Tiger.

 

[bramcote]

Many thanks Amethyst1 I'm up&running with my admin user available for use.

Ged

 

[Edgecrusherr]

@Edgecrusherr Yes, provided Migration Assistant does not overwrite the pre-installed system apps or default user preferences (such as those for the Dock, Desktop, and loginwindow).

If it is impossible to reactivate some of your software due to the original developers having gone under, and if you don't mind, I would suggest uploading a copy of that software to Macintosh Garden for historical preservation purposes, and then combing through your user preferences files (~/Library/Preferences) for the .plist file corresponding to this software. It should contain the activation credentials which you can isolate and then republish for others. This way, the functionality of that software wouldn't be lost forever if your drive was ever wiped or you accidentally deleted a crucial file.

---

Great upgrade, thanks! I started playing with it yesterday. I love how you have this release set to use the Setup Assistant out the door. It really feels like a true release.

For the software, the registration info isn't in the plist, I suspect it's hidden inside /.var somewhere. One good example is the system mod tools made by Unsanity. Even making changes to the software settings, after its installed, it tries to call home to their servers, that are no longer live.

So I have this running on my PowerMac G4 Quicksilver and PowerBook Pismo (with 550MHz G4 upgrade). I went for a full Migration Assistant on the PowerBook. I'm working through some little issues, and will compare it to the non-migrated instance on the PowerMac. I may wipe and start over again without the migration if I run into any major issues, but so far it's great.

 

[galgot]

Since i acquired a new to me G5 last week where i replaced the old hard drive, i figured it'd be a good time to try the final release. Works really well, and i like the tweaks/hidden gems. As i did with my ubuntu remixes, i'm sure you had a lot of fun creating this. I think it's a keeper. Good job.

View attachment 2000612

Please @wicknix , what is that stat stuff displaying on the screen's left side ? Conky for Mac OS X ?

 

[Doq]

@z970

That would be much appreciated. It should be pretty easy from that pack. Having a strong Linux background has made me quite accustomed to shell scripting. I could give it a shot.

 

[Edgecrusherr]

@wicknix
On another note, it would be interesting to see if anyone takes over future development of Sorbet at some point down the line. As Darwin is open source, one of the things I wanted to do was include a custom performance-optimized kernel that took as many pointers from Darwin 10 as possible, without actually using the PPC-compatible version from the SL alpha. But even so, configuring and compiling it was too ambitious even for me and the stock Darwin 9.8 had to suffice.

And more desirable than that, there was also 10.4.12 for G3 CPUs ...

But I digress; these are just stationary ideas.

10.4.12 for G3 CPUs (and some slower G4s) would be amazing. Great work in general, I love that these older systems are getting the love they deserve!

 

[wicknix]

Please @wicknix , what is that stat stuff displaying on the screen's left side ? Conky for Mac OS X ?

XRG

Monitor all aspects of your Mac's activity

xrg.en.softonic.com

Due note however due to lack of https support that the weather and stock ticker no longer work (unless you connect to a proxy like squid). Otherwise it works great. I added it to my login to start at boot.

 

[galgot]

XRG

Monitor all aspects of your Mac's activity

xrg.en.softonic.com

Due note however due to lack of https support that the weather and stock ticker no longer work (unless you connect to a proxy like squid). Otherwise it works great. I added it to my login to start at boot.

Thanks !

 

[z970]

Updated first post to be more funny.

 

[Angelgreat]

Updated first post to be more funny.

Okay...

 

[Angelgreat]

Should we make a modified Classic for Sorbet Leopard so that way, we can have OS9 on Sorbet Leopard.

 

[Amethyst1]

Should we make a modified Classic for Sorbet Leopard so that way, we can have OS9 on Sorbet Leopard.

Given that Classic on Leopard has remained uncracked, what’s the chance of this working?

 

[Angelgreat]

Given that Classic on Leopard has remained uncracked, what’s the chance of this working?

Reverse engineering?

 

[ww2_1943]

First I want to thank Z970 for this! My G4 550mhz Pismo is running so smooth. It is even handling multitasking better than the original version of Sorbet. Really, this is just unreal.

I’m repairing permissions now.

I have some questions-
1. Should I create a RAM disk and if so, how large? I have 1GB of ram.

2. Is leaving the dock 3D really taking up a lot of resources? I like the look and want to retain it if I can. Does setting it to hide free up resources?

3. I looked through the utility scripts and I don’t see a shadow killer. I thought the original version had that. I could be wrong.

4. What other scripts are recommended for my setup?

 

[Amethyst1]

1. Should I create a RAM disk and if so, how large? I have 1GB of ram.

What will you use the RAM disk for? OS X just generally loves RAM, and so do web browsers.

2. Is leaving the dock 3D really taking up a lot of resources? I like the look and want to retain it if I can. Does setting it to hide free up resources?

The GUI is definitely snappier with the "2D" Dock, and the fact the Pismo's GPU doesn't support Core Image so the CPU has to handle the 3D Dock's effects intensifies the difference.

 

[z970]

@ww2_1943 I will append @Amethyst1's answer with the following notes on using RAM disks ...

Typically, you should not create a disk as large as the entire installed capacity. If you fill that with files, the system will end up swapping to disk for everything; and because you control what resides in memory (via the RAM disk), the system can't automatically get rid of it and go back to using its native memory banks.

As a rule of thumb, I would suggest leaving 512 MB to 1 GB free for the rest of the system to use (at minimum), so in your case that would be creating one anywhere from 64 MB to 512 MB in size for most uses. Be aware though that with such a relatively cramped amount of memory to begin with, while you will see certain I/O performance improvements (with files stored on the RAM disk), overall memory performance (for normal RAM tasks) may suffer. All in all, it is really a feature for higher-end G4s and G5s with RAM to spare.

In regards to disabling shadows, Sorbet does not ship with ShadowKiller; rather, it uses a custom implementation provided by @AphoticD in the form of an embedded binary, with a user-accessible switch located at Sorbet Tools > System > Quartz Compositor > Toggle Window Shadows (just as the Sorbet Tips section @ the project's Macintosh Garden page describes).

For more post-install tips, tricks, and tweaks, please see Sorbet Tips at the above link.