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OpenStep · 09:57 AM

My friend's (after finally convincing him to get a Mac laptop instead of a Dell

) iBook 800 is coming today and I'm going to install the extra ram and airport card for him. Does the iBook come with a lot of preloaded junk on the drive? It looks like on Apple's site it comes with some stuff with the laptop, but are these things actually installed, or simply installers on the drive that the user can install themselves? I'm wondering if I should just save the trouble and wipe the drive clean as soon as it comes and run just Jaguar with no Classic. I havn't had a new Mac in a while and I havn't seen how Apple configures software on new systems

jokell82 · Jun 26, 2003, 09:28 AM

If you don't think he'd ever use classic, the first thing I'd do is wipe the drive. Just run the OS X install unless you really want some of the applications that come with it (does Appleworks still come with iBooks?).

I wouldn't call an Apple default install bloated (it's nowhere near what windows is), but you can clean it up considerably if you do it yourself.

OpenStep · Jun 26, 2003, 10:03 AM

He's totally new to the Mac he's only seen OS X (he's never used OS 9 at all) so I think I might just wipe it to make it less confusing so there aren't 2 separate application folders and system folders. Now I just gotta wait for the Fedex tracking to show it's delivered

murbot · Jun 26, 2003, 10:42 AM

I always wipe the hard drive on a new Mac, and reinstall the system. I have no need for Classic on the machine, or the dozen or so other languages it installs. I'd rather free up the hard drive space personally, and having a freshly installed system just makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

Sosa · Jun 26, 2003, 12:59 PM

I agree that doing a clean install of OS X is a good idea for new users, no need to have OS 9 installed for most people. I believe Appleworks and a couple of other applications, such as Faxstf and some games, may not come installed. Certanly they are not part of OS X, so they will need to be installed if you delete the HD. They are in the Applications CD, which also has some other extras. As long as you are doing this for your friend, might as well add AW and Faxstf and update both. I used them extensively.

Simon · Jun 27, 2003, 04:11 AM

Yes, do a whipe and then a clean re-install. It gives you a really slick and tidy setup.

Don't be afraid about losing pre-installed apps! As far as I know they are always also included on the install CDs or DVDs that come with your Mac. Just pop in the CD or DVD, open the terminal, go to the root of the CD or DVD

% cd /Volumes/Restore\ DVD/

and then you can see a hidden image folder

% ls -al
.images/
...
...

go into this image directory

% cd .images/

and you will find the images of all pre-installed apps. They can be opened and mounted right out of the terminal

% open AppleWorks.dmg

It's that simple.

Have fun!

radarbob · Jun 27, 2003, 07:34 AM

At one point early in the OS X install you'll notice a button "options.." Behind that button you can uncheck all the languages you don't use. I saved 2ook of space by checking only English.

OpenStep · Jun 27, 2003, 03:20 PM

Thanks for all the input and tips, the hidden .dmg's are handy.. I just reformatted an iBook 500 here and it said the software restore wouldn't work on this system. Opened that hidden folder on the 3 restore cds and got AppleWorks and the dev tools installed(rest of the junk I didn't want to install). Just curious, how does Apple install software on the systems at the factory? It looks like they would use Apple System Restore (the iBook 800 came with the dvd player.app preinstalled, it looks like Apple uses 1 image for all the iBooks) to do it. I can't imagine at the factory inserting 3 cds into each system to reinstall the software. Is it possible to deploy iBook ASR images over a network... I'm guessing that's how Apple does it?