Stability - OS X has panicked. But it's not OK: many, many buggy apps: Sherlock crashes, unexpectedly quits, or reports endless errors; Internet Connect is useless for dial-up modem users, DP macs panic regularly without Louis Gerbarg's patch; System Prefs unexpectedly quits regularly, etc., etc.

Speed - OS X is slow. On a DP 450 G4 it should be much, much more responsive: menu clicks, window resizing, app launching...all are hideously slow compared to OS 9...and OS X can use both processors??? C'mon...it's a dog.

Features - OS X even w/ Classic is missing something I need: good, reliable MP3 playback, CD-burning, DVD-support, etc.

Peripherals - OS X does not support a critical peripheral(s): cd-burner support is an obvious one. Haven't tried my Palm Vx with it yet.

Stability - OS X has panicked. But it's not OK: many, many buggy apps: Sherlock crashes, unexpectedly quits, or reports endless errors; Internet Connect is useless for dial-up modem users, DP macs panic regularly without Louis Gerbarg's patch; System Prefs unexpectedly quits regularly, etc., etc.

Speed - OS X is slow. On a DP 450 G4 it should be much, much more responsive: menu clicks, window resizing, app launching...all are hideously slow compared to OS 9...and OS X can use both processors??? C'mon...it's a dog.

Features - OS X even w/ Classic is missing something I need: good, reliable MP3 playback, CD-burning, DVD-support, etc.

Peripherals - OS X does not support a critical peripheral(s): cd-burner support is an obvious one. Haven't tried my Palm Vx with it yet.

[andreasm]

Stability: Once panicked, when I pulled off USB keyboard and ZIP drive during iBook was sleeping.

Speed: Java VM speed when doing BigInteger calculations is only 50% of MRJ2.x for Mac OS 9. The rest is OK for me.

Features: OK for me, I like the developer tools.

Peripherals: iTunes should burn CDs

[pata]

Stability - OS X panics regularly
Doesn't really panic regularly but I do get idiotic behaviour from it such as a flashing question mark upon startup quite often for no reason at all.
While running though it is very stable.
Still feels like beta.

Speed - OS X is slow
Very slow, just opening a Finder window or moving a file etc, it excruciatingly slow on a PB Ti 500 Mhz. This is a major dissapointment.

Features - OS X even w/ Classic is missing something I need
OS X is missing a lot of apps I need. Classic usage is slow and klunky.
Can't believe OS X doesn't have a decent Internet browser I can use. Omniweb is too slow and crashes quite frequently.

Peripherals - OS X does not support a critical peripheral(s)
My printer is not supported. My SCSI PCMCIA is not supported, no PDA support, no Wacom support, USB Mice and Trackball, minnimum support

[The_Equivocator]

Stability - OS X is rock solid

My computer has only crashed twice. Once when I installed Appleworks 6 THROUGH classic (ouch... had to rebuild my desktop after that) and once when I canceled the Classic startup half-way through the process (not a good idea).


Speed - OS X is sluggish (but it's OK)

Trying to play Oni in OS X is insanely slow while it is extremely fast when I boot up in 9.1. Not sure what's doing this. Also overall app opening and OS use is somewhat sluggish, although not even close to unbearable.


Features - OS X and Classic has everything I need

Application-wise, definitely. OS X almost has everything I use on a regular basis in-and-by-itself. I have to boot into Classic occasionally to use Quicken (the OS X version crashes frequently) and some other apps that I use less than once-per-day.


Peripherals - OS X supports my key peripherals

It's not like I'm always watching DVD's or burning CD's, but I do one of each about once a week and it's somewhat of a pain to have to reboot into OS 9.1. But my key peripherals, including my mouse, keyboard, speakers, printer, and monitor, all work perfectly. I even have a SCSI card that works just fine.

[spenny]

Stability-OS X has panicked--only has panicked once since the 24th when I installed it.

Speed-OSX is sluggish--I'm using an original iMac, which I know is slow, but I also have 320MB of RAM!!!! The System over is very slow as far as refreshing windows. As far as apps, I just think the app's themselves are slow, and therefor the OS itself is not at fault.

Features-OS X even w/Classic is missing something I need. There are simply a few things I miss having from OS 9.

Peripherals-OS X: I want my printer to work, that is my main concern. As well...the system is rather picky as to which kinds of media (superdisks, 144floppies) is mounts, and I generally have to unplug and plug the drive back in to get the system to recognize the disk (USB). Other than that, i can only wait for the hardware's manufacturer to build drivers.

Stability - OS X is rock solid. Apps can be a bit flakey, but even that's getting better.

Speed - OS X is relatively fast. I'd like it to be faster, but it's quite useable with 10.0.1.

Features - OS X and Classic has (almost) everything I need. There are some nice touches that I miss, but at this point it gets the job done.

Peripherals - OS X does not support critical peripherals. No drivers for my scanner or CDR yet, but I'm patient.

For my work setup, G4/450 (single processor) 192mb, 28gig hd space (two drives):
Stability OS X is rock solid.

Speed OS X is sluggish (but it's OK). -- It's fast enough when Classic's not running, but I need classic for Entourage and MacX (still the most XEmacs friendly rootless X server for the Mac I've found!) and occasionally GoLive 5. More RAM would probably help. Usually, I have the following running at all times and sometimes the switching between can be a bit slow:

• Finder (naturally)
• Microsoft Entourage (Classic)
• IE 5.1pr1
• Fire
• Terminal
• MacX (Classic)

And sometimes one or more of:

• iTunes
• Napster (Classic, and infrequently)
• Adobe GoLive 5 (Classic)

In 192 mb, stuff gets swapped out quite a bit and can get sluggish. But, the only reboots I've done since I got Mac OS X have been software updates (builds 4L5 and 10.0.1 final). Classic's putzed out on my a few times, but I've always recovered without a reboot.

Features OS X and Classic has everything I need -- This only covers my work configuration. I don't burn CD's, play DVD's, or print to USB devices. Like I said (or think I said), I haven't rebooted into 9.1 since I installed.

Periphals OS X supports my key periphals -- I actually haven't tried my SCSI scanner, but it worked under the Blue Box on a Beige G3 in Mac OS X Server 1.x. Again, the work setup is very simple - Apple Pro Keyboard and Mouse.


Now, the home setup is a very different experience. This is on an iMac DV SE 400 (slot loading, not summer2000) with 256mb ram, DVD-ROM, etc. Lots of Periphals, including flight sim gear (yoke and pedals), Canon bubblejet printer, USB Kritter cam, Roland-ED UA30 digital audio interface (connects S/PDIF and other audio devices to USB), etc. And a QPS 12x10x32 firewire CD-RW drive. For this setup,

Stability OS X is rock solid. -- I have a cable modem, so I haven't experienced the PPP connect panics (I think those plagued the dual processor machines only, right?)

Speed OS X is fast and frisky -- With the 10.0.1 update, things are fine. I use classic less on this machine for reasons explained in Features. It can get a bit sluggish, but I blame that on a few programs specifically (Finder, IE5.1) that don't seem to be managing threads very well yet.

Features OS X even w/ Classic is missing something I need. hoo boy. Missing for me are:

• Palm Synchronization - I use third party conduits (Entourage, Pocket Quicken, Web Confidential), and synching with classic running didn't get past starting the Pocket Quicken conduit. major missing feature for me
  
• Sound support - I use my Mac for music (euc.cx). I haven't seen a sound input setting on the Sound System Preferences panel. Supercollider (a real time audio synthesis language) won't run in classic, claiming "there is no sound driver loaded", even with all extensions booting. Those two are the main problems.
  
• CD Burning - No surprise here. I care less about DVD playback now that I have a PS2 connected to my TV, but when I get a new *Book, this might be more of an issue.
  

So, at home, I spend a lot more time in 9.1 than I really intend to due to the above issues. I also haven't even tried running any of my Classic games (X-Plane, Fly2k, Sims, Simcity, etc...) in Mac OS X yet.

Peripherals OS X does not support a critical peripheral. My Bubblejet doesn't seem to be supported yet (I actually haven't checked on this in a while). My Krittercam doesn't seem to get recognized (I haven't tried using it from a native OS X app yet though). The Roland UA-30 doesn't seem to be supported, but then again - neither does the built in Microphone. It supports enough for basic usage of the OS (I don't print from home that often - a bubblejet printer is not all that great), but for my non-professional needs, it's still lacking.

So -- two different findings from two different setups and usage patterns. But I'm expecting most of my issues to be solved by autumn.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by pata:
<quote>
Speed - OS X is slow
Very slow, just opening a Finder window or moving a file etc, it excruciatingly slow on a PB Ti 500 Mhz. This is a major dissapointment.
</quote>

I can second that. Is it the ATI graphic card that's slowing things down?
What are other TIBook users experiencing?

Andreas

[William Timberman]

Background -- 500 MHz Cube, 640 MB RAM, ATI Radeon, DSL

Stability -- rock solid. Numerous panics with 4K78, installed on an unpartitioned hard drive with OS 9.1. I also had massive problems resulting -- I think -- from using a non-ascii character in my administrator password. I should have known better, but I trusted the GUI interface to prevent me from doing stuff that was bad. Dumb on my part.

Anyway, after clean installing 9.1 and OS X on separate partitions, tailoring the 9.1 extension set, and updating OS X to 4L13, I've had absolutely no system crashes or freezes, even with many classic apps running.

Speed -- varies. Classic apps seem faster than under 9.1. Carbon apps are also very fast (Eudora beta, Thoth, Graphic Converter) Menu drawing, Window resizing, and drag-and-drop in the finder are slow enough to be annoying, although not unusable.

Features -- OS X and Classic have everything I need right now. I'd like to have PGP, a multi-threaded IE, visual cues for the volume keys, etc., but the only time I boot in OS 9 now is when I need to use VPC.

Peripherals -- OSX supports my key peripherals. A native driver for my MS Intellimouse would be nice, but as long as my external firewire drive and soundsticks are supported (they are) I'm happy.

OS X is rock solid - I've had only one panic - an iDisk problem I had on my second day with X. I probably would have been able to get out of it today, but I panicked and probably caused the problem. I avoid Classic though.


Speed - OS X is sluggish. Not a big issue with me . . . but looking for improvements in the near future.


Features - OS X even w/ Classic is missing something I need. I know I'm going to get hoots from the Mac faithful, but what I miss the most in X is RealPlayer. I listen to a lot of audio from the web that isn't available in QuickTime. Also, X doesn't play CDs without 'skipping.' And there's a lot of little things: Like I need to keep changing to Airport in Internet Connect when I'm at home, it doesn't let me pick that as my preferred choice.


Peripherals - OS X does not support a critical peripheral(s) No driver for my UMAX scanner.

For me, personally, OS X has been worth it. It's definitely a beta, not a full-featured OS yet. If you buy it with that mindset, it's great. Definitely not ready for novices yet.

[Vanish]

G4 450 MP : 256MB RAM : 30GB HD : 10 GB HD : Power Domain 2930 SCSI Card : External USB Zip : External LaCIE CDRW : Umax 2100U Scanner : Epson 900 Printer

Stability - OS X is rock solid
No Panics and the only crash I've had is with Classic Software

Speed - OS X is fast and frisky
Well, OK. Loading apps is slow, accessing network resources is definitely sluggish, but once you're there (or the app is loaded) it's snappy as all get out. I'd love to see those issues sped up.

Features - OS X and Classic has everything I need
With the excepion of VPC, but I don't NEED that.

Peripherals - OS X does not support a critical peripheral(s)
Obviously my Epson 900 and the LaCie CDRW aren't supported. I have not tried the Umax scanner or my Sony DSC-S50 digital camera yet. The Zip, to my surprsie, works quite well.

[prophei]

Stability - never dies, rock solid

Speed - sometimes i think i might pass away of old age before it does anything.

Features - features are great, anything missing is more than made up for by good 3rd party vendors

Peripherals - i do digital audio/midi, and my pro tools won't work. once this, and cd burning become available, it will be great.

-prophei

B&W G3/400 512MB RAM

Stability - OS X is has panicked (but it's OK)
- actually I don't remember a kernel panic in the final, but I've had the Finder/Desktop quit out repeatedly while viewing a PDF file in Preview, so I eventually gave up since it might as well have kernel panicked. (It quits all apps and restarts the Desktop, like logout/login does.) Haven't tried this in 10.0.1, so maybe it's fixed now.

Speed - OS X is slow
- I'd say "sluggish" really because there are only a few bad spots that people have mentioned (window resize, app launch). The problem is that these few trouble spots of really really bad slowness are so critical to standard use that I still boot into OS 9 over 90% of the time because of speed! Yep, speed is the reason I don't use OS X as my primary OS.

Features - OS X and Classic has everything I need
- I wish I could play more games but this isn't going to happen. My Voodoo3 is basically worthless in OS X, but I that doesn't bother me since it's to be expected.

Peripherals - OS X does not support a critical peripheral(s)
- CD writer! This is SCSI... also it doesn't support my scanner. Rio600 and printer are fine. I know CD capability is coming pretty soon so this doesn't worry me, and booting to OS 9 to scan doesn't either since I don't do it frequently.

Can't you bozos read ??!!

You're supposed to follow the link to the Apple Discussions and post your responses there!

Beam me up, Scotty...

[asxless]

Thanks to all who have (or will have) participated in this survey. I'm am thrilled to see the online community giving clear and concise feedback to each other and Apple based on my orginal request for a "Month One Reality Check" on how OS X was running on YOUR Mac.

FWIW I am happy to see your feedback, as Flabbergasted points out, on Apple's forum (where I posted the initial thread), or here. In fact it looks like the posts here are actually easier to "get a feel for reality" by person. The main thing is to NOT post both places without some FYI notice because I plan to grep this info into a summary sometime this weekend. Like honeydew did earlier today (thanks honeydew) I will post the summary on both Apple's and this MacNN forum. BTW I could really use some grep help because I am an absolute newbie at grep

asxless in iLand

After posting this, I checked the Apple site and found that Apple forum staff had edited the both the Title and Contents of my orginal post without any notification in the thread! While they did not alter anything I posted they did remove a this whole sentence. "This is an opportunity for us to give the online community and Apple a collective reality check.". The orginal thread was titiled "OS X - Month One Reality Check" and is now "OS X (Opionions)" Given the overall positive feedback one has to wonder --- What was wrong with "reality check"?

Given Apple's forum moderator's behavior, I think it best if you post you feedback in this fourm

[This message has been edited by asxless (edited 04-24-2001).]

Stability - OS X is rock solid
No panics at all. Some Force-Quits of stalled apps.

Speed - OS X is sluggish (but it's OK)
Reasonable BUT I hope it improves to the level of 9.1 and beyond.

Features - OS X even w/ Classic is missing something
Palm Sync with Address Book, Classic or X scanner support, Fax.

Peripherals - OS X does not support a critical peripheral(s) UMAX scanner, Fax.

I am using it all the time with the exception of scanning. So far so good but I am hoping for more.

Stability - OS X is rock solid
No panics at all. Some Force-Quits of stalled apps.

Speed - OS X is sluggish (but it's OK)
Reasonable BUT I hope it improves to the level of 9.1 and beyond.

Features - OS X even w/ Classic is missing something
Palm Sync with Address Book, Classic or X scanner support, Fax.

Peripherals - OS X does not support a critical peripheral(s) UMAX scanner, Fax.

I am using it all the time with the exception of scanning. So far so good but I am hoping for more.

Stability - OS X is rock solid
Speed - OS X is fast and frisky
Features - OS X and Classic has everything I need
Peripherals - OS X supports my key peripherals

I installed on March 24th, so have been running a full month on my PowerBook G3/500/256m
I've had one panic the entire month, which happened while waking from sleep. I suspect it was Classic/Networking related.
I installed the dev tools, and have not had any speed problems I could not associate with a runaway process (usually Classic)
I mostly use Classic for games, and long for the day I can ditch it entirely...
I use very few peripherals, but one that I just got that doesn't work yet is an Epson 850N. I can print fine to my laser printer, but there are no networked inkjet drivers yet. My Logitech Wheelmouse actually works better with no extra drivers under OS X than it did under OS 9.1.

[otter]

System: Powerbook G4 500 Mhz / 256 MB RAM
Installation OS X 10.0 done on freshly initilized drive. Re-initialized drive and reinstalled OS 9 and OS X before upgrading to X 10.01.


Stability - OS X has panicked (but it's OK) twice, first time trying to restart internet connection while still connected to iDisk; second time making changes to internet connection got "Debugging Panic." Also, have gotten one or two spinning beach ball crashes that I couldn't get out of (while logged in as console).

Speed - OS X is fast but not frisky (closer to frisky since upgrading).

Features - OS X even w/ Classic is missing something I need. (Virtual PC)

Peripherals - OS X supports all my peripherals (well, because I don't have a printer yet that is supported by my TiBook anyway.)


Art

Stability - Not as good as i had expected. I've had to reinstall twice because it wasn't able to boot. After trying to install the Dev CD, it began optimizing. Maybe i didn't have enough ram (192MB) but the clock froze and it became VERY unresponsive. About 8 hours later (went to sleep, woke up) it hadn't cleared up.

Speed - Not as fast as i would like it to be. (PBG3/400MHz). I have to click and wait, click and wait. A bit annoying, but usable.

All my software works just fine, no problems there.

And, I did have a firewire card which no longer works, which is annoying, but it's ok.

All in all, I enjoy using the OS and rarely think of switching back to 9.1. My real issue is speed.

[spodie]

OS X is rock solid. Applications crash right and left, but the OS remains stable and reliable.

OS X is a bit sluggish on my Yosemite G3/400, but that's all right. Eventually, Apple will tweak everything for speed on all configurations.

OS X has all the features I need right now, as I learn how to operate UNIX.

OS X does not yet support my Initio Miles U2W card, but that ball is in Initio's court at this time. I was very disappointed to see my Voodoo 5 card was useless in Mac OS X, but that's the way it goes.

[abrody]

Stability - OS X is rock solid - it even restarts the Finder and leaves both Classic and Carbon apps running without any hindrance to speak of! Protective memory at its best!
Speed - OS X is fast and frisky - please visit http://www.index-site.com/Macosxspeed.html to learn how to make it so.
Features - OS X and Classic has everything I need - Only three things
remaining, Retrospect which tar could replace, Carbon Lexmark drivers which are under development, and VirtualPC for X which is under development. Oh and better Java 2.0 in Carbon web browsers.

Peripherals - OS X supports all my peripherals - My Lexmark Z52 is supported in Classic, and everything else is supported natively except the Datashuttle hard drive which is being worked on.

[kerim]

Stability - OS X panics regularly
Speed - OS X is sluggish (but it's OK)
Features - OS X even w/ Classic is missing something I need
Peripherals - Don't know

I don't know about peripherals because OSX isn't stable enough for me to even try using my Palm, SCSI scanner, printer, etc. I get regular crashes on my PBG3 250 (upgraded to 466) Wallstreet sporting about 192MB. Might be a memory error (I know Lombards are having lots of problems with third party memory). I spent a day or two playing around, but I finally gave up. Since I require Chinese input and that isn't available yet (and only works to a limited extent under Classic) I can't really function yet. I'll wait 6 months . . .

[TheGreatButcher]

Stability - OS X is rock solid
Only way I caused a kernel panic was trying to boot an overclocked G4 desktop


Speed - OS X is sluggish (but it's OK)
10.0.1 fixed a lot of problems but I'm disappointed that it takes so long for file lists to show up in the Finder and that the Finder itself is so slow in comparison to OS 9

Features - OS X even w/ Classic is missing something I need
Can't use Final Cut Pro, Virtual PC... etc etc etc

Peripherals - OS X does not support a critical peripheral(s)
Mouse functionality for multi button and scroll wheel is better supported in OS 9, no gamepads work, cannot burn CDs but can read from the FireWire CD Burner itself... however I was impressed by the plug and play printer drivers - was also at a friend's house who has a PC and we needed to print something and I was able to plug the PowerBook to his HP and print right on the spot - impressed him too

[Bmeteor]

Stability: OS X is Rock solid; B-
No kernel panics as of yet, however, there is a nasty gui freeze whenever I wake up from sleep (this could be because I'm slightly overclocking my G3 upgrade, but I worked around it by never going to sleep :-); in other words, the Finder, the interface to the time tested NextSTEP heritage suffers from a lack of robustness. There isn't even a hard coded escape when this happens; perhaps the old macsbug CMD-PWR escape could be reinstated. Overall, stability is great, and is the solitary reason why I maintain OS X as my primary OS.

Speed: OS X is sluggish but ok; C+
I forced myself to get comfortable with this new environment, by not running classic period. In my own personal opinion, OS X is sluggish compared to OS 9, mainly due to unnecessary (but tasty!) eye candy in the finder. Again the tradeoff for speed here is stability.

Features: OS X even with classic is missing features I need. D-
I give such a harsh grade primarily for one reason only; OS X cannot read DOS filesystems out of the Box. For this alone it get's a C-, as it puts huge inter-platform interoperability hurdles between me and my work. For the additional letter grade demotion, I give for usability issues. If this OS is to replace OS 9. There must be analogs for current functionality. Spring loaded Folders can be replaced with the dock if there is a functionality similar to the OS 7 utility glidel. Preferably, I'd like to forgo the finder forever( since it can't use my scroll wheel, and isn't very responsive), and only use the dock.

Peripherals: OS X does not support a critical peripheral B-
This is by far the biggest disappointment, but also the greatest elation. We can grant that many third party hardware will not be supported, but apple's own localtalk printers? It does say on the box that it does support Beige G3's, and since that machine includes a printer port, it should be included. (I have worked around this, by making my LinuxPPC box a print server)
On the other hand, Apple's standard's compliant approach to USB and Firewire is done very well. My third party USB/FW combo card works even though it does not have drivers for OS X. It even recognizes the drive.

[DamnDJ]

I'll post my findings before reading through this thread. Sorry if this is a dead subject..

Stability - OS X is rock solid
Stability - OS X has panicked (but it's OK)

Hard to pick between these two. I've only experienced one Kernel panic long ago. Haven't had one since. There's only been one time that anything has happened to the system where I needed to reboot. Well, actually tow. Tonight Apps were loading *VERY* slow and there was a lot of very noticeable system slowdown. So, I rebooted.

Other than that, there is no other system issues that I've had, OS or software, that has made my system "Unstable"


OS X is sluggish (but it's OK)

Sluggish indeed. Moving between windows is usually reasonable. Dragging windows is very smooth. Window resizing is bad in most cases (of course list view is *very* slow).

Application launch is slow. and the general feel of the applications are sluggish. A lot of it is surely the application itself, namely IE. I've used some software (a popular internet services software) that is *very* fast. Even faster than OS 9.1 or Classic.

Random speed issues? Booting is fine. It's what I expect from a UNIX based system. Menus are fine, although could be snappier. Genie effect is okay, although it's excellent when it's selected to "Slide".


Features - OS X and Classic has everything I need

I'd think is is what most people will answer. I rarely use classic at all, but once in awhile I'll need to get into Word, or some other random program that hasn't been ported over yet. I must say in past days, that list is getting smaller and smaller.

I will admit, I use a PC side by side my Mac, and all my audio needs (MP3s, burning, ripping) are all done on my PC. I wonder get into why. So, I would say OS X provides me almost all of what I need.


Peripherals - OS X supports my key peripherals

This is the closest answer I suppose. The only peripherals I have and use on my Mac are a Microsoft Natural Keyboard with internet buttons, and an Intellimouse. Since Microsoft hasn't released any drivers, the mouse wheel doesn't work all the time (I know the reasons why) and the keyboard buttons don't work. Plus the option key is the windows key, making things slightly confusing. I am getting used to it now. though

Overall, I really love OS X. Sure, it needs work and all applications are not yet available. However, the more I use it, the more I really enjoy it. I look forward to the time where I can move all of the computer related stuff I do (Audio) and move it all to the Mac. I think OS X will allow me to do this soon.

I could go on and on, but I'll get off topic.
DDJ

I boot up in OSX and use Classic for all of my work apps. Updates will come. Don't know what a kernel panic looks like. My only problem has been and still is a Yamaha burner and an Adaptec 2906 card, I just keep the Yamaha turned off and OSX is happy. I shut down and switch it on and bootup in 9.1 when I want to do a burn. No native printing with a Canon 6200 yet. No native scanning with my Canon scanner, but they both work in Classic. I miss FinderPop and SnapTo and some of the other OS9 tweaks, but I am sure that the Mac shareware wizards will soon come up with lots of new bits of magic to make life in OSX as pleasurable as OS9. I love the dock and am learning to use Column View as a very fast way to navigate. Great work Apple and OSX will only get better.

[drfrank]

Stability - OS X has panicked
Speed - OS X is slow
Features - OS X even w/ Classic is missing something I need
Peripherals - OS X does not support a critical peripheral(s)

Not at all satisfied with OS X

[bojangles]

Stability � OS X is rock solid. But then, so is 9.1. With the exception of trying to use ACTION GoMac and Macromedia Director 7 at the same time (not a good idea), I honestly can't remember the last time 9.1 crashed on me.

Speed � OS X is sluggish (but it's okay). Classic is fast and frisky, but Carbon/Cocoa application launching could use a speed boost. I've seen IE5.1 bounce over 40 times before starting! (It doesn't usually, but it has.) Also, window resizing needs a lot of help. I've got a 32MB ATI Nexus 128 powering my monitor, but until there's hardware acceleration in X, it doesn't do me much good.

Features � OS X is missing something I need. Most Macromedia products don't work in the Classic layer, and as a married college student, I frankly can't afford to upgrade them. Also, I don't care what they say about the dock.

Peripherals ��OS X does not support critical peripherals. I have no CD-RW, no scanner, no printer, no ORB drive, and very limited trackball functions. My modem usually works just fine, but one out of six is pretty pathetic.

Bottom line: I spend most of my time in 9.1, and will continue to do so until I receive peripheral support and at least some degree of graphics acceleration. Sorry, Apple!

Power Macintosh G3/266
640MB RAM
30GB HD (six partitions)
SCSI/serial devices

------------------
"Aunque el mono se viste de seda, mono se queda."

System: iBook 466 SE (FW), 320MB, 10+45GB hd, Imation USB SuperDisk

Stability - OS X is rocksolid
One panic: RAM DIMM not seated correctly. Oops.

Speed - OS X is sluggish, but OK
That is, the OS itself is fast, Aqua is sluggish.
For gaming I boot into 9.1

Features - OS X even w/ Classic is missing something I need
No DAVE yet
No USB Overdrive yet

Peripherals - OS X does support all I need (sort of)
LaserWriter 16/600: okay, worked at once (but not in Classic)
WD external 45GB FW drive: okay (no drivers to install)
Imation Superdisk: okay from the moment I plugged it in
Logitech optical mouse: works, only Classic and Aqua don't recognize the wheel.

Things (my) OS X has that 9.1 doesn't: DevTools, Apache, Samba, MySQL.
If things improve even more I don't need my Linux box any more

Stability: OS X is rock solid. never had a panic although I don't use Classic either.

Speed: OS X is sluggish. Could definately use a speed boost with my Powerbook G3/400 with 192 MB but tolerable for now. Resizing windows and launching apps certainly need a kick.

Features: OS X lacks a really solid (and final version) of a browser, an expanded contextual menu for "get info" and Stuffit expansions. New native software should make me use OS X completely, but until then...

Peripherals: OS X still lacks scrolling wheel mouse support in the Finder and 3rd party Airport wireless cards - a major bummer!

[Detrius]

Stability - OS X has panicked (but it's OK) I can lock up the computer just by hooking up a monitor to my voodoo3. However, I've only experienced 2 lockups where I wasn't doing something that I probably should not have been (like hooking up my usb cd-rw drive)

Speed - OS X is slow I really don't have any complaints about the speed, but I'm running a dual 533 G4 with 640 MB of ram... I would expect it to be MUCH snappier than this. My favorite test: click in the menu bar and hold the mouse down while you quickly drag it back and forth. Much slower than 9... but I wouldn't expect transparency (simple addition) to take up THAT much time.

Features - OS X even w/ Classic is missing something I need
Namely everything. Classic likes to crash a lot. Therefore, hotsyncs are unreliable and my USB MIDI adapter is unreliable. my cd-rw is unsupported, dvd playback is unsupported, os x crashes when I hook up a second monitor to my computer, and my ms optical mouse is lacking support for three of the five buttons. In addition, it has a major bug where it will just randomly stop supporting file systems. I can't get disk images to mount, audio cd's to mount, etc... all I get is the hard drive and appleshare volumes. I even did a reinstall over top of the existing install and the problem didn't go away. In addition, Carbon apps are really annoying because the whole application stops responding when it's busy doing something, and IE for example doesn't support long filenames--VERY annoying.

However, I love the telnet/ssh remote login shells, I love that I can do my computer science projects in the mac os without buying additional software, I love the web server, I love the multiuser environment, and I love that I can go down the dock clicking all the programs I want to launch and I don't have to wait for one to open before I open another. love the multitasking/multiprocessing.

[Bogie]

Stability - OS X has panicked (but it's OK)

-I have had a few, all surround the use of IE 5.1, once using iTunes, never on boot up, generally stable, much more so than 9.x or Win 9x.


Speed - OS X is sluggish (but it's OK)

-Running a Beige G3 400 with 224MB RAM and 30GB 7200rpm & 20GB 5400rpm drives. Cocoa apps are very fast, faster than 9.x, but Carbon often slow down, IE, the Finder, and Sherlock are my biggest complaints. Classic seems to run fine, less slow downs than Carbon apps [explain that one to me].

Features - OS X and Classic has everything I need

-This is as far as software goes, I can run Photoshop and Dreamweaver as well as MS Office and the like in Classic just fine, Fire and Mail serve me well. I am looking forward to Omni web going final because IE 5.1 does not perform as well as the Classic version but does offer the crash protection of Carbon. QuickTime 5 in OS X does not seem as robust as QT4 in Classic, I just got QT5 for Classic and haven't played with it much, but there are a lot of movies that QT 5 [X] will not play for me.


Peripherals - OS X does not support a critical peripheral(s)

-My Ext. SCSI CDR is not supported, and neither is my Epson Stylus 3000, I expect both will be soon and for the moment rebooting is not a big deal for those two items. One major complaint I have is the lack of multibutton mouse support in Classic, that often causes me to reboot depending on what I am doing [read games, in this context].

[Group51]

Stability - OS X has panicked (but it's OK)
Panic on USB-Optical Audio Out. But did that in the beta too. The device doesn't need drivers - so I hope Apple sorts it out so I can record to my Mini-Disc again.

Speed - OS X is sluggish (but it's OK)
well, all I need say is that I have a Rage Pro. I am going to get 128MB to move up to 256. Maybe that will help.

Features - OS X even w/ Classic is missing something I need
I can't use my ADSL modem until the USB driver (Alcatel) for it is done.

Peripherals - OS X does not support a critical peripheral(s)
My Kritter web cam has no drivers yet (woe is me) and I can't move to Airport till the PC card slot works in my Lombard.

Stability - OS X is rock solid

Speed - OS X is sluggish (but it's OK)

Features - OS X even w/ Classic is missing something I need

Peripherals - OS X supports my key peripherals

Need CD Burner Support & Epson 640. my Laserwriter 4/600 works though

Stability - OS X is rock solid
But I don't know if I've used it enough to induce one of these "kernel panics". I once got the Finder/Desktop shut down when I went crazy with the "Force Kill" option, but the OS was still up and running.

Speed - OS X is slow
Someone here mentions their dual-processor 450 works just fine, but my 266 iMac with 192MB is still slow. I'm still optimistic that Apple will pull through on this issue. (I hope realize what's at stake!) Don't know whether the $300 to max out RAM to 512MB is worth the investment.

Features - OS X and Classic has everything I need
(Software-wise) Very pleased in general with the interface. Actually prefer it now to OS 9. Flash & Photoshop work fine in Classic.

Peripherals - OS X supports my key peripherals
2 things I'm waiting on are in development: Wacom drivers and a driver for my Contour UniMouse (right now, the right-button does activate the context menu, so this is 1/2-way to fine). The last is my Handspring Visor. Someone's gotten one working in Classic, but I can't do it. Surprised that my Canon 1220U scanner works well in Classic. Epson 777 Printer is already supported in the OS.

[ssegaric]

G4 dual 450 MHz, 384 MB RAM, 30 + 15 Gig HDs, Visor Deluxe, Zip 100, MS Optical 5 button mouse, HP LaserJet 5L & PowerPrint (parallel to USB cable), Umax 1220U Scanner, XLR8 Interview video cable

Stability: Has panicked but its OK.
1 crash in a month is fine by me, seems like I had them constantly under 9.1

Speed: Sluggish.
With dual 450s and all this memory you figure it would fly. Finder obviously quicker and more responsive in 9.1 than it is in X. Quartz needs work or optimization with ATI graphics card.

Features: Like the Dock, love that DragThing has been Carbonized (an essential), love the screensavers, love being able to close any window I can see, Sleep mode works great, as does connecting via DSL. Hate the inability to have smaller fonts in finder, Views need work. Definitely miss springloaded folders, the ability to drag windows by any edge. Note to Apple customizability and themes are not bad!

Peripherals:
Visor & Zip - No probs.
Mouse -No driver therefore not customizable, but Rt & Lt buttons work, as does wheel.
Printer works well in classic, HP & Strydent both apparently working on drivers
Umax scanner & Interview video cable - Nada

[theand]

Stability - OS X is rock solid and classic is transformed from wobbly jelly emulator in PB to a solid realistic compromise.

Speed - OS X is fast and frisky - on my work G4 450 500MB RAM
Speed - OS X is slooooow - on my home revB iMac 160MB RAM (even after optimization)

Features - OS X even w/ Classic is missing something I need - the lack of support for 'old' appletalk means i cannot use X at work on an NT network - oh and no, sharity aint the answer coz it don't work in classic.

Peripherals - OS X supports most peripherals but the lack palm syncing thru serial to USB adapter is a killer.

[altoid]

Stability - OS X has panicked (but it's OK)
Some panicks during usage of Sherlock. Right now I'm occasionally getting a kernel panic at startup when my external Western Digital HD is plugged in.

Speed - OS X is slow
I would say sluggish, but I feel that saying it's sluggish gives room to not make speed a priority.

Features - OS X and Classic has everything I need
Aside from a periph.

Peripherals - OS X does not support a critical peripheral(s)
Can's use my Adaptec SCSI card which means no burner. My Keyspan usb->serial adaptor works okay for Palm Sync, but only if transfer speed is set at 9600 baud. These seem more like 3rd party vendor issues.

[schuster]

stability: I've had two kernel panicks, both related to the usb drivers. I have a KVM w/ usb and I run a powered hub into the KVM which is not a supported configuration by either the hub or the KVM or my printer which is connected to the hub. This configuration has worked well though for the most part, though there seems to be a bit of a tradeoff, with win2k, the hub seems to overload a lot, but it never crashes. I don't know if the same thing happens in mac os x and the os resets the hub automatically, but I never get the overloaded error in os x.

speed: For the most part, it's not great but it's bearable. Supposedly, a lot of graphics functions are still handled by the cpu instead of the gpu. This will change in mac os x 10.1 in july. The only real speed problem I have is that mail.app seems to take forever indexing my mailboxes. Hopefully, this will also change come july.

Features: Obviously, a native version of MS Office would be nice and we still need DVD/CD-R yadda yadda yadda. For those of us that don't autohide the dock, it would be nice if apple didn't let icons on the desktop get hidden by the dock as it grows. Mail.app is also missing some features. I'd really like the ability to see what mail account my email came in on so that if I'm getting spam, I can immeadiately know what address the spamers got. Finally, it would be nice if apple made it easier to port *nix software to darwin. The build system is just plain weird and there are a number of hoops to jump through to get basic support for stuff like Xfree86, though I've now managed to get WindowMaker running and my unix setup is running well, though it's missing a lot of software.

[dividend]

background: Powerbook G3 series 233 mhz (L2 512kb) 192 RAM, 6 GB HD, OS X 10.0.1

Stability - OS X is ROCK SOLID, no crashes at all in 14 days

Speed - OS X is SLOOOOOOOOOOWW. can't believe it. No wonder no crashes, every use is a crash - takes the time of a reboot (-iDisk is FAST though) For the sake of Apple I torture myself everyday with the slownes!

Features - (speed!), UI-elements: spring-loaded folders, better way of visually distinguising folders in dock (programmes look and distinguish fine!), more programmes of course, better power-managment (I have lost 1 hour of battery power) and IPX-networking for StarCraft (which otherwise works fine!)

Peripherals - printing on serial port for StyleWriter 1200 (yes, I use it still) and sync with palm and scsi cd-burning

hope this post also makes it to Apple - if so: thanx Apple, now optimize!

[nuckin futs]

am i the only person who got the palm hot syncing to work? I am using a Palm IIIe with the standard mac compatibility kit.
i did it in classic mode and it just accepted the connection and did its thing.
i just downloaded version 2.6 off the palm site, and made sure my System software was up to date in OS X (10.0.1). I also made sure that when classic launched, it loaded the palm extensions. no other changes. i don't know whether it makes a difference or not, but my OS 9 is on the same partition as OS X.

On a B/W G3 Powerlogix ZIF @ 550MHZ 576MB Ram
------2nd Segate ATA-66 28 GIG 7200rpm drive (always been finiky on this machine)
--MOTU PCI-324 Audio I/O ---- also midi gear
--Initio Miles Ultra 2 w/seagte cheetahs
--2nd 128 Rage Graphics card
-----3 Epson 900 Printers
Uses: Audio/ Video Editing - Page layout - Web Design - Database Design

Stability - OS X is rock solid
----Once I broke down and wiped and partitioned my original drive - then installed all of the online updates - I have not had any problems with the system. Before that it was kind of flakey. It does not recognize the Seagate ATA-66 on this machine.

Speed - OS X is sluggish (but it's OK)
----On the G3 w/ the ATI Rage Card it is a little slower than 9.1 (while 8.6 snaps), But load times and and the actual work accomplished is not noticeably slowed. For the first time I actually got Voice recognition working well, which actually helps to speed things up.
This will all be fixed when I upgrade to a new machine in the next couple of months.

Features - OS X even w/ Classic is missing something I need
-----Audio applications and Drivers need to make the jump. Final Cut, File Maker Pro, Photoshop need to be native. I am leaving Quark behind for a new Cocoa Layout app from Softmagic called M, very cool

Peripherals - OS X does not support critical peripherals
---No Support from MOTU and no delivery data, this really Sucks
---Powerlogix did a GOOD job of getting their profiler out quickly
---Initio Posted a driver several days ago that allowed me to get the SCSI going
---Epson does not support the 900 in its driver updates, this really really SUCKS

Thanks, this is a great thread...!