Installation and Use Page

On January 19th, Apple released Mac OS 8.1 update to Mac OS 8.0 making it available for download on Apple's servers and mirror sites like DOWNLOAD.COM. Macs Only! downloaded a copy from DOWNLOAD.COM and on the 19th and 20th installed Mac OS 8.1 on the following computers:

• PowerBase 180 (w/PowerLogix PowerForce G3 250 CPU card),
• 8500/225 (w/PowerLogix PowerBoost Pro 225 CPU card),
• 7100/80 and
• PowerBook 3400c/180.

It was easy and the few issues encountered, i.e. mainly those related to non-Apple drives, are noted below. Before downloading Mac OS 8.1, Apple suggests starting at the special page here and reading the information provided. Also, download Apple's Mac OS 8.1 Late-Breaking Tips Page.

Download & Inventory

Due to extreme server demand, the download took a long time by ISDN standards, some 70 minutes for the 22 MB ".hqx" file (the ".bin" file at 16 MB was not available on DOWNLOAD.COM) at an average of about 5.0 K bytes/sec (range 4.4-7.2K). The download rate from Apple's servers was less than 1.0 K bps. The 22 MB image file expands to 28 MB after it is decoded and the contents are copied to the hard disk. The disk image contained five items consisting of 3 readme files (About Mac OS 8.1 update, About Mac OS Extended Format and Installing Mac OS 8.1), the Update Installer alias and the update Install Pieces folder.

Read all the readme files. "About Mac OS 8.1" warns one to read the Extended Format readme and describes all the new stuff. HFS+ and Open Transport 1.3 are there but not QuickTime 3.0. "About Extended Format" describes the new HFS+, says that its only really useful for hard drives over 1 GB and provides no small measure of warnings and limitations of this new format and its installation. It doesn't work on 680x0 Macs' internal drives but will on attached externals. The readme concerned me enough to put off installing this feature until a later date--I'll do a write up later. "Installing Mac OS 8.1" warned that PowerMacs with 16 MB RAM or less should install with extensions off. Otherwise, 8.0 Base Extensions should be chosen in the Extensions Manager and the computer rebooted.

Several pieces of Mac OS 8.1 Update that may be included on the CD version can be downloaded separately now.

They are:

• Disk Tools PPC;
• Location Manager 2.01; and
• MacOS Runtime Java 2.0.

Disk Tools PPC is necessary to produce a Disk Tools startup disk that can access HFS+ formatted hard drives -- those with a non-Apple CD ROM drive then need to swap their third-party CD driver for the Apple CD ROM 5.4.2 extension on the Disk Tools startup disk. Location Manager 2.01 replaces v1.0 on PowerBooks and is now usable on desktops as well. MRJ 2.0 has been out for a month or so.

Installation

Here are a few pre-installation tips:

Pre-Installation Tip #1: Run Disk First Aid or Norton Disk Doctor on the target disk to avoid installation glitches and error messages.

Pre-Installation Tip #2: Make sure the old Apple System Profiler is in the Apple Menu Items folder in the System Folder or it won't get replaced with v1.3.2.

Pre-Installation Tip #3: As a precaution, make the 8.1 Disk Tools startup disk from Disk Tools PPC that was downloaded separately.

Pre-Installation Tip #4: If you have a non-Apple CD ROM drive and are using the Apple CD ROM v5.3.1 extension to drive it, copy v5.3.1 to a diskette so that it can be re-installed after Mac OS 8.1 which will install v5.4.2. v5.4.2 does not work with non-Apple CD ROM drives.

First I installed Mac OS 8.1 Update on a PowerBase 180 with a PowerLogix PowerForce G3 250 CPU card, 56 MB of RAM, an external 3.2 GB Quantum Stratus hard drive and an external 1.5 GB SyJet drive. I did everything by the book and backed up all my data to the Quantum and then I copied the Mac OS 8.1 Update files to the SyJet from which I intended to install Mac OS 8.1 on all my Macs. For the subsequent installations on the Apple-brand computers with far fewer and less complex files, I skipped the backup. I don't recommend doing this, I just did it without consequence.

I rebooted the PowerBase with 8.0 Base Extensions enabled in Extensions Manager. Double clicking the Installer on the SyJet brought me to the Welcome screen listing the four procedures that I would encounter:

• Select the destination disk;
• Read important information;
• Respond to the license agreement and
• Install the software.

I clicked "Continue", selected the internal drive as the location to install Mac OS 8.1, clicked past the ReadMe files which I had already read and the license agreement to arrive at the Install Software screen. If one has a non-Apple compatible drive that one is installing to, then click "Options", uncheck the "Update Apple Drivers" and click "OK". Then click "Start" on the Install Sofware screen. Since I had Apple-compatible drives on each computer, I just clicked "Start".

The first thing it did was to check out my hard drive and then it installed new drivers but gave me a dialog box with an error message saying the SyJet was not an Apple Drive and couldn't be updated. Of course, I didn't want to update the SyJet's drivers so I clicked the "Cancel" button rather than the "Ignore" button which put me back at the Install Software screen. I then selected the "Options" button, unchecked "Update Drivers" and clicked the "OK" button to get back to the Install Software screen. [This additional excursion was due to my installing from an external SyJet or possibly any external non-Apple drive. If one installs from an Apple-compatible startup drive then these extra steps will not be necessary.] I clicked the "Start" button and it rechecked my hard drive.

When it finished checking the hard drives, on two of my computers (8500 and 3400) I got an error message saying some application was running (Microsoft Office Manager strikes again?). There weren't any of course so I clicked "Ignore Warning" and the installation began without further assistance. On the other two computers I did not get the error message--neither have Microsoft Office--and the installation continued after checking the hard disk and ran through to completion after installing LaserWriter 8.5.1 Software (which I didn't need or want on three of the computers) and Open Transport 1.3. It took only several minutes to complete.

I clicked the "Restart" button and restarted with the Base 8.1 Extension set enabled which gave an Extensions Manager dialog box and I chose "Create New Set". I chose "My Settings" from the Extensions Manager, deleted the "new" set called "My Settings 1" and restarted again. That's it! The installer places a Mac OS Read Me Files folder on the hard drive with four read me files and an Open Transport folder containing three more read me files.

Observations

The 30+ second Startup Delay that has plagued Alchemy board Macs since Mac OS 7.6.1 (see Macs Only!'s coverage) is gone from the PowerBase and the Performa 6400 as well (several readers, notably Erick Abad among them, confirmed this). It now takes 16 seconds from pressing the "on" key to getting the gray screen's Happy Mac (12 seconds from black to gray screen if measured that way) which is about the same time that my 7100/80 takes.

Apple CD ROM v5.4.2 extension included with Mac OS 8.1 continues Apple's "tradition" since Mac OS 7.6 and does not drive my 8x Philips CD ROM drive. I re-installed Apple CD ROM v5.3.1 from Mac OS 7.6 that I had stashed on a diskette just in case this happened. Good thing since I'd also updated my FWB CD ToolKit 3.0 to v3.01 but I found out later that v3.01 doesn't support my Philips CD drive.

Third Party CD ROM Drive Solution For Many: Readers with PowerComputing computers have asked where to get Apple CD ROM v5.3.1 which works with many but not all third party CD ROM drives under Mac OS 7.6, 7.6.1, 8.0 and 8.1 as Macs Only! has noted since last February and again last Tuesday. The Apple CD ROM v5.3.1 extension is on the Mac OS 7.6 CD. To get it, go to the Mac OS 7.6 installer, select Custom Install from the upper left popup menu, look under "Multimedia", check "CD ROM" and click "Install". It will be installed in the System Folder. I keep a copy handy on a diskette.

The new hard disk drivers updated my IDE drives (Powerbase and 3400) from v3.05 to 3.08 and my SCSI drives (8500 and 7100) from v8.08 to v8.09.

You will not get Apple's Internet Assistant during installation from the download and will not get Internet Explorer either--those are on the CD coming out in a few weeks--so my Open Transport TCP/IP and OT/PPP settings were not changed. Cruising the internet seems zippier and I occasionally got download speeds pushing 20K bps but sustained speeds were maxed at at 16K bps on dual-channel ISDN.

Mac OS 8.1 uses more RAM, following the tradition of all operating system updates. I estimate about a 10% increase (I specifically measured the 7100 going from using 7.4 MB of RAM to using an appropriate 8.1 MB).

Virtual Memory, which didn't work on Erik Kovach's PowerComputing Power 120 under Mac OS 8, now works with the Mac OS 8.1 update.

The Mega-RAM loss issue followed by Macs Only! on this page is not completely fixed by Mac OS 8.1 update. I get the RAM loss with my PowerBase but not my 8500.

Open Transport-related Damaged Files: Apple Tech Info Library document #22142 admits that the installer damages several Mac OS 8.1 files during installation. Howevr, they should run okay. If there is any question, just drag a file from the Install Pieces folder to your System folder after using the installer.

Open Transport and 68K Macs: Reader Anthony Adachi had a problem with Mac OS 8.1's installation of Open Transport 1.3 on a Quadra 650 (a 68040 Mac). The installer placed PowerPC version files in his system folder instead of the (68K) versions and he had to manually switch them.

Eccentricity: Mac OS 8.0 creates three zero-size folder icons (Temporary Items, nscomm40 and tmp) in the Trash upon startup. Guess what? Mac OS 8.1 still does that.

How does Mac OS 8.1 fare with the two remaining (after Mac OS 7.6, 7.6.1 and 8.0) PowerBase Issues?

• CD won't mount. They still won't with Apple CD ROM v5.4.2 extension. Use FWB CD ToolKit or the Apple CD ROM v5.3.1 extension that came with Mac OS 7.6.
• ~30 Pre-startup delay. Fixed!

MathLib 1.3: This is integrated in OS 8.1 so it won't be in the Extensions folder.

AppleTalk Problem: Apple noted that the Chooser and the Control Strip module can't fully turn off AppleTalk under some circumstances, giving serial port, printing or modem errors. If this happens, turn AppleTalk off from the AppleTalk Control Panel by selecting Edit menu-->User mode-->Advanced-->Options-->Inactive and then saving when closing the control panel.

6100 Stability Increased: Reader Jerry Tims reported that his 6100 was unstable under System 7.5.5, 7.6.1 and 8.0 but now seems stable under 8.1.

MacBench 4.0 Performance: I ran MacBench 4.0 on my PowerBase with the PowerLogix PowerForce G3 250. The Mac OS 8.0 and Mac Os 8.1 scores are virtually the same but the finder and applications seem faster. Others noted this to me as well.

MacBench 4.0 -- PowerBase w/PowerForce G3 250 (w/VM on & LibMotoSh)

Test	Mac OS 8.0	Mac OS 8.1
Processor Score	1061	1063
Floating Point Score	921	920

Conclusions

So far so good. The Mac OS 8.1 update has been basically trouble-free for me on all four computers. There are some incompatibilities with the usual suspects that have been noted on other pages. If you are having trouble, please let me know and I'll try to help. However, consider consulting Ted Landau's MacFixIt, the master of Mac troubleshooting, for any unusual or complex conflicts. There will be some.

I will be updating this page from time to time with comments on new features, fixes or non-fixes of standing Mac OS 8 issues (see here and here) and on pertinent personal experience observations. The next major update will probably be when the Mac OS 8.1 CD is received from Apple.

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Copyright © 1998 by Bill Fox.
All rights reserved--no commercial use permitted without attribution.

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