Mac OS X 10.0.4 Updater is Available

for download since about 5pm ET yesterday via the Software Update panel in the System Preferences application. From the Read Me file,

"The 10.0.4 Update delivers a significant number of improvements for USB devices including additional external device support for iTunes CD burning, improved battery life for many PowerBook G3 systems, and Classic compatibility improvements. This update also provides the latest security updates to OpenSSH and 'sudo' services and includes support for Apple's newest digital flat-panel, the 17-inch Apple Studio Display.

Note: The 10.0.4 Update will update Mac OS X v 10.0.3 to Mac OS X v 10.0.4."

10.0.4 is also available for direct download. Here is the detailed TIL with the direct download links.

We downloaded and installed 10.0.4 on our 400 MHz PowerBook 2000 (Pismo), Power Mac 533 DP and 400 MHz iMac DV SE with no apparent problems.

We have six problems with Mac OS X 10.0.3 and below on our PowerBook 2000: the brightness keys don't work, the sound/mute keys don't work, we get lower battery life during sleep than with Mac OS 9.1, Mac OS X has trouble remembering certain preferences like the correct Classic mode folder, the cursor becomes invisible in Classic mode and we occasionally get a key that ghostly repeats by itself in Classic applications. Unfortunately, the first two were not fixed in 10.0.4. We will still use the workaround that we first posted to enable the brightness keys. The TIL states that the latter two problems are fixed. We will have to use 10.0.4 awhile to see. We will test battery life later.

Later today we will see if 10.0.4 fixes the new iBook sleep/coma issue noted on Tuesday's edition.

Look for our exclusive feature How Fast Is It? to appear in an expanded version on Monday's edition.

[Update] PowerBook Sleep/Battery Drain Issue is Resolved: Our PowerBook 2000 slept overnight with AirPort not disabled first and the DVD drive in the bay. This morning there was only normal (slight) battery loss upon wakening.

[Update] New iBook Sleep/Coma Issue is Resolved according to a note we received from Izumi Ohzawa. However, he reports another issue is not: "One lingering problem is that XVGA mirror video output gets lost if you let iBook sleep, requiring reboot for getting it back. Apple should fix this quickly. We and Apple get embarassed in front of many people at presentations, giving Apple/Macs a bad reputation."