Mac OS 9.2.1

Mac OS 9.2.1 (code name "Limelight"), released on August 21, 2001, is the latest version of Apple's 'Classic' operating system. It is intended primarily as a bug fix and compatability update, with few new features. Mac OS 9.2.1 is a reference release closely related to Mac OS 9.2, which shipped with some of the new Power Macintosh G4s announced in July. Like Mac OS 9.1, Mac OS 9.2.1 is intended to help ease the transition to Mac OS X.

Information Systems & Computing (ISC) will support Mac OS 9.2.1 for its clients, including off-campus students, only on new Macintoshes that ship with Mac OS 9.2.1 pre-installed. ISC strongly recommends that all other users adopt a "wait and see" attitude, continuing to use previous versions of the Mac OS until after the initial bugs in Mac OS 9.2.1 are identified and fixed.

When ISC does recommend an upgrade, it will be for PowerPCs 233 MHz or above that have at least 64 megabytes of RAM. Please refer to ISC's Mac OS System Specifications to find out which versions of the Mac OS are recommended for your Macintosh computer. Mac OS 9.2.1 requires between 320 megabytes and 520 megabytes of hard disk space, depending on the type of Macintosh and choices made during the install.

Issues

There are several known new issues with Mac OS 9.2.1, some of which will be especially relevant to Penn's Macintosh users:

• The Network Apps Installer 6.1 on the Fall PennConnect 2001 CD-ROM functions correctly.
• The recommended way to install Mac OS 9.2.1 is to run the installer only after booting from the base Mac OS 9 extensions. Right after Mac OS 9.2.1 is installed, it's also recommended to restart with only the base Mac OS 9 extensions as well. (Hold the space bar upon initial restart to gain access to the Extensions Manager and select the base Mac OS 9 set).
• A clean-up process occurs on the next restart right after installing Mac OS 9.2.1, and running some third party extensions may cause a "PrefRestoreInit" error to occur. Disabling this extension from the Extensions Manager will remove this one-time error, but it's best to avoid it in the first place by running only the base Mac OS 9.2.1 extensions after the first restart. Subsequent restarts with third party extensions seem to pose no problems.

How to get it

The Mac OS 9.2.1 Update file is available for download from Apple's support web site. Note: this is a large (82 megabyte) download.

As of late August 2001, it appears that Apple will not release a shrinkwrapped full version of Mac OS 9.2.1 on CD-ROM, though workstation-specific versions will ship with new machines. It is believed that Mac OS 9.2.1 (or later) will probably ship with Mac OS X version 10.1, when 10.1 is released in September 2001.

What's new in Mac OS 9.2.1

Note that Mac OS 9.2.1 is intended primarily as a bug fix and compatability update, with few new features.

Open Transport 2.7.7. Open Transport has become the first extension to load in Mac OS 9.2 and Mac OS 9.2.1.

- John Mulhern III, Bob DeSilets, Jr., Steve Strawser, and Vern Yoneyama, ISC Technical Support Services