Mac OS X 10.5.6 now available via Software Update
By Darren Murph 
posted Dec 15th 2008 12:31PM
posted Dec 15th 2008 12:31PM
Update: Apple has posted the official changelog. Here are the highlights:
- Improves the reliability of AirPort connections, including improvements when roaming in large wireless networks with an Intel-based Mac.
- Improves reliability of Address Book syncing with iPhone and other devices and applications.
- Includes general improvements to gaming performance.
- Includes fixes for possible graphics distortion issues with certain ATI graphics cards.
- Contacts, calendars, and bookmarks on a Mac automatically sync within a minute of the change being made on the computer, another device, or the web at me.com.
- Improves Apple File Service performance, especially when using a home directory hosted on an AFP server.
- Improves reliability and performance for AT&T 3G cards.
- Improves printing for USB-based Brother and Canon printers.
- Fixes issues that could cause Time Machine to state the backup volume could not be found.
- Improves Time Machine reliability with Time Capsule.
- Adds a Trackpad System Preference pane for portable Macs.
- Personal Engadget favorite: Improves the performance and reliability of Chess.
- Nary a mention of Blu-ray. It's still hurting, we guess.
[Thanks, Fraser]
I'd strongly advise waiting for a day or two before upgrading all your mission critical boxes, thanks.
Haha, yeah, weird thing to do for Engadget to recommend everyone rushing to get an update that reports aren't in on yet.
Different priorities. Engadget want's the reports. I want a working system. But, I thank the early adopters for working out the bugs.
Don't you see?
We are the guinea pigs.
HAHA, you said mission critial in reference to a Mac. My wifes iMac gets used so much I think it was complaining about updating to 10.5.5 the other day, it was still on 10.5.2. I wonder how large the 10.5.6 update will be as the 10.5.5 was over 500MB already.
Yeah... Engadget: "Upgrade all of your systems immediately!@!$@#$ (don't blame us if something breaks)"
Oh crap, is OS X now windows-esque enough to merit waiting for other people to be guinea pigs before applying updates? This doesn't bode well for apple...
nerdtalker,
has been since at least that OS X update in, what, '04, that blew away some firewire drives?
I took the plunge and updated to 10.5.6, but now my macbook keeps trying to connect to 17.72.255.11:123, all i know is that its an apple server... anybody know what its for?
funny thing is.. not a single one of our macs has anything mission critical on it.
LOL BREAKING NEWS
Oh its breaking alright, the dellintosh i downloaded it to.
Sir, it appears you have marmite stuck in your Caps key.
Or Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder
Yeah, those are some REALLY important and useful updates! Microsoft's service packs don't do anything compared to this...
not breaking until the Kalyway tutorial gets updated
FIRST!!!!!!
GEE TEA EFF OH, son.
yeah. first loser.
looks like you guys got the "fat" update. I only got the 190MB update which uses the diff file installation method... word to the wise quite tinkering with your systems and updates become a lot easier...
Tipping the scales at 377MB (or 190MB for some; see image after the break)
Haha Engadget you're dreaming, mine says 5612 MB. Time for updating I guess.
YES now i can watch OS X update beautifully and crisply on my new $900 moneytor.
377mb is the combo update (upgrades anything from 10.5.0) while the 190mb download will be the incremental update from 10.5.5. Probably.
Nope, I'm upgrading from 10.5.5 w/ all prior updates on a brand new MBP and it's 377MB.
Wrong. I'm on 10.5.5 on a 2007 MBP. It's 377 MB. My guess is the 190MB one is for newer Macs... they're always smaller for some reason. Perhaps they have some newer files on the builds that are already there.
I'm downloading it for my late 2007 MBP and it's 190MB so what's the deal?
The Combo Upgrade is 669 MB
http://support.apple.com/downloads/Mac_OS_X_10_5_6_Combo_Update
Updating a 2006 MacBook Pro and Mac Mini - 190MB here. All previous updates already applied, of course.
190 Mo update for the late powerbook 17"...
I'm upgrading from 10.5.5 and I have the 377mb one...
Upgrading a 2.16 GHz Core Duo Macbook Pro 17" (2006 model)
Update rings in at 190MB. I am confused what the 377MB one is for. I was assuming it was for the new Macs with multitouch trackpads and the works....
190 mb on a 10.5.5 macpro from october last year (2x dual core 2.66)
I think the 377mb one is for the LED backlit displays judging by everyone's answers.
Correct me if I'm wrong!
Updating my 2008 MacBook Pro (no, not the brand new uni-body ones) 15" 2.6GHz MBP...and I got the 190MB update. Thank God because the network here at college is slow as molasses.
@Jo: Nope, that can't be it, because I have an LED-backlit MBP and its 190MB for me. Apparently no one has any idea :)
I'm on the late 2008 (unibody) MBP and I have the 377 MB update...
Everything was up-to-date before.
Feb 08 Macbook here. 190MB
Of course, I will update my Dell with it. Why not? Apple rules, gotta have all of its updates. Sheesh.
Wooo about time
That sounds like your describing a moment
"Wooo (x) about time (t)"
Wait. What moment involves time?
I should pay more attention to my Cerebral Cortex.
"We strongly encourage you to do the same"
Why would that be? Can you confirm it doesn't utterly screw over audio (again)? Or that it doesn't contain some critical bug that'll have to be patched again within a few days?
Not to be overly negative here, and I know this is engadget so we all want the latest-greatest-bleeding-edge, but this sort of thing has bitten people in the past. And it'll still be there a day or few from now when reports have come in confirming that your stuff will still work.
We love our Macs as much as the next Engadget editor, but since 10.5.5 and the Safari 3.2.x issues bit us in the rear, we don't quite feel the urgency to jump into .6. If it wasn't for Time Machine, I would still be rebuilding our Macbook from the .5/Safari fiasco. Apple needs to tighten up on their software QA. It seems as time goes on, every update gets buggier. What's the point of locking down the HW/SW for "better compatibility" when the updates break things? Having said that, I will probably update our mini (our HTPC) to .6 for testing. At least if it chokes, the Tivo is still there to save the day.
Looking forward to the video driver improvements. Maybe, just maybe, the grids view will be less choppy.
Nope, still choppy if you have a lot of apps.
"Adds a Trackpad System Preference pane for portable Macs."
Does the include Macmini?
I can fit it in my bag (along with a car battery)
I suppose it doesn't give older Macbooks (Early 2006) the new multitouch gestures? That would be sweet...if not is there a way to enable them anyways?
The real question is... how difficult will it be to update all of the OSx86 boxes that are floating around.
Welcome to Lake Hackintosh.
You didn't beleive us when we told you we had Water-Cooling?
if it breaks boxee, i'm time machining back.
ZOMG I CAN PLAY CHESS NOW!
Rather, you can play chess reliably.
(zomg)
your car sucks
No, it just means you'll lose to the computer that much quicker.
That's funny, because I thought I had somehow messed up my Chess by deleting all the language files associated with it. Glad it's back.
waiownsyou, you wrong, I'm in a White Macbook from early 2008 and Im downloading a 190mb update package. I do want know the reason for this 377/190 mb values...
How did you end up inside your Macbook. Do you need me to call someone for you?
MBP 2.53ghz and it's a 377mb upgrade from 10.5.5
B )
download time ... 6hrs?
dub tee eff
i can drive to cupertino in 30min
Then go ahead and tell Steve Jobs, unless he's at his undersea HQ again...
What will you do when you get there?
"So, do you have this on a Pendrive?"
"Yeah but its $350"
"Oh right, i wasted some fuel"
@Mobius_1, No you're confusing him with Steve Mobs... you know the CEO of Mapple.
"...so we'll just have to suck it up."
- Paul Miller, "iPhone nano..."
"We're sucking it down..."
- Darren Murph, "Mac OS X 10.5.6..."
--------------------------------------------------------
"YOUR WORDS HERE!"
- Your Name!
Can you think of a witty commentary to these quotes of our beloved Engadget editors? Then participate in the '08 Advent speech bubble contest and you might just win a signed pair of USB bear handwarmers and of course, be featured in our January issue of "Engadget Intimate"!
Thank Fuck, I've had to turn to heroin in the days between chess games,
That shits really expensive.
190mb for me. No problems so far, just tested Office 2004, CS3.
Breaking News!
Steve Jobs drives car over cliff!
We strongly encourage you to do the same!
I just watched the MythBusters were they test how to get out of a sinking car.
I can tell you were itching to know that vaguely relevant piece of information regarding my incredibly sophisticated lifestyle.
Oli, you arn't obliged to reply to every post.
:( Sowwy
it's not listed, but what about the memory fixes for the newer macbooks?
Thats a hardware/firmware fix not a leopard problem, you'll just have to wait you ungrateful wretch !
Thank god for the MobileMe sync fix. It was really pissing me off when contacts didn't sync correctly (or at all).
Bag of hurt = Don't help Sony sell BD stick to DVD and sell iTunes HD content. easy
Sony BDSM Player
"Masochistic Pornography in High Definition."
Makes ya wonder what happened to the "Year of HD" where Sony's CEO got up onstage at Macworld and Apple was at NAB... when was that, '06, '07?
... guess that relationship is a bit more frosty now...
so still no hardware acceleration on video for slightly older MBPs... what gives Apple? Obviously it's just a simple patch.
'installing 1 item' on software update, been stuck for 30 mins. POS.....what now?
So, how much is it for this time?
Free, its spelt like MacBook Pro
Except without the M, the a, the c, the n, the o, the o, the k, the P and the o.
And with an F and two e's.
the same as the last 5 service packs
@ Oli D
Reef?
add another er and im in.
Aight, but we split, Oli D... Deal?
For sure, meet me on the moon in 5
The moon in 5... 4... 3... 2... 1...
Aaaaaahhhh, sweeet...
Interesting... no mention of the 15 security fixes that are included.
MacOS has been able to burn and read BluRay data discs since 10.5.4 at least.
It still cannot play or create video BluRay discs though. Although since there are licensing fees for both of these, I can't imagine people really expected it to show up in a free update.
I have a feeling we'll see Blu-ray either with Snow Leopard (although i doubt this) or with the new Mac Pro (Yeah Right)
Just installed it. Feels snappier.
It killed my hackintosh!
You sunk my battleship!
I hope I can now keep a consistent connection with a non-apple 802.11n router now
The world's best OS just got better.
So, the "world's best OS" had the following issues:
# AirPort connections reliability issues
# Syncing issues
# Gaming Performance issues
# Graphics Corruption for some ATI Cards
# Apple File Service performance issues
# Issues that could cause Time Machine to state the backup volume could not be found.
# Issues with Time Machine reliability with Time Capsule.
# No Trackpad System Preference pane for portable Macs.
# Issues with performance and reliability of Chess.
Oh, and it still doesn't support Blu-Ray playback, and it's the best OS that got better... Brilliant!
@tpadekar
What OS or piece of software doesn't have its issues and patches.
@ tpadekar,
The world's worst OS didn't have any issues at all. It just didn't do anything.
Stuck at configuring installation. Progress bar isn't moving.
Well, my Efix hackintosh updated perfectly and worked first time :-)
Also no problems with my 1st gen 17in macbook pro
Also no problems with my G4 Leopard powerbook
not updated my OSX86 MSI wind Netbook yet
As a non-Mac user it's bewildering to see so many "improvements" for a system that supposedly just works. Nice to see they believe their own PR and say "improve" instead of "fix". I'd probably have tried an Apple by now if they didn't have such a smug and self righteous way of promoting themselves. No doubt Macs are better than Windows PCs for many things but I'll never get to know until they stop being so arrogant.
Is Apple become more and more arrogant like you say?, Yes. But you should just try a Mac. I have used both and for the most part setting up and using Macintosh compared to Windows for the ordinary computer user, Well it does just work. I am sorry but it's true.