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Information Security Office (ISO)

Mac OS X Leopard

Last updated: 2/7/08

Support Approach 

In the past, Computing Services has generally taken an "all or nothing" approach to supporting a new version of an operating system – supporting it only after all core services are supported by that OS and discouraging users from upgrading before that time.

Since the Mac OS X Leopard release on 10/26/07, we have continuously evaluated our core software and services for compatibility.  At this time, Leopard is supported by Computing Services.

Campus users interesting in moving to Leopard, may purchase a copy from the campus Computer Store for a discounted price of $69.  We suggest contacting your departmental administrator or DSP consultant, if applicable, before moving.  You should also review the list below for upgrade and software compatibility information.  If you share folders, please see the special note from ISO.

Upgrade Information

If you plan to upgrade an older machine, first discuss it with your departmental administrator or DSP consultant.  The following is required to upgrade to Mac OS X 10.5: 

  • Mac computer with an Intel, PowerPC G5, or PowerPC G4 (867MHz or faster) processor
  • 512MB of memory
  • DVD drive for installation
  • 9GB of available disk space

For specific machine requirements, see Apple's Mac OS X Leopard Technical Specifications.

Software Compatibility

AdmitMac
AdmitMac 4 is required for Leopard users.  AdmitMac 4 is available from the vendor Thursby Software.

Andrew Printing
Printing to public cluster printers requires the latest Popup installer.  A new installer is available from our software page.  However, the recent Mac OS X software update (1/15/08) caused Popup to stop working. Users can use this temporary workaround, until we investigate this issue further.  For more information see Andrew Printing for Leopard Users.  Please note, the workaround does not password protect your job, permit the use of a guest card or another userID.

Adobe Creative Suite 3
Most Creative Suite 3 products are compatible with Mac OS X Leopard. However, some products will require updates.  Updates for Premiere, Soundbooth, Encore and After Effects are available, but Acrobat (Reader and Pro) is not available. For more information see the official Adobe support statement. 

Cisco VPN
A new installer is required and a supported release of the Cisco VPN Client is now available.

Fetch/Fugu
These are both supported and working with Leopard.

Kerberos
A new installer is required and is available from the Kerberos download page.

Microsoft Office 2004
Microsoft Office 2004 (Word, Excel, PowerPoint) has been tested and works with Leopard. 

Norton AntiVirus 10.0 (Symantec)
Although Norton AntiVirus is compatible with Leopard; the latest version of LiveUpdate (4.0.4) must be installed to update the virus definitions.  The update is available from the Symantec web site. We will publish the new installer once it’s available.

Oracle Calendar
The new Kerberos must be installed for this application to work (see above).

Special Note for Leopard Users Sharing Folders

Users who have file sharing enabled on Leopard, may receive a false patch alert message.  Leopard machines with file sharing enabled appear as a vulnerable Windows machine to ISO’s security scans.  Users can request a one-year exemption from MS04-011 scanning by replying to the patch notification message.  For more information, refer to the Patch Alert Notification for Leopard Users page.