As you probably already know, Apple recently released the final version of its Mac OS X Leopard operating system. And, judging by its initial sales (more than 2 million copies sold already), Apple seems to have hit a major home run. So what’s the big deal about Leopard and why should you care? In this review we’ll answer those questions and we’ll take a look at what’s good and bad in Leopard.
John Charles Dvorak (born April 5, 1952) is an American columnist and broadcaster in the areas of technology and computing. His writing extends back to the 1980s, when he was a regular columnist in a variety of magazines. Thankfully, Instagram and Facebook, the most frequently used photo-sharing platforms whittle down-sensitive strands of information. For Mac users, you can obliterate EXIF data by previewing and selecting inspector from the tools menu. EXIF-removal tools allow you to wipe out metadata from multiple files at once.
Why the Hell Should I Care? I Don’t Own a Mac!
Some of you might be thinking “So what? I don’t own a Mac, what the hell do I care about Apple’s stupid operating system, Jim?” Well that’s a fair sentiment if you’re not a Mac owner since Leopard doesn’t run on any other hardware…yet. But as we saw with Apple’s switch to Intel processors a while back, what seems incredible or even impossible can sometimes be quite possible. There may come a day when Leopard or its successor is available on non-Apple hardware.
Some of you might be thinking “So what? I don’t own a Mac, what the hell do I care about Apple’s stupid operating system, Jim?” Well that’s a fair sentiment if you’re not a Mac owner since Leopard doesn’t run on any other hardware…yet. But as we saw with Apple’s switch to Intel processors a while back, what seems incredible or even impossible can sometimes be quite possible. There may come a day when Leopard or its successor is available on non-Apple hardware.
Plus it’s worth knowing what Leopard has to offer because Microsoft tends to use Apple as its research and development lab at times. In other words, if there’s a great feature on Leopard that’s not on Windows then you can bet Microsoft will steal…er…excuse me…borrow the idea for a future version of Windows at some point. Who knows…you may even see some of Leopard included in a future Windows Vista super-duper mega-patch or “service pack” or whatever Microsoft is calling it these days.
Installation
I installed Leopard on my new Intel based iMac and Macbook Pro.
I installed Leopard on my new Intel based iMac and Macbook Pro.
Here are the stats for each computer:
iMac
- Model Name: iMac
- Processor Name: Intel Core 2 Duo
- Processor Speed: 2.4GHz
- Number Of Processors: 1
- Total Number Of Cores: 2
- L2 Cache: 4MB
- Memory: 2GB
- Bus Speed: 800MHz
- Video: ATI Radeon 2600 Pro (256MB VRAM)
- LCD Resolution 1680 x 1050
- Storage: 300GB
Macbook Pro
- Processor Name: Intel Core 2 Duo
- Processor Speed: 2.4GHz
- Number Of Processors: 1
- Total Number Of Cores: 2
- L2 Cache: 4MB
- Memory: 4GB
- Bus Speed: 800MHz
- Video: GeForce 8600M GT
- VRAM (Total): 256MB
- Resolution: 1440 x 900
- Storage: 160GB
I opted to do an upgrade rather than a clean install, something I would not have dared to do if I had been installing any version of Windows. But Mac OS X has a pretty good track record when it comes to upgrades, so I figured I’d give it a shot, and I wasn’t disappointed.
The install took about an hour or so on each machine and there wasn’t a whole lot for me to do while it was happening, so I opted to surf the web on my iPhone to whittle away the time during installation. Continued…
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Cockos WDL (whittle) is a free and open-source C++ library, created and maintained by the guys that make REAPER. WDL previously included IPlug, a cross-platform VST/AU plug-in framework for Windows and Mac OS X, on which you can build audio plug-in effects and instruments. This webpage will help you setup WDL/IPlug, so you can start coding/hacking your own plug-ins.
Note that, although Cockos has removed IPlug from its WDL repository, it is still included (and maintained) here.
What do I need?
- C++ compiler
- Git
- WDL/IPlug
- VST SDK
Which C++ compiler should I use?
![Whittle Whittle](https://img.informer.com/screenshots/5320/5320644_3.jpg)
IPlug includes project files for Visual Studio (Express), Code::Blocks (Windows 32-bit only), and Xcode, and the 'Tale' edition also includes Windows makefiles to build IPlug from the command line using either Visual Studio or the free Windows SDK.
I personally use the Windows SDK command-line compiler, and Xcode 3 on Mac OS X.
What is Git?
Git is a powerful distributed source code management tool. You will need it to download (fetch) the WDL/IPlug source repository, but I would recommend to also use Git for your own projects. There is Git for Windows and Git for OS X. On OS X you might already have Git if you are running Xcode 4.
How do I download WDL/IPlug?
From the command line do:
mkdir myproject
cd myproject
git clone http://www.taletn.com/WDL.git .
This will clone (fork) the source code repository into myproject. You will then find WDL in myproject/WDL, and IPlug in myproject/WDL/IPlug.
- Alternative (recommended) methodAlternatively you can create an empty Git repository for your project, and then add WDL as a remote repository:
mkdir myproject
cd myproject
git init
git remote add wdl http://www.taletn.com/WDL.git
Then to initially pull WDL's master branch into your project's current branch, or to update WDL later on, do:
git fetch wdl
git pull wdl master
- http://www.taletn.com/WDL.git
- https://github.com/olilarkin/wdl-ol.git
Note that these repositories are forks, not mirrors, so they are slightly different. In this webpage I assume you have downloaded the 'Tale' edition (the first one on the list).
Where do I download the VST SDK?
Actually you don't need the entire SDK, you only need two files. However, you will still need to register with Steinberg and download the entire VST Audio Plug-Ins SDK (Version 2.4). Once you have downloaded the SDK, extract aeffect.h and aeffectx.h from vstsdk2.4/pluginterfaces/vst2.x in the ZIP file, and store them in myproject/VST_SDK.
How do I build the IPlug example project?
The IPlug example project in action
Starpusher mac os. In Visual Studio you should build the myproject/WDL/IPlug/IPlug.sln solution, which will build LICE, IPlug, and the IPlugExample. In Xcode you should build the myproject/WDL/IPlug/Example/IPlugExample.xcodeproj project, which includes LICE and IPlug.
When using the Windows SDK or Visual Studio command-line compiler do:
cd myprojectWDLlice
nmake /f Makefile.msc
cd .IPlug
nmake /f Makefile.msc
cd Example
nmake /f Makefile.msc
Is there any documentation?
Mac Os Mojave
Not really. But the code is pretty easy to read.
Oli Larkin has posted a couple great instruction videos showing you how to set up WDL-OL (his version of WDL/IPlug) on Windows and Mac OS X. And then there is the excellent Making Audio Plugins tutorial series by Martin Finke.
Where can I get support?
Whittle Mac Os X
You are welcome to discuss WDL/IPlug on the Cockos WDL forum with the rest of us.
Whittle Osland And Associates
Which (commercial) plug-ins are using WDL/IPlug?
Whittle Mac Os Catalina
Martinic Combo Model V & F are built on WDL/IPlug 'Tale' edition. For a gallery of other IPlug-based plug-ins, check out this topic on the Cockos WDL forum.