Mac OS X 10.4.8

Mac OS X 10.4.8 was released September 30, 2006. It has the build number 8L127 for PowerPC and 8L2127 for Intel.

This update offers many improvements, including the following, which apply to both Intel- and Power-PC-based Macs unless otherwise noted:

Printing

 * Adds support for CDSASSL (Common Data Security Architecture Secure Sockets Layer) printer connections.
 * Addresses an issue for Mac OS X 10.4.7 in which some documents containing some Chinese or Korean language characters might not print as expected.

Finder and Apple applications

 * Resolves an issue in which a Finder alert message with the buttons "Initialize", "Ignore", and "Eject" might not appear after connecting a partitioned FireWire hard drive.
 * Addresses a potential issue in which Preview may unexpectedly quit.
 * Improves reliability of iTunes syncing with certain iPod models.

Networking and modem

 * Resolves performance issues that could occur when connecting to a Comcast network.
 * Improves security by adding support for EAP-FAST for AirPort wireless authentication.
 * Improves Express Card behavior for portable Intel-based Macs.
 * Improves reliability for connections made in Ireland with an external Apple USB Modem.
 * Improves connection reliability for external Apple USB Modems when resuming an Internet connection after answering an incoming call.
 * A computer restart is no longer needed to restart nfsd.
 * Improves Apple File Sharing client performance by changing the default AFP WAN quantum size.. More...
 * Windows File Sharing now generates only one process, avoiding an issue that could cause a Mac OS X computer to become unresponsive if it won a master browser election.
 * Improves reliability when faxing in France or Belgium via an external Apple USB Modem.

Third-party

 * Resolves an issue for Microsoft Word in which Word might stop responding when saving a file that uses certain OpenType fonts.
 * Adds RAW image decoding support for these cameras: Sony DSLR-A100, Nikon D2Xs, Fuji FinePix S2 Pro, Fuji FinePix S3 Pro (+Highlights) and Konica Minolta 7.
 * Resolves an issue in which thumbnails may appear blank when importing RAW images from a Canon 30D camera.
 * Resolves an issue for Microsoft PowerPoint in which the display resolution might not change as expected after switching from a PowerPoint presentation to a different application via Command-Tab.
 * Improves compatibility for Canon EOS Utility software after connecting a Canon EOS Kiss Digital camera to a PowerPC-based Mac.
 * Improves compatibility for the TV Tracker 2 Dashboard widget.

Other

 * Includes recent Apple security updates.
 * Improves the accuracy of Rosetta numerics and addresses Altivec translation issues on Intel-based Macs.
 * ColorSync matching no longer fails when using a V4 ICC profile in an application opened with Rosetta on an Intel-based Mac.
 * Addresses an issue in which some USB devices connected to a PCI card may not be recognized after starting up or waking the computer.
 * Resolves an issue in which external USB-based video cameras may not be available after quitting the application that is using it.
 * Reduces time needed to transfer data from a USB-based image scanner.
 * Improves responsiveness of the Translation Dashboard widget.
 * Addresses an issue in which text typed with the Hangul input method may not be visible while the Caps Lock key is active, on PowerPC-based Macs.
 * Adds support on Intel-based Macs for multiple cores to LAPACK and BLAS routines in the Accelerate framework; the maximum number of threads used by Accelerate BLAS routines is now limited by the environment variable VECLIB_MAXIMUM_THREADS; addresses an issue with some complex BLAS routines in the Accelerate framework that were encountering an illegal instruction.