"....the Lion sleeps
tonight...."
I promised an update to my adventures to install Lion on my 2007 Black MacBook, and
here it is.
First, I love Low End Mac because it's loyal readers are quick to
lend a helping hand. I'd like to give a shout-out to Rick Karrer, Scott
Newman, and, especially David Walker. Everyone pointed me to making my
own OS X 10.7 Lion thumb
drive using the App Store download. Instructions are on the Internet in
a number of places (TUAW
is the site I used), and using the directions, you can save
yourself $40 and and have an external install drive.
Before I began the install, I ran a Time Machine backup and cloned
the MacBook's hard drive to an external hard drive. My logic was to
have a copy of OS X 10.6
Snow Leopard (with all my data) to boot into if the Lion install
proves problematic.
With my belt and suspenders all set up, I plugged in the Lion thumb
drive I had made and started up my MacBook. I pressed the Option
key on the keyboard and then selected the USB thumb drive as my boot
drive.
No alarms. I used the version of Disk Utility on the thumb drive to
erase the contents of my hard drive and then ran the Lion installer.
Everything ran okay - it just took time. When I was done, I decided to
play around for awhile before migrating my other apps and identities or
data. I liked some of the new stuff: The full screen apps are nice, and
I definitely like adding my laptop to Find my iPhone. I like Launchpad,
but doesn't it sort of duplicate the Dock?
Lion's LaunchPad
I have to say that Mission Control is good. It allows me to get to
something that I want without having to close or store on the Dock
applications or documents that are in my way. I was a little
disappointed that the only things I can use on my MacBook's touchpad
are the scrolling and the two button access to contextual menus. But my
MacBook is five years old, and if I really want to, I could buy a
Magic Trackpad.
Lion's Mission Control
The next day, feeling adventurous, I decided to migrate my
documents, applications, and settings from my Time Machine backup to
the MacBook and its fresh Lion Install. Time was taken, and I patted
myself on the back for replacing my PowerPC (PPC) applications with
Universal ones about two months ago, since Lion doesn't support PPC
software.
However, I forgot about iPhoto. It was still a PPC version, so I
guess I have to buy iWorks - unless somebody knows about a
substitute?
I think that because I did a fresh install, I did not encounter the
problems that some folks have encountered when moving to Lion. Lion is
okay and features Apple's new iCloud, and so far I haven't run across
any problems (except for not updating iPhoto).
I will update everybody with any new events, but so far, Lion is
working out okay. 
