Information and Technology

OSX Lion 10.7 Information

On July 20^th 2011, Apple released its new operating system Mac OSX Lion (10.7).  Lion adds some new features like Mission Control and Full Screen Apps, and Launchpad. For more new features included in Lion visit Apple’s web site at: http://www.apple.com/macosx/

Information Technology staff are currently doing compatibility testing with Bowdoin Applications. We recommend you hold off upgrading your work computer to Lion until companies have certified their software is compatible with Lion since Lion no longer supports Applications that require Rosetta to run. 

What is Rosetta and how does that affect me?  That can be best explained from this quote from Apple’s website: ‘Normally, applications intended for Mac computers based on PowerPC processors don’t work on Macs based on Intel processors. But if you install Rosetta, you can use applications intended for PowerPC-based Macs’.

How do I know if Applications I have installed need Rosetta?  Follow these steps:

Click on the Apple at the upper left and choose "About This Mac". Then click the button "More info" to launch the System Profiler. In the column at the left (expand the box if necessary), click on "Applications" under the "Software" heading.

The Mac will then search your hard drive for any type of application. In the right hand column under "Kind", it will either be listed as Universal, Intel or PowerPC. Anything that is PowerPC will require Rosetta.

If you have already upgraded your computer to Lion or purchased Lion for home please be aware there are some applications that will not run as expected.  For a known list of Lion software compatibility visit: http://roaringapps.com/apps:table

Technical Specifications

• Mac computer with an Intel Core 2 Duo, Core i3, Core i5, Core i7, or Xeon processor
• Lion will not run on Power PC (PPC) Macs.
• Lion does not support Rosetta (see above for details)
• 2GB of memory
• OS X v10.6.6 or later (v10.6.8 recommended)
• 7GB of available space
• An internet connection to the App Store for download.

How do I get Lion:

Students may log into the Bowdoin Software download site to request an App Store Redemption Code at: https://www.bowdoin.edu/agreements/

How do I install Lion:

You can follow the walkthrough here: