Apple has released Mac OS X 10.2.8 via Software Update, as a standalone installer [1] for Mac OS X 10.2.6 and 10.2.7, and as a standalone combo updater [2] which will update any version of Mac OS X 10.2 Jaguar to Mac OS X 10.2.8. The update is not needed for Apple's new Power Mac G5 [3] systems, but can be installed on any G3- or G4-based system which supports Mac OS X. The Mac OS X 10.2 Update weighs in at about 40.6 MB; the combo installer is a whopping 97 MB.

Mac OS X 10.2.8 includes a number of Bluetooth improvements (possibly to enable support for Apple's new wireless keyboard [4] and mouse [5]) as well as unspecified enhancements to Apple's Web browser Safari [6]. It also includes security updates [7] for the Unix applications sendmail and OpenSSH's sshd. Mac OS X 10.2.8 also includes support for USB 2.0 devices (even if you add USB 2.0 ports to a Mac using a PCI card or PC Card), and fixes a problem mounting external FireWire drives.

Fair warning: we've received numerous reports of problems from people upgrading to Mac OS X 10.2.8, ranging from it losing track of which of two monitors should have the menu bar to kernel panics at boot. We have verified Mac OS X 10.2.8 is incompatible with some drivers for external FireWire audio devices: if you have a FireWire audio device (other than an iPod) for recording or producing audio, check with your device's manufacturer before updating to Mac OS X 10.2.8 to see if compatible drivers have been released. Also remember that a Safe Boot (holding down the Shift key as the Mac boots) disables all non-Apple kernel extensions and drivers. We strongly encourage everyone to make a full backup before installing Mac OS X 10.2.8, and if you don't feel the need to be on the cutting edge, you might want to wait for this update to settle out before upgrading.

[1]: http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=25524
[2]: http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=25525
[3]: http://www.apple.com/powermac/
[4]: http://www.apple.com/keyboard/
[5]: http://www.apple.com/mouse/
[6]: http://www.apple.com/safari/
[7]: http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=61798

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