Macintosh

Apple Macintosh

Christmas eve

December 24, 2005

The computer is consipring to make sure I don't work too much on Christmas. The two-year-old 15" PowerBook has decided to stop working... mostly. Of course it works just often enough to convince me that it might be salvagable. In the end it seems to be a problem with the display though. We're also taking advantage of the slow time before the new year to make some infrastructure changes. If all goes well the changes will be little noticed. If not the site will possibly be down for a time. Either way email may be a bit slower than expected and instant messenger will be abandoned until next year.

iPod blues

November 26, 2005

I've been working on a friend's iPod recently. The otherwise healthy iPod has started freezing every time you move songs to it. Choose a batch of 20 songs and 5 or 6 will transfer fine and seven will die. The real problem is that it is not just the iPod that freezes but the whole computer. The machine (running Mac OS X 10.4) will stop completely. A few processes are "stuck" but even attempting to shut-d. own or restart the computer don't work. The only solution is to power down the computer and restart it. After a restart the whole scenario plays out again.

After several tries with other iPods and the computer it seemed to be a problem with the specific iPod. A trip to Apple Care and back and they report the iPod is just fine. Upon transferring the next set of songs the familiar freeze was back. The iMac locked up completely. Had Apple Care missed something? Why did this computer that works with other iPods not work with this iPod.

Eventually I decided to reload the iTunes library to make sure there wasn't a problem with the library itself. After taking all the files out and re-importing them there was no difference. Could it be the cable? The cable had been used for a couple of years and had never really been taken anywhere or used in any other way. However, it occurred to me at that point that the "other iPods" that were working fine were all USB models. Plugging the ill-functioning iPod into the USB cable it performs flawlessly. Somewhere along the line one of two things has happened. Either there is a problem with the firewire cable, which I'm still skeptical about, or there is a problem with the OS on the iMac and how it recovers from firewire errors.

Hardware

November 6, 2005

I picked up some new hardware on Friday evening to replace an aging iMac. I'm impressed, perhaps more than I though I'd be. Having been spoiled with a Dual-G5 for quite awhile now I didn't know if the iMac would really stack up. So far it's great.

A few tips. First, get Apple Care for $119 and then go down to your local Frys or other electronics store and buy 1GB of RAM for $89. You'll end up with 1.5 GB of RAM and an extended warranty for roughly the same price as Apple's $200.

The Mighty Mouse is much more impressive than I thought in the few times I've tried it in the store. It's still sitting beside my Logitech trackball much longer than any previous Apple mouse would (even being plugged in is pretty amazing by my historic standards of Apple mouse loathing).

Daylight Savings Time

October 29, 2005

Dave Winer suggests on his weblog that clocks on Macintosh computers don't automatically adjust to Daylight Savings Time. This is incorrect if you have the time set to automatically sync at least. Not only does it know when to end daylight savings time but it knows that for the time being Indianapolis is on Eastern Standard Time, at least until next spring when Indiana begins observing Daylight Savings Time in April. All of this comes just in time for the new federal law which will change the dates for Daylight Savings Time in 2007.

Let the rumors fly

June 4, 2005

News.com calls the rumors it is propagating news.

The hot rumor is that Apple is set to announce a switch from IBM to Intel microprocessors. There are some claiming to also know the timing which purportedly would involve the first round of the switch coming in mid-2006.

If the rumors are true it could be big news. When the Mac mini came out I outlined a killer way Apple could proceed to a few people I know. The plan goes something like this. Come out with the mini and get people to switch. Then, prior to the release of the new Microsoft Longhorn operating system, announce x86 compatibility. If the roll-out of Longhorn goes as well as some other versions of Microsoft's operating system there will be plenty of frustrated users looking for an alternative.

Mini setup

March 25, 2005

The folks over at macminicolo.com have a good guide on setting up a mini to go to a colocation facility. In fact it is good for any mac going to a colocation facility. There are a few additional preferences I think are worth noting.

  • Energy Saver - Set the machine to automatically start after a power outage.
  • Expose - Set all corners to do nothing (this is the default but if you've changed it it can be bothersome over a remote connection
  • CD & DVD - Set all the preferences to ignore. If you have to have a CD inserted remotely you don't want it doing something automatically
  • Menu Bar Icons - Remove as much from the menu bar as possible
  • Screen Saver - Turn it off. No point in wasting cycles drawing graphics on a non-existent screen

Apple Hardware Test

March 23, 2005

We spent much too much time this week tracking down a problem with a 15-inch PowerBook. The problem, which initially seemed to be a disk problem, turned out to be a disk problem. After several attempts to copy information, reinstall the operating system and get the machine working again I finally stooped to running Apple Hardware Test. It is not quite as low on the ladder as actually reading the manual but the proximity makes many geekish folk uncomfortable. Of course it took about 3 minutes to diagnose the disk as being bad. Not the hours of frustration and false starts provided by choosing to "do it my way". Lesson learned. At least until next time.

No PowerBook G5 for now

January 31, 2005

Apple's announcement today of new PowerBook G4's puts to end anticipation that they might release a PowerBook G5. It seems unlikely that with the new machines being released today that a PowerBook G5 will arrive any time this year. The next logical place to announce one would have been WWDC, but the new powerbooks would seem to make that a long shot.

Macintosh mini

January 23, 2005

We made the pilgrimage to the Apple Store tonight. Not quite ready to pull the trigger yet. The Macintosh mini is a thing of beauty. Slightly larger than it seems to be in the pictures, but so beautifully small all the same. Talking to the sales people at the store, they have been told that Airport and Bluetooth cards will be options that they can add at the store. No timing has been announced as to when this will happen, but it does make the option of buying one now, sans wireless networking, a more palatable option. Undoubtedly it will be more expensive down the line, but you're not in the same situation as the backlit keyboards on Powerbooks where it is a build-to-order or not-at-all situation.

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