The PhoneBoy Blog » mac

Teaching an old iBook New Tricks the Ubuntu Way

PhoneBoy — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 08:09:25 +0000

A couple years ago, I tried installing Ubuntu on an old Apple iBook G3 I have with only moderate results, as shown in this YouTube video:

While I know that Adobe Flash and AIR won’t ever be supported on the PowerPC chips that run in a lot of the older Macs, the size of this iBook puts it real close to the “netbook” category. Since I don’t see myself spending $400-$500 on a new computer anytime soon, why not try and repurpose one I already have?

My expectations for this PowerPC G3 with 576mb of RAM and 10gb of disk aren’t high. I just want something with a reasonable keyboard that has WiFi and runs a web browser. It’s got all that and the current versions of Ubuntu (8.10 as I write this) will support the wireless (which it didn’t back in 6.06, which was when I took this video), at least in theory. Why not give it a try? Details after the jump.

The first step is getting the Ubuntu distribution. It’s not officially supported anymore, according to the PowerPCFAQ for Ubuntu, but the community does maintain downloads for PowerPC Ubuntu. This is one time where downloading the ISO using Bittorrent is highly recommended as it is likely to be much faster than the straight download.

After burning the CD and sticking it into the iBook, I powered the iBook up, holding down the ‘C’ key to tell the Mac to boot off CD. The installation, however, could not find the CDROM! Fortunately, it’s a known issue with a relatively simple workaround: switch to another console, type in modprobe ide-scsi, and try detecting the CDROM again. Sure enough, it found the CDROM.

The next hiccup was minor: it was able to detect both network the wired and wireless adapters. However, during the installation process, WPA does not appear to be supported. Hopefully, it supports WPA once I’ve installed Ubuntu, but for now, I selected Ethernet and pressed onward.

One thing I noticed about the installation process: it offered encryption, both at the (mostly entire) disk level as well as at the home directory level! I only opted for the directory-level encryption for my user. I’ll have to see how well it works.

A few hours later, I booted up and the screen looked like someone sat on the screen. Turns out that’s a rather common problem easily solved by editing /etc/yaboot.conf, replacing both append lines with:

append="nosplash"

To solve the “low resolution mode” problem when the graphic login attempts to start, I had to modify /etc/X11/xorg.conf with a couple of lines (bolded below):

Section "Device" Identifier      "Configured Video Device" BusID           "PCI:0:16:0" Driver          "fbdev" EndSection

Section "Monitor" Identifier      "Configured Monitor" EndSection

Section "Screen" Identifier      "Default Screen" Monitor         "Configured Monitor" Device          "Configured Video Device" DefaultDepth    24 EndSection

Two more problems: sound and the fact I couldn’t actually start any applications. Sound is easy to fix, add the following to /etc/modules:

snd-powermac

To make it take effect without a reboot, execute the command sudo modprobe snd-powermac.

Finally, the most annoying bug I’ve found: I can’t start applications from the GNOME Desktop! Apparently, a library was compiled with the wrong flags. The instructions for fixing it are documented here, and since they break with any update where I forget to uncheck updating the library, this basically means I have to remember to uncheck this library every time I update–not likely–or not do any updates at all–also not likely. End result: Ubuntu PPC is unusuable.

Next, we’ll try this with OpenSUSE to see if we fare any better.

Comments

13 January 2009, Jonathan Greene writes: I tried as well on a 15" Powerbook G4 and also failed ... thought it would be a great use for a spare machine that was just sitting in a drawer. I went back and forward with ISO versions but never got the disk to work. My foo was not as good as yours and at least you got further down the road ... Good luck!
14 April 2009, New Basement Tapes writes: anta Ubuntu Pocket Guide Available as a Free Download (lifehacker.com) Download Ubuntu Pocket Guide and Reference (blogs.vinuthomas.com) Six Best Portable Operating Systems [Hive Five] (lifehacker.com) Talking Community With Ubuntu's Jono Bacon (ostatic.com)Teaching an old iBook New Tricks the Ubuntu Way(phoneboy.com) VirtualBox 2: How To Pass Through USB Devices To Guests On An Ubuntu 8.10 Host (howtoforge.com)

This work originally came from The PhoneBoy Blog and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.
Fingerprint: e37ac627f3d973694c212ff9430d215a

Codeweavers: Give It Away Today

PhoneBoy — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 08:49:36 +0000

If you’re a Mac or Linux person and you want to run Windows apps without a Windows license, then the folks at Codeweavers have a deal for you. Today–and today only–until midnight GMT-5, you can get your own, fully functional copy of Codeweavers Crossover Linux or Mac for free.

Why are they doing this? It was a publicity stunt. The folks at Codeweavers challenged George Bush to do something to improve our lot in his last months of his presidency. Whether he was ultimately responsible for gas prices plummeting a buck over the past month or not is irrelevant, but the folks at Codeweavers saw that one of their goals was meant and they are keeping to their word.

The Codeweavers Crossover product is a commercial version of Wine, which is an open-source project that allows Windows executables to run on non-Windows systems. It’s not perfect, since it is a cleanroom implementation of the Windows API and they haven’t got bug-for-bug compatibility yet. However, it does run some specific applications like Microsoft Office reasonably well. It also runs Internet Explorer, which is useful in and of itself.

The main thing you get with Crossover is a much nicer installation process for Windows applications. It knows about the most common applications and is able to configure itself for an optimal installation. It makes the application installation process a bit easier.

The other amazing part about about this is that you also get a year of support with this freebie. This entitles you to technical support as well as a year of updates on the product. Quite righteous!

So Why Not iTunes?

PhoneBoy — Tue, 20 May 2008 08:01:59 +0000

I have a couple of Macs–and a lot of PCs. While I don’t listen to music that often, I have collected quite a bit of it–mostly on these plastic disks called CDs. Some of you might have heard of them

Anyway, when I got my hands on a Mac a few years ago for work purposes, I started playing around with iTunes. I ended up feeding it a bunch of my CDs and was fairly happy with the results. When I bought a MacBook two years ago, I decided that I wanted to re-rip my CDs in higher quality. So I went through the process–again.

Between that and a few tracks I’ve digitally acquired, I have about 2500 of them in iTunes. Generally, I can find what I need, I’ve found a reasonably sensible Smart Playlist that gives me a decent mix of music. It’s not perfect and I have to skip tracks, but it works for me.

While I do have an iPod Nano, I don’t use it. Instead, when I do prefer to listen to music on a portable device, I download music to a Nokia N95 thanks to Nokia Multimedia Transfer.

Now when it comes to video, other than for the occasional freebie from the iTunes store, I pretty much use Miro to manage video. I do this for a couple of reasons:

Support for Flash video and more types of video. I can stuff an RSS feed from YouTube into Miro and it will play the video it downloads from there.
Bittorrent Support. Need I say more?
Better at keeping your disk from filling up. Miro gives you the ability to only download episodes when less than X episodes are unwatched on a per-channel basis, a global “don’t download when less than X space,” and a per-channel auto-expiration for watched content.

Now I know some people don’t like iTunes for music. I guess I don’t see the issues, but I will admit I don’t listen to music daily. iTunes is sufficient for my meager needs. What am I missing here?

Comments

20 May 2008, Rita El Khoury writes: Yeah why not?! I've used iTunes as my main music manager on my PC ever since I got my iPod some 2 yrs ago. I find it well suited for my average usage. I also use iTunes agent, an application, to sync my smart playlist with my memory card (it can also be used for devices with internal storage). I have 2 memory cards, each is 2GB, so I have created 2 smart playlists that I sync with each card. One is my best and newest full albums, and the second is my 5star-rated music limited to 1.5GB priority to the newest. I find this an AWESOME mix, and most of all, I have to do nothing, just insert the card in my laptop's card reader, launch iTunes agent and click "Sync". Works like a charm.
20 May 2008, Marc writes: @ home - doesn't run on Linux @ work - does it support FLAC & OGG now? does it still want to download quicktime and safari? Other than that, they're all about the same I guess, particularly if one doesn't have an iPod and doesn't shop at iTunes.
22 May 2008, PhoneBoy writes: @Marc I think you can get FLAC/OGG flugins for the Mac, which means iTunes SHOULD support it. Quicktime is required for iTunes content.
27 November 2008, iTunes Music Blog writes: I think you nailed it on the head!! That\'s the point that everyone here has failed to make, nice work!! I am going to place a link to you on my blogroll, ok?

VMware Fusion Rolls Out 1.1.2

PhoneBoy — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 07:01:04 +0000

Image via Wikipedia

The latest from the Team Fusion blog is that VMware Fusion has rolled out version 1.1.2. This new version supports the upcoming XP SP3 on Boot Camp Partitions–something I’d be interested in. They are also squashing a couple of MacBook Air-related bugs, adding support for Apple’s Time Machine, and a few bugs.

Personally, I haven’t touched Parallels in a long time. For what I use it for–running XP and the occasional Linux thing–VMware has been rock solid. I see no compelling reason to go back to Parallels at this point.

Now Blogging On voip.com/blog

PhoneBoy — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 07:01:08 +0000

Monday, I got an email–out of the blue–from Leanne Tremblay, a.k.a. VoIPGirl. Apparently, she’s been busy with her other business to be blogging about VoIP. However, she did pass along an interesting proposal she’d received: voip.com needs a new blogger. Several email exchanges later, and voila, I’ve got a new gig blogging about VoIP for voip.com.

voip.com runs a Vonage-like Voice over IP service for residential customers. They also have a softphone, a GrandCentral-like service (except it’s $9.95/mo), and a TalkPlus-like service (2nd line for your mobile phone).

voip.com has had a blog since May of 2006, though it has been dormant for the last year or so. My job will be to work my blogging magic several times a week. Obviously, since it’s a “corporate” blog, I’ll have to mention the occasional thing that voip.com is doing or offering. Otherwise, I plan on conducting business-as-usual, just on a different blog. (FYI: there’s no link for an RSS feed on the blog for some reason, but you can get an RSS or Atom feed of the blog)

Of course, with the amount of blogging-related work I do, something has to give. I am currently re-negotiating my contracts with Creative Weblogging. Assuming I have it sorted by then, I’ll let you all know in my weekly Week That Was post.

VMware Fusion Goes 1.1.1, Gains Minor Usability Feature

PhoneBoy — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 08:01:15 +0000

One thing that constantly throws me off with my Synergy setup is when I cut and paste between my Mac and my Windows box. On the Mac, copy is Command-X, paste is Command-V. On the PC, it’s Ctrl-X for copy, Ctrl-V for paste. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve flubbed a copy and paste operation due to this difference.

What does this have to do with VMware Fusion? Glad you asked. VMware Fusion for the Mac dynamically maps the Mac equivalent keyboard commands for dealing with the clipboard into their Windows-equivalent commands. Prior to the 1.1.1 release, this only happened in Unity mode, now it happens in all modes!

VMware Fusion 1.1.1 also fixes more than a dozen other bugs, so it’s a worthwhile upgrade if you’re already on the VMware Fusion train. I’ve pretty much stopped using Parallels in favor of VMware as of late. The ability to generate VMs that I can use on VMware Player on a PC has proven to be an insanely useful tool!

How Many Times Do I Have To Get My MacBook Fixed?

PhoneBoy — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 10:57:52 +0000

You know, the more I actually try and use my MacBook, the more I realize that my IBM/Lenovo laptops have been a heck of a lot more reliable hardware-wise.

I’ve had this first generation MacBook for 18 months now. In that time I’ve had to:

Get the battery replaced
Send it in to get a “flickering screen” problem resolved at least 3 times

Now it looks like I’ve got another battery-type issue. When I run the battery down to 60%, the power simply shuts off without warning.

Of the four or five different IBM/Lenovo ThinkPad’s I’ve had over the years, the only service issues I’ve had was a bad motherboard on a 2+ year old IBM T41. Batteries and the like have all worked well for their respective ages.

Makes me real glad I spend the $200+ for AppleCare, but really. How many times do I have to send in this MacBook–or parts thereof–to get it fixed? It’s not like that I’m that hard on the thing or anything. It’s making me consider buying a different laptop next time around–one without an Apple logo on it. What do you think?

Comments

27 December 2007, Stefan Constantinescu writes: There is a reason I've had nothing but ThinkPad's for more than 5 years.
27 December 2007, Eric Hanke writes: I have used Dell Latitude Notebooks for almost 10 years. They are just as dependable as the IBM in my opinion and about 10-15% cheaper also.
27 December 2007, luca writes: I have a first generation MacBook from June 2006. I needed to replace the original battery a couple of months ago, but now it's working fine. it's the only computer I use for work and for personal stuff, and never got other problems.
27 December 2007, Paul S. writes: I've had an iBook and two Macbooks in the last 18 months. I felt with all three that I have to handle them with kid gloves. The latest Macbook Pro I had to have the superdrive replaced because it was scoring the media when I inserted it (costly problem). After having only 1 hour of battery life, lots of problems with bootcamp (I know - not supported), I finally decided to go back to a Windows-based laptop. I am much more happy with the Sony I purchased (for less money/more features). When clients ask (I'm a technical consultant) I usually steer them towards a Windows-based system for lots of different reasons. Cost, reliability, availability of software, availability of SMEs, etc. Apple certainly has the "cool" factor down.
27 December 2007, Aaron Huslage writes: Apple is one to actually redress these problems, because you actually pay good money for them. With the other brands you pretty much get what you pay for. So if there is shoddy workmanship, are bad batteries or other components, you might not ever know about them and never actually be able to get them fixed. I've had my share of problems in the past with some of my Macs, but they are always dealt with without question and with haste. Whenever I've had a problem with a different manufacturer's product that I purchased myself (with a service contract), I've never had that level of service. You really do get what you pay for. I say stick with Apple until the other companies have nearly the quality of service that they have.
27 December 2007, PhoneBoy writes: I will agree with Aaron that Apple's service is pretty good. However, they are making me cycle my battery before they will replace it. Think I just got to the wrong tech. Bastages! The problem with non-Apple laptops is Windows. I suppose I could run Linux, which I am not against, but it creates a whole different set of issues.
27 December 2007, PhoneBoy writes: After a long time on hold--either Apple's really busy or seriously understaffed--I finally reached someone who is going to send me a replacement battery.

PhoneBoy’s Week That Was 9 December 2007

PhoneBoy — Sun, 09 Dec 2007 08:01:24 +0000

This will, hopefully, be the last time in a while that this list is so long. With the changes in my responsibilities with Creative Weblogging, I should be blogging a little less and promoting a little more. Maybe I can find the energy to do a post on my S60 Blog, which I haven’t blogged on in a while.

Meanwhile, here’s this week’s lineup of posts:

Charge Your Mobile Phone From Your Backpack (From The Gadgets Weblog)
Skype Beta for Mac OS X 2.7.0.195 (From The VoIP Weblog)
TV Tuner For Your Nintendo DS (From The Gadgets Weblog)
Roaming On The Cheap In The US (From The VoIP Weblog)
Yoggie Gatekeeper Pro (From The Gadgets Weblog)
SIP, RFC4733, RFC2833, and You (From The VoIP Weblog)
Konami 12-in-1 Arcade Game (From The Gadgets Weblog)
PBX In A Flash! (From The VoIP Weblog)
Hide The Banana (From The Gadgets Weblog)
SoliCall PBXMate Reduces Background Noise On VoIP Calls (From The VoIP Weblog)
Using Your Mobile Phone To Delete Spam (From I Got Spam?!)
It’s Woot-Off Time Again (From The Gadgets Weblog)
Forget Lasik, Get Eye Power! (From The Gadgets Weblog)
Bubble Wrap Goes Everywhere! (From The Gadgets Weblog)

Clever Web Ads By Apple

PhoneBoy — Thu, 22 Nov 2007 01:55:59 +0000

Clever web marketing by Apple:

Based on this ad:

Via TechCrunch

Comments

21 November 2007, 98clouds » Clever Web Ads By Apple writes: [...] sourced here [...]
30 December 2007, Post Stupid writes: Clever Web Ads By Apple

Nokia N81 8GB: That Syncing Feeling–With iTunes on Mac, Anyway

PhoneBoy — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 08:01:03 +0000

One of the things I have oh-so appreciated as of late is the Nokia Multimedia Transfer application. It has made syncing music and media from my Mac to my Nokia Nseries and Eseries devices a good experience. It’s not nearly as fast as my iPod Shuffle, but at least it makes it just about as simple: plug and play.

Up until a few days ago, I was unable to actually use Nokia Multimedia Transfer with the Nokia N81 8GB. Oh sure, the phone still isn’t supported my Nokia Multimedia Transfer, but I was able to get a hacked profile to allow the N81 8GB to work properly. Now my sync bliss can be restored.

To get this working:

Download the profile
Quit Nokia Multimedia Transfer
Locate the Nokia Multimedia Transfer application in the Finder (usually in the Applications folder)
Right-click and select Show Package Contents
Navigate to Content/Resources/Profiles
Copy the new profile into this folder
Start Nokia Multimedia Transfer
Connect your N81 and follow the directions

If you get errors about not being able to browse the file system after setting up the phone, you may need to delete your ~/Library/Application Support/Nokia Multimedia Transfer folder.

Meanwhile, NMT is claiming that it will take roughly two and a half hours to sync four gigabytes worth of MP3s to my phone. For comparison, the 2nd generation iPod Shuffle will sync a gigabyte in just a few minutes. This is abysmal sync performance–something my employer clearly needs to address in future products.

Comments

21 November 2007, I Organize » Blog Archive » Nokia N81 8GB: That Syncing Feeling–With iTunes on Mac, Anyway writes: [...] Jeremy Horwitz wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptOne of the things I have oh-so appreciated as of late is the Nokia Multimedia Transfer application. It has made syncing music and media from my Mac to my Nokia Nseries and Eseries devices a good experience. It’s not nearly as fast as my … [...]
27 November 2007, Test Nokia N81 - MobileHub writes: [...] PhoneBoy Blog partie 1, partie 2, partie [...]
5 December 2007, The PhoneBoy Blog writes: Nokia N81 8GB: That Syncing Feeling–With iTunes on Mac, AnywayNokia N81 8GB: The “Sexy” Navi Wheel? Nokia N81 8GB: Podcasts Nokia N81 8GB: The Camera Nokia N81 8GB: The Battery In general, I like the phone–enough that I continue to use it as my primary phone. The overall functionality is quite superb,
7 December 2007, charlie writes: hooked up and transferring as we speak. a few hours to do about 7 gig of transfers. ugh. thanks for the hack!
8 December 2007, Lifeblog: links for 2007-12-08 writes: [...] Nokia N81 8GB: That Syncing Feeling–With iTunes on Mac, Anyway (tags: hacks mac nokia n81 itunes nokiamediatransfer) [...]
12 February 2008, Anthony writes: hi ...can anyone help me out here.? My adobe reader aint functioning right...it wont open, it wont budge ...so I think it needs to be eliminated and replaced ...but hell ...how can I delete it ..there aint an option in the options to delete it....tried to install a new reader but it gets knocke back because I already have the application installed but thats the one Ineed to eliminte.. any ideas.. my fone is a N81 8GB
12 February 2008, PhoneBoy writes: @anthony Preinstalled applications typically can't be deleted or replaced. A specific "upgrade" installation would have to be created by Adobe.
13 February 2008, Test Nokia N81 | MobileHub : le blog des smartnautes writes: [...] PhoneBoy Blog partie 1, partie 2, partie [...]
17 March 2008, Nokia N81 and OSX - Mac - Apple - Whirlpool Broadband Forums writes: [...] Scuba Steve writes... no tunes europe.nokia.com/A4423134www.phoneboy.com/1921/no...es-on-mac-anyway?? [...]
27 October 2008, .dideriksen: iSync and Nokia N81 writes: [...] old news already) that it's possible to sync my N81 phone and the applications I use on the Mac.phoneboy.com and Nokia both explain how to do this with the supported phones.But there seem to be a catch with [...]

Scott Bourne Facts

PhoneBoy — Thu, 11 Oct 2007 07:01:08 +0000

Unless you are a fan of MacBreak Weekly, Scott Bourne Facts won’t make any sense to you. Unless you read this explanation, perhaps.

The premise is fairly simple: to pay homage to the man who bought a metric ton of iPhones and bragged about this fact on MacBreak Weekly, a fan decided to create a site called Scott Bourne Facts. It’s modeled after a similar site done for Chuck Norris called Chuck Norris Facts.

In the Chuck Norris site, the quotes are about how Chuck Norris can basically beat you six ways from Sunday. Such lovely gems as:

Guns don’t kill people. Chuck Norris kills People.
Chuck Norris doesn’t wear a watch, HE decides what time it is.
There is no theory of evolution. Just a list of creatures Chuck Norris has allowed to live.

In the Scott Bourne site, the quotes relate to the number of iPhones Scott Bourne has, for the most part. Gems such as:

When Scott Bourne’s iPhone falls in the water, Scott’s iPhone doesn’t get wet, the water gets Scott’s iPhone.
Scott Bourne’s iPhone bill doesn’t come in a box, it comes in by a truck, driven by Steve Jobs.
Apple’s best retail location is in Scott Bourne’s living room, and it outsells all other Apple stores 20 to 1.
The only effective defense against a Chuck Norris roundhouse kick is a Scott Bourne-owned iPhone.

I actually submitted a couple of quotes to this site. Not sure what the standards are, but they got accepted and posted to the site:

Scott Bourne doesn’t dial his iPhone, he stares at it and it dials itself.
There are two types of iPhones in this world: ones owned by Scott Bourne and ones that Scott Bourne has allowed to be owned by others.

Glad to see Scott Bourne and Chuck Norris both have a sense of humor about the whole thing.

Nokia E61 versus HTC Mogul: Mac Connectivity Test

PhoneBoy — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 07:01:35 +0000

Another in my comparison series, this time when connecting the device to a Macintosh to exchange data. I’m not going to touch on the PC side of things since they are more or less tied.

Disclaimer: I work for a competitor of both HTC and Microsoft in the smartphone space. That being said, my day job currently has nothing to do with smartphones. This is my own opinion.

Since the advent of Nokia Multimedia Transfer on my Mac, I can more easily sideload content to and from my Nokia device. I can also use the file browser to just get the files I need. There’s also iSync support for many of Nokia’s S60 Third Edition website.

If for some reason, I decide to hook up my Eseries or Nseries devices into a Linux box, a couple of keypresses makes them able to copy files to and from the device. Now I can get data off my phone no matter what OS I use.

But then there’s the HTC. You plug this thing into a Mac, it does nothing. Software to sync contacts and calendar is available, but its worse. There isn’t the equivalent of “Mass Storage” mode, either. This means the only way in and out of this device is over Infrared or by pulling the MicroSD card.

In terms of calendar and contacts, I am using the native ActiveSync client on the HTC Mogul and Mail for Exchange 2.0 on my Nokia E61 for over the air sync. Both do good with the inbox, but the mail client in the HTC Mogul allows me access to my entire folder structure in addition to just the inbox. I expect that Mail for Exchange will have this and other features in upcoming versions. I will dive into the Email client in a future post.

Clear winner here is the Nokia Nseries and Eseries devices. Mac users like myself whom want to sync their phone to their computer should probably avoid Windows Mobile-powered devices unless you’re willing to pay extra for the privilege.

Comments

4 October 2007, skanery antywirusowe writes: :)
4 October 2007, Mowdolwis.Com » Nokia E61 versus HTC Mogul: Mac Connectivity Test writes: [...] wrote an interesting post today on Nokia E61 versus HTC Mogul: Mac Connectivity TestHere’s a quick [...]
4 October 2007, Nokia E61 versus HTC Mogul: Mac Connectivity Test | HTCPhoneBlog.info writes: [...] But then there’s the HTC. You plug this thing into a Mac, it does nothing. Software to sync contacts and calendar is available, but its worse. There isn’t the equivalent of “Mass Storage” mode, either. This means the only way in and out … Read More [...]
8 October 2007, Final Verdict on the HTC Mogul writes: [...] Nokia E61 Versus HTC Mogul: Mac Connectivity Test [...]
22 November 2007, HTC Mac - Dogpile Web Search writes: [...] Advantages on Sale. Sponsored by: www.NexTag.com/computers [Found on Ads by Yahoo!] 5. Nokia E61 versus HTC Mogul: Mac Connectivity Test But then theres the HTC. You plug this thing into a Mac, it does nothing. Software to sync [...]

Apple Turns Repairs Around Quickly

PhoneBoy — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 21:46:02 +0000

This is why I have no problem paying for Applecare. I request service for my MacBookon Monday, they send me a box Tuesday, I ship it back Tuesday, they fixed it and will overnight it for arrival at my house on Thursday.

Of course, it remains to be seen if they actually fix the problem. The first time, they didn’t fix the problem, the second time they did, but the problem returned a few months later. Third time’s a charm, I guess. And if they don’t fix it, I still have a couple more years left on my Applecare to bug them about it.

Comments

3 October 2007, Fieldhot.Com » Apple Turns Repairs Around Quickly writes: [...] Sadun wrote an interesting post today on Apple Turns Repairs Around QuicklyHere’s a quick [...]

Back to Tri-Computing For A Bit

PhoneBoy — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 07:01:53 +0000

While my MacBook is being sent off to Apple yet again, I have to get work done. After spending a lot of time using my PowerPC-based Mac Mini, I decided I’d go back to a system that worked really well: my Linux/Mac/Windows combo with Synergy. And you know what, it works well!

The term “iri-computing” is inspired by the term I’ve heard Ken Rutkowski say on World Tech Roundup: bi-computing. That means using both PC and Mac. Well, folks, I’m happy to say I’m tri-computing. I use Windows, Mac, and Linux.

I tried using the Mac Mini as a Synergy server. It did not work well, at all. The mouse was very jerky and jumpy over on the “client” machine. However, the Mac Mini works great as a Synergy client.

Things have changed quite a bit since I did this last. Ubuntu is nearly releasing Gutsy Gibbon–and it looks pretty good. The Mac Mini hasn’t changed much, but the work PC certainly has. It means a small amount of reconfiguring of Synergy, but that’s par for the course.

Now I’ve got the best of all worlds: Linux for general web functions (works good, even on older hardware like this IBM T23 laptop), Mac for multimedia/iTunes, and Windows for the work stuff. And I get to dig into Gutsy Gibbon a little more while I’m at it. Not a bad way to work.

Comments

3 October 2007, Mowdolwis.Com » Back to Tri-Computing For A Bit writes: [...] Matus wrote an interesting post today on Back to Tri-Computing For A BitHere’s a quick [...]

Computers Revolting Against Me

PhoneBoy — Tue, 02 Oct 2007 07:27:35 +0000

I spent a lot of the day dealing with computers and mobile phones. I do that every day, but today was different: things were in various states of sickness and needed repair.

My MacBook started developing that damn screen flicker again. Swapped the RAM and the hard drive for the original components. For good measure, I loaded a stock Mac OS X on the original hard drive. Of course the problem persists. Apple is dispatching me a box so I can ship it back to them. Meanwhile, I’ll use this underpowered PPC-based Mac Mini and hope Apple is quick at fixing my beloved MacBook.

Also, my iTunes library developed a problem where some entries that I thought I had deleted really weren’t. The only time the entries would show is via a SmartPlaylist. And because the items only appeared in a SmartPlaylist, I could not delete the entries! This meant only one thing: rebuilding the iTunes database.

Meanwhile, my Nokia E61 decided to continually crash over and over, even after a power cycle. After checking to see if there were any new firmware releases for this venerable handset, I did the format and re-install. Gave the handset a new lease on life. Installed a few less apps on it this time.

While I was checking my E61, I figured I’d pop the N95 onto Nokia Software Updater to see if there’s new firmware for that badboy. Sure enough, there is. It’s internal firmware at this point and it seems to have new and exciting stuff in it. In the interest of not upsetting the wrong people, I won’t say anything more than that except that this firmware occasionally causes the N95 to lock to the point where I need to pull the battery. Hey, it’s beta.

Obviously, all this mucking about has halted any real work getting done. sigh

Comments

2 October 2007, dziny writes: Funny, but I have similar experience. Usually all works as it should, I don't have to touch anything in my computer setup for days. And then comes a day when simultaneously my phone goes on strike, few minutes later one of my routers locks up and on top of everything the asterisk running on my server crashes. Bad things come in bunches....
2 October 2007, Todknow.Com » Computers Revolting Against Me writes: [...] wrote an interesting post today on Computers Revolting Against MeHere’s a quick [...]
3 October 2007, Back to Tri-Computing For A Bit writes: [...] my MacBook is being sent off to Apple yet again, I have to get work done. After spending a lot of time using my PowerPC-based Mac Mini, I decided [...]
3 October 2007, The PhoneBoy Blog writes: Whilemy MacBook is being sent off to Apple yet again, I have to get work done. After spending a lot of time using my PowerPC-based Mac Mini, I decided I’d go back to a system that worked really well: my Linux/Mac/Windows combo with Synergy. And you know what, it works well!

The PhoneBoy Blog » mac

Teaching an old iBook New Tricks the Ubuntu Way

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