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JimmyC
Screen preference in the Mac OS X:
To change your screen resolution. Launch the System Preferences application or choose System Preferences from the apple menu in the upper left hand corner.
Then choose Displays:
Best way is to detect displays - it should give you the optimal resolution for your monitor. This is also useful if you have two monitors connected. You can pick any resolution that works for you and your eyes. You may also want to use the displays manual controls to change the width and hight.
I’m looking to use a new Maxitor USB2.0 hard drive I aquired to create a Mac OS X boot drive for emergency and diagnostics.  Apparently Apple made it so you couldn’t boot from USB drives, only Firewire. I’m not sure if I can find a small firewire drive, that would be the last resort but there is stuff out there on making this work. When you go into Disk Utility it simply won’t let you format the drive as bootable.  So my first idea was to use my Data Rescue II application to clone it.  After 24 hours of copying,  the clone isn’t getting recognized.  I’m going to try one more time to clone using SuperDuper! instead.  If that doesn’t work its probably time to get a firewire drive or find a way to make my old iPod a bootable drive.  Here is more info from This Post on MacOSX Hints: Â
- USB 1.1 and 2.0 ports/drives have always booted OS 9, on any Mac that can boot into OS 9.
- Macs up through the Powerbook G4 1.33 GHz, and at least some desktops of the same vintage, and maybe a few other pre-Intel PPC Macs (not sure why not all the pre-Intel PPC Macs), will boot from USB 1.1 and 2.0 ports/drives into OS 10.4.x (at least 10.4.6 and above–I didn’t try earlier versions)–NOT OS 10.3.9 or earlier. Older Macs may need their firmware updated to the last version available for that Mac model, and not all USB drives might boot. Some USB drives will appear in Startup Manager (what you get when you hold down the Option key at startup), and others won’t; when they don’t, reset the Mac’s PRAM, NVRAM, and Open Firmware (see my steps above), and that may allow some of them to appear in Startup Manager.
“I found out that 10.4.x will boot from USB today, by surprise, when I had a USB drive in a 3.5″ MacAlly drive enclosure, connected to an iMac G3 slot-loading, 350 MHz, since this model doesn’t have Firewire ports, whose internal drive didn’t yet have an OS on it; I had booted the Mac from an OS 9.1 CD to set its clock, then I restarted the Mac, and ejected the CD, and to my surprise, the Mac then saw my USB drive’s OS 10.4.8 volume, and booted from it. It was slow, but not impossibly slow. It also appeared in this Mac’s Startup Manager, and I could select it in the OS 10.4.8 Startup Disk prefpane. However, as I expected, I couldn’t select the drive’s OS 10.3.9 volume in Startup Disk–I just got a system beep when I clicked the Restart button–and when I selected the OS 10.3.9 volume in Startup Manager, it started to boot, showing the Apple logo on a white background, and the spinning activity indicator, but after about a minute, the Apple changed to a slashed circle.”"I do remember reading that Apple never said it wasn’t possible to boot OS X from USB ports–they said it was a decision they made to prevent it, because OS X booted and ran so slowly from USB. Some people have said it’s a limitation of the firmware, or Open Firmware, but that doesn’t appear to be the case, unless it’s a few Mac models just prior to the Intel-based Macs that can’t boot 10.4.x from USB, as illustrated by some user examples above, unless there was some other issue preventing them.”Â
UPDATE - I got this to work for a while. It isn’t consistently recognizing the drive though on startup like a FireWire drive. Best bet - get a portable Firewire drive instead.
I ran the Mac Pro SMC Firmware Update 1.1 on my Mac Pro today. Wow - on restart is turned the fans on super high - I really thought the damn thing was going to catch on fire.
New update to iLife and iWork out this week as well. Security update 2007-007 for Intel.
October Mac OS-X update give new Parental Controls - can’t wait.
Update - did a web search - MacFixIt website shows that this was an update to the way Mac OS X uses the fans to cool the CPU. Apparently it will rev the fans every time it startup up or even wakes up.
I can’t stand it. I’m getting a Mac Pro. I have a Compaq Presario Intel Win XP box I’ve been running for over 5 years and my trusty PowerBook G4 1Ghz. It just takes too long to process the RAW photo’s from my Nikon D200 (10MP) on the powerbook and if I’m going to upgrade my Win XP box I might as well run it on an Intel Mac now that I can. It also takes too long to process movies even in iMovie. I like my transitions and titles, pan and scan. Every time I change something it renders for a good 5 minutes. Sure iMovie is smart enough to do that in the background but on a Quad Core Intel box it will tear through this stuff. No I don’t need the 8-Core. I’m researching a Mac Pro to run Final Cut Express, Aperture, Adobe Dreamweaver and Flash. I’ll upgrade FC Express and the Adobe Web suite and buy a new copy of Aperature.
I spoke with a Mac guy at the Apple store and he confirmed that the processor speed isn’t the challenge for me. I’m not doing heavy engineering or gaming that might require intense calculations. So figure a Two 2.66GHz Dual-Core Intel Xeon (that’s 4 2.66 GHz processors!). $2,499.00
Upgrading the memory both Ram and HD is the key. I have looked into it and I think getting the RAM from Apple is probably the best bet. When they configure the box they will fill all of the memory slots so getting 1GB will fill 2 slots with 512MB RAM, 2GB will fill 4 slots. I have also heard the Apple memory is built to be cool in a box that doesn’t have many fans. So figure a $699 upgrade to 4 x 1GB 667MHz DDR2 fully buffered ECC RAM in 4 of the FB-DIMM slots.
Then I take the standard Hard Drive in Bay 1 – 250GB 7200-rpm Serial ATA 3Gb/s. The upgrade to a 750GB drive is $299, for that price I can get two 500GB drives and create one RAID 0 volume. That’s right – these drives are now selling for as low as $0.23/MB! This type of RAID, also referred to as a striped array, reads and writes data to and from all the drives at the same time, which can really speed things up. In fact Macworld tests show that this gives more critical applications almost as much throughput as moving to the 3.0MHz CPU costing hundreds more. Add the RAM upgrade and my photo and movie editing should fly. Less waiting, more creating.
The Apple rep also suggested upgrading the Graphics card to the ATI Radeon X1900 XT 512MB (2 x dual-link DVI) for $249. This doubles the onboard RAM and the ability to support two 30†HD Displays. Not that I’ll ever afford such eye candy. In fact I will probably have to keep my SyncMaster 20†for now. But when we build the home theater – POW! Another reason to upgrade is that it uses a special double-wide slot designed to accommodate its on-board fan and vent. If I got the standard Nvidia GeForce 7300 GT it would be in this slot and really a throw away if I ever needed to upgrade – unless I wanted to drive more then two monitors. Doubt it. Having said all of this there was a comparison done by Christoph Vonrhein for Final Cut Pro. Based on this review and the kind of work I’ll be doing it probably won’t make much of a difference and I should save the $249 upgrading later if I need to.
In fact, I should put the $249 towards AppleCare to protect the purchase and provide onsite support for 3 years. Not that I expect problems but it did help with my PowerBook for a power supply and great tech support. In fact, if I purchase a monitor with it that will be covered too. And I’ll include an Airport Extreme card with Bluetooth.
Grand Total $3,526.00
With a 24†HD Flat Panel Monitor $4,425
Add the two hard drives (2 x 500GB @ $125 each) $4,675
Add Aperture ($299) and an upgrade to Final Cut Express ($99) $5,073
Tax at 7% ( $355) $5,428.11
Add Windows Vista to run my old stuff (or I could just install my old copy of Windows XP). $99 to $150 more.
Okay, maybe I’m not. For a while.
Alternatives:
Other World Computing for the memory and Newegg.com for the drives. I have purchased drives and batteries for my power book from them before. Should be able to get the 1GB RAM model and then purchase 4GB RAM from these guys for $430.
For the CPU - mail order saves tax and shipping less then $70: Small Dog, Power Max ($200 rebate with AppleCare, $75 with RAM), MacConnection ($150 rebate), MacMall ($150 Rebate, free printer, bundles).
Marc Fearby’s Home Page » Blog Archive » My kingdom for a perfect operating system
I cannot argue with his post in most respects - esp Windows XP, Vista, etc. And sure Mac OS X isn’t perfect. Also - what I assume he means by finder’s lack of a address bar is the “path” in mac speak - if you “right click” or ctrl-click on the top you can customize finder windows to show things like delete and “path” buttons - there you can see where you are. It does require a mouse move and click though.
I have to give it to him on the “folder” merge thing and quite frankly the “where am I” issue. My daughter once completely lost her entire documents folder when she copied the one in the root hard drive over her personal documents folder. It asked her but she didn’t realize what she was doing. It broke her heart - years of homework gone. Not that she needed it and heck she was only 10 but she loves her homework (God bless her). XP’s approach is a little more safe, and Apple is arrogant about stupidity - which can be frustrating.
So, I have to agree with a few of his points but even the well thought out reasons outlined in “Top 10 Reasons Apple Dock…” referenced don’t mention why it is a great tool as well. Its easy to look for bad…as I tell my kids, look for good and you are always going to find happiness. Then again, you may also never improve the world. I won’t be at the WWDC so I won’t see Leopard until this fall. The fact is, Windows tried to do everything in that start menu. They even put it on the Windows CE (whatever the hand held OS is) screen. Dinky little screen with a menu shooting up and over to find what you want - when Palm put the most important things right there in front of you. That to me is what the Doc is all about. They add a little to other areas where it makes sense too. Widgets, Expose, and the new Spaces is unique, Spotlight continues to get better, perhaps they will add these features into Finder; or find an alternative. Will that be good enough? If you try to do too much in the doc you will re-create all these other tools and it will become a fat pig. And improving Finder with an address bar to let you know where you are might help - its the way spotlight works now - when you hover over a found item it give it to you.
I’ll point you Mac users to this fantastic page - Dan Rodney’s Mac OS X quick reference guide. It helps you navigate and work OS X.
Apple makes him cry writes Momus of Wired Magazine today. He is passionate about his OS X computer as am I and so many others. He is also passionate about the culture of excellence and human energy Jobs and Apple create. While I’m not as politically aligned as Momus is with Jobs, I do think they have a great culture. Its why I prefer to buy a Mac when my company gives me a windows PC Its why I watched all two hours of Jobs keynote on my Mac via Quicktime. Its also why the stock I’ve purchased has rewarded me and so many others that believed in the company. It is different. Â
When you shoot for average you will never do better then average. Â
The iFelix unofficial Airport Extreme and Express Printer Compatibility List
available.
I love geeks like this guy - they help the world.
Apple has a general process here
The Macworld solution complete with a link to Gimp-Print
Also - check here: HP All In One’s on the HP Website It basically says NO
HP wants to sell you a network printer which is essentially a printer with an Airport printserver built in. The real question is do you need an all-in-one? If you want an all-in-one you wouldn’t want to put in on the network anyway. Putting any printer on a printserver (which is what an Airport is) will only get you basic shared printing. To fax, scan or otherwise control the printer from your desktop in Windows or Mac it has to be plugged in a USB port on the computer. Its not a Mac thing, its a network vs. USB thing.
If you are looking to scan stuff, then get a Canon CanoScan LiDE 25 - they are less then $50.00 and plug it in your mac when you want to scan photos or a document to fax or email as a .pdf which the mac supports native, no Adobe Acrobat required. If you just want a network printer you should be able to find a printer that works on the AirPort (or any printserver for that matter) well below $150.
A friend made the mistake of saying ” I’ve never been an Apple fan” and you know what a prick I can be…. 
Well - he works for a J2EE comapany so I pointed out:
J2EE - know that world well, the company I just left (Financial Fusion - now blended into Sybase) was a J2EE shop. Beans and all that. To answer your question…Your allegiance, It should align with Unix based technology - like Linux and ……. Mac OS X. Java guys love the mac, get on the bandwagon. Mac OS X Developer Page
OK, here is my reasoning (I tend to rant about this stuff). When I left Docucorp to try and be a consultant a few years ago I had to buy a laptop - I picked a Mac Powerbook because I wanted something I didn’t have to worry about. like a toaster - it just needs to work. What I found was that it wasn’t easy switching - getting my stuff over but it was more stable and had no problems with drivers, plug-ins, etc - stuff just worked when I plugged it in. When an application crashed - only that application crashed, not the whole mac. And people were wowed when I could walk into any board-room and plug in any projector for example and it worked. I got MS Office for OS X and it is a cooler application then the XP version. When I went to Sybase there were enough geeks in IT that knew the mac and they let me put my Thinkpad on the shelf and use my Powerbook. Heck - I was selling thin client Web Banking - didn’t matter. And it worked better. Now I only use it at home - Stephanie is converted and the kids learned on it - they now know both, OS doesn’t matter to them.
The next release of Windows may be better - it certainly will be more Linux like, and integrated into the web. And the new macs run on Intel chips so I expect some geeks will start hacking together a hybrid box. But that won’t work because the reason Mac OS X is easy is that its tied to the hardware - Apple makes both so you are buying an appliance not an operating system.
Of course the company I work for today, Digital Insight, is an XP shop - all our servers run it too - our websites too! So I’m stuck - though they have just put in Citrix and I can web-into my email and some applications on my Mac. I’m just into simple, smart technology - not bloated, unstable, virus infected proprietary stuff. My mac keeps itself up-to-date and my Mom can even figure it out with her iMac while I’m constantly reinstalling stuff on my pop’s xp laptop. And well, look at the iPod - like the Blackberry - its a smart simple tool, why would anyone need a “start” menu on their phone or mp3 player. And on the business side: I bought the same amount of stock in both companies three years ago, MSFT is the same, AAPL is up 500%.
Macworld: Review: Dual-Layer 16X Burners
OK, this is an old article. I am, and have been burning a dvd in my G4 for the past 7 hours. I have to get an external DVD burner. Anyone know much about these?
From Small Dog…
Occasionally, user permissions associated with files or applications are set incorrectly. I find this happens after installing software or if I have Widgets installed. Each Mac comes with an application called Disk Utility, which is usually found in the Utilities folder in the Applications folder. Launch Disk Utility, click Verify or Repair Permissions, and you are all set.
Next - do a full backup and consider an archive (copy to an other drive or DVD/CDR) of stuff you don’t need - perhaps do a search on files not accessed since 1/1/2005 or archive installation programs. This clears space and allows you to do more with what you have.
Mac OS X performs background maintenance tasks at certain times if the computer is not in sleep mode. (3:15 and 5:30AM) If your computer is shut down or in sleep at the designated times, the maintenance does not occur. In that case, you may want or need to run these manually.
Mac OS X: How to force background maintenance tasks (logs and temporary items)
How to force maintenance tasks:
You have two options: using a third-party application or using Terminal.
Use a third-party application
Some third-party applications may allow you to run these tasks whenever you wish. Three examples include:
* Macaroni by Thomas Harrington
* Mac Janitor by Brian R. Hill
* CronMaster by Dan Klein
* weRclean by Parental Advisory
You can search for these or other solutions at VersionTracker (http://www.versiontracker.com/).
Advanced: Use the Terminal
1. Open Terminal (/Applications/Utilities).
2. Type: sudo sh /etc/daily
Optionally, for Mac OS X 10.2 or later, you can use: sudo periodic daily
Tip: Typing “daily” runs tasks normally scheduled for a daily interval. Type “monthly” or “weekly” in place of “daily” to runs tasks scheduled for those intervals. Weekly tasks usually require a longer time to run than others.
3. Press Return.
4. Enter your Admin password when prompted, then press Return.
5. Quit Terminal when the task is complete.
