Hack to the Future
I recently put together a “Hackintosh”, i.e. Mac OS X installed on non-Apple hardware. Along the way, I learned a few things, and I’d like to pass along my observations.
First off, this type of project is not for the technically-challenged. Regular readers of this blog are probably not in that category, so let’s move on.
Selection of the right hardware is the first step in making this type of project a success. There are several websites that list compatible hardware. I chose an Asus 1005HA, mostly because I already had one, but also because I liked the idea of having a small Apple-powered netbook, aka an EeeMac. I learned that I could expect everything to work on this netbook, except for ethernet and wireless internet… making it essentially useless in this day and age. However, if I changed out the WLAN card for a Dell 1510, I could expect wireless LAN to work; if I bought a USB ethernet dongle, I could have an ethernet connection.
I ordered a Dell WLAN card from Hong Kong for $25 CDN. Then I disassembled the netbook using instructions found in a YouTube video, and installed the card. Voilà, wireless internet.
Installing Mac OS X itself was quite an involved process. There are myriads of websites and forums out there with a variety of methods explaining how to do the installation. And that is in itself a problem. There is just so much conflicting advice, or outdated advice, that it takes some time just to wade through it all. I ended up doing the installation of Snow Leopard 10.6.0 several times, encountering a few kernel panics along the way. After a couple of full evenings, I had my OS installed. Then I decided I wanted to dual-boot with Windows XP, and the whole cycle started again. But finally I had the Windows bootloader able to boot either OS.
Once Mac OS X was running on my EeeMac, I discovered a few little quirks. Some of you may call these major annoyances. For instance, the volume-up and volume-down keys didn’t work, so I had to use the icon in the menu bar. Sound didn’t work, so I had to chase down a .kext for that. The trackpad didn’t work properly, so I tried several different .kext files for that; eventually it worked okay, but I was unable to tap on it to make a mouse-click. Then the internal mic wouldn’t work properly, or had a very low level, so I had to resort to using an external mic. The brightness keys didn’t work, so I had to install an app called Spark to redefine the keys. And so on.
Next, I tried connecting an external 19-inch monitor. This was wonderful… until I selected the Mirror option. Suddenly I had massive video corruption on both monitors, until I unplugged the external one. How to disable that mirroring, when you don’t get a System Preference for this until you plug in the monitor, and then as soon as you do plug it in, you can’t see what you are doing? Eventually I found a command-line utility that would toggle the Mirror option.
At the end of the day, I have a functioning EeeMac with a 10-inch screen that runs Snow Leopard 10.6.1 quite well. But, I cannot upgrade to 10.6.2 or I’ll have a kernel panic. Getting around this involves using a kernel from an older version, or using a patched kernel, and even then ethere are problems with Bluetooth. More complication. I’m stuck with a rather fragile installation of Mac OS X. I have to be careful to never let Software Update do it’s thing, or I’m pooched.
At this point, my EeeMac functions more or less as it should. But it’s not a Mac. The hardware is not as high quality as Apple’s. Some keys are not in familiar places. The screen resolution is poor: 1024 x 600. And the keyboard doesn’t have that nice feel that Mac notebooks have. On the other hand, my Hackintosh has cost me only $300 CDN. You can’t get a Mac for that price, not even an old used one. And my netbook, though Steve Jobs may call it crappy, has more power and speed that my five-year-old G4 Powerbook. The performance that Apple sold for $3,000 CDN just five years ago now can be bought for ten percent of that price from Asus.
I consider my experiment a success, as it provided a full month of entertainment. But I’ve decided to sell my netbook and have picked up a 13-inch MacBook Pro from the Apple refurb store. Better-quality hardware, and everything will just work.
I’ve prepared this note on an Archos 5 Internet Tablet running Android 1.6, with text input by an iGo Slim Bluetooth Keyboard. That will be the topic of my next blog entry.
Questions? Comments?
iPhone Apps I actually use – Part 1
Although a recent convert to the iPhone, I bought the very first version of the iPod Touch just days after it’s release back in September, 2007. And, like most people, I started adding Apps to the thing minutes after the App Store’s debut in iTunes, July 2008. Since then I’ve run the gamut of having hundreds of stupid Apps for everything from farting to making annoying sounds, to keeping my collection pared down to essential services with a few fun distractions. Aside from many of the default Apple Apps, I reserve space on my iPhone main screen for a few of my favourite Apps that see daily use. [Warning: These iTunes Links will want to launch iTunes, if you don't what that to happen... don't click]
My iPhone home screen with essential Apps. Clockwise: BigStopWatch; GPS Drive; BBC Reader; Vehical; GorillaCam; Spending.
BigStopWatch by Yuki Yasoshima Price: FREE [iTunes link]
Just like the name says, it’s a big stopwatch, but it works, looks cool and is free. I like my eggs boiled for 7 min. 15 sec. PRECISELY!
MotionX GPS Drive by MotionX Price: 99¢ [iTunes link]
This is a great little GPS App with turn-by-turn navigation sold on a subscription basis – the 99¢ price gets you the first month of turn-by-turn, thereafter it’s $2.99 per month or $24.99 per year through in-App purchase. I use a Griffin Road Trip FM transmitter to hold the iPhone at eye level and play tunes through my truck’s old-school FM radio. By the way, GPS Drive includes iPod controls and the turn-by-turn voice speaks over the music… way cool! Funny thing, even though I’ve lived in my home city for ages (and I thought I knew all the best A-to-B routes), GPS Drive is teaching me more efficient ways to get around.
BBCReader with Mobile Feed by New Way To See News Price: FREE
I find the BBC news website to be a good, relatively unbiased source of world news. This BBC Reader App conveniently displays all the day’s headlines and a quick link to the article on the BBC News site. Still, I wish BBC would make an App for this.
VehiCal by Red Cube Canada Price: FREE [iTunes Link]
If you have a car and need to track expenses, this is a good (and free) way to do it. Just enough features to be useful, not so many features as to be daunting.
Gorillacam by Joby Price: FREE [iTunes Link]
Better than the Apple iPhone camera software, Gorillacam has a full set of great features including a self-timer, anti-shake function, grid and bubble level. That little iPhone tripod they plug on the website looks pretty cool too!
ExpenseTracker Spending by AppCheer Price $2.99 [iTunes Link]
Last but not least is another boring, yet essential App for tracking daily expenses. Spending is user-configurable, easy to navigate and offers a variety of simple analysis and export options. There’s a less robust LITE version for free.
Macword Expo is coming!
I can vividly remember my first visit to Macworld Expo back in January 1991. The show was lively and crowded, but what really stood out in my memory was being in the heart of San Francisco on the eve of the first Gulf War. I was staying at the St. Francis hotel, right on Union Square and witnessed a spontaneous gathering of more then 10,000 peace activists outside my front door.
I attended Macworld Expo annually (with a few exceptions) right up the 2008 show at the Moscone Center. Macworld was more than just an Apple corporate love-in for me – it was a chance to reconnect with the Mac community and see the latest and greatest 3rd party applications and accessories.
After the 2009 announcement that Apple would no longer participate in this annual event, I wondered about the future and feasibility of continuing. Rumours were rampant that Apple would exhibit at the massive 2010 Consumer Electronics Show hosted in Las Vegas, but that didn’t come to pass. And sadly, Apple now has enough media pull to host it’s own “events” such as the recent iPad announcement and be ensured of ample press.
So, this year Macworld Expo has returned to its roots as a self-directed gathering of the Mac faithful. The first big change is the date of the Expo, the show now runs Feb. 9th to 13th rather than the first week of January and includes a Saturday for those stuck in offices throughout the week. The focus of the show has been shifted from Apple corporate to the Apple ecosystem of software and hardware developers. If you’re going to go, expect to see some cool gadgets and innovative software products. The press releases I’ve received so far suggest some very cool product announcements. Likewise, the simultaneous user conference will offer the usual wide array of opportunities to learn something new.
Sadly, scheduling conflicts and tight budgets mean that I won’t be attending this year, but hopefully the new show format will find its legs and will carry Macworld Expo through to 2011. If any readers are going, be sure to contact me if you’re interested in doing a write up or posting some images. Likewise, if anyone is planning to go and would like some complimentary hall passes, check out this offer on the KenexLive blog.
Cheap Media Server – Part II
Media Server setup (before tidying) from L to R: Quad 44 Preamp; Quad 405 Amp; Magnum Dynalab FT-11 Tuner; a couple of media drives; and the $200 Mac Mini (with an old Lacie DVD drive on top). I'll take a better picture once everything's squared away.
My buddy swung by Friday night with the 1.6ghz Mac Mini, and we plugged it into the Samsung 32″ LCD TV. While the TV is capable of HD 720p resolution, I wasn’t sure what the Mac Mini’s video card would do when we plugged it in. I was pleasantly surprised to see that the Mac Mini immediately adjusted the picture to 1360 x 768, just slightly over HD 720p resolution. The picture seemed a bit stretched, maybe 2%, but still perfectly watchable. With the video capability of the Mac Mini assured, I set to work beefing up the RAM and hard drive capacity of my new media server. I had purchased 2 x 1gb PC-5300 sticks to replace the 2 x 256mb stock RAM for just under $100. For capacity, I had a slightly used 320gb 7,200 RPM Samsung laptop drive left over from another upgrade project. The Mac Mini’s standard stereo mini audio out patched nicely into my vintage Quad 44 Pre-Amp/Quad 405 Amp, which runs into Canadian-made Totem bookshelf speakers. When installed, the Mac Mini would sit nicely on top of my Magnum Dynalab FT-11 analog FM tuner. The tuner’s cool metal case would act as a heat sink, drawing excess heat from the Mini.
If you’ve ever taken a Mac Mini apart, you’ll know that it’s a bit of a daunting task – daunting, but not impossible thanks to the folks at ifixit.com. This excellent online resource has teardown and part replacement guides for most Mac models, including my particular Mac Mini. Within an hour or so, I’d managed to swap both the RAM and the hard disk and vacuum all the baby dust bunnies lurking within the compact frame of the Mini. While I was in there, I swapped the PRAM battery as well since taking these Mini’s apart is not something you want to do often. I followed the Mac surgery with a clean install of Snow Leopard along with all the requisite updates and the world’s favourite open source media player, VLC (VideoLan Controller) v1.0.5. VLC is a robust, multi-platform viewer for all forms of digital media including virtually any video format, and it’s FREE. Within minutes I had the Mini’s DVI video out plugged into the VGA computer input on the back of the Samsung TV and was looking at a shiny new Mac OS X 10.6.2 desktop.
I then fired up Apple Remote Desktop on my MacBook Pro and established control of the Mini, as it lacked both a keyboard and a mouse (by intention). You can also use Snow Leopard’s screen sharing feature to control another Mac, but because I’ve always used ARD for my work, I chose to stick with the pro option. However, while ARD is great for doing major work on the controlled machine, it’s a bit awkward for simply controlling the media player. I could use a Apple IR Remote to control the media player, but had planned to use an old wireless Mighty Mouse for navigating menus. Instead, I happened upon an iPhone application called TouchMouse (from Logitech). This free controller simulates a track pad with multi-button clicks and is a breeze to use (you do need to install the free server software on the computer you want to control). Besides the Mac OS, TouchMouse Server is available for Windows XP, Vista or Windows 7. So, with everything running and controllable, it was time to load some media…
Most of my video media lives on a Samsung 500gb 7,200 RPM drive in a USB -powered enclosure that plugs into one of the Mac Mini’s 4 USB ports – that was easy. My music collection, however, is another story. In addition to building a sizeable collection of music purchased from the iTunes store, I’ve been working on RIPping my huge record and CD collection to Apple’s AAC format. Currently, my iTunes collection is nearing 75,000 tracks and changes daily as I RIP more CDs. This makes it impractical to host the collection on the Mac Mini which is still a bit underpowered for wrangling such a large collection. So, instead I thought I would share the entire library wirelessly with the Mini over the house 802.11g wireless network. However, when I tried to load the main iTunes library on the Mac Mini I was stymied by a spinning beach ball. The XML file was simply too large to load efficiently over the wireless network. Instead, I made a smart list in the main iTunes library (on the MacBook Pro) consisting of music added to the collection in the last 3 months, and shared that with the Mini. As this consisted of only a few thousand tracks, it loaded effortlessly.
So, for around $300 ($200 for the Mac Mini, $100 for RAM), I now have a functioning and cost-effective media server. Besides watching video with VLC and listening to iTunes, I also like to have the iTunes visualizer running on the big screen. Additionally, because the media server is a full-featured Mac computer, I can also browse the web and watch online video on the big screen. I admit I was lucky in getting a used Mac Mini for a good price, but even if you’re a Windows guy and want to build a Media PC, you don’t have to spend a lot of money. Here’s a good Tech Blog on the subject that I found on ZDnet.
I’m not sure why anyone would use a proprietary media server when you can instead connect a old Mac or PC to your TV and get far more functionality for about the same money, or less…
Weekend Project – Cheap Media Server
Having spent the last 4 years living a semi-nomadic life in Beijing, my home theatre setup consisted of my MacBook Pro plugged into an LG 24″ HD monitor and a cheap pair of Samsung desktop computer speakers. In all, my “entertainment centre” set me back about $250 CDN, exclusive of the laptop, of course. This was adequate for watching the cheap and plentiful Russian R5 DVD copies of Hollywood blockbusters, but I wanted something more on my return to Canada.
After buying a 32″ Samsung LCD TV (with HDMI and PC VGA inputs) at Costco, I decided against buying a DVD player mainly due to the decline in the DVD rental/purchase market. Like many people, most of my video media was digital in the form of Quicktime, WMV, MKV and AVI files. I considered the Western Digital WDTV box which would play AVI and MKV files on a USB hard drive on the TV through an HDMI cable, but the lack of support for Quicktime and WMV files (which surprised me) and the awkwardly pedestrian on-screen interface made this a bad choice. Likewise, Apple TV was struck from my list. Besides the premium price, this device is limited to Quicktime only. What I really wanted was a second Mac to be connected to the TV through the PC input. This would enable me to use the open source VLC player to watch whatever I want.
I had, however, decided that this would be too expensive… until my buddy called me with the offer of a lovingly used Mac Mini. This $200 PC would be more than adequate for downloading and viewing media on my new Samsung TV. With an Intel 1.66 ghz processor, a 60gb hard disk and 512 mb RAM, it is a tad underpowered, but after a bit of an upgrade would be more than adequate for viewing and downloading video media. The fact that the internal DVD drive would double as a DVD player to boot is a bonus!
My project for the weekend is to replace the 512mb RAM with two 1gb sticks and drop in a spare 320gb 7200RPM SATA drive I’ve got kicking around, then plumb this little media server into my odd mix of retro-analogue sound gear and my new TV.
Tune in Monday for the blow-by-blow with pictures…
Critics missing the iPoint!
Q: What levitates, travels through time and does the dishes?
A: the iPad, as envisioned by tech pundits…
Come on people – nothing can live up to the accumulated hype that preceded yesterday’s launch of Apple’s new device, the iPad. And, remember the source of the hype. Apple has said absolutely nothing to lead people down the path that has been so enthusiastically adorned by the fertile imaginations of gadget bloggers and tech pundits worldwide. I can’t believe how Apple gets punished for the hype created by others. The fact remains that on Tuesday (one day before the launch), the Amazon Kindle DX was the best ebook reader in the world… and they were selling well… Click this link and take a good, long look at the specs of the Kindle DX, then look at the price… TEN BUCKS less than the iPad. Just on the basis of being an eBook reader alone, the iPad is a breakthrough device – remarkable in every way. No, the iPad cannot travel through time, nor can it levitate… but Apple never claimed it would.
There’s no question that Apple has a long road of market development ahead of them in the world of tablet computing, but they’ve done it before. The first 5gb iPod and the initial launch of the iTunes store were given a lukewarm reception back in 2003, then went on to redefine the music industry. We’ve just barely seen the thin edge of the tablet computer wedge. The pundits should take a chill pill and wait until the thing is actually released (and they’ve had a chance to TOUCH one) before they shit all over it. The behaviour of these iPad critics is akin to a virgin criticizing sex because it just doesn’t seem to make sense. Once they actually try it, it’s a different story.
As for software there’s already an active developer community (for iPhone) and more than 100,000 apps that will run on the iPad immediately. The release of this thing will trigger a new rush of iPad specific apps. Just the fact that you can actually do work on it (iWork) and transfer photos from your digital camera means that this will be the only device a travelling geek will need to pack. Battery life looks outstanding for a device of this type… and who cares if it doesn’t have a camera, I have too many cameras already.
There never will be a single device that will please everyone, and trying to hold each new Apple product under that lens is unrealistic. Let’s wait until the iPad actually comes to market and see how the publishing and developer community reacts, then make an informed decision. In the meantime, if the iPad really piques your interest go to Apple’s website and watch the keynote for yourself. After 90 minutes, you’ll have just as much information as all the pundits and critics!
Laziest Blogger EVER!
Well, I’m getting a bit better… now I manage to update my blog monthly. By now I have no illusions, and likely no readers either! I can’t help it, I make my living in print, and therefor I’m trying to focus my efforts on work for print media. Anyways, here’s a couple of recent articles from Print Action. The November article is about iPhone apps for the graphic arts – which is a bit ironic considering a few months back I wrote about how the iPhone threatens the graphic arts. My December article started out as a short treatise on the current state of the font business, but quickly grew into an article of more than 15,000 words. The final published version of “Four Conversations on Font (d)Evolution” ended up clocking in at about 5,000 words, so it’s manageable. Give it a read and let me know what you think.
Print 09 – A Trade Show for a Sluggish Industry
Seems the only time I update my blog is when I upload another magazine article, I guess that makes me a bad blogger. You can find my most recent article about my travels to Chicago’s Print 09 graphic arts trade-show this past September from the 11th through the 16th. For an industry struggling to redefine it’s niche in an increasingly digital world, trade-shows are an important element in bringing new ideas to market. Unfortunately the additional pressure of a sluggish economy didn’t help Print 09 (actually rebranded as MyPrint) break any attendance records. You can read all about it here.
Magazine Articles Updated
Howdy strangers… whew, talk about time-lapse blogging. One day I’m writing feverishly, then next time I look 5 months have passed. Well, though I’ve not been blogging, I have been busy. You can find my last 5 magazine articles posted to the Magazine Articles Page. Here’s a brief rundown…
March 2009 – Any Portal In A Storm: In a bid to keep their presses rolling, many printers are looking to on-line storefront applications to gain new customers and improve their bottom Line. This article discusses the various Web-2-Print ideologies and summarizes a few of the many services available.
April 2009 – Inkjet and Commercial Print: Can the same technology used to print your kid’s soccer team schedule on your cheap little desktop printer actually compete with legacy offset presses?
May 2009 – Getting Real In The Virtual World: With Intel processors and robust virtualization software, Macs are becoming the OS polyglot.
June 2009 – China Print 2009: As the first major graphic arts trade show of Depression 2.0, many were looking to this event to define the future of industry specific gathering.
July 2009 – The iFuture of Apple and Print: As mobile devices such as the iPhone and netbooks offer digital access on the go to books, magazines and newspapers – what is happening to print?
Hopefully, this time I can really keep my head above water and get back into posting blog pages regularly.
Best waste of time… EVER!
Needless to say I was thrilled to locate my pickup truck in the satellite photo of Burning Man 2005!
I’ve always been intrigued with maps and you could generally find an atlas or two on my coffee table back when I actually had a home (yes, I am homeless now, but in a good way). I discovered Google Earth way back in 2005 while searching for some kind of software atlas to replace my massive map books. I’d like to say I immediately recognized the potential of Google Earth, but I’d be lying. Suffice it to say that the realization was gradual, building over the subsequent weeks as I found myself spending increasing amounts of time scanning the surface of the earth.
Like everyone, I started with the basics — where is my house? is that my truck Burning Man? Then I looked up my childhood home, where I was born, where my mother was born… the list went on and on. I soon had to set Google Earth time limits for myself. Well, as it turns out, I’m not alone in my fascination… the whole world loves Google Earth! This past week saw the release of Google Earth v5.0 (beta) and a plethora of new features. You can now go to Mars, explore the skies, the ocean and even travel through time – all this and a flight simulator too – all this for FREE!
In keeping with my maps fixation, I’m also a GPS geek. For that reason I subscribed to Google Earth Plus for $20 per year to get access to GPS tools. However, I’ve just received a nice email from the folks at Google telling me that they’ve now put most of the “Plus” features into the free application, so they don’t want my money any more (unless of course I subscribe to Google Earth PRO at a substantial discount). The rates for Google Earth Pro are pretty hefty – $400 USD per year. For that kind of money, I want to see in your lunchbox. I’m not too sure their satellite pics are THAT good!
So where does Google get all these photos? Most images were classified surveillance photos at one time, put on the market after the information they provided was no longer of strategic importance. Evidence of this can be seen by Googling Iraq and checking out crystal clear images of seemingly inconsequential villages (thought to be good hiding places). More recently, Google has been criticized for aiding nefarious characters by providing free access to detailed satellite images. All this begs the question – can we trust what we see on Google Earth? Believe me, if someone with enough clout (like the British Ministry of Defense) doesn’t want you to see something, you won’t see it.
And, as Google Earth matures, it’s seeing some interesting and unexpected applications. Swiss police recently found a massive pot farm hidden in the middle of a cornfield – this image led to a bust! In another accidental discovery, scientists found an unexplored patch of forest in Africa on Google Earth. The evidence was compelling enough that they put together an expedition, explored and discovered several new species (of small furry animals).
The famous hummingbird from the Nazca Lines in Peru.
These days I use Google Earth to recon mountain and road bike rides, plan hikes, find bars, and (especially) search for the great mysteries of Earth - in this day and age there’s no hiding from the sat-cam. There’s even a cool little video on YouTube that runs you through some real strange places (probably some fakes too). But remember, Google Earth is nothing more than pixels in a JPEG stored in some server. Anyone with beginner Photoshop skills can alter satellite reality – so don’t believe everything you see. I suspect that secret alien base in Area 51 will be kept under wraps for a while yet…
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