HOWTO: Set up your Fon, or My adventures with a little white box

So tonight at the Midlands Mac User Group Richard, Ben and I were talking about the Fon AP that Ben had at Trilby. For some reason he (and others) were having trouble setting up their Fon router to work.
I bought one too for €8 and never got around to setting it up. So I figured I’d give it a try.

Firstly, my current setup. I have ADSL broadband from Virgin (not the cable service, the over the BT service). I have a Netgear DG834G Wireless ADSL Modem Router serving up wifi to my house (protected of course). I can also connect to one of the 4 10/100Mbps ports if needed. My DG834G currently serves up IP’s via DHCP all within one range. I have no other routers, switches, or anything else in the house. Oh but I do have a Airport Express which connects as a client to the DG834G to stream audio to my Hifi.

So here we go. I’ve taken every thing out of the box. I have my Fon AP (access point), power supply, installation guide, and network cable if needed.

According to the install guide I start by connnecting my ethernet cable from the adsl router to the Fon WAP.

Leopards in my house!

Don’t worry, its not actual Leopards. Monday was pay day and my treat for the month was to get Leopard. Obviously its been out since October 29th but I wanted to save getting it till later. I had two main reasons.

1. Save my money

2. Wait till I had an external drive (Christmas present) and could do a backup.

 

So here’s the tale of my upgrade.

 

I started off by clearing as much bumff off my laptop onto my external drive. This mainly consisted of movies and torrents I was in the middle of. Then I used SuperDuper to do a clone of my hard drive to a disk image on the Western Digital 500GB MyBook Premium drive, hooked up via Firewire (because it is supreme over USB2.0!). This turned out to be a bit of a mistake but I will come to that later.

Next, I was ready to install Leopard. I had chosen to do a Clean Install over an upgrade because my current user account was partially migrated from my old Pre-Intel Powerbook G4 (that was a lovely machine). My hard drive had crashed and I had only managed to retain a small portion of my data. Luckily I had most of it saved on various DVD’s, and on my iPod (iTunes library). So I wanted to clean install to ensure that all permissions were correctly set, and also to clear up some of the crap that got added to it during various Terminal adventures.

So I clean installed. This took about 40 minutes maybe to wipe and install the OS. Then I went through the setup proceedure. I had sought advice from the MMUG and Drew gave me some good words of advice. So I set up my first user with the same shortname as my old. Now as you may not know, your account has a Name (i.e John Smith) and a shortname which unix uses to assign permissions to, and creates the basis for your home directory and preferences (i.e johnsmith). I used the same shortname for my new account, and booted into Leopard.

My next stop before getting my data back was to get the majority of my applications installed and up to date. I ran Software Update twice (which took a while. Thanks Virgin Media!) and was done. Then I needed to reinstall iLife ‘06 from my Macbook Pro Install DVD’s. This took a while too (30 mins maybe) and then I was good to go. One more Software Update for iLife and we’re there. (I will probably update iLife in the coming months).

So I was now ready to migrate my data. I plugged in my external drive, mounted my backup image, and ran Migration Assistant. I selected the disk image, and it correctly found all the user accounts. At first I was confused as it said I needed another 2.5GB of space free, which seemed crazy since my user folder was only 73GB and I had 95 to spare. I selected my user name and continued. I was then told that as the shortname already existed, I could import to a new user/shortname, or do nothing. Well that was no good. There second option was actually grayed out and that was what I wanted. Import settings and files into existing account. But I couldn’t do that while logged in with it. So I quit MA, went into System Preferences and set up a temporary account, logged out, logged back in as that, and ran MA again. Sucess! I can select the second option. So I carried on and was finally at the end, where I could import my files. I was told it would take about 4 hours. Fine, I can go to bed,  but in reality that time dropped quickly and became 1 hour 35 minutes. Fine I’ll wait up.

So come 1.30am it was done. Account data back in, and most of my apps installed.

 

 So what have I learnt as I now look to upgrade my GF’s Macbook? Well I think it would be easier if I had just partitioned a 120GB drive on my external HD and cloned to that, then I could just import during setup and all be fine. But hey we live and learn. 

 

So will this affect how I upgrade my gf’s laptop? Not in the slightest cos I’m just going to do a standard upgrade after backup to image. She has no legacy stuff so she should be fine. She’s a normal user, no terminal craziness or hackery. 

Great Mac Apps – Part 4

Ok, well I failed and didn’t do this over Christmas. Had too much to do giving advice to my parents about their own PC’s to worry about mine. But here it is, the fourth and final part of my Great Mac Apps segment.

GimmeSomeTune – This is the most useful iTunes plugin I use (and the only but thats beside the point). What it does is simple. It does loads. I will give you on-screen displays (like Growl) of your currently playing tracks, add hotkeys to control iTunes globally. It will fetch album art from Amazon, it will even fetch song lyrics from Leo’s Lyrics (which I find particularly useful). Basically, its a nice little plugin to have running. Only downside is upgrading it isn’t the easiest thing to do.

Missing Sync for Windows – I won’t say much about this since I don’t use it now. I was using it to sync my iPaq 5450 PDA with Address Book, and iCal. Its still really useful, but since I got my iPhone, I don’t use it. Still worth checking out if you own a PDA.

Miro (Formerly Democracy) -Its like TV on your computer, from the internet, like IPTV almost. Its a massively useful program that will let you watch video and audio from the web. There is a built in directory for videos, and you can subscribe to podcast feeds and (here is the best bit) you can subscribe to bit torrent RSS feeds and get your fave shows as soon as they are released. I tend to use it for any shows I don’t wanna watch on my iPhone, like Command-N, Webnation, Unwired, Diggnation (sometimes) and so on. Check. It. Out.

Microsoft Office – Now we all love our Macs, how could we not, but the fact is, there is a large amount of people who don’t know about them, so use Windows, and they are likely to have Office (99% for Word) so to help them in their niche little world, we can get Microsoft Office for Mac. And guess what? It’s actually better than the Windows version. I could tell you why, but why don’t you just try out the 30-day trial and see for yourself.
If you’re not bothered about the tracking features, and other advanced stuff, try iWork ‘08 from Apple. Its lurvly.

Onxy – Another little utility which you can use to keep your Mac running smoothly. Great for laptop users. The most useful tools are clearing caches (to free up some much needed free space) and running the cron jobs that should run to help maintain your disk which usually run at 3am.

Original List, Part 1, Part 2, Part 3.

Well thats your lot. I’m done with this. I might put up some more suggestions as I think of them, but for now, I can close this chapter of my blog.

Great Mac Apps – Part 4 (prequel)

It just occured to me that I never did part 4 of my Great Mac Apps list (see part 1, 2, and 3). So my objective for this weekend is to do just that.

My iPhone – One Month In

Its th 16th of December and I’ve had my iPhone for a month. So what are my thoughts so far?

Well overall I’m really pleased. I can easily say the main features I’ve used are Mail and Safari . Since Gmail opened up IMAP, I’ve got my gmail accounts set up in Mail.app so I get all my mail straight to my hand, so I can keep on top of the Google Groups, blog comments, and various other emails I get.

I really love the Maps. While I had Google Maps on my last phone, its nothing compared to the experience on an iPhone. The scrolling is fantastic, and even though its on EDGE, loading of the maps seems so much faster. Its also really easy to look up people in my contacts list, or look for business (which came in handy recently) as they appear in the search box as you type. The routing is great, and really well animated which makes it so much nicer to use.

The SMS conversations are great. I would like to be able to forward texts, send multi-recipient messages. I’d also like to be able to clear conversations up to a point (to save a specific message), but besides that, its a hell of a lot nicer dealing with texts in a chat form, rather than an email format.

There isn’t much else I can say that hasn’t been said a hundred times on a hundred blogs. I look forward to the future software updates and am excited to see what Apple offer for new features.

For what its worth, my thoughts on Macworld are this: No iPhone 2.0, no 3G iPhone announcement, more likely details of the SDK, software examples, the coveted ultra-thin Macbook or Tablet, maybe a power boost on the rest of the line.
One thing I’d like to see is a bump on the Airport Express, and see it taken up to 802.11n, although I have just bought one of eBay so that would upset me a bit.

Well we’ll be discussing the topics of the keynote at MMUG that night so if you’re in the area, come along.

VMWare Fusion

As I posted before, I took my A+ 220-601 exam recently and as part of the study, I got a few books that came with CD-ROM’s. They all contained test engine software which I was looking forward to using, but of course, cos of the narrow minded people, it was Windows only. Since I don’t have Leopard yet (Jan ‘08 after payday and I get an external drive to backup so I can clean install) I was encouraged by a friend to get VMWare Fusion. So I took the plunge and forked out the £45-odd quid for the software.

I downloaded the dmg file and installed the software, and put in the serial number supplied via email. And there I was, ready to install Windows. I pulled out a disc I had nearby and got to work on the dreaded install. I’ve already done this a few times with Boot Camp beta, so was more than familiar with the many many many many updates needed when you install Windows, and because they don’t do bulk updates like Mac OS gets (only their infrequent Service Packs) It took about 4 reboots, to install around about 90 updates, hotfixes, bug fixes and new software, included the fantastic(!) IE7.

So I finally got that sorted, downloaded Firefox, TweakUI, Acrobat Reader, and got them installed. Finally I was ready to actually get studying, but before that, a good nights sleep.

Well it seemed to do the trick cos I passed the exam, and now I have XP working for the future. I’m going to keep the virtual image on my laptop cos it will no doubt come in handy next time I need to tech support for my parents.

The next step for me is to set up a Ubuntu install. Its all done (off the Live/Desktop CD) and now just updating that. To make it work smoother, I need to install VMWare Tools, to allow shared folders and other business. Luckily, this website provides a great step-by-step for this  as it seems a bit tricky.

So I’ll be a triple boot system soon, which is nice to have. And certainly one to impress the friends and family, and people at MMUG.

Cost of an iPhone

So I’ve been using my iPhone for about a week now. Its lovely. But this is about the cost.I was watching a video on YouTube about the iPhone making a deal about the overall cost. So I wanted to address the issues raised.

Contract Length – O2 require an 18 month contract. OH MY GOD! 18 Months? Now, I remember a few years back 12 month contracts were the main thing. Now, its extremely unlikely that you’ll get a 12 month contract. Go into any shop, or onto any website and the default option now is 18 months. So thats not a big deal. Get over it. (and Orange offer 24 months too)

Contract cost – 35 massive pounds per month. WOAH! Thats loads(!). Now I realise that that may be a lot for some people, but lets look at the other networks. Orange offer 7 contracts under £35 per month, 2 at £35 per month, and 4 over £35. In equivalent tariff would set you back at least £30 a month for the same or more texts and calls.

Data Package – On top of the basic cost you would have to pay data charges. For 200MB of data (the former limit on O2) you would pay an additonal £35! It costs £8 for 3oMB of data. So take into account that O2 is Unlimited and thats an infinite cost (only limited by your use)!

Wifi – The Cloud.net offers unlimited WiFi use for £7.99 per month. Its free for iPhone users

Handset Cost – OK you can get a free handset from most carriers, like the N95 (the most compared handset). Great. It plays music, videos, has GPS, 3G etc. I could get into that discussion but I won’t. iPhone costs you £269. Thats it. Its yours. If you cancel the contract, its yours. If you cancel any other one, you have to pay the rest of the contract. If you cancel within the 14 days you have to return your handset. Not with the iPhone. What about the features.Total

Costs

Non-iPhone handset Free
Contract £30.00 x 18 months
Data Use £35.00 x 18 months
Wifi £7.99 x 18 months
Total = £1313.82

iPhone £269
Contract £35.00
Data use Included
Wifi                                        Included
Total                                     £899

Now excuse my maths, but it would appear that a non-iPhone costs £414 LESS than a comparable option. lets also consider you want a full internet browser, photo browser, music player. You didn’t pay for your phone so you could buy an iPod Touch. Thats another £199 for 8GB. So the total is now £1512.

So there you go. Its not a bad deal. Its a GREAT deal, and you have a fantastic handset with a full internet browser, large screen for viewing photos, videos, maps, stocks, weather, calendar, and more. You get Visual Voicemail. No other network offers this. Random access voicemail is probably a key feature for people who get lots of messages, like sales people. A full web browser with an intuitive interface is fantastic. For that mobile, you might look at a Nokia N800 (£229).

Please, argue these points. Let me know your thoughts. Have I done the maths wrong? Am I overlooking something?

HOWTO: Secure Backup to an iPod

I have a few backup systems in force after a hard drive crash on my last Powerbook. Firstly I backup the main stuff using Mozy.com’s online backup system. I also backup to CD every few months for a local copy. And lastly, I backup to my 80GB iPod which I have plugged in very often during the week.

I got this idea from the In The Trenches podcast  and saw the post on George Starcher’s blog about how he set his up, and with some adjustment, I got mine working. Here’s what I do.

First, follow all the instructions on the blog post. I created a 5GB image first, but am now moving that to a 10GB one as I’ve decided to include backup of my Photo Library.

All the rest is the same, with the exception of the Script file. I built into mine some logging (thanks to google searches) which I then pump through and display on my desktop using GeekTool. Just choose a File to be shown, and type in the path to the log file (in my case /Users/username/.rsync.log)

Below is the script I use, which logs to a hidden log file in my home directory.

echo ================================ rsync Backup script ================================= >>~/.rsync.log
date >>~/.rsync.log
echo ==Mounting Backup Disk: >>~/.rsync.log
hdiutil attach /Volumes/Dom\’s\ iPod\ Video/Backup/EncryptedBackup.sparseimage
echo : Backup Disk Mounted >>~/.rsync.log
echo ==start rsync logging== >>~/.rsync.log
rsync -aE –progress –exclude=Library/Fonts/ –exclude=Library/Application\ Support/iDVD –exclude=Library/Application\ Support/iMovie –exclude=Library/Application\ Support/Garageband –exclude=Desktop/BitTorrents –exclude=.cpan/ –exclude=.Trash –exclude=.DS_Store –exclude=Library/Favorites –exclude=Library/Print* –exclude=Library/Icons/ –exclude=Library/Indexes/ –exclude=Library/iMovie/ –exclude=Library/iTunes/ –exclude=Library/Safari/Icons/ –exclude=.Trash/ –exclude=Library/Caches/ –exclude=Movies/ –exclude=Pictures/iPhoto\ Library/iPod\ Photo\ Cache –exclude=Music/iTunes/iTunes\ Music –exclude=*.mp3 –exclude=*.m4p –exclude=*.m4a ~/ /Volumes/EncryptedBackup/>>~/.rsync.log || echo -n
sleep 2m
hdiutil dettach /Volumes/Dom\’s\ iPod\ Video/Backup/EncryptedBackup.sparseimage
echo =====Backup Complete===== >>~/.rsync.log

A few points to note. I have two folders on my desktop, Downloads and Bit Torrents which I don’t want to backup. I also exclude some cache folders in the ~/Library folder, some font folders, Indexes, etc. I also exclude my music files, so I exclude the iTunes Music folder, any MP3 and AAC files, and the iPod cached Photo files (whats the point?)

You’ll see that my disk image is located in /Backup on my iPod and the script is located in /Scripts.

Like George, all this is executed via an Automator action which sits on my Desktop.

The only thing to watch

So thats it. Just plug in your iPod, run the action, and watch it fly by on your desktop.