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. 

Don’t Laugh…I’m Certified and I can prove it.

As per my previous post, I’m not a certified A+ IT Technician. And as a A+ Certified IT Technician I am now entitled to use the CompTIA A+ Certified IT Technician logo. It can be used on business cards, Resumes, CV’s, applications, letters, and some other stuff. Not a bad way to remind your clients or potential employers that you have formal qualifications that are recognise globally.

I’ve also requested my IT Technician Kit. I presume this includes my certificate, but it certainly sounds like I get something else. I’m looking forward to seeing what other gems I get sent, and I’ll be sure to let y’all know.

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.

In The Trenches – Permanently!

Despite my avid Mac-love, I do listen to a few Windows podcasts, since I will be working with them soon (call it wishful thinking). These include Windows Weekly with Paul Thurrott (I used to read the blog a long time ago, back when XP was in beta!)

Anyway, I recently discovered ITT (In The Trenches) which is a great podcast for IT professionals, by IT professionals, where Kevin, George and a slew of other guest hosts,  chat about general IT stuff, like servers, mail systems, networks, qualifications, and share some handy tips, in fact it was George who provided the iPod Backup idea and system.

Well, this was their last podcast recently as they’re closing it down. Kevin’s site is going to be reused for his own purposes as he moves on to a busy time in his life.

Anyway, wanted to post a thanks to them all for the great discussion and info they’ve given me over the past few months, and wish them both the best for the future.

Feel free to check out some past episodes before they vanish from the site.

Avoid the Computer Training College

Last year I signed up for courses with the Computer Training College (www.ctcollege.co.uk).

I signed up for the CompTIA A+, N+, Microsoft MCSA and Cisco CCNA. I have reached the stage where I am ready to take my A+ exams and contacted them about booking them. I was then told that the exam fees were not included in the course fees I had paid up front.

Having now done some research online I have found out that the CT College have often been quoted as fleecing students. They charge large fees, provide little support, and misrepresent their services.I am currently speaking to them and will try to cancel my course, and reclaim my course fees. I will be looking to start court action and contact the Trading Standards if I do not get a reasonable response from them.

I’ll keep you updated with my progress, but I would warn anyone considering study with them to reconsider QUICKLY. Having done the study for one qualification, I could do just as good a job with a £30 book from Borders or Amazon.

http://www.certforums.co.uk/forums/thread18129.html

http://www.certforums.co.uk/forums/thread4590.html

Update 1: I received a letter today stating that they stand by their original letter. They have no record of my phone call to them querying the exam fees being included, and believe that it was clearly explained that they were external and excluded. Luckily my girlfriend was in the room with me at the time and can vouch for this. My next action is to get copies of my phone bill showing this phone call to them, and ask them to investigate that. If they cannot prove that they told me otherwise, I will argue some more. As I said, I also have corroboration of this matter.

Update 2: I’ve written back to them for a third time, enclosing proof of a phone call they claim they have no record of where I was told that my exams were included. I now wait for a reply.

Update 3: I have set up a Google Group here where people can share their thoughts a bit better, and hopefully get the word out about these people.

Update 4: I have edited some comments on this post to remove direct contact details of specific tutors at the CTC at that person’s request. I would advise you to contact the central number directly and obtain particular contact details that way. I will also edit any future comments received to remove direct contact info as well.

BBC iDon’t-Player-very-well

There’s been some talk recently of the BBC iPlayer service, which allows you to watch BBC TV programming on demand.
There has also been a lot of outcry as using this service seems to be difficult indeed.
The current requirements are as follows:

Windows XP operating system *
Minimum 500Mb (RAM) memory
Internet Explorer 6 browser (or later)
Windows Media Player 10 (or later)
A video and sound card capable of playing high quality streamed or downloaded programmes
JavaScript, ActiveX and Cookies are all enabled
A high speed broadband internet connection

The first problems. XP – What about all those new PC owners with Vista? How exactly can’t it Vista support it when it should be backwards compatible?
IE6 – Firefox is a much better browser, and a large amount of people are using it nowadays.

Then there’s the Mac and Linux users. No supported way of running it. Why? The main reason is probably because it runs on Peer-to-peer networking (much like Limewire or Kazaa). So that means a desktop client, which means background services, which would need to be written from the ground up. There are a number of problems with this. Firstly, the lack of cross platform support. Surely if I’m a License payer I should be able to access these services without having to spend money on either a) a new windows PC (or should I say old as I need XP), or b) some sort of vitualisation method like Parallels, VMWare, or Virtual PC for non-intel Macs. Thats awful.

Multiprocessor means more than one app at once?

I was just watching some TV and a PC World advert came on, advertising the latest cheap laptop.

Two things made me think. First, the man in the ad (selling to a woman…who obviously knows nothing about computers, I’m surprised she wasn’t scared to leave the kitchen(!) (please, lets break some stereotypes please?)) and stated how she didn’t have to buy anti-virus software because it was “pre-installed”. As a Mac user, I would say “oh no, you don’t need anti-virus. Its a Mac!”
Ok, this could start a whole debate on virus’ on mac. Yes I know its not impossible, but I do believe its harder to cause more damage thanks to the Unix/BSD backbone.

The second thing was, the salesman exclaimed at the Intel Core 2 Duo chip that let the user “run more than one application at once, so you can listen to music while surfing the internet”!!!!! WOW!!!! Thats completely amazing. Surely thats never been possible. Has it? Oh wait, thats why people spent years working on memory management in the kernel so that we can do this (names escape me but I’m looking at you, Macintosh developers).

What did I do to make a point? I opened every application I have in my dock. Thats 18 applications plus System Preferences. How well did my laptop run? Fine. So much so that I could even hit Expose and display all my open windows at once. And here’s how it looked.

Even more fun was running this in slow motion by holding Shift. I also noticed a neat feature, that Photobooth continues to update the camera view even in Expose!

Wow. Multiprocessors eh! Wow.

Tags: Expose, Macosx, core2duo, c2d, intel, pcworld

New stuff and old failures

It arrived (and by that I mean I picked it up) yesterday. I have my new MacBook Pro. Its shiney and lovely.
Only problem now, and its a big one. I did a backup to DVD in May 07 (not really got any more robust backup facility) and had my discs sitting around for me, so last night I went to check them out. I put in the first DVD, and up popped Finder.

You inserted a blank DVD. Choose an action from the pop-up menu or click Ignore

WHAT?!?! Its not f£@king blank! I took the disc out and looked, and it had clearly been written to. So I popped it in my girlfriends MacBook and it just span around. Nothing. So I have one old failed backup.
I do have a working DVD of my photo library, but for the time being, only have the music on my iPod (so lost track counts, etc) and my photo library. I have some older backups, but they’re not great.

For the time being, I’m trying various things to save my hard drive. I had a good 50GB in my user folder and i really want to get it back. The next stage of the operation is to remove the drive from the old Powerbook and pop it into a USB enclosure and hope to god something happens. Failing that, I might have to try a data recovery company but I don’t know what that’ll cost.

So for now, my Toshiba MK8025GAS 80Gb hard drive is dead or dying. Sigh