# Apple OS X -  related devices, applications, advice & news



## Kid_Eternity (May 12, 2011)

Figure there's a few keyed in Mac OS users on here and a thread to post updates, interesting/useful applications or news/tips or general advice on might be good.

First up, Twitter updates for the Mac. I love the Mac Twitter app but it is a little too simple, this update looks interesting...



> Twitter has released the first major update to its Twitter for Mac client, adding support for multiple windows and better usability.
> 
> The update features some minor tweaks to the user interface, including a more traditional application title bar. The new title bar also acts as a navigation window of sorts, allowing users to easily switch between “pages” in the app. A designated “new tweet” button is also now visible in the bottom left of the main app window.
> 
> The UI changes are minor, but overall the app now feels more polished and more finished. The app might not still conform to Apple’s Human Interface Guidelines enough to appease some critics, but I think that the interface works, especially in context to the greater Twitter app ecosystem.


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## sim667 (May 13, 2011)

.


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## sim667 (May 13, 2011)

Im a big fan of geektool a pref pane plugin which allows you to run script permanently on your background.

For example on my desktop permanently my mac pro display SMART reports for my HD's, temperatures of most of the components in my machine, i/o network traffic speeds etc.

But you can also use it to display things like rss feeds etc.

Example (not my machine)


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## Structaural (May 13, 2011)

JollyFast VNC - very good VNC client - seems more consistent than ChickenVNC.

Little Snitch - firewall for outgoing connections. Stops apps 'phoning home'.

Usenet users should use http://sabnzbd.org/ - downloads, unpars, unrars and deletes rars all in the background. Will check Newzbin bookmarks too.


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## Kid_Eternity (May 13, 2011)

Some interesting suggestions, the Ed just posted  thread about this but I think it's a good link to have on this thread too: How to sync your Android phone to Mac OS (amongst others).


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## trabant (May 14, 2011)

I'll second little snitch.

For code/latex I've found textmate to be a reet treat to use.


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## Kid_Eternity (May 17, 2011)

This looks very cool! A 'find your Mac' app and it's free.



> If you travel with a laptop often, do yourself a favor and install Prey, it’s free theft tracking and recovery software that really works. Prey is basically a tiny daemon that runs in the background on your Mac (or Windows or Linux PC) that does nothing until it receives a signal indicating the hardware is missing or stolen via the Prey website or an SMS… then the magic happens.
> 
> Once Prey is activated, it starts gathering the following information and enables these features:
> 
> ...



Haha that bit about taking a photo is pretty clever.


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## WWWeed (May 20, 2011)

looks like its not just windows that's effected by malware:



			
				The Register said:
			
		

> Apple officials have instructed members of the company's support team to withhold any confirmation that a customer's Mac has been infected with malware or to assist in removing malicious programs, ZDNet's Ed Bott reported on Thursday.
> 
> He cited an internal document titled "About 'Mac Defender' Malware," which was last updated on May 16 and says that the trojan, which surfaced earlier this month and masquerades as legitimate security software for the OS X platform, is an "Issue/Investigation In Progress."
> 
> ...



http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/05/20/apple_malware_attacks/


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## WWWeed (May 20, 2011)

Kid_Eternity said:


> This looks very cool! A 'find your Mac' app and it's free.
> 
> Haha that bit about taking a photo is pretty clever.




that's all assuming they haven't wipped or replaced the hard drive, which any sensible thief should do!

I suppose tho it is better than nothing!


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## sim667 (May 20, 2011)

Ill third little snitch too!


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## editor (May 20, 2011)

This appears to be spreading:


> Apple scareware: gang targets users with Mac Defender
> 
> An organised gang appears to be behind a "scareware" program known as Mac Defender that downloads itself on to Apple users' machines and demands payment to "remove infections".
> 
> ...


More: https://discussions.apple.com/message/15107430#15107430


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## Kid_Eternity (May 20, 2011)

WWWeed said:


> that's all assuming they haven't wipped or replaced the hard drive, which any sensible thief should do!
> 
> I suppose tho it is better than nothing!


 
Depends on the time frame really and whether you have your machine locked on not?


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## c01642 (May 20, 2011)

editor said:


> This appears to be spreading:
> More: https://discussions.apple.com/message/15107430#15107430


 
Does this indicate Apples arrival in to the world of real computers.


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## Kid_Eternity (May 20, 2011)

Who knows, it wasn't really what I had in mind with this thread tbh, wanted a good place for practical suggestions on using Mac OS X, good tips, and highlighting of cool and useful apps.


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## maldwyn (May 20, 2011)

it could be useful come June/sept/whenever and Lion.


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## ChrisFilter (May 20, 2011)

Here's some advice: don't use Macs as your work computer. Office is shit. More than 10k rows and it slows right down. 

Plus, the mail client is too basic to be of any use to anyone. 

And, in general, Windows 7 is way more usable. 

Happily you can dual boot. 

Macs are very good for home users and a limited range of applications like Photoshop, but for day to day work stuff they fall short imho.


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## peterkro (May 23, 2011)

c01642 said:


> Does this indicate Apples arrival in to the world of real computers.



No it indicates there are some users who will put in their password not knowing the reason why on all OS's.


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## Structaural (May 23, 2011)

ChrisFilter said:


> Here's some advice: don't use Macs as your work computer. Office is shit. More than 10k rows and it slows right down.


 
I don't even know what this means. Macs are shit because of microsoft software? something about rows?


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## pianissimo (May 23, 2011)

I'll fourth little snitch.
It stops my unlicensed Adobe to register


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## Structaural (May 23, 2011)

This is a handy free utility

Sync two folders - basically a nice GUI for the Unix command 'rsync', I have to copy work to and from a server a lot and this keeps the two folders synchronised (only copying changed files) or you can make one a master. Something that should be in the Finder but isn't.
http://tcfj.pagesperso-orange.fr/site/index.html

Also (not free) Default Folder is excellent as a save/open dialogue box helper (keeps the last 15 folders in a handy popout).
http://www.stclairsoft.com/DefaultFolderX/

iTunify is a handy utility for that bloated piece of shit, iTunes:
http://www.satsumac.com/iTunify.php


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## teqniq (May 23, 2011)

Meteorologist is a free weather program for Mac OS X.

http://heat-meteo.sourceforge.net/


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## ChrisFilter (May 23, 2011)

Structaural said:


> I don't even know what this means. Macs are shit because of microsoft software? something about rows?


 
I'm not saying Macs are shit. I'm saying Excel runs terribly and are not much fun to use when your work involves spreadsheets. I'm putting Windows 7 on it.


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## FridgeMagnet (May 23, 2011)

ChrisFilter said:


> I'm not saying Macs are shit. I'm saying Excel runs terribly and are not much fun to use when your work involves spreadsheets. I'm putting Windows 7 on it.


 
Lovely. You'll be able to bog off the thread then as you won't be using OS X.


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## ChrisFilter (May 23, 2011)

Is this an assent-only thread then?


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## FridgeMagnet (May 23, 2011)

It's not an platform advocacy thread.


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## Kid_Eternity (May 23, 2011)

teqniq said:


> Meteorologist is a free weather program for Mac OS X.
> 
> http://heat-meteo.sourceforge.net/


 
That's not too bad, there's some very nice visual weather apps too about I've seen...


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## ChrisFilter (May 23, 2011)

FridgeMagnet said:


> It's not an platform advocacy thread.


 
I'm not advocating anything. I'm expressing frustration with an os I had been lead to believe was far superior to the major player. It's lovely hardware though, that's for sure.


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## Kid_Eternity (May 23, 2011)

ChrisFilter said:


> I'm not advocating anything. I'm expressing frustration with an os I had been lead to believe was far superior to the major player. It's lovely hardware though, that's for sure.


 
Fair enough, but this isn't a thread to get into platform comparisons (we both know where that will take us...). This was posted to gain some useful apps, tips etc for those who have a Mac and are happy enough with it. Feel free to start another thread to compare OSes and their relative uses.


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## Structaural (May 24, 2011)

ChrisFilter said:


> I'm not saying Macs are shit. I'm saying Excel runs terribly and are not much fun to use when your work involves spreadsheets. I'm putting Windows 7 on it.


 
I'd agree, if I was an accountant I'd use a PC and I'd recommend a PC to any accountant friends. 
If the only software you use is Office then again - get a PC. They're cheap, noisy, they run nice and hot and Microsoft can actually code for that platform.

Anyway back to the actual thread.
Here's a some handy Terminal commands:


```
defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles TRUE

killall Finder
```

to show all hidden files/folders


```
defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles FALSE

killall Finder
```

to hide them again.

To create a proper ISO from a folder (Mac's usually only create DMGs or slightly not quite right ISOs) then copy this replacing '~/foo' with your folder path (drag and drop the folder straight into the Terminal for that). 


```
hdiutil makehybrid -o ~/Desktop/image.iso ~/foo -iso -joliet
```


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## editor (May 26, 2011)

That Mac Defender 'virus' is getting nastier as Apple increasingly becomes a target for scamming spamming fuckers: 



> he Mac Defender virus that has plagued Apple since the beginning of May has mutated into a more dangerous strain, according to security firm Intego.
> 
> Several variations of the fake antivirus malware have appeared since Mac Defender first emerged, but Intego claims the latest is more of a threat because it no longer needs an admin password for installation.
> 
> ...


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## Kid_Eternity (May 26, 2011)

Structaural said:


> I'd agree, if I was an accountant I'd use a PC and I'd recommend a PC to any accountant friends.
> If the only software you use is Office then again - get a PC. They're cheap, noisy, they run nice and hot and Microsoft can actually code for that platform.
> 
> Anyway back to the actual thread.
> ...


 
What's a Terminal Command?


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## WWWeed (May 26, 2011)

Kid_Eternity said:


> What's a Terminal Command?



heres a pic I stole of google:






Its how you interact with a computer that doesn't  have a graphical user interface. You can open the one on a mac by clicking on 'terminal' utilities folder.

This opens up a standard unix shell beacuse macos is based on unix (and is the only reason why http://www.opensource.apple.com/ exists).


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## Structaural (May 27, 2011)

editor said:


> That Mac Defender 'virus' is getting nastier as Apple increasingly becomes a target for scamming spamming fuckers:


 
I've seen this quite often popping up, it's pretty obvious it's a trojan scam as it's just a more slick (looking) version of the PC user initiated trojans that have been around for years. Turning off 'Open 'safe' files in Safari prefs helps as is running as non-administrator. But the user has to actually click on it and download it. Apple are issuing an update soon (why not just offer a tool for downloading?)


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## editor (May 27, 2011)

Interesting rumour about why Spotify is having such trouble launching in the US:



> Is Apple Preventing Spotify’s US Launch?
> 
> We heard an interesting theory the other day from a well-connected source: Record labels accustomed to receiving big checks from Apple want to give Steve Jobs and company a crack at offering a music subscription service to Americans before Spotify enters the ring, so they've been dragging their feet (i.e. demanding too-high payments) in their negotiations with Spotify, preventing it from launching here until after Apple's cloud music service does.
> 
> ...


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## Structaural (May 27, 2011)

Kid_Eternity said:


> What's a Terminal Command?


 
Hit command+space, type 'ter' and press return.

This is your Unix command line. Like DOS but proper.
Gives low-level access to the operating system if running as admin or root. Most stuff can be done with the GUI but this  can be a quick way to change some settings quickly or even get into some Unix software. 

'ls' (list) or 'cd' (change directory) would be a Terminal command. type 'man [command]' to get an explanation of any command.

I use it for SSHing (secure connection) to my home desktop from outside. Then I can close/open programs or sleep the machine etc.. especially good if something has locked up your machine but you still have unsaved documents. It's geek mode basically. I dabble in it, but usually just cut and paste something like the above.

This for instance would create a secure and encrypted SSH on port 5900 for my VNC client:


```
ssh -L 5900:127.0.0.1:5900 -g <username>@<home ip>
```

a useful feature is if you drag a file/folder from the Finder to the Terminal window it will type the entire path in for you. And if you type 
	
	



```
open .
```
 in the Terminal it will open the current Terminal path as a Finder window.

Here's more information:
http://osxfaq.com/Tutorials/LearningCenter/

and here's a useful security site: How to break into a Mac and prevent it happening to you


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## Kid_Eternity (May 27, 2011)

Ah cheers. Opened it up last night but er didn't know what to do with it...


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## Structaural (May 31, 2011)

Flux automatically adjust screen brightness and temperature depending on time of day. Saves your eyes (actually runs on all platforms)

Max very good CD ripper - uses the LAME mp3 encoder. Also good for decoding FLAC into mp3

Sick of iTunes? Try Vox a lightweight music player with some wicked effects if needed.

This is a useful utility I've just got into: ShiftIt lets you reposition windows in Finder with a keypress. Good for quickly setting up two or four windows.

Bootchamp put a little thing in the menu bar letting you reboot into Windows bootcamp with a click.

Finder getting on your tits? TotalFinder is a nice alternative without being bloated like Pathfinder

Hyperdock gives more fuctionality to the Dock (like little pictures of open windows - like Windows 7).

jdownloader - much better downloading solution - it's particularly good for Rapidshare and their ilk.


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## Crispy (Jun 3, 2011)

editor said:


> This is a *great* program on the PC:
> 
> CCleaner for Mac clears out the system crap in one click – and it’s free  http://www.wirefresh.com/ccleaner-fo...-and-its-free/


from other thread


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## Kid_Eternity (Jun 3, 2011)

Yup, great app! Been waiting ages for it to come out on the Mac.


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## Kid_Eternity (Jun 5, 2011)

Looking to upgrade the RAM on my MacBook Pro, anyone got a decent place to buy a 4gb stick? Is there anything I should consider re the speed of the RAM or is all the compatible memory much of muchness?


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## Crispy (Jun 5, 2011)

All mich of a muchness. Use crucial to find the spec then shop around


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## Kid_Eternity (Jun 5, 2011)

Any good UK shops worth checking out?


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## sim667 (Jun 6, 2011)

Kid_Eternity said:


> Ah cheers. Opened it up last night but er didn't know what to do with it...


 
I wouldnt play about with it too much if you dont have a brill understanding of what the commands do. With a sudo command you can override restrictions set by the OS and really do some damage.

I mainly use it for ssh'ing into my appleTV and my iPad, but its also useful for setting posix and ACL's on different users.


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## sim667 (Jun 6, 2011)

Kid_Eternity said:


> Any good UK shops worth checking out?


 
cancom?

I ordered my last lot direct from crucial. 4GB for £120, there's six gb in there at the mo, im trying to decide whether to stick in another 4 gb or 8 gb.


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## Kid_Eternity (Jun 6, 2011)

Cheers will take a look. £120 for 4gb sounds expensive, I'm sure I've seen it for less than half that!


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## Kid_Eternity (Jun 6, 2011)

Nice page of free open source applications for the Mac: http://opensourcemac.org/


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## sim667 (Jun 6, 2011)

Kid_Eternity said:


> Cheers will take a look. £120 for 4gb sounds expensive, I'm sure I've seen it for less than half that!


 
Twas a while ago now 

I think mac pro RAM is pricier too..... its certainly chunkier


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## FridgeMagnet (Jun 6, 2011)

Bloke I know just got two gigs for his MacBook for forty quid from Crucial.


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## Structaural (Jun 14, 2011)

I just wacked this on my wife's laptop: http://flashfrozen.net/ by the developer of VisualHub (now discontinued). Tells you when the Flash plug-in is roasting your CPU and lets you disable it temporarily.


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## Kid_Eternity (Jun 14, 2011)

That's pretty neat!


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## Kid_Eternity (Jun 24, 2011)

Table showing compatibility of apps with OS X Lion.


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## FridgeMagnet (Jun 24, 2011)

"Adobe Flash Player: this app and has been tested and has some problems."

No shit. Oh wait, this is about Lion compatibility.


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## Kid_Eternity (Jul 19, 2011)

Lion launches tomorrow, just confirmed.


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## Crispy (Jul 19, 2011)

Will wait for the .1 release, as always.


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## maldwyn (Jul 20, 2011)

Crispy said:


> Will wait for the .1 release, as always.


Me too, plus I'd like to see John Siracusa's review.


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## Crispy (Jul 20, 2011)

That too. Man knows his OSX


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## FridgeMagnet (Jul 20, 2011)

At least one person I know who's been using the dev version has been complaining about some bits not being user-friendly. He likes the underlying changes and new concepts, just that some of the controls are frustrating. Having said that, he's using a relatively early build.


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## electroplated (Jul 20, 2011)

just downloaded lion and about to install... 

ps. this is useful info if you want to do more than one installation/want the installer on disc

http://eggfreckles.net/tech/burning-a-lion-boot-disc/


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## Structaural (Jul 20, 2011)

I'm not touching that for a few weeks  (well I might install on a separate partition just to see...)  ^^ cheers for useful link.


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## Lazy Llama (Jul 20, 2011)

No Lion for my old black Macbook Core Duo 

It's served me well for the past 5 years (and it was a refurb when I bought it) and at the moment does everything I want, but as it's a 32bit CPU, it's going to start losing access to new/updated apps as developers start using Lion features or 64-bit only builds.

Quite fancy a Macbook Air now, but 4GB of RAM is limiting for the kind of thing I'd like to be doing. Still that's twice what I've got at the moment.


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## skyscraper101 (Jul 20, 2011)

^^^ same as. Are you saying that the old black intel macbooks (circa 2007) are unable to install Lion?


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## Lazy Llama (Jul 20, 2011)

skyscraper101 said:


> ^^^ same as. Are you saying that the old black intel macbooks (circa 2007) are unable to install Lion?


 2007 should be okay as it had the Core 2 Duo. 2006 had Core Duo which is 32bit.


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## Structaural (Jul 20, 2011)

hmm, wonder if it will work with my wife's 3,1 macbook


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## Structaural (Jul 20, 2011)

oh it should now the thread carried on....


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## Crispy (Jul 20, 2011)

Structaural said:


> hmm, wonder if it will work with my wife's 3,1 macbook


 
That model has core 2 duo, so will support 10.7


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## Structaural (Jul 20, 2011)

How much is it in England, only €23.99 here, are Apple finally using international exchange rates?


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## Structaural (Jul 20, 2011)

Crispy said:


> That model has core 2 duo, so will support 10.7


 
Cool, that's good, no money for upgrading for some time... and my aging 2007 mac pro is still good to go..


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## Lazy Llama (Jul 20, 2011)

Structaural said:


> How much is it in England, only €23.99 here, are Apple finally using international exchange rates?


 
£20.99


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## Structaural (Jul 20, 2011)

Cheers


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## electroplated (Jul 20, 2011)

well... it's up and running, couple of odd glitches like no css loading for websites in firefox until I restarted it but otherwise pain free.

they've really gone to town on making the OS more in line with iOS - mail, calendar all look very like they do on iOS which was a surprise and the launchpad makes all your apps display like the grid on an iphone/pad but it's easy to use the interface the old fashioned way too.

very odd they decided to reverse the way scrolling on the mouse works, but again thats for the touchscreen users I guess, easy to revert to normal scrolling

to get the most out of this it seems worth having a magic mouse or touchpad so you can do all the nice swiping between apps and pages - works very well


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## FridgeMagnet (Jul 20, 2011)

I'm wondering about getting a magic trackpad for it. Well, not just for Lion, I hear they're good, but I'm starting to get used to the multitouch on the Air and I understand there's even more multitouch in Lion.


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## editor (Jul 20, 2011)

I think what Apple are doing by uniting the mobile/tablet/desktop interfaces into one coherent system is very smart indeed.


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## electroplated (Jul 20, 2011)

I'm surprised that it has not done my head in given some programs I've been using daily for years have changed appearance so much - it just seems so familiar from my iOS devices that I _get_ what they've done and it seems to work as it should. Time will tell...


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## FridgeMagnet (Jul 20, 2011)

Right! Got it! Hm, best do a full Time Machine before clicking "continue" first I think.


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## FridgeMagnet (Jul 20, 2011)

Also, can I just copy the installer straight from my iMac to my laptop? Well, via a USB drive of course.


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## electroplated (Jul 20, 2011)

FridgeMagnet said:


> Also, can I just copy the installer straight from my iMac to my laptop? Well, via a USB drive of course.


 
as far as I know, yes - just locate the dmg (InstallESD.dmg) and move it over by whatever means you like


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## Crispy (Jul 20, 2011)

FINALLY!







iTunes has been rewritten for 64 bit and cocoa. Fingers crossed for better performance.

EDIT: Actually, this should be on the OSX thread


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## maldwyn (Jul 20, 2011)

maldwyn said:


> ... plus I'd like to see John Siracusa's review.



It's now up.

http://arstechnica.com/apple/reviews/2011/07/mac-os-x-10-7.ars


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## Structaural (Jul 20, 2011)

That's sounds good, how's the Finder? any improvements?


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## Structaural (Jul 20, 2011)

maldwyn said:


> It's now up.
> 
> http://arstechnica.com/apple/reviews/2011/07/mac-os-x-10-7.ars


 
nice *gets comfy*


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## Structaural (Jul 20, 2011)

where's Arstechnica gone? aaaaaaaaagh


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## maldwyn (Jul 20, 2011)

Still there for me - all 19 bloody pages!


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## pinkychukkles (Jul 20, 2011)

Am reading that review now. Bloody hell, well in depth - my geek credentials just pale into insignificance against his shining star...


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## Crispy (Jul 20, 2011)

maldwyn said:


> It's now up.
> 
> http://arstechnica.com/apple/reviews/2011/07/mac-os-x-10-7.ars


 


> *Table of Contents*
> Installation
> Reconsidering fundamentals
> Lion's new look
> ...



Oh Lord 

Bedtime reading I think!


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## spitfire (Jul 20, 2011)

I've just downloaded it, it was a nightmare to begin with (laaaaggggggiiiiinnnnggggg, crashes, all sorts) after the fresh install but a hard reboot seems to have given it a kick up the arse and everything seems normal again.

edit: nah, is it fuck. slow as anything, writing emails is a nightmare. fucksticks.

edit: now it's ok again.

the jury is out.


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## Crispy (Jul 20, 2011)

> If this is your first time reading an Ars Technica review of Mac OS X and you've made it this far, be warned: this section will be even more esoteric than the ones you've already read.



They indulge him, they really do


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## FridgeMagnet (Jul 20, 2011)

mds (which is the Spotlight indexer) is really using a shitload of memory, real and virtual, at the moment, and quite a lot of CPU.


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## elbows (Jul 20, 2011)

You will get Spotlight issues until its finished indexing the drive. I've had this before with previous OS upgrades, its painful for a while but once it settles down Lion seems really nippy to me. (Im on the dev program so Ive had Lion for a while but couldn't talk about it)

The new multitouch gestures are great, in particular the way that previous webpage can be swiped back to is very nice indeed, as the previous page does not appear to need rerendering so it all feels so smooth.

The reversed scroll direction takes a little time to get used to, its even weirder with mouse scroll-wheel. I think they have done it because they want the user interface & gesture paradigms to be unified across platforms at least to some extent. So even though we don't have touchscreen devices for this OS (yet), we're still supposed to think of ourselves as 'touching' the content rather than dragging a scrollbar.


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## FridgeMagnet (Jul 20, 2011)

Yah, it settled down very quickly on my MB Air, which has a smaller drive which is also an SSD. The 1.5TB iMac might take a while.

I found the scrolling took seconds to get used to on a trackpad but wheels (or in my case, buttons on the side of the trackball) don't work in the same way. I just flipped the direction tbh. I'm still thinking of getting a magic trackpad, even if it is really just another thing on my desk for me to cover in crap.


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## Crispy (Jul 20, 2011)

The trackpad is becoming more and more appealing, it has to be said.

I'm also getting a little wobbly feeling that this might be clean install time. I don't know. My imac came with 10.4 and has been upgraded twice. It _seems_ ok, but that fresh install feeling can't be beat


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## Kid_Eternity (Jul 20, 2011)

electroplated said:


> well... it's up and running, couple of odd glitches like no css loading for websites in firefox until I restarted it but otherwise pain free.
> 
> they've really gone to town on making the OS more in line with iOS - mail, calendar all look very like they do on iOS which was a surprise and the launchpad makes all your apps display like the grid on an iphone/pad but it's easy to use the interface the old fashioned way too.
> 
> ...


 
I think you can switch the reverse scroll thing in the settings...


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## Winot (Jul 20, 2011)

Crispy said:


> Will wait for the .1 release, as always.


 
You have more willpower than I.


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## Winot (Jul 20, 2011)

Interesting Macworld article here - Should you clean install Lion?

Suggests prob OK not to (with caveats).


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## Winot (Jul 20, 2011)

That said, I have my hard drive partioned already 500GB/500GB with a clean Snow Leopard OS on the spare partition (and not much else - use it for defragging main drive) so I may install Lion to start with on the spare partition andexperiment with Migration assistant.


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## FridgeMagnet (Jul 20, 2011)

I have to say that I've installed every OS X from 10.3 onwards (10.2 came pre-installed on my first mac) on the day of release or a few days after, and (a) I've never had any trouble with any of them and (b) nothing much changes in subsequent updates.


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## FridgeMagnet (Jul 20, 2011)

Winot said:


> Interesting Macworld article here - Should you clean install Lion?
> 
> Suggests prob OK not to (with caveats).


 
Oh, and I never do a clean install - well, not unless there's some particular reason to, like I have a new HD. Not as part of a routine upgrade. I did in the early days but realised that this wasn't Windows and there just wasn't any point.


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## Kid_Eternity (Jul 20, 2011)

The new iTunes is a great deal snappier than before. Which is nice.


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## FridgeMagnet (Jul 20, 2011)

Drag a page to the side in Safari 

Well, it's been amusing me slightly in the last few minutes. There will be a lot of these little things, unadvertised, there always are.


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## editor (Jul 20, 2011)

There's an illustrated review here: 
http://www.techradar.com/news/apple...software/hands-on-mac-os-x-lion-review-981259

It all looks rather nice (apart from the diary/address book which looks pretty horrid to my eyes). I like the look of Mail though.


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## Kid_Eternity (Jul 20, 2011)

FridgeMagnet said:


> Drag a page to the side in Safari
> 
> Well, it's been amusing me slightly in the last few minutes. There will be a lot of these little things, unadvertised, there always are.


 
Think it may be sometime before I get to do that, damn back up is taking forever!


----------



## FridgeMagnet (Jul 20, 2011)

editor said:


> I like the look of Mail though.


 
Mail is noticeably better, though on the other hand it's been quite crap for ages now. Well, not crap as such, but really basic and unimaginative. And with shit icons.


----------



## FridgeMagnet (Jul 20, 2011)

Here's another one: double two-finger tap in Safari smart-zooms on an area, just like a double tap in iOS Safari does.


----------



## Kid_Eternity (Jul 20, 2011)

Nice. How long did it take to download? You come up against bugs yet?


----------



## FridgeMagnet (Jul 20, 2011)

It's something like 4.75G but the servers are fast. No bugs that I've seen.


----------



## cybertect (Jul 20, 2011)

Structaural said:


> nice *gets comfy*


 
I just re-surfaced from reading Siracusa's review. 

Excellent as usual. 

Pondering attempting to install it in a VM to try out first.

afp548.com has the skinny on the Lion Server. Quick summary: all the admin tools are hugely simplified. The limit of most services configuration with the default admin app is ON or OFF. Server Admin and Workgroup Manager are optional downloads and they're scaled back in fine-grain control from the Snow Leopard versions. 

If you want to do 'complex' stuff like multiple sites or virtual domains with Apache, you're back to the command line.

BUT, there's some very nice stuff to support and manage mobile devices.

Oh, MySQL out, PostgreSQL in.

Seems Terminal Services are off the menu. Shame, I was kind of hoping that might materialise with Screen Sharing on the regular OS 


Lion Server looks like the proverbial curate's egg. As I'm in the middle of commissioning the last X-Serve we managed to get our hands on with 10.6.8 it leaves me with a lot of questions over whether to go with 10.7 or not. 

e2a: I may be considering going back to what I did in the late 90s and run Linux servers for Mac clients for some services.


----------



## cybertect (Jul 20, 2011)

editor said:


> It all looks rather nice (apart from the diary/address book which looks pretty horrid to my eyes)


 
Ugh! yes.

The look of Address Book and iCal could almost be a deal breaker for me


----------



## FridgeMagnet (Jul 20, 2011)

Must say that now all my Spotlighting is done, things seem _shockingly_ fast.

I also prefer Mission Control to the old combination of Spaces and Exposé. You get your Spaces and you get your Exposé and they're in the same view.


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## Crispy (Jul 21, 2011)

iCal has always been a bit crap. Even though I have it all synced, I prefer to use Gmail's web interface for managing my calendar.


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## Kid_Eternity (Jul 21, 2011)

Crispy said:


> iCal has always been a bit crap. Even though I have it all synced, I prefer to use Gmail's web interface for managing my calendar.


 
Yep me too, I use the web interface for updating and the caltab app in the status bar for quick view of upcoming stuff. Don't use Apple's mail either...


----------



## joustmaster (Jul 21, 2011)

one of my friends on facebook had a few posts over a few hours saying he is to install Lion, followed by the percentage count down and finally a "yey!"

Then an hour later, increasingly angry posts and then talk of going to get a refund..


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## FridgeMagnet (Jul 21, 2011)

He sounds peculiar.


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## Structaural (Jul 21, 2011)

If people are going to multi-touch devices (I know I'm going to have to get a multitrack pad - my daughter hates the mouse - she's used to her mum's macbook trackpad) - have a look at this bit of free software to add even more gestures: http://www.boastr.de/

So are the little animations as annoying as Siracusa says? (maybe they'll be able to be removed with a Terminal command or sped up - I use a utility on my jailbroken iphone that speeds up all animations by x4, gives a great illusion of snappiness).

That Address book is a shockingly out-dated, cheesy, corporate look. I'm surprised there's not Filofax holes in the pages. I'm starting to hate this analogue look and feel, you can take it too far. iBook is annoying for the same reason, I don't need to see a page turning animation and to be fair I shouldn't need to turn a page, I should be able to scroll like everything else I read (at least on a phone, this may change on a larger device).

right back to arstechnica, still gots lots to read...


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## joustmaster (Jul 21, 2011)

FridgeMagnet said:


> He sounds peculiar.


He is special.


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## electroplated (Jul 21, 2011)

not sure if a feature is missing or just not where it used to be but in Mail, when I enter text into the search bar, I used to be able to select whether I was searching by sender / subject / recipient etc 

now I get back a list of either people / subjects - how do i search by recipient, for example?

EDIT: Found it! - Once you've chosen a person or a subject a sub menu appears with the old options


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## maldwyn (Jul 21, 2011)

Interesting so far, but can't really see myself using Launchpad - the iTunes screensaver is fun.


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## Structaural (Jul 21, 2011)

Adobe list of known problems - it's big


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## Kid_Eternity (Jul 21, 2011)

Structaural said:


> Adobe list of known problems - it's big


 
Heh thankfully I run none of them apart from flash (which is a piece of shit anyway).


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## mrs quoad (Jul 21, 2011)

Oop.

Hadn't heard of Lion before today.

Then found out I qualified for a free upgrade.

So began DLing about 30s ago.

Now I'm reading this, and wondering if that was such a sharp move


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## FridgeMagnet (Jul 21, 2011)

Why? It's brilliant. There's not a single thing I think was better before. Even Exposé (and I liked the old Exposé, but this is great).

Oh, wait, it hides your Library folder in the Finder by default. One thing.


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## mrs quoad (Jul 21, 2011)

FridgeMagnet said:


> Why? It's brilliant. There's not a single thing I think was better before. Even Exposé (and I liked the old Exposé, but this is great).
> 
> Oh, wait, it hides your Library folder in the Finder by default. One thing.


 
What's Expose?

Liking your review, mind 

Gotta say, if this was Windows, I'd be wary as fuck. I think I've bought into Apple in a way that I never quite did with MS.


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## FridgeMagnet (Jul 21, 2011)

This isn't Windows. It's actually the easiest upgrade ever. You download it, you run it, it says "please wait", you wait (admittedly for half an hour or so) and then it's done. There's not a single option to select or issue to resolve.

This is what computers should be like really.


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## mrs quoad (Jul 21, 2011)

FridgeMagnet said:


> This is what computers should be like really.


 
Where I went wrong.


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## FridgeMagnet (Jul 21, 2011)

Yeah, you did the spec thing. Apparently you can get a netbook that's faster than an iPad for less money, too.


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## mrs quoad (Jul 21, 2011)

FridgeMagnet said:


> Yeah, you did the spec thing. Apparently you can get a netbook that's faster than an iPad for less money, too.


 
But at least the iPad's CD drive and USB port make up for that.


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## FridgeMagnet (Jul 21, 2011)

Everything comes with Photoshop Elements too!


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## mrs quoad (Jul 21, 2011)

FridgeMagnet said:


> Everything comes with Photoshop Elements too!


 
I, for one, have been heartened this evening by a mental picture of gangs of schoolkids (or little Timmy, at least) running around the back alleys and ginnels of a Glaswegian sink estate, shooting films for class (and gran) with their netbook's integrated webcam.


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## mrs quoad (Jul 22, 2011)

Starting the installation at 01:00 was a really really bad idea.

e2a: oh! Wait! I'm backed up to Dropbox. I can carry on word-processing on the iPad


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## mrs quoad (Jul 22, 2011)

It's inverted my mouse's y axis!


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## editor (Jul 22, 2011)

Some folks may find this useful - Nine Things You Should Do After Installing OS X Lion - starting with:


> Leave It Alone For A Few Hours:
> After Lion launched yesterday morning, reports started pouring in that folks who made the jump from Snow Leopard to Lion were seeing terribly sluggish performance. Then, like magic, the sluggishness disappeared.
> Here’s why: Lion makes a good number of changes to the way the Spotlight search works. These changes seem to require a reindexing of your hard drive’s contents . The problem? Apple starts this reindexing immediately after Lion boots up for the first time, and it causes systems (even relatively new ones) to run like hot garbage until it’s done. Give Spotlight a few hours after install is complete to work everything out, and you’ll have a much better first impression




http://techcrunch.com/2011/07/21/os-x-lion-new-features/


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## redsquirrel (Jul 22, 2011)

Have to say I'm quite pleased so far.

I like the reading list in Safari - I'm always finding pages that I want to read later and this way keeps your bookmarks organised.

One thing I don't like is that a finder window no longer tells us how much free diskspace you have.


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## Kid_Eternity (Jul 22, 2011)

All backed up but gonna leave the install to the weekend when I have time.

For those a bit  because of the inverted scroll you can change it back.


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## pianissimo (Jul 22, 2011)

Is it worth upgrading to Lion?
I don't see that much of an improvement...
And the inverted scrolling is such a bad idea (though can switch off in settings).


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## elbows (Jul 22, 2011)

redsquirrel said:


> One thing I don't like is that a finder window no longer tells us how much free diskspace you have.


 
In finder just go to the view menu, and select 'Show Status Bar'.


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## redsquirrel (Jul 22, 2011)

^ ah, thanks for that


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## Kid_Eternity (Jul 22, 2011)

Took two hours to download and about an hour to install, running fine from what I can tell. Really love this swipe to the side thing, very neat!


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## Winot (Aug 3, 2011)

Have installed Lion on partition and had a play around - seems quite nice. 

Anyone had any problems with any apps? Roaringapps report problems with Chrome and Plaxo (important for me as I use it to sync iCal and Microsoft Exchange).


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## Kid_Eternity (Aug 3, 2011)

Only one app doesn't work so far: CCleaner but that's still in beta so not the end of the world.


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## Structaural (Aug 4, 2011)

Can't install it on my wife's laptop - only 1GB on there. Not that bothered but Lion seems more geared to those with trackpads. 
Still find it a bit meh on my wacom'ed mac pro. Still maintaining SL for primary boot, Vine Server doesn't seem to work.

Some handy Lion tips here: http://thenextweb.com/apple/2011/07/29/handy-tips-and-tricks-for-os-x-lion/


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## Kid_Eternity (Aug 4, 2011)

Ohhhh just started using the desktops thing in Mission Control. Me likes! Very cool feature...


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## pinkychukkles (Aug 7, 2011)

I've got an ongoing issue with SL where Time Machine doesn't appear to backup all the files it's supposed to and attempting to troubleshoot it with some helpful folk in the Apple discussion forums. Even after doing a re-install in place didn't fix it, the next step was a fresh clean re-install of the OS... which I've put off as it will take _at least_ half a day to re-install the OS + all my apps and get their settings back to what they were.

Anyway, I've since decided I want to upgrade my laptop with a SSD drive and take the DVD drive out and put another HDD, like some of the peeps on this thread on Urban. So it seems logical to do a clean install with Lion once all the various pieces of hardware arrive but I have one question, if I'm doing a clean install of Lion, *why is the file so small for a complete OS? It's less than 4GB?*


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## FridgeMagnet (Aug 7, 2011)

That's not very small! None of them have needed more than one DVD to deliver yet iirc. (It's also quite heavily compressed I'd imagine.)


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## pinkychukkles (Aug 7, 2011)

True, point taken about the compression; although if it was a dual layer DVD that's up to about 8.5GB; haven't some of the installation discs been up to 5GB IIRC?
_S'pose my main question is that by having the Lion install .dmg file, you are getting a complete OS?_
It just seems... well trimmed and I s'pose it is, as they've got rid of all the Power PC support, probably pared down the language support as well.


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## FridgeMagnet (Aug 7, 2011)

I haven't done it, but given the number of guides out there to making a bootable install disc with it, I think we can be fairly sure it's the entire OS. (SL was the whole thing, too.)


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## Kid_Eternity (Aug 11, 2011)

I really like this, very cool little idea!









> If you use multiple Desktops (aka Spaces aka Virtual Desktops) in OS X Lion’s Mission Control, you can set apps to specific Desktops, all Desktops, or no specific Desktop at all.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


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## Structaural (Aug 18, 2011)

http://www.globaldelight.com/boom/index.html


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## Structaural (Aug 19, 2011)

Another useful one, this utility shows all the apps/daemon etc running on your machine:
http://khiltd.com/software/consultants_canary


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## mrs quoad (Aug 23, 2011)

Crispy said:


> The trackpad is becoming more and more appealing, it has to be said.


On this... (and running a search for 'trackpad'...)

I (unexpectedly) got my iMac paid for by a research expenses account. So received an (unexpected) cheque for £1,300 in the middle of last week.

I'm incapable of putting anything aside without first getting myself something Nice, so went to the Apple store and (after some deliberation) got a magic trackpad.

My first thoughts were that it's utter gash. Utter, utter gash. And after 5 mins, I was tempted to box it up and eBay it.

BUT after ramping up the sensitivity / speed, and tinkering with the settings, I've got to say it's chuffing great. I've played a bit of Borderlands with it o) and it's fantastic for that; and the multi-touch gestures are really, really lovely. Swipe TOGETHER for launchpad. Swipe OUT and WHOOSH! Everything scatters to the edges of the screen. Four fingers up for mission control, 4 down for expose. And light tapping with two fingers (or one finger resting plus the other one clicking) -> right click.

It is really, really smooth, and fantastically integrated.

My one gripe would be that it's a bit stiff towards the top of the pad. You can definitely tell which end the hinge is at, and (e.g.) Borderlands'd be unplayable if it was relying on a full-on click (rather than having the 'tap the trackpad to click' setting on)


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## Structaural (Aug 23, 2011)

Cheers quoad, I'm quite interested in one of these...


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## Kid_Eternity (Aug 23, 2011)

If I ever got an iMac I reckon I'd probably just use one instead of a mouse. Using the trackpad is a wonder to behold compared to the mouse I've found...


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## Structaural (Aug 24, 2011)

I can barely use a mouse these days, FPS gaming only, too used to a stylus now... Shame you can't remap the Bamboo gestures to the Lion gestures (or maybe you can), then I'd get a Wacom Bamboo....


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## mrs quoad (Aug 25, 2011)

I've only just realised _just how nifty _the 4-finger (full-screen app) sideswipe can be. Instead of finnicking around on my desktop for e.g. iTunes, I can 4-finger swipe to the RIGHT, and there it is! Another swipe, and I'm into the Pages document I'm working on!

Far smoother than switching between windows, and minimises the need to come out of full screen (which, on a 21" Mac, is f***ing beautiful. Particularly for e.g. having 6 pages up at a time for word processing.)

e2a: also, obv, doubles up as an outstanding - and subtle - boss button


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## Kid_Eternity (Aug 26, 2011)

Heh it is great.


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## FridgeMagnet (Aug 26, 2011)

Fullscreen on a 27" iMac, however, is a bit... overwhelming. I quite like having all the relevant information actually within my peripheral vision.


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## redsquirrel (Aug 27, 2011)

mrs quoad said:


> I've only just realised _just how nifty _the 4-finger (full-screen app) sideswipe can be. Instead of finnicking around on my desktop for e.g. iTunes, I can 4-finger swipe to the RIGHT, and there it is! Another swipe, and I'm into the Pages document I'm working on!
> 
> Far smoother than switching between windows, and minimises the need to come out of full screen (which, on a 21" Mac, is f***ing beautiful. Particularly for e.g. having 6 pages up at a time for word processing.)
> 
> e2a: also, obv, doubles up as an outstanding - and subtle - boss button


Does 4-fingers do something different to 3 then?


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## Kanda (Aug 27, 2011)

FridgeMagnet said:


> Fullscreen on a 27" iMac, however, is a bit... overwhelming. I quite like having all the relevant information actually within my peripheral vision.



Move a foot back...


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## pseudonarcissus (Aug 27, 2011)

Something has happened to the international keyboard, but I don't know what!

I'm English, my partner is Brazilian. I have a MacBook pro from the USA. If you set up one user with all the Brazilian/Portuguese options you can think of, I can't work out how to get accents, some are easy, <alt> and the letter will get a selection. On the top right corner of the screen is a button to give a map. But where the hell is ã, ç etc.

Anyone else have bi-lingual macs?


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## pseudonarcissus (Aug 27, 2011)

I should add, I just installed Lion, and I'm told things got a whole lot worse, which seems strange, I will be able to get to a Mac store in a week or so, so we will see how good the child geniuses are then


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## FridgeMagnet (Aug 27, 2011)

Kanda said:


> Move a foot back...


I quite like being able to read stuff on the screen as well, and not fall over the coffee table.


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## Kanda (Aug 27, 2011)

FridgeMagnet said:


> I quite like being able to read stuff on the screen as well, and not fall over the coffee table.



Get your eyes tested


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## maldwyn (Aug 27, 2011)

pseudonarcissus said:


> But where the hell is ã, ç etc.


Keep a key depressed and instead of a continuous repeat you now get the options you're looking for.


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## pseudonarcissus (Aug 27, 2011)

maldwyn said:


> Keep a key depressed and instead of a continuous repeat you now get the options you're looking for.


I couldn't get that to work but I did discover the portugese de portugal keyboard is much more logical than the brasiliero keyboard....


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## Piers Gibbon (Aug 29, 2011)

I really must get with the programme and upgrade to Lion...I can't remember why I decided to delay


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## Structaural (Sep 2, 2011)

Cool, that Reopen all tabs thing is in the latest Safari under Snow Leopard - I thought that was Lion only.


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## sim667 (Sep 2, 2011)

Im still debating whether to upgrade to lion or not.

I was gonna do it on a second hard drive so i can still have my old os bootable incase there's any apps that dont work on lion.


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## Structaural (Sep 2, 2011)

I'm still on Snow Leopard, works great. Too many little things still don't under Lion, I'll wait a bit longer...


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## Piers Gibbon (Sep 2, 2011)

and the next Lion is due soonish I think...


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## Structaural (Sep 2, 2011)

Worth a read for all - a security hole in OS X (I just 'untrusted' it myself):

http://www.coriolis-systems.com/blog/2011/08/diginotar-certificate-security.php


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## stupid dogbot (Sep 8, 2011)

Dear Lion,

Thanks for turning my laptop into an iPad. If I'd known, I could have saved a grand and a half.


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## skyscraper101 (Sep 8, 2011)

Is it really that bad?

I didn't even upgrade to Snow Leopard and I'm not going to do so just to upgrade to Lion if it basically just turns my mac into an ipad with mouse control.


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## FridgeMagnet (Sep 8, 2011)

Well, no, it doesn't.


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## stupid dogbot (Sep 8, 2011)

It's a bit shit, though. Apps are slower (and my machine's an i7, before anyone starts), the implementation of spaces for fullscreen apps is jerky, launchpad is _crap_. Tbh, if you're happy with Snow Leopard, I'd highly recommend a TM backup before you do this.

Wish I had.


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## elbows (Sep 8, 2011)

In what way are apps slower? To start, to load or save documents, or something else?

I'm happy with Lion, thought not quite as happy as I was initially. I've had the odd glitch here and there, though I need to fee up hard drive space to make sure it isn't something unrelated to the Lion update. I think some of the glitches in performance I've had are because of apps remembering what documents I had open before, and me still not really being used to this and ending up with apps opening lots of documents when they start.


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## FridgeMagnet (Sep 8, 2011)

The main issue I have with it is that the new Safari runs like a dog. Er, a fat lazy dog with three legs, anyway. It keep randomly beachballing and has a stupid thing where a page that won't fully load blocks everything else, and requires you to reload every other tab (or something - I've never quite worked out what it thinks it's doing, but other people have complained about the same things). This is only an issue on my HDD iMac, personally - on my SSD Air I don't have any trouble.

I can't say I've noticed much about fullscreen and spaces, but then I don't use fullscreen much anyway. There's little advantage in Launchpad for people who've used OS X previously and have already set things up so they have their apps to hand, but I can see that if you were new, you'd find it a lot better than the dock (which is shit as a launcher but was the only standard icon-based one) and be able to customise it properly. It's entirely optional anyway.

There plenty of advantages though - document autosave and auto-versioning could be extremely handy even if not that many apps support it right now, the new Mail is way better, there are improvements to the Finder... the usual list of little bits that you notice along the way.


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## Structaural (Sep 8, 2011)

I think it's the latest Safari, I'm getting the same bugs under SN, also tabs showing blank for a few seconds before repainting (not reloading). Quit and reload saved session and the tab names are filled but all the Urls are blank.

Yeah it's shitty, might have to use Chrome until an update.


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## Kid_Eternity (Sep 8, 2011)

skyscraper101 said:


> Is it really that bad?
> 
> I didn't even upgrade to Snow Leopard and I'm not going to do so just to upgrade to Lion if it basically just turns my mac into an ipad with mouse control.



It's nowhere near like that at all. Lion is a very nice update to OSX ime. The only issue that's bugging me is the App Store is slow as hell now, every click is a beachball...everything else runs fine.


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## redsquirrel (Sep 9, 2011)

Yeah I have to say that dogbot's experience is nothing like mine.

Overall I'm very glad I updated. The revert to saved feature rescued me yesterday.


----------



## Structaural (Sep 9, 2011)

Here's a bunch of useful Terminal commands for you Lion users:


```
# Enable full keyboard access for all controls (e.g. enable Tab in modal dialogs)
defaults write NSGlobalDomain AppleKeyboardUIMode -int 3

# Enable the 2D Dock
defaults write com.apple.dock no-glass -bool true

# Disable menu bar transparency
defaults write -g AppleEnableMenuBarTransparency -bool false

# Expand save panel by default
defaults write -g NSNavPanelExpandedStateForSaveMode -bool true

# Expand print panel by default
defaults write -g PMPrintingExpandedStateForPrint -bool true

# Disable shadow in screenshots
defaults write com.apple.screencapture disable-shadow -bool true

# Enable highlight hover effect for the grid view of a stack (Dock)
defaults write com.apple.dock mouse-over-hilte-stack -bool true

# Enable spring loading for all Dock items
defaults write enable-spring-load-actions-on-all-items -bool true

# Disable press-and-hold for keys in favor of key repeat
defaults write -g ApplePressAndHoldEnabled -bool false

# Disable auto-correct
defaults write NSGlobalDomain NSAutomaticSpellingCorrectionEnabled -bool false

# Disable window animations
defaults write NSGlobalDomain NSAutomaticWindowAnimationsEnabled -bool false

# Disable disk image verification
defaults write com.apple.frameworks.diskimages skip-verify -bool true
defaults write com.apple.frameworks.diskimages skip-verify-locked -bool true
defaults write com.apple.frameworks.diskimages skip-verify-remote -bool true

# Automatically open a new Finder window when a volume is mounted
defaults write com.apple.frameworks.diskimages auto-open-ro-root -bool true
defaults write com.apple.frameworks.diskimages auto-open-rw-root -bool true

# Avoid creating .DS_Store files on network volumes
defaults write com.apple.desktopservices DSDontWriteNetworkStores -bool true

# Disable Safari’s thumbnail cache for History and Top Sites
defaults write com.apple.Safari DebugSnapshotsUpdatePolicy -int 2

# Enable Safari’s debug menu
defaults write com.apple.Safari IncludeDebugMenu -bool true

# Remove useless icons from Safari’s bookmarks bar
defaults write com.apple.Safari ProxiesInBookmarksBar "()"

# Disable send and reply animations in Mail.app
defaults write com.apple.Mail DisableReplyAnimations -bool true
defaults write com.apple.Mail DisableSendAnimations -bool true

# Disable Resume system-wide
defaults write NSGlobalDomain NSQuitAlwaysKeepsWindows -bool false

# Enable Dashboard dev mode (allows keeping widgets on the desktop)
defaults write com.apple.dashboard devmode -bool true

# Reset Launchpad
rm ~/Library/Application\ Support/Dock/*.db

# Show the ~/Library folder
chflags nohidden ~/Library

# Disable local Time Machine backups
sudo tmutil disablelocal

# Kill affected applications
for app in Safari Finder Dock Mail; do killall "$app"; done

# Fix for the ancient UTF-8 bug in QuickLook (http://mths.be/bbo)
echo "0x08000100:0" > ~/.CFUserTextEncoding
```

https://github.com/mathiasbynens/dotfiles/blob/master/.osx


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## Kid_Eternity (Oct 15, 2011)

Anyone noticed any changes with the recent iCloud OS X update? I'm sure the icons for apps in Launchpad have got about 30% bigger but can't be sure...


----------



## sim667 (Oct 17, 2011)

Im picking up a HD to install os Lion on today.....

This will probably be the most exciting thing i do this week


----------



## Lazy Llama (Oct 17, 2011)

Kid_Eternity said:


> Anyone noticed any changes with the recent iCloud OS X update? I'm sure the icons for apps in Launchpad have got about 30% bigger but can't be sure...


Yeah, they're bigger.
Some of my dock "indicator lights" aren't coming on either (for iTunes and Tweetdeck so far)


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## Kid_Eternity (Oct 17, 2011)

Lazy Llama said:


> Yeah, they're bigger.
> Some of my dock "indicator lights" aren't coming on either (for iTunes and Tweetdeck so far)



Ah good it isn't just me! Not having any issue with the indicator lights myself...


----------



## sim667 (Oct 17, 2011)

You can enable or disable dock indicator lights, might be related?


----------



## Lazy Llama (Oct 17, 2011)

sim667 said:


> You can enable or disable dock indicator lights, might be related?


They're enabled and have been since I started using Lion, and show up for most apps, just not those two at the moment.
Might try turning the setting off and on again, for traditional reasons.


----------



## elbows (Oct 17, 2011)

Strange. iTunes dock light is working ok for me.


----------



## Piers Gibbon (Oct 17, 2011)

I'm now thinking I might wait till ios and osx have had just one more update before I jump in.. I'd get flustered otherwise ;-)


----------



## Lazy Llama (Oct 17, 2011)

elbows said:


> Strange. iTunes dock light is working ok for me.


I probably need to do a reboot. Some things aren't showing at all in the dock but show windows in the Mission control screen.


----------



## sim667 (Oct 18, 2011)

Upgraded to lion yesterday. Everything seems to have gone well. Did a clean install on a new hard drive and moved everything over. And im using the disk image to create a boot USB drive when I get home later.

Only one application I need doesnt work which is the software for my monitor calibrator. Im going to look at claibrating in snow leopard, then copying the profiles over to lion whilst I work out a better long term solution...... Generally quite pleased though


----------



## sim667 (Oct 18, 2011)

I was fed up I didnt get iLife '11 on Lion when I installed it, but I've just picked up a sealed pack with 5 user codes on ebay for £16..... madness.


----------



## Kid_Eternity (Oct 18, 2011)

Anyone know how to do a screen grab of the entire window (not just the bit that's showing on the screen) with no browser plugin?


----------



## Crispy (Oct 18, 2011)

Kid_Eternity said:


> Anyone know how to do a screen grab of the entire window (not just the bit that's showing on the screen) with no browser plugin?



EDIT: Derp


----------



## sim667 (Oct 18, 2011)

Applications>Utilities>Grab

Choose what type of capture you want to do at the top when the application is open.


----------



## Kid_Eternity (Oct 18, 2011)

It's kinda urgent if anyone's about and can help!


----------



## sim667 (Oct 18, 2011)

Oh, that will only do whats displayed on screen though.


----------



## Kid_Eternity (Oct 18, 2011)

sim667 said:


> Applications>Utilities>Grab
> 
> Choose what type of capture you want to do at the top when the application is open.



Tried that but it wouldn't let me take the whole screen just the viewable part of it.


----------



## Kanda (Oct 18, 2011)

To capture the entire desktop, press *Command-Shift-3*. The screen shot will be automatically saved as a PNG file on your desktop.

To capture a specific application window, press *Command-Shift-4*, then press the *Spacebar*.

http://graphicssoft.about.com/od/screencapturemac/ht/macscreenshot.htm


----------



## Kid_Eternity (Oct 18, 2011)

Ah yeah...no sorry not explaining myself properly. I want the entire contents of a window in a browser (all the scrolled down bits). At the moment it's only showing viewable. In Chrome there's a great plug in that does this but FF seems to not have one...


----------



## sim667 (Oct 18, 2011)

I think that might be your only solution..... a plugin.


----------



## Crispy (Oct 18, 2011)

Print to PDF


----------



## Kid_Eternity (Oct 18, 2011)

Yee...looking for one now, had a quick look but couldn't see one before and figured I'd get a clearer quick answer on here...damn! Cheers anyway peeps!


----------



## Kid_Eternity (Oct 18, 2011)

Crispy said:


> Print to PDF



Heh tried that, it strips out or fucks with formatting and this is web testing so the dev team need to see things as a user would in the screen shots..!


----------



## Structaural (Oct 18, 2011)

For Kid_E:

http://www.gomediazine.com/tutorials/tools-tips/paparazzi-full-web-page-screeshots-utility-os-x/


----------



## Structaural (Oct 18, 2011)

Lion does motion blur within mission control and launchpad - just press Command+M to toggle.


----------



## Utopia (Oct 19, 2011)

Just bought a brand spanking iMac 27" 2.7Ghz, should be delivered 1st week Nov, cannot wait, i'm a lifelong PC user(and work as a systems developer) so its going to be a whole new world, i'm a keen photographer so a Mac's a perfect companion.  I shall be avidly going through this thread for top tips.  So whats the preferred software for designing flyers/labels etc?


----------



## Crispy (Oct 19, 2011)

Graphic design? King of Everything is photoshop (pixels) or illustrator (vectors). Pixelmator is a very nice cheap alternative to photoshop - you can get it in the app store.

Don't forget to riffle through the system settings when you get it. There are some silly defaults. You might like to Minimize to Application Icon instead of to the right of the dock. Also, change Finder Search behaviour to Current Folder instead of the whole computer. Things like that.


----------



## Structaural (Oct 19, 2011)

Got a magic pad yesterday (or whatever it's called), quite nifty, was going to finally upgrade to Lion but my internet is still down (bloody KPN).

I can't help thinking there's going to be a whole new world of repetitive strain injuries. Hovering the hand over the pad gets bothersome after a while. I'm sure I'll find the sweetspot...

Put on bettertouchtool - gesture city (nice to make custom gestures for VLC for instance) and trying this one (which lets you draw letters/arrows to invoke stuff):
http://www.jitouch.com/index.php?page=characters

not sure about that one....


----------



## sim667 (Oct 19, 2011)

Crispy said:


> Graphic design? King of Everything is photoshop (pixels) or illustrator (vectors). Pixelmator is a very nice cheap alternative to photoshop - you can get it in the app store.
> 
> Don't forget to riffle through the system settings when you get it. There are some silly defaults. You might like to Minimize to Application Icon instead of to the right of the dock. Also, change Finder Search behaviour to Current Folder instead of the whole computer. Things like that.



If your not bothered about being all legit, just get download cs5 and buy littlesnitch to stop any applications phoning home


----------



## Structaural (Oct 19, 2011)

I had trouble with Littlesnitch and CS5, this did the job: (instructions in the post, I didn't use the script though others have with no problems):

http://thepiratebay.org/torrent/5529568/Adobe_CS5_Master_Collection_SN_block-script_[MAC_Only]


----------



## sim667 (Oct 19, 2011)

I've got it all blocked ok, I just cant remember how to remove the adobe software updater from startup

I did it fine on snow leopard, but its started running again during startup on lion.


----------



## Structaural (Oct 19, 2011)

That's the app from hell  Delete it from your Utilties folder


----------



## sim667 (Oct 19, 2011)

Structaural said:


> That's the app from hell  Delete it from your Utilties folder



Cool ill do that when I get home....

My VNC isnt working properly anymore either...... I can connect but it just takes me to a log in screen, and then wont respond to the commands I send...... When i go to the computer itself its just sitting at the desktop ready to be used....

Any ideas?


----------



## Structaural (Oct 19, 2011)

Are you using Vine? I had trouble with that the first time I tried Lion out.

I was hoping it was fixed... what client are you using to connect?

Edit: found this on another page, dunno if this helps:








_You need to enter BOTH your Mac user name and password to get screen shaing in Lion to work; otherwise, you get stuck at the login page. Lion now allows access to separate user accounts. Some VNC clients allow you to do this, some don't.

I think if you use Remoter VNC to access your Mac via SSH (a cool feature, btw) I don't think you'll have this problem.

Using the Remoter's virtual trackpad with Lion is pretty cool._


----------



## Kid_Eternity (Oct 19, 2011)

Structaural said:


> For Kid_E:
> 
> http://www.gomediazine.com/tutorials/tools-tips/paparazzi-full-web-page-screeshots-utility-os-x/



By way of an update starting using Snag It. It's paid for but very good, perfect for web dev stuff!


----------



## sim667 (Oct 19, 2011)

Structaural said:


> Are you using Vine? I had trouble with that the first time I tried Lion out.
> 
> I was hoping it was fixed... what client are you using to connect?
> 
> ...



It's using the built in vnc client on lion and mocha vnc for iOS


----------



## Kid_Eternity (Oct 19, 2011)

Aha apparently you can change the app icon size in Launchpad.


----------



## sim667 (Oct 19, 2011)

I've fixed the vac problem now....

But my superdrive is failing and running really slow grrrrrr!!!! Its fine when I boot from snow leopard.

And i can't make a boot disk of leopard on a 4gb stick annoyingly, it says there's not enough space, but the disk image is only 3.7gb.


----------



## Kanda (Oct 19, 2011)

sim667 said:


> I've fixed the vac problem now....
> 
> But my superdrive is failing and running really slow grrrrrr!!!! Its fine when I boot from snow leopard.
> 
> And i can't make a boot disk of leopard on a 4gb stick annoyingly, it says there's not enough space, but the disk image is only 3.7gb.



Did you use Disk Utility??


----------



## sim667 (Oct 19, 2011)

Yeah i did. Just says not enough space on it.

Ill buy an 8gb one...... that should get the bastard


----------



## Winot (Nov 9, 2011)

I'm getting loads of crashes on Lion according to CheckUp - info on the latest one (from Console) is c+p'ed below.  Does it mean anything to you knowledgable computer bods?  Am running a 3.06 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo (24 inch) from early 2008 with 6GB RAM stuffed into it.

Thanks!

Process:         com.apple.qtkitserver [873]
Path:            /System/Library/XPCServices/com.apple.qtkitserver.xpc/Contents/MacOS/com.apple.qtkitserver
Identifier:      com.apple.qtkitserver
Version:         1.0 (1)
Build Info:      QuickTime-2306000000000000~1
Code Type:       X86 (Native)
Parent Process:  ??? [1]

Date/Time:       2011-11-09 21:39:15.462 +0000
OS Version:      Mac OS X 10.7.2 (11C74)
Report Version:  9

Crashed Thread:  0  Dispatch queue: com.apple.main-thread

Exception Type:  EXC_BAD_ACCESS (SIGBUS)
Exception Codes: KERN_PROTECTION_FAILURE at 0x00000000048e3140

VM Regions Near 0x48e3140:
    __TEXT                 000000000480b000-00000000048dc000 [  836K] r-x/rwx SM=COW  /Library/Application Support/3ivx/*.dylib
--> __DATA                 00000000048dc000-0000000004917000 [  236K] rw-/rwx SM=COW  /Library/Application Support/3ivx/*.dylib
    __DATA                 0000000004917000-0000000004937000 [  128K] rw-/rwx SM=PRV  /Library/Application Support/3ivx/*.dylib

Application Specific Information:
objc[873]: garbage collection is OFF


----------



## elbows (Nov 9, 2011)

Looks like a problem with the 3ivx video codec. There is stuff on the net that suggests they had major Lion compatibility issues, but have recently released a fix.

http://www.3ivx.com/download/macos.html

(release notes at http://www.3ivx.com/support/tbd_504.html )


----------



## Winot (Nov 9, 2011)

elbows said:


> Looks like a problem with the 3ivx video codec. There is stuff on the net that suggests they had major Lion compatibility issues, but have recently released a fix.
> 
> http://www.3ivx.com/download/macos.html
> 
> (release notes at http://www.3ivx.com/support/tbd_504.html )



You're a star - many thanks. Have uninstalled that and will see how I get on.


----------



## Crispy (Nov 10, 2011)

Perian and Flip4mac are the only Quicktime codecs you should ever need.


----------



## Structaural (Nov 10, 2011)

Just got internet again after a month without (was like going back to the early nineties), switched ISP, get 5.7 MB/s down now, jeesh. 

Really like this magic pad (with Bettertouch) so might make the jump to Lion this weekend, and iOS 5.


----------



## sim667 (Nov 10, 2011)

Structaural said:


> Just got internet again after a month without (was like going back to the early nineties), switched ISP, get 5.7 MB/s down now, jeesh.
> 
> Really like this magic pad (with Bettertouch) so might make the jump to Lion this weekend, and iOS 5.



Having just made the jump to lion, I would say hold off........ wait until 10.7.4 ish is out, its only on .2......... there's a few bugs still......

Jump in with iOS 5, i really like it.


----------



## elbows (Nov 10, 2011)

sim667 said:


> there's a few bugs still......



Anything in particular? Im sure there are some issues here and there, but nothing that made me regret upgrading to Lion as soon as it came out. But I would recommend backing up entire OS drive before doing such a major upgrade, just in case.


----------



## FridgeMagnet (Nov 10, 2011)

There's nothing much that I've seen, and I'm pretty easily annoyed. Safari was dreadful for a bit with .0 and .1 but nowadays it seems a lot better.


----------



## Structaural (Nov 10, 2011)

I'll be putting it on a clone of my main drive. 

My most used, heavy lifting programs are Photoshop, after effects and cinema4d, as long as they work...

Anyone know if Vine server has been sorted out?


----------



## Structaural (Nov 14, 2011)

Well that didn't go well. I'm stuck on the Linen screen of death. Installation stops at that screen on startup.
Back to snow leopard as I can't find any help on this.


----------



## sim667 (Nov 14, 2011)

elbows said:


> Anything in particular? Im sure there are some issues here and there, but nothing that made me regret upgrading to Lion as soon as it came out. But I would recommend backing up entire OS drive before doing such a major upgrade, just in case.



Come across some awkward buggy bits putting them on networks, they forget domains a lot for some reason.


----------



## Winot (Nov 14, 2011)

Still having loads of crashes - a few random entries from the log copied below in case they mean anything to anyone - I assume my hard disc is borked?

Nov 14 19:10:07 new-imac-2 kernel[0]: (default pager): [KERNEL]: System is out of paging space.
Nov 14 19:11:20 new-imac-2 kernel[0]: proc: table is full
Nov 14 19:12:35 new-imac-2 kernel[0]: mcxalr{30} *ERROR* msleep waiting for client reply (uid:503 seqid:40 path:/System/Library/Frameworks/CoreServices.framework/Versions/A/Frameworks/OSServices.framework/Versions/A/Support/SFLIconTool) failed (35).  Result: -1

Nov 14 19:15:32 New-iMac-2 kernel[0]: vnic0: promiscuous mode enable failed
Nov 14 19:15:32 New-iMac-2 kernel[0]: vnic1: promiscuous mode enable failed

Nov 14 19:21:11 new-imac-2 kernel[0]: HFS: Very Low Disk: freeblks: 0, dangerlimit: 149
Nov 14 19:22:56 new-imac-2 kernel[0]: 0        0 AppleUSBCDC: start - initDevice failed
Nov 14 19:26:19 new-imac-2 kernel[0]: IOSurface: buffer allocation size is zero


----------



## Piers Gibbon (Nov 14, 2011)

bone your promiscuous mode and restart


----------



## Winot (Nov 14, 2011)

Piers Gibbon said:


> bone your promiscuous mode and restart



Sounds sexy - how do I do that?


----------



## Piers Gibbon (Nov 14, 2011)

I have no idea...it's all gibberish to me, good luck with the issues


----------



## Lazy Llama (Nov 14, 2011)

The errors sound like it's out of disk space: "Very Low Disk: freeblks: 0", "System is out of paging space"

If there's plenty of space, it'll be worth running a "Verify Disk" in Disk Utility


----------



## elbows (Nov 15, 2011)

Searching for similar errors on the net tend to indicate that its not actually disk space, that its an issue of RAM being used up but that can have many different causes (e.g. happened for some on snow leopard and earlier) so the info posted probably isn't enough to determine the culprit.


----------



## Winot (Nov 15, 2011)

You're right, it doesn't seem to be disk space, and there doesn't seem to be any easy answers.  I can post the whole log when I get home tonight if you have the patience to look at it.

I have reinstalled Lion on a partition and migrated my data over to that to run it for a while and see what happens.  I may try uninstalling a few things such as Chrome and Parallels to see if that makes a difference.


----------



## Winot (Nov 15, 2011)

Winot said:


> You're right, it doesn't seem to be disk space, and there doesn't seem to be any easy answers. I can post the whole log when I get home tonight if you have the patience to look at it.
> 
> I have reinstalled Lion on a partition and migrated my data over to that to run it for a while and see what happens. I may try uninstalling a few things such as Chrome and Parallels to see if that makes a difference.



Here is the latest log file.  If anyone can sort this I'll gladly buy them a crate of beer.


----------



## elbows (Nov 15, 2011)

What version of Parallels are you using?


----------



## Winot (Nov 15, 2011)

elbows said:


> What version of Parallels are you using?



6 - and it's been crap even pre-Lion.  Should I try uninstalling?


----------



## elbows (Nov 16, 2011)

I can't really say, it was parallels 7 that I ready about some bad Lion problems with under certain conniptions, and they offered an update of that version to fix these issues.

Trial and error is certainly one way of trying to work out the issues, but it can be time-consuming and may offer no reward if you are unlucky.

What actually happens to the system when you get these crashes?


----------



## Winot (Nov 16, 2011)

elbows said:


> I can't really say, it was parallels 7 that I ready about some bad Lion problems with under certain conniptions, and they offered an update of that version to fix these issues.
> 
> Trial and error is certainly one way of trying to work out the issues, but it can be time-consuming and may offer no reward if you are unlucky.
> 
> What actually happens to the system when you get these crashes?



Mixture of freezes and failure to restart/shutdown.

I'm trying installing Snow Leopard on a partition now then migrating stuff across from the Lion partition.  I realise that might not work for all apps but thought it would worth a try - I was quite happy with SL and am regretting 'upgrading' to Lion.


----------



## Winot (Nov 20, 2011)

Right - have determined that the whole thing is fucked - am unable to reinstall Lion and have (just about) managed to downgrade to Snow Leopard but iPhoto now won't work cos I upgraded to the new one (which doesn't work with Lion).

So... it's time for a new iMac and a restore from Time Machine.

Which one should I get?  Thought there was a discussion of the various models on here a while ago but now can't find it.  Need it to be fast and handle multiple users (i.e. 4 + a guest + admin) with multiple windows open at the same time and Windows on a virtual machine, but only use it for browsing/email/word processing.

Any opinions, cos the specs don't mean much to me?


----------



## tarannau (Nov 20, 2011)

Bah. Sure it's fixable, but it sounds as you've lost patience with the thing. Can plausibly recommend a mac repair man to you, albeit only an obliging bod from ebay who bought one of my macs, fixed it depressing easily and has become a bit of a handy resource since. Not sure if he's best qualified to resolve those parallels issues mind.

Still, judging by those specs, pretty much any of the new imacs should fit the bill if your wallet's being tempted. The i5s are considerably faster than the core duos by all accounts (and benchmarks), so there should be enough of a performance boost over your old one to make a real difference. You'll probably want to up the memory at some point, but although the apple rip offmark ups on memory are allegedly less these days, it's almost certainly cheaper to buy elsewhere. Good luck with it anyhow.


----------



## FridgeMagnet (Nov 20, 2011)

Apple's RAM prices may have come down, but everybody else's have come down absurdly - I just got an extra 8 gig for my iMac for about a quarter of the price of 2 gig for the _last_ iMac that I had, from Crucial.


----------



## Winot (Nov 20, 2011)

Is it worth going for a dual SATA and SSD drive? The OS goes on the SSD, right?

Edit to add: work will pay for this so money isn't too much of an issue, as long as I don't take the piss.


----------



## tarannau (Nov 20, 2011)

Before you get too carried away with the dream of a spanking new machine, have you tried this:
http://www.cultofmac.com/113981/parallels-desktop-7-update-fixes-file-fault-full-disk-encryption-problems-get-it-now/

Not sure if it will help, but it seems to tie in with your promiscuous faulting machine from these reports.


----------



## tarannau (Nov 20, 2011)

The SSD drive would be a real boost btw. Would seem to offer real speed benefits when switching OSs in theory.

Not trying to twist your arm towards the new purchase, of course not.


----------



## Winot (Nov 20, 2011)

tarannau said:


> Before you get too carried away with the dream of a spanking new machine, have you tried this:
> http://www.cultofmac.com/113981/par...ult-full-disk-encryption-problems-get-it-now/
> 
> Not sure if it will help, but it seems to tie in with your promiscuous faulting machine from these reports.



Thanks - I was running Parallels 6, and the problems carried on happening after I uninstalled it.


----------



## sim667 (Nov 21, 2011)

iLife 11 works on snow leopard im sure!


----------



## Winot (Nov 21, 2011)

sim667 said:


> iLife 11 works on snow leopard im sure!



Yeah I need to install iPhoto '11 - I rolled back to before I bought that.

Anyway, I've ordered a new 27" iMac:

2.7GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i5
8GB 1333MHz DDR3 SDRAM - 2x4GB
1TB Serial ATA Drive+256GB SSD
AMD RadeonHD 6770M 512MB GDDR5

shiny shiny


----------



## tarannau (Nov 21, 2011)

Shiny shiny indeed. Should be a lovely machine. A little envious if the truth be told.

Have my eyes on an upgrade for my superannuated MBP, but need to wait a little while after I bought the better half a Macbook for early as an early Christmas gift(to replace an even earlier ibook). I'll hang on to this old trusty until the funds are replenished.


----------



## Structaural (Nov 22, 2011)

Handy software for streaming any movie to an appletv2 without jail breaking it:

http://beamer-app.com


----------



## electroplated (Nov 22, 2011)

Structaural said:


> Handy software for streaming any movie to an appletv2 without jail breaking it:
> 
> http://beamer-app.com



Had just realised I could stream any movie from mac to atv2 using air video on my iphone sending via airplay (meaning I don't need it jailbroken and running xmbc), but this even easier


----------



## Kid_Eternity (Nov 22, 2011)

tarannau said:


> Shiny shiny indeed. Should be a lovely machine. A little envious if the truth be told.
> 
> Have my eyes on an upgrade for my superannuated MBP, but need to wait a little while after I bought the better half a Macbook for early as an early Christmas gift(to replace an even earlier ibook). I'll hang on to this old trusty until the funds are replenished.



Would you buy another MBP or get an Air?


----------



## maldwyn (Nov 22, 2011)

Won't the Air and MBP kind of merge in the next year or so.


----------



## tarannau (Nov 22, 2011)

yep, reckon I'm going to try to hang on until the next revision of the Air, hopefully March/April time. There should at least be a decent (for Intel) graphics add on for the successor for Sandy Bridge, which is about the only obvious downfall of the current unit for me. That said, I'm hardly a gamer or power user these days, so I could feasibly be tempted before.

The rumoured 15" new Macbook Pro/Air will probably be too rich for my finances at first, but the current MBP 13" has less screen estate than I'm used to tbh, unlike the 13" Air which has more pixels packed in. Can't say I'd really miss a superdrive (my current one has been bust for years and I have an external), ssd capacities and other storage are coming along. And hell that new form factor, lightness and SSD speed definitely appeals too. Can't help feeling that the current core i7 MBPs have more power than I really need, plus they run hot. For a lazy, reclining type like myself, that's a bit of a shortcoming, heating the lap to unpleasant levels without the obligatory cushion or other object underneath.


----------



## Kid_Eternity (Nov 22, 2011)

Have to say if I bought a Mac now it'd be the Air, not much difference in speed between the new 13" and my 2010 13" MBP ime.

Rumor has it the Air and MBP lines are merging or there will be a 15" Air, tbh I rarely use my SuperDrive at all so can't see myself missing it. And if it means better batter life I'm all for it!


----------



## mrs quoad (Jan 6, 2012)

mrs quoad said:


> I'm incapable of putting anything aside without first getting myself something Nice, so went to the Apple store and (after some deliberation) got a magic trackpad.
> 
> My first thoughts were that it's utter gash. Utter, utter gash. And after 5 mins, I was tempted to box it up and eBay it.
> 
> ...


Since this post, the magic trackpad has evolved to have two main purposes:

i) very occasional usage for proper mouse-type purposes
ii) a fairly constant / ongoing role as a very well-situated seat with a cracking window view, perfectly positioned for the cat's arse.


----------



## Structaural (Jan 6, 2012)




----------



## Piers Gibbon (Jan 11, 2012)

I love my one year old Air...bought in Hong Kong (so a little less obscenely expensive). I don't miss having an internal superdrive...or the heat and heaviness of a spinning hard drive. It kind of stops me having any excuse to buy an ipad as well.


----------



## Structaural (Jan 26, 2012)

Nice alternative to iTunes:

http://www.enqueueapp.com/features.html


----------



## Crispy (Jan 26, 2012)

Structaural said:


> Nice alternative to iTunes:
> 
> http://www.enqueueapp.com/features.html


Looks nice. All it needs is an iOS companion for home network streaming and I'll switch. iTunes is too bloated these days.


----------



## editor (Jan 26, 2012)

Crispy said:


> Looks nice. All it needs is an iOS companion for home network streaming and I'll switch. iTunes is too bloated these days.


They're not too keen on telling you about themselves!
http://www.enqueueapp.com/about.html


----------



## sim667 (Jan 26, 2012)

Im quite happy with itunes tbh.

I've used nothing but it for about 8 years now tbf...... When I used to use windoze when I had a piece, awful piece of shit. But again, 8 years ago that were.


----------



## UnderAnOpenSky (Jan 26, 2012)

sim667 said:


> Im quite happy with itunes tbh.
> 
> I've used nothing but it for about 8 years now tbf...... When I used to use windoze when I had a piece, awful piece of shit. But again, 8 years ago that were.



Ugly as it is, it's one of the few I've found that can search large music collections without wobbling. Plus I can transfer music to my phone without any cables and don't have to let quicktime anywhere near my machine.


----------



## sim667 (Jan 26, 2012)

iTunes searches fine on mine, I do have a lorra lorra ram in it tho, does wireless syncing to both my iPhone and iPad too (although it did ask me to restore my phone the other day, which i ignored).....

Quicktimes alright if your on a mac tbh.


----------



## Crispy (Jan 26, 2012)

Quicktime I have no complaints about. With Perian and FLip4mac installed, it plays almost anything, and the system integration means that all sorts of other software plays everything too. Quicktime Pro is a handy little video manipulation tool as well.


----------



## sim667 (Jan 26, 2012)

Good for screengrab vids too


----------



## Structaural (Feb 1, 2012)

This is interesting news. ZFS now available on OSX:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ZFS


----------



## Crispy (Feb 16, 2012)

OSX 10.8 "Mountain Lion" announced: http://www.appleinsider.com/article...s_x_108_mountain_lion_coming_this_summer.html

tighter iCloud integration, including directly into the Save/Open dialogue (for mac app store apps anyway)
Reminders and Notes apps, to match those in iOS (and the removal of that functionality from Calendar and Mail)
Airplay as a valid video-out
Notification Center
Twitter integration
Gamecenter APIs


The theme of it is making iOS and OSX more coherent matches. It's your "stuff" and it behaves the same way on all your "devices"


----------



## sim667 (Feb 16, 2012)

Got some nice things I was hoping for on the next os X release.

They need to do what they did with snow leopard though, and scale back the gumpf out of it, to make it run nicely..... they failed to do that on lion


----------



## pianissimo (Feb 16, 2012)

I don't want my desktop works like a mobile 
I'm staying with Snow Leopard.


----------



## sim667 (Feb 16, 2012)

Well i dont think the plan is to make your desktop to work like a mobile, its just more integrated with cloud services, which they should have rolled out on desktops before mobiles.


----------



## Kid_Eternity (Feb 16, 2012)

Looks like they've really thought through integrating typically iOS features into OSX rather than tacking them on. Apples march toward device/iCloud unification continues...


----------



## Kid_Eternity (Feb 16, 2012)

Crispy said:


> OSX 10.8 "Mountain Lion" announced: http://www.appleinsider.com/article...s_x_108_mountain_lion_coming_this_summer.html
> 
> tighter iCloud integration, including directly into the Save/Open dialogue (for mac app store apps anyway)
> Reminders and Notes apps, to match those in iOS (and the removal of that functionality from Calendar and Mail)
> ...



Of all of it the game centre interests me most, everything else is fairly easy to expect to happen and see how it works but games is a little different given the many companies as well versions involved. For instance how would having Civ on iOS work via GC on my MacBook pro?


----------



## UnderAnOpenSky (Feb 16, 2012)

Badly I'd have thought, games really need to be optimised for small screens and touch screen.


----------



## Kid_Eternity (Feb 16, 2012)

Yearly updates is quite aggressive too, guess this means we'll see iOS and OS X merge a lot sooner than first thought?


----------



## Kid_Eternity (Feb 16, 2012)

This is a good video which showcases it fairly well:


----------



## Crispy (Feb 16, 2012)

Pretty decent set of features. If I had an iphone, I'd be even more excited


----------



## 2hats (Feb 16, 2012)

Crispy said:


> The theme of it is making iOS and OSX more coherent matches.


 
Cripple OS X till it has the functionality and restrictions of iOS?


----------



## Crispy (Feb 16, 2012)

2hats said:


> Cripple OS X till it has the functionality and restrictions of iOS?


That doesn't appear to be the case so far. Has any functionality been removed?


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## Kid_Eternity (Feb 16, 2012)

2hats said:


> Cripple OS X till it has the functionality and restrictions of iOS?


 
That was my worry also, from reading it seems more about unifying the concepts and apps where possible rather than shoehorning OS X into some laptop/desktop iOS.


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## Kid_Eternity (Feb 16, 2012)

Crispy said:


> Pretty decent set of features. If I had an iphone, I'd be even more excited


 
Happy notifications is coming, Growl is ok but basic and I don't want to pay for the newer app. Have downloaded Messages and the inclusion of iMessage is great! It's very nice being able to type then carry on the conversation on my iPhone. Smart move.


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## 2hats (Feb 16, 2012)

Crispy said:


> That doesn't appear to be the case so far. Has any functionality been removed?


 
With each new release they happily mangle key infrastructure (key for multi-user, networked clusters of OS X machines) and fail to thoroughly QA test, in particular the server software. They usually break enough to make migration from the previous OS major release a head banging exercise (eg the ditching of traditional unix DNS resolver in favour of a poorly documented mDNSResponder, which causes all sorts of weirdness for various Open Directory configurations) or they just 'fiddle' with things (laughably limiting Xcode developer tools access to a dedicated developer group, for example, in a futile attempt to limit attack vectors, rather than fixing the OS).

I've scheduled a big migration to Lion this summer (which is now imperative if I want to keep getting security updates and bug fixes, even if they are weeks or months late as per usual, since they'll almost certainly drop support for 10.6 when 10.8 debuts), Apple just about having fixed most of the things they had obviously broken in earlier 10.7.x. (not least of all authentication).

Then it'll be a repeat the following summer now, I guess. But by then I'll know how much like iOS it has become (= how useless it is as a scientific, technical computing platform) and whether to just migrate back to Linux instead.

Of course, I don't doubt 10.8 will be a great home, noddy use OS. Once they fix the one or two really embarrassing bugs that they mistakenly ship it with (because they've pulled even more engineers off OS X itself to throw them at iOS instead, as appears to be the trend).


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## 2hats (Feb 16, 2012)

Kid_Eternity said:


> That was my worry also, from reading it seems more about unifying the concepts and apps where possible rather than shoehorning OS X into some laptop/desktop iOS.


 
Indeed, fortunately the changes appear to be largely cosmetic. But what can one tell from a PR video? The upgrade 10.6 -> 10.7 appeared to be similarly skin deep in the main but it turned out they had been subtly breaking it when you dug under the hood.


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## Kid_Eternity (Feb 16, 2012)

2hats said:


> Indeed, fortunately the changes appear to be largely cosmetic. But what can one tell from a PR video? The upgrade 10.6 -> 10.7 appeared to be similarly skin deep in the main but it turned out they had been subtly breaking it when you dug under the hood.


 
Good point about the video, we wont know for sure for another couple years how well this will work. I've been trying out Messages, it allows me to get my iMessages but also still talk to people on my Gtalk lists so that's a good example of iOS influence that's complimenting OS X rather than a clumsy attempt to make it the same.


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## 2hats (Feb 16, 2012)

Kid_Eternity said:


> a good example of iOS influence that's complimenting OS X rather than a clumsy attempt to make it the same.


 
I wonder how tightly it is actually integrated with the OS though? Supposedly it is just a replacement for iChat (and why shouldn't it be)? In which case the new OS release should be largely irrelevant. If it _is_ tightly integrated with the OS then I forsee security fun and games.


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## 2hats (Feb 17, 2012)

Hmm. I see in 10.8 Gatekeeper forces you to install only approved software from the Mac Store. Unless you turn that optional 'feature' off.

If/when that option disappears that'll be the signal to bail out of the cult of the fruit.


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## FridgeMagnet (Feb 17, 2012)

In fact it defaults to app store or digitally signed.


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## Kid_Eternity (Feb 17, 2012)

2hats said:


> If/when that option disappears that'll be the signal to bail out of the cult of the fruit.



Definitely.


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## editor (Feb 17, 2012)

2hats said:


> Hmm. I see in 10.8 Gatekeeper forces you to install only approved software from the Mac Store. Unless you turn that optional 'feature' off.
> 
> If/when that option disappears that'll be the signal to bail out of the cult of the fruit.


Won't be long before its approved apps only, I reckon. Just like on iOS.


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## sim667 (Feb 17, 2012)

What so you will only be able to install apps through app store on mountain lion?


If so ill be fucking that right off!


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## UnderAnOpenSky (Feb 17, 2012)

sim667 said:


> What so you will only be able to install apps through app store on mountain lion?
> 
> 
> If so ill be fucking that right off!


 
You'd buy a PC?


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## sim667 (Feb 17, 2012)

Global Stoner said:


> You'd buy a PC?


 
Nah, I'd just stick with Snow leopard

They cant make it approved only, it wouldnt be a desktop OS anymore.


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## UnderAnOpenSky (Feb 17, 2012)

sim667 said:


> Nah, I'd just stick with Snow leopard
> 
> They cant make it approved only, it wouldnt be a desktop OS anymore.


 
Why not? Surely all that a desktop OS is one that runs on a desktop?


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## Crispy (Feb 17, 2012)

sim667 said:


> What so you will only be able to install apps through app store on mountain lion?


 
Only if you set the permissions that way. The options are:

All apps permitted
Signed apps and app store apps permitted
App store apps permitted
In any case, right clicking an app and choosing Open will let you override the global setting for that app after you go past a confirmation box.

If they remove option 1 and 2 in the future, then I will stop buying OSX.


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## sim667 (Feb 17, 2012)

Ah that makes more sense...

So it will live on option 1 then.


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## Bernie Gunther (Feb 17, 2012)

Crispy said:


> <snip> then I will stop buying OSX.


 
Typically doesn't take long after each new Apple hardware release before it becomes reasonably straightforward to put Linux on their machines.

Purely as a hardware platform Macbooks stack up pretty well against equivalent kit, e.g. Thinkpads, which are what I normally use.

So I'd recommend Linux as the optimal exit strategy for people who have recently bought Mac kit and aren't happy with the way the OSX roadmap is heading.


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## 2hats (Feb 17, 2012)

editor said:


> Won't be long before its approved apps only, I reckon. Just like on iOS.


 
Quite possibly. But then the writing has been on that particular wall for a couple of years now.

It's not clear to me if this only affects apps launched through the Finder (the approval process appears to hinge on the setting of the quarantine extended attribute) and not those run from the shell. If this is the case then no big deal (so far) but it does of course make a mockery of the whole Gatekeeper idea (which itself does nothing to protect against a signed app downloading a maliciously crafted PDF, for example, anyway).

As (or even more) annoyingly it would appear that software update has been absorbed into the Mac Store app - yet more coercing of people towards the walled garden. Haven't found any indication yet as to whether there is a command line option to update the OS - if that's gone then that would be yet another middle finger to the enterprise market to go with the apparent removal of local software update service from the server edition of 10.8.


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## Crispy (Feb 17, 2012)

Apple sold more iOS devices last year than it has macs in the last 28 years. Which tells you something about where their priorities lie these days.


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## sim667 (Feb 17, 2012)

Even if it was made so it was only 'safe' apps that could be installed, it could easily be disable with a terminal command....

They'd probably even publish how to do it, but just keep it under wraps...... I learnt a huge amount from my OS X technician training books that I'd not been able to work out with scraps of info on the internet.


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## Bernie Gunther (Feb 17, 2012)

Bit more on Gatekeeper etc.

https://securosis.com/blog/os-x-10.8-gatekeeper-in-depth

What they've actually done (as opposed to what people worry that they might do) is actually pretty sensible malware threat reduction. Code signing is just one of a range of measures for slowing the spread of malware that they've introduced, and partly due to their more tightly controlled environment and partly (I suspect) to do with hindsight, they've made a far more effective job of introducing all that sort of stuff than Windows Vista did.


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## Bernie Gunther (Feb 17, 2012)

Thinking about this some more, I can see a possible flaw in Apple's approach, and I'm thinking first about iOS here, but also about OSX (where their experience with iOS is clearly having a lot of inflence)

In the iOS market, Apple could plausibly argue that their App Store code signing approach has been a huge success and Android's approach has been a total disaster. If you look at the massive amounts of, often fairly dangerous malware on Android and compare the situation with iOS, they'd probably want to say that their approach was vindicated and the figures at first sight would appear to bear this out.

See e.g. http://www.juniper.net/us/en/local/pdf/additional-resources/jnpr-2011-mobile-threats-report.pdf

What Apple are doing in iOS though is betting on their own security perimiter to stop *everything* and effectively preventing security developers from getting an active software bazaar going to provide defence in depth, something that (intentionally or not) has now started happening with Android due to all the horrible shit that's been proliferating like crazy on that platform over the last year or two. The concern would be, once you do jailbreak an iPhone, you have zero protection. Similar if someone finds a way around Apple's security perimiter, you have zero protection. One might say Android, by letting itself be repeatedly gang-banged by a bunch of dirty hackers and assorted online lowlife, is developing a better immune system.

Now, if we apply this line of thinking to the thinking behind the latest security enhancements to OSX, what it would suggest is that Apple would be mental (from a security point of view) to create a situation where people had to jail break their Mac if they wanted to do anything but be a passive media consumer, or at most a social network participant with it.

What would work best from the point of view of stopping malware proliferations is pretty much exactly what's described. I.e. put in place robust mechanisms to protect against malware, but retain an accessible option to install software that doesn't conform to those mechanisms so that people don't disable them entirely. That way you catch the vast majority of malware infection scenarios, but don't create an incentive to disable all that protection thereby creating a bunch of new ones.

The only real drawback I can see is that you're betting on Apple's security controls in a 'eggs in one basket' sort of way that's inevitably going to fail in some critical cases.


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## editor (Feb 17, 2012)

Bernie Gunther said:


> In the iOS market, Apple could plausibly argue that their App Store code signing approach has been a huge success and Android's approach has been a total disaster. If you look at the massive amounts of, often fairly dangerous malware on Android and compare the situation with iOS, they'd probably want to say that their approach was vindicated and the figures at first sight would appear to bear this out.


Juniper have just released a new report:



> A new study from Juniper finds that Android is the hardest hit by malicious apps but says iOS could be vulnerable as well.
> 
> Android has gotten a lot of negative buzz for its susceptibility to malware. But a new study from Juniper Networks suggests that iOS could also be at risk....
> 
> ...


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## FridgeMagnet (Feb 17, 2012)

Some people get better by wallowing in filth, but most people just end up sicker. I think Windows is the best example of this; it's been much more efficient internal mechanisms to prevent apps doing you harm that have made the difference.

What I don't like about this is that "trusted" means "code signed via an Apple registration system", which can be used to remotely disable things too. Users can of course always override Gatekeeper but most won't. They don't _need_ to remove the ability to do that if it basically kills an app in the general market if Apple withdraws the certificate - say, it's claimed that you violated somebody's copyright with it.


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## Bernie Gunther (Feb 17, 2012)

editor said:


> Juniper have just released a new report:


 
That's quite a good example of the sort of concern I was expressing above. Apple don't cooperate with security researchers, they don't encourage independent security development and when their security fails, it fails big-time.


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## FridgeMagnet (Feb 17, 2012)

Users jail breaking iPhones and spreading malware is a pretty trivial threat. There's some indication that there is malware for jail broken iPhones, but it's not going to spread into the wider ecosystem because only a relatively tiny number of people jailbreak, and tbh a lot of it seems tied to ripped off games anyway in which case I don't have any sympathy for the individual users.


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## Bernie Gunther (Feb 17, 2012)

FridgeMagnet said:


> Users jail breaking iPhones and spreading malware is a pretty trivial threat. There's some indication that there is malware for jail broken iPhones, but it's not going to spread into the wider ecosystem because only a relatively tiny number of people jailbreak, and tbh a lot of it seems tied to ripped off games anyway in which case I don't have any sympathy for the individual users.


 
Sure, which illustrates the overall effectiveness of Apple's approach from a security point of view. Basically, almost all of the time, their approach stops malware and is likely to continue to do so unless they create a much wider incentive for jailbreaking to occur.

However, when someone comes up with an exploit, like the Accuvant hack, that does get through Apple's controls, if they're e.g. a member of the Zeus gang rather than a whitehat security researcher, and they use the exploit to quietly circumvent SMS two factor authentication in a targetted attack on electronic banking customers or something like that, then the potential for michief is enhanced by Apple's rather secretive approach to security.


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## FridgeMagnet (Feb 17, 2012)

More to the point here, the malware threat on macs is generally extremely tiny anyway. For Apple to say they are doing this for reasons of security is a bit disingenuous - I think it is fairly obvious that the real reason is to promote the Mac App Store, as if having an icon on the dock called "HEY NEW USER THIS IS WHERE YOU GET APPS" by default wasn't enough. It's already the case that the presence of the app store means that devs will be likely to release stuff through it - if you have to register with Apple just to get things to _run_ with Mountain Lion, why not go the extra step and put it on the app store?

This is not to say that the app store is not also an effective way to sell your software. It is. If it wasn't, people would find ways around the above.


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## FridgeMagnet (Feb 17, 2012)

Bernie Gunther said:


> Sure, which illustrates the overall effectiveness of Apple's approach from a security point of view. Basically, almost all of the time, their approach stops malware and is likely to continue to do so unless they create a much wider incentive for jailbreaking to occur.
> 
> However, when someone comes up with an exploit, like the Accuvant hack, that does get through Apple's controls, if they're e.g. a member of the Zeus gang rather than a whitehat security researcher, and they use the exploit to quietly circumvent SMS two factor authentication in a targetted attack on electronic banking customers or something like that, then the potential for michief is enhanced by Apple's rather secretive approach to security.


Oh, I think Apple should be more open with security issues, I just don't think it makes much difference in practice, particularly with iOS. I've noticed that a lot of these complaints come from antivirus companies, too, who are appalling parasites.


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## Crispy (Feb 17, 2012)

They do need to find a way of grandfathering existing paid-for licenses into app store licenses, though. I have quite a few bits of paid-for software that is now only updated in the app store, but I refuse to buy it all over again.


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## FridgeMagnet (Feb 17, 2012)

Crispy said:


> They do need to find a way of grandfathering existing paid-for licenses into app store licenses, though. I have quite a few bits of paid-for software that is now only updated in the app store, but I refuse to buy it all over again.


That's more the fault of the authors IMO. They've picked two different ways to distribute their software - fine, but they should spend the extra half an hour updating the built in updater as well as submitting to the app store when they release a new version.

What the app store does need to do though is allow for upgrades and other forms of discount. This has always been a complaint. For non trivial apps I still prefer to get them outside of the app store specifically for this reason.


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## Kid_Eternity (Feb 17, 2012)

FridgeMagnet said:


> Oh, I think Apple should be more open with security issues, I just don't think it makes much difference in practice, particularly with iOS. I've noticed that a lot of these complaints come from antivirus companies, too, who are appalling parasites.



+1


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## Kid_Eternity (Feb 17, 2012)

Video of OS X ML AirPlay


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## 2hats (Feb 18, 2012)

Bernie Gunther said:


> Apple don't cooperate with security researchers, they don't encourage independent security development and when their security fails, it fails big-time.


 
They also really drag their feet releasing security updates, weeks or months.

PS I see the iMessaging beta for Lion will self-destruct when Mountain Lion is released (and you are then left with the options of let it rot, delete it or re-install iChat, it would appear).


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## Structaural (Apr 18, 2012)

There's a new release of Handbrake that lets you increase the volume of your rips.
Most useful as Handbrake seemed to encode with a really low gain.


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## Kid_Eternity (Apr 18, 2012)

Structaural said:


> There's a new release of Handbrake that lets you increase the volume of your rips.
> Most useful as Handbrake seemed to encode with a really low gain.


 
Funny was coming on to this thread to post exactly this!


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## sim667 (Apr 19, 2012)

I dont understand what you mean by increasing the volume of rips?


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## Kid_Eternity (Apr 19, 2012)

sim667 said:


> I dont understand what you mean by increasing the volume of rips?



Bit rate?


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## sim667 (Apr 19, 2012)

Oh i see it can encode at higher bit rates?


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## Structaural (Apr 19, 2012)

Increasing Gain... decibels..


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## 2hats (May 5, 2012)

I see there's a gaping backdoor in OS X Lion FileVault which seems to have appeared at the 10.7.3 update. Whether this is incompetence or intentional isn't clear.


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## Crispy (May 5, 2012)

intentional?!


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## Kid_Eternity (May 8, 2012)

DragonDrop looks pretty cool, a fiver too.


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## bouncer_the_dog (May 16, 2012)

Having not read the thrad at all I thought I would post on it anyway because i fel I had to share.

I have a 2008 MBP with max everything you could get at the time. It was totally brills until the motherboard fried itself in a feedback loop, but I spent the £500 to get it back anyway.

I then decided to go from Snow Leopard to Lion.

Lion was laggy, annyoying a slow. I don't understand why a machine that was perfectly capable of messing arund with 400mb+ Photoshop files suddenly ground to a shuddering halt doing web graphics.

Or even froze writing an email in the browser!!

Anyway I have returned to Snow Leopard and its like having a new computer.


That is all.


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## maldwyn (May 16, 2012)

I have a maxed-out late 2008 MBP working perfectly on lion and I'm starting to save my pennies towards the new MBP currently being whispered about - my Applecare ended in Feb - no way would I shell out £500 to replace a burnt-out motherboard.


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## sim667 (May 16, 2012)

Yeah my mac pro started running a bit slower after switching to lion, but with the amount of media servers etc i use im no surprised. I was gonna stick another 4gb of ram in there (its 6gb already), but my ram meter is always running 4gb-6gb usage... except when totally idle it drops to 2gb

Im also waiting to see if theres any anouncement at the wwdc before I buy a 13 inch macbook pro to replace my seventeen inch powerbook....... i reinstalled the powerbook, and it runs great except traktor keeps crashing.


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## 2hats (May 16, 2012)

I'm not running Lion myself but have heard a couple of people comment that with the recent update to 10.7.4 their machines seem a bit faster.

Don't all operating systems eventually bloat to absorb the extra cpu cycles of any hardware advancement? That's why I generally prefer an OS where I can choose what ends up in the kernel...


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## redsquirrel (May 17, 2012)

maldwyn said:


> I have a maxed-out late 2008 MBP working perfectly on lion and I'm starting to save my pennies towards the new MBP currently being whispered about - my Applecare ended in Feb - no way would I shell out £500 to replace a burnt-out motherboard.


I'm doing the same, but the fact that there are rumours that they are going to get rid of the ethernet port on the 15" MBP have worried me a bit.


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## FridgeMagnet (May 17, 2012)

redsquirrel said:


> I'm doing the same, but the fact that there are rumours that they are going to get rid of the ethernet port on the 15" MBP have worried me a bit.


The Airs don't have one and I don't find it that bothersome. Most of the time I use it over wifi these days, and for the few occasions there's only a wired connection (only one place I know of but that's my main client's office) I just keep a USB to ethernet widget in my bag.


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## peterkro (May 17, 2012)

If the rumours are correct and they appear to be the ethernet port goes but USB3 appears.Asix already have an adaptor which will run at full gigabit speed via USB3.(don't know the price but they weil get much cheaper as others join the market)


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## maldwyn (May 17, 2012)

It's stupid to speculate on rumour but I hope the one about them dumbing down the description of screen resolution to:


> Unlike Mac display settings of today, these Retina Display settings will not be marked with numbers/resolution sizes, but with descriptions such as big, small, or optimal..


 

http://9to5mac.com/2012/05/14/apple...lay-ultra-thin-design-and-super-fast-usb-3-3/


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## redsquirrel (May 17, 2012)

FridgeMagnet said:


> The Airs don't have one and I don't find it that bothersome. Most of the time I use it over wifi these days, and for the few occasions there's only a wired connection (only one place I know of but that's my main client's office) I just keep a USB to ethernet widget in my bag.


I'd use mine for work as well though, and I'm dealing with >5GB files relatively often


> If the rumours are correct and they appear to be the ethernet port goes but USB3 appears.Asix already have an adaptor which will run at full gigabit speed via USB3.(don't know the price but they weil get much cheaper as others join the market)


Sure, there's ways around it but they're a bit of a pain, and considering the price of MBPs I don't think you should have to shell out even more for something that is still widely used. Especially considering all that's be gained in exchange for losing the port is a couple of mm of thickness.

I understand other people might disagree but I'd much rather have an ethernet port than a laptop that is a tiny bit thiner.


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## 2hats (May 17, 2012)

redsquirrel said:


> I understand other people might disagree but I'd much rather have an ethernet port than a laptop that is a tiny bit thiner.


 
Trying to avoid the usual Apple summer speculative wankfest, but with a bit of intelligent design they could have both. Something like the pop out ethernet port (movable lower jaw) on the Asus Eee PC slimline netbooks is ideal for occasional use.







A machine lacking firewire is going to make for something much less attractive for first aid/maintenance of other kit.


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## tarannau (May 21, 2012)

That's not intelligent design. That's a less than elegant, breakable compromise that's unlikely to meet favour with Ive and others.


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## GarfieldLeChat (May 21, 2012)

isn't thunderbolt usable as an Ethernet port too?


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## Crispy (May 21, 2012)

GarfieldLeChat said:


> isn't thunderbolt usable as an Ethernet port too?


Nobody's actually selling them yet, although several companies have dongles planned.
But dongles suck


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## 2hats (May 21, 2012)

tarannau said:


> That's not intelligent design. That's a less than elegant, breakable compromise that's unlikely to meet favour with Ive and others.


 
I didn't actually mean that design in particular (I agree, in regular use it would be prone to breaking) - I meant that with a bit of lateral thinking one could have the ethernet port and a narrower device. However, I long ago disabused myself of the notion that the fruit company listen to their customers.


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## 2hats (May 23, 2012)

For want of a better place - Sir J Ives:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-18171093

Couldn't help noticing the comment about the well known sewerage family at the end.


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## GarfieldLeChat (May 23, 2012)

Crispy said:


> Nobody's actually selling them yet, although several companies have dongles planned.
> But dongles suck


I understood that thunderbolt ports where basically the same shape and size as an rj45 for backwards compatibility that's the whole point with the advantage they can be upgraded again to light speed once the pathetic squabbling finishes on the carrier for optical later... 

Like usb 3 will support 2 and 1 ...  

I think they're in effect at this point just 10GbE ports in effect...


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## peterkro (May 23, 2012)

Thunderbolt ports are different,people using a cinema display can connect via thunderbolt and then to gigabit ethernet via the ethernet port on the display.It's quite likely T/bolt to Ethernet will show up shortly.(just to clear I'm referring to what Apple calls a thunderbolt equipped display,fuck them it's a cinema display to me)


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## Crispy (May 23, 2012)

Thunderbolt is nothing like RJ45 or ethernet. It's physically considerably smaller, and has the contact pins in the center, not at the edge (actually a Mini Displayport socket, an Apple design). It's wired to the motherboard as a direct extension of the PCI-E bus.


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## Lazy Llama (May 23, 2012)

Thunderbolt ports are based on DisplayPort specs. (http://www.apple.com/thunderbolt/)
If you connect a Thunderbolt equipped Mac to one of the Thunderbolt Displays you can use the gigabit Ethernet port and Firewire ports on the display (http://www.apple.com/displays/)


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## elbows (May 23, 2012)

maldwyn said:


> It's stupid to speculate on rumour but I hope the one about them dumbing down the description of screen resolution to:
> 
> 
> http://9to5mac.com/2012/05/14/apple...lay-ultra-thin-design-and-super-fast-usb-3-3/


 
To be honest hardly anyone I've known that isn't a geek ever asked me about resolution, barely even considered it when asking about laptops etc. At work people wanted to run their monitors at lower resolution so that everything was larger, despite the obvious downsides.

So as long as this tech info remains available to anyone that actually cares it doesn't matter, which Im sure it will even if the official info was so lacking that it required geek sites to look at screens under the microscope, not that I expect things to become that extreme.


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## Kid_Eternity (Jun 14, 2012)

Not long till Mountain Lion hits the Mac App Store. Here's the latest Apple promo video showing some of it's features.


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## maldwyn (Jun 14, 2012)

Is it me or is Apple's OS evolving into FisherPrice? Not keen on all this multi-device synchronisation either.


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## elbows (Jun 14, 2012)

Personally I'm not totally enamoured with the way OS X is evolving, but I wouldn't call it FisherPrice, and multi-device synchronisation is quite a wonderful thing in many ways.

I've had a bit of a think about my feelings and I've come up with 3 reasons in particular why I am somewhat out of tune with the way stuff is developing these days, and not just Apple stuff.

I'm a power user/geek. And when Im not browsing the web, Im usually not using my computer or other devices in a consumer/non-geek way.

One of the reasons I got into computers in the first place is that Im clumsy and uncomfortable in the social world, and these days my life doesn't generate much content that Id like to share with a social web.

The cloud scares me shitless in terms of the power that can in theory come from blending together many disparate forms of data about a person, including from a range of sensors and friends/family that we are networked with. Humans can probably be relied upon to make a mess out of this, and its an uneasy wait to find out whether on balance it ends up a fun and potentially liberating/empowering mess, or whether we've built ourselves a new prison.


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## Kid_Eternity (Jun 14, 2012)

maldwyn said:


> Is it me or is Apple's OS evolving into FisherPrice? Not keen on all this multi-device synchronisation either.



Don't know about fisherprice, it's always been pretty straight forward IMO. Personally I love cloud syncing generally although Apple's offering is only partially useful for me...


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## FridgeMagnet (Jun 14, 2012)

maldwyn said:


> Is it me or is Apple's OS evolving into FisherPrice? Not keen on all this multi-device synchronisation either.


it's ye

Really, while I'm not super keen on the App Store that's about it - and its perfectly possible to install software not from that (I have loads). Apart from that, oh, well, I can go to a stock OS X machine and run an Apache server, say, or use any one of the several built in scripting languages (including two specifically built to interact with apps with no command line support) or pay $5 to get hold of a high end professional IDE...


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## maldwyn (Jun 14, 2012)

I'm a tad intrigued how to load my copy of iWork 09 on to the MBP(retina) or do they expect me to buy in again via the App store - perhaps I should be cheeky and ask for a complementary Superdrive


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## Kanda (Jun 14, 2012)

It's all gloss. The underlying OS is pretty much the same and you can still do all the same things...


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## 2hats (Jun 14, 2012)

maldwyn said:


> Is it me or is Apple's OS evolving into FisherPrice? Not keen on all this multi-device synchronisation either.


 
Not FisherPrice. Yet. Though in due course? Most of the useful features (I need) are still there under the hood but I wonder how long before they are taken away/broken/neglected.

Of late, at each major OSX upgrade, I have to factor in increasing amounts of time to disable new 'features' I don't want or figuring out workarounds for features we need but Apple have decided to either drop, let rot or they have failed to integrate in any sane fashion into the OS.

It'll be interesting to see how many minor revisions Mountain Lion will need after release before Apple fix whatever it is they have b0rked this time and it works something close to predictable in an enterprise environment (see my previous comments on Apple's OSX QA over the last 2-3 years). Both 10.6 and 10.7 were unusable in a (pure OSX) networked, multi-user, clustered setup until at least the .3 update due to breakage of various features and services (and the introduction of gaping security holes) which worked fine (never existed) in 10.5.x.


----------



## Kanda (Jun 14, 2012)

What is the underlying OS (I know it's a *nix hybrid but I wonder the licence terms or if they wrote it from scratch)


----------



## GarfieldLeChat (Jun 14, 2012)

Not nix, bsd unix.


----------



## 2hats (Jun 14, 2012)

The underlying OS is arguably 4.3BSD heritage: large chunks of it have been taken variously from 4.3BSD, FreeBSD and Mach (the last two themselves being built upon a lot of the 4.3BSD work).

The kernel is open source licensed under the Apple Public Source License.


----------



## Kanda (Jun 14, 2012)

So even if they chop stuff out you can still compile packages and install them?


----------



## GarfieldLeChat (Jun 14, 2012)

Kanda said:


> So even if they chop stuff out you can still compile packages and install them?


In theory there's a terminal.


----------



## Kanda (Jun 14, 2012)

GarfieldLeChat said:


> In theory there's a terminal.



Yeah, I use it every day  the day they remove that is the day I ditch OSX


----------



## 2hats (Jun 14, 2012)

You can spend many hours amusing yourself (back)porting software (though some will build out of the box) or you can get to a point where you think fuck it and use FreeBSD or Linux instead.


----------



## Kanda (Jun 14, 2012)

It'll become hobbyist, back to rpmfind.net days


----------



## Kid_Eternity (Jun 19, 2012)

Pixelmator is going for a tenner right now on the Mac App Store if anyone is after a decent image editing app.


----------



## sim667 (Jun 19, 2012)

Im looking at macs, as im just waiting for my credit card to come through so i can go buy.

A new 13 inch 2.5 i5 model is £939 with educational discount, applecare is £139, and I'd blates put in the extra 4 gb ram for another £75...... I'd also get a free upgrade to the new OSX, and I could just pick it up from a shop

A refurb 13 inch 2.8 i7 model is £979 (october 2011)....... applecare would be full whack at £199, and I'd have to put the extra 4 gb of ram in myself (crucial dont seem to sell it?!?!) so that costs £unknown. There would be no OSX upgrade freebie, but I'd have to wait for it to ship.

What would you all go for?

I've got £730 for it already, so would just waiting for my credit card to pay the odd £300 on.


----------



## Boris Sprinkler (Jun 19, 2012)

You can pick up a 8gb kit of Crucal Ram for £30 on amazon. I just did mine. £5 for the draper screwdrivers. Opened up the box and popped it in. No worries on the warranty either.


----------



## Boris Sprinkler (Jun 19, 2012)

since the ram comes in 2 pieces (as in I took out 2 2gb sticks and put in my thirty quid 2 x 4gb ones.

whoops not thirty but forty.  http://www.amazon.co.uk/memory-upgr...HL7G/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1340139018&sr=8-1


----------



## elbows (Jun 19, 2012)

2hats said:


> You can spend many hours amusing yourself (back)porting software (though some will build out of the box) or you can get to a point where you think fuck it and use FreeBSD or Linux instead.


 
Or use MacPorts:

http://www.macports.org/


----------



## Lazy Llama (Jun 19, 2012)

You can save a bit on AppleCare by buying on Ebay (probably re-sold by educational discount purchasers).

OS X upgrade is only going to be £20 or so.

The refurbs come with both memory slots filled so you'd need to buy 8GB (2x4GB). It's pretty standard stuff though and can be bought from 3rd party suppliers instead of the usually pricey Apple option.

Personally, I'd probably go for the new one, performance probably isn't that different.


----------



## sim667 (Jun 21, 2012)

I hadnt thought about buying applecare on ebay.....

you just buy it an register the new macbook with it? Credit cards been accepted, so I've just gotta sign the agreement, get card, then buy buy buy!

I want to find a copy of traktor cheap too


----------



## Kanda (Jun 21, 2012)

sim667 said:


> I want to find a copy of traktor cheap too


 
you can get Traktor for free in some places..


----------



## Lazy Llama (Jun 21, 2012)

sim667 said:


> I hadnt thought about buying applecare on ebay.....
> 
> you just buy it an register the new macbook with it?


Yep, the AppleCare box comes with a code (make sure you get the right product for your model of MacBook) which you then enter along with the serial number of the Macbook.

I think we saved about £60 doing it that way rather than buying direct.


----------



## sim667 (Jun 21, 2012)

Kanda said:


> you can get Traktor for free in some places..


this is an option, but considering NI have dropped the cost of it with the intention of making their money on hardware, its probs worth buying and getting updates tbf.


----------



## sim667 (Jun 21, 2012)

Apple care is actually cheaper for me from the apple store than ebay, cus i get educational discount. £139 from the store, £150-170 on ebay.

And I can get traktor half price through a freind...... winning!


----------



## 2hats (Jun 25, 2012)

elbows said:


> Or use MacPorts:
> 
> http://www.macports.org/


 
If the package is there...


----------



## maldwyn (Jun 26, 2012)

Apple's Podcast App is now in the App Store available for both iPad/iPhone


----------



## slainte (Jun 28, 2012)

Or try homebrew over macports seems to get all the dependables and binaries better

http://mxcl.github.com/homebrew/


----------



## Crispy (Jul 11, 2012)

If you mac is older than one of these:

- iMac (Mid 2007 or newer)
- MacBook (Late 2008 Aluminum, or Early 2009 or newer)
- MacBook Pro (Mid/Late 2007 or newer)
- MacBook Air (Late 2008 or newer)
- Mac mini (Early 2009 or newer)
- Mac Pro (Early 2008 or newer)
- Xserve (Early 2009)

Then it won't run OSX 10.8 "Mountain Lion"

My imac is one model too old, so I have finally hit the stops for OS upgrades.


----------



## editor (Jul 11, 2012)

That's well rubbish.


----------



## sim667 (Jul 11, 2012)

Mine is on the cusp..... i need to find out.

Im not too bothered if it don't tbf.


----------



## Structaural (Jul 11, 2012)

That's my Mac Pro put out to pasture then. Still I haven't even upgraded to Lion. I really like Snow Leopard, Lion not so much.
All to do with Apple going full 64-bit on everything it seems (my GPU and my EFI are both 32-bit on 2007 mac pro).


----------



## elbows (Jul 11, 2012)

editor said:


> That's well rubbish.


 
Given how painfully long the process of computers moving to full 64-bit has been, Im not inclined to think this move is rubbish. If theres anything to moan about, its that they didnt start making all the hardware components compatible a bit sooner than that list indicates they did, although I'd have to check back on some tedious details to see how practical it would have been to do so at the time.


----------



## elbows (Jul 11, 2012)

By the way my previous complaints about slower performance on Lion were solved in the end, either due to a update or me freeing up much more hard drive space. I cant comment on Mountain Lion yet Im afraid.


----------



## Structaural (Jul 11, 2012)

elbows said:


> Given how painfully long the process of computers moving to full 64-bit has been, Im not inclined to think this move is rubbish. If theres anything to moan about, its that they didnt start making all the hardware components compatible a bit sooner than that list indicates they did, although I'd have to check back on some tedious details to see how practical it would have been to do so at the time.


 
The components are all 64-bit in my 2,1 mac pro (2 x Xeons), they just messed up by putting in an 32-bit EFI, the price of early adoption, my GPU is a HD 5770 so perfectly capable. All my apps run seamlessly in 64-bit space, no need to force a 64-bit kernel, so it seems to be Apple giving up on what they think are legacy machines because they don't want to put the effort in anymore (writing drivers), which is slightly risible considering their profits and the fact that don't need to support every configuration of hardware like microsoft. My machine is 5 years old, but it was cutting edge enough at the time for me to expect it to be supported with the current OS for a bit longer, if I'd bought a PC equivalent it still would be.
Still, I'm happy with Snow Leopard until my apps stop being updated. Might buy a PC workstation then.

Here's someone who made it work:
http://www.jabbawok.net/?p=47


----------



## elbows (Jul 12, 2012)

Thats for the detail. I suppose I shouldnt be surprised that its down to graphics drivers, Apple have never dedicated enough effort to this area to satisfy me. I already mentioned the lack of 3D card choices for Mac Pro putting me off, and Im not very impressed with how slowly things like OpenGL evolve on the mac. Apple occasionally push things forward, eg with OpenCL, and they have done a pretty good job of using hardware acceleration for bits of the UI. But they dont put enough effort in, eg when OpenCL was first included in OS X the number of graphics drivers with decent support was pretty woeful.


----------



## Structaural (Jul 12, 2012)

Considering Videocopilot (a maker of tutorials and plugins for After Effects) wrote their own OpenGL driver for a plug-in (https://www.videocopilot.net/products/element/) you'd think a company worth 600billion could do it.
The current MacPro being sold is a joke. Old chips, old GPUs, overpriced RAM/SSD/HDs, no USB 3.0, no Thunderbolt and really overpriced. If you go third party with the SSDs Apple disable TRIM.
I've worked out that the main software I use (and need power for) is Cinema 4d, After Effects and Photoshop. All of which work better in most cases under windows (because their OpenGL driver is better). I become less and less of a mac-head every day when watching their current practices. Seems only the bean counters are in charge and counting their lolly (and other mixed metaphors).
I really, really don't want to have to use Windows though...


----------



## 19sixtysix (Jul 12, 2012)

Crispy said:


> If you mac is older than one of these:
> 
> - iMac (Mid 2007 or newer)
> - MacBook (Late 2008 Aluminum, or Early 2009 or newer)
> ...


 
Same here though haven't moved my macbook to 10.7 nor my imac g5 to 10.5. I can't actually see anything that I'm actually unable to do with a new computer that I can't do with my old ones.


----------



## Structaural (Jul 12, 2012)

I'm annoyed that iCloud only works on Lion and up. 

I'm investigating this instead (really good prices compared with DropBox) and is mac specific and will Time Machine to the cloud:
https://get.dollydrive.com/purchase


----------



## editor (Jul 12, 2012)

Structaural said:


> Considering Videocopilot (a maker of tutorials and plugins for After Effects) wrote their own OpenGL driver for a plug-in (https://www.videocopilot.net/products/element/) you'd think a company worth 600billion could do it.
> The current MacPro being sold is a joke. Old chips, old GPUs, overpriced RAM/SSD/HDs, no USB 3.0, no Thunderbolt and really overpriced. If you go third party with the SSDs Apple disable TRIM.
> I've worked out that the main software I use (and need power for) is Cinema 4d, After Effects and Photoshop. All of which work better in most cases under windows (because their OpenGL driver is better). I become less and less of a mac-head every day when watching their current practices. Seems only the bean counters are in charge and counting their lolly (and other mixed metaphors).
> I really, really don't want to have to use Windows though...


May as well as this rate though, no?


----------



## skyscraper101 (Jul 12, 2012)

editor said:


> That's well rubbish.


 
Indeed. Apple are abandoning almost everyone who owns a mac over 5 years old.

Kind of makes a nonsense about their hardware's supposed longevity and resale value if their software can't hack it.


----------



## 2hats (Jul 12, 2012)

skyscraper101 said:


> Kind of makes a nonsense about their hardware's supposed longevity and resale value if their software can't hack it.


 
Planned obsolescence. It's (part of) one business model.


----------



## GarfieldLeChat (Jul 12, 2012)

I really think apple are in bunker mode at the moment the iphone 5 has got to be amazing or they are going to be in real trouble.  They're resting on their laurels a bit almost like the company is still in mourning.   More likely however, is that they are in fact involved in a bitter internal power struggle which the mad old dictator Jobs controlled the warring factions with an iron fist and now all the genrals are squabbling over the spoils.  I think it might be a bit bumpy for a while I'm kinda hoping for a second Renaissance when Woz takes pity on the fast gone down the crapper Apple and buys it for a symbolic dollar and then starts making genuinely interesting new hardware with real purpose again.

Time was when you were a creative and you bought an apple in many ways it says a lot about Windows and it's ability to reinvent itself with essentially the same crappy ill thought out gimmicky UI that there's no longer really a benefit to buying a mac over a PC.  

So come on Woz rise up take the company back... you know you wanna...


----------



## Kid_Eternity (Jul 12, 2012)

Well anyway...I like the look of Mountain Lion, some nice features, and like the fact that the iOS and OS X are overlapping. Makes perfect sense given iCloud. Bit of a shame that Airplay for Mac won't work on my two year old MacBook Pro but that's not a deal breaker as I doubt I'd use it anyway...


----------



## elbows (Jul 12, 2012)

Kid_Eternity said:


> Bit of a shame that Airplay for Mac won't work on my two year old MacBook Pro but that's not a deal breaker as I doubt I'd use it anyway...


 
Are you sure about that? From what I read it should work on plenty of models, but you do need to have the latest dev firmware on the apple tv.


----------



## Kid_Eternity (Jul 12, 2012)

elbows said:


> Are you sure about that? From what I read it should work on plenty of models, but you do need to have the latest dev firmware on the apple tv.



As far as I read it's 2011 models onwards; apparently older models don't have the graphics card power needed to do it properly...


----------



## elbows (Jul 12, 2012)

Thanks. That will teach me to listen to people talking complete shit on the internet then. I never really understand why I manage to find people claiming stuff works on models that dont actually support the feature at all. I did some further research that supported what you said.


----------



## Kid_Eternity (Jul 12, 2012)

No worries


----------



## FridgeMagnet (Jul 13, 2012)

GarfieldLeChat said:


> I really think apple are in bunker mode at the moment the iphone 5 has got to be amazing or they are going to be in real trouble.  They're resting on their laurels a bit almost like the company is still in mourning.   More likely however, is that they are in fact involved in a bitter internal power struggle which the mad old dictator Jobs controlled the warring factions with an iron fist and now all the genrals are squabbling over the spoils.  I think it might be a bit bumpy for a while I'm kinda hoping for a second Renaissance when Woz takes pity on the fast gone down the crapper Apple and buys it for a symbolic dollar and then starts making genuinely interesting new hardware with real purpose again.
> 
> Time was when you were a creative and you bought an apple in many ways it says a lot about Windows and it's ability to reinvent itself with essentially the same crappy ill thought out gimmicky UI that there's no longer really a benefit to buying a mac over a PC.
> 
> So come on Woz rise up take the company back... you know you wanna...


This is sort of imaginary.


----------



## FridgeMagnet (Jul 13, 2012)

Not that imagination is not great, obviously.


----------



## elbows (Jul 13, 2012)

I find it slightly more likely that Woz will fly past my window having soldered a jetpack onto a Raspberry Pi.


----------



## GarfieldLeChat (Jul 13, 2012)

elbows said:


> I find it slightly more likely that Woz will fly past my window having soldered a jetpack onto a Raspberry Pi.


I don't think they are mutually exclusive tbf...


----------



## GarfieldLeChat (Jul 13, 2012)

FridgeMagnet said:


> This is sort of imaginary.


It's the woz part isnt it rather than the infighting...


----------



## maldwyn (Jul 13, 2012)

Where's the evidence for the infighting - a loss of direction perhaps*, but I've seen no reports of disharmony since Job's departure;
Saint Ives spiritual sucessor (check), Kermit Cook affable-been-big-boss-for-ages (check).

*I think Jobs would've explained his reasoning/employed his distortion field and been upfront about the recent the green thing.


----------



## fen_boy (Jul 13, 2012)

Steve never would have allowed the HDMI port on the new Macbook Pro. It's the beginning of the end.


----------



## GarfieldLeChat (Jul 13, 2012)

maldwyn said:


> Where's the evidence for the infighting - a loss of direction perhaps*, but I've seen no reports of disharmony since Job's departure;
> Saint Ives spiritual sucessor (check), Kermit Cook affable-been-big-boss-for-ages (check).
> 
> *I think Jobs would've explained his reasoning/employed his distortion field and been upfront about the recent the green thing.


 
little things...

the patent war intensified, old timers stepping down, the stock market payout, the utter lack of anything new or progressively developed in any of their now annual product launches, the snafu of the message about leaving the green accreditation (not that the accreditation was green merely a sticking plaster to stop them from introducing the kind of legislation we have in Europe about recycling of tech)...

Just all smack of a company not quite at their best... kinda like when you know a boxer is beginning to wane a little... 

I'm still hoping for a Woz triumphant return


----------



## UnderAnOpenSky (Jul 15, 2012)

GarfieldLeChat said:


> So come on Woz rise up take the company back... you know you wanna...


 
The dude is an engineer...he wants to make nice toys and be left in peace! That's why him and jobs made a good couple. Otherwise the dam things would be running something like linux.


----------



## 2hats (Jul 15, 2012)

Global Stoner said:


> Otherwise the dam things would be running something like linux.


 
They are.


----------



## UnderAnOpenSky (Jul 15, 2012)

2hats said:


> They are.


 
Fair point.

I was talking more about the user experience though rather then the nuts and bolts.


----------



## Kid_Eternity (Jul 15, 2012)

Woz returning would be a disaster for Apple.


----------



## UnderAnOpenSky (Jul 15, 2012)

Kid_Eternity said:


> Woz returning would be a disaster for Apple.


 
Why? It's not like they'd let him near any important marketing decisions.


----------



## Kid_Eternity (Jul 15, 2012)

Global Stoner said:


> Why? It's not like they'd let him near any important marketing decisions.



He couldn't be CEO, he certainly couldn't be marketing and Jonny Ive doesn't need an intern.


----------



## 2hats (Jul 15, 2012)

Kid_Eternity said:


> Woz returning would be a disaster for Apple.


 
Yeah. His segway shenanigans would disturb the _bathroom_ breaks of the regular employees.


----------



## GarfieldLeChat (Jul 17, 2012)

Kid_Eternity said:


> Woz returning would be a disaster for Apple.


I'm sure they said the same about jobs return didn't they...


----------



## Kid_Eternity (Jul 17, 2012)

GarfieldLeChat said:


> I'm sure they said the same about jobs return didn't they...



Lol yeah and that turned out well for them didn't it. Woz isn't CEO material, it's just a fact...


----------



## Lazy Llama (Jul 24, 2012)

OS X Mountain Lion will be released tomorrow, according to the Apple quarterly results phone call.
http://www.theverge.com/2012/7/24/3184569/apple-os-x-mountain-lion-availability-july-25


----------



## Kid_Eternity (Jul 24, 2012)

14 quid too, very cheap for a new operating system which is more than just a incremental upgrade...


----------



## Firky (Jul 24, 2012)

Gabe Newell should move to Apple (providing he doesn't eat it, core and all). He is CEO material and has massive balls.

Not sure if I should upgrade to ML or not. For £15 I guess I could try it, can always roll back.


----------



## GarfieldLeChat (Jul 25, 2012)

for those of you who are still po-poing the idea that apple may be in a tail spin profits down http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/07/24/apple_q3_2012_results/

and they're going after Samsung for 2.5 billion US in the US after the claims were booted out here....

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/07/24/apple_damages_samsung_tablet_design/

but no there's still no sign of trouble at the mill...

#bringbackwoz


----------



## Crispy (Jul 25, 2012)

They made 23% more this year than last. Profits are up, not down.


----------



## GarfieldLeChat (Jul 25, 2012)

Kid_Eternity said:


> Lol yeah and that turned out well for them didn't it. Woz isn't CEO material, it's just a fact...


again they said that about Jobs... really two guys who worked with each other to form the company had the same visions of tech and how it should work both of who got shafted and booted from the company they started one came back sorted it out because he knew what the original vision of the corporate entity was the other is equally aware of what they wanted the company to be.  why wouldn't that be a better direction than in essence a living museum to Jobs, Woz, and Ives... which is what's happening at the moment...


----------



## GarfieldLeChat (Jul 25, 2012)

Crispy said:


> They made 23% more this year than last. Profits are up, not down.


uhuh... but sales aren't...

profits don't equal sales...


----------



## beesonthewhatnow (Jul 25, 2012)

Profit is what counts Garf.


----------



## GarfieldLeChat (Jul 25, 2012)

beesonthewhatnow said:


> Profit is what counts Garf.


uh huh....

but sales make nothing but loss yeah...


----------



## beesonthewhatnow (Jul 25, 2012)

Their profits went up.  Unit sales don't matter.

Turnover is vanity, profit is sanity as they say.


----------



## maldwyn (Jul 25, 2012)

It seems they didn't make what was predicted mainly due to people waiting for the nexus iphone, anticipation predicts record sales.


----------



## GarfieldLeChat (Jul 25, 2012)

beesonthewhatnow said:


> Their profits went up. Unit sales don't matter.
> 
> Turnover is vanity, profit is sanity as they say.


I don't think you're getting it Iphone 3gs to 4 jump was what 8 months yet in that time sales of the 3gs didn't nose dive like this some people said fuck it I'll wait and not jump from 3 to 3gs to 4 but few did, 3gs were still (and are still) selling people said fuck it I'll get one because I want one and I'll get it now can't wait for the new one coming out... 

This time round the 4 to the 4S jump people haven't said fuck it I'll get one and the launch of the 4s was delayed so you'd expect people to be hankering after a newer updated handset in the same manner.  

This means the market (and also the expendable capital/disposable income) of the target market is being with held this will push profits down over all as the lag between purchase and upgrade becomes larger and larger... 

Their profits are largely driven by iphone sales.  Until iphone sales their profits we in decline the iphone saved them, hence the other form factor verison of it the ipad.  And it's the ipad which has largely covered their asses til now the iphone is falling in demand.  sure we're not saying tomorrow apple will go bust but jsut as I've said overall there's a malise within the company, and the ihpone 5 needs to be a show stopper or it'll really begin to smart profits wise... 

this is further evidence of this....


----------



## Firky (Jul 25, 2012)

Quite the Alan Sugar aren't we. 

"Fuck profit just shift stock, throw it out the window, we don't need to sustain a business with money, we run on fresh air" 

:-D


----------



## mrs quoad (Jul 25, 2012)

£13.99; impressed!

Think I land a free copy as the laptop's only a month old, mind!


----------



## Firky (Jul 25, 2012)

My MacBook is telling me an upgrade is available.... what to do?!


----------



## maldwyn (Jul 25, 2012)

I'm entitled to a free update too. I think we have to make a request quoting serial number and they send back a voucher code for use at the App store. Must be claimed within 30 days.

http://www.apple.com/osx/uptodate/


----------



## FridgeMagnet (Jul 25, 2012)

There's a load of assorted software updates pre-Mountain Lion, to Safari and some other stuff. I would get those first (and am doing so now actually) though I don't suppose it matters much.


----------



## Firky (Jul 25, 2012)

My MacBook is about 10 months old, may try it getting it for free.


----------



## maldwyn (Jul 25, 2012)

firky said:


> My MacBook is about 10 months old, may try it getting it for free.


Mac needs to have been purchased after June 11th 2012


----------



## Firky (Jul 25, 2012)

Arseholes 

£1,500 and they can't make it within a year of purchase


----------



## Structaural (Jul 25, 2012)

John Siracusa reviews ML.


----------



## Crispy (Jul 25, 2012)

There goes my afternoon 

EDIT: 24 pages? ffs John, some of us have jobs


----------



## maldwyn (Jul 25, 2012)

Don't they have editors at ars technica?


----------



## beesonthewhatnow (Jul 25, 2012)

Structaural said:


> John Siracusa reviews ML.


That's my evening reading sorted then


----------



## Crispy (Jul 25, 2012)

maldwyn said:


> Don't they have editors at ars technica?


Siracusa doesn't need one. He's one of the best OSX journalists out there and has a very clear writing style. Every word on each page is worthwhile.

</gushingfan>


----------



## maldwyn (Jul 25, 2012)

I was kind of joking, I'm familiar with and highly rate his work.


----------



## Kid_Eternity (Jul 25, 2012)

So far the reviews appear to be mainly positive. Which is nice.


----------



## Kid_Eternity (Jul 25, 2012)

They seem to have turned Safari into an almost usable browser...


----------



## mrs quoad (Jul 25, 2012)

Put in an application for the free DL.

Then realised I'll want it on my iMac anyway.

So've paid, DLed, and've just started the install... Should be a couple of minutes, apparently


----------



## maldwyn (Jul 25, 2012)

Your free version is good for up to 5 machines.


----------



## mrs quoad (Jul 25, 2012)

maldwyn said:


> Your free version is good for up to 5 machines.


I got the very firm impression from the 'free' site that it was for one machine only.

There were a couple of screens on the 'application / submission' screen that led me to think that; plus this in the T&Cs:


> The OS X Mountain Lion software content code must be used solely with the products that qualify for this offer.




If it turns out I could've used the voucher for both machines, I'll raise it with Apple. They've been good about similar things in the past...


----------



## mrs quoad (Jul 25, 2012)

Don't have a verified source, but this rings true:



> When the application is submitted users will receive a claim code, and when the systems and purchase dates are verified Apple will e-mail a redemption code for use in the Mac App Store. This code will allow a free purchase of Mountain Lion. However, unlike standard purchases that can be installed on any machine, the redemption code is to be used for only one machine.


 
http://www.nairaland.com/998718/apple-osx-mountain-lion-released


----------



## maldwyn (Jul 25, 2012)

What? that's ridiculous if true.


----------



## mrs quoad (Jul 25, 2012)

maldwyn said:


> What? that's ridiculous if true.


Why?

I expect Mountain Lion for my less-than-a-month-old-and-sold-with-Lion laptop.

IMO it's a bit daft to expect it for my year-old iMac.


----------



## maldwyn (Jul 25, 2012)

My rMBP is a week old and ML was part of the deal. My point is once an App is registered in my App Store purchases then it should be available across all my machines.


----------



## mrs quoad (Jul 25, 2012)

maldwyn said:


> My rMBP is a week old and ML was part of the deal. My point is once an App is registered in my App Store purchases then it should be available across all my machines.


But this isn't *really* an app purchase. As such. It's a specific amendment to a specific machine.

I guess the incentive from Apple's side is preventing sales blips. But conversely, if it was a standard license, they'd probably get tonnes of people buying new machines in the week before launch, to save £13 on the OS.


----------



## maldwyn (Jul 25, 2012)

I'll just have to give Apple a ring as another problem I'm having is getting my iWork 09 loaded on a rMBP (no DVD slot) and it will be rather irritating if I have to buy them again from the App store  whereas my other machines tell me they've already been purchased.


----------



## beesonthewhatnow (Jul 25, 2012)

Structaural said:


> John Siracusa reviews ML.


I've just spent an hour or so reading this.  As someone who is about to jump ship from Windows to Mac I have to say it all looks pretty impressive, with one major exception - iCloud. Which looks like utter shite.

Only one level of folders? You can only see files from the application they were created in? _Seriously?_


----------



## Kid_Eternity (Jul 25, 2012)

I'd suggest not using it, I don't. I use Dropbox for document syncing across multiple platforms.


----------



## beesonthewhatnow (Jul 25, 2012)

Kid_Eternity said:


> I'd suggest not using it, I don't. I use Dropbox for document syncing across multiple platforms.


I still don't really "get" all this cloud stuff. To my mind a cloud system should mean everything is there, with the amount of local storage you've got being irrelevant. But (unless I've got this completely wrong, which is entirely possible) they all seem to have local copies of the files as well. So you get the advantage of everything being in synch, but you're still stuck with storage size issues.


----------



## beesonthewhatnow (Jul 25, 2012)

Which leads me to - how easy is it to attach a large (say 1TB) drive to my home network and set it up so I can then access the contents of it from anywhere on the net? (eg. if I'm away in a hotel, logon to their wireless, see my home based drive)

(apologies for the derail  Err, lets assume I'm asking how easy it is to do this in OSX )


----------



## Crispy (Jul 25, 2012)

beesonthewhatnow said:


> Which leads me to - how easy is it to attach a large (say 1TB) drive to my home network and set it up so I can then access the contents of it from anywhere on the net? (eg. if I'm away in a hotel, logon to their wireless, see my home based drive)
> 
> (apologies for the derail  Err, lets assume I'm asking how easy it is to do this in OSX )


Best to get a NAS for that


----------



## beesonthewhatnow (Jul 25, 2012)

Crispy said:


> Best to get a NAS for that


So it's doable? Cool.

Now, is it doable by someone who only understands cables when they've got audio going down them?


----------



## Crispy (Jul 25, 2012)

No, you need a geek.


----------



## beesonthewhatnow (Jul 25, 2012)

Crispy said:


> No, you need a geek.


Plenty of those here


----------



## FridgeMagnet (Jul 25, 2012)

beesonthewhatnow said:


> Which leads me to - how easy is it to attach a large (say 1TB) drive to my home network and set it up so I can then access the contents of it from anywhere on the net? (eg. if I'm away in a hotel, logon to their wireless, see my home based drive)
> 
> (apologies for the derail  Err, lets assume I'm asking how easy it is to do this in OSX )


I log into my home machine regularly. I set up a URL for it with DynDNS, turned the assorted remote login/file transfer options on, and that was that, I can access it and its mounted drives through the Finder, an FTP client, the terminal etc.

Sometimes I log in it when I'm too lazy to get out of bed and go to the next room to watch something. I just download it to my laptop instead.


----------



## mrs quoad (Jul 25, 2012)

Having some internet connection difficulties with Mountain Lion 

It was just telling me Urban, Google, and iMessages's servers weren't responding. Until I turned it off and turned it back on again.


----------



## redsquirrel (Jul 26, 2012)

Kid_Eternity said:


> They seem to have turned Safari into an almost usable browser...


 It's always been my browser of choice ever since I got a Mac, what don't you like about it?


----------



## Kid_Eternity (Jul 26, 2012)

redsquirrel said:


> It's always been my browser of choice ever since I got a Mac, what don't you like about it?



Chrome has always been faster and had more choice in terms of plug ins. Chrome is also pretty decent when your checking page code for website dev too.


----------



## Kid_Eternity (Jul 26, 2012)

Had a brief play with my newly MLed up MBP. Everything does seem snappier, even on my 2010 model. Opened up Notes and the speed of iCloud syncing was very impressive.


----------



## electroplated (Jul 26, 2012)

Bit annoyed my 2010 MBP doesn't get the air play mirroring functionality. My wife's new Air does, and was suprised the video playback was more jerky than streaming the video via other means and the picture wasn't too sharp either....

Like the new notifications a lot.


----------



## Boris Sprinkler (Jul 26, 2012)

Does the upgrade require a reboot? Just I am running some tasks in a Linux vm fusion instance that are going to take days but I really want to upgrade.


----------



## Kanda (Jul 26, 2012)

Yes, it does.


----------



## mrs quoad (Jul 26, 2012)

electroplated said:


> Bit annoyed my 2010 MBP doesn't get the air play mirroring functionality. My wife's new Air does, and was suprised the video playback was more jerky than streaming the video via other means and the picture wasn't too sharp either....


Tried mirroring my MBP last night, and clearly need to do something wrt settings, as atm it's producing a very non-HD image indeed in the top left corner of the screen


----------



## mrs quoad (Jul 26, 2012)

Just tried opening Amazon's MP3 downloader.

And ML refused, because it's from a 3rd party developer! Bloody hell, overtones of bloody Vista's bloody hyperchecking! 

I've got to *specifically allow* 3rd party applications _of any sort _in security settings! 

Can see that shutting off options for people who are even less competent than me with computers. And, tbh, I only twigged because it was mentioned in the review bees complimented last night.


----------



## 2hats (Jul 26, 2012)

Mountain Lion application compatibility table.


----------



## Kid_Eternity (Jul 26, 2012)

Yep, my MBP is a great deal faster, everything is loading and refreshing snappier. Very nice!


----------



## redsquirrel (Jul 27, 2012)

Kid_Eternity said:


> Chrome has always been faster and had more choice in terms of plug ins. Chrome is also pretty decent when your checking page code for website dev too.


Even if that is true (never used Chrome myself) it hardly makes Safari "unusable"


----------



## Kid_Eternity (Jul 27, 2012)

If the experience of a browser doesn't live up to expectations it does.


----------



## mrs quoad (Jul 27, 2012)

I've now lost wifi 4 times on my desktop. In good old skool style, I'm turning it off and turning it back on again each time.

No troubles (so far) on my MBP, but tbf I've mostly been working upstairs.

Looks like I'm not the only one:

http://www.technobuffalo.com/companies/apple/os-x-mountain-lion-wireless-isues/#comments


----------



## 2hats (Jul 27, 2012)

mrs quoad said:


> I've now lost wifi 4 times on my desktop.


 
It's been an issue on Lion as well.


----------



## mrs quoad (Jul 27, 2012)

2hats said:


> It's been an issue on Lion as well.


Yeah. tbh, I'd have it monthly (if that) on Lion. And that seemed to be potentially attributable to our router / provider.

This is - for me, at least - a hard and fast fuckup.


----------



## 2hats (Jul 27, 2012)

redsquirrel said:


> Even if that is true (never used Chrome myself) it hardly makes Safari "unusable"


 
Though Safari on Snow Leopard (and earlier) could now be considered unusable. Apple just released an update for it only on Lion (Mountain Lion shipped with the same) covering a freight train load of security issues:

CVE-2012-0678, CVE-2012-0679, CVE-2012-0680, CVE-2011-3426, CVE-2011-3016, CVE-2011-3021, CVE-2011-3027, CVE-2011-3032, CVE-2011-3034, CVE-2011-3035, CVE-2011-3036, CVE-2011-3037, CVE-2011-3038, CVE-2011-3039, CVE-2011-3040, CVE-2011-3041, CVE-2011-3042, CVE-2011-3043, CVE-2011-3044, CVE-2011-3050, CVE-2011-3053, CVE-2011-3059, CVE-2011-3060, CVE-2011-3064, CVE-2011-3068, CVE-2011-3069, CVE-2011-3071, CVE-2011-3073, CVE-2011-3074, CVE-2011-3075, CVE-2011-3076, CVE-2011-3078, CVE-2011-3081, CVE-2011-3086, CVE-2011-3089, CVE-2011-3090, CVE-2011-3913, CVE-2011-3924, CVE-2011-3926, CVE-2011-3958, CVE-2011-3966, CVE-2011-3968, CVE-2011-3969, CVE-2011-3971, CVE-2012-0682, CVE-2012-0683, CVE-2012-1520, CVE-2012-1521, CVE-2012-3589, CVE-2012-3590, CVE-2012-3591, CVE-2012-3592, CVE-2012-3593, CVE-2012-3594, CVE-2012-3595, CVE-2012-3596, CVE-2012-3597, CVE-2012-3599, CVE-2012-3600, CVE-2012-3603, CVE-2012-3604, CVE-2012-3605, CVE-2012-3608, CVE-2012-3609, CVE-2012-3610, CVE-2012-3611, CVE-2012-3615, CVE-2012-3618, CVE-2012-3620, CVE-2012-3625, CVE-2012-3626, CVE-2012-3627, CVE-2012-3628, CVE-2012-3629, CVE-2012-3630, CVE-2012-3631, CVE-2012-3633, CVE-2012-3634, CVE-2012-3635, CVE-2012-3636, CVE-2012-3637, CVE-2012-3638, CVE-2012-3639, CVE-2012-3640, CVE-2012-3641, CVE-2012-3642, CVE-2012-3644, CVE-2012-3645, CVE-2012-3646, CVE-2012-3653, CVE-2012-3655, CVE-2012-3656, CVE-2012-3661, CVE-2012-3663, CVE-2012-3664, CVE-2012-3665, CVE-2012-3666, CVE-2012-3667, CVE-2012-3668, CVE-2012-3669, CVE-2012-3670, CVE-2012-3674, CVE-2012-3678, CVE-2012-3679, CVE-2012-3680, CVE-2012-3681, CVE-2012-3682, CVE-2012-3683, CVE-2012-3686, CVE-2012-3689, CVE-2012-3690, CVE-2012-3691, CVE-2011-3067, CVE-2012-2815, CVE-2012-3693, CVE-2012-3694, CVE-2012-3695, CVE-2012-3696, CVE-2011-2845, CVE-2012-3697, CVE-2012-3650


----------



## mrs quoad (Jul 27, 2012)

Just tried dictating an email to Artichoke using 'Mac's new OS.'

Or 'you own ass,' as it turned out


----------



## mrs quoad (Jul 27, 2012)

Impressed by the dictation's... erm... filtering of sound!

I'm listening to this: 

And tried dictating a short message about cheese.

Despite two peripheral speakers and a subwoofer going at a respectable volume, right by my iMac, it picked up every word with no noise.

e2a: lost it that time 

I am dictating this message about cheese that's quite a fast pace from K-I'll call you back on the rough rules and song

e2a2: think 'on the rough rules' is 'peripherals' and it just gave up at 'subwoofer'


----------



## mrs quoad (Jul 27, 2012)

> Hello dad I'm trying to create message using some software that has come with a new oh ass update on my maps


----------



## FridgeMagnet (Jul 27, 2012)

God, imagine everybody is using speech to text imaginably insane


----------



## FridgeMagnet (Jul 27, 2012)

Well that definitely worked. That was precisely what I wanted to post.


----------



## maldwyn (Jul 27, 2012)

Incidentally, I was able to load  the free ML update on more than one machine.


----------



## Kid_Eternity (Jul 27, 2012)

Has a play with diction, so far it's getting about 90% right when it's wrong but getting 100% most times...


----------



## 2hats (Jul 27, 2012)

AFAIK ML speech to text requires network connectivity as it sends all your words back to the Apple mothership for assimilation.

Roll on thought controlled computers...


----------



## 2hats (Jul 27, 2012)

maldwyn said:


> Incidentally, I was able to load the free ML update on more than one machine.


 
I think that's limited to the number of computers you can authorise from the Apple ID account with which you purchased ML? Which in that case would be 5.


----------



## maldwyn (Jul 27, 2012)

2hats said:


> I think that's limited to the number of computers you can authorise from the Apple ID account with which you purchased ML? Which in that case would be 5.


Sorry, I should've posted that on the other thread - Mrsquoad and I were discussing the FREE ML upgrade for Mac machines purchased after June 11th, the terms and conditions seem to suggest the download was only valid for just one machine.


----------



## 2hats (Jul 27, 2012)

maldwyn said:


> Sorry, I should've posted that on the other thread - Mrsquoad and I were discussing the FREE ML upgrade for Mac machines purchased after June 11th, the terms and conditions seem to suggest the download was only valid for just one machine.


 
Ah, I see. Perhaps they have little way of enforcing it and possibly aren't that bothered? After all you've 'bought' it like anyone else (and it's not like Apple are charging that much for it anyway), so you get the Apple ID limit of 5?


----------



## maldwyn (Jul 27, 2012)

It seem to, or rather it shows as being purchased on my other machines - I've restricted downloading it to just one machine until all known bugs are fixed


----------



## Kid_Eternity (Jul 27, 2012)

Anyone else noticed they've got back a ton of disk space? Before installing ML I had something like 92gigs space, now it's saying I have 110gigs!


----------



## Boris Sprinkler (Jul 28, 2012)

Well it says him and send my contacting toes as well hope this message comes.

Yeah I think Ocendale is absolutely useless, And there's nothing wrong with the lawyer to have a accent in English so I'm stupid


----------



## mrs quoad (Jul 28, 2012)

Artichoke started barking half way through my attempt to record a new email.

"You can try to get my mother are worth worth worth worth worth worth OS and operating system are"

The last word is her shouting 'arse,' btw.

e2a: and I think the first bit involved 'try to record another.'


----------



## mrs quoad (Jul 28, 2012)

Kid_Eternity said:


> Anyone else noticed they've got back a ton of disk space? Before installing ML I had something like 92gigs space, now it's saying I have 110gigs!


I lost a gig on my desktop. Gained nothing on my laptop.


----------



## FridgeMagnet (Jul 28, 2012)

I'm going to start using the dictation when I write reasons for banning people, I think.


----------



## maldwyn (Jul 28, 2012)

This blinking wi-fi hiccup is beginning to get on my tits! Glad I didn't update my other machines


----------



## mrs quoad (Jul 28, 2012)

maldwyn said:


> Sorry, I should've posted that on the other thread - Mrsquoad and I were discussing the FREE ML upgrade for Mac machines purchased after June 11th, the terms and conditions seem to suggest the download was only valid for just one machine.


This is what I got in my password PDF: Use these Mac App Store content codes with the instructions provided in this email. You may use only one content code for each qualifying computer.

It's weird wording, ennit?


----------



## maldwyn (Jul 28, 2012)

Maybe they were just covering themselves, it seem good for 4 more installs.
Loads of people paid for ML rather than wait for the free codes to come through, opting to apply for refunds later.


----------



## Piers Gibbon (Jul 29, 2012)

hmmm I am finally ready to install the old Lion on the macbook pro that runs my voiceover recording studio. But it seems I can't buy it now - only Mountain Lion...which is not going to work with ProTools reliably for a good few months I'd guess

Any ideas?


----------



## Kid_Eternity (Jul 29, 2012)

Unless you can find someone with a copy of Lion I think you're stuck with what you're running tbh...


----------



## Kid_Eternity (Jul 29, 2012)

Quite liking Notification Centre, being able to swipe to have a peak at my upcoming calendar stuff is very useful.


----------



## maldwyn (Jul 29, 2012)

The track pad swiping/gestures has gone all the fuck - I'm missing my one finger click to highlight, tried pad-settings to no avail.


----------



## Kid_Eternity (Jul 30, 2012)

Mountain Lion is now on the knowledge base over at Apple Support.


----------



## Kid_Eternity (Jul 30, 2012)

If you really need Save As back there's a handy work around that doesn't require any special technical knowledge.


----------



## redsquirrel (Aug 1, 2012)

Kid_Eternity said:


> Anyone else noticed they've got back a ton of disk space? Before installing ML I had something like 92gigs space, now it's saying I have 110gigs!


Yep same here, got about 20 gigs back


----------



## mrs quoad (Aug 1, 2012)

Greatly enjoying streaming iTunes through the Apple TV, so's I can sit in the dining room working (nice high table) whilst controlling the music next door.

Now sore tempted by the £21.99 p/a iTunes match, bc I'm buggered if I'm cluttering this machine with infinite gigabits of music, but'm beginning to get bored of the same 5 albums 

e2a: tbf, I only own 40-50gb of music.

But still.


----------



## Kid_Eternity (Aug 1, 2012)

iTunes match does/ will soon do streaming so you can have access to all your music on multiple devices without downloading each song as you listen.


----------



## mrs quoad (Aug 1, 2012)

Yeah. Aware of that.

Slightly iffy about the £22 p/a thing for only 40-50gb of music (a large portion of it hour-long mixes). Might go with one of those 28gb SD cards instead 

Still a bit tempted, though.


----------



## mrs quoad (Aug 6, 2012)

Top App Store review of ML at the moment:







Is it me, or does he sound a bit... odd?


----------



## GarfieldLeChat (Aug 6, 2012)

mrs quoad said:


> Top App Store review of ML at the moment:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


well yes and no... apple shouldn't be claiming their machines can be upgraded if in fact they can't, their genius bar should have sufficient knowledge of apple products to prevent the upgrade from taking that length of time to update and or being able to solve without wiping the issues of the upgrade, so yes I'd refuse to leave the store with a fucked system I'd just bought a supposed upgrade for until the machine worked...

i walk into the store with a working machine I walk out longer than the expected time to upgrade with a fucked machine after the manufacturers specialist team have actually made it worse... 

TBH at that point I'd be saying you'll be replacing the machine for a new one then...


----------



## mrs quoad (Aug 6, 2012)

So it's not uncommon for people to go into an Apple store to upgrade?

And / or to make 'several time machine backups' before going ahead?


----------



## GarfieldLeChat (Aug 6, 2012)

mrs quoad said:


> So it's not uncommon for people to go into an Apple store to upgrade?
> 
> And / or to make 'several time machine backups' before going ahead?


no and no...

why would it be?

apple stores have a cult like status and present themselves particularly in the states where the consumer culture is much more shiney happy clappy than in the UK (see hanging out at the Mall, as they believe shopping is a recreational activity; like gambling for that matter...) then they go hang in the mall, at the apple store, using their free wifi which is largely faster than most provincial internet in the states which is by and large wide spread but kak for big downloads/speed etc (hence the file sharing culture of being on line for a long time most people have kak connections although the wide spred nature of the kak is more penatrative than in the UK you have to ask if its shit and takes you a month to download anything what's the point in having it at all... but we did all used to be like this too)  This shown the broadband coverage for the states circa 2011 
http://www.makeuseof.com/dir/national-broadband-map-us-broadband-coverage-map/

so basically lots of people hang out at the pomme cults stores to download and cain their free wifi connection and have the machine download big files...

it happens to an extent in the UK for people without big pipes here and to be seen as being in the apple store where as it's treated like a massive corporate net cafe in the states...

I guess in a way the behaviour is odd, in the UK but really isn't in the USA...

Have you not be to one of the hellian Westfield type malls over here?  if so go once purely as an athropological visit and see how the UK citixens rather fail at mall culture but at the same time you'll get an idea of what a dystopian future they present... (think day of the dead in live action role play with the shoppers playing the zombies... that's what both the limpic and shepherds bush ones feel like to me... oh and bluewater and milton keynes... )


----------



## FridgeMagnet (Aug 6, 2012)

mrs quoad said:


> So it's not uncommon for people to go into an Apple store to upgrade?
> 
> And / or to make 'several time machine backups' before going ahead?


No, both are kind of odd. Well, you should always make _one_ TM backup, but several is a bit pointless.


----------



## mrs quoad (Aug 6, 2012)

FridgeMagnet said:


> No, both are kind of odd. Well, you should always make _one_ TM backup, but several is a bit pointless.


----------



## GarfieldLeChat (Aug 6, 2012)

FridgeMagnet said:


> No, both are kind of odd. Well, you should always make _one_ TM backup, but several is a bit pointless.


unless as they said they're updating several apps and doing several back ups with each upgrade in which case it's a sensible precaution (if an overly zealous one...)


----------



## maldwyn (Aug 6, 2012)

.


----------



## maldwyn (Aug 6, 2012)

mrs quoad, wrong thread post - so many Apple ones floating about.


----------



## Kid_Eternity (Aug 6, 2012)




----------



## maldwyn (Aug 6, 2012)

Kid_Eternity said:


>


I mistakenly posted the iCloud hacking story here instead of on the 'Apple general news' thread.


----------



## Kid_Eternity (Aug 6, 2012)

Ah right.


----------



## mrs quoad (Aug 9, 2012)

After 3-ish days of on / off uploading, 13 of 467 items have uploaded to iTunes match.

I have a feeling this is not entirely due to our bandwidth.


----------



## Kid_Eternity (Aug 10, 2012)

Pixelmator has just had a nice update, bunch of features including some pretty neat Instagram style effects and iCloud operability.


----------



## Piers Gibbon (Aug 10, 2012)

anyone else have issues with Time Capsule backups after updating to ML? MIne went insane...but didn't tell me it had gone insane. Result = no backups since update to ML...AND massive temporary backups being sneakily stored on my laptop (with no alert or alarm) which resulted in total hard drive meltdown and a lost week.

Not happy.

ML seems nice, otherwise


----------



## Kid_Eternity (Aug 10, 2012)

Nope. My TM didn't work for bloody ages after Lion but it's working fine after the ML install. Have to say really like ML so far, it's far snappier and the notification centre is very nice.


----------



## Piers Gibbon (Aug 10, 2012)

I went straight from 10.5.8 pussycat? up to Mountain Lion, and yes - it is rather good


----------



## Winot (Sep 23, 2012)

I could do with some advice on updating to Mountain Lion from Lion.

I plan to do a clean install because I have been having a few problems with Lion (slow shutdown; problems freezing when fast user switching).  Presently I have the following structure:

SSD with applications/library/system and Users (admin/mrs/kids) - this is the startup disk
HD with User (me) inc. all my music

I have Time Machine backups of everything and Carbon Copy clones of SSD and (separately) HD.

I plan to do a clean install of Mountain Lion on the SSD.

Q1 - can I just restore from the SSD backup to the new clean ML SSD?  In other words, can I leave the HD as it is and just access it from the new ML SSD?
Q2 - is it best to use Migration Assistant from the Time Machine backup or restore from the Carbon Copy Clone?  What's the difference?
Q3 - will either method automatically ensure that the most up to date application version is used, i.e. the new ML versions not the old Lion versions?
Q4 - is it worth taking this opportunity to move the other Users to the HD to leave the SSD with just applications/library/system files?  I seem to remember there was a problem with this before - can't remember why I didn't do it then.
Q5 - anything else I need to watch out for?

Thanks!


----------



## sim667 (Sep 23, 2012)

I'm pretty sure the migration assistant will just clone the drive. What I'd consider doing for safety is get a new disk and install the os. Then use migration assistant to copy the info over from your current startup disk. Finally everything should be fine from the new startup disk, but at least you'd have the old one as a backup.


----------



## sim667 (Sep 23, 2012)

Q3- you will need to update after the install if its an old disk your putting on. If its a new downloaded one it should be up to date. You can make the download one into an install USB.


----------



## Winot (Sep 23, 2012)

Thanks for the input - I'm installing now on a spare external USB HD and will see how it goes.  If it works smoothly, I'll do it on my SSD.

BTW for others going through this, I found a good guide on MacRumors.


----------



## Mapped (Sep 24, 2012)

I've just taken delivery of a new MBP, and it's magnificent to use after my clogged up piece of shit Dell  I love the multitouch stuff, but I'm going to have to learn some new keyboard shortcuts.

For any usenet users is this still the best way to go with a Mac? looks like there could be some sort of communication with NZB Matrix



Structaural said:


> Usenet users should use http://sabnzbd.org/ - downloads, unpars, unrars and deletes rars all in the background. Will check Newzbin bookmarks too.


 
In the very near future I'm going to stick an SSD in this and swap the DVD drive with the current HDD. I take it the method Sim mentioned yesterday would work for that too?



sim667 said:


> IWhat I'd consider doing for safety is get a new disk and install the os. Then use migration assistant to copy the info over from your current startup disk. Finally everything should be fine from the new startup disk, but at least you'd have the old one as a backup.


----------



## Crispy (Sep 24, 2012)

Step zero: Install Perian so that (very nearly) all video formats work in Quicktime (which helps you out all the way across the OS)


----------



## Mapped (Sep 24, 2012)

Cheers Crispy. I had an MKV running in VLC earlier, hadn't thought about other instances.

I've an external HDD headache now with not being able to write on my NTFS formatted drive. Does anyone know a (stable) way to write to NTFS or shall I reformat? It still needs to work with my Samsung TV, but I think that will recognise FAT32.


----------



## Kanda (Sep 24, 2012)

There's loads of ways of writing NTFS

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=m...&sugexp=chrome,mod=0&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8


----------



## Crispy (Sep 24, 2012)

N1 Buoy said:


> Cheers Crispy. I had an MKV running in VLC earlier, hadn't thought about other instances.
> 
> I've an external HDD headache now with not being able to write on my NTFS formatted drive. Does anyone know a (stable) way to write to NTFS or shall I reformat? It still needs to work with my Samsung TV, but I think that will recognise FAT32.


You can do it the geeky way with MacFuse and NTFS-3G, which requires some fiddling on *Lion systems. Or you can (try then) buy Tuxera NTFS, which is the same technology but packaged up nicely and easy to use.

Fat32 is the compromise, but do you have any >4GB files?


----------



## Crispy (Sep 24, 2012)

Kanda said:


> There's loads of ways of writing NTFS
> 
> https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=mac write ntfs&aq=0&oq=mac write ntfs&sugexp=chrome,mod=0&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8


 
The top results are outdated, although it looks like the MacFuse 64 bit compatability issue has been fixed in the follow-on project, OSXFuse. Instructions here: http://techbytesxpress.com/2012/03/13/ntfs-on-os-x-lion-10-7-solved/


----------



## Structaural (Sep 24, 2012)

I use Paragon's NTFS software for the last 4 years or so. Works a treat, quick to copy. 20 dollar

http://www.paragon-software.com/home/ntfs-mac/


----------



## Mapped (Sep 24, 2012)

Crispy said:


> You can do it the geeky way with MacFuse and NTFS-3G, which requires some fiddling on *Lion systems. Or you can (try then) buy Tuxera NTFS, which is the same technology but packaged up nicely and easy to use.
> 
> Fat32 is the compromise, but do you have any >4GB files?


 
Most of them are >4gb. I forgot about that 

I had a google and I also found loads of out of date freeware, so thanks for the links. I'll investigate OSXfuse and Paragon.


----------



## sim667 (Sep 24, 2012)

if you want to use the ssd as the main drive, id download leopard, make an install usb from the mountain lion download.

swap the drives, boot from the USB and install the OS to the ssd, then boot to the ssd and use migration assistant to copy everything over from the old HDD.

You can choose the boot drive each time you boot by either holding the cmd or option key, i cant remember which. Remember when you format the SSD you need to do it with a guid table in the disk utility otherwise you cant install the OS


----------



## Mapped (Sep 24, 2012)

Cheers Sim. One thing though: do I have to download leopard to make a mountain lion install usb? I can't make one within ML?



Structaural said:


> I use Paragon's NTFS software for the last 4 years or so. Works a treat, quick to copy. 20 dollar
> 
> http://www.paragon-software.com/home/ntfs-mac/


 
I've got a demo version of this on the go and it's working well, might be worth paying for as they seem to update when necessary.


----------



## Lazy Llama (Sep 24, 2012)

N1 Buoy said:


> Cheers Sim. One thing though: do I have to download leopard to make a mountain lion install usb? I can't make one within ML?


Yes, you can.


----------



## sim667 (Sep 25, 2012)

N1 Buoy said:


> Cheers Sim. One thing though: do I have to download leopard to make a mountain lion install usb? I can't make one within ML?


 
I might have been getting my OSX's confused. Just download the latest version, right click on the installer in the apps folder, and click 'view package contents', then use the installesd.dmg (i think) to make a bootable USB disk.


----------



## elbows (Sep 26, 2012)

Since Lion I havent been impressed with how my laptop was running, and Mountain Lion didnt help.

So I finally did a fresh install, and decided to go one step further and try a 64GB SSD I had lying around. Ahh thats better! Thanks to this thread for reminding me to try this.

Also seems to have cured me of a strange illness I've been suffering from lately 'looking forward to WIndows 8'. I gave the preview release of Windows 8 a try on the same machine before installing Mountain Lion, and quickly decided it was a really bad idea.


----------



## Winot (Sep 26, 2012)

Would you stick all the users folders on the ssd and just keep data (eg photos/music) on the hdd or put all user folders on the hdd and the rest (applications etc.) on the ssd?


----------



## elbows (Sep 26, 2012)

Im not the right person to ask, since I really need a bigger SSD to use this machine how I was previously doing so, but I have no money so had to improvise. The old 500gb hdd was nearly full, some very hefty graphics & music apps and large itunes library for a start, so I've moved all that to a different computer and use iTunes match to get access to my music collection on this laptop without taking up space.

I suppose ideally I would get at least a 128GB SSD and swap the optical drive for a large hard drive. For now this will be lean, mean development and surfing machine.


----------



## pinkychukkles (Sep 26, 2012)

Winot said:


> Would you stick all the users folders on the ssd and just keep data (eg photos/music) on the hdd or put all user folders on the hdd and the rest (applications etc.) on the ssd?


No, I kept my user folder on my SSD as well all other system files *BUT* used symlinks to store all the large files on my HDD - e.g. documents, downloads, downloaded software, music, pictures & movies whilst still having the folders show as normal.


----------



## UnderAnOpenSky (Sep 26, 2012)

Edit: Noticed this way a mac and not an ssd thread.


----------



## Structaural (Sep 27, 2012)

pinkychukkles said:


> No, I kept my user folder on my SSD as well all other system files *BUT* used symlinks to store all the large files on my HDD - e.g. documents, downloads, downloaded software, music, pictures & movies whilst still having the folders show as normal.


 
Nice, I've had to use symlinks for my iPhoto library. This is handy: http://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/10433/symboliclinker


----------



## sim667 (Sep 27, 2012)

Crispy said:


> Step zero: Install Perian so that (very nearly) all video formats work in Quicktime (which helps you out all the way across the OS)


 
I find perian painfully painfully slow.

I need to find a solution to backup my laptop, but I dont want to have to keep plugging a hard drive in, cus Ill forget...... Anyone know of any dirt cheap network drives?

(im saving up for a readyNAS eventually, but that wont be for a while yet).


----------



## Crispy (Sep 27, 2012)

Perian slow? Plays back everything on my 2007 imac with no fuss or delay.


----------



## sim667 (Sep 27, 2012)

Crispy said:


> Perian slow? Plays back everything on my 2007 imac with no fuss or delay.


 Its horrid on my 2008 mac pro.....

I just use VLC tbh


----------



## Lazy Llama (Sep 27, 2012)

sim667 said:


> I dont want to have to keep plugging a hard drive in, cus Ill forget...... Anyone know of any dirt cheap network drives?
> 
> (im saving up for a readyNAS eventually, but that wont be for a while yet).


How about a Raspberry Pi? £30+ accessories and then install http://elinux.org/R-Pi_NAS


----------



## sim667 (Sep 27, 2012)

Lazy Llama said:


> How about a Raspberry Pi? £30+ accessories and then install http://elinux.org/R-Pi_NAS


 
What for the NAS or for my time machine backup?


----------



## sim667 (Sep 27, 2012)

Unless I mount my current firewire raid time machine and backup it up on that.... may well have to clear some space off it though.


----------



## Lazy Llama (Sep 27, 2012)

sim667 said:


> What for the NAS or for my time machine backup?


For a cheap NAS - attach the USB drive to it and as long as you're okay with a 100Mbps link, it'll do the job.


----------



## sim667 (Sep 27, 2012)

Could be a cheap option.... but I think finding a 2tb external usb might be a bit tricky, plus Ideally I wanted a raid 1 set up.


----------



## UnderAnOpenSky (Sep 27, 2012)

sim667 said:


> Could be a cheap option.... but I think finding a 2tb external usb might be a bit tricky, plus Ideally I wanted a raid 1 set up.


 
Not it's not! They go for about £80 and most sites have them.


----------



## mrs quoad (Oct 6, 2012)

mrs quoad said:


> After 3-ish days of on / off uploading, 13 of 467 items have uploaded to iTunes match.
> 
> I have a feeling this is not entirely due to our bandwidth.


On my iPad, installing iTunes match seems to've deleted every single track I had on there.

On my iPhone, I've now found that enabling iTunes match doesn't delete everything on there; but it does (seemingly) make it impossible to transfer tracks from a computer to the iPhone. They can only be DLed from the Cloud (unless I temporarily turn off Match, plug the device in, put the tracks on, unplug it, then turn Match back on again).

This is a bit shit, IMO.


----------



## UnderAnOpenSky (Oct 6, 2012)

Apple. It just works.


----------



## sim667 (Oct 6, 2012)

mrs quoad said:


> On my iPad, installing iTunes match seems to've deleted every single track I had on there.
> 
> On my iPhone, I've now found that enabling iTunes match doesn't delete everything on there; but it does (seemingly) make it impossible to transfer tracks from a computer to the iPhone. They can only be DLed from the Cloud (unless I temporarily turn off Match, plug the device in, put the tracks on, unplug it, then turn Match back on again).
> 
> This is a bit shit, IMO.



I was going to sign up for that. Maybe I won't bother


----------



## mrs quoad (Oct 6, 2012)

sim667 said:


> I was going to sign up for that. Maybe I won't bother


 
The upside is that the minute I registered my iPhone with my iTunes account, I could access all my music and mixes with 0 memory used. I need to DL tracks / albums because (e.g.) DJay can't access cloud tracks (and I like to up the pitch of mixes in the gym), and I'm off to France for a day or so (and I don't want to incur roaming charges). It is also saving my Macbook (256gb SSD) from being cluttered with music. Which, again, *is* nice. So long as I'm connected to a wifi network.

But there are a couple of teeth-grating hiccups too, IMO.


----------



## redsquirrel (Oct 7, 2012)

The fact that they are increasingly forcing you to use bloody iCloud by making it the default place where much of your data is saved is pissing me off at the moment. 

After getting the recent update for ML I found that all my contacts and calendar entries had been moved from being stored on my MacBook to being stored on iCloud.


----------



## FridgeMagnet (Oct 7, 2012)

They are all also stored on the local computer as well. They just get synced via iCloud, if you want them to be.


----------



## redsquirrel (Oct 7, 2012)

FridgeMagnet said:


> They are all also stored on the local computer as well. They just get synced via iCloud, if you want them to be.


Nah, when I updated they were wiped from my laptop. I know because I turned off iCloud and all my contacts had vanished.

I had to export the stored data from the iCloud and then reimport it onto the local machine.


----------



## sim667 (Oct 9, 2012)

Mine just syncs..... it doesnt copy that data over


----------



## Mapped (Nov 7, 2012)

Does anyone have any ideas about decent apps to keep notes/thoughts organised? I've a tonne of textedit files and want something better that can remind me to act on ideas etc.


----------



## FridgeMagnet (Nov 7, 2012)

N1 Buoy said:


> Does anyone have any ideas about decent apps to keep notes/thoughts organised? I've a tonne of textedit files and want something better that can remind me to act on ideas etc.


I mostly use a combination of Notational Velocity and Things. I can quickly store ideas in the inbox of Things with the quick entry shortcut, then later on go over them and decide whether to turn them into tasks, appointments, or just archive them somewhere. NV is better for actual notes or any long ideas, and you can search them really easily from the client, or just through Spotlight etc if you choose to store them as text files.

Both of them, crucially for me, also cloud sync to iOS apps - Things to the Things app and NV to Simplenote.

Things is quite pricey mind. I understand that The Hit List now has an iOS app, that might be worth checking out.

Somebody will say Evernote. I hate Evernote.


----------



## Mapped (Nov 7, 2012)

I don't have iOS. I'm an android phone mac laptop freak 

I'll look into NV cheers


----------



## FridgeMagnet (Nov 7, 2012)

I think Simplenote may have an Android version. Things won't.


----------



## Crispy (Nov 7, 2012)

In chronological order:


FridgeMagnet said:


> Evernote, for instance, just leaves me cold, no matter how much people rave about it





FridgeMagnet said:


> Don't get me started on evernote...It's a big barrel of badger cocks





FridgeMagnet said:


> I don't like Evernote. So there.





FridgeMagnet said:


> I can't stand Evernote.





FridgeMagnet said:


> I hate Evernote.


----------



## FridgeMagnet (Nov 7, 2012)

Is that all? Thought I'd mentioned it more than that.

I should use "big barrel of badger cocks" more often.


----------



## Piers Gibbon (Nov 7, 2012)

redsquirrel said:


> The fact that they are increasingly forcing you to use bloody iCloud by making it the default place where much of your data is saved is pissing me off at the moment.
> 
> After getting the recent update for ML I found that all my contacts and calendar entries had been moved from being stored on my MacBook to being stored on iCloud.


 

yes this is making my address book treacly slow to search...any remedy? I have apple care and will call them about this as my sticky Notes aren't synching to cloud properly


----------



## Kid_Eternity (Nov 8, 2012)

N1 Buoy said:


> Does anyone have any ideas about decent apps to keep notes/thoughts organised? I've a tonne of textedit files and want something better that can remind me to act on ideas etc.


 
Evernote.


----------



## FridgeMagnet (Nov 8, 2012)

Big barrel of badger cocks.


----------



## teqniq (Nov 19, 2012)




----------



## Kid_Eternity (Nov 19, 2012)




----------



## Mapped (Dec 7, 2012)

FridgeMagnet said:


> Big barrel of badger cocks.


 
I'm in a conference presentation now and someone's praising the joys of using evernote and giving a practical demo. I'm sure it'd make you 

She's selling it to me right now


----------



## Mapped (Dec 7, 2012)

hmmmm monthly quota on activity, not capacity. That's a bit of a weird one


----------



## Kid_Eternity (Dec 7, 2012)

Evernote is excellent, it's become so central to my work flow I'm seriously considering having work pay for a premium account...


----------



## mrs quoad (Dec 8, 2012)

WELL DONE to the latest iTunes for replacing ticked / unticked disco boxes for apps that are selected / unselected for a device with the words of very similar length, INSTALL or REMOVE. 

Utter fuckspanners. Instead of quickly scanning my apps list, it now needs considerable thought. Ridiculous move.


----------



## Kid_Eternity (Dec 10, 2012)

Ouch. Never had any issues with iTunes 11 tbh. Everything is working pretty well so far...


----------



## Structaural (Dec 21, 2012)

I don't have iTunes Match and yet about 30 of my tunes have been put in the cloud. What's that all about then?


----------



## Lazy Llama (Dec 21, 2012)

Structaural said:


> I don't have iTunes Match and yet about 30 of my tunes have been put in the cloud. What's that all about then?


Tunes you bought/got free from the iTunes store. That's what mine are....


----------



## Structaural (Dec 21, 2012)

Must have more free stuff than I thought. So, it just sticks 'em up there and removes them from my hard drive? I prefer my stuff to stay where I left it, cheers Apple. I had two weeks without internet once.


----------



## Lazy Llama (Dec 21, 2012)

Keeps 'em in both places as far as I know.


----------



## Structaural (Dec 21, 2012)

Not these - only in the cloud. I just selected them all and right-clicked Download. Until I did this I had no 'Show in Finder' option.


----------



## Mapped (Jan 3, 2013)

Have any of you guys had good experiences with Parallels for running other OS's within OSX? http://www.parallels.com/uk/

I've just got a work Retina MBP and to use a lot of our work remote services I need windows 7. This looks like a good solution and I've had a play on the trial with windows 8 and ubuntu and it looks and feels decent at first. Before I shell out for a full licence I was wondering if anyone has any opinions on using it long term.


----------



## Lazy Llama (Jan 3, 2013)

Haven't used Parallels since VMware released their Fusion product. Fusion has been excellent for me, and I don't recall any problems with Parallels when I did use it. I switched to Fusion because it aligns better with my day job, being a VMware product.

I think some of the people on here use VirtualBox which wins on price.


----------



## elbows (Jan 3, 2013)

I used it a fair bit for a few years but havent needed to for a while so I'm a bit out of date.

If you dont need all the fancy integration then perhaps try VirtualBox as its free. edit - aha snap.


----------



## Mapped (Jan 3, 2013)

Thanks  I'll look into those other ones also.


----------



## FridgeMagnet (Jan 4, 2013)

I run XP on my iMac in VirtualBox with no issues (for browser testing). I used to have a copy of Parallels a few years ago to do the same, but didn't bother upgrading to new versions given how little I used it. I've not tried 7 on it though.

IIRC the main difference is that Parallels does graphics emulation a lot better, but I'd guess that's not so much of an issue for you.


----------



## Mapped (Jan 4, 2013)

FridgeMagnet said:


> I run XP on my iMac in VirtualBox with no issues (for browser testing). I used to have a copy of Parallels a few years ago to do the same, but didn't bother upgrading to new versions given how little I used it. I've not tried 7 on it though.
> 
> IIRC the main difference is that Parallels does graphics emulation a lot better, but I'd guess that's not so much of an issue for you.


 
This will have very frequent use as currently there's no other reliable way to access some work systems remotely. I'll also be installing ArcGIS and doing some spatial data visualisation tasks on the win 7 part, so the graphics emulation might be important. 

The thing I noticed about parallels yesterday in Win8, Ubuntu and Andriod (don't think I'll be using that much) is that there was absolutely no faffing around with changing keyboard settings, trackpad etc. Everything just worked. Is this the same with the others?


----------



## FridgeMagnet (Jan 4, 2013)

Mapped said:


> This will have very frequent use as currently there's no other reliable way to access some work systems remotely. I'll also be installing ArcGIS and doing some spatial data visualisation tasks on the win 7 part, so the graphics emulation might be important.
> 
> The thing I noticed about parallels yesterday in Win8, Ubuntu and Andriod (don't think I'll be using that much) is that there was absolutely no faffing around with changing keyboard settings, trackpad etc. Everything just worked. Is this the same with the others?


I seem to remember there were a few drivers which had to be installed on the virtual machine with VirtualBox when setting up the OS, but that was it (and you sort of expect to have to do that with XP on anything).


----------



## fractionMan (Jan 4, 2013)

I use virtual box within Ubuntu to runs windows and its never been a problem. Not sure how well it would handle the retina display, or if parallel s does something special for it.


----------



## Mapped (Jan 4, 2013)

fractionMan said:


> I use virtual box within Ubuntu to runs windows and its never been a problem. Not sure how well it would handle the retina display, or if parallel s does something special for it.


 
I think Parallels definitely sorts all the drivers out for you. As I said the mac keyboard and trackpad just work fine in all the OS's I've tried, you can drag and drop files between the OS's with no problems. A guy at work showed me his set up on his personal mac and it's very smooth, you can set how much RAM you want to assign each OS etc. etc. 

Ubuntu looks good within parallels, you have to turn the resolution down a notch otherwise you'd need a magnifying glass to use it. 

Anyway I've to wait a bit before I choose which one I go for as installing windows 7 on one of these is proving problematic for the work IT guys as the licenses are authenticated off our network and Macs on our network cause them headaches.


----------



## Winot (Jan 4, 2013)

I used Windows 7 on Parallels 7 for a while on a Mac, but after upgrading to Lion it starting to freeze/slow down so I took it off. Might try Bootcamp as it's rare that I need access to Windows.


----------



## Mapped (Jan 10, 2013)

Has anyone using a Retina MBP experienced headaches? I've had a banging head nearly constantly since I've got this machine. I'm in need of an new eye test, but the headaches have coincided exactly with the arrival and heavy use of this laptop. I've turned the brightness right down and it hasn't seemed to have helped.


----------



## Kid_Eternity (Jan 10, 2013)

Sounds like you need (new) glasses tbh.


----------



## 19sixtysix (Jan 10, 2013)

Lazy Llama said:


> Haven't used Parallels since VMware released their Fusion product. Fusion has been excellent for me, and I don't recall any problems with Parallels when I did use it. I switched to Fusion because it aligns better with my day job, being a VMware product.
> 
> I think some of the people on here use VirtualBox which wins on price.


 
I've been using XP on fusion for years now but have you ever tried/managed to get DOS machine to work under fusion?


----------



## Lazy Llama (Jan 10, 2013)

19sixtysix said:


> I've been using XP on fusion for years now but have you ever tried/managed to get DOS machine to work under fusion?


I might have had a go at FreeDOS, but I use it mostly for Windows, Linux, ESXi and occasionally a Cisco UCS emulator now.


----------



## 19sixtysix (Jan 10, 2013)

Lazy Llama said:


> I might have had a go at FreeDOS, but I use it mostly for Windows, Linux, ESXi and occasionally a Cisco UCS emulator now.


 
I could never get it to create a machine from the msdos disks. I've got dos box now but it annoys me I never managed to get VM ware to do it. I have one piece of DOS only software to use.


----------



## Kid_Eternity (Aug 24, 2013)

Not long to the new OS X, figure bumping this thread so it's easy to find would be useful.


----------



## Crispy (Oct 22, 2013)

And Mavericks is out.
My Mac is long past being supported by new releases, but it's ok, because there's still John Siracusa's epic (I don't use the word lightly) Arstechnica review to snuggle into: http://arstechnica.com/apple/2013/10/os-x-10-9


----------



## beesonthewhatnow (Oct 22, 2013)

Bedtime reading sorted then : D


----------



## sim667 (Oct 22, 2013)

£4k for the new mac pro yeah?


----------



## Fez909 (Oct 22, 2013)

Twenty four page review? Wow.

Do they do this with Ubuntu or any of Linux? I'd appreciate something that in depth because there's a lot I don't know about Ubuntu because the reviews are so shit.


----------



## RedDragon (Oct 22, 2013)

The other interesting thing is that you can update direct to Mavericks from whatever the OS was called from 2007 onwards.


----------



## sim667 (Oct 22, 2013)

Actually I'm quite tempted by a new mac pro, and then I could dedicate my old one as the media server I've been looking today at getting a nas powerful enough to support transcoding of 1080p video, and Im look at £1200 without the disks.


----------



## Kid_Eternity (Oct 22, 2013)

Crispy said:


> And Mavericks is out.
> My Mac is long past being supported by new releases, but it's ok, because there's still John Siracusa's epic (I don't use the word lightly) Arstechnica review to snuggle into: http://arstechnica.com/apple/2013/10/os-x-10-9



That's one hell of a review. I've heard nothing but great things about the new OS X and you can't beat that price!


----------



## fractionMan (Oct 22, 2013)

I used cut for the first time in ages today.  It's great.


----------



## Kid_Eternity (Oct 22, 2013)

RedDragon said:


> The other interesting thing is that you can update direct to Mavericks from whatever the OS was called from 2007 onwards.



Yep they're pushing standardisation hard this year.


----------



## souljacker (Oct 22, 2013)

RedDragon said:


> The other interesting thing is that you can update direct to Mavericks from whatever the OS was called from 2007 onwards.



One thing I've always liked about Apple is their OS pricing. Multiple licenses for (a little bit more than) the price of one and now this. Fair play to them.


----------



## Crispy (Oct 22, 2013)

Kid_Eternity said:


> That's one hell of a review. I've heard nothing but great things about the new OS X and you can't beat that price!


Siracusa is one of my favorite geeks 
I recommend all his podcast appearance btw. There's loads.


----------



## Kid_Eternity (Oct 22, 2013)

Crispy said:


> Siracusa is one of my favorite geeks
> I recommend all his podcast appearance btw. There's loads.



Ah cool will check him out, getting back into podcasts again and looking for recommends.


----------



## Kid_Eternity (Oct 22, 2013)

That review is awesome...although going to take me about three days to read. Did like this graphic which shows the sharp decline in price of OS X:


----------



## beesonthewhatnow (Oct 22, 2013)

The battery optimisation stuff in Mavericks sounds pretty cool.


----------



## Crispy (Oct 22, 2013)

Kid_Eternity said:


> Ah cool will check him out, getting back into podcasts again and looking for recommends.


Hypercritical has 100 episodes and although the host is a bit dim and annoying, it's ok cos it's mostly Siracusa doing his (very well reasoned and thoughtful) rants on technology, with an Apple bias. He's also a regular guest on The Incomparable, which is for books/movies/tv/games. At the moment he's on Accidental Tech Podcast.


----------



## Kid_Eternity (Oct 22, 2013)

beesonthewhatnow said:


> The battery optimisation stuff in Mavericks sounds pretty cool.



Yeah be interesting to see if there's a noticeable bump.


----------



## beesonthewhatnow (Oct 23, 2013)

Just started the download, 5.2Gb. This might take a while


----------



## peterkro (Oct 23, 2013)

beesonthewhatnow said:


> Just started the download, 5.2Gb. This might take a while


If you have iWork,iLife and Aperture installed the up dates to those are another 5Gb or more and the servers are getting hammered so the downloads are not as fast as they might be.
(although they are all free if you have old versions installed legitimate or not)


----------



## beesonthewhatnow (Oct 23, 2013)

peterkro said:


> If you have iWork,iLife and Aperture installed the up dates to those are another 5Gb or more and the servers are getting hammered so the downloads are not as fast as they might be.
> (although they are all free if you have old versions installed legitimate or not)


Yeah, looked at them this morning, you have to do the Mavericks update first...


----------



## RedDragon (Oct 23, 2013)

I had problems with Mavericks last night on my MBPr, whenever I tried to back scroll on the my touchpad things would freeze - rebooted and things seem much better, faster and aSafari seems a lot more stable when rendering retina.

I like the iBooks app, Maps seem a tad unnecessary on a laptop.


----------



## 2hats (Oct 23, 2013)

10.9 fun and games:

I see they've very thoughtfully broken Homebrew (Xcode5 completely dumps gcc) necessitating some hackery.

And now, apparently, Apple Mail and GMail won't play together nicely. In fact, sounds pretty ugly to me.

(I say apparently as I've no plans to try to install it for a few weeks until I've first seen what pain others have endured).


----------



## beesonthewhatnow (Oct 23, 2013)

Mail seems to be fetching my Gmail perfectly for me, after I did precisely no adjustments to any settings


----------



## beesonthewhatnow (Oct 23, 2013)

The new super smooth scrolling seems to be a lie though, in various apps it seems to be rough as fuck


----------



## beesonthewhatnow (Oct 23, 2013)

Also, the auto screen brightness is having a fit. Seems to be constantly hunting between a couple of states, no matter where I put the machine.


----------



## teqniq (Oct 23, 2013)

Successfully installed on one of my Hacks here.


----------



## artyfarty (Oct 23, 2013)

BEWARE!!!
Just installed the horribly named Mavericks after checking most of my Apps will run, forgot to check Parralels (runs Windows in Mac OS) it doesnt work without an £80 upgrade.
That'll learn me.


----------



## electroplated (Oct 23, 2013)

running smoothly on 3 different machines here, no problems whatsoever


----------



## electroplated (Oct 23, 2013)

artyfarty said:


> BEWARE!!!
> Just installed the horribly named Mavericks after checking most of my Apps will run, forgot to check Parralels (runs Windows in Mac OS) it doesnt work without an £80 upgrade.
> That'll learn me.



Parallels working fine for me - what version were you using?


----------



## artyfarty (Oct 23, 2013)

Version 7, and Win 7, all patched up, you?


----------



## electroplated (Oct 23, 2013)

Parallels v8, Win 7


----------



## sim667 (Oct 23, 2013)

The main ones I'm interested in is does it kill CS6, Traktor 2 or Ableton?


----------



## RedDragon (Oct 23, 2013)

My update has settled in rather nicely, now to update iWork.


----------



## Kid_Eternity (Oct 23, 2013)

RedDragon said:


> My update has settled in rather nicely, now to update iWork.



Yup mine installed with no issue (not that I really expected any), updated iWork and a bunch of other stuff and so far it's pretty nice.


----------



## Boris Sprinkler (Oct 23, 2013)

I'm worried about breaking gpg/mail and vmware fusion, maltego. I'll wait a few weeks, in no rush.


----------



## RedDragon (Oct 23, 2013)

Kid_Eternity said:


> Yup mine installed with no issue (not that I really expected any), updated iWork and a bunch of other stuff and so far it's pretty nice.


I didn't have iWork on my MBPr (the only copy I had is on disk but my new machine has no DVD slot) had no option put to download a trail version of iWork which was enough to trick the App Store into giving me an official update.


----------



## chintz (Oct 23, 2013)

sim667 said:


> The main ones I'm interested in is does it kill CS6, Traktor 2 or Ableton?


CS6 seems ok so far cant help you with the others


----------



## peterkro (Oct 23, 2013)

Boris Sprinkler said:


> I'm worried about breaking gpg/mail and vmware fusion, maltego. I'll wait a few weeks, in no rush.


It did break GPG but update has now been released which is compatible.


----------



## Kid_Eternity (Oct 23, 2013)

Just fired up Photoshop CC and it's working fine so far...have to say everything is snappier. Opening apps even on my ye olde MacBook Pro (doesn't have SSD) is faster than it was under ML.


----------



## Kid_Eternity (Oct 23, 2013)

RedDragon said:


> I didn't have iWork on my MBPr (the only copy I had is on disk but my new machine has no DVD slot) had no option put to download a trail version of iWork which was enough to trick the App Store into giving me an official update.



Nice!


----------



## Piers Gibbon (Oct 23, 2013)

I just want protools to work before i update the air...I am leaving the recording studio mbp on mountain kitty for now of course...but I do like to edit on the air in bed!


----------



## Kid_Eternity (Oct 23, 2013)

Via Macrumours but from the review Crispy linked to above, this is pretty incredible:


----------



## Kid_Eternity (Oct 23, 2013)

I've noticed my MBP has got about 40-50 extra minutes of batter since updating to OS X 10.9. Which is nice.


----------



## beesonthewhatnow (Oct 23, 2013)

Hmmmm. My Air, which used to get over 6.5 hours per charge is now saying it's got 3:02 left on 98% battery


----------



## Kid_Eternity (Oct 23, 2013)

beesonthewhatnow said:


> Hmmmm. My Air, which used to get over 6.5 hours per charge is now saying it's got 3:02 left on 98% battery


----------



## beesonthewhatnow (Oct 23, 2013)

Kid_Eternity said:


>


Now saying "calculating time remaining". I think it's still sorting something or other out.


----------



## Kid_Eternity (Oct 23, 2013)

beesonthewhatnow said:


> Now saying "calculating time remaining". I think it's still sorting something or other out.



I see. I did get a message when it first installed saying performance would be lower as it optimised for my machine...


----------



## beesonthewhatnow (Oct 23, 2013)

Kid_Eternity said:


> I see. I did get a message when it first installed saying performance would be lower as it optimised for my machine...


Now saying 7:20 remaining which is the highest I've ever seen it 

The screen brightness issue seems to have gone as well. All I can guess is that for the first hour or two of use it's doing some background indexing/power management/magical voodoo that sends things a bit odd 

I've also just tried a reboot, it's a couple of seconds faster than it used to be. Now around 15 seconds from cold to a working desktop


----------



## RedDragon (Oct 23, 2013)

I had a much slower performance while it was "indexing" but now it's running like a dream.


----------



## Kid_Eternity (Oct 23, 2013)

beesonthewhatnow said:


> Now saying 7:20 remaining which is the highest I've ever seen it
> 
> The screen brightness issue seems to have gone as well. All I can guess is that for the first hour or two of use it's doing some background indexing/power management/magical voodoo that sends things a bit odd
> 
> I've also just tried a reboot, it's a couple of seconds faster than it used to be. Now around 15 seconds from cold to a working desktop



Just checked my battery and I reckon it's actually added about an hour. I'm now getting just shy of 4 hours where as pre-install I was just making it to three hours...


----------



## Kid_Eternity (Oct 23, 2013)

RedDragon said:


> I had a much slower performance while it was "indexing" but now it's running like a dream.



Yeah I reckon so, I remember Mountain Lion did something similar.


----------



## beesonthewhatnow (Oct 23, 2013)

OK, anyone know how on earth you import bookmarks from Chrome into Safari? I fancy giving the new version a go...


----------



## peterkro (Oct 23, 2013)

I think there is a way to export from Chrome then import to Safari but an easier way is to download Xmarks which will sync bookmarks across all your browsers.


----------



## Kid_Eternity (Oct 23, 2013)

beesonthewhatnow said:


> OK, anyone know how on earth you import bookmarks from Chrome into Safari? I fancy giving the new version a go...



Bookmarks>Bookmarks Manager>Organize>Export Bookmarks to HTML file. Save file somewhere, import it into Safari.


----------



## beesonthewhatnow (Oct 23, 2013)

Kid_Eternity said:


> Bookmarks>Bookmarks Manager>Organize>Export Bookmarks to HTML file. Save file somewhere, import it into Safari.


Ta.

In other news, copying stuff across my wireless network onto my WDTV box has got WAY faster. You used to be able to go make a cup of tea in the time it took to copy an HD film over, it's just taken less than a minute. IIRC that epic review Crispy posted gave some techie reason why this is so...


----------



## Boris Sprinkler (Oct 23, 2013)

See the speed and battery aspect interests me. Less so the safari stuff as I use chrome at work (windows) and on my iPad and iPhoneiPhone


----------



## beesonthewhatnow (Oct 23, 2013)

I'm giving Safari a go, but tbh I can't see anything so far to tempt me away from Chrome. It just dosent look as nice on screen.


----------



## cybertect (Oct 23, 2013)

beesonthewhatnow said:


> Ta.
> 
> In other news, copying stuff across my wireless network onto my WDTV box has got WAY faster. You used to be able to go make a cup of tea in the time it took to copy an HD film over, it's just taken less than a minute. IIRC that epic review Crispy posted gave some techie reason why this is so...



Possibly it's using SMB2 networking protocol instead of AFP or Apple's old implementation of SMB.


----------



## Kid_Eternity (Oct 23, 2013)

beesonthewhatnow said:


> I'm giving Safari a go, but tbh I can't see anything so far to tempt me away from Chrome. It just dosent look as nice on screen.



It's not as fast on desktop as Chrome plus Chrome just *feels* better. There's something about Safari that still feels clunky.


----------



## RedDragon (Oct 23, 2013)

I use both simultaniously with a majority leaning towards Safari on account of its retina rendering .


----------



## Crispy (Oct 23, 2013)

beesonthewhatnow said:


> I'm giving Safari a go, but tbh I can't see anything so far to tempt me away from Chrome. It just dosent look as nice on screen.


Live synching of bookmarks and tabs via icloud is one temptation, now you have an iphone.


----------



## beesonthewhatnow (Oct 23, 2013)

Crispy said:


> Live synching of bookmarks and tabs via icloud is one temptation, now you have an iphone.


Hmmm. It's just not as good on the ipad - no full screen pages for example. You've always got the address bar at the top wasting space.

Will try it for a bit, the tabs synch and keychain stuff is nice.


----------



## Kid_Eternity (Oct 23, 2013)

Crispy said:


> Live synching of bookmarks and tabs via icloud is one temptation, now you have an iphone.



Yeah it works very well, and Safari on the iPhone and iPad is a more solid experience ime but it falls down on the desktop where Chrome rules supreme imo.


----------



## Piers Gibbon (Oct 23, 2013)

that whole live synchy thing - bookmarks etc - is leaning me back towards apple in general...now I use my ipad in the recording studio and my phone everywhere else it does actually look like the future around here


----------



## Kid_Eternity (Oct 23, 2013)

RedDragon said:


> I use both simultaniously with a majority leaning towards Safari on account of its retina rendering .



It's what? The thing that'd tempt me would be the iCloud keychain thing, had I not already got 1 Password and use that on my primary devices...


----------



## sim667 (Oct 24, 2013)

I think im going to try this on my desktop this afternoon before doing my macbook pro.

I've still got a 10.6 disk and a time machine backup of 10.7 so if 10.9 borks my world I can sort it out pretty quickly.

Annoying I cant find my 10.7 USB install disk though.


----------



## Piers Gibbon (Oct 24, 2013)

thanks Sim...so that makes me think....I have Time Capsule backups of all machines - so I could TRY upgrading to mav...and if Protools doesn't work I can simply roll it back via Time CApsule..  ? sounds too good to be true


----------



## sim667 (Oct 24, 2013)

Piers Gibbon said:


> thanks Sim...so that makes me think....I have Time Capsule backups of all machines - so I could TRY upgrading to mav...and if Protools doesn't work I can simply roll it back via Time CApsule..  ? sounds too good to be true



You would need the installer for the old OS that you're using aswell, I dont think you can just restore everything including the OS install.. Hence why I always make a disk image from the downloads.

If you want to be uber safe, install onto a second drive and then import all your stuff from the time machine backup onto the new install....... I can't afford a new disk and have been thinking about installing over my old 10.6 install, but then thats only a 320gb disk, as opposed to my current 1tb primary 10.7 disk.


----------



## beesonthewhatnow (Oct 24, 2013)

Piers Gibbon said:


> thanks Sim...so that makes me think....I have Time Capsule backups of all machines - so I could TRY upgrading to mav...and if Protools doesn't work I can simply roll it back via Time CApsule..  ? sounds too good to be true


ProTools:

http://avid.force.com/pkb/articles/...b/articles/en_US/download/en355241&popup=true


----------



## Piers Gibbon (Oct 24, 2013)

Thanks Bees...yeah I won't be moving the proper studio mac to mav for a loooong time...this is purely for the laptop where I want some of the mav upgrades and it would be nice (but no dealbreaker) to still use protools to do some lazy ass editing on in bed

there's a thread on the DUC where some people are finding mav is fine with PT10


----------



## beesonthewhatnow (Oct 24, 2013)

Yeah, the (brief) reading I've done on various forums suggests that Avid aren't officially supporting it (yet) but lots of people are saying it works fine. I guess a lot will come down to individual configs/plugins etc.


----------



## sim667 (Oct 24, 2013)

Sounds like ableton and traktor are fine....

http://forum.djtechtools.com/showthread.php?t=76732&s=ae170eed398c479e577370e14f88ed72


----------



## beesonthewhatnow (Oct 24, 2013)

One thing about trying Safari - god, I'd forgotten how utterly horrible the web is without an ad blocker installed  All sorted now though


----------



## Piers Gibbon (Oct 24, 2013)

beesonthewhatnow said:


> Yeah, the (brief) reading I've done on various forums suggests that Avid aren't officially supporting it (yet) but lots of people are saying it works fine. I guess a lot will come down to individual configs/plugins etc.


yeah and my editing-in-bed rig is ultra low spec config  - one track, no plugins, no hardware, cup of tea on the side


----------



## prunus (Oct 24, 2013)

Upgraded my Mac mini (which acts as a media and backup server mostly, though it's not a 'server' mini) no problem.  Even did the whole thing remotely though VNC and it was fine.

On the other hand, Parallels 7 not supported so not going to upgrade my main machine (Macbook pro)...


----------



## prunus (Oct 24, 2013)

beesonthewhatnow said:


> One thing about trying Safari - god, I'd forgotten how utterly horrible the web is without an ad blocker installed  All sorted now though



Have you tried this, sounds good:



> There's also a new preference to "Stop plug-ins to save power," which is part of a feature Apple calls Safari Power Saver. Even if the preference for a website is set to "Allow," the Power Saver feature will stop plug-ins from running if they do not appear to be the main content on the page.
> 
> Translating that from abstract to concrete, it means that you can enable Flash for a website and Safari will still try to block auto-playing Flash ads that appear around the content on that website. There's no visible indication that it's happening until you mouse over one of the frozen ads.


----------



## Winot (Oct 24, 2013)

^^ there's something similar I've got set up on Safari already which tells you that an embedded file is Flash/HTML5/whatever but you have to actively click on it to play it.


----------



## sim667 (Oct 24, 2013)

Ugh, well its taken me a while, but I think I've got mavericks sorted now....

A lot of my software was dodge, and very out of date, so I've spent hours updating it all now....

Now for my mac book (which has much newer software on it).


----------



## sim667 (Oct 24, 2013)

Right all done.....

If anyones interested:
Traktor Pro needs to be 2.6 to work
Ableton Live needs to be 9.0.4
Aperture needs to be 3.6 
Adobe CS 5&6 seems to be fine too.


----------



## RedDragon (Oct 25, 2013)

Apple is allowing users with any version of Aperture, iLife and iWork installed on their system to upgrade to the latest versions on the Mac App Store -- even illegally acquired or trial versions.


----------



## sim667 (Oct 25, 2013)

RedDragon said:


> Apple is allowing users with any version of Aperture, iLife and iWork installed on their system to upgrade to the latest versions on the Mac App Store -- even illegally acquired or trial versions.



They really dont give a shit about their software...... The aperture I download I literally just dragged and dropped to the app folder and it worked, not like photoshop where you have to edit the application frameworks to bypass all the security system


----------



## Boris Sprinkler (Oct 25, 2013)

Boris Sprinkler said:


> See the speed and battery aspect interests me. Less so the safari stuff as I use chrome at work (windows) and on my iPad and iPhoneiPhone


Not using safari but my MBP is going like shit off a  shovel. Loving it.


----------



## sim667 (Oct 25, 2013)

Boris Sprinkler said:


> Not using safari but my MBP is going like shit off a  shovel. Loving it.



Im finding that the startup time seems a bit slower, but everything else is rapid as fuck....

tbf though I never turned either of my comps off so startup time isn't too much of an issue.


----------



## Crispy (Oct 25, 2013)

I find that now my main computer has an SSD, there's no real drawback to shutting down instead of sleeping. Boot barely takes longer than for my screen to wake up.


----------



## 19sixtysix (Oct 25, 2013)

Bugger. My macbook 13" is early 2008 and it says it won't run it :-(
I suspect I will be seeing no further OS security updates shortly. I'm on 10.6.8.


----------



## Lazy Llama (Oct 25, 2013)

19sixtysix said:


> Bugger. My macbook 13" is early 2008 and it says it won't run it :-(
> I suspect I will be seeing no further OS security updates shortly. I'm on 10.6.8.


Yeah, Lion is the latest OS that will run on that.

I wonder if Apple are making older version upgrades free as well?


----------



## beesonthewhatnow (Oct 25, 2013)

Just found a download of the old Aperture trial version, stuck it on and it's instantly updated to the new full version 

Thanks Apple


----------



## beesonthewhatnow (Oct 25, 2013)

Lazy Llama said:


> Yeah, Lion is the latest OS that will run on that.
> 
> I wonder if Apple are making older version upgrades free as well?


You can download Lion and Mountain Lion from the app store but they're not free.


----------



## Lazy Llama (Oct 25, 2013)

This eval of iWorks 09 also updates to the latest versions - http://iwork.en.softonic.com/mac/download


----------



## RedDragon (Oct 25, 2013)

Now I need to find an Aperture trail link.


----------



## Kid_Eternity (Oct 25, 2013)

beesonthewhatnow said:


> Just found a download of the old Aperture trial version, stuck it on and it's instantly updated to the new full version
> 
> Thanks Apple



Whut! Dropbox me a copy!


----------



## beesonthewhatnow (Oct 25, 2013)

Kid_Eternity said:


> Whut! Dropbox me a copy!


Just google "aperture trial version torrent". The instant you install it the app store picks it up and tells you there is an upgrade available


----------



## Kid_Eternity (Oct 25, 2013)

Wicked! Does that work for Final Cut Pro too?


----------



## Boris Sprinkler (Oct 25, 2013)

beesonthewhatnow said:


> Just google "aperture trial version torrent". The instant you install it the app store picks it up and tells you there is an upgrade available


I feel like a naughty schoolboy hoping i can get away with downloading this and installing it before apple realise what g'wan. The torrent is coming down at 2meg (just on home line rather than my deluge server)


----------



## RedDragon (Oct 25, 2013)

I think it's smart of them not to be too fussed about who gets their hands on Aperture 3.5, allowing those with it on disc to convert to the App store version and in addition to fixing any snags caused by the Mavericks update. Just think of the customer service hours they've saved.

And it also clears the way for charging a fee when Aperture 4 is scheduled to arrive within the next couple of months.


----------



## sim667 (Oct 25, 2013)

Ah shit I've got to buy another license to keep little snitch


----------



## teqniq (Oct 26, 2013)




----------



## beesonthewhatnow (Oct 26, 2013)

"Ribbed for greater satisfaction"


----------



## Kid_Eternity (Oct 26, 2013)




----------



## tbtommyb (Oct 26, 2013)

beesonthewhatnow said:


> You can download Lion and Mountain Lion from the app store but they're not free.


I can't find either of them on the App Store. I have a 2007 Macbook so Mavericks won't work but it's not letting me view any other versions of OS X in App Store


----------



## Lazy Llama (Oct 26, 2013)

tbtommyb said:


> I can't find either of them on the App Store. I have a 2007 Macbook so Mavericks won't work but it's not letting me view any other versions of OS X in App Store


They both still show as available for download on my App Store Purchases list but I can't find them to buy any more.


----------



## RedDragon (Oct 26, 2013)

I think there still on our list because we 'own' them, want you need is to find someone kind enough to make you a USB boot-up


----------



## sim667 (Oct 27, 2013)

So wake on LAN seems to have stopped working on mine since the update


----------



## Kid_Eternity (Oct 28, 2013)

Now rocking Aperture 3.5


----------



## Winot (Dec 12, 2013)

Anyone know when Mavericks 10.9.1 is likely to be out?


----------



## pinkychukkles (Dec 12, 2013)

Must be soon (like within a week) as I've been googling it periodically for the past couple of weeks and it appears to have been seeded to developers. Was waiting because I wanted to do a complete fresh clean install on another macbook but... it's taking too long and have installed 10.9 instead.


----------



## Kid_Eternity (Dec 12, 2013)

What's new in it?


----------



## Lazy Llama (Dec 12, 2013)

I've just been playing with the desktop Maps app on Mavericks. It's really quite impressive in 3D view mode.

Best viewed in Fullscreen mode.


----------



## Winot (Dec 12, 2013)

Kid_Eternity said:


> What's new in it?



It's not so much that as wanting to ensure low-hanging bugs have been swatted a la Crispy.


----------



## Kid_Eternity (Dec 12, 2013)

Lazy Llama said:


> I've just been playing with the desktop Maps app on Mavericks. It's really quite impressive in 3D view mode.
> 
> Best viewed in Fullscreen mode.




They have Brixton in 3D?


----------



## Crispy (Dec 12, 2013)

Lazy Llama said:


> I've just been playing with the desktop Maps app on Mavericks. It's really quite impressive in 3D view mode.
> 
> Best viewed in Fullscreen mode.



www.here.com has (and had, way back when it was Nokia Ovi) this sort of mapping too, if non-OSX people fancy a play with it. Very cool tech 
Bringing the camera right down lets you see all the way to the CIty from Brixton


----------



## Piers Gibbon (Dec 13, 2013)

i am getting a tad annoyed waiting for Avid to update Protools Express so I can use Mavericks (and PT 10 as well, but less fussed about that)


----------



## electroplated (Dec 13, 2013)

see also Avid Media Composer - also unable to run on Maveriks... jokers


----------



## RedDragon (Dec 17, 2013)

Winot said:


> Anyone know when Mavericks 10.9.1 is likely to be out?


It's now available iMore


----------



## Kid_Eternity (Jun 9, 2014)

Time to resurrect this old thread now OS X has got a bit interesting again...


----------



## Crispy (Oct 16, 2014)

Yosemite is out. New UI theme - no more jellybean window buttons.

John SIracusa's review is also out. 26,000 words.

Given the age of my mac, I get all my pleasure of a new OSX release from his reviews


----------



## Kid_Eternity (Oct 16, 2014)

Is it actually out? It's not showing up for me...


----------



## teqniq (Oct 16, 2014)

I am still using Mountain Lion on my Hackintoshes. Working on the assumption that 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it'. Especially seeing as how we are using them to do a lot of music stuff.


----------



## Crispy (Oct 16, 2014)

should be available before the end of the day


----------



## bouncer_the_dog (Oct 16, 2014)

iPad Air 2 for me please


----------



## bouncer_the_dog (Oct 16, 2014)

and a mac mini to use as a telly

and why not.. i'll have a 5k imac too

as another telly


----------



## bouncer_the_dog (Oct 16, 2014)

fuck it I'll have six ipad air 2's to use as plates for when we have guests


----------



## Kid_Eternity (Oct 16, 2014)

Crispy said:


> should be available before the end of the day



Looks like you can get it via here: https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=915041082&mt=12


----------



## pinkychukkles (Oct 17, 2014)

Downloading now, taking nearly 2hrs for 5GB atm - am going to create a bootable USB once it's finished.
I like the new look so I'm throwing caution to the wind rather than waiting for 10.10.1 to be released however since I always do a clean install, it's takes the best part of a geeky day to do and I probably won't have the time over the next few days.


----------



## teuchter (Oct 17, 2014)

Helvetica


----------



## Buddy Bradley (Oct 17, 2014)

Quite like Yosemite so far. Love the new font, it feels a bit zippier, and the Duplo-style buttons will grow on me I'm sure.


----------



## peterkro (Oct 17, 2014)

Seems OK so far.Being a lazy git I just upgraded,broke Little Snitch fortunately I own a licence so just downloaded latest version,noticed lots of different phone homes which are new for Yosemite.
Also broke GPG Tools new version not out for a couple of weeks.Since I have a Fusion drive (it's a hack not a real fusion drive) quite pleased with install no problems,except the time for installation thingy wildly inaccurate as always.


----------



## chandlerp (Oct 17, 2014)

The entry level mac mini looks good value at £100 cheaper than it's predecessor until you look closely and find it is 1.4ghz i5 as opposed to the 2.4ghz i5 previously offered.  It seems they have upgraded the previous base model to a 2.5ghz i5 with IRIS graphics.  The new entry level one appears to be a cheap option in the way the new entry level mac was.


----------



## chilango (Oct 17, 2014)

Just installing Yosemite on my work machine now...


----------



## electroplated (Oct 17, 2014)

just finished installing Yosemite and I must say, the new look and feel is going to take some getting used to....!


----------



## chilango (Oct 17, 2014)

It took all afternoon so I haven't had chance to really use it yet:


----------



## bouncer_the_dog (Oct 17, 2014)

I had the latest Yosemite beta (6) does that mean I have actual Yosemite? feel free to respond with a rant about how I should be on ubuntu.


----------



## peterkro (Oct 17, 2014)

bouncer_the_dog said:


> I had the latest Yosemite beta (6) does that mean I have actual Yosemite? feel free to respond with a rant about how I should be on ubuntu.


As far as I know no,the last three releases where candidates for gold but the actual release is different from them.


----------



## sim667 (Oct 17, 2014)

I want it, but I've got a feeling it will break my traktor and s2 setup..... ive read it does.


----------



## bouncer_the_dog (Oct 18, 2014)

Some of the graphics stuff I use hasn't managed to catch up with Mavericks yet!

Dinner plate air 2 has been ordered - be nice if it turns up on weds.


----------



## bouncer_the_dog (Oct 18, 2014)

peterkro said:


> As far as I know no,the last three releases where candidates for gold but the actual release is different from them.



Cheers for that - I updated things seem a bit better now.


----------



## beesonthewhatnow (Oct 19, 2014)

Just started the download. It's very, very slow. I'm on a 60 meg connection but it reckons it will take a day and a half to get the 5 gig or so of update


----------



## Fez909 (Oct 19, 2014)

beesonthewhatnow said:


> Just started the download. It's very, very slow. I'm on a 60 meg connection but it reckons it will take a day and a half to get the 5 gig or so of update


I started downloading it at work. Said a day and half for me, too. I left it running for a few hours, went to lunch, and when I came back the download had failed and I had to start again (no resume, ffs?).

I started it again and it said 4 hours. Still didn't finish before I went home so I'll have to have another try on Monday.

Try cancelling it and starting again seeing as you're so close to the start. Maybe there's some different servers or something and you and I got slow ones the first time around.


----------



## sim667 (Oct 19, 2014)

I did my mac pro..... im holding off doing my macbook until native instruments gets it all sorted.

Didn't like the icons at first, but they've grown on me since I've used it more, they remind me a bit of ubuntu graphics. Are the windows meant to be translucent? Mine don't seem to be.

If you use littlesnitch on the mac pro, one thing I would say is you should upgrade to 3.4.2 first, my 3.4 didn't work, but I did uninstall and re-install it ok.

I don't have some of the stuff enabled, like handoff as its an older machine, so can't play with that until its on my macbook, but overall, pretty happy with it, it even seems a bit faster.


----------



## beesonthewhatnow (Oct 19, 2014)

Fez909 said:


> I started downloading it at work. Said a day and half for me, too. I left it running for a few hours, went to lunch, and when I came back the download had failed and I had to start again (no resume, ffs?).
> 
> I started it again and it said 4 hours. Still didn't finish before I went home so I'll have to have another try on Monday.
> 
> Try cancelling it and starting again seeing as you're so close to the start. Maybe there's some different servers or something and you and I got slow ones the first time around.


I just paused the download and rebooted my machine, then clicked "resume" (which I did have!), it's now flying down and reckons I'll have it in 12 minutes.

Weird


----------



## beesonthewhatnow (Oct 19, 2014)

All done and no apps seem broken which is a start.

The new look is... different I guess. I'm fairly sure within a week I'll have forgotten what the old one was like


----------



## fractionMan (Oct 20, 2014)

I'm on 10.8.4

should I bother upgrading.  will it break?


----------



## fractionMan (Oct 20, 2014)

Crispy said:


> Yosemite is out. New UI theme - no more jellybean window buttons.
> 
> John SIracusa's review is also out. 26,000 words.
> 
> Given the age of my mac, I get all my pleasure of a new OSX release from his reviews



25 pages.  ffs.


----------



## fractionMan (Oct 20, 2014)

it looks like the default bootstrap theme.


----------



## cybertect (Oct 21, 2014)

fractionMan said:


> 25 pages.  ffs.



I've been reading them since he started and I think that may be one of Siracusa's shorter OS X reviews


----------



## Crispy (Oct 21, 2014)

He's said he'll probably pack it in now. Become too much of a chore.


----------



## Kid_Eternity (Oct 25, 2014)

It doesn't hurt my eyes as much as when they changed iOS, so my ageing (4.5 years old and counting) MacBook Pro handles it as well as the previous OS X which is nice. Mine is too old however for some of the niftier things like the handoff feature unfortunately but like the unified text/ iMessaging thing. And the new notification centre is finally useful.


----------



## RedDragon (Oct 25, 2014)

It's ok -  although there's still a few bugs I've noticed - the blue of folders is slightly irritating.


----------



## Kid_Eternity (Oct 25, 2014)

RedDragon said:


> It's ok -  although there's still a few bugs I've noticed - the blue of folders is slightly irritating.



Heh I spend so much time in things like Evernote I didn't really notice them tbh...


----------



## beesonthewhatnow (Oct 25, 2014)

I'm not keen on some of the changes to Safari, but pretty much everything else get's a big thumbs up. Handoff is fantastic. Start working on the basics of a document on my iPad on a train, get home, open up my mac, carry on with the full features of pages sorting out the details. Never once have to click on save or worry about being able to roll back to previous edits. Exactly as it should be, utterly seamless.


----------



## Kid_Eternity (Oct 25, 2014)

Oh actually Safari is the big thing for this one, it's actually now faster and nicer to use than Google Chrome. After years with Chrome I've switched to Safari (which I've always hated). It just does exactly what I need from a browser without the bloat of stuffing other services down my throat. Being able to pick up my browsing on my iPhone without faff or signing in is a godsend...


----------



## UnderAnOpenSky (Oct 25, 2014)

Kid_Eternity said:


> Oh actually Safari is the big thing for this one, it's actually now faster and nicer to use than Google Chrome. After years with Chrome I've switched to Safari (which I've always hated). It just does exactly what I need from a browser without the bloat of stuffing other services down my throat. Being able to pick up my browsing on my iPhone without faff or signing in is a godsend...



It's great. Android has been doing it for years.


----------



## PursuedByBears (Oct 25, 2014)

Installed Mavericks on my macbook pro, took about an hour.  I really like it and have noticed Safari is a LOT faster.


----------



## Kid_Eternity (Oct 26, 2014)

Global Stoner said:


> It's great. Android has been doing it for years.



Good for them!


----------



## Kid_Eternity (Oct 26, 2014)

PursuedByBears said:


> Installed Mavericks on my macbook pro, took about an hour.  I really like it and have noticed Safari is a LOT faster.



It is, and now matches Chrome without the crashes or bloated UI.


----------



## chandlerp (Oct 26, 2014)

I assume you mean Yosemite, not Mavericks?


----------



## Fez909 (Nov 3, 2014)

My computer is running painfully slow recently. I'm not doing anything differently to a few weeks ago so I can only assume it is Yosemite. I do a lot of work with PDFs and Preview has always been extremely fast: everything opens instantly, scrolling is smooth and instant. Now, I can't even scroll without the system dying and the beachball appearing.

I checked activity monitor and I'm using 7.85GB RAM 

The main culprit is kernel_task which after doing a bit of reading up on, sounds like it can only be fixed by a reboot. Is this something I'm going to have to keep doing? Is there a way to avoid it? My next highest memory usage is Firefox, which is unsurprising as it's usually sky high on my home computer, too. What's weird is that it's "only" using 700mb here, whereas at home I'm regularly in the 1.5GB range.

Is there anything else I can try to speed this up as it's really affecting my work?


----------



## beesonthewhatnow (Nov 3, 2014)

I read somewhere that there is an issue with the mail app hogging memory...


----------



## sim667 (Nov 3, 2014)

Fez909 said:


> My computer is running painfully slow recently. I'm not doing anything differently to a few weeks ago so I can only assume it is Yosemite. I do a lot of work with PDFs and Preview has always been extremely fast: everything opens instantly, scrolling is smooth and instant. Now, I can't even scroll without the system dying and the beachball appearing.
> 
> I checked activity monitor and I'm using 7.85GB RAM
> 
> ...


 
You will need to do a reboot occasionally. Ive always had that issue with my mac pro as I never turn it off, but every month or so it gets cranky, so I reboot it and do all the updates and it starts flying again


----------



## RedDragon (Nov 3, 2014)

I've been having issues with Safari freezing since I updated


----------



## Fez909 (Nov 3, 2014)

beesonthewhatnow said:


> I read somewhere that there is an issue with the mail app hogging memory...


I don't use Mail. It might be running in the background somewhere but I can't see it in Activity Monitor.


sim667 said:


> You will need to do a reboot occasionally. Ive always had that issue with my mac pro as I never turn it off, but every month or so it gets cranky, so I reboot it and do all the updates and it starts flying again


It's only been three days since my last reboot


----------



## sim667 (Nov 3, 2014)

Fez909 said:


> I don't use Mail. It might be running in the background somewhere but I can't see it in Activity Monitor.
> 
> It's only been three days since my last reboot


 
Strange.

Do you use time machine or anything like that?

maybe just close down the mail app, reboot, and leave mail closed and see if it slows down over the next three days again? It could be that mail is doing something with its database for the spotlight search.


----------



## Fez909 (Nov 3, 2014)

sim667 said:


> Strange.
> 
> Do you use time machine or anything like that?
> 
> maybe just close down the mail app, reboot, and leave mail closed and see if it slows down over the next three days again? It could be that mail is doing something with its database for the spotlight search.


I don't use Mail 

edit: nor time machine.


----------



## Fez909 (Nov 3, 2014)

Here's the main culprits. Nothing looks too bad to me, except kernel_task which seems high. I haven't bothered summing all the processes' memory usage yet (there's loads more off the page) but it doesn't look like 7.5GB worth to me?


----------



## sim667 (Nov 3, 2014)

What does is show as total pageouts - shown in system memory within activity monitor?

You could try restarting with a pram reset - http://www.ehow.com/how_6593001_reset-mac-pro-memory.html


----------



## Fez909 (Nov 3, 2014)

sim667 said:


> What does is show as total pageouts - shown in system memory within activity monitor?
> 
> You could try restarting with a pram reset - http://www.ehow.com/how_6593001_reset-mac-pro-memory.html



I don't understand the first bit? Do you mean this?


----------



## Lazy Llama (Nov 3, 2014)

It's not using any swap so it's not under memory pressure. OS X will use all the physical memory it can for system caching etc, so using almost 8GB when you have 8GB isn't a problem.

So the problem must lie elsewhere. 
Do a disk repair and have a look under the CPU tab in Activity Monitor to see if there's anything hogging the CPU.


----------



## Fez909 (Nov 3, 2014)

Nothing dodgy looking in the CPU tab. When I have Activity Monitor open and scroll on Preview it jumps to 100% (or higher  ) and stays there for a good 3-5 seconds. Then preview eventually scrolls and it drops back down to sensible CPU usage.

Will have a look at disk repair but it doesn't feel like a disk issue.


----------



## PursuedByBears (Nov 3, 2014)

Since I updated to Yosemite I've had to reinstall Time Machine, tedious but now works OK.  However Google Drive seems to be completely borked, and the keyboard volume controls are not working, so I have to use the in-app voulme slider - this means that itunes plays at a realy really low volume.  Sigh.


----------



## Fez909 (Nov 4, 2014)

I think I've sorted my issue(s). Did a disk check, and installed OnyX and wiped all the font caches and repaired permissions, wiped Spotlight db, etc. Took a fooking age, but Preview _seems _to be behaving. 

Thanks for the help, all.



PursuedByBears said:


> Since I updated to Yosemite I've had to reinstall Time Machine, tedious but now works OK.  However Google Drive seems to be completely borked, and the keyboard volume controls are not working, so I have to use the in-app voulme slider - this means that itunes plays at a realy really low volume.  Sigh.


Try Better Touch Tool. I use it for my kb & mouse and it works great/flawlessly.


----------



## Kid_Eternity (Nov 4, 2014)

Yeah dumping Chrome for Safari really was a great bloody idea! It's so much faster...and handles things like video far nicer...


----------



## Winot (Nov 11, 2014)

Any idea when Yosemite 0.1 might be due?


----------



## pinkychukkles (Nov 12, 2014)

Couple of weeks, maybe less - just guessing though but they have released the second beta of 10.10.1 a couple of days ago...


----------



## quiquaquo (Nov 14, 2014)

Looking for a* free* *easy to use* alternative to "Visual Hub" and "MacTheRipper" before putting Linux on a friend's old white MacBook?

Free alternatives for Windows 7 would be fine as well as she has that on another laptop.

Thanks


----------



## sim667 (Nov 14, 2014)

Well mactheripper pulls down the images of the disc, if you want to be able to convert those files use handbrake


----------



## quiquaquo (Nov 14, 2014)

Thanks but that's a bit too complicated for the person in question.

VisualHub was a brilliant front end it has to be said, same for mactheripper.

What ever happened to such great apps? VisualHub is long gone, MacThe Ripper too?


----------



## sim667 (Nov 14, 2014)

quiquaquo said:


> Thanks but that's a bit too complicated for the person in question.
> 
> VisualHub was a brilliant front end it has to be said, same for mactheripper.
> 
> What ever happened to such great apps? VisualHub is long gone, MacThe Ripper too?



It's powerful, but the presets are very good.

Basically pick source, pick preset, click encode


----------



## quiquaquo (Nov 14, 2014)

That's true but unfortunately it's too complicated for some.

Haven't seen the latest OS X stuff, have they improved it since Snow Leopard?


----------



## Kid_Eternity (Nov 14, 2014)

The phone call to you mac is fucking great. Had phone on charge today while working at home, boss called and I picked it up on my Mac and talked through a new project! Seamless.


----------



## UnderAnOpenSky (Nov 15, 2014)

That sounds a very nice feature!


----------



## chandlerp (Nov 17, 2014)

I can't get handoff to work at all.

The icon shows to the left of the dock but when I click on it absolutely nothing happens except for the icon to disappear.


----------



## critical1 (Nov 17, 2014)

Trashed my Hd whilst trying to update to Mavaric any ideas how to restore osx, it looks like the HD is locked apparently needed an update to it before updating to Mavaric.

TIA


----------



## chandlerp (Nov 17, 2014)

How old is it?

You can restore over the internet following these instructions:

http://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT4718


----------



## sim667 (Nov 17, 2014)

Fez909 said:


> I think I've sorted my issue(s). Did a disk check, and installed OnyX and wiped all the font caches and repaired permissions, wiped Spotlight db, etc. Took a fooking age, but Preview _seems _to be behaving.
> 
> Thanks for the help, all.
> 
> ...


 
Sod onyx, thats slowed my old machine right down.

If you want to verify and repair disk without using onyx and you don't have the osx install disk, you can boot inyo single user mode and do it as a sudo command


----------



## critical1 (Nov 17, 2014)

chandlerp said:


> How old is it?
> 
> You can restore over the internet following these instructions:
> 
> http://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT4718



The HD drive is locked.. apparently i should have updated the HD driver or something before attempting installation of maverick


----------



## Boris Sprinkler (Nov 17, 2014)

You should be able to do a recovery by booting to an external disk in recovery mode (select external disk when booting).


----------



## Lazy Llama (Nov 17, 2014)

There's a post on the Apple Support forum which might help. It does require use of an external HD though.

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5466924?start=19&tstart=0


----------



## sim667 (Nov 17, 2014)

critical1 said:


> The HD drive is locked.. apparently i should have updated the HD driver or something before attempting installation of maverick


 
Do you have a backup of your data??


----------



## critical1 (Nov 17, 2014)

The HD allows me to read so I've managed to copy all my data and have osx running on an external HD, despite what the Apple genius stated to me about going to see a specialist back up service as there was no hope!! I managed to do this myself.

The Drive will not boot and appears to be totaly locked I can see it and read it but no booting or saving from it!!


----------



## peterkro (Nov 17, 2014)

I suppose most people know this OS X 10.10.1 is available now.Restart required,people harassing me by phone can now get me on my computer as well as phone bastards.


----------



## sim667 (Nov 18, 2014)

critical1 said:


> The HD allows me to read so I've managed to copy all my data and have osx running on an external HD, despite what the Apple genius stated to me about going to see a specialist back up service as there was no hope!! I managed to do this myself.
> 
> The Drive will not boot and appears to be totaly locked I can see it and read it but no booting or saving from it!!


 
Apple genius will have just been playing it safe, incase he told you and you tried it an then blamed them for it all not working


----------



## sim667 (Nov 18, 2014)

peterkro said:


> I suppose most people know this OS X 10.10.1 is available now.Restart required,people harassing me by phone can now get me on my computer as well as phone bastards.


 
I'm still holding off on yosemite until its fully supported with my DJ kit...... I do want it though, I've got it on my desktop which I don't use often, but I really like the os.


----------



## critical1 (Nov 18, 2014)

I did check out the data retrieval.. eeck cost like £400, so attempted to back up myself and that worked, but the drive appears to be locked!! cant boot or save to it, I would like to replace the HD with another one as using usb as a main drive is slow. But as far as I can see they use a special drive in the Imac 2011


----------



## sim667 (Nov 18, 2014)

critical1 said:


> I did check out the data retrieval.. eeck cost like £400, so attempted to back up myself and that worked, but the drive appears to be locked!! cant boot or save to it, I would like to replace the HD with another one as using usb as a main drive is slow. But as far as I can see they use a special drive in the Imac 2011


 
They're really expensive data recovery specialists.

I doubt it'll be a special disk, maybe a laptop disk....... Have you checked ifixit for replacement info? It may be an idea to repleace the main disk from an SSD with OSX and app installs on, and then keep your personal data on an external drive..... thats if you don't want to go down a backup route.... but everyone who's data is worth anything to them, should have a solid backup.


----------



## critical1 (Nov 18, 2014)

yes checked it out the mac disk has 2 extra pins to control the fan, without those pins the fan apparently goes crazy!  its a heat monitoring thing.

SSD maybe the way forward.


----------



## Lazy Llama (Nov 18, 2014)

If you've got all the data off the internal drive, just repartition/format it using Disk Utility. If it's not physically b0rked that should clear it up.


----------



## chandlerp (Nov 18, 2014)

Yes, it doesn't sound like the disk is fucked if you can read it.  Sounds like a disk permissions issue.  as Llama says, repatition/format using disk utility should fix it good as new.


----------



## sim667 (Nov 18, 2014)

Lazy Llama said:


> If you've got all the data off the internal drive, just repartition/format it using Disk Utility. If it's not physically b0rked that should clear it up.





chandlerp said:


> Yes, it doesn't sound like the disk is fucked if you can read it.  Sounds like a disk permissions issue.  as Llama says, repatition/format using disk utility should fix it good as new.



Yeah this.... sorry I was assuming the disk was fucked......

If its not then reformat the drive as OSX journaled and tell it to install a GUID partition table, then install mavericks.

Personally if I were you, I'd download yosemite (if you've got another computer), make a USB installer, and do a clean install of yosemite onto the disk, it'll be better than installing mavericks again and then upgrading over the top.


----------



## Fez909 (Apr 22, 2015)

I have got a new Macbook Air (new to me, not the latest model - it's an "Early 2014 model".

The swipe to go back doesn't work. I'm using Firefox. Is it a Safari only thing? Saying that, it doesn't work in Safari, either. All other gestures seem to work.

I've installed BetterTouchTool to see if that works, but it doesn't seem to have done it.

Any ideas?


----------



## chandlerp (Apr 22, 2015)

Have you looked in trackpad preferences?


----------



## Crispy (Apr 23, 2015)

Readers of this thread will be sad to hear the passing of John Siracusa's OSX reviews for Ars Technica.

http://hypercritical.co/2015/04/15/os-x-reviewed

I haven't installed a new version of OSX since 2011, but I'd still read his review every year


----------



## Lazy Llama (Apr 23, 2015)

Ars will be continuing with the reviews, it's just they won't be done by John any more.


----------



## Fez909 (Apr 23, 2015)

chandlerp said:


> Have you looked in trackpad preferences?


yep, everything normal and enabled.


----------



## sim667 (Apr 27, 2015)

Got a macbook from work with an SSD....... my god they're lighting.

After dj'ing off my macbook, suffering slow downs, software glitches and all sorts, decided to upgrade my 2011 macbook pro to SSD....... Its really easy and would recommend it to anyone


----------



## Piers Gibbon (Apr 27, 2015)

I'm tempted to go SSD on my 2007 mbp...spoke to a helpful apple tech guy who had done exactly that with excellent results (and I followed his advice to max the ram to even more than the recommended apple level). 

Have to say I am impressed that even without that upgrade I have been getting daily use out of a laptop for 8 years and I can still run a protools recording studio on it.


----------



## sim667 (Apr 28, 2015)

Piers Gibbon said:


> I'm tempted to go SSD on my 2007 mbp...spoke to a helpful apple tech guy who had done exactly that with excellent results (and I followed his advice to max the ram to even more than the recommended apple level).
> 
> Have to say I am impressed that even without that upgrade I have been getting daily use out of a laptop for 8 years and I can still run a protools recording studio on it.



A lot of people do complain about the price of a mac, but actually they do tend to run for a long time......... Having just put the SSD in mine I reckon it will do another couple of years now, (if the screen inverter holds out), and the abuse I give my machines, 6 years would be pretty damn good.

I do have a 12 year old powerbook at home that still works, but the battery is dead..... I have no idea what I can do on it because its so slow, but it still runs


----------



## RedDragon (Apr 28, 2015)

Crispy said:


> Readers of this thread will be sad to hear the passing of John Siracusa's OSX reviews for Ars Technica.
> 
> http://hypercritical.co/2015/04/15/os-x-reviewed
> 
> I haven't installed a new version of OSX since 2011, but I'd still read his review every year


For a moment there I thought he had died, glad to hear he hasn't and just wants to stop the reviewing. It had to remember in this age of professional pundits John had always stayed the amateur enthusiast. i'll miss his reviews but hope it's not the last we hear from him.


----------



## Crispy (Apr 28, 2015)

RedDragon said:


> For a moment there I thought he had died.


GOTCHA

He's worth listening to on his podcast at atp.fm


----------



## teuchter (Apr 29, 2015)

Put an SSD in my mac mini a while ago and the difference is very noticeable. Definitely worth considering.


----------



## sim667 (Apr 29, 2015)

teuchter said:


> Put an SSD in my mac mini a while ago and the difference is very noticeable. Definitely worth considering.



Im thinking about changing the boot drive in my mac pro to ssd now, if possible.


----------



## neonwilderness (Mar 31, 2016)

After becoming increasingly frustrated with the default mail app, I bit the bullet and bought Airmail 2 earlier today. I'm pretty impressed so far, a much nicer interface and push notifications (for various Gmail based accounts) seems pretty fast. I might try it on my phone too.


----------



## chandlerp (Apr 1, 2016)

I've never used the native mail app and use Microsoft Outlook for accessing my multiple accounts.  It's free and easy.

Like me


----------



## 8den (Apr 1, 2016)

i've just bought a windowss wireless mouse cause I cannot stand apples any more

onyx is a great disk cleaning toll as is paratgon nfts


----------



## Fez909 (Oct 23, 2017)

I've been getting some weird things happening, display-wise, on my iMac. Anyone seen this before (need to click the image to see the video)?



I'm using a beta of Firefox, so normally I'd think it was just that and move on, but I've been seeing weird behaviour in Finder, too. I'm unable to reproduce it, so no video, but what happens is the text goes very distorted when highliting a file. If I select another file, the background goes blue, as normal, but then go back to the problem file and the background goes white, and the filename also goes white, but with a blur around it, so it's just about possible to read the filenames.

It does this for a few minutes, then goes back to normal.

Will try to video next time it happens.

Any clue?


----------



## elbows (Oct 23, 2017)

Fez909 said:


> Any clue?



What version of macOS?

I believe there are some known issues with intermittent graphics corruption in some apps with some hardware configurations on High Sierra - probably to do with some bugs in the graphics API 'metal 2' and/or graphics drivers. I don't have this issue myself with High Sierra at the moment, but I did used to get it with Sierra sometimes but I think it was something specific to the machine I was using.

In the past, regardless of platform (eg including Windows), I would often treat such screen corruption as a sign of either driver problems or hardware problems such as some of the ram or GPU on the graphics card going faulty. So I can't rule out that stuff too but if you are on High Sierra I would hope you'll see the back of this problem with a future update.


----------



## Fez909 (Oct 23, 2017)

elbows said:


> What version of macOS?
> 
> I believe there are some known issues with intermittent graphics corruption in some apps with some hardware configurations on High Sierra - probably to do with some bugs in the graphics API 'metal 2' and/or graphics drivers. I don't have this issue myself with High Sierra at the moment, but I did used to get it with Sierra sometimes but I think it was something specific to the machine I was using.
> 
> In the past, regardless of platform (eg including Windows), I would often treat such screen corruption as a sign of either driver problems or hardware problems such as some of the ram or GPU on the graphics card going faulty. So I can't rule out that stuff too but if you are on High Sierra I would hope you'll see the back of this problem with a future update.


Still on Sierra.

Have another Mac here if this dies, but it would be very annoying


----------



## elbows (Oct 23, 2017)

Fez909 said:


> Still on Sierra.
> 
> Have another Mac here if this dies, but it would be very annoying



Well lets not assume its a hardware issue, I only mentioned that to be complete.

Found various people talking on the internet who started getting graphics glitches on Sierra when they updated to version 10.12.4 (quite a while ago now) so problems may have been ongoing for longer than I suggested with my High Sierra focus.


----------



## Fez909 (Oct 23, 2017)

elbows said:


> Well lets not assume its a hardware issue, I only mentioned that to be complete.
> 
> Found various people talking on the internet who started getting graphics glitches on Sierra when they updated to version 10.12.4 (quite a while ago now) so problems may have been ongoing for longer than I suggested with my High Sierra focus.


Aye, I'll try to update when I have time, see if that fixes it.

Cheers.


----------



## bimble (Nov 12, 2017)

ugh. Computer told me to upgrade to 'High Sierra' so I said ok, now computer is just a black blank screen, totally crashed during install. 
Can I just restart manually tell it to forget the whole thing go back to El Capitain or whatever it was on before ?


----------



## teuchter (Nov 12, 2017)

Did you back it up before doing the install?


----------



## bimble (Nov 12, 2017)

teuchter said:


> Did you back it up before doing the install?


Yes everything's backed up. It seems to be recovering now, re-starting like normal (I did press the off switch).


----------



## Piers Gibbon (Nov 13, 2017)

hope you got it sorted...I'm now High on Sierra..seems ok so far


----------



## bimble (Nov 13, 2017)

It is NOT ok. I've spent the last 3 hours trying to get the printer to work (have tried everything I can find online where plenty of others have same issue) but nothing works. I wish I'd never agreed to high sierra what a massive waste of time.


----------



## Winot (Nov 13, 2017)

bimble said:


> It is NOT ok. I've spent the last 3 hours trying to get the printer to work (have tried everything I can find online where plenty of others have same issue) but nothing works. I wish I'd never agreed to high sierra what a massive waste of time.



How old is your Mac?


----------



## Piers Gibbon (Nov 13, 2017)

aaargh..sorry to hear that
thanks for the reminder to check...yup printer works (airplay via wifi)


----------



## bimble (Nov 13, 2017)

Winot said:


> How old is your Mac?


It’s about 4 maybe even 5, but all was working fine the day before I got on the High Sierra . 
I just did the foolish thing of calling a ‘helpline’ that appeared top of google search results.


----------



## Winot (Nov 13, 2017)

bimble said:


> It’s about 4 maybe even 5, but all was working fine the day before I got on the High Sierra .
> I just did the foolish thing of calling a ‘helpline’ that appeared top of google search results.




It sounds like you are talking about an iPhone.
Do you meant the Mac is 4-5 years old?


----------



## bimble (Nov 13, 2017)

It's a mac yes, a desktop one. 4 is old nowadays isn't it?


----------



## Winot (Nov 13, 2017)

This tells you if your Mac can support High Sierra:
MacOS High Sierra Compatible Macs List


----------



## bimble (Nov 13, 2017)

It's definitely installed (shows as running High Sierra) and not too old to manage it.  The printer thing is the only real issue that I've come across so far.


----------



## Mr.Bishie (Nov 18, 2017)

Goodbye Windows, hello Macbook Pro! 

Fuck me, it's not til you use a Mac for the first time you actually realise how fuckin shite Win/MS is!


----------



## cybershot (Nov 18, 2017)

Mr.Bishie said:


> Goodbye Windows, hello Macbook Pro!
> 
> Fuck me, it's not til you use a Mac for the first time you actually realise how fuckin shite Win/MS is!



Give it a week.


----------



## Mr.Bishie (Nov 18, 2017)

cybershot said:


> Give it a week.



 Nah! I'm sold!


----------



## Piers Gibbon (Nov 20, 2017)

bimble said:


> It's definitely installed (shows as running High Sierra) and not too old to manage it.  The printer thing is the only real issue that I've come across so far.


and now after working beautifully on High Sierra for a week...my printer is now invisible, yay!


----------



## bimble (Nov 20, 2017)

It's working again here. I deleted the drivers and reinstalled new ones, twice.


----------



## Fez909 (Nov 26, 2017)

Man, sometimes I fucking hate MacOS. This is one of them times.



B-b-but...



Now what?


----------



## Mr.Bishie (Nov 26, 2017)

I fell outa love with Firefox a long time ago!


----------



## teqniq (Nov 26, 2017)

I don't think that's the issue here, it's not allowing the app that's been downloaded to run even though 'Anywhere' is checked. Which is kinda bizarre to be fair. Might be a permissions problem I suppose, could maybe try repairing permissions with Onyx.


----------



## danski (Nov 26, 2017)

Fez909 said:


> Man, sometimes I fucking hate MacOS. This is one of them times.
> 
> View attachment 121408
> 
> ...


Don't know if it will work in this case but sometimes by right clicking the file and selecting 'open' will get you to the same window but with another option to then open the file.


----------



## Fez909 (Nov 26, 2017)

danski said:


> Don't know if it will work in this case but sometimes by right clicking the file and selecting 'open' will get you to the same window but with another option to then open the file.


Worked a treat, thanks.

Why oh why is this even a thing, though? I want an option that says, "Run anything, ever. I accept all the risks. Just fucking do what I tell you."


----------



## 2hats (Nov 26, 2017)

Fez909 said:


> Why oh why is this even a thing, though? I want an option that says, "Run anything, ever. I accept all the risks. Just fucking do what I tell you."


Might be possible to manipulate using spctl? (Caveat: I don’t have High Sierra to test this on).


----------



## Fez909 (Nov 26, 2017)

2hats said:


> Might be possible to manipulate using spctl? (Caveat: I don’t have High Sierra to test this on).


The screenshot I posted is just the GUI for spctl, as far as I understand it?


----------



## Fez909 (Nov 26, 2017)

Yep

```
$ spctl --status
assessments disabled
```


----------



## teuchter (Nov 26, 2017)

I think it's one of those things designed to make it very difficult for numpties to screw things up, but once you realise that it's just a matter of right-clicking or holding down option key, it's not something that slows you down doing what you want.

There's something similar with accessing the Library contents - you have to hold down the option key to make it appear in the menu. Again a protection against accidentally screwing things up.

Both things stumped me for a while though before I worked it out.


----------



## keybored (Nov 26, 2017)

Fez909 said:


> Why oh why is this even a thing, though?



I guess it's an obstacle to help prevent people who might not be as savvy as you from installing malicious software without realising.

Edit: What teuchter said.


----------



## Fez909 (Nov 26, 2017)

teuchter said:


> I think it's one of those things designed to make it very difficult for numpties to screw things up, but once you realise that it's just a matter of right-clicking or holding down option key, it's not something that slows you down doing what you want.
> 
> There's something similar with accessing the Library contents - you have to hold down the option key to make it appear in the menu. Again a protection against accidentally screwing things up.
> 
> Both things stumped me for a while though before I worked it out.





keybored said:


> I guess it's an obstacle to help prevent people who might not be as savvy as you from installing malicious software without realising.
> 
> Edit: What teuchter said.


No, I don't accept this.

To even get the "Allow apps from anywhere" menu option I had to disable Gatekeeper on the command line. It used to be there pre-Sierra but Apple disabled it.

Once you've gone as far as dropping to the command line to switch it off, I shouldn't have to use a special command to open an app on top of that. It's bullshit.


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## keybored (Nov 26, 2017)

Fez909 said:


> Once you've gone as far as dropping to the command line to switch it off, I shouldn't have to use a special command to open an app on top of that.


Have you tried

```
sudo spctl --master-disable
```
 ?


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## Fez909 (Nov 26, 2017)

keybored said:


> Have you tried
> 
> ```
> sudo spctl --master-disable
> ...


Yes, that's how I re-enabled the "allow apps from anywhere" option after Apple took it away.


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## teuchter (Nov 26, 2017)

Fez909 said:


> No, I don't accept this.
> 
> To even get the "Allow apps from anywhere" menu option I had to disable Gatekeeper on the command line. It used to be there pre-Sierra but Apple disabled it.
> 
> Once you've gone as far as dropping to the command line to switch it off, I shouldn't have to use a special command to open an app on top of that. It's bullshit.


Oh, well I'm not on Sierra yet.

That does sound a bit stupid. Also that I'll have to resort to command line stuff when I do move on. Nearly all apps I install are not from the app store. I do resent in general moves to make proper macOS (which I generally get on quite well with) more like iOS (which I really don't).


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## cybershot (Nov 28, 2017)

Major macOS High Sierra Bug Allows Full Admin Access Without Password - How to Fix


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## editor (Nov 28, 2017)

cybershot said:


> Major macOS High Sierra Bug Allows Full Admin Access Without Password - How to Fix


It's an _almighty_ fuck up - anyone can log in your machine with the username 'root':



> The username is the "root" of all problems for Apple's latest operating system.
> 
> It turns out you don't need a password to log in to a locked Apple device using MacOS High Sierra -- just the username "root."
> 
> ...


Apple flaw allows MacOS High Sierra logins without passwords


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## teqniq (Nov 28, 2017)

You have to laugh. 

eta editor in case you weren't aware the root account on Unix-based systems (which is what OS X is) has full administrative access, to everything.


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## beesonthewhatnow (Nov 29, 2017)

That’s a pretty impressive fuckup


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## cybershot (Nov 29, 2017)

What's worse is that the guy has seemingly gone public with it instead of getting in touch with Apple so they could fix it and then disclose it. Putting the Mac of people that don't read tech blogs and such at massive fucking risk!


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## teuchter (Nov 29, 2017)

It seems that someone actually discovered this at least two weeks ago, and the info has been sitting there on the web for all that time (scroll down a bit)

Updated to High Sierra, all Admin accounts now ... | Apple Developer Forums


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## editor (Nov 29, 2017)

It's hard to think of a bigger security fuck-up in recent years. Or decades, come to think of it. And Apple knew about it two weeks ago 



> *‘This is really REALLY bad’*
> 
> The security flaw was originally detailed as a solution to a user login problem on Apple’s developer support forum. A developer called Chethan Kamath, writing under the username chethan177, wrote on 13 November: “On startup, click on “Other”. Enter username: root and leave the password empty. Press enter. (Try twice). If you’re able to log in (hurray, you’re the admin now).”
> 
> ...



MacOS High Sierra bug: blank password lets anyone take control of a Mac

Is Apple getting sloppy?


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## cybershot (Nov 29, 2017)

Patch is now available. 

Apple Releases macOS High Sierra Security Update to Fix Root Password Vulnerability


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## 2hats (Nov 29, 2017)

editor said:


> It's hard to think of a bigger security fuck-up in recent years. Or decades, come to think of it. And Apple knew about it two weeks ago


Not really. M$ had more than their fair share of gaping holes (RPC fubars which fed the blaster worm, Code Red, 9x Netbios comedy authentication, teardrop, fragmentation attacks, Land, ping of death, to name just a few of the many) that you could tow an oil rig through. Plus in many cases they sat on their hands doing nothing with them for months. There are plenty of remotely exploitable holes that have been used to cause damage for/with various OS in the past.

Apple have dropped the Mac OS QA ball more often [than they used to] since they focussed on iOS. However, this particular one isn’t remotely exploitable unless you go out of your way to make it so (ie not out of the box - you would have had to enabled screen sharing first). The bug is being dissected in gory detail here, but essentially Apple added this bug to the OS in tweaking the account upgrade mechanism for the new APFS file system encryption.


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## editor (Nov 29, 2017)

2hats said:


> Not really. M$ had more than their fair share of gaping holes (RPC fubars which fed the blaster worm, Code Red, 9x Netbios comedy authentication, teardrop, fragmentation attacks, Land, ping of death, to name just a few of the many) that you could tow an oil rig through. Plus in many cases they sat on their hands doing nothing with them for months. There are plenty of remotely exploitable holes that have been used to cause damage for/with various OS in the past.
> 
> Apple have dropped the Mac OS QA ball more often [than they used to] since they focussed on iOS. However, this particular one isn’t remotely exploitable unless you go out of your way to make it so (ie not out of the box - you would have had to enabled screen sharing first). The bug is being dissected in gory detail here. but essentially Apple added this bug to the OS in tweaking the account upgrade mechanism for the new APFS file system encryption.


I'm not even sure that rollcall of horrors can match Apple's cock up where anyone with_ zero tech knowledge_ could bypass any suitable machine's password just by typing in one word.


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## 2hats (Nov 29, 2017)

editor said:


> I'm not even sure that rollcall of horrors can match Apple's cock up where anyone with_ zero tech knowledge_ could bypass any suitable machine's password just by typing in one word.


Other than knowing what ‘magic’ word to type.


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## editor (Nov 29, 2017)

2hats said:


> Other than knowing what ‘magic’ word to type.


Well it has been all over the internet for the last 24 hours, and was known for far longer than that. Plenty of time to have a snoop around someone's laptop.


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## teqniq (Nov 29, 2017)

Yes, monumental cockup by Apple, true. But not really in the same league as the remote exploits 2hats has listed.


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## 2hats (Nov 29, 2017)

editor said:


> Well it has been all over the internet for the last 24 hours, and was known for far longer than that. Plenty of time to have a snoop around someone's laptop.


Ergo needed some level of technical knowledge prior to the steps being advertised, which is functionally no different from most other exploits (steps or indeed handy exploit tool provided), plus, local v. remote.


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## Fez909 (Nov 29, 2017)

2hats said:


> Not really. M$ had more than their fair share of gaping holes (RPC fubars which fed the blaster worm, Code Red, 9x Netbios comedy authentication, teardrop, fragmentation attacks, Land, ping of death, to name just a few of the many) that you could tow an oil rig through. Plus in many cases they sat on their hands doing nothing with them for months. There are plenty of remotely exploitable holes that have been used to cause damage for/with various OS in the past.
> 
> Apple have dropped the Mac OS QA ball more often [than they used to] since they focussed on iOS. However, this particular one isn’t remotely exploitable unless you go out of your way to make it so (ie not out of the box - you would have had to enabled screen sharing first). The bug is being dissected in gory detail here, but essentially Apple added this bug to the OS in tweaking the account upgrade mechanism for the new APFS file system encryption.


This one was 'good', too. Also an APFS password issue:

Dumb bug of the week: Apple's macOS reveals your encrypted drive's password in the hint box


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## 2hats (Nov 30, 2017)

cybershot said:


> Patch is now available.
> 
> Apple Releases macOS High Sierra Security Update to Fix Root Password Vulnerability


Which in turn has broken file sharing it would seem.


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## sim667 (Nov 30, 2017)

A perfect example of why you should never update your machines straight away.


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## cybershot (Nov 30, 2017)

2hats said:


> Which in turn has broken file sharing it would seem.



It's not clear if that's all users or people that changed the root password as a workaround beforehand.


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## beesonthewhatnow (Nov 30, 2017)

sim667 said:


> A perfect example of why you should never update your machines straight away.


I’m still on Yosemite, works fine


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## cybershot (Nov 30, 2017)

sim667 said:


> A perfect example of why you should never update your machines straight away.



And also why you should disclose a security hole in the proper channels so fixes are not rushed out and as such probably not tested to the standard they should be.


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## sim667 (Nov 30, 2017)

beesonthewhatnow said:


> I’m still on Yosemite, works fine


Exactly I'm still on Mavericks.


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## sim667 (Nov 30, 2017)

cybershot said:


> And also why you should disclose a security hole in the proper channels so fixes are not rushed out and as such probably not tested to the standard they should be.



This is true, but its not like its the first or only piece of software to be pushed with gaping flaws. But they totally did drop the ball on this one.

That said I've spent 3 days trying to set up some drivers on windows 2012 now, so my tolerance for microsoft is at an all time low right now..... Why the fuck people spend money on this OS I have no idea.


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## cybershot (Nov 30, 2017)

sim667 said:


> This is true, but its not like its the first or only piece of software to be pushed with gaping flaws. But they totally did drop the ball on this one.
> 
> That said I've spent 3 days trying to set up some drivers on windows 2012 now, so my tolerance for microsoft is at an all time low right now..... Why the fuck people spend money on this OS I have no idea.



You should save yourself the hassle and get the servers replaced or upgraded, Server 2012 is end of life in Jan 2018.

Edit: I take that back, extended support is until 2023


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## sim667 (Nov 30, 2017)

cybershot said:


> You should save yourself the hassle and get the servers replaced or upgraded, Server 2012 is end of life in Jan 2018.
> 
> Edit: I take that back, extended support is until 2023



I do what the client wants me to do. They want server 2012, they get server 2012 despite it being the biggest fucking ballache known to man.


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## teqniq (Dec 5, 2017)

Yet another flaw in Apple’s “iamroot” bug fix


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## beesonthewhatnow (Dec 5, 2017)

I can’t help but wonder if these daft mistakes are down to the dogged determination to do an OS update every single year, rather than when it’s actually needed/ready.


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## teqniq (Dec 5, 2017)

Maybe. I'm a great believer in 'if it ain't broke don't fix it'. I only upgraded to El Capitan because the last upgrade to Logic wasn't installable on Yosemite, something which quite frankly I thought was unnecessary and pissed me off no end as otherwise Yosemite was working fine for me and did everything I wanted.


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## cybershot (Jan 10, 2018)

What a stellar release high Sierra is turning out to be. 

macOS High Sierra's App Store System Preferences Can Be Unlocked With Any Password


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## teqniq (Jan 11, 2018)




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## editor (Jan 11, 2018)

Ooops. Again

Mac password flaw leaves Apple red-faced


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## cybershot (Jan 11, 2018)

Does no one read the posts before on this thread anymore? Someone else will of course now post same news for 4th time for comedy effect! 

Apple OS X -  related devices, applications, advice & news


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## Lazy Llama (Jan 11, 2018)

That last one was posted on an iOS thread from 2014 so I moved it to a more relevant thread, rather than just delete it


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## cybershot (Feb 12, 2018)

Mac Privacy: Sandboxed Mac apps can record your screen at any time without you knowing · Felix Krause


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## beesonthewhatnow (Feb 16, 2018)

Apple employees keep walking into their new HQ’s glass walls


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## cybershot (Feb 19, 2018)

Another one for Apple to add to their 'stabilising OS' targets for the year, rather than new features.

macOS may lose data on APFS-formatted disk images | Carbon Copy Cloner | Bombich Software


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## Fez909 (Jan 10, 2019)

Brand new iMac constantly freezing and crashing. Seems to be various MacOS software causing it, the last being a problem with icloud remote something or other. I've previously had to kill lots of daemons that were gobbling up RAM. accountsd was particularly bad one day...3GB of RAM and nearly all the CPU used when I killed it. Nothing looks out of the ordinary today in Activity Monitor, but I've just had my first freeze of the day. Opened spotlight and typed a few letters and had ~30s of the beachball.

Other freezes have been worse, with the whole screen being unresponsive/frozen. The mouse pointer still moves when this happens, but nothing can be clicked.

Last night's issue was the most serious yet. The screen went black and a folder icon with a question mark flashing appeared. I Googled it and it sounds like a disk problem - the OS can't find the boot record. Restarted the computer this morning and saw the "Your Mac had to shutdown due to an error thing..." and checked the logs, and they indicated icloud remote stuff as mentioned above.

Any idea wtf is going on? I've had more problems with this new Mac in two weeks than I have with the previous one in three years.


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## beesonthewhatnow (Jan 10, 2019)

Fez909 said:


> Brand new iMac constantly freezing and crashing. Seems to be various MacOS software causing it, the last being a problem with icloud remote something or other. I've previously had to kill lots of daemons that were gobbling up RAM. accountsd was particularly bad one day...3GB of RAM and nearly all the CPU used when I killed it. Nothing looks out of the ordinary today in Activity Monitor, but I've just had my first freeze of the day. Opened spotlight and typed a few letters and had ~30s of the beachball.
> 
> Other freezes have been worse, with the whole screen being unresponsive/frozen. The mouse pointer still moves when this happens, but nothing can be clicked.
> 
> ...


Take it in to a store and get them to have a look at it.


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## Fez909 (Jan 10, 2019)

beesonthewhatnow said:


> Take it in to a store and get them to have a look at it.


I don't have a car or the time to do that, unfortunately.


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## skyscraper101 (Jan 10, 2019)

Yep sounds worthy of getting a store to check it over. A new iMac shouldn't be doing that.


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## skyscraper101 (Jan 10, 2019)

Can you boot it up right now Fez909 , you may be able to get remote support from Apple?


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## beesonthewhatnow (Jan 10, 2019)

Fez909 said:


> I don't have a car or the time to do that, unfortunately.


It might be a pain but it really is the best option. Apple may be many things but the support you can get in the stores is fantastic.


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## Fez909 (Jan 10, 2019)

skyscraper101 said:


> Can you boot it up right now Fez909 , you may be able to get remote support from Apple?


Yep, I'm using it now (and every day - I use it for work).


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## Fez909 (Jan 10, 2019)

How do I get remote support? Just call the help line?


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## skyscraper101 (Jan 10, 2019)

Fez909 said:


> How do I get remote support? Just call the help line?



At a guess, yes. A lot of new products come with Apple Care free for a limited time. It's been a while since I used them though. Probably easiest to call and find out.


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## sim667 (Jan 10, 2019)

Fez909 said:


> How do I get remote support? Just call the help line?


Yeah

Give them a call, explain the issue, apple support are usually very good.


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## Fez909 (Jan 27, 2020)

sim667 said:


> apple support are usually very good


I can't stand their tone of voice



Last thing you need when you're pissed off that your computer doesn't work is some OTT cunt banging on about making my day sweet


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## Lazy Llama (Jan 27, 2020)

Probably a bot


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## cybershot (Jan 27, 2020)

🤮🤮


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## 19sixtysix (Jan 28, 2020)

My 2011 mac has had the known graphic gpu chip problem occur. There is a fix of sorts that switches the video to use the intel GPU that is also fitted by deleting the drivers for the problem card. Unfortunately I can't disable the system integrety protection in single user mode which is now the only way I can access the computer. I am royally fucked by apple's security feature.


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## teqniq (Jan 28, 2020)

19sixtysix said:


> My 2011 mac has had the known graphic gpu chip problem occur. There is a fix of sorts that switches the video to use the intel GPU that is also fitted by deleting the drivers for the problem card. Unfortunately I can't disable the system integrety protection in single user mode which is now the only way I can access the computer. I am royally fucked by apple's security feature.


Apple will replace the logic board on these models free of charge as they eventually admitted it was their fault (wrong type of solder used to mount the GPU to the logic board). However if they are no longer doing this, before they made the decision to offer a replacement board, I found a guy on Ebay in the Hereford area who had a machine to replace the GPU on these Macbooks. Keeping my fingers massivley crossed I posted the macbook off to them and they fixed it:









						Apple Macbook Pro Early Late 2011 15" 17" A1286 A1297 GPU Replacement Service   | eBay
					

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Apple Macbook Pro Early Late 2011 15" 17" A1286 A1297 GPU Replacement Service  at the best online prices at eBay! Free delivery for many products.



					www.ebay.co.uk


----------



## 19sixtysix (Jan 28, 2020)

I know there was a replacement programme. This mac has been done as I bought it off an engineer friend who had apple do it. Shame they just fitted the same crap again. It's pretty dishonest. I'll see if I can access the hard disk via a work and delete the AMD .kext files and it should run on the intel chip instead.

eta I like OS X but I'm not keen on another mac at this time. The laptops have too many issues and are being made to be unrepairable. I may get myself a mac mini second hand but that is probably about it for a while.


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## peterkro (Jan 28, 2020)

19sixtysix said:


> My 2011 mac has had the known graphic gpu chip problem occur. There is a fix of sorts that switches the video to use the intel GPU that is also fitted by deleting the drivers for the problem card. Unfortunately I can't disable the system integrety protection in single user mode which is now the only way I can access the computer. I am royally fucked by apple's security feature.



Try starting in recovery mode then open Terminal and type csrutil disable  then restart the sip disable should stick.


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## Fez909 (Feb 20, 2020)

This is bullshit, right?


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## Fez909 (Feb 20, 2020)




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## cybershot (Feb 20, 2020)

Is FileVault enabled?


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## teuchter (Mar 22, 2020)

Well, there's nothing quite like a global pandemic when it comes to creating a window to do a bit of sysadmin.

I have two macs, one a 2011 mac mini and one a refurbed/upgraded 2009 mac pro. They are both currently on el capitan. I've not updated the os any further than that for a few years on a not broke/don't fix it basis. Any good reason to try moving to a more recent version?


----------

