Since I upgraded from OSX 10.5.1 to 10.5.2 I haven't been able to use my shared printer on on my Windows server. Every job I submit gives me an error saying On Hold (Authentication Required).
There's no way that I could submit the printjob to the server from my Mac.
It seems that there is a bug in the authentication mechanism on OSX 10.5.2. If you add a (network) printer by using the System Preferences, you get to browse to find the actual printer.
There are lot's of people who complain about the updates on the Windows platform, but Apple tries to compete I guess. In the last 3 days there was
a big security update,
Safari 3.1 (both Windows and OSX),
Time machine and Airport Updates, and now a
Camera RAW update for OSX 10.5.2.
Thankfully no problems on my side with the updates.
Looking for other updates from Apple? Just go
here.
I listened to the latest 'This Week in Tech' podcast today. They mentioned a screensaver called
FlickrFan. This screensaver can connect to flickr account and images to use in the screensaver. But it also downloads current Associated Press images in high quality and more. This results in awesome pictures from around the world covering the news in HIGH-RES.
B.t.w. it's much more than just a screensaver, but I liked the screensaver-part best.
Since I have an iMac with OSX 10.5 (Leopard), I use
TimeMachine for my backups. This works great actually. But I also need an off-site backup of some sort. Just in case the house burns down or that some f*cker decides to steal my hardware.
So I bought an external
Freecom 160GB USB2 drive (USB powered) for my off-site backups.
I encrypted the entire harddisk with
TrueCrypt 5.0 on my iMac, and copied the data I needed to preserve. After that I wanted to access the data from my work laptop (Windows XP SP2 with TrueCrypt v5.0)..... This didn't work. TrueCrypt didn't recognize the password, or the encrypted disk (AES / SHA-256 full disk encryption).
I tried to access the data on my Mac and everything worked, so there's no data corruption of some sort. Eventually, I recreated the encrypted drive on my Windows XP laptop (lost the backup in the process). This time the disk would mount, and could also be read/mounted by my Mac.
So, I guess that TrueCrypt is Cross-platform, but with the current version (v5.0a) you need to make sure to create the volume on Windows if you also want to mount it on OSX.
I reported this through their bug-reporting tool to the developers. No idea if there are similar problems with Linux.
UPDATE: Pretty soon they released v5.0a, and today v5.1 was released. So development goes on :-)
A while ago I started a
search for a GPS Data Logger which I can use for adding GPS coordinates to my photo's. The current status is that most of those devices are Windows only. The
few that might be OSX compatible aren't sold in the Netherlands (yet).
So I had to find an alternative. There is a sourceforge project called '
MTK GPS Data Logger Device Control' which facilitates certain GPS (chipset) devices to function on multiple platforms. So my best guess would be to buy one of those 'supported' GPS Data Loggers. Due to availability, I bought the
Qstarz BT-1000. It's a GPS mouse with navigation and logging capabilities.
First I had to make sure that the device was actually working properly, so I installed the driver and software in a Windows XP Virtual Machine. This was quite easy, and the unit seemed to work properly.
Next thing was to install the opensource program to allow communication between the GPS unit and OSX Leopard.
To get it to work on OSX you need to follow a installation manual. Something I'm not used to :). Needless to say that it took a bit longer than expected.
First of all, you'll need the
software from the sourceforge website. Second,
you need SuperWaba files (free registration is required) [these files seemed to be present in the download package from sourceforge], and the
USB driver. After that you need to follow the instructions in the README.txt provided in the sourceforge package. Note that the script information on the
forum has been superseded by the README.txt in the downloadfile (use the provided
bt747_macosX.command from the sourceforge download package instead).
Eventually, you'll end up with a directory structure whick looks something like this:
Run the
bt747_macosX.command file to start the application.
One thing I must mention is that somewhere along the lines is the mention of using TextEdit to alter (script)files. Do NOT forget to remove the formatting on the files before saving. You might end up with scriptsfiles containing some markup stuff.... And this means that you might be getting some weird error messages.
Anyway, the interface is still very simple, but you have access to lots of features. The actual manual for the application is available on
Google Docs.
One thing I hate is not knowing where I am. I had this in Windows, and I still have it OSX.
By default OSX doesn't show the full path in the finder. This is annoying as hell. Especialy when you're having shares called 'Pictures', and the chances are quite big that you might have a local directory called 'Pictures'. You can't tell the difference.
Using the following terminal command, you get the full path in the Finder. So no more 'Pictures', but '/Volumes/Pictures/'
Terminal command:
defaults write com.apple.finder _FXShowPosixPathInTitle -bool YES
killall Finder
Simply replace the YES for NO to disable the feature. This is OSX 10.5 or higher only!!
I've been looking for a GPS logger for a couple of months. A GPS logger can be used for attaching GPS information to your digital photos. This way, you can display your photos on publicly accessible maps in Flickr or Google Earth.
More and more of those GPS loggers are surfacing on the market [
Sony GPS-CS1 /
GPS-CS1KA,
Globalsat DG-100,
Qstarz BT Q-1000,
GiSTEQ PhotoTrackr,
WBT-201]. But they all have one problem; None of them seem to work (natively) with an Intel Mac running Leopard (
source). Some of them require open-source drivers to function. The downside of that is that an update from Apple or an updated firmware in the GPS logger might cripple the functionality.
Why is it that GPS manufacturers won't create a GPS (logger) device that simply works on both platforms. It couldn't be that hard. Just create a GPS device that is also recognized as a external drive, containing the raw GPS data in the most common format (e.g.
NMEA). This way even the Linux users are not left out.
My new
iMac 24" arrived this week. Unfortunately, I didn't have much time in setting it up (business and social obligations), so I had to wait a bit... Very annoying. Anyway, in the mean time it's up and running, and man.... it is fast.
I ordered the basic 24" version (2.4Ghz, 1GB RAM, 320GB HD) with the wired UK keyboard. On it's arrival I immediately bought 2 * 2GB RAM to upgrade the memory to 4GB. I bought it later (and not from Apple) because of the big price difference. The iMac with 4GB pre-configured was hundreds of euros more expensive, and 2 Kingston DDR2 667 (PC2-5300) SODIMM were around 80 euros a piece. That saved me some money. Money I can use to buy me a larger FW800 or NAS unit for backup.
Hooking up the iMac was easy (as you expect from Apple). Downside was that Leopard wasn't installed, so I had to install it myself (original Leopard DVD was included in the package). In the mean time I could setup the other devices around my iMac (audio, 12km of cables, and my
24" Dell TFT). After Leopard was installed I had two 24" displays on my desk.... SWEET :-P .
There is one small problem with the two displays... They don't align (vertically) very well, so I have to raise the Dell 24" about an inch with something :-( .
The purchase of the iMac would also be my first experience with the
new aluminum keyboard and the
Apple Mighty mouse. I choose the wired keyboard, because I can't be bothered with replacing the batteries. They always die on a Sunday evening when there's no way on getting new batteries in time.
The experience with the mouse was kinda disapointing. It just didn't feel right (I tried it for a couple of hours). So I replaced it for my old Logitech MX510. The keyboard however is awesome. It's small, but with all the features you expect from Apple. The keyboard requires a little getting used to (about 5 minutes).
The next thing is migrating data from my old Windows PC to the iMac, and figuring out
Boot Camp. This still allows me to install Windows XP and run some games or Windows specific software on the iMac hardware.
Since the upgrade to OSX Leopard, I've not been able to use PGP, since it simple won't work. Yesterday I received an e-mail that the
public beta of PGP 9.7 has been released (for Windows and OSX). This one does work on Leopard (until December this year though), so I guess that I need to BUY myself yet another version of PGP.
I found one 'bug' in the meantime; I seem to be missing the encrypt and sign buttons in the OSX Mail app. Or I might be missing something? I don't want to use the PGP service which signs or encrypts everything. I want to sign and/or encrypt when I want to, and not when an app tells me to.
A couple of weeks ago, my Windows PC was starting to crash. Hard disks were going; 'plonk, plonk, rrrrrrr, tac tac, rrrrr '. Most of the times this resulted in system freezes or blue screens. So ever since that weekend, I've been looking into an iMac 24".
Last weekend I ordered my iMac in the online Apple Store. It's the standard 24" with 320GB drive and 1GB of RAM. My current PC also has only 320GB of diskspace, and I'm not even close on filling that up. I will upgrade the 1GB of RAM myself. If I buy the memory at my 'local' computershop it saves me around 600 euro's on 4GB. The Apple prices for memory are just ridiculous.
Another point of frustration is the keyboard layout. Every PC sold in the Netherlands (wel, almost every PC) has a English-US keyboard. Why isn't that layout available as an option. I hate the vertical 'enter', and the small 'left-shift' on the NL, and UK keyboards. Too bad, that you can't order an iMac without keyboard and mouse. So, anyone interested in a new (thin aluminum) Apple keyboard and MightyMouse (both on a wire).
This only leaves me with my Windows server at the moment. It would be nice to replace that one with a Mac Mini.
