One more thing about the Hackintosh
Posted by Brian in computers, osx, rants, technology on May 5th, 2009
A couple of articles have recently popped up from some bloggers who are using OS X on their netbooks that are disparaging of the experience. I’ll summarize their complaints so you don’t have to read them. Each writer’s point is in italics.
- Dave “MacSparky” Sparks’ disdain for the OS X netbook – The keyboard sucks: This is really the only complaint I agree with. It does suck because Dell squished theirs and moved the buttons around. I hear if you buy the international keyboard instead, the key layout is more sane. Still, the keyboard layout is tough to get used to. You know, just like a BlackBerry, iPhone, or even worse … a phone keypad with predictive text. The screen sucks! Horrible resolution and the backlight isn’t as great as a Macbook: 1024 x 600 isn’t optimal for a lot of things, but it’s hardly unusable. I’ve had no complaints about the backlight. I can see it in low light … test passed. The build quality is cheap! : The computer starts out at under $300. I can lament a Ford Focus isn’t built like an Aston Martin but it really isn’t a fair comparison, is it? In his defense, he gets that the comparison is unfair. OS patching and upgrades will be painful because you’re breaking the rules! Maybe a major OS upgrade, but minor updates are peachy. If you build a Hackintosh, buy your OS X legitimately! Don’t use an illegal / hacked copy! If I legitimately buy a piece of software, I’ll install it where I damn well please. The EULA is a joke.
- Steven Sande at TUAW hates the netbook too – The 16 GB SSD is too small! No kidding. Ante up and get the 32 or 64 GB like I did. Run Monolingual and strip out PPC binaries and unused language packs. The resolution is too small! There are workarounds if you need them.
- Brian X. Chen hates OS X on his MSI Wind – His complaints were the hardware was flaky and the construction is cheap. I can’t really argue with either of those points.
The gist of all of this is that netbooks are not meant to be full-scale laptop replacements. So if that’s the case and these cheap netbooks are so horrible, why are they selling so well? Is it just a fad?
The price-to-features ratio on laptops have always been terrible. Historically, I could always buy a great desktop at a much more reasonable price than its laptop counterpart. The desktop could be upgraded piecemeal for years; the laptop really can’t and even replacement laptop parts are much harder to find after a model has ceased production and are usually vendor proprietary. Laptops aren’t very rugged and are likely to have hardware problems more frequently than dekstops.
The popularity of the personal computer in the last fifteen years has exploded. Everyone has a computer. Your grandmother has email. Yet what do the vast majority of people do on their computers? Most folks live in a web browser. Whether they’re using Gmail, Facebook, Twitter, Hulu, Pandora, YouTube, Craigslist, or eBay is irrelevant … without a web browser and Internet access, most PC’s are just doorstops. With the margins on desktops going razor thin, laptops have become a commodity that the common person would tend to avoid unless the price was lower.
Enter the netbook. Its critics are correct in many aspects: The construction ‘feels’ cheap, the keyboard is cramped, and by default there’s not a lot of storage space. If I’m a user who gets on my PC long enough to browse Facebook or Twitter, I’m not likely writing a companion piece to “Atlas Shrugged” … I’m going to make a post or two on Twitter that’s limited to 140 characters or less. I’m going to update my Facebook status or write a sentence or two about someone else’s post on their Wall. I’m going to browse to Hulu and watch a clip from SNL or listen to one of my channels on Pandora. I’ll read and reply to a couple of emails on Gmail and then read RSS feeds in Google Reader. I might chat with my brother using Skype and the built-in mic and built-in webcam. What I’m not going to do is use VMware to boot up a VM or use Final Cut Pro to edit a movie.
None of these things require an immaculate unibody design, an ergonomic keyboard, or a huge amount of storage. For that matter, none of them require Windows or OS X. You could use Ubuntu Netbook Remix or Presto. The point is that these computers are selling well because the price-to-features ratio is much more inline with what consumers want.
My tricked out Mini 9 (~$560 for Mini 9 with 2 GB RAM, 64 GB SSD, and retail OS X) went with me to Morris Plains NJ a couple of weeks ago when I traveled on business. In addition to getting compliments from folks in the security line at Newark’s airport, I’d use it at night for the tasks mentioned above at my hotel. I didn’t worry about it getting stolen. I didn’t have to buy an expensive warranty. It performs flawlessly for what it is.
It may go with me upstairs at home and sit on my nightstand or on the kitchen table. If I do use it for long periods of time just for the joy of using OS X, then I can hook it to a monitor and use my normal USB mouse and keyboard. The battery life is fantastic and OS X finishes booting in about 30-40 seconds.
Everyone is entitled to their opinion. I think where these guys go wrong is that the average OS X user expects the elegance and simplicity of design that is Apple’s standard and they are standard OS X users. I’m a Linux and occasional Windows user and I find OS X on my netbook to be fine.
All Hail the Hackintosh
Posted by Brian in computers, hackintosh, osx on April 12th, 2009
It’s time for me to make an addition to my home computers. Recently, I’ve decided I wanted four things from this new computer:
- Portability – High-end laptops are usually instantly obsolete so I don’t want a overpowered one. I just want something with a little more kick than my BlackBerry Bold or my iPhone. A small, but decent screen is fine. I want to surf the web and be able to watch video and listen to audio. I’m not planning to do anything CPU intensive.
- OS X – I know Linux having been elbow deep in it for 15 years and by the fact that’s how I make my living. I’m good enough in Windows to get by. I want to see if OS X is as good as I hear it is.
- Price – I can afford a “real” Mac, I just don’t want to spend more than about ~$600 right now. At some point, I plan on getting either a nice iMac or a fully loaded Mac Mini. The Mac Mini I wanted would have been about $800. Definitely doable, but not quite what I had in mind when I say ‘portable’.
- Network mobility – I want to be able to connect to the Internet from anywhere and I don’t want to be limited to wi-fi or ethernet (i.e. I want cell phone tethering). This last part is especially important as of late.
As an avid Lifehacker reader, I ran across an article that covered the first two items on my list at great length. The folks over at BoingBoing have put together a nice list of netbooks that play well with OS X. Apparently, the Dell Mini 9 works the best. The Gizmodo article that Lifehacker links to is really good. I was up and going in no time. “No time” being several hours. Anyway …
I bought a Dell Mini 9 (aka Dell Inspiron 910) from Dell. The specs are as follows:
- Intel® Atom Processor® N270 (1.6GHz/533Mhz FSB/512K cache)
- 2 GB DDR2 / 533 MHz RAM (it shipped with 512 MB but I bought a 2 GB stick from Crucial for $31.78 rather than paying $75 to Dell for the upgrade)
- Glossy 8.9 inch LED display (1024X600)
- Intel Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) 950
- 64GB Solid State Drive
- Wireless 802.11g Mini Card
- Integrated 1.3M Pixel Webcam
- 32WHr Battery (4 cell)
Total price for all that (minus 7% corporate discount) was $421.92. Factor in the memory from Crucial for $31.78 (that includes shipping) and a retail copy of OSX from Amazon for $107.49 (free shipping) and I’m at $561.19 for the whole package. That’s far cheaper than any official Apple notebook and I don’t need the additional cost of anti-virus as I’m not running XP (Zing! Rim shot!). I ended up adding a small, mini-keyboard and mini-mouse for ~$40 so I’m still at the ~$600 mark that I shot for. In addition, it shipped with Dell’s customized Ubuntu so restoring to factory defaults is a snap but I can also feel good that I helped the proliferation of Linux in the best possible way –a sale direct from a big vendor.
The two guides that I used were the one at Gizmodo and the one over at Dell’s Mini 9 forums. I had no external DVD-ROM at the time so I had to use an awesome utility called TransMac. If I were the author of this utility, I’d create a stripped down version of the product that does only what folks like us need (i.e. copy the OS X DVD itself to an 8 GB or greater thumbdrive) at a sharp discount. He’d make a killing. I’ve since bought an external DVD-RW drive, so I may not need that utility but finding a drive that can read an OS X disc is hit and miss. Perhaps I will try a reinstall with my DVD-RW.
I found that installing 10.5.6 directly doesn’t require as much hoop-jumping as previous versions. Basically, the steps were:
- Create the bootloader (DellEFI) and the OS X DVD image on thumbdrives.
- Plug them in on each side of the unit and configure BIOS to always boot from USB first.
- Boot up, go into hex loader by pressing the escape key, and enter either 81 or 82 until you see “Install OS X from media” as an option and then press “enter”.
- Format and partition your disk remembering to select the GUID partition table that Intel Macs need.
- Run the installer.
- Reboot and boot from the hard drive with the “-f” option (select hex device 80 … I think. Your actual device number may vary but it will be hd(0,1))
- Reboot again, boot from the hard drive (no -f) Run the Dell Mini 9 Utils pkg from the bootloader USB stick.
- Download and run Monolingual to free up alternate language packs, PPC binaries, and other stuff you’ll never use. My total install took up around 12 GB out of my 58 GB of usable space. Monolingual cleared up about ~460 MB and I could probably slim it down more. I won’t worry with it unless space becomes a premium. Of course, I have a 32 GB USB thumb drive if I ever really need some extra space in a pinch.
- Run System Update to get your system completely up -to-date.
It took me a better part of a Saturday futzing around until I got the process down just right. There’s several guides out there that tell you how to do this and I had to kind of pick and choose what was most reasonable but in the end, it worked fine.
It did take me a little bit of time to figure out that once the wi-fi (or “Airport” card as these crazy Apple guys call it) is detected, you have to hit “Apply” before you can use it even though they let you try to configure a network first! That’s a nasty bit of UI design on Apple’s part. Also, first thing you want to do once it’s booted is enable auto-hiding for the System Dock. Otherwise you might miss things like an “Apply” box while you try to configure network for 15 minutes or so. The thing boots in under 30 seconds. Seriously, it’s the fastest booting computer I’ve ever owned. As a test, I watched an episode of 30 Rock on Hulu via the wi-fi Airport connection and standard resolution worked just fine while the (so-called) HD-480p feed worked okay but with a slight stutter every so often.
Was it worth it? Yes. Will this be my “gateway mac” that gets me to buy an actual Apple-branded Mac? Probably.
Relevant links in case you missed them above: Code necessary for bootloading the Mini 9, the original Gizmodo how-to, and the Dell Mini 9 Forums how-to (I used the Windows, two-USB jumpdrives, no preexisting Mac option). The link to my Flickr photostream where I performed the unboxing and installation can be found here though I’ve included a few screenshots below.
- Preparing to unbox the Mini 9 for the first time.
Booting OS X for the first time
Finished with the OS X install
Wolverine Flies the Coop
Posted by Brian in Uncategorized on April 7th, 2009
Jason Kottke notes how Fox may be penny wise but pound foolish for firing Roger Friedman for downloading, and then reviewing, an illegal workprint of the upcoming X-Men Origins: Wolverine. I wondered the same thing initially. Shame on Fox for not keeping better tabs on their property. If it’s worth $100 million, guard it like it’s worth $100 million.
On one hand …
- Friedman didn’t leak the workprint. It was already out there, allegedly downloaded over 75,000 times.
- It’s great to make an example out him, but does it really change anything? The damage is done and at least you have a glowing review.
On the other hand …
- Friedman works for Fox, who’s producing the movie. Admitting to stealing from the parent company to an international audience isn’t smart.
- Saying you plan on stealing from their competitors by downloading a rival studio’s film (I Love You, Man) because “it’s so much better than going out in the rain” isn’t a smart move either. Bonus points for saying this as we’re on the brink of an economic depression and the same studios that pay you are hurting financially.
- Sites like CHUD and Ain’t It Cool News pointed out had they reviewed the illegally distributed copy, Fox would be out for their blood. Fair is fair.
Is Desktop Email dead?
Lifehacker asks “Is Thunderbird/Desktop Email Dying Out?” No, because it died about five years ago which is right about the time GMail debuted. Bloatware like Lotus Notes and Outlook still regin supreme in the enterprise (for now) but there was never, ever a great email client on the desktop. The need for a great email/calendaring solution was a void that no one really stepped in to fill. It all moved to the web and browsers evolved to the point that the web experience was good enough for email and unlike a desktop email client a webmail client was everywhere at once. I’m not saying GMail is the end-all, be-all mail client but it was enough of a game-changer to cause competitors like Yahoo! and Microsoft to seriously step up their game.
What I disliked about Battlestar Galactica
I had a whole list of loose ends and examples of shoddy writing that I was going to post about, but the writeup over at Cliqueclack sums up most of the problems I had quite nicely. The ending had moments that I liked, but the series itself really didn’t finish up as it should have. You can’t just say “Well, it was never about the plot … it was about the characters!” to avoid having to write your way out of a hole. Also no excuse: “Well we always admitted we were making it up as we went along!”
Why Your Spam Filter Sucks
Posted by Brian in computers, day-ruiners on March 14th, 2009
Your spam filters suck because they can’t distinguish between what’s real and what isn’t when the person sending you an email takes steps to ensure that his email is not tagged as spam. This should bother you.
This week, I got a personal cell phone and demoted my BlackBerry to “work-only” phone status. As a result, I had to update the contacts in my address book of the new number. As a GrandCentral Google Voice user, I only have to ensure that my contacts have the Google Voice number but since it’s a lot of trouble to spoof my outgoing caller ID to match that Google Voice number I like for folks to have the “virtual” number and the “real” one.
I don’t like sending out an email to 50-60 recipients with everyone on the “Cc” line nor do I like “Bcc”-ing everyone as that tends to trigger spam filters. So how do you send a mass email to your contacts without triggering spam filters?
I’m not sure that you can.
I found a decent trick to using mail merge from within Thunderbird and an extension called mailtweak from a help page at Berkeley. With this, I could write a simple note updating folks and still personalize it so it didn’t come across as “spammy”. Still I received a ton of REJECT’s from mail servers all insisting I was spam. If I had to guess, this assertion was based off one thing: My mail originated from a cable company’s IP. Still, most spam systems should have been smarter than that. Here’s why:
- I used a real mail client – I realize X-headers can be forged, but there was no subterfuge. It really came from Thunderbird.
- My email address and smtp server matched – I’ve used pobox.com for a decade now. It’s a great service and they even helped come up with the RFC for SPF. They’re not a spam-friendly organization in the least. I figured if I used a pobox.com address and actually relayed my mail through their SMTP server that even the most braindead spam filters wouldn’t reject me. I was wrong. The sad thing here is that you have to authenticate when sending mail through their server; you can’t use their SMTP servers without being a legitimate user.
- Safe links in email – The links in my email were to blackberry.com, beejive.com, and Wikipedia … all reputable sites.
- I went the extra mile – Little things that spamassassin used to complain about like no real name in the “To” field along with the email address (e.g. Tom Jones <tjones@example.com> as opposed to just tjones@example.com) wasn’t an issue here.
The biggest cause of rejection was due to folks who use Spamhaus. They simply looked at my IP from Comcast and determined that no user on a cable modem would ever use a desktop client to send email and denied it. The content of my email was purposely crafted to be safe and I didn’t send any email from my IP (i.e. I wasn’t running a mail server).
I have performed email server administration for small and large installations for twelve years and, in my opinion, RBL’s are just about useless. Blocking an IP is a fruitless, whack-a-mole way of stopping spam. Had their content scanners even made a rudimentary pass over my email, it would’ve passed scrutiny but they were content to stop my mail on the basis of what some other idiot who used to have my IP did.
If you use Google or pobox.com for your email, my message got through. If you run your own mail server or use a hotmail.com address, I had to resend it. I had no idea I had so many friends that use hotmail. What’s wrong with you folks??
I gave up on running my own personal email server a long time ago. It’s not because I don’t have the skills (I’m still a sendmail bigot master) but it’s because I became bored with the neverending arms race with spammers. Google’s done a good job at filtering my spam and without much help from me. Still it’s always fun to go through this exercise so you can see how many broken mail servers exist amongst your social network.
Last night at the Olive Garden
Posted by Brian in movies, pop culture on March 7th, 2009
Wendie and I were having dinner and as the server gave us salad and breadsticks, she looked at me with that “don’t I know you?” look.
HER: Have you seen Watchmen yet?
ME: I planned on seeing it this weekend, but no I’ve not seen it yet.
HER: I could’ve sworn I saw you there last night.
ME: I’m sure you saw lots of people who looked just like me there.
At least it wasn’t as bad as when I lived in Jackson and had two seperate gas station attendants at two different stations on High Street insist that I used to work at each of their respective gas stations.
Actually, the server at Olive Garden talked about her impressions of Watchmen and Dr. Manhattan’s anatomically correct CGI. We both agreed that the upcoming Wolverine movie looked like it would be good. It was surreal and we tipped her well for being a comic book nerd.
Why Yelp Stinks
Posted by Brian in day-ruiners, dining, web on February 22nd, 2009
Companies accuse Yelp of extortion; yelp says no way – Last year, I joined Yelp. I reviewed many small, out of the way eateries that I frequent. Most of the restaurants didn’t have their own page or any reviews. I figure it’s my way of bringing them some attention and –hopefully– business so they don’t disappear. These are the types of places that live on word of mouth because they can’t afford heavy advertising. I write accurate, positive reviews for each of my favorite restaurants. A few months ago, I go to log in and write a scathing review of the Rock Bottom in Buckhead and notice all of my reviews are gone. As in ‘no reviews for this restaurant’ exist. Confused, I write Yelp’s tech support. Their entire business model, I assumed, hinged on people writing reviews. Why would they remove my reviews from every single restaurant I wrote about? They wrote me back and said, “Your reviews aren’t gone. They’re still on your profile for people to see.” I countered that while that’s fine, people don’t come to Yelp seeking me out, they come seeking restaurant reviews. I demanded to know why mine were removed. They had no answer other than it’s routine and happens all the time and maybe they’d be reattached to the restaurants at some point in the future. I decided that if my content was meaningless to Yelp, then they could go ahead and close my account and delete my reviews. They were more than happy to do this.
I don’t know if the accusations of extortion are true, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they were. My reviews were positive, but very descriptive and very fair. There is no way the restaurants I reviewed had any problems with them. Maybe they just wouldn’t ante up advertising dollars, so the reviews had to go. Their tech support was unwilling to remedy the situation and all too eager to show me the door, so screw ‘em. I truly hope they fail at this point. There is a sound business model to be made from the idea of customer submitted reviews. I only hope a competitor like Goodrec or something similar pushes Yelp into obsolescence where it belongs.
Twitter Updates for 2008-12-10
- @drhogie “Over Macho Grande? I’ll never be over Macho Grande.” #
- Got fired from Yahoo!? Have a free taco courtesy of TokBox: http://tinyurl.com/5gxjrc #
- @bigjim I bought a 16 GB regular SD for (i think) $50 a couple of weeks ago. #
- @bigjim I stand corrected. I paid $41.67. Now, the same thing at Amazon is $34. http://is.gd/b2G2 #
- @bigjim Not Brian B!! #
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Twitter Updates for 2008-12-09
- I slept from 5 PM yesterday until 6 AM this morning. Ny Quil + Coricidin HBP == JEEB JEEB JEEB JEEB! I do feel better now, though. #
- @campbellmichael The sad thing is, I could sleep another 8 or so now. BTW, we evaluated Weblogic 10 last week and are doing Jboss 4.3 … #
- @campbellmichael … this week. Damn your 15 character username! #
- @riverace “I knew I picked the wrong week to stop sniffing glue …” #
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