Category: Technical

I finally took the plunge and bought the MacBook pro to replace our ageing dell 1545 laptop. What an upgrade. I was really torn between the portability of the MacBook air and the power of the pro. After weighing it up and asking certain techy friends I decided to ditch the portability of the air and go for the slightly heavier but more powerful pro.

So far I’m really impressed. The apple migration assistant was great and copied everything over Ethernet in a little over an hour from my old machine to the new one. That’s over 90gb of stuff copied & organised with only a few clicks. Today I’m sat in a coffee shop working, modifying php scripts, uploading files and configuring a MySQL database. What’s more I fully charged it last night and after 5 hours of use I still have 36% charge left, and it’s been hammered today already. So much stuff open including dreamweaver, photoshop, safari, mail, iTunes.

Another great thing about this laptop is the unibody design. My previous laptops always felt a little brittle, like if you picked it up it would break in two. This laptop feels very sturdy & rugged.

Granted all these perks come at a price of over £1000 but our new philosophy is to invest in the best. For too long has cutting costs caused headaches and days of installing & reinstalling.

So far I’m loving iCloud & photo stream. All my photos in sync ready to use on the iPad, iPhone & macs. So much easier than trying to manually sync everything up and creating duplicates.

Anyway a few photos of the new baby.

I Finally got around to installing XBMC on my iPad 2. I’ve been meaning to do this for ages but I’ve been waiting on the Jailbreak coming out. Setup was really easy simply go to cydia on your jailbroken ipad and do the following :-

1. Go to Sources -> Edit -> Add

3. Type in “http://mirrors.xbmc.org/apt/ios/” (Without the quotation marks)

Now once the repository is added and updated, search for XBMC in cydia and hit install. Mine installed really quickly and I was up and running in minutes. All that was left to do is add my SMB shares from the iMac and I could start streaming videos in any format directly from my mac. No need to convert to mp4/m4v and no need to manually copy them across into the VLC app. All in all A nice use for the iPad, portal streaming throughout the house. I’ve also setup the iPhone 4 for streaming which is excellent.

As this is a free app I’d advise you all install and have a play with it. I’ve now got XBMC on every machine in the house, including my jailbroken Apple TV 2 and it’s the centre of my home media.

 

UPDATE – I’ve found a much better fix – Use NFS shares instead- Use NFS shares instead of Samba with XBMC

Well it’s been a nightmare few days with the upgrade to Lion GM breaking Samba sharing. For me NFS isnt really an option, it’s clunky, and my network is full of old windows machines, not to mention the XBMC’s on the Apple TV 2, Ipad 2, iPhone and the old Xboxs. i needed a fix for Samba, and this came in the form of installing Samba 3 on Lion via Macports and setting up the smb.conf file manually to share my media.

This text is partly my own work and partly complied from other tutorials.

You will need a copy of Lion GM installed on your mac, along with a copy of xcode 4.1 (available from a lot of places, legitimate or otherwise). You will then also install first macports and then samba 3 via terminal, but most of this stuff is copy & paste. Finally, I’d install a copy of Textwrangler for mac. It will let you edit files in its text editor without using the command line, which is much easier, and will let you unlock & authenticate to save/open files anywhere in the filesystem.

First, install Xcode 4.1 (DP7 or GM is needed currently).
Second, install MacPorts from SVN using these directions taken from macports site

Check out MacPorts source
In Terminal, one line at a time

sudo mkdir -p /opt/mports
sudo cd /opt/mports
sudo svn checkout http://svn.macports.org/repository/macports/trunk

Build and Install MacPorts

MacPorts uses autoconf and makefiles for installation. These commands will build and install MacPorts to /opt/local. I ran all these with the sudo command before them to avoid permissions problems

sudo cd /opt/mports/trunk/base
sudo ./configure --enable-readline
sudo make
sudo make install
sudo make distclean

Open /opt/local/etc/macports/sources.conf in a text editor. The last line which should look like this:

rsync://rsync.macports.org/release/ports/

Change it to point to the working copy you checked out:

file:///opt/mports/trunk/dports

Now MacPorts will look for portfiles in the working copy.

After installing MacPorts, you may need to add it to your PATH, so go ahead and run in terminal:

export PATH=$PATH:/opt/local/bin

and then

sudo port -d sync

This will make sure that it is added to your path, and you shouldn’t have to specify full paths to binaries. The second command tells macports to download the latest versions of the portfiles (instructions for macports on installing a program)

Once everything with macports is finished setting up, open up a terminal window and type

sudo port install samba3

It’ll automatically install samba 3 and all of its dependencies.

Now to edit the configuration! It’s pretty straight forward if you read through the config file located at /opt/local/etc/samba3/smb.conf (it’s callend smb.conf.sample, just remove the .sample from the filename and open with textwrangler).

Your shares should look something like this (you can have as many as you like):

[Downloads]
comment = Downloads
path = /Users/jodsclass/Downloads
available = yes
guest ok = yes
create mask = 644
directory mask = 755
read only = no

[Movies]
comment = Movies
path = /Volumes/MyBook/Movies
available = yes
guest ok = yes
create mask = 644
directory mask = 755
read only = no

[TV]
comment = TV
path = /Volumes/MyBook/TV Shows
available = yes
guest ok = yes
create mask = 644
directory mask = 755
read only = no

Also, remember to change your workgroup name to match the rest of the machines on your network, mine are all on workgroup so mine looks like

# workgroup = NT-Domain-Name or Workgroup-Name, eg: MIDEARTH
workgroup = WORKGROUP

And the name of my mac is imac so my server string is

# server string is the equivalent of the NT Description field
server string = imac
(that way SMB shares can be accessed at smb://imac instead of using IP based). You can leave the rest of the config file commented out.

All that’s left now is to do

sudo /opt/local/sbin/smbd -D && sudo /opt/local/sbin/nmbd -D

(I’m using full paths so we dont accidentally start up the apple supplied smb server ) and samba will be up and running. The only downside I’ve found is that you do need to remember to start samba every time you reboot (the “sudo /opt/local/sbin/smbd -D && sudo /opt/local/sbin/nmbd -D” commands).

You can use the following launchagent to start the samba server everytime your machine restarts.

Download mine here and put it in /Library/LaunchAgents, and it should automatically start up samba for you.

Now in XBMC just add your samba shares as follows.

smb://imac (or whatever your machine is called in the server string above)

NOTE: Please remember to turn off SMB sharing in settings>sharing>File Sharing as the built in OSX Lion SMB implementation will clash with the one you installed via Macports

UPDATE – I’ve found a much better fix – Use NFS shares instead- Use NFS shares instead of Samba with XBMC

I’ve finally started reading Digital Editions of 2600: The Hacker Quarterly. Historically I’ve been buying the magazine from their Yahoo store and having it mailed to me from the USA, but the kindle edition means I can have it on the day f release, and read it on the kindle or the iPad. Perfect. Also means I’m building up a great library of digital content with me at all times, ideal if I’m out & about and want to refer to an article.

Check it out

After a month searching the length & breadth of Britain for a 3G iPad 2 I finally got hold of one in the Exeter apple store. It was a 150 mile round trip with no guarantees of bagging one but I did it. I’m now the proud owner of an iPad 2 64gb 3G model with an O2 microsim.

I’m really impressed so far. My only criticism of the iPad 2 is the quality of the cameras. They are adequate, but feel like an afterthought. The resolution is rubbish on both front & rear cameras and my ageing iPhone 3G takes much better stills.

With that in mind let’s look at the iPad 2 itself as a functional mobile device. I’m not entering into the post pc era nonsense. This device will never replace my iMac, but it will complement both the iMac & iPhone. Right now I’m writing this blog entry from my seat on the train somewhere between cornwall & london. my power adapter is buried deep inside my luggage, I won’t be needing it. I’ve got my headphones in, and my music library on shuffle & I’m multitasking between my business email, website backends and my twitter feed. It really is an amazing device and already has changed the way I can work.

I will put a full review up shortly. Now back to my work and onwards to london to support Gary @the marathon.

I finally took the plunge and bought a decent sized external hard drive. Up until now I’ve hoarded away my movies & media on DVD’s but with the cost of storage media plummeting I decided to opt for one of these 2TB hard drives from Western Digital. The My Book Essential is a nice looking unit with a gloss black finish, rubberised feet to stop vibration and a front facing storage gauge indicating how full the drive is. The drive is nice and fast over USB 2.0 and does a great job of spinning down when not in use and even shuts itself down when I put the mac to sleep so is very conveneient.

 

The drive itself is pretty silent, and apart from the odd click I never hear it operating.

Formatting for the mac was simple and Disk Utility did a full format in around 10 mins. My first impressions of the drive are positive. I’ve already copied a lot of my media back from DVD’s onto the drive and in my quest for a minimal digital footprint I’ve disposed of the disks.

I’ve now used a terabyte of space, but all my disks are now archived on the drive so It’s just free to fill with movies & TV shows now. Now that I’ve got XBMC installed on the apple TV I’m allowing it to scrape the drive for all my media and adding it to the library which is very convenient. True on demand media, complete with movie posters, series information, actors etc. Superb

Well I’ve finally done the untethered jailbreak of my apple tv 2 and I’m really impressed with the results.

The jailbreak wasn’t too difficult (although I still use pwnage tool to get the apple TV 2 into DFU mode as it seems much easier). Once in DFU mode I plugged in the power cable then  it’s just a case of running greenpois0n RC6 (mac version) and hitting the jailbreak button. Once it says complete, wait around 40 seconds before removing the usb cable and inserting the HDMI cable. You will have an extra tab on your apple tv called greenpois0n. Click this and click install cydia and it will download cydia from the repository using apt.

When the apple TV 2 reboots you will have a nitoTV tab, which allows you to install a few different apps including XBMC. I installed XBMC this way, but the installation failed so I fired up terminal on my mac, logged in via SSH and ran the following command ‘dpkg –configure -a’ as root. This fixed the local apt files and re-installed XBMC.

Following a further reboot of the Apple TV 2 we where rolling. I had lost wifi, but re-installing nitoTV fixed that. I also disabled the apple software update in NitoTV to stop it nagging in the future.

XBMC looks amazing in 720p over HDMI. I installed the PM3:HD skin which is quicker than the default skin, and matches that used on my old xbox. I’ve now retired the xbox and the new apple tv is superb. Plays 1080p .mkv files without issue. My only complaint is that the remote is a little limited, but using the xbmc control app for my iPhone fixes that.

I’ll post up more findings.

Well after all the hype over the iPad, I have to say after playing with one I’m not overly impressed. It’s a quick ass piece of kit, don’t get me wrong, but the price point is way off. After all it’s iPhone OS so we rely on apps, and the lack of file system access & printing mean it will never replace a laptop. Besides, I can’t see CS4/CS5 for iPad arriving anytime soon. I really do think it’s a good piece of kit, and would have one no question if the price wasn’t so high. I’ll get one soon enough but it’s not a game changing device so no rush.

So today we have the iPhone 4 announced, and that is a game changer. The iPhone 3G I have is probably the single most influential piece of technology I have bought in years. It has freed me from the office allowing me to do my work from anywhere. Emailing, blogging, tweeting, calling, texting, browsing, apping. It really is a great device, and the iPhone 4 promises so much more. A 5MP camera, front & rear facing with flash, awesome. Glass front & back which is many times stronger than plastic, and won’t scratch like the plastic backed 3G, awesome. Faster HSDPA superb. 720p video recording, nice. Multitasking, yes. It’s just ticking all the boxes for me. Video calls look fun and I could see myself dealing with my Business Partner in Scotland from down here on the south coast improving no end with Video calling on our iPhones.

I love it already, and will be buying one. The slated release date is 24th June so I’ll be there for the 32GB version. Only choice I need to make is Black or white?!?

That is all. iPhone 4 awesomeness.

iPhone 4 promo

Well it has been a crazy month of new things. Firstly the month has seen me in and out of the doctors with headaches, which we have concluded is down to stress, and a weak right eye which is being irritated by using a screen all day. So I now have two pairs of posh designer glasses to wear which has already made a big difference, meaning I can see my iPhone & netbook and all other screens alot more clearly.

To go with the new eyewear, I finally invested in a North Face hardcore waterproof with zip out fleece which cost me so much money it makes my eyes water thinking about it, but I’ve wanted the jacket and the fleece for so long, and I got a good deal on the pair so I now have them.

Perhaps the icing on the cake is our new top end 24″ iMac with maxed out Ram, Graphics and processor specs. Cost a hell of a lot of money, and the guys in the Apple Store Manchester where very helpful in sourcing & sorting us out with our new baby, so all our work is now being completed on the iMac.

Mixed thoughts so far, the hardware is amazing, and the screen is immense, however Snow Leopard sucks. Tons of system crashes, enabling Sharing makes everything start to crash,, and running CS3 or CS4 is impossible on Snow Leopard, Illustrator, Photoshop and Dreamweaver just crash whenever you try to open, save or print a document. It will also crash on copy/paste or infact for any reason at all. Also the guttenberg print drivers seem very sketchy, and there is a lot of banding and colour problems on my Trusty Epson CX3200. I finally had enough of the issues and downgraded to Leopard 10.5.8 which is solid as a rock.