Ian McShane » Macbook

First Apple 'Genius' Experience

Ian — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 11:37:03 +0000

If it was up to me, i’d just replace the cracked topcase on my Macbook myself. I’ve got the Macbook service manual (one that gets issued to the Official Apple Service Centre places) and it’s just as straight forward as I thought. However when I asked the Genius at my local Apple store if I can just get the topcase part to take out, it’s a no can do – you have to be trained to do it. It was with a little roll of the eyes as to say “what do you know about it” which annoyed me. When you make a reservation, they really should ask for a gauge of your technical competence. Even if the self-appraisal is taken with a pinch of salt, I’d rather not be talked to at length as if i’ve never used a computer before.

Not to be completely down on my visit there, although they don’t have the part in stock so I need to go back when they do, my problem was dealt with quickly and efficiently.
As soon as I mentioned the cracked topcase, before even getting the Macbook out of my bag, he acknowledged it was a known issue and started checking stock. He also agreed that it was unusual for a late 2007 model to show this problem as they ’should’ have fixed it by then.

Like I said, it was dealt with very quickly, in and out within about 15 minutes – although granted i’ve got to go back to the store again when they have the part in. I don’t, however, understand why he asked for my admin account password, I declined to give it to him purely on the basis that there is a lot of stuff on here that is under NDA. I got a little huff out of him for that one even though I offered to turn on the ‘Guest’ account access if they need to test out functionality. I’m going to run a clean install of Leopard today anyway, due to the repeated shutdown and screen lock problems i’m having, i’ll just leave all of that stuff off for the moment until they’ve been able to do their thing.

Apple Macbook – Build quality continued

Apple Macbook – Build quality continued

Ian — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 00:27:19 +0000

In the short time since my previous post about my cracked Macbook i’ve been doing a bit of research and have found identical issues.

Here is a pic with the same problem in the same place, via this thread on Macrumours:

Uploaded with plasq’s Skitch!

There’s even a Flickr group for this problem and an old Engadget post. Maybe I just lucked out and got one of the older ‘faulty’ shells packed with the newer hardware..

I’ve got an appointment at the Genius bar tomorrow so hopefully I can get this sorted.

[tags]Apple, Macbook, crack, build quality[/tags]

First Apple 'Genius' Experience

Ruby on Rails, mySQL, Mongrel and OS X Leopard

Ian — Sun, 25 Nov 2007 02:33:55 +0000

For the majority of my RoR development, i’ve used a Windows machine running Instant Rails. Apparently, the Mac is the so-called “favoured platform” for Ruby on Rails development so i’ve been looking forward to getting rolling with this on my shiny Macbook. However, i’ve spent a couple of days scouring Google and Groups trying to find the optimum way to get everything set up and running. There isn’t much information where Leopard is concerned, most of the posts and articles are geared toward Tiger and involve building and compiling Ruby from source with XCode.

Well, i’ve got mine environment up and running so hopefully this will save someone else a bit of time. Of course, that does assume that i’ve done this all in the correct manner! Any corrections or updates welcome!

Firstly, it’s quite well documented that OS X 10.5 comes with Ruby, Rails and all kinds of other goodness ready to go out of the box. You can get a rails template app built and served by entering three lines into Terminal:

rails myWickedAceApp

cd myWickedAceApp

ruby scripts/server

Get your browser to http://localhost:3000 and you’ll see the Welcome Aboard page..

Pretty neat as apparently there were some problems with prior versions of OS X having a version of Ruby that was in some way incompatible with Rails.
You’ll need to add some code behind this template or all you have is a nice page with some AJAX in there for fun! You’ll probably also need a database application of some sorts, such as mySQL (other database apps may be available, YMMV).

Google brings up all kinds of problems with the OS X dmg package of mySQL 5.0.45, there’s even a defect logged for it. (First bugged back in June but closed because mySQL didn’t have access to the Apple Developers programme!)
I have to say though, my installation of it worked fine. I installed both mySQL and the StartUp packages, ran “chmod -R 777 /usr/local/mysql” and rebooted.

No problems there.

In the current absence of a SVN client (I haven’t gotten around to sorting that out yet, i’m sure there is one around) I quickly grabbed a copy of the production code and imported a DB dump locally. (“mysql %DATABASE% < database.bak”)

Again, worked straight off of the bat. So, currently, I can’t see what the fuss is about. Nor why there aren’t any quick start guides for Leopard.

(I’ll re-iterate, i’m still pretty new to OS X so I may well have missed/cocked up something here)

[tags]Switch To Mac, OS X, Ruby on Rails, Macbook, mySQL, Leopard[/tags]

Switching to Mac

Ian — Fri, 23 Nov 2007 11:35:03 +0000

After months of contemplation i’ve finally taken the plunge and picked up one of the new Santa Rosa based 13″ Macbook (2.2GHz C2D). I was tempted to go for the black one but TBH, it seemed a little excessive to spunk an extra £120 for just an extra 40GB and the blackness.
I was also a bit surprised at the cost of upgrading the RAM, they want £539.99 to increase from 1GB to 4GB! I’ve just ordered 2×2GB sticks from Crucial for <£90 delivered. Mental!

I’ve not really stumbled across any major problems TBH, except that it took me a while to work out the keyboard shortcuts for Copy (Apple+c) and Paste (Apple+v). I’m still stuck in the world of Ctrl+..!

Although my work laptop is going to have to stay, i’m going to start trying to use the MB at work more and just rely on XP for email (I prefer Outlook to Entourage).
Does anyone have any recommendations regarding iWork vs MS Office Mac? What about Open Office?

Any tips for a switcher greatfully received.

Migrate iTunes to a new Mac

A more objective look at iPhone (part 3: A few more words)

Ian — Fri, 23 Nov 2007 10:49:01 +0000

I think i’ve covered and detailed most of my gripes with the iPhone in parts one and two and as mentioned, Apple could potentially bring this device inline with other ‘latest gen’ phones (such as the Nokia N95) – at least from a usability and feature standpoint, very quickly with a software update.

Opening the platform up with proper SDKs, whether sandboxed or via 1337 root access, is sure to propel the platform forward exponentially. As it goes, I picked up a Macbook earlier in the week and have started exercising my brain with some Cocoa coding so that i’m up to speed by the time the SDK is released.

One final thing I thought i’d mention is battery life. I’ve left it for 3 days now without charging it up. Having used it as normal, including phone, SMS, WiFI, iTMS, iPOD, Safari (pretty much all of the functionality!) the battery indicator is currently at aprox. 50%.

Final Words

Granted, the camera is a weak point as is the EDGE network and they’re both items which can’t be addressed in a software update.

So, am I bothered by the lack of camera?
No, not really.

Whilst it’s a nice to have, i’ve just looked through the pictures on my previous phone. I’m not going to save any of them. All I used the camera for previously was for opportunistic clicks. I’ve generally got my ‘proper’ (not DSLR proper!) camera with me anyway.

Is the EDGE network a pain in the ass?
Sometimes, but it’s not as stupidly slow as some internet comments have portrayed.

I’ve been able to find WiFi access when I needed it and haven’t gotten annoyed or frustrated with EDGE at all.

Unfortunately, what with the hype around the iPhone, it seems that the device is suffering from over popularity. Its become an easy target for comparisons and complaints, a good example is my earlier post – written out of frustration that it wasn’t the all singing, all dancing cure for cancer that it had been hyped up to be.

Compared to my previous phone, it’s definately a step up and in the right direction. Yes there are shortfalls in comparison with established devices and platforms but in it’s own right, and IMO it’s a cool and useful device.
I’m just waiting for Last.FM to include iPhone scrobbling support!

[tags]Apple, Cocoa, iPhone Review, Macbook, N95, last.fm[/tags]

Wii-ked

Ian — Sun, 07 Jan 2007 23:57:54 +0000

This was my final week off before heading back to the office. Having been off for 3 weeks and in the US for 3 weeks prior to that, i’m not keen! On the brightside, I get my driving licence back at midnight on Thursday January 11. However I have yet to get my car serviced and MOT’d – it’s been sat motionless for almost six months now

After 3 weeks of searching Teh Internets and visiting game stores every couple of days or so, I finally managed to get hold of a Nintendo Wii. I didn’t want one bad enough to start queing outside of stores early every morning so it was pretty lucky that a friend of mine managed to reserve one for me.
It’s pretty cool, definately a lot of fun and I can see it being a great party game when there are a few more titles out and the accesories are readily available. The system only comes with one set of controllers, the Wii-mote (right-hand side of the pick above) and a controller called the Nunchuck which connects up to the Wii-mote. Incase you’ve been in a hole, these controllers are motion sensitive. I’ve already seen the sharks on Ebay selling the accesories for almost double the price, fuckers.
Anyway, WiiSports is fun -
Tennis is a little annoying as, even if you are playing on your own you still play a doubles game but with you controlling two characters – the one nearest to the ball reacts to your ’swinging’ which can get frustrating if you are teeing up a sweet cross court forehand only for the chap infront to lummox it out..
Baseball is extremely difficult, maybe I just need to give it more time as I either miss the ball completely or knock it out for a foul ball!!
Golf is great, i’m looking forward to the Mario Golf franchise to come over to the Wii.
Boxing is good fun, its more fun watching someone else play it though!
Bowling is probably my favourite of the bunch, it reacts very well and it feels like a pretty good simulation of the real thing, you can spin the ball and everything!

The only other game I picked up is Zelda. Now, people have been moaning that the Wii isn’t as powerfull as the 360 or the PS3 and they’re right, it isn’t. That doesn’t mean games look like crap though, this has great 3D graphics and the usual amazing gameplay. I managed to put in 3 hours of play on my first go with it, without even noticing the time going past. Note to self, put clock above the TV.

I came quite close to buying a Macbook this week, the only thing that held me back was the upcoming MacWorld Expo this week. I didn’t want to sp00ge out over a grand GBP only to find i’d missed out on something cool like built-in GPS or maybe HD-DVD. I have decided to move to the Mac full time at home though. I already have the Mac Mini running as a HD media server and have realised that I don’t really do anything MS centric on my own lappy any more. Any C# is done on my work lappy and besides i’m thinking of canning that again and giving Ruby/Rails another whack.

Talking of Ruby, this free book is great – Mr. Neighborly’s Humble Little Ruby Book – It gives a pretty decent intro to Ruby and also a good explanation of OOP.
There are a bunch of links here as well.

I’m still hooked on the Black Stone Cherry record.

Finally, I caught Wicked The Musical in Londons West End this week. Taglined “The untold story of the Witches of Oz”, it’s a really good show.