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Snow Leopard 10.6 - Upgrade Hell
http://bendavis.freeshell.org/index.php?entry=entry090831-004801
The upgrade of the OS went smooth. No problems, it even freed up 12.04 gig of space, or at least that's what's reported.
So lets start the list of things that don't work anymore:
Cisco VPN Client, won't start anymore. Error 51: Unable to ocmmunicate with the VPN subsystem. lease make sure that you have at least one network interface that is currently active and has an IP address and start this application again. But the good news, it's now integrated into the OS. I just need to get the necessary configuration information from my local IT department.
TivoDesktop service won't start anymore. I click on system preferences, and the service isn't started. When I click start, it flips to stop for a second or two and then flips back to start. I thought I would check to see if there was an update. I pulled it down and get the following error: The specified message could not be found for the index 19. Still looking for a fix for this.
HP Photosmart C7280 - Don't get me started, HP driver support sucks! The software for scanning is no longer supported. But the good news is that OSX now has it integrated, but no OCR. Seems like when I print now I get a black line on the page somewhere. I seem to remember this from when I got the printer, it took HP a few months to fix that one.
NOTE: HP Scan Pro software (from Mac OS X 10.4, 10.5) is not supported in Snow Leopard. The HP icon for HP Device Manager still in the dock after upgrade is not functional and should be removed.
NOTE: Scan support from pushing the Scan button on the printer is not supported with this version of the scan interface built into Snow Leopard. Scan functionality is supported by scanning directly from the computer.
I don't ever think it's a good thing to take functionality away during an upgrade. Granted, I didn't use the scan to computer feature a lot, but it was nice to have.
BodyBugg - Looks like the wife's BodyBugg doesn't work with 10.6. The inhstaller won't even complete: System extension cannot be used The system extension "/System/Library/Extensions/Soundflower.kext" was installed improperly and cannot be used. Please try reinstalling it, or contact the product's vendor for an update. Here is an updated Soundflower that supposedly works on Snow Leopard:
http://kineme.net/Discussion/Tutorials/SoundflowerSnowLeopard
I tried it out but no luck. CRAP!
Those are the problems I have noticed so far.
Grrr! ]]>Use iTunes to Shop on Amazon
http://bendavis.freeshell.org/index.php?entry=entry090110-200803
Advantageous MP3
Enjoy! ]]>Using Tivo as an Airtunes Client with an iMac
http://bendavis.freeshell.org/index.php?entry=entry080419-141927
Since I have a TiVo already connected up to my stereo, I thought it would make the perfect client. I started googling to see if I could find a way to stream music playing on my iMac right to the TiVo. There is a lot of information out there and a lot of open source solutions that are supposed to work. After a lot of trial and error I came down to what I think is the easiest solution. Nicecast and the TiVo Desktop solve my problem. Nicecast will allow you to broadcast any audio coming from your iMac. TiVo desktop can be used to play non purchased music on your TiVo.
Highlevel Steps:
1. Download and install NiceCast 2. Download and install TiVo Desktop 3. Start up NiceCast, Confiure it to broadcast iTunes and click Start Broadcast
4. Inside of iTunes, click Advanced, open stream, enter the URL for your Nicecast stream stopping at the port number. (IE: http://192.168.1.125:8000) The stream will automatically start playing, hit stop.
5. Create a new Playlist called AirTunes, copy the new Stream to it and an MP3. Without the MP3, TiVo Desktop won't recognize the playlist as valid.
6. Restart iTunes so the TiVo Desktop will recognize the newly created playlist.
7. Go to System Preferences and click the Tivo Desktop icon. Click the publish my music, select any playlist you want in addition to the newly created playlist. Click Start to turn on Tivo Desktop
8. Start playing music on iTunes.
9. From the TiVo, navigate to the published music. Select the newly created playlist, select the broadcast, click select to start playing.
You should now hear the music that is playing on your iTunes!
This setup will work for 20 minutes until NiceCast starts adding static to the music to encourage you to purchase a $40 license.
There are other TiVo clients that are supposed to be able to pickup the broadcast stream, Galleon is one of them. I was unsuccessful at getting this to work. Maybe when I am bored I will write my own TiVo client specifically for this application. In my perfect world the TiVo would be playing from my NiceCast stream, displaying text on what is playing, all while displaying pictures from my iPhoto library.
Maybe someday.
Finally a success story instead of frustration!
]]>Streaming Video to the Wii
http://bendavis.freeshell.org/index.php?entry=entry080316-153657
Wii Media Center X - This appears to lock up the Wii after streaming for about a minute and a half.
Wii Transfer - When I click on the movie to play, nothing happens.
Orb - I am not real excited about sending my video to the orb server and then back to my Wii. I have yet to try this out.
Other options:
TVersity
Wiideo Center
Red5
If anyone has anything that works, I am all ears.
Update 04-19-2008 Alright, I finally was able to get something to work. Looks like TVersity is the ticket. I was able to take some of the kids cartoons and stream the successfully to the Wii. Unfortunately, the quality of the video is not so good, so I don't think I will actually use the Wii for streaming. Plus I would have had to convert my Video to yet another format.
Time to move on to the next project, poor man's Airtunes!]]>Problems with the iMac
http://bendavis.freeshell.org/index.php?entry=entry080130-010508
1. While listening to mp3's with iTunes, the whole system crashed. The screen went blank and the machine was making a beating sound through the speakers. This has only happened once. The MP3 was off of a CD and was ripped several years ago with an old xing encoder. I had to power off and back on to re-gain control.
2. Occasionally an application will just evaporate. I have seen this happen with most of the iLife applications. It doesn't happen often, but I do see it from time to time. The application seems to recover quite nicely and automatically restarts.
3. This one is the biggest point of pain for me. Duplex printing on my new HP C7280 multifunction printer doesn't work properly. I don't have control over the binding so the back pages of the print are upside down. This apparently is a common problem on Leopard with HP printers. What a pain! I hate it. This is the thing that ticks me off the most. New computer, new printer, and they don't get along well together.
4. The end key! I miss the way the end key works on Windows. I have remapped the key as best I can but sometimes I still have to use the old command right arrow. I know this is the way Unix is, but I don't care.
Over all, I am still pretty happy with the system. I still am impressed with the way iMovie handles video.
]]>Microsoft Office 2008 on the iMac
http://bendavis.freeshell.org/index.php?entry=entry080130-005345
possible compatibility issues (with Office). I don't know that I would have problems, it just wasn't something I was interested in investing time in.]]>Darwine - Wine on Mac Leopard
http://bendavis.freeshell.org/index.php?entry=entry080120-135125
Very interesting concept, too bad it isn't going to be useful to me. It was wild seeing windows install screens without having to install Windows. I am sure that Wine works great for those who are lucky enough to run the applications that work.
On a side note, my copy of Microsoft Office 2008 for that Mac is on it's way. $130 for the home version, you can't beat that!
Next up, I guess I have to figure out whey I can't the the import of my Organizer Address Book into Mac's Address Book. I will need to by Print Shop for the Mac.
]]>WAL*MART Music Downloads
http://bendavis.freeshell.org/index.php?entry=entry071209-133215
Wal-Mart Music Downloads
We're sorry, your operating system is incompatible. To provide the best download experience, we can no longer support Windows 98, ME or NT. Please visit again after you upgrade to Windows 2000 or XP. Visit our Help section for complete system requirements information.]]>My New Apple - What, it doesn't work with my iPod?
http://bendavis.freeshell.org/index.php?entry=entry071207-010231
iPod missing in iTunes and Mac desktop ]]>My New Apple
http://bendavis.freeshell.org/index.php?entry=entry071201-212141
After several years of using Windows products and never really being totally satisfied, I decided to try something different, I ordered an iMac, HP Photosmart C7280 All in One printer and, of course, the AppleCare protection plan. I thought it might be fun to document my progress on becoming an OS X user.
My goals are simple:
-Video editing and DVD burning without the system locking up.
-Word processing
-Image processing
-Eclipse Development
-Full use of the printer.
I expect that there will be bumps in the road, and there will be a learning curve.
11/23 Order is placed.
11/28 Order is received. Wow, what a shiny unit. Everything was nicely packaged and looked very high quality, except for the Mouse pad. It is a worthless square cloth with the Apple logo on it. Wait, maybe it is to clean the monitor. Who knows? I pulled it out, and hooked it up. No issues, I was able to connect up to my Windows XP machine and transfer files over just fine. I did notice that none of my MPEG-2 files from my Tivo will play. Sometime I will have to figure a way around that.
11/29 I installed the Leopard cd that was included with the unit. My very first Mac error happened when I tried to run iMovie. It won't even load. I decided to try to update the system, fortunately, that solved my problem.
11/30 I found an open source application called TiVoDecode Manager to transfer files from my Tivo to the Mac, and it converts them to MPEG-4 which can be viewed by quick time and edited with iMovie. Bonus!
I installed Eclipse. The install was easy, however, I am unable to checkout source code from my local CVS repository. There doesn't appear to be a (right-click) context menu to do the checkout. I had to use the Wizard to check things out.
12/01 Time to unpack the printer and take it for a spin. I followed the included quick setup guide, and set the printer up as a network printer. On the Windows side of things, everything went flawlessly. OSX, that is a different story. During the installation of the HP software, I was presented with a nasty error: "HPIO Trap Monitor Quit Unexpectedly." I proceeded with the install, and started trying to print. No luck. I decided to give scanning a try, again, no luck. Ok, time to hit the websites. It turns out, this new printer is not supported by my new Mac, with the new operating system. The only thing I can do, is uninstall the HP software, install what is provided by Leopard, and then I will only be able to print. No scanning, faxing, etc. I can down grade back to Tiger or wait until HP releases something that will work with Leopard, which might be this month or next month. Bummer!
12/01 Update I am learning. I figured out why the context menus were not working in eclipse. I had to go into system preferences and modify the mouse settings to enable the "secondary mouse button". Now the right click context menus work. ROCK! My brother also pointed out to my why home and end don't behave the same as windows. On most Mac OS X applications, the key works like the original on UNIX
in the days of dumb-terminals, where Home would take you to the start of
a document. When the key is pressed, the window scrolls to the top,
while the caret position does not change at all; that is, the home key
is tied to the current window, not the text box being edited [1]. To get
the same result as the Windows platform (that is, going to the beginning
of the current line of text), one can press the left arrow while holding
down the Command key.
I was also able to get the HP C7280 working. The trick is to install the drivers for the printer from the Mac Leopard cd first, add the printer in System Preferences, and then install the HP software. I don't know if it all works, but I was able to scan to a PDF in.
;)
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