I HATE APPLE

well I'm impressed that I was able to figure this much out without knowing anything, but now something isn't working and there just aren't that many variables that can be wrong, you know?

Probs time to whip out the ol' standard,

display dialog <variablename>

I have no idea what that means.

Insert lines like that into the applescript if you have suspicions about the contents of certain variables. I mean, it's just another variation on the ol' printf(var); trick used to "debug" languages w/o an IDE or a debugger.

you lost me at...

If you remind me later when I have access to a computer with InDesign, I'll see if I can combine 'em for ya.

I combined them fine...I just can't add bleed guides.

Man I love MacPorts

I guess I need to attach an antenna or something to my Airport Extreme. Should I get an antenna or a booster or what, and what kind, if so?

sonds obvious, but have you tried changing channel? I switched to 13 and speeds shot through the roof. But there's about 20 competing access points near me

Yeah, I've tried about 5 diff channels. Currently, I'm on 11, which is the highest allowed in the GUI: This may have something to do with WDS; I also can't set the WAP to anything but N/G/B mode. I don't really have any reception problems on my MBP (which I'm giving to my mum), but only on a new MB.

I have also used iStumbler to see what other channels are in use, to no avail.

I HATE ROGERS

What did Fred ever do to you???

Those plans are shit.

Here in Aus I'm really hoping the competition between 2+ providers will make things fair. A decent data plan is all I care about.

OK, latest Airport update helps massively with my signal strength issues. Whoa.

another big security update went out tonight, includes a remote arbitrary code exec vuln in SMB server so I'm just telling everyone to go ahead and run SWU again soon. we had two new OS X trojans released last week, too.

http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/securityupdate2008004intel.html

Whoa, I did NOT catch that one tom -- yikes. Meanwhile http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shatter_attack

I think my whole airport prob is totally fixed with the latest round of updates. Full bars everywhere in home. Glad I didn't get a booster.

Hey, how do I pull tracks off a CD to .wav format so they can be edited? Surely I don't have to use Nero on my PC...

Ok... you can do it in iTunes. duh.

Looks like I can get a new mac at work - budget is generous but can be spent on other things if not used, so I don't want to go overboard. I'm basically going to be using it for nothing more strenuous than LaTeX, and my 1st gen macbook pro does this fine under Tiger, so I'm inclined to think that I want the most basic machine that exists - so, I should get a Mac Mini with 2GB of RAM, right?

What I do want is a nice big screen. Am I best off going with Apple's own screen, or something from someone else? And what about a keyboard? I've seen those new wireless keyboards and they look really tiny and annoying to type on - is that right?

Apple's screens look nice but are a little overpriced. Samsung's always do well in reviews and come under the Apple price by a long way.

You'll get something decent for around the $400-450.

I presume the Mini will go at work and the laptop will stay at home, right?

right, mini on the desk at work, laptop for home machine.

Will check out samsung screens, thanks. That sounds like a reasonable price (not that I've bought a screen in a decade).

Handy portable burglar size - i wonder how long it'll last at work.

Yeah, get yourself a Kensington lock at the very least -- won't be steal-proof but it'll make it a heck of a lot more difficult.

Samsung's always do well in reviews and come under the Apple price by a long way.

Acting on advice like this, I got 2 Samsungs at work for my Mac Pro, a model that rated reasonably well (I forget which). Turns out that it's absolutely crap for color. On the dark end of the spectrum, for instance, there's annoying posterization of smooth gradients. Also, it seems it cannot handle Apple's LCD antialiasing routines: Text that looks splendid on an Apple display looks like crap on the Samsung. Believe me, I've spent plenty of time trying to "tune" away such defects, but they cannot be fixed.

Apple displays are more expensive for a very good reason: They're better.

My first experience with a genius bar: telling me they won't fix my iPod under warranty because the "immersion indicator" in the headphone jack has been triggered. I'm pretty sure I've never got it wet, let alone "immersed" it in water.

I hate Apple.

"He's been treatin me real bad!" "Is that so?" the genius says, eyes narrowing as he turns to look at you.

Fuck's sake. Just after posting that I plugged in my neglected iPod Shuffle (needs must), it told me there was a software update and then my MacBook did an infinite beachball with no way out but a power reset. I don't think it's ever done that before. Apple is picking on me.

Oh Good God. Now it says "The iPod cannot be updated because it contains files that are in use by another application".

I AM IN HELL.

OK, a Restore has fixed it.

Dell LCDs use the same LCDs at Apple ones but are half the price. This is out of date, but you get the idea: http://www.anandtech.com/displays/showdoc.aspx?i=2400

http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/products/Monitors/productdetail.aspx?c=us&l=en&s=bsd&cs=04&sku=320-6272 is effectively a 24" Apple Cinema in a different case. I have one on my desk at work. It is rad.

Dell also do budget displays, which I've never used. e.g. http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/products/Monitors/productdetail.aspx?c=us&l=en&s=bsd&cs=04&sku=320-6095

s1ocki: http://apple20.blogs.fortune.cnn.com/2008/07/07/apple-rogers-falling-out-a-story-too-good-to-be-true/

Dell uses different chips and different quality control, though, so the end product isn't really that similar to the Apple displays.

Apple's displays were pretty inconsistent for a while. A local publishing company dumped a bunch of them and ended up switching brands.

I'm baffled why they haven't updated the ACDs in so long. Do they expect Mac Pro buyers to just go along with it?

"did an infinite beachball with no way out but a power reset."

Happening to me a bit. "I'm a Mac I'm a PC" my fucking arse.

Seems to be the Transmission application that's causing it.

don't steal things then

I'm not too worried about my computer being stolen at work - I have my own office and never leave it unlocked.

So, it turns out there might be other options. There's an old G5 in my office, but it seems to be a good one - 2x2GHz CPUs, and 1.5Gb memory. Apparently we could put another 2Gb of memory in and try running Leopard, and the guess is that it should be as fast as a basic Intel machine - does this seem right? I have no experience of pre-Intel machines at all. Then I'd just need a big display - although again I have a 23" display here, and the 30" one is $1800, which seems somewhat insane. How do 2 23" displays side by side work in practice?

Another option being suggested is a 24" iMac, but at $1800 that doesn't seem like such a good plan if I can get this G5 to run well enough.

That G5 will be plenty good enough for your needs. The only worry is being orphaned by software developers. Check that the software you need is still available for Power PC. Apple have committed to PPC for at least one more version of OSX.

Leopard would be fine on that and the more RAM the merrier.

(PS are you still on the same email address?)

Apple have committed to PPC for at least one more version of OSX

rly? hmm.

am forget my password of mac,did you give me password on new email marko.(redact✧✧✧@ya✧✧✧.c✧✧
http://blog.karppinen.fi/2008/07/apple-just-gave-out-my-apple-i.html

toby, go for the 24" dell that caek linked, they really are rad. do you really need 30"? that's quite a lot of screen

I think that with anything above 24" you'll have to crane to see the sides

Apple have committed to PPC for at least one more version of OSX.

Where did you hear that?

I find 30" is good for video work which you can afford to sit back from, but it's probably not necessary or even desirable for print work.

I read backwards:

http://arstechnica.com/journals/apple.ars/2008/06/11/snow-leopard-to-be-intel-only-but-not-64-bit-only

What is good for beautifully crafting hard equations?

latex

I think it's still up in the air: http://gizmodo.com/5014251/source-os-x-106-snow-leopard-will-support-powerpc-chips

God knows why though.

xp, an installation of MacTex and either http://www.esm.psu.edu/mac-tex/EquationService/ or http://evolve.lse.ac.uk/software/EquationEditor/