Double Backup

打從換MAC開始，就決定要減少硬盤、電腦的數目，尤其是使用過虛擬電腦後，更加認同只要一台電腦就足夠了；若需要Windows系統的話，就在MAC裡虛擬出來吧。故此，訂購這台iMac時已經補錢升級硬盤至500GB（當時主流還是160GB或少量250GB吧）。

礙於我還初次接觸Mac OS，在資料轉移方面還是花了很長的時間，大概、一年有多了吧。其實是沒有那個閑去弄。其間把一大堆files周圍移動，而舊的P4電腦裡那250GB硬盤又要封存，即使還有一台250GB USB硬盤和一台250GB LAN硬盤，其實可用的空間還不是很多（就是嘛，明明加起多有1.25TB的，還是有點足襟見肘）。

趁著假期，終於把大部份的檔案都移到iMac裡，把P4的硬盤也改成USB硬盤之後，兩台USB硬盤都拿來做備份，一台跑iBackup，另一台跑Time Machine。其實會否有點過火呢？有點怕死的感覺。

How Addicted to Apple Are You?

Oh, I'm 56% addicted to Apple! (only??)

56%How Addicted to Apple Are You?

100% Free Dating at JustSayHi.com

No more Mac vs Windows

An article from the blog of Don McAllisters (founder of ScreenCasts Online) - "I’ve Given Up Arguing with Windows Users Too!". Hey, Don McAllisters, you are great! After switching to Mac...

* I enjoy using a computer again
* I don’t worry too much about virus and malware attacks (without being too blase)
* I don’t have any performance issues
* Mac software is plentiful, beautiful, well designed and incredibly inexpensive.
* There’s no problems sharing files with Windows users.
* I can run Windows if I really want too (but don’t)

I can't agree no more!

Running the latest Mac OS X (Leopard) on my 1 year old machine (C2D 2GHz, 2GB DDR2) is a lot of pleasure than with the latest Windows OS, which you get pressure. At least, no performance issue make you feel you are enjoying what you paid for (and won't hearing the computer screaming for hardware upgrade, which eventually will be more than purchasing a XP professional license).

Is there any disadvantage on Apple's computer? Yes. The Apple Wireless Keyboard and Mouse! They drain new battery within 3 months. And my keyboard just stop functioning in the middle of this post. Now, I've to use the compact, unfamiliar Logitech NetPlay Keyboard, which not give me typo but wrong action (such as suddenly deleted my text or do a forward delete when I try to press arrow-up key).

Buy Mac advice (if you prefer wireless):

1. go with the wired keyboard and mouse. this is the backup solution for your wireless kb ms. check out Logitech's wireless mouse and keyboard for Mac (approx. HK$650), OR try other cheaper PC keyboard and mouse but you less able to take advance of Mac's shortcut keys.

alternatively,

2. go with Apple's wireless keyboard and mouse. buy a lot of rechargeable battery and to be expect that they will die in 1 or 2 year. you won't able to fully drain the battery before you need to replace/recharge them.

GovWiFi

The Government is going to install Wi-Fi facilities for public access in their premises. Details here.

Speech Toggle

Speech Command on Mac can be handy (or should I say handless?), sometime. I always use the command such as "Switch to iTunes", "Next", "Switch to Firefox", "Start screen saver" (I need to stress on the word "screen" to make this one work). But I found the Firefox are not responding to the command well. Anyway.

Since some might concern that turning on and off the Speech is troublesome on Mac (method 1, open System Preference and open Speech; method 2, use Spotlight and type Spe to get to Speech). So, some nice guy had wrote a little program and give us a handy shortcut to toggle the speech: Speech Toggle. For more details, please check out the product page.

Nevertheless, the Speech Recognition is not always fully working well, sometime, or you would like to customize more action for that 'stupid half-deaf Mac'. Then you'd like to read this: Hack Attack: Make your Mac's Speech Recognition work for you.

PSP + Belkin N Wireless Router

Two months ago, I purchased a Belkin N Wireless Router (F5D8233-4), after my second Linksys router (WRT54G) stop working properly. Belkin's life-time warranty won over the single year warranty Linksys offers. That's why I switched to Belkin when both my previous routers died in their third year.

The router and its settings look great for a-little-bit-serious users. May be advanced users would prefer Linksys, which they can flash it with hacked firmware. I just want stable and ease to use. The settings page look great but help was not enough (still better than Linksys' help page). Setup is no difficulties. I've connected my IBM T42, iMac and PS3 over Wi-Fi. My friends' laptop also on the MAC address filter list too (yes, on top of the WPA, MAC filter is another good way to protect the network). My PDA and PSP, however, are not able to connect. Both of them are 802.11b. My PSP can't even discover the router, even it is just 2 feet away.

Before I'm about to flash the N Wireless Router to latest firmware (v1.00.10), I gave a last shot. Following are my original wireless settings (firmware 1.00.07):

Wireless Channel = 6
Extension Channel = 2
Wireless Mode = 802.11b&802.11g&802.11n
Bandwidth = 20MHz/40MHz
Broadcast SSID = Yes
Protected Mode = ON
802.11e/WMM Qos = ON

By try-and-error, I found a working wireless settings:

Wireless Channel = 6
Extension Channel = disabled
Wireless Mode = 802.11b&802.11g&802.11n
Bandwidth = 20MHz
Broadcast SSID = Yes
Protected Mode = ON
802.11e/WMM Qos = OFF

Although my PSP is slow, it is now connected to Internet. I should try my PDA later.

死吧，WGA!

"Microsoft kills Windows Genuine Advantage" - MacWorld UK (src: http://www.macworld.co.uk/blogs/index.cfm?email&entryid=300&blogid=2)

"And I think it’s no coincidence that none of them are made by Apple." - Mark Hattersley

看後，令人拍案叫絕！大快人心！

Mac OS萬歲！Linux萬歲！Karena萬歲！收工。

ScreenCastsOnline

20% off at ScreenCastsOnline, with the coupon code from MacSanta. Availability subjects to change.

Besides MacWorld.com, ScreenCastsOnline (SCO) is my second favorite Podcasts. Its tutorial-like, step-by-step videos show you lots of good thing in the Mac. The initial membership cost USD 45 for 6 months. With the discount above, it's only $36 (that's why I joined membership today).

During the membership period, you can access not only latest video but all of them since 2005, in multiple resolutions, including HD and iPod. Note that those videos for iPod, in 320x240, can be played directly on PSP without converting. Still not sure about other resolutions yet.

If you would like to learn more about Mac, and have a PSP around for watching video on the road and has some spare money to spend during this Christmas holiday, you may consider subscribing the SCO. It just cost you a little bit cheaper than an XBOX 360 game (or a lot cheaper than a PS3 title). Alternatively, you can subscribe SCO free version via iTunes. No cost at all but some videos are exclusive for members. Not to mention that not HD in free version (except a few sponsored episodes).

XP outperforms Vista

半年前寫下《手提電腦的禁買期》和《 XP vs. Vista》，至今用XP還是比用Vista要爽。最近看到一篇比較兩者的文章：《Windows XP Significantly Outperforms Vista, Tests Show》，又一再力證XP比Vista好。到底事實是否如此？真的如文章所說：

"Windows XP trounced Windows Vista in all tests -- regardless of the versions used or the amount of memory running on the computer. In fact, XP proved to be roughly twice as fast as Vista in most of the tests."

當年初初推出XP時（大約2000-2001年），而我的電腦購入於2000年春，用上當時最快的CPU：Pentium III 600MHz，拿來跑XP其實有點兒慢，如今我用來跑XP很爽的是一台小黑，是Centrino 1.7G（效能約莫等於Pentium 4 3.4GHz）。Vista推出時高階的CPU是Core2Duo 2GHz，前後對比，那即是說，只要Core2Duo再多出兩代、內頻提升至3.8GHz以上而L2 Cache有16MB左右時，跑Vista應該會暢順了吧！？只是若要用上這種速度／價錢來跑XP，效能應該會似火箭吧。

無獨有偶，Apple最近終於推出了Leopard，我由Tiger升級到Leopard，沒有performance的損失，因為我用兩者時都不覺得系統特別地快，但最少不會令用家呼叫要求downgrade回水。

Apple的新廣告又串Microsoft："Ask not what Vista can do for you, but what you can do for Vista"，真抵死。

Intel Core 2 Duo 2.16 GHz w/ 4 MB L2 Cache
2GB DDR-2 667 MHz memory
ATI Radeon X1600 128MB VRAM
同一個configure，跑什麼好？

- Vista? 勉強吧，多開幾個程序就死掉，而且又分幾廿款版本，騙錢的東西
- XP Pro? 沒錯，應該有點「快到曉飛」，但隨便一台Centrino 1.8G以上的電腦已綽綽有餘

最好嘛，還用說：Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard啦！

（會有人踩場說Ubunto或者Linux嗎？）

Smultron - editor for programming

"Smultron is a free text editor for Mac OS X Leopard 10.5 which is both easy to use and powerful. It is designed to not confuse newcomers nor disappoint advanced users. It has all the advantages of an Cocoa application and some of its features are tabs, line numbers, support for syntax colouring for many different languages, functions list, support for text encodings, snippets, a toolbar, a status bar, preview, split window, multi-document find and replace with regular expressions, possibility to show invisible characters, authenticated open and saves, command-line utility, full screen editing and running commands and scripts from within the application."

It supports coloring syntax for different languages, and a default one (says C++) so that it will able to work with Symbian C++ where many non .cpp files are in fact in C++ syntax. Also, one may create a new syntax definition to suit his needs.

This application is a must-have, because besides of its powerful feature, it's free after all!

Direct download Smultron v3.2.1 here.

DVI KVMP Switch

IOGEAR GCS1764 - 4-Port DVI KVMP Switch USB Console, USB Peripherals, Audio
官方網站索價US$350，但某些販賣網站標價一百六十餘元（折合約一千三百港元），與市面一般的VGA KVM比較，這價錢尚算合理（如果考慮擺放空間和操作）至偏高（若只考慮功能），因為它除了是DVI KVM外（註一），也可以分流audio和USB設備（如scanner和printer）。

可以把GCS1764當作為三個分流器合一的產品：KVM Switch、Audio和Switch USB Switch，因為使用鍵盤來控制時，各switch可獨立操作，能隨意調動KVM、audio或USB至不同的port位而互不影響；使用面板上的按鈕可簡易地只調動KVM或調動全組設備至下一個port。詳細的操作，可參閱官方的說明書。

理想中的設定：

Share: 20" LCD (DVI-D), USB KB MS, 2.1 speaker, printer
Port 1: iMac
Port 2: PS3
Port 3: TV Box (VGA->DVI-I)
Port 4: notebook/old PC

問題：往哪兒買呢？

註一：KVM是Keyboard Video Mouse的縮寫，指多台電腦共用一套KVM。

Running XP on iMac (natively)

上回提到，為了讓我的iMac發揮其應有的效能，所以要在iMac上跑Windows來玩遊戲（好好使用它的128MB Radeon X1600）。因為之前無法分割出空間來安裝BootCamp，所以鏟機。鏟機重裝MacOS X 10.4之後立即升級為10.5，之後便安裝BootCamp和Windows XP。看到iMac在跑XP，感覺並不好受，大材小用呢。其實要它跑Vista也應該游刃有餘，只是我沒有Vista的license，而且我也不渴望跑那個龜速的殘廢系統。

搞咁多只為玩PC Game，好似有點兒過火。

WhatSize help to locates large files

"WhatSize is a simple tool that allows the user to quickly measure the size in bytes of a given folder and all subfolders and files within it. You would be surprised at how many useless files might be laying around on your hard disks. The files and folders are automatically sorted by size, with the biggest sizes first." - ID-Design, Inc.

Although Finder allows to display the size of a folder, this feature is not turn on by default to reduce unnecessary I/O access. This software, WhatSize, will do a calculation on whichever folder you select, for one time. It helps me to locate the largest folder, and eventually locate some unnecessary repeated files which take up quite a lot of space. For example, it shows me that I've made several backup copy of my RS-MMC memory card for my Nokia N70 (left figure).

Creating XP SP2 boot disc

With Core2Duo 2.16Ghz, 2GB RAM and ATI X1600 128MB GRAM, my iMac is the most powerful PC at home. For gaming, I need to run Windows natively, not on Parallels. BootCamp is the only solution. To install XP over BootCamp, bootable disc with *XP SP2* is required. Since I only have a XP disc and license without any service pack, I need to create a XP SP2 disc myself. For steps, read "Slipstreaming Windows 2000 /XP SP1,SP1a,SP2 /Server 2003 SP1" from TackTech. Another article from HelpWithWindows.Com also help me alot.

It sounds a lot easier than it actually is. In fact, it took me two days and wasted 3 CD-R to create a workable CD. Slipstreaming part is very easy indeed. The burning part is hard. Nero Burning Rom 5 or 6 is no longer available. I gave up the Nero 8 as it took too long to download. I find Nero 6 (~26MB) from non-official website and I need a serial because the program is "expired" for demo purpose (even though I just need the demo feature).

If you have Nero OEM version, *do not* use it. It cannot take the boot image download from TackTech or extract by IsoBuster (IsoBuster help you to extract the file "Microsoft Corporation.img" from your original boot disc, and this feature is avaiable in its free demo). Two discs created this way are wasted as they cannot be read under Mac OS (Mac OS rejects them and Windows says they're 0byte). You must find the "Nero Burning ROM" from full version. You can run it as trial and still be good enough for you to create the bootable disc. If trial is expired (that's my case), you might have to crack it. May be Nero 8 will work but I can't wait for the long download (>150MB).

To make thing worst, Nero 5.0/6.0 cannot recoginize my CD writer on my IBM ThinkPad T42. So I cannot create the CD directly on my T42. My final step which work the best is:

1. create slipstreamed XP SP2 installation files.
2. prepare the boot image (download or extract from CD).
3. create the bootable ISO image by Nero Burning ROM. Every details as described by TackTech, except I do not burn to CD but to an ISO file.
4. transfer the ISO file to my Mac and test it under Parallels. Make sure it can boot up the Parallels, install and the Windows work well.
5. burn the ISO to CD using my iMac.

I'm now doing a clean install of my iMac from 10.4 and upgrading to 10.5 because BootCamp cannot install due to unmovable files. Next I'll have to create a 50GB NTFS space for Windows. The down side is the XP partition will be read-only under MacOS. I may also upgrade my Parallels 2 to Parallels 3 for advanced feature ($ again). Sigh, using Mac is as cool as Steve Jobs said, if you can afford the cost of money.

Bad Day at the Office