Personal Homepage of: David Francis
This is my personal website. It is a place where I write what I want for people who care to read. It’s not private per se, but it is of little use to anyone other than myself, those I care about or those who care about me. You’re more than welcome to read the public parts of the site, but don’t be surprised if you find yourself scratching your head and wondering, “Who cares?”
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My Quirky MAC Pro and ways of adapting
Sunday, March 1st, 2009
Almost a year to the day and I’ve decided to update this page. It’s not from a lack of activity, it’s due to a lack of time. I have come a long way with my MAC, some because I wanted to, some because I had to, and some because I was forced to.
I had to because of Adobe InDesign, PhotoShop, Illustrator, FireWorks, and Bridge. Because I publish a monthly magazine, I needed to use the tools of the trade. I sampled the Adobe software for the PC and also on the Mac (thanks to Andy for the loaner), and it is true, Adobe, graphics and Macs are made for each other. The speed and stability of the Mac made it necessary for me to get one, learn one and use one.
I wanted to for the same reason as above, because it is faster! Sure, my Nov07 Mac Pro came with two dual core processors and 2 gig of Ram, but even on the older G4 I was sampling, I could tell the Mac would be more enjoyable.
I was forced to because my Dell PC bit the dust. The computer I had used for the last 4 years to develop everything from gigantic websites, auctions and business plans went tits up all of a sudden. Fortunately, I had already started backing up much of the software and license information so I was somewhat prepared. Thanks to Parallels, I am able to run Windows XP, MS Office and my SQL servers on the Mac in a virtual extra environment. It works a lot like a remote desktop without having to switch back and forth. It even shares the clipboard cut and paste between the Mac and Windows operating system. In Windows, I am able to remotely manage the server I have in my office. That server is an extra computer used to host mirror copies of my websites for risk management as well as the SQL Server needed for our accounting and contact management programs.
Sounds complicated I know, but it works for me.
The Quirks
The Mac seemed a little “quirky” to me. It mostly related to the “Finder” application. Finder is the Mac equivalent of Windows Explorer that allows you to see the files and folders. The quirky thing was, at least at first, my own fault because I didn’t know how to navigate the options. But the one quirky thing that drove me crazy was when I selected to go up one directory; Finder would go all the way back to the top (root) folder. It would happen especially when trying to save a file in a higher directory. I also noticed it would do it more often when I had multiple applications running which led me to believe it was RAM related. I think it was… read below.
Another really frustrating quirk happened most often when I was in the middle of press week. At the time I need things to work the most, InDesign would crash and crash hard. Sometimes it wouldn’t even allow me to restart it without rebooting. I found the most common time it crashed was when I was trying to drag an image or text file into the design from Finder. Another common time was when I was trying to paste a graphic too fast.
The Solution
I solved the quirkiness! It was the simplest solution and the Mac made it even easier. It was as simple as 2GB of RAM. Yep, I bought 2 GB of Apple certified RAM from www.macsales.com for less than $100. The two modules arrived in about three days and upgrading was a snap… literally. I had already read up on how to do it safely, and the package arrived before I made it into work so before I even turned on the computer, I opened the case, removed the riser, inserted the modules, snapped it back together and turned it on. I’m not exaggerating when I say it took less than one minute. SWEET!
Ever since the upgrade, I have not had any InDesign crashes and finder works like it’s supposed too. Okay… Finder has run home to momma a few times since – in other words, gone to the root folder when trying to go up one level – but that has happened when I have Parallels running as well as InDesign, PhotoShop, Illustrator and Bridge running too. I do think another 2GB upgrade would solve that once and for all… and since I am planning to purchase a 1TB hard drive from the same store, I think I’ll plop another 2GB of RAM in my shopping cart.
Adapting and overcoming!
I’ve done a few things to make the Mac seem more like a PC, most pointedly, I added a Logitech two button mouse so I could have my right click options. (Model: M-8Z105A)The scroll button on the mouse also allows me to move left and right as well as up and down. There are two other buttons near the thumb that I have programmed for zooming in and out. This works wonderfully in the Mac and gets full usage when I am in press week and laying out the 60 pages of SOKY Happenings.
I also added an old Nostromo Speed Pad n50 10 button keypad that allows me to program shortcuts. This keypad is really designed for gaming, but it works great for production work as well. Again, used exclusively for the Mac software, it allows me to create and edit graphics, layout the magazine and get the job done with much more speed and accuracy. I have set shortcuts for everything from cut and paste to formatting photos from RGB to CMYK and back again. The combination of the tools in Adobe software for setting actions, and the ability to program one button on the keypad has streamlined my workflow incredibly.
So as you can see, though it took a year, I caught on pretty good.
As I consider the future of my computing needs, I really want to test Open Office as well as a good Mac email program. If I can catch onto DreamWeaver and learn a new email client, I may be able to turn off MS Windows for good.
My Dell PC is toast!
Monday, December 29, 2008
(moved from the homepage on March 1, 09)
Well, it finally happened; my beloved Dell Workstation PC gave up the ghost this morning! I was just reading the news as usual and POOF – the blue screen of death. It was a hardware malfunction error so I shut down the computer, restarted it and it started making all kinds of new beeps and the cooling fan over speeded with a whine.
I tried a few things and even called a guru – but in the end, the computer is toast and it forced me to finish setting up the MAC with Parallels and all my favorite programs. I just finished getting Outlook set up and was getting my web development software set up when I decided to post this blog.
What’s most interesting about this is the timing. I actually thanked God when the PC broke because it broke this Monday and not last Monday. See… last Monday I was finishing up the January issue of SOKY Happenings magazine and had this happened then, I would have likely missed my deadline and had to work through the night. That is something I have not had to do in months.
So for whatever reason, the timing of the catastrophe was perfect! It forced me to do something I’ve been meaning to do anyway, and that is to move all of my work to one computer instead of having to use the KVM switch between them.
BONUS: Without having to share the mouse, keyboard and monitor between the Mac and PC, I was able to change my monitor cable to use the digital high resolution one and now everything is much brighter, clearer and beautiful!!
I considered replacing the PC for about 10 seconds, and decided instead to upgrade the Mac’s RAM and add a hard drive. I will also be adding an external hard drive for disaster recovery. Even though this Mac Pro is only 1 year old, I am finding that the RAM needs for the Adobe software (Mac) and the Microsoft software eat up the 2 Gig of RAM too fast. The CPU keeps up great, it’s just the RAM that gets gobbled up by the Parallels software.
Oh, I have a lot of work to get the virtual PC loaded with all my favorites, applications, and personal settings, but I have the main things up and running and I am pleased. I’ll just stick the two hard drives from the PC into the Mac and get the stuff off of those. (I’ve done it with one of my server hard drives and not only did it work beautifully, it actually accessed data that seemed lost on the PC.) The more I work with this Mac, the more happy I am to have made the transition.
My Mac Journey Continues
Sunday, March 09, 2008 8:51 am
It’s been three months since my last update and I must confess that my familiarity with Microsoft and the PC have weighed heavily on my transition to the Mac. Even with Parallels installed on the Mac, I find that I spend most of my time on the PC. The bottom line is the time and expense of moving my PC apps from the old PC to the new Mac.
I have thousands of songs in my Windows Media Player, a cell phone data manager, several older versions of photo editing software as well 4 years of tweaks and settings on my PC that makes it most difficult to move completely away from it. Well... for now.
I have been able to clean off the number of monitors and keyboards from my desk through the use of a KVM switch. I now use my new Samsung monitor and Logitech Wave keyboard and mouse for all three of my computers. The server is accessed through the Remote Desktop feature in Windows and I switch between the Mac and PC with the KVM switch.
Simply put, a KVM allows me to split the monitor, keyboard and mouse cables to be plugged into both machines. With a key press, I am able to use them on both computers.
It’s not my preferred set up as I had high hopes of moving completely to the Mac. I wanted to move completely away from Microsoft software too, but my familiarity with the software as well as development of ASP websites pretty well demands that I stay with Microsoft most of the time.
Learning Curve and Time
I must also admit that because I produce a full color 50+ page magazine each
month, as well as develop websites in my “spare time,” I do not have the time or
energy to learn the Mac equivalent skills. Perhaps when I can finally start
delegating some of the daily tasks and development duties, I will finally be
able to simplify my life by learning the Mac better.
To give you an idea, in the past 60 days, I’ve deployed 4 new websites and produced 2 issues of the magazine. Time is the one thing I have very little of.
I was on the Mac this morning and clicked the Safari icon which takes me to the Apple.com start page. There was a story on there about a company who saved tens of thousands of dollars moving to the Mac. While I can see some of the savings through the more secure Mac, it seems most of their savings came through the use of online applications and open source programs. They moved away from some major Microsoft applications which is where most of their savings came from. Fact be known, they could have saved that same money without moving away from the Mac.
http://www.apple.com/business/profiles/quist/?sr=hotnews
Another observation I made while reading the article was that people seemed to like their new MacBook pro’s because of what they could with it “for fun.” That’s all well and good, but the point of a business computer should be business... shouldn’t it?
Now, before I get flamed for my sins against the Mac, let me say that I do intend to have a Mac organization! I will look closer at open office as well as new ways of developing my own technology such as PHP, Ruby and FileMaker. Unfortunately, that transition will take time and I cannot invest that time until I can afford to hire at least 3 new employees. Until that time, since I can write ASP & SQL as easily as I type this post, I must remain with what is convenient and comfortable for now.
That said, I am still on the fence in regards to moving away from ASP. The new development tools and capabilities of ASP.NET with Ajax have me considering it very strongly. I may not move away from Microsoft completely because they have some powerful and useful technology well worth considering.
Who knows, but for now I will continue my intimate relationship with both the Mac and PC.
ZOOM ZOOM
Saturday, December 08, 2007 8:16 pm
All I can say is ZOOM ZOOM! I’ve spent the better part of the day installing Parallels on my new Mac Pro and then installing all of the PC software I’m accustomed to using. Most of it is on there and the ease and speed is really surprising.
XP Pro was installed and it went so fast I couldn’t believe it. I installed MS Office and a myriad of other software packages in record time. I’ve even downloaded and installed many supporting software like HTML KIT, EditPad and NoteTab with no trouble.
What really shocked me is the ease in which Parallels joined my network. Hesitantly, I typed the local Small Business Server address in the browser and clicked the network configuration link. Almost faster than I could enter the information, I was joined on the network and ready to go.
I’m typing this out on the old computer but it very well could be the last time. The only reason I am is because my login credentials for the website are stored here... but that’s just laziness I think.
I can highly recommend the Parallels software! My new Mac Pro with two dual core processors and the Parallels software make my Windows applications fly like never before. I’m most pleased with the combination.