The PC Weenies » Mac

More RAM!

Krishna — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 01:37:39 +0000

It’s the holiday season – and I wanted to give my Mac Pro a gift for its dedicated service for the past 3 years. So last week, I ordered 2x2GB memory sticks from site sponsor Other World Computing. This brings the total memory of my system up to 14GB.

The reason for this upgrade?

My computer had a tendency to exhaust all its available RAM (thanks to the myriad of graphics programs I run concurrently on my system) to the point where the OS began using virtual RAM (aka my solid state drive’s limited space) to compensate.

The extra 4GB of RAM should alleviate that issue. The OWC RAM came within a few days and installation was as simple as snapping the extra modules into one of the memory riser cards. All 14GB were recognized when I powered the Mac Pro on.

With memory prices so incredibly cheap, adding more RAM seems to be a no-brainer of an upgrade.

-Krishna
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Raven Takes Flight: The Web Browser for the Rest of Us.

Krishna — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 17:01:51 +0000

I never thought I would abandon Google Chrome as my primary web browser. It’s rock solid. It’s fast. It’s everything I expected out of a web browser. But Raven, by the fine folks at RavenCo Software, has seriously caused me to rethink my expectations.

At the risk of sounding hyperbolic, Raven is a web browser unlike any I have used before. I’ll do my best to describe what it is that makes it a compelling choice, regardless of what browser you are currently using. First off – Raven is Mac only, it’s free and it’s currently released to the wild in beta form. It weighs in at a paltry 6.4 MB, compared to Google Chrome, which clocks in at a whopping 204 MB.

So what makes Raven so darn special?

In a nutshell, it uses a technique called “site specific browsing” that creates a browser instance for certain websites and their features. You start off installing Raven web apps (free) for the major sites you use (Amazon, Tumblr, Facebook, Twitter, etc.).

Once you install your apps, you will see them on the sidebar. When selected, an app expands the sidebar to show the key features for that app.
For example, when the Tumblr app is selected, the expanded view displays icons that correspond to the most commonly accessed tasks within Tumblr (i.e. viewing the Tumblr Dashboard, posting a photo to Tumblr, writing a blog post, or sharing a link.)

Similarly, when the Flick App is selected, you’ll see the most common tasks associated with Flickr expand underneath the Flickr icon in the sidebar. It’s difficult to describe, but the net result of setting up these web apps within Raven is that I have convenient access to all the key tasks for the social network websites I regularly visit.

Raven reminds me of the stand-alone Twitter app in its implementation. I am trying to resist making the obligatory “It’s Twitter for web browsers” statement, but that’s how I suppose one could describe it.

Raven’s Web App Shop supports other Web Apps, including the ever popular Angry Birds app as well as Wunderlist, which I’ve written about before. By using Raven, I have eliminated the need for several stand-alone applications; I no longer need to use the Flickr Uploadr app, the Wunderlist app, and the Twitter app. The net result is an overall lower RAM footprint, and less ping-ponging back and forth between a multitude of apps.

As I stated earlier, Raven is in beta. It does not currently support 1Password, and many of the features I have come to expect from other browsers are still unfinished or disabled, like the sync Favorites option that will presumably let you share bookmarks between multiple Macs running Raven. Still, it’s pretty solid for a beta release.

For browsing speed, Raven’s pretty fast – it uses Webkit to render its pages. Reviewing your web history in Raven is a lot like reviewing older tweets in the standalone Twitter app. Pretty slick.

Raven earns its merits for its clever implementation. It’s a beautiful looking browser, too. Raven provides a unique feature-set that stands apart from the other browsers I have used. It’s free to download, so your best bet is to try it and see for yourself what Raven’s all about. Give it a whirl and let me know what you think.

-Krishna
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A Rebuttal to Ben Brooks: the Mac Pro Experience

Krishna — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 21:06:44 +0000

Ben Brooks weighed in on the Mac Pro in his most recent blog post, and why it is a very “un-Mac-like experience for end users”.

He makes some excellent points on The Mac Experience. There’s no denying that Apple is focusing on the consumer market heavily these days. Pro users seem to be an after thought, as it represents a “niche” market.

While I largely agree with his article on Apple’s direction with the Mac, I have to take rebuttal to his assertion that Mac Pro is a noisy machine.

In his words:

I never could play video games on it, because the sound drowned out the TV in the next room — with the door closed.

Maybe his Mac Pro was noisy, but in practically every Mac Pro I’ve worked on (both at work and at home), it’s always run silent.

To be fair: Earlier Macs, particularly the PowerMac G5 models, were notorious for fan noise. But in my experience, the Mac Pro is just as quiet as an iMac.

Despite their lackluster sales, I strongly believe that there is a market for the Mac Pro. I can site numerous creative professionals and developers who continue to rely on these work beasts for heavy lifting.

There are three big advantages with the Mac Pro in the Apple line-up, as I see it. They are:

It’s expandable
It’s powerful
It’s flexible

I still use my early 2008 Mac Pro, and see no need to upgrade. This machine is still just as fast as it was when it was new, which is possibly the main reason why Apple may not like having the Mac Pro in its line-up.

The Mac Pro’s flexibility is absolutely important to me. I can connect any DVI display to my Mac Pro – and I’m not limited to Apple’s uber-glossy Cinema Display. (Aside: I despise Apple’s decision to stick with the glossy display. The reflectivity, even in a dark room, is noticeable to the point of distraction.)

That being said, what I would really like to see from Apple is a smaller “mini-tower” configuration of the Mac Pro. My dream Mac Pro would include the following:

two full PCI slots
2 Thunderbolt, 6 USB3 and 2 Firewire800 ports
four drive bays

Like Ben, I don’t think Apple will discontinue the Mac Pro anytime soon. There is a market for the machine, and those who need its capabilities and power will not settle for anything else.

-Krishna
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The Radeon 4870 Experiment

Krishna — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 13:34:26 +0000

This weekend, I received the final ingredient I needed to test the PC-based Radeon 4870 card in my Mac Pro: two molex power connectors.

My hope was to chronicle the experience of flashing the card to work inside a Mac. Unfortunately, I never made it that far.

The steps to flash a PC card to a Mac are documented online. In the process of my research, the basic steps are as follows:

back up the existing BIOS of the card on the Windows side using WinFlash or GPU-Z
Save the BIOS information into a data file that can be accessed on the Mac side
Use the Zeus application on the Mac to flash the card

Installation of the card itself wasn’t too terribly difficult. The most challenging aspect of the install was plugging in the two molex power cables into the motherboard of the Mac Pro. It requires nimble fingers, mild profanity and persistence.

Next, I moved the existing Radeon 2600 card to Slot 4 and inserted the Radeon 4870 into Slot 1.

With the display connected to the Radeon 2600, I was now ready to install Windows.

There was no way around installing Windows; it’s required to run GPU-Z 0.5.5, an app which basically serves as a video card BIOS reader / extractor. After a few hiccups in the Windows installation process (it’s a mild PITA to clean install from a Windows 7 upgrade disc), I was able to finally install GPU-Z. Unfortunately, GPU-Z was unable to extract the BIOS information from the card. That was the first roadblock.

Windows 7 was able to recognize the presence of the Radeon 4870, so for giggles, I decided to connect the display directly to the 4870. I powered down the Mac and made the appropriate connections before rebooting back into Windows. Another road block: the Radeon 4870 was not generating any video signals to the display.

That’s where I left it. If the card wasn’t working within Windows, I’d never be able to flash it for the Mac.

Total time spent in my testing (including the Windows 7 install): 6 hours.

Conclusion: It was an educational experience, for sure, but after all the time I invested in attempting to get the card ready for flashing, I’m left with the notion that it would have been far easier to purchase a pre-Flashed Mac version of the card (on eBay) or a Mac edition Radeon.

I’m open to hear any thoughts or feedback you might have on this.

-Krishna
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Preparing the Mac Pro for Radeon Power

Preparing the Mac Pro for Radeon Power

Krishna — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 03:44:23 +0000

After reading my post “Does a 1GB Graphics Card Make Sense for a Non-Gamer”, a very generous reader sent me an ATI Radeon 4870 1GB card to see for myself. (Thank you, Sam!) The card arrived yesterday.

This is an XFX model card that works out of the box with the PC. My goal is to flash the card to work inside a Mac Pro. From my research into the subject, I know it’s possible. Despite some reservations on whether or not I’ll be successful, I’m eager to document and share the process with you guys. Right now, I’m waiting to receive two Molex power supply adapters to power the card. Once that comes in, I’ll roll up my sleeves and dive in.

Oh, and if you’ve ever performed such an operation, please feel free to share any success / war stories or links to comprehensive step-by-step guides. I haven’t performed this type of operation before, outside of flashing a few EEPROM and PALs back in my EE days. (And that was almost 20 years ago…)

I’d also be very grateful for any potential “gotchas” I should look out for. Thanks!

-Krishna
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Zen and the Art of an Uncluttered Dock

Krishna — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 14:24:02 +0000

I’ve never been a big fan of the Mac OS X Dock. It’s never fully adapted itself into my workflow; it’s more of a nuisance than anything else. The problem with the Dock, as I see it, is that in its default implementation, the Dock’s contents add visual noise to my computing environment. As it stands, a typical Mac OS X Dock typically contains running applications, frequently used applications, minimized windows and folders (as shown above). To me, there’s too much going on with it. (In my own usage over the years, I’ve almost never used the Minimize to Dock functionality.)

So this week, after nearly 10 years of putting up with the Dock’s irritating inefficiencies, I came across a neat little trick to make the Dock’s display much more meaningful to me. My dock is now set to display only the apps I am currently running. At a glance, I can easily see which apps I have open. This is exactly how I want my Dock to behave.

If entering a few command lines in the Terminal intimidates you, the same trick can be performed with a simple checkbox tick within the excellent Onyx utility.

When coupled with the excellent shareware HyperDock utility, I have a truly useful Dock setup.

Do you use the Dock? How have you customized it for your workflow? Sound off in the comments below!

-Krishna
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Does a 1GB Graphics Card Make Sense for a Non-Gamer?

Krishna — Sat, 22 Oct 2011 02:20:24 +0000

I’ve been doing some research into video cards and I need to gain some knowledge on the subject from experts like yourselves. I have an ATI Radeon 2600 (256MB) graphics card in my early 2008 Mac Pro. I drive two displays (a 24″ and 19″ display) as part of my setup. I primarily work with tools like Photoshop, Sketchbook Pro, Corel Painter and Maya.

Would it make sense to update the video card to a 1GB ATI Radeon 4870 for a non-gamer like myself? Or is it better to keep what I have? What advantage (if any) would be gained if I sprung for the upgrade? Would I notice any overall improvement in day-to-day OS related tasks in Mac OS X Lion?

Thanks in advance,

-Krishna
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All Our Wallbase…

Krishna — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 22:29:41 +0000

I’m a compulsive computer desktop customizer. Here are a few of the desktops I’m using currently. All of these can be obtained from Wallbase. I’m always on the hunt for top quality desktops – so if you know of any great resources, please share the wealth.

Update: now with direct download links.

-Krishna
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iOS5? I think I’ll wait.

Krishna — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 04:15:26 +0000

I kept receiving the following:

“An error occurred while backing up this iPhone (-50). Would you like to continue to update this iPhone?
Continuing will result in the loss of all contents on this iPhone.”

Looks like I’m stuck. The same thing happened when I tried to upgrade my iPad. Any suggestions on how to make this work?

Fortunately, I was able to upgrade both laptop and desktop Macs to Mac OS X 10.7.2. Let’s hope Apple finally fixed the File Sharing / Wake from Sleep bug when attempting to access a remote machine.

Update: I was able to get my iPhone4 to update to iOS5 by following the steps below:

Manually back up all data from the iPhone using iTunes
Erase the iPhone
Install iOS5
Restore data from the iPhone backup

That seemed to work for the iPhone. I’ll repeat the same procedure with the iPad.

-Krishna
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After the SSD: Re-evaluating my Apps

Krishna — Sun, 09 Oct 2011 01:06:59 +0000

It’s been exactly one week since I installed an OWC Mercury Extreme Pro solid state drive (SSD) into my early 2008 model Macbook Pro. As I noted in an earlier blog post, I’ve been extremely pleased (no pun intended) with the added performance of the OWC SSD. It’s made my Macbook Pro feel like a brand new machine.

In the three years that I’ve used my Macbook Pro, I never once reformatted the drive. Installing the new SSD not only gave my MBP a kick in the pants, but it also created the opportunity to start from scratch with a clean install.

My old drive, a 250GB Hitachi 5400 RPM drive, was half-full, with apps and data carried over from 2006. With the new SSD at 115GB, I had to make some careful decisions on the data and apps I really needed.

The original hard drive from the Macbook Pro was placed into a USB bus-powered OWC hard drive enclosure to act as the tertiary back-up, just in case. (Aside: the OWC hard drive enclosure was a breeze to work with: Snap the drive into place and affix the included screw to secure the top of the case to the bottom.)

My criterion was simple:

Any applications that were rarely or never used in the last 6 months would be eliminated. Furthermore, any data that was not touched within the past 6 months would be archived off onto two external back-up drives.

All application installs would be “fresh”, in that I’d re-download the latest version from the web or install apps from disc, versus extracting the apps from an older back-up. (If you’re going to do a clean install, you might as well do it correctly, right?)

The old hard drive contained 115 GB of application and data content. With the fresh install on the solid state drive, I was able to whittle the used space to roughly 43GB. leaving an ample 73 GB left over.

Here are the applications I installed on the MBP:

The apps that I use most frequently in my day-to-day workflow are the Adobe Suite, followed by Wunderlist, Easy Grade Pro, Coda, MarsEdit and Google Chrome.

Apps that did not make the cut fell into the “nice, but not needed category”, like Candybar, AppFresh, smcFanControl, miscellaneous sound mixing programs and NetNewsWire.

To further trim down space utilization, I used Monolingual to eliminate the unused language resources from Mac OS X, saving me an extra 2GB in the process.

Given that I’m being much more conservative with drive space now, I resisted the temptation to bring over any music files or data files older than 2010. I also greatly pared the number of fonts on my system to a more manageable amount.

While setting up the MBP, I simplified my Finder window sidebar to include only those folders I access on a regular basis. No more deeply nested folders, either.

In short, order and organization have been restored on my MBP. My Macbook Pro is fast, lean, optimized and well organized. Who needs a new machine?

-KrishnaSimilar Posts: