So here I am – all PowerBooked up. All the hardware worked with no bother, in fact I was amazed at how quickly it was configured and ready to go. OS X found my wireless network using the built-in Airport Extreme card, and has worked so well that I’ve not found the need to plug a network cable in yet. After setting it up and checking everything was working, I powered her down, flipped her over and installed the extra 512MB that I’d ordered from Crucial. Apart from needing to find a tiny screwdriver to open the hatch (I used the one I have for adjusting the screws on my specs), memory installation was a breeze. Powered her back up, and all was well. I seem to have a single dead pixel on the screen, but I guess that’s within official tolerance levels, and besides it doesn’t bother me in the slightest (what’s a pixel between friends?).
Following some advice I’d read in a number of different places, I set up the machine with an initial account called Administrator, and then created myself a Drew account for working from. To be honest, I’m not sure of the precise practical benefits of that, but the concept is sound and I’m prepared to learn from those wiser and more experienced than myself. Worst case scenario will prove it simply unnecessary. After moving the dock to the right hand side (to make use of the extended horizontal space and free up some vertical), I dumped all the applications from it and installed TigerLaunch. (I think that advice came from Tim Bray).
I’m currently in the process of downloading and installing the applications I need to get going – I’ve just installed a demo version of Transmit (looks great) for FTP, and am currently downloading a demo of BBEdit. One thing’s for sure, with the US Dollar being so weak against the British Pound at the moment, it’s a great time to buy software online.
I successfully paired with my phone using the built-in Bluetooth thingy (module?), sync’d my contacts into the AddressBook, and sent Rachel an SMS from my desktop. Neato.
I’m in need of some cool wallpaper in this funny ratio too. Any suggestions of good PowerBook wallpaper sites?
(I also just spellchecked this post using the OS X spellchecker. This is a really useful feature for me as I type quite fast but with little accuracy. The OS-wide spellcheck will save me a heap of time copying and pasting stuff from browsers to word-processors).
Arse: I’ve just noticed that the default install has dumped an entire Mac OS 9 install on my disc too! WFT would I want with that? Arse. Is there any way to remove it without reinstalling?
Comments
It sounds good, and Crucial sound to have delivered as always.
You talk about your phone...which one did you get in the end? Or didn’t you? I’m looking into getting a T610 to replace my T68i, any comments?
Not too sure about the admin account. Actually I have never heard that one.. hmmm. I haven’t tried out the bluetooth yet.. that is cool that it worked so well for ya.
My T68i works with the mac/bt tom ;)
You just have to remember it’s an SMS and not an IM .. therefore it costs real money,
http://www.pixelgirlpresents.com/desktops.php
http://www.resexcellence.com/archive_desktops_01/
—I wish my phone had Bluetooth!
Veer also has a good selection of monthly wallpapers too, with a heavy typographic slant.
http://www.veer.com/ideas/wallpaper/
Enjoy...
Applications
Library
X-System
Users
Everything else is junk. I have kept my system 9 around on my tower.. you just never know ;)
I set my mum’s iMac up like that so she couldn’t make a mess. But really, for a technically literate user this is just going to be annoying. Even on panther you’ll have to switch user accounts to install software etc.
Admin on OSX is not the same as root, even admin has places the can’t go and things they can’t do. It’s pretty safe.
Don’t listen to those people telling you to enable the root passwd either - learn to use sudo.
Why OS 9? To run Classic apps? You can probably do without it these days:
cd /
sudo rm -rf ’Applications (Mac OS 9)’
sudo rm -rf ’Desktop (Mac OS 9)’
sudo rm -rf ’System Folder’
sudo rm -rf ’Documents’
And that should free up a few hundred megabytes.
If you’re thinking of using Transmit to upload files to your websites you might want to check out the CLI app sitecopy instead:
http://www.lyra.org/sitecopy/
You can install it using the Fink ports system (source install recommended):
http://fink.sourceforge.net/index.php
Sitecopy is more work to set up but then all you have to do is:
sitecopy—update sitename(your filter is messing that up)
Desktops? Don’t do it. I change mine every half an hour and have over a thousand. I’m addicted!
Have fun.
Welcome to X.
There are some people that say the only reason Netscape 4 turns up in webserver logs is because of developers testing with it ;)
I wouldn’t bother, but I have to...
A little tip for you so you can devote your tiny screwdriver to more important uses - a little dab of clear nail varnish on those darned spec screws solves the problem forever, well almost. Either that or switch to screwless titanium frames!
Good luck with the new beast..
But ya.. OS 9 is nice to test old browsers or you could just get MS Office V.x and run virtual PC with as many different OSes as you like.
In answer to my own question, I blitzed the machine and did a complete reinstall anyway. There were a number of things I wanted to sort out (OS 9 being one), and the opportunity to customize the install to my own preferences was too good to turn up. I’m back up and running and OS 9 free.
Maybe you can blog your findings? I’m sure I’m not the only one who would be interested.
Have fun!!!
I’m thinking of scraping 9 when I get home tonight, I never use it.
Welcome to X fella.