Why "Chrome OS" won’t have Cupertino or Redmond quaking in their boots
My Clippings July 12th, 2009 by System
Automatically pulled from My Clippings on NewsGator Online
As embarrassing as it may be for Google, there really is no need for Eric Schmidt, their CEO, to resign from Apple’s board. After all, their recently announced Chrome OS is not their first attempt at an operating system, and by all accounts, it’s even less of a threat to Apple than Android, their other free OS offering.
To understand why, let’s look at what Google are proposing, which is essentially a stripped down Linux distro, bundled with the Chrome web browser. As a product, this is in no way comparable with either Microsoft Windows or OS X. Why?
There’s a lot of confusion about what an operating system actually is, and this is not helped by Apple and Microsoft confusing matters by marketing their operating systems by focusing on the features of the applications that they bundle with them.
These days, an OS comprises of the following:
- A kernel, which manages memory and controls processes (for Apple, this is the Mach kernel, for Google OS, this is Linux, whilst Microsoft have their own home-brew)
- Various services running on top of the kernel, for things like the file system (Apple uses a BSD layer, called “Darwin,” Google will presumably use GNU, whilst Microsoft, once again, do their own thing)
- Device drivers that allow the software to talk to all kinds of different hardware (Apple and Microsoft invest an enormous amount in this area, whilst support is sometimes lacking in Linux distros)
- Application frameworks & GUI – these are the crown jewels of a modern OS. They’re what makes a Mac Mac-like (Cocoa), and Window the distinctive thing that it is. This is where Apple switches from open source to its own propriety layer. Chrome OS will apparently not provide an SDK for third parties to access this layer
- Applications – these are core apps that you’d expect to come with any OS, such as a text editor and file browser. These days you’d also expect things like e-mail client and web browser, plus plenty more besides. Chrome OS will only come with a web browser, (ironically, this is based upon Apple’s own Webkit rendering engine.)
In other words, Chrome is simply a bundle of existing technologies: Linux, GNU and Webkit. There will apparently be no support for 3rd party applications – taking a stand similar to that Apple initially adopted for the iPhone, where they said that they would not allow 3rd party developers access to the iPhone, recommending instead that they developed web applications to run in Safari. Imagine how things would have turned out for iPhone had they stuck to that line. We would never have had the App Store!
25 Open Source Mac Apps That Will Boost Your Productivity
My Clippings July 5th, 2009 by System
Automatically pulled from My Clippings on NewsGator Online
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There are many applications that can help you work faster and efficiently. Though, not many applications come cheap. For this post we tried to digg deep to find the best selection of free and open source mac applications that will help you be a more efficient designer. We’re covering from application launchers, GTD (Got To Do) to design utilities that can help you focus on what’s important: create.
1. aLunch
aLunch is a very lightweight but powerful application that does what it’s supposed to do and nothing more: a handy launcher that runs from within the menu bar. The application was written back in 2007, and two years later it still proves to be a strong contender.
aLunch helps you get all your apps organized and get an uncluttered dock. You can customize a hot key combination so a launcher window shows and let’s you choose either a Launcher window or go to the Launcher Menu. You can use this application with a Mac running OSX 10.4 or higher. If you have an earlier OS X such as 10.3, you need to update to version 10.3.9 to use an earlier version of the application.
2. Adobe Kuler
Adobe’s Creative Suite 4 applications – Illustrator, Photoshop, InDesign, Fireworks and Flash – have an Extension panel that connects directly to Kuler, the web-hosted application for generating color themes. Not many designers take advantage of a powerful tool like this one. Logging into Kuler.com with your Adobe ID, you can create color swatches themes from a color, share, rate and search the community color schemes, and upload or use a Flickr image to extract color themes so you can download them as an Adobe Swatch Exchange file that’s compatible with Adobe applications.
But you can also access the Kuler site from it’s own standalone application to get more flexibility. Also there is a Dashboard widget to help you browse through your color schemes and the communities. To install Kuler Desktop you need to have Mac OS X 10.4.11 or Mac OS X 10.5.4 and up, with Adobe Air and Flash Player installed.
3. Name Changer
Name Changer is a very straightforward and simple tool that will help you rename batches of files without the hassle of Automator or Photoshop batch change – the latter can get a little too technical for some users.
Tags: amazon, Apple, email, Extract, flash, ISO, Leopard, Linux, Mac, OSX, Photo, video, wind, XP
Lifehacker Pack 2009: Our List of Essential Free Mac Downloads [Downloads]
My Clippings June 18th, 2009 by System
Automatically pulled from My Clippings on NewsGator Online
We’ve featured countless apps or all sorts over the years, but if you just want a quick look at the best free downloads for your Mac, this post’s for you. This is the 2009 Lifehacker Pack for Mac OS X.
Like our 2009 Lifehacker Pack for Windows (and its predecessor), the Mac version has the same goal in mind: to provide Mac lovers with a single, handy list of the best free applications that you’re likely to use on a regular basis.
Note: You can head directly to each application’s download page from the [Download] links and see what we originally wrote about them at the [LH Post] link.
Productivity
Smultron: Whether you like the distraction-free environment of a plain text editor or you like to fire up a powerful environment where you can churn out some serious code, you can’t go wrong with the open-soruce Smultron. It sports a nice tabbed interface for working with multiple documents and working inside a directory, syntax highlighting, and even a fullscren mode for those times that you want to work without distractions. [Download] [LH Post]
Quicksilver: Even though it’s no longer in active development by it’s creator, we still can’t get enough of this incredible application launcher and-then-some. We’ve taken you on a beginner’s guide to Quicksilver, walked you through the various settings, provided video demonstrations of some of its coolest features, and in general have drooled all over this productivity-boosting application. And even though we’re keeping a close eye on Google Quick Search, the Quicksilver-like app from Google that was developed by the same guy who made Quicksilver, it’s still no replacement. [Download]
Internet/Communication
Firefox: All debates about security, memory use, or compatibility amongst the web browsers aside, Firefox can adapt to nearly anyone’s browsing habits through a range of adaptations. Whether that’s an extension/add-on (and here are our top 10 picks), a Greasemonkey script (again, our 10), or some deep-down about:config tweaks, Firefox can probably be what you want it to be. [Download] [LH Post]
Adium: Pronounced like “stadium”, Adium is a free, powerful multi-protocol instant messaging client that connects to everything from AIM and Google Talk to Facebook Chat, MySpace Chat, and everything in between. Adium is extremely customizable, works like a charm, and brings way more options to your chats than the OS X standard, iChat.
Tags: Apple, email, ISO, Linux, Mac, Monkey, OSX, video, wind, XP
Data Robotics Hates MAC
Uncategorized June 11th, 2009 by Shai Perednik
After updating to 10.5.7 my Drobo over USB started flaking out and randomly disconnecting. I didn’t think much of it, just maybe the Drobo was dying until I found this thread over at DroboSpace.com that I remembered a similar issue with 10.5.6.
Digging around the forums eventually led to a burried new firmware version that is supposed to resolve this issue.
v131 on Drobo.com
I will try that update, but in the meantime I figured I would vent out on the dobospace thread.
Below is my post @ drobospace.com
Jennifer said:
To forum customers:
- Was Drobo working properly until you updated to 10.5.7
- Are your using the USB or Firewire port? Could you see if the same problems happens on the other port, ie if you are using the USB try firewire port on Drobo
- I noticed a couple of customers in the forums mention they did not encounter these problems in 10.5.6.
- We would like to get some more information from you, could you open a case with Tech Support
Jennifer & Drobo,
You are not properly supporting your MAC customers. You have some very loyal followers that parade your product and yet you make no effort to support us.
This is the perfect example. 10.5.7 was available to developers for some time. Why is it that you wait for customers using the final release of 10.5.7 to tell you that there is an issue?
Data Robotics should be proactive and running beta OS releases to ensure that when they are released to the public there is no conflicts.
It is out of the question to tell a user not to update to a major OS revision just because their external drive doesn’t support it.
Another thing, why is it that I can buy a cheap $20 enclosure that works fine with OSX over USB and yet your $400 device can’t do that.
Your BeyondRaid is great but get your support and engineering department together!
-Shai
http://www.shaiperednik.com
Tags: 10.5.7, Data Robotics, Drobo, Mac, OSX
Finding Image Size Shouldn’t be so Hard
Uncategorized May 19th, 2009 by Shai Perednik
I figured OSX would make it easy to find a certain size image in a folder.
Using the pixel height or pizel width in spotlight didn’t work.
After googling I found this which explains how to do it the unix way in terminal.
% sips -g pixelHeight -g pixelWidth *
Not the ideal way but it worked for finding the image size I was looking for.
Tags: Image Resize, Mac, OSX, XP
Upgraded Wind MacBookNano to 10.5.7 100%
Uncategorized May 15th, 2009 by Shai Perednik
Today I took the plunge and updated my MSI Wind runnnig 10.5.6 to 10.5.7. Normally I would have waited longer before applying a major update. However with recent reports of 5hr battery life on the 6cell u100 I decided to update.
Following this post everything went through fine. I had to remove ffScroll and SmartScroll, reaply the Trackpad driver included in the driverpack and not I’m back @ 100%. No hickups.
Interesting thing is after the update my TimeMachine update was 3.2GB and is still backing up.
Below is the post i followed via the MSI Wind Forums
Download Link: (Current version 1.5)
MSi WindOSX86 Upgrade Pack v1.5
The above driver pack only has the 10.5.7 Update pack to allow you to install the 10.5.7 Combo update and the 10.5.7 Update pack and after your restart you will still have full access to your Trackpad and Keyboard. It doesn’t matter if you are running 10.5.4 or 10.5.6, just follow the instructions and you can easily upgrade to 10.5.7.
New notice in this installer
Here’s what’s included in the PDF guide:
Guide to install 10.5.7 Combo update on MSiWindOSX86 build
Prerequisite:
<follow the Guide included in the download>
Downloads:
The Driver pack with instructions
The Apple 10.5.7 Combo update (Apple web site)
Ready to install:
Download and then install the Apple 10.5.7 Combo update.
DO NOT RESTART!!
Now run the appropriate installer. This will install the missing PS2 kext’s so that when you restart you will have your keyboard and trackpad.
It is now okay to reboot; click whichever “Restart” button you like, it doesn’t matter.
Just to clear up any misconceptions, here’s a screen shot of my system while I was performing the update:
Almost done:
As you may or may not know, with almost any combo or “point” update, your system will restart, begin to boot up but then restart a second time. This is completely normal and to be expected.
Tags: 10.5.7, Apple, Build, Leopard, Mac, MSI, MSI WIND, OSX, wind, XP
I have an MSI Wind U100 and installed a 407159-001 and no airport.
Following the posts @ Mac Rumors I removed each service one by one, added Airport, restarted, and it works!
Remember to hit apply after removing the services. Then add Airport. Hit apply again. Restart the computer. And it should work.
I noticed that I have to have the hard wifi switch set to on when the computer is starting. Not sure if this maters, but just a note.
Tags: Airport, Hackintosh, HP WiFi, Leopard, Mac, MSI, MSI WIND, OSX, wind
