Find a copy below:

The difference between, for example, 2.4 Ghz and 2.6 Ghz will be negligible when running the games. What will contribute to the smoothness and quality of the games the Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) and to an extent bus speed, CPU cache and RAM.

When it comes to RAM, the more the merrier – to avoid the Hard Drive being used to swap applications when your memory is full. Get as much RAM as you can afford.

Consider the current models of a MacBook vs. a MacBookPro – they both have similar specifications on the CPUS.

• The 13″ MacBook has 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor with 3MB on-chip shared L2 cache
• The 13″ MacBookPro has a 2.4GHz or 2.66GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor with 3MB on-chip shared L2 cache
• The 15″ MacBookPros have 2.4GHz, 2.53GHz or 2.66GHz Intel Core i5/i7 processors with 3MB and 4MB shared L3 cache respectively.

The i5 and i7 CPUs are the next in an architectural line of mobile CPUs from Intel, so it’s not the “Ghz” that’s going to improve your gaming – it’s having the later generation CPUs. In the CPU arena, the 13″ Pro/Non-Pro models are the same – but the 15″ Pro models are clearly in front.

Now consider the Graphics Processor, the real workhorse in modern 3D gaming. The current models as shown:

• The 13″ MacBook has NVIDIA GeForce 320M graphics processor with 256MB of DDR3 SDRAM ***shared with main memory***
• The 13″ MacBookPro has NVIDIA GeForce 320M with 256MB DDR3 SDRAM ***shared with main memory***
• The 15″ MacBookPro has TWO GPU devices: Intel HD Graphics with 256MB DDR3 SDRAM shared with main memory, and NVIDIA GeForce GT 330M graphics processor with 256MB GDDR3 memory and automatic graphics switching

In all cases, there is a GPU sharing Main Memory. These are much faster than the Graphics of yesteryear, but sharing the main memory means using some of your 2GB or 4GB of RAM. Games will play and look acceptable, but the framerate wont be the best you can get.

Where the laptop will shine, is with the dedicated NVIDIA GeForce GT chips. They have dedicated DDR3 memory allocated to them, designed to do one thing only – fast 3D.

My recommendation:
If you are on a budget – a MacBook or a 13″ MacBookPro will have to do.
However if you can afford it, and want to game – a 15″ MacBookPro with a dedicated GPU will play your games as smooth as any current generation laptop can. You can’t go wrong with the larger screen either.

However, I had a problem with MAMP and a vhost I setup for local development. The wordpress front page and /wp-admin/ worked but any sub pages, etc. failed to load. When trying to access a WordPress page at url http://site.local/music/ The error in the apache logs was:

[error] [client 127.0.0.1] File does not exist: /Users/lantrix/devel_projects/vhosts/site.local/music

I had made sure that mod_rewrite was enabled as mentioned by Samuel B over at the WordPress support forums. I had also ensured I had updated the permalinks in the local WordPress install, thus writing out a .htaccess for the rewrites. Still no luck.

Then I remembered, one needs to tell Apache that a directory outside the webserver root /Applications/MAMP/htdocs, in this case my vhost path of /Users/lantrix/devel_projects/vhosts/site.local, needs to have an AllowOverride so the .htaccess WordPress has placed can be used. This in combination with the apache Options directive to FollowSynLinks as mentioned by Mark at the support forums worked for me. No more 404 errors!

Below is my working vhost configuration at the bottom of my MAMP apache config file /Applications/MAMP/conf/apache/httpd.conf. It works for me, but YMMV:

The problem is the Intel Core2 Duo is a 64bit CPU. Apple supplied apps like Apache2 are compiled as Universal binary AND for 32/64bits. This means there are 4 architectures in the binaries.

lantrix@lexx:~ $ file /usr/sbin/httpd
/usr/sbin/httpd: Mach-O fat file with 4 architectures

When I compile PHP as x86_64 of course it complains that the pgsql libs are also not x86_64, and when I compile postgresql as x86_64, it complains the fink readline library I use is not x86_64. Talk about architectural dependancies! I will need to do another post in depth on the fun had with that whole set of dependancies.

This is how and why I arrived at compiling readline on my Mac 64bit intel under Leopard.

On to the readline problems. I start the compile of readline as x86_64 architecture, and this occurs:

gcc -dynamic -arch x86_64 -bind_at_load -arch_only `/usr/bin/arch` -install_name /usr/local/lib/libreadline.5.2.dylib -current_version 5.2 -compatibility_version 5 -v -o libreadline.5.2.dylib readline.so vi_mode.so funmap.so keymaps.so parens.so search.so rltty.so complete.so bind.so isearch.so display.so signals.so util.so kill.so undo.so macro.so input.so callback.so terminal.so text.so nls.so misc.so xmalloc.so history.so histexpand.so histfile.so histsearch.so shell.so mbutil.so tilde.so compat.so -lncurses
Using built-in specs.
Target: i686-apple-darwin9
Configured with: /var/tmp/gcc/gcc-5465~16/src/configure --disable-checking -enable-werror --prefix=/usr --mandir=/share/man --enable-languages=c,objc,c++,obj-c++ --program-transform-name=/^[cg][^.-]*$/s/$/-4.0/ --with-gxx-include-dir=/include/c++/4.0.0 --with-slibdir=/usr/lib --build=i686-apple-darwin9 --with-arch=apple --with-tune=generic --host=i686-apple-darwin9 --target=i686-apple-darwin9
Thread model: posix
gcc version 4.0.1 (Apple Inc. build 5465)
i686-apple-darwin9-gcc-4.0.1: -compatibility_version only allowed with -dynamiclib
make[1]: *** [libreadline.5.2.dylib] Error 1
make: [shared] Error 2 (ignored)

Google is your friend, and MacOSXHints forum user dmacks has an answer why this occurs.

The readline compile scripting is ugly (doesn’t use standard build tools, then fakes it…poorly at times). You need -dynamiclib not -dynamic to compile a shared library on OS X, but this indicates a deeper problem: need to patch support/shobj-conf to know darwin9* as a Darwin/MacOS system if you’re on Leopard (I think readline5.2 only recognizes darwin8*, i.e., Tiger).

Still this is not a fix…. But some further searching and I find a Christopher Rasch on a Watir mailing list who shows how to get around this. Effectivly you need to change the makefile for readlines shlibs to use the -dynamiclib switch when compiling.

This gave me a local x86_64 architecure readline library under Leopard. I was able to successfully compile PostgreSQL as -arch x86_64 against the readline library as well.

lantrix@lexx:/usr/local/src/readline-5.2 $ ls -l /usr/local/lib/libreadline.*
-r-xr-xr-x  1 root  lantrix  272480  3 Jan 02:06 /usr/local/lib/libreadline.5.2.dylib
lrwxr-xr-x  1 root  lantrix      21  3 Jan 02:06 /usr/local/lib/libreadline.5.dylib -> libreadline.5.2.dylib
-rw-r--r--  1 root  lantrix  934864  3 Jan 02:06 /usr/local/lib/libreadline.a
lrwxr-xr-x  1 root  lantrix      21  3 Jan 02:06 /usr/local/lib/libreadline.dylib -> libreadline.5.2.dylib

Do what you will with them

Looking at what other people had written I came across a good example at Jason Kenison’s blog. He had implemented a method whereby you select Away or Available and then the script will change the status of all three. It worked for Skype and iChat but not for Adium.

The method of setting the status as Jason had done no longer works under Adium 1.3+ and to that end someone had raised a support ticket with the Adium team. The details in the ticket and some further googling led me to the Adium Applescript interface documentation. The means of setting the status now is as simple as
tell application "Adium" to go away
This solved the problem with Adium.

But of course I was not happy with that. If you only had two of the programs running, and did not want the third running e.g. Skype, the script would launch the application to set the status. This is where Apples Language guide did the trick. One can check to see if a process is running like this
ell application "System Events" to set SkypeIsRunning to (count of (every process whose name is "Skype")) > 0
The variable SkypeIsRunning could be used as a true/false variable for logical testing.

Still not satisfied, I wondered if there was a way to set the “Status Text” for the applications, say if I was in a meeting. I knew how to do this for iChat and Adium but what about Skype? The developers documentation shows how this can be achieved and then it was as simple as setting that status text like this for all three applications

tell application "Adium" to go away with message "In Meeting"
 
tell application "iChat"
	set status message to "In Meeting"
end tell
 
tell application "Skype"
	send command "SET PROFILE MOOD_TEXT In Meeting" script name "IMStatus"
end tell

So now I have a way to quickly tell the application to be Available, Away or In a Meeting.

Here is the final script with all the included ideas.

-- IMStatus
-- version 1.0, Lantrix (http://techdebug.com)
-- idea conceived from script by Jason Kenison "theWebGuy" Blog at:
--        http://www.jasonkenison.com/blog.html?id=22
 
(*
Copyright (c) 2008, TechDebug.com
 
Permission to use, copy, modify, and/or distribute this software for any
purpose with or without fee is hereby granted, provided that the above
copyright notice and this permission notice appear in all copies.
 
THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND THE AUTHOR DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES
WITH REGARD TO THIS SOFTWARE INCLUDING ALL IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF
MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHOR BE LIABLE FOR
ANY SPECIAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES OR ANY DAMAGES
WHATSOEVER RESULTING FROM LOSS OF USE, DATA OR PROFITS, WHETHER IN AN
ACTION OF CONTRACT, NEGLIGENCE OR OTHER TORTIOUS ACTION, ARISING OUT OF
OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE USE OR PERFORMANCE OF THIS SOFTWARE.
*)
 
-- Display Dialog
set imState to display dialog "For Skype/iChat/Adium choose" buttons {"Available", "Away", "Meeting"} default button 1
 
--Check App Status, to only act on apps if running
tell application "System Events" to set AdiumIsRunning to (count of (every process whose name is "Adium")) > 0
tell application "System Events" to set iChatIsRunning to (count of (every process whose name is "iChat")) > 0
tell application "System Events" to set SkypeIsRunning to (count of (every process whose name is "Skype")) > 0
 
-- Meeting
if the button returned of imState is "Meeting" then
	-- Adium (works with 1.2+ as per http://trac.adiumx.com/wiki/AppleScript_Support_1.2 documentation)
	if AdiumIsRunning then
		tell application "Adium" to go away with message "In Meeting"
	end if
	-- iChat
	if iChatIsRunning then
		tell application "iChat"
			set status to away
			set status message to "In Meeting"
		end tell
	end if
	-- Skype
	if SkypeIsRunning then
		tell application "Skype"
			send command "SET USERSTATUS DND" script name "IMStatus"
			send command "SET PROFILE MOOD_TEXT In Meeting" script name "IMStatus"
		end tell
	end if
end if
 
-- Away
if the button returned of imState is "Away" then
	-- Adium (works with 1.2+ as per http://trac.adiumx.com/wiki/AppleScript_Support_1.2 documentation)
	if AdiumIsRunning then
		tell application "Adium" to go away
	end if
	-- iChat
	if iChatIsRunning then
		tell application "iChat"
			set status to away
		end tell
	end if
	-- Skype
	if SkypeIsRunning then
		tell application "Skype"
			send command "SET USERSTATUS AWAY" script name "My Script"
		end tell
	end if
end if
 
-- Available
if the button returned of imState is "Available" then
	-- Adium (works with 1.2+ as per http://trac.adiumx.com/wiki/AppleScript_Support_1.2 documentation)
	if AdiumIsRunning then
		tell application "Adium" to go available
	end if
	-- iChat
	if iChatIsRunning then
		tell application "iChat"
			set status to available
			set status message to ""
		end tell
	end if
	-- Skype
	if SkypeIsRunning then
		tell application "Skype"
			send command "SET USERSTATUS ONLINE" script name "My Script"
			send command "SET PROFILE MOOD_TEXT" script name "IMStatus"
		end tell
	end if
end if

You can download the script and try it for yourself.

Running this AppleScript will pop up a dialog box that gives you 3 options. You can customise the “In Meeting” to your own status. Have fun.

I was trying to get OpenBSD bootstrapped using the PXEBoot NIC in a server. I decided to use my Mac which has tftp and bootpd installed. This post is quite in depth and technical so if you are game then read on.

The quick and short of it was I turned it all on, and copied my pxeboot image, like this from the Terminal:

sudo apachectl start
sudo service tftp start
sudo cp /Library/WebServer/Documents/pub/OpenBSD/4.4/i386/pxeboot  /private/tftpboot/

Then I neeed to setup the bootp server which comes with Internet Sharing. The idea was to add the pxeboot filename needed by OpenBSD (the file copied to tftpboot above) to the bootp (AKA dhcp) server options. The important file here is /etc/bootpd.plist. If this file doesn’t exist when Internet Sharing starts then bootpd will create it, removing it when it stops. But courtesy of Jules.FM “if the file already exists when it starts, the Mac will leave it alone and not overwrite or remove it”. So to add new dhcp options you perform these steps:

1. Start Internet Sharing
2. Copy the file somewhere safe: “cp /etc/bootpd.plist /tmp/”
3. Stop Internet Sharing
4. Edit /tmp/bootpd.plist
5. Add your required options
6. Copy the file back in place: “sudo cp /tmp/bootpd.plist /etc/”
7. Start Internet Sharing

Since the Mac bootpd.plist file has no option for “filename” documented and since there appears to be a bug in the bootpd implementation with respect to supplying dhcp_options I added these data options to the bootpd.plist file:

<key>dhcp_option_66</key>
<data>
wKgCAQ==
</data>
<key>dhcp_option_67</key>
<data>
cHhlYm9vdA==
</data>
<key>dhcp_option_93</key>
<data>
AA==
</data>

In RFC2132 (Paragraphs 9.4 and 9.5) it specifies that options 66 and 67 are for the tftp server and boot filename. However the bootpd bug meant I had to encode the string “pxeboot” to hexadecimal “0x707865626F6F74” then Base64 encode it being “cHhlYm9vdA==” and that is way too time consuming to stuff around and try something else everytime the tftp file retrieval fails.

Don’t try using the dhcp_option_66 I had either as it is an encoded IP of my tftp server, not yours.

I got it all going, and the MacBookPro worked as planned, but the bootp server offered a filename of “pxeboot” and the silly Intel 10/100 card decided to fail due to missing files on the tftp server. Many hours later and I figured I should use a network sniffer instead of trying to turn on tftpd logging.

A packet dump showed \377 or 0xff being appended to the filename by the boot client (intel Nic on remote server) when using tftp to request the file. This made the filename “pxeboot” look like “pxeboot\377” in Wireshark’s view of the packet, as discussed here by other pioneers in netbooting.

If I get a full working implementation of dhcpd/tftp/pxe using the Mac – and actually working independent of the intel nic problem on the server, I’ll update this entry or write a complete run down.

Don’t hold your breath though. I rebuilt the OpenBSD server using bsd.rd (being a ramdisk installation) so my need is no longer a driver.

An enterprising user on the Apple Discussion forums remembers a similar problem and fix for the trackpad from earlier MacBook models. The fix in this case involves removing your battery and sticking a piece of paper between the pad and the chassis. It works, and here is my solution captured at the moment of repair:

Enjoy.

  Fatal error: Cannot use object of type WP_Error as array in wp-includes/taxonomy.php on line 1010

But at least unlike some countries, we do seem to have decent peering links to EU and the US. I have actually achieved 3 MBytes/sec (24Mbps) transfer on a regional transfer and about 1MBytes/sec (8Mbps) using international servers.

Why do I mention this? I just watched Walt Mossberg talk about the bad state of Broadband and the lack of integration of the online world with big TVs (watch below, 8 mins).

Lastly Australia gets, as no doubt does the rest of the world, a time lag factor of everything latest and greatest. No iPhone yet, no iTMS TV/Movie store, no local Amazon style service (some come close), up to 1 year delay on airing TV series (though it is improving recently); and so on.

The tyranny of distance, and small population on a great land mass, is at play.

Oh yes, and the iPhone rumour gets another bump – woot 3G iPhone in June, well in the US. No doubt another 6 months will pass before Australia gets it. Lets hope it is not locked to Telstra. I don’t want to have to pay for my 3G data on top of the expensive plan AND the phone. I want it bundled, and not a pitiful 5 Megabytes worth. I have a $500 cap on Vodafone for now, including all my 3G data usage at $1 per 5 mins (part of the $500 cap).

If the iPhone ends up locked to Telstra, I’ll be singing Elvis.

This list of changes that come with SD5 are available online.

So if you purchased Speed Download 4 with MacHeist II, and choose to upgrade, then proceed to yazsoft’s website in a quick and orderly fashion to get the upgrade offer.

For those new to this, NewsFire is a news reader for blogs, news sites, and anything else that publishes an ‘RSS’ syndication feed. It watches for news so you don’t have to. When a new story is published, NewsFire brings it to your attention with some super-slick animation. Unlike other readers, NewsFire is designed with a deliberately minimal interface. The news is what matters and it takes center stage.

Download this must have mac application from his web site.

Make a couple of good backups, at least one being an external FIREWIRE (not USB people, FIREWIRE) HDD that is a clone of your existing tiger boot partition.

Note: If you have filevault turned on for any of your accounts you should turn OFF filevault before the upgrade.

The steps then are as simple as this:

1. Confirm your clone backup works by booting off the external firewire drive – I can’t stress this enough. Plug in your firewire HDD, power it on, turn on your mac and hold cmd-option-shift-delete just after the gong sound. This will boot off your backup.
2. The backup is OK? Good… shutdown, power off the firewire HDD and unplug it. Power on, holding the C key with your install DVD inserted. This will boot off the DVD (C key is for cdrom booting. A legacy shortcut key, but now commonly known)
3. Choose the install option – Erase and Install
4. After the installation is done – DO NOT use the migration tool to migrate at this time.
5. Ensure your username you choose is not the same as any of the old ones. This is OK, as it can be removed later
6. Log into your new Leopard, and commence to download and install the combo update to 10.5.2 (or whatever the latest patch level is)
7. Once the update is complete and the computer restarted, login, plug in and turn on your Firewire external HDD
8. Run the migration assistant as documented by Apple. It will successfully migrate all the chosen accounts, applications and data from your old system that was cloned to the external HDD.

If you have any problems with this all, or need help, you can ask for help in the official Leopard installation forums.
As a bonus, if you no longer want to clone to the new HDD – you may format it ONCE you have Leopard working OK, then plug it in and use it as your time-machine backup drive. Bonus.

Initially I made sure I had two full cloned and boot-able backups that I made with CCC. After this I actually tried booting off them just to make sure. Having backups before such a major upgrade is a mandatory step for all people whom undertake any OS upgrade.

Secondly I decided on the upgrade path. I plopped in the 10.5 DVD (Family pack!) and kicked off the upgrade.
At this point all looked fine, but this is where the initial problem occurred. People had said 10.5.0 was unstable, but I had thought I could at least login and kick off the 10.5.2 combo update. How wrong I was.

The combination of a Powerbook G4, and and upgrade from 10.4.11 -> 10.5.0 rendered the OS unusable.
I had heard rumours of this sort of thing, but I had not expected it. Finder would lock up on login and no amount of coaxing, safe mode, or anything else worked.

So I tested my external clone once more to make sure I could boot off it, and took the plunge. ERASE AND INSTALL.

I started looking around for some information for him. Why would the Mac benefit his Computer Science course? Why would the Mac be more reliable? What does he need to know about compatibility? One of the articles I read was a blog post by The Shepherd’s Sons called “All Signs Point To Apple”. In the post it describes a Windows man through and through and how his simplification of Technology had lead him to Apple. “It just works” is the Mantra all Mac people have heard.
I told my friend about this, to show him its not such a leap, but more of an awakening. “Four other family members had started using Macs” I said, and it’s true. They love them now.
I also didn’t want him to get lumped with Microsoft’s Vista like other friends and family had – some so bad they had even gone back to Windows XP.

A commenter on “All Signs Point To Apple” also points to the piece by David Pogue attempting to explain the Macintosh Surge effect. It is a good follow up to try and understand this increase seen in recent months.

Personally? I think it just sells itself by word of mouth. Thats how I pass on my experiences with Macs. Maybe you too should try one out.

With the latest version of Adobe Illustrator costing $600, it’s no surprise that the Mac community has been clamoring for a powerful, fast, and easy to use program for creating vector art that doesn’t break the bank.
Say hello to VectorDesigner. Though relatively new, VectorDesigner features an impressive feature list, including Bezier lines, vector shapes, iSight, QuickLook, and scanner integration, and a conversion tool for turning non-vector images into vector.

Valued at $69.95, MacHeist.com have set VectorDesigner to be unlocked for all customers once $300,000 has been raised for charity.

This bundle is very graphics and web design orientated, and the budding freelance designers out there can always make use of PixelMator, CSSEdit and now VectorDesigner if it becomes unlocked. You can buy the bundle here at macheist.com – I have purchased 3 of them – and 25% of your purchase will go to your chosen charity.

Besides some new Apple TV innovations (limited to the US – bah!), iPhone/iPod updates and the new Timecapsule; the key component of the speech was the introduction of the new Macbook Air.

Although I run my servers on OpenBSD, I write my blog from my Mac and prefer my Powerbook over all the other computers I use. A great part of using the Powerbook is that the trackpad has the scrolling functionality built in, which once you use, you sorely miss on all other devices.

Steve tells the audience that the new Macbook Air has learnt from the iPod touch and iPhone, and it now has gestures! The major new Multitouch features are:

• Pinch to zoom just like the iPhone and iPod touch
• Two finger panning has been taken to a new level. No more just left-right and up-down but you can scroll around on your photos.
• Three finger photo “flicking” like the coverflow photo iPhone interface
• Double tap to mark a window to drag it around
• Photo rotation
• There are also a number of space saving innovations on the new hardware which Steve demonstrates

And there is more. You can see the demo videos at the Macbook Air features page

This multi touch trackpad will prove revolutionary and it should only be a short time before we see this capability on the full line of Mac notebooks. Time to upgrade from my old G4. Now where is that Apple tablet notebook, Steve?

If you have a spare hour or two, jump into the Keynote stream on Quicktime and have a look for yourself. Steve demos the multi touch trackpad at the 1:00:00 mark.

Following the lead of other bloggers, I thought it would be pertinent to let you know that MacHeist II has completed all their heists, and the bundle sale is well underway. This morning the last of the 10 11 12 applications, Pixelmator, was unlocked. The developers say “If your image editing experience so far has been defined by PhotoShop, we guarantee you will be blown away by Pixelmator’s speed and beautiful UI”. I’m a casual user of Photoshop on Windows, and would like to find a decent alternative for the Mac for “casual” image editing for web design. The layering capabilities of Pixelmator appears to put it above and beyond other similar priced applications. This alone makes the bundle worth it, as the bundle is USD$10 than the retail price of Pixelmator.

The bundle now features other great applications like CSSEdit, Speed Download and AppZapper. If you have ever tried the demo of these applications, but not yet purchased them, you can get the whole lot for the price of what you would have paid for one of them.

With the current USD to AUD exchange rate, it will cost us Aussies about $55 or less to purchase the licences, and 11 applications later your Mac will have many more uses which you never knew about.

So after considering that, and with only 9 days remaining, I invite you to buy the bundle – just as I will be doing – and 25% of your purchase will go to your chosen charity.

You can gain access to it by enabling the debug menu. Open Terminal and type this
defaults write com.apple.Safari IncludeDebugMenu 1
then restart Safari. You will then see the debug menu and the Web Inspector option. As Chris pointed out, the network tool looks fantastic for diagnosing page loading speed issues.

I have my Powerbook G4 back now. Woooot! It has a fresh install of 10.4.6 on it from the Mac repair shop.

The question is, what do I do with my CCC backup firewire HDD? Clone it back? Migrate it back?

Having watched others roll into 10.5 aka Leopard, I thought it would be time for me to roll into a fresh computer as well. Sans postgresql, custom php install, CVS repository and the last 2 years of installed junk. (Not saying CVS/PHP/PostgreSQL are junk!)

So I’m doing it. I’m migrating. A fresh install – and we will see how good it is. The advantage? A newer faster install.Disadvantages? Days spend getting things right again. But that iss the fun part for a geek! If we can’t tweek, what else is there.

I’ll keep you posted on how it goes.