Trey’s Blog

After Steve Jobs pushed aside the Apple TV, Apple’s version of the Media Center [Extender],  to carry on for 90 minutes about the iPhone, I began to wonder if the Apple TV would do what I need it to do. It boasts streaming from any PC running the latest version of iTunes, but one catch is that iTunes only supports videos encoded with H.264 and some MPEGs. This makes sense for iTunes because its primary job is getting Videos from the iTMS (iTunes Music Store) to the customer’s iPod. However, I don’t purchase my movies through iTunes. I prefer to encode my movies using the XVid or DivX codec. All of my DVD Players support this codec so it makes sense for me. In fact, with a simple codec install for QuickTime, I’m able to watch my videos perfectly using FrontRow on my Mac Mini. This brings me to my question. If my videos work in FrontRow, would they also work on the Apple TV? I’m guessing that the interface on the Apple TV is the next version of FrontRow, which might suggest I could watch my movies assuming they were stored locally on the 40GB internal HDD or an external HDD. Streaming may be a different beast altogether since it seems to ride on the shoulders of iTunes sharing features. I use iTunes to listen to music or look through photos on my Tivo, which tells me it is very capable of sharing across Wifi, but by why will they not add DivX/XVid support for iTunes?

A couple of other issues I have about this device is the lack of an optical drive, to replace DVD Players, and the name itself. I’m aware that it outputs through a TV, but why call it “Apple TV” when no TV Tuner is included. The only TV Shows you can watch on this device are those available for purchase through iTunes.

What does this all mean? I guess if I can get some answers to the above questions, I would likely buy this unit because the $299 sure seems a lot better than the $799 Mac Mini alternative, which provides everything I need including a DVD Player replacement for only $500 more [ouch].

Others may have not had the difficulty I had with getting files from the PEBL onto their Mac, but for some reason I assumed their weren’t many options. Besides the obvious iSync capabilities that synchronize you contacts and calendar events, OS X has Bluetooth File Exchange under the Utilities list. Bluetooth File Exchange lets you ‘Browse Device” as well as simply Send File. Assuming your phone is already configured from within System Preferences, once you launch Bluetooth File Exchange you’ll need to switch the Device Type to Phones. Find your phone in the list, then select Browse.

The Motorola PEBL provides three preloaded directories for storing personal files. Those are audio, picture, and video. These are self explanatory and actually quite boring. I’m assuming this is to protect the file system that is on the phone.

One thing I can’t seem to find is an easy way to send files from phone to phone without using Multimedia messaging.

About every six months or so I like to post my current computer lineup which is very basic information about the computers and most importantly, what operating systems I’m running on each.

Mac Mini Core Duo (2GB RAM) - Mac OS X 10.4

AMD64 3500+ (1GB RAM) - Windows XP –> soon to be SuSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 10

HP 1.4GHz (1GB RAM) - Ubuntu Linux (Dapper)

Sony VAIO Notebook (256MB RAM) - Ubuntu Linux (Dapper)

AMD 2600+ (1GB RAM) - Windows XP

This is not looking good for Microsoft. The only remaining machine with Windows on it is the one my daughters use for gaming. However, I did purchase Cedega last year, but never got past the install stage. Cedega should allow me to run all/most of their Windows games under Linux. I may try that in a couple of months. They’ll be due for a reformat of Windows by then anyway.

When my new hard drive arrived, I had just attended the SuSE Linux Enterprise Roadshow and thought the latest release of SuSE looked amazing.  I decided to give installing SuSE a try and to my surprise, I got caught up on something simple.  I made it all the way through the install to the point of video configuration and SuSE couldn’t identify the LCD model being used by my Sony PCG-R505DL.  I tried the basic LCD and Sony, but no joy with either.  Why SuSE can’t choose a basic driver to use when Ubuntu has no issue with this, is beyond me.  Anyway, I gave up after an hour of trial and error with different configuration tests.

In the next few months, I’ll be trying this distro out on what is my Windows XP box being decommissioned.  I think the hardware on that machine should be easy to identify and should perform very very well with SLED (SuSE Linux Enterprise Desktop).

Anyone who spends anytime surfing the Net is bound to run across an article with speculation around what Apple will release next, but at some point I think the rumors and fakery images tend to skew our expectations leaving us disappointed when we don’t get what we’ve wanted. A perfect example of this is the rumor surrounding a new widescreen iPod. We’ve been through two different product releases and still no widescreen iPod. Does this mean it won’t ever happen? Not necessarily, but what I really want to know is did Apple ever plan on producing a widescreen version of the world’s favorite digital media player, or will they just produce one now to make the people happy? (Chicken or the Egg) At what point do you listen to the people and give them what they want because they’ve asked repeatedly? On the other hand, I think Apple has done a good job so far giving the people what they didn’t know they wanted. I was listening to MacCast, a Mac-centric podcast, and he mentioned that he tries to not put too much stock in the rumors to prevent from setting expectations higher than Apple product development can achieve. Are we, as a geek society, so hooked on these gadgets that we really get upset when a company doesn’t release what we think would be the next big thing?

On the flipside, I’d like to say that while I enjoy a good bit of progress in the world of computing, I find it unsettling that Apple releases new versions of their computers at least once per year. If anyone ever tries to get the best available at any given time, their purchase will only be the best available for another 9 months MAX. I’ve run into this with my Mac Mini where I bought the best available at the time and upgraded my RAM to the maximum allowed (2GB) and now, not even 6 months later, a newer faster processor is now available. Apple has also done this with the new set of iPods, but this time they’ve actually done a major disservice to their customers. They’ve released the new more featureful models at a lower price than the previously better models. In other words, those who bought the best 2 months ago have just had their model depreciate by $100 overnight. Is this the price we pay for style? Don’t get me wrong, I have an iPod and I think it is a great little device, but when I bought mine, I went with the last year’s model at the time just so I wouldn’t feel so bad when the newer new models came out.

I’m not sure where I was going with this post, so it may have been just a brain dump. Getting these thoughts out of my head should make room for more important things.

I feel like I’m the last one on the bandwagon of Tivo or DVRs in general. Everyone I talk to in my everyday life, assuming they even watch TV, has a DVR of some kind. With all of the gadgets that I have, they always assumed I would have one as well. Anyway, the time has come and my wife mentioned how her work schedule wasn’t going to allow her to watch her favorite shows this season. I saw this as a good opportunity to surprise her with a Tivo.

I went ahead and went for the best deal possible which was $30 for a dual tuner Series2 Tivo with prepaid subscription. No rebates were necessary so the deal was immediate. It was quite a hit to take all at once, but it will be hassle free for the next three years and by then TVs might come with built-in DVRs… or not.

On the coolness side, which is what you all are looking for, I was able to use my hardly utilized wireless USB adapter from my OmniFi unit (the D-Link DWL-120R) to connect my Tivo to the Internet and it worked like a charm. In fact, within about 10 minutes, I had my entire iTunes Library and iPhoto Library shared across my house to the Tivo. Very nice.

For those who are wondering why I’ve waited so long to purchase a DVR, I’m still in the mindset that when I miss a show, it is very likely that that same evening or the next day, I’ll be able to download it via BitTorrent in better quality than my basic cable can provide. When I watch my shows ontime, I’m enjoying them on my HDTV with Over-The-Air antenna which has no DVR options at the moment. My wife on the otherhand, was the major deciding factor, because I always knew I could get by with my current methods, but she wanted something easier… something she could control. Enter Tivo.

I try to get my hands into everything computer related so I have a good range of machines. I’m not really into gaming, so I don’t have any suped up rigs. The good news is that all of my OSes are legal versions. The bad news is that I need to get rid of some of these machines. My electric bill is probably impacted greatly by this computer lab I have set up in my office.

• Mac Mini 1.66GHz Intel Core Duo with 2GB RAM (Mac OS X 10.4)

• Custom AMD64 3500+ with 1GB RAM (Windows XP Pro)

• HP Pavilion 7965 1.6GHz P4 with 1GB RAM (Ubuntu Linux 6.06)

• Custom AMD 2600+ with 1GB RAM (Windows XP Pro)

• Sony VAIO 1GHz Pentium-M Notebook with 256MB RAM (Windows XP Home)

• eMachines W1640 AMD 1600+ with 768MB RAM (SuSE Linux 10.1) - For sale $100 plus any applicable shipping costs. Photos and specs available upon request.

Well, I did it. I ordered my Mac Mini on Sunday and it should be delivered today. I’m very anxious. This is my first attempt at using a Mac of my own, and to try to use it whilest shutting down my Windows box completely. Not that I’m attached to Windows. I primarily use my Ubuntu Linux box for the everyday mundane tasks and web development. From what I’ve read and seen, using my Mac will be a breeze and a pleasure. I purchased the top of the line without upgrades, so I’ll be running the 1.66GHz Intel Core Duo with 512MB RAM and the SuperDrive. With the computer, I also ordered the Apple Bluetooth Keyboard and today I’ll buy the Logitech V270 Bluetooth Mouse to complete the wireless I/O package. If only DVI and Audio came with a wireless option. Anyway, I’m sure I’ll be posting about my experiences.

I’m usually not too keen to running Windows software on Mac hardware, but I was curious of one thing. Since Apple likes to claim they can better support their systems because of hardware uniformity, then has someone created a SlipStream install of Windows XP that will work flawlessly on Mac Hardware since all of their hardware is the same?

I think Mac hardware is great, but their bread and butter is their design team especially when it comes to their UIs. I’m waiting for the day when Mac OSX becomes available for the standard x86 machine. I would buy 4 copies Opening Day! Meanwhile, I’ll be tempting myself with the new MacMinis.

Here is a pic showing XP Running on a MacBook Pro.

Yesterday, I was pleasantly greeted with the following error on boot:

Hardware Initiate Failed. Please check device!!! The BIOS does not be installed.

I won’t go into Engrish humor here, but we’ll say it doesn’t translate well. Ultimately what is going on here is my RAID Controller is the first thing to load to get the SATA drives up and going to start the Operating System. Somewhere along the way, the RAID Controller didn’t start so no harddrive was detected, which as anyone familiar with computers knows, no harddrive means no workie workie. I did the usual Google research and found that many many, did I say many? many people have had the same issue. Some people have had their drives fail and others have had their SATA cables fail. Being the optimist, I switched my SATA cable for a spare one I had and booted the computer. This time it booted up as if nothing had ever happened. I love it when they do that because the whole time the thing is not working, it feels like the computer is working your last nerve, then at some point you realize this is not a person and hardware will fail from time to time. I just hate it when it is MY time. Perhaps it is because this same computer failed last weekend because of some other issue. We’ll see how long it goes before I post another issue.

I’m feeling the temptation. I want a Mac Mini. I’ll supress that urge for now, but soon, I will make that purchase.

The other day I thought it necessary to pack an extra CompactFlash card in the event my current one would fill up while on the road. I didn’t ever need the extra, so I left it tucked away in the pocket of my jeans. Today, I began to wonder what I ever did with that card because it was now needed. I searched high and low and then it occurred to me that it may be in the pocket of my pants, but which pants? I looked through all of the pairs I could find before my wife suggested looking in the clothes dryer. There was my CF Card right where I left it in its little plastic case in my jeans. By that time, it had gone through an entire wash and dry cycle. I had no faith in the card ever functioning at that point. I tested it and not only did it work, but it maintained the 2 photos I had stored on there already. I’m not sure it would have worked had it been completely submerged. My washer is a front loading Whirlpool which only fills about 1/3 of the way with water and tosses the clothing through the soapy water.

Lessons Learned: - Empty pockets before removing pants - CompactFlash cards are water-resistant

I recently found this guy who had issues with his GoGear unit decided to remove the covers to see what was underneath. Check out the details and pics here.

Thanks, A Day in the Life of Lynx.