OS X: February 2008 Archives

Whenever big OS updates come out: microsoft, linux, or OS X; I tend to wait a few days or weeks until more people post about problems they're having with them because inevitably there's always something that was billed as a fix that causes new problems. Leopard Graphics Updates does a de-rez on external displays is a perfect example of why I like to wait. Nice reference to Tron in the title too. In the meantime, the only related problem I usually have is that if my browser is on my external monitor, my auto-suggestion pulldowns sometimes don't show up on the same screen. It's difficult to explain and I don't have my digital camera with me to show you a pic of it so I photoshopped two separate screen shots to show you what it would look like. It's a minor annoyance for now but I think I'll wait until the graphics update has it's own update.

Click for full size image

Update: I was notified by a friend that the graphics update is in addition to 10.5.2 so it wouldn't be updated unless I specifically select it.

The plethora of plugin type apps that are available for OS X is astounding. Latest on my list of cool things on OS X are QuickLook Plugins. Microsoft should take note of something that is superbly useful, clean and pluggable. Not that MS has a history of making things easy... but yet another thing in a long list of things that make it easier to make that decision to switch. For the uninitiated, QuickLook is the ability to preview files on your Mac without actually opening them in an application by simply selecting the file and hitting your space bar. It's very much like lightbox for your computer. It works well or things like text files, mp3s, image files and desktop publishing files if you have a desktop publishing suite installed. If you've never installed any QuickLook plugins. You'll need to create a directory for your account in ~/Library named QuickLook. Want to preview what's in that ZIP, TAR, GZip, BZip2, ARJ, LZH, ISO, CHM, CAB, CPIO, RAR, 7-Zip, DEB, RPM, StuffIt's SIT, DiskDoubler, BinHex, and MacBinary file you just downloaded without actually unzipping it? Download and Install BetterZip. Read about it here.

BetterZip QuickLook Plugin I write code and read other people's code. Sometimes I don't want to wait for my IDE to load to see what's in a file. I can preview it now with QLColorCode Plugin. It has fairly simple syntax highliting but it's sufficient that it's easy to see functions, variables, comments and text.

QLColorCode Plugin There are a few more I could mention but you get the basic idea. Check out a repository of plugins here.

Back in my college days, anyone outside of Computer Science or Engineering was either using Microsoft Windows 3.11 or Mac OS System 7. Neither could handle multi-tasking very well and Linux was around but graphically it was not aesthetically pleasing. I found an amazing OS: NeXT and I used it any chance I got. I'd open one window for programming, one window for compiling, one for downloading music from bulleting board systems (hey, I could barely pay for lunch much less expensive CDs of music), a few for talk (precursor to IM) and multiple windows for editing input files, running the compiled programs and just for kicks, a gopher window for research (http browsers were in their infancy). People around me were wowed by all this multi-tasking and wondered how I did it all. I've always been one of those people that uses their computer to the max of its abilities and overload it with multiple tasks because when it comes to computers, I'm impatient. When the Powerbook G4 Titanium and OS X were released, they had that WOW factor I had been searching for since I left college and could not use a $25,000 computer running an OS only available on that hardware platform. OS X has its roots in NeXT so clearly there was some form of nostalgia that caught me as soon as I saw it. So in 2003 after wrestling with how I could part with $2400 for an Apple laptop when I could get a comparable Intel-based one for much, much less, I took the plunge with the latest Steve Jobs item to drool for: the G4 aluminum. It was shweet! But my excitement was short-lived.

NeXT Step Having no steady full-time job back then, I depended on web design and programming sites in PHP to pay the bills. Nobody was looking for a mid-level operations manager who could manage servers, switches, telco lines and people so I had to do something! My programs of choice were Macromedia DreamWeaver and PHPEdit. The former was available for OS X, the latter only as a windows program. I was bummed I couldn't use PHPEdit but at least DreamWeaver was available and I plopped down the $120 to get me designing on my shiny new laptop. Thus ended my short lived love-affair with OS X. DreamWeaver had some serious problems displaying fonts in 'design' mode but it only happened to some people on some laptops. I contacted Macromedia about it and their support team said they didn't know how to fix the problem, nor were they planning on assigning resources to try and fix it. I tried to get Apple to send me a new laptop but they said it was a software problem and it had nothing to do with the hardware even though I tried to convince them that since it only happens on some laptops, it must be a hardware problem. They didn't bite. I wonder why?!? I had no choice but to CraigsList it and purchase another intel-based win laptop that my wife later inherited from me and continued to use a windoze base laptop when I finally got a full-time job later on. I had previously convinced my wife to make the switch because my old apple replacement win laptop was finally dying. She wasn't too keen on the idea because she's not the computer wizard I am but since it was a gift from me, she couldn't really say no. She hated it in the beginning because everything was different but after a few weeks of showing her how to do things on the Mac, she loved it. This time, I spent a few months downloading trial versions of all the software I thought I would need to make sure I could switch with a minimum amount of hassle. Late last year when I started at a new position at a new company, I decided it was time to try again. There are some things I miss on the PC and I'll probably write about them late on but I haven't looked back.