Comments on David Alison's Blog: A Mac Pro is a Force to be reckoned with

If you end up using any of the MSFT keyboards (I u...

2008-04-30T19:53:00.000-04:00

If you end up using any of the MSFT keyboards (I use the Natural Ergonomic Keyboard 4000) just download and install their Mac software for mapping of the keys...
I used a Natural Keyboard Pro at home, but like the Mac Pro keyboard so much I have switched at home.

@Anon: The keyboard is growing on me. I'm not too ...

2008-04-22T07:13:00.000-04:00

@Anon: The keyboard is growing on me. I'm not too worried about which keyboard I use other than making my wrists comfortable. I do agree that matching up the keys is important for me though - which is why I'm trying to stick with the basic keyboard.

Personally, I love the keyboard and Mighty mouse -...

2008-04-22T04:51:00.000-04:00

Personally, I love the keyboard and Mighty mouse - these have virtually eliminated the creeping symptoms of RSI I was beginning to suffer from. I think some of the 'ergonomic' mouse designs actually tend to force your hand into an position that feels unnatural.

I'd try persevering with the keyboard though. It's extremely low profile means that your wrists aren't cocked back so much, and therefore the pressure on the carpal tunnels should be less.

That said - we're all wired up differently so just go with what feels right for you ! After all, does it really matter which keyboard or mouse you use compared to someone else ? ! I would recommend using a Mac-specific keyboard layout though, because those command keys are awful useful.

@Tom: Thanks man - very helpful. I don't recall an...

2008-04-21T21:56:00.000-04:00

@Tom: Thanks man - very helpful. I don't recall an option for Quick Format when installing XP directly from CD onto a new drive, though I do recall seeing the Quick Format option when inside the GUI. I could be wrong on not having the option. As I get a fair amount of traffic I am going to correct my original assertion.

To clarify on the NTFS format speed vs Mac (HFS+),...

2008-04-21T21:51:00.000-04:00

To clarify on the NTFS format speed vs Mac (HFS+), it's all in what the format does.

Windows has an option called quick formatting, and even on the largest of SAN arrays, this can take just a few moments to a few minutes. All that happens is the partition table is altered, some areas are blanked to ensure no redundant copies of the filesystem metadata get confused, and the space is declared ready for data.

Without quick formatting, the drive marks out the area in the partition map, then goes over the whole drive writing 0s basically. Windows has different defaults depending on the version and even where you get to the formatting tool. During setup offers one way, while the GUI another. Quick is going to be fine in most situations, so it's puzzling why MS didn't just default to that.

The Mac Disk Utility defaults to quick in pretty much every situation, but offers to go over the whole disk as an option. It even has secure erase functions that meet DOD specifications, but thats very timely as it goes over the disk multiple times with random junk and all 0s and 1s.

Oh and I should add that I have heard nearly exclu...

2008-04-21T16:55:00.000-04:00

Oh and I should add that I have heard nearly exclusively bad things about Disco. Seems the developers sold lots of copies based on novelty value (smoke simulation while burning, slick looking interface) and then completely stopped developing it into an actual robust disc burning program.

Somehow blogger keeps screwing up my comments with...

2008-04-21T16:51:00.000-04:00

Somehow blogger keeps screwing up my comments with links. Not sure what I am doing wrong. The preview looks fine but after commiting it is all screwed up. Anyway, here are the two links in text form:

http://daringfireball.net/linked/2008/april#tue-15-lcc/

http://blog.macromates.com/2007/logitech-control-center/

Apparently the Logitech drivers are rather evil ha...

2008-04-21T16:49:00.000-04:00

Apparently the Logitech drivers are rather evil hacks.
Take a look at for example or this blog post and the links therein.

Most of the blue screens that people were getting when upgrading to Leopard and which Apple was blamed and ridiculed for were due to Logitech drivers using unsupported system hacks.

After reading some of this I installed and purchased Steermouse instead. Kind of sucks that I have to pay for a mouse driver that doesn't screw up the system, but I figured it is worth it.

@Dimitrios: Here is a link to the driver I am usin...

2008-04-21T14:37:00.000-04:00

@Dimitrios: Here is a link to the driver I am using.

Where did you find Mac drivers for your wired Logi...

2008-04-21T12:38:00.000-04:00

Where did you find Mac drivers for your wired Logitech mouse? So far the only drivers from logitech, that I have found, are for their wireless mice.

@Mike: Getting clearance from the tower is a key p...

2008-04-21T11:05:00.000-04:00

@Mike: Getting clearance from the tower is a key point - and it isn't always easy. Good luck with that man! I've been running the Windows VM for a while now and it is performing splendidly. My application is not too intensive and Visual Studio is actually a very efficient application so it's performing really well.

David - congratulations on the MacPro purchase. I...

2008-04-21T10:26:00.000-04:00

David - congratulations on the MacPro purchase. I've been trying to find an excuse to ditch my KVM connected to a Windows home built and a PowerMac - but neither machine wants to give up the ghost - and I don't think the "warden" will allow another computer purchase until I actually "need" to make one (silly girl)

One thing - FYI - and you may know this - but as I understand it, VMWare is only going to allow you to address 2 of your 8 cores in your virtual machine. This is better than Parallels which (as of this version) does no multi-proc.

I do believe that if you bootcamp boot to your XP installation - you can address more of those 8 cores - so if you are doing some heavy duty compiling etc - might be worth thinking about.

Either way, Windows will limit you to 3 gb addressable memory unless you go 64 bit.

Looking forward to more adventures with the Mac!

@Anon: On the hard drive NTFS formatting time unde...

2008-04-21T07:53:00.000-04:00

@Anon: On the hard drive NTFS formatting time under Windows - The last time I built my Window XP based machine I had two Seagate 150GB 10K RPM SATA drives and formatted the boot disk from the Windows XP installation screen. It was a raw disk from Newegg.com and had not been used. As I recall it took a very long time to go through that formatting.

@Ed & Fred: glad you're enjoying the blog!

@Chris: On Air/Flex, I really like where Adobe is ...

2008-04-21T07:43:00.000-04:00

@Chris: On Air/Flex, I really like where Adobe is going with this. Though I only had the trial (which has likely expired by now) I slammed together a really quick web page hosting a Flex based application and it looked and ran exactly the same on Mac, Windows and Linux.

There are two downsides to the model: the UI is static and fixed and means that subtle differences in the way each OS renders a control means the applications look generic. As an example, tabs in Windows look very different than the blue buttons that normally represent tabs on OS X. This is minor but those are some of the UI subtleties that people quickly notice.

The second is that as of today there is no iPhone support and I doubt that the Google Android API will support Flex apps either - it requires a LOT of processor to run. This will be a non-issue as phone processor speeds pick up but I think it's going to be a challenge for a while.

Other than these two issue Flex is very, very compelling and something I'm going to look at in more detail down the road. I just have to talk Adobe into giving me another trial ;-)

Hi Dave,It's such a pleasure to read you.I've been...

2008-04-21T04:54:00.000-04:00

Hi Dave,
It's such a pleasure to read you.
I've been using Macs since the first Mac128k arrived in France ... and thus it's always hard for me to explain why I much prefer macs over other PCs.
Your blog does it with ... Force ;-)

Plus I like your switcher point of view and the way you share this with the rest of us.

FYI: I have two mices, the MM for most tasks (I love the design and the scroll ball) and another one more conventional for gaming (they are both plugged in most of the time).

About CD and DVD, but not about burning them, give a look at Disktop.

Very Best Regards

Fantastic blog on making the switch. I'm in the s...

2008-04-21T01:56:00.000-04:00

Fantastic blog on making the switch. I'm in the same boat as I just purchased a MacBook Pro but still work (somewhat...) on a ridiculously powerful PC with two monitors (although mine are two 24" LCDs). I know what you mean when you say you try to find excuses to use the Mac more. It's a great machine. I've noticed, as a semi-professional photographer, my Photoshop/Lightroom workflow is so much smoother.

12GB of RAM!? Man, I put 4GB in my MBP and thought it was awesome. Maybe I'll grab a Mac Pro...although I can't help but think I won't be able to play many games on it regardless of BootCamp.

It's been a while since I last got a new hard driv...

2008-04-21T01:22:00.000-04:00

It's been a while since I last got a new hard drive, but I can't remember it ever take more than a couple of minutes to get it ready for use with NTFS. I was surprised to read your negative comment on that.

Dave, continuing off on the development tangent, w...

2008-04-20T23:31:00.000-04:00

Dave, continuing off on the development tangent, what's you impressions of the AIR/Flex platform? I'm a big fan of Buzzword and Photoshop Express looks great too. The Adobe stuff looks more next-gen then any other web apps I've seen.

@Devburke: The Mighty Mouse is already back in a b...

2008-04-20T23:26:00.000-04:00

@Devburke: The Mighty Mouse is already back in a box and unlikely to come back out.

@Chris: Thanks for the tip on the MS keyboard. I may hook it up just to see what it's like.

As for Mac corporate applications - well, the big movement in applications development is towards web based applications where the platform end users have doesn't matter anyway. That's really where my focus is.

Where I see the opportunity is in combining the web model with rich client side applications; it gives you the best of both worlds. By creating the web application you have ubiquitous access; combine that with web services and a custom client for off-line activities and you get the rich user interface experience people really like.

I would really like to try my hand at building native Mac applications but it will have to be after my initial web based product release.

Dave, in the keyboard system preferences, you swap...

2008-04-20T23:02:00.000-04:00

Dave, in the keyboard system preferences, you swap the modifier keys for Option and Command for the MS keyboard only.

You could make a killing as a Mac developer of corporate apps. Most Mac developers target smaller business or home users. There's so many holes in Mac corporate software. Of course there's a bit of chicken and the egg too - i.e. there's holes coz there's few users and there's few users because there's holes. So which does come first? Users or apps?

Yeah, like was already said, right-clicking with a...

2008-04-20T22:23:00.000-04:00

Yeah, like was already said, right-clicking with a Mighty Mouse only works if you lift your left finger off the button. I loved the Mighty Mouse at first, I really liked the button configuration, but actually, the scrollball (which you liked) is its biggest downfall, in my opinion. Remember why we all switched away from trackball mice? How annoying it was when they got dirty and you had to clean them? Well, use a Mighty Mouse for long enough, and you'll have the same problem. Only you can't open it up to clean the rollers. It's really frustrating. I wouldn't stick with the Mighty Mouse if I were you.

@Chris: So if I attach the Microsoft keyboard does...

2008-04-20T21:18:00.000-04:00

@Chris: So if I attach the Microsoft keyboard does the Start key map to Alt/Option on the Mac side and the Alt key maps to the Apple/Command key on the Mac side? The more I type on the Mac keyboard the more I am getting used to it though, and now when I slide over to the MacBook there is no adjustment needed.

As for Mac development, that is indeed my intention. Once I get the web portion of my application completed I intend to create a custom client version of this for Mac.

Dave, I agree on the Mighty Mouse. In fact, for me...

2008-04-20T20:33:00.000-04:00

Dave, I agree on the Mighty Mouse. In fact, for me I found with prolonged usage I was developing RSI.

I switched both my mouse and keyboard. Now have a MS Natural split keyboard, and a Logitech Marble Mouse (a trackball). I love the trackballs and I've converted my kids as well. I do prefer the finger ball ones to the thumb-ball ones. I reckon everyone should use one! (Ok, except those who need a graphics tablet - which I do use too from time to time.)

And now, Dave, there's only one step left in this journey of yours - which I've thoroughly enjoyed following.

And that is? To become a Mac developer.

@tzs: This is my point about gaming. You can't be ...

2008-04-20T18:09:00.000-04:00

@tzs: This is my point about gaming. You can't be holding both the left and right buttons down on a Mighty Mouse. It's the main reason I stopped using it.

I too really loved the little trackball it uses for a mouse wheel. However, that too had some pretty nasty problems. I use the "center" button all the time to open links into new tabs. The MM trackball is too sensitive and wound up scrolling the browser when I attempt to click on a link with the center button (trackball button in this case).

It's really kind of surprising that Apple, the company that makes the iPod and iPhone/iPod Touch can't design a decent multi-button mouse. Sad really.

@Tzs: Thanks for that explanation - makes a lot of...

2008-04-20T17:45:00.000-04:00

@Tzs: Thanks for that explanation - makes a lot of sense. When holding the mouse my fingers are always in contact with the mouse's surface, which would explain the problem I have with it.