Tue 14 Aug No. 344, August 2012 7:30 Mac Basics with Trevor You bring the questions, we'll do the rest 8:15 Break for coffee & chat 8:30 A word from the President 8:35 Fun with Non-Apple systems Garry Brooke will demonstrate a variety of (mostly free!) operating systems you can run on a new Mac including MacOS9 (for old Classic programs), Windows8, Ubuntu Linux, AmigaDOS for gaming, PearOS, AROS and ReactOS!
Hughes Baptist Church Hall Groom Street, Hughes
Tue 21 Aug "Pressure? To upgrade to Mountain Lion? You're just imagining things! 7:30 Committee Mtg Take as long as you like." Raiders Weston Sports Club Photo copyright Cavensish Press
Frank Pope [email protected] President E 0405 440 820 E John Armstead [email protected] Vice-president GENERAL HELP Garry Brooke [email protected] Secretary T David Menere [email protected] Treasurer EMAIL LIST
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C problems, offer assistance to Please only call committee and helpers between 6 and 9pm other members or provide news and views on the Mac world.
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Hardware, OS X, OS 9 and earlier L the List Administrator Clive Huggan 6247 0672 E (Peter Sealy)
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E T Page 2 ! 4 Presidents desktop r a S More dribble about the view from the top...
F T
! 7 Tame Your Time Machine Backups o S
N Time Machine has been around for more than a few years now, but not always to the satisfacton of those who use it. In ,
E this article Simon Fisk gives a great technical tip on how to make a set-up to get TM working just how you need it. n
o T i
! 8 How An iPad Saved Our Trip To Europe L N Been stuck in Europe lately with nothing to do but scratch your
head and look at your blank screens? Well Clive Monty has n 14 i O - and when it's your turn you'll wish you'd read his story!
a C ! 9 OS-X Mountain Lion t u Mike Saclier takes a whirlwind advance look at mountain Lion and some of the revies available on the internet for those o Turn
trying to find out more about what the upgrade has in store M
! 11 Bits And Pieces t An Old The regular mountain of updates, trivia, broken bits and u interesting pieces from Peter Sealy o Mac b "...there are a few ! 20 Why Did I Buy A Mac? A Into A Do you remember what you used to do with your first Mac? things to look out Even even what persuaded you to get it? Ian Reynolds does! w for on Mountain o Full Media ! 21 Fine Print And Legal Stuff n Lion" K Wth so many 10.8 reviews Centre out there, we peek across to o createdigitalmusic.com for a T slightly different view of the t upgrade from Peter Kirn a
Users Helping Users h W Page 3 PRESIDENTS DESKTOP New sound system Sound quality at the church has been a problem for some time. Very pleased hi all, to announce that the committee has purchased an excellent and expensive What a busy month! Loads to tell you about which - given Fender all-in-one PA-system which should give us much more control over tone my total inability to use ten words when I can do it with and clarity. Looking forward to christening it this month. Big thanks to Dave twenty - could make for a lengthy desktop. I understand that Menere who drove to Sydney to pick it up. some people just like to hear themselves talk :), but is there AGM such a thing as liking to hear yourself type?? Early notice that the AGM is coming up in October. We'll have a few rather big issues about the direction, future and administration of the club to work CLUB STUFF through on the night, so would be good if you could be there to listen up and be in the discussion. Mike Saclier MEMBERSHIP DRIVE After years(!!) of blasting away doing the membership and editorial work for us, Mike has called it a day. Not even sure when he started. He took on the At last I get to announce this! Very excited about some of the things happening membership sometime around 2009, but took on the newsletter in 2004. 8 in the next month or so. ACTApple is on a membership drive. years. Thanking him here seems a little trivial but I'll do it anyway. He helped Part 1. 50 free memberships me transition the newsletter into a new format back in 2008, and the membership into a new database around the same time. Knowing Mike (and Lead off with the big guns! ACTApple will be advertising via leaflets, online and having been in his study) I'm sure he won't have any trouble at all finding traditional press with 50 free memberships to anyone who buys a new Apple things to put into the hours ACTApple used to fill. So thanks Mike, I'm looking computer, iPhone or iPad between 1-Aug and 11-Sep. This offer is only for forward to seeing you as just a face in the crowd at the presentation nights. new members and can only be taken up at our September meeting (which is going to be a big one). So spread the word. If you've got a friend who is thinking Information Security of buying an Apple product - let them know!!! With the increasing integration of your Mac to the outside world via iCloud, Part 2. iPads and iPhones Dropbox etc etc., information security has never been more important. Please be sure to protect your information. Use programs like 'Little Snitch' to control Pairing with the above, we are launching into the iPad/iPhone world in a big what programs send information from your computer, use File Vault or way. The club has bought a 16GB iPad, connected to Telstra, I'm using it at encrypted disk images from 'Disk Utility' to secure sensitive personal content the moment to review an O'Rielly book "iPad: The missing manual". Expect to in case your computer is stolen, choose decent passwords, look at password see that book as a door prize soon! So expect a LOT more from us on this management programs such as 'KeyPass' or '1Password' to help maintain front. The September meeting is going to be a big one for iPad people. But strong passwords across all your devices, and think about what you put on please, if you use one, consider helping us out. We struggle to get help with the "cloud". We'll be trying to find spots to put some security-focussed presentations and this will be no different. So please have a think and let me sessions into the next few months. know. Page 4 Part 3. Introduce a member of the group, to the extent that some will find enjoyment in a role to actively nurture the group ie. joining it's committee. However the big clue is that you We've pretty much always had this, have had a lot of members use it in the will often find a physical community giving rise to an online network eg. our past, but often forget its there and don't push it. But if you introduce a memebr ACTApple help mailing list, but you will rarely find the reverse ie. a brand new to the club, we'll give you 3 months free membership. this is separate from physical community sprouting from an online one. That's because most people our offer above (after all we're already giving away a year there), but if you give the things in their physical life an identity within their whole sense of self, know someone who already has a Mac then why not bring them our way and and see their online life as supporting those identities. They don't see it the get boost for yourself at the same time. other way around. Even if some might become "addicted" to facebook or use Part 4. Members at the coast it to isolate themselves physically, I would suggest that they are using facebook A big hi to our members on the coast. Lucky buggers. No details yet but as a tool to implement a desire to be isolated, and support that sense of I'm intending to run a meeting down there, current plan is 15-Sep. Will likely themselves. be in Moruya, reasonably central. I'll email the details when available, please Social interaction is always harder than online interaction. In physical let your friends know if you think they'd like to join in. If you're a Canberra communities we have chosen to force ourselves into social interactions. By member and would like to come along for a coast weekend and to meet some its nature that fosters a sense of commitment. And therein lies our secret. of our members down there then let me know! Would be a great to have Without the social interaction, online networks cannot generate the same sense a get together with a Canberra contingent. I realise it may change but please of commitment within the individual or the group as a whole. But why is this let me know if you'd be a 'possible' so I can get a feel for a venue to book so important? Because by being there we are choosing to build a sense of (I don't want to book somewhere too small). commitment to the group, and to each other. That commitment generates an Part 5. And a big finish! increased sense of belonging - a gravitational pull - of finding and being with friends. Our choice to invest and get this in return provides our enjoyment, Ha ha, not going to tell about this one :) ... still too many things in the planning. ie. it gives us passion, and that sustains our desire to participate at the level You think the above looks good? Well they're the start. The committee has we choose. Therefore some people are happy with just getting our newsletter, got some major ideas coming through the pipeline to close our year out. So and some people come along every month. When people tell me they're much so that we had an extra-ordinary committee meeting on Wed night to passionate about ACTApple, they're really telling me how much they enjoy the get ourselves lined up for the run into year-end, and I can't wait. Big times sense of belonging it returns to them. And that's why I like it. ahead for the club, the committee, and you. Why do you like it? ONLINE NETWORKS AND PHYSICAL COMMUNITIES Cheers To start by stating the obvious, online networks like facebook and linked- Frank Pope in are going to evolve and grow and find ever more ways to integrate their [email protected] products into everyday life. Online life is the norm, not the exception. Yet groups like ACTApple continue. Why? How? With a million online information forums as our competition? A community (online or offline) needs a common interest that motivates people within it to care about the welfare and longevity 50 Free Memberships! Tell Everyone! Page 5 Address book Q&A Fantastic opportunity right now!! Since upgrading to OSX 10.6.3 the addresses in Address Book refuse to sort. I tried changing Last name, First Name etc in preferences but ACTApple needs a new editor nothing works. Is there anything else I can do? THE most satisfying job in the club is up for grabs, and it could be This is another one of those “if all else fails, nuke the preference files” situations. This follows yours! such true-and-tried methods as changing preferences within the application, restarting the Mac, Every month we put out one of the best newsletters in the country, and and cursing. one of the most valued assets the club has to offer. It's creative, In this very particular case you should follow this path:youruserfolder/Library/Preferences and informative, and heavily anticipated every month. You DON'T need enter AddressBook in the Search field (search by File Name in the Preferences folder). This will to find the content, and you'll get loads of support to skill up and use turn up both the com.apple.AddressBook.plist and com.apple.AddressBook.abd.plist files. After the most powerful desktop publishing software available. quitting Address Book, drag these files to the Desktop and launch Address Book. New preference Demanding, enjoyable and pivotal ACTApple's success. files will be created and your contacts should now be sorted by Address Book’s default settings: The editor could be you. Show First Name Before
Last Name, Sorted by First
Name. If everything goes well as I suggest it should be, trash the old preference files that you dragged to the Desktop.
t Nigh pple Museum ACTA Page 6 Tame Your Time Machine Backups This application can then be invoked in ical, which can be told to run it daily, weekly etc ..., which gives you complete flexibility. by Simon Fisk The shell script is: I backup my ‘working’ type files on a daily basis to two external hard drives "/System/Library/CoreServices/backupd.bundle/Contents/Resources/ and between two computers. I use the excellent programme Carbon Copy backupd-helper" Cloner (CCC) to do all this automatically. In Automator select ‘Run Shell Script’ and copy the above in, see Figure 1. Save A few months ago I installed 10.5 (Leopard) on one computer but that’s another this workflow in case you need to amend at some stage. Then ‘save as’ and story. choose Application from pop-down menu - I called mine ‘Startup Time Machine.app’ (I thought that was original!!!) With Leopard came Time Machine (TM). It does not have anything like the Now go to ical and invoke a new event (in whatever day and time you want). flexibility of CCC so I will continue to use CCC. I can see though that TM has Go to alarm select ‘none’, Figure 2, choose the ‘open file’ option. It does not advantages of neatly keeping older versions with potential of going back to allow you to choose which file, so click out. In my case it shows the file as say files of 2 months old. I am using TM to do a complete backup of everything. ‘ical’ (Figure 3). Click the ‘ical’ and choose ‘other’ then navigate to where you have saved your automator application (my ‘Startup time machine’). The pain though is that it runs every hour, which for my purposes is unnecessarily short. There is no Apple method of changing that. I spent many Then it is a matter of setting the time and the intervals you want to run time hours trolling the net to find a solution. There were several ways suggested machine. some didn’t work but no point in telling you what doesn’t. One last point as I (you?) don’t want time machine to run at any other time One of the problems was that I could automatically launch Time Machine using go to Time Machine preferences (in system preferences) and make sure the Automator but that is not the same as getting it to do a backup. slider button is set to OFF.
I found a neat solution - a shell script. Now don’t get the impression I really know what a shell script is and I have no idea what the script I picked means. I do know that testing it several times it works with no adverse consequences. I’m happy.
This shell script can then be used in Automator workflow then saved as an Application. (I’ll get to the details later).
Figure 1 Page 7 activated Sony Mobile Security and so my phone locked down. My contacts – back in Australia – could not re-activate my phone in time and so we were left without contact with the outside world. Fortunately we were able to get into our apartment through the help of the concierge and a cleaner. Then we realised that my wife’s iPad could help us with emails etc. We went looking for and found a free wi-fi spot. If we had not had the iPad we would have been hopelessly cut off from necessary contacts. As it was we had not used the iPad enough to exploit all its features. Our camera had to replace the iPad’s fantastic ability to take photos – I ended up taking more than 1900!!! We had friends in Provence who introduced us to Skype on the Figure 2 Figure 3 iPad and so we were able to keep up with them although, given Time to go. our record up to then, they believed we had the ‘black thumb of technology’. We continued to prove them correct because when Ps you can also use an AppleScript/Script Editor rather than Automator with do shell script "/System/Library/CoreServices/backupd.bundle/Contents/ we got to Florence we had trouble with Skype. By dint of Resources/backupd-helper” perseverance we overcame that problem and were able to be in touch with our friends again. How An iPad Saved Our Trip To Europe by Clive Monty
Earlier this year my wife and I travelled to Europe. As a precaution we bought a smart phone before we left so that we could maintain contact. When we arrived in Paris – our first destination - we could not contact our apartment letter because we had been told that it was cheaper to replace our SIM card with a French one. Unfortunately, when setting up my phone I had inadvertently Page 8 OS-X Mountain Lion w w w . m a c w o r l d . c o m / a r t i c l e / 1 1 6 7 8 5 5 / installing_mountain_lion_what_you_need_to_know.html> (as Frank shared in his by Mike Saclier email) if something goes wrong, the App Store will let you download it again without charge but it is about 4Gb so it is better to have it handy locally. Bringing iOS and OSX closer. Mountain Lion is for sale at the AppStore A$20.99, you need to set up an I have not seen the new OS in action but other members like Mike Millard have Apple ID and account if you have not done so already. If you do not like already shared their thoughts via the Google groups email. using Credit Cards over the internet, you can buy an iTunes card and use So far there do not seem to be any Major problems but screen glitches on that instead, that way you may pay less if you buy your card at a discount. the new Retina Macs have been reported and sound might not be sorted. Advice – Shop around, they are often on sale. about this and the graphic below is at: The card value is credited to your account and what you do not spend on
Do your homework and see if Mountain Lion is for you, check out the new out that Lion, 10.7, is a terrific upgrade for anyone with a recent Apple features, this OS may take some time and effort to learn how to make the machine and 8 GB of RAM (which is what I’d recommend anyway). No, most of it. Check the compatibly of your Mac at the Apple site and read what that’s not a misprint – sometimes, it seems, Apple upgrades are just about Apple, Page 11 selling the user's data. Following the predictable protest Cisco softened their be a good thing or not. And I do not yet use iCloud. Surely somebody out approach. But it seems to be 'politician's promise' of a retreat. there will give us their view. http://boingboing.net/2012/07/03/cisco-locks-customers-out-of-t.html http://arstechnica.com/apple/2012/07/move-over-mac-com-and-me-com-its-time-for-icloud- com/ IS YOUR MAC SUFFERING FROM NIGHT STARVATION I have seen on our General Help List at time requests for help with Macs which LIST ALL YOUR DOWNLOADS won't go to sleep or do so very slowly. This may be the answer. You will need Not sure why you would want to do this but here is a method to list your to look at all the comments. history of software downloads. http://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=20120701234338952#comments http://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=20120717025305161#comments LAUNCH SERVICES I don't access Launch Services these days so this problem and fix does not MERGE ALL YOUR SAFARI WINDOWS ON TO ONE SAFARI WINDOW concern me. But you may have the problem when the 'Open With ...' does I often have too many windows of web sites open at the same time from not go straight to the app you wish. repeated opening of new Safari browser windows resulting with most obscured http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-13727_7-57466179-263/tackling-launch-service-woes-in-os-x/ by others. I know I can, and often do, use F3 to show them all but even then many are partially hidden behind others. [And yes I know there is a tip to zoom iGADGET HOME BUTTON them to differentiate them - I gave it to you a few weeks ago.] This tip suggests This is a way around a broken Home Button. you make a keyboard shortcut for the command 'Merge all Windows' in the http://osxdaily.com/2012/07/02/broken-iphone-home-button-assistive-touch/ Safari Menu Bar>Windows>Merge all Windows to push all the open web site windows onto separate tabs in the one Safari window. Afraid I don't see the CHRISTMAS WISH LIST STARTS HERE point. If the command 'Merge all Windows' is already there why make another http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2012/07/necomimi-brainwave-cat-ears/all/1 command, a keyboard shortcut, to do the same task. Unless you wish to only use the keyboard instead of the mouse. But in the interests of covering all THE FUTURE OF OUR TECH WORLD ACCORDING TO GOOGLE points of view I am showing this in case YMMV. This article may be a bit esoteric but it is only one person's view on where http://www.cultofmac.com/179195/merge-all-safari-windows-into-one-with-a-keyboard-shortcut- Google is taking us - whether we wish to go along or not. Quite a few articles os-x-tips/ critically examining Google have begun appearing in the internet in recent times. I am sure you have seen a few but perhaps not considered them deeply. GOOD THINGS DO COME FROM RUPERT MURDOCH Remember that Google now owns YouTube. So every time you look at a I have mentioned a few times new software becoming available to encrypt YouTube item your details are added to the file Google already holds on you. mobile phone calls and data. This new one, TigerText, only secures your data Now I am not going to delve into the pluses and minuses of or the world [email and messaging] but does have immediate Dropbox integration. domination aims of Google. Remember Google now powers the great majority http://www.cultofmac.com/179147/tigertext-with-dropbox-offers-secure-multiplatform- of the world's smartphones. Just putting out an interesting article, that's all. messaging-and-file-sharing/ YMMV. And I am not pushing a pro or against Google, or any other tech company like Apple, line and I have no intention of starting a flame or political MOUNTAIN LION war over this. When any system upgrade is released the Mac web comes alive with tips, hidden http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-57470853-93/how-google-is-becoming-an-extension-of- preferences, bugs, etc. I am listing here only a few that will interest me and your-mind/ may interest you. You don't have to look far in the web to find a boatload more. I have not yet upgraded to 10.8 Mountain Lion so I can not offer any iCloud.com comments on any of these but they are some which I suspect I will need when I did not adopt @mac or @me addresses so I don't know whether this will I do upgrade. They are the more obvious ones so they may be relevant to Page 12 you also. Some references are duplicated because of different explanations it aired in any of the sneak previews or leaks of Mountain Lion before release but you can sort that out. http://informationarchitects.net/blog/mountain-lions-new-file-system/ Mail upgrade has potential to confuse you First, Apple has begun publishing Support Documents of Mountain Lion and http://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=2012080521491533#comments undoubtedly there will be many more to come. http://support.apple.com/kb/index?page=search&q=Mountain FULL REVIEW OF MOUNTAIN LION %20Lion&src=support_site.kbase.search.advanced Here is the address for the full ArsTechnica review, for when you have a few MacWorld Bugs and Fixes days to spare for some light reading. http://www.macworld.com/article/1168016/ http://arstechnica.com/apple/2012/07/os-x-10-8/ bugs_and_fixes_troubleshooting_mountain_lion.html Automatic Application Termination. Apparently this feature is present in Lion APPLE ADVERTISING but I have never noticed it. There is some conflicting discussion on this on Apple has released some new advertisements which have drawn quite a bit the web. If it fixes the frustrating behaviour of Preview then I will be deliriously of flak. I have not seen them and do not know if they have been shown in happy. Read all three web sites, particularly the comments. The second one Australia but then I only rarely watch commercial TV. Here they are. is page 18 of the massive Mountain Lion review published by John Siracusa http://www.cultofmac.com/181544/apple-airs-two-new-mac-ads-during-the-olympics-video/ on Arstechnica [I think considered the definitive review]. But then the same web site set out what they call the 'Ten Worst Apple Ads'. http://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=20120726192014497#comments Considering the time they were produced I do not think they are all 'bad'. http://arstechnica.com/apple/2012/07/os-x-10-8/18/#automatic-termination http://www.cultofmac.com/182021/the-top-10-worst-apple-ads-of-all-time-feature/ http://tidbits.com/article/13174 WiFi Diagnostics SECURITY STILL WILL NOT LIE DOWN http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-13727_7-57487340-263/apple-enhances-wi-fi-diagnostics-in- mountain-lion/ This page is tied up with the web surfing tracking/cookies/privacy thing. It is Disability Accessibility a $10 app. Whether you think it is worth it is up to you. There are other ways http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/12/07/18/ to do what is does but this may be simpler. inside_os_x_108_mountain_lion_gm_new_ios_style_accessibility.html http://www.macworld.com/article/1168017/destroy_internet_tracking_files_with_privacyscan.html Keeping your Mac awake. I don't know if this tip works, I am just putting Kaspersky is a name frequently mentioned recently for discovering malware it out there. aimed at your Mac. Is this a case of nothing is what it seems? Some light http://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=20120801003744629 reading. I mentioned some weeks ago that the 'Save As' command was being returned http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2012/07/ff_kaspersky/all/1 in Mountain Lion. Apparently there is a sting in the tail. Read carefully. Cloud security is a topic which is hand in hand with Cloud Storage but did http://www.cultofmac.com/182836/mountain-lion-save-as-command-also-overwrites-original- not seem to receive much traction until this last week [I am writing this on file/ 7 Aug 2012]. Password protection is paramount. http://macperformanceguide.com/MountainLion-SaveAs-data-destruction.html http://www.macworld.com/article/1168035/security_in_the_icloud_age.html Expose http://www.techhive.com/article/2000251/how-to-control-the-keys-to-your-cloud-storage- http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-13727_7-57485222-263/restore-classic-expose-behavior-in- castle.html mountain-lion/ Safari 6. Elsewhere is this priceless tome is a short piece I prepared on a PACIFIST IS STILL AROUND feature of Safari v6. Here are some additional explanations I have not needed to use the Pacifist app for years and I guess that is testament http://www.macworld.com/article/1168015/how_to_save_search_urls_in_safari_6.html http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-13727_7-57484009-263/preview-all-tabs-with-safari-in-mountain- to the integrity of the Mac OS in the last few years. Indeed I was not aware lion/ it was still alive. It has just been updated to v3.0.8. Those of you who have http://www.macworld.com/article/1167878/ used it need no introduction, but for the rest it is a very handy tool which safari_6_for_lion_adds_unified_search_bar_more.html will allow you to extract some files of the OS which have been screwed up New File System. This is the first I have heard of this change, I don't think and replace just those files from a fresh download without the need for much Page 13 larger restore. Certainly worth the $20 if you do a bit of tinkering or are just Turn an old iMac into a full media centre plain unlucky. http://www.charlessoft.com/ by Garry Brooke MACBOOK UPDATE Introduction If you bought a 2012 MacBook you should read this. http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/12/07/18/ With modern TVs, sound systems and PVRs, there are a lot of people apple_fixes_cpu_power_use_usb_issues_for_2012_macbooks.html also buying what are called ‘media centres’. Media centres can provide a range of functions to complement other devices including: FOTOGRAPHY FREAKS I do not know how useful this would be but you might use it. • storing digital data for music and video; http://www.cultofmac.com/182678/the-1-iphone-macro-lens/ • serving data to other devices; • accessing the internet; ANOTHER DAY, ANOTHER BROWSER • networking with computers and other devices. Somebody please try this and let us all know your opinions. http://www.maxthon.com/mac/ Media centres can cost quite a lot. A high quality centre can cost upwards of $720 (e.g. ASRock Ion 330HT-BD media centre PC) to $3,000. I TOLD YOU WHAT WOULD HAPPEN IF YOU GOOGLED THE WORD http://www.pcworld.idg.com.au/review/home_entertainment/asrock/ion_330ht-bd/327892 'GOOGLE' Here is what Wikipedia says: Whoops! You broke the Internet! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Home_theater_PC. AND ONE LAST THING But there is a way to get a very cheap media centre: use an old Apple This has been around for a while but is still quite amusing. You do not need Mac ! to speak German to appreciate it. http://www.snotr.com/video/8965 Any old Apple iMac or laptop would do the job although, it might be difficult if it is more than 8years old and can’t run OS X 10.4 (Tiger). It’s better if the old Mac can run OS X 10.5 (Leopard). The Mac Mini was intended to be a media centre PC and works well but, it’s best to avoid those which can only run the first version of Front Row. Front Row v.1 had some limitations and flaws. Front Row v.2 needs as a minimum, OS X Still Not Sure? 10.5 (Leopard). So, an old Mac Mini running Leopard would do well. The editor desk is often held for years and years. Why? Because it's hugely Anyway, this is the story of how I’ve developed an old iMac into satisfying to produce something the WHOLE club values. More than half something approaching a real media centre. our members never attend presentation nights, but stay in the club because The first connection of our newsletter. THAT'S an impact. And if you don't think it's satisfying to provide that much value for all our members - then BOY are you in My iMac 15” Flat Panel was working well. It was also very convenient and for an enviable surprise. easy to use with great sound from the Apple Pro external speakers (I still Be game. Get the best job in the club. Then let it go to your head! believe they were designed by Harmon Kardon). Here is what it looks like: Page 14 It’s a 15” flat panel 800Mhz G4 digital tuners and can record up to 5 digital broadcasts at once. They PowerPC model. The latest OS also have a good variety of connectors so that they can connect to other it can run is 10.4.11. But, the devices – TVs, obviously, but also computers. PVRs use hard disk drives to old iMac was getting left behind store the digital recordings. by software makers and Apple had stopped issuing security My new PVR came with an ethernet connection. It also had software to updates for OS X 10.4 Tiger. provide a web server and an FTP server. That meant that recordings on So, In late 2009, I bought a the PVR could be accessed from a computer (or any network capable new iMac 27”. This left the old device). It also meant that recordings taken from somewhere else could iMac spare. be ‘uploaded’ to the PVR. So, for example, YouTube videos could be copied from a computer onto the PVR and played back through the TV. I could have tried to sell the old iMac but, after 6 years, it [Note that some PVRs can connect to the internet directly and access wouldn’t have sold for much. YouTube and other video sites. But, my PVR isn’t so clever.] So, I wondered what else I could do with it. As it turns out, there was a lot. So, I realised that I could connect the old iMac to the PVR and access recordings via the iMac. That meant I could backup those recordings in To start, I moved the old iMac out to the lounge room, on a table case the PVR hard drive failed. Remember, the hard drive inside a PVR is beside the TV cabinet. It’s lucky that the old iMacs look so good – it much the same as the hard drive inside a computer. It’s sensible to looks like a piece of quality lounge furniture. It’s almost a piece of art ! backup files on a computer so, it’s sensible to do the same on a PVR. I also had a collection of videos on my new iMac 27” that I wanted to To start with, I decided to use the old iMac like an iPod connected to a watch on the TV. stereo hi-fi. So, I bought a connector cable. One end plugs into the headphone socket on the iMac. The other end plugs into the left and So, I found an old ethernet cable, plugged one end into the ethernet right RCA-type sockets in the back of the stereo amplifier. You can buy socket on the iMac and the other into the ethernet socket on the PVR. If these cables from many computer and electrical parts suppliers. I bought you don’t have a spare ethernet cable, you can buy them from just about mine from Dick Smith for $14. every computer shop and electrical parts supplier for less than $10. So, I could turn on the iMac and, automatically, start iTunes, turn on the [Note that some manufacturers label ethernet sockets as “LAN”.] amplifier and start playing tracks from iTunes. Now, the connector cable isn’t a true high quality connection. Nonetheless, the sound quality out of I then spent a lot of time fiddling around with the network settings on the the amplifier was really good. I was chuffed. iMac. I got very confused and nothing worked until I sought help from the PVR manufacturer. One of their people reminded me that the IP addresses At one time, I did look at buying a CD player. But, the iMac can play of the PVR and the iMac need to be different (palm of hand slaps CDs in its “Combo” drive from within iTunes. So, my old iMac was turned forehead !). I was trying to make them the same and so nothing worked. into an iPod and a CD player as well. There were settings to get right on the PVR too. The PVR manual was reasonably helpful on that. Connecting to a PVR So, with a working network between the PVR and the iMac I was ready to That was back in late 2009. In September 2010, I decided to buy a get going. Now, OS X has a built-in FTP client which enables FTP servers digital (or personal) video recorder (PVR). A PVR usually has one or two to be accessed from the Finder. It’s very handy. To access FTP servers Page 15 from the Finder: • create new recording timers; • view details on the programme currently being recorded; • Go to the “Go” menu. • view system information about the PVR. • Select “Connect to server…”. • If you have a local network connected to the Mac (which is what I I have to say though, the PVR web server isn’t very quick and it only had), click on the “Browse” button. The IP address of the connected works on one file at a time. server should appear in the “Server Address” box. If you are accessing an ftp site over the internet, type in the IP address of the server to If you have been using a PVR for a while, you will probably build up quite which you want to connect eg. “ftp://nnn.nnn.nn.nn” (where n is the a collection of recordings spread across a number of folders and sub- number of the address). folders. My PVR doesn’t provide any way to get a full listing of the • Click on “Connect” and an icon of the server should appear on the recordings that is easy to read on the screen let alone on paper. So, I Desktop. Open it just like a hard drive and navigate through the folders have to remember which I have seen and which not. It’s not like looking to the files you want. at the DVD collection where you scan your eye over the labels. I have to explore each folder separately. The FTP client in OS X is handy but lacks a lot. The main problem is that it’s read only. You can’t upload files or change any files on the FTP So, I am working on ways to get a listing of all the recordings. Currently, server. Also, it gets totally confused if there are a lot of files on the I have an AppleScript to produce a listing. It’s proving difficult because it server. Usually it will show empty folders even though they are full of uses the Finder FTP client which as mentioned earlier isn’t very reliable. files. Anyway, I’m going to keep on working at it. So, in the long run it’s better to install a separate FTP client. There are Connecting to a TV – Part 1 quite of lot of good FTP clients. My favourite is Cyberduck (http:// Earlier this year my old TV’s tube died and I had to buy a new TV. I got cyberduck.ch/) which is free. Now, my old iMac can only run OS X 10.4.11 a TV with a 32” LCD screen. TVs these days are all digital and they also (Tiger). Most software has been updated a lot since my iMac was new come with a mass of connections. Manufacturers know that people will and will not work on Tiger. So, I had to locate an old version of want to connect their TVs to PVRs, media servers, computers, stereo Cyberduck on their web site. I use version 3.2.1. amplifiers etc. So, they provide many kinds of connectors. Mine came with So, with Cyberduck, I could: a lot including a VGA connection and I wanted to connect the old iMac up to the TV. • access the FTP server on my PVR to backup files to iMac and to a Firewire drive attached to the iMac (which was faster than the USB VGA stands for Video Graphics Array. It’s a standard connection on the PVR); way to connect computers to displays and it’s now • change the folder structure on the PVR hard drive very easily; quite old. I first saw it used on an IBM PC more • rename, move and delete files on the PVR; and than 20 years ago. Nonetheless, it’s still available on • upload files from the iMac to the PVR. a lot of computers and other devices including my old iMac. A VGA socket looks like this: As I mentioned earlier, the PVR also had a web server. So, I could open Safari on the iMac and access recordings on the PVR that way. In A cable that plugs into a VGA socket addition to what the FTP server provided, the PVR web server could do usually looks like this: some more interesting things: Page 16 The VGA socket on my iMac looks different. It’s a “mini-VGA” that was get better quality video and more features. chosen by Apple because it’s smaller (makes sense !). Here is a picture of the connectors on my iMac. The min-VGA is on the right: This was great but, there was another, small, problem. I couldn’t control the iMac with the keyboard or mouse from the arm chair. I had to get up, walk over to the iMac, do what I needed and walk back. I felt that had to be an easier way and there was. All Apple Macs have Bluetooth wireless capability. Bluetooth is a very useful standard for wireless communications between many different devices. It’s well known in mobile phones but is also built into Apple iMacs and laptops. The Apple wireless keyboard, mouse and trackpad use Bluetooth. I decided that I wanted to control the iMac wirelessly. The old iMac did not have a Bluetooth receiver built in. So, I had to buy a USB Bluetooth adapter. I bought mine for $15.90 ($6 plus shipping) from MacFixit Australia. It plugs into one of the spare USB sockets on the back of the iMac. The adapter I bought was very basic So, I needed an adapter to connect and didn’t have a great range but it did the job. There are better from the min-VGA port on the iMac to adapters but, this was just an experiment for me. Being a $6 giveaway, the VGA socket on the TV. I bought you can guess it might not work well. Sure enough, it stopping working an adapter from Mac1 in Fyshwick. It after a few days so, I sent them an e-mail to MacFixit asking about a cost $20. It looks like this: replacement. They sent a replacement the next day. Then I bought a standard VGA cable to go from the adapter to the TV. Anyway, it looks like this: Like ethernet cables, VGA cables are available from many places. Mine cost $15 at AB&T Systems in Phillip. Although the iMac didn’t have a Bluetooth receiver, OS X 10.4 does have Bluetooth capability. So, after I plugged in the adapter, I opened System After all that you are wondering why use VGA ? Well, the old iMac is Preferences and found that the Bluetooth pane was now visible. able to run two displays at once in video mirroring mode. You can see people use that feature when doing presentations at ACTApple monthly [One of the truly excellent features of Mac OS X is that it can recognise meetings. The projector is just a duplicate display. So, with the VGA what capabilities a Mac has and make available the software needed to connection, the TV turns into a computer monitor. Now I can see the use them. So, when it found there was a Bluetooth receiver, it made iMac screen on a 32” LCD display ! visible the Bluetooth preferences pane. It just worked !] So, with the iMac VGA connection to the TV, I could: I clicked on the “Setup new device…” button, ran the Bluetooth Setup and all was working. • play video files and DVDs on the iMac and watch them on the 32” screen; and So, I could sit in the armchair and use the Apple wireless keyboard (lifted • listen to the sound through the stereo amplifier (using the headphone from my 27” iMac) to control the old iMac. This worked very well with socket on the iMac as before). playing DVDs and also with playing music through iTunes. More recent Mac have better video connections. So, your Mac might have a DVI connector or have composite video capability. If so, you will Page 17 Connecting to a TV – Part 2 Version 2 of Front Row would be a lot better. It doesn’t tie into iTunes so much and copes better with DVD files. I tried running version 2 but, it was Then, another thought. The new iMac came with Front Row, a nice simple incompatible with OS X 10.4 Tiger. It required framework components that media player application. I wondered if Front Row could work on the old were not available in Tiger. So, end of the Front Row story. iMac. In fact is does. But the process of making it work and the result is just not worth it. Connecting to a TV – Part 3 I first had to locate a copy of the Front Row software that would work As you can guess, the new TV came with ethernet networking capability. on OS X 10.4 Tiger. That was version 1.3.1. I downloaded a copy from So, I had to have a go at networking the old iMac to the new TV and the Apple downloads web site. find out what more it could do. Front Row is designed to work with Apple’s Infra Red (IR) Remote. So, the My new TV needed a crossover ethernet cable. A crossover cable is the installer looks for an IR receiver. My old iMac didn’t have an IR receiver same as a standard cable but has the wires reversed. A standard or so, the Front Row installer failed. So, I had to edit the installer script to ‘straight-through’ cable is used for connecting two different devices e.g. a skip that step. Secondly, the installer didn’t have the original application computer and an ethernet router. A crossover cable is used to connect but, was an updater. It looked for an old version of Front Row before two devices of the same type e.g. two routers. For some reason the TV installing. So, the script had to be edited to skip that step too. So, Front needed a crossover cable even though it was a different device. I bought Row was installed. a cable from AB&T Systems for $8. Then, there was another problem. Front Row would not start because the After creating a new network ‘location’ on the iMac (to distinguish the TV iMac didn’t have an IR receiver. To fool Front Row into ignoring that from the PVR), I had a working network between the iMac and the TV. As problem, it’s necessary to edit a number files which Front Row checks it turns out, there was not a lot that could go between the iMac and the when it starts. Rather than going through the entire process manually, I TV. The new TV didn’t have much capability unless there was internet used a small app called “Front Row for Tiger”. But, that didn’t finish the access or another device from the same manufacturer. However, the TV job. I needed another app to ‘activate’ Front Row. It was called “Activate did have DLNA capability. DLNA stands for Digital Living Network Alliance. Front Row”. It enabled me to start and use Front row with the keyboard. It’s an agreement between a number of manufacturers on a standard way I ran it and Front Row worked. to connect their products. All DLNA certified products work together. Most media centres are DLNA compliant. So, I wondered if I could turn the old So, I thought, I can sit back in the armchair and with the wireless iMac into a DLNA media server. keyboard control Front Row on the big TV screen just like on a Mac Mini. Well I can, barely. For playing music, Front Row version 1 was tied A DLNA media centre is just a kind of computer running DLNA compliant heavily into iTunes. It could only see and play music tracks that were software. So, it’s not a stretch to make DLNA software that works on a selected (i.e. ticked) in iTunes beforehand. Also, it would only play tracks standard computer like the iMac. It turns out that there is a lot of DLNA listed in the Front Row playlist. It’s really not convenient because you software available for the Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard and later. But, there is have to tick the tracks you want directly in iTunes first. very little available for OS X 10.4 Tiger. Nonetheless, there were a few to try on my iMac. The best I found were EyeConnect from Elgato Systems Then, I found that a problem with video files. Front Row relied on iTunes (who make the EyeTV) and PS3 Media Server. I also tried XBMC, and to play videos too. But iTunes 9.2.1 would not play any videos on the Vuze. old iMac and even if it did, it was very slow. So, overall, Front Row wasn’t a lot of use. I settled on EyeConnect version 1.6.7 (the last version released for PowerPC Macs). EyeConnect is good because it operates in the Page 18 background without requiring a user interface. Changes are made using a So, in effect, the TV remote is controlling the iMac which, I think, is quite System Preferences Pane. So, it doesn’t perceptively slow down the Mac something. at all. However, even though I am using an old version, it still requires an authentication key to be purchased. EyeConnect does have a plug-in architecture which has a lot of promise. Plug-ins could be used, for example, for translating files between formats. EyeConnect comes with some important plug-ins. However, I’ve not been able to find any more separately. PS3 Media Server is good because it is free and has a very good range of built-in plug-ins for translating files and can use translation facilities in other programs. However, it takes more system resources, especially memory and is slower. It does noticeably slow down the iMac and takes time to change settings. Again, I had to find an old version that would run on the old iMac. XBMC is well known media server software. It used to be called XBox Media Centre. Despite the Microsoft connection, it is free open source software with versions for many different computers. Even the most recent version runs on the old iMac. However, it was so slow that the TV gave up waiting for files to be transmitted. Also, the procedure to add videos to the library without web access was just too difficult. Vuze had a good library but, music and video files were served so slowly that the TV couldn’t display them. It slowed the iMac down to a crawl. For the time being I’m using EyeConnect. The DLNA network connection carries full digital sound and video. So, I could connect the TV directly to the stereo amplifier giving full digital EyeConnect preferences pane quality sound to music and videos served by the iMac. If you are using a more recent Mac as your home media centre, and so So, when I started the DLNA feature on the TV, it connected to the iMac can run OS X 10.5 (Leopard), more good DLNA software is available. and displayed a list of the media sources available. I could then: Examples are Serviio, TwonkyMedia, MediaLink, isedora and Plex. The more recent versions of all DLNA software also work better with iTunes, iPhoto • play music from the iTunes Library; and Aperture. • plays videos, again, from iTunes Library or from a folder on the iMac hard drive or an external drive; Next steps ? • view pictures in iPhoto or stored in a folder; and So, I now have the old iMac connected up in four ways. What more might • use the TV remote to navigate lists of files, play, fast forward, rewind I do ? and stop. I could add WiFi networking. I would have to buy a WiFi adapter which Page 19 would plug into the underside of the iMac. Then I could access files on Why Did I Buy A Mac? I retired in 1989 after 10-15 years as the new iMac without copying via a portable disk drive. I might also be manager/program writer of 3 data able to access the internet via my wireless router. by Ian Reynolds bases in the then Commonwealth Dpt of Health. With a WiFi adapter for the TV, it should be possible for the TV to access files on the new iMac. It might be cheaper to find a WiFi adapter When I told my work mates I was going to buy a home computer, I was told for the 15” iMac and it can then serve files from the new iMac to the by those who used them to buy a Mac as they were the best. One of my TV. advisers was no less than our fellow member Dave Roberts. Also, the hard drive in my iMac is only 60Gb. It might be worthwhile to So I went out, got quotes, and bought a Mac Plus with external Hard Drive upgrade it to 1Tb. That will give me more space to store recording from Michael Thompson. He was responsible for my joining the Apple Mac backups, converted DVDs and downloaded videos. Club years ago. What did I first use it for? Conclusion My first big job was to put thousands(!) of books - I at present have 6189 Anyway, here is a list of things my old iMac can now do: books (General 2630, War 1637, Religion 1402, Railways 520) - onto Microsoft • play sound through the stereo amplifier; File. A very good spreadsheet which I still use on my Mac Classic 2. Its my • serve photos, music and videos to the TV with playback controlled by sole use for the Classic 2 as the program will not work on the modern iMac. the TV remote and with sound through the stereo amplifier; My next effort was to write detailed logs over 7 years (1991 to 1997) of my • manage files on the PVR via FTP and web browser; expeditions to Antarctica, 6 logs in all. The biggest was 79 pages. Which is • remote control via Bluetooth; why I have kept my ImageWriter printer with continuous feed. I also wrote • turn the TV into a full sized monitor and so, play DVDs and video diaries of some of my trips to Europe. Of course I also used it for writing files through the TV and amplifier; and letters and articles. • start Front Row to play music (a bit) and videos (perhaps when I’ve got it working). Then in 2001 I joined the internet! Mainly because I was on a committee and communications were mainly by e-mails. Assuming no cost for using a spare old iMac, the total cost of my new media centre was $72.90 which is not a lot. If you don’t have an old What do I use my other Macs for now? iMac lying around it might be worthwhile buying one second hand. iMac for e-mails and digital photos. It has a Lexmark Printer and scanner How well all this works for you will depend on the make and model of attached. TV and PVR you have as well as the model and operating system of Power Mac 7200 for writing letters, articles etc as I still have ink for my your Apple Mac. Generally, the more recent they are, the more functions Stylewriter printer. Why throw inks away? Also I have an Astra scanner there are, the better they work and the easier they are to use. If you connected to it which goes well and I can print my scans. have an old Mac that can run OS X 10.5 Leopard or is a G5 model or more recent, you will have access to a much wider range of software What I DON'T do (never been really interested) is spend hours at night options. Front Row version 2 would be much better. searching the web and downloading. So I don't need to constantly upgrade to the latest Mac. I'm not one of those who have the attitude of GOTTA HAVE So, if you don’t have a media centre already but you do have an old latest machine etc just for having it!! I think there some people who often Apple Mac, don’t trash it, give it away or sell it. Keep the old Mac and look down on those members who do not wish/need to constantly upgrade. turn it into very nice home entertainment media centre. Page 20 Unless held by the author as indicated, copyright on all material in the The Fine Print ACTApple Newsletter rests with the editor. 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