#FF00AA

@apple@

Is your iMac randomly shutting down for no good reason? Here’s what you don’t want to do: You don’t want to reinstall the latest combo 10.4.7 update just in case it might be a software problem (which it isn’t, of course it isn’t, you feel in your bones that it isn’t and you’re right) — I don’t know why people seem to recommend that all over the web, but it just screwed up my system. And another thing: You don’t want to try and reinstall from your system disc — I don’t know why I thought I could get away with it, sucidal instinct maybe, but obviously the computer shut down in the middle of the install and borked my system further. And did you know that you can’t FireWire-boot from just any external backup drive? I could have sworn I had tested it, though. No, actually, I am certain I tested it. Maybe I made a mistake with RsyncX in the meantime.

Thank heavens for the Mac mini I bought for no reason last summer. And for target mode.

 

@apple@

This was one of my biggest fears when I seriously considered switching to the Mac: that I’d get component failure. On a Friday night. In the middle of August. And I would have to wait until Monday to get any fixing at all done, and that fixing would entail living my life and blood computer into foreign hands for a week. Or two. Or three, there’s no telling, what with being in August.

My next Mac is so going to be a Mac Pro (with two drives in RAID-1 and a third, bigger one for Time Machine). And I’ll have two of these, entirely identical, in case one is ever in trouble. The same with 30-inch Cinema Displays. And Cintiqs.

 

@apple@

~stevenf:

But from where I sit, right now, Leopard Preview is not to Tiger as Tiger Preview was to Panther.

I’m using a Mac mini with Panther right now, and I have to say — apart from unified windows, and the latest Quicksilver betas, there isn’t a whole lot I’m missing from my usual Tiger install. (Okay, Panther’s Mail is a bit prehistoric in comparison. But usable.)

And yet I was much more excited for Tiger than I am now for Leopard. Goes to show.

 

@apple@

Well, there’s another thing I’m missing: for some reason, on this computer, the Microsoft drivers won’t recognize my trackball, and won’t let me assign commands to the extra buttons. While Exposé happily lets me set a “Button 4” trigger to show all windows, I need a solution to map Cmd-W to the fifth button — reading tabbed news in NetNewsWire and tabbed webcomics in Safari isn’t nearly as fun if I’ve got to reach for the keyboard or close box each time I’m done with a page. Any suggestions?

Oh, wait, my bad (well, not quite). The Microsoft Mouse drivers detect what kind of mouse you have when you install them, and never try again afterwards — even though the illustration seems to indicate you only have to plug the mouse in in order to configure it. And the manual refers you to an “Update Mouse” button that is nowhere to be found in real life.

(Refraining from criticizing Microsoft’s Mac software, because it is actually several orders of magnitude better than their Windows software, whereas Apple’s Windows versions of their software is utter crap.)

 

@misc@

Oh, damn. I don’t have Panther versions of my thumbnail scripts. Big pink squares all the way, then.