As you know, I'm a tinkerer. In fact, I'm working on something right now that may soon see the light of day in some form, to teach those of you interested in having a bit more online security while out and about, one good way to get it.
But that's not what this post is about. Well, not exactly. It's about using your mobile devices, and a type of security. Specifically, your feeling secure that you have a backup of your data. Sure, many of us do (and all of us should) let our computers do the automatic backups to an external or networked drive on the premises, that many of them (like the Mac, ever since OS X 10.5) offer to do. But most of us figure one backup is enough.
But what if it's not? What if something happens not only to your computer, but to the backup hard drive? Fires, floods, neighborhoods in Arkansas filled with oil from an interstate pipeline that it took the national news media a good day to report (see http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/03/31/us-exxon-pipeline-spill-idUSBRE92U00220130331)… lots of things can happen. Sure, nobody wants to live in constant fear. Our culture has been tilting way too far in that direction for a while, anyway. But the unexpected can happen.
So how can you be prepared for the unexpected loss of your data? Back it up online. Or in the au currant parlance, "in the cloud". There are several companies who offer this service: Mozy, Carbonite, CrashPlan, and to a more limited extent (ie. not even possibly the entire drive of a modern Mac, PC or Linux box… rather they let you pick and choose), Google Drive and Dropbox, to name a few. I do not offer endorsements for commercial products*, but I can tell you what works for me, and why.
Most of these services have limits to how much data you can store with them, or where that data is on the computer. Some require software packages, like Java, that you may not want to install on your computer due to security or performance concerns. The one I went with, Backblaze, does not have those limits, and does not require any software except their client that installs itself in your System Preferences and on your menu bar. Being a tinkerer, I've checked out how much of my computer's system resources the Backblaze software takes up, and it's generally below 10% of a single processor core's capacity in my dual-core machine, and I've never seen it get above 25%, even when it's working as hard as it can on a task. Your mileage may vary.
One thing which would be nice (here's where the mobile thing comes in, for those who like to skim ahead) is once that data is backed up, being able to access and/or manage it from anywhere on your mobile device. Sure, there are some kinds of your data you may already be able to access from your mobile device, even if it's not (or no longer) stored there: Apple's iTunes Match service handles music, their Photo Stream service handles photos, as a few examples. If you want to go Google or Amazon, they have their services too. But those individual services each back up just that one kind of data.
So how do you get to all of your personal data from your computer, on a mobile device? Why, "there's an app for that!", of course!
And that's true for many of the above-mentioned online backup services. Sadly, thus far, it hasn't been true for Backblaze. This has been the one drawback of of my otherwise stellar experience with them.
But fear not! They've had an iOS app in development for a while (see http://blog.backblaze.com/2013/01/30/backblaze-mobile-for-iphone/) that they're putting the finishing touches on an initial release for, I would imagine while waiting through the App Store approval process. In fact, as someone who has shown interest in its development (the sign up link is somewhere in the text of the page I link to at the top of this paragraph), they've just emailed me an offer to be considered for selection to beta-test the app before its more general release.
Well, I've said I'm a tinkerer. As you'll see from some of my previous posts -and from my upcoming one(s?) about mobile security and a good way to provide it-, that's a pretty accurate description. I think I'd be a great beta tester! If you think so too… well, you can't do anything about the possibility unless you're Backblaze. But you can cheer me on, and you can also expect information on how, and how well, the final app works once it's out (Not the beta, of course. I'm sure there are NDAs I'd have to sign)!
So if you like that, great! If you're Backblaze, #BackblazeMobile !
___
* Until and unless it's my job to do so, and then I would do so in another forum.
Monday, April 01, 2013
Monday, October 01, 2012
I can feel myself slipping (and I like it?)
How do you know that being a stay-at-home parent is starting to make you lose sight of what's "normal" in adult discourse? Some might go traditional with the fact that you have entire one-sided conversations with them because they don't talk yet.
Pish tosh, I say. I was happy when Bluetooth headsets came out, so I wouldn't look quite so crazy walking down the street talking to myself.
No, the new bellwether seems to be whether you have those one-sided conversations to the tune of the Macarena. Extra points if, once the baby goes to sleep, you continue the conversation (to the same tune) with your dog. And even more points if the dog performs tricks on the chorus.
Pish tosh, I say. I was happy when Bluetooth headsets came out, so I wouldn't look quite so crazy walking down the street talking to myself.
No, the new bellwether seems to be whether you have those one-sided conversations to the tune of the Macarena. Extra points if, once the baby goes to sleep, you continue the conversation (to the same tune) with your dog. And even more points if the dog performs tricks on the chorus.
Saturday, September 22, 2012
Down-the-grade, Darling, Down-the-grade…
By the way, it has concerned me that at least a couple of threads on discussions.apple.com have said that an iOS downgrade such as I described two blog posts ago is "not possible". I feel that that's misinformation, and I don't know where it's coming from, but I don't like to end it on that note, simple to understand as it may be. This is because, while "no" is a simple answer, it's not (always?) the correct answer to this question. As my previous post states, I was able to downgrade.
You don't have to do anything illegal, or anything which will even void your warranty (because you're putting Apple-approved software on it). That said, even though I will give you a basic overview of the steps you'd need to take, I will not tell you how to get any of the individual steps done beyond what's simple to jot down here. Partially that's to avoid taking on your responsibility, partially that's because I don't want to keep writing forever. If you don't know how to do get a step I describe done, the responsibility to find out how falls on you, to research it. Search engines are your friend.
What you need:
I will say that you need to put some forethought into it. Specifically, you need to have kept a backup of your iOS 5.1.1 install file. It will be named something like "[model of your iOS device]_5.1.1_9B208_Restore.ipsw", and while 5.1.1 was the latest iOS you've used your computer to install, it will have been kept inside your "~/Library/iTunes/iPhone Software Updates" folder. That's where it is on a Mac, I don't know where it is on a PC.
If you didn't already make a backup of this file before you upgraded to iOS 6, Apple told the computer to automatically delete it and replace it with the one for iOS 6. I can't tell you where to find a replacement, sorry.
Also, be aware that anywhere inside ~/Library is not somewhere Apple wants you tinkering around in. That's why as of OS X 10.7 and later, they don't make it directly accessible. Anything that goes on in there is really designed to be done by the OS and by the programs you run, not directly by you. Changing things in there willy-nilly can make all kinds of things not work right. You have been warned.
That said, backing up a file you're legally entitled to (by the fact that you own an iOS device that will run it) is fully within your rights, and copying it (as opposed to changing it in any way) shouldn't present any functionality problems. So to get to the correct folder, just go to the "Go" menu in the Finder, select "Go to Folder," and type in the correct path to that folder. As long as you typed it in correctly, a Finder window for that folder should open. Again, I heartily recommend against deleting, moving, or changing any files in there. Just copy what you need.
As above, if the computer has already replaced and deleted this file, then you've missed your chance. There may be other ways out there to find one, but it's not one you're legally entitled to (you're legally entitled to your copy). Maybe you can see if it's available via your Time Machine backup. Beyond that, I can't help you. Sorry.
Moving on, if you want your iOS device to look and work how it did before you ever upgraded to iOS 6 (with your sounds, wallpapers, apps, music and photos, etc. in the same places), then you will also need a backup of your own data on the phone, done as close as possible to just before you upgraded to iOS 6. If you generally back up to the computer, you would have just hit the "Sync" button in the iTunes window. If you generally back up to the iCloud, I still recommend before any major iOS device upgrade, to back up to your computer by option-clicking the iOS device's icon in the left column of iTunes' window, and selecting "Back Up" from the contextual menu that pops up. This is because if you rely on Apple's iCloud backup of your iOS device alone, it will have changed things when you upgraded to iOS 6, and Apple hasn't set iCloud up to allow easy downgrades, because they want to keep the ball rolling forward.
If in doubt at all, back it up yourself. And also realize that any content you've put on the iOS device or changed since upgrading to iOS 6 (particularly irreplaceable, personally-made things like videos you've shot) won't be in that most recent iOS 5.1.1 backup of your data (because you shot it after you upgraded to iOS 6). So back such things up some other way (say, to iPhoto), before downgrading back to iOS 5.1.1.
What you do:
If you did happen to make a backup of your iOS 5.1.1 install file, then you can put your iOS device into DFU mode (if you don't know how, you can search for how to do it) and then restore the 5.1.1 install file onto the device. The way to select the 5.1.1 install file as opposed to the 6.0 install file is to hold down the "Option" key as you press the "Restore" button in iTunes. This will allow you to navigate to the 5.1.1 install file, wherever you've put it, and select that (as opposed to the most recent one in the folder discussed above, that Apple uses by default) as the source from which to restore.
Once this iOS 5.1.1 software is restored to your device, you're half done. Then, you'll want to use the most recent backup of your data from before you upgraded (discussed above), to put back onto your iOS device. Once that data is put back on, it should then be back to how it was before you upgraded to iOS 6. Be aware, how long it will take is related directly to how much data you had on your iOS device: the more data, the longer. Once that's done, you can then make your own decisions about what and how to put back content you added/changed under iOS 6.
Finally, one more point to be aware of: if iOS 6 upgraded the firmware on your device in some way that iOS 6 needed to work, but which iOS 5.1.1 is not compatible with and it can't be overwritten by the iOS 5.1.1 install file, then downgrading won't work. I don't know which devices, and in fact whether any of them, this will happen to. It didn't to mine: my downgrade just worked, and it put all of the versions of firmware that are available to view under in the Settings app under General>About back to what they had been before under iOS 5.1.1.
As far as I know if the firmware is changed by iOS 6 in a way that is not downgrade-able, then iTunes should just not allow you to perform the downgrade, and return your phone to working (such as it does) with iOS 6. Keep in mind that I am not in any way affiliated with Apple, ie. not an Apple software engineer, so I don't know that for sure. Your mileage may vary, and the fact that it worked on my iOS device doesn't mean it will work on yours. You're responsible for your own decisions and actions.
So I've said my piece. I don't think it should necessarily be simply and flatly said that "you can't" downgrade from iOS 6.0 to iOS 5.1.1. Maybe you can't on some devices, in some configurations. But I did, and I did so completely legally, without invalidating any of the services Apple provides through iOS 5.1.1, and without any highly technical or questionable shenanigans. I just know how to do some things, and researched how to do the parts I didn't. And I was open to trying it. There may be iOS devices and situations for which the method I used won't work, and I can't help you with those. But the Internet may be of help to you.
Good luck!
You don't have to do anything illegal, or anything which will even void your warranty (because you're putting Apple-approved software on it). That said, even though I will give you a basic overview of the steps you'd need to take, I will not tell you how to get any of the individual steps done beyond what's simple to jot down here. Partially that's to avoid taking on your responsibility, partially that's because I don't want to keep writing forever. If you don't know how to do get a step I describe done, the responsibility to find out how falls on you, to research it. Search engines are your friend.
What you need:
I will say that you need to put some forethought into it. Specifically, you need to have kept a backup of your iOS 5.1.1 install file. It will be named something like "[model of your iOS device]_5.1.1_9B208_Restore.ipsw", and while 5.1.1 was the latest iOS you've used your computer to install, it will have been kept inside your "~/Library/iTunes/iPhone Software Updates" folder. That's where it is on a Mac, I don't know where it is on a PC.
If you didn't already make a backup of this file before you upgraded to iOS 6, Apple told the computer to automatically delete it and replace it with the one for iOS 6. I can't tell you where to find a replacement, sorry.
Also, be aware that anywhere inside ~/Library is not somewhere Apple wants you tinkering around in. That's why as of OS X 10.7 and later, they don't make it directly accessible. Anything that goes on in there is really designed to be done by the OS and by the programs you run, not directly by you. Changing things in there willy-nilly can make all kinds of things not work right. You have been warned.
That said, backing up a file you're legally entitled to (by the fact that you own an iOS device that will run it) is fully within your rights, and copying it (as opposed to changing it in any way) shouldn't present any functionality problems. So to get to the correct folder, just go to the "Go" menu in the Finder, select "Go to Folder," and type in the correct path to that folder. As long as you typed it in correctly, a Finder window for that folder should open. Again, I heartily recommend against deleting, moving, or changing any files in there. Just copy what you need.
As above, if the computer has already replaced and deleted this file, then you've missed your chance. There may be other ways out there to find one, but it's not one you're legally entitled to (you're legally entitled to your copy). Maybe you can see if it's available via your Time Machine backup. Beyond that, I can't help you. Sorry.
Moving on, if you want your iOS device to look and work how it did before you ever upgraded to iOS 6 (with your sounds, wallpapers, apps, music and photos, etc. in the same places), then you will also need a backup of your own data on the phone, done as close as possible to just before you upgraded to iOS 6. If you generally back up to the computer, you would have just hit the "Sync" button in the iTunes window. If you generally back up to the iCloud, I still recommend before any major iOS device upgrade, to back up to your computer by option-clicking the iOS device's icon in the left column of iTunes' window, and selecting "Back Up" from the contextual menu that pops up. This is because if you rely on Apple's iCloud backup of your iOS device alone, it will have changed things when you upgraded to iOS 6, and Apple hasn't set iCloud up to allow easy downgrades, because they want to keep the ball rolling forward.
If in doubt at all, back it up yourself. And also realize that any content you've put on the iOS device or changed since upgrading to iOS 6 (particularly irreplaceable, personally-made things like videos you've shot) won't be in that most recent iOS 5.1.1 backup of your data (because you shot it after you upgraded to iOS 6). So back such things up some other way (say, to iPhoto), before downgrading back to iOS 5.1.1.
What you do:
If you did happen to make a backup of your iOS 5.1.1 install file, then you can put your iOS device into DFU mode (if you don't know how, you can search for how to do it) and then restore the 5.1.1 install file onto the device. The way to select the 5.1.1 install file as opposed to the 6.0 install file is to hold down the "Option" key as you press the "Restore" button in iTunes. This will allow you to navigate to the 5.1.1 install file, wherever you've put it, and select that (as opposed to the most recent one in the folder discussed above, that Apple uses by default) as the source from which to restore.
Once this iOS 5.1.1 software is restored to your device, you're half done. Then, you'll want to use the most recent backup of your data from before you upgraded (discussed above), to put back onto your iOS device. Once that data is put back on, it should then be back to how it was before you upgraded to iOS 6. Be aware, how long it will take is related directly to how much data you had on your iOS device: the more data, the longer. Once that's done, you can then make your own decisions about what and how to put back content you added/changed under iOS 6.
Finally, one more point to be aware of: if iOS 6 upgraded the firmware on your device in some way that iOS 6 needed to work, but which iOS 5.1.1 is not compatible with and it can't be overwritten by the iOS 5.1.1 install file, then downgrading won't work. I don't know which devices, and in fact whether any of them, this will happen to. It didn't to mine: my downgrade just worked, and it put all of the versions of firmware that are available to view under in the Settings app under General>About back to what they had been before under iOS 5.1.1.
As far as I know if the firmware is changed by iOS 6 in a way that is not downgrade-able, then iTunes should just not allow you to perform the downgrade, and return your phone to working (such as it does) with iOS 6. Keep in mind that I am not in any way affiliated with Apple, ie. not an Apple software engineer, so I don't know that for sure. Your mileage may vary, and the fact that it worked on my iOS device doesn't mean it will work on yours. You're responsible for your own decisions and actions.
So I've said my piece. I don't think it should necessarily be simply and flatly said that "you can't" downgrade from iOS 6.0 to iOS 5.1.1. Maybe you can't on some devices, in some configurations. But I did, and I did so completely legally, without invalidating any of the services Apple provides through iOS 5.1.1, and without any highly technical or questionable shenanigans. I just know how to do some things, and researched how to do the parts I didn't. And I was open to trying it. There may be iOS devices and situations for which the method I used won't work, and I can't help you with those. But the Internet may be of help to you.
Good luck!
On the other hand…
This and other pages like it make me consider going back and essentially being a beta-tester for Apple (well, that's what it would be…) in my own town. I wouldn't do it in a town I didn't already know pretty well, or where I wasn't pretty sure I could find an alternate method of figuring out where the heck I was or where the heck I was going.
This is the most comprehensive page on it I've found, but as I mention, there are other pages out there. Another consideration is that there are other apps out there (Why, oh why, Apple, would you break out a perfectly good unified solution into the need to go and find others?) to fulfill the features that Apple has taken out of iOS 6 Maps (and even one they never put in, but should have). A list of a couple I'll likely use with iOS 6 is below, but look at what's on the App Store, cuz you may find one that's better for you.
For public transit, Transit ~ Directions with Public Transportation. Note that this requires iOS 6, won't run on any previous version. You may also want to investigate if there's an app that works better for you, in your particular town.
For bicycling routes (which even the iOS 5 version of the Maps app doesn't have, but Google's provided over the web for years), CycleMap.
For Google Street View, StreetViewerLite. Note that at least on iOS 5.1.1, it seems to be slower than the Maps app at this feature, but at least it has this feature.
So I'm considering going back up to iOS 6 at some point soon, due to its features and security over iOS 5.1.1. Haven't yet, but wish me luck! And of course, as always, realize that your mileage may vary.
Friday, September 21, 2012
"We have to go back, Kate. We have to go back!!!"
After more than 24 hours of checking the final version of iOS 6.0 out, I was so frustrated with their implementation of Maps that I downgraded back to 5.1.1. Do Not Disturb was neat, alternate options to either refusing or picking up a phone call you're really not ready for were neat. And the overall interface polish was evolutionary, but neat. That said, I find it unlikely that I'll upgrade back up to 6.x.x until Apple (or TomTom, or whoever has to) does some serious work on making Maps usable, intuitive, accurate & inclusive of all the methods of transport it used to be, at least (and while we're at it, why not add in bicycles, with the obligatory stern warning & legal rejection of responsibility about people being idiots while staring at their phones while on them?).
Alas, not yet. The iOS 6.0 iteration of Maps was as if Apple had burned their bridges with Google & marooned themselves on an uncharted island.
Wednesday, May 16, 2012
Networking, the nose-to-the-keyboard way
Let it be known that I love the idea of open-source software. The idea of a community of folks working to make something we can all use for not an exorbitant amount of money (often, no money at all, except that you pay for power and transmission of data) is wonderful. But it's also true that there are situations that arise out of that, where you get what you pay for.
Linux is great. Particularly Ubuntu is coming along to near Mac-like user wonderfulness, without having to maintain the fanatical control of only running it on their own hardware. Like the Mac and all other Linux releases, it provides access "under the hood" with the use of the Terminal.
Now, I'm not a computer science major. But I started using computers when my grandfather handed me a TRS-80 he couldn't figure out, and I've been using Apple IIs and Macs essentially since they came out, PCs at various workplaces, and Linux as a hobby machine on and off for years. I don't know *NIX commands like the back of my hand, but using the Terminal doesn't make me nervous in the slightest, as long as I can then see the results on the Desktop.
Now, there are one or two networking projects I've been trying to find a way to get done around the house, which have proved cumbersome on the Mac, apparently because they're features that Apple has decided they'd like to remove from their reasonably-priced client OS software, instead referring folks who know enough to want them to their still reasonably-priced, but more expensive Server OS software. These used to be things you could tinker around in the Terminal to do, but Apple sort of paved over that option as they built their pretty Lion high-rise.
So I looked for 3rd-party programs to get done what Apple used to be flexible enough to let us all do, as long as we were willing to roll up our sleeves in the Terminal. And most of those programs lost their ability to do what they did, with the Lion upgrade, because they used the same *NIX commands Terminal would have used, just with a prettier interface.
Therefore, I decided to look into Linux as a slightly less restricted way to accomplish my aims. I didn't want to dual-boot my Mac or replace its OS completely, and I didn't want to leave a virtual machine running all the time, either. So I needed some real hardware to run it on. The cheaper, the better. Free would be key.
On Mother's Day, of all days (a fact my new-mother-of-a-wife doesn't particularly enjoy), I found a discarded laptop literally sitting on a bench with a note that said "Works. Runs Win7. Free." taped to it. It was a Dell with acracked plastic casing, a dead slide-in optical drive, and USB 1.1. So no booting from a CD or flash drive. Luckily, Windows 7 was on it and it did boot, though it didn't run particularly fast. But hey, it was a single-processor 2.2GHz Pentium IV from 2002. It was great that it was still running at all.
Dude, you're getting a free, limping but alive Dell.
I used Ubuntu's "wubi" installer to get Linux on there, and went on my way. Worked pretty well, if with a small 5GB HD image, and slower than I might have expected. Where were the old interface controls to get rid of shadows and antialiasing and all that? Oh well. It worked.
So off I tinkered in Terminal. But then it started having trouble connecting to WiFi. After a while it worked, if I gave it both a wired connection first, and several failed attempts to connect to WiFi, before it would work. Windows had no such difficulty connecting to WiFi. Hmm. Well, that's OK: it was destined to work as a server, so I'd probably leave it plugged in to Ethernet almost all of the time, anyway.
Once I got my server all set up, it was off to the races. I also got clients connected up nicely. But they could only connect to the server; the server refused to actually serve them any data. Useless. And worse, while people were griping all over the forums about exactly the same problem, there was no solution listed anywhere.
So I gave up (on that purpose: the laptop is still sitting in a cabinet, much to my wife's chagrin. But she won't see it until the next time I say, "Huh I wonder if I could…") on Linux, and went back to the Mac. In the intervening time, someone had put together an app to let Lion do what previous versions had all been able to do. Yay! Better not to be running a whole other computer to do it, anyway.
Then, from work one day, I decided to use a different (virtualized) installation of Ubuntu to network into the Mac server. Wouldn't connect. Other clients had had no problem connecting at all, and getting the data they needed. But this Ubuntu client wouldn't do it for love and your lack of having to pay money.
Once again, the forums were full of people with exactly the same issue. But no answers. One person who had posted this issue had lamented the fact that he wasn't getting any answers by going back on every few days and posting in the same thread, "Bump," then "Bump," again a few days later, eventually getting silly with "Bumpity!" and who knows (not a direct quote, but in the general vein of his commentary, "Who do I have to bump around here to get some answers?!?".
Nothin'. So I love exploring on the Linux side of things. But high entry fee or not, the necessity of having a third party go in and restore services they used to offer or not, I have to stay on the Mac side of things for the moment.
And don't get me started on what the record companies are making Apple do with iTunes (and what Apple themselves is doing with iTunes, making it the catchall for their digital media… It might as well be labeled, "iTunes, kitchen sink edition!".
Whups, I said not to get me started!
Linux is great. Particularly Ubuntu is coming along to near Mac-like user wonderfulness, without having to maintain the fanatical control of only running it on their own hardware. Like the Mac and all other Linux releases, it provides access "under the hood" with the use of the Terminal.
Now, I'm not a computer science major. But I started using computers when my grandfather handed me a TRS-80 he couldn't figure out, and I've been using Apple IIs and Macs essentially since they came out, PCs at various workplaces, and Linux as a hobby machine on and off for years. I don't know *NIX commands like the back of my hand, but using the Terminal doesn't make me nervous in the slightest, as long as I can then see the results on the Desktop.
Now, there are one or two networking projects I've been trying to find a way to get done around the house, which have proved cumbersome on the Mac, apparently because they're features that Apple has decided they'd like to remove from their reasonably-priced client OS software, instead referring folks who know enough to want them to their still reasonably-priced, but more expensive Server OS software. These used to be things you could tinker around in the Terminal to do, but Apple sort of paved over that option as they built their pretty Lion high-rise.
So I looked for 3rd-party programs to get done what Apple used to be flexible enough to let us all do, as long as we were willing to roll up our sleeves in the Terminal. And most of those programs lost their ability to do what they did, with the Lion upgrade, because they used the same *NIX commands Terminal would have used, just with a prettier interface.
Therefore, I decided to look into Linux as a slightly less restricted way to accomplish my aims. I didn't want to dual-boot my Mac or replace its OS completely, and I didn't want to leave a virtual machine running all the time, either. So I needed some real hardware to run it on. The cheaper, the better. Free would be key.
On Mother's Day, of all days (a fact my new-mother-of-a-wife doesn't particularly enjoy), I found a discarded laptop literally sitting on a bench with a note that said "Works. Runs Win7. Free." taped to it. It was a Dell with acracked plastic casing, a dead slide-in optical drive, and USB 1.1. So no booting from a CD or flash drive. Luckily, Windows 7 was on it and it did boot, though it didn't run particularly fast. But hey, it was a single-processor 2.2GHz Pentium IV from 2002. It was great that it was still running at all.
Dude, you're getting a free, limping but alive Dell.
I used Ubuntu's "wubi" installer to get Linux on there, and went on my way. Worked pretty well, if with a small 5GB HD image, and slower than I might have expected. Where were the old interface controls to get rid of shadows and antialiasing and all that? Oh well. It worked.
So off I tinkered in Terminal. But then it started having trouble connecting to WiFi. After a while it worked, if I gave it both a wired connection first, and several failed attempts to connect to WiFi, before it would work. Windows had no such difficulty connecting to WiFi. Hmm. Well, that's OK: it was destined to work as a server, so I'd probably leave it plugged in to Ethernet almost all of the time, anyway.
Once I got my server all set up, it was off to the races. I also got clients connected up nicely. But they could only connect to the server; the server refused to actually serve them any data. Useless. And worse, while people were griping all over the forums about exactly the same problem, there was no solution listed anywhere.
So I gave up (on that purpose: the laptop is still sitting in a cabinet, much to my wife's chagrin. But she won't see it until the next time I say, "Huh I wonder if I could…") on Linux, and went back to the Mac. In the intervening time, someone had put together an app to let Lion do what previous versions had all been able to do. Yay! Better not to be running a whole other computer to do it, anyway.
Then, from work one day, I decided to use a different (virtualized) installation of Ubuntu to network into the Mac server. Wouldn't connect. Other clients had had no problem connecting at all, and getting the data they needed. But this Ubuntu client wouldn't do it for love and your lack of having to pay money.
Once again, the forums were full of people with exactly the same issue. But no answers. One person who had posted this issue had lamented the fact that he wasn't getting any answers by going back on every few days and posting in the same thread, "Bump," then "Bump," again a few days later, eventually getting silly with "Bumpity!" and who knows (not a direct quote, but in the general vein of his commentary, "Who do I have to bump around here to get some answers?!?".
Nothin'. So I love exploring on the Linux side of things. But high entry fee or not, the necessity of having a third party go in and restore services they used to offer or not, I have to stay on the Mac side of things for the moment.
And don't get me started on what the record companies are making Apple do with iTunes (and what Apple themselves is doing with iTunes, making it the catchall for their digital media… It might as well be labeled, "iTunes, kitchen sink edition!".
Whups, I said not to get me started!
Thursday, May 10, 2012
Nom de nomnomnomnom…
Quite often when people see us walking down the street with our dog, they comment that it must be a bird dog. The breed does happen to be a birding breed, but we're not hunters by far. So I thought recently that maybe I should cryptically retort, once receiving that comment:
"Well, you are what you eat…"
And given what's in its dog food (namely, chicken), that's partially correct. But then, it's also corn dog.
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