Installing the Apple Magic Mouse on Windows 7
Ok, so here’s a topic that you would think would be easy to do. Yet, thanks to Apple, it isn’t and, in fact, took me about 20 minutes to do something that should have taken me 2. Here’s one part of Apple that I hope changes with the new regime stepping in. As much as I admired Steve Jobs, his ideas about an Apple-centric universe were a bit over-the-top. It really makes no sense to create peripherals and tie them to only a tiny fraction of the overall computer market, especially when they’ve already written drivers for the other half of the market! Here’s hoping for some change.
Installing the Magic Mouse
This part is easy. Just turn on the mouse and add a new bluetooth device. Then, select the device and follow the wizard to complete the pairing. It’s not hard at all. The trouble is, it loads a 2006 generic Microsoft mouse driver. This driver doesn’t support any of the touch gestures. Anyway, once you’ve gotten it paired and working, you’ll quickly notice something is missing. Namely, vertical scrolling. Hmm, it makes this mouse less than ideal. So, how do you get scrolling working? Note, if you need specific instructions on setting up a bluetooth device, leave a comment below and I’ll post step-by-step instructions.
Boot Camp
To get the full (or at least as full as you’re going to get with Windows) gestures working (like vertical scrolling) with the Magic Mouse, you need to install Apple’s drivers from Boot Camp. Oh, don’t bother running over to Apple.com and looking for them, you’ll only find a bunch of updates that don’t contain the driver. Instead, you need to locate a copy of the Snow Leopard (or perhaps even a Lion) DVD. Once inserted into Windows, the Boot Camp partition should pop up. This is exactly what you need.
From here (assuming your DVD mounts on M:), go to M:\Boot Camp\Drivers\Apple\x64 or M:\Boot Camp\Drivers\Apple (for 32 bit). In this folder you will find a file called AppleWirelessMouse64.exe / AppleWirelessMouse.exe. Run this file. It will install drivers. When complete, the gestures will be enabled. However, you may have to go to Control Panel->Mouse and readjust the speed and acceleration as it gets reset after the installation.
Simple, easy, fast.. assuming you have a Snow Leopard install disk. Note, I’ve heard the drivers may not persist past a reboot. If you find this is the case, let me know and I will see if I can find a way to make that happen. :)
Update: If you’re using High Sierra and looking for Bootcamp drivers (2018 latest MacOS, visit this article to learn more about Bootcamp drivers).
Mouse won’t connect?
This is a problem I’ve found with the Magic Mouse even on a Mac. However, this has a simple fix (even if not obvious). Click the mouse several times to wake the mouse up to ask it to reconnect to Windows (or Mac) after turning the mouse on.
Drivers
Note, I’ve found the drivers on the net located here. If you find that this link no longer works, please let me know in the comments below and I’ll see if I can find another location.
Good Luck
iPad: One year later…
The iPad was introduced very close to this time last year. Now the iPad 2 is out, let’s see how it’s well it’s going for Apple and for this platform as a whole.
Tablet Format
The tablet format seems like it should be a well-adopted platform. But, does the iPad (or any tablet) really have many use cases? Yes, but not where you think. I’m not sure Apple even knew the potential use cases for a tablet format before releasing it. Apple just saw that they needed a netbook competitor, so they decided to go with the iPad. I am speculating that Apple released it with as wide an array of software and development tools to see exactly where it could go. After all, they likely had no idea if it would even take off.
Yes, the iPad has had a widely and wildly accepted adoption rate. Although, market saturation is probably close at hand with the numbers of iPads sold combined with the Android tablet entries (Samsung’s Galaxy S, Toshiba’s tablet and other tablets out or about to be released). That is, those people who want a tablet now can have one. But, the main question is, what are most people using a tablet for?
My Usage
I received an iPad as a gift (the original iPad, not the iPad 2). I find myself using it at work to take notes first and foremost. I can also use it as a systems admin tool in a pinch. However, instead of carrying paper and pencil into a meeting, I take notes in the notepad app. This is actually a very good app for taking quick notes. Tap typing is nearly silent, so no clicky key noises or distracting pencils. The good thing, though, is that these notes will sync with Gmail and you can read all your notes in Gmail. You can’t modify the notes on Gmail, but at least you have them there. You can modify them on the iPad, though. You can also sync your notes to other places as well.
My second use case is watching movies. So, I have put nearly my entire collection of movies on the iPad. Of course, they don’t all fit in 32GB, so I have to pick and choose which ones get loaded. The one thing the iPad needs, for this purpose, is more local storage. I’d like to have a 128GB or 256GB storage system for the iPad. With that amount of space, I could probably carry around my entire movie collection. In fact, I’d forgo the thinness of the iPad 2 by adding thickness to support a solid state 256GB drive.
The rest of my use cases involve reading email and searching and, sometimes, listening to music… although, I have an iPod touch for that. I might listen to music more if it had a 256GB solid state drive.
Cloud Computing and Google
This article would be remiss by not discussing competition to the iPad. There is one thing about Google’s Android platform that should be said. Android is completely integrated with Google’s platform. Apple’s iPad isn’t. Google has a huge array of already functional and soon-to-be-released cloud apps that Android can take advantage of. Apple, on the other hand, is extremely weak on cloud apps. The only cloud app they have is the iTunes store. That, in fact, is really a store and not a cloud app. So, excluding iTunes, there really isn’t any cloud platforms for Apple’s devices. That’s not to say that the iPad is excluded from Google, it’s just not nearly as integrated as an Android tablet.
Eventually, Android may exceed the capabilities of Apple’s IOS platform. In some ways, it already has (at least in cloud computing offerings). However, Android is still quite a bit more buggy when compared to IOS. IOS’s interface is much more streamlined, slick and consistent. The touch typing system is far easier to use on an iPad than on Android. Finally, the graphics performance on Android is incredibly bad. With Android, the scrolling and movement is choppy using an extremely slow frame rate. Apple’s interface is much more fluid and smooth and uses a high framerate. The transitions between various apps is clean and smooth in IOS, but not in Android. This graphics performance issue Google must address in Android. A choppy slow interface is not pretty and makes the platform seem cheap and underpowered. Worse, the platform is inconsistent from manufacturer to manufacturer (icons are different between manufacturers). Google has to addresses these performance and consistency issues to bring Android to the level where it must be.
Apple’s Blinders
That said, the iPad (or more specifically Apple) needs to strengthen its cloud offerings. If that means partnering with Google, then so be it. Apple needs something like Google Docs and Google Voice. It also needs cloud storage. It needs to create these offerings that are Apple branded that integrate with the iPad natively, not as third party add-ons through the app store. This is what Apple needs to work on. Apple is so focused on its hardware and making the next device that it’s forgetting that it needs to support its current devices with more and better cloud offerings. This is what may lead Apple out of the tablet race. This may also be what makes Google the leader in this space.
So, what things do you use your iPad for?
Let’s Find Out
| Poll 1 | Poll 2 |
Apple’s bleeding edge
Apple loves to adopt brand new bleeding edge technologies and shun existing functional and supported technologies. Case in point, Apple’s new MacBook Pro line sports a new Thunderbolt (Lightpeak) port. So, yeah, while this port is capable of 10Gb per second, there are no peripherals yet available for this technology. But, instead of placing USB 3 ports (capable of 5Gb per second) onto the MacBook Pro, they instead decided to skip this recent technology. So, the MacBook Pro comes shipped with dog slow USB 2.0 ports running at a whopping 480Mb per second. That’s ok if the only thing you want to transfer is sync data to your iPhone or iPad. For hard drives, this speed is unbearably slow.
Apple’s own stupidity
We don’t want ports with no peripheral support. We want ports that are actually supported. Simply because Apple has adopted the Thunderbolt technology doesn’t mean that it will in any way become a standard. In fact, Apple’s bleeding edge adoption of the Thunderbolt port is about as risky as the Firewire (1394) port was way back when. And, where is Firewire now? Dead.
I just don’t get why you would stick old technology on a brand new notebook when new technology already exists? There are many USB 3 adapters and peripherals that could easily get users faster speeds until (or if) Thunderbolt actually takes off.
Apple needs to wake up and realize we want to connect fast drives to external ports. So, at least give us ports where we can do this. Sure, LaCie and other manufacturers will likely start making Thunderbolt compatible drive enclosures, but they probably won’t hit stores for months or possibly even as late as 2012. Until then, we have to live with USB 2.0 ports that suck rocks for speed.
Thanks Apple.
Installing Mac OS X (Snow Leopard) in VMWare Player 3
With this article, I’ll start by saying.. please purchase your copy of Mac OS X desktop software from Apple. It’s $29 and you get the original media (which is always good to have on hand).
To start, here are the softwares you will need:
- VMWare Player 3 (need to create login to download)
- Empire EFI 1.3.2 for VMWare
- Snow Leopard Install Media (Disk or ISO)
- 7zip (for opening Empire EFI archive)
- ImageBurn (for making ISO images from CD Media)
Installing Mac OS X on VMWare Player is a pretty simple install, but note that there are some important issues that aren’t yet resolved. I’ll explain the issues, however, after the install steps.
Installation
Inside the Empire EFI 1.3.2 archive, you will see the following files:
You will see that the extracted ‘Snowy_VM’ folder contains several files besides just the EFI media. Inside the Mac OS X Server*.vmwarevm directory, you’ll see it contains two .vmx templates for VMWare. Use the .vmx file without the underscore at the beginning. Note, you’ll need to use this template to get the install going. It’s far simpler to use their existing template than trying to figure out all the proper VMWare Player settings. So, use what’s given rather than trying to reinvent the wheel. If you absolutely feel you want to reinvent, then I’ll leave that for you to determine what’s necessary.
To begin, inside VMWare Player, select File->Open a Virtual Machine. Find the .vmx file mentioned just above and open it. Once opened, it will appear as ‘Mac OS X Server 10.6 (experimental)’ in the VMWare Player selection panel. From here, you will need to modify the settings for the CDROM device under this machine. Choose the ‘Mac OS X Server 10.6 (experimental)’ imported machine and choose ‘Edit virtual machine settings’ on the bottom right of the window. Now click the on the CDROM device and under ‘Connection’ change it to ‘Use ISO image’ and browse to and select the darwin_snow.iso image inside the Snowy_VM directory’. Click ‘OK’.
You’re now ready to boot. So, click ‘Play Virtual Machine’. Once the machine has started and the system begins searching for a CDROM (read the text on the screen), you will need to change the CDROM to the Mac OS X Snow Leopard media. I recommend using an ISO media to install. So, I will assume you are using an ISO image here. At the bottom of the active VM Window, right click the CDROM icon which may now be greyed out (disconnected) and choose ‘Settings’. Locate the Snow Leopard media on your hard drive and click ‘OK’ to accept it. Check the box next to ‘Connected’ at the top of the window and click ‘OK’ at the bottom.
The system should recognize the disk change and begin to boot the media in about 10 seconds. Once the install begins, you are now installing Mac OS X. Follow the steps to install Mac OS X. Once Mac OS X is installed, reboot. Note the hard drive given in this Snowy_VM archive is ‘ready to go’. So you don’t need to format it.
Booting issues with VMWare Player and Mac OS X
Let’s pause and explain this. When you reboot the first time, the system may or may not boot up. There are two behaviors you should watch for. The first behavior is that you get to the Apple Logo screen with the spinning lines. If it never progresses beyond this grey screen, then you will need to reboot and try again.
The second behavior is that it may get past the grey screen, but then Finder never appears and you see a forever spinning cursor. If you see this, you will need to reboot and try again.
These issues are annoying, but that’s why this is ‘experimental’. So, we live with these issues.
The third issue is that you will need to continually leave the darwin_snow.iso image in the drive all of the time to boot up Mac OS X. Hey, at least it works. Leaving it in the drive is really not a problem as it boots up so quickly. Perhaps they can create a standalone booter later, but for now this works.
Note, I recommend setting up a second CDROM drive inside your Mac OS X virtual machine’s settings. This way, you leave one CDROM always set up with darwin_snow.iso and you use the second one to load/unload other ISO images. If you like, you can set the second one up to your physical drive also so you can pop real CDs in the drives as you need. Note that if you change the darwin_snow.iso image to something else, you have to remember to set it back when you’re done. If you don’t do this, Mac OS X won’t boot. So, this is why I recommend setting up a second drive for loading ISO images.
Booting up successfully
After getting through any unsuccessful boot attempts (or not), you should get to the registration screen. After going through all of the registration screens you will be at the standard Finder desktop. At this point, you might want to change things like Sound and Display. Note that the sound and display drivers are just about as good as what’s in Virtual Box. In fact, Virtual Box’s resolution setup is a bit more complete than this. So, don’t expect a whole lot here.
Suffice it to say that you will need to follow editing of the apple.com.Boot.plist file as in the ‘Installing Mac OS X on VirtualBox‘ article on Randosity. Add in the lines related to the graphics. Once you have done this, edit the virtual machine in VMWare player and choose the Display setup. Under ‘Monitors’ change it to ‘Specify Monitor Settings’ and manually change the maximum resolution to ‘1366×768’. When you reboot, Mac OS X should go into this mode. If it doesn’t work, then you may have to fiddle with the apple.com.Boot.plist file until it works. Note that the resolutions here are limited, so don’t try to set up some odd resolution as it won’t work.
Note, this is the best resolution I could find. Note that in the above directory, you’ll see the file ‘EnsoniqAudioPCI.mpkg.tar’. This is a Mac OS X driver for audio. I have tried installing this without success. But, your mileage may go farther. The trick is in getting this into the Mac. So, you’ll need to start a browser and download the EFI file again on the Mac. Then extract it, find this file and install it.
At this point, you should be all set. You may run into the booting issues from time to time, just reboot until it boots up. Hopefully this booting issue will be fixed at some point. Good luck and happy installing.
If you’re looking for something that boots consistently for Mac OS X, has better video mode support and working sound, then I would suggest setting up Mac OS X on VirtualBox. The setup for VirtualBox is a little more complex, but it boots consistently every time, has its own standalone boot loader and offers a few more features.
If you have questions, please leave a comment below.
Useless excess: Fashion Victim Edition
For whatever reason today, a lot of people can’t seem to temper their purchasing of useless things. I have to admit that I’ve been guilty of this on occasion myself, but I try to exercise restraint with purchases by asking, “Do I have a real need?”
Purchasing excess
I see lots of people buying things where they haven’t really justified a need in their lives. I’d say the most egregious example of this useless excess is the iPad. So many people walked into the purchase of this device not knowing how it would enrich their lives, how they might use it or what it benefits it might offer. Is the iPad useless excess? I’d say so. I still haven’t yet fully justified the purchase of this device for myself. The only justification I have right now is the larger screen and reading email in a portable way. Those are the justifications I’ve been able to come up with. Since a I don’t avidly read digital books, that part isn’t really overall that useful me. I do have an iPod Touch and have found this device to immensely enrich my life, though. It solved my portable music need, it has a browser, a Kindle app and email and a few admin apps for in-a-pinch situations. It has a long battery life so I have something to use pretty much anywhere, again, in-a-pinch. So, the cost and use for this isn’t useless excess for me. On the other hand, the iPad isn’t that portable, so really doesn’t work for things like portable music.
Is an iPad worth $500? Not yet for me. However, there are times where I’m walking around the office and having an iPad in hand could come in handy for spot email reading or forwarding an email. Since it also supports some administrative tools, I might even be able to justify it for the use of those tools. On the other hand, a netbook is a more powerful hardware tool (i.e., usb ports, networking ports, SD card slot, etc). So, hardware-wise, a Netbook is much more justified for what I do. They’re just a bit more cumbersome to use than an iPad. On the other hand, composing email on an iPad is basically useless. I’d much rather have a real keyboard, so I’d definitely need a dock for extended use of an iPad.
Keeping up with the Jones’
A lot of useless excess stems from ‘social’ reasons. Some people just want to show off their money. The reality is, I find this disturbing. Why would you want to buy something just to walk around and flaunt it? I really don’t relish the thought of being robbed or mugged. I mean, I can somewhat understand fashion. Not so much fashion excess (i.e., diamond studded bling), but wearing fashion to accentuate yourself we have become accustomed to. I don’t personally go for high fashionista, though. Useful fashion yes, excess fashion no. Unfortuantely, an iPad is not a fashion accessory. No computer or electronic device is (other than those trashy flashing earrings). So, why must people treat Apple products (and some computers and phones) as fashion when it clearly isn’t. You should always buy a computer for a need in your life, not because your next door neighbor has one or you ‘think’ it might be useful.
Coffee table paperweights
Now that the iPad has been out for about 9 months, I’m still not finding a solid use for the iPad in my personal life. For business use, I have a couple reasons (cited above), but these reasons are not yet enough to justify a $500 expense. In fact, I would think there’s going to be a growing used market for iPads very quickly here. People will realize they don’t need or use them and will need the money more. Especially when it is no longer the ‘chic’ device (and that’s quickly approaching). Right now is also the prime time to get rid of your iPad, not before it goes out of ‘fashion’. Additionally, it’s almost guaranteed that by spring 2011, Apple will have a new model iPad ready to ship. This will majorly devalue the resale value of the 2010 iPad. So, if you want to sell your iPad for any decent amount of change, you should consider doing it now. Otherwise, sitting on it will only devalue it down to probably the $150-200 range by end of 2011 and less then that by 2012.
By now, people should really know if the iPad has a use in their life. Only you can answer that question, but if the most you do is turn it on once a week (or less), it’s a paperweight. You should probably consider selling it now before the new iPad is released if you want any return on your investment. Granted, you may have paid $500, but you’re likely only to get about $200-250 (16GB version) depending on where you sell. If you put it on eBay as an auction, you might get more money out of it ($450, if you’re lucky). By this time next year, though, you probably won’t get half that amount on eBay.
As another example, see the Wii. Now that the Wii has been out for several years, it is no longer the ‘chic’ thing to own. Today, people are likely purchasing it because they want to play a specific game title. And, that’s how it should be. You should always buy computer gear for the software it runs, not because it’s the ‘thing to have’. Wii consoles are now in a glut and easy to find. So, if you want one today, it’s very easy to get them.
Gift excess
I know people who buy gift items not because it’s a useful gift, but because it’s the thing to have. Worse, though, is that the person who receives the gift doesn’t even use it or carry it. In this example case, it’s an iPad 64GB version. Yet, this person doesn’t carry it around or, indeed, even use it. Instead, they prefer to use their 2-3 year old notebook. What does that say about the usefulness of such useless excess?
Is the iPad considered useless excess? At the moment, yes. There may be certain professions that have found a way to use the iPad as something more than a novelty, but I’ve yet to see a business convert to using iPads as their sole means of corporate management. For example, it would say something if FedEx would adopt the iPad is their means of doing business. Instead of the small hand scanners, they could carry around the iPad to do this work. Oh, that’s right, there’s no camera on the iPad, so scanning isn’t even useful.
While this article may seem to specifically bash the iPad, it isn’t intended to focus solely on them. The iPhone is another example of useless excess. You pay $200 just to get the phone, you’re locked into a 2-4 year contract with at least $80 a month. And, the worst part, the iPhone isn’t even a very good phone. Dare I say, Nokia and Motorola still make better quality phone electronics than Apple ever has. Apple is a computer maker, not a phone maker. So, they still haven’t the experience with phone innards. So, when talking to people on the iPhone, the voice quality, call quality and clarity suffer over better made handsets. Again, people justify the purchase of an iPhone 4 because of the ‘Apps’, not because of quality. Worse, though, is that many people buying iPhones are doing so because it’s ‘the thing to have’, not because it’s actually useful in their lives. If the only thing you find yourself doing with the iPhone is talking on the phone, then you’re a victim of useless excess.
How to curb useless excess
Ask yourself, ‘How will this thing make me more productive, or solve a problem?’ If you cannot come up with an answer, it’s useless excess. Once you find at least one real need for a device, then the purchase is justified. If you just want it to have it, that’s useless excess. Just having something because you can doesn’t make you a better person. It just makes you a victim of useless excess. Simply because you can afford something doesn’t mean you should.
How do you justify an iPad purchase? For example, if you intend to mount it into a door of your kitchen as an internet recipe retrieval device and you bake or cook every day, that would be one way it could enrich your life. Although, it’s also not impervious to water or other wet ingredients, so you might want to cover it to avoid those issues. In other words, for a computer to not be considered useless excess, it would need to be used every day to provide you with useful information you can’t otherwise get.
If you’re looking for a holiday gift, don’t just buy an iPad because you can, buy it because the person will actually use and actually needs it to solve a problem.
iTunes 10 and Windows 7: We’re Back (stupid fixable problems)
In an earlier randosity article, I discuss permissions issues related to iTunes 8. We’ll, these issues have now returned with a vengeance in iTunes 10. Does Apple not actually test their software on Windows? I mean, seriously, it’s not that hard to fix this issue when installing.
Apple’s weak Windows developers
Clearly, Apple only focuses on Apple. When it comes to Windows, they just vomit out the software without thought to what crap it really is. Come on Apple, fix your crap. I’m tired of dealing with these issues that are so easily resolved.
How can Apple permanently fix this problem? Simple, the iTunes installer needs to uninstall iTunes fully and clean up all iTunes registry entries completely. Then, the installer should reinstall iTunes from a clean setup. Apple should NOT do the install-over-whats-existing-thing and hope it all works. This clearly doesn’t work.
Anyway…
If you are an iTunes 10 user and you continually keep seeing THIS WINDOW when launching iTunes:
Stupid iTunes 10 Startup Window
… and that says “Please wait while Windows configures iTunes” …
Then, follow these instructions in my earlier randosity article to fix the registry permissions for iTunes.
Ok, so the earlier fix doesn’t work. But, you can read the article as it has some relevant information about what causes the issue. Anyway, this word doc attached contains the commands necessary to reset the registry permissions on iTunes and QuickTime registry keys.
Note, since WordPress doesn’t allow attaching functioning scripts as part of the media, I have created this Word doc with the commands. You will need to use the following steps to create the script. Note you will need to quit out of iTunes before you run this command.
Steps to create the reset.cmd command from resetit.doc:
- Save the ResetIt.doc file to your hard drive
- Open it with MSOffice or OpenOffice
- Press ctrl-a to select everything in the doc, ctrl-c to copy it
- Launch Notepad (Start->All Programs->Accessories->Notepad or Windows Button->All Programs->Accessories->Notepad)
- In the Notepad window, press ctrl-v to paste
- In Notepad, File->Save As… and save the file as Reset.cmd in a location you can easily find*
- Launch a command prompt with Start->All Programs->Accessories->Command Prompt using right-click selecting ‘Run As Administrator’
- In the command prompt, cd to where you saved Reset.cmd
- Type in ‘reset.cmd’ into the command shell
Note that this script will take a few minutes to run. Once the script completes, try starting iTunes. If you no longer get this panel, it’s fixed. If you do, then you may need to run this reset script 2 or 3 times more to fully repair the permissions. The reason is that subinacl (the command that’s used to reset each key in the registry) doesn’t continue locating more keys and repairing them once an error occurs (even when it’s successful at changing things). Make sure your login account in Windows 7 is an administrator account.
I have found that the permissions were relatively easy to fix, but the difficulty is with Microsoft’s subinacl.exe command. This command doesn’t seem to work properly to drill down to keys below. This is why you will see lots of duplication in the script. The script needs to run the command multiple times to drill down and get all of the keys. This is also why you may need to run the script several times. If you find you don’t have subinacl.exe, you will need to download subinacl.exe from Microsoft.
Second Note, uninstallation of iTunes and reinstallation may not resolve this issue as the registry keys may not be deleted on uninstallation (due to permissions problems). Therefore, uninstalling and reinstalling probably won’t work. Even still, the new keys may install with the crap permissions that the existing ones already have and you’ll be right back in the same boat. The fix is to make the keys readable and writable by the current user and the administrator.
Come on Apple, fix your crap software.
*Make sure that notepad saves the file as reset.cmd and not reset.cmd.txt. To do this, in the Save As requester, make sure to type in only reset.cmd. Double check to make sure it didn’t append the .txt extension. If it does, you will need to rename this file and remove the .txt portion to run the script.
Disclaimer: The script described above modifies registry keys and is used at your own risk. These keys have been checked against what Apple uses, but following the steps above and modifying the registry is not without risk. Therefore, each user who follows these instructions assumes all risk when creating and running the above reset.cmd script.
iPad, iPod, iPhone, iConsume
While all of these new Apple devices seem really great on the surface (pun intended), with no effective local storage, the design behind these devices offers no thought on creation or export of created content. However, the design clearly targets consumption of digital goods. Effectively, this is a one-way device for content. That is, content goes in but it doesn’t come back out. The question begs, however, does Apple think that we are only consumers now? We are now relegated to being just a bunch of ravenous money spending consumers? We don’t have brains in our heads or creativity or imagination? We’re just a bunch of finger pushing consumers with portable devices?
Consumerism
If there’s anything that Apple has done in recent years with these one-way devices, it’s to solidify consumerism. That is, to sell us products that are essentially one-way content input devices. Granted, it has a camera so we can take pictures or video. And yes, they may have even managed to get a video editor onto an iPad, but these apps aren’t designed for professional level editing (or even prosumer level editing). Sure, it’s fine for some random party or perhaps even a low quality wedding souvenir, but these consumer-centric devices really don’t offer much for creativity or imagination, let alone software development. It doesn’t even much offer a way to produce a spreadsheet or a word processor document. No, these platforms are almost entirely designed for consumption of digital goods (i.e., books, movies, magazines, music, web content, games, etc).
Lack of Creativity
These devices were designed to consume, not create. Consume, consume, consume and then consume some more. Yes, some creativity apps have popped up, but they’re more game than serious. They’re there to let you play when you’re bored. Even these creativity apps must be consumed before you can use them. As these are really read-only devices (no hard drive, external storage or other ways of getting things out of the device), these creativity apps really aren’t meant to be taken seriously. In other words, these apps are there to placate those who might think these are consumer focused only. In reality, these creative apps are shells of what a real creative app looks like, such as Photoshop, Illustrator, AutoCAD or Maya. Even prosumer apps like Poser and Daz Studio are still leaps and bounds better than anything that’s available on these iConsumer devices.
Computers vs iConsumers
Computers are designed as well rounded devices capable of not only consuming content, but creating it. That is, as a computer owner, you have the choice to both produce and consume content. Granted, there are a lot of people who have no intention of writing music, painting a digital work, developing an application or writing a novel. However, with a computer, you have these choices available. With iConsumer devices, you really don’t. On IOS 4 or even Android, these devices just don’t have enough resources to run these types of full sized apps. So, you won’t find a full Office suite on the Droid or an iPhone. Even something as big as the iPad still doesn’t have a productivity suite that would work in a proper or efficient way. Granted, Android likely supports Google Docs. But, even still, I don’t want to sit around all day pecking in information on a chicklet keyboard of a phone. Give me a solid full sized qwerty keyboard any day for creation.
Cloud Computing, Operating Systems and a step backwards
Apple definitely missed the ball on this one. With a device like the iPad without any local storage, the only way this device could actually create is by using cloud computing services. Unfortunately, Apple offers nothing in cloud computing. The iTunes store is a poor alternative to that. In fact, the iTunes store is just a store. It doesn’t offer online apps like Google Docs, it doesn’t offer any types of web based or cloud based services that the iPad can consume. The sole way to deal with the iPad is through apps that you must download from the store. Yes, there may be ‘an app for that’, but many times there isn’t.
The other difficulties with apps is that they don’t work together on the device. There is no app synergy. For example, NeXTStep (the operating system that gave birth to Mac OS X and later iOS4) was a brilliant design. It offered a system where any app could extend the operating system by adding new controls or features. New apps installed could then consume those controls within its own app framework (sometimes even launching the other app to do so). With iPhone OS (any version), Jobs has taken a huge step backwards in computing. No longer is this extension system available. Apps are just standalone things that don’t interact or interrelate to or with one another. Yes, now multitasking may be back, but they’re still just standalone things. About the extent of interrelation between apps is having one app launch Safari and open a URL. Wow.. so sophisticated.
Notebook and creation tools
Granted, there are a lot of people who’s sole goal is to consume. And yes, it’s probably true that most people only want to consume. The question is, though, do you want to give up the ability to create to only consume? That’s exactly what you give up when you buy into the iPad, iPod or iPhone. When these portable devices can clearly consume and create content equally well and don’t force consumers to make this choice when purchasing a device, then the device will have its true potential. Until then, I see these consumerist devices as easy ways to give your money away. For people who don’t need portable creation tools, that’s fine. For those of us who do, then a full fledge hard drive-equipped notebook is still the only portable device that fills this void.
Cloud Computing Standards
We are not where we need to be. Again, the iPad was a shortsighted rapidly-designed device. It was designed for a small singular purpose, but that purpose wasn’t long term designed. Sure, the OS is upgradeable and perhaps the device may get to that point. Perhaps not. Apple has a bad habit of releasing new devices making the old ones obsolete within months of the previously-new device. So, even if a device is truly capable of reaching its potential, Apple will have tossed it aside for a new hardware device 6-10 months later.
Clearly, cloud computing will need to establish a standard by which all cloud computing devices will operate. That means, the standards will discuss exactly how icons are managed, how apps are installed and how people will interface with the cloud apps. That doesn’t mean that different devices with different input devices can’t be created. The devices can, in fact, all be different. One computer may be keyboard and mouse based, another may be touch surface based. What the cloud standards will accomplish is a standard by which users will interact with the cloud. So, no matter what computer you are using, you will always consume the cloud apps the same way. That also means the cloud apps will always work the same no matter what interface you are using.
We are kind of there now, but the web is fractured. We currently have no idea how to find new sites easily. Searching for new sites is a nightmare. Cloud computing standards would need to reduce the nightmare of search, increase ease of use for consumers and provide standardized ways of dealing with cloud computing services. In other words, the web needs dramatic simplification.
Cloud Computing and the iPad
The iPad is the right device at the wrong time and consumers will eventually see this once a real cloud computing device hits the market. Then, the iPad will be seen as a crude toy by comparison. A true cloud computing device will offer no storage, but have a huge infrastructure of extensible interrelated apps available online. Apps similar to Google Docs, but so many more types all throughout every single app category. From games, to music, to video, to photography, to finance, to everything you can imagine. Yes, a true cloud computing device will be able to consume as freely as it can create. A cloud computing OS will install apps as links to cloud services. That is, an icon will show on the ‘desktop’, but simply launch connectivity right into the cloud.
Nothing says that you need a mouse and keyboard to create content, but you do need professional quality to produce professional content. I liken the apps on the iPad to plastic play money you buy for your kids. Effectively, they’re throw-away toy apps. They’re not there for serious computing. To fully replace the desktop with cloud computing, it will need fully secured full-featured robust content creation and consumption applications. You won’t download apps at all. In fact, you will simply turn your portable computer on and the cloud will do the rest. Of course, you might have to use a login and password and you might be required to pay a monthly fee. But, since people are already paying the $30 a month for 3G service, we’re already getting accustomed to the notion of a monthly service fee. It’s only a matter of time before we are doing all of our computing on someone else’s equipment using a portable device. For listening to music, we’ll need streaming. But, with a solid state cache drive, the device will automatically download the music and listen offline. In fact, that will be necessary. But this is all stuff that must be designed and thought out properly long before any cloud device is released. …something which Apple did not do for the iPad. What they did do, though, is create the perfect digital consumption device. That is, they produced a device that lets them nickel and dime you until your wallet hates you.
Running / Installing Mac OS X (Snow Leopard) on VirtualBox
Updated 8/2/2011
Lion Update
With the recent release of Lion, there is a push to get a Lion version working on VirtualBox. At present, there is yet no boot loader capable of booting Lion on VirtualBox. So, for now, Snow Leopard is still it for a standalone MacOS on VirtualBox. I will update this article as necessary to address a working installation of Lion as it progresses. Stay Tuned.
Nawcom Mod CD
There is a new CD image from Nawcom (http://blog.nawcom.com/?p=306) that makes installation of MacOS X much easier on VirtualBox (instead of using Prasys’ EFI boot CDs). And yes, I’ve tried it. The Nawcom EFI CD is much faster for installation because it does some very clever things, including installing the boot loader at the end of the install.
So, I am now recommending you to download and use the Nawcom ModCD instead of the Prasys EFI boot CDs listed below. Although, I will leave the information for the Prasys Empire EFI CDs available should the Nawcom CD not work for you. Alternatively, you can try the tonymacx86.com iBoot or iBoot Legacy CDs if all else fails. Even using the Nawcom ModCD, you will still need to follow the instructions on changing the resolution of the screen as documented below as this CD doesn’t change that part of the installation process.
Go!
Let’s start by saying this. Support Apple by legally buying your copy of Mac OS X. Don’t pirate it.
Note also that buying a retail packaged disk from the Apple store prevents a lot of headaches during this process. A Mac OS X Install Disk that comes bundled with any Mac system will only install on the hardware with which it came bundled. For example, if you try to install from a bundled DVD media that was shipped along with a MacBook Pro, it will not install on Virtualbox and you will see the error ‘Mac OS X cannot be installed on this computer’. Save yourself the headache and get a retail disk from the Apple store.
Before getting started, if you are wanting to run Mac OS X on VMWare Player 3 instead, then check out Randosity’s Running Mac OS X on VMWare Player 3 article for details.
Apple’s Stance
Apple wants you to buy and run Mac OS X (desktop edition) on a MacBook Pro or other similar Mac hardware. While I think that’s a grand notion to sell the hardware, the hardware will sell regardless of the operating system. Further, if you are a hardware company, why sell the operating system separately anyway? I mean, if it’s the hardware that matters, how is it that you can buy Mac OS X separately both desktop and server editions. I digress.
Because Apple wants you to buy into their hardware platforms, they would prefer you not run Mac OS X on Virtual Environments. I personally think, however, that this idea is both socially and ecologically irresponsible. For a company that tries to tout itself as Green and Earth-Friendly, by not allowing virtualization of Mac OS X (any desktop version), this prevents people from using the hardware they already have and instead forces us to buy new hardware that will eventually fill landfills. Using existing hardware that may work just fine, although not made by Apple, at least keeps the hardware out of the land fill and they are still making money off selling the operating system.
Supported vs Non-Supported CPUs
Note, these boot CDs support specific types of CPUs. If your CPU is not listed (i.e., Atom processor), you will need to download and use the CDs labeled with the word ‘Legacy’. These CDs may or may not work for your CPU, but these are the only CDs that have a chance of working on non-supported CPU types.
Let’s get started — items required
- A recent PC hardware config (within the last 3 years) installed with 64 bit Windows 7 or Vista or Linux 64 bit
- Note, the faster the PC is, the better that VirtualBox will work.
- A recent processor (Intel core i3, i5, i7, i3m, i5m, i7m, AMD Phenom or similar 64 bit processor)
- Enabled VT-x (for Intel Processors) or AMD-v (for AMD processors) in the PC BIOS
- Retail version of Mac OS X Snow Leopard. (If you try any other version other than the retail package, it probably won’t work!)
As stated above, you will need hardware capable of VT-x / AMD-v (BIOS level virtualization support passthrough). Without this hardware configuration, you will not be able to install Mac OS X. Most recent dual and quad core processors support this technology. Although, you may have to enter the BIOS to enable it. So, check your BIOS for ‘Virtualization’ settings and enable it.
Pick your host operating system. You can run Windows 7, Vista, XP, Linux (Ubuntu, Redhat, etc) or Solaris. Whichever operating system you choose for the host, make sure it’s a 64 bit edition. I recommend Windows 7 64 bit edition as XP 64 bit edition can be somewhat of a bear to work with and Vista isn’t readily available at this point. If you’re looking for the least expensive solution, then I would choose Linux. I personally use Windows because I also need Windows 7 for other tasks as well. If you are currently running a 32 bit OS edition, you will first need to upgrade the host to 64 bit to operate Snow Leopard. Snow Leopard is mostly 64 bit now and, thus, requires a 64 bit host OS to function.
Note that this tutorial was tested using Mac OS X 10.6.3 (Snow Leopard). OS X may install using 10.6.4 or later, but Apple may also make changes that could prevent it from working. If you have an older install disk than 10.6.3, the installation may fail. I recommend using 10.6.3 or later.
What is EFI?
One other thing to note about Macintosh computers and Snow Leopard… Macintosh computers require an EFI BIOS to boot. What is EFI? EFI stands for Extensible Firmware Interface and was developed by Intel for the Itanium platform in the mid-90s. This ‘BIOS’ replacement is designed to allow direct 32 and 64 bit addressing right from the firmware unlike the PC BIOS which only allows 16 bit addressing during boot operations.
Apple integrated EFI into the PowerPC and later the Intel Macintosh line to boot Mac OS X. Because this boot system is not compatible with PC BIOS, it requires the standard PC BIOS to boot an EFI boot system first. Then, the EFI boot system can then boot Mac OS X. So, the boot system goes like this:
- PC BIOS boots EFI
- EFI boots Mac OS X
Yes, VirtualBox has an EFI boot system within, but this EFI system will not boot Mac OS X (probably on purpose). Instead, the Empire EFI boot ISO is necessary to boot Mac OS X (both the Mac OS X install media and the actual operating system once installed).
Focus on Windows
With this post, I will focus on using Windows as the Host and Mac OS X as the guest. You can utilize this guide if you want to use Linux, but you will need to determine how to get certain steps done with Linux (i.e., creating and/or mounting ISO images). So, let’s get going.
Items you’ll need
- VirtualBox, of course.
- MyHack (Chameleon) Boot Loader 1.1 page (download only if you are not using the Nawcom ModCD)
- Nawcom EFI ModCD or
- tonymacX86.com’s iBoot or iBoot Legacy (need to register to download) or
- Empire EFI ISO<– (Only one of these EFI CDs if the Nawcom CD doesn’t work for you)
- Empire EFI v.1085 for Intel P55 Chipset and Intel Core i5 and i7 8xx series , Intel Core 2 series , Intel Core series (Contains both EmpireEFI v1.085 and LegacyEmpireEFI v1.085) <– If unsure, try this one first.
- Empire EFI v1.085 for Intel Atom , Intel Core i7 9xx series , Intel Core 2 series , Intel Core series (contains both Empire EFI v1.085 and LegacyEmpireEFI v1.085) <– Try this one second.
- Empire EFI V.1085 (Experimental for AMD Phenom and Athlon X2 , X3 , X4 and for Intel Core i3/Pentium D/Pentiu m 4 6xx series)
- Empire EFI V.1085 R2 (Experimental Support for AMD Phenom , Athlon and Sempron with SSE3 , and as well as Intel Core i3 , Core i5-M , Core i3-M , Core i7M)
- Empire EFI V1.085 R2 (For Intel laptops with Intel onboard graphics card such as GMA 950 , GMA X3100 and as well as for desktop computers with problematic nvidia graphics card (i.e 2xx series) and ATI graphics card)
- Empire EFI V.1085 (Based upon on Version 1.00) – Meant for Intel Graphics 950 , 965 (X3100 Users) who’ve tried another version which has resulted in kernel panic or white screen.
- Note: You only need one (1) of these ISO images above. So, you will need to pick the ISO image that works for your motherboard. Also note that Empire EFI requires at least 1024MB (1GB) of RAM to work. Also, I can’t guarantee how long these download links will continue to work, but as of 6/30/2010 they are working.
- See: Google’s cached Prasys blog page for important details about these disk images. No, it’s not formatted.
- ImgBurn (to make ISO files)
- AC97 Sound Driver
- Mac OS X Install Disk (Snow Leopard disk works fine) or an ISO of it
Steps to get it working
- Install VirtualBox on Windows
- Open VirtualBox and click ‘New’. This will start a Machine build Wizard
- Name this machine ‘Mac OS X’
- Set the Type to Mac OS X + Mac OS X Server (if it isn’t already) and click Next
- Set memory to 1024 (or whatever you want to give it) and click Next
- Under Boot Hard disk, either create a new HD or select an existing HD file* (at least 20GB), click Next
- If Creating new, continue onward. Otherwise, skip down to ‘Readying VM for First Use’
- In the New HD Panel, choose Dynamic Expanding Storage, Click Next
- Click the Folder icon to choose where this disk is to be stored (C not recommended)
- Set the size to 20GB (type in 20GB), click Next
- Click Finish to exit HD creation and click Finish again to exit VM creation
Readying VM for First Use
Now you have a new VM for Mac OS X set up, it’s not to use ready yet. So, Let’s ready it for use:
- Click to select the Mac OS X machine
- Click the ‘Settings’ button
- Click the System settings icon
- Uncheck ‘Enable EFI’ (we will use EFI, just not VBox’s built-in version**)
- Under Processor tab, leave it at 1 CPU and enable PAE/NX if it isn’t already
- Under Acceleration, Enable VT-x/AMD-v (must be enabled). Without this setting, you can’t run Mac OS X in VBox.***
- Under Display, set the Video Memory to 128 and Enable 3D Acceleration
- Under Storage, IDE controller type must be ICH6
- Also under Storage, click ‘Empty’ cdrom drive and set the Empire EFI disk to this drive using the Folder icon****.
- Audio Driver is Windows Directsound + ICH AC97
- Network should be Bridged Adapter (NAT may work)
- Click ‘OK’ to save these settings
Now you’re ready to start the install process. Click the ‘Start’ button to start the Mac OS X virtual machine. Once the Empire EFI screen has loaded, eject the Empire EFI ISO image by unchecking it from the Devices->CD/DVD Devices Menu and then locate your Mac OS X Install ISO and select this. If you have the original media and want to create an ISO, go to the ‘Creating an ISO image with ImgBurn’ section below. After the Mac OS X install ISO is selected and you’re back at EFI, press the F5 key. The screen should refresh to show the newly inserted Mac OS X install media. Once it shows the install media, press the enter key to begin installation.
Note, if you start this process using the Empire ISO image, then you must use a Mac OS X Install ISO. If you want to use the physical media, then you’ll need to burn the Empire ISO to a CD and boot from the physical media drive in VirtualBox. You can then eject that media and insert the Mac OS X install media. You cannot mix and match ISO to physical media. I was not able to get mixing ISO and physical media to work in Empire EFI.
Installation of Mac OS X
Once you get the Mac OS X Installer going, I’ll leave it up to you to finish the full install process. However, I will say this about the hard drive. The VBox HD is blank. So, you will need to prepare it with ‘Disk Utility’. Once the Mac OS X installer starts and you get to the first screen with a menu bar, choose Utilities-> Disk Utility. It will recognize the Disk is there, but it cannot be used until it is partitioned and formatted. Choose the VBox disk and click the ‘Erase’ tab. Under Erase, choose Mac OS X Extended (Journaled) and then name it ‘Hard Disk’ (or whatever you want to call it) and click the ‘Erase’ button. It will confirm that you want to do this, so click ‘Erase’ again. Exit Disk Utility and continue the installation. It will probably take 30-40 minutes to install Mac OS X depending on various factors.
Mac OS X Installed — What’s Next?
If you’ve installed from the Nawcom ModCD, then skip this part and go directly to Final Steps + Increasing screen resolution. If you’ve installed from tonymacx86.com’s CD, you may still need to install MyHack. If you’ve installed from Prasys’ Empire EFI CD, you will need to install MyHack. So, continue on.
Ok, so now that Mac OS X is installed, the system still won’t boot up without the EFI disk. So, reboot after the install with the Empire EFI ISO in the drive. Choose the new bootable ‘Hard Disk’ in the EFI menu and boot into Mac OS X. Once Mac OS X is loaded, open Preferences and set the ‘Startup Disk’ to your new bootable installation. Now, open Safari and search Google for ‘MyHack’ or locate this Randosity article in Safari and go to this site: MyHack. The download will be a package (.mpkg) file and needs to be downloaded on Mac OS X. Once downloaded, double-click the package to install. Click through the Wizard until you get the screen with the ‘Customize’ button. Click Customize and enable PS2Controller (keyboard and mouse) and disable SleepEnabler (doesn’t work with later OS X versions). Click to finish the installation process.
After MyHack is installed, you can eject the Empire EFI media and your Mac OS X installation will now boot on its own.
Final Steps + Increasing screen resolution
You’ll notice that the resolution is fixed to 1024×768. You can change this resolution, but it has to be done in two files. First on Mac OS X, there’s the /Extra/com.apple.Boot.plist file. This file describes the resolution for the Mac to use. Before you edit this file, install Xcode from the Mac OS X media (insert it into the drive with the Mac running). Open ‘Optional Installs’ folder and double-click ‘Xcode’ and follow the installation instructions. Note, it takes about 2.3GB of space. Plist files are easier to edit when the Property List Editor is installed from Xcode. Otherwise, you will have to hand edit these files with TextEdit.
Also note that the /Extra folder is at the root of the Hard Drive volume. It is not inside your local user profile folder. You will also note that after a default install, Mac OS X doesn’t show hard disk icons on the desktop. To turn this icon on, from the top menu, select ‘Finder->Preferences…’. Then, put a check next to ‘Hard Disks’ under ‘Show these items on the desktop’. Once you open the Hard Disk icon, you should see the Extra folder. If you still don’t see the Extra folder, be sure that you have installed MyHack or used the Nawcom ModCD. If MyHack hasn’t been installed, there won’t be an /Extra folder there. The Extra folder gets installed as a result of installing MyHack.
Also, there can only be one available resolution in Virtualbox and on the Mac at a given time. I wish it supported more resolutions at once, but it doesn’t. Note also that because VirtualBox doesn’t support Mac OS X fully, there are no machine additions. To enable the resolution, on the PC side of VirtualBox (on the VirtualBox host), you will need to run the following command from a command shell (cmd):
VBoxManage setextradata "Mac OS X" "CustomVideoMode1" "1920x1080x32"
The “Mac OS X’ label is the exact machine name in VirtualBox. The “1920x1080x32” setting is customizable to your needs (and video card capabilities). However, both this setting and com.apple.boot.plist (on the Mac) must match for the screen resolution to take effect.
The ‘VBoxManage’ command is located in the Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox folder or wherever you installed VirtualBox. You can add this location to your PATH variable so you can use this command without typing in the full path each time.
In the com.apple.Boot.plist file, you will need to add the following properties (if not already there):
Graphics Mode - String - 1920x1080x32
GraphicsEnabler - String - y
(The resolution value should match the above VboxManage command). If you want to change resolutions later, you will need to edit both places again and reboot your Mac.
If you reboot and the screen hasn’t changed or has changed to 1280×1024 and not the resolution you expected, double check that both com.apple.boot.plist and the CustomVideoMode1 setting match and are active. Both of these settings must match for the resolution to work.
Updating com.apple.Boot.plist
It’s easiest to edit this file with the Property List Editor tool. So, install Xcode before managing this file. In order to edit this file, you cannot edit it directly. Instead, copy the file and paste it to your desktop. Edit the file on your desktop. Then, once done editing, drop the file on top of the /Extra folder. Click “Replace File” when asked and supply your account password. Once the file is replaced, you can reboot to see if the resolution change has taken effect.
Audio Support
Update: On my HP quad core system, I am unable to get the AC97 sound driver to work on 10.6.4 (as have others). I have uninstalled and reinstalled this kernel extension, but it simply will not activate. I am still working with this setup to see if I can get it working, but so far no luck. I should point out, then, that the AC97 sound driver may not work on all systems and may not work with 10.6.4. So, you may not want to update to 10.6.4 until this issue is resolved if you need sound.
Mac OS X does support audio output with an AC97 audio driver in Snow Leopard up to 10.6.3. It does not appear to support audio input. I will say, however, that the audio driver is, at best, under performing. That means, it breaks up, it doesn’t always work and it generally sounds crappy. That said, if you want to hear the various insundry noises that the Mac can make for bells, you can install the driver. The AC97 driver can be found in this Virtualbox Forum Thread.
Note, if the supplied installer does not properly install the driver, download the .zip file and install the AppleAC97Audio.kext Extension the into /Extra/Extensions folder. Then follow the instructions below on rebuilding the Extensions.mkext file.
Kernel Extensions — Rebuilding .mkext cache files (Kernel Extension Cache)
Mac OS has always been known for its extensions. Well, Mac OS X is no different in this respect. In the original Mac, you simply drop the extension into the Extensions folder and it works. Well, unfortunately, it’s not quite that simple with Mac OS X. If you want to drop in a .kext file (extension), you will need to rebuild the Extensions.mkext database. This database is what helps Mac OS X find and work with installed extensions. To rebuild these cache files, you will need to use the following Terminal.app as root:
# kextcache -v 1 -t -m /Extra/Extensions.mkext /Extra/Extensions/ /System/Library/Extensions/
# kextcache -v 1 -t -m /System/Library/Caches/com.apple.kext.caches/Startup/Extensions.mkext /System/Library/Extensions/
Running these commands will rebuild the cache files necessary to activate newly installed extensions. So, if you need to install any new extensions, you will need to run the above commands to recreate the extension cache files.
Creating an ISO image with ImgBurn
To create an ISO image using ImgBurn, you will first need to download and install it. Once it’s installed, start it up. Now click ‘Create image file from disc’. Insert the Mac OS X CD. The CD will be labeled ‘Boot Camp’. This is fine as this is the only partition that Windows is able to see. As long as it sees the ‘Boot Camp’ partition, the image will be created correctly. Click the CD icon at the bottom of the Window to create your ISO image. Once the image has been created, you can continue at your previous step.
Rebooting the Mac
As a side note about rebooting. With some hardware, rebooting Mac OS X in VirtualBox doesn’t work. Sometimes it seems to hang, sometimes it gives a banner telling you to power off the machine. Basically, there isn’t really a resolution to this issue. Simply use shutdown, then when it appears all disk activity has stopped, close the Vbox window (making sure to power it off). Then click ‘Start’ again to start it up. This is really more of an inconvenience than anything, but it’s manageable.
Updating Mac OS X
As new updates get released by Apple, you may be tempted to install them immediately. While this shouldn’t be a problem on a real Mac, it is possible that a security or full update from Apple could break VirtualBox installations accidentally (or, more likely, intentionally). Since Virtualbox offers snapshot capabilities, I recommend taking advantage of this and do the following:
- Cancel any updates
- Shutdown Mac OS X
- Take a snapshot of your Mac OS X Guest in the Virtualbox console
- Start up Mac OS X
- Update OS X
If the update causes your system to stop booting, stop working or in any way become broken, you can revert to the snapshot and not update. On the other hand, if the update works perfectly, then I recommend you delete the snapshot once you feel comfortable that the update is working as expected. If the update doesn’t work, you may need some updated components such as the Chameleon boot loader or an updated boot disk to handle the new OS update.
Notes
* I suggest using a VMDK HD image as there are more tools for VMDK format files than VDI files. Though, your choice. If you want to use a VMDK file, go to vmcreator.com and have them make you a file to download.
** VirtualBox’s EFI works, but not with Mac OS X. Whether that’s intentional is unknown. Instead, you need to use the Empire EFI ISO disk to boot Mac OS X to install it.
*** You may have to enable VT-x/AMD-v in your machine’s BIOS.
**** Click the ‘Add’ button in the Media Library window to locate your ISO image, then make sure this file is selected and click ‘Select’.
iPad or iPod?
If you’re considering an iPad purchase, you’ll want to contemplate the following before you buy. The iPad has several ergonomic design problems that really prevent it from being truly hand and body friendly. Let’s explore and then compare that with the iPod Touch.
Curved back
All of Apple’s mobile products tend to have a curved back (excluding notebooks). I guess they like this design because they keep producing it. In the iPod, this isn’t so much of an issue. With the iPad, however, the curved back is a problem. If you lay it down, it wobbles and spins. So, if you want to put it on a surface, it will have to be a soft surface (a pillow, rug or other conforming surface). If you place it onto a hard surface, you’ll need to be prepared for the wobble. You will have a similar problem with an iPod, but if you add a case, you can somewhat manage this issue.
Higher power requirements
To operate an iPad, it needs a higher power requirement to charge and use it when plugged in. So, you may find that some notebooks cannot charge the iPad when docked. You may have to plug it into an outlet to adequately charge the iPad. With the iPod, however, it requires a much smaller power footprint, so charging off of a USB port is not a problem.
Weight
The iPad is heavy. It may only weigh in at 1.5 or 1.6 pounds with 3G, but when you’re holding that in your hand for a while, it does start to get heavy. So, don’t expect for this weight to remain comfortable in your hand for long. That means, for a book reading experience where you might want to hold it for several hours, you’re going to have to find a way to prop it up. The iPod touch is a comfortable weight and fits in the hand nicely.
Kickstand (or lack thereof)
It’s quite clear that due to the curvature of the back and the weight of this device, it desperately needs a kickstand to hold it in a proper position and still allow it to be touchable. Without such an accessory, the iPad quickly becomes unwieldy and clumsy (as if it wasn’t clumsy already).
Design
Some people think the design is sleek and simple. I’m not really convinced of that. The thick black border looks dated. The curved back prevents it from sitting flat. The weight of it is too heavy. The battery only lasts 10 hours and requires a higher power charging adapter. So, don’t expect to plug it into your old iPhone or iPod chargers and have it work on the iPad. It might power it, but it’s not going to charge it.
The touch interface is both at once sleek and cumbersome. It works, but in some cases it doesn’t (when wearing gloves). The glossy screen looks slick until you have thousands of smeary fingerprints and oil all over it. Then it’s just gross.
It’s not truly a portable device. The physical size of the device precludes putting it in your pocket. So, you have to carry it around in a case. It may look cool when you take it out to use it, but it’s still clumsy and big. If I’m going to carry around a device of this size, I would prefer to carry around a netbook with a real keyboard and real mouse pad.
Price
The iPad is effectively Apple’s netbook. They didn’t want to do a netbook, so they compromised by producing a large iPod touch (the iPad). This device has a larger screen and bigger touch surface, but that also means it has more chances of breakage if bumped, jarred or dropped. So, if you buy one, you need a case for it.
Overall
The iPad’s design is a bit clumsy. It tries to improve on the iPod touch, but the only thing that is really an improvement is the screen size. If Apple would release a 3G iPod Touch or a paperback book sized iPad with 3G, I might actually consider one. The iPad’s current size is too big and needs to be scaled back. The weight needs to be about a quarter of the iPad (or less). A smaller screen means that it’s probably harder to break. Finally, the price needs to get down to $250 or so. Right now, the price is too high at $629 with 3G for a glorified iPod touch. If it had a full Mac OS X system on it, then it could be worth it.
Apple’s got a lot of work to be done before the next iteration of the iPad. Let’s hope the device actually succeeds. I’m just not so sure of that with past tablet device successes.
Random Thoughts - Randocity! 
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