klein² technique blog

Hey guys,

boys needs toys! That's a fact. I saw the Magic Trackpad announced by Apple this Tuesday and I ordered it instantly. It was send via Post. Not kidding, it arrived in a big white envelope and it took 2 days to get from the Netherlands (I live 40km East from the Netherlands border) to my home.

After opening the envelope, I found a nice little box inside; this one:

Opening it...

It is VERY important, that you believe in this text! Run a system update and download the drivers from this website http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1066 and reboot your Mac. Once you've rebooted, pair the Magic Trackpad with your Mac by opening the Trackpad options in your System Preferences. If you played around (like me) before and paired it using bluetooth, maybe you also need to remove the batteries for a moment before you pair it again.

The Magic Trackpad is a piece of art. Simple, elegant, "less is more" following - it's a typical Apple product and I already like this little guy ;)

Here's a photo of the Magic Trackpad aligned with my Wireless Keyboard, my Magic Mouse and - my other input device I often use, my cool pen from Lamy.

At least, here's a near view of the Wireless keyboard and the Magic Trackpad.

Resumé (so far)

It's about an hour ago since I got this beautiful new device, but so far I can say, ONCE it is installed (sorry, but today this reminds me more of a Windows gadget installation than an Apple installation/configuration), it's a great device. Sure, I guess we will need some time to get into using it on the desk, especially the none existing frame around this device makes it hard for me to find the "right click", but that's the only thing that I would put on the "I need to get used to it" list ;)

It's like a huge trackpad from your MacBook "mounted" on your desk ;) I like it, but I admit, to rework the photos you see above, I used my Magic Mouse laying on my desk as well. For regular stuff I think it's a great device.

As always, I've uploaded all shown photos to my flickr account in HiRes, so feel free to watch them on: http://www.flickr.com/photos/37773250@N02/sets/72157624614281876/

Ciao
Dennis

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Hey guys,

with my meanwhile no-more supporting YouTube! iPhone 2G mobile, I thought it was time to get a new one. I'm thinking and planning and looking for new stuff for weeks. On June 24th we'd received 2 iPhone 4's, but it turns out, that it seemed to have these issues with the network + 2 very expensive monthly data plans (29 Euro + 45 Euro (w/ discount). So we send them back.

The last two days we switched from our previous provider Simyo to BASE (both companys of e-plus+). We switched, because we get 30mins + 30 SMS internally + 50mins into every mobile & regular network p/month + an internet flat (250MB 3G, then it will be limited to EDGE/GPRS, but at NO additional costs) for "just" 15€ per month. That's a MUCH MUCH better deal!

Searching for new mobile phones, a friend of mine told me that he has a Samsung Galaxy S and he's quiet happy (not to mention that he meanwhile send the Samsung back to Amazon and ordered an iPhone 4 from UK (unlocked ;)). So it sounds very well and the videos on YouTube! about it were looking very promising, so I'd just ordered it and got it today.

The Samsung Galaxy S is based on Android, but comes with a lot additional software by Samsung. The display is a 4" SuperAMOLED display which is indeed really stunning, you can remove the battery and add up to 32GB MicroSD cards. Something you can't to with an iPhone. Also, it allows you to tether 3G to your notebook - and it's fully compatible to Mac OS X (the tethering). It seems like there's currently no way to sync you data between your Mac and the Samsung Galaxy S - the software "KIES" by Samsung is only available for Windows, but hey - it's Android, so it would work the way using the Cloud - in this case GoogleApps.

You can see all these photos in high quality on flickr: sgsreview

The unboxing itself was not very spectacular. It was the same process like unboxing an iPhone, except that you have the chance to put the battery in on your own.

MicroSD slot on the left, SIM on the right (and yes, you need to remove the battery to insert the SIM).

Putting the Samsung Galaxy S and the iPhone 2G side by side, they indeed look pretty similar. The Samsung has a 4" display while the iPhone has an 3.5" one. Also, the Samsung has a Home-Button like the iPhone, but comes with 2 additional touch-buttons for the menu (left) and back (right). As long-term iPhone user, it's very uncommon to use them ;)

The first look: Indeed, the display is very good, but compared to the iPhone 4 (as far as I remember) it's not sooo much better (in my personal opinion).

You can see all these photos in high quality on flickr: sgsreview

My first SMS, sure, it was the very first time using the BASE card, since the number is not yet ported from Simyo to BASE.

Software

Of course, it's not only hardware that matters, maybe even more important than the hardware is the software nowadays. Far away a these days with monochrome LCD displays of Nokia 6110 and so. They were great - these days, but nowadays you EXPECT a better OS on your cellphone. Especially when you've used an iPhone for the last few years.

The software, namely Android, looks a but undone for me. The optic is mostly ok, but far far away from the "stunning" of iOS appz. Maybe I'm not that open-minded as I wanted, when trying this cellphone. Of course you can't really compare an Android to an iPhone. Why? Because you can't compare things which a different. You can't compare OS X to Windows or one of them to Linux, UNIX or OpenSolaris. No way!

In my mind, it's a great phone, if you were not using iPhones in the past or simply don't like them. But for me: I'm a bit disappointed. The menus are complicated, you've a billion options, which is great, and that's one thing that I would love to have on my iMac (yeah, I switched my Macs, but that's another story ;)), but on a cellphone, it's honestly a bit overwhelming.

Video

Videos are looking fine on the SuperAMOLED screen, no question, but you can't zoom it when watching YouTube! like you do on an iPhone (you know, removing the black bars from top/bottom or left/right).

Audio

The speaker is a mono one, a little tiny spot on the back of the phone. Yes! Right! It's on the back, which means, if you want to watch a YouTube! video and put the phone on the desk, the audio volume and quality drops tremendously.

The red circle highlights the speaker.

Flash

Internet is fine and yes, it has Flash. The first I visited was the Speedtest.net website, because for an unknown reason their app didn't installed right for the first 1/2 an hour from the Android app store. What it tells me was: "This flash version is outdated." Tapping on the link to Adobe told me: "Newest Flash will be available in Froyo/2.2". Great! ;) So that's why you want Flash on a mobile?

3G Network

Anyway, after 30mins I was able to install the Speedtest.net App and I got a good transfer rate inside my office and in the garden (1700KBit/s down, 333KBit/s up using BASE 3G service). That's not much and far away from 7.2MBps, but it's ok.

USB / Access to the data

It took a few moments to access the files directly which are stored on the internal storage. I had to go through 3 menu options to enable USB sharing, then I could access the storage using the USB cable like a regular SD Card.

Camera / Video

Here is a photo and a short video I've done with the Samsung Galaxy S. I have to mention, that I've forgot to set the camera to 720p (1280x720), but it's in 720x480 and the quality is very nice in my mind. The camera is really a highlight!

Click here to download:

video-2010-07-22-20-01-38.3gp (14326 KB)

Camera / Photo

Personal Resumé

The Samsung Galaxy S is not a bad phone, it's maybe for some Android-liking people the best mobile available. But for me and our Apple-centric household, I think we should better get 2 iPhone 4's from UK and use them for our (already bought) applications. There are 3 I can't live without:

- Things Touch
- DeliveryStatus
- WebEx
+ ChocChocShop which is a fantastic game ;) 

I think I will return it tomorrow to Amazon. My wife should have the chance to play with the Samsung when she comes home later, but I guess she also wants to have an iPhone after this experience.

Ciao
Dennis 

PS. Follow me on Twitter :) http://www.twitter.com/klein2 and NEW http://www.twitter.com/klein2podcast // You can see all these photos in high quality on flickr: sgsreview

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Hey guys,

if you are following my private or the Klein2Podcast twitter account, you've maybe read about my plan to move back from the new DELL R210 server to Apple hardware.

Here's my "evil secret plan":

You may ask: WHY?

That's a good question. First of all, I must say that I like the hardware of the DELL server. It was fast, pretty cheap for a server of this class, BUT it contains one thing that bugged me: I had to run Windows Server or Linux or UNIX. That's ALL not very compatible with our clients, which are (as you can see in the diagram) all Macs. While fighting with the server and testing out different things like VMware ESXi, Linux and again even OpenSolaris, I was everytime overwhelmed. Also, it took too much of my time that I urgently need for my company stuff (means: working for my clients instead configuring the LAN).

With these things in mind, I decided that the idea from Danny Choo (scroll down until you see the Mac Minis ;)) is the best, also for me. Simply getting 2 used Mac Minis, attaching some external storage and having fun with an easy OS.

No way would I want to create a "REAL" server with Mailserver, iCal-Server etc. on my own, but for making the sharing easy, I used Mac OS X Server 10.6 that I had laying around for the "Business" machine. The "private" machine is running on a regular Mac OS X Snow Leopard 10.6.(4).

I'm still a bit shocked how well the machines are working. Even if the stuff is +1year old, they are behaving very well and are doing their jobs better than expected.

Of course, everything has to fit into the new rack. Here are some photos of how I've managed to get everything in. It's a great rack and it was really fun to put the stuff into the rack. Yeah I know, it's not really meant to sit in a 19" rack, but that's ok ;)

I'm very sure you'd like to see more photos, so don't hesitate and check my flickr photos: http://dkle.in/rackjuly

Ciao
Dennis 

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Hey guys,

today I received the new 15U rack from ZPAS in Poland.

More photos on flickr!

This rack is (in my mind) supersexy (for a rack ;)) and I couldn't await to install my stuff inside. So I discovered for a not so short period of the day how the hell to put the rails from both DELL servers inside. In the end, I had to put the older PowerEdge 1650 onto the base and attach the rails for it to the very first unit. The reason? Well, the rails are a bit too long, so I could not connect the back ends of to the back supports. Putting it to the bottom allows the 1650 to gently slide above the end of the rack and with the width of the server, the rails are nice in place.

The R210 was more or less easier to install. I had to turn both ends by 180° (like it was mentioned in the instructions). It does not really fit to the front side, but it's ok - and fits within the rack so that I'm able to close the glass door.

After putting the rack to the basement with help of my wife (isn't it great to have such a flexible wife!? :D), I put both servers inside and connected the R210 with the eSATA drive, 2x GBit network and of course power, keyboard & VGA display. The server starts as hoped :)

Here's a screenshot of the server after booting up all 4 current VMs:

Both - R210 & Onnto DataTale are connected to my smaller APC UPS. I hope it can get VMware ESXi to work with it, so that it automatically shuts down/holds all VMs and shut itself down if there's a power outage.

This is just the first step. All my 19" equipment will move to the new rack over the next few weeks, but earlier (planned for Saturday), the old PowerEdge 1650 will be the host for Endian Firewall which allows me use both DSL lines the same time and split ports to the different lines. The reason is quit simply: If I want to send for example a 10MB file to a client, I don't want that Exchange fills the complete 1MBit/s upstream of the main DSL line. This line is also used for surfing etc., the 2nd DSL line (Vodafone) with it's static IP and non-disconnect should so this for me. Also, I don't want to have speed issues in case a user access the OWA of Exchange.

As always: More to come, here!

Ciao
Dennis 

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Hey guys,

by beeing a big fan of Exchange and actually getting a 2010 licence, it was a matter of time until I wanted to run it in an productive environment. You've maybe noticed my first tries running on this AMD server on OpenSolaris. Well, I would say it was a bit too much for me and I the form factor wasn't what I really wanted.

So, I saw me looking around for a stable replacement for this, especially because I gave this new AMD machine to my mother to run Win 7 on it, because her old AMD64 was really really End Of Live ;).

I found a very nice and relatively cheap server. First, I wanted to get a DELL PowerEdge T110. A tower based one. But then I though: Why not put it into your rack? You've one and also another 19" DELL server (a PowerEdge 1650). So I my choice was, after some phone calls while staying for 2 days at the EuropaPark in Rust with the DELL team, a PowerEdge R210 19" server. (Believe me, it was pure fun to sit in this monorail driving through the park and discussing with the nice sales guy from DELL about the best configuration for what I had in mind).

What I had in mind was a VMware ESXi server. Yeah, I know, I complained a lot about VMware Fusion on Mac, but VMware ESXi seems to be a very different story. Some of you may wonder how I want to manage that, now that I've no "PC" back here. Well, running a Win XP VM is easily done and I use one for my regular work in Office 2003 or Office 2007 (depends on the client), so I simply installed the VMware Sphere Client there and what should I say? It works fantastic (on my Mac Pro!). Yes, I moved the Mac Pro back to the office after overhauling the office last week, but that's a complete different story ;) (Photos are available here by the way).

I'm currently sitting here in front of my cool new GALANT desk, grin broadly like an idiot while running my Win XP SP3 VM on the left 22" display, typing this and doing the main stuff on the 30" in front of me while having chats, twitter and the new surveillance (AXIS) cam on the other 22" on the right. I must say, I'd missed the two 22" the last few weeks when I was working with the MacBook only. Can't help myself - I'm simply addicted to screen real estate.

Anyway - to come back to the topic; Anyanka is the name of the VMware ESXi / DELL PowerEdge R210 server. Why? Well, I ran out of names, and yes, it's chosen from a character of "Buffy - the vampire slayer" ;)

The data of the server:
- DELL PowerEdge R210 Rack Case (up to 2x internal HDs) / 1U
- Intel Xeon X3450 Quad Core CPU (+ HT = 8 Cores - yey!)
- 8GB DDR3-ECC-Regged 1333MHz RAM (4x 2GB Modules / UDIMM (ugh!))
- 160GB SATA HD (which is disconnected until I need it - any day - or not...
- 16x DVD-ROM
- iDRAC6 Embedded BMC (not sure if I could/want to use it and how it works.. but... it's there)
- NO OS (yes, there's a license sticker on the top of the case, I just say "THANK YOU DELL :D")
- 250W Power Supply
- 2/4 Post Static Rack Rails

As you can see, it's a very robust system. The next Xeon in the house which is clocked at the same speed as the Mac Pro CPU. It should have more than enough power to run my few VMs.

Enough the words for the moment, I know you all want to see photos (if you haven't seen my flickr photos yet), so - here they are :)

As a design oriented person, I HAD TO order this great looking bezel for the front, I'm sure it will look awesome when it's in the rack!

Memory & the powerful Intel Xeon X3450 CPU.

An overview above the components built in.

A very good idea, if you want to run a VMware ESXi, IPCop, Endian or a FreeNAS on this machine: the internal USB ports to attach a USB stick and install the OS onto it. I use a 8GB stick to run VMware ESXi on it.

You can see the FULL SET of photos here on flickr.

Maybe you're wondering why I don't post photos from the server inside the rack. That's a not sooo funny story. When I said: Ok, I want to get a 19" 1U server, I also ordered rails for my older DELL PowerEdge 1650 which will be reused as Endian or IPCop soon. I've received the rails and found out, that my rack is NOT for servers. I've never noticed that there are no support on the back of the rack, because until today, everything worked fine with the front supports only. Hmm.. so I went to eBay, looking for a small rack and I found one. 15U for only 180 Euros incl. shipping from Poland to here. I'm still waiting for a lifesign and I must admit, that's this deal seems not to be the cleverest idea I'd ever had, since I paid with PayPal and for 1 week now, never have heard anything from that dealer. I've send meanwhile 3 eMails to them and never got a reply. When I don't get the rack or ANY information, I'll turn to eBay and cancel it :/

The other question that possibly will come up is: Where do I store my VMs?

That question is easily answered: I'm using one of my Onnto DataTales! Funny enough, this is one of the first servers supporting eSATA! After fiddling around for some hours, my friend Merlin had the idea to put the external RAID to RAID10 (well it's RAID0+1), to get down to 2TB. The issue is, that the free version of VMware ESXi does NOT recognize HDs greater than 2TB in this version. When it was set to 2TB it worked.

Here's a photo of the back ports of the R210 :) I like it!

So that's it for today! Hope I can show you some more photos of the server built into the a new rack, soon!

Ciao
Dennis

PS. Before I forgot: DELL says the server consumes 107 Watts on Full Load, but only 37 Watts on idle. I'll check that later and post my results.

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Hey guys,

it's a bit quiet here at the moment as result of so much work in the last few weeks - so, sorry for that :)

Yesterday, we finally had the chance to touch an iPad the first time at the new Gravis store in Essen (Germany). When it was introduced I thought: Hmm... nice, but is it really worth 499$ (or here in Germany 499€!)?

With more and more reports and videos that I've read and seen in the last few weeks since it came out officially in the US and now also in Europe, I was really warming up for this device, though - I haven't ordered one from the Apple store. I wanted to buy it on my own, but that's another story.

By having the chance to test it in a quiet atmosphere, I found some painpoints that hinders me from getting one (not mentioning that you have simply no chance to get one until July).

For example: It's really heavy. If you see it, you don't think it's that heavy. Sure, compared to a good reference book, it's a lightweight, but that wouldn't be my main function for this which drives me to the result that I simply don't need it: checking websites. You can check websites also on the iPad simulator with the same effect and you could be sure if it works or not.

I'm having my MacBook around pretty often and it's very comfortable to work with. Sure, playing videos makes it hot easily, but I don't see the reason to spend 499€ for this device as I don't see a real usage for myself in it. It's hyped, that's it. If you've read some of my last articles or my old blog, you know, that I enjoy to use Apple products since software is mostly better designer and more intuitive compared to their Windows competitors, but I also try not to react "Fanboy"-like. Apple does a lot mistakes in my mind when it comes to politics, but that's not what I want to discuss here. Just to highlight: At the moment, Microsoft is more congenial than Apple - they are opening more and more stuff to OpenSource which is a step into the right direction and letting me do more with Windows 7 than I could ever do on my Mac (for example: customize it). With one leg, I'm already back in bed with Windows :/ Now: Complain! :P Just as an argument why: Outlook. I haven't tried Entourage yet, but Outlook for Windows is in my mind THE BEST eMail & Collaboration software in the world - shout at me, but in my mind it is (if it's connected to a great working Exchange Server).

I wouldn't say that I would never get an iPad for me or my wife. I also can't see the future through a glass bowl and I'll try to keep my mind open.

Another issue I run into is the cellphone. Not "THE", but mine. I'm happily using my iPhone 2G for 3 1/2 years now, but I would love to make the next step and get a 3G connection when I'm out of my office. iPhone 4G/HD - whatever, will be 100% sold by T-Mobile in Germany and you can't select another provider. I guess there's nearly no chance to get an unlocked one unless you'll get one from Belgium or Italy. No big deal, because Bruxelles is just 200km from here, but... I don't know. Having the iPhone was nice and so, but again: mixed with Exchange it's nice, but also you can't use all the stuff that Exchange provides. Call it: Tasks for example.

So, I've also taken a deeper look onto unlocked cellphones on the market and let me say one thing: It's horrible! The only GUI that is nice enough is Android, and guess what: you can't upgrade it as easy as an iPhone to a new software version. Why? Well, because the companies like HTC and Co want to sell phones! New version of Android called "Froyo"? Yes, but the best chance to get it to buy a new phone. In some ways I miss the old times. I was a happy user of my SonyEricsson K600i - it simply worked, could do some videos and photos, play some MP3s and that's it. Sure, eMail and Web was horrible, but in the past it doesn't matter that much. As resumé - I will see what will come at the WWDC tomorrow and then I will take my time (and give Apple time to ship it to the local stores) and then choose if I want to get one or not. My iPhone 2G is phone and would be perfect if it wouldn't miss the 3G :) Maybe I should get an iPhone 3GS when the 4G comes out ;)

Now I've written a lot and need to change the title from "Hmm... iPad" to a better fitting title ;) yey...

Have a great day!

Ciao
Dennis 

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Hi guys,

I'm now working 2 weeks with my MacBook. The Mac Pro was rarely used and was just on for 2h's in 2 weeks. Well, I decided to give it a new function.

As recent blog reader you know that I've 2 Onnto DataTale RAID5 boxes which are connected to my Mac Pro via eSATA (PCIe x1 card). Well, as much as I appreciate the stability and the good performance, I hate the noise they create.

Turning off the Mac Pro and not using it is no option - in my mind that would be a waste of money. Also selling it is no option. I've gone through this process times 3x already (bought G5, sold it, bought used G5, sold it a few months later, bought the Mac Pro 2008 - and sold it 3/4 year later). Why? No idea :) I was switching between Windows & Mac OS X too often. Both systems have it ups & downs. While appreciate the openess of Windows (I know how crazy that sounds, I'm talking about expansion options), I really enjoy the workflow, the look & feel and of course the design of Macs.

The reason to use the MacBook only in my home office were:

• I don't NEED the power on my desktop
• With the RAID boxes, it was too noisy

So, I'd put the 80GB Intel Postville G2 SSD from my Mac Pro back into the MacBook, bought the Mini DisplayPort to DualLink DVI cable (as posted earlier) and installed Snow Leopard from scratch. I'm still very happy with the performance and while using it for the last 2 weeks often enough I asked myself why I had bought the Mac Pro and if I should sell it. The answer on this question was, that I love to work with different systems: OSX, Windows Server, Linux, FreeBSD, OpenSolaris - I'll try a lot and I see a lot pros in using them mixed. Because of that I'd bought 12GB of RAM for the Mac Pro.

Funny enough, my 3D tool and Photoshop are more than fast enough on my MacBook (with 4GB or RAM) - I just need some decent speed if I want to render something, if it's a cut movie, a 3D still or animation.

Yesterday, I decided to put the Mac Pro into the basement. Attaching the RAID boxes there is a great way for still being able to access them via the GBit house network and also having the needed silence in my home office. I admit, I love silence. Currently, typing this, I just hear the little fountain in the garden. The MacBook is superquiet, not even a click from the HD since it's a SSD now. For my satisfaction, the 30" display offers me great screen real estate. Sure, it's not what I had before nor is it more than 1x 30" - but it's very ok and I'm happy with this compromise.

The Mac Pro is running in the basement, but just using it as fileserver would be a huge mistake and a waste of power. I gave him a real job, serving me a Mac OS X Server in a VMWare Fusion session side by side with a Windows Server 2008 R2 x64 session that has an installed and full useable Exchange 2010 server. It's really amazing what the Xeon says about it - the cores still have not much to do, yeah it sucks RAM. OS X Server got 2GB and the Win Server 4GB, so I still have 6GB left. I'm also running a Parallels version 5 on the Mac Pro for my previously "desktop" Windows 7 (Home Premium) which I need for some Office 2007 stuff.

For rendering, Apple's QMaster will do the job, but I think I've to dig into the documentation to see how this works. I must say that I'm very happy with OS X Client as base OS for this kind of "server". I quickly connect to it using the VNC/Screensharing to control it if I don't use ssh. The VMs are running quiet fast and so I use VNC/Screensharing for the OS X Server and Microsoft's Remotedesktop for Mac to connect to the Win server.

Using the Mac Pro as fileserver also has some (in my mind) special pros. One is the software KNOX that I've just bought 2 days ago. It's a great software to easily encrypt volumes or even complete harddisks. I've encrypted the external RAID boxes using this great software. Why? Because I care about my data ;)

Another pro is that the Mac Pro delivers a LOT ports for expansion. Using the 2 eSATA ports, I could expand to FireWire 800 and USB2. The overall capacity of the system is stunning. I've made a text overview of the storage that I've connected to it. Here's a screenshot:

Ciao
Dennis 

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Hi guys,

some of my followers know that back in 2008, I'd written a critical post about OS X and that it's caging their users too much in my mind. Nether the less, after selling my Mac Pro 2008 edition in March 2009, I got myself a MacBook two months later and a Mac Pro 2009 edition in January 2010. Why? Honestly, I don't know. The last week has shown, that I don't really need a Mac Pro to do my day-2-day work and that my SSD equipped MacBook is more than fine and fast enough for doing all my stuff (I don't cut any videos at the moment also don't create and render 3D stuff).

So you could imagine, that I'm a happy user with Macs. You're mostly right. I love the easiness to do things on OS X, for example using Panic's Transmit 4 and mounting the FTP directly to the Finder. Great option. And there are so much tools that I love, call it Billing for my accounting, call it TextMate for coding or yes - of course - Photoshop for being creative.

But like every medal, there's a backside. Apple get's strange these days. They are on the way to control EVERYTHING you do on you if you use their products, censoring their App Store which is fine if you want to avoid to have malicious software on your device, but I think it should be my opinion if I want to see some nipples or not ;). The other point is this Flash discussion. I'm NOT a fan of Flash and have rarely done Flash stuff for customers in the past, but in my opinion, I want to have the option and while that's ok on a little iPhone, I think it's a bad decision on the huger iPad. Sure, there's HTML5, but in some situations it doesn't fit. The iPad App store follows the same censorship as the iPhone App store.

Another issue that comes with 1 manufacturer creating 1 line of products for their own OS is, that they can decide what the computer should do and what not. Speaking of FireWire and MacBooks. My MacBook here has NO FireWire. That said, I have to mention that I ever liked FireWire more than USB2, because it keeps the CPU cold and does the calculation with it's own (Oxford) chipset. Apple decided that I shouldn't have this port anymore, for various reasons that I don't understand. Ok - I can live without that port, sure, and if I wanted to have it, I could get a MacBook Pro which has it. In notebook areas that's a thing that annoys me, but I understand.

But let's shift to another product I invested a lot money into: the Mac Pro. You can add up to 4 PCIe x16 cards into this machine, which is fine, but what if I want to use 3x big graphic cards inside? Want to use SLI for gaming? Or even using CUDA for crunching packages for Folding@Home, Seti@Home etc? No option on Macs. And that makes me sad. Not that I want to use anything of them (CUDA would be nice, I admit), but you simply don't have to option. And that's the point. The Mac Pro is a fantastic machine, but it's like ALL Apple products so less expandable. See the HD drives. With some adapters, you can put it up to 6 HDs (if you say: Ok - I don't want to use any optical drive inside the machine and for example use an USB drive for installations). But that's it, and trying to install a REAL RAID card like the Adaptec controllers? No chance. You're limited. And that's the point. You've spend nearly as much money into a machine that is a great Workstation, but limits you. In the PC world, if you want to upgrade your system and/or CPU, say you've bought this custom designer Workstation with 1x Xeon CPU installed and you want to have 2 of them, you could get the mainboard out of it, get a new one with 2 Xeons and you're done. In the Mac world you need to sell the WHOLE computer and buy a new one. I admit, I'm not sure if there's a way to simply upgrade the CPU tray with a new one.

The product quality is what still annoys me. For the Mac Pro, the first one was a nearly DOA (Dead on Arrival), ok Apple switched it and delivered a new one. Maybe you've heard about the sound issue on Nehalem systems (Early 2009 edition). No? Playing back a MP3 file increase the workload of your system a lot and increase the CPUs temperature by up to 10°C additional. Apple has released a patch for this - 1 year after selling the first Mac Pros of this series. 1 year!

What really annoys is that Apple has the total control, and what they'd called Microsoft how they behave in the past, they are doing that in a more efficient way. I like OS X and I love to do my work on this system, but I feel that they are more and more trying to control me and what I am allowed to do, and I don't know for how long I will accept this. Maybe it's a personal feeling and it's not that bad in reality, but I'm not the only one who has these ideas in mind.

Not saying that Windows is the better OS, it's way more flexible - you can do MUCH more with this and it's today easier to manipulate to work the way you want. Take a look at Stefan Didaks website and see what he does with his PCs. That's something what I think you cannot do in that ease on Macs. Speaking about software like WILMA, speaking about high performing systems with loads loads of TBytes INSIDE a single machine and speaking about a working NUMA ;)

So again, after some months using Macs, I'm on this splitted way and while one part inside me says: accept the barriers that Apple has created because you can do your work with an ease and you don't NEED such machines for YOUR work, another part keeps telling me louder and louder: What comes next? You need to login with you fingerprint which is stored in Apples database? Maybe overdrawn at the moment, but you've no idea what Steve Jobs will introduce at the WWDC in 2 weeks ;)

I've time. My work is not bound to Mac OR Windows. Sure, I can't use Linux because of the lack of Photoshop, but between these 2 major systems I can switch withing less hours. So - let's just see what Apple will tell us how and what to do next and select again and again which way we will follow. And believe me, I'm happily switching between Macs & PCs since 2001, but I would love to find my final system, but it looks like everything is too much in motion to say: I'll stick with this for the rest of my work life.

I never thought the day will come that I say that Apple limits more than Microsoft, but more and more it seems like Microsoft becomes the good guy and Apple the very bad boy in this game. I mean, even Google has stopped working with them, Google! Which is knows for being a bit "evil" while collecting all the data about you, and they are saying that Apple is on the wrong way (I interpretate that they think so, based on watching hours of their IO2010 keynotes).

I'm a happy user of... a computer. :)

So far! Enjoy the free Monday guys from Germany and the great weather! For the others: Have a nice and not too stressful day ;)

Ciao
Dennis 

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Hey guys,

with my plans to move to the MacBook for regular work, I thought it was time to go wireless and get rid of the cable mess ON my desk.

So we went to the re:Store in the CentrO. Oberhausen and bought 3 fancy things:

   

Click here to download:

macbook-shopping-tour-IfvwjytagufhItqmCgBB.zip (2706 KB)

For my surprise, when I moved the stuff out of the bag, I saw that the sales guy has NOT booked the keyboard, but the VESA adapter for the Cinema display I was asking for (too bad, it will not fit to my new LX arm from Ergotron, because it's too heavy). As result of this wrong scanning, I've saved 40 Euros :-o + 5 Euro shorting on my request :)

More soon!

Ciao
Dennis 

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Just shot (and edited): Home Office 7 (still at the attic) with lots of comment boxes on flickr http://dkle.in/ho72 For your pleasure :)

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