Mail... (#3)

I've abandoned Mail for Thunderbird. It stores mail in the mbox format, now I have no need for changing anything. Now I finally can transfer my old email from my old Linux system into Thunderbird on my Mac. It's easy too, just copy the mailbox from the source to the following directory in your own profile:

~/Library/Thunderbird/Profiles/xxxxxxx.default/Mail/Local Folders/

and voila, you have your old mailboxes migrated to your new Mac system. Start up Thunderbird, and there they are, ready to be opened and messages read. Oh, and remember to create your primary POP3 account before you copy your old mailbox (mbox) files over to directory.

Disaster...

Take it from me, don't bother compiling Gnumeric, settle for OpenOffice. To much work and frustrating getting things to work properly. At least I'm one experience richer...

Why this change in attitude? Well, all because darwinports and my selfcompiled programs tilted my MacOSX installation somewhat. And when I tried to re-install OSX the drive in the mini started acting up. I left it whirring and odd sounding over the night, and when I came back to my Mac in the morning, the grey logo screen was still there with the drive silent.

Now, you might think a faulty drive, but that is not the case. After I got the information from Apple tech support, that if the CD/DVD is stuck in the drive, reboot and hold in the mousebutton (the left one) after the ding sound, and it will eject. After I got out the DVD OSX booted up. Checking the DVD, and there where some fingerprints on the read side of the disc. Who would have know that a DVD would be so sensible.

Who said migrating would be easy? Not me... Lessons learnt:

1. see to it that the dvd read side is clean
2. make a backup of the os disc
3. store the original somewhere safe
4. call tech support even if one is a "pro"

I've now reinstalled OSX and I will not be compiling anything soon. Oh, and it was quite hard to get through to Apple support. I eventually got through, and luckily he helped me in my dire situtation. And now after a couple of hours, I'm up and running, listening to ASFRadio.com on Itunes. Great music, kudos go to the radiostation DJ for playing really great music.

Systems...

I suppose I have to surrender in getting Gnumeric to even get compiled in this system. I've even tried darwinports.com. That did nothing but break my MacOSX installation. I'm somewhat frustrated because of this. A clean fresh new install of OSX maybe will clear things. Installed OpenOffice, but it feels slow and can't open my gnumeric documents. Well... nothing to do now but to reinstall...

Firefox extensions...

Need to make your Firefox better, more userfriendly and secure?
My suggestionst are that you get these excellent extensions for Firefox:

For security

• NoScript
• Adblock
• Adblock Filterset G.
• Clear cache button
• Flashblock

and for userfriendliness

• Tabbrowser preferences
• Mouse Gestures
• PDF Download
• FireFTP
• Colorful Tabs
• GMail Notifier
• Copy Plain Text
• Add Bookmark Here

I will link them later for you convenience.

Gnumeric... (#3)

I decided to try and get Gnumeric compiled myself, and not using an old port from darwinports.com. It has been quite a task to build some of the dependencies, and I am not done yet. Many errors have I encountered, but I've found solutions to most of them through Googling for answers. One problem remains though. Libjpeg will not compile, even though I tried a solution I found involving copying a config.guess from ImageMagick. So now I've built most of the dependencies that need libjpeg without support for it. Hopefully when I'm done, I will have a compiling, dependency and installation manual for making your own Gnumeric.

Mail... (#2)

Well, mail seems to be quite a good package after all. Incredibly enough after requesting help from my friend, all I needed to do to hide the preview window, was to drag it all the way down or double-cklick the bar that split the window into mail-list view and preview window. To get the window back, all I needed to do was to double-click or drag the bar again. Simple and neat :) but too difficult for someone that isn't used to GUI userfriendliness.

To get recieved messages in the list view displayed with bold text, was simple too. Just select "Mail - Preferences - Viewing - Display new messages in bold font".

However, it seems that the Mailbox format Apple have developed for Mail is not the textformat mbox I've been used to. It is a format that Apple have developed from mbox into a easier indexed format called emlx. Mainly for spotlight indexing purposes it seems. There is however a utility allowing conversion from emlx to mbox if one want to switch back to the standard mbox file format. The utility is available from here.

So, I will be sticking with Mail. Then I have no need for installing a separate IMAP/POP3 server. Saves memory and space :)

Mail...

Welliwelliwelliwelliwell, what have we here my droogs, an application called Mail eh? Well, let me tell you about it. It is an ok email package, but with some irritating shortcommings.

First of all, why can't I within the Mail application itself add to the address book email recipients? I actually have to start the Address Book application in order to add email recipients. Even Outlook Express and every other known application I've ever tried have allowed the user to add recipients to the Address Book.

Another thing that makes it hard to determine which email is unread and new, is that the message in the message list isn't in bold, but instead it has a dot at the beginning of the row indicating that it is new or unread. It is much easier to determine the status of the email message if it is listed in bold.

My third and final irritation with this application is, that I can't find anywhere to close the preview window. I don't want to open up spam email messages, I want to delete them, not read their contents.

My verdict for the Mail application is that Apple need to correct these irritating shortcommings. Somehow I don't really like the Mail application. Maybe Thunderbird would be better. I will give it a try a couple of days more, but if I grow more irritated with Mail, I will switch to Thunderbird.

Dashboard...

I love Dashboard. What an ingenious desktop tool. I'm really getting hooked on this system. I don't know why more people has Macs where I live. They would also love Dashboard. So many installable wonderful widgets.

Dashboard is like an extra desktop where you can have widgets like for example a Calculator, Google search and so much more. You can also list new items in your Gmail account. One risk of having access to so many widgets, is that the Dashboard can get very cluttered with different widgets. It would be great to be able to have several virtual Dashboard screens. Maybe there's a widget available to help me with this? Anyhow, get your widgets from Apple right here.

Howto install widgets that come with the system:

1. Click the Dashboard icon in the Dock.
2. Click on the plus (+) sign in the lower left corner of the screen.
3. Click to select among the available widgets.

Howto install downloadable widgets:

1. Place the downloaded widgets into the system's Library - Widgets folder.
2. You will have to authenticate before it will be accepted into the system's Library - Widgets folder.
3. Double-click on the downloaded widgets and Dashboard will add them to the list of available widgets.

Recommended widget:

1. SysStat nano. View your system's status with this clever Dashboard widget.

Software...

What would a computer be without proper unbundled non Apple-software for the modern computer user. This article I will give you my information about software I found to be a musthave for any new Mac owner.

1. Stuffit Expander. The most wellknown archive expander within the Mac community.
2. Firefox. Does this software package need any introduction? No?! Ok, then ;)
3. VLC. The VideoLan client. With this media player you can watch streaming live videos via the net. That isn't the only thing it does. It is a fully featured media player. It plays your favorite MP3's, DVD's, OGG's aso aso...
4. Real 10. This media player will stream Real media files via the net. No need to talk about it in greater detail I guess.
5. Macromedia Flash & Shockwave players. Well, you will be needing at least the Flash player, so you can solve that Sudoku puzzle over at Miniclip.com. :)
6. Windows Media plugin for Quicktime. I don't want Microsoft's media player. That's why I chose to install MS' Windows Media plugin for Quicktime. Saves HD space too :)
   
7. Adium. Need a chat client? Need a chat client in which you can have all your chat accounts in? Well, then Adium will take care of that for you. You can even chat in Yahoo groups with it.
8. Cisco VPN client. For anyone that can't have all leisure and fun on the Mac, but actually have to do some work from home, and the net at work uses Cisco products, then Cisco's VPN client will take care of that for you. Easy to use, works well, and doesn't feel as bloated and sluggish as the Windows client does.
9. MS Remote Desktop Client. So you need to be able to connect to your own WinXP Pro machine (at home or at work) or Terminal Server? Get the MS RD client, works well and will give you access to whatever internal resource neccessary without the need for fetching the data to your Mac.

As I continue on my Mac road, I will most likely find more useful software. I will post the links for them in this blog, so you can find out more about them too.

Ahaa-feeling...

Yes, I got one of those wonderful ahaa-feelings this evening, when my friend came over to my place and demonstrated how I use my mac. You know who you are, so take a bow and kudos to you my friend :)

In System Preferences you just select some preference you wish to change, and then you just change it. After you are done, you click on "Show all" to view the system preferences window again. No need to click on anything such as Ok, Accept or Close. Simple, clean and efficient. I thought Gnome on my Gentoo Linux system was efficient, but Mac OS X is even more so. So this I deem to be my first ahaa-feeling from my mini. I suspect many are to come.

Finally...

Today I finally got my Mac Mini. I will post some images later of the Mini and it's arrival :)

Tomorrow I will write a more extensive post about how I get on with my Mac Mini. Some things I've already sorted out, like how to install Firefox. It's as easy as just to download it, open the downloaded file, drag the Firefox icon to the Applications folder. However, as a Linux/Windows user it took me quite a while to understand how I should install it.

Another thing I thought about immediately I opened up my brand new Mini, is that there are only two USB ports. A problem here exists. I have to get a USB 2.0 hub, because the two ports are already in use for my mouse and keyboard.

What else can I say about the Mini. I thought it to be noiseless, but there is a slight humm from it. Besides that, nothing except that I love it ;)

Hmm, now to check out if iLife06 already installed or if I have to upgrade it...

Stay tuned ;)

Specs...

The Mini model I ordered is the 649 euro model. This model has the following hardware specifications:

1.42GHz PowerPC G4
512MB DDR333 SDRAM
ATI Radeon 9200
32MB DDR video memory
80GB Ultra ATA hard drive
Combo drive (DVD/CD-RW)
DVI or VGA video output
AirPort Extreme and Bluetooth included

This model, according to reviews I've read, is the best model to select when buying a Mac Mini. Sure it doesn't come with a SuperDrive (DVD+-RW), but I have in my PC a DVD burner, and I've burnt like 3 DVD's so far ;)

If you do burn a lot of DVD's then maybe you should consider buying the most expensive model, but for 100 euro it's possible to buy an external drive chassi and a good or affordabe DVD+-RW DL reccorder.

However, this year we will see the launch of BlueRay and HD-DVD drives, and I think this time next year, these drives that will burn those DVD's will be more common and more affordable. Which "standard" will win the format wars? My bet is on BlueRay. Why? If I say PS3? ;)

One shortcomming the Mini has, is that it's 32-bit only. We have been on the mainstream 64-bit CPU highway for a year or two now, and my PC is a 64 bit AMD Athlon 64 3000+. It would have been great if the Mini would have been 64-bit. Not that 32-bit will be dead and gone in a year or so, but on the more longterm perspective, 64-bit would have been a better. Anyway, that wasn't my primary reason when I ordered my Mini. My main reason for buying the Mini is that it is quiet.

New Natural...

I bought the new keyboard today too. A great keyboard it is too. One thing I think is a problem though, is that the ESC key is too high up. I have to move my hand too much in order to reach it. It's a USB keyboard only, which today isn't a problem for modern computer hardware. Responsive and I highly comfortable.

You can look at some photos I took of the keyboard and box here. Sorry for the poor picture quality. My digital camera is a HP Photosmart 635. Whatever digital camera you buy, don't buy this model. It is bad. Poor image quality, eats batteries like you wouldn't believe. No, if you are going to buy a digital camera, steer clear of HP products and go for a more professional camera manufacturer like Olympus, Canon, Nikon or Minolta.

Bugger...

Today of all days I would have recieved my Mini. However, as I was not at my desk at work when they called me, I couldn't get my hands on the Mini. Tomorrow they will deliver it to me. Still... It would have been great to get it today...

Gnumeric... (#2)

Yes, I know I've been on about Gnumeric... As it seems it is available, from a place called Darwinports. Amazingly there are many additional projects there too. Well worth a checkout. This will help me make the transition from Gentoo to Mac OS X a more of a smooth ride.

I asked about this in Apple's disussions forums here. Anyone looking into a free opensource lightweight easy to use spreadsheet software package should try Gnumeric out.

Email... (#1)

Transferring email, one of the most annoying things when one is starting to use a new system. However, this should be quite an easy task for me to set up. I will be installing the IMAP/POP3 server Dovecot on the mini. This will take care of the email problem.

Another solution would be to import all my email data to Mail or Thunderbird, but I want to keep my email data open to use with whatever email reading software available now and in the future. Therefore I will keep the data in my current mbox file format.

I will get back to this subject when I get my mini. Then I will write about what I did do, and didn't.

Gnumeric...

Bad news... Gnumeric isn't available for the Mac OS X. Read more here and here. This is a problem. All my spreadsheets are made with Gnumeric. This problem requires another solution.

This could be an option, WeBudget. A PHP/MySQL web personal finance package. A little rough around the edges, but seems quite an interesting package. Best of all, I'd get my data into MySQL :)

To be continued...

Heureka...

I spoke to a friend of mine, and he told this Mac mini soon to be owner, that all the basic stuff I want like Apache and such, do come with the mini, but it isn't enabled. Great :) More positive news indeed.

And even better is that AbiWord is available as a native Mac OS X application. Now I'd like find out if Gnumeric is available for the mini too. Omg, this is really getting interesting... :D

Well now...

It seems that there is a good possibility to get stuff I've used in Gentoo to work in the mini too. Check out this link. If I could get fetchmail, gotmail, dovecot, mysql, apache and php working on my mini, then i could retire the noisy PC. Things are looking up...

2nd thoughts...

Hi again...

I'm now having 2nd thoughts about doing the switch. I love my Gentoo Linux system, I know how it works, and what it does. Don't know... Hmm... there is of course Yellow Dog linux... Hmm... Damn...

In the beginning...

This story starts yesterday (Wednesday 2006-01-11 2pm:ish Finnish time).

With trembling hands I clicked the order button at Apple store, my first own Mac ever... Not that I am a stranger to Macs, but I've just never had had reasons for doing The Switch. Maybe I've been too lazy...

So, what reasons do I have for switching? Well, the primary reason for my switch is because that this product has no fans. I absolutely get tired of listening to the eternal fans of PC's. So if you are looking for a silent computer, look no further...

Now I have to wait a couple of days before I get it delivered. Six more days... six loooong days... oh the agony, the pain... ;)

What else did I have to get for preparing for the switch? A new keyboard, my old reliable MS Natural PS/2 keyboard doesn't work in a Mac Mini (because there is no PS/2 conector), and according to the people over at the Apple discussion forums, say that many have tried with converters, but with no luck. So I ordered a MS Natural Ergonomic Keyboard 4000. If there is one thing MS have done right, then it has to be their Natural keyboard series hardware. I love these keyboards. Might be big and eat up a lot of deskspace, but there isn't a better keyboard available.

Well, I'll get back to you tomorrow, and report on how I begin my preparation for my transfer of my mail from my Linux computer to the Mac Mini when it arrives.

So until then,
tada...