MacPinoy

Psystar tests

As expected, Psystar’s Open Computer is not functioning as seamlessly as an original Apple computer. Macworld reports on several anomalies:

The system asked if I wanted to use the external drive as a Time Machine backup drive, and I clicked Yes. And though the icon of the drive changed to reflect its new status as Time Machine volume, the backup would immediately fail each time it attempted to run.

The Psystar site features a page with lots of available software update downloads, including one for fixing Time Machine errors. Psystar turns off the Mac OS’s automatic System Update feature, so you need to download and install updates manually. One might think that the company would send you a machine that’s as up-to-date as possible, but that’s not the case. I called Psystar tech support and learned that the company will offer a download in the next couple weeks that will enable Psystar users to take advantage of Apple’s Software Update utility.

Macworld Lab uses Migration Assistant to transfer our Speedmark user files and folders to our test system from a clean system booted into FireWire Target Disk Mode, and that process worked just fine with the Open Computer. We found, however, that we were unable to boot the Open Computer into FireWire Target disk mode. The tech support person didn’t think that Psystar offered that feature. Other startup options, like SafeBoot, zapping of PRAM, and startup drive selection via the Option key are also not available.

I tried cloning the internal drive to an external FireWire drive using Carbon Copy Cloner. It cloned successfully, but I was unable to boot from it, even though a message said the volume would be bootable. It sounds like a couple of folks in the Psystar forums were able to find a way to do it, but they weren’t giving out specific instructions. We’ll continue to look into that.

I guess it’s good that the Software Update is disabled. I would strongly suggest to Psystar not to enable it, unless they are comfortable that Apple won’t issue an update that would render your Open Computer inoperable.

And the problems mentioned in Macworld’s report may just be the tip of the iceberg. What features are also unavailable? Well, I guess you get what you pay for. Will this harm Apple’s brand? I don’t think so. At best, it shows how much effort goes into ensuring that the operating system works well with the hardware.

Psystar does exist!

And Gizmodo has the pictures plus a video.

And blogger Winn seems to confirm the statement that the clone comes pre-installed with Leopard and that you can’t reinstall it.

So you are on your own if your Mac clone crashes.

And since Software Upgrade doesn’t work, you will lose out on the patches and new features—unless of course, Psystar provides a hacked version of those updates as well.

What’s the best PC to run Vista? It’s a Mac

Popular Mechanics puts both Vista and OSX to the test. The results?

Leopard OS trounced Vista in all-important tasks such as boot-up, shutdown and program-launch times. We even tested Vista on the Macs using Apple’s platform-switching Boot Camp software—and found that both Apple computers ran Vista faster than our PCs did.

Forbes interviews Psystar owner, but where are the clones?

And in the end, I still smell a scam brewing . . .

Read the Forbes interview of Psystar President Rudy Pedaza. 

But where are the clones?  What I’d like to see is people actually receiving the machine and providing feedback about it.  One blogger has placed an order and already started chronicling the experience. 

Psystar clones the Mac

This I found via Macrumors. Psystar Corporation releases an Apple Mac clone, dubbed the Open Computer, which supposedly can run Leopard on a hardware platform that costs just $399.

I smell the stench of a lawsuit coming.

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Vista SP1 causing problems

Looks like the Vista Service Pack 1 is incompatible with certain Intel chipsets.

And that is one of the reasons why I switched to a Mac. I don’t want to spend too much time wondering if a Microsoft-certified update would cause my computer to be unstable. On my Mac, I have kept my system up-to-date. And I have not experienced any major problems.

Cloning your Leopard Install DVD

My Leopard Install DVD has been acting up lately. I have a Leopard family pack and I had only used three of its five licenses. I was in a party with a friend and I had offered him that I will upgrade his Tiger OS to Leopard. He brought his Macbook; I brought my install DVD. Several hours later and several beers later, his Macbook was still reading the DVD.

There are several other reasons why you should backup and archive your install DVD. Performing a full disk restore using Time Machine requires that you boot up using the installation DVD. Running a disk repair also requires the installation DVD. Of all the devices on a computer, the optical disk drive is one that is most prone to breaking down. The DVD is also prone to damage. Losing either one of these critical pieces at a critical point in time will definitely make your eyes water. An external hard disk is definitely more reliable.

Preparation: You will need your Leopard install DVD and an external hard drive. The external hard drive needs about 10 GB to store the bootable disk image. The hard drive can be one single partition or it can have multiple partitions. It does not really matter. I created a dual partition external drive—one 15 GB for the bootable Leopard DVD image, the rest for Time Machine.

Step 1: With your Leopard installation DVD loaded, open up Disk Utility.

You should see the Mac OS X Install DVD at the left sidebar. Select it and then click on New Image.

You can save the disk image anywhere. Take note of the file name (in my case, it was Mac OS X Install DVD.dmg). I chose to save to the Desktop just so that it will be easy to locate.Now grab a sandwich or take a nap. It takes about an hour to create the disk image.

Step 2: Launch Disk Utility once more and select the Restore tab.Source should be the disk image that you created. In my case, it was Mac OS X Install DVD.dmg located on my desktop. Destination should be the partition on your external hard drive.

Now to test. With the external drive connected, boot up your Mac. Hold down the Option key as you are booting and you will be presented with your startup disk options. Your external drive should be visible. Select your external drive as your startup device and you are good to go!

OS X 10.5.2 is out

If there is one reason to try out the new, updated Super Duper backup utility, it is this.  Apple has just released the latest upgrade to Leopard.

One of my biggest gripes is on Time Machine.  It’s a great utility, but I have no idea whether it is on standby mode or it is busy backing up my machine.  This info is especially important just before I pack up my laptop and disconnect the external drive as I don’t want to interrupt the backup process.  For me to check on the status, I have to launch System Preferences and click on the Time Machine icon.  Moreover, to bypass the hourly schedule and force Time Machine to do an immediate backup, you have to do it through Finder.   You can’t right-click on the external disk icon that’s floating on the desktop. 

Now, apparenly with this latest update, there is now a Time Machine icon on your menu bar.    By clicking this icon, you can see the date and time of the last Time Machine backup and commands to start a backup manually.   And when Time Machine is performing the backup, the icon, which is the shrunken Time Machine clock icon, will show the little clock’s hands moving backward. 

The other list of updates can be found here. 

Leopard problems

For the past few days, Leopard has been giving me problems.  Time machine has been acting up, causing my machine to freeze.  I could still move my mouse around and the dock icons would still react when I mouse over them  and jump up and down when I click on them, but applications wouldn’t launch.I checked the Apple forums and found that a number of people are also experiencing the same thing.  Was it because I should have done a clean install instead of an upgrade?  I don’t think so.  I upgraded my Mac Mini from Tiger to Leopard and it hasn’t shown any signs of freezing.  

Leopard and Skype problems

I’ve been having problems with Skype under Leopard.  Basically, it won’t launch.  I would re-install it and then it would run fine.  But after that first launch and I try to re-launch it again, the problem is back and I can’t launch Skype.

After searching through the web, there seems to be an explanation.  Now whether Leopard or Skype is the culprit is not subject to debate.

From this forum post, it appears that Leopard’s firewall remembers the structure of an application and creates a digital signature based on this.  Change the structure and the digital signature changes.  If the digital signature changes, then the application cannot run.

OS X 10.5 now digitally signs all applications. The first time you run the app OS X will confirm that you want to run the app downloaded from the internet and will apply a digital signature to the app.

If the digital signature of the app changes (by even one byte) the app will no longer run as it no longer matches the signature originally approved. OS X will prevent it from running. If Skype is making ANY change inside the /Applications/Skype.app bundle when it runs it would cause this issue.

Ars Technica has more details.  Go to the section on “Code Signing.”

Code signing also means an end to the practice of applications modifying themselves (e.g., saving custom theme files inside the application bundle itself rather than in ~/Library/Application Support/MyApp or another user-specific location). This practice has always been discouraged by Apple, and now there’s another reason avoid it.

Well, at least the problem has been identified.  If you ask me, programmers should adhere to the strategy of Apple.  If the application does modify itself, then how can one validate if it is a legitimate modification or that of a virus or malware?

So is the problem caused by Apple’s firewall or is it because the application is poorly programmed?