It’s not so bad…

Thanks to various blog comments I managed to solve most of the niggles I had with the laptop:

muted the startup sound

This was pretty straight forward: download StartupSound.prefPane and choose the appropriate settings (I ticked the “Mute” box next to “Startup Volume” which seems to work fine.)

reconfigured keyboard layout using Ukulele

(definitely a personal preference) I configured a keyboard layout to match UK PC keyboards: backtick (`) to the left of 1, hash# and tilde~ next to return, at@ and double-quote” reversed (double-quote via Shift+2) and finally (I think) putting backslash and pipe| to the left of Z) If you want it, you can download my British PC keyboard layout (if I remember right, you have to move the file into /System/Library/Keyboard Layouts/ and may need to restart before you can choose it in System Preferences / International / Input Menu – and if you want a decent icon you’ll need the flag icon to bung in the Keyboard Layouts folder too.)

There is still one rather annoying aspect of the keyboard layout: it changes back to a Mac layout whenever I use Opera and tab into a password field – god knows what that’s all about!? I’ve got used to it now though and can quickly change back with Apple+Space

Better sleep & hibernate

Apple must have distributed a software update including fixes so waking up from sleep became a lot faster and more reliable. I’ve been months without shutting my Mac down, though I’ve recently changed my power settings so it goes into stand-by if I close the lid while plugged in, but goes into deep sleep if I close the lid while running off battery. What I’d really like is a way to say “go into stand-by for 15 minutes, then go into deep-sleep” – I think that’d be better when you’re running of battery and carting your computer from room to room – but want it to go into deep-sleep if you hit the motorway for 2 hours.

Region-free DVD

Hackers are great. About 8 months on from writing my bitch-post someone pointed out some a forum thread pointing to new firmware. Upgrading the firmware and installing Region X means I can actually view DVDs I paid for… (Is that a “w00t!” I hear at the back?)

It’s nice to have been pointed to solutions by readers, but there were a couple of physical issues readers couldn’t fix: the position of the drive slot, and the crappy return key.

( I realise I’m only one of a million voices shouting in the wind, but) Apple have redesigned the new MacBook Pros to put the DVD slot where it should be (on the side) and they’ve added an option to let you specify a US keyboard when you order a Mac online (giving chunky Return and Shift keys, and proper labelling to say META, ALT and OPTION)

I need to test-drive the new chicklet keyboard before deciding whether I’d be happy using a new MacBook Pro, but with the US keyboard layout and another region-free DVD hack, I think I’d quite happily upgrade. Of course Apple have made some changes that put me off too:

1. you have to pay more for a matte display (it used to be the other way round: glossy screens cost more, but designers prefer matte displays for better colour accuracy, so Apple made the most common and desirable option the one that costs a premium. That’s business!)
2. unremovable battery. On some days that doesn’t sound so bad: the pro (long battery life) outweighs the con (high one-off replacement cost after 3-4 years.) But… I’ve been through the experience of defective batteries: my original MBP battery got burning hot and buckled over the course of a few months. I’d hate to think what would happen if the battery was wrapped around the PCB and pushing against all edges of a one-piece case.
3. non-upgradeable memory. Well, kinda. This is a consequence of a non-removable battery – the option to upgrade from 4 to 8GB looks like it has to be done at the point of ordering, and for a hefty charge. Then again… 4GB of memory ought to be just fine, and (if it really comes down to it) I’m sure there’ll be a 32-step upgrade guide to replace the memory modules as soon as a memory supplier begins to sell them.

All in all, I’m pretty happy with my MacBook Pro these days. I get on better with OS X then Windows for a couple of reasons. I prefer Apple subtle nudge reminding you there’s a monthly / bi-monthly software update ready to install – compare that to Microsoft’s randomly timed “I’m gonna restart your computer in 5 minutes” auto-upgrade annoyance (and yes, I’m well aware of “net stop wuauserv” to stop the nagging – I can’t remember how many times I’ve had to type that in.) Plus, the BSD / *nix nature of OS X allows me to setup a development environment that behaves much closer to our live CentOS servers than Cygwin on Windows does.

I bought a Mac Mini last summer while rumours of a new revision were reaching fever pitch – I’m glad I didn’t wait. The Mini’s been an absolute pleasure – running damn-near silently and without issues. But that’s wandering off track.

I do have a new hate though: Sky HD. Compared to my recently deceased TiVo, SkyHD is one of the most incompetent PVRs I’ve ever had the displeasure of using. The only reason I haven’t cancelled my Sky subscription completely is because (as far as I know) there’s no other way to get Sky 1 – and I do like Lost, 24, Battlestar Gallactica and all the big American productions that come to Sky first…

And now I’m really off track. Sky HD’s a gripe for another day…

In fact, if you keep your eye on the github blog you’ll see a steady stream of well-known projects moving over to git, as diverse as the Blueprint CSS framework and the Haskell compiler.

Basically, if git was a stock-market commodity, analysts would be issuing strong buy recommendations left, right and centre. Git’s tipping-point has arrived.

How to play

If you’ve arrived here via search-engine, it’s probably because you’re trying to work around errors like Can’t locate Error.pm or Can’t locate SVN/Core.pm. Read on…

I already had macports installed, but if you haven’t, follow the macports install instructions – we’ll be using macports to download and install git as it’s supposed to be simpler than building from source.

If you’ve had macports installed a while, make sure it’s up to date:

$ sudo port selfupdate

We want to use git to connect to subversion repositories as well, so we’ll just check that’s possible:

$ port list variant:svn
git-core        @1.6.0  devel/git-core
subversion      @1.5.1  devel/subversion

I already had subversion installed but through trial-and-error found I needed to reinstall it with perl-bindings (git must be using perl scripts to talk to subversion…) Note: I’m using the -f flag to force it to reinstall, you might want to try without first, just to see what conflicts it brings up:

$ sudo port uninstall -f subversion-perlbindings
$ sudo port install -f subversion-perlbindings

Next, we install git:

# This may take a while to install with all its dependencies:
$ sudo port install git-core +svn

And finally, we check it works:

$ mkdir myproject; cd myproject;

# Check your PATH's set properly, this should output:
# fatal: Not a git repository
$ git svn

# If that's OK... clone a repository:
$ git svn clone http://example.com/svn/project/trunk

Can’t locate Error.pm

If you’re getting Can’t locate Error.pm or Can’t locate SVN/Core.pm you should immediately try:

$ PATH=/opt/local/bin:$PATH git svn

If that works, you know it’s just a PATH problem. It’s something to do with Apple’s perl install having slightly kooky ideas about where to store perl libraries.

If you’re still getting complaints about Error.pm, you need to install the CPAN module – and we’re going to use the /opt/local/bin instance of cpan, to make sure things go in the right place for us:

$ sudo /opt/local/bin/cpan -i lib::Error

Cross your fingers, and try again:

$ PATH=/opt/local/bin:$PATH
$ git svn clone http://example.com/svn/project/trunk

If things are working, git will spend a while cloning the subversion repository by pulling out every single revision so you can have a complete set of revisions (including deltas), ready for you to refer to with lightning-speed regardless of internet connectivity. Which is nice.

As I’m still running Tiger (OS X 10.4) I find Preview to be a tad lacking in usability – if only the ‘Maximize’ button maximized height and width, I’d be happy. But no, it’s a typical Mac-spastic application – maximize makes the application full-height, but doesn’t change the width. If you’re viewing a PDF using “Fit to Width”, this means the text-size stays exactly the same… which is never what I want.

If only Foxit Reader worked on Mac, I’d be using that (it’s a damn nippy and reliable piece of software on Windows.) But sadly it doesn’t – I even downloaded the Linux version, you know, just in case it worked on OS X (being a *nix ‘n all.)

So, I’m currently taking a look at PDF-XChange Viewer which comes in a couple of different versions. They provide a wee comparison chart to help you choose which version of their PDF viewer to download – but guess what format the chart’s provided in. You guessed it: PDF.

That doesn’t give me much confidence…

Not that this has anything to do with the iPhone, but if you’re going to buy a MacBook Pro with the full 4GB memory you have to make a decision:
1) MacBook Pro with 4GB memory installed by Apple
2) MacBook Pro with 4GB memory you installed, PLUS an 80GB iPod Video, PLUS an iPod Shuffle

It’s your choice. Installing memory is a piece of cake: pop the battery out and take off the memory cover (4 screws), replace old memory with new memory, then put the cover and battery back on. All in, it’s a couple of minutes.

So, the Maths: (with an ‘S’, because I’m English.)

That’s some juicy saving… Let’s buy some iPods:

Even after buying two iPods, you still have money left from your savings to buy drinks to celebrate.

Now I’m not going to moan about the rubbish exchange rate being used – I think we’re accustomed to being stiffed in Britain; but I will say something in Apple’s defence: they’re not alone. Dell also charge similarly extortionate prices for memory upgrades on their laptops. I’m not been writing about Dell for two reasons: (1) I’ve no idea if their laptop memory’s as easy to replace, and (2) they don’t make iPods.

And finally. Back to the iPhone. Instead of blowing your $470 savings on iPods, you could always use it for the majority payment of your iPhone (whether it be the $499 or $599 version.)

Good luck to those of you trying to get your grubby mitts on an iPhone tonight.