That’s crazy. 356MB of software update for the Mac OS X. It’s like a Windows Service Pack every 2 months or so. Also, you don’t have the option to restart later. It’s either restart or shutdown. Great user experience, yeah!
Crazy updates
We just each got a shiny new MacBook laptop from work. This will replace my main Linux workstation at the office. I have been struggling hard to fine tune this Macbook for better productivity. I am not new to OS X. I have a MacMini at home but use it mainly for surfing and watching movies. There are some basic things that are very useful but not available on other operating systems (even on OS X).
Clipboard:
In X Window, you have like two clipboards that you can use: Ctrl-C/Ctrl-V and middle mouse button to paste a selected text. If I want to login to a server, I Ctrl-C the password and select the server IP. Then, I middle-click the mouse on a terminal for ssh. When it asks for the password, I simply Ctrl-V. In OS X, I have to do this in two shots. Cmd-C/Cmd-V the server IP and then Cmd-C/Cmd-V the password. I have yet to see something to solve this “problem.” This is not a new feature. I’ve been using this in X Window for over 10 years now.
MacBook Touchpad:
What were they thinking in designing this?? There is no secondary or tertiary button. Just one large button. No right-click. No scrolling. To scoll, you have to use 2 fingers. Unlike Dell laptops where you use the right border of the touchpad to scroll. A real PITA.
Mail.App:
There are some real usability problems with Mail.App. You cannot have multiple identities in Mail.App. But there is a trick where you can have multiple e-mail addresses but only the same sender name: in the e-mail address box, you put several addresses separated by a comma. This ressembles to a hack. There are options missing in the contextual list (when you right-click on a mailbox folder for example). You have to select the mailbox and then go on the top navigation bar to do your thing. I almost installed Thuderbird because of this. Mail.App has trouble creating a copy of sent e-mails on the IMAP server and there is a loop somewhere. “INBOX.INBOX.INBOX.INBOX.Sent Messages” folder is created on the mail server. This is solved by specifying an IMAP folder to be used as a Sent folder (Select the folder, do not right click, go in Mailbox menu (top bar), Use this Mailbox for). Another hack.
iChat:
It is impossible to close/quit iChat if you have not configured an account there. There is no escape/cancel option in the iChat account setup. Try it. The video chat on Bonjour is quite cool though.
Lock Desktop:
How do we lock the Mac OS X desktop? In Windows, I just do Windows key + L and leave my desk. I had to install the Locker widget on the dashboard.
Software Update:
The OS X software update is larger than Windows Service Pack 3. Seriously! We are not talking about upgrading Tiger to Leopard. Just a point upgrade on a brand new Macbook. Leopard to Leopard. This is not an old inventory (There is already the MobileMe reference on it).
Screen:
Screen is a software for managing several (SSH) sessions. The use of Cmd and Ctrl at the same time is very troubling in screen. To go to the next screen, you type Ctrl-A+N. To paste something, it’s Cmd-V. Imagine you want to copy the same command you just typed in another screen window and go back to the original window. You have to:
I use this to copy the same configuration on 2 servers. The switch between Ctrl and Cmd buttons is very annoying to say the least.
X-Window with KDE or Gnome is still the killer working environment for any IT professional (unless you develop for .Net). Kmail does the job for any insane amount of e-mails. Konsole is the original multi-tab terminal software. I am working to get the same amount of productivity on OS X. If you have any tips to improve productivity, just leave some comments. Thanks.
If you browse some Internet services websites regularly, you should recognise this lady. We call her the “datacenter lady” or the “Ensim lady.” This picture is in some royalty-free image banks. She is being used (and abused) on many websites.
GNS3 is a great front-end for Dynamips, a Cisco IOS emulator. Unlike other software, Dynamips runs on real IOS image. It’s the most real you can get apart from buying the hardware. It can run several instances and link them virtually. This is a great achievement in reverse engineering.
In my test, I fired up four routers and linked them up with FastEthernet. I then configured OSPF on them and was able to see that the routes are being distributed on all routers.
Mauritius Blog Tracker is now on Twitter. http://twitter.com/mauritiusblogs is the URL. You can receive updates threre. http://twitter.com/stephanelee is my personal account.
