isoglossia

The ability to multi-boot on the new Intel-based Macs was not on the list of factors involved in my switching back, but rather something extra to love after the decision had been made. However, I did intend to install and occasionally run Windows in order to use Microsoft Word at work without giving Gates another $400, and as a means of waiting out the release of Intel-compatible image applications and so forth. But I bought this machine in July and am just getting around to putting Windows into it. Longtime Mac users probably won’t wonder what the hold-up was — and will probably wonder the opposite: why would anyone want to put Windows into a Mac?

My main answer would have to be because you can. After licensing Pages, Apple’s own word-processing program, and gradually learning to use the Linux-based Gimp for photos, I really don’t have any need for Windows anymore, and certainly don’t miss it. The main impetus that finally led to me putting XP into the Mac was the project discussed in the previous post: playing around with the Rasterbator’s download version, which comes with the request from the developer, “If you manage to run it on Linux or Mac, please tell me!”

So I loaded up Windows. After half a year of OS X bliss, it was surreal to watch Windows boot in a virtual machine courtesy of Parallels Desktop. And I mean ‘surreal’ in both the ‘wow, I’m in the future!’ kind of way, as well as in the ‘this ain’t right!’ sweaty-palms-tentacle-porn-nightmare kind of way.

I am amazed at how well Parallels works. Windows runs alongside OS X, actually inside it, in its own window, which can be expanded to full-screen (thus turning your Mac into a very expensive Windows box) or shrunk down so that whatever Microsoft program you need runs in its own little pane just like any other application. No speed hiccups, no issues, and Windows boots in seconds and runs more smoothly than in our Windows machine, which has a full GB more RAM. Though I doubt I’ll use it very often, it is nice to know that any time I need it, with Parallels the Macbook is perfectly capable of being not just a Mac that can also be a PC, but of being both of them at once.

It still gives me the creeps, though, hearing that Windows music coming out of it.

I suppose things could be stranger still.

We don’t geek around with video much at all, but we do use a video iPod to watch stuff we wouldn’t have access to otherwise. We have reason to love this program that makes it so painless.

This free converter, called iSquint, is a super-efficient way to get non-iTunes video into an iPod. Our iPod is kept eternally docked and connected to the stereo and to the television, where it has brought us much joy via The [American] Office, the Daily Show, the Colbert Report, and so on, which enter the iPod with a minimum of fuss. Any other content, though, requires a fair amount of futzing around, and with iSquint this major bottleneck has been removed. We wholeheartedly recommend this program for Mac.

The only help available for this piece of freeware comes from the album of the same name.

My basic inquiries into whether a similar free-standing program for Windows exists were inconclusive: initially I found many highly articulated expressions of woe that iSquint is not available for Windows, but some say the same results are achievable with just a bit more friggin’ around; still others claim Videora is just like iSquint, only, not quite. I haven’t tried it, but it is also free free free.

Quarterly report: it’s now been three months since I made the switch back to using a Mac after six years in the Windows world. I’m trying hard to avoid sounding smug or condescending (as so many Mac users are accused of being), but my initial reaction was “what the hell took me so long?” That feeling has only increased in intensity as this change has contributed immensely to my quality of life (where ‘life’ = ‘time spent at the computer’, which value is larger than it probably should be). Each time I have to do something on a Windows machine I am struck ^[1] by the severe contrast. Before sitting down to write this I stopped by isoglossia’s statistical analysis division, and it appears that 25% of you know what I’m talking about.

Not that the other 75% of you can’t get anything out of this. I resisted switching back for years, thinking that I couldn’t afford to; that I wouldn’t be willing to re-learn a different operating system; and that I’d have to give up vital software or shell out hugely for Mac-compatible versions. I was wrong on all counts, and I can now see that reason #1 was by far the silliest — while the Mac laptop I ended up with was more expensive than a comparably-equipped PC^[2], the cost difference has already been more than offset by the absence of downtime, serial re-configuring and associated frustration. If you are considering buying a new computer, don’t let vague concerns like those I’ve listed above keep you from seriously considering a Macintosh, particularly the price. You can hardly afford not to consider it ^[3].

Here are some details that further enhance this new Mac experience for me. What follows are some applications that I can highly recommend for Mac users reading this. Where comparable products exist for Windows, I’ll indicate that.

Quicksilver should always run in the background — here it’s launching from Todos (see below) for show only

Quicksilver seems a natural place to start, though it’s very difficult to describe. It is a highly powerful and configurable (and complicated) launcher for anything anywhere in your computer. Much has been written about this strange and compelling ‘invoker’. I’ll just say that 1) with a modest investment of time it makes your keyboard feel like an extension of your brain and 2) I don’t understand how stuff like this can be so robust, so gorgeously built, and so free of charge. I am using just a tiny fraction of its abilities, but with it I can access any contact’s address, say, in seven keystrokes without moving my hands from the keyboard. It’s revolutionary. Great tutorials for getting started with Quicksilver are out there. If you’re on OS X and not using Quicksilver, you should certainly give it a look. Unfortunately, nothing like it exists for Windows.

Todos delivers launchable thumbnails of all your apps with a keystroke

Although Quicksilver would seem to make it nearly redundant, I also love Todos. The name is descriptive: it delivers all of your apps in eye-pleasing thumbnail form. This happens with a keystroke, definable by you, so the time it takes to locate and start a program is effectively nil in comparison with opening folders and scrolling around until you locate the program you need. Compared with Windows tree searching in “All Programs”, it is the difference between an eyeblink and an eye appointment, so it’s a pity that no comparable product for Windows is out there. It is simple, fast, efficient, and pretty to look at.

With the Mac Uploadr, I love to send pictures to Flickr. With the Windows version, not so much

Flickr’s Uploadr for OS X is far superior to their Windows tool. It makes tagging and adding descriptions much more efficient and is a joy to use. Our Windows version is cumbersome, unreliable, and bug-plagued, causing frequent crashes and much Malkoviching, particularly when pictures fall through cracks opened by its failure. The Windows version does continue to improve, but the differences remain significant.

The above programs are all free but would be worth paying for if they were not. Here are a few that are not free, but are well worth the price many times over. Believe me; the whole internet knows that I am cheap, and I’m also relentless when it comes to finding free software.

TypeIt4Me is a mega-clipboard that takes in all the macros you can throw at it. At one end of its spectrum, I’ve made it so that I will never mis-type the definite article as teh again, along with eliminating many other common finger-gaffes. At the other extreme, it’s got whole form letters pasted into it for über-efficient emailing. It is also great for inserting things you type regularly even when you’re not being a cold, soulless robot (letter closings, for example, or special characters) and particularly for HTML tags; the code I use for most photo borders here looks like this:

style=”border:solid 1px #000000; padding: 8px;”

I love that I will never have to type all that again. Now when I want a border, I tell the keyboard stylpad and it “auto-corrects” this to the tag. (If I want to go back to the original unpadded grey borders, I tell it cdcd.) I have similar macros defined for pretty much everything I might need to do code-wise. This probably means I will forget whatever scraps of HTML I once knew, but I’m willing to make that sacrifice in the name of laziness. Avoiding carpal tunnel syndrome and halving your keystrokes must be worth $27. For a proper review and a link to a similar rig for Windows, see Merlin Mann’s archives here.

NewsFire provides visual and (if you want) audio cues to alert you to new content

NewsFire is the feed reader I’m using. It feels like a hovercar to Bloglines’ serviceable Model-T and to the donkey cart that was bookmarking. It is feature-rich and has made my daily reading addiction an aesthetically gorgeous experience (their marketing does not really exaggerate all that much when they call it “the Angelina Jolie of applications”, although as far as I know it’s not out birthing any kids in Namibia). Like most things in the Mac world, it is highly tweakable. A bargain at $19. Windows and web-based readers abound.

I’ll close with the least glamorous app by far, but one which addresses a common Mac myth, that of the one-button mouse. I don’t know why people still believe that Mac = ‘no right-click’. That said, SteerMouse is a must-have for adjusting the motion of your cursor, speed of scrolling, clicking, and general mouse-feel. Lifelong Mac users may not benefit from it, but switchers almost certainly will. For them, well worth $20, but the free trial gives you ample time to decide whether you need it (you probably do).

Also on the ‘no right-click’ myth: even with the one-button trackpad it’s an option: System Preferences > Keyboard & Mouse> Trackpad > Place two fingers on trackpad and click button for secondary click.

Problems with this big change-over? Almost none. But if you really must know:

• Safari? Really? Compared to Firefox? I don’t get it.
• I’m still learning The GIMP, which I bitched about previously. I could run Paint Shop Pro via Boot Camp, or wait for Intel-ready versions of it or Photoshop, but I have a feeling I’ll like The GIMP by the time such releases come out next year. The lag in Intel-compatibility has also led me to play with Adobe’s Lightroom beta, which is a nice side effect.
• The mac.com account — are they serious? Can anyone explain this to me?
• Bluetooth, why you gotta be that way? You gonna crash the entire OS like that over a stupid wireless headset ? Get over yourself.

These items really are the extent of my quibbles. For a dissenting view of switching over, listen to this guy, dubbed Jackass of the Week by Daring Fireball. Overall I am extremely pleased with the move. If you’re reading this on a Windows machine, consider looking over the fence. If you’re a Mac user, I am very pissed off that you didn’t proselytize my ass over to your cool world a long time ago and so I’m no longer speaking to you.

[NOTE: This DIY was written in the early days of the MacBook Pro product line, before case-makers had caught up with Apple’s new form factors. In the two years since I wrote this, many excellent designs have become available, and I myself have upgraded to a Booq Vyper, which I can recommend despite the repellent name. This how-to remains useful, though, for the true and dedicated tightwad, the avid recycler, and anyone addicted to the heady polymer aroma of duct tape.]

I’ve never bought a carrying case for any of my laptops, but the new MacBook Pro is so sleek and lovely that I decided I would spring for a genu-wine store-bought case this time. A little research has deterred me, however. Word on the street is that the case-making sector hasn’t really caught up with the new Mac laptops’ dimensions yet and various vendors are claiming that old stock designed for iBooks and PowerBooks will accommodate the MacBook and MB Pro, with mixed reviews from users. If I’m going to shell out $30 or £20 for my new ‘Book’s case, I want it to fit like a tiny wetsuit, not blown-out rhino hide.

So, pending the bringing to market of dedicated cases for the MBP, it’s back to my old cheap-ass DIY ways.

Each of my previous laptops has undergone a non-invasive procedure that results in a carrying case meant to go inside a soft briefcase or backpack. The case you get this way has the following virtues:

• Tailor-made for your machine, with a fit as snug or loose as you design
• Provides excellent shock protection and is largely liquid-proof [*]
• Made from materials that are practically free
• Looks only slightly hobo-esque, and is meant to be tucked inside other bag anyway
• Gives you the profound satisfaction of making something with your own two hands

[*] I use this term not as a watch-marketer but as a beer-spiller. This case is NOT rated to any number of atmospheres.

This takes around an hour to do, including beer-opening etc, and doesn’t require any tools you probably don’t have lying around the place already. Materials required are:

• Large piece of closed-cell foam (i.e., a backpacking sleeping pad[**]). It comes in various thicknesses; I recommend 3/8″ or 1 cm
• Duct tape
• Self-adhesive Velcro® (optional)

[**] Try to find a used piece of this stuff at a garage sale or similar. Everyone seems to be using higher-tech sleeping pads now, so there’s no shortage of orphaned EVA pads out there. If you must buy new for this project, expect to spend around $10.

This how-to should be pretty much self-explanatory from the step-by-step photos shown below, but I’ll include notes as I go along.

Step One

1. First assemble your materials. In addition to the materials for the case, you’ll want to have handy (nautiluswise from top) the machine you’re encasing, X-Acto® knife, long straight-edge, scissors, square with measuring units, felt-tip pen, and beer (not pictured — the morning-sickness thing renders beer odor intolerable to Magda. So. No beer. You do what you want, but if your pregnant wife asks you to cut back on the beer, I advise compliance. She can’t stand the smell of olives these days, either, but that’s neither here nor there). In the extreme upper left is a piece of cardboard for protecting the kitchen table when cutting. The piece of foam here is actual Ensolite®, thin but very shock-absorbing and pliable stuff. In my opinion, worth seeking out for this project. This piece happened to be salvaged from the Dumpster®, adding to the satisfaction factor and lowering project costs asymptotically while increasing hobo-ness somewhat. Color is a bit unfortunate, but makes it easier to illustrate.
Step Two


2. Open the beer (not shown!) and measure your computer. As you can see above, I’ve marked out five ‘columns’, using the machine itself as a measuring tool (not otherwise generally recommended). From left to right, the ‘columns’ marked will eventually form flap, top, back, bottom, and front of the case. No side panels have been marked yet. As you measure/mark, it’s better to be liberal and allow a little extra room. You can regulate the snugness of the case later when you bind it with duct tape. Try not to spill beer on materials or computer (generally recommended).
Step Three


3. I traced around the roll of duct tape to round the corners of the flap. An optional step, and one which complicates the edge-binding later, but it’s more aerodynamic this way. Your call. At upper and lower center you can see that the edge panels have now been measured and marked.
Step Four


4. Here you see the case form marked out and almost ready to cut. An error I made here was failing to allow for the thickness of the foam where the side and front panels will meet, but this is easy to rectify before you do any cutting. Picture how the various flaps will fold around the machine and make sure that it makes sense before you pick up those scissors.
Step Five


5. This picture shows the computer lying atop the cut-out foam. Note the hashlined areas where I added material to the pattern to allow for overlap of the foam thickness.
Step Six


6. Using the X-Acto® knife and straight-edge, carefully score the foam along the soon-to-be corners — anywhere the foam will round a corner. This scoring allows the foam to fold at something close to right-angles rather than bending. Use care to cut no more than halfway through the foam, and just in case place heavy cardboard underneath where you’re cutting. Rule: X-Acto® knives are almost always sharper than you think. Cut along the lines you drew with the straight-edge — the cuts will end up on the outside of the case.
Step Seven


7. Next you’re going to ‘sew’ the case’s various panels together with little tabs of duct tape. Cut out a lot of them (you’ll end up using a few dozen in all) but here’s another rule: if you try to get 35 of the things ready all at once, you’ll end up with half of them stuck to your pants. (Note: you should be wearing pants). The computer is now wearing the condom it shipped in. Be safe!
Step Eight


8. This side is all ‘sewn’ up with little strips of duct tape. Rule: never skimp on duct tape. And don’t worry about how it looks; all seams will be covered later.
Step Nine


9. Here’s the case with all the seams stitched together, and the MacBook inside. It’s beginning to look slightly case-like.
Step Ten


10. This is where we cover all seams with smooth swathes of duct tape. Oooh, duct tape… This serves both structural and aesthetic concerns. Go slow, get in the duct tape zone.
Step Eleven
11. If you have some self-stick Velcro® around from previous projects, why not use some to make a nice tearing-sound closure? Here you can also see what I mean by not skimping on duct tape. As you bind the case with long strips, adjust the amount of pressure you apply to the tape to regulate how snugly the case will fit around your computer.
There is no Step Twelve


12. Finished! Here’s the MBP reposing snugly in its glove-like case. I can slide it into my soft briefcase, or carry it around just like this, all hipster-hobo. Beer? Thanks, but, umm, better not…

In recent posts I’ve alluded to an errand in Barcelona and to a very expensive souvenir of the city. Riddle: what comes from Barcelona, has a çedilla, and can be used to fry tortilla española ? Answer: my souvenir, a direct result of that Barcelona errand:

I’m not actually using the çedilla, nor the ñ, but I am happy they are there as mementos of one of my favorite places, the native city of my shiny, shiny new MacBook.

This marks a long-pined-for return to the fold. My first computer was a Powerbook from circa 1992, and virtually all of my computer experience through graduate school was on the Macintosh platform. As far as I know, no one else in my family has ever used anything else, and whenever I have visited them there has been great envy when borrowing their sleek little machines. Leaving Mac for Windows, concurrent with leaving grad school, was a fairly random decision and one that I have regretted pretty much every day.

So I’m very happy to be back.

After just a few days with the thing I am very pleased. Yes, it runs at least as hot as everyone said it would, and in spite of all the “it just works” hype, there has been a frustrating bit of learning curve (which has by no means flattened out yet). But the sexy seamless solidity of the hardware, and the sheer silkiness of the OS and applications are a cool shower after years of wandering in the wilderness.

I began considering this migration a long time ago but put it off due to frugality, opting instead to replace my Sony’s hard drive (for a second time) when it died two summers ago. I spent a lot of time coming up with justifications for why I needed to replace that six-year-old workhorse with a Mac, some of which were only silly, some downright delusional. I have to say that Apple does not make it particularly easy to buy a machine just anywhere in Europe. The online Apple shops that do exist in neighboring Italy, Austria, and even Croatia will serve only those countries and won’t ship over borders (thanks, EU). Slovenia’s one bricks & mortar Apple store has prices marked well up from Apple’s online European prices, which are already about 20% higher than in the United States. A proselytizer friend even offered to carry a machine back from her monthly commute to Britain, but the London Apple shop was entirely uncooperative with that little scheme. That I had to buy in Barcelona of all places after a long, long time of web shopping, comparing, researching, waiting and cursing, is fairly odd. But buying there vs. here enabled me to triple the installed RAM while still paying less than the same machine would go for in Slovenia, as well as avoiding a very long wait for it to arrive. And it gave me an excuse to cruise around Barcelona for a day. So for a variety of reasons, the Spanish/Catalan keyboard is a joy to me, and familiar enough from my time in Argentina.

Though that tiny return/enter key is taking some getting used to.

I will probably be posting occasionally on the experience of migrating back to Mac from Windows via a brief flirtation with Linux and a tawdry fling with Aquafy. Never having really used OS X before, though, I think we can just call it ‘switching’. So far I’m wondering what the hell took me so long.