The First Reader

Somewhat disappointingly this blog got a reader the 4th of December. There are no external links here, so I thought it could live its life in peace, not being disturbed by any readers. It is the so far only recorded hit since the blog started two months ago. And then 4th December Google brought a poor soul here from कांदिवली. Can one be reincarnated as a web page?

Transparent menu bar

The following information can be found in many places on the web, so there is no reason for you to read it here. It is posted just so I can find it myself, if I need it on a Mac in a distant country.

To solve the Leopard problem:

sudo defaults write /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.WindowServer 'EnvironmentVariables' -dict 'CI_NO_BACKGROUND_IMAGE' 0.62

and to undo it:

sudo defaults delete /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.WindowServer 'EnvironmentVariables'


You'll need to restart your Mac to see the changes. Log out is not enough.

The number .62 is the result of trial and error of users on the internet to get the right Tiger touch.

Why I will not buy an iPhone

I have seen some discussions on the web why one should not buy an iPhone. These are a few of the arguments:

• No browser downloads.
  
• No possibility to add attachments to mails.
• Limited bluetooth: no file transfer.
• No usb mass storage support.
• No filesystem access.
  
• No flash or java in safari.
• You can't use the phone as a modem.
• No copy and paste.
• No landscape mode outside safari.
• No junk mail filter.
• No Instant messaging.
• No GPS.
• No wireless contact sharing.
• No 3G.
• No voice dialling.
• No wireless sync.
• No stereo headset bluetooth support.
• No customizable MP3 ring tones.
• No voice memos.
• No LDAP client access.
• No games.
• No MMS.
• No lyrics in iTunes.
• Locked to certain markets.

I'm note even sure all of them are true, but I know that I do not care about any of them. Some of those functions, I might have used if they had been available, but none is a killer.

My only reason for not buying an iPhone is that it is too heavy. I want something small to fit in my pocket - preferably my breast pocket like the iPod nano. There will probably be new and lighter versions of the iPhone. Then I'll take out the wallet.

When Apple let me down, down, down

Apple is a fine company as commercial companies go, but it is just a commercial company. During the x number of years I have used them, I have been let down numerous times.

• A Performa of some kind in 1995 with green hue on the screen. Some hardware fix had to be applied. The local Apple dealer promised me a System in English, but refused to give me any back-up system diskettes in English. It was an integrated screen-computer - some kind of iMac of the time. And it weighed roughly as much as a medium sized battleship. After that experience I promised myself never ever to buy a desktop computer again.
• A Duo 2300c in 1998 where the hinges broke so the screen became unusable. It was just slightly more than a year, and a reparation outside of guarantee was not worth it. Until then, it had been one of my favourite Macs ever - slim and light.
  
• A Wallstreet PowerBook in 2000. I upgraded the harddisk to 20G, just before Mac OS X came out. It turned out that Apple only supported installations on the first 4G of the harddisk, so my remaining 16G were of little use, unless I fiddled around moving home directories and stuff.
• A Powerbook 12" G4 with a failed harddisk. I lost data for a few days since the previous backup. It got replaced by the local Apple dealer and for years emitted a beep every now and then. I never figured out why, but that problem seems to be gone with the upgrade to Leopard.
  
• A Powerbook 15" G4, Aluminium in 2005. This is probably the worst computer I ever had. The first one I got failed loading the OS updates and just went dark. Besides a key was not working. I got it completely replaced and the OS updates would still not load on the new one, unless I trod very carefully. The touchpad does not select words properly. After a little more than one year, the battery stopped charging. It is not a problem of the battery, which I tried to replace, but it is something internal, outside of guarantee and most likely expensive. Last week the sound stopped working - all sound controls were greyed out. A restart fixed that one. A few days ago, the processor went all nuts during the night, the fan was running like a jet motor, and I had to get up and make a cold restart. The 2 December, all USB ports stopped working - both for EyeTV and for my iPod Nano. One restart with the cables still attached failed, but removing the cables and only plugging them in after the second restart worked. I just learnt that it would cost as much to fix the problem as to buy a new computer.

And yet I go on with Apple's products. I am pretty certain that the problems are even worse on the other side. I have used Linux, OS/2 and different flavours of Windows in parallel, and at least when it comes to daily use, they just do not match up.

I have had a few marvellous macs. My PowerBook 170 still worked after 10 years, and it was with a tear in my eye, that I got rid of it. My LC never had any problems. And my 12" PowerBook G4 and my 12" iBook have followed me for a long time, in spite of the one time harddisk failure of the PowerBook.