Super Sweet Update

Got the camera working after all, with sound and everything! Stuck the macam doodlie in the magic place, rebooted, and got Geech to skype me -- works great! This whole stick-the-magic-thing-somewhere-and-reboot-because- -you-don't-know-what-service-to-restart is kind of Windows Style, but hey (butthay). It works.

Super Sweet

Of course, since this is a modern, OS X Mac, everything went off without a hitch. Plug everything in, and go! I didn't have to try to type a license key that i could only see from the floor, or figure out how to uninstall a bunch of OEM crapware.

The only glitch was a Logitech camera that, it turns out, isn't supported on the Mac (i bought it for use with my old laptop, anyways). Macam gets it partly working, but it doesn't seem to interact with the camera's microphone. I was hoping to use it with Skype to videoconference at work. (Actually, i bought it because someone at work told me i oughtta; i have no desire to videoconference.)

My old Thinkpad has been relegated to the Rumsfeld in the corner. It will be a while before i can do my day job without it, though. ("Don't worry little guy, we love you just as much as we love your new baby brother. Now be a good boy, and play outside until you're college age.")

New to-dos:

• Get an actual mousepad (glass-topped desk no good for optical mouse);
• Finally run a network cable to my office, so i'm not using wireless for this puppy;
• Get Parallels up and running.

This is the heaviest computer i've ever owned.












And yes, i know i'm a suck photographer.

The Gang's All Here

Time to get to work! I promised myself i would clean up my office before setting up the new gear. But I promise myself a lot of things...

I'm Waiting For My Mac

It's costing me considerably more than $26, but I don't have to go to Lex and 125th to pick it up.

A laptop (currently a ThinkPad) has been my exclusive portal to the magical world of computing for more than a year now. This works out surprisingly well, though i imagine it's an ergonomic disaster. Anyway, i decided i need a new desktop computer, and of course these days anybody who's not a masochist (or a Linux geek) would buy themselves the most tricked-out Mac Pro they can afford. Plus all my friends and co-workers have them and i'm falling behind.

The various parts will be dribbling in over the next few days: the box from Apple, monitors from Dell, assorted software and peripherals from various vendors. Yay! Geek Christmas!

Now, i told myself that i would buy this thing only if it was going to be useful for my day job, which is (primarily) Windows software development. So, i'm really hoping Parallels works out; someone i know has successfully run Visual Studio in the thing, so the only remaining question is whether i can get various smart-card readers and Windows CE devices to talk to Windows in a VM without too many glitches. Here's hoping!