Sporkers Helping Sporkers

El Jeffe – February 21, 2012 12:34AM Reply Quote
What a journey.

We don't like nor use our WD box compared to the Netgear NeoTV 550. Very different experience.

tomierna (Admin) – February 21, 2012 03:43AM Reply Quote
Hideously Unnatural

Non jailbroken AppleTV wants to stream from iTunes libraries on your LAN, or Netflix, or directly from iTunes Store.

I've heard it's not a terrible nightmare to jailbreak, but I've not jailbroken mine - I had a period of time where I set up queues of transcoding on several networked Macs to change over everything in my library to H.264, and I transcode anything new that I download.

I have a substantial DVD collection that I want to back up and transcode, but I haven't done that yet :/

Mokers (Moderator) – February 21, 2012 06:03AM Reply Quote
Formerly Remy Martin

Tony,

I have had luck setting up synology devices for people. It needs a gigabit router with n wireless to work well, but it is a good solution because it gives you raid 5 with built in media server, and even includes the ability to install programs like Wordpress, in case you want to have a dev testing server. It has a torrent client do you can download directly to the device. Works well with time machine. Has a print server and even VPN. It's not the easiest to set up because there are so many random options but they update their software a lot and have good support in the forums.

Cloudscout – February 21, 2012 07:44AM Reply Quote
˙pɹɐoqʎǝʞ ʎɯ ɥʇıʍ ƃuoɹʍ ƃuıɥʇǝɯos sı ǝɹǝɥʇ ʞuıɥʇ ı ?ɹǝʇndɯoɔ ʎɯ ɥʇıʍ ǝɯ dlǝɥ ǝuoǝɯos uɐɔ

I just thought of something... how are you streaming your media to the WD? Are you doing it with a media server or with an SMB file share?

To be honest, mine have been a bit flaky when I try to use DLNA servers to stream media to them. They have been rock solid when I have them connect to shared folders instead and I now have three of these. I have an older WD TV Live Plus, as well as the newer WD TV Live and WD TV Live Hub.

All three have worked extremely well.

ddt – February 21, 2012 08:16AM Reply Quote

Interrupting a topic... is there a tool or way to break down CPU usage/memory hogging by tab in a web browser? Activity Monitor just tells me one browser or another is using 99% of CPU, or hogging memory.

ddt

El Jeffe – February 21, 2012 11:44AM Reply Quote
What a journey.

I don't think Safari (if that is what you are looking for) spins off each tab as a separate process.
I would not be surprised to find some developer-level diagnostic/tool that COULD do this; whether one has been written or not I have no clue.

El Jeffe – February 21, 2012 12:28PM Reply Quote
What a journey.

I thought at one time in my discussions with Compuware, the actual THREAD PROBE was FREE... you can search and see...
but, if you think that threads/tabs in Safari FOR WINDOWS analysis might offer some correlation or insight into Safari for OS X...

then, perhaps JProbe or similar might help?

http://tinyurl.com/6s2fscy

tliet – February 21, 2012 12:48PM Reply Quote

Chrome has a Task Manager, it can be found under the Window menu.

johnny k – February 21, 2012 07:06PM Reply Quote

Yeah, Chrome is perfect for this sort of thing. You can get some pretty detailed info in the Inspector panel when you enable Developer mode in Safari, but that may be too close, doesn't look across tabs.

bahamut – February 22, 2012 06:17PM Reply Quote

I use a Mac Mini running Plex for my media centre.

Cloudscout – March 02, 2012 10:41AM Reply Quote
˙pɹɐoqʎǝʞ ʎɯ ɥʇıʍ ƃuoɹʍ ƃuıɥʇǝɯos sı ǝɹǝɥʇ ʞuıɥʇ ı ?ɹǝʇndɯoɔ ʎɯ ɥʇıʍ ǝɯ dlǝɥ ǝuoǝɯos uɐɔ

A question for our UK sporkers...

How much does a broadband connection cost you? Something with at least 1Mbit upstream speeds?

Tony Leggett (Moderator) – March 02, 2012 03:51PM Reply Quote

You know what, the Mac mini is starting to sound appealing...

tliet – March 02, 2012 08:43PM Reply Quote

CS, this should be able to answer your question; http://www.broadband.co.uk/checker/postcode:N20+8EG/phone:020+8445+9704/

I presume most of the options there are 1 meg upstream.

(frikking hell, our broadband options have become extremely expensive over the past few years when I compare these prices)

El Jeffe – March 04, 2012 03:56AM Reply Quote
What a journey.

I wonder if there is any way to convert (process or simple utility) a pdf file into a vertically-scrolling video file?
I'd like to view some pdfs on my media player on my tv. I could pause it as it scrolls "UP" the screen (Down the document) as needed.
So, a non-perspective-skewing, Star-wars-like scrolling thingy...

Any ideas?

ddt – March 04, 2012 05:40AM Reply Quote

Try the screen video recording in Snapz Pro? That might be a good use case for the single-app view of Lion... .

ddt

El Jeffe – March 04, 2012 08:50AM Reply Quote
What a journey.

good point. Now for a snaps license...

El Jeffe – March 04, 2012 11:13AM Reply Quote
What a journey.

Quote
Cloudscout
The CPU in your system right now is a 1.66GHz Core Duo T2300. Your cheapest option for a replacement would be a Core 2 Duo T5500 which is also 1.66GHz chip but its newer architecture makes it perform slightly better and, most importantly, it is 64-bit.

If you want to kick the performance up even more, you can go with a T5600 (1.83GHz) a T7200 (2GHz) a T7400 (2.17GHz) or a T7600 (2.33GHz). Those are quite a bit more expensive than the T5500, though.

It is VERY important that you pay attention to the package type. You need a "Socket M" version of the chip. The BGA479 version will not work.

While you're doing the replacement, make sure you scrape off the old thermal compound from the heatsink and start with fresh thermal compound. I would recommend using acetone (nail polish remover) to thoroughly clean the heatsink and use isopropyl alcohol to clean the surface of the new CPU before applying the new thermal paste.

After the upgrade is finished, you can install Lion... sort of. The only reason Lion wasn't supported on that system was due to the lack of 64-bit capability in the Core Duo CPU. Unfortunately, the installer doesn't base its decisions on the type of CPU in the system, it bases it on the computer model. That means that it will still refuse to install Lion.

There are two methods to make it work. The easiest method is to put the Mac mini into Firewire Target Disk Mode and plug it into another Mac that is supported by Lion. You can then install Lion on the Mini as an external drive. Once the install is finished, you need to delete the file "/System/Library/CoreServices/PlatformSupport.plist". After you delete that file, you can disconnect the Mac mini and power it up normally. Lion should then work perfectly.

The second method requires you to keep a working version of Snow Leopard on the system. I'll let you Google that one if you need to use it.

NOTE: Apparently the 10.7.2 update replaces the PlatformSupport.plist file. This prevents Lion from booting. When that happens, you need to put the machine back in Target Disk Mode and connect it to another Mac to delete the file again. You could also boot to a Snow Leopard install DVD and run Terminal.app from the DVD to delete the file as well.

All this time....
Finally 'fixed' the broken CPU heatsink pin/clip... but with regular old screw/nut. Just let it run some movies and such. After my first attempt, it worked, but the CPU was hitting 100 degrees centigrade, fans blaring...not good.
Now, today, it does not seem to break a sweat. So, I gather the heatsink is making good contact with the top of the CPU.

So, just rebooted it into target disk mode, and beginning the upgrade to Lion. I will be noting the above suggestions from CS.

If anything has changed, or new info has hit the inter webs regarding this stuff, please let me know.

Crossing fingers....

El Jeffe – March 04, 2012 12:36PM Reply Quote
What a journey.

Ok. Got base installed... then read this good news...

(From Feb 1, 2012 mail)
"10.7.3 and C2D upgraded iMac
Hi, here's my usual report about my C2D upgraded iMac 20" and OS X Lion Updates.
I'm happy to say the 10.7.3 update (installed via Software Update) does not reinstall /System/Library/CoreServices/PlatformSupport.plist and the Mac reboots smoothly.
I think sometimes we have to expect the unexpected from Apple...
Best regards, Luca P."

So, combo and done it should be, then. woohoo!

ddt – March 07, 2012 01:18PM Reply Quote

Anybody have any experience with backchan.nl (http://backchan.nl/meetings/view/1622) or setting up any other type of site for hackathons? It needs to allow participants to register, post pages for ideas/projects, add other registered users to the projects, communicate with other users, and admins to post agendae and schedules.

Johnny K, you know those backchan.nl dudes? They're Media Lab, too.

ddt

johnny k – March 07, 2012 07:28PM Reply Quote

I know Drew, barely. Backchan.nl seems cool. I'd be surprised if any one of us has used it... you're trailblazing. I'm sure Drew would be helpful if you emailed him.