It is very time consuming to install Adobe CS 3. I tried to help my daughter to install it today. It took me about 4 hours to install it. Actually, this 4 hours include sometime to reinstall previously installed trial version.
She has to install the trial version since she needed it for her class and her teach told them so. That's OK to get some trial versions first. However, when she received the licensed package, She tried to install it. It did not give any warning about trial versions installed already, but Illustrator and PhotoShop would not been installed. Her classmate told her that the trials have to be completely uninstalled before the licensed one. I don't understand why the installation process does not say that.
My daughter does not sure what have been installed and she is too busy with her home projects. I took the installation over. I browsed information about the installation issues on web. There are some conversations on this issue. Some warn that dragging Adobe applications to Trash would not completely uninstall them, and it would leave some components which would be hardly removed out.
Then I tried to install all the trials first. Some I had to download again. After the trials installed, I uninstalled them. There is only one component, Adobe Premiere Pro CS Functional Content, could not been removed. I could not find any way to do that. Finally, I started to install the licensed version. This time, except the Premiere one, all the other applications are available for installation. After the installation, it looks like that all the packages she needs are there.
That's very painfully process. I would recommend to keep the trial versions on DVD in case you want to remove them later. This could save you some time to download again, you have a list what have been installed.
Saturday, September 13, 2008
iTouch
When I purchased one MBP for my daughter's school, I got a free iTouch. That's the first generation iTouch. Apple just announced the second generation iTouch on September 9, 2008. As my colleague's guess, Apple tried to get rid of existing ones for the new model.
Anyway, there is no big difference between them. I just played the iTouch in the past week. It is new for me. Syncing my music songs, videos and podcast from iTunes on my iMac went very smooth first time. Then yesterday after I updated to iTunes 8.0, I got some error messages about not being able to play some videos in my iTouch. Not sure if I should update my iTouch to 2.1 or not.
iTouch 2.1 provides a way to sync or get iTouch application through iTunes. However, my iTouch does not have this function. It costs 9.99 to update software. I think I have to do it since I'll spend sometime to learn software development on iMac.
I have downloaded iPhone development kit and training videos from Apple. It is very impressive. Mac or iPhone development will be based on Objective-C or Java. It is quite difference from Windows .Net framework, though, there are some similarities. I'll do some iPhone/iTouch development first.
One thing I realized that all the web browsing, emails, and YouTube require wireless connection. I have all wired connection in my house. I was going to get a wireless router, then my friend remind me to give it a try on iMac's AirPort sharing feature. I tried to this feature from System Preference->Sharing. I opened Web Sharing and Internet Sharing with AirPort, FireWire and Ethernet. I think I don't need the later two methods, since I don't have anyway to connect to iTouch by wire. Anyway, after that, I can browse web and YouTube and get emails on my iTouch. That's really cool!
Anyway, there is no big difference between them. I just played the iTouch in the past week. It is new for me. Syncing my music songs, videos and podcast from iTunes on my iMac went very smooth first time. Then yesterday after I updated to iTunes 8.0, I got some error messages about not being able to play some videos in my iTouch. Not sure if I should update my iTouch to 2.1 or not.
iTouch 2.1 provides a way to sync or get iTouch application through iTunes. However, my iTouch does not have this function. It costs 9.99 to update software. I think I have to do it since I'll spend sometime to learn software development on iMac.
I have downloaded iPhone development kit and training videos from Apple. It is very impressive. Mac or iPhone development will be based on Objective-C or Java. It is quite difference from Windows .Net framework, though, there are some similarities. I'll do some iPhone/iTouch development first.
One thing I realized that all the web browsing, emails, and YouTube require wireless connection. I have all wired connection in my house. I was going to get a wireless router, then my friend remind me to give it a try on iMac's AirPort sharing feature. I tried to this feature from System Preference->Sharing. I opened Web Sharing and Internet Sharing with AirPort, FireWire and Ethernet. I think I don't need the later two methods, since I don't have anyway to connect to iTouch by wire. Anyway, after that, I can browse web and YouTube and get emails on my iTouch. That's really cool!
Monday, September 1, 2008
Remote Desktop Connection and Network Settings
I have a router as the main gateway to connection to Internet from my house. From the router, I set up one line to each room and get all the rooms connected to the router. Therefore, I can access to Internet from each room and all the computers in all the rooms are connected in a network. I mentioned that I could use Microsoft's Remote Desktop for Mac from my Mac to see my Windows XP comuter in other rooms.
So far so good. Later on I moved two Windows computers to one room. Since the room has only one Ethernet plug for network connection, I need to gateway box to connect two computers together then to the plug. Here is the picture of the layout:
Initially I tried to use a router as a gateway in Room 2. There was no problem to connection to Internet from Widnows XP computer; however, I could not connect from Mac to Windows XP any more. The Router is actually a firewall to break my network into two areas. Room 2's computers are sub-network, while Room 1 and the Gateway router is the upper level network. When I realized that two networks are not in the same level, I changed the router to a switch box. That makes my Mac be able to see my Windows XP comptuers again.
Actually, a switch box is a device to expend network in the same level to more computers. That's great experience. I was googling information how to see a computer behind a router. It is possible but much more complicated configurations to be done to open IPs or ports. I already have a router as a main gateway to Internet. I don't need more complicated network areas in my house. A switch box is what I need to expend my networks in my house!
By the way, I like NeoOffice very much. It includes a drawing program. I drew my above network layout by this program. The draw program is very comprehensive application with various shapes, lines and property settings. Best of all, NeoOffice is a free package with a bundle of applications!
I drew the network picture and then use Grab to take a snap-short of selection of my screen. Then use Mac's folder Actions to convert pictures to jpg file.
So far so good. Later on I moved two Windows computers to one room. Since the room has only one Ethernet plug for network connection, I need to gateway box to connect two computers together then to the plug. Here is the picture of the layout:
Initially I tried to use a router as a gateway in Room 2. There was no problem to connection to Internet from Widnows XP computer; however, I could not connect from Mac to Windows XP any more. The Router is actually a firewall to break my network into two areas. Room 2's computers are sub-network, while Room 1 and the Gateway router is the upper level network. When I realized that two networks are not in the same level, I changed the router to a switch box. That makes my Mac be able to see my Windows XP comptuers again.
Actually, a switch box is a device to expend network in the same level to more computers. That's great experience. I was googling information how to see a computer behind a router. It is possible but much more complicated configurations to be done to open IPs or ports. I already have a router as a main gateway to Internet. I don't need more complicated network areas in my house. A switch box is what I need to expend my networks in my house!
By the way, I like NeoOffice very much. It includes a drawing program. I drew my above network layout by this program. The draw program is very comprehensive application with various shapes, lines and property settings. Best of all, NeoOffice is a free package with a bundle of applications!
I drew the network picture and then use Grab to take a snap-short of selection of my screen. Then use Mac's folder Actions to convert pictures to jpg file.
Sunday, August 31, 2008
iChat
I have been tried to use iChat since I got my iMac. The problem is that I did not like to create .Mac trial account (I have to provide credit card information) or to create an AIM account since I have hotmail, yahoo mail and google mails. I have got enough emails. I don't think I need another email. Then I tried to use iChat without these account. I have never to get it working.
Then I choose other chat programs such as Adium for chat, and Skype for audio and vedio chatting. All these work fine.
I have watched iChat demo vedios and they are so impressive. Finally I give up on my ground on not new emails. I created AIM account today. Then iChat starts to working. I can share my screens with another user on Mac within my home network. For Windows users, I could start video chat! That's cool. I'll have to test to chat with a real user outside country to see if it is better than Skype or not.
It is so sad that I have to use AIM or .Mac accounts to make iChat working. I don't have too many people I know who use AIM account. I could ask some of them to install AIM chat application and to create an AIM account. That's really inconvenient because I could not add other yahoo or hotmail friends directly.
Then I choose other chat programs such as Adium for chat, and Skype for audio and vedio chatting. All these work fine.
I have watched iChat demo vedios and they are so impressive. Finally I give up on my ground on not new emails. I created AIM account today. Then iChat starts to working. I can share my screens with another user on Mac within my home network. For Windows users, I could start video chat! That's cool. I'll have to test to chat with a real user outside country to see if it is better than Skype or not.
It is so sad that I have to use AIM or .Mac accounts to make iChat working. I don't have too many people I know who use AIM account. I could ask some of them to install AIM chat application and to create an AIM account. That's really inconvenient because I could not add other yahoo or hotmail friends directly.
Sunday, August 24, 2008
Mac Menus
Mac OS menus are always on the top. Depending on what application you use or is active, the menu changed dynamically. For example, by default, it is Finder's menu. If you open the Firefox application, then the Firefox's menu is on the top. I like this way to arrange the application's menu, and it saves some space in your application window. In Windows OS, the application's menu is always inside and on top of the application window. I think that the Max OS menu layout is better than Windows. You have to understand the way Mac OS displays menu.
Sometimes you may close your application window but your application may still running. It is just the application window which is closed. I was confused at the first since I use Witch which is a system tool to switch between applications by pressing some hot-keys (I use Alt-arrow down keys). To close the application with no windows, you can switch to the application and then press Command+Q.
I like the Mac's menu layout specially when I use Firefox with Vimperator addin. Vimperator automatically disables Firefox's menu. However, since Mac's menu is always on the top instead within the Firefox window, so the menu is always visible. In Windows, if I want to display the menu, I had to type :set go+=m each time(I could set menu visible permanently, but that takes some space in the window). In the Mac, I can access Firefox's menu on the top. Vimperator just cannot make the menu invisible.
Sometimes you may close your application window but your application may still running. It is just the application window which is closed. I was confused at the first since I use Witch which is a system tool to switch between applications by pressing some hot-keys (I use Alt-arrow down keys). To close the application with no windows, you can switch to the application and then press Command+Q.
I like the Mac's menu layout specially when I use Firefox with Vimperator addin. Vimperator automatically disables Firefox's menu. However, since Mac's menu is always on the top instead within the Firefox window, so the menu is always visible. In Windows, if I want to display the menu, I had to type :set go+=m each time(I could set menu visible permanently, but that takes some space in the window). In the Mac, I can access Firefox's menu on the top. Vimperator just cannot make the menu invisible.
Sunday, August 10, 2008
Remote Desktop Connection to Windows
Still Windows is my favorite OS computer even I like Mac so much. There are some thing I still have to use Windows to my work.
Recently I moved all my Windows computer to one room, where there is one Ethernet cable. In order to make them accessible to Internet, I added one router to the Ethernet cable, then three Windows PCs are connected to the router. There is no problem to connection to Internet from any one of PCs. However, my previous Remote Desktop connection from Mac to Windows does not work any more. I just cannot connect to PCs behind a router. This is the same case I cannot connect directly from outside my home to my home PC or Mac. I guess I could do that if I open some ports on the router or configure my computer IP on the router as opened one. However, that's too complicated. If I could do it once, I don't think I can remember to do it again in case some thing is wrong again.
Finally, I found a solution. Instead of using a router, I use a switch box to make three PCs in the same LAN network as Mac. As a result, I can make remote connection again to the PC from my Mac. That's very simple. The switch box has 5 ports so I have two more available in one room. By using a switch box, it makes my local networking connection much easy and expendable. I also realize that there is no firewall feature in a switch box. That's OK in my local network since I don't need firewall to block sub-areas.
Recently I moved all my Windows computer to one room, where there is one Ethernet cable. In order to make them accessible to Internet, I added one router to the Ethernet cable, then three Windows PCs are connected to the router. There is no problem to connection to Internet from any one of PCs. However, my previous Remote Desktop connection from Mac to Windows does not work any more. I just cannot connect to PCs behind a router. This is the same case I cannot connect directly from outside my home to my home PC or Mac. I guess I could do that if I open some ports on the router or configure my computer IP on the router as opened one. However, that's too complicated. If I could do it once, I don't think I can remember to do it again in case some thing is wrong again.
Finally, I found a solution. Instead of using a router, I use a switch box to make three PCs in the same LAN network as Mac. As a result, I can make remote connection again to the PC from my Mac. That's very simple. The switch box has 5 ports so I have two more available in one room. By using a switch box, it makes my local networking connection much easy and expendable. I also realize that there is no firewall feature in a switch box. That's OK in my local network since I don't need firewall to block sub-areas.
Screen Sharing and File Sharing
The next time is that I need talk to my iMac from MacBook Pro. I watched some demo video about screen sharing and Mac's AIrPort wireless feature.
Now it is time to really put my hands on. By default, the Sharing feature is off. I was not able to see another Mac computer first. I googled web to get some information. It is not so hard to do it. First you have to turn on Sharing feature from System Preperrence before doing any remote connection.
Then the sharing feature is available. There are many ways to do sharing. By using Ethernet cable, you can see another shared Mac right away from Finder. That's very secured sharing.
Now I am sitting at the backyard with only power cord, no Ethernet connection. I am using AirPort wireless connection to connect to my iMac. I am in a different account, iMac is actively in Admin. Then I can do Sharing Screening to my iMac. From there I can browse web and do my blog. That's really cool!
The only thing is that my MacBook Pro's screen resolution is not good enough in sharing screen mode, not as same as my local screen. By using AirPort wireless connection, I can remote access to my iMac in my house anywhere. By the way, I just discovered that if I turn the Scaling off from Screen Sharing's View menu, my screen is much nice, almost as same as my local screen. The only thing is that not all the items in one screen, and I have to scroll up and down to see other parts of my iMac's 24" screen. That's fine while I am doing my blog(since this is the only thing I am interested in and I am working on).
There are more about remote connection, such as sharing files, remote log in and remote control, etc. It is so convenient and easy to do in Mac. All these features are available just in OS.
Now it is time to really put my hands on. By default, the Sharing feature is off. I was not able to see another Mac computer first. I googled web to get some information. It is not so hard to do it. First you have to turn on Sharing feature from System Preperrence before doing any remote connection.
Then the sharing feature is available. There are many ways to do sharing. By using Ethernet cable, you can see another shared Mac right away from Finder. That's very secured sharing.
Now I am sitting at the backyard with only power cord, no Ethernet connection. I am using AirPort wireless connection to connect to my iMac. I am in a different account, iMac is actively in Admin. Then I can do Sharing Screening to my iMac. From there I can browse web and do my blog. That's really cool!
The only thing is that my MacBook Pro's screen resolution is not good enough in sharing screen mode, not as same as my local screen. By using AirPort wireless connection, I can remote access to my iMac in my house anywhere. By the way, I just discovered that if I turn the Scaling off from Screen Sharing's View menu, my screen is much nice, almost as same as my local screen. The only thing is that not all the items in one screen, and I have to scroll up and down to see other parts of my iMac's 24" screen. That's fine while I am doing my blog(since this is the only thing I am interested in and I am working on).
There are more about remote connection, such as sharing files, remote log in and remote control, etc. It is so convenient and easy to do in Mac. All these features are available just in OS.
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