Diary of a New Mac Owner: Part 1
After upgrading us to iPhones (which are freakin' great, I must say), Elle suggested I write and sell iPhone apps. I thought about it for a bit, decided it was crazy enough to try, so I started doing some research to see what it would take.
Turns out that the first thing it takes is a Mac. To be fully legit (meaning, accepted by the iPhone app store), an app has to be written using Apple's development kit, and it's only written for Mac OS X. Hm. I've used Macs only very rarely -- played Lemonade Stand and Oregon Trail on one, oh, about 25 or so years ago; took a keyboarding (aka typing) class on one twenty years ago, and toyed with Photoshop on one around the same time as the keyboarding class. This was all before OS x came along, and I've never once owned a Mac.
But I'd thought about it, so maybe now is the time.
After a couple weeks of watching eBay auctions on Mac Minis (and, briefly, Mac notebooks) get near and then zoom past my internal Price Limit (which was already outside of my Realistic Price Range), I set my sites a little lower -- 1/2 gig of RAM instead of a full gig and 55 gig drive instead of an 80. As I am the eBay snipe king, I bid with 34 seconds left and a used Mac Mini was mine for the taking. That was last week Friday, and UPS dropped it off about an hour ago. The events described below happened between 10:00 AM and 11:00 AM.
UPS truck rolls up the street. I'd been tracking the package online, so I knew it would be here today. But the tracking info said it went out for delivery at 8:30 AM, so I wasn't expecting it to get clear across town (two or three cities, in fact) already. Cool.
Saffie detects the presence of A Uniformed Delivery Person. Growls on cue. UPS Man opens gate, gets to door, lays package on porch, returns to his vehicle and drives off. No signature required? Seems risky. I rip open the box, remove all contents, and immediately realize there's no DVI-to-VGA adapter like I've seen in some Mac Mini listings. Did this listing say anything about a DVI-to-VGA adapter? I check: No, it did not. Crap. I've got two "extra" monitors that I could use with this, and at least one of them has both VGA and DVI ports, but I don't think I have an extra DVI cable.
I check the Box O' Cables. A dozen or so RCA cables, a bunch of USB cables, a couple VGA cables. Denied! No DVI. Hurm. Okay, well, the I currently have two monitors connected to my desktop PC. I'll just take DVI cable from the primary monitor, and use that to connect the secondary monitor to the Mini. Then use one of the VGA cables from the Box O' Cables to connect the primary monitor to the PC. I grab a six foot VGA cable (leaving behind the 12 foot VGA cable) and head back up stairs where the computers are. I disconnect the DVI cable from the monitor and... the VGA cable won't go on. I try again. No go. I lay the monitor on its front to get a better look and make sure I've got the cable turned the right way. It's fine, but still won't fit. What the hell's wrong here?
I trudge back downstairs and grab the 12 foot VGA cable. The monitor is less than four feet from the computer -- like I want 12 foot of cable laying under my desk. But whatever. I take it upstairs and try it. Fits fine. Let's compare the two connectors... Okay, the one that works has three rows of pins, the other has...two rows of pins? Is this a serial cable? It is. This is a six foot long serial cable. Why do I have a six foot serial cable? I shake my head, finish connecting the VGA cable, disconnect the DVI cable from the desktop PC, and connect that to the Mini. It fits without incident.
Okay, now for input devices. I don't have a Mac keyboard or a Mac mouse, and the closest Apple store is further than I feel like driving at the moment. Besides, I was already broke before getting the Mini, and I suspect that "cheap" Mac hardware is going to be non-existent. There are one or two "extra" keyboards around here and at least a couple mice. PC keyboards and mice, but surely they can be beat into Mac submission? I head to the guest room (aka the Storage Room) and grab they keyboard from an HP computer given to me by Elle's parents because it wouldn't boot reliably (still can't figure out what's wrong with it) and a cheapo mouse we got at a computer store for a project.
I take them upstairs and then pick up the keyboard and hear something I had never heard from it before: something inside is moving. As I lift one end, then the other, then the first again, it sounds like a rainstick with only one raindrop. That can't be good. Downstairs, screwdriver set, upstairs. There are twelve screws holding the keyboard together. Why does a keyboard need twelve screws to hold it together? One by one, I remove them and stick them in front of me. One won't come out, but "screw" it. I start pulling at the edges of the keyboard to take it apart so I can see if whatever's rattling around is important or if I can just throw it away and put the keyboard back together.
But it won't come apart! I pry, pry, and pry again but do not succeed. The damned thing is hermetically sealed. What those twelve screws were for, I haven't got the slightest. But I decide to just put them back and try the keyboard the way it is. If it doesn't work properly, I'll try another keyboard or try forcing this one open with a screwdriver.
Edit: I can't believe I forgot to mention why I stopped where I did and wrote this post. As I reach for the end of the keyboard cable, I see that it has a PS/2 connector -- the only such keyboard in the world, I'm pretty sure. Somehow I have three -- count 'em, three -- USB-to-PS/2 adapters, but none the other way! And while I was looking for one? Found a DVI-to-VGA adapter. I kid you not.
And that was 10:00 AM to 11:00 AM. 11:00 AM to 11:30 AM was spent writing this. 11:40 AM to 11:50 AM was spent making the icon.
To be continued....?
Turns out that the first thing it takes is a Mac. To be fully legit (meaning, accepted by the iPhone app store), an app has to be written using Apple's development kit, and it's only written for Mac OS X. Hm. I've used Macs only very rarely -- played Lemonade Stand and Oregon Trail on one, oh, about 25 or so years ago; took a keyboarding (aka typing) class on one twenty years ago, and toyed with Photoshop on one around the same time as the keyboarding class. This was all before OS x came along, and I've never once owned a Mac.
But I'd thought about it, so maybe now is the time.
After a couple weeks of watching eBay auctions on Mac Minis (and, briefly, Mac notebooks) get near and then zoom past my internal Price Limit (which was already outside of my Realistic Price Range), I set my sites a little lower -- 1/2 gig of RAM instead of a full gig and 55 gig drive instead of an 80. As I am the eBay snipe king, I bid with 34 seconds left and a used Mac Mini was mine for the taking. That was last week Friday, and UPS dropped it off about an hour ago. The events described below happened between 10:00 AM and 11:00 AM.
UPS truck rolls up the street. I'd been tracking the package online, so I knew it would be here today. But the tracking info said it went out for delivery at 8:30 AM, so I wasn't expecting it to get clear across town (two or three cities, in fact) already. Cool.
Saffie detects the presence of A Uniformed Delivery Person. Growls on cue. UPS Man opens gate, gets to door, lays package on porch, returns to his vehicle and drives off. No signature required? Seems risky. I rip open the box, remove all contents, and immediately realize there's no DVI-to-VGA adapter like I've seen in some Mac Mini listings. Did this listing say anything about a DVI-to-VGA adapter? I check: No, it did not. Crap. I've got two "extra" monitors that I could use with this, and at least one of them has both VGA and DVI ports, but I don't think I have an extra DVI cable.
I check the Box O' Cables. A dozen or so RCA cables, a bunch of USB cables, a couple VGA cables. Denied! No DVI. Hurm. Okay, well, the I currently have two monitors connected to my desktop PC. I'll just take DVI cable from the primary monitor, and use that to connect the secondary monitor to the Mini. Then use one of the VGA cables from the Box O' Cables to connect the primary monitor to the PC. I grab a six foot VGA cable (leaving behind the 12 foot VGA cable) and head back up stairs where the computers are. I disconnect the DVI cable from the monitor and... the VGA cable won't go on. I try again. No go. I lay the monitor on its front to get a better look and make sure I've got the cable turned the right way. It's fine, but still won't fit. What the hell's wrong here?
I trudge back downstairs and grab the 12 foot VGA cable. The monitor is less than four feet from the computer -- like I want 12 foot of cable laying under my desk. But whatever. I take it upstairs and try it. Fits fine. Let's compare the two connectors... Okay, the one that works has three rows of pins, the other has...two rows of pins? Is this a serial cable? It is. This is a six foot long serial cable. Why do I have a six foot serial cable? I shake my head, finish connecting the VGA cable, disconnect the DVI cable from the desktop PC, and connect that to the Mini. It fits without incident.
Okay, now for input devices. I don't have a Mac keyboard or a Mac mouse, and the closest Apple store is further than I feel like driving at the moment. Besides, I was already broke before getting the Mini, and I suspect that "cheap" Mac hardware is going to be non-existent. There are one or two "extra" keyboards around here and at least a couple mice. PC keyboards and mice, but surely they can be beat into Mac submission? I head to the guest room (aka the Storage Room) and grab they keyboard from an HP computer given to me by Elle's parents because it wouldn't boot reliably (still can't figure out what's wrong with it) and a cheapo mouse we got at a computer store for a project.
I take them upstairs and then pick up the keyboard and hear something I had never heard from it before: something inside is moving. As I lift one end, then the other, then the first again, it sounds like a rainstick with only one raindrop. That can't be good. Downstairs, screwdriver set, upstairs. There are twelve screws holding the keyboard together. Why does a keyboard need twelve screws to hold it together? One by one, I remove them and stick them in front of me. One won't come out, but "screw" it. I start pulling at the edges of the keyboard to take it apart so I can see if whatever's rattling around is important or if I can just throw it away and put the keyboard back together.
But it won't come apart! I pry, pry, and pry again but do not succeed. The damned thing is hermetically sealed. What those twelve screws were for, I haven't got the slightest. But I decide to just put them back and try the keyboard the way it is. If it doesn't work properly, I'll try another keyboard or try forcing this one open with a screwdriver.
Edit: I can't believe I forgot to mention why I stopped where I did and wrote this post. As I reach for the end of the keyboard cable, I see that it has a PS/2 connector -- the only such keyboard in the world, I'm pretty sure. Somehow I have three -- count 'em, three -- USB-to-PS/2 adapters, but none the other way! And while I was looking for one? Found a DVI-to-VGA adapter. I kid you not.
And that was 10:00 AM to 11:00 AM. 11:00 AM to 11:30 AM was spent writing this. 11:40 AM to 11:50 AM was spent making the icon.
To be continued....?