TimeMachine problem

This morning I had a problem with TimeMachine. I backup my iBook over wireless to a harddisk connected to an iMac. I am doing this since I started using Leopard, about six months ago. I am now on MacOSX 10.5.3.

This morning I got the error ‘unable to get status of backup volume’. I am not the only one with this error message. Unfortunately I did not find a solution right away. I did a repair with Disk Utility on the iMac, but no errors were found.

When I connected the harddisk right away to the iBook, I did not got the error and performed a backup as usual. I did get however another error (unable to complete backup. An error occurred while copying files to the backup volume) while finishing the backup. Still investigating. I might have found the solution. And indeed it resolved the issue. I just had a backup attempt that went wrong. That is the danger when doing a backup over the network to a harddisk connected to another computer, which is not always under my control.

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Spaces in 10.5.3

I did not notice the problem with Spaces, but this seems to be a good improvement.

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Canon Lide 25

Today I tried again to get a Canon Lide 25 scanner to work under Leopard. I downloaded the new drivers and Toolbox from the Canon website. Alas, I did not work.

So then I downloaded VueScan and the scanner worked right away. So I bought the application and am a happy camper now.

But I am truely fedup with these large companies, I had similar troubles with my Epson printer and my Umax scanner. Really annoying.

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MacUpdate promo again

There is a new MacUpdate promo. The question is again whether I will go for it or not. All apps are now unlocked, so it is a good, especially with the current Euro/dollar rate. So let’s have a look at the apps in the bundle.

• Parallels Desktop - personally I have no need for windows and futhermore I am still on a PowerPC. However it might be something for my son in the future on his Intel-iMac. But then I have to buy Windows, what horror;
• BannerZest - Flash presentation software, might be interesting. However currently I just use Flickr;
• Sound Studio - for audio recording and editing. It sounds like a solid app, however I do not have a real need at the moment;
• Leap - another Spotlight interface, I have to see this;
• DVDRemaster pro - copying DVD’s sounds interesting, although I never wanted to do that;
• MenuCalendarClock - I am not a big iCal user;
• Hazel - an automatic housekeeper? For the few files that I create?
• StoryMill - multi-level writing sounds interesting. I am not a write, but could this approach be used for research as well?
• Art Text - I do make flyers from time to time, but usually I do not like fancy Text Art;
• Typinator - hmmm, do not really need that;

So all in all there are some interesting applicatiojns, there is however not a real need for me to get any one of these. So I will pass on this offer.

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Firefox 3 vs. Safari 3

A great post from Gruber on why he prefers Safari over Firefox. My thoughts exactly and much better. Any non-cocoa app just does not make the grade. But I knew that already in my NeXT-years.

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Evaluating Leopard

I am now well a month into using Leopard, so a good time to check out what features I am really using.

Spaces - it turns out that I became a big user of spaces. I try to divide my various work tasks into separate spaces. Works quite nice. I assigned the top left corner as the spaces invocation.

Timemachine - I set up my computer for timemachine. Seems to work pretty well. At least I am no longer worried about my backups. I even start to forget my backups to Amazon with JungleDisk. I was able to retrieve already several files. And I used to install from backup feature.

I think that is about what comes to mind and that does not seem much. I do not use Stacks. I do not use Quick Look, not all apss support it. I played with Screen Sharing, is fun, but no use at the moment.

And I do not think I noticed any other big changes yet. The system works, no crashes or other trouble.

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Solid keynote

After reading the keynote through the updates on macrumors yesterday, it is a morning for evaluating the thing. For me it looked like a solid keynnote, nice evolutionary, with a few expected surprises.

The MacBook Air looks very nice. Wonder whether it is very fragile. It has everything that one could want. I hope that the Remote Disk facility will available for other computers as well.

Time capsule is a good idea, but I rather use my existing stuff to do this.

iPhone/iPod Touch updates are go, they continue developing it.

The movie rental/Apple TV announcement is a great evolutionary step. WOnder whether can use a Mac Mini as well to do this. We'll waint and see when it comes to Europe.

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Macheist bundle

I finally fell for the MacHeist bundle. The last two applications got unlocked and those were the interesting ones. And the dollar/Euro rate is so good, so no reason to buy. I started downloading and implementing things. I do not like every app, but let's go through it.

1password - this might be a good application, however I do not trust these kind of applications for my passwords. I like to keep control.

CoverSutra - just started playing with this one. For the moment I like the unintrusive pop-up when a new song starts.

Cha-Ching - I really should try this one out. I am still an Excel user for this kind of work. I wonder what this app would bring me.

iStopMotion - I do not really need this application. Maybe something for my son.

Awaken - I rather wake up my computer myself.

SpeedDownload - does this really work? No idea what this does.

AppZapper - this might be useful with all does applications that I try and throw away again.

TaskPaper - not useful for me.

CSSEdit - I am not really a website builder. I did need this app though from time to time.

SnapzProX2 - This is really useful. Long due.

Pixelmator - I do not have a good image editing app. I need it from time to tweek an image.

So all in all the usefulness is limited.

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Leopard’s firewall

MacWorld offers a nice introoduction to the Leopard Firewall. I was a bit lost. Not sure whether the problems with Skype and WoW are solved now.

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MacUpdate Promo

Today I fell for the MacUpdate promo. The price (49,99 US$) is very attractive, especially with the Dollar/Euro conversion of today. I do not need all apps, but a few are worthwhile:

• Forklift - I need an app like this. With my upgrade to Leopard, I could no longer use Transmit, so I had to spend money anyway. So why not try this one?
• Rapidweaver - I already have a license, do not need one, I am a Sandvox user;
• Swift Publisher - not sure about this one. I use Pages normally;
• Marine Aquarium - could be nice on the new iMac;
• Xslimmer - I have a license. Not sure whether I will use it. I have a PPC and Intel machine that I want to keep synchronized. I might use it to get rid of some languages;
• Memory Miner - have to try this. Might be interesting;
• Yep - Once my scanner works, I think I will try the paperless office;
• SRS Wow - something for the new iMac;
• XMIND - does not seem to be very Mac like. Do not really need it;
• iStabilize - will certainly do more with video on the new iMac. So this might come in handy;
• PulpMotion - maybe something for my son;

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Scanner problem on Leopard

I found my first real problem. My scanner, a Conon Lide 25, does not work under Leopard. I downloaded and installed the latest driver from Canon and Twain. It did not help. I see the problem mentioned on Internet, so I guess I have to wait a while.

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Leopard installation

I installed Leopard on my iBook yesterday. It went pretty smoothly. First I transferred all the files and settings to the Leopard iMac. I downloaded all the applications, which I purchased in the past, to make sure I had the right versions. I also downloaded the corresponding Application Support files, so I have once again the right settings. I needed to do some extra work on transferring AddressBook and Mail.

Then I started TimeMachine on the iMac to get a good copy. In the mean time I did a clean install of Leopard on my iBook. And once that was done I did an upgrade from the TimeMachine backup. That went all very smooth. Only my iBook thinks that it is an iMac. The saved window positions assume a larger screen for instance. More troublesome is that the iBook assumes that it has a french keyboard, which it doesn't. Have not found yet how I can correct that system-wide.

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Leopard problems?

Mat Asay wonders why people have a problem with Leopard. It indeed has held me back with upgrading. I just wonder whether these are just a vocal few that have trouble.

I got a new machine at home with Leopard and it seems good to me. I do not have much experience with it though. I am starting to prepare an upgrade with my laptop. Unfortunately the Migration Assistant did not work for me, so I have to do everything by hand. For the applications I have to do that anyway, as I am moving from Tiger to Leopard, and from PowerPC to Intel. I threw away the Intel-forks.

So the upgrading is a slow process. Once I have all my files over, I will start with a clean slate and do a clean install. My system has now so much junk that a bit of cleaning can do no harm.

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Initital Neuf experiences

Well, I am now totally switched to Neuf Telecom. I have been playing a bit with and seem to settle in now. Several observations.

Ping value is OK. At the moment it is 200 msec to a server in Paris. However in the evening it can drop to 500 msec.

Throughput (down) is about 80% better. However last night it dropped to only 200 kbps, it is 20% of my initial value. I hope that this will improve. I will do regular speed testing for a while.

The Neufbox is nice, I had no trouble setting it up. The WiFi signal seems les strong than my previous device. Have it now connected to the Wii and the PS3. So looks good.

I tries to connect my external harddisk to the box. Unfortunately it was not well recognised. I guess this due to the formatting I used (MacOSX extended). Guess I should revert to something else again. I have to experiment what is supported. My USB-ket worked OK. I was able to connect via FTP and WebDav.

I was not able to get my printer (HP DeskJet 5940) going. I found a PPD-file on the net, but it did work. The Neufbox did see the printer. I am at a loss here.

And finally the telephone worked as well through the Neufbox. I could call out and receive calls.

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Upgrading my ISP

I want to upgrade my ISP offer, so I started to look around. The main reason is that I want to have a 2Mbps solution, the maximum possible on my line. While looking around, I noticed that I can get rid of my Telephone subscription as well, saving me 15 Euro / month. I will keep the same phone number, but I guess I will move to VoIP. This also implies that I have free calls to any fixed phone in Europe. Good enough for me. And it looks I can save some 10 Euro per month this way.

In addition all offers force me into a (triple play) box. This is nice as well as my current WiFi solution seems broken. Now I am looking into the details of each offer.

Orange is out of the question as I still have to keep my France Telecom subscription. On their site I am not allowed to sign up for the 8 Mbps package, as I only can get 2 Mbps.

Tele2 has no valid offers in my region,

Darty is still a new player and has insufficient info on it's box. So I did not look any further.

Neuf Telecom stupid that they have a windows only music service. Looks like a good offer. Like the 3 LAN-ports on the box. And It has two USB-ports, for my printer and hard-disk. 45 Euro cancellation costs. Montly costs are at 35 Euro per month. The box also supports WebDAV, so very easy for my Mac. I am not sure whether my printer (HP 5940) is supported.

Club Internet has now become Neuf Telecom, although they still show their own offers. Seems like an interesting offer, but I guess it will merge into the Neuf portfolio.

Alice has a sign-up fee. They have a not very good reputation. There offer seems to be OK.

Free has a cancellation fee of 86 Euro, which diminishes with 3 Euro per month. I hate their website, very hard to figure out what I will get and how much it will cost. Enough reason to stop investigating.

It looks like Neuf Telecom has the best offer, but that is based on their box. In terms of functionality they are all the same. And the quality comparison is impossible to make, alas.

I decided to go for this solution and ordered it today.

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