A couple of technology updates I’ve made:

I’ve upgraded my Mac Mini (3,1) to 8GB of RAM. It was getting pretty slow – mostly thanks to Firefox using 600MB or so of RAM, and it only had 1GB. But lots of other applications would make it swap, for example, iTunes would take quite a while just to quit, having to swap in before saying “goodbye”. I also bought OSX Lion, which I’m pretty happy with so far. It’s interesting that the UI changes for support of multi-touch, such as full-screen modes also make it better for people like me who like to avoid grabbing the mouse and use keyboard shortcuts for using the desktop.
It looks to be using roughly 3GB to run with my typical things going on, so it never swaps now, and seems much faster, and certainly more responsive to input, application switching, etc. The 8GB memory cost me $52, and took about 15 min to put in. Cracking the case open was pretty tricky, requiring patience and care, but easy enough after watching videos of the process.

My Android phone (HTC Incredible from Verizon) updated itself to 2.3.4. This seems to a fixed things generally, and it seems a lot smoother, though I’ve yet to see any big changes. I’m getting a 16GB microSD card for it so I can fit all my music on it. I’ve switched to WinAMP as a music player, and it seems really nice. No iTunes-on-Mac sync though, so I’ll still be using the iSync stuff, which is barely functional. I’d love to have the time to put a front-end on rsync to get the job done, but I’m not sure if that would cover iTunes’ Smart playlists.

When the 4th generation Touch was announced, I decided it was the to replace my 1st generation. Mainly it was the inclusion of the cameras and the mic. Finally this thing is a real portable Internet appliance.

The resolution has taken me by surprise. It’s really true, I can’t see any pixels even with no vision correction and the thing 8″ from my eyes. That, and the faster processor are worth the price alone.

It’s an iPad killer.

Back in October, I joined the ranks of those speculating about the IPad, stating that it should really be just a bigger IPhone. Well, it seems Apple agreed, and delivered a bigger IPhone, much to everyone’s universal praise and condemnation. The media coverage and general noise is kind of frightening, and even I have to add one more post to it.

I won’t be buying one, as I don’t have $500 to blow on upgrading my IPod touch, or money for a cellular data plan. If I did, I’d rather spring for an Android mobile phone, or wait for an Android or Lunix-based tablet, mainly because the closed-source, walled-garden approach is not something I can continue to feel good about supporting, and is already lagging behind more open technology and business models (see IPhone cut and paste, lack of IPad camera(s), etc.).

So, great prototype, Apple.

We run a Mac Mini as the “family computer”. It’s been chugging along since we got in 2005. It seemed kind of tired until we installed Leopard on it, which gave it something of a new lease on life. But lately it’s been running slower, and now often refuses to boot, giving the grey screen with the folder on it that alternates between a ? and the Mac OS face logo.

I’ve tried all manner of troubleshooting on it. When it does boot, the disk verifies, and there are no suspicious log messages. I’ve disconnected everthing on its USB and Firewire busses. Nothing seems to have any repeatable effect. Yesterday, I’ve started rapping on the case, or giving it a bump against the desk, and that does seem to have some effect. So, I’m starting to think it’s mechanical – perhaps a bad solder joint, or crappy cable connection. The next step is to disect the thing, which isn’t easy, as it’s really not intended to be user-serviceable.

I’m reluctant to even get into that, because at best, if I fixed it, we’d still have a computer that performs just barely well enough to be useful. The form-factor is nice, but compared to
my Dell desktop, it’s much noisier despite its laptop components, it’s not in anyway serviceable or expandable, and a new replacement is close to double the cost of a low-end Dell.

On the other hand, I like running OSX much better than Windows, and we need iTunes, as every family member has an iPod of some sort. I also use Garageband, have a Line 6 interface and run their software, and occationally use iDVD and iMovie. So, replacing the Mini with a Windows system would potentially save $300, but then I’d have to acquire software replace what comes bundled with a new Mini, have to move iTunes, photos and other media libraries to Windows, then reformat every iPod in the house. At the end of all that, I’d be stuck running Windows.

What I really want, is something like the mac mini, but maybe just a little bigger and user-serviceable and expandable. The Mini has a nice form factor, but it’s lack of expandability means that I have two external disk drives, a USB hub, two different iPod sync widgets, and my Line 6 outboard sound interface. In contrast, my dell mini-tower contains all its parts, with no extra wires and wall-warts required, and has USB ports on the front, top, and back of the case.

I just don’t get why Apple can’t sell an entry level, expandable system on the strength of OSX. and their ability to design hardware nicely. Why is the no desktop cheaper than the Mac Pro line, other than the Mini, which seems neglected as it is?

Also, I’m not thrilled with the Mini’s durability. It’s only 4 years old, after all. I wouldn’t expect it to avoid obsolescence, but just plan crapping-out is unacceptable. Again, this problem is made worse by it’s total lack of serviceability.

I still can’t decide where to throw money at this problem.