I added 1 GB of RAM to my iMac, bringing the total up to 1.5 GB. It is much more responsive now. Applications launch faster; the Dock pops out instantly when I put the mouse in the right place; windows resize without all the jerking around; Exposé is smoother …
The One-Button Mouse and Where to Put My Fingers
The Mac still ships with a one-button mouse. This made sense to me back in the System-6-and-earlier days. Other operating systems had confusing and inconsistent uses for their multiple mouse buttons, and Apple's solution seemed to be the simple and elegant one. Apple's one-button mouse was easier to use, and …
Emacs for OS X
One of the first things I wanted for my Mac was a good text editor. TextEdit is okay for simple tasks, and I can use vi in a pinch, but I really wanted something like Emacs.
So I started searching for Emacs/XEmacs for OS X. I found about a …
AirPort Card Freak-Out
Last night, for no apparent reason, I suddenly lost the WiFi connection on the iMac. I was unable to access the Internet or the other machines on my home network. Every attempt to reconnect to the network gave me an error message. My other laptop with WiFi was working fine …
Alarm Clock
One of my favorite desk accessories on the old Mac was the Alarm Clock. Mac OS X doesn't have one. Neither does Windows. I miss it.
I don't know why it disappeared. I guess they figure the appointment-setting features of iCal, Outlook, or Entourage eliminate the need for a simple …
iMac First Impressions
My iMac arrived a few days ago. I took it out of the box, put batteries into the Bluetooth keyboard and mouse, plugged the power cable in, and turned it on. I was pleased to hear the good old Mac startup sound, although it was startlingly loud.
Going through the …
Electronics and PIC Microcontrollers
Over the past few months, I've been trying to learn more about electronics. My job involves a lot of devices and embedded software, which piqued my interest. As with everything else I do, I want to understand how it all works.
I had a couple of digital electronics courses in …
Milestones Reached
We've reached our deadline, and spent our entire budget. So I'd like to congratulate everyone on the successful completion of the project.
Unfortunately, we aren't finished. I estimate that we have another 4-6 weeks of work to do, which means we really probably have 8-12 weeks of work to do …
I Bought an iMac
I was an early Macintosh user. I bought my first Mac in college (actually, my parents bought it), around 1987. It was a Mac SE, with 1MB of RAM and a 20 MB hard drive. A few years later, I got a IIsi, and a few years after that, I …
Hobbies
For most of my adult life, I didn't really have any "hobbies". I spent most of my free time watching TV, reading books, hanging out with friends, or improving my programming skills. I didn't consider any of these activities to be hobbies, and always wondered if I was missing out …