Don Lancaster's Guru's Lair
Lancaster was a geek's geek in the 1980s and 1990s. Here he collects his words of wisdom. They are little dimmed by time, and each reference is a gateway to lost worlds at a time when the world was entering a time of change -- the 1990s.
In the world of tech, this is like opening a lost Egyptian grave. Visit with respect, and practice neo-archeology.
Monday, December 20, 2004
Friday, December 17, 2004
The usual problem: multiple users, one computer, multiple devices (iPods)
How to use multiple iPods with one computer
A common problem with computers and users. OS X is a bit ahead of XP in this regard, but neither have really straightened out the device, data, user conundrum. A good series of workarounds are described here, but they are really workarounds to a problem that's yet to be solved. (Things are really ugly in the XP/PalmOS world.)
A common problem with computers and users. OS X is a bit ahead of XP in this regard, but neither have really straightened out the device, data, user conundrum. A good series of workarounds are described here, but they are really workarounds to a problem that's yet to be solved. (Things are really ugly in the XP/PalmOS world.)
Thursday, December 16, 2004
Top 10 OS X Shareware Apps of 2004
MacZealots.com - Articles - Top 10 Shareware Apps of 2004
I have most of them (registered of course). A pretty good list!
I have most of them (registered of course). A pretty good list!
Wednesday, December 15, 2004
Succinct description of how OS X handles DVD and CD drives -- 10.3.2 had some major changes
MacInTouch Home Page
Mike Mihalik, a veteran Macintosh storage expert at La Cie Ltd., offered more information about DVD technology:
Here are a few clarifications and comments regarding Mike Love's remarks today on DVD support:
1. Mac OS X has a unique way to identify support drives. There is a mechanism called Disc Recording profiles that describe the capabilities of a particular CD or DVD burner. These profiles are the first step in defining what capabilities are provided by a particular drive. These are part of the Disc Burning API.
2. Prior to Mac OS X 10.3.2, only Apple had the capability to update the OS to provide support for new drives. There are various techniques for adding support for new drives within 10.2.x and 10.3.x; one utility to do this is PatchBurn, but this is not supported by Apple.
3. Starting with Mac OS X 10.3.2, Apple provided the capability to install new Disc Recording profiles (DRprofiles), that add support for new drives. These profiles are supplied by some vendors to provide full OS X integration for iLife and DVD SP applications. With the exception of iDVD, support is provided for external and internal drives for iPhoto, iTunes, Finder Disc Burning, and DVD SP 2 or 3.
LaCie provides Disc Recording profiles with each of its drives, and the latest profile can be downloaded from the Optical section of our support website. These DRprofiles are compatible with the System Update process and are signed and approved by Apple.
Other techniques that require patching may NOT survive system updates.
iDVD is hard coded to work only with internal DVD burners. A short search using Google will find the tip to enable burning with external drives, but I'll leave that to others to describe, as it is not supported by Apple or most 3rd party vendors.
DVD SP 1.x had limited burning support, and did not use the Disc Burning API, so it was difficult, if not impossible to add support for new drives; only Apple had the ability to do this.
4. Even with addition of DRprofiles, some applications may still require additional work to support all the capabilities of a particular drive. As a rule, Apple officially supports only DVD-R media, and only recently has added support for +R and +DL media.
5. As for DVD-RAM, this is a particular can of worms, as Apple does not support the latest UDF versions, which is widely used by many set-top DVD recorders. While a drive with DVD-RAM capabilities can surely used with a Mac, lack of full UDF libraries limits the utility of these drives.
So in summary, support for external and internal drives can be a happy experience, provided that products purchased include the appropriate DRprofiles, and the user has Mac OS X 10.3.2 or newer. Users are NOT forced to purchase a new Mac to gain DVD or CD burning capabilities.
LaCie does provide complete solutions for Mac OS X, and the necessary DRprofiles to add support to OS X. Further info is available at: [La Cie Optical Family].
The negative scanning project continues ...
Lasersoft Imaging / SilverFast JobManager
Over the past year or so I've been puttering along on a project to scan negatives. I bought a Nikon V ED for this project (LS-50). A few observations:
1. The Nikon software and workflow is really ugly. I think there's some kind of Adobe Photoshop plug-in option for some of their utilities, but the documentation is beyond miserable. I did get good results, but the software wins some kind of anti-usability award.
2. VueScan looks promising -- much better workflow. For a single license fee one can install a copy on a PC and a Mac -- legally! Downside is their test version produces unusuable images (watermarked) -- so time spent testing is utterly wasted. I don't have time to waste that way. I'd prefer an image-count limited test application so time spent testing isn't wasted. Documentation for VueScan isn't too bad.
3. This link is to SilverFast. They seem to have a "professional" solution, but I doubt they license for Mac and PC alike! It's a more expensive and more "polished" competitor to VueScan. I will try their demo package next.
My goal is to figure out a workflow that will allow me to outsource the scanning work to a local student.
If I weren't so worried about negatives getting lost or damaged, taking them to an imaging service would probably be far more cost effective.
This whole thing smells like something that hasn't quite been packaged for the serious non-professional.
Over the past year or so I've been puttering along on a project to scan negatives. I bought a Nikon V ED for this project (LS-50). A few observations:
1. The Nikon software and workflow is really ugly. I think there's some kind of Adobe Photoshop plug-in option for some of their utilities, but the documentation is beyond miserable. I did get good results, but the software wins some kind of anti-usability award.
2. VueScan looks promising -- much better workflow. For a single license fee one can install a copy on a PC and a Mac -- legally! Downside is their test version produces unusuable images (watermarked) -- so time spent testing is utterly wasted. I don't have time to waste that way. I'd prefer an image-count limited test application so time spent testing isn't wasted. Documentation for VueScan isn't too bad.
3. This link is to SilverFast. They seem to have a "professional" solution, but I doubt they license for Mac and PC alike! It's a more expensive and more "polished" competitor to VueScan. I will try their demo package next.
My goal is to figure out a workflow that will allow me to outsource the scanning work to a local student.
If I weren't so worried about negatives getting lost or damaged, taking them to an imaging service would probably be far more cost effective.
This whole thing smells like something that hasn't quite been packaged for the serious non-professional.
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