What do do with an old iMac that shuts down unexpectedly?

Our 6yo G5 rev B iMac is shutting down unexpectedly. It's mostly likely the power supply, which is sold for about $150 with shipping. (This was an exotic Apple model -- it was designed for easy repair.)

It's an old machine with a partially delaminating monitor. So it probably only has a couple of years left in it anyway. That argues for replacing it with a mini and a monitor for about $800.

On the other hand, the kids use it when their MacBook is busy and it doubles as a movie theater and media server. It can run Classic, so it's valuable to people and businesses running legacy software; it still has a resale value of about $450. Throwing it out will cost money, plus that kind of waste hurts my soul.

Yet again, do I know the sudden shutdowns are a PSU? Could be something else. The costs of investigation are high ... but not as high as the pain of buying and configuring a new machine.

Decisions ...

I'm probably going to do a hardware test (if it will run long enough), reset the SMC/PMU and physically inspect the capacitors and mb. If it does well there I'll order the PSU.

Update: Capacitors look good, but it shutdown during the hardware test. I'm 90% sure it's the power supply, there was a brief recall five years ago but it was fine then. It's long past the time even a generous vendor would replace a PSU, so I ordered a "new" one from iFixit. The quotes because "new" in this context means Apple sourced -- I very much doubt anyone is making truly new G5 iMac PSUs. iFixit was $15 more than the lowest price, but they have by far the best reputation of the vendors I found. I will also be using their install directions, so I like to encourage them.

Update 8/10/11: The replacement came from iFixIt in a couple of days. It was very well packed. iFixIt includes a mailer to return the old supply so it can be "recycled". I think that means returned to Apple to be refurbished. Please do that, there can't be too many of these in circulation.

As usual, installation was trickier than the iFixIt  video suggests. I suggest look at user notes on all the G5 supplies they sell to get more tips. Here's what I wrote:

1. It is very hard to disconnect the optical sensor cable from the motherboard. There's no hidden catch, you just have to insert your spunger/thin screwdriver blade between the fittings and gently twist. I used a surgical clamp to also pull on the cable -- that did it. (The cable is being replaced, so you don't need to worry about it).
2. The top right screw is hard to remove. I had to partly remove it, then lever the power supply up as in the video while continuing to loosen it.
3. I used thin wide screwdriver blades to disconnect the power supply connect, my spudger wasn't rigid enough.
4. The supply has clearly been used before. In the context of something this old "new" means Apple refurbished. That's fine.
5. Beware the optical sensor, it's glued to the power supply. Look for it. When you insert the new supply place it first.

Even though my supply lasted a reasonable (but not great) amount of time, I've been annoyed at Apple for the high failure rate on the G5 iMacs. Going through the removal process though, there's nothing "cheap" about this bizarre and exotic "power supply" with its attached optical sensor. Apple must have been very unhappy with the manufacturer; I bet there's an interesting story buried in this supplies high failure rate.

iFixit included a $5 off coupon code. I'll never remember it, so feel free to try it: 5611FIXIT.

Lastly, the repair does seem to have worked. With the old supply machine shutdown less than two minutes into the hardware test. This time it completed a 1.5 hour hardware test.

Oracle ODBC access with 64 bit Windows 7

I know it's a dying technology, but I still get a lot of value out of Microsoft Access manipulation of data stored in Oracle tables. I have a Windows 2003 server VM that runs Access 2003 and has 32 bit driver access to our corporate Oracle tables.

We're moving to Windows 7 (finally, and boy is Win 7 ugly), so in addition to my ancient VM I looked into using Access 2007 with those tables. The first thing I discovered was the 64bit Oracle 10.x installer didn't install the expected Oracle ODBC drivers. I also noticed that Windows no longer includes Microsoft's ODBC driver ...

Data Access Technologies Road Map

... Oracle ODBC and Oracle OLE DB: The Microsoft Oracle ODBC Driver (Oracle ODBC) and Microsoft OLE DB Provider for Oracle (Oracle OLE DB) provide access to Oracle database servers. They are built by using Oracle Call Interface (OCI) version 7 and provide full support for Oracle 7. Also, it uses Oracle 7 emulation to provide limited support for Oracle 8 databases. Oracle no longer supports applications that use OCI version 7 calls. These technologies are deprecated. If you are using Oracle data sources, you should migrate to Oracle-supplied driver and provider....

I spent a few minutes poking around the net, and it looks like there's no easy way to install Oracle's drivers into 64bit Windows. Indeed, it's not clear they exist. I'll do a bit more research with some more focused searches and post an update here.

Progress, as is usual, is a mixed bag. Access was an ugly, awkward Frankenstein application, but there's nothing like it for mixing and matching a wide range of disparate data sources. The deeply nested and reusable query modules could be horrendously slow -- but for what I do the performance was often adequate.

I'll miss Access.

Update: Superuser.com tells me that there exists a 64bit Oracle 11g driver. However, the user's unspecified version of Access is 32bit and it can't use the 64 bit driver. We're on Oracle 10g.

Wet iPhone: prevention and treatment

The iPhone is too precious. The fragility is not the big problem; any well made case seems to make an iPhone as durable as most any other phone. It's the water resistance. Or rather, the lack of resistance. When it comes to water, the iPhone makes Barack Obama look a tough negotiator.

It doesn't have to be this way. There's not much good to say about the obsolete Blackberry, but it's pretty good at surviving a swim. Maybe Apple will make some iPhone 5 or, more likely, iPhone 6 improvements. For example, they could go to a different connector, or get rid of the water-vulnerable home button.

In the meantime, every iPhone user needs to know the water drill. Go right now and read the Apple Core's overview. I've been through the rice version of this drill several times (family of five + 1 dog = 5 iPhones with 3 SIM cards = water practice). The key steps are:

1. Wipe (shirt can work), remove case, wipe/shake water off.
2. Power down the phone. Don't check to see if there are problems.
3. Dry thoroughly. (I avoid compressed air, might push water into case).
4. Place in a sealed container or baggie of rice (brown is best) or, if you have some stockpiled, surround with DampRid pouches (Amazon sells 'em).
5. Leave in a hot dry environment for 24 hours. Some experiment with car in sunlight -- I worry a bit about too much heat. I like using radiant heat from an incandescent bulb.

Memorize and be ready. Remember, a new iPhone 4 is through;">$600-$700 $250 or so. You don't get the subsidized price unless your contract is up, and then you get a new contract a non-warranty iPhone repair will cost about $270 or so. [1]

That's treatment. Prevention is better. Most iPhone cases don't seal off vulnerable areas; I'm considering the Otterbox Commuter because of the port plugs. If you're boating, or even biking/walking in a downpour, you want a waterproof pouch like the Seattle Sports Dry Doc Digi Case. I bought one for my bike bag, but after my the middle kid's phone did yet another night in a rice bed I made it his phone case:

He can use the phone through the case in most locations, including anywhere outdoors. In his bedroom and in the water-free living room he uses the naked phone. He's happy with this arrangement, and I'm buying another waterproof case for my own phone and (another post) my MacBook Air.

[1] Correction! Martin reminded me in comments. I was thinking replacement, but in this case the phone is not lost. Apple will do refurb swap for about $270. I don't know, however, if this implies a contract extension.

 

Google+: Circles are for both access control and subscription lists

The Google Reader UI lets me manage people who post once a year and newspapers that post 100 articles a day.

For example, the NYT Science feed is in both my Science folder and my NYT folder. The Science folder I read closely. The NYT folder I scan, and I "mark all as read" after picking a few interesting headlines.

So Google Reader can handle all kinds of traffic volumes, but G+ used to overwhelm me. A few high volume posters were clogging my read. Then I finally realized I'd misunderstood Circles.

Circles, I thought, were about access control. I thought Circles defined collections of people (once we called these mailing lists) who were able to read what I posted to them (notify and access).

I was partly right. Circles are access control. Circles, however, also define subscriptions or streams. They are, in this sense, analogous to the folders in Google Reader, where each person is a 'blog'.

It's not hard really. Circles are just collections of people. Those collections of people can be used for both access control (who you post to) and who you read (stream) [1]. So a person may be part of a Circle I post to, but I may rarely read their high volume posts (Guy cough Kawasaki cough).

Most of my posts are to "Your Circles" or "Extended Circles". That's a big set. On the other hand, my primary "stream" is a set of people who post a few times a day and have something interesting to say. I call that circle "Conversational".  "High Volume" is made up of the yackers with thousands of followers.

With the G+ web interface Streams are on the left side, but only the first ten or show Circles created display there. "Conversations" wasn't showing until Google+ added Circle ordering. Now "Conversations" is first on the list.

On my iPhone's Google+.app it's not obvious how I csan follow my "Conversations" stream. It's buried away in the app's oddball UI. Here's a rough guide:

1. Tap Circles
2. In Circles screen there are two tabs at the top: People and Circles (yeah, that's weird). Tap the Circles tab.
3. Tap a Circle ("Conversational" in my case)
4. In "Conversational" there is a list of people, and at the bottom of the screen there are 3 buttons/tabs to press. Press Posts. There they are.

Did I mention that the Google+.app UI is as incoherent as post-Jobs OS X (ex: Lion)?

I think Google could have done a better job of explaining this. Looking at their iPhone app I suspect they didn't fully understand Circles themselves.

[1] Fellow Geezers, think radio station.

PS. I still want iTunes style "Smart Circles".

Apple's $1000 docking station

Anyone can sell a laptop docking station for $1000.

Only Apple can make something that seems almost worth it ...

Apple Thunderbolt Display (27-inch) - Apple Store (U.S.)

With just one cable, connect any Thunderbolt-enabled Mac and get 27 inches of high-resolution screen space, high-quality audio, a FaceTime HD camera, FireWire 800 and Gigabit Ethernet ports — and a Thunderbolt port you can use to daisy-chain additional high-performance peripherals such as hard drives and video capture devices...

... The Thunderbolt Display includes a MagSafe connector that powers and charges your MacBook Pro or MacBook Air. The connector sits on your desk, ready and waiting. No need to unwind the cord to the power adapter that came with your notebook. Leave it exactly where it is, in your bag.

Yes, it's insane.

And yet ...

If I wanted the best of all worlds, and I was single, the combination of an 11" MacBook Air and the Thunderbolt display would almost make sense. Hang storage and peripherals off the display, plug in power and Thunderbolt cable, and the MacBook Air becomes a serious iMac contender. Disconnect and travel with an ultraportable.

A 27" iMac is $1,700. An 11" MacBook Air is $1,200. Together they come to almost $2,900. The MacBook Air and the Thunderbolt Display together are "only" $2,000. Really, cheap by comparison.

Heavens, but Apple is Satanic.

PS. Anyone remember the Powerbook Duo? Aka MacBook Air 1.0, but with 3 much cheaper docking station options.

Restoring an XP backup (.bkf) file in Windows 7

Based on a long history of problems with copying GBs of data over the LAN, I decided to move my data from a corporate XP box to a Win 7 box using XP Backup. That old utility is stone simple, but for me it's been fast and reliable.

I mounted a share on the W7 machine then ran backup to put every bit of my old machine into a .bkf file on the new machine. From there I'd unpack at leisure. In a month or so, once I'm satisfied I've not lost key data in a crevice of XP, I planned to delete the .bkf file.

Naturally, I did a small test first.

Obviously, or I wouldn't be writing this, the test failed. Windows-7 no longer supports restores from XP backup files.

I was open mouthed. This is the sort of middle-finger gesture I'm used to getting from Apple. Whatever their many, many faults, Microsoft has always been kinder to data. The formats are usually proprietary, but at least they're supported.

I couldn't believe it, so I looked further.

Happily, my faith was justified. You can now download a Microsoft Win 7 utility that will restore from a .bkf file. Description of the Windows NT Backup Restore Utility for Windows 7 and for Windows Server 2008 R2. It worked for me.

Lion: the curious case of the stingy desktop pictures

My copy of Snow Leopard has seven folders of desktop pictures, about 35-40 images.

OS X Lion comes with 14 images total. Stingy and weird.

It's not the only odd thing about Lion. OS X 10.7 feels like post-Jobs Apple; a compromise mashup between OS prosumer and OS lite. More on that in a future post.