osx

Dec 27 2009

Sysprep for Mac OS X

I admit it, for the last fifteen years or so I’ve been almost exclusively Windows-centric.  I’m sure there’s a Mac-specific term for this but I haven’t found it yet.  So, I’ll use sysprep for now.

What do I mean?  In Windows there’s a set of tools available that lets you build a reference computer with all the latest updates, pre-installed drivers and software and your own configurations.  Then you strip out all the bits that make it a unique computer such as user profiles and their associated passwords, unique computer identifiers and so on.  At the end of this you have a reference install of Windows that you can take an image of and deploy to other computers.  The first time you boot on a new computer it goes through some basic setup stuff and away you go.

Because I run a computer business that sells (and services) Apple computers I’ve been looking for a way to achieve the same sort of thing.  What follows in this article is the results of a some in-depth research and putting together bits and pieces from various sources.

My result is a disk image (.dmg) file that I can use to restore on any current version of Mac hardware (laptop and desktop – although untested on a Mac Pro) that will have a user environment I’ve already configured and with additional software that I’d like available.  It hasn’t got any pre-existing users created but runs the standard Apple welcome/setup process when first booted up instead – that way you get to create a new user profile for the new owner of the computer. More →

By David • Apple, Computers • • Tags: , , , , , , , ,

Sep 26 2009

Snow Leopard – Five Nice New Finds

Snow Leopard Box ShotIt’s almost a month since the release of Snow Leopard, Apple’s latest release of it’s Mac OS X operating system.  Allowing for shipping, I didn’t get my copy until a few days later.  Not wanting to tempt fate, I waited for the weekend when I had a chance to do a full image backup as well as my normal Time Machine hourly backups.

The actual upgrade went off fine.  I upgraded over the top of my current install and didn’t see any “deal breaker” problems resulting.

There’s already a significant tonnage of stuff about Snow Leopard so I’m not going to go into general reviews or benchmarks.  I’d expect my experience to be much the same as already reported anyway.  Instead, I wanted to touch on five small, new, features that I really like.

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By David • Apple • • Tags: , , , , ,

Jul 19 2009

Life with Mac – The Tweaks

Reset ButtonNo matter how good an operating system gets in a default install, there’s always little things that niggle or don’t work quite the way you expect.  While I’ve tried to embrace “the way of the Mac” and not uneccesarily load up my MacBook there’s some things I just couldn’t seem to live without.

After a couple of years using Vista I’d come to like the sidebar for it’s ability to provide information “at a glance”.  In particular, it’s nice to be able to see basic system performance information like CPU load, RAM usage and system temperature – knowing this stuff helps understand if a system performance issue has an obvious cause.

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By David • Apple, Computers • • Tags: , , , , ,

Jul 19 2009

Life with Mac – Stuff that didn’t work

discAs much as I’d love to say that everything Mac is going swimmingly, there’s been a few obstacles to true OSX bliss.

My day to day life includes the businesses that I’ve been running for years (one of them over ten years, the other one about four years).  They are established and have fully developed processes that are followed by everyone.  While I can adjust some of these processes to take into account my Mac, there are limitations on what I can impose on others.

In a previous post I talked about what worked out well for me.  This post, however, is about the parts that didn’t work, what I’ve done to work-around for now and what I plan to put in place to completely resolve the issues as I move forwards.

The first obstacle has proved to be email.  I’ve used Microsoft Outlook for many years (and Outlook 2007 for the past couple of years).  With this kind of longevity of use I’ve arrived at ways that I handle email (and contacts, calendars, to-do lists) that are dependant on Outlook. More →

By David • Apple, Computers • • Tags: , , , , ,

Jul 19 2009

Life with Mac – Stuff that Worked

Optical DiscsSoftware.  Without it a computer would be an expensive door stop or paper weight.  With it, a computer can become far more.

Over time we all end up with our favourite applications that let us do what we need in the way we are used to doing it.

In moving from Windows to Mac I was determined not to just cop-out and install Parallels and XP and just keep using all the Windows programs I was used to using.  I wanted to do as much as I could in native Mac.

As a starting point, I went looking for programs I’m used to using in Windows that have an equivalent in the Mac world. More →

By David • Apple, Computers • • Tags: , , , ,