Kerner.net

Mac Netbook Adventures #hackintosh

 We've been needing a small laptop for use in the college ministry - a way to do data entry on campus and not be dependent on my laptop (which I use to preach) or having students bring their own computers. A netbook seemed like the perfect solution - small, long battery, etc. The only problem was that I really wanted a Mac.

I know several people who have hacked OS X onto a variety of systems so I started a bit of research. I discovered that the Dell Mini 10v is really easy to make into a Hackintosh. Last Thursday night I sat down with a 16gb USB drive, a LEGAL copy of Mac OS X Snow Leopard, and NetbookBootMaker. I followed the Gizmodo guide for installation and everything went flawlessly. 

Here's the basic details:

• Dell Mini 10v - $318.75
• OS X Snow Leopard - $25.00
• USB Flash Drive - $0 already had it (you can get one for $20 at Amazon)
• a couple of hours

Total cost: $343.75 unless you need to buy a flash drive. Not too shabby for a nice little OS X laptop.

Performance has been really good for web browsing, simple word processing, etc. I will say that it doesn't play web video all that well (tested in Windows and it's equally bad). The battery life has been crazy. With active usage I'm seeing 8+ hours of battery and mixed use (surfing and letting it sit and play music) the battery lasted over 9 hours. I do want to upgrade the RAM to 2gb, but haven't gotten around to it. I'm also really spoiled by Apple trackpads - the 10v trackpad is horrible. I also wish the screen had a slightly higher resolution 1024x600 is a bit too few pixels (not a bigger screen, just more resolution).

I'm really bummed that Apple isn't offering a real netbook option. I've got an iPhone and I've got a MacBookPro. After spending the weekend using the HackBook exclusively I think Steve Jobs is wrong when he says that the iPad is the perfect device to fit between the smartphone and the laptop. The iPad fits really well into the bigger screen/eBook/video player/web surfing category, but it doesn't keep me from needing to carry my laptop around. I think there is a second gap that is filled by really small, inexpensive netbooks. I see a real need for the 10" netbook that costs under $500. The $300 netbook isn't quite good enough, there is clearly a step between the 10v and a MacBook that could be filled (slightly faster, improved graphics, more RAM). This is the PERFECT spot for an Apple netbook.

Here are some things I've done over the past several days that can't be done on an iPad:

• answer email using a real keyboard, mouse and mail client
• tweak a graphic using Fireworks
• screen share to another computer
• use BackToMyMac to share files from my MBP from a coffee shop
• quickly switch back and forth between a google spreadsheet, a PDF file, and my email
• use ProPresenter - it actually is decent for still background images and lyrics

Share your thoughts about netbooks.

College Ministry Sound Gear

Justin & Gear

Unboxing


Basic Setup


M400 Boxes

 

 

Last fall we received a grant to help us fund buying a portable audio setup for our college ministry. We're going to be moving our college worship to the Missouri State campus rather than doing it here at Schweitzer.

As far as our research (and a lot of students) have told us we'll be doing the only full-band worship within walking distance of MSU. I'm incredibly excited about the possibilities.

We finally got around to ordering the equipment and it showed up yesterday. I figured it would be fairly big, but I didn't expect what we received. For some perspective on the size I made my friend Justin stand next to the wrapped pallet. It really isn't all that much stuff, but the packing to ship it is ridiculous. 

Several people have been giving me advice about the system so I thought I'd post a basic list of what ended up in our gym yesterday.

• 2 RCF Mains - 12" drivers, 350w
• 2 RCF Subs - 15" drivers, 800w
• 4 Mackie SRM 150s (for monitors)
• 2 ART headphone amps for wired in-ear
• 4 Shure SM58 mics
• 2 Shure SM57 mics
• 2 Shure ULX wireless mics (one Beta 87 and one Countryman headset)
• Bags, cases, and a pile of cables 

I'd had a couple of people tell me that they really liked the Kaltman Cable Coiler, so I decided to give it a try as well. Quality cables are expensive, and if this can make sure they always get coiled properly and can do it quickly it will be an absolute win. 

You'll notice that what's lacking in this setup is any type of a mix console. I'm really torn about that purchase. We decided that we wanted to go digital for a lot of reasons, but that's a different post. I've got experience (as do a lot of people) with Yamaha consoles and been pleased with them. While I was talking to our rep at Full Compass (we love them by the way) he suggested looking at the Roland M-400 system. 

The M-400 is a new console from Roland which raises some issues with me. It's built around the digital snake (40 channels over cat5) that Roland has had out for  awhile and I know many people who have been using it and are happy. We've got a demo unit for the next week so we can evaluate it before making the purchase. Initial impressions are good. We're doing a more thorough review with a full band this weekend so I'll write more later.

More big announcements related to the college ministry next week. 

iPhone Day Day Two

I'm exceptionally happy with my iPhone. It's a great device. That said, there are some things that are lacking after a week of use. Overall the things that are good considerably outweigh the bad (they impact daily usage considerably)

The Good:

• exceptional photos for a phone - when put to sleep with the camera app open from pocket to picture is faster than most cameras.
• great interface for email and text messaging
• visual voicemail is AWESOME
• the best address book I've ever used on a phone
• multitouch interface makes navigation very intuitive for pictures and music

The Bad:

• Flash. This is probably the biggest shortcoming. Not having Flash support results in the watered down internet. The iPhone has the muscle to power Flash 9 and I'd love to see the Adobe Integrated Runtime available.
• Switching between WIFI and EDGE can be spotty. I've had the iPhone within 50 feet of an access point and it uses EDGE for some things and WIFI for others. 
• Filesystem support. I want to be able to upload photos from Safari to web sites, manually delete music or videos from the phone, save PDF files or other documents from the web. 
• Bluetooth transfers. I realized Saturday night with my cousins that sending files between phones via bluetooth is something I'd taken for granted with my old phone. 
• IM. I really need an instant messaging client on my phone. Forwarding IM to SMS works, but it's a hassle.

iPhone!

I went and got myself an iPhone last night. I got to the AT&T store around the corner from my house at about 4:30, chatted with some people I know who were in the front of the line. They'd been there over 24 hours. At about 4:45 some more people started to show up so I thought I'd get in line officially. When they passed tickets out at 5:45 everybody in the line got one and was guaranteed an iPhone, although not necessarily the size they wanted. They let people in eight at a time and by 6:30 I'd played with the demo phone, decided that I had to have one, and bought the 8gb model.

I drove home and proceeded to unbox. Five of the unboxing photos are below. Activation through iTunes was quick and easy. WAY better than the hassle at a carrier. Using the iPhone is a great user experience. My concerns listed in yesterday's post are still valid, but can all be addressed by Apple. I did hit one snag with the gmail module not playing nicely with Google for Domains accounts, but I've set up normal POP access and it works okay. I expect that there will be a series of quick updates to address this and other minor issues.

www.flickr.com kerner's iPhone photoset

7 iPhone Concerns

 

So all of the hype of the iPhone captured me from day one. I'd have given Apple $600 back in January just because of the reality distortion field. Today I'm in a bit of a quandary. The iPhone gets released at 6pm tonight and I'm not sure if I want to buy one or not. I loved my Newton and have been saying that I'd buy any Apple designed PDA/smartphone. As the release has gotten closer, and I've learned more about the iPhone and read some of the recent reviews I'm not so sure.

Non Factors:

1. AT&T. I'm already an AT&T customer. They're not the best, but I've never really been excited about any carrier.
2. 3G. A lot of people are complaining that there isn't 3G support on the iPhone. I agree it would be great, but about the only time I'm not in an WIFI environment is when I'm driving.  Yes EDGE is slow, but I use it currently for light web browsing, email, etc and it's not unbearable. That said probably greater than 85% of my waking hours are in hotspots. The only exception is road trips, but those are few and far between. UPDATE: Apparently 300kbs speeds are being reported on EDGE now. Perhaps it won't be an issue for anybody.
3. Limited Expansion. This is an issue for the 4gb model, but 8gb is more than enough space for a phone. I've taken to using my 1gb shuffle for music and been very happy to not lug my larger iPod around any more - it's plenty of music given that I can always update playlists on my laptop. 2gb of music leaves 5gb of space for video, pictures, and other data.

Hesitations:

1. No Flash. Is it really the "real web" without Flash support? I think Apple has been misleading people with the statement that it's not the watered down internet because Flash is as ubiquitous on web sites as jpeg files. I've got limited flash on my 6682. What I really want on the iPhone is the Adobe Integrated Runtime for app development.
   
2. Wireless Sync. I love using iSync to sync my current phone without plugging it into the computer. I'm able to leave it on my bedside table and sync from my home office when I check email in the morning. It's nice to sync without taking it out of my pocket in the middle of the day. Several friends of mine love syncing their Palms over WIFI. Why not on the iPhone?
3. Bluetooth Modem. If I'm not in a WIFI zone and need to get work done I often suffer through EDGE slowness using my phone as a modem for the laptop.
4. Video Recording. This seems like a nobrainer. My 6682 records video. The  quality is bad, but it's a cell phone. I'd expect the iPhone to offer limited video recording it's got a 2mp sensor.
5. Custom Ringtones. It's an iPod, it's a phone. Why can't I play my own music as a ring tone? I do on my current phone.
6. True Applications. Web apps are great, but I don't  want to have to be connected to use them. The web app approach means that only Apple's applications are useful on a plane. Why can't I add custom app icons to the home screen? I understand the desire for stability, but I know that if I install screwball software on my computer (or my current phone) that it might crash. This is just common sense.
7. Nonreplacable Battery. I hate not being able to replace the battery in things. After just a year my iPod battery only lasts half as long as it did when it was new. Apple's estimates of 300-400 charges being the lifespan worry me a lot - I charge my phone almost every day.

It's actually kind of funny. EVERYTHING I'm really concerned about are features I have on my 2 year old Nokia 6682 phone. Series 60 provides me with every bit of the iPhone except for the Apple UI, touchscreen and iPod support (but I can play music on it). At the same time every issue except for the battery can be solved via software, but I hesitate to shell out $600 for the hope that Apple will solve these problems. So why is it I REALLY want to buy one anyway? Simple, the outstanding user experience I imagine the iPhone will provide is worth it.

First Stoker Smoke Underway

 I picked up a Stoker from Rock's BBQ and it was delivered yesterday. I decided there was time this morning for a quick test run. I've got a slab of babybacks and a couple of thick pork chops on the WSM right now. Everything went on around 7:20 and last read has the smoker temp at 147.3° and a pork chop at 85.7°.

 It's a bit different from my normal setup. I only filled the water pan halfway (although I'm using the brinkman charcoal pan as a replacement, so it's probably about a gallon of water). I put what I hope is enough charcoal in the ring, scattered smoke wood throughout, and then lit about 8 briquettes closest to the stoker vent with a torch. This process took about 10 minutes, so the fire was really going by about 7:30. It seems to be burning okay and the stoker is steadily increasing the temperature of the smoker.

My favorite feature so far has been the telnet interface. I'm hoping that it's possible to control every function via telnet. There's also a web interface that lets you monitor temperatures, set alarms, and targets. My setup right now is that I've got an alarm on my meat for 150° and the target for the smoker is 230° at the bottom grate.

In the time it took me to write this post the pit temp is up to 161.2° and the meat temp is 100.3°.

UPDATE:  Pulled the pork chops around 10:00 - I didn't think they looked done when the temp was 155° so I left them a bit longer, got  distracted, and pulled them at about 170°. They're not bad, just bit overcooked - still very moist and flavorful though. Flattened out the ribs and set the meat probe next to them on top rack. Current smoker temp:
 - Bottom Rack: 226.9°
 - Top Rack: 232.1°

UPDATE: Pulled the ribs at noon. They were perfect. I'm trying to figure out how to shut down the Stoker so that it will preserve the remaining charcoal. By my estimate with the Stoker and a half water pan used slightly less than 4lbs of charcoal (assuming that I can get it shut down). Overall I'm pleased with the performance o the Stoker. It held the temperature very steady except for when I opened up the WSM. See the chart below for temperature info.

 

LUX Tableware

Kitchen Contraptions has a blurb about the LUX Tableware available from Unica Home. These look pretty nice for plastic tableware. It includes glasses, flatware, plates, bowls, etc. They're more expensive than throway plastic dishes, but much more stylish. Not sure how it would be to eat with though. I especially like how the glasses can be held by the plate. I may have to order some.

Weber Smokey Mountain Cooker

Okay, so Steve Kirks has had a couple of bbq experiences at my house and now has posted about the Smokey Mountain Cooker on his blog. I think it's a ploy to make me post more, well guess what Steve, it worked. I've been pondering what to post about this smoker for awhile, mainly during my blog hiatus.

I have been wanting a smoker for a long time, pretty much since we moved to Springfield. As the few regular readers I have left will know, I don't think there is any good bbq in Springfield, MO. Last fall I finally decided I was going to get a smoker and started researching. What I came up with was spend a lot of money on a custom Klose smoker or get the Weber Smokey Mountain Cooker. The WSM is a charcoal bullet smoker. For more information that you've ever wanted you can check out the Virtual Weber Bullet. Sarah's parents gave me money towards a smoker this Christmas and I found the WSM for a mere $199.99 at the local Westlakes hardware store - cheaper than even Amazon.com which usually has a cheaper price.

I've fired the smoker up three times now - once for our day before New Year's Eve party, for a bbq dinner party, and then a couple of weekends ago when Steve brought the brats to our house. So far I've smoked two pork shoulders, a brisket, three slabs of ribs, a chicken, salmon filets, and assorted sausages. I've yet to be disappointed with the smoker.

To make my life easier I use the Minion method for firing the smoker and have a Maverick remote probe thermomter. I'm able to get 6-8 hours uninterrupted cooking and usually 13-14 hours with only a couple of checks. I'm very comfortable firing the smoker up and going to bed and letting the thermometer alert me to any issues.

More on the smoker will come, I'm planning to start posting my cooking logs each time I fire it up. 

Free iPod Nano!!!

DSCN0181.JPG
Originally uploaded by kerner.

Slightly more than a year ago I started on the quest to get a free iPod. So many people scoffed at the notion of getting an iPod for free, but I know other people who had gotten them so I figured why not. My free iPod arrived today. I opted for a white 4gb Nano.

To prevent the scratching fiasco that all iPods have (it's not just the nano that has this problem) I've ordered a skin from Invisible Shield.

Now that I've got my free iPod my next quest is for a free XBOX 360s. Remember if you sign up that you will get lots of spam -- these things aren't really free -- you pay with your personal information to advertisers.

Nokia 6682: Car Blogging

I've been needing a new cell phone for quite a while. Partially to switch my number to the Springfield area and partially just because I'm a gadget freak and my Siemens phone was getting old (almost 2 years). My criteria for a phone has been: Cingular, bluetooth, and Flash. Which basically means I needed a Series 60 smartphone. I've been waiting for the Nokia 6682 to ship and it arrived on Monday. You can get this phone from Amazon for $99 with a new service agreement.

The Series 60 platform is outstanding, I'm loving this phone after less than a week with it. The camera takes decent pictures and the bundled lifeblog application easily uploads them to Flickr. It syncs smoothly with iSync on my Powerbook. Best of all with the EDGE connectivity I'm able to use it as a modem for the notebook. This post is being written/posted from the passenger seat of my car on I-44 between Springfield and Lebanon. The unlimited data plan from Cingular costs an additional $19.99/month, but after having used 25mb of data in a week it's a lot better than the metered approach.

There is a wealth of software available for this phone. I haven't installed the Macromedia Flash Lite player yet, but plan to shortly. So far I've installed:

• AgileMessenger -- AIM, Yahoo, MSN, Jabber instant messaging from the phone. This is actually more useful than I thought it would be and I was happy to pay the $23 after just one day using it.
  
• ProfiMail -- POP3 and IMAP email client. If you want email on a Series 60 device, profimail is the way to go. It does violate the standard S60 UI rules to expand screen space, but I think this is a wise decision. The current version supports SSL and T9 for text input making email easy, quick, and secure.
  
• eeMame -- Multi Arcade Machine Emulator. Why play a crappy java game on your phone when you could be playing Frogger or Ms. PacMan.
  
• GoBoy -- GameBoy color emulator. Allows you to play GB roms on your phone.
  
• JJkeylock -- I looked at a lot of auto keylock applications and I think this is the best.
  
• Oggplay -- Music player for all built in file types and Ogg files. I'm mostly using m4a files from iTunes. I'm still looking for a good way to sync files.
  
• Opera -- This came bundled with the phone, but I've since installed the free version 8 upgrade.
  
• Putty -- a great SSH client which is very useful.
  
• s60Zip -- allows you to open zip files.
  
• Torch -- a simple application that lets you use the large, bright screen of the phone as a flash light.
  

As I said earlier I still want to install FlashLite and I'm looking for a good file sync tool for the Mac. Overall this phone fits every need I have for a PDA: connected to the web, email, IM, and synchronization with my address book and calendar. The only thing I would really want is a Blackberry style thumb keypad. I will probably need to get an MMC card bigger than the 64mb one that ships with the phone, but for now I've got about 20mb free.