Adobe Creative Suite CS6 is online and can be downloaded
Adobe just recently released their Creative Suite CS6 - which can be downloaded already. The Trial changed from being authorized online, so no trial-prolonging anymore. But since the pricing of Adobe CS6 Suite changed so dramatically, it might be not even needed anymore: the whole Creative Suite 6 Master Collection can be "rented" for $49.90 per month.
Adobe CS6 Design Standard Student and Teacher Edition starts at $349 while the whole Adobe CS6 Master Edition currently costs $2599.
You can read our initial posting on Adobe CS6 - just judging from a short review, the speed increase from version 5.5 is dramatically. All the apps are significantly faster, especially Photoshop and After Effects.
Apple Mac OSX 10.8 Mountain Lion RC3 Released with some updates, 10.7.4 around the corner
Apple's Mountain Lion Developer Preview was updated to version 12A193i (from 12A178q) weighing 1.45GB.
"With the Developer Preview, you can explore Game Center, Notification Center, Documents in the Cloud, new sharing capabilities, advanced security features, and much more"
Apple Mac OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion includes lots of features from iOS, such as Reminders, Messages and Game Center. One noted update from the previous version of the Developer Preview is a Do Not Disturb setting to Mountain Lion's Notifications Center, as outlined by 9to5mac, which allows users to block incoming alerts and banners.
Furthermore Mac OSX 10.7.4 Lion Update is around the corner: 11E53 is the current build that was seeded to developers. The previous release was numbered 11E52 - so a final public update is imminent. Apple notes that there are no known issues with this build but asks developers to focus their testing on graphics, iCal, Mail, Printing, and Time Machine.
If there are updated kexts is not known at the time of writing - it looks like we have to wait for the final release of 10.8 ML to get new graphics drivers, such as support for the 7xxx AMD Radeon GPUs with the Codenames Cedar, Caicos, Turks, Cape Verde, Pitcairn, Tahiti and New Zealand.
Mac Java Trojan: over 600.000 Macs affected – how to secure your Mac [Update]
Update: F-Secure offers a FlashbackRemoval Tool, the Flashback Checker app tells you if your machine is infected.
The Flashback Trojan for Apple's Mac OSX already infected over 600.000 Machines, according to @hexminer on twitter. There is an existing Java Security Update from Apple, all users should update immediately.
Apple is too slow in releasing security fixes - the last known security holes in Mac OSX Java took Apple over 6 months to fix.
F-Secure shows how to secure your Mac by disabling Java. Lion does not come with Java by default, although most of the times it is installed afterwards (running Java applets or Java applications, the Systems asks to install the Java package).
The Flashback Trojan hides as Adobe Flash Player, so the most secure thing to do is to remove Java and Flash from your system. Adobe Flash still does not completely work with Mac OSX Lion, bugs that were reported by Nanofunk over 6 months ago are still open.
Gizmodo posted a simple way how to test if you are infected:
Run the following command in Terminal:
defaults read /Applications/Safari.app/Contents/Info LSEnvironment
Take note of the value, DYLD_INSERT_LIBRARIES
The expected output should be:
"The domain/default pair of (/Applications/Safari.app/Contents/Info, LSEnvironment) does not exist"
Then, run this command:
defaults read ~/.MacOSX/environment DYLD_INSERT_LIBRARIES
"The domain/default pair of (/Users/joe/.MacOSX/environment, DYLD_INSERT_LIBRARIES) does not exist"
"does not exist" means you've got a healthy rig. If there is any other message, keep following F-Secure's instructions to vanquish the intruder.
OCZ Vertex 3 vs. Intel 520 SSD Benchmarks on OSX (Hackintosh)
Long story short, the Intel 520 240GB SSD is a bit faster than the OCZ Vertex 3 240GB.
The tool to test read/write speeds: AJA System Test is a free download from AJA. The Software is available for Mac and Windows, the Tests performed were on a 10.7.2 Z68 Chipset Hackintosh System (Intel Chipset).
OCZ Vertex 3, Firmware v2.15 240 GB (SATA 6GBPS)
Intel 520 Cherryville 240 GB SATA6GBPS
Apple OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion Developer Preview 2 released
Apple released a new Developer Preview after recently releasing DP1 to Developers. The change log shows that there are still a lot of unfinished edges in the OS, from Game Center to AirPlay to the Notes app.
Mountain Lion is said to run on the following machines:
Mac (mid 2007 or later)
MacBook (13-inch Aluminum, 2008), (13-inch, Early 2009 or later)
MacBook Pro (13-inch, Mid-2009 or later), (15-inch, 2.4/2.2 GHz), (17-inch, Late 2007 or later)
MacBook Air (Late 2008 or later)
Mac Mini (Early 2009 or later)
Mac Pro (Early 2008 or later)
Xserve (Early 2009)
Here is the full NDA information of Apple OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion Developer Preview 2
(thanks to TheVerge for posting this
THE INFORMATION CONTAINED IN THIS MESSAGE IS UNDER NON-DISCLOSURE
OS X Mountain Lion Developer Preview 2 Seed Note
OS X Mountain Lion Developer Preview 2 is prerelease software. Do not use this prerelease software in a commercial operating environment or with important data. You should back up all of your data before installing this software and regularly back up data while using the software. You will not be able to upgrade from the OS X Mountain Lion Developer Preview to the final release.
If an installation of OS X Developer Preview 2 fails, try using Disk Utility from a Recovery HD to repair the disk.
Architecture Requirements
The OS X Mountain Lion Developer Preview supports the following Macs:
• iMac (Mid 2007 or later)
• MacBook (13-inch Aluminum, Late 2008), (13-inch, Early 2009 or later)
• MacBook Pro (13-inch, Mid-2009 or later), (15-inch, Mid/Late 2007 or later), (17-inch, Late 2007 or later)
• MacBook Air (Late 2008 or later)
• Mac Mini (Early 2009 or later)
• Mac Pro (Early 2008 or later)
Known Issues
• Installing OS X 10.8 over 10.7.2 or earlier with FileVault turned on may fail
• Upgrades over Lion Server will offer to migrate data again in Setup Assistant even though an in place migration has already succeeded.
• Entering your Apple ID in the Setup Assistant does not sign into iCloud
• Migration does not migrate RADIUS configurations
• Creating an iCloud account using a non-me.com address in the Setup Assistant requires verification before it can be used in Mail, Contacts, and Calendars.
• Some Apple menu items such as Restart may not work when a sandboxed app is in the foreground
• Twitter accounts added in Developer Preview 1 will need to be re-added after installing Developer Preview 2
• The first time an unsigned or unidentified app is launched when "Mac App Store" or "Mac App Store and identified developers" is selected in the Security & Privacy pref pane, the exception mechanism may fail. Subsequent attempts to run the application with an exception will work as expected.
• iTunes no longer syncs Notes
• Notes shared via Messages may not include note content
• After quitting and reopening Messages, the message window is blank. Continuing a conversation will bring the data back.
• TextEdit may hang after enabling Documents & Data in iCloud preferences
• Screen Sharing in Messages does not work
• Screen Sharing sometimes fails when no users are logged in
• Mail's photo browser cannot access the iPhoto library
• VoiceOver cannot access the Notification Center on some machines
• Documents stored in iCloud cannot be renamed in the open panel by setting an insertion point and typing. The document can be renamed only by overwriting the entire name.
• Back to My Mac doesn't work for the first 5 minutes after rebooting
• Find My Mac is not enabled if checked in Setup Assistant iCloud setup
• To enable Find My Mac, turn on Find My Mac in iCloud preferences and then close and reopen the preference panel.
• DVD Player may not launch after inserting a DVD on some systems
• Some Nvidia GPUs limit the resolution on an external HD display to 1280x800
• Some AppleScript applets may not run when Gatekeeper is set to Mac App Store or Mac App Store and identified developers
• Selecting Open PDF from the Print Dialog displays the message "Error while printing"
• Network scanning does not work in Developer Preview 2
• The system may hang after several hours when an external drive is connected
• After entering your redemption code, the Mac App Store may not show download progress on the Purchases tab. Quitting and re-launching the Mac App Store will show download progress as expected.
•
Game Center
• In this seed, Game Center applications may only access the Sandbox environment. In the Sandbox environment:
◦ Game & Friend Recommendations are not supported
◦ Friends can view games in common but not friends' other games
◦ Photos are not supported
◦ Email addresses are not verified during sandbox account creation, allowing multiple test accounts to be created
◦ Out-of-network friend requests are not supported
◦ Game matchmaking versioning restrictions are more relaxed
• If you've never set up a Game Center Sandbox account, you will need to create one. You may continue to use a previously set up Sandbox account. Note that when using Setup Assistant to create a GameCenter account, the account will be created in the Sandbox environment.
• To use Game Center in your game on OS X:
◦ You must include the "com.apple.developer.game-center" entitlement in your Xcode project.
◦ The app must be signed, in order for the entitlement to take effect.
◦ You must install a provisioning profile that enables Game Center for your app.
• Code signing, entitlements, and provisioning profiles are all described in detail in Tools Workflow Guide for Mac.
• Multiplayer gaming with Game Center between iOS and OS X is not available in this seed.
• In the Game Center app, game detail information such as game provider, pricing, etc. is not displayed.
• In the Game Center app, search is not functional
• The local peer-to-peer GameKit API (GKSession, GKPeerPickerController, and related classes) is not supported
• APIs related to in-game UI (GKAchievementPanel, GKLeaderboardPanel, etc) have changed
◦ The new API is not compatible with the previous seed
◦ Games in development must be updated and recompiled
Bug Reporting
This build is being provided to you for testing and development purposes. Should you encounter any problems, please submit a bug report using the online Bug Reporter at <http://bugreporter.apple.com/>. Please make sure to include "10.8 (12A154q)" in the bug title and description. This information will ensure that your bug is processed quickly.
When submitting a bug report, please make sure to include a Summary, Steps to Reproduce, Actual Results, Expected Results, the System Profile Report, and any other relevant information that is necessary to process the report.
IMPORTANT: Engineering requires additional information for crashing bugs, kernel panics, and hangs.
Crashing Bugs: Crash logs are required for crashing bugs. Crash logs can be located in ~/Library/Logs/CrashReporter and /Library/Logs/CrashReporter
Kernel Panics: Backtraces, which contain vital information for investigating kernel panics, are required for kernel panic issues. Backtraces can be saved to NVRAM on restart/shutdown, then copied to a panic log file on restart. This log file will be located at /Library/Logs/DiagnosticReportsThe
Hangs: When an application is hung, a sample should be provided. This can be done using the Activity Monitor (/Applications/Utilities/). To generate a sample using this utility, click on the hung application's name, then from the View menu select "Sample Process".
For complete instructions on submitting bug reports, please visit the Bug Reporting page at <http://developer.apple.com/bugreporter/>.
Thank you for your support.
Apple World wide Developer Relations
Auto-Submission of Diagnostic and Usage Data
By default, OS X 10.8 Developer Preview builds automatically send anonymous diagnostic and usage data back to Apple. This includes information about crashes, freezes, kernel panics, and information about how you use Apple and third-party software, hardware, and services. This information is used to help Apple improve the quality and performance of its products and services. If necessary, this setting can be disabled in the Privacy tab in the Security & Privacy preference pane.
Legal Notices
The pre-release software identified above is Apple Confidential Information and your use of such software is subject to your Registered Apple Developer Agreement and Mac Developer Program License Agreement. Distributing such pre-release software to anyone other than another Registered Apple Developer who is working for the same entity as you is considered a violation of your agreement with Apple and is damaging to both Apple and those who develop for the Apple platform. We sincerely appreciate your efforts to keep this pre-release software Confidential.
You agree that you will not export or reexport any of the software or Confidential Information received from Apple (a) into (or to a national or resident of) any U.S. embargoed countries (currently, Cuba, Iran, Libya, North Korea, Sudan, or Syria) without first obtaining proper authorization from the U.S. Government; or (b) to anyone on the U.S. Treasury Department's list of Specially Designated Nationals or the U.S. Department of Commerce Denied Person's List or Entity List. You also agree that you will not use said software for any purposes where prohibited by United States law, including, without limitation, the development, design, manufacture or production of nuclear, missile, chemical or biological weapons.
THE INFORMATION CONTAINED IN THIS MESSAGE IS UNDER NON-DISCLOSURE)
Think Different: How to Build Your Own Hackintosh eBook for $1 on Amazon shows how to build a customac
A new eBook on amazon describes in detail how to build and configure your hackintosh: Think Different: How to Build Your Own Hackintosh. Another book, the Ultimate Guide: Making Hackintosh sells for $4, but actually features almost the same content.
Here is direct link to "LOOK INSIDE" where some of the book contents can be read for free.
Want to try out the Mac operating system, but don't want to purchase Apple hardware? Check out "Think Different: How to Build Your Own Hackintosh", the latest guide from MakeUseOf. By author Stefan Neagu, this guide outlines what you need to do in order to build a Hackintosh. Whether you want to try using a computer you already have or buy a pre-built computer for the job, this guide shows you the way.
Confirmed: 16GB RAM Upgrade for Unibody MacBook Pros
I just confirmed that 16GB RAM modules will work in the early 2011 Macbook Pro Models - and in the other Sandy Bridge Models as well, including
* Macbook Pro Early 2011 (13", 15", 17")
* Macbook Pro Late 2011 (13", 15", 17")
Corsair RAM SO-DIMM DDR3 16GB / 1333Mhz [2x8GB] KIT CL9 Apple
EUR 123,13 in Europe, $116.98 in the USA.
Theoretically, other RAM Modules with the same specs should work as well, but I can definitely suggest and confirm the Corsair Modules to work, as they show "Mac Memory" on the German Amazon page and reviewers are reporting successful installs.
Please tell us in the comments section if other RAM modules worked for you. 16GB is currently the largest supported Memory Upgrade for the Unibody Macbook Pro. OWC still sells the same KIT for $239.99.
AMD Cayman 6950 and 6970 support for Mac OSX 10.8 Mountain Lion (Hackintosh)
The Cayman GPU works fine with the kexts from OSX 10.8 Mountain Lion, as reported by netkas. This means, the AMD Radeon 6970 and AMD Radeon 6950 work with Hackintosh - making the 6970 the fastest card currently supported by Hackintosh systems. Netkas further posted a patched x3000.kext that will solve the existing problems. Can't wait to try this out myself. Will post updates here.
[Update 2012-3-11] netkas writes about Geforce gtx580 support out of the box. The netkas forum thread 6950 working NATIVELY in 10.8 !!! is currently 18 pages long and there are people getting it to run, some people are still having issues. The 6950 and 6970 running natively with the Mac Pro, as reported in the macrumors forums.
osxfuse: successor to macfuse brings NTFS and lots of file systems to Mac OS X
Since I wanted to use write-support for Windows NTFS drives on Apple Mac OS X, I was researching on alternatives and possibilities. I knew about the macfuse FUSE Project (File System in Userspace), but since it was not maintained anymore - what would one do?
Meet FUSEOSX (FUSE for OS X), the successor to MacFuse.
FUSE for OS X allows you to extend OS X's native file handling capabilities via third-party file systems. OSXFUSE is a successor to MacFUSE, which has been used as a software building block by dozens of products, but is no longer being maintained.
As a user, installing the "FUSE for OS X" software package will let you use any third-party file system written atop "FUSE for OS X" or MacFUSE, if you choose to install the MacFUSE compatibility layer. As a developer, you can use the OSXFUSE SDK to write numerous types of new file systems as regular user space programs.
The most used extensions are SSHFS and NTFS-3G for Mac OS X, but there are lots of them out there.
How to get 5GB of free Dropbox space extra for free, using the beta client
[Update 2012-03-11] with the Experimental Forum Build 1.3.21 the total of free space was reduced to 3GB and the import of 3gpp files was added.
I just confirmed this and got some 5GB of free permanent extra space on my dropbox account: using the Experimental Forum Build and being part of the beta test concerning the new foto/video upload feature. The beta client is available for mac, windows and linux.
What's new?
The "Dropbox Camera Import" feature automatically uploads your photo and video content, when plugging in a SD-card or connecting your smartphone. The autostart of the Dropbox importer did actually not work when I tried on Linux and Mac OSX 10.4. On Windows, you'll need to have Autoplay enabled to get the automatic uploader working.
During this beta period, we are also offering additional free space to test automatic uploading of photos and videos. For every 500MB of photos and videos automatically uploaded, you'll receive another 500MB space bonus, up to 5GB total. The Dropbox space you earn is permanent. You can use it for the life of your account.
[Update 2012-2-22] the latest version of the Experimental Forum Build is 1.3.17 that fixes a lot of bugs and issues. I updated the links accordingly. If you are getting started with Dropbox, use this referral link to get 250MB of extra free space on signup.
Sandy Bridge-E Intel 2011 Socket confirmed working with Hackintosh
[Update] Intel Socket 2011 does not only support Sandy Bridge-E, but also the upcoming Ivy Bridge-E Chipset, as outlined by one of our commenters. That makes the Socket-2011 Mainboards a perfect choice for a hackintosh system.
Many of us are waiting for an update to the Sandy Bridge (E) Chipset to the upcoming Intel Ivy Bridge (along with the release of new Apple Hardware), that would allow running the new Intel Chipset with Hackintoshed customac systems.
But what about Sandy Bridge-E?
Ivy Bridge will be Quad-Core. If you want more threads and cores, go for SB-E. Sandy Bridge-E as well as Ivy Bridge will have PCIe 3.0. SB-E has 40 PCIe lanes (compared to 16 lanes in Sandy Bridge) as well as 1600MHz memory speed (quad-channel memory) which should be around 33% faster in theory.
There are confirmed builds that can run Mac OSX 10.7 (Lion) as well as 10.6 (Snow Leopard) with the Intel Sandy Bridge-E (SB-E) X79 Chipset. Integrated Graphics are not supported, but who needs them anyway, since the AMD 6990 GPU or the upcoming 7990
Here is a list of the confirmed mainboards:
Asus P9X79 Deluxe (user: vonmolk)
$370 in the US, €299 in Europe
Pro: good build quality (compared to other versions of that board)
Cons: none. The Asus Rampage IV has even better build quality.
Gigabyte GA-X79-UD7 (user: machacks)
€297 in Europe, ??? in the USA
Pro: Awesome board! (nanofunk recommendation). Gigabyte has a longer history of hackintosh-capable boards, so get one of those.
Cons: none, really. Overclocking features could be better.
ASUS RAMPAGE IV EXTREME - LGA2011 - X79 - 8x DIMM - PCIe 3.0 Motherboards Hackintosh chimera
* ASUS Rampage IV Extreme (user: nfsking2)
$415 in the US, €369 in Europe
Pro: awesome build quality, extreme overclocking support.
Cons: expensive.
The MSI X79 Big Bang XPower II is suspected to work as well (once it becomes available). Theoretically, most of the X79 boards should work, we just have to wait and see what early birds (early adopters) are coming up with. Keep up the great work, ppl! (and don't forget to share your experiences in the comments below)
kernel[0]: IOSurface: buffer allocation size is zero – A never-ending story about Adobe failing to get their Flash Player and Adobe Air Plugin to work on Mac OSX in a “normal” way.
kernel: IOSurface: buffer allocation size is zero
kernel[0]: IOSurface: buffer allocation size is zero
With Mac OSX Lion 10.7.0, a message was repeatedly showing up in the Console.app, so the logfiles would grow in size - sometimes around 100 MB per minute. This is especially bad for SSD owners. While the issue was reported over 6 Months ago, and Flash Player 11 solved the amount of errors in the console, still the message appears and slows down OSX 10.7 systems.
At least the release of Adobe's Flash Player 11 solved the system freezes - but the Log message still is filling the kernel.log, so any debugging or search for errors is quite hard with that amount of data to read through.
If you are experiencing the same issues, please write your concerns to the Adobe Forums in the existing thread and alternatively also in the Apple Discussion Thread.
Nanofunk reported about this issue in july 2011, and we got over 60.000 unique visits to this post - so this is not a rare case, this is a serious bug with Adobe Flash and Adobe Air. We will post any updates to the situation to this blog, make sure to bookmark our feed.
See also:
* macrumors forum about kernel: IOSurface: buffer allocation size is zero
* nanofunk: Mac OSX Lion 10.7 System Freezes: kernel: IOSurface: buffer allocation size is zero (console message)
[Update] I posted to the Adobe Bugbase with a bug description. Hope they will respond now.
Caution with Promise Pegasus Thunderbolt RAID 6x3TB (18TB) or 6x4TB (24TB) modification. 6x5TB (30TB) possible as of January 2012?
Nanofunk reported on a possible modification of the Promise Pegasus Thunderbolt RAID to host 6x3TB Hard Drives for a total of 18TB storage back in July 2011. While we did not have any issues with Hitachi Deskstar 3 0F12450 and Western Digital 3 TB SATA II Intellipower 64 MB Drives, other people repeatedly reported issues and even failures when the drives hold more than 11TB of data.
Currently, with the announcement of the Hitachi Deskstar 7K4000 4000GB, SATA 6Gb/s (0F14681) and the 4TB Deskstar 5K4000 as well as the 4TB Seagate Barracuda XT 7200RPM a total of 24TB could be reached when modding the Promise Pegasus just replacing the 2TB drives it comes with.
Tomshardware even reported on 5TB HDDs arriving in January 2012, so a modification to fit 30TB into the Promise Pegasus would be possible theoretically.
While all the drives are not available at the current time of writing of this article, please do consult the Promise Support if you are planning to do modifications or already did! Judging from the current feedback on modifications, updating the Promise Pegasus before an official answer or statement from Promise Technology is NOT RECOMMENDED!
Please send emails to Promise directly and ask them to react on the current limitations. I already did so - still waiting for response.
Mac OS X Software Application Essentials 2011/2012: recommended tools for a fresh OSX install
Since I had to reinstall my MacBook Pro after an SSD Drive fail, I stumbled upon a list I made, containing software essentials and basic application that everyone needs when reinstalling the OS. I compiled an up to date list: which applications are the essential apps in 2011/2012 when reinstalling Mac OS X.
The Uninstaller
This handy little app is a free un-packer, replacing Archive Utility that comes with Mac OSX. The Uninstaller does not only support .sit and .zip files, but also .rar, .7z and many other archive formats. This app is essential when working with archives and downloads.
mPlayerX
A replacement for Quicktime and also for VLC. It has a nicer interface than VLC and supports the same file types (codecs) that quicktime does not: .h264, DivX, XVid, MVK, etc. mPlayerX recently became my favorite Media Player.
Sparrow
An awesome Mail.app replacement with great interface and actually improving the mail reading-experience: Sparrow has many features, such as perfect GMail integration, multiple accounts, avatar syncing from facebook, and many more. Recommended!
Wunderlist
The best To-Do application out there. Best of all: Wunderlist is not only free, but it also synchronizes automatically via the web and your ToDo-Lists are available via web-interface as well as on any operating system (iOs, Android, Windows, etc.)
CleanMyMac
Best way to keep your Mac de-cluttered at all times: Clean My Mac from MacPaw deletes cache files as well as leftovers (junk from previously installed apps, etc.), Language files and so on. A perfect tool to keep the OS snappy at all times.
VoodooPad
VoodooPad (former VoodooPad Pro) is an awesome offline desktop Wiki. I am using VoodooPad to store and interlink my ideas, texts and written content. It can hold RTF data: text as well as files from your hard disk can be directly linked. Images can be embedded or referenced. Highly recommended!
XCODE
Apple Xcode is a free download via the appstore. It is not only needed for creating iOS and Mac OS Applications, but also to compile unix applications and to get other developer applications, such as Quartz Composer installed on your system.
Creating your own Mac OSX Lion 10.7 Thumb Drive in 4 easy steps (How-to)
Apple is selling Mac OSX on a Thumb Drive, but you can save some bucks and roll your own as simple as this:
1. Preparation: USB Stick
Insert an USB Stick that is big enough to fit the whole Mac OSX Lion installer. I can recommend the SanDisk Cruzer Blade 8GB, which you can get for less than $5.
2. Mac OSX Lion 10.7
get Mac OSX Lion from the App Store and download it.
3. Extracting the Install Data
Right click (option-click) on the just downloaded file and select "Show Package Contents". Get the file Contents/SharedSupport/InstallESD.dmg and copy it to your Desktop.
4. Disk Utility
Open "Disk Utility" and drag InstallESD.dmg from the desktop to the left sidebar. Select the attached USB from left side and click on “Partition” tab. Select "1 Partion" and from choose “Mac OS Extended (Journaled)” as partition type. Click on “Option” at the bottom, select “GUID Partition Table” and press OK -> Apply.
After formatting is done, select "Restore" and choose the USB Drive as destination and InstallESD.dmg as source. Click on "Restore" to have your Mac OSX Lion Boot drive created.
OSX Lion: “Can’t download the additional components needed to install Mac OS X” SOLUTION
Since I had this problem several times when installing Mac OSX Lion 10.7.2, here is the simple solution: remove any RAM over 4GB. Keeping only 4GB RAM in the Mac (in my case a MacBook Pro) made the installer run flawlessly. It's as simple as that.
OCZ Vertex 3 Fail: “Runtime corruption detected on SSD” and why SSD drives are not safe yet.
After almost 9 months with the OCZ Vertex 3 SATA-6GBPs (read about my OptiBay two-drive setup) and mostly no issues, the drive died on me. Starting with several GSOD (Grey Screens of Death) on my OSX Lion MacBook Pro, the drive became more and more unreliable.
Nov 28 18:30:42 mbp kernel[0]: hfs: FindNextLeafNode: Error from hfs_swap_BTNode (node 9852)
Nov 28 18:30:42 mbp kernel[0]: hfs_swap_HFSPlusBTInternalNode: catalog key #54 too big
Nov 28 18:30:42 mbp kernel[0]: hfs: Runtime corruption detected on SSD, fsck will be forced on next mount.
Nov 28 18:30:42 mbp kernel[0]: hfs: FindNextLeafNode: Error from hfs_swap_BTNode (node 10370)
Nov 28 18:30:42 mbp kernel[0]: hfs_swap_HFSPlusBTInternalNode: catalog record #22 keyLength=32 expected=65568
Nov 28 18:30:42 mbp kernel[0]: hfs: node=10965 fileID=4 volume=SSD device=/dev/disk0s2
Nov 28 18:30:43 mbp kernel[0]: hfs: Runtime corruption detected on SSD, fsck will be forced on next mount.
Nov 28 18:30:43 mbp kernel[0]: hfs: FindNextLeafNode: Error from hfs_swap_BTNode (node 14503)
Nov 28 18:30:43 mbp kernel[0]: hfs_swap_BTNode: record #55 invalid offset (0x9B46)
It was getting slower and slower, reporting tons of errors in the Console.app. Then, it did not reboot anymore. Even in an external USB drive enclosure the drive did not mount anymore. Contacting OCZ about this issue, they sent me an RMA number right away and told me they will replace the drive. Does this mean our data is not safe in SSD? What can we learn from this?
First of all, it is a myth that SSDs are more reliable than hard drives. Secondly, they are not even fully supported on OSX yet (see Should I use Trim Enabler on Lion for the OCZ Vertex 3? No!) - at least if you install the drives yourself (which is also what I would suggest, since Apple does not offer any decent SATA 6GBPs drives yet).
So where is the proof, you ask?
Proof #1: The Hot/Crazy Solid State Drive Scale (via Coding Horror)
Super Talent 32 GB SSD, failed after 137 days
OCZ Vertex 1 250 GB SSD, failed after 512 days
G.Skill 64 GB SSD, failed after 251 days
G.Skill 64 GB SSD, failed after 276 days
Crucial 64 GB SSD, failed after 350 days
OCZ Agility 60 GB SSD, failed after 72 days
Intel X25-M 80 GB SSD, failed after 15 days
Intel X25-M 80 GB SSD, failed after 206 days
As a commenter put it: "Average life of SSD = 227.375 days (based on Wills' data)" - which is also what I can confirm.
SOLUTION: Backup early, backup often. Don't rely on the SSD and make two local backups plus one backup in the cloud.
Proof #2: long-term study of SSD failure rates (via Tomshardware)
SOLUTION: Buy drives that come with a very long warranty. Be prepared to let your drive replace for several times.
I am still waiting for my replacement OCZ Vertex and I will benchmark how fast it will die again. Since OCZ told me, it can take up to three weeks for my replacement to arrive, I bought myself a Seagate ST750LX003 750 GB SATA 600, Momentus XT, 8 GB SLC - it's a hybrid 750GB HDD with an 8GB SLC cache. The drive shifts data that is used often in the 8GB SLC SSD space automatically. While the SSD part of this hybrid drive can also fail, the data won't be lost and it will suffer just some minor speed loss (if it fails, since SLC is said to be more reliable than MLC chips). While this disk is now my main startup disk, i will go back to using the OCZ Vertex 3 again, once the replacement arrives. I just need to backup regularly - the speed gain is really worth the trouble.
Installing Mac OSX Lion 10.7 on any Core 2 or Core i based PC (Hackintosh) with xMove or HOTiSO
Tonymacx86 showed how to Install OS X 10.7 Lion on any Supported Intel Core 2 or Core i based PC with xMove + MultiBeast. Furthermore, there is a Mac OSX Lion v10.7.2-HOTiSO that should also boot from any PC. Don't forget that you need to buy Apple Mac OS X Lion from the App Store to legally use it.
OS X Lion is the next major release of OS X, the world’s most advanced desktop operating system. It includes over 250 new features that will transform how you interact with your Mac. Built on a rock-solid UNIX foundation, OS X is engineered to take full advantage of the technologies in every new Mac. And to deliver the most intuitive and integrated computer experience. Brought to us by HOTiSO group. Mac OS X 10.7 was first shown to the public in October 2010. The presentation was understated, especially compared to the bold rhetoric that accompanied the launches of the iPhone (”Apple reinvents the phone”) and the iPad (”a magical and revolutionary device at an unbelievable price”). Instead, Steve Jobs simply called the new operating system “a sneak peek at where we’re going with Mac OS X.”
Panasonic GH2 Driftwood/Vitaly Patches 176Mbps AVCHD Intra up to 244Mbps Intra: A poor man’s RED?
Video: Tsawout Spit – Gh2 Test (driftwood 176mb gop1 hack) from mark wyatt on Vimeo.
There seems to be no day without any surprises with the Panasonic GH2. The latest hot-shit is a hack to get 176Mbps AVCHD Intra up and running on the camera. Right now there's no possibility to record in 25p but there are attempts by vitaly and others, so let's see what the future holds.
What is AVCHD Intra?
"AVCHD Intra is usually recorded to extremely expensive P2 cards on high end cameras and here it is on a consumer camera with an SD card. [...] This is a codec that uses i-frames only unlike consumer AVCHD. Every frame from the sensor is stored. Standard AVCHD is a Long-GOP compression format and works by estimating and guessing at frames in-between ‘real’ images but Intra doesn’t. [...] AVCHD Intra is very good for heavy colour grading, fast action, hand held footage and green screen VFX work. You certainly get a better result from AVCHD Intra on the GH2 than by outputting from any DSLR’s HDMI feed to a external recorder as well." (via eosHD)
How does it compare?
eosHD has a comparison on AVCHD intra 100Mbps vs 24Mbit AVCHD.
And if that's not enough: there is even a 244Mbps AVCHD Intra Hack, as outlined by Driftwood: "It's stable and with good lighting conditions can look amazing."
eosHD recommends: "AVCHD Intra at such high bitrates can be tricky to edit so I recommend transcoding it to ProRes 4-4-4 first."
Apple iCloud is for iOS devices only, sorry OSX Lion users, you need Dropbox still.
Apple's latest hot shit, iCloud is in everyone's mouth, since it comes right with the 10.7.2 OSX Lion Update. But what does it actually bring for OSX-only users? Nada.
First of all the bad news: currently there is no way to store any files directly in iCloud. That makes Apple iCloud not a competitor for Dropbox at all. But why do they state "you can access your content on all your devices" when they actually don't mean your MacBook or Macbook Pro? Well, they currently mean "all your iOS devices". While Apple could offer such a service (Backups from your Computer to iCloud) in the near future, currently it really doesn't make any sense to use iCloud if you are not using any iOS 5 Device - and if you also care about backing up other things besides your address book and photographs, let's say your 3D-models or local databases. In this context I can totally recommend iBackup, a free tool for OSX users that need point-and-click backups. In this case, you can backup right to FTP or your Dropbox, which gives you cloud-power as well.
Panasonic GH2 is a mobile video beast: hackable and extendable.
The Panasonic GH2 turns out to be the currently best Video-DSLr out there, although it is not even a DSLR. The micro-four thirds sensor is much smaller than a full-frame sensor, but the video footage that this great camera produces is far superior to those from lets say the Canon EOS 5D MKII
- no moires, no aliasing and a much better video codec: AVCHD. Besides the obvious facts, the GH2 gets hacked extensively: Vitaliy Kiselev first hacked the GH1 and after that the Panasonic GH2.
With the PTOOL firmware manipulation tool, you can get the following improvements, among many others:
- Change Video Bitrates
- Improved GOP patches.
- Improved MJPEG size patches.
- change the 30min recording restriction
- lots of other changes
Patching the firware was possible, after a GH2 Firmware update leaked.
Here is a short overview on what to do in 10 steps:
1) Get a Patch from the extensive patch repository.
2) Load the GH2 1.0E firmware
3) Check all necessary patches, Version increment must be always checked.
4) Save firmware. Just change last digit to any number you want. (e.g. GH2__V11.bin)
5) Copy firmware to root of SD card. Fully charge you battery. Do not even attempt to use AC coupler!
6) Power off your camera if it was on.
7) Power on camera. After this press (not hold) green play button.
8) You'll see hourglass and prompt to update.
9) Press down arrow and after this Menu/set.
10) Wait until upgrade will be completed.
happy modding!
Should I use Trim Enabler on Lion for the OCZ Vertex (3)? No! (Benchmarks inside)
We recently blogged, after purchasing two OCZ Vertex SATA3 Drives
We also blogged that enabling TRIM is a good thing, although it seems that it seems to be not necessary on Sandforce based chipsets.
Since we still were experiencing freezes and Sandballs on our Mac OSX Lion 10.7 SSD Setup that were actually not related to TRIM, also the system did not feel as snappy anymore.
Conclusion: don't use TRIM on OSX Lion 10.7, if you are using a Sandforce based SSD. Revert to the original driver and not only the Beachballs will go away, but also the system feels snappy again. See the below Benchmarks for real-life results (since AJA System Test does not work on internal drives, we can recommend using XBENCH to verify the figures for you).
XBENCH Screenshot with TRIM Enabled (using TRIM Enabler for OSX 10.7 Lion)
Screenshot of XBENCH without TRIM Enabler (Restored to original setting)
UPDATE: Grant Pannell (digitaldj.net) reports on how to restore to the original settings.
Excessive Logging on Mac OSX 10.7 Lion: Repair the Keychain to solve the issues. ( deny file-read-data )
Lots of people complain about slow Mac OSX Lion performance, mostly caused by thousands of Log-Messages being written to the system log files. As Chief Tarun points out at the Apple Support Forums
I opened up the console app, and there were hundreds, if not thousands of logs just in the past 2 hours. And when I say 'get info' on Macintosh HD the used disk space is increasing every 5 to 10 seconds. This is the only concerning bug/glitch of noticed in Lion since upgrading.
I had exactly the same issue, checking my Console.app messages that told
"WebProcess(225) deny file-read-data /Users/foobert/Library/Application Support/Adobe/AIR/ELS/com.adobe.amp.4875E02D9FB21EE389F73B8D1702B320485DF8CE.1/ PrivateEncryptedDatak"
While one would think that uninstalling Adobe AIR would fix the issue, the problem resides at another point.
Solution:
1) Open "Keychain.app"
2) Go To "Keychain Access -> Keychain First Aid" to repair your Keychain.
Now the console messages disappeared and the system runs in "silent mode" again.
Mac OSX Lion 10.7 System Freezes: kernel: IOSurface: buffer allocation size is zero (console message)
Some people experience system freezes on Mac OS X 10.7 Lion, but also on Snow Leopard: kernel: IOSurface: buffer allocation size is zero.
The Error is visible with Console.app ("All Messages" respectively "kernel.log")
To reproduce the issue:
1) click on "Clear Display" in Console.app
2) go to http://www.adobe.com/software/flash/about/ and the error will show up in the console.
The error must be Flash related. Sometimes, the whole System is unresponsive, freezing everything but the mouse. There is no official response from Adobe or from Apple, so we can only hope and wait. Please check your Console.app for this error and respond to any of the existing discussions.
[Update] the error message also seems to have surfaced in 10.6.4 already, as visible in the Apple Discussion Forums
[Update] installing the Adobe Flash Player 11.0 from Adobe Labs seems to at least minimize the freezes, but still the console messages appear.
[Update] i posted a poll on insanelymac to see which browsers and systems are affected. please also post your results there!
[Update] the new Beta 2 11.0.d1.98 of the flash player is out (thanks JP Hansen)
[Update] The Flash Player 11 is officially released. It seems though, that not all issues are resolved with Mac OSX Lion compatibility.
[Update 23.12.2011] more than 6 months after the issue was reported, (and we have Apple Mac OS X 10.7.2 and 10.7.3 in beta) there is still no update on this issue from Adobe. Please write your concerns to the Adobe Forums in the existing thread to have them fix the issues! Especially for SSD owners this is unacceptable!
Existing Discussions:
* Nanofunk.net discussion thread in the Adobe Flash Player Forums
* Thread in the Apple Support Communities Forum
* Thread on MacRumors Forums regarding Lion Freezes with kernel: IOSurface
[Update] I posted to the Adobe Bugbase with a bug description. Hope they will respond now.
[Update 2012-2-22] still, the ticket in Adobe Bugbase is open, although there were several patches and bugfixes to Adobe Flash Player 11.1 (11.1.102.62 as of today).
Install OS X 10.7 Lion on any Supported Intel Core 2 or Core i based PC & Make an OSX Lion Boot Disc
TonyMac recently described how to install Apple OS X 10.7 Lion on any Supported Intel Core 2 or Core i based PC. Here is the short version:
1. Get Mac OSX 10.7 Lion
A Retail Version has already been spotted in the german amazon store
* MacRumors Forums: Make an OS X Lion Boot Disc
* Download the Lion Boot Disc via Torrent (of course, only if you already legally own Mac OSX 10.7 Lion)
2. Get a Cheap USB Stick that works with OSX
3. Boot the Chimera Installer
4. Install Multibeast
Of course, you can also try the method outlined by tonymac: Installation of 10.7 Lion with Snow Leopard and Boot Partition. Please post any success or fail information in the comments section.
Mac OSX 10.7 Lion updating annoyances: Scolling, Versioning and no TRIM!
While Apple's 10.7 Lion OS looks much more like GNOME like any other previous version of OSX, is comes with lots of annoyances. People using an SSD drive might have to update, since it finally supports the TRIM command, there are also lots of annoying features you might want to get rid of:
1) No TRIM support out of the box if you are using your own SSD (not Apple's)
This is ridicolous: TRIM only seems to work for Apple buit-in SSDs. There is a tool by groths.org that will do the trick: TRIM Enabler, which works for Lion and for Snow Leopard as well. You might want to consider enabling this feature, since TRIM will make your Solid State Drive last longer, due to less writes to the cells.
2) Mouse scrolling direction got reversed: how to revert
Apple decided to reverse the mouse scolling on 10.7 Lion, meaning you have to scroll your mousewheel up to actually move the on-screen content down. Here is a screenshot from System Preferences, where you can change that "feature" to the way it was before: simply uncheck the box left to "Move content in the direction of finger movement when scrolling or navigating".
3) Disabling the "Resume" feature
The "Resume" Feature in Mac OS X Lion restores the state of the application windows, when re-opening an application. Since I definitely do not need this feature, here is a way to turn it off: just uncheck the left box next to "Restore windows when quitting and re-opening apps" in System Preferences -> General
4) Disabling "Versions" feature in Mac OSX 10.7 Lion
Versions should't be a problem unless you are using Time Machine. MacRumors has a forum post on disabling that features.
5) Other (small) annoyances
Google Chrome does not get moved with an update ( Chrome vanishes with Lion 10.7 Update)
This is also very strange: the Google Chrome Browser did not get moved on my Lion update. I had to re-download Google Chrome.app. At least the Application Support files got moved, so I did not lose any browsing history or bookmarks.
Dropbox needs to be reinstalled: special Lion build
The dropbox right-click features dissappear when updating to Lion. Download the Latest Forum Build of Dropbox that is Lion compatible (1.2.16 at the time of writing this entry)
Other interesting reviews about Mac OSX 10.7 Lion can be found here:
* Time Magazine on OSX Lion: "With OS X Lion, Apple's Macs Enter the iPad Era"
* Engadget: "Apple OS X Lion (10.7) review"
Install Mac OS X Lion 10.7 on PC Hackintosh
Its now possible to Install Mac OS X 10.7 Lion on your PC with the standard Hackintosh techniques. That means, everything stays the same to get your hackintosh up and running, no worries. More information on the geeknizer blog entry or alternatively, watch the video below:
Steps to install OSX Lion:
1. Get the "GM" (Golden Master) of Lion via torrent
2. Get an EFI Boot Loader
3. Get a decent 8GB USB thumb drive
4. Install using iBoot.
You can get detailed information on installing Mac OSX Lion 10.7 by reading the geeknizer blog howto.
[UPDATE] tonymacx86 showed how to Install OS X 10.7 Lion on any Supported Intel Core 2 or Core i based PC with xMove + MultiBeast. Furthermore, there is a Mac OSX Lion v10.7.2-HOTiSO that should also boot from any PC. Don't forget that you need to buy Apple Mac OS X Lion from the App Store to legally use it.
Cheapest Hackintosh configuration: 235$ (145$ without monitor!)
We compiled a list of the cheapest hackintosh configuration with the cheapest currently available Hackintosh compatible hardware to date.
This is the configuration that makes most sense if you have a small budget. Graphics are Intel GMA 950 and the set is complete with monitor, mouse and keyboard. The drive is a 7200RPM 500GB HD. Here is the URL to the complete list: The cheapest Hackintosh shopping-list.
(Refurbished)
The price for the complete set is 235$ (145$ without monitor!). We don't think you will find a cheaper Hackintosh configuration out there.
Ah, one more thing: a very cheap mobile hackintosh notebook costs 229.99$: the Asus Eee PC 900A WFBB01 Refurbished Netbook
Promise Pegasus Thunderbolt RAID system for high-speed data demands: 6x3TB for a total of 18TB (mod)
[Edit 23.12.2011] CAUTION! People trying the below mentioned modification of the Promise Thunderbolt reported issues and data loss. Please consult the Promise Support if you are planning to do modifications or already did!
[UPDATE] with the announced Hitachi Deskstar 7K4000 4000GB(4TB), 5K4000 as well as the 4TB Seagate Barracuda XT a total of 24TB could be reached when modding the Promise Pegasus just replacing the 2TB drives it comes with. 5TB HDDs are reported arriving in January 2012. Read our updated Article: Caution with Promise Pegasus Thunderbolt RAID 6x3TB (18TB) or 6x4TB (24TB) modification. 6x5TB (30TB) possible as of January 2012?
The Promise Pegasus is the most "promising" hardware for enthusiasts and pro users, since it offers really fast transfer speeds, even topping the OCZ Vertex 3 SATA 6Gbps internal SSD on Macbook Pro computers.
Delivering over 800MB/s of disk performance, Pegasus is compatible with Mac systems with Thunderbolt
Compare the Promise Pegasus R4 (4x 2TB) and the Promise Pegasus R6 (8x 2TB). Of course, if you want to pimp your pegasus, you can replace the internal drives with different ones.
Internally Promise uses a PMC Sierra PM8011 8-port SAS-2 RAID controller. This is an 8-lane PCIe Gen 2 controller with eight SAS/SATA 6Gbps ports. On the R6 obviously only six of those ports are functional. The PM8011 has an embedded 600MHz MIPS processor and is paired with 512MB of DDR2-533. (via Anandtech)
Possible replacements and hacks for the Promise Pegasus:
* replace the internal hard drives with SSD drives: at the current date this still has stability issues. We are waiting for updated drivers or a response from Pegasus about the current freezes and issues with SSD drives. If you really have to test it out, make sure you get 6Gbps SSD drives. 2.5inch drives will also fit in the caddy.
* replacing the internal drives with 3TB drives: this is a confirmed and stable way of pimping your pegasus drives. Pegasus comes with 2TB Hitachi Deskstar 7K3000 drives, so make sure you are getting 3TB drives from the same brand. We can recommend the Hitachi 3TB 7200RPM drive, but also we can confirm the Pegasus runs with the Western Digital 3 TB SATA II Intellipower 64 MB Cache Bulk/OEM Desktop Hard Drive and the SEAGATE Barracuda XT 3 TB SATA 6.0 Gb-s 64 MB Cache. Just keep in mind, not to mix up brands: you should get 6 times the same hard disk for the most stable system.
* replacing the internal drives with SAS 6Gbps Hard Disks: while this would render the promise pegasus a real pro system that is rock stable, drives should be used, that offer a compatible SAS-connector. Since SAS-drives are generally compatible to SATA-connectors, we can generally recommend the Seagate Constellation ES.2 3 TB Internal Hard Drive SAS 600 7200rpm 64MB
Conclusio: The Promise Pegasus is a fast solution for great read/write speed plus the extra feature of having the possibility to daisy-chain more Pegasus devices together, to increase the space when needed. Compared to the Data Robotics DROBO PRO System, it only offers 1-drive fail (1 drive can get corrupted, if 2 fail your data is lost) while the DROBO offers dual drive redundancy. Also, the DROBO PRO supports different sized drives, while you can only put drives of the same size (and it is recommended to also only use the exact same drive models) in the Promise Pegasus.
Overall, nanofunk is recommending the Pegasus R4 and R6, because of its faster speed and possibilty to enhance the system. Since we had our DROBO PRO replaced twice (the unit itself was faulty) we are currently fully in favor of the Promise Pegasus.
Pages
@nanofunk on twitter
Categories
Blogroll
- createdigitalmusic.com
- diyaudio.com
- kvraudio plugins
- matrixsynth
- musictechtutorials.com
- synthtopia.com
- trashaudio.blogspot.com
- wikiaudio.org
Archive
- May 2012
- April 2012
- March 2012
- February 2012
- January 2012
- December 2011
- November 2011
- October 2011
- September 2011
- August 2011
- July 2011
- April 2011
- March 2011
- February 2011
- July 2010
- June 2010
- December 2009
- November 2009
- October 2009
- September 2009
- July 2009
- March 2009
Meta
