Category: Technology

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Life Technology

My Ideal Mac Setup: Aug 2012

I did one of these back in February, but I thought it would be time for a revision … of sorts.

Back then I was thinking of going iPad-only for mobile computing and tethering myself to a Mac mini at any desk that I might need. Sadly, the Mac mini has languished with no updated to include the architectural improvements of Ivy Bridge, which is what I continue to wait for.

However, Apple HAS released new hardware in the form of the 15″ MacBook Pro with Retina display … and it is quite the looker.

As a quick aside, I find it funny that the portable lineup currently includes USB 3.0 but the desktops do not. I’m hoping that will get rectified soon, but i get the feeling that we’re at an inflection point right now and the desktop hardware is suffering because of it.

I’m still working with only my 13″ MacBook Pro. No additional hardware has been purchased since then, but some new thoughts have crept into my mind, mainly due to the lack of updates for the Mac mini and the complete revamp of the MacBook Pro.

Ideal Setup

So here’s my “ideal” setup right now … which includes some hardware that hasn’t been released yet but it rumored to be incoming.

  • 13″ MacBook Pro with Retina display – I’m not really sure who to believe right now because I was sure they’d never release another 13″ MacBook Pro once they went Retina-only, but the rumor sites keep stating that it is incoming. A smaller-and-lighter chassis sans-optical-drive-and-spinning-hard-disks with that screen would be awesome. This would be my main development machine for at  home along with my portable workstation.
  • 27″ Thunderbolt Display – Sitting at my desk for the web design work that doesn’t need the Retina touch. Would be even better if it WAS a Retina screen, but the more people think-and-talk about it, the less likely it seems.
  • 27″ iMac – This big guy would sit at work and wait diligently for me to arrive so that I can work. The idea would be for the increased performance of the Ivy Bridge chipset and processor to be around for the little bits of video work that I need to do.
  • 64 GB Verizon iPad – There is just so much reading that I do on it that not having it around feels wrong. I’d love to get the largest version just to have the extra storage, but I’m very interested to see what Apple is going to pull out come next year for the iPad. The iPad (3rd generation) pushed ahead a lot, so it will be fun.
  • Mac mini – Home server for backups and media streaming. I still have in the back of my mind the idea of ripping all of our DVDs onto a mini and then using the Apple TV to stream them. Then I can ditch another component in our entertainment center. I’m really hoping for Ivy Bridge soon.

Realistic Setup

Now that I have that out of my system, I’m going to go with something a little more realistic. I’m going to list only the hardware that is currently released.

  • 11″ MacBook Air – I would go with the higher storage and more RAM here. I love the tiny size of the device so it would be perfect for the road. I’d be tempted to stick with the Mac mini … as soon as I gets Ivy Bridge. This is my home development machine.
  • 13″ MacBook Pro – It works well and it ain’t broke … why fix it? Work machine.
  • 32 GB iPad – No cellular internet, but it will do what I need it to (reading and listening to stuff mostly). This is the device I would grab most often when I leave the house (besides my iPhone).

That’s far more realistic. Sadly, I’m not getting anything right now but this Fall/Winter should be fun.

Categories
Technology

Changing Network Topology

I’m probably using the term “topology” a little loosely, but my home network is changing and that word sounded cool for a headline.

Basically, I’ve been having some issues with my current network setup and it is time to place priority on getting things right instead of keeping them working “on the cheap”. When your wife does photography work and the images are stored on her machine and backed-up over the network … the working of that network is paramount.

What I Have

Currently the network starts with my Airport Extreme (AE) base station. The cable modem runs into that and the AE handles the rest. The AE sits in my entertainment center on the main floor and directly off of it is hooked the Apple TV and then a long Ethernet cable that runs down to my basement office. This is where things get hairy.

That cable runs into a cheap 5-port gigabit switch which sits on my desk and I hook my 13″ MacBook Pro directly into when I am down there. Another long-ish cable then is run from that switch to another 5-port gigabit switch on the back wall of my officer above my workbench and the following are hooked up to that:

  • Brother laser MFP
  • FreeNAS box
  • Linux laptop (for research when working on machines)
  • single free cable for a client machine

I used to have another desktop machine hooked up on my desk, but I have since removed that. My wife’s 2009 MacBook is always connected via WiFi and so are the various iOS devices we have around the house and the Wii … that I should turn on to make sure is still working.

That’s the current setup.

Backups to the FreeNAS box have been inconsistent for the past month. That doesn’t make me happy (and forces me to do full backups to an external drive more than I want). Right now that is the driving force behind this reimagining of my network. I’m also constantly looking for better ways to do things.

Where I’m (Hopefully) Going

It comes down to cutting out cables where able and simplifying the devices on the network.

  • Replace FreeNAS box and my Airport Extreme with a single 2 TB Time Capsule. I don’t lose any ports, lose an entire box (plus the cable connected to it) and gain more than 2x the storage for backups. This would never be the ONLY backup for the machines, but it would be the primary backup and recovery box. It might be slow, but it is small, removes a power brick, and converges boxes. This would sit in the basement near the cable modem and would handle all of the traffic.
  • Use wireless for the Apple TV attached to the TV. Removes another cable.
  • The long run of Ethernet would run only from the Time Capsule to my office and into the two 5-port switches there. I would have a free port on the one at my bench with the removal of the FreeNAS box, which could be used for client machines.
  • I would use an Airport Express or two to expand the wireless coverage to weak areas in the future and also add AirPlay support to all areas of the house (I’ve been speaking with some people over Twitter recently about the best way to do that and I’m fairly certain I’ll put an Airport Express with speakers in my office in the future).

I think that is it. I would no longer have any cables running through my air ducts and would be eliminating some big boxes and power bricks in the hopes of cutting down on energy use.

Go ahead and throw your thoughts at me.

Categories
Technology

TextMate 2 now 64-bit

I watched as another nightly build of TextMate 2 was installed on my machine and then looked over the Release Notes to find the following:

TextMate is now built with libc++ and as a 64 bit application using the new Objective-C run-time. Ideally no changes affecting the user, but a lot has changed under the hood. (Jacob Bandes-Storch)

Awesome. Sauce. Seems that opening up the source to the community is paying dividends so far. Right now there is a pretty lengthy discussion about split-pane views and what that might mean for TextMate 2.

I am enjoying watching all of the development going on right now.

Categories
Technology

The Rumored Retina 13″ MacBook Pro

Mac Rumors is reporting that the Retina displays for a new 13″ MacBook Pro are now in production, but I still have my worries about such a machine … and I’m a huge fan of the 13″ MacBook Pro.

  • Are they going to bring a new case into play like the 15″ MacBook Pro with Retina display? If they do, what about battery life on such a device, or heat, or fitting the needed graphics power into such a machine?
  • This muddies the waters a little bit as far as my “clean MacBook lineup” idea of only the following: 11″ MacBook Air, 13″ MacBook Air, 15″ MacBook Pro, 17″ MacBook Pro … or something similar. Of course, the 13″ form factor is a great form factor, but the differentiation will be interesting. What will the Retina 13″ MacBook Pro NOT have in the future that the Pro will carry?
  • I’m still worried about the big three: battery life, heat, and video performance. Those were being pushed to the limit by the 15″ MacBook Pro with Retina display … will they be able to fit a quad-core processor with discreet graphics and still have decent battery life on the machine?

Still, I’d buy one.

Categories
Business Technology

The Role of the Web

I’ll start by confessing that I have never build a non-trivial application in my life. I’ve mainly worked on creating websites for people and working with HTML and CSS with some Ruby/Python/PHP thrown in.

However, as I contemplate building a non-trivial application, I’m debating where to start and what role the web will take.

Basically: do I build Twitter or Instagram? Hear me out.

If I build Twitter, I build the entire client on the web first. That’s where I start. After I have that squared away, then I could move onto other clients using an API.

Building Instagram, I’d build the native applications first and the web would be the saving and transport mechanism. I might return later to build a web client, but I’d be using IP networking mainly to transport bits to a server so that it could be shared with others.

That’s the mental problem I am working with right now along with learning how to code within iOS. It is a fun argument to have in my head.