Tag Archives: .mac

New PC built

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I’m beginning to feel limited while using Apple products. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a great platform. But as I start introducing non-Apple devices, I have to go out of my way to get it to work. I started looking into building a PC after 8 years of exclusively using Macs. At first I had my eyes set on an i7 Sandy Bridge but after doing more research and talking with experts, I decided to go with the last generation i7 (LGA1366, Bloomfield). Why?

  • More motherboards available
  • Supports faster memory – DDR31600
  • If I ever want to switch out CPU to the hexacore, I don’t have to switch out motherboards
  • X58 is a great platform and more stable

It’s been almost a week and I’ve been impressed by some of the tests I’m running. I will go part by part and tell you what I liked and disliked (if applicable).

Corsair Graphite 600T: I decided to spend the extra money getting this tower for several reasons.

  • I can run the cables in the back side of the tower. There’s plenty of room there.
  • It is truly tool-less.
  • Can hold 7 hard drives. It can be reconfigured and move around depending on how you want your airflow to work.
  • Removable dust filters.
  • Great quality and durable.
  • Bottom mounted PSU for liquid cooling solution.

So far, the only thing I don’t like is it doesn’t have a 3.5” slot. I don’t use a floppy drive but most internal memory card readers use this slot. Now I have not only buy the memory card reader but an adapter to make it fit in the 5.25” slot.

Gigabyte GA-X58A-UD3: I was going to get the ASUS Sabertooth but the Gigabyte has dual bios where if one were to fail to load, I can use the other and fix the issue.

  • 3 different raid controllers. 6 Intel (SATAII 3Gbps), 2 Gigabyte (SATAII 3Gbps), and 2 Marvell (SATAIII 6Gbps)
  • Supports triple channel ram up to 24GB
  • Software to OC is easy to use

One thing I don’t like is it doesn’t have an internal USB port. The front of my tower has a USB3.0 and uses the standard cable. In order for me to use it, I’d have to run the cable to the back of the tower and plug it in.

Intel i7 960 3.2GHz: Currently the fastest processor before going into the extreme hexacore CPU. I have seen people OC this over 4.0GHz so it has great potential. This is a quad core CPU and with Hyper Threading, it becomes 8 cores. I was considering the AMD Phenom II 1100T Black Edition but the benchmarks I’ve seen online were not impressive. Based on those benchmarks, it runs against the Intel i5 Sandy Bridge – not the i7.

Corsair Vengeance 12GB DDR31600: I was going to get a 6GB set but decided to go with the 12GB so that I can max it out in the future. It has XMP and all I needed to do in the BIOS is to set it to Profile 1. Comes with a heat spreader as well. It has a CAS Latency of 9 but seen it run at 8 when OC.

Seagate ST3500641AS: Seagate makes great drives and since I’ve started to use them, I haven’t had one go bad yet (knock on wood). Drives that have died on me are usually Maxtors and Western Digitals. These drives have a 16MB cache and runs at 7200RPM. I bought 4 of these 500GB hard drives and set them up as a RAID10. They run great and  my Windows gives it a score of 6.1.

Corsair CMPSU-850TX: I figured 850W should give me enough for current any future mods. Supports SLI and Crossfire. It’s rated at 80Bronze. The only thing I don’t like is it doesn’t support the new ATX v2.3. Corsair just came out with the second version of the PSU. I could’ve waited but I didn’t want to. I figured the changes were not important for my set up and use.

Corsair CWCH70: I could’ve use the stock heatsink that came with my i7 but would need an aftermarket one if I decide to OC it. Rather than figure this out later, I bought it so it’s ready for OC. The install was not as easy as the videos I’ve seen on Youtube. Once installed, I get around 40-52 C on idle or normal use. When doing transcoding (high CPU usage) I don’t go over 65 C. Spending the extra $80 (after rebate) is worth it. It’s compact unlike the first versions of liquid cooling solutions.

EVGA nVidia GTX470SC: It’s not the high end video card in the series but works great. It has CUDA and works great with Adobe software. I have already used Adobe Premiere Elements 9 and exported an HD video to 1080i, 25fps. At the same time, I played Starcraft 2 on ultra settings. The computer remained stable and responsive. I was very impressed. All 8 cores were at 100% and ran around 52-65 C and the video card ran at around 84 C. Starcraft 2 was running at about 52-58FPS. I was able to ALT+Tab between applications, play HD videos off Youtube and watch an HD video off my hard drive.

Microsoft Windows 7 Professional 64-bit OEM: One of the best, if not the best OS Windows has “created”. I find the 64-bit to be more stable than 32-bit and with 12GB of ram, it’s necessary. I still miss things on OS X but there are things on Windows that don’t exist in my Apple. I love Live Writer. I can blog from my desktop. I wish Apple would create something that works similarly. The built-in Backup/Restore is still unreliable. I’ve had failed backups and failed restores. I decided to keep my iMac and run it side by side. My iMac will contain all of my important documents and use Time Machine to back up. Hopefully one day there will be a back up software/workflow as easy as Time Machine for Windows.

Whoever says using Windows is cheaper than a Mac is wrong. I have spent about the same price building this PC rather than purchasing a new Mac. I have already spent close to $300 on just software, where similar software is unnecessary or already included with a Mac. The hardware cost is about $1500. Unlike my Apple products though, I can switch out parts. To make this possible with Apple hardware, you’d have to purchase a Mac Pro which starts at $2400 and you are still limited to hardware that’s compatible. Regardless, I would have to use both in order to do everything I need to do. I just wish software licenses are easily transferable for both platforms.

Shout out to Jeff of JB Tech Enterprises and his brother Eric for helping me build this machine.

 

Edit: Here’s a video I posted on Youtube.

Here are some pics I took.

IMG_2990IMG_2993IMG_3073IMG_3074IMG_3077IMG_3075IMG_3076IMG_2996IMG_3078IMG_3079IMG_3080IMG_3082IMG_3084IMG_3083IMG_3085IMG_3086

Moving back to Windows?

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It’s been over 6 years since I exclusively used Windows and have been using Apple. But recently I’ve had the urge to build a PC – mainly for games and video transcoding. So I started doing so research on hardware. As I am doing research, I’m starting to realize how much Apple has limited me from doing certain things and lacked support for some I/O devices.

I find myself running Windows virtually for doing simple tasks that I can’t seem to do with Apple either free or efficiently. For instance, if I need to edit metadata on a video file without having it render again is only possible with iTunes. But if I use iTunes, it has to be added to the library and not all file formats are supported. In Windows, I can accomplish this by using a free app called MP3Tag. I’ve looked and have not found an app for OS X – free anyway.

My second example. USB 3.0 and eSata has been available for years now (well eSata has been around for years) – no support at all by any Apple hardware. Yes, there is FW400 and FW800 but it isn’t as practical or affordable. I have many external devices that have both USB 2.0 and eSata. The eSata is begging to be used but I can’t. Even my HD camcorder uses USB and iMovie can recognize it – no FW support on the camcorder.

My third example. I have a bluray burner and have a lot of movies. Not all have portable media versions that come with it and even if they did, I would download through iTunes and have it be stuck (DRM) to 5 accounts. I’d like to throw this file onto my DLNA server and have it stream throughout the house. I don’t want to leave my iMac on all day just so that iTunes can share things – that’s why I have a Terastation with DLNA. Now I can rip blueray videos. I use MakeMKV to rip it then use Handbrake to create an MP4 file which would take around 9 hours to do. I’m hoping to cut this down by a lot on a Windows machine because Windows supports blueray format.

My fourth example. Time Machine is great. But without the expensive Time Capsule, I can’t do back ups over the network. I have found hacks but they are not 100%. Again, I have a Terastation and want to use it to its full potential.

My fifth example. My iMac that I bought in 2008 has been maxed out of its upgrade. The ram is at 4GB and the hard drive is 1TB 7200RPM (I think this model should recognize up to 1.5TB). I’m unable to upgrade the video card because iMacs are built like laptops. So whenever a new game comes along (Starcraft 2), I’m stuck with hardware from 2008. I’m able to get as high as medium setting and still experience some lag. World of Warcraft, I’m able to get 22-40 FPS in high populated areas. For my uses, I can’t upgrade the hardware anymore and would like to. If I had bought a Mac Pro, I probably could but for the price… no thanks!

So the plan is to build a PC that will let me have a better experience in games as well as transcode/edit videos more efficiently than my current iMac. I will be using an Intel i7-2600K processor and an H-series motherboard. The P-series is a little more expensive and I don’t plan on overclocking anytime soon – even though the 2600K allows me to. Now why spend the extra bucks on K? I just want to have the capability of overclocking once I do decide. And when I do, I just get a new motherboard. By then the Z-series motherboards will be available will have the Quick Sync capability and overclocking capability. I will be running 8GB DDR3 1333 ram for starters but the motherboard will be ready for 16GB when I am. For now, I’ll be running 500GB Sata 3Gbps, but in the future I’ll have it set up with 4 250GB on Sata 6Gbps with RAID10. That should give me a powerful and enjoyful experience compared to what I have now with my iMac.

I enjoy using Apple and OS X and will continue to use it. But as a desktop and for my current needs, I feel I’m better off on a PC running Windows 7 64bit. My MBP 13″ will be my second desktop/laptop because I still don’t feel comfortable nor do I trust doing certain things on a Windows machine.

Once I get more comfortable and have a nice workflow set up on my new PC, I will be selling my iMac. But that won’t be for weeks. Hopefully, what I have read and expect is true. If not, my new PC will just be a gaming computer and I will continue to do everything else on my Mac.

Creating a CakePHP environment using MAMP and OS X

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This will show you how to create a CakePHP environment in MAMP on OS X. Here list of softwares used and their version.

  • OS X Leopard or Snow Leopard
  • MAMP version 1.91 (using PHP5.2.x)
  • CakePHP 1.2.8

You shouldn’t have to use MAMP 1.9.1. I have it working on version 1.8.x. You will need to change Apache’s port from 8888 to 80. Make sure there aren’t any other web servers running on the same port. Leave MySQL running on port 8889. We will be creating a /Applications/MAMP/conf/apache/sites file that will store your virtual sites. It isn’t necessary but it’s easier to manage new sites on a separate file. You will need to edit the /Applications/MAMP/conf/apache/httpd.conf file by adding the following lines of code.

# virtual hosts file
Include /Applications/MAMP/conf/apache/sites

This will tell Apache to check the new sites file for additional configurations. So now, whenever you need to add or create a new site, you will edit the sites file and add the following code.

<VirtualHost *:80>
DocumentRoot /Users/username/Sites/projectname
ServerName projectname.local
</VirtualHost>

The value of DocumentRoot can be different. I just chose to put it in that folder. Now you will need to edit your /etc/hosts file by adding the following code.

127.0.0.1          projectname.local

Restart your MAMP server. Now unzip the CakePHP files into the projectname folder. You should now be able to view your new CakePHP site by directing your browser to http://projectname.local. This page will tell you that you need to change the default Security.Salt value. All you need to do is change at least one character and you will meet the requirement. You can also use Terminal to generate your own.

echo -n ‘foobar’ | openssl sha1

This will give you a 40 character string. You can use a mixture of upper and lower case on the letters. Copy and paste this value from Terminal to give a new Security.Salt value.

The next warning is your database. Rename the database file and edit it. Provide your database server information. Because MySQL in MAMP is using port 8889, you will have to edit the array and add the following.

‘port’ => ’8889′

There are notes in this file to help you further with additional array elements.

To use Terminal with the cake command, you will have to edit you ~/.bash_login file and create aliases. Here is the code to add to your .bash_login file.

# php
alias php5=”/Applications/MAMP/bin/php5.2/bin/php”

# cake for this project
alias cake=”php5 /Users/username/Sites/projectname/cake/console/cake.php”

To apply

. ~/.bash_login

You should be able to run

cake help

If you get a permission denied error, give it executable access with this.

chmod +x /Applications/MAMP/bin/php5.2/bin/php

That’s it. You can now start baking in a development environment. I know I have skipped a few steps but I’m assuming you know the basic commands and configurations. If not, please feel free to comment and ask questions. I’m still new with the MVC framework and CakePHP so go easy on questions regarding those. I am learning, slowly… haha!

Deleting ._ files in Windows

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At work we use iMacs for workstations but Windows for servers. There are some nuisance when sending files from OS X to Windows. Filename lengths, network connections, hidden files – just to name a few.

In OS X, there are hidden files that start with ._ which become visible when viewed in Windows. It’s usually not a problem. It becomes a problem when you are working with Joomla. If you download and unzip Joomla, then transfer the files to a Windows machine, you will get a ._ for each file and folder. This bad because in the Joomla system, there is an XML file for each components, modules, plugins, themes, etc that describes it. There is also a list of files in that XML file. You will probably get errors in the Joomla admin interface because of those ._ files.

Here’s the command to get rid of them in Windows. Open up your command prompt and enter the following command…

del /A:H /S /Q [location] ._*

The del command means delete. The A switch selects files based on an attribute. The H means hidden attribute. The S switch is used to search subdirectories within the [location]. The Q switch is quite mode and is optional. [location] is obvious so replace this with the path of where you want to do the deleting. Finally, the ._* means files that start with ._ and the * is a wildcard.

Make sure you check to make sure there are no files that begin with ._ that you need.

1 more day before Leopard

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I recently watched the guided tour of OS X Leopard and am more excited than ever. There are so many things I’ve been waiting for aside from a new OS like Time Machine, Spaces, Quick Look, and the new Finder. I’ll probably renew my .Mac account so I can use Back to My Mac feature. I can’t wait. I’m gonna be preparing my G5 at home for the new install. I don’t usually do the upgrade method. I prefer the clean install. So tonight, I will be busy backing up files and iPhoto and iTunes library files.

I heard people will start to line up at 6am tomorrow. That’s outrageous but I hope I can leave work early enough and get a copy.