28 March 2011

10.6.7

With my current setup, I had no problems whatsoever with updating to 10.6.7.

Just like a real Mac user - or I think, because I've never had a real Mac let alon be able to update one - all I did was run Software Update from the Apple menu and restarted.

For those who are starting from scratch (following the current setup guide) or are skipping point updates, grabe the ComboUpdater from Apple's Site.

Anyways, 10.6.7 doesn't seem to be deliver any major system changes like USB management, power etc. - details listed at the site are only:
  • Improve the reliability of Back to My Mac.
  • Resolve an issue when transferring files to certain SMB servers.
  • Address various minor Mac App Store issues. 
So there.

24 March 2011

Patience Is A Virtue

I lost my marbles, admittedly. And on something that didn't merit it because it was really juvenile. Yep, as juvenile as a little toddler throwing (the usual) tantrums. Being, I presume, a year or two older or perhaps a bit more, I wasn't supposed to cave in. But a Neanderthal is also human. Err...human-like?

I've witnessed individuals get bruised by naturally abrasive people. It all added up and like a teapot, steam just had to get exhausted somehow.

After taking a relish out of biting back and it was a bit fun really - kinda like squeezing on a stress ball, you know, it bounces back to its shape; resistence - and after making sure I neither have to make one name into a banner for this blog nor append it to every sentence I write on each post like a punctuation mark, I guess the initial irritation just needed some venting which was also in behalf of all who endured a similar ordeal, and hopefully, I'm back to my happy, pleasant self.

As a line from my fave Korean serial says: "There's no guideline on irritable nerves!"

I can still write about my experiences as an owner of an HP Mini 311 running OS X Snow Leopard here as freely as I've always had. I was once afraid that menacing hands would rip this sort of tech diary that I keep. Thanks for the comments; I realized that "Hey, this is my diary! People can write their own diaries if they don't like what they read in mine." and I really should not be affected - as if anyone can stop you from writing on your own journal right?

We know that we are mere n00bs in this frightening OSx86 world. We know we are forever indebted to those who have the genius and the talent that make this hobby possible. We know that very well and we're not taking credit for anyone else's contribution but rather just spreading word about it.

10.6.7 is out. I should update asap.

22 March 2011

This is goodbye

I thought this blog has direction - provide a means to bridge the all too technical world of hackintosh pros and common language of the hackintosh newbies to lessen the fear of initiation. I thought that since not all have the resources to get pass the "newbie stage", then perhaps not all is expected to get elbow deep in hackintoshing i.e. develop their own kexts and tinker with their own DSDT.aml's. There's a role like a mediator that needs to be filled out.

After all, the masters get pissed off when a newbie asks "stupid questions".

But then the harsh reality gets more, well, real. That newbies are not at all welcome to the hackintoshing world if they're not willing to advance. To be honest, there was a time when I felt this way too. Why do I need to write careful guides anyway? Why do I need to answer those "stupid questions" anyway? I felt that I was one of them "masters" too. But, thankfully, I woke up from that reverie. For aside from a little DSDT.aml editing, some shuffling of kexts from one location to another, the occasional AppleScripting and PackageMaker projects, I was way way way behind in terms of knowledge in comparison to the most brilliant of minds.

And so I told myself that as a way of keeping that humble realization in mind, I'd keep this blog in which to record my experience in trying out what's out there, share how I translated tech stuff that sounded practically jibberish at first for me, so that the next person interested in this hobby could skip the headache of having to decipher jibberish just to get started.

And so I gave way, playing the role of an understanding older sister, willing myself to be stepped on, labelled as imbecile for my queries so I could understand something new on the forums in behalf of the misfortunate few who are indeed less well-versed in this kind of activity but with no lesser gusto to get into the game.

But there comes a time when people get tired; get tired of people being pissed off with them, get tired of being categorized under the "mangled-brains-cannot-understand-simple-Chameleon-compiling-instructions"; get tired of paying reverence to the shrine of the masters.

There is no such thing as making hackintoshing newbie-friendly. For simply put, there is no place for newbies in the hackintosh world. They will only forever be crushed under the giants' feet if they're not giants themselves from the get go.

Why do I feel the need to make the different ends of the OSx86 ecosystem meet and understand each other when there's no mutual desire from both ends to be able to communicate well?

It will always be that the newbie has to become less of a newbie.

Logically, that has some valid points. Plus who am I to say otherwise?

Neanderthal Goes Back To Her Cave



Apparently putting up a donations link turns out to be a very bad idea even though publicized otherwise by a friend of mine at work. She told me: "You're putting effort and time in making detailed explanation available to people who don't have time to put the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle together or simply don't wanna make the effort themselves. Perhaps it's not a bad idea if you create a way for some of them who would like to say thanks for that effort, in other ways, like in moolah, ya know."

Having had a bad experience with donations link in a previous site I blogged for free for (a donations link was up and making people think I was the direct beneficiary without me knowing and me, ending up having to provide support to people who donated to that site - which I won't mention anymore), I was reluctant. Make that very reluctant.

But then, in the end I got convinced that my friend had a valid point; that what I did was actually a bit  of "research". Information to make stuff work is already out there and knowledge that something is possible is already known. What I did, according to that convincing argument, is get a hold of that information, study it for full understanding in order to transform it to a coherent entity that's accessible to more people because it's in a more easily digested form. Plus the personal affirmation that such and such does work would add to the positive demographics that could help, in its own little way, further establish the information as fact.

Now the question is: Can that "effort" of research and transformation really merits being considered a valid value that could indeed be credited to me?

It seems that the answer is "No".

As of this moment, I feel like I've no right whatsoever to write anything pertaining to the Mini 311 without mentioning in every post a certain indiviual's name. Because no, I cannot just "reduce" that person to the generic "brilliant minds from the forums" or let his contribution be as understood, be read between the lines of each post, along with the pioneers of this field, that we, as hackintosher-wannabes, are forever thankful to.

Would I need to make a banner containing that name for my blog as sort of my "licence to write" about the Mini 311 even if I'm only describing my own personal account of how I pieced together what they, the masters, created and which is a fact that I never did and never will intend to undermine? If so, I'd simply run out of time in this short life time enumerating other great names such as netkas, prasys, stell, etc. etc. etc. ....

No thanks. I've bigger stuff to tend to like Université de Paris 3 - Sorbonne Nouvelle.
This Neanderthal is tired of baby-sitting and if she can't write freely, then she'd rather just go back to her cave.