Meeting Notes - Nov 17, 2004

What's New by Mike Yocom

New Apple Software
iPod Updater 2004-10-20 — Adds support for the iPod Photo and delivers enhancements to a number of other iPod models.

iTunes 4.7 — Includes support for copying photos to an iPod photo, the ability to show duplicate songs in your library, and other performance improvements.

QuickTime 6.5.2 — An important release which includes a security update and bug fixes. In addition this release includes enhancements in the Apple Lossless Encoder and AAC codecs, as well as improved support for iTunes and other QuickTime-based applications.

Security Update 2004-10-27 — Addresses a potential vulnerability with Apple Remote Desktop Client 1.2.4 and Mac OS X 10.3.x. Is only applicable to that combination of software.

Mac OS X 10.3.6 (Client and Server) — Delivers enhanced functionality and improved reliability for Mac OS X Server v10.3 and is recommended for all systems.

DVD Studio Pro 3.0.2 — The DVD Studio Pro 3.0.2 update is strongly recommended for all users of DVD Studio Pro 3. In addition to improving general stability and compatibility for double-layer media on supported systems.

Fibre Channel Utility Update 1.0.3 — Addresses issue of WWPN and WWNN not being displayed in user interface. Addresses cosmetic issue with regards to multi-byte text getting improperly truncated.

AirPort 4.1 for Mac OS X — Supports Keyspan Express Remote for use with AirTunes (AirPort Express only). Support for WPA security on WDS networks. Ability to rename a USB printer connected to a base station.

AirPort Express Firmware 6.1 for Mac OS X — AirPort firmware updates are now packaged in a new utility application which simplifies the process of installing firmware updates. This application is available for use on Mac OS X computers (10.3 and later) and on Microsoft Windows 2000 or XP computers.

Software Notes
Mozilla Firefox 1.0 — a speedy, full-featured browser that makes browsing more efficient than ever before.

Photoshop Elements 3.0 — consumer photo-editing software.

QuarkXPress 6.5 — an integrated publishing package that combines expert type, layout, color, and graphics-handling features with professional illustration tools, word processing, and sophisticated pre-press functions — all in one application.

Virtual PC 7.0.1 — lets you run Microsoft Windows applications, access Windows networks, use Windows-only Internet applications, and share files with Windows-based colleagues.

Yellow Dog Linux 4.0 — distribution of Linux aimed mainly at Mac hardware. offers 32-bit support for USB-G3s, G4s, G5 Power Macs, and through the Freescale Board Support Package, Genesi Pegasos II ATX boards.

MacFixIt is reporting that a few applications — including Mail.app and the Adobe CS products — experience strange behavior at the transition back to standard time. In the case of Mail.app, processor utilization jumped to 100% for an hour, ending precisely at midnight. In the case of the Adobe CS applications they refuse to launch until the user changes the time zone setting.

A handful of notable details concerning the recently released QuarkXPress and QuarkXPress Passport 6.5 have emerged. The new QuarkVista XTension that allows image manipulation within XPress documents is reported to be unable to handle large image files and hangs QuarkXPress. The PSD Import XTension — a widely advertised feature for QXP 6.5 — is not in the final release, but is expected to be available in the first quarter of 2005. Problems getting QXP to recognize some fonts have also been reported. Clearing font caches and rebooting — which can be done either with the freeware Font Finagler utility or through Terminal by using the commands rm *.fcache* and rm *.FODB* in ~/Library/Caches, /Library/Caches, and /System/Library/Caches. (In /System/Library/Caches, also use the command rm fontTablesAnnex*.)

Hardware News
iPod Photo

• 40GB HDD; 10 000 songs; $499.00 USD
• 60GB HDD; 15 000 songs; $599.00 USD
  

iPod U2 Special Edition

• 20GB HDD; 5 000 songs; $50 off The Complete U2 (over 400 U2 tracks from iTunes Music Store); Exclusive U2 poster; $349.00 USD
  

IT-Enquirer has an article comparing PCI-X to PCI-Express. PCI-Express products are just starting to appear on the market, and it represents a large leap forward in terms of the amount of data that can be transferred between cards and the efficiency of the bus.

Mac OS X / Issues
Following the ATI Displays 4.4 update, many people with ATI RADEON 8500 cards have reported flickering artifacts associated with small screen items like small text or some tool palettes. There is currently no official word if this is fixed in the ATI Displays 4.4.2 update.

Many users of version 2.x of the Apple Remote Desktop remote-administration software report that saved network-range Scanners frequently forget their saved range and revert to scanning the local subnet. A discussion of the problem and a workaround can be found on Apple's Discussion forums.

1. Set up all the scanners correctly.
2. Quit ARD successfully. (If it crash-quits, go back to step 1)
3. Duplicate ARD .plist file at ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.RemoteDesktop.plist.
   

Then, when ARD 2 loses the scanner settings:

1. Quit ARD.
2. Throw out the newly-broken plist file.
3. Duplicate and rename your backup to replace the broken one.
   

The November 2004 TOP500 list, a list of the 500 fastest supercomputers in the world, has been released. Of note: VirginiaTech's System X, despite a performance boost from upgrading to 2.3 GHz XServes, fell to seventh from third place; not one but two systems beat out The Earth Simulation Center's Earth-Simulator, which has been ranked as number one on the TOP500 since 2002; and nine of the top twenty, and five of the top ten systems are now PowerPC or POWER-based, including the new fastest supercomputer.

According to Silicon.com, Apple has issued a statement that Opener, the latest malware for Mac OS X, is not a Trojan horse, worm, or virus. Many antivirus experts disagree with Apple's statement, but it should be noted that Opener currently has not vector, no way to spread, especially since it requires an administrator user to authenticate its installation.

General News
The PC Market Remains Strong, according to the NewsFactor Network. According to IDC and Gartner, the computer industry as a whole is continuing to grow, with about 12% more units shipped in the third quarter 2004, as compared to third quarter 2003.

LinuxInsider's Paul Murphy asks But Macs Are Slower, Right? The article is an analysis of some of the ways to determine how fast a particular computer really is.

Another Boston Globe article reports that officials in Newton, Massachusetts are looking into establishing a city-wide wi-fi network. The system would involve access points mounted to telephone poles and residents would pay about $10 to use the service.

Mike's entire presentation including a complete list of new Apple and third-party software since October, new Apple hardware releases, Apple retail news, and other Apple related topics can be found in the "Mac Managers Meetings - Previous Notes " section at: http://www.macos.utah.edu or select from the options listed below:

Proposed Removal of AppleTalk From The Campus Backbone by Craig Bennion

The removal of AppleTalk from the campus backbone has been discussed for a long time. What has elevated it to the forefront is the latest round of Cisco IOS updates. They no longer support AppleTalk and now its removal is no longer a question of "if" but "when" and the "when" is going to be "soon". Current plans call for the rollout of the next IOS to the Cisco routers in the next three or four months. It might come "sooner", however, if there is bug or other issues that are uncovered in the code. Some things to consider:

• With no AppleTalk, Macs will no longer be able to access file servers, printers, or other AppleTalk services (database, calendaring, backup, etc.) through traditional AppleTalk mechanisms. A couple of years ago Craig scanned the backbone and discovered 10,000 active AppleTalk devices, half of them were printers.
• After the upgrades, The Cisco routers will probably not see the AppleTalk port. It will effectively disappear.
• If you're going through a switch, AppleTalk is fine. It is only a problem if you're going through a router, that's where the hit comes.
• Once AppleTalk has been removed, if your group or department is operating on its own LAN subsystem, AppleTalk will still configure and work with it. While "Chooser" will no longer show a "Zone" name, the AppleTalk addresses will still work.
  

A few years ago, Richard Glaser put together documentation on how to "Migrate from AppleTalk to IP". While some of the information is not current, it remains applicable to those who will be affected by the loss of AppleTalk.

What NetCom really wants at this point is feedback from departments and groups who will be affected by the removal. If you have critical services that cross routers using AppleTalk Craig wants you to contact him. He wants to know what you're doing so that a solution can be devised to maintain those services.

"We're not dead yet" An update on Iomega by Wayne Linder

Iomega Corporation has been a long-time provider of easy-to-use, high value data storage and data protection solutions for both the Mac and PC platforms. Wayne, Iomega's Macintosh Test Engineer, discussed Iomega's troubles, successes, future directions and why they are still relevant to the Mac community.

Background
In many ways, the Mac platform built Iomega from the Bernoulli Drives up through the ZIP Drive and their use in the education market. As time went on and Iomega grew, "bean counter" got put into ranking positions in the corporate hierarchy. They moved the company and their product development away from their stable "bread and butter" ties with Apple towards the booming PC market.

In that time, the Mac R & D was cut back until Wayne became Iomega's ONLY Mac Test Engineer. Fortunately, Iomega still develops and produces Mac products but because of poor marketing, many of these advances are never publicized or promoted.A few examples include Iomega's line of Mini and Micro USB Flash Drives, their 1-terabyte Network Attached Storage server, and the continued production and development of ZIP Drive products.

Two Things Mac Users Should Know
If you are using Mac OS X 10.3.x, uninstall Iomega Tools.The "Long Format" option is broken. Use "Disk Utility" to format Iomega removable storage.

The ZIP is NOT dead. The 100, 250, and 750 MB ZIP disks are still in production. In fact, Iomega developed an internal 750 MB ZIP drive kit for the Mirrored-Door Power Mac G4s. The drive fits into one of the drive bays and includes a font piece with a disk slot that replaces one of the spring-loaded mirrored doors.

The Rev Drive
This is kind of like a new JAZ drive only much better. It is a form of removable storage that is based on hard drive technology. The storage cartridges contain everything a small hard drive would have except the heads including a platter and the drive motor.The read/write heads are all contained in the drive behind two heavy-duty seals to prevent contamination of the drive and the cartridges.

• The drive comes with USB 2, FireWire, SCSI, or ATAPI interfaces.
• It features two reinforced Kensington Lock ports on opposite sides of the drive for better "lock-down" capabilities.
• The drives are stackable.
• The native interface is UDF and looks to Mac OS X like DVD RAM. 
• You can read from the cartridge but not write to it unless you use the system software. 
• Iomega is currently working with Apple to "Open Source" the REV drivers to make it more appealing to end-users. 
• The ideal driving the creation of REV is as a replacement for tape drives. 
• The random access memory media is quicker and has a better lifespan (50,000 hours).
• The largest cartridge is 35 GB and costs around $40 (educational) and the drive is around $350 (educational).
• The drive software gives you the option to create backups that are either monolithic or maintain the file structure of the machine being backed up.
• Iomega is developing a security application that will tie a cartridge to a specific computer so if you try to use it on an other computer, it won't work.
• Also in development is live backup software.It is a designed for "bare metal recovery" and should be ready for release by the end of month.
• Comes with Dantz Retrospect (single client).
  

Also available is a 1U rack-mounted autoloader built by BDT that holds 10 cartridges the cartridges reside in a carousel that surrounds the drive. BDT and Iomega are working on a 3U autoloader that will store 30 cartridges in three carousels. Dantz has certified all other REV interfaces but not the autoloader. For the autoloader, Iomega recommends using Veritas.

Region Free DVD Playback With VLC by Mikio Moriyasu

Region free DVD playback is a feature desired by many who wish to view movies and programs that are only available on foreign DVDs. The available solutions while functional do have their downsides. Along comes VLC, an open source freeware media player, which will play foreign format DVD without having to make any hardware or firmware modifications.

Mikio's presentation is based on work done by Student Computing Labs Mac Support to support the viewing of Language Department foreign video material in the labs. His complete report can be viewed at http://www.macos.utah.edu. You can also select from the options listed below

Cool Utilities by Scott Doenges

Scott demonstrated a few of the latest, coolest, or most functional utility applications available for the Mac. Here is what he presented:

59-8 - This shareware application locates all the countries in the world with the integrated interactive satellite world map. You can zoom in to see specific geographic details, get city and landmark names, and find locations based on their latitude and longitude coordinates. Cost - $6.95.

Audio Hijack - This shareware application is the perfect tool to record any audio on your computer. Snag game sounds or sound bytes off DVD movies. You can even use Audio Hijack to rip Flash audio. With Audio Hijack, you can quickly and easily save audio from almost any application to an AIFF file. This file can then be burned to a CD, or played with any audio player, from iTunes to an iPod. Cost - $16.00

Better HTML Export - This shareware application is an export plugin for iPhoto that creates web pages. With BetterHTMLExport you get total control over the look of the web pages generated during export including the ability to make your own html page templates. Cost - $20.00

Celestia - This freeware application is a real-time space simulation that lets you experience our universe in three dimensions. You can travel throughout the solar system, to any of over 100,000 stars, or even beyond the galaxy. All travel in Celestia is seamless; the exponential zoom feature lets you explore space across a huge range of scales, from galaxy clusters down to spacecraft only a few meters across. A 'point-and-goto' interface makes it simple to navigate through the universe to the object you want to visit.

Mactracker - This freeware application provides detailed technical information on every Apple Macintosh model along with information on Motorola, PowerComputing, and UMAX clones. The database also includes Apple mice, keyboards, displays, printers, scanners, digital cameras, AirPort Base Stations, iPod, Newtons, and Mac OS versions. You can even hear the startup and "death" chimes.

Panorama BackPacker - From the makers of 59-8, this freeware application is made for people that love to travel and see new places. There are more then 241 QuickTime VR panoramas from different locations around the world. Enjoy the journey!

Quicksilver - Containing many features similar to Mac OS X 10.4 "Tiger's" Searchlight, this application is an evolving framework for accessing and manipulating many forms of personal data. You can search your system, launch applications, and get system information. Cost - Donations Welcome.

Shiira - This is a web browser based on Web Kit and written in Cocoa. The goal of the Shiira Project is to create a browser that is better and more useful than Safari. All source code used in this software is publicly available.

iDVD Easter Egg - This freeware application gives you the ability to burn DVDs from iDVD to external (third party) DVD-R drives or to Disk Images.

Other News

SCL News
Student Computing Labs has begun streaming CNN, The History Channel and The Discovery Channel in the labs that it manages.

Upcoming Events
MacExpo 2004 (London)

• Location: Business Design Centre, Islington, London, UK
• Dates: November 18—20, 2004
• Registration Information
• Sessions
  

MacEnterprise (formerly MacOSXLabs) Webcast (November)

• Topic: Apple Remote Desktop 2 In-Depth
• Presenters: Nader Nafissi, Apple Computer
  Mike Bombich, Apple Computer
  Tony Graham, Apple Computer
  Steve Hayman, Apple Computer
• Date: November 16, 2004
• Click here for viewing instructions

Digital Video Expo West 2004

• Location: Los Angeles Convention Center, Los Angeles, California
• Dates: December 7-10, 2004
• Registration Information
• Conference Information
• Expo Information
• DV Film Festival Information

Macworld San Francisco 2005

• Location: San Francisco, CA
• Dates: January 10—14, 2005
• Registration Information
• Sessions

If there is a topic you would like to see discussed at a future Mac Managers Meeting, please let us know here.