A new convert

Hello all,
Just wanted to make a quick post thanking the developers (if they even read this).
I was a long time gentoo fan. Recently there has been unrest in the gentoo community, and some of my updates were failing (running stable). Nothing too serious and unresolvable, but made apparent the direction gentoo is headed. I had been looking for something new, but have always disliked distros that force you to do things "their" way. Just give me the linux shell and a repository, that's all I want. Then I stumbled across Arch. I've been using Arch for a little over a month now and I'm sold.
Aside from the simplicity, I forgot how simple binary packages make life. Yeah, your system is not "customized" to your specific needs, but to be honest. USE flags bit me in the ass more than they sped up my system. Who here from the gentoo camp has ever updated qt, only to find an application needs it rebuilt with a new USE flag? With Arch, if I do want to compile my own packages to have bleeding edge or obscure applications, the dependant packages all have the proper developement libraries installed. Most of the time I don't even have to venture further than AUR.
So thank you Arch devels, Arch community, and everyone else that makes it happen.
-xvalentinex
PS. Don't get me wrong I love Gentoo, just had to vent about some recent frustrations. It's still a great distro, with excellent documentation, and a great learning experience. I hope they can get back on the right track.

Welcome to Arch!
As a gentoo convert myself, I can relate to the USE flag issues

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Mini DisplayPort to Composite/S-Video - New Converter

I found a new converter/adapter to convert from Mini Displayport to Composite/S-Video enabling connection of Macbook Pro/Air to an analog TV: http://www.lenkeng.net/Html/Product/DisplayPort-to-Composite-Video-Converter.htm l
http://www.gamezhome.com/lkv386-mini-displayport-to-composite-video-and-svideo-c onverter_p893.html
http://www.focalprice.com/CX202B/LKV386_Mini_Displayport_to_AV_converter_Black.h tml
It seems very compact and affordable.
Anyone tried this yet?
Any feedback/review would be appreciated.

If your iMac has mini display port and/or thunderbolt no reason it shouldn't work.
It works great for me, when I'm on the road, I can watch movies I have on my computer on the hotel CRT TV.

New convert needs some help, please.

I just converted to MacBook with Intel Core Duo and I need to run a few programs that only run on the MS OS.
Anyone with a Quick Start on loading the MS OS onto the Mac would be appreciated along with any headsups to look out for while installing or post installation. Any feedback would be great as well. XP versions suggestions?
Thanks in advance.
David
Macbook Mac OS X (10.4.7)

Welcome.
You have 2 options : Apple's own Boot Camp OR Parallels Desktop.
Boot camp - free download. You need to partion your hard drive - very easy, just follow the instructions.
With Boot camp, you are either in Windows OR OS X. (restart required when you switch OSs)
http://www.apple.com/macosx/bootcamp/
Parallels - 80 bucks (15 day free trial) You do not need to partion your hard drive
With Parallels you boot up windows within OS X
http://www.parallels.com/en/products/desktop/
I run Parallels - and it has been flawless.
You will want alot of RAM (I have 2 Gig, and both OSs run fast)

Where do I find the new converted Videora file?

I used the Videora Ipod convertor to convert a DIVX codex movie in Windows. When the process finished, I still only see the original Divx file. Does Videora put the converted file somewhere else?

no. sorry, have you tried changing the file name of the original file and then re converting it with videora. i have no idea if this would work but you could gice it a shot.
good luck
liam

New Convert to Mac. Did Time Machine wipe out my external hard drive?

I recently purchased a MacBook Pro. I have all of my files and pictures from my PC on my external hard drive. When I connected it to the USB port, Time Machine came up. I don't remember what I selected, but now when I plug in the drive, "time machine backups" is the only thing that I can see in Finder.
When I tried to connect the hard drive with a PC, it doesn't recognize it anymore. Did I loose all of my data?

Coyote_Girl wrote:
I recently purchased a MacBook Pro. I have all of my files and pictures from my PC on my external hard drive. When I connected it to the USB port, Time Machine came up. I don't remember what I selected
You saw this prompt (probably with only one volume name):
|
|
and when you clicked +Use as Backup Disk,+ this:
|
|
And when you clicked Erase, the drive was reformatted.
Most of the data is still there, but it won't be quick, cheap, or easy to recover it. You'll need a +Data Recovery+ service or application.
Since the drive was formatted for Windoze, the apps we recommend here, for Mac-formatted drives, probably won't work. But see [Data Recovery|http://web.me.com/pondini/AppleTips/Recover.html] for general information in this area.
Check wherever you normally look for PC apps, or Google.

IMac OSX (10.6)and Aperture 3 new convert. In archives found description of how to set preferences in email export photo drop down, but email set photo to small, although I picked 1024x1024 still received as attachment as well and small size. Tnx

Recently acquired OSX (10.6) and Aperture 3 (previously Lightroom and Adobe CS4 + Windows & user)
1) How do I send Apple Mail with photo approx 1024+1024 around 250Kbs - not as an attachment.
2) How do I make a frame around my image when sending by Mail - can't find this in Aperture 3
3) Where can I find perpective corrector - shift lens - to correct slant of buildings etc
Thanks

metasaysmolo wrote:
Recently acquired OSX (10.6) and Aperture 3 (previously Lightroom and Adobe CS4 + Windows & user)
1) How do I send Apple Mail with photo approx 1024+1024 around 250Kbs - not as an attachment.
If you go to 'Aperture menu > Presets > Image Exports..', you will see a list of packaged presets. Selecting the 'Email Medium - JPEG' will set the dimensions to fit within 1024 x 1024 pixels by default (the longest side of image will be set to 1024 and the aspect ratio will be kept). Playing with the 'Image Quality' slider may be necessary to achieve your desired file size.
Here are a couple of links that may be of interest:
http://documentation.apple.com/en/aperture/usermanual/index.html#chapter=20%26se ction=6%26tasks=true
http://documentation.apple.com/en/aperture/usermanual/index.html#chapter=20%26se ction=11%26tasks=true
2) How do I make a frame around my image when sending by Mail - can't find this in Aperture 3
I am not sure that this is possible via Aperture. You can get the free plug-in called "BorderFX" which allows adding of frames and watermarks on export, but I believe you would have to export the image to add the border and then email (by dragging into your email message).
Here is the link to BorderFX:
http://www.iborderfx.com/BorderFX/
Note - others may have a better alternative to adding a border in a more efficient manor.
3) Where can I find perpective corrector - shift lens - to correct slant of buildings etc
The least expensive option would be PTLens, which works well as a plug-in and costs $25 US. The author has a page dedicated to shift lenses, so you will want to check it out before making a decision. He also offers a trial version to test on your machine / equipment.
http://epaperpress.com/ptlens/
Note - I don't use a shift lens, so my recommendation ends at saying that his plug-in works well for what it is meant to do (correct distortion for supported lenses with manual controls for distortion and CA).
Hope that helps.

Trying to find a new video converter for 5g ipod video

Hi, i need some help getting a new converter, i have one currently but for some reason it wont convert AVI files, can anyone give me a link to where i can find a new converter that will also convert AVI files too? Thank you

Ok, no answers huh?
Well, I purchased a ATI 9800 Pro Mac Edition.
*_A warning_*, if you have an Apple Cinema Display check the connection type. If it is an older display, you probably have a ADC connection. The newer models have a DVI connection. Make sure the video card has that type of connection on it or you will have to buy a ADC to DVI converter from Apple. This costs $99.00.
When purchasing a video card keep this in mind and add this to the price you will be paying to use the video card.
Thanks for the wonderful help.
Etin the almost PC user!

Shut down problem on new macbook pro 13"

Hey,
Just a new convert to mac after ditching my glitchy windows desktop replacement.
Been really enjoying the mac (i've had it for 3 days now). I've experienced a shut down problem where everything would close, like the dock and the bar up the top. What's left is just my background and my mouse which i can still move around. If i press the power button, it brings up the shut down options but if i click shut down, it brings me back to the background again.
The first time, it happened was after i tried opening a macmame.dmg file which was not mounting, and that cause problems with shut down in which i had to force shut down. The 2nd time it happened (which was today), was not as a response to installing anything, or so i would think.
Also, is it 'safe' or normal or better to just leave my laptop on sleep instead of shutting it down? I see a few people doing it and just wondering about the benefits of doing that instead.

I've done that repair disk. So far this shut down thing has only occured twice in 4 days. I've shut the computer down 6-10 times so it's not a reoccuring issue, so hopefully that repair would've resolved anything.
I shall continue to let me mac sleep instead of shutting it down then, seems easier. And good thing to know that theres no viruses... hate working with virus scanners and all other nonsense.
Macmame is just a emulator for some games. It was something I had on windows so just wanted to see whether it worked on mac, I ended up getting it mounted and installed but didnt seem to work as well as on windows so i disabled it.

New to Premiere, from Final Cut. Help editing native RED r3d

I am one of the many new converts to Premiere Pro CS5.5 from Final Cut after many years using the Apple software. I want to dive right in and start editing with Premiere, but I've run into an immediate snag.
First, I have heard endless discussion about Premiere Pro's abillity to edit raw RED footage natively. Just drag in the r3d files and go. Yet, I haven't even been able to get Premiere to get me this far in my editing workflow. I have worked extensively with RED footage, and in the past I was transcoding in Final Cut to a Pro Res (Proxy) and conforming/onlining at the end using log and transfer or RED alert. Naturally, I was excited to be able to drop in native RED files and never have to online at the end. Here's where my problem comes in: I drag in the r3d files from a recent shoot. 4k 23.967 shot on RED. I double click the clip in my project to open it in the source monitor and all I get is black. I can't scrub, I can't playback video or audio to make my cuts; all I get is timecode. HOWEVER, if I drag the r3d file straight to the timeline, I get picture/sound and everything. Of course, this is no way to edit and I can't just be dropping full clips into the sequence and trying to trim from there. Like any editor, I want to be able to double click my clip, scrub through it in the source monitor, and find the particular take I want to use. THEN, I add it to my timeline.
WHY am I not able to see/edit the raw r3d files in my source monitor? Has anyone experienced this problem? Frustrated and unable to start using this highly touted Premiere (which I wholeheartedly want to believe in). Please instruct me so I can get up and running with my RED footage. In the meantime, it's back to Final Cut 7...
I should mention that I am using a Quad-Core Intel Xeon 2.4 GHz Mac Pro with 15GM Ram and an ATI Radeon HD 5770 graphics card. I have heard NVIDIA is the way to go, but we aren't upgrading/changing graphics cards in the immediate future. So for now, this is what I will be using. Hopefully this is not the sole reason I can't playback/see anything in my source monitor with my r3d files.
Thanks
Daniel

Excellent! Changing to the Adobe player solved that problem (although, of course, it presented new problems, all related to Blackmagic card). Also, to answer your question-- yes, the pro res proxy files were working fine in Premiere.
Now I can see and edit my r3d files, which was paramount. However, now I can't get either the source monitor or program monitor to output playback through the blackmagic card to my external monitors (42" LCD and a smaller 17" Sony color correction monitor). I should note that both of these monitors are routed through my blackmagic card so they don't show up as options under the "playback settings" tab in the source/program monitors. Do I need to rerout these monitors differently so that Premiere Pro recognizes them and will utilize them as external monitors? I need them to playback for clients, bosses, etc.
Another note-- If I make my sequence a blackmagic preset, it will output the program monitor but only playback a few frames and then freeze. If I make it a RED cinema preset, it will playback fluidly but won't output to my external monitors.
The freezing, in my assumption, is due to the fact that the only blackmagic editing mode available is uncompressed 10bit, which doesn't playback well (it uses an editing mode of uncompressed 10bit even when I pick JPEG for the sequence preset).
I guess, in summary, my question is-- does blackmagic not integrate well with Premiere Pro CS5.5? Should I re-rout the monitors not using a BNC cable into the blackmagic card, but instead DVI them into the back of the Mac Pro? Thanks again Colin,
Daniel

Step-down voltage converter or traval adapters?

Hi,
I am studying in Ireland with my iBook that I bought in the US - as well as a few other US electrical appliances. I have been using step-down voltage converters, but having problems. I just discovered today that I was using too many watts for the converter (the power adapter for the iBook uses 45 watts, and the converter suggests a max of 30 watts) but I am still not sure if that is why the converters keep breaking. The fuse seems to be fine (why I don't think the watts are the problem) and the first two converters broke after being used for a few months (but within a few days or hours of being used with a computer for the first time). So I was still of the conclusion that the converters were just going bad on their own - not built to last so long.
Tonight I plugged my iBook in with a third, brand new converter and was part way through charging it up when the light on the charger went from amber to green and then off. Now this third converter does not seem to work anymore - and the fuse seems fine.
So at this point I'm pretty sure it does have something to do with the computer - but am not really sure how to proceed. Has anyone else experienced similar difficulties? I see that Apple offers a set of Travel Adapters. Do you recommend them? Might this be the simples solution to these problems with the converters?

Hi Oona,
All Macs (except rev.A G5 iMacs and eMacs) have dual voltage/frequency PSU, and can be plugged anywhere in the world with no problem.
> You don't need any step-down voltage converter for your iBook.
You just have to find a plug adapter or an Irish cord or power adapter (btw you can use the 65W too). Apple's Travel Adapter is fine, but you can find cheaper in Ireland, unless you need a model that you can use everywhere in the world?
See this document
- World Power Differences Can Limit International Product Use (KB #129)
and check your other electrical appliances.
The electrical info is printed somewhere: do not use the converter with the dual-voltage/frequency ones.
About Apple Macs' electrical specs:
- Apple Power Supplies: Changing voltage settings (KB #75099)
Electrical info is always visible somewhere on all electrical appliances.
Axl

USB PS2 Keyboard converter adapter worked fine in 10.5, issues in 10.6

I'm a mac user with a fetish for old IBM Model M clicky keyboards. After some sniffing around and buying a few cheap adapters that didn't work, I found this product on www.clickykeyboards.com :
http://www.clickykeyboards.com/index.cfm/fa/items.main/parentcat/11298/subcatid/ 0/id/124184
In short, it doesn't seem to work right with key modifiers in 10.6 whereas it did in 10.5
=======
The longer story with details...
In leopard, it worked like a charm. Most important to me of course was flexibility of layout in the modifier keys. Starting from the bottom left, standard mac layout is:
control ... option(alt) ... command(apple)
My keyboard (late 80's classic Model M) has:
ctrl ... [grey plastic] ... alt
...and the normal functionality you get when you plug in a standard 104-key windows keyboard to a mac by USB is:
ctrl = control
alt = option
windows = command
So I map as follows using the modifier keys remap function in the keyboard pane of sysprefs:
ctrl = control
alt = command (so it's in the same place that it would be on a mac keyboard
caps lock = option
And it worked beauty. The LED's for num/caps/scroll didn't do anything, which was fine, who needs them. And when I booted to WinXP via BootCamp, it also worked properly. F12 worked for both eject and dashboard, awesome.
Just got the new snow-kitty and the remap stopped working! All the keys on the board work as designed, but no matter how I map the modifier keys in SysPrefs, alt is locked to option, ctrl to ctrl, caps lock to caps lock, the LED's work again (weird), and I have no apple key! It's like the remap values I choose are getting overridden in hardware or something.
Anyone have any ideas? Could be the USB/PS2 converter needs a 10.6 driver, but I can't figure out who the manufacturer is...
Before anyone suggests it, using a newer keyboard is not under any circumstances a viable option

Already asked them earlier today, awaiting reply. They've been very helpful in the past so fingers crossed.
I see this getting fixed by either a driver update from the manufacturer, which I'm not super-confident about since the converter has kind of a brand-X chinese vibe and no documentation whatsoever, or a different (perhaps newer) converter. Will post any follow-up I get from clickykeyboards.com here.
*brews coffee*

How do I install new themes for keynote purchased throught the app store?

I have downloaded some Keynote themes fron a site but I have no way (that I can see) to install them. I've done extensive googling and I always find instructions that say that I have to add the downloaded themes (.kth files) into the ~/Library/Application Support/Keynote/Themes folder. However, I have no such directory.
I purchased Keynote via the App Store. Could this be the reason why I don't have this directory on my hard disk? How does one install new themes then?
Thank you.
While I am at it and since there must be a lot of Keynote experts around, I'll ask another question about a problem that is driving me crazy. I'm one of those thousands of new converts and I have a lot of old PowerPoint files that took me a lot of time to create. I'm trying to import them into Keynote but some of them are giving me trouble. The problem comes when I try to change the theme (I just want to change the background). When I have complex slides involving many objects, if I change the theme all these objects abandon their original positions and everything becomes garbled. I think this has to do with the aspect ratio of the slides but I haven't found any way of fixing it. No matter what size I choose in the Theme Chooser, the result is the same.
I would really appreciate any help you people can offer with any of these problems. Thanks in advance.
JM

OK, I'll answer myself since I found an answer to my first question. It was right here in the forums. I'll post a link to it in case someone reads this thread looking for an answer:
Using 3rd Third Party Themes - The Manual Way to Import
Now, if I could just find an answer for my second question...
JM

Why does the new Quicktime NOT play my old MOV files?

Hi Folks.
I'm using the lasted updated Yosemite on a 3-year old iMac.
Back in my early iMac days (3 years ago), I imported my camcorder's AVCHD files
into iMove or Final Cut Express and converted them to Quicktime MOV files.
Turns out they were rendered by Apple or Final Cut into MOV files using the
Apple Intermediate codec. I had no choice over this.
Until I upgraded to Yosemite, I was able to preview any of these movies
very easily in the Finder. Simply highlight the movie, press the spacebar,
and it opens, in a real-time, real-size screen, with a simple play-pause button
in the progress bar at the bottom. Never had a problem with any previous
Mac OS.
Now when I click on the file in the finder, instead of a movie preview, I get a
big, silent QT "Mov" icon that just sits there looking silly.
I double click it to open it up in Quicktime, and it attempts to go through this
lengthy conversion process, taking at least as long as the movie is in minutes,
then asking me if I want to save this new "converted" version.
Fortunately, I have an old version of Quicktime 7 on my Mac, and QT 7 opens it
and plays it no problem. No "conversion" necessary. No cumbersome and
space-hogging needs to create a "cloned" copy, just so the new, lame version
of Quicktime can play it.
What's up, Apple? AIC was YOUR codec that YOUR SOFTWARE chose to
transcode into. Now, your new Quicktime does NOT support this codec?
And your old version does? And why might THAT be?
Really, this is so elementary. This is not rocket science. Just like JPG images
not displaying properly in Mac Mail now. It begs the question "why" ...?
I mean, for the elementary preview abilities that always made Mac such a
friendly computer ... *uh* ... where is that?
And here we go, wasting hours of time, looking for fixes that should not
have to be "fixed"...
Did I miss something? Or did you?

Aeclay: here's a couple of ideas. And an answer to your earlier post.
Basically two options to work with here:
Store the files as native AVCHD files... OR
Convert the files to Quicktime
I keep two archives of my AVCHD recordings, partly for backup, and partly for Sony's ability to archive nicely in it's own native format on it's PC-friendly utility called "PMB". (came wtih both my NEX and ALPHA cameras). I have an old PC that I use for my complete archive; Sony's PMB utility works only on PC's and will do a good job both of archiving, providing a thumbnail database, and re-writing your choice to removable media in it's typical Sony hierarchy.
If you've only got Mac's, you can still archive your AVCHD recordings; copy them to folders named or organized to your own spec's. AVCHD is a high-quality compression format, and they'll take up way less disk space than converted Quicktime MOV files. You can open and play all AVCHD movies quite easily with VLC player.
The only extra trick to be aware of here is this. The only reason you would need to preserve the intact "sony" folders (named "AVCHD" / "BMDV" etc) is is you were using Adobe Premiere as a video editor. Somehow, it needs the hierarchical folder stuff in place to properly index the files. Not mandatory, but helpful if you are a Premiere user. Otherwise, forget the weird "package" folders; just right-click (ctrl-click) on them, choose "view package contents" and MOVE the MTS files out of the Sony hierarchy for permanent storage. Use VLC player to open and view them.
From that point on, you have control over how you manage the files and what intermediate or end-user format you convert them to for your own use.
I'm not clear on your other question about the files that add the word "converted" on. Of course Mac will convert to Quicktime MOV files. Not sure what codec they're using now, likely H.264. Anyway, don't bother converting. It'll take up a lot of time and waste a lot of disk space.
ps. I just found this free utility on the internet. It's called "MTS CONVERTER". I have not tried it, but it claims to be able to convert all AVCHD files to various useable formats.
Good luck! (and happy Valentine's Day!)

Pink Screen with 17" ADC and DVI converter

This issue could be with the Apple ADC to DVI convertor box or cable, but I can't confirm if it is that or my monitor. I am using a 17" clear ACD with a mac mini, and I started to get intermittant bright pink screens, which has progressed into pink all the time, and a horizontally squashed screen that shows the desktop twice (one on top of the other, both squashed).
I am pretty sure that the cable coming out of the convertor box is the culprit, since I was able to get it working normally by jiggling the cable, and it started acting up when I was plugging and unplugging some USB devices. Now it won't work properly at all, and I do not have an old computer to plug the monitor in directly to check with. I did plug the monitor and convertor into a G5 PowerMac, and had the same result. When I plugged in a newer 20" Apple aluminum display into the Mini, it worked fine.
The trouble is that all of the cables on the monitor and convertors are built in and not easily replaced.
Any suggestions?

I bought a new ADC/DVI converter ($99) and that fixed it. I am almost positive it was only the cable.
My question is: why can't Apple PLEASE make these convertor boxes AND their monitors with removable/replaceable cables?
I ended up spending 10 times what I should have to fix the issue. it should have never broken in the first place, since it rarely even ever got touched, and had never been disconnected.
Just for grins, after I bought the new converter, I tried to open the old one to see if I could remove the cable. I could not even get the box open without destroying it.
My 20" Cinema Display has a dead bug inside it, and it is also impossible to open up without destroying it, just to clean it.
I just have to express my displeasure at Apple making their products non-servicable. What a waste.

PowerMac G5 or new iMac

Hi there, just interested in your views on this. My G5 2.5DP from late 2004 packed up on me last week. Having taken it into a local Genius Bar (just have to say what a great service, highly impressed) looks like it's going to need either a new logic board or processor. For cost I'm looking at around £600 if it's just one of them or nearer £1200 if it's both. Curious for any advice on whether I'm better off carrying on with the repairs or cutting my loses now and spending a bit more on getting a new iMac 2.66 Intel Duo and starting fresh (can't stretch to a new MacPro). I'm a graphic/web designer so my mac is usually running the full adobe creative suite for 12hrs+ 6-7 days a week. Would the processing power/speed of the new iMac be as good as the older G5?
Would be grateful for any views/advice.
Kind regards
Paul

Hi Paul - Sorry to hear about your G5 popping its clogs
There are a few second hand Mac Pros c/w applecare on a certain on-line bidding site that are sometimes going for a really reasonable cost.
I do believe that most new apps are now designed for intel-chips and as a professional graphic designer your gonna need to be able to minimize any potential downtime by having a self-servicing capability !!
Ie; you don't have to send the entire sealed unit off to change something out !!
Also perhaps you'll also need : multiple-internal HDs ? Possibly even a really high-end graphics card / heaps of RAM (above 4 GB) and a high spec monitor too ?
What ever your choice - I would make sure that you use a UPS unit as to protect your investment.
+Ps. the intel chip Macs are way way faster in processing power +
Good Luck with it all
Message was edited by: another new convert
Message was edited by: another new convert

A new convert

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