Interested in a Mac Pro

I am interested in a MAC Pro but I have a HP desktop. Will I have compatability issues?

Can't answer your question until you tell us the model of HP printers.
The vast majority work but to really give you an answer we need the model to be sure.
Allan

Similar Messages

Migrating FCE 2 on G4 powerbook to FCE 4 on Intel iMac/Mac Pro: Questions

I am interested in migrating from FCE 2 on G4 powerbook (1.6ghz) to FCE 4 on Intel iMac/Mac Pro (have to decide which). I have two main questions:
Will my FCE2 projects, sequences, scratch files etc. (currently on external hard drive) open ok on the Intel based FCE4 system?
How much of a performance boost can I reasonably expect after this migration (for example renderings)?
Thank you in advance.

Thank you both for replying. Just in case anyone else is wondering about the second part of my question (speed of FCE on 1.6GHz Powerbook G4 vs an Intel iMac), I tested this out this weekend at the local Apple store. I took a 12 second clip on different computers and timed how long it took to render a contrast/brightness change. Here are the results:
7 sec. iMac
6 sec. Mac Pro
9 sec. Macbook Pro
30 sec. My old G4 Powerbook
So a 4-5 x bump! Impressive! Although its interesting that the mac pro isn't radically better than the imac.

UNRELEASED MAC PRO's

Hi guys
this might be a stupid question but after buying my MCP 15'' I have trully fallen in love.
I am very interested in the Mac Pro and have seen all configs in the store for the latest models available.
What I am wondering is if anybody thinks that Apple will release another model maybe a higher spec chip etc.
I just dont want to jump to quick and wish I had waited a while and loose out on a unreleased modl that may replace the 3hz and they all take a shuffle.
anyway if any1 knows any better then please let me know.
cheers guys
Fearny

What an earth are you thinking about a faster Mac for when you have the opportunity to buy a 3ghz quad at several hundred pounds less than a Powerpc quad was just a couple of weeks ago?
I bought the dual core 2.3 just a couple of months after it came out last October. I paid £1800, and it is now discontinued. It's life, it's computers, as the others here have said. I'm not sitting here whining, I just get on with the work I have to do and this computer does it much faster than my old G4. Also, all my apps run natively.
If you need a computer now, buy one, if you want to sit around thinking whether you can buy a better one tomorrow, then do so but believe me, its a mistake, you'll be sitting around forever because even if Apple do release another model, you'll sit there thinking the same thing again, and again, and you'll never buy.
On that note, I don't thinking Apple will release again yet, October might see a slight upgrade but its a pro machine and Adobe will not be releasing native pro apps until a few months ahead, even 2007 so I doubt Apple will do much until then.
You have to start thinking about what speed you actually need too. My dual core opens 300mb files with ease, imagine what a 3ghz quad core will do for you. And you want a faster one?!
Buy one now, get earning money, get some work done, and you'll thank me because in the time you'll be sitting around waiting for a better Mac, you could have earnt the cost of this one back.

I hope this might interest someone. The situation; 3 floors,I am having trouble with an an Airport Extreme, 802.11n on the top floor and a Mac Pro 3.1 on the bottom floor. Not always but often it has trouble seeing the Airport and making a connection. I h

I'm not sure how to post a message. I hope this might interest someone. The situation; 3 floors,I am having trouble with an an Airport Extreme, 802.11n on the top floor and a Mac Pro 3.1 on the bottom floor. Not always but often it has trouble seeing the Airport and making a connection. I have an older Airport Express, would it help to install it? would it work best if it was installed in the same room? should it be installed half way in between? Get another Extreme? The Mac Book Pro on the middle floor can see 11 networks in the neighbourhood if that might be causing a problem or would if I installed the Express. Thank for your consideration.

Thanks for your time ... I appologize for the font and colour, I compossed the question in pages and failed to notice the font colour as grey ... there are a variety of computers of various ages so I think it is using a setting that allows both 5G and 2.4 ... the connection to the Airport is thru a cable modem and cable does run throuhout the house ... maybe those hard wires would be a place to look at ... do you think that putting the 'Express' on the second floor might help ... thanks again ...

Shocked by lack of interest in buying my Power PC or Mac Pro

This isn't really meant to be a question, but rather a statement . . . of astonishment.
I guess I'm like, waaaaaay out of touch, but has it reached the point where desktop computers are pretty much obsolete? I guess I'm not talking about iMacs so much, but the towers -- The G5 and the Mac Pro.
I have a fantastic PPC G5 tower with googolbytes of HD space and RAM, with a fantastic graphics card yada yada but I just can't even seem to GIVE it away.
How can it have come to this?
I mean, I love my MacBook Pro and my MacBook Air and my iPad. But they are completely different animals to my PPC and my MacPro (I have both -- the MacPro is running an Intel chip and the PPC is running, well, a PPC chip.
But I can't seem to drum up even a yawn when I post either of them for sale on my local classifieds site. I mean, we're talking boxes that have at least $3-4,000 invested in them, being completely ignored at $300!
I mean, I love my MacBook Pro, but I can't imagine power-editing videos with FCP and dealing with multi-gigabyte files on it. Not even mentioning the lack of screen space . . . but what is the "new" setup for the pros these days? Is it multi machines -- one MacBook Pro surrounded by two vast monitors, or one iMac flanked by 30" screens . . . what is it nowadays?
I hear not a peep from any media whatsoever about Mac Pros and the next generation of monster tower computers . . . is Apple phasing these things out?
It sure would appear so. It would also appear that I am now the proud owner of two huge paperweights.
What's up?

Steve Jobs foresaw the end of the desktop era a few years ago, though he said desktops will still remain viable and available for specific purposes, much as trucks are designed for different purposes than cars. Desktop PCs have generally been on the decline for at least the past couple of years. By and large people don't want them any more. The market has expressed a clear preference for small, portable, reliable devices to tweet, text, and otherwise waste time.
No one is going to pay much for any PowerPC Mac. Unless they are already using one to perform actual work and has an unexpected failure, they are going to upgrade.
If you want to get the maximum resale value for your G5, clean it up, repackage it in its original box, install its original OS, include the discs and original documentation, write a good description and include clear pictures. What you get for it, you get.
The market is the ultimate judge of a thing's worth. People are not going to pay much for a platform that has been obsolete for seven years. Eight years is just about the limit of economic life for any Mac. It has been that way since about 1984.
For those of us who need to use more capable machines to perform actual work, any Intel Mac will far exceed the capability of any PowerPC Mac. If an iMac's limitations are insufficient for your needs Tim Cook alluded to new Mac Pro models being introduced sometime this year.

How to allow multiple users login to a MAC PRO without interruption?

I have a mac pro, which runs Yosemite, (2013 module) to be used as a server. However, I have difficult to let multiple users to use the mac simultaneously.
Objective:
    One person uses the mac directly on his desktop, while the others to login remotely though VNC from PC (win 7/Linux).
    The users have their own workspace, and they will not interrupt each other.
What I tried:
    I created two mange accounts on the MAC.
    Account 1 was used to directly login on the mac desktop.
    Account 2 was used to login to the mac from a PC though VNC. (I also tried this from a Centos workstation with the Tiger VNC viewer)
Problem:
When account 2 is login, the location monitor will automatically change to that account as well. Both accounts shared exactly the same screen, mouse & keyboard actions. It is impossible to let multiple users to use the MAC pro simultaneously without interruptions.
If I use "hdiutil attach" to mount a dmg file though SSH with account 2, the folder will automatically show in the local desktop login with account 1.
Question:
I read something about the "Per-user screen sharing". It says, "You can remotely log into a Mac with any user account on that computer and control it, without interrupting someone else who might be using the computer under a different login." Is it possible to do this from a PC or Linux client?
If the problem is simply due to the poor functionality of the build-in VNC service in Yosemite, I appreciate your help to suggest some other decent VNC server for Yosemite. I know the Vine Server (OSXvnc), but I failed to install it on the mac because it is incompatible with the Yosemite.
Does the SSH is supposed to work in this way in OSX? I mean the local account can see the folder mounted by another account though SSH.
If any specific version of Yosemite is required to allow multiple users to access a mac simultaneously? Just as the win 7 professional allow only one user to login in at each time. But with the remote desktop server of windows, multiple users are able to use the same computer at the same time without any problem.
If you familiar with any of the above questions, please help. Any comments and suggestions are appreciated.
I know the best way to get the solution is to direct call the apple support. However, it is really not easy to call them. Because it always results with long waiting time and then the people pick up the phone will transfer my call to an expert who will make me to describe the problem again.
Since I'm not interested in the technique details of all the problems, it is also grateful if you would provide a direct instruction to let me setup the computer for the purpose.
Thanks you very much for your kindly help.

I cannot help with the screen sharing, although I have just tried it with a RealVNC client on an iPad and it seemed to work OK.
However on the disk showing on all users desk tops have you unchecked the "ignore ownership on this volume" check box? You can check the drives permissions with CMD i command.

2009 Mac Pro will not boot up under Windows

I have an Early 2009 Mac Pro system (Mac Pro 4,1) and I've had this system for 3 years already and have been working under OS X with this system ever since I purchased it.
However, when I tried to boot off my Windows disk, something very interesting happens. The Mac Pro WILL NOT boot up off the Windows disk or a known working Windows partition if two monitors are connected. Upon holding down the option key and selecting the Windows partition, I will get a black screen on one monitor (the one connected via Mini Displayport) and the other screen receives no signal and will enter standby and the system is halted. It does not respond to keystrokes, there is no hard drive activity, no measured power increase on the UPS, no apparent network activity, nothing. The only way to exit this scenario (from what I can tell) is to power off the machine, disconnect the display on DVI, power on the machine again, select the Windows partition wait for the system to reach the login window and reconnect the DVI monitor (at which time Windows recognizes it immediately and the system works fine again).
My question to the community is, does anybody know why this is happening and is there a known fix for this? Quite frankly, having to disconnect a monitor just to restart is very tedious and frustrating.
I have two Samsung P2350 monitors attached to an ATI Radeon HD 4870 (512MB, from Apple). One is monitor is connected via directly DVI and the other is using a Mini Displayport to DVI adapter. Both monitors work fine under OS X with no issue. At first, I thought that this may be a driver issue on the Windows side and after installing all the latest updates and drivers the issue is still apparent. From what I can tell, this doesn't seem like a software issue but rather a firmware or EFI issue as this happens before Windows even loads.
If anyone knows of a fix or what to do in this situation, or if you are also having this issue, I would love to hear your input!
Thank you!
For the record, I am running all the latest software builds on the OS X side (10.7.4, not that it would really matter at this point). I have also disconnected all unnecessary equipment in a trial and error scenario but the results are still the same.
The system passes all ASD testing.
The full specification of the computer and all connected equipment are as follows:
2009 Mac Pro (4,1) 8-Core
2x Intel Xeon Nehalem 2.66GHz Quad-Core CPUs
16GB DDR3 ECC 1066MHz RAM (Apple Branded)
Two OWC 120GB SSDs (One for OS X, the other for Windows 7 x64) - These are in place of my optical drives.
4x 2TB WD Black Hard drives for storage.
Two Samsung P2350 Monitors connected via DVI. (One using a Mini Displayport to DVI adapter).

In Windows I am using the latest (12.4) Catalyst Software Suite, 64 bit of course, downloaded directly from AMD's site after installing the drivers from Boot Camp.
As for installing Windows I used an original (not burned) installation media (Disk is in a pristine condition). And yes, Windows is fine, the problem just seems to be getting the system to boot up Windows with that second monitor. However if the "problem monitor" is disconnected the system boots fine 100% of the time and connecting it later after booting the system will still operate properly.
For the sake of arguement I swapped monitor cables and connected the "second" monitor to the mini displayport adapter to verify that it wasn't a cabling issue and I'm still yielding the same issues.
As for GPU testing, I've played games (Crysis, Grand Theft Auto IV, Battlefield 3, etc.) and I've had no issues with the card or stability.
You would think that Apple would try to find a fix for this, especially considering the caliber of this machine.

Using Multiple Keyboard/Mice on single Mac Pro

Hi Folks,
I've tried to search this topic, with no joy.
Basically, I would like to run a Mac Pro with dual monitors, and 2 users, working simultaneously. In this app, I would like each user to be able to run applications on their own screen and use separate Keyboard/Mouse for the applications on their separate screens. The screens would run as an extended desktop, but the applications on each screen would need to recognize their designated I/O (Keyboard/Mouse) device.
I see plenty about running 2 systems with 1 keyboard/mouse... but not the other way around.
Has anyone come across this mode of operation before, I am sure it is possible to do.... but would have to be some software behind it, so that the data streams from the proper I/O makes it to the proper application, even when multiple windows of the same app may be running simultaneously (like 2 windows of Safari).
Any thoughts?
Dual G4, 17" PB G4 Mac OS X (10.4.9)

To give a bit of background behind my interest.
I homeschool my 2 children, and am looking to purchase a new Mac. In dual monitor mode, I see the possiblity to limit my purchase to one system, where each user is able to have their own monitor and I/O control. An additional advantage is that in Mirror monitor mode, I can control the system, while they are able watch a lesson. Using this method, I would purchase a higher power system which provides my kids plenty of power, even when they are both using the system, and gives me a higher power system when I use it by myself (sort of like a super-user). Basically the best of both worlds, and the actual price resides around the cost of 2 independent systems, but gives me a high power system for other activities.
I can envision a lot of applications for such activities. Some I could see in a networked environment. I am actually surprized we have not seen any office applications go to the model of multi-player gaming, where many users can work on the same document simultaneously. There are of course database applications which operate in this manner, but I am not aware of any productivity apps.
Dual G4, 17" PB G4 Mac OS X (10.4.9)

Trying to watch a home-burned DVD on my Mac Pro.

When I pop this DVD in (which works fine on Windows), the Mac Pro freezes and I get a message in 4 languages saying I "must restart" by holding down the power button. Once I do this, and restart it, I get the same freeze/error message. Any ideas how a dvd could cause this?

Hi Nancy,
You asked -
Now, can you answer the post I submitted asking how to modify my titles?
See my answer in your topic here:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2541928&tstart=0
(I posted this link for the benefit of other users who may be interested in your question).
John

WORKAROUND! - Sluggish Motion V 4.0.1 on Mac Pro Nehalem 2.97 GHz 16 Vcore

Hi guys, like several people on this forum and others I been very frustrated with the performance of both Motion.app version 3 and now Motion.app V4 .0 .1 (latest update) on my 2009 Mac pro Nehalem 2.97 GHz 16 Vcore 12GB with the ATI Radeon 4870 graphics card.
I have two workarounds that may be of assistance in relieving this issue. They work for me however before I discuss what they I'd like to set the scene.
Like many of us, I have trawled this forum and many others including COW and so on mostly relying on those 10-12 (the dozen or so) excellent tips from people like Mark Spencer and others. This includes the usual things like turning off rendering options that make heavy use of CPU/GPU etc.
Caveat: I'd also like to note here that this performance sluggishness has absolutely nothing to do (and is completely unrelated to) I/O performance nor is it related to memory usage. The reason I say this is because during some testing and the normal practice I keep all a Motion.app cache files (autosave, cached files etc) out on a very fast PROAVIO EB8NS disk array with ATTO R380 HBA onto SAS paths where this box is capable of over 450 MB per second measured with Kona system test tool. Additionally I have 12 GB of memory on this Mac pro which I assigned 70% of it to be available to Motion.app V4. The sluggishness Motion.app V4 is not manifest itself through the usual items such as excessive virtual memory page in/out or swap in/out activity. In fact in this scenario I describe below in my system when nothing else is running the former is non-existent! Additionally I also want to know that Motion.app V4 in my scenario/situation/environment is definitely and certainly NOT impacted by insufficient I/O bandwidth..
However, like many people, who have the same or similar setup to myself, we experience severe delays the most basic Motion.app UI such as: selecting an item, scrubbing through the timeline, performing any kind of transform etc etc. Many of us trying to diagnose this problem (looking for any kind of diagnostics or messages etc) have noticed that with the exception of one single core, the remaining cores to do very little (idle or just barely moving) whilst the remaining single core is taking out at 100% constantly.
Many months ago whilst really bogged down with this problem trying to complete a project, I contacted Mark Spencer who politely explained that notion exploits the on-board graphics card (in my case the ATI Radeon HD 4870). After frustratingly trying to improve the performance of this and completely reinstalling Final Cut Suite in a different brand-new (at the time MacOS X 10.5.6), I found that there was little difference.
I am mentioning all this because, I know that a few colleagues have had a similar problem and have not found any satisfaction in looking at this despite many well-informed forum users who offer excellent advice.
At my wits end (currently), I took a few days to try and isolate what the problems may be caused by (what exacerbates this severely degraded performance). This user interface sludgy degradation is manifested through the UI also has the (spinning beach ball).
I isolated pieces in some of the Motion.app projects and started to ISOLATE (Control-I) what I thought were quite complex layers and individual objects but to no avail. I then resorted to completely deleting them with some improvement in performance (noticeably less sluggyness) however it still was not lightning fast as I expected considering it I was in draft mode, 720 p resolution, with lighting, shadows and reflections completely turned off in the view.
*Motion.app BEHAVIOURS*: after some hours and a great deal of trial and error (non-productive work time I might add) it occurred to me that some of the Motion.app behaviours in particular place in the layer with as few as five objects in the layer (behaviours such as "Motion.app path", "wriggle", "oscillate" and even good old trusted "throw" seem to be the culprits in this particular layer.
I will note well here at this point, but of course "camera layers" does seem to be affected at all with the basic movements such as Dolly, frame, sweep etc. I have some sets up to 4 or five cameras which seems not to bother Motion.app at all!
*OBJECT SELECTION (S):* yes this also seems to have some degrading impact on playout, scrubbing and so on. Interesting I thought.
Workarounds: here are a few things that I know that work to get around some problems of working where Motion.app is extremely SLUGGY in the user interface (UI). Perhaps someone has already noted these on a forum or posted on however I couldn't find them.
So my workflow/practice here is to do the following when I'm manipulating objects (placement, set up, applying filters, adjusting timeline, and so on):
+WORKAROUND #1+: *DISABLE the behaviours* in the layers where you are performing any object manipulation. In fact we have many objects in many layers where the topmost layer (a group of nested layers) contains any behaviours, I would suggest you disable those whilst you work on that particular layer.
It's a very simple stylus click to enable the BEHAVIOURS layers that you have been working on to see what the effect of those behaviours when you want to play them out in the player/canvas.
I have no idea why such trivial behaviours cause my very expensive Mac pro to nearly lock up whilst in Motion.app version 4 and also version 3. Anyway is definitely works on me.
+WORKAROUND #2+: *DESELECT ANY ITEM IN THE CANVAS* (in any view) when attempting to play out whilst in the canvas. Again I don't know why having one or more items (including the camera) insert would have such a drastic impact on the performance of Motion.app to play out what I think is a frivolous range, however this really works for me.
*How to measure the performance or how to monitor the performance/usage of the ATI Radeon HD 4870 graphics card from MacOS X?* I would like to know exactly what this is doing on my system when one of the CPU cores is pegged out in 100% servicing requests from Motion.app. I can't find utility (which am willing to pay for) that sees the ATI Radeon HD 4870 graphics card. One I thought would have is an application called atMonitor.app (http://www.atpurpose.com/atMonitor/) which seems to do a pretty good job on my uni body MacBook Pro and wife's Macbook Air.
It would seem that any of the utilities don't seem to see the ATI Radeon HD 4870 or if they do and they initiate commands to it that the ATI Radeon HD 4870 and doesn't respond or send any replies status information. (Beats me I'm not a technical person these days)
Summary: I would be very interested if other people who have a similar if not pretty near exact setup as myself have found these two suggestions useful. I have tried some of these Motion.app projects on my MacBook Pro uni-body and with some difference the MacBook Pro exhibits similar sluggyness to this Mac pro.
W
Hong Kong

Mark, I took your advice and reinstall Final Cut Suite Version 3 (including Motion.app version 4.0.1) onto a completely different and I'm used file system including a brand-new install of MacOS X snow leopard 10.6.1, which I believe is the most recent update.
To be clear, I have all the latest Pro Applications updates as well apply to this brand-new system.
So here is the *bad new*s.
*Using exactly the same hardware configuration as I described in this theme of woe, I launched Motion.app V4 .0 .1 and opened up several of the projects that I'm having trouble with that is issued.*
Simply, the symptoms and observation I described in this thread exists with a brand-new installation.
Anyway looks like I have a backup/another instance available Final Cut Pro in case my main production image has trouble.
Once again, as I described initially in this thread, I used the two workarounds to overcome the consistent and overwhelmingly an exaggerated 20 seconds lag on average interactions with Motion.app with the success that I'd described previously.
In another thread back in September 2009, a forum poster mentioned that he felt that the camera framing behaviours were the root of this problem. And to this end he advised converting these behaviours to keyframes using the command-K ("convert to keyframes") to overcome his misery.
This indeed does work very well. So this is the third workaround and I'm starting to use.
Further I have done some more hard comparisons with my 2009 MacBook pro uni-body 2.93 GHz with a standard arrangement of 4 MB of memory and the usual disk internally. *To my great surprise*, I found that the projects that I'm having a lot of trouble with were much more responsive not only with the camera framing behaviours (which I'm not particularly having any trouble with), but the layers that contains a simple transform behaviours such as "motion path", "wiggle", and so on did not seem to bother the Mac book pro.
I watched the CPU cores on the Mac book pro maybe go to 80% while the project was loading, and also whilst I gingerly navigated through the project although feeling a little sluggy was far less in orders of 10 to 20 seconds faster than this Mac pro Nehalem with all the bells and whistles on my earnings embedded within it.
Now I'm starting to wonder, as Andy pointed out, +maybe there is some trouble with the hardware in this system+. I really could not know how to determine if this is the case. However before I draw this conclusion finally, I noticed that there are a lot more people out there with the same consideration as I have that have this same problem. It's not narrowed down to those owners with the ATI Radeon HD 4870 graphics card, however these seem to be the bulk of the people who are trying to do things that are getting a fair amount of forum time (like me).
There certainly seems to be something of an issue as there are some symptom dumps for Motion.app but only one or 2 to over this period that seemed to be triggered by something on this machine. And like many on this forum I gave up reading dumps for a living back in the 1990s.
I would really like to know how I can diagnose this problem before I had to pack this Mac pro up and carted back to the local Apple care centre here in Hong Kong (which means I won't have it forever while, which means no income). Yes I can use my Mac book pro uni-body which is I might end up doing.
_Oh, and this little gem._ I find that if I invoke the "timeline pane/window" (command-7), that it can take up to 2 seconds to refresh the screen. It is amazingly slow and feel like there is definitely something wrong.
If I have a simple motion project by that I mean some simple plates some moving text and no real 3-D except for one little camera Motion.app V 4 seems to work quite okay.
The sets that I'm working in at about eight or nine cameras over the timeline and maybe three or four sets in the project. This is not the work I think especially when most of the moving here is a few objects wobbling around in 3-D space and quick camera moves using the camera framing behaviour.
In summary, having spent what seems to be 40 or 50 hours messing with this issue are not doing anything productive, I've come to the conclusion that there is definitely something wrong with this setup that I have. However having had no problem with that up until now (I know actually I had some problems back in May 2009 with it but it seemed that install a Final Cut Suite version 2 completely fixed it.
And I am totally surprised that my Mac book pro uni-body if pressed can do the job that I want.
Therefore Motion Forum users, I really don't know what else there is to do other than to poke around over time and eventually something will fix this because it is really very frustrating and like many of us on this forum I did endeavour to pay for/put capital funds into a system highly recommended by many that uses Apple production applications than I expected it would work.
By the way, I noticed when I use Nuke version 5 and Shake V 4.1 and even Maya PE, I don't have these issues but will concede that I doubt whether the use applications take advantage directly of the GPU arrangement in the graphics card like Motion.app does.
That's all I have.
Any other thoughts are most welcome.
W

Local Mac Pro (the brain) & Remote Laptop (the extension) combination to work

Hi, I have a 17" MacBook Pro that is becoming obsolete. Unfortunately Apple does not sell any longer these. I have been thinking about buying the new Mac Pro t(with OS X 10.9) o use in combination with my old MacBook Pro remotely (when I am not in the same place/local network). The idea is if I am working in a Coffee shop with my 17" MBP and I need to use CPU/GPU intensive apps I will connect to the Mac Pro. After much search I have come to the following info (take a look, it is a looooong doc but you might find it useful) but I would also recommend expert advice (and no, a 15" MBP is not an option. Too small). Thanks.
OPTION A: BACK TO MY MAC (app in MAC OS)
=========
Back to My Mac is one of Apple’s iCloud services. Technically it uses adhoc ipsec vpn tunnels and gives you an DNS name for each mac set up, effectively bypassing the current internal name resolution issue. e.g. server.12345678.members.btmm.icloud.com Services that you run e.g. web and ssh will accessible.
Use OS X Help for information about how to set up and use Back to My Mac:
    From the Finder, click the Help menu.
    When the Help Center appears, type "Use Back to My Mac" in the search window.
    Choose the Help article titled "Use Back to My Mac."
    On the remote Mac select Wake on Demand to save energy (the device goes to sleep when it is not in use)
(troubleshooting: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4907 - see also notes below)
(security tips: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4908)
(configuration: http://www.macworld.co.uk/how-to/mac-software/how-set-back-my-mac-mac-os-x-maver icks-3495116/)
BTTM only works between OSX computers and a single account. VPN lets you connect most devices and other OSs and many users to single resources. BTMM is essentially a dynamic DNS service. It does not enable sharing or management services at all, and only facilitates the connection to the machine. You will still need to enable various services on your own, and BTMM will not bypass any security features of the system. You can only connect to BTTM from a Mac which is logged into the same iCloud account. For example, if you try to use that BTMM hostname on your ipad, it won't work.
You can also use File Transfer apps like Transmit. Under Transmit, Bonjour setting, all of Macs are listed as SFTP connections, with the BTTM number followed by .members.bttm.icloud.com. This connection appears to be much faster than BTTM through file sharing or screen sharing and shows all files on that Mac, including normally invisible ones. This does require entering my account name and password.
OPTION B: MAC OS SERVER & VNC
=========
This can be done with built-in Apple software. You need to buy it in the Apple Store.
-    Firstly you should for security reasons have a VPN server running at your office, this could be on your Mac server. The remote users would then first connect to the VPN server this would then allow them to access the server securely even remotely
-    Then your remote users must have Macs (this method is only supported by Mac clients)
-    The remote Macs would use Screen Sharing to connect to the Mac server, since Lion it has been possible for multiple Mac clients to connect to different user accounts at the same time and see a different 'screen' and run different applications
Note: If you use screen sharing to connect with an account that is not already logged in it will offer the choice of 'Share Display' or 'Log In' the former is like the old-style remote control, the later is like a Terminal Services system. If you connect with an account that is already logged in it will just take you to that accounts session.
Note: Some applications are not written in a way that would be friendly to running the same copy more than once, also some software licensing woulld mean you would still need to buy multiple copies. If an application checks over the network for the same copy running to enforce licensing you would have a problem. A volume license often helps with that.
Unfortunately if you're expecting Wake on Demand to work over a VPN, it doesn't. (see below - note on IP)
Good video to configure OS Server in Mavericks: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xVfEicYfMTE
By the way, if you are just interesting in running your server from a Mac Mini instead of a Mac Pro, you can find more information here http://blog.macminicolo.net/post/72706369716/an-hdmi-adapter-for-a-headless-mac- mini
OPTION C: RDP APPS
=========
If you want to use Windows laptops remotely then the above will not work, in which case you will need to buy either Aqua Connect or iRAPP.
See http://www.aquaconnect.net and http://www.coderebel.com/products/irapp-terminal-server
The above support using Microsoft Remote Desktop Client to connect and hence are compatible with Windows clients built-in RDC software.
Both iRAPP and Aqua Connect support standard Microsoft RDP protocol clients and both also have their own proprietary client. RDP is not VNC.
Saying that I did get the impression both were slower than an equivalent Windows Terminal Server and RDC client, at the time (this was a couple of years ago) I got the impression that things like forcing just 256 colours did not work properly and I also go the impression other RDP optimisations were lacking and this would be at the server end since the client is the same standard Microsoft client.
See http://www.coderebel.com/support/faq/How-do-I-make-it-faster which recommends using an RDP client instead of their own proprietary Windows only client (which might be based on VNC). The AquaConnect client does not appear to be based on VNC since it supports audio.
See http://www.aquaconnect.net/aap
In particular "Aqua Accelerated Protocol provides a 2-1 data savings over VNC (including audio, which VNC does not support). These savings become even more significant when compared to Microsoft's Remote Desktop Protocol. Compared to Microsoft's protocol, AAP provides a 10-1 data savings over RDP. All of this translates into a remote session that feels and acts like a local desktop and OS."
By the way I agree RDP is faster than VNC, I also like the fact RDP supports audio (VNC does not). I have suggested to Apple they switch their Screen Sharing from VNC to RDP as this follows the same reasoning as their switching preference from AFP to now SMB2. Maybe others should send Apple the same suggestion.
Most products use VNC to remote and I've never been able to get good performance from VNC. So I run iRAPP by Code Rebel on my iMac. It is a small RDP server. I then connect via iTeleport which I have on my MBP, iPad, and iPhone. Works very well, but it also quite expensive.
OTHER OPTIONS:
==============
- Apple Remote Desktop can connect over the internet, but you would have to setup port forwarding and have some sort of name or IP that stays the same. Depending on you internet connection, something like dyndns.com could help. ARD does use the standard VNC port (5900) for the screen sharing parts. There is another port in the 3000 range for the other parts. (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Remote_Desktop). You may need to set a free associating IP address like DynDNS and set Port forwarding in your router. Video on how to configure it and basic use: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TArMYl1RsUE
- Apple Screen Sharing (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Screen_Sharing) You can drive the cursor and send mouse clicks to the remote computer, and type into its applications. It can be enabled via: System preferences > Sharing > Screen Sharing
- From iOS device, an app like Airlogin can be used (http://www.avatron.com/apps/air-login/) but this app does not have Wake On Lan and it is subscription based (i.e. annual subscription of around 15$)
- Other non official Apple apps that can be used but again without Wake on Lan functionality: Teamviewer, Logme In,...
- For use of Terminal via BTMM you can read: http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-13727_7-57596207-263/how-to-connect-via-ssh-using-i clouds-back-to-my-mac-service/
NOTE ON IP:
===========
In order to control another Mac you'll need to go to 'Apple Menu -> System Preferences...' on the Mac you want to control and enable 'Remote Management'.
In the 'Allow access for' section of 'Remote Mangement' you can leave the default selection of 'All Users', which will allow any account on the controlled Mac to be used to login for remote management or you can select 'Only these users' and define specific accounts that can be used.
Click 'Options...' to define what remote management actions are allowed. You'll probably only need to select 'Observe' and 'Control'.
If you're both on the same network then you can do a Command + K from the controller Mac and type vnc://mygirlfriendsmac or vnc://ipaddress to connect to the Mac you want to control.
Regarding the issue with controlling a Mac on a different network, this is where things can get complicated since there are a lot of variables depending on what network the Mac you want to control is on. This is one possible solution:
First, you'll need to know if port 5900 is open on the network the Mac to be controlled is on. A lot of firewalls block this port. (You can do a VNC tunnel on port 80, but that's probably beyond the scope of this question.)
If port 5900 is open then you'll need to know the publicly accessible IP address of the Mac to be controlled. One way to do this is to use http://DynDNS.com.
This is how DynDNS works:
You can signup for a free account that allows you to create a DNS entry that you define (ie- mygirlfriendsmac.dyndns-ip.com). You'll then need to install the DynDNS app on the Mac you want to control. This app will send the public IP address to DynDNS every few minutes so that you'll be able to do a Command-K on your Mac and connect to the DNS entry you defined (mygirlfriendsmac.dyndns-ip.com) and you can be assured it will be mapped to the current IP address of the Mac you want to control.
BACK TO MY MAC TROUBLESHOOTING:
=================================
If Back to My Mac is not working as expected, try the troubleshooting steps below, if they apply.
1       Update all your Macs to OS X Lion v10.7.3 or later (OS X Lion v10.7.4 or later is recommended).
2       Choose System Preferences from the Apple () menu. Open iCloud System Preferences and check that Back to My Mac is enabled. See if any diagnostic messages are provided under the Back to My Mac section to assist you with troubleshooting and resolving any connection issue.
3       Toggle Back To My Mac off and back on by deselecting and then reselecting Back To My Mac in iCloud System Preferences.
4       Make sure the computer you are trying to connect to is not sleeping and is set to Wake on Demand. For more information about Wake on Demand, see this article: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3774.
5       If you are using an AirPort base station, make sure your firmware is up-to-date (open AirPort Utility 6.0 or later).
6       Check your network for a multiple NAT setup and reconfigure your network as needed.
7       Make sure NAT-PMP or UPnP (http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1552) is enabled (if you are using an AirPort Extreme Gigabit Ethernet base station, click here for information about AirPort Extreme Gigabit Ethernet and NAT PMP).
8       Ensure TCP port 5354 and UDP ports 4500 and 5353 are open on your firewall. To learn more about ports used by Apple products, click http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1629.
Also:
When BTMM stopped working i also noticed that i was having issues connecting with my apple id to machines even if they were on the same local network. I found a way to resolve this and consequently BTMM has started working again for all of my machines. I think this has something to do with how the apple id is assigned to your user account but let me go through the steps i took for this:
1) Open 'System Preferences'
2) Click on 'Users & Groups'
3) Unlock the padlock in the bottom left corner to make changes
4) Select your user account from the list on the left
5) Right click on account and select 'Advanced Options'
6) In the 'Aliases' box at the bottom you SHOULD have two records (your apple id and another beginning with com.apple.idms.appleid) remove these both and click Ok.
7) In the right hand window on your user account click on 'Change' next to the apple id box.
8) Delete the apple id associated with the account and click 'Done'.
9) Now click 'Set' next to the apple id label (where it just said Change a minute ago)
10) Enter your apple id and password and click ok.
11) After a few minutes the machine should be available again for remote connection and desktop sharing via BTMM. You can always perform a reboot just to be sure.
This should take a few seconds to set and once you have then you can verify this has been set correctly by right-clicking on your user account and selecting 'Advanced Options' to see if it has put the two records in the 'Aliases' box at the bottom. Needless to say you need an active internet connection for this as it fetches your associated record from your account and aliases it for you.
FYI: Back to My Mac status messages explained here http://support.apple.com/kb/TS4104
For Local Networked MACs operating with BTMM:
If you have noticed that the iMac (for example) was automatically authenticating to the Mini using iCloud/Apple ID, not my local username (being both computers are on the same local area network connected via an ethernet switch). The solution is to disable Back to My Mac on the iMac, delete some of my login credentials from KeyChain and rebooted my iMac. This forced me to re-authenticate to the Mini for local network access. I used my local username/password account and the problem with finder operations and hanging was solved.

ok so i experimented a little with the hardware and here what i have to the moment:
1. i thought that the usb kb could be the case for mac os to crash so i disconnected the cable from the KVM and plugged normal apple kb to the mac.
2. however when i tried switching back to mac, the machine crashed again.
from what i noticed for the last few days 'working' with this kvm switch was the screen resolution changing while i was switching. meaning the screen flickered for couple of times prior to showing 1280x1024 that was set up in the system. during flickering the resoution became 1024x768. i 've seen it pretty clearly, just it was for half of a second.
also when powering up both machines, they were starting with 1024x768 and not 1280x1024 as was set up. i had to manually change the screen resolution on both machines (pc and mac) every time after successful start up.
so by far my understanding is that kvm switch forces monitor for 1024x768 during switches and on start up. it also causes the OSes (win2K and MacOSX) to lose 1280x1024 and accept 1024x768 as if the monitor was changed and couldn't operate at a higher resolution.
having said that i uploaded this info to kvm mfg (ATEN) and couple more mac forums so that this info may help someone else when ordering a kvm for mac. at the same time i am still open for any thoughts, advices and crazy ideas to get round this bug.
alex

Memory Configuration & Upgrade Recommendations - 2006 Mac Pro

Hello,
It's been a long time since I have been posting here. Nice to see that everyone is still here. I have a memory configuration and upgrade I am now looking at. I'm also interested in how to use Bootcamp and install 64-bit Windows 7 when I have the EFI32. It appears that many of you build a new Windows 7 install DVD?
Here is my current configuration:
A1: 2GB
A2: 2GB
B1: 1GB
B2: 1GB
A3: 512 MB
A4: 512 MB
B3: 512 MB
B4: 512 MB
I'm interested in comparing the 4GB vs. 2GB modules and what are the best options for maxing out this Mac Pro. I have forensic software that uses Oracle that I want to put on Windows 7 or a 64-bit Windows server. The system requirements say 16-32GB in a 64-bit environment for Oracle.
I also want to use CS4, Lightroom, Aperture, Capture One Pro, and FC HD on Snow Leopard.
I would appreciate input on configuration and memory quantities for what appears to now be an ancient Mac Pro and how to use a 64-bit OS on Bootcamp.
Thank you for your time and input!
Michael

2006: 4 memory chips is ideal. obviously that only takes you to 16GB max.
2008: 8 memory chips (don't read about 2008 then!)
I've seen people report their 4GB DIMMs run cooler, too, and heat is always an issue when it comes to FBDIMMs. They use a lot of power (watts) and one of the large sources of heat.
What you have now, 2s and 1s and 512s don't get you to 16GB or above, and as I posted you can get to 20GB replacing 4 x 512s.
I'd try with 4 x 4GB, which seems like you have to buy anyway, and see how heat and performance is. And only then consider adding back 2s and 1s to get to 20GB.
in the end, I'd sell the RAM you have if it makes a difference.

Why is Mac Pro 2.66 only 1.3x faster than 2.7 G5 on CPU intensive stuff?

I produce DVDs so my Compressor DVCam -> MPEG2 encoding is the most time consuming task. Take the MacWorld benchmarks, I was dissappointed the QC 2.66 was a third faster than a DC 2.7 G5 running Compressor.
I would have expected almost 2x as fast, basically halving encoding times. The Mac Pro took 107s vs G5 137s only 1.28x as fast OR put another way jobs complete in 78% of the time taken for the G5.
This is key reason for me to have just sold a G5 DC 2.3...but I'm dissappointed with these early indicators. Would it be reasonable to assume Apple have not optimised Compressor for Intel - surely not at this late stage?
G4 Dual Gigabit Mac OS X (10.4.7) ATI 9800 Pro

Terpstar,
I was wondering if you have had a chance to use Motion yet. I have a MBP, and using Zapfino fonts with SciFi Glow crashes my system every time. I would be interested to see if this is the case on other intel based systems. This has led to a failure of my main logic board twice over the last month. See my thread:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=614641&tstart=25
Also, of the two GB ram I have installed, FCP doesn't seem to utilize more than 100MB of RAM. Although the VM size is several GB for the app. I noticed that in order to utilize both cores on my MBP, Airport had to be turned off.
Also, as Ned Snowing was saying, there is no doubt that there are going to be many software bugs that must be sorted out. Especially since this program is being adapted for intel macs, and not re-written.

2006 mac pro 2.66 in need of an airport card!

Hi Does anyone know which airport card or cards, as well as bluetooth, will work in an 2006 mac pro? I have read that MA688Z/B is the proper card. I have tracked down a MA688Z/A: http://www.macproonline.com/Mac-Pro-Tower/Mac-Pro-Tower-Parts/Mac-Pro-Tower-667M hz/Apple-AirPort-Extreme-p5636018.html
Found this on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Apple-Airport-Extreme-Bcm94321mc-802-11n/dp/B004OHOTJS/ref =sr13?ie=UTF8&qid=1300723614&sr=8-3
Can anyone verify which airport card to use for a 2006 mac pro model?

Hi cmotta12,
You might find this thread (Purchasing/Installing Airport Extreme card for Mac Pro 1,1 (2006) of interest:
http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=12830939#12830939
One important thing to note is that the official Apple Airport Card Wireless Upgrade Kits come complete with the two micro screws which are needed to install the card.
These screws are not readily available, so ensure that they are included when you buy your Upgrade Kit.
Regards,
Bill

Video card options for a new Mac Pro

My G5 recently died on me and I am getting ready to upgrade to a Mac Pro. My question is regarding the video card options. I will be using Aperture 2, Photoshop CS2, and Final Cut Studio, but, not doing HD work. I am trying to decide between the ATI Radeon HD 2600 XT 256MB and the NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT 512MB.
As my G5 has stopped working, I was not prepared for an upgrade and I am trying to cut corners where I can. Does anyone have any experience comparing these two cards? Am I being to nitpicky about a $150 upgrade? My gut feeling is that I should not be questioning the extra cost and go with the NVIDIA, but, just want to make sure that I am not wasting money for a difference I will not see, as I do not play games on my Mac. Any opinions and input from other users is greatly appreciated. Thank you.

Very interesting, I went to that link and then followed the one for Pro Apps:
http://www.barefeats.com/harper10.html
And, it states that the Radeon with less memory will consistently outperform the Nvidia on programs like Final Cut and Aperture. Guess I AM better off saving the money. Thank you for your direction!

Interested in a Mac Pro

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