Stubborn GarageBand

I'm no professional musician but I do appreciate GarageBand; that is if goofing around with Musical Typing is considered a form of appreciation for this app. So one day, I decided I wanted to goof around, this time with the MacBook Mini (I've the MacBook Wind connected permanently to a View Sonic LCD which setup I use often when at home). I launch GarageBand and after selecting New Project just to get started, the moment of slight bewilderment strikes:

Where are the controls at the bottom of the window?

As I've said earlier, I'm no musician who's enthusiastic enough to actually mix loops and consequently find the need for the aforementioned controls. However, I definitely couldn't deny that I see them when using the Wind that's connected to an LCD. So I click on the green + button which I always did with iLife apps back to '08 and what-not to make them fit in the screen when the windows are cut off at the bottom because of the netbooks shorter vertical real estate which, granted, is less than standard 768 pixels.

But now, nothing happens when I do that.

GarageBand stubbornly sticks to its default dimensions. There's nothing I could do to fit this whole chop on the 1024 x 600 screen.

A League Of Our Own

MacBook Mini's, let's all reunite!

You've seen mine and now here's one other Mini on OS X Leopard:

(ubi de feo's baby)

(lmwong's MacBook Mini)

Where's yours and how's your MacBook Mini experience so far? :D

Bootloader

They say condemn the sin and not the sinner and then I haven't had much disgrunts about Windows if I think back of the days when I was purely a Windows dudette. I do prefer OS X over Windows but not so much so that I'd let bashing Win XP dominate my days here on this earth. But why did I do this one?

I've gone back to dual booting as you may well know. I've no idea what went wrong but PC_EFI alone wouldn't do the dual boot trick for which I turned to chain0.

Setting it couldn't be easier, and in XP too:

1) Download and unzip chain0 to C:\ - or whatever drive your XP installation currently resides.

2) Go to My Computer > Properties > Advanced tab > Settings. And from the System startup section, click on Edit:

Custom Tailor Hackintoshing

Hackintoshing the HP Mini 1000 is very much like "déjà vu" for me; a lot of the tweaks I did were stuff I'd already done on the MSI Wind hackintosh. And then the last couple of months endless tweaking and one of the consequences thereof is reinstallation/back to zero (in fact, the OS X installation I'm currently running on MacBook Mini is about the 17th reinstallation; it's been up 2 weeks straight, I hope it lasts - even for a just a whole month at least ^_^*); I've gotten a more or less clear idea of how I want my OS X to be:

Welcome!

I guess the Obsessive Compulsive in me still hasn't been eradicated - not entirely...yet. So I reset my MacBook Mini via OSx86 Tools

And I finally got a glimpse of the OS X Welcome vid!


I didn't expect to see any effects of this performance-wise on my MacBook Mini but I was well surprised that my previous not so bad anymore 44 second boot time was even reduced to 35.

But I think that'll eventually change as I continually use MacBook Mini on a daily basis, accumulating gunk as I go. However, I really like the feeling of this new start - it's like I've a brand new MacBook Mini! :D

MacBook Air Wannabe

Ever since I started hackintoshing netbooks with the MSI Wind first then the HP Mini 1000, I've always wanted to think I was creating my own version of the MacBook Air.

But why ever the MacBook Air and not just the MacBook, for example?

Well, this unbelievably thin laptop by Apple and the Asus EeePC 701 can be considered as contemporaries as they were introduced around the same time - early 2008. That and the fact that both's targeted market (people who want to take portable computing to a new level of greater portability) is the same; well save of course for the difference in budget brackets (premium price vs low cost), have made the MacBook Air and netbooks fave subjects of comparison: I bet like me, you've also seen your share of MacBook Air parodies at youtube featuring a variety of netbooks from different manufacturers being pulled out of the signature Manila envelope!

Well, I've set up my MacBook Mini successfully and although doing the same Manila envelope drama is one idea I find alluring, I'm putting it off for some more substantial tweaking. And yes, it's still MacBook Air related.

So my MacBook Mini's moderate specs aren't that bad compared to the Air in relation to my portable computing requirements...what else do I want?

Dreaming Of a White (Snowy) Leopard

It's faster than Leopard.

It's got new hot technologies like Grand Central and OpenCL.

It's incorporating 64-bit experience right into the core.

In short, I want it. No, scratch that. I desire it.

But putting Leopard on x86 beige PC boxes and Atom netbooks hasn't been without issues and lots of talented hackers reigning supreme in geekdom have invested time and sweat or even blood so that lower-tier geek wannabe's like me can get a little taste of OS heaven. And now comes Snow Leopard.

Now why would someone whose only consumer electronic that comes from Apple is her 80 gig iPod classic and whose netbook is the only computer that could be classified as latest tech, dare to dream of an OS that's clearly out of her league?

iWork '09

Being a windows user, I'm used to Microsoft Office and it's the first set of apps that I installed in my MacBook Mini to get productive. I don't know if it's just the MacBook Mini's fault (not enough ooomph) but Office:Mac 2008 is like Molasses. See vid below, showing how long Word:Mac 2008 takes to launch:

Plus I totally don't buy the "Ribbons" thing; for netbooks with limited screen space, this would only eat up what valuable little vertical LCD real estate you've got.

From the previous Mac World conference video when iWork '09 was introduced, Philip Schiller's demo of iWork '09 piqued my interest. And so, given that the only apps installed on my MacBook Mini that came from Microsoft is Office:Mac 2008 , I thought I'd dump Redmond for good and go South à la Pomme all the way.

MacBook Mini On A Diet

I don't know if it's just the OC me or HPs choice of hard drive for the Mini but I'm hating the boot up time on my MacBook Mini.

My iPod classic's Stopwatch has recorded 00:01:34.733.

Excruciating. Especially when compared to the MacBook Wind's 00:00:35.052.

Should I blame it on the unconventional 60 GB 1.8" PATA HDD that runs on a measley 42,000 RPMS? Yeah, probably. But then do I just sit down and condition my psyche till I reach the Acceptance stage?

Function Key

For some reason, sleep/resume has never been a problem for me with Mac OS X Leopard on the HP Mini 1000 and even after updating to 10.5.7 a couple of weeks back, it's still working great as always.

And then I discovered something that made me more in awe of the beauty and gorgeousness that is the MacBook Mini! I can go put the machine to sleep by pressing Fn + F1. Of course I can still just choose to close the lid and off to dreamland it'll go.

Another Fn + F1 will wake the Mini up :D

Pressing any key will wake the Mini up.

For hackintoshes, laptop hackintoshes more specifically, the Fn combo keys usually make one of the big problems in terms compatibility. For example, when I started off with iDeneb 10.5.5, installing the IntelGMA950 kexts would indeed put my screen on the right 1024 x 600 resolution but it would mean losing the ability to use the brightness controls (Fn + F3/F4) . So knowing that Fn + F1 sleep works is a comfort.

Wipe Out, Reinstall, Update

Now I can say that I truly know MacBook Mini's heart (and guts)

> IMPORTANT: Proven to work on HP Mini 1001TU with 2 GB RAM