So here it is, I am by no means a developer. I have taken up (in reality started this evening) actually sitting down and learning PHP from scratch. I am so overwhelmed with the knowledge (or perhaps lack of) swimming through my head. Having a photographic memory hasn’t helped much as I see tons of code I have looked over in the last 4 hours and am having a very difficult time applying it to something useful. PolyVector of course is a mastermind at this kind of stuff and he has been sitting diligently waiting for me to announce my project over Bonjour via SubEthaEdit.
So what does all this mean? Well simply I have done nothing code/design wise at Punk Labs or Atomac. My coding skills do not exist and I have finally broke down and decided to learn something being the only Punk Labs staff member who can’t do anything but talk about ideas I would like to see implemented. Think of me more as an official feature requester.
Where is this new spark of learning going? I am not sure yet. I never tried my hand at scripting/coding of any kind. I once picked up a Objective-C/Cocoa book for Mac OS X development and successfully followed an example to make a random number generate, but that is really the extent of my knowledge. Moving template code for things like WordPress and simple XHTML/CSS editing is about all I can really do without poking PolyVector for some help.
It’s a very strange feeling I must admit. I have been into computers since I was about 13, which included breaking the family computer and trying desperately to fix it before Mom and Dad found out. Anywho, it seems lately my skills have wind down to being more of a tech writer and software aficionado. I’ll give some updates on my new endeavorer though this might take a few months to really get rolling. I am learning a completely new way of thinking.
I hope you enjoyed my little confession. If you have any stories on your first experience learning to program/script please do share!
Well it looks like Leopard has exceeded many expectations despite how many little qualms people might have with the UI right now. I think over all Leopard has been a joy to use and I can’t wait to see what other goodies are waiting to be found in my shiny new OS. So for those of us who are early adopters and trying to run around getting Leopard compatible versions of software there are at least 1,999,999 others doing the same thing. Cheers!
Since releasing Mac OS X Leopard on Friday, Apple sold (or delivered, in the case of maintenance agreements) more than 2 million copies of the sixth major release of Mac OS X, far outpacing the first weekend sales of Mac OS X Tiger, which was previously the most successful OS release in Apple’s history. “Early indications are that Leopard will be a huge hit with customers,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “Leopard’s innovative features are getting great reviews and making more people than ever think about switching to the Mac.”
[From Two Million Copies of Leopard Sold in First Weekend]
It’s about time I get on with my personal feelings about the new big cat in the Mac OS X family. I’ll go through each big feature Apple has boasted about and tell you what think with the past few days of getting to know Mac OS X 10.5. I am not going to go into details about how to use any of the options or how I went about customizing my own install but I hope that I do answer any questions some of you might be curious about before upgrading. I’ll start off with the install and then you’ll have to make the jump to see what features struck me as great…or awful.
Installation:
Since I still can’t shake some of my previous Windows phobias I did a fresh install of Leopard. I have installed previous version of OS X before and naturally Leopard was no different in how easy it was to get my drive cleared and OS X installed. I have used the upgrade feature once when going from Panther to Tiger and I expect Leopard upgrades from Tiger without any problems. Eventually I do plan on upgrading our Mac mini and will just b using the default Upgrade option in Leopard.
You can check out the install shots for Leopard in my Mac OS X Leopard Part 2 article. Now hit the jump for feature goodness.
Continue reading ‘Mac OS X Leopard Part 3: First Impressions’
Some of you might not have known about the library link that use to be in the top navigation here, but it was the entire listing of PolyVector’s and my movie and game library. I use Delicious Library to catalog our entire collection. In order to get the library fit to view on the web I would use another app to export the Delicious database into HTML. Well, I figured since Delicious Library 2 should be arriving soon I would wait to update my library here on Atomac. DL2 is going to have a built in export option and it is looking mighty nice. Anywho, our library is down for now and I’ll get it back up and hopefully better organized soon.
Edit: I just learned that the upgrade price for existing users for Delicious Library 2 is going to be $20!
Rest assured, we’re eager to get Delicious Library 2 into your hands sooner than later. I think I speak for all of us when I say you’re going be blown away, assuming you’re willing to pony up for the $20 upgrade price. I’m not bragging, I’m actually concerned for your safety. We’re recommending all users purchase and have handy extra underpants before trying Delicious Library 2 for the first time, because you may literally crap your pants.
[From Delicious Library & Leopard]
I’m a huge fan of Apple’s minimalist style. I love how OS X keeps you in a zen-like state when you’re working so I was really disappointed when I saw the new Dock. It’s shiny, has icon and window reflections, and somewhere in the chaos has little glow-bits indicating which app is running. They are so incredibly hard to see that for the 10th time today I thought to myself “Oh crap, Mail isn’t running, it must have crashed”… Pre-Leopard builds of OS X always had simple black arrows pointing to the running app that were incredibly easy to see at a glance. What went wrong?
I took it upon myself to swap out the indicator resources w/ some RocketDock indicators (that are basically the same as the old Tiger ones).
If you’d like to do this yourself, try these steps:
- Browse to: /System/Library/CoreServices/
- Right-Click on Dock.app and select “Show Package Contents”
- Browse to the Resources directory
- Back up the various “indicator_xxx.png” files
- Replace them with your own
- Run terminal and type “killall Dock” (without the quotes)
Notes:
- indicator_small.php, indicator_medium.png, and indicator_large.png are for the 3Dish dock, while indicator_small_simple.png and indicator_small_medium.png are for the flat dock.
- Copying over the png’s can be problematic. You will have to authenticate and it may not even work the first time because the Dock has them in use. I had better luck “moving” rather than “copying” my png’s over the originals.
Amidst all the Leopard commotion WordPress was updated to 2.3.1 yesterday. As usually I quickly jumped on the chance to upgrade Atomac to take care of any little bugs or what have you. You can check out the announcement and download the new version along with instructions for installing and upgrading. If anyone finds anything out of place or not working please let me know.
Oh and I will try and have my Leopard first impressions done today. Cross your fingers…I know I am.
It’s Finally here! At 10:30 AM a nice lady from FedEx delivered a tiny box that contained our very own copy of Leopard. Naturally she had woken us up and getting back to sleep was not happening. So we started our day with Leopard sitting on my desk waiting for us to tear it opened. But before I go into all the gritty details and geeky unboxing shots I just wanted to say that today is my youngest sister’s birthday. Even though she has no idea this blog exists, I would just like to throw out a huge HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Shane. She turns 21 today.
Now to the unboxing!
Sorry the pictures are a little dim, in order to get the shots not looking completely glarified I needed to turn off the flash. Part 2 should follow shortly.
Ok, for those who are going to be opening up their shiny new Leopard boxes today I have a link that should definitely be in your bookmarks. I remember when I got my first iMac and Tiger. This site was invaluable to me and it still provides many awesome tips. it’s amazing, but Leopard tips are already beginning to stack up. Even how to switch from the new 3D dock back to a 2D dock we are all so familiar with in Tiger. Anywho, it is very late and I am just getting ready to settle down and watch Ratatouille before bed. So be sure to check out MacOSXHints.com and fine a whole new way to use your Mac.
For those who love spoilers, Gizmodo is doing a live blog of their minute by minute reactions to Leopard. I read through the first hour, but I think I am gonna stop there. I and really excited at tearing open the box and installing it as soon as it gets here tomorrow. While I wont be doing a minute by minute live blog style post I will have some pictures and other fun stuff when I am done getting my first impression sorted. Enjoy the spoiler!
You’ve seen the glossy Apple OS X Leopard videos and feature lists, but installing the real thing on your own machine is never goes without a few surprises. This is live and totally unfiltered—which means you’re going to be seeing everything we’re seeing as we play with this OS. Here’s our first hour with Leopard.
[From Liveblog: Mac OSX Leopard Liveblog: The First Hour]
