Archive for the ‘Computers’ Category

Updating iOS 5 with the new over-the-air update function

Posted on: 10th November 2011 No Comments

Today, Apple released the first iOS 5 update, updating from 5.0 to 5.0.1, fixing the battery problem. And this was the first chance to use the new over-the-air update, meaning updating the iOS without plugging it into a computer. So how does it work? Let me show you.

If you don’t get a pop-up telling you about the update, you can go look for it by choosing Settings -> General -> Software Update on your iOS device. Your device will perform the check, and show you the result. If it finds an update, just press Download and install, and the process is pretty self explanatory.

Starting updating iOS over-the-air

You must have over 50% left of your battery, or be plugged into a socket, to do the update,

Finishing updating iOS over-the-air

Unlike the previous updates, this update just sends you the updated parts, not everything as it used to do.

Worked like a charm.

When Photo Stream won’t sync

Posted on: 10th November 2011 3 Comments

So, today Photo Stream on my Mac decided that syncing was too much of a hassle. So it stopped. It was not the Photo Stream service itself that halted, as it synced between my iPhone and my iPad. It was just on the Mac that it was sleeping in.

And since this is a “just working” product, there are really no settings you can have a look at, to see if something is wrong.

So the answer, as it always is: Turn Photo Stream on and off under System Preferences -> Internet and Wireless -> iCloud. And that woke it up, and my missing photos turned up where I wanted them.

Missing iBooks covers after iOS 5.0 update

Posted on: 10th November 2011 No Comments

After I updated my iPad to iOS 5.0, the covers of most of my books in iBooks went missing. Don’t know why, but I know many had the same issue.

Missing covers in iBooks

I didn’t look at it until tonight, and found the solution to be simple, but successful: Remove the books, and then add them again. Seems like overkill, but it is the only way I could make it work.

And how do you do it? Just pop into iTunes while connected, go to the Books tab, and un-tick the Sync Books box. iTunes will tell you it will delete the books from the iPad, and that’s OK for you.

Un-sync books in iTunes

And after the books are gone from the iPad, tick the box again, and the books will be transferred back. It takes a couple of minutes before it registered all the covers, but I have all mine now.

Udating iBooks covers

And here are the good part: If you had created different collections iBooks, it will remember these, and sort your books for you. But they will not be in the same order.

Covers in iBooks

Run Windows and Ubuntu on a Mac

Posted on: 9th November 2011 No Comments

Now this is the story all about how
My Mac got flipped, turned upside down…

OK, not really. But this is how I installed Windows 7 and Ubuntu alongside OS X on my MacBook. After a serious case of not succeeding. For the record, this is the specifications I worked with: Windows 7, Ubuntu 11.10 (Oneiric Ocelot), and Mac OS X 10.7 (Lion). On a MacBook 5,2 (mid 2009).

After I did a clean install of OS X Lion some time ago, I hadn’t bothered to reinstall Windows on it yet. I need Windows for some programs that come without a Mac counterpart, but so far I had just used my desktop PC for this. But I found it would be better to have the opportunity to use the laptop as well. And while I decided it was worth the boring installation process, I decided to test out Ubuntu on the Mac as well. Try to have a Mac with all three installed at the same time. What could go wrong?

The first try

According to the Ubuntu pages for Mac support, it is recommended to install Windows on a partition that has the room for Ubuntu, and later use a part of the Windows partition for the Ubuntu install. And so I did. And it went all peachy until mid process of the Ubuntu, when the Ubuntu installer told me me partition was under 2.4 GB and could not be used. I aborted the installer and went back to OS X. In disk manager I could see that my Windows partition was now divided into one remaining Windows partition, and several Linux parts. Confusing for me, not used to Linux partitioning. But what was more troubling was the fact that Windows would no longer start, just displaying the message “No operating system found”. So…

The second try

So I decided to delete all of the newly created partitions, and start over. But the Disk Utility in OS X would’t let me delete the partitions created by Ubuntu. So I had to start Ubuntu from he CD, and delete them with the Ubuntu disk utility. In the end I had a “empty” partition, and was ready for a new round. But now Bootcamp (I used this for my previous Windows installations) wouldn’t recognise my partition as somewhere he could install Windows, even if it was a FAT partition.

But the thing with Bootcamp, is that Bootcamp don’t actually install anything for you. What Bootcamp does, is just formatting a partition in FAT and gives you the option to burn the Bootcamp software for Windows on a CD. If you have the CD, you can just create a partition manually, and start the Windows installer. As Windows 7 uses NTFS, and the installer will format your partition as this for you, the FAT partition OS X does will be overwritten anyway. But the CD is important, since you have all the drivers for the Mac on it, making the use much easier.

So new Windows installation, and a new go at a Ubuntu installation. Did it work? Did it feck. Same result, and back to start.

The final try

So back to installing Windows with room for Ubuntu. But this time I cheated, if you look at this with hardcore Linux eyes. I used the Windows installer for Ubuntu, not the Live CD. The Windows installer of Ubuntu lets you install Ubuntu as a program. It will be a genuine OS, and it will dual boot. But you don’t need a separate partition for it, it will be a part of whatever partition you have Windows on. And did that work? Indeed it did. Except for a nomodeset thing that I’ll explain in a minute.

The downside is that to start Ubuntu, I must first choose Windows in the Mac boot screen, and then choose Ubuntu from the Windows boot screen. So it is a couple of extra clicks. Does that matter? Not really. I will only use Ubuntu in addition to my other operating systems, not as my main system. And for that it works great. And it is a solution provided by Ubuntu themselves, so there is no real hack involved.

But is it possible to install Ubuntu so that it will be a treble boot? Of course it is. I’m sure I did something wrong, or missed something obvious. But I’m happy with the solution I got now, and can’t be bothered into checking it more.

Nomodeset

When I first tried to start Ubuntu from the LiveCD, it didn’t work. I started Ubuntu, and then the screen went black. And when I had finally installed Ubuntu on the Mac, the screen just turned in to scramble. It is the same cause and solution for both the situations: In the latest releases of Linux, the video mode setting is moved to the kernel, instead of just external drivers. This is often a good thing, but on some video cards, like mine, it turns tits up. So this must be turned off.

To do so on the LiveCD, press F6 when you are at the startup screen. This will give you a pop-up where you can tick off nomodeset.

To fix it in a Ubuntu installation, you must edit the boot commands in the grub screen. The grub screen is the Ubuntu boot screen, where you can choose your Ubuntu version to run. On my Mac, I can actually choose to run OS X from this screen as well. To edit the commands, press e when you are at the grub screen. This will give you the commands in a text editor. Add the word nomodeset to the line containing the word Linux. And hey, presto, you got a screen.

Default startup system

When you install Windows, it can happen that Windows is set as your default operating system. To change that (or choose that), you can go to System Preferences -> System -> Startup Disk, and choose your likings from there.

rEFIt

To choose another OS than OS X when starting you Mac, you must press alt when you start. If you want the menu to be displayed at every start up, you can install rEFIt. This will give you boot options at every start, and also some disk utilities. Good thing to have if you are terrible when timing your alt strokes. Be aware that it takes a couple of restarts before the rEFIt boot screen appears.

Turn on wi-fi syncing in iTunes

Posted on: 19th October 2011 1 Comment

To enjoy the new cable free syncing between your iOS 5 device and iTunes, you first have to turn it on. Logically.

To do so, just plug in your device, go to iTunes and highlight your device in the sidebar, and click on summary (if it doesn’t go there automatically).

The summary page of your device in iTunes

Scroll down to the Options menu, and enable the wi-fi syncing for the device.

The Options menu of a device in iTunes

And that’s it. And when you want to sync, just go to Settings -> General -> iTunes Wi-Fi Sync and press Sync Now. And presto. Or plug it into a charger, and it does it automatically.

Settings -> General -> iTunes Wi-Fi Sync

The sync requires iOS 5 and iTunes 10.5, and the use of the same wi-fi of iTunes and the device.

I’ve used iPhoto to import my photos from my iPhone earlier, but this doesn’t work with this method. Now I must either set up picture syncing in iTunes, or use the new Photo Stream function with iCloud.

So far, it works like a charm.