Macintosh

MAMP vs standard Apache/PHP/MySQL installation

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Since Chris24 twittered that he hates MAMP, I had to come to MAMP’s defense.

For a long time I never saw any reason to use MAMP, since I used the standard system installation of Apache & PHP with MySQL installed via mysql.com’s installer package. After using MAMP for a while I came to appreciate it and I finally upgraded to MAMP Pro.

With MAMP or MAMP Pro, you can start Apache only when you need it, rather than having it run all the time and waste memory. MAMP’s bundled version of Apache also takes less virtual memory than the standard 64-bit version.

MAMP PRO 1
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One of the major advantages of MAMP over the system standard Apache/PHP setup is that it lets you easily switch between PHP 4 & 5 and enable Zend Optimizer with eAccelerator or XCache.

MAMP PRO 3
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MAMP Pro also gives you a nice user interface for enabling & disabling Apache modules.

MAMP PRO 2
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Excellent customer service from Apple

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Last week I ordered a new battery for my MacBook Pro, since my current one is losing capacity. It was supposed to be delivered last Thursday, but FedEx didn’t even attempt to deliver it because it was damaged in transit.

My battery won't arrive today
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After FedEx tracking showed that it was delivered to Apple’s warehouse today, I called Apple’s customer service line to see what happened. My first pleasant surprise was that I didn’t have to wait on hold. My call was picked up immediately. The very nice lady I spoke to took care of everything, entering the return request for the old battery and shipping a new one overnight at no charge. I should have it tomorrow or Thursday.

Macintosh users won't be crying

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Microsoft has released a beta of World Wide Telescope, the application that made Scoble cry. They claim to support the Mac, but if you look at the system requirements, to run it on a Mac, you need an Intel Mac with Windows XP or Vista installed in Boot Camp.

WWT System Requirements
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Unfortunately it doesn’t seem to work with VMware. Here’s the result of attempting to run it in VMware 2.0 beta with DirectX 9.0 accelleration enabled.

WorldWide Telescope 2014 WindowsXP
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It looks like Microsoft’s idea of Mac support now is simply telling people to install the Windows version and run it in Parallels or Boot Camp. Instead of making a real Mac version of Expression Pro, Microsoft has licensed Parallels Desktop to sell with their Windows product as a Mac version. I wouldn’t be a bit surprised if they do that with the next version of Office, despite the talk of bringing back VBA.

In fact I haven’t installed Office 2008 for the Mac, since the combination of iWork and Office 2003 running under VMware is better. Instead of something sort-of compatible with Windows Office files, I have 100% compatibility plus a nice Mac application when I don’t need full compatibility.

MBP Battery not doing too well

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It looks like I need a new battery for my MacBook Pro. It only charges to 98% and according to coconutBattery, it’s only at 73% of the original capacity.

Not looking good
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Resetting the SMC and reconditioning the battery several times, both in the MacBook Pro and in a Newer Technology external charger/reconditioner didn’t help at all.

System Profiler confirms the bad news:

battery in pretty bad shape
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VMware 2.0 is a winner

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I own both Parallels Desktop and VMware Fusion, although I’ve been using Parallels mainly because VMware had a problem with Visual Studio and shared folders. Parallels did feel nicer running Windows XP, although it slowed down my system pretty badly, even with 4GB RAM.

Even though I was getting disgusted with Parallels’ terrible Linux support and the system slowdowns & freezes, I couldn’t use VMware because I was unable to check out files or download changes from Visual Studio to my shared folder, and Parallels didn’t have that problem. After attempting to get Ubuntu 8.04 and OpenSolaris running in Parallels, I ended up installing VMware Fusion along with it so I could run the latest Ubuntu, which wouldn’t even start in Parallels, while still using Parallels to run Windows.

The VMWare 2.0 beta released today seems to have fixed the problem (mostly). It still shows ‘error 1’ in Visual Studio’s log when I check out files from VSTS, although it actually completes properly. VMware generally seems less hackish than parallels and doesn’t slow down my Mac as much. I can even have two VMs running at the same time with no problem.

MacBook Power Cord Tip

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Cool Tools points out something I figured out years ago: almost any standard 2-prong power cord will work with the AC adapter for Mac laptops. They recommend the cord that comes with a PlayStation, but it’s a pretty common type of power cord.

I usually keep one of those cords in my laptop case, so I can just take my MacBook Pro’s AC adapter while leaving the cord plugged in so I don’t have to crawl under my desk to unplug it.

mac-cord-tip-sm.jpg

Parallels vs. VMware

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I’ve written about this several times before, since I own both products. I keep giving VMware another chance because I really want to use it, but I keep going back to Parallels for several reasons.

The major reason I can’t use VMware is because it has problems with Visual Studio Team Server. I use VSTS for source control for my Mac projects at work, which means I need to share the Mac source folder to my Windows VM and have VSTS check in and out to it. Parallels is able to do it with no problems, but VMware always gives errors when checking out or downloading the latest version to a shared Mac folder, which occurs whether I use VMware shared folders or windows file sharing and mount it as a regular server. If this problem is ever fixed, I can consider using VMware.

VMware error
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Aside from that, there are a lot of things I like about both products.

Parallels Coherence mode feels a lot more polished than VMware’s Unity. If you select Coherence as the default, Parallels will automatically switch to coherence mode when Windows boots, even when it’s displaying the login window. VMware, on the other hand, can only be switched to Unity after it’s fully booted to the Windows desktop and you’re logged in. Dragging windows in Parallels looks a lot cleaner, since exposed windows show their contents immediately. With VMware, the newly exposed window will show the remnants of the window above it until you let go, when it will be redrawn.

Parallels integration between Windows & Mac OS X is also a lot nicer. You can double-click a Windows document in the Mac finder and have it open in the appropriate Windows application under Parallels. This is the closest you can get to a native feel for Windows applications. In fact I don’t have MS Office installed under OS X; I use Office 2003 in Windows XP to open Word & Excel documents when I can’t use iWork 08.

On the other hand, VMware has less impact on the system. Parallels usually slows down my MacBook Pro (2.5 GHz Core 2 Duo, 4GB RAM) noticeably, often freezing it completely for several seconds at a time.

VMware also supports Linux much better. Parallels still doesn’t have drivers for the Ubuntu 8.04 (“Hardy Heron”), the latest version. VMware’s linux tools are also better than Parallels, since it supports sharing of Mac folders to the Linux VM, which Parallels doesn’t.

While I’m unhappy about some things with Parallels, I continue to use it because I use Windows XP a lot more than I use Linux and it works much better for me with Windows.

$2500

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Jason Snell points out that every Mac he bought cost around $2500, which is also the case for most of my Macs.

In 1984, I bought my first Mac 128 for about $2500. Next, I bought a Mac Plus, also for $2500. A few years later I bought a Mac SE/30, for guess how much – $2500. I replaced it with a (used) IIsi, which I also bought for $2500. I bought my first PowerMac, a 6100/60, as soon as it was available, again for $2500. The last Mac I bought for $2500 was a Duo 270c.

In every case I spent the same amount but got a much more powerful system. After the Duo, I spent less and got much more powerful systems including a Blue & White G3/350, two iBooks (clamshell and the first white iBook), a G4/500 minitower, and several PowerBooks & MacBook Pros.