Southwest Virginia Blogs

Back when I last paid the Apple operating system tariff in the spring of 2005, I asked one of Apple's best system engineers if I could expect some really great software to take advantage of this new operating system.  He assured me that we would see those applications.

They have been few and far between.  In fact I haven't seen any software to excite me in a long time until I ran into Backpack.  The neat thing about Backpack is that being web driven, your platform does not matter.

I divide the world into those who believe their calendar must be integrated into their email, and the rest of us who have not been schooled in the world of Outlook email and appointments.

I like calendars, to-do lists, web pages, and sharing files and photos.  Backpack lets me do all of that.  It also makes me much more efficient when using multiple computers.  I can create a project page and email files to the page.  No matter what computer I am using, if I have Internet access I can get to my files.  I can also create "write boards" which are ways to create content and have other comment on it. It seems to me that "write boards" are wikis without all the hassle.

I was a big fan of the Kiko calendar before it disappeared.  Backpack has a much better calendar, and so far its text message alerts to my cell phone and email alerts have been very reliable, something that was never the case for the free Kiko.  I do not mind paying for a calendar that really works.

In fact I could do some pretty serious blogging from Backpack.  I created this page, "A grinder for the Bodum Coffee Pot" this morning.

What really excites me is that Backpack isn't from a huge company.  It comes from 37signals which seems to have a great portfolio of products.  It is nice to see innovation sprouting on the web. 

I am also very impressed with the user interface of Backpack.  Other than some of the quirks they have for text formatting, I have zero complaints about the software.

I will be testing it with IE7 and Firefox on Windows XP and using Firefox on Ubuntu.  With a good IMAP webmail email client, my Flickr account, Typepad, and a text editor, I am good to go most of the time. I have three different websites with a tremendous amount of information on them, certainly Backpack is a better way to organize it, than my trying to create my own web pages to link various things. 

Backback lets me do it without having to concentrate on the technology.  It removes the need for your own website,  a web editor and a FTP client.

Still, some of the things which I do require more sophistication than Backpack, so I will likely continue to use iPhoto,  Photoshop, Nisus Writer, Dreamweaver, Shutterbug and Fetch for the heavier lifting, but I do not think it is too crazy to imagine what I discussed in the post, "How much longer will operating systems really matter, even to Apple?"

Just maybe with there will be enough photo and web tools with the next operating system releases, that I can live mostly on the web without knowing the technology behind what I am doing. When software achieves that , it makes my life just that much easier.

We are getting closer and closer.  It would be nice to bet on Ubuntu Linux and not have to pay OS upgrades ever again.  Of course there's always that Linux driver issue that has yet to be resolved.

I recently wrote a post, "Attack of the all in one machines & customer service," about my purchase of a HP C6180 AIO, printer, scanner, copier, and fax.  The past weekend I had a chance to install it and try most of the features.

As is often the case, it turned out not nearly as easy as one might expect.  There were a couple of interesting challenges, one that was HP's fault and one that was likely mine.

The good news, as is often the case in technology, is that I kept working on it until I got everything working.

First off  I actually read the instructions and followed them.  The HP 6180 can be set up wireless on a 802.x network or wired as part of a standard network.  I just to hook it to my newly installed Ethernet network.   

The network has a cable modem hooked to a router with four ports.  One of the ports feeds an Airport Express.  I am running OS X version 10.4.8 on all the Macs.  The first system I attempted to install the software on was my dual G5 which I admit to neglecting by not upgrading it to at one gig of ram.  The first thing I notice is that didn't get very far in the installation before I was presented with was a drop down menu that would only let me select C7100 as the model for my printer.  Obviously that was not a good sign, but I went ahead an installed the software.  Of course when I tried to set up the printer, the HP software couldn't find the printer.  Being the clever Apple guy that I am, I used Bonjour to get the printing working.  Unfortunately when I went to use the scanner, it wouldn't initialize.

At this point I decided to backtract.  I un-installed the software that I had just finished installing and went to HP's website and downloaded the latest software for the 6100 series.  When I started installing I was presented with the correct choice of printer in the pull down menu.  The picture above is a scan of the disk that was in the box.  Unfortunately it appears that the wrong software is on the cd-rom even though the label is right.

Next I tried to install the software on my laptop wirelessly. It never could find the printer so I grabbed an Ethernet connection and the software installed correctly.  I went back to having my laptop on our wireless network and couldn't print.  It took me a while, but I eventually figured out that my Airport Express was distributing IP addresses so I ran Airport Admin and turned off the IP address feature.

So far I really pleased with the quality of the text.  I also have a Brother 5250DN laser on the network for quality printing but I'm not sure I need it.  The text coming out of the HP is much better than indicated in all of the reviews that I read.  Of course it's pretty hard to beat a laser for being really professional.

The photo printer also works well on the HP.  My wife is pleased with that.  Mixed color and text also looks very sharp.  The scanner works well and can scan directly to iPhoto.  I think my dual G5 might get an upgrade to 2 gigs on ram since the HP apps seem to be memory sensitive.  They work well on my MacBook that has 1 gig of ram but not on the dual G5.  I need another connector before I can test the fax, but I have little doubt that it will work.

Technology continues to get better, but there always seems to be a few glitches which require remembering stuff that I would just as soon forget.  My nightmare is one of these days I'll wake up and not be able to do this stuff.

As soon as I can "borrow" my Windows laptop back from my daughter I see how everything works with Windows and Linux.  I did install the Parallels software and Windows XP on my MacBook but I believe it needs to get upgraded to 2 gigs of ram to be really functional, and I need my genuine Windows serial number off the bottom of my Dell laptop to validate the software.

This stuff is never easy.  By the way, I don't see lots of people using the Parallels solution on a regular basis unless they're sophisticated software users.

I recently wrote a post, "Attack of the all in one machines & customer service," about my purchase of a HP C6180 AIO, printer, scanner, copier, and fax.  The past weekend I had a chance to install it and try most of the features.

As is often the case, it turned out not nearly as easy as one might expect.  There were a couple of interesting challenges, one that was HP's fault and one that was likely mine.

The good news, as is often the case in technology, is that I kept working on it until I got everything working.

First off  I actually read the instructions and followed them.  The HP 6180 can be set up wireless on a 802.x network or wired as part of a standard network.  I just to hook it to my newly installed Ethernet network.   

The network has a cable modem hooked to a router with four ports.  One of the ports feeds an Airport Express.  I am running OS X version 10.4.8 on all the Macs.  The first system I attempted to install the software on was my dual G5 which I admit to neglecting by not upgrading it to at one gig of ram.  The first thing I notice is that didn't get very far in the installation before I was presented with was a drop down menu that would only let me select C7100 as the model for my printer.  Obviously that was not a good sign, but I went ahead an installed the software.  Of course when I tried to set up the printer, the HP software couldn't find the printer.  Being the clever Apple guy that I am, I used Bonjour to get the printing working.  Unfortunately when I went to use the scanner, it wouldn't initialize.

At this point I decided to backtract.  I un-installed the software that I had just finished installing and went to HP's website and downloaded the latest software for the 6100 series.  When I started installing I was presented with the correct choice of printer in the pull down menu.  The picture above is a scan of the disk that was in the box.  Unfortunately it appears that the wrong software is on the cd-rom even though the label is right.

Next I tried to install the software on my laptop wirelessly. It never could find the printer so I grabbed an Ethernet connection and the software installed correctly.  I went back to having my laptop on our wireless network and couldn't print.  It took me a while, but I eventually figured out that my Airport Express was distributing IP addresses so I ran Airport Admin and turned off the IP address feature.

So far I really pleased with the quality of the text.  I also have a Brother 5250DN laser on the network for quality printing but I'm not sure I need it.  The text coming out of the HP is much better than indicated in all of the reviews that I read.  Of course it's pretty hard to beat a laser for being really professional.

The photo printer also works well on the HP.  My wife is pleased with that.  Mixed color and text also looks very sharp.  The scanner works well and can scan directly to iPhoto.  I think my dual G5 might get an upgrade to 2 gigs on ram since the HP apps seem to be memory sensitive.  They work well on my MacBook that has 1 gig of ram but not on the dual G5.  I need another connector before I can test the fax, but I have little doubt that it will work.

Technology continues to get better, but there always seems to be a few glitches which require remembering stuff that I would just as soon forget.  My nightmare is one of these days I'll wake up and not be able to do this stuff.

As soon as I can "borrow" my Windows laptop back from my daughter I see how everything works with Windows and Linux.  I did install the Parallels software and Windows XP on my MacBook but I believe it needs to get upgraded to 2 gigs of ram to be really functional, and I need my genuine Windows serial number off the bottom of my Dell laptop to validate the software.

This stuff is never easy.  By the way, I don't see lots of people using the Parallels solution on a regular basis unless they're sophisticated software users.

I recently wrote a post, "Attack of the all in one machines & customer service," about my purchase of a HP C6180 AIO, printer, scanner, copier, and fax.  The past weekend I had a chance to install it and try most of the features.

As is often the case, it turned out not nearly as easy as one might expect.  There were a couple of interesting challenges, one that was HP's fault and one that was likely mine.

The good news, as is often the case in technology, is that I kept working on it until I got everything working.

First off  I actually read the instructions and followed them.  The HP 6180 can be set up wireless on a 802.x network or wired as part of a standard network.  I just to hook it to my newly installed Ethernet network.   

The network has a cable modem hooked to a router with four ports.  One of the ports feeds an Airport Express.  I am running OS X version 10.4.8 on all the Macs.  The first system I attempted to install the software on was my dual G5 which I admit to neglecting by not upgrading it to at one gig of ram.  The first thing I notice is that didn't get very far in the installation before I was presented with was a drop down menu that would only let me select C7100 as the model for my printer.  Obviously that was not a good sign, but I went ahead an installed the software.  Of course when I tried to set up the printer, the HP software couldn't find the printer.  Being the clever Apple guy that I am, I used Bonjour to get the printing working.  Unfortunately when I went to use the scanner, it wouldn't initialize.

At this point I decided to backtract.  I un-installed the software that I had just finished installing and went to HP's website and downloaded the latest software for the 6100 series.  When I started installing I was presented with the correct choice of printer in the pull down menu.  The picture above is a scan of the disk that was in the box.  Unfortunately it appears that the wrong software is on the cd-rom even though the label is right.

Next I tried to install the software on my laptop wirelessly. It never could find the printer so I grabbed an Ethernet connection and the software installed correctly.  I went back to having my laptop on our wireless network and couldn't print.  It took me a while, but I eventually figured out that my Airport Express was distributing IP addresses so I ran Airport Admin and turned off the IP address feature.

So far I really pleased with the quality of the text.  I also have a Brother 5250DN laser on the network for quality printing but I'm not sure I need it.  The text coming out of the HP is much better than indicated in all of the reviews that I read.  Of course it's pretty hard to beat a laser for being really professional.

The photo printer also works well on the HP.  My wife is pleased with that.  Mixed color and text also looks very sharp.  The scanner works well and can scan directly to iPhoto.  I think my dual G5 might get an upgrade to 2 gigs on ram since the HP apps seem to be memory sensitive.  They work well on my MacBook that has 1 gig of ram but not on the dual G5.  I need another connector before I can test the fax, but I have little doubt that it will work.

Technology continues to get better, but there always seems to be a few glitches which require remembering stuff that I would just as soon forget.  My nightmare is one of these days I'll wake up and not be able to do this stuff.

As soon as I can "borrow" my Windows laptop back from my daughter I see how everything works with Windows and Linux.  I did install the Parallels software and Windows XP on my MacBook but I believe it needs to get upgraded to 2 gigs of ram to be really functional, and I need my genuine Windows serial number off the bottom of my Dell laptop to validate the software.

This stuff is never easy.  By the way, I don't see lots of people using the Parallels solution on a regular basis unless they're sophisticated software users.