iPod House Cleaning

It's time to clean up my iTune, the songs in my iPod Classic and the songs in iPod Touch. So I used iLyrics to update some lyrics, and then attached and updated some album covers for that does not have a cover. Finally I am adding new audio book to learn during commute. Everything seems to work out fine as expected. I know, when dealing with computer, there's always a chance that something doesn't work out. This time it's not the case.

All hooked up in a USB plug

I found myself very much enjoying the universal dock my friend gave me as a birthday gift. It's a perfect companion for my Mac on Lenovo. Now I can hook up one plug and instantly I got the speaker, the Ethernet, the USB mouse, the MIDI keyboard, the mic, the Time Machine backup harddisk, the external DVD Burner, all hooked up. The Mac user experience is never better.

By the way, I just found out that the Electric Piano in Garage Band '09 (under Pianos and Keyboards group) is a perfect sound to play Super Mario Brothers theme. E(4) E E C E G G(3). Sweet.

Mac and Targus ACP45US: suprisingly well working together

My roommate got me an Targus ACP45US (Probably one of those $19.99 Buy.com special deal that was expired a few weeks ago) because it basically a dock for laptop that comes with USB based Ethernet adapter, audio interface, USB hub, PS2, parallel port and serial port emulator. I was actually not too impressed by it's USB hub performance because it doesn't work well with my USB scanner and Creative Lab webcam (too much lagging).

BUT there's one thing that really surprised me: the device is totally recognization under OSX86. In fact my Mac OSX 10.5.6 totally see the PS/2 keyboard, and can actually use the audio interface on the USB. So now I have audio in and output provide by this universial dock.

CAn't believe that Targus didn't sell it as a OSX device.

Apple 16X50 ACPI.kext craziness

Today when I booted up and got a "Apple 16X50 ACPI.kext" improperly setup error. I found this message and this message, and realized that related to Tablet Magic. The problem is that everytime I turn on my Tablet's digitizer, I got the error that bitches me about "Apple 16X50 ACPI.kext" not formatted right.

Well, maybe I'll deal with that kind of shit later.

By the way I can have my same thumb being used for thumb fingerprint scanning to login. Pretty sweet.

Cheap crap I brought starts to pay off one by one

Yesterday I got the MacOSX WiFi working because I brought a cheap USB based WiFi card a Thanksgiving before. Today, another cheap $5 (after rebate) webcam pays off when I hooked it up with my Mac with this fan made webcam driver called Maccam. I used teh cheap $5 Creative Lab Instant and made some nice photo booth photos.

On the other hand, the Microsoft VX-1000 webcam I have doesn't work before or after the Maccam installed. So that means the Microsoft webcam for PC, and Creative webcam for the Mac.

Next task: find out battery indicator...

Now that I got most of them stuff working right, my last task would be trying to see if I can make power related feature working. For instance, it would be nice if I can get the power indicator at the top of the screen so that I can know whether I am about to running out battery. Also, I know save mode is kind of tricky, but maybe, just maybe, someone figure out how to make it work .... you never know.

2 more devices working with my MacOSX on Lenovo X60T

Just found out that there are 2 more devices I have that works very well with my Lenovo X60T running OSX 10.5.6: the Logitech V20 USB speaker, and Trendnet TEW-424UB 54Mbps 802.11g Wireless USB 2.0 adapter. I particular love the TEW-424UB, cause now I can totally conduct my life with Mac in wireless fashion. Awesome.

Gotta make my Mac insomnia

I just found out that whenever my Mac went into power save mode, it will not be able to come back. So I have to make my Mac insomnia by changing to power saving setting make my Mac never go to sleep unless I force it to.

Microsoft Desktop Connection 1.0.3 sucks

Either Microsoft created it as a joke, or there's something wrong with my network setting, but the fact is I tried Microsoft Desktop Connection 1.0.3 for Macintosh, and the performance was terrible. Guest Microsoft still wants to make sure that you don't get the best Windows experience on a Mac.

TabletMagic still does not work for my Multitouch Tablet screen

I tried TabletMagic with my Lenovo x60T Tablet PC (with multitouch) and it was not working back then. I tried it on my OSX 10.5.6 and it still was not working well. Oh well :-I

Resolved the kernel panic caused by downloading and expanding dmg from web browser

Once again it proves that for every problem you can always find some people online with the same issue. Like the kernel panic caused by downloading and expanding dmg from web browser (Safari), I found this post about the EXACT same problem I was experiencing, and then people suggested using Kext Helper to install the seatbelt.kxt extension. The result was a total success. Now I can enjoy my Mac OSX 10.5.6 more like a regular daily machine.

Using my Mac OSX 10.5.6 to burn DVD, oh joy

I haven't been burning any disc (CDROM or DVDR) since years ago (like back when I was still using Mac Quadra 610 DOS Compatible. In fact, I never burned a DVDR on OSX. Today, because GarageBand 09 couldn't allow me to install all the loops from the .dmg file, I used Disk Utility to burn the .dmg into a DVDR, and it was a success ... well sort of.

It turns out that the iLife 09 dmg is too huge to expand into a single layer DVDR, so I had to use a Dual Layer DVDR. No biggy, so long as it works.

And just updated all the system update. The OS seems to be working fine so far.

Guess I need to manually install GarageBand Instruments and Apple Loops

I was trying all the System updates on the OSX 10.5.6. Everything seems to work OK except the GarageBand Instruments and Apple Loops. I tried using the trick of fixing Disk User Permission, but that still didn't help. Luckily, the content of "GarageBand Instruments and Apple Loops" should be in my iLife 09 DVD, so I'll probably manually install them tonight when I get home.

OK, the last "RE"install was a success

At least things are running now. Probably the old unstable stuff will still be unstable though.

Yet another try to install

I attempted to reinstall OSX 10.5.6 again with the following changes:

- Add language selection (Japanese and Chinese)
- ACPI fix
- Firewire Mount fix
- Audio AD1981


But the result was pretty terrible. Both the USB mouse and keyboard were malfunctioning, and the downloading from Safari still blow up the system.

So I am reinstalling again, this time:

USB Driver
- Patched USB Driver (this one only, not the other one)

NO language translation selected

Not selected ACPI and FireWire Mount Fix

See if it's better this time.

iTune blows up 10.5.6

Once again the OSX 10.5.6 blows up, and this time it's the latest version of iTune and blew things up.

Another major blow up

The OSX 10.5.6 blows up on my Lenovo X60T again. This time, it's after iLife 09 installation, the system rebooted, and I pretty much didn't do anything. And suddenly the OS just blown up.

I have all these photos taken already. Still ... crazy....

OSX 10.5.6 blowing up left and right

Damn it, MacOSX blows the hell up when I:

• Tried to download software using Safari. I tried downloading with Firefox and it seems fine.
• Running Adium_1.3.2.dmg. However, the crash only happens when I DOWNLOADED Adium on OSX, and then attempted to run the .dmg. In fact, if I downloaded it on Windows, and then run it on OSX, the Adium seems perfectly fine.

So I guess as of now, the moral is NOT using my MacOSX to download stuff from the browser. BUt then, how to System Update worked? I did twice a while ago and they all work great.

Another kick ass thing about my OSX 10.5.6 on Lenovo X60T : External monitor instantly detected

I just connected my Lenovo X60T to my 24 inch DELL UltraSharp display under OSX 10.5.6, and saw the monitor being instantly recognized. Changing the resolution, and now I got full 1920 x 1200 second monitor video support. This will be totally awesome for XCode development!

On the negative side, I tried the audio fix listed here and found that it didn't work for me. It crashed my machine, but the system was recovered afterward. So .... still seraching for the right solution.

BTW, from the information here, it seems like people are implying that my x60t's sound driver should be AD1981.

Wow, guess what! The Sound is suddenly showing up on my OSX! All I did was boot into Windows 7, and then boot back into OSX! Now I am a bit confused. Is it the ALC880 things that I tried suddenly start working? (but it crashed during bootup), or the AC97 things start working AFTER I first boot back to Vista? Really confused.

But I think I better make a backup on this working parition first before anything go south. In addition, I am all planning to do some crazy experiment tomorrow, including trying to do a regular Apple System update and see if the OSX can hold it well.

Some info that I may find useful in the future:

• Sound driver for Lenovo X60T on Mac OSX
• Detail technical breakdown on X60T

Network magically working!

Strange. I have the network cable hooked to the Ethernet port of my X60T with OSX 10.5.6. When I boot up the Internet is still not available. Then I went to the System Preferences, and then I click Networking. Suddenly the system said that an Ethernet device was detected. It started connection and now I can access the web on OSX.

You know what my next brave step is? Try running System Update, and see how the system behaves >:-}

Another great thing: the brightness button on my X60T also works! Press Fn with Home and End actually turn up and down the brightness. Sweet!

Finally got it working, but ....

Got this error:

The following install step failed: run preinstall script for AppleSMBIOSEI. Contact the software manufacturer for assistance.

I double check the read me of the universal CD, and found the readme explicitly mentioned no more than 1 kexts. Ah... so that's the problem.


So for the setting time I made some changes:


Kernal: 9.5.0 Voodoo Kernel
Video: Intel GMA950
Chipset: Intel ICHx SATA Drivers
audio: AC97 Audio
Ethernet Driver: Intel Pro 100/VE
Wifi : Intel PROSet/Wireless 3945
USB Driver: (all selected)
Power Management: (None)
Fixes and Patches: (None except the following)

• USB Mount fix
• PS/2 device support (mouse and keyboard)
  

Alternated Bootloaders: (None)
Application: (all selected)


And this time the installation was success! However the OS didn't boot into the OSX.
Fear not, for I used Acronis OS Loader, choose Load Wizard, select the OSX partition, set it to Bootable and Active, and then next time I reboot, I got boot into the OSX.

I followed the advice by booting with "-f" . The loading was fine, and finally I saw an OSX 10.5.6 desktop.


Problems need to work on:

• No Ethernet
• No Sound
  

But at least it's getting there .....


BTW, on my Lenovo X60T, holding F12 will give me the boot device selector.

Another try

OK, this time I give the Universial Installer another try on my Lenovo X60T with the following setting:

Kernal: 9.5.0 Voodoo Kernel
Video: Intel GMA950
Chipset: Intel ICHx SATA Drivers
audio: AC97 Audio
Ethernet Driver: Intel Pro 100/VE
Wifi : Intel PROSet/Wireless 3945
USB Driver: (all selected)
Power Management: (all selected)
Fixes and Patches: (all selected)
Alternated Bootloaders: (None)
Application: (all selected)

Let's see what will happen.

Black out?

Darn it, tried iATKOS_5i.iso, but after the installation got load up, the Lenovo x60T just shut itself down. What the hell.

Still trying to get OSX running on Lenovo X60T

Yes, for some very odd reason I am still very eagar to try to get OSX running on my Lenovo X60T. It's pretty obvious because of the "Just because I can factor". Anyway, I found this mentioning of running OSX 10.5.6 on Lenovo X60T and suddenly my desire raised again. Let's see how it worked out.

iTune and Windows 7

Seems like the latest iTune 8.0.2.20 still doesn't work soomthly with Windows 7 as I hoped. I had to turn the application into compatibility mode (and I even attempted change the permission for iTune folder to make it works)

Super slow

I just found out that running VMWare 6.5 workstation on my Lenovo X60T in order to run a OSX 10.5.5 VM is such a stupid thing to do. The speed was awfully slow. Bad bad idea.