You know those Apple logo stickers you get when you buy an Apple product?

Yah. I haz em. Dey maek mah hack legitz. Srsly.

http://www.fluther.com/disc/19608/are-hackintoshs-legal/

Room to Breathe

Finally! After a month of procrastination, I've gotten around to purchasing a Seagate Barracude 1TB hard drive from NCIX.com. Express shipping was only $10, so it BLEW MY MIND how fast I received it- ordered at 1:30pm Thursday, received at 10:30am Friday. WOW.

Aaaaaaanyway, I'm excited to kick expand the Hack. As I clean my room I'm imagining the possibilities with a dual boot system. *sigh*

In other news, I've decided it's about time I upgrade my clunky Nokia 6101 from 3ish years ago to a newer phone. While I daydream about the iPhone from time to time, I believe that reality is calling for a Nokia 5310 (red), a smexy little music phone.

In other other news, I'm contemplating my options with regards to employment. Meaning I may quit my job... Which makes paying for all of these gadgets a little more difficult.

Oh, life. How quickly you move.

Focus, man

I've signed onto SO many different projects right now that I'm suffering from that "Don't know what to do first!" condition. I know there's lots to do, and that I have very little time to do it, but I honestly don't know where to start.

For one, my room is a mess, and so is my virtual room The iBook's full again, files littered everywhere. Even my Hackintosh is getting messy.

My mind is in a similar state. I have one project for UN1TE (maybe two? I have a feeling someone will be asking me to do another), a couple vids for a local deejay, a music video (?) for a local musician, and my "for fun" vlog project, which I started today (see my youtube page)

So, what do I want to do? Anything BUT edit video. And I think my Hackintosh headaches are closely related to this.


Good news, though - my work for Dance Manitoba is COMPLETE =)

Stuff like this makes me want to cry

... Unexpected Quit with Panasonic AVCHD HDC-SD9

I thought I was dealing with normal AVCHD issues, but I was sadly mistaken. I started following this blog to figure out how to use Final Cut Express with my HDC-SD9 (Job).

This downturn comes after a roller coaster of a day. I've been hard at work finding and installing kexts on my Hackintosh (Dot), and finally found success with the video card (the resolution was way off, DVD Player wouldn't start, and FCE wouldn't install). I was lacking the Quartz Extreme codec. Now I've got a beautiful Mac(ish) to play with.

I've decided to figure out the network card problem another day - apparently I need an Attansic L1 Ethernet kext (of which I have several versions, none that work). I may just buy a different network card. For now, I'm content downloading files onto my iBook (Cornelius) and transfering them onto an external hard drive.

Strangely, USB devices won't mount unless I restart the computer after plugging them in. And the front USB ports don't work at all. Again, something I'll look into later. One reason I'm so loathe to work on this is that the Insanely Mac Forums appear to be down.

I was super excited to get FCE on Dot. But apparently now it will take a WHOLE LOT MORE tinkering for me to get AVCHD support. I've already downloaded the Perian Quicktime plugin, but it wasn't enough.

Dot lives!

Yesterday I got Dot (my new Hackintosh computer) up and running. Hooray! I'm still struggling with the NIC and widescreen display, but everything else appears to be working. Thank goodness for Kalyway.

I've come across problems burning off the CDs for Dance Manitoba. Nero's alphabetization of the files is different than iTunes (which I planned to print song lists off of). So a file with the name "### second run" comes BEFORE "###" (the first run). It's a small thing, but it's just made my life that much more complicated. I'd already burned at least 30 CDs before I realized this... What a waste.

I've also become interested in latte art, and my ventures into that side of the web have led me to realize that I know very little about coffee. I know more than the average person, but not enough to call myself a coffee snob. I don't particularly want to be called a coffee snob, but I want the knowledge of a coffee snob.

Here are a few sites that I'm going to read more in the future:
Abstract Gourmet
Coffee Snobs
Coffee Universe
Coffee Enthusiast
espressolab

There are so many more sites, so little time... ahhhhhhhhh...
Back to kext research =P

Hackintosh verdict

Progress on the Dot Project!

Purchased from NCIX.com:
- Asus P5K motherboard
- EVGA 8600 GTS video card
- Antec Truepower 650W PSU
- LG GH20LS10 optical drive
- Patriot Extreme Performance 2x2GB RAM

(all at sale price, and with shipping, GST, and insurance, it came to about $490)

From my cousin, plus GST and PST:
- Antec NSK-44ADD case - $70
- Logitech mouse/keyboard set - $20

From Computer Avenue:
- Intel Core 2 Duo E6750 processor - $189

Still need a monitor and hard drive. So far, so good, though!


As for the LaCie hard drive, it's kaputz. Crossing my fingers to find a replacement part and get the data off of there...

Detoxing

I've been trying to kick caffeine for the last few days, and it's been rough. I was motivated to do it when I had a huge hangover - unable to keep coffee down, suffering from a headache anyway, I figured that there was no better time to do it. With all the money I'll save, maybe I'll be able to afford the computer parts I'm looking for.

My cousin, a computer wizard, directed me to the hackint0sh.org forums. I'll read them ASAP, but it "possible" is nigh impossible. It's as if my social inactivity for the past two weeks is being made up for with this week of craziness.

The light at the end of the tunnel is the M.I.A. concert I'm going to on Friday. While I'm pumped for that, I'm counting the dollars that I've been spending on concerts lately... and it's slightly depressing. I'm now going to Nine Inch Nails and Tom Petty (eclectic enough?) and am planning a couple of shows for the Jazz Festival and maybe even FolkFest. Maybe coffee isn't the only thing I'll have to give up.

Need comp ASAP! Video files to be edited...

And I still haven't got the parts.

I'm now looking for a P5E-VM HDMI board rather than a DO... I don't know the diff (monitor connection?) but it seems to have more troubleshooting info already developed, so I won't have to do much myself.

I want a true Apple keyboard and mouse, because I'm used to that design.

And I want a case with lots of fans and noise reducers.

I want it all! Still researching the specs....

Cut Off

I've been meaning to research Hackintosh for a while now, but the lack of wireless Internet access at Festival has been preventing me from doing much. I'm currently sitting in a cafe, using the free wireless of the business across the street. While it's nice in here, I can't sit long - I have to be back in half an hour. Definitely missing my freedom right about now.

I've run into technical difficulties at Festival, too - one of my external hard drives conked out. Operating on just a 40 gB hard drive is HARD. I deleted my Morcheeba and Beirut albums and burned some files onto CD-R. A temporary solution.

Dropped Cornelius the other day. Now there's a crack down its (his?) side. Poor thing! Still works fine, though.

Well I'm going squeeze some research into my remaining minutes. If I open a bunch of related tabs now, I can read them later.

Other than that, I'm enjoying my time at Festival. Watching cute kiddies dance... who wouldn't smile! Of course, there are the disturbing parts. See my previous post.

Dotty

I made a trip to Computer Avenue yesterday. Excellent service there - I recommend it to anyone. The following combination would cost about $1000, including installation.

What I'd be paying for:
- Asus P5E-VM DO motherboard
- Seagate 500GB (7200/32MB) SATA hard drive
- basic DVD reader/writer
- USB2 cardreader
- Antec Sonata 3 ATX Tower 500W
- Logitech keyboard and mouse
- Logitech 5.1 speakers
- Intel Core 2 Duo E6750 processor
- OCZ 2x2GB PC2-6400 Platinum RAM
- hardware assembly

I plan to remove the keyboard and mouse ($24), find a cheaper hard drive (I like this one) and change the tower case (I have to look into that more). Other than that, the most important specs (mobo, processor, ram) seem okay. I have to check the OSx86 forums to make sure everything will work out.

After that, all that's left is a monitor (for about $200-250) and software (still determining the best way to do this part).

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

While I'm dealing with this, I also have to deal with mother's day (which is fast approaching), finalizing the music for Manitoba Dance Festival (which is also fast approaching), a couple of new video projects that have fallen into my lap, and (strangely) an exchange that may actually be a scam.

It's not too bad, though. I've been trying to eke the last drops of freedom before I start my two-week 14-hours-per-day job. I've gone through at least three seasons of Penn and Teller's Bullshit! If that's not a worthwhile way to spend my time, I don't know what is.

Mother's Day?

I'm literally feet away from the kiosk that I work at. Isn't that awesome? I love owning a laptop.

However, the half hour I've spent on this laptop has taken down the battery to 61%. And that's ONLY web browsing. Poor Cornelius.

Dot is in the works... I'm currently too busy to finalize the specs. But I'm going with an Asus mobo, Samsung hard drive (if I can find one in Winnipeg), Intel Core 2 Duo processor (currently picking a model)...

I dislike work. It is distracting me from my Dot Project. But it's also funding it.

With all this going on, I'm finding it difficult to plan for Mother's Day.

Dot Project

As if I didn't have enough projects on the go. Enter the Dot Project.

I need a new computer for editing video - specifically, AVCHD. I was looking at a MacBook Pro, but I'm worried that whatever I buy will become obsolete within the next year (and that I'll have more trouble with external hard drives - AVCHD, when converted for editing, takes up a lot of space and I'd be basically living off of external hard drives. Not my idea of a good system).

I've been asking for many people's opinions on the dilemna. The cheapest and most exciting option so far is.... (drumroll please?) the Hackintosh. Unfortunately, that would mean building my own computer. Which, as I said, is exciting. It's also time-consuming, though. I'd have to track down the best parts, then assemble the thing. Then there are licensing issues with the Mac OS.

But wouldn't it be worth it?

Basically, I've given up mobility and convenience for a longer-lasting, more flexible system. Cornelius will be my mobile option - the iBook still has the audio software on there, which is (so far) what I mostly use the computer for (aside from web browsing) .

I'm going to pursue this option for today (tomorrow I may change my mind again).

And I'm going to name the new desktop Dot. So it will be a "Dot Hack-intosh". I'm a geek - so what? Thus, the Dot Project. I wonder if this project will actually work out?