Ask Jacob

The SpectraView II software is used to calibrate the display itself, and not the video card settings in the Mac computer Displays System Preferences. All you should need to do with the Mac OS preferences is find a baseline setting, then just let the SpectraView II software calibrate the monitor to true color.

- Jacob

USB base PC keyboards and Mice work perfectly both new Mac Minis and used Mac minis, although some special media buttons may not work. Getting a small 2-port KVM will make switching back and forth easy.

Look at this IOGEAR MiniView Micro Plus KVM switch if you have a VGA display or this IOGEAR MiniView DVI if you have a DVI display.

- Jacob

I would steer you towards the MacBook Pro for professional video work. This is mainly due to the advanced Graphics system that is used in the MacBook Pro. Final Cut Studio is not compatible with integrated Intel graphics processors, like the ones found in older MacBooks or MacBook Airs. Even the newer MacBook Airs, with the NVIDIA GeForce 9400M, will feel a little under powered. Also the drive size and speed will be an issue for you, unless you bought the Solid State Drive (SSD). With the SSD option you will be set for speed but not space. The MacBook Pro is currently the only contemporary Apple laptop with FireWire. FireWire connectivity is probably a part of your workflow now and it could be
difficult to work without it.

Now if you want to use Final Cut Express on a MacBook Air, that would probably work fine. This is because you could transfer the the projects to Final Cut Pro later form heavier editing. Hope that gives you enough information to make a good choice based on your work.

- Jacob

This should not be a problem as long as you both have computers that are always on the same network. The first thing to do is relocate that “Active Clients” folder to a good location on your hard drive for sharing. The “Shared” folder in your Macintosh HD/Users/ folder is a good choice. Now we need to enable network access for that Shared folder. Go to your computer’s System Preferences and select Sharing. Mark the check box next to the File Sharing option. Now with Mac OS X 10.5 you have many file sharing features that will let you specifically select the folders you want to share and who has access to them. If you have that version of the Mac OS you can Select the shared folder and add a access account for your Boss With the [+] button  
under users.

If you are using Mac OS 10.4, then you can just move over to your Boss’ computer and click on the Desktop. Then mouse over to the Go menu and down to “Connect To server.” The Server Address will be afp://your.computer’s.IP.address and you can find your computers IP address from the Network section of your computer’s System Preferences (it will look like 10.0.0.2). After you have entered the server address, click on the [Connect] button. You will be prompted for a Username and password. Enter your computer’s user name and login password or if you setup a account for your Boss, enter it there.

Before you click the [Connect] button again, mark the checkbox for “Remember this password in my keychain. You will be asked what Volume you want to mount, Select the “Shared” folder if it is presented or select your hard drive. Once you have a connection to your computer from your Boss’ computer, you will then want to make a shortcut to the  ”Active Clients” folder. Navigate to where the folder is located. Control click on it and Select “Make Alias.” Then drag the alias to the desktop of your Boss’ computer.

Back at your computer, go the the Shared folder and move the alias for the “Active Clients” folder to your desktop. Now you both have an alias on your desktop for the same folder. If all that looked Like a big mess of convoluted steps, there is a shareware program that will save you some headache. Look at SlingShot 2.0 to keep your folder in sync, without the networking hoops to jump  
through. There is a free trial so at least give it a look.

- Jacob

I am sure that most people from NASA should not have a problem installing a new hard drive in a new or used Mac mini, so that would be the cleanest upgrade path. You will need a 2.5″ PATA hard drive. Any size drive should work so look at the 160GB model.

Here is a link to some detailed instructions on changing the internal hard drive on a Mac mini.

You can use the 10.5 migration assistant to recover your files from the last Time Machine backup. With a full backup, you should have no problem recovering your settings after the initial install of drive and the OS.

Jacob

Well if you still have AppleWorks 6 installed on the iBook, you can continue to run the program on a new MacBook. Migration assistant will run when you first setup your new Mac and pull over your old programs, documents, and settings. You will then want to delete your imported Apple Works preferences, but after that you can continue to use AppleWorks.

To delete the preferences, you will want to Trash the folder “Macintosh HD/Users/(YOUR USER NAME)/Library/Preferences/AppleWorks” and the file “Macintosh HD/Users/(YOUR USER NAME)/Library/Preferences/com.apple.appleworks.plist. Then start using Apple works as normal. You can then use the 30-Day trial version of iWork to see if you can import your AppleWorks documents. You may have to use AppleWorks to save the file as a Text only document.

- Jacob

There most certainly is a way to make a simple DVD directly from your camcorder. It is called an “OneStep DVD” When you open iDVD, and are asked to pick an action, chose OneStep DVD. You will then be asked to connect your Camcorder via FireWire and then Click OK. Just insert a blank DVD and walk away, letting your Mac do the rest.

Jacob

I believe that the iPod classic will not have the charging problem that you saw with the 4th Generation Nano. The Classic will most likely be the newest iPod that will charge in the iGroove dock though. Most other iPods now use the new pinning. If you want to be certain though, you can find some good deals on used fifth generation iPods on our used iPods page.

Many reports I have seen say that you can go over 4GB of RAM in your Mac Pro but not to 8GB. People who have attempted putting 8 GBs in their MacBook Pros have had stability problems. 6GB seems to be stable. I would perhaps wait and see if there is an Apple firmware update for the Unibody 15″ MacBook Pro, allowing it to support a full 8 GB of RAM like the 17″ Macbook Pros can.

Jacob

There are two places a name and email address could be stored on a basic Mac computer setup. The main place those messages get stored are in the Address Book application. In the application every contact you have saved is on a separate card. If you want to remove a person’s card you can just select the card and use the [delete] key on your keyboard to remove the entry permanently. If you want to edit the card’s data, click on the edit button bellow the displayed card.

The other location peoples’ name and email addresses are kept is in the Mail program. Mail keeps a running list of your correspondents and saves them for your quick reuse. You can edit this list by opening the Mail application and going to the Window menu. Then mouse down to “Previous Recipients.” The Previous Recipients window will contain a long list of people you have emailed. There is a Search box to help you find the one record you are looking for. Then click on the entry to highlight the name and address. Finally use the “Remove From List” button to erase the name and address.

Hope that helps,
Jacob

There is no way to convert a PowerMac G5 into an Intel-based Mac Pro. Although the cases look similar, the internals are radically different. Fortunately PowerMax has a trade-in program that will let you convert your PowerMac G5 into credit towards a Mac Pro, or other Intel Mac.

Submit a Mac trade-in request and find out how close you are to upgrading to an Intel Mac.

I hope this helps
Jacob

For the best boot times and fastest game loads, I would recommend that you make your primary drive a 300GB 15k rpm SAS drive. That should make data and applications zip on that system, the hard drive is often the bottleneck of a computer. Your second and third drives can be 1TB in size. Make them a RAID 1 to protect your data if you have no other backup strategy. Remember Time Machine only backs up the primary boot drive.

Hope that helps,
Jacob

Apple has some nice tips on moving your iTunes library off an old computer or relocating the library to another drive.

For your needs you just want to be able to transfer your files over to the new computer. Perhaps the simplest way would be to use Target Disk mode. It sounds as if just the original hard drive is showing up in Target Disk mode. You may have to set up your 120 GB hard drive as the master drive. You can do this by moving the plug on the ribbon cable, attached the original drive, over to the larger drive. Then you will need to change the pinning on the drive to “master” from “slave.” Here is a link to the pinning instructions for your drive.

Once you have the big drive set as master, you can now boot the G4 computer into Target Disk mode (boot the G4 with the [T] key held down). The 120 GB hard drive will now appear on the iMac’s desktop when you connect the two computers with a firewire cable.

You can then use the Add to Library feature to import your old iTunes library or one of the suggestions from the Apple page above.

Hope that helps,
Jacob