Mac Forum / General / Portable Macs / July 2008

Well they certainly are a quiet bunch of people,
so far as their presence on the Internet is concerned.

Nice to know there are plenty of Mac Road Warriors out there,
even if they do not tell their War Stories to others.

You have any War Stories, such as dictating email from your
Mac by voice while you are riding your turbocharged
Hayabusa motorcycle at 242 mph :

<http://www.metacafe.com/watch/951795/suzuki_hayabusa_with_turbo_vmax_39
0kmh/>

Friend of mine was clocked by a police helicopter at 225 mph.

He proudly framed that ticket above the mantle of his fireplace.

I did not ask him how much the fine was on that violation.

Mark-

I will check out that site when I fire up my "modern" Intel Mac later.

Trying to wear out this 8-yr old Lombard G3 Powerbook,
no luck, it just keeps running.

I think I might be jealous of your Speck see-though case.<g>

I also have my 15" MacBook Pro protected by a hardcase,
a Matias Laptop Armor job, which they test by dropping
on concrete from 10 feet high, then checking the Mac for
any damage whatever.  (there is none, of course)

Good grief, that site is  _really_  interesting, they even warranty
_their_  modification of a stock Intel MacBook.

Kinda makes me wonder how Apple's own warranty will be
affected by the modification, however.

Mark-

Depends a lot on how a user intends to use that Mac while
he is away from his home.   For example, I keep entirely
different files and app's on my different Macs.

While at home, it is trivial for me to access another Mac.

On the road, it is a major pain, need special app's, special
network connections, etc.

...and I mean  _really_  special hardware/software.

Such as, if I get a hard freeze on my home Mac, then I
of course can not physically press the "power" button
on that home Mac very well, can I.

If force-quit does not work, then home Mac sits there,
frying its insides with hot temperatures.

No thank you.

I kludged up a special relay just for that possibility.

A remotely controlled relay.

Output wires from that relay short out the power button
for 5 seconds, doing the same thing a person would do if
that person wanted to physically press the power button
for 5 seconds.

Minor (invisible) modification, totally undetectable if
later I needed to send the Mac to Apple for warranty
covered repairs.

Not surreal at all that someone might consider there to be
substantial differences between a desktop Mac Pro versus
a battery powered MacBook Pro.

I consider it to be an "acceptable norm" to acknowledge that
there are  _major_  differences existing between a desktop
Mac Pro compared to a battery powered MacBook Pro.

1) Weight/portability/bulk

2) Speed of operation
(multiple full sized drives vs single 2.5" drive)

3) Power availability

4) Sheer amount of internal ram  (16GB vs 4GB)

Mark-

Hmm, interesting.    Better check my S/S pension to see
whether I have enough extra to pay their wages.

My  _blue_  financial records would list the PA's as
medicare required nurses.

My  _red_  financial records would list then as PA's.

Already have my business limo' covered under medicare
as medically necessary transportation.

Mark-

Hey, watch it fella, I was one of them thar
sanitation engineers.  ;-)

Worked for a research outfit.

Asked them what my job was supposed to be, and they said
it was to "clean up" the bugs in the old Surveyor series of
robot spacecraft, so I assumed they meant I was some sort
of sanitation engineer.  Worked there for 34 years.

Those old robot spacecraft paved the way for the Appolo
guys, because at the time no one knew much about the
Moons surface.

Some thought the surface was covered with many feet of
soft powdered soil, and that the Appolo spacecraft would
"sink into" that soft powdery soil when it landed.

That idea was quickly dispelled when we almost lost one
of our robot Surveyor spacecraft, from it bouncing around
on the hard surface of the Moon when it landed.

Oh there  _was_  a fine layer of powdered soil, but it was
only a few inches thick, over a very hard igneous rock base.

Yeah I guess that is one way of looking at it.

In my case, I hole up at a hotel, usually a very upscale hotel,
get my initial computer "contacts" out of the way in that city,
then sit back and revert to a "regular Mac user" afterwards.
(whatever the h***  a  regular-Mac-user  is)

As for being creative, I don't have a creative bone in my body,
so you are correct there.

Always admired creative types of people, however.

The really creative people need us drones  y'know, because
they consider it an insult to dirty their hands
with mundane work  :)

Mark-

I kind of thought that mobile Mac users had special
requirements because of the nature of their work
environment, namely being on the road constantly.

But guess you are correct, why should any Mac user
operate substantially differently, just
because he/she is "on the road".

Very interesting read.   :)

Just wish there were a NG or somewhere that tips etc
could be exchanged.

If I need more power than I can carry, I cry a lot.

Been thinking of supplementing my MacBooks with
a long-life PDA for such occassions.

Now iPhones are too limited on battery life to serve
that purpose.  iPhones are great for another purpose
however, great for a Mac user who wants to be
super-organized as regards appointments, and synching
every Mac in sight so no matter which of your Macs that
you grab, all your files, photos, etc. would be there,
except movie clips, they take too much space.

Wow, you and your family have to be the ultimate
road warriors!

What I really miss is the ability to have Internet
connectivity from a commercial aircraft from
mid-ocean.  Few years ago that was available from
several oriental airlines and one German airline
for an added $25 fee.   No US airlines had it however.

Boeing Aircraft controlled the entire system, chopped off
support for it a few years ago because not enough
people were using the service.   grrr

Hmm, one would think those rich  a-a-rabs would have
supplied a loaner Mac to you  ;-)

Guess if the display went out altogether, you might have
been able to operate that Mac "headless" via Timbuktu.
(remote control software, version 8.7)

I use TB2 quite a bit, when I take an 8-year old "Lombard"
powerbook to crime ridden countries, where I can remotely
control all my expensive "home" Macs.

Hinge is semi-broken on this old Mac, but I can't kill it
much as I try, using it 24/7, even writting these posts
with it.  This old powerbook has a blazing fast 400MHz
CPU in it  ;-)

With the following utility, I can turn on any of my
home Macs easily, even if those home Macs are
battery operated models.
(not merely wake them from sleep but turn them on/off)

Use a UK utility named "DssW Power Manager"

http://www.dssw.co.uk/powermanager/

You have to be careful though, because they push it for its
energy saving features which I am not interested in.

Awkward GUI interface designed to turn Macs on in
schools, laboratories, etc. which I do not use at all.

Instead, I use the "+" symbol to "cut my own"
minute-by-minute, day-by-day schedule, which I can
remotely change at any time with regular TB2 sessions.

Lets me control my home MacBooks in this fashion:

10:00AM - - - power on (Monday, July 24, 2008)
10:03AM - - - sleep
10:04AM - - - wake up
10:05AM - - - sleep
10:06AM - - - wake up
10:07AM - - - log off
10:08AM - - - shut down completely
11:17AM - - - power on
etc., etc.

Adding to PowerManagers capabilities, I also have a
hardware/software device named "PowerKey 650",
the administrative version from Sophisticated Circuits.

<http://www.sophisticated.com/products/powerkey/pkp_650.html>

heh heh, I use that to do such things as:

1) Remotely holding down the "Power" button of a badly
    frozen Intel Mac Mini for 5 seconds by placing an
    ordinary touch-tone phone call to my house.

...don't ask, if I told you how, I would have to kill you.
(just kidding, ask if you want)

2) Turning on/off sprinklers, home security systems, etc.

Security of PowerKey itself is adequate.

I phone my house, then when PowerKey "answers the phone"
after a specified number of rings, say two for example,
it then "listens" for me to type in a coded string of digits
which tell it what to do.

STILL wish there was a NG or forum expressly devoted to
operating computers on-the-road, or even a community
service type of blog.

...and no, I am too lazy to start one myself.<g>

Mark-