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2005/4/30-5/3 [Computer/SW/OS/OsX] UID:37433 Activity:moderate |
4/30 I'm thinking about getting my mom a mac mini. Right now I've got her hooked up on a Celeron in a small form factor, but I think Windows is too complicated for her. She's used to Macs from her Adult School, so I figure she'd be much more comfortable using it. The only thing is that I usually hack the firmware on these machines because she likes to watch foreign DVDs. Is it possible to do this either through hardware or software on the mac mini? I was thinking you could just watch it by compiling one of the Linux viewers on it that ignores dvd encoding or perhaps there is a similar product like anydvd for it? Also, has anyone upgraded the ram manually on these things? What sort of putty knife do I need to get? \_ Cracking open the machines is fairly easy - I've done it once without using the putty knife trick but by bending the shell just enough so that the notches don't latch on. I forgot how to do it so you'll just have to figure it out. As for the DVDs, the ability to play foreign DVDs, I thought, was based on the DVD drive itself. They're usually programmed to region 1 (U.S.) and if you put a foreign disc, it will ask you if you want to switch the region of the drive (at least OS X will do this) but you can only do this 4 or 5 times before it's permanent. \_ No, you can reflash the firmware on the DVD to use RPC1 if there is a hacked firmware, or you can bypass the DVD region checking with the right player. See original post. \_ I don't know about the region code stuff, but I know some people who have put in their own 1 gb dimm. Its not too bad, but you might scuff the enclosure if you are not careful. Take a look at OWC's DIY videos: http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/mac-mini Personally, I just ordered mine w/ a 512 MB DIMM b/c it wasn't that much more than buying one from Fry's. \_ If you can afford it, might think about an iMac G5. \_ how about VLC ? it has a Mac OSX port, no? it has buitl-in DeCSS. \_ Don't bother opening it. There's a program called Region X which lets you reset the number of region changes you have left. \_ Could you just run that on startup? Or does it take a long time? \_ Related (sort of) topic: would motd recommend a Mac mini or a Mini-ITX box for a quiet, small "media PC" sitting in the living room hooked up to a stereo & projector? I seem to recall that there are DV-out cards for the Mac Mini. -John \_ Huh? There are zero expansion slots in the Mac Mini, where would you stick the card? I think you need some sort of USB solution for this. \_ I am pleased w/ a Shuttle XPC athlon 64 PC I got to "colo" at a friend's on another continent. Very small and quiet with room for 2-3 drives, 1 PCI card and 1 AGP card, and built-in USB2, firewire, basic VGA w/ s-video out, audio, SATA controller, etc. I would think expansion matters as soon as you decide to make it a DVR too. \_ Thx for the advice--no DVR; our TV program sucks and I don't watch anyway. As for the Mac expansion, I was told once there was a slot--thanks for pointing that out. -John |
2005/4/30-5/3 [Computer/SW/WWW/Browsers] UID:37434 Activity:moderate |
4/30 In Outlook Express I get an error message everytime I check my CSUA account, although I still get my mail. I am using POP port 995 with SSL. Is there a way I can prevent this message, it's annoying: "The server you are connected to is using a security certificate that could not be verified. A certificate chain processed, but terminated in a root certificate which is not trusted by the trust provider. Do you want to continue using this server?" \_ asking Outlook question on csua motd is a bad idea. Any reason why you want to use Outlook Express at first place? \_ One (the?) reason to use Outlook as opposed to, say, Mozilla/ T-Bird is that it uses the XP MyStore as opposed to the Netscape one which has problems with some certs (esp. personal certs with non-exportable private keys.) I've just gone through this, and while OpenSSL can deal with a lot of cert-related problems, it's a bit tough for novice users to get the hang of. And if you're dealing with multiple mail profiles, including Exchange/MAPI, it has nicer calendaring/AD integration if you're lazy. -John \_ We're talking about Outlook Express, not Outlook. \_ CAPI/MyStore point holds, though. -John \_ I use it because it's easy to use and comes with XP. Why is it a bad idea to ask on the motd? \_ because it's extremely virus prone. from the message, I assume it's because csua uses a self-signed certificate. there might be a security setting you can toggle to default allow self-signed certificates. unfortunately I only know how to do this on macs. \_ Thanks for your help, by knowing CSUA uses self-signed certificates I was able to find the answer on Google. What you have to do is go to: <DEAD>soda.csua.berkeley.edu:995<DEAD> Then, when prompted, you can choose to "View the Certificate" and import it. After that your Outlook Express account won't prompt you anymore since it's stored in the IE database. Hope this helps others. \_ Thanks! 995 is the SSL POP port. FYI, I was trying to do this with another mail server using SSL IMAP. I just needed to browse to <DEAD>my-server:993<DEAD> in Internet Explorer and do the same thing. (port 993 is the default SSL IMAP port). Don't use Mozilla/Thunderbird/Netscape e-mail, but I imagine it's the same process but you need to import the cert using a Mozilla-based browser. \_ On the contrary, you don't need to deal with such roundabout nonsense with those. \_ I urge you give Mozilla Thunderbird a try. It is more intuitive to use than Outlook Express, IMHO. Further, you are stuck with the Outlook Express' file format. it's hard to do back up, restoration, and etc... and it's virus-prone. \_ For office use, I get huge attachments. Thunderbird needs to support deleting attachments like Outlook does. Can't say much for Outlook Express, though, since OE doesn't support it. |
2005/4/30-5/3 [Politics/Domestic/SocialSecurity, Politics/Domestic/California] UID:37435 Activity:nil |
4/30 These frist filibuster protesters are actually kinda creative and fun, I gotta hand it to them. http://www.princeton.edu/~petehill/filibuster.html |
2005/4/30-5/3 [Computer/SW/Apps] UID:37436 Activity:low |
4/30 What's the best PDF to WORD converter out there? I'd like to be able to highlight and scribble on it, and I don't want to go with Acrobat 7.0 solution as it's expensive and slow. Thanks. \_ You don't convert from PDF. PDF is an output format. \_ Acrobat is a PDF file *editor*. \_ Well, yes, but PDF docs are for layout. Acrobat is for touching up at best, and for adding annotations. You wouldn't want to create a document from scratch in Acrobat. \_ At least for some PDFs Acrobat Reader 7 lets you select the text, copy it and paste it into a word doc. You have to reformat the text, but it mostly works. \_ For "protected" PDFs, look at http://www.elcomsoft.com -John |
2005/4/30-5/1 [Computer/SW] UID:37437 Activity:very high 75%like:37448 |
4/30 Poll, I have X number of characters in my account. Use . if just letters, D if it is based on English words, # if it contains numbers, and % if it has weird characters: 8: D# 9: # 10: % \_ What the hell are you talking about? \_ I'm guess (s)he meant "in my account password". \_ Weird characters are what? Symbols? Characters that aren't 7-bit ASCII? |
2005/4/30-5/3 [Science/Electric, Computer/Companies/Apple] UID:37438 Activity:low |
4/30 Any suggestions for a solar panel solution for running a g4 powerbook? Do you need a special adapter/voltage controller or can you simply match the voltage requirements and trickle charge it? -scottyg \- if you are looking for something for nepal rather than car camping, i feel the solar options have too high encumberance [weight + bulkiness] \_ actually looking for something to put on my bicycle trailer for for long distance trips. I'm trying to decide between a flexible solar panel or a Brunton 25watt trifold model. -scottyg \_ I've asked about laptop solar panels on the motd before, and no one seemed to know, but several people were interested. Please let us know what you end up buying. \_ ditto. am very interested, but don't know anybody who has firsthand experience. -sax |