Kibbles & Bytes Blog

  • iPod & iPhone Software Updates

    When iPod was first introduced, and up until late 2006 or so, there was a standalone utility that ran checked for and installed software and firmware updates for iPods. The iPod Update Utility was a simple item that was saved in your Utilities folder and automatically launched when anything new was available. One great feature of this simple updater is that it archived each update so subsequent updates to other iPods did not need to be re-download.

    Nowadays, iPod updates come directly through iTunes. If there’s anything new when you plug in your iPod, iTunes will alert you and ask whether you’d like to apply them. Because part of my job is to rest and refurbish used iPods, I find myself needing to perform these updates all the time; our rural location also means we don’t have the fastest internet access, so not having to re-download updates is a boon.

    While the iPod Update Utility stored the update files in plain view, iTunes tucks them away in your User’s library folder at ~/Library/iTunes/iPod Software Update. This file is only accessible to the user currently logged in, so if you have multiple users on your computer, each update will download once per user.

    As the iPod operating system (commonly called iPhone OS) grows more robust in features and stability, it also grows considerably in size. Under the new paradigm, the old versions of the software are not updated and replaced, but a new version is added to the User’s folder at the cost of 225MB or more per update. Weeding out older updates will help in conserving hard drive space when you come upon the ceiling of storage for your machine.

    Another thing to consider if you have an iPod that fails to update is that maybe it is one of the updater files that is corrupted. If your iPod seems dead and you can’t restore it, try removing the updater files from ~/Library/iTunes/iPod Software Update. Restart iTunes and let the updates come down again, and you may just be lucky enough to get that iPod up and running again.

  • Get More Out of Netboot with DeployStudio

    Here in our Small Dog Support room we’ve begun the process of giving our server a much-needed sprucing up. After clinging to our last generation Power Mac G5 for as long as we could we have finally moved to a Mac Pro and have made the switch from our beloved, but outdated, NetRestore to the hipper and more functional “DeployStudio.”:http://www.deploystudio.com/Home.html

    I’ve been playing with “DeployStudio”:http://www.deploystudio.com/Home.html for several months now and have been very impressed with its endless features. The first big question that I’m sure you’re asking is, “What the heck __is__ “DeployStudio?”:http://www.deploystudio.com/Home.html” It’s a set of netboot tools that includes an interface that helps automate master image creation and restore to machines across the local network. The features go far beyond stationary image creation and restore by supporting customized workflows including drive partitioning, multiple-OS restores, User creation, Open and Active Directory Binding, and even full scripting support. Beyond full image deployment, it’s also possible to send individual packages across the network for easy updating.

    There are several ways DeployStudio can be an exciting addition to the netboot service in Server. My first experience with it was setting it up for a local school district who, up until now, has been imaging their Macs one at a time. With DeployStudio, they’re now able to create an image on one machine, netboot that machine to their Mac mini running 10.6 Server, create the master image and then netboot an entire lab of machines and let them restore from that master overnight. After restore, the workflow they’ve created in DeployStudio binds each of the machines to their Active Directory server, installs custom printers, and authenticates Adobe software. Basically, it eliminates their need to go machine to machine to tweak things after imaging. Talk about a time saver!

    In our shop, we have a few specialized needs for DeployStudio. It’s a simple way to run customer backups directly to our server; just netboot the machine and create a master image from the customer’s machine. We also create master images from brand new machines so we can quickly and easily restore machines that are returned or exchanged. This also helps us image drives when we perform hard drive replacements or Erase and Installs for customers.

    Netbooting machines can also be a great troubleshooting technique. For example, if a machine will not boot from its internal hard drive, but has no problem netbooting, we know the issue is with the software or hardware of the computer’s internal hard drive. We also use our own Netboot Image (NBI) that includes some of our favorite troubleshooting software, such as Disk Warrior, Drive Genius and Data Rescue, for an even better troubleshooting solution. Using netboot functions for troubleshooting and restore, as opposed to external hard drives or CDs, saves us space, money, and the hassle of keeping several drives up-to-date.

    Our IT department is jumping on board too, and is using DeployStudio to deploy new images and updates to our work stations. One of the big allures of DeployStudio is the security features. One can set DeployStudio to require authentication upon netboot, transfers can be encrypted across the network, and machines allowed to netboot can be limited by MAC address, group, or several other criteria. The features are not only robust, but since the software is Open Source it’s constantly being updated and the source code is fully available for your tweaking pleasure.

    Obviously, DeployStudio is not for everyone. One of cons (though some of us find it a pro) of Open Source software is that no one is going to hold your hand through the process. There are great forums available on the “DeployStudio”:http://www.deploystudio.com/Home.html website, but I do recommend only undertaking the setup if you have some basic experience with Mac OS X Server and the patience to make adjustments to your setup as needed. As for hardware requirements, the software can be run in Mac OS 10.4-10.6.2, but to take advantage of the netboot functions you will need Mac OS X Server running 10.4 or higher; my experience has been in 10.5.8 and 10.6.2 Server. That also means that you need a machine that can handle “Mac OS X Server.”:http://www.apple.com/server/macosx/ To get the process running smoothly, I also recommend using gigabit ethernet across the network. It’s __never__ recommended to netboot wirelessly.

    If you’re feeling adventurous and decide to give “DeployStudio”:http://www.deploystudio.com/Home.html a try, I’d love to hear how you use it and how it works for you!

  • Happy Tuesday,

    With afternoon temperatures in the fifties, mud season in full effect, and daylight at 7PM, Spring is almost here. Then again, we had a St. Patrick’s Day snowstorm a few years ago that left us with over two feet heading in to April. I’ll take one mud season over two, thank you very much.

    Years ago I oversaw hundreds of Macs at a local college across two campuses. It was a bit harder then than it is now. Under Mac OS X 10.3 “Panther” Server, there were simply NetBoot and NetRestore services used to push system images across the network to laboratory and mobile workstations. I had to manually change the Xserve’s subnet to broadcast to machines, as NetBooting across subnets was not easily or reliably done.

    Things have come a long way, and Rebecca wrote a detailed article on Deploy Studio, the modern-day replacement for managing deployments.

    I hope you enjoy this issue. As always, keep in touch.

    Matt
    “matt@smalldog.com”:mailto:matt@smalldog.com

  • The Skinny on Pages' TOC

    Pages is one of those apps that really filled a void in my world. Word was slow and cumbersome (and pre-version 2008 for…

  • Save $20 on the Buffalo Technologies 320GB MiniStation Metro Portable USB 2.0 Hard Drive in Ruby Red: $74.99! Because we want to give…

  • Notable Press Mentions of Apple This Week

    There were a couple of notable mentions of the reliability and lifetime low cost of administering Apple computers this week. First, Consumer Reports…

  • I am heading out for my mud season vacation on Sunday. Grace and I will be heading down to Belize to the Jaguar Reef and will be doing a combination of scuba diving, relaxing and avoiding the muddy roads in Vermont.

    Kali and Ed have got you covered for Kibbles & Bytes, Tony is watching Hammerhead and Hapy is taking care of Fantail Shrimp so I’ll be on the beach if you need me.

    Thank you so much for reading this issue of Kibbles & Bytes. We know that it is you, our customers, that is the lifeblood of our business. We hope that you will help us maintain our very high repeat business and word-of-mouth advertising rates that make us strong. We give you our unabashed commitment to providing only the very best in customer satisfaction!

    Your Kibbles & Bytes Team,
    _Don, Kali & Ed_

  • FEATURED SPECIAL: 03/12/10 – 03/19/10

    This week we wanted to bring some attention to the MiLi Power Pack Extended Battery for iPhone. This is one of the most cost-effective battery/case combos on the market for the iPhone.

    As anyone with an iPhone knows, battery life isn’t one of the iPhone’s best features. It’s easy to run out of battery power in the course of a single busy day.

    The MiLi provides an additional 6.5 hours of talk time on the iPhone 3G and 13.5 hours of talk time on iPhone 2G. When the iPhone is idle, the MiLi provides 390 hours of additional standby time. The MiLi Power Pack enables you to talk and surf twice as long. We have a blue version and a while version on sale for just $49.99.

  • Notable Apple Press Mentions This Week

    There were a couple of notable mentions of the reliability and lifetime low cost of administering Apple computers this week.

    First, Consumer Reports published the latest results of its tech support survey. Apple came out on top of the charts for both desktops and laptops (er, notebooks). The report was based on feedback from over 7,000 subscribers about their satisfaction with problem solving, hold time, phone staff and online support.

    In notebooks, Apple scored 86 points while the #2 company, Lenovo, had only 63 points. That’s an impressive margin of 23 points. Apple’s desktops rating was 87 total points, far exceeding second-place Dell with just 55 points.

    Second, CIO (a magazine for chief information officers) reported that “Macs in the enterprise aren’t just cheaper to manage—they’re a lot cheaper.” That comes from a survey of 260 IT administrators in large U.S. companies with both Macs and PCs who are involved in some degree with IT cost calculations.

    Enterprise Desktop Alliance members include Centrify, Absolute Software, Group Logic, Web Help Desk, and most recently IBM.
    Released by the Enterprise Desktop Alliance.

    The report went on to say that 65 percent of respondents said it costs less to troubleshoot Macs than PCs, 19 percent said they spent the same on both computers, and only 16 percent said they spent less to manage PCs than Macs.

    With Macs dominating in almost every cost category, why would 16 percent claim they spent less troubleshooting PCs? “It might be an [issue] of expertise of the IT staff,” says Tom Cromlin, spokesperson for the Enterprise Desktop Alliance. “They’re probably more comfortable troubleshooting PCs.”

    Click here to read the entire report from CIO. At Small Dog, we’ve long said that Macs are less expensive to administer than PCs. Glad to see yet another report confirming this.

  • The Skinny on Pages' TOC

    Pages is one of those apps that really filled a void in my world. Word was slow and cumbersome (and pre-version 2008 for Mac, not very pretty) and AppleWorks never transitioned into the vibrant OS X “Cocoa”:http://developer.apple.com/technologies/mac/cocoa.html world.

    While I know the application pretty darn well by this point, I’m always excited when I learn something new. *Case in point: the automatically-populating Table of Contents feature.*

    If you’re writing a paper that needs a Table of Contents, there’s no reason to do it manually. When done correctly, the TOC will display your Heading styles and apply a page number to them, and then update on the fly while you’re making changes. If you haven’t used it before, you should–but there are some initially perplexing things about the formatting, so here are some tips:

    * Heading styles are found in the *Styles Drawer,* the window that appears to the right or left of the document you’re working on. (Note: if you don’t see it, click the View icon at the top of your document and select Show Styles Drawer.)

    * Each page of your document should be its own Section; select *Section Break* in the Insert menu to break out each page.

    * Once you have broken out your pages into Sections, your TOC should show each *Heading* (Heading 1, Heading 2, etc.) with an assigned page.

    * To edit what is shown in the TOC, click on the *Documents section* of the Inspector, and select TOC. There, you can check or uncheck any number of options to show.

    * The individual Section preferences are found in the *Layout section* of the Inspector. This is where you can designate your pagination.

    * You can control your pagination by selecting either *”Continue from previous section”* or *”Start at: [put your page number here]”* under Section in the Layout part of the Inspector.

    * *Important:* If you want to have your document start at ‘1’ __after__ the TOC, you need to select “Continue…” on both the cover page (if you have one) and the TOC and select “Start at: 1” on the first actual page of your document.

    * The font, font size, line spacing, etc. are all editable in the TOC using the *Text section* of the Inspector. And even though they are linked, you can make your page numbers a different size than the rest of the text in the TOC.

    Anyone else out there a Pages fangirl or fanboy? “Send us your comments!”:mailto:kali@smalldog.com

  • _Dear Friends,_

    The snow is melting and we are seeing some signs of spring besides the maple sugaring going on around us. I’ve seen a few motorcycles on the road, the birds are singing in the morning and people seem to be ready for the changes in the seasons. I’m seeing short pants and sandals even though the temps are still in the 30s and 40s.

    Our tax-free day was an amazing success with sales exceeding the back-to-school tax free day in August. We had happy customers, happy employees and one very long day. I worked all day Friday, went home got some dinner and then headed up to S. Burlington with Hammer for the all night 24 hour event. We had a rush of customers at midnight, but by 1:30 AM it slowed down and we had 2-3 sets of customers per hour throughout the night with a lot of nurses and doctors and ambulance drivers stopping in.

    I kicked Kali and Katie’s butts in a marathon game of Crazy Eights and consumed my weight in coffee. Hammerhead seemed to enjoy himself during the night time hours playing ball with the staff but he was really in his element as the store “greeter” as the customers started pouring in first thing in the morning.

    Early afternoon, I came down to Waitsfield and the store there was going strong and phone traffic was busy. I stayed around for a bit but hit the wall and headed home around 3. Now, that was a lot of hours for me, going about 32 hours straight but Katie was there for almost the entire time and I think she was well over 40 hours. The whole Small Dog team was on their A game and we had fun and sold a lot of Macs, too!

    I have some exciting news that I can now pass along. Small Dog Electronics retail stores in Waitsfield and S. Burlington have been selected by Apple as two of the locations that will be authorized to sell both the Wi-Fi and 3G versions of the iPad. We are so excited about this opportunity and hope to have the products soon after they are released from Apple. I am very pleased that we will be carrying this next awesome product from Apple and cannot wait to get my hands on one! The iPad will be exclusively available at Small Dog Electronics retail stores and not online. We will start taking pre-orders for the iPad on Monday!