Rogue Amoeba blog on the sad state of Mac Hardware

Quentin Carnicelli recently posed a great article on the sad state of upgrades across the whole line of the Macintosh Computers. Basically it comes down to the fact that other than the iMac Pro which came out in December (half a year ago) there isn't a single mac that has been updated in a year.This is really a sad state. And the Mac Mini has been almost 4 years without an update or a price drop for old as hell hardware. Macs used to at least get processor upgrades once in a while with the form staying the same, but it seems we are not even getting that anymore.Apple really has become a phone company that occasionally releases some new computer hardware.And this makes me worry even more for the supposed new MacPro which we will learn about in 2019! Honestly no computer should take 3 years to design and ship. Especially when what Pros really want is the old cheese-grater with updated hardware. All the hints at a modular design really scares me. I don't want modular, I want upgradeable with off the shelf PC components. Not some proprietary monstrosity that is upgradeable with over-expensive modules that only follow Apple's upgrade schedule, which is slow at best. And most of us want some choice, mostly the choice to use NVIDIA graphics cards and not have to run it externally via thunderbolt which is not and never will be as fast as a 16x PCI bus.

Simon Wyndham on RedShark News on him considering leaving the Mac for Windows Editing

Simon Wyndham at RedShark News has a good read on why he is considering moving back to PC after the lackluster Pro Laptops and the lack of a real Pro Mac.Now I have been saying this for years now. I don't want to leave Mac, as I like it much better than Windows, but Windows has really become superior for Professional Computer work. There is not the choice with Mac, and the fact that the MacPro is from 2013 and itself has no upgrade ability really limits the Mac. Sure I could go Hackintosh, but working on a Quo at work I have seen the issues with upgrading, and don't really want to deal with it.Apple has given up on the creative professional, and Microsoft has stepped up. Look at the next Windows Update for Creatives, and the Suface, Surface Book, and Surface Studio are really for creatives!I think Apple is making a huge mistake by not making machines for the market that kept them afloat through all the bad years, but Tim Cook doesn't seem to agree, and Apple will suffer for it.

Still fixing my iTunes Library after disasterous update to El Capitan

After my disasterous update to El Capitan which tanked my iTunes Library, I am still working on cleaning it up!I have fixed the music, and re-rated all my tracks, and only lost about 20 tracks out of my 40,000 plus itunes library, but now I am working on video and that is such a mess. So many tracks have been randomly renamed! I have to go through and watch some of them and figure out what they are and rename them! All I can say is never move your iTunes library to an external Synology as it just ruined my iTunes library completely!

iTunes update

So I have been spending all the time I can re-rating my iTunes Library, and so far I am only in D! This is going to literally take forever! Such a pain. And it seems to have been slowing down the more things I rate or make playlists, but that seems to have changed.iTunes updated to version 12.3.2.35 recently, which allows for 100,000 songs in iTunes Match, and iTunes seems to have sped up again, no more beachballs all the time. Nice! Lets hope it stays this way! This is such an improvement. My almost 50,000 library seems zippy again!

ITunes Spindump

I am posting my iTunes Spindump from iTunes burning my CPU to try to get it fixed, so I am posting it here.
Date/Time:       2015-10-30 18:06:05 -0700OS Version:      Mac OS X 10.11.1 (Build 15B42)Architecture:    x86_64Report Version:  19
Command:         iTunesPath:            /Applications/iTunes.app/Contents/MacOS/iTunesVersion:         12.3.1 (12.3.1.23)Build Version:   2Project Name:    iTunesSource Version:  1200012003001023Parent:          launchd [1]PID:             724
Event:           cpu usage (microstackshots only)Thread:          0x99dc (89% cpu over 102 seconds)Duration:        102.00sSteps:           100
Hardware model:  MacPro4,1Active cpus:     16
Fan speed:       1327 rpm

Powerstats for:  iTunes [724] thread 0x99dcUUID:            89930B69-4818-3148-B8D9-56EB65C5C28DStart time:      2015-10-30 18:06:08 -0700End time:        2015-10-30 18:07:46 -0700Parent:          launchdMicrostackshots: 43 samples (43%)Primary state:   43 samples Frontmost App, User mode, Thread QoS User InteractiveUser Activity:   0 samples Idle, 43 samples ActivePower Source:    0 samples on Battery, 43 samples on AC  43 start + 1 (libdyld.dylib) [0x7fff8fb075ad]    43 ??? (iTunes + 8910016) [0x10a3ed4c0]      43 -[NSApplication run] + 231 (AppKit) [0x7fff9991eb65]        43 -[NSApplication finishLaunching] + 354 (AppKit) [0x7fff9991f022]          43 -[NSNotificationCenter postNotificationName:object:userInfo:] + 66 (Foundation) [0x7fff8d3600fa]            43 _CFXNotificationPost + 693 (CoreFoundation) [0x7fff93525925]              43 -[_CFXNotificationRegistrar find:object:observer:enumerator:] + 1922 (CoreFoundation) [0x7fff935266d2]                43 ___CFXNotificationPost_block_invoke + 50 (CoreFoundation) [0x7fff93569912]                  43 _CFXRegistrationPost + 407 (CoreFoundation) [0x7fff93569ba7]                    43 ___CFXRegistrationPost_block_invoke + 63 (CoreFoundation) [0x7fff93569c2f]                      43 __CFNOTIFICATIONCENTER_IS_CALLING_OUT_TO_AN_OBSERVER__ + 12 (CoreFoundation) [0x7fff93569c9c]                        41 ??? (iTunes + 6391274) [0x10a1865ea]                          41 ??? (iTunes + 6365930) [0x10a1802ea]                            41 ??? (iTunes + 8751069) [0x10a3c67dd]                              41 ??? (iTunes + 9629611) [0x10a49cfab]                                41 ??? (iTunes + 2493126) [0x109dceac6]                                  41 ??? (iTunes + 9343854) [0x10a45736e]                                    41 ??? (iTunes + 9344851) [0x10a457753]                                      41 ??? (iTunes + 9267015) [0x10a444747]                                        41 ??? (iTunes + 9366605) [0x10a45cc4d]                                          41 ??? (iTunes + 2207291) [0x109d88e3b]                                            41 ??? (iTunes + 2134647) [0x109d77277]                                              41 ??? (iTunes + 2457875) [0x109dc6113]                                                41 ??? (iTunes + 9343854) [0x10a45736e]                                                  41 ??? (iTunes + 9344851) [0x10a457753]                                                    41 ??? (iTunes + 9267015) [0x10a444747]                                                      41 ??? (iTunes + 9366605) [0x10a45cc4d]                                                        41 ??? (iTunes + 2383951) [0x109db404f]                                                          41 ??? (iTunes + 2384211) [0x109db4153]                                                            41 ??? (iTunes + 9506337) [0x10a47ee21]                                                              41 ??? (iTunes + 2369361) [0x109db0751]                                                                41 ??? (iTunes + 2377627) [0x109db279b]                                                                  41 ??? (iTunes + 9506486) [0x10a47eeb6]                                                                    41 ??? (iTunes + 10003040) [0x10a4f8260]                                                                      41 ??? (iTunes + 9984753) [0x10a4f3af1]                                                                        41 ??? (iTunes + 9993163) [0x10a4f5bcb]                                                                          41 ??? (iTunes + 3543453) [0x109ecf19d]                                                                            41 ??? (iTunes + 13745676) [0x10a889e0c]                                                                              41 ??? (iTunes + 13751739) [0x10a88b5bb]                                                                                41 ??? (iTunes + 13752703) [0x10a88b97f]                                                                                  41 ??? (iTunes + 13709309) [0x10a880ffd]                                                                                    23 ??? (iTunes + 13705429) [0x10a8800d5]                                                                                      18 ??? (iTunes + 11954139) [0x10a6d47db]                                                                                      4  ??? (iTunes + 11954152) [0x10a6d47e8]                                                                                        3  ??? (iTunes + 15014107) [0x10a9bf8db]                                                                                      1  ??? (iTunes + 11954136) [0x10a6d47d8]                                                                                    15 ??? (iTunes + 13705394) [0x10a8800b2]                                                                                      6  ??? (iTunes + 11954139) [0x10a6d47db]                                                                                      5  ??? (iTunes + 11954152) [0x10a6d47e8]                                                                                        2  ??? (iTunes + 15014107) [0x10a9bf8db]                                                                                        1  ??? (iTunes + 15014122) [0x10a9bf8ea]                                                                                        1  ??? (iTunes + 15014109) [0x10a9bf8dd]                                                                                        1  ??? (iTunes + 15014094) [0x10a9bf8ce]                                                                                      2  ??? (iTunes + 11954136) [0x10a6d47d8]                                                                                      1  ??? (iTunes + 11954144) [0x10a6d47e0]                                                                                      1  ??? (iTunes + 15014088) [0x10a9bf8c8]                                                                                    3  ??? (iTunes + 13705889) [0x10a8802a1]                                                                                      3  ??? (iTunes + 8381776) [0x10a36c550]                                                                                        2  CFStringCompareWithOptionsAndLocale + 9083 (CoreFoundation) [0x7fff934eb39b]                                                                                          2  _CFCompareStringsWithLocale + 6189 (CoreFoundation) [0x7fff935a7fbd]                                                                                            1  __CompareTextDefault + 102 (CoreFoundation) [0x7fff935a81d6]                                                                                              1  icu::RuleBasedCollator::setAttribute(UColAttribute, UColAttributeValue, UErrorCode&) + 387 (libicucore.A.dylib) [0x7fff9d517c63]                                                                                                1  icu::CollationFastLatin::getOptions(icu::CollationData const*, icu::CollationSettings const&, unsigned short*, int) +…

El Capitan and iTunes major problems

So if you read my blog you know I have been having major issues with El Capitan, so much so that I did a fresh install on another hard drive, but it did not fix either my Messages issues or my issues with iTunes.iTunes has just been incredibly slow. Like so slow it is unusable with constant beachballs. It just barely functions, and even then not much. It is just a mess. I tried what I could, running Diskwarrior and TechTool Pro as well as fixing permissions to see if it would fix anything, but it didn't so I decided to re-import my Library.This should not be a hard process as it just involves removing the iTunes Library.itl and iTunes Library.xml file from the iTunes folder (SAVE THEM THOUGH), then restarting iTunes. One step they don't tell is that if you Medua is on an external drive, then open itunes and set the Media to that location and the go to Library and import the XML you moved .Now this took quite a long time for me as it basically brought up a dialogue for every iOS app saying it was already there, either older, newer or the same, and the do the same for all check box did nothing. So about 12 hours later I had my library imported again, and low and behold, while everything i back with proper metadata, iTunes is once again unusable.Just frozen with a beachball.It is all also pegging my processor (or at least some of them as shown from Activity Monitor. And is sending up a slew of messages in the console, including that it is pegging the processor.And is is basically beachballing and unusable!I don't want to lose my whole iTunes Library, which I have literally worked years on! WHAT THE HELL! This is ridiculous, between the iCloud issues and iTunes being completely fucked, El Capitan is the worst update to OS X I have ever used, and I have used them all!

Larry Jordan has a good article on how Disk Utility has been emasulated in OS X El Capitan

Larry Jordan has a good in depth article on the emasculation of Disk Utility in OS X El Capitan. He goes into how Soft Raid is the best solution to create software Raids in El Capitan.Of course Soft Raid has always been a better solution than Disk Utility, but it is also a $179 solution to something that you used to be able to do for Free in Disk Utility!

Major Problems with El Capitan: Continued

So I forgot some things in my last post and have since upgraded to 10.11.1 and wanted to share some more on my issues with El Capitan.Photos no longer remembers my photo library and instead asks every time which one to use, though if it just used the last one it used it would be fine, but instead it starts up and says it can't use the current library and I need to chose one. Fun fun fun.Next continues from a problem I mentioned the last time. Because of the new security features of El Capitan, of which there are no fine controls, certain applications must ask permission to function, and you must give that permission every time you use them. One such program is iTeleport Connect, which I use to VPN into my computer. So when I restart it no longer can log into it, I must type in my Admin password to make it work. The problem arises when I must remotely restart my machine, or even worse when I do a system update.Since I run a PC based NVIDIA GTX 670 as my graphics card, when I do a system update, it doesn't function until the latest NVIDIA driver is installed. Previously what I had done, is install the update, wait for it to restart and then use iTeleport Connect to VPN into my computer and install the newest NVIDIA driver, and walla, when I restart my video card is working fine and I can go about my day. Since El Capitan no longer allows iTeleport to work without first entering my Admin Password, and since after a system update I can no longer see my computer, I have to pull my video card and re-install my old GTX 270 the machine came with, and then update the NVIDIA drive, restart to make the driver work, then shut down and install my GTX 670 and then start up. Then I have a working video card. Much more of a pain than being able to VPN in and install using my iPad. If I had money I would get a new video card that is flashed for Mac, so I could install the new driver, but I can't afford that.And now we come to the 10.11.1 update. Not only did I have to do the swapping video cards rigmarole to get my computer up again, but when I restarted the system was lets shall we say funky. I couldn't open some programs and many of my system preferences didn't work, they just wouldn't launch. And the best part was the fix. I ran the latest version of Onyx, and repaired Disk Permissions, and when I restarted everything functioned again. So obviously the new internal Permissions Repair did not work correctly, and with Disk Utility no longer having that functionality I had to use a 3rd party software to fix the System Install and allow things to work again!And I was hoping this would fix my Messages not being…

Scott Simmons at PVC has started a series on a Mac Editor switching to PC, well worth a read

Scott Simmons at the Pro Video Coalition was given a Dell Workstation laptop and has started a series on Editing on it after being used to Mac for years. The article is just getting started on it, but it is an interesting read and I look forward to reading more about it.Personally I never edit on a laptop and do most of my editing on a Mac Tower (or even a QUO hackintosh at one place I work), but with the "new MacPro" (I put in quotes since it has been so long since the trashcan has been released without a single update) I have started to think that my next edit system may very well be a PC Workstation with an NVIDIA TITAN graphics card instead of the MacPro trashcan.