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Tips:

• It can be done, easily.
• Need a [Mini DisplayPort to VGA Adapter]
  • (Not to be confused with Mini DVI to VGA Adaptor)
• Under Boot Camp > Windows 7:
  • Initially, it chose to “mirror” (identical, not reflections) the displays, with the external display as the primary, and the laptop’s own display as the secondary, its resolution reduced to match the primary (and aspect ratio to match also).
  • Instead want “Extended Desktop” with laptop as primary and at its normal full resolution.
  • On a standard Windows PC there are keyboard keys to switch between such modes, but the MacBook keyboard has no obvious equivalent
    • Maybe some web-trawling could reveal suchlike, but my initial search revealed nothing.
  • Desktop >RtClk> NVIDIA Control Panel
    • Set up multiple displays
      • MacBook’s own display is listed as [Apple Color LCD], as Display [2].
      • RtClk one of the “screen” depictions and select [Extend desktop on this display]
      • (Now I had extended desktop, but in the wrong order, i.e. with external as prmary)
  • Control Panel > Display > Change display settings
    • Can drag-swap the two displaysinto the  order you prefer.

My girlfriend has one of these, ethernet-connected to her router and thus available on her home network.  However, in order for any computer, Windows or Mac (what about linux?) to access it, it is necessary (aside from any hacky-workarounds that may possibly exist) to install the Iomega Home Storage Manager.   This makes volume(s) offered by the NAS appear, on the Mac in Finder under SHARED, or on a Windows machine as additional drive letter(s).

To acquire the Iomega Home Storage Manager, go to https://iomega-eu-en.custhelp.com/app/platform/p/1031,1043 or else try https://iomega-eu-en.custhelp.com/ and click on [Desktop Network Storage > Home Media Network Hard Drive].  May need to establish and login-to an iomega support account (free) first.

I wondered at first about enabling the NAS as a Mac OS Time Machine (backup) disk.  An iomega article I saw suggested that should be possible, for iomega firmware 2.0 and above.  But the disk as it stands is NTFS-formatted - because when it was set up we had only Windows machines.  Now that disk contains much material in that NTFS.  I guess it might be possible to partrition the disk e.g. to keep the existing NTFS and add alongside it a HFS+ partition for Time Machine to use.  But it’s guesswork that carries risks (of disruption/damage to existing contents).  We want an easy geeking-minimal life, so maybe better to repurpose that NAS and get a purpose-made Apple Time Capsule instead. Either way, the evening wears on, so I’ll shelve that idea/investigation for now…

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My girlfriend’s MacBook laptop, at every system-startup, was giving the error popup: “To open NovamediaDiskSupressor, you need to install Rosetta. Would you like to install it now?”.  Caution dictated a negative user-response to this.  It was just plain annoying.

Web-search (on full error-message) revealed NovamediaDiskSupressor to be non-mal, but to be a support software needed by Vopdafone’s cell-wireless dongle of a couple or so years ago.  I don’t know if Vodafone have improved things since then, but I also had issues with it under Windows 7, where its firmware installed drivers incompatible with that OS.  So basically the whole dongle was a nuisance.

How to uninstall it (from Mac OS Snow Leopard):

• I dragged the Vodafone app to Trash
• …BUT :
  • that is not sufficient, further cleaning-up required, as below…
  • Also, when I tried to empty the trash, error popup said: `The operation can’t be completed because the item “Mac_SwapperDemon” is in use’.
    • Maybe it will work following reboot?

According to advice posted at http://benmenson.blogspot.com/2009/12/removing-vodafone-malware-that-spoils.html, repeating that at http://tumblr.mloughran.com/post/173997552/removing-vodafone-malware-that-spoils-the-snow-leopard:

• Remove the following from /Library/LaunchAgents/
  • cn.com.zte.usbswapper.plist
  • de.novamedia.NovamediaDiskSupressor
  • {Those were the only entries in this folder}
• Remove
  • mac_swapperdemon
    • from system preferences user > accounts > user login items
    • {BUT no items were listed there at all, let alone that one}
• Remove
  • /Library/Application support/Vodafone
  • /Applications/Vodafone mobile connect
• Update: also discovered some kernel extensions to remove
  • sudo rm: {OR just Trash them via Finder, I discovered}
    • /System/Library/Extensions/USBExpressCardCantWake_Huawei.kext
    • /System/Library/Extensions/ZTEUSBCDCACMControl.kext
    • /System/Library/Extensions/ZTEUSBCDCACMData.kext

Back in early 2010, I bought a MacBook Pro.  Like my existing Mac Pro desktop it had a FireWire 800 (FW800) port, but unlike the Mac desktop that port would only function under Mac OS, not Boot Camp > Windows.  The desktop had Windows XP 32-bit while the MacBook had Windows 7 64-bit.

In a prolonged attempt (the latter half of 2010) I did a lot of searching, browsing, emailing, phoning and conversing to try to find out if it was “just me” or a recognised issue.   The main source of misleading answers to the effect that many had never had that problem was that those same people had never tried (saying that at the start would have been a more useful answer).  Or else my question got “pidgeonholed” into a standard one about booting from an external drive - something I was definitely not trying to do. Next, it seemed that some older laptops had a different chipset, by Texas Instruments, and those did not have the same problem.

One workaround some people employed was to go via a FW800 ExpressCard adaptor.  But that only works on certain models and certain versions of Windows it appears.

In conclusion, the issue appears to remain in force, it’s not “just me”, and sadly there is little prospect of it being fixed.  I had this vain hope that maybe newer macbook models or newer Boot Camp releases might have sorted things a bit.  Doesn’t look like it…

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Following-on from my earlier post, Mobile Video Editing Hardware: Thoughts, Ideas & Dreams, where I considered an eventual migration from my laptop to a luggable PC, my thoughts veered (possibly having spotted cash-icebergs among them) towards an alternative solution:

• Use the laptop for lightweight editing & compositing.
• Use the desktop as a number-crunching RADI-attached server.

The two could be linked by:

• Remote access / remote sessions (some of which via smartphone)
• DropBox, e.g. have an active folder where I can drop Adobe Premiere XML and have it processed remotely by Adobe apps installed there.

Some links:

• http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/01/11/virtualisation_at_home_part_2/
  • (There’s no equivalent “_part_1″ page.  I guess it’s just “Part 2″ of that guy’s story).
  • DIY virtual machines: Rigging up at home, by Trevor Pott, 11th January 2012 14:33 GMT
  • Personal Virtual Machine (PVM) (in use) for about seven years with retail boxed version of Windows XP.
  • VM has been moved from virtualization platform to virtualization platform over the years … the most recent incarnation … inside Hyper-V.
  • …nothing beats Windows Server 2008 R2. It comes with a top-notch virtualisation platform (Hyper-V), and added RemoteFX support with Service Pack 1. You can still use the desktop operating system for all your HTPC needs, and a single Server 2008 R2 Standard license allows you to run both a host copy and a single virtual instance of Server 2008 R2.
  • In my case, the host instance does little more than play movies on the projector via VLC. The virtual instance of Server runs my Plex media server, and aggregates my many storage devices into a single share using DFS.
    • Presumably “DFS” refers to Microsoft’s Distributed File System.
• Shuttle Inc (Taiwan)
  • (MBR’s suggestion)
  • http://uk.shuttle.com/products/productsDetail?productId=1477
    • Small, quiet, hardware-configurable systems.
    • May be a sensible basis for a modular luggable?
  • http://www.okobe.co.uk/ws/product/Shuttle+SH67H3+Barebones+Personal+Computer+FH67+Socket+1155+Intel+H67+Black/1000065737?ref=1q4bs
    • Shuttle SH67H3 Barebones Personal Computer (FH67 Socket 1155 Intel H67) (Black)

Want a mobile “suitcase” editing system, something more (and more expandable) than a laptop but not too expensive.  Primarily to be used for Adobe CS5.5 for media enhancement / editing / compositing etc.

Nearest I found was NextDimension’s range around $7000 I think (but just guesswork - could be way off - would need to get a quote).   That would (if true) be around £4500 at current rates.  Plus import…  NextDimension call such machines “flextops” (Maybe they coined the term? Google searches on it mostly come up with them.)

Apart from the (mil/broadcast-lite but me-heavy) price, it might possibly be undesirably heavy to lug around much.   If so (just guessing, not assuming), it would make more sense to go for a modular quick-setup system.  So, starting to “think different” in this direction:

• Standard tower, capable of taking new CUDA etc. graphics cards etc. as they emerge, but no need for more than say a couple of disks, maybe if SSD could even get away with just a single disk? (For system and media - inadvisable for traditional disks of course, what about for SSD’s?  I have much to learn about SSD’s though).
• “Laptop-Lite” to talk to it.  With robust shuttered-stereoscopic HD monitor.
• Gigabit network to NAS fast storage (SSD and/or RAID ?).

Maybe in that case it would be far more logical/affordable to use an existing laptop as a client working together with a luggable tower server, sufficiently light and robust for frequent dis/re -connection and travel.  And remote access of course (no heavy data to be exchanged, assume that’s already sync’d).  And some means to easily swap/sync applications and projects (data) between laptop and tower, giving the option to use just the (old) laptop on its own if needed.  All such options are handy for the travelling dude (working on train, social visits etc.) who also occasionally has to do heavy processing.  Then would just need a protective suitcase for the tower, plus another one for a decent monitor for grading etc.

I certainly won’t be spending anything just yet, but it’s good to have at least some kind of “radar”.

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 Having got the suite installed and ready to use, I ran Adobe Premiere.  It created an account for me on [CS Live Services].  It complained that my video card drivers were insufficient for CUDA accelerated rendering.  Sadly I cannot update these - I must only accept those that Apple provide (via Boot Camp updates).  So no CUDA acceleration then I guess…

Nevertheless, how well does it work in other respects, and how usable is it overall?  The

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Given my poor experiences on my [MacBook Pro (2009) > Boot Camp > Windows 7] with Boris Blue and with DaVinci Resolve, it is by no means certain that [Adobe CS5.5 Production Premium] will fare any better.  But it’s worth a try.

So I downloaded a trial.  As part of that I had to first allow [Adobe Download Assistant] to be nstalled and executed.  It prompted for my level of expertise.  I answered: <<Novice: I could use all the help I can get>>.  In response it gave the following link:

• http://tv.adobe.com/product/cs-production-premium/
  • Many videos, including films, feature-tour, hardware, software, …

The download is apparently 7.116 GB, estimated download time between 5 and 8 hours. Overnight in other words.

Basically it won’t work on my MacBook Pro (2009) with Windows 7 running under Boot Camp (3.3).  I guess Boot Camp doesn’t make sufficient of the GPU’s capability available.

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I’m doing a tidy-up of the MacBook. The application [Disk Inventory] revealed that one of my largest disk-occupying items is MobileSync Backups, which I assume to be from synchronizing iPhone with MacBook.  It consists of several roughly equally-sized files.  Overall I wonder:

• Is there a way to store the backups somewhere else than the system disk?
• Do the  ”several roughly equally-sized files” imply I have more than one backup on the disk (in which case I’d like to purge all but the most recent).

Google: [mobilesync backup files]

• https://discussions.apple.com/thread/2617941?start=0&tstart=0
  •  how to move MobileSync backup folder?
• http://www.techzilo.com/save-disk-space-delete-old-iphone-ipod-touch-backups/
  • Save disk space by deleting old iPhone/iPod Touch backups
• http://www.appleexaminer.com/iPhoneiPad/iPhoneBackup/iPhoneBackup.html
  • Processing iPhone / iPod Touch Backup Files on a Computer
  • (What’s inside the files etc.)