~larcher

So right before I broke down and got this Mac, I claimed HREF="/~larcher/blog/index.cgi/2003/02/08#apple">I liked eraser-heads better
than touchpads. I think I my opinion has now reversed. After using the
iBook for about 10 months, I’ve actually gotten used to the touch pad on it.
It’s definitely lets me move the cursor around faster than the little red
nubbin on a ThinkPad. And being able to just thump the pad rather than
actually click the button is nice. I guess I was comparing the traackpoint to
the touchpad on the PC laptops I’ve used — I still don’t like those much.
They Mac touchpad is somehow different. Also, it seems to work best when my
fingers are very dry.

But an actual mouse still beats any built in pointer.

About my other complaints with Apples … some of the PowerBooks have
PCMCIA slots I think. One button is still annoying .. Ctrl-click instead of
right-click? But an external USB mouse works fine. No IrDA’s a bit of pain
but not really a big deal. A few times, it would have made it easier to get
files from someone else’s Wintel laptop to my iBook, but a CF card and reader
worked fine. And Bluetooth is working ok for syncing my phone (just not
copying multiple files off of it). Still have to use a cable to sync my Visor
though.

As for the serial port,
I returned the non-OS X-supporting IOGear dongle and got a Keyspan one instead (for
$5 more). It has drivers for MacOS X and Linux, as well as Windows.* … works great with my Garmin GPS and MacStumbler

Another hard-drive based MP3 player/recorder, this one from iRiver. Hmm .. $415 but only 10 gigs.

(via Gizmodo)

If you happen to have an iBook running Mac OS X and also happen to have a GPS
with a serial cable, and you think to yourself, “Gee, Self, wouldn’t it be nice
if I could use my GPS with my iBook?” .. and your self replies “Yes!”, so you
decide to go to Fry’s, and if while you’re there you see the IOGear USB
PDA/Serial adapter, tell yourself not to buy it, even if it’s the only
USB-to-serial device they have in the store. The packaging, in this case, is
not out of date or incorrect: “Supports Mac OS 8.6 to 9.x” (as well as every Windows version) — suspicions confirmed at iogear.com:

We regret any inconvenience this may cause you; however, at this time, OSX is not supported for that particular product.

The inconvenience here being the drive back to Fry’s to get a refund for their useless dongle product. I don’t (yet) have any PC’s without a serial port, or any old Mac’s with USB..