Pear OS 7 OSX hackintosh

Here is something you don't see too often.

Here, I have Pear OS 7 which is a Ubuntu based Linux distribution running on my Thinkpad. Pear OS is known for being Cupertino inspired. It is pretty much an OSX themed Linux disto. Inside Pear OS, I have Mountain Lion 10.8.2 running inside a VMware Virtual Guest.

I cloned a few of my old Macs on my Macbook using Fusion 5. The clone VM guest was on a USB drive I had and I was wondering if my VM guests would start up in Linux on a different machine. To my surprise, double clicking the .VMX file, the VM guest launch and ran inside Pear OS running VMware player for Linux. It ran with no problem. I thought there would be some sort of check to prevent this but apparently not.

Thunderbolt Gigabit vs USB 3.0 Gigabit (AX88179)

So I got myself an Apple Thunderbolt Gigabit adapter for my Macbook. I also have four Rosewill USB 3.0 Gigabit adapters using the popular (AX88179 USB 3.0 Ethernet controller).
So how do they compare?

First of all, both retail for the same price at $29. The Rosewill can be had for $22 on sale and as low as $17 on rare instances. There are other USB 3.0 gigabit adapters that sell for much, much more. However, the bottom line is they most likely use the same ASIX AX88179 chipset. You'll end up installing the ASIX drivers if you want to run them in OSX.
I've been using the ASIX based USB dongle for months. I have one dongle at each location and I even use it with my Linux based Thinkpad and various other computers. So, the USB 3.0 dongle will have more portability and wider use.

However, the USB 3.0 dongle isn't without problems. It disconnects on various occasions. When connected to a USB hub, it will disconnect if the USB bus is saturated with other devices. For example, large USB disk copies will disconnect the ethernet. This problem happens on other computers and different operating system so it is not unique to OSX.

Next, on Mac OSX, hot-plugging requires a work-around. If you plug the USB dongle after the machine boots or after you wake from sleep, the dongle does not work.
This problem doesn't exist on Windows/Linux. However, I found a work around by running a bash shell script that unloads and loads the OSX kext. This works pretty well but I can see where another user without the same level of technical acumen can get frustrated.

The Apple Thunderbolt differs from this particular dongle. First of all, it is short. I don't understand why manufactures who make USB Ethernet dongle feel the need to make long USB extension cable when you'll be plugging an Ethernet cable. Secondly, there are no drivers with OSX. It is plug-n-play. There is none of the hot-plug or sleep issues. It takes a second for the Thunderbolt adapter to be recognized and it simply works. Next, it has more configurability  You can do advance tweaks like jumbo frames and changing your MTU. It used the PCI-E lane of Thunderbolt so it feels and acts like a real Ethernet card instead on an adapter.

Performance:
Both work pretty much the same in terms of speed. Using iperf, I was getting 111-115 MB/sec transfers on both. However, the Thunderbolt does not disconnect under heavy load.

The USB 3.0 uses a little more resources in terms of CPU utilization: 30% vs 22% on the Thunderbolt.

(usb)

(thunderbolt)

Conclusion:
It is a toss-up. I personally think the USB 3.0 is a better buy. USB works with any computers whereas Thunderbolt is mostly an Apple-centric market. Furthermore, since Thunderbolt allows chaining, the Apple gigabit adapter needs to be at the end of the chain. Some macs only have one thunderbolt port so it is a very precious port. The USB dongle can be plugged into a USB hub so that isn't a big issue. However, I like the smaller foot-print of the Thunderbolt adapter and it will be something I throw into my backpack.

Motorola Lapdock 100 just in.

I just got a Motorola LapDock 100 in. These were discontinued and I didn't do my research too well. Apparently, the original Atrix Lapdock is the one to get with the larger screen and ease-of-hack to convert them into portable monitors. There is very little documentation and mix-messages on the newer Lapdock 100.

Well, I'll find out in a few days if the LapDock 100 is as easy to improvise as the original Atrix Lapdock.

If you are not tuned-in on what these do, let me explain. A few years ago Motorola made these expensive (think $500) add-on phone accessories that turned their Atrix phones into netbooks. It was way ahead of its time and flopped and these have been in the discount bins. They have micro-usb and micro-hdmi connectors. And with the original Atrix lapdock, you can buy some adapter cables and turned them into dummy portable monitors with attached keyboard/trackpads. Many people have connected Android sticks and Raspberry PIs into pseudo ARM laptops. I just want to use them as a portable extra monitor with keyboard/mouse for the bench.

Unlike the original Atrix dock, the Lapdock 100 has a universal cable with Micro USB male and Micro HDMI-D male. There are some confusion whether or not they are locked to newer Motorola phones with some sort of authentication. I will find out shortly once my adapter converter cables come in.

Here are some you tube videos to illustrate what can be done with the original lapdock (and potentially the newer one).

and

Update: Here is my updated report.

Next wanted iPad killer feature. HDMI Lightning MHL Video Input

I've been thinking long and hard about what would motivate me to upgrade to the next iPad. Media outlets are reporting the spiraling decline of PC sales as consumers are no longer upgrading their PCs every other year. Why upgrade when your existing computer works just fine. There will be a point when people will be genuinely content with their existing mobile device and do not feel the urge to upgrade their tablet every generation.

There is one killer feature I would like to see and that is Target Display Mode on the iPad. The picture above is an iPad using Wi-Fi video tethering to act as a secondary extended display for my Macbook. I'm running HiDPI mode so I am in essence getting a portable cinema display with the same desktop real estate as my 27" monitor.

Target Display Mode would take it to the next level as it would be a physical connection.

Many of the Macs have it and it will be a compelling feature to sell more iPads. If there is something that would push sales, a new unique hardware feature is all that is needed. Target Display Mode is a feature that allows iMacs turn themselves into secondary screens for other macs.  Hence, this is not a far fetched idea. Apple has already done it in the past. If Apple ever implemented this, I would immediately plan to upgrade to the next 128GB LTE version and get myself an additional low-end 16GB wifi only.

I've thought about this feature long and hard when I got my GeChic portable HDMI MHL monitor. I've also used Wi-Fi video tethering apps and then I ordered myself a discounted Motorola LapDock for hacking purposes. The LapDock has been known to be re-used as secondary displays.

There are even companies abroad selling the same size 9.7" iPad 2 LG displays as portable MHL monitors.

Now, wouldn't it be awesome if there was an HDMI to Lightning dongle that provided video input. With an app or system preference,the iPad can toggle itself into a monitor (ala Target Display Mode). I know many pro-photographers and videographers would snap up extra iPads to use as remote displays. I know a lot of road-warriors would definitely pick up a new iPad just for this feature. This and this alone is a big bullet selling point.

Heck, make the HDMI dongle expensive to recoup the R/D cost. I'm willing to pay for it. I doubt Apple would embrace MHL but I figure 3rd party accessory makers can jump in with a white MHL-to-HDMI/Lightning adapter.

Someone at Apple, please make this happen! Please give the next iPad HDMI input / video-in.

App Store Generation

The app-store generation is here. The other day, I was at Frys looking at their selection of kids learning software. $20-$30 for cd-rom based software. Worst, many of these applications were designed 15 years ago for Windows 95 and MacOS 8.6.

How the hell do stores get away with selling this stuff? They are not alone, I found similar disparities at other "office" retail outlets.

These apps were designed in the Macromedia Director days where multimedia cd-rom was the big thing. I remember, I used to develop some of those "educational" titles.

Fast Forward to 2013 and you now have a different climate altogether. My kids prefer playing on the iPad versus running a virtualized Windows 98 session to see Mickey Mouse. Many of those apps don't work in 64 bit environment and my video cards have a hard trouble of going to 256 colors and 800x600. Apps on the Apple App stores range from free to $5 for a high quality title from publishers like Disney. 

For example, the Lightning Mcqueen Cars' and Toy Story reading book app cost 1/5th of a similar CD-Rom title. Moreover, the mobile apps outclass their desktop counterparts in terms of features, useability and interactivity.

This brings me to meat of my post. The app-store model will be the prevailing model for this generation.  There is no denying that there you get better selection, flexibility and ease-of-use.

I've been visiting and touring private elementary schools ($25K+ yearly tutitions) and I see a trend with them moving over to tablets as well. It is simply cheaper to run software applications on a tablet than a desktop computer.

There are some apps that have no desktop counterpart. Many of the Astronomy apps use gyroscope, GPS, the built-in cameras, and augmented reality to teach you celestial astronomy. Simply point your iPad to the night sky and spend a few hours with your children exploring different star systems. And the app itself cost less than $6.

No wonder Tablet sales are exploding.

New Micro Four Third Player. Black Magic MFT camera at NAB

I rarely post camera stuff on my blog and if I do, it must be pretty compelling.
Today, Blackmagic announces a new Pocket $1,000 digital camera with a MFT mount (Micro Four Third mount).

Wow. MFT is one of the early pioneering non-mirror interchangeable lens format by Olympus and Panasonic. It is good news to see a new player in MFT. Blackmagic's reputation in Hollywood circle will only help elevate MFT as a prosumer digital video solution. There are also another 4K camera they announced as well.

Engadget has some early hands-on from NAB show.

http://www.engadget.com/2013/04/08/blackmagic-pocket-cinema-camera-production-camera-4k/

Pear OS 7 released and quick look

Pear OS is an Ubuntu  12.10 based Linux distro with a Mac-like skin.
They just released version 7 and I took it for a spin. It definitely apes a lot from Cupertino.

From start up, login, launcher, Finder, to even Mission control, this distro is a definitely Apple-inspired. It even has a time machine app called "Back in Time."

Overall, it doesn't work quite like OSX. It is still using GNOME 3 with a skin.
Still, it is an interesting release.

 Link: http://pearlinux.fr/


Screen shots for your perusal:

On a 2560x1440 display.

Time Machine backup.

And here is how it looks on a 27" iMac.