Nikon Scan 4 and Snow Leopard

My dad switched to an iMac a couple of weeks ago. He came from a Windows environment with lots of periferals (RF Mouse, Bluetooth dongle, HP flatbed Scanner, Espon printer, Nikon CoolScan V, HP PDA, etc.). So the challenge was to migrate as many periferals as possible.

Thankfully, most of them worked. Even the old Nikon CoolScan V film scanner worked with the supplied Nikon Scan 4 software, until last Sunday. For some reason the application crashes with a message that the preferences file can't be read (Is another instance of Nikon Scan 4 running??).

It seemed that the Nikon app wasn't shut down properly on one occasion and a lock file was left in the preferences. Removing the lock file solved the issue.
The lock file is located at the following location:

~/Library/Preferences/Nikon/Nikon Scan 4 Prefs.lock

Sidenote: Weird that relatively old propriatary software like the Nikon Scan 4 software works fine, but that more recent (Nikon) software needs special updates to keep working under Snow Leopard. Was Nikon Scan 4 written by people who understand what they were doing (OS sub-version independent)? Or is this just luck?

Windows 8 & 9 in 128bit mode

Yes, you're reading it correct. Microsoft intends to deliver a 128bit kernel in the next Windows versions. A bit ambitious if you ask me. The 'current' 32bit operating systems run fine, because the drivers for those operating systems are widely available.
Have you ever tried to get your hands on 64bit drivers for hardware not older than two years? I tried, but failed eventually, since there's still one unknown device in my Vista x64 install.

I'm sure that Microsoft will use some layered model with the 128bit OS. That way you can use 128, 64, 32, and maybe even 16 and 8 bit drivers and applications. This way everythin will run, but don't expect stability.

What's wrong with going full 64bit first? No 32bit (hardware) drivers, the only 32bit that's allowed are 32bit applictions (which run in a special 32bit mode). From there forward you you start with 128bit OS (with 128bit drivers only) and minimum 64 bit applications. You need 32bit? -> VMWare (or MS own HyperVisor thinghy).

 I still run into incompatibility issues with my <2 year old Fujitsu laptop running Vista Business x64. They should fix that first, and move on after that.

Windows Vista x64 and Fujitsu Hardware

No x64 SupportOké. I have this Fujitsu Lifebook E8310 from work (we're not allowed to use Apple hardware :( ). This piece of hardware was released with an OEM version of Vista Business, but work-related circumstances forced me to install Windows XP at first. Now about 1.5 years later I wanted to try the included Vista Business version, and since I have 4GB RAM I installed the x64 version. What's the use of the additional RAM otherwise?

B.t.w., you may see this as an addition to this posting about Windows 7.

Installing Vista Business x64 isn't the problem (so this is no rant against Microsoft), but trying to get every piece of (integrated) hardware to function properly is something completely different. Vista is on the market for ages (or so it seems), and still NO decent driver and application support for the x64 versions (example 1, 2, 3 of an endless list). What the f#ck is wrong with hardware (and software) developers? 64bit (client) computing is available since the release of Windows XP. Every new piece of WINTEL hardware released in the last two years has (multiple) 64bit cores or CPU's.

x64 Operating Systems mean that you have more memory at your disposal to do bigger (memory consuming) tasks. Windows-based 32bit systems can only address up to  3.2GB of memory.

As long as this will continue to stay this way, I'll continue to rant about this, and personally not buying (or advice) any more WinTel hardware (or software).

Snow Leopard So Far

The last couple of days have been Snow Leopard only. The Windows 7 hard disk is still gathering lots of dust in the corner.
Even though my Snow Leopard version may not be the final version, it feels solid on most fronts. Finder is even more intuitive. It starts to grow on me :).

I ordered my copy today. You can pre-order Snow Leopard in the Apple Online Store (upgrade costs around 29 euro/USD). With the free shipping it's a bargain (normally you need to spend >100 euro/USD for free shipping). This offer (free shipping) expires on August 27th 2009.

SSH Connection to Juniper Devices

While in the mids of my Juniper exam preparation I ran into a problem with my Apple equipment. Managing the Juniper firewall (SSG5 in this case) with SSH was not possible from OSX. The connection itself would work, but after entering the password the connection was closed by the remote host (the firewall).
Trying this from a Windows laptop (with SecureCRT) everything worked as expected.

Some searching revealed that this is an OpenSSH bug. To manage your Juniper with SSH from OSX you need to add a parameter to the ssh command (or edit the SSH config file).

Parameter to add:

-o ControlMaster=auto
e.g. ssh willem@127.0.0.1 -o ControlMaster=auto

Or add the following line to the global SSH config (/etc/ssh_config) or the user config (~/.ssh/config).

ControlMaster auto

Juniper has a knowledgebase article (KB12409) on the issue.

And Another Reason To Use OSX

Microsoft Windows (no matter what version) is the favorite platform for virusses, trojans, malware and other crap. The way to keep the operating system neat and tidy you should use protection. Protection in the form of anti-virus software and other (required) software to guarantee your survival on the World Wide Web.

Well, protection isn't what it used to be :) . It seems that an update of AVG antivirus recognizes user32.dll as a bit of malicious code. Is this bad you ask? Well.... Windows won't work/boot without it. Ironic?

The solution for this problem is to ask someone with proper knowledge and follow this procedure (dutch forum).

Apple Released OSX 10.5.5 Update

Apple released the 10.5.5 update last night.
What's included?

General

• Includes recent Apple security updates.
• Addresses stability issues with video playback, processor core idling, and remote disc sharing for MacBook Air.
• Addresses an issue in which some Macs could unexpectedly power on at the same time each day.
• Resolves a stability issue in TextEdit that could be found when accessing the color palette.
• Improves Spotlight indexing performance.
• Fixes an issue in which contacts might not sync properly with PalmOS-based devices.
• Improves iPhone sync reliability with iCal and Address Book.
• Includes improvements to Active Directory (see this article for more information).
• Improves Speech Dictionary.
• Fixes Kerberos authentication issues for Mac OS X 10.5 clients that connect to certain Samba servers, such as Mac OS X Server version 10.4.
• Includes extensive graphics enhancements.

Mail

• Addresses performance issues related to displaying IMAP messages.
• Resolves an issue with SMTP settings for AIM, Compuserve, Hanmail, Yahoo!, and Time Warner Road Runner email accounts.
• Addresses stability issues that may occur when dragging a file to the Mail icon in the Dock.
• Addresses an issue with the "Organized by Thread" view in which the date does not appear when the thread is collapsed.
• Resolves an issue in which RSS feeds could temporarily disappear from the sidebar.
• Improves Mail robustness when sending messages.
• Improves reliability when saving drafts that have attachments.

Time Machine

• Improves Time Machine reliability with Time Capsule.
• Addresses performance issues that may affect initial and in-progress backups.
• Fixes an issue in which an incorrect alert message could appear stating that a backup volume does not have enough free space.
• Time Machine can now back up iPhone backups that are on your Mac, as well as other items in (~/Library/Application Support).

And much, much more.