Belkin Network USB Hub and Mac OSX 10.5.7 again......last straw.

Ok so for those of you that have been following this little story of a Hub and Mac OS 10.5.7.....you would be forgiven for thinking that it ended in a lasting relationship.
However it didn't we/they broke up ...
I took it back to the shop and got me cash back!
After that brilliant bit of getting it to install the SXUTPT drivers (and also me having to delete Iantivirus) it ran that once brilliantly ..then I turned the laptop on the next day and the drives just kept appearing and reappearing....in the Belkin Control Centre....
To say that I'd had enough was an understatement....so hence out came the box and back it went....

So sorry if I got anybody's hopes up ..I had thought i'd found a solution - but it tuned out to be short lived.

So as I said in my 1st post about this ...time to get the Apple Time Capsule!

Belkin Network USB Hub and Mac OSX (10.5.7) again.....

Ok to update the story from a couple of days ago....
As you can see from the post earlier I was not enamored by my purchase of the Belkin Network Hub and it's inability to function in any shape or form within a stable useable environment of OSX 10.5.7

However as I write this post I am transferring files across the network and backing up to my 2TB of storage that has laid dormant (If the truth be known) since I jumped from a desktop to a Laptop.
The key for those who have run into the error known as 'what is an effing SXUTPT driver anyway!!'.. and I still can't find the answer....

Is....

Download the Pre-release driver from the Belkin UK site (not the US site) this is what you are looking for on the site :

And then the download your after is :

Once this is downloaded it will give you an installer (ignore the disc that came with the Network Router- it's useless-) run the installer after having set up the router via the instructions in the manual.
You then will be prompted to restart your machine and your fingers will be crossed if your familiar with the SXUPTP driver issue!!
Belkin Control centre software will automatically start up , and if your drives are connected and turned on about 30secs later they will appear in the control centre interface mounted.
If you investigate the the 'General' panel you'll see this :

which tells you at last the SXUTPT driver is installed ...hurrah!!

A note of caution if you are running a laptop (like I am) you may be tempted to close the lid to put the laptop into 'sleep' mode while the drives are connected- you can do this - but you will only do it once! because it completely locks up your system, so I strongly advise you don't try that!!
Disconnect all drives and then close laptop for sleep mode - You don't have to Quit the belkin software as well...just have to make sure you disconnect all the drives connected via the Belkin control panel.

Hope this is of some use to you guys out there who have HDD's sitting around and laptop where the 'leads' aren't just quite long enough.
For less than £60 it's cheap way to 'network' your drives.
Transfer rates are about 1GB to 7mins so as a background transfer it's pretty acceptable in my eyes at least.
Also you can 'stream' video back off the drives to your laptop and then hence to your TV if required.

Question....

If you live in hope, do you live in fear ?

Belkin Network USB Hub and Mac OSX (10.5.7)

Well it is now 22:29 and I have eventually given up on trying to get this to work with my Macbook Pro (Unibody) started at 16:00ish.
If you install it under it under a normal user it will tell you (very irritatingly) that it was unable to install the 'SXUPTP' driver....whatever this does and does not do is lost in geek hell......

I then read on an apple forum about using terminal commands within the 'Safe Boot' environment (not being too fond of unix commands I stayed away from Terminal) however I did try the safe boot option for install - that's after I'd spent 30mins downloading the 10.5x driver from Belkin.com (lot of good that was).
The SXUPTP problem does not rear it's head under 'Safe Boot' and then you restart under normal user ...success so far.
Alas however when you restart after using the drives, SXUPTP driver not installed rears it's ugly godforsaken head again...and so off you go rebooting in safe mode and installing and rebooting in user mode and using and then finding out when you try to eject the drives via the Belkin Control Hub interface that sod all happens apart from your once stable computer has crashed big time....
When it works the transfer speed is acceptable - a bit like the speed of moving a file from one memory stick to another.

However the control interface is basic and buggy ..the reliability is probably 0.5 out of 10.
The support for the Mac OS is completely just not there.

So to summarize you do get what you pay for and an Airport extreme base station would be a better idea maybe, or a NAS drive that has been tried and tested on the Mac OS. So that will be my next step once i've got the funds.

Buy it at your peril

This is my reality...what's yours?

Control

Power is nothing without control.
Without control you risk losing everything.

Psalm 27 - re -interpreted

"My Love is my light... Whom shall I fear?"

Placebo -'For what it's Worth' Lyrics

Placebo - For what it's Worth

The end of the century
I said my goodbyes
For what it's worth
I always aim to please
But I nearly died
For what it's worth
Come on lay with me
Cos I'm on fire
For what it's worth
I'd tear the sun in three
To light up your eyes

For what it's worth
For what it's worth
For what it's worth
For what it's worth

Broke up the family
Everybody crying
For what it's worth
I have a slow disease
That sucked me dry

For what it's worth
Come on walk with me
Into the rising tide
For what it's worth
Fill the cavity
Your God shaped hole tonight

For what it's worth
For what it's worth
For what it's worth
For what it's worth

For what it's worth
For what it's worth
For what it's worth
For what it's worth

No-one cares when your out on the street
Picking up the pieces to make ends meet
No-one cares when your down in the gutter
Got no friends got no lover
No-one cares when your out on the street
Picking up the pieces to make ends meet
No-one cares when your down in the gutter
Got no friends got no lover

For what it's worth
Got no lover
For what it's worth
Got no lover
For what it's worth
Got no lover
For what it's worth
Got no lover
For what it's worth
Got no lover
For what it's worth
Got no lover
For what it's worth
Got no lover
Got no friends
Got no lover.




Taken from the Album 'Battle for the Sun' released on 8/06/09
A free download of the title track from the album is available here

Friend?

Somebody once told me ' A good friend is like a good book, You can pick it up from the shelf and just go back to where you left off'

Let's be clear in this ...the supposition of the above statement is that neither you or the 'Friend' will never change over time. For instance the things that motivated you and your friend and even your friendship are they the same 'now' as they were ten years ago, or maybe even a year ago ?

Friendships are like water always moving and sometimes 'clear' and sometimes 'murky' and time passes like a 'current' between the strands of that friendship, sweeping it along or maybe even sweeping it 'out to sea'

To summaries Friendships are like any 'relationship' they need to be nurtured and cared for if they are to continue.

We're From America - Lyrics - Marilyn Manson

We're From America

We're from America,
we're from America,
where we eat our young
we're from America,
we're from America,
it's where jesus was born

We're from America,
we're from America,
where they let you come on our faces
we're from America,
we're from America,
we speak American

We don't believe in credibility,
because we know that we're fucking incredible
we don't believe in credibility,
because we know that we're fucking incredible

I want to be a martyr don't want to be a victim,
Be a (?) with a gun so they call me a hero,
Want to be a martyr don't want to be a victim,
Be a killer with a gun so they call me a hero

God is an excuse
God is an excuse
God is an excuse
God is an excuse
God is an excuse
God is an excuse
God is an excuse
So sing it with me

We're from America,
we're from America,
we're from America,
you can sing it with me
We're from America,
we're from America,
we're from America,
you can sing it with me

We're from America

We don't like to kill our unborn,
we need them to grow up and fight our wars
We don't like to kill our unborn,
we need them to grow up and fight our wars

We believe in everything we say,
we say it because we believe it
we believe in everything we say,
we say it because we believe it

We're from america,
we're from america,
we're from america,
you can sing it with me
We're from america,
we're from america,
we're from america,
you can sing it with me

We're from america,
you can sing it with me,
from america,
you can sing it with me,

We're from america,
we're from america,
we turn literature into litter
we're from america,
we' re from america,
we believe in being a quitter

I'm in recovery
I'm in recovery
I'm in recover - eeee
from America
from America
from America

So sing it with me
We're from america,
we're from america,
we're from america
you can sing it with me,
we're from america,
from america
we're from america,
you can sing it with me
from america,
you can sing it with me
from america
you can sing it with me
We eat our young
We eat our young
(from America)
you can sing it with me
We eat our young
We eat our young
(from America)
you can sing it with me
We eat our young
We eat our young
(from America)
you can sing it with me
We eat our young
We eat our young
(from America)
you can sing it with me

From the Forth coming Album 'The high End of Low'

This is currently available as a free download from the MM official website

OLED Technology... changing YOUR world in the near future?

OLED (Organic Light Emitting Diode) technology is just around the corner ...well ok about 2 years away from a 'consumer' point of view.

It's been highlighted as super thin (4.3mm) HDTV's and photo frames..etc.... but that's not what I see as exciting.

The ability to use OLED to light your room therefore dispensing with normal illumination methods - switches /lamps /strip lights etc gives architectural lighting a whole new concept to grapple and play with.
Also the ability to use your available 'window space' as OLED 'frames' and therefore choose to show a sunset - when it is cloudy outside or visa versa if you choose, brings the ability to set your own living environment to your personal taste a step closer.

Obviously if your walls were just 'sheets' of OLED then the ability to show images/ scenes /information within one room would be staggering (maybe this is why they talk about future broadband requirements so much? )
OLED technology does have two drawbacks at the moment that stop it 'Launching' onto the mass consumer market at the moment.

1 It's lifetime for the 'Blue' -in RGB is much less than current lifetimes for LCD and Plasma so therefore is deemed as beneath requirements for 'consumers' after all who wants to pay a fortune for something that only lasts 5000hours?
2 Price - to give you and idea a 7" photo frame Kodak has made currently costs $1000...let you work out what it would cost to cover one of your walls!

For a bit more info check here

F1 - New Season

Just thought I'd mention it's 15 days to the start of the New F1 season.
Pleased to see Mclaren seem to be having some 'rear' diffuser problems ...struggling guys ?? hehe

Right Where it Belongs - NIN (Lyrics)

Right Where it Belongs

See the animal in his cage that you built
Are you sure what side your on ?
Then I look to closely in the eye
Are you sure what side of the glass you are on ?
See the safety of the life you have built
Everything where it belongs
Feel the hollowness inside of your heart
And it's all ............Right where it belongs

What if everything around you
Isn't quite as it seems
What if all the world you think you know
Is an elaborate dream
And if you look at your reflection
Is it all you want to be ?
But if you could look right through the cracks
Would you find yourself.......Find yourself afraid to see

What if all the world's inside of your head
Just creations of your own
Your devils and your gods all the living and the dead
And you really are alone

You can live in this illusion
You can choose to believe
You keep looking but you can't find the worlds
Are you hiding in your dreams ?

What if everything around you
Isn't quite as it seems
What if all the world you used to know
Is an elaborate dream
And if you look at your reflection
Is it all you want to be ?
But if you could look right through the cracks
Would you find yourself.......Find yourself afraid to see


NIN - 'Right Where it belongs' - Taken from the Album 'With Teeth' released in 2005.

Previous posting that reminded me of this track 'You Alone'

The Singularity

Singularity is in effect the 'creation' of computers that can think (a'la A.I.) and can therefore recreate themselves in a more advanced state than the Humans who created them ...hence they can reach 'Singularity'

It covers alot of technological aspects and is covered in in more 'layman' terms here

Effectively aspects of this have been covered in SF for years from Harlan Ellison (I have no mouth and yet I must scream) to more famously William Gibson in his novel 'Neuromancer'.

Films which also refer to a 'Singularity concept' are :
A.I (touched upon it in Cyborg technology)
Terminator in 'Skynet' Robot/Computer technology
2001, Hal can think and make decisions of his own free will
Forbin Project: Colossus - Computers decide that Mankind is a 'virus' and so is to be destroyed.
Demon Seed: Computer decides it wants to be 'Born' so Julie christie is chosen as the mother.

Obviously dramatic intent is the force behind the novels/films but the concepts are based upon 'Singularity' and what effect would 'freeing' the computer from human control have?

I Suppose 'Tyrell' from Bladerunner had the best quote for this:
"More human than human is our motto here at the Tyrell Corporation"

Minute Prologue.....(Musings on inability)

Minute Prologue.

I've been listening to all the dissention
I've been listening to all the pain

And I feel that no matter what I do for you
It's gonna come back again

But I think that I can heal it
but I think that I can heal it
I'm a fool that I think I can heal it
With this song......

Taken from the Album 'Live Songs (1973)' by Leonard Cohen

Franklyn

Film has already been premiered at the London film festival, and has garnered positive and negative reviews - depending on who's reviewing it.

The film is a split narrative set simultaneously in contemporary London and in a future metropolis ruled by religious fervor. It's the story of four lost souls, divided by two parallel worlds, on course for an explosive collision when a single bullet will decide all their fates.

Remains to be seen if it is a 'Cult' hit - has been compared with 'Dark City' and also 'V for Vendetta' - though that maybe just because of the Dark Dystopian feel the Film Trailer gives out - rather than because of Premise.

Trailer and WIKI entry

You Know Me........?

WISH

This is the first day of my last day
Build it up now take it apart climbed up real high now fall down real far.
No need for me to stay the last thing left I just threw it away.
(?) my trust in you
Now there's something more fucked up I could do

Wish there was something real ,wish there was something true
Wish there was something real in this world for you.

I'm the one without a soul, I'm the one with this big fucking hole.
No new tale to tell twenty-six years on my way to hell.
Big time hard line bad luck fist fuck
Don't think you're having all the fun
You know me I hate everyone

Wish there was something real ,wish there was something true
Wish there was something real in this world for you.

Wish there was something real ,wish there was something true
Wish there was something real in this world for you.

Wish there was something real ,wish there was something true
Wish there was something real in this world for you.

This world for you
This world for you
This world for ......

NIN- 'Wish' from the EP 'Broken

Currently playing in iTunes: The Four of Us are Dying by Nine Inch Nails'

Connecting Macbook + Macbook Pro (late 2008) Unibody to HD TV (HDMI)

So many posts in forums about this 'question' I thought I'd try and add a little simplicity to the 'problem'

First of all you need to understand that The Mini Display port on your Macbook/Macbook Pro only transmits Video not audio. So hence a separate audio connection is required - via the headphone socket - and hence needs to be inputted into either your TV - if it can accept a separate audio to video signal or into a separate audio device - Like a 5.1 system or speaker system.

The cables required to achieve the video output are as follows:

Mini DisplayPort to DVI Adapter

£20 from Apple Store either online or Retail store.

Then also from Apple Store either online or Retail store :

Belkin HDMI to DVI Cable - 6ft
£14.63

So in total £34.63 will get your video signal to your HD TV.
As for the Audio a standard 3.5mm phones jack to whatever connection is on your TV/Audio system is all that remains to be bought and connected.

If you want to spend a little more you could always get the Apple Remote (£15.00) so you can run Frontrow via your armchair/Sofa

Obviously if your looking at running your Macbook from the sofa in terms of surfing checking your email etc you could invest in a Bluetooth Mighty Mouse and Bluetooth Apple Keyboard and run the Macbook remotely - also this would enable you to run the Macbook in 'Clamshell' mode - eg: closed.

Well hope this helps let me know if you've any questions.

Mobile Me....well sort of!

Have a new computer now (got it about a week ago ) A lovely Aluminum MacBook Pro.

(Dodgy photo taken with Iphone above)!

Something Wonderful.....

....is going to happen.