I broke down and told the boss that I was taking one of the MacBooks home with me to learn how to use it, troubleshoot it, network it, etc. I decided I would NOT put Windows on it, despite my massive desire to do so. And, let me tell you, it's been heck.
I started out by trying to get the Mac to print to the shared printer on my Windows machine. The Mac sees the printer, but can't find the driver I installed for the printer, so I can't print. Not a big deal, right? I'll just try another one. Wrong. So, I will keep working on that until I figure it out. Turns out at least two techs are watching me for updates on how I get it to work (or *IF* I get t to work!).
At home, the Mac's iTunes sees my media server and lets me play music in iTunes from it. Great! But, he machine itself can't seem to find the network share with the music in it, so I cannot copy the shared music to my iPod. Not so great. In the meantime, I hooked my iPod Touch up to my PC and everything works just like it should. Not very promising for the Mac of things, let me tell you.
Also at home, I have a Netgear IP network print server and all the PCs can print to it just fine. The Mac? Uh, no. I am installing updates on the Mac, so we'll see if somewhere hidden in those updates we find a way to print to the Netgear (with HP 1012 attached). I did some poking around, and evidently there is an open source set of DMG files I can download and install to get the 1012 to work. Seriously? Yeah, I'm hoping the update thing works for me. :-)
Speaking of iPod Touch (which I will refer to as iTouch because it's easier for me and I don't care if it is right, wrong or otherwise), I got one the other day to use and play with. It's very cool, but I had limited use because our DSL has been out since the downpour of rain. Actually, it turned out to be because lightning hit the line and fried the port our connection was attached to at the main switch in town. That can't be good, but it is better than our house burning down!
So far, he only apps I've used are "Band" and "Skeeball." I will be adding more, preferably free ones, in time. BAND gives you various instruments you can play and record. There's even an audience for those that need a little ego boost. SKEEBALL is just what it sounds like. You can use your finger to launch the ball, or even better, you can flick the iTouch and "roll" the ball that way! SWEET! It is very addictive! Or, well, it is for me anyway.
If you're reading this and have some ideas or suggestions for cool apps to use/try, let me know! I am willing to experiment with just about any app, though I do prefer the ones with no price tag on them. I've seen a bunch of different ones on friends' devices (a flatulence machine, a lighter, iBeer) that are not up my alley, but hey, I'm willing to at least READ about anything that gets suggested.
I left for work this morning, ready to help a district with network issues. I got to the gas station, filled up, and then something went wrong. I got pretty sick very quickly. I decided the best thing to do was come back home and see where things went.
I took some medicine and laid down for a while after letting everyone know I was sick (work, family). The DSL guy called so I talked with him and explained what was up. He did his thing and after he left, I laid back down again. As of 11am, I feel better, not great. I have a sore throat and my head is a bit woopy, but no fever! I realize you may not want all of that, but there it is. LOL!
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