Auf Wiedersehen OS X

Good riddance more like

I'm sure you will have noticed the numerous recent posts about my irritations with Apple's OS X, and it's come to a crashing crescendo of doom and destruction.

I am typing at 04:46 somewhere in Staffordshire, at the prestigious CentraLAN 14 Lan Gaming event. It would be a tonne (imperial not metric) of fun if it wasn't for the VAST amount of space that OS X took up. Despite accounting for 30GB of music, 5GB of applications and 15GB of system, there was still a missing 10-20GB of space that was taken up by forces as yet still unknown.

So, I attempted to repartition the drive to give a new install of Windows (this hurts me alot, because I had got Windows just right; it's never been just right before and so I was reluctant to start again) the maximum that FAT32 could make good use of (32GB). I ran into trouble right away. I tried using the BootCamp wizard, no dice. I tried using the diskutil resizeVolume command in the Terminal, no ball. I almost tried using the Install Disks to repartition them, but then I noticed it would only do it destructively. These methods complained that there wasn't enough free space to allocate another 32GB partition, which there wasn't. It's just that I couldn't figure out where it had all gone...

At this point I thought, why not just start afresh. I now almost hate OS X, why not try and dump it now. I had really nothing to lose since my Windows installation was up in smoke (along with CSS and numerous other games (like Transport Tycoon)) since I had used the BootCamp wizard to restore the partition back to one big HFS+ partition.

So off I went on my merry way, unknowing whether I'd be able to install ONLY Windows on the beast (my laptop, not Satan). Windows installed fine onto the big partition (of course after a quick NTFS format) and is now running. Sorry I didn't graciously build up to the climax then BOOM unleash it all at once in all of it's magnificent awe-inspiring jaw-dropping mediocrity. But that's just life.

I now have buckets of space available to Windows and don't need to worry about some bloatware taking up all my valuable gaming space. Of course this means I won't be able to program in a Linux/Unix environment, but I'm sure I'll be able to figure something out.

So. In a nutshell. It IS possible to only install Windows on a Mac (a MacBook Pro anyway) answering my previous wondering from a post lost in the dark clutches of lore.

Eddie will be either sad, or apathetic. Damn fanboy... =P

Apologies if this post is slightly disjointed, I had 4 hours sleep last night, and it is now 20 hours since I fell out of bed. Wish me all the luck in the world that I actually manage to stay awake past the 24h mark. I've never been able to accomplish it before.

W00t!!! GAME-AGE!!!

MWAHAHAHAHAHA. Ha. Ahem.

OS X Annoyances

Hello happy campers!

I've not posted for a fair bit, mostly because I have actually done stuff worthwhile! I jest I have no meaningful life outside of my computer...

Anyway I just felt the need to tell you of my battles with the evil that is the Apple OS X "operating system". Pfeh. I have managed to fix some of the stupid GUI "features" of OS X but alas not all of it is salvagable, due to OS X's high degree of uncustomizability and unintuitiveness (are those even words?)...

I will label this list with four headings: FIXED, HALF FIXED, WORKAROUND and :'(.

• iTunes looks as ugly as sin - FIXED
  • Using a program called Aqua4iTunes I have reskinned iTunes back to its former Aqua glory, rather than looking like some ugly thing from Linux
  
  
• I couldn't control iTunes from keystrokes - FIXED
  • Using a preference pane called SizzlingKeys
  
  
• Enter doesn't run or open selected file/program/folder in the Finder - FIXED
  • By typing:
    

    defaults write com.apple.finder NSUserKeyEquivalents '{ "Open" = "\U000a"; }'
    killall Finder

    Into the Terminal
  
  
• I cannot disable mouse acceleration without shelling out for a $20 program - HALF FIXED
  • Installed Microsoft's Intellimouse software to give me a more responsive mouse. It still has acceleration but at least it's not a direct transition from snail to cheetah acceleration, more like a tugboat with a turbo
  
  
• I cannot get Terminal commands to edit source files - HALF FIXED
  • Made a file called .bash_login in my home directory which binds the following aliases upon each login:
    

    alias tedit='/Applications/TextEdit.app/Contents/MacOS/TextEdit'
    alias sedit='/Applications/Smultron.app/Contents/MacOS/Smultron'

    I also installed the mentioned program Smultron which is better than TextEdit since it has line numbers and syntax highlighting
  • It's half fixed because it opens up a new instance of Smultron or TextEdit instead of loading it into a previously open one
  • I also changed the icon of Smultron, because the strawberry looks cack, to an icon by Joerie Mortalmansheimlichfurhrerstadt.
  
  
• Due to the Open "fix" I can no longer rename files with a keystroke - WORKAROUND
  • I can rename files the boring click and wait method or "mv" from in the Terminal
  
  
• Installing GEdit on OS X was a dead loss - WORKAROUND
  • I now use Smultron and TextEdit for all my programming needs, no idea how to get rid of the reams of Linux crap now installed into my OS X installation. I guess that's the price you pay for trying to make OS X vaguely usable
  
  
• I cannot completely uninstall OS X and replace it with Windows and Linux - :'(
  • I would love to. OS X seriously sucks and needs several kicks up the rear end to be anywhere near as professional as XP or as customizable as Linux
  
  
• Closing the laptop lid still sleeps the computer despite using SleepLess - :'(
  • I hate this, especially when I have wireless internet and it stops an unresumable download because Apple can't take their self-righteous fingers out of each others' assorted orifices
    

Oh, and also I have moved my Dock to the top left, since it looks better there and is a more efficient use of screen real estate, since it's widescreen and most programs tend to look more comfortable in a 4:3 setting rather than the luxurious 16:9 or even 16:10 settings.

I hope some of you come away from this post feeling rejuvenated and enlightened. Because I certainly have.