Learning to live with my 'big' iMac

Well it is almost a week now since I took the plunge and moved to the iMac.  Overall it has not been as problematic as it could have been.  I am still coming to terms with the problem of scale with the large screen.  I have spent some time working out how to make the apps that I use zoom - usually up to 200% for the text to be become easily read.  It has been a bit of a pain at times but it has meant that I have learnt a thing or two about how the mac works - which is no bad thing.

This morning I took the plunge and installed FileMaker Pro.  After the best part of 20 years working and developing in access/VB this was something of a shock to the system.  Fortunately I no longer need to worry about SQL and making the dBase do things with VB so after a bit of head scratching I was able to get my head around the system and have started to convert my historical database to work in FileMaker.

So what are my initial impressions?  Well first of all just dont believe the hype about Apple OS being better.  It isn't.  What it is more stylish and attractive to look at.  One the best features I have found so far is the method used to install software.  This is simple but very effective.  I love the beautiful screen infront of me and there is no doubt about it the whole experience is pleasing to the eye.  However, I have just been using my old laptop, windows vista, and really it worked almost identically to OS X, if it looks a lot uglier.

So am I glad to have moved over to Apple?   On the whole yes as the main reason was for life style reasons than anything else.   It has cost quite a bit of money, but this was because I took the view that I needed to run everything in OS X rather than split with Windows which have been cheaper in the short term but not in the long.   Lets hope these long term goals are met and the iMac continues to be as rewarding to use as it is at the moment. 

Simon Marchini 

Web: http://WWW.simonmarchini.co.uk

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Another image from the Archieve

This one is just from last year - Dunstanburgh Castle.  I really miss using Photoshop which should be arriving next week.  I originally thought that Lightroom would be enough but having used Lightroom for photograph development it really is limited which is not surprising as it isnt meant for anything other than main stream correction. 

Simon Marchini 

Web: http://WWW.simonmarchini.co.uk

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Soundtrack

Day two of the olympics and so much for vegging in front of the TV. This morning I am reliving the wonders of the opening ceremony by listening to the sound track again. And then I'm off for a walk in the country which combines exercise (Olympics) and historical research. And to recover from all this what better than vegging in front of the TV? Sent from my iPad

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Digital Guitar

Im really not sure what to say about this one - but I was just getting into digital photography at the time and the effects avaialble and I guess I went a little overboard.

On second thoughts I quite like this.

Simon Marchini

www.simonmarchini.co.uk

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Messing about with geo tagging

One of the joys of moving to a new OS is that I can buy the latest software for the new machine.  One of the new pieces is Adobe Lightroom 4 and its very addictive, well at least to me, Geo Tagging ability.   Again this is an image from the past which I have added the geo tag - thanks to Lightroom.   Lets see if it works.

Oh and I have now sorted out how to add a signature to the email!   Another small step for an even smaller steep for mankind I think!

Simon Marchini

www.simonmarchini.co.uk

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Gloucester Catherdral

Another blast from the past - this one I think is around 10 years old - a captured it with one of my all time favourite cameras the Sony DSC F717.  A really ground braking camera.

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Another one from the archives

Im really not sure whether I have published this before - it comes from when I was trying make 'stock' photographs.  

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Concorde - from way back

Oh they don't make them like this anymore!  Concorde paid a visit to East Midlands Airport, I think circa 1986, for the grand opening of a local theme park.  Needless to say that the theme park didn't survive but the aircraft was something.

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Going through some of my old stuff

One of the pleasures, and pitfalls, of building a new computer filing systems is that you come across interesting images that you have completely forgotten about.  This is a case in point.   There are probably no prize to be awarded for this image but I like it.

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Bloody Apple!!

I know this is something that was bound to happen but I have found something that didn't just work with the Mac! Printing. With every windows machine I have connected to my home network they have detected the network printer - the iMac didn't. I suspect this has something to do with the network software being Windows based rather than Apple's, which I believe is Bonjour, however you would think that Apple would be aware of this and come up with some simple solution. However this wasn't the case and so I had to find the IP address of the printer from looking at the settings only old windows laptop. As soon as I entered this into the Apple system bingo the iMac saw the printer.

A bit annoying but it refreshing to see that perhaps everything in the Apple garden is not all perfect - in fact I quite like that.

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First problem with the set up

I suspected this might be a problem....my mac won't / can't see my network printer! I thought I had stopped having to rummage around in ICP etc. Perhaps this was to much to hope.

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Starting life with my iMac

I know the apple users who might come across this post will have the told you so look but setting up my iMac has been a breeze. I could retort that the reason for this is that the Apple system is a closed system and so on but that really misses the point. I moved to Apple for life style reasons rather than any real conviction that Apple Macs were superior computers and one of the life system choices was to not have any computer hassles any more. So far so good.

One final observation - I didn't realise I had so much desk space until now!

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Dark knight rises

What a movie !!!!!!

I'm on line at:

www.flickr.com/photos/guthlac
http://simonmarchini.posterous.com

www.simonmarchini.co.uk

I hope you enjoy

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Bye bye DOS, Bye Bye Redmond...

Hello Cupertino I think Im going to cry....

Yes I have taken the plunge and decided to join the Xerox PARC rip off artists.  I'm getting an iMac!   Actually circumstances well beyond my control have forced my hand so I have taken the leap that I have been thinking about for sometime now.

I suspect the iMac wont arrive much before this time next week, again these enigmatic circumstances but this does give me time to work out exact what I am going to do with around 1.5 TB of data from my previous PC.  I think I might have a solution but need to ruminate on this over the week end.  

This really is a big step for me.   It is one of those momentous moments.  I have been working and swearing at a GEM (this does date me)/MSDOS/Windows environment since 1988.  Now this is longer than most people have used a PC and so it is with some sadness I have to move.  In truth I am looking forward to the new challenge ahead and I am sure that after a few months of bedding in and teething problems, within two days of owning my first computer I had deleted the system disks - which was fun! I will see what all the fuss is about with the Mac.

One final thought.   I won't have to learn to use the Apple keyboard as I already have one which I use with my iPad, i.e. to write this email.  To that is one task completed - check!

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Sir John Falstaff

I've continued to watch the excellent Hollow Crown series on BBC 2 and one of the characters I've been inspired to draw is Falstaff.

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Strangeness of a Laptop

As my PC is poorly sick and away in PC hospital I am having to rely on my now ancient laptop.   By ancient I mean nearly 5 years old.  It doesn't have the power of the PC but it does the job.  I have connected it to my PC's monitor to allow me to use it as a PC and I have to say I quite like the set up.   Now if my PC's illness proves fatal ie not cost effective to fix, then this may well be the set up I move to.   We'll have to wait and see.

Simon Marchini 

Web: http://WWW.simonmarchini.co.uk

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Let us sit on the floor and tell of...

Oh poor old me my ageing PC has had to be taken in to the service people as it has had a serious wobble. Hopefully I'll have it back by Friday.

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Sneak Peek: iPad 7 Features Unicorn horns

This makes as much sense as all the speculation floating around the Internet!

Sneak Peek: iPad 7 Features Unicorn Horns, Levitation [SUNDAY COMICS]
http://mashable.com/2012/07/15/sneak-peek-ipad-7-features-unicorn-horns-levitation-sunday-comics/

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Superhero Vamp - Loving you is sweeter than ever

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Tracks of my tears...its my party and I'll cry if I want to

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Problems with Posterous

Over the past few weeks it seems that Posterous is taking longer and longer to post items. To test this I am going to post this and lets see just how long it takes. It is being posted at 16:24 BST.

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Jenny Saville - "...the best painter of the female nipple..."

I'm not sure whether Ms Saville would appreciate Waldemar Januszczak's description but it is very apt having just seen the exhibition at Oxford Modern and the Ashmolian. If you get the chance to see the exhibition then it is worth it.

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Gregory Euclide's breathtaking whiteboard drawings

Incredible drawings...beats using the white board for system's and process maps or was that just me?

Gregory Euclide's breathtaking whiteboard drawings
http://boingboing.net/2012/07/10/gregory-euclides-breathtakin.html

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This is the First Photo Ever Uploaded

Only 20 years ago... My I'm getting old!

This is the First Photo Ever Uploaded to the Internet
http://www.petapixel.com/2012/07/10/this-is-the-first-photo-ever-uploaded-to-the-internet/

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Working with brushes - A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall

Another experiment with the use of colour using brushes. This time I think I have been a bit more painterly and especially like the way that the under painting has come through.

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Why do Klingons have such good hair?

It must be something in the conditioner they use but Klingons do have really well looked after hair. I have been having some fun again just messing around with brushes - nothing series but I like the result.

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I DON'T CARE IF ANDREW MURRY WINS OR LOOSES

I DON'T CARE IF ANDREW MURRY WINS OR LOOSES I DON'T CARE IF ANDREW MURRY WINS OR LOOSES I DON'T CARE IF ANDREW MURRY WINS OR LOOSES I DON'T CARE IF ANDREW MURRY WINS OR LOOSES I DON'T CARE IF ANDREW MURRY WINS OR LOOSES I DON'T CARE IF ANDREW MURRY WINS OR LOOSES!

There I've said it. I don't wish him any harm or anything like the I just don't care. We seem to have a media. To day who jump on to any band wagon and flog it to death and they don't seem to think that anyone else might have a different view.

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Just messing around with Lieutenant Torres

I'm in one of those moods this afternoon so I thought I would just have a dabble with brushes and produced this....

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David Bailey

Boy this took some work but I think it finally worked. I think I have started to change my style to a far more powerful feeling.

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John Byrne

There are some face that are made to be sketched and John Byrne's is one of them. This is a bit cartoonish but Bryne has that sort of face. Oh and by the way he is also an incredible artist, playwright and generally sickeningly talented person.

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Worf

This is the Worf or Mr Wolf (Lwaxanna Troi's name for her). I just had a blast making this.

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Drawing Mr Wolf

Well that's what I'm just about to try to do...silly I know but someone's got to do it.

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Mitt Romney doesn't understand... (newstatesman.com)

A bit bitchy but true....

Mitt Romney doesn't understand Venn diagrams
http://www.newstatesman.com/blogs/world-affairs/2012/07/mitt-romney-doesnt-understand-venn-diagrams

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Building and dismantling the Windows advantage

An interesting article but it does not account for the inertia within large corporate structures.   I have had some experience of this and it can take years for the implementation of any significant change.   The roll out of training for the move from a Windows environment to another one is difficult, no matter what Apple might say.   An example would be how to print.   A very simple function but fraught with all sorts of problems if the user doesn't know exactly what to do.

Of course it is different when using an iOS machine.  Here the interface is much easier, and the user probably already has sufficient skills to quickly understand any functionality.  However, this again has all sorts of problems for any IT dept trying to ensure that similar functions are available - consider the problem of printing from an iPad - great if you have access to a iPad comparable printer but I am reasonably sure that most corporate environments don't.  There may well be expertise out there that is able to write the software to allow the interface but it is just another layer of complexity for no real gain.  You only have to consider the problems that RBS/NatWest have gotten themselves into over an upgrade to see the issues involved.

Maybe one day windows will become a less dominating OS and the world will see the advantages of working in a OS x environment but quite honestly I cannot see the advantage for large companies to swap as the move does not deliver any significant advantages whilst causing huge problems. This is especially so when most corporate user hardly notice the environment they are working in as they operate specific applications within the environment.

Building and dismantling the Windows advantage
http://www.asymco.com/2012/07/04/the-building-and-dismantling-of-the-windows-advantage/

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Ho ho ho

This must be something of a record...the rumours start in the late summer...now it seems that is not the case...who knows if this true other than Apple and they never will say.

Apple is planning to launch a thinner iPad this summer
http://www.macworld.co.uk/ipad-iphone/news/?newsid=3367310

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Henry Bollingbroke

Well I watched the first of the Hallow Crown series of plays, Richard 2nd, last night and was blown away by the wonderful acting, directing and overall majestic production. This really was the BBC at its best. So this morning I thought I would draw the next player, although he was much a part of Richard 2nd as the usurped king himself, Henry Bollingbroke. This started of as a straight portrait of Jeremy Irons but turned into something different a more world weary drawing.

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