Windows 8.1 On Unsupported Mac

As Tech fiends, we often find ourselves desiring the impossible. This is exactly what let me into attempting to put Win 8.1 on an iMac (late 2009). According to the Apple website, this shouldn't be possible because it doesn't support the latest version of bootcamp.

Okay, so here's what we need to think about when attempting this sort of thing. Will the hardware support 8.1? Of course! Is that even a question? What are our limitations? Software: drivers, versions, etc.

I tried a number of things first that ultimately didn't work. I won't bother listing them, instead I'll just explain what ultimately did work for me.

What you'll need:
1. Windows 8.1 .iso disc and license key.
2. Windows 7 .iso disc (no key necessary).
3. Wired keyboard/mouse.

Start the bootcamp assistant utility. Insert the Windows 7 .iso disc. Follow the on screen instructions (disable the updates check mark). Select you partition size and the computer should automatically reboot into the Win 7 disc. While it's rebooting, hold down the Option key. When the boot options show up, eject the Win 7 disc and insert the Win 8.1 disc. Boot into the Win 8.1 disc and follow the on screen instructions. When prompted to select a partition, select the Bootcamp partition (you may need to Format it first), and press continue. When you get into Windows, perform all the updates you can. Go into device manager and see if there are any unknown devices (the only one I found was the iSight was not installed, but the camera still worked fine).

And there you have it! Pretty simple, actually. In order to switch boots, you just hold down option while the computer is turning on and there you can select which OS to boot into. Good luck :)

Nerd: A Story About a Little Asus Laptop

Asus makes a laptop, the 1015E. It comes at two retail price points: $249 and $299. Identical hardware, the difference is the OS. The lower priced version comes with Ubuntu OS, while the higher priced ships with Windows 8. Conclusion: Manufacturers pay $50 to put Windows OS on a machine. This isn't news, however, and has been commonplace for awhile. 

Considering you are paying $300 for a computer with Windows, that means that the OS is ~17% of the purchasing cost. That's pretty substantial. But now let's look at how much it costs to stay up to date with the current OS. Suggested retail price for the latest Windows OS is $119. Let's suppose you bought a $300 computer recently, but before the release of the latest OS. This means that you paid $50 for an OS that almost immediately became obsolete. To upgrade, you'll have to pay another $120 or $170 in total software expenses and a grand total of $420 for the machine. Ultimately, 40% of your spending has been on the OS alone. That's pretty bold of Microsoft. 

Let's look at Apple. Since OSX 10.6 ("Snow Leopard") Apple has committed themselves to distributed new versions of their OS at a very low price, which started at $29 and has been reduced to $20 and most recently, free. Similarly, their iOS had historically cost $10 per upgrade, but has been free for quite sometime. Basically, Apple has recognized that the OS literally has no value to the user. That most people are more than happy to stay on a certain outdated OS even if there are newer, shinier versions are available, but at a higher price(i.e. over 30% of computer are still on Windows XP). Apple has instead focused on hardware, and consumers pay about 30% more for a product with a glowing half-eaten fruit fashioned on the back of it.

So why doesn't Microsoft do this? Well they can't, yet. Until recently, Microsoft produced very few computing devices. Their sales relied solely on the selling of software, such as the Windows OS. However, with their recent acquisition of Nokia, the huge success of the Xbox systems, and the finally useful Surface 2 Pro, Microsoft has made its way into the hardware field. What does this mean? Well hopefully what it will mean is that the price of Windows will drop considerably, at least if you're buying your hardware directly from Microsoft. Additionally, what it will mean is that Microsoft will be able to focus on producing high quality and reliable hardware, similar to Apple. 

In the coming year, many businesses will be faced with a serious dilemma. Microsoft will no longer support their very dated Windows XP. This means that the units still running XP (most of which are corporate machines) will become insecure. Sure they can download high-end antivirus and firewalls, but in the end XP will become insecure on a kernel level (no amount of antivirus can protect the kernel). Even if you have just one XP-running computer on your network, every other computer will be consequentially, insecure. Many business owners will have no option but to update to Microsoft's latest OS, Windows 8.1. Remember that $119 price point? Well that's reflective of the Home Edition, Microsoft charges a whopping $199 for the Pro, or business edition. Also, remember that 30% of computers are still on Windows XP? The total number of computer units in the world is 1.63 billion which puts XP units at just under 500 million. This means that if all those units are updated to the latest version of Windows, the total cost would be ~$80,000,000,000 (assuming that the units are split evenly between home use and professional use). This is insane. 

So you've just finished reading this extensively long post. You may be wondering what to do with this new information. A huge problem has been laid out, but no solution has been given. Well prepare to see the full circle of my argument. Recall that $249 Asus computer that runs Ubuntu OS? That means that Ubuntu, or Linux is.. free. Always free. And can be installed on any hardware. It doesn't need some shiny half-eaten piece of fruit to make it run better. It "just works". If you're running Windows XP, and you're thinking about upgrading to a newer OS (which you definitely should be), then don't feed into the corporate arrogance of Microsoft's outlandish over-priced software charges. Make the switch. Do Linux.

The Lighthouse Door

My senses are filled with the cool biting kiss of the oceans sea salt mist.
The rock upon which I have taken my stand holds true to its word,
I will support you.
Planted, my feet hold firm to the rocks rigid face.
The wind comes piercing through my skin with its granular knives .
I begin to bleed out the suffering of my past.
Now the gusting ocean air has stayed true to its word,
I will cleanse you.
My eyes open to a light beam as it passes my face.
Circling clockwise it searches for those who have become lost.
I inch forward, lurching with each step as I am pulled from the cliff.
The light house calls me and has stayed true to its word,
I will guide you.
I plunge into the ice cold water and it wraps around my soul.
Struggling to breathe my lungs begin to cave in.
Arms weak, they barely emerge from the oceans surface.
Fighting the battle I thank the sea for staying true to its word,
I will transform you.
I lift my self out from the icy tomb, only just escaping my own death.
To find you standing at the door to the lighthouse.
Drenched in salt water and bleeding through my pores,
I have not enough strength to stand on my own.
You grab me and hold me and have stayed true to your word,
I will catch you.

Memories and Perception

Can you remember that day?

When the roses grew noses and smelled you

They were jealous of your aroma.
Your fragrance that you bought off a shelf
And sprayed yourself like a definition.
So turn with me in your dictionary
To page 804 and read the first word:
“Illusion”. Noun. A false belief.
I cover myself with clothes of deception.
Get a better perception of this sheep in wolf’s clothing.
Come closer. Close enough to catch me.
Walk with me through these woods
Where the trees have knees
So they can bend over
Put their leaves on the ground
And rest themselves.
And we can walk straight up their backs,
And when they rise again we can see for miles on end,
See the earth for what it truly is: Flat.
Like a pancake it is flat.
It has an edge.
There is an end to this world,
And when you get there you will know it ‘cause
Like the bottom of a skillet, there is only black.
Remember that day,
When you fooled the flowers to think you smelled like an angel?
Remember it and breath it in.
‘Cause it never happened.

How To Nerd: Customizing Windows 7 Part 3

If you've made it this far, congratulations. You can get off the train if you'd like. Maybe you're happy with the setup you've managed to create. That's completely fine. But if you're looking to go the one last step in customizing the overall theme of your computer, let us begin.

First, let me explain what we will be doing. We're going to change some of your system components to allow custom themes. This will let us alter the shell that windows runs in, mess with the colors, transparencies, icons, etc. That's basically it.

Here's what you need to do: head over to DeviantArt and browse through the user uploaded content. You'll see a large list of them, click one you like and you can download it from the top right corner of the page. Usually if there is anything other than the theme that the author used, it will be posted in the description below. Once you download the package, unzip it. I recommend 7-Zip for all you archiving needs. Within the extracted folder you will also find a readme file that the author created to help you along with the process.

This is the theme that I use: Google+ Theme The author has a really professional and all inclusive package to help you get his theme setup, and reiterating what he wrote on here would be redundant and useless.

So here you can see a final product that utilizes all the tips and tricks I talked about in previous posts. If you haven't read those yet, go check out Part 1 and Part 2.

Rainmeter and RocketDock:

Patched Google Plus Theme:

Dexpot Fullscreen Preview:

Dyssomnia

Tomorrow I will wake up
And I will breath in the air of a brand new day
That smells like a song I have not heard--yet.
But I know the beat.
I see people as they walk-no-dance down the street
Bobbing their heads to the rhythm of the song.
It controls them,
Moves them,
Takes them from the long rigid strand of reality,
And breaks open a world of smooth lines.
For them, they have been defined,
But not me.
Tonight I will not sleep,
And I will close my eyes and see my suicide.
This song that I can’t get out of my brain--yet.
It’s beat always changes.
It cannot be captured or tamed, but is re-arranged.
Nodding my head back and forth to the sound,
It controls me,
Drowns me,
Brings me to the bottom of a deep deep ocean,
A world designed by the darkness
That drives me insane.
Tomorrow I will wake up,
And Tonight I will not sleep.

How To Nerd: Customizing Windows 7 Part 2

Alright now that we got through the basics, its time to get real. Windows 7 is limited. That's right, I said it. Limited. That's where third party software comes in handy. I'm going to go over some cool apps that I use to enhance my workflow.

If you haven't read my previous article go that really quick: Part 1

1. RocketDock. Simply, it's a feature-full application that places a dock on your screen. Some of these features include: custom icons, backgrounds, behaviors, screen position, and a lot more. It's very nice for launching applications and there's even an option to minimize windows to it. It's really snappy and low resource so it won't lag your system down at all. I place the dock on the right side of my screen and use the auto-hide feature. You can add icons to the dock by dragging shortcuts from a folder on your computer. You can edit those icons once they are on the dock, allowing you to theme your dock however you want. There a plethora of icon sites out there, but I like to use Iconspedia. Also, I recommend trying out Inkscape if you're interested in editing or creating your own icons.

Here's some examples of the things you can do with RocketDock. 

Screen Shot 1 : Basic

Screen Shot 2 : Advanced

Screen Shot 3 : Creative

2. Switcher. Here is a nice application that would replace the Win+Tab function in Windows with something a little more Expose or Mission Control. It displays your windows in a catalog utilizing several different configurations. Another must have for productivity users. I personally don't use this as much as I used to. I don't need all the advanced features, and the Windows Catalog built into the next app, Dexpot, is more than enough for what I need. However, if you are looking for a fully featured window switcher, this is the app you want.

4. Dexpot. This tool allows you to create custom virtual desktops which are supplemental workspaces for windows. It allows you to move windows to separate workspaces with keystrokes or mouse movements and then switch between them. Dexpot is fully equipped with beautiful graphical switching animations. If you're limited to only one monitor, this application is a necessity in our productivity arsenal. There are also a bucket load of add-ons and plugins that can be enabled to further the usefulness of this app. As I mentioned I use Dexpot to manage open window switching instead of Switcher. It's not even close to the level of customization that can be done with Switcher, but it's simplicity is exactly what I am looking for.

Woah, what's up with all the Mac rip-offs! Yes, I will admit that some of these apps seem to be ripping off what Mac OSX has. However, that would not be complete true. It only rips off what Mac OSX has made popular, not what they invented. Dock bars have been used in graphic user interface since the late 80s. The Hot Corners and Switcher functionality has been on Linux since the early 2000s, around the same time Apple started spotlighting some of these features. Needless to say, Apple never ever innovates a product, they simply popularize it.

5. Rainmeter. Warning: this program is HIGHLY customizable and may or may not take up an entire Saturday or more to set up. On the other hand, there is a huge community of users that upload their configurations and they would be more than flattered to share them with you. Basically what it does is put custom widgets/gadgets on the background of your desktop screen. These widgets can be downloaded in theme packs off Deviant Art and Customize.org, or for those graphically savvy... you can make your own! Which ever you choose, I highly recommend having a familiarity with Image Manipulation so that you can customize the skins to fit your own needs.. I personally use GIMP, a free open source software that competes with Adobe PhotoShop. (Note: if you want free and legal, albeit dated, PhotoShop see here). Also, each skin has it's own configuration document which is pretty simple to understand. If you're familiar with .ini files you'll be fine.

Note: Mac OSX has a similar program called GeekTool.

Okay, so now you have an entire suite of applications to increase your productivity in Windows 7 (or 8). In the next article I'm going to introduce one more thing that can help you really put your stamp on
your Personal Computer.

Part 1 Part 3 coming soon.