The MacBook I’ve been waiting for has been delivered. Thanks Timo!
Tony + Mac = Joke you say?
I’ve never used Macs, not because I don’t like them, but because I’ve never had the need for one. The only Mac I fiddled with was the one that EarthLink had for tech support calls (iMac I believe – the triangle shaped TV looking one). The hockey puck shaped mouse was too cute. Anyway, I’m a Linux guy and using a Mac is well, not too far off I guess – the ones they make these days that is.
Why do I have a Mac now?
My friend Timo can take all the credit for this since it was his idea. He made a strong suggestion that I get into developing iPhone apps and cash in on the action. I’d like to think I’m a capitalist at heart and figured, what the hell, why not. Here’s the problem, I need to learn the operating system and how to actually do the development part. I’m not too worried, I mean if I can get a handle on Linux then a Mac shouldn’t been too difficult. I started absorbing the UI and navigating around earlier. I’ll play with the OS more after work tomorrow.
Apple SDK (Xcode IDE, et al)
I managed to get the Apple SDK loaded on the MacBook. It took around 30 minutes for it to download (3+ GB SDK, yikes!) and installed in roughly 15 minutes. Hmmm, no easily accessible launcher icon appeared on the desktop or in the Applications menu. I happened to find the SDK in the Developer directory in the root of the hard drive. To make life easier I added Xcode to the Dock. There is a LOT of documentation to read and plenty of sample code to fiddle with and I feel I need to spend a couple days looking it all over before I do anything bold like build an app of my own (and will need idea first).
MacBook hardware is very cool
The first thing I noticed about the MacBook is its AC adapter. The thing reminds me of a universal power plug adapter, with its prongs that flip down and its square white body. Okay, now this is probably the best thing about it, the power connector doesn’t plug into the Mac, it sits on the side magnetically in a little rectangular groove. Timo called it a break-away connection. This is type of connectivity is extremely useful for people that trip over their (or strangers) PC laptop AC adapter line cord and break the pin it sits over.
The MacBook also has a Firewire connection, DVI video interface, and Webcam. Standard stuff so I’m not going to say anything more about it.
I’ll end with this: I like the Mac, it’s nice. No complaints.
