Blog's from the Bush

Technorati Tags: Geekery, Mac

We just got one these units to replace our HP 6110 which had surrendered to the fibre particles from the local MDF plant, that cover the industrial parts of Oberon. Its been a great little multifunction unit and given our limited office space has served its time well - given that I've been printing a couple hundred pages a week out of it since we got it. Just to give a one sentence mini-review we used this printer for printing dozens of colour maps of harvest sites and apart from the dust damage in the last week being a problem it has been a fast reliable printer.

Given the success of its predecessor we brought a new one the HP 6210 which "has replaced the 6110" according to the sales rep. at Harvey Norman. Actually it turns out the 6110 was replaced by the 6310 which would have been nicer since it has both a higher page usage rating and a Bluetooth option that would work perfectly with my laptop - but what is done is done as they say...

So, on with the tip, or tips actually.

1. Given the extra $50 cost if you can afford it get the HP Officejet 6310 you will love the more robust build and the Bluetooth interface if you're a laptop toting geek like me.

2. Don't install the software from the CD, even though it clearly states for Mac OS X 10.4 - go directly to the HP website and download the latest version this way you will avoid the pains I went through. It appears the software on the disk was only compatible with 10.4.0 and given that most Mac users are already up to at least version 10.4.7 its a better way to go anyway...

3. If you do have troubles even with the newly downloaded installer do not follow the HP instructions about moving your Login Items around. Instead follow the much simpler path of logging out (Shift-Command-Q or look under the Apple menu) and then logging back in while holding down the shift key - this will result in a behavior that goes all the way back to System 7, ie. you will login but Start-Up Items will not be loaded. Then you can run the HP Installer without any issues, once you've been through the installer and the setup wizard all you have to do to return your Mac to its normal state is logout and log back in without holding down that Shift key.

Well here's hoping that helps someone and saves them the 2 hours of frustration I went through. Till next time - keep an eye on the price of those printer cartridges!

Posted by craig at 12:06 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Technorati Tags: Google Earth, KML, KMZ, Mac

I'm not sure if you've caught this but Google Earth has a new beta out and I've been playing withit on my Core Duo Mac Mini. The graphic performance of which I've been very impressed with - if you have an older generation G4 (anything from the DP500, 733, 1Ghz or 1.24Ghz) you will be well served by getting the money together for one of these new Intel based Mini's.

Anyway back to the new version of Google Earth - its Universal and feels faster overall. Another interesting thing is that Google Earth appears to have updated images since the last time I played with it back in May. For example this Google Earth KML file showing Avoca Beach Heritage Villa's where we stay occasionally is much sharper than its predecessor- in fact good enough to find your way there!

The rest of the changes are improvements to the User Interface elements which appears to be aimed at getting the interface out of the way - overall I would say they've been successful. Enough from me though go get it and have a play!

Posted by craig at 10:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)