Mac Stuff

Bullet points not appearing correctly in OpenOffice.org on the Mac

I've been using OpenOffice.org in it's various Mac versions for some time now and am currently using a version of 2.0.2 under X11. It has proven to be very reliable, but today an outstanding issue with the display of bullet points came to a head for me and I decided to try and sort it out.

I trawled the usual places and got snippets of information but surprisingly little by way of a complete solution.

Anyway, to cut a long story short, the consensus is that Microsoft Word stores bullet characters in a representation which does not convert easily to UTF-8 and relies on the presence of a suitably coded Symbol font that presents these characters correctly.

The standard Symbol font installed on a Mac does not have the correct encoding to display these symbols, but the URW (whatever that might stand for) version of the Symbol font which is distributed with TexMF and apparently with Ghostscript, is suitable.

I found that I had the font on my machine within my teTeX installed (installed with DarwinPorts). The font was in a file called "usyr.pfb".

I copied this file into the truetype fonts directory inside my OpenOffice.org installation inside the openoffice.org/share/fonts/truetype folder.

However, this isn't enough, because OpenOffice.org continues to use the other Symbol font installed in my case as a series of files prefixed with the name Symbol (surprise surprise!). So I removed those files.

Now I just restarted OpenOffice.org and opened a previously temperamental Word document to find that the bullet points had returned. Indeed, even the exported PDF files displayed correctly.

Virtual desktops update

I've just started trying out FileMaker 8 and discovered an unfortunate incompatibility with CodeTek VirtualDesktop Pro. I'd previously blogged on my move to Desktop Manger when Mac OS X 10.4 (Tiger) arrived, but when CodeTek fixed their incompatibility I moved back as I really liked the facility to be able have some applications appear on all desktops, and others only on one. I also find the pop-up panel for displaying virtual desktops and dragging windows to be very useful in CodeTek's implementation.

Well, unfortunately I've discovered a very big screen refresh issue with using FileMaker 8 and VirtualDesktop. Given the general compatibility of VirtualDesktop with other applications I'm inclined to deduce that the problem is more likely to be FileMaker's than CodeTek's. However, it's going to leave me virtual desktop (with a small 'c') free for a while until something is fixed, or I find a working alternative that works for me.

Graphing software - Plot

I've just made another one of those exciting discoveries of a piece of really useful well developed software that I've never noticed before. It's called Plot and it's a Mac OS X graphing package with a scientific flavour and lots of flexibility.

Okay, I've only just noticed it and tried it for about 2 minutes. But I'm already fairly impressed. The example graphs look good, it outputs to a good quality vector PDF or EPS for effective use in packages like OmniGraffle or Keynote, and it supports error-bars amongst many other things.

If that wasn't enough, it is free, it has some substantial documentation, and it has a whole plethora of features including MySQL data importing and perl scripting.

So far I've spotted two negative points, but given all the other features of the package, I wouldn't be surprised if these are fixed quite quickly. Firstly, if you resize a graph window, the labels don't move with the rest of the graph. (Note, however, that this isn't a problem when you export to PDF and then resize.) The other problem is that the exported graphs have non-transparent backgrounds, so you can't use them as easily and effectively in packages like Keynote when you want to have graphs on a standard presentation template background.

Transitioning from iView Media Pro to iTunes 6 (iLife 06)

I've been getting frustrated with iView Media Pro for quite a while now. My initial years of extolling iView's great features have been followed more recently with serious speed problems and frustrations over their more recent upgrade pricing policies. So, I decided I would give iPhoto another shot with the new version 6 (iWork '06) version.

The first significant discovery for me was the fact that iPhoto 6 allows you to import photos without copying them into you iPhoto library—so you don't have to compromise the way you store your photos. When you import a photo iPhoto creates an alias to the original and then makes a local thumbnail.

My next discovery (which won't be new to anyone who's familiar with iPhoto) is the ease with which you can create a backup onto CD. You just select you're photo's, click burn, and it creates a CD which, when mounted, appears as an album in iPhoto. The pictures retain the keywords you gave them, and also retain their originals if you edited them in iPhoto, though you have to copy the pictures into your working library to use the 'revert to original command'.

Unfortunately, the backup CD doesn't appear to retain a copy of the albums that pictures were sorted into at the time you backed up - so you can't sort pictures into albums as a mechanism for providing metadata.

Also, there's no clear way of retaining a local copy of thumbnails of backed up CDs to make it easier to find pictures that are archived away. Indeed, I discovered that iPhoto doesn't really cope very well with importing images (without copying) from removable media. If you try to view the images, iPhoto asks you to insert the media they were on, but doesn't tell you anything about the media - like the CD name.

So, although it may appear that I've found a lot of problems with iPhoto, I'm actually much happier with it than with iView. It is working reliably, the interface is very consistent and effective, and, well… it's just nice.

Finally, I noticed Keyword Assistant that looks like it will be useful once it's upgrade for iPhoto 6.

Update: Fujitsu ScanSnap fi-5110EOX Paper Scanner

After many discussions leading from my review of the ScanSnap fi-5110EOX in April of this year, it seems like it's time to sum up some of the updates.

The most significant update is that Fujitsu have announced the fi-5110EOXM - a white Macintosh compatible version of the scanner. At last there is official support for the Mac.

But what if you've already purchased an fi-5110EOX or EOX2?

Well, in a similar pattern to before, you can now download the latest Mac driver for all of these models including the new model from the Japanese web site: http://scansnap.fujitsu.com/jp/downloads/mac.html. It's called SnapScan_V10L13.dmg.

Then, once you've installed that, with the very kind help of rm, there is an English localisation that can be downloaded from this discussion thread: http://forums.macosxhints.com/showthread.php?t=32046&page=3&pp=20.

• Download these zip files and copy them into the ScanSnap directory created when installing the driver.
• Then open the Terminal application and change directory to the ScanSnap directory. The easiest way to do this is to enter the command "cd " (that's with a space after it - and please don't enter the quotes!), then drag the SnapScan directory (folder) from the Finder over the Terminal window and release. This will paste the path name into the terminal and you can then press Return in the Terminal window.
• Finally, enter "unzip ScanSnap13-English1.zip && unzip ScanSnap13-English2.zip" (don't enter the quotes and press Return at the end). If all goes well you're done and you can delete the two zip files. Just double click on the SnapScan Manager and smile! Thank you rm - whoever you are!

Exporting TV to DVD with EyeTV and Toast

I've just made one of those little discoveries that I probably should have known if I'd read a manual, but which I'd failed to notice and has caused me a considerable amount of unnecessary activity.

When I want to take a television programme recorded with EyeTV and record it onto a DVD the normal process I go through is:

1. Set it to record (by one means or another).
2. Come back later and edit out the extra bits at the start and the end (and the adverts if it's not BBC).
3. Press the compress button - compressing takes quite a while.
4. Come back later and export to Toast.
5. Come back later and drag onto Toast and burn, which itself goes through some lengthy multiplexing process before actually writing the data.

Aparently, if I upgrade to Toast 7, then step 4 is unnecessary, and hopefully, but I can't find any info anywhere to find out, step 5 is quicker.

But what I hadn't realised is that I don't have to do step 3. The compressing to disk part is totally unnecessary. As long as you mark the edit points, the export to Toast function function will only export the bits you need.

That's it!

Educational software for the Mac

As my son's 3rd birthday approaches I think it's about time I got round to finding some educational software for the Mac that he can use, both for his general educational development and for familiarising him with computers. Most people who know me will probably be shocked and surprised to realised that he hasn't got to use a computer yet!

Well, here's my first scan at what I could find.

1. The learning company [1] is a US company that appears to be well established with some well reviewed software. The web site is divided by age, subject or brand and when you get to the individual titles it indicates whether it works on Mac and whether it works directly on Mac OS X or on Classic.
2. SuperKids [2] — an educational software review site which appears to be independent, but it's always hard to know for sure!
3. Amazon.co.uk [3] — I underestimated how well Amazon caters for the Mac users looking for educational software. Go to the front page, click on the "software" category (currently a bar on the left), then click "Education & Reference", then click "Macintosh Education & Reference", finally you get to choose software categorised by age/stage, brands and subjects. This looks like it's going to be one of my first points of call from now on.
4. Learning & Teaching Scotland [4] and The National Grid for Learning Scotland [5] are, as I understand it, supposed to be the official government funded gateway to educational resources in Scotland for teachers and parents. When I looked for software for pre-school, all I could find were three titles produced by Learning & Teaching Scotland themselves which were (unsurprisingly) well reviewed. Perhaps I'm missing something here. If you can find anything more useful on this site, please let me know!
5. National Grid for Learning [6] — given the limited differences between early years education in Scotland and England I decided that I should probably look at the (English) National Grid for Learning site for a wider range of software options. Amazingly, I haven't been able to find any software at all, indeed when I look at their extensive index pages the word "software" doesn't appear anywhere! However, when I seached with the word "software" in their freetext search facility I was pointed to…
6. Becta Educational Software Database [7] — listed on the National Grid for Learning as a resource for software for pre-school to further education, and also listed as being for 16+ only(!), this site is a bit more promising. It lets you search by subject, keywords, age, platform (but doesn't distinguish between Classic and Mac OS X) and by format (e.g. Floppy, CD-ROM, Download, etc.). Maybe I'm unlucky but there appeared to be broken links to most of the software I was interested in, and when the link did work the Becta site had set it up so that the web site appeared in a new window without a URL entry bar and buttons which made navigating the linked sites very awkward. Can I ask why!
7. SETT exhibitors [8] - I resorted to asking someone I know very well for some advice and they also suggested that I look up the exhibitors at the SETT conference and follow their web pages for information. I've not had time to do that yet, but it should provide up to date links to educational software providers relevant to Scotland.

So, there we go. That's where I've got so far. Currently, in review, I think the amazon site is probably the most practical starting point.

[1] http://www.learningcompany.com/
[2] http://www.superkids.com/
[3] http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/tg/browse/-/1067898/
[4] http://www.ltscotland.org.uk/
[5] http://www.ltscotland.org.uk/ngflscotland/
[6] http://www.ngfl.gov.uk/
[7] http://besd.becta.org.uk/
[8] http://www.ltscotland.org.uk/sett/exhibition/exhibitordetails.asp

Desktop Manager - an alternative virtual desktop application

I've been a long time user of CodeTek Virtual Desktop [1]—a very useful application if you find yourself constantly switching between applications and trying to manage a collection of open windows, but the current version has problems with Mac OS X 10.4 "Tiger", so after a little searching I've run across Desktop Manager [2].

Desktop Manager isn't as feature laden as CodeTek Virtual Desktop: it doesn't allow you to automatically open certain applications on pre-specified desktops or allow certain applications to always display regardless of the desktop you're working on. However, it does allow a number of named desktops with hotkeys to switch between them and even some nice visual effects to indicate the switch and to display the desktop name on the desktop background.

There are three key features of Desktop Manager that appeal to me: firstly, it works with Mac OS X 10.4 "Tiger"; secondly, it is open source with evidence of active development, so I can easily install it at work without having to manage the complications of trying to arrange purchase orders from unknown suppliers, etc; finally, it works as a simple application, not requiring any complicated or concerning installation of extensions or frameworks.

Let me know what you think.

[1] http://www.codetek.com/ctvd/
[2] http://desktopmanager.berlios.de/

Comic Life—comic strip design for the rest of us

Someone has just drawn my attention to "Comic Life" [1]—an application for aiding in the creation of comic strip cartoons. I haven't even downloaded the demo, and to be honest I probably won't have much chance to try it soon, but it looks to me like it could be a great way of taking your holiday snaps and turning them into something a little more creative. Just thought I'd mention it incase, like with me, this one had passed you by.

[1] http://plasq.com/comiclife

An in depth technical review of Mac OS X 10.4 "Tiger"

For those of you, like me, who like to read a little bit more than just your average review of a project, you might be interested to read John Siracusa's latest Mac OS X review of Mac OS X 10.4 "Tiger" [1]. One of the hidden gems of this review comes in section 14 (…yes I did say 14!…) which says:

"Why develop something as impressive as Quartz 2D Extreme and then leave it turned off by default? My inquiries to Apple have gone unanswered, so I can only speculate about the reasoning behind this decision. My best guess is that all of the bugs could not be excised from Q2DE in time for Tiger's launch date, and that it will be enabled by default in a subsequent update—perhaps as early as version 10.4.1."

Read the complete review to work out the significance of this comment!

[1] http://arstechnica.com/reviews/os/macosx-10.4.ars