Category: Technology

Inside the new Mac Pro

In the land of nerds — Apple nerds, anyway — Apple’s obsession in recent years with iPhones, iPads, and the iOS operating system for small devices has been disturbing. Sure, nerds have iPhones and iPads and love them. But real computers are for getting work done. Apple was accused — rightly — of neglecting its iMac desktop line of computers and squandering the work of its engineers on consumer doodads designed for distraction and entertainment rather than for getting work done.

Even worse, for a while Apple was saying that it wanted to make its operating system for desktops — Mac OS — more like iOS. That was horrifying. iOS is creepy, really. Its “apps” have no standard user interface, which guarantees that most apps are quirky, gawky, silly-looking, unusable, and aimed at adolescent needs and tastes. Much worse, iOS devices take control away from the device’s owner in the interest of security. For security, that makes sense. But nerds don’t like being locked out of their own computer.

Last year, Apple’s CEO, Tim Cook, tried to reassure the nerds that Apple wasn’t turning its back on serious computers. The reaction from nerds was skeptical: Harumph. So you say. Prove it.

Apple just proved it. The specifications of the new iMac Pro are breathtaking, way beyond what even the most optimistic desktop nerd might have hoped for. The iMac Pro is to be available in December. Prices start at $4,999. That may seem like a lot of money, but for people who use their computers to make money and who need all the desktop power they can get — for video work, for example — the iMac Pro actually is surprisingly cheap and easy to cost-justify.

Will I buy one? Absolutely not. I don’t need that much computing power on my desktop. But I do need a real computer on my desktop. It’s a certainty that the technical advances inside the iMac Pro will trickle down to the iMacs in the $2,000 range.

Best of all, the release of such a high-end workstation means that Apple can’t neglect its workstation operating system — Mac OS. I’m guessing that the new version of Mac OS that Apple will release in the fall will make up for some lost time. Sure, nerds want their iMacs to talk to their iPads. But we most definitely don’t want a desktop OS that is dumbed down and cartoonized and childproofed the way iOS is.

I’ve been using Macintoshes since 1986, more than thirty years. The drama of Apple’s evolution has been fascinating to watch. Apple just proved (I hope) that the company is not going to devolve into a company that only makes cool, expensive toys. They’re going to continue to make real computers and do superb engineering.

Now make us some cars, Apple! I won’t be able to afford one, but I can’t wait to see what kind of car you make.

The abbey is in a hidden little valley well off the beaten path, down in the woods. We wouldn’t have it any other way. But such isolation means that getting on the Internet is a problem.

For the past eight years, the abbey’s solution has been Verizon Wireless. I rigged up a nerdish system in the attic — Verizon “air cards” connected to directional antennas, with the antennas pointed toward the nearest Verizon tower (which is almost four miles away). In such a fringe coverage area, the Internet connection is slow and unreliable. The signal has to pass through woods, so performance is even worse when the trees grow new leaves in the spring. The trees have almost finished growing new leaves. We were fed up. Ken suggested that I ought to look at satellite again. He taunted me, actually. He’ll be spending the summer as a park ranger in the middle of nowhere in Alaska, in a park service cabin with only solar power and a satellite setup for Internet that he said probably will be faster than the abbey’s. I couldn’t let that challenge go, could I?

What I found was that, just a few months ago (December 2016) HughesNet launched an enormous new satellite, EchoStar 19. The satellite was built in every nerd’s favorite California suburb — Palo Alto. The satellite was launched from Cape Canaveral on top of an Atlas rocket. After a couple of months of testing, HughesNet began to offer (in March 2017) a broadband service that they call “Gen 5” or “Generation 5,” promising true broadband speeds of 25 Mbps. Not only that, I found their pricing plan entirely fair — unlike Verizon pricing, which is clearly structured to provide as little as possible for prices right at the peak of what the market will bear. I bought HughesNet’s 30 GB per month plan. That plan includes 50 GB per month of off-peak data (2 a.m. until 8 a.m.) free. If you exceed the 30 GB per month, HughesNet does not block service or scalp you for overage gigabytes. Instead they throttle your speeds (to 1 to 3 Mbps) for the remainder of the month, at no cost. Or you can buy reasonably priced “tokens” to get more high speed data. The tokens never expire. When you buy extra data, you get to keep it until you’ve used it all.

Bye-bye Verizon. And good riddance.

In the past, I had avoided satellite because HughesNet has consistently gotten poor reviews for its service. With a new satellite, a new transceiver-router box, and new network infrastructure, I’m counting on HughesNet making a comeback and improving their reputation. If the satellite service here at the abbey continues to be as good as it has been since the system was installed yesterday, I will be extremely happy. I’ll post a review after a month or so.

There is one penalty with satellite Internet service that cannot be avoided. Service must be provided from a geosynchronous satellite. That means that the satellite orbits the earth at exactly the same rate at which the earth rotates. Thus the satellite is always in the same location in the sky, so that you can point a dish at it. The distance from earth required for geosynchronous orbit is just over 26,000 miles. A radio signal to the satellite must travel 46,000 miles — up and down again. Thus the speed of light causes a delay, or “latency,” in response times. That delay is a significant and often noticeable fraction of a second. But will I put up with the latency to get true broadband at a reasonable price? You bet.

So far, download speeds are exceeding HughesNet’s promise of 25 Mbps. We’re consistently getting 45 Mbps. Not only is that fast, it’s the fastest Internet connection I’ve ever used — here in the sticks! Of course, this is a new satellite, probably lightly loaded while HughesNet is adding customers. The speeds probably will drop. Still, I’m counting on HughesNet keeping their 25 Mbps promise. HughesNet is boasting that this satellite service is the first satellite service to meet the FCC’s definition of broadband. So I think that there are regulatory reasons why HughesNet must keep the speed up if they want to advertise it as true broadband.

I hold an Extra-class amateur radio license. I’m accustomed to working with communications apparatus. One of the things that frustrated me, in trying to make do with Verizon Wireless, was the cheapness and flimsiness of the consumer-level electronic components. Piddly “air cards” are about the size of a thumb drive. Their antenna connectors (when they even have one) are tiny, fragile, and unreliable. By comparison, look at the photo below of the feedhorn on the HughesNet satellite dish. The feedhorn is nicely made at a commercial (as opposed to consumer) standard. It has a nice, snug, coaxial connector. Also notice the heat sink (the fins on the bottom). That means it gets warm. If it gets warm, that means there is some power in it. The installer said that the feedhorn operates on a 45 volts DC that is fed to the feedhorn on the coaxial cable.

Yup, we can stream video now. And I’m actually paying less than what I’ve been paying Verizon, keeping in mind that I had both a 3G and a 4G air card for Verizon, because the service was so unreliable that a backup was needed. The new backup method will be tethering the iPhone. But I’m hoping that this HughesNet service is going to remain both fast and reliable.

⬆︎ Ken buries the coaxial cable while the installer sets up the dish

⬆︎ The dish’s feedhorn

⬆︎ The installer used an app to aim the dish. The readout on the phone is coming from the satellite and represents the signal strength as seen from the satellite. This number rose to about 120 after the dish was properly aimed.

⬆︎ The system comes with one box, the HT2000W, which is both the satellite transceiver and the WIFI router.

A couple of weeks ago, while waiting for an appointment with the eye doctor, I listened to a couple of people ordering glasses from the glasses-fitting technician. I was stunned at the prices they were being quoted, easily $600.

There are rumors about why eyeglasses have gotten so expensive, but from Googling I found it difficult to confirm or deny the rumors — which have to do with lack of competition as big players buy up more and more of the market. If I’m not mistaken, places like Walmart and Costco have better prices, and there’s not a total monopoly. But I like to buy things on line.

I first bought glasses on line two years ago. After doing some reading, I decided that EyeBuyDirect probably was the way to go. I was completely happy with their glasses and their service, so I recently ordered new glasses from them based on my new prescription. If you’re thinking of ordering glasses on line, you should do your own research, because this is probably a fast-changing marketplace.

A simple pair of blue-filtering reading glasses cost me $70. A fancier pair of driving glasses with “adaptive” lenses cost $160. The first pair of glasses I ever had were three-way “progressive” lenses, and I never got used to them. I found it too awkward to tilt my head to whatever angle was appropriate for seeing near or far. I quickly learned that I prefer to have multiple pairs of glasses close to where I use them, with a separate pair of glasses for reading, for driving, and for working at the computer. I only wear glasses when I’m reading or driving, because my vision is still remarkably good.

To order glasses on line, you’ll pick a frame (based on photos and prices of the frames, which works fine for me) and then choose the features you want for the lenses. You enter in the numbers from the prescription that you got from your eye doctor. In one to two weeks, your glasses will arrive in the mail.

There is one piece of information you need for ordering glasses on line that isn’t part of your prescription. That’s the distance between the center of your pupils, measured in millimeters. The first time I ordered glasses, I made my own measurement in front of a mirror (I measured 67mm). This time the glasses technician made the measurement for me, even though I wasn’t buying glasses at the eye doctor’s office. The technician measured 64mm. I was off by 3mm, which is less than an eighth of a inch, so I didn’t do too badly. In any case, I believe that number is more critical for greater levels of correction than I need.

I would say that the main drawback of ordering glasses on line is that you don’t get the benefit of a technician adjusting the frames to better fit your nose and temples. You might be able to do this yourself after watching some YouTube videos.

The guilty capacitor

I can tell from the reader logs for this blog that y’all are preoccupied with the political situation, as am I. But please bear with me as I try to get oriented to the terrifying new political reality and distract myself with things that are closer to home and relatively unimportant.

For almost two months, I had hardly turned the organ on, because I was busy with politics. But just over a week ago, resolved to work up some Christmas music, I sat down to do a little shopping through a stack of music to figure out a short Christmas program. As I was playing, the organ started smoking. It continued to play, but smoke rolled out from under the keyboards. I turned the organ off, of course, and called the Rodgers technician.

Some types of electronic components can last virtually forever. But electrolytic capacitors don’t last forever. They contain a liquid, and eventually this liquid can leak. The liquid conducts electricity, and as it leaks out onto a circuit board, electricity gets conducted into all sorts of places that electricity ought not to go. Things smoke. Boards get fried.

The cause of the smoking organ was a leaky capacitor on the power supply board for the organ’s lighting systems. The heat melted a small hole in the board, and the bottom of the board was blackened. The board was damaged, but it was repairable. A replacement board would cost well over $1,000 from Rodgers, so repair was the way to go.

It’s a pleasure to watch a good electronics technician at work. The Rodgers technician who serves most of North Carolina is incredibly good at diagnosing problems (he’s seen everything over the years), and he’s very good at getting out his soldering iron and doing component-level repairs.

After about an hour, the organ was back up and running. He cleaned up the blackened board, replaced the offending capacitor, and replaced three identical capacitors elsewhere in the organ as a preventive measure.

What keeps us sane after a political disaster like the election of a dangerous con man to the U.S. presidency? Music, of course. Cats, for sure. And what I call the literary labor of novel-writing.

The yellow jumper wire replaces a trace on the board that was melted by the capacitor burnout.

Testing the voltage output after repairs