[Mac 101] Ask your questions here!

none-more-black

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I'm not contesting who invented Firewire or if the chipsets "meet Firewire's requirements 101%". The point is: major audio interface manufacturers still insist on the TI chipset and not others. It doesn't matter to me if its the fault of these 3rd party manufacturers or Apple itself; this debate can go on forever (RME/Presonus are 'blaming' Apple). I just want to know if the chipset on these newer notebooks are TI or not, because if it isn't, then I'll have problems with the hardware I already have. Whether or not the OS is "superior" wouldn't matter if whatever hardware manufacturers release are incompatible or prove troublesome.

Thanks!
 
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RupertGee

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I'm not contesting who invented Firewire or if the chipsets "meet Firewire's requirements 101%". The point is: major audio interface manufacturers still insist on the TI chipset and not others. It doesn't matter to me if its the fault of these 3rd party manufacturers or Apple itself; this debate can go on forever (RME/Presonus are 'blaming' Apple). I just want to know if the chipset on these newer notebooks are TI or not, because if it isn't, then I'll have problems with the hardware I already have. Whether or not the OS is "superior" wouldn't matter if whatever hardware manufacturers release are incompatible or prove troublesome.

Thanks!

Either you miss my point completly or just read it between the lines too deeply.

http://www.digidesign.com/index.cfm?navid=48&itemid=31592&langid=100&action=news_details

I'm happy to show you in the above example from Pro Tools (just released hours ago,) it's not Apple fault, and maintain if you need a superior os (from a great computer maker), Mac's good for you. Otherwise, stick to your old computer to use with your existing hardware.

But of course, if you do get a Mac, you gotta dump all your low-grades equipment if they are not standard compliant and I doubt its mfg can afford/be bothered to rewrite codes to make them work properly.
 

none-more-black

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Hi,

I'm not sure why this mini-argument is taking place, to be honest. I asked a simple question: do the newer Macbooks/Macbook Pros have the TI or Agere firewire chipset? I frankly don't care if the manufacturers are not developing new firmware; I just want my stuff to work.

And I take offence at your "low-grade hardware" insinuation. RME and PreSonus are 2 major audio interface manufacturers used in professional studios; and their interfaces are incompatible with the Agere chipset.

This is the statement by RME:
"There is a new FW 800 chip on the market from Agere, which seems to be incompatible (not only) to RMEs FireWire audio, and requires workarounds for successful operation.

The reason Apple used this chip instead of the former TI solution is easy to find: half the price and a lot smaller. So it is not astonishing that this chip now also begins to show up on Windows computers. We got our hands on a PCIe FireWire 800 card from Unibrain using this chip, and found the exact (!) same problems under Windows as under Mac OS X using this card.

Our examination of the problem showed that the Agere chip causes the Firefaces to issue a FireWire bus reset shortly after start of data transmission (isochronous mode). We tried a Motu 828 for comparison and found this to be affected as well (everything seemed to work, but playback did not start).

Therefore we have to declare this chip and all related products as incompatible, and expect a fix (if any) from Agere's side, by either firmware or driver updates."

So, really, and I'm not being curt or anything of that sort here, but it's as simple as this: I have X which is compatible with Y but not with Z. I would like to know if the newer Apple notebooks have Y or Z in them, to gauge if my X can be used: it can with Y but not with Z, all things else are irrelevant. Can we not argue about whose hardware or OS or etc is superior; I think I asked a perfectly reasonable question.

Thanks!

PS: The Digidesign link is for compatibility with the OS. There isn't a problem with the OS at all; it's the firewire chipset that is causing problems. I mentioned nothing about the OS.
 
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RupertGee

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Sigh.

Anyhoo, nobody's arguing anything.

Like I said, you miss my point and read between the lines too deeply.
 

none-more-black

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Alright then; back to my original question:

What firewire chipsets do the newer Macbook and Macbook Pros use?

Everything else is irrelevant to me: the OS, the evil 3rd party manufacturers not interested in providing support for their users, Apple, the hardware I have, the hardware I'm going to own, etc.

Thanks, any help would be greatly appreciated!

PS: RupertGee, I understand yr point about if I want to use the OS, I should just get the notebook for the OS and "not worry about the cheap chipset". However, I have to worry if whatever hardware I have can't work with the chipset! It ceases to be a matter of a superior OS anymore. If I buy a notebook with the Agere/Lucent chipset, my hardware won't just work. I'm sorry if I appeared to be caustic or uncompromising with my replies.
 
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RupertGee

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PS: RupertGee, I understand yr point about if I want to use the OS, I should just get the notebook for the OS and "not worry about the cheap chipset". However, I have to worry if whatever hardware I have can't work with the chipset! It ceases to be a matter of a superior OS anymore. If I buy a notebook with the Agere/Lucent chipset, my hardware won't just work. I'm sorry if I appeared to be caustic or uncompromising with my replies.

Too tell you the truth I hang out at, among other forums, RME's very own, and I (kinda) know what's going on... but unlike many... it's also clear to me from past experience mfg will push responsibility and blame Apple (and in this case Agere.) However, Apple is very firm and over time has proven itself that they know what they are doing. If you go thru the threads you'll find many users don't have problems with their firewire with despite RME's statement. Just ask yourself why don't Apogee users exierience the same problem?

Anyhoo, my best advise is walk into a retailer and ask to check the chipset b4 you buy; no point finding out what we have since you can't have ours. :)

This has gone way beyond "Mac 101"... so let's stop here, ok?
 

none-more-black

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I've actually went to the couple of Apple retailers in town (club21 and Epicentre@Orchard), but have gotten no definite answer. I posted here since this seems to be the 'official' FAQ thread; perhaps some users with the newer notebooks can help me with this, or maybe I could get a recommendation for a retailer who could help too.

And yes, I know there are users without problems, but there are also many with problems as well, and I'd tend to believe RME's official statement over that of the end-user.

Thanks!
 

state22

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hi guys, i was thinking of switching to mac, in order to cut cost i tot of selling off my tv haha .. So e qns is , can imac or e apple display support cable tv ? Like doest it haf RF connections or rca connections ? Or even some adapter i could get ? Thx for helping out
 

jezzmatezz

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Hi all, i just bought myself an imac just last sat.
so being totally new to the mac world... i do hope u could entertain my queries... so bear with me if you find my queries just too simple... =:p

Does mac have a software which is similar to dvd43?
it removes the region code of dvds so u can play it without the being affected by the region code settings


Has anyone tried bootcamp before? is it easy to use?

do u guys use the preinstalled software for burning discs?
i realised that when i drag and drop, the original size of the file is not mentioned in the folder like for instance if the file size is 2GB it only shows 4kb if not 500kb.

please advice. thanks :)
 

irradicalism

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Hi my macbook just crashed on me. Left it running on transmission last night and when i checked on it this morning it showed the black screen asking me to do a reboot. On reboot, it didn't get past the chime. No apple logo. Only a flashing folder with a question mark on it. Tried the diff keys like shift or command or c but nothing happened. Help! Do I insert the osx cd? Scared put in can't get it out. Anyone knows how to salvage it? Urgent thanks.
 

irradicalism

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Ahhh my mac just vomitted the cd n flash that stupid question mark. Guess my hard drive died. N i dont have applecare! Izzit possible to buy n replace the hdd by myself? difficult?
 

novatliz

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Ahhh my mac just vomitted the cd n flash that stupid question mark. Guess my hard drive died. N i dont have applecare! Izzit possible to buy n replace the hdd by myself? difficult?

its easier to replace for macbook. search the thread for the installation guide...
 

RupertGee

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thanks. I'm navigating on my ipod touch so its pretty frustrating to search for help.

If you have an external harddisk u can install os x on it and boot your macbook from it... then find out how to replace the harddisk.

... or maybe ask SGL to help you install one.
 

irradicalism

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found the instructions to replace the hard drive.. doesnt look that hard.. can i ask one more noob qn, how do i go about buying a hard drive?
 

AciDJC

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I got 2qn...

1. How do u find the app that u installed? (eg in Win, u can goto control panel and click on add/remove appl to see the list)
2. how do you actually uninstall an appl in Macbook? I mean total clean uninstall.
 

RupertGee

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I got 2qn...

1. How do u find the app that u installed? (eg in Win, u can goto control panel and click on add/remove appl to see the list)
2. how do you actually uninstall an appl in Macbook? I mean total clean uninstall.

1. Apps are usually if not always installed in the /Applications folder. To uninstall most Apps, just Trash them. You might leave behind its Preference settings file but such takes up only mere kilobytes of disk space; leaving them behind pose no big deal. Others install support files in the /~Library/Application Support folder; look for them and trash them. Large complex apps like Adobe Creative Suites, Microsoft Office litter support files all over the place, but they usually come with an Uninstaller (you can usually find it within the DVD/download package or the application's folder.)

You can use this popular shareware to uninstall most apps cleanly: http://www.appzapper.com/

2. The same as other models of Mac. ::s22:
 
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