Last night I successfully installed Windows XP on a Mac Pro using Apple’s latest release of Boot Camp. Boot Camp installed flawlessly. Windows XP on the other-hand could not recognize the Apple USB keyboard. I encountered this same problem with XP under the previous version of Boot Camp. Switching USB ports did not work.

What did work was using using a Microsoft keyboard. I just happen to have a Microsoft Standard Wireless Optical Desktop keyboard and mouse left over from the days when I still had a PC. I re-booted the system with the new keyboard which restarted the XP install. It completed without incident. Installing the system drivers from the drive disk created by Boot Camp worked great. Found that XP recognizes my iSite camera, however its generic driver produces an unusable washed out image. I did have to call Microsoft to register the install. Apparently, I used up my alloted install attempts. I really hate having to repeat a 40 digit number first to a computer and then again to the help-desk. Then for a reword, Microsoft returns with a 40 digit number. So much for purchasing a legal copy of XP.

What is nice about the Boot Camp install is its ability to use any drive. In my case I have a second drive of 500G. I allocated 200G for XP. Parallels would not install on my second drive.

Installed Microsoft Office 2003, Visual Studio 2005, NOD32 (because Leo Laport said its the best), and Windows Defender Beta 2. Installing Windows Defender gave me a scare. Initially I could not download the product because Microsoft could not detect that the installed copy of XP was legal. As a Microsoft Partner, I have legal copies of their software. So here is a clear case of a false positive. A second attempt after closing the browser worked. Why?

My sole reason for using XP is to run Visual Studio 2005. In my work life I principally code .NET C# and being an acknowledged work alcoholic I am compelled bring work home. Using Boot Camp means I no longer also need a PC at home. So, I can proudly admit that I have been PC free for two months.

Here is my latest toy, a Blackberry Pearl. To get this baby, I had to switch carriers from Verizon to T-Mobile. No big loss. Overall I found the Pearl really easy to use. My previous phone was Blackberry 7250. So I have some familiarity with the interface. Prior to getting the device, I had been told the Pearl keypad/system was difficult to use. On the contrary, I found it simple and faster to use. The screen resolution is significantly higher then the 7250 and consequently easier to read. It’s smaller screen actually seems larger. This unit will serve me well until the next newer toy comes along …

Downloaded <a href="https://dev.mysql.com/downloads/connector/j/5.0.html&quot; target="_new">mysql-connector-java-3.1.13-bin.jar</a> from the MySQL site and double clicked the mysql-connector-java-3.1.13.tar.gz on my desktop. Dragged the resulted file folder to my Library/Java/Extensions/ directory. I then dragged the mysql-connector-java-3.1.13-bin.jar out of the mysql-connector-java-3.1.13 and into the Library/Java/Extensions/ directory. Copied a little mySql connection test java code from the internet, and it successfully connected.

Here is the test code I used:

import java.sql.Connection;
import java.sql.DriverManager;
import java.sql.SQLException;

public class JdbcExample2 {

  public static void main(String args[]) {
    Connection con = null;

    try {
      Class.forName("com.mysql.jdbc.Driver").newInstance();
      con = DriverManager.getConnection("jdbc:mysql:///test",
        "root", "");

      if(!con.isClosed())
        System.out.println("Successfully connected to " +
          "MySQL server using TCP/IP…");

    } catch(Exception e) {
      System.err.println("Exception: " + e.getMessage());
    } finally {
      try {
        if(con != null)
          con.close();
      } catch(SQLException e) {}
    }
  }
}

Next I moved mysql-connector-java-3.1.13-bin.jar into System/Library/Java/Extensions/ directory and found that my test code continued to work. While looking for the mysqlJDBC.jar file, I noticed several postings dealing with connection problems when placing the jar file into this directory. Now I don’t know why it worked for me but it did. It’s definitely an unusual experience for me. Typically this type of operation would require hours of fiddling to find some little thing I failed to do.

It’s time to celebrate…

I have heard so much about TypePad that I thought I would give it a try. The 30 day trial period is nice. Hope to run the product through its paces and see how it works for me.

Paralles continues to struggle getting their product to work on the Mac Pro.

I first purchase Parallels for my Mac Book Pro, and on that system it works great. When Apple announced the Mac Pro workstation I ran right out and purchase one. My rational was that the added power of the dual Xenon chipped workstation would significantly improve my productivity, including the .NET C# coding. Thats the beauty of Parallels. It lets you run Windows XP in a window on a Mac running OS X. Its so cool. I can code C# .NET on a Mac.

Parallels runs perfectly on my Mac Book Pro. But either causes a kernel panic, or delivers a meaningless error message of “Unable to communicate with hypervisor!” on the Mac Pro. From a users perspective, what is the value of this message? How does this help get Parallels to work? In disgust I fired off a complaint to Parallels which will most likely do as much good as their error message. Maybe they will surprise me and email back a fix. I won’t hold my breath.

There is a glimmer of hope on the horizon though. VMWare announced that they will release a version of their workstation product for the Mac. I have used their PC workstation product and it is excellent. When they enter the Mac market, Parallels is gone.

I stumbled upon an very interesting writing tool called WriteRoom. What’s interesting is that it isolates you from the multitude of distractions of working in our digital environment. It does this by controlling your entire screen. In the default mode you are presented with a black screen. Typed words are green. For those old enough to remember, its reminiscent of the mainframe terminal days. Very retrograde. WriteRoom uses the escape key to toggle between its default display and your cluttered desktop. Its a free download … give it a try, it may surprise you, as it did me with how well it improved my focus.

I am back to working only one job. The timing could not be better. Next weekend is a three day weekend and I have no work commitments. It all belongs to me… YES!

Status of the ASP.NET, C# reading/study spree (pages read/total pages):

• Pro C# 2005 and the .NET 2.0 Platform, Third Edition by Andrew Troelsen (616/954)
• Programming C# : Building .NET Applications with C# by Jesse Liberty (320/612)
• Pro ASP.NET 2.0 in C# 2005 by Matthew MacDonald and Mario Szpuszta (605/1210
• Programming Microsoft ASP.NET 2.0 Core Reference by Dino Esposito (100/703)
• Programming Microsoft ASP.NET 2.0 Applications: Advanced Topics by Dino Esposito (0/629)
• Head First Design Patterns by Elisabeth Freeman, Eric Freeman, Bert Bates, and Kathy Sierra (206/629)
• CLR via C#, Second Edition by Jeffrey Richter (648/648)
• Design Patterns in C# by Steven John Metsker (12/430)

Status: (2507/5815) 43% complete.. Not to shabby. I did add Design Patterns in C# to my reading list. It was referenced to often to ignore. Jeffrey Richter’s book, CLR via C# was so good that I had a hard time putting it down. This is a must read for all C# coders.

Problem not solved. While attempting to install DSL service using a provided CD I got the three whirrs eject response. Doing the “option”, “apple”, “p”, “r” keys on a restart had no effect this time. I called Apple technical support, who concluded that the CD drive is defective. They sent out a prepaid shipping container which arrived the following day. The system is now with Apple for repair. Fortunately, I purchased one of the new Mac Pro systems so am not experiencing the dreaded Apple withdrawal pains.

Problem solved. The solutions was simple, and I should probably have known what to do. To put it simply, on restart, after the initial audio announcement, hold the “option”, “apple”,”p”, and “r” keys until the startup audio announcement sounds a second time. Did this, and now when I insert a CD the MacBook Pro no longer gives me the three whirrs eject response.

I am having problems with my MacBook Pro CD drive. It can’t read some CD’s. Specifically, the Apple CD that came with the new wireless Mighty Mouse just gets ejected. I experienced this same problem while attempting to install Windows XP Pro in both Bootcamp and Parallels. I also experienced problems ripping CD’s with iTunes. In every case, the system attempts to read the CD three times … I can hear the whirr of the drive spinning up at each attempt. Then the CD is ejected.

When the system can’t read a CD in iTunes, iTunes freezes up and the disk just spins… Force Quite iTunes is required to eject the offending CD.

There is no mention of this problem on Apples web site. However, a little searching on the Internet yields a few others with similar experiences. I did discover a work-around. Its not a good one but it works. What I do is make a copy of the CD on my Dell work computer. For some reason the MacBook Pro will accept the copied CD. Now that’s a good advertisement for the Dell and not so good for Apple.

My intention is to contact Apple for resolution. I hate the thought of having to ship the system off for repair or … replacement.