CalDigit offers an excellent range of USB 3.0 and eSATA expansion cards for the few Macs with compatible expansion slots

Mac storage specialist, CalDigit, recently introduced a new combination storage card for Mac Pro users. The CalDigit FASTA-6GU3 combines two eSATA ports and two USB 3.0 ports on a single PCI Express card. This makes it a veritable Swiss Army knife of storage connectivity, but only if you own a Mac Pro desktop!

A Tale of Two USB 3.0 Cards

There are currently two companies offering USB 3.0 interfaces for Apple computers: LaCie and CalDigit. Although both offer similar products (an ExpressCard for certain MacBook Pro laptops and PCI Express adapter for Mac Pro desktops), the two companies’ approaches could not be any more different:

• The LaCie cards only function with LaCie’s own storage devices, and no other USB 3.0 device will connect at full speed. This is a conscious limitation of the LaCie drivers, and is done to limit their exposure to support claims, since Apple does not officially support USB 3.0 at all.
• The CalDigit cards, in contrast, work with any and all USB 3.0 devices. While some may not be entirely compatible, and CalDigit will not support other vendors peripherals, my testing has shown it to be widely functional.

For this reason, I can only recommend buying the CalDigit adapter. It works well, is reasonably (if not inexpensively) priced, and the company has put in much development effort to support Apple’s operating system updates.

Side note: The vicious and angry reviews at sites like B&H Photo and Amazon indicate that I’m not the only one to hold this opinion. LaCie should reconsider this decision or make it very clear on the product packaging that only their devices are supported.

All For One, One For Few

The CalDigit FASTA-6GU3 card is compelling for Mac Pro users who frequently encounter a variety of external storage devices.

• The eSATA ports function at full 6 Gb speed and are backward compatible with slower eSATA devices
• The USB 3.0 ports support full 5 Gb SuperSpeed transfer, along with all other USB 2.0 and 1.0 peripherals

Combining both of these interfaces onto a single PCI Express card saves cost and space for the Mac Pro user. The product will reportedly list for $139, somewhat expensive but within reach for Mac Pro users who need it.

Stephen’s Stance

I remain impressed by CalDigit’s USB 3.0 products. My own tests show that these cards are fast and compatible, and I was pleased to see that CalDigit recently updated their driver for Mac OS 10.6.7, which changed some of the core features used by the previous driver. This is the kind of commitment I expect, both in terms of interoperability and support.

But it’s disappointing that these cards can’t be used more widely. Only the Mac Pro desktop and 17″ MacBook Pro laptop offer any sort of expansion slots, leaving most Mac users out in the cold when it comes to USB 3.0 and eSATA. Or course, there are certain homebrew options, but until Thunderbolt becomes more widespread and a Thunderbolt USB 3.0 interface is delivered, these solid products sadly have a limited audience.

© sfoskett for Stephen Foskett, Pack Rat, 2011. | CalDigit Brings Both eSATA and USB 3 to the Mac Pro
This post was categorized as Apple, Terabyte home. Each of my categories has its own feed if you'd like to filter out or focus on posts like this.

The Snow Leopard kernel refuses to boot in 64-bit mode on most Macs. Should you care?

There is clearly a ton of interest in Mac OS X 10.6, Snow Leopard: My Snow Leopard features hardware compatibility chart had over 20,000 visitors in just three days! But one chart element is generating an inordinate amount of interest: Whether or not Snow Leopard can boot in 64-bit mode.

Snow Leopard is a solid but visually unremarkable update to Apple’s OS X family. Although there are many new technical features, it’s not loaded with flash. In fact, even experienced Mac users would be hard-pressed to notice that their system had even been updated!

As I mentioned in that post, I was most-interested in the potential to use Grand Central Dispatch and OpenCL to accelerate my system’s performance. Both features are supported on most Macs built over the last year or two, and they create a great foundation for future development. QuickTime X is interesting as well, though only Nvidia 9400M-based Macs (like my 2009 Mini) support it’s hardware-accelerated H.264 capabilities. The fact that so much of the operating system has been re-written using these modern capabilities is probably the biggest Snow Leopard feature.

Snow Leopard Does Not Boot 64-Bit…

I wasn’t all that concerned about whether the OS X kernel booted in 32-bit or 64-bit mode, but was intrigued to find that Snow Leopard boots with a 32-bit kernel on every Mac other than the rack-mount Xserve.

Much pre-launch discussion revolved around whether or not a given system was even capable of booting in 64-bit mode. There are three critical elements that determine whether a given machine will boot a 64-bit Snow Leopard kernel:

1. All system hardware must have 64-bit drivers, including the CPU, chipset, and peripheral chips. The 64-bit kernel exclusively uses 64-bit kexts (drivers), and these are rarer than the 32-bit ones used by Leopard.
2. It must use 64-bit EFI (firmware). Even though EFI32 can technically boot a 64-bit operating system just fine, Apple will not allow this. Only Macs made over the last few years include EFI64.
3. Apple must allow the system to boot in 64-bit mode. This is the most confusing. Many Macs will not boot Snow Leopard in 64-bit mode even though they are brand new, have no unusual hardware, and include EFI64. This includes all non-Pro MacBooks and Mac Minis.

So there you have it. No matter what you do, Snow Leopard will not boot with a 64-bit kernel and kexts on the majority of Macs. One could understand if there was a lack of drivers or some other technical limitation, as is the case with older Macs, the but this is not the case for the latest MacBook and Mac Mini systems. They won’t boot with a 64-bit kernel because the kernel refuses to boot.

The only Mac model that boots with a 64-bit kernel by default is the 2008 and 2009 Xserve (Xserve2,1 and Xserve3,1) running Snow Leopard Server. The following Macs can boot in 64-bit mode in non-server Snow Leopard if you hold down the 6 and 4 keys on boot or if you modify your “/Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/com.apple.Boot.plist” file as described at Netkas:

If your Mac is not included in this list, you will not be able to boot Snow Leopard in 64-bit mode. MacBook and Mac Mini models definitely will not boot into 64-bit Snow Leopard. The later Unibody MacBook Pros (5,3 and 5,4) are not listed, and it is not known if they work or not.

…But Why Do You Care?

Why do enthusiasts care so much about the “bitness” of their hardware and software? Geeks have been arguing over the merits of “bigger-bits” for decades. I remember Mac users claiming PCs were inferior because Macs used true 16-bit Motorola CPUs while PCs were stuck with an 8-bit bus. The gaming world did much to foster 64-bit mania, with Atari claiming their Jaguar was the first 64-bit console, and Nintendo even naming theirs the “N64″. But does it really matter?

In theory, a 64-bit operating system should make most-effective use of 64-bit CPUs, increasing performance and maximum addressable RAM. In the case of Intel CPUs, there are many improvements when running the 64-bit (x64) instruction set instead of legacy 32-bit (IA-32) mode. So, from a hardware perspective, 64 bits is definitely superior.

But Mac OS X can run 64-bit applications regardless of the bitness of the kernel. I am writing this post in 64-bit Safari running on a 32-bit Snow Leopard kernel. Many of the applications I normally run are 64-bit in Snow Leopard, including Safari, Mail, and the Finder. This last is important: All Snow Leopard users get a speedy 64-bit ground-up rewrite of Finder, which is their main operating system experience.

32-bit Snow Leopard runs 64-bit versions of many applications, including Safari, QuickTime X, iCal, Mail, and the Finder itself. Notable 32-bit apps include Microsoft Office, iTunes, and iPhoto.

Therefore, regardless of which kernel mode you have booted into, many of your daily activities will use full 64-bit applications. 64-bit versions of iTunes, iPhoto, and Microsoft Office might be nice, but they’re the exception not the rule, and I expect to see these move up to 64-bit soon.

Why do so many Macs not use the 64-bit version of Snow Leopard? One reason is compatibility: The 64-bit kernel requires a full set of 64-bit drivers, and these may have been lacking at launch. Another reason might be that these systems would not see much benefit from running a 64-bit operating system since they are limited to 4 GB of RAM. I would not be at all surprised if later point-revisions of OS X 10.6 enable booting in 64-bit mode by default, at least for the machines listed above and newer models. Those of us with older machines (like this MacBookPro3,1) might never see it, though.

I should note that there are a few 64-bit features lacking in 32-bit Snow Leopard. But some applications, including VMware Fusion, will not run at all under a 64-bit Snow Leopard kernel. And there is the question of driver compatibility. I am not an Apple apologist or fanboy, but I do use Macs 100% of the time for business and pleasure. I think it stinks that Apple now lags behind Microsoft in the race to provide a 64-bit desktop operating system. But the decision is understandable and it has little impact on the daily lives of end users.

© sfoskett for Stephen Foskett, Pack Rat, 2009. | No 64-Bit Snow Leopard Kernel For You!
This post was categorized as Apple, Computer History. Each of my categories has its own feed if you'd like to filter out or focus on posts like this.

Mac OS X 10.6 "Snow Leopard" deliveries begin on August 28!

Although Apple’s web site clearly states that Snow Leopard “Delivers on August 28th,” it is unclear if other sources will be so punctual. We definitely expect Apple Stores to have plenty of stock on Friday morning, but what of Amazon.com pre-orders? Will they also deliver on Friday, or will those of us who pre-ordered there have to wait a few days for this undercover upgrade?

Who Gets What

Snow Leopard is really a major jump forward in terms of advanced hardware and software integration. It brings Grand Central, OpenCL, full 64-bit mode, and QuickTime X along with Exchange support and many tweaks. But many of these features are highly hardware-dependent, so not all Mac users will get everything.

Here’s a cheat sheet I put together based on Apple’s documentation:

This table is based on the following facts:

1. Snow Leopard only supports Intel-based Macs. PowerPC Macs need not apply.
2. Booting Snow Leopard in 64-bit mode requires 64-bit EFI, and many pre-2007 Macs have only a 32-bit EFI. You can check your Mac (and help me fix my table) by typing “ioreg -l -p IODeviceTree | grep firmware-abi” in a Terminal window. If it says “EFI64″, your system is capable of running 64-bit Snow Leopard (though it can still run 64-bit apps). But Snow Leopard defaults to 32-bit mode on ALL Macs other than the Xserve at this point, and no one is sure why!
3. Grand Central Dispatch requires a multi-core CPU. This eliminates the original base-model 2006 Mac Mini, since it used a single-core CPU.
4. OpenCL requires newer Nvidia or the ATI graphics chips. This leaves out many pre-2008 models and some iMac and Mac Pro configurations. Check Apple’s list if you’re not sure.
5. QuickTime H.264 Hardware Acceleration only works with the Nvidia 9400M chipset. This leaves out many pre-2008 machines and even the latest Mac Pros, though they probably have enough horsepower on their own.

Finally, if you’re excited about the new Microsoft Exchange support in Mail.app, iCal, and the Address Book be warned! In order for any of this to work, your server must be running Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 Service Pack 1 Update Rollup 4. And most companies still aren’t updated that far!

Update: Check my follow-up post on 64-bit Snow Leopard for more about this controversial aspect!

I’m Updating!

I held off on Amazon and placed my own order this morning with Apple. I’m with Mark Twomey:Upgrading to Snow Leopard is a safe day-1 activity. Most of the updates amount to new under-the-hood features and the OS has been through round after round of testing. Unlike the massive shift from Tiger to Leopard (which I missed, being a late switcher), Snow Leopard ought to be a lesser upgrade.

Why make the update at all? Here are a few of my reasons:

1. It’s cheap: Just $29 to update a single Mac, or $49 for up to five. Compared to Microsoft’s (expired) “limited-time-only” (and incredibly complicated) Windows 7 upgrade, Apple sets out a red velvet carpet.
2. It’s easy: There’s just one version of Mac OS X, and any system running OS X 10.5 “Leopard” can update to full-on Snow Leopard. There are no editions and no conflicts updating from 32-bit to 64-bit (like Windows 7).
3. It future-proofs your (Intel) Mac: Mac developers have a long history of quickly leveraging new OS X features since Mac users have a long history of quickly upgrading. Snow Leopard adds cool stuff like Grand Central and OpenCL that my Intel- and Nvidia-based Macs ought to be able to leverage. See below if your Mac can use these, too!

Sure, there aren’t any amazing features like Time Machine to set the world on fire. But the Snow Leopard update is still a slam-dunk for any Intel-based Mac user! My Late-2007 MacBook Pro will get everything but H.264 acceleration and my 2009 Mac Mini is all set to go!

Updated with Mac Mini and Xserve information. Keep the suggestions coming and test that EFI! Picked up, colorized, and reused (with permission) by the excellent Ed Bott in his ZDNet column!

Note: Some of these links include affiliate codes that help pay for this blog. For example, buying an Amazon Kindle with this link sends a few bucks my way! But I don't write this blog to make money, and am happy to link to sites and stores that don't pay anything. I like Amazon and buy tons from them, but you're free to buy whatever and wherever you want.

© sfoskett for Stephen Foskett, Pack Rat, 2009. | Mac OS X 10.6 “Snow Leopard”: In Our Hands August 28!
This post was categorized as Apple, Personal. Each of my categories has its own feed if you'd like to filter out or focus on posts like this.

Let’s take a look at what we know and what we don’t, starting with the firmest information.  And read to the end to see my own wild speculation…

Very Likely 

• Further Mac Pro and Xserve updates are extremely unlikely.
• iTunes movie rentals are all but confirmed, but will it be version 8 or version 7.6? I bet on the latter.
• An update to the iPhone/iTouch (1.1.3) is in the wild and has received much press, plus it would be required to support those movie rentals, making a Macworld intro very likely.
• Leopard needs a rev, and 10.5.2 has been spotted (if you pardon the pun), so that’s a likely Macworld intro.
• Apple officially announced the iPhone/iTouch SDK back in October, and claimed it would be released in February, so it’s likely they’ll spend some time focusing on what it can and can’t do, and probably will introduce some third party apps, too.  Mac Rumors suggests a Sling Player app, at least, and I’m looking for some games.
• I expect a revved MacBook Pro, with the new Penryn CPUs, thinner and prettier, but nothing really amazing.

Maybe Yes, Maybe No

• I’ll bite on the long-talked-about subnote rumor, but it’s definitely not a sure thing.  I’m expecting a 12″ or 13″ subnote with flash storage (no internal hard disk or optical drive), and a super-thin aluminum and black (iPhone-type) case.  But I do not expect it will have a touch screen or tablet, though the funky touch pad might have some enhanced multi-touch capabilities.
• The early release of the big-box Macs suggests to me that we can expect updates to the portables, but the MacBook was just updated in November, so I expect it’ll be left alone for now.
• The Cinema Displays are getting long in the tooth, so they need a rev, and this would be a good time to do it.  I expect another aluminum and black look (like the newer iMacs), and would be shocked if iSight and an IR receiver wasn’t built in.  I’m also expecting expanded Windows compatibility, more aggressive pricing, and DisplayPort and HDCP, but all this might not be mentioned in the keynote.
• The demise of the Mac Mini has long been rumored, but I hope it isn’t true.  I’m looking instead for a new small desktop Mac with a new industrial design.  How about a PCI-Express slot, too?
• I’m definitely not expecting a 3G iPhone, though a 16 GB model and shuffled-down prices would be a good bet.

Wild Imaginings

• I don’t expect a big Blu-ray splash at this show.  The Warner Brothers announcement was too late to change product plans, and Apple was conspicuously waiting the HD war out on the sidelines.
• Something needs to be done with the Apple TV, and this might just be the big announcement.  I like the idea of this being Apple’s first Blu-ray product, and a Blu-ray Apple TV at a nice price to replace my DVD player might just get me off the couch and into the stores.  But I seriously doubt this Apple TV will have a tuner, let alone DVR capabilities.

The Big One

OK, that’s out of the way, that’s the show.  But wait, there’s one more wild imagining in my head…  As Jeremy Toeman pointed out, an enhanced Cinema Display could make a darn fine TV.  So let’s walk down this path a little…

Lots of folks were disappointed that Blu-ray drives remain unavailable, even on the new Mac Pro, and I just said I didn’t expect one in the revved MacBook Pro, either.  But what if Apple is ahead of us all on this one.  What if the update to the Cinema Display also included a Blu-ray drive?!?

Introduce a new line of displays – call them Home Cinema or something.  Put in an internal iMac-like Blu-ray drive that can both play standalone to the display or be connected to a computer (over FireWire or USB) and used as a computer drive.  Suddenly every Mac has a Blu-ray option, and those Cinema Displays start looking like a much better option than a Dell or ViewSonic at half the price.  Lots of folks would love a more-converged entertainment computer, and some might just buy the big Home Cinema as a standalone entertainment unit.

But let’s follow Jeremy’s suggestion a little further…  Roll the guts of an updated Apple TV (running full OS X) right into that Home Cinema and create a Macintosh Cinema.  It’ll have integrated iTunes movie rentals and Blu-ray, and could be used as a regular computer with the Bluetooth keyboard and mouse.

And roll out the guts of the Macintosh Cinema and you’ve got a worthy replacement for both the Apple TV and the Mac Mini.

And please, Apple, buy TiVo and integrate that, too!

© sfoskett for Stephen Foskett, Pack Rat, 2008. | Working Backwards Reveals Apple’s Macworld Plans
This post was categorized as Apple, Terabyte home. Each of my categories has its own feed if you'd like to filter out or focus on posts like this.