In an attempt to transfer all my information from “Patillac” the MBP to the new iMac I suddenly realize that the trusty ol’ FireWire that I have been using as a lifeline for the MBP doesn’t have the lock ‘n’ load port I’m used to. I see the little triangular Target Mode icon I am oh so familiar with, but for some reason the FW400 male end is not fitting. Hmmm, strange!! And after a little surfing the net, I learn the truth. Apple has done away with the FW400 ports and replaced them with the FW800 ports. I guess this is a good thing. Faster is always better right? Bitter sweet would be appropriate at this point…I became so dependent on that FW400:FW400 cable that I just figured it would transition on over to the “new kid on the block.” But as I guess we move Patillac into retirement, so goes the FW400 cable…
Dear Patillac,
Your a 1st gen MacBook Pro and I think it’s time we accept the truth. Your currently on life support and the prognosis isn’t looking good. You’ve been a dear friend, always there for me when I needed you. We learned things together, had many “firsts” together, and learned each other’s quirky habits so well that we are practically one and the same. In a sense, you have defined me. When your mouse pad starting showing symptoms of uncontrollable shakes, I said, hey I’m going to stick by your side. We’ll just get a peripheral and disable the mouse pad. It’s been ~9 months since we parted w/the mouse pad. And yes, the constant need of the peripheral mouse is quite an inconvenience, but the sacrifices we make for true love are well worth it. Then the fevers got really bad. Your bottom side was burning up like a fire side grill. I couldn’t sit you on my lap like I used to in the good old days when you were younger. The thought and smell of burning flesh were enough to make you desk-ridden for the rest of your life. No worries. Nothing a nice desk and small fan mounted right behind you can’t take care of!! At least we still had each other, right. However, your first stroke really scared me. I trusted that reliable brain of yours so much I never thought of backing you up. External Hard-drive? For what? I have a Mac Book Pro named Patillac that was as reliable as a Cadillac (that’s where you got your name - Me=Pat, You=Cadillac Quality). I was using nearly all 80 GB of your storage capacity…not a byte of which was anywhere else. Some might say that was careless, I just called it trust. But oh that fateful December day was a tough one.
I booted you up like I had everyday for the past few years. I saw the same grey screen I saw thousands of times before. But this time you were showing it to me for longer than you usually had. After about 10 minutes I became a little worried. I did what I thought was the obvious thing to do and forced you back to bed. After giving you a few more hours alone I came back in the room with uber-confidence and pushed the circle of life. Except you were paralyzed again. Something about that grey screen was haunting. It was like a block in the road that we have never encountered before. I hadn’t yet learned of your uncanny ability to share the contents of your brain with another Mac via Target Mode - silly you, that was such a brilliant option you should have told me about that when I first got you. Nonetheless, I spend ~12-15 hours operating on your software and trying everything I could think of. Because we had you at so much capacity the restore option wasn’t an option at all. Sad. So after alot of deliberating I did it. Erase & Install. I lost everything, but the good news was I still had you. You came back to life like a true champ!! I lost alot of important documents, and some photos I’ll never get back. But it’s okay. Memories can be remade and documents rewritten. But I did have to invest in hard drive. The “all my eggs in one basket” approach stung a little. It’s okay, you got along well with the WD 1TB Drive!! I also did a little homework and learned of the Target Mode option to recover all the goodies before giving you the fresh start. FireWire Cable was now on the shopping list!!
Life was normal again, at least for a couple months. One February day you started acting sick. You couldn’t do some of the things we commonly did. Playing with iTunes, Safari, and Mail seemed to exhaust you. No way could we play with all three at the same time. Over the next few days the symptoms got worse. I was usng the right click, force quit medicine many times AN HOUR!!! You used to just let me quit whatever we were playing with. But then it was as if you wouldn’t let me just quit those things we were doing, if one of them wouldn’t respond to me, none of you would. After one of the many forced shut downs you gave me the dreaded gray screen. I knew what it meant. Just to be safe I used the life support cable (FireWire) and saved everything on ur brain. I labeled the folder: Patillac’s Brain - Feb 2009. Like a true companion I walked you through the rescesitation process and brought you back to life. You were a trooper and came back like a star.
Unfortunately, I have four files on that Western Digital that start out “Patillac’s Brain…”. Just a couple days ago you started making a sound I haven’t heard before. Like a purring of sorts. I’ve read about this sound. I don’t want to think about what the next gray screen may bring (you started showing me a “file” with a question mark in it) but I’m afraid the next time you may not come back. I’m okay with the inconveniences. Traveling with a mouse is easy: stuff it in the side of the back pack. The life support cable is small and can fit in my pocket, but making sure we have access to another Mac is sometimes challenging. The fan is a bit cumbersome and inappropriate for some places, but we find ways to make this one work (I’ve learned that propping your backside up with something keeps you cool a BIT longer…). The western digital isn’t so bad…kind of bulky but knowing you’ll always have a second storage (backup) is reassuring. And the fact that because of the mouse/fan/etc. you’ve essentially become a desktop computer just means no more watching TV and playing with you at the same time - maybe this was a deliberate move on your part!! You were getting jealous huh!! I thought so!! It’s okay, we learned about the wonders of fancast.com so we could do EVERYTHING together!!
But it’s time. It’s time I accept the fact that your on your last leg. The purring noise may be a signal that the time is near. Your successor will have big shoes to fill. I’ve started looking into it and I think the new iMac 24″ will be the one. But I hope you can hang in there a bit longer. Money is a bit tight and I can’t afford to go pick up the newbie for a while. It’s been a blast and I wouldn’t have wanted it to happen any other way!! If I can get the newbie in here before you check-out for good, I promise to not get rid of you. You’ll just be officially “retired.” Limited use only!! Who knows, I may get brave and open you up and see what kind of surgery we can do…maybe replace some of the problems and get you healthy again!! Time will tell. Until then, hang tough and keep doin ur thang!!
Check out this article about a trojan virus, so conveniently named iBotnet, that is “targeting” Mac computers:
http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/04/22/first.mac.botnet/index.html
There have been viruses that have “targeted” Macs for as long as there have been Mac computers. The problem is, such a small percentage of computer users are Mac users that the publicity that makes viruses so popular have gone largely unnoticed. Not to mention, why spend the time creating a virus that is going to reak havoc or find some financial gain and then limit your “audience aka victim pool” to the smallest group of computer users? This article clearly points out the financial benefit to targeting Mac users, gee, thanks for giving giving them the “reason” but I honestly think this article and the hoopla it is creating is intended to be a marketing ploy by Symantec, who make Norton Anti-Virus software and/or McAffee who also makes anti-virus software.
When you produce a product or service that is dependent on bad things happening to innocent unsuspecting people, you almost have to play a hippocrit’s roll. As much as you “care” about your customers computers’ safety, you really are hoping viruses continue to evolve - it’s job security. And hey, if you have one demographic locked down (PC users) and there is another group that is growing at an unprecidented rate, why not plant the “fear” seed to see if you can tap into a market that previously had no use for your services.
And while were at it, why not get into the business of CREATING the viruses…shoot that seems to be a great way to make sure your software is “ahead of the game.” But that’s all a conspiracy theory discussion for another time…Happy Mac’ing!!!
