The Steussy Ranch

Success! Here you see the Mac Powerbook Pro running the Mac system on its own screen and while the laptop runs a new copy of Windows Vista on the old-fashioned CRT monitor. They’re running simultaneously. Microsoft Office resides just fine in the virtual system. So does Quickbooks. Almost everything else is running on the Mac side.

Why, do you ask, is this techno-junkie running an old-fashioned monitor? Ah hem. This is a professional graphics monitor that I saved from a garage sale. Someone who had just spent too much on a flat screen had to unload it. I got it for five dollars. Works just fine. I only notice how heavy it is when I move it.

The one failure here was getting Sid Meier’s Civilization 4 (PC version) to run on this setup. Oh well.

While I am not yet ready to apologize to Apple over the problems with their Migration Assistant, I have now had the opportunity to use Microsoft’s Window’s Easy Transfer utility to take files and data from my old XP system to my new Vista machine.

Not good. It cost me two days. Allow me to rant.

All of the major computer manufacturers are now offering Belkin’s Easy Transfer cable when you buy a new system. I rejected this out of hand as an easy place to economize. On top of that, I bought a Windows-free white box system off eBay since I found the Dell/Gateway/HP prices to be far too high. OEM copies of Vista (one for PC, one for the Mac laptop) were purchased separately. There was no option for a transfer cable. I’ll be reviewing the system I bought later, once I have a chance to actually use it (which is to say, after the transfer that I am writing about now is complete).

But it seems easy enough when you start using it. The opening screen tells you all of your options: Easy Transfer Cable, Local Network (wired or wireless), burnable CD or DVD, flash drive. Having invested a great deal of time and energy to get a robust and secure Local Network, I click on the Network button.

Both computers need to be dedicated to the transfer. Both the XP and Vista computers come up and recognize each other on the network. Windows Easy transfer starts the process. Both computer screens have warnings: “Do not turn off or use this computer.” And it was clear after two hours that one or the other of the computers had hung in the middle of the transfer. OK. No problem. Reboot both. Do it again. After two hours, they had hung again. Two more attempts – both ended in hanging.

Let me complain a bit more about this. It was not obvious that the computers had hung. There was no message from the software that there was any trouble. Only by noticing a small portion of text on one computer (listing a log of files copied) could you tell something was wrong. Booting up the destination PC, it was clear that some files had transfered (my desktop junk among others), but that most hadn’t (current working files).

This morning, deciding that the network option had not been sufficiently tested at Microsoft, I try the removable media option. I have a 2GB flash drive. I cleared it completely, so that it could operate as a bucket brigade, splashing data from one system to the next. The onscreen commands clearly said that this was possible.

Starting at 8 in the morning, it takes 25 minutes for the source PC to generate and copy 2GB of files into the flash drive. Place flash drive in destination Vista PC. Works fine, and asks for the next bucket, errr, flash drive. I plug the flash drive back into the Windows XP source computer. Error! Your flash drive is full!

Well, duh, that’s what I’m supposed to do! And I can’t leave the Windows Easy Transfer program running on either of my PC’s to delete the files from my flash drive, since both screens warn me, “Do not turn off or use your computer.” I need to fire up the Mac laptop so that it can clear the flash drive on each and every iteration between the two PC’s.

It becomes very, very clear that there has been no thorough test of this program at Microsoft, at least from a user experience standpoint.

Seven iterations of the flash drive going from Windows XP machine to Windows Vista machine to Mac laptop back to the Windows XP machine, taking a total of three hours, and the process is over. I still don’t know whether it actually worked or not. I’ll add that later. I’m too mad at the whole f’ing process to do much more right now.

So, as I mentioned, the Steussy Ranch is getting a serious upgrade. Over the years, I have upgraded computers and software as needed. This is the first time I am attacking the whole thing as a system.

This all started when we got Verizon Business FIOS. The Ranch now has five incoming IP addresses, at drink-from-a-fire-hose speeds. One is locked down, with all ports closed. That one is for our laptops and workstations. One IP address has selected ports open, so that there is controlled interaction with the Internet. The page you are now reading is served off of that address. It currently has about a dozen small websites and a few FTP sites that are used for professional and personal reasons. Three IP’s are reserved for future use.

The linchpin of the upgrade is my new primary computer. For the first time in 12 years my main computer will be a Mac. And for the first time in just as long, it will be a laptop.

By making this my primary computer, I now have constant access to my necessary Mac programs (Quark, PhotoShop, Illustrator), as well as my PC programs (Excel, Word, Powerpoint, Quickbooks and dozens of small utilities difficult to find on the Mac). Additionally, I get to use the Mac for Mail and Internet browsing. Mail on the Mac is a joy – I can find anything instantly. Going through Outlook on the PC takes an eternity, and you need to know exactly how to parse your query to find old email. And then there is the natural security from Windows malware … I love it.

Of course, as with computers anywhere and anytime, things don’t go quite smoothly. Getting the new laptop loaded with old information and applications was very much a struggle. Mac Mail does not have an obvious way to transfer files from one computer to another.

All of the reference sites said to use the Migration Manager supplied by Apple. The only problem – it requires a Firewire cable. Being stubborn, I refused to go out and buy a $10 cable. I should be able to get things functioning perfectly well across my home office network.

Googling, I found the suggestion of copying the Mail and Mail Documents folder between hard discs, along with Mail Preferences. No, copying folders didn’t work. Log in as root on the Mac. Try that. Nope. Change ownerships. Nope. Change permissions. Nope. Set everything back the way it was. An hour and a half wasted. Oh, I DO have a firewire cable connected to my external hard drive! Well, dang, fire up Migration Manager. Wait 45 minutes for it to say its done. Wow, I have a near perfect clone of my old laptop. Wonder what I did wrong? No matter – forward!

As the week progresses, I still have challenges in front of me. Installing Windows Vista on our new desktop PC and the laptop will be interesting. I’ve heard horror stories of missing or bad drivers for lots of hardware and software, and for once I am not buying a pre-configured tower. I’ve had some serious problems with Warcraft hanging in the middle of battle. It will be interesting.

More later.

So, the Steussy Ranch is doing the most serious upgrade of its computer system in the last three years. Please pardon our dust. Details soon.