The thing is, my 'good old' MacBook Pro is retiring. A mid-2014 model on which I have purposely not updated the operating system in recent years because I still had a few 32-bit programs has now been replaced by a brand new MacBook Air with the M2 chip from Apple.

For now I have the latest processor in my computer. This joins the range of CPUs with which I have already worked: Motorola 68000, PowerPC G3 or Intel.

Tags: MacBook Air, M2

.. May or June.
After the MARIN bike has received its upgrade, a new Garmin Edge has also been added. My list of Garmin devices starts sometime in 2008 (Edge 705) when GPS was becoming more and more popular in sports. The successor Edge 800 has lasted quite a long time; I enjoyed using it with its excellent battery life and modified Topo-CH map. However the handling on the computer has become a bit cumbersome. I now use an Edge 830 on my rides.

Tags: Garmin, Edge 830

The highlight of the last week: I routinely search the internet for a Mac version of QuickRoute, the GPS analysis tool for orienteering. And this time google tells me about an app that works for iOS. It's called Control and runs on iPads, iPhones and Android devices. The website doesn't give much more. But the whole thing interests me so much that I keep looking and then find what I'm looking for; especially an interview with Petri Tilli the developer and that the app will soon even be available in a macOS version.

I already have that app on my iPhone and I love it! Control - or Total Control, the paid app - can do everything I used to need QuickRoute for. And even on an iPhone with its small screen and finger control it is a pleasure to work with. So I can now retire my virtual Windows machine (VirtualBox) on the Mac. For all three 'windows-only' applications (QuickRoute, WebsiteX5, Condes) I now have counterparts in the Apple world, some of which are newer and also better

Tags: Control, macOS, Petri Tilli, OO mapper, Orienteering

During the last few weeks I've been 'on the road' more and more with regard to computers and the web. I have once again taught a course at GBW!
I also keep track of my documents for this. It was interesting this time to see how the sitebuilders have developed in comparison to desktop-CMS programs.
Site builders are now dominating the business with easy selfmade websites. With desktop CMS, on the other hand, one provider after the other is disappearing (eg Weblica). But there is also a newcomer there: mobirise. And this one is indeed interesting; it is running on Windows, macOS and Linux.

In addition, mobirise has a significant advantage over the previous WebsiteX5 program; it is much easier to integrate into GBW's IT environment. Now I have changed my handouts and I will do the exercises and examples with mobirise.

teaching an old dog new tricks, that's how you could describe it. The Corona pandemic challenges everyone to a greater or lesser extent. The schools, and that includes the GBW in Weinfelden too, have to come up with a lot of ideas when it comes to protection concepts. In the fall I taught a few courses and that's how I got around to teaching a few "distance learning" lessons. I've never done that before. For this I got - and received - the support of Alain and Nadine.

Tags: teaching, GBW, Weinfelden

While the months of March and April were all about printing, May was about painting; somewhat casually expressed. So for the different printing jobs I have always used a special program, namely the Adobe Illustrator.

It takes a bit of practice to work efficiently with Illustrator. I took advantage of the momentum and used Illustrator to draw some decals for several modelling "projects". It is definitely not painting; much more drawing. And yes, it's also about art. The decals for my (planned) models of the crashed French aircraft at the Irchel are now ready.

Times are changing, nowhere is this as true as on the Internet; times change here even fast. It is no secret that google enjoys secure connections (and also would better rate them in their ranking).
After the reorganization of my hosting subscriptions, I have now provided all my websites with SSL certificates. You can see in the address bar a lock is displayed and the web browser is no longer complaining that it is a non-secure connection. Even so I don't transfer any sensitive data, at least the connection from the computer to the host is now encrypted.

January has been all about the Internet and the computer. A new wireless network with mesh router had to come, the Mac finally needed a current operating system and my various websites a new host.

This is now done and I can return to my other hobbies.

finally, after the usual detailed and almost endless selection process for a new design, my website is up-to-date again. This time, I also updated the content and deleted or updated some outdated information. There is still one big question: which logo should I use now? I have drawn these three owl logos, they are only visible on sit-down devices. Which one would you choose? Comments are welcome..

Tags: RapidWeaver, Website, Owl, uhu

during the last couple of days I am heavily involved in all kinds of website creating. It started with Rapidweaver and proceeded with Jimdo. Teaching how to build websites I know both, desktop CMS programs like RW and also the sitebuilders like Mozello, Weebly and so on. However I seldom using Jimdo even it is very popular here in Switzerland. Since sitebuilders are self explaining it wasn’t a big thing to write a website Jimdo. But one thing I have learned: Jimdo is now available in two versions. The newer one costs more and has less features, but hey it had some kind of AI built in

Tags: RW8, Website, Web editing, hostfactory

or maybe even more than just a change of scenery (Tapetenwechsel). In addition to a long overdue new topic for the .net website, a revision of the content is also necessary.
And then we already write the year 2018 (late 2018, August to be exact). A few days ago Realmacsoftware released their latest version of RapidWeaver: RapidWeaver 8. Now my english website (.net) definitely belongs to the old iron.
So there is a lot of evidence of a total rebuild of the website.

Tags: RapidWeaver, Website, 2018, uh-net

we had to wait quite a long time (about 3 years) to get faster Internet connections here in Veltheim. But finally it is here; fibre-optic connections are now offered by various ISPs to us. On Friday, 6. November the technician set up the junction box in our flat.

From now on we have a fast Internet connection. All of us: Alain, Nadine and me are very happy about that.

AirPort Extreme Base Station that’s what AEBS stands for, nothing new for Apple freaks.
My brother switched to a new Internet access plan with his provider and also get a new WiFi router so he didn’t need his AEBS anymore.

Time to retire my old AEBS and replace it with the newer one. This base station has a few nice new features and is faster than the older UFO style base station.

ok, I have this version of the Garmin map for more than one year but...
.. the colors of this new version are disappointing. While biking in the forrest one can hardly read the map because of the low contrast (light grey on green). After searching the Internet from A to Z and back I had all the possible applications to start modifying a Garmin map. Not on my Mac but on my virtual Windows machine. After a few nights working I am happy with the result.

The colors of the map are now similar to the previous version of the SwissTopo map for Garmin in either normal mode (see photo) or with the backlight on. Plus, I have removed a lot of text that I don’t need while on a bike ride.

occasionally there is a need for a Windows OS, for example the course setting program we are using in our club (Condes) or the very useful GPS-track converter (QuickRoute) from Mats Troeng. To get that on my Mac I am using VirtualBox from Oracle. Usually the Windows guest systems offering a keyboard layout from a Windows computer and therefore have a different key mapping compared to the Mac keyboard.

But you can build your own keyboard. Arne Schirmacher a German fellow had done that for the German Mac keyboard layout and made a description on his website. Following these steps I finished a Swiss German keyboard layout for the MacBook and MacBook pro models that you can install in Windows. You may find that package on Arne Schirmaches website.

what an exciting time, during the last three weeks I switched no less than five macs in our neighbourhood to the latest Mac OS X operating system.

They had to simply be upgraded from Tiger or Leopard to Snow Leopard or migrated from one Mac to another. There were no big difficulties except one that didn’t display the emails in the message list and the preview window. Of course Snow Leopard in most cases needs new drivers for printers and scanners.
Beside this it is also getting colder and starts snowing here in Winterthur. I think it will be Christmas time really soon now

this is by now my fastest shopping for an Apple Mac computer, within four hours I have evaluated, bought and transferred all my data to a new MacBook Pro, wow!

While on my training that Thursday evening I was thinking how I could assist Nadine in Madrid with an external hard disk or something similar. During the week she emailed that her MacBook G4 was making a strange noise, probably the disk I thought. But when I returned home that evening I had an SMS on my phone telling me that the MacBook is dead. Time to take action because we will fly to Madrid tomorrow afternoon. Figure out what model will be best was one thing but finding a shop in Winterthur carrying that model with the bigger RAM was just plain luck. When I returned home I was once again surprised how easy and fast all my user data could be moved over to the new Mac, try doing this on a Window PC

this website started around 1996 (see history) as a place where someone could find and see information about me and my life. The Internet is not only growing very fast but also has changed in different relations. Today many people do run their own websites and I was often asked why my website is in english. When searching for another domain name I decide to search also for an .ch domain and to start a german website.

Now the first Version of that german website is up and running. It is not just a translation because I assume other readers and have changed the information to give them more details about one thing and omitt others because they might already know it or wouldn't be interested in.

During the last half year I have noticed that the most important feature regarding computing and Internet in our family is portability not computing power or a big screen. No one except me is working with the iMac because it is tied to the table in our home office. I was glad to have such a powerful computer for drawing the last orienteering map. But now, that it is finished my demand turns toward portable computing too.
That's why we get another portable Apple computer now, a MacBook 13".


Notebook gallery at Hebeisen's

This is also the time to retire the iBook SE (special edition). It is the last computer still running the Classic OS and having the slower WiFi bandwidth but it was working perfect up to today as an eMail client.
Concerning the iMac G5 it will be sold in the next couple of weeks on ebay or another web auction.