Technical | Mach One Design Equipment Ltd Blog

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Apple Releases Mac OS X 10.5.8

Friday, August 7th, 2009

Apple have released the final update to Leopard before the release of Snow Leopard. Mac OS X 10.5.8. Both client and server versions are available.

The fix list includes:

Upgrades Safari to version 4.0.2.
Improves the accuracy of full history search in Safari 4.
Resolves an issue in which certain resolutions might not appear in the Display pane in System Preferences.
Dragging an Aperture image into Automator now invokes an Aperture action instead of incorrectly invoking an iPhoto action.
Resolves an issue that could prevent importing of large photo and movie files from digital cameras.
Improves overall Bluetooth reliability with external devices, USB webcams and printers.
Addresses an issue that could cause extended startup times.
Improves iCal reliability with MobileMe Sync and CalDav.
Addresses data reliability issues with iDisk and MobileMe.
Improves overall reliability with AFP.
Improves overall reliability with Managed Client.
Improves compatibility and reliability for joining AirPort networks.
Improves Sync Service reliability.
Includes additional RAW image support for several third-party cameras.
Improves compatibility with some external USB hard drives.
Includes latest security fixes.

and on the server:

AFP Server

Fixes an issue that could cause the AppleFileServer process to keep the server’s processor busy even when no users are connected.

AFP Client

Fixes an issue that could cause an AFP client to indefinitely repeat unsuccessful attempts to reconnect to an AFP server after waking from sleep.

Managed Client

Fixes an issue that could prevent managed users from logging in on a PowerPC-based Mac after installing the Mac OS X v10.5.7 Update.
Improves reliability of synchronizing files from a portable home directory to a network home hosted on an SMB server.
Login Items stored in a user’s network home directory will now run properly at login.
Simultaneous login is now correctly disallowed if the “Allow simultaneous login” setting is unchecked.

Server Admin

Fixes an issue that could cause Server Admin to stop responding when propagating permissions.
Adds NetBoot/NetInstall model filters for Macs introduced in June 2009.

System Image Utility

Adds NetBoot/NetInstall model filters for Macs introduced in June 2009.

Addtional improvements

Improves Mac OS X Server security. For more information about the security content of Mac OS X Server v10.5.8 see this article.

Tags: Mac OS, Server, Xserve
Posted in Technical | 2 Comments »

Workshop Refurb

Tuesday, May 26th, 2009

Just thought I would share with you a nice pic of 6 shiney new Mac Pros & 2 Imacs that were being tested prior to installation last week.

We recently refurbished our workshop adding 3 TFT wall mounted monitors all connected to KVM monitor/ keyboard switches.

As Regular clients will know, we preinstall all RAM and expansion cards, then put each Mac through a comprehensive looped diagnostic to ensure our engineers are not met with faulty machines during the installation process.

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Kerio Mailserver 6.7 released

Wednesday, May 13th, 2009

following up on my 99.7% of all messages are now spam post, Kerio Technologies have announced a major update to their popular Mailserver product.

New features include:

- support for Global Address Lists (GALS) which will sync with your Microsoft Active Directory, or Apple Open directory infrastructure.

- Microsoft Entourage 2004/2008 auto configuration

- Private events in Apple iCal

- Spam Filter improvements

- Updated Mcafee anti virus engine

- Over the air push syncronisation to blackberry devices without the need for middleware

- IMAP migration tool, taking the pain out of migrating from older IMAP email servers.

This product just seems to get better and better. feel free to contact us, one of Kerio specialists will be happy to answer any questions on how our Kerio Mailserver solutions can provide you with a stable, secure platform that can handle all your email, contacts and calendaring needs.

Tags: Apple, Blackberry, iphone, Kerio, Mach One, MacOS, Server
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Apple release Mac OS 10.5.7 Update

Wednesday, May 13th, 2009

Apple have released the long awaited 10.5.7 update. This s more than likely going to be the last major update before the realease of Mac OS 10.6 (Snow Leopard) later this summer.

Highlights in this update are:

- Improves performance of video playback and cursor movements for recent Macs with NVIDIA graphics.
- Improves Finder search results for network volumes that may not support Spotlight searching
- Includes several improvements to Directory Service and Client Management.

for a full list of updates visit: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3397

Direct Downloads:

10.5.7 update ( Requires 10.5.6) here

10.5.7. combo update (updates any 10.5.x) here

Tags: Apple, Leopard, Mac, Mac OS, Server, Xserve
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Parallels Desktop 4.0 Build 3844 released

Wednesday, May 6th, 2009

Parallels annouced today an update to their excellent Parallels Desktop Software. This software enables you to run multiple virtual machines on your Intel powered Mac. This has been great for training or lab testing environments, previously we’d have several machines, such as a Mac OS X Server, a Windows 2003 Server Windows XP/ Vista client and Mac OS Client all setup. Now we just need to deploy a single machine with that can run all these Operating systems simultaneously. & using the Template deployment ro snapshotting feature its easy to reset for the next class, or revert back to a previous system state when somethings gone wrong.

Parallels also has a Server product meaning you can run multiple Server OS’s on a single Mac OS based computer, this is really useful when there is a windows server requirment within a Mac environment.

Tags: Leopard, Mac OS, Parallels, Server, Virtual Machine, Vista, Windows, XP
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BBC reports 97% of all emails now spam!

Wednesday, April 8th, 2009

just seen this article on the BBC website which reports a Microsoft claim that 97% off all messages sent of the net are spam.

To combat this ever present problem we have been installing, configuring, supporting and fine tuning the excellent Kerio MailServer for a number of years now.

Kerio MailServer offers A combination of content-based SpamAssassin and sender-based anti-spam tools that significantly reduces the amount of unwanted email. Kerio MailServer also support dual antivirus scanning providing you with comprehensive protection against malicious emails. for a full list of features click here

Kerio is a genuine competitor to Microsoft Exchange. Not only does the server run on the Mac OS Platform it also features groupware features such as shared calendars, contacts and mailboxes.

Mobile devices are very well catered for with push email, contacts and calendars direct to your iPhone, Blackberry or other smartphone.

Tags: Blackberry, Email, iphone, Kerio, Mac OS, Mailserver, Microsoft, Smartphone, Spam
Posted in Technical | 1 Comment »

New Drobo Pro from Data Robotics

Wednesday, April 8th, 2009

Data robotics have announced a new product the Drobo Pro, an upgraded version of the popular Drobo II.

Aside from the additional capacity the 8 bay pro version boasts over the original 4 bay version the Drobo Pro now also offers an iSCSI interface along with Dual Disk Redundancy support. Both versions feature Firewire 800 & USB 2 interfaces.

Drobo‘s use BeyondRAID™ technology, unlike traditional RAID arrays you can mix an match your hard disk sizes, instantly expand the size of your volume by simply inserting new Hard disks.

we’re a big fan of the Drobo at Mach One, its simple Drobo Dashboard software & design mean you don’t need any IT skills to administer these products, in fact you don’t even need a screwdriver to install or remove the drives.

With SATA hard disks being as cheap as they are, the Drobo range offers a very cost effective storeage solution & with the iSCSI and DroboShare options many of our clients are ditching the traditional CD/ DVD archive for this near line solution.

Tags: Drobo, iSCSI, RAID, Storage
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Apple Updates Xserves with Nehalem Processors

Tuesday, April 7th, 2009

As predicted, Apple has updated its Xserve range with the Nehalem processor. This brings the range upto date with the recent new Mac Pro Range.

Aside from a considerable increase in performance, Apple have also engineered this new Xserve to be far less power hungry, meaning its better for the environment and will potentially cut your hosting bills too. This can be further enhanced by the optional 128GB Solid State Hard disk as a boot drive. This drive only consumes around 1 Watt of power where as the traditional SATA drive consumes 12-18 Watts. it also does not take up one of the 3 SATA drive bays meaning you can have upto 3TB of dedicated storage.

The new Xserve is available in Quad and 8 core models with either 6 (quad core) or 12 (8 core) RAM slots and options of 2.26GHz, 2.66GHz or 2.93GHz processor speeds

On interesting thing I’ve picked up on the tech specs page is the quote:

System supports up to 32GB in Mac OS X Server v10.5

Presumably 32Gb is a limit on 10.5, maybe snow leopard, 10.6 will offer full support for upto 48Gb RAM.

Tags: Apple, Mac, Mac Pro, Nehalem, Server, Xserve
Posted in News, Technical | No Comments »

Extensis Suitcase Fusion 2 Update brings Tiger compatibility

Monday, April 6th, 2009

Popular font management app Suitcase Fusion 2 has just been updated. Previous versions were only compatible with Mac OS 10.5 Leopard. Fusion 2 13.1 is now compatible with Mac OS 10.4 Tiger

Click here for a direct download

Tags: Leopard, Mac OS, Suitcase Fusion, Tiger
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