Dev Life with the new 2017 MacBook Pro - a résumé

As chance would have it, a new computer was due just when the new MacBook Pro 2017 came out. Got one in July 2017, these are the specs:

• 13'' MB Pro (2560 x 1600, 2016)
• 3.1 GHz i5
• 16 GB RAM DDR3
• 500 GB SDD
• Intel Iris Graphics 550 1536 MB

I use it primarily for software development within the SAP mobility stack (hint: UI5, Fiori, node, SCP(ms), GW, ADT, iOS). Some Virtualization (VMWare). GUI Tooling ~ WebStorm, XCode, Eclipse, Visio. Terminal.app a lot.

Control-Strip/Tab-Bar/$Whatever-its-called

Generally I'm open to all kinds of improvements to the Human-Machine-Interface. Who wouldn't want to break out of the dreaded 2D-way of pushing the mouse to operate a computer?
So the Control-Strip/Tab-Bar/$Whatever-its-called (let's call it TouchThing for now) is worth a try.

In situations where the TouchThing complements interaction, it's really nice.
 E.g. quick access to a man page when typing a command in Terminal:

 Or using autocomplete when typing in text-centric input areas:

But during programming, I've yet to see a useful UX feature.
Dropping the F*-Keys in favour of the TouchThing has reduced the value of the MacBook as a tool. There's just too few haptic feedback on the TouchThing when reaching out for a LED F*-Key. Working with WebStorm a lot with utilises the F*-Keys a lot - so having the TouchThing is really cumbersome during coding.

USB-C periphery

There are no more ports on the new MB Pro other than a headphone line-in jack and USB-C ports.
(BTW: why, Apple, is there no adapter for the iPhone X lightning headphone cable -> regular headphone jack?!?!?!?!)
For USB-C, there are still too few devices out there. No more quickly using a USB-Stick. Always have to carry around (another) adapter, in addition to the ones for DVI, VGA and DP.
Please let USB-C-sticks hit the market in masses soon. Please.

Keyboard

A step back.
Plain and simple.
Compared to an older MacBook Air model that has the standard keyboard Apple outfitted MacBooks with for years, the keyboard on the new MB Pro is simply worse. Plus the occasional jamming/sticking/clamping of the Space Bar. Meh.
I don't care so much about the bigger TrackPad - use it only for navigating Spaces and uncluttering the Desktop (Five-Finger-Spread). No need for Force Feedback during development work.

Fingerprint Sensor

...for unlocking the Computer. Nice.
Even nicer: for Authorisation, e.g. when installing/upgrading Apps.
Comfort gain right there.

MagSafe power connector

Get outta here.

Various observations/remarks

• no use for Siri what-so-ever
• no more telnet on High Sierra - seriously?!?
• battery lifetime has (subjectively) decreased plenty - might be something with my local configuration; though generally I try to use as few custom settings and tools as possible in order to remain as "standards-compliant" as possible (hey, it's the SAP world after all I'm working in)
• overall performance is very good; but in MacVerse, we're spoiled anyway
• closing the lid leaves some not-so-nice spots on the display; can be wiped clean, but still
• iOS integration still awesome (e.g. make calls from contacts.app to regular phone numbers via Facetime Audio on the iPhone)

Apple Magic Mouse in Windows 8.1

Out of the box, pairing the magic mouse via bluetooth with the Windows 8.1 box works.
But scrolling by touch is missing.

So:

• Download both Mouse Driver Installer and Mouse Utility Setup from http://trackpadmagic.com/magic-mouse/download
• Run the Installer -> atencíon: the installer will download the 303 MB (!) Bootcamp 3.3
• installer automatically extracts the magic mouse driver from the bootcamp exe 
• Run the Setup -> will launch a GUI config utility also showing the battery status for the magic mouse
• Pair magic mouse with Windows box via bluetooth (if paired previously, de-pair and re-pair)

Registration of phone number not possible for iMessage & Facetime

UPDATE: as of now (Jun 21, 9:00 am CET), phone# activation works again for both iMessage & Facetime. Didn't even have to re-enable any settings.

Just to jot this down, for Apple support or anybody else twisting their heads on the problem:

Currently (at least since 2 days ago, June 18, 2013) there seems to be a global issue with registering an iPhone's phone number for use in iMessage and Facetime: both screens remain in status "waiting for activation..." (German: "Auf Aktivierung warten...").
But: iMessage & Facetime both work fine with the Apple-ID.

Many similar complaints currently in the Apple Support Communities confirm the issue.
(Hint: this is on the latest and greatest iPhone 5 16 GB & iOS 6.1.4)


So...what gives?!?

Here's my chronology (all Pics in German, sorry):

Switching on iMessage & Facetime including Apple-ID usage shows the information expected:

But both status screens remain in "waiting for activation..." (German: "Auf Aktivierung warten...").

Also strange: since I switched SIM cards some days ago, my old phone number is still shown in the status screens, even though the phone itself works fine with the new number (both calls and SMS/text messages)!

Story gets even more funny: after yet another registration attempt on my side, I keep receiving text messages from the UK Apple Activation numer +44 7786 205 094. Not only 1, but at the time of this writing already 16 :)

Hint: the iPhone sends a silent SMS/text message to the above number on every activation try of iMessage and Facetime. This is not unusal. But receiving back not only one but many text messages is.

And by looking at the content of the message (hey, I'm a tech guy after all), it seems clear that it is a reply to an activation request:

And just for the record:

• yeah, I know of the Support Documents on how to associate your phone number with your Apple ID. Tried that manyfold: nada.
• yeah, I know of the Support Document on how to troubleshoot iMessage & Facetime, including the part on problems with activating the phone number. I tried that, including the suggested patient 24-hour-wait for activation. Guess what: nada.
• yeah, I called T-Mobile. All settings on my account are correct. I can receive and send SMS/text message, I can make calls. The iPhone really works fine - except iMessage and Facetime via the phone number.
• yeah, I called Apple Support. Yesterday, June 19. And they confirmed that there currently seems to be an issue with activating phone numbers for iMessage and Facetime. Yet the status support pages are all green - were yesterday, still are. Go figure.

macbook pro: HDD -> SDD

just replaced the internal 320GB HDD of my mid-2010 macbook pro (13'') ...

 ...with a 256GB SDD from Samsung:

maceinsteiger.de's article (sorry, German only) provided a good guide on how to do this.

Two caveats though:

1. you'll need a size 16 tork screwdriver. Otherwise you won't get the attachment screws of the HDD frame.
2. after booting from DVD, the system didn't recognize the SDD as a volume to install OS X on.
   Don't freak out: it's because the drive simply isn't formatted and partitioned yet.
   There's access to the Hard-Drive-Utility (funny...) from the install screen top menu. So just start, format, and -voilà- you'll see SDD as a possible install target.

hth again. someone. somehow.

FYI: RAM in mid-2010 macbook pro

just a quick FYI because I searched for it without any relevant result on the internetz:

the original RAM in my mid-2010 macbook pro (13'', MacBookPro7,1) was manufactured by hynix.
part no is HMT125S6TFR8C.
it is labeled with
2GB 2Rx8 PC3 - 8500S - 7 - 10 - F2
(part no) - G7 N0 AA - C

I replaced it with 2 x 4GB from Kingston, and now OS X shows "0x0198" as the manufacturer in "about this mac".

hth. somehow. someone.

excel mac:2011 "edit cell" keyboard shortcut

note-to-self: to edit the content of a cell in excel mac:2011, hit ctrl + U.
⌃U
(comment: that's the equivalent to F2 in Windows land)

SAP Passport on OS X / iOS

note to self: since it's nowhere to be found how to operate the SAP marketplace, support portal or SDN with a certificate in Safari (OS X) or an iOS device:
when receiving another of them SAP S-User, do the following to make the SAP passport (aka public & private key) work on OS X (Safari and the like) and iOS:

• use Firefox (here: 8.0.1), open the Support Portal and log in a subsequent fazillion times with your S-User-Id and password
• (sorry, German coming up) mein Profil ➔ Single-Sign-On Zertifikate verwalten
• put your password in the fazillionst time and generate your passport 
• Firefox will install your new SAP passport (aka public & private key) in the background and notify you upon completion (ignore the notifications about invalid Certificate Authorities and bla; it's all a big useless bloat of shady issuer-companies anyway)

Now in Firefox Advanced preferences, (you guessed it, German again) Zertifikate anzeigen. Locate your S-User-Id in (yep, German) Ihre Zertifikate, highlight and backup.

This will export your SAP passport (aka public & private key) in PKCS12-format - not so easy to do with any other browser, including the MS cripples. Because usually your private key remains hidden in binary wonderland somewhere in the proprietary niche of the browser. But you'll need both public and private key for use with the OS X / iOS keychain.

Launch the latter and import your newly exported .p12 file. 

Now happily browse the SAP marketplace, support portal or SDN via SSO with your browser certificate in Safari or your favorite iOS device.

q.e.d

excel mac:2011 freeze first line

note-to-self: mark the line below the line(s) you want to freeze.
then choose Fenster -> Bereich fixieren.

Usability revisited, baby.

Powerpoint:mac 2011 tedious thingies

This here is supposed to be about SAP higher ed in combination with the medium web.
So it seems kind of strange to open up with a post on Powerpoint:2011 for mac.
But well, I simply have to currently work with that piece of software. And found a couple of editing features not so intuitive. Or better: only found the buttons and settings I was looking for after mucho poking around. (save yourself the RTFM thought, they're not in the manual either.)
So I'm putting it in writing, as a note-to-self. And some other poor souls who seem to be clicking away blindfolded.

• "ribbons" (Menüband)
  awkward UI pitfall: the width of the ribbons don't automatically adjust with the size of the window. Meaning: if you have your Powerpoint application window smaller than the minimum width of the ribbon, the elements in the ribbon don't "word-wrap" and arrange themselves in multiple "lines". Instead, the ribbon is just cut off on the right. So you don't see all the buttons of the entire ribbon.
• "reapply master"
  in order to bring the formatting and layout of a slide back to the default settings defined in the master, there's a pretty obvious button in all other versions of Powerpoint other than 2011 for mac. Event in Apple's own keynote there is.
  
  Well, it's also there in Powerpoint:mac 2011. But not so obvious.
  Choose "Normal View" (⌘1).
  Select the slide(s).
  Click on the little layout button (2nd to the left, right next to "new slide") in the "Start" tab. This shows you all the master slides.
  Select the desired master template.
  And finally: click on "reset layout" (or similar, I'm using the German version so I don't know the exact translation) at the very bottom of the master template overview.
  voilà!
•  "syllable division" (Silbentrennung)
  good call!
  I have no clue how to set that either!
  (activating it in Word:mac 2011 (Extras -> Silbentrennung) didn't do a thing in Powerpoint:mac 2011)

I guess there's more to come. So I will most likely constantly update this post.