Muahahaa!

[baratron]

Currently, I am sitting in my office at college, with the big shiny computer in front of me, and my MacBook Pro next to me :D

I have GOLD running on the shiny computer, and PDB searches & journal articles on the MacBook. Grabbing articles from the college internet when I'm physically here is so quick that I barely even notice a delay - whereas the hassle involved to authenticate from home is unbelievable. Here I just click the link and the PDF is there. From home, it takes minutes for each article, and having to enter usernames and passwords multiple times (even using the Virtual Private Network, which is supposed to remove such obstacles).

Now, if only I could find a second browser that I like as much as Windows Opera or Linux/Mac Firefox, I'd be all set. (Mac Opera seems quite nasty in comparison, really nothing like as neat as it is on Windows (also, I feel Opera 10 is a downgrade from 9, on Windows too), and Safari is SO SLOW. Haven't tried Google Chrome yet.) I want a second browser so that I can have two livejournal sessions running from different accounts (this one and my sekrit squirrel anonymised fiction-posting account).

Hmm, I think I'm in the slightly manic phase of my mood cycle. Well, whatever :D Work is happening, for once.

Comments

[pir.livejournal.com]

I have two firefox browser sessions running side by side on Linux and OSX... no need for a second browser.
http://spf13.com/feature/managing-firefox-profiles-os-x

[mjl]

I don't know much about OS X, but the script step there seems rather complicated, and it doesn't mention the command line switch (-no-remote) which makes Firefox open a second instance.

http://www.callum-macdonald.com/about/faq/multiple-firefox-instances/ may be an easier description of what is needed, although it doesn't make you an icon, and I don't know if you need to have one of those script thingies to have an icon which represents "firefox -no-remote -P secondprofilename" on OS X... in which case I may be adding nothing useful with this comment...

Glad that work is happening anyway :)

[pir.livejournal.com]

The script step is just wrapping something in applescript to create a pseudo application. It's only as complicated as the GUI editing stuff makes it hard to explain, the creation is actually trivial.

Getting scripts to run from double clicking something is annoying on OSX. Running it from the command line each time by hand is also annoying *shrug*

[baratron.livejournal.com]

Having looked at these instructions, I don't think I'm good enough with computers to be able to do it myself. Any chance I could buy you dinner sometime soon in exchange for Mac support?

Richard refuses to get involved :P

[pir.livejournal.com]

Heh, sure. Though unless you want to come to work for lunch (which is free) the next week and a half or so are pretty damn busy.

[baratron.livejournal.com]

Not sure that meeting for lunch would work given my tendency not to wake up until mid-afternoon, and it wouldn't really fulfill my urges to pay for the support in some coin :)

Where is the physical location of your work, anyway? I vaguely remember Victoria, not sure if that's right.

Let me know when you're free: Mondays, Wednesdays & Fridays are generally good for me, as that's when I tend to go into college if I do physically go in.

[pir.livejournal.com]

I work by Victoria (just across the road), yes.
I could do Wednesday next week...

[alexmc.livejournal.com]

I understand the need for multiplr browser installations. I normally use Firefox and Epiphany, but have recently added Chromium (the Open Source source for Chrome)

[nmg.livejournal.com]

Keep meaning (and failing) to suggest Papers to you. Dead good piece of software for managing academic papers. Half my post grads use it.

[baratron.livejournal.com]

Yup, my second supervisor Katherine recommended it to me. (It was one of the reasons on the long list of why a Mac would be better than a PC running Linux). Haven't actually done anything with it yet, but it's installed on the machine.

So are you a fully-fledged academic now? Got students of your own?

[nmg.livejournal.com]

Uh, yes. This coming October will be my sixth anniversary as a lecturer, and I've seen two PhD students from kbeginningto end (with another two hopefully finishing within the next six months).

[wateryfowl.livejournal.com]

I know someone else who had a horrible time getting a mac to use a virtual network. He just gave up in the end. (Actually, he gave up owning a mac in the end because he wanted to play games and was going to another university that was heavily windows-based).

I would imagine the university stuff is so fast at the university itself because it's on the university's server...

I do share your thoughts on Opera 10, although on windows 7 Opera 10 is worlds better, as it is goofy like all the other new windows apps (I do like that it gives me more veridical space, though, now I just need to figure out what I am doing with this horizontal space, still...)

[nmg.livejournal.com]

Odd - I've never had difficulties using VPNs on OS X.

[wateryfowl.livejournal.com]

Well I think he did eventually discover a lot of problems with his router (this was much much later) and he also was trying to use it to get Windows PCs and Macs to cooperate better, so that's another challenge.

[nmg.livejournal.com]

Yes, the Win/Mac problem is a killer. I spent the best part of a month (unsuccessfully) trying to get a Mac to talk to a non-PostScript Windows-shared printer.

[erik]

I use Chrome for my second browser when multiple identity browsing.