\nI posted an ad on craigslist asking for a cheap Core2Duo iMac for $350.\u00a0 And within a day or two, I had two offers.\u00a0 So after years of swearing I’d never buy one – I went and picked up the better of the two:
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![](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mattfife.net\/special\/imac.jpg?w=200\")
<\/p>\nThere’s a lot of hungry folks out there.\u00a0 Got a Core2Duo 2.8ghz iMac, 8gb ram, 80gb hd, and 3 years of Applecare for $350.\u00a0 Includes box, docs, and everything it came with.\u00a0 I picked it up right next to the Apple store so we could run it over and I had them run the serial number to see if it was stolen, verify it’s capabilities, and they did a quick test on everything.\u00a0 Checked out ok.<\/p>\n
Take it home<\/strong> Set up VPN<\/strong> Download realVNC and install it on the computer you want to use to connect to your mac (client). Now I can control my mac remotely from my pc desktop.\u00a0 No monitor switching\/extra keyboards\/etc.\u00a0 My headless mac is happy.<\/p>\n Download iPhone SDK<\/strong> Well, after receiving my free iTouch from Key Bank, I’ve had a lot of fun with the device.\u00a0 What’s more interesting is that with each app I play with, I come up with a few ideas for others.\u00a0 So, I decided to look into the Apple iPhone\/iTouch SDK.\u00a0 Well, the SDK only works on a mac.\u00a0 One might try a hack-en-tosh – but I had a better plan – exploit the current economic situation. Buy one I posted an ad…<\/p>\n
\nI blew away the machine and reinstalled everything from the install disks. About the same as doing anything on windows – took about an hour or so.\u00a0 Another 2 or so hours of downloading updates and rebooting after each pack.<\/p>\n
\nI don’t want a KVM switchbox on my desk, so I decide to set up VPN.\u00a0 I download Real VNC’s free viewer – and then set up VNC on the mac.\u00a0 OS X includes a VNC server by default, but there are a few tricks.\u00a0 Here’s the procedure<\/a>:
\n1. On your mac, open System Preferences
\n2. Under “Internet and Networking” pick the “sharing” icon
\n3. Turn on the “Remote Management”option\/checkbox
\n4. Click the “Computer Settings” button
\n4a.\u00a0 Check “Anyone may request permission to control screen”
\n4b. Check “VNC viewers may control screen with password:” and enter a password
\n4c. Click ok
\n5, Select ‘Allow access for All users’ or enter the names of the users that you want to give VNC to
\nDone with mac side.<\/p>\n
\n1. When you open realVNC, you’ll need to enter the IP address for your mac in the ‘Sever’ box.
\n2. BEFORE you try to connect, hit the options button.
\n3. On the Colours & Encoding tab, select Full in the Colour Level box.\u00a0 Make sure your own desktop is running at 32 bit color or the eqivalent of the mac side or you’ll get the dreaded “Connection refused: connect()” message from realVNC.
\n4. Enter your password specified in step 4b – and you should see your desktop<\/p>\n
\nGo to Apple dev center and download the iPhone SDK. Watched some of the videos and realize I need to learn Objective C. Started reading some of the tutorials and they’re not bad. Now to get hello world up…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"