Categories
Apple Google Hardware

Custom CPUs

Google developing own CPUs for Chromebook laptops“.

Interesting to see that many years after Apple started creating their CPUs for the iPhone (and now laptops/desktops), so many companies are following. Google is not new to building their chips (TPU, Titan (used in security keys and as encryption module for servers/Pixel phones), and likely more), but quite new to more generalised computing CPU for phones and laptops.

And it makes sense — a lot of the generic CPUs were too generalist and not that great at their job (and are plagued with bugs). It came with heavy power usage. Having a ML/AI chip, a GPU chip, a generalist CPU chip (or two, one focussing on high performance, and one on efficiency, like the M1), one for security/encryption (Titan/T2), etc.

Curious to see how much of a head start Apple really has, and very eager to finally see some real innovation in the CPU space (sorry AMD with Ryzen: too little, too late).

Let’s see if Intel and AMD will be able to adapt and reinvent themselves and what it means for ARM (and the ARM IP issue in China), and if other architectures like MIPS are making a chance.

Categories
Apple Hardware

AirPod Max stuck at 74% battery

I’ve noticed my AirPod Max being stuck at ~74% battery and not wanting to charge any further. It’s running the latest firmware and I usually charge them on a (legit) usb-A-to-lightning cable connected to my monitor. Even keeping them connected charging overnight would somehow max out at 74%.

There are a few Reddit posts with other people facing the same issue with AirPod Pros (case not wanting to charge further than 74%) but no concrete answer or solution is posted.

For me, what helped, was to use a wall charger (doesn’t have to be Apple); it’s still using a similar usb-A-to-lightning cable. Letting it charge for a while managed to get it to 100%.

Why 74% and not… 75%? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Edit: as some people pointed out, this may actually be Apple’s Optimized Battery Charging. I am not seeing any notification though.

Categories
Apple Errors Software

Apple Watch OS7 stopped showing the date

I’ve been running the Apple WatchOS 7 beta for a while now, and when updating, my watch face lost the “date”: it was no longer showing the date and day of the week (i.e. Fri).

Quite annoying — but it’s a beta after all. I shouldn’t complain. I did what every good beta tester would do: I filed a bug (it’s still unanswered from what I can see).

Beta updates came and went but the date did not come back. Would I be unable to use my watch to figure out the date?! It’s when you lose a feature that you see how often a day you use it.

And then, out of the blue, the big stable release. Apple Watch OS 7 is released to the general public. Surely, I thought, they must’ve fixed it now.

But alas, I was to be disappointed.

I updated Shan‘s watch (that never ran the beta) to see if she had the same issue — but her watch was fine. Sooooo… What was I doing wrong? Why me, Apple Overlord?

I started fiddling around with my language and regional settings (nope, not it), and was contemplating a factory reset (argh, re-adding all my cards to Apple Pay)…

And then…

An epiphany.

They wouldn’t?!?! Would they??

Something only Apple would dare to do.

I deleted the Apple Calendar app (on my iPhone) — as I use the Google Calendar app. Would that somehow be related?

And guess what… Installing the Apple Calendar app via the App Store resolved it:

Check Apple Watch and the option is back!

That’s one way of forcing people to use your apps.

Categories
Apple Networking

iPad Pro USB-C Ethernet

I’ve had an iPad Pro with the new Magic Keyboard and one of the things I’ve been wondering… Say I am stuck in a datacenter and I need to ssh through wired networking to a server — sure I’ll definitely rather use my Mac laptop, but just in case… But would it actually work?

The answer is… Yes — but…

So plugging it straight into the USB-C port of the keyboard doesn’t do anything. I.e.: the dongle is not recognised, and for what it’s worth the switch doesn’t even light up to say a cable is connected. So that doesn’t work.

But plugging it straight into the iPad works… The network switch lights up, the iPad (under Settings) gets a new option called “Ethernet” (which oddly shows you a selection of connected adapters first — but I don’t know how you can have more than one). Clicking through you see the same options as you would for your WiFi network: IPs, DNS, etc.

Tadaaa!

I used an adapter from work, a Belkin, and I believe it’s the same one that’s being sold on the Apple Store. I don’t know if any dongle will work though (driver-wise and stuff).

Probably not that useful but good to know.

Categories
Apple Linux Networking Software Virtualisation

Box — Docker shell server

A couple of months ago I had the great idea to set up a shell server in Docker. Simply because my docker skillz were quite rusty and a shell server was something I actually genuinely needed.

Shell servers… so 2005. I remember in the good old IRC days people asking for (free) shell servers to run their eggdrop and stuff. OMG am I getting old? Anyhow…

I ssh quite often. I manage quite a few servers (~15?) and routers that require me to login and do some random stuff. I also work on a laptop quite often and that means closing the lid and moving around.

First of all, mosh is amazing and allows you to stay connected via ssh, even with crappy (airport/hotel) internet as well as moving around networks — that solves half the problem. If you are not using it, start using it now!

Second, during my datacenter technician days at Google we used to have a “jump server” — a shell server that allowed us to bridge the corporate network and ssh into prod machines. Doubt that’s still used nowadays, but the idea stuck. I wanted something similar to ssh from, wherever I was, and easily connect to my servers. And as the network the shell server is running on is stable, I only need to use mosh to the shell server. Thereafter, the connection very rarely dies.

And I guess, third, I recently purchased an iPad Pro and I really need to have my local “dev” environment with my git repo that I edit quite frequently but iPadOS isn’t really your average computer, and doesn’t even have a proper terminal. This is my experiment to make iPadOS work as a main computer when on the move.

Enter box — Docker shell server

I’ve copied over the files I use to this example repo, and added some comments. Mind you that this repo acts as a proof of concept and isn’t kept up to date, as I have my own private repo — but this should give you a good idea on how to set up your own shell server with Docker.

start.sh — this is a simple script that I execute when I first run or need to update the container. I execute the same file on two different servers: Liana, my Raspberry Pi at home and Ocean, my server in Amsterdam.

zsh.sh — this installs what I care about for zsh. This could be part of the Dockerfile but for some reason I separated it. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

git.sh — this clones my Git repos so I can edit and commit stuff from the shell server.

run.sh — this file is launched by Dockerfile at the end and executes what matters: the ssh daemon. It also adds a Wireguard route and executes the scripts above.

Dockerfile — this installs everything I need and configures the whole thing. I’ve added tons of comments that should get you going.

I am also cloning misc and homefiles as submodules in files/ — but you should change this to something that works for you. See the Dockerfile for more info.