Everyone says “how exciting” when I tell them I had to get a new Mac, since my old iBook’s screen died (too expensive to bother having fixed).

But really, it’s a big pain. Yes, the new Mac is a bit faster, but the screen is smaller (I went from 15″ to 13″ and I’m not liking it). But most annoying is the huge amount of work it’s taking to get the new Mac to do what the old one did.

Headache #1 – Migration – cured
Unfortunately, my new MacBook couldn’t recognize the drive of my old iBook when I tried to put it into firewire target mode. So I had to copy stuff manually from my external backup’s user folder to the MacBook, and re-download and re-install most of my third-party apps and system enhancements. No migration assistance for me!

Headache #2 – Internet – cured
I had MAC (hardware address) filtering set up on my router, so I had to reset my router back to factory settings and totally reconfigure it. Then of course I had to go reconfigure wireless settings on my housemates’ Dells (Windows XP seems pretty stupid about not being able to connect to a preferred network that you’ve recreated with the same SSID (even though it has the same security settings). My own fault that I had MAC filtering. I’m doing without it now.

Headache #3 – Palm syncing – cured
Missing Sync was working okay, but somehow my SOHO Notes conduit had gotten lost – after figuring this out, I was able to uninstall and reinstall SOHO Notes and finally get back to normal.

Headache #4 – Streaming with Airtunes – uncured and throbbing!
This one is a big ugly migraine. After many hours reading help and apple discussions, and several factory resets of my Airport Express, things still aren’t working. The AE shows up as a streaming option in iTunes, but when I try to use it, iTunes just tries and hangs forever. I want my mac -> stereo streaming, wahhh! Any suggestions?

Headache #5 – SSH Keys – uncured
I’m saving this project for last. I thought I’d just activate Remote Login, copy my ssh settings, and copy my keys, but it’s not working, so I’ll set this up from scratch. I like being able to SFTP from work to my home computer, and have SSH set up to use keys and not accept passwords.

Headache #6 – Apple Remote – uncured
I couldn’t get the Remote to work at all. I went to Radio Shack and got a new battery. It now works about one out of twenty times that I click it! Pretty useless.

So that’s it. I want my next new Mac to be easier to set up. It should help that I’m now on Intel. And maybe I should get the next new one while the old one is still working!