NDI Support for Apple Silicon in OBS 28. Finally.

So, it has been about two years since Apple introduced the M1 processor, which remains a truly impressive feat of engineering — I love how well things can run on even a low-end M1 computer. Since then, the M1 Pro/Max/Ultra and M2 have come out, but OBS — the standard bearer for live-streaming software — only finally added native Apple Silicon support in late August. That delay wasn’t a huge problem since Apple Rosetta runs Intel native apps incredibly well in translation. OBS is an intensive application, but runs at least as well on an M1 Mac through Rosetta as it does on a high-end Intel Mac.

The late but finally here native release should prove even better, but for one problem when using it in a setting like I do (and like many church users do) where you want to bring in graphics and video conveyed using NewTek’s NDI protocol. About two months after OBS finally went Apple Silicon native, obs-ndi is still not ready for the new version. Thankfully, DDRBoxman has done the work to make the old version of that plugin work on OBS 28 on all the major platforms.

Two caveats to getting it up and running; the installer installed the plugin to /library/Application Support/obs-studio/plugins/obs-ndi.plugin, but OBS does not seem to find it there. I moved it to ~/Library/Application Support/obs-studio/plugins to resolve that.

Also, you need an Apple Silicon native copy of the NDI Runtime, which is not included. A forum post on the obs-ndi GitHub tracker clued me in. I downloaded the latest, Apple Silicon native version of NDI Tools for free and the found the NDI Video Monitor app in the Applications folder. I right clicked it, clicked “Show Package Contents,” and then went into the Contents/Frameworks folder. The library located there needed to be copied to /usr/local/lib/ and renamed to libndi.4.dylib in order for the plugin to detect it.

Messy, but worth it: I now have native OBS with NDI support running on Apple Silicon.

Buying an iPad in Fall 2022

The Choices are Great -- and Clearer than Before

I know a lot of people get confused about which iPad they need to buy for what they want to do. This guide is my stab at helping to sort out the options and what might be right for you.

The Missed Third Act of the Apple Touch Bar

I might be in the minority, but I actually like the Apple Touch Bar:

The way we use the alphanumeric and function keys on a keyboard are quite different. We pound letter and number keys repeatedly by feel when touch typing, so tactility is paramount. The butterfly keyboard failed the “Design is how it works” test, trading an appearance problem for a how-it-works problem.

The Touch Bar isn’t just for looks; it also solves a how-it-works problem in the more cryptic regions of a keyboard. The “F8” label tells me nothing about what it does, say, in Adobe Photoshop.

Diverting F-keys to be “multimedia keys” has been a decent solution for most users, but limits the utility of a significant part of a laptop’s real estate. While in Word, one sixth of the control area of my computer is devoted to functions like “play” and “pause” rather than “bold” and “italic.”

Read my whole Touch Bar eulogy and case for a third edition of the same here.

The Year When the Cheapest Mac was the Best

Apple's M1 Ushered in High End Performance for Average Users

My take on the Apple M1 line of systems as the sibling M1 Pro/Max systems emerge:

Since its introduction, no one has ever mistaken the Macintosh as the cheap option for computers. Nor would anyone who watched Apple’s launch of its insanely fast M1 Pro and Max chips on Monday argue that the new MacBook Pros are cheap. However, when the dust settles, the previous reigning top Apple Chip — the M1 — will still be the one that created a year when the cheapest Mac was the best Mac and one of the best computers, period.

Apple's M1 and the Spring Forward Apple Event

Joel Hruska over at ExtremeTech:

Apple couldn’t position the M1 this way if it wasn’t an excellent CPU in its own right. The M1’s dramatically higher efficiency and improved performance relative to x86 allowed Apple to standardize on a single CPU core across a wide range of products and price points. This is in complete opposition to the way PCs are traditionally positioned.

If you haven’t tried an M1-based Mac, it is hard to imagine precisely how good it is. But, put it this way: it can run many native “Apple Silicon” programs as well as many non-native, still targeted for Intel processor programs at least as fast as current high end MacBook Pros that are still running Intel’s processors. For example, Final Cut Pro and OBS Studio can both run at least as well on a much cheaper M1 system as they do on a $3,000 MacBook Pro; highly targeted apps that use machine learning, like Pixelmator Pro, run better on the M1.

Essentially, Apple is saying, “what you spend on a system should primarily be about what type of computer you want (laptop, desktop, all-in-one), how big of display you want, what extra features you want, not if you want a fantastically fast processor or not.” This is very similar to the approach Apple has taken on the iPhone for a number of years; the base iPhone 12 offers the same years-ahead-of-the-competition processing performance as the highest end, most souped up and most eye-wateringly expensive iPhone 12 Pro Max.

Tee Hee Hee: I Made Some Spammers Mad

Well, my new SpamAssassin auto-rejection seems to be doing a good job. I got this automated letter letting me know I was removed from the EDEALSSUPER list (as if I ever cared to be on it to begin with). Note especially how impassioned it is about how this must have to do with the quality of my e-mail service. Content based bouncing of spam must be becoming common place enough that now spammers are trying to convince the user that the anti-spam savvy ISP is providing the user with bad service when the exact opposite is actually true.

From: LISTSERV@LISTSERV.VERSUS.COM
Subject: Your removal from the EDEALSSUPER list
Date: April 6, 2006 11:00:07 PM CDT
To: Address Removed -Tim.
Reply-To: EDEALSSUPER-request@LISTSERV.VERSUS.COM

Fri, 7 Apr 2006 00:00:07

You have been automatically removed from the EDEALSSUPER list
(eDealsSuper) as a result of repeated delivery error reports from your
mail system. This decision was based on the automatic error monitoring
policy in effect for the list, and has not been reviewed or otherwise
confirmed by a human being. If you receive this message, it means that
something is wrong: while you are obviously able to receive mail, your
mail system has been regularly reporting that your account did not exist,
or that you were otherwise permanently unable to receive mail. Here is
some information which may assist you or your local help desk in
determining the cause of the problem:

- The failing address is TBUTLER@UNINETSOLUTIONS.COM.

- The first error was reported on 4 Apr 2006.

- Since then, a total of 2 delivery errors have been received.

- The last reported error was: Probe failed.

PLEASE DO NOT IGNORE THIS MESSAGE. While you can of course re-subscribe
to the list, it is important for you to report this problem to your mail
administrator so that it can be solved. This problem is not specific to
the EDEALSSUPER list, and also affects your private mail. This means that
YOU HAVE PROBABLY LOST SOME PRIVATE MAIL AS WELL. Anyone trying to write
to you during the same time frame will probably have received the same
errors for the same reason. The EDEALSSUPER list is but one of the many
people who may have tried to write to you while your mail system was
malfunctioning.

DO NOT LET TECHNICAL PEOPLE CONVINCE YOU THAT THIS IS NORMAL. It is never
normal for a mail system to claim that a valid, working account does not
exist, just as it would not be normal for the post office to return some
of your mail with “addressee unknown” when the address was written
correctly. It is true that some mail systems are less reliable than
others, and your technical people may be doing the best they can with the
tools they have. But, ultimately, the level of service that you are
receiving is the result of a business decision, and not something due to
a universal technical limitation that one can only accept. Reliable mail
systems do exist, and it is ultimately up to you to decide whether this
level of service is acceptable or not.