What is Belkin Wemo?

Wemo was a brand of home automation devices produced by Belkin from 2011 through 2023. They released a few Matter/Thread devices after that and these are unaffected by this announcement.

The most-common Wemo device (in my experience) is their plug-in “Smart Plug” line, which was widely available at retail. I purchased four of their “Smart Plug Mini” devices at Costco a few years back and was very happy with their performance, functionality, and integration into Home Assistant. They also produced other smart devices, notably light switches, lights, and even crock pots, heaters, coffee makers, and baby monitors! Most of these devices required cloud connectivity for use and will become e-waste when Belkin cuts them off after January 2026.

Classic Wemo devices rely on Belkin’s cloud for configuration and everyday functionality, including integration with Amazon Alexa, Google Home, and IFTTT. All of this will cease to function following the Wemo cloud shutdown.

The complete list of Belkin devices, including their support and HomeKit status, is available in their Wemo FAQ.

Apple HomeKit to the Rescue?

Over time, Belkin added Apple HomeKit support as an option to many of their light switches, dimmers, and plugs, and this is independent of the native app and cloud connectivity. This support for Apple HomeKit offers a ray of hope: HomeKit devices connect locally over Wi-Fi with HomeKit Accessory Protocol (HAP) and this doesn’t require Belkin’s app or cloud!

Belkin’s Wemo FAQ is explicitly about this: “Wemo products configured for use with Apple HomeKit prior to January 31, 2026 will continue to function via HomeKit in the absence of Wemo cloud services and the Wemo app.”

This means you can “rescue” your compatible switches and plugs by enabling HomeKit support and continue to use them. But configuring HomeKit requires the Belkin Wemo app (at least for my Wemo Mini plugs) so you have to do this before the Wemo shutoff date. I recommend doing a factory reset and enabling HomeKit sooner rather than later to avoid losing your Wemo devices next year.

Enable HomeKit in Your Wemo Switches

Enabling HomeKit is a straightforward process as long as the Wemo app is still working. Regardless of whether or not the device includes the HomeKit logo and number on the back, the following devices appear to be compatible:

• WLS0403 – Wemo Smart Light Switch 3-Way
• WDS060 – Wemo Wi-Fi Smart Light Switch w/ Dimmer
• WLS040 – Wemo Smart Light Switch
• F7C064 – Wemo?HomeKit
• F7C059 – Wemo?Dimmer Light Switch
• F7C063 – Wemo?Mini Plugin Switch
• WSP090 – Wemo?Outdoor Plug
• WSP080 – Wemo Mini Smart Plug

Before you begin, make sure you have the Apple Home app installed and configured. I suggest doing a factory reset of the Wemo switch as well, just to make sure it’s really “clean” and ready to configure. Also, you might want to give it a few minutes after adding it to the Wemo app before trying to configure HomeKit.

1. In the Wemo app, tap the “… More” button at the bottom, then tap “Connect to Other Services”, then “Apple Home App”
2. Tap “Get Started” and the Wemo app will scan for compatible devices
3. Tap “Connect” next to a compatible Wemo device to start the process
4. This will bring up an Apple Home pop-up – select a Home (if you have more than one), then tap “Add to Home”, select a Location and tap “Continue”, give the switch a name and tap “Continue”, select Outlet and tap “Continue”
5. And you’re done!

The Wemo device will now show up in your Apple Home app and can be operated directly from there with no need for the Wemo app or cloud. It should continue to work after the cloud is shut down, but you will likely not be able to reconfigure the device after this date. At least you can avoid having to toss these Wemo devices into the e-waste pile for a while!

What About Home Assistant?

Home Assistant has a native Belkin Wemo integration which appears to operate locally without involvement of the Wemo cloud. This may continue to work without HomeKit after the shutdown date, since many people are already firewalling off their Wemo devices and using them exclusively from Home Assistant. We can’t be sure, but Home Assistant might be another way to keep your Wemo devices working past January.

You may also be able to access Wemo devices via HomeKit protocol by adding them as an Apple HomeKit Device in Home Assistant. If you aren’t an Apple ecosystem user, this might be a way to re-enable Wemo devices for your chosen ecosystem: Convert them to HomeKit, add them to Home Assistant, and present them to other devices. But this might prove too complex to be reliable or even desirable.

Stephen’s Stance

Proprietary products, especially cloud-based ones, pose real problems. This is especially troubling for devices that are physically installed like light switches or appliances. I have serious concerns about the long-term viability of connected devices and am turning away from anything that has a proprietary ecosystem, but it’s sometimes impossible to avoid them. Time and again, standards-based devices have longer useful lives than proprietary ones: The fact that Belkin’s Matter/Thread devices will continue to function, not to mention HomeKit compatibility, gives me some hope for the future of connected devices! I’m especially positive about open source devices using ESP Home, Tasmota, and so on, but will accept Matter devices as a minimum viable option. I encourage you to do the same!

© Stephen Foskett for Stephen Foskett, Pack Rat: Rescue Your Belkin Wemo with Apple HomeKit

You would probably like my other article, How to Connect Everything from Everywhere with ZeroTier

FreeNAS, TrueNAS, and ZeroTier

TrueNAS is one of the best options for building a home or small office fileserver. Formerly known as FreeNAS, it uses ZFS and FreeBSD to provide reliable and flexible storage. I’ve previously written about my home TrueNAS build, which I use for general file storage as well as Time Machine backups, and it’s still going strong.

ZeroTier was offered as an installable package for FreeNAS but was removed in version 11.3. According to Kris Moore, SVP of Engineering at iXsystems, maker of TrueNAS, it was removed for licensing reasons. Apparently, ZeroTier no longer allows governmental or SaaS use, and iXsystems felt this was incompatible with TrueNAS. Although it is possible to access a TrueNAS system using OpenVPN, WireGuard, or even through a router on a ZeroTier network, I strongly prefer a native ZeroTier client.

Install FreeBSD Packages on TrueNAS 12

Since TrueNAS is built on FreeBSD 12, it can easily run the native FreeBSD build of ZeroTier. Although TrueNAS is configured by default not to allow installation of FreeBSD packages, it is fairly easy to enable this and install ZeroTier.

The first step is to allow FreeBSD packages to be installed. As documented by Justin Silver, this requires modifying two files to enable access to the FreeBSD repository. SSH to your TrueNAS box and do the following.

Disable local packages:

sudo vi /usr/local/etc/pkg/repos/local.conf
# Change "enabled: yes" to "enabled: no" to turn off access to the local packages repo

Enable FreeBSD packages:

sudo vi /usr/local/etc/pkg/repos/FreeBSD.conf
# Change "enabled: no" to "enabled: yes" to allow access to the FreeBSD packages repo

Now you will be able to install any FreeBSD package using the native pkg utility. This will not persist following a reboot, so updating ZeroTier won’t be possible without going through these steps again!

Install ZeroTier on TrueNAS 12

Assuming you have already set up ZeroTier and have a network ID, type the following in your TrueNAS terminal to install and configure the FreeBSD ZeroTier package:

sudo pkg install zerotier
sudo /usr/local/sbin/zerotier-one -d
sudo /usr/local/bin/zerotier-cli join <your network ID>

If all goes as expected, your TrueNAS box will now show up in your ZeroTier Central interface. Accept it and (optionally) manually assign an IP address.

Use ifconfig to validate that the interfaces are up, and type sudo /usr/local/bin/zerotier-cli listnetworks to ensure that any networks show “OK”. Next, test connectivity by pinging your TrueNAS machine from another ZeroTier client and vice-versa. If everything went OK you should have no trouble accessing your file server from anywhere!

Make ZeroTier Persistent on TrueNAS 12

But there’s still one big issue with TrueNAS: It wipes all this configuration after every reboot! So you’ll have to re-start the ZeroTier daemon and re-join all your networks each time you reboot. That’s a bummer.

If you want to make ZeroTier (or any other service on TrueNAS) persistent across reboots you have to do some black magic to override this behavior.

The TrueNAS developers really don’t want people mucking about with FreeBSD, and for good reason. Making changes to the OS is a great way to ruin a perfectly good system install! But it is possible to modify the configuration in a way that persists, and that’s what we’re going to do. Proceed with caution!

ZeroTier uses a few components in different places, some of which won’t be touched by a TrueNAS reboot. The binaries in /usr/local/sbin and /usr/local/bin are safe, but the configuration files in /var/db/zerotier-one and the daemon setup won’t survive a reboot.

We need to add a ZeroTier script to /etc/local/rc.d and add an enable to /etc/rc.local so the daemon will start on boot. Thankfully, ChanceM has put in the work for pfSense (which is also FreeBSD based) and we can use his zerotier rc script!

# Go to https://github.com/ChanceM/pfSense-pkg-zerotier/blob/master/zerotier and copy the text of that file

sudo vi /etc/local/rc.d/zerotier
# Paste in the text and save with :wq

# Make it executable
sudo chmod 555 /etc/local/rc.d/zerotier

# Test your new ZeroTier service
sudo service zerotier stop
sudo service zerotier start

Now we’ll set FreeBSD to start the ZeroTier daemon automatically on reboot.

sudo vi /etc/rc.conf

# add the following line right before nginx_enable:
zerotier_enable="Yes"

Before you proceed, check that your ZeroTier configuration is 100% working!

TrueNAS stores the persistent configuration in /conf/base and uses this to wipe the /etc, /mnt, and /var directories on boot. You can modify /conf/base and make changes to the config using the following commands.

# Before proceeding, get ZeroTier installed and join any and all networks you want to persist!

# back up the ZeroTier components that need to persist
cd / ; sudo tar -cvf ~/zerotier.tar etc/rc.conf etc/local/rc.d/zerotier var/db/zerotier-one
# make the root filesystem writable
sudo mount -uw /
# restore our configuration to the persistent area
cd /conf/base
sudo tar -xvpf ~/zerotier.tar

That’s it! ZeroTier should persist across a reboot!

It’s also likely that upgrading to a new version of TrueNAS will wipe out some or all of this configuration, but the zerotier.tar file we created above should be a good backup. But be careful because restoring it will blow away the contents of rc.conf and that could be bad!

Time Machine from Anywhere with ZeroTier and TrueNAS

My next step is to enable Time Machine backups from my various Mac machines to my TrueNAS box. I created a second ZeroTier network for this so I can have better control over the process: Time Machine starts automatically when you are “on network” with the target server but this isn’t always desirable when you’re connected via LTE or other expensive or slow networks. Since it’s simple to have multiple ZeroTier networks configured and running at once, I can connect to or disconnect from my Time Machine network to allow backups to happen.

Once the Time Machine network is set up, I connect to the fileserver using the ZeroTier Time Machine network IP address and configure Time Machine on my Mac to use this as a target. After this, all I have to do is connect to the Time Machine network in ZeroTier and my Mac will see the file server and begin backing up on a regular basis!

I actually haven’t gotten this working yet because I’m having issues backing up to TrueNAS shares. But I was able to get it working from one Mac to another, so it ought to work fine. The issue is TrueNAS not ZeroTier.

Stephen’s Stance

Don’t do this. Seriously, if you’re wondering if you should enable ZeroTier natively on TrueNAS but aren’t sure about all this, just stop now. I’ve been a UNIX sysadmin for over 25 years, and I’m extremely comfortable mucking about with systems, but most people probably aren’t. Also I don’t really have time to debug your particular configuration, so please don’t expect this of me.

If you’re a UNIX nerd like me, though, this is an effective way to install ZeroTier natively on TrueNAS. It’s not perfect (the ZeroTier interfaces don’t show up in TrueNAS Network Summary, for example) but it’s definitely usable! And maybe all this will help others wondering how to install software and persist across reboots on TrueNAS.

© Stephen Foskett for Stephen Foskett, Pack Rat: How To Install ZeroTier on TrueNAS 12

Why iPerf?

iPerf is widely used because it’s open source, cross-platform, and well understood. It’s another tool in the networking geek toolbox and has been around for a long time. The latest version. iPerf3, was released in 2014 and has been widely adopted since then.

iPerf gives pretty basic information on UDP and TCP network performance in a client/server architecture. You run the iPerf server on something (typically a central Unix system or router) and test your network performance using clients. Most people leave the server running and use the client with a simple command line, such as “iperf -c 192.168.100.1”

Is iPerf the best way to test a network? No way! But it’s simple and it works and it’s available on just about everything. I have the iPerf server running on my pfSense routers, since it’s an easy install and they’re at the center of my networks. Then I can see how things are running from various clients and networks.

iPerf for iOS

There have been a few different iOS iPerf clients, but most are buggy or paid. Today I noticed that there is a free iOS port of iPerf based on the official iPerf3 codebase. It’s a tiny 126 KB download and is available in the Apple App Store. It comes from the Ubiquiti UniFi user community. Thanks!

It’s not a pretty GUI but it works. You can enter the server IP address, port, and adjust basic parameters and test your network.

Stephen’s Stance

iPerf 3 Wifi Speed Test is just what the doctor ordered. It’s a small, free iOS version of iPerf and it works!

© Stephen Foskett for Stephen Foskett, Pack Rat: Test Your Wi-Fi with iPerf for iOS

Handle With Care

The 2018 iPad Pro has a slab-sided design reminiscent of the iPhone 4 and 5, but its durability might resemble more the “bendgate” era of the iPhone 6 Plus! Apple already replaced mine due to scratches in the screen during manufacturing, and tests have shown that the body isn’t nearly as resistant to bending as previous models.

The most serious issue I’ve encountered with my 11-inch 2018 iPad Pro is a manufacturing defect in the screen: Right out of the box, the glass over the screen was scratched and scuffed in numerous spots. It was hard to see these during use, but off-axis light revealed them plain as day.

As recommended by @AppleSupport on Twitter, I made a service appointment at my local Apple store. After the “genius” took a look and consulted with management, they allowed me to return my iPad Pro for a replacement taken from stock. I came out with a perfect replacement at no charge. Although I lost my custom engraving, it wasn’t visible with the Smart Folio Keyboard anyway.

Final update: The Apple Store replaced the iPad Pro for free. Well, took back the scratched one as a return and “sold” me an identical perfect one as a replacement. Thanks @AppleSupport! Scratched/cracked #iPadPro saga is resolved!

— Stephen Foskett (@SFoskett) November 10, 2018

I thought this was an odd isolated incident, but was contacted on Twitter by another day-1 iPad Pro buyer who had the same issue. Perhaps there’s some problem handling the screen glass during manufacturing, but having something like this slip through inspection is surprising.

Another serious issue is the overall durability of the new iPad Pro. Tests show that the glass shatters more readily than previous models, even from relatively minor falls. And the body is surprisingly susceptible to bending, just like the infamous iPhone 6 Plus. Be very careful how you handle your iPad Pro on the go!

All this made me glad to have purchased AppleCare+ with my iPad Pro. Screen replacement is $499 regularly, but just $49 with Apple’s warranty. I have a sickening feeling that I might need to avail myself of this service eventually.

Just Like the iPhone X

A few more issues have revealed themselves after use.

It’s great that the iPad Pro now has the iPhone X app switcher. Unlike previous iPads, this one works almost identically to the iPhone. Notifications, controls, and app switching are all where you expect them to be.

But there is one surprising flaw in this iPhone-style interaction: The Siri button. On the iPhone, the Siri button is opposite the volume buttons. So it makes sense to squeeze the phone on both sides to take a screenshot or power off the device. But the iPad keeps the Siri button in the traditional iPad power button location: Top right edge (in portrait mode), around the corner from the volume controls.

This causes some ergonomic issues. It’s pretty hard to squeeze the Siri and Volume Up buttons at once without bracing the iPad against something diagonally, since they’re really close. And the buttons are almost flush with the frame, making them hard to press in any case. Screen-shot and power-off aren’t common functions, but it’s surprisingly hard to execute them.

How Smart is the Keyboard Folio?

I like the key feel of the keys in the new Smart Keyboard Folio. It’s a little more clicky than the old Smart Keyboard, and eminently typable. In fact, I prefer typing on it to the “butterfly” keyboard on my MacBook Pro!

I have a few issues with the keyboard layout, but they’re nothing new for the iPad. First, there’s no escape key, which is a continuing frustration for UNIX command line and vi users like me. Second, the keyboard is just a tiny bit cramped. Third, the Emoji key is just useless and I curse it every time I accidentally press it. And finally, the “keyboard bar” on the bottom of the screen occasionally doesn’t come up when needed.

But the “folio” aspect of the new Smart Keyboard Folio bothers me somewhat. The full back panel adds considerable bulk to the iPad Pro overall, even compared to the thick folding Smart Keyboard. But this can’t be helped now that the Smart Connector has moved to the back. I also dislike that the keys rest on the screen when folded closed, leaving visible marks. And although the folio is smart enough to disable the keyboard when it is folded to the back, it’s not too comfortable to hold this way.

Another issue with the Smart Keyboard Folio are the magnets. The alignment is easy and precise, in true Apple fashion. But I feel that the rear magnets are not strong enough, while the edge magnets are too strong! It’s much easier to pull the iPad out of the folio than to detach the keyboard from the edge. I’ve flubbed this while folding the iPad numerous times already, almost dropping the device in the process.

Still, the utility of the Smart Keyboard Folio more than makes up for these issues. Having a real keyboard transforms the iPad into a usable portable computer. Anyone skeptical of the iPad Pro as a laptop replacement really needs to give it a try!

Bigger, Better Movies

One frequent use of all iPads is as a portable movie theater. In addition to my library of iTunes movies, I use mine to watch Netflix, Amazon Prime, HBO Go, and in-flight movies while on the road. And when it comes to watching movies, the 2018 iPad Pro, especially the 11 inch model, really leaps ahead!

First up are the awesome speakers. The 2018 iPad Pro has four speakers in a stereo arrangement, and they sound even better than the previous model. They’re surprisingly good, especially in such a compact device, and give great balance and separation. I could actually hear staging of sounds in movies, which is pretty surprising from a device like this!

Then there’s the wider screen. All other iPads have a 4:3 (16:12) screen for more flexible portrait/landscape use, but the 2018 11-inch iPad Pro has a 16:11.2 screen. This is an oddball shape but was dictated by the desire to retain roughly the same body dimensions as the previous 10.5-inch iPad Pro while enlarging the screen. The new screen (landscape) is exactly the same height as the previous model but 16 mm (5/8 inch) wider.

This added real estate comes in very handy when watching 16:9 widescreen movies. Although the body is just 7.5% and 8.6% larger than the 10.5-inch and 9.7-inch models, respectively, the area of a 16:9 movie is 15.6% or a whopping 35.1% larger! Even compared to the new 12.9-inch model (which still has a 4:3 screen), that 44% larger body only gets you a 34.3% larger movie-watching area.

The only real downside to the new iPad Pro as a movie-watching device is the USB-C connector, which requires a new dongle if you want to use wired headphones. Apple sells this adapter for under $10 but why oh why didn’t they include a headphone jack? Now I am carrying two dongles!

Charging Forward

As a user of a recent MacBook Pro with USB-C power, I’m pleased to see the iPad Pro adopt the same charging technology. Apple’s 87-Watt MacBook Pro power brick and cable are 100% compatible with the iPad Pro, charging it at the maximum rate and requiring one less item in my bag. I also added a USB-C charging cable to my bag so I can charge both at once, daisy-chaining the iPad off the MacBook Pro.

I was skeptical about Apple’s 18-Watt USB-C charger when I opened the iPad Pro box, but have now changed my tune. After testing its performance, I’m pleased with Apple’s new brick. It appears to adhere to the USB Power Delivery spec, correctly feeding both 5-Volt and 9-Volt power to devices.

This is in stark contrast to the cheap USB-C chargers that come with many other devices. For example, the Google Nexus 5X came with a simple charger that dangerously “dumps” 3 Amps at 5 Volts to anything connected!

I will wait for Nathan K‘s testing, but so far it looks like Apple did a good job designing their compact USB-C charger.

Not Apple’s Fault

Some more issues with the new iPad Pro are common across iOS devices.

Many apps are not yet compatible with the new screen, with weird gaps and alignment of elements. I imagine this will improve rapidly, but for now it’s a nagging issue. Reeder is one such troublesome app. Many apps aren’t ready for the rounded corners of the iPad display too.

I’ve also had trouble with apps crashing. In particular, Tweetbot frequently crashes on the iPad Pro even though it’s quite stable on the iPhone X running the same version of iOS.

Then there’s the issue of “mobile optimized” web sites that refuse to function correctly in Mobile Safari. This device has more pixels than many common laptops, including Apple’s own MacBook Air, yet many web sites won’t show me the full set of controls. And some still insist on displaying the useless “phone optimized” version! This is the biggest reason I still need to crack open a laptop on business trips.

Looking On the Brighter Side

That being said, the iPad has many positive aspects.

As mentioned, it’s wonderful to have a standardized iOS interface between iPhone and iPad once again. My iPhone X and iPad Pro work exactly the same, from Face ID to notifications to app switching.

Face ID works brilliantly on the iPad. In fact, it seems to work quicker and more reliably than on my iPhone X! And as many reviewers have noted, it works in any orientation, with a helpful arrow to show where the sensor is if you’re covering it with your hand.

The bezels are just about right for handheld use, and I love the symmetry of the design. It really takes the iPad out of the past to lost the “forehead and chin”.

The screen is gorgeous, even though it’s an LCD, and has all the cool Apple screen features, including ProMotion, True Tone, and a wide P3 color gamut. And the bonded display glass means there’s no “gap” under the screen like in iPads of yore.

The radiused screen edges are in keeping with the iPhone X design and give this iPad a modern look. And Apple is right about their sub-pixel anti-aliasing at those corners: It looks perfect even close up.

Performance is also amazing. I already enthused about the benchmarks, but they don’t necessarily tell the tale of how a device feels in use. The A12X really delivers in daily use. Everything is snappy, with a “liquid” feel to every operation thanks to desktop-class CPU and GPU performance plus the high ProMotion refresh rate. It’s noticeably quicker than my 9.7 inch iPad Pro, and I was happy with that device.

Also read:

• The 2018 iPad Pro is a Beast
• The New iPad Pro Proves That Apple Doesn’t Need Intel or AMD Anymore

Stephen’s Stance

I remain enthusiastic about the iPad Pro, despite getting a scratched screen and my concerns about durability. It’s a worthy successor to the original and offers enough improvements that I’d recommend the upgrade for just about anyone who uses their iPad for serious work. It’s still not yet a laptop replacement, but this is due more to a lack of desktop-class software for iOS than anything in Apple’s control.

© Stephen Foskett for Stephen Foskett, Pack Rat: Ranting and Raving About the 2018 iPad Pro

Amazing Progress from Apple

When the first iPad Pro came out in 2015, I was astonished to see that Apple’s in-house A9X CPU had passed the Intel Core 2 Duo CPUs in my old Mac Mini and 2007 MacBook Pro. ARM chips were supposed to be slow, right? And this was an in-house Apple-designed CPU, too! I was also amazed to learn that Apple had added NVMe flash (and a custom NAND controller) to the mix. If you’re a hardware nerd, you could see that this was a real-deal “pro” machine.

Then, last year, the iPhone X appeared. Suddenly Apple’s A11 CPU was as fast as the Intel Core i7 in my daily-use MacBook Pro. And Apple’s transition to in-house graphics didn’t go as poorly as I expected, either. The A11 was competitive with Intel’s integrated GPU offerings.

Now, with the 2018 iPad Pro, everything changed. The A12X CPU is notably faster than most Intel Core CPUs. The integrated GPU is faster than common discrete GPUs from AMD and blows away anything Intel offers. And it adds a powerful Neural Engine to the mix.

It isn’t overstating things to say that the 2018 iPad Pro is a better portable computer than the just-refreshed MacBook Air but for less money. In fact, it’s probably a better computer than the latest MacBook Pro, too! The only thing holding the iPad Pro back is iOS.

Apple’s amazing progress in chip design has made me a believer: Apple will inevitably transition the Mac line to ARM, just as they did to Intel and PowerPC before. Read my essay over at Gestalt IT and you might become a believer too.

My iPad Pro

I’ve been using iPads since the very first model, but it was the 2015 iPad Pro that convinced me it could be a daily-use computer and not just a fancy e-reader. The combination of solid hardware and a good-enough keyboard (Apple’s Smart Keyboard) allowed me to take just the iPad Pro on trips without missing my MacBook Pro much. Frankly, the only time I needed a “Real Computer” was when using web sites that steadfastly refuse to offer the desktop version to an iOS device.

If you’re an iPad user like me, I unreservedly recommend upgrading to the new iPad Pro. I chose the 256 GB Wi-Fi model, because that’s the sweet spot price-wise. It’s crazy how much Apple charges for storage, but iOS doesn’t work well with add-on storage and 64 GB is just too little. Still, I couldn’t justify the 512 GB model at $1,149 since I just don’t use that much space on my iPad.

After using an LTE-equipped iPad Air for a couple of years, I just don’t see the point in it. It’s just so easy to tether an iPad to an iPhone and share the data subscription for free. I could see it being an awesome platform for Google Fi, but I’ve got a mobile hotspot for that. The $150 LTE option just isn’t worth it to me.

I tried the Apple Pencil with the previous iPad Pro and just didn’t get it. I am not an artist and the keyboard is good enough for quick typing, so I decided to skip the improved 2018 model.

I don’t love that the new Smart Folio Keyboard adds so much bulk to the iPad Pro. The old keyboard-only model was much thinner, and the folding design kept the grubby keys off the screen. The key feel is nice, though, and the usability of the keyboard is too compelling.

Stephen’s Stance

The third-generation iPad Pro is a great machine but also a bellwether of change at Apple. It will be very hard for the rest of the mobile and client computing industry to keep up with this kind of progress!

© Stephen Foskett for Stephen Foskett, Pack Rat: The 2018 iPad Pro is a Beast!

How Photos Stores Raw Files

Although I don’t love the slim editing features in Photos, I’m still using it because of the excellent integration between iOS, macOS, and iCloud. It’s just plain useful to have all of my photos stored together and seamlessly synced to the cloud. Still, Photos is pretty terrible when it comes to dealing with raw images.

In macOS, Photos stores all images in a bundle. By default this lives in your Pictures folder and is called “Photos Library.photoslibrary”, though macOS hides the extension so it just looks like “Photos Library” in Finder. A macOS bundle is actually just a regular folder marked so as to be treated like a single unit in Finder.

Inside the library, all photos are stored in Masters/year/month/day/event/file. For example, if you take photo with your iPhone on July 10, 2017, it might be called “Masters/2017/07/10/20170710-12304/IMG_2356.JPG”. If you import a raw+jpg image from a camera (in my case, my Leica Q uses “.dng” files for raw), it will be stored similarly, perhaps called “Masters/2017/07/10/20170710-17385/L123521.JPG” and “Masters/2017/07/10/20170710-17385/L123521.dng”. Note that both the jpeg and raw files are stored together in the same directory.

Although Photos does a nice job of keeping these paired photos together, it entirely drops the ball when dealing with them in the UI. Photos treats raw+jpg images as a single entity but only accounts for the primary or “Original” source. By default, raw+jpg files are treated as “JPEG” by the UI and are thus indistinguishable from plain jpg files from the same camera except for a little stacked “J” icon in the upper right corner. If you edit the photo and select “Use RAW as Original” in the Image menu, it becomes a stacked “R” and can be matched by Smart Folders.

This is asinine:

• Smart Folders has a “Photo is Raw” search, but this only works then the “Use as Original” source is raw (which has to be done manually, one photo at a time)
• Smart Folders “Filename ends with…” search also only finds the “Use as Original” source
• Thus there is no automatic way to identify raw+jpg files since they are by default treated as jpg files
• The only way to know which files are raw+jpg pairs after import is to look for the little “J” box in the corner

At least if you “Export Unmodified Original” it will export both the raw and jpg files regardless of which was marked as “Original”!

Raw Files in iCloud Photos

Apple Photos happily uploads both the raw and jpeg files to iCloud Photos for you, and will download them to any Mac connected to the account automatically. And Apple will generate a jpeg file for viewing on iOS devices too. This is good.

The problem is that these raw files can quickly clog up your iCloud account and there’s no way to get rid of them short of deleting the image from the library. This is bad. Considering that every raw image from my Leica Q is 41 MB, my 200 GB iCloud account quickly filled up!

There ought to be some way to clean out your library, exporting the unwanted raw files and removing them from iCloud without deleting the companion jpeg files. But that’s really hard to do.

Warning: The following processes can cause the loss of your precious photos if not done correctly! Proceed at your own risk and make a backup first! In fact, make two or three backups!

Frankly, since Photos can’t automatically select which jpeg images have a “raw companion” users of raw+jpg are really in for a tough time. The only way I can see to clean out your raw+jpg files in Photos is as follows:

1. Manually select all raw+jpg images you want to clear out, using the little “J” box in the UI as your guide
2. Export Unmodified Originals to an archive folder, giving you a copy of both the raw and the jpeg file but not any modifications you’ve done
3. Export (modified) Photos to another archive folder, giving you a jpeg with your changes so you can bring those back into your library
4. Delete these photos from your library using Command-Delete (why is there no corresponding menu item?)
5. Really delete these photos by clicking on Delete All in the Recently Deleted folder
6. Wait for iCloud Photos to sync, then exit and reopen the library and wait for it to really remove the photos which strangely only seems to happen after reopening (Is this a bug or a feature?)
7. Watch the size of the library in Finder to make sure the photos are really, really deleted from the library, then wait some more to make sure they’re really, really deleted from iCloud
8. Import the modified jpeg photos from step 3 and manually tag them, add them back into your albums, and so on

This process is painful and incomplete: There’s a lot of manual juggling and you will lose your tags, albums, and categorization. But at least your iCloud library will be smaller.

A (Somewhat) Better Way With PowerPhotos

I’ve long used Fat Cat Software’s PowerPhotos (formerly iPhoto Library Manager) to split and merge iPhoto and Photos libraries. Although it doesn’t solve the problem of finding and exporting raw+jpg images, it does automate the tagging and photo import process so you won’t lose as much when you jump through these hoops.

Here’s my improved way to clean raw+jpg files out of Photos, leveraging PowerPhotos:

1. Manually select all raw+jpg images you want to clear out, using the little “J” box in the UI as your guide, and put them in a (dumb) album called “Raw Photos To Archive” or something
2. Create a Smart Album with “Album is not Raw Photos To Archive”, then create another (dumb) album called “Photos Not Archived” or something so this selection will persist after you delete the others
3. Make a copy of the whole Photos library by holding down Option while dragging the library to an archive folder then rename this something like “Raw Photo Archive”
4. Close Photos and open the copy Raw Photos Archive library, then select all Photos Not Archived and delete them using Command-Delete, then clear them from Recently Deleted by clicking “Delete All”
5. Exit Photos and reopen that library and wait to make sure they’re really deleted
6. Back in your original iCloud Photo Library, select all Raw Photos To Archive and delete them using Command-Delete, then clear them from Recently Deleted by clicking “Delete All”
7. Exit Photos and reopen that library and wait to make sure they’re really deleted
8. Watch the size of the library bundles in Finder to make sure the photos are really, really deleted from the library, then wait some more to make sure they’re really, really deleted from iCloud
9. Fire up PowerPhotos, click “Merge Libraries”, select the following:
   • Drag the Raw Photo Archive library to the “Choose Source Libraries” box
   • Drag the Default iCloud library to the “Choose Destination Library” box
   • De-select “Eliminate duplicates while merging” since you deleted the duplicates earlier
   • Select “Copy edited JPGs” so your lovely edits will be saved in your iCloud library
10. PowerPhotos will restore your photos, including tags and albums, and Photos will send these back to your iCloud Photo library

This process results in a complete library of only raw+jpg images, complete with the tags you added and edits you performed, along with a complete library of jpeg images in iCloud for you to enjoy and share. It’s painful but functional. The only issue is that every time you repeat the process you get another Raw Photos archive.

I’ve asked Fat Cat to add a feature to handle this better in PowerPhotos and we’ll see what they come up with.

Stephen’s Stance

Here’s my ideal scenario for Apple Photos or Fat Cat PowerPhotos:

• Allow me to automatically select all raw+jpg files in my library
• Allow me to export and import raw+jpg files with edits and tags
• Allow me to archive unwanted raw files without losing the jpeg images in my library, perhaps allowing me to re-link the raw files in the future

I suppose I should just switch to Lightroom. But barring that, I guess I’ll have to use the process above.

© Stephen Foskett for Stephen Foskett, Pack Rat: How To Remove Raw Images From Apple Photos and iCloud

Creative Packaging

After removing the original Macintosh motherboard, I was struck by its neat packaging in the Macintosh case. The motherboard sat at the bottom, with air venting in all around. Most of the space above was taken up by the CRT, power supply and related analog electronics, with a bit of space reserved for the two 3.5″ drive bays and processor-direct expansion slot (“SE” stood for “System Expansion”!)

Apple’s original motherboard is just a bit larger than a modern Mini-ITX motherboard, and the removal of the CRT left a considerable amount of space inside for other components. I immediately knew I could fit a whole PC, including a small power supply, inside that case. Still, it took some creative packaging to get everything oriented correctly.

One thing that became immediately obvious is that none of the original port cutouts would line up with a modern PC motherboard and power supply. I could have cut out the entire lower panel, but I wanted to keep the case as stock-looking as possible. So I decided to orient the motherboard vertically, using short cables to relocate the ports to the original holes. I mounted it “ports up” so it would be easier to reach the ports and to make use of the space alongside the integrated handle.

I also discovered that a modern SFX or TFX power supply would almost, but not quite, line up with the existing holes, so some Dremel cutting was inevitable. I enlarged the power cutouts so I could mount my Corsair SF450 SFX power supply vertically. Although this blocked the original printer, modem, and audio port, it left room for the rest of the PC inside. I also cut out a few intruding plastic tabs inside the case to make a cleaner space to work with.

The popularity of the Mini-ITX form factor opens many doors for this kind of project. Everything is available in this compact size, from fanless media devices to servers to high-performance desktop PC’s. The only trade-off is that just a single PCI Express slot is allowed. This wouldn’t pose a problem with this build, but it could be an issue for others¹.

Building my “Hackintosh SE”

I decided on the Gigabyte GA-H110N, a socket LGA1151 board with lots of amazing features in a tiny package. Of note, this motherboard includes a bonus Mini PCIe slot (for a wireless adapter) and a super-fast M.2 socket on the back for an NVMe SSD. It supports the whole range of Intel’s current Skylake CPU‘s and dual-channel DDR4 DIMMs. I paired this with Intel’s 4 GHz Core i7-6700K CPU², 16 GB of RAM, and Intel’s new 600p NVMe SSD³. I bought all this at Micro Center for under $775 (much cheaper than online!)

I mounted the PC components in an aluminum frame, making the whole thing easy to pull out and work on. I bought two 4-foot pieces of 1/2-inch angle aluminum and cut them to size with a hacksaw and Dremel cutting bits⁴. I carefully fitted each piece into the Macintosh case as I went along, making sure it would fit snugly and securely and that all the PC components would fit as well. The motherboard is mounted on conventional brass stand-offs screwed into this aluminum frame.

The original Macintosh was passively cooled, but the Mac SE added a small rear-mounted fan⁵. Although this means the case is designed with convection cooling in mind, a blazing Core i7 needs a little more chill power. So I decided to use a Corsair H55 liquid cooling unit to pull the heat off the CPU. This liquid cooling setup is also lighter and more durable in a portable case, putting less stress on the motherboard and CPU.

The liquid cooler also let me design a better cooling solution. After experimenting a bit, I added two excellent Noctua fans and a custom plastic box to direct air out the original vent. The larger NF-P12 is optimized to force air through the radiator, while the smaller NF-60X25 runs at higher speed, forcing air out the vent. Although not visible, this airbox extends down to the SFX power supply as well, pulling hot air out along the side of the case.⁶

The entire PC fits nicely in the original Macintosh case, with a wiring harness “borrowed” from an old PC for power switches and lights. I’m still working on mounting this wiring⁷ but for now the power switch pokes out where the brightness knob once sat. I plan to use the original Macintosh speaker as well but have mounted a PC speaker for the time being.

I’ve mounted a USB3 header to the original floppy port, attached to the frame. I have also embedded a Griffin iMate USB to ADB adapter in the ADB port cutout, and am happily using the original Apple Standard Keyboard and Mouse on a daily basis. Although I bought an HDMI extender cable with a panel mount jack, I have not yet mounted it in the printer port.

Stephen’s Stance

Since I still have the iPad mini in the Macintosh SE case for video conferencing use, I’ve attached the “Hackintosh SE”⁸ to my 27-inch Dell 4K display. It might seem odd that the Macintosh “monitor” isn’t attached to the PC inside, but it’s not an issue in daily usage. And it would be awfully hard to go back to a 9-inch monitor after getting used to the lovely Dell panel!

Now that everything is up and running for a few weeks, I can report that my Hackintosh SE is stable and stays cool even under heavy load. I stressed the CPU to maximum for over a week using a zcash mining application and it sat at 60º C at a full 4 GHz all that time. The exhaust air doesn’t even feel that hot!

Perhaps I’ll write more about the software side of things, but that’s working pretty well too. I still haven’t gotten the video resolution right and it took some serious “doing” to get macOS booting from the NVMe SSD, but it all works now. And it’s blazing fast and stable too!

Want more details? Leave me a comment!

© Stephen Foskett for Stephen Foskett, Pack Rat: My Core i7 Macintosh SE

I spend a lot of time on conference calls, often using one of the too-plentiful slide and video sharing applications. I’ve found that the iPad version of these apps is typically more stable, quicker to start, and more up to date than the Mac or PC version. Frankly, I hate installing the browser plugins and so on required to get these applications to function, and the iOS version just works!

I could just sit an iPad on my desk. But where’s the fun in that? If something is going to sit on my desk, it should match the retro tech style!

Way back in 1992, I picked up a broken Mac SE from a guy on Usenet. I was an avid Atari ST user at the time, but I couldn’t resist the draw of free tech! Alas, the CRT tube was bad and I never got around to fixing it.

Now here I am 25 years later and that Mac SE is still sitting in my basement, waiting to be put to use. I considered making a “Macquarium” but the fish visibility factor would be quite low with that little 9-inch screen. But that got me thinking: Would an iPad fit in that space?

Although the screen of a full-sized iPad might fit in the CRT opening, the borders would be cut off. And there would be no way to access the home button or camera. But an iPad mini would fit perfectly!

Happily, I had just such an iPad sitting in my desk: My daughter broke the screen on hers and saved up to buy a replacement. Even with a broken screen, the Mini still works fine. Perfect!

I removed the CRT, analog board, power supply, and logic board of the Mac and tried it for fit. Perfect! Held in landscape orientation, the iPad mini is almost exactly the right size horizontally, if a bit narrow vertically. Although the outer buttons and switches are unreachable, there are soft controls that take their place.

I sat down with Tinkercad and designed a special “grommet” to hold the iPad in place. I designed it so it could be used at any of the four corners of the iPad, attaching to the original CRT mounding holes with the original Torx screws. It’s a tight fit for the power cord, but everything lines up nicely.

This was a pretty satisfying project. The iPad is extremely useful for conference calling, FaceTime, and so on. And it’s cool to be able to recycle some old, unused electronics into a useful desk accessory.

If you’ve got an old 9-inch Compact Mac, an iPad mini, and access to a 3D printer, you can do the same! Just download my Macintosh iPad mini Grommet from Thingiverse and print four of them!

There was only one question lingering in my mind: What should I do with all the wasted space in that old Mac SE case? Hmmm…

© Stephen Foskett for Stephen Foskett, Pack Rat: The Biggest, Clunkiest iPad Mini Case Ever: My Old Mac SE!

On re-watching the introduction, there are many things that stand out, starting with Steve Jobs iconic patter. The man sells this thing, playing music, making calls, and really enjoying this new device. He’s happy and calm, smiling as he calls Jony Ive and Phil Shiller (and Starbucks!).

At the time, it was immediately obvious that this was an important product. But perhaps it wasn’t so obvious just how important it was: Apple’s iPhone didn’t just blow away the smartphone industry; it revolutionized computing and built Apple into the most valuable and important technology company of our time.

Some highlights:

• The iconic iPhone form factor was radically new
• Steve had to demonstrate the absolute basics of touch computing: Scrolling, swiping, tapping, and pinching did not exist before this day
• The familiar sound effects (marimba ringtone, “send” bloop, etc), UI for audio and video, and home screen are totally novel
• Features like Visual Voicemail and call merge seemed important at the time but are barely used these days
• Steve highlights the fact that multi-touch is patented, but it wouldn’t take long for competitors to appear

Perhaps most amazing is that it all works flawlessly. Today we know that the developers were scrambling to keep the phone “alive” with the early software build in use, but it all works.

Look around today, 10 years later, and you’ll see just how important Apple’s iPhone was. Multi-touch, portability, connectivity, personalization. This is the product that showed the world what was possible when all these technologies came together for the first time. Apple really was 5 years ahead of the world on that January day.

Note: At one point, Steve Jobs checks the Apple stock price. If you had bought it that day, your money would have grown by 792% 10 years later.

© Stephen Foskett for Stephen Foskett, Pack Rat: The iPhone Revolution 10 Years Later

First, a bit of background: The “Thunderbolt 3” USB-C ports on the Late-2016 MacBook Pro computers support native “alternate mode” HDMI and DisplayPort video, in addition to USB 3.1 and Thunderbolt (PCIe) connections. I picked out a set of cables and adapters for my 15″ MacBook Pro with Touch Bar and found that, although DisplayPort works flawlessly, HDMI was pretty flaky. And my experience matches that of many others.

TL;DR: Stick to DisplayPort, which works great, and do not buy a USB-C HDMI adapter (even Apple’s own Digital AV Multiport Adapter) unless you know it works. And don’t count on 87W USB-C pass-through charging working with any adapter.

The Bad News: HDMI is Flaky At Best

HDMI is everywhere, since most inexpensive monitors are just repurposed TV’s. HDMI is also the new common denominator for those of us who travel and use projectors. So I’m very disappointed to report that HDMI cannot be trusted to work with the new Late-2016 MacBook Pro.

I purchased the Monoprice Select Series USB-C HDMI Multiport Adapter and found that it did not work with any monitor I have encountered. Some, like my Dell P2715Q, were not detected at all. Others, like the Dell S2715H at work, were detected by macOS but did not display an image. The monitor “knew” there was something happening but it remained black. On the other hand, this adapter did work with the Dell U2415 monitor.

There are numerous reports online about flaky behavior with Alternate Mode USB-C HDMI adapters, ranging from complete failure (as in my case) to connect to wakeup/power-down issues to plain old flakiness. Even Apple’s own USB-C Digital AV Multiport Adapter doesn’t work reliably – it’s got just 2 stars on the Apple site, with many issues reported.

I believe this is a software issue and hope Apple will address it in future revisions of macOS Sierra. Since my 1080p external monitor was detected, it seems that the hardware might be functional. Perhaps 4K monitors won’t work, but 2K or less HDMI should be OK once Apple issues software updates. But how can Apple justify selling a non-functional first-party adapter for something as critical as HDMI?

Furthermore, although Apple’s support site indicates that the 87 Watt USB-C power adapter will charge the 15″ MacBook Pro through their Digital AV Multiport Adapter, this appears to be untrue. I can confirm that my Monoprice adapter will not pass enough power to charge the battery: Although the “gong” sounds and the lightning bolt appears, the computer is not charging. And people are reporting the same behavior from the Apple adapter.

The Good News: DisplayPort Works

I purchased a couple of USB-C to DisplayPort adapters from Monoprice and am pleased to report that they both work just fine. As hoped, these simple adapters natively and passively attach Alternate Mode DisplayPort from the MacBook Pro’s integrated AMD GPU through the Intel Thunderbolt controller and connect perfectly with the monitors I’ve tried.

I’ve been using my best-choice Monoprice USB-C to DisplayPort cable with my Dell P2715Q 4K monitor for a few days and it was really flawless: No visual artifacts, full resolution and refresh rate, and no issues with sleep or wake-up. As a test, I bumped the internal display to native 2880×1800 resolution and the Dell monitor to 3820×2160 resolution at 60 Hz and everything worked perfectly.

The Mac automatically switches from the Intel HD Graphics 530 built into the Skylake CPU to the AMD Radeon Pro 450 as soon as it detects the external monitor, which was almost instantaneous. It was amusing to watch the connectivity change over in System Report as I unplugged the cable.

Note that others have reported sporadic issues with DisplayPort as well. But these issues seem to be rarer than with HDMI. So I still recommend DisplayPort.

Stephen’s Stance

The Late-2016 MacBook Pro is an all-new hardware platform for Apple, so I’m not surprised that some initial issues are apparent with third-party hardware. But it is disappointing that even first-party Apple adapters don’t work. There’s no excuse for this kind of flakiness for mainstream uses like HDMI connectivity!

© Stephen Foskett for Stephen Foskett, Pack Rat: Beware! USB-C HDMI Adapters are Flaky with 2016 MacBook Pro