Monstamacs

Default location of screen dumps

2009-07-28T14:15:00.001-07:00

Using the Terminal, enter the following command to change the location:


defaults write com.apple.screencapture location ~/Pictures

This snippet will change the default location of saving the screenshot to the Pictures folder. You can also set this location to any folder or volume on your Mac, just substitute~/Pictures in this command to whatever you want. Once you've run this command, you'll need to restart the SystemUIServer (used to control certain interface elements in Mac OS X), by entering killall SystemUIServer in the Terminal.

From macosxhints.com

Backgrounding Apps

2009-05-16T00:12:00.000-07:00

MacRumors has heard that Apple are still thinking of allowing the user to run a small number of background apps on the phone.

This is something that I think we still need to see. The Push notification service is a good solution for apps that aren't accessing the environment around. But apps such as a tracker for following your position really do need to be on all the time, as do internet radio apps.

The main marketing thrust of the Pre is surely going to be around the multi-tasking. We all know by now, by experience or education that background apps drain the battery in no time at all, but this won't be mentioned in press blurb. If Apple want to close that angle of attack, allowing a limited form of BackApps would seem necessary.

When I first considered the problem, the solution that formulated in my head, was that apps should be written as 2 parts; the main app and a background app process that could be called on a regular interval say 5 seconds. The background process app could be restricted to no UI and a very limited API to throttle how much cpu and power it used. BackApps could be terminated if they took more than n seconds to return control.

The idea that certain locations in the dock or springboard would be for BackApps since a neat one. Trying to juggle apps with WinMobile task manager was always a nightmare on my TyTnII and they really ate the battery.

Perhaps they should make it that apps in the dock can be backgrounded, and that to cancel the process you simply slide your finger as if to pull the app off the dock, to terminate any bg processes.

Whatever their solution I do hope that some form of BG app even in a very limited form is on the cards, it would transform the device and apps.

Tonights Spicy Stir Fry

2009-04-15T14:48:00.000-07:00

This weeks left overs recombobulated into something delish.

Cook rice... 1 ladle per person. add to salted boiling water, 1 ladle scoop per person. boil 8 mins and strain.. forget the absorbtion method, too easy to burn if you get coding hard...

put lid on, to conserve heat.

Place 2 big pasta bowls in microwave with water between and heat for 3 mins... to get em hot.

3 box method ( and sauce)

Sauce.

Soy Sauce, oyster sauce, honey, ginger, chilli oil, garlic chopped, dash of sherry.

(box1)Meat

Roast beef, marinate in garlic, oil, and chopped chilli

(box 2) To cook a bit.. Veg ( left overs )

carrots, baby sweet corns ( chopped ) , mushrooms chopped. old pepper.

(box 3)To keep crunchy...

Sugar snap peas(chopped ), baby sweet corns ( chopped ) , mushrooms chopped. old pepper, old leek ends and old spring onion.

cashew nuts.

Chop meat, garlic ( 1 clove), 1 chili pepper, mix up. and marinate

Chop mushrooms, peppers and other ingredients... separate into boxes, some divide for fresh and cooked.

Sauce, chop and mix. should be sweet, tangy, and wacky and slightly hot.

Heat rice. 8 mins boil.

Heat oil, add beef + stuff... til hot. ( box1)

Add sauce, should be sticky, and the sugar in the honey will make it hotter on domestic cookers. it will bubble... great! ( 20 secs sort of ).Once meat is hawt! and sizzly...

Throw in box 2... the stuff u want super hot and a little cooked..

1 min... bubble, shake, 2 mins'ish ( your trying to get it hot and a tincy bit cooked ).

Add the 3rd ( you want it crunchy, so adding last min )

Quickly stir in and cover with sauce.

Throw drained rice into heated bowls*, spoon in generous amount, sprinkle with sesame seeds on meat mixture. and wolf down with chopsticks.

*if u have them ( couldnt find them tonight )

Colour your shell prompt taken from Lifehacker

2009-04-02T14:12:00.000-07:00

Using the tip is relatively simple—just edit the /root/.bashrc file and add in the following, preferably commenting out the existing lines that set the color, though you can simply add this line to the end of the file.

PS1='${debian_chroot:+($debian_chroot)}\[\033[01;31m\]\u@\h\[\033[00m\]:\[\033[01;34m\]\w\[\033[00m\]\$ '

Once you've added this line, anytime you switch to using the root shell you will see the prompt in red with white text for the command line. Chris takes it further, with a line that turns the prompt green for regular users, which you can enable by adding the following to your ~/.bashrc file:

PS1='${debian_chroot:+($debian_chroot)}\[\033[01;32m\]\u@\h\[\033[00m\]:\[\033[01;34m\]\w\[\033[00m\]\

Kraftwerk - Autobahn.

2009-03-17T14:31:00.000-07:00

Quick Drunken Thoughts... as usual... ( on ripping my cd copy )

Its years since I listened to this album and it just took me back 30+ years instantly. That wonderment that machines could make imitate the sound of cars flying past on a road.

Cortinas were still curvey, as were escorts. We had just been to the continent for the first time, it seemed so exotic. My brothers musical tastes merged with my love of gadgets and science fiction.

I must have been about 10 or so. Getting ready for my first computer. Practicing learning how to touch type from the cover of brochure for a Sinclair Spectrum. (It worked ).

Also roughly the time of Xray Specs, Blondie, Donna Summer, Abba ( VV ), Oxygene. The world seemed so visceral and the electronics so alien but exciting. Walkmen were just coming in.

Will pipe more thoughts about this time soon. Loved it. Love the original blue ( vertigo ) sleeve

Of course, kraftwerk The Model? was used for the BBC computer program.

my brother and I would sit in his bed. turn off the lights and pretend we were still driving through Germany after our holiday/adventure there that year. The music seemed to fit perfectly. I think we only saw a few UK people the whole time we were abroad. How it changes.

wow, last track did it all over again. such an influence on me musically. i loved the melancholy hopefulness of the track, wistful. it always meant that i would have to go back to my room and go to bed as by now I'd be in trouble for staying up too late.

iTunes select album of current song

2009-03-17T02:30:00.000-07:00

option click the arrow on the current song album name, opens the whole album.

iPhone 3.0 wishlist

2009-03-17T01:49:00.000-07:00

What would I like to see in 3.0

1. Copy / Paste - like duh!

2. Background threads - ( maybe not apps )

3. Access to itunes library NSTunesPicker ?

4. Better mp3 decoding support.

5. AudioUnit registration

I don't think full back ground apps are required. I think apps could have a

-(void)didReceiveBackground notification

a bit like the one you do for closing. and you could spawn a tiny version or something. But the full app must close. That would be fine. Restricted stuff, no user interface etc

Widgets on your desktop

2009-03-16T12:27:00.000-07:00

In terminal
defaults write com.apple.dashboard devmode YES <---- this makes it possible

killall Dock <--- this restarts dashboard

Then pull up dashboard ( mine is command-F12 )

click and hold widget whilst dismissing dashboard with same key.

Dolphins

2009-03-15T01:33:00.001-07:00

iKea

2009-03-09T01:25:00.001-07:00

Cable Management
http://www.ikea.com/gb/en/catalog/products/50035115

Grasmere Gingerbread

2009-03-08T06:20:00.000-07:00

This is Jamie Olivers version of the Classic Gingerbread biscuit/cookie you get in Grasmere, Cumbria.
I write these down so I dont forget.

400g	shortbread fingers
170g	Demerara Sugar
3tsp	Ginger
40g	Mixed Peel
40g	Stem ginger
Pinch	Baking Powder
70g	Plain Flour
1 tablespoon	Golden Syrup
1 tablespoon	Treacle
70g	Butter

Whizz Shortbread + 2 tsp ginger + sugar in blender til crumbs, then remove 100g of mixture

Mix in Peel, Ginger, 1stp ginger,baking powder, + flour

Melt ( not boil ) butter, syrup and treacle in

Mix in main crumb mix, till you got a just moist cheesecake base style mix.

Press into 8" pan to about .75cm and flatten with potatoe masher etc.

Cook in oven at 170 for 10 mins. will look a bit uncooked, a hot moist mess.

Pour remaining crumbs evenly over the top of the mix and press flat again.

It should look like light crumbly on top with a darker base.

Leave to cool. Cut into pieces about 3cm x 7cm.

I often wondered how to make this recipe, and its pretty close but not quite perfect. I might add a little more treacle and syrup. I believe the butter is the setting agent.If you put too much flour, it turns horrible as it should be like a cheesecake base with a crumbly dry top. Flour binds but makes it more like a dough. So careful not to overwork the mixing in to fat/syrup mix.

Hiding a file

2009-03-04T02:40:00.001-08:00

Joe always leaves a DEADJOE file around.

on os x hide it with

Launch Terminal.
Open the /Developer/Tools folder in the Finder. Locate SetFile and drag its icon to the terminal window. The Directory path for SetFile (/Developer/Tools/SetFile) should appear in the Unix command line prompt.
Type: -a V . Leave a space after the upper case V.
Locate the file that you want to make invisible. Drag its icon to the Terminal window. Its path should now be added to the same command line prompt.
Thus, for our aforementioned MyDoc file on the Desktop, when you are done doing all of the above, the command line should look like this:

/Developer/Tools/SetFile -a V /Users/homedirectoryname/Desktop/MyDoc

Getting Color LS Bash terminal in leopard

2009-03-03T09:20:00.001-08:00

export CLICOLOR=1

put this in /etc/bashrc

In case I forget

2009-02-25T00:52:00.001-08:00

http://swedishcampground.com/safari-4-hidden-preferences

defaults write com.apple.Safari DebugSafari4TabBarIsOnTop -bool NO

$ defaults write com.apple.Safari DebugSafari4IncludeToolbarRedesign -bool NO
$ defaults write com.apple.Safari DebugSafari4LoadProgressStyle -bool NO

Ruby Applescripting Bridge

2009-02-10T13:48:00.000-08:00

Didn't realise you could do this already..
Some fun to be had for sure.
http://www.apple.com/applescript/features/scriptingbridge.html

2009-02-07T00:10:00.000-08:00

Monsta's chilli Salmon, 3 pans

pan 1 - penne - cook in boiling water 10 mins ( el dente )

after 5 mins of pasta cooking

pan 2 - fry garlic, chilli, red pepper. some oregano, add tin of tomato, simmer v lightly
also
pan 3 - microwave salmon til opaque.

stir salmon pieces into pasta pan, sort of a kegeriee, add a drizzle of balsamic
add capers to tomato/peppers sauce ( teaspoon or more )

put pasta in heated bowl, spoon sauce on top, serve with parmesan +/ garlic bread ( if you're allowed )

Sauce

2009-01-21T12:23:00.000-08:00

1/2 oyster
1/2 soy

ginger
sherry
chilli oil

dont put sesame oil in

2009-01-12T10:46:00.000-08:00

more animals

My recipe for gingerbread biscuits. still experimenting

2009-01-08T10:03:00.001-08:00

4 tablespoons treacle
4 tablespoons syrup
4 oz dark brown sugar. ( might use demerara next time )
1 tablespoon ginger preserve / stem ginger chopped ( still experimenting here ) or maybe candied peel
24 oz plain flour

2 teaspoons ground ginger
1 teaspoon cinammon
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp cloves
1/2 tsp salt

1 large egg.

Whisk the egg.
Melt the butter in a pan, add the syrup and the treacle. Dont boil, and cool it so u can add the egg without it cooking,
Pour dry ingredients into a bowl and mix together. ( you might want to hold some flour back in case its too dry )

Add the syrup mixture,and the ginger preserve and stir until you get a dough, ie something that will roll out flat.

roll fist sized balls flat on a floured surface, and cut out shapes

cook in the preheated oven at 190c for 10 mins. if you want them softer, make them a bit thicker or cook for 9 mins.

leave to cool for a few mins and use a flat knife to get them onto a cooling tray. Decorate with icing etc.

If the biscuits are too hard, you could put a piece of bread in a sealed tin with them, and this will soften them over night.

C, C++, Objective C, where will it end ?

2008-12-03T02:34:00.001-08:00

To my absolute amazement I find I'm writing in C & C++ on my iPhone app. Many moons ago when I was a "programmer", the C guys used to laud it over us 3rd Gen people, their superiority for working with the arcane. So HA! I finally caught up.

Generally I find c++ fine, I did do some utility apps on KDE a long time ago, so it's not a big jump to use it again. C is hmm, well like anyone else I get confused with my pointers.

What is interesting, is reading Unix Network Programming and Advanced Unix Programming, it's funny how much of the unix noise you blot out in the terminal without really wondering what it means..

I'm writing pThreads at the moment, for some background processing, I'm finding it more challenging to think outside the Cocoa Framework that has become home. I must buy Programing with Posix Threads when I can afford it, a page turner.

xBox and iPlayer

2008-11-08T05:56:00.000-08:00

I finally bit the bullet and upgraded xbmc on the xbox to the latest version.

The best new feature is the plugin layouts. I've added bbc iPlayer ( from google code ) and ITV catchup.
Such an amazingly useful piece of hardware now, I can watch my torrents, dvd's, play music, a/v streams and even my photos.
Haven't figured out the connection to iTunes yet.

It was a bit confusing, and here's how I needed to do it, just in case I break it again.

Boot up Splinter Cell and select the saved linux game.
Boot into linux
Copy over xbmc into E:/xbmc

reboot

Election

2008-11-08T05:52:00.001-08:00

Well, I stayed up the whole of the night watching the election results in the USA, found it all quite emotional which I wasn't expecting. Can't help but feel that the world has changed, and hopefully for the better.

Major disappointment, the passing of Proposition 8 in California. What a terrible thing to do. Maybe the solution needs to be different but a great slap in the face when the Obama result represents the next page in the Civil Rights movement. How ironic.

Hopefully change is coming.....

MacBookPro Matte Display Petition

2008-10-27T00:05:00.000-07:00

http://www.PetitionOnline.com/38djhak2/petition.html

Probably won't have any effect but give it a go.

Ftp Server / Servlet for cocoa

2008-10-12T03:56:00.000-07:00

Before I got interested in Lighttpd I had been working on an Ftp Server for my projects.

I've decided that lighttpd is to complex for me to incorporate at the moment, so I'm releasing my source code to my server and hope that people might find it useful.

I'd also be very glad if people help make it better.

You can find it at http://code.google.com/p/diddyftpserver/

upload/download works from filezilla and transmit. i havent implemented all of ftp's commands yet

I've opened a google group for discussing the server code you can find it here
http://groups.google.com/group/diddyftpserver

Finding Shared libraries

2008-10-11T10:22:00.001-07:00

Have you ever wished you could work out what program uses which libraries. On os x the tool is otool.

I found the information here and its been a great help Al Hoangs blog

Compiling lighttpd for iphone

2008-10-10T07:16:00.000-07:00

After writing my own ftp server for my app, I decided that webdav was a way better solution as so many have found out. Using the instructions at http://latenitesoft.blogspot.com/2008/10/iphone-programming-tips-building-unix.html

and with the help of Alice at http://gothcandy.com/alice/2007/09/05/81/porting-lighttpd-to-the-iphone/ I think I have it compiling, but after all that, I wonder if its actually useful to me....

doh!

anyway here's the shell script to compile..

you also need to copy in 2 header files from the simulator to let it compile..

these are

/bzlib.h and crt_externs.h

If anyone has some advice how I could incorporate this into an app, do let me know.
cheers

#/bin/bash

export DEVROOT=/Developer/Platforms/iPhoneOS.platform/Developer
export SDKROOT=$DEVROOT/SDKs/iPhoneOS2.1.sdk
export SIMROOT=/Developer/Platforms/iPhoneSimulator.platform

# Save relevant environment
U_CC=$CC
U_CFLAGS=$CFLAGS
U_LD=$LD
U_LDFLAGS=$LDFLAGS
U_CPP=$CPP
U_CPPFLAGS=$CPPFLAGS

export CPPFLAGS="-I$SDKROOT/usr/lib/gcc/arm-apple-darwin9/4.0.1/include/ -I$SDKROOT/usr/include/"
# -I$SIMROOT/Developer/SDKs/iPhoneSimulator2.1.sdk/usr/include/"
export CFLAGS="$CPPFLAGS -arch armv6 -pipe -no-cpp-precomp -isysroot $SDKROOT"
export CPP="/usr/bin/cpp $CPPFLAGS"

# dynamic library location generated by the Unix package
#LIBPATH=src/.libs/.dylib
#LIBNAME=`basename $LIBPATH`
#,-dylib_install_name,@executable_path/$LIBNAME"
export LDFLAGS="-L$SDKROOT/usr/lib/ -Wl,-dylib_install_name,@executable_path/$LIBNAME"

echo $CPPFLAGS
echo $LDFLAGS
read -p "Press a key"

# static library that will be generated
LIBPATH_static=src/.libs/lighttpd.a
LIBNAME_static=`basename $LIBPATH_static`

./configure CC=$DEVROOT/usr/bin/arm-apple-darwin9-gcc-4.0.1 LD=$DEVROOT/usr/bin/ld --host=arm-apple-darwin -without-pcre

# --libdir=$SDKROOT/usr/lib/ --includedir=$SDKROOTk/usr/include/
make

#mkdir -p lnsout
#cp $LIBPATH_static lnsout/$LIBNAME_static.arm
exit

Finder open Terminal Here

2008-09-27T10:29:00.001-07:00

Just found this super useful button for the finder that will open the terminal at the location of the selected finder window

http://jo.irisson.free.fr/?p=59

Stupid VPS

2008-08-19T10:58:00.001-07:00

Stupid VPS keeps going down. I wonder if its modrails doing it.

I need to have another one ready to swap to.

Linux, TV & The XBox

2008-08-19T10:46:00.001-07:00

A little while back I hacked the xbox ( softmodded ) using the well know technique of loading Splinter Cell and downloading a boot loader via a saved game. I had to cut the wire of one of the controllers and wired it to a USB socket, I copied the bootloader onto my old iPod Shuffle and got linux installed on it.

Its worked great. I've been using elgato on a macmini to record films off tv, and have been scripting them to upload to my OSX Tiger Server. The xbox plays them great, streaming without a glitch. I've installed XBMC as the main dashboard and the scripts are pretty neat too.

After this, I decided that the bundle of wires under the TV was a pain, so I cancelled the cable tv, boxed up the DVD-R and all the other paraphernalia and was left with just the xbox and a digital-tv box.

That wasn't enough, so I looked at MythTV for the mac mini, but after struggling to get it working, found out it couldnt access my TV usb stick, so was a bit stumped. Then I decided to try installing linux on the mini. A brief flirtation with Gentoo ( so much compiling ) and I had opensuse up and running and eventually the elgato-diversity ( Hauppage NovaT ) working with Kaffeine, Mplayer and xine. ( ppc is a pain, not many rpms, so compilation hell again ). I did try distcc and creating a cross compiler for the G5 but it wasn't to be. Another day perhaps?

Next stop. I'm trying to get MythTV compiled and working. It's a long road. but I hope to be able to schedule the recording of tv from anywhere I am and stream it too..

Meanwhile I had to start learning about AudioUnits.... and the rest of my life.

iPhone Dev

2008-08-19T10:44:00.000-07:00

As a change from music, and because it fascinates me I've been working on some audio software for the iPhone/iPod Touch. My app is currently in review. I am now working on a full version, that being a stripped down, how the hell do I do this version.

Deprecated Functions

2008-05-22T08:12:00.000-07:00

I think these 2 days can be categorised as trying to make old things run with newer libraries.

My main work website is on hosting rails at the moment, but I have a VPS Im trying to move everything to. Well when I looked at my local copy of the site, it wouldnt work on Locomotive anymore and I had no idea why.

Today I'm trying to compile openAL into an iphone app. My demo app for cocoa uses alutloadwavfile.

Both days, ive spent time trying to figure out

1) where i was in the project when i left it

2) why it wont run

3) what the replacement for the bloody deprecated function is

doh!

Plesk virtual hosts

2008-05-21T07:14:00.001-07:00

Another thing I need to remember for plesk

If you are creating changes to the apache files, do not change the http.includes.

just add a vhost.conf in the conf folder

and do

/usr/local/psa/admin/sbin/websrvmng --reconfigure-vhost --vhost-name=domain.com

I have seen the future

2008-05-20T15:31:00.001-07:00

Got on the tube, saw a man reading a v thin filofax.

2nd glance, it was an ebook

3rd glance, the screen was amazing. it didnt seem to be a screen, it looked like paper

4th glance, it was Sony

I remember the times when this happened for me

1. seeing my first Personl computer. A commodore PET

2. seeing my first mobile phone

it is the future

and the future is now

VPS & Dist CC

2008-05-20T15:29:00.001-07:00

I will fill more info on this soon BUT the short version

my VPS hasnt enough memory to compile mod_rails

so I had to learn distcc which meant learning ssh reverse tunneling which meant installing ubuntu on parallels ( after many attempts )

and the end result

mod_rails crashed my VPS. so im not sure yet, what the result of all that was.

ssh -R username@vps 3632:localhost:3632

and then compile using

CC=distcc ./configure

Plesk. Ubuntu & Rails

2008-05-08T01:36:00.000-07:00

Well its no surprise that Ubuntu and Ruby / Gem dont like each other that much since they both have competing version managers. Its even more confusing when Plesk has something like this too..

My solution, ignore them.. I deinstalled ruby using apt-get remove ruby ...

then compiled from source

./configure --prefix=/usr

which pops it in /usr/bin

I also learnt to put my source into /usr/local/src

It seems to work.....

DNS and Plesk

2008-05-08T01:32:00.000-07:00

Ok ok, so I was missing the glaringly obvious step.

When you register the domain name, the domain name registrar has a box that looks a bit like this :

domain name server ns1. [ your domain here here ] = ip [ your ip here ]

so I simply add in the ip of my server, and select ns1. ns2 etc. Then the domain nows where to find info about this subdomain.

Why was this so confusing.... BECAUSE my frackin domain name registrar does not let you do this and every time I emailed them on what I was trying to do they made some nonsense up, until I finally figured out exactly what it was I wanted. Then they stopped replying to the emails because I had worked it out. UK2 stuff you.

I went to namecheap.com and got a cheap domain name from them and used that instead.

Bu Bye UK2 , I had no idea you were overcharging so badly

DNS Plesk and my domain provider

2008-05-01T01:36:00.000-07:00

There's something I dont understand and am trying to...

I have, as you may know, a vps with plesk installed. I have a myriad of domain names for different projects. Im quite familiar with using the domain name sellers services to point different parts of the DNS at different ip addresses, however they charge for this service. There is the option on my domain name to host the dns elsewhere. On Plesk for each domain, you can turn on DNS hosting, it actually seems to happen automatically. So my understanding is this server is now acting as name server for its own domain, but its not active until the domain reseller updates their records.

Figure 1

Figure 2

So it appears to me that I should simply be able to select the domain server my vps creates in plesk and copy those entries into my domain sellers nameserver change boxes...

Figure 3

Except it doesnt seem to work.. what am I doing wrong ?

Whenever I set it, it doesnt seem to save the change. It just goes back to uk2's

This is what it looks like when i change nameservers....

Figure 4

but if u go back and check after this....

its reverted back to uk2's servers as in Figure 3.

My understanding is the following...

My server starts bind/dns - registers itself as the authoritive nameserver for clubsite.info with the nameservers at .info.

Anyone looking up clubsite.info gets forward to the nameserver at .info which forwards it to my server which returns the ip address.

Plesk Installing Components - fastcgi

2008-04-30T09:52:00.000-07:00

I had some hosting for my wow guild website. I learned to use rails by making a guild portal. It was a bit clunky but it was a nice learning project and it got us going. Recently we switched to the more 'powerful' dkpsystem.com, which is useful but a bit clunky. but its proved v useful.

My virtual server was empty, and I have 4 other sites being hosted on different hosting company servers... bit silly. I've held back from putting stuff on the server, but when my main website went down due to a changed cc number, I decided i should start pushing

them all onto the one as it was pretty good. Sadly last time I used it I remembered that it was a bugger to find out how to add fastcgi tho it was there if you looked hard enough. So I logged in, reset the VPS, nothing like a clean slate eh.

But

I could only add 1 client and 1 domain, which wasnt right. Next i tried reloading the vps to see if I missed anything. No change, 1 client, 1 domain and no option for cgi... many wasted hours ensued and length waits in queues for tech support.

I thought, well maybe I know more this t

ime round. Let me just order a new vps and I'll close the others account. Which I did, but the new server was also missing the same components.

Meanwhile tech support fixed the domain/client issue on the old server. doh....

... but I was unhappy with that one. Who knows what mess I already made of that.

HERE IS THE ANSWER... so that if I ever have to do this again.... i know

Go into Plesk. ( not Virtuozzo) and select System:Server:(Services):Updater.

If your lucky you should see an update package.

Click on this.

Inside you should find a list of things to update AND install if they aren't already.

THERES THE SOLUTION.

How helpful am I !?

Now. Im adding some nice tags so people can find it ( including myself )

mod_fcgid psa_mod_fcgid-configurator

and some pics ( ooh blogger is way better )

iphone innoyance

2008-03-19T09:16:00.001-07:00

Well, I think like a lot of people, the initial burst of excitement ran into some hidden limits to the sdk.

I think an issue for many people is going to be the sandboxing, its not that I want to access every last file throughout the device.

Do we all have to write sync solutions to get our own data back and forth? Thats a bit annoying, apple must have a better way we could do this.

I dont mind the background app thingy, tho I think there is a case for a background stack that calls every n minutes to service low level info. But I think we all know why its not allowed... but hey, some of us keep our devices plugged in all the time. Couldnt u give us the option of when powered allowing apps to tap into a background cycle stack. hmm. Its not holding me up personally tho.
I guess apple will do their own ichat thingy or aim thingy, that will solve that issue for many.

Perhaps a mechanism to deliver info in via the email could solve some problems for people. or is that a security hole waiting to happen.

Has anyone been accepted as an official beta developer, noone seems to know.

oh well. lots of reading to do.

seems funny being encouraged to use the UIViewController to contain the view as well as the controller code. Roll on the interface builder update asap.

iphone SDK

2008-03-08T08:34:00.003-08:00

Well, I can barely contain my excitement, and wrote the obligatory hello world/rich app.

But have you tried registering as a full developer, im still waiting to put it on the real device. I wonder if its not quite finished, that part. surely not.

anyway. my biggest hurdle is nothing to do with iphone dev, its looking for the correct framework and technique for my app. no im not saying what.

having a ball. wish id been able to start with the jailbroken one earlier but at least its not our properly til June. im glad i'm busy, but i wish i had more time.

Ecto or Mars Edit

2008-02-01T01:57:00.001-08:00

I haven't posted anything for a little while because my trial on marsedit ran out.

I had found it was a really useful little app except for one thing. When you go to edit a post, its all just plain old html all over again. This seems so retro. I don't get it. Was I doing something wrong ?? Is there a setting?

Anyway by chance I found this Ecto app and although its not as pretty as Mars Edit, it does seem to be more like a notepad/text editor than a html editor, so I'm giving this a whirl.

Maybe this is the one and maybe it will get me updating my blog again.

If so, I'll pay the fee

10 Things I hate about Leopard

2007-10-29T00:38:00.000-07:00

1. Dark grey everywhere. It's such a dull looking experience

2. Small icons in the finder sidebar, now i have to hunt and peck with the mouse

3. Everything looks like iTunes.

4. The icons, now I have to hunt and peck for the movies, documents, you know it, you're doing it too

5. The transparent menu's, just horrible. I have a slight sight disability, and its messing with my head

6. The transparent menu bar at the top, now i have to put white on all my backgrounds

7. Capital letters in the sidebars. so 'Germanic'

8. Stacks, simply awful. and hard to find what you are looking for. I liked the old menu's

9. The sheets shadows, they seem to look completely wrong.

10. The dock of course. more confusing again for anyone with sight impairments

News news news - old news

2007-10-03T10:45:00.001-07:00

Is it me, or is the BBC news site turning into some sort of posh version of Heat magazine

All the important stuff seems to be spun or written about so badly it seems like a soap

I think I'm becoming such a cynic these days

Drawer UI - HID guidelines & Single Window Paradigms

2007-10-03T10:44:00.003-07:00

So, I put a drawer into the app, its only relevant to two of the tabs on the main window. So does that mean its a bad design. I read some stuff that said that the drawer should be used as a parent interface, not something that shows data for a particular item, and this sort of makes sense, except that if you do this and the drawer is hidden, then it wouldnt be clear how to set the main context.

To me, I actually dont normally like the drawers, but I cant quite see where to put this information without a redesign and even then it still isnt something I'd like to put on the main form. hmmm

I'm told that the new ical dispenses with the drawer metaphor, and this makes sense. iCal is annoying in that, to me, the info in the drawer seems pretty important and not something that should be an afterthought.

So here it is, a drawer that shows stats on the item selected in the main window. It hides itself if you select the first info tab and (re)-reveals itself for the other tabs.

Actually I only put it in because I was interested for a moment on how you made them, but now it seems useful.

Stuck underground

2007-10-03T10:44:00.001-07:00

So, I'm late home, I've drunk too much. ( long story, but I had to cancel my dental appointment because of this ). and someone pulls the ( virtual ) security cable in the train.

An announcement to explain. oh and 'open all the vents', its gonna get hot.

Oddly, everyone relaxes, drops the attitude and suddenly the tube is a nice place to be.

WEIRD!

OS X Terminal Keybindings

2007-09-26T01:53:00.001-07:00

Here's my .inputrc in case I lose it again. Its from my linux setup and has way too much in it but te useful lines I need to isolate make Shift/Fn Uparrow do command completion from the history.

################################################################################
## /etc/inputrc
##
## Attempt to put different TERMs together in one readline init file.
## Copyright (c) 1997,2000,2002 SuSE Linux AG, Nuernberg, Germany.
##
## Author: Werner Fink,
##
################################################################################
#
# Eight bit compatible: Umlaute
#
set meta-flag on
set output-meta on
set convert-meta off
set term xy
#
# VI line editing
#
$if mode=vi
set editing-mode vi
set keymap vi
$endif
#
# Common standard keypad and cursor
#
"\e[1~": beginning-of-line
"\e[2~": yank
"\e[3~": delete-char
"\e[4~": end-of-line
"\e[5~": history-search-backward
"\e[6~": history-search-forward
$if term=xterm
"\e[2;2~": yank
"\e[3;2~": delete-char
"\e[5;2~": history-search-backward
"\e[6;2~": history-search-forward
"\e[2;5~": yank
"\e[3;5~": delete-char
"\e[5;5~": history-search-backward
"\e[6;5~": history-search-forward
$endif
"\e[C": forward-char
"\e[D": backward-char
"\e[A": previous-history
"\e[B": next-history
$if term=xterm
"\e[E": re-read-init-file
"\e[2C": forward-word
"\e[2D": backward-word
"\e[2A": history-search-backward
"\e[2B": history-search-forward
"\e[5C": forward-word
"\e[5D": backward-word
"\e[5A": history-search-backward
"\e[5B": history-search-forward
$else
"\e[G": re-read-init-file
$endif
#
# Avoid network problems
# ... \177 (ASCII-DEL) and \010 (ASCII-BS)
# do `backward-delete-char'
# Note: `delete-char' is maped to \033[3~
# Therefore xterm's responce on pressing
# key Delete or KP-Delete should be
# \033[3~ ... NOT \177
#
"\C-?": backward-delete-char
"\C-H": backward-delete-char
#
# Home and End
#
$if term=xterm
#
# Normal keypad and cursor of xterm
#
"\e[1~": history-search-backward
"\e[4~": set-mark
"\e[H": beginning-of-line
"\e[F": end-of-line
"\e[2H": beginning-of-line
"\e[2F": end-of-line
"\e[5H": beginning-of-line
"\e[5F": end-of-line
# Home and End of application keypad and cursor of xterm
"\eOH": beginning-of-line
"\eOF": end-of-line
"\eO2H": beginning-of-line
"\eO2F": end-of-line
"\eO5H": beginning-of-line
"\eO5F": end-of-line
$else
$if term=kvt
"\e[1~": history-search-backward
"\e[4~": set-mark
"\eOH": beginning-of-line
"\eOF": end-of-line
$endif
#
# TERM=linux or console or gnome
#
"\e[1~": beginning-of-line
"\e[4~": end-of-line
$endif
#
# Application keypad and cursor of xterm
#
$if term=xterm
"\eOD": backward-char
"\eOC": forward-char
"\eOA": previous-history
"\eOB": next-history
"\eOE": re-read-init-file
"\eO2D": backward-word
"\eO2C": forward-word
"\eO2A": history-search-backward
"\eO2B": history-search-forward
"\eO5D": backward-word
"\eO5C": forward-word
"\eO5A": history-search-backward
"\eO5B": history-search-forward
# DEC keyboard KP_F1 - KP_F4 or
# XTerm of XFree86 in VT220 mode F1 - F4
"\eOP": prefix-meta
"\eOQ": undo
"\eOR": ""
"\eOS": kill-line
$endif
$if term=gnome
# or gnome terminal F1 - F4
"\eOP": prefix-meta
"\eOQ": undo
"\eOR": ""
"\eOS": kill-line
$endif
#
# Function keys F1 - F12
#
$if term=linux
#
# On console the first five function keys
#
"\e[[A": prefix-meta
"\e[[B": undo
"\e[[C": ""
"\e[[D": kill-line
"\e[[E": ""
$else
#
# The first five standard function keys
#
"\e[11~": prefix-meta
"\e[12~": undo
"\e[13~": ""
"\e[14~": kill-line
"\e[15~": ""
$endif
"\e[17~": ""
"\e[18~": ""
"\e[19~": ""
"\e[20~": ""
"\e[21~": ""
# Note: F11, F12 are identical with Shift_F1 and Shift_F2
"\e[23~": ""
"\e[24~": ""
#
# Shift Function keys F1 - F12
# identical with F11 - F22
#
#"\e[23~": ""
#"\e[24~": ""
"\e[25~": ""
"\e[26~": ""
# DEC keyboard: F15=\e[28~ is Help
"\e[28~": ""
# DEC keyboard: F16=\e[29~ is Menu
"\e[29~": ""
"\e[31~": ""
"\e[32~": ""
"\e[33~": ""
"\e[34~": ""
$if term=xterm
# Not common
"\e[35~": ""
"\e[36~": ""
$endif
#
$if term=xterm
#
# Application keypad and cursor of xterm
# with NumLock ON
#
# Operators
"\eOo": "/"
"\eOj": "*"
"\eOm": "-"
"\eOk": "+"
"\eOl": ","
"\eOM": accept-line
"\eOn": "."
# Numbers
"\eOp": "0"
"\eOq": "1"
"\eOr": "2"
"\eOs": "3"
"\eOt": "4"
"\eOu": "5"
"\eOv": "6"
"\eOw": "7"
"\eOx": "8"
"\eOy": "9"
$endif
#
# EMACS line editing
#
$if mode=emacs
#
# ... xterm application cursor
#
$if term=xterm
"\e\eOD": backward-word
"\e\eOC": forward-word
"\e\eOA": up-history
"\e\eOB": down-history
"\C-\eOD": backward-char
"\C-\eOC": forward-char
"\C-\eOA": up-history
"\C-\eOB": down-history
$endif
#
# Standard cursor
#
"\e\e[D": backward-word
"\e\e[C": forward-word
"\e\e[A": up-history
"\e\e[B": down-history
"\C-\e[D": backward-char
"\C-\e[C": forward-char
"\C-\e[A": up-history
"\C-\e[B": down-history
$endif
#
# end
#

Poser 7, Carrara 6 Pro, and many many silly purchases.

2007-09-26T01:37:00.001-07:00

So I've been doing some artwork and for whatever reason felt that the upgrade of Carrara was a good idea and then Poser 7 seemed a good idea too.

Then I realised I hadnt got time to learn this stuff properly. so I bought some content from http://contentparadise.com and http://daz3d.com.
Well, I still had to spend time figuring it all out. And then once I created some stuff with it, I realised it wasnt what I wanted to do at all. dang!!
So I need to rethink my concept. I wish I knew more about these programs, I hate not knowing how to do stuff.

Mind you its handy having multiple undo in Poser. But sheesh, that interface needs sorting out.

xml bindings

2007-09-26T01:33:00.001-07:00

So it occurs to me that after looking at some of the cocoa xml examples, I can bind the pulldown options for the search filters, directly into my xml document request.

I'm not totally clear how to do this but it looks like more interesting fun.

Background tasks

2007-09-26T01:32:00.001-07:00

I did my first threads. Suddenly no more bouncng beach ball. Is this one of the cool features of cocoa, because I'm sure threads shouldnt have been that easy.

Praps I did something wrong.

irc macchat and guru's

2007-09-16T13:03:00.001-07:00

Having started spending some time learning cocoa, you find yourself drawn to the a cocoa dev channel on freenode. Suddenly your back 20 years in time..

Of course you read the faq, you know you should ask a clear question and that you should include any relevant information. You know that you should google your error.
so your error is ... a generic error

You've seen this type of error before, on lots of different things. ( well you think you have and you have been reading google solid for the last 2 weeks on stuff, surely someone could just answer yes or no to the question )

So you ask..

Bad move

Read the Faq !!!!!!!

You read it, hmm nothing about this there ( you have read it before )

You post the error message which you didnt want to post before as it was a really simple "can I do this question". you didnt want to know anything more

Your question is useless

You reply in the negative, had you asked a similar question elsewhere, you know there are compatibility reasons why this might not work. Should you waste 15 minutes trawling google for the correct phrase or just ask?

Flaming continues. Google is quoted. Ah yes so there is the answer.

But all I wanted was yes or no. not a diatribe.

At times like this I wonder what the point of these channels is.
Is it

Here's a bunch of people who know stuff and dont mind people learning and sadly yes they will make goofy questions now and then.

Only ask a question if you have spent all your energy exhausting every other possibility

Me and my friends have a really great time and please dont ask us a question unless you know the answer already.

I'm not an irc noob. I'm not a cocoa genius. Do I need to find another channel, #cocoahelp or something because what is the point of a channel called #macdev. Is there somewhere else I should ask questions because I dont know.

and yes I should have googled. but spending 10 lines to flame someone well.. its a good job we have the manuals. and yes I have rtfm but there are quite a lot and I've been wading through them.

NB. I've been on irc years. I've been flamed, I've flamed, but I just think some people enjoy feeling superior more than being superior. I remember some channels where people just bullied others and the sad thing was other people had great stuff to say and when they weren't there it was fascinating.

This isnt a moan, its just a ... omg this is still normal!?

funnily someone didnt mind explaining what their nick meant for the 3rd time that day. perhaps it should also be in the faq

Actually the final result was very helpful, but I wonder who else might ask a 'stupid' question another time that might help me, but wouldn't. I've also had some real help in there too.

Addendum
Interestingly someone went on to ask a question that I really wanted to know the answer to, however no response. Was this because they asked if they asked the question against the FAQ rules. Noone answered, but it was really good question. I still want to know the answer.

I Trawl the Megahz

2007-09-15T14:37:00.001-07:00

Having had a break for a long time, I pulled out my favourite album Steve McQueen, then I cant remember how but I ended up looking up to see what the Sprouts were doing. I think maybe itunes store opened by itself and I was curious to know what the new mastered version of the album was like.
I was saddened to read that Paddy McAloon had suffered a serious sight illness which resonated with myself and off I went on a google journey.

It seems I had missed about 3 albums, Andromeda Heights, plus a newer one and then the Paddy solo album.

I've bought the new version of Steve McQueen but I'm not interested in the remastered main side. The acoustic versions are great though.

Andromeda Heights, hmmm, this just seems whimsy but I might grow to like it. but I think this is what made me grow cold on the band.. not enough of the early northern edge.

I trawl the Megahz, I didnt really get this too well either but I think after a few long listens it might be a grower.

Steve McQueen remains one of my most loved albums of all time, it seems to be timeless.

I'm quite pleased to listen to Protest songs again, but its more of an addendum that it always felt like.

So one more album to try. I'm not holding out massive hope but who knows

Retain Release Revolt - Bring Me Leopard Objective c2.0

2007-09-15T00:56:00.001-07:00

So I ripped out the Ruby and got my new project running and have been writing the methods that were done in Rubycocoa

The only trouble is.... You do an ebay search and it produces the right results. Try again and it produces nothing. Open a web address, it works. Try again it crashes.

I now have to wrap my head around memory management properly. I understand what I'm supposed to be doing but I need to go into my code and start working out where to retain/release/autorelease. Having come back from Ruby, I find myself longing for Objective C2.0.

The bit that I need to take on board is where objects are retained automatically by adding to collections and when to release the collections and create a fresh object.

It's not rocket science, but I'd prefer not to have to do that kind of thing.

Garbage Collection I <3 you.

I went to an Apple Leopard Dev event last Winter and the stuff on Objc2.0 was cool, I can't believe I'm under NDA. actually I'm not because they forgot to ask anyone to sign it, but everything I know is already on Apple's website anyway.

October can't come soon enough.

Things I'd like to see in Leopard for dev's
Easier syntax for arrays and dictionaries.
Yes its not that bad now, but Ruby is so much clearer ( like most languages )
howabout
NSArray* myarray = @( obj1, obj2, obj3 )
or
NSDictionary *mydict = @{ obj1, @"obj1", obj2, @"obj2 }

That would be nice and fast

CoreData connecting easily to mysql

Set/Get creation syntax.

Set/Get that works with keypaths. Then I wouldnt need to type

[ myobject valueForKeyPath:@"path.path" ], instead I could use [ myobject.path.path ]

Stuff that we know is coming from Apple's website

Easier array iterators. Thats welcome. I love Rubys Array.each{| element | code }

Garbage Collection - yay

Easier accessors - yourobject.value really those []'s get a bit of a mouthful sometimes

Better error hiliting in xcode, yay. I love textmate, wish xcode was a bit more like that.

Core animation I want to do a spinner, praps this will be the best way

Update, how easy was a spinner, duh!

import xml into NSDictionary

2007-09-13T02:57:00.001-07:00

I've spent the last few days fiddling on an NSXMLNode category that creates a method called

xmlToDictionary

+(NSDictionary) xmlToDictionary:node

You just give it an xml node and it returns a dictionary that you can query like this...

xmlDictionary = [ XMLNode xmlToDictionary:rootNode ];

value = [ xmlDictionary valueForKeyPath:@"SearchResultArray.SearchResultItem" ]

I thought when the documentation said that NSXMLNode was kvc compliant that it would do this, but it didnt mean that it meant stuff like [ rootNode valueForKey:@"children" ] which is obvious really.

I also thought there must be a way to do the above, and there still might be, but I didnt find it.

I looked at using XPath and that is a solution. I also looked at applying an XSLT sheet against the XMLDoc and using that to convert to plist format and then reading that into NSDictionary. But I dont know XSLT and thought this was an interesting method to write.

I also wrote another category method nodeForPath:(NSString*)path that does a similar job but simply parses a path like "SearchResultItemArray.SearchResultItem" and produces the value on the fly. Actually its probably better to do it like that.

I'm experimenting with native NSXMLNode methods and my own ones to see which is easier and clearer to read.

Reuse/import coredata model

2007-09-13T02:47:00.001-07:00

So I've finished learning how to interrogate ebay using cocoa/objc and can now read the data without having to resort to ruby

So now I have my tools on how to get the data and can stop using Ruby for that side, which I wasnt too bothered about except the current rubycocoa version can't use webkit as I have installed Safari 3 and its not compatible. This is why I've been changing to writing a pure cocoa app, that and wanting to know how things work..

So now I have my cocoa ebayapi, and my original rubycocoa app, and I was trying to figure out how to take the original main menu.nib and also the original xcode coredata model, and add them to a new project. I couldnt seem to find any direct info on that, although I do get the documentation, I just wasnt sure what steps I needed.

This is what I came up with

1. Create new coredata project

2. Copy mainmenu.nib over the new projects mainmenu.nib

3. Add File to Project and select the previous projects xcode datamodel (xcdatamodel )

4. For testing, copy the xml data file from ~/Library/ApplicationSupport/oldproject/oldproject.xml to samepath/newproject/oldproject.xml

5. alter project_Appdelegate.m to use the new(old) xml filename, not the default one for the new project name

6. Go into the mainmenu.nib in interface builder and pull in the header file from xcode for the appdelegate, and delete the old app delegate.

7. reconnect files owner to new app delegate

8. change the arraycontrollers to use the new managed object context from teh app delegatge ( in their bindings )

That seems to work at the moment

I wonder if theres anything I'm missing.

And now I remember how much recursion makes my head spin.

ebay xml ruby cocoa

2007-09-04T00:05:00.001-07:00

So I've been trying to figure out how to take out the ruby xml stuff I've been using for ebay and change it to pure Cocoa/ObjC.
Whats nice about the api I was using is the syntax...
search_response.search_items.item.price etc

I'm trying to duplicate this in cocoa

I think the easiest way may simply be to load the xml into a nested NSDictionary
Then I can use..

search_items = [ search_response valueForKeyPath:@"search_items"]

But I also wondered about looking at soap and wdsl. Its a shame I dont have the leopard dev kit, there might be stuff in there that would be nicer.

Im pretty new to xml, and erm cocoa so its all err new..