Archive for the 'OS X' Category

iPodDisk!

Published
by
blanco
on 1/7/2006
in Apple, Music, OS X and iPod
. 0 Comments

iPodDisk Somehow I missed iPodDisk. This unbelievably useful app was released back in November and will most likely replace Senuti in my iPod toolbox. iPodDisk mounts your iPod right on your Desktop as a read-only shared volume not unlike an iDisk. This volume contains two folders “Artists” and “Playlists” which correspond to the Artists and Playlists on your iPod. Now you’re free to do whatever you want with the mp3/mp4 files inside those folders (except remove them, it’s read-only remember?). This would be tremendously helpful if you lost your iTunes library and the only back of your music was on your iPod.

iPodDisk Mounted

I now keep dmg installers of both Senuti and iPodDisk on my iPod [which is set to ‘Enable disk use’ in iTunes Prefs] for those occasions when I need to get at the actual mp3 files on my ‘Pod.

My Approach to Apache Virtual Hosts in OS X

Published
by
blanco
on 5/27/2005
in General, OS X and Web Development
. 2 Comments

The development workflow
If I was developing a site locally on my Mac for a site called http://www.cooldomain.com/ I’d develop it under the domain dev.cooldomain.com that I’m hosting locally on my OS X powered Mac. This way I know, whenever I type dev. before the domain name it’s the local copy and when I have www. before the domain name it’s the live site.

Setting up vhosts
First I create a folder in my home directory called webserver this is where I keep all of my locally hosted sites. For a site called www.cooldomain.com I create a folder within the webserver folder called cooldomain. I then create 2 folders inside that folder first logs (for log files) and then public_html. Your site will be served from the public_html folder.

Continue reading ‘My Approach to Apache Virtual Hosts in OS X’

Temporary computing enviornment

Published
by
blanco
on 5/24/2005
in General, OS X, Unix and Web Development
. 0 Comments

So I’m using an ‘extra’ powerbook while the iBook gets a new logic board this week. What’s a web developer to do with a new (temporary use) machine? Get Apache, PHP & MySQL running of course. Rather than muck around with the OS and .conf files I figured I’d try out some of the complete web server packages that have come out in the last nine months. First up was MAMP, I liked the idea, a simple drag-and-drop install, no mucking around in /usr, /var/ or /etc and the option of using PHP4 or PHP5 was a bonus. Changing the MySQL password turned out to be easy, but killed the web based admin tools built into it. No prob, I can work around that. But then, the showstopper, no mod rewrite! So I went and downloaded another package, WebServerX Kit this is a complete Apache2/PHP5/MySQL/phpMyadmin install. It places its files in /usr/local and comes with a pref pane to start and stop the servers. Wouldn’t ya know it, same deal no mod rewrite. So what did I end up doing? I grabbed the MySQL package from Server Logistics (which btw comes with a nice pref pane) and used Apple’s built-in Apache/php (you need to edit the httpd.conf file to get php working) which comes with mod rewrite pre-installed and all is well again in web dev land. Yes, I will soon post details of how I set up virtual hosting on OS X.

Some thoughts on the Mac mini

Published
by
blanco
on 1/13/2005
in Apple and OS X
. 0 Comments

Ok, the Mac mini is cool, very cool. So I thought about plunking down some cash on one right away (like right after the Keynote right away). Then I thought, better wait, the 1st version of anything tends to be a bit buggy. So my G4/400 will have to wait a bit before it’s replaced by another machine as my desktop Mac.

Just for kicks, I went to the Apple Store and I figured see how much it’d cost me. Of course, I’m in for the 1.42GHz/80GB model at $599 base. I might as well add a SuperDrive (+$100), I definitely want both the AirPort Extreme and Bluetooth options (+$129), and I’m not sure how many RAM slots this puppy has so I should just max-it-out (1GB) at the factory (+$425). That brings my total to … $1,253.00, Yikes!

Ok, the minis are still cool. but once you start building them up, the price easily runs away, shooting past the $600 “just in sight” range to over the $1k “I might need to think about that one a bit” mark with a few add-ons. I’m going to wait a while and see, perhaps I’ll end up getting a G5 after all.

Non-specific October 29th update

Published
by
blanco
on 10/29/2003
in Apple, General and OS X
. 0 Comments
  • My town, Atlantic Beach was covered for the second time in six months in the New York Times Real Estate section this past Sunday: Village That Doubles as Resort [nytimes.com registration required].
  • Tomorrow I’ll be at the Apple Seminar Series Driven by Design in NYC seeing the latest offerings from Adobe, Quark, Extensis and HP.
  • I gave in an ordered an iSight, Amazon’s got ‘em for 139 and they qualify for free shipping. Rationalization for the purchase: “Wel I’ll need to be familiar with the technology in case a client has one.” (I use that excuse way too often.)
  • Ken Bereskin, Apple’s Product Manager for Mac OS X has moved and resumed his OS X weblog, now covering panther: Ken Bereskin’s “Panther” Weblog
  • Worth reading: Do we all need a personal system administrator? [via diveintomark.com] if only to find out just how vulnerable Windows systems are when left to themselves
  • Note to self: get the details on All Consuming, it looks interesting.

A few more Panther morsels

Published
by
blanco
on 10/26/2003
in Apple and OS X
. 0 Comments

Panther goodies [via diveintomark] from codepoetry:

OS upgrade warnings

Published
by
blanco
on 10/25/2003
in OS X
. 0 Comments

Be sure to de-authorize any rights managed software (Macromedia Studio MX2004 and iTunes come to mind right away) before updating your OS (Panther or otherwise).

Macromedia Studio MX2004 has a bit of a quirk with archive and install upgrades. The following two links should help:

[post_title] => iPodDisk! [post_category] => 0 [post_excerpt] => [post_lat] => [post_lon] => [post_status] => publish [comment_status] => open [ping_status] => open [post_password] => [post_name] => ipoddisk [to_ping] => [pinged] => [post_modified] => 2006-01-08 13:30:13 [post_modified_gmt] => 2006-01-08 18:30:13 [post_content_filtered] => [post_parent] => 0 [guid] => http://jumpserve.com/blanco/archives/2006/01/07/ipoddisk/ [menu_order] => 0 [post_type] => post [post_mime_type] => [comment_count] => 0 [ancestors] => Array ( ) ) [comments] => [comment_count] => 0 [current_comment] => -1 [comment] => [found_posts] => 160 [max_num_pages] => 23 [max_num_comment_pages] => 0 [is_single] => [is_preview] => [is_page] => [is_archive] => 1 [is_date] => [is_year] => [is_month] => [is_day] => [is_time] => [is_author] => [is_category] => 1 [is_tag] => [is_tax] => [is_search] => [is_feed] => [is_comment_feed] => [is_trackback] => [is_home] => [is_404] => [is_comments_popup] => [is_admin] => [is_attachment] => [is_singular] => [is_robots] => [is_posts_page] => [is_paged] => [query] => Array ( [category_name] => os-x ) [posts] => Array ( [0] => stdClass Object ( [ID] => 624 [post_author] => 2 [post_date] => 2006-01-07 20:21:05 [post_date_gmt] => 2006-01-08 01:21:05 [post_content] => iPodDisk Somehow I missed [iPodDisk](http://ipoddisk.ourbiti.com/index.php/about/). This unbelievably useful app was released back in November and will most likely replace [Senuti](http://wbyoung.ambitiouslemon.com/senuti/) in my iPod toolbox. iPodDisk mounts your iPod right on your Desktop as a read-only shared volume not unlike an [iDisk](http://www.apple.com/dotmac/idisk.html). This volume contains two folders "Artists" and "Playlists" which correspond to the Artists and Playlists on your iPod. Now you're free to do whatever you want with the mp3/mp4 files inside those folders (except remove them, it's read-only remember?). This would be tremendously helpful if you lost your iTunes library and the only back of your music was on your iPod. ![iPodDisk Mounted](/blanco/wp-content/iPodDisk_volume.png "iPodDisk mounts your iPod as a Network Volume") I now keep dmg installers of both Senuti and iPodDisk on my iPod [which is set to 'Enable disk use' in iTunes Prefs] for those occasions when I need to get at the actual mp3 files on my 'Pod. [post_title] => iPodDisk! [post_category] => 0 [post_excerpt] => [post_lat] => [post_lon] => [post_status] => publish [comment_status] => open [ping_status] => open [post_password] => [post_name] => ipoddisk [to_ping] => [pinged] => [post_modified] => 2006-01-08 13:30:13 [post_modified_gmt] => 2006-01-08 18:30:13 [post_content_filtered] => [post_parent] => 0 [guid] => http://jumpserve.com/blanco/archives/2006/01/07/ipoddisk/ [menu_order] => 0 [post_type] => post [post_mime_type] => [comment_count] => 0 [ancestors] => Array ( ) ) [1] => stdClass Object ( [ID] => 620 [post_author] => 2 [post_date] => 2005-05-27 20:43:57 [post_date_gmt] => 2005-05-28 01:43:57 [post_content] => **The development workflow** If I was developing a site locally on my Mac for a site called http://www.cooldomain.com/ I'd develop it under the domain dev.cooldomain.com that I'm hosting locally on my OS X powered Mac. This way I know, whenever I type dev. before the domain name it's the local copy and when I have www. before the domain name it's the live site. **Setting up vhosts** First I create a folder in my home directory called _webserver_ this is where I keep all of my locally hosted sites. For a site called www.cooldomain.com I create a folder within the _webserver_ folder called _cooldomain_. I then create 2 folders inside that folder first _logs_ (for log files) and then _public\_html_. Your site will be served from the _public\_html_ folder. ![how the webserver fodler structure looks](http://jumpserve.com/blanco/images/webserver-vhosts-osx.jpg "Webserver folder structure") For the sake of consistency I'm going to pick a single OSX GUI text editor for this tutorial. [TextWrangler](http://barebones.com/products/textwrangler/) is free, installs a handy command line tool (edit) and it works well so we'll go with it. (Feel free to use emacs, vi, pico, TextMate, SubEthaEdit or any editor that supports plain text editing.) First we'll refresh the list of binaries (since we may have just installed the TextWrangler Command Line Tool). Fire up the terminal and type: rehash Next, we'll change to the hosts file (/etc) directory and make a backup copy of the hosts file cd /etc/ sudo cp hosts hosts.backup Now, we'll edit the file as a root user in TextWrangler sudo edit hosts Once the hosts file is open in TextWrangler, scroll down to the end and add two lines # lookupd -flushcache 127.0.0.1 dev.cooldomain.com The first line is merely a coment that will remind us to flush the lookupd cache whenever we edit the hosts file. The second line tells the machine to send all requests for dev.cooldomain.com to this machine and not out to the 'net. Save the file after you've added these lines and switch back to the terminal and type: lookupd -flushcache Now, we're gonna edit the httpd.conf file. First change to the httpd.conf directory and make a backup copy of the httpd.conf file cd /etc/httpd/ sudo cp httpd.conf httpd.conf.backup Now, we'll edit the file as a root user in TextWrangler sudo edit httpd.conf Once the file is open in TextWrangler, do a find (cmd-f) for NameVirtualHost and be sure the following line is not commented out (with a `#` in front of it) if it is remove the `#`: NameVirtualHost *:80 Next set up your vhost configuration at the bottom of the document. You can copy and paste the following code remembering to change `yourusername` with your actual username and `cooldomain` with the name of the folder you created in the webserver folder earlier. ServerAdmin youradminaddress@email.com ServerName dev.cooldomain.com DocumentRoot /Users/yourusername/webserver/cooldomain/public_html ErrorLog /Users/yourusername/webserver/cooldomain/logs/dev.cooldomain.com-error_log.log CustomLog /Users/yourusername/webserver/cooldomain/logs/dev.cooldomain.com-access_log.log common Options Indexes ExecCGI FollowSymLinks MultiViews AddHandler cgi-script .cgi AllowOverride all Order allow,deny Allow from all Once you're done modifying the httpd.conf file, save it return to the terminal to check your changes. running apachectl configtest will tell you if there are any errors in your httpd.conf file. If you've got errors, go back to the httpd.conf file and check everything you changed or added. If you get Syntax OK You're ready to restart apache. Restarting apache can be done from the command line via `sudo apachectl restart` or `sudo apachectl graceful` or via the sharing preferences pane (clicking stop and then start will effectively restart apache). That's it. Just put your site inside the _public\_html_ you created earlier, fire up a web browser and type in the domain name (dev.cooldomain.com in this example). Apache should serve it up with no hassles at all. This is just one approach to vhosting under OS X that happens to work for me. Here are references to two others: [Enabling Virtual Hosts on MacOS X (evolt.org)](http://www.evolt.org/MacOSX_vhosts/) [Virtual Hosting on Mac OS X (patrickgibson.com)](http://www.patrickgibson.com/news/andsuch/000091.php) [post_title] => My Approach to Apache Virtual Hosts in OS X [post_category] => 0 [post_excerpt] => [post_lat] => [post_lon] => [post_status] => publish [comment_status] => open [ping_status] => open [post_password] => [post_name] => apache-vhosts-osx [to_ping] => [pinged] => [post_modified] => 2005-12-29 00:59:55 [post_modified_gmt] => 2005-12-29 05:59:55 [post_content_filtered] => [post_parent] => 0 [guid] => http://jumpserve.com/blanco/?p=620 [menu_order] => 0 [post_type] => post [post_mime_type] => [comment_count] => 3 [ancestors] => Array ( ) ) [2] => stdClass Object ( [ID] => 619 [post_author] => 2 [post_date] => 2005-05-24 23:34:06 [post_date_gmt] => 2005-05-25 04:34:06 [post_content] => So I'm using an 'extra' powerbook while the iBook gets a new logic board this week. What's a web developer to do with a new (temporary use) machine? Get Apache, PHP & MySQL running of course. Rather than muck around with the OS and .conf files I figured I'd try out some of the complete web server packages that have come out in the last nine months. First up was [MAMP](http://www.mamp.info/), I liked the idea, a simple drag-and-drop install, no mucking around in /usr, /var/ or /etc and the option of using PHP4 or PHP5 was a bonus. Changing the MySQL password turned out to be easy, but killed the web based admin tools built into it. No prob, I can work around that. But then, the showstopper, no mod rewrite! So I went and downloaded another package, [WebServerX Kit](http://wserverxkit.sourceforge.net/) this is a complete Apache2/PHP5/MySQL/phpMyadmin install. It places its files in /usr/local and comes with a pref pane to start and stop the servers. Wouldn't ya know it, same deal no mod rewrite. So what did I end up doing? I grabbed the [MySQL package from Server Logistics](http://serverlogistics.com/mysql.php) (which btw comes with a nice pref pane) and used Apple's built-in Apache/php (you need to edit the httpd.conf file to get php working) which comes with mod rewrite pre-installed and all is well again in web dev land. Yes, I will soon post details of how I set up virtual hosting on OS X. [post_title] => Temporary computing enviornment [post_category] => 0 [post_excerpt] => [post_lat] => [post_lon] => [post_status] => publish [comment_status] => open [ping_status] => open [post_password] => [post_name] => temporary-computing-enviornment [to_ping] => [pinged] => [post_modified] => 2005-05-24 23:34:16 [post_modified_gmt] => 2005-05-25 04:34:16 [post_content_filtered] => [post_parent] => 0 [guid] => http://jumpserve.com/blanco/?p=619 [menu_order] => 0 [post_type] => post [post_mime_type] => [comment_count] => 0 [ancestors] => Array ( ) ) [3] => stdClass Object ( [ID] => 611 [post_author] => 2 [post_date] => 2005-01-13 22:27:03 [post_date_gmt] => 2005-01-14 03:27:03 [post_content] => Ok, the [Mac mini][1] is cool, very cool. So I thought about plunking down some cash on one right away (like right after the Keynote right away). Then I thought, better wait, the 1st version of anything tends to be a bit buggy. So my G4/400 will have to wait a bit before it's replaced by another machine as my desktop Mac. Just for kicks, I went to the [Apple Store][2] and I figured see how much it'd cost me. Of course, I'm in for the 1.42GHz/80GB model at $599 base. I might as well add a SuperDrive (+$100), I definitely want both the AirPort Extreme and Bluetooth options (+$129), and I'm not sure how many RAM slots this puppy has so I should just max-it-out (1GB) at the factory (+$425). That brings my total to ... $1,253.00, Yikes! Ok, the minis are still cool. but once you start building them up, the price easily runs away, shooting past the $600 "just in sight" range to over the $1k "I might need to think about that one a bit" mark with a few add-ons. I'm going to wait a while and see, perhaps I'll end up getting a [G5][3] after all. [1]: http://www.apple.com/macmini/ [2]: http://store.apple.com/ [3]: http://www.apple.com/powermac/ [post_title] => Some thoughts on the Mac mini [post_category] => 0 [post_excerpt] => [post_lat] => [post_lon] => [post_status] => publish [comment_status] => open [ping_status] => open [post_password] => [post_name] => mac-mini-thoughts [to_ping] => [pinged] => [post_modified] => 2005-01-13 22:27:56 [post_modified_gmt] => 2005-01-14 03:27:56 [post_content_filtered] => [post_parent] => 0 [guid] => http://jumpserve.com/blanco/archives/2005/01/13/thoughts-on-the-mac-mini/ [menu_order] => 0 [post_type] => post [post_mime_type] => [comment_count] => 0 [ancestors] => Array ( ) ) [4] => stdClass Object ( [ID] => 592 [post_author] => 2 [post_date] => 2003-10-29 19:39:00 [post_date_gmt] => 2003-10-30 00:39:00 [post_content] => * My town, Atlantic Beach was covered for the second time in six months in the New York Times Real Estate section this past Sunday: [Village That Doubles as Resort][1] [nytimes.com registration required]. * Tomorrow I'll be at the Apple Seminar Series [Driven by Design][2] in NYC seeing the latest offerings from Adobe, Quark, Extensis and HP. * I gave in an ordered an [iSight][3], Amazon's got 'em for 139 and they qualify for free shipping. Rationalization for the purchase: "Wel I'll need to be familiar with the technology in case a client has one." (I use that excuse _way_ too often.) * Ken Bereskin, Apple's Product Manager for Mac OS X has moved and resumed his OS X weblog, now covering panther: [Ken Bereskin's "Panther" Weblog][4] * Worth reading: [Do we all need a personal system administrator?][5] [via [diveintomark.com][6]] if only to find out just how vulnerable Windows systems are when left to themselves * Note to self: get the details on [All Consuming][7], it looks interesting. [1]: http://www.nytimes.com/2003/10/26/realestate/26LIVI.html [2]: http://seminars.apple.com/tours/drivenbydesign/indextrk.html?s=203 [3]: http://www.apple.com/isight/ [4]: http://bereskin.typepad.com/panther_weblog/ [5]: http://www.actsofvolition.com/archives/2003/october/doweallneeda [6]: http://diveintomark.com [7]: http://www.allconsuming.net/ [post_title] => Non-specific October 29th update [post_category] => 0 [post_excerpt] => [post_lat] => 40.5897 [post_lon] => -73.7411 [post_status] => publish [comment_status] => open [ping_status] => closed [post_password] => [post_name] => non-specific-october-29th-update [to_ping] => [pinged] => [post_modified] => 2004-10-16 18:04:09 [post_modified_gmt] => 2004-10-16 23:04:09 [post_content_filtered] => [post_parent] => 0 [guid] => http://jumpserve.com/blanco/archives/2003/10/29/non-specific-october-29th-update/ [menu_order] => 0 [post_type] => post [post_mime_type] => [comment_count] => 0 [ancestors] => Array ( ) ) [5] => stdClass Object ( [ID] => 591 [post_author] => 2 [post_date] => 2003-10-26 16:10:13 [post_date_gmt] => 2003-10-26 21:10:13 [post_content] => Panther goodies [via [diveintomark][1]] from codepoetry: * [Obscure Panther Features][2] * [Panther's Major Text Services Upgrade][3] [extremely cool] [1]: http://diveintomark.org [2]: http://www.codepoetry.net/archives/2003/10/24/obscure_panther_features.php [3]: http://www.codepoetry.net/archives/2003/10/24/panthers_major_text_services_upgrade.php [post_title] => A few more Panther morsels [post_category] => 0 [post_excerpt] => [post_lat] => [post_lon] => [post_status] => publish [comment_status] => open [ping_status] => [post_password] => [post_name] => a-few-more-panther-morsels [to_ping] => [pinged] => [post_modified] => 2003-10-26 16:10:13 [post_modified_gmt] => 2003-10-26 21:10:13 [post_content_filtered] => [post_parent] => 0 [guid] => http://jumpserve.com/blanco/archives/2003/10/26/a-few-more-panther-morsels/ [menu_order] => 0 [post_type] => post [post_mime_type] => [comment_count] => 0 [ancestors] => Array ( ) ) [6] => stdClass Object ( [ID] => 590 [post_author] => 2 [post_date] => 2003-10-25 12:51:34 [post_date_gmt] => 2003-10-25 17:51:34 [post_content] => Be sure to de-authorize any rights managed software (Macromedia Studio MX2004 and iTunes come to mind right away) before updating your OS (Panther or otherwise). Macromedia Studio MX2004 has a bit of a quirk with archive and install upgrades. The following two links should help: * [Macromedia -Customer ServiceTechNotes:Studio MX 2004 applications won't run after using Macintosh Archive and Install][1] * [Macromedia - Dreamweaver : Dreamweaver MX 2004 Release Notes][2] [1]: http://www.macromedia.com/support/service/ts/documents/mac_archive_install.htm [2]: http://www.macromedia.com/support/documentation/en/dreamweaver/mx2004/releasenotes.html [post_title] => OS upgrade warnings [post_category] => 0 [post_excerpt] => [post_lat] => [post_lon] => [post_status] => publish [comment_status] => open [ping_status] => [post_password] => [post_name] => os-upgrade-warnings [to_ping] => [pinged] => [post_modified] => 2003-10-25 12:51:34 [post_modified_gmt] => 2003-10-25 17:51:34 [post_content_filtered] => [post_parent] => 0 [guid] => http://jumpserve.com/blanco/archives/2003/10/25/os-upgrade-warnings/ [menu_order] => 0 [post_type] => post [post_mime_type] => [comment_count] => 0 [ancestors] => Array ( ) ) ) [queried_object] => stdClass Object ( [term_id] => 8 [name] => OS X [slug] => os-x [term_group] => 0 [term_taxonomy_id] => 8 [taxonomy] => category [description] => Stuff about OS X [parent] => 0 [count] => 160 [cat_ID] => 8 [category_count] => 160 [category_description] => Stuff about OS X [cat_name] => OS X [category_nicename] => os-x [category_parent] => 0 ) [queried_object_id] => 8 )

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