Today, I had ssh'd into a a server and I tried to launch a X11 program, and I got this error message:
X Error of failed request: BadAtom (invalid Atom parameter)
It looks like that Mac OS X 10.4 includes version 3.8 of OpenSSH. This new version defaults to using untrusted cookies for X11-Forarding. This can be worked around by using 'ssh -Y' instead of 'ssh -X'.
[via macosxhints Forums]
Last night I was very frustrated. I just realized that I wasn't able to print. I had this working before, where I had cups installed and was able to print to two printers connected to my server.
This was working until I upgraded to cups version 1.1.23. The packages were built for Fedora Core 4 on the 9th of August. This is very frustration since other software doesn't have this compatibility problem when upgrading. For example, my configuration has not broken when I update my apache http server versions.
I decided that I didn't want to do deal with the configuration issues with running cups on my server, so I decided to get a consumer print server. I bought the Linksys PSUS4, as it also has a 4 port switch. The only problem with this is that Mac compatible right out of the box.
Sometimes when I switch networks, the Cisco VPN client doesn't initialize properly. The only way that I had gotten this to work, was to disable and renable my network ports.
These commands were sent around a while ago, so I wanted to post them here.
sudo /System/Library/StartupItems/CiscoVPN/CiscoVPN restart
This has fixed all of the problems that I have had since.
Technorati Tags: VPN
I have been having a problem installing some Firefox extensions. When I attempt to install a new extension, I get the following message:
Firefox could not download the file at <url, including extension.xpi> because: Download error
I finally found this page that has a solution. All that you need to do is download the plugin to the disk. Then you can drag the file into a browser window. Then Firefox will offer to install it from the disk.
Technorati Tags: Firefox
Now this is cool. Google Video now makes the videos available in flash, instead of the modified VLC video player.
Technorati Tags: Google Video
I am having a problem getting AAC files to work with Jinzora. By default, Jinzora attempts to transcode all AAC files into MP3 files. (Which I think is reasonable, as not many players can support AAC.
The command that it attempts to use to transcode the file is:
/usr/bin/mplayer -ao pcm:file=/dev/stdout "/data/music/Daft Punk/Discovery/Daft Punk-Discovery-10 - Voyager.m4a" | /usr/local/bin/lame -S --silent --quiet -h -m j -b 128 -f - > /tmp/test.mp3
This puts noise in the resulting mp3 file. Here is the first 100KB of the file that has the noise in it.
But if I do the two commands seperately, the resulting sound file sounds great. These commands work great:
/usr/bin/mplayer -ao pcm:file=/dev/stdout "/data/music/Daft Punk/Discovery/Daft Punk-Discovery-10 - Voyager.m4a" > /tmp/test.wav
/usr/local/bin/lame -S --silent --quiet -h -m j -b 128 -f /tmp/test.wav > /tmp/test.mp3
Here a sample of the transcode that worked perfectly
I haven't been able to find a solution for this, but I will keep looking
I can never remeber the syntax for exectuing a command when running find, so I am writing it here.
find . -name "._*.mp3" -exec rm -f {} \;
This is pretty cool. Delicious has released a Backup 3 plugin for Delicious Library. This allows users to automatically backup the files that are created by Library, without having to know the fill paths to the files.
[via TUAW]
I have paid for 1Gb of space on my iDisk before the upgrade of everyone to have 1GB of space. I was a little worried that I would be credited for the extra money that I paid for the space. When I checked the .Mac preference pane, It said that I only had 1GB of space available.
When I went on to the .Mac page, and viewed my Storage settings, it had additional options to allow up to 2GB of space available. (Unfortunately, the current selection was on the option that gave the greatest space to my iDisk.) I easily fixed that problem, by selecting a different setting, and then reselecting the largest setting.
Now it appears that I have the whole 2GB available. There a small cosmetic bug though. In the .Mac Preference Pane, it shows the maximum space as 1GB, even though the middle of the bar represents 1016 MB.
I use GoDaddy to register my domains. I got an email from them stating that they are having a sale on .name domains, for $5.95 per year. In their form email, they state:
Now you can put www.westbrook.name On the ‛Net
I thought that it would be cool to get that domain, so I went on their site to attempt to register it. When I tried, I got a message stating that the domain is already been taken.
Now Backup 3, has backup plans for more types of files, like purchased music, and other iLife files. Also now when you backup files to your iDisk, Backup creates a local disk image, and then it copies the files to this mounted disk image. Then it compresses the image, and uploads this to your iDisk.
This improves the time that backup takes, as it only has to copy one compressed file, instead of tons of uncompressed files. The one downside of this mechanism is that if the disk image gets corrupt on the iDisk, most likely all of the files will be unrecoverable.
I do wonder about a couple of things:
Technorati Tags: Firefox
I think that there is a bug with auto-locking my keychain in Mac OS X 10.4. I wanted to automatically lock my keychain, so my laptop would ask for my authorization in order to get a password out of the keychain. This is in addition to my current setting where I get asked for my password when the screen saver dismisses.
When I enable it, I do get asked for my authorization when an application wants to get a password from the keychain. The problem is when the screen saver is activated on my laptop. When I try to wake my computer up from the screen saver, the password dialog doesn't appear. I have to restart the computer in order to use it.
This problem goes away when I disable the auto-locking of my keychain.
Technorati Tags: Mac OS X
I wrote this script to automatically upgrade my ClamAV installation. I have to run some hoops, as I run clamAV though amavisd-new.
#!/bin/bash
tar -zxvf clamav-*.tar.gz
rm clamav-*.tar.gz
cd clamav-*
./configure
make
make check
sudo /etc/init.d/amavisd stop
sudo make install
sudo chown -R amavisd:amavisd /usr/local/share/clamav
sudo /usr/local/bin/freshclam -l /var/log/clam-update.log
sudo /etc/init.d/amavisd start
rm -rf clamav-*
Technorati Tags: ClamAV
It took me a while to get used to it. I hadn't used a headset before that attached to outside of my ear, but I had used the Jabra Classic EarSet in-ear headsets. Once I got used to it, I don't mind it at all. Also the sound quality is pretty good, even when I got out of the car. (This was something that the Jabra headset didn't hadn't that well.)
Technorati Tags: Bluetooth
A while ago, I wrote about how I wished that you were able to download TurboTax or any other software that you have purchased again. I just got my notice for my TurboTax® Automatic Renewal Plan.
They have a new option for receiving the main TurboTax program. Now you can opt in to download the program from their website when it becomes available. Also, they state that the software will remain in your account, so you can re-download it, if your computer crashes or you get a new PC.
I am going to sign up for this but I do wonder a few things.
Technorati Tags: TurboTax
I was looking through my flagged articles in NewsFire, and I saw this post mentioned that Quicken 2006 has support for backing up the data file to .Mac. Since I just installed Quicken 2006, I enabled this feature.
The first time that your data file is backed up, it asks for a password. Then what it does is it creates an encrypted disk image with that password, and copies the data file into it. Then it copies the disk image to your iDisk.
This is pretty cool, as you get the automatic off-site backup, as well as the security of the encryption built into the disk image format.
I wonder how much this will cost. Also will this be able to control a XM receiver?
Technorati Tags: Bluetooth
I just found this Xterminator. This allows you to change the configuration of X11 in Mac OS X. The options are:
I saw this post that mentions AquaticPrime. This is a cool little module that gives application developers a secure way to create and validate registration codes. It uses RSA encryption to generate the validate the keys.
Cocoa, Carbon and PHP implementations are available. I would assume that it would be pretty easy to port this to other platforms.
Technorati Tags: security
I have been playing with BluePhoneElite for a while, and I think that I have decided not to pay for it, or continue using it. I did like the proximity features, but I don't think that I would use it enough.
Also I encountered some problems while trying to use it.
I am not sure if this only a problem with BluePhoneElite. It may also be a problem for Romeo and Sailing Clicker.
Technorati Tags: BluePhoneElite, Bluetooth
The next version of ecto will have support to automatically post files at torrents. This will make it easier for people to share larger files.
Prodigem has created a Web API that allows developers to allow applications to post file, and have a tracker and seed created.
Technorati Tags: bittorrent, ecto, Prodigem
I am amazed about what has been happening in New Orleans, that hasn't been covered in the media.
This post on the Junket 415 podcast has a recounting of two San Francisco paramedics stranded in New Orleans. As my wife says Callous, Inept, and Racist.
[via Boing Boing]
Technorati Tags: Katrina, New Orleans
I am seeing these strange urls from Gigabot. It looks like they are duplication the path part of the url.
64.62.168.56 - - [13/Sep/2005:16:56:25 -0700] "GET /archives/1949/10/
"http://www.paulstimesink.com/resource/blog_images/download/"http://
www.paulstimesink.com/resource/blog_images/download/"http://
www.paulstimesink.com/resource/blog_images/download/"http://
www.paulstimesink.com/resource/blog_images/download/"http://
www.paulstimesink.com/resource/blog_images/download/"http://
www.paulstimesink.com/resource/blog_images/download/"http://
www.paulstimesink.com/resource/blog_images/download/"http://
www.paulstimesink.com/resource/blog_images/download/"http://
www.paulstimesink.com/resource/blog_images/download/"http://
www.paulstimesink.com/resource/blog_images/download/
9805792824624335.JPG.jpg"..." HTTP/1.0" 200 20143 "-" "Gigabot/3.0"
From looking at the date, it appears that I had some strange urls in 1949.
These two posts (1, 2) on Gizmodo mention the new versions of the Harmony and Pronto remotes. The new Harmony 890 Pro remote is the next version of the Harmony Remote line. It seems like it is just like the Harmony 880, but it uses RF and not IR. It looks like Logitech is planning on users using this remote with their RF to IR relaying tranceiver. I would hope that it would work out of the box with devices that have built-in RF support. I thought that they had listed this remote on the product page, but it is not listed there now.
As universal remotes go, I think that the Harmony is a better remote than the Pronto. When I owned a Pronto TSU2000, it was hard to use with my TiVo. I think that you need hard buttons on a remote that you can use without looking at it. With the Pronto, you had to look at the remote when you wanted to stop fast forwarding.
Technorati Tags: Harmony Remote, Philips Pronto
When connected, the head unit will treat 6 folders as cds in a cd changer. Then the cd controls will change the mp3 tracks. So it seems that the head unit has support for probably the ISO 9660 file system, as well as a mp3 decoder.
A while ago, I mentioned the Coverville podcast. Last week, the Rap Cover Show was posted, and I loved it. I played it for my wife, and she loved it as well. I thought that it was very interesting how Tori Amos covers Eminem.
Earlier this week, I received a package from Intuit that contained a free version of Quicken 2006. I was intending on upgrading, but I hadn't gotten around to it. They sent it to us, because we are a Quicken Bill Pay customers.
It looks like they are changing the communication for this, so they are requiring people to upgrade. I am glad they they gave people the required software, as opposed to saying that your payments would stop working after a certain date. It is not a hardship for Intuit, since I am paying a monthly fee for using Quicken Bill Pay. In fact, they should send every new version of Quicken to these customers, even if isn't required.
Technorati Tags: Quicken
Apple has a good developer article on Eclipse for Mac OS X. I downloaded it, and the integration is pretty nice. The Mac version is actually a Carbon app, that access the java plugins. I wonder if they did it this way to make the app look more "Mac like" or if it was for performance.
Apple's XCode IDE will allow java development, but supporting a standard IDE is probably appealing to many developers.
Slashdot has a post that links to a good document that talks about ways to secure Mac OS X Tiger. I didn't realize that Apple enabled encryption of virtual memory swap files. I am now looking into installing Tripwire, Radmind or HenWen on my laptop.
This document is definitely geared towards corporate users. There are some things that I think are missing from this document. It does go into describing creating ipfw rules, which will overwrite the UI settings. But I think that it should go into the new settings that are in the UI. For example, in 10.4, now the firewall can:
Here is a screen shot of the new options
Technorati Tags: security, system admin
I just "hacked" my Motorola E815 to enable the File Exchange Bluetooth profile. Now I can transfer the pictures directly off of the phone, without going through Verizon's network.
SuperJason, pointed me to this post that described the steps to get this to work. The instructions worked perfectly for me. I did have a couple of annoyances:
If you have JavaScript enabled, you will see a badge in the upper right corner of this page that links to the Red Cross, so you can make a donation for Katrina relief. This post on The Brian Alvey Weblog has information on setting this up your self.
[via geek ramblings]
Technorati Tags: Red Cross
I have decided to try BluePhoneElite, that I mentioned previously. I don't really want to use the SMS features, which it looks like is this applications main function. I am mainly interested in the proximity features. I just don't know if it is worth paying $20 for just this feature.
When I leave my desk, I want iTunes to pause, the status of Proteus to change to away, and my screen saver to activate. The iTunes and screen saver integration is built into BluePhoneElite. I wrote some AppleScripts to do the Proteus integration.
I was interested in getting a list of files that a Mac OS X application attempted to access. One of my friends gave me the hint that I could use the fs_usage command line tool. I was able to get this to work, with these commands
sudo fs_usage |grep appName
I run this command before launching the application, and then you can get a complete list of the files.
I got a response from Apple today, from my question about sharing address books:
Dear Paul,
You can not share the Address Book with an email-only account.
Thank you for contacting Apple.
It would be great if this was called out in the help text of either Address Book itself, or of .Mac.
So now I have to decide if I want to spend an additional $80 for the Family Pack of .Mac, or find a different solution to let my wife and I share our address books.
Technorati Tags: .Mac
Yesterday, I changed the ip address range of my home LAN from the standard 192.168. to 172.16. I use VPN to access my work's internal network. Before I made this change, while connected, I wasn't able to access any of my local network resources. In addition, with the last update of the Cisco VPN software, I wasn't able to access any public sites either.
This change went smoother than I expected. I have a few devices that have static IP addresses, and I was thinking that the devices would have made it difficult for me to make this change. Here are the steps that I went through:
After doing this, everything pretty much worked. I did have to modify the configuration for cups, as it was limiting connections to the old subnet.
Technorati Tags: system admin
I just upgraded my wife's computer to Mac OS X 10.4. I was looking forward to being able to sharing our contacts in each of our address book. I haven't liked the .Mac synchronization because it makes a complete copy of the address book on both computers.
In Mac OS X 10.4, you are able to share you address book, and have other people subscribe to it. In addition to that, when you set up the shares, you can allow other people to modify the contacts. Here is a post on AppleInsider that describes this feature.
In this previous post, I mentioned that I switch several cron jobs to launchd. I have reverted them back to cron jobs. I have found several problems with launchd
I will write up these bugs to Apple, and will post links to them here.
In a previous post, I mentioned that I use SiteUptime to monitor some of my servers. This service is supposed to allow me to be notified when one of my servers goes down.
Over the past few weeks, I have been getting pages stating that one of my servers is down, but when I attempt to log into the server, everything is working fine.
These false positives decrease the usefulness of this service. I do use WebSitePulse, for monitoring as well, so maybe I will switch to use them.
Technorati Tags: system admin
Today, I got over 150 comment spams, within the span of a couple minutes, from one spammer. This spammer was not very smart.
I just saw this post about a problems with some Dashboard widgets that are supposed to generate random passwords. It seems that some of these widgets use Javascript's Math.random() function, which does not take a seed. So when on every reboot, the same passwords will be generated.
[via DashboardWidgets News]
Technorati Tags: security
I was moving a mailing list from one virtual domain to another, with the following command:
bin/withlist -l -r fix_url <list> -u <domain.name>
And I noticed that the virtual domain tables that had been created were not updated. I then ran:
./bin/genaliases
I went through manually and recreated the other entries.
Technorati Tags: mailman, system admin
I've been pleased with my Home Assistant setup for some time now. One of my main focuses has been achieving local control. This ensures...
