Dojo Book Dashboard Widget (for Mac OSX)

I have been wanting a dashboard widget that indexes the pages for the Dojo Book so that I can quickly access items without needing to pull up the pages...well, I finally caved and wrote one myself. You can get it from http://www.toonetown.com/projects/downloads/DojoBook.zip

This was thrown together, quite literally, in about an hour - using Dashcode. I even used a custom-built version of dojo to generate the tree widget in the dashboard widget. I was pretty impressed with how easily it all came together - the biggest pain was getting the list of links in to the tree.

Now, the hard part will be keeping it up to date.

Let me know if you find this useful - and if you have any suggestions for improving on it.

Optimizing Virtual PC for Mac

I haven't really found a single "good" repository for details on how to optimize Windows XP for running within Virtual PC for Mac - so I thought I'd create my own list here (for future reference) This will make windows as ugly as possible (but who needs "pretty" when running OSX?, and "potentially insecure" (but, then again, you're running windows...so no big deal, right?). I also don't care about sound or printing from within my VM - so you may not want to trim as hard as I do... I do the following after a clean install of Windows XP:

1. Deactivate sticky keys - this drives me nuts! Under accessibility Options, shut off sticky keys, filter keys, toggle keys, and everything else annoying.


2. Uninstall everything that is not going to be used - this includes all components and accessories that are atuomatically installed with windows. You don't need to use a calculator within a virtual machine... :)


3. Install VPC additions


4. On Start | Run... | Sysdm.cpl, do the following:
   
   1. Advanced | Settings | Performance - set "Adjust for best performance"
   
   
   2. System Restore - turn off system restore
   
   
   3. Automatic Updates - turn off Automatic Updates
   
   
   4. Remote - uncheck remote assistance invitiation
   
   
   5. Hardware | Device Manager - disable the sound card (Sound Blaster 16), Standard Game Port, COM1, COM2, and LPT1 (I don't connect anything to my VM, and I don't like sound coming from it - so why burden it?)
   
   


5. Under Start | Run | Desk.cpl do the following:
   
   1. Themes - Choose "Windows Classic"
   
   
   2. Desktop - Choose "None" for the background
   
   
   3. Screen Saver - choose "None"
   
   
   4. Screen Saver | Power - Set to never shut off
   
   
   5. Appearance | Effects - Uncheck everything except to underline letters
   
   
   6. Settings - Set resolution as low as you can handle - I personally think that 1152x768 works really well on my PowerBook G4...


6. Right-click start menu and choose "Properties", then:
   1. Start Menu - Select "Classic Start Menu
   2. Start Menu | Customize - Uncheck "Use Personalized Menus"
   3. Toolbar - Uncheck "Hide inactive icons"


7. Start | Run | Wscui.cpl and do:
   
   
   1. Shut off firewall
   
   
   2. Resources | Change the way security center alerts me - uncheck everything


8. Under c:\ | Tools | Folder Options:
   
   
   1. View - Uncheck "Automatically search for network folders" and "Remember each folder's view settings"
   
   
   2. Click "Apply", then "Apply to all folders"


9. Open "My Computer" | Search | Change Preferences and turn off animated assistant


10. Turn off fast user switching and welcome screen


11. Start | Run | Services.msc, and stop and set to manual each of the following:
    
    
    1. Application Layer Gateway Service
    
    
    2. Automatic Updates
    
    
    3. Cryptographic Services
    
    
    4. Distributed Link Tracking Client
    
    
    5. IPSec Services
    
    
    6. Logical Disk Manager
    
    
    7. Network Location Awareness
    
    
    8. Print Spooler
    
    
    9. Protected Storage
    
    
    10. Remote Registry
    
    
    11. Secondary Login
    
    
    12. Security Center
    
    
    13. Shell Hardware Detection
    
    
    14. Task Scheduler
    
    
    15. TCP/IP NetBIOS Helper
    
    
    16. Themes
    
    
    17. WebClient
    
    
    18. Windows Audio
    
    
    19. Windows Firewall/ICS
    
    
    20. Wireless Zero Configuration


12. Cleanup and defrag c:\


13. Backup this VM - it's a good starting place

I also allocate as much RAM as possible to my VM, and shut off all the extras (sound, network, etc) in my VPC settings.

It works for me. Now VPC is usable...

GLib Universal Binary Framework

OK - so in the spirit of "If you can't find it, build it yourself", I finally got around to setting up a universal binary build of glib. It builds into a mac os framework.

Just download the file http://www.toonetown.com/projects/downloads/GLibFramework-2.12.3.zip, as well as version 2.12.3 of glib from gtk.org. Unzip the framework file and you will have a "macos" folder. Place that folder at the top level of the untarred glib sources and open up the file macos/GLibFramework/GLibFramework.xcodeproj in xcode and build!

This is the first step to my ultimate goal of getting WireShark to compile natively - as a universal binary. :)

ffmpegX

I have been working on getting videos up for K9 Web Protection media coverage, and found that ffmpegX is a really easy-to-use program. It was able to convert my files to flv (flash video) pretty quickly. The one thing it didn't do was add the metadata - but flvtool2 did a great job of that.

Java-Readline on Mac OS X Update

EDIT 11-30-2006: The binary files linked below are now compiled as Universal Binaries. I have no access to an Intel machine, so I would appreciate it if someone could test it and post a comment on how it worked. In order to compile as universal binaries, you must have the latest version of XCode installed, and follow the instructions in red below

DarwinPorts is a great project, but I hate using when I don't have to. Mac OS X (at least Tiger does) comes with a readline compatibity already installed - so I have updated these instructions so that you can create a java-readline installation WITHOUT installing DarwinPorts.

The steps are a bit more involved...but here they are:

Download the libreadline-java source from the project site.

Unpackage.

In the source root, edit Makefile and make the following changes:

• Add JAVA_HOME = /Library/Java/Home below the line # Operating system dependent
• Make the JAVANATINC variable read $(JAVA_HOME)/include
• Change LD_LIBRARY_PATH to be DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH

Now, edit src/native/Makefile and change the following:

• Change the LIBPATH variable to be empty
• Change the CFLAGS to -isysroot /Developer/SDKs/MacOSX10.4u.sdk -arch i386 -arch ppc -fno-common -DMAC_OS
• Change $(CC) -shared (OBJECTS) $(LIBPATH) $($(TG)_LIBS) -o $@ to $(CC) -bundle -flat_namespace -isysroot /Developer/SDKs/MacOSX10.4u.sdk -arch i386 -arch ppc $(OBJECTS) $(LIBPATH) $($(TG)_LIBS) -o $@
• change the JavaReadline_LIBS variable to be -lreadline -ltermcap

Now, you need to edit src/native/org_gnu_readline_Readline.c and make the following changes:

• On lines 98, 114, 213, and 224, change #ifdef JavaReadline to #if defined JavaReadline && !defined MAC_OS
• On lines 216, 235, and 475, change #ifdef JavaEditline to #if defined JavaEditline || defined MAC_OS

Now, you can run make, and you will end up with libJavaReadline.so and libreadline-java.jar.

Rename libJavaReadline.so to libJavaReadline.jnilib.

Move libJavaReadline.jnilib and libreadline-java.jar to /Library/Java/Extensions to install it and have it available to all java processes.

To test, run java test.ReadlineTest from the command line.

Have fun! Now, you can install HenPlus on Mac OS X easily!

If you are lazy, you can try out the pre-compiled binaries that I have available here - after unzipping, just move the two files (not the entire folder) into your /Library/Java/Extensions directory. NOTE: these *may* only work on OS X 10.4 and up - I have only tested them on that platform, and they are *not* universal binaries - PPC only.

Java-Readline on Mac OS X Howto

EDIT: I have updated these instructions so that you can build using the already-installed readline libs that come with OS X (at least Tiger). See the new instructions here.

I have been trying to get java-readline compiled on mac os, and there were references to a blog entry on it, but the entry is now gone.  I found it on archive.org, and here are the instructions I used to get it running:

Using darwinports, do: port install readline

In the source root, edit Makefile and make the following changes:

• Add JAVA_HOME = /Library/Java/Home below the line # Operating system dependent
• Make the JAVANATINC variable read $(JAVA_HOME)/include
• Change LD_LIBRARY_PATH to be DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH

Now, edit src/native/Makefile and change the following:

• Add -I/opt/local/include to the end of the INCLUDES variable.
• Change the LIBPATH variable to be -L/opt/local/lib
• Change the CFLAGS variable to -fno-common
• Change $(CC) -shared $(OBJECTS) $(LIBPATH) $($(TG)_LIBS) -o $@ to $(CC) -bundle -flat_namespace $(OBJECTS) $(LIBPATH) $($(TG)_LIBS) -o $@

You should now be able to run make and get libJavaReadline.so and libreadline-java.jar. You'll need to rename libJavaReadline.so to libJavaReadline.jnilib.

I put both of these in /Library/Java/Extensions, which makes the library available to all Java processes that are started as you. Make sure everything works by running java test.ReadlineTest from the command line.

Callisto

Yeah - I'm finally downloading the newest version of Eclipse - Callisto!

I'm so happy!

New blogging application

OK - so I was poking around Google Labs, and found a dashboard widget that allows blog posting to blogger.  I thought I'd give it a try.

I might not be using BlogWorkz anymore - this seems to be working pretty well...

Mac Development

OK - so I just have to say that developing on the Mac is actually quite an enjoyable experience. It's very easy, and XCode is quite a decent IDE.

I also like how it seems to be a perfect blend of stability and flexibility.

Software *NOT* worth paying for

So yesterday, I wrote about software that was definitely worth paying for, I now will list some programs that I feel are definitely *NOT* worth paying for.

Microsoft Office

Probably the biggest steaming pile of crap that I know of. With alternatives such as OpenOffice.org or NeoOffice, there is no excuse to even use MS Office. The open source alternatives are just as good at opening the proprietary document formats as MS Office is itself in most cases. In fact, you can even use OpenOffice to recover corrupt Microsoft Office files that MS Office can't even open itself.

I really see no saving grace in Microsoft Office.

Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator

Don't even bother plunking down nearly $500 each for these programs. Try the Gimp (Photoshop replacement) or Inkscape (Illustrator replacement). Both do an excellent job, and are very full featured. My only complaint about both of them is that they are very lacking in their documentation. Both applications come in a Windows, Linux, and Mac OS version.

Microsoft Virtual PC

Slow, buggy, and very annoying at times, stay away from Virtual PC. As mentioned before, use VMWare instead.

Unfortunately, for those of us using Mac OS on PowerPC, you're stuck with VPC. For Mac on Intel, it appears that Parallels has some promise.

JBuilder

I used to sing the praises of JBuilder - I really liked it. I had tried NetBeans, and early versions of Eclipse, and neither of them really stacked up. However, recent versions of Eclipse (3.1 and on) have been AMAZING!

I'm never going back to JBuilder - I'm an Eclipse guy now, all the way.

Well - that's the roundup for now. Basically, any application that has a workable open-source alternative is a great candidate for me to put on this list.

Software Worth Paying For

I'm a huge proponent of open source software, and I feel that there are very few applications out there that should actually be paid for. However, I there are a couple of applications that are worth it. I thought I'd put together a little list:

VMWare

VMWare allows you to run a different operating system in a "Virtual Machine" This program is amazing, and is quite fast. Too bad that they don't have a Mac version.

Other programs, such as Microsoft Virtual PC, and even open source ones like qemu just can't compare in terms of features and performance.

Microsoft Money

The only Microsoft program that I actually enjoy using. :) This program interacts better with my bank than others such as Quicken. I also haven't been able to find a very good open source alternative to it as well. GnuCash seems to show some promise, but it seems to be a little slow getting there.

I get this for free, usually, with my tax program - TaxCut - so I don't really know which one to list as "worth paying for". I'm not a huge fan of TaxCut - but I like the fact that it comes with a rebate for Microsoft Money.

BlogWorkz

I mentioned it before, and BlogWorkz is a pretty nice Mac OS blogging client. I wouldn't probably pay much more than the $10 that it costs - but it's worth it.

NeoOffice

OK - so I know that NeoOffice is open source - it's just a port to Mac OS of OpenOffice.org, but in order to help development, they offer an "Early Access" program. It's worth the cost - the Alpha and Beta binaries that they release are quite high quality already. (This is coming from someone who loves bleeding-edge stuff)

Crossover Office

Crossover Office is a commercial version of Wine. Although Wine is an open source application, and it's very good, Crossover Office adds quite a few benefits. It is much easier to install, and they have scripts to help install most common Windows applications (such as Internet Explorer or Media Player).

In theory, anything you can do with Crossover Office, you can do with Wine - but I have found that it's much easier to just not have to deal with the hoops you have to jump through to get it working in Wine.

Windows XP

OK - so it's not technically "worth" paying for, but let's face it - we live in a Microsoft-dominated society still. This is getting better, but for the most part, you still need something to run those Windows applications. Anything older than Windows XP is horribly slow and unusable (from a "usability" sense). Windows XP is much better. From what I've seen installing the Windows Vista betas, it appears that Vista is way too over-the-top.

You need to have a copy around - at least to run in your Virtual Machine (VMWare, if you can.)

Mac OS X

By far, this is the only Operating System worth paying for. It is easy to use, and I really like its performance. One benefit that it has is that you can do almost anything on OS X that you can do in Linux or other free operating systems.

Probably the biggest benefit of Mac OS X is similar to the benefit provided by Crossover Office. You get the performance and stability of a solid Unix-based operating system - which you can tweak and configure to your heart's content - without the added cost of messing around with trying to get it set up. I've switched.

Stay tuned for a list of software that is definitely *NOT* worth paying for. :)

BlogWorkz

OK - so I guess that I'll plug a cool little program for Mac that I've been using to set this up. It's called BlogWorkz and it's written by someone named Andre Garzia.

At first glance, it seemed a little rough around the edges, but after using it a bit, I found it to be very simple and intuitive. There are a couple of bugs with the program, but all-in-all, it was a pretty good one, and - to me, at least - seemed deserving of the $10 registration fee.

There are quite a few features that I feel it is missing - most of them are UI and usability features, so who knows how long I'll keep using it. Maybe when I'm feeling ambitious (which never seems to happen), I'll take a stab at writing my own client for Mac. I did it for my linux machine before, I'm pretty sure I could handle it. :)