Sep131

The past year has been... well, let's say the events in my life have changed things drastically. And today I stand looking at a closed door, struggling to find hope and encouragement; contemplating what I'm doing and why I should bother pushing forward. Alexander Graham Bell once said, “When one door closes another door opens, but we so often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door, that we do not see the ones which open for us.” and he's right. I've had doors close before and it was challenging. Sometimes I've even seen the new ones open, but this, this is different. Maybe it's not, maybe I just want it to be; but, for arguments sake, right now, as I'm writing this, it's different.

I'm sure by now you're thinking, "Enough with the thoughts and emotions, what happened?" Well, the reason I'm telling this is to get those emotions and thoughts out of my head; call it therapy. If you don't like it you don't have to read it. But, just to warn you from this point forward the blog will be about me blabbing about my life.

TFTP Server in Snow Leopard

I have an old WRTP54G from Vonage and wanted to unlock it so I can setup my own VoIP with Asterisk. But in order to do that the instructions indicated I needed to have a tftp server setup using windows and that just looked like a lot of setup/work. So I looked at how to do it on a Mac and this is what I found.

You can start and stop tftp using the following commands

sudo launchctl load -F /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/tftp.plist

sudo launchctl unload /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/tftp.plist

tftp files are stored in /private/tftpboot


Now That was Easy!

I did however still need a windows vbox to run cyt35.exe and I don't have the code or know what it does so I couldn't hack it from the mac. Maybe I'll dig into it some day.


TFTP [source]
WRTP54G Unlock [soruce]

Raspberry Pi

A number of moths ago I purchases a Raspberry Pi. It is basically a computer smaller than a 3x5 card with a price around $35. You can find out more about it and the number of amazing things they are capable of at raspberrypi.org.

I may have to get a few more...

As for the ONE that I do own I've followed a few steps and set it up with XBMC (which is a nice little media center). You can read how to do it at raspbmc.com.

Terminal and PATH

After installing the latest MySQL for education/testing to my Mac I noticed I still needed to add the mysql/bin directory to my $PATH. I thought okay this should be simple to do right? But, following a mind numbing searching through a bunch of .shell_name_profile_info files in my home directory I became frustrated. So where is the correct place to store a new path for just installed software (assuming it didn't do it for me?)

The final answer should be simple right? Well, (and I'm lying here) it depends, who do you want to have easy access to the new path? For instance if you use su - and you add the path to just your stuff your out of luck when root or any other user is trying to get things started.


Info for Mac OS X 10.6:
I like TextMate but vi is free and included. (info on using vi)

Strictly You PATH:(or the person you are logged in as)
vi ~/.profile
edit or add if it's not already there
export PATH="/path/you/want/to/add:$PATH"
and save the file.

All User PATH:
go to
cd /etc/paths.d
make a new file
sudo vi mysql(SoftwareName)
enter your new path
/usr/local/mysql/bin
and save the new file

And because I'm still somewhat new to this if anyone has info on the proper place to setup PATH just for root please let me know and I'll add it in. Thanks.

Seperation of Tech and Food!

I have decided to split my blog into two. I have realized that this blog lacks a clear focus. Therefore, Gray Thought will become home to all my tech hacks and computer support. If you have any computer problems you'd like hacked or discussed, I'd love you to provide me a challenge! Just leave a comment on one of my existing posts and I will research accordingly.

As for my food posts, I will move that to Pepper's Cheesecakes. You will find most of my food posts have already moved to the new blog. I am hoping to update it with a current list of available cheesecakes, their sizes and prices for those of you who may want to share one with family and friends. Also check frequently for my other adventures in the food world. I never thought I'd be a baker, but it turns out I love to bake! I am sure this love will lead to destinations yet to be determined.

Apple's Dictionary/Wikipedia Bug!

Update: Apple fixes Dictionary in 10.6.5, released today(10 Nov. 2010)!
Here is the File they changed:
/System/Library/Frameworks/CoreServices.framework/Versions/A/Frameworks/DictionaryServices.framework/Versions/A/Resources/Wikipedia.wikipediadictionary/Contents/Info.plist

And What they changed in the Info.plist file:
<key>WikipediaDataURL</key>
<string>http://%@.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=%@&amp;useskin=monobook</string>
<key>WikipediaDataVariantURL</key>
<string>http://%@.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=%@&amp;variant=%@&amp;useskin=monobook</string>

I guess they liked my fix so much they decided to use it! And why couldn't they update this earlier?
====== End Update ======

Okay, I was about to post something completely different, but as I went to look up some information in Wikipedia (via Apple's Dictionary app) I ran into a snag. I could no longer scroll beyond the bottom of the window. (Ok you Mac users give it a try.)  I use Spotlight (command-space) then type in a word like "tree," select Definition and it brings up the Dictionary app. Now click on Wikipedia and you have some good info on trees except like I said you can't scroll any further down.

So, Why did this happen? Well, it's rather simple Wikipedia wanted to enhance/update their user interface. You can read about the changes here. No fault there, they have every right to innovate and improve. So now it's up to Apple to fix. "Well, what are they waiting for," you ask? That's a good question considering Wikipedia has been testing these changes since November 2009 and I'm sure Apple has known about it.

Alas, I guess it's up to the hackers and tech geeks to fix until the big companies decide it's important enough for them to do.

Here's the info and education on the fix:

Wikipedia default skin(look) was Monobook, their new one is Vector. If we modify the Dictionary's Wikipedia search string we can force it to use the old skin by adding useskin=monobook. (You can read more fun stuff to do with the search string @ MediaWiki.)

The file to change is deep in the system frameworks so be careful not to edit anything else or it could break something.

Warning: Edit the file at your own risk, I am not responsible if you break something!

The file: (starting from the root directory)

/System/Library/Frameworks/CoreServices.framework/Versions/A/Frameworks/DictionaryServices.framework/Versions/A/Resources/Wikipedia.wikipediadictionary/Contents/Info.plist

What to change:

<key>WikipediaDataURL</key>

<string>http://%@.wikipedia.org/wiki/%@</string>

To:

<key>WikipediaDataURL</key>

<string>http://%@.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=%@&amp;useskin=monobook</string>

The file (Info.plist) and the folder it's in (Contents) have read only privilege's, so if you really want to make the change and you don't know how you will have to look up file/folder permissions and how to change them on a mac. Good Luck!

Note (16 Oct. 2010):  I mentioned this in a comment below. If you decided to test out the URL in your browser you will get an error when using &amp; However Dictionary.app WILL crash if you only use &! 

Doorbell Chime

Back in May of 2009 we decided to repaint our living room. In the process I removed the doorbell cover and chime. No big loss, I didn't really miss it (in fact we kind of regret having a doorbell at times now), but it did leave some wire's hanging out of the wall. I finally decided we needed to do something about the wires. Sure I could just reinstall the old one; everything worked, but I've never liked the whole look of a plastic box sticking out of the wall (If something goes on a wall it should be decorative or functional.) While, the doorbell cover is marginally functional (it covers the ugly chime,) it doesn't do anything but sit there and detract from the rest of the decor in the room. On the other hand a thermostat while it can be ugly it displays the temperature and allows me to control my environment (functional.) It was decided that our new doorbell chime should be decorative as well as functional.

The process of finding anything decorative my wife and I agree on is a lengthy and often stressful one. But along and alas we finally picked a new chime, the Craftmade Hand Carved Scroll Design Chime in Matte Black - (CH1515-BK.). After it arrived and we opened it up to take a look. It has real glass with an Tea stained/frost to it and the whole thing is very solid. After holding it up in place we decided it would look really awesome if it had a light in it, (considering it looks like an old time lantern.) I said, "Sure I can do that."