Of course, this is much easier, if I want to blog a page. (I’m using the MarsEdit extension).
A Shortcut to Create a Markdown Link from Safari in macOS | Jorge Arango:
The Shortcut is useful when capturing a page for my notes in Agenda (or Obsidian)
I have a new setup, and I am liking it very much.
My main workspace is the 27" in landscape and the 22" in portrait. I have an older iPad that I use mostly as my music controller. My work laptop is on the right. I use it for meetings, remoting into it when needed.
Floating up on the upper right, is a 2015 iMac, which I picked up from the Oregon State surplus store. It replaced a 2012 Mac mini (the lime green box on the shelves behind my desk).
I moved my monitor stand up onto a short shelf on the desktop. It allowed me to hang the portrait monitor in a lower position. It also gave me more room for tucking small items and a place to put a light source, so I can see my keyboard in the darkened room.
I’ve been using the Keyboardio Atreus with my Macs, for the past few years. I really, really like them. They feel good to type on and my wrists are happier.
Most of the time I work on a Mac, but I do have a PC that I need to use. Usually, I’ll use it remotely, via Microsoft’s RDP app. But, sometimes, I’m over at my PC workstation and I really miss having that same key layout. So, I’ve purchased another Atreus from Keyboardio and set it up on my work PC.
The website claims that, out of the box, it works on Mac, Windows and Linux. Which it did, except one thing. I could not login. I was pressing the Control and the Alt and the Backspace key. Nothing happened. I opened up Chrysalis, the GUI configuration tool, and checked the key assignments. All looked good. Eventually, I figured it out.
I’m posting this as a reminder to myself, and in case anyone else runs into this same issue.
To send the Control-Alt-Delete command at login, you have to ALSO hold down the FUN key. The Fun key changes the Backspace key from "Backspace" to "Delete”. Subtle.
I’m working on an app for tracking meals at work, so I’m setting up a couple Mac minis as servers.
The first time I worked on this app, I used MAMP to help with development. It was very handy and made a complex task much easier for me.
But, I always felt like I was taking the easy way out. That by skipping the server setup, I was missing some knowledge that would be useful, elsewhere.
So, now that we’re slowly returning to work, I have been charged with getting the Meal Tracker back up and running.
This time, I have a couple Mac minis (one at home and one at work). I’ll be setting them up with MySQL and PHP and Apache. And, I’ll be setting them up “properly.”
I found these pages useful:
Install Apache, PHP, MySQL and phpMyAdmin on Mac OS X
Updating Apache, PHP, and MySQL for macOS Catalina
I was thinking that something that has changed, since the last time I worked on this, is that I’m much more comfortable working in the Terminal and working on servers, in general. This time, I am using Homebrew to help manage installations.
But, now, I’m wondering about whether I should be using Docker…
I’m saving up for my next iPad. I’m 99% certain that I’m going to get a 9.7” Pro.
For the past year, I’ve been using an iPad mini 2, and I really like it. I could do a lot of my work on a mini. Before the mini, I had used a 9.7” for a couple years. It was indispensable for what I do (mainly tech support, photography).
When I first started using the mini, I wasn’t sure if it would work. I missed the real estate. My older eyes disliked the squinting.
But, now, about a year later, my 9.7” feels like a brick! (admittedly, my 9.7” is a 3rd gen, so it’s the 1st get Retina, and was just sluggish and heavy)
But, I’m thinking that my next will be a 9.7” Pro, because I want the speed and power of the pro line.
A 10.5” iPad, while bigger, might be a very appealing size. Two iPad mini’s? Yeah. I’d take that.
Why would Apple release a 10.5" iPad?: ""
(Via .)
I just plugged the WASP WCS3905 bar code reader into a Raspberry Pi that I have at my desk.
A few seconds later, I heard the handheld device beep. I didn’t have to install any drivers or other software.
I launched the built-in text editor, Leafpad. Then, I aimed the bar code reader at a bar code. BEEP! The serial number on the box appeared in the text document!
The WCS3905 had been used with our inventory system. But, the inventory laptop crashed about a year or so ago, and it’s been just gathering dust.
I’m trying to get a better hold of all the tech that goes through my office, to be more organized, accountable. This will be a huge boon for me. I can now start scanning hardware as it comes in, capturing information quickly.
I’ve been thinking about building a little inventory control database, and this will be a great part of that.
Oh man! This will be a very handy tool to have.
At work I use Apple Remote Desktop to manage the school’s computers.
One of the features of Remote Desktop is the ability to run shell scripts on any or all of the machines.
Sometimes, my shell-script-fu is weak, but I know how to do it with Applescript.
But, Remote Desktop doesn’t allow me to run an Applescript in the same way. That is, I can’t send a string of Applescript commands to a machine over the network, and have it do the bidding of the Applescript.
I have created some Applescripts and I’ve saved them as applications, which I then trigger from Remote Desktop. But, sometimes, I need to just do a one-off task, and don’t want to write the script, save it as an application, copy the application to all the Macs, and then run the application.
In the past, I’ve seen ways to wrap an Applescript in a shell script, but I haven’t used that before.
I have a task now, where I want to have the computers tell me their names. I was thinking of modifying a script that creates a text document, identifying the computer by name, and then sends a print job from each computer.
But, I thought, what about this fancy Notification Center. Can I tap into that?
Turns out the answer is yes!
How can I trigger a Notification Center notification from an AppleScript or shell script?
(Via Ask Different as Stack Exchange.)
I was working on a user’s MacBook Air, trying to resolve a kernel panic.
I had been working in their account (the only account on the machine). I shifted my attention to something else.
After being unattended, it locked the screen. The user was not around, and I was trying to figure out the version of the OS. Looking at the logs, it looked like it a networking library was missing or damaged. I suspected that a system update would fix this. But, how to figure out the OS version, when I couldn’t log in?
I thought I could reboot into Single User Mode and find it that way.
Sure ‘nuff!
Here’s the string:
sw_vers | grep -0 '[0=9]*\.[0-9]*\.[0-9]*'
It was running 10.9.2. I restarted the system, which then told me it had updates to install. I clicked on “Install Updates and Reboot.” A few minutes later, the Air restarted. I held command-S, and booted back into Single User Mode.
Ran the sw_vers again, and it replied “10.9.4"
Sweet!
(I had discovered the utility of SUM a few years ago, when I trying to troubleshoot lost user accounts. It’s been a very handy tool on some of the more odd or difficult issues, since)
We have about 30 printers at work. I have an OmniOutliner doc that I use to keep track of printer models and locations.
I can get into the printers, remotely, via a web browser. I can also admin some of them with a vendor’s utility.
But, both of those can be clunky when I need to work on more than one at a time, or when I need to adjust a group of staff’s printer settings.
I found this article on Mac OS X Hints whilst looking for some SNMP tools.
Managing multiple printers via the command line - Mac OS X Hints:
For a couple of weeks, about the same time every day, I would get a call from the lab coordinator that the computers were having problems connecting to the Internet.
The network pref pane said that the Ethernet connection was Connected.
Symptoms: A user would try to get to a website, like ixl.com or pbskids.org and the progress bar would stall about mid-way, and the browser window was blank.
I could remote in via ARD and look at the Network settings. All were correct. They all had a unique IP address, within the range of 192.168.0.2-192.168.1.253.
Using Terminal, I could ping outside servers.
I could launch VMWare Fusion, and using a browser, running on Windows, I could reach those same sites.
I tried resetting Safari, clearing the caches in Firefox, reinstalling the browsers.
Then I found this thread: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4093878?start=0&tstart=0
Solution: Turn off IP6 (!)
Open the Network Pref Pane, unlock using the pref pane
Click on "Advanced..."
Change the value for "Configure IPv6" from "Automatic" to "Off"
Click "OK"
Restart the iMac.
It works!
Today was pretty busy from the get-go. My compadre was off today, so I was flying solo. I had to setup (and tear down) the sound system for a couple of events (thankfully, I was able to call on the Facilities guys to help with the speakers).
The sound system is a weak area for me, so it always makes me nervous. But the more I do this, the better. Although, today, there was no fry bread. (the photo, above, is from when I was running sound for our powwow)
I’ve been dealing with some login weirdness all day, too. (Seemingly) Random drives dropping off of people’s machines. Hmmm…
But, now, as the day comes towards the end, I have some time to look at a couple of our servers that we’re using for an internal project.
We had a little blip in our power today, and it knocked one of the two servers down. I was able to bring it back up, but it took more time than I thought it should have. Also, everytime I fiddle with either of these machines, I think “I need to do a better job of managing their power usage and also remote admin stuff.”
I can ssh into one of them, the other machine, I can only use VNC into it.
In the process of checking out ways to manage power, I’ve found a couple of good resources. One is ServerFault.com. Lots of tech sites have become cluttered messes. ServerFault is clean, with a nice signal-to-noise ratio. Lessee what happens…
We recently added an AppleTV to our home entertainment setup. I love it. It solves multiple problems we have encountered with our “home media experience.”
Our CD collection used to be right next to our CD player. It was easy to browse and select something to play. Our collection now has almost 2000 CDs and they’re now in a room at the other end of the house.
It’s really cramped the music listening. As a result, we don’t listen to our music as much. We listen to the radio (which, in my opinion is not always desirable)
Another thing, we have thousands of photos. But we only have a few dozen printed out and on display.
The AppleTV has made it easy to browse our collection of music, photographs, and movies. And it’s done it without adding (a) stacks of discs to our living room, or (b) lots of big electronic boxes to our living room decor. (not that I’d mind, but I’m not the only one who lives here.)
As much as I dislike most traditional radio stations, I love the medium. So, I’m turning to internet-based stations. On my desktop computer, which is in the office, at the back of the house, I can use iTunes to browse and listen to tons of great stations.
I know that there are others in my house that are turned off by the list of hundreds of stations. So I created a playlist of about a dozen internet radio stations in iTunes. I was a bit irked when it didn’t appear in my list of playlists on the AppleTV.
But, just now, I went to the radio section of AppleTV and at the top of the list of genres, is my playlist! It made me laugh! I love it!
Baseball season is starting up and I was searching for the location of our practice field. It happened to be near our house. Since I was "in the neighborhood," I decided to scroll over to see what our house looked like.
Based on the arrangement of the table on hte back porch, this photo was taken two summers ago.
That also means that those light patches you see in our front yard mark where The Boy & I stood when playing catch.
This captures the summer before the year he actually joined a "real" baseball team. We would stand on either side of the driveway and toss the ball back and forth.
As this was a new activity for us, and accuracy was still an issue, I stood just on one side of the driveway. (I'm the upper light spot). The Boy stood across the driveway (his is the smaller light-spot, near the red car).
Nowdays, I'm under the tree, and The Boy either pitches from the same spot, or does diving catches a little south of the driveway. (towards the bottom of the picture).
As I’ve mentioned before, our network at NAYA is busy. Dealing with network issues is one of our biggest headaches.
The students are doing their quarterly standards-testing. And once again, network traffic looks like it might be an issue.
This article, UNIX network performance analysis, came over Twitter as I was scarfing some gumbo between troubleshooting sessions.
Some good, basic tips for analyzing your network.
I also found a podcast, The Root Cause, which talks about system admin issues. I’m loading it up on my iPod shuffle. I’ll let you know how it goes.
We’re talking about solid state hard drives at work and I remembered this video.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=96dWOEa4Djs&hl=en_US&fs=1&]
I like the style of the video, as well as the content. A good example of using new media channels to advertise. This commercial was never put on TV (to my knowledge) and was only released “to the ‘Nets.”
It works on many levels. The demographic for this product will have all the easy-sharing tools at hand; YouTube, blogs, email, Hi-speed connection.
It’s an impressive demonstration of the technology.
Crafty Samsung. Very crafty!
This week has been very busy on our network. With a staff of approximately 100, plus around 80 students, and about 100 other networked devices, our network is busy.
In fact, we’re exploring ways to increase bandwidth, which is amazing, because this current setup was supposed to be enough to handle the organization for another year.
Since I started, about 4 months ago, spam has not been much of a problem. But the past few weeks, we have been getting more and more.
As soon as we get some spam, we track down the IP and add it to our firewall. We do some research to see where it’s coming from.
Last week, most of our spam was from Russia. This week, we’ve been receiving spam from Mexico, Brazil and Japan.
Most are innocuous “male performance” enhancements, but we have had a handful of messages with Trojan Horse attachments.
They appear as a fake message from DHL. The subject line indicates a problem with delivery of a package. This is apparently the Bredolab virus.
This snippet comes from a Symantec security blog by Daren Lewis, “It comes from the Cutwail (aka. Pandex) botnet, which is one of the largest mass mailing botnets in existence, with over one million ‘zombie’ machines under its control.”
Spammers are scum.
Topic - Here’s a list of ipod docks that I found over at Amazon. - The only requirements were that they have an AM/FM radio. They’re listed below, sorted by price. - It’s a mixed bag. Some are portable, some require that you be plugged in. Be sure to check the “iPod compatibility” some won’t charge the newer iPods (like the newest 4G nano, or iPhone, or iPod Touch (2G).
Click on the item’s name to go to Amazon. Be sure to click on the “Explore Similar Items” link on the page.
If you have any questions, lemme know!
* Macally Flat-Panel Stereo System with AM/FM, Alarm Clock, and iPod Dock
Math is a weak area for me. It irritates me that sometimes I have to write stuff down to work it out.
For example, when I look at a design or a spreadsheets, I can look at it and it’s obvious to me what the issue is. And I can resolve it in my head.
This post is from the Launchbar forum. Someone was utilizing the calculator and not getting the results that they expected.
One of the developers responded with a super-informative answer. As the developer, I know he’s already worked this problem out, but it’s an example of the difference between doing math and knowing math.
I feel that if I really knew math I could look at these numbers and tell the difference between an answer that is in Radians or Degrees or the difference between a common (base 10) or natural logarithm. Duh!
I’m currently lusting after a MacBook Air for my mobile life.
For the past 5-6 years, a laptop has been my main system. But I was recently blessed with an iMac, which has become my “main” machine.
Mostly, I use my iBook for browsing the ‘Net, and writing. My iBook is a 600MHz G3 with a 802.11b airport card.
But I must say, when listening to 128K radio streams or music from our music library (a TiBook that’s now our media server), it works great!
[UPDATE] As I re-read this few days later, I realize that I said that I’ve been using a laptop for the past 5-6 years, but I just remembered that before my TiBook, I was using a PowerBook 3400. As a freelancer, it was a great machine. And being mobile was efficient and freeing! I purchased my 3400 (200Mhz 603e) in ‘98 or ‘99. 10 years ago! Yikes!
I’m grabbing this link from the Guardian.
The Mac at 25 - interview with Andy Hertzfeld
I’ve been a big fan of Andy for the longest time, not including the past 25 years of Mac usage.
If you’re a Mac fan, you should check out Andy’s site, folkore.org, which is a wonderful collection of anecdotes on the development of the Mac.
I’m trying MarsEdit. I love BBEdit, and I’ve used it for blogging. I really like to work, with BBEdit’s environment. But I miss something. Not sure what. So I’m trying MarsEdit. Hmmm…
While searching for an RPN calculator widget, I found The Caveman’s Calculator. It’s a slide rule!
"Download it now and rediscover the lost art and fun while impressing (or perhaps losing) your friends."
Recently, my Dad gave me a couple of slide rules. I just can’t throw them away. They’re very cool.