damians personal blog

the new client is now available from the uni fribourg website:
http://unifr.ch/telecom/vpn/script/auth/index.php

somewhat strange, but to me it seems the unifr version is more stable than the vpn client from the university of california 'tuned' with the unifr profiles, though it is most probably the very same version of the base software.

        19.Mai.2005, 13:54 :: unsorted :: Permalink :: Comments (0)

first: if you do not yet have installed mac os 10.4 alias tiger and are in the university in fribourg, don't care about this. else read on.

as some of you have already noticed, the cisco vpn client has been adapted to tiger. unfortunately our university is not the fastest one, so here is how you get it anyway:

1. download the client from the university of california http://www.bol.ucla.edu/services/vpn/software/vpnmac-4603.dmg.gz
   
2. install the client
   
3. find the profile files in the folder /private/etc/CiscoSystemsVPNClient/Profiles/ and copy them to the folder /private/etc/opt/cisco-vpnclient/Profiles/.
   
4. reboot
   
5. enjoy your vpn ;-)

(just in case: after the first reboot, i encountered problems, there was an error message when launching the client. i installed the vpn again, rebooted, and there it was.)

        18.Mai.2005, 15:24 :: unsorted :: Permalink :: Comments (0)

some interesting features of your os x can only be activated through modification of preferences, those files with the .plist extension. but if you don't have the developer tools, with which comes the property list editor app, then it is very cumbersome to modify these xml files.

for this case there exists the special command "defaults write" which will just do as well as the property list editor. open the terminal, paste the command, finish. here i note down the most common usages of this command.

• defaults write com.apple.dashboard mcx-disabled -bool YES
  this disables the dashboard permanently. if you want to get rid of your dashboard because you use it rarely and don't want to waste your ram and cpu, just shut it down.
  
  
• defaults write com.apple.itunes invertStoreLinks -bool YES
  ever noticed these small arrows in the itunes of your friend? they're very useful to jump to the selected artist or album - but!! usually, they jump to the itunes music store. unless you keep the alt-key pressed while klicking the link. or you change your preferences to stay local as default with the above command.
  
  
• defaults write com.apple.Safari IncludeDebugMenu 1
  this activates the safari debug menu. for anybody with interests in web development there are some interesting options such as changing the the user agent string or viewing the dom tree.
  

all the above options should be executed while the corresponding application is not running (itunes, safari) or take effect on relaunch of the system (dashboard). they can be undone by substitute YES with NO or 1 with 0.

update: see also this entry: defaults write to speed up os x

        17.Mai.2005, 14:23 :: mac os x :: Permalink :: Comments (0)

today i noticed that php has no yet been activated on my tiger. so ... let's go to the terminal, get vim at hand, and learn some basic commands for this powerful unix text editor!

sudo vim /etc/httpd/httpd.conf
use sudo because the file is read-only for mortals. enter password, and welcome to vim. now type:
/php[enter] . . . . . . . . search for the first occurrence of the string "php"
0 . . . . . . . . jump to beginning of the line
x . . . . . . . . delete character under cursor (just in case: use u to undo...)
n . . . . . . . . find the next occurrences of the previous search string
nn . . . . . . . . continue search
0 . . . . . . . . jump ...
x . . . . . . . . delete ...
:wq . . . . . . . . write and quit.

so far for editing the config file. now restart the http-deamon with sudo apachectl graceful and your password. and there is your php, up and running.

just to mention some more useful vim commands:
64gg . . . . . . . . jump to line 64
gg . . . . . . . . jump to beginning of file
G . . . . . . . . jump to end of file
i . . . . . . . . change to insertion mode ("textmode")
[esc] . . . . . . . . end insertion mode
u . . . . . . . . undo last command
[ctrl]R . . . . . . . . redo last undo
. . . . . . . . . repeat last command
dd . . . . . . . . delete current line
yy . . . . . . . . copy current line (yank)
p . . . . . . . . paste line after cursor (put)
:q! . . . . . . . . quit and discard changes
for a more complete reference, see http://tnerual.eriogerg.free.fr/vim.html

        14.Mai.2005, 13:50 :: mac os x :: Permalink :: Comments (0)

before diving into the problem, i have to warn you: the problem is not yet solved, so don't expect any solutions. it's just attempts and approaches.

since updating to tiger, my motorola c350 via mini-usb is not recognized by isync any more. i then wanted to hack the isync 2 app and import code from the first version of isync. but it turned out not to be that simple... i will just tell what i know up to now:

• in general, tiger recognizes the motorola. in the system profiler, i find:
  Motorola Phone (C350):
  Version: 0.01
  Bus Power (mA): 500
  Speed: Up to 12 Mb/sec
  Manufacturer: Motorola Inc.
  Product ID: 0x3802
  Vendor ID: 0x22b8
  
  
• motorola knows no firmware update, at least not for the c350 via mini-usb. on the phone side, there is nothing i could change to make it work.
  
  
• isync 2 works a lot different from isync 1.x. all isync2 device class definitions are stored inside the /Applications/iSync.app/ whereas with 1.x they where in the /System/Library/SyncServices/. the phone identifiers are stored in
  /Applications/iSync.app/Contents/PlugIns/, ApplePhoneConduit.syncdevice/Contents/PlugIns/, PhoneModelsSync.phoneplugin/Contents/Resources/MetaClasses.plist
  this corresponds partly to the list from version 1.x found in the file
  /System/Library/SyncServices/, MotorolaConduit.bundle/Contents/Resources/USBDevice.plist
  
  
• in the MetaClasses.plist file, the phone is always referred to as "C350", whereas in the old USBDevice.plist, it is named "C350_GSM". i duplicated the section of the C350 and replaced all occurrances of C350 with C350_GSM, but with little success. sure pretty naive attempt, but i had to try it ;)
  
  
• i opened the usb prober to see how the phone identified on low level communication:
  
  Full Speed device @ 2 (0x3B100000): Communication device: "Motorola Phone (C350)"
  ...
  Product String: 2 "Motorola Phone (C350)"
  ...
  Device VendorID/ProductID: 0x22B8/0x3802 (Motorola PCS)
  ...
  not really surprisingly, the information is the same also in the MetaClasse.plist, line 170:
  
  com.motorola.C350
  
  Identification
  
  com.apple.gmi+gmm
  "Motorola CE, Copyright 2000"+"GSM1900","GSM850","MODEL=C350"
  
  InheritsFrom
  
  com.motorola.usb.0x22B8/0x3802
  
  Services
  
  
  ServiceName
  com.apple.model
  ServiceProperties
  
  ModelName
  C350
  PhoneIcon
  MOTC350.tiff
  
  
  
  
  
  

so... thats all i found and tried out. in german you'd say "ich bin am ende meines lateins", which means as much as i have run out of ideas. if anyone has an idea, i am grateful for any hint.

ah, and by the way, my sources of inspiration were:
http://www.macgeekery.com/hacks/software/moto_v551_and_hacking_isync
http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20030916190731316

... to be continued ...

        13.Mai.2005, 17:35 :: mac os x :: Permalink :: Comments (0)

...der beste title, der mir in den letzten 2 sekunden gerade eingefallen ist. who cares. das leben geht weiter.

es ist wieder einer dieser verdammten tage,
und weiss nicht genau warum ich diese dinge sage.
alles was mir gefällt
ist jetzt halb so wild,
um genau zu sein
ist es einerlei'n.

jetzt ist sie weg - weg!
und ich bin wieder allein - allein.

zum glück gibt es noch schokolade, die sich um meine primären bedürfnisse kümmert. und ein bisschen p0rN kann auch nicht schaden ... OMG zum glück liest auch keiner dieses blog. welch armseliges statement.

armselig - wie wär's, wenn ich dazu stehe? spitz, faul und stolz darauf? garfield-philosophie verhält auch nicht mehr. er hat zwar schon seine frauengeschichten, aber von sex ist nie die rede. dabei ist das die kumulation von zärtlichkeit, von intimität, von hingabe...

bla bla bla. befriedigung eines primären bedürfnisses: sex. gerade nach schlafen, essen und trinken kommt sex. aber eben nur für die hälfte der erdenbürger. für die andere hälfte heisst es schlafen, essen, trinken, reden, duschen, maniküre, mode, undsoweiter, etcetera. und irgendwo ganz weit hinten, sagen wir auf rang 243, kommt sex.

sex.
pur und ohne gefühle.
hemmungslos und lustvoll.
triebbefriedigung.

befriedigung eines primären triebs.
ist es wirklich so primär?
ist es wirklich das wichtigste?

wohl kaum.

aber eben ............. .......................................................... ..... ........ ............. (to be continued.)

        11.Mai.2005, 1:25 :: herzvoll :: Permalink :: Comments (0)