Underground Paris
A virtual tour of the catacombs of Paris.
Saturday, August 14, 2004
Friday, August 13, 2004
Dans Data review of using USB to charge external devices
Review: USB mobile phone charge cables
Written in 2001, updated 2003. A very extensive discussion of using the USB 5V output to charge phones and more.
Written in 2001, updated 2003. A very extensive discussion of using the USB 5V output to charge phones and more.
palmOne Desktop 4.2.1 for Mac - Download
palmOne Desktop 4.2.1 for Mac - Download
A way to avoid the annoying registration/email/spam collection step.
A way to avoid the annoying registration/email/spam collection step.
Thursday, August 12, 2004
AirPort Express: Toslink converter
Wireless Networking (Part 25): "If your stereo has a Toslink optical input and you already have a conventional Toslink optical cable, Radio Shack part 15-1584 is an adapter that fits on one end of a Toslink cable to adapt it to the 3.5 mm mini optical jack on the Airport Express. Price is only $3 to $5"
Reports are that the analog output is poor quality, so optical is much preferred.
Reports are that the analog output is poor quality, so optical is much preferred.
X1.com -- search files and outlook -- a review
X1 instantly searches files & email. For Outlook, Outlook Express, Eudora and Netscape Mail.
I took another look at this since Fallows wrote of it recently in the NYT. It's a product of Bill Gross, a Caltech undergrad classmate of mine. He made his initial fortune on a Lotus Notes module (long forgotten).
It's not quite ready for primetime. Some odd bugs and behaviors. Sent my CPU usage through the roof. Every time I hit the letter 'e' when searching in the file tag it jumped to the email search tag!!
Now it's quieting down after I tweaked the options:
1. Turned off all outlook/email/contacts indexing. Lookout works great for Outlook, and X1 doesn't search notes or tasks (meaning it's not useful for me).
2. Removed all the quick key entries for email. That stopped the 'e' problem, so now I can search for terms containing the exotic letter 'e'.
3. Restricted indexing to a subset of directories and to files under 2MB. In some directories limited indexing to file and folder name. If nothing else X1 may be fast way to locate directories and files.
4. X1 ONLY does stem searching. It doesn't do substring searching. This is a reasonable compromise for document indexing, but for finding folders/directories substring searching is feasible and necessary. So it's not as good for navigating directories as WCD (for example).
5. I need more control over what NOT to index, preferably using regex to define directory paths and files to exclude. X1 is indexing all of the FrontPage index files.
Given the above it might be useable. I have a LOT of content to index.
I took another look at this since Fallows wrote of it recently in the NYT. It's a product of Bill Gross, a Caltech undergrad classmate of mine. He made his initial fortune on a Lotus Notes module (long forgotten).
It's not quite ready for primetime. Some odd bugs and behaviors. Sent my CPU usage through the roof. Every time I hit the letter 'e' when searching in the file tag it jumped to the email search tag!!
Now it's quieting down after I tweaked the options:
1. Turned off all outlook/email/contacts indexing. Lookout works great for Outlook, and X1 doesn't search notes or tasks (meaning it's not useful for me).
2. Removed all the quick key entries for email. That stopped the 'e' problem, so now I can search for terms containing the exotic letter 'e'.
3. Restricted indexing to a subset of directories and to files under 2MB. In some directories limited indexing to file and folder name. If nothing else X1 may be fast way to locate directories and files.
4. X1 ONLY does stem searching. It doesn't do substring searching. This is a reasonable compromise for document indexing, but for finding folders/directories substring searching is feasible and necessary. So it's not as good for navigating directories as WCD (for example).
5. I need more control over what NOT to index, preferably using regex to define directory paths and files to exclude. X1 is indexing all of the FrontPage index files.
Given the above it might be useable. I have a LOT of content to index.
Debugging OS X: kernel panic log
Mac OS X Panther (10.3.5): "David Dunham
R B Cook wrote [Aug. 11]: '...he gets kernel panics approx. every 20 minutes, ... This is the best 'crash transcript' he could relay to me over the phone...'
I don't have any help with the kernel panics (I've upgraded two machines to 10.3.5 so far), but he'll probably find a file 'panic.log' in /Library/Logs, which he could e-mail, instead of trying to read off the screen...
You should send kernel panics to Apple. You might not have access to bugreporter.apple.com, but I'll bet pasting it in to www.apple.com/macosx/feedback would be a slower alternative."
R B Cook wrote [Aug. 11]: '...he gets kernel panics approx. every 20 minutes, ... This is the best 'crash transcript' he could relay to me over the phone...'
I don't have any help with the kernel panics (I've upgraded two machines to 10.3.5 so far), but he'll probably find a file 'panic.log' in /Library/Logs, which he could e-mail, instead of trying to read off the screen...
You should send kernel panics to Apple. You might not have access to bugreporter.apple.com, but I'll bet pasting it in to www.apple.com/macosx/feedback would be a slower alternative."
USGS National Map Viewer
National Map Viewer Wow. I rarely come across a new site that's so interesting. Requires a modern Java client, on OS X needs the very latest update.
OmniWeb 5 and interesting features
MacInTouch Home Page: "The Omni Group released OmniWeb 5.0, a major update to its Mac OS X web browser. The new version includes tabs, workspaces (saved collections of windows), saved browsing sessions, site-specific preferences, RSS newsreading, enhanced bookmark management (with filtered views and history), keyword shortcuts, ad blocking, bookmark synchronization using WebDAV servers, page marking (for quick returns), HTML source editing, spell checking, and more. OmniWeb is $29.95 for Mac OS X 10.2 and up."
There are some neat features on this list, especially for users who don't want to, or can't, upgrade to Tiger. Once Tiger comes out both OmniWeb and Firefox will become more competitive with Safari -- since Safari upgrades will be tied to Tiger.
There are some neat features on this list, especially for users who don't want to, or can't, upgrade to Tiger. Once Tiger comes out both OmniWeb and Firefox will become more competitive with Safari -- since Safari upgrades will be tied to Tiger.
Wednesday, August 11, 2004
Debugging OS X kernel and other deep crashes (needs two machines)
Macintouch Mac OS X Panther (10.3.5)
There's an earlier blog posting of mine about the lockup. A Macintouch contributor says it's related to a fairly deep VM/HFS+ bug. This is a good description of how to debug OS X kernel issues.
Panther Freezes
Steve St-Laurent
No, the 10.3.5 update does nothing to resolve this issue. Same pattern: iTunes plus heavy network activity (a file copy from a server, for example) causes a freeze. When did this mess start?
Rohan Lloyd
If you're not afraid of getting under the hood, this is the best way to track down what is causing the freeze and reporting it to Apple so they can fix it.
If you've never used the Terminal before, or don't know what I'm talking about, please don't just follow the instructions and blame me when something goes wrong.
* Enable remote debugging on your target machine by running the following command and rebooting.
$ sudo nvram boot-args='debug=0x144
* Download the KernelDebugKit from: http://developer.apple.com/sdk/#Kernel
* Mount the KernelDebugKit on a remote machine (not the one that is freezing)
* When the freeze happens, trigger a Non Maskable Interrupt (NMI). On a PowerBook you do this with Cmd-Power (google for other machines)
* On the remote machine, start gdb, and attach to the freezing machine:
$ gdb -x /Volumes/KernelDebugKit/kgmacros
/Volumes/KernelDebugKit/mach_kernel
(gdb) target remote-kdp
(gdb) attach ???.???.???.???
* Get a stack trace of all processes:
(gdb) showallstacks
* Report the bug to Apple including the stack trace: http://bugreporter.apple.com/
There's an earlier blog posting of mine about the lockup. A Macintouch contributor says it's related to a fairly deep VM/HFS+ bug. This is a good description of how to debug OS X kernel issues.
Troubleshooting OS X: the role of receipts
MacInTouch Home Page
A new debugging approach, in addition to repairing permissions, running fsck, deleting preference files, clearning caches, testing in a new user, etc.
[Greg Cook] I also had difficulty with the java 1.4.2 install error saying I needed Java 1.4.1 first. The problem lies in one of the receipts. Delete the file /Library/Receipts/QuickTimeJavaUpdate.pkg and Java 1.4.2 should install just fine.
A new debugging approach, in addition to repairing permissions, running fsck, deleting preference files, clearning caches, testing in a new user, etc.
Tuesday, August 10, 2004
For sale: Canon PowerShot S230 3.2 MP Digital ELPH Camera with 2x Optical Zoom
Amazon.com: Camera & Photo: Canon PowerShot S230 3.2 MP Digital ELPH Camera with 2x Optical Zoom
I'm selling our much loved Canon s230. This camera was purchased @ March 2003 and is no longer under warrantee.
I'm selling because I've replaced the s230 with a later model Canon s410. The s410 is 4 megapixel and 3 times zoom, it's a nice improvement on the s230, Even so, the s230 looks better that the s410 and I prefer the s230's smooth trigger action.
This would be a great starter camera or a second camera. It is very compact, very rugged, takes great pictures and comes with a very compact travel charger. Made in Japan and feels solid. Very good condition. Only oddity is sometimes the CF memory compartment door doesn't pop open, I have to delicately help with a thumbnail. It's been like that since day one, I noticed Canon put a much stronger spring in the later model s410.
I am selling the camera, camera case, and flash card in a package:
- 256 MB CF flash card: $30 (these sell new for $50)
- leather case (fits very nicely): $8 (selll new for $12)
- s230 camera plus all accessories including data cable, AV cable, charger, CDs, manual, etc: $202
- shipping: $10
TOTAL: $250
Note for purposes of comparison the s410 with case and memory card and shipping would be: $410.
I'm selling our much loved Canon s230. This camera was purchased @ March 2003 and is no longer under warrantee.
I'm selling because I've replaced the s230 with a later model Canon s410. The s410 is 4 megapixel and 3 times zoom, it's a nice improvement on the s230, Even so, the s230 looks better that the s410 and I prefer the s230's smooth trigger action.
This would be a great starter camera or a second camera. It is very compact, very rugged, takes great pictures and comes with a very compact travel charger. Made in Japan and feels solid. Very good condition. Only oddity is sometimes the CF memory compartment door doesn't pop open, I have to delicately help with a thumbnail. It's been like that since day one, I noticed Canon put a much stronger spring in the later model s410.
I am selling the camera, camera case, and flash card in a package:
- 256 MB CF flash card: $30 (these sell new for $50)
- leather case (fits very nicely): $8 (selll new for $12)
- s230 camera plus all accessories including data cable, AV cable, charger, CDs, manual, etc: $202
- shipping: $10
TOTAL: $250
Note for purposes of comparison the s410 with case and memory card and shipping would be: $410.
Jon Udell: Bloglines
Jon Udell: Bloglines
Jon Udell likes bloglines too. A very strong review with some interesting background.
Jon Udell likes bloglines too. A very strong review with some interesting background.
Monday, August 09, 2004
X1 instantly searches files & email. For Outlook, Outlook Express, Eudora and Netscape Mail.
X1 instantly searches files & email. For Outlook, Outlook Express, Eudora and Netscape Mail.
Lookout works for me, but X1 searches file content as well: http://www.x1.com/products/viewable_file_formats.html
Lookout works for me, but X1 searches file content as well: http://www.x1.com/products/viewable_file_formats.html
Lookout for Outlook Download: it's back!
Lookout for Outlook Download
I use Lookout every day. It was briefly unavailable, but as Fallows explains -- it's back!
I use Lookout every day. It was briefly unavailable, but as Fallows explains -- it's back!
In the face of bitter blog-world complaints, however, Microsoft reversed course and agreed to make Lookout available again. It is one of several intriguing free utilities in the Sandbox section of Microsoft's Web site.This is a great application.
Keyfinder retrieves your Product Key (cd key) from registry
Keyfinder retrieves your Product Key (cd key) from registry: "The Magical Jelly Bean Keyfinder is a freeware utility that retrieves your Product Key (cd key) used to install windows from your registry. It has the options to copy the key to clipboard, save it to a text file, or print it for safekeeping. It works on Windows 95, 98, ME, NT4, 2000, XP, Server 2003, Office 97, and Office XP. This version is a quick update to make it work with Windows Server 2003. "
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