The Tech Report - Shuttle's Zen XPC ST62K small form factor system - Page 13
These are quite amazing. Expected to fall below $300 US for the empty box. With a bit of memory, some drives lying around the house, a low end CPU and an educational copy of XP Home one can assemble a reasonably reliable, compact and client system for grandparents, children, children's games, etc.
Tuesday, January 20, 2004
Posthorn | Stabilant 22 - gas additive equivalent?
Posthorn | Stabilant 22
supposed to reduce dram failures. Don't know if it's real or silicon snake oil.
supposed to reduce dram failures. Don't know if it's real or silicon snake oil.
Sunday, January 18, 2004
The Plone content management system
plone.org - Welcome to plone.org
Runs over Zope. Looks like another one to experiment with! OpenSource. Used by Mars Rover site. O'Reilly likes it.
Runs over Zope. Looks like another one to experiment with! OpenSource. Used by Mars Rover site. O'Reilly likes it.
How to create iPhoto Disc images with a CD or DVD burner, particularly for Library Importing and Merging
Update 1/14/06: See my digital photography page for a much improved version of this technique.
--
I figured out how to create a sparseimage version that will grow when you dump your iPhoto Library in it. Then you create a read-only version as below when you're done and iPhoto will work as below.
At the moment the sparseimage is too big (12MB compressed) to put online. I won't be able to work on this for at least 4 days so someone else will have to do it sooner.
You create a sparseimage from the read/write version I reference below using the hdiutil convert command. Note that the help version is incorrect. Sorry, I don't even have time to write this out! More later...
This technique is very useful when you want to merge iPhoto Libraries, such as merging iPhoto 2 libraries into a combined iPhoto 4 library. It uses the CD/DVD merge techniques without first burning a CD/DVD. Indeed, if you can get hold of the appropriate disc image you don't need a CD or DVD burner to do the imports/merges. I'll eventually post an empty compressed image on my web site for people to use. I am sure there are shortcuts that will replace this technique, I'll revise this post as they are discovered.
1. You need to start with a physical CD or DVD burned by iPhoto (version 2 or 4 work equally well). Preferably from a large library so it will be big enough to work with.
2. Using Disk Utility create a disk image of the CD or DVD (select item in the Disk Utility image list, the choose New Image from Device. YOU MUST SELECT THE "TOP" ITEM IN THE HIERARCHY, USUALLY IT'S A DEVICE DESCRIPTION.
3. Mount the image. Start iPhoto. Confirm it now displays as though the physical CD/DVD were inserted.
4. Restart Disk Utility. Choose Images New - Image from Folder. Navigate to the mounted disk image and select it. CREATE AS A READ/WRITE IMAGE.
5. Mount the new image you created. Empty it out -- throw away the iPhoto Library folder and empty the trash. KEEP THIS IMAGE, IT'S NOW WHAT YOU USE TO DO EDITING WITH. IT WILL COMPRESS WELL WITH STUFFIT.
From now on, if you want to merge a library, copy it to this editable image. Rename it iPhoto Library. THEN YOU MUST CREATE A READ-ONLY IMAGE FROM THIS ITEM.
1. Using Disk Utility create Images - New Image from Folder. Select the read/write image you just mounted. Save as read only.
2. Launch iPhoto. See the disc mount. Now merge
(see http://googlefaughnan.blogspot.com/2004_01_01_googlefaughnan_archive.html#107435546730163006 to learn how to merge libraries.)
--
I'm sure there are slightly quicker approaches and better approaches. As I learn them I'll revise this blog and eventually this will go into its own web page, along with a compressed disk image to use as a starter image.
Update 12/11/05: In sorting through backlogged email, I came across a message from 9/05 suggesting an extension to this method. I've not tested it yet, but I will! Alex figured out that the disk image that iPhoto needs doesn't have to actually contain the images to be merged; instead one can put a path in the XML and put the Library you want to merge in that path. This saves a LOT of hassles, time and space.
As long as I'm updating here, I'd like to mention that the latest version of iPhoto Library Manager will merge Libraries, and I think it preserves keywords better than the disk image method described here.
Emphases mine.
--
I figured out how to create a sparseimage version that will grow when you dump your iPhoto Library in it. Then you create a read-only version as below when you're done and iPhoto will work as below.
At the moment the sparseimage is too big (12MB compressed) to put online. I won't be able to work on this for at least 4 days so someone else will have to do it sooner.
You create a sparseimage from the read/write version I reference below using the hdiutil convert command. Note that the help version is incorrect. Sorry, I don't even have time to write this out! More later...
This technique is very useful when you want to merge iPhoto Libraries, such as merging iPhoto 2 libraries into a combined iPhoto 4 library. It uses the CD/DVD merge techniques without first burning a CD/DVD. Indeed, if you can get hold of the appropriate disc image you don't need a CD or DVD burner to do the imports/merges. I'll eventually post an empty compressed image on my web site for people to use. I am sure there are shortcuts that will replace this technique, I'll revise this post as they are discovered.
1. You need to start with a physical CD or DVD burned by iPhoto (version 2 or 4 work equally well). Preferably from a large library so it will be big enough to work with.
2. Using Disk Utility create a disk image of the CD or DVD (select item in the Disk Utility image list, the choose New Image from Device. YOU MUST SELECT THE "TOP" ITEM IN THE HIERARCHY, USUALLY IT'S A DEVICE DESCRIPTION.
3. Mount the image. Start iPhoto. Confirm it now displays as though the physical CD/DVD were inserted.
4. Restart Disk Utility. Choose Images New - Image from Folder. Navigate to the mounted disk image and select it. CREATE AS A READ/WRITE IMAGE.
5. Mount the new image you created. Empty it out -- throw away the iPhoto Library folder and empty the trash. KEEP THIS IMAGE, IT'S NOW WHAT YOU USE TO DO EDITING WITH. IT WILL COMPRESS WELL WITH STUFFIT.
From now on, if you want to merge a library, copy it to this editable image. Rename it iPhoto Library. THEN YOU MUST CREATE A READ-ONLY IMAGE FROM THIS ITEM.
1. Using Disk Utility create Images - New Image from Folder. Select the read/write image you just mounted. Save as read only.
2. Launch iPhoto. See the disc mount. Now merge
(see http://googlefaughnan.blogspot.com/2004_01_01_googlefaughnan_archive.html#107435546730163006 to learn how to merge libraries.)
--
I'm sure there are slightly quicker approaches and better approaches. As I learn them I'll revise this blog and eventually this will go into its own web page, along with a compressed disk image to use as a starter image.
Update 12/11/05: In sorting through backlogged email, I came across a message from 9/05 suggesting an extension to this method. I've not tested it yet, but I will! Alex figured out that the disk image that iPhoto needs doesn't have to actually contain the images to be merged; instead one can put a path in the XML and put the Library you want to merge in that path. This saves a LOT of hassles, time and space.
As long as I'm updating here, I'd like to mention that the latest version of iPhoto Library Manager will merge Libraries, and I think it preserves keywords better than the disk image method described here.
Emphases mine.
From: Alex N...
Subject: iPhoto merging
Date: Sun, 25 Sep 2005 10:49:51 -0400I was looking into how to merge iPhoto libraries from a recent trip (on my wife's iBook) into my main library and came across your page.
I wanted to add that making a simple disk image with a hardcoded path to /Users//Desktop/Pictures/iPhoto Library allows you to just drag the pictures folder from the other computer onto your desktop, then load the disk image (which contains ONLY the XML file and is therefore tiny) to access the other photos.
In this way one disk image can be re-used multiple times ...
Saturday, January 17, 2004
Apple - Discussions - iPhoto 4: Consolidate multiple libraries
Apple - Discussions - iPhoto 4: Consolidate multiple libraries
Update 1/05: I now have a much better discussion of this on my personal digital photography/iPhoto page. This commentary is somewhat obsolete.
This technique works best in my testing so far. Consider two libraries: Main and Secondary.
1. Using iPhoto Library Manager or similar software, open Secondary Library. Adjust albums so all images appears in EXACTLY one album. (Apple has an AppleScript to find images not in any library, see AppleScript site for iPhoto.)
1b. OPTIONAL. In Secondary Library edit roll names to descriptive names.
2. Burn Secondary Library to iPhoto Disc from iPhoto.
3. Switch iPhoto to Main Library. Insert iPhoto Disc.
4. Expand view of iPhoto Disc. Select ALL albums. Drag and drop on Main Library icon.
In testing this preserves:
1. Some roll information. (I have a suspicion it ONLY preserves roll information if you've edited the default names -- based on some other experiments I did on iPhoto 2.
2. The album titles, comments and members.
3. Photo file names, titles, and descriptions.
4. I suspect iPhoto 2 keywords, at least, do NOT make the trip.
I deliberately imported an album from the Secondary Library I knew referenced photos that were in another already imported Secondary Library album. I received a warning about duplicate photos. I said to exclude duplicates from import. 15 photos were not imported, presumably because they'd been previously imported. So this may help.
Until someone writes a smart import/merge, possibly using AppleScript, this may be our best option.
Update 1/05: I now have a much better discussion of this on my personal digital photography/iPhoto page. This commentary is somewhat obsolete.
This technique works best in my testing so far. Consider two libraries: Main and Secondary.
1. Using iPhoto Library Manager or similar software, open Secondary Library. Adjust albums so all images appears in EXACTLY one album. (Apple has an AppleScript to find images not in any library, see AppleScript site for iPhoto.)
1b. OPTIONAL. In Secondary Library edit roll names to descriptive names.
2. Burn Secondary Library to iPhoto Disc from iPhoto.
3. Switch iPhoto to Main Library. Insert iPhoto Disc.
4. Expand view of iPhoto Disc. Select ALL albums. Drag and drop on Main Library icon.
In testing this preserves:
1. Some roll information. (I have a suspicion it ONLY preserves roll information if you've edited the default names -- based on some other experiments I did on iPhoto 2.
2. The album titles, comments and members.
3. Photo file names, titles, and descriptions.
4. I suspect iPhoto 2 keywords, at least, do NOT make the trip.
I deliberately imported an album from the Secondary Library I knew referenced photos that were in another already imported Secondary Library album. I received a warning about duplicate photos. I said to exclude duplicates from import. 15 photos were not imported, presumably because they'd been previously imported. So this may help.
Until someone writes a smart import/merge, possibly using AppleScript, this may be our best option.
Friday, January 16, 2004
Install iMovie 4 on an iPod
The iLife installer wants to put all apps on the boot drive. My boot drive is full. This is how I put iMovie 4.0 on my iPod. I have a dual USB 600 MHz G3 iBook.
1. Use Onyx to allow Finder to see hidden files.
2. Browsed DVD and copied the iMovie package to my iPod.
3. Used Pacifist to extract iMovie app.
4. Ran iMovie 4.0. It showed my music, titles, etc.
I haven't used it much.
1. Use Onyx to allow Finder to see hidden files.
2. Browsed DVD and copied the iMovie package to my iPod.
3. Used Pacifist to extract iMovie app.
4. Ran iMovie 4.0. It showed my music, titles, etc.
I haven't used it much.
Apple - iPhoto 4.0 - impressions
[update 1/24/04: after much testing I recommend that iPhoto 2 users NOT upgrade to iPhoto 4 -- yet. iPhoto 4 is amazingly faster than previous versions, but it has serious quality issues. I'm seeing unmistakeable signs of integer overflows. There's some bad code in iPhoto 4, and with that comes an intolerable risk of losing your valued photographs (not that iPhoto 2 is necessarily safe to use either, but I think iPhoto 4 is worse at this time).
Wait for a bug fix release, then wait a few more weeks for news, then upgrade.]
Apple - iLife
1. iLife can only install on the boot drive. Bad sign right at the start. A boot drive restriction suggests a pretty bad architecture. You need to "customize" the install to select individual apps. (You can work around this, see a later post in this blog.)
2. iDVD still only works with Apple's SuperDrive.
3. There's minimal new support for consolidating libraries. See my later (separate) post on a possible technique.
4. Keywords are still worthless. Or almost worthless. Outstanding incompetence. You still can't sort keywords. You really need to stick to about 8 keywords at most. The ridiculous UI is unchanged.
5. You can't search directly on comments or titles anymore. You can only search directly on keywords. Basically, to locate things, you create a smart album and view the results. The smart albums have replaced most search functionality.
6. Because of the way iPhoto now does caching, the technique (see prior blog entries) of hosting iPhoto images on an SMB HFS+ sparseimage w/ 802.11b access works outstandingly well. If you try to edit you have to wait a while, but the thumbnails are cached locally. This is worth the price of the upgrade to me. We'll see what kinds of interesting file corruption I get. (The sparseimage file is journaled, interestingly. So maybe the library will survive network disruption.)
7. My iTunes library is on an SMB share, but it's stored natively (NTFS). iPhoto 2 would show the songs when iTunes was running, but it wouldn't play them. iPhoto 4 at first use showed them, but didn't allow me to select individual songs - they were grayed out. It did allow me to select a Playlist.
With a wired LAN connection I could play the music with my slideshow. With an 802.11b connection I couldn't - at first. Then I got the black screen of death (multilingual hard reset directions) on awakening with iPhoto running. After restart iPhoto relocated my SMB shared mounted sparsemimage. I tried again with iTunes running and my NTFS-native iTunes library loaded -- this time the Slideshow worked over 802.11b.
8. The UI for switching aspect ratio constraints on cropping between portrait and landscape is weird. It looks broken, but it still works. Some ratios (DVD) don't allow switching, others do. Switch by scrollling down to a checkable item that shows the aspect ratio that doesn't match the images current ratio. The default matches the image. You can still option drag to switch on the fly. Bad design.
9. In some testing iPhoto 4 appears to have spontaneously deleted an album. Fortunately I'm only working on my test images. If this sort of thing is mentioned by others I'll go back to iPhoto 2.
10. iPhoto 4 uses only a bit more space than iPhoto 2 in the individual image library when starting out. However the aggressive caching strategy uses substantial space on the system disk. I don't yet know where iPhoto is doing its caching, but we'll need a way to clean this out periodically.
Overall iLife fits the usual somewhat disappointing pattern of recent Apple s/w releases -- too early, unfinished, unMaclike and with some boneheaded design decisions. Apple is way short of quality control and testing resources.
Wait for a bug fix release, then wait a few more weeks for news, then upgrade.]
Apple - iLife
1. iLife can only install on the boot drive. Bad sign right at the start. A boot drive restriction suggests a pretty bad architecture. You need to "customize" the install to select individual apps. (You can work around this, see a later post in this blog.)
2. iDVD still only works with Apple's SuperDrive.
3. There's minimal new support for consolidating libraries. See my later (separate) post on a possible technique.
4. Keywords are still worthless. Or almost worthless. Outstanding incompetence. You still can't sort keywords. You really need to stick to about 8 keywords at most. The ridiculous UI is unchanged.
5. You can't search directly on comments or titles anymore. You can only search directly on keywords. Basically, to locate things, you create a smart album and view the results. The smart albums have replaced most search functionality.
6. Because of the way iPhoto now does caching, the technique (see prior blog entries) of hosting iPhoto images on an SMB HFS+ sparseimage w/ 802.11b access works outstandingly well. If you try to edit you have to wait a while, but the thumbnails are cached locally. This is worth the price of the upgrade to me. We'll see what kinds of interesting file corruption I get. (The sparseimage file is journaled, interestingly. So maybe the library will survive network disruption.)
7. My iTunes library is on an SMB share, but it's stored natively (NTFS). iPhoto 2 would show the songs when iTunes was running, but it wouldn't play them. iPhoto 4 at first use showed them, but didn't allow me to select individual songs - they were grayed out. It did allow me to select a Playlist.
With a wired LAN connection I could play the music with my slideshow. With an 802.11b connection I couldn't - at first. Then I got the black screen of death (multilingual hard reset directions) on awakening with iPhoto running. After restart iPhoto relocated my SMB shared mounted sparsemimage. I tried again with iTunes running and my NTFS-native iTunes library loaded -- this time the Slideshow worked over 802.11b.
8. The UI for switching aspect ratio constraints on cropping between portrait and landscape is weird. It looks broken, but it still works. Some ratios (DVD) don't allow switching, others do. Switch by scrollling down to a checkable item that shows the aspect ratio that doesn't match the images current ratio. The default matches the image. You can still option drag to switch on the fly. Bad design.
9. In some testing iPhoto 4 appears to have spontaneously deleted an album. Fortunately I'm only working on my test images. If this sort of thing is mentioned by others I'll go back to iPhoto 2.
10. iPhoto 4 uses only a bit more space than iPhoto 2 in the individual image library when starting out. However the aggressive caching strategy uses substantial space on the system disk. I don't yet know where iPhoto is doing its caching, but we'll need a way to clean this out periodically.
Overall iLife fits the usual somewhat disappointing pattern of recent Apple s/w releases -- too early, unfinished, unMaclike and with some boneheaded design decisions. Apple is way short of quality control and testing resources.
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