The joys of rich text format wordprocessing

I needed to lookup something I'd written in Living with the Beast so I googled on faughnan OS X word processor. I found my page, but next to it I found a great article that referenced it:

O'Reilly Network -- TextEdit's Default Format: RTF... Why?

... A quick glance at Planet Jeffery's list of text and RTF editors for Windows gives you an idea of the level of demand for utilities like this. Writers, or anyone who needs to meddle with text every day, have been known to find the bloat and weight of well-known word processors too much to handle. Those who have to use Word come up with strategies for coping--see John Faughnan's Living with the Beast for an entertaining example.

Many people have simple requirements, such as access to simple formatting controls while writing. A lightweight processor, especially one that uses the RTF format, is often the best solution...

Aside from the reference to my page, it's a terrific reference that describes the pros and cons of using RTF as a file format. Today RTF is still the most interoperable file format, though I think every RTF user is hoping that a more robust open document format will replace it (such as the OpenOffice entry or even, shudder, Microsoft's maybe-sort-of-pseudo-open-for-now-kind-of alternative).

Aperture 1.1 is almost here ...

Apple's updated their web site: Apple - Aperture - Aperture 1.1 Update.

Among the new features are improvements in sharpening, noise compensation (including an auto feature), performance improvements and bug fixes.

I'm ready to try it, but I do get educational pricing. Maybe late April or early May if the initial reports aren't too bad.

Microsoft Access SQL: Ancient mystery solved

Don't get me started on Microsoft Access. It's hard to avoid colorful language and impolitic metaphor. Suffice to say few tools combine such power and such misery in a single package.

One abiding mystery with Access is the documentation for its flavor of SQL (not to mention the occult and bizarre functions, abandoned bastard children of VisualBasic, one can embed into queries). I've often searched on "Microsoft Access SQL" and found nothing [2]. Recently, reading the very good Wikipedia article on Access I came across a clue. Since the default database engine is "Jet", maybe a search on "Jet SQL" would work better.

It does: Microsoft Office Assistance: Microsoft Jet SQL Reference

[1] For example: Create View.

CREATE VIEW can be executed only through the ADO library.
Access itself uses DAO, so any attempt to CREATE VIEW from the query design
window will fail.

If you try to create a view within Access itself, you get a very helpful error message: "Syntax error in create table statement". Sigh. I do love my Mac.

[2] It's mostly in the help file but Microsoft's brilliantly helpful implementation obscures this. BTW, I think Vista and Office 2007 will be, both, catastrophes.

iPod Diagnostics

A terrific link from TUAW - how to sort out iPod problems: iPod Diagnostics - The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW)

SSH tunnels for secure network access

It's not for the faint of heart, but here's how geeks secure their communications channels: How-To: SSH tunnels for secure network access - Engadget

The big problem is "hotspots". If a hotspot doenn't have a password, then communications between computer and hotspot can be easily monitored. Passwords can be snatched enroute. VPN is one answer, SSH Tunnels are another.

Canon's Digital Photo Professional: It's not bad

A few months ago I bought myself a Digital Rebel XT for "that solstice holiday". I've been pretty satisfied with it, but until now I've just been shooting JPG and using the sRGB color space.

Recently I bought the Magic Lantern Guide to the Digital Rebel XT EOS 350D. The book mentioned that Canon's Digital Photo Professional is now bundled with the camera, and that it's pretty good. Sure enough I found it on my CD. I decided to try shooting JPEG and RAW and give it a spin.

I'm impressed. The JPEG+RAW fills my memory card pretty quickly, but even so I rarely get beyond the 60-70% level before I transfer images. The latest version of Canon's DPP (download the patch) breaks Canon's EOS Capture however. I'm using Image Capture to pull in the images, embedding sRGB profiles in the JPEGs. I then review in DPP. I make major changes to images there. If I don't need to fix an image, I delete the RAW (CRF) file. If I do need to fix a JPG, I work on the RAW/CRF file and save it as JPEG 8 bit, then delete the CRF file. (I wouldn't mind, however, an option to save as JPEG 2000 or DNG.)

When I'm done I rename the files with my usual naming convention (YYMMDD_RoleName_IMGNumber) and dump them in iPhoto. Overall it's a practical way to learn more without burning lots of disk space. It should work for me until I switch to Aperture post the 1.1 release. The only glitch is that DPP is agonizingly slow at converting to JPG.

Update: UhOh. Big Glitch! The trim tool doesn't seem to work at all! I wonder if this bug was introduced with the latest patch.The Trim tool works in a slightly different manner than I'm used to. You set a "trim" and a "trim" icon displays over the RAW file. But the trim is only applied when you convert to TIFF or JPEG. The astoundingly slow JPG conversion must be running in some kind of emulation, it's so slow it makes this application much less useful than it should be. I think the only way to use it is to batch the conversions so you can set them up and return later in the day ...

HotSync wars

Wow, I'm tired. I've had a few days of HotSync and Outlook wars. At home it was the Tungsten E2 Outlook conduits and my old copy of Outlook 2000, at work the same PDA but synching only BeyondContacts/KeySuite with Outlook 2003.

I've seen all kinds of fun error messages, such as the 'OLERR: (number)' errors in HotSync. Palm's troubleshooting guide suggests they've just thrown up their hands.

I went through too many twists and turns to remember, but I finaly defeated a wide range of Outlook and Palm misbehaviors.

At work with Beyond Contacts I think the fix was repairing some bad Outlook PST files and running "outlook /resetfolders" (see also this list of Outlook command line switches), but I also got this advice from tech support:

I am writing in response to your email regarding Beyond Contacts. Please try the following steps to correct the problem. Before completing these steps, please confirm that all of your data is up to date in MS Outlook on your computer.

1. Click on the HotSync icon in the System Tray (lower righthand corner by the clock)
2. Select Exit
3. Go to the following location:

C:/ Program Files/ Palm/ User Name Folder/ Beyond Contacts

4. From the Edit menu choose "Select All." Delete the contents of this folder.
5. Restart HotSync Manager by going to your Start menu and selecting Programs or All Programs. You will find HotSync Manager will be under your Palm Desktop Program Group.
6. Click on the HotSync icon in the System Tray (lower righthand corner by the clock)
7. Select Custom
8. Double-Click Beyond Contacts
9. Click the 'Advanced' button and make sure the correct Outlook Profile is selected
10. Set Beyond Contacts to "Synchronize the Files"
11. Click 'OK'
12. Click 'Done'
13. Synchronize. During this sync you will once again be asked to select the preferred method. If all of your data is up to date in Outlook like suggested at the start of these steps, you will want to choose this from the Window.

At home I decide to upgrade Outlook 2000 to 2003. I realized it was very unlikely that he current conduits were really aimed at Outlook 3 versions old. I then removed my old profile and ran into a mess of issues with where IMAP mail goes, what data files one uses, which data file is associated with an email account, etc etc. Fortunately all my data was backed up in old PST files. This time I went into the advanced settings for the conduits and enabled sync to multiple PCs. I think that turned off the obnoxious warnings.

Phew. What a mess. No wonder no-one syncs a PDA at work any more ...