Ideas and notes

Photography

Sun, 20 Nov 2011 03:26:26 GMT

Digital Workflow:
1. Copy RAW files from CF -> HD
2. Import images into myTracks and assign location
3. Import images into Lightroom
4. Scan images and select rejects (OOF, etc..)
5. Scan images and select Picks
6. Select Picks and apply develop settings
7. Export Picks to Web/Disk

Installing Canon Updaters on OSX:
1. mount the .dmg and drag the updater within it to your desktop.
2. right-click on the updater and "Show Package Contents"
3. navigate to Contents>Resources and delete the "update.plist" file.
4. now, double click the Updater you dragged to the desktop in step 2 and it will install.
An update to this - there is now a package within the package called SDI.Bundle and update.plist has been moved to here.

For FreeBSD/Linux, check out

graphics/ufraw - The Unidentified Flying Raw (UFRaw) is a utility to read and manipulate raw images from digital cameras. It can be used on its own or as a Gimp plug-in. It reads raw images using Dave Coffin's raw conversion utility - DCRaw. UFRaw supports basic color management using Little CMS, allowing the user to apply color profiles. For Nikon users UFRaw has the advantage that it can read the camera's tone curves. Even if you don't own a Nikon, you can still apply a Nikon curve to your images.

Instantly Switching 1Ds Autofocus Modes One of the biggest technical challenges in photography is focusing; choosing what element of the image should be the center of focus and locking focus on that element quickly and accurately. The 45-point autofocus system of the 1Ds is fast and usually accurate, but at times it will lock focus on something other than the intended center of focus, especially if there is an obstruction in front of the main subject. In that situation, autofocus can still be used, but it needs to be limited to a single focus sensor so that the camera knows exactly what the intended subject is. In other situations, manual focus may be necessary to achieve the desired effect. Additionally, in low light situations the autofocus system requires more time to lock focus on the subject and the delay this causes can result in missing the desired shot. If the distance to the main subject is not fluctuating, it can be desirable to lock focus and then take multiple shots quickly without any intervening focus delays.

The Canon EOS-1Ds has numerous custom functions that can be used to configure the way the camera works, and they can be set to accommodate all of these situations easily. The first thing to do is to "register" the center autofocus sensor by pressing the AF point selector button (just to the right of the * button), rotating the command dials to select the center autofocus sensor, then simultaneously pressing the X and Flash Exposure Lock buttons. Then set Custom Function 4 to option 1 so that autofocus with all 45 focus sensors is initiated when the * button on the back of the camera is pressed (it's under the tip of your right thumb when holding the camera normally), and exposure lock occurs on shutter release half-press. Next, set Custom Function 18 to 2 to autofocus with center sensor only by pressing the X button. (This button is just to the left of the * button.) With this combination of settings, you can instantly switch between manual focus (don't press any button and turn the focus ring on the lens) autofocus with center sensor only (press X button) and autofocus with all 45 sensors (press * button). The X and * buttons are right under the tip of your right thumb, and with a little practice you can switch between them instantly by touch without having to take your eye from the viewfinder. Not having autofocus tied to the shutter button takes a little getting used to, but the control and flexibility it offers is well worth the time it takes to learn.

If this doesn't seem to work, press X, then press the AF point select button (the button to the right of the * button) and select all focus sensors; the entire outer circle of focus points will light up. Then press the * button and you should be focusing with all 45 AF sensors. You can also use this technique to manually select a single non-center focus sensor and instantly switch between the non-center sensor and the center sensor with the * and X buttons.

Item + Review
Canon EOS-1Ds	http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/CanonEOS1Ds/
Canon EF-50mm f/1.4 USM	http://www.dpreview.com/lensreviews/canon_50_1p4_c16/
Canon EF 16-35mm f/2.8L II USM
Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM
Tamrac Adventure 9 Backpack
Kirk FR-1	$269.95
Acratech GP Ball Head	$399.00
Giottos MT9360 Tripod	$170.00
Acratech Universal L Bracket	$230.00
Item + Review
Canon G9
Canon WP-DC21
Canon LA-DC58H Conversion Lens Adapter G9
Canon TC-DC58C Tele Converter Lens G9
Canon WC-DC58B Wide Converter Lens G9
Item + Review
Epson Stylus Photo R2400
Item + Review
Gorillapod Flexible Tripod

Wishlist

Thu, 03 Nov 2011 17:39:00 GMT

Amazon List

Work

Sat, 22 Oct 2011 23:15:00 GMT

Consulting

Hosting

CV

Security

OSX

Mon, 08 Aug 2011 06:40:00 GMT

Lion Notes
Snow Leopard Notes
Leopard Notes
Tiger Notes

MacPorts
GeekTool
Growl
Mail.app

TFTP Setup

MacPorts

Mon, 08 Aug 2011 06:40:00 GMT

How to sync your ports tree using Subversion (over HTTP)
Audience: end users who cannot use rsync (873/tcp) due to firewalls, proxies, policy, etc.
Requires: MacPorts
Requires: Subversion
Leopard comes with subversion already installed. If you are using Tiger, or some other system which does not provide a subversion client, you will need to install subversion yourself. If you have a copy of the ports tree already, just run:

sudo port install subversion
If you do not have a copy of the ports tree, you can download the daily tarball by following the tarball howto.

Introduction

Some people live and work behind a firewall or proxy that block or otherwise break rsync, which is the primary means of getting updated portfiles in MacPorts. The following steps will switch your tree over to using subversion (over http) for syncing.

Note: replace "$prefix" with the location of your MacPorts install, which defaults to /opt/local.

Installation

Step 1: Checkout Initial Copy

cd $prefix/var/macports/sources
mkdir -p svn.macports.org/trunk/dports
cd svn.macports.org/trunk/dports
svn co http://svn.macports.org/repository/macports/trunk/dports/ .
Configuration

Step 2: Configure MacPorts

Edit $prefix/etc/macports/sources.conf to comment out the rsync entry and add the "file" entry:

Note: don't forget to replace $prefix.

rsync:rsync.macports.org/release/ports/ [default]
file:/$prefix/var/macports/sources/svn.macports.org/trunk/dports/ [default]

Optional Parts

Step 3: Test Sync

Run sync in debug mode and watch for "svn update" instead of "rsync" being used:

port -d sync

LionNotes

Fri, 08 Jul 2011 16:58:00 GMT

Make the Library folder visable: sudo chflags nohidden Library

Logitech_720_Notes

Sun, 09 May 2010 21:25:00 GMT

Programming the Logitech 720 for use with XBMC

1. You must UNPAIR any Apple Remotes you have already paired with OS X in System Preferences -> Security -> General.

2. In XBMC's System Settings for Apple Remote, set it to Multi-Remote.

3. If you are interested in the ability to launch XBMC using the Menu button on your Harmony One, enable the Always On setting. Please note that this will prevent the use of the Harmony One OR any Apple Remote by any other applications, including Front Row, Sofa Control, Remote Buddy, Plex, etc.

4. We'll assume you've installed the Logitech Harmony Remote software and have already used it to configure other devices.

5. Create a new device of type "Media Center PC", brand Plex, and type "Plex Player" into the box.

6. Create a new Activity using this Plex Player device and any other devices you need (TVs, amps, etc).

7. Rename this Activity something like "Watch XBMC"

8. Customize the buttons for this Activity as shown in these screenshots.

HTPC

Sun, 09 May 2010 21:00:00 GMT

Goal: Ability to play music, and watch movies, DVDs, or TV shows all from one interface, with one remote (to rule them all)

Hardware
Mac Mini
1GB RAM
80GB Disk
DVI -> Component for SD TV
1Gbit link connects mini and NAS
Logitech 720 Remote Notes
Apple BT keyboard

Software
XBMC: Used to read files from my NAS
iTunes: Easy creation and management of playlists
DoubleTwist:Syncing media to my Nexus One

GeekTool

Wed, 21 Apr 2010 17:20:00 GMT

Element	Shell Command	Font	Location	Size	Update Period (sec)
The day	date +%A	Helvetica, Regular, 27point with drop shadow	10x, 727y	200w x 40h	60
The month	date +%B	Helvetica, Regular, 36point with drop shadow	10x, 750y	200w x 50h	60
The day of the month	date +%d	Helvetica, Regular, 64point with drop shadow	210x, 720y	100w x 80h	60
The time	date "+%I:%M"	Helvetica, Bold, 72point with drop shadow	20x, 780y	200w x 80h	10
am/pm	date +%p	Helvetica, Regular, 48point with drop shadow	210x, 785y	100w x 70h	10
The temperature	bin/weather.rb -t	Helvetica, Bold, 18point	20x, 855y	70w x 25h	300
The weather	bin/weather.rb -d \| fmt -w 40	Helvetica, Regular, 10point	90x, 855y	210w x 38h	300
When the weather was updated	bin/weather.rb -w	Helvetica, Regular, 8point	35x, 878y	64w x 25h	300

#!/usr/bin/ruby
require 'rss/2.0'
require 'open-uri'
require 'optparse'
require 'fileutils'
 
summary = false
forecast = false
temperature = false
today = false
weatherdate = false
 
opts = OptionParser.new
opts.on("-s") { |val| summary = true }
opts.on("-f") { |val| forecast = true }
opts.on("-t") { |val| temperature = true }
opts.on("-d") { |val| today = true }
opts.on("-w") { |val| weatherdate = true }
opts.parse!
 
# Check if another process is downloading the weather and block until it's done
while File.file?('/tmp/weather.rb.tmp.lck')
  sleep(0.1)
end
 
# Download the weather if it's out of date
if !File.file?("/tmp/weather.rb.tmp") || ((Time.now - File.mtime("/tmp/weather.rb.tmp")) > 1800)
  FileUtils.touch('/tmp/weather.rb.tmp.lck')
  `curl --silent -m 30 "http://rss.wunderground.com/auto/rss_full/<your-state>/<your-city>.xml?units=english" > /tmp/weather.rb.tmp`
  if File.size("/tmp/weather.rb.tmp") == 0
    FileUtils.rm("/tmp/weather.rb.tmp")
  end
  FileUtils.rm('/tmp/weather.rb.tmp.lck')
end
 
# Parse out the weather results
File.open('/tmp/weather.rb.tmp') do |f|
  response = f.read
  result = RSS::Parser.parse(response, false)
  result.items.each_with_index do |item, i|
    puts "#{item.title.gsub(/ - .*/, '')}"  if summary == true and i == 0
    puts "#{item.description.strip}\n\n" if forecast == true and i > 0
    puts "#{item.title.gsub(/Current Conditions : /, '').gsub(/,.*/, '')}" if temperature == true and i == 0
    puts "#{item.description.gsub(/Today - /,'').gsub(/Tonight - /,'').gsub(/This Afternoon - /,'').gsub(/[\r\n\t]/, '')}" if today == true and i == 1
    hour = item.pubDate.hour()
    if hour < 12
      ampm = "AM"
    else
      ampm = "PM"
    end
    if hour == 0
      hour = 12
    end
    if hour > 12
      hour = hour - 12
    end
    puts "#{item.pubDate.mon()}/#{item.pubDate.day()} #{hour}:#{'%02d' % item.pubDate.min()} #{ampm}" if weatherdate == true and i == 0
  end
end

SnowLeopardNotes

Fri, 09 Apr 2010 17:26:00 GMT

VerboseBooting

Set printing options that aren't in the gui here

SingleUser Repairs

SingleUser Repairs

Fri, 09 Apr 2010 17:26:00 GMT

Start by loading the Directory Services 'launchctl /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.DirectoryServices.plist'

Then we can use dscl to manipulate things.

Resetting_the_SMU

Sat, 27 Feb 2010 04:40:00 GMT

Apple Support KB
Power Mac G5 (Late 2005)
To reset the SMU on a Power Mac G5 (Late 2005) computer, either use the steps listed above for the Power Mac G5 (Late 2004) or:

Turn off the computer by selecting Shut Down from the Apple menu or by holding the power button until the computer turns off.
Open and remove both the metallic outer door and the inner plastic air deflector.
Remove the fan assembly immediately to the left of the processor module.
Press the SMU reset button on the logic board.
Replace the fan assembly, air deflector, and outer door.
Turn on the computer.
The SMU reset button is located underneath the lower bank of system memory slots, as shown below:

Unlike earlier models of Power Mac G5 or Power Mac G4 computers, the Power Mac G5 (Late 2004) and (Late 2005) models do not have a PMU. This functionality has been replaced by the SMU.

Personal

Sat, 27 Feb 2010 04:38:00 GMT

Hardware
Software
Photography
Bicycles
Wishlist
Nerdly Inspiration
TiddlyWiki
BayLISA

Hardware

Sat, 27 Feb 2010 04:38:00 GMT

Storage
Cisco
HTPC
Apple_G5

Apple_G5

Sat, 27 Feb 2010 04:38:00 GMT

Resetting the SMU

Software

Sat, 27 Feb 2010 04:37:00 GMT

FreeBSD
OSX
Xen
FreeNAS
FreeNAS_Vinnie
PGP

LeopardNotes

Fri, 05 Feb 2010 21:21:00 GMT

Enable an Apple Mac OS X machine as a syslog server
Here is a small howto that describes how your Mac OS X machine can also receive logs from remote devices such as an Apple Airport Extreme. There are some howto's available online, but I guess that somethings have changed in 10.5, none seem to work perfectly.

Change syslogd configuration

echo "local0.notice /var/log/airport.log" >> /etc/syslog.conf

Touch the logfile

touch /var/log/airport.log

Change syslogd startup procedure
At the end of the file, uncomment the part to accept remote logging.

cat /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.syslogd.plist

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple Computer//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
    <key>Label</key>
    <string>com.apple.syslogd</string>
    <key>OnDemand</key>
    <false/>
    <key>ProgramArguments</key>
    <array>
<!--
Un-comment the following lines to run syslogd with a sandbox profile.
Sandbox profiles restrict processes from performing unauthorized
operations; so it may be necessary to update the profile
(/usr/share/sandbox/syslogd.sb) if any changes are made to the syslog
configuration (/etc/syslog.conf).
-->
<!--
<string>/usr/bin/sandbox-exec</string>
<string>-f</string>
<string>/usr/share/sandbox/syslogd.sb</string>
-->
<string>/usr/sbin/syslogd</string>
    </array>
<key>MachServices</key>
<dict>
<key>com.apple.system.logger</key>
<true/>
</dict>
<key>Sockets</key>
<dict>
<key>AppleSystemLogger</key>
<dict>
<key>SockPathName</key>
<string>/var/run/asl_input</string>
<key>SockPathMode</key>
<integer>438</integer>
</dict>
<key>BSDSystemLogger</key>
<dict>
<key>SockPathName</key>
<string>/var/run/syslog</string>
<key>SockType</key>
<string>dgram</string>
<key>SockPathMode</key>
<integer>438</integer>
</dict>
<!--
Un-comment the following lines to enable the network syslog protocol listener.
-->
<key>NetworkListener</key>
<dict>
<key>SockServiceName</key>
<string>syslog</string>
<key>SockType</key>
<string>dgram</string>
</dict>
</dict>
</dict>
</plist>

Restart syslogd

# launchctl unload /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.syslogd.plist
# launchctl load /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.syslogd.plist

Open the firewall
Go the the System Preferences, click Security, open the Firewall tab and click the +. Select the file /usr/bin/syslog.
If you are unable to select the /usr directory, try this hack by opening a terminal and typing:

$ cd
$ ln -s /usr/bin
$ ln -s /usr/sbin

Now you can select the file (in your home directory) ./bin/syslog and ./sbin/syslogd

Blackberry and Leopard
Blackberry I have
Pocket Mac

Getting Time Machine to work on an Unsupported NAS

Some of us may own Network Attached Storage (NAS) devices, and/or may feel that an Apple Time Capsule is too expensive, and hence would rather buy a seperate router, NAS and Hard Disk Drives. This guide will help you to enable Time Machine on any NAS, allowing you to have the functionality of a Time Capsule, with hardware of your own choosing.

1. Prepare your NAS. Make sure it is fully functioning. This mini-guide assumes you already have one that is functioning well, and you know how to manage it.
2. It would be preferable to assign your NAS a Static IP address. Check your router and NAS documentation for guidelines on how to do this.
3. In OS X, open up Terminal and enter the following command to enable Time Machine to work with your NAS: defaults write com.apple.systempreferences TMShowUnsupportedNetworkVolumes 1
4. Log out of OS X and Log in again. You do not need to reboot your machine.
5. Time Machine saves backups in a very specific format, and we will use a sparsebundle to get this done. The sparsebundle name consists of your Computername_MACaddress.sparsebundle.
6. Find the MAC address of the machine’s internal Ethernet port with ifconfig en0 | grep ether | sed s/:g | sed s/ether in Terminal. This will return one line of output, which is the MAC address for the Ethernet port, which will be a string of 14 hexadecimal characters (letters and numbers, for example, 001ec4b8f9b3).   Even if the network backups will be done using a different port (e.g. AirPort: usually en1), the system will use the MAC address of en0 as part of the system identifier.
7. Make a new “sparsebundle” on a local disk (NOT the Time Machine disk!). This sparsebundle is a virtual filesystem image which we’ll copy to the NAS, and Time Machine will then access it remotely (that way Time Machine’s not limited by the filesystem features of whatever NAS it’s using: all the funky stuff happens within the sparsebundle). By default sparsebundles can keep growing until they fill up the NAS, but in this scenario we keep other things on the NAS as well as backups, and we’re going to limit the sparsebundle size to 70 GB.Enter the following command in Terminal:
sudo hdiutil create -size 70g -type SPARSEBUNDLE -nospotlight -volname “Backup of My Mac” -fs “Case-sensitive Journaled HFS+” -verbose ./Computername_MACaddress. This will create a 70GB sparse-bundle as a case-sensitive, journaled HFS+ without spotlight indexing. Substitute variables in red for values you need. Computername_MACaddress may be in the form of “DansComputer_001ec4b8f9b3
8. Log into your NAS and create a user Account (Eg, “TimeMachine”). You may want to assign disk space quotas for this user if you need to.
9. On your NAS, create a shared folder (Eg, “TimeMachine”). Add the user account you created in step 8 above, and grant that user Read+Write privileges.
10. In Finder, select Go>Connect to Server. For the server address, type smb:TimeMachine@ip-address-of-nas/TimeMachine. Click Connect and when prompted, enter the password and save in your keychain.
11. Now copy your locally created sparsebundle into the TimeMachine share. If you did not change the folder when you entered command prompt, you may find this sparsebundle in your Home folder (/Users/yourusername).
12. On your NAS, check to see that the file is copied under the correct user account.
13. Open up Time Machine, select your “TimeMachine”-folder as the desired destination, and the backup will start.
14. Tip: For the first backup it is recommended to connect via LAN, as you will be able to get a throughput of 10-30MB/sec.
15. If your NAS allows for it, you may now hide your TimeMachine folder so they do not show up over the network share list.

AddressBook iSyncing

Step 1

Open up Terminal.app, but if you aren’t confortable with the terminal you might want to follow this tip instead. Once you have Terminal open, navigate to ~/Library/Preferences/. We will need to edit the com.apple.iPod.plist file located here. First make a backup of this file then take a look at its contents. If the file is a binary file you will need to execute the following command:
plutil -convert xml1 com.apple.iPod.plist

Now you should be able to edit the file with your favorite text editor (TextWrangler, vim, etc). Change whatever number is below ‘Family ID’ to 10001 as shown below.

Save your changes and run the following command to convert the file back to a binary:
plutil -convert binary1 com.apple.iPod.plist

Note: You may want to duplicate the iPod entry to prevent this from being disabled by future iPod syncs. To do so copy everything contained within the <dict> and </dict> below,
<key>000B27111236C6CB</key>
<dict>
…
</dict>

and paste just below the original entry. Then simply change the <key> number slightly to prevent overwriting.
Step 2

Open Address Book and go to the Preferences-General pane and check the box to enable Synchronize with Gmail. You’ll be prompted to enter your Gmail account information (see below).
If you don’t have any iSync devices such as mobile phones or PDAs then you will also need to enable Yahoo syncing for this to work, see this guide for more information.

Step 3

Now open iSync.app and go to the Preferences panel. Check the box to show status in the menu bar (see below). Quit iSync.app.

Step 4

Make sure iSync.app is not running and go the the iSync menu bar icon and select ‘Sync Now’. You will be prompted to replace or merge with your Google Gmail Address Book.

Sometimes getting “Sync Now” to show up can be tricky, my only suggestion right now is to reboot and try again.

Repeat

Simply repeat steps 1-4 on any other Macs where you want your address book to be available.

To change the Google sync client type, open a terminal window and type (one line)
sudo defaults write /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/GoogleContactSync.framework/Resources/ClientDescription Type 'server'

Then type the following one line command to restore the permissions on the plist file:
sudo chmod 644 /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/GoogleContactSync.framework/Resources/ClientDescription.plist

Stop auto-switching in Spaces

Problem: Spaces is great and all, but it forces me to sort by applications instead of tasks. For example, if I select {application} from the Dock, then it automatically switches me to the virtual desktop space in which I first started {application}. However, what I really wanted was to start another instance of {application} running in my current virtual desktop space. Assigning {application} to all desktops in the Spaces preferences isn't the solution, because then Spaces just drags around all {application} windows onto all desktop spaces.

Solution: Issue the following command in a Terminal or xterm (X11) window:

defaults write com.apple.dock workspaces-auto-swoosh -bool NO

Restart the Dock using the following command:

killall Dock

Spaces will now allow you to start multiple instances of an application in separate desktop spaces. Note that implementing this setting can result in confusing behavior if you have used the Spaces preferences to assign a specific application to a specific desktop spaces (although assigning appplications to all desktop spaces appears to be fine). Repeat with “NO” replaced by “YES” to restore the default behavior. The file modified by defaults in this case is ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.Dock.plist.

OS Version Compatibility: Leopard (10.5.2+) only.

AutoDelete

Mon, 14 Dec 2009 19:27:00 GMT

(Referenced here)

This refinement of Sebastian's method takes advantage of features in MySQL 4.x and later to encapsulate the deletions in a transaction so that data integrity is maintained even while new mail items are being received.

Start by creating the index on maia_mail.score as before:

CREATE INDEX maia_mail_idx_score ON maia_mail (score);

Next, create the view but use a temporary table to store it so that we can safely delete from the actual maia_mail table (since it's referenced in the view itself):

CREATE ALGORITHM = TEMPTABLE VIEW maia.HighScore AS
       SELECT maia_mail.id AS id
              FROM maia_mail
              WHERE maia_mail.score >= 20;

Now copy the following SQL code to a file (e.g. maia-autodelete.sql):

START TRANSACTION WITH CONSISTENT SNAPSHOT;
   DELETE FROM maia_mail_recipients
          WHERE mail_id IN (SELECT * FROM maia.HighScore);
   DELETE FROM maia_sa_rules_triggered
          WHERE mail_id IN (SELECT * FROM maia.HighScore);
   DELETE FROM maia_viruses_detected
          WHERE mail_id IN (SELECT * FROM maia.HighScore);
   DELETE FROM maia_banned_attachments_found
          WHERE mail_id IN (SELECT * FROM maia.HighScore);
   DELETE FROM maia_mail
          WHERE id IN (SELECT * FROM maia.HighScore);
COMMIT;

To execute the script, just feed it to MySQL:

mysql -u root -p maia < maia-autodelete.sql

Robert's original post can be found here.

MaiaMailGuard

Mon, 14 Dec 2009 19:23:00 GMT

Auto-Deleting entries that score >= X

Consulting

Mon, 14 Dec 2009 19:22:00 GMT

Security Planning
FreeBSD
Solaris
Sendmail
Linksys
Bouncing mail
DNS testing (random ports)
Maia Mailguard