sadevil.org

For my PVR/HTMAC project, I wanted to auto-mount several shares from my NAS. After some searching I ran across this hint on the Mac OS X Hints website, which works perfectly:

Basically, you add the shares you want to mount to the /etc/fstab file, with this syntax:

excalibur:/music x url net,automounted,url==cifs://guest:@excalibur/music 0 0
excalibur:/photos x url net,automounted,url==cifs://guest:@excalibur/photos 0 0
excalibur:/videos x url net,automounted,url==cifs://guest:@excalibur/videos 0 0

That way, those shares will allways be mounted under /Network/Servers, and always available, starting boot-time. Works like a charm ;)

I recently acquired a Mac Mini, which I’m going to use as a PVR.

Together with an Elgato EyeTV Hybrid it works perfectly, attached to my good old analogue 21″ Sony TV .

Sofar it seems to work fine, using a DVI-to-svideo convertor. I’ve installed the EyeTV software, the PyeTV Front Row plugin (which allows me to controle EyeTV from within Front Row) and Perian (for more codec support in Front Row)

More on this can be found on the Hicksdesign blog ;)

Here’s a short how-to to get the iodine dns tunnel working on your Mac.

In this short howto, I’ll assume you’ll be using a linux server to act as your gateway to the world. I’ll also assume you’ve read the iodine documentation and setup your DNS accordingly. For my example, I’ll be using a (nonexistant) DynDNS.org static DNS entry, iodine.rulestheworld.tld. I’ll also assume that you’ll be using a public internet address of 1.2.3.4, and a private subnet of 10.0.0.1.

1. Install the tun/tap driver for Mac OS X. Easy as doing *click* *click* done! :p
2. Next, install iodine on your Mac. Easy as download, extract, and typing make; make install
3. Now, install iodine on your linux box. It’s included in the package repositories of the usual suspects, for instance debian: apt-get install iodine.

   Start it (or configure it to use) with:
   iodined -P <password> <unused private IP> <dns name>
   or in our example:
   iodined -P mypass 10.0.0.1 iodine.rulestheworld.tld

   This should return the following:

   Opened dns0
   Setting IP of dns0 to 10.0.0.1
   Setting MTU of dns0 to 1024
   Opened UDP socket
   Listening to dns for domain iodine.rulestheworld.tld

4. Configure your linux box for IP forwarding: sysctl -e net.ipv4.ip_forward=1
(and add this to your /etc/sysctl.conf file), and configuring your firewall (iptables) for masquerading:
   iptables -t nat -A POSTROUTING -s 10.0.0.0/255.255.255.0 -o eth0 -j MASQUERADE
5. Next, download NStun.sh, a very handy script that does all the hard work of changing the routes and so on :p

   You’ll want to change the script: change the first lines as the script reads, and lower, change the
   

   NS=`grep nameserver /etc/resolv.conf|head -1|awk ‘{print $2}’`

   line to read

   NS=”62.213.207.197″

Now, start NStun.sh on your Mac, and surf away! (well, slowly, but freely, atleast!)

I got a company phone, a Nokia 3109 Classic, which is nothing less nothing more than a standard company phone. It doesn’t have all the bells and whistles I’d like to have, but it works.

What didn’t work, was iSync on this phone. Real bummer, since I was hoping to sync everything between iCal/Address Book and this phone…

Google to the rescue, and i stumbled over this blog posting by James Lloyd, detailing how to get it to work.

Summary:

1. Download the script here
2. Right click iSync from the Applications folder in Finder and choose “Show Package Contents”
3. Navigate to: Contents\Plugins\ApplePhoneConduit.syncdevice\Contents\Plugins\Nokia-6131.phoneplugin and choose “Show Package Contents” again.
4. Navigate to \Contents\Resources
5. Replace the content of the MetaClasses.plist file with the content of the script downloaded in step 1
6. (Re-)Setup your phone with your Mac

Done!

I still haven’t found any mail client I really like on the Mac… I’ve been using Thunderbird now for a while, but it doesn’t really have what I want in a mail client. I guess I’m spoiled, since I’m used to using KMail at home (and I’m forced to use Lotus Notes at work - a horrible client from a usability point of view).

Recently I’ve been trying to get Mail.app to work for me. It doesn’t have quite all the bells and whistles I like, but after looking up some things online it’s getting there.

Here are some handy things for Mail.app to fix some of it’s shortcomings:

What I still need:

• A way to improve the threading - it’s horrible
• An easy way to switch from mailbox to mailbox through all the ones with unread messages

Let’s see if I find some way to fix those two… especially the threading.

After they screwed a screw in my previous repair, it’s back again. I’ve checked it, nothing’s loose, everything seems to be in order. Let’s hope it is!

Grmble.

Yesterday I picked up my macbook, which recently returned from repair, and a screw fell out. wtf?

I checked, you can’t tighten it, seems the internal socket where the screw is supposed to be set in is broken/missing. Way to go Apple. You’re definitely scoring points on this one… negative points.

I took it back to the dealer, they’re going to send it back to Apple.

Fuck.

I put it in for repair after hairline cracks started appearing in the front bezel and on the bottom.

Apple replaced the complete shell, so now it stinks new again :p

Apple has confirmed the 26th as the releasedate for Leopard!

I’ve already preordered my copy of this operating system, which has over 300 improvements.

Now go order yours! ;) (just kidding ;p)

Really. What’s up with iPhone owners these days? They buy an overpriced piece of equipment, knowing:

• it’s SIM-locked
• it’s a closed platform, no 3rd party apps
• it’s SIM-locked
• you can’t change the battery yourself
• did I say it’s SIM-locked?
• Apple tells them they might void their warranty when modifying the iPhone
• it’s still SIM-locked. To AT&T.

So, looks like they’ve been warned. But they don’t care, go ahead, and after a while the necessary unlock programs were created (kudos to the devteams who did this, it’s a nice feat of engineering), and iPhones where unlocked, new 3rd party applications were created, the works. Nice.

Next up, Apple comes with a firmware update. Tells people that this might brick their hacked iPhones. Do people heed the warning given by Apple? Nope, they flash anyway, and then loudly complain that their iPhone has become a very expensive paperweight (this can luckely and easily be remedied, it seems).

And then they want to go ahead and sue Apple over it. Really. Get a grip! You bought the piece of hardware which was locked, in more than one way, and you yourself decided to crack it wide open. Though luck than if it breaks - you get to keep all the pieces!

If you wanted to tinker with it, buy a phone with a platform that is open.

EDIT: I’ve stumbled over this blog entry which makes the point nicely.