Entries by Daniel E. Markle

I have never had a good experience with S.M.A.R.T. (Self-Monitoring, Analysis, and Reporting Technology). It usually only reports the drive is about to fail after the drive has already failed and is completely unreadable. My latest drive failure is yet another case of this, but interesting in that this failure seems to have been quite easily predictable. The drive was obviously failing from the output of the S.M.A.R.T. monitoring system, with 197 new defects, and over 50 uncorrected errors. Yet the software in the drive still reports SMART Health Status: OK.

In the process of migrating from a Sharp Zaurus 5500 to a Nokia N800, I needed to convert my extensive ZSafe password list to Password Safe format so it works with pwsafe for maemo. In case it might be useful to someone else, the conversion script is available. Note that it requires pwsafe for Linux (I installed the pwsafe Debian package before building this script).

There is a wonderful application for OS X called Disco. It makes burning much simpler than the built-in Finder options, with the added touch of a smoking CD burning window which makes burning fun. I have found one problem with it though, the Spandex system doesn't always correctly span your files across multiple discs.

Although I code most of my more complicated projects in Java, I still use PHP for simple projects and have many old applications still using it. When doing database work in PHP I use Pear DB to avoid built-in api changes, and because it is very similar to Perl DBI as well as many other database abstraction layers which I am already familiar with.

Recently Pear DB has been deprecated in favor of Pear MDB2. DB will continue to be supported with security updates, but new development has moved to MDB2.

MacHeist, a group that has puzzles they call Heists periodically for members to solve and get rewards for completion, has a special bundle on their site for $49 until December 18. This bundle currently includes 9 applications, and will include 10 if they reach $100,000 raised for charity (25% of the bundle purchase price goes to charity). A large savings over buying the applications separately, with a charitable contribution to boot, I recommend anyone who runs OS X check out this offer.

When programming Java servlets and building display code, the context path of the application is often required. From the JSTL ${pageContext.request.contextPath} it might appear that it is a simple matter of using pageContext.getRequest().getContextPath(). There is a bit of a gotcha here though, as pageContext.getRequest() by default returns an object of type ServletRequest and not HttpServletRequest, which is what you need. Casting to the correct type fixes the issue:

String myContextPath = ((HttpServletRequest)pageContext.getRequest()).getContextPath();

When using jEdit to edit files, be careful not to change any file you are working on (with svn commands, other editors, etcetera). By default it will immediately reload the file from disk, destroying your in-editor changes without prompting and with no way to recover your work.¹ There is a preference option:

• Utilities
  • Global Options...
    • jEdit
      • General
        • If open files are changed on disk: automatically reload

I definitely recommend changing this option to prompt if you ever work on your source files using revision control or multiple editors so an accidental svn revert, for example, does not destroy your work in an open jEdit window.

The CSS Cheat Sheet dashboard widget is a useful quick reference when working with CSS. It includes commonly used information on selectors, the box model, units, and inheritance. It is especially useful in conjunction with an editor supporting CSS code completion.

If your ethernet port is not working on OS X (it seems to be most common and/or only on the Intel Macbooks):

• Rename /Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration


• Toggle a setting in the Network System Preferences panel


• Setup your Network as desired and test it, the configuration should rebuild and your network should now work

A friend had this happen on his brand new Macbook Pro Core 2. However, it has never happened on mine. This may mean the software preload was bad, especially if this happens on a new machine, so doing an Archive and Install is probably a good idea.

Update: Further testing indicates this problem was caused by bad firmware on a SMC SMCGS16-SMART switch. The problem only occurred upon connection to this brand and model of switch, and was resolved permanently by upgrading the firmware in the switch from v.1.00.04 to v.1.00.06_16.

When configuring a third party router with Verizon.net DSL, the DSL modem may need reconfigured to bridged mode and the third party router configured to handle PPPoE instead of the provided DSL modem. I found this issue in particular with the Westell 6100 DSL modems Verizon is now issuing. An excellent resource in this case is this information on configuring the Westell 6100 in bridged mode, then follow the third party router's instructions for PPPoE. Note the <username>@verizon.net and password configured for e-mail is the same one needed for PPPoE.

Having strange issues where embedded Flash images do not load on some sites but do on others while using Firefox 2.0 on OS X? Update to the latest Adobe Flash Player. The 9.0 r28 update appears to fix these issues.

The Carbonated Orange Beverage Research Association produces a nifty little menu extra called Slim Battery Monitor for OS X. Whenever using OS X menu extras (which I am rather fond of) it is easy to eat up your menu bar real estate quickly, especially on a laptop. Unfortunately the OS X built-in battery monitor is a space hog. Slim Battery Monitor replaces the built-in with a very slim vertical and tastefully colorized version with quite a few more display options than the standard monitor.

I have been using Aperture lately for my digital photography post-processing. The work flow and smoothly working tools are addicting, but I have found a fatal flaw in its handling of RAW files. Aperture has no way of handling hot pixels. These dead pixels are a fact of life on digital cameras; although some cameras map these out for you from the factory, more will appear in time. Adobe, knowing this fact, built hot pixel removal into Adobe Camera RAW. Apple's algorithm, however, not only doesn't remove them, it enhances them into a bright dot, apparently falsely thinking the bright, out of place single pixel is image detail to be enhanced. This causes the single failed pixel to become a bright blob on your photo.

I do a lot of photography using rather high end equipment, and am not used to working within the limitations of equipment with lesser capabilities. With the fall colors however, I saw quite a few pictures while wandering around where I had nothing but my cell phone with me. My first instinct was to run and get a better camera, but that isn't always practical. I tried some shots with my cell phone (a Motorolla V600) and was pleasantly surprised with the result. The resolution is awful, and the fixed focus extremely limiting, but working within those limits made for a rather interesting picture.

Firefox 2 was released today. I have been using the release candidates for a while now, and recommend getting it now. Spell checking in forms (which is quite handy for this blog), session restoration (handy for trying add-ons; the restart to initialize the add-on comes back up with all your sites), and integrated RSS subscription support rounds out the features I have come to rely on.