Running OSX86 in VMWare Server 2.0

September 26th, 2009

For those of you who want to run OSX in a virtual machine, its not terribly difficult to setup if you’ve got the right instructions. If not, it takes a lot of experimenting and guess work to get it working properly. I tried to do it myself with limited success. I could get it to install 100% of the time but only once did I ever get it to reboot into the main OS. I wiped it out (thinking I had it down) so that I could try and fix the booting. I never got it to work on my own again after that.

I was fortunate to find a tutorial that worked perfectly for me the first time. I was then able to upgrade to OS 10.5.7 so that I could install the iPhone 3.0 SDK. Now when there’s a slow day at work I can develop for my phone without having to bring in my personal computer! Woot! The link to the tutorial is below. I’ll copy and paste its contents as well in the event that it ever goes down. My best advice to you is take VM snapshots along the way as you get individual portions working. Also note that you cannot boot the VM without the installation DVD mounted. If you forget to install osx86 tools, you can download it here.

Link to a direct download of the 10.5.7 update from Apple itself. Here are the upgrade instructions I followed.

VMWare configuration instructions courtesy of Bob’s Mental Moshpit. Thanks Bob. Note that this installs “Darwin-64.” You do not need to be running a 64-bit OS for this. It’s working just fine for me on Windows XP 32 Bit.

Installing Mac OS X 10.5.6 under VMware 6.5.2

One of the current “Holy Grails” of virtual machinery is getting a functional installation of Mac OS X into a VMware virtual machine. There’s a lot of Google talk out there about how to do it, but not everybody seems to be successful. I certainly wasn’t for quiet some time. However, I sat down today and decided to give it my best shot again, and this time I succeeded! Not only did I succeed with iDeneb 1.4 (which installs Mac OS X 10.5.6), I successfully upgraded that release to 10.5.7. Cool.

I’m documenting here the steps I followed (many times, just to make sure they worked for me) to achieve a successful Mac OS X 10.5.x install in a VMware Workstation 6.5.2 machine. There is no sound, but there is networking, which is far more important to me. If you find a way to get audio working, you might post it here.

Be aware that these steps worked for me, but YMMV. If you are not successful using them, there’s not much I can do to help you out. I had to experiment over and over to find these working steps; you will probably have to do the same to overcome your problems. For the purposes of this tutorial, I’ll be using the file “iDeneb_v1.4_10.5.6.iso”.

Here We Go

1. First, of course, you need to grab the iDeneb 1.4 distribution (Mac OS X 10.5.6). Google it, or use your favorite torrent search engine.
2. Mount the iDeneb ISO as a drive (using something like UltraISO or Virtual CloneDrive). Note the drive letter of the DVD.
3. Create a new virtual machine in VMware. The following sequence of screen grabs should show you all the settings you need to create for the new environment:


	Tell VMware that you will install the operating system later:

	For operating system type, Select “Other”, and then “FreeBSD 64-bit”:

	I named it “10.5″ because I will upgrade from the 10.5.6 on the iDeneb 1.4 image to 10.5.7. You can call it whatever you like, of course:

	Choose the number of processors to let the OS use:

	Allocate an amount of memory to use:

	Unless you know what you’re doing, select “Bridged networking”:

	Drive-type settings:

	Set the space available on the disc. The installation will consume 6-7GB, and the update will consume even more. If you need to do more on the drive, increase that size here:

	Don’t power on the machine yet:

4. Edit the machine settings, and set the CD/DVD drive to use the one that you noted earlier where the iDeneb 1.4 image is mounted:

5. Power on the machine. You’ll want to be sure you click in the window immediately so it captures the mouse/keyboard focus. When prompted to press “F8″ for startup options, press it. Then, at the “boot:” prompt, you can enter options you want for starting the installer. I use the following (’-v’ means show diagnostic messages; I recommend entering at least that):

6. Now, if you’re lucky, at this point you should boot into the iDeneb installer. When you get to the installation prompt, you’ll want to go to the “Utilities” menu, and launch “Disk Utility”. From this interface, select the VM disc, and then select the “Partition” tab:

7. Create a single-partition layout, leaving the volume type as “Mac OS Extended (Journaled)”. This volume type is important: I was unable to get the VM to boot with any other type:

8. Select the “Options” button, and change the disc to use a “Master Boot Record” partition. The other types failed to work for me:

9. “Apply” your partition settings, and exit the “Disk Utility”.
10. Proceed with the installation, selecting your VM disc as the target partition (it will be the only one, if you followed these instructions).
11. When the installation completes, you’ll be prompted to restart. Do so, but when the machine gets back to the boot prompt, “Stop” it immediately (don’t worry, this won’t harm anything) so that you are back to the VMware desktop and the VM is powered off.
12. Change the “CD/DVD” settings of the VM from the specific iDeneb drive back to “Auto”. DO NOT UNMOUNT THE DVD. You’ll want to leave the iDeneb DVD mounted in the operating system, because it seems to be the only way to allow the VM to actually boot correctly.
13. Shut down VMware.
14. Open the .vmx file of the new iDeneb machine (e.g., “Mac OS X 10.5.vmx”), and find the line that starts with “guestOS”. It should contain the entry “freebsd-64″. Change this to “darwin-64″, and save the file.
15. Re-start VMware, and power on the Mac OS X VM. Let the boot screen time out, and if the gods are smiling down upon you, you will boot into Mac OS X 10.5.6.

Post-installation Booting

Of course, things did not go this smoothly for me. It took me a couple of boot attempts to get the operating system to come up (boot-hang-kill-repeat). When it did, I did all the set up stuff, and it took me into the OS X desktop. Once I get everything set up that is boot dependent (like updates and screen resolution), I plan to simply suspend the VM so that I can unmount the iDeneb DVD, and then simply power on the VM whenever I need it.

Screen Resolution

There are two ways to control the screen resolution. You can enter it at the boot prompt (see the previous image), but this is cumbersome, and can typically lead to a failed boot. Or, you can change the com.apple.Boot.plist file to make the resolution permament (my preferred approach). Both approaches require a boot up sequence in order to be successful. You can read about implementing both approaches here.

Good Luck

If you’ve been looking for a successful way to create a portable Macintosh, I hope this approach works for you. Being a software engineer, it’s really fantastic to be able to carry Linux, Mac OS X, and Vista along with me on a single machine when I’m away from home.

iHackintosh Upgrade instructions:

Download AppleDecrypt.kext Click HERE.
Download IntelCPUPMDisabler.kext Click HERE.
Edit : AppleIntelCPUPM Disabler.kexts will be in /Extra

Open the terminal & perform following command’s without quotes.

”sudo –s”

*type password*

”while sleep 1;”

”do rm –rf /System/Library/Extensions/AppleIntelCPUPowerManagement.kext;done”

Open 10.5.7 Update Installer.

Run update BUT DO NOT RESTART.

Go back to your terminal and press Control C to end the script.

In terminal type:

”vi /System/InstallAtStartup/scripts/1”

Replace the line Dont Steal Mac OS X.kext with dsmos.kext if any exists.

Don’t restart.

Open osx86tools >>> Check repair permissions >>> Set kext permissions >>> Clear extensions cache >>> Restart.

Boot using -v to see if any errors.

Posted in Programming, Technology | 1 Comment »

JVC KD-HDR50 CD Receiver Pretty Nifty

September 22nd, 2009

I had some work done on my car a few weeks ago and they disconnected the negative terminal on the battery. This had the ultimate effect of disabling my car stereo. The factory Honda stereo wanted me to put in the activation code. I looked in the door jams, inside and around the glove box and even in the trunk. I couldn’t find this code anywhere. I was going to have to rip the stereo out or have the dealer do the same (the dealer themselves were unable to look up the code by VIN the one time I had dealer service done. Sure wish they would have given me the code when I asked THREE times).

With a thirty minute commute each way, I decided that I needed to do something about this fast. So, I looked around on Crutchfield and found this beauty. Built in HD tuner, USB port in the front and $20 off if I purchased with a Mastercard. It was an easy sell. Crutchfield shipped the receiver the same day that I ordered it and it was in my hot little hands two days later.

The adapter kit that was supplied by Crutchfield worked perfectly. It was color coded and a snap to hook up. I used wire nuts instead of soldering and it took me about 10 minutes to splice them together and triple check my connections.

Thanks to the wonderful engineering at Honda, I had to take out the storage console between the two seats as well as a few screws in the center console to get at the two bolts holding the stereo in place. I didn’t bother to unhook the hazard lights or clock plugs so it took me a few extra minutes to maneuver the old unit out of the console and the new unit in. About 10 minutes later I was reattaching the battery cable to test this thing out.

Here’s a quick overview of my impressions of the stereo. The receiver is amazing. I am able to pick up stations that my factory radio could not. They don’t sound crystal clear but it has opened new options to me. The HD is very nice. Some of my favorite radio stations have talk radio in the morning and their secondary programming is good ol’ fashioned music. The display is easy to read and the 30,000+ color choices look phenomenal. The radio doubles as a charger for my iPhone, and will even play music off a FAT16/32 formatted memory stick or USB hard drive.

Pros:

USB port will charge any USB powered cell phone, even if it can’t play MP3s off of it.
HD reception is amazing. Crystal clear audio with secondary station offerings (My PBS station does NPR on channel 1, classical music on 2 and NWS on 3. Very nice for the crazy Florida weather)
Easy to install
Superior sound quality over factory stereo both from off-the-air sources and my iPhone.
Will play my MP3s off a memory stick, increasing my storage over my iPhone.

Cons:

Does not have preset buttons
Menu navigation is non-intuitive
Pain in the butt to preset hop without the remote (haven’t tried the remote yet)
Auto programming of the presets only does 6 presets at a time and selects the exact same stations when I try to do the next 6 presets
Auto programming of the presets seems to only look for HD stations
Will not play MP3s off my Creative Zen Vision: M. I was hoping to recycle the thing by leaving it in my car.
Crutchfield supplied mount kit is VERY cheap. I’m honestly a little worried about how well it will hold up.
Keeps switching from random songs to normal. Its somewhat awkward to switch back so this drives me INSANE!

Despite some serious cons, I do recommend this car stereo. I couldn’t find any that supported SDHC cards / iPod that did have regular preset buttons.

I’m excited to have music in my car again and I find myself fiddling with all the menu features at stoplights. Don’t worry, I don’t make people wait on me when the light turns green.

*EDIT* The stupid thing keeps taking it off of RANDOM for my ipod/iphone. So I have to turn it back to random probably every 30 minutes or so.

Posted in Automotive, Technology | No Comments »

Starcraft 2 Lead Developer Thinks You’re Crazy

September 21st, 2009

I know this is a little bit late (Blizzcon was almost a month ago) but I finally got around to reading the Slashdot interview with Blizzard. I didn’t even make it through the entire interview before I quit reading because I was deeply offended. Why you ask? Well, the lead developer said that I’m “are crazy and weird and living in a closet.” Don’t worry, I’m not using this quote out of context. You can find his exact response here.

So what makes me “crazy and weird and living in a closet?” I want to play Starcraft 2 on a LAN and I have high-speed internet access. But why on earth would anyone want to do that, you ask? Well I can think of several reasons. The first being that I don’t want to play on Battle.net, ever! It doesn’t interest me. I’ve never enjoyed playing RTS’s online with random individuals. I play them at home or a friend’s house, even in the library. I play with friends, acquaintances, and family. We bring our laptops and play until all hours of the morning. Sometimes we want to pause the game to get some pizza or because some really cute girls came over. Sometimes I’m playing with an 8 year old nephew who should not have to be subjected to the kinds of language, attitudes, and griefing he would almost definitely encounter online.

So, Mr. Dustin Browder, lead developer of Starcraft 2, I salute you. I salute you for strengthening my resolve to boycott your company. You guys can go ahead and lockout LAN play of your game. It will probably result in Starcraft 2 being pirated more than the record setting release of Spore. You won’t stop the people from playing LAN games, you’ll only drive people away from paying for your software. I may be crazy and weird Mr Browder, but at least I don’t treat people the way your corporation treats its own paying customers.

Posted in Rants and Raves, Video Games | No Comments »

Eidos is Monitoring Your “Offline” Gameplay / Palm too now?

August 12th, 2009

So I was looking through Slashdot today when I found a link to a study done on Tomb Raider Underworld. I was pretty shocked to learn that every time I play any modern Eidos game, they are logging information about how I play their game, even when I am not playing the game through an online match making service. The article says:

The gameplay data, namely game metrics, utilized in this
study were recorded using the EIDOS Metrics Suite software
embedded to the TRU game. The suite is an instrumentation
system which is designed to record game metrics from
EIDOS games in production and post-launch, transmitting
the logged data to an SQL-server via an ETL process.

I was completely amazed. Tomb Raider Underworld is played entirely offline. I would have never expected that they would have any reason to communicate back to their own server. There was no warning of this, no opt out option, or anything like that.

Most people probably would not care to have this information collected but I prefer that no one collects any information on me without at least giving me advanced warning. There is certainly nothing on my Xbox that I would want to hide but who is to say that there couldn’t be malicious use of such a reporting feature on a PC?

Maybe I’m just overreacting but I think uninformed logging is WRONG and if it’s not illegal, it should be. I know that in most US States its illegal for someone to record a telephone conversation without the informed consent of all participants. Why should computer software be any different? Computer software could potentially disclose information that is beyond the scope or anticipation of the end user and its even more imperative that software publishers are very judicial in their use of logging and reporting.

For those of you who wouldl ike to prevent Eidos from gathering such data, you just have to disconnect your Xbox/PS from the network while you play. On a desktop, they may keep a log of information indefinitely, waiting for you to connect up to a network again.

*Edit*

This guy Joey Hess alleges that Palm is going so far as to report GPS positioning as well as applications installed on peoples Palm Pre. If this is true, this is worse than anything Eidos or any other game company has done to my knowledge. If they have done this, and you own a Palm Pre, please do the world a favor and file suit in your local court!

Posted in Rants and Raves, Technology, Video Games | No Comments »

Upgrading an Apple TV’s Hard Drive

July 7th, 2009

Alright, I finally got around to upgrading my Apple TV’s drive a few weeks ago. I followed the directions at Engadget but it didn’t work properly for me. I had to adjust the commands slightly. That slowed me down slightly as I tried several different things to salvage their process. Sometimes I tried ‘dd’ing the whole drive which is a rather slow process. The first drive I got from NewEgg was DOA too, so I had to RMA that and wait for the replacement drive to come in.

My new drive is the Western Digital WD3200BEVE 320GB 5400 RPM 2.5″ ATA-6 Internal Notebook Hard Drive, as copied directly from my NewEgg invoice. I had the 160GB AppleTV and was able to rip and store about 125 movies on it, including my MP3s and some podcasts. I’m still working on getting all of my movies ripped and put onto the new drive but I’m guesstimating that the thing will hold about 250 movies now.

Anyway, to crack open your Apple TV you’re going to need a T8 and T10 Torx head screwdrivers. The kit I had only had T10+ so I had to buy a whole new set. It cost me about $8 and the hard drive another $80. At that price you’re better off buying the 40GB Apple TV and upgrading yourself. If you don’t have a 2.5″ external drive enclosure, add another $10-20 to your price. This enclosure works great for me. You can probably find something cheaper but you might as well spend a few extra dollars on one that comes with free shipping.

You’ll need a Mac or a Hackintosh to follow all of these steps. Thanks to Engadget here are the (slightly modified) steps you have to run:

Unplug everything from your Apple TV. Gently peel off the giant rubber pad from the bottom of your Apple TV. A putty knife might be helpful, though I didn’t use one.
Using the T10 screwdriver tip, remove the 4 screws from the bottom. The two screws in the back are longer than the two in the front.
Carefully pull the bottom plate off and detach the IDE from the main board. Unfortunately, you cannot remove the cable from the drive directly at this time.
Using the T8 tip, remove the hard drive from the bottom cover of the Apple TV.
Place the drive you just removed into the external drive enclosure.
Run the command ‘diskutil list’ and look for the device with “OS” and “Media” partitions. On my machine this happened to be “/dev/disk2″
Use the ‘dd’ command to do a bit by bit copy of the drive into an image file. For example:dd if=/dev/disk2 of=/Users/nerdheard/AppleTVBackup/AppleTV.img bs=1024k
The bs=1024k means its going to copy in 1024 Kb chunks. This will copy the ENTIRE drive. This means it will consume approximately 40 or 160GB of disk space, depending on your Apple TV model. Make sure you have plenty of room before doing this.

If you don’t have room, you can do a disk to disk copy but you’ll need a second enclosure. This is actually quite a bit faster. An example would be:

dd if=/dev/disk2 of=/dev/disk3 bs=1024k

If you do a disk to disk copy, you can skip steps 8 and 9 below.
Make sure the disk is completely unmounted by executing the command ‘diskutil eject disk2′
Remove the old drive and attach the new drive. Now you’ll want to copy the contents from your image file to your new drive. It’s likely to be /dev/disk2 also.dd if=/Users/nerdheard/AppleTVBackup/AppleTV.img count=1335 of=/dev/disk2/ bs=1024k
The count command here will limit the copy to the first 1335 blocks. This will make the copy a lot faster. You may run into problems with this little shortcut but it saves A LOT of time on the 160GB drive so its worth a shot.
Make sure the new drive is completely unmounted with another ‘diskutil eject disk2′ command.
Fix the partition table of the new drive with ‘gpt recover disk2′
Eject the disk again: ‘diskutil eject disk2′
Delete the Media partition: ‘gpt remove -i 4 disk2′
Eject the disk again (getting sick of this yet?) ‘diskutil eject disk2′
Look at the disk to find our free space: ‘gpt show disk2′
The free space starts at the block listed in the ’start’ column after the last partition on the disk. There should only be 3 partitions now, so it’ll be the number right after the last “GPT PART” in the far right column.
Eject the disk again: ‘diskul eject disk2′
Add a new media partition using that block number as the start:gpt add -b 3141672 -i 4 -t hfs /dev/disk2
It’s important that whatever number you put after the -b coincide exactly with the start of the free space on your new drive. This varies by drive.
At this point Engadget tells you to format the drive but DON’T! Every time I tried it completely hosed the GUIDs on drive and I had to start over from scratch.
Check the /Volumes/Media and /Volumes/OSBoot partitions for .Spotlight folders. They most likely exist. Try: ‘ls -a /Volumes/OSBoot’ for the one and /Volumes/Media for the other. If you see the .Spotlight folder, then delete it using rm:sudo rm -rf /Volumes/Media/.Spotlight-V100
Use a similar command to delete the .Spotlight from the OSBoot partition.
One last ‘diskutil eject disk2′
Remove the drive from the external enclosure and attach the ribbon cable from the AppleTV. Using the T8 screwdriver, reattach the drive to the bottom cover of the Apple TV.
Reattach the ribbon cable to the main board on the Apple TV. It should be keyed and can only be put on in one direction
Using the T10 driver, reattach the bottom plate. Be sure the longer two screws are returned to the correct spot.
Gently place the rubber foot back on. You may need some spray adhesive to get a permanent fix. I didn’t need to, mine stuck back on quite nicely. If you do use a spray adhesive, I highly recommend you verify the new drive is functioning before you permanently adhere the foot.
Reattach the cables to the Apple TV.
Perform a factory restore on the Apple TV from the Settings/Restore menu.
Resync with your iTunes

I’m going to add some pictures later but my arm is in a sling and I can’t really dismantle my unit for the time being.

Posted in AppleTV | No Comments »

Slipstreaming AHCI drivers, Windows XP/Asus P5K-E wifi

February 24th, 2009

Ok, I know I was going to hack up my Apple TV but I got a little side tracked. I needed to backup my original drive just in case something went wrong. So, I decided I wanted to be able to boot my linux setup with AHCI and sata in order to get the fastest drive speed possible. The problem was that AHCI mode was causing my Windows XP install to blue screen. So, I decided before I touched my Apple TV, I’d rather get my desktop working the way I wanted it to. After all, I use it more than my Apple TV!

I found several web sites that indicated that I could make some modifications to my current XP install and get it to boot in AHCI mode but none of them seemed to work for me. So, I decided that I needed to slipstream the appropriate drivers into my Windows install. The problem was, I wasn’t sure which drivers were the appropriate choice. Do I use the JMicron jmb363 driver, or something else? None of the websites I found dealt directly with the P5K-E, so I wasn’t having much luck.

Here’s what you need to do. Pop your XP disk into your drive and copy all of it to your hard drive. I made a directory on my C: drive called XPCD. Go into that directory and create a directory called ‘$OEM$’. Inside of that, create the directory ‘$1′. Now create a ‘Drivers’ directory inside of that, and finally create a directory for your AHCI drivers. At this point you should have something like “C:\XPCP\$OEM$\$1\Drivers\AHCI\”.

If you need the drivers, you can download them directly from Intel. At the time of this writing, my driver file was iata87enu.exe. You’ll need to extract them from the command-line using a command like below:

iata87enu.exe -A -P C:\IntelDrivers\

The correct files will then be in “C:\inteldrivers\winall\Driver” or “C:\inteldrivers\winall\Driver64″ for the 64-bit version of XP. You’ll need to copy the files inside that directory into the “C:\XPCP\$OEM$\$1\Drivers\AHCI\” directory.
Next you’ll need to go into your I386 folder (“C:\XPCD\I386″) and modify your TXTSETUP.SIF file so that it knows what PCI device to associate your new driver with. You’ll need to add the following information:

[SourceDisksFiles]
Iastor.sys = 1,,,,,,3_,4,1

[HardwareIdsDatabase]
PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_2922&CC_0106 = “iaStor”
PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_282A&CC_0104 = “iaStor”
PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_2829&CC_0106 = “iaStor”
PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_2822&CC_0104 = “iaStor”
PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_2821&CC_0106 = “iaStor”
PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_2682&CC_0104 = “iaStor”
PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_2681&CC_0106 = “iaStor”
PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_27C3&CC_0104 = “iaStor”
PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_27C6&CC_0104 = “iaStor”
PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_27C1&CC_0106 = “iaStor”
PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_27C5&CC_0106 = “iaStor”
PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_2653&CC_0106 = “iaStor”

[SCSI.Load]
iaStor = iaStor.sys,4

[SCSI]
iaStor = “Intel(R) ICH9 SATA AHCI Controller (Desktop/Server/Workstation)”

Those headers already exist, so you can just paste in your text below the appropriate file in the SIF file.

After you’ve done that, you’ll need to make a CAB file of the actual driver to put into th I386 folder so that Windows can load it on first boot. Open up the command line and type:

MAKECAB C:\XPCD\$OEM$\$1\Drivers\AHCI\iaStor.SYS C:\XPCD\i386\IASTOR.SY_

Now, since you’ve gone through the effort of making a custom Windows XP CD, you might as well make life a little easier on yourself. After all, who wants to have to type in that damn product key every time they install? Create a file called “WINNT.sif” inside of your I386 folder. Inside this file we will A) tell Windows where to find the ICH9 driver to install during setup and B) place our Windows product key for an easier install.

[Data]
AutoPartition=0
UnattendedInstall=”No”
MsDosInitiated=No

[Unattended]
OemPreinstall=Yes
OemPnPDriversPath=”DRIVERS\AHCI”
FileSystem=*

[UserData]
ProductKey=XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX

Now that you’ve done all of this, you must create a bootable ISO that you can burn to CD. The easiest way to do that is to use the CDIMAGE tool from Microsoft. You can download it here, with a pretty GUI front end.

Once your ISO is created, I recommend that you try to install it using a virtual machine. You can get VMWare server for free now. If it installs there without a hitch, you’re ready to give it a try on your P5K-E motherboard. Good luck.

There are a bunch of other things you can do while you’re at it, too. You can slipstream in the latest Windows service packs, software updates, and even have it install applications for you. There is a very excellent guide called MSFN’s Unattended Windows.

**Note** The links provided above are offered by third parties and not by myself. I do not make any guarantees or warranties about the availability, legality, and functionality of those files. You should always use extreme caution when running executables from unknown and/or untrusted websites. I highly recommend you backup all crucial data before attempting to reinstall your operating system. You follow these instructions at your own risk.

Posted in Technology | 2 Comments »

Apple TV Hacking

January 8th, 2009

I managed to get a great deal on an Apple TV from Craigslist. I decided to pick one up after taking a look at the Apple TV Hacks website. See, I was looking for a really cheap Mac on Craigslist and was not having any luck. I found out that you can actually turn your Apple TV into a full blown Mac OS X box running at a blazing fast 1GHz. The whole motivation behind this is to jailbreak my iPhone 3G.

Anyway, at a price tag of $140, I decided that the Apple TV would be my cheapest entry point into the Mac world. Having acquired Leopard and a 2.5″ external drive enclosure from my vendors, I should be ready to start hacking away as soon as the UPS truck comes today.

I’ll be posting pictures and compiling information here. For instance, I found a handy little page that tells you how to create a backup image of your original Apple TV drive using FOSS tools (from Linux command line).

For safety purposes, I intend to recommision an old 40GB laptop drive that I have laying around. Once I know everything seems to work perfectly, I’ll take the plunge for real and use the 160GB drive that came with my Apple TV. That is, of course, unless I decide to upgrade to a 250GB drive ;o).

(I know that $140 price is ridiculously low for a 160GB Apple TV but I got extremely lucky. No it is NOT stolen. I bought it off a college student whose parents take such good care of him that he didn’t mind selling it at a loss so that he could get the Blu-Ray player that his parents neglected to get for him. I thought it was a 40GB unit until I got it home, though he never said in his posting. He had only used it a few times and saw no real value in it.)

Posted in AppleTV, Technology | 1 Comment »

Back in business

October 10th, 2008

Okay. My server has been down for a while but its back. It took me a while to get it going again after a hosting relocation. My server is now hosted about 2600 miles from its old locale in sunny Florida. I’ve also moved it off of an old Dell Optiplex PIII to a virtual machine running a more modern processor. This should allow it to take advantage of the latest power saving features. Always pays to be as conservative as possible. No need to waste resources. More to come, eventually.

Posted in Personal | No Comments »

Tradewars 2002 Again

March 7th, 2008

So, a friend of mine decided to start hosting a BBS off his internet connection at home so that a bunch of us could play our old favorite door games again. He only has two that I am really interested in, Legend of The Red Dragon, and Tradewars.

A lot of the people playing Tradewars are using helper programs that can automate trading, maping out the universe, and things like that. I’m not a huge fan of using something like that to play the game, but I don’t really say too much about it to them. But, I’ve gotten tired of trying to keep all of the sector information in a notepad type document.

So, I wrote a script that goes through and parses all of that information out of the game by executing commands on the ship computer and then storing them in a database. I’m also going to be unable to play for a week and so I’ve decided to write a script to do something useful with my turns in my absence. It’ll run as a cron script while I am gone.

All that playing around with scripting has made me decide that I want to write my own helper program that uses my own experience with the game. It will basically do all of the same things that current database script does but will allow me to interact with the game while it silently logs what is going on.

I’m going to have it do things like remember who owns any planets I see, keep track of where I encounter fighter nets, and allow me to insert notes about sectors. I also want it to have a UI that draws a map of the entire universe and allows me to zoom in and out, rotate the map three dimensionally, select nearby sectors to view them, and stuff like that. It will also remember successful trade values when working on a port pair so that I have a basis to use to try and maximize my exp when trading. Also handy would be a database that keeps track of where I’ve been caught stealing, and when so that I know if it is safe to steal from a port again (when I am playing evil).

Eventually, I might make a non-interactive version that tries to play “alien” traders with enough intelligence to give a little extra challenge to human players.

So far, I’ve been doing all the scripting in Perl using the expect module. I’m thinking about making the map using java and have it pull database information out of a central server that corp mates can use to share their travel information real time. We’ll see how sophisticated this ends up being. Either way, it has been pretty fun to work on.

Posted in Programming | 2 Comments »

Thinking of Updating to Leopard? Maybe you should wait

November 1st, 2007

So I took the plunge and upgraded to OS X Leopard today. I wish I would have held off. It’s not that there are X11 bugs that keep me from moving my X11 apps onto my second monitor, there just seems to be quite a few UI issues in general. I’ve had issues with Parallels not always going to full screen mode on a second monitor and it is completely incapable of going into coherence mode on a second screen. I’ve also had issues with window focus. That is to say, I command-tab or click on a window and select it, but it does not gain focus and I can’t do anything inside the window. I can’t even close it. At that poitn, the only way to fix it is a force quit.

I’ve also had problems with expose AND the dock. As in, all of the sudden expose stopped working (no error messages or anything). At that same point, I could no longer view the dock, command-tab through windows, or anything like that. I tried to reboot the machine to fix it but it hung on shutdown and I had to cut the power to get it to turn on again.

Performance isn’t that great either. When I click on an application in the dock, it completely pauses everything for a few seconds.

I think the release was rushed out a little too soon. It looks like it has a lot of potential though. We’ll see how long it takes apple to patch all of this up.