Rubenerd

This post originally appeared on the Annexe.

This post originally appeared on the Annexe.

fuckyeahmoe:

あずにゃん | ぱん太郎 http://t.co/rT5hBZC

Go the cherry blossom leaves ;)

In this penultimate entry in our continuing series of fascinating lyrical anecdotes derived from Ben Sidran’s 1990 album Cool Paradise, today Ben tells of his time at our house, in the song Walking With The Blues:

This place…
ain’t no disgrace.

It’s cold as ice… WATCH OUT!

Aside from that warning to his compatriots regaring our parsimonious usage of expensive central heating, we’re flattered! We think. Hey, in 1990 we were still living in Melbourne and at this time of year it would have been pretty chilly! But I digress.

Tomorrow’s lyrical anecdote will be the last, so enjoy these while you still can! ^^;

Other tracks:
#01,
#02,
#03,
#04,
#05,
#06,
#07,
#08,
#09,
#11.

With ISPs mulling data caps in the United States and Canada, their arguments ring true for us here in Australia too.

Streaming, online gaming, downloads, smartphones/tablets switching over to Wifi mode when they are in range, and of course all of the standard stuff like email/web/IM/etc…

Indeed. This is why automated web backup and online video streaming services are im(practical, possible) for most Australians where data caps are the norm, and where in some cases they're actively encoraged for dubious reasons. Of course the NBN and sorely needed government investment will fix everything!!1!!!one! Right?

In the meantime, Stop The Cap! Not referring to baseball caps, though I don't look good in them anyway.

Vim is better than Emacs.

Homebrew laying it down

Unlike some other package managers, Homebrew attempts to use Mac OS X’s default userland software where it can. While most of the time this is advantageous (DRY but for software), it also means sometimes you’re stuck with a prior version until Apple decides to update, such as Vim.

% brew search vim
==> macvim vimpager
==> If you meant `vim’ precisely:
==> Apple distributes vim with OS X, you can find it in /usr/bin.

I've reviewed MacVim here before and like it very much, but often I prefer not having to leave the terminal for certain tasks. Also, (at the time of writing this) the version of Vim bundled with Snow Leopard is 7.2.108 (over six months old), whereas the latest version is 7.3.161 which fixes several critical issues and adds features.

Fortunately, I went against the Homebrew developer's advice (Playing with Homebrew on Mac OS X) and installed it in /opt/local, leaving /usr/local for software I build myself!

Grabbing the source, building, etc

The easist way to install and keep Vim current is using Mercurial which Vim's developers have recenty swtiched to using, very cool! Of course you'll need Mercurial first, and using the Python easy_install system is (IMHO) the easiest way to get it in OS X. Its right there in the name!

# easy_install Mercurial

As I said, I build my own stuff in /usr/local/, so I clone the Vim source into that, then build it. Mac OS X doesn't come with a /usr/local/ tree by default, so you may need to create that first.

# mkdir -p /usr/local/src
# cd /usr/local/src
# hg clone https://vim.googlecode.com/hg/ vim
# cd vim
# ./configure
# make install clean

And budda-boom! The editor that's better than Emacs. I would know, because I'm using a Mac Pro that doesn't have a built in CRT. See what I did there? The Bird is The Vim.

In our continuing series of fascinating lyrical anecdotes derived from Ben Sidran’s 1990 album Cool Paradise, today Ben tries his hand at meteorology in the song So Long:

You watch the rain drops run to rivers,
You watch the rivers run to sea.
You know the sea turns into thunder,
Brings those raindrops back to me.

The irony is, it has been raining like crazy here the last few days. Maybe watching me sit in my chair isn’t all he’s up to.

Other tracks:
#01,
#02,
#03,
#04,
#05,
#06,
#07,
#08,
#10,
#11.

Starting with WordPress 3.1.1, my previously discussed functions.php method for hiding posts filed in certain categories works again, and the latest workaround with RYO Category Visibility 3.0beta-9 is now broken.

There must have been a bug in WordPress 3.1 that prevented the former from working, which the latter worked around. Perhaps this:

WordPress 3.1.1: […] Fixes for various query and taxonomy edge cases that caused some plugin compatibility issues

I may have finally pushed the limits of DOSBox’s capabilities! For what its worth, it performed admirably up until this point :).

Upon installing Microsoft Office 4.3 in Windows 3.11 to allow my old man access to some old files he’d created from the mid 1990s, Word and Excel both return a SHARE.EXE error.

The virtual Z: drive contains no such utility, but I was able to copy SHARE.EXE from my PC DOS 2000 qemu machine into DOSBox’s mounted directory. Problem is, it didn’t like its new environment:

C:\>C:\DOSSHARE.EXE
Incorrect DOS version.

I did some quick research and ascertained the reported version can be altered by using the VER command, in a similar way to SETVER in retro DOS.

C:\>VER
DOSBOX version 0.74. Reported DOS version 5.00
C:\VER SET 7.0
C:\>VER
DOSBox version 0.74. Reported DOS version 7.00
Then I was able to launch SHARE.EXE:
C:>C:\DOS\SHARE.EXE
SHARE installed

After loading this in DOS, then firing up Windows 3.11 however, it made no difference. Both Excel and Word from Office 4.3 returned the same errors. According to the DOSBox devs, this higher end DOS functionality is not currently supported.
Oh well, I suppose it’d be easier to just use one qemu VM than using it and relegating DOSBox to some tasks. Better install Homebrew on my dad’s Mac ;)
 

In our continuing series of fascinating lyrical anecdotes derived from Ben Sidran’s 1990 album Cool Paradise, today Ben finds himself in an existential quandry, full of loathing and self-doubt and wracked with the pain and isolation of his musical existance, in the song Goodbye Blackbird:

No one here…
Can ever understand me.
I’ll be home, kinda late tonight…
Blackbird… bye bye…

Perhaps those aformentioned people cannot understand him due to the fact he’s the kind of person who converses with an avian being regarding his evening plans. They’re The Word you know.

Wow a Ben Sidran, Weird Al Yankovic and Trashmen reference in the one post. I'm on fire. No wait, that was the last post.

Other tracks:
#01,
#02,
#03,
#04,
#05,
#06,
#07,
#09,
#10,
#11.

In January I started trialling Homebrew, the new package manager for Mac OS X. With my latest system rebuild, I’ve moved to it exclusively, and am loving it!

Homebrew means coffee, right?

Ironically despite only being a partially free/open source OS, Mac OS X users are spoiled for choice when choosing a package management system to install free/open source software:

• MacPorts (formerly DarwinPorts) is a source-based system that’s functionally similar to FreeBSD’s ports system, though easier to update in my opinion.

• Fink is a source and binary based system that’s broadly equivalent to Debian’s apt-get.

• NetBSD’s comprehensive pkgsrc system can be bootstrapped provided the target volume is case sensitive.

• While not a package manager per sé, Rudix conveniently bundles some of the most common *nix command line software, tools, languages and libraries into one package. For new Linux to Mac converts who want to leave package managers behind, I recommend this to give them the tools they’re used to.

• Apple’s App Store… wait no. Actually that’s a good question, can you distribute free/open source software through that, or will you be vilified and VLC-d by the FSF? Eh, just use MacLibre for that :)

When I first heard about Homebrew, I have to admit my first thought was "geez, another one!?" My tune quickly changed when I learned more about it.

The goodness

In CatB, the legendary Eric S. Raymond commented that every good work of software starts by scratching a developer’s personal itch, and that’s evident with the design of Homebrew. The entire system is based off Git, and individual formulas (their terminology for ports/packages) are simple Ruby files. I’m ready to dive off Mercurial and learn more Git just to see all the cool stuff I can do with this!

My favourite feature however is how formulas are installed. In a nod to NeXT/Mac OS X application packages and PC-BSD’s PBI system, instead of dumping everything into ungainly POSIX folders like almost every other package manager, Homebrew installs formulas into their own directories in $HOMEBREW_PATH/Cellar, then create symlinks into their expected POSIX folders so you merely have to add $HOMEBREW_PATH/bin to your $PATH. Compatible, but clean!

Where Ruben differs

In keeping with not being tied down to how traditional package managers operate, the Homebrew team suggests you take ownership of the /usr/local/ directory, then install Homebrew there.

Their justifications seem reasonable, but the idea rubs me the wrong way. I don’t want Homebrew clashing with the software I already build and maintain myself in /usr/local/, and personally chown-ing such a critical directory goes against everything I’ve learned about security and segregation.

Fortunately the Homebrew developers took into account there’d be crusty, inflexible people like me using their system, so you can elect to install it wherever you want. I chose to use the old standard /opt/local/, assign it to root, and bootstrap:

% sudo -s
# mkdir -p /opt/local
# curl -L http://github.com/mxcl/homebrew/tarball/master \
| tar xz --strip 1 -C /opt/local

Then its just a matter of updating your shell's $PATH and $MANPATH to point to your newly created directories. Too easy!

Installing stuff

Probably the first thing you’ll want to do is run an update, which requires Git. The procedure is super complex.

# brew install git
# brew update

Now you’re ready to install all your FLOSS goodness! To see what’s available you can browse the formula directory on Github, or you can use brew search. If you’re a Git ninja, once performing an update you can perform all the Git commands you’re used to.

Finally, I often judge projects based on the quality of its documentation. brew help lists all the available commands, and the brew manpage is very clear and well written. Kudos :).

Group hug

Credit goes to Andrew Carter who shared my skepticism about installing Homebrew into /usr/local. Thanks also to the people behind Homebrew for this awesome software, and to the MacPorts maintainers for all the tireless work you did over the years to keep my Mac brimming with FLOSSY goodness. Your efforts have all been highly appreciated :).