| The Ultimate Business Machine Technology, business And, not least, about by: Bernard Teo
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Mon 11 Oct 2004 Postfix Enabler and TigerCategory : Technology/PostfixEnablerforTiger.txt And I can confirm that Postfix Enabler doesn't (yet) work with Tiger. Just tried it. Seems like quite a few things to fix. I say it because I've been asked (a few times). I'm sure I can get it ready when that cat comes out to play. Enough of that T word, for now. Postfix and Software UpdateCategory : Technology/PostfixSoftwareUpdate.txt I read elsewhere on the web that Postfix was updated by the latest Apple Software Update. But I've had no problems after doing the update. So, if you're wondering whether your Postfix Enabled-mail server would go right on working through all the latest updates, have no fear. Just do it. That's why it pays, as a strategy, to use as much as possible of what Apple puts into the system. Never try to replace things like Apache, PHP, Postfix, etc. with your own versions, if you can help it. You'll spend a lot less time fixing the system, and more time just using it. Postfix Enabler, IMAP and FetchMail - A How ToCategory : Technology/IMAPandFetchmailAgain.txt This is a follow-up to an earlier post about Postfix Enabler, IMAP and FetchMail. To recap, if want to use Postfix Enabler to set up an IMAP server and then use Fetchmail to pull down mail from a variety of other servers (so that you can re-distribute them to all your IMAP clients in a consistent manner), here are some instructions on The JouleBlog that can send you on your way. Matthew Hall writes The JouleBlog and he's sent me a permanent link to the article. I'm making a note of it here because I ought to try this someday. Thanks, Matthew. Fri 08 Oct 2004 The Speedtouch ST570 All-In-One Wireless ModemCategory : Singapore/Singtel1500wirelessmodem.txt In case anybody is thinking of trying it out, I've upgraded to Singnet's 1500 kbps plan from the 512 kbps plan and got a free Speedtouch ST570 ADSL All-In-One wireless modem, which includes installation. Of course, the Singtel counter staff will say they're not sure if it'll support the Mac. (Note that this is already better than it was before, when you get a flat-out "no, we don't support the Mac, and probably never will"). So I just said that I was using a PC, and did have a laptop ready. After the technician finished his installation, and got my laptop connected to the wireless station, I showed him how much faster I could get my iBook up and running and doing the same thing (it took a lot less steps than what he needed to do with my laptop - he had to go to the command line on the laptop and I was wondering how any ordinary PC user would know how to do ipconfig / release - or something like that). So he said he was very impressed. He didn't know the Mac could do all that, and that it was all so easy, and that he's going to consider buying an iBook, too. He could do all those Unix stuff (plus iTunes and all that, of course). Installing the wireless modem from scratch looks easy enough, if you want to do everything yourself from the Mac. So, just in case the Singtel counter staff tells anybody differently, the modem does support the Mac (though it's 802.11/b rather than g, i.e., Airport classic rather than Airport Extreme, but it's free and that's probably good enough). And it's freed up my Airport Express. There are a few things I mean to try out now that I can move my Airport Express around. Wed 06 Oct 2004 A Map Plug-In for Address Book (for Panther users)Category : Technology/addressBookPlugIn.txt I've created an Address Book plug-in for Singapore Maps (based on Stephen Wither's WhereIs plug-in for Australian Maps). From Panther (OS X 10.3.x) onwards, Apple's engineers gave Address Book users a new ability to work with plug-ins. And smart people are starting to exploit it. I modified Stephen's AppleScript code and made it work with Singapore's streetdirectory.com. I also wrapped a one-click installer around it. The installer looks like this and you can download it from here.
Once you've downloaded and installed the plug-in (you can choose to install it at the system level so that it'll work for every user on your Mac), you can go over to Address Book and find a new function in the pop-up menus of Address-related fields :
Choose "Singapore Maps" and your browser will launch streetdirectory.com and point you towards where that address is in Singapore : Please note: you've got to store your STREET field in Address Book in a regular way - "3 Shenton Way, Shenton House #11-05/06" - i.e., Block No. first, then Street Name, and (very important, don't forget) the comma (or a carriage return), then Building Name and then Unit No. for this to work. You need the comma or carriage return to separate the Street Name from the Building Name.
Neat, right? I've always wanted to be able to do this. This makes Address Book so much more useful. With AppleScript, and the ability to extend Address Book with plug-ins, and the ability to move the information around to wherever you want it using either Apple Scripts or Unix shell scripts, the things you can do are limited only by your imagination. Thanks, Steve Withers, for the use of the code. Tue 05 Oct 2004 A Room Full of MacsCategory : Commentary/roomfullofmacs.txt See this. ByzantiumCategory : Commentary/Byzantium.txt I've come to the last page of A Short History of Byzantium by John Julius Norwich. I must confess that I bought this book for its cover and hadn't expected to enjoy it quite so much. It's got nothing to do with Macs, business or technology, but it's a good book to start with if you're interested in delving further into the history of the Balkans and Turkey. From the book's last paragraphs, which summarises its theme - "The Roman Empire of the East was founded by Constantine the Great on Monday, 11 May 330; it came to an end on Tuesday, 29 May 1453. During those one thousand, one hundred and twentry-three years and eighteen days, eighty-eight men and women occupied the imperial throne. Of those eighty-eight, a few - Constantine himself, Justinian, Heraclius - possessed true greatness; a few were contemptible; the vast majority were brave, upright, God-fearing men who did their best, with greater or lesser degrees of success ..." "One of the first and most brilliant of twentieth-century Philhellenes, Robert Byron, maintained that the greatness of Byzantium lay in what he described as 'the Triple Fusion': that of a Roman body, a Greek mind and an oriental, mystical soul ... The Byzantines were human like the rest of us ... What they do not deserve is the obscurity to which for centuries we have condemned them. Their follies were many, as were their sins; but much should surely be forgiven for the beauty they left behind them and the heroism with which they and their last brave Emperor met their end, in one of those glorious epics of world history that has passed into legend and is remembered with equal pride by victors and vanquished alike." "That is why five and a half centuries later, throughout the Greek world, Tuesday is still believed to be the unluckiest day of the week; why the Turkish flag still depicts not a crescent but a waning moon, reminding us that the moon was in its last quarter when Constantinople finally fell; and why, excepting only the Great Church of St. Sophia itself, it is the Land Walls - broken, battered, but still marching from sea to sea - that stand as the city's grandest and most tragic monument." Justinian and his Empress Theodora were probably the model for Guy Gavriel Kay's richly colourful Emperor Valerius and Empress Alixana, in his excellent re-creation of fifth century Byzantium, "Sailing to Sarantium" (The Sarantine Mosaic - Parts 1 and 2). Guy Gavriel Kay's books are usually found among the Fantasy and Science Fiction section, but he's miles ahead of William Gibson, in terms of readability, believeability and, most of all, ideas. My favourite of the lot remains the first Kay book that I've ever read, Tigana, which I found by chance in a second-hand book store (no, not Jean Tigana of France and Tigana-Platini-Giresse-Fernandez fame). Others that I believe will give people a good read include The Songs of Arbonne and The Lions of Al-Rassan. Fri 01 Oct 2004 Macs vs PCs, againCategory : Technology/LinuxInsiderMacsAreBetter.txt Another Macs-are-better-than-PC argument. It will be good to bookmark this article - from LinuxInsider. May come in handy one day. Macs are better, faster, cooler, yet cost less - a geek's perspective. The HughTrainCategory : Commentary/hughTrain.txt Mervin Chan wrote in, after reading my post about The Cluetrain Manifesto, and pointed me to the site gapingvoid.com, home of Hugh "cartoons drawn on the back of business cards" MacLeod. There you can find The HughTrain Manifesto, and other excellent reading (and viewing), including a post on how to be creative. But I especially like the discussion following "The Sex and Cash Theory" - "The creative person basically has two kinds of jobs: One is the sexy, creative kind. Second is the kind that pays the bills. Sometimes the task in hand covers both bases, but not often. This tense duality will always play center stage. It will never be transcended." I can see people approaching their jobs this way everywhere. But I have an employer's view of things and I'm too busy figuring out how to pay my own bills (till the day I die) to have much inclination for funding other people's alternative lifestyles. I keep thinking, when I was reading The Cluetrain Manifesto, where's the point of view of the people who're figuring out how to pay the salaries, who have slogged to build the companies in the first place. There ought to be a balance. But there's no denying that people are tuning out their day-jobs (and who's to say I won't do that myself if I were to go back and get a day job). It's great to be able to read, on gapingvoid, the (considered) opinions of so many people, and try to work out your own approach. In this, I think, the authors of The Cluetrain Manifesto are right. The web is about conversations. And there's value in tuning in. Thanks, Mervin. AppleCareCategory : Commentary/applecare.txt Great, I've got my iBook back. The logic board's been replaced - I think this is the third or even fourth time. I've got one of those problematic dual-USB iBooks, but I love it. I still prefer using it to my wife's Titanium. And it's nice to get everything back. It feels like a well-worn shoe, and looks just as ragged. But it performs well, and can run pretty long on the battery, and that's the main thing. Must commend the AppleCare people at Apple-Ang Mo Kio. I was pleasantly surprised it was ready even on Tuesday. I thought it would take three days (as was promised) but they only took one. Under-promise and over-deliver. As I remember, AppleCare used to be a wreck. But Teng Yoke Chou (I think her name was) and her crew have done an excellent job turning it around. (And the girl at the counter has a great smile.) Phoning in to get a queue number is still a pain, though. Sometimes you get patched to India (I'm sure) and sometimes Melbourne (I think). But I guess the folks at the Singapore centre can't do too much about it. They do what they can. Thanks! Wed 29 Sep 2004 Singapore's National LibraryCategory : Singapore/NLB.txt One of the wonders of Singapore, that you're never going to see touted on our tourist guides, is our National Library. We've all grown up with it, and it's a pleasure to see how nicely it's grown. I was at the new Jurong Library and I was so excited by the space, organisation, colours, carpeting, facilities, and the books, that I wanted to take some pictures to post here - until I was requested not to do so because of a heightened security concern for the safety of public buildings. If that only confirms the common notion that we're living under a repressive regime, then you've really got to come and see for yourself. Whatever people want to say about our government, one thing's for sure - they're not book burners. Quite the opposite. One of the best ways I've found to spend Sunday mornings is to browse among the bookshelves of Borders and Kinokuniya, the two largest bookshops along Orchard Road, our main shopping drag, and then to go up to the Orchard Library and find much of the same books there. Or more. For some reason, I had the urge to read "The Cluetrain Manifesto", and sure enough, I found it easily at the business section. I love the library's system. I only had my identity card with me but that was enough for me to loan the books using the self-service stations that were as Mac-like in their ease-of-use as any system could be. And I can drop the books at any of one its twenty-two branches when I'm done. Forgive me if I sound jingoistic. But this is something that has given me a lot of pleasure and I had wanted to write about it for some time. Postfix Enabler, IMAP and FetchMailCategory : Technology/IMAPandFetchmail.txt If want to use Postfix Enabler to set up an IMAP server and then use Fetchmail to pull down mail from a variety of other servers so that you can re-distribute them to all your IMAP clients in a consistent manner, here are some instructions that can send you on your way. I found that link (TheJouleBlog) while looking thru my server log. That blog entry doesn't seem to have a permanent link. So if it scrolls away and you can't find the relevant article immediately, look for the date Tuesday 28th September. Read more ... |
Mac@Work
Services running on this server, a Mac Mini running Mac OS X 10.9.2 Mavericks:
all set up using MailServe, WebMon, DNS Enabler, DNS Agent, VPN Enabler, Liya and our SQL installers, all on Mavericks. |
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