Initech Blog

How to enable international mode (extended frequency range 87.9) on Griffin iTrip AutoPilot

2009-06-11T14:49:00.001-04:00

iTrip Auto 1034IV1 2.17, Nov 21 2008, 131136

After buying an iTrip AutoPilot at Best Buy on June 11, 2009, I found that the instructions for enabling international mode had changed from what is described in other forums. The old way was to go to the screen with the Griffin logo, then hold down the middle button until the logo turned upside down.

On my model, the way to enable international mode is:

If your screen shows FM, Play/Pause, and Next Track, then press FM
Press Function (middle button)
Press and hold Mode (right button) for 10 seconds. Release Mode button after 10 seconds.
A screen will appear asking you to choose US, EU, or JP. Push one button and then wait a few seconds for the screen to go back to FM, Play/Pause, and Next Track.
You should be able to select a frequency from the country's range you chose.

Country/Region	Frequency Range	Frequency Increment
US (United States)	88.1 MHz - 107.9 MHz	0.2 MHz
EU (European Union)	87.6 MHz - 107.9 MHz	0.1 MHz
JP (Japan)	76.0 MHz - 90.0 MHz	0.1 MHz

Other interesting hidden features of the iTrip AutoPilot:

Show version information:

Press and hold down Function button for 10 seconds. Release and you should see version information similar to what I have in italics at the beginning of this article.

Modify gain:

Press FM if needed.
Press Function
Press Mode. This will bring up a screen with a Griffin logo and allows you to select Stereo/Mono and Smart Sound.
Press and hold the middle button for 10 seconds. Release middle button.
You can now press the middle button to toggle between Frequency and Gain. Gain amount will appear on the screen. You can modify up to level 63 (whatever that means).
To exit, press and hold middle button for 10 seconds and release.

If someone knows what gain is for, please post in the comments.

Technorati Tags:
iPhone, iTrip AutoPilot, instructions, how to, international mode, 87.9, griffin, extended frequency range

iPhone AutoCorrect Dictionary Location

2009-02-27T14:25:00.001-05:00

iPhone 3G 2.2.1

I've been frustrated with the fact that the user cannot edit the autocorrect dictionary on the iPhone, so I looked around today and found the location of the US English database file to be:
/System/Library/TextInput/TextInput_en.bundle/Unigrams-en_US.dat. There is also an index file with a file suffix of .idx in the same directory.

I also found that someone has written a Java program called iphoneshop to edit not only the dictionary, but also the keyboard artwork and layout. If anyone knows of an application that runs on the iPhone (jailbreak apps are okay) and will allow me to edit the dictionary, please let me know.

Update: iphoneshop doesn't work with 2.x firmware. Oh well.

How to get FieldTest application icon to always show up on the iPhone

2009-02-20T14:22:00.001-05:00

iPhone 3G 2.2.1, jailbroken

The preferred way to bring up the FieldTest application on the iPhone is to type *3001#12345# and press Call. My iPhone always responds with the error "Error performing request. Unknown Error." Here is a way to always have the FieldTest icon always appear on the Springboard.

Bring up a terminal on the iPhone, or ssh into the iPhone.
Become root by typing su [enter]. The default password for root is "alpine"
Change to the FieldTest.app folder by typing: cd /Applications/FieldTest.app [enter]
Make a backup copy of Info.plist by typing: cp Info.plist Info.plist-factory
Change the Info.plist file to xml format by typing: plutil -c xml1 Info.plist [enter]
Edit Info.plist using vim or nano and delete the following lines:

<key>SBAppTags</key> <array> <string>hidden</string> </array>
Change the Info.plist file back to binary format by typing: plutil -c binary1 Info.plist
Restart Springboard by typing: killall -15 SpringBoard

If you find yourself in a bind and want the old Info.plist back, you can restore the factory copy.

Bring up a terminal or ssh into the iPhone.
Become root by typing su [enter]
Change to the FieldTest.app folder by typing: cd /Applications/FieldTest.app [enter]
Restore the factory Info.plist file by typing: cp -f Info.plist-factory Info.plist [enter]
Restart SpringBoard by typing: killall -15 SpringBoard [enter]

Finding network traffic generated by programs

2008-12-09T10:01:00.001-05:00

Mac OS X 10.5.4

Occasionally, I need to see the network traffic by process (program). For example, I want to see what programs are generating network traffic. Some programs, like Google Updater and Microsoft Update, install themselves and run in the background without my knowledge. Or maybe I'm seeing a lot of network traffic when there should be none. I then need to know what process is generating the traffic so I can shut it down.

The command to find this information (from the Terminal) is:

lsof -n -P -i +c 50

If you want a GUI to show this info to you, download WaterRoof (an ipfw configuration program) and click "Net Processes"

Capture packets on a Mac

2008-08-26T17:21:00.001-04:00

Mac OS X 10.5.4

For some reason, Wireshark keeps crashing X11 on my machine, so it isn't an option. If you have the same problem, here is how to capture and decode HTTP traffic from the command line, using tcpdump:

tcpdump -n -i en1 -s 0 -A port 80 and host www.yahoo.com

Options:

-n	Don't convert addresses to hostnames
-i en1	Interface to listen on. en0 is the wired interface and en1 is the wireless on a MacBook Pro
-s 0	Snarf the required length to catch whole packets
-A	Print each packet (minus its link level header) in ASCII
<expr>	Packet match expression. My example of `port 80 and host www.yahoo.com` says to only print packets that have a source or destination port of 80 and a source or destination host of www.yahoo.com. There are many other qualifiers, such as portrange, net, src, dst, inbound, outbound, ether, fddi, ip, ip6, arp, tcp, udp. See the manual page for more info.

For more info, at the terminal, type man tcpdump

Setting Up Gmail To Work With Blackberry (BIS)

2008-08-13T11:30:00.001-04:00

Tested with: Gmail (or Google Apps), Blackberry 8830, Blackberry Internet Service (BIS)

This does not apply to Blackberry Enterprise Server (BES). If your company has given you a Blackberry and it works with Exchange, Lotus Notes, or Groupwise, then you are operating in BES mode. You'll need to make sure your cell company has set up BES and BIS on your Blackberry for this to work.

I've used my Blackberry in many different scenarios: with Lotus Notes (BES), Microsoft Exchange (BES), and now I've moved to Google Apps, which allows me to receive mail for free at my address nospam@heatery.com. This tip walks you through the steps I went through to make sure that all my email shows up on the Blackberry and all replies from the Blackberry show up in Gmail. Also, new messages appear on your Blackberry as soon as they appear in your Google inbox (push email).

Step 1: Blackberry Setup

Sign into your provider's Blackberry site (or create a new account):

AT&T: http://www.att.blackberry.com

Alltel: http://www.alltel.blackberry.com

T-Mobile: http://bis.na.blackberry.com/html?brand=tmobile

Verizon: http://bis.na.blackberry.com/html?brand=vzw
On the email accounts screen, you'll see your blackberry email address (for example, johndoe@att.blackberry.com). To the right, click Edit
Change "Reply to:" to whatever your Gmail or Google Apps email is. For me, this is johndoe@heatery.com. This causes any mail you send from your Blackberry to look like it came from your Gmail or Google Apps account. If you skip this step, email will appear to have come from johndoe@att.blackberry.com
Change "Your name:" if you want to
Change "Auto BCC:" to your Gmail or Google Apps email address. Your "Reply-to:" and "Auto BCC:" fields should have the same address. Auto BCC causes a copy of any messages you send from your Blackberry to be sent to your Gmail or Google Apps email.
Click Save

Step 2: Gmail Setup

Sign into Gmail
Click Settings (in the top right hand corner of the screen)
Click the Forwarding and POP/IMAP tab
Select "Forward a copy of incoming mail to"
Enter your Blackberry email address (like johndoe@att.blackberry.com)
Make sure the option "keep ____ Mail's copy in the inbox" is selected

Interested in syncing your Google Calendar with your Blackberry?

How about syncing your Google Calendar with iCal on your Apple computer?

You could also sync your Google Calendar with Mozilla Sunbird

Syncing your Blackberry's calendar with your Google Calendar

2008-08-13T11:27:00.001-04:00
Tested with: Gmail (or Google Apps), Blackberry 8830

Tired of maintaining two or more calendars? Maybe you only keep your calendar on your Blackberry. If so, this tip will backup your calendar to a Gmail (or Google Apps) account. If you use Outlook 2003 or 2007 on your Windows desktop, you could then install Google Sync for Outlook. With both Google Sync for Outlook and Google Sync for Blackberry installed, you can enter something in your Outlook calendar and it will get pushed to your Blackberry in a few minutes. Changing or adding calendar items on the Blackberry also gets pushed back to Outlook.

If you use a Mac (which I recommend), you'll need to use iCal or Mozilla Sunbird. There may be others that support CalDAV, I just haven't tested them yet.

Installing Google Sync for Blackberry

On your Blackberry's browser, visit m.google.com/sync
Click Install NOW
Click Download. The Blackberry will say "Downloading Google Sync"
Once installation is complete, a dialog box will appear.
Click Run to start Google Sync
Enter your Google email address and password
Click "Sync Now" to start syncing
When the sync is complete, click Dismiss. You should still be in the Google Sync for Mobile program. If not, go into your Blackberry Calendar, press the Menu button, then select "Google Sync"
In the Google Sync program, press the Menu button, then select Options
Here you can change options related to syncing. Don't change "When to Sync" (should always by Automatic). You change change the conflict resolution option. For "Sync Events for next" I recommend 24 weeks.
When done, press the Menu button and select Save

Note that calendar syncing occurs on a schedule (every 10 minutes) and is not a push solution. If you need true push, look into Blackberry Enterprise Server.

Enabling Google CalDAV for Mozilla Sunbird

2008-08-13T10:34:00.001-04:00
Tested with: Gmail (or Google Apps), Mac OS X 10.5.4, Mozilla Sunbird 0.8

Google recently enabled CalDAV access to Google Calendars. It works with Sunbird, but the documentation on doing this is hard to find. So here is how to do it, step by step.

Download and install Sunbird on your Mac.
Open Sunbird
Click File, then "Subscribe to Remote Calendar..."
When the "Create a new calendar" dialog box appears, select "On the Network" and click Continue
For Format, select "CalDAV" and for Location, enter "https://www.google.com/calendar/dav/YOUR_GOOGLE_EMAIL/events" (without the quotes)
For example, assume your Gmail address is johndoe@gmail.com, then your Location would be https://www.google.com/calendar/dav/johndoe@gmail.com/events
Let's assume you have Google Apps and your email is bill.jones@jonescorp.com, then your Location would be:
https://www.google.com/calendar/dav/bill.jones@jonescorp.com/events
Click Continue
Next, your are asked to name your calendar. For mine, I just typed my first name. You can choose a color for calendar entries here and choose if your want alarms to go off in Sunbird. Click Continue.
Click Done.

That's it. By default, Sunbird will refresh remote calendars every 30 minutes. If you want to change this, go into the Preferences (Command ,)

Since Google CalDAV syncing is in beta, you should direct all your questions to Google Groups - Calendar Help Dataapi

Mounting a Linux NFS point on a Mac client

2008-05-15T12:12:00.000-04:00
Mac OS X 10.5.2, Linux (Debian) kernel 2.6.21.5

Quick tip for anyone trying to connect to a Linux server's NFS share from a Mac. The Finder provides a way to do this (from the menu bar, Go->Connect to server, then nfs://<server_name>/<mount_point>). Turns out this may not work if your distribution of Linux requires NFS connections to come from a trusted port. The solution requires you to open a terminal and type:

sudo /sbin/mount_nfs -o resvport <server_name>:<mount_point>

In this example, the Mac has an IP address of 192.168.1.1 and the Linux server's is 192.168.1.34.
So on my linux box, my /etc/exports file looks like:

# /etc/exports: the access control list for filesystems which may be exported # to NFS clients. See exports(5). /home/music 192.168.1.0/255.255.255.0(ro,sync)

On the Mac, I type:

mkdir /tmp/mnt (make a directory where I want to mount the remote directory

sudo /sbin/mount_nfs -o resvport 192.168.1.34:/home/music /tmp/mnt

You should now be able to cd /tmp/mnt and see the contents of the remote directory.

Troubleshooting Notes:
If you are having trouble, look in the logs on the Linux/Mac boxes. On Linux, they are usually in /var/log. For the Mac, use the Console application in the Utilities folder. After you add an entry to /etc/exports on the Linux box, you may have to tell mountd(8) and nfsd(8) to re-read the file. Some systems allow you to do this with the command exportfs -a. If that command does not work, then send HUP signals to the two server processes:

sudo killall -HUP rpc.mountd sudo killall -HUP rpc.nfsd

Replace the Dock Icon Created by a VMware Fusion Application

2008-04-17T18:07:00.000-04:00
Mac OS X 10.5.2, VMware Fusion Version 1.1 (62573)

Update: According to the official VMware blog, changing the permissions is not necessary, so you may be able to skip steps 7-12.

Does the above grainy low-resolution icon of a Windows application (Bridge) running in VMware Fusion look familiar? I use VMware Fusion on my Mac to run a few Windows applications I'm still holding on to. It turns out the icons from Windows are smaller than on a Mac, so when you zoom in on them on the Dock, they look pixelated. I went in search of how to fix this situation and found that it is pretty easy, once you figure out how VMware Fusion stores icons. In this example, I'm using Adobe CS3 Bridge, mainly because native icons (.icns) are available on the Mac as well as Windows.

When you open an application in Fusion, it will create an application bundle in

/Users/<your_user_name>/Documents/Virtual Machines.localized/<virtual_machine_name>.vmwarevm/Applications

so in my example, Bridge is located in:

/Users/joe/Documents/Virtual Machines.localized/Windows XP Professional.vmwarevm/Applications/Adobe Bridge - Windows XP Professional.app

To replace the icon you see for a Windows application:

Use the Finder (or terminal) and navigate to:

/Users/joe/Documents/Virtual Machines.localized/Windows XP Professional.vmwarevm/Applications/

Command-click (or right click) on Windows XP Professional.vmwarevm and click Show Package Contents

Double-click the Applications folder. You should see a list of all Windows applications you have ever used in Fusion.

Command-click (or right click) on the application you want to change the icon for. For this example, right-click Adobe Bridge -- Windows XP Professional.app and click Show Package Contents

Continue to navigate to Contents/Resources

You should see a file called docker.icns which you should replace with your new icon. In this example, I've pulled the Bridge.icns from the Mac trial of Adobe CS3. I simply copy Bridge.icns to docker.icns

You must now change the permissions on docker.icns to 0755 (rwxr-xr-x) owned by root, or the next time you open the Windows application Fusion will replace docker.icns. Open up the Terminal application, located in /Applications/Utilities

Change to the Resources folder by typing cd then the path to your application bundle (you could drag and drop the folder icon in the Finder to the terminal). In this example, the command is:

cd /Users/joe/Documents/Virtual\ Machines.localized/Windows\ XP\ Professional.vmwarevm/Applications/Adobe\ Bridge\ -\ Windows\ XP\ Professional.app

Change to the Resources directory by typing:

cd Contents/Resources

Change the owner to root by typing: sudo chown root docker.icns

Change the permissions to (rwxr-xr-x) by typing:

sudo chmod 0755 docker.icns

Finally, you have to restart your Dock to see the results (or reboot):

In the Terminal application, type

killall Dock

Look at the difference:

BEFORE (zoomed):

AFTER (zoomed):

BEFORE (unzoomed):

AFTER (unzoomed):

Much sharper. The only problem here is you have to find the Mac icon yourself. There may be a way to convert Windows .ico files into Mac .icns files, but I'm not sure. Drop me a note in the comments if you figure out a way to do it.

FileMon replacement for Mac

2008-03-19T11:25:00.000-04:00
Mac OS X 10.5.2

Since switching to a Mac in January of 2008, I've been looking for a replacement of the Sysinternals tools, especially FileMon. For those who don't know, FileMon is a program which shows file activity in real-time (file accesses, changes). I found a utility on the Mac that is almost the same: fseventer. The only thing fseventer lacks is the ability to print file accesses--it only prints file/directory changes. If you need to be able to see file accesses, it seems the only solution on the Mac is to use Instruments, which is a program included with the free Developer Tools (XCode, Interface Builder, Shark, etc.) If you have Leopard and have some experience with dtrace(1), then you can use that utility from the command line. For 10.4, you can look at ktrace(1), but that utility shows system calls, not file accesses/modifications.

Download fseventer

Getting 1Password to work with Safari 3.1

2008-03-18T09:53:00.000-04:00
Mac OS X 10.5.2, 1Password 2.5.11 (build 6126), Safari 3.1 (5525.13)

Update: 1Password has released version 2.5.12 which supports Safari 3.1. Open your 1Password program and check for updates to install.

Apple today updated Safari to version 3.1, which breaks 1Password. I'm sure the makers of 1Password will be releasing an update in the next few days to address this, but in the meantime the steps below will get everything working again. You do not need to worry about undoing this when the 1Password update is released.

Close Safari and 1Password

Open the file /Applications/1Password.app/Contents/Resources/SupportedBrowsers.plist in a text editor

For the key Safari, change the MaxBundleVersion to 5525.13

Open 1Password program, go into Preferences, Browsers tab, make sure Safari is checked as installed. If not, check the box.

Open Safari and you should see the 1Password icon on the toolbar.

Be careful doing this in the future. If Apple were to make major changes to Safari, then this technique could do more harm than good, but I have verified it works with Safari 3.1

Apple Developer Site Hammered?

2008-03-06T14:58:00.000-05:00
After Apple announced that a beta of the iPhone SDK was available today, I headed over to developer.apple.com to download a copy. Only problem is the site is unresponsive. I dropped down to the terminal and attempted to connect via telnet on port 80:
ryan@RyanMac~/Music/iTunes$ date Thu Mar 6 14:41:20 EST 2008 ryan@RyanMac~/Music/iTunes$ telnet developer.apple.com 80 Trying 17.254.2.129... Connected to developer.apple.com. Escape character is '^]'. Connection closed by foreign host. ryan@RyanMac~/Music/iTunes$ date Thu Mar 6 14:41:24 EST 2008

The server is dropping the connection immediately! Guess demand is much higher than they anticipated, which is a good thing if you are Apple.

How To Connect or Disconnect a PPTP VPN Session From the Command Line (Terminal)

2008-01-20T22:44:00.000-05:00
Mac OS X 10.5.1

Below is how to establish a PPTP VPN session from the command line in OS X. Note you must first set up the VPN connection in System Preferences->Network. I use this to connect to a Cisco 827H router running IOS. If there is any interest, I'll post instructions on how to setup an IOS router for PPTP or IPSEC VPN connections (your choice, but the IPSEC requires the Cisco VPN Client for Mac).

I'm saving everything to ~/bin in the example below. Make modifications as you see fit.

Open Script Editor and paste the following script in:

tell application "System Events"
tell current location of network preferences
set VPNservice to service "VPN (PPTP)"
if exists VPNservice then connect VPNservice
end tell
end tell

Save as ~/bin/pptp_connect.scpt

In Script Editor, File->New, then paste the following script in:

tell application "System Events"
tell current location of network preferences
set VPNservice to service "VPN (PPTP)"
set isConnected to connected of current configuration of VPNservice
if isConnected then disconnect VPNservice
end tell
end tell

Save as ~/bin/pptp_disconnect.scpt

Open your favorite text editor, such as vi, and paste the following shell script:

#!/bin/sh -
osascript pptp_connect.scpt

Save as ~/bin/pptp_connect.sh

Paste the following shell script in a new text editor window:

#!/bin/sh -
osascript pptp_disconnect.scpt

Save as ~/bin/pptp_disconnect.sh

Execute the following command to make the scripts executable by everyone:

chmod +x ~/bin/pptp_*.sh

Now in your terminal, you can execute ~/bin/pptp_connect.sh or ~/bin/pptp_disconnect.sh to establish or tear down your PPTP connection.

This works with L2TP VPN connections also. Where you see "VPN (PPTP)" simply change it to "VPN (L2TP)".

Debugging Dialup Modem Connection Issues on Mac OS X

2008-01-18T23:43:00.000-05:00
Mac OS 10.5.1

Having troubles establishing a dialup (PPP) connection in Mac OS X and can't figure out where to find information on why it's failing? Below I tell you where the log files are kept and how to enable verbose logging.

Enable Verbose Logging

Open System Preferences

Click Network

Click the network on the left pane which is associated with the dialup connection. In this example, I'm using a Bluetooth network to establish a dialup connection to Alltel's CDMA EVDO phone network.

Click Advanced

Select the PPP tab and change "Settings:" to Configuration

Here you can enable verbose logging, the sending of PPP echo packets (LCP echo packets, see the pppd(8) man page for more info. Note that PPP echo can cause problems with mobile networks, such as CDMA and GSM. If you want to use your own terminal script, create the directory "/System/Terminal Scripts" and place the file in there.

Finding Log Files

Open Console (Applications->Utilities->Console)

Look in /var/log/ppp.log or /var/log/ppp/ and you will find connection logs.

How To Tether Your Phone To a Mac Using Bluetooth

2008-01-18T23:10:00.000-05:00
Mac OS X 10.5.1, Blackberry 8830 (CDMA)

Update: Some have asked about a tethering solution that works when the Blackberry is plugged into the computer with a USB cable. A product called iMobiMac allows you to do this. It is quite cumbersome though, requiring the user to set up proxies on the Mac and run a program on the Blackberry which acts as a proxy. For this reason, I would recomment sticking to Bluetooth, but the USB option is there.

I have a Blackberry 8830 through Alltel, and wanted to be able to use it to access the internet with my MacBook Pro over Bluetooth. After trolling the internet for hours, I was unable to find any instructions on how to do this with a CDMA service provider, such as Verizon, Sprint or Alltel. The instructions that follow probably will not work for GSM providers such as AT&T/Cingular or T-Mobile. There are plenty of articles on the internet about tethering a Mac with GSM providers.

Pair your phone to your Mac using Bluetooth (instructions that follow are specific to a Blackberry 8830)

Turn on Bluetooth on your phone: On the Blackberry 8830, click Menu (has a Blackberry icon on it), then click "Manage Connections." If the Bluetooth box isn't checked, select it to turn on Bluetooth.

Turn on Bluetooth on your Mac: Open System Preferences (Finder->Applications->System Preferences). Click the Bluetooth icon, then make sure the "Bluetooth Power" checkbox is checked. If not, check it to turn on Bluetooth.

In the same pane where you enabled the Bluetooth power on your Mac, find and click a button labeled "Set Up New Device." The Bluetooth Setup Assistant should open. Click Continue.

Select "Mobile phone" as your device type. Click Continue.

Your Mac should find your phone (Blackberry 8830). Select it and press Continue.

Your Mac will gather information about your phone. When it is complete, press Continue.

Your Mac gives you a passkey (a set of numbers) which your Blackberry should now be asking you to enter. Type the numbers into your phone.

The Mac now asks you to select the services you want to use with your mobile phone. Make sure "Access the Internet with your phone's data connection" is checked and click "Continue"

Bluetooth pairing is complete.

The Bluetooth Mobile Phone Set Up dialog box is now displayed by Mac OS X. For the "Phone Vendor" select Sprint. For "Phone Model" select "PCS Vision". Find your username and password from the table below. The phone number is always "#777". Make sure the checkboxes at the bottom are checked, particularly the box labeled "Show Modem status in the menu bar" Click Continue.

Select Quit to quit.

On the Blackberry, press Menu, then "Set up Bluetooth"

Highlight the Mac computer you just paired, then press Menu, then "Device Properties"

Change the Trusted field from "Ask" to "Yes." Press Menu then Save.

Back to the Mac. On the menu bar (at the top of your screen which displays the time), at the right your should see the Modem status icon . Click this icon, then click "Connect Bluetooth" to initiate a connection. Note: this may fail if you are connected to any other network, so if you are testing at home, disconnect from any wired ethernet or wireless WiFi networks before attempting to connect to the CDMA phone network.

Problems? Read my article on how to debug this type of connection. You need to be pretty resourceful to resolve connection issues though.

Common Usernames/Passwords for CDMA Providers
Provider Username Password
Alltel 2125551212@alltel.net alltel
Verizon 2125551212@vzw3g.com vzw
Sprint your vision username your vision password

Note: Replace 2125551212 with your cell number

For more info on CDMA and DUN, read
Everything about CDMA-like Providers and DUN

How To Print To a HP DeskJet 820Cxi (and 820Cse) From a Mac

2008-01-16T17:42:00.000-05:00
Tested on Mac OS X Leopard 10.5.1 Also works with DeskJet 710C, DeskJet 712C, DeskJet 720C, DeskJet 722C, DeskJet 1000Cse, DeskJet 1000Cxi

Update: After using the 820 drivers on my Mac for a week, I found that some documents do not print at all. For this reason, I am now using the method described here to set up a Postscript converter on a Windows computer I have. Now on the Mac I have a printer set up as a HP Color LaserJet 4550 PS, which sends a postscript document to the windows box. The Windows machine receives it, converts it using Ghostscript, and then prints to the 820Cxi.

I've been trying for weeks to get my Mac to print to an old HP DeskJet 820Cxi that is attached to a Windows box in the next room and today I was successful. Turns out the 820 series uses a protocol called PPA (Printer Performance Architecture), which is proprietary to Hewlett-Packard. I've confirmed that this method also works when the printer is attached to a JetDirect 300X print server.

Download and install pnm2ppa and espgs (GhostScript)

Download this ppd file, which tells Mac OS X how to print to the 820.

Open the Printer Setup Utility (look in Applications->Utilities folder or in System Preferences) and Add a printer. If attached to the network, enter the info to connect to it. When asked for the printer model (Print Using:), select Other, then find the ppd file you downloaded in step 3. If Mac OS X complains about not being able to find programs, then you'll have to put the full paths to the programs in the ppd.

Open the ppd file and find the line that starts "*FoomaticRIPCommandLine: "gs -q -dNOPAUSE ...." and change it to "*FoomaticRIPCommandLine: "/usr/local/bin/gs -q -dNOPAUSE ...."

On the same line, you'll see "pnm2ppa" which should be changed to the full path also: "/usr/local/bin/pnm2ppa%C%B -v 820 -i - -o -" (the -v 820 tells pnm2ppa the model of the printer)

That's it!

For more info: Linux Foundation

How To Stream SiriusMac, StarPlayr, or XMac To Your Airport Express

2008-01-11T22:52:00.000-05:00
Mac only, but Airfoil is available for Windows also.
Apple's Airport Express wireless router allows you to stream your iTunes music to your stereo, but what about other programs? I listen to Sirius all day, so I naturally wanted to stream it to my stereo. It required a little research to figure out how to do it, but in the end it just required holding down a key at the right time. In this article, I explain how to stream audio from Sirius, using either SiriusMac, StarPlayr, XMac, and probably others.

Download and install a player, such as SiriusMac, StarPlayr or XMac.
Make sure you are able to listen to Sirius/XM through the speakers on your computer.
Download Airfoil 2 (Leopard ready) and install.
Open Airfoil and click Airfoil on the menubar, then click Install Extras. Install Instant Hijack, then logoff and logon for the installation to complete.
Start SiriusMac/StarPlayr/XMac and Airfoil. Click on a channel in your satellite radio player program and your should hear audio on your computer speakers.
In Airfoil, you cannot select SiriusMac, StarPlayr, or XMac. Well, you can, but you will not hear anything on your stereo. Instead, you must hold down Option when you click the application selector in Airfoil. You then must select mplayer as the application you want to capture audio from. (see screenshots below)

(Note: sometimes there may be more than one mplayer program listed. In this case, it's just trial and error until you find the right one.)

The reason for this is XM and Sirius use Windows Media format to stream their channels over the internet. All of these programs rely on mplayer to decode and play the streams, so all the Sirus/XM player programs are doing is taking care of the login process, then giving the user a list of channels. Once the user selects a channel, the Sirius/XM player passes the URL of the stream to mplayer, which takes care of the rest. One annoying thing about this that every time you change the channel, a new process of mplayer is spawned by the Sirius/XM program, which causes the audio to stop. You then must click the Speaker icon beside the name of your Airport Express to resume listening. Maybe one day the makers of Airfoil will fix this. :)

Inside Story on the Creation of the iPhone

2008-01-11T13:42:00.000-05:00
Wired has published a very interesting article on how Steve Jobs and Apple created the iPhone.

While I'm on the subject, Steve Jobs also gave a very good convocation address at Stanford a few years back, which is an excellent read.

Blu-ray Wins Next Generation DVD Battle

2008-01-10T16:47:00.000-05:00
According to Engadget, Universal's exclusive contract with the HD DVD camp has expired, and rumor has it that Universal will announce soon that they joining the Blu-ray camp. This comes just days after Warner announced that it would no longer be releasing content in both formats, instead opting for releasing content in Blu-ray Disc format only. Sony's Betamax may have lost to VCR, but it looks like they've got this one in the bag.

Provider	Username	Password
Common Usernames/Passwords for CDMA Providers
Alltel	2125551212@alltel.net	alltel
Verizon	2125551212@vzw3g.com	vzw
Sprint	your vision username	your vision password