Jake's Computer Blog

You probably got here from a search engine. This is a blog of computer problems I have solved for others to use.

Gimp polaroid script works with 1 character change

Avi Bercovich's Polaroid script was designed for Gimp 1.2, but it will work in Gimp 2.2 with a small tweak. Here is the patched polaroid.scm script that changes only one character. Put it in $HOME/gimp-2.2/scripts/ and it will appear under Script-Fu -> Decor -> Polaroid after you restart Gimp.

Gimp.app 2.2.10 works on MacOS 10.4.4

You have to wait a really long time the very first time you start it up because 10.4.4 installs a lot of new fonts that Gimp needs to cache. If you don't see a splash screen right away, don't panic.

Installing Windows XP SP2 on Parallels Desktop 3.0

You need to install Windows from images on the hard disk, not CDs or downloads. Create an .iso of the XP installation CD using Disk Utility, then install SP2 in .exe format. If you don't, you will get bizarre errors and freezes during installation.

IOGEAR GUC232A USB to Serial Adapter on Macintosh 10.4.11

It shouldn't be this hard to talk to a Cisco switch via RS232. I got most of this information from this post.

First, don't install the driver that comes on the CD with the product! You will need to install the driver from the Taiwanese manufacturer that makes the underlying chipset. If you need to uninstall the old driver, use something similar to the following (depending on version number), and if you mess up your system and render it unbootable, it's not my fault: 

sudo kextunload /System/Library/Extensions/ProlificUsbSerial.kext
sudo rm -fr /System/Library/Extensions/ProlificUsbSerial.kext/
sudo rm -fr /Library/Receipts/PL2303_1.0.8.pkg/
zmodem After installing the correct driver, reboot your system and follow the instructions where you edit the Info.plist file with the values reported by System Profiler. My decimal values were the same as in the article.

Access the network properties window in System Preferences, select "Network Port Configurations" from the "Show" pulldown list, and ensure that "usbserial" is listed and checked. You should now see the device /dev/tty.usbserial

Now download ZTerm and select "Settings -> Modem Preferences" and select "usbserial". Remove the Initialize field from "Modem Setup strings". Change the speed and parity in the "Settings -> Connection" pulldown. You're done.

If you're trying to access the console on a Sun via LOM Port A, you will need to modify the Zterm application to send the correct break signal by typing the following line in a terminal window: 

defaults write com.mac.dalverson.ZTerm breakSim '300'
Then restart Zterm and you can type Apple-B to send a proper break signal.

No Audio with YouTube Flash Player

The two things to try on the Mac are deleting the contents of ~/Library/Preferences/Macromedia/Flash Player and changing the Audio Output to 44100 Hz using the Audio Midi Setup application in the Applications/Utilities folder.

TivoTool

TivoTool allows you to watch and burn DVDs of programs stored on your Tivo using a Mac 10.4 system. The beauty of TivoTool is that it is a monolithic program that does everything for you. You do not need to download any video libraries, become an expert in mpeg formats, or configure mplayer. The GUI connects to a small daemon called vserver that you install on your Tivo. TivoTool collects the list of programs stored there, you click "Burn", and then it downloads the stream and burns a DVD for you. You cannot skip commercials because vserver can only stream the data serially (you can download the stream and then edit it afterward if you wanted, though).

My Series 1 Tivo has a CacheCard with an Ethernet port. The CacheCard driver CD automatically installs the initrd hack that allows you to telnet and FTP to the Tivo. FTP the vserver program to the specified directory (mine was /var/hack/bin), add a line to /etc/rc.d/rc.sysinit so that it starts on every Tivo reboot: 

root# cat >> /etc/rc.d/rc.sysinit
/var/hack/bin/vserver &
Be sure to use two >> to append to the file instead of overwriting it. Press Return and then Control-D to close the file and exit cat.

If you don't like TivoTool, you can also try this.

FreeBSD 6.0 /usr size

When you install FreeBSD, make /usr 4GB instead of the default 2GB so that make buildworld doesn't fill it up.

FreeBSD 6.0 Docbook compilation errors

The secret is to use Docbook within the confines of /usr/doc. If you try to compile a SGML file outside of that directory structure, the compilation will fail no matter how many environment variables you tweak.

FreeBSD 6.0, 802.11g, and D-Link DWL-G520 Rev.B3

Recompile the kernel to use the ath device (see ath manpage), kldload wlan_tkip so that authentication will work, specify wpa-psk in wpa_supplicant.conf, and run wpa_supplicant as a daemon. 

# ifconfig ath0 protmode off

Turning off CTS protection prevents a bug in the ath driver from causing a kernel panic.

D-Link DI-624 Rev.C is junk

It wouldn't work no matter what I tried (firmware 2.42, mounting it vertically to help dissipate heat, reducing transmit power to 50% to reduce heat). Get yourself a nice Linksys WRT54G Ver.4 and below. Version 5 is known to be flaky.