Simeon Says

From what i can tell i am an oddity among CF-Mac developers.  I
actually install Apache and hook up the connector to cf to ease my
development.  The very first time i set up apache2 on my mac I
used some packages that barneyb turned me onto.  I dont think i
had any problems with them, but I didnt look for them when I did my
next install.

I am pretty sure I could compile from source and do an install. 
But I dont like doing that because I dont like that I dont know where
everything goes when run "make install".  This tends to be the
case when I do those types of installs.

Not to mis-lead you all, I have found a solution that makes me
happy.  And it does include compiling :)  What i have found
is Darwinports. 
Darwinports is a site that includes most of your favorite *nix flavor
treats as ports for OS X.  What it does is act like yum and
apt-get for fedora linux and debian.  From the command line you
can run ‘port install {package-name}’ and it will check to see what
dependancies are needed, download the source and compile it for your
machine.

So you might be asking how is this better than just compiling it
myself?  Well for one, i dont have to actually go find the
source.  I usually check the web site to see if they have what i
am looking for first and then just install.  Two, I can also
uninstall and update the installation using the port command. 
Three,  all the packages install in /opt/local which makes it very
nice for managing things.

What else can you install with darwinports?  Well apache obviously
but also subversion, tomcat and any number of other unix
favorites. 

Last but not least I will give you the short version of how to get Darwin ports installed.  From the http://darwinports.org/getdp/
website you have your choice of a  tar.bz2 or tar.gz
download.  This will get you the source code for
darwinports.  extract this to any location you choose (you wont
need it for long ) and then navigate to that folder via that command
line. I use a terminal app called Iterm
but you can just user Terminal from the Applications/Utilities folder.
The readme in this folder includes these directions, but I will happily
repeat the steps here.  From the folder you created by extracting
the archive you downloaded earlier:

./configure && make && sudo make install

This will run through a system check, compile the source and then move the compiled binaries to their final resting place.

Thats all it takes to get the base installed.  But if you want to
be able to run the port command withougt always having to use the full
path, we need one more step.  If you are familiar with the command
line you my have already modified your .profile file.  If this is
your first forray then you will need to create one.  At any rate
the .profile file will need to go in your home directory.  As you
can tell because the first character is a "." it will not normally be
visible.  I choose to use emacs for my editing tasks most days I
am in terminal so

emacs ~/.profile

will open the file (create a buffer if the file doesnt exist).  You then want to add this line to the file

export PATH=/opt/local/bin:$PATH

To
save and exit emacs use the key combination ctrl+x followed by ctrl+c.
Thats control not command! :)  Press Y to confirm the save and you
are done.

Now that we have the file created we need our session to re-read that so from the command line press

. ~/.profile

And the last step before you can install apache is to download the port description files by running

port sync

And once that has completed you can install apache by running

sudo port install apache2

Wait
for it to run through its process.  It will install to
/opt/local/apache2.  You will need to set up your
httpd.conf.  this tends to be a personal and varried
process.  i typically set up virtualhosts and not much else. 
Please feel free to do what you like here.

Well thats about all I have for you now.  Love to hear any
comments on how others do or if you benifited from the info on my
setup.  Please feel free to comment

Next up…. JRUN and CFMX 7. 

Well this is my first post from my powerbook now running OS X
10.4.  Lots of posts going up about features so i think I will
skip that.

After finishing the install my first order of business is to get myself
set up for development again.  Although I did a very thourough
backup before the install (clean erase of the disk) I find this as a
great opportunity for some housecleaning.

So what came first?  SideTrack! Essential for powerbook users who do not want to be dependant on a mouse.  Next… MenuMeters. 
The only way to keep tabs on the critical stats on your mac.  In
case you didnt notice both these great apps are created by Alex
Harper.  And in my haste to get Tiger on my powerbook I didnt back
up my registration information for SideTrack so I had to send him an
email.  i was amazingly suprised when in only a few minutes i
recieved and email from Alex that included my serial and registration
information.  i tell you this is the kind of developer i want to
support.  So if you have not checked out SideTrack and his other
utilities please do your self the favor.

The last utility to make the computer feel like home, and keep me from going nuts without my dual screens….. Desktop Manager. 
Although the current stable version does not support Tiger there is a
developer build that offers most of the functionality of the stable.

Now that my powerbook feels like home again its time to get down to the
business of development.  Check my next post for installing Apache
2.

Now that we are only 28 hours from being able to pick up Tiger in
your nearest Apple store or retailer…  I found a discount!

Anyone who wants to upgrade but feels like they are not going to be
running to the store to pick it up tomorrow might consider picking up Tiger at Amazon.com

They are offering a $35 dollar rebate on a single license and a $50 on the 5 pack.  Although the rebate says its a pre-order rebate, the rules on the rebate say it covers any purchase of these items between 1/09/05 and 5/31/05.

My shipping confirmation says mine is to be delivered by 4:30 tomorrow,
so its too late for me ( i bought from apple) but maybe its not too
late for you!

All I seem to post about these days is apple.  Well in continuing that thread teh new PowerMac line has been released!

I
just recently got me  a PowerMac G5 for home wich compliments my
15" PowerBook and my g5 that I have at the office.  In truth I
must say I feel quite spoiled. :) 

In a follow up post to my previous post on apples new line of computers.  Amazon.com today let the cat out of the bag by allowing pre-orders of the new dual 2.7 Ghz G5.

In other news Apple ranks No 1 on the Wired top 40 this after being No 3 on last years report.

Also in a bit of news I had never considered:

Can an open source project get acquired? One just did by ZDNet’s
David Berlind — Here’s a wrinkle that many devotees of open source
either don’t know about or don’t talk about: Open source projects can
get acquired by commercial software companies.  To demonstrate that
point, one of the more popular open source projects on sourceforge.net
was acquired last week.

I have to say that my very first thought was "It’s a little late for
april fools jokes".  That was followed up with a feeling of having
the rug pulled out from under me.  I have been talking to a bundle
of people this morning and although I am able to speak to them very
logically and I express the information that we have available to us, I
have  something nagging at me.  Logically I see Adobe and
Macromedia as companies serving the same market with a few products
that compete.  As for the products that compete I use the
strongest one from each company, so I stand to loose nothing if the
lesser product is killed.

I think what is really getting at me is the fact that Macromedia will
be no more.  I remember having this feeling when Allaire and MM
merged a few years ago.  I fell that CF became a much better
product because of the backing of the larger company, and I have no
regrets about that merger.  However the logic in that thought does
nothing to quell the discomfort in my stomache.

I wroot for the little guy.  I always support the underdog. 
And as Macromedia has release its updated products for the last couple
years I always felt good that we were sloowly taking peices out of the
bigger competition.  I have rallied for use of flashpaper in my
office.  Yes .net is "free" but CF is great.  Yes photoshop
can edit photos, but look how well fireworks helps me prep these
layouts for web.  These are all arguments that I won, feeling like
I had done my part to support the smaller guy.

I believe in Macromedia’s commitment to community.  I believe in
community!  Its one of the reasons I wanted so badly to be the PDX
CFUG manager, because I felt I was not doing all that I could to make
the MM community in Portalnd stonger.  I dont feel Adobe has a
commitment to community.  I have co-workers who attend Adobe user
groups and I dont feel like they have the attitude I want from our
community.

But in truth, as its stated in the FAQ, no product roadmap decisions
will be made until after the merger is complete.  So although this
is big news today, it will likely be a year before we see any
changes.  If we see any changes at all.

A close friend suggests that the deep pockets at adobe can do nothing
but good things for CF.  Advertising and promotion should see an
increase.  So I hope that to be true.  I will have to move
forward with a grudgingly neutral position on the whole thing
though.  I will do my best to be positive in the future

Well it was rumored that Apple would be releasing updated versions of its deskopt computers just before the tiger release.  Well ThinkSecret
has posted what they say will be the new updates.  Looks like some
pretty serious CPU gains, as well as updated DVDR dual layer support
throughout.

Take a look if you are interested here. 

I dont know how long this has been out, but I was excited to see
it.  Now I can start planning out what topics I want to cover
while I am at CFUNITED. 
Take a look and see if there is anything you can stand to miss because
the next Early Bird Price deadline is looming close.  Check out the CFUNITED Schedule here.

Well I am very excited to hear about this.  In addition to all
the new features and such that will be available, I found out yesterday
that the L2TP VPN client in 10.3.8 is not compatible with the Astaro
Security Linux VPN that we are evaluating for use in our office. 
However they assure me that with Tiger this problem will be fixed.

So Woooo HOOOO only 17 days to go !

I will admit that I am a shorts and flip-flops kind of guy.  My
friends all laugh when they see me in pants, because they know I hate
it.  So it is a very special occasion today because I am wearing a
suit.  Thats right, custom tailored and everything.  I bought
it for the cruise my wife and I went on on our honeymoon (2.5 years
ago) and I haven’t worn it since.

We are having professional
photos taken in our office today, and for some reason my bosses decided
that the slug of and IT Director needed to have his picture taken as
well.  So on this special occasion while I am all done up, I have
choosen to take this opportunity to show the world who I am.  Or
rather who I could be if I cleaned up a bit.  So without futher
ado, please allow me to introduce myself: Simeon Bateman

And
yes, for those who are wondering, I am wearing makeup. Perhaps when the
good shots come back I will post a nice picture of me.