Mac OS X

How to install PEAR on Mac OS X Leopard

Posted Tue, 31/03/2009 - 23:12 by nuno

Since Mac OS X Leopard isn't shipped with PEAR anymore, we have to install it by ourselves. Fortunately it's a very easy operation that won't take much of your time away. So, enough talking and let's put that useful tool on feet! All you need is an Internet connection (duh!) and you Terminal app (hopefully on full screen).

How to install DB2 Express-C 9 on Mac OS X in about 10 minutes

Posted Sat, 07/03/2009 - 00:21 by nuno

The very first step of my DB2 adventure is, of course, the installation party. I would like to share a brief how to installation guide of DB2 on Mac.

FYI, there is already a PDF guide when you download DB2 Express-C package which I will mainly follow. However I will comment as first person experience with some extra useful comments and avoid useless details. So let's make it simple and fast but efficient.

First of all there are some pre-requisites:

You have to be on Leopard ;
You have to have root access ;

Ok now we can download the application. Once done, open a terminal and get ready to start.

Perl modules issue with Mac OS X Security Update 2009-001

Posted Tue, 03/03/2009 - 23:53 by nuno

Today I was installing a module within CPAN and I got systematically the same error ending as following:

[geshifilter-code] Catching error: "Undefined subroutine &Compress::Zlib::gzopen called at /System/Library/Perl/5.8.8/CPAN/Tarzip.pm line 122.\cJ" at /System/Library/Perl/5.8.8/CPAN.pm line 359 CPAN::shell() called at /usr/bin/cpan line 198 [/geshifilter-code]

After consulting my "Perl menthor" (hehe!), he asked me if I had installed the 2009-001 Mac OS X Security Update. Well it seems that this Update troubles the IO module.

Let me explain: each time you run an update with Software Update, it simply overrides your existing files. This is the main reason you shouldn't override the system Perl installation with a fresh one compiled from source, for instance.

So, getting back to our subject, let me explain how I solved that.

My girlfriend, the switcher

Posted Thu, 12/02/2009 - 23:27 by nuno

No I'm not talking about love pain issues or some romantic failure I had with my girlfriend. She didn't switched me! She made it: she finally is a Mac user! :)

Wtf am I so happy? Because. (only real old school mac fan boys/girls are able to understand, sorry)

Well, she always used window$ (XP and Vi$ta) until she met me. Then she began to use Linux; first Debian on my old Pentium 3, then Ubuntu on her laptop. She liked it but she didn't used it as I expected, so she didn't switched :(

As her laptop has so many problems, she decided to buy a new one. I tried to convince her to buy the new MacBook white 2.0 but she told she wasn't ready to switch. Not yet. She was interested on a pink Sony Vaio for which she felt in love. But fate wanted the story to be different. After many difficulties and upsets, three days ago she saw that she could have a pink Mac. She quickly forgot the Vaio and next day we went to the store.

Today she opened the thin white box to discover the newcomer which directly was introduced to the house elders: my PowerMac G3, my PowerBook G4 12'' and my MacBook aluminium unibody 13''.

First astonishment: the nice user configuration and the friendly welcome video. After that, I showed her the Desktop and I took her for a quick tour through Preferences panes. There was her first "it's organised, clear and just the way it has to be". She asked me how to do some window$-like actions. That's where I stopped her and told her "This is a Mac, so we just do it Mac way".

Then she began to install apps. Second astonishment: no need to have a wizard with ten (or more) boring steps to confirm you really really really do want to install it! You just drag and drop and that's installed!

Finally she played around with iPhoto. After having take a look to the introduction video she was already exploring the app and enjoying its brand new features like faces and places.

I think she's happy with her new toy. Let's see how she evolve through the Mac world :)

iPhoto '09 likes Art but not Church...

Posted Thu, 05/02/2009 - 17:16 by nuno

I was testing the brand new iPhoto '09 and its great Faces feature when I assisted a really curious, strange and odd thing. So, I was organising my photos of my travel to Paris this Christmas. When came the Louvre part, iPhoto recognised lots of faces on the well-known painting from Jacques-Louis David, "The Coronation of Napoleon" (see the pic).

What I conclude is that iPhoto likes Art so much that it makes a real thing of that. On the other hand, iPhoto discards people connected to the Church, such as Pope Pius VII and his ~~slaves~~ entourage. Good software always makes the difference!