Come saprete le applicazioni fornite di serie con un Mac sono spesso di più e più potenti di quanto ci si aspetti… Tante sono anche le applicazioni fornite di serie con Xcode, la famosa applicazione di Apple per la programmazione. Come molti sapranno non c’è quasi nulla che Xcode non possa programmare o creare per quanto riguarda lo sviluppo software… Infatti quando si compie l’installazione di questo applicativo vengono caricati una serie di programmi per poter creare interfacce grafiche, creare widget, e una serie di applicazioni per qualunque esigenza. (Se non avete Xcode installato sul vostro Mac basterà inserire il disco di installazione che trovate nella confezione e installarlo da lì, di serie non viene pre-installato visto che si tratta di un applicativo molto pesante e necessario solamente ai programmatori, che risulterebbe quindi inutile ai non addetti ai lavori).

Una di tali applicazioni un pò sconosciute è PackageMaker. Come saprete l’installazione di applicativi per Mac avviene o con il semplice copia e incolla del contenuto di un disco immagine .dmg, o (come capita spesso per componenti aggiuntivi) tramite l’esecuzione di un file .pkg o .mpkg, ovvero codici che non fanno altro che spostare il contenuto di un pacchetto nella giusta posizione del vostro Mac in maniera da poter eseguire il programma.

Tempo fa mi sono ritrovato a creare una nuova grafica per un progetto di nome rEFIt, e di conseguenza avevo la necessità di creare un pacchetto che modificasse le nuove immagini e i file di definizione correlati. Per fare ciò mi sono servito di PackageMaker, programma veramente molto semplice e intuitivo, ma decisamente potente.

Vediamo quali sono i passaggi principali per poter creare un pacchetto di installazione del vostro programma o del vostro plug-in.

• Lanciamo il programma tramite Spotlight o semplicemente aprendolo da Macintosh HD > Developer > Applications > Utilities > PackageMaker.app
• All’avvio del programma vi apparirà un menù a tendina dove dovrete esprimere il nome della società o del programmatore che crea il pacchetto di installazione e il target minimo di sistema operativo, ovvero la versione minima necessaria all’installazione del vostro programma. Di serie PackageMaker richiede minimo Mac OS X 10.3 Panther.
• Una volta definiti tali parametri vi troverete nella finestra principale del programma. Selezionando nella barra di sinistra potrete decidere le caratteristiche del pacchetto di installazione
• Da tale pannello potrete decidere: nome del pacchetto di installazione, tipo si installazione, destinazione dell’installazione (volume di sistema, cartella home oppure volume deciso dall’utente), certificazione e descrizione del pacchetto. E’ inoltre possibile definire i requisiti minimi di sistemi e impostare i relativi messaggi di errore, oltre a poter esprimere una serie di azione pre e post installazione, come creazioni di alias, visualizzazioni di file e altro.
• Sempre da tale pannello è possibile, grazie all’apposita icona, passare alla presonalizzazione dell’interfaccia del pacchetto, ovvero di quelle finestre che appariranno all’utente finale quando apre il vostro pacchetto di installazione. In questo modo potete modificare lo sfondo delle finestre, impostare una documentazione di preinstallazione in varie lingue, settare licenze e decidere le politiche di scelta del volume su cui montare il programma.
• Una volta impostati i parametri del pacchetto si devono inserire i file da voi creati, per tale operazione basterà trascinare tali file nella barra di sinistra e vi comparirà la lista dei componenti del vostro pacchetto.
• Per ogni file è quindi possibile decidere la destinazione del file (con relativi messaggi di errore se tale directory non venisse trovata), specificare la versione del documento, impostare eventuali richieste di autentificazioni da parte dell’amministratore o di riavvii o log off di sistema.
• Una volta definito il tutto cliccate su Build e vi verrà chiesta le destinazione di salvataggio del pacchetto creato, aspettate qualche secondo e avrete il vostro pacchetto, pronto per essere spedito in giro per il mondo.

Spero di aver detto tutto, ma in caso non è difficile scoprire tutte le potenzialità del programma anche perchè ne ha molte, in caso di problemi o dubbi non dovete fare altro che contattarmi, come al solito: icattaniweb@gmail.com.

As you know the applications that come standard with a Mac are often higher and more powerful than expected … Many are the applications that come standard with Xcode, Apple’s famous application for programming. As many will know there is almost nothing that can not be programmed or Xcode to create the development software … In fact, when it completes the installation of this application are loaded a number of programs to create graphical user interfaces, create widgets, and a number of applications for any need. (If you have Xcode installed on your Mac just insert the installation disc that you find in the package and install it from there, the series is not pre-installed because it is a very heavy duty and only need to programmers, which would then be unnecessary to non-specialists).

One of these applications is a bit strange PackageMaker. As you know installing applications on a Mac is either made with a simple copy and paste the contents of a disk image. Dmg, or (as often happens for components) through the execution of a file. Pkg or. Mpkg, or codes who do nothing but move the contents of a package in the right position of your Mac so that you can run the program.

Some time ago I found myself creating new graphics for a project called refit, and therefore I need to create a package that changing the definition of new images and files related. To do this I have used PackageMaker, program really very simple and intuitive, but very powerful.

Let’s see what are the basic steps to create an installation package of your program or your plug-in.

• Launch the program through Spotlight or simply opening it from Macintosh HD> Developer> Applications> Utilities> PackageMaker.app
• When the program starts you’ll see a drop down menu where you have to give the name of the company or programmer who creates the installation package and the minimum target operating system, which is the minimum version required installation of your program. Serial PackageMaker requires minimum Mac OS X 10.3 Panther.
• Having defined these parameters you will find in the main program window. Selecting in the left navigation bar you can decide the characteristics of the installation package
• From this panel you can decide: name of the installation package, type is installed, install destination (volume of the system, home directory, or volume decided by the user), certification and description of the package. E ‘can also define the minimum set of systems and the related error messages, as well as to express a number of actions before and after installation, as the creation of aliases, viewing files and more.
• Also from this panel is possible, through the appropriate icon, go to presonalizzazione interface of the package, or to those windows that appear when the end user opens your installation package. This way you can change the background of the windows, set a pre-installation documentation in different languages, set licensing policies and decide to choose the volume on which to mount the program.
• After setting the parameters of the package must include the files that you create for that operation simply drag the files in the left navigation bar, and there appears a list of the components of your package.
• For each file you can then determine the destination of the file (with related error messages if that directory was not found), specify the version of the document, set any authentication required by the administrator or reboot or log off the system.
• Having defined the whole click on Build and you will be asked for the destination to save the package created, wait a few seconds and you’ll have your package ready to be shipped around the world.

I hope I have said everything, but in case it is not difficult to discover the full potential of the program partly because it has many, if problems or concerns do not have to do is contact me, as usual: icattaniweb@gmail.com.

Naa naa naa…. no marital-matrimonial post… puh-leaseeee….

After troubling you guys with my crazy dream

Here’s me actually with the review of the movie album,…

Music by Lalit Pandit…

This time I’l give you my overall view of the album and then proceed to give the song wise minutiae..

I know most of you might have heaved a sigh of relief and that’s precisely the reason for this leniency

That doesn’t mean il be so generous always

Kkiieekkiieekkiiee

Ok so now the overview…

Welll the songs are pretty good… listenable numbers… keeping in atmosphere of the title of the movie intact… most of the songs are those typical breezy ceremonial numbers,… but before you shake your head or roll your eyes… lemme tell you the numbers are good ones.. not the usual shor-sharaba… but that doesn’t mean tht there isn’t any… only it’s a tad more polished…  Some songs are reminiscent of other older numbers on similar lines… but I would still give the album a 2.5/5 its not that bad also… cos I have been listening to this album continuously from the time I have downloaded which is more than 30+odd hours so I can say that it is definitely worthwhile… the best songs or MUST LISTEN numbers are

Tune Jo jaan Le  by Sonu Nigam (reasons read below )

Rang Diya Dil -  Shreya Ghoshal (reasons obvious)

Akela Dil – Anushka Manchanda, Mahua Kamat, Adnan Sami (different and cute)

Poooff….thats an overall view…

Now for the detailed analysis

Me being me can’t do without this… u guys know me by now  ;)

Aaja Aaja Mere Ranjhana ~ Swananda and Anushka Manchanda… What happens when you mix Bole Chudiya and Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham title tracks..??? well.. that’s wat this song is…. I wont admo0nish it as being a remake or anything its quite good actually… listenable indeed… but then all songs in this album are i’m sure this is gonna move mere haathon mein nau nau chudiyaan and other marriage songs away.. LISTENABLE

Magar Meri Jaan – Anushka Manchanda, Mahua Kamat, Lalit Pandit – this is a nice westernized number… the song has influence of Gale Lag Jaa from De Dana Dan… Anushka as usual is herself… and Mahua has done a superb job too… this is a typical song where they transform the demure heroine into a damsel aka ooh laa laa types…. Remember Amrita Rao in Main Hoon Naa… oh if you’re wondering why do I say this… welll wat more can I expect when I have lyrics like Samarpreet ban jayegi Samara… LISTENABLE

Tu Jo Jaan le - Sonu Nigam….Hayeee… the mere fact that’s its sung by Sonu is enough to want to download and listen to this one… but this is indeed on of the best numbers in the movie.. lilting… melodious… awesomely splendid… remember the haunting effect of Dastaan E Om Shanthi Om from OSO… this is on similar lines… Sonu is his mellifluous best J bringing out the effect of a person in love and yet someone whose yearning to tell his love too… the sudden shift of the music in moments from the yearning mode to the anguish mode is marvelously put.. im dying to give a +1 for this song… superb guitar usage…  CERTIFIED MUST LISTEN…

Rang Diya Dil – Shreya Ghosal… Again reason enuff to download and listen… but Shreya maaannn… she rocks…. And m glad SLB(Sanjay Leela Bhansali) discovered her… she’s a boon to the singing industry… her voice is simply magical in this song… its such a lilting… soft… heartwarming number… a typical gal fantasizing about her guy types… it has a rustic old world charm to it… as in I mean the later 90s early 2000s ke songs ka effect… the gaaon ki chori wala effect… m not sure how many remember a movie called HAMESHA (Saif n Kajol disaster) there was a song in tht… this in some ways reminds me of tht… CERTIFIED MUST LISTEN

Dilrubaon ka Jalwe – Amit Kumar Manoli Thakkar – Amit kumar brings in a breath of fresh air from these chaos of new singers… with due respect to them all.. its always endearing to hear someone who sounds like Kishore Kumar any day this is a Qawaali-ish number complete with the harmonium effect… with a tadka of rap pop… remember SRK’s Wicked act in Main Hoon Naa’s tumse milke dil ka hai ye haal number… similar… it’s a typical Men are from Mars Women are from Venus wala jhagda/nakhra Qawaali stuff… nice to listen though… esp wen amit goes “mishi mishi shab angool huye” he sounds chooo chweeeettt….  And Manoli Thakkar with her accented Hindi is fairly listenable too … J I think this should be the one picturised on Sush and SRK cos towards the end of the song they are actually arguing with each other’s FILM titles… that are nice to hear actually… LISTENABLE song

Rang Diya Dil Sad – Shreya… Emoted to perfection… need I say more… its shreya again..

Dulha Mil Gaya - Daler Mehndi – Yo maaan… Daler Rocks… need I say more… he’s been one singer I have always liked from him Tararara to RDB…. But trust me nothing to beat his RDB number…. Even thinking about it makes me go TINGALINGALINGALINGALING TINGALINGALINGALINGALING  (picture me nodding head feverishly with eyes closed ) that song was a Class Apart… and this one to is going down in my list of Daler hits yep I liked it too… its nice n fast paced.. its the typical bakra halaal hone wala hai type of songs… wat with lyrics like.. aaj phir gur ke liye ganna chil gaya-dulha mil gaya dulha mil gaya… LISTENABLE..

Akela Dil- Adnan Sami, Anushka Manchanda- lovely song… I loved it… it’s a nice peppy spunky fun song… with Adnan in his full josh… it has a nice hip-hop meets lounge feel to it… and Adnan’s back with a bang… and I don’t need any more reasons to like this songs   but bein an impartial person (don’t rub ur eyes.. I’m impartial ok).. The music is cute… foot tapping…groovy…a Beyonce meets Rihanna meets PCD kinda number… this makes me wanna do the smooth criminal act the MJ did   CERTIFIED MUST LISTEN

Shiri Farhad – Neeraj Sridhar and Tulsi Kumar -  this is another typical Neeraj song.. Peppy-catchy-foot –tapping-head nodding-song..  the music is cute too… though again this is one song that reminds me some other song… that I’m not able to place my finger on..  its a typical Neeraj Sridhar number.. so his fans rejoice….definitely LISTENABLE

There are 3 more remixes apart from these remixes of DMG,  Dilrubaon ke Jalwe and Akela Dil.. Those are listenable numbers too… not a bad choice of songs and frankly all listenable numbers…  :D

You guys can def download the MUST LISTEN ones and maybe listen up LISTENABLE ones before downloading them

Thats it for now :)

Until next time, this is megz signing off from Megzone…

Keep Smiling…!! Keep Rocking…!! Keep Blogging…!!!

Cheerios…!!! :mrgreen:

That’s what Patty, DMG and me got last night. We were riding a bank on the side of the freeway in Moe at the time. DMG just happened to crash and hit his head when they were pulling up which didn’t help much. Those two, being 16, got a  caution but I’m probably going to be charged with reckless behaviour endangering life or something like that. I was filming at the time too and they kept telling me they were going to take my gear (vx, death lens, super 8 cam, digicam etc) but they ended up just taking the tape. Also my phone rang a couple of times (pretty sure minor threat has never been played inside the moe police station before haha) and they bought it into the interview room so I could call my girlfriend who started laughing histerically at what had happened while two police officers sat about 3 feet away from my phone which is insanely loud AND they went through the photos on my digicam and I’m pretty sure Harold (my dog) is gonna be charged with public urination any minute now haha. But they did give us copies of our interviews on dvd which is pretty bizarre. On a lighter note, why on earth is Patty wearing leoperd print cut offs??? Of all the things to be arrested in…

Yesterday when I’m busy lost in syncing my iPhone with i-Tunes… there comes a knock on the door… I’m irritated with the fact the someone bothers so late in the night… cursing and muttering under my breath I open the door and I stare awestruck at the knocker… I have no clue as to why this person came to grace my house at this hour of the night…  I welcomed him inside and made him comfy in my humble abode… and we had a conversation… the whole conversation  was him being in his best with me tryin to emulate Kajol of K3G style  and this is how it was….

~~~~~~~~~

HIM – hhhhi…. I am XXX.. naam tho suna hoga

Me -  oye ye bhi koi poochne wali hai… aapko kaun nai jaanta.. akbaar mein roz aapki photo shoto jo aati hai..

HIM – hhmm… accchhaa hai… heeyyy.. tum jaanti tho ho naa main tumhare paas kyu aaya hoon..

ME -  haye haye mujhe kaise pata hoga.. aap batake thode hi aaye the… aise hi aa dhamke tho mujhe kaise pata chalega…

HIM -  mmm… wo tho hai.. mmmmmegz tum jaanthi  ho naa meri ek mmmmovie aa rahi hai…Dulha Mil Gaya… Naam tho suna hoga…

Me -  lo kar lo baat… wo aapki film thode hi hai … usme tho fardeen aur sushmita hai… aaj hi paper mein unki foto shoto aayi hai… dekho dekho (shows him the paper) hayo rabba ye tho bilkul aapki tarah hai… (muttering – main te gayi )

HIM – Dulha Mil Gaya… hhhhmmm… main bhi hoon naa… chote role mein hi sahi.. parr main hoon naa…

Me. -  err.. maaf kar dena sir jee wo kyaa hai naa… humein laga ye to fardeen ki movie hai.. isme aap wadde log kahaan se aayenge… err… mere bauji kehte hai wadde logon ka dil bhi wadda hota hai tho aapne maaf kardiya ??

HIM  -  aaaarreeee… tummmse main naraaz kaise ho sakta hoon mmmmegz… tum tho meri paaro ho…. Meri zaara ho… tumse naraaz kaise reh saktha hoon…

Me -  haayyee… (peers at him does the K3G Kajol hand action) Chaddo…!!

HIM -  mmmmera ek kaam karogi mmmmegz… main sirf tumhare bharose aaya hoon…

Me – (thinks oi teri… ab isko kyaa chahiye.. haaannn… ye zaroor mere blog ke peeche padha hoga… warna main bhi sochu ye itna wadda star mere ghar kyu aane laga… Sachin tendulkar ki kasam agar iske chakke na chudaaye to mera naam bhi Anjali..oopss megz nai  )

HIM – tumne DMG ke gaane tho sune honge naa mmmmegz…

Me – err… haan.. aaj hi download kiye..

HIM – kkkkkaise lage mmmmegz… bataoo naa…

Me -  haan… teek taak hi hai…

HIM  – hhhhheey,… mazaak kar rahi ho naa… batao naa mmmegz.. apne style mein batao naa… main sunna chahta hoon… tumhare style mein sunna chaahta hoon,.,,

ME – ( haayooo rabba ye kyaa… poore blogosphere mein kisine mujhse review nai poocha… aur ye inna wadda superstar inne pyaar se pooch raha hai… main te gayi… )errr… haan de doongi review.. kal doonn,. Teek hai..??

HIM… hhhhmmmm… ttteeek hai mmmmegz… main kal tumhare intzaar karoonga… teek  4 baje…

He gets up shakes my hand … MAIN XXX naam tho suna hoga”

Kowsalya supraja Rama poorva sandhya pravarthathe
Uthishta narasardoola karthavyam daivamahnikam

Oi teri…

wondering wat… welll,….that was my alarm… and I just got up…

Haayyyeee… I hope by now you guys have realized who the mystery superstar is…

Tho wait till tomo 4pm for the review

Thats it for now :)

Until next time, this is megz signing off from Megzone…

Keep Smiling…!! Keep Rocking…!! Keep Blogging…!!!

Cheerios…!!!

As posted on Tzadik.com…

GREAT NEWS FOR ZORN FANS!

2010 will be a landmark year for John Zorn who promises 12 new CD releases-one every month! Included will be new music from The Dreamers, Moonchild and Alhambra, 3 new releases in Masada Book Two: Book of Angels series, a major new studio composition dedicated to the Korean-American writer Theresa Hak Kyung Cha, a classical release featuring his acclaimed violin concerto Contes des Fées, the DVD release of his opera with Richard Foreman ASTRONOME, a ripping improvised duo recording with Fred Frith and undoubtedly several surprises. Most of the recordings are already completed and the release schedule set, so keep your eyes and ears open and expect a new Zorn release every 4th Tuesday of the month in 2010!

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Also on the new album front… as discussed earlier, the My Brightest Diamond remix boxset (4 EPs on 2 CDs) is now up for pre-order.  There are only going to be 1,500 sets pressed, signed and numbered by Shara Worden.  Find out more HERE.

~Dan – np: Nellie McKay – Normal As Blueberry Pie

  There is nothing for American fans to do in F1.  No USGP, a US team without any Americans actually doing anything for it, not a single American driver.  What’s a US fan to do for their international road racing fix?  And, IRL road races are terrible.  So, where to go?

  Well, maybe Moto Gp or World Superbike.  Moto Gp actually runs 2 races in America, the USGP at Laguna Seca and the Indianapolis GP at Indy.  Also, look for 3 American drivers next season, Colin Edwards, Ben Spies, and Niki Hadden.  My only worry for Spies is his team isn’t one of the top teams.  But, Edwards finished 5th in points, so there may be hope.

  Moto GP races sometimes lack passing ,but, it’s under an hour long, so even if it’s boring, it’s still not that bad.  Moto GP bikes are fast, as in only about 20 seconds slower than an F1 car! 

If you've got the money, this bike could be yours!

 As for World Superbike, I don’t know much about.  It runs in America, currently running the US race at Miller.  I know that Johnny and the Duke from  http://livefastracing.blogspot.com/ and http://www.rumblestripradio.com/ are both big fans of World Superbike, and everything I know about it comes from them (plus Dave Despain).  The only issue I’ve got is I’m not sure if there will be any American riders next year with Ben Spies moving up.  Still, there are lots of manufacturers, and it’s bikes you can actually buy, if you have the money. 

  As for American Superbike, um, not so good.  If you’re a disgruntled road racing fan, particularly with F1 or Indycar, there are definitely better places to go. 

  Another option is ALMS.  If your chosing between sportscar series, chose ALMS, because Grand Am is just more ugly, slow cars running around crappy tracks, sounds familiar, the people in Daytona sure know how to make a racing series…

The best road racing in America?

  So, the point is, for open wheel fans who want to watch better road racing, look at ALMS, MotoGP, and World Superbike.  I might try and add coverage of MotoGP and World Superbike next year, it depends if I have time, and get into the series.  I wanted to bring coverage of MotoGp to www.planet-irl.com when I used to be there, but I just never got around to it, and then I got fired.

Sup?

A couple of funny crashes and some cool tricks from Moe’s own DMG

How do shoes get burnt? You don’t just leave your shoes at the park. Weird. Some riding pics after the jump.Foxy snapped his axle doing a man sixed rail today. So I said if he wanted another go he could use my wheel. He did it first go with my wheel but snapped my cone nut. THANKS MATE haha. DMG took a photo of it but I’m gonna make you all wait for the video

You probably already know that you can change the default application a specific file-type opens with, or specify one if there aren’t any listed, via Properties > Open With. But for those extensions that don’t have an actual mimetype defined, things can be problematic, as unknown file-types are seen as generic files, and classified according to what the system thinks they may be.

A good illustration of what this means is the .mht web archive format, which is actually a fancy version of a .html web page with pictures included (rather than separate in folders). Ubuntu does not know this extension by default, but determines it is a text file. So when you double-click it, it will open in the text editor, which will show you the text, but the pictures will be a huge mess of code.

And if you decide to get clever and make Opera or Firefox (with the unMHT plugin) the default for .mht files, it will backfire, as all your different types of text files will now open in your browser. Similarly, if you change the icon of .mht files to something more like a .html icon, the change will also happen to your text files of other extensions.

The way to get around all this is to create your own mimetype with assoGiate. You should be able to install it via Synaptic (if not, you may need more software sources), or you can go to the download page (note that the link for Ubuntu packages currently seems to be dead, but you can get the source code there, if you prefer compiling anyway; otherwise, you can get the i386/32-bit version and amd64/64-bit version here). Once installed, it will end up in Applications > System Tools > File Types Editor.

In assoGiate, use the New button to create a blank mimetype. You’ll see there are 5 tabs in the dialogue box that pops up, and generally you will only be putting information into General and Filenames. Some just require you to type data in an empty field (like the General tab), while others will require you to click an +Add button to do so (like the Filenames tab).

As an example of something basic you could do, I’ll use the .dmg file-type, which Mac OS users will know are program installers, like .exe files in Windows, and .deb files in Ubuntu. I download programs for Mac users, so I don’t actually need them opening in anything, but I just want the type registered, so it would be listed as “Mac OS Program Installer”, and have an easy-to-recognise icon.

► General:
Category: Multipurpose files
Name: x-extension-dmg
Description: Mac OS Program Installer

Use the Browse button [...] to select a Mac icon of your choice for the .dmg extension.

Next, you specify the file extension in the Filenames tab with the +Add button. Note that you can register more than one extension while you’re there.

► Filenames:
Filename pattern: *.dmg

And that’s it. You’ve created a mimetype, even if it’s not that useful. But all you have to do is look through the various file-types, and you’ll soon see you can make your own by using existing mimetypes as examples. And you could do things like add another extension to an existing mimetype via the Filenames tab.

So we’ll use the example of an extension for text files called .Ubuntu. The scenario is that you’ve decided to separate your text files containing Ubuntu tips and tricks by renaming those with this extension. First go to Text and source code in the left pane of assoGiate, locate (Category) text (Name) plain, and double-click it to edit it. If the Description: is other than something like “Plain Text Document” (mine got hijacked by an Adobe product), you can change it there in the General tab.

Now all you need to do is go to the Filenames tab and +Add a new extension by entering *.Ubuntu. It will now be treated as a text file and open with the default text editor.

But if you want to have .Ubuntu files display a custom icon (like the Ubuntu logo) instead of the generic text icon, to have a descriptive name for that extension, and even have it open in another program, you’ll need to create a new mimetype for it instead of using the previous method. Click the New button and enter the data as follows:

► General:
Category: Multipurpose files
Name: x-extension-Ubuntu
Description: Ubuntu Information Document

If you’re wondering whether you could have chosen Text and source code as the category, the answer is yes, but that the specified icon might not show up, and still be the generic text icon. At least putting it under Multipurpose files will ensure this is not the case.

► Related types:
Parent types: text/plain

► Filenames:
Filename pattern: *.Ubuntu

And there you have it – you’ve just created your own mimetype for specific text files that will be easy to locate because of the icon you specified. If you’d now like to change the default application your .Ubuntu files open with, like have them open in Leafpad (which is more basic than the default Gedit, so loads a bit faster), check out how to do so here.

For a more advanced use of assoGiate, check out this post on registering MHT web archives. If you ever research a specific mimetype and are supplied with a bunch of technical data about it, you could probably use that in assoGiate to successfully register it as a file type in Ubuntu.

I’ll talk about them some other post. Future rap I give you. Enjoy!

But you could be forgiven for thinking it was with the park bench set up in a school and the sunshine. Dean with a manual and DMG after the jump.

Some footage from tonight.

A few recent clips that probably wouldn’t have ended up in anything due to my laziness/sketchy filming. That last clip looks like we set it up but I swear we didn’t I just happened to  be panning across! I thought that was pretty funny. Enjoy!

Vier Tage Reden… meine Stimmbänder sind entsprechend “geschädigt”… doch es war eine sehr schöne Zeit.

Nach den ersten 3 Tagen Teenkon, war die Jukon mit dem Thema “Die Braut, die sich nicht traut”. Das Thema Gemeinde war auch für mich ermutigend und ich hatte nicht nur gute Gepräche, sondern wurde selbst herausgefordert.

Den DMG-Stand machte ich gemeinsam mit einer Neuen Missionarin, die nach Peru ausreisen wird.

Hier noch ein Link zu den Bildern & Predigten der Jukon: Jukon

If you’re not familiar with Mac OS X, it uses a packaging format derived from NextStep where applications are directories and to install an application, you just drag and drop the package directory into the “Applications” folder (or wherever you choose because apps are self-contained and can run from anywhere).

Mac OS X installers use a file format called an “Apple disk image” or *.dmg file, which is a sort of bzip2-compressed filesystem. In the example below, I downloaded the binary installer for the brilliant open source video player VLC, and double-clicked on it, whereupon Mac OS X mounts the packaged filesystem. In the image below, the VLC application looks like a file but in reality is a directory full of application files.

Can we decode and unpack these .dmg files in Linux using libguestfs? Well, not always, but sometimes (because of some limitations in the Linux HFS+ driver described below).

First I should note that this probably doesn’t work with password-protected / encrypted files, but they’re not common for software distribution. DMGExtractor claims it can handle those.

Secondly the image is usually bzip2-compressed, and you have to run bunzip2 on it by hand first:

$ mv Firefox\ 3.5.3.dmg firefox-3.5.3.dmg.bz2
$ bunzip2 firefox-3.5.3.dmg.bz2
bunzip2: firefox-3.5.3.dmg.bz2: trailing garbage after EOF ignored

(Yeah, I don’t know how important that error was either … But it doesn’t seem to affect things.)

Thirdly the file system image is not at the start of the file. You have to find it and strip off some sort of header from the file. Look for the HFS+ superblock in the file:

$ hexdump -C firefox-3.5.3.dmg | grep '  48 2b 00 04'
00008400  48 2b 00 04 00 00 01 00  63 65 72 64 00 00 00 00  |H+......cerd....|
^C

and strip it, less 0×400 bytes:

$ dd if=firefox-3.5.3.dmg of=firefox.img bs=$((0x8400 - 0x400)) skip=1

This should produce an HFS+ filesystem image. Check that:

$ file firefox.img
firefox.img: Macintosh HFS Extended version 4 data last mounted by: 'cerd',
created: Mon Aug 24 10:37:21 2009, last modified: Mon Aug 24 18:37:21 2009,
last backup: Mon Aug 24 18:37:21 2009, last checked: Mon Aug 24 18:37:21 2009,
block size: 2048, number of blocks: 25773, free blocks: 0

Now this can be loaded directly into guestfish:

$ guestfish --ro -a firefox.img -m /dev/sda

Welcome to guestfish, the libguestfs filesystem interactive shell for
editing virtual machine filesystems.

Type: 'help' for help with commands
      'quit' to quit the shell

><fs> ll /
total 180
lrwxrwxr-x  1  502   80     13 Aug 24 13:37   -> /Applications
drwxr-xr-x  1  502   80      7 Aug 24 13:37 .
dr-xr-xr-x 29 root root      0 Oct 25 17:41 ..
-rwxr-xr-x  1  502   80  12292 Aug 24 12:41 .DS_Store
-rw-r--r--  1  502   80 165905 Aug 24 12:41 .VolumeIcon.icns
drwxr-xr-x  1  502   80      3 Aug 24 13:37 .background
drwxr-xr-x  1  502   80      3 Aug 24 13:33 Firefox.app

and in this case, I just wanted to extract the contents to a tarball, so:

><fs> tgz-out / firefox.tgz

$ zcat firefox.tgz | tar tf -
./
./
./.background/
./.background/background.png
./.DS_Store
./.VolumeIcon.icns
./Firefox.app/
./Firefox.app/Contents/
./Firefox.app/Contents/Info.plist
./Firefox.app/Contents/MacOS/
./Firefox.app/Contents/MacOS/.autoreg
./Firefox.app/Contents/MacOS/application.ini
./Firefox.app/Contents/MacOS/blocklist.xml
./Firefox.app/Contents/MacOS/browserconfig.properties
./Firefox.app/Contents/MacOS/chrome/
[etc]

“hfs: failed to load catalog file”

It worked with the Firefox installer, but two other installers I tried (for VLC and Disk Inventory X) didn’t go so well. The HFS+ driver produced this error for those:

hfs: failed to load catalog file

which as far as I can see is either a problem that these .dmg files don’t follow the HFS+ [proprietary] standard by missing out the catalog B-tree, or else the HFS+ driver can’t find that B-tree for unknown reasons.

Sono abbastanza sicuro che mobile me sia sicuro, nel senso che nessuno possa ficcare il naso nei file che metto sull’iDisk, tuttavia alcuni elementi di questo costoso servizio mi lasciano un po’ perplesso.

Intanto da nessuna parte nella presentazione si fa riferimento alla sicurezza del sistema, mentre altri siti come l’eccellente dropbox spiegano in dettaglio come funziona il loro meccanismo di protezione.

Poi l’altro giorno leggo di uno strano problema che permetterebbe di vedere i contatti altrui e la cosa non mi piace per nulla.

Il velo di segretezza che apple mantiene intorno ai problemi di sicurezza non è di buon auspicio, ma fino a gennaio sono abbonato a mobile me e penso di non mollarlo di punto in bianco, adesso che la sincronia dei dati funziona finalmente bene.

Ho pensato comunque di iniziare a sfruttare i venti giga di spazio che mi danno, e copiare lassù nella nuvola le foto, quantomeno i negativi digitali in dng. Per evitare problemi di esposizione ad estranei preferisco però usare una piccola azione di automator e creare per ogni cartella di immagini un immagine disco criptata, che poi spedisco su idisk.

Mi rendo conto di diventare sempre più paranoico, ma mentre nutro grande fiducia nelle capacità hardware e software di apple, ne ho molta meno sulla loro gestione dei servizi online – a proposito, per spedire i file sulla nuvola non posso usare il finder, lentissimo, ma mi affido a cyberduck, molto più veloce e sicuro.

Finally, to end with this posts about Disk Utility, I will show you how to convert a DMG image to an ISO image:

1. Open Disk Utility.
2. Drag and drop your DMG image into the left side of the application, select it and click on Convert Image.
3. Make sure that the image format is CD/DVD Master, and the encryption is None (or something similar).
4. Select the folder and the name of the file, change the extension to .cdr, and click Save.
5. The last step is changing the extension of the result file to .iso.

 
And that’s all! As easy and fast as on previous posts! I hope this helps you if you have a similar problem.

Disk Utility is a great application for working with hard disks, but also with CDs, DVDs and disk images. If we want to create an image of a CD or a DVD in DMG format (Apple format), we can make it easily with this tool. These are the steps I followed to archieve it:

1. Insert the CD/DVD into your Mac and open Disk Utility.
2. When you see the CD/DVD in the left side of the application, select it and click on New Image.
3. Make sure that the image format is Compressed, and the encryption is None (or something similar).
4. Select the folder and the name of the file and click Save.

 
And that’s all! Easy, fast, and without any external tool.