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So having recently rebuilt a couple of machines recently I was missing a few of the tweaks that I’d used in the past, so here for my future reference are the commands required to disable the Dashboard and also make the Dock appear to be flat.

Using Terminal (which can be found under utilities:

defaults write com.apple.dock no-glass -boolean YES
defaults write com.apple.dashboard mcx-disabled -boolean YES
killall Dock

And to re-enable

defaults write com.apple.dock no-glass -boolean NO
defaults write com.apple.dashboard mcx-disabled -boolean NO
killall Dock

So in this my first year of being a gun for hire I’ve done quite well, I’ve managed to keep the family fed and watered (well provided the money to do so) and in the house, and all is good. However as of this week I have nothing lined up for 2012, time to get talking.

So if you read this post, (Hello) and need someone with all sorts of technical ability (Programming and IT Infrastructure) then let me know, you’ll make me very happy and directly impact Iona and Nell’s Christmas.

So if you can’t do it for me, then do it for the kids

Ok so joking apart if you know me, which is probably the only reason to read this blog, and have a need for me let me know, if you’ve stumbled across this blog through some horrific Google searching accident and in some happy coincidence have a need for a programmer or IT person then get in touch and we can talk.

Maybe the dullest subject line ever but it took me a while to get Ruby 1.9.3 installed on my laptop and so here to help me in the future is the secret sauce.

This is all on a Lion based machine (clean build, not an upgraded machine)

Download and install XCode from the AppStore
Install RVM:

$ bash < <( curl -s https://rvm.beginrescueend.com/install/rvm )

Update your .bash_profile

$ echo '[[ -s "$HOME/.rvm/scripts/rvm" ]] && . "$HOME/.rvm/scripts/rvm" ' >> ~/.bash_profile

Reload .bash_profile (or close and re-open terminal)

$ source .bash_profile

Install Ruby 1.9.3

$ rvm install 1.9.3 --with-gcc=clang

Set Ruby 1.9.3 to be your default

$ rvm --default 1.9.3

And check using

$ ruby -v

And then install Rails

$ rvm install rails

So I have a 4S and have to say was initially disappointed with Siri, however over the course of the weekend I’ve found I’m getting better at getting Siri to understand me.

Then it dawned on me, I’m recovering from a cold and I probably speak too fast with this mind, I’ve found the playing has become a lot more successful.

I’ve sent a text, posted to twitter, set a reminder and now Siri calls me ‘Master’

Technology as it should be

and back to the place I was happiest.

So with Wirewool at the moment I’m essentially doing some programming and some server work, and you know what, it’s great. Dusting off the coding, making stuff and setting up servers. Playing with databases, SQL, NoSQL, PHP, CodeIgniter and some Java, along the way working with continuous integration techniques and talking SCRUM and Agile.

The great thing is of course that being happy doing what you are doing has a knock on effect, I’m doing more, being more effective, playing with GTD and most amazingly of all feel like I’m almost ready to get back to training.

Happiness above all else should be my mantra, maybe this time around I can learn from the past and maintain.

Fingers Crossed

So recently I needed to add SSL capability to an Amazon Elastic Load Balancer (ELB) which actually meant :

- Get the certificate, having created a new CSR and Private key on the machine of your choice
- Uploading the Private key, CSR and Certificate into Amazon using Amazon Web Services (AWS) Identity and Access Management service (IAM)

So the first challenge was getting the command line tools and creating the relevant identity files.

Download the AWS command line tools and put them somewhere you want to use them from, I put them in /use/local/IAMCLI which I then added to my .bash_profile using the settings below (this bit is optional, but makes your life easier):

# Added for AWS CLI
export AWS_IAM_HOME=/usr/local/IAMCli
export PATH=${AWS_IAM_HOME}/bin:$PATH
export AWS_CREDENTIAL_FILE=${HOME}/path_to_credential_file/credential_file

The AWS_CREDENTIAL_FILE is as below and the information to put in the file you get from the “Security Credentials” tab under your account settings, add in the ID of the access key you want to use, and click on “show” to reveal the key to use, create the file and ensure you put it in the location you added into your .bash_profile. Observant people will notice this doesn’t work if you deal with multiple AWS accounts, you can always use the optional -aws-credential-file when using the command line tools to point to the credential file you want to use.

AWSAccessKeyId=STUPID_LONG_ID
AWSSecretKey=Stupid_long_key

To upload the certificate:

$ iam-servercertupload -b public-key.pem -c .cert-chain-file.pem -k private-key.pem -s domain.name

To check the certificate is in place:

$ iam-servercertgetattributes -s domain.name

And should you need to delete the certificate:

$ iam-servercertdel -s domain.name

Now when you create the ELB, select “Secure HTTP Server” from the common applications list and save, then when you continue to the next page you should be given the option to “Choose from your existing SSL Certificates”

Service Unavailable and error code 12…..

Finally found the fix here

$ ~/Library/Google/GoogleSoftwareUpdate/GoogleSoftwareUpdate.bundle/Contents/Resources/GoogleSoftwareUpdateAgent.app/Contents/Resources/install.py --uninstall

$ sudo /Library/Google/GoogleSoftwareUpdate/GoogleSoftwareUpdate.bundle/Contents/Resources/GoogleSoftwareUpdateAgent.app/Contents/Resources/install.py --uninstall

$ sudo rm -rf /Library/Google/GoogleSoftwareUpdate/ ~/Library/Google/GoogleSoftwareUpdate/

And as the OP says be careful with the last command sudo rm -rf isn’t fussy about what it kills.

I’m now running version 13.0.782.107 which seams as near as damnit to be the latest release (as posted here)

No, not a reference to how I see things in life, more a question surrounding this site, should I stick with the current black version of the default WordPress theme, which is nice, but maybe a bit dark (a winter theme perhaps) or should I switch the theme to the lighter than light, nice and white version ? (same theme, just in white, simples)

Leave your thoughts / views in the comments (I know I should’ve installed a survey plugin, maybe I’ll do it later)

So if you code or write and create text files on the Mac the chances are you use the excellent Textmate to do it, and if you do and you haven’t already, you should upgrade your Textmate experience using this to make it pretty and work better.

As an added bonus the icon is changed to look like a moleskin note book.

So for a while I’d had issues with Adobe Air applications sometimes working other times not, and due to the infrequency with which I used Air based applications I had largely ignored the problem, however today I need to use Mockups and this I meant I had to fix the issue.

The solution turned out to be pretty simple, uninstall Air (for good measure) and then install Mockups, simples.  So open a terminal session and use the following:

sudo /Applications/Utilities/Adobe\ AIR\Uninstaller.app/Contents/MacOS/Adobe\ AIR\ Installer -uninstall

Enter your password when prompted and a few seconds later you get:

Uninstalling Adobe AIR (all versions)
done

Re-install Air, install Mockups, get creative

Why the dull post on something so simple, well I’ve had to do this several times now and always have to Google for the best way to uninstall Air on OSX so this time I’ve posted here to help me out. BTW – this worked on Lion