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  Nick 7:39 am on December 3, 2012 Permalink | Reply  

  Adding auto-format code indenting to Sublime Text 2 

  While looking for a way to simplify indenting multiple lines with Sublime Text 2 I came across a useful way to auto-format code indenting (similar to the auto-format function in Processing).

  To add the keybinding in Sublime Text, select Key Bindings – User in Preferences. Next, add the following line in between the square brackets.

  { "keys": ["super+t"], "command": "reindent", "args": {"single_line": false} }

  Pressing command+t will auto-format your entire document. (I chose command+t to match Processing’s auto-format keybinding, but you can use any keyboard shortcut you like.) You can also change the “single_line” argument to true if you’d just like auto-format to run on your selected lines. Enjoy!

   

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  Nick 4:10 am on November 9, 2012 Permalink | Reply  

  Windows 8: Desktop destroyer? (and not in a good way…) 

  As a self-professed power user, I’m rooting for Windows 8. I’ve been using Apple computers exclusively for about a decade, but as Apple shifts to focusing on consumer products such as phones and tablets and less on actual computers, I’ve grown disenchanted. Buying a desktop computer in particular from Apple now entails very high prices for outdated hardware. The control that Apple has racheted up over its users through constant disruptive OS updates has had me pining for the good old days: the days where my computer was mine to customize and to use as I please. In that bygone era, a computer could last 5 years or longer through upgrades; nowadays, RAM is soldered onto laptop motherboards or all-in-one iMacs and you’re expected to buy a new machine or a new OS interation every two years. So, despite being chronically disappointed with every iteration of Windows from the last 10 years, I want Windows 8 to be a success. I want it to be a success so I have an alternative.

  I know there are others like me. Anyone who does anything professionally with a computer (besides email and word processing) is a part of this group. True, we may not be as large and as attractive a market segment as those targeted by the iPhone and the iPad, but for Microsoft, a company who has seen its mobile phone efforts completely ignored by the mass market, I would have thought we would represent some low-hanging fruit.

  Enter Windows 8. Against my better judgement, I’ve let Microsoft’s pleasing new designs convince me that Windows 8 will take me to a desktop computing nirvana. I assumed that Windows 8 would make (or at least strive for) a more powerful, efficient, intuititive desktop computing experience.

  But it isn’t. It’s designed primarily for touch screens, and when touch can’t handle the tasks at hands (read: often) it switches back to what feels like an emulated version of Windows 7. It’s a weird mish mash of past and what is presumed to be the future. This makes sense for tablet or a laptop/tablet hybrid, but what about for a traditional laptop or a desktop, where one’s most intensive/serious work is to be done?

  I get it. Everyone’s doing touch and PC sales have plummetted. I just don’t don’t think touch (or voice control, for that matter) is right (at least not in its current implementation) for most serious computing tasks, and killing desktop computing seems like an awful big sacrifice for a gamble on touch.

  In wanting to be new and edgy, Apple’s competitors are merely playing following the leader. No, touch interfaces are not going to replace the keyboard anytime soon. The keyboard is an efficient, remarkably fast tactile user interface. Why are we so eager to abandon it? Just so we can do our best to emulate what we’ve seen in Minority Report and in the Jetsons?
  

   
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  Nick 5:19 am on July 30, 2012 Permalink | Reply  

  How-To: Build a Hackintosh CustoMac Mini 2011 

  I recently took it upon myself to try building a ultra-budget Hackintosh HTPC (Home Theater PC), following tonymacx86′s suggested build for the CustoMac Mini 2011.

  I’m pleased to say that after a few days of tweaking and futzing, I’m now the proud-owner of a triple-boot (OS X 10.7.4 Lion, Windows 7, Mint Linux) Hackintosh CustoMac Mini 2011! The machine boasts a respectable 6096 Geekbench score and cost ~$380 total.

  The process wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be, but it wasn’t as easy as I had hoped, considering that this was a ‘suggested’ build. I thought I’d do a step-by-step run through of my experience here should anyone else be considering building the CustoMac Mini 2011, or a hackintosh in general. Since the instructions I used are available elsewhere on the web, I’ll link to the sources I used and just provide my notes and instructions at the points where I found the existing documentation tricky, ambiguous, missing, or incomplete. I should note that I opted for an optical drive and the H61N motherboard (listed as the ‘alternate’ motherboard).

  Here’s the high-level strategy you’ll follow:

  • Part I: Building the physical computer.
  • Part II: Preparing the computer to have OS X installed
  • Part III: Prepare a bootable USB stick with OS X Lion on it + tonymacx86′s utilities
  • Part IV: Install OS X
  • Part VI: Configure MultiBeast to achieve full functionality
  • Part VII (Optional): Install Windows or Linux on another partition

  Part I: Building the Computer

  Building the computer was pretty straightforward. I’m including my directions here for those without experience building PCs. If you’re just interested in the hackintoshing, skip ahead.

  

  First, I attached our i3 CPU to the motherboard using the directions included with the CPU, and then attached the heat sink on top of the CPU. Although I was expecting to be missing a few screws or cables during the build, strangely enough the thermal paste used to transmit heat between the CPU and the heat sink was the only thing missing from the packaging. Luckily, some was found nearby (pictured) – you should be able to find this at a hardware store.

  Attaching the RAM was nothing new, a satisfying click into the slot and I was on my way.

  

  Mounting the motherboard in the case proved to be a trickier affair than I had expected: as you can see, the fit is so tight in the MI-008 case, that the power supply (PSU) actually touches the top of the CPU’s heat sink! I found that I actually had to lift the PSU up as I slid the motherboard underneath just so it would fit. I also read that removing the PSU via the screws on the back of the case and reinstalling it afterward works.

  After connecting the power supply to the motherboard, I attached the front-panel USB ports and LED lights to the motherboard using the instructions that came with the motherboard for guidance. Same goes for the HD Audio cable. The AC ’97 cable went unused as per the instructions.

  

  I popped off the front of the case using the four plastic hinges and slid in the hard drive and the optical drive and connected them to the SATA power cables and the two blue SATA ports on the motherboard. Again, the fit is very tight, and after you’re done with the build I’d suggest losing the optical drive if you can spare it (more on that later). Make sure the cables are not interfering with the fan’s operation (see if you can spin the fan with your finger without it bumping into a cable).

  
  

  Part II: Preparing the computer for OS X

  To prepare the computer for OS X, I used these steps described on tonymacx86 and elsewhere on the web. They involved tapping the DEL key during startup to enter the BIOS. In the BIOS, I first updated to the newest version (in my case, it was version ‘F8′) of the BIOS by using the BIOS’ Q-Flash option. It loaded the newer BIOS which I had found on Gigabyte’s website and put on a USB stick (note: the USB stick has to be formatted in FAT, an easy task for OS X’s Disk Utility). Once the BIOS was updated, I set the options I was told to, including HPET to 64-bit mode, SATA mode to AHCI, 384MB of shared Video Ram, and Load Optimized Defaults. I just poked around in each of the menus until I found the relevant option to change. I also changed the boot order to load from USB-HDD first, in preparation for the Lion installation from a USB stick.

  Part III: Creating a bootable OS X Lion Installer using UniBeast

  Creating our bootable OS X USB stick was super easy and straight forward using tonymacx86′s instructions on this page.

  Part IV: Installing OS X

  To install OS X, I booted from our new UniBeast USB stick by setting the BIOS to load from USB-HDD first. At the bootloader screen, you can begin typing to set a boot flag. The installer would freeze at the Apple logo unless I typed ‘GraphicsEnabler:No’ before hitting enter.

  Once in the OS X installer, I used Disk Utility (accessible through the menus at the top of the screen) to format the hard drive. The key setting here was format the drive as ‘GUID Partition Table’. I created a small partition for a Windows installation later. Return to the installer and install OS X as normal.

  Once the install is finished, the computer will restart. Again, you will boot from your USB-HDD as your hard drive can’t boot OS X on it’s own yet. This time, instead of selecting the USB stick, select your OS X hard drive and hit enter. You may or may not have to enter the GraphicsEnabler:No flag.

  Part V: Configure MultiBeast to achieve full functionality (starting with the ability to boot up on its own)

  WIth any luck, you’re now able to run Lion on your computer by booting from the USB-HDD. If you weren’t able to get this far, you may need to scour the tonymacx86 forums for information on which bootflags you’ll need to use based on where your computer hangs when loading with the -v bootflag (verbose mode). God help you if this is the predicament you find yourself in. (Note: Don’t use the onboard VGA port. tonymacx86 cautions that the VGA port is ‘disabled’ and I think using the VGA port caused me a few hours of wondering why OS X wasn’t loading correctly. Use the DVI port.)

  Once in Lion, download MultiBeast from tonymacx86′s website here (Note: you will have to create an account with tonymacx86 and log in, unfortunately.) You can check if your onboard Ethernet port works at this stage. Mine did. If not, ferry it over on a USB stick. Also download the appropriate DSDT file for your motherboard from the first comment on the CustoMac Mini 2011 post. (Again, you will have to log in to have access). They are the .aml files – note which one corresponds to your motherboard. Place both the .aml file and MultiBeast on your desktop. Rename the DSDT file: DSDT.aml. (Note: You may or may not have to do this. I had a really hard time getting my DSDT file to kick in, and the instructions are unclear about renaming the file. I renamed mine and placed them both on the desktop and eventually MultiBeast worked. I do not know if the changes had an effect or not.)

  Run MultiBeast. You’ll have to check the appropriate options here. This is where I had the most trouble as there are numerous screenshots floating around tonymacx86 showing different settings. You’ll want to enable each of the settings in these two images, with the audio settings in the second image replacing the audio settings in the first. Once you’ve run MultiBeast, reset your system with your fingers crossed. Hit DEL key during startup to enter BIOS and change your boot order to prioritize your hard drive: we’re going to see if your hackintosh can boot OS X on its own!

  Part VI: Update Lion to 10.7.4

  With any luck, your computer was able to boot back into Lion without the USB stick. You should check what ports work on your computer at this time. At this stage, my ethernet worked, my USB2 ports worked, but my audio port did not work. (Trying to change sound output volume brought up the speaker logo with the ‘no’ sign across it). I wasn’t able to test the HDMI port.

  To update Lion, download the combo update directly from Apple here. (Don’t use Software Update). Run the update but DON’T REBOOT when it tells you to. Instead, open MultiBeast and check the options you had before. Once MultiBeast is complete, click reboot on the installer. (Note: It’s probably possible to do the update right away before you run MultiBeast for the first time, but I didn’t do it that way).

  Congratulations! Upon reboot, you should have a ready-to-go Lion 10.7.4 Hackintosh. My machine is able to sleep and wake up, plays audio, accesses ethernet, and has working USB ports.

  (Optional) Part VII: Installing Windows 7 or Linux on another partition

  If you’d like to install Windows, boot from the Windows 7 DVD by changing your BIOS to prioritize the optical drive. Install to the free partition you created earlier. (Or, using Disk Utility in OS X, you can create a new partition now without reformatting. How cool is that?) Note that once Windows is installed, it will have overwritten your bootloader and will now try to boot Windows every time you start up. To get around this, boot from your USB-HDD UniBeast drive again, choose your OS X installation and run MultiBeast. Only check the ‘Bootloaders: Chimera’ option, and reboot. Now your bootloader is back and you can hit any key during startup to choose between OS X and Windows. Boot Camp eat your heart out!

  Some Parting Thoughts

  • To update, remember to download updates directly from apple and apply MultiBeast after the update and before rebooting.
  • Consider Kakewalk, an alternate set of hackintosh tools. I don’t mean to sound ungrateful to the good people at tonymacx86, but if you’re like me, you’ll never want to look at that site again after your hackintosh experience. Information is scattered across numerous blog posts, legacy blog posts, blog post comments, forum posts and forum post comments, many requiring you to sign in to access needed files. The presentation on Kakewalk seems, at first glance, to be much more neatly organized — I can’t speak to how well the software works, but I may try it for my next hackintosh build.
  • You can also use a slightly different procedure using a boot CD (called iBoot) to install Snow Leopard. While I did try this route at one point, I ultimately decided to go with Lion as with the dawn of Mountain Lion, Snow Leopard is beginning to look a little long in the tooth, I suppose.
  • If you have any questions or if you believe I missed a step or some information, please don’t hesitate to leave a comment! I will help to the best of my (limited) ability.
   
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  Nick 10:11 pm on September 21, 2011 Permalink | Reply  

  Playing with SMS… 

  I’ve always liked the idea of hooking SMS into a webapp. If it weren’t for the cost of SMS charged by unscrupulous carriers, I think we’d see a lot more SMS-related apps using shortcodes generated by services like TextMarks and Twilio.

  Just to play around, I created the service ‘NBAINFO’ on TextMarks. Text 41411 NBAINFO and then the three letter code for you favorite NBA team (e.g. ‘NBAINFO BOS’ for Boston Celtics, ‘NBAINFO MIA’ for Miami Heat…) and you’ll receive back information on their 2010 season. Granted this isn’t the most meaningful use of the service, but it with some database magic the could be expanded to create generic SMS-based references for when 3g/WiFi are unavailable/untenable.

  I imagine a service used to check and report polling abuses, for instance. With a few simple commands, users could confirm reports and also set flags (whether or not volunteers, oversight on the way, for instance) for their local station. A command could also provide a summary of each station’s status as a whole.

   
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  Nick 5:23 am on September 20, 2011 Permalink | Reply  

  Re-presenting DoogieWrite. 

  This year I’ve started using more seriously a web-based tool I built last year, DoogieWrite. In short, it’s an HTML5 text editor with a minimalistic feature set and retro look.

  Although the app is meant to evoke memories of the closing scene of an episode of Doogie Howser, M.D., (the theme music is available in-app, as popularly requested), DoogieWrite’s color scheme is actually patterned after the Memo Pad, the default function of the Atari 800 8-bit computer of the early 80s, my first computer.

  Although the project itself is highly indulgent, I do believe the cool blue of the Memo Pad (coupled with Chrome’s excellent full screen mode!) promotes a distraction-free writing environment, something that is harder to achieve on our always-connected, media-rich laptop screens.

  There have been some hacky workarounds. Although DoogieWrite features an ‘autosave’ sort of feature through HTML5 local storage, there’s no syncing between browsers/computers… and so a ‘save to text file’ option was important to me. Unfortunately, there exists no truly feasible and lightweight way to save a local file from HTML5/Javascript yet, so I had to settle for a small PHP script that generates a text file on the server and serves it to the user. (The text files are deleted from the server within the hour and are not accessible to anyone else). Having to settle for this workaround was painful to me, as I’d like the app to be completely usable offline. It’s close.

  You can use DoogieWrite, and I hope you do, at http://doogiewrite.com!

   
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  Nick 8:22 am on September 14, 2011 Permalink | Reply  

  Initial Thoughts on the Velocity Micro Cruz Tablet… 

  When searching for inexpensive and smaller Android tablets for a case mod project I’m considering, I was shocked to see the rock-bottom prices of some Android tablets on the market. We’ve heard the horror stories before, and so naturally, I was wary when I found the not-quite-rock-bottom $150 price of the Velocity Micro Cruz T301 with some pretty respectable customer ratings.

  I ordered the tablet having well read what to expect. I knew out of the box I wouldn’t be able to use the Android market. To be honest, I can’t think of one app off the top of my head I’d want, anyway. As long as this device browses the web and browses it well, I will be pleased.

  I have to say, I am pretty pleased with the tablet thus far. I happen to think the 7″ size is an overlooked segment of the tablet market, and I find it fits it one hand, not unlike the original Samsung Galaxy Tab. The back of the case does have a unique texture and the buttons are perhaps a bit gaudy, but overall the tablet feels solid. The screen is not the sharpest, but I appreciate the 800×600 ratio. Many tablets this size go for the overly long and thin approach, hoping to capitalize on the ability to watch “widescreen” movies, while really just depriving you of portrait screen real estate.

  The experience using the tablet is where the tablet has really exceeded my modest expectations. Firstly, I did not have to upgrade to Android 2.2 as the upgrade was already complete. Nice. Next, I tried browsing the web and found the browser zippy and responsive to my commands and keystrokes. I was scared to death this device was going to chug and choke on even the most elementary tasks, but I am happy to say, that it looks like a most competent web browsing tablet.

  I have not tried the Kindle store, or the Cruz market, but I’m sure I’ll get around to it. I should also mention the tablet came with a docking station, a protective pouch, and a 4GB SD card. Not bad extras for a budget tablet.

  Admittedly I haven’t pushed the tablet very hard or expected very much, but I anticipate books and websites being the majority of most tablet users’ needs, and in these areas, the Cruz seems quite the good deal. Of course, I’ll report back if anything changes.