Steven Eppler’s Blog

Here at the school district I was running into a problem where if several Mac OS X wireless clients logged into the network at once, everything slowed down to a crawl. After researching the problem, it looked like the user’s Library and Microsoft User Data folders were causing the problem. I tried turning on OS X’s home folder syncronization, but that didn’t work very well, and filled up our older computers fast. The solution I found was to locally cache the user’s Library and Microsoft User Data folder. To do this, create a symbolic link from the user’s networked ‘Library’ folder and point it to a local source. I chose /tmp/UserCache/username/Library. Here is the login script I created to automate the process:

#! /bin/bash

# Create local user caches of important directories
# Written by Steven Eppler 04/04/2006

export PATH=/bin:/usr/bin:/usr/local/bin:/sbin:/usr/sbin

# Set user variable
user="$1"

# This grabs the user's home directory server
input=`dscl localhost read Search/Users/$user NFSHomeDirectory`
nethomedir=${input:18}

# Or you can hardcode it...
# nethomedir="/Network/Servers/ServerName/Volume/$user"

# Check for blank nethomedir - otherwise you will delete
# the root /Library folder!
if [ """$nethomedir""" != "" ]; then

echo $user
echo $nethomedir

# Create local caching directories
mkdir /tmp/UserCache
mkdir /tmp/UserCache/$user
mkdir /tmp/UserCache/$user/Microsoft\ User\ Data
mkdir /tmp/UserCache/$user/Library

# Give everyone rights to them...
chmod -R ugo=rwx /tmp/UserCache

# Create Documents and Desktop folder (sometimes they don't exist)
mkdir $nethomedir/Documents
mkdir $nethomedir/Desktop

# Delete old folders or links
rm -rf $nethomedir/Library
rm -rf $nethomedir/Documents/Microsoft\ User\ Data

# Create new links
ln -s /tmp/UserCache/$user/Library $nethomedir/Library
ln -s /tmp/UserCache/$user/Microsoft\ User\ Data $nethomedir/Documents/Microsoft\ User\ Data

fi

written by eppler

Here is a video of my first R/C flights. On my first landing I almost hit the cameraman, but all was good – only bent the landing gear a tiny bit which was easily bent back. The video turned out pretty good, and all was created/rendered using iLife ‘06 on Mac OS X 10.4.3 (running on an AMD CPU…hmm…)

You can view the video here.

written by eppler

The new Intel-based Macs will not run Windows XP, because current versions of Windows do not support the new EFI BIOS that the new Macs use.

x64 versions of Windows and Windows Vista do support EFI, unfortunately Vista won’t be out until the end of 2006 (maybe) and current Macs use 32-bit Intel processors, so they are unable to run the x64 version of Windows XP.

XP Won’t Run on Intel MacBook, iMac

written by eppler

“Hardly a week goes by that I don’t hear from a friend or colleague with a monumental Windows problem,” Paul Andrews writes for The Seattle Times. “I tell them I’m glad to help, on one condition: Next time they buy a computer, they agree to consider a Macintosh.

read more | digg story

written by eppler

The Mac developer community has given us Mac users a ton of great software for our iPods. But what if you wanted the best that freeware had to offer for your iPod? This article offers you a small group of 5 applications that lets your iPod work for you.

read more | digg story

written by eppler

I’m going to try this with my iTrip.

The Griffin iTrip is great but has a very short range before the signal starts breaking up. In most cases, moving the iPod to the backseat or even the passenger side will cause static and fading in the sound. Here’s how to increase the range to almost 60 feet.

read more | digg story

written by eppler

If iTunes 6 is getting the -208 error, this article at Apple may help you get it fixed.

Remember when typing commands in Terminal – everything is pretty much cAsE sEnSiTiVe.

Apple – Discussions – Solution to the iTunes -208 Error Problem

This link is now broken (apparently the discussion thread got closed).

Now you can just download the iTunes 6 installer from Apple’s site. iTunes 6.0.1 fixed this issue.

written by eppler

For a few weeks now, I have been unable to access digg.com through my work’s internet connection. I have been unable to determine where the problem lies, so I decided to access it via an SSH tunnel. Here is the command I used:

sudo ssh -l *_username_* -L:*_localport_*:*_remotehost_*:*_remoteport_* *_tunnelhost_*

With all the blanks filled in, here is my final command:

sudo ssh -l seppler -L:80:digg.com:80 epplersoft.com

Then, I modifyed my /etc/hosts file to and added the following line:

127.0.0.1 digg.com

Now, I can access digg.com from work and home via my SSH tunnel.

…And that’s how I got my digg back.

written by eppler

I purchased a Griffin RoadTrip a few days ago and so far I’ve been _loving_ it. It works extremely well in my Toyota, and ‘ok’ in the BMW Z3 (it gets in the way of reverse and blocks the stereo controls).

So far it seems to be built very well and works great in every car I’ve tried it in (except for the BMW).

I’m not too worried about it not working in the BMW though – I plan on getting an Alpine 420i installed soon.

Griffin RoadTrip

written by eppler

I ran into a problem today where a graphite iMac was stuck in target mode. Resetting the PRAM did nothing, doing the normal NetBoot shortcut (holding down ‘N’ at startup) did nothing, so I was stuck – for a moment.

To fix this problem, I booted into Open Firmware (using Command+Option+O+F). Then entering these commands allowed the machine to boot from the network:

setenv boot-device enet:10.0.0.2
mac-boot


Of course, substitute “10.0.0.2″ for your NetBoot server – if you’ve got one. Thanks to Mike Bombich’s Netbooting Across Subnets page for the help.

written by eppler