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

As posted previously, I have been working on porting my WebTester program from ASP to PHP. New features include:

• Ability to randomize questions
• Integrated HTML Editor (no more manual coding)
• ‘Enter’ key selects Next instead of Previous
• Ported from ASP to PHP (so it can be hosted on a Mac/Linux/Windows box, instead of limited to Windows/IIS)
• Generates math equations on the fly, by converting LaTeX math code into a graphic, such as:
• General UI enhancements

To give it a spin, try out the test server. Here are the addresses:

Take a test: http://webtester.epplersoft.com
Administration: http://webtester.epplersoft.com/admin

The username/password combination to use is: demo/demo

This is not the final, so bugs may exist that have already been fixed. To generate math while creating a test, use the following format:

[tex]a^2 + b^2 = c^2[/tex]

The above will generate this image:

To create your own equations, you can try out a program called MathType by Design Science. I will also list other LaTeX generating programs as I find them.

If you have any questions, just leave a comment.

written by eppler

I just upgraded my server to the new 2.0.2 release of WordPress after seeing this story on digg.com:

A new version of the popular open source project WordPress fixes several security issues.

read more | digg story

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

Recently I’ve been working on porting my WebTester project from ASP to PHP. While doing this I have also been adding new features and fixing bugs as I come across them. New items include:

• Ability to randomize questions
• Integrated HTML Editor (no more manual coding)
• ‘Enter’ key selects Next instead of Previous
• Ported from ASP to PHP (so it can be hosted on a Mac/Linux/Windows box, instead of limited to Windows/IIS)
• Each admin user will only see tests created by that user (except for a super-admin)

It should be finished soon and will be used by Delta County Schools.

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

Here’s some photos from the 2006 International Consumer Electronics Show

CES2006

Click the Album Picture to view

written by eppler

I’m now trying to get started with R/C flying. I purchased a Hobbico Nexstar from the local hobby shop, and put it together. It didn’t take too long for the main assembly. The most difficult part has been trying to get the control surfaces all lined up with the correct throws. I’ll post pictures as soon as I get them.

written by eppler

I’ve just upgraded my site to 2.0 after reading this article on digg. Seems to be working pretty good.

read more | digg story

written by eppler

A list of ten applications every new mac user should download along with descriptions for each as well as a download link. A great resource for any new switchers that might pick up a Mac this holiday season.

read more | digg story

written by eppler