Perhaps one of my biggest annoyances with Mac OS X is the continuing failure of Apple to properly support modern Nokia handsets, through crufty dialup scripts or missing compatibility with iSync.
One of the things I lost when I upgraded to Leopard was support for my N95, that I'd previously added to Panther (as I had to do when trying to get my N80 supported by iSync). Sometimes Nokia release isync support software, but they usually take their time.
So as a stop-gap until Apple or Nokia get their acts together, I copied the N93 iSync plugin and modified it to work with the N95, including a truly awful pixelated logo of the N95. I'm guessing some other people out there have the same problem, so I'll share it: Nokia-N95.phoneplugin.tar.gz. Just unarchive and copy into /Applications/iSync.app/Contents/PlugIns/ApplePhoneConduit.syncdevice/Contents/PlugIns/ (right-click on the iSync application and select "Show Package Contents" or use Command-Shift-G to go directly to the folder).
It seems to work, and I've not noticed any problems, but obviously I can't be held responsible for your Mac deleting your data, eating your phone, or drunk-dialling ex-girlfriends.
Technorati Tags: apple, howto, install, leopard, mobile, nokia, osx, n95, software
You'll be delighted to know that I no longer have an excuse to avoid doing the dishes. The bandage is off the finger, and I can now type unencumbered. I haven't yet regained full use of the finger - I have to do frequent physio (bend it until painful in a bowl of warm water) to try and win back some flexibility.
I'm sure the drivers in Brussels will miss my aggressive attitude on the road: swerving wildly (because I caught the splint on the dashboard again) and making rude gestures (because only one finger is strapped upright). This will probably be a big relief for my passengers.
Technorati Tags: accident, knives, life, pain
If you have a problem with your Apache webserver failing to start up properly, and you see this in your error log:
[Tue Dec 04 09:25:54 2007] [notice] Digest: generating secret for digest authentication ...
... then it's possible your machine has run out of entropy. You can test by doing:
cat /dev/random
CTRL-C
... if your screen isn't filled with garbage, then there's no more random available.
I fixed this by:
rm /dev/random
ln -s /dev/urandom /dev/random
No idea if this is the 'correct' approach but it worked for me. Posted here since Google didn't show up anything useful for Debian.
Technorati Tags: apache, debian, howto, linux, open source, hosting, software, sysadmin