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There's this image (left without bytecode, right with) I found which has a comparison for a number of fonts, but the site mentions that other patches were also included, so it may not be entirely representative. Perhaps someone else can find a better example.

First make sure your monitor is working well. You can easily check this with a test pattern If it flickers or has aliasing you need better.

Try to reduce the contrast in light levels between your monitor and it's surroundings. High contrasts in light level will cause your eyes to work harder and reduce your ability to see fine details.

1. A fix for this javascript DoS attack:

for(;;) alert("Please restart your browser.");

While you can protect against that specific case and setting a memory limit could help, the only defense against javascript is to disable it. WARNING: fork bomb!

3. Make it possible to open javascript links in new tabs.

How about a "web designer heuristics mode" that lets us open these links with javascript disabled by attempting to discern the URI without actually running any script? Or web masters could just fix their sites, whichever is easier I guess:P

I'm running several sites on my Mac Mini. I'm using OS X but it'll run Linux just fine from what I hear. Might not be the fastest thing on the planet but you said 'personal', right? I'm running MySQL, Geeklog, Gallery, and many other things on it and the limit is bandwidth (256k up DSL), not CPU.

It's quiet enough to keep in the bedroom (the nearby TiVo is louder) and it's much faster than the PIII/500 Compaq Deskpro EN SFF that it replaced (that's another low-power box, and those corporate Compaqs last forever) though half the reason I switched was because it's just so much easier to get everything working on OS X.*

Plus, it'll work great with your PB (native file sharing = easy two-way backups) which in turn will be the perfect portable development environment since it's got the same OS. This guy has some really good guides on doing ISP-like stuff under OS X and Marc is your source for all the packages you'll need.

* I've been using Linux since 1998 but every time I put together a box I can never get everything working at once. My last attempt with Fedora resulted in a box with PHP and MySQL, but PHP did not have something it needed to talk to MySQL. Another box had PHP and MySQL but something else didn't want to take, and so on, and so on.

And when I mean "just work" I mean not having dependencies to track down, having software upgrades that are easy, easy integration between apps. None of those things exist in Linux.

Server guys - try to think beyond your damn file services.

I hear you. I am a server guy, but I also know, that file, mail and web servers are doing much more than only delivering files, mails and static web pages. See my previous post. Those guys, not realizing, that the Cell will improve even traditional server applications, are not really up-to-date or well informed.

PHP is the best example. Maybe PHP itself doesn't benefit from SIMD (SSE or Cells SPU), but all its dependencies (see your phpinfo [random example]): xml, ssl, gd, zlib, mcrypt, ...

The same is true for a mail server. Sure, its main purpose is to receive mails and store them into mailboxes. But what about ssl encryption? What about the virus scanner, that has to decompress attachments?

SIMD can help a lot in those areas.

My development server is Mac OS X with Postgresql 7.4.x. A pkg will be made RSN you can count on it.

There are packages and packages though. Mine come from a guy in Switzerland http://entropy.ch/ who does it really well.

This guy usually isn't too far behind in creating .pkg for the stable PostgreSQL releases. I have run it on OS X for a number of years and I have been very happy with it.

Here: http://www.entropy.ch/software/macosx/php/ , are usually uptodate and easy installers for PHP on OS X; he's at 4.3.9 still but I trust the newer one will be up soon.
They're really fire&forget installers, great for people like me :-)

Marc Liyanage is a great asset to the Mac OS X community. Check out some of the Mac OS X packages he provides for several important Unix applications. Though not linked to from that page yet, he also has a PHP 5.0.1 package ready for Mac OS X. (Caution: link points directly to the .dmg file).

JP

Marc Liyanage is a great asset to the Mac OS X community. Check out some of the Mac OS X packages he provides for several important Unix applications. Though not linked to from that page yet, he also has a PHP 5.0.1 package ready for Mac OS X. (Caution: link points directly to the .dmg file).

JP

As far as I can tell, the popular PHP distribution from Marc Liyanage for Mac OS X (still at version 4.3.6) is not vulnerable: it seems to be compiled without memory_limit support. ini_get_all() does not return a value for memory_limit, and memory_get_usage() returns Fatal error: Call to undefined function: memory_get_usage().

I haven't tested the built-in Mac OS X php version.

JP

I guess those of us who do not know how to make our own binaries just have to wait for Marc Liyanage to port this thing.

thanks Marc.

I cant wait to play with the final XML/DOM-3 libs.

the primary DB System for so long has been MySQL. PHP coders don't have too much for an alternative

Au contraire, there are PHP interfaces for PostgreSQL, Oracle, Sybase, and MSSQL built right in to the source distribution. I seem to recall that back in the Bad Old Days before Mac OS X, when you had to compile things yourself, building PHP with all the necessary libraries was a huge pain, but now it's a trivial thing. Marc Liyanage maintains a PHP module package that snaps right into the built-in Apache web server on your Mac, and it already has most of the necessary bells and whistles built in.

the primary DB System for so long has been MySQL. PHP coders don't have too much for an alternative

Au contraire, there are PHP interfaces for PostgreSQL, Oracle, Sybase, and MSSQL built right in to the source distribution. I seem to recall that back in the Bad Old Days before Mac OS X, when you had to compile things yourself, building PHP with all the necessary libraries was a huge pain, but now it's a trivial thing. Marc Liyanage maintains a PHP module package that snaps right into the built-in Apache web server on your Mac, and it already has most of the necessary bells and whistles built in.

Stroke isn't "the" core of Network Utility... the app drives eleven command line programs, of which stroke is just one. (The others are in [/usr]/sbin.)

The sort of apps you're talking about here (there are tons more, e.g. SimpleWget) are very limited though: basically they just exec CLI apps, and all they can be is some sort of form-based interface to enter CLI arguments. Which invariably turns out to be crippling -- soon enough we're back to the command line and manpage, if we want to dig -x or wget less than the entire internet.

Much more interesting (and relevant to the TUI question, IMO) are apps that expose libraries: ReSTedit, TestXSLT, TeXShop,...

you should allow ACs for pist frosts and such. Coz most people are to lazy to sell their soul, wait for the password and instructions etc...

Quick note on PHP & MySQL on OSX. You should always include a newbie version of a howto. Since you are now using OS X the steps are:

- Download PHP,
- Drag in App folder
- ???
- Profit!!!

Maybe not so easy for php, but you will get the point. Compiling stuff from the beginning to the end is lame and something for Linux users.

The steps for getting PHP & MySQL up and running in less than few clicks are:
Download PHP from here & follow easy steps.

Download mysql from here and follow easy steps.

That's all.

you should allow ACs for pist frosts and such. Coz most people are to lazy to sell their soul, wait for the password and instructions etc...

Quick note on PHP & MySQL on OSX. You should always include a newbie version of a howto. Since you are now using OS X the steps are:

- Download PHP,
- Drag in App folder
- ???
- Profit!!!

Maybe not so easy for php, but you will get the point. Compiling stuff from the beginning to the end is lame and something for Linux users.

The steps for getting PHP & MySQL up and running in less than few clicks are:
Download PHP from here & follow easy steps.

Download mysql from here and follow easy steps.

That's all.

so I can run apache & Postgresql

For the record, Apache is included with the OS and PostgreSQL is available as a package for download here.

Life is much easier when you don't have to compile shit.

Huh?

Apache comes preinstalled on OS X, regardless of whether it is the server version or "desktop" version. PHP is available as a package here and mysql here. PHP doesn't require much configuration in itself, same goes for mysql beyond creating databases which you have to do on either platform.

And yes indeed Mac OS X has two versions. But windows has 3. Home, Pro, and Server. But which one to use for desktop use is somewhat confusing on the windows side. XP Pro offers a few useful features, but they don't really justify increasing the cost. Mac OS X in all but a few cases cheaper than XP Pro or Home (home upgrade may be cheaper, but there are many sources that sell OS X for $100 instead of the msrp).

On top of that, we have no serial numbers, no product activation, and the install discs no matter which apple machine they were bundled with will install on any other apple machine (so long as that particular OS revision runs on the hardware).

Or, you could just use the precompiled Imagemagick binary, found here: http://www.entropy.ch/software/macosx/welcome.html #imagemagick

Works beautifully. I use it on my development box for web based image manipulation, using PHP. The PHP code is totally portable to the production Solaris box, too.

Enjoy

"Then I found that there was no colour in the shell, no vim, no bash, no multiple desktops."

Yeah, that's really too bad.

I've found that the best reason to use a book is the option to just sit and read, away from the computer. Other good reasons include being able to scribble in the corner and underline or highlight exactly what you might want to refer to.

I will grant you that it is rare to find a good pure reference book, and that for reference purposes web sites are usually better. I would propose that unless you have a large display, a broadband connection, and plenty of patience for hunting through disconnected information to make a coherent whole, using a book as a coherent whole to start with is generally an easier way to learn. (Though obviously, ones own habits/tendenancies might override this.)

And yes, I picked up this particular book and am working through it in my spare time, so to speak. Having worked with other scripting and database languages before, I found parts of it skipable or over-talkative, but it does give good information. My biggest complaint is that it doesn't have instructions on how to set up in OS X. However, going back and forth with it and information on Marc Liyanage's pages, I was able to get everything working reasonably easily.

I didn't see this mentioned here yet, but PHP 4.3.0 finally supports out-of-the-box (so to speak) --with-apxs compiling. No longer do I have to try to tweak the configure script or the makefile in order to get it to compile!

This also means I and other OS X users don't have to wait for Marc Liyanage's package to come out (as he is away on vacation now)...

Yeah, but there still aren't any ShutdownItems on Mac OS X to complement the StartUpItems, so it looks like I have to write an AppleScript app so my client can shut down PostgresSQL safely. And they have to remember to run it every time they want to switch off their iMac.

Most services that have StartupItem's in /System/Library/StartupItems define three functions: StartService(), StopService(), and RestartService(). The StopService() function is executed at restart/shutdown, afaik. Just define the function to shutdown however you want it to, such as: pg_ctl stop -D DATA_DIR -m fast. You'll have to do some other things, but the easiest way to do this is to use a setup that is provided by someone else and just tweak it. Also, you should put the StartupItem in /Library/StartupItems, not /System/Library/StartupItems.

If you didn't know Apache lives on X you may not know is PHP is installed too, it's just not activated. In the terminal: change two lines in /etc/httpd/httpd/conf (you'll have to sudo). When you find the lin #LoadModule php4_module libexec/httpd/libphp4.so (or something close) uncomment it (take away the pound). Do the same for #Add module mod_php4.c Now you have to add in the mime types, when you see the line AddType application/x-tar .tgz add these two below: AddType application/x-httpd-php .php AddType application/x-httpd-php-source .phps now save the file. You can use emacs or something but I'm usually lazy and use pico. You can even use BBedit if you want, but that takes more explaining... have fun! You can also download a binary for MySQL (one click and you're databasing).

Marc Liyanage's one-click postgreSQL comes with some html docs for ODBC setup and config. Use the defaults and they're dropped in
/usr/local/pgsql/doc/html/

I've found that most stuff I've wanted to do under the command line os GUI under OS X, from getting sendmail working properly on developer betas on to other, more specialized stuff can be found at one of the two following sites.

MacOSXHints

Piles of customization and installation information for all versions of X client/server. Almost always the hint I'm looking for is here, with /.-style user follow-up responses and clarifications.

Marc Liyanage

Has custom-compiled packages of the biggies: PHP, Apache, mySQL, Postgres, ImageMagick and several others. Also has build instructions for the more difficult ones (ImageMagick comes to mind... I tried manually compiling it with different options for days and it would never link the correct libraries). He also has a hints section on his site.

Between these two sites and Google, I've been able to find answers to just about every problem/issue that I've come across in the 2+ years of using OS X.

That said, the OS X for Unix Geeks is a solid book, although so much changes between point releases of OS X (one of my major grievances... why must Apple always replace my custom PHP and Apache, or do weird, undocumented stuff to the default umask for the ftpd?) that you really need up-to-date info that just doesn't come in dead-tree form.

--dr00gy

I kept getting XML errors when restarting httpd after enabling WebDAV. Turns out it's a conflict between Marc Liyanage's otherwise excellent PHP4 module for OS X.

If you need to run both WebDAV and php, use Apple's php module.

I kept getting XML errors when restarting httpd after enabling WebDAV. Turns out it's a conflict between Marc Liyanage's otherwise excellent PHP4 module for OS X.

If you need to run both WebDAV and php, use Apple's php module.

I don't think the stock PHP is compiled with sendmail support built-in.
Instead, install Marc Liyange's one-click package for a more full-featured PHP module. He always stays on top of the game, updating with OS X and Apache updates. Most people doing real PHP work on OS X either compile it themselves or install Marc's package.

So I waited in line at the Mall of America to get Jaguar on Friday night (the whole tirade about that is in a recent posting in my livejournal). Prior to this, I upgraded my 500MHz dual-USB iBook from 256MB of RAM to 640MB. It seemed a bit snappier, and things definitely went more smoothly while running with tons o' apps.

Enter Jaguar. Faster, snappier, crisper. This was worth the wait and worth the money. The integration between the basic iApps (iChat, Mail and Address book) is <cartman>sweeeeeet</cartman>. None of my major apps required updating. I haven't spent that much of a weekend futzing around with an OS (and enjoying it) since 10.1 came out.

Minor tidbits: the firewall GUI is nice. PHP is now part of the standard install (however you may want to visit Mark Liyange's page to see how to re-enable a lot of the functionality that Apple dumbed-down. (This page also has package installers for MySQL, Ruby, and tons of other cool stuff.) The Mail app seems to be pretty adept at identifying spam...and getting better and better over the last couple of days...and the bounce-to-sender feature makes it look like you don't exist anymore...it's not perfect but it seems to have reduced the incoming flow by about 10-15%. iChat, a little buggy, but nice...I thought I was going to hate the voice-balloon interface, but I discovered that, strangely enough, it's easier on the eyes than multiple lines of text.

All in all, I'd say that they've outdone themselves again.

I mean yeah, you can use Marc Liyanage's site to download OpenLDAP package, or [my preference] you can just install Fink and let it do the work for you with a simple (if slow) fink install openldap-ssl, but really -- if it's built into the system then why go to all that trouble? Development of the Fink package more or less stalled once it was announced that LDAP would be built into the client version of Jaguar, and that's not unreasonable. Why reinvent the wheel, ya know? Just upgrade your OS....

I mean yeah, you can use Marc Liyanage's site to download OpenLDAP package, or [my preference] you can just install Fink and let it do the work for you with a simple (if slow) fink install openldap-ssl, but really -- if it's built into the system then why go to all that trouble? Development of the Fink package more or less stalled once it was announced that LDAP would be built into the client version of Jaguar, and that's not unreasonable. Why reinvent the wheel, ya know? Just upgrade your OS....

-Alex

If you DID install or compile a custom PHP version for OS X: (which I always do, personally, because I use the hell out of GDLib functionality which is disabled in the stock Apple module, but I digress...)

Go to www.entropy.ch, Marc Liyanage's site. He's usually got updated, step-by-step, precompiled versions of the latest PHP and MySQL builds that are compatible with the latest 10.x.x update -- usually within hours of release, if not a little before (I think he might have the hook-up at Apple).

Kudos Marc, and to the rest of you who rely on PHP and MySQL -- bookmark Marc's site, and just hope he keeps kicking as much ass as he has.

As (another) side note, his tutorials on compiling, installing and updating things under the command line on OS X are absolutely wonderful primers to traditional Mac users who are a bit out of their depth in the Terminal.

Didn't ruin anythink in my php installation. By the way there is a great step by step php installation guide to get the newest version of php (this one is even recommanded by apple).

We have two iBooks in the "Casa de Officemonkey" and we've been very happy with them.

Hardware

Mrs. Officemonkey runs an older clamshell tangerine iBook running Mac OS 9.2. Her battery is good for ~4 hours per charge.

I have a newish iBook (tail end of 2001) in the snowcase. Sadly my battery is good for only 3.5 hours. It runs Mac OS X and does most of what you're asking about.

We both use Airport to connect to a base station that is hooked up to our DSL modem. The chargers for the iBooks are "Yo-Yo's", so the cords wrap up pretty neatly. I'm told the new chargers are even more compact.

I have big ham fingers, but I like the keyboard on my iBook. My keyboard features an inverted-T cursor pad on the right-hand side which also maps to pgup, pgdn, home, and end.

My iBook is smaller, slimmer, and lighter compared to my 2-year old Compaq Armada laptop, but the iBook doesn't have a floppy drive, infrared port, or card slots. It also gets pretty durned hot.

The one-button trackpad has my vote for the lamest Apple feature holdout. I'd also like a bigger screen, but I was cheap (I bought the system on clearance for $999).

All in all, I like the new iBook's hardware as much, or better than any laptop I've ever used. It reminds me of my Palm V.

Software

If you're interested in web development, Mac OS X is a good platform, but there are a few caveats...

Mark Liyanage packages PHP and MySQL, and Fink does a really good job of making a whole lot of *nix-y things available in Debian-like packages. Between these two sites you should be able to equip your iBook with the necessary tools.

Also, Mac OS X has some unusual directory conventions and the Apache configuration file is a little non-standard. The usual caveats about mucking with the configuration file apply, but if you're a novice with Apache, you'll have a steeper learning curve.

I think BBEdit is the best text editor for the mac. I use it to write HTML and Python scripts. It checks and colorizes syntax and you can use regular expressions for search and replace. I'm usually quite cheap about commercial software, but BBEdit is worth buying.

Mail.app does a good job with e-mail and if you're on a low-Microsoft diet, you can dump Internet Explorer and download Mozilla or OmniWeb. Appleworks (which comes with the iBook) is a 'good enough' office suite and my experience with the demo of Microsoft Office is that it is very very good (but not necessary for my home machine thanks to having a Wintel machine at work).

Don't worry about file formats between platforms. Virtually all software that runs on both Mac OS and Windows will use the same file format. The only notable exception is the line-endings on text files (I eliminated the problem by changing the default options in BBEdit).

Mac OS X application development is taking off and you can run most of the command-line tools you're used to. You can also install the X Windows System and run the Gimp, Xemacs, or whatever.

The Verdict

Even if you get a low-end iBook, you'll get the second-most happening *nix on the planet, solid hardware, and good battery life. Everything works right out of the box and, feature for feature, the iBook is comparable in price to other major manufactuers.

yes, PHP support is still lacking a bit from our beloved OS X...

here are some links on the subject that may be of some interest:

http://developer.apple.com/internet/macosx/php.htm l - Apple's PHP page where they "admit" that...

Like all Unix variants, Mac OS X has it quirks. It is also a young OS, and not all Open Source or Unix software projects have had time to test their programs on the Mac and make the necessary alterations

Linked from that last page is http://www.entropy.ch/software/macosx/php/ - a site concerning a prebuilt PHP Apache module for OS X... they are working on the 4.2.0 version and I don't have a doubt that these folks will deliver...!

Installing pre-compiled MySQL, PHP and Graphviz packages on a OS X-running powerbook was a great (and quick!...) experience. May everybody taste the sweet pleasure of writing PHP code on their balcony! :-)

Greg

This update will replace the current PHP module you have installed.

Many people use a version of the Apache PHP module compiled for OS X by Marc Liyanage that has PDF/Postgres/curl/gd, etc. enabled, rather than the stock Apple installed module.

After applying the update, you will need to reinstall the Liyanage module. It only takes 3 minutes. The instructions and download are located here:

http://www.entropy.ch/software/macosx/php/

spent the weekend trying to compile PHP 4.1.2

Marc Liyanage has what you want, or you could try OpenOSX.

You're welcome :-)

A new Mac OS X package of version 7.2 is now online.

Postgres Ti:
Done...

I've got 7.1 running on my Titanium Powerbook...
there are really nice MacOS X packages of Postgres at Marc Liyanage's home page

I also take this occasion to thank him for the nice MacOS X packages he's put together...

Quentin

True and thanks for the heads up. but again check out my link and get support for 10.1, explanations on the differences between Apple's Included Apache and PHP modules and other builds, as well as support for upgrading from 10.0.x. For OS 10.1 fans that are a bit iffy with BSD, this guy is a geek deity.

True and thanks for the heads up. but again check out my link and get support for 10.1, explanations on the differences between Apple's Included Apache and PHP modules and other builds, as well as support for upgrading from 10.0.x. For OS 10.1 fans that are a bit iffy with BSD, this guy is a geek deity.

I never thought I would be using Apple products this late in the game. It used to be overpriced and sometimes underpowered. It was a pain in the ass most times. But what it did it did well. I loved them, but it was hard to do. The company was run by both jagoffs and hippy jagoffs, and it seemed like all they were good for was creating great technology and never supporting it, backing it or implementing it to any practical degree (if you remember the features added and removed between system 7.1 and say... 8.1 you will know exactly what I am talking about) and everything was too expensive. Though since one of the hats I wore was the art/publishing director for a friend's wee company. I also always had at least one up and running.

Then I was gifted with a 500Mhz Ti PowerBook (long story, yes i am a lucky bastard)

Imagine my surprise that it's 2001 and I actually spending more time on my PowerBook then any of my other boxes, yes including my beloved Mandrake rocketbox which has all my terabytes (sarcasm) of of mp3s (and pr0n).

Out of the box since last May and running OS 9.1 this little gem had single handedly replaced the beige G3 I was running and I get to take it and work home with me. Yeah I wound up replacing some SCSI hardware with firewire, but it wasn't like I had huge raid cabinet running, just the odd scanner and oddball peripheri (anyone interested in a couple of SyQuest 44 and 88s?).

That alone is enough for me to give Apple the big nod. But ever since I installed OS 10.1 I have actually felt giddy about an OS in a way I have not felt since I first installed Red Hat on a whim back in 1995. I am having fun again... it is cool to hack on this little bastard. I really never messed with or concerned myself with BSD before, honestly, but shit it's like talking to a Canadian, it's not all that hard. I installed MySql today on it tonight, you wanna know why? Cause I could. I wanted to mess around with it on the train tomorrow. When was the last time you felt like that? I never feel that way with Linux anymore (it's just a good solid tool now, I take it for granted). I hardly ever boot the Win2K box, (I find it is more "secure" that way) unless I want to play Arcanum or something MS specific. But who needs games when you have grep?

This wee little PowerBook along with OS 10.1 really kicks my ass. Now I find myself doing the unthinkable and looking into G4 towers, but I think I am going to wait for the G5 since Apple seems to be pumping out new models every six to eight months. Get one of them DVD burners and transfer all my pr0n (I mean MP3s) off the drives.