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Monthly ArchiveDecember 2005




Frustrations & Darwin & MacOS Daantje on 20 Dec 2005

iSync frustrations.

I like my Mac, the only thing is the iSync app! Apple did everything to the OS to make it realy nice to work with. But when you have a PDA with linux or windows you have a problem syncing it. I have KDE installed, compiled every sync app I could find, but still no luck! Yes with Pocket PC it worked, but I had to buy the missing-sync app. And every nice tool I wanted, is also not available in GPL or freeware. So back to Opie. Again the sync problem… Why is .Mac only SyncML compatible an not free?! Why? Why?! Apple’s Xcode tools includes stuff to build new plugins for other devices, only Cocoa is not my thing… (Any volunteers?) Now found a few possibilities to make my own sync tool. I found out that Opie runs a Qtopia FTP server on port 4242. It’s GPL, so all the commands are in the source ;) Just search for "FTP SERVICE COMMANDS". Opie saves everything in xml. Only I didn’t found the description/reference yet. But it could be backwards engineerd. Apple’s iCal saves standard iCalendar format and can be used in every programming language. Now I know PHP, and this is all do-able with PHP ;) And it’s standard on every Mac OS X box. Just get the datebook.xml from Opie’s FTP and read it into an array. Do the same with the .ics file from the Mac (more work, but again it can be done). Than make a routine that matches/merge the two array’s. That write 2 files again from the merged array and write them back the same way they’ve come. My only consern is the memory the array’s consume. I need a backend. MySQL rules, but isn’t standard. Maybe XML is an option, but slow. (Any ideas are welcome.) As frontend I can use a simple AppleScript app with only one button ‘iFinalySyncOpie’… When this all works, I should thake a look how this can be done with the Addressbook and the notes… And than maybe rewrite it in Java and make a nice frontend. If somebody knows a goodway to sync Opie with Apple’s iCal and Addressbook, please drop me at daantje dot nl a email. Mind the at and dot ;)

Internet & Windows & MacOS Daantje on 19 Dec 2005

IE for Mac stops!

In June 2003, the Microsoft Macintosh Business Unit announced that Internet Explorer for Mac would undergo no further development, and support would cease in 2005. In accordance with published support lifecycle policies, Microsoft will end support for Internet Explorer for Mac on December 31st, 2005, and will provide no further security or performance updates. Additionally, as of January 31st, 2006, Internet Explorer for the Mac will no longer be available for download from Mactopia. It is recommended that Macintosh users migrate to more recent web browsing technologies such as Firefox.

Darwin & MacOS Daantje on 14 Dec 2005

Xcode 2.2 available

I had troubles compiling ncurses with the fink packagement system. Every time i did a ‘fink selfupdate’ the compiler stopped on a error. I fiddled with it for 2 days, and the answer is simple. You need Apple’s gcc-4.0.8, available in Xcode 2.2. However the fink site is telling they have troubles, I don’t!

Internet Daantje on 09 Dec 2005

Firefox 1.5 exploit

Exploit code for the latest version of open-source browser Firefox was published Wednesday, potentially putting users at risk of a denial-of-service attack.
The exploit code takes advantage of a bug in the recently released Firefox 1.5, running on Windows XP with Service Pack 2. Firefox, which initially debuted over a year ago, has moved swiftly to capture 8 percent of the browser market. Read more on C|Net

Internet Daantje on 08 Dec 2005

Nice Howto on search engine optimalisation!

Here’s something nice! This guide provides a complete overview of many of the processes, techniques and strategies used by professional search engine optimization specialists.