average admins

Originally posted at cocoacrusty.com on Thursday, November 8th, 2007

Well, the upgrade to Mac OS X Leopard went smoothly, as Wooley predicted in his comment on my previous post.

The whole upgrade took about an hour and 15 minutes (which included verifying the install DVD) on my MacBook. I now am running the latest and greatest version of Apple’s OS, a certified flavor of UNIX, and am, so far, extremely impressed. The dock is beautiful, Stacks look extremely useful and efficient, there are a lot of desktop customizable features, Spaces (which I am looking forward to setting up soon), and more.

I look forward to getting a bit more intimate better acquainted with Leopard in the upcoming days and months. Anyway, the upgrade went smoothly. If you’re scared, don’t be. Mine was a breeze! I just wish I had upgraded the day this package arrived on my doorstep…

uname Output:

% uname -a
Darwin xbook 9.0.0 Darwin Kernel Version 9.0.0: Tue Oct 9 21:35:55 PDT 2007; root:xnu-1228~1/RELEASE_I386 i386

Until next time…

Originally posted at cocoacrusty.com on Thursday, November 8th, 2007

I have had Apple’s latest release of Mac OS X, Leopard, since it launched a couple of weeks ago. I used my in-store credit from my iPhone purchase reimbursement from when I purchased my iPhone 45 days too early for the price drop… or something… Anyway, I got Leopard and tonight I’m gonna install it!

Backups are running as we speak… I’m jonesing as we speak… I’m ready to install this new OS!!!! I’ll let you know how it goes…

Until next time…

Originally posted at cocoacrusty.com on Monday, April 16th, 2007.

I have known about the Metasploit framework for quite some time but have never really known how to use it or taken the time to learn. Recently, Chris inspired me to try it by showing me a movie explaining how to exploit a vulnerability in Microsoft Windows related to the .ANI Header Stack Overflow Vulnerability (more on this in my next post).

Before I could begin working with this nifty little exploit in Metaspolit I had to get the framework installed on my MacBook. Metasploit is a suite of Ruby scripts and will run on virtually any Unix based operating system and Windows (with some minor tweaking). I checked the MacPorts for Metasploit and it was available as a port install but the latest version in the ports tree was 2.7. I needed at least version 3.0, and later determined I needed a development version, version 3.1, from the trunk to get the exploit I was after.

The first thing I did was upgrade my Subversion client on Mac OS X. I got the universal binary from here and installing and upgrading my Subversion was pretty painless. It installed like most other Mac applications from a package.

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Originally posted at cocoacrusty.com on March 27th, 2007.

I first saw this nice little trick a year or so ago. A fellow admin and friend of mine, Tommy, used a Bluetooth® headset to automatically lock his Windows machine whenever he stepped away from his computer and his headset was no longer in range of his PC’s Bluetooth® dongle. I don’t remember how I stumbled upon this blog post yesterday, but I am glad I did. This post shows you how to implement a similar solution using an application called Proximity and some Apple Scripts to achieve the same result.

The cool thing about this solutions for the Mac is that the events that are triggered when the specified Bluetooth® device enters and leaves the Mac’s Bluetooth® proximity are Apple Scripts. Apple Scripts allow you to easily program for the Mac. Apple Scripts are pretty much the same thing as shell scripts for any other operating system and command line environment, like batch scripts for Windows and Bash or C Shell scripts for Unix based and derived operating systems like Linux and FreeBSD. Basically, with a solution like this, you aren’t tied to the developer’s ideas of what should happen when you step away from your machine. The ball is totally in your court and your goal is only limited by your creativity and your programming ability.

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Originally posted at cocoacrusty.com on March 27th, 2007.

Ok, so I blogged a while back in November of 2006 about being back in the wardriving game. Well, it turns out, that wasn’t entirely true. See, after I posted that entry on averageadmins.com, I never really did any wardriving. When I finally got ready to get back in the game and make some maps and what not using KisMAC and Google Earth, my MacBook’s built-in wireless NIC wasn’t 100% compatible with KisMAC. It seems that the 2nd generation of MacBooks changed their wireless chipsets and the new chipset isn’t 100% compatible with KisMAC. So, according to this document on the KisMAC developer WiKi, my best bet was to get a USB wireless NIC with a Prism2 chipset. So I did…

The bad thing about having to get this type of hardware is a) most of the devices with these chipsets are older wireless cards and kind of hard to locate, or b) the newer cards that are still manufactured with this chipset are pretty pricey. Well, I did a little eBaying and found a D-Link DWL-122 for around $60 with shipping and insurance. This was a great find as this device was still new in the box and the price wasn’t that bad considering I had to locate an affordable wireless card with a specific chipset. I placed my order on the 20th of this month and got it in yesterday… Guess what?! That’s right kids! I’ve already put it to use.

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Originally posted at cocoacrusty.com on Wednesday, March 21st, 2007.

I have been fascinated with the Mac Mini for quite sometime and actually thought that this piece of hardware would be my entrance into the world of Macintosh due to its size, price, and the fact that you can use your already existing DKM. When I purchased my MacBook from the Apple Store in Plano, Texas, I talked with a salesperson about the Mac Mini. She said that a lot of people were purchasing the Mini for use as a server. I thought that was an extremely cool idea.

Think about it. Most data centers aren’t getting any bigger. Every server manufacturer out there is trying harder and harder to cram more and more into 1U rackmount servers. Even so, the length of these machines is way too long. I mean, you took a tower server and squashed it down to like an inch to an inch and a half tall but the rest had to be flattened out and spread over a larger footprint. The Mac Mini measures 2 inches tall and is 6.5 inches square. How many of those things can you fit on the real estate a 1U server takes up?! A lot!

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Originally posted at cocoacrusty.com on Wednesday, March 21st, 2007.

I have had my 30 GB Video iPod for a while and have been using my MacBook since late 2006. I bought my iPod at WalMart and it came formatted for a Windows machine. This was fine and all when I used a Windows machine and FreeBSD because I could read and write to the iPod with no problems as well as update the iPod via my Windows PC (yes, I have one… I’m sorry…). However, since I have been using my MacBook full time I haven’t been able to update my iPod’s software from 1.2 to 1.2.1 because it was formatted for Windows, I was too lazy to boot up my Windows machine, and I was honestly a little afraid to click on the “Restore” button within iTunes for fear of hosing my iPod.

Today, while working at a remote disaster recovery location, I had a few minutes to spare while a server booted up and recognized some new tape drives to press that “Restore” button within iTunes. I was scared, yes, but I did it. I clicked it! As soon as I did, iTunes told me that all of my music would be deleted from the iPod and the iPod would be returned to the factory settings. I accepted this and told iTunes to continue with the restore. As it was wiping my iPod it also upgraded my iPod to the latest version of the iPod software, version 1.2.1, and obviously, formatted the iPod with a Macintosh file system.

Now, as software updates are released for the iPod I don’t have to feel left behind due to laziness and fear any longer. I always use my Mac and can just update it inside iTunes at the click of a button. I’m glad I “made the switch” to Macintosh, both in my normal computing environment (i.e. my laptop) and in my iPod file system.

Until next time…

…Why Don’t I Back That Thing Up?!

Originally posted at cocoacrusty.com on March 5th, 2007.

I’m just trying to tell you, I do a lot of development on my laptop and have a lot of Photoshop files, code, etc. for my client’s web sites and other applications I have developed for Fruitful Solutions. I also have a ton of music in my iTunes music library. I have e-mails from clients that I need to hang on to and other important things that matter to me and I feel like I need to back this stuff up. Before I go on, if you have data, you need to be backing that stuff up. And here we go…

I have been backing up my MacBook to a USB 2.0 IDE drive cage with a 120GB Western Digital drive in it for a few months now using an application called Personal Backup X4 from Intego. This application has everything I was looking for in a backup solution.

I currently do what the software calls Synchronizing. Basically, it is an incremental backup. The first time you run the script, it performs a full backup. Then each run after that it only backs up any files that have been added or modified since the last synchronization and will also delete any files that are no longer on the source disk from the disk you’re backing up to.

You can also create disk images, archives, and even make bootable copies of your harddrive with this software. Like I said, I have been using this software for a while now and love it. I like knowing that my data is backed up and that I can customize my backup job with little to no effort using the intuitive interface Personal Backup provides.

If you’re looking for an inexpensive ($69.95) commercial backup solution for your Mac, I highly recommend you give Personal Backup a try. There is a free trial available for those of you who like to try before you buy. If you try this application, I can almost guarantee you will be impressed with its ease of use and feature set. Of course, I say “almost guarantee” because some people just can’t be pleased and then some don’t want to pay any kind of money for software these days. Hasn’t FOSS just spoiled us all?!

Until next time…

Originally posted at cocoacrusty.com on March 5th, 2007.

I ordered me another external harddrive last week from Buy.com. I got a Cavalry Storage 500GB USB 2.0 drive and it arrived today.

Now, I know what you’re thinking: “Who is Cavalry Storage?” You know what?! I asked myself the same thing until I read the user comments on Buy.com that said this thing worked flawlessly and quietly. On top of that, how can you beat 500GB of external storage for $144.95 and free shipping?! I mean that equates to like 29 cents per gigabyte… Great find if you ask me.

I have it plugged in, formatted for use with my MacBook and can’t even hear the thing over there running. The only way I know it is on is because it has a beautiful blue LED on the front of it and Mac OS X has recognized it and mounted it successfully. The transfer speeds are great since USB 2.0 is so good to me. I look forward to loading this thing up with, uh, something soon. I’m sure I have some files and folders I can pull off of my1 60GB internal SATA drive in my MacBook and throw on there.

Anyway, I wanted to tell the world about my new “gadget” and how it is working so far.

Until next time…

Originally posted at cocoacrusty.com on February 22nd, 2007.

I recently posted an entry titled “Using a Nokia E61 for internet Access in OS X” that discussed, you’ll never guess, how I got my Nokia E61 working with my Apple MacBook for Internet access when no WLAN or LAN is available.

I think the combination of the Bluetooth® phone and the MacBook works pretty well. I mean, think about it, this isn’t your primary Internet connection. When you’re out and about and need access to something on the Internet like e-mail, directions to a location, etc., it works great. Of course, with my phone, I can access this type of information directly from the Symbian OS based web browser, but when you want to sit down and use something a little more comfortable and familiar, this setup is more acceptable.

So, I did some preliminary testing of the data speeds using Speakeasy’s Speedtest site to see what kinds of speeds I am getting when using my phone as a modem with my MacBook. I figured this information would come in handy for anyone looking to use their phone in a similar fashion. It will also help you decide if the speeds are enough to warrant the extra money you’ll be forking out each month for an unlimited data plan with your cellular carrier.

Also, keep in mind that these data speeds are based on the cellular service here in the greater Texarkana area. Your performance will vary based on the coverage available in your area and the compression and speed options available through your carrier. Here comes the data:

As you can see, based on the testing that I did today from the house during lunch, I averaged 116.2 kilobytes per second down and 78 kilobytes per second up. That’s not too bad. It’s better than dial-up. It’s pretty close to a bonded ISDN line. However, when I was working at that client site the other night, which is located in the center of Texarkana right off of the Interstate, I had downstream speeds up to 212 kbps and upstream speeds nearing 114 kbps.

I think it is all going to depend on where you are in relation to the cell towers, what type of equipment you have around you that might be interfering with the Bluetooth&reg connection and the cellular reception, where your phone is located in relation to your laptop, and what type of data quality your carrier provides.

As for me, this will be a great alternative for accessing the Internet when a decent broadband connection is not available. I also look forward to using this type of connection in hotels when traveling. You don’t know how many times I have tried to get a hotel’s “free wireless Internet” service to work and have been unsuccessful, left with no connection to the digital extension of myself that is the Internet. I have to stay connected!

Until next time…