Sparcitecture

Have you seen this?

[~]: sudo port -d sync
can’t find package Pextlib 1.0
    while executing
“package_native require Pextlib 1.0″
    (”eval” body line 1)
    invoked from within
“eval package_native $args”
    (procedure “package” line 14)
    invoked from within
“package require Pextlib 1.0″
    (procedure “dportinit” line 315)
    invoked from within
“dportinit ui_options global_options global_variations”
Error: /opt/local/bin/port: Failed to initialize ports system, can’t find
package Pextlib 1.0

Well, I did.

Turns out, I had recently installed the Tcl/Tk Aqua (Batteries Included) distribution and apparently it breaks the MacPorts subsystem. Hopefully you backed up the old binaries for tclsh and wish in /usr/bin (like I did) by moving them to tclsh8.4.7 and wish8.4.7. I was able to (briefly) get the port command working long enough to do a selfupdate by changing the script to call the tclsh8.4.7 binary. Unfortunately, that was not sufficient to fix the problem and resulted in more breakage. Luckily there is an uninstall command on the disk image for the Tcl/Tk installer and after running it (and the linking tclsh and wish to the 8.4.7 binaries I preserved above) my port command was back.

[composed and posted with ecto]

I must say, the job listings on Chicago’s Craigslist are much more interesting than the ones in DC (but then what did I expect?). So far today I have seen “Unix Ninja” and “Master of Technology”.

[composed and posted with ecto]

[tags]chicago,jobs,unix,washington[/tags]

Installing the Cisco VPN client on a Solaris 10 system with ipfilters enabled breaks your ipfilter installation. The symptom to look for is a message from SMF telling you that the ipfilter service has transitioned to a maintenance state when you reboot. The loading of the cipsec module onto the network interface interferes with SMF’s invocation of autopush on the file /etc/ipf/pfil.ap.

Since the Cisco installer adds a line to /etc/iu.ap for each type of interface on the system, the workaround is to append pfil to the modlist for each interface added to iu.ap so the pfil module is loaded after the cipsec module, e.g.:

# tail -2 /etc/iu.ap

bge        -1        0        cipsec pfil
qfe        -1        0        cipsec pfil

[composed and posted with ecto]

It would appear that in the latest release of Solaris 10 (11/06 - both Sparc and x86), out of the box the Sun Update Manager (hereafter referred to as SUM) does not work properly. This seems to be due to DST problems in the bundled JDK (1.5.0_11).

On two fresh installs, one Sparc (SunBlade 1500) and one x86 (Parallels Desktop), after the initial run of SUM I had multiple patches that failed to apply on the next restart. Repeated the SUM process and these patches (40 or so) were marked as download only, not install. I downloaded the tzupdater tool and ran it against the bundled JDK and restarted SDM - this time the patches were marked for install at next reboot and installed successfully when I rebooted the box.

Until Sun puts out another release of Solaris 10, the following steps should be followed to get a fully patched version.

1. Install from removable media or Jumpstart.
2. Download the tzupdater tool bundle and run it against the bundled jdk: java -jar tzupdater.jar -u
3. Run SUM and apply patches as normal.

[composed and posted with ecto]

No, not the movie directed by Hayao Miyazaki, I’m talking about the indispensable menubar item for OSX. I checked out the developers original website at the Internet Archive and found a link to someone’s iDisk that had a Universal Binary. Woot! I think that was the last application that was running under Rosetta.

So, I finally scored a Nokia 770 about a week ago (through Amazon, but TigerDirect turns out to have been the real vendor) and what happens? Nokia releases a new version that is roughly twice as fast, dual SD ports, and an integrated video camera. Is there a site I can go to to find out when not to buy new hardware? Otherwise I always end up with something that is made obsolete the following week (this happened with my iPod Video, iMac G5, Zaurus 5500, Powerbook, etc.). I am hoping to replace the aging Powerbook this spring with a new Macbook and would like to avoid a repeat performance.

What really burns me is that Amazon does business with a company like TigerDirect who has such a crappy return policy. The box actually had a sticker on it saying something about “no returns due to steep discounts on a popular product” - how is paying full MSRP a steep discount?

Well, in any case the 770 is a pretty neat device. I got all of my AIM contacts proxied through a Jabber gateway so I can use the built-in IM client and have vpnc installed and working with our Cisco VPN solution, so I can do what I bought the thing for in the first place. As an added bonus it makes a pretty nifty remote control for the two Squeezeboxes at home, although browsing by album cover is pretty painful with ~1400 CDs in the library, even on an 802.11G-only network. The next project is to get Maemo Mapper working with the Wintec bluetooth GPS I picked up last month.

Never, ever, deal with letstalk.com if you can avoid it. They are the only company that makes you sit on hold for 20 minutes to even place an order. I suffered through days of phone-tag with them a month ago when I purchase my new phone from Nokia’s site. Recently I tried to order a Nokia 770 internet tablet from Nokia’s site, guess what - same asinine process. They claim that confirmation is required because it is an “unlocked” device. No shit! It is a Wi-Fi tablet, not a phone - of course it is unlocked. I cancelled the order and got one through J&R instead. So I didn’t get free 2nd day shipping - who cares? J&R is in New York and I’ll get it in two days anyway. And I got a free 1GB MMC card as well.

Can’t wait till it gets here so I can start playing with it.

Update: J&R now lists it as backordered, so that’s out too. I’ll try to see if I can pick one up at Nokia’s store in Chicago over the Christmas holidays, if not, I’ll re-order with J&R. Unfortunately it appears that every order placed through www.nokiausa.com goes through LetsTalk.

Anyone else getting these weird spams with snippets of technical documentation (this one looks like random output from FreeBSD release notes)? I guess the assumption is that tech-heads are more likely to have spam filters that allow content that looks like valid technical jargon through. Unfortunately, the idiots behind this idea don’t realize that we’re probably bright enough not to follow a random link as well.

[tags]spam,email,security[/tags]

Well, Toast and Burn seem to both be completely stupid about how to burn a .cue file (e.g. the new Zeta live CD) on OSX. Command line to the rescue.

Install cdrdao (I used Darwin Ports, but it is also in Fink or you can go with the source from the project website). Switch to the directory containing the zeta.cue, zetaboot.img, and zetacd.img files and issue the following command:
# sudo cdrdao write --device IODVDServices zeta.cue

[tags]osx,zeta,cdr,burn,howto,mac[/tags]