Ronald Bradford
MySQL Expert

MySQL Expert Ronald Bradford shares valuable input in MySQL Performance Tuning, MySQL Scalability and general MySQL Help from his two decades of working with MySQL, Oracle, Ingres and development technologies.

Archive for the ‘Apple’ Category

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Using Vodafone UMTS in Germany

Sunday, April 6th, 2008

These instructions apply to the Novatel MC950D UMTS USB modem running under Mac OS/X 10.5 (Note these instructions do not apply to OS/X 10.4)

1. Software Installation

You first need to install the software as supplied on CD.

This will give you a Vodafone Mobile Connect folder including the Vodafone Mobile Connect application and manuals in various languages.

2. Connect your modem

Insert your data SIM card (which should be a different SIM from your mobile phone) into the modem and connect to our Mac. You should get a consistent blinking RED light.

3. Run the Connect Application

Selecting the Vodafone Mobile Connection Application you will get a program that will search for a network connection. You will prompted to enter your SIM card pin.

When an appropriate connection has been made, your modem should now have blinking GREEN light in intervals of 3.

You need to select the [Activate] Button at the bottom right of the window.
Your modem will now have a blinking GREEN light in intervals of 2.

Select the Support tab will provide some technical details of the modem and OS.

4. Getting a Network Connection

Open System Preferences then select Network.

Click the [+] button to add a new network type.

Select from the dropdown list the Interface Notavel and give the service an appropriate name. NOTE: It does not appear you can change the name at a later time.
Click the [Create] button.

Now back on the Network page, click the [Advanced] Button to change settings.

Select the WWAN tab. Select the Vendor Notavel from the supplied list.

NOTE: When selecting a different Vendor the Model list does not change. You need to Select [Ok] then [Apply] and then re-enter the WWAN panel.

Selecting the Model GSM you will be prompted with two additional fields. Enter WEB.VODAFONE.DE in the APN field (This is very important).

Select the DNS tab. No changes should be necessary. This should remain empty.

Select the WINS tab. No changes should be necessary. This should contain the NetBios Name entered, other fields empty.

Select the Proxies tab. No changes should be necessary.

Select the PPP tab. No changes should be necessary.

5. Making the connection

You are now ready to go.

Click the shiny [Connect] button. If all goes well you should end up with a connection.

6. Checking Settings

Following a successful connection, the [DNS] tab shows updated information.

Posted in Apple, OS/X, Professional | No Comments »

When technology just works

Sunday, March 30th, 2008

Today I needed to visit a medical specialist for collection of something. I had to pay $250 as my insurance did not cover. I sent a check as requested however today they had not record of receipt. Not wanting to write a second check and then find they cash both, I logged onto my online banking right there with my iPhone (miracle I could remember my login and password as all important logins like this are different and normally I need my notes) and I’m able to confirm deposit and even view a scanned copy of the check. Confirming the date they are still unable to find. I’m able to use an office computer and print out this confirmation to show them proof of payment.

The technology of the iPhone and the thoroughness of my bank online check verification solved the hassle, simplified the confirmation and greatly reduced the stress of the situation. At T-2 days the technology worked and I was most grateful.

Posted in Apple, Professional, Web Sites, iPhone | No Comments »

Mac OS/X One Liner – Changing hostname

Thursday, March 27th, 2008

To change the Hostname under Mac OS/X 10.5

$ sudo scutil --set HostName servername.example.com

Posted in Apple, OS/X, One Liners, Professional | No Comments »

Noise canceling headphones

Thursday, February 28th, 2008

Some 9 months ago I left my noise canceling headphones on a plane. Since then I’ve though I’d just self suffer for my carelessness, and I’d decided the next set I would buy would be Bose. The problem is, Bose make two brands, The over ear 2 model and the on ear 3 model. I could never decide which one to order without first trying. They do offer a return policy but that’s just more hassle.

So eventually I get to the Bose store in the Time Warner building at Columbus Circle, try them both, can’t really decide either way and settle for the over ear 2. Some facts in my decision is basically the case is the same size, the 2 model has a recharger, while the 3 uses AAA batteries.

I then head of the the NY apple store for some smaller purchases, and I notice that all the sample headphones for the iPods are Bose. You can even buy them there. So treking across NY in the rain could have been easier?

In other Apple news, the MacBook Air is not as light as I would have thought, being 3 pounds, still it’s a cool geek thing and I was tempted even though I’d just just purchased my own Macbook recently. And of course they released a new macbook yesterday as well. Go figure.

Posted in Apple, MacBook, Professional | No Comments »

Solid-State Drives Press

Sunday, February 10th, 2008

I read yesterday in The Wall Street Journal an interesting article in Personal Technology, “Solid-state drives challenge hard drives in speed, but not value”. While the title does sum up nothing new, the barrier to entry to embracing new technology is always cost, and early adopters may not have deeper pockets, but it’s also about being a alpha geek.

As the article states “Solid-state drives have some key advantages. Because that lack moving parts, they are faster, draw less power, and harder to damage and are quieter”. It also backed this up with some results.

What I did not realize, is the new MacBook Air has a 80GB HHD version at $1,799 and as 64G SSD version at $2,798. Testing showed that there was little difference in battery life between these models, however with the Toshiba Portege R500 and the right battery there was a 36% battery life increase. That’s interesting news for those that spend a lot of time on planes,trains and airports. Tests clearly showed faster cold startup and reboots, up to 40% faster.

Kevin Burton has had a lot to say recently about MySQL and SSD, and Matt Yonkovit has also just published some results with Mtron SSD Sysbench/MySQL results, DBT2 MySQL SSD Results and More Details on MySQL & SSD drive performance…. It seems that Mtron SSD was the brand reviewed by Matt and Kevin (See 24 Hours with an SSD and MySQL).

Where do we go from here, MySQL as with any database has certain characteristics, large amounts of storage needed, fastest access possible, but generally sequential and random writes, but random reads. Certain MySQL storage engines may benefit with sequential writes, such as PBXT. As with any architecture today, multiple layers, caching and different approaches to storing and retrieving data within your application or website will ultimately be required to maximum the strengths of underlying technologies and minimize the weaknesses.

More information at Wikipedia Solid State Drives.

Posted in Apple, Databases, MySQL, Professional, Solid State Drives | No Comments »

Microsoftism’s on my MacBook

Monday, December 17th, 2007

Seems Mac OS/X has not escaped the unnecessary annoyances of Windows. Below are details to unstall a product on my MacBook, following it crashing my machine a few times with the “blue screen on death” below.

Eye TV Lite is the software that comes with the Pinnacle TV line of products for the Apple Mac.

 

To completely uninstall the EyeTV Lite software and it associated files, please follow the steps below.

 

1.      Drag the EyeTV Lite application from the Application folder to the trash.

a.       Open Finder

b.      Select Applications

c.       Select EyeTV Lite and drab it to the trash

 

2.      Using Finder, move the following files to the trash.

 

Below is a list of the files that need to be removed and their function.  Below that is the location of the files. 

 

com.elgato.eyetv.plist – stores the preferences and there are 2 copies on the hard drive

EyeTV Helper – assits with USB/FireWire issues

com.elgato.eyetv.devices.plist – preference file related to the available devices

com.elgato.eyetv.world.plist – preference file related to the channel lists

Wakein – assists EyeTV Lite with waking/booting to record

EyeTVEPG.db – EPG data is stored in this file

EyeTV Archive – contains all of your recordings and scheduled programs

EyeTVClassicDontSeize.kext – All of the kernel extension files .kext are to prevent the Mac OS X from attempting to talk to TV devices that can appear as generic USB audio class or HID class devices before the actual firmware has been uploaded to them.

EyeTVAfaTechHidBlock.kext – same as above

            EyeTVEmpiaAudioBlock.kext – same as above

 

Drag these files from the location listed to the trash using Finder

 

/Users/(username)/Library/Preferences/com.elgato.eyetv.plist

 

/Library/Preferences/com.elgato.eyetv.plist

/Library/Preferences/com.elgato.eyetv.devices.plist

/Library/Preferences/com.elgato.eyetv.world.plist

 

/Library/Application Support/EyeTV/EyeTV Helper

/Library/Application Support/EyeTV/Wakein

/Library/Application Support/EyeTV/EyeTVEPG.db

 

/Users/(username)/Library/EyeTV Archive/

 

/System/Library/Extensions/EyeTVClassicDontSeize.kext

/System/Library/Extensions/EyeTVAfaTechHidBlock.kext

/System/Library/Extensions/EyeTVEmpiaAudioBlock.kext

 

NOTE 1:  If you erase the EyeTV preference files, then any activation key you may have will need to be re-entered.

 

NOTE 2:  The files with the extention .kext can only be erased with root/superuser access. Also, to erase EyeTV Helper, you first have to quit it by using the Process Viewer or Activity Monitor.

Reference

Posted in Apple, MacBook, Professional, Windoze | No Comments »

MacBook Essential Installs

Sunday, December 2nd, 2007

I’m being able to spend more time using my MacBook finally. The following are some essential tools I needed to install.

Posted in Apple, MacBook, OS/X, Professional | No Comments »

Mac Printscreen

Friday, November 30th, 2007

There are many things I’m coming to grip with on my new MacBook. One is missing buttons on the screen, like Page Up, Page Down and PrntSc.

Well I at least found out from Eric that I can get Print Screen with the following keyboard syntax.

Command-shift-4 then space then mouse click

Posted in Apple, MacBook, Professional | No Comments »

MySQL under Mac OS/X 10.5

Friday, November 30th, 2007

Time to install MySQL on my new MacBook.

$ cd /opt
$ wget http://dev.mysql.com/get/Downloads/MySQL-5.0/mysql-5.0.45-osx10.4-i686.tar.gz/from/http://mysql.mirrors.hoobly.com/
$ tar xvfz mysql-5.0.45-osx10.4-i686.tar.gz
$ cd mysql-5.0.45-ox10.4-i686
$ scripts/mysql_install_db
Installing MySQL system tables...
071129 22:10:48 [Warning] Setting lower_case_table_names=2 because file system for /opt/mysql-5.0.45-osx10.4-i686/data/ is case insensitive
OK
Filling help tables...
071129 22:10:48 [Warning] Setting lower_case_table_names=2 because file system for /opt/mysql-5.0.45-osx10.4-i686/data/ is case insensitive
OK

bin/mysqld_safe &
[1] 239
macbook:mysql-5.0.45-osx10.4-i686 rbradfor$ chown: /opt/mysql-5.0.45-osx10.4-i686/data/macbook.err: Operation not permitted
Starting mysqld daemon with databases from /opt/mysql-5.0.45-osx10.4-i686/data

$ bin/mysqladmin -uroot password 'sakila'
$ bin/mysql -uroot -psakila -e "SELECT VERSION()"
$ bin/mysqladmin -uroot -psakila shutdown

It was interesting that these normal steps under Linux provided two errors not normally seen.

1. Setting lower_case_table_names=2 because file system for /opt/mysql-5.0.45-osx10.4-i686/data/ is case insensitive

2. chown: /opt/mysql-5.0.45-osx10.4-i686/data/macbook.err: Operation not permitted

The first is interesting, is Mac like Windows in that sense? I’ll need to check that out.
The second occurs every time I start MySQL which is also intriguing, but for now doesn’t affect MySQL operation. It’s interesting that the permissions of the error file is the same as the user running it, so go figure.

Posted in Apple, Databases, MacBook, MySQL, Professional | No Comments »

iPhone bug

Thursday, November 22nd, 2007

I discovered a bug on my iPhone. The issue was around Daylight saving. Thanks to Dock I was able to take screenshots which was much better then photos.

In Calendar when you select 1am on the scrollers, you get 1am as the start time. When you select 2am, the start time goes to 1am. When you select 3am, it goes to 3am as expected.



Posted in Apple, Professional, iPhone | No Comments »

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