Mac

How-To: Fix “The file server has closed down” issues in Mac OS and netatalk

August 23, 2010 in Computer, How-To, Mac, Network, Software, Unix

Netatalk versions older than 2.1.3 had some issues with the TCP/IP Stack on Linux which resulted in errors like

Luckily they seem to have fixed this in 2.1.3 as the ChangeLog states: fix a serious error in networking IO code.

So the solution is as easy as upgrading. I am running Ubuntu, but two months after netatalk-2.1.3 has been released, they don’t even have it in unstable. Lucky Gentoo users you! I needed to fix this very quickly as it started to disrupt my workflow. Sadly I currently don’t have the time to dig into the packaging system of Debian or Ubuntu, so I looked up Debian’s configure options and just compiled from source:

cp -a /etc/netatalk/ ~
aptitude purge netatalk
apt-get build-dep netatalk
wget http://sourceforge.net/projects/netatalk/files/netatalk/2.1.3/netatalk-2.1.3.tar.bz2/download
tar xjvf netatalk-2.1.3.tar.bz2
cd netatalk-2.1.3
./configure  --with-shadow --enable-fhs --enable-tcp-wrappers --enable-timelord --enable-overwrite --with-pkgconfdir=/etc/netatalk --enable-krb4-uam --enable-krbV-uam --with-cnid-dbd-txn --with-libgcrypt-dir --with-cracklib=/var/cache/cracklib/cracklib_dict --enable-debian --disable-srvloc --enable-zeroconf --with-ssl-dir --enable-pgp-uam --prefix=/usr/local/netatalk/
make
sudo make install
mv ~/netatalk /etc/
/etc/init.d/netatalk start

This saves a copy of your running netatalk configuration to your home directory, removes netatalk, downloads all necessary libraries to build netatalk, downloads netatalk from SourceForge, extracts it, configures it, builds it, installs it, restores the configuration and starts it as usual.

I am running netatalk 2.1.3 for a week now and the error seems to be gone

If you know how to easily create a Debian package, feel free to post in the comments.

Empty Trash issues in Snow Leopard

May 30, 2010 in Computer, Mac

I recently had many issues with Mac OS X 10.6′s Trash. The problem is that, when you Empty the Trash in Snow Leopard, Finder sometimes can’t erase all items because some of them are still in use. The funny part about this is, that most of the time, it’s the Finder itself that still uses the items! I haven’t found a solution so far, but there are at least two workarounds which don’t require logging out or even rebooting.

The first one is to force a relaunch of Finder via Apple -> Force Quit and then try it again.

If that doesn’t help it gets more complicated. You will need to open Terminal.app or any other terminal emulator.

Then type ps auxw | grep <yourfile>. The output will look something like:

$ ps auxw | grep Scan.pdf
Finder     169 chrisk   13r     REG       14,2       286 1417024 /Users/chrisk/.Trash/Scan.pdf/..namedfork/rsrc

This might look complicated, but it’s actually simple. The first column is the name of the application, which uses your file, the second column is the PID (process ID) of the application, third column shows the username and the last column simply shows the path to your file in the Trash folder.

Now use ‘kill’ and the applications PID to terminate it.

$ kill 169

You should be able to empty your trash again.

How-To: Fast VNC alternativ to Remote Desktop to a Mac using NoMachine

March 24, 2010 in Computer, Mac, Network, Software, Unix

I am a very happy Mac OS user with a Mac mini and a MacBook Pro coming soon, but one things I really miss about Mac OS X is the lack of a fast and standards based remote desktop solution. The VNC server built into Mac OS X isn’t really compatible with all clients, and I still haven’t figured out if it’s possible to run it with a different resolution and color depth than the real screen!!!

But, I recently re-discovered a solution I got to know in my Linux time on a desktop: NoMachine. You’ll need a server running a recent Linux distribution or OpenSolaris which will act as a kind of a proxy and the setup is a bit complex, but it does work well. I’ll show you how to do it running Ubuntu Lucid.

First go to http://www.nomachine.com/select-package.php?os=linux&id=1 select your architecture and download all three files: client, node and server.

Then install them in the following order, fix the missing dependecies and install a vnclient plus vncpassword:

sudo dpkg -i nxclient_3.4.0-7_x86_64.deb
sudo dpkg -i nxnode_3.4.0-11_x86_64.deb
sudo dpkg -i nxserver_3.4.0-12_x86_64.deb
sudo aptitude -f install
sudo aptitude install xvnc4viewer vnc4-common

Since it’s really advisable I hope you already have PasswordAuthentication no in your sshd_config to disable Password authentication and to only allow key-based authentication. You’ll need to tweak nxserver a bit to get it working with key-based auth. Edit /usr/NX/etc/server.cfg to…

EnablePasswordDB = "1"

…edit the following line in /usr/NX/etc/node.cfg to enable VNC…

CommandStartRFB = "/usr/bin/vncviewer -fullscreen"

…create a key for your key-based authentication and restart nxserver.

sudo /usr/NX/bin/nxserver --keygen
sudo service nxserver restart

Your new key is placed at /usr/NX/share/keys/default.id_dsa.key. Copy it the device you want to connect from using scp or similar tools. Now all you need to do is enable the users you wan’t in nxserver:

sudo /usr/NX/bin/nxserver --useradd <user>

This enables the user in NX’s database and copies the previously generated key to the user’s authorized_keys file.

Now just enable VNC on your Mac. Go to “System Preferences”, select “Sharing” and enable “Screen Sharing”:

Now you’ll need to configure your client. Read more…

How-To: Setup Ubuntu Lucid as a TimeMachine Server

March 18, 2010 in Computer, Mac, Software, Unix

I think starting with Lucid, Ubuntu ships netatalk 2.0.5 which makes setting up Linux as a TimeMachine server much easier. You no longer have to compile on you own nor do you have to create the sparsebundle.

Just install netatalk and avahi-daemon if you want to, add options:tm to AppleVolumes.default and you’re done.

aptitude install netatalk
echo /home/shared/timemachine  "TM" options:tm >> /etc/netatalk/AppleVolumes.default

If you want the service to be advertised on your LAN also install avahi-daemon and create /etc/avahi/services/afpd.service with this content:

<?xml version="1.0" standalone='no'?><!--*-nxml-*-->
<!DOCTYPE service-group SYSTEM "avahi-service.dtd">
<service-group>
<name replace-wildcards="yes">%h</name>
<service>
<type>_afpovertcp._tcp</type>
<port>548</port>
</service>
</service-group>

Now you have to point TimeMachine to the TM share and that’s it. As long as you have a server with enough free space running at you LAN that saved you a lot of bucks compared to buying a TimeCapsule.

Upgrading my 2009 Mac mini

March 20, 2009 in Computer, Mac

I just upgraded my new Mac mini with 4Gb of RAM and a 320Gb HDD. I ordered Kingston DDR3-1066 4Gb Kit tested for Apple (see Kingston Memory Configurator) and a Seagate Momentus 2007.3 2.5″ 7200rpm 320Gb from Computeruniverse.

Okay… ordering was the easy part, but installing was quite difficult! I don’t mean the upgrade itself, but opening the case without scratching it! These two videos helped me a lot: Read more…

My new Mac mini

March 19, 2009 in Computer, Mac

Just 10 days after Apple announced the new Mac mini I recieved mine last Friday Would you believe me if I’d tell you that I was happy as a child on christmas evening when I unpacked it?

I bought the “small” version with a 2.0Ghz Core2Duo, a 120Gb 5400rpm HDD and 1Gb of RAM because I am going to upgrade HDD and RAM myself.

All in all I really like the new mac mini. It plays 1080p Blurays just fine. It’s boot up time is also great (even with the 5400rpm HDD and 1Gb RAM!) and the noise… what noise? My Dell XPS M1530 is way noisier than this mini (WAAAAAAAAAAY noisier!) The fan almost never kicks in and even when it does… it’s noise is pretty pleasant. Sadly there are still some annoying bugs, but Apple is working on Mac OS X 10.5.7 and Mac OS Snow Leopard. Hope they will fix everything that annoys me :p There is not much more to say about the new Mac mini, no impressive innovations, still the same design… Have a look at my unboxing pics if you want. I’ll post an update of the upgrading process when I received the new HDD and RAM.

Isn’t the box cute?

What’s in the box: