Thursday, August 16, 2007

rsync over ssh


I wanted to start using rsync to mirror some our iTunes library across our computers.  On the main computer, I would rsync the iTunes library to our server, and then on all the other computers, I would rsync the library back down.


I also want to run rsync on the server in daemon mode, as there are some nice configuration options to specify "modules" for the different data that I wanted to synchronize.


After looking into this, there were a few things that I didn't like with the default solution.


  1. I  didn't want to open the rsyncd port through my firewall.  (Even though I could have specified authentication crednetials.)

  2. If I want to use rsync's ssh support, and want to define all of the modules in /etc/rsyncd.conf, I would have to give the root user the ability to login in through ssh.


Here is how I set this up:



Saturday, August 11, 2007

Posting from within Google Docs


I just discovered this today, and I don't remember hearing about his before.  You can post documents directly to your blog from within Google Docs.  This is very similar to the functionality that Microsoft Word has.


You do this from the Publish tab for each document.  You can configure this for a hosted provider, or any blogging software that supports the standard xmlrpc APIs.


Publish settings:


Publish Settings


Blog Site settings:


Blog Settings-1

Restore from Apple Backup backups


I have not been able to restore files from the backups that I have made with Apple Backup.  When I attempt to restore, using Backup, the progress dialog appears to show the restore working correctly, but the resulting folder doesn't contain any files.


I found this comment on this post that describes a solution.  The backup files created by Apple Backup contain disk images with the files being backuped.  It is easy to get access to the files that you want to recover.


First use Backup to find the backup file that contains the file that you want to restore (if you are using incremental backups).  Then run the following command to mount the disk image:




hdiutil mount -readonly BackupFile.IncrementalBackup/Contents/Contents/Backup.dmg

Thursday, August 9, 2007

.Mac Disk Size


On Monday, Apple announced that all .Mac accounts would be upgraded to have at least 10 GB of space.  This space is really needed as you share more photos and videos. 


Personally, I think that Apple will start using this space for other purposes.  For example, I think that Apple will put any content purchased from the iTunes store on your iDisk.  This would allow any computer where you have entered your .Mac information, to have access to your content.  Also, this would allow an iPhone to content from your whole library, even if it the content is not located on the phone's flash.



Tuesday, August 7, 2007

Firefox Add-ons


Here is a list of the Firefox extensions add-ons that I have installed:

madKast


I heard about madKast on the last GeekNewsCentral podcast.  This looks like a pretty cool way to add a widget to share your posts via email or on social networking sites.


You have to include a javascript in your header, and then the script parses the page to identify the individual posts.  Then it places an icon next to each title.


Madkast Icon


When you click on the icon, a widget appears where you can send the link in an email, or your can post it to various sites.


Madkast Expanded



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