MAMP hang after OSX unclean shutdown
by Mats Hellman on 26.Nov, 2009 under Apple, Mac OSX
Today we had a power outage and after a few hours when power finally came back on I tried to get my development tools up again, everything was fine except for MAMP. It seems MAMP isn’t able to delete it’s PID files after something like this so it just flashed and shut down. This is because it thinks it’s already running even if it’s not.
Anyway, MAMP uses it’s own Application folder to store the pid files and the fix for this is really simple. Open your terminal and
iMac:~ rm httpd.pid
iMac:~ cd /Applications/MAMP/tmp/mysql
iMac:~ rm mysql.pid
After deleting the PID files MAMP should start just fine again.
Quick Tip: Installing Linux from USB-stick
by Mats Hellman on 25.Nov, 2009 under Linux
This is a short tip so I will remember how to do this the next time I need to. It’s not a lengthy article or in-depth howto. Anyway, today I wanted to try out the latest Ubuntu (9.10) on my Lenovo X200s and my docking station was at work so I had no access to a dvd drive.
Installing from a USB-stick should be trivial so I decided to try it out and googled around to find some information on how to put Ubuntu on my Kingston Datatraveler.
Googling I found this wonderful program that, if needed, even downloads the files for you. But since I already had the Ubuntu ISO I could just start up UNetBootin and have it set Ubuntu on my USB-stick.
To do this just download http://unetbootin.sourceforge.net/ and start it. Select your ISO and the destination drive and you’re done. After that you have a fully functional USB Linux.
CSS Reset by Eric Meyer
by Mats Hellman on 12.Nov, 2009 under Uncategorized
Anyone working with web design knows styling can sometimes be a real pain in the a**. Sometimes the styles just won’t do what you expect them to do and it might be a challenge to find out why.
Today I had a problem like this and couldn’t find the problem anywhere. I then remembered Eric Meyers great reset CSS and added it to the page. Magically everything fell into place. I felt like a moron since I forgot to add it earlier.
Anyway, you can find this great and useful CSS reset at http://meyerweb.com/eric/tools/css/reset/
Defragmenting Windows
by Mats Hellman on 07.Nov, 2009 under Windows
I’ve been a nice Windows user since Windows 95 and have always defragmented my drives. I’ve used free defragment software’s like the Windows Integrated Defragment and Smart Defrag. Today my new HP Z400 Workstation started to feel sluggish. It’s only a few weeks old but already sluggish… This can’t be true. I know it’s running Visual Studio 2008, SQL Server 2008 developer edition and a few not so remarkable processes.
Anyhow, a few weeks should just not make a workstation sluggish. The workstation has Vista 64 installed and has 8Gb RAM so it should more or less be flying.
My software picks for OS X
by Mats Hellman on 04.Nov, 2009 under Apple, Mac OSX
As some of you might know I’m not a Windows only user. I do use an iMac at home for all my design and photo work. I also love the simplicity of OS X. It does what you expect it to and it does it well. This is probably why I feel the need to post some of the software’s I as a 1+ year Apple user have found useful.
I’m sure there are plenty more out there and if you whish to ad something to my list please do so in the comments.
I also want to point out that not all of them are free. Some cost, but as most programs for OS X they cost under 100 USD so it’s really not a big deal. The list is in no particular order.
