Yasu is 10.4.3 Compatible
For those who are curious, Yasu 1.3.2 is compatible with the 10.4.3 update. Thanks to Gregor Rittinger for asking and for making me realize that I should put this little note up for everyone else.
On a side note, if you do run Yasu and receive an authentication error once you’ve updated, I suggest a system shut down and restart. Yasu will run fine after that. This is something that goes back to a change Apple made in the 10.4.2 update with regards to Authentication Services.
Mac OS X 10.4.3 Update Issue
I just updated to the newly released 10.4.3, and ran across something very strange. I’m documenting it here, in case other users have the same problem.
After installing and rebooting, I was (twice) presented with a strange authentication window that wanted me to enter just my password to unlock the keychain “System.” At the first one, I cancelled the dialog, then figured I’d reboot because maybe it was a glitch.
At the second reboot, I got the same dialog. Again I cancelled, and went looking for the keychain in question, which is located at “/Library/Keychains/System.keychain.”
I double clicked that file, and it opened up my regular “login.keychain,” which seemed a bit odd to me. I quit the keychain manager and decided to shut down the machine for a few moments to see what happened when I restarted. Upon restart, there was no authentication dialog, so it seems the problem may have gone away. Also, the dialog did not present itself for any warm reboots after shutting down.
Buy a New Car on Saturday, Put it in the Shop on Monday
I’m beginning to think my luck with cars is running out. First, I get side swiped by some dude back in July, putting my 4Runner into the body shop for a week and a half. Then my wife got backed into in a parking lot a few weeks ago. We just got her car out of the body shop last week.
And now, I bought a new 2006 Toyota Tundra on Saturday. As my seemingly dumb luck would have it, a defect popped up in the front brakes that nearly caught them on fire as I was driving into the office today. I was about half way between home and work, on the 405 freeway, when the truck began to shimmy. I stepped on the brakes and the whole thing began to chatter at 60 miles an hour. I immediately got off the freeway and on to a side street, jumped out of the truck and found that the front brakes were smoking like crazy. It was so bad I thought the truck might catch on fire. Fortunately, it didn’t. Everything cooled down while I waited for a tow back to the dealership.
I’ve got to say, I’m really bummed about this happening. Here I go out and work a deal all afternoon on Saturday, drive the car locally on Sunday without any trouble, and then have to put the darn thing into the shop before it even has 60 miles on it on Monday. The service department called me this afternoon and told me they’re not really sure what the problem is, but just to be safe, they’re going to replace all of the major components in the front braking system. That’s great and all, but it’s sure one heck of a way to start off with a new truck.
To be fair, I do have to hand it to Toyota of Huntington Beach. They’re going out of their way to make sure I’m taken care of. Free tow and loaner while mine is being worked on. I’m sure there’ll be other little things offered to make sure I’m a happy customer. But darn it! All I want is my truck. There’s nothing worse than getting a new toy only to have it taken away.
Revived Project : Cache Out X
Here’s some cool news. I’ve recently partnered up with Tom Neveu over at NoName Scriptware, and picked up development of their nifty little utility “Cache Out X,” with the hopes of making it Tiger compatible in short order.
Tom was kind enough to pretty much turn the project over to me wholesale, giving me free reign to do as I wish with it. I’ve already looked at the code base, and determined it shouldn’t take too much work to get things up to snuff. So, if you’re a COX user, keep an eye out for progress in the near future.
Now, if I can just get the next month out of the way, everything should be fine…
Funny How Life is Sometimes…
It’s funny how Life has a way of making itself work out the way it wants no matter what you seem to think it should be. Just when you say "I’m in a good place to be able to deal with x," some curve ball comes flying at you. Case in point. I thought I had everything wrapped up, buttoned down and sealed tight in order to work on only two tasks – coding Yasu, and developing a user group presentation for early next month. I could’ve sworn I had my ducks in a row and nothing was going to stop me.
Heh. Yeah, right. As Life has decided to have it, those are the only two things she won’t let me get to. There’s this going on for so-and-so, or that needing to be dealt with for what’s their name or this family member coming from out of town who needs to be entertained.
I’m not whining, too much anyway. I’ve created it all and must get on with getting it done. It’s just funny when you say "I’m going to do this" and Life says, "Nope, I say you’re going to do that!"
Yasu Moving Along
I just thought I’d put up a quick post on Yasu progress, mostly because I’ve come to the point that I must admit to myself that it’s not going to be possible to roll functionality for both Jaguar/Panther and Tiger systems into one neat little package. There are just too many differences between the two to make it work well together. So with that, development on the version for Jaguar/Panther (1.0.3) is now officially frozen. There will be no further changes to that release for those systems.
However, now that I’m free to run amok in Tiger goodness without the burden of coding for previous systems, I’ve been able to work all sorts of coolness – like dialing in honest to goodness keychain support for those who begged for it, as well as fortifying the authentication routines to a level that’s even better than before. There’ll be some other cool (exclusive) features that many will enjoy, too. Just wait and see.
Which brings me back to a previous point. With the amount of work that’s going into this project, I’ve changed my mind (again) about the whole nagware thing. Yep, that’s right. Version 2 of Yasu is going to require a personalized registration code. The app won’t be crippled in any way, it’s just going to nag you to buy a license every fifth time you launch it. Some will be able to live with getting nagged, others will feel compelled to purchase. Either way, it’s cool. With a price point of a meager $5, and free upgrades, I think it’s a pretty fair deal. For those who don’t think so, I’m willing to accept the fact that having to lay cash out is going to turn you off to Yasu. It’s a bummer, but that’s just something I’m going to have to live with.
By the way, if you’ve donated in the past, be looking for me to contact you through email about getting you a registration code shortly before the official release. It’s just my way of saying thanks for your past support.
Not Sure How I Missed This One…
I’m not too sure how it was that I’d never heard of it, but I just came across this cool little app called “Clone X 2” the other day as I was doing some research for an upcoming MUG presentation for the Orange Apple Computer Club (OACC MUG).
I plan for part of the presentation to demonstrate how an average user can easily create their own bootable repair CD, but since BootCD isn’t quite Tiger ready (though I can tell you, as a beta tester, it appears to be close), I had to find something that would do the trick.
That’s when I came across this little gem. Not only will it allow you to create bootable emergency CDs, it also lets you clone/restore your entire drive to/from an external Firewire (ala Carbon Copy Cloner and Super Duper), or even clone your drive sans the User folders if you should find the need. It will also let you back up your hard drive to a multiple CD/DVD set, for an archival system snapshot.
The only drawback is that the price is a tad steep for a shareware application ($49), but if you’re looking for a tool that’ll take over the duties of a couple different utilities, I’d recommend taking a closer look at Clone X. It may just suit your need, like it did mine.
