Observed in the field
Field Notes
I wanted something to work. I assumed it would be easy.
That was optimistic.
2026
2021
2016
Archive
Ubuntu USB Ethernet Naming for Alias and VLAN Interfaces
Shortening a USB network interface name so Linux aliases and VLAN interfaces fit within the kernel's name limit.
Archive
VyOS on an Asus Chromebox M004U
Installing VyOS elsewhere, transplanting it to a Chromebox, and rebuilding the disk layout so the unusual firmware could boot it.
2015
2013
2009
Archive
Here, File File! Nears Release
The first public attention for an iPhone app that reached into a Mac, shortly before it won an AppsFire award and appeared in an Apple commercial.
Archive
Killing find Errors
Why deleting matched directories during a find traversal produced errors, and how depth-first traversal fixed it.
Archive
Resetting a Forgotten Mac OS X Leopard Password
The single-user-mode procedure Apple documented for resetting a local account password in Mac OS X Leopard.
Archive
VPN on Ubuntu with Juniper Network Connect
Making Juniper Network Connect run on 64-bit Ubuntu by using a 32-bit Java runtime and recovering the required VPN realm.
Archive
Mac Mini DVI to HDMI on an LCD HDTV
The television setting that fixed overscan when connecting a 2009 Mac Mini to a Samsung LCD over HDMI.
Archive
The Time Jive Launched a Rocket
A software release, a model rocket, and a memory of the kind of people who made Jive Software a fun place to work.
Archive
Updating RubyGems on Mac OS X Leopard
The difference between updating installed gems and updating the RubyGems system itself on Leopard.
Archive
Building a Hackintosh: Successful Attempt No. 1
A $234 Atom-powered media computer assembled from commodity parts and persuaded to run Mac OS X Leopard.
2008
Archive
Use vi Key Bindings in Bash
The tiny shell setting that brought vi-style command editing back after years of living with Bash's defaults.
Archive
Bonjour and Avahi Addendum
A simpler Avahi configuration that advertised several Linux services as one machine in the Mac OS X Finder.
Archive
A Project Idea: iPhoto to WordPress Gallery Export
A 2008 idea for sending selected iPhoto pictures directly to a WordPress gallery, before either side had a convenient workflow.
Archive
Fight Back When VPN Clients Misbehave
A shell workaround for restoring local DNS while connected through the old Cisco VPN client on Mac OS X.
Archive
Logins with mod_rewrite, Cookies, and JavaScript
A deliberately lightweight staging-site gate built from Apache rewrite rules and a browser-created cookie, followed by the later admission that anyone could bypass it.
Archive
Advertising Linux Services via Avahi and Bonjour
Avahi service definitions that made a Linux server's file sharing, web, remote desktop, and SSH services appear to Macs on the local network.
Archive
Time Machine Backup to Linux via Netatalk
An early attempt to make Leopard's Time Machine back up to a Linux server using Netatalk and Avahi.
2007
Archive
Fixing Binary File Corruption from Ant Copies
How token filtering corrupted JAR files during an Ant build, and the locale workaround that stopped it.
Archive
Network Directory Services
A small organization's migration to split-view DNS and Fedora Directory Server, written when BIND 8 and OpenLDAP 2.0 were overdue for retirement.