Perceive Designs » Computers

If I Had a Photograph of You (or “How to Cache Images in CocoaTouch”)

eric — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 02:44:44 +0000

A quick note. Wanting to cache images in an iPhone app? Load the image using:

[UIImage imageNamed:]

if you use:

[UIImage imageWithContentsOfFile:]

the image will not be cached.

MyGarden (or “Is There an App for My iPhone to Track the Things I’ve Planted?”)

eric — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 03:41:45 +0000

My first app for the Apple AppStore is finally in the queue waiting approval to appear in the AppStore. It’s called MyGarden, and keeps track of the things that you plant in your garden.

Apple OS X WebDAV doesn’t work right (or “How To Redirect Carefully”)

eric — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 16:43:06 +0000

I have a WebDAV server that I store all of my personal documents on, and after upgrading to Tiger awhile back I had problems with folders disappearing in the directory listing, and things just not working quite right.

It turns out that the Apple WebDAVFS (and some other WebDAV client implementations) have problems with the Apache WebDAV. Just a minor incompatibility, but annoying nonetheless. There is a configuration change that needs to be made in the httpd.conf to fix this problem:

BrowserMatch "^WebDAVFS/1.+" redirect-carefully

This should work for all future 1.x versions of WebDAVFS on OS X. I limited it to 1.x assuming that maybe, just maybe, they might fix this “problem” in version 2.0.

It’s a simple change, and will make Apache “redirect carefully”. For those interested, Apache says:

This forces the server to be more careful when sending a redirect to the client. This is typically used when a client has a known problem handling redirects. This was originally implemented as a result of a problem with Microsoft’s WebFolders software which has a problem handling redirects on directory resources via DAV methods.

If course, I would think it should always be “careful” about redirecting, but that’s just me. Maybe redirecting carelessly is the best default.

Bang Bang Bang Goes the power supply

admin — Wed, 21 Jan 2004 05:00:00 +0000

So I was working along happily this morning, listening to some music, courtesy of iTunes, when I heard a lound BANG come from my computer (which sits on a shelf above to me to the right). The side of the case had been off for awhile, and I saw a large amount of light and sparks come flying out of the machine. I kid you not. Then the UPS started beeping uncontrollably. It was at that point that I realized blatter control should be my top priority. It was bad enough that the computer exploded. I didn’t need the added thorn of pee down my pants.

So a few seconds later, then computer was no longer humming. I unplugged all of the cables and took it down off it’s perch. It stunk. bad. Burning silicon has a very distinct smell, and it still permeates my office. I started sniffing all over inside, and it was definitely the power supply that burnt. I didn’t see any bad places on the motherboard, so I prayed that it was OK.

I talked to my wife, and explained that the computer just died. I told her I had to go buy a new power supply and I might get a new case anyway (since I really don’t care for the one I have at all.

I headed off to CompUSA, who unfortunately is the only place I know locally that carries a wide variety of these things. I bought an Antec TruePower 330 power supply, addly enough, that is the low end of the wattage they have. They have a 550 watt power supply! wooo!

So I brought it home, and installed it. Plugged everything back up. Pressed the power button. Nothing happened. My heart dropped, and I thought the whole thing must be dead, then I noticed another power switch on the back of the power supply. i flipped it, and my baby powered back up. From sparks to new power.

As an added bonus, the new power supply is considerably quieter. The other one was driving me nuts.