Thomas Aylott, the author of the JavaScript Bundle for Textmate, announced that he added the completion feature to his package. This is great news. as far as I know, this is the first completion made available for Textmate and I understand it is easily extended so we could see several other languages being supported soon. If that’s the case, this will make Textmate a real contender not only to text editors but full featured IDE. This is exiting.

To install the bundle, just head over to Thomas Aylott’s GitHub page and download the Javascript bundle (not the Javascript-tools one) and extract it. Rename the generated folder javascript.bundle and double click it. Once the bundle is installed, enter the beginning of a javascript line of code and press option+escape to show the completion.

At first, I was getting the following error message in Textmate:

It was fixed by running the following command

Before I was a mac user, I have used Windows and Linux for several years. I still use Linux daily (via SSH) and I still see Windows running on machines all around me. From these two worlds, there are very few things that I am missing on Mac OS X.

From the Windows world, I would like to get AnyDVD, DVD Shrink (that is a cool name for a cool soft) and IrfanView. From my Linux setup, there is one thing that I’ve missed: Amarok.
Every now and then I try to compile Amarok on my mac. So far I had tried using MacPorts but this week end, I found out it could also work using FInk so I tried to install it. Fink is a linux port for Mac OS X which works pretty closely to aptitude on Debian.
The installation, on Snow Leopard, can only be done from the source but it’s simple enough:

Install Apple XCode
Download the Fink source
Untar the package

Launch the bootstarp file

Add fink to your path

Update fink

Finally, in order to install Amarok, switch to the unstable branch by doing

update your fink distribution again

And try installing Amarok

It doesn’t compile for me at this point (it failed on kdebase) but I’ll try again. In the meantime, fink works.

I switched my dev. environnement at work from MAMP to Zend Server Community Edition a while ago but was disappointed that my Mac Book could not migrate because of a MySql error. Every time I would try to run the server, I would get the following error:

Googling this error, all kinds of solutions came up: privileges on the files, misconfiguration issues, installation problems…
It seems to be a generic message. After trying to understand what might have happened to the missing PID file, I tried re-installations and all the common MySql on Mac OS X tips I could find on Google. No luck. At least, MAMP worked.

Eventually, the same error occured on alheim’s computer. He eventually found a solution which worked for him (SnowLeopard running on Mac Book Pro) for my own laptop as well (Snow Leopard on a black MacBook).

So here are the steps we took:

Hopefully, you’ll get a “SUCCCESS” message, too. Thanks to Alheim for the tip.

So I play guitar (a little) and I used to play Guitar Hero on PS2 from time to time. Last year, for Christmas we got an XBox 360 and it was my intention all along to get Guitar Hero World Tour or Rock Band to try the drums. Little did I know where it would take me. I played passionately for a year, every week end. I made it pretty far in Rock Band 2 playing in Hard or Expert mode and I finished the awesome Rock Band the Beatles in expert mode. I survived the war declared by my neighbors and totally abandoned my plastic guitar.

A year later, my Christmas present was a real electronic drum kit. I picked the Yamaha DTXplorer. I understand it isn’t the best instrument on the planet (neither am I the best drummer) but it is a complete, well built kit. It is a good price and a great way to learn to play for real. I got the drums and look forward to taking some lessons though my weeks are a bit too busy at the moment for me to insert that in my schedule. So, in the meantime, I work on my own thanks to a couple of learning DVDs.

Still, sometimes, I want to plug the drum kit to the game(s) to get some help as to what to try and play. I like the Beatles beats lessons in the Rock Band training mode. Whenever I can, I plug the drum to the game and practice away with the metronome.

How to Do It ?

So, if any of you out there are in the same situation (you like the game, you have a real kit) and you are wondering if they can be used together : they can. They are several solutions on how to achieve this (depending on your drum model, your console and your plastic rock gear). So, let’s get some solutions out of the way:

1. If you have a PS2, I understand you need to upgrade your console, sorry
2. If you have a WII or a PS3, a hardware solution exists for you to make this a little bit easier though the solution I will describe here will work for you, too
3. If you have a drum kit that allows midi remapping, the whole setup is a lot easier for you, you can skip the computer part
4. Solutions on the web describe how you can tweak your drum kit (taking the sensors off the plastic rock kit and placing them on the real one) or tearing up the plastic kit and hooking wires to it. I decided to not take any chances with my electronic skills and not build/destroy anything. Some solutions involve soldiering either on the plastic rock kit or on the real drums themselves. There was no way I’d touch the new kit

For more infos on these other solutions, run a little search for “DTXPlorer” or “real drums” on the Rock Band forums for example

What do you need ?

The solution described in this post works for both Guitar Hero and Rock Band.

1. A real electronic drum kit
2. A midi cable
3. A computer
4. A Guitar Hero drum kit or at least, the best part of it

When I bought my plastic rock game, I checked out the instrument compatibility matrix for Xbox and got the Guitar Hero World Tour pack because the Guitar Hero instruments would allow me to play all the games I could ever buy on Xbox anyway. Then, I bought the Rock Band games alone. Okay, later on, I gave in and traded the guitar hero guitar for the Rock Band George Harrison Gretsch. Actually, Derrick done that for me and I got the good looking Gretsch for Christmas, too.

Anyway, the point is, because Xbox uses a closed source system to communication between the controllers and the console, it can not be reproduced by any home made hardware (as it is possible for PS3). The great thing about the GH drums, though, is that it has a MIDI In plug. It allows you to do just what we want, plug a real electronic kit to the GH kit and let the GH kit send the signal to the console. So, what if you don’t have the GH kit ? Well, that’s where you can tweak your RB kit with a soldiering gun or buy this little GH drum kit “module” online. Personally, I sold my GH drum kit on ebay for 50 euros and bought the little GH box online for 60 dollars and came out even (quick shipping, great product).

So, all you gotta do is plug the DTXPlorer to that box and start rocking… Well, yes and no. The game expects some basic information: yellow, red, orange, blue or green. The real kit, on the other hand, has more notes to offer. So we need to map these notes and describe which is yellow, which is red, etc… If your module allows you to map the notes, everything is simple. If not (and the DTXplorer doesn’t) you need to add a computer in the mix to tackle the job. I use a MacBook running Midi Pipe to do that but I heard of a similar software for PC. As for the midi cable, I suppose you can use any which one. Here is a link to mine (Prodipe Midi USB 1i10).

The remapping

Again, if your drum kit enables midi remapping, you can skip this step altogether and you do not need a computer to connect your kit to the game. If not, here we go.

A little theory

Rock Band and Guitar Hero try to be compatible with each others instrument controllers which is great news for users like me. I don’t think I would have spent the money to get two plastic drum sets and I know for a fact my living room couldn’t hold another of these bulky controllers. That’s why I bought the Guitar Hero Pack. The Guitar Hero controller was an obvious choice since it has the “Orange” pad needed to play GH:WT while allowing to play Rock Band. What I didn’t know at the time was that the GH:WT would prove to be an even better choice because it has the MIDI IN plug.

Midi is a standard protocol that enables musical instruments (such as keyboards, electronic drums) and computers to communicate and control each other. Midi data is not an audio signal or media, it refers to “event messages” such as the pitch and intensity of musical notes to play, control signals for parameters such as volume, vibrato and panning, cues, and clock signals to set the tempo. (more about Midi on Wikipedia)

So, the Guitar Hero controller understands Midi and is the bridge between the signal sent by your drum kit (Midi) and the signal expected by the XBox (some wireless Microsoft proprietary protocol). If  GH:WT input is midi note 38, the signal sent to each box will be “the red button has been pressed” just as if you had pressed the red button on the regular XBox controller or hit the red pad on the GH:WT drum kit.

The games use 5 (Rock Band) or 6 colors. Their Midi equivalences are noted below:

• RED: MIDI Note 38
• YELLOW- MIDI Note 46
• BLUE- MIDI Note 48
• GREEN- MIDI Note 45
• ORANGE- Midi Note 49
• KICK- MIDI Note 36

The Yamaha drum kit on the other hand, is more subtle. It acknowledges a difference between hitting the center of the snare or its rim, it plays a different sound if you play the center or edge of the clash and ride and offers more toms. Each of these actions also have a matching Midi note that the drum kit can send out to a computer using the Midi out plug.

Yamaha download center offers the DTXPlorer drumkit user guide which lists the notes sent out by each pad.

In order to play the games with the DTXplorer we simply need to map what each pad on the DTXPlorer should trigger in the GH:WT module. For example, the DTXplorer snare sends out the midi note 31. I want it to control the “red” pad in the game. So I must transform the midi note 31 sent out into a 38 for the game to register the hit. That’s what the computer will do for us.

Setting up Midi Pipe (Mac OS X)

Midi Pipe is a Mac OS X software that allows to do just that. It reads the Midi In, alters it (if necessary) and sends it back out. A PC alternative exists, it is called eDrum Midi Mapper.

Once your drum kit is successfully connected to your Mac (see Troubleshooting section below for help on that) launch Midi Pipes.

You will have a tool list on the left and a pipe list on the right. Start by dragging the Midi In to the right and click ‘Hijack’. The hijack option will allow us to trick the signal before it is send out. Then, add the Keyboard and check the ‘highlight’ box in order to visualize the signal as you hit your drums. Finally, add the Midi out and uncheck the ‘pass through’ to send out the tweaked signal.

Now it’s all a matter of adding Key Mappers for each note that needs to be remapped to its GH:WT equivalent. Add a keymapper element to the pipes and select the drum kit note of a given pad on the left and the matching note for the games on the right. Below is the example for the snare which we map from midi note 31 to midi note 38 (red) in the game.

You can now name your pipe and save your setup. Next time, all you have to do is launch Midi Pipe and load your configuration back.

Warning: the order is important. As you can see from the table above, for example, we map the 49 into a 46 (clash) and the 51 into a 49 (ride). Make sure to remap the the clash to a 46 first and the ride second or you ride will remap to 46 (yellow).

If you don’t want to create your own configuration, just download mine (see diagram below for color codes)

You are free to assign the pads you want to any of the colors you want in the game. It is possible also to have a set of different Midi Pipe configuration to use for different songs in the game as well. Below is a diagram showing the color repartition I chose.

Getting it all together

1. Plug your Midi In to the DTXplorer
2. Plug the USB to the computer
3. Enable the remapping
4. Plug the Midi Out to the GH box
5. Turn everything on… You Rock! (Do not let your mac go to sleep while you play or eventually you’ll loose the connection between the kit and the game)

Enjoy!

Trouble Shoot

I hit the “green” on the real drum kit and nothing happens in the game.

Two possibilities: the signal doesn’t make it to the computer or the signal doesn’t make it to the GH box. On Mac OS X, you can make sure that the signal at least gets to the computer by running Garage Band. If Garage Band sees your drum kit and allows you to record yourself, the signal makes it that far and the problem is with your GH box. Check the connections. If Garage Band doesn’t see your drum kit, you have a midi connection problem which I usually solve by launching the Audio Midi Setup application. Go in Window and click on  “show MIDI window”. The Prodipe Midi USB appears.  I then click on Default (in the configuration section) and select “Create New Configuration). I name it Prodipe and it usually somehow turns the MIDI on.

I was rocking and suddenly when I hit the pads, nothing happens in the game

Don’t let your computer go to sleep. At least, with my MacBook, the midi signal is not sent out anymore when the Mac enter sleep mode. If you are using a laptop, you might just be out of battery, too. That would never happen to me though, I’ll get shot by the neighbors if I ever played long enough to exhaust my battery.

When I play, some hits don’t seem to register in the game

Electronic kits try to emulate real (acoustic) kits. Some of them will handle two or more signals for the same pad depending on where you hit it (center, side, etc). If you want all these to register with the game you must map these extra notes as well. The hi-hat for example needs to be mapped whether it’s hit when closed or open. You can refer to your kit user guide to get a full list of the notes it uses. I have included the one for the DTXplorer earlier in this post.

Some links

I read a lot (more than a lot) about plugging a real drum kit to the games before I bought mine for Christmas. As much as I wanted to play the real thing, I knew being able to play the games would be important to me to access the training mode or just jam with the Beatles. So I read until I was sure it was possible to plug the real drum in the game. When I was reading, I came across several links of interests. Here they are:

• EDrum Monitor
• EDrum Midi Mapper
• Midi Pipe how to
• Rock Band Forums: link1, link2, link3

In addition to my previous post about how to display RTM tasks right on the desktop, I  should also mention that a Mac OS X Dashboard Widget is available to keep track of your RTM to do list. Combined with the iPhone app (available to Pro RTM users only), Apple freaks will have no excuse to miss the Jan. 27th event.

Anyway, the widget is called Remember the Moof (whatever that is). If that doesn’t do the trick, get your brain some RAM!

Geek Tool Pref Pane

I use iCalBuddy and GeekTool to display the upcoming events from my calendar on my desktop.

When I started using Remember the Milk I decided I wanted my tasks to show on there, too.

I don’t know if I have a terrible memory or a long list of things to do but it looks like I can’t get too organized.

Anyway, I googled my way through the following process (I apologized in advance but I somehow lost the links that led the way)

1. Of course, you need to download and install Geek Tool
2. Of course, you need to have a Remember the Milk account (free or pro)
3. Open system preferences -> Geek Tool
4. Drag the “Shell” icon to your desktop, a window appears allowing you to edit the Geek Tool command while a frame appears on your desktop allowing you to place your RTM tasks as you wish on the desktop
5. To load your RTM tasks, enter the following command :
   curl –user username:password url | grep -E ‘(<li>)’ | sed -e ’s/<[^>]*>//g’ | sed -e ’s/&nbsp\;//g’ |  sed -e ’s/&bull\;/*/g’
   and replace username and password by your rtm credentials. As for the URL, you can obtain it by going to your tasks and copy your RSS feed url
6. That is it, your task list will now appear on your desktop and using the geek tool panel you can tweak the properties to make them look like you want

I hope you will not forget anything important in the future (though so many things are not as important as they seem to be ; I forgot to sign up for college once – true story)

One of the reasons I had to install GIT was to be able to install these GitHub hosted Textmate plugins I find useful. The most important one of them being Ack in Project. It is so much better and faster than the built-in search in project feature included with Textmate.

Here is a quick post about how to install Ack In Project which is basically just a translation of Frederic De Villiamil’s post.

First, go to the Textmate/Bundles folder. If it doesnt exist, create it. Then, clone the code:

At this point, if you restart Textmate, the Ack In Project will be available by pressing Cmd + Shift + A which is very uncool. Not only that command is used by the Subversion plugin but I always expect the search to use the “F” key. To fix that behavior, edit

and modify line 16 to read:

Thanks, Fred, for the tip.

There are a lot of how to’s out there with several solutions including installing from source, from binaries, with an installer. Here is how I’ve done it guided by the following posts:

• Compiling and installing Git on Mac OS X
• Installing Git on Mac OS X Leopard

First, I downloaded git from its homepage in bz2 format.

Then, I compiled it and installed it using the following commands :

Finally, I added an alias called git to /opt/git/bin/git in my .bash_profile:

You can then configure Git with the following commands:

That’s all, you’re done.

I frequently use Mac OS X, Windows XP and Linux (Debian, KDE4). I have a MacBook which I use by default to browse the Internet, answer email, etc. I turn on my desktop computer and run Linux if I’m about to edit a video. If I am about to code a little something from home, I’ll turn my desktop and run Linux. Of the three OS, Windows XP has the least enjoyable default interface. I usually customize it to make it look more like the MacBook one.

Safari, Dock and Launcher

The launcher

First thing I do is install a launcher (to replace the missing Mac OS X Spotlight). I use Colibri. I have also tried Enso Humanized.

The Dock

The second thing I really miss is the Dock. On Windows I have used Rocket Dock, Object Dock and RK Launcher to replace this important item. Currently I am running RK Launcher and totally hid the Windows taskbar. There is a theme for RK Launcher shared on DevianArt by Asdrubale88 to make your dock look just like the Leopard one.

The theme

At work, on my windows, I run Rocket Dock and HUmanized Enso as a launcher and didn’t go any further. But on my home computer, I always change the default theme to use either or Panther or a Leopard one. There are several availalbe but I usually look for one on Deviant Art or on CrystalXP.net. Right now, I am trying with the MacOSXSmooth from CrystalXP.

Wallapper, Dock and Theme

The Desktop wallpaper

If there is one thing I hate about Windows it’s the default wallpaper with the hills. It never stays on my computer more than 10 minutes after installation. I usually replace it by no wallpaper at all until I have time to look for something else. A good place to start is interfacelift. At the moment, I am using the Apple logo centered on a black backgroung.

The cursor set

It is possible to go further than that and also change the mouse cursors set. An easy to install Mac OS X cursor set is available on Usher.

Expose

If you really want your windows to emulate Mac OS X you can also install an equivalent to Expose like Shock Aero 3D.

Expose-like

More information

I have been doing this [customize Win XP to look like mac] for quite a while but just had to do it again on a reinstallation of my home computer. To find most of these informations back, I read through this post on WikiHow.

Today, I experienced my first big bug with Apple Mac OS X 10.5 running on my Mac Book. I’ve used this laptop for a year and 3 months. I can easily tolerate a bug a year and be a very happy user, nonetheless, bugs need fixed.

Today, after turning on the laptop, Mail refused to run. It started, displayed my inboxes and accounts then crashed displaying: “Mail quit unexpectedly, ignore, report or relaunch”. After relaunching, the same thing happened… I reported the issue to Apple but didn’t wait on their answer to try a reboot (a Windows user instinct). The same thing happened all over again.

Finally, I found the solution:

1. Go to ~/Library
2. Move the Mail folder mv Mail Mail.old
3. Run Mail. Everything works. Click Next then Done.
4. Close Mail
5. Move the newly created (and almost empty) Mail folder mv Mail Mail.new
6. Move the original Mail folder back where it was mv Mail.old Mail
7. Restart Mail and hopefully, everything is fine.

Easy enough and actually a lot less painless than rebooting.

See you in a year for my next Mac OS X bug fix.