From: About this Mac

Model Name:    Mac
Model Identifier:    Mac Pro
Processor Name:    Intel Core 2 Duo
Processor Speed:    2.13 GHz
Number Of Processors:    1
Total Number Of Cores:    2
L2 Cache:    2 MB
Memory:    2 GB
Bus Speed:    1.07 GHz
Boot ROM Version:    Hack.int.0sh

Wasn’t too hard to get running either, once I figured out what I was doing. I’m running an Asus P5B motherboard with a 2.13gig Intel Core 2 Duo processor, 2gig of Corsair XMS2 DDR2 RAM, and an nVidia GeForce 7900 GS 256m video card. It’s got a 160g samsung and a 120g maxtor IDE drive, one with XP Pro and one with OS X Leopard. I’m able to use VMWare Fusion to boot windows inside os x, just as if it were installed with bootcamp. I’m also able to dual boot using the Windows boot loader.  So far, I haven’t noticed anything weird about the leopard install. It seems to run fine, without any problems.

I used the kalaway 10.5.1 dvd, and skiped the vanilla kernel, loaded sse2 support, nvidia desktop drivers, no sound drivers, no network drivers, and mbr boot. I also partitioned the harddrive with mbr instead of guid. I did have to install 3rd party drivers for the audio to work, but it was pretty straight forward, and the drivers are avaliable from the insainely mac forums.

I use a Macbook Pro at work, and I’m glad to finally have a mac I can use, and can force my wife to use, at home.

I’m looking for things like, when to create branches, when to merge back into trunk, when to commit, etc…

Leave some suggestions in the comments, and I’ll try to roll them into a catch-all guide that maybe some other people can use.

First thing you want to do is get the RSpec on Rails plugin installed, and generate the RSpec code.

$ ./script/plugin install git://github.com/dchelimsky/rspec.git
$ ./script/plugin install git://github.com/dchelimsky/rspec-rails.git
$ ./script/generate rspec

Stories are broken down into 2.5 files:

• 1. The Story file - Where the plain text story resides
• 2. The Step file - Where the different steps in your story are defined.
• 2.5 The Story runner file - The ruby code that kicks everything off.

First off, the story file is a semi-plain text description of some stuff that happens in your application, and follows this basic format:

Story: <Description of Story>
As a <Whoever is doing the actions>
I want to <What you want to do>
So I can <Why you want to do it>

Scenario: <Description of a Scenario that could happen>
Given <Something>
When <Something happens>
Then <What is the expected result>

Scenario: <Description of a Scenario that could happen>
Given <Something>
When <Something happens>
Then <What is the expected result>

Not exactly conversational English, but no crazy ||’s &&’s or ==’s that would scare normal customers away. The top of the story is there to give you a general overview of what’s being tested. In each story, you’ll have different scenarios, mini-stories if you will, that cover a complete set of actions that can take place.

In each Scenario there are three basic statements in which you describe what state the application is in and the assumptions about the outside world, the actions that are taken, and the expected result. So, for a user regestering for the first time, you are assuming that the user has a username and password picked out ,and an email address. That user would then enter those into your regestration form, and then when they’re submitted, he’d be wisked away to some kind of confirmation page, and that user added to the database. This file (/stories/signup_for_accounts_story) may look like:

Scenario: User fills out form correctly

Given a username ‘brittany’
And a password ‘foobar’
And an email ‘foo@bar.com’
And  there is no user with this username

When the user creates an account with username, password and email

Then there should be a user named ‘brittany’
And there should be a profile for ‘brittany’
And should redirect to users profile page

Pretty straight forward, huh? You can have as many scenarios as you need to cover whatever part of your application you’re testing. At this point, everything is still pretty magical. How does RSpec know so much about your application that it can guess method names, form paths and so on? Well….it doesn’t. That’s where the step file comes in.

The step file is where you define what all of these arbitrary lines of text should actually do. Each line is defined in a block in your steps file, which normally lives in the stories/steps folder, and looks like this

steps_for(:<what you’re doing>) do

Given “<an assumption>” do
<do something having to do with that assumption>
end

When “<an action>” do
<do that action>
end

Then “<an expected result>” do
<see if that result is what…resulted>
end

end

That’s the general layout of the steps file. You can have as many steps as you need, and they’re reused between scenarios. Your Given blocks will usually do something like mock a model, assign a value to a variable, or stub an outside service. These lay the basis for your assumptions for the state of being before your action is excuted. When blocks execute actions, such as posting to a web form. Finally, Then describes the expected state of your application after the action is executed. These are where you’ll usually find out where your application is broken. In pratice, this (/stories/steps/signup_for_accounts_steps.rb) looks like:

steps_for(:signup) do

Given “a username ‘$username’” do |username|
@username = username
end

Given “a password ‘$password’” do |password|
@password = password
end

Given “a password_confirmation ‘$pass_conf’” do |pass_conf|
@password_confirmation = pass_conf
end

Given “an email ‘$email’” do |email|
@email = email
end

Given “there is no user with this username” do
User.find_by_login(@username).should be_nil
end

When “the user creates an account with username, password and email ” do
post “/users”, :user => { :login => @username,
:password => @password,
:password_confirmation => @password,
:email => @email }
end

Then “there should be a user named ‘$username’” do |username|
User.find_by_login(username).should_not be_nil
end

Then “there should be a profile for ‘$username’” do |username|
user = User.find_by_login(username)
user.should_not be_nil
Profile.find_by_user_id(user.id).should_not be_nil
end

Then “And should redirect to users profile page” do
user = User.find_by_login(@username)
user.should_not be_nil
response.should redirect_to(user)
end

end

This defines all the actions that we need to run our story. Kind of tedius, i know, but you can reuse blocks in other scenarios. If you notice, some blocks have a $variable, these are picked up by the RSpec story parcer and passed into the block, so it makes the blocks more flexable, and you can use them more often.

Finally, there is the half-file, the story runner, all it does is link everything you need togeather, and it (/stories/signup_for_account_story.rb) will look like this:

require File.dirname(__FILE__) + “/helper”

with_steps_for(:signup) do
run_local_story “signup_for_account”, :type => RailsStory
end

yeah, not much to it, eh? Just change the with_steps_for() symbol and the run_local_story argument and you’ll be on your way.

Now you can run your new story by typing in

$ ruby stories/signup_for_account_story.rb

and watch it make sure your app is doing what it’s supposed to do. It’ll notify you of any failures, and stop the test if it encounters them, so you can fix them right away.

There are many more, much better resources for this than mine, so if you want to check them out, here is a list of some of the better ones.

RSpec -1.1.4: Spec:: Rails

David Chelimsky: Integration Testing With Rspec’s Story Runner …

Telling stories with RSpec

evang.eli.st User stories with RSpec’s Story Runner

RSpec plain text story runner on a fresh rails app

If you find anything in here that is dumb, crappy, or just plain wrong, drop a comment and i’ll fix it so it sucks less. Thanks.

Picture Credits: jay | http://conversationswithplasticdinosaurs.com/

Going through and installing all the stuff i needed for development, i ran into a problem installing the native mysql bindings for ruby.

 

[host-192-168-254-149:~] pjdavis% sudo gem install mysql

Bulk updating Gem source index for: http://gems.rubyforge.org/

Building native extensions.  This could take a while…

ERROR:  Error installing mysql:

        ERROR: Failed to build gem native extension.

/opt/local/bin/ruby extconf.rb install mysql

checking for mysql_query() in -lmysqlclient… no

checking for main() in -lm… yes

checking for mysql_query() in -lmysqlclient… no

checking for main() in -lz… yes

checking for mysql_query() in -lmysqlclient… no

checking for main() in -lsocket… no

checking for mysql_query() in -lmysqlclient… no

checking for main() in -lnsl… no

checking for mysql_query() in -lmysqlclient… no

*** extconf.rb failed ***

Could not create Makefile due to some reason, probably lack of

necessary libraries and/or headers.  Check the mkmf.log file for more

details.  You may need configuration options.

Provided configuration options:

        –with-opt-dir

        –without-opt-dir

        –with-opt-include

        –without-opt-include=${opt-dir}/include

        –with-opt-lib

        –without-opt-lib=${opt-dir}/lib

        –with-make-prog

        –without-make-prog

        –srcdir=.

        –curdir

        –ruby=/opt/local/bin/ruby

        –with-mysql-config

        –without-mysql-config

        –with-mysql-dir

        –without-mysql-dir

        –with-mysql-include

        –without-mysql-include=${mysql-dir}/include

        –with-mysql-lib

        –without-mysql-lib=${mysql-dir}/lib

        –with-mysqlclientlib

        –without-mysqlclientlib

        –with-mlib

        –without-mlib

        –with-mysqlclientlib

        –without-mysqlclientlib

        –with-zlib

        –without-zlib

        –with-mysqlclientlib

        –without-mysqlclientlib

        –with-socketlib

        –without-socketlib

        –with-mysqlclientlib

        –without-mysqlclientlib

        –with-nsllib

        –without-nsllib

        –with-mysqlclientlib

        –without-mysqlclientlib

Gem files will remain installed in /opt/local/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/mysql-2.7 for inspection.

Results logged to /opt/local/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/mysql-2.7/gem_make.out

 

Grab It Here

1. Top Cat - Walking on the Moon
2. Vagabond - World of Unknown
3. Implex - Lost It
4. Antix - HtID + Dougal & Gammer - Nobody likes the Records
5. Brisk & Vagabond - Eyeopener 2007
6. Dougal & Gammer - Fires in the Sk
7. The Acolyte feat. Amy - When the Rain Comes
8. Scott Brown - I Don’t Need Nobody
9. Ultrabeat - Elysium (Scott Brown Remix)
10. S3RL - Weekend Has Come
11. DJ Demo & Mickey Skeedale - Love U Now
12. Euphoria - Drunk With Love
13. Implex - Silent
14. Brisk & Ham - Crazy Love (Scott Brown Remix)
15. Evil Activities - Nobody Said it was Easy
16. Amnesys - Catastrophes
17. Yael Naim - New Soul

Today, I was copying over an audio file (AK1200 Live in San Francisco to be exact) and i finally decided enough is enough. Finally found a way to fix it, that was apparently posted in 2005 (i’m a little slow). It’s not the actual blog post, but the comment under it. So, just in case anyone is having the same problem, here is the solution.

This didn’t work for me, but setting the sysctl parameter net.inet.tcp.delayed_ack to 0 did! For me, the results were dramatic: drag-and-drop of a 100MB .wav file from the samba server took 45 minutes before the fix, and < 2 minutes after the fix. Wahoooo!

Found the info here: http://julipedia.blogspot.com/2006/02/samba-performance-under-mac-os-x.html

[in case that link vanishes, here's the short version:
use 'sudo sysctl -w net.inet.tcp.delayed_ack=0' on command-line to try it (persistent until reboot) and put the line
'net.inet.tcp.delayed_ack=0' in /etc/sysctl.conf to fix it 'permanently' -- note: I haven't tested the latter yet. I had to create the sysctl.conf file, and haven't rebooted yet]

and a good discussion of *why* it works, starts at the bottom of that same blog entry, then links to the crux of the problem here:
http://mail-index.netbsd.org/tech-net/2003/01/28/0004.html

[It's a TCP bug inherited from the FreeBSD stack - the same bug was fixed in NetBSD back in 1997, and Apple has known about it since before Jaguar release]

Tags: osx, samba, freeNAS, file sharing, home networking

Grab It Here

DJ Ham - Jam for Me
Druid & Stormtrooper - Panic Relick
Sy & Unknown - What a Great Drug
Expression - Total Darkness
Druid & Stormtrooper Ft. Kristy - Electrified
DJ Ham - The Beat Kicks
Brisk & V.A.G.A.B.O.N.D. Ft. DMO - In Control
Matt Envy - Twisted Love
Robbie Long & Stormtrooper - Reach for the Sky
Brisk & V.A.G.A.B.O.N.D. Ft. DMO - Away from Here
September - Cry For You (Darren Styles Club Mix)
DJ Seduction - In Dreams
DJ Ham - Right Now
DJ Ham - Night to Remember
Sy And Unknown Feat. Lou Lou - Right Here
Matt Envy & Frooty - In Your Arms
Robbie Long & Devastate - Still Got Power
DJ Seduction - At Night (Energize)

Testing the audio thing. This is a song by DJ Earworm, United States of Pop.

Chris claims he is tired of the bickering between OS X and Windows users (as is just about everyone else) and tries to counter-argue the points brought up by Preston, and I couldn’t help but throw my hat in the ring of fire too! I’m going to throw my comments inline with Chris Pirillo’s commentary.

• Vista runs more software. You have to be kidding me? Vista may run more software, but try uninstalling it. How many protection programs do you need, as well? Is the software more stable than that of a Mac? Even if Vista has more software, you’d never be able to run or store it ALL, anyway. How is “more” even relevant?

This is a pretty weak argument on Chris’s part, as Preston points out, “An operating system by itself is a poor thing — it’s the applications that run on top of it that matter.” Chris concedes the point, however, goes off on this tangent about uninstalling. What does uninstalling software have to do with the availability of it? I suppose he could mean getting rid of malware, however that would more appropriately belong in the next section. I will give him it’s probably a good idea to have protection software, but as I said before, probably would be better suited to the next section. Stablilty is a funny point to bring up, because if I had a dollar for every time Firefox died on my Mac, I could probably hostilely take over Google. The idea that you’ll never be able to install ALL the software available for Vista is silly as well, of course you won’t, but you don’t need to either. The point Preston is trying to make is that the software is AVAILABLE for you to use if you need it. That’s how “more” is relevant.

• Vista is safer. WHAT? How many viruses, trojans, and rootkits are floating around for Windows? A bamboo plant is safer than Vista *AND* Mac OS X combined. What’s “safer” supposed to mean?

Well, Preston kinda screwed the pooch on this one, because he based his definition of “safe” on the outcome of the recent “Pwn to Own” challenge at the CanSecWes conference, Ignoring the number of flaws that have been found, even in Vista SP1. However, what’s with the bamboo plant? I don’t think a bamboo plant is *THAT* secure, I mean, if a ninja got a hold of it, he could lay the smack down pretty hard i bet.

• It’s the money, stupid. Uh. If you build a comparable Windows machine… with hardware that nearly the SAME… you’re going to probably spend the same amount of money.

Ahhh yes, the “Macs cost a gazillion dollars” complaint. Guess what? It’s true. Macs are expensive, relatively. My refurbished 1st generation MacBook Pro cost $1600, and I’ve seen them (even today) for as much as $1800. Understandably though, as it’s the nicest laptop I’ve ever owned. It’s great for just about everything I do, and has pretty much replaced my Dell Precision 650, except for gaming. However, for my grandmother, she doesn’t need anywhere near the processing power I do. She looks at email, instant messages my uncle, and…well that’s about it. And on AOL, 2.5g of ram isn’t going to make that youtube video of a farting panda load any faster. The thing that i believe would have made more since for Preston to push, instead of deciding that all people who own macs are a) rich and b) love to waste money, is that the Windows-based machines give you more choice to decide how much to invest in a computer that you may or may not use everyday. My grandmother has an HP something or other, and the Celron inside that sucker is slow as molasses, but it does for her what she needs it to do, and she didn’t have to spend her entire social security check on it.

• The Mac is closed; Vista is open. If you would have said “Linux is open,” I’d have given you a point. Apple controls the software and the hardware - the entire experience. That actually works well in the consumer space, and I like it. I like it when things just WORK together.

Preston probably could have chosen his opening words differently, methinks, and came out better for it. While I agree with his sentiment, the wording is misleading. In terms of openness, software wise, OS X wins, because it is Darwin, based on FreeBSD, and, from what I understand, Apple has contributed heavily back into Darwin, helping the open source community grow. However, the point I believe Preston is trying to drive is that you can install Vista on anything (whether or not it will run is another argument entirely) while you have to be using Apple hardware to run OS X. Chris says this works better for the consumer, by allowing Apple to control the entire experience, however, I’d love nothing more than to be able to illegitimately triple boot my Dell with Vista, Slackware, and OS X. I’m able to take things not ‘just working’ all the time, for a little more freedom with the software I buy.

• Two words - Steve Jobs. Let’s go back to the first video I recorded about the iPhone (a while ago). I understand this point - I truly do. But buying a Mac has nothing to do with helping Steve Jobs, or even Apple themselves. It comes down to the fact that, once again… the entire experience is seamless for users.

Now Preston, I’m assuming you’ve worked with computers long enough to know that EVERY computer company has a guy named Steve at some head position…and that guy named Steve is usually a douchebag for the most part. This argument is childish and something I’d more expect to see on a Blogger blog or Youtube comment, not on the website of one of the most widely distributed computing magazines.

The final answer is, there is no answer. I use 4 operating systems weekly, if not daily: (in order) FreeBSD, OS X, Vista, and Slackware. They all have their strong points: FreeBSD is the best server operating system, HANDS DOWN. I don’t care what you say and I won’t listen to reason. OS X is great for lots of things, and is pretty much my general purpose os, used mostly for Rails development. Vista is used for games, and to keep the wife off my laptop. Slackware, well, Slack4Life!

Point is, if you’re going to argue over os’s, don’t. You’re wasting your time, because someone is going to come up and tell you you’re dumb for not thinking like they do, and then you’ll be wrong on the Internet, and we wouldn’t want that to happen, now would we?