Getting the Samsung ML-2525W wireless printer working on your Mac OSX [setting & configuration]

This is a great printer, good value for money. Unfortunately the instructions for Mac users suck. So here are my instructions to get it working with your Max OSX as per my Amazon review, which a couple of people found useful:

If installing on a Mac/OSX do not use the Samsung drivers they dont work (for most others too). Spent hours with the Samsung drivers, no luck. If you have installed the Samsung supplied or downloaded drivers, then uninstall them. 

For a seamless sub 5 min wireless installation, do it like this:

1. Setup up printer hardware according to quick-start guide (supplied) 
2. Insert supplied CD-ROM, dont launch the installer. Open a finder window go to /MAC_Installer/MAC_Printer/WirelessSetting directory/folder 
3. Launch 'Wireless Setting' application and follow instructions. [UPDATE: if you dont want to do this from the supplied DVD, you can download the Wrireless Setup utility direct from Samsung at : http://www.samsung.com/us/support/owners/product/ML-2525W/XAA ] 
4. When you get to the window which lists available wireless networks you need to wait up to a few minutes for them to appear, your wireless network may not appear instantly) Once your network appears, continue with instructions and your printer will be setup on the wireless network.
5. Now, WITHOUT the Samsung printer driver installed, open your system prefs, where you would normally add printers. (On OSX 10.6 click the + plus icon) 
6. You Mac will find the printer via the Bonjour service (wirelessly), and simply click add. Your system may download some software from Apple. 
7. DONE - Happy Wireless Printing - no need for faffing around for hours with the Samsung Drivers (which don't work)

Cheers

Running Maven Built Web Applications Directly From Intellij IDEA

Detailed here courtesy of Matt Flemming:

http://mattfleming.com/node/281

Also here (slightly different) on the JetBrains Wiki:

http://wiki.jetbrains.net/intellij/Creating_a_simple_Web_application_and_deploying_it_to_Tomcat

None of these match up exactly to Intellij IDEA X, but fairly close. On the 'Deployment' tab choose deploy artifact, then choose the exploded war version of your project/maven module.

On the 'Server' tab, where the start url is defined, if you eneter your context path, this becomes implicit when accessing via browser url - ie you need not enter it.

Installing Tomcat on Mac OSX with MacPorts

All you need to know is here:

http://mikevalentiner.wordpress.com/2009/01/30/how-to-install-and-run-tomcat-on-macos/

In case it goes off line however, these are the basic steps you need to follow:

1) Install MacPorts - official guide is here...

2) Check macports installed correctly in the terminal, type

port -version

3) Install Tomcat by typing ‘sudo port install tomcat6′. Replace ‘tomcat6′ with ‘tomcat5′, if that is the version you are after. To see all versions of Tomcat available for install from MacPort, type ‘port list | grep tomcat’.


Below is the console blurb after the tomcat install succeeds:

# setting up needed dirs
# installing tomcat...
# adding the jstl libs
# maint. empty dirs...
# adding our scripts
# adding our scripts 2
---> Creating launchd control script
###########################################################
# A startup item has been generated that will aid in
# starting tomcat6 with launchd. It is disabled
# by default. Execute the following command to start it,
# and to cause it to launch at startup:
#
# sudo port load tomcat6
###########################################################
---> Installing tomcat6 @6.0.32_0
#
# Configuration files in /opt/local/share/java/tomcat6/conf have been
# installed with a .sample extension so that they won't be replaced by a
# port update. Each will be copied to its proper location during the
# first startup of tomcat by catalina.sh or tomcatctl if you don't
# do this yourself first. If this _is_ an update, you might do a diff to
# verify that you're not missing anything in the newer .sample versions
# of these files.
#
# The script /opt/local/share/java/tomcat6/bin/tomcatctl has been installed to
# facilitate start and stop of tomcat using the jsvc utility, which allows you to
# start tomcat as a true daemon process. Once tomcat has acquired its TCP socket,
# jsvc will drop its root privileges and run as user www.
#
# Under Apple Java, control over the Java version used to launch tomcat6 is
# through the shell variable JAVA_JVM_VERSION. This variable should be set
# to a java version such as 1.5, 1.6, or CurrentJDK (for the default version).
# You may set JAVA_JVM_VERSION in /opt/local/share/java/tomcat6/bin/setenv.sh.
#



4) Once installed, you need to make a few tweeks to get it to run. The first is to set up the tomcat-users.xml file in tomcat6/conf. Edit the contents to look like:

<?xml version='1.0' encoding='utf-8'?>

<tomcat-users>

<role rolename="tomcat"/>

<role rolename="manager"/>

<role rolename="admin"/>

<user username="tomcat" password="password" roles="tomcat,admin,manager"/>

<user username="some-username" password="the-password" roles="tomcat,admin,manager"/> </tomcat-users>



5) The second tweek is to “fix” the file permissions on a number of files. In your shell window, cd to the tomcat6/bin directory and set all the .sh files so they are readable and executable:

sudo chmod 755 *.sh

6) The final tweek is to set the tomcat6 log files so they are writeable by tomcat. cd to the logs directory and change file permissions:
sudo chmod 777 catalina.*

7) That should be it. Start Tomcat be cd’ing to the bin directory and running:
sudo ./startup.sh

8) You can verify Tomcat is up and running by browsing to http://localhost:8080 in your browser.

Mac OS X, Gem Install Problem: "ERROR: Failed to build gem native extension"

If you are getting this error:

ERROR: Failed to build gem native extension.

when installing a ruby gem on OSX, then chances are you do not have the tools necessary to execute 'make' as part of the install process. Its an easy fix...install the XCode which will also install the necessary tools for the 'make' process. You can do this by either:

1. Downloading from the AppStore, or from the Developer Centre
2. Mac Xcode Tools off the Mac OS X Install Disc 1

That fixed it for me anyway. Enjoy!

Recover and Repair a Failed Ubuntu Upgrade

I recently upgraded from Ubuntu 10.04 LTS to Ubuntu 10.10 - it didn't go quite to plan! Midway through the upgrade the GUI (Gnome Desktop in my case) froze and I had to power off manually and restart.

All I got was the usplash screen and when I Alt-Ctrl F1 'd i saw "mountall: disconnected from plymouth". No matter what I tried couldnt get any further.

It happened to me once before and in the end I reinstalled which wiped everything. Now I'm a little more seasoned I knew this wasn't going to be necessary.

So I used my 10.04 LTS liveCD and started searching for solutions. I managed to find the following info which poved most useful because it allowed me to mount my HDD FS within the liveCD GUI and work from cmd line as though I were in the HDD OS: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=422523

Also quite useful:

http://galigio.org/2009/11/29/how-to-repair-a-bad-upgrade-on-ubuntu/

http://serverfault.com/questions/8540/recover-from-shutdown-during-ubuntu-distribution-upgrade

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=186672

http://www.ubuntugeek.com/easy-way-of-mountunmount-iso-images-in-ubuntu.html (used this to download and mount the alternate upgrade cd, which is how I eventually fixed my upgrade)

Essentially what had happened was that after usplash the nvidia drivers werent loading, so I removed the xorg.conf file, and replaced it with the xorg.conf.failsafe. This step got me booting into a low res gnome desktop, yaaay!

I then Alt-Ctrl F1 'd to the shell, and mounted the ubuntu-alternate iso I had downloaded when I was in the liveCD, and which I ha copied to my home folder on my HDD from there.

Once the iso was mounted I simply ran:

sudo /media/cdrom/cdromupgrade

and ten minutes later everything was fixed and my desktop was up and running 10.10 !

Good Luck! :)

Clean your MAF sesnor for smoother running and better fuel economy

Ive just cleaned the MAF (Mass Air Flow) sensors on both of my cars. An easy procedure which, has produced smoother running, instantly noticeable better fuel economy, and more power at low revs.

I was apprehensive about doing that, as a mechanic friend of mine, whom I trust a lot, told me it wasn't a good idea, but having read around the subject and watched a few youtube videos, I was confident I could do it and that it was a good idea - or at least time would tell!

Now the cleaning solution I wanted to use (CRC Mass Air Flow Sensor Cleaner) wasn't available officially in England due to EU laws on chemicals or something or other, so I went for the next best thing (or just as good).

Maplin, sell Isopropyl Alcohol in a pressurised can, which has pretty much the same desired effect as the CRC product I believe from my googling.

The theory is that the isopropyl alcohol is safe for electronic components and contact, and it removes dirt, grease, grime, etc which is exactly what we want to do. The hot wire in the MAF runs at around 200 degrees Celsius and when air passes over it, small particles like pollen and dirt, hit it and then 'cake' themselves on, leaving a 'dirty' residue which reduces the efficiency of the MAF and fools your engine ECU into using the wrong air/fuel mix, giving you less economy, and even worse, less power to go with it.

Caution: the MAF is an extremely sensitive piece of equipment, and the hot wires are extrmemly brittle. If you drop or knock the unit you may break it, and this will set you back hundreds of pounds, so be careful!!!

Having bought a can, I whipped out the MAF sensors on both cars (about 10min job each - make sure car is COLD before you do this) and proceeded to clean as per some of the videos I had seen around the CRC product. 

Basically spray at the hot wire, and only the hot wire. Short one second bursts around five seconds apart, just as a rough guide. Continue until shiny and clean, which should require no more than a dozen or so bursts, even for the dirtiest hot wires. I blasted mine from all different angles not just one, so as to get the hot wires totally clean.

The result? Well, the BMW's hot wire started off a golden brown colour and was restored to sparkling silver. The Toyota hot wires were actually black! after 30 seconds, they were gleaming silver! Job done. I waited till the alcohol had dried completely (if I couldn't smell the vapours anymore then it was done). Then put both MAF's back on the cars.

The BMW felt a bit spongy when I took it for a test drive, which made me think I'd bricked the MAF, but after a couple of miles it came to life and I saw the estimated range shoot up on the on board computer display. The car felt much, much smoother, much more power at lower revs. Lovely!

Same story with the Toyota. I guess, the ECU's had to self learn and adjust the paramteres of the air/fuel mix and this takes anywhere from a couple to 15miles to do depending on your car and the type of ECU.

All in all, both cars feel a lot smoother, more torque at low revs, and way more fuel economy. As a rule I think I will do this every 20,000 miles or so.

Peace

Importing your contacts from your Sony Ericsson P1i into your Android Phone

Normally I can bluetooth all my contacts from one phone into another. Not possible when your migrating from a P1i to HTC Hero. Try as I may, the contact(s) would get rejected. I didnt really fancy moving all 300+ contacts manually, so embarked on a google search.... Looking for some fantastic tool that would do the job for me.... not happening!

In the end I came across some good ideas from a couple of posts so did the following, which worked brilliantly!

1) In the P1i, open the Contacts app, then hit More. In the menu, scroll down to Connections manager, and expand the sub-menu. From here select Backup option - this saves a Contacts.vcf to your memory card.

2) Copy the vcf file from step 1, onto your PC desktop, either by connecting the phone or reading the memory card via a reader with adapter.

3) Go to your Gmail account, and click the contacts link in the left hand side menu bar. Select Import from the top right. Choose your vcf file.

4) Enjoy! - you only need to wait a couple of minutes for the refresh to occur on your Hero...

A bit manual, but this is the simplest and quickest way I found.

Peace.