2 Blue Buffalo

Android Devs XML theme for TextMate (2)

2019-10-03T21:14:00.001+02:00

Hello everyone. This is my custom theme for XML text files. I’m learning to develop Android applications but I really do not like Android Studio. So I’m using my fav. text editor: TextMate, and the command line tools to build my apps.

I liked to have the same theme of the tutorial I was following so I created the following with the same HEX colors from the – old – Android Developers website.

Also I’ve set TextMate to open XML files with my custom theme.

This is how it looks like. If you think there are some corrections to be made or if you have made some fixes or adds, let me know.

Original theme from the Android Developers Website (old version)

Here is the code. It is not perfectly made, but it works. Also you need the official XML Bundle for it to work since the Scopes are taken from there.

{	colorSpaceName = 'sRGB';
	settings = (
		{	settings = {
				foreground = '#000000';
				background = '#F7F7F7';
				caret = '#000000';
				invisibles = '#BFBFBF';
				selection = '#4D97FF54';
				lineHighlight = '#00000012';
			};
		},
		{	name = 'Punctuation';
			scope = 'meta.tag, punctuation.definition.tag';
			settings = {
				fontStyle = '';
				foreground = '#666600';
			};
		},
		{	name = 'Meta';
			scope = 'meta.tag entity.name, meta.tag entity.other.attribute-name.xml';
			settings = { foreground = '#000000'; };
		},
		{	name = 'Comment block';
			scope = 'comment.block';
			settings = {
				fontStyle = 'italic';
				foreground = '#880000';
			};
		},
		{	name = 'String';
			scope = 'string.quoted';
			settings = { foreground = '#008800'; };
		},
		{	name = 'Tag';
			scope = 'meta.tag.xml punctuation.definition.tag, meta.tag.xml entity.name.tag.namespace, meta.tag.xml entity.name.tag.localname';
			settings = {
				fontStyle = '';
				foreground = '#000088';
			};
		},
		{	name = 'Attribute';
			scope = 'entity.other.attribute-name.namespace.xml, entity.other.attribute-name.xml, punctuation.separator.namespace.xml, entity.other.attribute-name.localname.xml';
			settings = { foreground = '#882288'; };
		},
	);
}

You need to create a new theme and then paste this code inside. Call it whatever you like.

In order to assign this theme as the default one to all the XML files, you need to add this property to your TextMate properties file. Mine is located at /Users/umberto/Library/Application Support/TextMate/Global.tmProperties.

[ text.xml ]
fontName         = 'Courier New'
fontSize         = 14
theme            = 752F4472-98E4-4186-8809-74C12417D6BA

Remember to past your theme UUID in place of mine. You can copy your theme UUID by doing a right-click on your theme in Edit Bundles... and selecting Copy UUID.

How to install AMS – Advanced Mac Substitute – on macOS 10.14 Mojave

2019-08-22T03:16:00.001+02:00

Hello everyone! I’m writing this blog post since I finally managed to install AMS on my MacBook Pro with macOS 10.14 Mojave installed. ~~The unhappy news is that I do not know how to use it now!~~

But let’s focus on the good news for now!

I did not make any particular “move” if I recall correctly.This is more like a working-in-progress guide, since I am not 100% sure this will work (I think yes though). Anyway, the steps I followed are these one: (step-zero is to clone the metamage_1 repository: https://github.com/jjuran/metamage_1 and cd into it)

Install Xcode 9.4.1 (this might help: https://medium.com/@hacknicity/working-with-multiple-versions-of-xcode-e331c01aa6bc)
Choose Xcode 9.4.1 Command Line Tools in Preferences
Reboot (it’s always fine to do that)
(3.1) Try to make the install... it could possibly work make ams-osx
Run the following: sudo installer -pkg /Library/Developer/CommandLineTools/Packages/macOS_SDK_headers_for_macOS_10.14.pkg -target /
Finally do make ams-osx
[update] Ok... well it is not the end, yet! Check the next section to actually install it and try a sample program too :)

You should not get any errors. An app called MacRelix should run and you should see a Welcome window. Just click on it to close it.

Here there are some screenshot I made.

The Welcome screen

The Terminal window after the installation

About MacRelix.app

If you are asking yourself why Xcode 9 is needed, it is because it is the last version of Xcode (9.4.1 is the latest) which permits to build 32-bit macOS applications. And it is available for macOS Mojave. Read Xcode 10 Release Notes – Deprecations, 6th point.

This was my thought anyway. It could be even not needed... who knows ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Installation

Welcome again!
Do you remember the “bad news”? Well, finally I managed (thanks @jjuran) to actually install ams and test the sample application: Tic-tac-toe.

Let me explain you how...

First of all, if you managed to “make” the project, now you can install it. To install it, you simple have to run: sudo make ams-osx-install and enter your password. (Always inside the metamage_1 directory.)

You will get some output, then you will be able to run AMS (anywhere) by running ams Enter. (see the screenshot below).

When you launch MacRelix.app as requested, you will get the original Welcome screen you got earlier in the process. Cool, isn’t it?!

Let’s try to run a sample app included in AMS, Tic-tac-toe.
Close the Welcome screen by clicking on it. Then run AMS_APPNAME=Tic-tac-toe (Enter), then export AMS_APPNAME. Now run ams again – plus MacRelix app – and you will get the Tic-tac-toe game running.

Troubleshooting

If you get this after a successful installation

MBP-di-Umberto:metamage_1 umberto$ ams
-bash: ams: command not found

Chances are you cloned the metamage_1 repo before it was fixed. In this case, just follow this tip:

How to generate png for icns iconset macOS

2019-04-05T16:59:00.000+02:00

So... you want to make an icns iconset on macOS, right? Mhm... and you have a single SVG image freshly made... hum hum. Now you want a fast way to make those 10 icons, each with a different size and name, isn’t it?

Ok then, this line is for you! You have to have Inkscape installed. (I have an ImageMagick alternative too, but it’s so slow... )

for s in 16 32 128 256 512 ; do inkscape --export-png icon_${s}x${s}.png -w ${s} icon.svg ; inkscape --export-png icon_${s}x${s}@2x.png -w $((s*2)) icon.svg ; done

[Review] The BOOX Note: just another “big” e-reader. Why I returned it

2019-03-09T20:20:00.000+01:00

Preface: I bought the ONYX BOOX Note (10.3 inch) from Amazon on the 12th of February of this year. I used it until few days ago. Then I gave it back. I used it for studying purposes.

Why?

Main reason is: price. At fist I was very excited for the Note. But recently I realized it costed too much for me. It was not for the money itself. There were few reasons. Overall, I could say, it didn’t fit my needs. It was cool. But it didn’t worth every cent I spent for it.

First (and maybe the only real reason!): software! The product (hardware) is really good. It’s well made (with some cons too, read below). Software (updated to V2.0.1)... is not.

I bought it for a precise purpose. I have many PDFs, mainly scanned documents and books. I needed something for highlighting them. That’s it. And the Note, out of the box, cannot do it. Without PDFs highlighting feature for scanned documents, it was, for my needs indeed, just a good e-reader. But honestly, I don’t need a 500€-thing for reading books...

Onyx made, overall, a sloppy product. As a company you should not put on the market something not yet 200% ready. And especially if you do, not at that price. That’s not what it is meant with minimum-viable-product.

Android...

I’m a Macintosh lover and iOS user so I could be biased when I insist that this kind of device need a specific OS. Maybe the fact is that I do not trust Google anymore for the stuff happened about users privacy, and so I do not trust Android (actually, I never did). Simply put, where many find Android to be a pro because of its big application market, I find it a con.

Hardware

The hardware, as I said before, is good. Nothing to say except for a few things...

The power button often gets pressed unintentionally, powering on the device. (Always, in my experience, when carrying the Note in my backpack).
A 3.5mm jack is missing
The back button at the bottom is a pain in the a**. If you are running out of space while writing a note and you are going to write at the bottom of the page, pay attention to it. You do not want to press it, lose some precious time going back, then reopening the note. Really annoying.
While writing near the bezel of the device (right and bottom sides), the pen will start to lose responsiveness.

If I had to design a product like the Note...

First I would start making an OS specifically for this type of devices. I would open an open source project on GitHub and let the community improves the Software based on its needs. As e-readers get more common, there will be the need for a specific OS. Android has surely many advantages, but it is not build specifically for this type of “hardware” (e-ink displays) and purposes.

I would make an SDK/developer portal to make it simple for users to create their own applications. As a user, I don’t need fancy applications, games and whenever. I just need reliable, robust, solid apps to work with. It should all be really simple to use: few, basic functionality; and a lot of expandability given by the SDK.

In conclusion:

The BOOX Note is a good e-reader. My opinion is that it’s expensive compared to the features it offers. The screen is not big as an A4 sheet of paper, so many scanned A4 books are barely readable.

The default PDF viewer app doesn’t have a highlight feature for scanned documents (PDFs, Djvu), making it not feasible for studying purposes. (If you are used to highlight text while reading books).

It has some annoying hardware defects but overall it is a well made product.

In conclusion, the device, due to many Software shortcomings, is not yet ready for an intensive/professional use. Neither for a complete paper replacement.

If you own this device, or you think you will get one, remember to subscribe to the Onyx Boox fan group on Facebook. The company account is really active, so far the users. You will find a great community to interact with. Hope the Note will improve fast and get better and better in the time.

Install Mac OS X Tiger on macOS 10.14 Mojave

2019-03-01T11:04:00.001+01:00

How to install Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger on macOS 10.14 Mojave using QEMU for Mac. Run PowerPC applications on macOS. Guide 2018.

Maybe you have old programs for PowerPC that you would like to reuse but that can not run on new Macs, or you just miss your first Macintosh or you’re just curious to find out how it was using a Mac in the past.
Here, for these and other reasons I recommend to keep reading this post...

At work now!
I remind you that to make the post slender and easy to read I do not always write everything and some things I take for granted; but for any information, any doubt comes to mind, just comment below! I know it can be boring at first, but think that by asking for explanation you will help yourself and anyone with that same problem! A bit like at school, only that here it’s easier.

What you need

QEMU. QEMU is an emulator of computer architectures. In our case it will emulate the PPC architecture.
An image of the operating system you want to install, Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger in our case.

QEMU can be installed via homebrew with the formula brew install qemu . You will install the latest version available.
For the disk image, if you have an original CD, create an image with Disk Utility or see the guide on how to start the Mac OS installation from the cdrom (you can find the link below).

Installing Mac OS

First of all, go to the “/usr/local/Cellar/qemu/qemu-installed-version-number/bin” folder, copy the files: "qemu-img" and "qemu-system-ppc". Create a new folder where do you want and paste the two elements, then move the disk image into the folder.

At this point you should have a folder with the following files inside: qemu-img , qemu-system-ppc , nameImage.iso (also .dmg is fine).

Now from the terminal move to the folder you created and then type: ./qemu-img create -f raw -o size=20G MacOSX10.4.img . This command creates a 20GB HDD image called "MacOSX10.4". You can call it differently if you want to.
If you need more or less space, change the size value.
That done, you should see a new .img file in the folder. This will be the hard drive of your new Macintosh.

Congratulations! You have reached a good point. Now you just have to start your new virtual machine ...

Create a new text-only file and paste these three lines:

#!/bin/bash
cd "$(dirname "$0")"
./qemu-system-ppc -L pc-bios -boot d -M mac99 -m 1536 -prom-env 'auto-boot?=true' -prom-env 'boot-args=-v' -prom-env 'vga-ndrv?=true' -hda MacOSX10.4.img -cdrom MacOSXTiger.dmg -netdev user,id=network01 -device sungem,netdev=network01

As you can guess these are the settings of your virtual machine, “-m 1536” is the amount of dedicated RAM, 1.5GB. “-hda MacOSX10.4.img” is the HDD and “-cdrom MacOSXTiger.dmg” is the disk image of Mac OS X. Remember to change the names of the latter depending on how you called your hard disk and the disk image previously.
Also make sure that everything: “./qemu-system-ppc -L ...” is in one line.

Save the file in the folder where you put the rest, with the name: "qemu.command".
From the terminal, run chmod +x qemu.command (if you are in the file directory, otherwise you can drag and drop the file inside the terminal window) to make it executable.

Now you just have to run the file you just created. Qemu should start and a new window should open with the classic apple logo.
At this point it is as if you had a brand new Mac, so proceed initializing the HDD (the .img file created before) and then with the installation of Mac OS X.

Remember! After the installation you will have to edit the file "qemu.command" and precisely the writing -boot d in -boot c so that the hard disk is started first.

The whole post refers to the emaculation.com guide. You can find the link below. This site is a great resource for the emulation of Mac OS and beyond.

links

Homebrew - https://brew.sh
Qemu for OSX, emaculation - https://www.emaculation.com/doku.php/ppc-osx-on-qemu-for-osx

For the QEMU image I suggest you to download the prebuilt images from Cat_7 of the emaculation forum. You just need to put everything in the folder and run the qemu command file. You can find the latest builds here: https://www.emaculation.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=34&t=8848&p=52102#p52102

How to crop a video to square on macOS

2018-11-28T22:30:00.001+01:00

I’ll show you how to crop a video to whatever size you want thanks to ffmpeg. I use this method to crop 16:9 iMovie video to 1:1 square video to share in my Instagram.

To crop a video you need ffmpeg which is a tool to manipulate the video file. If you have Homebrew simply run brew install ffmpeg in a Terminal window.

Once Homebrew is done with the installation, type: ffmpeg -i /path/to/video.mp4 -vf crop=1080:1080 output.mp4. Then push enter ↵. This will crop the video starting from the center. The result will be a 1080x1080 square video called output.mp4. It’s easy to understand how it works. Just change the parameters to your needs.

Useful resources for Qemu 3 on macOS

2018-11-22T17:07:00.002+01:00

Some links and useful code lines.

I’m running macOS Mojave 10.14.1 on a Mid 2012 MacBook Pro 13”.
This is my qemu.command file:

#!/bin/bash
cd "$(dirname "$0")"
./qemu-system-ppc -L pc-bios -boot c -M mac99,via=pmu -m 1024 -prom-env 'auto-boot?=true' -prom-env 'boot-args=-v' -prom-env 'vga-ndrv?=true' -drive file=MacOSXLeopard.img,format=raw,media=disk -netdev user,id=network01 -device sungem,netdev=network01

Mac OS X Leopard runs well.

I followed this guide on emaculation.com: https://www.emaculation.com/doku.php/ppc-osx-on-qemu-for-osx

I installed it from my Mac OS Leopard DVD. Check the Boot from a real CD section in the guide. Remember the -M mac99,via=pmu option and to change -boot d to -boot c when you are done with the installation procedure.

From https://wiki.qemu.org/Documentation/Platforms/PowerPC the part dedicated to Mac OS X 10.5 installation:

Mac OS X 10.5
Command-line options to install Mac OS X 10.X:

./qemu-system-ppc -L pc-bios -boot d -M mac99,via=pmu -m 512 -hda <hd image file> -cdrom <iso file of installation media> -netdev user,id=mynet0 -device sungem,netdev=mynet0

Remove apps from Automation panel in System Preferences

2018-10-30T12:44:00.000+01:00

How to remove the apps listed in the Automation panel in System Preferences > Security & Privacy.

I activated many authorization, for some apps and many scripts I made. It’s really annoying seeing these apps still there, despite I unchecked them.

Solution: run this command tccutil reset AppleEvents in a Terminal window. It will wipe all the apps in the Automation panel. Unfortunately also the “checked” one. So also the one we gave access to.

How to make MagicaVoxel .png palette from GIMP color palette.

2018-05-19T20:11:00.000+02:00

How to: convert a Gimp palette in a png color palette for MagicaVoxel (or whatever) using Python and PIL.

First make sure you have Pillow. In GIMP go to: Windows > Dockable Dialogues > Palettes. Then choose the palette you want to export; right-click, Export as > Text file... Great! Now you have a text file with all the hex codes inside.

Now just run this Python script I created; make sure the .txt file and this one are in the same directory. The script will create a palette.png file you can import in MagicaVoxel app!

How to replace the Blogger favicon and insert one in HD for retina display.

2018-01-25T22:24:00.000+01:00

How to Insert an HD Favicon for Retina displays in Blogger. How to for MacBook Pro Retina Display. Change Blogger favicon. 24, 32, 64 pixels.

Before and after

All those who use Blogger believe they know how to change favicon. In Blogger it's very simple: just go to Layout and at the top change the favorite icon by clicking on Edit. Remember to create a square, readable icon (not too many details, so something as simple as a logo or symbol is preferable).What I didn't know is that Blogger, once the icon is uploaded online, converts it into a. ico 16×16 pixel image.
Now, 16×16 is good for almost all computers, so much so that I've never had any problems... until recently, when I received a MacBook Pro 15 "Retina display.
On the retina screen, in high definition, my favicon was a disaster. Grainy, not well defined, in focus. Obviously I wasn't satisfied and I searched online for a solution. After a while (as always, you never find the solution at the first attempt....) this is the solution that I found and worked on.

How to change the Blogger's favicon. 32 pixels or more for Retina screens

Although the search for the solution has been a business, the solution itself is simple. Just copy and paste the code in the head of our topic.

Where to paste the code into the template

First, however, we need to create and upload our new favicon into Blogger. I've specially created another article to make sure you don't stretch this: How to create a favicon in HD for your website. Once we uploaded the icon we will need its direct url. If you don’t know what it is or where to take it from, take a look at the article: Direct Link Blogger Images. Then go to Theme > Modify HTML and search for </head> . Then immediately above this closing tag we paste the code :

<script type="text/javascript">
(function() {
    var link = document.querySelector("link[rel*='icon']") || document.createElement('link');
    link.type = 'image/x-icon';
    link.rel = 'shortcut icon';
    link.href = 'http://www.stackoverflow.com/favicon.ico';
    document.getElementsByTagName('head')[0].appendChild(link);
})();
</script>

Instead of the link in red we will have to paste the direct url of our favicon.
Then save and close the Theme and visit your Blog to see the changes. Remember that if you don't see the changes right away but are sure to have followed the guide perfectly, just make an hard refresh of the page: on macOS just press ⌘ ⇧ + R.

Link

Solution with code from StackOverflow
Hard Refresh, MacOS and Windows - How Can I Do Cache Refresh in Google Chrome?