Archive for the 'waiting' Category

Removing the default (annoying) xterm window under Mac X11

nirav May 22nd, 2007

If you are like me, you use X11 on your Mac only for OpenOffice (I am waiting for the native build). But when you start OpenOffice, it also starts X11 - which in turn starts xterm - a command line for X11. I just upgraded X11, and the xterm started coming again. I forgot how I had fixed it last time, so searched for it again. Here’s the perfect solution for doing this. (Taken from a post by Peter on BML)

The default settings for startup under the Mac X11 create an xterm window. This can be annoying if one primarily uses X11 for openoffice or other programs and uses the Mac Terminal program for the command line.

The default settings for startup are contained in the file ‘/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/xinit/xinitrc’. Each user can override this by creating a .xinitrc file in their home directory. One line in this file needs to be changed to remove the launch of the xterm window.

Here are the specific command line instructions for doing this:

cp /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/xinit/xinitrc ~/.xinitrc
chmod u+w ~/.xinitrc
sed 's/xterm/# xterm/' ~/.xinitrc > foo
mv -f foo ~/.xinitrc

After this, quit X11 (if running) and relaunch and there should be no xterm window.

Worked like charm!

Apollo Alpha is out

nirav March 20th, 2007

Adobe released Apollo Alpha yesterday. Many people like us have been waiting for this! A RIA platform that can be used offline, using the same technologies that we use on the web. The Alpha supports only Flex apps, but HTML support is coming. Our team has started experimenting and they are planning to build parts of a project management system we are thinking of using Apollo! Will keep you posted!

Misc reading for a Tuesday

nirav December 19th, 2006

Here’s some Recommended Reading.

Adobe CSS Advisor
A community site that helps identify and resolve CSS rendering problems in various browsers. Since people can contribute and comment to ideas / suggestions, this has a huge potential of being a wealth of resources for CSS.

Setup Flex on Fedora Core 6
In this visual guide, Arul shows how to setup Flex 2 SDK on Fedora. I have been waiting to start working on Flex from a Linux box, and this is well in time. I even like the way he has done the visual guide. Simple steps, highlighted important items and virtually no other text. I am waiting for part 2!

Elegant Solutions: Breakthrough Thinking - the Toyota Way
Toyota implements 1 million ideas a year - that’s 3000 per day! Good enough never is! Read how Toyota does it, and see how you can do it!

And about books, read one chapter from “The Google Story”, and one from “Freakonomics” the other day! Both were inspiring. Waiting to complete them! If you get a chance, read them!