why is mac firewall off by default?

11.3: web.addn/mac/why mac firewall off by default?:

. wonder why the firewire was off?

the next article reminds me that I used to know

my router has a hardware-based firewall built-in,

and if there is any problems with the likes of skype,

just turn off the computer's firewall and leave that job to your router .

Damien Gallop 2003:

For even better security,

particularly at home on a broadband connection such as cable or DSL internet,

get a combo NAT gateway for yourself. Next to a VCR,

these little "black boxes" are the technology bargain of the decade.

Installing one between your home computer or network

and your broadband modem will give you a two-tiered level of firewalling.

configure it!:

We suggest that you select the Enable Stealth Mode check box.

It doesn't have many side-effects,

unless you want people to be able to perform stealth scans of your Mac.

comparing mac app catalogs

10.17: sci,news.addn/net.mac'app lib/apple has the best?:

. apple has the best app exhibition? ...

. takes some getting used to;

eg, asked for html editor,, uh, total insanity:

. here is normal relevance:

//osx.iusethis.com/search?q=html+editor

and here for insanely relevant:

//search.macupdate.com/search.php?keywords=html+editor&os=mac

yea!

1st-class programmable keyboard

9.29: web.addn/kybd programmable with mem card bak:

. need a kybd that lets a program

do all my programming for me .

. here is one author who needs the same thing:

How to write a USB keyboard simulator?

Let's say we have 2 computers connected with each other via USB.

How to make a program that could be run on one of the computers

and send keystrokes to the another?

In other words the computer with the program

would appear as a keyboard to the other computer?

I don't want a thin client or dumb terminal...

my goal with this is to create something that will be able to for example

brute force a BIOS password in case you'll forget it

- that's why I need it done in hw

because otherwise you can't connect to the computer

(when it only is booted to BIOS).

. here is hackery for the obvious but iffy idea of

connecting a computer to a usb.kybd:

//www.instructables.com/id/Hacking-a-USB-Keyboard/

. the usb.kybd` interface is open:

USB human interface device class ("USB HID class")

. a USB device class that describes human interface devices such as

keyboards, mice, game controllers and alphanumeric display devices.

The USB HID class is defined in a number of documents

provided by the

USB Implementers Forum's Device Working Group

http://www.usb.org/developers/devclass_docs/HID1_11.(pdf)

USB HID class keyboard is normally designed with

an IN endpoint that communicates keystrokes to the computer

and an OUT endpoint that communicates the status of the keyboard's LEDs

from the computer to the keyboard.

The PC 97 standard requires that a computer's BIOS must detect and work with

USB HID class keyboards that are designed to be used during the boot process.

X-keys programmable key pads

http://www.piengineering.com/xkeys.php

. xkey for mac

http://www.piengineering.com/software/ikeyxkey.php

. points you to iKey for Mac OS X

details:

. In Hardware Mode the X-keys declares itself as a native USB keyboard and/or mouse

and sends only USB keyboard or mouse messages to the USB port.

The macros are stored in the X-keys onboard memory

and played when the appropriate X-keys button is pressed.

After originally programming the X-keys there is no software involved

. on a tangent, I wondered if the [The Y-mouse Adapter for USB]

would be a cheaper way to have an ergo'kybd;

lets you put any 2 kybd's together,

but it doesn't say anything about using the modifier keys of one

to affect the keys of the other .

Centrillium USB Device Emulator

turns your PC system into a USB device.

contents includes:

# USB HID Device Emulator

* USB HID Class Mouse Application

* USB HID Class Keyboard Application

Specifications

* USB 1.1 Full Speed/Low Speed

* 512 Kb/S Transfer Rate

* Bi-Directional Parallel Port Interface

* USB Device Interface

* Philips ISPD12 USB Peripheral Controller

. contact them if want sales ? b2b only ?

external cross-platform hd

9.2: news.addn/mac/external cross-platform hd:

. a good desktop external hard drive

that is both PC and Mac compatible?

I am looking at purchasing a reliable external hard drive for my MacBook Pro,

but I also want to back up some files from a friend's PC.

Does anyone know of a good desktop external hard drive that can be

used for both OS's without having to reformat for one or the other?

the FrŽdŽric Lejal 2-partition disk:

* partition your disk, and make one parition HFS+ for your Mac,

and the other partition NTFS for Windows.

Mac will be able to read and write the HFS+ partition, and read the NTFS.

Windows will only see the NTFS parition,

with read and write permissions

* read this

http://www.ntfs-3g.org/ ,

http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20070220150856279 ,

http://macntfs-3g.blogspot.com/

and proceed to installation to have your Mac able to read AND WRITE on NTFS,

and format your external drive in NTFS:

you will be able to share the disk both with Macs and Windows,

even for files bigger than 4Gb

my reply:

. ideas I liked summarized from above:

. purchase the enclosure and disk separately .

. Seagate drives are great, 5 year warranty;

but lacie raid is awesome:

http://www.lacie.com/us/products/product.htm?pid=11142

. for your need of

a general mac drive that also does pc backup,

2 ideas:

. the FrŽdŽric Lejal 2-partition disk (is that timemachine ready?) .

. the Frederik Vande Rieviere NAS idea:

FreeNAS

. a free network-attached storage server,

supporting: CIFS (Samba), FTP, NFS, rsync, AFP protocols, iSCSI, S.M.A.R.T.,

local user authentication, and software RAID (0,1,5),

with a web-based configuration interface.

FreeNAS takes less than 64 MB once installed on

hard drive, CompactFlash, or USB flash drive.[1]

FreeNAS is currently distributed as an ISO image and in source form.

It is possible to run FreeNAS from a Live CD,

with the configuration files stored on an MS-DOS-formatted floppy disk.

There is also a VMware disk image available.

. for a {mac, pc} backup solution on my 8gb usb sd card

I format as fat32, and then for mac files

I use a near-4gb dmg file formatted as Mac OS Extended (journaled)

which I believe gives me better protection from fat32 file corruptions?

mac.iphoto

8.6: mis.addn/mac.iphoto

force quit:

. steps needed to trigger the data:

large data set;

edit, crop, froze .

-- how about have the app record inputs?

. below is the report .

froze again but work saved:

. after waiting one hour before doing the force-quit,

iphoto had saved most of the changes

-- wait longer or the luck was from

closing an operation;

eg, after doing several croppings,

ok the changes, and open another tool ?

mac.vmware

8.12: addn/mac.vmware/leaky trash:

. if using vmwares and no secure vmem,

pc.wares can read your trash .

. passwords shouldn't be shared

should be erased from paste board .

booking for mac tips

8.12: bk.addn/mac:

file vault & secure v.mem

for checksums, see cmd openssl sha1 yourfile

todo. dev.au tweakheadz.com [done]

In the Guide you can learn all the basics of how

the latest recording technologies work, step by step,

from easy-to-read pages to in-depth articles

that seasoned audio professionals will appreciate.

todo.web/saas(sw as a service):

constantcontact.com

sugarcrm.com

macenterprise.org

8.13:

dashcode is a simpler xcode for dashboard widget dev'ing .

todo.routinely:

run disk utility`{ repair permissions, verify disk }

if it finds a problem

then start in safe mode(holding down shift key)

that includes a disk utility `repair disk;

so, restart again,

and normal mode is running with repaired disk .

app`pref's live in ~/library/pref's/*.plist

. diagnostic disk has quick mode to try first,

your problem not detected? then long mode

and see apple care with results .

. reboot with c key to install disk to chg pass of admn

ichat has theatre to also view presentations like iphoto

todo: perceptiveautomation.com

picasa on mac

6.23: proj.addn/mac.picassa/motivation:

. look into picassa to make it easier to upload photo's

so that it might be easier to link to them from the blog .

6.24: proj.addn/mac.picassa/install:

. in tools/folder mgt,

I was able to undo all the default scan.ables,

and have it scan repeatedly my log .

6.24 sci.addn/{net,mac}.picasa:

. try sharing picasa:

that seems to mean sending an email to something?

. try synching picasa:

that has both uploading and always uploading updates .

. it's showing them by folder, and offering to sync a folder .

. it lets you put a watermark in,

so I tried putting my email address in each;

it's in the lower-right corner .

. I don't see any mention of them recording the name I used for each picture;

then they asked me to [add a description] !

using root as user on mac

6.11: proj.addn/mac/using root as user:

Last login: Thu Jun 11 14:16:36 on ttys000

imac:~ addn$ sudo visudo

Password:

imac:~ addn$ sudo visudo -c

Password:

/private/etc/sudoers file parsed OK

imac:~ addn$ sudo visudo

. x is deleting things but now esc is just bonking?

ctrl-c helps me get out:

[1]+ Stopped sudo visudo

. but then going back to see if I did any damage,

it said someone is still using the file

and I can't see if I made any changes:

imac:~ addn$ sudo visudo

visudo: sudoers file busy, try again later

imac:~ addn$

mis.addn/mac.komodo/keys dead:

. so I closed the terminal, logged out, tried viewing the file again with

imac:~ addn$ sudo visudo -c

and everything's ok,

but now komodo can't read my keys? restart: ok .

mac'finder needs better undo or trash backup

7.19: mis.addn/mac/finder needs better undo or trash backup:

. I should have fixed that cranky card drive

so it would fit the usb socket:

it has this habit of spontaniously losing its connection

-- sometimes during a folder transfer --

so that it will leave an empty folder at the destination;

then when you try the transfer over again,

it says you're overwriting a folder of the same name .

. if you're sure it's from connection loss,

then it's safe to overwrite,

but if your downloading a camera folder,

and didn't rename the last download,

then you need to stop and rename .

. in this case I had both a connection problem,

and I'd forgotten that I recently downloaded without renaming,

so I accidently overwrote this morning's photo' set

with the most recent photo download .

mac does the strangest undo:

. I was hoping I could do something user-friendly on the mac

like cure an accidental overwrite with a simple undo;

unfortunately, even the 10th version of mr.user-friendly

is falling flat on its iconic smiley face .

. the undo returns the moved folder to it's original location;

but, it has not returned the overwritten folder to the mov's destination;

so, try undo again, then it asks for admn permission .

. OK'ing that, I then notice the overwritten has appeared since then

and is now being removed? did I see that right? .

. testing again, I see what happens is that

the next undo (cmd-z) is actually an undo the undo: [redo mov] .

. I'm really surprised that

while the cocoa frameworks supports infinite undo,

the system finder doesn't take advantage of it .

. this is the same stupid behaviour you get from ms`dos:

it has a trash can for things you delete,

but not for things your app's will delete with an overwrite .

. that should be my highest developer priority:

a suite of common app's that provide universal undelete .

. instead of asking you those stupid questions,

it simply renames your name-clashes

unless you ask for clashes to be moved to trash .

. it also offers to do an ms`dos-style merge of clashing folders

if you set the configuration that way:

this merges an subfolders that have clashing names,

and unlike ms`dos,

it will rename filename clashes during a merge

unless you ask for clashing folders to be moved to trash .

mac/atom newsfeeds

firefox`newsfeeds
. Some web sites post lots of new articles or updates;
and, while you can always visit your bookmarked sites to see the latest articles,
it's sometimes more convenient to have new stories sent to you automatically
. If you are browsing a web site with firefox
and it has an available RSS or Atom feed,
the orange waves icon will appear at the right side of the Location Bar .
. if you subscribe to this feed, then what happens in firefox
is that inside menu: bookmarks/bookmarks toolbar/site/
you'll see a list of site's current articles .

. if you try this in Apple`Safari.browser
then you'll find that it supports RSS but not Atom feeds;

well, what is the diff' ?
. before 2003, everyone was using RSS;
and, that's why Apple`Safari.browser can read RSS .
. in 2003, Atom was designed to fix RSS`shortcomings;
and Google started using Atom for its services:
Blogger, Google News and Gmail.

so, if you're on the mac, and you prefer to avoid firefox?
try an Atom reader for the mac;
or, google has a web-based reader accessible from any browser:http://www.google.com/reader
. it's available whenever you're signed into your gmail acct .

. the google`reader also lets you select news items to share with others .
. if you're sharing with people who don't use gmail,
they can see your shared items via your personal
google`reader shared items website; eg, mine is here:
http://www.google.com/reader/shared/05889469345018095480

. to try out g'reader's newsfeed search,
I looked for "(americium dream) and got one of my blogs,
and my amazon.com reviews .
. it listed my 'docs blog even though my 'duh blog has more posts
(perhaps because the one post it does have
is linking to google`knol, and all my google`code sites
are linking only to 'docs, not 'duh) .

. you can also select others who have gmail accts,
and then when they use google`reader,
they can look into friends' shared items,
and it will show all the stories you've shared with them .

. mac also has an openware newsreader: rssowl .
http://www.rssowl.org/overview
. it's based on java, so it can be crossplatform .
http://sourceforge.net/scm/?type=svn&group_id=86683