LoadErrors raised from Ruby on Rails' ActiveSupport may look something like:

/usr/local/lib/ruby/1.8/gems/activesupport-2.3.3/lib/active_support/dependencies.rb:426:in `load_missing_constant':
Expected /path/to/the/rails/root/app/models/bacon.rb to define Bacon (LoadError)
        from /usr/local/lib/ruby/1.8/gems/activesupport-2.3.3/lib/active_support/dependencies.rb:80:in `const_missing'
        from /usr/local/lib/ruby/1.8/gems/activesupport-2.3.3/lib/active_support/dependencies.rb:92:in `const_missing'
        from /usr/local/lib/ruby/1.8/gems/activesupport-2.3.3/lib/active_support/dependencies.rb:437:in `load_missing_constant'
        from /usr/local/lib/ruby/1.8/gems/activesupport-2.3.3/lib/active_support/dependencies.rb:80:in `const_missing'
        from /usr/local/lib/ruby/1.8/gems/activesupport-2.3.3/lib/active_support/dependencies.rb:437:in `load_missing_constant'
        from /usr/local/lib/ruby/1.8/gems/activesupport-2.3.3/lib/active_support/dependencies.rb:80:in `const_missing'
        from /usr/local/lib/ruby/1.8/gems/activesupport-2.3.3/lib/active_support/dependencies.rb:437:in `load_missing_constant'
        from /usr/local/lib/ruby/1.8/gems/activesupport-2.3.3/lib/active_support/dependencies.rb:80:in `const_missing'
         ... 26 levels...
        from /usr/local/lib/ruby/1.8/irb/init.rb:250:in `load_modules'
        from /usr/local/lib/ruby/1.8/irb/init.rb:21:in `setup'
        from /usr/local/lib/ruby/1.8/irb.rb:54:in `start'
        from /usr/local/bin/irb:13

The folded/clipped/omitted middle of the stack trace leads to a very frustrating debugging experience.

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I recently tried to do a Subversion copy from a remote repository into my local working copy, but I got a segmentation fault, like this:

% svn cp http://xxxxx.xxxxx.com/xxxxx/xxxxx/xxxxx
Segmentation fault

It leaves behind an unversioned .tmp copy of the file being copied, & svn cleanup must be run to release the lock. (I'm using OS X 10.5.6 Leopard [Darwin]).

Here's the info for my local working copy...

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If you're trying to use a Sierra AirCard 597E on OS X 10.5 Leopard via the bundled Sierra Wireless Watcher Lite software, then you're probably frustrated like me.

Since my original review, Sierra did release a new version 1.1.3 of the beleaguered PowerPC binary (no it's not Universal/Intel-native). While the new version starts less slowly than 1.1.1, it still mysteriously crashes, sometimes taking the connection with it.

The fix? Simply use Apple's built-in modem dialer, leaving Watcher Lite dormant unless its device provisioning or activation functions are required.

Step 1: In the Network Preferences Panel, check "Show modem status in menu bar"

Step 2: Enjoy the nicely integrated, crash-free EV-DO connectivity

On December 9th, after over twelve-years living in Austin, ten of them working as a pro web developer, I accepted a web dev position in San Francisco with Scout Labs. January 7th I start the job: front-end Ruby on Rails web development.

The company's product, the Scout, already received a revealing write-up by TechCrunch. The possibilities of the Scout are just beginning, and I'm ecstatic to become part of the team building this phenomenally useful tool.

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How does Sprint's Mobile Broadband service perform in Austin? Is it worth a twenty-four month commitment totaling over $1500?

In an effort to answer this question, here's a summary of my experiences & observations during this first month of going mobile.

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Cycle through open documents using Command + ` in Illustrator & InDesign; that's the OS X system-standard short-cut.

But that window switcher function is Ctrl + Tab in Photoshop.

Why Adobe, why?

After years of working out of an office & local cafes with WiFi, I've been jonesing for the ability to do my web work anywhere; especially under a shady tree in the park. I love loving my work. So, after comparing the only cellular broadband options available here in Austin TX (just two: Verizon & Sprint), I just picked up a cellular broadband internet card & plan with Sprint.

Here's my initial speed report using SpeakEasy's Speed Test...

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What do you get when you combine a Last.fm profile and Amazon's MP3 Downloads?

You get personally tuned, streaming radio (my favorite is "My Neighborhood" in Discovery Mode) with inexpensive, non-DRM, high-quality (256Kbps VBR) MP3 downloads just a few clicks away.

Wow. I just suddenly realized how much the iTunes Music Store missed the Web 2.0 boat. Good luck Apple; I'll still buy your computers & OS.

Here's a quick demo of how the Last.fm-Amazon combo works...

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Response code "406" makes it look like a web server error, but if you're troubled in Windows Internet Explorer 6, it may very well be a client-side error.

Client-side Causes

• loading a behavior in CSS, like img.transparent { behavior: url(iepngfix.htc); }, where the URL actually returns an error (self-diagnosed in Windows Internet Explorer 6)
• broken meta tags (source)

Server-side Causes

• Accept-headers that do not declare any types that the server can provide (source)
• over-zealous mod_security (source)

Here's a WSDL file for Zimbra's Admin SOAP API.

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Just switched this site/blog from Typo to Mephisto, a process that's taken months to accomplish in spare moments of personal web productivity.

The conversion process didn't work so well at first. It took digging in to the Mephisto Converter code to make it work going from Typo 4.1.1 to Mephisto trunk.

Here's the code that made it WFM.

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Well this is quickly becoming Mars' notes from building software on OS X blog!

Anyway, after following the official RMagick install, gem install rmagick fails with an error like:

/usr/local/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/rmagick-1.15.7/./lib/rvg/misc.rb:321:
in `get_type_metrics': unable to read font `/Library/Fonts/Verdana' (Magick::ImageMagickError)

It seems that the examples fail because of a spurious font choice in the documented examples.

All that is needed to build the RMagick gem successfully at this point is:

sudo gem install rmagick -- --disable-htmldoc

And voila, the examples aren't built, thereby avoiding the problem.

RMagick!

Say for instance you just applied a software update to your Mac OS X Server and rebooted.

Suddenly a Rails app that was running fine spits out an error when ActionPack does a redirect_to. In the Rails production.log:

SystemStackError (stack level too deep)

Well my friend, before you set off to debugging the Ruby install on your OS X machine, try clearing the Rails sessions. At the command line:

rake tmp:sessions:clear RAILS_ENV=production

Everyone must login again, but alas the problem is solved! [for me]

Is it because we're using Apple's built-in Apache 1.3 web server with source-compiled FastCGI support? Hmmm.

Want to try implementing a design with PNG graphics?

The glaring problem of PNG images is synchronizing color appearance with GIF/JPEG images & CSS colors. This is a well documented problem.

PNG vs JPEG/GIF color problems can be avoided by using PNG for all of the graphics in a site that must perfectly match.

Otherwise, the best path to PNG bliss is a shell command tool that strips out all that advanced color/gamma data (since it confuses different browsers in different ways) and tries each of the 130+ compression modes to find the most efficient one.

pngcrush -rem gAMA -rem cHRM -rem iCCP -rem sRGB -brute infile.png outfile.png

Get it at the pngcrush development site or as I did (for Mac OS X) via Darwin Ports.

Texas' premier Ruby Conference web site is now officially live.

The site is powered by RadiantCMS running on two Mongrels balanced by Nginx.

There's not much info yet, just a pre-registration form to help the plan the event. Plan to come on down to the Ruby Conference in Austin. It might actually drop under 100-degrees by September 7th!