Android Devs XML theme for TextMate (2)

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.

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

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!

How to generate png for icns iconset macOS

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

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

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.

How to crop a video to square on macOS

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.

Useful resources for Qemu 3 on macOS

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-osxI 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

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.

Related links

• Reauthorizing Automation in Mojave (where I picked the code from)