Installing Synergy on Mac Mini OS X

I've set this up twice: once for my Mac Mini at home: hooked up to my LCD TV so I can play DVDs and watch movies; once at work so I can test on Macintosh OS X Operating System. I did this because it's so difficult to find and run OS X on a Virtual Machine and I had the hardware. (Pretty soon I'll need something that can run Google's new Operating System!)

By installing Synergy on my Desktop PC (Windows XP Professional at work and Windows Vista Ultimate at home) and on my Mac Mini (OS X), I can share my mouse and keyboard between the two. My monitors easily accept two monitor connections so no need for a KVM switch. This setup will work with any PC and Mac as long as you're using OS X.

Note: I leave a mouse plugged into each machine so I can start Synergy after the computer goes to sleep, gets turned off, needs to be woken from sleep, etc. A wireless mouse works well.

Requirements:
1. You should already have Synergy downloaded and installed on your PC.
2. It should be configured for all existing machines.
- If you want to know how to install Synergy on your PC then let me know and I will blog about it.

Preparation Steps:
1. Download the Synergy Client for OS X here (this will start the download for the binaries).
2. Download the Synergy GUI for OS X here (this will start the download for the program).
3. Extract each of the downloaded files.

Installation Steps:
4. Run the OsXSnyergyGui application.
5. It should ask for the location of the synergy client application. Browse to the path of your recently extract synergy folder (mine is called synergy-1.3.1) and select syngeryc.
6. The OS X Synergy GUI application should now appear. It displays the path to synergyc and asks for a Server IP Address if you are on the Client tab (you should be).

PC Configuration Steps:
7. Start Synergy on your Desktop PC using the "Share this computer's keyboard and mouse (server)" option.
8. Click Configure
9. Under the Screens area, click the '+' button and add the name of the Mac Mini to the list. (This has to be the exact name of the computer or it won't connect.)
10. Under the Links area, add the position of your Mac Mini.
11. Click OK.
12. Start Synergy on your PC.

Mac OS X Configuration Steps:
13. In OS X Synergy GUI, enter the IP Address for the computer you just started Synergy on.
14. Click Start
15. If everything is setup correctly the GUI will say something like "NOTE: started client" and "NOTE: connected to server".

You should be all setup. If you're like me and don't want the distraction, hide the OS X Synergy GUI window and go about your work.

If anyone has problems or feedback, please let me know and I will try to incorporate the changes.

Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Turn off IIS Logging while performance / load testing

I was recently running some performance / load tests when I got a warning from windows that the my test machine's hard drive was running out of space. I was caught off guard since the system capacity is around 148GB, there were less than 4GB of installed programs (including the OS) and now there was only 9.8MB remaining. I ran WinDirStat and found the C:\WINNT\system32\LogFiles\W3SVC1 file had grown dramatically, in fact I had a number of .log files that were 9GB in size. As it turns out IIS logging was enabled and all of the traffic the load generators were sending were being logged over a period of about 18 hours, hence 140GB of log files.

My warning is turn off IIS logging while performance testing. To disable it: Control Panel > Administrative tools > IIS > Web Sites > Right click on Default Web Site > Properties. On the bottom of the initial Web Site tab will be 'Enable logging'. When enabled click Properties > You should see at the bottom of the General tab the log file directory that has exploded in size. Mine was saving to C:\WINNT\system32\LogFiles\W3SVC1 and WS3VC2.

Close the window and uncheck 'Enable logging' to disable it. Restart IIS. Delete all of the log files in the directory since they only contain traffic data. It might be a good idea to defrag your disk if it was at capacity.

Friday, June 12, 2009

HP MediaSmart EX 485 Home Server - No Monitor Port

I purchased my new HP MediaSmart EX 485 Home Server yesterday from Fry's and it seems like a great system with just one problem, no monitor port.

HP has a sense of humor. They give you the Operating System restore discs (which I prefer over a hard drive partition) but the server has NO drives and no monitor port! Hahaha, HP you're funny! While I understand this system was made to simply plug in and work, what if I want to make changes? Or what if I need to reinstall the operating system?

My plan is to take the 750GB pre-installed drive and replace it with a 1TB drive. The MediaSmart EX 485 Home Server makes it simple to install a lot more drive space but whatever drive you install the OS onto it essentially becomes irremovable. I have a spare CD drive and I should be able to pick up a USB to VGA adapter on the cheap. Once I attempt this swap and if I'm successful I will blog about the process so other people can upgrade their servers without a hiccup!

Sunday, June 7, 2009

Analysis Paralysis

Ever find yourself in a 2 hour development meeting and it seems like you were only productive for about 30-45 minutes of that? Your meeting may face Analysis Paralysis. Check it out here.

Sunday, May 31, 2009

Hosted Documents

Microsoft Office Live and Google Docs both host your documents online so it's easier for you to manage them and it reduce the problems that exist with multiple differing versions. Of course the downside to this comes when you don’t have access to those documents and/or the internet. I’m sitting here writing my blog post in Microsoft Word because I’m moving and our internet has officially been cut off. I can’t work on any of my todo items because they are stored online. While we are less and less likely to run across times when we can’t get to the internet (I could always go into work) it is still an inconvenience that we must deal with. Oh good times!

Saturday, May 30, 2009

Mac OS X on a Virtual Machine

Is it really a lot to ask Apple for a Macintosh OS X virtual machine? I came across this article in ars technica that Parallels said it's possible to put OS X on a virtual machine but currently they won't do it as Apple's EULA forbids it. On top of that Apple is known for being fickle with it's vendors and Parallel's doesn't want to piss them off. I can't say I blame them.

I've got a Mac Mini that I don't use much and honestly I got it for the OS - the cool little hardware, that I've since put Vista on, was just an added bonus. I've got the OS discs, I've got VMware Workstation and I think it's time to figure out a way to install one on the other. I'll let everyone know how it goes!

Update on 07/07/2009:
The inner workings of getting Mac OS X to run on a virtual machine are incredibly complex as I found on OSX86Project.com.

I continued my pursuit and I came across a torrent on The Pirate Bay where someone managed to install and get working a Mac OS X virtual machine for VMware. I downloaded it, unpacked it, ran it and found a real working version, albeit a bit slow and clumsy. The boot times and regular operation were slow, it didn't have all of the beautiful graphics / effects of the normal version and well was barely usable - other than perhaps for the occasion test.

This Virtual Machine version of Mac OS X will work if you don't have a Mac computer to play with, but I do, so this program will officially go into storage. (I don't want to get rid of it.. just in case...)

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

MacBook iMac Rack Hack for a Dell

Instructables.com has a really cool hack that involves putting your MacBook in a rack and attaching it to the back of your computer monitor. While this wouldn't work for me since I have two Dell monitors that rotate 360* and therefore have an arm in the way, it is a good idea. I also don't think it would work well with my Dell Latitude D820 because it seems a little heavy for the wire rack, but it would be cool to see if I could configure it to work with my port replicator!

I prefer a clean / minimalist looking desk and this hack seems to fit that model pretty well. Check out the article here.