Create an .iso Image with OS X 10.5

For work I needed a burnable CDROM .iso image for use on both Macs and PCs. On OS X 10.5, this can all be done with your Mac, no special software required. Unfortunately, no one has written down all the steps. So, if for only but my own benefit, here are all the steps to create an image. Note: I am doing quite a bit of testing so if I run into any issues, I will post an update.

Create an .iso Image from Scratch on OS X 10.5 Leopard

1. Create a directory which acts as the root directory for your iso image.
   
   
   
   
   • For example, name the directory Source_Code_V1.
   
   
   
   • All the files for this iso image would go into the Source_Code_V1. directory.
   
   
   
   



2. Open the Disk Utility program. It is in the Utilities subdirectory of your /Applications directory.



3. From the Disk Utility menu, select File -> New -> Disk Image from Folder



4. Select the folder you created above. (i.e., Source_Code_V1).



5. A dialog pops up. By default the image name will be the same as the directory name.



6. You have options to select: Image Format and Encryption.
   
   
   
   
   • Image Format - Since this is a CDROM select the hybrid image (HFS+/ISO/UDF) option.
   
   
   
   • Encyrption - Select none.
   
   
   
   



7. Click Save. Your directory is now converted into a OS X disk image (with a .dmg extension). You should be able to mount this image and view the files.



8. Mount the disk image and make sure all the files are there as you want them.



9. To create the iso image, open a terminal window.



10. Navigate to the directory where your disk image is.



11. Type in the following command to convert your image into a cd image.: hdiutil convert Source_Code_V1.dmg -format UDTO -o Source_Code_V1



12. An CDROM image file is created with a .cdr extension.



13. To make the file an iso, rename the file.



14. mv Source_Code_V1.cdr Source_Code_V1.iso

That's it. You should have a shiny new .iso image you can burn to a CD or share with your friends.

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Posted by Kathy Walrath, Technical Writer

Transfer files between a Blackberry Curve 8310 and an Acer Aspire One

It is easy to transfer files (e.g. photos) between a Blackberry Curve 8310 and an Acer Aspire One (AA1).

First a few background details: The AA1 comes with 5 usb ports (according to the dmesg output).



$ dmesg | grep 'new USB'
ehci_hcd 0000:00:1d.7: new USB bus registered, assigned bus number 1
uhci_hcd 0000:00:1d.0: new USB bus registered, assigned bus number 2
uhci_hcd 0000:00:1d.1: new USB bus registered, assigned bus number 3
uhci_hcd 0000:00:1d.2: new USB bus registered, assigned bus number 4
uhci_hcd 0000:00:1d.3: new USB bus registered, assigned bus number 5



When plugging the Blackberry into one of those USB ports, two events happen; one on the AA1 and the other on the Blackberry.



$ dmesg
...
scsi 4:0:0:0: Direct-Access RIM BlackBerry SD 0001 PQ: 0 ANSI: 4 CCS
sd 4:0:0:0: [sdb] Attached SCSI removable disk
sd 4:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg1 type 0
sd 4:0:0:0: [sdb] 3994624 512-byte hardware sectors (2045 MB)
sd 4:0:0:0: [sdb] Write Protect is off
sd 4:0:0:0: [sdb] Mode Sense: 43 00 00 53
sd 4:0:0:0: [sdb] Assuming drive cache: write through
sd 4:0:0:0: [sdb] 3994624 512-byte hardware sectors (2045 MB)
sd 4:0:0:0: [sdb] Write Protect is off
sd 4:0:0:0: [sdb] Mode Sense: 43 00 00 53
sd 4:0:0:0: [sdb] Assuming drive cache: write through



The Blackberry warns:

USB charging current is not sufficient. Verify that your handheld is connecting to a powered USB charging source and that the proper USB driver is installed.


acknowledging that message, one is presented with:


Do you want to turn on Mass Storage Mode? You might not be able to access some media files in this mode.


Then one is presented with the option:


Mass Storage Mode is being activated. Enter your device password to grant access:

Finally after acknowledging the warnings and supplying the Blackberry password access to the USB storage on the Blackberry is available. It then can be treated like all other storage devices.

Surfing the Green Wave in Copenhagen

In Chicago we have what's known as the "Chicago Pace" (not to be confused with the PACE buses). Simply put, if you walk at the right pace you can cruise from intersection to intersection without stopping (not that jaywalking is unknown among Chicagoans). I've been able to walk from my office on the corner of Wacker and Adams to the Art Institute (Michigan Ave and Adams) in under ten minutes; a distance of about 1 km. The same applies when walking up Wacker Drive from the Sears Tower to the Wrigley Building on Michigan Avenue.

In Copenhagen they use the term "Green Wave". If you cycle (Danes cycle everywhere) into Copenhagen on certain high traffic streets (N�rrebrogade being one of them) and maintain a ~20 km/hr pace you will be into city center in no time at all. Colville Andersen has produced a neat little video capturing the 'green wave' in action. Have a look at and treat yourself to a little Danish 'bicycle' rock; Iben's Jeg savner min bl� cykel - (I miss my blue blue bicycle) and Tue West's S�t dig bag p� min cykel - (Sit up on the back of my bike).


The Green Wave in Copenhagen from Colville Andersen on Vimeo.

Notice, in the video, the street lights changing to green in the upper right hand corner. Also take note how the Danes have separated the main street (lowest level), the bike path (cyclevej) on the next level up from the foot path (highest level).

Ajax/JavaScript Ceritification - Need a few good geeks

If you don't know already, I work in Learning for Sun Microsystems. We are looking at creating an Ajax/JavaScript certification to go along with our existing Java certs. To do that, we generally use real developers developers to define the test objectives and write the questions. And right now we are looking for a few of those folks. So if you have always wanted to say in an interview "I don't have that cert, because I wrote the test." Now is your chance. :)

If you are interested, please add a comment to this post. Please include name, e-mail, your blog/company url, and a phone number so we can contact you. I will pass along your information to the project lead. Since the comments are moderated I will not post any of your information to the Web. This is a limited time opportunity as we need to hear back in the next couple of days. I will remove this post when we have enough people.

And now a word from our sponsor.

---

Need AJAX Experts

My name is Evelyn Cartagena-Meyer and I'm the Java Certification Program Manager. I create all the Java certification exams here at Sun.

I'm in the process of recruiting Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) for the Sun Certified AJAX Developer certification exam.

The two phases I need your expertise in, are:

1. Your expertise to help with the creation of the testing objectives for the certification exam. I will need your expertise to participate on con calls to ensure we are testing in the important areas. The con calls will be a one hour call and depending on how far we get, we will proceed to have other calls.


2. A one week item development workshop, which consists of 10-11 top-notch AJAX experts (SMEs). I fly and pay for all the expenses for all SMEs coming to Colorado for the workshop.

The week will consist of writing questions for the certification exam using the testing objectives. Each SME will probably write 8-9 questions per day, so Monday thru Wednesday and then on Thursday and Friday we do a technical review and review all 300 questions created by the SMEs.

Past participants have found this workshop to be an extremely rewarding experience where they get to interact with and learn from other top-notch peers and build relationships that lasts beyond the workshop.

The workshop will be the week of December 8-12 here at the Broomfield Colorado campus.

It would be great to have an expert like you on our team for that week.

I hope you are interested in participating and if you know of any other experts that can participate, can you please send me their names or send them my email?

Please let me know.

Thank you.

Evelyn Cartagena-Meyer

Java Certification Program Manager

---

PC-BSD on a USB memory stick

My goal was simple: create a bootable USB memory stick and copy the install image of PC-BSD onto the USB memory stick.

This was achieved w/o much trouble using my FreeBSD server at work. I performed the following operations logged in as root.

The USB image was downloaded from the PC-BSD website


Assumption: the USB memory stick is plugged into the server at /dev/da0

# fdisk -BI /dev/da0
# bsdlabel -w -B /dev/da0s1
# newfs /dev/da0
# dd if=/usr/home/kengell/PCBSD7-x86-USB.img of=/dev/da0 bs=1m

Featured gadget: Persian Calendar

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Each week this blog features a recently added Google Desktop gadget that looks promising. If you'd like to see all new Desktop gadgets as they're published, subscribe to the RSS feed.

Posted by Kathy Walrath, Technical Writer