Using a mac to access Citrix? Don’t know what Citrix is? Read about it here
http://www.usyd.edu.au/webservices/manage/citrix.shtml

What I’m using:

1. MacBook (Mac from now on) OS 10.4.10

2. Citrix ICA Client (Citrix from now on) version 7.00.407
Download it here: http://www.citrix.com/site/SS/downloads/downloads.asp?dID=2755

A friend contacted me to ask my opinion about buying a new computer. I, of course, reiterated what I’ve been telling her for years: Get a mac. Her main concern was being able to teleconference with non-mac users. That was an easy issue since we tested out video conferencing with iChat (on my mac) and her windows webcamera. I asked her what other programs she would need to use. In the past she had mentioned a “remote desktop” program to use her work computer from home. She sent me a link to where she access her work computer. It was Citrix. I had experience with this, since I use it for one of my businesses that uses online forms.

When I tried logging on her server I got the following error:

SSL Error 0: You have not chosen to trust “UTN-USERFirst-Hardware”, the issuer of the server’s security certificate

A quick search online got me to this forum:
http://ctxex10.citrix.com/forums/thread.jspa?forumID=12&threadID=85793&messageID=566016&

with information on how to create the .crt file that is needed. I created the file in windows’s NotePad (XP not Vista) using Parallels, because of previous issues I’ve had with extensions in mac’s TextEdit and windows not recognizing them. I followed the instructions on the forum, tried accessing her server again, and I was on her desktop.

Now the big question: when will she finally get her mac?!

As promised in a previous post about using the blackberry 8700 as a modem, I’ll explain how to get the programs so you can start creating your own themes after the phone is upgraded to OS 4.2.

What I’m using:

1. Phone: BlackBerry (BB from now on) 8700g on T-Mobile network running BB Operating System (OS from now on) 4.2

2. Computer:

MacBook (Mac from now on) OS 10.4.10
Parallels (build 3214)
Windows XP Service Pack 2

What you will need to download:

Fortunately, the Plazmic site has links to most of the programs you’ll need to download, located under the headings Download and System Requirements. FYI- Plazmic, BlackBerry and Sun sites will all ask you to fill out informational forms before you can download.

Get the programs at http://www.plazmic.com/en/download/index.shtml and have the following files on your computer before you start:

From Plazmic site:

BlackBerry_JDE_4[1].2.1.exe (Java Development Environment (JDE) v4.2.0 OR V4.2.1)
BlackBerry_Email_MDS_4.1.0-4.exe (BlackBerry email & MDS Services simulator package)
Plazmic_CDK_v4_2_2.exe (Content Developer Kit 4.2.2)

From Sun:

jdk-1_5_0_12-nb-5_5_1-win-ml.exe (Java SE Development Kit)
Download JDK5: http://java.sun.com/javase/downloads/index_jdk5.jsp
Install instructions: http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.5.0/install_jdk1.5_12-nb5.5.1_ml.html (It’s updated version 13 now, so file name might not be exactly the same. I used 12 successfully and have not tried 13.)

I’m not uploading programs here, they’re easy to find on the respective sites. If you don’t have the correct version of something you’ll be notified to download it when installing or trying to run the programs.

Next, start installing the programs. I would start with the Java since the other programs need it to run. After I installed all the programs I shut down Windows in Parallels and I also restarted the Mac.

I had to open Plazmic severals times before it would stop freezing upon opening. Once the program was running well I started making a theme with the Theme Builder, which is very easy to use. Take a look around the program and note the image sizes so you can gather whatever icons/pictures/images you’d like to use for the different phone functions.

After saving the theme, the next step was loading it on the phone. Again, this was very easy using the Application Loader in the BB desktop.

The longest processes was installing the programs. Once I got the Theme Builder running I personalized a theme in about an hour and half. I now have an awesome Little Twin Stars theme on my phone!

Geo-mashup is a plugin that uses Google maps to map your posts and pages. You can find it here along with other mapping plugins http://codex.wordpress.org/Plugins/Geo

My goals was to have:

• my default WordPress home page have a map showing the world
• pins/markers on that map linking to all pages/posts with map coordinates

I followed the instruction for Quick Start: Adding a Geo Mashup page #3 from here http://code.google.com/p/wordpress-geo-mashup/wiki/Documentation. I later found this was not necessary because I had to remove the code from the map page in order to use the Template Tags, which you need to show all the post/page locations.

The Geo-mashup instructions are vague in some parts. You’ll need to know the following:

The Loop, read what it is here http://codex.wordpress.org/The_Loop

I’m using the WordPress Classic 1.5 theme and running WordPress 2.3, so I edited index.php instead of the page.php used in other templates. It is located in the Administration Panel > Presentation > Theme Editor and edit Main Index Template.

Next, you’ll need to add this line in “the loop” <?php GeoMashup::the_map() ?> I put it near the top:

<?php
get_header();
?>

<?php if (have_posts()) : while (have_posts()) : the_post(); ?>

<?php the_date('','<h2>','</h2>'); ?>

<?php GeoMashup::the_map() ?> HERE

Remember to update file.

www.yoursite.com vs. //yoursite.com and the redirect. I did not use the redirect plugin mentioned in the geo-mashup instructions. Pages on my site redirected automatically when I typed in www.yoursite.com to //yoursite.com. My settings in the Administration Panel > Options > General are:

WordPress address (URL): http://yoursite.com

Blog address (URL): http://yoursite.com

I’m not sure if this is the reason for the automatic redirect. This was a major issues when I used Gallery2, I had to redirect or send links that said go to http://www.yoursite.com and hoped they clicked the link.

After figuring all that out, pins/markers were still not showing. From reading a few posts ( http://www.cyberhobo.net/downloads/geo-mashup-plugin/ read # 104-108) it could’ve been that I was impatient and takes a while for the something to be recognized. This might be the last step needed.

In hindsight I should’ve waited a bit. But in my desperation I also changed the setting for the markers in the Administration Panel > Options > Geo Mashup

Hide Markers Until Zoom Level 0 (max zoom out) – 17 (max zoom in)

By default the level is blank, I figured it would be good to see markers when the map is zoomed out all the way so I put in zero. When I reloaded the page the markers showed up. Like I said, this might not have anything to do with the markers showing. But it worked for me.

**UPDATE: Just updated to WP 2.3.1 and geo-mashup runs fine (11/15/07)**

Since googlepages is restrictive for their “home” pages you might want to redirect to your own home/index file. Here are two choices:

Redirect to a Different URL using the Meta Tag “Refresh”
http://webmaster.iu.edu/tool_guide_info/refresh_metatag.shtml

Javascript (use with the other method in case javascript is disabled)

<script>
window.location.replace(“http://www.yoursite.com“)
</script>

On the old shared-server (ss) password protecting a directory was fairly easy. The same seemed to be the case for the grid-server (gs) lite. Find the directory, click to protect it and then add users or groups who are allowed to enter. Right, I did that and then went to test it.

The browser’s login message box appeared, I put in the login and password. The page seemed to start to load because the title appeared in the browser window. But the login message box showed up again, so I filled out the form, again- access granted. I thought, ok, that’s kind of strange maybe typed something in wrong. Uh, no. There is an issue with mediatemple. They couldn’t give me any more direction than this:

This is due to the .htaccess file in domain.com/html/protected_directory so there’s not really anything you can do about it. You can try editing this file (from the file manager in the Account Center) and moving the block of text for the password protection so that it’s above the block of text for wordpress but I’m not sure if that will work. If not then you’re stuck entering the password twice, sorry.

I tried this and no luck. So I’m “stuck” entering the information twice, which taking the 1/2 full glass outlook means that it’s kind of double protected. But you know what, the glass is only 1/2 (either full or empty, take your pick). There’s gotta be fix.

UPDATE 10/19/07:
This problem has been solved.  No, not by any .htaccess trickery. It just worked. Today when I signed in the login and password were only required once. I have a sneaking suspicion that the recent fixes to the grid.cluster.2 (http://weblog.mediatemple.net/weblog/category/system-incidents/gridcluster2-network-latency/)might have not only fixed the latency issues (that in the past few weeks was making everything run molasses slow) but the double login for the password protected directories. Hurray!

After giving up on gallery2 I now had to find out how to incorporate one into wordpress. I found a list of resources here http://codex.wordpress.org/Photoblogs_and_Galleries

I decided on the NextGen plugin http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/nextgen-gallery/ with the JW Image Rotator http://www.jeroenwijering.com/ included. It’s very easy to use and and I had my pictures up fast.

So after the easy migration I innocently thought everything would work fine, even after reading migration “horror” stories, mainly faulting mediatemple.

Navigating around the control panel was easy and better organized than before.

But, then I went to open my Gallery2 and the upgrade page appeared. Ok, I’d been using it for the past 2 years without any major problems, so the upgrade page looked like the other install pages used before. Except, I could never get past the 1 step – “verify me” page, getting this:

Error: your login.txt key does not match correctly. Please download a new authentication string from below and try again.

So I tried and tried and by the third try checked online and found this http://gallery.menalto.com/node/50677 post dealing with the same issue. I tried all the suggestions but no luck and no response to my post either. It seams that was on gallery’s head and not mediatemple’s.

I decided after a few days of searching to ditch Gallery (reluctantly at first) and change. That’s when I thought, heck I should just incorporate it into wordpress since I have it now: http://bugambilia.wordpress.com/2007/09/30/adding-a-photo-gallery-to-wordpress/

If you have the 8700 you already know that you shouldn’t be able to connect to the internet via Bluetooth (also known as tethering). If you’re thinking of getting one you should know that it is possible to connect. I’ve listed the steps below that I used to successfully do this:

1. Phone: BlackBerry (BB from now on) 8700g on T-Mobile network running BB Operating System (OS from now on) 4.1

2. Computer: MacBook (Mac from now on) OS 10.4.10 using Parallels (build 3214)

Upgrading BB OS

3. Upgrade BB OS to 4.2. On these pages, John Ball gives a great step-by-step:

http://johnball.wordpress.com/2007/08/01/upgrading-the-blackberry-8700c-41-to-42-os/

http://johnball.wordpress.com/2007/08/04/blackberry-8700-421x-update/

4. I use Parallels, connecting the phone with the usb was a bit of a hassle, sometimes it recognized- other times it didn’t. Not sure if it’s a Parallels or BB problem. Once I got to the Application Loader Screen the processing froze. Not heeding the warnings of John Ball I disconnected and tried again only because the Updating Your Device section never got past Back Up data. I figured nothing had been lost.

I started the Application Loader again but decided to not include the Back Up Data as part of this process. This time I got further, to Read Java application configuration and the process froze. Yes, I restarted and did it all over again. The third time worked and I got through the whole process, very nervously I admit. I didn’t want to buy a new phone.

5. The first time the BB started up it took about 4-5 minutes. The native “theme” that it had looked like an 80’s video game. I navigated to the themes and activated a default one. I turned on Bluetooth.

**As a bonus for going to 4.2 I can now make my own themes using Plazmic, which I’ll explain how I got it to work on Parallels in another post. UPDATE: here’s the post
http://bugambilia.wordpress.com/2007/10/23/creating-themes-for-blackberry-8700-using-plazmic-on-a-mac/

Getting Modem Script

6. The next step is how to get the Mac to use the phone as a modem. For that you need a modem script. I found it with directions here http://www.fibble.org/archives/000508.html. There are lots of comments, so read through to find others who use your cellular carrier. I use T-Mobile, username and password are guest.

The Connection

If you’re spoiled using high-speed connections, this isn’t the fastest. But it’s surprisingly quick. My only complaint is that the connection times out if it’s inactive for a few minutes and you have to reconnect. But other than that I’ve had no problems while browsing the internet for hours on end

I had very few problems with the shared-server over the past two years. I decided to migrate for a few reasons, the top ones being:

• My two-year prepaid subscription was about to expire. As a current client the same monthly rate would apply, coming out to $7.95/month, for the grid-server (gs) lite.
• I wanted to add wordpress (especially with the ease of 1 click like dreamhost).

The Steps

After a few support tickets with mediatemple’s customer service department confirming the above, I decided to switch. But I had to wait another week because the “prepare your server” function was being worked on. So I waited.

The migration took about 12 hours, the first step (preparing the server) took the longest (12 hours), steps 2-3 took about 20 minutes. And migration was completed today.