While running like a headless champion better than 99% of the time, I tried connecting a Mac mini (mid 2011) to an iPad 2 with Duet Display last night. After trying this, Duet Display didn’t project the display from the Mac mini to the iPad and, while viewing the connection over VNC, the Mac mini slowly became unresponsive and restarts didn’t help. Even after a couple restarts, the Mac mini was unreachable.

Putting the mini in Target Disk Mode and booting its system volume through a MacBook Pro allowed OS X to boot and I could view the screen, but when booting OS X on the mini alone, it failed to establish a network connection. Resetting the SMC and PRAM failed to help. After finding another display to attach (thanks, Mom and Dad!), the mini booted up and connected with AirPort, but the ethernet card wasn’t detected by OS X – as observed through About this Mac->System Report…->Ethernet Cards, the mini only said “This computer does not appear to have any pci ethernet cards installed”. Deleting the Ethernet port in Network Settings and rebooting only seemed to make things worse, as the Ethernet port couldn’t be added back through Network Settings.

Many reports on the web indicate that the NetworkInterfaces.plist and other files should be trashed, but I was worried that possibly other files were corrupted too. Rather than play roulette with plist files, I took the easy way out – I allowed OS X to reinstall itself while I slept. After doing this and revisiting “System information”, the Ethernet port shows it is in now recognized:

Fixed!

I’m trying to use Duet Display on a restored iPad 2 and a Mac mini. When I plug the iPad into the Mac mini and launch Duet Display on both devices, the Mac mini seems to acknowledge that the iPad is plugged in, but Duet Display freezes the iPad’s display and it looks like this:

What are my options to fix this?

The above-referenced apps are now running on my OS X Server. To get PHP 7 running, check out my previous post:

https://www.schwie.com/brad/?p=325

To get owncloud running, I downloaded the tar’d files from download.owncloud.org, moved them to the following directory:

/Library/Server/Web/Data/Sites/owncloud

And then changed the permissions so that Apache can run the show:

sudo chown -Rv _www /Library/Server/Web/Data/Sites/owncloud

From there, everything installs as it should and despite the warnings about Mac OS X not being supported, owncloud 7 and 8 have been running fine for me.

I thought I needed PHP version 7 for our machine running OS X Server and used the following steps successfully:

1. Launch Terminal.app and execute the following commands:

curl -s http://php-osx.liip.ch/install.sh | bash -s 7.0
sudo pico /Library/Server/Web/Config/apache2/httpd_server_app.conf

2. Search (control-w) for “php5_module” (for my system, it was line 184 – press control-c to see the line number in pico) and make these changes:

#Comment out the PHP5 module
#LoadModule php5_module libexec/apache2/libphp5.so

#Enable PHP 7 module
LoadModule php7_module /usr/local/php5-7.0.0RC8-20151127-210333/libphp7.so

LoadModule php7_module /usr/local/php5-7.0.10-20160831-102733/libphp7.so

Search (control-w) for “FilesMatch” (for my system, it was line 292) and paste in:
SetHandler application/x-httpd-php

3. Execute the following commands in Terminal.app to see your changes live:

sudo apachectl restart
php -version

So far PHP 7 seems to be compatible with other services that rely on PHP, so that’s good…

** UPDATE 6-12-2020 **
php 7.0.10 ran on my macOS Server, now running High Sierra, until today when WordPress reminded me this version of php is out of date. For those updating to php 7.3.8, check out my updated post.

If you’re looking to gain IP address information for a Mitel 5312 IP Phone on your network, from the handset, try the following gleaned info:

Hold down the up and down buttons together and then release just the down button. While still pressing the up key dial 234 on the dial pad and then release the up key. Select Yes for Network Parameters, and select Yes to View current values.

Disaster struck about a year ago. I’d been saving iMovie projects to a Western Digital WD3200BEVT 2.5-inch drive of mine when suddenly none of my Macs would recognize the drive anymore. The iMovie files on the drive were collected over several years, with each year representing a fundraising project for my kids’ school. Not wanting to give up on the data, I shelved the drive until this weekend.

A few symptoms I noticed… When a USB to SATA cable was attached to the drive, the drive would spin up, but it was never recognized by the system (System Profiler showed nothing). When a FireWire to SATA cable was attached to the drive, the drive would spin up, but then it would make a clicking noise, spin down, and repeat, all without my Macs recognizing it.

Looking for an easy way out, I contacted Kroll Ontrack, a data recovery specialist here in town. I was quoted $700-1,300 to recover the drive’s contents. I thanked them for their courteous and prompt response, but I decided the data wasn’t worth that much to recover. After reading some information on the web, it appeared this type of drive cannot be repaired by swapping the PCB, so since it was pretty much a lost cause, I decided to take the PCB off the drive and have a look.

On the underside of the PCB, I was able to identify tarnished leads, circled in the photo below. Using my trusty Pentel Clic Eraser (i.e. white eraser), I gently rubbed the tarnished areas. The tarnish came right off and the board was once again shiny.

After reattaching the PCB and plugging the drive in with the USB to SATA cable, the drive mounted with all my data. $1k saved. Sorry Ontrack.

My old Specialized rear wheel (with Stout hub) needed new bearings and new cone nuts during a rebuild. Finding the 1/4-inch diameter bearings is easy, but no info exists for the cone nuts. I decided to measure the diameters and lengths of the existing cone nuts and order new cone nuts from Wheels Mfg; CN-R081 and CN-R097. For before and after shots, see the original cone nuts are shown in front of bags with new cone nuts):

Two make the new cone nuts work, I made two modifications:

1. I had to remove the dust shield from the drive side nut (see clipped shield below):
   
2. I had to remove one thick washer and replace it with a thinner one, this corrected the total axle width back to 135mm, so I felt good about that.

I was only counting on this wheel as a backup, but I already find myself putting it in service. It squeaked for the first couple days in use, so I pulled it apart, re-packed with Phil Wood’s grease. It squeaked for another couple days of use, but is now quiet and seems to be functioning fine. Thank you Wheels Manufacturing!

My KickBack’s spring is trashed from several years of winter riding and I’ve never liked how it smacks the KickBack into the frame with a clank whenever I hit bumps on the road. A couple days ago I replaced the KickBack’s feet, so I figured why not do some more tinkering? I know I can pick up a replacement spring for not too much, but there’s not much satisfaction installing something that lacks power and will continue to make  noise.

On a recent ride home, I came across a 15-inch black rubber bungee cord laying in the road. I pulled the s-hooks out of it and it is the perfect length to replace the KickBack’s spring system and work with the existing screw hardware, with a couple washers added in:

Better yet, the 7/8-inch diameter replacement feet that I picked up at Menards happen to be a perfect fit for the KickBack’s frame stop!

After an evening family ride to Izzy’s, I’m stunned at the improvement. The Dummy has never been this quiet and the KickBack recoils with more strength than a brand new Xtracycle replacement spring. I’m posting some pictures of the finished fit belowabove and when this set up wears out, I’ve got plans to rig something up that’s even more elegant with less frame rub – stay tuned. As it is, I’m guessing the current set up won’t last more than a year before the bungee cord rips.

Finally, last enhancement was replacement of the metal clips that seem to rust out while inside the Kickback in winter environments. I picked up a three pack of these and clipped the nub off one side. Notice how they are very similar in size:

Butterfly clips replace Xtracycle Kickback clips

Ok, now I can get back to washing this beast…

After the last two winters, I’ve entered spring with a creaking noise coming from the rear of the Dummy. Last year, I found that it was spoke nipples that needed some lubrication, but that didn’t help this year. I then tried tightening the spokes, based on advice from a repair guy during Minneapolis Bike to Work Week, but that didn’t help either.

Even though I rebuilt the Dummy’s rear hub last spring, I decided to do it again by gutting the bearings, cleaning the hub, and packing with new bearings and grease and boom, back in business! So glad to have a silent, non-creaking ride again.

I’ve gone through several plastic feet on the KickBack, mounted to my Big Dummy. I’ve grown tired of purchasing replacement kits to source the plastic feet, as the kits are relatively expensive and I don’t need all the extra parts they provide. I’ve across a couple great ideas from others:

http://andy-projects.blogspot.com/2013/08/xtracycle-kickback-kickstand-fixes.html

and

https://jnyyz.wordpress.com/2012/03/27/extra-feet-for-the-xtracycle/

So, I followed their advice, in particular the advice in the second link – going with vinyl caps instead of rubber ones. Based on this information, I purchased a couple types of caps/feet at Menards:

https://www.menards.com/main/home-decor/furniture/casters-furniture-hardware/grips-pads-tips/shepherd-7-8-black-hi-vinyl-leg-tips/p-2718333.htm

and

http://www.menards.com/main/furnitureutilityhardware/78inch-vinyl-hi-tips-black/p-1469292.htm?plckReviews=true

I placed the caps, from the first link, on the KickBack – they fit like a champ and so far seem to be working just fine.

Multiple sets of replacement feet for 1/10 the OEM cost is a bargain. Thanks, Andy and Prof. from Toronto. Now I need to figure out a cheap and better way to replace the KickBack’s spring.

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5/6/2017 UPDATE:

Was doing some post-winter maintenance on my Big Dummy and noticed the 7/8-inch chair tips were both punctured and I believe I had just put fresh ones on a year ago. All’s good. I removed the punctured ones with a utility knife and tossed a couple new ones on. Menards still carries them, so it looks like I can pick up another 4-pack of the 7/8-inch size.