Crayon Syntax Highlighter

I have for sometime been looking for a code highlighter to publish snippets of code.

Have high hope for the Crayon Syntax Highlighter.

The installation was done from within my WordPress installation. More details are found here.

Here is a small code snippet in JavaScript, I cut and pasted it into the Crayon Tag Editor.

 

Install TypeScript with Visual Studio 2012

 

This is a short, how to install TypeScript with Visual Studio 2012. In this example I’ve used the Professional edition.

1. Install the TypeScript plugin for Visual Studio 2012. Download the .msi file from TypeScriptlang.org or go direct to Microsofts page.

2. TypeScript code are compiled to plain JavaScript with the TSC.exe compiler. We wan’t do have this process done automatic. A nice plugin for Visual Studio 2012 is the Web Essentials 2012 who makes the compilation every time a TypeScript file is saved.

3. In Visual Studio, go to Tools -> Extensions and Updates. Select Web Essentials 2012 and download. You probably have to restart Visual Studio.

Visual Studio 2012 Extensions and Updates dialog
Extensions and updates dialog in Visual Studio 2012

4. Start to explore and develop with TypeScript.

Install Linux Mint from USB

The days are long gone when I have to waste a DVD to install Linux on a machine.

Step by step:

1. Download Linux Mint. I use Bit Torrent client Transmisson.

2. Install the Imagewriter with apt install usb-imagewriter.

3. Start Imagewriter. Select source .iso and destination(your USB stick). Begin the transfer and installation files from the ISO file will be transfered to the USB stick. All files on the USB stick will be erased.

4. Boot the computer from USB stick and install Linux Mint.

Linux Mint
Linux Mint

Upgrade of Lion to Mountain Lion

I finally decided to upgrade my Mac Mini from OS X 10.7 Lion to 10.8.2 Mountain Lion. I waited a service release and read the reviews. This is my first major update of a OS X system. Before this I only had minor upgrades.

It was easy to upgrade and it went well.

These where the few simple steps:

  1. First a bootable copy of my system disk was created with Carbon Copy Cloner.
  2. Downloaded the Moutain Lion installer from App Store. The price was 149 SEK.
  3. When the app with a picture of a big cat appeared, I made a copy of the 4.4 GB large installer file. Otherwise it would have been deleted after the installation was completed.
  4. Press continue and wait for a long long time.
  5. Done!

Taking screenshots in OS X, iOS and Windows

Writing documentation, blogpost or other activities that requires taking screenshots is something I do a lot. Using several operating systems one sometimes forget how to do it. This little blog post is one of those “note to self”.

Mac OS X

Press Command + Shift + 4 for selecting part of the screen.

Press Command + Shift + 3 for fullscreen.

Press Command + Shift + 4 and hit spacebar for  screenshot of an open window.

Link to a tutorial with step by step instructions.

iOS

To take a screenshot with your iPhone, just press the home button and the sleep button. The camera click sound is heard and the screenshot is placed in the camera roll .

Windows 7 and 8

I use the built in app Snipping tool. It works great. Finding the Snipping tool in Windows 8 could be a little problematic.

 

Backup your OS X boot drive with CCC

Yesterday I bought a license for Bombich Softwares Carbon Copy Cloner version 3.5.2. I wanted one to be able to make a bootable copy of my OS X boot disk, with OS X 10.7. The purchase went well, and got the license key in the mail.

I took an old 250 GB USB 2 drive and used Disk Utility to make a Mac OS Extended(journaled) partition. Important to select GUID Partition table, found by pressing the Options button.

A nice feature with CCC is that it can clone the Recovery HD volume found on OS X Lion and later. The Recovery HD offer a method of reinstalling OS X(Apple no longer distributes the installer on DVD). You can find more about the procedure on Bombichs site.

I’ve got a mid 2011 Mac mini with 500 GB disk but trying to keep it “clean”. About 140 GB of data took ages to copy.

Rebooting the mac and pressing the options button, I was presented with the which disk i want to boot from. I selected my small 250 GB TrekStore disk and continued with the booting. It humming for a some time before I could log on.

Mission accomplished. A Bootable backup of my main system drive was created.

I now have 3 ways I do backups.

  • Time machine
  • CCC backup to a virtual Windows box
  • CCC bootable backup.

Learning to develop Windows 8 Store Apps

Recently I have started to learn and discover how to develop for the new Windows 8 operating system from Microsoft. I have this as my evening and weekend project. The goal is to be comfortable with the tools and methods which Windows 8 Store Apps are developed.

At first I thought it was a bit cool to do client development in JavaScript(JS) but I think I have changed my mind. After some tutorials in JS i thought XAML and C# is better for me. I have been working on Silverlight projects before and C# XAML for Windows 8 are’nt that different on a conceptual level.

I must say, using Windows 8 is mixed feelings. Starting to use OS X was more easy on the mind then using Windows 8. Perhaps I’m a bit conservative. Windows has had a start button since the release of Windows 95. A funny thing is, I did’nt like it at the beginning because I was used to Windows 3.1.

A few early thoughts about Windows 8:

  • The new Metro GUI takes time to get used to
  • Windows 8 is fast
  • Search is fast, just like having a little mini Google inside my machine
Simplistic logo for Windows 8