Author: Trevor

Categories
Mac Personal

Enable Three Finger Drag in OS X 10.11 El Capitan

The gesture support in Mac OS X has been superb for many years. I recently had cause to set-up a new Mac and was confounded by the lack of three-finger drag support in the Track Pad settings. Three-finger drag on a track pad is my preferred setting.

I eventually found the setting, tucked away in Accessibility under System Preferences. Upon activating Accessibility, scroll to the ‘Interacting’ group from the list on the left. Select ‘Mouse & Trackpad’, click ‘Trackpad Options…’ and check ‘Enable dragging’. Lastly, select ‘three finger drag’ from the list.

Enable Three Finger Drag under Accessibility
Settings/Accessibility houses the Mouse & Trackpad preferences pane.

I can never figure out why these things have to change, but they do.

Categories
Agile Clojure Software Development

Meetup – Functional Programming with Clojure

Agile Staffordshire will be hosting an event on Thursday, 29th October at 19:00. Paul Williams will be introducing Clojure.

The event represents a splendid opportunity to get to grips with functional programming, often mistakenly assumed to be a niche, academic language with little practical application. Paul Williams is an adept software developer and always delivers an interesting and informative session.

Further detail regarding the meet-up can be found on the Agile Staffordshire event page. If you are reading this and want to sign up to attend, it can all be achieved from the Meetup event listing. The session is free and the venue is kindly provided by Staffordshire University‘s Faculty of Computing, Engineering and Sciences. I hope to see you there!

Categories
Ubuntu

Disabling Root User on Ubuntu Server 14.04 LTS

Root is often disabled by default when Ubuntu is installed. However, you might find it active when Ubuntu (or other Linux distribution) is deployed in automated environments E.g. when installed with a Virtual Private Server (VPS).

To disable root and administer the system from other user accounts, consider setting up sudo. As root, add a user to sudo that can execute commands as root:

$ sudo adduser trevor sudo

Note that you should replace trevor with a username on your system. Exit the shell as root and login with the username that you just added to sudo (or any other pre-configured sudoer). Use sudo to disable the root password, thus disabling login.

$ sudo passwd -dl root

Enabling Root

If you are in a circumstance where you need to enable the root account, type the following while logged in as a sudoer:

$ sudo passwd root

You will be prompted to enter and confirm the password for root.

Further Reading

Read the Ubuntu Official Documentation on RootSudo for additional information and a clear explanation on the benefits of disabling root.

Categories
Agile Java Personal Software Development Software Engineering

Thymeleaf and Thymesheet

There is a practical session on Thymeleaf and Thymesheet with Agile Staffordshire this month, hosted by Ruth Mills. The session will introduce these Java view layer technologies and how they can be utilised alongside Maven and Spring. This hands-on session will provide an opportunity to use these technologies with examples. It promises to be a good evening and I am looking forward to it.

If you are interested in attending, details can be found on the Agile Staffordshire Blog and on Meet-up. I look forward to seeing you there!

Categories
Agile Software Development Software Engineering

Advanced Git with Maven on the Command Line

On Thursday 28th May, Paul Williams is hosting a follow-up to his Git at the Command Line session earlier this year. Paul is going to build on the previous session by digging deeper into branchless development, feature switches, and how to commit and push bite size changes with a practical workshop.

As ever, you can read more details about Agile Staffordshire on their blog and register your intention to attend via the meet up group. It is free of charge and new comers are welcome. This month’s Agile Staffordshire event is a practical session, so bring your laptop! Check the meet up notes for software prerequisites. I am looking forward to it.

Categories
Personal

South Staffordshire Green Party

I wanted to help a friend, Andy Wootton, bring some attention to the Green Party candidate, Claire McInvenna, in South Staffordshire. Take a look at his blog. My local Green Party branch is North Staffordshire.

I’m not stating a political preference, but I do like to help make people aware of discussions. The UK is not a two-party democracy. Use the comments to post Staffordshire party and indepdent web sites. The link spread might help.

Categories
Personal Software Development Software Engineering

Learn vi with Agile Staffordshire

Learning how to use a tool is one of the best value-for-time activities for a software developer. Vi isn’t a new tool; on the contrary it has a long and distinguished history as an editor. There’s a real treat planned this evening with Agile Staffordshire and I encourage you to stop by and join in. Details are available on the Agile Staffordshire Blog.

Jason Underhill and Paul Williams have organised a superb showcase of vi being used in a professional context as a tool for software development. These two know their craft and will definitely have some useful and interesting articles to show you.

Categories
Agile Software Development Software Engineering

Agile Staffordshire January 2015

January’s Agile Staffordshire session looks set to be another great one. It will be great opportunity to acquire some experience with version control software. Git techniques will be presented in this session by the abundantly capable Paul Williams. Stop by on Meet-up and let Agile Staffordshire know that you’re intending to join in!

Categories
Mac

Network Utility OS X Yosemite

Network Utility has moved again in the latest release of Mac OS X (Yosemite).

It is located in:

Macintosh HD > System > Library > CoreServices > Applications > Network Utility

Alternatively, you can launch the program from the System Report menu (under ‘Window’). From the Apple Menu, click ‘About This Mac…’. Click ‘System Report…’ and from the ‘Window’ menu, click ‘Network Utility’.

Mac OS X Yosemite - About This Mac
About this Mac… shows system information about your device.

Once the Network Utility is running, use the context menu from the dock icon to show the location of the application in Finder or pin it permanently.

Network Utility - OS X Yosemite
The Network Utility – a useful program that keeps moving location.
Network Utility shown in Finder.
Network Utility shown in Finder.

Why does it move?

I would like to know why this application keeps moving. For the longest time, Network Utility was located under ‘utilities’ in ‘Applications’. That made sense. Can anyone enlighten me as to why the location of this useful application is continually obfuscated?

Categories
Agile Education Software Engineering

BCS and Agile Experiences

BCS Professional Member logo.

On Tuesday 4th November 2014 at 18:00, the North Staffordshire Branch of BCS and Agile Staffordshire are getting together for a special event. We will be sharing experiences in a series of lightning talks and exercises. This will be a great opportunity to network and learn more about what is going on in the area. This event is also ideal for students with an interest in software development who want to know more about practicing agile techniques in the industry.

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