1. an 8GB memory upgrade kit
2. Official D-I-Y Instructions
3. Open work area
4. Screwdriver (the Husky HD-74501 works perfectly)

With all the necessities acquired, you can prep your MBP for surgery…

Once the bottom lid is removed, it’s time to remove the old memory…

With the memory slots clear, there’s nothing left standing in the way of the max out. Installation is super easy and should go without a hitch. But, if like me, your hand slips on insertion of the final upgrade chip (top) and you push the chip too quickly and it becomes wedged, don’t panic.

Just remove the little black pressure stabilization post which is likely what the chip is wedged against. Once you’ve done that, the chip should be easily removable. Click the thumbnail for a closeup view.

Once you have both chips firmly seated, you can replace the cover and reconnect all your cabling. Reboot and you should be greeted with the following after selecting About This Mac

I was pushing some commits earlier this morning and realized that I never made the changes to GitX public. It was always my goal to share the updates with the community but I always kept getting sidetracked. Well, today I forked the master project and even added GitHub integration.

You’ll need the latest version of Xcode to compile from source. If you just want access to the customized application, you can download a ZIP of the forked project and you’ll find the application in /path/to/download/build/Debug/GitX.app. Hope others find this as useful as I have…

1. Duplicate my Flex 3 SDK path
2. Rename the duplicate to flex_sdk_3.x_air_sdk_2.x
3. Download the latest AIR 2.0 SDK (currently AIR20_mac_sdk_120209.tbz2)
4. Place the AIR SDK zip in the root of the new Flex SDK directory

/flex_sdk_3.x_air_sdk_2.x/AIR20_mac_sdk_120209.tbz2

5. Open up Terminal in the new Flex SDK directory and execute the following command:

tar -xjf AIR20_mac_sdk_120209.tbz2

6. Open Flex Builder and add the new SDK -> Flex Builder > Preferences > Installed Flex SDKs > Add

Now, when I want to create an AIR app that targets the 2.0 SDK all I have to do is

1. Update the project compiler settings to use the new SDK -> Project > Properties > Flex Compiler > Use a Specific SDK
2. Update the application descriptor file to use the AIR 2.0 namespace

<application xmlns="http://ns.adobe.com/air/application/2.0beta">

All of the above steps can be repeated for the Flex 4 SDK as well.

For those interested, these are the items that were updated and added to the SDK for 2.0:
/bin/adl
/bin/adt
/frameworks/libs/air
/frameworks/projects/air
/lib/nai
/lib/adt.jar
/runtimes/air
/samples
/templates/air
/AIR SDK Readme.txt
/SDK license.pdf

CAVEATS:

1. There’s a new certificate process started in AIR 1.5.3 that may disrupt your workflow if you’re creating signed applications.
2. If you want to utilize the new native process features, you’ll have to implement multi-platform builds (native installers for Win, Mac and Linux) and these must occur on the target platform (ie, can only create DMGs on Mac, etc)

Prior to Querious, I would have to use both of those other apps plus some CLI to manage all the data systems I’m responsible for. Now, with Querious I can use one GUI and resort to the CLI only when absolutely necessary. It has a lightweight feel like Sequel Pro plus you get the full administrative capabilities of MySQL Administrator + phpMyAdmin. If you have to import a massive SQL dump, either split it up or prepare for the app to crash (unless you modify max_allowed_packet).

All in all, Querious is a must-have for MySQL DBAs that work exclusively on a Mac and is definitely worth the $25 price tag…

Pre-Installation

So, after receiving purchase approval, I made my way to the nearest Apple Store to snag one of those precious jewels. I knew things would work out too when I made it to Santa Monica and lucked up on a parking space about 40 feet from the Apple Store entrance.

Once in the store, I didn’t waste anytime. I needed to get my server and split. Of course I ended up browsing and didn’t leave until about 20 minutes later. But, I had our new server in hand ready to be welcomed into the fold.

Once I made it back to the office around 9pm, I had to prepare the rack for a new family member. Finally, we could have all of our servers consolidated in 1 area instead of scattered around thanks to the form factor of the Mac Mini. It really takes up very minimal real estate and makes me wonder if I’ll ever deploy Xserve now that the Mini is a viable option. The cost-to-value ratio here is excellent. I mean you get a terabyte server with 4GB of RAM and an unlimited client license to Snow Leopard Server for around $1200 (including Apple Care). To do the same with a new Xserve could easily set you back $3000+. It might not work for a video shop but at these prices it’s a no brainer for powering an expanding network.

Anyways, it’s now time to put this puppy into action. So I roll up my sleeves and get to crackin’.

The Arrival

The box that it comes in adds an additional 1/3 to the dimensions. So you know the footprint on this bad boy is going to be small.

Installation Preparation

After inspecting the package contents, it was time to get to work. About 9 hours later, the new machine was installed into its new home ready to provide core and directory services to the team with overall workflow only slightly bruised…:D

Home, Sweet Home!

If you have running processes that you don’t want to stop by rebooting your machine, open Terminal and issue this command:

killall Finder

press the Return key and Finder will be relaunched for you without a computer restart. If you don’t mind rebooting, I’d suggest issuing the restart command from Terminal vs. using the Apple menu as the latter is prone to be blocked by the current issue. To restart from Terminal, issue the following command:

sudo shutdown -r now

You can replace the -r flag with -h to shutdown instead of reboot. Once restarted, your computer should be back to normal. There are also other options ranging from unmounting the disks, rebuild LaunchServices, applying/reapplying the 10.6.1 combo update and ultimately reinstalling the OS but I believe these two to be the fastest to getting your machine back up and running…:D

Case in point, I recently discovered the stock Subversion bundle and checked out the Ant, AS3 and Flex bundles and now have a viable alternative to Eclipse + Subclipse + FB plugin for those days when Eclipse feels too sluggish.

To add the extra bundles, create a path for them, switch to that new directory then do a SVN checkout:

$ cd /Library/Application\ Suppport
$ mkdir TextMate
$ cd TextMate
$ mkdir Bundles
$ cd Bundles
$ svn co http://macromates.com/svn/Bundles/trunk/Review/Bundles/#bundleName#.tmbundle

Where #bundleName# is the one you want to check out. If you don’t specify a bundle, you’ll check out the whole lot. Also, as an alternative, you can grab the Open Terminal script which lets you open a terminal from Finder after you’ve created the paths the GUI way. In that case, you just have to run the checkout command.

Happy coding!!

With that in mind, my next stop was Stacks. These are folders that you add to your dock that can help you keep your dock lean and mean. Case in point, before today I had like 30 apps on my dock – 98% of which I use on a daily basis. Thanks to Stacks I organized those into these main categories:

- Comm (Mail, Chat, Address Book, etc)
- Des (Fireworks, Photoshop, Illustrator, etc)
- Dev (Flex Builder, Eclipse, Zend Studio, Terminal, etc)
- Tools (Time Machine, Transmit, xScope, etc)

These were in addition to Documents and Downloads, which Apple sets up for you on install. So now my dock is only 8 deep and I feel pretty proud of that (plus it’s cool watching the apps fan out when you click on a Stack). Outside of those, I’ve been hitting Quick Look pretty hard. This let’s you look @ the contents of a file without actually opening the file which is really cool for me since I juggle a lot of files throughout the day.

Last, but not least, Time Machine is pure butter!! Easy, painless backups period. I really could have used this last week as an iPhone sync killed my Address Book. Glad I had a spare thanks to iBackup. Anyways, let me know of any cool ways you use the new OS plus any headaches and I’ll do the same…

No problema. I just swapped out with my iMac which is seeing limited use right now and viola! The whole process took, maybe, 10 minutes and yielded me a pretty productive day (I don’t know why that extra 1GB motivated me so much).