Recently had an issue where an application / process I would leave running on my macbook overnight would crash and stop running.  I needed a way to automatically restart the application / process if it wasn’t running, having a never ending spooling loop wouldn’t work (and is a nasty way to do it).

So I came up with the following AppleScript code.

Copy and paste into AppleScript Editor, make the changes you need, and save it as an “Application”.  Remember to tick “Stay Open” when you save it.  I’ve dropped, what i’ve called the “Heartbeat App” onto the dock and set it to start when the computer does.

repeat
delay 60
set core_is_running to is_running("NAME OF PROCESS OR APPLICATION")
if core_is_running is false then
tell application "NAME OF PROCESS OR APPLICATION" to activate
set core_is_running to is_running("NAME OF PROCESS OR APPLICATION")
end if
end repeat
on is_running(appName)
tell application "System Events" to (name of processes) contains appName
end is_running

delay 60 is the time interval in seconds you’d like the heartbeat app to check for the application or process.

To find out the NAME OF PROCESS OR APPLICATION, simply run the application / process, then look under Process Name in Activity Monitor.

You could also adapt this to run an application / process every x amount of time if you so wished.

Comments, becoming a fan on facebook, and saying hello on twitter, always appreciated

I’ve created a collection from around the internet of 2032 Apple Mac fonts, these will work on OSX.  Every once in a while i’ll refresh the collection, so you should search on here for newer posts similar to this one.

For now, heres the download link: http://www.mediafire.com/?869f9bj1399bsc0 (55.29 Mb)

You’ll need a password to download, which is really simple to obtain;

Pay with a tweet

1. Follow @hamlesh on twitter

2. Click here to pay with a tweet

3. I’ll reply via DM to you with the password

Via Paypal

1. Click here to pay via PayPal (its only £1)

2. I’ll reply via email with the password

My replies aren’t automated, so bare that in mind.

To install the fonts in one go, once you’ve extracted the zip file, copy them to your “~/Library/Fonts” folder in your “home directory“.

I’m currently using Jolicloud all the time on my workhorse netbook – the one that I take to clients sites / abroad / datacenters when consulting / doing bits of work. One annoying thing is the lack of a remote Windows Desktop Client. Searching the web shows this is a common problem, so heres how you install MS RDP.

1. Press ALT + F1 at the same time
2. Terminal window opens
3. Type “sudo apt-get install tsclient” – you’ll get asked for your password
4. Apt-get fetches the relevant packages and does the install
5. To run the tsclient, simply open the terminal and type “tsclient”

Done

I need to work out how to add a custom icon to the dashboard, tweet me if you know how – i’ve not bothered to work that out yet.