Tired of PID files, needing root access, and writing init scripts just to have your UNIX apps start when your server boots? Want a simpler, better alternative that will also restart them if they crash? If so, then read this quick-start introduction to process supervision with runit/daemontools.

One of my Macs running OS X Leopard was panicking after I upgraded its memory; while waking from hibernate, I'd get the grey curtain of death and the multilingual "reboot this computer" message panel. If it happens to you too, you'll be glad to know there's a solution.

Apple's brand new Leopard version of OS X includes handy support for connecting to shared remote screens right from the Finder. The intention was to connect to other Macs, but with a bit of tweaking you can also connect to VNC servers running on Linux machines with the same ease.