Netbeans / OSX / "BASEDIR environment variable is not defined correctly"

This one was frustrating. You get the error message "BASEDIR environment variable is not defined correctly" after installing Netbeans packaged with Tomcat, when you try to deploy your webapp to Tomcat within Netbeans. Try as you might, you cannot fix this with an environment variable. The problem is that the script "setclasspath.sh" in the bin directory of the Tomcat installation is not executable. Change all scripts in the bin directory to be executable and it works.

Along the way I learned that you can have a private configuration by checking the "Use Private Configuration Folder" box during the "Add Server" dialog sequence. If you select an empty directory, it wil be populated for you including an appropriate set of user credentials if you also select "Create user if it does not exist". Pretty easy.

Macbook pro with intermittent bluetooth

This one was driving me crazy. The backstory is that I have disassembled my macbook pro (15", 2.16Ghz Intel Core Duo) more times than anyone should have to. Six times. Every one of these was to deal with a disk upgrade and subsequent breaking of bluetooth. The first three of the disassemblies were to deal with a disk upgrade. More on that at the end.

The hardest part was figuring out where the bluetooth was. Someone had posted the service manual on scribd which was essential to me solving the problem.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/8237/Macbook-Pro

Page 63 shows the connection to the antennae, which gets moved out of the way when you replace a drive. This seems to be encased in something similar to scotch tape. Apparently, on the third disk swap, this tape tore just where the antennae attaches, so that the antennae sometimes could short out on the metal side to the disk compartment. Of course, this would happen only sometimes. The fix was to pull off the whole mess and replace with electrical tape. It's working grand! I saw a post someplace (I've lost it) where someone had a bluetooth problem after a disk replacement; I can see this happening often.

In my case, I think it was just lots of handling that led to the failure. (1) I replaced the disk to get more space. (2) The new drive failed, so I pulled it and put the old one back. (3) Got a replacement drive, so I had to put that in. The last three disassemblies were to fix bluetooth.

The thing I learned AFTER I put the replacement disk in, is that the Seagate drives in this series have issues. I hope this one doesn't fail also. The first one took almost 3 months to fail. It's a Seagate ST9250421AS. So I might end up taking two more trips inside, and I now have enough used space that I can no longer fit on the original drive, so replacement will be painful.