Mac / MacOS / MacOSX - A Unix that you can let your kids use.

Screen savers

Some resources I've found

Key mappings on the mac

Help, my mac mouse won't work

Open an app from terminal

Get a root account in your terminal

File sharing with windows
First off you need to turn sharing on by doing the following

  
Open System Preferences and click Sharing and, if necessary, click Services.
  
Select Windows Sharing in the list, then click Start.
  
Click Accounts and select the name of the user account that will share files. Enter the password for that user.
  
Look below the services list for your computer's network address. Give this address to Windows users.

The above will allow other windows machines to access your mac home directory.  If you'd like to setup sharing of volumes and other folders, do the following:

Install SharePoints

Remember that NTFS is read only!
 10.4: An overview of NTFS support in Tiger





package managers on MacOSX
The state of package management on Mac OS X | On the lambda - great article from Tony Fischetti (@tonyfischetti).

Rudix! - Rudix is a collection of pre-built Unix software delivered as packages for OS X: “The hassle-free way to get Unix programs on OS X. (python; binary only - /usr/local)

The MacPorts Project -- Home - system for compiling, installing, and upgrading either command-line, X11 or Aqua based open-source software on the OS X operating system. (tcl; source - /opt/local)

Fink - Home - (perl; both bin|source - /sw

Homebrew — The missing package manager for OS X - Homebrew installs the stuff you need that Apple didn’t. (ruby; src|bottle bins - /usr/local/Cellar with symlinks to /usr/local/bin)

pkgin, a binary package manager for pkgsrc - pkgin is aimed at being an apt / yum like tool for managing pkgsrc binary packages. (C; /usr/pkg)

pkgsrc - pkgsrc is a framework for building third-party software (C; /usr/pkgsrc)





FINK - More unix like ENV for MacOS using fink
Fink is a project that brings tools like dselect and apt-get to Darwin and MacOS X.



If you know how to use dselect or apt-get, then you'll know how to use fink.



All the software packages that fink installs goes into the /sw/ directory.  If you need to uninstall simply:

rm -rf /sw/



To setup fink to install unstable packages, you need to add "unstable/main" and "unstable/crypto" to the "Trees:" line.

This what what my line looks like:

Trees: local/main stable/main stable/crypto unstable/main unstable/crypto

vi /sw/etc/fink.conf;
fink selfupdate; fink index; fink scanpackages

You can also just run "fink configure", which will ask you a question to add unstable.



To list the files installed by a package use dpkg.
dpkg -L packagename



Remote desktop
Remote desktop or RDP is something I really want.

Windows RDP client for mac



Why Apple Makes a One Buttoned Mouse

Eek! A Two-Button Mac Mouse?

http://www.macosxhints.com/


StuffIt Standard 11.0
icon

Chick of the VNC

Open source software for the mac



Audio tools
Switching audio devices should be a one or two click thing in every OS.  I have to install special apps on all my OS's to provide this functionality...



For device selection checkout the free SoundSource utility.

AppleScript Audio Output Switcher

Soundflower - Free Inter-application Audio Routing Utility for Mac OS X

FlickrBooth - a plugin to upload photos to Flickr right from photobooth.

 Mac OS X Packages - Subversion - fink's svn client doesn't include ssl support.  These packages work for me.  You will also need to make sure /usr/local/bin is in your path after install.





Upgrading autoconf and automake on MacOSX
For some reason, Mac OS X 10.4.9 distributed with autoconf 2.59, automake 1.6.3.  I was surprised to see that the old versions were included...autoconf/automake had better versions available at the time of packaging for MacOSX 10.4.  At least fink makes it easy to upgrade these nice tools.  I wouldn't try downloading and installing the packages from source.  I've made that mistake.


% fink selfupdate
(update package descriptions, re-index)
% fink install automake1.9
(gets you automake 1.9.6)
% fink install libtool14
(gets you GNU libtool 1.5.22)
% fink install autoconf
(gets you autoconf 2.60) 

This information was nabbed from autotools on mac os x

The MacPorts Wiki





add paths to environment in macosx
There is a file /etc/paths which is a fine place to add new global paths.  Additionally there is /etc/paths.d/ which is just like /etc/paths but you add single files which are added to the env.

Another option is ~/.profile || ~/.bash_profile (user specific) or /etc/profile (global) by using export. these of course affect the shell/terminal

osx - Set environment variables on Mac OS X Lion - Stack Overflow



Copy path to clipboard
On windows, I've found a shell extension which allows you to select a file(s) and copy the full path to the clipboard.  This comes in handy all the time for developers as we are working with files all the time.

So now, off to find a way to do it in mac...

Drag the file into Terminal and it automatically puts the path in your Terminal window.

Writing Contextual Menu Plugins for OS X, part 1

FileUtilsCM

FileXaminer



Python on the mac
Using fink makes it painless to install python and some popular python libraries. 
# as always it is nice to update fink (things work better that way)
fink selfupdate
fink update-all
fink install scipy-py25
fink install matplotlib-py25
fink install pygame-py25
fink install ipython-py25
# create this link to make python2.5 the default python on the cmdline.
sudo ln -s /sw/bin/python2.5 /sw/bin/python



Configuring and Running X11 Applications on Mac OS X

MacDailyNews - Lock your Mac OS X screen from the menu bar by adding lock icon

Macworld: Mac OS X Hints: Quickly lock your screen





Filesystems on the mac
On a mac, writing to NTFS is not available out of the box in 10.4.  Instead, we can install MacFuse and use NTFS-3G to obtain write access.

How-to: Read and Write NTFS Windows Partition on Mac OS X - lifehack.org

macfuse - implements a mechanism that makes it possible to implement a fully functional file system in a user-space program on Mac OS X.

NTFS-3G: Stable Read/Write NTFS Driver





MPlayer - The Movie Player - a very good open source cross-platform video player!  Great for MacOSX. 



I thought it was pretty neat that you can drag and drop colors to set your Terminal background.

Macworld: Mac OS X Hints: Set Terminal color via drag and drop





DittyBot - An Applescript Adventure at Plastic Bugs





iShowU - a nice screen cap program for the mac, $20 bucks.



Ctrl-Click on app, "Show package contents" gets you into the packaging directory for an app.



Chmox - a Mac OS X CHM viewer





Cocoa for Windows + Flash Killer = SproutCore — RoughlyDrafted Magazine





Applescript programming
AppleScript Language Guide: Introduction to AppleScript Language Guide





Cool utilities and apps for the mac
iTerm - iTerm is a great terminal for MacOSX.  It provides a nice tabbed interface...emulation is also a bit better than Terminal.

coconut-flavour.com - [coconutBattery 2.6.5] - this app can tell you about the load cycles, age, and capacity of your battery. (current battery mAh and original battery mAh)  Very neat....shows me just how bad my battery has become...

Transmission - is a fast, easy, and free multi-platform BitTorrent client.

InsomniaX - allows you to turn off sleep/hibernate on your macbook when you close the lid.

GIMP on OS X - GIMP goodness on MacOSX





How to Clone Mac OS X to a New Hard Drive done using SuperDuper!, cool cloning is free!





git on the mac
It would be nice if git were included on the base install....

Anyways, I've used the git-osx-installer - Google Code before with success.  It also includes a finder plugin for launching git-gui. OpenInGitGui - git-osx-installer - Google Code.





compare two folders on mac
FileMerge is a tool within the Apple Developer Tools.  In /Developer/Applications/Utilities...or use spotlight to start it...  Shows differences between files/folders on MacOSX.



Homebrew - brew for mac
brew is another package manager, written in Ruby.  The preference is to install it into /usr/local.  I have used it to install git and other code before with success.  I like what I see.

Check it, install brew:

curl -Lsf http://github.com/mxcl/homebrew/tarball/master | sudo tar xvz --strip 1 -C/usr/local

Homebrew — MacPorts driving you to drink? Try Homebrew!

Homebrew: OS X’s Missing Package Manager | Engine Yard Ruby on Rails Blog





Re-map HOME END keys on Mac OS
Edit ~/Library/KeyBindings/DefaultKeyBinding.dict:

"\UF729"  = "moveToBeginningOfLine:";                   /* Home         */
"\UF72B"  = "moveToEndOfLine:";                         /* End          */
"$\UF729" = "moveToBeginningOfLineAndModifySelection:"; /* Shift + Home */
"$\UF72B" = "moveToEndOfLineAndModifySelection:";       /* Shift + End  */

Low Level Manager: OSX + remote vim clipboard sync





unpair mac wireless keyboard
first off; lets just mention that if you have access to the original mac; it is best to just "system preferences","bluetooth"; "turn bluetooth off" or actually unpair from the devices.

How to UNpair keyboard without original computer | Apple Support Communities - apparently com.apple.bluetooth.plist might be a goto place to look..





Use Apple Trackoad from Windows 10
ExtraMagic :: Download - which leads you to download the stock magic trackpad drivers which you can use without actually installing the extramagic driver.

Google Code Archive - Long-term storage for Google Code Project Hosting. - 
download stock magic trackpad driver from apple (not really from apple, google code, might be better to unpack the files from bootcamp installer).





Apple Magic Mouse on Windows 10
How To: Use the Apple Magic Mouse on Windows 7
 - describes the whole process of extracting the bootcampupdate.exe using 7zip, then extracting the msp file, then finding the suitable driver Binary.MultiTouchMouse_Bin or Binary.MultiTP_Bin and extracting to Binary, run DPInst.exe

Boot Camp Software Update 3.1 for Windows 64 bit



Apple Trackpad - Magic Trackpad - unpair from device - trackpad reset
I am a fan of the Magic Trackpad, but for all the intuitive user oriented design Apple puts into products; pairing and unpairing isn't straight forward.  But I have to say that pretty much every keyboard or mouse is similarly unclear about how to unpair...pair information should be printed on the device. including default pin. If you cared, maybe some braille.



I myself, like unnatural scrolling with the trackpad. To each his own;I guess up=up&down=down is !Natural.

Ctrl-Click is right click, of course. Two finger tap is right click on Magic Trackpad by default... easy enough to use sys prefs to configure other "Secondary tap"s for 3 and 4 finger tapping magic.



magic trackpad unpair from device

1. Hold down the power button on the Magic Trackpad for 5 seconds until it turns off.

2. Hold down the power button on the Magic Trackpad for another 5 seconds until the light starts flashing... KEEP THE BUTTON HELD DOWN WHILE YOU TRY TO PAIR. The button hold will prevent the Magic Trackpad from pairing with the prior device.  Apparently even if you have unpaired the device from the original prior to initiating pairing; hold down the button on the track pad while you complete the pairing.

a1339 pairing

make sure you have some good batteries!



padset - Configure Apple Trackpad devices on a PC without BootCamp - Google Project Hosting





magic mouse expose
the magic mouse is pretty magic;  but it doesn't include gesture support for expose like the touch pad does.  which is sad, because three finger up is much better than using hot corners...
MagicPrefs - provides the awesome three finger up gesture for "Mission Control"





Troublesome large display resolutions in macosx || get 2560x1080 in macosx
windows 8.1 will recognize my LG ULTRAWIDE 2560x1080 over HDMI.  I couldn't get this to work on my miniMac.  Instead I bought a mini-dp to dp cable and that still didn't seem to like the max resolution of 2560x1080 instead it gave me something like 2560x864 which isn't fun.  So I sent searching...people talking about using SwitchResX, but I really didn't want to have to run that to make my monitor work.  I found some people were having success with forcing profiles on the monitor, apparently macOS is prone to mis-associating large screens with tv output...  running ruby patch-edid.rb and moving the needed profile into the /System/Library/Displays/Overrides; reboot;   It's says "force RGB mode (EDID override)" now in System Preferences->Displays. now working! (wonder if I needed that special DP cable after all!)

Force RGB mode in Mac OS X to fix the picture quality of an external monitor | i reckon

How to display 2560x1080 on external monitor fr... | Apple Support Communities

i did find that I had to redo the process when upgrading to OSX Yosemite. I found that I needed to actually manually delete the override and copy the override using finder. (doing a sudo cp did not work after multiple attempts rebooting)  I did notice that the display showed override in the title before rebooting, and finally worked when it had done so.

/System/Library/Displays/Contents/Resources/Overrides is the new location for Sierra.  csrutil disable to write to /System.

macos - How do I disable System Integrity Protection (SIP) AKA "rootless" on OS X 10.11, El Capitan? - Ask Different





AirPort Base Station - AirPort Express
AirPort Utility 6.3.1 for Mac

    

    Created: 2006-05-19 16:28:36
    Modified: 2017-09-28 02:23:01