Category Archives: MacOS

[MacOS] Locate Command fails in Terminal mode

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I. Abstract

Users coming from Linux/Unix esteem the locate command, since it is fast and helps configuring and finding the appropriate files on our systems. Apple decided to implement this command a little disregardful. When executing the locate command you will most likely earn errors. The following will show you how to configure the locate database to have no errors anymore.

II. Enable locate command

We assume you have your root account enabled. Open a terminal window and do the following:

  • mac-client$ sudo /usr/libexec/locate.updatedb
    (provide your root password)

Being on Leopard you will receive this warning:

  • >>> WARNING
    >>> Executing updatedb as root. This WILL reveal all filenames
    >>> on your machine to all login users, which is a security risk.

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IV. Terminal picture

[MacOS] Switcher’s Hints 1001: Unpack .mpkg and .pkg

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There is nothing special about unpacking an .mpkg or .pkg installer – in terminal mode you see they are just directories. Just right click on them and select “show archive contents”…

Later on 7-zip will help you with unpacking the contained archives inside of those .mpkg and .pkg files…

If that helped you well, consider clicking our sponsor (non offensive Google Adsense) to help maintaining this project free for all of you…

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[OSX86] Switcher’s Hints 1001: Change File Associations

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english

deutschsprachige Version: hier klicken

All of us know how to change the standard file associations in Microsoft Windows, but recently we switched to a Mac and Boom – everything is almost the same, but there are minor to major differences. Like changing the program to open a specific file type (like Adobe’s Portable Document Format or Microsoft’s Audio-Video-Interleave) by default. In general this is task is performed like under good old Windows. OS X looks for the file suffix (extension) and then checks which program is associated to this specific file extension. For instance .pdf (Adobe’s Portable Document Format) by default is opened with the preview.app.

To change file associations just do the following:

  1. right click on a file that has the extension you wanna associate to another program
  2. you will see almost this picture:
  3. then click on Get Information
  4. A new window will pop up (see picture)
    chng_file_assoc02ed1
  5. you can change the Open with options and also force to open all documents of this type with this program

Enjoy

deutsch

Wir alle wissen, wie man eine Dateityp-Verknüpfung unter Microsoft Windows ändert, aber da wir erst kürzlich auf einen Mac umgestiegen sind, macht es nun Boom – es sieht zwar alles recht ähnlich aus, aber es kleinere und größere Unterschiede. Und dazu gehört das Ändern der Standard Datei Verknüpfung (z.B. das Öffnen von Adobes Portable Document Format oder auch Microsofts Audio-Video-Interleave) eben auch.

Grundsätzlich läuft das Prozedere aber ab wie unter Windows. OS X schaut sich die Dateiendung an (Dateiextension) und prüft dann, mit welchem Programm Dateien dieses Typs geöffnet werden sollen. Zum Beispiel wird der Dateityp .pdf (Adobe’s Portable Document Format) standardmäßig mit der preview.app geöffnet.

Um diese Dateiverknüpfung zu ändern, müssen Sie einfach Folgendes tun:

  1. rechter Mausklick auf die Datei, deren Endung sie generisch von nun an mit einem anderen Programm öffnen lassen wollen
  2. Sie sehen dann in etwa dieses Bild
    chng_file_assoc01ed
  3. dann klicken Sie auf Informationen
  4. Es erscheint das nächste Bild:
    chng_file_assoc02ed
  5. in diesem Fenster können Sie nun Öffnen mit ändern und auch erzwingen, dass alle Dateien diesen Typs mit diesem Programm geöffnet werden sollen

Enjoy

[MacOS] Scrolling your MacBook like iPhone

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english

The two finger scrolling in OS X is just fantastic. I would never like to miss it ever again. Always when I use a normal PC Laptop I wonder why two finger scrolling doesn’t work. I wonder how long it takes for the other Laptop manufacturers to copy that feature and integrate in their systems.

Anyway in addition to the two finger scrolling Marc Moini wrote an extension that enables scrolling like iPhone scrolling. The program is called Smart Scroll X and was first released long before the iPhone premiere.  Means: the scrolling feature wasn’t stolen from the iPhone, rather than the other way round. It really makes fun to use it scrolling in Firefox or anything else. The only bad thing is: Smart Scroll costs about US$ 20…

» Download SmartScroll here…

smsc logo picture

[MacOS] Flags and Parameters for OSX86’s Darwin Bootloader

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This is for the matter of completeness of my own records. You will find this on many places on the net, prolly not that well documented ;-) Anyway, the following flags and parameters may be put into Darwin before bootprocess:

flag / parameter meaning
-f Force rebuild extensions cache
-v Verbose booting shows debug information
-s Boots into single user mode (means only terminal based mode)
-x Boots into safe mode
-legacy Boots into 32bit instead of 64bit mode
“rd=disk0s1” Force to boot a specific partition on a specific drive (BSD drive notation, means disk0 = physical disk 1). Here disk1 partition 1 is forced to be booted.
“Graphics Mode=1024x768x32@75” Forces to boot with a resolution of 1024 x 768 with 32bit colors at 75Hz
“Kernel=mach_kernel” Forces to load a specific kernel, helpful for testing of new kernels.
“cpus=1” Force using only 1 CPU core, may help addressing issues
“idlehalt=0” May solve stuttering and shuttering on dualcore CPUs
“platform=X86PC” Forces to not use powermanagement (disables ACPI)
“platform=ACPI” Forces to use powermanagement (enables ACPI, but may crash your system)

[MacOS] Update Information about Files and Folders

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english

Ever had the situation that you just copied a specific file to a folder but it won’t show up in the finder? Yes? Well more than once should be the typical answer. Don’t let crappy finder decide when to update your view. Just install Rainer Brockerhoff‘s “Nudge” and update the view in the finder whenever you need it.

» Download Nudge here…

deutsch

Kennt Ihr diese Situation: Ihr habt gerade eine Datei in ein bestimmtes Verzeichnis kopiert, aber im Finder wird die Datei partout nicht angezeigt? Ja? Vermutlich haben wir alle diese eigenartige Erfahrung mehr als nur einmal bereits gemacht. Lasst nicht den merkwürdigen Finder entscheiden, wann Eure Ansicht aktualisiert wird. Installiert Rainer Brockerhoffs “Nudge” und aktualisiert Eure Ansicht auf Knopfdruck…

» Download Nudge hier…

[MacOS] Switching Windows inside of Applications

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English

Deutsche Übersetzung weiter unten…

All of us switchers know the situation: rather that switching from one application to another in Microsoft Windows we can switch from every window to another using ALT-TAB. The problem is such behaviour is not known to the Mac world. A major solution for that problem comes from Peter Maurer. He developed a prefpane named Witch, that mimics exactly that behaviour known from the MS-Windows world. Moreover it can maximize minized windows when switching to them. And the best thing is: it is donation ware. Send Peter some Euros or US Dollars, he really deserves it…

» Download Peter Maurer’s Witch here…

Witch PrefPane
Screenshot (click to enlarge)

German

Wir Switcher kennen das folgende Problem genau: Unter Microsoft Windows wechselt man mit ALT-TAB nicht nur zwischen Applikationen, sondern auch zwischen Fenstern einer gleichen Applikation. Eine solche Funktionalität ist der Mac Welt bislang (eigentlich) nicht bekannt. Eine großartige Lösung hat Peter Maurer entwickelt. Er hat eine PrefPane Erweiterung geschrieben, die die aus der MS-Windows Welt bekannten Fenster-Wechseln Eigenschaften durchführen kann. Daneben kann es noch minimierte Fenster bei Anwählen aus dem Dock hervorzaubern. Aber das Beste ist, dass es Donation-Ware is. Schickt also Peter ein paar Eurer Euros oder US Dollars, für das Programm hat er es wirklich verdient…

» Download Peter Maurers Witch hier…

Witch PrefPane
Screenshot

[MacOS] Settings for ASUS P5LD2 VM DH incl. Sleep Mode

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So guys you have bought an “ASUS P5LD2 VM DH” motherboard because it was suggested to be working, but something does not work. The following article will show you how to configure the BIOS to make Leopard 10.5.2 working with its vanilla stock kernel. Before starting over please do me the favor and tell me:

Where do you come from?

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Thanks for participating. You know what? I’d only buy the “Intel Bad Axe D975XBX” as an alternative to that board but that lacks the possibility to overclock… Ok so how to proceed?

My equipment:

  • ASUS P5LD2 VM DH
  • Intel Core 2 Duo 6300 (2 x 1.8GHz)
  • Sapphire ATI HD 2600 XT (256MB)
  • 2GB memory
  • Samsung 250GB

What to do

I assume you know what to do to get into the BIOS. Automatic hardware recognition is almost perfect with some little additions to make vanilla kernels work.

I use BIOS Firmware revision 0702. If you don’t have that revision yet, do the following:

In BIOS set the following configuration:

  • Menu: Advanced -> CPU Configuration
    • Set Execute Disable Function to ENABLED (see picture)
    • CPU NX
  • Menu: Power (see picture)
    • Set Suspend Mode to AUTO
    • Set Repost Video on S3 Resume to NO
    • Set ACPI 2.0 Support to YES
    • Set ACPI APIC Support to ENABLED
    • Suspend and Sleep Mode

That should do. Save and Exit and install Leopard and become happy. Intel GMA 950 onboard graphics supports sleep mode. But I’d recommend using the “Sapphire ATI HD 2600 XT” (see here, how to install this graphics card). Tell me what your experiences are…

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[MacOS] Solutions to Issues with Leopard Graphics Update 10.5.2

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I got to know this issue for the first time when I installed a clean Leopard 10.5.1 to my HackMac and then upgraded like Netkas recommends. Since I remembered the old Tiger times and my bunch of problems with my x1650 ATI (read some hints for the ATI x1650 here), I decided to reinstall the system from the peek without applying the Graphics Update. And this way it works. The only thing that may happen: as long as you do not install the Graphics Update, further updates may not be shown in the update manager.

Because all that hazzle with the x1650 graphics I had, I decided to get a new card (ATI Radeon 2600HD XT – read how to install it).

Last week I decided to update my MacBook Pro aswell – which was still running on Tiger. See the way I did it here. Ad the funny thing in the end was… Ok I upgraded to 10.5.2, did the reboot thing and did the Graphics Update and… tatatata….

Description of the Issue

My MBP did not show me any login screen anymore. Instead I got a fixed mouse pointer in the upper left and a second mouse pointer that could be moved. But no windows or login possibilities. Before reading on what I did, please do me the favor and tell me:

Where do you come from?

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Solving this damn issue manually

I can’t exactly say what those Apple Devs thought by themselves when releasing this Graphics Update but the internet is full of articles where people tell this update f*cked their systems. Ok lets try some things…

  1. turn off your system
  2. turn on and hold the following keys to reset PRAM: "command","option", "P" and "R" (means 'Apple-Key' and 'Alt-Key' and 'p' and 'r')
  3. your system will do the well known startup “boom” sound again and reset itself.
  4. hold the keys until you heard the “boom” sound three times
  5. let the system try to boot
  6. if everything is fine now: open your windows and shout “Thank you Alexander”
  7. if booting still fails shout whatever you feel like
  8. then do the following:
  9. in case you don’t have a second partition with the full installation of Leopard on it, you can now ask yourself why you did not read this article before. Instead get your Leopard DVD at hand and reboot your system holding the “ALT” key and choose to boot from DVD. Those of you who yet have a second partition and followed the guide mentioned above do the same but choose the second partition to boot.
  10. click thru all the messy questions and
  11. start the “Disk Utility” then
  12. choose your harddrive where the screwed Leopard install is on
  13. and click “Repair Disk Permissions“
  14. wait forever for this task to complete (in my case it took about 25 minutes, I first thought it hangs but it did not…)
  15. reboot your system
  16. you should be done now

Additional notes:

The steps I performed above are intended to be applied to a system with genuine Apple hardware. This will not work on HackMac systems!!!

[ID67]: Was the information provided above helpful for you?

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[MacOS] Install Leopard from .dmg Image to your System

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“and first for something complete different”: Muzaq… coding or administrating system can’t do without gooood muzaq. Check our latest tunes here :-)

This time we’re gonna install Leopard from a .dmg image instead from DVD. The purpose is having a repair and recovery system by the hand in case you need it. My story is this: after having had a clean install of Leopard finished and having had applied all the updates, my MBP simply crashed again and again (two mouse pointers error – I found a solution in the meantime: that bug belongs to the Leopard Graphics Update – read it here howto fix it), since at that point I could not fix it, I then decided to reinstall. Something seemed fishy and would hopefully be gone after another fresh install. But as you expect: the same problem occurred again. I then decided to restore my previous tiger install and installed the Leopard DVD to a second partition. This way nothing can stop me, whereever I am, whatever does not work…

Ok what to do now?

I assume

  • You don’t have a bootcamp partition installed
  • means your harddrive is single partitioned
  • You got Tiger installed
  • You know the size of your harddrive (you can also find out in “Disk Utility”)

Now, let the game begin…

    1. Insert Leopard installation DVD into your drive
    2. Start “Disk Utility” to make a .dmg image of your installation DVD (see picture)
    3. click the Mac OS X Install DVD (highlight it) and choose New Image

 

beforedmg

  1. Choose Read as type of image and name it Mac OS X Install DVD(see picture)

    makedmg

  2. Wait forever (15-20minutes)
  3. Close Diskutility and
  4. Open terminal and enter:
    sudo diskutil resizeVolume disk0s2 139G "HFS+" "LeoInst" 10G
    (in this example the total harddrive size is 149GB = “139G + 10G”)
  5. This command resizes the first partition to 139GB and generates a second partition formated in “HFS+” with size of 10GB. The name of the second partition will be LeoInst (disk0s1 is in this case the EFI partition – see here, what makes the EFI partition so interesting, system partition starts at disk0s2 – that’s the partition we’re gonna resize and split into disk0s2 and disk0s3)
  6. After having executed this command successfully you need to reboot
  7. After reboot open “Disk Utility” again
  8. You should now see two partitition on your harddrive (see picture)

    LeoInst

  9. Click on the second partition named “LeoInst”
  10. Click “Restore”
  11. As Source choose your Mac OS X Install DVD.dmg image (should be located on the desktop!)
  12. As destination drag and drop the second partition called “LeoInst”
  13. click “Restore”
  14. Wait about forever to have the DVD copied to your drive (again 15-20mins)

    diskutil01

  15. Close Disk Utility
  16. Go to “System Preferences” and choose “Startup Disk”
  17. Choose your Mac OS X Install DVD (which is in fact now a partition) as start volume
  18. reboot system and install Leopard

Additional notes

These instructions are intended to be applied to genuine Apple systems rather than HackMacs. In my case I used my MacBook Pro. Because of the different .kexts to be applied to HackMacs this guide will not work for those systems! Be warned!