Auto FaceTime call using AppleScript, without confirmation I would like to automate a FaceTime call without having to confirm the call in the FaceTime app. Is there a way to do that?
EDIT:

When I execute the script I get this message in the upper right corner.
I would like to bypass this message so that the call starts automatically.
EDIT2:

Unfortunately I do not have this option under macOS Mojave 10.14.5
set phone_num to "mailxyz@mail.com"
do shell script "open facetime://" & quoted form of phone_num
tell application "System Events"
    repeat until (button "Call" of window 1 of application process "FaceTime" exists)
        delay 1
    end repeat
    click button "Call" of window 1 of application process "FaceTime"
end tell

In macOS High Sierra the Call button in directly on the face of the FaceTime window and why click button "Call" of window 1 of application process "FaceTime" works.

Is this true for macOS Mojave too, and then when that button is clicked one also gets the Notification Center Alert, or when placing the call it only shows the Notification Center Alert with the Call button on it?

The following example AppleScript code will wait for Notification Center to display a window and click the Call button, assuming it has one.

tell application "System Events"
    repeat until (exists window 1 of application process "Notification Center")
        delay 0.1
    end repeat
    click button "Call" of window 1 of application process "Notification Center"
end tell

Obviously this does not take into account if there is more then one notification, say if one existed prior to the call being made and had not yet been dismissed. In that scenario, additional coding will be necessary to target the specific notification.

Update: After some additional testing, under macOS High Sierra, the previous paragraph may be an unnecessary statement if the result are the same under macOS Mojave. The testing revealed that if a notification is present when another one is displayed, then the latest notification displayed is placed at the top of the window list in Notification Center and is then window 1. In that case, the following example AppleScript code may work for you:

set phone_num to "mailxyz@mail.com"
do shell script "open facetime://" & quoted form of phone_num
tell application "System Events"
    repeat until (exists window 1 of application process "Notification Center")
        delay 0.1
    end repeat
    click button "Call" of window 1 of application process "Notification Center"
end tell

This example code assumes in macOS Mojave when placing the call, in this manner, it only shows the Notification Center Alert with the Call button on it.

Note: The example AppleScript code is just that and does not contain any error handling as may be appropriate. The onus is upon the user to add any error handling as may be appropriate, needed or wanted. Have a look at the try statement and error statement in the AppleScript Language Guide. See also, Working with Errors.


Why do my iPhone playlists not show up under "My Device" on Mac computer? When I manually connect my iPhone to my Mac Pro, click on My Device, it does not show my  iPhone playlists. My goal is to move specific playlists over to computer so I can play them on both.

You shouldn't click on My Device. Just plug in your iPhone, make sure you are syncing Music, then apply all settings, then click Sync.

After sync, go back to your Music, at the bottom you will see all your playlists. I just made a playlist called Test for this answer, see below:

Update: New iTunes have iCloud Music Library, check if it works when you enable it:


Can numbers copy spreadsheet including formula and paste without the figures? I use the Mac Numbers app (version 5.1) on a retina MacBook Pro, Safari 11.1.2

I need to copy & paste a spreadsheet to include the formulae, but not the figures?

Spefically, my accounts for July, with all the relevant formulae and I want to use the same layout - and, in general, the same formulae, but not the same figures - for my accounts for August. Up to now, I have copied & pasted the spreadsheet, then deleted the information in the relevant cells - but this also deletes the formulae.

The simplest way is to keep the data column separate from formula column, then just delete the data.

For more automated action I found this answer for you..

A short script can clear all the content in a selected range of cells except formulas, which are left intact.
First use the File->Duplicate in Numbers to create a copy.

Next step... Copy-paste the script below into Script Editor (in Applications > Utilities folder).
Select a range of cells in Numbers, some of which contain data while other have formulas.
With the cells selected, click the triangle 'run' button in Script Editor.

It's always best to make a copy of your work before performing an operation like this, just in case you do the wrong thing or change your mind.

tell application "Numbers"
    tell front document to tell active sheet
        tell (first table whose selection range's class is range)
            set selRng to selection range
            repeat with aCell in selRng's cells
                tell aCell to if its formula is missing value then set its value to ""
            end repeat
        end tell
    end tell
end tell


How do you set an Burst ID using exiftools on MacOS? To mark pictures as burst in Apple Photos.app a random BurstUUID (same one for all bursts) is required.

By trying to set an UUID with zsh: exiftool -BurstUUID='A4862FFE-5491-4F15-9AC0-0881859A0802' sample.jpg it returns

0 image files updated
1 image files unchanged

Does anyone know why that's the case?
Would be very happy for getting an answer ;)

MakerNotes

To add BurstUUID for non-iPhone taken photos, you need to copy in MakerNotes from an iPhone created image. See Re: Help with MakerApple metadata for a related discussion and example:

exiftool -v -overwrite_original -m -P "-burstuuid=$UUID" -tagsfromfile IMG_0178.jpg G0232134.JPG

Phil Harvey, the creator of ExifTool, says this about MakerNotes in relation to BurstUUID:

  No.  Makernote tags may not be created individually. They may only be changed if they already exist.  The only way to create them is to copy the entire makernotes as a block.  I suggest maybe creating a user-defined XMP tag instead, and writing this to your GoPro images.


Will upgrading my Mac result in the loss of my data? I am currently running on macOS Sierra 10.12.6, and I want to upgrade it to the new macOS Catalina.

If I upgrade the OS without backing it up will I lose data??
And is it necessary to back up?
What will happen if I upgrade to macOS Catalina without backing up?

Normally, nothing untoward will happen.

However, nothing is 100% certain, ever.

Backups are a necessary part of life. You really, really should always have at least one, preferably two; one being off-site.


How to zoom in on picture in Apple Keynote I've been trying to figure out how to slowly zoom in or ease in on a picture in keynote. I would like the effect to be something like this -> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6af4AQG-r4E (go to 0:55 seconds). I've built a keynote presentation in a similar layout to what you see in the video. Additionally, the video also has effects where the image pans sideways. Is it possible to do any of these effects in keynote?

This can be done using the scale animation. If you are using iOS, you can add this by taping the image, tapping the animate button, tapping add action button, and selecting the “scale” animation. To change the duration and scale of the animation, tap the image again, tap animate, tap on the scale animation you just added twice, and a menu should appear, giving you more settings for your animation.


How do I disable mouse acceleration AND adjust tracking speed in High Sierra? The obvious answer you can find everywhere is:

defaults write .GlobalPreferences com.apple.mouse.scaling -1

which disables mouse acceleration, but locks you at one sensitivity.

Old solutions:

SmoothMouse no longer works. Mouse Acceleration Preferences Pane and SteelSeries ExactMouse both behave the same as com.apple.mouse.scaling -1 at all tracking speed settings (but without restart required).

Is it possible to disable mouse acceleration while still being able to adjust the sensitivity?

The built-in options are limited. To achieve your goal a combination of different software could be needed.
Sensitivity and mouse acceleration
Terminal
Like you have already mentioned, the following setting needs to be applied to disable mouse acceleration.
defaults write .GlobalPreferences com.apple.mouse.scaling -1

It can be a good idea to establish a script to automatically perform this action during login to ensure it is properly applied.
SteerMouse
SteerMouse can then be used to adjust your sensitivity. It does require a license, but it also resolves the issue.
Simply download and install the software, either from their homepage or by using e.g. Homebrew:
brew install --cask steermouse

The Cursor settings can then be adjusted to your liking. Acceleration should be left at 0, while sensitivity can be tuned to your preference.

Speed = ON

Acceleration = 0
Sensitivity = 0-2000

If using e.g. BetterTouchTool, then remember to turn Buttons, Wheel and Chords off in SteerMouse. These are known to conflict and generate erratic mouse behavior, as they both utilize similar macOS API endpoints.

Scrolling
Semi-related are also modifications to scrolling which can improve the Mac mouse usage experience.
SmoothScroll
Scrolling with a mouse on macOS can feel unnatural. To improve this one can utilize applications such as SmoothScroll for a better flowing scroll. Further adjustments can be made to customize the speed and related settings to ones need.

It can be downloaded and installed directly from the homepage, or by using e.g. Homebrew:
brew install --cask smoothscroll

Scroll direction
It can be preferential to have different scroll directions between the trackpad and mouse. This can be adjusted in System Preferences -> Mouse. Checking/unchecking Scroll direction: Natural modifies this behavior.

Notes

The recommended options have been tested to work on macOS Mojave 10.14.4.
Licenses might be required for the suggested software.
I am in no way affiliated with the software developers, just a satisfied user. These are workarounds I have found when attempting to resolve the issue(s).


Multiboot usb stick with Mountain Lion, Windows 7, lInux, Freebsd Looking for way how to carry always an USB stick (16GB) what allow me live rescue boot for different OSes. Is possible manage multiboot USB stick with 3 or 4 operating systems:

Windows 7
Mountain Lion
Linux
Freebsd

Here is probably no problem for the latter 3, but OS X need GUID(?) and therefore here are(?) probably some problems.

Some pointers would be great. Prefering creating the stick on ML/OS-X from original ISO images (Win7, Xubuntu, Freebsd 9.0) and if it is needed for something using VirtualBox.

Ps: If Win7 causes problems, can miss it - so enough to have OSX/Linux/Freebsd

OS X has no problems with MBR partitioned disks. It only checks for MBR when you first install the OS, but after that, doesn’t. If you want to be able to reinstall using the USB install disk, you can.

Just restoring the original ISOs to different partitions on the USB disk will be fine, as long as a Mac is concerned. Other legacy computers, (usually built before 2008) may be a problem.


How do you clean dust from the inside of a MacBook Pro? I have a 2010 MBP and lately I've noticed dust showing up underneath the keys and above under the screen hinge. I've looked at the ifixit.com tutorials here but they don't have any guides on how to clean dust. I also have AppleCare, but this thread mentions it doesn't cover cleaning dust. I imagine "dusty" would be subjective, but they could give you 2 cleans a year or something. Can anyone verify that they don't clean dust from parts? In the end I'll probably open it up and use a dust-buster, but thought it'd be good to check first.

Yeah, on a 2010 MacBook pro, there is no way to separate the keyboard from the top case without disassembling the entire machine. The best way to clean out those keys is to get some compressed air and go to town on it.


Do any USB 3.0 to Gigabit Ethernet adapter work with OS X? Yes, I know there is a solution available from Apple for Thunderbolt. Yes, I know there is a solution available from Apple for USB 2.0 to fast Ethernet (10/100).

I am looking for an adapter to plug into a USB 3.0 port, providing me Gigabit (10/100/1000) LAN capability via wired ethernet.

StarTech makes the USB31000S, which is a USB 3.0 to Gigabit Ethernet adapter with support for VLANs, jumbo frames and checksum offloading. List price is about USD 55.

These are based on the ASIX AX88179 chip, which has drivers for OS X 10.6 - 10.8 available (bottom of previous link). Any other product using this chip would also work.


Unable to run/upgrade iPhoto after upgrading to OS X Yosemite I just downloaded OS X Yosemite on my Macbook Pro.  When I try to open my IPhotos I get a message telling me the version on my computer is not compatible with OS X Yosemite and to download a new version from the App Store.  When I search in the App Store I'm told there is no version available for Canada.  Does that mean my photos are all lost?

Not really good with computers so would appreciate exact instructions if anyone can help
Linda

The error message is likely because you have an old version of iPhoto installed, from your previous version of OS X. It may be too old and does not support Yosemite (the latest version, iPhoto 9.6.1, should still run).

iPhoto is no longer supported and has been replaced by the new Photos app as of OS X 10.10.3. Correspondingly, the iPhoto app is longer available on the Mac App Store (along with Aperture).

If you are on OS X 10.10.3 or newer, opening the new Photos app will migrate your iPhoto library, along with all included photos, albums/events, and metadata. You can then delete the iPhoto app from your Applications folder, move it to an external hard drive if you want to keep it for whatever reason, or just leave it there if you do not have disk space concerns.

It may be ideal to make a backup/copy of the iPhoto Library.photolibrary file in your users' Pictures folder onto an external hard drive or USB flash drive before using the Photos app to migrate your library. This will ensure you have a way to fix things if there are problems.


Duplicate "iCloud Drive (Archive)" folders I have two iCloud Drive folders.
Is this normal behaviour?
Can I delete one (how about both)?

Running macOS Mojave 10.14

Neither of these are your actual iCloud Drive folders where your iCloud Drive data is stored.
If you don't need their contents, you can delete both of them.

iCloud Drive data is stored in ~/Library/Mobile Documents

If you don’t have that folder, then it means your machine isn’t hosting a cached copy of iCloud data locally.


How to set network devices priority on afp/smb transfers? I've got ethernet and wifi in the network devices. I use internet through wifi and file sharing over ethernet (we got an access point with DHCP and an ethernet switch with static IP - the access point and the switch are using two different subclasses) And yes, I got the LAN on the top of the devices priority.

We don't have any NAS, we just use the "File Sharing" feature on OS X.
What drives me crazy is the fact that when I click on the server list on the left sidebar in Finder I can connect to other iMacs, but - I don't know why - sometimes I connect through wifi and sometimes over ethernet.
I disabled gateway and DNS on the ethernet configuration, and for a while it seemed to fix the problem.

I solve it by disabling wifi, so OS X is forced to use only ethernet.
How can I force AFP/SMB sharing to use ethernet instead of wifi?
Should I look for some bonjour tweaking?
It would be great to block bonjour discovering over wifi.

Below is a network diagram based on what I have read thus far.  I have made some assumptions about the IP numbering conventions, but that will have no effect on the overall scenario.

I am assuming that you are using two different subnets rather than 2 different classes of networks.  But, either way, you have two very different network IP addressing schemes for your Ethernet network and another for your WiFi Network

Assumptions:

Wi-Fi is used to connect to the Internet.  This means that your
computer gets it IP, DNS and gateway settings via DHCP from the
router.
The device (in this case the NAS) that you are transferring files to
is on the Ethernet network and the addresses are set STATICALLY.
That means the IP, DNS, and Gateway info must be manually configured.

What we don't know:

How the networks on the iMac are configured.  Did you duplicate the
DNS and gateway settings from the Ethernet to the WiFi?
How the network on the NAS is configured.  Did you specify a DNS,
and gateway here as well?
How the routers are configured.  What did you use for gateway,
DNS, route advertisement, etc.

All of this missing information plays a key role in why network traffic is taking the route it is taking.

What we know:

The key comment here is what @sekmo said

  "....the problem is that when you try to reach a local
  resource, sometimes the machines use wifi instead of ethernet... "

The only way that a network adapter will forward traffic from one segment to another is if it knows about it.  This means:

The router is connected to the switch (the yellow line)
The network route to get to 10.1.1.0 is being advertised to the clients on 192.168.1.0 by the router.

We also know that your computer (iMac) is not acting as a router because it already knows the routes to each network.  It would NEVER send a file destined for the NAS through the WiFi router unless there was a connection between the two networks.

 Why would your iMac choose WiFi for file transfer rather than the faster Ethernet?

The reason for this comes down to response time.  If the computer you are transferring to has gone to sleep, it will take longer to respond back than the WiFi router which is always on.  That's how your system automatically prioritizes traffic for you - it doesn't look for the fastest to transfer, it looks for the quickest to respond to it's request.

What you have done here is put two network adapters, even though they are addressed completely differently, on the same network.  You would expect them to load balance, or prioritize traffic based on destination, but because the two networks literally overlap each other, you are creating a bunch of network overhead.

Solution

The easy solution would be to remove the connection between the WiFi router and the Ethernet router (yellow line).  This way, neither router will advertise a path you don't want traffic to go down.

You also want to remove the DNS and Gateway settings from all the Ethernet connected nodes - there should be no reason for them to get to the Internet and you want only  ONE path to the Internet and ONE path to your NAS.

(Disclaimer:  You can create redundant networks, but that is outside the scope of this document and your question)

However....

This is not a recommended setup.  There is no need to create a dual homed, multiple gateway network with Internet traffic and file transfer traffic going on completely different networks.  Unless you are running a server which is doing multiple duty as a file server, web server, and Internet proxy, a single connection is more than sufficient.

If speed is that critical to you, look at getting multiple ETHERNET adapters and bonding them together - you will need to upgrade you switch to accommodate this.

And...

If you ARE running a server, WiFi for the Internet has to be the worst way to configure this.


Can't stream audio from OSX Mavericks to Apple TV Lately, when I click in "Apple TV" (trying to select it as default sound output), OSX changes it back to "Internal Speakers".

much simpler command:

sudo pkill coreaudiod


Mobilesync>Backup eating up Disk space My PC is always recently showing low disk space despite me eliminating files.  I ran Tree size and discovered large volume from iTunes sync backup.  Before deleting in iTunes>preference, May I just copy/paste this directory

  C:\Users\Owner\AppData\Roaming\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup

to another drive first and in case I need to restore, I can copy it back to that directory and restore in iTunes?  Thank you for your answer.

Yes. So long as you keep the structure intact you can move it elsewhere for safe keeping.

You could also trim it to only the most recent backup if you wished.

If your backups are encrypted, the only way to identify is by the date of each folder, otherwise the date should be in each folder title.


Is it possible to connect an iPhone to a WiFi network that you've previously connected your Mac to without having to enter the password on the phone? I'm pretty sure that iCloud will sync Wi-Fi information from your iPhone to your Mac, but I've connected to a network with a "secure" password and typing it on my phone is a pain.  Can I use the fact that I've connected to the network on my Mac to have the iPhone connect without wasting time entering the password on the phone?

In case it helps, it's an iPhone 6 with iOS9 and a 2009 MacBook Pro with El Capitan.

As far as iCloud keychain goes, it will save a lot of your passwords that you enter on websites (as well as usernames) but I don't believe it will do it for wifi passwords.

Once you enter the password once on your iPhone though, it should remember it from then on, so you will not have to enter it each time.


Is it possible to set a different ringtone for each line of a dual SIM iPhone? I have an iPhone 11 with a nano-SIM and an e-SIM. I've searched the internet but haven't found anything yet. I didn't see any setting about it, and it would seem normal to me to have two different ringtones - one for work and one for personal calls.

Is it possible to have a different ringtone for the two phone lines that I have?

This is currently not supported in iOS 13, as an alternative, if you call a contact primarily through a specific SIM, you can set that contact a specific ringtone:

Go to contacts
Go to the contact
Click Edit
Choose the ring tone

At the moment no alternative solution exists.


MacBook Pro mini displayport to DVI D doesn't show anything on the Compaq 2021 monitor I am using a MacBook Pro running 10.6.8. I have been using a Compaq s2021a monitor with mini displayport to VGA adaptor and cable until now. I bought a mini displayport to DVI adaptor and DVI - DVI cable and connected to the monitor. The laptop is detecting the display and allows me to change the resolution but nothing is seen on the display of the monitor. There is a flicker on the screen when the resolution is changed to 1024x768 when I click on the calibrate button.

Can someone help me to resolve this?

If you were using vga before, the monitor may not take digital input. DVI-D is digital only. VGA is analogue.

Try using a DVI-A or similar analogue signal.


What can one expect from coupling a 16:10 signal to a 16:9 monitor? The highest external monitor resolution supported by my Macbook Pro is 2560x1600.

What would I expect if I upgraded from my 1920x1200 external monitor to a 3840x2160 monitor? Those monitors are just making it into a reasonable price point.

The 3840x2160 resolution will of course not be an option, but is there a lower resolution that will give me a better picture than what I see in 1920x1200? This measure of quality is absolutely objective, BTW (and very easy to see by a seasoned eye).

I understand that I would be able to use 1920x1080, doubling vertically and horizontally twice. I'm guessing the resulting picture quality would be worse than with a native 1920x1200.

Perhaps a mode close to 2560x1440 or 2560x1600 would be possible. If yes, how ugly will the interpolation be?

If 24" or 27" 16:10 monitors were available at any resolution above 1920, I would have jumped on the chance, but somehow all monitor manufacturers decided that 16:9 (which is really suited for TVs, not for computer monitors) are the ones to build. The 30" size is simply too large.

You're right in theory that a 1920x1080 resolution will map perfectly onto a UHD (3840x2160) display, and you're also right that it will look worse than 1920x1200.

However, most monitors will perform some sort of an interpolation (smoothing) for all resolutions other than native (source).

While "how ugly will the interpolation be?" is subjective, I can however say that in my experience the interpolation doesn't drastically affect picture quality.  For instance, I have a Retina 5k (5120x2880) iMac, and I've compared UHD with WQHD (2560x1440) on it, and the UHD does indeed look better (though obviously not as good as 5k).

So if you do get a UHD monitor, I would say the 2560x1440 resolution would look the best. The 2560x1600 mode will suffer from an anisotropic scaling problem -- images will look squashed vertically (see this link).


Is this just a keyboard defect or more I was stupidly trying to clean the keyboard by taking out each key using a screwdriver as a lever, washing and subsequently drying them. Now only the power button works (MBA 2012). During the process, the screwdriver pierced through some of the plastic "button" (which in itself shouldn't be a problem I guess), and the sharp head (not always dry) touched the underlying board (which is not the motherboard) from time to time as well.

Now I'm planning to replace the broken part on my own, and found out two options. Either the keyboard alone, which isn't officially supported but cheaper, or the complete upper case. For the first option I'd need to make sure that it's really just the keyboard that's broken. Could anyone tell me roughly how likely it is the case from my description?

Thanks in advance.

At this point, you know you have a keyboard that's much easier to work on than the new butterfly design and an excellent / detailed explanation how that keyboard works.

Keyboard key stuck or not being recognized; how to fix

Also, you have an appreciation that doing this removal of a key has a very non-zero chance of breaking things. At this point you have a resource dilemma.

How much is your time worth?
How many parts and training do you need to successfully re-assemble the physical case?

If you want to fix it yourself, you can test all the keys physically by making sure the nubbin presses. If that's broken - you need a new top case or you need to consider using a bluetooth keyboard (if you must be portable) or a USB keyboard if low cost and low mobility is best.

Next cheapest is trying the top case repair, but you run the risk of under-estimating the tools and training needed there and could also break more than just the keyboard if you attempt a top case transplant of the computer (you're moving all the parts of the computer to a new frame, basically).

Also - consider getting a quote. Apple might charge $300 to repair everything you messed up and everything wrong with the computer functionally and put a 90 day warranty on all the parts touched in the repair. You're basically buying the best used Mac verified by Apple and you know the previous owner. I don't know many people that would turn down that good a deal if they needed a new computer, so don't look back about how cheap this could have been if the repair had only worked. It didn't (for reasons) and you're now faced with what next now that you know DIY repairs might have more risks than apparent at first. (Also don't undervalue your experience and knowledge you gained in this. I know some of the best repair people started just like you, so with time and training this may teach you more than if the key swap just went well.)


Mojave SMB file sharing authentication issues I'm trying to set up SMB file sharing from one Mac running macOS Mojave to another. The serving Mac runs Server.app and an Open Directory master with Local Network Users. The client is bound to the master. The user accounts on the client are 'Mobile Accounts' except for the administrator account on each Mac.

I have a HFS+ volume on the computer that shares, which enabled me to separately test AFP and SMB sharing. AFP sharing of a folder on the HFS+ volume works (with registered user). SMB sharing of a folder on the APFS volume does not work. It looks like an authentication/configuration problem.

Looking on the serving side, I see this in log:

default 10:02:52.426557 +0100   smbd    Server requires signing, but not auth-bound to Directory Service
default 10:02:52.427298 +0100   smbd    Too many groups requested (2147483647).  Can cause performance issues when network directories are involved
default 10:02:52.433288 +0100   smbd    Too many groups requested (2147483647).  Can cause performance issues when network directories are involved
default 10:02:52.448680 +0100   digest-service  digest-request: uid=0
default 10:02:52.448713 +0100   digest-service  digest-request: init request
default 10:02:52.452971 +0100   securityd   found a non-proper sample, skipping...
default 10:02:52.468923 +0100   opendirectoryd  Failed to talk to secd after 4 attempts.
default 10:02:52.472453 +0100   digest-service  digest-request: init return domain: ALBUS server: ALBUS indomain was: <NULL>
default 10:02:52.472607 +0100   smbd    Server requires signing, but not auth-bound to Directory Service

It does work when I set the "Windows File Sharing" flag for a user on. But that only is possible for Local Directory users not Local Network Directory users. I think I should be able to solve this by solving the smbd   Server requires signing, but not auth-bound to Directory Service issue. Or I must find to add the Local Network Directory users to "Windows File Sharing" (but given the lower security of that it is not what I would like).

I've done all the 'normal' things such as rebooting, turning services off and on again (and both), add specific access in Server.app (pf) for SMB and (S)LDAP and I'm now officially out of options.

The answer was here: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204021

If you use Directory Utility on the client to have an authenticated binding between the client machine and the server Open Directory, you can mount SMB shares.

There are other workarounds which are either less secure or have poor performance on writing. See the linked support article.


Is there a way to force specific apps to run and remain in a specific order? I've been trying for days to figure out the correct way to phrase this question, so please do not hesitate to correct me.

I have four apps that I always run in full screen mode and I always have them in a specific order. It looks like this:

Dashboard
Spotify
IRC App
Desktop
Browser
Sublime Text

The problem I would like to solve is, even though I set them in this order, they don't always stay in that order. I can't figure out why. The browser, for example, will sometimes slide over to the left side of the desktop.

So two questions:

Is there a way to have these specific apps open on start up?
Is there a way to lock them into these positions, both on start up and during normal use?

I'm running a MacBook on OS X El Capitan v10.11.6

In OS X 10.11 the default under System Preferences > Mission Control for the Automatically rearrange Spaces based on most recent use is checked. So to not have your Spaces rearranged on you, uncheck the checkbox for that setting.

To have an App tied to a particular Desktop, open the target App on that Desktop, then control-click (right-click) the target App's Dock Tile and select: Options > Assign To > This Desktop

To have an App launch automatically upon Login, go to System Preferences > Users & Groups > select the User > click Login Items and add the App.


For some reason I can't update my Mac OS X 10.7.4 to the latest software? I've been wanting to update my mac for a long time but for some reason it won't let me whenever I try.

I'm not an expert when it comes to computers so maybe I'm doing something wrong but if anyone could help it'd be greatly appreciated!

I'm using a Macbook Air (13-inch, Mid 2012)

Here's a photo that might help? If you need more information please tell me.

You're not doing anything wrong, what's happening is your download is corrupted so when OS X does its integrity check, its' failing it. This is the message you are seeing.

It would be very helpful if you could post exactly which computer you are using, specifically the Model Identifier:, e.g MacBookPro10,1 and or MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Early 2013). If your computer can run the newest software (El Capitan), then you just need to open the mac app store, hit 'Get' and follow the steps on the screen. El Capitan is a free upgrade!

If your computer is too old to upgrade past 10.7 (Lion), you have some options as well:

Download the standalone updater: OS X Lion Update 10.7.5 (Client Combo)
Reboot, and try again a few times. Sometimes it gets through
Try from a friend's house who uses a different ISP. I've seen this happen when an ISP's CDN caches a corrupted copy.

Hopefully you can just upgrade to El Capitan and skip this whole thing.


How can I remove the bluetooth setup wizard on a headless Mac Mini? I finally moved my old Mini into the back room on a TV.  I use Air Mouse to control it from my iOS devices.

However, with no keyboard and mouse connected it seems to bring up the bluetooth setup wizard each time I wake it from sleep.  This is a 2007 (core duo 1.83) running the latest Snow Leopard.

How do I disable this behavior or utility?

You can disable the Bluetooth Setup Wizard by:

Go to System Preferences
Click Bluetooth
Click Advanced
Un-check 'Open Bluetooth Setup Assistant at start up when no input device is present'.

The screen should look like this (the checkbox above the highlighted section):

More information in this Apple KB - Wireless Input Devices

Also, if you are not using Bluetooth at all, you can disable it as well.


I can't download Xcode because my Mac mini is not up to date. However, there are no updates for my Mac mini. Is there anything to do? My Mac mini is currently is version 10.12.6. Xcode requires "version 10.14.4 or laterV. However, when I check for available updates for my OS, there are none

You can get earlier versions of Xcode from here:

https://developer.apple.com/download/more/?=xcode

This may be an option if you can't upgrade the OS.


What actions can be taken with lost and locked phone? I lost my phone and I tracked it, but then suddenly I lost the location. Can the person make use of it if it is not screen locked? What other actions can he take with it.

If your missing device is off or offline, you can still put it in Lost Mode, lock it, or remotely erase it.

The next time your device is online, these actions will take effect. If you remove the device from your account while it's offline, any pending actions for the device will be cancelled.

Once it's in Lost Mode, no-one can do anything with it, it's a brick to all but you, so long as you don't erase it or remove it from Find my iPhone.

Ref: Apple KB - If your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch is lost or stolen


Is it possible to limit resources to a game? Or forcibly limit the FPS I recently bought and installed a new game through steam 'besiege' if you were wondering, and it ran really hot on my computer. On other games such as CS:GO for example you can cap the FPS in game making my computer not run as hot so less background noise.

I looked around and for this game there doesn't seem to be this option. (I've had similar problems with other games) My Mac (13" macbook pro retina 2013) runs at about 90 - 105 degrees with this game and I know the laptop won't be damaged as it'll thermal throttle and turn up the fans but I'd rather have a worse running game and not so much background noise due to the fan running at 6000 rpm...

My first thought was limiting the resources the game got, I'm not sure if this would affect the heat produced.

But anyways to just make the game run worse to decrease heat output. (It's capped at 60 fps I believe) down to around 20(ish) as this is perfectly bearable visually.

Any help would be greatly appreciated! :D

Let's look at the two things you suggested, as these are two separate approaches to solving the issue.

Limit the resources provided (presumably by limiting the CPU.)
Cap the framerate

Limiting the resources provided is pretty easy (provided you're willing to work with a little bit of third-party software.) You can use cputhrottle to limit the usage at the system level (better explained here.)

Capping the framerate is generally done at the level of the game. Unfortunately, to my knowledge, there's no way to set your framerate cap either lower or higher right now.  So you're stuck with throttling the CPU, although given what you're trying to do, that seems like a fine option.


What's the difference between `brew tap caskroom/cask` and `brew install brew-cask`? There seem to be different ways to do similar(?) things:

brew tap caskroom/cask
brew install brew-cask
and even brew cask alone does something on a fresh install

Homebrew is written in Ruby, which uses Perl's motto of "There's more than one way to do it" to cater to every special interest, to the confusion of newbies.

bmike thinks this is important:

  Also - the handling of taps / casks has changed over time. On Homebrew
  1.2.4 you can jump straight to installing from cask and the best guide on getting started that's current is:

  https://github.com/caskroom/homebrew-cask/blob/master/USAGE.md

But it confuses me as brew install caskroom/cask/foo does the same as brew cask install foo.


Weird Yosemite Sleep Behavior Since upgrading to Yosemite, I am having weird issues with sleep mode on my MacBook (mid-2011). Whenever my MacBook goes to sleep, it begins beeping (similar to POST codes on PCs) every 1-2 seconds, and I am forced to do a hard reset. This does not seem to happen when I am not connected to a peripheral monitor (Dell 21" monitor, and DVI adapter), however. Is this a known issue with Yosemite?

EDIT: Sometimes, this happens even without being connected to the monitor. The MacBook just goes into sleep mode, and begins beeping. Only a hard reset remediates the issue. Can someone provide me with a documented cause of this issue, and a fix?

EDIT 2: I've been fiddling with this for weeks, and I still do not know what the root cause is. I've used alternate profiles, eliminated the sleep image (per suggestion below), removed items from startup, and I still get this persistent behavior. Sometimes, after I do the hard reset, the Mac will not start back up after several attempts, but usually does after some time. I have done a hardware test, had it bench tested at a local Apple repair store, and tested the SSD for issues. None seem to be present. None of this happened until I upgraded to Yosemite. I'm out of ideas on this one. Hopefully, someone else has had this experience and can point me in the right direction.

EDIT:Make sure that you save everything you want before doing this

Try changing the hibernate mode to RAM only, run this Terminal command:

sudo pmset -a hibernatemode 0

And, try deleting the sleepimage. From /private/var/vm/sleepimage.

Do:

sudo rm /private/var/vm/sleepimage

Then type your password.


Mac and external HD permissions I'm wondering if my HD gets stolen, and my current permissions are set to:
User: R&W
Staff: R&W
Everyone: R only.

Would anyone be able to plug it to a mac (it's a HFS+ partition) and just read any file?

External drives [in fact any drive other than the current boot volume] have zero protection by permission.

It is trivial to Get Info on the volume & set "Ignore ownership on this volume"

The only way to protect data from any potential bad actor in possession of your drive is to encrypt it.


OSX Mail Server Forward to External Address I have an OSX mail server set up on Mavericks (10.9.2 I believe). I'm trying to set up a few addresses that should do nothing but forward to external gmail addresses. For example, let's say I want user@example.com to forward to myname@gmail.com. If I just try to specify myname@gmail.com as the forwarding address in server.app, it doesn't work.

Oddly, internal forwarding works. For example, say I have example.com and example2.com set up on my mail server. I can successfully forward from example.com to example2.com, but not to any external domain. Any suggestions?

In my experience this applies to Mavericks (10.9) and Yosemite (10.10) the same way that Apple says to do it for Mountain Lion.

https://support.apple.com/en-ca/HT5032

In Server.app, go to Users and select a user.
Click the gear icon (or Control-click the user name) and choose "Edit Mail Options..."
From the "Mail should be:" pop-up menu, select "forwarded".
Enter the forwarding email address in the "to email address:" field.

Additionally or alternatively, there is also a configuration file at /etc/aliases, /etc/postfix/aliases, and/or /Library/Server/Mail/Config/postfix/aliases which can be edited (using sudo) and in the area "# Put your local aliases here." you could put the line:

user: myname@gmail.com

If you want a copy to stay in the local mailbox of user you could use:

user: user,myname@gmail.com

If you want copies to go to additional accounts, they are separated by commas.

some-name: user1,user2,user3

This can be used for email addresses that do not have accounts on the machine such as webmaster or postmaster.

After saving the file, one needs to run the command:

sudo newaliases

I have done this for Mavericks Server for local email addresses, recently tested it for Yosemite Server and found that it works for external address too.

Note that individual aliases can also be added for particular users in Server.app.

Also of possible use are the notes kept by "magnusviri" about managing postfix on OS X Server (3.1.2) on Mavericks 10.9.4 - there is disussion about the different locations of configuration files between /etc, /etc/postfix, and/or /Library/Server/Mail/Config/postfix/ Only one of these three locations will be being used by your setup, so editing the "wrong" files will have no effect on the system's behaviour.

http://www.magnusviri.com/OS_X_Server/os-x-server-postfix.html


Booting into Windows gives "Operating System not found" I just upgraded my Macbook Pro from Snow Leopard to Lion, and now when I boot into Window 7 using Bootcamp I get the error "Operating System not found."

Following the advice at http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-13727_7-20090187-263/boot-camp-partitions-not-working-after-installing-os-x-lion/,
I found that I had MacFUSE installed, so I uninstalled it.  The problem still persists.

That article also suggests the possibility that there could be too many partitions on my drive, but Disk Utility says there are only two: Bootcamp and my OSX partition.

I can still access the files on my Windows partition through Finder.

Does anyone know how to fix this problem?

Try to repair the Windows boot sector using the Startup Repair Tool by Microsoft.
You can attempt a Startup Repair using these instructions:

Insert the Windows 7 installation disc or USB flash drive, or a system repair disc, and then shut down your computer.

Restart your computer using the computer's power button.

When prompted, press any key, and then follow the instructions that
appear.

On the Install Windows page, or on the System Recovery Options page,
choose your language and other preferences, and then click Next.

If you are using the Windows installation disc or USB flash drive,
click Repair your computer.

Select the Windows installation you want to repair, and then click
Next.

On the System Recovery Options menu, click Startup Repair.


How to make sure apps remain available after upgrading macOS? I want to upgrade macOS on my father's Mac, as it's quite out of date (currently running Mac OS X 10.6.8). I understand how to back up files before upgrading, but what about apps?  For example, he uses Matlab and would want it to remain available after the upgrade.

Would that mean reinstalling it after the upgrade (which I suppose might require him to know the product key, which he might not know: he generally doesn't know such things) or is it somehow possible to transfer one's current apps to the post upgrade system without having to reinstall them?

Here is the specification of the Mac in question:

OS: Mac OS X Version 10.6.8
Processor: 2.3 GHz Intel Core 15
Memory: 4GB 1333 MHz DDR3
Model Name: MacBook Pro
Model Identifier: MacBookPro8,1
No. of processors: 1
No. of cores: 2

Generally, no separate action is required with respect to apps when upgrading macOS. All the installed apps and user data continue to remain available post upgradation.

However, it's important to ensure that the apps are compatible with the upgraded version of macOS before actually performing the upgrade. This information can generally be obtained from the vendor/developer of the app.

There may be cases when upgrading macOS will also require you to upgrade the version of the app and associated licensing costs (if any). These all questions could be rightly addressed by the app vendor/developer.

On an important note, Apple advises to perform a system backup to guard against rare circumstances, where the upgrade goes wrong.

In your specific case, consider checking what's the latest version of OS X/macOS the machine can run. It might not go all the way to macOS High Sierra if it's too old. Obtain that information and plan your app update strategy accordingly.

Also, you should consider testing restoring your system from the backup to ensure its trustworthiness. People really don't want a backup - they want to know they can restore and the restore works. The backup is just the preparation to do the restore. You can run an erase/install and just reinstall the current OS to test things without the new OS potentially breaking things. That way you know you can restore the current OS first before you even think of upgrading.

How to reinstall macOS

It is worth emphasizing the should test since Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard is really a long way back and it's very likely many of the apps will fail on macOS Sierra 10.12 or later and need license keys, upgrades, etc. Having a bootable backup or clone might even be worth the effort. You are about to break lots of things and gambling that they are all minor or not used since tons of functions and features from 10.6 are changed/deprecated/turned-off now. Any one upgrade alone, generally is easier to risk without a test run, but this is decade of neglect in terms of keeping things moving on the routine update/upgrade chain.


Can iCloud synchronize contacts from Windows Mail? Can I sync my Windows Mail contacts into iCloud?

I don't use Outlook for Windows, only Windows Mail.

I'm Michael and I work for connex.io and we do just that.

connex.io is an app that can sync, de-duplicate, clean and up-date your Address Book automatically. This means that you can sync between different devices such as your iPhone and Windows Live mail easily. Not only that you can sync it with a lot more devices and services (such as Facebook for example). You only have to connect them once and everything will be done for you automatically.


Launch script after command finishes I find myself running some long scripts/commands and I don't want to wait looking at it until it finishes. On the other hand, I would like to know right away when it ends. I know you can do the trick with &&, but it seems like a lot of typing.

Is there a way to do this by actually putting a post-execution hook in bash? I know this is Bash related and not so much OS X but maybe there is something hidden in OS X.

There's no post-execution hook, only a pre-execution hook: if set, the value of shell variable PROMPT_COMMAND is executed prior to issuing the prompt. See man bash for details.

An option would be to create a function that tells Terminal to beep after the long command is run, so you know when it finishes. Such a function would be:

$ function r { $@; beep; yourscript; }

Your script will be automatically launched after Terminal makes a beep.

Use the function to run those long commands like this:

$ r longcommand

You can add the function to your .bashrc file to avoid defining it every time.

If you're not a fan of audible bells you can tell Terminal to flash instead:


Do I need to remove BootCamp partition before installing Mountain Lion? I have a MacBook Pro and I am planning to do a fresh install of Mountain Lion over my existing Lion partition. I have Windows x64 installed on another partition (I installed it using BootCamp). My question is whether I have to remove BootCamp windows partition before installing Mountain Lion? Or may I just install a fresh copy without disturbing Windows partition?

It shouldn't affect your BootCamp partition, I upgraded to Lion and ML on two macs without any issues.

If you want a completely clean install and you're booting from a USB drive with the ML installer, then run the disk utility to wipe the OSX partition, and choose that as the destination for installation afterwards, it still won't touch your Windows partition.


AppleScript to toggle dark mode with fading I have a script to toggle dark mode using

tell application "System Events"
    tell appearance preferences
        set dark mode to not dark mode
    end tell
end tell

However, this causes every application to instantly change from light to dark mode, as soon as it can. If I use the system preferences to toggle dark mode, all apps simultaneously have a slow fade from light to dark mode (or vice versa). Though this is a very minor aesthetic change, I would like to have the fade occur when I use my script to toggle dark mode. Is there a way to toggle dark mode the same way system preferences does so that it initiates the fading toggle?

I believe at the moment this is not possible.  Even when you switch between Dark/Light modes in Automator, it will call the same API that your AppleScript does and change it immediately.  Which makes me believe if Apple didn't make it fade nicely for its own tool, it currently can't be done.


Is there a way to see the amp levels while charging my iPhone? I'm told that different amp levels charge iDevices in different times. Sometimes I plug into my laptop, sometimes into a car converter, and other times into the side of a flatscreen TV for charge. Is there a way to see on the iPhone (or iPad) what the amp level coming out of the USB port are? Perhaps an app?

I don't believe so.

The available API for battery state in iOS gives you only 5% resolution. It might be possible to write an app that polls battery state and calculates a rate of charge based on the time between 5% intervals but I don't know of any apps that do this. If you want to get your app on the app store that's about the best way of measuring it directly. I know of an app that captures the screen and looks at the battery charge image to determine charge an alternative way but that's iffy, the size or appearance of the battery indicator might change between versions and then it breaks.

Jailbroken devices are a whole other can of worms. I know how to get 1% resolution on devices with a private API but you can't get such an app on the store so distribution is going to be limited.

BTW your terminology is a bit confusing. "Current" would be the right term, less commonly "amperage". I had to read a couple of times through to work it out, I thought you were talking about music volume at first.


Dim screen brightness of MBP, using AppleScript (and while using a secondary monitor)? I just got a secondary monitor to use with my MacBook Pro (13" Retina Early-2015). I previously had AppleScripts for dimming and for increasing the brightness of the MBP screen—either to no bars or to about 75%—but now they aren't working for some reason (w/ or w/o the external monitor plugged in). I also tried using Shades but both screens keep flashing every 2-3 seconds (I'd rather use an AppleScript as well).

Basically, my external monitor is my main screen and I want to be able to dim my MBP screen using an AppleScript to either no bars or about 75% (of which the scripts will then be redirected to keyboard shortcuts with an application).

What AppleScript code would be needed to do this?

EDIT:
Here is the old that worked really well before, but for some reason stopped (with out without an external monitor plugged in).

tell application "System Events"
    repeat 16 times
        key code 107
    end repeat
end tell

and

tell application "System Events"
    repeat 11 times
        key code 113
    end repeat
end tell

Having a secondary monitor was not the issue, it was that I also needed an external keyboard.

When using an external keyboard, the brightness key codes change from 107 and 113 to 145 and 144 respectively, to lower/raise the brightness level.

For anyone interested, the correct key code events that works with an external keyboard (tested/works with an external Apple keyboard) are:

To lower the brightness all the way use:

tell application "System Events"
    repeat 16 times
        key code 145
    end repeat
end tell

The above code will lower the brightness all the way, regardless of where it's currently set. If it's already set at anything below 100%, any extra lower key code events, while still executed, are done so harmlessly and are just ignored when the above code runs.

To raise the brightness to, e.g. 75%, use:

tell application "System Events"
    repeat 12 times
        key code 144
    end repeat
end tell

Note that if you want a smother transition, add a delay 0.02 command to each repeat loop, otherwise the transition can appear quite abrupt.


syncing calendars across different services Is it possible to sync calendars across services on a Mac? For example, I have an Exchange calendar and I want to automatically copy all events to an iCloud calendar. This would yield two different calendars with the same content.

It's very hard to search for an answer as most posts refer to syncing across devices, which is a different problem. Based on a few posts I found, it sounds like BusyCal may be able to do this, but I could not figure out how.

Update: I emailed BusyCal directly and got the following response:

  It is not.

  If your primary interest is in making a calendar available for others
  to subscribe to via WebDAV, you may do so through iCloud, Google,
  Fruux and Office365/Exchange.

  If the calendar is hosted on iCloud, you can share the calendar
  publicly as a WebDAV feed, as described in iCloud Help:

  http://support.apple.com/kb/PH2690

  If the calendar is hosted on Google, you can make it available as a
  WebDAV feed, as described in Google Calendar Help:

  http://support.google.com/calendar/bin/answer.py?answer=37103

  Or to publish it in html format for embedding in a web page:

  http://support.google.com/calendar/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=41207

  If the calendar is hosted on Fruux, here is how to make it available
  both as a WebDAV feed and embedded html:

  http://blog.fruux.com/2014/10/02/public-calendars/

  If the calendar is hosted on Office365/Exchange, here is how to make
  it available for Exchange users, html and a webdav feed:

  https://support.office.com/en-us/article/Sharing-your-calendar-in-Outlook-Web-App-7ecef8ae-139c-40d9-bae2-a23977ee58d5#__toc375064920

I found a solution that seems to work. You can use Zapier, which is a service for building workflows between different services (similar to IFTTT). One of their "zaps" or apps is Cronofy Calendar Connector. You can add various calendar accounts to it (including iCloud, Exchange, Google) and then have it create or delete an event in one when it is created or deleted in another.


Unable to create outlet using trackpad I am using Xcode 7 on a MacBook Air without mouse. Just the trackpad for navigation.

I don't know how to create an outlet to a label using trackpad.

I found the solution :

we need to 'create' right click on trackpad first. This is done by Preferences>Trackpad> Point&Click> Secondary click> click in bottom right corner
once step one is done, go to xcode. hover the mouse over the view for which you wish to create an action or outlet, do not tap, press right click on the trackpad with one hand and drag the view with other hand (without tapping).

That's all is required.


Not getting all iOS Gmail notifications when "Important only" is selected In the latest version of the iOS Gmail app released on June 4, they added a feature that allows users to choose to only receive notifications for "Important"/"Priority" emails. This option is only available to users that are using the "Important first" inbox or "Priority Inbox" in the web version of Gmail.

I'm using the "Important first" inbox. I chose to only send me iOS notifications for "Important only". However, I'm not getting notifications for all important emails. I know this because the badge for the Gmail app is updated correctly, but I don't get any lock screen notifications for all these emails. I get notifications for about 25% of all Important emails, and the rest I don't get notified.

I already tried deleting the app and reinstalling it, but that didn't work. Anyone know if this is a known bug of the app? I recall another bug where the app would continuously notify the user by sending notifications for the same email over and over again, until they deleted and reinstalled the app.

the new upgraded altamail app has come out today, it might be worth checking this out instead of using the gmail app, i think it might offer more flexibility than the latter as well
been using it with my gmail email and other accounts over the last few months and it seems to offer much more in terms of notifications


Recovering files from SSD of MacBook Pro that won’t boot due to water damage Before you start lecturing me on making backups, I'm happy no announce that 90% of my data is backed up. I did exclude some non-essential folders because my internet is garbage. Losing these are an inconvenience at most.

I have not opened my MacBook yet, still looking at what my options are before I start something I will regret. I simply want to connect the old SSD to a new MacBook once to copy some files. I have no interest in keeping the SSD after that.

I'm a bit lost because browsing google is mainly providing me with recovery services (a bit overkill? SSD should be intact) and products intended for converting the SSD into some kind of permanent external drive, but I'm only interested in a single copy. Fancy casings are not needed.
It has also come to my attention that regular SSD adapters might not work because apple used a proprietary design. Is this true?

I don't have the old MacBook with me so I'm not 100% sure what model it is. I think it's a 2015 MacBook Pro (no touch bar). What type of connector do I need?

I'm sorry if this is a bit vague. Thank you in advance.

The easy operation is to Use target disk mode to present your Mac as a pure storage device and connect it to another computer. Many broken Macs still work to this extent and since you didn't mention how it was broken, it's quick and easy if power and the storage controller work minimally.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201462

From there, you can copy / image / perform repairs using Disk Utility or other third party data recovery / disk repair / disk imaging.

The article above shows what connectors are supported and you'll be using some flavor of ThunderBolt on a MacBook Pro. For target access - you can use any of the TB3 to TB2 adapters as they work bidirectionally. Same with USB-C to USB-A - the adapters generally work as long as you can make a physical connection.

Liquid damage is tricky and can break all sorts of things:

Need advice: should I open the back of a 2013 Retina MacBook Pro as a means to recover data?

If you are intent on opening the case, the best I can offer is go to iFixit.com or a shop that sells mounting adapters / SSD upgrades for Macs. Without your exact model, we're shooting in the dark to know what tools and adapters would be needed and what bus you want to expose the storage to.


Can I update my 4.0b iphone to 4.0.1, and not to 4.1? I am looking for a way to update my iPhone 3Gs to 4.0.1, and not to 4.1 so that I can jailbreak.

Can anyone help?

EDIT - I have now tried, and failed on two seperate machnines  to restore from DFU mode to 4.0.1 The device is has 4 beta on it.

You can go to this website and download the correct firmware file to your computer. From there, plug your iPhone into your computer and shift-click (Windows) or option-click (Mac) the "Restore" button. From there, choose the firmware file your downloaded.


How to have a random background color in Terminal.app In X11 days, I had a script that would randomly pick a pastel background color and then open a fresh xterm.  This was easy to do because I could just pass an argument for (as I recall) -background.

Does Terminal.app have such an interface?  I would prefer to do this via a bash script but I can cope with AppleScript if needed.

I tend to use tabs within one Terminal window which may complicate things as well.

I'm currently on Mojave.

You can indeed use AppleScript to change the Terminal background color.

For example:

tell application "Terminal"
  set background color of first window to {33717, 0, 21000, 32288}
end tell

You can execute it from the command line with:

osascript -e 'tell application "Terminal"' -e 'set background color of first window to {33717, 0, 21000, 32288}' -e 'end tell'

You can then change more attributes:

tell application "Terminal"
    set background color of first window to {33717, 0, 21000, 32288}
    set cursor color of first window to "white"
    set normal text color of first window to "white"
    set bold text color of first window to "yellow"
end tell

To execute this kind of longer script from the Terminal, you can save it into a separate file ~/.terminal_change_color.scpt then, call it from the terminal:

osascript ~/.terminal_change_color.scpt

You can then add it to your ~/.bash_profile so that it executes for every new Terminal window you open:

echo "osascript ~/.terminal_change_color.scpt" >> ~/.bash_profile

Below is a longer script to choose a random background color.
As @nohillside noticed, you also need to adjust the text color to make it readable (white text on dark background, and black text on light backgound). The script handles that.

global kColorValueMaximum
set kColorValueMaximum to 65535

-- Choose a random color for the background
set randomRed to (random number) * kColorValueMaximum
set randomGreen to (random number) * kColorValueMaximum
set randomBlue to (random number) * kColorValueMaximum
set myBackgroundColor to {randomRed, randomGreen, randomBlue}

-- Select appropriate text colors based on that background
set {myTextColor, myBoldColor} to my ContrastingTextColors(myBackgroundColor)

-- Now inflict them on the frontmost window
tell application "Terminal"
    set targetWindow to window 1
    set background color of targetWindow to myBackgroundColor
    set cursor color of targetWindow to myTextColor
    set normal text color of targetWindow to myTextColor
    set bold text color of targetWindow to myBoldColor
end tell

on ContrastingTextColors(myColor)
    set whiteColor to {kColorValueMaximum, kColorValueMaximum, kColorValueMaximum, kColorValueMaximum}
    set lightGreyColor to {40000, 40000, 40000, kColorValueMaximum}
    set blackColor to {0, 0, 0, kColorValueMaximum}
    set darkGreyColor to {20000, 20000, 20000, kColorValueMaximum}

    -- From http://www.wilsonmar.com/1colors.htm
    set myRed to (item 1 of myColor) / kColorValueMaximum
    set myGreen to (item 2 of myColor) / kColorValueMaximum
    set myBlue to (item 3 of myColor) / kColorValueMaximum
    set magicY to (0.3 * myRed) + (0.59 * myGreen) + (0.11 * myBlue)
    if (magicY < 0.5) then
        return {whiteColor, lightGreyColor}
    else
        return {blackColor, darkGreyColor}
    end if
end ContrastingTextColors

Alternatively, you can create like 30 themes into your Terminal Preferences > Profiles, and select one randomly:

tell application "Terminal"
    set themes to {"Basic", "Homebrew", "Man Page", "Novel", "Pro"}
    set theme to some item of themes
    set current settings of window 1 to settings set theme
end tell

Credits to:

https://superuser.com/a/1188791/955567
https://nslog.com/2006/11/02/terminal_color_changing_via_applescript
https://red-sweater.com/blog/220/random-color-terminal
https://alvinalexander.com/blog/post/mac-os-x/applescript-list-examples


Macbook Pro (Mid 2012) Not recognizing USB Recently I downloaded VirtualBox to setup a Windows 10 Virtual Machine on my Macbook Pro. I bought a new 32gb PNY flash drive to boot Windows 10. Everything worked great until I shut everything down. Now my Mac doesn't recognize the flash drive (even disk utility gives me nothing). My USB ports are both fine and the flash drive still works with Windows machines. My question is two-fold, can I fix this and more importantly, can I prevent it from happening again?

You probably enabled a USB device filter in the VM and added the PNY flash drive. After configuring it like this the USB device is invisible for the host (also in Disk Utility). Choose the USB device in the VM settings -> Ports -> USB, hit the red minus-button and quit VirtualBox and the PNY will reappear.


Power Line Adapter (PLA) network reducing Macbook Pro's battery life I am not sure anyone has had same experience as I have. Recently bought a retina MacBook Pro and of course I was looking forward to enjoying the 10 hours of battery life that was promised.

2 months into the ownership I started paying more attention to the Energy Saver battery reading and to my shock discovered that the reading was fluctuating constantly.

No matter what I did I could not manage to get the 10 hours. For instance at one time it shows 8h 25 min battery power remaining, 30 minutes later it shows 5h 50 min power remaining. So I checked on the web and discovered had to shut down power hungry applications: bluetooth, WiFi, adjust brightness of the screen not to be too bright, I uninstalled Google Chrome and used Safari instead, turned-off keyboard lighting etc. This seemed not to have an effect on what I was experiencing.

Of course it would have been easier to go to the Genius bar but I first came across this Retina MacBook Pro battery life sucks? Here's how to fix it! web page.

However, before I could implement what is detailed there, I had temporarily had to move from my normal work desk to another room but same network. Then realised…my battery life improved enormously!! Then it hit me that the only difference was that in my normal place I connected to the internet via cable and in the new place was I using WiFi.

Surely WiFi should consume more battery than cable! Then I realised that in my usual place I used to  connect via cable  but through a Power Line Adapter (PLA).

So my questions are:

How do these power line adapters work?
Why should they affect battery of my laptop?
Should I continue using a the power line adapter with the laptop?

There is no information of this from the manufacturer of the power line adapter and have yet to get Apple's opinion on this.

How do Powerline Adapters Work?
Powerline Adapters are, in effect, baluns1 that embed an RF frequency on electrical wire.  What they are doing is taking the unbalanced CAT5 signal (which requires a ground connection) and converting it to a balanced RF modulated signal that is transmitted over the building's copper electrical wiring.  At the other end, it does the opposite to convert it back to CAT5
Why should this affect your battery?
The powerline adapter doesn't affect your battery per se.  What affects your battery is how much power is required to make your connection and how much traffic you send/receive.  The more power required, the less life on your battery.
Ethernet (CAT5) is designed for "high speed, long distance, and high reliability (noise immunity).  All of these features generally require trade offs in power consumption."2  Additionally, if the SNR (Signal to Noise Ratio3) is high, it will increase power and/or lower transmission speeds to accommodate
WiFi is basically the same but with the benefit that it will adjust its power based on the quality of the signal unlike Ethernet.    Where your signal is excellent, your WiFi adapter will lower its transmission power as extra power would simply be a waste.  Where the signal quality is poor, it will increase the transmission power to ensure connectivity.
This is also why your cell phone's battery also doesn't last when the signal is weak.
Conclusion...
In your scenario, you may have a WiFi signal that is excellent and for the work that you do, you don't see an impact in terms of speed or reliability going over WiFi.  Your upside is longer battery life.
However, should you have the need for higher speeds (like "moving" vast amounts of data), WiFi simply won't keep up with the transmission requirements.  CAT5 will be the advantage here.  Whether it's on a power line adapter or on a switch will not change the power consumption of Ethernet.

1Balun - Balanced/Unbalanced. A device that links together dissimilar wire types and attempts to minimize any negative effects to the signal that would normally result from the dissimilarity. Dictionary of Networking Terms
2 Microchip - high power consumption in ethernet mode
3 In an electromagnetic signal, the ratio of the amplitude (strength) of a signal to the amplitude of the ambient radiation and other signal disturbances that are present, usually expressed in decibels (dB). Dictionary of Networking Terms.


Is there a speed difference between copying files at the same time or after one another We got a new Mac Pro server and I am faced with cloning 4TB of data from one, to the other via. Firewire 800 cable and Target Disk Mode. Oh for Thunderbolt.

Is there an impact on the total speed of copying if you clone two hard disks simultaneously vs. cloning one hard disk, waiting for it to finish and then copying the next.

i.e. is

Total Time for: (old)Disk 1 -> (new)Disk 1 at the same time as (old)Disk 2 -> (new) Disk 2

Faster, slower or the same as:

Total Time for: (old)Disk 1 -> (new)Disk 1
THEN (old) Disk 2 -> (new) Disk 2.

Although this question would be appropriate for SuperUser, I'm asking specifically for our Mac environment. I think this is the type of thing that varies by operating system, and I'm not interested in the implications which are OS dependent (plus, I feel like this is my community, not SU).

There should be no difference. FireWire 800 operates on the physical layer, so it is all just bits of data as far as it is concerned. I recommend moving them both simultaneously, so you don't have to remember to come back and set the second one up to clone after the first is completed.

How many drives are you cloning? Personally, I recommend installing the drives from the old Mac Pro temporarily into the extra slots of the new Mac Pro and cloning them all within the new Mac Pro's box. That way you will benefit from internal SATA's 3Gb/s speeds, which are much faster than FW800.


Setting up key bindings of Corsair Vengeance K70 to work with OS X I recently purchased a Corsair Vengeance K70 and am trying to get set the ctrl windows alt keys to match the ones on a mac keyboard, control option(alt) command. Currently the windows key acts like command.

So far I've tried setting the key bindings by going to System Preferences -> Modifier Keys -> Corsair K70R Gaming Keyboard and testing different configurations of key settings though this appeared to have no effect.

I also attempted switching the BIOS switch on the keyboard though that seemed to have no effect.

Any suggestions?
Thanks!

Update: By opening the on screen keyboard I can confirm that the problem is that the windows key is synced with the alt key and command with window so I need a reliable way to switch those.

The following worked for me:

Open System Preferences --> Keyboard --> Modifier Keys
Select the Corsair Vengeance K70 from the Select Keyboard pulldown list
Setup your mappings - for me I remapped
Ctrl Lock to Control
Option to Command
Command to Option
Close the Keyboard System Preferences
Restart the computer (I believe that you can also just close the Preferences unplug the keyboard instead of restart)

After a restart everything worked as expected on Mavericks


Transfer images to iPad from a second computer I will be travelling this weekend and I will be carrying my iPad as well as my office laptop. Now, the iPad is set to sync with my home computer. I want to transfer images I click while on travel to my iPad without any reduction in quality (they are RAW files). Any way to do this without a camera connector? Oh and since I am travelling, access to wireless hotspots are not guaranteed.

Possible solutions:

iCloud sync.  I do this on several windows boxes using the iCloud control panel from Apple.  I am not sure how quality of RAW files are affected.
App store solutions may exist.  At the very least there are photo editors with Dropbox integration, although these have been manual processes for me in the past.
Koolertron 2 in 1 USB Camera Connection Kit+sd Card Reader for Ipad Ipad 2
... An inexpensive alternative to Apple's photo connector

I find these things tedious, but it is better than it was when I first got an iPad.  I don't know that it is intentional on Apple's part, but more of a result of them owning the basketball ... How are you going to play ball without them? iTunes has been a pile of garbage for years, but it doesn't seem to hurt sales, so . . . . . .

Good luck.

[edit] I have used PhotoForge 2, GoodReader, iFiles, and even email to move photos off and on to my iPad.  I like iCloud, as I can just sync back and forth from a folder on different PCs.  It took me a few tries to get it configured ... I also rely on DropBox, Box.net, and now Google Drive and Skydrive ... Many, many gigs of synced storage online.  Again, none of these necessarily meet your needs, your mileage may vary, and so on.


Macos sorts file randomly (at least it seems so to me) I checked other questions, checked Apple forums - the only thing I could find is Sort by / Arrange by but in my case none of their combinations helps me to get plain "by name" option, currently I can't even find any logic in how it sorts the files:

Any help is much appreciated. I'm on macOS 10.12.6.

The logic is simply that the file names you're looking at are sorted numerically. Finder takes the file names and note that they start with a number - everything up to first non-number character is then sorted numerically.

I.e. from your example 9873613 < 13480567 < 39758380 < 46432537 < 81233033.

Note that some files have 7 digits, others have 8 digits.

In general Finder's sorting takes sequences of numeric digits and treat them as a single number to be sorted. Non-numeric parts are sorted alphabetically like you would expect. This system of collation is called "natural sorting".


iOS app that shows a list of values to toggle on/off I'm looking for an app that contains a customizable list of fields, with a binary on/off or yes/no switch on each.

This is seemingly impossible to search for, given the generic words involved.

The usage is: I carry three laptop battery bricks with unique serial numbers. As one depletes, I insert the next one. They all look identical except for the serial number, so it's helpful to make a note of which one is spent or not. I'd like a simple app where I can list the three, e.g.,

EZXXXXX
TYXXXXX
FLXXXXX

With on/off switches next to them, so I can toggle and see at a glance which is spent. Often I wind up having only one with juice on it, and I have to cycle through all three and power the laptop on before finding the right one.

AFewThings on the JP app store. Excellent primitive (non-flat) interface, no ads, and you just add/delete a line and pulse it to turn strikethrough on or off. Finally, an app that does one thing and one thing only! And it's free!


Is this a legitimate email address from Apple support? I received this email from Apple Support in regards to a current support case; HOWEVER my last contact about the case was this past Monday and we (somewhat) resolved the issue. I received this email today (5/23/19) at 1am PST, which is definitely odd as Apple Support phone lines are off during that time. I contacted Apple Support on it but they couldnt confirm/deny that the email address is legitimate and it might have been a bug/glitch in their system during the time; I also checked my Apple ID online and nothing is out of the ordinary.

My main concern is if the "AppleSupport@email[.]apple.com" is a legitimate address that Apple uses to send these kind of emails when they couldn't reach you for a callback.

Can anyone help confirm the email's legitimacy?

The two pieces of information that make this legitimate is the message ID is really from Apple and the SPF comes from 17.x.x.x network which is known to be Apple’s private portion of the internet. Lastly, the DKIM validates both the above - apple.com email comes from the source.

additional information about the email sent shows this is legitimate, passes the advanced checks designed to stop blatant fraudulent emails.

This one was legitimate, but others that look alike could be scams - check the details is my advice.


How to fix paths when iTunes truncated path names after adding music to a folder Alright, so I'm on windows 7 64 bit, but hopefully my question still applies to AskDifferent, considering it is an iTunes issue. I've built a new computer for my girlfriend, and everything went well when transferring her old library. I have one issue. She uses the Keep itunes media folder organized setting on, and it seems that a lot of songs with long names ended up being truncated.

Wouldn't be that big of a deal (despite it being really weird), but we really really want to keep the old playcounts, ratings and paths in each playlist where these songs are used.

So the old path is pointing here:

/D:/Music/iTunes/iTunes Music/Music/Alix Perez/U EP/1-03 Make It Worth (+ DJ Rashad & DJ Spinn).mp3

But for some reason when transferring the music over and letting iTunes take care of it, it managed to turn this file into the following:

/D:/Music/iTunes/iTunes Music/Music/Alix Perez/U EP/1-03 Make It Worth (+ DJ Rashad & DJ.mp3

Is there a way to fix this?

iTunes for Windows truncates file names to 40 characters. You'll notice that your original file name (not including directories) is 47 characters and the truncated file name is 40 characters. Why does it do it? I don't know; I wasn't able to find out.

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3322627

  If you let iTunes "Keep the iTunes Media folder organized" it will use folder and file names with a maximum of 40 characters, inclusive of the extension characters. The following characters are replaced with an underscore.  \ / : * ? " < > | and also ; (which is a valid filename character). A leading space or period is also replaced, as is a trailing period for a folder name. Trailing spaces are stripped.

The author of that post has a script that can consolidate your iTunes library while still keeping your long file names. You can find it at http://samsoft.org.uk/iTunes/scripts.asp#ConsolidateByMovingLong.


iOS 7, Facebook Messenger app keeps crashing I was using my Facebook messenger app, and it suddenly crashed. I tried to open it again, but it kept crashing either instantly or after 20 seconds or so.

I've tried to turn it off and on, and delete and reinstall but its not working. Is there anything else I can do? What's wrong with it?

An app that consistently crashes on launch is usually due to the device being out of memory (RAM, not system storage). There is a nice list of ways to cure that here.

The next likely cause is bad data triggering a bug. You can often delete the app and redownload it to clear bad data files. Keep in mind if the app downloads data from the internet or has a backup / restore function.

Last resort is contacting the developer for specific recovery or triage steps based on their design of their app. Support links are provided in the App Store if you can’t find one searching the internet.


How to keep mute button available during call I use my iPhone for conference calls regularly, with a Bluetooth headset/microphone. Often I keep my mic muted except for when I speak.

It is awkward that when I want to speak, I need to wake-up and unlock my phone, before pressing the mute button.

Is there a way to make my phone stay awake during calls, without changing the sleep/lock settings generally?

In iOS10 you can just tap the number + call duration in the lock screen and it'll bring up the phone controls.


How do I add cells together on OS X numbers app What format should the cell be? This can not be added and only gives a exclamation mark - "the formula contains a syntax error.
OS X and numbers v3.5.3

The error at the bottom of your screenshot is from a previous entry. The Result bar does not update as you type—it updates when the cell contents changes. There's nothing wrong with that formula. Press Enter to enter the formula into the cell.

As for adding cells: whilst in formula edit mode, click the cell to insert its reference into the current cursor location, and use the standard syntax (something+something).


Best file system for external hard drive, to be used on both Linux and macOS? What's the best file system that I can use for an external HD which I want to use on both a macOS system, and a linux system? I can transfer files using sneaker-net much faster than through an AFP or SMB network share, but I need a file system which both operating systems can read and write.

Depending on the complexity of the file structure you want to store and other properties you might like - the easiest way to go is to use exFAT.
exFAT is fully, natively supported both read and write on macOS, and has been so since Snow Leopard 10.6.5 (from 2010).
On Linux the native support came with version 5.4 (from 2019). Your specific distribution might not yet be running 5.4 - in that case a FUSE implementation is available instead.
Note that exFAT is not well suited if you want to transfer file structures where you want to retain a lot of file permissions/ACLs, or if you have the need for a journaled file system (a file system that is more resilient to power failures and similar crashes).
In that case you might want to look into using APFS instead. APFS is the native file system used by default on modern macOS versions. It is however not supported directly by Linux.
Instead you can buy third-party support from Paragon Software.


How can I get iTunes to recognize my iPhone 4S again without having to re-configure all my apps? I have an iPhone 4S that I have bought directly from Apple. I used iTunes on my very old (2006) Mac to set it up and do the initial sync. After that, I did an OTA firmware update and several OTA syncs without problems. I also set it up to perform iCloud backups. When I next tried to connect the phone to iTunes about a week later, the connection felt rather flaky (the phone appeared and disappeared a few times), so I ran the recommended iTunes update.

I reconnected my phone, and iTunes greeted me with a "Set up your iPhone" screen, which offered me the choice of "restoring from backup" (to my knowledge and from the dates offered, this only refers to the backups iTunes has made, not iCloud), and "setting up as a new iPhone" or something to that end.

I did some research and found that some people had that same problem, but said it went away when the allowed it to set up as a new iPhone, which, as they said, would do nothing and everything would be good afterwards. Well, they were right that it did nothing to my phone, but now all those checkmarks ("sync music", "sync contacts", most importantly: "sync apps") are unchecked. If I re-check any of them, the program makes it quite clear to me that first, everything on my phone will be wiped, and then being installed as instructed. I.e. if I did this with my apps, I believe all my settings would be lost and I would have to set all of them up again.

I even went to the "Genius Bar" today and explained all this. The answer was this: reset your iPhone to factory settings, connect to iTunes to make it recognize it again, then restore from iCloud (where both all app settings and the screen layouts are stored).

Sounded reasonable back there, but when I tried this, I found this little problem:
You can only restore to a fresh device from iCloud, but iTunes will either want to set it up for me first (so it's no longer fresh after that), or, if we do an iCloud restore, it goes back to showing me the settings with all checkboxes unchecked.

Maybe I just overlooked one crucial little detail, but I don't see it, so...

what can I do to remedy this?

I know the easy way out is to just wipe the phone and install again from iTunes, but what bothers me is that this disconnect can happen to me again and again - I don't want to wipe my phone and reconfigure all my apps every time this happens. So that's why I'm looking for the "right" solution, rather than the "quick and dirty" one.

Coincidentally, that happened to me just one week ago when Wifi sync died en route. The solution is simple, but totally non-intuitive: do the exact opposite of what feels right, and all will be well (not exactly Apple’s finest hour in UI intuitiveness):

Choose “set up as new phone” on the initial screen. In the dialog that pop ups give your phone the name it had before (important – if your case is similar to mine, it will be pre-filled). This will re-register the phone with iTunes sync.
Your phone will do an initial sync with all sync options (music, movies, ebooks etc.) disabled except apps, which are set to “sync all” (if you have a lot of apps in iTunes you are not usually syncing to your phone, the initial sync will flood your phone with these. Delete them out of iTunes beforehand, or from the iPhone after the initial sync). Apps already on the phone will not be overwritten and won’t lose their settings.
At this point, all media will still be both in Tunes and on the phone, but not in a synchronized state. Re-check all your sync settings. Acknowledge the “all media on this phone will be deleted” warning. Don’t fret: as long as you are syncing with the same iTunes library as before, nothing will be deleted in the next step.
Trigger a sync manually. iTunes will compare what is on the iPhone and what it is meant to sync, and will not re-transfer media already on your phone. Once done, both media libraries will be in sync again. One gotcha though: make sure the downsample setting on the first option page is set as it was before (i.e. on if you downsample music to 128 Kb/s in sync, off otherwise), or you music will be re-synced because bitrates do not match – quite a pain if you have a large library.

After that, your phone will be back ins sync without undue hassle (i.e. worrying about out of date backups in iTunes, iCloud restore etc.).


VMWare Fusion Pro macOS Host to Linux Guest Keyboard Mapping I'm running a Fedora (also a Ubuntu) guest in VMWare Fusion Pro 8.5 on macOS Sierra. I've got a problem that's been bugging me for a long time: the keyboard keys don't map across correctly from the host to the guest. I've got the UK, Macintosh layout set in the guests, and the keyboard map shows the correct layout. But, as an example, when I need to type ~, I actually have to type ±, etc. Yet the @ and " keys map correctly.

I've read lots of advice about using the Keyboard and Mouse settings in VMWare Fusion to map the keys correctly, but as far as I can tell, these options only relate to shortcuts (am I missing something)?

Also, given that Fusion is designed for the Mac, how is it that it can't detect my MBP's keyboard layout and correctly map that to a Mac layout? Is it just me, or is that crazy?

I've been running a Linux guest on my iMac VMware Fusion Hypervisor for years and have been logging in via ssh to avoid this.   Only recently set it up for Gnome.
I found that configuring gnome for an Apple keyboard solved most of the issues with tilde etc.   The one key which I did have problems with was the hash '#' key which for some reason either works via SHIFT-.


Make the most out of a mac without admin account So. I've got this laptop from work. Big corporate enterprise.
Bureaucracy can't give me an admin privileges so I'm stuck with what I can install at my home folder.

Got lucky it came with a C compiler (clang), a decent Python distribution and Ruby so I could get homebrew running.

It seems that I can't get to the app store, but that would not be such a big deal because I don't want to spend money on this.

I'd love to get matplotlib running but it seems that it could not be done without tinkering some lib paths. Is there a way to workaround that?

Fuse or whatever I could use to get to mount something other than mac-formatted disks. Particularly my cellphone as a storage device and not that crap you get as bluetooth manager...

Any experience on the subject?

How did you deal with this kind of setup?

Ask your IT folks if they'd be OK with you running an OS X VM inside VMware Fusion and have admin rights inside the VM.

That approach would allow you to get what you want (a developer environment where you could install things) while sandboxing it (which may satisfy the security rules and policies that your IT folks need to abide by.)


HomeKit thermostats and Celsius Since upgrading to iOS 13 and macOS 10.15, one can only set temperatures in an integer number of degrees, which works fine for Fahrenheit, but isn't fine for Celsius. iOS 12 and macOS 10.14 permitted half-degree values when using Celsius and integer degrees in Fahrenheit.

Aside from creating/editing scenes with explicit temperatures on a Mac running 10.14, does anyone have a suggestion for a solution?

There's no way to make that change directly in the Home app.  This issue was mentioned during the iOS13 beta testing and wasn't changed.

Some people have reported that as of iOS 13.1.3 you give a command to Siri and it will set the correct temp.  I'm in the US, thus don't use celsius, so I can't confirm this is correct.  You didn't mention which specific iOS 13 version you were using.

Apple's 13.1.3 release notes don't specifically call this out.  It's not unusual for Apple to fix things and not put them into the release notes.


iPad Keynote Presentation in portrait mode I'd like to use Keynote on iPad in portrait mode, so that I can use it while it's in my dock and so I can make app wireframes in it that are portrait mode apps (vertical orientation). Is this possible?

The only solution that I can find is to create the presentation in "normal" landscape orientation, and rotate every element sideways using Inspector > Metrics > Rotation. If I set everything to 90˚ then it shows up like I want it on the iPad.


Require login for Single User mode? Is there a way to require a password to login to single user mode? I don't want to use a firmware password, because that will not only disable single user mode, but also Startup Manager (which I use to boot from a USB). I don't like the idea of anyone with physical access to my computer having more privileges than my user does.

I'd simply like to have it ask for the root password before logging in as root, or ask for any username and password, and log them in normally. Is there a way to do this?

The following article may help your problem. :)

Mac OS X: Require Password at Single User Mode:

  By default, Mac OS X will simply give you a shell when you perform a Single User Mode startup.  However, you can force OS X to ask for a password in order to gain shell access.  To do so, vi the /etc/ttys and change secure to insecure.  Once you have done so, create a password in /etc/master.passwd for root.


iMessage to Mac when logged off Quick easy question - if iPhone iMessages are synced to Mac, then somehow you get logged out of messages on the Mac, would any iMessages sent by your phone while you were logged out on your Mac show up on your Mac when you log back into messages on your Mac? Or are those messages sent while you weren't logged in just on iPhone and there will be a gap in your Mac messages for the period you were logged out?

In my experience, iMessage syncing is not reliable but it does work most of the time. As a result, it's difficult to ascertain a definitive answer. The intended behavior is as you described it and there should be no gap in Mac message history.

However, for me, it doesn't sync 100% of messages all of the time. It does sync most of the time. The other thing that can happen is a time delay. For example, I booted up my Mac after an extended period of having it off and no messages came in. The next day when I booted it up, everything came in.

If most of your messages are not syncing, I suggest disabling iMessage on your iMac and iPhone and then re-enabling it both places.


Connecting an iPod Touch 4th generation to a projector? Is it possible to view all applications using a projector with an iPod Touch 4th gen?

This Apple support page indicates it is possible, but when I connect the projector to my iPod it did not receive any signal.

From the "Video Mirroring" section:

  You can use the Apple Digital AV Adapter or VGA Adapter to display the contents of your iPad 2 screen to a compatible TV, projector, or other external display.

Note that it explicitly says iPad 2. That is the only device which currently supports mirroring. While the 4th generation iPod touch supports the AV adapter, only applications with a video out mode will display anything through it. Most applications don't support video out, and won't display anything on the connected screen. If an application does support video out, it will usually mention it in the features list in the app store, so you can tell before you buy an app whether it will support it or not.


Using regex in Mac OS X: why I have to add \ in {3, 5} ==> \{3, 5\} ...? I am trying to find all files with no-extension in a particular folder, and after many attempts I finally came up with this regex statement:

  ls | grep "\.[A-Za-z]\{3,5\}$"

Why I have to start the occurrences around the {} with \, like escaping the sequence? Is there a way to use standard regex like this?

  ls | grep "\.[A-Za-z]{3,5}$"

I want, ultimately to get the opposite list of files with no-extension, but this non standard regex is making it hard for me to negate the result from the grep.

If I understand your question correctly, you do not need to escape the curly-braces with a backslash if you form the command properly.

In other words, when using a RegRx with grep, let it know the search pattern is a RegEx by using the -E option.

If you want an inverse match then use the -v option as well.

Example:

ls | grep -E -v '\.[A-Za-z]{0,5}$'

Note I used {0,5}$ instead of {3,5}$ to account for any extension up to 5 characters. If you want to include files that might have a 1 or 2 character extensions, then use {3,5}$ instead.

You can also use the following example:

ls | grep -E -v '\.[[:alpha:]]{0,5}$'

Sometimes a file extension can have numbers in them, so to account for that, use as an example:

ls | grep -E -v '\.[A-Za-z0-9]{0,5}$'

Or:

ls | grep -E -v '\.[[:alnum:]]{0,5}$'

Note: Some commands require the options to be passed individually, while others can be combined. In this case, grep does allow options to be concatenated. So in the example commands, -E -v can be expressed as -Ev or -vE, if you wish.


How do I link slides in different keynote 6.5 presentations? I had to presentations in the earlier version of keynote that were linked with a hyperlinked object. That option isn't found in 6.5. I need the presentations separate as one of them is customized with many pictures for each show, while the other remains the same. Combining them creates a file that is too large and thus problematic.

The hyperlink disappeared when the two presentations were "upgraded" to 6.5 and now I'm kinda screwed by having to stop the show and have the whole audience watch while I switch to the other presentation. Very unprofessional.

Unfortunately, Apple removed that feature (along with many others) when they released Keynote 6.  It's unclear why, but some people attribute it to a security concern?  Not sure if they ever intend to reinstate it.

Your best bet is to downgrade back, if possible.  I think the last version that had that feature was 5.3.


Set environment variable for applications on startup How do you set an environment variable on startup so that it can be used in applications?

For example, ATOM_HOME is used by Atom.

Solution

The solution uses two files: environment.plist and environment.conf.

environment.plist should be placed in ~/Library/LaunchAgents for a per user solution (recommended), or in /Library/LaunchAgents for a global solution (not recommended – potential security loophole).

environment.conf can be placed almost anywhere. $PATH_TO_ENVIRONMENT_CONF can be relative, but only to the 'default' environment variables, or any that are defined in a EnvironmentVariables key. 1

environment.plist:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
  <key>Label</key>
  <string>local.launchd.environment</string>
  <key>ProgramArguments</key>
  <array>
    <string>sh</string>
    <string>-c</string>
    <string>xargs -L 1 launchctl &lt; $PATH_TO_ENVIRONMENT_CONF</string>
  </array>
  <key>RunAtLoad</key>
  <true/>
</dict>
</plist>

environment.conf:

setenv ATOM_HOME $HOME/.config/atom
setenv SOME_VAR "Use quotes if spaces are necessary"

How it works

When a user logs in, the LaunchAgents in ~/Library/LaunchAgents are executed. In this case, sh -c xargs -L 1 launchctl < $PATH_TO_ENVIRONMENT_CONF is executed. launchctl manages daemons and agents. In this case, we are using it to set an environment variable accessible to all applications and the shell.

xargs -L 1 launchctl &lt; $PATH_TO_ENVIRONMENT_CONF

xargs                     # xargs converts stdin to command line arguments
xargs -L 1                # Tells xargs to invoke launchctl for each line
           launchctl      # Run launchctl with the arguments
                     &lt; # Since a plist is an xml document, angle brackets must be escaped.

                     &lt; $PATH_TO_ENVIRONMENT_CONF
                          # This tells xargs to read input from the file at $PATH_TO_ENVIRONMENT_CONF

This solution can also be extended to other launchctl subcommands.