Keyboard / Trackpad not working in Mac OS, but works on boot screen and in Windows Have an issue with Macbook Air 13 (Mid 2013). Both trackpad and keyboard work fine on the boot screen, also in Windows 10 bootcamp installation, but in Mac OS X neither works (not even Caps Lock LED). External keyboards and mouses work fine.

Tried clean re-install wiping all existing partitions (Yosemite and El. Capitan) - no difference. Actually, even during Mac OS installation, input works fine on the boot screen, but as soon as Mac OS setup loads, both keyboard and trackpad stop working.

SMC and PRAM resets didn’t help.

EDIT - Some additional info gathered during troubleshooting: (Thanks Tiago Ferreira)

Internal keyboard and trackpad work fine in Diagnostics Mode.
The only warning on Diagnostics page is that battery needs servicing.
Keyboard and trackpad do not work in Safe and Single User modes.
When booting into Single User mode, there are bunch of errors related to AppleHSSPIController
Disabling Bluetooth doesn't help. Apple Bluetooth mouse works fine.
EFI and SMC Firmwares are up to date.

I strongly suspect it must be a hardware issue, but why it works in Windows and in certain Mac OS boot modes?

So my final answer is that this is probably a firmware problem and you need to re-flash it, unfortunately Apple doesn't allows users to do this on Macbook Airs. You'll need to take it to your local Apple Store for the genius to do it. If it is indeed an hardware problem, Apple Stores have access to a more detailed system diagnosis, which will almost certainly tell you what the problem is if it isn't firmware.

Sorry for the long time and hope you can solve it.

Tiferrei


Opening 'BaseSystem.dmg'? I just had a window pop up telling me it was Opening BaseSystem.dmg, and then disappearing in ~1 second.  All I can find is a reddit thread with preciously few answer.  Anybody with more intel?  I was doing a backup (with Time Machine, an USB connected external drive) when the pop up flickered.

I am on MacOS 10.13.6 (17G65).

EDIT: the same dialogue just flashed up (I am doing a backup, with an external HD connected with a USB port).  So likely this popup has something to do with having a drive attached.

I have also seen this happen on my system a few times. For me, it happens right when a Time Machine backup finishes (I am also backing up to an external USB HD). I am running macOS Mojave 10.14.3 (18D42).

It is very likely that Time Machine creates this file so that it can recover the OS in the case that the backup fails and screws up your system. It probably self-deletes this file if there are no issues at the conclusion of the backup.

In case Time Machine is not the only culprit, I recommend searching your system for the source(s) of the file. Open the application "Terminal", and run the following command:

sudo find / -name BaseSystem.dmg -type f 2>/dev/null

This will prompt you for your admin password because it will search all files on your system (even those owned by the root user). Depending on how big your hard drive is, this could take a very long time.

For me, the only file found was at /Library/Application Support/com.bombich.ccc/Recovery/BaseSystem.dmg. This is a directory used by Bombich Software's Carbon Copy Cloner application. I know this application archives the recovery partition for your OS (so you can reinstall macOS if needed), so I am assuming this DMG file is related to that.

I haven't tried it, but I assume that if I were to delete this CCC file, it would just get recreated by CCC later. As others have stated, this file does not seem to be malicious or harmful in any way, so keeping it around or deleting it probably doesn't matter too much and is really up to you.

If you really want to, you can delete all of these files with the following command:

sudo find / -name BaseSystem.dmg -type f -delete -print


Using the F1 in Jetech Keyboard I've bought Jetech keyboard in Amazon for my Macbook Pro (mid 2015)
https://www.amazon.fr/gp/product/B0173QD5L4/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o05_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
It works well, but I can't figure out how to use Escape or F1,F2,ect.. Anyone used this can have some suggest? thanks indeed

It seems like the top row of keys on your mac are configured to behave as function keys only in combination with fn key (bottom left). Follow the steps below to change the setting

Choose System Preferences from the Apple menu.
From the View menu, choose Keyboard.
Click the Keyboard tab.
Enable "Use all F1, F2, etc. keys as standard function keys".
Close System Preferences.

Now the blue color functions in top row will act in combination with fn key and esc, f1, f2 etc will behave as standard function keys.


AppleTV 2 HDMI no sound at start sometimes? I have an AppleTV2 hooked up to a Vizio LCD TV via HDMI. Nothing between the ATV and TV other than the HDMI cable. I just got the ATV2 a week ago and it was updated with the latest iOS update shortly after I got it, so I don't know if this issue is related to it or not.

Sometimes when I wake the ATV and try playing content the video is fine, but the audio is gone.

I have switched HDMI ports and reseated the cables. Still the issue persists.

I've been able to restore sound with mixed success by sleeping/waking the ATV, restarting the ATV, and turning off the TV and turning it back on. Just changing the inputs on the TV to another input and back again doesn't fix it. By mixed success I mean that I haven't found a magic sequence or method that will fix it consistently every time.

The sound does not cut out in the middle of something. It is only "in the beginning", making me think there's something with the HDMI handshake causing it. Once I can get the menu effects sounds while navigating the ATV I know that it'll be okay.

I turned the ATV's Dolby setting from auto to off, but I'm not sure if it has fixed the issue (I don't think I restarted it since doing that and I just changed the setting yesterday after Googling around to see if this will improve sound stability.)

Before I try buying new cables or anything, is there a known issue regarding the latest iOS that has these symptoms? I thought I heard rumor there was another update in the works for the ATV2 but I don't know...I'm kinda hoping I'm not the only one in this boat before I try throwing random money at the problem.

First time this happened to me, sleeping and waking worked.


The + key takes a screenshot on Mac When I press the + key my mac is now taking a screenshot.  Pressing the + key on the numeric keypad does not do this.  This just started happening and I can't figure out how to debug this to understand what is going on.

Look in System Preferences/Keyboard/Shortcuts/Screenshots to see if that key is set as a shortcut to take a screenshot. Maybe it got set accidentally.


macOS Messages.app: How to search by recipient/sender? The search box in macOS Messages.app seems to bring up results within conversations but doesn't search just by the name of the conversation sender or recipient.

Often I'm trying to find the latest conversation with a contact and it doesn't appear that I can just enter their name in the search box.

I'm curious if there is a way to specifically bring up a conversation by a specific contact.

Only workaround I've found is to go into Contacts.app and initiate a new message with them - it sends the message within Contacts.app but then when you switch back to Messages.app its the topmost conversation.  Not an ideal workflow.

In the messages app you can start a new conversation with an individual using the pencil icon. If you start a conversation and the existing one is in your message history it will show the past conversation as soon as you select their name.

This will not pull in the message history if you've deleted the conversation from your Mac. It only works if this conversation is in the long list of past conversations.


Removing duplicate application entries in context menus Possible Duplicate:
  How do I remove duplicate “Open With” context menu items in Finder.app?

I've installed Parallels Desktop 7 and I believe it's the reason I have duplicate application entries. It might not be, but otherwise I'm not sure. Is there a way to remove them?

This worked:

/System/Library/Frameworks/CoreServices.framework/Frameworks/LaunchServices.framework/Support/lsregister -kill -r -domain local -domain system -domain user


How can I force my iMac to use iMessage NOT SMS My wife is travelling in the US and has her Australian iPhone (which is roaming) and a iPhone with a US SIM.

I can iMessage her OK. I can also iMessage my daughter (in Australia).

When I try to send a message to both my daughter and wife it suddenly goes as SMS (for which I have to pay roaming charges).

Up until last night it was working OK.

How can I force my iMac to use iMessage NOT SMS?

Couple of things to try:

On your iPhone, choose Settings > Messages > Send as SMS and toggle the setting to Off.
When sending an iMessage to your wife, try using her Apple ID instead of her phone number. You can check what numbers or email addresses she can use in Settings > Messages > Send & Receive.
Check your wife's mobile data connectivity/data roaming. She won't be able to access iMessage if she has no internet. See Settings > Mobile > Mobile Data and make sure the setting is On (it may be Cellular in the US if she has changed locale).
Probably obvious, but make sure your wife has iMessage enabled. Check Settings > Messages > iMessage and make sure the setting is On.

Note with the second point there. There used to be an issue whereby Messages on macOS would group the chats separately if you've sent messages to different addresses of the same contact. Not sure if this has been resolved, but it was frustrating.


Apple Watch airplane mode disadvantages? Since a few days I have an Apple Watch and I really like it. I just wanted to know if I could use my watch in airplane mode all day, and at the end of the day I connect it to my iPhone to let all my health data sync. Is this possible?

How long does my watch collect data when it isn't connected to my iPhone? Today I woke up very early in the morning and I put on my watch (in airplane mode). A few hours later, I disabled airplane mode and all my health data from the last few hours (e.g. heart rate) was synced immediately to my iPhone. Does that even work when my watch is in airplane mode the whole day?

I imagine the WATCH will keep as much data as its onboard storage will allow, which is several gigabytes. So, caching Health data really shouldn’t be an issue for most intents and purposes.

Since the title of the question is about the disadvantages of Airplane mode, know that placing your WATCH in airplane mode will preclude you from connecting to the Internet. Therefore, any feature that requires an active Internet connection will not work. Siri comes to mind.

Finally, since the Bluetooth antenna is also disabled, you will be unable to connect a set of Bluetooth headphones, or an external heart rate monitor. Any app that requires an iPhone connection will not work either, meaning all watchOS 1 apps, as well as many, if not most, watchOS 2 apps. GPS via your iPhone will also cease to function.

Enabling Airplane mode thus disables most of the features of your WATCH. On the other hand, there aren’t too many advantages to enabling it. You might see some gains in battery life, though most of that will come from not being able to use your WATCH for a whole lot of things. But if you weren’t using your WATCH a lot to begin with (outside of activity tracking), then battery life is more than adequate to last you an entire day.

Even if you are on a marathon hiking trip, you will defeat much of the purpose of tracking that workout anyway, since the lack of GPS will result in less accurate distance measurements. In that situation, it would be preferable to turn on Power Saving Mode under Apple Watch → Workout.


Add anniversary to calendar iOS calendar add birthdays but no anniversary.
How can I add them from the contacts to the calendar?

Another work around would be to add a contact, called for exemple Wedding Me and My Wife and add a birthday to it. So it will show like a birthday in the calendar but you'll not it's an anniversary.


cl date function working differently in Intel and M1 machines I have a shell script to calculate the number of days from a particular date:
echo D$((($(date +%s)-$(date +%s --date "2018-01-01"))/(3600*24)))

On my 2019 MBP (Intel), it works. On my 2020 Mac mini (M1), it doesn't.
The error:
date: illegal time format
usage: date [-jnRu] [-d dst] [-r seconds] [-t west] [-v[+|-]val[ymwdHMS]] ...
            [-f fmt date | [[[mm]dd]HH]MM[[cc]yy][.ss]] [+format]
/usr/local/bin/days: line 1: (1614815225-)/(3600*24): syntax error: operand expected (error token is ")/(3600*24)")

The man pages are different. On the MBP it's
DATE(1) User Commands DATE(1)

On the Mac mini it's
DATE(1)  BSD General Commands Manual  DATE(1)

What's going on here?
How do I get back the old functionality?

The answer (thanks to a hint by @mmmmmm in the comments) is that in the M1 Mac mini you have to install the gnu coreutils (e.g. via Homebrew), but since the names of some of them overlap with the names of similar (but not identical!) utilities that come with the Mac mini, the system automatically prefixes "g" to any utilities whose names overlap.
Therefore, the problem was solved in my case by changing date to gdate in my code.


iOS camera tap to focus animation Is the iOS Camera app's "tap to focus" animation available somewhere that I can download and use? Preferably an array of images?

I know of none that are worth downloading.

You could easily record it yourself using AirPlay mirroring on the iOS device and a screen recording program like Reflector and Screeny if you have access to a machine that runs OS X.


Authenticate with phone instead of password I understand that what I want is really strange.

We have something like shared build server (mac mini, yosemite), which is located in public place in office; basically everybody have physical access to it.

We have special user account created for our project needs, and all necessary tools / passwords etc are configured under this user account.

We have a rather big group of people, who should have physical access to this user account from time to time.

As a (predicted) result we have simple "password" which is known to everybody, even to people outside of this group.

Is there any way / third-party tool to use phone applications like Google Authenticator, which will allow access to this specific user account to a predefined group of people, without relying on just password?

In general I'm looking for any solution which might solve my problem - login to account with "public password" to specific people only.

I'm not aware of other 2FA softwares to unlock a Mac, however I've recently found this software that might be of use to you: http://www.knocktounlock.com/. It uses an iPhone to unlock a Mac. Otherwise, you could consider using an unused USB flash drive to serve as a key (for example Rohos Logon Key http://www.rohos.com/products/rohos-logon-free/).


Writing an e-Mail app in applescript I'm using a webmail account(NOT Gmail: hate its interface), and I DON'T want to use the mac's Mail app(must maintain double contacts lists for one thing).

I use Google Chrome and have set the internal mail handler, so when i click a mailto: link, it opens up the url for my webmail.

However, other apps like Picasa, doesn't support mailing to a webmail url(short of Gmail: DUH :-), only to the mac's Mail app.

I've managed to switch to Google Chrome as the main mail app in mac's Mail app's settings, so now I can select Chrome for e-Mail in Picasa.

But there, I run into problems: Chrome doesn't handle the call from Picasa well. It switches to the foreground, but no action is taken.

After much googling and thinking, I have the impression that the easiest way to accomplish this(don't want to BUY and app for this simple thing), is to write an app in applescript for it.

The areas I'd appreciate help with are:

• What is the format for Picasas call to apps: does it send the paths to the pictures I'm sending as arguments AKA parameters, as a memory block, or what?

• How do I pick up the picture paths to create an attachment list?

• How do I send the request to Chrome, to create a new email with the attached files? I'm thinking by "simply" building a mailto: string with the picture paths attached, and invoking Chrome with the mailto: string as argument(s), but I don't know if that's possible, and if not, how else to make Chrome understand what I want it to do.

Thanks,

I've seen Webmailer, along with other apps of the same kind. Alas, they all refer to mailto links, which isn't really what I'm looking for.

Still, I downloaded and tried Webmailer, and to sum up, the Shell Script feature MIGHT help, if I can get it to work, and if I knew what to look for.

I've tried the Shell Scripts feature on mailto links in a document(TextEdit), and it permits me to log the calling arguments, which is what I hoped to do with the call from Picasa. But when I select Webmailer for e-Mail in Picasa, ABSOLUTELY NOTHING happens: even if I set Webmailer to compose an email in stead, it doesn't even start Chrome.
I'm focusing on Picasa: if anyone can tell me how to use the Email icon(quote: "Send photos in the Photo Tray by e-mail") in Picasa, then I'm content. From there on, I'm sure I can extend that solution to any other app from which I want to send attachments: pls refer to my initial questions above.
Regarding attachments(the reason I want to have this working in Picasa, obviously), there also seem to be a problem with the mailto protocol: I haven't found any confirmation that it supports attachments at all. That's why I'm thinking that the solution MUST involve some programming, so there doesn't seem to be much of a choice in that regard.

Thanks,

Unless you're dying to program this yourself, you should probably check out Webmailer. It does pretty much exactly what you're looking for — a handler for mailto links and other system email actions that will redirect them to Gmail, or whatever else you want (it can work with scripts or any URL you want to give it). It's no longer maintained, but I believe it works with Mountain Lion, and it's not the sort of thing that's likely to break anytime soon.


Two iPhones, one household: Installing iOS 5 without obliterating data I know these three couples. All six people have iPhones, and they have all recently asked me about syncing. I told them to wait until iCloud came out so I could give them a more informed answer.

I know that once you have iOS 5 on your phones, you can have separate iCloud accounts while sharing an iTunes Store account between you. That is not my question.

But to get iOS 5 on your phone, you have to plug it in and sync it with iTunes one last time. I can't test this, but I'm assuming that unless you create separate Windows or OS X accounts for that one lousy sync, you can't do it without screwing up at least one person's data.

That is my question: Is there a good way to install iOS 5 on two iPhones, from one computer account, without causing the data apocalypse you're trying to avoid by upgrading to iOS 5 in the first place?

EDIT: It occurs to me that after I plug in the phone, I could just uncheck every single "Sync" option underneath the tabs on the device screen in iTunes. Is that all it would take to upgrade to iOS 5 but leave the device untouched?

You don't mention if they're on the same computer. I am in a similar situation, two iPhones on one iTunes account, except we each sync to a different computer. I expect (based on the note above) to be able to upgrade both two iOS 5 and use two different iCloud accounts. As our data currently lives separately on two computers (Snow Leopard), I'm optimistic that we won't clobber one another. Perhaps this is an option for your friends?


Upgrade to MacOS Mojave is stuck at calculating I am downloading MacOS Mojave. The total size of the download is 6.02GB. Although 6.02GB is downloaded in app store the progress is stuck at calculating.

Its been two hours like this. Please suggest what to do.

Went to Purchased screen.... Clicked on "Pause" while holding down Shift key. It killed the download process. Then went back and Featured and chose "Free upgrade". The process started where it left.


Visualizer on multiple monitors I have a windows 7 PC with multiple monitors.

It is possible to display the ITunes visualizer across multiple monitors?

It currently only uses the one that I am on.

Currently, the only way to have the iTunes visualizer display across multiple monitors is to configure your other monitors to duplicate the display of the monitor where the visualizer is currently being displayed.

Here's a sample screenshot of where that option might be located in your Control Panel:


Do i get a Mac OSX DVD when i buy a Mac Mini computer? And if not, how do I reinstall the system in case one day everything goes wrong?

Thank you.

The newer Mac minis (and I believe all other Macs as well) ship without restore media.  All of the newer models now have recovery volumes and an option for internet recovery built into their firmware.  The recovery volume (and internet recovery) has an option to download and reinstall the OS without the need for external physical media.

  OS X Lion or OS X Mountain Lion include a feature called Recovery that includes all of the tools you need to reinstall OS X, repair your disk, and even restore from a Time Machine backup without the need for optical discs.

You can read more at Apple's "About OS X Recovery" KB article.

Apple also provides a tool that allows you to create a similar recovery partition on a USB thumb drive.  About Recovery Disk Assistant


Apple Mail - Making Reply and Forward Attributions the SAME? Sorry for such a simplistic sounding question, but I haven't found any resolution to this. As I migrate users from Outlook to Mail, this is one of the biggest things I miss...

When you forward a message in Mail.app, it gives full attribution, listing complete To, From, Subject, and Date information. However, when you reply, all you get is "On so-and-so wrote:" and nothing else. The big missing piece is the To information. In a corporate environment, it is really important to see who had been written to in a historical message in a thread, since the distribution group often changes from reply to reply.

Is there any way to get the full attribution in replies as well as forwards? It must be possible. I know that you can edit the Delayed.strings file which can help space things out more desirably, but I'd like to also have all the lines (From, Date, To, Subject) there in exactly the same way.

Any ideas or advice would be most appreciated :)

I'd be very interested in this if you can pull it off, as that reply header format is super annoying to me.

For the previous version of Mail, a guy at Purdue wrote a plug-in to do exactly what we're looking for here.  He's since moved off OS X so he isn't maintaining the code for Lion, but it might serve as a good starting point for you.  The source is at:
https://github.com/saptarshiguha/ReplyWithHeaders

The author gave me the following tip (all Greek to me, but might be helpful to you):

  Fixing this to work in Lion might be as simple as including new UUIDs
  (plugins require something called UUID compatibility IDs), or a
  rewrite (the Mail internals might have changed).

Hope this helps!  I know a lot of people that would be very excited to fix this little shortcoming in Lion Mail.

-Rob


Weird issue with applications not responding on Macbook I have a MacBook Pro 2017 15 inch with macOS Catalina. It's up to date and I have freed up more disk space.

Anyway, my issue is weird and I haven't been able to fix it nor find anyone who's had it. Basically, sometimes, whenever I perform any one of a set of actions, the application will freeze, ill get the spinning wheel, and the application does not respond ("Application is not responding"), I try force-quitting and that fixes the freeze, but then it will happen again if I do the action again. I have noticed the issue on XD, Chrome, Safari and Finder.

So, the actions are for example: cmd+c on Chrome, cmd+r on Chrome, trying to select a image from finder in Chrome, trying to edit text or cmd+c on XD, trying to delete or move a file to another folder on Finder, highlighting text on System Information, trying to open a link in new tab on Safari.

And when there is an issue with one of them, (e.g. try to copy on chrome and chrome freezes), then if I go onto XD and try to edit text I will also get the freeze. However, weirdly, some actions like cmd+c dont cause issue on Slack, however attaching/selecting a file from "Your computer" (through Finder) does cause the Not responding issue. And so, what's weird is that then I have to try and restart and force-quit all applications, and re-launch Finder etc., it is an arduous task to try and fix it. But when it is fixed then all applications will work, until randomly it starts freezing each application when doing those actions I mentioned before.

Note that the issue may also happen on other applications and with other actions, but those are the only ones I've noticed so far.

This issue is extremely annoying, and has been frustrating me for months now, with no fix yet! Lately, it's been happening more frequently and is harder to fix (as in I have to do many restarts, many shut downs, sometimes SMC resets etc. to make the issue go away)

PLEASE HELP!

Turns out it was an issue in the MacOS software. I have now fixed it by reinstalling the MacOS on my computer. No issues now!


Why does the iPhone's iPod app sometimes forget playback position? I often listen to podcasts on my iPhone 3GS over several sessions. Occasionally the iPod app will forget the playback position, which drives me nuts because I have to remember where I was and fast forward to that point. Does anybody know what causes this? I can't seem to find any pattern to it.

I switch my iPhone off overnight and sync with iTunes every other day or so, but most of the time it's fine and I don't have the problem and the podcast shows up as part of the way through in iTunes itself. Also, I'm not playing anything else on the iPod in the meantime.

This could be a memory issue that the developer was forced to handle this way. All apps in iOS are subject to memory warnings at which point the app (developer) is to free up as much memory as it can by clearing out what the developer considered unnecessary information.

Another point of of possible quitting is if a phone call is being received. Apps only have a split second to save what is crucial before quitting to make room for the call. Again, the developer has to decide what is truly important and what isn't to save.

The save position may not sound like a lot, but mobile devices really don't give developers a lot of room to play with and media of any type is a resource hog.


I disabled Apple Push Notification Service but it's still attempting to connect to Apple servers I disabled the service as per the instructions on this page:
How to disable Apple Push Notification Service (apsd) on OS X 10.8?

Yet this service is still running at startup!

How do I disable it once and for all?

Edit: I'm using Mojave

Found this googling around:

  If you don't use FaceTime, put this in a Terminal window to get rid of apsd permanently: "sudo launchctl unload -w /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.apsd.plist"

This will unload apsd from launchctl (the process that launches it at startup), but you'll still need to kill now.


How to Repair 15" Mac Book Pro Core 2 Duo 2.16 Ghz That Won't Power On? I'm attempting to revive a non-working 15" Core 2 Duo Mac Book Pro purchased early 2007. The laptop suddenly powered off (or so I was told). Attempting to power on gives only a few signs of life.

Magsafe lite works when power cord plugged in
Hard drive spins up when power button pressed
No chime, no back light, no power button light, no fans
Holding the power button for 5 seconds will spin-down the hard drive
After drive spinds down, hitting power will turn it back on.

Please give me your best suggestions on getting this system booting again.

In attempts to fix, I've reseated the RAM and most internal connections. I'm willing to replace any internal components if economically viable.

Update: a reset of the system mgmt controler brought the fans back online

In the absence of “chime” there are three things to blame: RAM, GPU or Board/CPU.

I know because I had the same problem throughout the years with different Macs (and even Powerbooks). Try removing some RAM and putting some other modules, also remove the battery as suggested by Philip in the comments.

Using an external display may help identify screen problems too.

And finally an Apple Store, even if it’s out of warranty, will diagnose the box (sometimes for free, it depends) sometimes for a small fee. Bear in mind they will always go for the brute force route: “you have to replace X,Y,Z”, 1000 u$s. Thanks for Coming, Bye. ;)


Get latest Time Machine backup when backup disk is unplugged I know i can get the time stamp of the latest Time Machine backup with the command tmutil latestbackup | grep -E -o "[0-9\-]+$" but this only works when my backup disk is plugged in. If not, i get the error message Unable to locate machine directory for host.

Is there any other way to figure out (through scripting) when the last backup was made?

I'm running OS X Mavericks and the use case would be to eventually run this as remote monitoring for Macs, say, using collectd.

Parse the XML you get from settings - defaults read on the command line:

defaults read /Library/Preferences/com.apple.TimeMachine.plist Destinations | tail -4 |head -1

That is a crude way to parse the xml / plist so you could use python or swift to properly read the preference plist / xml and parse out things like the last local snapshot date, last consistency check date, etc...

defaults read /Library/Preferences/com.apple.TimeMachine.plist Destinations


Installing pymol using macports on yosemite I tried to install pymol using macports (after trying to build from the source code failed):

sudo port install pymol

It did install it, giving me two warnings:

Warning: xcodebuild exists but failed to execute
Warning: Xcode does not appear to be installed; most ports will likely fail to build.

I am able to run pymol, but it crashes after a minute or so. Also, the top window does not show any buttons:

The error message is:

Is this because of the warnings port gave me at the very beginning, or is there something else at work here?

In case this ever helps someone, this will make it compile and load.

First Uninstall Pymol

Then:

% sudo port install tcl -corefoundation
% sudo port install tk -quartz
% sudo port install pymol

This is described here:

http://www.ub.edu/cbdd/?q=content/installing-pymol-macports


Need help w/ SSH port-forwarding on Airport Extreme Here is my setup -

DHCP Reservations -

Mapped Raspberry Pi (pi01) to internal IP address

Port Settings -

Remote Login - SSH

Public UDP Ports: 2200

Public TCP Ports: 2200

Private IP Address: [internal IP address from above]

Private UDP Ports: 22

Private TCP Ports: 22

Yet, I cannot connect to the RPi using ssh https://[external IP address]:2200. What am I doing wrong?

SSH and HTTPS are different things. You can connect using
ssh -p 2200 [external IP address]

as a synopsis of in manual page for ssh explains:

SYNOPSIS
ssh [...] [-p port] [...] [user@]hostname [command]


How do I turn hyperlinks on or off in Numbers? How do I turn hyperlinks on or off in Numbers5.2?

Sometimes when I paste email or links into numbers they appear as hyperlinks other times not.

I cannot seem to find any way of changing these (although Write as controls for this).

It is extremely annoying when I try to copy an email address to have a new email created

You can set that up in Numbers Preferences

.


Photos not appearing under Media->Photos in file upload dialog box (Chrome) Ok i have a new Mac. New Mac user here. I have a samsung phone and have imported photos from my phone onto my Mac (I assume they are in the filesystem now). When i open "Photos" application i can see all my imported phone pics there.

Now i am using Chrome and I'm attempting to upload photos from my Mac into my wordpress blog. Same situation with facebook or any other website. When the finder dialog box opens and i go to Media->Photos there are no photos showing.

Is this some kind of permissions issue where the dialog that opens cannot access the photos in the photos application? Are the photos presented through the photos application actual files on the drive in the regular filesystem? I am not hooked up to iCloud.

The photos in the Photos app are stored in a library. You can drag them out on to the desktop, then open them in Chrome.


Is it possible to limit the size of an APFS volume? My understanding is that with APFS, volumes exist inside containers, and the volumes all grow as much as needed, as long as there is space in the container.
But I want to limit the space for the volumes. I have a 2TB disk with two volumes - one for Time Machine and one for general storage. I don't want the Time Machine volume to take the entire physical disk. Sadly, there is no way (in macOS 11 Big Sur) to delete Time Machine snapshots, so I need to limit its space by limiting the size of the volume.

When creating an APFS volume, you can set a quota. In Disk Utility, in the sheet to create a new volume, choose Size Options and set a Quota Size.

The optional quota size limits how much storage this volume can allocate.

This can't be added or changed for an existing volume.


How to do SMC reset when keyboard is not working? My left shift, option and control keys don't work from the last 1 year. I have got used to using the right shift and option keys. Now I need to do a SMC reset for various reasons and Apple Docs say that for my model I need to:

  "Using the built-in keyboard, press Shift-Control-Option on the left
  side of the keyboard, then press the power button at the same time."

Model: Macbook 8,1 (Early 2011, 13" Macbook Pro)

Question: If I remove the back case, unplug the battery and then press the power button for 5sec, will this reset the SMC? As per the documents this method is for notebooks with removable battery.If not then what are my options to reset the SMC without replacing the keyboard?

PS: USB/Bluetooth Keyboards cannot reset the SMC.

Yes, but in these models you technically don't need to press the power button for 5 seconds, although there's no reason not to.

Assuming you have the correct tools you can remove the bottom case, disconnect the battery for a while, reconnect it and the SMC should be reset (assuming there's no other underlying problems such as a logic board fault).

Hope this helps.


How do I remove Outlook mail from Spotlight? I primarily use Mail.app for my Exchange mail account. But I need to keep Outlook around for those rare cases I need it (for instance editing distribution lists on the server).

But this makes Spotlight searches really convoluted. Every mail shows up twice. Is there any way I can disable the content from individual apps from being part of the Spotlight index? Or an obscure setting (I've looked) inside Outlook that disables Spotlight indexing?

You need to tell Spotlight not to search the Outlook Database on your local machine.
Assuming you're using MS Office 2016 or later
Here's how,

Open System Preferences > Spotlight
Click the Privacy Tab
Locate your Outlook Database which can be found in the Library folder within you home folder. So /Users/userfolder/Library/Group Containers/UBF8T346G9.Office/
Drag the Outlook folder into the privacy tab you opened earlier within System Preferences.


How to solve the issue that a Mac (Macbook Air) keeps on trying to use WEP to connect to Wifi? I have the latest version of Macbook Air with Mountain Lion, as of Oct 2013, and since one of the computers is an older one that needs WEP, the Linksys (Cisco) router is set to support both WEP and WPA.

However, with the Macbook Air, when the "cisco" is chosen from the list of Wifi connection, it keeps on saying, "Enter the password for WEP", and even if we enter the password, it won't connect.

What we have to do is, use "Join Other Network", and type in "cisco", and choose WPA or WPA2 Personal, and then type in the password, and it will connect, but the thing is, sometimes the network drops, or after the computer is rebooted, we will have to repeat the same steps again -- it won't remember the settings to auto connect (using WPA).

Is there a way to make this work more smoothly?

I set the Linksys (Cisco) router so that all the 2.4GHz and 5GHz support essentially the same thing: WPA Personal and it seems to work fine now.

I think the issue was 2.4GHz and 5GHz was set to WEP and WPA, respectively, due to some 2.4GHz device using different security standard.  So I think the Mac might have some issue of not able to remember the connection, being confused by difference in settings of 2.4GHz and 5GHz.


Is Spatial Audio used while listening to music on AirPods Pro? When I'm listening to music from my iPhone (iOS 14) with my AirPods Pro, I don't want Spatial Audio on because I don't always have my phone near me - will this affect my audio?
I prefer to leave the setting on, instead of toggling it when I listen to music.

Spatial Audio is only used for video:

Spatial audio with dynamic head tracking brings a theater-like surround-sound experience to the movie or video you're watching...

You can confirm if the content you're listening to supports spatial audio by toggling it off and on:


App or tool for auto-crop receipt-like pictures? I've bunch of scan of receipts, the one that are printed on thermal paper which you get from any supermarkets and these were taken on the dark background. I'd like to auto-crop them in batch via some tool, to not include the background.

I'm looking for app or tool for batch auto-crop of receipt-like pictures taken either for iOSX or OSX.

On OSX/Linux you can try with ImageMagick command-line tools (e.g. Trimming 'Noisy' Images -- Scanned Images).

Alternatively you can try Scan Tailor (at GitHub), an interactive post-processing tool for scanned pages (installation via Homebrew: brew install scantailor). Convert the images either from ScanTailor's GUI interface or from the command-line (Run: scantailor --help for help).

Check similar Q&A for Windows/Linux: Auto-crop black margins dynamically of scanned images?

For iOSX app (also available for OSX), you can try Evernote, so you can take a picture of documents or business cards (including OCR), and the app can auto-crop it (based on the content).

Other apps include: Receipt Bank, Expentory, Xpenditure, Kagazz.


How to recover iPod touch 2G stuck on green screen and Apple logo? I have an iPod Touch 2G, I have been trying to switch it on for a few days but it won't. When I plug it in my laptop a green screen appears then it is stuck on the apple logo. I tried to start it in DFU mode but I see nothing at all on the screen then when I plug it in there is the Apple logo.

What steps can I do to recover from this situation?

I have been able to start the ipod in DFU mode and restore it with iTunes and now it starts up again but half the screen is dead.


Extracting multiple photos from a single quickly I recently went through the process of scanning old photo albums (in an effort to preserve them longer digitized). I would place 2/3/4 photos on the scanner. Now I need to extract the single photos. It would also help if there was an application to quickly recognize the rectangles.

N.B.: I'm running the latest beta of Sierra.

You could use ImageMagick or NetPbm tools to crop the photos from a script, but it isn't going to automatically detect the rectangle edges.

Lay out your photos in roughly the same place every time you scan them. Leaving a small gap between the photos would give you a safety buffer; the resulting scanned/cropped photos will just have a white border around them.


Internet sharing over AirPort In MacOS X 10.6, is Internet sharing over AirPort implemented as NAT or full-blown routing? The backing wired network is a corporate one, Ethernet with DHCP.

Can't find anything definitive from Apple, but the detailed testing done here by Princeton University indicates that it's NAT (and that it's inappropriate for use on their campus, so might well be for your scenario too).


In apple mail, with contact photos enabled next to mail subjects, one person in my contact doesn't have his picture show up In Apple mail for OSX, I have pictures enabled for both the mail list view as well as in the message itself. This works fairly well, grabbing pictures from my contacts except for one person. Their picture doesn't show up and I don't know what makes them unique.

When I click on their name and select "Show Contact Card" it shows their picture. I can't understand what conditions would cause that picture to not show up in the mail itself.

This happens when you have the contact's email address duplicated in another contact.


How apps are organised in developer page in the App Store If I publish multiple apps under a single developer account, are all of them shows under the developer page in the App Store?

Does app bundle has any impact on this?

All apps published under a single developer account are shown individually on the developer App Store page by default.

Additional action is required to organise and sell apps under a bundle.

To learn more about apps and games bundle, refer to the Apple Developer web page: App and Game Bundles.


macOS BigSur keep booting from external backup disk (made with CCC) My Mac is on BigSur and I am using Carbon Copy Cloner to create a one on one disk which is bootable also. I have this setup running for years now and never noticed any problems – also on BigSur it worked.
Now my Backup Drive crashed and I bought a new HDD. I have exactly build this HDD (one 1 TB partition for CCC for the one on one copy and another 1 TB partition for TimeMachine). But two major problems: The clone partition is the one that get booted after a restart – I also cannot choose another startup disk from system preferences since I only can see the actual booted one. So when I had booted with system SSD only this disk is shown and when I booted from the backup disk only this ons is shown. But the mac should boot from the internal disk by default, what could happened here?
The Drive was always plugged in in a Thunderbolt 3 Dock. I also recently switched to an eGPU (Razer Core X Chroma) which now operates as my dock where the HDD is attached. But I think the problem occurred since the new replacement disk. Also when I plug in that drive directly on my macbook this drive get booted on restart.
Another issue is that the TimeMachine partition of the disk get mountet sporadically and is making intense work but not running a time machine backup. I tried to disable the volume on spotlight which presents an error (time machine backup cannot be excluded since they are always excluded – something like that) but disabled it by command line with sudo mdutil -i off "/Volumes/TimeMachine". Now I think its better...
Maybe you have an idea.
Thanks!
-- Update
The regular automatic TimeMachine backup is disabled – I have an own task that runs every hour that mounts the volume, do the TM backup and unmount it. That also worked for years now.

Maybe solved by reformatting the partitions to Mac OS journaled instead of apfs. Even when these programs also connect to apfs. But seems good actually. Will observe that.


Organization Name does not match Organization ID when privately distributing an app I am receiving the error above when trying to save the changes under 'Pricing and Availability' for a particular app on the App Store Connect web application. I have verified that this is the right data for the organization as it was taken from their Apple Business Manager enrollment information.

Is there another error or something I may not have done before trying to save these changes that I could be missing?

I just found the solution for me - I was using Chrome, tried everything (I was pulling apart network requests and everything).

Switching to Safari solved the issue.


iMac WiFi speeds doesn't compare to other computers at home My iMac 27" (late 2009, 10.8.2) wifi (3-4 bars) speed doesn't compare to other computers at home. The same Youtube video in 720p loads without delay on my dads computer, however on my iMac (I usually just watch 360p or 240p) because it's so slow.

Now I messed a lot with network preferences when setting up servers and stuff so these speed issues are probably my fault. Strangely Speedtest.net shows the same results as any other computer on the network, but youtube just doesn't work well.

Are there any things I should try? Is there any way to restore defaults? I wasn't able to find the "/Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/preferences.plist" as mentioned on some blogs.

I'm also considering reinstalling Mountain Lion cause I have some issues with loud disk activity even when I'm not using the computer. Would this delete all my files and apps? Would it fix the wifi problems I have? How much changes does it do when I install it on my HDD that already has Mountain Lion installed.

All answers will be greatly appreciated.

- Wifi info:
PHY Mode: 802.11n
BSSID 00:17:3f:3b:64:7c
Channel: 3 (2.4GHz)
Security: WPA Personal
RSSI: -55
Transmit Rate: 54
MCS Index: 0

I stumbled on this question because I'm having problems with poor wifi speeds after installing Yosemite on a July 2014 rMBP.  I don't get drops, but I get 5 Mbps speeds literally 5 feet from the router when I used to get in the 70s.  My iphone 5S, sitting next to the rMBP, is able to get 70Mbps. Even more confounding is that if I change the router to support only 802.11g, the speeds are at 54Mbps.

What I learned is that "MCS Index" value is significant--it communicates from the Access Point to the clients what coding schemes are in use.  There is a standard table defined by 802.11n, and you can view it here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IEEE_802.11n-2009

In your case--and in mine--an MCS Index value of zero shows up.  According to the table at the link above, that means the maximum rate available should be 6.5-7.5 Mbps. However, in your output, it claims you're getting 54Mbps, which seems wrong.

So, why am I answering?  Because in both cases, the evidence suggests that Apple's driver or the chipset is doing the wrong thing with the MCS Index value.  In my case, I sniffed wireless lan traffic and confirmed using wireshark that the AP is announcing itself with an MCS Index value of "7" (conforming to what I actually set in the configuration for the AP). Yet, my rMBP insists that it's a zero and sets the speed accordingly.  In your case, it appears to be recognizing the MCS Index value as zero but setting the speed incorrectly.

In short, I'm not sure that reinstalling your will actually change anything for you.


Access macOS High Sierra from a Windows 10 machine using RDP? I wish to use Remote Desktop Protocol on my Windows 10 machine to remotely access my MacBook Air running macOS High Sierra.

Is this possible in any way shape or form?

Remote access over RDP is possible from macOS to Windows but not vice versa.

You can instead configure Screen Sharing from within Sharing preference pane under System Preferences app and connect to the Mac from Windows using one of the many VNC client apps.


Why can't I send ZIP files in Apple Mail from an iCloud account? When I try to send a zip file to a gmail user from Apple Mail with my iCloud address, I get the following error. My zip file is 5 MB but contains a lot of files inside the archive (that's why I zipped it so I wouldn't be sending a hundred separate files). Basically, Apple Mail treats the zip archive like it is unzipped or something like that. Does anybody know a workaround?

I found a solution. I tarred my zip archive. So I used the tar command in the terminal (tar -cf output.tar input.zip) and then emailed the tarred zip file. I guess this prevents Apple from trying to count how many files are in the zip archive.


Avoid iPhone lock on iPod sleep Is there a way to prevent the iPhone from locking when "Sleep iPod" is activated as a timer?

I have this alarm clock app (SleepCycle) that needs to be running on an unlocked iPhone to pick up movement during the night. If I also want to listen to music or an audiobook while falling asleep, I set the clock timer to sleep iPod after a certain interval, but this seems to also lock the iPhone, even if I've set auto-lock to never. Any ideas?

Maybe you can ask the developer of SleepCycle to put some iPod scheduling controls into the app? That seems like the best solution.

I do know of one other solution, but I'm afraid it's a Jailbreak app. There's a paid app in Cydia called SBSchedule, which (when combined with the free SBSettings and SBSettings iPod toggle) can toggle the iPod off on a schedule.


What does update_terminal_cwd do in the terminal of OS X I am puzzled by it for quite some while now. In $PROMPT_COMMAND of the bash in OS X, there is a command called update_terminal_cwd. I am sure it's not a bash built in, and most likely only exists in OS X. But I don't know what exactly it does. Anyone knows?

It updates the prompt to echo the Current Working Directory (CWD) and is defined in /etc/bashrc:

update_terminal_cwd() {
    # Identify the directory using a "file:" scheme URL,
    # including the host name to disambiguate local vs.
    # remote connections. Percent-escape spaces.
    local SEARCH=' '
    local REPLACE='%20'
    local PWD_URL="file://$HOSTNAME${PWD//$SEARCH/$REPLACE}"
    printf '\e]7;%s\a' "$PWD_URL"
}


Siri thinks the city on my Facebook is one of my home addresses When I want to use Siri involving my home address, such as navigate home or remind me something when I get home, it always asks me to clarify "which home address?" It gives one option that is the home address I put in my contact card in Contacts (it lists the street name and number), and it has another home address (it doesn't list anything, but I believe it's referring to an address that it imported from being connected to Facebook, and that address just has the city (not the street).

I don't want Siri to think that the Facebook entry is something to ask me about every time. What can I do to fix this? I'd rather not erase the city I have in Facebook. And I'd rather not erase the home address I have on the phone and put my full home address in Facebook. Seems like a basic thing.

I figured this out, more or less. On iOS 10 on my contacts card, I was able to edit the identification my phone gives the Facebook address by scrolling down to the connected accounts section of my contact card and editing the Facebook content there. However there is a bug and even after I'm done editing the only options are "edit" and "cancel" but not something to save it.

So instead I went to macOS, opened my contacts card there, edit my information there more easily, and it sync'ed to my iPhone, so Siri works properly now.


Using 45W Power Adapter with MacBook Pro Retina 15 I would like to know if I am able to use a 45W MagSafe Power Adapter in my MacBook Pro Retina 15 with a MagSafe to MagSafe 2 Adapter.

I am normally using the original one (85W MagSafe 2 Power Adapter) but I just want to know that the computer will charge correctly and that the battery won't be hurt.

It will charge. However, it will do so very slowly.


Creating a quick event in iCal using LaunchBar & AppleScript what i want to figure out is how to send a String to iCal 5 on 10.7 which is interpreted the same way as creating a quick event, as if you press CMD+N with iCal in focus and then just type "tea at 5" into the popover.

a simplistic sketch (which doesn't work):

on handle_string(theString)
    tell application "iCal"
        make new event with theString
    end tell
end handle_string

i'm comfortable with programming but never done anything with AppleScript. Is there a reference for application commands?

edit:

this works and it's not even slow, the only caveat is that it breaks the  clipboard:

on handle_string(theString)

    tell application "LaunchBar"
        perform action "Copy" with string theString
    end tell

    tell application "iCal" to activate

    tell application "System Events"
        keystroke "n" using {command down}
        keystroke "v" using {command down}
        keystroke return
    end tell

end handle_string

it's sort of finicky to use the clipboard in a script? i can't figure out how to temporarily hold the clipboard content in a variable, and then set the clipboard back to it. i'll accept your answer if you help me with that.

Here's a script that lets you restore the clipboard:

set oldClip to the clipboard as string --save the old clipboard
set the clipboard to "hello world" --put your stuff in the clipboard
log (the clipboard) --do your stuff here
set the clipboard to oldClip as string --restore the old clipboard


If I encrypt a Time Machine backup disk, is the entire disk encrypted or just the Backups.backupdb directory? If I check the "Encrypt backup disk" checkbox in Time Machine (in OS X Lion), I get this warning:

Will just the Time Machine "Backups.backupdb" directory be encrypted, or the entire disk?  In other words, will computers running earlier versions of OS X than 10.7 be unable to access the entire disk, or just be unable to back-up to or restore from the encrypted disk?

It encrypts the partition that you use for Time Machine, which likely means the entire disk. If you partition the drive the other partitions will not be encrypted and should mount (I have not tested this).

You can see that "Time Machine" is encrypted, but "Other Backups" is not.


Macbook Pro with Lion: scrolling via trackpad vs. mouse So the default scrolling behavior for the trackpad in Lion is to scroll in the direction of your finger movement similar to the iPad. This can be changed in the trackpad preferences by un-checking Scroll Direction: natural. I get that part. My problem is that un-checking or checking this box in the trackpad settings also causes the box in the mouse settings page labeled Move content in the direction of finger movement when scrolling or navigating to be checked or un-checked - effectively tying the mouse scroll wheel behavior to the trackpad scroll behavior. Is this a bug?

I want to be able to scroll with the trackpad in the default Lion way while still being able to scroll with a mouse wheel in a conventional way. Is there a workaround to the above issue to be able to do this?

There is a workaround, and it is called Scroll Reverser. That screenshot says it all; you can invert scrolling per-axis and per-device.


How can I mount Microsoft OneDrive as a network drive in OSX? I have a 50GB OneDrive account which is basically full.

I'd like to store/access stuff directly on/from my OneDrive by mounting as a network share, rather than syncing with my Mac, and therefore using up 50GB of Mac HDD space.

This is possible on Windows, and I can confirm this works on my OneDrive account.

On Mac, I try the equivalent, e.g.:

This correctly asks for credentials:

But then fails:

Any ideas?

You cannot mount a remote "drive" to OneDrive as the synchronization/authentication  protocol is not implemented within the OS X file system.  (It is in Windows, which is why can you do it).

However, I have a client who accomplished this with an App:  CloudMounter.  It worked really well and was priced pretty fairly ($30).

I personally don't have a need for this software so I don't use it (I am also not affiliated with this company in any way).  However, I can tell you that it has worked very well for my client and he has no issues with it.


iMac mid 2011 T2 secondary heatsink heating up My iMac mid 2011 started heating up about a year ago to the point that the hard drive broke and had to be replaced.
I managed to replace the hard drive and I also replaced the power supply module as I had suspected this was the problem. I then reinstalled the correct operating system with no problem however I noticed it started heating up again.
I then got an application which showed the heat sensors and the rpm of the fans and noticed that one of the fans, the CPU fan, was saying 0 rpm. I took my iMac apart and checked the the connections of the cpu fan with a multi meter and noticed that when one of the connections was in contact with the heat sink it started to work again.
I assume that this connection is ground and had become disconnected to the PCB and so because the heat sink is grounded this makes the fan work when in contact. I then soldered this connection and the fan works fine ever since.
After all this, fixing the fan has made the temperature cooler than what is was before but it is still hot. The Secondary T2 heat sink reaches 66 degrees after about half an hour of usage and the upper left side of the iMac gets very hot to touch. From looking at the stats application it looks as though it is the AC/DC power module which heats up because the 'T2 AC/DC Sec heat sink' and the power supply temperature sensors get to around 60 degrees which is not normal and all the other temperature sensors are normal temperatures.
I have no idea how to fix this so any help would be appreciated.

This is not a problem. I have a 2010 iMac with an HDD and I have Temperature Gauge 4.1. It reports the temperature at 14 different locations in my iMac. My computer is basically idling right now. 9 of the 14 locations have a temperature that is over 60°C, with the Power Supply Heatsink reporting 75°C. The locations that are not reporting temperatures over 60°C are at 55-59°C. So 60°C is not a problem. The Average CPU temperature on my machine is reported as 59°C. One fan is maxed out and another almost maxed out. This is normal for my older iMac. The left side of my iMac also gets very hot to the touch.


Applescript "expected then but found identifier" At present, I have a very simple bash script which calls osascript -e a bunch of times; it looks like this (newlines added for readability):

#!/bin/sh
osascript \
  -e 'tell application "Terminal" to activate' \
\
  -e 'set allWindows to number of windows' \
  -e 'set newTab to true' \
\
  -e 'repeat with i from 1 to allWindows' \
  -e '  set allTabs to number of tabs of window i' \
  -e '  repeat with j from 1 to allTabs' \
  -e '    if custom title of tab j of window i contains "Hi" then' \
  -e '      set frontmost of window i to true' \
  -e '      set selected of tab j of window i to true' \
  -e '      set newTab to false' \
  -e '    end if' \
  -e '  end repeat' \
  -e 'end repeat' \
\
  -e 'if newTab then' \
  -e '  tell application "System Events" to tell process "Terminal" to keystroke "t" using command down' \
  -e '  tell application "Terminal"' \
  -e '    do script ("tabname $2") in selected tab of the front window' \
  -e '    set custom title of selected tab of the front window to "$2"' \
  -e '  end tell' \
  -e 'end if' \
\
  -e 'tell application "Terminal" to do script ("$1") in selected tab of the front window'

The idea behind this is to let me call something like ~/term.sh pwd Hi to open a new terminal tab with the title "Hi" and call pwd inside it.

The only problem is that it errors with 222:227: syntax error: Expected “then”, etc. but found identifier. (-2741). I assume this means an if is missing a then, but can't see any of those. The other thought I had is that 222:227 indicates columns, but again I don't see how those columns of the command are wrong.

Is there anyone who can point me in the right direction here please?

Before you try running a non-trivial script using osascript, first try compiling it (and running it, if feasible) in Script Editor.

When I compiled your script in Script Editor, it revealed that your script is trying to use the term custom title—a Terminal-specific term—without targeting Terminal, so the term isn't available. Extend your first line, tell … to …, into a tell block:

tell application "Terminal Latest"
    activate

    set allWindows to number of windows
    set newTab to true

    repeat with i from 1 to allWindows
        set allTabs to number of tabs of window i
        repeat with j from 1 to allTabs
            if custom title of tab j of window i contains "Hi" then
                set frontmost of window i to true
                set selected of tab j of window i to true
                set newTab to false
            end if
        end repeat
    end repeat
end tell

if newTab then
    tell application "System Events" to tell process "Terminal" to keystroke "t" using command down
    tell application "Terminal Latest"
        do script ("tabname $2") in selected tab of the front window
        set custom title of selected tab of the front window to "$2"
    end tell
end if

tell application "Terminal Latest" to do script ("$1") in selected tab of the front window

But you're going to find that this code still doesn't work, because you're trying to use shell variables $1 and $2 inside single-quoted strings, where the shell won't interpret them. So you'll also need to break up the quoting of those lines, e.g., in your osascript command arguments change

-e 'do script ("tabname $2") in selected tab of the front window'

to

-e 'do script "tabname '"$2"'" in selected tab of the front window'

[Untested.]

Also, the parentheses were unnecessary.

However, if you're storing this in a shebang script file, you don't need to use a shell to run osascript. You can change the first line to

#!/usr/bin/osascript

and then just put your AppleScript code after that, without the -e options, surrounding single-quoting or line-continuation backslashes.

Finally, since AppleScript supports the hash # comment character, you can edit, compile and run (as appropriate) osascript shebang scripts in Script Editor.

Update: A minute later I realized you want to pass command-line arguments to the script. So, you do want to use a shell to run osascript for your case. However, you can simplify things by using a Here document to place the script inline:

osascript<<EOF
    <your script here>
EOF

Variables/arguments will be expanded.


Can I use a Thunderbolt 3 cable in place of a USB-C cable? I need to connect my MacBook to a USB-C dock but the included USB-C cable isn't long enough. I have a several longer Thunderbolt 3 cables, so I wanted to know if I could connect the USB-C dock via a Thunderbolt 3 cable?

I realize I cannot do it the other way around, but I have never seen anywhere where it said you cannot do it the way I am proposing.

I'm using the CalDigit USB-C Dock.

Since Thunderbolt 3 is a "multi-plexing" of several signals including USB 3.1, you can use a Thunderbolt 3 cable in place of a USB-C cable.   As you stated, it can't be done the other way around.


“Show Help Menu” keyboard shortcut & full screen apps in OS X 10.7 if you press cmd + shift + / focus moves to the search field in the help menu of the current application. This seems to be broken when the frontmost app is in full screen mode in 10.7.

Is there a workaround to this?

Great catch! It's certainly a bug from where I sit.

I filed a bug at http://bugreport.apple.com on this - feel free to do the same if you want it to have more attention!

I can't think of a way to work around it even using something like FastScripts to try and intercept the key press before it gets ignored.


How can I figure out which tab in Safari is using CPU? I usually have several tabs open in Safari in the background, and sometimes I see it taking up an unusual amount of CPU (PluginProcess or WebProcess).

How can I figure out which tab (or tabs) is causing this? If there are no easy GUI solutions, I'm also open to Terminal-based techniques for finding the culprit. I hope not to have to do this very often.

(Note: I realize this is similar to an old question, but Safari has been updated since then and perhaps there are new techniques available.)

You need Safari 6.1 or newer
Enable Debug menu.

Update: For Mac OS Mojave and newer, go to System Preferences > Security & Privacy > Privacy > Full Disk Access and add Terminal before entering the command.

    defaults write com.apple.Safari IncludeInternalDebugMenu -bool true

Set "Use Per-tab web processes" and "Show Web process IDs in page titles" to on.


How to jump between two volume levels quickly? I'm on a MacBook with a touchbar – that's how I control volume levels.
In practice, I only use two volume levels: "silent" (two bars) and "loud" (13 bars). It is a bit annoying to go through all the in-between levels when I want to go from one to the other.
Is there a trick or a touchbar app to allow me to define "silent" and "loud" levels and then jump between them quickly?

You can control the volume with AppleScript. For example:
set volume output volume 100
will set the volume to 100%
set volume output volume 5
will set it to 5%.
Via shell script, the commands would look like this:
osascript -e 'set volume output volume 100'
So that's part one: how to jump between 2 volume levels.
Part two is "How do I invoke those commands?"
I don't know any way to do it via the Touch Bar, but if I was committed to using that, I would look at BetterTouchTool.
My preferred solution would be a keyboard shortcut using Keyboard Maestro.
You could also use FastScripts.


Uninstall PHP on Mac Mountain Lion I have installed PHP 5.4.40 on my Mac OS Mountain Lion, but need >=5.5.9 (for laravel/lumen-framework v5.1.0 installation), so i run installation with package installer,

iMac-Dmitry:Projects dmitry$ curl -s http://php-osx.liip.ch/install.sh | bash -s 5.6

which is finished successful, but i still have: PHP 5.4.40,

iMac-Dmitry:Projects dmitry$ php -v
PHP 5.4.40 (cli) (built: May  3 2015 22:07:42)
Copyright (c) 1997-2014 The PHP Group
Zend Engine v2.4.0, Copyright (c) 1998-2014 Zend Technologies

I have no idea how to uninstall old version (i have no installed: yum, apt-get and brew), i don`t remember how i install previous version.

So, please, tell me - how i can uninstall old PHP version from my Mac, without installing additional software (cause it prefer to uninstall it, in the same case as it was installed).

P.S.
Maybe it was installed with the same package installer, but how to uninstall PHP with it?

Don't uninstall the old php as it is /usr/bin and so supplied by Apple and so might affect the OS and Apple might reinstall it as part od an OS upgrade.

The binary install of php puts php in /usr/local/bin/php

To use it either use the full path or alter your PATH environment variable to have /usr/local/bin before /usr/bin


Use Dictation with Earbuds' Microphone I have the ~$80 apple earbuds, and it has a built-in microphone which works fine. I've used it for skype and taking calls. In Preferences, the drop down for Dictation's input has 'Line-in", but when selected, Dictation does not hear me. In Sound preferences, 'Line-in' has the full title of 'Audio Line-In Port', so it is 'there'.

So I'm just curious why Dictation won't listen via my earbud microphone.

Your earbuds have one plug that goes into the headphone socket on your laptop, that socket does NOT have a microphone pickup.

The socket in your iPhone is dual capable, both headphone and microphone connections.

You will need to get a headset that has both a microphone and headphone plugs if you want to use your laptop for dictation


Bad master directory block error (shutdown cause -60) and random restarts without other symptoms Folks,

On my 8 year-old 2010 MacBook Pro, I started getting a bunch of random shutdowns starting about a week ago. I reinstalled High Sierra after the first few, but I'm still getting them. Terminal reported the shutdown code -60 in all cases, which I understand is due to a bad master directory block.

However, I'm having none of the symptoms described in this post - the only thing going wrong with my computer is that it shuts down at random and unpredictable intervals (~1x a day). I sometimes get the kernel panic message, and sometimes I don't. Disk utility can find nothing wrong with my drive. As mentioned, I reinstalled the OS, and I ran disk utility after wiping the hard drive, plus I ran it after the most recent incident. The drive is a Samsung SSD that I self-installed about 5 years ago. I only just started getting these shutdowns. No issues with the drive that I can detect.

I'll note that my battery is extremely well-worn, but I basically keep the MBP plugged in nearly full-time, and all the incidents happened on AC power.

Any thoughts as to why this might be happening?

Results from running Disk Utility after the last shutdown are:

dev/rdisk1s1:
/dev/rdisk1s1: fsck_apfs started at Thu May 17 17:28:43 2018
/dev/rdisk1s1: ** Checking volume.
/dev/rdisk1s1: ** Checking the container superblock.
/dev/rdisk1s1: ** Checking the EFI jumpstart record.
/dev/rdisk1s1: ** Checking the space manager.
/dev/rdisk1s1: ** Checking the object map.
/dev/rdisk1s1: ** Checking the APFS volume superblock.
/dev/rdisk1s1: ** Checking the object map.
/dev/rdisk1s1: ** Checking the fsroot tree.
/dev/rdisk1s1: ** Checking the snapshot metadata tree.
/dev/rdisk1s1: ** Checking the extent ref tree.
/dev/rdisk1s1: ** Checking the snapshots.
/dev/rdisk1s1: ** Checking snapshot 1 of 9.
/dev/rdisk1s1: ** Checking snapshot 2 of 9.
/dev/rdisk1s1: ** Checking snapshot 3 of 9.
/dev/rdisk1s1: ** Checking snapshot 4 of 9.
/dev/rdisk1s1: ** Checking snapshot 5 of 9.
/dev/rdisk1s1: ** Checking snapshot 6 of 9.
/dev/rdisk1s1: ** Checking snapshot 7 of 9.
/dev/rdisk1s1: ** Checking snapshot 8 of 9.
/dev/rdisk1s1: ** Checking snapshot 9 of 9.
/dev/rdisk1s1: ** Verifying allocated space.
/dev/rdisk1s1: ** The volume /dev/rdisk1s1 appears to be OK.
/dev/rdisk1s1: fsck_apfs completed at Thu May 17 17:30:45 2018
/dev/rdisk1s1:

@Allan suggested that the symptoms I reported were consistent with a failing SATA cable, which is a known issue. He suggested that I check the disk status with some utilities. I could find no disk issues when I did this.

The post I linked to earlier suggested resetting the SMC in addition to checking for disk errors. I reset the SMC. I have not experienced any unexplained shutdowns since. Any further errors, and I'll investigate that SATA cable.


Include backspace key in custom keyboard shortcut I want to make the keyboard shortcut for a Service I made ⌃⌥⌫ (Ctrl+Opt+Backspace); however, System Preferences doesn't let me do this. Is there a way I can include the key manually?

This isn't possible as this keyboard short cut is used as part of the operating system to perform backward word delete, this is where it deletes all the characters from the cursor position to the start of the current word, this is a part of macOS so it is likely protected.


Can I use the same iTunes Library on both Mac OS and Windows? I'm running Boot Camp, and once in a while I'd like to listen to music under Windows too. Is there a way I can use the same library under both Mac OS and Windows? Just changing the "iTunes Music" folder in Windows iTunes' preferences won't do it.

If you have bootcamp 3.1 and install windows 7 with your bootcamp  you can do it without problem but if you installed other type of windows I recommended you read this post.

Edited

1 trick is just dragged the iTunes library into the iTunes window on my bootcamp partition and left the files where they are on the mac disk and it works just fine.


My airport never stops searching for networks, even when I'm already connected I switched to Lion soon after it came out on my MacBook Pro.  Now when I pull down the airport menu, it indicates that it is searching for networks all the time.  It does this even after I am connected to my preferred network.  I never noticed this with Leopard nor Snow Leopard.  Is this a bug?  a feature?  Should I care?

It's the refrigerator light problem.  It's searching because you pulled down the Airport menu.


App Store can't update an app It just keeps giving the Update option, even after "updating" the app. Take a look at this video. Clicking the update button starts the process, but in the end, it reverts back to "update" instead of completing the process and becoming "open"

How do I update the app ?

Delete and re-install the app. Unless the app in question is Xcode, I'd be doing the same for all apps, if update fails.


I accidentally deleted a note in iCloud I deleted a note from iCloud in my iPhone, I thought that it was only an extra copy of the actual note, so I deleted it. I tried to find ways to recover the note but it seemed impossible. I was wondering if it is possible for the deleted iCloud note to be recovered in my iPhone.

Right after you accidentally delete the note, give your iPhone a quick shake and it will prompt a message asking you if you want to undo the last action.

Here is some more information about this feature. (It also mentions that you can restore the OS from a backup - assuming you've synced recently)

Also, there is already another Post that addresses this issue. You might want to look into that as well.


How to use 3rd-party USB Ethernet adapter with El Capitan I am plugging a USB Ethernet adapter (not Apple-brand) into my MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Late 2013). No go.

I do not see any relevant "USB Ethernet" item listed in System Preferences > Network. Should one appear when I plug in the adapter? Should I add an item with the "+" button?

When I use the "+" button, I only get a list of "Thunderbolt Bridge", "Thunderbolt 2", "Thunderbolt 1", "Bluetooth PAN", "Wi-Fi", "VPN", "PPPoE", and "6 to 4". I do not see any option for a USB-Ethernet adapter. Is this no longer supported by Apple?

The Apple menu > About this Mac > System Report (button) > Hardware > USB report shows that I have a product by Realtek Semiconductor Corp. (company web site)

For Realtek based USB 2.0 or 3.0 Ethernet Adapters, you can get the driver from Realtek which works for both 8153 and 8152.


Quick Look support for non-native video files (.avi, .mkv) on Mavericks In the past, we've been able to get codecs for DivX/XviD/MPEG4 and support for containers like AVI, MKV in Mac OS X's Quick Look feature using Perian (as per this question).

As noted on the Perian site, development has ceased, and future versions may or may not continue to work. It seems with the upgrade to OS X 10.9 "Mavericks", the OS or Quick Look API has changed sufficiently that Perian no longer works.

Are there any alternatives? Ideally a one-app-does-all like Perian, but even a list of individual codecs and/or plug-ins for video container files would be useful.

NB: This question isn't about video players—there are many that support more than those playable via the built-in QuickTime player. This question is about codecs/plug-ins for QuickTime on OS X to allow it and Quick Look (and apps which rely on the OS to play videos) to open/play video files/formats lacking native support.

I've uploaded QuickLook and Spotlight plugins here: https://github.com/Marginal/QLVideo/wiki . These allow Finder to display thumbnails, static previews, cover art and metadata for most types of video files, including .asf, .avi, .flv, .mkv, .rm, .webm, .wmf etc.


Increase numbers by one in merged cells My question is very related to this https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3204532.

I just want to do the same but in merged cells, as in the picture below. Is it possible?

I see no fill handle here.

Fill handles do not operate with merged cells. You can use a formula to achieve the same effect.

Insert the following in these cells:

A1 (the merged cells A1 and A2)

1

A3 (the merged cells A3 and A4)

=A1+1

Copy and paste A3 for the rest of the column.

The following animation shows the entire procedure:


Is it safe to listen to Apple earpods at 75% volume? The sensitivity is listed at 109 DB, so I guess 75% volume is about 82 DB, which is pretty safe.

While this is a little bit off topic, I'll provide some thoughts here.

you can't expect the percentage scaling directly with dB SPL. While both are surely nonlinear inside the affected electronics, the nonlinearity of Apple's percentage may not be logarithmic but dB SPL are.
sensitivity is dB SPL at 1 V. This usually has not much to do with the sound pressure level, your headset produces at 100%.
audio files and sounds from apps and programs may be scaled differently. Computer equipment and phones usually do not provide a compressor algorithm, so a setting of 75% yields totally different sound pressure levels for different sound sources.

Conclusion: No, it is not necessary safe to listen at 75%. It may or may be not healthy.


Why can't I execute mysql without the full path? At my terminal, I can't cd to the folder containing mysql and call it.

TimsMacBookAir:/ tim$ cd /Applications/MAMP/Library/bin/
TimsMacBookAir:bin tim$ mysql
-bash: mysql: command not found

If I execute the file by using the whole path, it works

TimsMacBookAir:bin tim$ /Applications/MAMP/Library/bin/mysql
Welcome to the MySQL monitor.  Commands end with ; or \g.
Your MySQL connection id is 7
Server version: 5.5.38 Source distribution

Why is that?

The current directory is usually not in the PATH variable (the variable contains all the directories where to look for an executable).

If you type echo $PATH you will see that . is not in the semicolon separated list of directories.


Can one exchange SSD's in a single MBP for doing a back-up (delayed) on one of them? My logic board decided to leave without saying good-bye, MBP Mid 2012. This only serves as a delayed backup. I did however run Time Machine to backup my stuff, unfortunately it was 180 days ago... sure learnt my lesson now.

More specific, my MBP, when switching on, no sound, no display, only hear the fan running. Tried Target Disc Mode, no success. Going in for the replacement of the logic board soon and need to get the info off of the SSD as I read on several threads that if they replace the logic board with another make/version/model (which is the case cause Apple has a replacement program going on for the logic boards now), they will wipe the SSD and all the information on it will be gone.

Can one SSD be swapped for another one in a MBP to backup data, and once the data has been backed up to a flash drive or external HDD, replace the first SSD and continue as normal afterwards?

Apple recommends backing up your HD as they "can't guarantee the integrity of the data on hard drive." Or words to that effect.

Theoretically you can do what you have proposed. You may have boot issues, EG the Mac the SSD is swapped into may not boot but that is unlikely to damage either the Mac or the drive, so if you have the Mac and the time, go for it.

Personally I'd put the SSD in an external case, plug it and your backup drive into the same Mac and make a bootable image file of your SSD onto the backup drive. It's a little easier and you are less likely to damage more than one Mac accidentally by digging around in it... IMHO...


open iTerm drop down console on different screen I use iTerm since a few days, and when i press my hotkey, it'll drop down nicely, from top of the screen, but ... on the wrong one.

I have a macbook pro with mountain lion, and i connect it to a 24" screen for development. It would be awesome if it can dropdown on the big screen if it is connected.

This might be a more general thing, since any menu bar of any app is showing on the small screen, instead of the external.

(ps. I use both screens, not in mirror mode obviously)

Any ways around this?

iTerm2 Build 1.0.0.20130319:

Iterm->Preferences->Profiles->Window

From there you have a screen bar you can set to 'screen2' or 'main screen'.


Is it possible to add Adobe PDF as a printer in Lion? I want to add Adobe PDF as a printer in Lion.

I know how to use the "pdf" button in the print dialog, but that unfortunately won't work for the task I have in mind.

Does anyone know how to this?

I'm an Adobe Creative Cloud subscriber so have access to the latest version of Acrobat.

Alternatively, does anyone know if its possible to add a different, not-necessarily-Adobe PDF printer?

After installing Acrobat, there should be an Adobe PDF entry in the list of printers (System Settings -> Printers).

Alternatively, you can try CUPS-PDF


Where did the Trash icon go on iPhone 4 Mail? In Mail on iPhone 4, with software update 4.2.1, it seems my Trash icon has been replaced with "Move to Folder".  Is there someway to get the Trash icon back, so I can delete messages with one keystroke instead of two?  I use Gmail IMAP.

It sounds like you might have the Archive button switched on. The latest update assumes you would prefer to archive than to trash.

If this is the case, Go to Settings > Mail, Calendar, etc.. > Gmail Mail Account > deactivate Archive button.


Connecting an external hard drive to my MacBook Air How do I connect an external hard drive to my MacBook Air? And once it is connected, how do I find it to see what is on my external hard drive? Very new to Apple products.

You can connect external Hard Disk Drive to any of the USB ports using standard cable.

As soon as you connect it, HDD's icon shall appear on your desktop automatically.


kernel_task eating a lot of CPU on mojave I see the kernel_task had occured in OS before mojave.

https://www.davidschlachter.com/misc/kernel_task

I am wondering whether I can just remove /System/Library/Extensions/IOPlatformPluginFamily.kext. Why it is backup first in the above article.

Do I have to booted into single user to delete IOPlatformPluginFamily.kext? Can I just delete it within a normal login?

P.S. Can anybody help me add the kernel_task tag? I don't have the permission to do so.

You do not actually want to remove the IOPlatformPluginFamily.kext - that is a really bad idea.

When you see kernel_task seemingly (!) eat a lot of CPU, it actually means that the operating system is throttling CPU usage to prevent the system from shutting down unexpectedly. This happens when you have a problem with the cooling solution in your computer.

You want to ensure that fans are operating properly, vents are not blocked, thermal paste is still OK, etc.

If your cooling solution is OK and this problem persists, you might have a problem with the temperature sensors or the main board itself.


Mac OS binding to Samba PDC Does anyone join a Mac OS to Samba PDC?

My point is to build a single domain for different clients (win xp, win 7, mac os 10.6) with home folders and roaming profiles.

I see 2 posible solutions:
1. Win binds to Samba PDC, Mac binds to OpenLDAP. In this case, OpenLDAP requires some schemas (see down this topic). And i don't know how to manage this.
2. All clients bind to Samba Domain. Mac client thinks it join to AD, and doesn't need something else. As i found, mac requires Kerberos.

I've installed Ubuntu Server 10.04 + OpenLDAP + Samba PDC + Gosa (for managment). It works fine with windows clients, but macintosh machines don't want to bind for some reasons:
1. Binding to OpenLDAD. It requires some apple schemes. When i try to add converted schemas from mac os (/etc/openldap/schema/apple.schema) it says i haven't necessary objectClasses. As i understood it needs apple samba schema, but i have already installed own schemes.
2. Binding to Samba PDC as AD
It requires Kerberos. In this case i don't know what should i do? How should i install it: as a backend for samba, where should i hold principal base, etc...?

ps: Own mac os x 10.6 server works fine with mac clients through Open Directory (OpenLDAP variant). But win clients with Samba don't work for some reasons...

Chapter 8 of Apple's Open Directory Admin 10.6 manual describes in great detail the operations you wish to complete. Also, skimming the table of contents for the word "bind" will also reveal information useful to you. Further, the dsconfigad man page will also help you accomplish your goal. There are easy instructions on how to use dsconfigad here. You can also achieve what you are attempting using the Directory Utility in your /Applications/Utilities folder. There are easy instructions on how to use the Directory Utility here, and it lists the prerequisites each Mac needs to bind to such a network. Also, flushing the DNS cache might do the trick:

 dscacheutil -flushcache


Disabling suggestion icons in iOS 11 dock? In iOS 11, the Dock has gained some potentially useful features related to recent apps and app suggestens. For me however, it constitutes visual clutter, and I want to get rid of it.

Hence I disabled the "recent apps" in “Settings → General → Multitasking & Dock”.

However, whenever I use the alarm clock, an icon reappears.

Until I reboot, the symbol remains. To make matters worse, it doesn't just sit idle; The dock will first appear without the symbol, followed by the suggestion-area sliding in as an animation, resulting in animated visual clutter.

The icon is not related to an active alarm, but it reappears every time after the alarm has been used.

Is there any possibility to get rid of such icons entirely?

Observed on iPad Air 2 (64 GB).

That is a new feature in iOS 11. Your iPad is learning about your usage habits and recommending that app due to the time of day. There is currently no way to turn off this feature.


Windows draggable under menu bar after second display Using OSX 10.8.5, I recently attached a second display to my 2013 Mac Air via the Thunderbolt port. Since removing this display I can now drag Finder and other windows under the menu bar. They pop back into viewable space on release, but this is visually annoying. How do I get the standard 'solid' menu bar behaviour back?

I have tried switching resolution but this doesn't work.

Possible fix: edit the icon shortcuts in menu bar top right. For example Sys Prefs > Date & Time > Show date in menu bar (toggle it on/off). This seems to force the menu bar to refresh and fix the problem.


Is it possible to run Windows VM from bootable SSD? I have made a bootable Windows 10 SSD, which I use to boot into Windows on my iMac. This works fine, Windows runs natively and SSD over USB 3 if fast.

But now, I want to have my cake and eat it to - I would like to be able to boot into OS X (Sierra) and start a Windows VM which would boot from the same SSD instead of virtual hard disk. Is this possible at all?

Found the answer on the internets:

Adding a raw disk to a VirtualBox machine on OSX


Installed application does not show in Applications folder I have installed Slack App on  my Mac OS and it works all fine. However, I do not see that application in Applications folder. I am very new to Mac and may be I am missing something but to my knowledge, IF App does is installed on the machine then it has to be in Applications folder.

Is there any reason under which it can not be in the Applications folder?

With any running application that shows in the Dock, you can press the command key and click the application's Dock Tile to have a Finder window open at its installed location, highlighting the app.

If you have Finder's Path Bar showing, (at the bottom of the Finder window), then you can see its path in relation to the volume it's installed on, which it typically the Macintosh HD in the /Applications folder.

Without Finder's Path Bar showing you can right-click (control click) on the folder name at the top center of the Finder window to show its path.


Upgrade to Yosemite question I'm planning on upgrading to Yosemite from Mavericks on a Mid-2010 MBP 15" with a Samsung 840 PRO drive as the primary drive. I have TRIM disabled! The process I want to use is as follows so I'm just looking for a validation please!

Make sure Time Machine backup is current and good. I'll restore a single file to verify.
Verify TRIM disabled via System Report. Shows "TRIM Support: No"
Download installer from App Store and run upgrade in place.
Once done, reboot.

If all is well:

disable signed kernel extensions.
Install TRIM Enabler
Reboot

Should be done.

Are there any problems with this methodology that I should be aware of?

Is there a significant advantage to a clean install versus upgrade in place? I know there is for Windows, but I've upgraded this system twice now with no problems.

Thanks in advance for the advice.

I never do upgrades any more - I made this from several times from Snow Leopard to MountainLion and my MacBook Pro 15" Dec 2010 got sloppier and sloppier in performance. Instead, I would recommend the following procedure which gets you a real fast Yosemite installation with a fresh and clean system:

Make a full backup with Time Machine
VERIFY the Backup of your most important data, not your applications! That means also a separate Backup of your Library folder!
Copy the most valued data onto another USB Drive for faster access.
Look for all the Yosemite updated drivers for your peripheral devices, like mice, headsets, special keyboards, USB video- and soundcards etc. Save the installers on the second USB Drive where you copied your most valued data on to. Do this also with your favourite OpenSource Software like Firefox, Chrome and your application installers etc.
Download the Yosemite installer.
Create an installation USB stick.
When booting from the USB stick running the installer, delete and format and re-partition your harddisk you want to install on.
Install Yosemite
After installation, configure your new system as you like it, play around with it to get acquainted.
Start installing drivers and tools and applications.
Start copying back your most valued data and your backed up
Have fun. :)

You will get a system exactly for your needs, without any old drivers/kext and you cleaned up in great detail. :)

My MBP Pro is now flying at high speed below radar... :)


MacOS, how to get folder size (physical size on disk) Ok so I have a large folder on disk see the image below

You can see it says the size of the folder is 8.46GB however this is mostly source code, and I think file system will be using file compression under the hood. I'd expect this folder to compress very well, so my question is this. "How can I find out how much actual physical space this folder is using?"

Thanks

You should go to the terminal and from the terminal cd to the folder you want to get the size of. Once there type: du -h. The last number it prints is the directory size.


How do I fix disabled diacritical/accent marks? I'm running macOS High Sierra v10.13.3.

Holding a key — typically a vowel — down, by default, will enable a pop-up of diacritics to appear. A while back, I had apparently disabled this function, thereby enabling key repeat.

I had wanted to reenable this default, and therefore disable key repeat. The most obvious method that I had found via numerous forums and blog posts was entering the following into Terminal:

defaults write -g ApplePressAndHoldEnabled -bool true

I've performed this operation, and then restarted my computer, about a dozen times, and I still cannot disable key repeat and enable the accent mark pop-up to appear. As an additional remedy, I disabled key repeat in System Preferences — but to no avail.

Funny thing is: the feature works exclusively on TextEdit and no other application.

If you look at the answer to a very similar question (but NOT a duplicate) you will see that the terminal work they suggest as an answer specifically targets the preferences for the given app - in that answer's case Terminal:

Accent popup in Terminal.app?

As a result, I'd start by suggesting you target the specific plist for the app you most frequently want this function in, and if it succeeds there, consider making that a system-wide pref.


How do I actually disable Wi-Fi or Bluetooth in iOS 11 Control Center? In iOS 11, I can't disable Bluetooth or Wi-Fi using the redesigned Control Center. It disconnects from any Bluetooth/Wi-Fi devices but the radios are still on, draining battery. It also doesn't disable AirDrop either. If I disable Bluetooth or Wi-Fi using settings this shows:

How can I quickly disable Bluetooth/Wi-Fi without having to go to settings?

As @mikeScott already answered in the comment, you can’t do it with control center.

You have to

go to settings > Wi-Fi or
use Siri (turn off Wi-Fi)


How to enable ssh v1 in MacOS Sierra? I have just updated to MacOS Sierra, and found that openssh version 1 has beed disabled or removed.

ssh1 is not supported

I have to use ssh1 for some server, how can I enable ssh1?

Or can I install another openssh which support ssh1 tentatively?

Here's my github repo trying to solve the problem by patching the openssh in homebrew/dupes. It's far from perfect but works.

Basically you have to:

brew tap homebrew/dupes
curl -fsSL https://github.com/boltomli/MyMacScripts/raw/master/homebrew/homebrew-dupes.openssh.diff | patch /usr/local/Homebrew/Library/Taps/homebrew/homebrew-dupes/openssh.rb
brew install openssh --with-ssh1


Can I just copy an application from a MAC and paste it to another MAC? As the title suggest, can I just copy and paste an application to my new MAC instead of downloading them all over again? Or is there another way to do this?

Most applications downloaded from the Mac App Store are transferable to another Mac, either by network or removable media (USB, etc).

You can copy the applications to your new Mac.


New MacBook Air - update installation failed I have a new MacBook Air. I just bought it and first started it. I try to update it to the latest version, but I get Installation failed. I try to install macOS 10.14.5.

Where are the updates stored after they are downloaded? Maybe it works if I delete it and download the update again?

I am totally new to macOS any help is appreciated.

I had to disable System Integrity Protection (SIP). Just follow this answer:

https://apple.stackexchange.com/a/361046/333653

Then I had to open a terminal and delete all folders in /Library/Updates with sudo rm -Rf e.g. sudo rm -Rf 041-57076. These are the update files, I need to delete them because they are corrupted because of poor internet connection.

Now I triggered the update again, it began to download the update again and now it works :)

If it does still fail, then try this procedure again, but connect via cable not via Wifi.


Can I use my iPhone 2G with Bell Canada? Long ago, I purchased an iPhone 2G in the US before Rogers came to Canada to provide iPhone service. Before I got my 3GS, I had unlocked it and was using it with my Rogers SIM with no problem.

Recently my wife took an interest in the handset and we took it to the Bell Store to have them try to get the device working with her account.

The sales person at the kiosk tried a "Demo SIM", and when they did that the device read "Invalid SIM".

Is there any reason to believe that we can get an older iPhone 2G working with Bell Canada? Maybe the salesperson just have some older SIM card perhaps that doesn't work with the 2G? Or is this a known limitation?

It is not compatible.

Bell's new network (shared with Telus) is a 3G HSPA overlay (on top of their existing CDMA network) which the iPhone 2G does not support.


Will iOS 14.5 mean my HomePod can use Spotify? Does this article mean that the HomePod will also be able to use Spotify as its default music service when 14.5 is rolled out?
https://the8-bit.com/siri-now-allows-setting-a-default-music-streaming-service-on-ios-14-5/

There are two separate things to be discussed here:

Streaming from an i-device to a HomePod/Airplay speakers
Using Siri on HomePod to directly play music

The first option does not limit you to use Apple Music. You can actually airplay any sound over to your HomePod. Just select your HomePod in the Airplay settings or hold your phone close to the speaker while its playing music.
However, asking the HomePod via Siri to play music from Spotify is currently not supported and that is apparently due to lack of Spotify supporting it. There has been a feature request at Spotify forums but it didn't reach enough votes.
This also implies that updates on Apple's side won't change anything. 3rd party support was announced on WWDC last year. Even further, iOS updates do not necessarily mean anything about HomePod.
Therefore, I would be skeptical about this feature, although it is possible that support will be added at some point.


Maximize iPhone battery lifespan by keeping it plugged into power whenever possible I know, sometimes it can explode, but is it a good advice to let the iPhone - whenever possible - plugged in to a power outlet in order to maximize battery lifespan (so it's almost always at 100%)?

If it matters, it is an iPhone Xs.

Also, I know, from time to time (few times in a month at least) every battery should be used until it's empty and then fully recharged, that's clear to me.

Yes - keep your iPhone XS and newer plugged in unless you put it in long term storage. Then 50% charge and power it off.
There is no reason to not fully charge and keep attached the latest iPhone and iPad devices that run iOS 11.3 since there are now charge management enhancements to avoid voltage pressure and lack of discharge that can cause issue on older devices and operating systems.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT208710

iOS includes a charge management feature to maintain battery health when iPad or iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, or iPhone XR is connected to power for prolonged periods of time, such as when used in a kiosk or a point of sales system, or stored in a charge cart.

Your XS is better off to leave plugged in since that reduces charge cycles. Unless you aren't going to use if for a couple months, then discharge or charge to 50% and shut it off:

https://www.apple.com/batteries/maximizing-performance/

Older devices and older operating systems do require you to balance the need to have it charged with the need to delay eventual failure. Every single lithium battery will eventually swell and/or disconnect itself electrically if it doesn't fail some other manner prematurely.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT208387 - information on chemical aging of batteries

iPad being using in wall mount battery swollen


How can Mail.app in Mavericks show a messages plain text alternative? A few days ago I wanted to verify that a simple multipart html/text mail I was about to send would render correctly in different mail clients. Does anyone know how to let Mail.app under Mavericks show the plain text alternative for an email? It used to be an option in the menus in previous releases, but now it seems to be gone.

Apparently there is no way to do this with mavericks' Mail.app.

The option in the menu is gone and setting it by hard in the plist file doesn't seem to work anymore either, according to this post and this post.

Unfortunately you have to switch to a different mail client if you want to have proper multi-format support.

Or, for testing purposes, you could just send you the email in plain text and see how it looks and then verify that both parts are present by looking at the raw mail text (which Mail.app still lets you do).