How can I use an ssh key with a passphrase but not have to type the passphrase every time when working in a remote shell? Here's my situation:

I ssh into a server running OS X, and from that remote shell I want to perform pushes and pulls (via ssh) for a git repository whose local copy exists on this server and whose origin is on another server out in the internet. (In this specific case it's a bitbucket repo.) I have generated an ssh public/private key pair with a passphrase on the server and uploaded the public key to bitbucket.

Ordinarily when I would perform pushes and pulls on my local OS X system, I would do it through a window in Terminal.app, and I use OS X's keychain to handle my ssh passphrase so that I only have to type it in once per login session. But that doesn't work here because I'm working in a remote session.

Is there any way to not have to type in my passphrase every time, other than using a public/private key pair with no passphrase?

The solution is called ssh-agent. It can remember your passphrase for the session. You run the agent with

eval `ssh-agent`

(might be even running in your session already, so check before using ssh-add -l) and add the key to the agent using:

ssh-add /path/to/your-private-key

it will prompt you for a passphrase. The further connections using this key will not prompt you for the passphrase.


Fixing a messed up $PATH in Yosemite I had troubles installing node with Homebrew as Homebrew does something weird to the node install that installing Yeoman generators seems to be hindered a bit. My issue, however, is that I think Homebrew messed up my $PATH.

I installed node via the download from their site and it says:

  Make sure that /usr/local/bin is in your $PATH.

However when I go into iTerm and type echo $PATH I get:

/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin:/usr/local/git/bin

Is this normal, or do I have to fix something?

I thought it would just spit out /usr/local/bin/.

This is normal. System binaries are located in /usr/bin and other such directories that need to be in your path so that you can run them without needing to type the entire path in your shell.

Homebrew and other such package managers tell you to add the path to the folder for their own binaries so that they can also be run without typing the entire path. This folder should be added to the list of paths so that both the original binaries and the new binaries can be run in the same way.

FWIW I have plenty of paths in my $PATH:

/Users/grgarside/.autojump/bin:/Users/grgarside/.autojump/bin:/Users/grgarside/.rvm/gems/ru
by-2.0.0-p247/bin:/Users/grgarside/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.0.0-p247@global/bin:/Users/grgarside/.r
vm/rubies/ruby-2.0.0-p247/bin:/Users/grgarside/.rvm/bin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/local/sbin:/usr
/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin:/opt/X11/bin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/local/sbin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sb
in:/sbin:/opt/X11/bin:/Users/grgarside/.rvm/bin


Not enough space to update iPad Game I'm trying to update Infinity Blade 2 on my New iPad.

I have 1.7GB free
The existing app is 1.2Gb
The new version is only 1.03GB

But it won't let me update it, and says I have not enough free space?

I already rebooted, and I can probably delete and install, but would like to know the problem anyway.

I can't find any reference for exactly what goes on behind the scenes with an iOS app update, but for pretty much any program upgrade, the system shouldn't just delete the existing app then install the new one. It will unpack and install the new one, copy the settings, save games, etc. then remove the old one. Even if you only remove the app binaries (program code) prior to installing the new code and not the user data, you run the risk of getting a bad download or corrupt compression and not having a valid program for the user to run.

So, the reason you can't install is that iOS needs some scratch space to decompress the file, and will almost certainly have a large portion of both versions on disk at some point. And I believe iOS also needs a bit of breathing room, so I suspect the app updater program has fairly conservative limits on how much free space it needs when installing something.

Unless you don't have any saved games or other data that you want to keep, I would recommend not deleting then installing the new version, but rather try to free up some other space by deleting apps or media that you can replace.


How is audio transmitted with wireless Carplay? I have a 2019 BMW X2 with Carplay. The audio quality is noticeably worse with Carplay than through USB or even Bluetooth.

Carplay apparently transmits the audio via a wi-fi connection the phone makes with the car's head unit. It's higher bandwidth than Bluetooth, so Apple claims it can transmit lossless audio without recompression to the head unit. But it doesn't sound that way. (I watched a WWDC developer video from Apple that explained this)

I've played music through Tidal & Apple Music. They both sound the same through Carplay. Thin, lacks clarity. Doesn't really sound like mp3/aac compression though.

Does anyone know what codec/protocol is used to trasmit audio to the head unit? Anyone else experience this? I want to know whether this is a problem with Carplay or just the head unit's implementation of it.

Apple’s consumer documentation says you need a unit with Bluetooth or WiFi for wireless and I expect it uses both when paired and available. You’d need to measure the RF to tell which is being used from moment to moment or check console logs for any debug messages.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT205634

A slightly longer answer is that the technical details are not public and neither is the API / SDK other than this technical detail that explains the app simply hands off the media container or media with title, streaming Boolean, artwork and percentage played...

https://developer.apple.com/documentation/mediaplayer/mpcontentitem

The details on the SDK are shared with MFI partners.

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/22372095/is-ios-carplay-api-public-how-to-integrate-carplay/38541642#38541642

As a developer, you don’t need to be MFI, just hand off your media to the player and it will play through. As a user, you can control what media you ask to play but probably not affect the delivery process in any meaningful way other than choosing your source media to be of a quality you expect to hear.


I can never eject a flash drive on the first try. Why? It may be that it is being indexed as a dot appears in spotlight. However, it doesn't matter how long the flash drive has been plugged in, nor the size of it, it will always fail to eject on the first try. You would think that after a while it would finish indexing it and cause no problem, so that may not be the issue here.

Any thoughts?

It could be that you have open applications using files on your flash disk.

You could try running the terminal command "lsof /Volumes/_NAME_OF_FLASH_DISK_HERE" and if you see an output, that means you have open/active files on your flash disk.
You need to close those and you can now eject.

Hope this helps,
Ismael Casimpan


Giving myself permissions in /etc/sudoers does nothing I want to give myself permissions to use pmset without using sudo.

I added this line to etc/sudoers:

myname          ALL = /usr/bin/pmset

But when I save and close with :wq and run pmset, I get:

$ pmset -b disablesleep 1
'pmset' must be run as root...

What is it I'm doing wrong?

The sudoers file only gets read by sudo so you still need to run

sudo pmset ...

to execute the command. What your addition to sudoers does is that every user on your Mac can now execute pmset without entering a password (or even be in the admin group).

If you want to avoid having to type sudo pmset each time define an alias

alias pmset="sudo /usr/bin/pmset"


Why don't I see a significant boost in performance moving to SSD on MacBook7,1? I've got a 2010 MacBook (MacBook7,1) with 8GB RAM running Mavericks 10.9. I recently replaced the stock HDD with a Samsung 850 EVO 250GB SSD and restored from a Time Machine backup. Though Disk Speed Test reports performance going from ~50MB/sec to ~250MB/sec (what you'd expect for the SATA II interface), I can hardly tell the difference in performance or even battery time.

For comparison, when I did an SSD upgrade for my OS drive on my MacPro3,1 it was honestly night-and-day; I figured that I should see the same with the MacBook. Unfortunately, boot times are only slightly improved and general performance of doing things seems hardly any better. For example, launching (say) Calendar.app on the Mac Pro went from several bounces on the dock to 1. I'd honestly say that the MacBook is bouncing the same number of times as are other applications.

I do realize that the MacBook7,1 is a less powerful machine than the MacPro3,1 but honestly I am really surprised how little performance difference there is. Any thoughts on what I could check or has anyone else observed the same/different with their MacBook?

FWIW, I am still on Mavericks due to smart card handling changes in Yosemite that prevent me from using the laptop for remote working with the office (Citrix hasn't patched it yet). As well, I HAVE installed Trim Enabler and did make sure the patch was activated.

I had the same issue with the Samsung SSD. The main issue appeared to be with spotlight indexing. After installing the SSD the drive would not index. If you click on the spotlight search does it show indexing with a progress bar and estimated time with no estimate? If so this answer will help fix your issue. I tried several fixes before I solved the issue.

To turn off indexing you can do the following:

open the terminal app
type sudo mdutil -Ea -i off

This should help with performance issue if indexing is the cause. Thanks svenper for the "E" addition.


On iphone sync, can I skip transfer of purchases from iphone to computer? I really hate syncing my phone these days because whenever I do I have to wait for all the apps I've downloaded since last sync to transfer to the computer. I download a lot of apps  so this process takes for ever.  So: can I opt out of backing up my apps?

Yes. You can disable app syncing.

To do this:

With your device connected to iTunes select the "Apps" tab.
Under the app listing, deselect "Automatically sync new apps".

New apps will no longer sync with iTunes. They will still backup to iTunes or iCloud, however, so you have no need to fear losing them should your device information be lost.

Note: all instructions provided work for iTunes 11.


Old Photos synced to icloud I am trying to clean up my Iphone 4S and moving photos to icloud. I tried to create a photo stream but I do not have the option on this phone. any suggestions?

Photo Stream is gone since iOS 8.
Even though your 4S will be on an older OS, Photo Stream is not the way to securely save your photos, as Apple are starting to limit to the last 30 days only.

I'd suggest Dropbox or similar, or get them onto your computer with iPhoto [Mac] or Photo Gallery - part of Windows Essentials [PC]


Mac Sleep Wake Failure I've got an iMac running High Sierra, and over the last couple of months it has developed a problem where it spontaneously reboots itself about once a day.

The reboots always occur when the iMac is asleep and the pattern is always the same. When the reboot happens, the startup chime happens twice in close succession. The error message is always like this:

Date/Time:       2017-12-10 08:43:57 -0800
OS Version:      Mac OS X 10.13.1 (Build 17B1003)
Architecture:    x86_64
Report Version:  26

Data Source:     Stackshots

Event:           Sleep Wake Failure
Duration:        0.05s
Steps:           5

Hardware model:  iMac13,2
Active cpus:     4

Time Awake Since Boot: 33000s

I researched Sleep Wake Failure on Ask Different and elsewhere on the web. I tried several things, including:

Energy Saver: Prevent computer from sleeping automatically when the display is off
Reset PRAM/NVRAM
Reset SMC

This iMac is getting a little old and it is quite possible a problem has developed with the hardware, but I do recall this started around the time I installed High Sierra and I've been assuming it's a correctable software problem.

Model info: iMac13,2, BootROM IM131.010F.B00, 4 processors, Intel Core i5, 2.9 GHz, 8 GB, SMC 2.11f14
Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660M, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660M, PCIe, 512 MB
RAM 8 GB

I have seen some reports of this same issue, with your same MacOS version. The below (one of them, or a combination of the two) solved this issue for most:

• Disable ‘Power Nap’

• ‘Wake for ethernet network access’

Please tell me if this resolved this for you!

—Mark


How big should my Time Machine backup drive be? My 13" MacBook Pro has 500GB internal hard drive space, and I bought a 1TB external HDD to use as my Time Machine backup. I only read from many articles that the backup should be about 2 to 3 times the size of my hard drive, but I feel like 1TB will never be filled up, and in fact, leave a lot of free space.

I understand that Time Machine takes a snapshot of my whole system and stores it in the backup drive. But say, for example, only about 120GB of my internal HDD is in use. Then it'll only take a snapshot that's about 120GB in size, and while that same snapshot will grow over time as I take more recent snapshots of my system, it will never go beyond 500GB because that's the maximum size of my internal HDD. Or do I have it wrong? How does Time Machine work, really?

I'm asking this because I want to know if I should use a separate external HDD for storing my actual files.

You probably want to check out this website for the most information, but here is the answer to your question, quoted from the website above:
1. How big a drive do I need for Time Machine?

A general "rule of thumb" is, to keep a reasonable "depth" of backups,
Time Machine needs 2 to 4 times as much space as the data it's
backing-up (not necessarily the entire size of your internal HD).  Be
sure to add the size of the data on any other drives/partitions you
want to back up.
But this varies greatly, depending on how you use your Mac.  If you
frequently add/update lots of large files, then even 5 times may not
be enough.  If you're a light user, you might be able to get 1.5 times
to work, but that's subject to problems any time a large backup is
needed.
And, of course, the larger the drive, the more old backups Time
Machine can keep for you.  A drive that's too small may only have room
for a few weeks (or even days) of backups.
Unfortunately, it's rather hard to predict, and most of us have a
tendency to add more and more data to our systems over time, so if in
doubt, get a bigger one than you think you need now.
Also, there are some OSX features and 3rd-party applications that take
up large amounts of backup space, for various reasons.  See question
9  for details.
This is a trade-off between space and how long Time Machine can keep
its backups, since it will, by design, eventually use all the space
available.  But it won't just quit backing-up when it runs out:  it
starts deleting the oldest backups so it can keep making new ones.
Thus, the more space it has, the longer it can keep your backups.
If your backup disk is on the small side, and Time Machine needs to do
a very large backup, either because you've added or changed a lot or
done something like an OSX update since the previous backup, you may
get one of the messages in Troubleshooting item #C4  (which one
depends on exactly what happened, and which version of OSX you're on.)

My Answer

Then it'll only take a snapshot that's about 120GB in size, and while that same snapshot will grow over time as I take more recent snapshots of my system, it will never go beyond 500GB because that's the maximum size of my internal HDD.

No, not quite. The 1 TB hard drive will be filled up because Time Machine keeps your backups and deletes them once your hard drive is filled. There is more than one backup stored on that hard drive. As stuffe pointed out as well, Time Machine allows you to restore to a previous backup, since Time Machine may keep 7 or 8 backups on that 1 TB hard drive.

I'm asking this because I want to know if I should use a separate external HDD for storing my actual files.

Yes, you should. You should be dedicating a drive to Time Machine. Here is the quoted answer from 3 in the website I linked above:
3. Can I use my Time Machine disk for other stuff?

Yes.  Time Machine will not delete anything you put there.  But it's
not a good idea to put anything else important on the same physical
drive, unless you back it up elsewhere.  When (not if) that drive
fails, you risk losing it.
If you want to do this anyway, it's much, much better to partition an
external drive into 2 (or more) parts, also called volumes.  Assign
one to Time Machine, for its exclusive use for backups;  use the other
partition(s) however you want.  To use a new drive, or one you don't
mind erasing, see question #5.  To add a partition to an existing
drive that already has data on it, see question #6.


Can an AppleTV wake a Snow Leopard Mac for playing back iTunes content? Is it possible to have an Apple TV wake a WiFi connected iMac running Snow Leopard for playback of iTunes content?

I vaguely remember a new revision of the AirPort routers supporting this through Bonjour Sleep proxy, but I couldn't find real details on this on apple.com, other than a support document. I couldn't quite follow the final flow from the users perspective.

You have to setup your mac to wake from sleep on the wifi. It all depends on the model of your machine whether its capable of doing this or not. You can read more about setting this up on your mac at the following KB article at Apple.

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3774


Does the integrated Intel Iris Pro GPU support an external display? I have a MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Late 2013.) This model has an built-in Intel Iris Pro GPU and a dedicated GeForce GPU.

Without an external display, the integrated GPU is active and the dedicated GPU is idle.

After I connect an external display, the built-in GPU is idle and the dedicated GPU is active. Power consumption nearly doubles, the system get hotter and the fans turn on.

I expected the dedicated GeForce GPU to only take over when the intensive graphic programs are running, not when running Safari on two displays.

Does the integrated GPU support two displays?

If yes, then how can I get the integrated GPU to support two displays?

The external graphics port(s) are literally wired to the discrete graphics chip.  The only card that has access to the TB port is the AMD dedicated card. That's the same reason why you need the AMD card enabled to do anything with the TB port.
 This is why connecting an external monitor will always (regardless of method of deactivating the discrete graphics) enable the discrete graphics.


What are page up/ page down keys on Macbook for TextMate? In other apps I use Command-UpArrow / Command-DownArrow, but those go to beginning/end of file in TextMate.

fn+▲ and fn+▼ are Universal page up/down on OSX with abridged keyboards.

fn+◀ and fn+▶ are home and end respectively.


Networking tools and troubleshooting strategies I’m having an issue with my iMac network connection. It’s a wired Ethernet connection through a switch and then an Asus router. WiFi clients aren’t seeing the same painfully slow episodes that the iMac is. Googling gets advice along the lines of “log in under Safe Mode”, or “try x” or “try y”. It all seems pretty much guesswork. My question is, how would a network engineer approach the problem? What would a troubleshooting strategy be and what tools would one use? I’m not afraid of using Terminal and have a decent amateur understanding of networking concepts. Just no experience. Thanks for your help!

Apple has great triage tools to get you to isolate what is failing:

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202663
https://support.apple.com/guide/mac-help/use-network-utility-on-mac-ntutl001/mac

One valid item is to use tethering and WiFi as listed in HT202663 - that makes sure your Mac is working with other network connections. That will help guide you in making use of the main Network Utility (the second link)

You’ll just need to make sure DNS works and then see how far your traffic goes from the mac.

Can it ping the router.
Does the router see your Mac?
Does your traffic get past the router to the internet?

In fact, why not start with if you have a green dot in network settings. See the screen shot below and you can click the circle with the ? In it to be guided in help on how to set up your Ethernet.

I would start with that and then post a follow on question showing how far you got and what one step you can’t move forward until you learn something. You don’t need to go through all the networking theory and terms - just enough to get you past one item once you have narrowed down what is failing you.


display partial file path on Finder tab title Question
Is there a way to change the Finder tab title to include the name of the containing folder?
Problem
I work on projects that have the same standardized subfolder names (e.g., code), which makes it difficult to switch between projects without going through each tab to identify the containing folder.
Current state: ambiguous Finder tab titles for three different subfolders

Goal
I'd like to display the containing folder name as part of the Finder tab title. Extending the example, this would look like: projectA/code, projectB/code, etc.
Ideal solution (blue text only to emphasize the change):

Related questions and resources

My question is more general than a previous question that sought to edit individual Finder tab names.
Displaying the path in the Finder title bar only works for the selected tab, and does not solve the problem of distinguishing Finder tabs.
This answer suggests a possibility with DragThing, but doesn't make it clear how to implement the solution. UPDATE: DragThing is being retired.

I find using a code editor to view folder hierarchy works much better. If you don’t have an IDE I would start with a very free and very extensible / feature full editor like Visual Studio Code.

https://code.visualstudio.com/

That or making the jump to shell where you can exert exceptional control over prompts allow more customization than Finder does at present.


Boot Camp Partition Broken after Partitioning and can't be Repaired in OS X 10.9.5 (on Macbook 13" Air - Late 2014) I have a late 2014 Macbook Air that is running Windows 7 via bootcamp. Everything has been humming along fine until I recently made an update to partitions (via "Disk Utility" shrink size of Mac partition > Boot to Windows > Use partition software [MiniTool Partition Wizard] to merge the unallocated space with the bootcamp partition) and proceeded with a NVRAM and SMC resets via instructions available here (https://www.macworld.com/article/2881177/macs/how-to-reset-your-macs-nvram-pram- and-smc.html). I realized after performing the NVRAM and SMC resets that bootcamp no longer appeared in "Startup Disk" and I was only able to boot to Windows via Boot + hold down option key + select Windows HDD icon from the UI that appears.

I cannot confirm the issue was a result of the NVRAM/SMC resets or the previous partition updates as following the completion of my partition updates I had not booted back into Mac. The first time following the partition updates that I booted back into MAC was during my NVRAM/SMC resetting activities. My gut tells me the issue was the result of the partitioning actions.

In a foolish attempt to remedy the [Bootcamp not appearing in "Startup Disk"] situation I stupidly utilized "Disk Utility's" "repair disk" function on the greyed out partition named "disk0s4" - it was previously named BOOTCAMP.  The repair function failed and reported as such. After this point I was no longer able to boot to windows via Boot > Hold Down Option Key > Select Windows because the UI now only displayed the recovery and the MAC HDD icons and text designating them so.

I've concluded after some googling that I've managed to corrupt my MBR/GPT records and am about to proceed with fixing it via instructions here: bootcamp - Boot Camp partition broken and can't be repaired in OS X 10.10.4 - Ask Different

I'm not sure this is the right course of action. Desperate for advise from any enlightened individual about how to resolve this situation and recover access to my Windows OS via bootcamp!

Some basic details of my Macbook Air 13-Inch

1.7 GHz Intel Core i7
Introduced: April 29, 2014
Discontinued: March 9, 2015
Model #: A1466
Family: Early 2014
ID: MacBookAir6,2
RAM: 8GB
Storage: 256GB SSD
Graphics: Intel HD Graphics 5000 1536 MB
Mac OS: OS X 10.9.5 (13F34)
Boot ROM Version: MBA61.0099.B16
SMC Version (system): 2.13f15

Did you make a bootable Windows installer USB key?

That one item would be key (no pun intended) you should be able to boot from the USB key. Then you should see the current partitioning. Hopefully your Mac and Windows partitions are still there. If not you are likely out of luck. You should be able to continue through this and boot into the Windows installer. Once you have gotten past the language and keyboard selection you should be given an option to install or repair Windows. Select repair.

If you do not still have the installation media you may want to create it again. I assume the Mac side is till working or you have access to a Mac. Just run the Boot Camp.app and when it asks for a Windows ISO point it to your Windows 7 installer, the one you used before, and let it do its thing.


Alternative to multitouch in Mavericks I am using OSX Mavericks on latest Mackbook Pro Retina.
After a week of intensive usage I have got some pain in my fingers because of the multi-fingers scrolling (two to scroll pages, three to switch between screens).

How can I scroll in applications without using 2 fingers-scroll? I know I can press 'Fn+Up/Down' in web-browsers, but how to scroll in Finder, Terminal, etc.?
Is there also any way to switch between virtual screens without using three-fingers?

PS: when scrolling using multi-touch, one has to keep 2 fingers floating over the surface of the trackpad - this after some time leads to the pain. On iPad it doesn't happen because its position is usually not vertical (when you keep it in another hand).

You can switch between screens using the Ctrl+Right/Left Arrow shortcuts (by default, this can be of course modified in the Keyboard Shortcuts settings).

You can scroll in the terminal using Shift+PgUp/PgDn keys. On MacBooks you will need to press Shift+Fn+Up/Down Arrow.

Fn+Up/Down also works in Finder.


System kext not loading in Catalina I finally figured out what the problem was for my other question, which was sadly closed even though it had a clear problem to solve. Briefly, the problem is that my dGPU 750M in my late 2013 15" MacBook Pro gets stuck in a high power state, pulling 17W at idle instead of 3W. I installed Catalina fresh on an external drive and that fixed my dGPU being stuck in a higher power state.
I compared the system kernel extensions loaded on the fresh Catalina install with those loaded on the problematic install and made a list of all the kexts that did not load in the problematic Catalina install. The problem is that the system is not loading these kexts from /system/library/extensions:
IOPlatformPluginFamily.kext/contents/plugins/x86platformplugin.kext
IOPlatformPluginFamily.kext/contents/plugins/ioplatformpluginlegacy.kext
IOPlatformPluginFamily.kext/contents/plugins/acpi_smc_platformplugin.kext
IOPlatformPluginFamily.kext/contents/plugins/x86platformshim.kext
applegraphicspowermanagement.kext
appleplatformenabler.kext
In fact my issue is fixed by simply just loading x86platformplugin.kext:
sudo kextload IOPlatformPluginFamily.kext/contents/plugins/x86platformplugin.kext

However it's probably best to load all of those that are present on a clean Catalina install and not present on my problematic install.
After loading x86platformplugin.kext manually, toggling on the 750M dGPU results in it being able to use its low power state, consuming just 3W at idle compared to 17W otherwise.
Why aren't these kexts loading on my problematic Catalina install? How do I get these kexts to load automatically after reboot?

If a simple terminal command is working for you, then you can create a logon script as an ugly hack and use it for a few months.
The next macOS will release in the fall so it might fix things for you.


Reconnecting Bluetooth headset for iphone How should we reconnect a Bluetooth headset, if we have forgot it from the phone. Bluetooth can't detect the headset again.

While there are some issues with iOS 8.0.2 and bluetooth, they are mostly isolated to in car bluetooth systems. It would be difficult to say you are being affected by this issue without more information. It could just be that your headset is not discoverable.

If you have selected "forget this device" in your Bluetooth settings, the device will no longer be detected because it knows it is paired with something and is no longer discoverable. Different headsets have different ways of being placed in discoverable mode, so you may need to consult the documentation for you specific device, but normally this consists of turning the headset off and then pressing and holding the power button until the device's LED flashes in a specific pattern indicating it is discoverable. When it is in this state your iPhone should be able to detect it and pair with it again.


Excel iOS app: Keyboard shortcut for Edit cell I am used to using F2 as the keyboard shortcut to edit a cell in Microsoft Excel for desktop.

The Excel iOS seems not to have this shortcut (see Use an external keyboard with Excel for iPad).

What is the corresponding keyboard shortcut for Excel for iOS?

After trying systematically I found out that on my Apple Smart Keyboard Folio Command + 2 does the trick.


Can I create a custom iMovie transition? IMovie is mostly a 'canned' software, I am limited to presets for the most part. I understand that there are a few workarounds to adding custom effects (creating 2d video with green background, or images with opacity etc.); however, I would like to create custom transitions/titles/filters that are recognized by iMovie and treated the same as built-in effects. I am exploring a few options:

Option A: design & import
There might be a way to import my designs to iMovie in a way that I am currently unaware of. If such options exist, please let me know what file type I need to do such.

Essentially, I want to see if iMovie can function like Final Cut Pro does  with Motion 5 as I am working on a budget and can't spend money for this function.

Your best bet is reverse engineering the existing Transitions if you investment in time costs less than the $50 for Motion which is the official tool for making custom transition effects.

Look in /Applications/iMovie.app/Contents/PlugIns/MediaProviders/MotionEffect.fxp/Contents/Resources/Templates.localized/Transitions.localized and the transition file is simply an xml file with the .motr file extension:

$ head Pan\ Down\ Slow.motr
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE ozxmlscene>
<ozml version="5.5">

<displayversion>5.0.5</displayversion>

<factory id="1" uuid="046e7c74fd734809885d35e99ac9eeb2">
    <description>Channel</description>
    <manufacturer>Apple</manufacturer>
    <version>1</version>

Also, you could hire someone that has paid for Motion to make a trivial transition and test that it works for your needs. That wouldn't help if your true goal is to engineer how it works and understand the tool, though.


Does iPhone 6s SIM-FREE mean UNLOCKED & ready to use anywhere in world? I'm thinking to buy IPhone 6s [mabybe Plus] from Apple's website. They are offering SIM-FREE version of those. What I want to ask is ... does SIM-FREE mean UNLOCKED and ready to use iphone anywhere in world?

The correct term is FU - Factory Unlocked, but SIM-FREE or UNLOCKED are widely used.  This means that you the phone is not locked to a certain service provider.

Although there are different type of networks around the world, your iPhone 6s will work with most of them, both with voice and data, as long as you insert a local simcard.  Exception might be China  or if a specific carrier cannot support iPhones at all or refuses to support people who don't buy iPhones from them.

If you want to get the fastest available LTE network speeds, things get a little bit more complicated.  The list on http://www.apple.com/iphone/LTE/ will show you which phone you should get to access these fast speeds.  As you can see this list is far from complete - there's a lot of countries not on it.  This doesn't mean your iPhone won't work over there.

Your iPhone 6s will still work and switch back to another - lower broadband wireless - access speed.  Still very much usable though.


How to hide the reply section of conversation in mail.app? On some emails it has the quoted portion hidden with a Show More From Person. On one of my conversations with many different people just shows everything. There are many replies daily and weekly and it's getting out of hand. None of the regularly quoted portions is even quoted. They're just inline and added to each reply. This makes it impossible to move from one message to the next without using the sidebar. You can't scroll down in the messages view because it just keeps going and going.

Is there a way to change this behavior? Where it only shows the replied portion like Show More From Person?

I'm going to offer a suggestion and a possible workaround (or two)...

First, if I understand your concern properly, what is likely happening is that one of the people involved with the thread has a mail client that isn't properly quoting the content and so the mail app (like gmail before it and numerous other desktop mail clients) doesn't know what is part of the current email reply and what belongs in the past as part of the previous thread of replies. If this is the case, I'm afraid that there's nothing to be done with this current thread to fix it. Perhaps scroll back through the thread and seek the first time this occurred to determine who the offender was (whether they were aware they caused it matters not). Really, all this will do is let you know from whom to expect this in the future. It won't really fix the problem as I believe there isn't a solid solution apart from editing the email on your own prior to your next reply, which I would not recommend because if it happened once it's likely to happen again.

Possible Workaround 1: Send a reply to the thread stating that it's the "Archival Log" and include everything prior to it. Next, Send another reply where you include perhaps only the last 3-5+ replies, whatever holds up the thread to scrutiny re: current discussion. At the bottom of that email, place a text string suggesting to all involved that anything previous can be found in the archival reply making note of the date/time of the archival reply so they can easily search their inbox or saved folders for that thread for reference.

Possible Workaround 2: This might ruffle some feathers, but simply follow the second half of the previous suggestion noting that it's been truncated for simplicity.

Possible Future Workaround 3: This option is only available to those who have autonomy over their systems or when everyone involved has accommodating IT folks and a team willing to move away from email as the primary means of comm for whatever is being discussed...
Consider moving these types of conversations into a messaging app such as Slack. I started using slack for work about 5 years ago and have since created environments for my family. The reason I prefer it to email is that the whole "reply thread" isn't a thing anymore. Comments flow as they're made. No chance for replies to get crossed "in the mail" when multiple people are drafting their replies at the same time. Slack does have a "threads" feature which does work well for quick branches from the original discussion, but more than a year after it was released, it's still cumbersome to use. If you have multiple tasks or responsibilities being discussed, also consider a free project management task manager such as Asana. The beauty of asana is the ability to maintain threads specific to tasks much better than a plain messaging app. I'm not a fan of their mobile app, so I only use asana within their desktop browser web app. In a pinch, I'll look at the mobile app when away from my desk to see if I need to hurry back to the comment or if it can wait.


How to enable vim X11 feature on OSX10.10? I want to use  set clipboard="unnamedplus" in my vim, which requires X11 feature.

But I searched a bit on google.
Which only mentions that Apple has removed X11 from their recently releases of OSX.
But there is no tutorial about how to install it on OSX.
Especially no info about how to enable X11 feature in a vim on OSX.

How to do that?

You are correct that Apple no longer provides X11 in OS X. They now recommend you download and install XQuartz instead. Recent versions of OS X will actually prompt you to install XQuartz when they detect you're trying to run an application that requires X11, but the detection isn't foolproof so sometimes you just have to install it manually.

Not sure about your vim question specifically, but I would guess if you run vim in an xterm after you've installed XQuartz, any X11 features should work as intended.


Running AppleScript When Inserting a Blank CD I want to automatically burn a cross-platform data CD with the same contents each time a blank disc is inserted, and eject it when done. To that end I created a very simple AppleScript that does just that:

do shell script "/bin/bash -c 'hdiutil burn ~/Desktop/catalog.iso'"

It works fine from the AppleScript editor. If I click "Run" with a blank CD inside, it burns the CD with the data from the .iso and ejects it upon completion.

However, if I select "Run ~/Desktop/burn.scpt" as the default action when inserting a blank CD, nothing happens. I actually have to open the AppleScript editor and select "Run". How can I make it actually run the script?

Open burn.scpt in the AppleScript Editor and save it as an Application. Then select burn.app as the desired action on CD popup.


How to search Library on Mavericks Before updating to 10.9 I frequently deleted all the small files some apps leave behing by searching for invisible system files. Now it doesn't seem to work, I can navigate to the file manually just fine, but it doesn't show up in the search. Is there a way to index Library?

Are you searching via command-f within Finder? If so, do you see a pair of dropdowns that say Kind is Any? Click Kind and select System files. Any will change to aren't included. Click it and change it to are included.

If System files isn't available in the first dropdown, select the last item, Other…, and find it in the subsequent popup.

If no dropdowns are shown, click the round + button on the right edge of the Finder window, near its top.

If you're searching via Menubar > Spotlight, I've looked in the past for a way to include hidden files in its search results, but to no avail.

Personally, I use App Cleaner, by the way, to tidy junk left by messy apps.

ADDENDUM:

I see now this works for most Library files, like those found in Application Support or Internet Plug-ins, but it fails specifically for .plist files found in the Preferences sub-folder. Not sure why Apple would do that.

Others have had this difficulty, too, and they've solved using App Cleaner or a similar third-party app:

http://lifehacker.com/5711409/how-to-search-for-hidden-packaged-and-system-files-in-os-x
http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=1599438
http://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=20121101064200135

It seems the options are third-party app, manually search through Finder, or perhaps grep through Terminal. Regardless, remember to leave http://www.apple.com/feedback/.


How do I get Siri to ignore a particular contact that shares someone else's name? I have two people in my contacts with the same first name (let's call them John). One person, John Appleseed, I talk to all the time. The other one, John Doe, I haven't spoken to in years.

When I tell Siri something like "Where is John?" or "Text John What's up?", I'm frequently asked "Which one? John Appleseed, or John Doe?"

Other than deleting the unfortunate person who shares the same first name as someone I talk to all the time, how can I teach Siri that "John" always refers to John Appleseed?

Try giving the contact a nickname (Add Field > Nickname) in your Contacts, and then use that nickname when ordering Siri to text that person. Alternatively, put a character in front of old John's name so Siri never gets confused (e.g., xJohn or oldJohn or #John).


What are "Photo Stream" events in iPhoto? They seem to have redundant copies of all my other photos, but bundled into month groups?

I have iCloud turned off in iPhoto. But maybe I used to have it turned on.

Are the photos copies? Or just pointers to other photos?

You may have had it turned on in the past.

Go to System Preferences>iCloud and remove the tick to the left of Photos if it's there.
This will switch off Photo Stream if it is still on. It is also explained if you click on the 'options...' button on the right of Photos icon.


NTFS Disk "failed to mount" I have an iMac running El Capitan, and an external disk formatted NTFS that will not mount on the mac.  It will mount perfectly in Windows and Ubuntu.

I'm not trying to write to it, right now I just want to read.

Here's my output of "diskutil mount disk3s1":

Volume on disk3s1 failed to mount
If the volume is damaged, try the "readOnly" option

Output of info:

Device Identifier:        disk3s1
Device Node:              /dev/disk3s1
Whole:                    No
Part of Whole:            disk3
Device / Media Name:      Untitled 1

Volume Name:

Mounted:                  No

File System Personality:  NTFS
Type (Bundle):            ntfs
Name (User Visible):      Windows NT File System (NTFS)

Partition Type:           Windows_NTFS
OS Can Be Installed:      No
Media Type:               Generic
Protocol:                 USB
SMART Status:             Not Supported
Volume UUID:              E6F4FA18-C794-465E-82A1-91A8F45C4262

Total Size:               320.0 GB (319965626368 Bytes)
(exactly 624932864 512-Byte-Units)
Volume Free Space:        0 B (0 Bytes) (exactly 0 512-Byte-Units)
Device Block Size:        512 Bytes

Read-Only Media:          No
Read-Only Volume:         Not applicable (not mounted)

Device Location:          External
Removable Media:          No

Any ideas would be appreciated.

I was getting the above error and a suis premount dissented error. I was eventually able to mount it by with:

sudo /sbin/mount_ntfs /dev/disk3s1


Mac Pro can't safe boot I've been trying to solve the issue seen here:

http://www.princeton.edu/~jcjb/docs/osx_error_fix/

The recommended solution is to do a safe boot which clears various caches etc, however I'm unable to complete a safe boot. It gets stuck with the progress bar only about 5% complete; I even tried leaving the machine on overnight, about 8-9 hours.

I also tried safe booting via rEFInd which gets rid of the apple logo and lets me see what's actually happening and it's getting stuck on the 'fsck_hfs -r' step 'checking catalog file.' I ran this command manually from recovery mode on the same disk and it completed just fine in 15-20min but safe boot still gets stuck. I've also tried clearing PRAM in case that helps any.

Any other ideas for getting into safe mode? Is it possible to run the safe boot 'script' manually from recovery mode? Does such a script exist?

This appears to be covered in detail (without an answer on the Apple discussion forums (thread 1 and thread 2).

The second link in particular goes on a long way, with rumours of a workaround (though not what the workaround might be), ways to disable fsck so that it boots (though what the point of a safe boot without the fsck is I'm not sure), that it may be related to the RAM installed on the Mac, and that it may be fixed in the 10.8.3 seeds.

Good luck until it clears up.


How Do I Show External Disks on Second Display's Desktop? I can see my external drives on all the spaces on my MacBook Pro's display, but I cannot see those drives on my external display. Is there a way to make them show up?

The external display is not set as a mirror of the main display but rather as an extension of it.  So you can drag the external drive icon (or any file/folder/window) from one display onto the other.

However, this will not 'stick' as when you disconnect the drive and reconnect it, the system will mount the drive icon back onto the primary display (the one with the Dock).

Also, when you disconnect the external display, the system will move any files/folders/icons that were showing on the external display onto the main display.


Weird behaviour with external USB3 enclosure I am having issues where an external USB3 drive(#1) is not showing up after reboot. It also doesnt not show up when holding option during boot. This external drive is a clone made with Carbon Copy Cloner. I have cloned the recovery partition as well using CCC. The external disk is not ecrypted, but the Macbook I am doing this from is with Filevault2. It shows up properly when connected as long as I don't restart the OS. If the OS is restarted, the drive will not show up in Finder, Disk Utility, System Information, or Terminal. But when I disconnect the drive and connect it again it shows up and mounts.

I fixed drive #2 issue by deleting my Time Machine backup from the Time Machine System Preferences and as soon as I connected it, showed up and asked for password. Well now I know nothing is wrong with my USB3, but still would like to know why I can't boot drive #1.

My other issue is another external USB3 drive(#2) from the same company, but more expensive model. This is my Time Machine backup. It is encrypted using the Time Machine GUI in system preferences. It doesn't ask for my password when plugged in. I have used it many times before. This drive will not show up in Finder, Disk Utility, System Information or Terminal when plugged in. Obviously it needs my password to decrypt the volume, but why isn't it asking me? The drive has sufficient power.

Obviously there is something going on with my Mac. Please help and let me know if you need more information. Also both of these external enclosures have worked great with this Macbook and my previous Macbook. Never had an issue. Macsales is not known for low quality or poorly designed products IMO.

System Info for my Macbook

Additional Sys Info

System Information for drive #1

Disk Utility drive #1

Disk Utility filesystem #1

So far, it seems that my MacBook doesn't recognize USB3 before login. If I plug either my Time Machine or clone which are both USB3 into a USB2 hub, both are recognized at boot using either option or command+r. You could also use a regular USB2 cable to force to USB2. This is not unusual as my Windows desktop I built is the same because the BIOS doesn't support USB3 yet. The USB3 functionality is implemented through a separate chip from the Processor or Chipset. I wonder if this is the same for MacBooks....


Can I assign a keyboard shortcut to bring up the Mac OS X Login Window? I’d like to assign an “Every Application” keyboard shortcut to bring up the login window, for when I step away from my computer. Is there a way to do this? (Lion-only methods are fine.)

If you want to assign alt ⌥+cmd ⌘+L to lock screen without installing any programs, in 5 minutes, I suggest you doing these three steps:

Create a Service in Automator and set "Service receives selected" to "no input" instead of "text".
(Still in Automator) add 'Run AppleScript' (search on the left "apple" then double-click).
In the script in place of  (* Your script goes here *) you copy-paste:

do shell script "'/System/Library/CoreServices/Menu Extras/User.menu/Contents/Resources/CGSession' -suspend"
Save and exit. (You can name your service "Lock Screen".)
Open System Preferences, Keyboard then in Keyboard Shortcuts tab and under Services you will find your service "Lock Screen" towards the bottom of the list.
Now, click on "none" next to "Lock Screen" to assign ⌥⌘ L to
your service. Actually I suggest rather ⌃⌥⌘ L because ⌥⌘ L is assigned in Finder.

Done.

(For step 2 cudos goes to Lauri Ranta!)


Is there any keyboard hotkey to undo hiding an application? I use Command+H to hide applications all the time. Sometimes I really want to undo that action, but pressing Command+H again will just hide the now active application.

Pressing Command+Shift+H doesn't do it either.

I don't know if there's a way to do this built into OSX, but if not I wouldn't be opposed to installing an application that would provide this functionality.

Doing Command+Tab will let you go through all the running applications, even if it's hidden. More tricks are discussed at SuperUser.


migrating / merging iphone contacts I have an iPhone 6 (with proper iTunes backup) where all of my contacts where, but I bought a new iPhone 7 and had to initialize it as new iPhone, due to several time-related constraints, so now I have a few but new contacts on my new phone, but none of the older ones, but would be the best practice oriented, for just recovering the old contacts from the iTunes backups?

PS: I still have the old iPhone 6, so it could be used as "temporary storage" if needed.

You could restore the old backup to your iPhone 6 and sync those contacts with iCloud, then sync contacts on your new iPhone 7 to get those. (As fsb noted above)
Some third party backup reading tools allow you to export contacts. I'm a developer for Decipher Backup Browser - you can use Decipher Backup Browser to export the contacts from the backup as a VCF file, and then email/text/dropbox/etc that to yourself on your new iPhone to import the contacts. (When you open the attachment on the iPhone 7, one of the built-in VCF actions is to import to contacts.)
You could setup a gmail or similar account to sync contacts temporarily -- basically the same idea as syncing contacts with iCloud, but not iCloud if you're opposed to that.
I would not recommend it, but you could restore the backup to the iPhone 6, and then go contact-by-contact pressing Share to send the contact to your new iPhone.
Do you have a Mac? You may be able to restore to the iPhone 6, sync contacts on the 6 with iTunes, and then share multiple contacts to your iPhone from the macOS address book app? https://www.tekrevue.com/tip/share-contacts-mac/ (disclaimer: I didn't try doing this to get the step-by-step. It's just an idea.)


Which MacBooks can run 10.11.3 OSX MacBook Pro mid2012 was stolen. I want to restore the time machine back up to a replacement machine that I haven’t yet bought.

My understanding is the backup includes the OS.

I need to get an old MacBook on which I can restore the time machine backup.

Where can I find out which MacBooks can run the OS which has been backed up, which is 10.11.3 ?

Even though the operating system is backed up, you’ll actually get a choice when restoring whether or not to restore the OS as well. This means that you can restore the backup to a new MacBook Pro that only supports Mojave for example. All your personal files, applications and preferences will be restored. However system specific items such as for example hardware drivers will not be restored.

You can find instructions on how to restore excluding the OS here:

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT203981

If you do intend to restore with the OS, please be advised that even though the El Capitan system requirements, that you have been provided a link for, specified “or newer” when talking about the MacBook Pro - that is strictly not true. It was true at the time that document was written though.

If you buy a recent MacBook Pro 2018 with TouchBar, it does not support El Capitan.


Since dropping my iPod, I can only hear music, but no vocals My iPod fell on the ground this morning. Since then, I can hear the music but not the singers anymore! It sounds as though they were in the next room during the recording. As I listen almost only to Podcasts, it's a real problem, because I almost hear nothing except jingles...

Has anyone a clue about the problem I'm facing? Is this a software or a hardware problem?

It looks like a Hardware problem with the mini Jack. Apparently one of  rings is not connecting properly, as if it was not fully plugged in. Make sure it is, try moving the mini Jack in circles and rotating, and see if that makes any difference.


Startup disk only shows: Mac OS X Base System A 2010 Macbook Pro was dropped. It will not boot in recovery mode. when I boot from a USB with Mountain Lion on it I can see only: Disk 1 -> Mac OS OX Base System.

I was hoping to get data off the drive.

I have installed Mountain Lion on an External USB HDD and it will boot and run from that. In Disk Utility no other drive shows up.

Only when booting from the USB drive do I see: Disk 1 -> Mac OS Base System.

The only option is to "Verify Disk" and it checks ok. Repair Disk options are grayed out.

Would something like DiskWarrior be recommended?

/dev/disk0 (the USB installer disk) is the only physical disk visible here. The rest are all virtual disks of one sort or another -- /dev/disk1 ("Mac OS Base System") is a disk image mounted from the USB disk, and the rest are RAM disks used by the Recovery system.

Since I don't see any sign of your internal drive, even at the /dev entry level, I'm pretty sure you have a hardware problem that nothing like DiskWarrior will be able to help with. The disk itself may be dead, or a cable torn, or a connector knocked loose. In any of these cases, the only chance you have to get data off is will involve opening up the computer, checking cables and connections, and maybe removing the HD. Recent Apple laptops are not very easy to work on, so you may not want to risk doing this yourself. If you want to try, there are guides at iFixit.com; if not, find a repair shop to do it for you.

If it's just a cable/connector problem, repairing it and getting your data back is pretty straightforward. If the drive itself is dead, you may have to send it to someone like DriveSavers for recovery (which is expensive).


VMware Fusion taking too long to expand disk? I'm running Windows 10 Home in a VM under VMware Fusion 8.5.3 on macOS Sierra 10.12.2. Machine is MacBook Pro (15", Late 2016).

I shut down the Windows guest, and through its settings, attempted to expand the disk from 60GB to 150GB. I have 300GB+ available on the host.

So far, this is what I've been looking at for about 20 minutes:

How much longer should I wait before giving up? And, if I must give up, what can I do to have the best possible chance that my guest vm isn't totally hosed?

Solution to this is: just wait.

However, there is a little caveat, if you want that this transition is really successfully and fast you need to temporary turn on Time Machine backup.


Finder file dialogue very restricted - any way to enhance it? I am referring to a finder dialogue which opens e.g. when you chose to open / save a file in another application.

The context menu items that finder exposes are quite limited (you cannot open a file, etc.) compared to the regular finder.

This is kind of a silly restriction that I cannot see on any other OS. One of my regular workflows is to open a file from one of the dialogues, copy another file into it, etc.

Any way to change this behavior?

You indicate in comments that you need a free solution.

There's no free solution to do what you want currently. macOS does not come with a preference settings that enhanced that specific context menu.

If you're able to program yourself, it should be possible to add extra menu items to the menu. This should be possible free of cost, but will ofcourse take time.

As others have recommend, there's commercial solution such as "Default Folder X" available.

In your comments you also express that you find not only the file picker dialog, but also the standard Finder to be very limiting for you. In this case, you could consider using an alternative to Finder.

Some good examples of alternatives are "Path Finder 9" and "Commander One". The first costs a bit, while the latter is free in the standard version.


Can a non-retina iMac with i7 3.5 Ghz and GTX775M handle three displays? I am thinking about getting a used non-retina iMac with these specs:

Core i7 3,5 GHz
32GB RAM
1TB SSD
GTX 775M

Since I own two Apple 27" Displays I'd like to hook these up via Thunderbolt/MDP.

My question is: Can the iMac handle all the 3 displays (including the built-in one) or will I have UI lag/stutter? Will the iMac get hot? How would the fan noise be with this setup?

I am assuming that you are referencing a 27" Late 2013 iMac because there is no 21" iMac that has that specific CPU frequency.

You can have up to two external displays connected via Thunderbolt  according to the specs posted on EveryMac.com

I have used 30" and 43" displays with my iMac and there has been zero lag.  I also only have SSDs (no hard drives) so I have had zero issues with heat, even with multiple displays.


Remove slow motion from video in MacOS I have some videos I made on my iPhone and copied to my computer.  I deleted them from my iPhone.

Now when I play them though using Photos v4.0 on macOS 10.14.2 I see parts are in slow motion.  They are .MOV files.

How can I fix them so they do not play in slow motion?

Drag both slo-mo handles over each other so that they are both either at the beginning or at the end of the video.
E.g. drag the right slo-mo handle all to the left or vice versa.


How to view hidden files when viewing a mac through target disk mode? I am hoping to view some of a /usr/local folder from a mac, using target disk mode.

However, it is hidden and I cannot see it in finder to copy.

How can I view and then copy a file (for example, /usr/local/test.txt) from a mac that is in target disk mode to another mac?

Basically, the same way you would view those hidden files on your machine. You just have to go to the correct spot.  Volumes mounted via Target Disk Mode can be found in /Volumes of the filesystem.

Three common options:

From Terminal.app (found in your Applications folder, under Utilities, you can navigate to the target mode machine starting in "/Volumes". So in Terminal.app do a cd /Volumes to see the target disk and navigate to where you need to go.
From the menu bar of Finder.app, select "Go", then "Go to Folder..." and type in the path you are trying to get to.  e.g. "/Volumes/<target mode HDD>/usr/local/"
Turn on the ability to view hidden files in the Finder. In Terminal.app enter defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles true && killall Finder and then point & click your way to what you need.


Stuck on blue screen after running "rm *" in / I accidentally executed rm * on / and since then I am unable to see my desktop. All I see is a blue screen with spinning gear.

Irony is I somehow missed my OS and other CDs too that came with my Mac. I followed this article on starting up in safe mode but it shows progress bar for long time and then again get stuck to blue screen

Attached is screen I see on boot.

I can't get Into safe mode either, so how can I get back to a working system?

PS: I also wonder whether I be able to get my desktop settings again without compromising all settings? I am specially concerned with software installed via home brew, Databases etc. Is it possible to to restore or copy deleted files by some kind of repair via CD?. My hidden files infusing bash_profile etc are also there. Can you guide how should I proceed?

update I log onto single mode. Check image. What do i do now?

update#3

finally

Depending on your system setup and your command you probably lost only some files - including one essential - and folders and some sym-links.

Using the command rm * - executed by an admin in the root folder - usually deletes the sym-link /etc only:

Boot to single user mode, check your file system with /sbin/fsck -fy, and mount root read/writable with /sbin/mount -rw /. Then recreate the sym-link /etc with ln -s /private/etc /etc and reboot your Mac with shutdown -r now.

Using the command sudo rm * - executed by a sudoer in the root folder - in a standard setup you'll only lose the file 'mach_kernel' and the sym-links 'etc', 'tmp' and 'var'.

(No other files were deleted in the file system). After further investigations it turns out that some other files and folders are also deleted often: a folder with a sudoer's name (usually the short name of your admin account) in /private/var/db/sudo/ and a .state file with an arbitrary name (the generatedUID of your admin/sudoer account) related to another equally named file in /private/var/db/shadow/hash/. I can't determine if they are deleted by 'sudo', 'rm' or 'sudo rm'. These files & folders are of minor importance though.

I've tested that in an almost vanilla Mac OS X 10.6.8 Server VM.

Before executing sudo rm * the root folder looks like this - invisible files, folders and sym-links included - with ls -la:

drwxrwxr-t  32 root  admin      1156 25 Dez 11:55 .
drwxrwxr-t  32 root  admin      1156 25 Dez 11:55 ..
-rw-rw-r--   1 root  admin     15364  4 Jan 14:35 .DS_Store
drwx------   3 root  admin       102 10 Sep 01:37 .Spotlight-V100
d-wx-wx-wt   2 root  staff        68 10 Sep 01:23 .Trashes
----------   1 root  admin         0 23 Jun  2009 .file
drwx------  38 root  admin      1292  4 Jan 14:59 .fseventsd
-rw-------   1 root  wheel      4096 10 Sep 01:29 .hotfiles.btree
drwxr-xr-x@  2 root  wheel        68 18 Mai  2009 .vol
drwxrwxr-x+ 35 root  admin      1190 25 Dez 16:49 Applications
drwxrwxr-x@ 16 root  admin       544 25 Dez 12:04 Developer
drwxrwxr-t+  2 root  admin        68 10 Sep 01:37 Groups
drwxrwxr-t+ 65 root  admin      2210 25 Dez 12:02 Library
drwxr-xr-x@  3 root  wheel       102 26 Feb 20:43 Network
drwxr-xr-x   4 root  wheel       136 10 Sep 01:28 Shared Items
drwxr-xr-x   4 root  wheel       136 10 Sep 02:02 System
drwxr-xr-x+  5 root  admin       170 10 Sep 01:37 Users
drwxrwxrwt@  4 root  admin       136 26 Feb 20:43 Volumes
drwxr-xr-x@ 39 root  wheel      1326 10 Sep 02:09 bin
drwxrwxr-t@  2 root  admin        68 23 Jun  2009 cores
dr-xr-xr-x   3 root  wheel      4013 26 Feb 20:43 dev
lrwxr-xr-x@  1 root  wheel        11 10 Sep 01:26 etc -> private/etc
dr-xr-xr-x   2 root  wheel         1 26 Feb 20:43 home
-rw-r--r--@  1 root  wheel  20828964  8 Jun  2011 mach_kernel
dr-xr-xr-x   2 root  wheel         1 26 Feb 20:43 net
drwxr-xr-x@  6 root  wheel       204 10 Sep 01:28 private
drwxr-xr-x@ 68 root  wheel      2312 10 Sep 02:09 sbin
lrwxr-xr-x@  1 root  wheel        11 10 Sep 01:26 tmp -> private/tmp
drwxr-xr-x@ 14 root  wheel       476 25 Dez 11:57 usr
lrwxr-xr-x@  1 root  wheel        11 10 Sep 01:26 var -> private/var

After executing sudo rm * only one file and the sym-links vanished:

drwxrwxr-t  28 root  admin   1020 26 Feb 19:41 .
drwxrwxr-t  28 root  admin   1020 26 Feb 19:41 ..
-rw-rw-r--   1 root  admin  21508 26 Feb 19:41 .DS_Store
drwx------   3 root  admin    102  9 Sep 23:37 .Spotlight-V100
d-wx-wx-wt   2 root  20        68  9 Sep 23:23 .Trashes
----------   1 root  admin      0 23 Jun  2009 .file
drwx------  38 root  admin   1292  4 Jan 13:59 .fseventsd
-rw-------   1 root  wheel   4096  9 Sep 23:29 .hotfiles.btree
drwxr-xr-x@  2 root  wheel     68 18 Mai  2009 .vol
drwxrwxr-x+ 35 root  admin   1190 25 Dez 15:49 Applications
drwxrwxr-x@ 16 root  admin    544 25 Dez 11:04 Developer
drwxrwxr-t+  2 root  admin     68  9 Sep 23:37 Groups
drwxrwxr-t+ 65 root  admin   2210 25 Dez 11:02 Library
drwxr-xr-x@  3 root  wheel    102 26 Feb 19:39 Network
drwxr-xr-x   4 root  wheel    136  9 Sep 23:28 Shared Items
drwxr-xr-x   4 root  wheel    136 10 Sep 00:02 System
drwxr-xr-x+  5 root  admin    170  9 Sep 23:37 Users
drwxrwxrwt@  4 root  admin    136 26 Feb 19:39 Volumes
drwxr-xr-x@ 39 root  wheel   1326 10 Sep 00:09 bin
drwxrwxr-t@  2 root  admin     68 23 Jun  2009 cores
dr-xr-xr-x   3 root  wheel   4013 26 Feb 19:39 dev
dr-xr-xr-x   2 root  wheel      1 26 Feb 19:39 home
dr-xr-xr-x   2 root  wheel      1 26 Feb 19:39 net
drwxr-xr-x@  6 root  wheel    204  9 Sep 23:28 private
drwxr-xr-x@ 68 root  wheel   2312 10 Sep 00:09 sbin
drwxr-xr-x@ 14 root  wheel    476 25 Dez 10:57 usr

Using a non-standard setup all other files and sym-links in the root folder (if any exist at all) will be deleted also. All non-standard folders (e.g. /opt) survive.

If you didn't delete the kernel file (which is unlikely), try to boot to single user mode and rebuild the three deleted sym-links with ln -s /.../folder /folder (e.g. ln -s /private/etc /etc)
If you have a backup and deleted the kernel file, try to restore the file mach_kernel, the symlinks, the folder with your admin user name in ../sudo/ and the missing state file. You need some bootable hard disk/thumb drive to restore those files from the backup.
If you don't have a backup try to copy the file mach_kernel
from another Mac with the same system (e.g. 10.6.8). Recreate the symlinks. You probably have to adjust ownership and permissions (see listing).

"mach_kernel" is also available in the Mac OS X Combo Update 10.6.8 and probably other combo updaters like Mac OS X Combo Update 10.6.6 and Mac OS X Combo Update 10.6.7. Thus updating your corrupted system with the combo updater from an external bootable thumb drive or attached in target-disk mode to another Mac should also work.

After restoring the kernel file and the symlinks you might boot to super user mode and enter mount -o rw,remount / and create the missing folder in /private/var/db/sudo/ with mkdir /private/var/db/sudo/adminname. The missing .state file rebuilds itself.

If you've executed sudo rm -dR * you are doomed without a proper backup. My system was unbootable afterwards but bewilderingly only ~524 MB of 9860 MB were deleted after override confirmations for '/System/Library/CoreServices/boot.efi' and '/dev/fd/4'.
In a second attempt i got 8445 MB of 9860 MB deleted using sudo rm -dR *. The first attempt might have also been recoverable with the Combo Update, the wimpy remains of the second attempt surely aren't.


Disable Confirmation Dialogs in Finder for iCloud Drive Is it possible to disable the confirmation dialog when moving/removing/deleting a file from iCloud Drive? The constant barrage of dialogs is incredibly irritating - I understand that removing the file from iCloud Drive will result in the file being removed from all of my iCloud Devices.

There is no Finder preference that I could find, and a Google search has not yielded anything.

As of macOS 10.12 Sierra, this is possible through Finder's preferences:

  Show warning before removing from iCloud Drive


What happens to TestFlight apps for external testers after (paid) release? We're currently testing an app with a bunch of external testers through TestFlight. Soon we will launch the app for the public with a price tag of $3,99.

What will happen to the build that people have on their phone? I'm reading that the users will see the 1.0 (App Store version) as an update available but will they have to pay for it or will they just keep the app and future updates for free?

I've had mixed experiences with whether users see the app show in Updates at all in the App Store. Generally it's safer to suggest that users will have to navigate through the App Store and search for your app to find 1.0. This is in line with what Apple says:

  When the test period is over, you will no longer be able to open the beta build. To install the public version of the app, download or purchase the app from the App Store. In-app purchases are free only during beta testing, and any in-app purchases made during testing will not carry over to public versions.

https://developer.apple.com/testflight/testers/

App Store does not provide free copies of your app to TestFlight users — they will have to purchase the app, but users can keep the TestFlight build for free until the build expires. You can provide promotional codes through iTunes Connect to your TestFlight users if you wish to give them a free copy of the app.


MacBook Pro - FaceTime HD Camera - Hardware "Failure'? System Report>Camera>No video capture devices were found

  USB>Device Tree> No FaceTime HD Camera (inbuilt)listed

What can be the cause for "camera hardware failure"? Could faulty iSight cam wifi antenna cable linkage between logic board and camera board (in display)result in Camera hardware not "found"?

It could be the cable or the connector on the logic board.

In my experience, the most likely place the damage will occur is where the cable that combines Wi-Fi and the camera come together into a single connector or it will be the connector on the logic board itself.  It's highly unlikely that the cable/connector at the iSight camera will become damaged unless repairs were done there previously.

Now, it's also entirely possible that your camera has failed (especially if Wi-Fi is still working.)

There are a few ways to diagnose this, but this involves using another cable and/or iSight camera.  If you don't have these items handy or you're not willing to purchase them (or perform this type of task), it's probably best that you take it in for service.


Looking to increase my iMac's RAM I am looking to increase the RAM of my iMac (Retina 5K, 27-inch, Mid 2015). I found one on the Apple website, but it is $400. If I could find a better price, it would be amazing. I was looking around on Amazon, but don't know if the SDRAMs I found work with my iMac. Do you guys have any advise for how to tell whether or not the SDRAM is compatible with my iMac?

The official RAM specifications are given by Apple here:
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201191

Using the list, you need to

  Use Small Outline Dual Inline Memory Modules (SO-DIMM) that meet all of these criteria:

  PC3-12800
  Unbuffered
  Nonparity
  204-pin
  1600MHz DDR3 SDRAM

Note that only 32 GB of RAM is officially supported.


Application network traffic filtered, when screen is locked? I observe that network traffic for applications seems to be blocked, or perhaps queued, when the screen is locked, on my MacOS High Sierra 10.13.4 Mac Mini.

The most obvious example I have seen: when running the native MacOS Spotify client, and unlocking the screen after being away for a few days, the client becomes animated - it shows every song I've played on other clients while I've been away from the Mac console, at a high rate, flipping from one to the next, one per second, or so.

This leads me to guess that the Mac caches that traffic, until the screen is unlocked?

What is happening, here?

How can I disable this behavior, and allow the apps I'm running to get network traffic when the screen is locked?

You are confusing "network traffic filtering" with Application "synchronization."

When your Mac goes to sleep, it suspends all other applications from execution.  Meaning, your Spotify client doesn't get updated.  When you use your Spotify client on your mobile device, for example, the Spotify service (in the cloud) remembers all of that activity.  When you wake your client, it checks in with the service, looks for changes and then synchronizes them.  This is the case for any application that syncs it's settings via the cloud (Safari, Messages, FaceTime, Photos, Spotify, FireFox, Edge Browser, etc.)

Network Traffic Filtering looks at individual packets and either blocks them or allows them based on a "filter" rule.  It won't queue them up (and especially not on a sleeping computer) for later processing.


How to turn subpixel antialiasing on in macOS 10.14? In macOS 10.14 Mojave Apple turned the «LCD font smoothing» setting (which turned a subpixel antialiasing on) to «just font smoothing» setting. So now all the text is rendered just antialiased that looks worse on not-retina displays. How to enable the subpixel antialiasing back?

Open the Terminal application
Type or paste

defaults write -g CGFontRenderingFontSmoothingDisabled -bool NO

Press ↩ (Enter)
Restart the computer

To return it back, do the same but instead type in the terminal

defaults write -g CGFontRenderingFontSmoothingDisabled -bool YES

Update on 2019.10.12: the solution works in macOS 10.15 too.

Update on 2019.12.24: you can turn subpixel antialiasing only in a specific application. To achieve it, do the same but instead type in the terminal

defaults write com.evernote.Evernote CGFontRenderingFontSmoothingDisabled -bool NO

where com.evernote.Evernote is the identifier of the application. See how to get it in this question. Then restart the application.

To revert it, type in the terminal

defaults delete com.evernote.Evernote CGFontRenderingFontSmoothingDisabled

You can even enable subpixel antialiasing everywhere and disable in a specific application (it's left as an exercise for the reader).


iOS Simulator doesn't load iOS? I've upgraded to Mountain Lion und also upgrade to the latest Version of XCode (V 4.4).

I use the iOS Simulator mainly for Webdevelopment and not for iOS Development therefore I'm not that into this matter.

When I launch the iOS Simulator it takes quite a while to load and the "beachball" is rotating. After 30sec or so the beachball is gone and the simulated iPhone is kinda ready - however, it doesn't show any OS. It's just a black screen!

If I see the iOS Version under Hardware - Version  there is only one available option 4.3.2 (8H7) which is checked.

Moreover when I launch the iOS Simulator and the "beachball" appears my fans go crazy and the computer gets really hot.

Any ideas on that?

Mountain Lion seems to have dropped support for iOS Simulator 4.3. More on this if you check the official developer forums: http://devforums.apple.com

FYI, I'm  also seeing the exact same issues as yours: beach ball and loud fans. I had to kill a process called SimulatorBridge to stop the fan from spinning.


How can I prevent "Reset network settings" on my iPhone from affecting my Laptop? I just hit reset network settings on my iPhone (9.2.1) because I was unable to make phone calls.

I then noticed that my OSX (10.11.3) lost its internet connection.  I immediately checked the keychain (where all wifi passwords are stored) and noticed that all passwords are missing.

I can only assume that resetting the iPhone "network settings" also affected my mac.  I assume this occurred through iCloud.

Question

How can I get those Wifi Passwords back?
How can I prevent this from happening again?

Check to seen if your passwords still exist under Safari > Preferences > Passwords on your Mac. Maybe they are still there.

If this doesn't work, try the following: Unplug your router's ethernet cable (so that iCloud cannot sync with the server) and try to restore your from Time Machine. This should revert your Key Chain. I recommend disconnecting your router because if you just turn off your wifi, it will probably turn back on after the restore is done and sync with iCloud again.


Converting macos dictionaries to portable format The best thing about macos is the dictionaries accessible from dictionary.app.  Is there a way to convert them to a format that is usable on other platforms as well (such as the dict format or the stardict format)?

Alternatively, is there a way to extract them into a plain text format?  (How are they stored anyway and where?)

PS
There is this

https://gist.github.com/josephg/5e134adf70760ee7e49d

for extracting word lists.  Perhaps it could be changed to extract the whole dictionaries as well?

Dictionaries used to be in /System/Library/Dictionaries, but they were moved (c. Sierra?) to various subfolders in /System/Library/Assets/com_apple_MobileAsset_DictionaryServices_dictionaryOSX.

The format is a package, and the data files inside seem to be some non-human-readable binary data format, though they start off life as XML files.

Assuming you've searched for projects that can import Apple's dictionaries, rather than just exporting them, and found nothing; then the task may be 'non-trivial', and you may be better off using the very good open source DICT format files.


Running OS off RAIDed drive? I recently asked about bottlenecks in the Mac architecture (The Mac Pro 12 core 2010 model) to try to create a set up that optimizes performance.

It was my intention to take 2 SSDs and RAID them on a PCI card to get a faster OS drive speed. I read an article at the Apple discussion board Considering RAID 0 or RAID 1? and was a bit alarmed to read this warning:

  Apple will not allow OS X to be installed on a RAID set, so forget
  about going there to speed up your machine, get a SSD instead.

Before I go through the time and effort, can someone verify if this is right? I've been searching for an hour and seeing only discussions of how to RAID and the various options, but no other remarks on running OS not being viable.

The only positive evidence I can find is one can install  Mac OS X server on a software RAID set. The instructions state that a standard Mac OS X needs to be installed before the Server software installation. The only drawback is that, among other things, a Recovery volume cannot be created and FileVault cannot be used.

One could interpolate that you can indeed install Mac OS X on a RAID, but some very important technologies will not be available.


How do I make command+delete delete a word backwards instead of to beginning of the line? I tried putting this in my ~/Library/KeyBindings/DefaultKeyBinding.dict:

"@\U0008"  = "deleteWordBackward:"; /* Cmd  + Backspace */

When I log out and log back in, but it still doesn't work. command+delete (as labeled on my Macbook keyboard) still deletes to the beginning of the line. I also tried

"@\UF728"  = "deleteWordForward:"; /* Cmd  + Delete */

and in that case command+delete still deletes to the beginning of the line. If I'm not mistaken, the "delete" key on my Macbook Pro Retina is what the comment in the example refers to as "Backspace", and there is no actual "Delete" key on the keyboard.

I was able to successfully change command+arrows to move word by word instead of to the beginning and end of the document by doing

"@\UF703"  = "moveWordForward:"; /* Cmd  + RightArrow */
"@\UF702"  = "moveWordBackward:"; /* Cmd  + LeftArrow */

so I know that at least some bindings are working, among others. I just can't get command+delete to delete back a word.

This works for me on an iMac:

"@\U007f" = ( deleteWordBackward:);

my reference http://osxnotes.net/keybindings.html


Is there a way to hide a user's home folder from other users seeing that it even exists? I want to hide a user folder from any other users from seeing. The user should still be able to log in through the login window using their username and password.

Is this possible?

You have two options. The first is to use Terminal to set the folder's hidden flag. Open Terminal from /Applications/Utilities and type the following command:

chflags hidden /Users/SHORTNAME

where SHORTNAME is the name of the user's home folder. This will hide the folder from Finder, but other users could still find it, or change Finder's preferences to show hidden folders.

Alternatively, you could place the home folder for that user in a different location. Open the Users & Groups (or Accounts) pane in System Preferences, click the lock to unlock it, right-click on the user, and choose Advanced Preferences…. Then click the Choose button after Home directory and find a different location (you might want to press Shift+Command+. to show hidden folders for this). Now, the user's home will be in a different place so others will have a harder time finding it.


How to jailbreak on an iOS 10.2 on an iPhone 5s I'm aware of jailbreaking on iPhone 6 with version 10.2, but what about iPhone 5s? (I want to show off my phone with cool features), one of thing I want to do is replacing default Helvetica with San Francisco, unless Helvetica was intended by the website or app.

As per my little knowledge regarding iOS, I found Yalu jailbreak is updated and release to jailbreak iPhone 5S.

  Step 1: First up, connect your compatible iPhone or iPad device to a
  Windows or Mac computer using a Lightning/USB cable.

  Step 2: As a precaution, make a complete backup of the data on the
  device using iTunes so that you can return to it in case anything goes
  wrong with the jailbreak process you are about to perform.

  Step 3: Launch Cydia Impactor on your computer.

  Step 4: Drag and drop the yalu102 IPA file you downloaded earlier on
  Cydia Impactor.

  Step 6: Wait for Cydia Impactor to install the yalu102 jailbreak app
  onto your iPhone or iPad.

  Step 7: Once installed, disconnect your device from computer and head
  to Settings >  General > Profile(s) & Device Management or General >
  Device Management and hit Trust and then Trust again on the
  certificate you used to install this jailbreak app.

For detailed tutorial, please check Redmond Pie or Team Cydia.


Script to be activated if web page changes I'm looking for a way to have a script running on my desktop that will check a certain webpage for changes every x seconds, and if a change is made, it gives me an alert. I understand that with high-end websites, some changes will be made almost constantly, but what I'm looking for monitoring now is a bare-bones HTML page that I'm waiting for a link to show up on. Is there a way to do this?

Edit:
Would it be a command to download the html and store it, and then a recurring download-and-check command?

Save this as ~/bin/example and run chmod +x ~/bin/example. (Edited to only check the modification date from the header.)

#!/bin/bash

url=http://www.iana.org/domains/example
tempdir=~/Library/Caches/scripts
temp=$tempdir/example
mkdir -p $tempdir
modified=$(curl -sI "$url" | grep ^Last-Modified)
if [[ -f "$temp" && "$modified" != "$(cat $temp)" ]]; then
    terminal-notifier -message 'Example changed'
fi
printf %s "$modified" > $temp

To run it every 15 minutes, add */15 * * * * ~/bin/example to crontab (EDITOR=nano crontab -e).

terminal-notifier can be installed with sudo gem install terminal-notifier.

You could also run it every five seconds in a shell window:

while :; do ~/bin/example; sleep 5; done


Mail app crashes on iPhone 6 I am using an iPhone 6. Whenever I try to open the default Mail app on my phone, it crashes within one or two seconds, rendering the app useless.

The phone was running iOS 8 this morning when the problem was occurring, so I decided to make a backup and update to iOS 9.3.1, just in case 9.3.1 had a bug fix for this problem.

However, after updating, I am facing the same issue.

Any fixes?

What eventually ended up solving the problem was removing my email account from the phone, then re-adding it.

The steps to doing this are:

Quit Mail (Double-click Home button, swipe up)
Open Settings
Tap Mail, Contacts, Calendars
Select your account, then hit Remove / Delete
Add it back by going back to Mail, Contacts, Calendars, selecting Add Account, and re-entering your information.


Lost Apple ID password and security questions and answers I lost my Apple ID password and security questions and answers. What do I do?

Regain access to the account by following the steps at iforgot.apple.com.


Can't Download Mavericks via App Store nor Upgrade from OS X 10.8.5 -- Command Line Installs Not Supported App Store mentions the following message when I attempt to download/install OS X Mavericks (10.9):

"Command line installs of OS X are not supported on systems older than 10.9."

So it says I need 10.9 in order to upgrade to 10.9?

Mac mini (Late-2012)
OS X 10.8.5 (12F45)
iTunes 11.1.2 or above (so far)
using App Store 1.2.2 (129.16)

Q: How can I download the OS X Mavericks 10.9 installer?

(Note: I'm running the Mac mini over VNC ("Screen Sharing") with no monitor).

Update 1

I downloaded the Mavericks Installer using a friend's laptop.
Visiting the Apple Store seems to be the default support path around this bug: "you can visit any Apple Retail Store to get help with downloading" (http://www.apple.com/osx/how-to-upgrade/)

Update 2

Update 3

After thinking perhaps I may have an environment variable set,
I found the following post, and sure enough,
my /etc/launchd.conf file had the following line:

setenv COMMAND_LINE_INSTALL 1

which I removed/commented out with a # in front.

#setenv COMMAND_LINE_INSTALL 1

I'm now running Mavericks 10.9.1 ! :) -- the upgrade went wonderfully.

I had added that line several months ago in order to install something, and had forgotten about it. (Hope this fix helps someone)

Lesson Learned:

Track temporary configuration changes (or restore to the original when you're done)

This isn't the ideal path, but you could always boot to the Recovery HD and re-install the OS to an external USB drive. Your Mac might re-download Mavericks directly but more likely would re-download the version that created the Recovery HD.

At that point, you would leave your internal drive untouched and install a clean system on the external drive.

From there, you would be able to boot off that external drive that doesn't have the new iTunes and download Mavericks. Once you had the installer, you could run it against either the internal drive or the external drive and migrate data over if you chose to upgrade the external to Mavericks first.


What is the new turbo boost in the MacBook line? The new MacBook line has a new turbo boost added to the processor:

  2.3GHz Quad-core Intel Core i7, Turbo Boost up to 3.3GHz

What exactly does this mean? From what I've heard, the processor can runs above the clocked speed for a short period of time. (source) How does it work?

Turbo Boost is a feature that, when fewer than the total number of cores are being used, the processor can turn off the unused cores and increase the clock speed on the rest of the cores. This increases performance (the cores that are being used get faster) and can reduce power usage.

For instance, if you have the 2011 MacBook Air with the 1.6 GHz Core i5 (as detailed in this AnandTech article), the "Turbo Ratio" is set to 0047. The number sets the amount of boost by digit (4 cores = 0, 3 cores = 0, 2 cores = 4, 1 core = 7; this is a dual-core CPU, so 3- and 4-core mode is irrelevant). The number specifies the boost in 100 MHz increments above the listed clock speed, so if two cores are running, they can be boosted to 1.6 GHz + 400 MHz = 2.0 GHz and if one core is running, it can be boosted to 1.6 GHz + 700 MHz = 2.3 GHz.

To see what your system is set to, go to Console and open the kernel.log (or system.log in Mountain Lion*), then search for AppleIntelCPUPowerManagement and look for "Turbo Ratios". The Mac I'm on now (a 2.0 GHz Core i7 MacBook Pro), for example, has Turbo Ratios set to 6689 for a maximum clock of 2.9 GHz when using only one core.

* thanks to @gentmatt in the comments below


High Sierra Macs always connect to file server with AppleID, not the correct username/password I ran into a really annoying problem yesterday. In a small office of just three workstations (and two more that connect remotely), the computers cannot automatically connect to the fileserver on boot. Instead of using the username/password associated with the shared folders, it automatically connects using the AppleID, which works because the server uses the same AppleID. The server is a Mac mini running High Sierra also.

So let me explain. In the past, sometimes this would happen, where you would click on a shared Mac and it would sometimes try to auto-connect as the same user you are using on the current computer, or using the AppleID. But you click disconnect, then reconnect, and type in the correct username and password. Checking the box to remember the password. Once the volumes are mounted, you save them to the dock, you put them in the "Login Items" folder, and BAM auto-mounting network shares.

But now that does not happen. Now no matter what, it connects to the server using the AppleID. So the shares will be working perfectly. Then when you reboot, it auto-connects with the AppleID not the username. Under the AppleID, the shares are either not available or available but as read-only.

This is a pain in the ass for me, a tech person. But for "regular" people using the file server, this is a huge hassle. I'm pretty sure they don't even understand what the problem is when I explain it. They made a whole list of all the problems they are having with the new server, not realize that every single item on the list is exactly the same, "can't write to files on the server". It needs to be seamless and easy to use, something Apple excelled at once upon a time.

Addon: Also, one of the work stations is still on El Capitan and it does not have this problem. It seems to be a "feature" of High Sierra. (No Sierra Macs to test on)

I see that this post is one year old but I noticed the same issue today.
Finally, I found out that the issue is related to the iCloud Keychain.

I created a fresh new account on my computer and connected to my server from this account : my server username was displayed.
Then I connected iCloud with my AppleID in the test account. After that, the server connection was still displaying my server username. After activating the iCloud Keychain service, there was still no issue.
But, after enabling the iCloud Keychain AND checking the "keep login in my keychain" option at the server login, the server connexion is now displaying my AppleID.

I think it's a bug in macOS but it's pretty annoying as you can no longer know which username is used for the connection.


Battery replacement on MacBook Pro 13" Early 2011 considerations I need to replace battery on MacBook Pro 13" Early 2011 and I've already found the one in the local shop, but I am not sure it will fit.

Old non-working battery has the following parameters:

Model No: A1322

Part number: 020-6764-A

Type: Li-ion Polymer

Voltage: 10.95V

Power: 63.5Wh

The one I found has the the same Model No, Type, Voltage with Capacity 5800 mAh, which is the same if converting Wh to mAh.

Should I pay attention to Part Number?

On site it is said the new battery is compatible with the following Part Numbers:

020-6547-A, 661-5229, 661-5557, A1322, MB990LL/A, MB991LL/A

and with the following models:

Apple MacBook Pro: MB990LLA 13-inch, MB991LLA 13-inch, MC024/A 17-inch, MC024CH/A 17-inch, MC024J/A 17-inch, MC024LL/A 17-inch, MC024TA/A 17-inch, MC024X/A 17-inch, MC024ZP/A 17-inch

No. This A1322 model battery fits many MBP 13's, all the way back to 2009 version. Given the number of iterations and countries MBP have been sold, it's due to have different part numbers.

I also have a MBP 13' Early 2011 version. Two months ago I replaced the battery with a A1322 battery I bought online and I haven't had a problem.

Beware that:

If you are going to ifixit yourself, taking out the battery requires a special screwdriver. I got mine as a free addon from the vender.
Download CoconutBattery. It's a free app that gives you information like manufacture date (which I cannot find under System Information) and charge cycles.


Unable to use disk removed from Synology NAS with a Mac - wrong partition size showing I have 2 x 3TB disks I've removed from a Synology NAS. When I try to mount these disks on OS X, they show as only having a single 800GB partition.

I've tried erasing in the Disk Util app, but it only finds and creates a new partition for the 800GB.

Repartitioning, erasing, repairing, all only see the disk as 800GB.

Any idea how to get these back to 3TB each? Both disks behave identically, and are WD RED disks WD30EFRX

disktutil - List...

/dev/disk3 (external, physical):
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *801.6 GB   disk3
   1:                        EFI EFI                     209.7 MB   disk3s1
   2:                  Apple_HFS Untitled                801.2 GB   disk3s2

And the info...

DT:~ david$ diskutil info /dev/disk3
   Device Identifier:         disk3
   Device Node:               /dev/disk3
   Whole:                     Yes
   Part of Whole:             disk3
   Device / Media Name:       EFRX-68EUZN0

   Volume Name:               Not applicable (no file system)
   Mounted:                   Not applicable (no file system)
   File System:               None

   Content (IOContent):       GUID_partition_scheme
   OS Can Be Installed:       No
   Media Type:                Generic
   Protocol:                  USB
   SMART Status:              Not Supported

   Disk Size:                 801.6 GB (801569726464 Bytes) (exactly 1565565872 512-Byte-Units)
   Device Block Size:         512 Bytes

   Read-Only Media:           No
   Read-Only Volume:          Not applicable (no file system)

   Device Location:           External
   Removable Media:           Fixed

   Virtual:                   No

What avenue to wipe this drive and set it up for new filesystem to be installed exist?

This usually happens for one of two reasons: Either your partition table is incorrect/corrupted, or you have a limiting disk interface converter connecting.

Corrupted partition table

You'll need to wipe the partition table and write a new one, which will then allow you to use the full disk.

Follow the instructions below the heading "Erase and repartition a device" on this link to do so:

https://support.apple.com/kb/ph22240?locale=en_US

If you want to be absolutely sure that you have wiped the partition table, then choose to make it an MBR table first, and then do it again and choose GUID the second time.

Limiting disk interface converter

Some old USB to SATA adapters actually limit what drive size they will report over USB. This is because they convey the number of sectors on the drive as a 32-bit number only. Your disk (3 TB) requires 36-bits to describe the number of sectors. This would make the drive report as approx. 750-800 GB instead of the correct size.

You'll need to use a different adapter to connect the disk to solve this.


What are pros and cons for MacPorts, Fink and Homebrew? I'm just migrating from Ubuntu Linux to Mac, and everything is new and I'm re-learning a lot of stuff.

On Linux I had the excellent apt-get to manage software packages. I googled for an alternative on Mac and found about MacPorts, Fink and Homebrew.

I will use this computer primarily to develop Ruby on Rails applications.

So, what are the differences between them? Which are the upsides and downsides? Which one is best maintained and has more packages?

Definitely Homebrew. I started with Fink, then switched to MacPorts (happier), then Homebrew (much, much happier). These are my reasons for using each (a pro list if you will):
Fink

Apt-based - feel right at home if you come from a Debian-based environment

MacPorts

Unlike homebrew do not depend on MacOS library that may change in the future.
Install everything in /opt/local
Nice variants system that lets you customise the build
Easy and intuitive port files, also allows you to add your own
supports many versions of OSX and macos going back to Tiger including PowerPC versions see other answer

Homebrew

Maximum leveraging of what comes with OS X. Unlike Fink or MacPorts, it does not require you to build/install ruby and libraries from scratch just to install some small Ruby-based tool.
Installs into /usr/local
Install without root access
Every installed package is cleanly sandboxed into its own cellar so you don't have stray files all over your system, just symlinks from bin, man, etc.
Has guides and automation to create your own formula files (ie. package descriptors)
Written in ruby and all formulas are concise ruby scripts

pkgin

Everything installed in /opt/pkg/
backed by pkgsrc community and Joyent
Known to work on NetBSD, DragonFly BSD, Solaris, Debian, Mac OS X, Minix

https://pkgsrc.joyent.com/install-on-osx/
http://pkgin.net/


Preview image from pipe I have a command line utility, let's called as: produce_image. So i can do the following in the Terminal:

$ produce_image > some.jpg
$ open some.jpg #opens Preview.app

also, I have ImageMagick installed and Xqartz too, so I can do the following:

$ produce_image | display #the display is a command from ImageMagick suite

The above opens an X11 window with the image.

Is possible achieve such image-view as with display also with Preview.app? e.g. looking for something like:

$ produce_image | Preview.app #of course, this isn't working
$ produce_image | /Applications/Preview.app/Contents/MacOS/Preview #nor this

Is possible preview the image with Preview.app without using intermediate file?

Ps: of course, I can create a command such osxdisplay

tmpfile=$(mktemp /tmp/foobar.XXXXXX)
cat - > "$tmpfile"
open "$tmpfile"
rm -f $tmpfile

and use it as

produce_image | osxdisplay

But the merit of the question is about opening images from a shell pipe without intermediate files.

Try

produce_image | open -a Preview.app -f

(To be honest, I was quite surprised to learn that this works)


Can one slice of a "Disk Utility" RAID mirror be moved to a new computer? With a 2-disk RAID mirror created in Disk Utility, after one disk fails, can the remaining good disk be moved to a different Mac and used successfully?

Theoretically, yes.

But remember Apple's RAID solution is software based so both computers should have the same O/S versions.

But if you are moving a boot volume AND the hardware is the same it should be cake.

Moving a boot volume to DIFFERENT hardware... well I've never tried that. It might work and it SHOULDN'T damage the drive data.

YMMV


All SD Cards mount as Internal I don't know why but recently all SD cards mount as Internal on my Mac

How do I solve this problem?

PS. Only SD cards mount as Internal all pen drives mount as external.

What you are seeing is expected behavior and how all Macs with built-in SD card readers are treated by the OS.

If you want to split hairs it is indeed "internal" as the card itself is inserted into the Mac, even though a bit of it still stacks out.

Regardless of that it is still expected behavior and not a problem. As to why? well only Apple hardware and software engineers can give you a definitive answer on that and they aren't allowed to say


El Capitan Mission Control: How to select an app with the keyboard? I've looked high and low but can't find a keyboard shortcut to select an app from Mission Control.

I want to press F3, then "some keyboard key(s) and not have to click on the trackpad" to select the app I want.

The best alternative solution:

Press command-space to open spotlight, then start typing the title of the app (or whatever) you want and press enter.