Tethering an iPad / iPhone to a Raspberry Pi Questions

My concerns are focused on enabling USB tethering in an iDevice (iOS 12 iPhone X and iPad Air):

What are the steps for tethering IOS 12 devices? Is it just one switch on the  Android or iDevice's?
Does the iDevice require configuring any other USB tethering settings?
Is there a simple litmus test to confirm that tethering setting is working? (ping?)

Goal

I am interested in using an iOS12 device, instead of an Android device, to display VNC output from a Raspberry Pi (rPi) as described in the blog: Raspberry Pi Display over USB.

The goal is to be able to  view / control rPi from iDevice (VNC or SSH) through USB-IP networking:

power up your rPi,
plug in your iDevice into the rPi via USB,
turn on USB tethering
connect iDevice to USB0 via VNC or SSH client app

Please indicate in replies if you have successful USB-IP networking experience (SSH VNC).

iDevice (phone \ tablet) configuration instructions:

VNC Viewer app to connect iDevice to tightvncserver over USB-IP connection
JuiceSSH app to SSH from iDevice to rPi over USB-IP connection
Turn on iDevice's USB tethering

rPI configuration instructions:

sudo apt-get install tightvncserver
assigning a static IP, 192.168.42.42 to the rPi's USB0 interface:

sudo nano /etc/network/interfaces

Paste the following onto the bottom of the file, then save and exit (ctrl-X, Y):

iface usb0 inet static
address 192.168.42.42
netmask 255.255.255.0
network 192.168.42.0
broadcast 192.168.42.255

It is also possible to append or echo the settings to the target file:

echo "iface usb0 inet static" | sudo tee -a /etc/network/interfaces
echo "address 192.168.42.42" | sudo tee -a /etc/network/interfaces
echo "netmask 255.255.255.0" | sudo tee -a /etc/network/interfaces
echo "network 192.168.42.0" | sudo tee -a /etc/network/interfaces
echo "broadcast 192.168.42.255" | sudo tee -a /etc/network/interfaces

It would be nice if there was a command to test static IP assignment?

Details how to temporarily route rPi traffic through a WAN- connected Android Device:

use arp -a command to identify phone's IP address
use route add default gw 192.168.42.129 usb0

It's actual a very simple setup that is needed that doesn't involve "tethering" at all.

Basically what you need to do is to set up the Raspberry Pi for USB "gadget" - meaning that it makes an ethernet device available over USB. For the most easy setup, setup a DHCP server on the Raspberry Pi to automatically give out IPs.

On the iOS device - all you need to do to get it working is to plug it in, and then open a VNC app and enter the IP address and port number of the Raspberry Pi to open the connection.

If you do not install a DHCP server on the Raspberry Pi, but instead follow the instructions you've linked, then you need to set the IP address manually on the iOS device. You do that from Settings => Ethernet, and then set it manually to a not used address within the same subnet. If you follow the linked instructions the RPi will be available at 192.168.42.42, so set the IP address of the iOS device to 192.168.42.43 for example.

The tricky part in the above is not to do with the iOS device itself, but rather the configuration of the Raspberry Pi. There exists several types of USB "gadget" ethernet devices, and various variations of them. iOS does not support all of them (at all) - Android does not either. In addition there seem to be a difference between iOS devices, which I cannot comment on in your general case because you haven't said anything about which device you have. But for example the iPad Pro seems to be more forgiving than an iPhone in this respect.

You can get the exact same setup with having to configure the USB "gadget" interface by using a USB-ethernet dongle with the iOS device. If you plug that in to the iOS device and connect an ethernet cable from that to the ethernet port on the Raspberry Pi - you can achieve the same thing.

Update: I see in your update that you emphasized on the requirement to list experience with "USB-IP". I do have succesful experience with "USB-IP" as you call it (it's not really called that). However be wary that the hard part of the configuration is on the Linux side - not on the iOS side. Also note that even though your linked instructions detail a single method of enabling a usb0 interface - in reality it is quite complicated with two majorly different modes of configuration, and within each mode several different protocols, and for each protocol various setup options.


Can I merge 2 Apple ID/iTunes accounts then change 1 to a teen account Finally making the switch from Android to Apple. Never before an Apple user. My daughter uses one of my old email addresses for her iTunes and Apple ID account, she is 14. I stay logged onto that email for her iTunes account and some of my other contacts. Unlike previous questions on here, I do not want to create a new child account, because from what I've read apps and items purchased will not transfer. I want to know if I create a new Apple ID / iTunes account using a new email can I connect or merge the two accounts and change hers to a child/teen account? If so, how? If not, any advice or thoughts on what I should do or not do? Should I just leave it as is and monitor her account as usual? I do not want her to loose all her purchases.

Apple IDs cannot be merged.
You can add an existing account to a family sharing group. Purchases made by any account will be available to everyone in the group, so no purchases will be lost.


Does the iPad 2 HDMI out adapter work with the new iPad? I was at the Apple store yesterday and I wanted to purchase an HDMI out adapter for my new iPad. Oe of the employees said to wait becaus they're getting in newer ones for the new iPad, which should handle the retina display better.

Is it really true that the adapter an make a difference? Isn't HDMI going to be HDMI? Does the iPad 2 HDMI out adapter work with the new iPad?

Based on comments on the new adapter on Apple's online store, the iPad 2 HDMI adapter is not fully supported with the new iPad:

Is this a new HDMI AV Adapter ?
It is exactly a new product with the compatibility for the new iPad.
If you try to use the previous adapter on the new iPad it will tell you "This accessory is not supported"

My guess is that the new screen resolution of the new iPad has led to this incompatibility. Besides, with the old adapter the best you could get was 720p, with the new one it's boosted to 1080p.


Is it worth upgrading my jailbroken 3G to iOS4? I have a jailbroken (not unlocked) iPhone 3G running the 3.1.2 firmware. What are the pros and cons of upgrading this to iOS4?

Being jailbroken, I already have multitasking and home-screen wallpapers. What does the new iOS give me that I don't already have access to?

I've done it and it's not worth the trouble.  I'm considering rolling back to 3.1.2.

The beneficial changes are minimal (and most can be provided by a jailbreak app), and the performance decrease is very noticeable.  I've found that crashes are much more frequent as well.

My advice: Don't do it.


MiniDisplay port to HDMI to optical 5.1 audio only has 2-channel output I have a Macbook Air 2017. My goal is to have an optical output capable of 5.1 audio for my home theatre. My series of connections are, mini display port to hdmi and the hdmi connected towards hdmi to optical output and optical connected to my 5.1 home theatre. My midi setup and audio out setting automatically detected the hdmi out and and the hdmi icon appeared in both settings. But in my midi setup, it is showing 8 channels but, volume level of all of them is shown as disabled.

All of the channel volume sliders are disabled.

When I go for configuring, it shows 5.1 out. But when I tried to test each channels, only left and right are heard. All other channels are silent. When I played a 6 channel audio, it is missing every surround except from left & right.
I tried everything like soundflower, soundflowerbed app, MonitorControl etc. Nothing worked, still hearing only 2 channels.
Is there any solution for this? I need a 6 channel audio output.

According to Apple, the 2017 MacBook Air does not support audio over DisplayPort to HDMI devices.  It is only supported on models from 2010 through 2015.

Send audio and video to HDMI displays through Mini DisplayPort

It explains what you are seeing/experiencing with the audio settings.  It is detecting your HDMI device which is capable of 8.1 audio, but it simply cannot deliver it; thus all the settings are greyed out.

Now, when I have connected DisplayPort (or mDP) to a DisplayPort monitor with audio capabilities, they have always been stereo (left and right), never more than that.  This corroborates what you’re experiencing - only left and right channels available.  I currently don’t have an MBA to re-verify this, but this appears to be the case.

The 2018 MacBook Air (and on) with Thunderbolt 3 ports fully supports the HDMI 1.4b (minimum) spec with 8.1 audio.


iOS apps "could not be purchased at this time" Every time I open the App Store on my iPad, after about 30 seconds, a message appears saying that a number of apps "could not be purchased at this time." This problem seems to originate by attempting to download an app or an update, then canceling when it prompts me for my password. Even if I download it successfully at a later time, the notice persists.

How can I stop this notice from appearing?

This thread on Apple Support Communities has an extensive discussion of the problem. People there deserve credit for finding this solution.

It seems to be caused by a problem in the internal SQLite database file that iOS uses to track downloads from and journal interactions with the App Store. The solution is to wipe the file. The file itself isn't really important; for the most part, it's just a local record of past downloads. AFAIK, the only supported thing you can do to clear that database is a full wipe and restore from backup; however, the free tool iExplorer is able to delete it.

In the iExplorer interface:

Open your device, and navigate to Media > Downloads
In the Downloads folder, you’ll find a file called ‘downloads.[some number].sqlitedb’
Delete that file (Optionally: back it up first.)
Reboot your iOS device. (A clean, empty version of the sqlite database will automatically be created.)

Ta-da! You should be free of that problem... unless some future download re-triggers the underlying bug. (Only Apple can fix that.)

For those curious:

I did some poking around in that SQLite database. It seems that there’s a bug somewhere that is resulting in occasional entries in there with a flag indicating they need to be purchased -- but the App Store itself rejects the purchase attempt for reasons such as “you’ve already purchased that app”.

Specifically, a value of 1 in the ‘is_purchase’ field of the ‘download’ table in that sqlitedb file seems to exactly correspond with the name and count of apps that “cannot be purchased” in the super-annoying dialog box.


Cable that supports stereo line in for the 30 pin connector on old iPhones/iPods? According to http://pinouts.ru/CellularPhones-A-N/iPhone_connector_pinout.shtml two of the pins in Apple's 30 pin connector are dedicated to line in. I have spent days looking for a cable with line in capabilities (because I want to record stereo line in, the headphone jack is mono and is not line level) but they are nowhere to be found. I can only find http://line6.com/sonicport-audio-interface/sonicport/ and similar that are way to bulky and unnecessary expensive for my purpose.

Do I suck at Google? Does it exist simple 30-pin cables with support for line in? If not, why? The reason I ask the last two questions is that if such a cable doesn't exist my plan is to find someone in a music shop or similar and ask them if they cold make/solder such a cable for me.

Seems like this might be it:
http://www.ikmultimedia.com/mobile/products/irighd/
But it's not cheap.


need AppleScript to search a 2 column table, w/o Excel, Numbers, etc don't know how elementary a question like this is, but...

• I have a 2 column csv file that I want to search for a value in col A and then grab its matching value in col B.

• I will store the csv file in an AppleScript bundle to keep things tidy.

Is there a way (search with grep?) to do this, and keep a separate GUI app (Excel, Numbers, etc) out of the equation?

You can use write a script to read your two column CSV file, and then convert it into a list where you'd have one list item for every row in your CSV file, and every list item would itself be a list (column A value, column B value). So, if your CSV file looked like this:

red,apple
yellow,banana
green,pickle
brown,desk
white,sock

It would be converted it to this:

{{red,apple},{yellow,banana},{green,pickle},{brown,desk},{white,sock}}

Then it is easy to loop through the list and find the first item whose first item matches the search term. For example if I'm searching for "brown" I would find "brown" in item 4 of the larger list, and then pick off item 2 of item 4 of the larger list, resulting in "desk."

Here is a script that asks you to choose a CSV file, then asks you for the search term (the thing you want to find in Column A). It then displays the Column B value in a dialog box. This may not completely solve your problem, but it does answer your question regarding searching a CSV file using AppleScript and not Excel or Numbers.

    tell application "Finder"
        set the_file to choose file
    end tell

    set my_data to read the_file
    set my_list to paragraphs of my_data as list
    -- we need to make a list of lists... each item in my_list needs to be a list of two items.
    set new_list to {}
    -- this is housekeeping
    set oldDelims to AppleScript's text item delimiters
    set AppleScript's text item delimiters to ","
    -- /housekeeping
    --
    --make the list look right
    repeat with an_item in my_list
    -- inserting "try" statement to catch blank lines
    try
        set x to text item 1 of an_item
        set y to text item 2 of an_item
        set component_list to {x, y}
        set end of new_list to component_list
    end try
    end repeat
    set AppleScript's text item delimiters to olddelims

    -- now you have a list with each item in the list
    -- being Columns A and B of one line in the CSV file
    --
    -- Bringing Finder to the front to make dialog boxes show more easily
    tell application "Finder"
      activate
      set the_search_term to display dialog "What are you looking for?" default answer "red"
      set the_search_term to text returned of the_search_term

      repeat with some_item in new_list
          if item 1 of some_item is the_search_term then
              display dialog "Column B value is: " & item 2 of some_item
              return
          end if
      end repeat
    end tell


How to select mutiple songs from iTunes on Mac with Windows keyboard? Why I have a Windows keyboard for a Mac mini, I have no idea. But I know that my key that would open the Start menu on windows is Control... yeah. Anyways help me with this pleez.

To select a continuous grouping you select the first one and then press and hold the Shift key, then click the last one in the group.  To select a random grouping you select the first one and then press and hold the Command ⌘ key (on a Mac keyboard) or Windows key (on a Windows keyboard on a Mac), then click the next one and so on until all are selected.  You can let up on the Command ⌘ key or Windows key in-between selecting however make sure you press it before selecting the next one or it will break the grouping and you'd have to start over.

You can deselect by pressing the Command ⌘ key or Windows key, then click the one(s) to be removed.


Where are the states of opened/closed folders saved in OS X? I have a windows-server that is accessed from a bunch of computers with OSX, in list mode, if anyone opens or closes a folder, that folder stays open for any other users. I would like all folders to always be closed on the server.

As the server is windows-based I assume finder is saving and reading this info from somewhere, maybe that setting can be changed in finder or that file be removed with a script on the server.

I presume you are referring to listing a folder using the disclosure triangle in list view:

The state of shown/hidden folders in list view of a specific folder is stored in Finder cache, as well as the folder's hidden .DS_Store.

.
├── .DS_Store
├── 1
│   └── hello.txt
...

You can reset a folder's folder disclosure triangle by running the following command inside the folder that you wish to reset:

rm .DS_Store && killall -HUP Finder


Getting fsck not done error during boot During starting up, I always get "fsck not done   Root device is    mounted read-only..." error. When I type "Exit", it continues starts normally.

If you are not holding down the s key while booting then your NVRAM has a flag set or the keyboard has failed and is signaling that the key is pressed.

Try disconnecting USB keyoard at boot or resetting the NVRAM so that the normal boot proceeds.

Should that not work, you'll have to proceed with an odd-ball article followed by the general "Mac fails to start" article:

http://support.apple.com/kb/TS4376
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS2570


OS X Terminal – Open Tab in current directory, troubles with umlauts I run OS X 10.7.5. I am currently experiencing an issue with Terminal. I have enabled the option to open new tabs in the current working directory. However, this does not work as expected, when the path of the current working directory contains one or more umlauts. For instance, being in a directory Uni/Semester\ 7/C++/Übung\ 2 and hitting Cmd-T to open a new tab places me in the directory I most recently cded to, e.g. Uni/Semester\ 7/C++ or something. Same thing if I am in a subdirectory of Übung\ 2.

Another symptom (at least they appear to be related) is that when quitting Terminal while in a directory containing umlauts, on reopening it will start in my home directory, not even in the closest parent without umlauts as in the new tab case.

I've read that some people have troubles with Tab-autocompletion and umlauts. I do not, it works just fine, and I do not know if that is related.

Configuration-wise, I set the option Startup in Preferences > Settings > Shell to /opt/local/bin/bash -l (because the preinstalled bash version is outdated, removing this made no difference in behaviour). The option Shells open with in the preferences is set to default, I do not know if that is relevant.

Now, the question: Does anyone know how to make Terminal work with umlauts such that I don't always have to renavigate to my working directory upon opening a new tab? It seems weird to me that I should be the first one to have that problem, I did not manage to google anything up.

EDIT: I now upgraded to Yosemite. The problem persists. I cannot believe no one else has this problem. I also logged in as guest user to obtain default settings and the same thing happens.

Prior to OS X El Capitan 10.11, the code in /etc/bashrc arranges to send an escape sequence at each prompt to tell Terminal what the current working directory is, but this code only percent-encodes spaces, which means that it doesn't work with characters that are not valid URL characters, which includes any non-ASCII characters like “Ü”:

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

On 10.11 and later, the code has been moved to /etc/bashrc_Apple_Terminal and has been updated to percent-encode all characters that require it, so it can now work with characters like “Ü” (your example case works for me on 10.11.1):

update_terminal_cwd() {
    # Identify the directory using a "file:" scheme URL, including
    # the host name to disambiguate local vs. remote paths.

    # Percent-encode the pathname.
    local url_path=''
    {
        # Use LC_CTYPE=C to process text byte-by-byte. Ensure that
        # LC_ALL isn't set, so it doesn't interfere.
        local i ch hexch LC_CTYPE=C LC_ALL=
        for ((i = 0; i < ${#PWD}; ++i)); do
            ch="${PWD:i:1}"
            if [[ "$ch" =~ [/._~A-Za-z0-9-] ]]; then
                url_path+="$ch"
            else
                printf -v hexch "%02X" "'$ch"
                # printf treats values greater than 127 as
                # negative and pads with "FF", so truncate.
                url_path+="%${hexch: -2:2}"
            fi
        done
    }

    printf '\\e]7;%s\\a' "file://$HOSTNAME$url_path"
}

[iTerm 2 apparently reads the working directory from the shell process state. This has the advantage that it works without any shell setup; however, it isn't guaranteed to be correct (there's no reason a shell's current working directory has to actually match the cwd it uses when executing a command, at any given moment), it doesn't work through indirect connections like ssh or shells running within editors or screen multiplexers, and it can't read the directory from processes owned by other users—for example, if you use sudo -s to create a root shell, it can't read the working directory from the root shell process. Furthermore, the program state only includes a file descriptor for the open directory, not the path that the shell is using for $PWD, so you won't actually get the path you used to navigate to the current directory in some cases—e.g., if you traversed through a symbolic link.]


How to update iTunes library? I moved my old library into the location on Advanced settings.

Why doesn't it display my music???

EDIT:

OSX 1.7.5

iTunes 11.0.2

It is on my local machine.

Just moving your music folder to iTunes library directory won't update your library. You need to add to you Library manually by clicking on File > Add to Library... and selecting your folder (the one you just moved).
Hope I could help.


Small case for mac book air that will hold charger and mouse? I'm looking for a good case for my macbook air 13" that is compact, but still has room for a charger and mouse.  I found this one like I liked, but the reviews I have found say the pockets aren't big enough to hold a charger.

Has anyone found a good compact case/sleeve that will meet my needs?

The Booq bags generally have tolerances that are too tight. My iPad with the Apple case didn't fit in their messenger bag that was made for it.

Since you didn't set a price I would suggest the City Slicker case from sfbags.com. I would have bought this bag, but I already had a case for my MBA. I have the version of this case made for the PS Vita and it is an excellent case. There is plenty of room for earbuds, charger, games and extra memory cards. I'm sure there would be enough room in the MBA version of the case for a charger and cables, and by the pictures probably even the DVD drive if you tote that around.


How can I set the priority of Wi-Fi networks on my iOS device? I have two Wi-Fi networks in my house, one at one end of the house and one at the other.  While signals crossing from one side of the house are usually audible on the other side, they are generally fairly weak and quite nearly unusable - something in the house's construction attenuates signals traveling through certain walls.  So, to enable good connectivity while roaming the house, I have to have my Wi-Fi clients configured for both networks.

This works fine on PCs where I can configure both networks and set a priority order, so that the system prefers the network closest to its normal location and should only roam when its usual network gets too weak.  However, I cannot find a way to set this priority in iOS.  This results in some devices occasionally connecting to the farther AP, despite being in their regular spot where they should prefer the closer one.

How can I customize the roaming preferences for Wi-Fi networks on the iOS devices?  I at least want to assign a "preferred" network for each, but would also like to know if there's a way to set a "roaming threshold" - a point at which the device should choose to change APs, versus remaining on the current one.

I'm pretty sure all my iOS devices are running iOS 5 or higher.

I'm pretty sure this is not possible to do on vanilla iOS, perhaps with a jailbreak.

However, your solution of running two separate WiFi networks is generally not what you want. It is much more common to extend one WiFi network (i.e. a single SSID) with multiple routers. Devices should then automatically switch to the access point with the stronger signal.

You can check this question which describes how to setup two APs for the same network (i.e. a single SSID).


Software Screen Tinting, or Colour Overlay for Mac Users with Dyslexia There are students at the school I work at who are dyslexic, and have the specific strand of dyslexia which doesn't deal well with black text on a white background. One way you overcome this with print is you put a coloured film over the text you're reading - and it really amazing how it improves their comprehension and their fluency (you can see an example of the overlay here).

I'm looking for a way to 'tint' the screen with software in the same manner on the mac. There is a windows solution, and a paid solution, but I'm looking for a free, cheap or built in way to achieve the same result. I've googled, and found a couple discussions but no solution.

Are any of you aware of any software or system preferences I can use to either:

tint the whole screen a colour (ideal)
change the background colour of windows / documents to one similar to the tint (better than nothing)
achieve a comparable result.

If you have dyslexia and have found a workaround for this challenge I'd be really grateful for your input as well!

I thought that this would be achievable with the color setting in System Preferences but I don't think it allows the tinting sense. I might be wrong though.

Thanks for your help!

I would suggest that you look at Nocturne:

It allows you to invert the screen colors and create a night mode, which is much easier on the eyes.  It is also under the apache license, so open source and free to use.


'cat' not displaying line breaks For some reason cat no longer shows line breaks when I use it, while all other tools (grep, more etc) do.

I am using iterm2 on OSX 10.11.4.

What could be causing this behaviour?

Example

I have a file test.txtcreated in vim:

this is a test
this is a test
this is a test

When I do cat test.txt the output is (note space in place of newline):

this is a test this is a test this is a test

These things can occur based on a whole bunch of small issues, either in the shell used, the terminal application used, the file format or something else altogether.

To triage, the following steps may be useful

run cat -vet test.txt to see whether there are additional characters in the file
run (echo a; echo b)|cat to see if it depending on the input data
switch terminal applications to see if this is the cause
run bash --noprofile to see whether something is lurking in the shell configuration

In my case someone had modified 'cat' behaviour in .bashrc


Create Note from iCloud.com Is it possible to create a new note soley by logging into iCloud.com? Also, though I can see my existing notes synced up there, I cannot edit them. Is this the default behaviour or a bug?

icloud.com does not have a notes feature at this time. It is rumored that around the time that iOS 6 is released, icloud.com will be updated to include notes and reminders. Previews of these features might be available to you already, if you are an Apple registered developer and have updated your iOS device to an iOS 6 beta, by visiting beta.icloud.com


Source of grease inside unibody macbook? I have a unibody 2012 macbook which appears to have some kind of grease around the battery area, between the battery and the case.

This machine has been serviced by a third party applecare provider for hard drive cable failure several times, and I'm wondering if that's something they might have left in there for some reason?

Are there any pads/components/labels that sometimes leach grease under high temperature?

The only other plausible explanation would be that it has somehow leached in through the screw holes (there is no contamination in the keyboard/motherboard/optical area, so it can't have come from above), which I also find pretty hard to believe.

Visually it looks like a sticky drink has dried up, but when you touch it it has the consistency of vaseline.

Picture (apologies for poor quality, phone is all that's available):

All plausible theories appreciated!

There is one source of Grease looking like component inside your Mac.

The Thermal paste used between the chips and heat sink.

Who ever did the job made a mess out of it without cleaning it.


Are there remote administration tools for iPad? Preferably screen sharing I have an elderly friend who has an iPad and calls every few days with problems. Doing remote tech support over the phone is getting tedious.

Is there anything available for iPad that's comparable to the Mac-to-Mac screen sharing options? Searching Google only turned up apps that let you administer a Mac from an iPad.

I would probably recommend the Teamviewer app for iOS.

Full instructions found here.

It is Free and you can download it from App Store

For your specific case read this

How to Get Started with Mobile to Mobile Connections!

That will allow you screen sharing but not Control since iOS does not allow remote control at this time.

But there is an exception.
You can connect to any iOS based devices with TeamViewer for Remote Control for iOS. This feature, however, is limited to connections to apps that have the TeamViewer Screen sharing SDK for iOS integrated.

Therefore, only screen sharing is possible for connections from a mobile device to an iOS app.

On the Supported iOS App

This functionality is based on the implementation of the Screen sharing SDK by the app developer and meant for them to support their app on an iOS device.

Therefore, it is only necessary to initiate a support request from within the supported app.


Could removing corrupted files on the MacBook or Mac's hard drive make the file system's health even worse? I tried to move some files from the MacBook's SSD to a network drive (by drag and drop) , and the "Copy" window reported the file was corrupted. If I remove the file and empty out the trash can, could it actually further damage the file system (or make the hard drive's health even worse)?

This is due to: if the files was occupying some bad sectors (on the SSD), then could releasing the sectors let other apps or even the macOS write to and read from those sectors, and cause big problems due to this, especially if it is macOS using those sectors as virtual memory.

(so in a way, if we don't delete those files, it is to let the files occupy the bad sectors so that those sectors are never used by other apps or macOS again).

I think those files were corrupted due to when copying from the external hard drive, the USB plug was a little loose, and so the copying got interrupted in the middle. But the strange thing is, if that's the case, it should be only one file that got corrupted. Right now it was 2 or 3 files (or maybe the USB plug was loose for 2, 3 times, which I can't remember now).

The issue maybe further complicated by the MacBook previous using OS X 10.9 Mavericks, and possibly some of Yosemite, El Capitan, Sierra, and High Sierra during the upgrades in the past, so it was using HPS+ and now APFS (Mojave).

Short answer: yes, almost any changes you make on the disk have a possibility of causing further damage. Back up anything important (making minimal changes as you do so), then try to diagnose and fix it.

Long answer: there are several different levels where you could have data corruption/damage:

There might be a hardware problem -- failing drive, bad cable, etc. I'm not familiar enough with the failure modes of SSDs to tell if this might be the problem here, but I wouldn't rule it out.
The filesystem data structures (which keep track of what files exist on the disk, where their data is stored, which blocks are available for use, etc) might be corrupted. This sort of damage sort-of applies to the entire volume (or container, in the case of APFS), but might only affect some files/folders.
Some individual files might have damaged/corrupted contents. I don't think that's the problem here, since a Finder copy will just blindly copy the contents, whether or not they make sense.

Problems at any of these levels can cause secondary problems at higher levels. Hardware problems can cause volume data and/or file contents to get garbled, and volume problems can cause things like parts of files getting overwritten or lost. So if you see problems at one level, keep in mind that the root cause might be at a lower level.

Conversely, trying to fix (or just change) things at a higher level than the root cause can cause additional damage. If you've got damaged volume data structures, creating, deleting, or even editing files can cause the damage to snowball. If you have a hardware problem, trying to repair the volume data structures (e.g. with Disk Utility's First Aid feature) might just cause additional secondary problems at that level.

In your situation, the first thing I'd do is make sure any important files/data is backed up (or as sure as possible under the circumstances). If possible, do this while booted from something else, with the suspect volume mounted read-only to avoid further corruption. (That's probably not possible, so don't worry about it too much. But don't make any unnecessary changes on the disk until the backup's done.)

Then and only then, try running hardware tests, like Apple Hardware Test (for models introduced before June 2013) or Apple Hardware Diagnostics (for models introduced after June 2013) (more info here), or a third-party test utility.

If the hardware tests don't find anything wrong, then start looking at the volume data structures. I don't have any experience repairing APFS yet, but I'd try Disk Utility First Aid first (probably booted in recovery mode). Frankly, if that can't fix it, I'd erase the disk (not just the volume) and reinstall/recover from scratch.

Afterward, maintain good ongoing backups in case there's some underlying problem that didn't get detected/fixed.


Reinstall Lion, Keep MacPorts After reinstalling Lion, port install produces:

Warning: xcodebuild exists but failed to execute
Error: Unable to open port: can't read "build.pre_args":
can't read "build.cmd": Failed to locate 'gnumake' in path:
'/opt/local/bin:/opt/local/sbin:/bin:/sbin:/usr/bin:/usr/sbin'
or at its MacPorts configuration time location, did you move it?

and yet Xcode is just where it was:

> which gnumake
/Developer4/usr/bin/gnumake

How can I avoid wiping out /opt and instead point MacPorts to build.pre_args, build.cmd, and gnumake?

Did you reinstall Xcode or is this the remnant installation from before? The installation process is what adds it to the system path. This is necessary for 'port' to find the toolchain.


How can I export only my notes from the Notes app and import to another Mac? Rather than set up iCloud sync, I’d like to export / import notes.

Is there a way to export all my notes written in the Notes app in any format so that I can import them to another Mac?

Is there an option to save notes to iCloud?

Yes, in system preferences-> iCloud.

It seems I cannot import a pdf to notes.

You can. The regular method of File-> import->import file, won't work. You can drag and drop multiple files into a note.

Scripting.

That would be a task for AppleScript.

How to import the notes to new Mac?

If the same Apple ID is used on both Macs, turn on the iCloud for notes (see 1^). They'll sync. If different IDs are used, there is no easy method. You can add collaborators (or people) and send them the invite. Then they can import all the notes to their Mac.


Can I report stolen iPhone if I just logged out of iCloud on that phone? I used to have a phone. It used to be password protected and locked.

However, I wanted to jailbreak that iphone and the iphone is safely at my house anyway.

One day a female friend saw that iPhone and ask if I am using it.

I said no. I want to jail break.

She said his friend can jail break. So I let her have it.

The next day she reports her wallet is stolen and the iPhone is there. I don't trust her.

I go to find myiphone and no device is listed

I forget if I logged out of icloud or not on that iPhone. However, find my iphone says that it cannot locate any of my phone but one device is online. I have no idea where is the online device and which one.

Another list none of my iPhone

I put them all on lost mode. Not sure if things go wrong.

If you just logged out of iCloud on your iPhone, Find My iPhone was most likely also turned off, so it won't be of any help to you. However, if you didn't logout of iCloud, and the device is just offline, anything you set in Find My iPhone will be applied the next time your phone connects to a network.
Meanwhile, Apple suggests to:

Report your lost or stolen device to local law enforcement. Law enforcement might request the serial number of your device. Find your device serial number.
Report your lost or stolen device to your wireless carrier. Your carrier can disable the account, preventing phone calls, texts, and data use.

Good luck.


Sony WH-1000XM3 headset defaults to SBC codec despite forcing aptX codec I am having a Bluetooth headset that supports AAC and aptX.

However, my macOS defaults to SBC codec that causes low-quality audio for music.

I know the trick how to force AAC / aptX with Bluetooth Utilities Xcode Additional Tools and I have done this.

Even after doing this and restarting the computer, I am still getting SBC as the codec as in the screenshot above.

What others settings I could poke to force the headset to play music nicely?

Download Sony Headset app for your mobile (iOS or Android). They have settings to remotely configure the headphones.

Turn on the setting to prefer the sound quality: Priority on Sound Quality.

Now you get aptX:


Disabling text message alerts Even when I disable ALL notifications, I still get text message alerts, how do I go about disabling THEM on an iPhone 3G?

It's impossible to completely remove any notification for SMSes prior to iOS 5. The best you could do is choose 'None' as the SMS Tone, and hide message previews.

Since you unable to upgrade to iOS 5, you cannot change nor remove the SMS Message popup box. Under iOS 5 you could change it to the less intrusive banner, or remove any sort of on-screen notification at all.


How to decrease the height of chooser (file-picker dialog) My chooser (file-picker dialog) goes under the dock so I can't see buttons. What can I do?

The simplest method is to hold  Shift ⇧  & drag by any visible edge of the file-picker dialog. This will resize from all sides simultaneously.

Alternatively, for any open/save file-picker dialog which is not rendered as an attached sheet to the underlying window, you can resize from the top then drag the entire window up, or hold Option whilst resizing which will size from top & bottom simultaneously.

For an attached sheet, the only alternative appears to be to Esc from the file-picker, fullscreen the app, then open the file-picker again.
This will force the dialog to fit the window, allowing you to reach the bottom & resize upwards.

This size will then be remembered when not in fullscreen.


Is there a list somewhere of all the special characters I can type using the option key? OS X lets me type special characters directly on the keyboard by holding the Option. For example: — is an em dash, “ and ” are curvy quotes, etc.

Is there a good cheat sheet listing all these keys somewhere? I tend to find myself holding option and running my hands up and down the keyboard looking for a specific character.

There is indeed some software which will help you remind shortcuts.
You will find a list of official shorcuts here at apple.com.

To learn shortcuts, I find Eve the most appealing. Everytime you are using your mouse to execute a command or action, Eve will remind you of the shortcut which you can use for the next time.
Eve supports Mavericks, Lion and Mountain Lion.

Their are two more apps which are approaching an another attempt: CheatSheet and KeyCue.
They are giving you an instant overview of all shortcuts. Hold the cmd key for a couple of seconds, and a window will pop up with a cheat sheet. While CheatSheet is free, KeyCue costs $19.99


Is it safe to delete heapdump.hprof.old? I'm on a mac book air running OS X 10.9.2. I want to free up space. I see that a file called headdump.hprof.old is occupying a lot of space. Is it safe to delete it? What does it do?

Yes, it is perfectly safe to delete the file.

It is used by programmers in debugging errors in programs. If you're not a developer, not actively debugging that specific program, or not actively involved in a support request regarding a bug in that program - you won't need the file.


Some files disappear from an APFS snapshot I'm using rsync on top of a mount_apfs snapshots, to backup a consistent file system view and without having to stop applications during the backup.
While so far, it has been working pretty well, from time to time rsync shows messages like:
mount_apfs: snapshot implicitly mounted readonly
file has vanished: "/Users/user/Library/Application Support/Google/Chrome/Default/Local Storage/leveldb/021794.ldb"
file has vanished: "/Users/user/Library/Application Support/Google/Chrome/Default/Local Storage/leveldb/021795.ldb"
file has vanished: "/Users/user/Library/Application Support/Google/Chrome/Default/Local Storage/leveldb/021796.ldb"
rsync warning: some files vanished before they could be transferred (code 24) at main.c(1209) [sender=3.1.3]

Which usually happens when an application interferes with rsync by deleting files in the middle of a backup.
To me, a snapshot is supposed to offer a frozen view of the file system at some point, but maybe it's not exactly like that for an Apple snapshot?

The problem lies in the way tmutil works for snapshots, I've created a different question about it.


License Keys not Transferred in Time Machine Restore I have just restored a Time Machine backup to a new disk, and I am finding that I need to re-enter scores of licenses for specific applications (while others seem to be retained without issue). Specifically, I am using RapidWeaver, and most of the Stacks require license keys. They must be stored somewhere, but I have yet to be able to determine the location. I would like to restore that directory from a backup to avoid countless hours of data re-entry.

Can someone point out where this information is stored? It doesn't have to be specific to RapidWeaver, even though that would be helpful. I just want to know where to look to be able to restore my previous keys, in order to save a bit of time.

It looks like the files I want are stored in \~Library\Preferences under each stack's specific plist file. I don't quite understand why none of them transferred over from the original backup, but I am hopeful they will copy over when I visit the Time Machine backup.


How to make iCloud stop syncing documents without erasing from Mac? I've never turned on "sync documents and desktop to iCloud" but a friend says she never turned hers on but it's on.  When she tries to turn it off, the "are you sure" popup says that it will keep the documents on iCloud but delete them from the Mac.  That makes absolutely no sense!

But iCloud is full, so she can't save anything.  Being a college student, that is a serious problem.  And losing the documents, then having to log in to the web interface to get them back is equally ridiculous.

What is the easiest way to get the documents OFF of iCloud and keep them on the computer?  She doesn't have another computer to make the sync worthwhile.  She does have an iPhone but no one wants to write research papers on an iPhone.  (Especially someone who depends on VoiceOver)

I know we could make a backup, and restore after the delete.  Or re-downlonad from the web interface.  But it's hard to believe Apple would make a process that user-hostile.

The wording of the warning is misleading. If you turn off this syncing, the files will not be gone or deleted, but they will not be on your ~/Desktop or in your ~/Documents folders. They will be in your "iCloud Drive" folder, which is a folder on your computer that is synced to iCloud, but is still available on your computer. To get things "back to normal" you will just have to move the files from the "iCloud Drive" folder back to the ~/Desktop and ~/Documents folders.
Here is how to clean things up:
First go to Apple menu -> "System Preferences" -> iCloud
In iCloud preferences you should click the "Options" button beside the item "iCloud Drive" and if the "Desktop & Documents Folders" item is selected, then that is probably what is causing you to be using so much space on Apple's computers. If you uncheck this box, you can recover a lot of space from your iCloud storage, but it will take a few more steps for it to be "back to normal":
Go to Apple Menu > System Preferences > iCloud > iCloud Drive > "Options" and UNcheck the "Desktop & Documents Folders" checkbox. You’ll get a pop-up warning you that these files will only be stored in iCloud Drive if you disable Desktop and Documents syncing. Go ahead and click “Turn Off”.  Files on your desktop and in your Documents folder will seem to be removed but they are still within the "iCloud Drive" folder on your computer, which will automatically open after you click “Turn Off”, so these files aren’t actually disappearing and getting deleted, but are simply in iCloud Drive exclusively.
Next, open up the iCloud Drive folder on your Mac and you’ll see two folders called “Desktop” and “Documents”. If you cannot find the "iCloud Drive" folder (it is likely listed in a Finder window's "sidebar" which can be displayed using the Finder menu item "View" -> "Show Sidebar" if the sidebar is hidden), you can have access to it by going to the Finder menu item "Finder" -> "Preferences" -> "Sidebar" and makeing sure the "iCloud Drive" item is checked. Alternatively you can use the Finder menu item "Go" -> "iCloud Drive" to open this folder.
The folder "iCloud Drive" is where your files are. You can now move the contents of "iCloud Drive"/Desktop and "iCloud Drive"/Documents back to your ~/Desktop and your ~/Documents folders.
You can leave the now empty “Desktop” and “Documents” folders in "iCloud Drive". If you delete them, they might get recreated automagically, so don't be surprised.
The following website has some pictures of the windows as well as some of the text I copied above:
http://www.howtogeek.com/273629/how-to-restore-your-desktop-and-documents-after-disabling-icloud-sync-in-macos-sierra/
Here is another reference about the issues:
http://www.macworld.com/article/3098804/data-center-cloud/how-to-use-icloud-drive-s-new-desktop-and-documents-access-in-macos-sierra.html


Podcasts showing twice in the "My Podcasts tab" on iTunes In the "My Podcasts" tab, almost every podcast of mine is appearing twice at the left column like this:

However, in the Episode List display mode, everything is just fine:

Is there any way I can get it fixed for the Podcasts display mode so that every podcast only shows up once?

For the record I'm using 12.3.2 (the latest version).

A day later it managed to fix itself. Looks like the problem may be caused by some cache that is cleared when reboot.


Apple TV functions as Airplay target, not independently I have a setup that looks like this:

+-------------------+                          +---------------+
|                   |     +---------------+    |               |
|  Apple TV         |     |               |    |      TV       |
|                   +---->|               +--->|               |
+-------------------+     |               |    +---------------+
                          | AV Receiver   |
+-------------------+     |               |    +---------------+
|                   +---->|               +--->|               |
| Cable box         |     |               |    |  Speakers     |
|                   |     +---------------+    |               |
+-------------------+                          +---------------+

The Apple TV is only a few months old.

Using the Apple TV as an Airplay target for audio or video works fine. And if I power-cycle the Apple TV, everything else works fine for one or two sessions. But after a while, when I try to access the Apple TV's internal features, I get a black screen. I can hear the feedback sounds as I navigate around with the remote, so it seems clear that something is happening—I just can't see it. The same is true when using the iOS Remote app. Also, when using the Remote app, I can't "pull" media from my computers' iTunes library, I can only "push" it from iTunes to the Apple TV.

The scrolling-photos screensaver, however, does kick in correctly. That seems like the one internal feature that will show up on my TV.

I would like to get everything else to work consistently. It has occurred to me that the Apple TV might not like being routed through the AV receiver, although I haven't tested whether changing it would make a difference; I'd prefer to keep it set up this way if possible.

As mentioned by cloneman it sounds like there is a Communication Problem between Apple-TV and the Reciver or the Reciver and the TV.

Maybe its like on my Setup (i have an older TV which doesn't Support a Resolution as high as the AV-Reciver)

So if i turn on The TV first than the Reciver than Apple-TV it works as it should. (cause the Reciver starts after TV it knows what Resolution the TV supports - he can ask if not)

If i turn on the Reciver first than the TV it doesn't show but audio works (cause the Reciver directly plays the Audio also it gets the Video and passes it out but in a to high Resolution so the TV can't show it)

Maybe you can try out different sequences of turning on (and find a way that works for you)

If not try this (most of todays TV's have more than one Input and also most of the AV-Recivers have at least one SPDIF Input) assuming yours also. Connect Apple-TV via SPDIF to the AV-Reciver and via HDMI to one of the HDMI Inputs of the TV direct.

So you give the Apple-TV and the TV the possibility to directly communicate and they should be able to handle out a resolution that works for both.


how to config color when i use iterm2 ssh linux server I use Mac
and use iterm2 ssh login linux Server
.
but when exec ls
the terminal is Black and White
how to config then like  mac colors

The default TERM type iTerm reports is xterm and that should be sufficient from your Mac's end of things to see colours. The problem is there are two things in play here: your local iTerm terminal and the remote machine and it's shell configuration. If you haven't setup your shell to show colour, it doesn't matter what your iTerm is reporting for TERM.

It sounds like the problem is on the remote end and that you haven't configured ls on your Linux system to output colours.

Try setting LS_COLORS in your environment after you ssh in to your Linux machine. Here is one way to do it:

export LS_COLORS='rs=0:di=01;34:ln=01;36:mh=00:pi=40;33:so=01;35:do=01;35:bd=40;33;01:cd=40;33;01:or=40;31;01:mi=01;05;37;41:su=37;41:sg=30;43:ca=30;41:tw=30;42:ow=34;42:st=37;44:ex=01;32'

That should give you a fairly good chance of ensuring you see colours when you run ls on any directory. If you like the settings, make them permanent by adding that line to your ~/.bash_profile file on the Linux machine.

You can also use the newer, more generic, COLORS environment variable and point it to the /etc/DIR_COLORS file that should exist on most modern Linux installations. More tools will key off this than just ls so you'll see colour in tools like grep too. Add the following to your ~/.bash_profile:

export COLORS=/etc/DIR_COLORS

to add colours to more tools.


Can I use my iPhone charger for charging other USB based devices? Is it OK to use my iPhone charger for charging other USB powered devices like the Kindle or a digital camera (with a rechargeable battery)? Can it cause any damage to the charger or to the device being charged?

Most standard USB charges for 0.5A. But not all USB are standardized - there are some that go for up to 1.8A and even the MacBook Pro is said to raise up to 1.1A when relevant. iPhone's charger do little more than 1.1A and it's pretty decent. That's why iPhone charging on regular USB usually take double the time to fully charge. iPad's charger are roughly 10W and 5V which translates to 2A.

There's nothing wrong that can happen with the charger because USB devices are made to work with the same standard voltage (about 5V). The USB hosts are only outputting the maximum energy it can provide up to what the client can receive. A 10W energy source will only give up to 10W and just 1W if the plugged device can only take 1W.

I'm no electrical specialist but...

Having bigger power supply (measured in watts) or bigger current (measured in amperes) on itself can't break any system because what puts them in movement is the difference of potential measured by volts.

Think of a light bulb and picture all USB devices are prepared to receive about 5V (actually little more). If you get a 220V and put in on a 110V nothing wrong happens, but it will be very weak. Apple's chargers only go up to 5V, which is within the USB standard. So yeah, it's all good and safe.


How can I change web page requests coming from an application? I'm using an app that makes http requests for content. I'd like to capture those requests and change them on the fly, so that a different request goes out to the http server, and thus different content comes back. I could do this with a full fledged web proxy, but I am hoping for a simpler and more transparent solution, possibly something that hooks into the OS to catch those network calls.

AdMuncher is my program of choice for this task on Windows.

Have a look at GlimmerBlocker which primarily is an ad-blocking proxy but can also be used to rewrite requests and responses.


2016 MacBook Pro sometimes loose fingerprint on restart I have the 15-inch 2016 MacBook Pro. About every day I have to restart my computer because of some problems. I notice that sometimes when I restart my computer all my fingerprints are gone to nowhere. I then has to put all of my Touch ID fingerprints back into my computer. This doesn't happen on every reboot, I think there is about 1/20 chance of it happening but it is still annoying. Anybody else also have this problem?

EDIT:

I found out that the Touch ID fingerprint only get lost during force restart (when my computer lock up and I power it down with the Touch ID button).

I just got off a call with Apple Tech Support.

They suggested holding the P key with the touch/power button the next time my Mac is frozen. That will bring up options to safe-reboot without losing fingerprints.

I'll have to wait for the next freeze event to verify this.


Cannot read external hard drive after installing Linux? Please help. I wanted to install linux so I follow this guide: http://www.ubuntu.com/download/desktop/create-a-usb-stick-on-mac-osx
I used my external hard drive to do this but then after I finished everything, when I plugged in my external hard drive I get "The disk you inserted was not readable by this computer" and I cannot see my external hard drive in Finder, but I could see it in the Disk Utility. Does this mean all my data was erased? How do I get my external hard drive back? Thank you.

Well, if you had data already on the drive, it's gone. You could use a data recover, or ship it off somewhere. But, I'll just go into formatting the drive.

A. Sorta. Generally Linux uses a diffrent type of format for drives (ext4, and a couple others) so it could be that it did work, and your Mac just can't read it.
B. If it really did get messed up (you can't boot it into it) then :

Go to Disk Utility.
Click on your drive.
Click on the "Erase" tab.
If you'd like to, enter a name for the drive. Or, just keep it as Untiled if you'd like to try Linux again.
Select a format type, if you'd like to. Fat works best for cross-device compatibility.
Click the "Erase" button.
Get some coffee, or water, depending on the size of your drive.


How to stop Finder from jumping to folder when dragging and dropping? Is there a way so Finder won't automatically jump to the folder when dragging and dropping files from one folder to another that's located in the side bar?

I usually just go through my downloads folder and then sort my files manually, but it's a hassle that I always manually have to go back to the download folder to process the next file.

Either disable spring-loading delay or extend the reaction/response time. In older systems the settings are available in the Finder Preferences > General or in newer systems in System Preferences > Accessibility > Mouse & Trackpad:


Any recommendations for a before&after software installation scanner/uninstaller? I'm trying to decide on an uninstaller that does before and after system scans.

So far, I've come across these three:

CleanApp (syniumsoftware.com/cleanapp/) - which I saw someone recommend in this post
Yank (matterform.com/mac_software/uninstaller/index.html)
Uninstaller (macmagna.com/)

So I was hoping if anyone on here has any tips or recommendations on these or any others.

Thanks!

All the apps you listed seem to be commercial products while there are some free tools that can do this for you.

Based on this thread I tried and used AppCleaner. It seems to do the job well.


What happens if the Internet connection goes down during a Lion Internet Recovery? I am restoring Lion on my MacBook before selling it and I am doing it through the Internet Recovery option. After starting the process, the Internet connection went down a couple of times and, after this happening, the blue progress bar jumped to the end, so I don't know the exact percentage.

Do you know what happens in this case? Does the download resume from where it left or does it start from the beginning?

For a short interruption, you can expect the download to resume. I might choose to power it off and start over since you might end up with a corrupt package that the OS will not install and a cryptic error message. Worse, the install may stall and you could wait a long time before giving up.

It's in your interest to get the installation over a fast internet connection (perhaps a local Apple Store) so that you don't have to do it over or wait so long in the end.


How do I reset an old iPod? My daughter gave her little brother her iPod Touch 8g. I have been trying to update the software and would like to get it rest to a factory clean state so I can linked it to the iTunes that already syncs to his iPad.

How can I do a clean up and wipe of everything from an iPod?

On Device

Go to Settings > General > Reset.

Then select Erase All Content and Settings

More information about erasing content can be found here: http://support.apple.com/kb/ht2110

Using iTunes

Put the device in DFU mode: http://theiphonewiki.com/wiki/DFU_Mode

Then simply restore the device using iTunes.


MacBook on macOS Catalina 10.15.7 not returning disk space after deletion So I believe I have a drive requiring FSCK or a version of this for Catalina. This started first of all when I was trying to get rid of purgeable space by creating lots of files using the dd if=blah blah of=/users/user/bigfiles/bigfile1 etc etc. When I deleted these files I didn't get my disk space back. Even now deleting large video files has no effect, in fact any deletion gets only minimal space recovery or none at all.
I have tried all the usual tricks "First Aid" (in recovery mode) and all the disk checks I know how to do, booted into single user mode etc, and run utilities like ONYX, but even though it didn't fix my disk it seemed to find something wrong. Can anyone please shed some light of the results?
Also some people have suggested this is a local Time machine backup issue so I deleted all my local backups and verified there are none there.
As you can see I have some errors when I scan disk Macintosh HD - Data, I get a bunch of
warning: xf: INO_EXT_TYPE_DSTREAM: found unexpected stream associated with non-regular file

and then a load of
warning; FOUND ORPHAN DSTREAM IDOBJECT (id 384942334 (or whatever) refcnt 1)

The volume /dev/rdisk2s1 appears to be ok
As you can then see from the next screen shot 478GB used and 600MB free
Rebooting into multi user mode I looked at the local snapshots.
I had already deleted all my local snapshots and can show there are none left with:
sudo tmutil listlocalsnapshots /
....and get nothing listed...
Next I run Daisydisk and you can see 0.5GB free so I scan the disk and see that:
498GB total used but if you add the items shown you only get approx 260GB so apparently 240GB has been eaten by the system and hidden somewhere.
Any ideas?
Regards
P.S. so I couldn't work out how to insert multiple files (screen shots and a PDF) so here is a link to a Onedrive directory with them in it.
https://silverfoxpc-my.sharepoint.com/:f:/p/royswift/EoMj7wW0uwtJroUuQWXTfMMBYQVlkbmmRhUsJacEvc4nIw?e=bQ5DJF

couldn't fix this so I reformatted the drive and reinstalled and now I am in the middle of a Time Machine recovery.


How can I print a PDF/X Mavericks document? A few iterations ago, Mac OS X had a "Save as PDF-X" option available via the print dialogue, with an associated file at /Library/PDF Services/Save As PDF-X.workflow that handled the magic suff I assume.

My understanding is that the PDF/X format embeds fonts and does other "preflight" stuff to make a document good for printshops to use. Outputting in this format is possible with Illustrator and other Adobe products, but I would produce a printshop-ready PDF/X file using software I already have (LibreOffice, Word, etc.)

In Mac OS X 10.9, this "Save as PDF-X" option is nowhere I can find.

Is there any simple way to create PDF/X format files?

https://en.wikipedia.org/?title=PDF/X

Back in 2010, Philip Regan gave some info about doing it with the then present "Save as PDF-X" feature, but it is no longer part of the print dialogue.
How can I print a PDF X-1A from a iWork Pages document?

Anyone have any ideas?

Create an Automator print plugin that prints as a PDF-X.

Open Automator.app

Select "Print Plugin" at the Choose a type for your document screen

Select "PDF" from the Actions menu

Drag "Apple Quartz Filter to the PDF Documents" to the workflow space on the right

When prompted choose if you want to create a copy of the original, add or don't add

In the Apply Quartz Filter to PDF Documents workflow, in the Filter dropdown, choose "Create Generic PDFX-3 Document".

Choose File-->Save

Name whatever you like (PDFX)

This will add a workflow back that allows for PDFX again. The workflow is saved in your user directory ~/Library/PDF Services/


Is my SATA cable damaged? Macbook Pro Mid 2012, original SSD.

TLDR; Why could I clone my unmountable drive from an external enclosure but not internally?

My SSD broke down a few days ago. It was detected, but I was unable to mount it, and I got I/O errors when trying to clone (restore in Disk Utility) the drive (no logs saved). After Disk Utility and DiskWarrior failed to resolve the issue I put the internal SSD into an external enclosure. From the enclosure I was suddenly able to clone the drive. My question is, what possible explanations for this are there? My guess is that the SATA connector is damaged, but I hope I'm wrong.

Update: A fresh install (made from the external enclosure) still has the same mounting issues when booted internally.

Update 2: After a few more hours of research I'm more or less convinced that the cable is toast. Apparently it's a common occurrence with certain Macbook models.

I replaced the cable, and everything is now back to normal. So, as I suspected, the cable was the culprit.

Instructions on how to replace the SATA cable is easily found online

(search for things like replace hard drive cable macbook).

The only tricky part was to connect the sleep LED to the cable, but if you just check how the old cable is connected you'll be fine.


Update my iPad 2 to iOS 7 in 2015 My iPad 2 is running iOS 6.1.3, but now I want to update to iOS 7. In Settings → General → Software Update, I can only can update to iOS 8.4. iOS 8 destroys your iPad. How can I update my iPad to iOS 7 now, in 2015?

You only ever have two options with iOS - stay on the iOS you're currently on, or update to the latest your device will support.

Apple stops signing all older iOSes within a few days of releasing a new version, meaning that even if you could install it, it would not activate.

As the iPad 2 is supported on iOS 8 [currently 8.4.1] this is your only choice if you wish to update.


Macbook Air does not automatically connect to known networks after wake up I have a new 2012 Macbook Air (with 10.7.4) which doesn't connect to my own local network automatically after it wakes up. I have to choose my network manually and it works instantly.

Any ideas how to solve this problem?

I had similar issues with earlier versions of 10.7 as well as 10.6.  I can't guarantee that my problem is a match to yours, but I'll share what worked.

In both cases my network had somehow been lowered in priority in the list of "Known Networks" and the list had become a bit bloated in one instance. Ever since, I've made it a point to somewhat regularly visit and clean up my list of known networks.

Note: What follows may not resolve your problem, but it's a good step to take.  If it doesn't, I suspect that it's related to a more touchy Wifi issue for Macs running Lion. I recall that there have been at least 2 updates to 10.7 that addressed issues with reconnecting to Wifi when waking from sleep.  I've seen it, but it's rare for the Macs that I manage.

Here are the steps that worked for me:

Visit System Preferences -> Network,  select "Wifi" and click the lock (if needed) to authenticate.
Assure that "Remember networks this computer has joined" is checked
Note the order of the "preferred networks" (see blue box in the figure).  Re-order these appropriately.  If you'd like to start fresh, just clear the list.
Click "Ok" to accept the changes


How to stop OS X from writing Spotlight and Trash files to memory cards and USB sticks? When plugging a USB stick into a Mac, OS X creates a number of hidden files on the stick, including a Spotlight index and Trash folder.

Example from the terminal for a USB stick "Untitled":

$ ls -a /Volumes/Untitled
.Spotlight-V100
.Trashes
._.Trashes
.disk
.fseventsd

It even does this on the xD memory card for my camera, so after having copied my pictures and deleted them from the card, the card is still full.

Is it possible to turn this off for USB and memory cards, so OS X either writes these files to the primary disk or doesn't write them at all?

For just a particular mounted volume - like a flash drive called yourUSBstick in this example - these commands will remove existing cruft, stop Spotlight indexing now and in the future, stop the related fsevents logging, and disable the Trash feature.

mdutil -i off /Volumes/yourUSBstick
cd /Volumes/yourUSBstick
rm -rf .{,_.}{fseventsd,Spotlight-V*,Trashes}
mkdir .fseventsd
touch .fseventsd/no_log .metadata_never_index .Trashes
cd -

Other unfamiliar stuff you may still see you probably want to keep, like Apple double "._*" files and other Apple DS cruft relating to icons and window placement.


Creating 2 quarter-sheet sized booklet on single sheet of paper I need to create/print a booklet that is 1/4 size of a sheet of 8.5" x 11" paper. From this page, How can I print a booklet from a pdf file?, I know I how to create the booklet. But this is larger than I want.

Because this is just a quarter size sheet of paper, I can print two copies of the booklet on a single sheet of paper. I need to know how to automagically make this happen; stack one on top of the other.

Is this even possible?

Use Table settings and cells, e.g. in Word
Use Pages as layout program able to integrate texts generated in Word or elsewhere

in that manner, you can easily specify the printing fields.


How do I remove 'untitled' partition from terminal or disk utility? I've been trying for ages but can't work out how to completely remove these two Untitled volumes(?). I've tried remove, erase, and the minus button in Disk Utility and the commands in terminal don’t make sense or seem to work .  Please find attached images. I have Catalina OS

Ok. Nothing on disk3 needs changing yet, so all the CS commands are dangerous or ineffective

What happens when you issue:

diskutil eraseVolume free free disk0s4
diskutil eraseVolume free free disk0s3

Also, please use care, if you delete the wrong 0s4 you will lose everything. Do you have a backup and internet to reinstall if you or I make a mistake?


Safari bookmarks keep disappearing MBP "13, 10.7 and Safari 5.1

I've noticed something weird: last week, I added a couple of bookmarks to my bookmarks-bar in Safari and the next day (or the next reboot) they weren't there anymore...

Added them again and the same thing happened...

I've disabled bookmark syncing in the "Mail, Contacts, Calendar" settings but the same problem still occurs...

Any ideas how I can further troubleshoot this?

If the bookmarks are not saving this may be a permissions issue.

Safari stores its bookmarks in ~/Library/Safari/Bookmarks.plist

If this file cannot be updated (i.e. if permissions are wrong), then the bookmarks won't be saved.

Check the datestamp on this file. It should be updated every time you add a bookmark. If it isn't, then this is likely the cause of the problem.

To fix it, you need to fix the permissions. Try Repair Permissions in Disk Utility. If that doesn't work, try the following:

1) Delete that file while Safari is running - then go into Safari and add a new bookmark. This will create a new bookmark file with all your bookmarks.

If you delete the file while safari is not running you lose all your bookmarks - so make a back up of the file. The safest thing is to rename it.


How to change "Automatically reduce brightness before the display goes to sleep" in Yosemite? A few OS X releases ago, there was a checkbox in the Energy Saver settings for "Automatically reduce brightness before the display goes to sleep". This doesn't appear to be there any more, and hasn't been since 10.8 afaik.

Since I updated the family laptops to Yosemite, my laptop (mid-2010 MBP) still dims a few seconds before going to sleep, but my wife's (late-2009 MacBook) no longer does, and she wants to re-enable that behaviour. But I've no idea how.

Any suggestions? I've searched Secrets for a hidden preference, but I don't see one.

That preference slider seems to be missing in Energy Saver for some Mac portables, and newer Mac portables seem to combine both settings if "Power Nap" is enabled:

http://www.extensions.in.th/amitiae/2014/prefs/energy.html

http://forums.macrumors.com/threads/no-computer-sleep-setting-in-energy-saver-for-nmp.1692340/


How to recover a deleted file on Mac OS X? We have tried Boomerang but it does not find the deleted file.
The file was deleted 3 days ago. I would think it is recoverable, but Boomerang does not show it.

Any help would be appreciated.

PhotoRec is the best tool I've found for recovering files.  It does have some baffling limitations however, like the fact that it can't recover .dmg files.  It's a command line program but still very easy to use.  And it's free :)

This step-by-step guide on their wiki makes it even easier.


Removing profile settings from a profile that no longer exists At some point in the past, I installed Snappli. At some point later, I removed it. However, some part of Snappli is still installed, because ifconfig.me and whatsmyip both report that I'm being proxy'd through Snappli (see below):

How do I remove the Snappli proxy settings from my phone, even though the Profile is gone?

My best tip would probably be to install the app again, with the profile and all of that, and then remove the profile again, then deleting the app and see if that helps.

It's hard to tell what might be causing the problem – you're sure there are no proxy settings in place anywhere and that the profile is deleted?

Edit: It seems there are some ghost settings you're unable to change. Your best chance would be to reset all the network settings (Settings -> General -> Reset -> Reset Network Settings), or restoring your iPhone to factory settings.


How to prompt to give specific folder access or full disk access to /bin/bash when run in an app bundle on Catalina? I am trying to get an .app bundle wrapping a shell script that invokes /bin/bash to be allowed to read a plist file in ~/Library/Mail/V7/MailData/Signatures and to write to other files in that directory. When the app runs and tries to do either action it fails with a permission error (only seen in a console)
I've confirmed that it works properly when /bin/bash has been given Full Disk Access manually in the Security & Privacy preferences, but it is too cumbersome to direct users on how to do that. I have tried adding my .app as the one given full disk permissions, but that doesn't work
I have been unable to find a way to force MacOS to prompt the user to give these permissions and based on the TCC debug output (using /usr/bin/log stream --debug --predicate 'subsystem == "com.apple.TCC"'), it seems like that is never possible, that MacOS actively says you can't prompt to give full disk access.

An way to get around the problem is simply to not invoke /bin/bash, but rather interpret and run the shell script within your own app. For example you could restrict the script language to be a very simple one, so that you do not have to implement full bash scripting functionality (which would be quite an undertaking).
For example if the scripts only consists of simply running literal commands, or perhaps a few conditions - then that could easily be implemented directly in the app, or as a simple language interpreter.
This would then let the user give your app Full Disk Access, and it would work.


Running Parallels VMs from a NAS As I don't have enough internal storage space on my MacBook Pro, I used to store my Parallels VMs on an external 500 GB HDD connected via Firewire 800. However, that drive eventually died, and I replaced it with a 3 TB Western Digital NAS.

Now, my Parallels VMs run extremely slowly. Actually, to be more specific – they seem to run at normal speed, but take forever to respond to UI inputs (e.g., when I click a button, there's a 30 to 60-second wait before it responds. But once it does, the UI updates smoothly).

Is there anything I can do to speed up the UI responsiveness, or is this just a side effect of running the VMs off of the NAS?

I run three different Windows VMs (two Windows 7, one Windows 8), and they're all equally slow, so it's not an issue with just one VM. I also haven't changed any settings or anything else other than moving them from the old FW800 HDD to the NAS.

All three of your VMs are stored on your NAS, correct? I am not surprised that they are all slow. You are streaming tons of data over a network and expecting it to work as if it were being used locally.

Virtual machines perform a lot of disk IO. Using network storage for VHD files and other resources that are used by your VMs is not really a great idea if you need responsiveness. A lot of software has been developed to try and solve the issue of streaming VMs over a network.

You may want to look into the many VDI solutions that are available if you really want to continue using your VMs over a network. Just a thought.

If this is not a good solution for you, why don't you try keeping a small VHD locally with just the operating system installed on it, and then add the bulk of the storage onto the NAS? That way, the VM would boot/run as quickly as it should (locally), and the majority of your data would reside on the NAS (and be accessible from all VMs and the host OS).

Edit: unless you are connecting your NAS via SATA, in which case I am unsure of a solution to your issue. As soon as I saw "NAS" I thought of you streaming your VM images over a network...


How to set up mouse second and third button? In my office we work with mac, I used to have a regular mouse but it is not working anymore so I am now using a apple mouse.

The problem with the apple mouse is that it lacks of certains functionalities, such as right-click or middle-button drag scrolling.

I want to enable right-click on the right-click of the mouse. (I find it pretty uncomfortable to ctrl+click when I could just right click with the mouse, which has that button.) I tried setting it up in system settings -> Mouse and select secondary button, but it does not work. It is just the same as the primary button.

I also want to enable scrolling by keeping pressed the middle button of the mouse (3rd button). Can I do this?

Thanks a lot buddies.

I found how to do it. It is not the most comfortable way having both, if anyone knows a work-around I'll be thankfull.

I had to set secondary button in the tiny scroll-ball , that way it works. And about the drag scrolling, i am using smart scroll software, but I also have to set it up in secondary button , and it also works with the tiny scrollball click.


How to share history between terminal tabs? I generally find myself using two or three tabs in my Terminal on OS X.

A minor inconvenience is that, by default, the tabs don't share their command history.  So, searching for a previous command that I ran on another tab by typing history | grep thingIamlooking for does not find it.

Is there a way of forcing Terminal tabs to share history, or is there some other "history_of_all_tabs" command?

I don't think there is a way to share history amongst Terminal tabs only, but here is something that could help you.

The history is not something that is handled by your terminal but by your shell (bash, tcsh, zsh, etc.)

Here are some options that'll help you set up a shared history amongst all the terminal windows (the shell instances).

This should be put somewhere in your .bashrc file.

export HISTCONTROL=ignoredups:erasedups  # no duplicate entries
export HISTSIZE=100000                   # big big history
export HISTFILESIZE=100000               # big big history
shopt -s histappend                      # append to history, don't overwrite it

# Save and reload the history after each command finishes
export PROMPT_COMMAND="history -a; history -c; history -r; $PROMPT_COMMAND"


Why is Safari on iOS 10 not rendering some pages correctly? iPad mini 4
iOS 10.0.1

On several websites when the page loads, Safari is not rendering the page correctly.  Content appears, but images, formatting, colors, etc are missing.

It certainly looks like CSS are being ignored.  If I close the tab, I usually can try the page again and it will render properly.

There is no discernible pattern to reproduce the problem

It's happening to me as well after installing ios10 on my iPhone 6.  It randomly stops loading pages correctly.   The only way to fix it is to double tap the home button and close down safari or view it private mode.   But it's a temporary fix.


Finder and Spotlight not returning the expected results when searching Am I right to think that Spotlight or Finder should search through the contents of a file?

When I search in Finder or Spotlight for a word inside a text (.txt) or rtf document, it doesn't return anything.
Example: I have a simple rtf or txt file in Documents that contains the word "car".

Neither of these returns anything:
car
contains:car
kind:rtf contains:car
kind:txt contains:car
kind:text contains:car

the document has been there form weeks so it should have been indexed.

All spotlight settings are the defaults (everything selected).
I'm using Mojave in a Mac Mini 2014.

Any help welcome.

Fixed!.  I just rebuilt the spotlight index like this:
System preferences > Spotlight > Privacy, add and then remove the folder that wasn't returning the expected results (I did it with the home folder just to make sure all is indexed), after you quit System preferences the index will rebuild for that folder.  I guess you need to wait a bit for macOS to rebuild (5 minutes, 1 hour or more? I don't know, it surely depends on the size of the folder).


How do I request a read receipt when sending e-mail with Outlook for Mac 2011? I've been using MAC OS X Mountain Lion 10.8.5. How do I request a read receipt when sending e-mail with Outlook for Mac 2011?

Outlook:Mac doesn't have the read receipt feature.

And, frankly, you shouldn't use read receipts.  Most mail clients can be set up to simply ignore read receipt requests.  If the mail client isn't ignoring read receipt requests, then it gives the reader a message asking if the reader wants to send a read receipt; many people select no.  The existence of a read receipt doesn't actually tell you whether your reader read your mail.


How to transfer my apps, home, and OS X setup from an external Lion disk to an internal Mountain Lion SSD I installed an SSD (Samsung 830) as the internal drive of a Mid 2009 MacBook Pro, then attempted several times to clone the (now external) bootable OS X Lion drive using either SuperDuper or Carbon Copy Cloner to this new SSD. All attempts failed with disk writes failures (I tried two different SSDs with the same result: write failures). So installed Lion onto the new SSD using the OS X DVD installer and all went fine; then upgraded from Lion to Mountain Lion from the App Store. Again, all went great.

Which folders should I copy from the external Lion disk to the internal Mountain Lion SSD to get back all my apps, the MySQL server, PostgreSQL, ImageMagick, XCode installation, etc.? I would like to make the new Mountain Lion SSD contain all my useful apps so that I don’t have to reinstall from scratch.

The easiest way is to use Migration Assistant, which you can find in /Applications/Utilities/.

It can copy your apps, data and settings from your old disk if it's connected via USB, Firewire or Thunderbolt. You should end up with a mirror image of your old set up.

Start Migration Assistant, select From another Mac, PC, Time Machine backup, or other disk on the first screen, and From a Time Machine backup or other disk on the second screen, then follow the prompts.

If you need more detailed instructions, consult Apple's Migration Assistant Guide (you want the Time Machine or other disk migration section).


Automation not available in Home app I have a bunch of Philips Hue lamps at home and decided to take the new Home app for a spin after installing iOS 10 on my iPhone 6s.

The lamps connected without problem and are fully controllable but when I look at the automation tab the app just informs me that I can make an Apple TV the center of my home. I can find no way to actually create an automation.

First I thought that this was an issue with my Apple TV (4th gen) but while looking around in the setting I was able to reset my home from the Apple TV so some form of connection must have been made.

Maybe related to this is that there is no settings available for Home on the iPhone.

I have tried multiple times to reset my Philips Hue Bridge and reconnect it to the phone but the result is always the same.

Any tips?

What I see (in Swedish):

What I expected:

I logged out of iCloud on my Apple TV and logged in again.
First nothing was different but after a few minutes there suddenly was a HomeKit section under Settings > Accounts > iCloud (not under Settings > iCloudas suggested by Apple here).

The automation tab in my Home app is now as expected.


Use Siri's voice as the system voice I notice that on Sierra, Siri's voice is much superior to the selection of system voices you can select in System Preferences → Accessibility → Speech. In fact, I suspect they use a different system entirely as the command say -v ? doesn't seem to list any voices which are used with Siri.

I have a key command set up to speak the select text. Is there no way I can get it to use Siri's voice to do it?

Edit: To be specific, I'm after the Siri voice: 'British (Male)'

I believe Daniel is the British Siri from the -v list


Missing option to silence text conversation in iOS 11 Last night I wanted to silence a text conversation and didn’t see the option. Is that gone, too? iPhone 6s after iOS 11 upgrade

Source:

iOS 11 renamed the "Do Not Disturb" option for conversation threads to "Hide Alerts," and the toggle is still accessible by hitting the information icon in the top right. But that's too many steps for some of us, so Apple added a shortcut to the swipe menu on the Messages homepage which quickly disables notifications for both individual and group chats whenever they get out of control. Just swipe left on any message thread to access the new "Hide Alert" shortcut.
The latter method is especially handy, as it can disable notifications from outside the conversation itself and prevents the "Read" receipt from being triggered, giving us plausible deniability with regards to reading any messages.


MacBook Pro: Some keys not working (correctly) anymore On my brother's MacBook Pro, suddenly the Enter, right shift, and right alt keys do not work properly anymore. It works with an external keyboard, though. PRAM/SMC reset did not help. Strangely, at least the shift and alt keys seem to at least work mechanically: When I press shift and a key, both inputs are completely ignored. When I press e.g. shift/alt/a, the correct special character is printed. So at least shift/alt seem to work, but only in some circumstances.

Any ideas on how to solve this?

Working correctly with an external keyboard is a good indicator that the internal keyboard is damaged and needs repair or replacement.


What is causing my ~/Library folder to be come visible again? At some point after Lion system updates, my ~/Library folder becomes visible again, in seemingly spontaneous fashion. If I make it invisible, it will become visible yet again. What could be causing this? Has anyone else seen this?

It is VueScan. The developer (who otherwise is great) does annoying things like this, or adding the app's icon to the Dock without making them a preference.


Disable dismissing reminders from lock screen Can I prevent Reminders from being dismissed on the lock screen? I do want Reminder to pop up while the phone is locked. I do not want any random person to mark them as completed while the phone is locked.

iOS 6 would display the reminder, but required the passcode to dismiss it. Can I do the same in iOS 7?

Try Settings > Notification Center > Reminders (second entry - with apps) > Show in Notification Center and Show on Lock Screen. Also choose whether you want "banner" or "alert" style notifications.

There is a third Reminders setting on the main settings page, but that only relates to how long you keep old reminders around, and which list of reminders you want to use. HTH


Display fn keys by default in Touch Bar I would like to configure the Touch Bar of my MacBook Pro (13-inch, 2016) to display by default the static fn keys (esc, F1, F2, ...) all the time, since they are the keys I use the most.

For now, I only managed to configure the touchbar to be static selecting the 'Expanded Control Strip' option (in System Preferences > Keyboard > Keyboard), so it shows the esc, brightness, mission control, etc.

Is there any workaround to do that yet? Running macOS Sierra 10.12.6.

In System Preferences → Keyboard → Shortcuts, under Function Keys, add apps to the list to show the function keys by default. The fn key will then be used for the inverse function, hiding the function row instead of showing it. You'll need to do this for every app where you would like this behaviour.

You can display function keys at all times and use Fn to display App Controls or Expand Control Strip in System Preferences → Keyboard → Keyboard.


Changed Lion Server's host name and now unable to browse to that site (Without thinking much) I set up my Mac mini server and used an actual domain name I use as the computer's host name.

I've since changed the host name to something that isn't an actual website, but I'm unable to navigate to the original hostname/domain. I've tried changeip in the terminal as well, as well as flushed DNS in case it was cached there as well.

How do I get Lion to reach out to the WWW to find this domain?

I was able to fix this by removing this from /etc/named.conf

I'm now able to navigate to example.com.

zone "example.com" IN {
    type master;
    file "db.example.com";
    allow-transfer {
        none;
    };
    allow-update {
        none;
    };
};


How to delete leftover files from aborted migrations? I recently got a new MacBook Air and used Migration Assistant (henceforth abbreviated as MA) to transfer my stuff from my old MacBook Pro. However, until MA actually worked all the way, I had to abort it and restart both machines three times. This resulted in around 50GB of wasted space in my new macbook (but no extraneous user accounts, as I read elsewhere) that I don't know how to eliminate. I assume there are some cache files that MA creates & uses until the entire migration is complete.

Where can I find these files, to delete the leftover ones from the incomplete migrations?

You could use OmniDiskSweeper (free to download and use) to search for and remove big folders. To find the problematic area fast, run it in parallel on both your macs (to see the differences) and start at the top level.

If you don't want to install additional software, you can start by running du -sg /* on both Macs, drilling down into the directories with the biggest difference and repeating du until you found the problematic files.


VGA display no longer being recognized by Late 2016 MBP OS Sierra It's the weirdest thing!  It used to work perfectly.  My TV at home does not have HDMI, but the VGA input works great.
  When I ordered this new MBP, I got all adapters from Apple.
  Today is when things got weird:

When I plug in thunderbolt 3 -> VGA I get nothing.

When I plug in thunderbolt 3 -> thunderbolt 2 -> VGA I get nothing.

HOWEVER, if I plug in the single TB3 -> VGA - ONLY directly after trying the above two adapters - it works.  I'm saying the first adapter I tried works one single time, but only after trying to plug the same thing in using the second two adapters.

What the heck could this be?

It's a bug.  If I leave the USB-C adapter plugged in, the VGA can be connected and disconnected without issue.  That's the only way, other than my weird multi-adapter method.  Kinda sucks to have to leave the adapter in, but that is the only way.
  I actually got a whole new MBP just for this issue, and the new one acted exactly the same BEFORE I imported any files or settings.


Remove battle.net setup from Spotlight I installed battle.net a long time ago.

Every now and then I use spotlight to invoke it by pressing ⌘ + space and I start typing "battle" every time, the top hit is "Battle.net Beta Setup". I do not want to invoke the beta setup, in fact, I am not aware of the existence of these files on my computer, not sure how to search for them except by using spotlight, but there doesn't seem to be a way to find out where they are, and I am reluctant to click on them in case it starts up a setup program and interferes with my existing installations.

You can find the location of a Spotlight result by highlighting the result and pressing ⌘+Return. This will reveal the location in Finder.

As it's the setup app, it's probably safe to delete, but you can also move it to a location that Spotlight won't search to remove it from the search results but keep the data.


Synchronising contacts between iCloud and iOS I have a problem with my contacts synching between iPhone and iCloud. There is a number of contacts that appears with the tag iCloud in my phone, although they arent on the iCloud website or my contacts app in OSX.

Here is how the contact looks on my iPhone.

That same contact does not appear on iCloud.

On bottom of contact says:

How can I fix this problem, without adding missing contacts manually ?

From iCloud settings turned off contacts, then back on. Then missing contacts appeared on iCloud although I got double contacts on iPhone. So I close iCloud contacts again and remove iPhone contacts, then back on and contacts sync with iCloud properly without doubles..


How do can I close all windows on Preview and OpenOffice, so they don't open again when I open Preview to see something else? Every time I view an image using Preview, it gets stored, and when I open preview again, everything is there, like this-

How can I clear that?
Thanks

(for reference- I use Yosemite on a MacBook Pro)

Firstly, to prevent it happening again, remember to close a document before you Quit, otherwise it will reopen on launch.

To clear the existing list, With both apps quit, go to
~/Library/Saved Application State/

& delete the two saved state folders, com.apple.Preview.savedState & the same for OpenOffice [I don't have the app so not certain of the name.]

Done.

Quick way to get there, if you're not sure…

From Finder, hit  Cmd ⌘   N  for New Window
Hit  Cmd ⌘   Shift ⇧   G  for Go…
Paste ~/Library/Saved Application State/ including the tilde ~


iPhone reports large storage On My Phone, but I can't find that usage [iPhone 11 128GB, running iOS 13.6]
In Settings -> General -> iPhone Storage, On My Phone reports there is 1.16GB on my iPhone. However, if I tap into that section and review all the files there, I see at most 23MB worth of data when I add everything up. Restarting the phone doesn't change the numbers.
Is there some other place I should look to find these "large files?" Is there a known issue of reporting incorrect file sizes? Something else?

Tested this on an unused iPhone. After factory resetting, this screen shows 671 MB used. I have not activated iCloud, TouchID or such. I guess this is system related user data, which is otherwise nowhere accessible. (Caches, fonts, location tracking and temporary data etc.)


how to browse photos in mac folder via iPhone Can one use the iPhone to browse photos and videos that reside in folders on a internet connected mac?

I have recently decided to not use library based photo managers - after Apple decided to give up on Aperture. Uploading to online photo sites is time consuming. And Dropbox costs $100 a year - kind of expensive just for photos.

And when I have an internet connected, always on, Mac Mini, then wondering why I cannot use it to serve up my photos and videos in a manner similar to what Dropbox can do.

Thanks in advance for sharing your ideas!

The app store has some pretty good options for file browsing apps.  I use FileBrowser for example.  FileBrowser description.

  FileBrowser is the original and best file manager and viewer for iOS.
  FileBrowser can view, copy, move, upload, download, stream, and manage
  files between computers, servers, NAS drives and cloud storage in any
  direction. You don’t need to install any other software. FileBrowser
  will scan and locate computers on your network and connect in seconds
  and will connect to cloud storage quickly too.

Here's a link to FileBrowsers support guide to setting up "External Access", since thats what i'm taking your after with references to DropBox.  This takes some setup but then you can access your files on the Mac Mini without limitations of being on the same network.

In a nutshell you are going to either open a port in your network firewall or setup a vpn to be able to get on the same network as your MacMini when outside of your home.


What power class does an iPad and an iPhone have? I am doing antenna simulations in order to visualize the electric field produced by an iPhone and an iPad. In order to do so, I need to know what typical power output these devices have.

From Wikipedia it is said that:

  Whereas a mobile phone can range from 21 dBm (125 mW) for Power Class 4 to 33 dBm (2W) for Power class 1 [...]

I need to be more precise than this, so I was wondering if anyone knew what power class a regular iPad and and iPhone is?

The radio frequencies and they respective power are regulated by official sources. In the USA, you will need to go to the FCC web site to get precise numbers for the radio power output.

In order to search the FCC OET Equipment Authorization database, you will need the FCC ID of the device you want to lookup.

All devices that use radio frequency spectrum are required to print their unique FCC ID on a label on the device.

It may also be printed on a separate document that accompanies the device.

Example for iPhone 4S WiFi radio.


How to delete the News app on OSX? I want to remove the News app from my computer. I tried to remove it myself:

dsenableroot
su - root
sudo rm -rf /Applications/News.app

"Operation not permitted"

It appears I no longer in control of my computer.

Can somebody help me pull this app out of my machine?

You do not need to disable System Integrity Protection (SIP).

To delete the News app, do the following:

Backup News.app with via Time Machine or making a Zip archive.

For the Zip archive, right-click it and select: Compress "News"

Shutdown your Mac.
Boot to Recovery Mode. Press ⌘R when starting your Mac.
Open Terminal from the Utilities menu.
Run the following compound command adjusting Macintosh HD as necessary if you've modified the default name of the primary startup volume:

rm -r "/Volumes/Macintosh HD/Applications/News.app"; reboot

After rebooting from Recovery Mode, if you still have the News icon on the Dock, right-click it and select: Options > Remove from Dock

Note that while this does remove the News.app, it may/will reappear when macOS is updated/upgraded and will need to be deleted again.

If after having done this and you want to restore the News app, then restore it using Time Machine, if you backed it up in that manner, or if you created the Zip archive, it would have been created in the /Applications folder, if you moved it elsewhere, move it back and then do the following:

Shutdown your Mac.
Boot to Recovery Mode. Press ⌘R when starting your Mac.
Open Terminal from the Utilities menu.
Run the following compound command adjusting Macintosh HD as necessary if you've modified the default name of the primary startup volume:

cd "/Volumes/Macintosh HD/Applications"; ../usr/bin/unzip News.zip; reboot