How to get tmutil compare to show results deeper than root directory When I use tmutil compare, I only get a list of items in the root folder:

- 10.0K                         /Volumes/Time Machine Backups/Backups.backupdb/Andrew’s MacBook Air/2020-06-02-183525/Macintosh HD - Data/.DS_Store
- 992B                          /Volumes/Time Machine Backups/Backups.backupdb/Andrew’s MacBook Air/2020-06-02-183525/Macintosh HD - Data/.OSInstallerMessages
- 0B                            /Volumes/Time Machine Backups/Backups.backupdb/Andrew’s MacBook Air/2020-06-02-183525/Macintosh HD - Data/.PKInstallSandboxManager-SystemSoftware
- 1.6M                          /Volumes/Time Machine Backups/Backups.backupdb/Andrew’s MacBook Air/2020-06-02-183525/Macintosh HD - Data/.TempReceipt.bom
- 172B                          /Volumes/Time Machine Backups/Backups.backupdb/Andrew’s MacBook Air/2020-06-02-183525/Macintosh HD - Data/.abackblaze
- 521B                          /Volumes/Time Machine Backups/Backups.backupdb/Andrew’s MacBook Air/2020-06-02-183525/Macintosh HD - Data/.bzvol
- 0B                            /Volumes/Time Machine Backups/Backups.backupdb/Andrew’s MacBook Air/2020-06-02-183525/Macintosh HD - Data/.file
- 424B                          /Volumes/Time Machine Backups/Backups.backupdb/Andrew’s MacBook Air/2020-06-02-183525/Macintosh HD - Data/.installer-compatibility
- 0B                            /Volumes/Time Machine Backups/Backups.backupdb/Andrew’s MacBook Air/2020-06-02-183525/Macintosh HD - Data/.vol
- 3.5G                          /Volumes/Time Machine Backups/Backups.backupdb/Andrew’s MacBook Air/2020-06-02-183525/Macintosh HD - Data/Library
- 1.9G                          /Volumes/Time Machine Backups/Backups.backupdb/Andrew’s MacBook Air/2020-06-02-183525/Macintosh HD - Data/System
- 33.6G                         /Volumes/Time Machine Backups/Backups.backupdb/Andrew’s MacBook Air/2020-06-02-183525/Macintosh HD - Data/Users
- 0B                            /Volumes/Time Machine Backups/Backups.backupdb/Andrew’s MacBook Air/2020-06-02-183525/Macintosh HD - Data/Volumes
- 0B                            /Volumes/Time Machine Backups/Backups.backupdb/Andrew’s MacBook Air/2020-06-02-183525/Macintosh HD - Data/cores
- 0B                            /Volumes/Time Machine Backups/Backups.backupdb/Andrew’s MacBook Air/2020-06-02-183525/Macintosh HD - Data/mnt
- 0B                            /Volumes/Time Machine Backups/Backups.backupdb/Andrew’s MacBook Air/2020-06-02-183525/Macintosh HD - Data/opt
- 1.6G                          /Volumes/Time Machine Backups/Backups.backupdb/Andrew’s MacBook Air/2020-06-02-183525/Macintosh HD - Data/private
- 0B                            /Volumes/Time Machine Backups/Backups.backupdb/Andrew’s MacBook Air/2020-06-02-183525/Macintosh HD - Data/sw
- 97.1M                         /Volumes/Time Machine Backups/Backups.backupdb/Andrew’s MacBook Air/2020-06-02-183525/Macintosh HD - Data/usr
- 500.6M                        /Volumes/Time Machine Backups/Backups.backupdb/Andrew’s MacBook Air/2020-06-02-183525/Recovery
+ 84.3G                         /System/Volumes/Data
- 12.1G                         /Volumes/Time Machine Backups/Backups.backupdb/Andrew’s MacBook Air/2020-06-02-183525/Macintosh HD
+ 500.7M                        /Volumes/Recovery

When I've seen other posts in this forum and elsewhere, the output from tmutil compare has been a list of files within subdirectories of the root folder.

Is there something I could do differently?

Edit:

To clarify, this backup's copy of the /Users folder differs from the computer by 33.6G - but I get no info about what makes up that difference. I could run tmutil compare again to compare the /Users folder on the computer with the backup, and so on down through the folder hierarchy until I found out what files were added/missing/changed. But is there some way of getting this recursive process to run without having to manually compare folder after folder?

This tool is designed to operate on the entire backup set. Rather than try to bend it to your will, may I suggest a tool that does precisely what you seek, does it fast and in the background and can even help you track changed files when your backup drive is not mounted.

https://www.soma-zone.com/BackupLoupe/

The loupe tool works best for me when I track deleted files, so once you get a couple of your recent backups scanned, you can explore what’s changing hour by hour or day by day. There’s no need to let it run over dozens of backups for you to get a feeling if it will work well for the question you pose here. Long term, you’ll want to decide if you let it index in the background and keep the indexes always up to date or launch it only when you want deep scans and then let it run to get your analysis up to date.

Due to the limitations of tmutil compare this tool implements their own scanner since as you point out, the main tool is good to know the entire change load and not focus on specific parts.


How do I loop a video in MPlayerX? I downloaded MPlayerX from the App Store and I would like to use it to play a video in loop.

Is there a way to do that?

I can't find a menu, preference option, or any mention on the support page or change logs for a looping option, so I think it might be safe to say no, there isn't a way to do that with that piece of software.


Restore Classic layout to Apple Mail Currently Apple Mail displays like the following.

I would like apple mail on my Apple Mail on 11.5 to display like the following similar to the Gmail web client.  I would like a list view like the following image of an older version of Apple Mail.

How to I achieve this?

To get the Classic view back in Apple Mail:

Go to Preferences
Select Viewing
Tick the Use classic layout checkbox


macOS High Sierra: still usable as a development environment? I have a late 2011 MacBook Pro and I am about to invest in some hardware for this lovely piece. With the new macOS release this year, my MacBook won't get an update to Mojave.

My question is: How fatal is this for me as a user/developer? Can I expect to work with high sierra? Or will future tools and SDK only be released for the latest macOS (in this case Mojave)?

I don't know the policy of Apple. So if some experienced users could give me some information about how Apple treats "old" MacBook, this would be nice.

This is not a critical problem. You should be able to continue developing on your MacBook Pro for a year or two yet.

iOS Development

For iOS development, so long as Xcode supports your operating system, there is no problem. Do check the iOS SDKs supported by Xcode in case you need to work with specific features.

macOS Testing

You will be able to continue developing applications that target macOS 10.13 and below. Building for macOS 10.14+ is possible but testing will be a problem.

Some features, such as Dark Mode/Appearance support, will be difficult to implement correctly. Implementing support does not require the developer run macOS 10.14, but they should be able to borrow or test on a Mac running macOS 10.14.

App Store Submissions

You will continue to be able to submit applications to Apple's App Stores. Historically, Apple have not restricted what tools or versions are used to build applications they accept.

Future

Be aware that Apple previewed an iOS on macOS framework at WWDC 2018. This suggests significant changes are coming to at least the Mac platform. You may want to wait until more is known, before investing too much in a new Mac.


Can Windows 7 on Bootcamp cause problems? If I install Windows 7 on my Macbook Pro using Bootcamp, can Windows cause problems on the OS X partition? Can it overwrite OS X system files or corrupt my data? My main concern is that I need to use Windows 7 for some school and work related things throughout the year, but I want to keep OS X clean and healthy throughout the process.

Bootcamp will create a separate partition for the Windows installation. This NTFS-formatted Windows partition is completely separate from the OS X partition.

Moreover, you can always delete the Windows partition and return your HDD to its original state.

In other words, Bootcamp should be pretty safe and won't touch your Mac installation nor should it touch your files on the Mac partition.


iCloud storage is full, how to find each folder size? I'm using a 50GB plan on iCloud and now it seems to be almost full. I received the message saying it is almost full and checking iCloud discovered there is less then 1GB free.

I would like to know which are the biggest files/folders, so I can move them elsewhere. I tried to find folder size in the following way:

My-MacBook-Pro:com~apple~CloudDocs me$ du -h -d 1
184M    ./SomeFolder
1.4G    ./AnotherFolder
5.5G    ./Me
4.4M    ./.Trash
 16K    ./Downloads
7.0G    .

But, due to the mechanics of iCloud (I think) some files are stored on iCloud only, and so I'm failing to get the full size of everything.

How to proceed?

Well, you could go to System Preferences > iCloud > Manage, and see which files take the most space.


Can I configure my iPhone to play audio files through ear speaker instead of the bottom speaker? My company utilizes a voicemail system which sends audio files as email attachments. These audio files playback via QuickTime in iOS which pushes the audio out via the phone's speaker. Which is great for a Mumford and Sons song, not so great for voicemail. I can hook up headphones for private listening, but when I am without headphones wanted to use the phone's ear speaker instead.

Using an iPhone 5 and iOS 6 is it possible to play audio files played back via QuickTime with the ear speaker? If not via QuickTime is there an app for that?

No you can't.

And as far as I can tell (searching the App Store) there are no apps that can help you. Even if there was one you wouldn't be able to open the audio file in Mail without using QuickTime, and that will always lead to the audio file playing through speaker.

Best you can do is have a pair of headphones with you and hope something changes in the future.


Using FileVault 2 on non-boot disk with moved home directory I have OS X Lion installed on an SSD which is encrypted with FileVault 2. I have a second magnetic hard drive that I've moved my home directory to in order to not take up space on the SSD.

My question is, will it cause any problems if I encrypt the second drive (the standard magnetic HDD) using the command line?

I've read through this:

http://arstechnica.com/apple/reviews/2011/07/mac-os-x-10-7.ars/13#lion-file-system

but I didn't see my specific case mentioned. Has anyone successfully done this without losing their data or boot capabilities?

You don't need to reformat your disk to enable encryption. To encrypt a drive on Lion, you can use the following command:

diskutil cs convert /Volumes/your_drive_name_here -passphrase

You’ll then be prompted for the passphrase you want to set and get output similar to what’s shown below:

computer name:~ username$ diskutil cs convert /Volumes/your_drive_name_here -passphrase
New passphrase for converted volume:
Confirm new passphrase:
Started CoreStorage operation on disk2s1 your_drive_name_here
Resizing disk to fit Core Storage headers
[ - 0%..10%.............................................. ]
Creating Core Storage Logical Volume Group
Attempting to unmount disk2s1
Switching disk2s1 to Core Storage
Waiting for Logical Volume to appear
Mounting Logical Volume
Core Storage LVG UUID: D1EAB2C3-EC21-41DA-AD60-75E1302E247B
Core Storage PV UUID: 991C89E9-A628-408C-AAFF-39A561FCB95C
Core Storage LV UUID: 36483526-6C2C-43FA-A4B7-6F503473F1C2
Core Storage disk: disk3
Finished CoreStorage operation on disk2s1 your_drive_name_here
Encryption in progress; use diskutil coreStorage list for status

You’ll want to leave the Mac up and running while the drive is encrypting, as the encryption process may fail if interrupted. To check on its progress, run the following command:

diskutil cs list

Check the list displayed for the name of the drive you’re encrypting. When you find it, look for Size (Converted):, as that will tell you how far along the encryption is.

Once the encryption is finished, it should report Conversion Status: Complete

For more information, see here.


What is this mysterious floating menu bar? Ever since I upgraded to Mavericks, a mysterious, floating menubar has appeared on my desktop. As you can see from the two screenshots below, it is there when I have many apps open and when I exit as many things as possible. It appears immediately after boot up, and interestingly, when I restart or shut down, it remains visible even after the system leaves the desktop view during the shut down process.

The bar can be moved, but not resized. Right clicking it does nothing.

Any ideas, it is quite annoying, especially when I am not using an external monitor.

I had similar problems with applications leaving artefacts on the screen with later versions of OS X. Try to quit also apps in menubar. Download something like magican, or some other program that lets you see what all is running on your mac, check activity monitor for what all is running.

And it may be good to try to relaunch finder (cmd+option+esc, and choose finder, relaunch).


iPhone 5s slow on wifi I have an iPhone 5s that was bought several months ago. For some reason, it is quite slow on the wifi in my house - noticeably slower than 4g/LTE speed - and has been this way from the beginning. Other devices (Macbook, iPhone 4) do not have this problem when used from the same location. Also, the phone seems to work well on other wifi networks. Are there any ways to troubleshoot this?

You might want to follow Apple's steps in troubleshooting generate Wifi issues.

In addition, try resetting the iPhone's Network Settings by navigating to Settings > General > Reset > Reset Network Settings, then restart the iPhone and re-connect to the WiFi network.


How can I access preview documents saved to iCloud from 10.8 on an iPad? As of OS X Mountain Lion (10.8) one can move Preview documents to iCloud, how do I access these documents from my iPad?

You unfortunately can't, there is no related application for iOS right now. Whether this is an oversight in Preview (which shouldn't be able to save into iCloud in the first place) or a hint for things to come with iOS 6 is unclear right now.


Mac OS X - File Open Dialog: Can't sort or resize columns I'm having a problem where when I go to File > Open; I can't resize the different columns.


Can you install Google Chrome on an iOS Device Is it possible to install Google Chrome web browser on an iOS device?

You can now install Google Chrome on an iOS Device.

Do note that it does not use the Chrome Rendering engine, but uses the Safari webkit. The "killer feature" though is that it has syncing with your Google Account.


Is there an app which allows sharing of an iPad screen to another iPad? Is there an app that lets me share one iPad screen to another iPad when both are in the same location?

You could potentially use something like Reflector to mirror one iPad to a computer and then use a VNC client on the other iPad to view the computer, but I've never heard of any iPad-iPad direct sharing.


Searching for available Apple Developer account names I am about to set up a company but I have a suspicion another developer has taken the name that we would intend to trade under for a developer account.

We're setting up our business in the UK, and the official registration office (companies house) claims the name is available as far as 'the company' is concerned, but is there some way I can check if the Apple Developer account name will be available before actually forming the company? Will it be a problem or can we and this third party both trade under near-identical names? (for example fuzzy games and fuzzy-games).

As far as I know you can pick any name as you like, as long as your company details shared with Apple are correct. And yes, they check everything before you get approved - took me a few weeks to fix the details with them because they've missed the "Inc."

Do you really want to change your future company name if the account is taken as Apple ID? There are many many many companies around with similar names, or near similar names.

Just take the name you had in mind, as long as your company details match there is nothing they can do to disapprove your Apple ID.


Photos not backed up to iCloud even though I have space My iPhone 11 says that 577 of my photos have not been uploaded to iCloud because there is not enough space.
However when I go to Settings > iCloud it says that I have only used 35.6 of 50 GB of the storage.
All of my other 1000 photos have uploaded but I don’t know why these are not.

If your iPhone storage itself is full, it can stop the ability to upload to iCloud.

Are your other devices able to upload new photos?
Sign in-and-out of iCloud?
Reboot the phone?
Double check your wifi connection or enable uploading over cellular?

Source: MacWorld


Is there a way to input values and then run aliases in iterm2 I just came to know about the alias option and I have this code which would download any youtube vid in the highest quality. But the problem is I have to enter the url of the youtube vid.
Is there any way to create alias for it.
I tried alias youtube="youtube-dl -f best 'link'"
but it takes link as the url since I've not given a variable.
Is there anyway to get an input and save it in the variable link.

aliases are not set by terminal or iTerm they are a part of your shell.
By default in BigSur it is zsh, for most other versions before the default shell was bash
aliases do not take a parameter they just do a text replacement of the alias by the text to the right of the =  If you need to do things with parameters then look at functions in the shell manuals.
As to your case an alias will work as the alias is expanded and then the rest of the command line is passed to it.
A simple example is to get a long list of files
alias ll='ls -l'

Call this by ll ~
and you get the same result as ls -l ~
I think in your case you just need
alias youtube='youtube-dl -f best '

Then type (where link is the URL you want)
youtube link


Unable to backup macbook using time machine Since a few weeks ago, i am unable to backup my mac using time machine. It finds my backup drive, but each time i get a message that reads : failed to create a local snapshot.
I have already reinstalled a fresh installation using the apple recovery utility, and also tried to use a different backup drive.
Note that i did not try to erase my data yet.
Edit:
I wanted to point out the fact that this issue is impacting two macbook at this time, while six others are being backed up fine, using the same release and the same backup disc.
Edit:
Using this command sudo tmutil listlocalsnapshots /, I get this output:
Snapshots for volume group containing disk /:
com.apple.TimeMachine.2020-06-18-194222.local
com.apple.TimeMachine.2020-06-18-203811.local
com.apple.TimeMachine.2020-06-18-213808.local
com.apple.TimeMachine.2020-06-18-223858.local
com.apple.TimeMachine.2020-06-18-233809.local
com.apple.TimeMachine.2020-06-19-004440.local
com.apple.TimeMachine.2020-06-19-014255.local
com.apple.TimeMachine.2020-06-19-024125.local
com.apple.TimeMachine.2020-06-19-033808.local
com.apple.TimeMachine.2020-06-19-043810.local
com.apple.TimeMachine.2020-06-19-053809.local
com.apple.TimeMachine.2020-06-19-064356.local
com.apple.TimeMachine.2020-06-19-083809.local
com.apple.TimeMachine.2020-06-19-095017.local
com.apple.TimeMachine.2020-06-19-104256.local

So, snapshots are indeed created despite time-machine's error message.

As suggested, the only solution was to back up the whole system using a rsync command, and reinstall the OS from scratch.


How to change the iPhone's audio output back to non-bluetooth? (internal speakers) At first I thought Pokemon Go is the only issue, but today I installed Clash of Clans and it is the same situation: the game audio will try to go out through the Bluetooth channel but since there is no bluetooth device around, it is all mute.

If I plug in the earbuds, then I can hear something for both Pokemon Go and Clash of Clans. The other way is: if I find and turn on a portable Bluetooth speaker, or if I go to the car and use the bluetooth there.

But there should be a way to make these app go out through the iPhone's internal speakers. How can it be done? (if I turn off Bluetooth on the iPhone, it doesn't solve the problem).

P.S. the iPhone Music app doesn't have this problem. Only the apps do -- so I don't think it is apps' problem. I am using iOS 10.2.1 which is quite recent.

P.P.S. just as a test, I just installed Angry Birds Rio, and it is exactly the same with Pokemon Go, Clash of Clans: no audio. So I don't think it is the apps' problem.

This is a bit of a guess based on an assumption I am making (dangerous, I know).

My assumption is that when you're playing games such as Angry Birds Rio that the audio is not actually outputting via Bluetooth at all.

Instead, I think the reason you do hear it when switching on a Bluetooth speaker is because at that point the iPhone starts outputting via Bluetooth. Prior to that, I think your iPhone is outputting via the iPhone's internal speakers but you're not hearing it because the volume level is not up for games.

What I mean is that iPhones have multiple volume levels. For example, it is possible to have the ringer volume level all the way up while having the games audio level all the way down.

As a test, I would start playing one of the games and make sure the volume is turned up (and also that the mute switch is not on). If that solves the problem, great! If not, report back so I or others can dig deeper.


How can I safely install applications which aren't distributed via the Mac App Store? To keep things simple, I'd like to only install apps from the official AppStore. But, I'm frequently finding that the apps that I need are not on the AppStore such as Gradle, Carbon Copy Cloner, and Android Studio. It is what it is, and I install them, but what's the deal?
Can somebody explain to me why some applications are distributed outside of the store and how I as a user can still install them safely?

There can be many reasons for app developers to stay away from the App Store. For example:

Wanting to avoid paying fees/percentages to Apple
App has functionality not possible in the App Store due to its sandboxing requirement or Apple's review guidelines
Not wanting to spend time on getting in the App Store (usually for programs that have been on the market long before the App Store was a thing)

Checksums is definitely a very common way of validating downloaded files. Combined with a cryptographically secure certificate of authenticity for the checksum, and you can have a certain degree of trust in that the downloaded file originates from the app developer and is not tampered with by third parties.


Can't get VGA output to work with MacBookPro5,3 OS X 10.6.8 I have a ~2009 MacBook Pro (model MacBookPro5,3) with OS X 10.6.8.

I'm trying to use a Apple Mini DisplayPort to VGA adapter to connect to an external monitor. I've tried two different monitors and two different VGA cables so far, and no luck.  Both work fine with my ThinkPad; simply plug and (dis)play.

I believe I've already tried every permutation of the order of connecting things, as well as with power on or off.  But the MBP just doesn't seem to recognize the monitors.

For example with monitor powered on, when I insert the DisplayPort adapter, the MBP screen turns blue for a second or two ... but then I don't see anything on the monitor or anything change in System Preferences > Display.

I've never tried to connect an external monitor to a MBP before -- I didn't expect it to be this difficult.  Is there something dumb/obvious I'm overlooking??

EDIT: Showing System Profiler result for Graphics/Displays when the external monitor is connected but not recognized via the mDP. Note that it shows two adapters:

1.

NVIDIA GeForce 9400M:

  Chipset Model:    NVIDIA GeForce 9400M
  Type: GPU
  Bus:  PCI
  VRAM (Total): 256 MB
  Vendor:   NVIDIA (0x10de)
  Device ID:    0x0863
  Revision ID:  0x00b1
  ROM Revision: 3448
  gMux Version: 1.8.8
  Displays:
Color LCD:
  Resolution:   1440 x 900
  Pixel Depth:  32-Bit Color (ARGB8888)
  Main Display: Yes
  Mirror:   Off
  Online:   Yes
  Built-In: Yes
Display Connector:
  Status:   No Display Connected

2.

NVIDIA GeForce 9600M GT:

  Chipset Model:    NVIDIA GeForce 9600M GT
  Type: GPU
  Bus:  PCIe
  PCIe Lane Width:  x16
  VRAM (Total): 256 MB
  Vendor:   NVIDIA (0x10de)
  Device ID:    0x0647
  Revision ID:  0x00a1
  ROM Revision: 3448
  gMux Version: 1.8.8
  Displays:
Display Connector:
  Status:   No Display Connected
Display Connector:
  Status:   No Display Connected

Have you tried a SMC reset?  Often fixes crazy port issues.


iPhone 5S touchscreen become unresponsive, how to properly calibrate it? Recently my iPhone 5S has become frozen as there was no or very little memory to save even a picture, I thought it was a software issue and later when I tried to hard reset it by pressing the wake & home button the red screen appeared. Later I restored the iPhone with iTunes on a Windows PC. Everything went normal and restoration was successful with no issues, but later the touch screen became buggy. Especially the keypad freezes often and also every time the touchscreen freezes I supposed to lock and wake the phone again and again to make the touchscreen responsive.

There is less chance it would have a hardware damage. Because I am using a very rugged hard case cover as well the iPhone is wrapped up with Touch Screen Protector, hardening the glass. The phone is out of warranty as well. I never dropped even accidentally as well I always keep my phones in my pocket or either on my desk.

I even have tested the touch screen by removing the Hard Glass screen protector also, still the problem persists even after cleaning the phone properly. Moreover my phone has enough space now after the hard reset and restoration, more than 9 gigs to do IO read/write.

I would suggest taking a full encrypted backup of the phone using iTunes. Then restore the phone with the latest iOS without restoring your backup.

If the problem with the touchscreen freezes persist, you most probably have a hardware error (or at least an error that is not user-fixable). If so, you'll have to take it in for repairs.

If the problem with the touchscreen disappears, the problem could be a corruption in the settings in your backup. If you can do without restoring the backup, that would be ideal - otherwise you'll have to use third party utils to pick and choose stuff from the backup and copy them to the device again.


Could anybody tell me the steps to install Tomboy notes on Mac? I have been using Ubuntu since few years and have stored many notes on the Tomboy note application that comes pre-istalled with it. Now, i've migrated to Mac and finding it difficult to install Tomboy Notes app on Lion. The instruction given on Tomboy's website doesn't work for me. Could somebody please help me out?

There is a new version in beta now, but if you want the old version to work you have to install an older version of Mono, like 2.6.7 from http://download.mono-project.com/archive/2.6.7/download/.


What's the best way to play music from my iPhone in my car wirelessly? I have an iPhone 4 (and have pre-ordered a 4S] and I have a car.  I'd like to play the music from my phone over the car's speakers easily.  I know I can get a cord that has a cigarette lighter adapter on one end and a 3.5mm audio jack on the other but I'd prefer to do it completely wireless if possible.

Has anyone had any success doing this?  If so what device(s) did you use?

You need a Bluetooth stereo if you want NO wires or adapters, but it constantly cuts out (check other forums). You'd be better off with a direct connection, or an adapter/cable to send it over tr FM waves


iCal sending decline e-mails when it purges old calendar entries I have iCal version 4.0.4.  I have enabled the "Delete events 30 days after they have passed" preference option.  When iCal purges these events, it is sending a decline e-mail to the event organizer.

Is there a way to stop iCal from sending decline e-mails when it automatically purges calendar entries?

I turned off my internet connection. Declined(works for Accept as well) the invites in iCal.

iCal sends the messages to your email client. I deleted them from the Mail/Outbox manually.

Then I turned the wifi card back on.

Done.


does thunderbolt support connecting multiple computers to a monitor I'm planning to get a new Mac mini server plus a mac book pro.
I would like information about Thunderbolt support for connecting two computers to a single display, i.e. in my case the Mac mini to the Thunderbolt display port and simultaneously the Mac Book pro with the Thunderbolt cable.

Do you mean multiple inputs (like a TV)? In that case, no. The Thunderbolt display supports one input but allows you to chain additional displays or drives using the Thunderbolt port on the back of the display.


Generate « and » characters from keyboard I'm trying to make it so I can press ctrl + cmd + [ to create « and ctrl + cmd + ] to create ».

I tried searching google and couldn't find anything that would allow me to do this and all the tutorials seem to do things differently from what I'm trying to achieve.

I have tried https://pqrs.org/osx/karabiner/ but I can't figure out how to setup custom keypresses.

On UK English, those characters are available on

 Opt ⌥   \    «
&
 Opt ⌥   Shift ⇧    \   »

The Keyboard Viewer is useful for finding some of the obscure ones, available from the menu bar after setting System Prefs > Keyboard > Keyboard to show there.


How to set Xcode as core.editor in git? My current git config core.editor returns dreamweaver which I set up two years ago from inside the app(IIRC), and now I don't use it. I am receiving error while amending the author of the last commit.

~$ git commit --amend --author="me <my@mail>"
hint: Waiting for your editor to close the file... fatal: cannot run
dreamweaver: No such file or directory
error: unable to start editor 'dreamweaver'

How do I set it to use Xcode? I tried

git config --global core.editor="xcode"
error: invalid key: core.editor=Xcode

And from https://stackoverflow.com/questions/53550025/git-unable-to-start-xcode-from-terminal-on-mac-os-x, even though xed launches Xcode.

$ git config --global core.editor="xed"
error: invalid key: core.editor=xed

xed -w also launches Xcode so I tried the same instead of ="xed -w" but same error.

It's all about syntax sometimes :-)

git config --global core.editor 'xed -w'

Not sure whether you really want to wait for Xcode to launch each time you git commit something. Maybe vi or nano are the better options here.


Deleted Bootcamp Partition and Mac boots into broken windows problem

So i got windows 10 on my mac and realized that i barely had partitioned enough space on windows so i booted back into Sierra and messed with the partitioning so i decided to delete the bootcamp partition, now everytime i boot up my mac it boots into windows but it gives me an error page so i have to hold "option" everytime i boot up my macbook.

Would reinstalling windows with bootcamp again solve this?

Btw when i open disk utilities, the bootcamp partition isn't even there which is weirder

I assume you have a model Mac that Apple has documented to officially support Windows 10. If not, then this answer may not apply.

After holding down the option key until the icons appear, you can permanently select default operating system to boot from by holding down the control key before selecting label below the desired icon.

Next, you have not completely deleted Windows 10. The Windows 10 boot files do not reside in the partition you deleted. The files actually reside in the first partition of the internal drive. This partition contains the volume labeled EFI.

Step to remove Windows files from EFI volume:

Enter the following command in a Terminal application window. This will mount the EFI volume. This volume will appear as the device labeled EFI in the Finder application.

diskutil  mount  disk0s1

Remove the folders labeled Boot and Microsoft from the mounted EFI volume. The image below shows the location of these folders.

Enter the following command in a Terminal application window. This will unmount the EFI volume.

diskutil  unmount  disk0s1


Why iOS settings and iTunes report the storage usage differently? My iTunes shows me that there is about 7 GB of free space, while iOS settings shows me that there is only about 80 MB of available space.  How do free space and available space differ?

Additional note: I tried to sum all used sizes of apps in Manage Storage list; its total (about 2925 MB) does not match to iOS settings’ Used size report (11.7 GB), but match to iTunes’ storage usage chart.

I reset my iPhone and recover the backup data.  My all installed apps and data are seemingly maintained well, but its storage usage became changed: about 7 GB of new free space came out.  Also, it’s reported in the same way by both iTunes and iOS settings.

I’m still not aware of the cause, but my problem was anyway solved.


Why are my Events in iOS 8 iPhoto in a completely random order? Since upgrading to iOS 8, I've noticed that the Events list inside iPhoto is no longer in reverse chronological order. In fact, it's not in any order at all. This makes the Events system almost completely useless for me.

Is anyone else experiencing this? Is it a bug, or is there a setting I need to configure?

It's a bug.
No fix at all right now.

I've tried all the usual suspects, re-order in iPhoto, delete & re-add all my Events, clear & re-sync everything.

Events arrive in random order whatever I do… a different random order after each of the attempts to fix.

There's been a lot of discussion on the Apple community site about it, no-one's found a fix, the bug is known to have been reported already.


Reload page in Safari without resending form? Sometimes, I want to reload a page in Safari, but I submitted a form on the previous page. Is there any way, short of entering the URL bar (either with a mouse or with ⌘+L and pressing return), to reload the page without resending the form?

Strictly speaking, no.  For simple HTML forms using Common Gateway Interface (CGI), the web page you see is the output of a process which uses the form data as an input.  Put another way, the server needs the form data to generate the page.  There a lot of ways to get around that using back-end databases, cookies, javascript, etc.  But generally speaking: no-form, no-result.

You mentioned clicking in the URL bar and pressing return, but if the form uses the GET method (form data in the URL itself), then clicking in the URL bar and pressing return does effectively resend it.  However, if the form uses the POST method (form data sent in the HTTP request body), then clicking the URL bar and pressing will not send the form data and so the page will not be regenerated.

Note that if you tell Safari to reload a form-result page, it will usually ask you to confirm that you really want to do that, then resend the form data.  The reason it asks is that there may well be some side-effect of the form (like charging your credit card) which you might not want to repeat.  That's poor CGI design, but it happens.


Incorrect time on .ics invitations All of my calendars are on iCloud (synched to Outlook 2013 on Win7, and on my iPad and iPhone). At least most of the time (possibly every time) I receive an .ics meeting invitation, the time is incorrect. This seems to be exclusively tied to time zone differences, but makes no sense.

For instance, I received an invitation yesterday from someone in California (PST). They had set the meeting for 08:00 their time. I am in EST (+3 hours). The invitation (and the resulting calendar item after I accepted) show as 10:00 for me. Clearly this is neither my time zone nor the originator's. When I look at the entry in iCloud, it shows a "Floating" time zone. I cannot change the time of the event in any of my tools (Outlook, iCloud, or iOS), presumably because it of restriction of permissions on events created from an invitation. I also cannot delete the item (without rejecting the invitation), so my only recourse has been to create a duplicate entry at the correct time, hoping I won't be confused by this in 6 weeks on the meeting date.

Is there any way for me to handle these .ics invitations and have them end up showing properly in my calendar?

http://lanyrd.com/help/timezones/

iPhone calendar settings live in Settings -> Mail, Contacts, Calendars -  select "Time Zone Override".

I turned it off and it resolved the issue with the time zones


Does Apple Remote Desktop send framebuffer data or rendering commands? Does Apple Remote Desktop send the framebuffer (VNC like) when using remote viewing/control capabilities or does it send rendering commands (RDP like).

Does this differ based on what client is connected (VNC vs. the ARD client)?

VNC like. It has several compression schemes, but things like the startfield animation drive it to high bandwidth and very low quality.

This is one area where Windows just kills Mac. I couldn't believe how much more responsive rendering commands were when using RDP. Even windows XP is so much faster for remote access. I can work all day remotely with decent fast ethernet and a fast TS server. Not so on Remote Desktop unless all the stars are "aligned" and off screen so to speak.


Why is it important to keep lots of freespace on OSX? What is the impact? I have a 500GB drive and have less than 50 GB free.  Console is reporting several interesting errors saying I'm too low on space and it's cleaning up "stuff"

  1/6/13 4:49:51.475 PM com.apple.mtmd[452]: attempting to thin because of low free space on Macintosh HD (/) by removing 2013-01-06 15:50:13 -0500, estimate 0 bytes to recover, 1 snapshot can be thinned

Why should I have sufficient free space on my drive?
Since I have a large drive, does it mean I need 10% of a 50 GB drive free? (that's a lot)
Now that I'm low on space, what is the system deleting and fixing that it doesn't do normally?

OS X has several built in tools that suspend themselves when space is low. iOS has a far more evolved system where space is much more precious, and over time, those mechanisms are finding their way into OS X as well:

General HFS+ optimization on spinning HD such as delayed allocation, pre-allocation and on the fly defragmentation of files
local Time Machine snapshots (10.7 and later)
Photos database (10.10 and later) can "reoptimize" and reduce storage when you run low.
Cached files in ~/Library/Caches and /Library/Caches will probably get harvested under the correct storage pressure (no space for swap for instance). Look for iTunes music cached files, iCloud synced files

In the case of very large swings in storage, look first at Time Machine trying to thin the local backups when storage runs low past the "warning" level. Once those messages are logged to /var/log/system.log the time machine daemons will be more aggressive about pruning old backups, but not suspending local backups entirely.

Hot file optimization is where small files that are read from or written to often get tiered to the fastest portion of a spinning hard drive.

Keeping a little free space (I believe mtmd thinning begins at 20% of the volume) means you can have a longer range of local Time Machine snapshots to protect you from deleting a file or erasing some work without needing to connect an actual Time Machine drive to recover that file.

With more free space on the drive, the other optimizations can make your drive work faster, so it's more a performance issue when you get less than 10 or 5 GB of free space since the system has less flexibility in optimizing for speed and has to just write a file where there is room as opposed to where it would best be kept to minimize file fragmentation.

You can also run the periodic cleanup scripts to see if rotating log files and pruning files in the various /tmp directories help in emergency cases. I've even gone so far as cleaning cached files after quitting the apps to get temporary reprieve to let a critical task finish or get a good backup of files before restarting the system to recover from the manual deletion.

My experience is you don't really see significant slow downs until you get to less than 15 GB of space - and sometimes not even until you get into the 5 GB of free space. In fact, these caching designs speed up the OS and help
with recovering files (in the case of Time Machine local backups). Running benchmarks can tell that drives start to slow down once you get them 30% full - so SSD are far more level in performance due to the lack of rotational time delays and head seek delays. They also have some overhead to allow a full drive to still have room to juggle delete and write operations since they address storage in larger chunks than the typical block size of an I/O.


My practically brand new Macbook Pro 2020's screen elements are suddenly PINK I've tried powering off and on again. No love. Same with resetting PRAM.
It's even worse with Night Shift on. I need Night Shift on while working on detailed color projects at night, to save my poor old eyes. The pink windows and elements are unacceptable.
Anyone have any suggestions how to determine why my screen is pink?

Without a screen image we won’t be able to diagnose if it’s LCD failure, cable failure, GPU failure or perhaps just a bad OS needing reinstall.
Even new machines can fail, so you can surely take advantage of the warranty service to have Apple help you as well if using this site for ideas isn’t quick enough.


How to sort a playlist in iTunes 12.2.1.6 Ever since the last iTunes update (12.2.1.6), there's a new way of displaying playlists, where the songs are twice the size vertically, and I can't find any column headers to sort the playlist by. I want to sort the playlist by Year. It might be really simple but I don't know how to do it.

For ver 12.4.1.6 the pulldown on the right is gone.  In the menu bar click View > View As > Songs


Is it possible to upgrade my jailbroken iPod Touch 2G to 4.0 (not 4.0.2) without losing data? I am currently considering update my second generation iPod Touch to the 4.0 firmware (not 4.0.2 because I need to jailbreak it). I know that if I update the firmware, I will lose the jailbreak. But is it possible to update it without losing music/videos/apps/etc?

All the instructions I found involve going into DFU mode, and afaik, you lose all your songs/data when you go into DFU mode.

I have my SHSH on file with Cydia, so that is not a problem.

As far as I'm aware, if you make a full backup through iTunes, do the upgrade, and restore your data, you will retain the valid apps' data only.


How can I put heavy load on my CPU for a long period of time? How can I put my CPU under very high pressure for a long period of time? Are there programs for that that I can keep running ?

At the command line, run this command:

cat < /dev/urandom > /dev/null

(Open up a terminal window and type that into the window.)

This should keep your CPU loaded nicely for as long as you allow the command to run.


How can I show multiple Google calendars in iPhone's calendar app? I setup my iPhone 3GS with iOS 4 to sync with my Google account according to the instructions from Google. Somehow, only the default Google calendar with my name is shown in the Calendar app. What should I do to make ALL my Google calendars appear and sync with my iPhone? Thanks!

There is an easy but non-obvious way to do this.

Assuming you've got Google sync set up, and you can see your one Google Calendar on your phone already, go to https://www.google.com/calendar/syncselect (it needs the www; it doesn't have to be on your iPhone). You'll see a list of devices you're syncing. Select your iPhone.

On the next screen, you can choose which of your Google Calendars you want to sync with your iPhone. Check the box next to the desired calendars, then hit Done or Save or whatever it says at the bottom.

Open iCal on your iPhone, and give it a while to sync, and you now should see all of your selected Google Calendars on your iPhone.

For some reason, you can't change the colors of the calendars on the iPhone, so I change the colors in Google Calendar to match what the iPhone picks.

There used to be a limit of 5 Google Calendars that you could sync to the phone, but they recently raised the limit to 25.

These same instructions apply to the iPad and iPod touch. I've got this set up on all my devices, and it works like a charm.

This is documented by Google here: http://www.google.com/support/mobile/bin/answer.py?answer=139206


Lock out iTunes Store Can I lock out the iTunes store so no purchases can be made on my iPad?
I don't see that possibility in Settings.
I accidentally purchased music I did not want and tried to cancel it immediately but couldn't. I want to be able to buy apps but no music.

Go to System Preferences > General > Restrictions. Turn iTunes Store off. As long as you leave the Installing Apps setting on, you should still be able to access the App Store.


iPhone 7 battery discharges very fast after using Waze and charging 3 hours from the car I charged my iPhone 7 (iOS 11.3.1) from car for about 3-4 hours during the ride and Waze app was on all the time. Next day I noticed that phone discharges really fast. Power saving mode helps, but also the problem still appear. And the problem is not in apps running in background that could take power too much. Now it also gets very hot when charging, like never before. What could be the problem? Could it be that the battery life is almost over?

If the USB Car charger doesn't have the MFi (made for iPhone) logo then it is probably a cheap charger with minimal over-voltage protection circuits inside, even if it says Philips on the outside. This can cause damage to the charge circuit on your phone's logic board and ultimately your battery.

Waze really sucks the juice out of a battery and having that charger on for 3-4 hours straight may have damaged your phone. Try running your phone inside and charging with an Apple original wall cube to see if that makes a difference. If not, then you will need to have that phone looked at by either Apple or an independent micro-soldering repair shop.


Bootable USB for MacOS Installation Is it necessary to create the bootable USB from the same kind of device in which you wish to use it. I want to create one for my MBP (for which I have deleted the recovery drive as well) and I have a working Macbook Air.

So if I use my Air to create the drive for MBP, will it work?

You can create a bootable USB from any machine capable of running a version of macOS that has access to the App Store.

If you use a MacBook Air running Yosemite, you can download the installer for High Sierra and use it to create the USB installer and then procede to use it on a MacBook Pro (and every other Mac that supports that version of macOS).

There's no specific installer for Mac hardware types.

(Personally, I keep a USB installer of every major version of macOS - Yosemite, El Capitan, Sierra, and High Sierra)


How to update nodejs on mac? I'm trying to install nodejs on mac using homebrew, but when I run the command:

brew install node

I get the following error:

Beginning with 0.8.0, this recipe now comes with npm.
It appears you already have npm installed at /usr/local/lib/node_modules/npm.
To use the npm that comes with this recipe, first uninstall npm with
`npm uninstall npm -g`, then run this command again.

If you would like to keep your installation of npm instead of
using the one provided with homebrew, install the formula with
the `--without-npm` option.

but when I run:

sudo npm uninstall npm -g

I get:

sudo: npm: command not found

When I run the command npm, I get:

-bash: /usr/local/bin/npm: No such file or directory

so I'm not sure whether it's actually installed or not.

My node version is 0.8.22 (I have no idea where it came from). How should I update it to the latest version?

Is /usr/local/bin/npm a broken symlink? That would make sudo npm print an error like command not found and npm print an error like No such file or directory.

You could try creating a new symlink for node:

$ rm /usr/local/bin/npm; brew unlink node; brew link node
Unlinking /usr/local/Cellar/node/0.10.5... 4 links removed
Linking /usr/local/Cellar/node/0.10.5... 5 symlinks created
$ sudo /usr/local/bin/npm uninstall npm -g

Or use /usr/local/opt/node/bin/npm:

$ ls -l `brew --prefix node`
lrwxr-xr-x  1 lauri  admin  21 Jun 14 18:27 /usr/local/opt/node -> ../Cellar/node/0.10.5
$ sudo /usr/local/opt/node/bin/npm uninstall npm -g


Finder: go to parent folder while dragging files Is there a short(-cut) way to move to the parent file while you drag files? So you can e.g. move them to the parent folder outside of the current folder.

Unfortunately CMD + Arrow Up doesn't work while dragging.

Otherwise what would be the best technique?

There is no default short-cut to move an item one level up in the folder hierarchy.

But you can enable "Show Path Bar" with altcmdP, drag the item to the respective superior folder in the path bar and double-click the destination folder.

Alternatively you can create a service with Automator and an embedded AppleScript and finally assign a shortcut.


How can I stop F8 key from bringing up Mission Control? My problem is fairly simple: Currently both F8 and F9 bring up Mission Control. If I use the System Preferences, it shows that the "Mission Control" keyboard shortcut is F9. If I disable this, then indeed F9 no longer works, however, F8 does still work.

Where could it be configured that it should use F8, since the System Preferences does not show it anywhere.

I know that this does not happen for everyone, but it is maddening for me, since I really want F9 to be used for Mission Control, and for F8 to be returned to eclipse…

Update

This occurred after an update from Snow Leopard to Lion.

I ended up with this problem, too, after upgrading from Snow Leopard to Lion. I really needed my F8 key working as a standard function key for my job. I also really didn't want to delete my entire symbolichotkeys plist, though, so I did some digging.

If anyone else is having this issue still, you can edit your com.apple.symbolichotkeys.plist (located in Library/Preferences) with a basic text editor. Once you're in there just do a search for the number 75. Keys 75 and 76 (76 is the slow animation for when you hold down shift) are the ones for F8 activating mission control. You can just delete those two entries and your F8 key will become just another normal F-Key again. F9 will still work for mission control and you won't lose any other hotkey settings either.

As usual, always make a backup of these files when you're messing with them.

Good luck to anyone else with the issue, and thanks to those here who'd already provided some input and answers.


How to reinstall iBooks on Mavericks? I have Macbook Pro Retina with Mavericks. Somehow I uninstalled iBooks. How can I re-install it? I tried Google but did not help.

You can install it from Mac App Store. Just open it, search for iBooks and enter your Apple ID credentials when prompted.


How do I execute command line scripts? In Windows, I can create .bat files. I double click it and all lines are interpreted as if I had entered it into the console.

In OS X, what file or program do I have to use? If I want write a file with;

 echo hello world

I want to double click this file and have it execute in a console. How I do this?

The terminal underpinnings in OS X are the same as those used in Linux. What you are specifically looking for is commonly referred to as "Shell Scripting".

The default shell when you open Terminal.app (located in /Applications/Utilties) is the bash shell.

OS X has had a built-in shell handler accessible via Finder and other applications via the .command extension, though frustratingly not via the .sh extension. However, setting the script up to run via the Finder is even more complicated still.

Create a simple shell script, like your example I've made a Hello World application:

#!/bin/bash
echo "Hello World"

Save this file as HelloWorld.command.
Give this file permission to be executed. chmod u+x HelloWorld.command should do that.
Open the directory where you saved this file in Finder. Then double click on the HelloWorld.command file.

This will open up a terminal and execute the script, the output on my computer is the following:

  $ /Users/jason/Applications/HelloWorld.command ; exit;
  Hello World
  logout

  [Process completed]

The alternative way of executing this file is while still in the Terminal yourself, simply issue ./HelloWorld.command assuming you're in the same directory as the file.

Doing so will result in much simpler output:

  jason-mac Applications $ ./HelloWorld.command
  Hello World
  jason-mac Applications $

You've just created and executed a shell script in OS X!


Experience with using AT&T (GSM) iPads in Europe? I've been told that it's possible to use an AT&T (GSM) iPad in Europe by buying a microSIM card and a chunk of service from a local carrier, and swapping the card into the iPad while in that region. Q: Has anyone actually done this?  I've also been told that visitors may not be able to buy the cards because of residency requirements or something.  Just trying to get some real data...

Yes, the GSM iPad will work in Europe.

Generally, there are no residency requirements to purchase a Pay As You Go (pre-pay) plan. Some countries may require identification and a local address while others allow you to pay cash and walk out of the shop with the SIM. If you try to buy a contract, you will need bank details and a credit check which would require residency.

The specifics can vary from country to country and carrier to carrier as each have their own policies. The best advice is to check the carriers in the country where you are going and see what their policies are. Then you'll be most prepared when you walk into the shop.


I Can't raise the brightness to the maximum. I have a macbook pro late 2008. When Im raising the brighntess level, when it reaches the 50% it starts to decrease the brightness till it goes almost dark on 100%. Someone know how to do fix this?

thanks

take a look at your settings! so you dont have automatic brightness on, that COULD prevent it! "could.." second thing i would do is an SMC reset! if this doesn't work get back and we can to a little more trouble shooting!


What is APFS "Disk User" and how to add multiple crypto users via diskutil? I recently learned that it is possible to encrypt an APFS volume within a container from the CLI using the diskutil command like so:
diskutil apfs encrypt -user disk disk3s1

where disk3s1 is the only volume in the APFS container on my external drive.
The disk user is mentioned in the diskutil man page, but I do not understand what it is. Additionally, if I understand correctly, encrypting the MacOS startup disk using the typical "System Preferences" -> "Security and Privacy" -> "FileVault" tab -> "Turn on FileVault" button achieves essentially the same thing. From what I can see, the difference between the two approaches has to do with the users that can decrypt the disk. Using the "System Preferences" approach, my user (BBBBBBBB-BBBB-BBBB-BBBB-BBBBBBBBBBBB below) has permission to decrypt the disk as does the recovery key (user CCCCCCCC-CCCC-CCCC-CCCC-CCCCCCCCCCCC below) that was generated when I hit the "Turn on FileVault" button. The differences can be seen using diskutil once again:
# Volume on the external drive:
diskutil apfs listkeys disk3s1
# Cryptographic user for disk3s1 (1 found)
# |
# +-- AAAAAAAA-AAAA-AAAA-AAAA-AAAAAAAAAAAA
#     Type: Disk User

# Data volume on my MacBook's internal drive:
diskutil apfs listkeys disk1s2
# Cryptographic users for disk1s2 (2 found)
# |
# +-- BBBBBBBB-BBBB-BBBB-BBBB-BBBBBBBBBBBB
# |   Type: Local Open Directory User
# |
# +-- CCCCCCCC-CCCC-CCCC-CCCC-CCCCCCCCCCCC
#     Type: Personal Recovery User

I did some internet searching but I could not find satisfactory answers to the following questions; any help is appreciated. Thanks in advance.

What is the "disk" user? Is it special? Is it universal among all MacOS installs?
Can I add additional crypto users to disk3s1 via diskutil or some other CLI command?
Can I add a personal recovery user/recovery key after the fact (e.g. to disk3s1 as shown above) via diskutil or another CLI command?
Can I remove crypto users after the fact?

References
Here are some articles I read before I created this post, listed in no particular order, some more relevant than others.

APFS technical documentation
Decrypting an APFS encrypted volume using diskutil on macOS 10.13.2
Slides from the “Managing FileVault 2 on macOS High Sierra” Session at MacAD UK 2018 Conference
APFS encryption, ghost guest users, and odd UUIDs
Making sense of Disk Utility and disk structure in macOS 10.13-10.15
Working with FileVault Encryption
Frequently Asked Questions about encrypting the backup volume

Short version:

The disk "user" is the equivalent of having only a single password for
decrypting the disk.

You can add additional users for the boot volume using the fdesetup add command. (see fdesetup help for details)

You can add or change the recovery key after the fact using fdesetup changerecovery

You can remove users later using fdesetup remove and you can also remove the recovery key with fdesetup removerecovery

I don't yet know how to add or remove users/keys to encrypted apfs disks that are not the boot volume.
Long Version:
The convention of having multiple cryptographic users on a disk was done primarily to facilitate FileVault boot disks. Because of this convention, the concept of a disk "user" was created to allow disks to be encrypted with a single encryption key for non-boot disks.
The disk "user" is what would be created if you encrypted a disk using a method other than the "Turn on FileVault" method you described above. This is the equivalent of having a disk encrypted by a single password, instead of having multiple users able to decrypt the disk with their own passwords.
Having multiple users able to decrypt a disk is important for a startup disk with FileVault as it allows them to enter their own username and password at boot to decrypt the disk and login. Without it, they would have to know the disk encryption password (the disk "user") and enter that at boot, then login with their own user credentials at the login screen once boot is complete.
This is why FileVault automatically adds additional encryption keys for users to your boot drive when you enable it (in this case, one for your user and one for the FileVault master recovery key in case a user forgets their password and needs to reset it). But if you are encrypting a non-startup disk, having access for multiple users may not be useful or even desirable. This is why encrypting the disk from the CLI only creates the disk "user". (I believe this is also the case when encrypting using the Disk Utility app or from the Finder).
You can, of course, encrypt a boot disk with only a single disk "user" and no other cryptographic users or recovery keys. You will be presented with a password prompt at boot and it will display a disk icon instead of a user icon, and you will have to enter the disk encryption password instead of your user password. Any users on the machine who do not know this password will be unable to decrypt the disk and login to the machine.
Edit: Just want to add the following:
Note that the disk "user" will only be added to the list of cryptographic users when you first encrypt the disk using the cli (diskutil apfs) or via Finder or Disk Utility. The disk user will not be added if you enable FileVault in the System Preferences, and it cannot later be added to a disk that already has cryptographic users.
Also of note, the disk user will always have the UUID of the disk itself.


Firing up Terminal from an Automator Workflow? I quite often use the python -m SimpleHTTPServer command in the Terminal to fire up a webserver for testing apps.  Having just learned the basics of the Automator, I figured this would be a great use for it - having added the following as a service I can now right-click on a folder and have a webserver launch pointing at that folder.

cd $1
python -m SimpleHTTPServer 8000

The only problem I have, is the lack of output from the workflow.  Doing it manually I have a Terminal window displaying the requests coming in and enabling me to Ctrl+C to end the webserver.

The Automator workflow is silent and I have to open Activity Monitor and quit Python to close it.  Is there a way to have it run the script in a Terminal window?

Figured out how to do it myself based upon adapting the following article.

http://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=20050827164648766

Added a line in to run the python command:

on run {input, parameters}
  tell application "Terminal"
    activate
    if (the (count of the window) = 0) or ¬
     (the busy of window 1  = true) then
      tell application "System Events"
        keystroke "n" using command down
      end tell
    end if
    do script "cd \"" & (POSIX path of ¬
     (input as string)) & "\"" in window 1
    do script "python -m SimpleHTTPServer 8000" in window 1
  end tell
  return input
end run


I just installed Lion, and now I'm hanging on startup. What went wrong? I purchased Lion from the Mac App Store and installed it on my mid-2009-era MacBook Pro. The installation went smoothly and the computer restarted itself on schedule. I heard the startup noise, saw the Apple logo and the spinny thing... and then it turned to this:

I let it hang like that for fifteen minutes or so before I got bored/antsy. I then forced shutdown with the power button and started it back up - same song 'n' dance. It's been doing this for thirty minutes or so now. The machine is hot and whirring away about something, but no progress is being made. It all feels very foreboding.

Do Not Enter can't be a good thing, but as far as I can Google, there are a bunch of different things it could mean. What do you think, Apple.SE?

(FTR, I have some experience with software and troubleshooting, but very little with hardware maintenance/repair/fiddling about.)

Update:
As far as I can tell from Googling around and from friends' tips, this denotes an issue reading or communicating with the hard drive. I've made a Genius bar appointment for this afternoon and will report any useful information that comes out of that meeting.

Post-Genius-Visit Update:
I visited the geniuses today and, long story short, I am getting a new hard drive. They were unable to mount my drive, and Disk Utility was able neither to repair it nor to reformat it. The Genius I spoke to believed that the fact that this happened to my computer immediately after installing Lion is a coincidence, or that the drive was on its last legs and that Lion was the proverbial backbreaking straw, not that the problem was caused specifically by the installation. One of the other Geniuses around also mentioned, though, that he'd seen a few cases like mine today, including the Lion part. Does this sound odd to anyone else? If not, I'll post & accept an answer saying a new HD is the solution - assuming I can install Lion on the new one without it becoming all borked up...

To be continued, I suppose.

What went wrong was your hard drive is failing. The system cannot find a valid bootable system. You can test this by booting to an external drive (which looks like might have to wait for getting home or to the shop)

If the failure is happening fast - you just had bad luck and it would have failed within days no matter what. Get your stuff off and be glad you got things out before the "house burns to the ground".

If you had a slow failure, then the upgrade could have made things worse. This slow failure can often be made better by zeroing out the whole drive. Bad blocks get marked and for a while, it is reliable. You might buy some months or a year, but it's starting to fail.

Did the technician let you know if she or he felt you had a crisis or a slow issue with the HD?

As an analogy, Imagine a large "house" made of four decks of cards and lots of levels. If the far left hand side is shakey but you only are adding cards to the right, it might stand for a long time. As soon as you touch the left, down it comes.

A system upgrade touches everything - and re-writes the core software needed to boot. Your mac just wasn't up to having critical files written reliably and the upgrade brought those errors to stark light.

Put another way, Lion is running on millions of macs.

Sadly for you, something about your mac was different than most and the results quite painful to your productivity. The good news is many are going through the same pain - discovering how fragile HDD/SSD storage can be when a critical file fails to get written correctly.

I hope you get everything fixed, lose no data and can start enjoying Lion.


iOS6 on iPod Touch (4) no Wi-FI LAN, when there is no Internet? I got a question of one of my customers:

They are experiencing problems when connecting a iPod to a WIFI LAN without Internet connection.

Basically, the iPod connects, gets a IP from DHCP, but then it can't reach a local Intranet server (with Safari to http://172.16.2.n).

We can ping the iPod, but thats all. And, once we connect the LAN to the Internet, everything works again.

I tried the same with my iPhone 4(v6), that seems to work fine. Also with IOS 5 it works (both without Internet connection).

Anybody a clue?

Thanks.

Well, I'll take a crack at this one. I see three possibilities: 1) the packets are not leaving the iPod; 2) the packets are being dropped somewhere along the path; 3) there is a DNS related issue.

Lets start with DNS.

From the iPod try connecting to the Intranet server using the Intranet server's IP address instead of its name. If this works than either the DNS setting in the iPod's association to the WiFi network is incorrect or the search domain is incorrect. You can check this by going to Settings->WiFi->your_wifi_network_name. If these look incorrect, try to "Forget this Network" and then reconnect.

If you still have the problem then it gets a bit more tricky

Go the App Store and get an nslookup app and a traceroute app for your iPod. Several are free and work fine. Make sure neither of the apps require a internet connection to work. Once you have the apps, open the nslookup app and enter the DNS name of your Intranet server (ex. www.myserver.local). It should return the internal IP address of the server (i.e. it should not return the internet reachable address (if it even has one)). If it does return the correct address then take that address and use it as the input for the traceroute app. The traceroute should tell you all the IP hops it takes to get to the Intranet server. If it gets so far and then stops without getting to the Intranet server's IP address then we have a network problem to troubleshoot. If it does then we have an Intranet server problem to troubleshoot.

If traceroute gets all the way to the Intranet server then turn on the detailed connection logging on the Intranet server. Then, from the iPod, try to connect to the Intranet server. Now, look at the log file on the Intranet server and see if you see the iPod IP trying to connect and if so, what error is generated. Troubleshoot the error.

If traceroute does not get the Intranet server then turn debug logging on the network devices that sit between the iPod and the Intranet server. The traffic is making it somewhere and then being dropped. Find where it is being dropped and troubleshoot why it is being dropped.

NOTE: If traceroute never leaves the iPod and/or you do not see traffic on the first device that the iPod is connected to then the problem may be within the iPod itself. If that is the case then gulp do the normal iPod stuff like reset it/reload it/etc. (I hate it when someone tells me to do that!)

I hope this was of some help to someone and that I didn't ask you to chase a red herring


How do I download photos from Picasa to the iPod Photo Library for offline viewing? I do not have Internet where I stay, so I want to download all of my photos in my Picasa album to my 32GB iPod for offline viewing.

How would I do that?

If you have a computer, download Picasa 3.9 for Mac/PC and use its batch downloading features. Then, in iTunes, connect your iPod, click Photos, check Sync Photos from:, and click the dropdown menu to reveal Choose folder... and navigate to ~/Pictures/Downloaded Albums/xxxxxxxxxxxxx/albumname/ (with xxxxxxxxxx being your Google user ID number and albumname being the album you wish to import to your iPod). Sync and finish!


Change the permission of multiple files using the GUI I am looking for a way to change the permission of multiple files using the GUI.
I tried to select all the files and hit show info in the right click context menu, but this opens multiple dialogs where I have to enter my admin password and then change the permission.

Is there an easier way to accomplish this task?

You can use Finder to change multiple files permissions. Command+Option+i will open the Multiple Item Info panel that should set the permissions for all files that have been selected (it also gives you total file size, and lets set label colors too).

Otherwise you can select the folder the files you want to change are in, and use the regular get info window to set permissions on all containing files.


Is this possible? Prevent Live-Linux from booting and grabbing your files without encrypting your disc? I am a medium-experienced Power User with knowledge about most of the stuff (studying this since two years) and I know something about how Linux and Windows work; I have screwed up countless installations and stuff like that (dont want to bore you, just want to tell, that I know what I am talking about).

To the point:
A friend of mine has a MacBook, running OS X Lion and a hard drive with about 320 GB (not encrypted, at least not the part that is important) and he tells me that forcing a change of his password would automatically activate a self-destruction (complete wipe of the drive). This could be true and would be no prevention, since I don't want to change the password, I just want to get the files from his drive. So I can simply boot Linux from CD/USB and mount his drive, copy everything unencrypted, and done.

That's what I told him, his answer: "Well, that could work, but my Mac will automatically detect this and wipe the drive before anything gets copied." The main question: Is this bullshit?

From what i would expect, this would work like:
BIOS --> Linux --> Mount Disc --> Copy --> Start OS X --> Detect and wipe

So files should be there without the wipe, but he said it won't work, and OS X would be booted before Linux? I was really surprised, so I want to ask you guys.

He told me that he will give me his MacBook and I can try to get his files, but I don't want his disc to be wiped, so I ask here: is it safe to try it out?

Your friend has no idea what he's talking about. You don't even need to use a Linux disc - you can use single user mode or a Mac OS X install disc to copy things or make changes to the filesystem.

To prevent someone from booting into single user mode or from an unauthorized disc or external drive, your friend can set a firmware password. However, this, too, is easily bypassed if you can open the computer and remove the drive, or alter the memory configuration. Simply put, if someone has physical access to a computer, encryption is the only way to protect your data.


Why can't I remove this top entry in the firewall options? I go into the System Preferences, Firewall, then Firewall Options. I can't select the "File Sharing (FTP)" entry to remove it. How can I?

Update: I'm running OS X 10.7.5, and nothing is enabled in the Sharing preference pane. At some point I must have turned on an FTP daemon for some testing, and forgot about it.  I can do this:

$ ftp localhost
Trying 127.0.0.1...
Connected to localhost.
220 127.0.0.1 FTP server (tnftpd 20100324+GSSAPI) ready.

Turns out I could shut it off with:

sudo /bin/launchctl unload -w /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/ftp.plist

I still feel like I should have been able to block it in the firewall preferences pane.

OS X automatically creates firewall entries when a service (like AFP or SSH) is started through System Preferences.

That's handy, because you don't have to bother with firewall rules. The OS configures the firewall as necessary for the selected services to work. The downside is that those entries can't be edited or removed from within the Firewall pane, you need to stop the service instead, which is somewhat counterintuitive.

Could it be that you have enabled FTP file sharing in System Preferences > Sharing?

If you are using Mac OS X Leopard or Snow Leopard you need to uncheck "Share files and folders using FTP", the firewall entry will then go away (credit: picture from eHow):

(Apple dropped FTP support on OS X Lion, though it can be enabled and disabled through the command line:

To enable and start the service:

sudo launchctl load -w /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/ftp.plist

To disable and stop it:

sudo launchctl unload /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/ftp.plist

To start/stop it when the system is running:

sudo launchctl start com.apple.ftpd
sudo launchctl stop com.apple.ftpd

)


How can I create a modifier shortcut to drag files into a new folder? When dragging a file or files in the Finder, it is possible to hold certain modifier keys to change exactly what you're doing (e.g. ⌘⌥ to create an alias).

I'd like to be able to drag several files, hold down some combination of modifiers, drop them in a folder, and find them in a newly-created subfolder there.

I don't believe there is a native way to do this, but how can I create a macro to accomplish this with Better Touch Tool or Keyboard Maestro?

As of OS X 10.9 “Mavericks”, you can do this right from the Finder:

Select your files.
Drag ’n’ drop the files to their new destination.
Press ⌃⌘N to create a “New Folder with Selection”.
Optionally, type a new name the folder and press return (otherwise, the file will be named “New Folder With Items”).

You bring up 3rd-party apps. I don’t see how Keyboard Maestro could help in this particular instance.  Hazel — or indeed Apple’s own folder actions — might, but only if your target was always the same folder or set of folders.

But you might want to look at some of LaunchBar’s less known capabilities: here’s a deep navigationless link to their keyboard-powered drag-and-drop instructions.


Way to logout a user from the command line in OS X 10.9 I want to logout my Mac OS X from the command line. My OS X version is 10.9.
I tried command pkill -KILL -u uid, but this command didn't work out.
Is there a command that can be used to log out a user from the system using command line only, not AppleScript?

sudo launchctl bootout gui/$(id -u <username>)
or
sudo launchctl bootout user/$(id -u <username>)

Replace username with the target user's user name or replace the whole subshell with the user's uid.  This tells launchctl to teardown the users login session (gui specifically refers to the user's temporary login session, user specifies the users background processes).

You can log yourself out without the sudo to test this.

Note that this will ONLY work on macOS 10.11.x or newer (see launchctl help for more)


Mac Book Pro Overheating I have a 5yr old Mac Book Pro. I didn't have it plugged and had shut it down. When I went to open it I found the whole laptop was heated and couldn't get it to turn on. I left it a while then plugged it in and finally it turned on but registered the battery was at 0 charge. Do I need a new battery or is it an internal problem. I left it for about 5 hours and restarted and recharged and seems to be okay again. I'm worried about damage to overheating. Any assistance would be greatly appreciated….Thanks

As Rob said, your lid switch might be the problem.

I would suggest following steps:

Reset your SMC and the PRAM/NVRAM.
Run Apple Hardware test to see if it comes up with anything.
Check your Pmset -g profile.

FYI:

There are 2 small magnets mounted on the lid (along the top edge)

You can find them by using paper clip.

On the opposite side (of closed lid) there are 2 sensors, that normally should last forever (unless you put a strong magnet on them so they are stuck now), but then there is nothing that does.


How to plug into Mac Air a 4pin Microphone with 4pin headphones through a splitter? I have a 4 pin mini-jack headphones and 4 pin mini jack microphone (BOYA). I want to plug them into the Mac Air but I have a 2x3 pin to 4 pin splitter and it seems that it doesn't work - the computer doesn't see the microphone. What should be the splitter to plug it all at a time? I thought 2x4 pin(f) -> 4 pin(m) but I haven't been able to find one. Will a 4 pin -> 3 pin adapter work if I plug the microphone to it and then plug it into my splitter together with headphones? What adapters or splitters should I purchase to make it work?
Update:
The microphone works well when I plug it into the headphones multi hole directly but doesn't when I plug it into the splitter with headphones.
Two 4 pin headsets work well through a splitter that I have (output is 4 pin, but I don't know what is there at the inputs). Microfone and headset don't work with this splitter.
Update-2:
My adapter OMTP - CTIA is here (link) and I tried to plug the microphone in different ways, but unfortunately the MAC doesn't see it through the splitter.

You are probably correct in assuming you need a 2x4 pin(f) -> 4 pin(m) adaptor. You have an adaptor that splits for a headphone and microphone. What you need is an adaptor that splits for two headsets. In other words, everything (headphone, microphone and Mac) is TRRS.
I was able to find TRRS Y adaptor/cables for purchase by searching Google for TRRS Male to Dual TRRS Female. For example, this was the first link I encountered. The excerpt below was taken from this link. This excerpt actually states for use with 4 pin mini jack microphones.

Plus, allow you to connect one headphone, and one external 4-POLE TRRS microphone (NOT 3-pole TRS microphone) to Laptop, Tablet, PC computer or Smartphone into the 4-POLE 3.5mm jack at the same time.

Be aware there are two standards in use for TRRS. Basically, the difference is the sleeve and adjacent ring are reversed. See the image below.

You may need a converter which switches the ground (common) with the microphone. An example of a converter is shown below..

The above adaptor can be found here.

Note: If a adaptor is needed, then the adaptor should be placed either between the headphone and the splitter or between the splitter and the Mac.


Mac Wireless Keyboard - random key presses, possessed As a tech guy, I am really baffled by what's going on with my keyboard. All search results point to the keyboard shortcut settings, but I have been hammering the "Set to Default" button in there, to no effect.

My keyboard is the Apple Wireless Keyboard, bluetooth with 2x AA batteries.
It has just turned 2 years old.

It all started with the ESC key that simply stopped working about a month ago. This was a few weeks before my warranty would expire, so I contacted the retailer, but they didn't want to provide any support, only suggesting I deliver both my keyboard AND MacBook to their repair center.

Maybe I would have done that, if I wasn't on the other side of the world. Now the warranty has expired, and problems are getting worse.

Could it be wireless interference? Some internal short circuit? Let me know if you know of anything similar.

What I have tried

Resetting Keyboard Shortcuts.
Toggling every Accessibility feature on and off again.
Changing Input Sources (keyboard layout).
Replacing batteries in the keyboard with a fresh pair of Duracells.
Remove pairing from MacBook and force re-pair.
Rename keyboard.
Boot my MacBook from a Linux USB. Keyboard is acting the same.

Other info

The issue has persisted through the upgrade to macOS High Sierra, but wasn't as bad before.
I do have a custom keyboard layout (made with Ukelele), and the issues started some time after that. However, I have tried switching and removing my custom keyboard layout (so none other than the default layout is enabled), makes no difference.
There seems to be nothing wrong with the built-in keyboard, it acts completely normal while the wireless keyboard is freaking out.
The only other bluetooth device I am using simultaneously is the Apple Magic Mouse - no issues there.
I have never spilled anything in the keyboard, or done it any harm - other than typing a lot, and hard.

Other symptoms

Typing the @ symbol (on my EU keyboard that's Alt + ') suddenly stopped working. Nothing happened, but without the Alt modifier, the ' key worked fine. And the Alt modifier was working fine with other keys as well. Sometimes the Audio Preferences randomly open up...

Then one day I was typing my password, and not being able to log in. Seems my P has magically started turning Caps Lock on and off.

Lately the keyboard's ESC key is working again, and it feels like the keyboard is either working 100% or acting crazy 100%. Meaning, in the beginning of this post my S key would append - and SPACE a z when typing, and seconds later I can type a full sentence with no interference.

Since your built-in keyboard seems to work fine, I'd try to reset both the macOS Bluetooth Device List and Bluetooth Controller.

IMPORTANT: This will reset all connected Bluetooth devices, including your Apple Magic Mouse, so your wireless keyboard and mouse will need to be reconnected.

Before commencing, you will need to have the Bluetooth icon showing in the menu bar. If it is not there, open System Preferences > Bluetooth and enable the option Show Bluetooth in Menu Bar.

Resetting the macOS Bluetooth Device List and Bluetooth Controller

Follow these steps:

Hold down both the Shift and Option keys and at the same time click on the Bluetooth icon in the menu bar. Once the menu is showing, release the keys.
From the Bluetooth menu, choose Debug > Remove All Devices
Hold down both the Shift and Option keys again and at the same time click on the Bluetooth icon in the menu bar.
From the Bluetooth menu,  choose Debug > Reset the Bluetooth Module
Restart your Mac
Setup your keyboard again
Setup your Magic Mouse again

Let us know whether this helps.


Is it possible to use iphone as an usb or bluetooth webcam on imac? I have found many webcam apps, but all of them send the video signal through wifi, and this is not an option for me, because I need to use the phone hotspot at the same time I need to use it as a webcam. Is there a way to use the phone as webcam either through bluetooth, or usb?

This is a youtube tutorial to build the apps ♂

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u-BBHiyLS1k


Tools for measuring wireless strength in iPod Touch? I just need to see the signal strength of WiFi stations I have around my house. It would be better to have it (signal strength) in a percentage format, because there some apps that show strength in some other difficult format.

If you are talking dBm, which you will see most wifi scanning apps use, it is actually not that difficult to understand. Basically higher numbers are better, and even negative numbers actually represent positive quantities, just smaller ones.

From the wikipedia entry on dBm:

Zero dBm equals one milliwatt.
A 3 dB increase represents roughly doubling the power, which means that 3 dBm equals roughly 2 mW.
For a 3 dB decrease, the power is reduced by about one half, making −3 dBm equal to about 0.5 milliwatt.

There is also a pretty dang useful chart.

−10 dBm Typical maximum received signal power (−10 to −30 dBm) of wireless network
−70 dBm Typical range (−60 to −80 dBm) of wireless received signal power over a network (802.11 variants)

Sorry for not answering the original question, but I think with this knowledge you will be able to powerfully determine the strongest source of transmissions.


Can I convert a RAID 0 set to a RAID 5 set? Can I convert a RAID 0 set to a RAID 5 set in a Mac Pro? I currently have two 500GB drives in a RAID 0 set. I want to add a third drive and convert it to  a RAID 5 set. Is it possible to do this without wiping the current array and rebuilding from scratch? If I have to rebuild from scratch, can I take an image of the current state using Carbon Copy Cloner (CCC), kill the RAID 0 set, make the RAID 5 set, and restore from the CCC image?

Disk Utility will only support RAID 1 and 0 using software raid.

If you have the RAID Card for the Mac Pro, you can configure RAID 5.  I've never actually used or configured one of these in the wild so I can't give you exact specifics on using it.


Overtype mode in Terminal.app As a Linux/Windows user, I am used to switching temporarily to Overtype Mode when using the command prompt.

As a new user to the Mac world, I do not know how to change text input mode from normal (i.e. Insert Mode) to Overtype Mode.
This is of particular use to me at the command prompt, but also in text editors (eg TextWrangler or Sublime).

Anyone know of ways (using the keyboard only) to toggle between the two modes? (Solutions involving a mouse are not solutions, because I could simply select the text using the keyboard and re-type...but this is not what I am asking).

Any help appreciated.

I don't have access to my Mac right now, but on my Linux machine I'm set up to use zsh as my default shell.  It looks like you can do this on Mac too.  Once you're in zsh, you can easily use Vim keybindings  (I guess it may also work in Bash?) by running set -o vi.
With Vim bindings active, you can press ESC to go to Command Mode, then use any normal Vim keys including R to switch to Overtype mode.
PS: To go back to Emacs bindings use set -o emacs.


My iphone's apps are copied onto someone else's phone each time they sync My husband and I share a computer and iTunes. We have separate Apple IDs. When my husband syncs his phone, he gets a whole new page of all the apps from my phone. I can see as it's syncing, that it's "copying" apps that are only on my phone. How do I stop this from happening? He has to go through and delete all these extra apps each time.

By default apps are copied to iTunes from the phone when syncing. By default apps are copied from iTunes to the phone when syncing. This can be annoying - personally it's my kids who put a thousand irritating games on their phone, but I can see that a husband would be just as bad.

Connect your phones to iTunes. Find them in the left-side menu, or drop-down.

Under the Apps menu you can turn off syncing.


Where is Java installed in OSX Mavericks? I am setting up Maven on my Mac but it is not working because the JAVA_HOME variable is not defined. I had expected the java installer to create this but alas not.

Where is java installed so I can create this variable myself?

George Garside's path is correct. Latest JDK released today from Oracle. I advise downloading directly from Oracle's Site. Use the symlink to create your JAVA_HOME variable.
Add the following to your .bash_profile or .bashrc profile.

export JAVA_HOME=$(/usr/libexec/java_home)

Just downloaded the kit and added the above to my .bash_profile.
As you can see, variable is now clearly defined:

Macbook-Pro:~ njboot$ echo $JAVA_HOME

Returns:

/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/jdk1.8.0_20.jdk/Contents/Home


Not able to read Command line argument in shell script using getopt in OS X Terminal I am trying to write a program (using shell script or bash script) which accept command line argument using getopt.

It is working fine on Linux terminal but when I am using it on OS X Terminal it is not able to read the provided command line argument.

a sample code :

OPTS=`getopt -o f:l: --long FirstName:,LastName: -n 'parse-options' --   "$@"`
if [ $? != 0 ] ; then echo "Failed parsing options." >&2 ; exit 1 ; fi
echo "$OPTS"
eval set -- "$OPTS"
NEWLINE=$'\n'
while true; do
case "$1" in
  -f | --FirstName ) FirstName="$2" ; shift 2 ;;
  -l | --LastName ) LastName="$2" ; shift 2 ;;
  -- ) shift; break ;;
  * ) break ;;
esac
done
echo "${NEWLINE}"
echo "--------------------------------------------"
echo "FirstName=$FirstName"
echo "LastName=$LastName"
echo "${NEWLINE}"
sleep 1

Input :

sh try.sh --FirstName foor --LastName bar

Output on Linux (FC19):

--------------------------------------------
FirstName=foor

LastName=bar

Output on Mac :

--------------------------------------------
FirstName=

LastName=

See man getopt. Basically the getopt which is part of macOS doesn't support long option names. Using

OPTS=`getopt f:l: $*`

works as expected.

PS: The man page also recommends to use $* instead of "$@" but this is not related to your problem.


Which graphics cards are supported by a Late-2009 iMac 27inch? I have the ATI Radeon HD 4850 graphics processor with 512MB of GDDR3 memory installed on an i5 iMac 27inch setup. Given that my current card is malfunctioning and that versions of that card are prohibitively expensive, which cards could I theoretically upgrade to?

According to iFixit.com, you can upgrade the video card to the same one that was in the last 2011 model:

  If you are using the iMac 27" late 2009 or 2010 model for games you
  might want to upgrade your graphics card to the 6 series of the last
  2011 model.

  For any other reason this upgrade is not recommended as the power gain
  is only noticeable in games.

Since you have to replace the card, it's definitely a good time to look at an upgrade:

ATI 4850 Card Approx $150 (used) to $400 (new)
ATI Radeon 6970 Card - Approx. $200 (used) to $800 (new)

The ATI Radeon 5xxx series from the 2010 should works as well, but they are very rare for some reason.  For the price and convenience, I would go with the 6xxx series if upgrading.

If I had the time to search and scour the web for a good deal, I would try to get the 6970 at a good price, but I don't think I would spend the extra money on upgrading a computer that was technically 7 years old with a graphics card that was 5 years old.  Especially so since the graphics upgrade wouldn't be noticeable unless I was gaming.  And if that was the case, I would probably have a console or a PC...but that's just me.

The iFixit link I provided has an excellent step by step on how to replace this card.


How to get my user data back? A few months ago, I partitioned my hard drive to install OS X Yosemite Beta, everything was fine but now that I'm trying to access to some data on my old partition user account (running on Mavericks), it looks like there is nearly nothing that remains, just some data in my documents and download folder.

I can't remember if the data was meant to be on this account, or if it was on another one that would have been accidentally deleted/hidden.
The only thing that makes me think that I could get quite easily this data back is that this partition has got lot of data, something like 80 GB, compared to the extremely small size of my user folder, which is only about 4 GB (and I don't think that the apps would take as much space as 80 GB)

So, have you got any idea to help me solve this mystery? :)

The easiest way to find out where all this data is, would be to go to the root of the partition in Finder, then hit Cmd+Alt+i. That will bring up the Inspector that should tell you that, yes, your partition has 80GB of data on it.

That's not particularly helpful in itself, but if you then select the folders contained within "/" that are visible ("Applications", "Library", "System" and "Users") you can see the corresponding sizes of those folders.

If "/Users" is huge, then it's possible that your data is still there but hidden for some reason. If it is, I would suggest rebooting to your Recovery Partition and resetting your User folder permissions and ACLs.

As a good measure, I would also repair your Disk Permissions from Disk Utility in the Recovery Partition too, just in case there's extra fluff getting in the way.


Unmute specific app when iPhone is in silent mode I recently downloaded an app that tells me when someone in my direct area is in need of CPR (as I am an first aid worker). This app will sound an alarm to alert me, but this alarm is muted when I put my iPhone 4s in silent mode.

Is there a way I can specifically unmute this app and keep the rest muted?

Short answer:

No, that's not possible with third party apps.

Long answer:

Third party apps can not override the mute switch. It only works for Apple's own "Find my iPhone" app. The only possibility I know of is to jailbreak your phone and to use a tweak that lets you put some apps on a white list. Jailbreaking, however, is not recommended.

You may try to use "Do not disturb". It lets you add specific contacts to a favorites list. Only these contacts will ring with DND enabled.


AppleScript JavaScript getElements I have my script partially working. I'm using AppleScript to script interactions with Chrome.

set textToSave to "Text"

tell application "Google Chrome"
    execute front window's tab 1 javascript "document.getElementsByName('0.9.7.1.5.0.4.1.3')[0].click();"
    delay 0.1

If I enter a multiple line textToSave for example

" here
blabla

bla"

then I have no text and --> missing value
I need to set a popup field before this script, here is the HTML for it

<select id="PaymentEnSelection" name="0.9.7.1.5.9.4.1.9"> <option selected="selected" value="0">Enabled</option> <option value="1">Disabled</option></select>

and a another one :

<select name="0.9.7.1.9.0.4.1.9.0.2.1.3.7.3.9.3.1"><option value="NoSelectionString">Please select a reason</option>
<option value="0">R1</option>
<option value="1">&amp; Review </option>
<option value="2">Chart</option>
<option value="3">R3</option>

Multiline text can be achieved using either of the following methods:

Separate the text by new lines, with the first quote and last quote encapsulating the contents.

Use \n as new line.

set myvar to "hello\nanother\n\nfinal"

You can set the value of a select element using the following JavaScript

document.getElementById("PaymentEnSelection").value = 1

The value given is one of the value attributes on the option elements that you wish to select.


Photo library will not fully upload to iCloud from computer I'm trying to upload my entire photo library to iCloud before my computer completely breaks down. There have been internet connection issues (among other problems) and I'm trying to back up my photos to the cloud before I restore the computer to its factory settings. I already backed everything up with time machine, but I would like to back it up to the cloud as well because I've had issues with time machine as well.

Of the 15,000 photos I have, only 2,000 are uploaded to iCloud. I tried to sync everything months ago, and it still won't upload any more photos. I have plenty of storage on iCloud, so that isn't the problem. I tried the upload multiple times while the Internet was working fine as well.

In iPhoto (on my Mac) and under preferences -> iCloud settings, I selected "iCloud photo library" (says it will automatically upload and store my entire library in iCloud to access photos and videos from all my apple devices or on the web). Just below it says "uploading 12,809 items" with a bar below that shows no progress on the upload is being made. Again, this option was selected months ago, so there is some issue that I don't know how to fix.

I have tried to manually upload the photos through iCloud.com, but it won't work either. I'm obviously not very computer savvy, but any help would be greatly appreciated!

I know it may be a little too late to answer but, if you haven't found out a way to get all of your photos to your ICloud, here I how:

You must transfer all photos from PC to Iphone through ITunes.  You should have a photos tab that you can select after connecting phone to pc.  You must check the box that say sync photos and make sure you select the radio button where you can pick which folders you want transferred over.  Unless you want your WHOLE library.  After you sync your photos, create a new album on your phone and SAVE those photos to it.

Icloud photo library will only upload photos that were TAKEN or SAVED to the phone.  Once you save your photos, go ahead and use icloud photo library to upload those photos to Icloud.  To view among all devices, make sure Upload to My Photo Stream is on.  If you want to share photos, make sure ICloud Photo Sharing is on.

Im a Technical Lead for a well known cellular company and have done my own research, troubleshooting, and testing to confirm this information.


Wake-up issues with Macbook Pro (late 2011) I recently bought a new Macbook pro to replace my last one, and since I got it, it has been having some issues when I wake it up from sleep.

a) The display freezes for three seconds each time, so after it switches on, it takes three seconds before it shows the correct battery life and allows me to type.

b) Despite connecting to the internet OK (Sparrow works fine), Chrome and Safari both report no internet connection until the laptop is restarted (a pain in the ass) (happens on several networks)

c) VLC player wont resume play of a DVD (or rather, it will but with no sound).

My previous laptop (2010 gen, Lion) didn't do any of these three and I'm wondering - are they common / easily fixed, or should I head back into the Apple store with it?

Try resetting your SMC. It's inter alia responsible for the opening and closing behavior of your MacBook Pro:

Shut down the computer.
Plug in the MagSafe power adapter to a power source, connecting it to the Mac if its not already connected.
On the built-in keyboard, press the (left side) Shift-Control-Option keys and the power button at the same time.
Release all the keys and the power button at the same time.
Press the power button to turn on the computer.
Note: The LED on the MagSafe power adapter may change states or temporarily turn off when you reset the SMC.

Source: Apple Support pages