How do I convert from Case-Insensitive to case-sensitive in 10.8 I just got a new (well refurbished) MacBook Pro running 10.8.3. I am a programmer, so I have need of a case-sensitive filesystem. It is fresh and I am reluctant to upgrade it or do much with it until I can change the partition to be case-sensitive.

To be sure, I ran "diskutil info disk0s2" on it. Under filesystem personality it says "Journaled HFS+". Which I understand to be the case-insensitive format.

I have done a little research and supposedly iPartition can do it, but I am reluctant to buy it because I think it can be done without spending money. Even if it is a more complicated method. And because I just got it, so I am not afraid to reinstall Mac OS X if need be. I would just need a way to do it without a disk.

So, what is the quickest and easiest way to make the partition case-sensitive?

I've run in to this before and the only solution I'm aware of is to reformat your file system. Here's what I suggest you do:

Boot off of your OSX install media and use Disk Utility to clone your OS image on to another drive.
Reformat your main drive with the file system you want
Restore the contents of your backed-up system to the main drive.

You could also go largely through Time Machine for this, but I'd recommend going straight at Disk Utility. TimeMachine refuses to restore from backups that have a different case-sensitivity setting.

Here's a random link to someone's article on cloning a drive with Disk Utility.


Disk Utility on Mavericks fails because "disk is too small" I'm on mavericks and I am trying to delete a partition of an external hard drive. This is its schema

Partition1: 50GB  "MavericksBackup": Bootable backup
Partition2: 187GB "Home Data": Absolutely Empty
Partition3: 12GB  "Install OS X Mavericks": it contains only the bootable app to install Mavericks

Now I'm trying to Erase the Partition3 from Disk Utility and it fails with the following error:

The requested size change for the target disk or a related disk is too
small. Please try a different disk or partition, or make a larger change.

What that even means?

I have tried to delete or resize also the Partiton2 and I get the same error.
I suspect the problem was created by Carbon Copy Cleaner: I've used it to copy everything from my internal HD to Partition1 to make it bootable. At the beginning of the process a warning message told me that in order to make Partition1 bootable I also had to create a recovery partition. I let it handle it.

Now, in fact I don't see the Recovery HD partition from disk utility but if I launch diskutil list I do get this (different) list of partition, including the Recovery one, not visible from Disk Utility:

/dev/disk1
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:                  GUID_partition_scheme            *250.1 GB   disk1
   1:                        EFI EFI                     209.7 MB   disk1s1
   2:                  Apple_HFS MvaricksBackup          49.9 GB    disk1s2
   3:                 Apple_Boot Recovery HD             650.0 MB   disk1s3
   4:                  Apple_HFS Home Data               187.3 GB   disk1s4
   5:                  Apple_HFS Install OS X Mavericks  11.6 GB    disk1s5

Not sure how to solve this? I would really avoid to reformat the whole disk...

EDIT: I started the disk utility in debug mode with this terminal command defaults write com.apple.DiskUtility DUDebugMenuEnabled 1 then Debug menu and Show Every Partition. This in fact shows the extra EFI and Recovery HD partition but that didn't help me solving the problem.

I did fix this by resizing (making it a bit smaller) the Partition1.
After doing this I was able to delete/resize all the other partitions.

Well, I have no idea why this happened, so this is not a real solution but probably a bug of diskutil.


Booting from MBR USB on Mac I have a MacBook Pro8,1. For experimental purposes I've installed Windows 7 to USB (it's NOT an installer, a real OS on USB) via WinNTSetup on other PC. When I'm trying to boot from the USB with the command (I've unmounted the disk before):

sudo bless --device /dev/disk3s1 --setBoot --legacy

It doesn't work – it just boots to Windows 10 installed on the internal HDD with legacy method + Hybrid MBR too.

Here's my partition table:

/dev/disk0 (internal, physical):
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *500.1 GB   disk0
   1:                        EFI EFI                     209.7 MB   disk0s1
   2:                  Apple_HFS HDD                     379.8 GB   disk0s2
   3:       Microsoft Basic Data BOOTCAMP                119.9 GB   disk0s3

/dev/disk1 (internal, physical):
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *128.0 GB   disk1
   1:                        EFI EFI                     209.7 MB   disk1s1
   2:                 Apple_APFS Container disk2         127.8 GB   disk1s2

/dev/disk2 (synthesized):
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:      APFS Container Scheme -                      +127.8 GB   disk2
                                 Physical Store disk1s2
   1:                APFS Volume w32u SSD - Data         11.0 GB    disk2s1
   2:                APFS Volume Preboot                 24.5 MB    disk2s2
   3:                APFS Volume Recovery                708.8 MB   disk2s3
   4:                APFS Volume VM                      8.6 GB     disk2s4
   5:                APFS Volume w32u SSD                11.1 GB    disk2s5

/dev/disk3 (internal, physical):
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:     FDisk_partition_scheme                        *125.1 GB   disk3
   1:               Windows_NTFS                         367.0 MB   disk3s1
   2:               Windows_NTFS                         124.7 GB   disk3s2

Can I actually boot from USB with the MBR bootloader on Mac or not? I've tried any way, including rEFInd, but it results again in booting to Win10 installed on disk0 HDD.

UPD: I've noticed that my USB drive is detected as internal, that's not true. macOS Catalina Patcher's fault, I guess.

Not all Mac are built the same. Your Mac is probably just a year to early.

The industry switched to EFI booting of Windows in 2011. Apple did not catch up until 2012. This is also the year Apple starting to eliminate the optical drives from Mac models. However, since Windows 7 required a BIOS boot, Apple added the ability to BIOS boot from USB on models where the optical drive was eliminated. This continued through at least the 2014 model year. In 2015, Apple started to eliminate the ability to BIOS boot entirely, which effectively ended the ability to install Windows 7.

So your model probably can not BIOS boot from USB. However, the very next MacBook Pro model can BIOS boot from USB. For example, see the question Bootcamp “Missing Operating System” on external drive.

One possible way to come close to having Windows on an USB drive would be to put the System partition on the internal drive and Windows partition on the USB drive. The System and Windows partitions are described in the Microsoft document BIOS/MBR-based hard drive partitions. I have never tested such an arrangement to see if it would work with any Mac model. You would have to try this on your Mac to see if it would work.

Another option would be the following. Since you have Windows already installed on the internal drive, try rebuilding the BCD on the internal drive. Windows on the USB drive may be detected and included in a Windows boot manager.

A final note. Your question included the command which is repeated below.

sudo bless --device /dev/disk3s1 --setBoot --legacy

I believe the --device /dev/disk3s1 is a dummy option which is ignored. In other words, when specifying the the legacy boot option, the firmware tries to BIOS boot. There is no way to select the boot drive.


"Could not locate device support files" with Xcode version 11.3.1 and iOS 13.5.1 I have the latest version of Xcode (11.3.1) for Mojave installed, but it seems that it doesn't support iOS version 13.5.1. I cannot download later versions as the latest version of Mojave is 10.14.6, and Xcode 11.5+ cannot be downloaded here.
Is the only possible solution downgrading my iPhone back to iOS 13.3? If so, how do you do that?
Edit: It seems like Apple no longer allows downgrading to lower iOS versions, which is a hot load of [expletives], and so the only solution to this problem if you have it is to upgrade to Catalina, unfortunately.

This Stack Overflow question answers this. You need to copy and paste over the SDK for the iOS version that your phone runs on into this file location: <where ever xcode is located on your machine>/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/Platforms/iPhoneOS.platform/DeviceSupport.
After downloading the appropriate file, you can go to Terminal and paste this:
unzip /Users/yourname/Downloads/13.5.zip
cp ~/Users/yourname/Downloads/13.5 ~/Users/yourname/location/of/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/Platforms/iPhoneOS.plaform/DeviceSupport

Here's the link to the SDK for iOS version 13.5 (includes 13.5.1) that you need to paste over.
You can also update to Catalina to get a later version of Xcode, but I don't recommend it if this is the only thing you're doing it for.
Apple no longer allows you to downgrade your iOS version, so that option is now, sadly, null.
Edit: I just wanted to make it clear that this approach works for all versions of iOS, not just 13.5. Just download the your system version's corresponding file and paste it into the location mentioned before. Make sure to unzip the file before pasting it though.


On iPad, how to organize Shows in a native Video player app On a computer, in iTunes I add a number of video files that I group by marking them as TV Shows. The shows, in turn, have files grouped into seasons.

When I transfer files to an iPad, I only see the Season number in the native Video app. It would be logical to at least show a show name and a season number. So if I add two different shows to an iPad, and both of them have season 1, the in Video app on the device I get two Season 1 enters on the initial screen. I can only see the name of the show if I select one of these "season 1" entries.

So my question is: is there a way for me to group files in ipda, so that I get a name of the group displayed? It doesnt necceseraly has to be shows, as long as there is grouping.

I figured out that I can't get the name of the show to come up in iPad's show list. The only way to differentiate is to get a readable album art with the show name and apply it to all seasons. This way I know what show I am clicking, as well as what season.


Bootcamp/Parallels - how to use the the line-out on my MacPro I have a 2010 MacPro which I'm multi-booting (OS X, Win 7) using Parallels and Bootcamp depending on what I'm doing.

I can't see how to change the audio setting so that the line-out on the back of the 'Pro can be used as the default output. Do I need a new driver or something? I've tried using Windows Update but it tells me I already have the best available driver ...

I don't have an answer for you for Boot Camp, but for Parallels you should be able to (if you're in Coherence mode):

Click on the Parallels menu (Just the Devices menu if you're not in Coherence)
Go to the Devices → Sound → Input Device menu
Choose Built-in Input device or Line in Input Device depending on what shows up.

Example:


How to package and distribute a Keyboard Layout I'm using Ukele to create a new keyboard for my language.

I can't find information regarding how to distribute it so that users can easily install and use it.

Keyboard layouts can be installed in one of the following locations: /Library/Keyboard Layouts/ ~/Library/Keyboard Layouts/ /Network/Library/Keyboard Layouts/

Also, perhaps useful:

https://developer.apple.com/library/mac/technotes/tn2056/_index.html#//apple_ref/doc/uid/DTS10003085

hope that helps


Wi-Fi can’t be turned on (MacBook Pro 2011, High Sierra 10.13.4) The Wi-Fi icon in the menu bar is displaying as empty. When I open Network Preferences and press “Turn Wi-Fi On”, nothing happens.

I have tried making the Wi-Fi service inactive, deleting it, then restarting the MacBook and adding the service back.

This fix actually worked, but the problem returned after about thirty minutes.

Since then, I have simply been repeating the process every time the Wi-Fi turns itself off, but it is very inconvenient and I hope it is not the only fix.

I’m afraid that the fact that the Wi-Fi turning itself back off again indicates that it’s a hardware issue.

After seeing a response to another user who had a similar problem, I have also tried using Terminal to “cycle the power to my wireless card”. It had no effect.

After restarting the MacBook again, it now says “Wi-Fi: No hardware installed” and will not let me create a new Wi-Fi service.

After another reboot I was able to turn WiFi on again, but it turned off after about ten minutes. I imagine that I will sometimes get “No Hardware Installed” again in the future.

Google's answer to "wifi no hardware installed mac"

This OSX Daily article from 2016 suggests that you need to reset your NVRAM and the SMC to solve the problem.


Translation of words in spotlight I am looking for an extension for spotlight on Yosemite, which allows an offline translation of english words into german and vice-versa. Similar to the inbuilt dictionary, but rather giving a translation of the word instead of a definition.
It should also be lightweight, so not slowing the system or spotlight down.
Is there such a software?

This may not be quite what you're looking for, but have a look at Flashlight. It allows you to use plugins for Spotlight, including translation plugins. I don't think the translation ones are offline, but it's open source, so maybe you could figure out a way to download an offline translation dictionary and modify an existing plugin to use this offline dictionary?


Reposition Spotlight search bar to its default location in macOS Mojave I accidentally dragged and moved the Spotlight search bar shown on pressing Command + Space. This is what it looks like now:

I want to re-center it, but I am not very sure how to do it precisely. Is there a way or a setting to move it back to its original location again?

I am using macOS Mojave 10.14.

Starting with OS X El Capitan 10.11, it became possible to freely drag and move around Spotlight search bar.

To reposition it to its original location, simply tap and hold on the Spotlight search button in the Menu bar (shown towards right) for a couple seconds. This should do the trick!


Unable to create iOS App Development certificate I am trying to create a iOS development certificate in the dev center on apple. When I go to create a certificate the "OS App Development" option is greyed out and I am unable to select it. This has noly just  happened, has been fine before. Any one have any clue?

There have been outages to several Apple online services. Sadly, I've seen errors even when the system status is green.

https://developer.apple.com/system-status/

Your best bet is to wait it out if you can. If you cannot, you'll need to open a support ticket to speak with someone that has visibility on the server side. While you're waiting, try safari in private browsing and/or use a different web client to be sure it's not a bad cookie or something browser related.


How do I clear the purgeable area on my disk? I cleared space on my disk by deleting files and emptying trash. But, I am unable to make use of the space that I freed up. That is, as you can see the disk reports 142 GB as Available with 83 GB of that as purgeable.

So I should have plenty of space to to copy over a 70 GB file onto the disk. Yet when I try I get an error stating "Not enough disk space to copy", like the following image shows:

How do I clear out the purgeable space to make it truly available for use?

I've tried rebooting in the hopes that a restart clears out the purgeable area, but had no change trying that.

You can create a huge file that will force macOS to clean purgeable files to free you space. Do do so, type this command in a terminal:

dd if=/dev/zero of=~/hugefile bs=15m

It will create a file called hugefile in your home folder, which you can check the size with Get Info and stop when it's big enough for you, using ControlC. Or you can simply let it run until you are out of space in the disk and things start to stop working.

This command takes a long time to allocate the memory, you can also stop it when it's 5~10GB and duplicate the file CommandD to create copies and speed up the process.

Then, you just need to delete the files, obviously.

In your case, you already have the file you want to copy, so you could split it into 50 GB chunks and copy one chunk over. Then let the system purge files and repeat. Once you have all the data over, you can combine them - adding the second file to the first, deleting the second file, etc...

How to merge files after using split command from terminal?

The main problem is that “purgeable” space is not one monolithic item - it is potentially local time machine or filesystem snapshots, cached data, derived data, iCloud photos at full resolution that will be downsampled as you start to get closer to no free space available.

The system will self correct if you can bring the data over in two pieces in your case, or in n-pieces in the general case.


How do I disable the Command-Control-D word definition keyboard shortcut in OS X Lion? Mac OS X Lion introduced a new feature where in many applications you can press  (Command-Control-D) to produce a popup with the definition for the word under the mouse cursor. A side effect of this is that you can no longer use the same shortcut to access functionality in other applications (for example, Emacs).

Is it possible to either

a) disable the word definition Command-Control-D keyboard shortcut, or
b) change the word definition keyboard shortcut to something other than Command-Control-D?

To disable the Control-Command-D binding enter the following in the terminal:

defaults write com.apple.symbolichotkeys AppleSymbolicHotKeys -dict-add 70 '<dict><key>enabled</key><false/></dict>'

and restart.


Is it possible to find out an app download / installation date on iOS? Is there a way to find out the exact date of installation of an application that was added to my phone?

On iPhone (iOS 11.0.3):
Settings > iTunes & App Store: Apple ID: View Apple ID > Purchase History -- tap "Last 90 Days" to expand view to include previous years.

Shows free and paid purchases by date.


How can I script selective minimization of documents in text edit when several files may be open? From the Terminal, or in a shell file, I know how to open multiple files in a particular app in text edit from the command line and have all of their windows minimized like this:
open -a TextEdit.app ~/Documents/doc1.txt ~/Documents/doc2.txt ~/Documents/doc3.txt
osascript -e 'tell application "TextEdit" to set miniaturized of every window to true'

Is there a command to minimize not all of thow windows but just a particular one of them or equivalently, iterate over minimized windows to restore one by name like ~/Documents/doc1.txt?

Open the windows you want to minimize first, and the other(s) afterwards.
open -a TextEdit.app ~/Documents/doc2.txt ~/Documents/doc3.txt
osascript -e 'tell application "TextEdit" to set miniaturized of every window to true'
open -a TextEdit.app ~/Documents/doc1.txt


Is it possible to change file status (from read only to read and write) for multiple files/folders at once? I moved all my web files/folders from my default MAMP directory to a more manageable location. Now all the files and folders have been changed to read only.

I figured out how to change the status per one by one, but that would take a lot of time. Is there a way to change all the files and folders to "read and write" all at once

Open terminal and try the following; putting the path of your new directory behind the /:

chmod -R o+rw /path/to/your/new/directory

-R means recursively change the permissions of all files in the directory, with the arguments ( o+rw ):

o ( the other users), alternatively u (for user) or g (for group)
r ( read )
w ( write )


Mail, Automation can't be configured after Time Machine restore after OS re-install ENVIRONMENT: MacPro 4,1, 56GB RAM, running Mojave via DosDude's patch kit.
SYNOPSIS:

I unwisely installed the latest Mojave full update (Mojave Security
Update 2021-002 10.14.6). Afterward, my second monitor did not work
at all (Apple Cinema HD Display on NVIDIA GeForce GT 120 512 MB).
I went back to DosDude's post-install patches, and tried to
re-patch the "Legacy Video Card" patch. Still no joy.
I tried to re-intall the complete DosDude system, but it refused to put an older
system on top of a newer one.
I made sure I had a good Time Machine backup, then wiped the disk, re-intalled the original DosDude system (ticking "Legacy Video Card") and voila — second monitor worked again!
I then used Migration Assistant.app to try to put things back how they were, using my Time Machine backup.

When the restore finished about 16 hours later, I re-booted and logged in. First thing I discovered is that Mail.app no longer works. It wants to be completely re-configured. When I try to configure gmail, it says Google "didn't authorize" — after successfully going through the linked login procedure!
Then I tried connecting to my local IMAP/SMTP server, using the same credentials that are working on a similarly-configured laptop. It accepts my credentials (after many minutes of thinking about it!), and then asks which apps I want to use with those credentials, including Mail and Notes. No matter how I tick those boxes and click "Done," it presents me with the same dialogue with an endless "Next" button that apparently doesn't do anything useful.
While digging deeper, I noticed that many of my custom enhancements (Albert, Carabiner, Default Folder, etc.) no longer work. They ask for access to Automation in System Preferences, but then there is no way to change anything. (These were all working before I did the restore.)

My guess is that something in the restore has messed up permissions, ACLs, or attributes for some of the files that System Preferences uses. But /System/Library/PreferencePanes looks exactly like it does on my fully-functioning laptop, running the same OS and patch kit:

Any thought on what I should try next, short of another complete re-install?

Ugh. I never did figure out what went wrong. I re-formatted the disk (always a teeth-clenching experience), and re-installed Mojave from the thumb drive installer I made from the DosDude instructions.
So far, this is the same as before. But this time, when it was done installing and booted up, I used Migration Assistant to restore everything except my home directory, instead of everything.
Then, I logged in, and re-ran Migration Assistant, this time, restoring only my home directory.
Now, things seem to be working normally.


Airprint on older HP Printer (Color LaserJet 2600N) My parents have both recently gotten iPads, and have found that our networked laser printer, a HP Color LaserJet 2600N doesn't seem to support airprint. Is there any way to upgrade the printer to support the protocol, to save them replacing the printer altogether?

The printer works great wirelessly on my Macbook Pro (2010) and installed happily with no drivers.

Thanks!

I don't know that you'll be able to install firmware into the printer that  lets you accept jobs directly from iOS. However, if you have a Mac running on your network, you could try something like AirPrint, which runs on your Mac and makes all the printers available on the Mac available to Airprint as well.

This works great for me with my old Mac Mini that I run as a server and an HP CP1515 printer. This might not be an option if you don't have a machine available all the time, but it's a great solution if you do.


macOS Mojave - Get "Segmentation fault: 11" when trying to run airport As the title suggests, when I run the command /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/Apple80211.framework/Versions/Current/Resources/airport en0 sniff 6 in Terminal where en0 is my Wi-Fi interface and 6 is the channel I am sniffing; I am now getting an error message reading Segmentation fault: 11 almost instantly. This has never been a problem before updating to macOS Mojave (10.14) but is a reoccurring problem with the new update despite reboots, NVRAM resets etc.

My question is: has anybody else experienced this problem before? If so, are there any solutions or is it something that we must hope Apple will fix in a future release of macOS?

Thank you in advance for any help,

Kind regards, Tom

I faced with this problem, when try to dump traffic from interface. Possible solutions:

use tcpdump with writing to file, like suggested below
use Wireshark for capturing traffic from this interface


Start app/command-line tool without internet/network access Is there anything that can help me launch an app or command-line tool without internet or network access even when I'm connected to the internet? (so that I can use other apps with Internet, and block access for some apps) Like a firewall? Or something that intercepts the syscalls, something like maybe?

It seems that what you're looking for would be Little Snitch. You can find out more about it and download it here.


App for custom Gmail push notifications Does anyone know of an app that can notify me of new emails in my Gmail in specific time intervals? I mean, I want to set up hour intervals when it is ok to receive notifications.

I have researched a lot and seen apps like pushmail, where you need to forward to another email address, but I wan't something that does not need my mails to be forwarded.

The app will need:

Gmail IMAP connection
Notifications on new mail
Quiet periods (or else OK-to-notify periods)
Custom notification sounds
Nice UI ;)

Except for your requirement of setting quiet-times, one possible option would be Google Notifier.  Perhaps you could have a cron process that starts and stops Google Notifier at specific times?


Jailbroken, supervised iPhone. Is it bricked? I received this iPhone 4 from work, and they don't have access to the Mac used to supervise it anymore. According to this Apple support article, device supervision can be removed by using "Erase All Content and Settings". Unfortunately, I just found out that the device was jailbroken so "Erase All Content and Settings" will put it on a bootloop. I can't seem to put the device on DFU mode; is this because it's supervised? Is there anything I can do to unsupervise this device?

EDIT: I finally managed to put it to DFU mode! Took a few tries, and had to exit/relaunched my iTunes a few times before it showed up as a device there. As @grgarside mentioned below, recovery mode should have worked too, but somehow my iTunes kept either not recognizing the device when on recovery mode, or it says that the device is supervised by another computer so it can't be used with mine.

You should be able to put the device in DFU mode even if it is supervised. Recovery mode should work too—both should let you restore the device in iTunes.


Is it safe to close laptop while "Shrinking APFS Data Structures"? I just learned that the "shrinking APFS data structures" phase of creating a partition on a mac can take many hours, often overnight and I need to go from one place to another but I started the process just an hour or so ago. Is it safe to close the laptop while I'm on the go?

Interrupting the operation for any reason in the middle of it, like putting the laptop in sleep might (in case of sleep) or WILL (in case of everything else) corrupt the filesystem badly.
It may take more or less time as it moves around the data blocks from the place which is going to be removed from the partition. Depending on the arrangement of data on your disk as well as your general storage device performance it could take anywhere from 2 minutes (I had a new partition so I fell into this case) to several hours (if a lot of data needs to be relocated).


3 finger swipe up / down in Finder not working Catalina System Preferences > Trackpad > Swipe between pages > Swipe with 2 or 3 fingers
I am able to swipe sideways but not up and down in Finder. Any ideas?

I don't think there is an up/down swipe gesture to navigate pages - these clash with other swipe gestures like app expose and mission control.
So, to find other options:

Why would you need to swipe up/down in Finder?
Are you trying to switch between different windows of Finder or trying to switch to another app?

If you are trying to switch to a different window of Finder, you can press Command+` or use app expose's three/four finger swipe down. These commands/swipes work for all applications, not just Finder.
If you want to switch to a different application you can press Command+tab or use mission control's three/four finger swipe up.
If you're in Finder's list view and are trying to collapse/expand a folder, you can just press the Left key to collapse the selected folder or press the Right key to expand the selected folder.


Horizontal lines appear when using Apple Pencil on iPad while charging While charging my iPad Pro (running iOS 14.0) from my MacBook, using a Syncwire lightning cable, random horizontal lines appear when I draw using my Apple Pencil. Has anyone encountered this problem, or have any advice on how to fix it?
Many thanks in advance.

I seem to have found a solution to my own problem, so posting it here in case others have the same issue.
I have been charging my iPad from my Macbook, which was also charging at the same time. As soon as I remove my Macbook from its power source, the issue disappears. It seems that the AC power entering the Macbook was somehow interfering with the iPad!


Company software still on computer I bought an iMac from a company that was upgrading their computers. They assured me that it was clean of their applications. Just to be safe I did a wipe of the hard drive and reinstalled macOS High Sierra.

A problem arose when I was setting up the computer after the install. It asked me if I wanted the company to configure the Mac for me. I kind of ignored it since that was the only time I saw anything related to that in the weeks I've had it, until today when a notification popped up asking if I want to automatically configure my settings.

I called the company who patched me through to IT who assured me several times that everything was ok. To be honest, it has worked just fine. No issues at all - I'm just a little on edge. When I was setting up the computer it stated that the admin (company) would have access to files and apps, and can even see my Web traffic. Apple stated there's nothing that they can do. I'm stuck.

Here's what I've done to try to fix the problem:

Tried a clean install of macOS High Sierra again, with no luck.
Upgraded to macOS Mojave which didn't resolve the issue.

The only thing I can think of is the macOS base system (I'm assuming that has stayed the same.)

So what can I do? Everything I try doesn't get rid of the notification to set up my computer for the company. Somewhere there is some pre-installed software that won't go away.

There is no company software leftover on your iMac that is prompting you. The most likely explanation is that the iMac that you bought is enrolled into Apple Device Enrollment Program.

DEP lets organization automatically enroll devices into a MDM (mobile device management) system even without touching the device. The devices are enrolled into DEP at the time of purchasing via Apple or partner. Basically, Apple or resale partner associate the device serial numbers with the organization that made the purchase. This will let otganization IT team supply a configuration profile over the air, without even physically accessing the device.

The enrolled device checks with the Apple's servers to see if its enrolled into a DEP. You'll need to contact and ask the organization (basically the IT team thereof) to un-enroll your device from DEP. They should have ideally done this as a part of handing over the device to you (as it is no longer the property of the said organization).

Once un-enrolled, you'll no longer see the message and can use your Mac normally just like any other Mac.


Are updates available for Maps on the iPhone 6s plus Maps for my area has not been updated and is missing some major highway additions.  I'm currently using Google as a substitute but its not as integrated into iOS.

Apple does do updates but they're primarily server-side, so you might not notice the updates each time.

The best way to send Apple feedback about incorrect Maps data is to use Report a Problem under the ⓘ button.  There you can indicate what error the map has and send it to Apple.  Unfortunately, Apple has not published or otherwise indicated a timeframe as to when they will push-out corrections.


How to force Mail.app to ask for Gmail password? I recently changed my Gmail account's password. The account in Mail.app is offline as expected ("Login Failed"), but there seems no way to input the new password:

There is no password input field in Mail→Preferences→Accounts anymore. The fields Incoming Mail Server and Usernamecontain the right information, but they are greyed out (cannot be changed).
System Preferences→Internet Accounts: "Mail" is checked, but clicking on the "Details…" button only shows two editable fields: Description and Name.

I tried to force Mail.app/Internet accounts Prefs to ask for the new password by deleting the imap.gmail.com entries in Keychain.app, but it did nothing.

Where do I input the new password? Alternatively, how do I force Mail.app to ask for the new password? (A webview panel should popup, where I can input the password.)

Deleting and setting up my gmail account anew in Mail.app is not an option. I'm running OS X 10.11.3. Google 2FA is enabled.

Go to Mail -> Preferences -> Accounts -> Accounts Information Tab and click Outgoing Mail Server drop-down menu. Select 'Edit SMTP Server List'

Click Advanced tab and in the Authentication field select 'Password'. Enter your new password in the according field.

Hope this help.


How to remove automatically subscribed calendar for public holidays on my iPhone? As you can see in the screenshot below, somehow my iPhone subscribed to a calendar which is called "Deutsche Feiertage" (German public holidays).

How can I find out where this is coming from and how can I remove it (not just hide or disable notification)?

I am not hundert percent sure, but I think it is there since I upgraded my Mac to macOS 10.12. It was also there in the calendar app. There it was really easy to delete it. But I cannot find I way to get rid of it on my iPhone (using iPhone 6 Plus with iOS 10.2).

You can't delete the iOS holidays calendar, only hide it. It is a subscribed calendar but it's part of iOS.


Copy selection to clipboard automatically I am looking for a program that can copy any selected text to the clipboard automatically. E.g. if I select some text in Safari or Eclipse, it should automatically copy it to the keyboard.

The Google Chrome extension Auto Copy 3.0.3 can do it in Google Chrome.

The application PopClip displays a popover menu which appears when some text is selected in any application but there doesn't seem to be any way to automatically copy it to the keyboard.

Copy Clip & it’ll sync with iOS devices, too.


Mac OS X keeps to ask me if I want to allow iTunes to accept connections Every time I open iTunes, Mac OS X keeps to ask me if I want to allow it to accept connections, even if in the Firewall settings iTunes has been set to accept any connections.

I am not using a beta version of iTunes. How can I avoid this "problem"?

That's unusual because applications created by Apple should be automatically permitted access through the firewall.  Have you modified iTunes (added plugins for example) in any way?  You can check if iTunes' digital signature is valid with the following Terminal command:

codesign -vvv /Applications/iTunes.app/

You should get two lines back looking like those in the image below

If these don't match with what I have or even if they do, a reinstall of iTunes or removal of any plugins should fix it.

Use the following steps:

Uninstall iTunes.
Empty Trash.
Restart the Mac.
Reinstall iTunes


Move files if file name doesn't exist considering extension For example, in folder A, I have foo.jpg and bar.jpg. In folder B, I have foo.png and foobar.png. I only need one version of the file regardless of the extension, so I only want move foobar.png to folder A. How can I do this? This is a simple example, there are almost 2,000 files in folder B, so comparing manually would be very tedious.

Save the following as a text file and make it executable. Invoke it from the command line, passing in the paths to folder A and folder B.

#!/usr/bin/ruby

if ARGV.size != 2
    STDERR.print "#Usage: #{$0} source/folder destination/folder\n"
    exit 1
end

a = ARGV[0].chomp("/")
b = ARGV[1].chomp("/")
old_bases = Hash.new
Dir.foreach(b) do |f|
    next if f =~ /^\./
    old_bases[f.sub(/\.[^.]*$/, "").downcase] = true
end
Dir.foreach(a) do |f|
    next if f =~ /^\./
    fbase = f.sub(/.[^.]*$/, "").downcase
    unless old_bases[fbase]
        File.rename( "#{a}/#{f}", "#{b}/#{f}" )
        old_bases[fbase] = true
    end
end

Script edited to check number of arguments, and fix error in File.rename

Edited again to ignore case. That is, don't move Bar.png if bar.jpg already exists.


Why does MEGAsync need my password? I have downloaded the MEGAsync app (because MEGA won't let me download in Firefox), and whenever I launch it, I get a password prompt with no stated reason:

Why does MEGAsync need my password?
MEGAsync is a desktop app made by MEGA, which uploads and downloads files to and from MEGA's cloud platform. I am trying to use it to download a large file, because MEGA won't let you download large files in Firefox.
macOS Sierra

MEGASync requires an admin password because it installs a Finder plugin.


Is it possible to download iTunes Extras? I am going on a long flight and have purchased (and downloaded) some movies.

Is it possible to download all the iTunes Extras so that it can be viewed offline?

No, iTunes Extras can only be watched while connected to the net.  It's not possible to download the Extras to watch without a connection.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT203020


How to change nameserver in resolv.conf in Recovery Mode? How can I change the nameserver in /etc/resolv.conf while the MacBook is in recovery mode?

The IP-address and other details (e.g. DNS-server) are usually provided by a DHCP-server in your network if your Mac is booted to Recovery Mode.

The DNS config data is temporarily stored to resolv.conf on a RAM disk (union)-mounted to /private/var/run - a directory also containing some other files. The file /etc/resolv.conf is a link to /private/var/run/resolv.conf only! AFAIR the content of resolv.conf is not relevant for DNS resolution (performed by mDNSResponder) in macOS!

The file is non-persistent!

Usually DNS-server setup in the shell is done with sudo networksetup ... - a tool not available in the Base OS X System of the Recovery Mode.

You should still be able to change the DNS server with scutil in Terminal.app:

Open Terminal.app in the menubar > Utilities
Enter scutil --dns to get your current DNS config
Enter scutil to reach interactive mode
Enter list to get a list of all keys in the data store
If you have several interfaces (you've found several State:/Network/Service/SERVICE_ID/IPv4 entries) determine the one connected to the Internet (based on e.g. your router and its internal network IP settings) - example:

get State:/Network/Service/EB40E2FC-8248-48F2-8567-257D940A31EB/IPv4
d.show

Example output:

<dictionary> {
  Addresses : <array> {
    0 : 192.168.0.8
  }
  ConfigMethod : Manual
  SubnetMasks : <array> {
    0 : 255.255.255.0
  }
}

If your router has the IP-address 192.168.0.1 this should be the proper interface. If your router has e.g. the IP address 192.168.1.1 the interface found above would be the wrong one and you have to search for an interface with an IP in the range 192.168.1.2-192.168.1.254.
Enter get State:/Network/Service/EB40E2FC-8248-48F2-8567-257D940A31EB/DNS use the service ID of the interface connected to the Internet you have found previously (here EB40E2FC-8248-48F2-8567-257D940A31EB)

Entering d.show should show something like:

<dictionary> {
  SearchDomains : <array> {
    0 : some.domain
  }
  ServerAddresses : <array> {
    0 : 192.168.0.1
  }
}

Depending on the DHCP setup of your router the SearchDomains entry and array may be missing.
Enter d.add ServerAddresses * 8.8.8.8 9.9.9.9  - add one or more DNS-server (here Google's 8.8.8.8 and quad9's 9.9.9.9)
Enter set State:/Network/Service/EB40E2FC-8248-48F2-8567-257D940A31EB/DNS
Enter d.show to check the modified dict entry. It should show something like:

<dictionary> {
  SearchDomains : <array> {
    0 : some.domain
  }
  ServerAddresses : <array> {
    0 : 8.8.8.8
    1 : 9.9.9.9
  }
}

Enter quit to leave the interactive mode of scutil and return to the shell.
Enter scutil --dns or dig to verify your new DNS config.

Tested in macOS 10.12.5 Recovery Mode only!


What are the blank files in my Home Folder of macOS? file names: /build /el_capitan /optional /recommended /yosemite etc
All the files are created at the day I opened my mac for the first time (iMac (Retina 5K, 27-inch, Late 2015))

They look like zero byte files created by an error of some sort. A good culprit is a script that has a path variable that usually points somewhere else and doesn't catch that the parameter or variable is blank - so your home folder (the current working) directory gets spammed.

I'd be slightly concerned since it's creating these wrong - what else is going wrong in that script? Deleting wrong files, or worse?

I'd be interested to see what the detailed information is for them. You can get this information using Finder list view, or via Terminal with ls -la. Whilst you're in Terminal, you could also do file "/mavericks" and see what that comes back with - it identifies the file type by its contents.

Did you buy your Mac brand new or previously used?


Why isn't search working in Finder? In Finder, the search bar in the top right corner has ceased to function. Observe:

Obviously, there should be something with the letter "s" in it. But no results appear. It's just blank. Anything I search for, anywhere I search for it, it all fails.

Other than your Finder having jaundice, this should be a simple fix. The following command will clear the volumes local store and rebuild it if necessary; Open up Terminal and type:

# sudo mdutil -E /

You will be asked for your password, provide it, as this command
requires administrator privileges to run.
After confirming your Spotlight index will be re-built and your files
should appear in the search. ( Depending on the size of your HDD it
can take a while )

To check if all volumes have indexing enabled or disabled use:

# mdutil -s -a

To toggle (enable/disable) indexing on all volumes:

# mdutil -a -i

These commands are safe to use when/if you encounter similar issues as described in the question.

Complete options available:

 -p  Spotlight caches indexes of some network devices locally.  This option requests
     that a local caches be flushed to the appropriate network device.

 -E  This flag will cause each local store for the volumes indicated to be erased.
     The stores will be rebuilt if appropriate.

 -i on | off
     Sets the indexing status for the provided volumes to on or off.  Note that index-
     ing may be delayed due to low disk space or other conditions.

 -s  Display the indexing status of the listed volumes.

 -a  Apply command to all volumes.

 -v  Print verbose information when available.

mdutil(1) Mac OS X Manual Page


My MBP will no longer shut down or restart My Macbook Pro was purchased late 2013.  I now have OS X 10.9.5 (13F34).  All of my Apple drop down menu items have become dysfunctional. I consistently cannot shutdown or reboot.

What can I do?

It sounds like your Mavericks installation is messed up.

If you still have the original Mavericks Install package you can check it with Terminal.

Type MD5

(with space) and now drag the Mavericks installer to the terminal window.

The result should be 7c2152a1afac38d2d06651add2d24968

I would recommend following steps:

Try to restore it using the cmd-r.

Following this, try to log in as different user to eliminate user profile problems.

As next step start in Safe mode to eliminate some of the 3d party apps problems.

Resetting the PRAM/NVRAN (EFI) and the SMC would be good as well.

Finally run the Apple Hardware test to check for hardware problems.


Manually start Time Machine backup without menu bar icon The only way I know how to manually start a Time Machine backup is by showing the Time Machine menu bar icon (by enabling that option in System Preferences), and then choosing "Start Backup" from the menu bar icon's menu.

How can I manually start a backup without having to use the menu bar icon?

If you'd prefer not to have or use Time Machine from its icon on the menu bar, it can be started/stopped, and more, via Terminal, e.g.:

tmutil startbackup

Or:

tmutil stopbackup

The startbackup verb also can take options, i.e:

tmutil startbackup [-a | --auto] [-b | --block] [-r | --rotation] [-d | --destination dest_id]

Have a look at its manual page: man tmutil


Print to File list of media file names, types and most importantly length I'm looking for an easy way to print to a file the following information in a directory full of video files:

File Name, File Type, Video Length (in Seconds)

I realize the first two are very easy, its the 3rd bit of information that I'm having trouble finding an automated way to accomplish.

You may install the command line utility exiftool.

Then open a text file and copy/paste the following bash script:

#!/bin/sh

find "~/Movies/" -name "*" -not -name ".*" -type f | while read file
do
    FILETYPE=$(exiftool  -p "\$FileType" "${file}")
    FPS=$(exiftool  -p "\$FrameRate" "${file}")
    TOTALFRAMES=$(exiftool  -p "\$FrameCount" "${file}")
    DURATION=$[TOTALFRAMES*FPS]
    echo ${file} ${FILETYPE} ${DURATION} > output.txt
done

Replace ~/Movies/ with the full path containing the movie files and output.txt with your resulting file name.

Save the file to your user's home folder, as 'meta_generator' or by whatever name you want.

Then fire up /Utilities/Terminal.app and type:

chmod +x meta_generator
./meta_generator

Edit:
I just saw that you wanted the length in seconds, so I've replaced the Duration tag.

By multiplying the framerate and the total frame count, you'll get the desired seconds..

But you may find other easier ways though :)


Mail.app smart mailbox, how to negate a search filter clause (_not_ flagged)? How can I negate the search criterion: "is flagged"?

I need all messages in a given mailbox, whose flag is not set (i.e. they are not flagged).

I would create a smart mailbox containing all Flagged items, and then (this is the one you want) a smart mailbox with the 'Not In Mailbox' option to return all the items that are not Flagged, and thus not in that mailbox.

Create this first:

Then for the mailbox you want, create this one:

Worked for me in Mail 4.6, OSX 10.6.8.


Getting multiple Apple IDs Is it possible to have multiple Apple IDs?

Can I have different Apple Ids using my different email ids?

Yes, an Apple ID is per email address, so you can have multiple Apple IDs in the same store, or different store.


Finder displays wrong volume names, drive status (High Sierra) My JetDrive volume is inexplicably showing as "Dropbox Installer" in the Finder. If I eject and re-mount it, the same.

Also "TB Backup" is supposedly mounted, according to Disk Utility, but Finder does not show an eject button.

If I try to browse "TB Backup" I get:

This mess is preventing my SuperDuper backups from working.

I was able to go to the apple menu, choose 'force quit' and choose finder.  The button changed to relaunch and then it picked up my volumes correctly.

This still seems like a bug, but this will fix it without rebooting. :)


AppleScript working until placed in cron; causing Chrome to go unresponsive Good afternoon.  Question: I have a simple apple script telling Google Chrome to open,
go to a URL, and enter presentation mode...

tell application "Google Chrome"
    activate
    make new window
    set myURL to "http://myURL.php"
    tell window 1 to make new tab with properties {URL:myURL}
    tell window 1 to enter presentation mode
end tell

Running in AppleScript editor, it behaves correctly.  From CLI, it also behaves
correctly...

/usr/bin/osascript /<fqpn>/openURL.scpt

but if I take that snippet and put it in my cron, it fails to go to fullscreen and Chrome becomes unresponsive, requiring a force quit.  I get the following error in /var/mail:

/<fqpn>/openURL.scpt:725:748: execution error: Google Chrome got an error: AppleEvent handler failed. (-10000)

I have no ~/.* files on this account (OSX 10.9.2), so I tried sourcing my /etc/profile first in my crontab, but no effect.

Any ideas what my problem is?

-Chris

Using the same applescript; I moved over to launchd; using a generic template pulled from

http://launched.zerowidth.com/

and everything behaved just as expected.  I'm not sure what I was missing in my cron environment; but the answer seems to be to avoid crontabs for simple applescripts for now..


Numbers Bubble Chart Bubble Radius I can't figure out how to change the radii of the bubbles in a bubble chart in Numbers. I tried taking the original data and dividing it by 10, or 100, and redirecting the Size: data to the new column, but the bubble size hasn't changed.

I'm finding Numbers to be frustratingly counterintuitive, and haven't found any mention of this yet on the Numbers Help Page.

Edit: I used a circle detecting script to find the eclipse in the frames of a video, then I plotted the x,y coordinates of each circle, and wanted to use the radius of the found circles for the size of the bubbles—there probably isn't enough variation to matter, but obviously being so large is useless.

@user2421192's comment had the solution: apparently the bubbles are automatically scaled proportionally to the range of the radius data. So by adding a new row at the top of my data, without x or y data, but just a r radius value, rescaled the rest of the data.

Since the radii I have don't vary by much, I decided to modify them with a formula, taking the exp of the original radius r divided by ten (exp(r/10)), and then setting my "scale" radius to 50 * max(radius) (of the rest of the column), which gives some variation in the bubbles that makes it a little clearer whether they're bigger or smaller than the rest.


What causes a Mac to lose its serial number? I upgrade my brand new late 2012 Mac Mini's drive to an SSD and changed the RAM. Now when looking up the serial number in "About this mac" or System Profiler it just says "System serial#" :

The Mini also performed an OS and EFI update before I noticed the problem.
I cannot log in to iMessages and posts an the 'net lead me to believe the non-present serial number may be at fault.

Already tried PRAM reset. Can it be easily reinstated or otherwise fixed  ?

Update:

The only deleterious effect seems to be the inability to log in to Messages with my AppleID. [Earlier edit of this question referenced being unable to download Mountain Lion from the App Store, this issue turned out to be unrelated.]

Apple Support sent a new machine and replacing RAM and SSD did not cause a repeat of the problem. This machine is able to log in to Messsages.

A lack of a visible serial number should not affect your Mac.

Apple does not guarantee a serial number will be set. Technical Note 1103 warns developers not to rely on a serial number being available to uniquely identify a Mac.

The technical note suggests the serial number can vanish if hardware components are changed. Other reasons appear to be possible but Apple does not enumerate every cause:

  Caveats for using the serial number

  It is possible for a system to lose its serial number so that it will no longer appear either in System Profiler or the I/O Registry. Repairing a system by swapping hardware components is one reason this can happen. Apple does not document the specific details of how a machine can lose its serial number. Once the serial number has been lost there is no means to restore it to the machine.

  Apple does not guarantee that all future systems will have a software-readable serial number.

  Both of these cases illustrate why asset tracking software should always provide a way for a serial number to be entered manually.

I am not aware of any further documentation about restoring the serial number. If it is possible, this capability is likely to only be available to Apple engineers or support staff.


Avoid computer to show automatically password wizard option after time out The issue

Regularly, the following happens:

A Mac computer, running mac OS 10.15.3 (19D76), with Filevault enabled, is turned on,
If the user logs in immediately, everything is normal.
Otherwise, after a couple of minutes, the following message appears:

  If you’re having a problem entering your password, press and hold the power button on your Mac to shut it down. Then press it again to start it up in the Recovery OS.

After ~5 minutes, the screen goes black.
Then, the screen can not be brought back up. Pressing keys or touching the touchpad does not bring back the screen.
The only way to interact with the computer again is by hitting the "Power" button. Once hit, there is a ~2 minutes waiting time, and the "Reset password wizard" appears.
Since we do not want to reset the password (after all, we know it!), we have to reboot the computer, which takes some time, and to go back to step 1.

Can you make password recovery starts only if explicitly asked, and not if this time limit, or whatever it is, was triggered?

What I've Tried

Reset NVRAM an PRAM,
Updated all software,
Plugged in a keyboard at start up,
Ran diagnostics,
Ran disk utility,
Deleted all the preference files.

None of that raised any issue nor changed this behavior.

Related Questions

The process looks fairly similar to what's described here.

I'm assuming this comes from some time-delay we trigger, but it is annoying. We are not not entering the password because we forgot it, but simply because we were doing something else at the time.

This question is loosely related, and suggests that this behavior comes from enabling Filevault. I do not want to deactivate it, but would like for the log-in screen to "simply come back" when the mouse is moved or a key pressed, without having to exit the "reset password wizard" and rebooting.

Even if it is not mentioned in the release notes, it seems that migrating to macOS Catalina 10.15.4 fixed the issue.


How can I use my Mac to determine the optimal WiFi channel to use with my wireless router? I'm setting up a new router and want to manually select the best channel, how can I run a scan of the networks around me to figure out which channel will have the best performance?

You can easily determine the best channels to use in the native Wireless Diagnostics scanner:

Open the "Wireless Diagnostics" Application
Ignore the prompts and open "Window", "Scan" in the menu bar
Press "Scan Now"

The recommended channel(s) for both 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz will now be present in the Summary pane.

More info on OSXDaily.


Docksend in Transmit 4 by Panic no longer works after upgrading to OS 10.7.3 I've just upgraded to OS 10.7.3 and Docksend in Transmit 4 by Panic no longer works. I drop files on the dock icon and nothing happens in Transmit.

I used the Using DockSend help menu and it worked like a charm for me. I'm on 10.7.3 as well:
You might just need to toggle it off, wait (perhaps reboot) and toggle it back on. Here are detailed instructions from the help menu:

So, following that, you'll end up here:

Make sure that Use DockSend checkbox is checked! If it is and it still won't work, I would reinstall Transmit. If it still won't work after that, definitely contact Panic support.


Why does the menubar hide when I'm in iTunes? Often when I'm using iTunes 10.4, the menubar will hide and show like the dock does when you set it that way. I don't know of any settings that allow for that to happen on the menubar. Is it a bug or a setting that I accidentaly changed?

It sounds like you're running iTunes in full screen mode if you're on Lion. In the top right corner you should have a button with two arrows that allows you to switch between full screen mode and regular mode.


Recovering lost text messages on iPhone I have just realized that a sync is not a backup. I synced my phone days ago, but backed it up months ago.

Is there anyway to get my synced text message history back?

There was some really important info on there.

I don't know if this Data recovery for iTunes is what you are looking for but you could give it a try! You could also try Dr.Fone


How do I lock the screen using a keyboard shortcut on OS X Mountain Lion with a Microsoft Natural Ergonomic Keyboard 4000? Title says it all: how do I lock the screen using a keyboard shortcut on OS X Mountain Lion with a Microsoft Natural Ergonomic Keyboard 4000?

You do not need to use Third Party Apps to set a global short cut.
You can use Automator Services,System Preferences keyboard Shortcuts and the CGSession -suspend command that switches to a login screen.

Use the Applescript :

do shell script "/System/Library/CoreServices/Menu\\ Extras/User.menu/Contents/Resources/CGSession -suspend"

in a Automator 'Service' like this with the set up as no input and all applications.

Save it and then go to the Keyboard System Preferences. -> Keyboard Shortcuts tab.  Select Services on the right. And scroll down to the bottom on the left to 'General'. There you will see your service. Click the addShortCut. And give the service a shortcut. Clost system prefs.

You may need to quit some apps and re open them first for them to pick up the short cut for the first time. You can see the ones that have already picked it up..

Now try the shortcut from the keyboard.


Broadcast a private wireless network from Mac to iPhone via ethernet Situation: I use my mac's ethernet for internet, because my apartment doesn't have a working router. However, I need wifi for my iPhone. Wifi is available from other apartments in the same building, however it's a weak/slow network speed.

Question: Can I setup a wifi hotspot coming from my Mac, that is connected to the internet via ethernet? This hotspot would require a password, so only my iPhone can connect to it.

Models: mid-2012 Macbook Pro Retina. Updated to Yosemite 10.10.2. iPhone 5s, updated to current software available, I don't remember the number.

Research: I have researched this topic. Majority are out of date, or are about iPhone TO mac hotspot, rather than Mac TO iPhone. Or they discuss from wifi to wifi. Seems no one uses ethernet anymore. (Ethernet OP btw).

Thank you! Hope I provided enough information.

On the Mac, go to System Preferences > Sharing. In the list on the left-hand side, check the box for Internet Sharing, then ensure your current connection (probably listed as Ethernet) is selected in the combobox. In the checklist below that, check the box for Wi-Fi.

(In the screenshot, Internet Sharing on the left is not checked, but it must be for this to work.)

The Wi-Fi Options button allows you to set the network name (SSID) and password.


Super simple accessibility app for iPad/iPod Touch My mother is now visually impaired and I've got an old iPad which I want to turn into a "audiobook station" for her. However, with the vision problems, operating the Music App turns out to be impossible (also, she's 80+y/o and really not into tech). Also, accessibility options on the tablet were not enough.

I can take care of keeping the iPad online and feed with new books, but I wish she had at least the ability to play/pause the book at any given moment. For that, would be ideal if the screen were a big simple Play/Pause button she'd simply hit once.

Kind of like Big Button Music Player but hopefully even simpler.

Suggestions?

This list of apps is for the people with low vision or the blind.  There was blind guy I met that was using an app that used sound and voice when he moved his fingers across the iPad.

http://www.applevis.com/apps/ios-apps-for-blind-and-vision-impaired


How can I `brew prune` multiple entries? After many calls with the Apple support, they told me I should reinstall the OS and restore my stuff with the migration assistant. I did it and almost everything works fine so far.

Only brew doctor shows me a few errors. I could fix the most of them by myself. I just don't know the most elegant way to solve the following error:

localhost:~ Newton1$ brew doctor
Warning: Broken symlinks were found. Remove them with "brew prune":
  /usr/local/share/ghostscript/9.07/Resource/Font/xylubt12.pfb
  /usr/local/share/ghostscript/9.07/Resource/Font/xylubt11.pfb
  /usr/local/share/ghostscript/9.07/Resource/Font/xylubt10.pfb
  /usr/local/share/ghostscript/9.07/Resource/Font/xyluat12.pfb
  /usr/local/share/ghostscript/9.07/Resource/Font/xyluat11.pfb
  /usr/local/share/ghostscript/9.07/Resource/Font/xyluat10.pfb
  .
  .
  .
  /usr/local/share/ghostscript/9.07/Resource/Font/blex.pfb
  /usr/local/share/emacs/site-lisp/subdirs.el
  /usr/local/share/emacs/site-lisp/autotest-mode.elc
  /usr/local/share/emacs/site-lisp/autotest-mode.el
  /usr/local/share/emacs/site-lisp/autoconf-mode.elc
  /usr/local/share/emacs/site-lisp/autoconf-mode.el
  /usr/local/share/emacs/24.3
  /usr/local/share/applications/emacs.desktop
  /usr/local/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/Current
  /usr/local/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.7
  /usr/local/Frameworks/Python.framework/Resources
  /usr/local/Frameworks/Python.framework/Python
  /usr/local/Frameworks/Python.framework/Headers

I think now you know what I mean. And there are much more entries.

So, how I can fix it as easily as possible?

Just run brew prune — this fixes them all in one go.

Run brew prune -v for verbose to see what it's doing.


Trying to use Notability in split-screen mode on iPad So for 8 years I have been using my 1st-generation iPad Mini, which cannot be upgraded past iOS 9, and therefore I have never had the chance to practice using split-screen or slideover mode (or any of the other multitasking innovations that came with iOS 12).  But I've just bought a brand-new iPad and am trying to figure out how to make the most of what ought to be a huge productivity boost.

What I am doing:  with one app open, I swipe up from the bottom of
the screen, press & hold Notability in my dock, and drag it to the
right half of my screen.
What I expect to happen:  Notability should
fill half of the screen, and there should be a movable divider
between the two open apps.
What actually happens:  Notability opens
in "slide over" mode, filling only about 1/3 to 1/4 of the screen;
while it can be moved, it can't be resized.

What am I doing wrong?  If an app is in slide over mode, how do I get it into split-screen mode?

drag it to the right half of my screen

It could be that you’re not letting go of the app far enough to the right — try dragging it to the right edge of your screen.

  with one app open

It could also be that this app you have open doesn’t support being in split screen. Try with Safari as the first app.

  If an app is in slide over mode, how do I get it into split-screen mode?

Drag the small pill-shaped handle at the top of the slide over app slightly towards the left/right edge of the screen. The app behind will move out the way for you to let go in the space.


AppleScript Photos export quality In AppleScript, I can export photos from Apple Photos. There are two options:

using originals, which discards all modifications I've made
not using originals, which exports them at 100% quality.

The export at 100% quality is practically uncompressed, even when the original photo is more compressed. This ends up taking more space than the original, effectively upsampling the photo, at no added benefit.
Is it possible to keep the original quality, but not lose the edits made in Photos?
Note that a switch for quality exists in Photos, as per screenshot below.

EDIT
I ended up writing and using this.
Note that this does still NOT solve my problem, as explained in the comments, but it gives me a suitable approximation.
(*
Export Apple Photos
===================

Exports all photos in Apple Photos library and reduces them to 90% quality.
The photos are in their current version (as opposed to the original).
Quality reduction is done with `mogrify` as setting the quality isn't
possible (nor it is possible to get the current quality -- everything
gets exported at 100%). For more on this issue see [1].

TODO
----

* Albums in the top folder (i.e. outside any folder) aren't exported.
  Only albums in folders are exported. To list them run this::

    tell application "Photos"
        repeat with alb in albums
            log (get name of alb)
        end repeat
    end tell

References
----------

[1] https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/410229/applescript-photos-export-quality

*)

-- main
tell application "Photos"
    repeat with topFolder in folders
        my processFolder(topFolder, 0, (get name of topFolder))
    end repeat
end tell

-- recursively scan folders and export albums
on processFolder(fold, level, dirpath)
    tell application "Photos"
        log "Folder " & (get name of fold)
        repeat with subFolder in (get folders of fold)
            set subPath to dirpath & "/" & (get name of subFolder)
            my exportAlbum(subFolder, subPath)
            my processFolder(subFolder, level + 1, subPath)
        end repeat
        my exportAlbum(fold, dirpath)
    end tell
end processFolder

-- export all albums in folder `f`
on exportAlbum(f, relativePath)
    set dest to "/Volumes/DATA/ApplePhotos/" as POSIX file as text -- the destination folder (use a valid path)

    tell application "Photos"
        repeat with i in (get albums of f)
            set tFolder to (the POSIX path of (dest as string) & relativePath & "/" & (get name of i)) as POSIX file as text
            repeat 1 times
                tell application "Finder"
                    if exists tFolder then
                        log "Skipping album " & (get name of i)
                        exit repeat
                    end if
                end tell
                log "Album " & (get name of i) & " -> " & tFolder as POSIX file as text
                my makeFolder(tFolder) -- create a folder named (the name of this album) in dest
                with timeout of 120 * 60 seconds -- 2 hours

                    export (get media items of i) to (tFolder as alias) without using originals
                    my reduceSize(tFolder)
                end timeout
            end repeat
        end repeat
    end tell
end exportAlbum

-- util mkdir
on makeFolder(tPath)
    do shell script "mkdir -p " & quoted form of POSIX path of tPath
end makeFolder

-- util shell script to reduce file size (quality 90)
--   note: it checks folder is not empty, otherwise mogrify will fail.
on reduceSize(tPath)
    set dirpath to quoted form of POSIX path of tPath & "/*.jpeg"
    do shell script "ls " & dirpath & "; if [ $? -eq 0 ]; then /usr/local/bin/mogrify -quality 90 " & dirpath & "; else echo No files in folder " & dirpath & "; fi"
end reduceSize

You could use the third-party tool ImageMagick, which can perform a wide variety of image transformations, including converting to a lower quality. You can install it with Homebrew with brew install imagemagick. You would include it through the do shell script command, for example do shell script 'convert input.png -quality 85% output.jpg'.


PowerPoint Macro for Mac - load pictures like "Insert Photo Album" PowerPoint on the Mac doesn't have the Insert Photo Album functionality which allows you to select images and new PPT created with one image on each slide.

I have an old macro that does this on Windows---but Mac doesn't support Application.FileDialogue

How can I set this up to work on Mac?

Many thanks!

'This is the Windows code - won't work on Mac
Dim curSlide As Slide
Dim oPic As Shape
Dim Pres As Presentation
Dim picCount As Integer
Dim i As Integer
Dim fd As FileDialog

Set Pres = ActivePresentation

  'Add selected pictures from directory
   picCount = 1
   Set fd = Application.FileDialog(msoFileDialogFilePicker)
       With fd
           .Title = "Select image files and click OK"
           .Filters.Add "Images", "*.gif; *.jpg; *.jpeg; *.bmp; *.tif; *.png"
           .FilterIndex = 2

           If .Show = -1 Then
             For i = 1 To .SelectedItems.Count

                Set curSlide = ActivePresentation.Slides.Add(ActivePresentation.Slides.Count + 1, ppLayoutBlank)
                Set oPic = curSlide.Shapes.AddPicture(FileName:=.SelectedItems(i), _
                    LinkToFile:=msoFalse, _
                    SaveWithDocument:=msoTrue, _
                    Left:=0, _
                    Top:=0, _
                    Width:=-1, _
                    Height:=-1)

         Next i

         End If

        End With

I would forget your VBA based macro from PowerPoint for Windows and instead create a macOS service that you can user whenever you want, including directly from PowerPoint. To do this you will need to use Automator to create a service that runs an Apple Script.

Create a service using Automator

Launch Automator (usually found within your Applications folder)
Go to File > New
Select Service and click Choose (Note: in macOS Mojave and above, select the Quick Action option)
In the top right hand of the window that appears, ensure that "No input" is selected from the Service receives drop-down list
Ensure the In drop-down list is showing "Any application"
In the second column containing the long list, find "Run AppleScript" and double-click on it
This will add the Run AppleScript window on the right
Now, replace the (* Your script goes here *) with the following script1:

tell application "Finder" to set frontmost to true
tell application "Finder" to set picFolder to every file in folder (choose folder)
log (count picFolder)

tell application "Microsoft PowerPoint"
    activate
    set newPres to make new presentation
    --set properties of slide 1 of active presentation to {layout:slide layout blank}
    set theSlide to make new slide at end of newPres with properties {layout:slide layout blank}
    repeat with xName in picFolder
        make new picture at end of last slide of active presentation with properties {file name:(xName as text), top:0, left position:0, height:541, width:722, lock aspect ratio:true} --makes pictures full sized
        make new slide at end of active presentation with properties {layout:slide layout blank}
    end repeat
end tell

Save the service using a meaningful name (e.g. Create PP Photo Album).

Now you should be able to run the service from any application, not just from within PowerPoint. You can do this by going to the Services list within any Application menu (e.g. PowerPoint > Services, Finder > Services, Safari > Services, TextEdit > Services, etc) and select the service you just created.

Notes:

When it runs, it'll open a Finder window asking you to select the folder containing your pictures. Once selected click on the Choose button. PowerPoint will then open a new blank presentation and insert all of the pictures in the selected folder into their own slide.
PowerPoint does not need to be already open when you run the service, but it will run quicker if it is.
You can also choose to create a keyboard shortcut to automatically run the Service for you. You can do this from Apple > System Preferences > Keyboard - just select the Shortcuts tab, pick Services from the lefthand side and choose the Service you created from the righthand side.

1. This is an old script I adapted from one I found on the web some years ago for use with MS Office 2011. I do not recall offhand from where I obtained the original script, but I can vouch for the fact it still works with the latest version of MS PowerPoint.


What do numbers in red circles mean on launcher icons? What do these numbers mean on Mac?

I am on an iMac running Catalina.

The number on App Store icon indicates the number of available app updates. The number on the System Preferences icon depends on what option in System Preferences also shows the number. Often it is that there is a software update to macOS available.

In some apps, it's the number of notifications: like email, or messages.


Upgrade White Macbook to Mojave? I have a technical question for this audience.  I have an older 13" white macbook (model A1342, "Mid-2010") which is currently running MacOS Sierra.  It seems to be running it fine but it is a recently wiped/reinstalled OS and I don't do much with it.  I am wondering if this machine can handle Mojave.  As for specs, it has a 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, 8 GB RAM, and a 120 GB solid state drive.  Definitely not bad for a machine of that era.  What are your thoughts?  Can this Macbook be upgraded to Mojave, and should it?  I am slightly worried that newer OS's on older machines will dog it down some.

macOS Mojave is only compatible with MacBook models from 2015 or later, i.e. the 12" Retina models. (There were no Macs just branded MacBook released between 2010 and 2015; Mojave supports MacBook Air and MacBook Pro models back to 2012.)

The latest macOS that will run on your MacBook is 10.13 High Sierra.

Only you can decide whether the performance will be OK for your usage, so I would suggest you try installing High Sierra and see how you get on.


Boot up error prohibitory sign flashing folder with question mark 3 weeks ago my hard drive failed so I bought a new one. (Macbook pro late 2011)
5 days ago, the new one flashed prohibitory sign, flashing folder with question mark. Every once in a while I could get it to desktop, but I would reboot, and back into the error. I reinstalled the OS through a USB, but still get the error. Is there a good chance it's the sata cable that needs to be replaced?

Try an erase and install, instead of just reinstalling OS X.

Back up your files and boot into an external install media (not the Recovery HD).
Open Disk Utility, select the internal disk and repartition it to 1 partition.
Install OS X normally, then restore your files.


Move app window to another Desktop without invoking Mission Control in macOS Mojave? Sometimes a row of desktops appears at top of the screen while dragging window to the top. It happened without activating Mission Control.

Unfortunately I am not able to reproduce this behaviour. How do I do it again? I wish to use this to move an app window to another Desktop.

To move an app window to a new Desktop without manually invoking Mission Control, simply drag the app window all the way up to the edge of the screen and hold. You'll be shown the row of desktops at the top.

Simply dragging the app window to top may not work. To make sure you enter this mode every time, drag the app window in one fast and smooth motion, and to the top most edge of the screen.

Carefully watch how it's done in the linked GIF. I have purposely dragged the window down, then dragged it smoothly in one go towards the top.

You can either move the app window to one of the already available desktops or drop it onto the + symbol towards extreme right corner to create a new desktop.

A blank desktop with the name of the app underneath is also show at the end of the list of desktops. Dropping the app window onto it will take the app window full-screen.

If you have a multi monitor setup, the app window can also be dropped onto the other monitor(s).

An alternate method to move an app window to different desktop is to move it in a similar manner to the right or left edge of the screen. However, this will work only if there's already an existing desktop to the right of left. Unlike the above, this approach has the limitation that it won't give you the option to create a new Desktop, and the app can't be directly taken to full-screen mode.


How can I recover notes missing from the Notes app? I recently opened the Notes app and found that about a month's worth of notes are missing.  There is a gap between August 5th and September 3rd.

(This time period includes a note I wrote while in an airport listing the names and desks of air staff I dealt with while trying to handle a canceled flight, and now I've failed a complaint with the airline and need those details.  A few hundred euros of compensation might ride on having these details.)

I found one question about restoring deleted notes by using a program to read from the iTunes backup, but my iTunes only seems to keep one backup, the latest, and the notes are not present.  I synced before noticing, and of course iOS syncs over wifi now so it may have synced before then anyway.

iPhone 4 running the latest iOS 5 (and latest iTunes etc. I am still using Lion.)
The phone is synced with iCloud, which is also synced with my MBP and iPad.  I am signed into the same account on all of them.
I do use GMail for email, but as far as I know not for notes.  I could not find my missing notes in any account.
When I wrote the note, I had no data connection (overseas) but did a couple of days before and after
I do not know when the notes vanished, but only noticed the hole in the dates when I looked for this specific important note.

What do I do?

This is a little like what happened to me, I posted a question here relating to notes that had gone missing too.

It seems that if you take a note while offline, when you sync with icloud it will sometimes without warning delete notes it does not know about :( Luckily in my case since I had made the note on my mac it created a recovery folder for me.

Perhaps your phone may have done a similar thing? If you open notes and hit the 'accounts' button at the top, is there a 'recovered items' folder?


Mac terminal command: how to 'ls' for some specific files? My question is about the ls command. If I have too many files in a folder, I might need either:

ls files with a given type only or;
ls files within a range, i.e., files with names a* to b*.

ls *.jpg # files whose name ends with .jpg
ls [ab]* # files whose name starts with a or b
ls [a-c]* # files whose name starts with characters sorted between a and c in the current locale
ls|head -n100 # first 100 files
f=(*);printf %s\\n "${f[@]:0:100}" # first 100 files
ls|sed -n 101,200p # files 101 to 200
find . -name \*aa\* # files whose name contains aa in the directory tree
find . ! -type d # all files except directories in the directory tree
find . -type f -maxdepth 1 -mindepth 1 # regular files in the current directory
shopt -s extglob;printf %s\\n !(*aa*) # files whose name does not contain aa
shopt -s extglob;printf %s\\n @(aa|bb)* # files whose name starts with aa or bb


OS X Mail Mavericks 10.9 Gmail accounts NOT in sync In OS X Mavericks 10.9.2 after doing all the updates my Gmail accounts still show messages that are in the inbox but when I login to gmail on the browser, they aren't there.

Is there a way to fix this? I don't remember this happening before. I am using IMAP.

I use IMAP on OS X and use the exchange setup on my phone/iPad. All my accounts are gmail.

Try "Get Account Info" by right-clicking on the mailbox, which will force Mail to search through the IMAP account for messages and seems to rebuild all mailboxes in the account.

See this answer for further suggestions if that fails.


Uninstall Java Mountain Lion How do I completely uninstall Java from Mountain Lion?

I wanted to run Minecraft so I followed the system promps and I think I installed Java 7 and then Java 6. I couldn't get Mincraft to work for other reasons so I deleted it and now I want to get rid of Java.

Not sure if it's relevant but typing "java -version" into Terminal gives me
"java version "1.6.0_37"
Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 1.6.0_37-b06-434-11M3909)
Java HotSpot(TM) 64-Bit Server VM (build 20.12-b01-434, mixed mode)"

Any help would be appreciated.

Apple provides an automatic Java installer but no uninstaller so you can't remove Java once you've installed it without using an at-your-own-risk approach.

That being said this is how to get rid of java from a terminal session and a using a text editor:

sudo rm -rf /System/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/
sudo rm -rf /Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/*.jdk
sudo rm -rf /Library/Internet\ Plug-Ins/JavaAppletPlugin.plugin
sudo rm -rf /Library/PreferencePanes/JavaControlPanel.prefpane
sudo rm -rf /private/var/db/receipts/com.apple.pkg.JavaEssentials.bom
sudo rm -rf /private/var/db/receipts/com.apple.pkg.JavaEssentials.plist
sudo rm -rf /private/var/db/receipts/com.apple.pkg.JavaForMacOSX107.bom
sudo rm -rf /private/var/db/receipts/com.apple.pkg.JavaForMacOSX107.plist
sudo rm -rf /private/var/db/receipts/com.apple.pkg.JavaMDNS.bom
sudo rm -rf /private/var/db/receipts/com.apple.pkg.JavaMDNS.plist
sudo rm -rf /private/var/db/receipts/com.apple.pkg.JavaSecurity.bom
sudo rm -rf /private/var/db/receipts/com.apple.pkg.JavaSecurity.plist

At this point you need to edit the installation history to delete evidence you installed Java.  I suggest backing up the file first.  If you prefer a different text editor feel free to use it but do not use a word processor that puts formatting codes in the text file.

sudo cp /Library/Receipts/InstallHistory.plist ~/Desktop
sudo emacs /Library/Receipts/InstallHistory.plist

Search for entries that look like:

    <dict>
            <key>date</key>
            <date>2011-09-16T22:22:10Z</date>
            <key>displayName</key>
            <string>Java for Mac OS X 10.6 Update 5</string>
            <key>displayVersion</key>
            <string>1.0</string>
            <key>packageIdentifiers</key>
            <array>
                    <string>com.apple.pkg.JavaForMacOSX10.6Update5</string>
            </array>
            <key>processName</key>
            <string>Software Update</string>
    </dict>

also

    <dict>
            <key>date</key>
            <date>2013-01-15T11:42:35Z</date>
            <key>displayName</key>
            <string>Java for OS X 2012-006</string>
            <key>displayVersion</key>
            <string>1.0</string>
            <key>packageIdentifiers</key>
            <array>
                    <string>com.apple.pkg.JavaEssentials</string>
                    <string>com.apple.pkg.JavaForMacOSX107</string>
                    <string>com.apple.pkg.JavaSecurity</string>
                    <string>com.apple.pkg.JavaMDNS</string>
            </array>
            <key>processName</key>
            <string>Software Update</string>
    </dict>

and delete them.  You may wish to check your work using diff:

diff -u ~/Desktop/InstallHistory.plist /Library/Receipts/InstallHistory.plist | less

or some other file comparison tool.

You can test that java is gone by running:

java -version

You should see a pop up asking to install Java again.


Time Machine - List of Files that were backed up I'd like to know to see which files are getting backed up by my time machine? I often see a large amount of data being transfered and I'm not sure sure what it is.

The command tmutil compare lets you compare file lists if you don't want to do it using ls or other commands that can show differences in files and folders like rsync and many graphical diff programs.

You can list backup paths and then copy them into the compare command. Example:

sudo tmutil listbackups
sudo tmutil compare "path1" "path2"

Many people adore BackupLoupe as well. It makes a powerful database of what files are included with each backup interval.


What is preventing my Macbook Pro 2012 from going to sleep? the other day i open my MacBook Pro mid 2012 for upgrading my ram, everything was ok, but when i closed it i notice that when i close the lid nothing happens. The apple on the lid remain on and the mac continue to work even if there are no apps opened.

It is possibile that i've touched some sensor when i opened it?

If i click the power button it goes in sleep mode normally.

EDIT: It's doesn't work even in SAFE MODE

Just found what was wrong. It was the connector to the mother base which wasn't well connected.


Where does iTunes Match store songs on my iDevice? I know in a regular situation (without iTunes Match), the music is stored in /User/Media/iTunes_Control/Music. However, all of my FXX folders are empty. Does iTunes Match cache files in a different location than the regular iOS iPod storage place?

I am running iOS 5.0.1 on iPhone 4S.

Edit: I deleted all my FXX folders, and my entire Music folder and my music still plays. Does anyone have an idea how I can find where these songs, and/ or a database file are downloaded?


Which contact's phone number called me? When a contact in my iPhone has multiple phone numbers how do I determine which number that person called me from? Short of asking them of course.

You can find in Phone App. Goto "Recent" tab, tap the "i"(information) icon, you can see more detail of this contact, please note the telephone number marked as blue, this is the DN called you.


Click app in dock to show open instances Coming from a windows machine here. Is there any way that when you click on an app in the dock that is running, it would show the open instances? For example if I have multiple chrome browsers open.

Currently, you have to right click on an app item and that pulls up a menu with a very hard to read list. Is there some way to show larger information? Or show all the instances of the app?

Maybe this would require some custom dock plugin? Not sure.

While generally most applications allow only for one instance of an application to be running, I believe that you mean the multiple windows open for an application.

By default OS X does not show icon or window previews on the Dock.  However, there are two options for allowing to see the windows:

Mission Control (built-in)
Mission Control gives you the overview on the entire screen with all open application windows grouped together, but there is also an integrated function, called "Application Windows", which just shows you all the windows open for the currently active (foreground application).  You can assign keyboard shortcuts and and trackpad gestures inside System Preferences. Additionally, if you prefer to use the mouse for this feature, you can drag the Mission Control application into the Dock for you to click on.
3rd party application (e.g. HyperDock)
There are some 3rd party applications, which mimic the Aero window preview of Windows 7.  The one I used to have was called HyperDock, which looks almost like the real thing, but there are others as well.


How do I install GCC via Homebrew? I am using Homebrew exclusively (i.e. I don’t, and won’t, use MacPorts or Fink). I also want to keep manual installations to a bare minimum.1
… But how can I install GCC?
First of all, I’ve of course installed Xcode but the current version doesn’t ship with a decently up to date GCC (I need ata least 4.5, but would prefer the most recent one) – in fact, it doesn’t ship with a proper GCC at all (it only ships Clang) and that seems to be a problem for Homebrew …
I’m aware of a list of custom GCC and cross compilers but in fact all of those installations require an already installed GCC – at least, brewing them fails with linker errors on Lion which I attribute to Clang, and -use-gcc doesn’t work for obvious reasons.
brew doctor only mentions what I already know, that there is no GCC (4.2.x) installed.

1 I’ve previously mixed MacPorts, Homebrew and some manual installations and have ended up with a maintenance and versioning hell. I don’t want to go there again.

Homebrew solution

To answer my own question, homebrew-versions now has a fairly up to date formula of GCC. It can be installed using

brew install [flags] https://raw.github.com/Homebrew/homebrew-versions/gcc48.rb

Where [flags] should include all the required languages, e.g. (--enable-cxx --enable-fortran).

This will install the executables with a suffix, i.e. gcc has to be accessed as gcc-version to avoid clashes. If necessary, one can create appropriate symlinks to make this version the default.

Manual installation

Alternatively, an up-to-date GCC (as of the time of writing) can be compiled manually using the following shell script:

VERSION=4.7.0
PREFIX=/usr/gcc-$(VERSION)
LANGUAGES=c,c++,fortran
MAKE=make
# Or
# MAKE='make -j 4' # to compile using four cores

brew-path() { brew info $1 | head -n3 | tail -n1 | cut -d' ' -f1; }

# Prerequisites

brew install gmp
brew install mpfr
brew install libmpc

# Download & install the latest GCC

mkdir -p $PREFIX
mkdir temp-gcc
cd temp-gcc
wget ftp://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/gcc/gcc-$VERSION/gcc-$VERSION.tar.gz
tar xfz gcc-$VERSION.tar.gz
rm gcc-$VERSION.tar.gz
cd gcc-$VERSION

mkdir build
cd build

../configure \
   --prefix=$PREFIX \
   --with-gmp=$(brew-path gmp) \
   --with-mpfr=$(brew-path mpfr) \
   --with-mpc=$(brew-path libmpc) \
   --program-suffix=-$VERSION \
   --enable-languages=$LANGUAGES \
   --with-system-zlib \
   --enable-stage1-checking \
   --enable-plugin \
   --enable-lto \
   --disable-multilib

$MAKE bootstrap

make install

# Uncomment for cleanup …
# cd ../../..
# rm -r temp-gcc

This will stage GCC into the path /usr/gcc-4.7.0. Now all you need to do is either create symlinks to the executables or add the bin directory to the $PATH variable.


iOS 9.1 - Can't clear "documents & data" and "other" with restore - can it be done? I am trying to clear the 3+ GB of space occupied by other and documents and data on my iPhone 5S, running the new iOS 9.1 (13B5110e)

Usually I would do this by restoring the phone through iTunes and then restoring from a backup...but when I try that I get this message:

"Problem downloading software. Requested source was not found."

How can I clear these out in the version of iOS?

You should be able to "erase all content and settings" by using the settings app on the iPhone and then re-choose from the choices:

restore from an iCloud backup
restore from an iTunes backup
set up as a new device
restore from Android

The error message you mentioned is typically a result of not actually running iOS 9.1 on the device (or whatever build you were in the process of installing. You can verify the exact build of iOS on the phone from the settings app > general > about

It also could be that iTunes wants to see if it can get a newer OS than what it detects on the device. In that case, just put the device into recovery mode.

Power off the phone
Plug it into the Mac while holding the home button until you see the recovery screen


Mavericks - Safari 7 - BROKEN Animated GIF Animated GIF are things of the past (remember 90's web site) ... but some cool kids are still using it : 9gag

Well they are seriously broken when display in Safari 7 ... has anyone an idea.

Running Maveriks on my MBA 11".

I'm on Safari Version 7.0 (9537.71). GIFs will play through once, then only play for as long as the cursor is moving. Have been trying to find some setting in prefs or under the Develop menu for a way to allow GIFs to loop continuously.


Problem with downloading HD movies to Mac when syncing with iPad 3 I bought several HD movies using iPad3, however when I try to sync my iPad with MacBook Air (i7, 13", Mid2012) they are downloaded with much lower resolution to my Mac.

I don't know also I this is connected, but I don't see them in iCloud (no iCloud icon next to them in iTunes, so I'm unable to re-download them once deleted, all I can do is to sync with iPad 3 but with low resolution)

You're looking at the wrong file. Open iTunes and go to playback (iTunes > Preferences > Playback). Set it to play the HD (1080p) file by default. Just because it is the default downloaded HD version, doesn't mean that it will play that one by default.


Disable Keynote Function Keys Keynote uses the ►ll, ►►, and ◄◄ keys to play/pause, go to previous slide, and next slide, respectively. This causes the keys to no longer control iTunes.

Is there any way to stop Keynote from handling these keys so that iTunes can respond to them? If I am working on a slideshow, I frequently use pause to stop music, which of course starts the slide show, which is what I am trying to avoid.

It is currently not possible to disable control of Keynote, iPhoto, Aperture, or with these keys. These keys are bound to control whichever app is frontmost in the OS.


New Mac Mini (late 2014) sound input - says "No input devices found" I have just bought a new Mac Mini Late 2014. I noticed that the System Preferences > Sound says that there is no sound input device. This is causing me lots of problems in the app I'm developing in XCode.

My older 2012 Mac Mini shows an "Audio line-in port" and my app works.

Is there something wrong with my new Mac Mini? How can I get it to recognise the input port?

Try this:

Resetting the SMC and PRAM for Mac Pro, Intel-based iMac, Intel-based Mac mini, or Intel-based Xserve

• Shut down the computer.
• Unplug the computer's power cord.
• Wait fifteen seconds.
• Attach the computer's power cord.
• Locate the following keys on the keyboard: Command, Option, P, and R. You will need them in next step
• Wait five seconds, then press the power button to turn on the computer.
• Press and hold the Command-Option-P-R keys before the gray screen appears.
• Hold the keys down until the computer restarts.
• Release the keys.

Read more: http://www.justanswer.com/mac-computers/65d0r-mac-osx-no-sound-no-input-output-devices-found.html#ixzz3XNRpChvF


How do I use zsh to pipe results from one command to another (while in a loop)? macOS 10.14.6
zsh 5.8
jq 1.6

I have a situation where I have a bunch of .vital files, which are JSON files in disguise. I want to extract one piece of information from each file, and I have worked out that after installing jq using brew install jq, I can run, for example...
jq '.author' Analog_Bass__Lead.vital;

This gives me...
"maniclout"

which is the correct author for that item.
What I would like to do is to run this command over all my .vital files, about 30 of them, in a for loop.
I can list the files okay using...
for f in $(ls *.vital);
do
  echo $f
done;

The problem comes when I try to construct  a loop that would give the following...
Analog_Bass__Lead.vital "maniclout"
Blackhole_Dimension.vital "Cobranix"

and so on...
This my latest attempt (please, don't laugh!)...
for f in $(ls *.vital);
do
  echo $f;
  echo -n $f | jq ‘.author’
done;

As you can see, I'm trying to print the filename, followed by, on the same line, hence the -n, and I'm trying to pipe the filename into the jq command.
The results are fairly disastrous!
ANALOG_PAD_-_6.vital
jq: error: syntax error, unexpected INVALID_CHARACTER, expecting $end (Unix shell quoting issues?) at <top-level>, line 1:
‘.author’
jq: 1 compile error
Analog_Bass__Lead.vital
jq: error: syntax error, unexpected INVALID_CHARACTER, expecting $end (Unix shell quoting issues?) at <top-level>, line 1:
‘.author’
jq: 1 compile error
Atomosphere_Lead.vital
jq: error: syntax error, unexpected INVALID_CHARACTER, expecting $end (Unix shell quoting issues?) at <top-level>, line 1:
‘.author’
jq: 1 compile error

Can anyone see what I am doing wrong?

Do not parse/interpret the output of ls,  too many things can go wrong. A simple way to accomplish your goal would be
for f in *.vital; do
    echo -n "$f: "
    jq '.author' "$f"
done

which might still fail if there are directories matching the pattern for instance. You can overcome this by using
for f in *.vital; do
    [[ -f "$f" ]] || continue
    echo -n "$f: "
    jq '.author' "$f"
done

You can also go the full way and run
find . -maxdepth 1 -type f -name '*.vital' \
     -exec sh -c 'echo -n "$1"; jq ".author" "$1"' _ {} \;

(see http://mywiki.wooledge.org/UsingFind#Complex_actions for how this works)


How can I keep ~/Library visible in (Mountain) Lion Starting on Lion, Apple decided to annoy the users hiding the ~Library directory.

I was forced to type this on terminal to bring it back:

sudo chflags nohidden ~/Library

the problem is that every new OS update makes the folder hidden again, forcing me to type the command every time.

Is there a way to make it read-only so Apple cannot change it back?

You can use Automator to create a simple app using the Run Shell Script action (with the chflags command within) and put it in your Login Items (in the Users & Groups preferences). It will run every time you log in, so while OS updates will still re-hide the Library, you'll never notice.

Daniel Jalkut of Red Sweater Software has a pre-made app for this if you don't want to bother making your own. You can find it on his blog. Just download it and drag it to your Login Items.


Hiding Inactive Menubar Items I am curious if there is a way for me to hide certain objects in the menubar when they are "inactive." Some examples:

Bluetooth hides when Bluetooth is off
Wifi hides when wifi is off
Audio/sound hides when sound is muted
Battery hides when it is 100% charged

These are some examples. I use Alfred Workflows to work with these objects most of the time so having them in my menubar sometimes is useful but sometimes isn't. I use Bartender but was unable to find this option within it's settings. Admittedly, this is a pretty esoteric question.

There is a nice tutorial on the various options and techniques here: http://mac.tutsplus.com/tutorials/customization/customizing-the-os-x-menu-bar/

None of these is quite as flexible as you ask for (Wifi hides when wifi is off...), but realize that the majority of those icons are controls as well as indications. For example, if the wifi is off, the icon can be used to access the wifi controls. This can be real handy to turn the wifi back on. ;-) Hiding the icon would make that a more lengthy process, forcing you to go through the settings app.