Writing tablet compatible with Mac I need to write Mathematics, but I would like to avoid Latex for quick notes that I wish to send to colleagues. So I would like to have somewhere to write with some sort of pen, in such a way that

1) what I write appears on the display of my computer (please note that I don't have an iPad, just a Macbook)

2) it gets saved on my computer when I finish.

These are just quick notes, so no special drawing features are required (on the contrary, the simpler/cheaper the better).

What should I consider? Since I own a Macbook, also writing on the built-in trackpad would be fine, but I've heard that the Inklet app slows down the computer in a very nasty way...

Thank you very much in advance.

You could purchase a Huion tablet from Amazon, I don't know if they are available in your region. They're quite cheap, I haven't personally tried them but based on the good reviews it looks like they do their job.

Here are two of them:

https://www.amazon.es/dp/B00DTPYWBG/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_0b9aCb8TDP9VH

https://www.amazon.es/dp/B00DM24HNE/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_di9aCb85MMQRV

There are also the Wacom tablets, I've used them before and I can say that they worked very well.

They can be expensive but there are a few cheaper ones like the Intuos S, I believe it was. It's specifically a drawing tablet but you could use it for writing.

Here it is:

https://www.wacom.com/en-us/products/pen-tablets/wacom-intuos

And for the software, you could use Krita (a free painting app) or Photoshop CC. You could also find other apps in the Mac Store as well.

EDIT: There is a video I found:

https://youtu.be/T0uBv5od8xU

He's using Windows but there's a version of OneNote available for Mac. It converts the hand written equations into text. It's awesome!


Can I find the source code for Grapher? Grapher is an application that is installed on macOS by default. Can I find its source code, or is it proprietary?

Grapher is not an open-source app and you can not find its source code publicly.


Make MacBook German keyboard behave like windows I could not find a thread which exactly answered my questions, even though it seems like a common concern. So, sorry if this question is not appropriate, but I really did some reasearch and only could find half of my answers or questions which were the other way round (cannot control this via the keywords I'm searching).

So, I can choose between the newest MacBook Pro and a Dell Windows Laptop by work. Intended purpose is to do some emergency coding at home, which will be the case no more than 2 hours per month; normally there are many months where I don't have to do anything at all. Which means that I will rarely spend any time with the Mac. I am coming from Windows and Linux OS and my concern is, that due to the rare occasions, I will not adapt to the strange keyboard settings (special characters like !"$&/()[] etc). So my question is, are there tools to completely emulate a Windows keyboard layout, so every character is at the same place? And if so, what are your experiences with it / would you recommend it?

Also, I wonder if it is possible to plug a regular Windows USB keyboard in the Macbook and have the character input Windows-like, or do I have to setup stuff for that? How can I use MacOS keyboard shortcuts with such a keyboard?

I already found stuff like Karabiner and this, but I cannot see what exactly those are doing and what it's limits are, also if it is really recommended or merely tedious.

Side note, I am used to German layout on all my machines and would like to keep it that way.

Also to understand why I would even choose a Mac with these concerns: My earlier experiences with terminal emulators on windows are very bad to say at least. They are clunky, ugly, often buggy and most times don't catch special keys like for VIM or TMUX. So I would like to try the native linux-y terminals of Mac.
As long as I don't know about the keyboard layout, I am not sure which of the two OS is the lesser evil for me.

Yes, this is possible with Karabiner-Elements. There are already pre-configured modifications for German keyboards by the community: https://ke-complex-modifications.pqrs.org/?q=german


Anyway to find out what program is asking for admin credentials? I've got a user's iMac that seems to be asking for admin credentials more often than it should be, all it says is that Mac OS requires admin credentials. Is there a way of finding out what application is asking for it?

I would configure syslog to record those details into a file.

Assuming that you are comfortable with editing text files from the command prompt, use your favorite editor and edit /etc/syslog.conf adding this line:

auth.info;authpriv.*;remoteauth.crit   /var/log/authinfo.log

Then send a hangup signal to syslogd via

pkill -HUP -i -l syslogd

F.


deactivate growlmail rss notification Is it possible to tell growlmail to stop notifying me on RSS feeds and just show me the new mails I get?

It is getting really disturbing when I get some 30 or more RSS Notifiers when I'm working!

If you want just notifications on the new mails you have in your Inbox(es), then there is a setting for that in GrowlMail configuration tab. Not in Growl System Preferences, but in Mail.app Growl Mail preferences.


Can't search for files on Mac with just file labels Since upgrading to MacOS High Sierra, I can't search for files using just labels anymore.

For instance, I created a folder called "test", containing a folder called "folder", with the red label (called "Red"). If I select the Red dot, then the folder does not appear. But if I search for the term "folder" or if I search for "tag:Red" then it will appear just fine.

I've already tried resetting Spotlight by adding the folder, and even the entire drive, to Spotlight's Privacy tab, then removing it to force it to re-index. I indeed saw the re-indexing seem to take place, since the CPU on the mds processes spiked for about an hour.

I encountered the same issue....it appears that in High Sierra, file labels are supplanted by tags. so, searching by tags, matching the name you gave the colored file label, will get the result you want (searching by file label seems broken)


Run everything in Rosetta 2 on Silicon Mac I've recently started using a Silicon MacBook Pro 13 (i.e. one with non-Intel processor).
I have found installing some software difficult, for example installing Python through Homebrew and installing Python packages through Pip.
Also, for some software there exist ports to the new architecture, but these ports contain bugs, for example, the Tensorflow package for Python.
I also use an IDE that runs some Python commands and some Terminal commands for me, and I find it very difficult to manage the usage of Rosetta 2 for these commands.
Is there a way to set up my Mac so that all software behaves as it would on an Intel processor?
For example by using Rosetta 2 for every processor instruction?
I understand that would mean substantial performance losses, but I would be happy to accept these.

In Finder, go to /Applications/Utilities/ (or press CMD+Shift+U).

Select "Terminal.app"

Press CMD+I (capital i) for "Get Info"

Check box for "Open using Rosetta"

As shown here:

After that, any process in Terminal will behave as if it is on an Intel Mac. This is the best way to run brew right now, and they have said that there will be a process to move over to ARM when the time comes.
If there are other apps that are compiled for both Apple Silicon and Intel, but you always want to run them under Rosetta, repeat the "Get Info" » "Open in Rosetta" process for each app.


how to get google search history back in safari 6 I am very annoyed about safari 6 doing away with the google search history. Is there anyway to get it back? Just to be clear I am talking about when you google something and then you need to go back to that same search. In safari 5 you could click on the the arrow in the google search bar and it would give you a drop down menu of all your latest google searches.

Within a new window or tab, clicking on the magnifying glass will drop down the recent searches menu.

This menu will drop dow, too, if you just type a space or empty the search bar by deleting.


Sync iOS iBooks to OS X iBooks Is there a way to sync the iBooks that were not purchased from iTunes on my iOS device with my OS X iBooks? Specifically, I have some PDFS I'd like to sync.

Please note I am seeking to synchronize the books themselves, not just highlights and notes.

I have a similar problem. Non-iBook store epubs don't sync with iOS devices, no matter what options are switched on/off.

Looking at the directory they're now stored on in Mavericks (~/Library/Containers/com.apple.BKAgentService/Data/Documents/iBooks/Books), they seem to have been converted to a different format (from .epub to a folder with xml/html files), and i suspect that's why they don't sync.

Any suggestions on how to sync these would be most appreciated!

EDIT: To answer my own question, check that iTunes is actually syncing all books. It had changed my previous preference to selected books, and preferentially un-ticked all non-iBook store epubs. Changing that fixed the syncing problem for me...


Problem trying to install iftop via Homebrew I got Homebrew installed, but:

>brew install iftop
==> Downloading http://www.ex-parrot.com/~pdw/iftop/download/iftop-0.17.tar.gz
File already downloaded in /Volumes/0/z/Library/Caches/Homebrew
==> ./configure --disable-debug --prefix=/usr/local/Cellar/iftop/0.17 --mandir=/usr/local/Cellar/iftop/0.17/share/man
==> make install
ln: iftop: Permission denied
Error: The linking step did not complete successfully
The formula built, but is not symlinked into /usr/local
You can try again using `brew link iftop'
Warning: /usr/local/sbin is not in your PATH
You can amend this by altering your ~/.bashrc file
==> Summary
/usr/local/Cellar/iftop/0.17: 7 files, 116K, built in 3 seconds

FYI, ~/.bashrc does not exist, and

>$PATH
-bash: /Volumes/0/z/android:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/local/git/bin:/usr/X11/bin: No such file or directory

What should I do?
Thanks!

You can remedy things in your current shell by doing:

mkdir -p /usr/local/sbin
export PATH=${PATH}:/usr/local/sbin
brew link iftop

That'll get you past the warnings and let Homebrew install the iftop package. If the iftop package is installing things in to /usr/local/sbin that you're looking to run, you'll need to ensure this is on your $PATH when you open a shell. To do this, edit ~/.bash_profile and add the line:

export PATH=${PATH}:/usr/local/sbin

To the end of the file to prepend /usr/local/sbin to each new shell you open.


OS X attempting to connect to non-existent server My wife's Mac is acting up and I've been trying to sort it out for a while with no success.

Anytime she opens a new Finder window, tries to upload an image to Facebook, exports an image from Lightroom, or does any other file related task. The system hangs for 1 to 5 minutes before popping up an error that says "There was a problem connecting to the server "Steph's Mac". Everything then proceeds to work normally.

Here's the thing. The computer that is having the problem is called "Steph's Mac". There is no other computer with that name. There never was a server called "Steph's Mac"

Here is what I've tried:

Sharing settings: disabling SMB
Disabling file sharing completely
Finder / Connect to server: clear recent servers...
Changed computer name to "Studio Mac" Error window still reads "Steph's Mac"
Signed out of iCloud account
Sys Prefs / Accounts:

Login Items - removed all of them
Login Options / Join... / Open Directory Utility... searched mounts. there was none

disabled Bluetooth
Ran First Aid from Disk Utility on all the drives.

Edit: Added more checks

cleared ~/Library/LaunchAgents
cleared /Library/LaunchAgents LaunchDaemons & StartupItems
cleared ~/Library/Preferences
Disabled Dropbox Finder integration
Turned Adobe Creative Cloud Sync off

End Edit

I figure somewhere deep in the preferences it's finding something that's telling it to connect to a server. But I can't figure out were.

You may be able to hunt down the problem by creating a second admin user.

If the problem vanishes logging in as the second (admin) user, it's probably related to an item/setting in the realm of the first user.

If the problem persists it's probably related to a system-wide setting/start-up item (e.g. a launch daemon/agent).

In the first case you can disable several items (e.g. user related Login Items/StartupItems/LaunchAgents) and check if the problem persists.

A second source of error may be an (old) self-referential link of a local share to the local folder of a cloud storage, file synchronization or personal cloud service (e.g. in Dropbox, iCloud or even some Adobe Online service).

In the second case check the folders /Library/LaunchAgents, /Library/LaunchDaemons or /Library/StartupItems for suspicious plists/files.


Is there a way to transfer a boarding pass from Gmail to Wallet on iPhone iOS 10
iPhone 5
Airline: Westjet.
Email App:  Gmail

I do not want to download an app every time I get a new pass.  How can I do this from GMail, rather than adding YAA?

Unfortunately, it's up to the airline to handle that. If there is a pass available for you Wallet, there will be an icon on the website where you can print the pass that says Add to Apple Wallet/Passbook

If not, you may have to download the airline's app. Even then, there's still the chance that there won't be a mobile boarding pass.

I know that with Southwest Airlines, you can only get a mobile boarding pass through their app, and only if it is a single ticket trip (i.e. no other people flying on the same purchase).


Can one Mac boot up to several OS X installation? Since there will be iOS 6 / Xcode 4.5 Beta or Preview and Mountain Lion Beta or Preview, I wonder if using an iMac with 1TB of hard drive, can it be partitioned using its Disk Utility into 4 or 5 partitions, and install Lion on each of those partitions except one partition for Mountain Lion Beta?

Or alternatively, if it is a Mac Mini with 500GB and it is partitioned into 3 partitions?

You can definitely have any number of OS X installs on any number of partitions. Use the Startup Disk preference pane or hold down Option at boot to choose which partition to boot.


How to sync playlists from old phone to new laptop? We just got a new MacBook Air and I'm trying to get playlists transferred off an old phone. I connected the phone to the laptop with a cable but it's not showing up in Music, nor is it acknowledged in anyway.
The phone no longer has a sim card but that shouldn't matter.
What do I need to do to get the playlists on to the laptop?
--- Edit ---
So the phone is now showing up. We have an Apple Music subscription. The phone went through a sync process, but the playlists still only show on the phone and not on the laptop.
Thoughts?
Thanks

Syncing back audio tracks from an iPhone to a computer was never part of any iOS version. In the past there have been tools like senuTi but afaik they don't work anymore.
If you have an Apple Music subscription on the phone you can log into Apple Music also from the Music application on macOS. It may take a while but all tracks and playlists from the phone will sync back to your Mac.


Is WIdi compatible with Apple TV? Is it possible to stream WIDI to Apple TV? I have laptop with WIDI adapter and i want to stream from laptop to Apple tv

Nope Apple TV does not support WiDi.

You should look for AirPlay apps (Some are available on Windows)!


I was able to change lock screen wallpaper but can't change of that screen which comes after sleep on MacBook pro I was looking some ways to customise my mac, and I saw a way to change lock seer wallpaper by keeping the same name "com.apple.desktop.admin.png" as of the automated lock screen wallpaper

When i opened my mac after shutdown

I got that blurred image after i closed my mac's flap or lid and even by pressing sleep in the apple menu, how can I change it also?

The best way to fix it instead of going through your cache is to use a free utility called Onyx.

It will enable you to change it very easily to whichever photo you like!


How to determine how much RAM I can put in my Mac Pro I have a Mac Pro 4,1 (Dual 2.66Ghz, 6GB Ram).  I want to increase the RAM, possibly adding 8GB to my existing 6GB.  The RAM slots are used as follows:

SLOT1: 1GB
SLOT2: 1GB
SLOT3: 1GB
SLOT4: OPEN
SLOT5: 1GB
SLOT6: 1GB
SLOT7: 1GB
SLOT8: OPEN

What are my options without removing the RAM that I already have?

It looks (according to my copy of Mactracker) that your max RAM is: 16 GB for a quad-core or 32 GB for an octo-core.

You're already using six gigs, so if you have a quad-core machine you can put in up to ten more. They don't make five-gig sticks that I know of, so four gig sticks would be your maximum, for a total of 14 GB. If you have an 8-core machine, you can put in up to 26 more gigs. If you can find 12-gig sticks (which I doubt), you can put an additional 24 gigs in, but it is more likely that you can put two 8-gig sticks in for sixteen more gigs. This will bring you to 20 GB or (more likely) 22 GB of total RAM.


How do I sync my music library from my iPhone to my MacBook Air? I just purchased a MacBook Air and I'm trying to sync my music library from my iPhone 6 to the new Macbook and only music purchased from the iTunes Store shows up on the MacBook although I have lots of other albums on my phone?

iTunes does not sync non-purchased music (or movies or tv shows) from a device back to the computer. You will need third-party software on the computer, such as iExplorer, to complete this.

(I swear there was another question like this that has been answered before, but I couldn't find it.)


Rotate a video taken on an iPhone, and save it as an MP4 I was recording a video on an iPhone and I had it "upside down" by mistake, meaning the camera was in the bottom-right corner rather than the top-left.

When I watch the video on my Mac in Quicktime, the orientation is fine, anyway, but when I watch it in VLC, then it is upside down. I want to fix the orientation because I want to convert the video from MOV to MP4, and this would also make it upside down (because it loses the orientation/rotation metadata that the MOV file contains, to properly orient the video).

How can I properly rotate the video so that it looks correct?

I tried a few methods already, but none worked. For instance, I tried this (Can HandBrake flip/rotate a video?), but that didn't work for me. I also tried this (
video captured from iphone gets rotated when converted to .mp4 using ffmpeg
) but I got a few errors in Terminal when running the commands, like regarding experimental features, etc.

I opened iMovie, and imported the upside down video (which only appears upside down in non-Apple apps, like VLC). Since iMovie is an Apple app, it is able to read the rotation metadata, so it showed the video correctly. I then simply exported the video as an MP4 from iMovie, which resulted in a video with the correct orientation.

No manual rotation was necessary in iMovie since it already was able to read that metadata, as I mentioned.


How to create a calendar event but keep my external calendar default alert times? I haven't been able to find an option to not override my external calendar (Google Calendar) default alert times and scheme.

I always have one email alert 1 day before and one normal reminder like couple hours before.

iCal and iOS calendar used to respect those default alert times up until iOS 10 / Sierra. But now I keep forgetting about going to places because I need a reminder the day before, like before sleeping so I plan my day correctly (wake up hours, etc).

The 1h reminder or time to leave reminders are great, but I really would like to be reminded the day before and like by email, because it's stays stacked in my inbox.

It's been such a pain that now I downloaded Google Calendar in my iPhone and I'm not using apple calendar anymore (but I wanted to be using it).

Does anyone have a tip on how could I fix that? It worked fine before. Thanks!

I had the same problem. I use Calendar all the time for email alerts and this has become very tedious.

Here's a workaround:

Make a Calendar entry as a template:

Create a generic email alert for one day ahead. Use a title you will remember like "one day alert," or maybe "1D" for a short name.

Use the template for a new Calendar entry:

If it's not immediately visible, make a same-date copy of the alert (I use option-click-drag).
Retitle as desired & add any needed details.
Change the date (the date the template resides in) to the date you want. Doing this last will avoid an additional email alert.

Hope that helps.

Ps. You have to do this for each different lead-time you want for an alert. I nearly always use one or two days, so I created a template for each. I also made one that does both a one day and a two day alert.


How to set macOS Server to prevent DNS zone transfer? macOS Server 10.12.6 documentation says that we should prevent arbitrary zone transfers out of our DNS server, and that the way to do this is to firewall port 53 for anyone not on our LAN, with specific exceptions for our secondary DNS servers.

What they don't mention is that port 53 is where all DNS traffic goes, so firewalling that port also shuts off our DNS services for anyone on the road. Yes, we have VPN connections; no, they're not enforced and we don't want to start.

So the question then becomes: 1) how do we instruct the server to make a distinction between transfers and plain old DNS requests; 2) if that were simple, why doesn't the Apple documentation say to do that? I poked around and found the instructions to do this with plain old BIND anywhere but a Mac—and it's the same file the documentation told me to edit two weeks ago to fix a different security issue.

/Applications/Server.app/Contents/ServerRoot/private/etc/named.conf

My next step is to edit the file, try to attack my own server, and if it fails, mark this as done. In which case I can come back and answer my own question. But this requires figuring out how to do a zone transfer attack—and it leaves me back at square one if I follow the vanilla BIND instructions and it doesn't work. Anyone have any ideas?

Preface: the file /Applications/Server.app/Contents/ServerRoot/private/etc/named.conf mentioned in your question is not the config file used by the macOS server. Instead the file is located at /Library/Server/named/named.conf.

The file in ServerRoot is the more or less empty default named.conf file. At the initial configuration while launching Server.app for the first time the ServerRoot named.conf is copied to /Library/Server/named/.

Access permissions to various features of the DNS server is determined by ACLs. The pre-connfigured acl in macOS server is com.apple.ServerAdmin.DNS.public.

Depending on your settings in the main panel of DNS the ACL com.apple.ServerAdmin.DNS.public is populated with networks:

If lookups are preformed for all clients:

the respective ACL in named.conf looks like this:

acl "com.apple.ServerAdmin.DNS.public" {
    any;
};

If lookups are preformed for some clients (example only):

the respective ACL in named.conf looks like this:

acl "com.apple.ServerAdmin.DNS.public" {
    172.16.0.0/16;
    localhost;
    localnets;
};

The only ACL available in named.conf after the initial set-up is com.apple.ServerAdmin.DNS.public.

This ACL by default allows lookups in the view section for all member networks:

view "com.apple.ServerAdmin.DNS.public" { ⬅
    zone "localhost" IN {
        type master;
        file "localhost.zone";
        allow-update {
            none;
        };
    };

and also allows zone transfers in the view > zone [zone_name] > allow-transfers section for all member networks.

...
    zone "test.home" IN {
        type master;
        file "db.test.home";
        allow-transfer {                      ⬅
            com.apple.ServerAdmin.DNS.public; ⬅
        };
        allow-update {
        none;
        };
...

To separate lookup clients from zone-transfers clients (AKA slaves) simply create a new ACL "slaves" (example):

acl "com.apple.ServerAdmin.DNS.public" {
    172.16.0.0/16;
    localhost;
    localnets;
};
acl "slaves" {
    172.16.1.8/32;  #first DNS slave
    172.16.1.18/32; #second DNS slave
};

To restrict a zone-transfer for a particular zone to slaves only, modify the allow-transfer directive ACL to slaves:

...
    zone "test.home" IN {
        type master;
        file "db.test.home";
        allow-transfer {       ⬅
            slaves;            ⬅
        };
        allow-update {
        none;
        };
...

Don't include the arrows accidentally and relaunch the DNS service afterwards!

A more advanced & secure approach is to use shared secrets/keys which is explained here: Using TSIG to enable secure Zone Transfers between Bind 9.x servers. I didn't get this to work in Sierra though.

To check whether zone transfers are possible to arbitrary hosts use on the (attacking) client:

dig @dns_server_ip example.org axfr


Operation not permitted "sudo ditto -v to folder /usr/bin" I'm trying to copy an exec file from my downloads folder to /usr/bin/ using sudo ditto -v sweep /usr/bin/sweep, but the command always fails in Terminal. I even tried to manually drag and drop it but the folder only has permissions for the system account. Is there a way I can change my command to allow permissions to this folder so that I can copy the file?.

I'm using OS X 10.11.1

The folder /usr/bin/ is (like other system folders in El Capitan) protected by SIP (System Integrity Protection).

You may either boot to Recovery Mode, disable System Integrity Protection with csrutil disable entered in Terminal.app and after rebooting copy the executable or use the folder /usr/local/bin instead. You may have to adjust your path in the latter case.


How can I retrieve the deleted backup file from iTunes for iPhone? I just upgraded my iPhone to iOS 5 after I did a backup of the device, and during the upgrade another backup was done too. When trying to restore me backup I was asked for a password which I didn't know about and accidentally I deleted the backup file that I created and therefore, I have no contacts, photos, nothing only my apps but as if they were brand new. Please help I need to retrieve my deleted backup file from iTunes and retrieve my contact and photos.

Usually the backups are stored in this location:

  ~/Library/Application Support/MobileSync/Backup/

Just hop into TimeMachine or whatever your backup solution is and restore the contents of that folder.

Digging into these files is hit or miss and based on the version of iTunes and encryption settings, they may only be understood by iTunes. There is no easy way to get specific info (like contacts or calendars) from these files. Besides the name of the files are random numbers and letters, so good luck making sense of that...

As to the initial dilemma, I don't really understand what happened. iTunes never deleted a backup, unless I did it manually in the Preferences. Do you see some backup files in iTunes Preferences > Devices, especially ones dating before the upgrade to iOS 5? I find it very odd that in the middle of the upgrade it would decide to destroy such important data.

Do you have a Time Machine backup? Were you subscribing to a sync service like MobileMe, or Google where your contacts and other stuff like that would still be?

And how did you delete the backup files actually? Did you do it manually or the OS asked your permission to do it?


WhatsApp Desktop App failing to establish a web-socket connection on macOS Mojave Whenever I open the app I'm getting one of these messages:

Make sure your computer has an active internet connection

or

Nothing works! After I cleared the application data, cookies, and everything, I got the screen where WhatsApp is trying to generate the QR code, and it still does not work as well, it kept trying to generate one!

After Opening the developer tools cmd+option+i on almost every problem I'm facing; the console log contains multiple errors. This is one of them:

WebSocket connection to wss://dev-web.whatsapp.com/ws failed: HTTP Authentication failed; no valid credentials available

Even with the newest version, I downloaded yesterday, it's still not working.

It's a problem related to MacOs Mojave (IFF you have a good internet connection for real and everything is working fine).

Grant access to WhatsApp desktop app:

System Preferences -> Security & Privacy -> Privacy -> Full Disk Access

after you open the lock please add WhatsApp app to this list.


What kind of input Jack can work on a MacBook Pro (15-inch, Mid 2012) audio input port? I was planning to buy a new mic for my MacBook Pro (15-inch, Mid 2012), but I tried connecting an old mic and nothing happened. The old mic is not broken, because I tested it on another PC and it worked.

I just want to know if I can connect the mic that I was planning to buy.

I was thinking of this microphone: http://www.amazon.com/Tonor-TN12326-Professional-Condenser-Microphone/dp/B00PZMP3Z0

Any line-level input should work with the 15-inch Mid 2012 MacBook Pro (the MBPr is slightly different.) Simply insert it into the audio in port on your MacBook Pro using a 3.5mm jack.

Line level simply refers to relatively amplified analog signal. Not all microphones provide this: if necessary, you may need to use an amplifier.

I'm not sure why the microphone you already have didn't work: there's nothing that should be preventing it. If you can provide more info, we might be able to help.


How can I undo changes made to a picture I accidentally saved via preview? The was a picture that I was looking at in my computer, I drew a line with the preview tool.
Since my was slow and the app was not responsive,  I force quited Preview.
I opened the document and  it saved the line I drew on the picture as part of the picture. I don't have the original picture but I don't want the line to be there.
Can I undo what I have done via a backup or version of this file?

With Preview open:

File > Revert To > Browse All Versions

Select the original version.


VS Code will not Update I'm using VS Code v1.45.1 and it will not update.
It automatically checks for updates as set in preferences - default for Windows and macOS -  and I'm presented with the notification dialog box indicating an update is available.

However, when I click Update Now, the application closes and doesn't reopen.  I've left it for hours (allowing it to download and update itself), but nothing happens.  I then manually relaunch the app only to find that nothing was updated and in a few minutes the same update notification appears.
The only way I've been able to update VS Code is by manually downloading the new version and installing it on top of the existing one.  This was happening with v1.42.1 as well and I thought an update would fix it.  Unfortunately, it hasn't.  This was a clean install of VS Code on a clean install of Catalina in March 2020.  Catalina is up-to-date at 10.15.5
Does anyone know how I can fix this issue of it not updating as it's supposed to?

Is the app still in the Downloads folder? If so, try moving it to the Applications folder and see if that fixes it. If that doesn't work, then try running the following commands in Terminal:
sudo chown $USER ~/Library/Caches/com.microsoft.VSCode.ShipIt/*
xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine /Applications/Visual\ Studio\ Code.app

https://github.com/microsoft/vscode/issues/7426#issuecomment-277737150
Also See Visual Studio Code docs page under "Common questions" → "VS Code fails to update"


If I buy an iPhone 6 in Germany, will it work in the U.S.? I know this works the other way around because I have my old 5 here in Germany right now and removing my U.S. sim card and putting in a pre-paid German sim card worked just fine.

I'm due for an upgrade and my phone is basically on its way out. I'm considering buying a new iPhone 6 here in Germany. When I'm back in the U.S., if I put my old U.S. (verizon) sim card in, will the phone work as usual?

As long as the phone you buy is factory unlocked (not a "no-contract" carrier phone), it should work. Same goes for phones bought in the United States: as long as it is unlocked, there shouldn't be a problem

One thing to keep in mind, is whether the models sold in Germany support LTE networks in the U.S. and on which carriers the phone can be used. It's most likely that the only major carriers you'll be able to use in the U.S. will be AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile, among a few smaller carrier. See this link from Apple that explained which models can be used on which carriers.


Access to MacBook Air backup files I am trying to access some lost photos from a MacBook Air backup (I no longer have the computer). I am denied acess to pictures folder because I don't have permissions. How can I log in with password and get access? This was my wife's computer; she has the  login credentials, I just need to know how.

I have a MacBook Pro laptop with OSX Yosemite, with Time Machine to a 2Tb G Technology G-Drive with USB 3.0. The backup I am trying to access is a 2013 file (G-Drive/Backups/LuAnne'sMacBookAir/Latest/MacintoshHD/Users/luanne/Pictures)

Clicking on "Pictures" denies access by saying "You do not have permission to open the document “Pictures”."

If you are an administrator (i.e. have an admin account) on the MacBook Air and are familiar with the command line interface you can use the sudo command to obtain machine-level admin rights. Once you have those rights, you can access the files in that folder.

An example of this might be:

$ cd ~/Desktop
$ mkdir luannsphotos
$ sudo cp -R G-Drive/Backups/LuAnne'sMacBookAir/Latest/MacintoshHD/Users/luanne/Pictures/* luannsphotos

This is pseudo-"code", but essentially I've created a folder in your home folder, and then recursively copied the contents of that folder you referenced into this new folder.


How many times can I attempt to guess the pin code of the restrictions settings on iPad? I want to change some settings related to restrictions on my iPad but I don't remember the code I used to lock changes to restrictions. I have a few common variations to try, I'm certain it is one of them, but I noticed that the device counts the attempts I've already made.

Will I be blocked from further attempts at some point or is just an informative counter?

If you are talking about Parental Control type of restrictions on the iPad, I believe that to be entirely iOS software level. You have 6 attempts before it locks you out for a minute. It then increases the locked-out time after further failed attempts. Since you have two failed attempts, it should let you have four more without consequence, which, if one goes through, all is well, if not, you will be locked out, before you can do a 7th attempt for 1 minute - to start with.

If you fail the 7th time, it will increase the time to 5 minutes.
The eight time increases it to 15 minutes.
And if you fail the ninth time, the timer increases to sixty minutes and will be that amount until you enter the right one.


Selecting Random File in AppleScript I’m trying to make a script that can select/display/open a file randomly from a folder and its subfolders. The following script:

tell application "Finder"
    get some file of (folder "/Volumes/Expansion Drive/Photos")
end tell

Gives following error:

error "Finder got an error: Can’t get folder \"/Volumes/Expansion Drive/Photos\"." number -1728 from folder "/Volumes/Expansion Drive/Photos”

What is the correct syntax? It’s a late 2013 iMac with OS X 10.10.5.

Because you're using the POSIX path syntax, you have to use POSIX file to get the object at that path:

tell application "Finder"
    get some file of (folder (POSIX file "/Volumes/Expansion Drive/Photos"))
end tell


Can a MacBook 2,1 (late 2006) running 10.4 be upgraded to Lion? I'm looking at upgrade options for a Macbook 2,1 with the following specs:

  Model Name:   MacBook
  Model Identifier: MacBook2,1
  Processor Name:   Intel Core 2 Duo
  Processor Speed:  2 GHz
  Number Of Processors: 1
  Total Number Of Cores:    2
  L2 Cache (per processor): 4 MB
  Memory:   1 GB
  Bus Speed:    667 MHz
  Boot ROM Version: MB21.00A5.B07
  SMC Version:  1.17f0
  Serial Number: XXXX
  Sudden Motion Sensor:
  State:    Enabled

I'm seeing conflicting reports on various forums.

Can someone tell me definitively what needs to happen to get this onto Lion?

Cheers,
Rob

You need more RAM and Lion and you are good to go. I linked to one of many providers for RAM that works on your model.

If costs are tight, 2 GB of memory is the minimum requirement for Lion, so that's the only hardware problem assuming your hard drive isn't so full that you can't free up space for the initial install of either Snow Leopard or Lion (you have two paths to get Lion installed).

Get the Lion USB key and hop straight to Lion realizing you will need to erase and migrate things by hand from your backup.
Get a retail Snow Leopard DVD (and optionally the Box Set if you want iLife to be updated but not purchased through the App store). Once you have the updates applied, you can then buy Lion upgrade from the App Store app.

Plan on all your apps not working and you can be surprised if some of them do work. Do make a great backup (bootable one would be best on an external drive) so you can migrate a couple of times or boot and run your old system as you start using the new OS in case you forget some "old documents" or pictures or whatever is missing 3 or 6 months down the road.

Have fun!


The "Open" and "Save" system dialogs get taller every time I open them I'm using Mac OS 10.10.2, and I believe this problem only occurs with Mac OS X Yosemite.

Here is the dialog box I am talking about:

I just pressed Cmd+S on Ask Different to trigger this dialog.

If I were to close this dialog, and press Cmd+S again, this dialog will grow taller, by about 100 pixels, I'd say.

What is causing this? This actually is really annoying, as I find myself opening this dialog upwards of 30-40 times a normal work day, causing the dialog to frequently go off the screen, causing inconvenience in saving the files and similar operations.

Is there a way to fix this? I'm not really looking for a fix - I just want this bug to be recorded here, in the event of there being a fix in Mac OS X in the future (only after I upgraded to Yosemite, this started happening).

This is a common and known bug. Just google "Save Dialog Grows" to see.

Hopefully Apple will fix it with the next point release.


How to re-download a corrupted music track from iTunes store I downloaded Richard Thompson's "Acoustic Rarities" album this evening.

Unfortunately track 10, "Sloth", cuts out after about 15 seconds with a glitchy sound and then silence.

I assume the download is corrupted. It is a shame that iTunes doesn't do a basic md5 or checksum check on the downloaded file so it knows that it needs fixing.

I have tried the obvious thing which is right-click on the track, "Remove Download" and then download it again. However the subsequent download is rather fast, and the track has the same glitch. I assume the file is cached somewhere.

Is there a cache on my computer that I could delete and re-download? Is there a way to trick iTunes into trying again properly?

I have iTunes 12.7.0.166 on macOS Sierra 10.12.6

For me the same track results in pure silence.

Please contact Apple's iTunes team regarding this issue (iTunes > Store > View my Account > purchases > 'Report a problem'). This is nothing you can solve on your own. Apple has to fix the issue with the track in order for you to download the correct song.


Is there a way to show the date (in addition to time) in the OS X lock screen? This is what the default OS X lock screen, (if you have it set to require password on wake from sleep etc.), looks like:

By default it seems to only show the time in the top right-hand corner.

It would be great to have today's date handy as a reference in the screen as well - just like you can configure it.

Without finding a third-party lock screen app (that costs money), is there a command or setting to include the date in the OS X default lock screen?

Another option, which worked for me, was the following crontab entry, in root's crontab:

0 0 * * * defaults write /Library/Preferences/com.apple.loginwindow LoginwindowText "The date is `date '+%B %d, %Y'`"

This sets a message on the lock screen, including the date.  It isn't as slick as including the date with the time in the corner, but it has the advantage of working at all (I couldn't get @konqui's answer to work for me), and it doesn't require installing any 3rd-party software.

If anyone is interested, I detailed the procedure in more depth on my blog, but the essence of the solution is posted here.


Unhide Partitions via Terminal Is there any way to unhide partitions that have been hidden by a third party partitioning tool on a Mac using nothing more than Terminal via a Mac OS X Boot CD or USB stick?

Edit

These partitions have not been hidden via any Mac OS X mounting options. They have simply had their partition identifier changed via software like Partition Magic, GPartd or some other similar tool.

I have already taken a look at the command line options provided by diskutil and can not find anything to make the equivalent changes under Mac OS X.

Often "hiding a partition" is simply setting them to not mount at boot. Have you looked in /etc/fstab for a noauto line that prevents one of the Volume UUID from mounting in the default manner?

You should be able to read all the partition, volume and filesystem information in terminal or Disk Utility (both of which are in the Utility menu of the install app)

diskutil list, diskutil info disk0, and diskutil info disk0s2 should get you started.  diskutil will list all the commands if you just run it without any commands listed.

Of course, if the utility is using non-standard drivers or encrypting/obfuscating things you will have a harder time getting into the drive without more detailed information on how that specific utility did it's work. If diskutil can't see the partition then it's not actually hidden but gone. Tools like that run the risk of you using the space that is marked as free unless they do a good job of modifying the size of the device and hacking the partition table data.

In response to your edit - if the partition tables are changed to be non-standard you can undo the damage by being very good with writing hex values using dd  - if you get the it right, you can reverse the changes that were made to alter the file system definition data. Using gparted or another tool that is built for the task would sure be safer and probably easier.


How to change file names in different folders? I have lots of files with identical name, say "hello.jpg".

They are located in many folders, say

\aaa\hello.jpg
\bbb\hello.jpg
\adaage\hello.jpg

I want to change their name to

\aaa\aaa_hello.jpg
\bbb\bbb_hello.jpg
...

How can I accomplish this?

You can run this command in Terminal:

find . -name hello.jpg -exec bash -c 'mv "$1" "${1%/*}"/"$(echo $(dirname "$1")_$(basename "$1"))"' -- {} \;

This will find all hello.jpg files inside directories and prepend dir name in front of the filename. NOTE: this search only inside current dir You're in - not the whole partition.

EDIT: fixed spaces in dir/filename.


Terminal "LoadModule" - command not found I installed via homebrew the new php56 version.

To activate it and use it I typed this in the Terminal:

LoadModule php5_module    /usr/local/opt/php56/libexec/apache2/libphp5.so

But it says: -bash: LoadModule: command not found

What can I do?

LoadModule is for your Apache configuration file httpd.conf, not for being run in your shell.


Can I configure Swype to use two different languages for keyboard layout and spell checking? With my built-in iPhone keyboard that is easily possible, but I can't seem to find the setting on Swype.

Yes, that's possible in Swype. And in SwiftKey, too, by the way. Let me walk you through how I did it. But let me tell you why first.
For Stack Exchange, I use:

US English spelling, since we're on a US website. Though, as a European, I should advocate UK spelling. Then again, the UK doesn't seem to advocate being European.
A German keyboard layout, i.e. QWERTZ instead of QWERTY, because I've been using that layout for physical keyboards for the last couple of decades.

With the iPhone, it's easy to set those two differently. With third-party keyboards, not so much. But it is possible:
Swype
Preconditions: You have bought the app and performed basic configuration so that you can access Swype as a virtual keyboard in your apps.
Steps:

Open any app that can access the Swype keyboard.
Select Swype as input method.
Press and hold the space bar, then slide up to More Languages.
Do not click on any language! Instead, for the language you want to configure, e.g. "English" (the US variant is implied), click on the right arrow >. It took me a while to discover this.
Choose the layout that you want, e.g. "QWERTZ" in my case. Voilà.

SwiftKey
Preconditions: You have downloaded the app and performed basic configuration so that you can access SwiftKey as a virtual keyboard in your apps.
Steps:

Open the SwiftKey app.
Go to Languages. Under Downloaded Languages, you should see at least "English (US)" and "QWERTY"
Click on switch layout for a language.
Choose the layout that you want, e.g. "QWERTZ" in my case. Voilà.

PS: I haven't quite made up my mind as to which of the two apps I actually prefer. I see immediate differences, but no killer criterion yet. I'll keep testing both for a while longer.


How to systematically change a default app for files in a given folder I would like all of the (say) pdf files that land in my Download folder to open with (say) Acrobat instead of my default Preview (but I want to retain Preview as a default for all other pdf files).

I know how to do that by hand through the finder, but I would like that to be done automatically whenever a file is added to the Download folder.

I take pdf as an example but I would like this to be feasible with any file extension.

As a bonus, the default would revert to Preview when the file is moved from Download to another folder.

Thanks !

Save this following AppleScript code to…  /Users/YOUR SHORT NAME/Library/Workflows/Applications/Folder Actions ..folder as a script file.  You can name it something like “Change Default Application.scpt”

I don't have Acrobat reader on my system so I used TextEdit.app as one of my variables instead.  You can change that value in line 2 of the code, to suit your needs.  Line 3 of the code is what tells the script which application to use as the default app for the PDF files located within the folder that the folder action is attached to.

property Default_App_To_Open_With1 : alias "Macintosh HD:Applications:Preview.app:"
property Default_App_To_Open_With2 : alias "Macintosh HD:Applications:TextEdit.app:"

property Default_App : Default_App_To_Open_With2

property name_Extension : "pdf"

on adding folder items to this_folder after receiving dropped_items
    repeat with this_File in dropped_items
        tell application "System Events"
            if name extension of this_File is name_Extension then
                set default application of this_File to Default_App
            end if
        end tell
    end repeat
end adding folder items to

After this code is tweaked to your liking, and has been saved to the previous mentioned folder, it will then be available to use within the Folder Actions Setup.app to to attach to any folder of your choice


TextEdit keeps getting stuck TextEdit keeps getting stuck in the middle of files stopping me from being able to scroll down any further. I'm on macOS High Sierra 10.13.1 - I don't remember ever having these issues on Sierra 10.12.

The only fixes I've found for this so far are:

adding a new line and then deleting it
closing textedit and re-opening (but this doesn't always fix it)

Is there a fix for this?

I have had similar difficulties in the past. I have found a work around that may solve or assist you in your issue. I found that if I first extend the window vertically so the text all fits into it, therefore eliminating the need to scroll, it works correctly. Unfortunately, this won't work for long documents where it can not fit on the screen entirely.


iPhone open YouTube video in YouTube App I'm trying to open a video embedded in a page and a giant play button appears and the native video player opens and plays the video.

Instead I want to open the video in the YouTube app so I can see who uploaded the video and related videos.

Am I missing something?

An example would be:
http://sc2casts.com/cast17669-StarTale-yoe-vs-JINAIR-Best-of-5-2015-Proleague-Round-2

I'm on my phone. How can I simulate clicking the YouTube logo on my desktop.

Best

It would appear to be dependent on how the website has embedded the video. In the example you give there is the option to tap the youtube icon in the bottom right which launches the youtube app. Some videos which play in the native video player unfortunately have no workaround to view in the youtube app.


Increasing write speed to MicroSD on MacbookPro I am experiencing really slow write speeds on my MacBook Pro on a MicroSD from Samsung which should allow write speeds of up to 20MB/s. The current transfer rate seems to be around 3-4MB/s on HFS Journaled, and the rate was way lower when I formatted it with exFAT. I see some methods for increasing speeds on other devices like Android mobiles, which involve changing the cache, and also on OSX but only for command line processes? Is there a way to implement this when dragging files over with Finder?

Indicated write/read speeds are always higher than what you should expect from a card.

Usually, the filesystem doesn't make a difference to the RW speeds.

Do also remember that copying many small files is significantly slower than copying one big file due to the entries required to the FS.

If you'd like to test your write speeds with the filesystem, try

dd if=/dev/zero | pv -betrP -s 100M -S | dd of=/path/to/your/device/temporaryfile

The above command will dd 100 mebibytes of zeros into a file into your microSD card, and will return a speed in MiB/s.


Data exchange from old to new iphone How to transfer apps and its data from one iphone to another through hard disk? Since I am changing my laptop.
I want to know whether the backup includes app data also? What i mean is when i restore the new phone with the backup, all the apps would get restored on it even if it is another laptop not the one in which the old iphone backup was taken?

All you need is the location of the iPhone backup and it's easy to restore your new iPhone from the backup. Here are the locations for different operating systems:

Mac: (user)/library/Application Support/MobileSync/Backup/
Windows Vista/7: \Users\(user name)\AppData\Roaming\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup\
Windows XP: \Documents and Settings\(user name)\Application Data\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup\


Remove last login message but keep motd in terminal? Does anyone know a way to stop the "last login" message from showing up when I start up the terminal, but still have the MOTD show up?

I tried touch ~/.hushlogin, but that prevented both from showing.

You are halfway there. Use .hushlogin and add cat /private/etc/motd to the first line of your shell's login rc file.


Mail.app with El Capitan displays message titles in undersized width After I upgraded to OS X 10.11 (currently running 10.11.1), messages are no longer properly displayed in Mail.app:

All message information is crammed into a space with minimum width, despite the fact that the actual column width is much larger.
Resizing the column temporarily restores a correct display but the problem comes back as soon as I switch to another mailbox.

Of course restarting the application, or the computer itself, did not help.
I have not seen this problem documented elsewhere. Is it only me?

Delete the folder ~/Library/Containers/com.apple.mail

You may have to re-enter some preferences. I use MailTags and had to re-enter license data and preference information.


Change Apple store to get local Apps I have an account at the Apple Store Switzerland and I would like to get App’s from the store in China as I live there now. I can’t download Apps like  抖音 because the store in Switzerland doesn’t provide it.  What can I do?

Create a new Apple ID (e.g. here) and use the new one to log into the Chinese App Store.


Attach a sketchpad device to a MacBookPro to make use of sketch-enabled apps Is there a device (sketch pad?) that can be attached to a MacBook Pro so that you can make use of sketching software in OS X?  Like for example using Skitch, it would be better if you have a sketch pad at hand rather than using a mouse for using the app.

If I'm not mistaken, are those devices sold by Wacom the ones I might be referring to?

Cheers!

Yes, you are right.  Here is one manufacturer of those kinds devices:

Wacom

I would recommend the Bamboo Tablet, it is a cheap and effective solution for what you are asking, they connect through USB and are very easy to set up and calibrate:

Bambo Tablet

They also make more expensive input tablets but I would only recommend that if your are doing very professional editing/art creation because they would be over kill for many people who just want to simply draw and sketch ideas and make art.

Most/All of the these tablet/sketch input devices work as alternative mouse inputs, so you can use this with your mouse or as a replacement for it.  They are even pressure sensitive allowing for multiple degrees of precision and line thickness.  They also usually come with basic art software like Photoshop Elements or Basic painting/drawing software like Autodesk SketchBook Express.  For only 50 to 79 dollars for the basic tablets, you can't really go wrong.

I hope that this information helps you out.


Keyboard shortcut for launching Apps in Dock In Windows 7, Win
 + 1, 2, 3 ... 9 launches the first, second etc App in task bar.

Is there a similar keyboard shortcut in OS X in order to launch Apps that are in the Dock?

Just downloaded a 99 cent app from the mac app store called "Snap" that fixes this. Now I hit command-1 and the first app in my dock launches. Awesome!


What iOS version comes preinstalled on the iPhone 7? I know that if you "Restore from iCloud backup" from a backup made with iOS 10.0.1, the iPhone 7 makes you install the update first, so it must come with a version before 10.0.1. Do you know which version this is?

I just activated my iPhone 7 and it came preinstalled with iOS 10.0 (saw that on an email from Apple Sign-In alert) and it prompts you to upgrade to iOS 10.0.1 even before proceeding with your setup.


iOS 8 third-party keyboard for accentuated characters? iOS 8 now supports third-party keyboards. I am pretty satisfied with Apple's default keyboard, however one thing is a hassle for me, as a French speaker : typing accentuated characters takes a long time, because you first have to touch for instance the letter "E" and then wait for the accentuated variants such as "é è ë..." to appear.

Hence my question : is there a third-party keyboard especially designed for quickly typing accentuated characters ?

iOS 8 (like iOS 7) on my iPad has a French keyboard called Accented AZERTY, where you type é by typing e and then the accent from the bottom row of keys.  This is a lot faster than holding down the e key for most people.


Require username+password after sleep/lock I want a command to force password input after sleep or manual lock with ControlCommandQ in High Sierra, as opposed to allowing TouchID alone to unlock the laptop.

How?

Use case:

You can be forced to supply your biometrics, but you can't be forced to supply your knowledge of a password, until mind-reading is a thing. Hence; when traveling, knowing that other people want to read/copy data contained on travelers' laptops, I want to secure my laptop by forcing authentication with username+password, as opposed to username+fingerprint.

Like for iOS 11 but for macOS.

Goal:

Disable TouchID every time I want to force a password-based unlock, until the next time the laptop has been successfully unlocked.

Facts:

I can lock the laptop and sign in with password if I click the avatar
I can lock the laptop and unlock it with my fingerprint if I touch the Touch Id sensor.
I have no way to force password on sign-in. That is what this question is about.

Discourse:

There are two concepts in play here. What principal is trying to log in and what credentials versus identification that principal supplies. The principal in the above use-case is always myself, but TouchId does away with the secret part of the credential, and makes it so that authentication is successful by merely supplying a username—the fingerprint. In the triad, "something you have, something you know, something you are", it has replaced the "something you know" with "something you are". In the above threat-model, it has lessened security, because "what you are" is never possible for you to withhold.

Furthermore; because fingerprints are available on your phone, on the surface of your laptop, on your wallet, etc, I don't even "have to be", for the laptop to open, because they can be stolen or faked.

They are a fairly strongly identifying (one to two in a hundred people could share the same hash of the fingerprint); but they are not strongly authenticating. I want strong authentication using a secret ("what I know"), to be possible. That is what I'm asking for.

I hope this removes any doubts about what this question is asking.

Notes:

  You can't input commands after your computer is locked.

Sure I can; normally cabled ethernet is trusted: https://github.com/lgandx/Responder https://room362.com/post/2016/snagging-creds-from-locked-machines/ or a while back, now fixed: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT207423

  ...if you could it would lessen security...

Not if the command can only strengthen security.

Besides, this is not what I'm asking about, I'm after a command for "strong lock machine", to enforce password-based authentication after sleep/lock/hibernate.

  This is a duplicate post

No, it's not.

  Typing is less secure since it can be observed and replicated

That is true for other threat modelling scenarios than I have as my use case. However, enabling 2FA (e.g. TouchId + password) for the laptop is a valid solution to this question, if it's possible.

After locking your laptop with Command+Control+Q, touch (don't depress) the Touch Id sensor five times with the wrong finger. Now Touch Id is temporarily disabled until you input your password.
Reboot the machine; now you must input your password.


How to delete infinitely recurring directories I have a strange issue with deleting items from the Trash. It appears that there are infinite nested directories which I cannot seem to remove. If I try to "empty" the trash I get an error which reads "The operation can’t be completed because the item is in use.". I tried using Terminal to cd into .Trash and the files are not listed, but I tried rm -rf * anyway, but to no avail...

The nested directories go on forever apparently (it shows 1-36 there in the image, but if I use the arrow to expand the last one then another, and another, and another shows up)... Does anyone have a clue how I can remove these from the Trash? Thanks.
EDIT: After waiting some time I now also get another error "You can’t open the Trash because it’s being emptied.". Oddball behavior here.

It is certainly interesting to see an infinite folder structure in the trash so naturally, the typical deletion process would take infinite time. Something went horribly wrong somewhere.

What can you try?
Close all programs (reboot if necessary to interrupt the current deletion process) and try Running First Aid on your boot volume. Be sure to disconnect any attached drives such as TimeMachine backups or network shares to eliminate them from the equation.

You mentioned having tried the sudo rm -rf ~/.Trash command to no avail, but how about sudo rm -rf /Volumes/*/.Trashes? The full article is here in case you are looking for a little background information. Your macOS system will rebuild the .Trashes folder next time it needs it.

As far as the "You can’t open the Trash because it’s being emptied." message is concerned, this is usually fixed through a Finder restart or better yet, system restart.

Let me know if that makes sense and how it works out for you.


Charging an iPhone, difference between USB port and power outlet The power outlet has more power obviously, but maybe the computer USB is suffice to charge it at maximum speed.

Is there a difference between charging an iPhone using the computer USB port and using the power outlet?

Here is a page where you have the result of the comparison of charging an iPhone4 from USB or power outlet.
Here is their conclusion:

  Stating the obvious, the iPhone 4 takes longer to get a full charge on USB than an outlet. What you may not have realized is how big the difference was, an extra 30 minutes! That’s 23% longer to get a full charge on the USB.


Possible to force a sync of Game Center Achievements already gained? For various reasons, I've only just updated to iOS4.

There are a number of games that I have gained achievements for, it is possible to update the game center app to recognise these achievements automatically?

I am not aware of a way to force the updating other than running the apps to see if they will update things as a matter of course. Some app developers store the achievements in a way that they flow back from the game center - but it's more about how each developer chooses to use all the Game Center options.

Look for a much better experience when iCloud allows developers to store more app data in the cloud so you don't have to export/import and otherwise work to get your settings and loot to a new instance of the same app.

An alternate tack is to dive into the library of each app using a tool like PhoneView. You don't need to jailbreak the device - but often can find the folder where achievements are stored and you can put them back when they go missing.


Using a macbook SSD as a replacement in iMac I have a MacBook Pro (15-inch, 2017) and iMac (Retina 5K, 27-inch, Late 2015)
the Macbook Pro will be disposed for various reasons.
I want to know if it's possible to use the SSD 2To in  MacBook Pro (15-inch, 2017) as a replacement SSD in iMac (Retina 5K, 27-inch, Late 2015) which has currently a 3,12 To fusion drive (128 ssd / 3to hard drive) ?

According to this definitive guide of Apple SSD modules:
https://beetstech.com/blog/apple-proprietary-ssd-ultimate-guide-to-specs-and-upgrades
your iMac can use the 'Generation 5' SSD module that comes in your MBP, even though the iMac originally comes with 'Generation 4'.
Don't forget that if you replace one part of a Fusion Drive, the data on the 'volume' is entirely lost, so make sure you've got a backup before starting. (I'd recommend keeping the hard drive as a separate volume from now on.)
However, if you want to save yourself the bother of opening up the iMac, an external Thunderbolt drive may be just as fast.


Limitations of external monitors with MacBook Pro Retina mid 2012 I'm using a MacBook Pro 15 inch retina (mid 2012) and I'm using a 27 inch iMac as an external display (connected using Thunderbolt) and another 23 inch display connected using HDMI.

I'm looking to replace the 23 inch display with a larger one and looking at my options. I've read a few posts on here and the general gist of what I'm reading is that it's possible to hook up a 4K display via HDMI running at 3840 x 2160 @ 30 Hz. My first question is if this would still apply when I keep the 27 inch iMac as a second external display. Does anyone have experience with this? It's working fine with my current setup, but the 23 inch display is only running at a 1920x1080 resolution.

Update 9/6
So I decided to give it a shot and went for a Samsung U32H850UMN display. I'm connecting it to the HDMI port of my Macbook and at the same time the iMac is still connected in TDM using the thunderbolt port. The Samsung display is running at 3840 x 2160 @ 30 Hz (as expected). The Macbook is running in clamshell mode. I'll keep an eye on the Macbook's temperature to make sure it doesn't get too hot. If it does I will just switch to just the Samsung monitor as my main display.

Officially these MBPs can support up to one HDMI display (at 1920x1080 pixels) while simultaneously connected to a Thunderbolt display (at 2560x1600 pixels), OR being connected to two Thunderbolt displays (both at 2560x1600 pixels).

However, unofficially you can exceed this. I'm not aware of anyone who has done exactly what you're wanting to do, but I have come across the following scenarios with other users:

connecting two 27" Thunderbolt displays each at 2560x1600 pixels while also using the built-in display, with a 23% increase in the MBP's fan speed, but with no long-term damage/problems.
connecting three external displays while in clamshell mode. However, this can result in the MBP's fans spinning at more than double their usual speed when watching videos etc. Not something I would recommend.
using a single Thunderbolt display at higher resolutions (e.g. 3440x1440) with the MBP in clamshell mode without any problems whatsoever.
using two 27" iMacs in Target Display Mode (one using a Thunderbolt connection and the other a Thunderbolt/DisplayPort connection) without any problems (both in and out of clamshell mode).
using a single Thunderbolt display at higher resolutions (e.g. 3440x1440) while also using the built-in display. This seems to work okay, although the fans will spin about 30% faster. This is probably the limit of how much I'd recommend pushing things.

It's not clear from your question whether you were wanting to use the MBP in clamshell mode, but the info above may give you enough to help you decide whether what you want to do is worth the risk.


Are vintage devices compatible with iCloud? I would like to know if Notes, Calendar, iCloud Drive, Keychain, Mail and other native apps are compatible with vintage and obsolete products.
Apple KB - Vintage and obsolete products

Notes, iCloud, etc. are not determinant on the hardware, but what version of macOS you're using.


Music sounds louder than Movies and TV Shows on Apple TV 4K I have an Apple TV 4K plugged into a Vizio TV via HDMI, and a Vizio soundbar plugged into the TV via an optical cable.

When watching movies, the volume range is pretty good. Setting my soundbar to its lowest volume point leads to low volume, and a comfortable listening volume is about 1/3-1/2 of the max volume.

But when listening to music via Apple Music app on the Apple TV, setting the soundbar to its lowest volume point still outputs loud music. There is no way I can comfortably set it to something between mute and loud. Increasing the volume on the soundbar by 1 step up from mute leads to music that is louder than what I would expect at this low volume point.

I am able to mitigate this by enabling Reduce Loud Sounds and Sound check, but the music is still a bit too loud to my taste, even on the lowest volume point on my soundbar. Plus, Reduce Loud Sounds has a negative effect on the music (highs are muffled, etc).

So what I've been doing to avoid this issue is to Airplay from my Mac to the Apple TV and setting the volume to 50% in iTunes on my Mac, but it kind of defeats the purpose.

I am observing the same behaviour with my 4th generation Apple TV, plugged into a Yamaha receiver via HDMI. When watching movies, I set the receiver volume between -20db and -30db. But when listening to music, I have to set it between -50db and -60db. So, the same behaviour (music louder than movies), but since I have a finer-grained control over the volume with my receiver it is not really a problem.

How do I resolve the issue?

Your issue raises from the way audio data works when transferred digitally. It's possibly a bug in either your Soundbar or your TV, which you might not be able to resolve.

Both the connections from your Apple TV to your TV and from your TV to your Soundbar are digital. That means, the audio is transferred entirely digital during playback. In analog transfers, setting the volume of the audio transferred is really easy, it is equivalent to with how much electrical energy the signal is put onto the cable. Much energy results in loud audio, etc.

This isn't so easy when using digital transfers. Digitally encoded audio has always the same volume, no matter if you set the volume high or low. This is due to the encoding of the audio in bits. The amplitude of the audio at any point of the timescale is represented by a value ranging from 0 to 1 (to keep it simple). The audio should be normalized, so that at it's loudest point the amplitude is 1.

Of course, you could re-encode the audio stream before sending it out using the digital connection, and reduce the overall amplitude of the audio, so that the audio has an amplitude of e.g. 0.5 at it's loudest point. That's what the Apple TV does when transferring video, in order to allow you to change the volume of the audio using for example your streaming device. But that reduces the quality of the audio signal.

To keep quality optimal, the Apple TV does not touch the audio signal when transferring music. Therefore, music is always transferred at max amplitude 1 (and therefore probably louder than most movies). Of course you could add metadata to the audio stream to transfer the desired volume the audio should be played back with, but metadata is not always understood by all devices. In that case, it seems that either your TV or your soundbar are able to understand that volume control, or the feature you'd normally control the audio with by using your TV's or your soundbar's remote does not work for music.

In order to be able to set the volume on the soundbar, you might try an analog connection from the TV to the soundbar, or using a dedicated device like a digital-analog-converter that creates an analog signal out of the optical audio from your TV. That way, you'd keep the analog conversion away from the soundbar, and the volume control might work as expected.


iPod Nano without iTunes (Chromebook) My father has an iPod Nano (4th generation I think, though it may be 5th) and runs iTunes on his aging Windows laptop.  He would like to switch to a Chromebook, which would obviously prevent him from running iTunes locally.

Are there alternative (cloud-based) ways of syncing music to an older Nano device, or is a PC with iTunes required to store music and sync this device?

Simple answer: No.

iTunes and a USB cable are needed to synch any iPad Nano. The 7th generation Nano has Bluetooth, but that is for playback only. This Wikipedia page on all the generations of Nanos will be elucidating.


I'm trying to purchase Keynote for Mac Os 10.7 How can I buy an older version of Keynote that's compatible with 10.7?

You can purchase the iWork suite (which includes Keynote) from Amazon or a similar retailer. Searching the internet should help you, but I found iWork '09 for $19.99. Note that iWork '09 uses universal binaries so it will work on both PowerPC and Intel Macs.

You may want to check which versions are compatible with OS X 10.7. Wikipedia has a good table with OS X / iWork version compatibility.

You need either iWork '09 or iWork 9.x. If you are on OS X 10.7.4, you can run any version of iWork up to and including iWork 9.3.

iWork 2013 is only compatible with 10.9, so stick with versions prior to that one on Amazon or another retail site and you should be good. If the version you want is not on Amazon, check eBay or another website.


Restore MacBook Pro backup to a Mac Mini? I've got to drop my MBP (2010 model) in to the Apple store asap to get it repaired and it'll be out of action for a week during a time I need it most. My thought process is, due to the urgency of it all, to get a Mac Mini to tide me over until the repair is complete and keep working in the mean time.

If I buy a Mac Mini, could I just do a time machine restore of my MBP to that and be up and running? Are there any associated problems?

Second thought is also, could I just swap out the drive in the Mac Mini with that of my MBP and be up and running without issue? (I know I'll have to put my MBP in for repair with a drive in, got that thought covered).

I've had the best results restoring from Time Machine to a freshly formatted drive. I did this for a machine with lots of system modifications, (httpd.conf, ssh_config) and all of these files were restored. When I did that with an OS in place these files were missed. There were no problems when I restored to a clean drive. Everything was restored properly. So, if you buy a Mac Mini, format the drive before running the Time Machine restore.

I recommend sending machines to Apple as stock as possible. I've put in known bad hard drives with the Apple Logo on them when sending a machine back to Apple. The hard drive was replaced and the primary problem was fixed. The drive swap would be fine, but unless you are in a big hurry I'd discourage it.


Does the OS kills resource hungry process automatically if the battery becomes low I am running virtual box with 2 VMs using MacBook Pro(macOS Sierra). I noticed that the virtualbox is killed whenever the battery charge becomes very less(~ 4%).

Does the OS kills it due to low battery or its just a correlation happening by chance after seeing it a few times.

The OS does have the ability to send warnings (essentially allow apps to subscribe to warnings) for low memory or low power so they may save their state or throttle down processing.

The OS doesn't kill processes, but instead goes to sleep or hibernation.

I suppose vbox could implement this, but my suspicion is that it's only coincidence.


Use jailbroken iPhone as webserver I know that this already has an answer, it is outdated. I am running iOS 10.3.3 on an iPhone 5 (so its 32 bit), and I want to run a web server for no reason at all. I have tried install lighttpd and php, but I can't find a way to turn it on.

Download ios-lighttpdphp-mysql from the repo https://cydia.angelxwind.net/ and turn on the server in settings. Then open
http://localhost in Safari and your iPhone is now a webserver with PHP and mySQL.

This should work on all iOS versions and devices.

Source


Can you use APFS on an external drive? I believe that the answer to this question is "yes you can but you should not."  Explanation is below.

This is a repost of this article I wrote here:  https://discussions.apple.com/message/32385656#32385656

With High Sierra, there is a serious thing people should know about that Apple does not mention.  In my opinion, you should avoid APFS on external drives.

You cannot make a disk image of an external APFS drive.  Period.  No tool can.  This makes backups of such drives problematic.

Solution:  use Mac OS Extended instead of APFS on external hard drives, until Apple fixes this limitation.

After converting my external SSD drive to APFS I found that it was having errors and wished to reformat it and restore.  I've been using Time Machine regularly and my first hope was to somehow restore from there.  However, that was not possible because once you reformat a drive, you cannot restore to it from Time Machine.  Time Machine will see it as a new volume.  Time Machine is intended for restoring particular folders and files back to a functioning drive and does not help you if your drive completely fails!  I learned a lesson there.
Luckily my drive was not in terrible shape, and I also have another drive so I decided to make a backup image and then just restore from that. That's when things got weird.
I went to SuperDuper! which is my backup image creation tool of choice I've had for years.  It refused to list the APFS drive as a source for backup.  Huh.  You can see in this screen shot that although I have an APFS drive, SuperDuper! just doesn't list it as a source for backups.

OK, so I then turned to Disk Utility.  It greys out the "Image from..."  for APFS disks as you can see here:

Carbon Copy Cloner will let you make a backup from APFS to another drive, but will not create an image of it.  If you do, you will get an error when trying to mount the image during the backup process.  So you have to use the whole target drive as a backup.  I usually use disk images so I can have backups of both my internal and external on one external drive.

So there you go.  Personal opinion:  I believe the best plan is to not use APFS anywhere you don't have to.  I have not seen any improvement with APFS anyhow -- the "fast copy" feature of course only works if you are duplicating a large file on an APFS drive, which is something few people really do often.

Hope this information is helpful to someone.

(note:  Some might notice and be confused that I'm using a drive called "2 TB backup encrypted HD APFS" as my backup source.  I'm writing this after converting my other drive to Mac OS Extended, so for screen shots, I used my backup drive as an example.  The point still holds.  If you don't understand this note, feel free to just ignore it.)


Calendar stuck on 'edit event' screen My I Phone 5 calendar is stuck on Edit Event -won't allow me to save the event it is displaying or delete the event  What can I do?

Try quitting the app. Double-click the home button, then swipe up on the Calendar app. Return to the home screen and open Calendar again.


Export to Quicktime VR in OsiriX I am using OsiriX (5.8.5 32-bit) to generate a 3D MIP from a series of DICOM images. According to the official site and every other site I have looked at, exporting a Quicktime VR is one click away. The MIP looks great, however I cannot see the option to export to Quicktime VR anywhere. I have seen the option in the user guides as a button in the toolbar (it looks somewhat 5 years old), though I can't imagine they'd take away such a handy feature.

Anyone else manage to find it?

Found it! It's no where to be found in recent versions of OsiriX. I had to go back to OsiriX 4.0. Works beautifully though, however you need QT7 to open the files.


Kernel CPU usage shows more than 100%, temperature low, fan speed high The activity monitor is showing strange things, like kernel CPU % usage being way above 100%, between 200% - 1.000%.

At the same time the cooling fan is running at max speed and the CPU temperature seems to be 47°. At the same time, everything started to react very slowly.

I am only running chrome with 3 tabs open.

What could be the problem? Am I reading the % correctly and why would it show >100%?

Not sure where you get the CPU temperature but it does not seem to be accurate, if the CPU usage is so high.

For detailed and accurate report on the CPU I use

that creates report like this

To possibly solve your mystery...

Open Console in your Utility Folder

The Type "Kernel" in the search box.

Now you can see what Kernel is busy with.

You can copy and paste here for us to help you with reading.

In this case my kernel is running at 6% CPU


'tmutil listbackups' doesn't work with tmux in Mojave I've tried to list past TM backups while running in a tmux session, but the solution described in this question doesn't seem to work on macOS Mojave any longer:

root@nomi ~> tmutil listbackups
The operation could not be completed because tmutil could not access
private application data on the backup disk. Use the Privacy tab
in the Security and Privacy preference pane to add Terminal to the
list of applications which can access Application Data.

I tried to grant Terminal access to my data:

but it doesn't work. So how do I list/delete my old backups in Mojave if I run the shell in tmux?

You must run the command inside Terminal without any ancestor other than the program itself: that is no screen or tmux or any other terminal helper.

Otherwise the calling program will be the helper and not Terminal itself, and you will need to add that helper to the Privacy settings of MacOS.

EDIT: add pstree info

This happens, at least for tmux, because it spawns another process wich is not a child of iTerm/Terminal. With pstree I see the following:

-+= 00001 root /sbin/launchd
...
 | |-+= 12748 maxxer /Applications/iTerm.app/Contents/MacOS/iTerm2 --server login -fp maxxer
 | | \-+= 12749 root login -fp maxxer
 | |   \-+= 12750 maxxer -zsh
 | |     \--= 14144 maxxer tmux
...
 |-+= 14146 maxxer tmux
 | \-+= 14147 maxxer -zsh
 |   \--= 14170 root top
 |--= 14212 maxxer /System/Library/Frameworks/CoreServices.framework/Frameworks/Metadata.framework/Versions/A/Support/mdworker_shared -s mdworker -c MDSImporterWorker -m com.apple.mdworker.shared

PID 14144 is tmux launched in iTerm2, while 14146 is the actual tmux program running top in the first shell


How do I make my Apple earphone's play button not launch iTunes and instead pause/play a video on YouTube? What the title says. I already have BeardedSpice for my media keys, but I wanted to know if there was a way to make the earbuds' play button not launch iTunes every time I press it.

Taken from here: The short answer is that you can't select which media app has priority since they're all equally treated, but if there's nothing playing iTunes takes preference.
The linked answer also pointed to a patch for the Remote Control Daemon at https://github.com/thebitguru/play-button-itunes-patch, which might be what you were looking for. It's a 1 MB download and you will need at least El Capitan (OS 10.11). On that page it says:

This is a patch for removing the default OS X behavior of always starting iTunes when the play button on the keyboard is pressed. This feature can be useful for a lot of users, but it can also be annoying if you are using VLC, Nightingale or other similar programs that support the media keys.
The application will patch the Remote Control Daemon to prevent it from starting iTunes whenever you press the play button on the keyboard or an external remote control. This will only prevent iTunes from starting, all other functions (like play/pause while iTunes is running) will continue to work as before. The original file is backed up in case you would like to restore the original functionality.

It's unfortunately not a straight forward installation. You find the instructions and download on https://thebitguru.com/projects/itunes-patch.


How do I solve the problem of “invalid active developer path” when attempting to use Git on VSCode How do I fix this issue while on VS Code?

  xcrun: error: invalid active developer path (/Library/Developer/CommandLineTools), missing xcrun at: /Library/Developer/CommandLineTools/usr/bin/xcrun

I've updated my bash profile

xcode-select --install

This installs or updates Command Line Tools. It can be done manually too, by downloading the tools from Developer Website.

How to compile with Command Line Tools for Xcode after deleting the Xcode.app application bundle?
Can't update Developer Tools on Mojave

You might need to point it to the install location of the tools too.

sudo xcode-select -switch /Library/Developer/CommandLineTools

Then restart the Terminal/ VSCode.


What software can I use to mirror my MIDI keyboard controller on-screen? I have a MIDI keyboard controller and I want to be able to mirror what I am playing on an onscreen keyboard, so that students in a music class can see it. Suggestions?

Based on this thread which talks about looking for "a piano keyboard app that would display the keys and also animate (push down) on the keys I play with my MIDI keyboard.", it seems like an app called MidiKeys would do it.

The page in that link says "There is also an option to select a MIDI source and see incoming notes played on the keyboard.", and that sounds like what you're describing.

It also says "requires 10.5 to run", which probably means 10.5 or above, but it's possible that it means its only guaranteed to work on 10.5.


Homebrew / link osxfuse not possible I didn't run brew doctor since a lot of time. Know it tell me I should run brew link osxfuse. Here I show you the rest:

Newton:~$ brew link --overwrite osxfuse
Warning: Could not link osxfuse. Unlinking...
Linking /usr/local/Cellar/osxfuse/2.6.2...
Error: Permission denied - /usr/local/include/osxfuse/fuse.h

When I run it with sudo, it says it is better that I shouldn't do it. So I didn't try.
Here is the permission.

Newton:~$ ls -l /usr/local/include/osxfuse/fuse.h
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel  246 17 Dez  2011 /usr/local/include/osxfuse/fuse.h

What can I do?

It seems to work if you change the permissions of the parent directory /usr/local/include/osxfuse

You need to ensure that your user has write permissions to this directory and all of it's files.  This should work:

sudo chown USERNAME /usr/local/include/osxfuse
sudo chgrp GROUPNAME /usr/local/include/osxfuse
sudo chmod o+w /usr/local/include/osxfuse


Show list of clients of wifi hotspot Mac OS X I have MacBook Air and I access internet using ethernet to USB adapter. Now I'm sharing Wi-Fi to my other devices, but I want to know the information about all clients of my hotspot. Not only mac address, but names and time they're connected too. Is there a way to do that or an app?

I get the list using arp command at Terminal.

first, get your WiFi sharing interface name, I get it by typing ifconfig on terminal.

It should be something like bridgexxx, for me, it's bridge100

Then type this on terminal:

arp -i interfacename -a

for me the command was like:

arp -i bridge100 -a

it shows the internal ip addresses and mac addresses of the devices connected.


Why can't I use the full resolution of my UltraSharp U2713HM with my macbook pro retina? I bought a Dell U2713HM because it was highly rated and had 2560x1440 resolution, but, after learning that the HDMI connection only provides 1980x1080, I purchased from Apple their Thunderbolt to DVI connector and tried that. Still 1980x1080. I've now ordered a mini-DisplayPort-to-DisplayPort connector and am praying that I get the full resolution that way, but I've seen a number of user group comments that you need a completely separate (over $100) Thunderbolt data (not display) interface to get the full resolution. If that's true, I'm returning the Dell. I've also seen people say you need to reset the PRAM and SMC settings, but I've tried doing that (I think it worked) but nothing changed.

HELP!

get a Mini DisplayPort / Thunderbolt to DisplayPort Cable $17.99 or less, thats what i did works fine, although photoshop still displays non retina so have to scale to 50% which is a pain.


What does Security & Privacy/Accessibility enable? After upgrading to OS X 10.9 Mavericks, the System Preferences app occasionally opens itself to "Security & Privacy", with "Accessibility" selected.

My guess is that one of the apps listed there really wants to be enabled. But I'm hesitant to do so unless I know what level of "control" they are granted. The fact that it's listed as an "Accessibility" option is particularly weird.

What permissions would I be giving to an application if I enabled their control on the accessibility list?

In essence, the 'assistive devices' feature gives apps the ability to control other apps. It was intended to give assistive applications the ability to read the screen and process information for other methods of interaction, such as VoiceOver or braille readers. However, other apps use the same feature to 'plug in' to other apps.

For example, Steam uses this feature to provide the Steam Overlay on top of games. Apps requiring AppleScript integration also require this feature, as well as apps that want the ability to press buttons in other apps. This would allow assistive apps to press buttons in apps per voice commands or other input, however it could also potentially allow apps to press buttons without your consent.

It doesn't give apps any more access to your data than the app would already have, however there's nothing stopping it from giving itself access to your data by clicking the relevant buttons in the GUI (i.e. opening Get Info and adjusting the file permissions). Despite all this, it would still require that you enter your password.

In conclusion, it simply allows apps to press buttons in other apps and read data from other apps.


sshd: Service exited with abnormal code: 255 Every SSH connection exits with an abnormal code.

For example

ssh corti@myhost.example.com true

results in

Feb 11 10:16:47 mac-mini com.apple.xpc.launchd[1]: (com.openssh.sshd.163F2BE0-40C6-4B17-AB4E-5A0A07A524DE): Service instances do not support events yet.
Feb 11 10:16:48 mac-mini.home sshd[35674]: Accepted publickey for corti from ***.***.***.*** port 65030 ssh2
Feb 11 10:16:48 mac-mini.home sshd[35676]: Received disconnect from ***.***.***.***: 11: disconnected by user
Feb 11 10:16:48 mac-mini com.apple.xpc.launchd[1]: (com.openssh.sshd.163F2BE0-40C6-4B17-AB4E-5A0A07A524DE[35674]): Service exited with abnormal code: 255

Why is sshd exiting with a non zero return value (i.e., 225)?

In recent macOS versions, the rotten fruit geniuses have restricted SSH access to admin users only. I was having this 'service exited with abnormal code' issue and I fixed it by Preferences -> Sharing -> Remote Login: On and 'Allow Access to': All Users (or the users/groups you want). You must be an admin to do that (you must be able to unlock the locker icon on the bottom left).

Two hours wasted, damn idiots...


Is there a way to globally change the appearance of messages in Messages (Beta) for OS X? In OS X Messages (Beta), the appearance of a given message thread can be changed by selecting submenu options from the View > Messages menu item; but this only applies to the currently displayed message. Is there a way to configure these options as defaults for (all) new threads?

Yes, there is:

Messages > Preferences > Messages

You can set the look and feel for incoming and outgoing messages here.


One specific user can't access the shared network drive, how to resolve? I have a network based on a default 192.168.1.1 gateway.

Multiple devices are connected to the network; (3 apple devices, multiple android devices, windows and linux based machines, ).

One of the machines is used as a media server, running windows 10 home, and has 3 shared folders.

Only iMac (Yosemite 10.10.5) is unable to reach the shared folders - giving an error message "there was a problem connecting to server".

iMac does not see the shared folders by Go to Network, also unable use command-k with CIFS:// or SMB:// (getting the error above)

My MBP (El capitan) has no problem seeing the shares, Windows machine is able to see the shared folders on iMac.

After much network testing, i've created a new user ID on the iMac;
that test user  sees the shared drive without an issue.
Safe mode
does not help
I
have deleted the keychain associated with the shared drive, but still
am getting the error.

Unfortunately I can't switch to a different user currently due to some of the applications installed on this one.

Any recommendations on how to resolve this?

Try sudo sysctl -w net.smb.fs.loglevel=255 and see what messages you get in the console window.

See https://www.experts-exchange.com/articles/4375/Troubleshooting-File-Sharing-Issues-with-With-Mac-OS-X-and-Windows.html for more info.


How can I mirror my Mac display on my iPad? I don't know why i can't seem to find any info about this or even anyone asking the same question. I have an iMac and a new iPad. I want to mirror my Mac display on the iPad, so I can sit in another room with the iPad, the wireless keyboard and mouse. Since I'm using the keyboard and mouse, I don't need touch events to be translated. Also, since the iPad's resolution in landscape mode is 2048x1536, the Mac's resolution of 1920x1080 should fit in it without scaling. Letterboxing is okay.

I'd prefer to do this via AirPlay Mirroring, if possible. I have AirServer installed, but it doesn't show up on my Mac (10.8.2) display settings page ("No devices detected"). Also, AirServer used to be what i needed (if you check the description on Cydia), but for some reason, the website is now only advocating the exact opposite of this.
I checked out Reflector, but it only does the opposite, and that's what everyone else in the world seems to be asking.
There's also an app called Air Display which does do Mac -> iOS, but it requires a server-client installation. I don't want that. The maximum I'm willing to install is an receiver client on the iPad.
I don't want to use a VNC server and client.
I'm okay with an AirPlay receiver app for the iPad, because the iPad doesn't natively receive AirPlay, it only broadcasts it.
AirView would have been it, but it's been taken off the store by Apple.

How can I do this?

The Xscope mirror, a free tool works without needing VNC but you need a paid companion app on the Mac to send the data.

I prefer to use screens on the iPad. VNC is the way that OS X sends it's video remotely to another display. If you don't use it, someone else needs to re-write that entire stack and it works very well for local networks.

As for why the app I recommend, it has an observe mode and seems to scale the screen much better than the Xscope app since it is designed primarily for designing, not mirroring. The same program works on iPad, iPod, iPhone of all sizes and retina or not displays. It is very fast and has an observe only mode so that you don't accidentally send touch events.

If you do decide to use it on the go for remote access, there is a free location app (similar to how Back to My Mac works) and works over ssh tunnels if you prefer more security than speed. It has great soft keyboard support and of course works with Linux and Windows as well. There is nothing I can say bad about it in terms of missing features os bugs or design.

It's a quality piece of software all around.

If you really must avoid VNC, there is another option. The Xscope app for software designers has a free companion app that runs on the iPad and will mirror your screen. It's more designed for counting pixels and looking at mockups you design on the Mac for eventual use on the iPad, but you can use it as a mirroring solution. It lacks any input from the iPad and simply sends the screen from the Mac to iOS.

It also is very high quality software - and is well designed, all around and fast.


Prevent Mac from connecting to WiFi networks with same name as preferred network How can I prevent OS X (and ideally iOS devices as well) from connecting to a WiFi network which has the same name as one of my preferred networks, but isn't the same network?

For example say my favorite coffee shop has an open WiFi network named "Free WiFi" and that's fine, but so does neighbor who runs a proxy which changes all the images sent over HTTP to pictures of butts… hilarious… but[t] annoying.

Obviously you joined neighbors network once upon a time.

Since you have the "Remember networks this computer has joined" Enabled, it will remember it.

Find it and delete it in networks - advanced, or just delete both and next time reconnect in the coffee shop, but do not connect to Free WiFi if showing up when at home.

The fact that they have the same name showing "Free WiFi" is only for us humans, the computer use BSSID to identify the stations.


iPad not playing compressed High Res videos? I have an iPad 3 and use Infuse and VLC to play videos on my iPad. Now I am having a weird issue. I am trying to play a TV series that a friend gave to me. The files are mkv. The resolution is 1280x718, which is surprising, as file size is only 90 MB for a 25 min video. Now when I play these videos on my iPad, the video sort of freezes every second. They play fine on my PC. I tried using both infuse and vlc but same issue. I think the files must be compressed in some way, as I have seen that 25 min of a 1280x720 video can be upto 400 MB in size, I have played such videos on my iPad, and they play fine.

Your suspicions on a 90mb file not being HD are correct. A 25 minute show that is HD would not be 90mb. Hell, that's even small for standard definition quality. Resolution and file size are very different. You can have a video file that is super compressed, but still runs in a higher resolution. The end-result will be a wide & tall, but blurry, picture quality.

As for why they are freezing on your iPad, it's possible that the conversion settings were a little off when someone created this file. I think this based on the small file size, mixed with high resolutions. It sounds like someone was trying very had to make a small file size and probably tweaked a bunch of settings on the export file to do so. It's possible the software you are trying to render it with (VLC, Infuse) are struggling to interpret the file. As you mentioned, the iPad can play other files fine.