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Archive: Mac

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December 6, 2007

HOWTO - Install Leopard on an old G4

The Leopard installer enforces the minimum requirements of 512MB RAM and a 867Mhz CPU. Under normal circumstances, if you have an older G4, you machine won't meet both of these requirements.

The RAM you can buy and upgrade. Nothing new there, but the CPU? Dylan McDermond from Low End Mac posted a hack today which shows us how to fake the CPU's clock speed. The gist is that with a few commands you can make Open Firmware report whatever clock speed you please.

Before running the install CD, you can enter the Open Firmware prompt by typing Cmd-Opt-O-F while booting (with the installer CD in). When you get the Open Firmware prompt, you can enter the following to have the firmware falsely report your CPU speed as 867Mhz and continue booting the installer CD:

dev /cpus/PowerPC,G4@0 d# 867000000 encode-int " clock-frequency" property boot cd:,//:tbxi

When you reboot after completing the install, your CPU speed will be reported as normal again. Check out the link below for the full details, as well as how to adjust the reported speed for a dual-CPU system.

One thing this reminds me of is that Final Cut always refused to real-time render video transitions on iMacs and iBooks, even on models that were faster or had more memory than their Powerbook and Powermac counterparts. Makes me wonder if there is a similar Open Firmware hack to get around other software imposed limitations such as this.

Faking Out the Leopard Installer with Open Firmware - Link

December 5, 2007

Show hidden files in the OS X Finder

Every once in a while I need to make an update to an .htaccess file on a server share or some other dot-file that is normally hidden by the Finder. Instead of editing the file in the terminal with the vi editor—a perfectly appropriate solution, of course—it's a pretty simple tweak to make the Finder show all of those hidden files.

Just open a Terminal window and run the following:

# defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles -bool true # KillAll Finder

One thing you might notice after enabling the hidden file option, aside from all those insidious .DS_Store files, is that all of the file icons will take on a hazy, 50% alpha look. I've gotten used to it, but it's a little annoying. To switch things back, just set the AppleShowAllFiles parameter back to false:

# defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles -bool false # KillAll Finder

Like I said... perfectly appropriate to edit stuff with vi from the terminal window.

December 3, 2007

Big Book of Apple Hacks: call for hacks

Chris Seibold is hard at work on our second Big Hacks book, the Big Book of Apple Hacks, and he's looking for contributors to help out with the book. Contributors to hacks books receive a copy of the book, credit within the book, and a small honorarium. Your contributions are done under a non-exclusive arrangement, so you can use the material elsewhere (such as on your blog).

Here's a list of the hacks that Chris is looking for:

Running Mac OS 9 on Intel/Leopard Macs using Sheepshaver
Cool tips, tricks, and hacks for Twitter/Pownce/Jaiku (also Moodblast)
iPod Touch hacks
Creating podcasts and screencasts
Parallels, Boot Camp, and Fusion
Open Source Alternatives to Microsoft Office, Photoshop etc.
Any other cool hacks you think we might dig

If you're interested, you can get in touch with Chris and me at this email address: bjepson+applehacks at oreilly dot com. Please contact us by December 12, 2007 if you'd like to get involved.

November 7, 2007

The perfect Terminal (or console) font?

James Duncan Davidson has a post titled Bitstream Vera Sans Mono, where he explains his font choices for working at the Mac OS X Terminal. That post has triggered some suggestions from other folks, so if you've been itching for something other than 10pt Monaco, check it out - Bitstream Vera Sans Mono

November 1, 2007

HOWTO - Convert a MacBook to Dvorak

Over at the Craftzine blog, Becky Stern posted a link to an excellent Instructable for rearranging the keys on a MacBook:

Jonathan made a great instructable on how to reorder your keyboard keys on a MacBook if you prefer a Dvorak layout (an alternative to the standard QWERTY layout, the Dvorak keyboard requires less finger motion as you type). He also points out that it's helpful if you just want to give your keyboard a good cleaning. He'll show you the proper delicate technique for removing and replacing your keyboard keys without damaging them; the MacBook keyboard is quite unique. - Link.

October 25, 2007

OS X Finder.app string tweaks

If you want new folders instead of untitled ones, or if you prefer to have a copy of a file instead of a file copy, it's pretty simple to tweak some of the localization text that Finder.app uses.

Just view the package contents of /System/Library/CoreServices/Finder, and then open Contents/Resources/English.lproj/Localizable.strings in TextEdit. Inside, you'll find the contents of various messages and default names used throughout the OS X Finder interface.

You can tweak a lot of things in there, but two of the most useful are the default new folder name (normally "untitled folder") and the name given to files that are created using the "Duplicate" menu item.

So, you can change:

"N4" = "^0 copy";
to
"N4" = "another ^0";

or maybe change:

"N2" = "untitled folder";
to
"N2" = "name me";

Aside from a goofy hack to mess with a coworker, one thing that could be useful would be to prefix new or duplicate files with an underscore or a couple of zeroes. This makes them sort to the top, easier to find in a large directory. Just make sure to make a backup of the Localizable.strings file in case you later decide you like things better the way Jobs intended it.

Change the Finder's default name for duplicated files - Link

October 8, 2007

Running Puppy Linux inside OS X

Sometimes it's nice to have a secure and familiar OS that you can use from any machine. Puppy Linux is just that: a really lightweight, CD-based Linux distribution, designed for maximum portability. If you're using a PC, you simply boot and run Puppy Linux from a CD, storing your settings and changes to a file on your hard disk or flash drive. What's awesome is that it's so compact, you can fit an emulator, the CD ISO, and the save state files all on a flash disk or SD Card, making it one tiny little OS package that you can carry in your pocket.

Using Q, the OS X port of the QEMU virtual machine, you can create a small footprint, virtual Puppy Linux box that will run under OS X and fit on a flash drive. In addition to its portability, this is one of the easiest ways to get Linux running on your mac.

You could have a little portable Linux box running on your Mac in a half hour. So let's get started.

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October 3, 2007

HOWTO - read RSS with a POP email client using FreePOPs

FreePOPs is an open source, plugin-based POP proxy that you can run on your local machine. It was originally designed to allow you to use a normal POP email client to read your mail on a multitude of webmail systems. You point your mail client at the FreePOPs server, and it connects and screen-scrapes your webmail account so that you can read your email in the comfort of your favorite mail reader.

The great thing about FreePOPs is its filter plugin architecture. There are a number of different plugins to support the specific requirements of most of the popular web-based email systems. There's even an RSS plugin that will pull an RSS feed and make it look like a normal POP mailbox. Thankfully, you don't need to configure anything on the server. Instead, you connect to the FreePOPs server using a particular username and password format to activate the appropriate plugin.

Here's how to set up an RSS-to-POP mailbox using FreePOPs and the standard OS X Mail.app email client.

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September 29, 2007

Automate using your Mac on untrusted networks

When you're on an untrusted or unencrypted network, everything from what you browse to the email and IM messages you send can potentially be snooped by a third party. Sure, some sites use https and you can use ssh to connect to a remote server, but what if you want to jack in and enjoy the relative comfort of knowing _all_ of your applications are communicating over a secure channel?

For that, you need a secure proxy. By setting up a SOCKS proxy, you can have your applications route all of their network communications through a secure connection to a network you trust. Gina at Lifehacker put together a quick guide for setting this up, and once configured in OS X's System Preferences, most of the default apps like Safari will just start using your proxy and you're good to go.

A lot of your favorite applications--ie. Firefox and Adium--need to be manually configured to use the proxy, however, as they don't pull this information automatically from the system preferences. This is straightforward to do, but it means that every time you cruise over to the local coffee shop, you need to set up your proxy configuration in multiple places.

Albert Lee came up with a nice solution to this problem. An application profile manager called rooSwitch and some quick Actionscript is all you need to make a couple of command line scripts that will set up or tear down your proxy, as well as switching all of your application preferences.

If you save this script with a .command extension, then you can run it by double-clicking on the icon in the Finder like a regular application. When it runs, it will change the location, switch your profile, and start up the SSH tunnel. Enter your password and off you go!

I should mention that his script also introduced me to a useful mac command line utiliy called scselect. By typing scselect [locationname], you can switch your Mac's location straight from the command line.

Safer Surfing on Untrusted Networks (Mac Edition) - Link
How to configure an SSH SOCKS proxy @Lifehacker - Link
rooSwitch - Link

September 27, 2007

Packet Garden

Packet Garden is a network visualization tool that maps your network traffic into a 3D representation, sprouting little plants on a globe whenever a connection is made.

To do this, Packet Garden takes note of all the servers you visit, their geographical location and the kinds of data you access. Uploads make hills and downloads valleys, their location determined by numbers taken from internet address itself. The size of each hill or valley is based on how much data is sent or received. Plants are also grown for each protocol detected by the software; if you visit a website, an 'HTTP plant' is grown. If you share some files via eMule, a 'Peer to Peer plant' is grown, and so on.

Packet Garden is GNU licenced and written in Python, so you can give it a try on supported Linux, Windows, and Mac machines. It doesn't run on Intel macs, unfortunately. As far as I can tell, Soya3D (the 3D library it uses) is the culprit and has not been compiled under this architecture. Anyone want to take a stab at porting this? I'm not familiar with the package, but it might be as simple as installing all Soya's required libraries and running a python make script.

Packet Garden. Grow a world from network traffic - Link
Soya3D - Link

September 24, 2007

Fix an old iBook's video problems... with fire!

Well, now there's something you don't see every day.

Mark Hoekstra from GeekTechnique subjected his iBook's motherboard to successive rounds of burnination and managed to correct the infamous iBook video display defect. Had this not succeeded, I think I'd still have to give him 10 points for style.

In addition to other quality control problems like frayed wires in the display hinge, a huge amount of early model iBooks suffered from a defect where the display would just completely crap out, both on the internal LCD and the external monitor output. Apple used to take these in and service them for free, but their warranty lifetime is long expired.

The problem is that the array of solder points that connect the graphics processor to the motherboard tend to fail over time. I assume this happens with the repeated expansion and contraction of components during normal use. By heating up the graphics processor with a heat gun--or, more appropriately, with a big ol' flaming can of moonshine--you can get the solder to melt and reflow over the broken connections.

If your old laptop is currently serving out its final years as a paperweight, you may want to try this as a last resort... or sell it on eBay to someone with a crazy, laptop-fixing, pyro bent.

DIY obsolete iBook logic board repair - Link

August 14, 2007

MacMod Challenge 2007

MacMod.com is running a Mac modding contest for the month of August. Entries can be submitted for everything from extreme overclocking, to slick case mods, to OS and software customizations. And, yes, there is a category for iPhone mods too. In proper hacker spirit, the submissions require a full howto guide in addition to the finished product, so even if you don't win the all-access pass to MacWorld 2008 you'll at least have given the world a cool hack or two to play with.

The video above is last year's winner, the Bang & Olufsen MP3 player Mac. It has a custom interface written in Applescript which accesses the iTunes library and is completely controlled by the slider hardware on the front.

The Great MacMod Challenge 2007 - Link
Bang & Olufsen Mp3 Mac Mod - Link

July 19, 2007

Run Keynote with a Wiimote

A couple people wrote in today in response to my post about WiiRemote, the Windows Wiimote input device driver. More specifically, I've been reminded that I completely left the similarly capable DarwiinRemote for OS X out of the discussion. In all fairness, there was a driver roundup back in March that mentioned it, but what the heck - it's a cool app and deserves a little more attention.

So this hack goes out to all the Mac diehards who have an older machine sans Apple Remote. You folks don't need to upgrade your trusty system just to control Keynote or iTunes from a distance. Just pick up the cheap (relatively speaking) Wiimote and download DarwiinRemote.

When you start the program up, you'll need to hold down the 1 and 2 buttons on the Wiimote. This will let the device pair with the DarwiinRemote application, and you should start seeing the three lines on the graph go up and down as you move the device.

At this point, you're set. You can use the arrow keys on the Wiimote just like the arrow keys on your keyboard. The home button is wired up by default to hit apple-esc, which will launch Front Row. The A button is a left click by default, etc. etc.

You can change all these settings in the preferences menu. Most of them are set up fairly logically, I thought, but one nice feature is to set the 2 button to trigger the F9 key. This will help you quickly navigate between applications with your new airmouse.

This brings me to the cool part. Hit the 1 button and you can now control your mouse by tilting the Wiimote forward, back, and side to side. Your buddies with the fancy new macs and Apple Remotes can't do that, now, can they?

You can adjust the sensitivity in the preferences as well. It's a little goofy until you get the hang of it, but it gets easier with a little practice. Just call it payment for looking like a Wiimote wielding rockstar in your next otherwise booring business presentation.

References:
DarwiinRemote: Wiimote as a Mac input device - Link
WiinRemote: Wiimote as a Windows input device - Link
Control Your Applications With a Wiimote - Link

July 16, 2007

HOW TO - Put DVDs on the iPhone - the super simple way

HandBrake is a GPL'd multi-platform, multithreaded DVD to MPEG-4 ripper/converter - it's super easy to rip the DVDs you have and put them on the new iPhone - they look great and are about 1 GB each, here's how...

First, get HandBrake - Link. There are also PC versions of HandBrake, it might work about the same way.

Make 825
Install it, run it. Pop the DVD in. Pick the DVD volume. Choose your settings, I use the defaults usually.

Make 826
It takes about 30 min or so, it runs fine in the background.

Make 827
Drag the MP4 file it makes in to iTunes, in videos tab in iTunes for the iPhone select the movie, click Sync.

Make 828
In a couple minutes it transfers over.

Make 829
It's about a gig.

The video is in the videos section. iPod / Videos.

It looks and sounds great!

*Joe notes - I found if you create a new preset for iphone in handbrake and set the video dimensions to 480x320 you can crunch movies down to a much smaller size optimized for the iphone native resolution.

July 14, 2007

HOWTO: Reset a lost OS X password

I've you've forgotten your Mac's admin account password, don't worry. Assuming you haven't locked out OpenFirmware, it's a pretty simple task to change your password back to something you know.

Here's how:

Hold Apple+S when booting to enter single user mode
#sh /etc/rc
#passwd yourusername
#reboot

If you can't recall your user name, you can either look in the /Users folder (the directories are named by user), or run "niutil -list . /users".

Also, on older systems the /etc/rc script isn't available, apparently. If that second step fails, try mounting and starting the base services manually:

#/sbin/fsck -y
#/sbin/mount -uw /
#/sbin/SystemStarter

I've had to do this a couple of times for friends when they've bought a second hand machine, and once when I had a momentary brain lapse and forgot my own password. Works like a charm, though you'll loose any passwords stored in your keychain.

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