Is there a way to preserve terminal tab history across computer restarts? I'm using Mac 10.9.5.  When I run a terminal with multiple tabs (using bash shell), I've noticed that when my computer restarts, the terminal will open up with the same number of tabs that were open in the previous session, but the commands I was running in the previous session (accessible via the "history" shell command) are no longer present in each tab.

Is there a way to preserve each session's history in the appropriate tab between computer restarts?

Try adding this to ~/.bash_profile:

HISTFILE=~/.bash_history.$(basename $(tty))

This creates a unique history file for the terminal associated with each tab.

The command history is saved by the shell when it closes, and by default this goes into ~/.bash_history.

So as the shell in each of your tabs is closed, they each append their own command history to that file.  When new shells/tabs are opened, they will load that file for their history.

So in a sense, each tab's history is saved, and you should be able to use ctrl-R to search for it (within limits of the history size limit), but when reloaded, each tab will see all the history, and in blocks corresponding to the order the previous tabs happened to close.

You might be able to configure the bash history more to your liking.


Remap "Home" and "End" to beginning and end of line Most of my computing time is spent in Linux (with occasional time in Windows). On these platforms the Home and End keys universally jump to the beginning or end of the current line.

I am gradually getting used to using the one Apple computer in my life, but it is still frustrating than these keys seem to be bound to the beginning and end of the document and there doesn't seem to be any key at all for the line based actions.

My question:

Are there existing keybindings I'm missing for beginning and end of line? (I mostly use a Terminal, Chrome and LibreOffice)
Is there a way to rebind the functions of these keys to the functions I am familiar with? I am willing to give up the document based versions which seem of little use to me.

Also two caveats:

I am not the only user on the system. It would be nice if my user settings didn't break other peoples experience. If this isn't possible, I think I probably have the strongest preference!
I do use multiple languages and switch between keyboard layouts, so any solutions would be expected to work even when toggling between multiple keyboard layouts.

The default shortcuts for moving to beginning or end of (wrapped) lines are ⌘← and ⌘→. ⌥↑ and ⌥↓ or ⌃A and ⌃E move to the beginning or end of unwrapped lines (or paragraphs). ⌥← and ⌥→ move backwards/forward by words, and all of these are compatible with holding Shift to select during the corresponding moves.

You could remap home and end by creating ~/Library/KeyBindings/ and saving a property list like this as DefaultKeyBinding.dict:

{
    "\UF729"  = moveToBeginningOfLine:; // home
    "\UF72B"  = moveToEndOfLine:; // end
    "$\UF729" = moveToBeginningOfLineAndModifySelection:; // shift-home
    "$\UF72B" = moveToEndOfLineAndModifySelection:; // shift-end
}

Most of the keybindings for editing text in OS X are defined in /System/Library/Frameworks/AppKit.framework/Resources/StandardKeyBinding.dict.

Applying changes requires reopening applications. DefaultKeyBinding.dict is ignored by some old versions of Xcode (works with latest version 6.3.1), Terminal, and many cross-platform applications.

See Cocoa Text System and my website for more information about the customizable keybindings.

Terminal's keybindings can be customized in Preferences > Settings > Keyboard. \033OH moves to the beginning of a line and \033OF to the end of a line.

In Eclipse, key bindings should be modified in Preferences > General > Keys. You need to modify default bindings for commands Line Start and Line End (replace ⌘← by ↖ and ⌘→ by ↘). For selection to work, also modify Select Line Start and Select Line End.

PS: You may need to logout and login again for the ~/Library/KeyBindings/DefaultKeyBinding.dict change to take effect.

You can also remap keyboard keys, as well as customize your mouse and trackpad in all kinds of cool ways, with the free BetterTouchTool, available at http://blog.boastr.net/. An excellent solution for customizing the workings of your input devices!


Scanner not recognised on Epson Printer after El Capitan update I've noticed that the scanner option has disappeared from the System Preferences (Printers & Scanners) control for the Epson AL CX21NF. I've tried installing the drivers from here and also using the System update from Apple (specific to Epson printers via the App Store). I have added the printer (using the IP address and LPD Line Daemon option) and can print to the device, but have no option to scan documents.

Has something changed in El Capitan or is this printer now just too old to be supported?

El Capitan has problems supporting scanners. After talking to Apple tecs, and Epson techs and getting the run around, my easy fix was to pay for and down load VueScan and my scanner works again.

Looks like the universal print driver is just that - a print driver, not a scanner driver. From what it says on the page you linked, the scanner software was last updated in 2009. (I know all-in-ones are popular but I prefer standalone single function devices, as it prevents me from ending up with a unit that is 90% usable and 10% irreparably broken...)


Can an iPad work to replace a computer in terms of photo management? Our Mac is broken and we are contemplating not replacing it. One need we can't see a solution is replacing an iPhoto library with many 10 G of photos. Obviously we'd need to go for the 64 GB iPad if we wanted lots of pictures.

Most of our pictures are in the 5 megapixel range (JPG between 2 and 4.5 MB each) and we expect to have between 5 and 10 thousand pictures to start.

Can I just move an entire iPhoto library to an iPad? I'm looking for experience people have had managing a non-trivial amount of photos entirely from iOS. Obviously, we may need to still get a compute, but I wondered how "PC free" we might be able to be at this point in iOS and with apps that are available in late 2012.

There are numerous hard drives that will work with the iPad. Some wireless, others via USB (with the camera connection kit). The lightening port is a whole other thing if you end up with the 4th gen iPad, though there might be a workaround.

Here's a 1TB wired solution from HyperDrive

Here's a 500gb wireless solution from Seagate

No an iPhoto for Mac Library cannot be moved to an iPad. It requires OS X to run, not iOS.


Why does the Terminal tab keep popping up on my MacBook Pro when I try to shut it down? Recently, I started having problems with my MacBook Pro. Everytime I try to shut it down, the Terminal tab opens and shows the message on the picture (root#/usr/local/VASCO/NativeBridge/startup.sh ; exit;)

I do not understand at all where the problem lies. I have tried to delete the VASCO plug-in, but it doesn't work.

Do you have an idea of what the problem might be?

Many thanks!

J.

Open terminal and under the Terminal menu item click on preferences. This will give you the pane shown below.

From this pane click on Profiles in the upper left corner of the pane and notice below the Profiles pane but to the right there is a set of tabs.  Click on the Shell tab.  This opens a pane shown below.

Notice that around the middle of this pane is the phrase: Ask before closing. I've drawn a red rectangle around this. Now make sure the Never button is checked.


Shouldn't Siri be able to run on the new iPad? Siri has been made to run on older iOS devices some time ago. It was reported by MacRumors that special hardware is what sets the iPhone 4S as the exclusive device for Siri. Enter the new iPad.

The new iPad supports voice dictation, which, to me anyway, is a clear indicator of at least some of this earSmart technology making its way into iPad 3. Additionally, the new iPad has some sort of access token to Apple's servers, given the voice dictation feature. As discussed by answers to my question here, the new iPad is connecting to Apple servers for voice processing. Additionally, Voice Dictation would imply that the new iPad has access tokens for Siri's servers.

So, we have the hardware, and we have the token. The new iPad should be able to run Siri, pending an update from Apple or the jailbreak community.

Is this thought process correct? Have I missed anything?

The short answer is no, not yet. The long answer is because the only (reliable/legal) way to get Siri on a non-iPhone 4S device is to use a package found in Cydia called Spire. This requires you to have access to a Siri proxy server or an iPhone 4S for the tokens. However, @chpwn (the developer of the package) has stated many times that it will not run on iOS 5.1, because the iPhone 4S IPSW (the actual firmware downloaded from Apple) cannot be unencrypted at this time. This IPSW is needed to harvest the Siri files for use on other devices. He could port it illegally, but he doesn't plan on it. Because the new iPad is running iOS 5.1, Siri cannot be run on it, plus a public JailBreak for the new iPad hasn't been released yet.

Siri should definitely run on iPad.. there is no  reason it shouldn't, but I think Apple is using Siri as a selling point for the new iPhone and doesn't want to corrode that yet. I'm sure when iPhone gets its next big feature, Siri will eventually make its way to other products.


Airplay stopped working All of a sudden none of my ios devices are able to connect to the Apple TV via Airplay. The Airplay icon shows up in the Control center on my Iphone 5s and my ipad 3. If I choose to airplay, the music doesnt stream to my Apple TV. It tries to stream, but after about 5 secs, it disconnects from Airplay.
I cannot mirror my ios devices either. Interestingly, I can mirror my Macbook Pro displat to the Apple TV. But that is the extent of it.
I have the latest updates on my Apple TV, my iPhone 5S, ipad 3 and my Macbook Pro.
I have even tried factory resetting my Apple TV and all my ios devices. But none of that has helped.
Anyone experiencing this? Please help.

Ok. I think I have found a solution. If you have a dual-frequency router like I do, all you need to do is go into your router settings and set different SSIDs for your 2.4GHz and 5Ghz networks. Doing that has fixed my airplay issue instantly. Enjoy!!


How can I edit contacts at Skype iPad version? It just seems nonsense that you can't edit contacts at Skype iPad version, I know less is more, but perhaps too less is actually less.

So how can you edit contacts at Skype iPad version?

It appears that it is currently not possible to edit contacts in Skype for iPad.

This Skype KB article mentions viewing and deleting contacts, but makes no mention of editing contacts. This is in contrast to the related articles for other systems such as Windows/Mac that does mention editing contacts.

How do I manage my contacts in Skype for iPad?

In addition, this Skype Community thread asks the question and is met by a moderator's response mentioning that it is not possible:

Skype for iPad/Editing Contacts

There is that can be done to fix this; it is up to Skype's software engineers to implement that feature..


How to view logs in Airport Utility v6, or install 5.6 in Mountain Lion? So I just upgraded to Mountain Lion, and I'm watching some Netflix over my Apple TV, when it stops streaming and tells me it's not connected to the network any more.  Sure enough, my Air has also lost it's network connectivity and the Airport Extreme is solid Amber on the status light.

I wait a while, it starts to flash green, then it goes green, and slowly my SSIDs start to appear, and everything is normal again.

I presume the AE just rebooted, so I fire up Airport extreme to look at the logs, and remember that in Airport Utility 6.0, all the nice advanced features (and some not so advanced ones) are not available.  Amongst them is viewing the logs.  So I download 5.6, which is the most recent non-6.0 version that uses the old ways and lets you view logs etc - and it won't install because it's not compatible with Mountain Lion.

A bit of googling about also reveals that apparently V6.0 will only manage Wireless-N networks.  Seems anyone with older Airport kit, or a need to do anything slightly advanced in ML is screwed.

Anyone know how I can either view logs in 6, or install 5.6 on 10.8?

If you do not want (or can't) get the app out of a backup you can extract it from the installer.

Download the Airport Utility 5.6 for Lion and move the file AirPortUtility56.pkg contained within the dmg to your ~/Downloads folder. Then in a Terminal window do :

$ cd ~/Downloads
$ pkgutil --expand ./AirPortUtility56.pkg ~/Downloads/AirPortUtility56
$ gunzip -c < ./AirPortUtility56/AirPortUtility56Lion.pkg/Payload | sudo tar -C / -xvf - "./Applications/Utilities/AirPort Utility 5.6.app"

The app works without issue on Mountain Lion in my limited testing so far.

If you wanted to mod the package to skip the check, if you want to easily install the package on multiple macs for instance, here's what you need :

A tool called "Flat Package Editor" to modify the file called Distribution in AirPortUtility56.pkg. To get that tool download the "Auxiliary tools for Xcode" from the Apple Dev site. It's hidden in PackageMaker.app/Contents/resources/Flat Package Editor.app. With it you can open the pkg directly :

Just drag out the Distribution file and remove these lines :

// Less than 10.8
if(-1 != system.compareVersions(my.target.systemVersion.ProductVersion, '10.8')) {
  my.result.type = 'Fatal';
  my.result.message = system.localizedString('ERR_OSHIGH');
  return (false);
}

Drag the new version back in, delete the old Distribution and save.

Airport Utility v5.53 works fine in 10.8


How can I add static route in order to access machine that had wrong static IP configured? From time to time I end-up having to connect to a machine that was not configured to use DHCP.

Assuming that I know the static IP address of that machine and that this machine is already physically connected on my network, how do I add a custom route on MacOS in order to be able to ssh to that machine and reconfigure it?

I assume it is something like sudo route add ...

I do this all the time. There are 2 options:-

ssh user@<IP> for a known IP address

or if the machine has a hostname, the Mac should be able to discover it with
ssh user@hostname.local

Similar settings can be used from most GUI ssh clients.

If the machine is in your network and you know it's IP address, you should be able to connect to it.


Is there a tool I can use to securely wipe data from iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch? Is there a tool or application that will securely wipe an iPhone, iPod Touch, or iPad (i.e. any iOS device?)

I'm not interested in a complete wipe that would brick the device.  Rather, I'd want to wipe all free space after it's been reset to default or had the OS reinstalled.

Furthermore: by "securely wipe", I'm referring to multiple successive passes with random data, etc. to thwart any attempt at data recovery.

For instance: If somebody wanted to sell their old iPhone on eBay, how can they be sure it's completely wiped, so there's little hope of a malicious buyer being able to recover sensitive data that used to be on it?

I think this is especially important when people are using iPhone apps to store passwords, credit card numbers, etc. (even if those apps have a supposedly secure storage mechanism.)

iOS 4.0 supports a very rapid secure erase called "Data Protection". If you upgrade from 3.0 you need to do a restore to set the stage for hardware encryption of all the data.

If your device isn't capable of hardware encryption (often called secure data at rest), then you can use the Erase all content and settings function. This built-in functionality to secure wipe your iDevice has been around since iPhone OS 2.0

As this doesn't work the same way on all iOS devices, do read Understanding 'Erase All Content and Settings' before you depend on this to clear data securely.

Once you are through erasing the device, you might want to connect it to a clean iTunes library and restore the device and set it up as new. Making a new account on your Mac or PC is an easy way to have a library with no account, no songs, and no apps just to be sure the device has a clean (and easily verifiable) start to it's new life.

One option would be to put it into disk mode and then use an external utility to do the wiping.


Does the early 2014 MacBook Air use Thunderbolt 1 or Thunderbolt 2? I am considering purchasing a new MacBook Air (early 2014 edition). I'd like to drive two external monitors from the laptop.

Based on my reading the 2013 Air only supported Thunderbolt 1 and therefore DisplayPort 1.1. With the semi-model-refresh that occurred in early 2014 was the Thunderbolt controller updated to version 2 and therefore DisplayPort 1.2?

No, The Early 2014 MacBook Air has Thunderbolt 1 and therefore DisplayPort 1.1.

Source : Apple Support Page

This french article says yes Thunderbolt 2 but :

Apple markets it as a TB2.
But the processor has only 6 PCIe lines :

1 for the webcam
1 for the wifi
2 for the SSD

Leaving only 2 PCIe lines for the thunderbolt which is barely enough for the TB 1 specs (in terms of bandwidth).


Trying to find the board ID for Mac Pro 1,1 (no OS currently installed, can't access terminal) I'm trying to install Mavericks on an old MacPro1,1 (This one), and I need the correct board ID to properly configure the USB install.  I currently do not have any OS installed on the HDD, so I cann't access terminal in order to find the board ID.

Does anybody know the board ID for this model?

For the Mac Pro 1,1 and 2,1 you will need to add
"Mac-F4208DC8","Mac-F4208DA9".
If you are not using a Mac Pro then you will need to get your board ID by entering this
command in terminal: ioreg -lp IOService | grep board-id

use this to get the board ID for any mac:  I didnt write it, I poached it from somewhere....(just paste in the terminal as one line.

var_ID=$(ioreg -p IODeviceTree -r -n / -d 1 | grep board-id);var_ID=${var_ID##*<\"};var_ID=${var_ID%%\">};echo $var_ID

chris


How do I copy music to my iPhone using iTunes 11? I've always managed my iPhone/iPad/iPod Manually, I recently updated to iTunes 11 and now I can see no way to get my music onto my device.

I used to be able to just drag songs from my library to my device, now there is seemingly no way to do this.

I can view the music on my device by clicking on it on the top right corner of iTunes, but I can't seem to get to a state where I can drag music from my computer onto my device.

I'm using iTunes 11.0.1.12 for Windows if that makes a difference.

If you start draging arround tracks or albums there should open at the right a bar within your iPhone/iPad/iPod. Drag the track/album on it.

Check the box Manually manage music and videos


How can I automatically download lyrics in iTunes? Is there a way to automatically download lyrics in iTunes?

There's no built-in functionality to download lyrics in iTunes, but there's a slew of software designed for this purpose:

Windows:

AutoLyrix
LyricsSeeker
MiniLyrics

OS X:

Lyrical
LessLyrics

To get lyrics on iTunes on your computer

Right click the song you want lyrics for.
Click "Get Info".
Click "Lyrics".
Find the lyrics to the song on a website such as azlyrics.com or metrolyrics.com
Copy and paste the lyrics into the lyrics section.
Click ok.

Now those lyrics are available from now on.

To get lyrics on your iPhone or iPad

Follow the above instructions to get the lyrics on your computer.
Plug your device into your computer.
Click sync under the device information.
When the sync is finished, go to your music app, and play the song that you put lyrics in for.
Tap the artwork, and lyrics should show up.


iTunes on iOS 7 Crashing Since Friday 9/20/2013, when I try to open iTunes on my iPhone 4s (running iOS 7), it crashes.  I was able to open it to do a search and purchase a song, but after it started downloading, it crashed.  Every time I try to re-open it, it crashes after a couple of seconds.  I've tried unloading it from memory and that doesn't fix it.  I also completely shutdown and powered on the phone, but that doesn't fix it either.

I can't believe completely wiping my phone would be the only way to fix this; any other suggestions?

You don't have many other levers other than a full backup and I erasing all content and settings as a general remedy, but I would probably try the following for resorting to a wipe:

Check the usage and delete some content so that you have at least one gigabyte of free space
Signout of iTunes Home sharing and iTunes match
Sign out of the App Store
Make sure the date and time are set correctly or automatically set
Put the device in airplane mode, then power down and start back up while in airplane mode

If the music app is still misbehaving after removing all the network influences it might be something about your iTunes library on the device. You could also try using iTunes to blow away all the music.

Also, since you just made a purchase from the iTunes stores, Apple support should be able to help you with that purchase (and the problems using it as a result of the purchase).  http://www.apple.com/support/itunes/contact/

easy open music,select store problem solved


Using automator and AppleScript to move a file to a different folder and subfolder based on name and content of a file I'm a total newbie on Automator and Scripting... I have read a lot of answers to problems a bit similar to mine, but I don't succeed to adapt with Automator + AppleScript.

Here is what I want to do:

When I download a file to a directory /Volumes/Macboot /Downloads, (yes there is a space in the HDD's name), e.g. statement_EUR_2020-05-01_2020-05-31.pdf.

I verify if the file is with extension pdf + it contains an IBAN + the name contains "statement".

If the file corresponds, I want to verify the year and month in the name and move it accordingly to the good Google Drive folder:

  /Volumes/Macboot /Travail en cours/Google
  Drive/Company/Comptabilité/2020/05/Compte Transferwise 1/

With help from @Solar Mike, here is what I'm attempting:
What I am doing without success right now:

on run {input, parameters}
    tell application "Finder"
        activate
        set theFile to input as text
        set copyFile to input as alias
        set yearName to ((characters 34 thru -1 of theFile) as string) --trim first 35
        set yearName to ((characters 1 thru -22 of yearName) as string) --trim last 23
        set monthName to ((characters 39 thru -1 of theFile) as string)
        set monthName to ((characters 1 thru -19 of monthName) as string)
        set destinationFolder to ("Macboot :Travail en cours:Google Drive:Company:Comptabilité:" & yearName & ":" & monthName & ":Compte Transferwise 1:Relevé PDF + fichier CSV:" as alias)
        copy copyFile to (destinationFolder)
    end tell
end run

No error... but no copied file.
yearName is good, as is monthName and destinationFolder, but perhaps I don't use the good method to copy?

Thanks to @Solar Mike, I've tried line by line and found how to do it.
My code :

on run {input, parameters}
    set theFile to input as text
    set yearName to ((characters 34 thru -1 of theFile) as string) --trim first 35
    set yearName to ((characters 1 thru -22 of yearName) as string) --trim last 23
    set monthName to ((characters 39 thru -1 of theFile) as string)
    set monthName to ((characters 1 thru -19 of monthName) as string)
    set destinationFolder to ("Macboot :Travail en cours:Google Drive:Company:Comptabilité:" & yearName & ":" & monthName & ":Compte Transferwise 1:Relevé PDF + fichier CSV:" as text)
    tell application "Finder"
        activate
        move theFile to destinationFolder -- use "copy source_file to folder (target_folder as alias)" to copy the files
    end tell
    set result to {yearName, monthName, theFile, destinationFolder}
    return result
end run

The problem from my early attempt was just with "copy" copying the name, not the file. But as I need it to be moved, now it's good.

I used this:

tell application "Finder"
activate
        set source_folder to choose folder with prompt "Please choose the Source-Folder:" default location ((path to home folder) as alias)
        set source_files to every file in source_folder
        set target_folder to choose folder with prompt "Please choose the Taget-Folder:" default location (":Applications:" as alias)
        repeat with i from 1 to number of items in source_files
                set source_file to (item i of source_files)
                copy source_file to (target_folder) -- use "copy source_file to folder (target_folder as alias)" to copy the files
        end repeat
        set question to display dialog "  Files have  been moved.
end tell


5 Minute Yosemite Boot Time? My spring 2011 Macbook Pro with 5400 rpm drive takes 5 minutes from pressing the on button to boot. I have about 400 GB of RAW and NEF (Nikon camera) files and only Photoshop and Lightroom installed. It seems to constantly be writing to the HD, and there is a lag time when typing or using drop-down menus. Can anyone offer any suggestions on what might be causing this? I have verified the disk and it found no problems.

I upgraded from Mavericks. Machine originally had Snow Leopard.
I have never done a clean install.
Disk has been verified and found no problems.
All peripherals have been disconnected.

I have not reset the printing system.
WiFi is on.
All login items have not been removed.
FileVault is turned on.

What help steps are next to diagnose the slow performance of this Mac?

Boot in verbose mode to see what is so slow. Then check your backup, actually do a backup before anything else. Failing storage is a likely culprit and slowing io is the bellwether indicator if you get one at all.

Also, your isolation steps are superb. Remove all accessories, clean install, etc...

lastly, check for io errors in console.app. Verification can show no unrecoverable errors well past the point where rewrite and other mechanisms are compensating for failures in the storage.

If all that fails, start benchmarking RAM, network and CPU. Process List App

Also, check for swap: High memory usage, macbook pro retina feeling sluggish

Would just add, that I have often been called in to sort a slow Mac for a friend or colleague after a system 'upgrade'. Its is always better to clone off (backup) your data, wipe the drive and do a clean install of an OS / Applications rather than an upgrade which will 'merge' files and software from two operating systems. Whilst Apple Migration Assistant does a reasonably good job of this, it can bring over system issues, apps that wont launch (under the new OS), bloatware and corrupt preferences.

Also - check (first) that the OS you are moving two is fully compatible with your hardware. Even though your Mac can technically can run the OS, this does not mean its the best OS for your particular hardware setup. Newer OS / Software might need more ram for example, which would inevitably slow your Mac down.


What is the best way to connect a mid 2012 macbook pro to a new ultra wide external monitor? What is the best way to connect a mid 2012 macbook pro to a new ultra wide external monitor?  I know most of the monitors suggest using USB C but that doesn't exist in my macbook pro so trying to figure out the best option (that doesn't require ordering a new laptop)

I'm assuming you're asking about the UltraWide LG monitor range, since this is their registered mark.
The best way would be to use the Mini Display Port (also known as Thunderbolt) on your Mac and Display Port on your monitor (with the correct cable), but you will not be able to use more than 2560 by 1600 (In case you have 15" 2012 MacBook Pro with retina display). Via HDMI, your MacBook is able to output only 1920 by 1080.
Such a compatible monitor should be LG 29WK600-W.

Actually, I don't know your Ultra wide external monitor model, but I guess it should support one of Type-c or HDMI Audio/Video inputting port, fortunately, both of them have cable/adapter support:

Thunderbolt to HDMI:

Thunderbolt to Type-c:

It is dependent on your External monitor support, Type-c and HDMI, both support inputting audio and video.
⚠ Caution: Do not use an adapter, adapters reduce your video/audio quality, Use direct cable instead.


How to preview a folder of white SVG files? I have a folder full of white SVG icons, but preview shows them over a white background, and I can't find a way to easily preview them all. I saw Gapplin, but 1) I find it hard to believe an external application is necessary for such as simple task, and 2) it seems I'd need to open 100 windows and tab through them.

How can I preview all of my SVG files?

Found this:

  You might want to try pressing option-space for Quicklook in full
  screen. This seems to have a black, rather than white, background. The
  drawback is that you cannot easily navigate through the files with the
  arrow keys.

Find a dark desktop background, or a dark window, and put it roughly in the center of the screen. Then drag your Finder window off to the side, and use Quick Look. It'll put it over a blurred background—which will be dark thanks to the dark desktop/window.

(Untested, but it should work)


Connection of ESP32/ ESP8266 not recognized using MacBook Pro I’m trying to connect those devices, with no success. When I’m using Linux machine I find at ‘/dev/ttyUSB0’. From googling around I understand it is a Mac issue.

Appreciate any guidance

I had the same problem. There are a series of questions you need to go through that might change your solution.

1st of all, which board are you using? There are several versions of the ESP chip, which are well documented in the arduino-esp8266 docs

2nd of all, I've read some forums that say that the USB cable has to be good quality, otherwise the board will not successfully connect. I don't know too much about good usb cables, but I do know that the shorter the better as far as signal loss is concerned

Lastly, which driver did you install? I installed the SiliconLabs driver. It's important to note that in their readme (something I neglected to read until after 5 hours of troubleshooting) it explains that Mac blocks the driver from running until you give it permission. So, when you install the driver, the installer will need to get permission to run, but ALSO the driver itself will need to get permission to run. So, once you install the driver, go to System Preferences -> Security and allow the driver to run.

I found out that you can verify that the driver was installed, you can run kextstat in the command line to list out all of the "kernel extensions," including the driver, that are installed on your mac.

These steps should help you get your board to show up in /dev/tty.* and also in the ports menu in your Arduino IDE. Or at the very least, these steps should help you debug at which step of the setup process something went wrong.

Once you see your board in the ports menu, don't forget that in order to upload code, you need to set the board to flash mode (I forget to do that a lot).

I am using a MacBook Pro (13-inch, 2017, Two Thunderbolt 3 ports with 2.3 GHz Dual-Core Intel Core i5). I struggled a lot as I was not able to see a port for ESP32. Finally, I stumbled upon this youtube video and voila:

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wyocdvAKo64

I hope this helps.


How to disable Command+Shift+R? I have been using command+shift+R in Sublime Text forever (super+shift+R in Sublime). On my iMac all that happens is that I hear a beep (on Sierra).

It is really annoying and I can't find a way to remove the shortcut or remap it. Anything I've tried so far hasn't yielded any results.

Karabiner isn't working in Sierra and I tried some other app BetterTouchTool that doesn't seem to help either.

Is there a way to force my Mac to unbind that shortcut?

A beep indicates that the shortcut that was pressed was not interpreted by apps on the system. This means the shortcut is already unbound, so it seems you're having some problem with Sublime Text itself rather than the shortcut being bound to something else.

systempreferences-keyboard-shortcuts-appshortcuts: add sublime with the +


Install El Capitan in Virtual Box for testing purposes I enrolled to Apple's beta program as I want to test some software under El Capitan. Therefore, I would like to instal El Capitan in Virtual Box.

Is there a recommended way of doing this? As I understand I have to install Yosemite first and then upgrade to El Capitan beta?

I understand, that I have to convert the .app I download into a bootable image which I can use to install it in a virtual machine - can somebody point me to a reliable (tested) howto how I can do this?

The instructions below, found in Creating a bootable El Capitan ISO image, worked for me after a download of OS X El Capitan from the App Store.

hdiutil attach "/Applications/Install OS X El Capitan.app/Contents/SharedSupport/InstallESD.dmg" -noverify -nobrowse -mountpoint /Volumes/esd
hdiutil create -o ElCapitan3.cdr -size 7316m -layout SPUD -fs HFS+J
hdiutil attach ElCapitan3.cdr.dmg -noverify -nobrowse -mountpoint /Volumes/iso
asr restore -source /Volumes/esd/BaseSystem.dmg -target /Volumes/iso -noprompt -noverify -erase
rm /Volumes/OS\ X\ Base\ System/System/Installation/Packages
cp -rp /Volumes/esd/Packages /Volumes/OS\ X\ Base\ System/System/Installation
cp -rp /Volumes/esd/BaseSystem.chunklist /Volumes/OS\ X\ Base\ System/
cp -rp /Volumes/esd/BaseSystem.dmg /Volumes/OS\ X\ Base\ System/
hdiutil detach /Volumes/esd
hdiutil detach /Volumes/OS\ X\ Base\ System
hdiutil convert ElCapitan3.cdr.dmg -format UDTO -o ElCapitan3.iso
mv ElCapitan3.iso.cdr ElCapitan3.iso

Additionally for running within VirtualBox:

Create a new OS X El Capitan from Wizard.
Change "System->chipset" to PIIX3, mount created ISO and boot up.
If you only see a the CD/DVD as installation target within the installation program choose "Utilities > Disk Utility" and erase the VirtualBox disk, which will lead to an empty HFS+ Journaled disk, which now could be chosen as target.

The high level, brief answer is that you should run the beta software on bare metal for best results. I'm not aware of any virtualization package that supports El Capitan yet (hours after it was announced).

Surely the vendors will update their tools in time, but in general, I don't think VirtualBox has the best support of any OS X as a guest operating system when running on Mac hardware due to it being focused on multiple host OS compatibility as opposed to a Mac centric design.


How can I use an iPhone on the TracFone network? I am looking to buy a used iPhone for use on the TracFone network. I am pretty sure that it will run on the network. According to eHow, I can do it with a jailbreak and according to another eHow article, AT&T phones work. Can someone point me in the right direction? Which version of the iPhone (AT&T, Verizon, or Sprint) do I need? How do I get it on the TracFone network?

You should be aware that changing the SIM card is not a solution because when you go to activate, Tracfone will ask for the IMEI of the phone and this is a unique to each phone. They have a list of those numbers associated with all the phones they typically sell to the public and the one on your iPhone is not on their list so you cannot activate the service. You should also be advised that changing the IMEI number is a felony. Basically you are not going to meet with success and it is a pity since the Tracfone service is great but the stock phones that go with it are outdated, underpowered and not what many people are willing to settle for.

just unlock the phone using black rain (its a program you can download), and the problem with not having the micro or nano sim is simple, try googleing "sim cutter"


Is there a better way to shutdown/restart OSX? Whenever I want to shutdown/restart OSX I click on the menu, select shutdown, and then click the box for not saving the session, and then click OK. Then there's always at least one program that interrupts the shutdown process.

Is there an easier way to do this? Maybe by using the terminal? I was thinking of shutdown -h now, but that way seems kind of "dirty." What are some ways to do it?

If you don't care about saving the session, you can simply hit Ctrl + Option + ⌘ + ⏏ for Shutdown or Ctrl + ⌘ + ⏏ for Restart

You can also check out this post (Disable "Reopen Windows") on disabling resume if you don't want that. There is another solution posted here on Apple's forums for disabling the feature by William Donelson (second post by him on the page).

This can all be controlled by a Preference. Below is for Mountain Lion, which was changed slightly from Lion:

Apple Menu - System Preferences
General (under Personal section)
Select "Close Windows when quitting an Application" - this makes it so windows don't open when you reopen an app.
Now when you shut down (and tell it not to reopen windows on restart) they will not open then - or later.


Is there a way for AppleScript to detect when a Desktop is switched? When I switch desktops, I want to have a way to remind me of the purpose of that desktop.  I'm thinking of using AppleScript to detect when I switch desktops, and show a pop up of sorts.

Desktops / popups would contain a label of some sort ("work", "communication", etc).  I'm thinking of launching a browser window, bring it to front, and update the contents to say the purpose.

In my head this sounds doable, I just need to find the event, if any that is related to Spaces/MissionControl.

http://piyocast.com/as/archives/5502
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8kZbMs1LJt8&feature=youtu.be

You can detect the switch of desktop. Though, Full-screen mode is detected as desktop switching.

Enjoy!


iOS app to transfer images, photos to another phone via Bluetooth Is there an app that can help me get connected to bluetooth in mobile phones manufactured by companies like nokia, samsunng, etc

The iPhone 4 does not support the Bluetooth OPP profiles which you need for standard device to device transfers. All you have available are

HFP (handsfree)
PBAP (Phonebook access)
A2DP (advanced audio distribution)
AVRCP (av remote)
PAN (Personal Area Network)
HID (Human Interface)

Peer to peer comms are possible over BT but the app has to implement the protocol stack itself

You can use iBlueNova; it is a commercial app that you have to pay for. Alternatively, you can jailbreak your iPhone and maybe then you can send pictures and files to other phones without needing a commercial app.


Efficient MKV H.264 player with GPU decoding for Mac OS X How can I play MKV files from QuickTime in Mavericks?

I used to use Perian but it hangs and the other third party players are very inefficient as  QuickTime is the most optimized software among the ones I analyzed.

I regularly watch MKV files with H.264 1080p video on my retina MBP 15" (late 2013, Intel GPU only), and up until now, I did so using the latest version of VLC. Unfortunately the battery drains pretty quickly with this setup and I decided to investigate alternatives. In trying to be a little scientific, I created a spreadsheet listing the CPU time used (checked in Activity Monitor) for each alternative that I tested. For all testing, I played the first 1 minute of a video clip of my choosing, with H.264 1080p video and DTS audio, as well as remuxing it to M4V format using MP4Tools, and in the process transcoding the audio to AAC 2-channel (the video was untouched). I measured the CPU time used after playing this first minute of the clip in Activity Monitor. Tests were performed with the computer plugged in to AC, and the resolution set to 1920 x 1200 (recall this is a retina MBP 15"). The video was playing in the foreground, in windowed mode, maximized to use all the horizontal resolution available.

The baseline is QuickTime Player, playing the M4V version of the file, with hardware accelerated decoding supposedly enabled. This used up 4.51 CPU seconds.

Using VLC version 2.12, I got the following results:

MKV file, software decoding: 28.89 CPU seconds;
MKV file, hardware accelerated decoding: 22.82 CPU seconds;
M4V file, software decoding: 29.76 CPU seconds;
M4V file, hardware accelerated decoding: 22.44 CPU seconds.

In MPlayerX version 1.0.21 (1718), I got the following results (no mention is made to hardware acceleration since I couldn't find a way to enable or disable it, and have no idea what is the default behavior):

MKV file: 15.92 CPU seconds;
M4V file: 15.74 CPU seconds.

Finally I tried Movist version 1.3.3, which supports using QuickTime or FFmpeg as the decoder, and also has a checkbox for hardware acceleration. However, I was unable to decode the MKV version of the file using the QuickTime decoder. The results are:

MKV file, software decoding, FFmpeg decoder: 31.96 CPU seconds;
MKV file, hardware accelerated decoding, FFmpeg decoder: 8.31 CPU seconds;
M4V file, software decoding, FFmpeg decoder: 30.73 CPU seconds;
M4V file, hardware accelerated decoding, FFmpeg decoder: 9.04 CPU seconds;
M4V file, software decoding, QuickTime decoder: 37.03 CPU seconds;
M4V file, hardware accelerated decoding, QuickTime decoder: 8.12 CPU seconds.

As can be seen, Movist using the FFmpeg decoder and hardware accelerated decoding is the most efficient alternative compared to VLC or MPlayerX, but still noticeably less efficient than QuickTime at decoding M4V files. The ideal solution would be playing MKV under QuickTime Player, but it appears Perian no longer works in Mavericks.

xvmc works but is not ideal when you need long battery life


Can I share my iMac's internet to iPhone or iPad over USB? I have an iMac, connected to the Internet via Ethernet, and an iPhone 4. I would like to share the iMac's Internet connection to my iPhone via the USB Cable (because my wife dreams of a wifi-less household).

I've set up Internet Sharing, specifying "sharing from: Ethernet  via: USB IPhone", but when I test, the iPhone cannot connect to the Internet. Is there something I need to activate on the iPhone?

iMac, mac os x version: Mountain Lion, 10.8.4
iPhone 4, IOS Version: 6.1

This works on macOS 10.12 and iOS 10 without needing a jailbreak or other app.
Later macOS 10.13 enhanced this feature as part of asset caching and Apple Configurator 2 features for multiple iOS devices sharing the Mac network. This is out of the box support, built in to the OS with no extra first party apps or modifications needed.
Before iOS 10 and macOS 10.13, USB tethering only worked in one direction or for one device. Before macOS 10.12 - internet service used to flow out of iOS but not in to iOS from a Mac over USB.

Yes you can share your ethernet, usb dongle internet with your iphone/ipad devices. Just came across this how-to: How to share a Wi-Fi connection from a Mac to an iPhone. Hope this helps for you and other folks who are facing this issue.


AppleScript shell script How can I run a shell script on multiple different computers with the same code? If I have it run from

/users/'my name'/desktop/etc.

then it won't work when I use it on a different computer, because the user name will be different. Is there any way to run it directly without going through the user directory?

The AppleScript command I think you're looking for is:

(path to Desktop Folder) as text

or

(path to Desktop Folder)

But that would return an HFS path and the code you posted is a POSIX Path so you could change it to:

set homePath to POSIX path of (path to Desktop Folder) as text

As stated in the comment there is $USER for the terminal and per memory you can still call it in AppleScript with something like:

do shell script "$USER"

If path to desktop folder doesn't work you can try just path to desktop.

Edit

Addressing the comment. I was taught HFS path and alias path were the same, will make it another question for clarity.

Building the path as text is a habit when concat strings or if I was going to take the path and call it later in a do shell. For example:

(path to desktop folder)

in Script Debugger returns an HFS path. When you combine a directory as it was shown in the OP's question a compiling error occurs with:

(path to desktop folder & "foobar:")

and a

(path to desktop folder) & "foobar:"

when I've called paths using path to I've had to write them as:

(path to desktop folder as text) & "foobar:"

I was unfamiliar to short user name of (system info) and path to home folder but that's good to know. One issue with the question is the OP marks it with terminal and AppleScript so the solution is somewhat complicated.

This will detect what is the username with which you/script have/has logged in and changes to that directory. you can pre-pend it to your script:

     user=`whoami`
     cd "/Users/$user"


How do I disable the message: "Android Studio is an application downloaded from the Internet. Are you sure you want to open it?" on my MacBook Pro? How do I disable the message: "Android Studio is an application downloaded from the Internet. Are you sure you want to open it?" on my MacBook Pro?
I'm running macOS High Sierra 10.13.2.

You can't disable this kind of message. The reason is you have allowed to install apps from anywhere in the Security setting in System Preferences. If the app is from Mac App Store, you won't get any messages like this.

try sudo spctl --master-disable allow to instal from anywhere on mac


Microsoft Outlook 2011 constantly crashing I just purchased Microsoft Office 2011 for Mac last week. Outlook CONSTANTLY crashes. I have tried everything… uninstall and re install twice, rebuilding main identity. Please help! I am so frustrated since I just purchased this. I am running Mountain Lion as well.

Here is the error when it crashes:

Microsoft Error Reporting log version: 2.0

Error Signature:
Exception: EXC_CRASH (SIGTRAP)
Date/Time: 2013-02-15 20:20:24 +0000
Application Name: Microsoft Outlook
Application Bundle ID: com.microsoft.Outlook
Application Signature: OPIM
Application Version: 14.2.0.120402
Crashed Module Name: merp
Crashed Module Version: 2.2.4.120402
Crashed Module Offset: 0x00003aa2
Blame Module Name: OutlookCore
Blame Module Version: 14.2.0.120402
Blame Module Offset: 0x0004de5f
Application LCID: 1033
Extra app info: Reg=en Loc=0x0409
Crashed thread: 8

New error after taking MERP update and Office update 14.2.5:

Microsoft Error Reporting log version: 2.0

Error Signature:
Exception: EXC_CRASH (SIGTRAP)
Date/Time: 2013-02-18 16:36:46 +0000
Application Name: Microsoft Outlook
Application Bundle ID: com.microsoft.Outlook
Application Signature: OPIM
Application Version: 14.2.5.121010
Crashed Module Name: merp
Crashed Module Version: 2.2.4.121010
Crashed Module Offset: 0x00003aa2
Blame Module Name: OutlookCore
Blame Module Version: 14.2.5.121010
Blame Module Offset: 0x0004e10d
Application LCID: 1033
Extra app info: Reg=en Loc=0x0409
Crashed thread: 8

Took SP3 for Outlook so now using version 14.3.1 and new error:

Microsoft Error Reporting log version: 2.0

Error Signature:
Exception: EXC_CRASH (SIGTRAP)
Date/Time: 2013-02-18 17:39:05 +0000
Application Name: Microsoft Outlook
Application Bundle ID: com.microsoft.Outlook
Application Signature: OPIM
Application Version: 14.3.1.130117
Crashed Module Name: merp
Crashed Module Version: 2.2.4.130117
Crashed Module Offset: 0x00003782
Blame Module Name: OutlookCore
Blame Module Version: 14.3.1.130117
Blame Module Offset: 0x0004d9ed
Application LCID: 1033
Extra app info: Reg=en Loc=0x0409
Crashed thread: 8

From the crashlog it looks like Merp is causing the crash.  I googled merp crashing outlook and came across an article on answers.microsoft.com.  From what it said, you need to update Microsoft Error Reporting Program (Merp) from Here:   http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?displaylang=en&id=28734.

Before you do that, check and see if you have any rules that may be corrupt and remove them.

Here's the link about Merp crashing outlook:

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/mac/forum/macoffice2011-macoutlook/outlook-2011-crashes-every-time-i-open-rules/8740225f-9b4b-4df7-a1e1-f693fb12322f?msgId=655b76b4-28af-4df0-b5e5-56989f26677e

Hey I had the same issue with my computer. I wasted my time on it for
many days but finally I got a solution from this link
http://www.microsoftliveassist.com/cant-verify-the-signature-install-error-in-office-2013/


Moving text on OneNote for iPad I'd like to move text boxes on the official OneNote iPad app, but can't figure out how to do so.

I've tried tapping and dragging, and double-tapping and dragging, but both only scroll the page.

I am a regular user of the current OneNote iPad app.  Your only option for moving the text boxes is to use the iOS method for selecting, cutting and pasting.  There is not currently a way to grab text box handle and move the entire box like you can with the desktop app.

After you select and cut your text, tap into the area of the page you wish to move the box and then tap and hold and paste.

FWIW, the rumor mill says that Microsoft will release a full-on touch compatible version of the office suite, including OneNote for the iPad very soon.  Hopefully that version will support more of the features of the desktop app like moving the text boxes.

Happy computing.

You can use onenote online to move and size text boxes
then switch back to app to further edit


Security & Privacy issue: cannot edit options I am trying to set password when active the screen saves. This option is in Security & Privacy -> Require Password checkbox.

The problem is that this checkbox is gray - read only access - even if I unlock this in padlock. I am also using the administrator user.

How solve it? Is there any Terminal command to add the password?

I am using macOS Sierra 10.12.3.

Go to System Preferences > Security & Privacy > General:

Select the option "Require password" and set "immediately" on the box with the options.


How to install GIMP resynthesizer on Mac OS? I'm running El Capitain and have GIMP installed but can't figured out how to install the resynthesizer. I copied the files from the linux version of the plugin into the plugin folder of GIMP but GIMP does not seem to detect it.

There are currently two relatively easy ways to get to this plugin. "Easy" as in "still a pain", just like the other, third and fourth option.

The batteries included approach, as recommended b resynthesizer: download a build from GIMP on OS X. Sadly development seems to have stopped about a year ago. Currently the latest version is 2.8.12 built for Sierra. (Original website no longer active as of May 2019. On Sourceforge the version recommended by Resynthesizer Gimp on OSX Gimp-2.8.18p1-Sierra.dmg 2017-01-08)
The 'some plugins already included approach: download a binary from Partha, Photography and Related Musings. Does not include the resynthesizer plugin itself but has recent builds against which building the plugin itself is a bit easier. Latest builds available. Currently at McGimp 2.10.8 Standard Edition (2019).
Use the help of MacPorts to build everything GIMP from scratch/source including all build-dependencies and then  go to GIMP Resynthesizer Plugin Suite and build that as well from source.
Install the official or any other binary for GIMP as usual on macOS, then install a virtual machine and a Linux in that, with GIMP and the resynthesizer plugin ready-made to play well from a package repository. Use that for the Enhance filters (if you work exclusively in the Virtual Machine you might of yourse skip the macOS part of installing GIMP)

That said, its probably easiest (and a huge hassle) to just install two versions of GIMP, like in the 4th option. A recent one without the plugin but all the latest core features, and either an older GIMP with plugin, or the GIMP on VM route.

Several things I had to work out. First is make sure you are in your usr Library Gimp folder and not in the Application Contents folder.

Second, after you put any .py in the plugin folder you have to "turn it on". Mac does this to protect you. Open Terminal and go to the folder where the plugin is, then type "chmod u+x " This will give the plugin execute rights. For example "chmod u+x plugin-heal-selection.py". Then start Gimp and it should be there!


How to Retrieve the Wi-Fi Password of a Connected Network on a Mac I need to find the password for a Wi-Fi network that I am already connected to. I'm using a MacBook Pro that's running OS X Lion. Any guidance is appreciated.

If the password is stored, you can find it using the program Keychain Access.

If you open /Applications/Utilities/Keychain Access, it will show you a list of stored entries. If you click the Kind column header, it will sort by kind, go to the section where AirPort network passwords are stored. On Yosemite, you may have to select "Local Items" rather than "login" under Keychains in the upper left.

Double-click the name of the network you are using (if you don't know the name of the network, you can find it in the WiFi menulet (the concentric quarter circles toward the right side of your menu bar).

Check the Show password box, enter your system password, and click the Allow button.

That should show you the password for the wireless network you are on, if it is stored on your computer. If no such entry appears, it means the password is not stored on your computer.

Note that you can also use this technique to find saved passwords for websites or other passwords that you computer has stored but you have forgotten.

For those looking for a Terminal solution, I was able to rig one up using the security command:

security find-generic-password -a "$1" -g | tail -0

I also wrote code that can get your current WiFi network and provide the password for it as well. You can find that in a gist here.

NOTE: You will still need to provide your user/pass to access the password. This is part of the security mechanism Apple implemented into using Keychain and cannot be easily overcome.


iPhone keeps trying to iMessage someone who no longer has an iPhone My friend used to have an iPhone and we would talk via iMessage but when he switched to a droid it keeps trying to send him iMessages instead of SMS and the text messages take twice as long to send. How do I stop this from happening?

I deleted him from my contacts, restarted my phone, and even turned iMessaging off and on in my settings and nothing has worked.

Does your friend still have his iPhone? He needs to put his SIM card in an iPhone with iOS 5, go to Messages in Settings and turn off iMessage - this should fix the problem instantaneously and for everybody who is experiencing the same problem as you.

(I have a friend who frequently turns off iMessage because she's worried about the data charges - I've had her switch it back on a couple times and the change takes effect instantly).

Someone on the apple forums was experiencing a similar issue and posted the following:

"I fixed the issue by putting my sim card back into another iOS5 phone and switched iMessage to "off" which effectively proves that it is tied to your number and not your Apple ID (in my case anyway).  I put my sim back into mu phone and the change was instant."

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3539877?start=0&tstart=0

Here's the answer for y'all, hope this helps........................................... http://sihuwa.wordpress.com/2013/01/14/how-to-stop-sending-imessage-texts-to-a-contact/


MacBook Air 2011 - External Display I currently have a MacBook Air 13" 2011.

I want to connect two external Displays. Does it work? I think it can speak to two Displays. When the internal Display is closed, it should be possible to connect another display to have two one!

I want to buy a Dock where i can close the display and have two external ones.

Does anyone know if this solution works?

The specs say that it only supports a single external display.


Multiple Apple devices under one Apple ID - iMessage issues We have three iPhones and an iPad all assigned to one Apple ID. Anytime I try to iMessage my mum on her phone (from my iPhone), it appears on my brother's iPhone. Then, when he replies (thinking the iMessage was to him), I receive the iMessage which is addressed from my mum - despite it being sent from his phone. I've deleted the Apple ID from received iMessages to see if that would fix it, but it has failed to give the desired outcome.

How do I need to configure iMessage on the iPhones so that each person is their own "entity" and prevent "crossing wires"?

iMessage isn't designed to work with just one Apple ID. Instead of having all the iPhones and iPad on one Apple ID, it will be necessary to set up additional Apple IDs for the different users.

When you setup an iOS device and put in your Apple ID, it provisions ALL such services to that Apple ID. Go into Settings on each device (under Messages and FaceTime) and remove the Apple ID. Replace the Apple ID with a new Apple ID unique to each user. Here is a guide on creating new iCloud accounts for this purpose.

Better yet, provision each account completely with its own Apple ID. If a person wants to download an already-purchased app or song from a different account, you can temporarily change accounts in iTunes or App Store.

It's really easy you go into your settings and assen each phone the right number and only that number in imessageing and that will fix the problem but all the apple device have to be changed or it will keep happening


Can I use my iPhone4 without a sim card if i just updated to the lastest software? I have an iPhone 4 that I wanted to use for my daughter to play on. I updated it to the latest software iOS 6 and it's telling me to put a SIM card in to activate it. I don't want the iPhone activated. I have wifi in my house and I just want her to be able to play games on it. Is it possible?

No - if the device is waiting at the activate screen it won't run normally. Yes - once the activation is done, you can pull the SIM card.

Activate means that the OS becomes usable. Unless (and until) your phone gets jail broken or authorized unlocked (contact your carrier), by design you need a carrier SIM to activate the phone after each restore.

Major OS upgrades usually include a restore / activation step so you can check here before the next upgrade if you wish to avoid this in the future.

I've had good luck using an old SIM card that no longer is on an account to keep a proper SIM in the phone. Again, your carrier can help if reusing any old SIM you have doesn't work.

Yes your phone will work normally just no calls even can still get messages I'm still using mine, without one at home via wifi


How can I enable rEFIt boot volume choice after waking up from hibernation mode? There are pretty clear answers to the question 'How to put my Mac into hibernation mode voluntary', but there is still an issue for me.
I use Bootcamp Windows and rEFIt to select which sistem to load. But when I wake from the hibernation mode I have no option to choose - just Mac OS is loading. How can I enable boot source choose after waking up from the hibernation mode?

Here seems to be a good explanation of the process.
Might be a tad old though :)

http://blog.yasmar.net/2006/05/make-refit-and-safe-sleep-play-well-together/


Unable to tap on Apple ID in app store iphone 5s I am using iPhone 5s. I checked on various site on how to sign out of apple id in app store, but I am unable to select the apple Id since it is coming in grey color (normally it is shown in blue). I also have my restriction off in general settings. Because of this error, I am also not able to download anything from app store in my iPhone. My apple Id account is already verified and I have checked it twice on net.

Trying to reset all settings works.

I don't know why it worked.


The phone number "is not registered with iMessage" Right now I can't seem to send some text messages from my OS X. Here is a list of things I have done that will have caused the error:

I fresh installed Yosemite about 2 days ago
I updated my iPhone to 8.1 this afternoon
I paired my device (I was able to send some texts from OS X)
I fresh installed iOS 8.1 on my iPhone
I can't send some text messages from my computer

When I start a new conversation on iMessage, the name of the person remains red. When I try to send a message I get a popup saying: " is not registered with iMessage". The handoff is well configured because I am able to see an icon appear in the dock when I use the notes app.

What can I do to make this functionality work again?

Thanks

You need to wait for the iOS 8.1 update in order to be able to do SMS from your computer / iPad. It should be available for you now or tomorrow if you go to "settings -> general -> software update"

EDIT: "iPhone Settings -> Messages -> Text Message Forwarding" then select your device that you want to send from and enable it :)

Restart messages on OSX if it's still not working.

You have to use your friends email that's registered as their Apple account.


Yosemite Safari Favicon Anyone know of a way to make Safari show favicons in Yosemite? I was using Glims under Mavericks but that no longer works.  I tend to have lots of tabs open and sometimes it's easier to find the proper tab by the favicon rather than the text.

As of Safari 8, favicons no longer show up on the tab bar, to my disappointment.

One solution is to use SafariStand & EasySIMBL. Once installed (see instructions on the SafariStand site), open the SafariStand settings and check "Show Icon on Tab Bar". This will return favicons to the tabs.

Instead of favicons, try zooming out with a trackpad or a mousepad. It will show you previews of all your open tabs.


How do I disable the Minimize (command-M) shortcut in Mavericks? I want to unset the Cmd+M shortcut but I can't seem to find it. I've checked  System Preferences > Keyboard > Shortcuts but no luck there. I've even tried running defaults write -g NSUserKeyEquivalents -dict-add 'Minimize' '\0' to no avail.

You don't need to install any additional software.

Go to System Preferences > Keyboard > Shortcuts > App Shortcuts
Click the  button below
Enter "Minimize" (use "Minimize All" to override minimizing all windows with ⌥⌘M) into the Menu Title text input field.
Assign some bizzare key combination that you won't press by accident.
Repeat steps three and four for "Minimise" (alternate spelling) which is required for some apps.
Close the window to save the changes.

I'm aware that this is not really "disabling it" but the result is effectively the same and without depending on 3rd party software.

I disabled Mission Control in "System Pref>Shortcuts Tab>Mission Control" by unchecking checkbox Mission Control in the column and then Cmd-M would minimize any app open instead.

So, using "Keyboard Maestro" I creating a "Do Nothing" Group and assigned Cmd-M to "No Action" as in screenshot.  Worked like a charm!


Magic Trackpad stuck battery I have a Magic Trackpad that sat unused in a work drawer for a few months. Like a total noob, I neglected to remove the batteries.

I recently reconfigured my workspace and decided to start using trackpad once more, but to my horror, the batteries had corroded and the one furthest in, is very very stuck.

I have tried a long neck, thin screwdriver to try and pry away some of the corrosion around the edge, and lot of banging/ knocking/ cursing, but the battery is still in place.

I welcome any suggestions on how I can remove the other battery and hopefully resurrect this trackpad into working order. I open to suggested chemicals/ power tools etc.

Many thanks in advance community!

So the gel containing battery acid has leaked out and dried up.

You need to make it muddy again to be able to remove it, since dry removal is not possible.

There are multiple methods to do that described here. (Vinegar, Lemon juice, and others).

Example:

Mix water and baking soda into a thick paste. Start with about a teaspoon of baking soda and add water a few drops at a time until it can be mixed into a thick paste.

Apply the baking soda paste generously to any corroded areas using cotton swabs. Allow the paste to sit for 15 minutes.

Use a slightly moistened toothbrush to gently agitate the paste. Rinse the toothbrush often, and continue until the majority of the paste has been scrubbed away. In hard to reach spaces use q-tip to deliver the paste.

Needless to say, use gloves!

I have had a similar problem. I have managed to extract the stuck batteries after flushing of the battery compartment with half a teaspoon of vinegar and tapping the trackpad.


What is the difference between iTerm2 and Terminal? I keep hearing that iTerm2 is much better than Terminal. However, when I downloaded iTerm2, I didn't see what made it preferable over Terminal. What are the differences between these two apps?

There are several features listed on their features page.

Some of the features I like are:

Split pane view
Hotkey window for instant terminal anywhere
Search will highlight all found words (like in Chrome and Safari)
Mouseless copy
Instant replay (can "rewind" your session in case you forgot to note/copy something)
Paste history
Growl support for notification when a process completes

I use iTerm2 since I can't configure my Mac Terminal have different colors background when I open different Terminals.


Which OS X Applications do you find indispensable? Please Search Prior To Posting!

There are many applications already listed.  In all likelihood, this includes the one you are thinking of. Please check the existing answers to avoid duplicates, and the resulting cleanup it necessitates.

To search, use the search box in the upper-right corner. To search the answers of the current question, use inquestion:this. For example:

inquestion:this Evernote

If it hasn't already been posted, please follow a few simple rules when adding it as an answer.

Rules

Limit to one application per answer.
Add a short description of the application.
Add a link to the website in the name of the application if possible (no direct downloads).
Use ## [appName](link) for citing the application name.
Only Mac OS X (not iOS, OS 9, compatible, etc) applications. All versions of OS X are accepted, but if the application requires a specific version please note.

Dropbox
Put your files into your Dropbox on one computer, and they'll be instantly available on any of your other computers that you've installed Dropbox on.

Fuzzyclock

"Often you don't need the exact time in hours, minutes and seconds. A more human readable style like "five past ten" makes more sense. For that, you can now use FuzzyClock. FuzzyClock is a menubar clock which displays the current time in a "fuzzy" style." I use the handwriting font. (Alfred, Cloudapp and Growl have been said).


What's the best OSX for my 2007 3.1 MacBook 2.2Ghz Intel Core 2 Dual, 1GB RAM, currently using OS X 10.5.8? My ol' clunker is doing very well considering its age, but I would like to upgrade its OSX to see if it runs a bit faster, and also because I can't run the latest versions of some applications on OS X 10.5.8..

I'm just hesitant because I'm afraid to make the computer even slower with a newer version of OSX, even if Apple says that I can run newer OSX... Does anyone have any advice? Much appreciated!

According to EveryMac the latest OS that your Macbook can run is 10.7.5 (Lion).

A big focus on the preceding release 10.6 (Snow Leopard) was performance. It was the OS update that Apple advertised as having "no new features" as the work was focused on refining and improved the existing ones. Reducing the memory footprint, removing legacy code, the Finder was rewritten in Cocoa, a new Cocoa version of Quicktime was created, etc. In John Siracusa's review of Snow Leopard for Ars Technica he said "Should you buy Mac OS X Snow Leopard? If you're already running Leopard, then the answer is a resounding 'yes.'"

So I'd definitely recommend upgrading to Snow Leopard at least.

I think the best OSX for your Mac is the 10.5.8.


How to change the color and format of the static host/path/user string in the Terminal or iTerm? Example:

cookie:~ j$ date
Sun Aug  5 02:14:29 CEST 2012
cookie:~ j$

Just as it's pasted here, all three lines are of the same color. I would like to have "cookie:~ j$" or at least part of the string be of a different color than the rest.

I know that I can specifically enable color coding for specific applications like ls or git, but I haven't found anything like this.

Is there a way to change the coloring and format of the static host/path/user string in the Terminal or iTerm?

What you are looking for us customizing the prompt in the bash shell. Many articles on the web including this one.

This is basically done by setting the variable PS1 e.g.

PS1="\[\033[35m\]\t\[\033[m\]-\[\033[36m\]\u\[\033[m\]@\[\033[32m\]\h:\[\033[33;1m\]\w\[\033[m\]\$ "

gives for user mark on machine flat

This includes \t as time, \u as user \h as hostname and \w current working directory

The \[ then \octal number \] send commands to the terminal , in this case acting as an xterm and sets the colours.

Check out this page for instructions on how to do this
http://www.macosxtips.co.uk/index_files/customising-the-terminal.php


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.

Open Terminal, and run the following:
xcode-select --install
This will download and install the Command Line Tools package and fix the problem.


Difficulty deleting music from music library on my iPhone I'm having difficulty managing music in my iTunes library on my phone. I have old songs that I do not want anymore that are still showing up with the iCloud symbol (ready to download) in my library. Even going to settings to hide certain downloaded music, the songs I do not want still appear (just without the iCloud symbol) and cannot be deleted. I want to completely get rid of some songs. Help.

I was having the same problem. I went into Settings on my iPhone and to Music. Towards the bottom it says Show All Music. I just disabled that and it solved my problem.

I had the same problem go to settings>music>show all music and slide the button over. Hope this helped!


How can I delete game data on iPhone 5? I want to start it over I want to start Gardian Hunter from the start, but I can't delete my data.
Is it possible to delete it? Please help me.

I'm using an iPhone 5.

You should just be able to delete the app and redownload it again, all game data should be deleted, then.

Unfortunately this operation can not be done without removing the App on an non-jailbroken iDevice.

For  your safety, I suggest to remove the app as following:
Navigate to Settings => General => Usage => Manage Storage => Select the desired game/app => Delete App

This will clear all cache info for the app and when you install it over, you may be able to start from scratch.

Beside that some games/apps store info onto their own servers and/or in the GameCenter.

For the games/apps that store the info onto their own servers you will not need to worry, but for the ones that store info in the GameCenter, you may need to look how to reset your score/info there.


iMessage keeps popping up How can I disable the iMessage pop up when I turn on my Mac? It keeps asking me to sign in with my Apple ID. I don't want to set it up because I don't want to use iMessage. But the box keeps opening every time I turn on my Mac and it is getting frustrating as I have to go through 3 pages before I can turn it off.

I had to contact apple support for this solution. The fact that it is not intuitive implies a usability bug. The reason for the prompt is a keychain entry under either login or local items. Basically after removing all entries with the text 'apple' in them I was able to restart and login with no facetime or imessage prompts to login. I hope this helps.

On your Mac, right-click on the Messages icon, then select options and unselect Open at login.


Bluetooth connection instability with Magic Mouse on El Capitan I'm using a ~3 year old Apple Magic Mouse (1st generation, removable AA batteries, part number: MB829LL/A), and it has started to give me brief disconnection warnings, but always automatically reconnects in .5 to 3 seconds or so. Here's a syslog snippet on gist.github.com. Clues so far:

Started after upgrading to Yosemite / El Capitan (I only ran Yosemite for a week or so before upgrading to El Capitan)
Only happens in cafes or on campus, i.e., where there are other devices around.
Usually only ever disconnects as soon as I use the mouse after not using it for a few minutes. I.e., usually the mouse sits for several minutes and doesn't have any issues when I start to use it again; sometimes it has this disconnect aneurysm while actively using it.

Things I've tried so far:

Removing the mouse, restarting, and pairing with it again via the Bluetooth PreferencePane.
Ensuring the batteries are fresh / completely charged.

Based on #3 and what I gather from the logs, I'm guessing it's going into some sort of sleep / standby mode, and not always waking properly. Perhaps there's some OS X system setting that will let me turn this off or increase the period of time that counts as sleep-worthy inactivity?

In System Preferences for Bluetooth you can check the box to "Show Bluetooth in menu bar." Then, hold down the option key and click the Bluetooth icon when paired with your device. You'll see a new option to "Create Diagnostics Report on the Desktop." This will give you more details to further debug or diagnose what's going on, particularly the files pmset_everything.txt, and com.apple.Bluetooth.plist in the section on BluetoothStats. My system displays 0 for all the stats except 1 for CommandTimeouts.

I just cleaned up the battery terminals with a bit of wire wool and hey presto !!


macOS Sierra keeps running out of application memory Every time I turn my Mac on, after a while the app memory just runs out.

These are just from 10min apart, after working for a while. I need help figuring what those Installers are and why the kernel_task is taking so much memory. Those Google Chrome Helpers also look extremely unnecessary.

The only thing that 'solves' this is restarting the computer. How can I get rid of this cycle?

Chrome is probably launching when macOS starts, and tabs from your previous session and reopening, so you're instantly running out of memory.

Try the Chrome plugin, The Great Suspender. Also try running Dr. Cleaner continuously in the background.

But the answer is right there. You have zillions of "Chrome Helper" processes eating up all your memory. Quick Chrome and recheck your state.

Why Chrome behaves like this?  Either:

you keep a zillion pages open, each with some very-heavy web app (like Google docs and such)
you have a "malware" installed on your Mac which leeches on Chrome, making it open lot's of extensions on your behalf. Download and run "MalwareBytes" free malware remover for Mac to see if that's the case.
Have you joined any of those vicious "programs" of "download this and receive 99 cents per run of our software" ??? Maybe you rolled into some bad program where you actually "sell your Mac cycles" for others? That "Chrome helper" is a background-only mac "Daemon" running within Chrome, and doing something. It would be nice to know what.

As a first step - close all your chrome windows and tabs - individually, and manually. make sure no page is open in chrome - and look again on your activity monitor. If those hogs are all gone - you're done. Quit Chrome, and you're clear.


Combine multiple txts into one I'm trying to combine multiple txts into a big file. I want them to be put in sequence but this seems not to work properly.

At this time I tried from the terminal:cat *.txt >merged.txt but this seems to concatenate the files randomly.

In my folder I have all the files named with sequential numbers (from 1.txt to 10000.txt). Am I missing anything?

Globbing isn't random, it's guaranteed to be alphabetical (a.k.a. lexicographic order according to your locale), which is different from numeric sorting order.

You can use brace expansion for this.  Replace '10' with the number of the last file.

cat {1..10}.txt > merged.txt

This uses bash brace expansion, which you can read about at LESS='+/Brace Expansion' man bash.

Note that unlike file globs, the brace expansion will generate arbitrary strings which need not be existing files; in this case that means you will get errors if there are files missing from the sequence (e.g. if 7.txt does not exist).  However, this won't affect the contents of merged.txt which will be produced as expected.

In command promt:

cd "path to directory" (Enter)

copy *.txt result.txt (Enter)


New iOS release, what time are they traditionally released (on release day)? I was curious about what time apple traditionally has released its major iOS updates in the past?

I could see several times that make sense:

at 12:00am PST?
at midnight local time across the globe?

I wonder if past major releases are random/indeterminate when they come out?

(Of course, it takes some time to propagate the update through their CDN, and there really is no way to determine when any individual might get a change to download an iOS update)

Most Apple software updates seem to get posted around 1PM Eastern/10AM Pacific. Far from a guarantee however, that's just my approximation based on past experience and a super quick Google to confirm.


iTunes downloading movie faster over WiFi For some reason iTunes will download a movie faster over wifi than with ethernet on my home network. When I do a speed test the ethernet connection appears to be a few mbps faster though... Why would it download slower on ethernet? (I turn wifi off when using ethernet via the thunderbolt adapter)

I know what your trying to ask here. When you do you speed test are you downloading the movie at the same time? If yes then the mbps will consistently change so when your over wifi and when your switching back to ethernet. If your were not downloading a movie when doing the speed test there is the difference already, when toe downloading something it using more data that means if more people are using the Internet as well then it will consistently change again.

To put it into a perspective, image your router has 20 (whatever of 20). Your wife logs on 20 goes to her then you log on splits 10 & 10 then you have let's say your friend over now it's uneven so your each getting 6.6 from the router. You see how it keeps getting smaller so there are so many factors that play in to make it better with Ethernet or better wirelessly.


You need an iTunes account for the country-specific store in order to download apps restricted to certain countries. If the app is not free, you also will need either a credit card issued in that country or some iTunes gift cards (also from that country).

How to bypass country restrictions on App Store?
I want to download an iPhone app which is not accessible from my country (India). How can I bypass the country restrictions?

Hi Prasanth S here is two solutions involving VPN and DNS. These solutions can also be implemented on a router level but that is another topic.

By pass County Restrictions, block websites, run a vpn, select an open dns- all OPEN SOURCE:

Method 1 VPN:
The apps openvpn and open vpn spider work together. If these apps are blocked I encourage you to try the DNS soloution provided below.

TIP: OpenVpn Spider will show an ad when you attempt to load a profile into Openvpn (your actully loading a certificate into a protocol)- so click a different server in less than 20-30 seconds (after the ad can be closed) or soemthing and you won't be tracked through that ad to the server.

( Otherwise, the ad (likely google) will know which vpn your on. If you care- yes you can view this from either a non signed in account or another- in account info- you can also opt out of the tracking! )

You can select a country in OpenVPN Spider app at the top.

Method 2 ) Change your DNS

Now search for your carriers DNS settings, write them down or copy them to a note. Now search for a subsitute- type "OpenDNS servers   " into google/duckduckgo/ whatever. If you were successful in turning on a VPN on your iphone or ipad so far, you can choose to match this county with the DNS server by searching specifically for it.
Google's server- is not really DNS open but it does unblock sometimes- the VPN will automatically be connected to Google's service anyhow. You may attempt to block it as well if you want and divert traffic to a new DNS setting as well- but this will cause most google apps to error and logout- given how prelevant they are I hestiate to suggest that.
Google servers for DNS are 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4

Now go to settings--> General --> Restritions
Turn it on- make a code
Now enable Adult restrictions
You will now see a white list (allow) and a block list

Enter the carrier DNS into the block list (the numbers- which by the way are called an octet- 8 groups of binary numbers showed in decimal form to make it easier on you :) . You can also block a port by entering a semicolon : after the digits. So DNS is port 53. Your entry would look like this-

xxx.xx.xxx.xx: 53

where the ip address is represented prior to the semicolon.

Now scroll up and enter several websites into the allow list- you can add entries in here- just add the DNS server you want to use. Keep in mind the OpenVPN servers do die after a while. You'll also want to add common websites you visit. Some sites are automatically blocked - such as porn- so if you want them you can allow it here. Only make each "similar" entry once.

Putting VPN together with DNS blocking may not be completely necessary but it should unblock you and hide the activity. I'd also download a tor type app for browsing- using this after connecting to the VPN. It sounds like there's not much freedom there...

Method 3 ON WIFI

You may also want to block your home high speed internet's DNS as well. So when you connect to wifi you can bypass the app store block.

Simply find the settings by either going on routers homepage (you can block them there as well sometimes) and noting them.

If you don't have access to the router- simply select the connection in your Wifi settings on your iphone- select manal and copy all the info but the DNS and replace it with what you would like. If you do this prior to selecting a connection agreement and change the last part of the IP address (just extorporlate from what the machine gave you) you can in fact bypass the connection agreement as well if it exists (such as at hotel) .

EXTRA:
Other hidden features of Restricted Websites besides Restricting Websites:

A note on Google HangOuts- this app will also change the number its coming from depdnign on the server you choose.

Actually - in the opposite of this I usually choose to allow accounts.google.com to prevent the logout or problems with their services.
You can also block ( or allow- as in new lines for below) a range of ports such as 81-20000.

Additionally you can refer to the phones local host and block or allow a service on the phone- i.e. an app - for example Google HangOuts uses a specific port. There are also security features you can implement beyond what Apple has provided in restrictions- such as an entire firewall. To refer to the local host, type the IP address

127.0.0.1 or I believe "localhost" (no quotes) works as well. Same thing with the semicolon and the range. [ This is incoming ports , where as an IP address will be treated as outgoing ]
So If we want to block internet entirely for HTTP (the web) we can enter

127.0.0.1:80

If I want to block ports above 80 I can enter

xxx.xx.xxx.xx: 81-20000

Now your use is just governed by the law and there is less if any tracking if you combine this with the other methods listed here . Hopefully this works for you! Thanks for reading.
-Mail


Can a non-retina MacBook's screen be replaced with a Retina screen? I'm using a MacBook Pro Late 2011. The processor, RAM, hard drive - just about everything else still work fine. I'd like to have retina display without necessarily buying a new unit.

Is there a way to change my screen to a retina display - i.e. physically removing the old screen and replacing it with a retina one?

Not easily. The Retina MacBook Pro introduced a new display assembly which makes retro-fitting very difficult.

  Rather than sandwich an LCD panel between a back case and a piece of glass in front, Apple used the aluminium case itself as the frame for the LCD panel and used the LCD as the front glass

Source: http://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/MacBook+Pro+Retina+Display+Teardown/9493

The cost of doing so would probably be more than the rMBP itself.

i did by bringing to a tech fix store near me, and i assume it could be done to yours if the computer would support it.


Browsers Keep popping phishing websites (I think) I have a 2017 MBP, Recently a friend of mine installed Logic Pro X via a torrent. But recently I see a lot of pop up similar to websites I visit. e.g If I am nike website, it open a new tab and in milliseconds changes the url and land on nike, same for other websites as well.

I tried disabling kaspersky extension for safari but didn't help.

I tried stopping MacPerfomance but it didn't stop. How can I get rid of it?

Macperfomance is malware advertising mackeeper, so first of all keep yourself out of this soft, never install mackeeper.

In order to clean this shit your should first delete file mackeeper.plist and all other files you can't recognize as your desired software from folders /library/LaunchAgents,  /library/LaunchDaemons,  /users/%yourusername%/library/LaunchAgents

After that close all your apps and reboot your Mac


Updating OS X 10.6 install screen stuck I just re-installed Mac OS X 10.6 on my MacBook Pro (2008 ed) using the original DVD. I then selected update software to bring it up to 10.6.8. The software downloaded and then I received the message to restart in order to install the software.

I restarted and have the installation screen showing. Not sure what that screen is called but it is the one that looks like the galaxy.

Nothing is happening—it seems stuck there. I have no window telling me to continue, or agree or install, as is the usual order of things. I have tried this twice; i.e. have used the power button to shut down because the computer does not respond to anything else when that screen is on. Then I re-did update software, receive the message that the software has already downloaded, told to restart in order to install, and the same thing happens. Any ideas?

If you reinstalled without erasing the disk, you might have something incompatible from your previous system. Try to restart holding the SHIFT key. This brings you into safe mode, where only apple components are loaded. The system might react slow, but should let you apply the update. (Would also prefer the combo update, as mentioned by 'forquare'.)

Click into 'show details' before you start the download, then untick all the itunes updates and start the download. It should work fine then. Hope that helps.


How do I get llvm-gcc to point to gcc instead of clang? When I ask which version of gcc I have, I get the following:

Configured with: --prefix=/Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/usr --with-gxx-include-dir=/usr/include/c++/4.2.1
Apple LLVM version 9.1.0 (clang-902.0.39.2)
Target: x86_64-apple-darwin17.6.0
Thread model: posix
InstalledDir: /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/Toolchains/XcodeDefault.xctoolchain/usr/bin

When I try to get information about gcc:
ls -la /usr/bin |grep gcc

I get:

-rwxr-xr-x     1 root   wheel     18288 May 29  2018 gcc
-rwxr-xr-x     1 root   wheel      2043 Sep 26  2016 gccmakedep
lrwxr-xr-x     1 root   wheel         5 Mar 28  2018 llvm-gcc -> clang

I am using MacOS 10.13.5, and the reason that I want to use gcc instead of clang is because I have code I want to run in MATLAB that is in C, but I can't compile the code with clang, because fopenmp is unsupported.

When I try to compile just the matlab part of the program so that I can run it with a matlab interface:

make matlab

I get the following error:

gcc -std=c99 -pedantic -Wall -O3 -fopenmp -DSSHT_VERSION=\"1.2b1\"...

clang: error: unsupported option '-fopenmp'

I used the link: Installed gcc with Homebrew, now how to use that gcc instead of clang?

export PATH=/usr/bin
export CXX=/usr/local/Cellar/gcc/8.2.0/bin/g++-8
export CC=/usr/local/Cellar/gcc/8.2.0/bin/gcc-8

to my code.

Apple and xcode do not provide gcc. Any file called gcc us a link to clang

You need to install gcc from a third party and also check the version has mp enabled.

The easiest way is to install gcc using a package manager like macports, homebrew or fink.

Having gcc installed with homebrew, directly point to the where it is installed in the beginning of the code to compile (makefile):

export CXX=/usr/local/Cellar/gcc/8.2.0/bin/g++-8
export CC=/usr/local/Cellar/gcc/8.2.0/bin/gcc-8


How to seamlessly sync contacts and calendars across devices? I currently have all my contacts and calendars on my Mac, but would like to sync them over the air with my other devices (iPod, iPad and Android phone). I also want it to be multidirectional: being able to add, edit or delete from all devices.

As far as I understood from reading other threads, the best bet is to keep all calendars and contacts on Google and sync them with the other devices. This means not using iCloud to sync calendars or contacts.

Is this correct? Do I really have to move all my contacts and calendars to Google Contacts and Google Calendar in order to have them synced across all devices? Will I be able to add contacts or edit calendars from any device and have them in sync as well?

Yes, the best way to sync cross platform is via google.

By far the easiest most care free way to sync all contacts, calendars, email etc is to have all Apple devices, this is how Apple meant for this service to be used.

Google has done a good job of making this service available to people working on multiple platforms.

I got my samsung Note 2 to sync contacts messages and calenders seamlessly from my iphone  4 using an android app called easy phone sync. Youll need to download and install it on your Mac 1st then do the same on your android phone. Then launch it on the mac it invokes itunes then plug your android phone to your mac and it syncs from your itunes back up. Make sure you have deselected encrypted backup from the iTunes options. This app cant read an encrypted itunes back up. It wil sync. It also syncs google gmail contacts and linkedin contacts and formats them real well. The calender is a bit messy too busy with details. Still trying to work it out.


Samsung EVO 480 *and* stock hard drive not recognised by Snow Leopard installer A friend of mine came to me with her Macbook Pro 8,3 (17 inch, 2011). The hard drive had failed, and booting into the recovery disk didn't show a working hard drive.

I went out and bought her a samsung EVO 480 (because why not do an upgrade while I'm at it?), and plugged it in.

Still not recognised by Disk Utility on the install disk.

I went back and reformatted the disk as HFS+ with my windows machine, using MacDrive. Put it back in the laptop, and it's still not turning up in the list.

I have confirmed that the SSD has the latest firmware on it using Samsung's magician software, and I'm now focusing on the SATA cable.

Though I'm not sure what my options are for diagnosis and replacement of parts now, as I haven't ever had to deal with a broken cable! Any ideas, anyone?

The answer in this particular instance was that the SATA cable had come loose. Unscrewing the metal grate housing and re-pressing the connector to the mobo fixed it, and the HFS+ formatted Samsung 840 EVO SSD worked in the macbook pro.

The original hard drive still works, but will now be put in the optical bay instead of the superdrive.

Its not a broken cable. If you look carefully at the packaging and features for that drive, you will notice that Samsung tells you it is only supported on Windows. They prepared the drive for Windows, and MacDrive did not fix the partition table that Samsung set up.

But don't worry... all you need is one of these. You might be able to find one at your local OfficeMax for twice as much. Any external enclosure or dock will do I believe.

Pull the SSD, connect using a cable like that, or put in an external enclosure, boot the mac from your Snow Leopard installer, under Utlitiles menu choose Disk Utility, and you will be able to see it, and correctly partition it replacing the MBR with GUID, quit Disk Utility, and you can then complete your System installation.

After the installation is complete and you have rebooted and walked through the Setup Assistant and logged in, shutdown, and only then install the drive internally.

Snow Leopard includes TRIM support for Apple installed SSD's in Snow Leopard 10.6.8, but no one else's SSD's. After you get the System installed, and the SSD installed, update the OS (I recommend you download the 10.6.8 Combo Update rather than using software update — its much faster to download and install the combo than the individual updates), you're going to want to enable TRIM. There are instructions on how to do it manually, but using TRIM Enabler has the exact same effect. There is some more tuning you can do to optimize Snow Leopard for SSD.

Also, do your friend a solid (since you screwed up a little ;). Create for her a Snow Leopard installer for recovery if neccesary, except don't use a crummy unreliable elcheepo USB thumb, use an indestructable SD card. The linked instructions are for a USB thumb, but the instructions for doing this with an SD Card are identical, except that you'll be using an SD Card instead of a USB Thumb. Then purchase this kit for her, and once you indeed have a recovery/installer SD Card made, remove the optical drive and install it in this, and get her a 750GB Momentus (*I wouldn't recommend the 1TB notebook drives... and newegg is out of stock of these 750GB drives, which is a strong indicator that something is up! And wow that's a nice price!). And since you volunteered and you've really jammed her up with this not getting the right SSD thing... may as well max out her RAM. You're really going to feel good about yourself, I can promise you that.


How to import edited (cropped/filtered) photos from iPhone to Mac? I take photos with my iPhone SE running iOS 10.2.1.
I edit the photos in the native Photos app (cropping and filtering).
I sync to my MacBook Pro running OS X 10.11.6 (El Capitan) using the native Photos app via USB.
Only original versions of the photos appear in Mac Photos. Where are the edited versions? They still appear as edited-only in iOS Photos.

My workaround is to view each photo individually and upload to Dropbox, then download to my Mac and import into Mac Photos, but this is extremely tedious.

Is there a better workaround, or even an actual solution?

Apple has a support page about this.

  Most programs will show the original, unedited version of the image.

  Images you import to your computer directly from your iOS device will show up as the original image in iPhoto, Aperture, and in the Finder.

To import edited photos to your computer

If you want to view the edited version of a photo on a Mac or PC that doesn’t automatically import the edited version:

AirDrop or email the photo to yourself.
Or, if you've enabled iCloud Photo Library, download it from the Photos web app at iCloud.com.

This will save a copy of the edited version on your computer, but you won't be able to revert to the original, unedited version.

I bought a little app for this purpose and it does even more than that.
The app is called PhotSync (by touchbyte GmbH) and it can be used in combination with a companion app that runs on your Mac or Windows PC.
Also it supports many network protocols for file transferring (FTP, SMB etc) and it can transfer all or only the selected photos over WiFi in both their edited or original state.
All the edited photos will have the same filename as the original with "_edited" appended at the end of their filename.
It can also be used to take incremental backups of your new photos too after you take a full backup.


Display color change The display on my MacBook Pro laptop has suddenly changed so that instead of white here I get a light yellow.  What has happened?

I'm not sure how this can happen all of a sudden, but I have a suggestion.
Launch System Preferences (fastest way is Apple Menu > System Preferences)
Click on Display
Click on the Color tab
Select Color LCD in the left column
If this does not reset the color, click the Calibrate... button on the left. This launches the Display Calibrator Assistant
At the step called Target White Point (see the current step name at the left of the window) make sure you select Native

Hope this helps

Was having the same problem. Display Calibration helps. :D just go to Sytem preferences, Display, Color Tab then Calibrate. :)