Dave's OS X Tips
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1 November 2005 Output man Pages to PDF
UNIX man files are very useful, they're a pain to print and they're not very portable. Mac OS X 10.3 aka Panther has a new command available from the terminal, pstopdf. This command takes plain Postscript output and outputs a .pdf file. And you can pipe things to it from the Terminal. To convert a man page to a PDF or to print it later when you have a printer available is a powerful feature indeed.
Structure your command like this: man -t ls | pstopdf -i -o ls.pdfThe t flag on the man command outputs the manual in Postscript format allowing you to use it as standard output for the pstopdf command. The pstopdf command requires the i flag to use standard input, and the o flag allows you to name the output file, which will automatically save in the present directory from where the user is running the command. |
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17 January 2004 Screen Capture Tip If you only want to take a screenshot of a specific window, follow this instruction: Press Command-Shift-4 on your keyboard Press the Spacebar, the cursor will change from crosshair to a camera Click the window you wish to capture with the camera cursor Done. This command will also let you capture the Dock or the menubar as a 'window'. You can grab individual icons and labels from the Finder. You can grab just the Desktop. Experiment! |
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17 December 2003 Booting in Single-user Mode If you find yourself sitting at the login window staring at a progress indicator, hold down the power button for 5 seconds. Upon restart, hold down Command+S to boot into single-user mode. |
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25 September 2003How to Build OpenSSH 3.7p1 on OS X For those who can't make anything work without intervention from on high...
Note that you must have the Developer Tools installed in order to complete this exercise. |
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27 July 2003 DVD Ripping Guide I've posted my two-part DVD ripping guide for Mac OS X. |
12 July 2003 View Album Cover Art Did you you know that if you have album art for any given track in iTunes you can view it full-sized simply by clicking on it? Well I didn't until this morning. |
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11 July 2003 iChat Status
Found this little iChat add-on that grabs the currently playing song in iTunes and displays it as an iChat status message. iChat Status can be downloaded from here.
![]() You can also use Applescript to accomplish the same effect, although it's not as easy to change the message prefix and suffix. on idle tell application "iTunes" if player state is playing then set a to artist of current track if a is "" then set a to "mysterious unknown music" end if else set a to "nothing" end if end tell tell application "iChat" set status message to "listening to " & a end tell return 20 end idleSave this in Script Editor as application with "Stay Open" enabled. |
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10 July 2003 Setting an Open Firmware Password Download and run this utility. The Knowledgebase article details exactly how to set the password. Setting an Open Firmware password will prevent your Mac from booting without the password being supplied. Period. It will help to secure the contents of your machine and help to keep it safe from prying eyes. |
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10 July 2003 Use Applescript to Grab Lyrics from iTunes This is a script based on an article and comments I read at MacOSX Hints. In a nutshell, paste this text into a new Applescript and save it a compiled script in your ~/Library/iTunes/Scripts folder. (note, I had to create the Scripts folder as it was not there.) Restart iTunes. Select a song and start playing it, under the Scripts menu, you'll see your script. Select it, your browser of choice will open and go to a page that has the lyrics on it. The only glitch I've run into is that if the page with the lyrics on it ends in .htm it will simply download the page instead of displaying it. I'll post a solution when and if one becomes available.You can grab a copy of the script here. |
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9 July 2003 Reset NVRAM to Lengthen Battery Life Here's how to reset your Wallstreet/Pismo/iBook/PowerBook G4's battery circuitry to help give you more time out of your battery. Power down your computer Power back on and press nad hold ⌘ ⌥ O F to activate the Open Firmware prompt. Type reset-nvram and press Return Type reset-allThe machine should reboot now. Allow your battery to fully recharge. You should notice your battery is now giving you more run time. Based on info from Macintouch. |
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8 July 2003 StarfishX
This a little program I came across yesterday on Macintouch but didn't have a chance to take a look at until this morning. Simply put, StarfishX generates randowm desktop pictures. It utilizes the Alitvec feature found in the G4 processor. It has the capability to save in either JPEG or TIFF format and can change the quality level for either. It is capable of producing some truly amazing desktop pics. StarfishX is free and can be obtained at M Scott Marcy's website.
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6 July 2003 How to Reset the root Password on Macintosh OS X
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16 June 2003 OS X Ideas Page Here's a link to an OS X Ideas Page I've been working on. |
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16 June 2003 How to Deal With Common Macintosh OS X Jaguar Problems Here's a link to an article on common OS X problems you might run into. It's from the MacAttorney web site. |
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16 June 2003 Apple Knowledgebase Updates Mac OS X: May Not Share AirPort Internet Connection Internet Sharing may not allow you to share an AirPort Internet connection if AirPort is not set to the highest port priority. Mac OS X: Applications Don't Work After Reinstallation You may be unable to open an application or its files after reinstalling Mac OS X, including an Archive and Install. Note: You will not encounter this issue if you have a single hard disk volume and you used the Erase & Install option when you performed the reinstallation. Mac OS X 10.2: Chart of Available Mac OS Software Updates This chart lists Mac OS updates available for Mac OS X 10.2. |
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14 June 2003 OS X Cheat Sheet Here's the link to the OS X Cheat Sheet I mentioned during my talk at SMUG's Swap Meet today. |
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12 June 2003 Apple Knowledgebase Updates Mac OS X 10.2: "Error 1016", Classic Fails to Start When Managing Applications Classic fails to start if you choose to restrict the applications available to a user who does not have an Admin account. |
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Mac OS X: Mail - Unable to Quit After Stopping a Message From Being Sent You may not be able to quit Mail if you cancel sending a message. |
6 June 2003 Apple Knowledgebase Updates Mac OS X: How to Connect to the Internet With PPPoE Many broadband Internet service providers require customers to connect via PPPoE (Point-to-Point Protocol over Ethernet). This document explains how to connect to it. |
Apple Remote Desktop: Mac OS X Clients Can Move the Pointer While Being Controlled Mac OS X clients can continue to move the mouse pointer while being controlled by Remote Desktop. |
Mac OS X 10.2: Cannot Connect to File Sharing Over Ethernet When AirPort Is Primary Interface You may not be able to make an Apple Filing Protocol (AFP) connection, such as Personal File Sharing, over wired Ethernet if AirPort is your preferred network port. |
Mac OS X 10.2: About Apple Software Restore Command Line Utility (asr) This advanced document discusses the Apple Software Restore command line utility introduced with Mac OS X 10.2. A command line utility is a text-only program that runs in Terminal. |
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16 May 2003 Apple Knowledgebase Updates Macintosh: Factors That Affect Writing to or Reading From Optical Media This document discusses things can affect your computer's ability to write CD and DVD discs, and what can potentially affect their being read by other computers and consumer electronics equipment.
Mac OS X 10.2: About Compatible Devices and Peripherals |
This document provides links to information about third-party peripherals and devices that are compatible with Mac OS X 10.2. For an overview, see http://www.apple.com/macosx/upgrade/devices.html.
Mac OS X: How to Reinstall a Prior Version |
This document explains how to correctly reinstall a prior version of Mac OS X in the event that other troubleshooting does not resolve an issue.
Mac OS X 10.2: Java 1.4.1 Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) |
This document contains frequently asked questions (FAQ) about Java 1.4.1, with answers to those questions.
17 March 2003 |
Apple Knowledgebase Updates Mac OS X: What is Safe Boot, Safe Mode? Safe Boot is a special way of starting the computer for troubleshooting startup issues. Safe Mode is the state after a Safe Boot.
8 March 2003 |
Creating Internet-Enabled Disk Images in OS X An interesting page that explain how and why to use Internet-enable disk images for sofware distribution.
7 March 2003 |
Keyboard Shortcuts for OS X A series of handy, yet little known keyboard shortcuts.
6 March 2003 |
Apple Knowledgebase Updates Mac OS X 10.2.4: Unable to Establish or Maintain Dial-Up Connection With Mac OS X 10.2.4, a dial-up (PPP) modem connection cannot be established, or is unreliable. Mac OS X 10.2: How to Set the MTU Value During Startup This procedure describes how to create a startup item script that sets the maximum transmission unit (MTU) value for your network interface(s). This may be required when using certain Internet service providers. Mac OS X 10.2: How to Set Ethernet Speed and Duplex During Startup Use the procedure below to create a startup item script that sets the Ethernet speed and duplex settings for your network interface(s).
5 March 2003 |
Creating Auto-Enlarging Disk Images How to create an encrypted disk image that automatically enlarges as necessary.
5 March 2003 |
Safari Hints A cool hint for use with Safari as well as other OS X web browsers.
2 March 2003 |
Keychain Repair Utility Apple has released a utility to help alleviate issues stemming from corrupted Keychains.
28 February 2003 |
Building SSH Tuunels This brief document explains how to open an SSH tunnel for encrypted communication between points A and B.
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