Category: OSX

  • OSX: Time Machine backup to NAS

    Let me first state that this has been tried in my environment and it works. It might NOT work for you. Try it first and make sure your backups are clean and good. I have a OSX server (10.5.5 as of this writing) that needed to be backed up and am using a QNAP TS-409…

  • Seam Carving Gui….Resize images just like the new Photoshop CS4

    So you’ve probably been hearing a lot lately about the new feature in Photoshop CS4 that allows you to resize an image in a way that the image will not get distorted. Dubbed Seam Carving (we covered it here, here and here), the new function is all the rage.Well, if that’s the only reason you’re…

  • Synkron, because syncing can be such a pain….

    I know, rsync is the answer to all my prayers, at least as far as syncing data is concerned. I agree, BUT sometimes you just want a simple GUI (yes pointy/clicky) application to do the job. Well that’s were synkron comes in. A simple applications that does one thing and it does it well, synchronizing your files/folders.…

  • Command line Backup/Cloning/Imaging for OSX

    Okay so where do we start……yeah good old cpio and tar might be good enough for the true old timers who still back up to tape, but a lot of people these days backup to live Online/Nearline media such as disks. Here is a quick (and platform specific) reference to four backup commands that you…

  • Speed up Mac OS X Mail application…..

    Does your OSX Mail app crawl when you start it. Well here is a quick tip to speed things up again. Just issue this command from a terminal window (make sure you’re not running Mail app first). sqlite3 ~/Library/Mail/Envelope\ Index vacuum;You should notice a bit of a performance improvement the next time you start the…

  • How to make a ISO out of a DMG file under OSX

    Here is a quick command line for all you OSX ppl. If you’re ever in need of turning/converting a .dmg file into a .iso use the following command line: hdiutil makehybrid -iso -o newfile.iso yourfilename.dmg Where newfile is the name of the iso you want, and yourfilename.dmg is the dmg. Have Fun……

  • Eject your Mac’s CD tray from command line……

    Yeah I know what you’re thinking…..who the heck would need that. Well since mac’s don’t have a physical CD eject button on the front plate (ie: eject is done by eject key), if you ever need to put a CD/DVD into a machine without keyboard (server machine and/or if you’re using teleport to share a…

  • FunctionFlip frees your mac’s function keys…..

    When I bought my Macbook Pro the first thing I noticed was that the function keys didn’t “function” like those on my Powerbook. With all the new expose and spaces functions, you had to decide if you wanted the old style keys (ie: press F5 to increase volume and press Fn-F5 to get whatever was…

  • Activate expanded Save and Print menu’s in OSX

    Here are two commands to activate the expanded Print and Save menu’s under OSX by default. You need to type these in a terminal window. 1) For expanded Print menudefaults write -g PMPrintingExpandedStateForPrint -bool TRUELogoff and back in again to activate. Reissue the command replacing TRUE with FALSE to turn expanded functionality off. 2) For…

  • Quick command line trick to make your Leopard stacks look nice….

    Here is a quick command to make Leopard’s stacks behave nicer when you move your mouse across the icons. You can type these two commands in terminal to activate the feature:defaults write com.apple.dock mouse-over-hilte-stack -boolean YESkillall Dockor alternatively if you don’t like the look, type the following in terminal to reset it back:defaults write com.apple.dock…