One thing about testing tools – you have to do regular software updates and test the updated software. This is one of those days.
Testing MarsEdit post.
Categories
Category: System Software Notes
Categories
Rename the blog?
Rightfully (moving forward) I should rename this to OS X Things and remove the Mac.
Of course almost all of the posts really do refer to “Mac OS X Things”, so I should leave it alone.
There is a post about postfix getting stepped on.
There should be a post about the removal of /private/etc/apache2/users/* which sort of messed up my web serving since I actually included those files. Well, not me, the apache2 port in MacPorts caused them to be included.
I am back up and running pretty much completely in OS X (as opposed to Mac OS X) not server.
After installing OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion, a few things in our web development environment stopped working (namely Apache with multiple vhosts, BIND/wildcard DNS, Phusion Passenger and the rmagick2 gem, and postfix). The reason being is that Apple overwrites all of the configuration files that those tools rely on (although the old ones are all backed up with an appended ~previous, so fixing is relatively straightforward). We rely on postfix for sending mail locally via smtp using PHP’s mail() (i.e. sendmail) or Rails’ ActionMailer.
Fix for postfix in Mac OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion.
I didn’t find the backup copy of the plist – mine were just, simply, blasted.
Mac Keyboard ShortcutsI like to figure out the fastest way to do things. I hope these keystrokes help you to become the power user that lies within. They should work on most versions of Mac OS 10.7 Lion, 10.6 Snow Leopard, 10.5 Leopard, and even 10.4 Tiger. I’ll be adding more 10.7 Lion keystrokes, so check back!
via Dan Rodneys List of Mac OS X Keyboard Shortcuts & Keystrokes.
Disable Saved Application States
OS X Lion offers a checkbox to disable saved application states. However, many applications do not seem to care about that checkbox (e.g. Terminal). The easiest way to prevent applications from writing away saved states is exactly that: don’t let them write to the saved application states folder.
AirDrop is a handy way to share files between Macs. Unfortunately, it is only supported on newer models which have the hardware necessary to support a certain type of point-to-point WiFi connection. There is, however, a hidden setting to enable AirDrop on older Macs. Just type:
via 10.7: Enable AirDrop on Macs without supported wireless hardware – Mac OS X Hints.
Apple seemingly dropped the FTP Server support in Mac OX Lion. Only the GUI has been removed and the FTP Server can be activated. You can still enable it with the command line. To start it type the Terminal command:
sudo -s launchctl load -w /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/ftp.plist
To stop it:
sudo -s launchctl unload -w /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/ftp.plist
The BetterTouchTool utility allows you to define your own gestures and actions. In addition to its not-yet-final support for the Magic Trackpad, BetterTouchTool works with many third-party trackpads and Apples Magic Mouse.
via How to customize a Magic Trackpad | Business Center | Working Mac | Macworld.
The bash shell used in the Terminal application can be tweaked a little for better interactive experience, by saving the following lines as .intputrc in your home directory:
via Advanced readline settings for bash in Terminal – Mac OS X Hints.
The behavior of ‘bash’ is changed by more files that .bash_profile. In particular, the ‘readline’ settings are found in .inputrc – bashed my head against the wall for a while on a system that didn’t ignore case on filename completion.
inputrc
completion-ignore-caseWith iTunes 9.2 and iOS 4, the iBooks 1.1 app for iPad, iPhone and iPod touch can store and view PDF files, together with EPUB files. If you want to quickly add a document or a web page to your Books collection in iTunes, all you need to do is to create an alias of iTunes and drag it to ~/Library/PDF Services. Now, when youre browsing the web or viewing documents and you decide that you want to read them later on a portable Apple device just hit Print, click the PDF button on the bottom left corner of the window and choose iTunes. iTunes will launch and receive the PDF. Next, sync your device and youre ready to go.