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of course for the sake of keeping up, here's my top ten:

1. kill processes by name
2. fixing command-line typos before hitting enter using Option-S
3. creating a talking cat in Jaguar
4. use gcc_select to switch compilers
5. open urls from the command line
6. search macosxhints from the commandline
7. Replace iTools with your own web and mail servers
8. Run Software Update from the Terminal
9. Correct command line typos with carets
10. AND THE BEST ONE! running the screensaver as your background

of course for the sake of keeping up, here's my top ten:

1. kill processes by name
2. fixing command-line typos before hitting enter using Option-S
3. creating a talking cat in Jaguar
4. use gcc_select to switch compilers
5. open urls from the command line
6. search macosxhints from the commandline
7. Replace iTools with your own web and mail servers
8. Run Software Update from the Terminal
9. Correct command line typos with carets
10. AND THE BEST ONE! running the screensaver as your background

of course for the sake of keeping up, here's my top ten:

1. kill processes by name
2. fixing command-line typos before hitting enter using Option-S
3. creating a talking cat in Jaguar
4. use gcc_select to switch compilers
5. open urls from the command line
6. search macosxhints from the commandline
7. Replace iTools with your own web and mail servers
8. Run Software Update from the Terminal
9. Correct command line typos with carets
10. AND THE BEST ONE! running the screensaver as your background

of course for the sake of keeping up, here's my top ten:

1. kill processes by name
2. fixing command-line typos before hitting enter using Option-S
3. creating a talking cat in Jaguar
4. use gcc_select to switch compilers
5. open urls from the command line
6. search macosxhints from the commandline
7. Replace iTools with your own web and mail servers
8. Run Software Update from the Terminal
9. Correct command line typos with carets
10. AND THE BEST ONE! running the screensaver as your background

"it uses NetInfo instead of /etc/hosts, /etc/group and /etc/passwd"

Kind of. The big change in 10.2 was that now the FFAgent (for using traditional flat files like /etc/passwd) is consulted before NIAgent (which looks up info in NetInfo).

This is actually really convenient. It gives people the choice of either method as well as allowing you to use flat files to override settings in NIAgent and DNSAgent (which yeah, looks up DNS...) you can check the LookupOrder by running lookupd in debug mode.

lookupd -d

and then typing "configuration" at the lookupd prompt.

This article at macdevcenter was lame. A much more useful link for people coming from another unix to OSX is The Rosetta Stone for UNIX.

Or just browse MacOSXHints for an hour...

This post says "RageM6" looks like what you're supposed to have to enable spanning.
This one tells you how to revert. Good luck!

This post says "RageM6" looks like what you're supposed to have to enable spanning.
This one tells you how to revert. Good luck!

Yes, that's right -- in just 200 or so well documented lines of C, Apple shows you how to get your Mac's Quicktime libraries to output high quality video as ....ascii. Eat your heart out, "Star Wars ascii guy" -- ever feel let down that you couldn't watch your home movie collection from work? Now all you need to do is open up a remote shell & play them in your Terminal/xterm/PuTTY window...

:-)

obReference: found out about this from MacOSXHints.com earlier this week, and have been amused by it ever since...

Right, Internet Explorer does autocomplete on forms. I'm talking about something completely different.

Of course it's not the same thing, silly :P

but you can turn Jaguar into a talking cat.

I apologize for the awful pun...

I've found that most stuff I've wanted to do under the command line os GUI under OS X, from getting sendmail working properly on developer betas on to other, more specialized stuff can be found at one of the two following sites.

MacOSXHints

Piles of customization and installation information for all versions of X client/server. Almost always the hint I'm looking for is here, with /.-style user follow-up responses and clarifications.

Marc Liyanage

Has custom-compiled packages of the biggies: PHP, Apache, mySQL, Postgres, ImageMagick and several others. Also has build instructions for the more difficult ones (ImageMagick comes to mind... I tried manually compiling it with different options for days and it would never link the correct libraries). He also has a hints section on his site.

Between these two sites and Google, I've been able to find answers to just about every problem/issue that I've come across in the 2+ years of using OS X.

That said, the OS X for Unix Geeks is a solid book, although so much changes between point releases of OS X (one of my major grievances... why must Apple always replace my custom PHP and Apache, or do weird, undocumented stuff to the default umask for the ftpd?) that you really need up-to-date info that just doesn't come in dead-tree form.

--dr00gy

Take a look at the gimp-print project. Has lots of drivers.

I heard that it enables the Samba abilities of CUPS with the installation. It actually only takes a single symbolic link that Apple seems to have "left out" of the release. Once that's installed follow gimp-print's instructions on installing Samba shared printers.

Also, this is a posting with the link, should you need to create it manually. You don't have to use the web-based CUPS admin utility like stated. You can use the standard "Add Printer" in advanced mode (gimp-print explains). Read some of the follow-up posts, as they discus printing both ways (to and from a Mac).

Hope that helps.
-Alex

Yes. RIGHT HERE is a thread that explains how.

Apache is open source. Calendar sharing is simple to set up using apache and mod_dav. Instructions here.

http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20020 711091017747

It's a perl-based "rsync-like" utility that can handle the Unix permission, resource fork and incremental challenges of OS X backups. Check it out.

http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20020 711091017747

It's a perl-based "rsync-like" utility that can handle the Unix permission, resource fork and incremental challenges of OS X backups. Check it out.

I simply refused to go without my beloved web sites downloaded to my Palm when I made the switch a year ago. This link at Mac OS X Hints gave me that alternative--Plucker.

While a bit more hands-on than AvantGo, you get very similar, if not identical results with Plucker. (This is open source, so Linux guys who switched from Windows can get it too.) Be mindful that these instructions were based on 10.1 and not 10.2: the needed Python parts may have an issue from the binaries, so I'd compile it if I were you.

Let's try that again in HTML. Lots of OpenSSL benchmarks here.

There are tons more openssl speed benchmarks here

as a side note, for people who like tinkering with their OS X i would point them to two cool sources:

Fink, lets you install pretty much any open-source package on OS X.

mac os x hints, gives you lots of useful resources to tweak the heck out of OS X using standards unix hackery.

=Brian

=Brian

No , DoubleCommand is loaded before your machine reaches the loginwindow. So you can never login.
Because I booted into Jaguar and removed the folder that way, I can't say this works. But if DoubleCommand doesn't get loaded when booting in single usermode this will certainly work:

The only way to fix it is to boot in single user mode using holding cmd-s while booting. And then remove the folder in /Library/StartupItems/DoubleCommand.

See this page for more boot and startup commands :

OS X does not have DAV over SSL natively. See my article over on Mac OSX Hints for how to set this up with stunnel.

OS X does not have DAV over SSL natively. See my article over on Mac OSX Hints for how to set this up with stunnel.

To be fair, Apple's manuals are horrendously bad. There's little useful information there about the way the GUI part of the operating system works, let alone the BSD underpinnings.

Still, I guess that's why there are handy sites like Mac OS X Hints and the like for reference.

Okay, I'll bite the troll.

Look here, dumbass. Took about two minutes. If you'd Google before you formed an opinion, perhaps you wouldn't need to hide behind an AC so much.

In the last few weeks, my hosting co's ftp software has been randomly giving me errors that suggest it doesn't know how to list a directory, put or get a file. Not that I need any of those features anyway, so I did some research and ended up installing ncftp (Mac OS X installer pkg). I realize ncftp's not a new program, but I am amazed.

It has everything I've ever wanted in an FTP client: speed, easy-to-use "bookmarks" (no more dumping passwords into clear .netrc files or entrusting them to Apple's security-hole-prone Keychain), status reports on transfers, and I can even use wildcards to up/download a whole mess of files at once without having to sift through ftp's man pages. Everything works intuitively, and I suspect there is much more I will discover just by using the tool.

I guess that's what a great UI is -- one that you can use and learn without having to RTFM.

(Before you reply in defense of the RTFM concept, I agree that there are types of software that should not be used until one has RTFM, but it doesn't hurt to give the FM a great UI.)

There is a way to build mozilla using native API's to take advantage of anti-aliasing and make it faster. Info here

It's viewing a PNG directly that causes that problem, which is simply a configuration issue. Read this hint to fix it.

1) Activate the Root Account Using "NetInfo Manager". See here for details.
2) Login as your admin account, open the terminal app located the utilities folder. 3) On the command line, type: su root Enter the root password you defined earlier. 4) Now type: chown normalUsername * 5) Watch the fireworks. You'll have to do a hard reboot; nothing will be damaged in your system. Open files will be lost. *Yeah, I did this one without thinking. It's the prettiest error I've ever seen. Text will print right over your GUI and lock you up. :)

Next, remove the goddamn video resolution lock on the consumer hardware. I've got an iMac here stuck sending 1024x768@75 video out the VGA port. The video hardware can do much better, but there's no way of saying "turn off the builtin display". iBooks are similarly crippled; PC laptops aren't.

Think very hard about adding a second trackpad button on the laptops. I can easily replace the USB mouse on a desktop box to get a second button, but there's no way to upgrade the trackpad without a bandsaw. Support for context menus in OS X is soooo nice; why make it harder for laptop users to take advantage of it on the go? (Yes, I know you can use modifier keys to get the same effect, but it's not the same.)

Make a really fast web browser. This Celeron 450 seems much faster than the iMac 450 for browsing; similarly with 800MHz machines at work.

Give me the source to Mail.app, so I can add support for certificates. It's not like your competition is going to steal anything useful out of that excellent, Cocoa-centric app.

Pay Valve Software to port the Half-Life engine to OS X. Geez, if the Mac doesn't run Counter-Strike, how are we going to AWP all the Windows weenies?

• Macfixit
• AFP548
• Maccentral
• MacNN
• MacMinute
• As The Apple Turns
• MOSR
• Mac OS X Hints
• Versiontracker
• MacSlash

just do the steps listed in the hint at Mac OS X Hints.

The average user doesn't need to know. The advanced user will read Apple's techpups, then post it to macosxhints.

I'm wondering what feature it is that you're so annoyed with? Give examples, maybe I can help.

OS X works fine. I NEVER boot into OS 9 or open Classic. I've had two crashes since August 21st and my machine has been running almost constantly (I really need a UPS...). All in all, it is the most reliable computer I've ever used - including my SuSE Linux box.

Smbclient is built-in

I've never had a chance to try to use smb printer sharing. Sorry.

Smb sharing is done just like it is under Linux.

I run Oroboros-X on XDarwin. I run X apps from my Linux box for the fun of it.

I've compiled lots of Linux and BSD software w/out any major hassles. The GNU Mac OS X Public Archive has ports available as source and binaries. In most cases, I just download and compile apps as if I were on my Linux box.

I have a home network with three PCs (2 Win9x, 1 Linux), two Macs (one is ancient, one is a G4 w/OS X), and an AppleTalk laser printer.

check here

Here you have programmers who are used to the older Mac OS which does things very differently. Something as simple as Mac HD:Syetem Folder:Preferences: becomes ~/Library/Preferences. We should cut these guys some slack. Plus Apple did correct the problem within hours.

You can find an explanation here.

The short version of what Apple appears to have changed in this new installer? Any reference that used to look like this

rm -rf $2Applications/iTunes.app 2 /dev/null
now looks like this

rm -rf "$2Applications/iTunes.app" 2 /dev/null

http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20011 008024501793

It was written by Andrew Welch, from Ambrosia Software.

He states: "So what Apple did was they implemented a compression mechanism into the window server. When a window's contents haven't changed for a given period of time, the window server compresses them, so they take up less memory. Since it uses a compression method that doesn't require the buffer to be fully decompressed to do compositing (dragging a window around, updating the screen, etc.), you won't notice a slowdown with this compression turned on.

"In fact, because less memory is being used up by the window buffers, more RAM will be available for your applications, with will mean less virtual memory paging, and may in fact result in speeding up your machine. Additionally, since less data needs to be read (it is compressed, after all!), things like updating windows may be faster as well. "

I have to say I tried this, and it really does speed things up quite noticeably. I'm running OS X 10.1 on a 466 MHz G4 with 896 MB of RAM, so even though I rarely have page outs in VM, this tip worked, so it's not only VM related.

for those interested, and unable to access the macnn site, visit this link. Seems to work nicely. Mucho thanks to Andrew Welch for being the smartey man he is

I'm using this hack. It seems to work well and appears to do no harm. I can see the difference on my slow PowerBook G3/300/192 just dragging windows around.

If you want to improve your Finder experience further, run the app ShadowKiller. It removes the window shadows which seem to take too much power to make on a slow, old Mac. Definite improvement. However, because OS X windows don't have a frame all the way around, you're gonna get weird white window on white window experiences; you'll get used to it.

Another good site with Mac OS X tips is Mac OS X Hints.

C Watson has directions for the Mac, and freedb.org has some instructions for doing the same on other platforms.
http://www.cam.org/~cwatson/freedb/
http://www.freedb.org/sections.php?op=viewarticle& artid=46

And if you are messing about with your hosts file already, you might want to include redirection for various web advertisers to speed up your web browsing.
http://www.ecst.csuchico.edu/~atman/spam/adblock.s html

Mac OS X seems to use a different mechanism than the hosts files for most setups, preferring the Netinfo tool. There are some details about it at Mac OS X Hints, but I have not figured it out completely myself.
http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20010 328234510985
Here is another new one just posted on May 15th that I have yet to read and understand.
http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20010 515062331512

C Watson has directions for the Mac, and freedb.org has some instructions for doing the same on other platforms.
http://www.cam.org/~cwatson/freedb/
http://www.freedb.org/sections.php?op=viewarticle& artid=46

And if you are messing about with your hosts file already, you might want to include redirection for various web advertisers to speed up your web browsing.
http://www.ecst.csuchico.edu/~atman/spam/adblock.s html

Mac OS X seems to use a different mechanism than the hosts files for most setups, preferring the Netinfo tool. There are some details about it at Mac OS X Hints, but I have not figured it out completely myself.
http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20010 328234510985
Here is another new one just posted on May 15th that I have yet to read and understand.
http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20010 515062331512

umm.. you can put the doc on the side of your screen... try over at MacOS X Hints, they had a not about that a couple of days ago...

I haven't been able to find a complete distribution for the PC based on the Darwin kernel. Such a distribution would require the kernel, the command line utilities, development tools, X11, and at least one desktop (Gnome, KDE, GNUStep, ...). Such a distribution would be useful even if the set of available drivers is pretty limited (IDE, maybe a SCSI card, a couple of common Ethernet cards).

We are pleased to announce the immediate availability of Darwin 1.2.1, which is synchronized with the version used in Mac OS X Public Beta. A binary installer is downloadable from http://www.opensource.apple.com/projects/darwin, and is built using the same sources that have been available in CVS since the Public Beta release. We are looking to the community to create CD-based distributions if there is a demand for this.

This release includes support for new Mac hardware, including SMP machines. It has also been compiled fat for use with Intel machines, but currently there is no Intel installer.

Oh yeah, check out today's Stupid OS X trick. Details at MacOS X Hints.