Re:Bookless OS X Hacks
on
OS X Hacks
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· Score: 1, Informative
Or if you don't want to save a tree, you might check out his book. It's chock full of the same Mac OS X Hints dot com hintiness, with a bunch of extra information attached to all the hints. And yeah, I'm using my associates version of the link.
The last time I wanted to switch to Dvorak, many years ago in college when one does things like that, I went all out. Switched keyboard layouts, actually physically swapped the keys on the keyboard, etc.
The problem is that some programs used command-keys that were based on keyboard position, and some were based on actual letter (so command-o on the dvorak layout might be either command-o, because they were using the letter, or command-s, because that is the key in the same space on the qwerty layout). So I never knew from program to program which keyboard shortcut I'd be using.
It might not be as much of an issue now, with a more modern OS. On the other hand, now I really don't care.
I'm sorry, you're on which site for nerds? Oh, I know, many in the slashdot crowd want everything for free, but remember, bandwidth costs money now.
The point behind MacHack isn't really getting the hacks (though that's fun), nor is reading about the caffeine-crazed geeks. It's about getting a bunch of the most talented programmers in the Mac universe and gathering them together for a weekend. It's pretty much the same as your college campus friday night, except for the scale. It's about fun and learning and trying new things in an atmosphere you don't have access to all the time.
I've developed this cool trick of not answering the phone if I don't want to. It's fascinating, really. The phone rings, and I say, "You know, I don't want to take this call." Then I hit the silent button, and the ring...it just stops. It's like magic. Then the voicemail picks it up and I get a message or I don't. It doesn't matter really.
I have an argument with a friend about it every now and then, who can't quite go with the whole "Don't pick it up" concept. But I'm the one paying for the phone. I don't see why I should have to answer it on other people's schedules.
Actually, the analogy is fine*, it's just that your point of reference is off. If you fixed the position of the ship in Space War so that it's always in the center of the screen, and moved everything else instead, then Space War would, topologically, fit the same way the theory proposes (except in 2D, of course - but it is an analogy).
To put it another way, if you fixed a camera outside the universe (just pretend like there can be an outside of the universe), and watched the ship, it would have to warp around the other side from the proper camera angle.
=Brian
* - Um, well, I'm guessing the analogy's fine. I didn't really read the article. But presuming the parent post is correct aside from what I'm mentioning, then my post is also correct.
Slashdot supported user hosted mirrors: legal and/or statistical reasons (banner ad displays, click thru's, page views, etc.)
You know, it occurs to me that, if I had a site likely to be hit by Slashdot, I would put in a specialized referrer script/plugin for slashdot visitors. If you're coming from Slashdot, put up the same information, but quadruple the amount of banner ads. Your paid hits would spike tremendously, and you'd more than make up for a little downtime on the server (if my ads are worth actual money, of course. This is the web).
Yeah, I hate to say this, but just because many programmers have sex, doesn't mean that you have to go far to find some that are stinky and/or socially unpleasant.
Bear in mind that "not correllated" means that there is no link between one and the other. If he said that being a programmer and having good hygeine were negatively correllated, then that could be a myth, since it indicates a link.
Mind you, compared to other professions where you sit at a desk, there probably is a weak negative correllation between programming and bathing habits. Unless I've just been really lucky in my jobs. Who knows, maybe it's just the games industry.
In every intro level Archaelolgy course I've taken, there is always a comment in the text books on how Archaeology is nothing like the world of Indiana Jones.
Yeah, but that's just what Indiana Jones said in The Last Crusade. The authors probably finished sending those very manuscripts to the publishers shortly before Nazis torched their houses in an effort to find Noah's Arc.
I asked this on macslash too and nobody gave an answer - can anybody name a single OS X virus or worm that [...] Virex actually prevents?
Well, sure. Norton Antivirus is the worst. It doesn't transmit itself electronically, to be sure, but it does replicate through marketing and fear. And if you install it on your system, you're guaranteed to have serious problems after. If you install Virex, you probably won't also install NAV. Therefore, Virex, in most instances, prevents you from getting NAV. What a lifesaver!
It might also be interesting to speculate about why animators decide to use the transformations with such repetition. Is it simply to reduce the amount of new animation per episode or do they think it provides continuity between episodes?
Here's the easy way to find out. When the transformation sequence happens, do they re-use the frames, or do they show variations on the sequence, such as from different angles and/or incorporating the local terrain? If the former, it's primarily to save animation. If the latter, it's definitely continuity. Not that there can't be some of both, of course, but primarily that test will tell ya.
I've used Safari from the second (give or take) that the download was available on Apple. I wrote all those messages in Safari, and I'm writing this message in Safari. I've been using a Macintosh since there was a Machintosh, so I'm quite fond of Apple Technology. I used Cyberdog and all of its component-based ilk, cause I thought it was super cool.
That being said, I will use Safari until the 1.0 version comes out, and if that version doesn't have tabs or something equally convenient, I'll almost certainly switch back to Chimera. If they put tabs in later, I'll probably switch back.
Just to clarify, I think that tabbed browsing at best provides you with the same functionality you could get through use of the Window menu and the Minimize function, only not as well.
Here I disagree. And I suspect we will continue to do so, but I neglected to mention this on my first post. The window menu doesn't allow you to see, at a glance, what sites you have up and active. And, in Mouse Time, click-drag-un/click takes a whole lot more time than just click. If there were, say, a floating palette of the currently active windows, that would almost be as good, but that takes up a lot more screen real estate than tabs.
Project Builder never puts two separate projects into the same window. Ever.
No, but it does allow you to have different documents within that project to be in the same window. You can flip between different source files and they show up in the same window. It's the same thing as tabs, but just using a file list instead of an actual tab.
Speaking of, it's also similar, conceptually, to the preview pane used in mail programs (such as Mail). It's a view that shows different documents in the same space, which is changed by the click of a button on an element that represents what the view will contain. It just uses a list rather than tabs, just like Project Builder.
The basic gist of the problem is that you don't think tabbed browsing really works well. You list a lot of problems, and give lots of good theoretical reasons why they won't work, but the truth for me and many, many users is that Chimera's tabs work for us so much better than Safari's single windows. Period.
The advantage of tabs is enormous, and the only complaint I've heard is closing the window will lose many of your tabs. It's something you learn not to do, by and large.
You claim that no other Apple application uses Tabs, but you might want to load up Project Builder sometime to see that it's not really true. Tabs are useful in certain circumstances, and one of those circumstances is when you have a lot of information that you don't necessarily need side by side. The web is perfect for tabbing.
The paragraph about 'new views' and such? It means nothing to a user. It may be confusing to program, but so what? It's really, really useful. If you want to know the best way to program it, start with Chimera's implementation.
Of course, the best thing Apple could do for the success of Chimera is to not add tabbed browsing. Whatever other features, speed, or stability they might add, I and many others will go back to Chimera if Tabbed browsing isn't added to Safari.
That's a really cool idea in theory. In reality, you have to deal with trusting that everybody on the internet are trusted enough to decide what your spam is and isn't.
I mean, you've been on the internet before, right? You've seen the other people here, too? Think about it.
Back in the stone age of gaming, the 80's, Mattel attempted to create a game. It was a platform scrolling game, much like the rest of the time, except that they made it pink and branded it Barbie. It was a miserable failure. Mattel took a decade before they ventured back into games again, and they learned from their mistake.
Wow, what a basically incorrect and thoroughly unresearched position.
Do you remember Purple Moon? They thought much the way you do. "Oooh, girls like talking, so we'll make games about how difficult it is to get through school! They'll gossip about the other girls, and they'll try to be popular."
Purple Moon didn't survive. They were eventually bought by Mattel, mostly (as I recall), as a method of acquiring inexpensive office equipment.
It's true that they're not as into score as much as males are; they tend to prefer goals. And they don't project themselves into the character as much as men do, they usually prefer to play alongside the onscreen persona.
Granted, my games are for a slightly younger set, but the lessons translate well into later life.
Also, think The Sims. Very high female user base. Not really much "conversation", per se, but lots of goals.
That being said, I know several girls who game many types of games, both inside the game industry and out. I believe that most of the female aversion to gaming had to do with the way it was introduced in the 80's, rather than a genetic predisposition. But I tend to favor nurture over nature.
You don't need the surgery in order to live. You would get Lasik in order to be able to not have glasses. The two reasons for not having glasses are the convenience of not having to deal with glasses (including long-term cost reduction with respect to new prescriptions and such) and not looking like someone who wears glasses.
However, except in extreme circumstances, you can live a perfectly good life for just as long with glasses as with lasik. If you prefer, you could consider it 'unnecessary' surgery. There's probably a fancy word for that in the medical world.
Cal Simone, who is very famous in the Applescript world, had laser vision surgery done recently. Unfortunately, now he can't look at a computer screen for any period of time without getting a headache. He can't do any coding, and is very limited by how much computer work he can do at any given time.
I don't know what the odds are that such a thing would happen for a given laser eye surgery. Personally, I think that if there is any chance at all that a cosmetic surgery will prevent me from doing serious computer work, then the cosmetic surgery is not worth it.
Let's see...The OS X Server Admin Guide is a very long document that should tell you anything you need to know about setting up the server. All of the rest of the information is at Apple's OS X Server Site.
Net boot shouldn't need Jaguar Server. If you can get, or have, a copy of a later AppleShare server software, then you should be able to use the Macintosh Manager on that.
Okay, let's try that again, this time with more information.
Netboot is some nice technology from Apple. It allows you to set up a default system on some server, then have the computers on your network boot from that server. When the computer reboots, it reloads the system from the image on the server, rather than from something on the hard disk. It is very difficult for a user to change the information on the server. It's not impossible, but we all know that undefeatable security doesn't exist.
But NetBoot was made for exactly this sort of situation, so it's definitely worth checking out.
I would start with NetBoot. You can use the Macintosh Manager of OS X server (or later versions of ASIP, I believe), and set up a default image of OS 9. Then, anything they may do to the computers is wiped away at the next reboot.
Slashdot Mirror
=Brian
Whenever I suggest that someone read one of his books, I warn them, "Nobody has ever accused Neil Stephenson of being able to finish a book well."
The last time I wanted to switch to Dvorak, many years ago in college when one does things like that, I went all out. Switched keyboard layouts, actually physically swapped the keys on the keyboard, etc.
The problem is that some programs used command-keys that were based on keyboard position, and some were based on actual letter (so command-o on the dvorak layout might be either command-o, because they were using the letter, or command-s, because that is the key in the same space on the qwerty layout). So I never knew from program to program which keyboard shortcut I'd be using.
It might not be as much of an issue now, with a more modern OS. On the other hand, now I really don't care.
=Brian
---
I'm hoping to stop the next 50, though. But I'm an optimist.
You know what I'm talking about. Don't do it.
The point behind MacHack isn't really getting the hacks (though that's fun), nor is reading about the caffeine-crazed geeks. It's about getting a bunch of the most talented programmers in the Mac universe and gathering them together for a weekend. It's pretty much the same as your college campus friday night, except for the scale. It's about fun and learning and trying new things in an atmosphere you don't have access to all the time.
=Brian
I have an argument with a friend about it every now and then, who can't quite go with the whole "Don't pick it up" concept. But I'm the one paying for the phone. I don't see why I should have to answer it on other people's schedules.
=Brian
To put it another way, if you fixed a camera outside the universe (just pretend like there can be an outside of the universe), and watched the ship, it would have to warp around the other side from the proper camera angle.
=Brian
* - Um, well, I'm guessing the analogy's fine. I didn't really read the article. But presuming the parent post is correct aside from what I'm mentioning, then my post is also correct.
You know, it occurs to me that, if I had a site likely to be hit by Slashdot, I would put in a specialized referrer script/plugin for slashdot visitors. If you're coming from Slashdot, put up the same information, but quadruple the amount of banner ads. Your paid hits would spike tremendously, and you'd more than make up for a little downtime on the server (if my ads are worth actual money, of course. This is the web).
Hmmm.
=Brian
Yeah, I hate to say this, but just because many programmers have sex, doesn't mean that you have to go far to find some that are stinky and/or socially unpleasant.
Bear in mind that "not correllated" means that there is no link between one and the other. If he said that being a programmer and having good hygeine were negatively correllated, then that could be a myth, since it indicates a link.
Mind you, compared to other professions where you sit at a desk, there probably is a weak negative correllation between programming and bathing habits. Unless I've just been really lucky in my jobs. Who knows, maybe it's just the games industry.
=Brian
Yeah, but that's just what Indiana Jones said in The Last Crusade. The authors probably finished sending those very manuscripts to the publishers shortly before Nazis torched their houses in an effort to find Noah's Arc.
Seriously.
Well, sure. Norton Antivirus is the worst. It doesn't transmit itself electronically, to be sure, but it does replicate through marketing and fear. And if you install it on your system, you're guaranteed to have serious problems after.
If you install Virex, you probably won't also install NAV. Therefore, Virex, in most instances, prevents you from getting NAV. What a lifesaver!
=Brian
Here's the easy way to find out. When the transformation sequence happens, do they re-use the frames, or do they show variations on the sequence, such as from different angles and/or incorporating the local terrain? If the former, it's primarily to save animation. If the latter, it's definitely continuity. Not that there can't be some of both, of course, but primarily that test will tell ya.
I've used Safari from the second (give or take) that the download was available on Apple. I wrote all those messages in Safari, and I'm writing this message in Safari. I've been using a Macintosh since there was a Machintosh, so I'm quite fond of Apple Technology. I used Cyberdog and all of its component-based ilk, cause I thought it was super cool.
That being said, I will use Safari until the 1.0 version comes out, and if that version doesn't have tabs or something equally convenient, I'll almost certainly switch back to Chimera. If they put tabs in later, I'll probably switch back.
=Brian
Here I disagree. And I suspect we will continue to do so, but I neglected to mention this on my first post. The window menu doesn't allow you to see, at a glance, what sites you have up and active. And, in Mouse Time, click-drag-un/click takes a whole lot more time than just click. If there were, say, a floating palette of the currently active windows, that would almost be as good, but that takes up a lot more screen real estate than tabs.
Project Builder never puts two separate projects into the same window. Ever.
No, but it does allow you to have different documents within that project to be in the same window. You can flip between different source files and they show up in the same window. It's the same thing as tabs, but just using a file list instead of an actual tab.
Speaking of, it's also similar, conceptually, to the preview pane used in mail programs (such as Mail). It's a view that shows different documents in the same space, which is changed by the click of a button on an element that represents what the view will contain. It just uses a list rather than tabs, just like Project Builder.
=Brian
The advantage of tabs is enormous, and the only complaint I've heard is closing the window will lose many of your tabs. It's something you learn not to do, by and large.
You claim that no other Apple application uses Tabs, but you might want to load up Project Builder sometime to see that it's not really true. Tabs are useful in certain circumstances, and one of those circumstances is when you have a lot of information that you don't necessarily need side by side. The web is perfect for tabbing.
The paragraph about 'new views' and such? It means nothing to a user. It may be confusing to program, but so what? It's really, really useful. If you want to know the best way to program it, start with Chimera's implementation.
Of course, the best thing Apple could do for the success of Chimera is to not add tabbed browsing. Whatever other features, speed, or stability they might add, I and many others will go back to Chimera if Tabbed browsing isn't added to Safari.
=Brian
That's a really cool idea in theory. In reality, you have to deal with trusting that everybody on the internet are trusted enough to decide what your spam is and isn't.
I mean, you've been on the internet before, right? You've seen the other people here, too? Think about it.
=Brian
Branding does not a popular game make.
=Brian
Do you remember Purple Moon? They thought much the way you do. "Oooh, girls like talking, so we'll make games about how difficult it is to get through school! They'll gossip about the other girls, and they'll try to be popular."
Purple Moon didn't survive. They were eventually bought by Mattel, mostly (as I recall), as a method of acquiring inexpensive office equipment.
As someone who's made successful games for girls, I can say that girls do like to solve puzzles.
It's true that they're not as into score as much as males are; they tend to prefer goals. And they don't project themselves into the character as much as men do, they usually prefer to play alongside the onscreen persona.
Granted, my games are for a slightly younger set, but the lessons translate well into later life.
Also, think The Sims. Very high female user base. Not really much "conversation", per se, but lots of goals.
That being said, I know several girls who game many types of games, both inside the game industry and out. I believe that most of the female aversion to gaming had to do with the way it was introduced in the 80's, rather than a genetic predisposition. But I tend to favor nurture over nature.
=Brian
That's the one, thanks. It's a shame when the mind goes so early in the day.
=Brian
However, except in extreme circumstances, you can live a perfectly good life for just as long with glasses as with lasik. If you prefer, you could consider it 'unnecessary' surgery. There's probably a fancy word for that in the medical world.
=Brian
I don't know what the odds are that such a thing would happen for a given laser eye surgery. Personally, I think that if there is any chance at all that a cosmetic surgery will prevent me from doing serious computer work, then the cosmetic surgery is not worth it.
=Brian
Let's see...The OS X Server Admin Guide is a very long document that should tell you anything you need to know about setting up the server. All of the rest of the information is at Apple's OS X Server Site.
Net boot shouldn't need Jaguar Server. If you can get, or have, a copy of a later AppleShare server software, then you should be able to use the Macintosh Manager on that.
=Brian
Netboot is some nice technology from Apple. It allows you to set up a default system on some server, then have the computers on your network boot from that server. When the computer reboots, it reloads the system from the image on the server, rather than from something on the hard disk. It is very difficult for a user to change the information on the server. It's not impossible, but we all know that undefeatable security doesn't exist.
But NetBoot was made for exactly this sort of situation, so it's definitely worth checking out.
=Brian
=Brian