texts: Do I need to have system administrator permissions to install from the Mac App Store?

texts: Where does the Mac App Store install its applications to? Is this a system-wide location, or somewhere inside my Home directory? Is it possible to use the App Store on machines where I am not a System Administrator (just like I can currently install almost all applications I manually download by putting them in ~/Applications instead of /Applications)?


texts: Deleted all Mac OS X internal hard drive partitions

texts:
I booted to a live Ubuntu USB, wanting to delete partitions on an SD card, and ended up deleting all my partitions on my MacBook Pro's internal hd.

I have already tried gpart (which gets stuck at "Begin scan...") and testdisk (which can't create partitions since "Function write_part_mac not implemented"!).

I did try cmd + R at boot, but gave it up as it was taking a long time. I thought there would be an easier and faster alternative.

Is there a way to recover?


texts: Combining CharacterViewer with FontBook in Yosemite

texts:
I used a OS X 10.5.8 system for several years and now I am using a new laptop with
the latest Yosemite.
 I find some features of the older system are much more powerful than the newest one.
 For example, the Character Palette of my old computer is like a combination of
strengthened versions of today's CharacterViewer and FontBook.

The CharacterPalette of old could display all the characters (with their Unicode
info) of a given font in a FontBook manner and still fully interact with any text editor.

Today’s CharacterViewer has practically no interaction with font information.
  It is not possible to give CharacterViewer a font and ask it to display all the available
characters in that font. CharacterViewer can only display all characters (without consideration
of any font) in their order according to Unicode (and a few other encodings, but I'm interested in fonts not encodings). Also, when CharacterViewer displays the font variants of a given character it only
displays the shapes and not the font names. The user has to click each shape drawing
individually to see what is the name of the font it corresponds to. The older interface
which automatically displayed the font name next to the glyph was much simpler and
user-friendly.

I found those now-disappeared features incredibly useful as I wrote articles on ancient texts
involving many unusual characters.
  Is there any reasonable chance to restore those features on a Yosemite system ?

UPDATE 18:16 : In answer to a comment below, here is a sample of characters that I often use :

Note that my problem cannot be solved by simply gathering "all the characters I need" in the favorites Section of CharacterViewer. To exaggerate slightly, every epigraph has its own characters and I need to update my set of characters periodically. The typical character I need is often in the "Private Area" of the Unicode standard. The most comprehensive font I found so far is ALPHABETUM, and with the old Character Palette I regularly discovered new characters from ALPHABETUM.


texts: Transfer cell service from one iPhone 4 to another

texts: I just bought a 32 GB iPhone 4 on eBay to replace my broken iPhone 4. How do I change my Verizon service from one to the other?


texts: Very large (out of core) image viewer for Mac?

texts:
(Yes, I've seen this question, but what that poster considered  "truly massive" is pretty ordinary now.)

Can anyone suggest an image viewer on the Mac, OSS or commercial, that is capable of displaying TIFF images in the multi-gigabyte range? Ideally something capable of out-of-core viewing, i.e., for images beyond the limits of physical RAM.

I've tried Preview.app (not so much...), ImageMagick (hangs), Adobe Photoshop (worked great on a 25 GB, 8-bit grayscale tiff, 180k x 280k res, on a 16 GB RAM machine, but has a hard resolution limit at 300k in either resolution), and Graphic Converter (did well on a 1.5 GB image, but crashed on an 8 GB one [Edit: developer fixed this immediately upon my reporting it], but cannot open the 25 GB image).

I'm familiar with the old VLIV on Windows. Anything modern like this for Mac? It doesn't need to be a GUI app, and I have minimal requirements other than that it can actually display the images correctly.


texts: Screen corruption after wake - 10.13.5, 13-inch Early 2011 MPB

texts:
Ever since the macOS High Sierra 10.13.5 Update on my 13-inch, Early 2011, this issue has been happening recurrently:

The computer goes to sleep (or I activate sleep manually)
Some time passes, 10, 20 min
I wake the computer and the screen can already present corrupted graphics, or I login and some apps start showing corrupted graphics.

The computer gets slower when this happens and I have noticed that if I try to click through the apps, and restart some of them, everything comes back to normal.

This never happened before the update and I started noticing this behaviour the day after the software update.

I have seen some people with similar issues in other posts, but it seemed that the only way they found to fix it was to update the OS to a new version, but in this case, the computer is already on the last High Sierra version.

Also, some have pointed out Metal as a possible culprit, as it seems there is an ongoing migration of the OS to use Metal. Could this be the problem?

Thank for any help you might lend, would be really appreciated.


texts:
In previous versions of QuickTime you could remove the audio track and save the file. This function appears to have been removed in QuickTime 10.

Is it still possible?


texts: Is there a way on a Mac to have the input from the microphone be played in the headphones so I can listen to my own voice? Talking when you can't listen to yourself is a bit awkward


texts: App has photo access, but I never allowed it to access photos

texts:
I have a to do list app installed that allows you to add a profile photo. I added the image without ever being asked for access to my photos.

To my understanding, apps that can view your photos should be listed under settings / privacy / photos. This particular app isn’t listed there, what is going on?


texts: Phone calls on iPhone doesn't ring on Bluetooth headphones

texts:
I recently started using Bluetooth headphones. Today I received my first phone call since I started using the Bluetooth headphones, and to my surprise my iPhone rang out loud instead of playing the ringtone into the headphones I had connected.

I'd like my iPhone to be silent for the people around me, and only ring into my headphones. How can I do that? I'm using an iPhone XR with iOS 13.3.1 and Bose Noise Cancelling Headphones 700.

I'm puzzled that this was my experience, because somebody else said their experience was that incoming calls ring on the Bluetooth headphones.


texts: How to set Apple Magic Mouse permanently with Mac?

texts:
Recently I bought Mac and Magic mouse. I am new to Apple hardware. I  was trying to install mouse with mac. I installed it successfully. But whenever I restart the machine I need to configure magic mouse and pair with mac again and again.

Is there any way so that Mac remembers this magic mouse just like wifi names?

Thanks in advance.


texts: merge folder trees on OSX by moving, not copying them

texts:
It's backup time, and I've been trying to merge two big directory trees on the same (physical) partition, with lots levels of depth. The first one is the base containing all my projects up to 2014, and the other one is only a partial one containing the "changes" that have happened over the last few years (2014-16). New projects, and revisited ones.

In other words, mostly directories or files that have been added/modified exist in this new tree. There are a few files that only by accident ended up having the same name (but in essence are different, and not from the same original) and a few untouched files here and there (mostly files in projects that were revisited, updated, but not in every single aspect).

Now I wish to consolidate all the changes in one big base tree so I can put it in my drawer. In the past I used to work with arRsync but it makes actual copies of the files; and at this point I don't have the space (or time) to spare for all the files to be duplicated. It needs to be done by moving the files.

I've tried rsync, ditto, and the Finder on Sierra (with the alt key pressed), but all of them end up actually duplicating the files! Not sure if I missed something, but since I'm a bit stuck and afraid to mess up I thought of asking here for help!

Anybody who could point me to a safe direction on how to merge these trees without copying but moving the folders/files?

PS. I don't mind if the files with the same name get overwritten unintelligently - as long as no folder gets replaced, and all unique files come together it is good for me. The files that have the same name on both trees, are few and can be easily recovered. However it would be nice if the answer made mention on how to perform intelligently these overwrites for the sake of completeness (and future reference)


texts: I use Lync in Mac OS El Capitan. I installed Lync 14.2.1. When I send some text to somebody, he gets this text as clipped. tail of chars are clipped. it is impossible to read "y" or "g". because they don't have tails. I tried to various font and font size but no change. how can I fix this ?


texts: iPad PDF reader that supports multi-page viewing?

texts:
Is there any app that allows the user to zoom out and see multiple pages of the same PDF simultaneously? (for example by zooming out the PDF).

Adobe Acrobat and other PDF desktop viewers have this feature but I haven't seen any App. for the iPad that includes it.

For example, on my PC I can get the following view of my PDF after zooming out by a factor of 12.5%:

Thanks


texts:
Can I make that a specific file opens in a specific space? (For instancem can I make that "receipt.pages" document always opens in space 2)

(I know that I can make an application open in a specific space: dock > ctrl click application > option > desktop 2. But THIS IS NOT WHAT I AM LOOKING FOR,  I ask if this is possible for a specific file not all files of an application)


texts: What can a 1st gen Apple TV do than a new Apple TV cannot?

texts:
I have a 1st gen one and I'm thinking about selling it to get a new one.

People on ebay seem to want the old one.

Why are 1st gen Apple TVs selling on ebay for over $100 while a new Apple TV is sold for $99?


texts: Activate Night Shift and Invert Colors simultaneously

texts:
It seems like on both iOS and macOS, you must either choose to activate Night Shift or Invert Colors—but not both at the same time.

Due to iOS being so restricted, it seems as though (at least without a jailbreak) there can be no workaround to allow activating both features simultaneously. However, on macOS, I assume there must be a way.

One possibility is by using a third-party program such as f.lux, which can be used alongside Invert Colors on macOS (this is also possible on iOS, albeit if you have a jailbreak or are able to side load a similar app). However, I would prefer using Night Shift to f.lux.

Is there a way to "trick" macOS and activate both at the same time?


texts: Crashplan headless suppport: .ui_info resets every time I reboot

texts:
I've recently updated to CrashPlan 4.3.0 on my mac running OS X 10.10.3.

I've followed the headless guide on the CrashPlan support site and contacted their support line, whom are usually good but this time refused to help me because headless CrashPlan an unsupported config.

Every time I reboot my OS X 10.10.4 machine I find that /Library/Application\ Support/CrashPlan/.ui_info file defaults to it's normal local CrashPlan server details. Ie. back to 4243,hashed token.

No matter how many times I change it to match '4200,crashplan server token from my linux server' it defaults back.

Anyone else had this issue?


texts:
my hosts file looks like this

it should open facebook if you try to open google

173.252.110.27 google.com
##
# Host Database
#
# localhost is used to configure the loopback interface
# when the system is booting.  Do not change this entry.
##
127.0.0.1       localhost
255.255.255.255 broadcasthost
::1             localhost
fe80::1%lo0     localhost

also after I added that first line I did:

dscacheutil -flushcache; sudo killall -HUP mDNSResponder

on a OSX 10.8.5 but it doesn't changes anything.

I searched for a while and found different things none helped me.

On this link: Hosts file in OSX Lion not blocking as expected there is a good answer but I don't know how to check which file format I have.

So the question is:
- is there something wrong with my hosts file?
- how do I check which file format I've got

Thank you!


texts:
I am running MacOS BigSur.I added the reminder window to the desktop by double clicking the list as shown below in the image.

This is the smallest size I can achieve by using the resize option.
Requirement : Reduce the size similar to resizing  stickies so that it will be compact in desktop . Is is possible to accomplish this using plist edit or terminal ?


texts: How to remove right side space in TextWrangler?

texts:
In TextWrangler, I have a lot of white area in the editor that goes right well past 100 characters. Then it continues into this gray area. That creates a huge horizontal scroll bar.

I really only need it to about 85 characters to the right. Is there any way to restrict this?


texts: I accidentally unmounted and erased the Macintosh HD in disk utility and restored to the OS X Base System, and now I can't reinstall macOS. The only disk that shows up in disk utility is the OS X Base System. Please Help!!!


texts: White MacBook hangs at gray Apple screen forever, won't boot to single user, won't mount using Disk Utility. What do I do next?

texts:
After a forced shutdown, my white MacBook hangs at the gray screen with the Apple logo and an infinitely spinning progress wheel.

I can boot in verbose mode, but I didn't see any particular error, just a timeout (I can provide the verbose text, but I'm at work and my Mac is at home).

I can't boot into single-user mode. It just sits at a similar point as the verbose mode.

I booted off my Snow Leopard install DVD. It took nearly 10 minutes! Once it got the install screens, I ran Disk Utility. It sees the internal hard drive. It sees the partition. Info on the partition shows that it is an HFS partition. But, it's grayed out and unmounted. If you click "Mount" it says that it cannot be mounted - run First Aid.

"Verify" runs for about 8-10 minutes, shows messages for each step, no errors, and then says Verify has passed. Still won't mount. "Repair" runs for about as long, shows no errors, shows no repairs. Still won't mount. Grrr.

I hooked up an external drive and created an Image of the drive. This took hours. Completed with no errors. I then tried to mount the disk image (.dmg). It ran a full Verify (I don't know how long - I fell asleep). It Verified, but said it couldn't be mounted and suggested I run First Aid. Verify passed. Repair is grayed out. Won't mount.

What should I do next? I'm going to replace the hard drive no matter what, but my last Time Machine backup was 7 months ago (I know, I know, ...) and I would like to, hopefully, get to the last 7 months of files.

It's the only Mac I have, so I can't do the Target disk thing.

DiskWarrior? Any other utilities (particularly free ones) to try? Bootable Linux utilities?

Also, assuming file-system corruption, could my external disk image be processed by disk utilities just as easily as the hard drive? In other words, if I erased my hard drive and repartitioned and reinstalled the OS, would I be any worse off in regards to maybe recovering files if I just deal with the external Image?

Otherwise, I'll probably replace the internal drive, reinstall, then but the internal drive in an external SATA-to-USB enclosure and work on it from there...


texts: External hard drives do not spin down and overheat

texts:
I have three Newertech Ministack external HDD enclosures attached to my Mac mini Server. The drives inside are continuously overheating, since they do not spin down properly when inactive, while the Ministack's turns off.

Setting is as follows:

Mac Mini - USB2 - Ministack V3 + 2TB HGST Ultrastar
Mac Mini - USB3 - Ministack 2012 + 4TB Seagate Enterprise Capacity
Mac Mini - USB3 - Ministack 2012 + 3TB Seagate Enterprise Capacity

Both Seagate HDDs do not spin down properly.

The strange thing is that they appear to spin down, while the Ministack V3 is still working. But when the Ministack V3 goes into standby, both Seagate Drives start spinning, while the Ministack 2012's fan remains off.

I found out, that when in standby, when SMART is queried, only the drives turn on and later do not spin down.

I had 2 disks dying this summer and try to figure out how to improve the setting.

This is why I have the following programs installed:

iStat
DiskWarrior
Drive Genius
DriveDX + SAT SMART Driver v0.8

In order to eliminate SMART from the equation I turned off HDD monitoring in iStat, eliminated external HDD monitoring in Drive Genius and set DriveDx to 8 hours testing.

Can someone help?


texts:
I was happily using PD 8.0 . Then I upgraded to Yosemite 10.10 and now Parallels 8.0 does not work anymore.
Did some search and looks like they have fixed it for Parallels 9.0
So I have to upgrade, Ok Fine.
BUT is there is a way I can skip re-installing everything again on PD 9.0 and somehow copy whatever I have from 8.0 to 9.0 ?


texts: How can I delete local mail on mac and stop terminal saying "You have mail."

texts:
I set up a wayward cron task and accidentally sent a lot of emails to the Mac's local mail server (when opening terminal, it says "You have mail."), they're all junk and I want to remove them. What is the best way to do so?
I have considered a couple of approaches, but I don't want to risk breaking something. Here are those 2 approaches:

simply deleting the file /var/mail/$USER
This approach:

Go to the Finder, hold down the Option key and click the Go menu. You'll see a Library folder in the list. Click that. (You can only see it when you hold down the Option key.)
Within, there's a Mail folder, then v2, then subfolders for accounts. Your old account folder may be there, although I've always experienced it being deleted when an account is removed.

I'm a little unsure about this because I don't see V2, but instead V8, and I have no idea what those files are:

So I am unsure of what to do. The goal is to safely remove any potential junk from my computer, and stop the "You have mail." message from appearing when I start the terminal.


texts: I searched my US American MacBook keyboard and I did not find symbol of "`" (grave accent). Did I miss it?


texts: Can I backup an arbitrary file on iCloud?

texts:
If I open iCloud in System Preferences, it says I have 5 GB of storage available.  I'd like to use it to back up some zip archives of source code.  Is that possible, or can you only access that storage through specific programs?

Update - I've accepted the answer about the Mobile Backups folder, but I it is not quite what I want for a backup system, so I'm not going to use iCloud for this. If I delete a file from Mobile Backups, it will disappear from the iCloud folder, but I want protection from accidental deletion.  I want plain old file storage.


texts: Is signing a pdf file electronically with Preview safe?

texts: I would like to sign PDF forms using Preview but I am hesitant that the signature can be copied by the receiving party. Has it been ensured that it cannot be copied? Of course, I realise that it could be printed and scanned, however the more troublesome, the safer it is.


texts: How to fix drag&drop copy onto optical media

texts:
So I got a DVD-RAM and a BD-RE both formatted with UDF, packet-writeable (I think packet writing is the wrong descriptor here as a DVD-RAM is randomly addressable but it's pretty close).
At least the DVD-RAM seems to be somewhat offically supported and they are delivered with UDF on them as factory default anyway.

So now as I drag & drop a file onto the disc in Finder this will most of the time fail with some error like "xy cannot be read or written" same happens when using cp in Terminal to copy a file. i/o errors...

But this seems to happen only because some of the sectors are corrupted on the disc (and not yet marked as defective) or there are some buffering errors sometimes, because if you try often enough it will eventually write the whole file without an error. But especially with big files this is pretty annoying as the error occurs a little later every write until the whole file is written to disc (flawlessly btw. it reads and checksums perfectly then)

Is there anything I could try to fix this behavior? My best guess is Finder reacting too harsh to i/o errors as these are not very common for harddrives but much more common on optical drives.

BD-RE shows exactly the same issues but less often. DVD-RAM is worse by far.


texts: I just plugged my Roland A-49 to my MacBook Pro (Early 2011 2.3 GHz). The MIDI keyboard would have its power supplied via USB, but it has no power. The specification says it needs 98 mA current, which is way less than the 500 mA provided by the MBP's USB 2.0 port. If I plug it into a desktop PC, it works. What can be the problem? An USB hub would solve this issue, I suppose, but can I avoid buying one?


texts:
When performing actions which require administrator privileges macOS offers a standard privileges elevation dialog:

How a user can be sure such dialog is legitimate? From my perspective such dialog can easily be imitated. From there it can be used to capture users's password which leads to essentially root privileges on the machine.

Is there anything which can make this process safer?


texts: Attempts to install Windows 8.1 onto an Early 2011 MBP are failing

texts:
So I have spent the past couple of days attempting to install Windows 8.1 onto a MBP with High Sierra. Apparently, this model is unable to create and boot from a USB dive. So the normal Boot Camp method is out of the question.

I've been following a guide posted on this site that uses VirtualBox to install Windows without the need for a USB drive or even a DVD.

Here's the guide for reference: Is it possible to Bootcamp Windows 8.1 using USB on Late 2011 MBP?

So here's what I've done so far...

Installed the latest version of VirtualBox
Created a new VM with Windows 8.1 as the version. I did not add a virtual drive.
Using the Terminal, I found that the internal disk, disk0, had 4 partitions. I had created a WINDOWS partition, identified as disk0s4 when using diskutil list.
I entered the following series of commands:

sudo chown $USER /dev/disk0s4
sudo chown $USER /dev/disk0s1
sudo chown $USER /dev/disk0
diskutil unmount /dev/disk0s4
VBoxManage internalcommands createrawvmdk -filename ~/RawWinDisk.vmdk -rawdisk /dev/disk0 -partitions 1,4
diskutil unmount /dev/disk0s4

in a Terminal application window.
So far so good. No issues here besides having to disable the SIP in order to create the VMDK file.
Back to the VM I created early, I when to the settings and clicked on the "+" sign by the SATA controller. I added the VMDK file that I just made so it appeared below the SATA controller.
This is where I had to improvise. The guide asks to click on "Empty" below the IDE controller... except there was not IDE controller listed. Instead, there was another "Empty" shown under the SATA controller. So, I added a virtual disk (The Windows 8.1 ISO file) and checked in the "Live CD/DVD" option.
And here is where everything goes kaputs. I go to start the VM. The Windows 8 installer boots up fine. I enter in the product key and continue. I am given the option to upgrade or do a clean install. I choose clean. The installation halts with the following error:

  Compatibility report: The computer started using the windows installation media. Remove the installation media and restart your computer so that windows starts normally. Then, insert the installation media and restart the upgrade. (Do not select Icustom [advanced] to perform an upgrade Icustom [advanced] installs a new copy of windows and deletes your programs and settings.)

So now what? I know the ISO file is fine because I have used it before to reinstall Windows. Is there a setting I missed?


texts: Why doesn’t my toe consistently register as a touch?

texts:
I was sitting on my couch watching Harry Potter with my kids, even though I didn’t want to. My phone flipped on to the floor when I got up for something. When I can back I wanted to see if my friend texted me so instead of bending over I touched it with my toe so the screen would turn on. I couldn’t get it to register as a touch. Since the first time, it takes about 5-10 touches before the screen comes on.
What gives? Do I have more electric charge in my fingers than I do my toes? How convenient.


texts: Setting Default Send-From Address on iPhone

texts:
If I take a photo using the camera app, and then want to share it by email, the default is to send from my icloud email address. I have my gmail set up on my phone using exchange, and that had always been the default until recently (with all that icloud stuff).

How can I set my gmail address as the default send-from address when sharing a photo?


texts: What are the wireless display options for MacBook Air?

texts:
Are there any viable Wireless display solutions for MacBook Air (with Thunderbolt port). I know I can connect to HDMI-compatible TV or Monitor using cables and convertors. Is there any way I can avoid using wires?

First thing that comes to my mind is DLNA since so many TVs support DLNA. But that is just for streaming videos and not for normal laptop usage. I am curious to know any solution exists?


texts: What's the point of the 60W Apple MagSafe replacement charger?

texts:
One of the cable tabs on my MagSafe charger for my MacBook came undone, so I took this as a sign to retire the charger to home use and to purchase another for travel. When I went to my local Best Buy, they had two chargers for sale, 60W and 85W, that looked the same size, sold for the same price, etc. The only difference was that the 85W supported the MacBook Pro, while the 60W only supported the MacBook.

Even though I am a MacBook owner, I figured I might, sometime in the future, purchase a MacBook Pro and I went with the 85W charger. When I opened it up I found it was slightly larger than the 60W charger it was replacing, but for all intents and purposes there's no real difference between the two. So why does Apple sell a 60W replacement (or even manufacture the 60W at all)? Are there enough people that want to save 25W?


texts: Mac exhibiting inexplicable network disconnects?

texts:
Lately, I've seen a few Mac computers that can a) see the wireless network, b) "connect" to the wireless network, and c) receive a valid IP address, yet when a web browser is launched it's stuck in an eternal loading loop, or when the ping utility is used, it returns with a connection timeout.

I've solved these problems in the past by making a new network location, but recently that alone hasn't seemed to fix it immediately. I'll make a new location being sure to hit 'Apply', even going so far as to restart the computer, but none of these things seem to work as I expect them to. Internet connectivity will "magically" return a ways into troubleshooting, and I wish I had a more concrete explanation as to why. Could anyone elaborate on these situations?


texts: How can I change the photo used for iOS8 Family Sharing?

texts:
When setting up Family Sharing on iOS8, I can set up a photo for my family user (the same photo will be used for the iCloud account) by going to Settings > iCloud > Family Sharing. The dialog allows me to select a photo, move it, resize it.

Once I have selected and confirmed the photo I want to use, is there a way to change the photo again? Holding a finger on the photo doesn't have any effect. I haven't found a way to reset or change the photo.

Is that something that Apple has not thought about, or am I simply missing something?


texts: How to make 64-bit guests available in a nested VirtualBox installation on iMac 5K 27-inch?

texts:
I have installed VirtualBox inside of VirtualBox.

Host OS: OS X Yosemite
Guest OS: Ubuntu 12.04
Both versions of VirtualBox: 4.3.28

The guest versions in VirtualBox installed on Ubuntu 12.04 are only 32-bit.

How can I make 64-bit available?


texts: Is the companion iPhone app mandatory for Apple Watch apps?

texts:
I am developing a simple standalone app for the Apple Watch. I really don't need any functionality on the phone. Am I required to provide an iPhone app?

The watchkit documentation is something like:

  Create WatchKit apps. WatchKit apps have two parts: A WatchKit
  extension that runs on iPhone and a set of user interface resources
  that are installed on Apple Watch. When your app is launched on Apple
  Watch, the WatchKit extension on iPhone runs in the background to
  update the user interface and respond to user interactions. WatchKit
  provides three opportunities to extend your iPhone app to Apple Watch:
  WatchKit apps, Glances, and actionable notifications.


texts: Deleting all but the most recent Time Machine backup

texts:
I just bought a new Mac and I'm manually migrating everything over given that it's been a while since I did a clean install and that the new Mac has less storage than my existing one. I will be wiping the old Mac after I do the migration.

However, I have about 600GB worth of Time Machine backups for the old Mac on the NAS which I'd like to shrink to make space for Time Machine on the new Mac. I just want the latest Time Machine backup to serve as an archive in case I forget to move some files when I wipe the old Mac.

Is it possible to (easily) delete all but the latest snapshot of the Time Machine backup?

Thanks


texts:
I am experiencing short interruptions of the Bluetooth connection on my early 2013 MacBook Pro Retina. I have connected my Magic Mouse, my Magic Keyboard and Bluetooth headphones. Every few seconds there is a short interruption resulting in lag of the input devices or a short distortion in the sound. The devices do not get disconnected. The time interval is very short.

What I find peculiar is, when I ping at the same time ping google.de, every time the distortion occurs the ping tenfolds just for one iteration.

Has anyone observed similar problems?


texts: Changing The Dock's Appearance From 3D to 2D?

texts:
Sometimes the glossy finish to the Dock 3D's appearance annoys me, and I want something less bedazzling on the eyes.

Is there a simple terminal command I can use to convert it from a 3D glossy to a 2D plain dock in appearance ?


texts: Replacing Retina Display with non-Retina Display?

texts: My retina display in MacBook pro 2013 model broke. Part Number: 661-8153. Apple store said it will cost me $430 to get it replaced. I don't want to spend $430 on this old MacBook pro. What are my options? Can I instead put 2012 non-retina display or any other display to it which will cost me less? Right now, I removed the display assembly and connected it to an external monitor via HDMI port and using it like a desktop.


texts: Old phone cannot connect to computer, the "computer connection" icon appears on phone

texts:
I would like to get some pictures and audio out of an AT&T SGH-a687 phone onto my Mac computer. I first tried connecting it to a New PC Studio on a PC, but there was a problem after transfer 2 photos, so I tried again. But the PC could no longer detect the phone, even though the "connected to computer" icon appears on the phone. I tried a different cable, different USB ports. No use.

So I downloaded the Samsung Kies on my Mac. Same thing, it tries to search for the phone once I connect the phone, but the computer doesn't detect anything. The phone still shows the "connected to computer" icon.

There is also Bluetooth (no internet on the phone) on the phone, but it failed to send the picture each time I tried.

What can I do at this point? Please also suggest data extraction software for either Mac or PC, if that's the easier route.


texts: VirtualBox/Vagrant Fully Remove Virtual Machine to Clear Hash Sum Mismatches, etc

texts:
I'm running Mavericks, and using Vagrant with VirtualBox to spin up a Precise32 box. When I first started, I had issues with apt-get update on the box (hash sum mismatches, etc.); so after weeks of trying to fix it, I just reinstalled my OS and tried again--problem solved. Unfortunately, the problem has returned after several months; so I cannot use the box anymore.

I have tried reinstalling Vagrant and tried deleting everything I could find that was associated with the box and re-adding the box; but nothing seems to work. I'm guessing that there has to be something that's being left over from the old box(es) (registry? I don't even know..), but I can't figure out what it is and how to remove it.

Thoughts? I just want to start with a totally fresh box without having to reinstall my OS.

Edit 1: I'm still looking into this, but this may be resulting from an internet filter that I installed (k9)--see here.


texts: Using Command + [number] to go between terminals

texts: Before I upgraded to Mojave I was able to use command + [number] to go between various windows in Terminal. After the upgrade that ability is gone and I am unsure how to get it back. Is it possible to enable this configuration?


texts: TextEdit print to pdf failure in RemoteViewServices

texts:
I just started getting "error while printing" printing to a pdf from textedit
(i.e. Print > PDF > Save as PDF ...).  This has worked in the past (for years),
though a web search indicates it's a common problem,
  e.g.    https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4459650

It does not happen when printing to pdf from Safari, and also does not happen when
logged in as a different user.  The console log says

2/11/13 1:02:32.547 PM TextEdit[95328]: *** Assertion failure in -[NSAccessoryWindow sendEvent:], /SourceCache/RemoteViewServices/RemoteViewServices-80.6/NSAccessoryWindow.m:144
2/11/13 1:02:32.548 PM TextEdit[95328]: window allowed unexpectedly

Some of the web posts have included these suggestions, which do not work for me (nor for
the other people with the problem, generally)

delete the textedit preferences (2 files in ~/Library/Preferences)
clear the print cueue
cmd-option-quit Textedit and restart the machine
repair permissions and disk check

Seems like it's an unsolved problem, so fame and glory to someone who can advise.

The machine is running 10.8.5. Nothing has been updated recently, however
I recall I was trying to look in the print options for something a few days ago.

Also curious, what is this RemoteViewServices?  Is this the API used to send our print jobs
directly to an agency in Washington?  More seriously, google has multiple
mentions of errors, but no explanation of what it actually is.


texts: El Capitan changes language input after reboot

texts: every time I restart my Mac (OS X El Capitan 10.11.3), the language input is set to "ABC Extended" instead of English or German. This causes me trouble when I want to type my password. Is there a way to set this back to English or German?


texts: Where to find docs for the supported actions for `tell application` statement

texts:
Where to find docs for the supported actions for tell application statement. Similar to

tell application "Finder" to close every window

How can I know that Finder is supported and also close every window is one of its actions?


texts: I want to perform a horizontal flip animation between two images in Keynote. How I can do this? The flipping should swipe images


texts: how do I turn free space into a useable partition?

texts:
I have read a few answers to this sort of question already, but don't know how to do it. I had some problems with my partitioning, it seems the operating system has been somehow installed on bootcamp, not Macintosh HD.

Obviously Bootcamp is the bottom partition regardless of this and so when I decided I'd just delete the other partition and expand bootcamp I got left with about 70gb free space i can't seem to expand into.

The answer seems to be turning the free space into a new partition and going from there however, the thing I think is meant to be doing this has been saying 'modifying partition map.' for a very long time now and I don't know if it's even doing anything...?


texts: Mac Apps Store wont download any apps on computer

texts: I have successfully downloaded apps on a laptop, but when trying to download on a desktop mac, whenever i click install, it says 'put password for billing info', as it would normally. I do so, click enter, and nothing happens.  No error message, nothing.


texts: Is screen sharing under Sierra secure, i.e., a fully encrypted connection?

texts:
I'm trying to figure out if the screen sharing data is encrypted when I connect to my Mac at home from another Mac at work. I've seen a lot of questions and answers but I can't really find a definitive answer. Basically, I just have my Mac sitting at home with Screen Sharing turned on and I'm port-forwarding 5900. It works but again, I'd like it to be secure.

Now, before anyone mentions SSH tunneling, I had it set up the first day I tried this (Remote Login, port-forwarded 22, tunnel created, etc) but then it stopped working. I'm still trying to figure out what's going on there but if Screen Sharing is completely encrypted, then I'm not going to worry about the tunnel anymore.


texts: Can't recognise Microsoft keyboard and mouse after OS Catalina update

texts:
I updated to the latest OS Catalina 10.15.4 on my MacBook Pro 15 with the Microsoft keyboard and mouse connected and working during the download process.

Once the computer was updated the keyboard didn't work on the computer although I unplugged and plugged the usb bundle.

I have another iMac where there I had the magic keyboard and mouse connected where I also updated it to OS Catalina 10.15.4; as a sanity I plugged the usb of the set to the iMac and it works fine.

I guess I should clear old files/cache of the Microsoft set on my MacBook Pro but cant seem to find a solution to it on the Internet.

I saw this issue: https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/msoffice/forum/all/intellitype-82-macos-catalina-cannot-install/661f9172-7c04-4839-85e8-1629224b24c2
but prior to the above stated problem I didn't install the intellitype at all.

Would appreciate some help


texts: Why are new Apps only compatible with the latest version(s) of Mac OS X & not backward comatible with earlier versions of the Operating System?

texts: I have noticed that many Apps require at least Mac OS X 10.7.4 to be installed on an apple mac and some apps even require Mac OS X 10.8 to be installed. Cant apps be made backward compatible for those users who may well be on earlier versions (ie Snow Leopard & Leopard). Is this also therefore a very good reason to upgrade to the latest version of the operating system ?


texts: Is there a keyboard shortcut to focus on the Ribbon in Microsoft Office 2011 products?

texts: I would like to be able to create charts in Excel using my keyboard only.  Is there some way of moving focus to the Ribbon with the keyboard?


texts: Can't get iTunes music library to replicate on iPhone 6+

texts: Have researched this and no fixes have helped.  I have songs on my iPhone 6+ that I do not want on it, and I have completely deleted those songs from my iTunes music library.  So when I then sync iTunes to my iPhone, those unwanted songs still remain on my iPhone. Shouldn't the syncing effectively "overwrite" the library that's on my iPhone?  (this is also happening with my iPad) Appreciate suggestions - thanks!


texts: Open Firefox Developer Tools on certain display

texts: When I hit the inspect button on a website, Firefox (developer edition, on display 1) opens the developer tools on display 3 (I have three monitors). Is there a way to tell Firefox (or Mac) to open the developer tools on display 2?


texts: Since I upgraded to iTunes 11, my iMac (27", 2011) goes to sleep during playback to my Apple TV. This didn't happen before the upgrade, so it has to be related to the upgrade. Does anyone what I could do to prevent this from happening? It's kind of annoying. Standard standby time for the iMac is 10 minutes. Thus, after 10 minutes of playback my iMac goes to sleep. Both, my iMac and my Apple TV are running the most up-to-date software.


texts:
I am selling my 2010 Macboook and was wanting to back up all of my files and information and then wipe it clean and get it back to factory settings...
Can anyone help me? Or point me in the right direction.
Thank You.


texts: Key combination not propagating to Fusion VM

texts:
I have a clean installation of El Capitan with VMware Fusion Pro 8 and Windows 10 Pro.
I use Fusion in full screen, and the windows keyboard command Control + Command+ D is used to create a new desktop, however when pressing this command, the mouse curser changes to the Mac OS cursor, and nothing happens. It seems Mac OS is digesting the command and not allowing the virtual machine to receive it.

Interestingly:

The VM receives other commands, like Control + Command+ Left
All commands 'disableable' through preferences in both keyboard and accessibility are disabled, with the exception of Command + Option + Left, and Command + Option + Right to change full screen applications.
The only reference I have found to it, is a Document Shortcut, which I would expect to be consumed via the application in focus.

How can this renegade command be rectified?


texts: Applescript to reboot router by clicking on buttons

texts:
I am attempting to write an applescript to reboot a router using Safari during the night when no one is using the network.  I can successfully log into the router but am having trouble in selecting the button.  It appears that the button is in a frame and I don't know how to select the button in the frame.  After logging in, the HTML code appears as:

<frame name="topFrame" marginWidth="0" marginHeight="0" src="./frame/top.htm" noResize scrolling="no" frameSpacing="0" frameBorder="0">
    <frameset cols="182,55%,*">
        <frame id="frame1" name="bottomLeftFrame" marginWidth="0" marginHeight="0" src="./MenuRpm.htm" noResize frameBorder="1" scrolling="auto" style="overflow-x:hidden">
        <frame id="frame2" name="mainFrame" marginWidth="0" marginHeight="0" src="./mainFrame.htm" frameBorder="1">
        <frame name="helpFrame" marginWidth="0" marginHeight="0" src="./help/StatusHelpRpm.htm" frameBorder="1">
    </frameset>
</frameset>

Inside the code for the "bottomLeftFrame," I want to click on the button below:

System Tools

- Time Settings

- Diagnostic

- Factory Defaults

- Reboot

- Password

- System Log

- Statistics

Can someone please show me how I can select the menu item with the id of "menu_tools"? Thanks!


texts: Does the scp command on mac not respect the -l (limit) option?

texts:
I'm fiddling with scp on mac and it seems to me like the -l option doesn't work; though I'm also (perhaps more) open to the idea that I'm just misunderstanding or misusing something. I'm not trying to solve a problem that requires limiting the bandwidth of a transfer so I don't need alternative suggestions, I'm just curious what's going on with my attempt to use this specific option. Looking for dis/confirmation that this is the behaviour other's are seeing and/or an explanation of what's wrong with my attempt.
I made a 10K file then tried to scp it to localhost:<file> with a limit of 1Kb/s thinking it should take ~80 seconds but the output of scp shows a transfer speed higher than 1Kb/s and the command completes effectively immediately.

xy@xyz exploring-scp % man scp | grep -B1 Limits
    -l limit.
        Limits the used bandwidth, specified in Kbit/s.

src=$(mktemp)
cat /dev/random | head -c 10240 > $src
scp -i ~/.ssh/id_rsa -l 1 $src localhost:/tmp/random.bin

My first thought was that maybe it's being "smart" and seeing localhost and skipping the network and therefore skipping with bandwidth limit; but the same thing happens both if I use the explicit IP for localhost, and also if I try to scp the file from a docker container back to the mac host.
I'm also fairly confident I've used the -l flag successfully on linux even when copying to/from localhost. (I was fiddling with it a little while ago on linux but it's not convenient right now for me to access a linux machine to try it on).

MacBook Pro (Retina, 13-inch, Early 2015)
2.7 GHz Dual-Core Intel Core i5
8 GB 1867 MHz DDR3
Intel Iris Graphics 6100 1536 MB

Thanks


texts: Is there an iPad PDF reader that allows in-app dictionary customization?

texts:
I want to use my iPad to read PDFs of my textbooks. There are often vocabulary terms which I would like to create my own definition for and then be able to click on that word or phrase later in the PDF and see my definition.

This seems different from the standard note function which only puts the text in the location where it was defined. I looked through reviews of PDF readers and none of them mentioned specifically what I am looking for.

I am willing to pay up to $10 for this.

Is there an app that has what I am looking for?


texts: Is there a way to make pasting into Terminal safe?

texts:
I paste filenames/etc into Terminal all the time, and occasionally the contents of the clipboard isn't what I expect.

Often the result is several hundred lines of text (eg, source code) pasted into the command prompt, triggering god only knows what nastiness.

Is there some way to prevent bash from blindly executing whatever I paste in? I wish it would just paste the text, and let me decide after if I wanna execute it.


texts: Why does my Spotlight index get corrupted?

texts:
Recently I have been having an issue where at least once a month my Spotlight index gets corrupted, and I can no longer search the content of mail in Mail.app. I can fix the problem by taking my HD out of Spotlight, and then putting it back in, but it then takes about 4 hours to re-index the drive.

Why is my Spotlight index getting munged? Do other applications besides Finder mess about with it?

Is there a way to keep the index optimized or repair it, such as when I repair a MySQL table?


texts:
I have a Nero Disk Image(.nrg) File and I would like to mount it on OSX to copy it's contents. I've tried to rename to .iso and to use NRG2ISO with no luck.

Any tips ?


texts:
I'm looking for a way to find size of individual folders (NOT on Exchange) in Outlook 2011.
Searched far and wide with no results.
Is it possible that nobody needed that feature before?


texts: Magic Trackpad loses connection after sleep and doesn't connect again

texts:
I'm running on Sierra 10.12 my Magic Trackpad 2 is losing his connection after my Mac entered in sleep.

The most strange is that if I restart my Mac without settings intervention, the Trackpad will reconnect automatically without any problem...

PS : The issue was not resolved with this tread

Bluetooth Magic Trackpad not recognized after sleep


texts: Is my iPhone 6s Touch ID scanner faulty? When should I be prompted for my passcode?

texts:
I recently purchased an iPhone 6s. It's the first iPhone I’ve owned with a Touch ID scanner.

After setting it up I’ve found it to be very accurate, fast and reliable. But sometimes I get prompted for my passcode instead of just being able to use my fingerprint. This appears to be random. It usually happens when I first use it in the morning, but not always!! And sometimes it happens at other times too.

I read this question but I’ve already tried deleting and adding my fingerprints again, but I didn’t notice any improvement.

Is my fingerprint Touch ID scanner faulty? When should I be prompted for my passcode?


texts: Is it possible to create a group of Applications on Dock without changing the path?

texts:
Now that I have a bunch of applications on my Dock, I want to create a group to manage similar applications altogether. For example, I want to group a set of graphics apps (e.g. Affinity Designer, Sketch 3, Pixelmator) at one place, and access to them by tapping on the group first, and then selecting the app.

This can be done if you create a new directory and move the apps to it, and then drag and drop the directory to the Dock. However, this changes the path of the app (e.g. /Applications/Graphics/Pixelmator.app), which I like to eschew. (That's why I called it group, not directory.)

Also this has a problem, in that you must drag and drop to the right side of your Dock...

So is it still possible to create a group in this case?


texts:
I am trying to access a file on my MacBook Pro via a web app running on Tomcat in Eclipse (localhost).  Whenever I try to access the file I receive the following IO Exception:

Exception:  /private/var/appname/app_config.txt (No such file or directory)

This file does exist and when I use Apple+I the file info window gives this location:

/private/var/appname

So why does the web app get the (No such file or directory) exception?  How do I get the real path if the file info window isn't valid via web app?

EDIT

The permissions on the file in questions are:

-rw-r--r--

where the owner is the user context the web app is running under, which is determined by entering the following into the shell:

ps axu -w

Permissions on the directory appname are as such:

drwxr-x---

where again, the owner is the user context the web app is running under.

And finally, the directory var has permissions:

drwxr-xr-x

with root as owner.

Furthermore, removing private from the path results in the exact same exception, sans the private in the path:

Exception:  /var/appname/app_config.txt (No such file or directory)


texts: How common are stuck or dead pixels on the MacBook Pro?

texts:
I purchased a new Macbook Pro (15.4" with 500GB HDD), and discovered it had a stuck pixel in the centre of the screen. This pixel was always lit green, and any attempts to resolve it myself didn't work. I took it back to the retailer, who happily exchanged it for another one (which had to be ordered). I picked up the replacement yesterday, and to my horror, its screen had the same problem, although this time the pixel was stuck on red, and was in the bottom left hand corner of the screen. Another replacement has been ordered, and I'm now a little concerned that this may have the same problem.

This obviously has me pondering the quality of the latest range of Macbook Pro laptops, and I'm wondering how many of you may have had the same problems with your ones. Please share if you've had a similar issue.


texts: How can I copy the URL of a file downloaded by Google Chrome?

texts:
As a new Mac user, I'm surprised to see that Chrome doesn't track the list of downloaded files anymore. I can't even see the current download speed in the Finder.

I want to copy the URL of a file being downloaded, because I want to download it from another machine, in turn because the network I'm currently connected to is just too slow. How can this be done?


texts: Hombrew is asking me for a version of Xcode the OS doesnt support

texts: I need to download certain apps through homebrew, one of them being pygtk, but when putting the rather simple command that should install it homebrew says my Xcode (6.4 because I am on Yosemite) is outdated and that need the 7.2.1 which I can't install because it's not supported in Yosemite. How can I fix this?


texts: How could macOS be POSIX compliant without vi?

texts:
As macOS is POSIX compliant and Unix certified, why does vi redirects to vim?
As I understand, vim is not POSIX compliant.
So how did Apple obtained a Unix certification without having vi installed on their OS?


texts: Chrome on macOS Sierra automatically jumps to desktop with fullscreen video

texts: When I have video in fullscreen on one desktop and switch to another Chrome window on a different desktop it automatically switches back to the desktop with the fullscreen video. How do I stop this behaviour?


texts: Find the DNS server used for a certain domain

texts:
Is there a way to see what DNS I've used to resolve a certain domain? I thought nslookup might've been able to do this but it simply tells me my router was my DNS — not what DNS It used. For example, I want to know if domain.tld was resolved using my default ISP DNS or by the Cloudflare DNS.
Backstory: I've been having some DNS trouble with my ISP. I fixed that by adding Cloudflare DNS 1.1.1.1 as my secondary in my modem.
Standard nslookup output for Google:
tim@iMac ~ % nslookup google.com
Server:     192.168.20.1
Address:    192.168.20.1#53

Non-authoritative answer:
Name:   google.com
Address: 216.58.199.78

The only other way I could think of is using Cloudflare on my modem and my ISP DNS on my Mac and then nslookup should tell me what server it used. I can do this but I'm really looking for a way in terminal without diving into my modem settings.


texts:
I have lost the "send" icon on my Apple mail, top right corner
How do I restore it?


texts: I can use my watch to ping my phone, but how can i use my phone to ping my watch

texts: I have an Apple Watch and one if its most useful functions is that I can swipe up and tap the ping iPhone icon to make my iPhone beep at me. This saves my bacon 4 or 5 times each week when I misplace my phone around the house. But I can’t find how to do the opposite. I sometimes misplace my watch and I want to be able to ping it from my phone, but there isn’t an option that I can find in the Watch app on my phone. I also looked in control center and don’t see an option there. Is there a way for me to ping my watch from my phone? Or is this just something Apple didn’t think of?


texts:
In May of 2015 my iPad Mini died because it got wet. I purchased a new iPad Mini 3 and reinstalled the apps I wanted on it ( and mourned the loss of my old Mini).
Now that it's July and my new mini has its own backup I've discovered that I still have the backup to the old Mini (I know, I was pretty dumb that I didn't realize this sooner.)

Is there anyway to restore the old backup to the new iPad without losing the new backup? In other words, can I combine them?


texts: I am using MacOSX Snow Leopard.How can I play music from my computer through my iPhone 5?


texts: Dock is semi-functional after Mountain Lion upgrade

texts:
So I updated to Mountain Lion recently, and as far as I can tell everything has been great. Except that Dock doesn’t really function as it is supposed to. It shows up, but when I launch an application from it, it does not recognize that the application is running. The only app that it recognizes as open is Finder.
Also (and I’m assuming that this is coming from the same problem), when I do ⌘ + tab it only shows Finder as an open application (like the Dock).
Is there a way that I can maybe restart the dock?
Thanks, Asher


texts: How to have Farsi/Persian font in a single column of Numbers

texts:
I've got a spreadsheet in Numbers which was a .xlsx file previously. In Windows I used to have one the columns of this spreadsheet to be shown in a Farsi/Persian/Iranian font. This column is only meant to show numbers in Farsi.

When replicating this in Numbers by installing the same font I used in Windows and setting that column to use that font. However, it seems it just changes the numbers to that font, but instead of the numbers being written in Farsi numerals they are shown in the "regular" numerals like 1, 2, 3...

I believe it's possible to just write each cell individually by changing the keyboard to Farsi, but this is an extensive column and I'd like to do this manually.

I can try to provide further details if needed. Thank you!


texts: Added SSD to mid 2011 27" iMac. How do I keep user accounts on HDD and only use SSD for OS and Apps

texts:
I've added a 240GB SSD to my mid 2011 27" iMac.

I installed macOS Sierra to SSD and then migrated apps and settings to SSD but left users data on HDD.

After booting into the SSD, I opened:

system prefs > user accounts > advanced options

Then I pointed the SSD user account to my home directory on the HDD and restarted.

Now when I log into my user account (SSD) none of my files or preferences are working or updating and I keep getting an error about keychain missing.

Did I miss a crucial step? How do I fix this?

BTW, I can't migrate my users over to the SSD as there isn't nearly enough space.

Also, I have been using iCloud drive for my documents and desktop in macOS sierra, perhaps that's part of the problem?


texts: Services Shortcut & Automator: No icon when launching app

texts:
I would like to have a shortcut to open my terminal emulator "Alacritty". It is installed as a mac app (.app directory) and a standalone executable. (Installed via brew)
I made an Automator action for it, which I then could bind to a system-wide shortcut in the System Settings. The desired action would be:
a) The app launches with the icon and b) opens a new instance everytime the run the action (not just brings the current window to focus).
The following things were tried but failed in one way or the other:

Use the "Launch Application" action from Automator. This won't work, because instead of creating a new instance of Alacritty, it focuses the old one.
Use the "Run Shell Script" action and just enter the binary path. This works, but the Alacritty instance doesn't have its icon.
Use the "Run Shell Script" action, but enter "open /Applications/Alacritty.app". This seems to work when I run it from Automator. However when I run it using the shortcut, it still lacks the icon.

Are there any other options I haven't explored? Thanks!


texts:
I have an Apple Thunderbolt display and really love it - only that the USB ports are only USB 2!

I have read this question, but is there any new development on connecting a USB 3 drive to a thunderbolt port on the Apple Thunderbolt monitor?

I could buy an external thunderbolt hdd instead, but the difference in price between USB 3 and thunderbolt drives is quite substantial. Also, I did not find any affordable thunderbolt housings.

Any suggestions?


texts: need suggestion, Common file system between MAC OS Mavericks and Windows 7

texts:
I have Mavericks on one HDD and Windows7 x64 on another HDD in same machine. Windows can't even see MAC partitions while MAC gains READ ONLY access to NTFS partition.

I want a robust and common file system for windows (data) partitions which can be accessed from MAC with full read and write support. My NTFS partitions are not huge as terabytes, in fact 50GB to 500GB max at the moment.

I have Googled and tried to analyze worthiness and reliability for the two solutions most commonly appearing
exFAT
NTFS drivers on MAC (paragon being recommended as faster)

I found cases with reliability issues and issues disk operations latency

I do have frequent power outages. I believe NTFS and HFS+ takes care and self heal upto some extent under such situations.

sigh! if MAC had native read/write support for NTFS this problem would have never existed for me.

please suggest a solution


texts: Sync between an iPhone and iPad without Internet connection

texts:
Is it possible to sync between an iPhone and an iPad directly when there is no Internet connection (like a remote location or an outage at the Internet provider)?

Using a direct wireless connection between just the iPhone and the iPad (without using a PC or a WiFi router)

I need to sync all data (contacts, calendar, reminders, photos, ...)


texts: My display remains in English but my icon text has changed to Polish and I need English. No Google searches have provided answer specific to changing icon text language.


texts: How do you diagnose why a keyboard shortcut does not work?

texts:
I am trying to get Command+Alt+Shift+L to work in RStudio on OSX. I have a large number of customisations that might possibly prevent this shortcut from working. I've gone through the usual places (e.g., system preferences - keyboard; Alfred; Better Touch tool). Thus, I thought there might be some more general procedure for working out what program, if any, is intercepting the shortcut

Is there a way of seeing what program might be intercepting a particular keyboard shortcut?


texts:
I have a Mid 2010 MBP, running 10.7.1.

Ever since I upgraded to Lion, I have noticed that Wi-Fi connections that require 802.1x authentication are dropping whenever I lock the screen. The connections remain down until I unlock, at which point they quickly start passing traffic again.

This behavior is new as of 10.7.

As I mentioned earlier, this only applies to 802.1x connections. Unencrypted Wifi and non-802.1x connections are not affected. My guess is that the keychain is de-authenticating my 802.1x session when I lock the machine and then re-authenticating when I unlock.

Do you know of any way to prevent this behavior?

Edit:
I'm using username/password auth for 802.1x, not certificate auth.


texts: How can I save a document from Pages in RTF format?

texts: I only found descriptions were you use the export function of Pages. But there is no RTF option anymore. So is it possible to export a Pages file to RTF?


texts: When I want to download from App Store it is asking me to switch to US store or KWT or Saudi store.how I can get rid of this?


texts: Keynote default style for graphic elements

texts: Every time I make a new line in Keynote, it is white and 1-point, so it can hard to find and reposition. I have tried looking for a contextual menu that says "Assign current style as default" but am not finding anything. Is there an easy way to do this?


texts: How do I find my apps on my MacBook Pro? I downloaded them, and I tried looking in LaunchPad and my dock, but do not see them.


texts: Lock Screen using terminal? Osascript is preventing keystrokes

texts:
I want to lock my Mac's screen remotely.  I don't want to sleep my Mac.  Only the screen.  I don't want to require a password every time I put my monitor to sleep (system prefs/require password).  And I definitely don't want to suspend the current user (CGSession -suspend) because my Mac also serves as a media control center.

I tried using an applescript to create an app I could launch remotely, but this command in the applescript fails:

 tell application "System Events"
      key code 12 using {command down, control down}
 end tell

When I launch the applescript over terminal, I get an error telling me that osascript is not allowed to send keystrokes.

Here's what I'm trying to accomplish:  I have a Philips Hue dimmer remote near my home's front door.  I've reprogrammed the buttons to do various things (lights on, restart playing whatever I was listening to on iTunes last, etc).  It's great, except, I want the OFF button to turn off my lights, stop iTunes, etc, and lock my Mac's monitor.  Everything works but that last step.

I can sleep my Mac's monitor using

do shell script "pmset displaysleepnow"

I've settled with that for now, but that sleeps the monitor.  I want to lock the monitor.

I know I could go into system prefs and require a password after sleep, but I don't want to use a password every time I sleep my monitor.  That would drive me crazy.  I also know I could do something like this:

do shell script "/System/Library/CoreServices/Menu\\ Extras/User.menu/Contents/Resources/CGSession -suspend"

But that suspends the current user's session, which prevents my remote from controlling my Mac.  I just want to lock my monitor (command control Q) without using a hotkey, so I'll be able to trigger it remotely.

How can I lock my Mac's screen remotely?


texts: Sending mouse to different monitors for all sides

texts:
So I have external monitors set up like this (one vertical)

And as you can see I am only able to send a mouse to another screen via lower half of each sides. I want to be able to send mouse not just the bottom half but upper half as well.
Is there a way to this? I understand there is a keyboard shortcut approach but I'd prefer to be able to move mouse straight to another monitor.


texts: Is there a video player for OS X that will float to top and avoid the cursor?

texts:
Is there a video app that can float on top and avoid the cursor? The problem with VLC is that I use the "Float on Top" feature while VLC takes up 1/4 of the screen. However sometimes I would like the access the menus below VLV, and therein lies the problem. I don't want to constantly move VLC just to access the menus below it.

Is there a feature or app that can move the video player out of the way from the cursor and return to its' original position afterwards?


texts:
Recently I bought Apple Pencil (1 with lightning charger) for my iPad Air 3. My question is relating to the life span of this pencil.   I use it about 5 hour a day usually.
Do we know how many years I could expect my pencil to work?


texts: How to restore Homebrew config from Time Machine

texts:
TL;DR I killed my Homebrew and now need to restore from Time Machine.

I had a working Homebrew with various packages installed and working. I've installed some new packages (newer php) which I didn't like so I removed them and tried to reinstall the old package. This is not working which I believe is due to my openssl or something else being upgraded during that process.

I have a Time Machine backup from when everything was working a few days ago. What steps are needed to restore Homebrew to that old state?

I have tried restoring /usr/local/Cellar directory but it appears I need to do something else (php still running the bad version).
Should I restore /usr/local/opt? Is there anything else?

I prefer not to do a full mac restore if possible.

Thanks


texts: What's the difference between Apple Watch and Apple Watch Sport?

texts:
Following the pricing announcements on Apple Watch, it seems that the "Watch" edition is priced 200$ above "Watch Sport" ($349 vs $549 for the 38mm model).

I can read the spec sheet but apart from different band options and another type of front glass and don't understand the differences.


texts: Launching a new instance of something instead opening existing one?

texts:
Is it possible to have app launcher(Alfred or Spotlight)  to launch a new instance of an app(Finder, Terminal) instead of taking me to existing instance?

I know this question: How to make clicking on icon in dock == open new instance addressed an issue for the Dock, but is there a way to achieve the same with app launchers?


texts: Google Chrome caused Mac OS X to have High CPU

texts:
I'm not sure if anyone else faced this issue also. My Mac Book running so hot. I'm on the latest OS BigSur, and on a MacBook Pro (16-inch, 2019). As you can this Mac is fairly new and fully loaded. It's kind of sad when it's hot over an app like Chrome, and Apple technician can't find anything wrong it while I brought it to the store twice.
I'm using the default charger that it came with the 16" (96W).
I reinstalled OS twice by me, and by Apple. I tried reset SMC so many times, and it still seems over heat back. I checked Activity Monitor, I saw a lot of Chrome extensions.

How can I make my Mac run like normal again and still able use my Chrome like others ?
I've tried disaled a lot of the extensions already, but how do we know which is the one that might have caused these high CPU consumption ? Is there a way to find out ?
Note

When I closed Chrome, my Mac is not hot or loud anymore, so Chrome seem to be the major caused in my case.


texts: Does it make sense to format an external HDD as APFS?

texts:
I’m currently on macOS Sierra and will upgrade to macOS High Sierra as soon as it comes out, which means my machine will be using APFS.

I also have an external HDD (not SSD) that has quite a few years on it, already. I use it solely for storage. I have it formatted as exFAT so it’s compatible with both macOS and Windows, out of the box. But recently I’ve noticed that I never connect it to a non-macOS machine.

So, would it make sense for me to reformat my external HDD as APFS? Are there any benefits to it over the current exFAT (speed, file integrity)?


texts:
I use Messages (most recent version) on Mac (High Sierra - 10.13.1). When starting a new conversation, Messages suggests two contacts when I type a particular first name. (They share a first name). Unfortunately, it suggests the wrong one and I was hoping to fix that.

More info: The last name I want starts with an 'H' and alphabetically comes before the 'V'. The reason I think they're swapped is that the 'H' is an Android and thus does not support iMessage, whereas 'V' is an iPhone. Neither number is a contact, at least not in the Contacts app. I'd be fine doing something like putting a '1' in front of the wrong one so it doesn't come up when I search.

Thanks!


texts: My entire music collection is gone from Finder

texts:
I do not use iTunes but instead store my music files in nested folders in /Users/User/Music. I recently downloaded Tomahawk, a music player.

I decided quickly that I preferred to stick with VLC for playing music, only to find that I can no longer use VLC as all my files are removed from my music folder. I restarted, and some of the files appear in Tomahawk program while other are gone. It seems unlikely (and would be very unfortunate) if the files have been totally deleted; I imagine they are hidden somewhere on my computer. Where can I find them, and/or is it possible to reset my system to a few hours ago or restore them in some other way?

Note: it is not the entire folder that has been removed. The folder structure (subfolders for each artist, etc.) remains, and other files, like images of the album covers in .jpg format, remain.


texts: An unknown partition type in diskutil on Mac OS : FFFFFFFF-FFFF-FFFF-FFFF-FFFFFFFFFFFF Partition: How to Save data

texts:
I am using MacAir - Big Sur 2015 with 256 Gb hard drive. Hard Drive was portioned in 3: 2x 100GB (Main and Sub) as APFS and 1X 50 GB as ExFat to install Ubuntu. Later on, I decided to do partitioning of 100 GB Sub drive into 5 Gb and 95 Gb so shat I can use 5Gb drive as a shared drive to be used by both Ubuntu and Mac. I wanted to add files and access files in this 5G drive from either Ubuntu or Mac. I still don't know which Format I should use (ExFat, keep APFS or etc)
But,
I made a mistake while portioning. I had some important data on Sub drive. When I partitioned, my data stayed in 5Gb drive and now I cannot access the file. As you can see on the screenshot, isI put my data on 5 Gb partition, but I cannot see it now. Yes, data is important and I want to save it. I see that this post could help me but I cannot move forward due to following reasons. I am also new at terminal. I want to set up Ubuntu as a second OS to work.
As you can see, my partition that I need is fun of FFFFFFFF-FFFF-FFFF-FFFF-FFFFFFFFFFFF. I cannot even see this 5Gb partition in DiskUtil.

I followed the link: How do I recover/fix my OS X partition?
Errors I received:
I tried this command and got an error: gpt -r show disk0 gpt show: unable to open device 'disk0': Permission denied
I used following command but there is again an errorr.:
diskutil unmountdisk disk0
Unmount of disk0 failed: at least one volume could not be unmounted Unmount was dissented by PID 1 (/sbin/launchd) Dissenter parent PPID 0 (kernel_task)
But I was not able to achieve the goal. What I would like to have is to have my data in this 5G drive safely and later I will take care of of shared data and install ubuntu. As you can imagine I am new in Terminal and coding. I am going to train myself in pyThon for research project and that's the reason I need Ubuntu.
thanks and regards


texts: Almost all audio-related functions are failing (iPhone 7)

texts: When placing calls, I can’t hear the other person and they can’t hear me. The calls go through and can be answered but neither side can be heard. If I try and use voice memos, I can’t even begin recording. Any app that makes calls such as FaceTime or Facebook messenger fails if I try and call or answer a call. If I try and restart my phone, it gets stuck on the Apple that comes up when turning on for hours at a time. I’ve tried resetting, and updating and neither option has fixed the issue, just led to more hours stuck on the “Apple screen”. Apart from the audio and reboot issue, all other functions of the phone are working.


texts:
I'm having a pretty bizarre problem in OSX Mavericks. I'm attempting to install a fresh version of the OS, so I boot to OSX Utilities (Cmd+R). The option that I'm looking for is listed (re-install operating system), but I can't select it or anything else from the list.

I can move the mouse around, but clicking does not work. I tried with both the trackpad as well as a USB mouse. I can navigate through the options with the arrow keys, but pressing enter has no effect.

How the heck am I supposed to do anything from the utilities?


texts: Can I put a 7200 RPM hard drive in my MacBook Pro?

texts:
I have a 2009 15" unibody MacBook Pro. It came with a 250GB, 5400 RPM hard drive. Will a 7200 RPM drive make it overheat?

I have read somewhere that putting a 7200 RPM hard drive in the MacBook Pro will make it shake and vibrate. Is this true?

Is there a certain brand that is better for the system?

And finally, is there anything else that I need to worry about?


texts: Know when a file is created (or saved) using bash

texts:
I would like to know if there is a command line program that can tell me when a file is created or saved.
Suppose I am at ~/Desktop and I want to do something, for example run my_script, when I save (or create) a file X then I would like to something like:
wait-for-file X && ./my_script.sh
Is there anything that works reliably across macOS versions? Right now, I am using Mojave and don't  plan to upgrade but when I do I don't want to have to update my workflows.
I also don't want to busy wait and would like something that is event based. Also I don't want to create files or configurations for these. I just to run a simple command as I need to do this frequently and for many purposes.
Thank you.


texts:
I have an iPod Touch 5th gen and I use a cheap £1 charger to charge it up.
Recently my iPod ran out of battery so I plugged it in using the charger and the iPod was completely unresponsive.
I tried everything including rebooting it, after that I took it to a local repair shop and he 'repaired' it for me but again my iPod ran out of charge and it won't come on again.
What do I do?

P.S : I have been using cheap chargers for a while now so it's only a recent problem, also if I bought an official Apple charger would it solve this issue?


texts: What kind of NFC-Tag is only readable in Shortcuts App?

texts:
I just got my iPhone 11 pro max and wanted to see, if it can read the nfc enabled wrist band of my local gym. There are several nfc-apps[1] on the app store and additionally the shortcuts app is capable of reading nfc-tags.

When scanning the wrist band with the shortcuts app, it is recognized. But every other app does not recognize it.

Are there different flavors of nfc? Is this just a iOS quirk? Is there a reason why only the shortcuts app can see this tag?

Background:

The local gym has some kind of nfc-based member-card. In fact its not a card, but a wrist-band with a tiny nfc-chip in it as it seems. The wrist band reader on the door is made by a company named "Gantner".

In the long run I want to get rid of this silly red wrist band and just use my apple watch. But I think this is not (yet) possible. Nevertheless I am curious to understand what is stored in this band and how nfc works in this case.

Update: Added Apps

[1] NFC for iPhone, NFC-Tools, NFC21 Reader, Simply NFC, NFC TagInfo and a few others.


texts: Is there a way to open .ace compressed file on macOS? I tried searching for solutions but haven't come across any method to extract it yet.


texts: What extra hardware do I have to buy if Mac Mini is my first Apple product?

texts:
I don't own any Apple product and am thinking of buying the upcoming Mac Mini. Now considering that this Mac Mini will be my first Apple product, what hardware I may have buy if I want to use Mac Mini for software development?
And please be specific if I need to buy that from Apple strictly.

For example, I have to buy a monitor, and as far as I know, I can buy any Monitor with DVI (as there is a HDMI to DVI cable provided) or HDMI port.


texts: OS X 10.9 Fullscreen on second display doesn't stretch to full screen, but only part of it

texts:
I'm on OS X 10.9 and with this OS upgrade, the ability to run fullscreen apps on a second display while working on another was implemented.

What I want:
Play YouTube and other online sources (divxstage.eu to name one) videos on my second (1080p) screen while working on my internal MacBook Pro display.

What happens:

Case (1): Youtube videos can be run in fullscreen mode, so if I click on the button it expands to the whole secondary display. When switching back to my MBP, after a while OR (when in a playlist) upon starting the next video it resizes to only a portion (I believe about the same size of the MBP display!) of the screen in the upper left corner, however cutting off the video and displaying a 3/4 black screen. (Example: if there was a circle in the video, you'd now see like a segment of this circle)

Case (2): I found that with e.g. divxstage.eu, videos do not even expand to the full screen, but leave it blank in 3/4 right away. (Same size as with YouTube videos)

Has anyone experienced this, too? Can anybody help, a possible solution, workaround, or even just the source of the problem?


texts: What is this new voice control thing Siri?

texts:
What is Siri?

Is it really only for voice control?
Don't we already have one of those on the previous iPhones?


texts:
I use a speak recognition program Called Dragon Dictation. When I work I use the program for mouse clicks but I have to say "mouse click" which doesn't seem like a big deal but when you're saying it 100 times a day it would be so much easier to just say "click". Most of the commands I can see in AppleScript code and I can copy and paste it to make my own commands. However, the mouse clicks are not shown for some reason.

Update:
Dragon dictation is no longer supported on Mac computers. Here is an alternative for mouse clicks: https://github.com/bobbymay/Dictation-for-macOS


texts:
I made 2 partitions on my external hard drive. One is 240ish GB and one is 10GB. I put the OS X Lion install image on the 10GB partition (using restore) and when that finished I tried to boot from that hard drive but it doesn't show up, just my regular hard drive that is in my computer.

I am on a mid-2012 MacBook Pro running macOS Sierra


texts:
my first question on AskDifferent! (let me know if I'm doing it wrong.) Anyway, I'm trying to install octave using brew and am getting the following error but unsure how to proceed:

   ~/ brew install octave
  ==> Installing octave dependency: cmake
  ==> Downloading https://downloads.sf.net/project/machomebrew/Bottles/cmake-2.8.7

  ################################################################## 100.0%

  Error: SHA1 mismatch
  Expected: f218ed64ce6e7a5d3670acdd6a18e5ed95421d1f
  Got: 3a57f6f44186e0dba34ef8b8fb4a9047e9e5d8a3
  Archive: /Users/Billy/Library/Caches/Homebrew/cmake-2.8.7.bottle.tar.gz
  (To retry an incomplete download, remove the file above.)

   ~/

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Best,
B


texts: Can I hide software updates in Mavericks?

texts:
In 10.9.2 (not sure about earlier versions of .9) I can find no way to stop the nagging software update requests from the App Store. I've heard of people uninstalling software which works in some cases. But for some apps I just don't want the latest version.

Has anyone found a fix? I don't care how complicated it is, I just want to stop hearing from the App Store. I really don't like the App Store.


texts: How can I find a list of games that are playable on my Mac?

texts:
I'm a casual gamer with a MacBook Air (fall 2010 13" model), I'd like to find some games that are playable on my Mac. Is there any software or website that makes it easy to find games with compatible system requirements?

What I have in mind is something like the (now defunct) Aspyr Game Agent application, which at a glance showed whether a game's system requirements were compatible with a specific Mac; see the screenshots for one game, for a list of games, or read Softonic's review.


texts:
Is there a fan in the Late 2013 iMac? The model identifier for this iMac is iMac14,2.

(Note I am not asking whether you can hear the fan. I want to know if a fan is present in the Late 2013 iMacs at all.)


texts: My new Sennheiser G4ME ZERO headset won't send audio to my Mac

texts:
I recently purchases a Sennheiser G4ME Zero to replace my Steel Series Siberia V3. The Siberia's microphone worked just fine along with the audio. When I plugged my G4ME Zero in the audio output worked great. When I tested out the microphone, my Macbook didn't receive any input. I plugged in my old Siberia to see if it was a hardware problem with the Mac but it showed up as a working external mic.

I've tried switching out cords, blowing out the input, and just plugging in the microphone portion to the computer but it still won't work. Is it a hardware problem with the headset or what?


texts: Macbook pro “13” mid 2010 battery not holding charge.

texts:
Macbook pro “13” mid 2010 shutdown after removing the megasafe charger. .

.

Any help will be appriciated.


texts: Syncing contacts between Outlook for Mac (2015) and Google Contacts

texts: How to I sync contacts between Outlook for Mac (2015) and Google Contacts?


texts: Link Contacts between Facebook and iCloud

texts:
I have iOS6 and OSX 10.8. Both bring Facebook integration. It was smart enough for some of my contacts to merge (or "link") them. However for some on my iPhone I manually edited the contact card and linked to the facebook account. Not so bad.

However, it seems that those manual changes were NOT replicated to my Macbook. For example, I have a "Nathaniel B****" in my iCloud but on Facebook he calls himself "Nat B****". On iOS I linked the 2 profiles, however on OSX they still appear as separate.

Am I supposed to do something? Or is this a flaw?


texts: no wifi hardware installed on Mojave update

texts: After Mojave install I get a "No WiFi hardware installed" when trying to connect the wife. Computer response is so slow it's almost useless. Same results on iMac 27" Retina Display Mid 2015 and Mac mini Late 2012. Tried NVRAM and SMC resets to no avail. iMac worked fine when I reverted back to High Sierra but backup for mini is on the WiFi network.


texts: Running iMac 2009 on external screen due to Broken LCD

texts:
So I would like to know if it is possible to diagnose and install new OSX using blank SSD in an iMac that has broken LCD and no hard drive?

I bought this iMac out of auction where you cant test anything and buy as-is, and looks like I'm in deep trouble as the display doesn't work and it has no hard drive. The iMac chimes with Apple sound when turned on so that tells me motherboard is working.


texts: Certain applications seem to ignore font smoothing at low sizes

texts:
Certain applications seem to disable ALL font-smoothing (including AA) at certain small font sizes. This is by far most annoying in mathematica.

When I have to export to HTML or rasterize text for any other reason, the images are exported using the computer font smoothing. So, when I export to HTML, equations with fractions or exponents are rendered weirdly.

Is there any way to fix this? Is it a problem specific to the affected applications? Or is it an OS X issue?

I know there used to be a setting which controlled the minimum size below which font-smoothing would be disabled. I seem to recall setting it to the max, but now the setting no longer exists.


texts: I am following a tutorial on how to create a DMG on the command line there is an applescript which you can find here which sorts the layout of the DMG. The problem is that I can't get it to work the way I want it and position the apps and choose the window size within the DMG properly but I can do it manually on a rw DMG and then make it read only. Is there anyway to export these positions so I do not have to do it manually? Thank you.


texts:
Cannot sign into any Google iOS app (Google, Google Maps, Google Earth) on my new iPhone 7 Plus.

It says:
"Sorry there seems to be a problem please try again"

Have tried:
-Resetting iPhone
-Signing into the accounts on my iPhone 6 (Works fine)
-Signing in to a different account on iphone 7 (Doesnt work)
-Uninstalling and reinstalling the apps
-Enabling 2 factor authentication

But still no fix

Logging into the account on the computer works fine as well.

Any ideas?


texts: Keyboard shortcut to lock the screen on macOS 10.14 Mojave?

texts:
Is there a keyboard shortcut to lock the screen on macOS 10.14 Mojave like Command + L or something easy without setting up Hot Corners/Spaces etc.

The app Lock Me Now used to work fine till maOS High Sierra, but isn't starting up on macOS Mojave. It is showing this popup as soon as I try to run it:

Is there an app that works on Mojave which helps to customize the lock keyboard shortcut to Command+L? I am used to using Command+L on windows and older Mac OS (using "Lock me now" app).


texts: How can I post photos to my iPhone Instagram app from Google Drive?

texts: I have Instagram and Google Drive both installed on my iPhone. I want to post on Instagram some photos from Google Drive. Have somebody any ideas how to do that, because in Insta library I have only photos from my iPhone camera.


texts: Different remote SSH access password than user account password

texts:
Is it possible to have a different password for SSH access than your user password.

I would like to have a strong password for remote SSH/SFTP access, while having a password that is fast to type on my user account.


texts: Mac Pro how to boot in safe mode with a Windows Keyboard?

texts:
Model No: A1186
Mac Pro 3,2

I think it's a 2008 with an unknown version of MacOSX installed.

I'm stuck at the blue screen, I'm pretty sure it's a permissions problem, as I lost the network connection when setting it up.  But I can't boot into safe mode.  I just bought it online.  I also tried to boot a Clonezilla Live CD with little luck.


texts:
I'm moving my iTunes library to another computer that already had iTunes on it (both are Windows-based). On the original computer, video files loaded and played fine (I sync to an Apple TV). I tried to import video files that worked just fine on the original into the new one and they don't come over.  If I copy the files into iTunes on a Mac, they work.

This ISN'T an encoding issue (I believe) as the files work properly on other iTunes. The only difference is one machine is 32 bit and the other is 64 bit.

Any ideas?


texts: I recently started sampling applications that freeze on my machine.  I have an iMac with 8 cores and 32GB of RAM running Catalina 10.15.1 fully patched.  It's far from resource constrained yet certain applications freeze regularly. I see threads marked as unknown often in the traces.  Are these normal threads?  If so what would make a thread show up as completely unknown in a sample.  It seems strange that the library a thread is linked to could be known in some cases but unknown in others.


texts: How can I remove this icon from the menu bar?

texts: I am seeing attached icon in the top right menu bar. I tried deleting MenuExtras by going to /System/Library/CoreServices/Menu Extrasbut it didn't help, please help to hide or remove it.


texts: Catalina - USB Serial Cables seem to be broken

texts:
TL;DR - How do I make a USB Serial cable work on Catalina?

I work as an embedded software developer. I write software on small circuit boards like an Arduino or BeagleBone or RaspberryPi. You might know or hear the phrase: "JTAG DEBUGGER"

Every day I use various USB serial converters to do my work.

I just got a new (Nov 2019) MacBook Pro 1 week ago with a real escape key.

I can get SOME, but not all, USB serial things to work.

Knowns:

A) (TYPE_CDC_DEVICES) Some development boards (from ST Microsystems and Texas Instruments) implement what is known as a "USB CDC ACM" Serial port:

These CDC type devices seem to work.

B) (TYPE_CHIP_DEVICES) Others are what you would describe as a "USB Serial Cable" in some cases, the usb-chip that makes this work is built into the main board and is used to as a debugger.

This is an APPLE supplied driver.

These chips come from companies like: FTDI, and PROLIFIC (Apple has a driver for this), and MICROCHIP, and SILABS.

For example the FTDI driver FROM APPLE is here:

/System/Library/DriverExtensions/DriverKit.AppleUSBFTDI.dext

These CHIP type cables and boards DO NOT WORK.

I cannot open the serial device with my TERMINAL programs.
Such as: Screen, and CoolTerm and others.

C) I know the device is present, and the driver is loaded - I can see the device, but when I try to open the device I get various different errors.
(The exact error depends on the application I am using).

foo@bar /dev % ls -l /dev/*usb*
crw-rw-rw-  1 root  wheel   18,  27 Dec  1 16:33 /dev/cu.usbserial-534400
crw-rw-rw-  1 root  wheel   18,  29 Dec  1 16:33 /dev/cu.usbserial-534401
crw-rw-rw-  1 root  wheel   18,  26 Dec  1 16:33 /dev/tty.usbserial-534400
crw-rw-rw-  1 root  wheel   18,  28 Dec  1 16:33 /dev/tty.usbserial-534401
foo@bar /dev %

D) Others have problems too - I am not alone.

http://community.m5stack.com/topic/1369/m5stickc-usb-driver-and-catalina
https://community.platformio.org/t/mac-usb-port-detected-but-wont-upload/8756

Trying to run screen as root does not help.

E) Tried "sudo chmod a+rwx /dev/tty.usb*"

PART 2 ....

Often these USB chips have 2 interfaces, more specifically the FTDI2232.

Interface #0 - tends to be the JTAG debugger interface.

Interface #1 - tends to be the UART debug terminal.

I need both to work. But if I can't get the basic UART to work - I can't even start with the JTAG part.

I am stuck.


texts: How do i sync an iPhone 4 (that has never been synced) to a computer without losing all of my pictures and data?

texts: I got my iPhone in may, and have never synced it to a computer. I would like to now so that I can out music from my CDs on it. But when my friend synced her iPhone 4 to a computer it erased all of her pictures. What can I do so that doesnt happen?


texts: Open activity monitor minimized on startup

texts:
I sometimes like to have Activity Monitor running in the dock (to see CPU usage chart in the icon at a glance).

I didn't use it for some time though, but with a new mac I bought (El Capitan) I thought I'd activate it again.

Now I can have it start automatically but I always have to minimize the Activity Monitor window after login.

I think in the past6 I had set it with that option (to autostart at login  via right-click on the dock icon) so that it started minimized but I can't seem to remember how.

Am I remembering wrong or missing an option?


texts: Battery Life While Using External Monitor on rMBP is Less

texts:
I have a  Retina Macbook Pro 2014, in clamshell mode attached to a full HD monitor.

I see that battery lasts much less when connected to an  external monitor. Is there any explanation to why this happens? External monitor has its own power source, and Full HD is less than retina resolution.

Is there any overhead associated the mini Display Port?


texts: Mac os X - locked outside my account (language!)

texts:
Today I was cleaning my MacBook keyboard (OSX 10.6.6) while the user was locked.
Due to some random key-presses, the language of the login changed from English to Hebrew (I use both in MAC, but only English for login).
When in the login menu, the cmd-space shortcut has not effect, and it does not change the language.

I didn't have any way to change it, and was practically locked outside my account.

What is the magical key-sequence that can change the language back to English?

(for completeness - I did a hard reboot, which brought me back to the main login screen, and luckily the language reverted back to English...
Now I have changed the login preferences so that the language selection appears in the login screen anyhow, but the question is very important for anyone who found himself locked out.)
see also
Question in superuser stackexchange
and also This Question, that is very useful if you are not already locked - so you can set the language drop-menu to appear also in the login menu.


texts: Wrong Keymap on Mac Keyboard - "<" and "^" are switched

texts:
Since upgrading to El Capitan my Keyboard layout has changed and is driving me crazy:

The key "<" which should be right beside the Left Shift Key is now switched with the "^" key.

Is there a way to fix this?


texts: How do I set my mac to ask what disc I want to boot from without having to hold alt?

texts: I can switch between OSX, Windows and a network drive, but I cannot seem to find this option anywhere.


texts: Does anyone know what the file ~/Library/Preferences/com.npvdata.client is for?

texts:
I had a heck of a time with the file ~/Library/Preferences/com.npvdata.client.  Looked like it was some kind of cryptographic key file, and when I went to edit it, not only could I not change it, but also while I was editing it the file com.npvdata.client.swp and com.npvdata.client~ showed up, even though I was editing it in vi which doesn't create backup files.  I had a really hard time deleting it, too.

I'm guessing this is part of some kind of copy protection or licensing scheme, but I'd like to know for sure where it is from, what it is for, and what danger there is, if any, of someone else getting a hold of it.


texts: Downgrading from iOS 7 to a recent full backup of iOS 6.1.3

texts:
I have a device (iPhone 4S) that is running iOS 7, but I was wondering: Is it possible to restore a full backup of the same device running iOS 6.1.3.

I'm not worried about losing data from the iOS 7, but I would like to restore the device to its previous state under iOS 6.

Is this possible?

Again, to reiterate: I'm not looking for clean downgrade/install of iOS 6, I wish to restore a full back-up containing an earlier iOS. Thanks.


texts: Mac High Sierra not able to Set Touch ID - Canceled by another authentication

texts:
I am not able to set the touch id, may be after some minor update to High Sierra. Before that everything was working fine.

I tried reseting the password for KeyChain Login and KeyChain Local items, however nothing is helping.

Keep on getting following error message.


texts: How can I tell when it's a good time to buy a MacBook Pro?

texts: I want to know if a particular date (for instance, October 1, 2010) is a good date to go ahead and buy a Macbook pro, or whether I should wait few months for new models to come out. How can I figure out whether a computer I buy will soon become obsolete?


texts:
When I sync my iPad to my MacBook, a lot of my playlists are getting duplicated over and over again. Here is an example:

It happens to regular and smart-playlists.

I am on iTunes 12.4.1.6.

How do I stop this mass duplication?


texts: Mac OS Finder - Read File Folder Order/Positions (Arrange By) thru Command Line

texts:
In the Finder , Arrange -> None provides the ability to specify a custom sort for the files within a folder.

Is there any way to read this info from the command line?  A Mac OS utility equivalent to ls with the ability to get the sort data.

I realize that because of the graphical nature of the Finder folder, this info will be x,y screen coordinates

Ideally I could use this utility to build a shell script or command that returns a sorted list of files (kinda like ls -R and variants)


texts: Installed Mojave, then my mac couldn't start the next day, now it asks to install Mojave again

texts:
From High Sierra, I was prompted to upgrade to Mojave; did that, successfully completed (I guess, no errors were reported or something, but I don't remember if I restarted my laptop at that point. Moreover I didn't check if the version was upgraded in "About this Mac".).

Next day, I try to start my laptop, nothing... Eventually it says there was a problem finding the launcher or something. Laptop started successfully (phew!), and High Sierra is still installed.

Now, it asks me to upgrade to Mojave again, but I am afraid. What are the risks in accepting to upgrade? What should I do? Maybe I could stick to High Sierra...


texts:
What is wrong with this piece of Apple Script, It gives the error:

Syntax Error
Expected end of line, etc. but found application constant or consideration.

repeat while true
    set t to (time of (current date))
    if (t > 30000) and (t < 30600) then
        tell application "Safari"
            activate
            delay 1
            tell application "System Events" to keystroke "1" using command down
            delay 1
            tell application "System Events" to key code 48 using {option,control,shift} down
            repeat 100 times
                tell application "System Events" to key code 48 using shift down
                delay 0.5
            end repeat
            tell application "System Events" to key code 48
            delay 1
            tell application "System Events" to key code 48
            delay 1
            tell application "System Events" to keystroke "String"
            delay 1
            tell application "System Events" to key code 36
        end tell
    end if
    delay 300
end repeat


texts: Bring all windows of active application to top

texts:
When switching to an application (cmd+tab or clicking on an app icon), osx brings all of the application's windows to top.

I would like to trigger this behaviour for the active application with some shortcut, or most preferably triggered when clicking the dock icon of the active application. (Currently clicking on the dock icon of an active app switches to the next workspace that has a window of the app.)

Is there a way to bring to top all windows of the active application?

EDIT: Seems there's a Window -> Bring All to Front action that does this. Now I only need a way to trigger this action, preferably when the app icon in the dock is clicked.

Third party command solutions (e.g. some simple keyboard shortcut app to run the Bring All to Front action) are welcome, though I'd prefer a native way of doing this.


texts: Tethering blocked with message about contacting provider

texts:
Sometimes when I want to use tethering I get a message that I need to ask my provider.  How can I "unblock" the Personal Hotspot feature so it always works?
(In the phone, obviously)

Phone is not under contract and tethering on Android works with the same provider. There is no reason it should not work with my end provider.