[ Mac OS ]
by Koos
@ 22.03.2008 17:22 CEST
Since Safari 3.1 it's possible to use Safari in single window mode.
That means all links which normally open up a new window, now simply load in a new tab in the current window.
To activate this behaviour, enter the following command in terminal:
defaults write com.apple.Safari TargetedClicksCreateTabs -bool true
To reverse:
defaults write com.apple.Safari TargetedClicksCreateTabs -bool false
When you don't use Spotlight, it's better to disable it completely.
The MDS process takes up much CPU resources and it isn't also very memory friendly.
This How-To is written for Mac OS Leopard 10.5, and should not be applied to systems running Tiger.
Start Terminal and enter the following commands:
- Stop and disable the spotlight application itself:
#cd /System/Library/LaunchAgents
#launchctl unload com.apple.Spotlight.plist (stops the application for the current user)
sudo launchctl unload -w com.apple.Spotlight.plist (disables for every user)
Just ignore the errormessage from the last command.
The reason you get the error is that you are effectively executing the command as root, but the root user hasn't any running instance of Spotlight. On the other hand, only the root user is able to disable the automatic start of Spotlight. Thus the need for the sudo command.
- Stop and disable the background server:
#cd /System/Library/LaunchDaemons
#sudo launchctl unload -w com.apple.metadata.mds.plist
- Remove the .Spotlight-V100 directories
sudo find / -iname '.Spotlight-V100' -type d -maxdepth 3 -print0
| xargs -0 -t -n1 sudo rm -rf
The find part searches for the Spotlight directories and will find the one at the system root as well as on any partitions and attached drives in /Volumes. The -print0 part is there to guard against any spaces and other special characters in filenames when executing the following rm command. The .Spotlight-V100 folders are actually empty. Stopping the mds server does this, so if you aren't bothered by these vestiges of the process, you can ignore this step.
If only some of your accounts need/want to have Spotlight enabled, you can copy the /System/Library/LaunchAgents/com.apple.Spotlight.plist to the users own ~/Library/LaunchAgents folder and enable/start Spotligth:
cp /System/Library/LaunchAgents/com.apple.Spotlight.plist ~/Library/LaunchAgents/
launchctl -w ~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.apple.Spotlight.plist
When you can't get your network device to work with Ubuntu 7.10 on VMware Fusion, simply enter the following command in your terminal:
sudo dhclient eth0
This will force your system updating it's IP-address with VMware's DHCP server.
[ Mac OS ]
by Koos
@ 11.02.2008 14:26 CEST
VMware installs some kernel extensions to your mac by default. These extensions also run when you don't have VMware open, so basicly it slows down your system startup and usage.
To load and unload VMware's networking kernel extensions manually, follow these steps:
- Install VMware
- Run Terminal, and enter:
sudo rm /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.vmware.launchd.vmware.plist
and enter your password
- Restart your mac
- Run Automator, and choose a custom workflow
- Drag "Run Shell Script" in the left pane under Library/Utilities to the workflow on the right
- Enter the following command in the input field:
sudo /Library/Application\ Support/VMware\ Fusion/boot.sh --start
- Drag "Launch Application" to the workflow, and choose VMware
- Save the project as an Application, name it "Start VMware"
- Redo these steps and enter as shell script:
sudo /Library/Application\ Support/VMware\ Fusion/boot.sh --stop
and in stead of "Launch Application", choose "Quit Application" and safe also this project as Application, name it "Stop VMware"
Now, when you want to use VMware, just double click on "Start VMware", and when you quit, run "Stop VMware"
Do you want a nice hover effect when you mouse over icons in a stack window ?
It's a shame this isn't enabled by default in Leopard, because it makes navigating within stacks a lot easier.
Startup Terminal, and run the following commands:
defaults write com.apple.dock mouse-over-hilte-stack -boolean yes
[Enter]
then you'll have to relaunch the Dock:
killall Dock
Thats it..
To disable the highlighting:
defaults write com.apple.dock mouse-over-hilte-stack -boolean no
[ Mac OS ]
by Koos
@ 29.11.2007 18:52 CEST
Changing the login window wallpaper is a really easy job, you only need to edit a plist file.
- Launch Property List Editor (in /Developer » Applications » Utilities), and then open the com.apple.loginwindow.plist file from /Library » Preferences.
- Add a New Sibling of class String with the name DesktopPicture. In the Value column, enter the complete path to the new image you want to set as the login window backgroung image. For example, you'd use this...
/Library/Desktop Pictures/Plants/Agave.jpg
...to use the Apple-supplied agave plant picture. - Please keep in mind that you need the correct user permissions to edit the plist file; save the changes and quit the editor when done. After using either method, log out and you should see your new login window background picture.
[ Mac OS ]
by Koos
@ 23.11.2007 12:16 CEST
To boot Mac OS X in verbose mode, you could hit Command+V during startup, which brings up the familiar white on black console. If you'd prefer to always see the system messages on boot, you can adjust the firmware from the Terminal with the nvram command.
To turn on Verbose booting, at the Terminal type the following:
sudo nvram boot-args="-v"
Disabling Verbose mode:
sudo nvram boot-args=
And to see the current firmware nvram settings:
nvram -p
In Leopard, Apple changed some stuff regarding the plugin architecture. Therefore the Growl Mail plugin (which informs you if you got new mail) doesn't work anymore. But with some simple terminal commands, the plugin loads again:
defaults write com.apple.mail EnableBundles -bool YES
defaults write com.apple.mail BundleCompatibilityVersion -int 3
Thats basicly everything..
You can get the Growl Mail plugin
here, it's located in the extra's folder.
To lower the delay between moving windows from space to space, enter this line in terminal:
defaults write com.apple.dock workspaces-edge-delay -float 0.1; killall Dock
With "0.1" as the delay variable, which is changable.
Since installing Safari 3.0, I've found the confirmation boxes for unsubmitted forms to be quite annoying. Now that Web 2.0 is so popular and so many sites send content via AJAX, having unsubmitted forms is not uncommon, and these confirmations are just a pain. The fix? To disable the confirmations, quit Safari, open up Terminal, and type this command:
defaults write com.apple.Safari DebugConfirmTossingUnsubmittedFormText 0
To re-enable confirmations, just do the same with a 1 instead of a 0 at the end.