MacOSXHints.com

Access iPhoto images from any application

Fri, 30 Jul 2010 14:30:00 GMT

Access iPhoto images from any application
Jul 30, '10 07:30:00AM • Contributed by: Anonymous

iPhoto stores the photo files in bundles. This makes it difficult and time-consuming to access your saved photos manually in Finder, and makes it impossible to open your iPhotos via an Open dialog. It's also impossible to use Time Machine for individual iPhoto pictures (unless you choose File » Browse Backups from iPhoto). You can very easily give all programs easy access to your iPhotos, using aliases.

In the Finder, go to ~/Pictures/iPhoto Library. This is the one whose icon is a stack of photos, the one on top being the standard orange palm tree. Yours may be named something other than the default name iPhoto Library.

Right-click (Ctrl-click) on this file and choose Show Package Contents. You get a new window with a bunch of files and folders. You're just interested in two: Modified and Originals (as you can guess, Originals contains your original, unedited photos; and Modified contains your edited photos).

Open a Finder window to where you want to put the aliases to these two folders (I just use the Pictures folder). Select one of the folders mentioned above. While holding down the Command+Option keys, click and drag from the second (not yet selected) folder to the other window. You will then have aliases of each of those folders in your selected location. You can rename them if you like. Use these like any other folders. Now, you can easily grab photos out of your iPhoto library from any application. You can also use these folders like any other in programs like Adobe Lightroom and Bridge, and access the individual images in a Time Machine backup.

[crarko adds: I tested this, and it works as described.]

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[264 views]

Fix RSS bookmarks with no count in Safari

Fri, 30 Jul 2010 14:30:00 GMT

Fix RSS bookmarks with no count in Safari
Jul 30, '10 07:30:00AM • Contributed by: asmeurer

I was having a problem with the RSS feed for a bookmark in Safari. It was in a folder in my Bookmarks Bar. Whenever the feed was updated, the folder got a number, but the feed's bookmark in the pop down did not, making me wonder just which feed the update came from.

I fixed it by changing the RSS feed URL from:

feed://http://www.pimpmysafari.com/atom/ to

feed://www.pimpmysafari.com/atom/.

That is, I removed the http:// part from the URL. Now the number correctly appears next that feed just like all the other ones do.

[crarko adds: I haven't tested this one.]

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[193 views]

10.6: Automate the creation of ISO images

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 14:45:00 GMT

10.6: Automate the creation of ISO images
Jul 29, '10 07:45:00AM • Contributed by: ChrisAMS

I love Disk Utility, however, it does not directly support the creation of ISO 9660 images. It can create CDR images or CD/DVD master images. Those can be renamed to .iso files and are supported by most software. But that's inconvenient to say the least.

Some searching revealed that you can create ISO images using the Terminal through hdiutil.

The Terminal command is:
hdiutil makehybrid -o ~/Desktop/Diskimage.iso ${diskName} -iso -joliet

However that still leaves things complicated. So I put this in Automator by adding the 'Run Shellscript' action.

echo -n `date "+%Y-%m-%d - %H:%M:%S ->"` >> ~/iso.log
echo "Starting ISO creation" >> ~/iso.log

diskName=$(drutil status | grep "Name:" | awk '{print $4}')

echo -n `date "+%Y-%m-%d - %H:%M:%S ->"` >> ~/iso.log
echo "Device: ${diskName}" >> ~/iso.log

echo -n `date "+%Y-%m-%d - %H:%M:%S ->"` >> ~/iso.log
echo `diskutil umountDisk ${diskName}` >> ~/iso.log

echo -n `date "+%Y-%m-%d - %H:%M:%S ->"` >> ~/iso.log
echo "Starting copy action."

echo `hdiutil makehybrid -o ~/Desktop/Diskimage.iso ${diskName} -iso -joliet` >> ~/iso.log

echo -n `date "+%Y-%m-%d - %H:%M:%S ->"` >> ~/iso.log
echo "Done" >> ~/iso.log

This script finds the superdrive by drutil, then unmounts the disk by diskutil, then makes the actual iso image by hdiutil and logs the process in a log file in the user directory.

I made this a Service in the Application menu (Snow Leopard only). Now I run the Service and the disk image appears on my desktop, when the CD/DVD ejects, it's done.

[crarko adds: The original command with hdiutil was mentioned previously in this hint. The use of Automator to create a Service is a handy addition to that.]

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[154 views]

Use Transmit to deal with MobileMe's iDisk

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 14:30:00 GMT

Use Transmit to deal with MobileMe's iDisk
Jul 29, '10 07:30:00AM • Contributed by: asparria

Accessing iDisk through Finder is, in the best case, slow and unreliable. I've found that Transmit (Panic Inc.) is a fast, reliable and easy substitute to Finder.

Everywhere you can find opinions against using iDisk to synchronize data or to hold working copies; however, MobileMe has 20Gb of available capacity I wanted to use. After searching a lot, I have found that Transmit has native support for MobileMe (amongst others), lots of features, it is very fast and easy to use.

These hints are focused on basic iDisk usage, i.e. get you up and running in short time:

Synchronizing folders: Go to 'Favorites' and connect to your MobileMe iDisk. Don't forget to save it in a favorite with remote and local paths defined. Then it's just a matter of pressing the Sync button.
Save as 'on-demand', preserving folder structure: Again, go to 'Favorites' and connect to your MobileMe iDisk. Define remote and local paths and activate DockSend (don't forget to save in a favorite). Whenever you want to save a file, just drag and drop the file in Transmit Dock Icon. It will preserve the directory structure creating the necessary folders.
Save files to predefined locations: This is very handy for non-technical users. Again, connect to your MobileMe, define a remote location, save it in favorites and press 'Save as Droplet.' Every time you drag and drop a file in the droplet the file is saved in the remote location.

One of the best surprises I had was the speed of transfers, it is extremely fast, even faster than Finder or Dropbox. It's also very reliable and ease of use.

[crarko adds: I tested this, and it works as described. I know we have a lot of Transmit users here, but both Cyberduck and Interarchy also support the WebDAV protocols to connect to iDisk, and offer sync functionality as well. Fetch does not at this point. Check your favorite FTP client and see what it has to offer. Pretty much any client that works at all will be faster than the Finder, in my experience.]

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[165 views]

iTunes 9.2 adds Undo & Redo commands

Wed, 28 Jul 2010 14:30:00 GMT

iTunes 9.2 adds Undo & Redo commands
Jul 28, '10 07:30:00AM • Contributed by: NaOH-Lye

Most applications have Undo and Redo commands, and iTunes has long had them available when editing song tags. Beginning with iTunes 9.2 (the latest version is 9.2.1), offers Undo and Redo commands which can be applied to songs which have been removed from or added to a playlist. Note, though, that these commands will not work for songs which have been removed from the Library.

As always, Undo is available from the Edit menu and can also be invoked using the keyboard with Command-Z. Redo is also in the Edit menu and can be done with the Command-Shift-Z keyboard shortcut.

I have no earlier version available for testing, but am confident 9.2 is when the feature I've noted was added. I regularly invoke the Undo keyboard shortcut just as a habitual response to a mistake, and I never witnessed the behavior prior to 9.2.

[crarko adds: I tested this, and it works as described.]

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[226 views]

10.6: Change remote ssh connections default

Wed, 28 Jul 2010 14:30:00 GMT

10.6: Change remote ssh connections default
Jul 28, '10 07:30:00AM • Contributed by: Anonymous

In 10.5 and previous versions of the system, Terminal's remote connection dialog (go to the menu item Shell » New Remote Connection...) had a selection for Secure Shell (ssh) that defaulted to 'SSH (Automatic).' In 10.6, this has been changed to default to 'SSH Protocol 1.' None of my servers support SSH-1 (and if yours do, you should fix the security hole and disable it). [crarko adds: Here's a nice little FAQ that describes the SSH-1 and SSH-2 protocols. SSH-2 is newer and more secure.]

Also, Terminal does not remember the state when you change this pull down. Quitting Terminal or changing to another protocol and back will reset the pull down back to SSH-1. Here's a simple way to force it to keep the change.

Since there doesn't seem to be a way to save the state of the pull down, just ignore the built-in Secure Shell service entry entirely and make a new one.

Click on the + under the Service list (within the New Remote Connection... dialog box), and create a new service.

Type ssh into all three fields. If you want specific special ssh options for every ssh session (like -2 for SSH-2 only, or -4 to only use IPv4 addresses), you can add them to the command line here. See man ssh for the available options. You can pass the username for the remote machine when you go to connect to it from the dialog.

Now this new service will default to whatever you want to set it to. It won't have additional options in the pulldown protocol menu at all.

[crarko adds: I tested this, and it works as described.]

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[170 views]

10.6: Snow Leopard update remaps mouse click

Tue, 27 Jul 2010 14:30:00 GMT

10.6: Snow Leopard update remaps mouse click
Jul 27, '10 07:30:00AM • Contributed by: anyfors

The latest Snow Leopard update (10.6.4) remapped the right mouse key to Application Switcher for the Apple USB Mouse when I applied it.

If you are surprised at having the large dock style transparent window suddenly popping up in the middle of your screen, simply go into System Preferences » Mouse and remap the right mouse button back to the Secondary Button (which was the default).

This will also restore the mouse's right-click functionality within your various applications.

[crarko adds: I haven't tested this one. Can people confirm that this happens with 10.6.4?]

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(7 votes cast)

[347 views]

Prevent disk auto-mount while logged in

Tue, 27 Jul 2010 14:30:00 GMT

Prevent disk auto-mount while logged in
Jul 27, '10 07:30:00AM • Contributed by: tobyvoss

While there are numerous well-documented ways to prevent a hard disk or USB drive from mounting at boot-time, I found only one way (working in 10.6) to prevent newly-connected disks from auto-mounting while logged in.

It is possible to turn off the responsible process:

sudo launchctl unload /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.diskarbitrationd.plist

This has negative repercussions on general ejecting and mounting. Turning diskarbitrationd back on with load instead of unload doesn't solve all problems, either.

So I looked far and wide for a simple GUI tool performing this function; all I found were expensive forensics-toolkits for law enforcement which offer this function on the side.

Then I stumbled upon this gem: github.com/aburgh/Disk-Arbitrator/. Works for systems 10.5 and up, source available, binaries available (in 'Downloads'), all problems solved!

[crarko adds: I tested this, and it works as described. Nice utility, with good documentation.]

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[250 views]

10.6: Add applications to Expos�

Mon, 26 Jul 2010 14:30:00 GMT

10.6: Add applications to Expos�
Jul 26, '10 07:30:00AM • Contributed by: kapeli

You all probably know about Expos�'s Application Mode (introduced in 10.6 I think). What's interesting is that while you're in it, you can Command+click on other running applications and bring their windows into Expos� as well.

Steps to reproduce:

Open Application Expos� (click and hold on any running application in the Dock).
Cmd+click on another running application in the Dock.

What happens is that only the windows of these 2 applications will be shown in Expos�. You can also continue to Cmd+click on other applications and bring their windows into Expos� as well.

I noticed that some windows that are normally ignored by Expos�, appear while doing this.

[crarko adds: I tested this, and it works as described. It's something of an addition to this previous hint.]

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[286 views]

Safari Reader copy and paste modes

Mon, 26 Jul 2010 14:30:00 GMT

Safari Reader copy and paste modes
Jul 26, '10 07:30:00AM • Contributed by: gregraven

Copying and pasting from Safari when using the Reader function has two modes, depending on where you are pasting.

If you select, copy, and paste the text into a text editor, you get something that looks like this:

Britain Plans to Decentralize Health Care

LONDON -- Perhaps the only consistent thing about Britain's socialized health care system is that it is in a perpetual state of flux, its structure constantly changing as governments search for the elusive formula that will deliver the best care for the cheapest price while costs and demand escalate.[...]

However, if you paste your copied text into a new mail message in Mail.app, the source URL is prepended to the text, like this:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/25/world/europe/25britain.html?_r=2&hp

Britain Plans to Decentralize Health Care

LONDON -- Perhaps the only consistent thing about Britain's socialized health care system is that it is in a perpetual state of flux, its structure constantly changing as governments search for the elusive formula that will deliver the best care for the cheapest price while costs and demand escalate.[...]

[crarko adds: I tested this, and it works if Mail is set to use Rich Text as the default message format, but not if it's Plain Text. In TextEdit it made no difference, the URL was not inserted. If you use the little 'Mail this page' icon in Safari Reader, it forces the new message to be Rich Text and adds the URL.]

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[261 views]

Secure Evernote for Mac application data

Fri, 23 Jul 2010 14:30:00 GMT

Secure Evernote for Mac application data
Jul 23, '10 07:30:00AM • Contributed by: NURB

Evernote is a combination of an application and a cloud based service to save notes, reminders, images and other data that can be accessed from a Mac, PC, iPhone or other mobile devices. This hint is about encrypting the local data store from the Mac version of the software.

Here's how to do it:

Quit Evernote from the Menu bar shortcut.
Make an encrypted disk image using Disk Utility and mount it. (You may want to put it in your login items to open on login.)
Move the folder: ~/Library/Application Support/Evernote folder over to the disk image.
Use the SymbolicLinker Service (10.6) or plug-in (10.5 and earlier) or make the symbolic link yourself via Terminal in the disk image from the moved Evernote folder (just making an alias does not work).
Move the Symbolic Link to: ~/Library/Application Support/ to replace the original Evernote folder and be sure it's named 'Evernote.'
Restart Evernote.

[crarko adds: I don't use Evernote, but I tested this with other files. The author originally used the commercial software Knox for the secure store, and that's a slicker method, but it also works using an encrypted disk image. This method obviously has applicability for things besides Evernote, but test carefully for whatever application(s) you use it with. SymbolicLinker is a nice find, too.]

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[232 views]

Python and UTF-8 text encoding on OSX

Fri, 23 Jul 2010 14:30:00 GMT

Python and UTF-8 text encoding on OSX
Jul 23, '10 07:30:00AM • Contributed by: fcilender

I'm using a MacBook Air with Snow Leopard (10.6.2) as my development platform. And I'm using Python 2.6.4 with Unicode strings.

I received the following error when trying to run a script: UnicodeEncodeError: 'ascii' codec can't encode character u'xe9', indicating that the text encoding was wrong. So it couldn't output a word like appliqu� correctly.

I tried adding # -*- coding: utf-8 -*- at the head of my Python script, but I still get this complaint.

To fix this, I found that the text encoding used for standard input, output, and standard error can be specified by setting the PYTHONIOENCODING environment variable before running the interpreter.

The value should be a string in the form <encoding> or <encoding>:<errorhandler>. The encoding part specifies the encoding's name, e.g. utf-8 or latin-1; the optional errorhandler part specifies what to do with characters that can't be handled by the encoding, and should be one of 'error', 'ignore', or 'replace'.

So typing export PYTHONIOENCODING=utf-8 prior to invoking the Python interpreter does the trick, or you could just add this setting to your environment file: ~/.MacOSX/environment.plist.

[crarko adds: I haven't tested this one.]

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[221 views]

Use AppleScript for a Virtual Numpad

Thu, 22 Jul 2010 14:30:00 GMT

Use AppleScript for a Virtual Numpad
Jul 22, '10 07:30:00AM • Contributed by: nathanator11

The keyboards on Mac notebooks, and now desktops, too, have no number pad. It used to be that notebook keyboards had a numlock key, and you could use the letter keys on the right hand side of the keyboard as a number pad, but that feature seems to have vanished. It can, however, be brought back with AppleScript. [crarko adds: You can get it by pressing and holding the 'fn' key, which is also cumbersome.]

The code given below will let you type as if this numpad existed. It will convert the letters into the corresponding numbers, and copy the result to the clipboard. When you need a numpad, just switch to this program, and then back to your original, and paste. Also, you can type normally by typing " " (double-space). Use that to switch to text mode, and again to switch out. For example: "jkl jkl jkl" will produce "123jkl123". If you use triple-spaces, one space will be left ("123 jkl 123"). So, you could type this: " My favorite number is jkluio789 ." and get "My favorite number is 123456789." Also, keys that do not represent any number will remain unchanged. Here's what each key does [crarko adds: Seeing the picture included in the download below will make this clearer]:

U=4 I=5 O=6 P=+
J=1 K=2 L=3
M=0 ,=00
7, 8, and 9 stay the same.

Normally, numpad keys aren't staggered, so this takes a little getting used to. But, I still find it a lot faster than the row of numbers at the top.

set toQuit to false
repeat while toQuit is false
 set dd to display dialog "Enter text..." with title "Numpad" buttons {"Quit", "Continue"} default button 2 default answer ""
 set ddText to text returned of dd as string
 set ddBtn to button returned of dd as string
 if ddBtn is "Quit" then set toQuit to true
 if ddBtn is "Continue" then
  set oldDel to AppleScript's text item delimiters as string
  set AppleScript's text item delimiters to "" as string
  set chars to items of ddText as list
  set AppleScript's text item delimiters to oldDel as string
  set nums to chars
  set sp to false
  set spSet to false
  set spUnSet to false
  considering case
   set valNum to 1 as integer
   repeat with val in nums
    if spSet is true then
     set spSet to false
     set valNum to valNum + 1
    else
     if spUnSet is true then
      set spUnSet to false
      set valNum to valNum + 1
     else
      if sp is true then
       if (val as string) is " " then
        if (item (valNum + 1) of nums) is " " then
         set sp to false
         set spUnSet to true
        end if
       end if
       set valNum to valNum + 1
      else
       if (val as string) is "u" then set item valNum of nums to "4"
       if (val as string) is "i" then set item valNum of nums to "5"
       if (val as string) is "o" then set item valNum of nums to "6"
       if (val as string) is "p" then set item valNum of nums to "+"
       if (val as string) is "j" then set item valNum of nums to "1"
       if (val as string) is "k" then set item valNum of nums to "2"
       if (val as string) is "l" then set item valNum of nums to "3"
       if (val as string) is "m" then set item valNum of nums to "0"
       if (val as string) is "," then set item valNum of nums to "00"
       if (val as string) is " " then
        if (item (valNum + 1) of nums) is " " then
         set sp to true
         set spSet to true
        end if
       end if
       set valNum to valNum + 1
      end if
     end if
    end if
   end repeat
  end considering
  set numsText to nums as string
  if numsText contains " " then
   set oldDel to AppleScript's text item delimiters as string
   set AppleScript's text item delimiters to " " as string
   set num to 1
   set sps to (count text items of numsText) as integer
   set numsText2 to "" as string
   repeat with num from 1 to sps
    set numsText2 to (numsText2 & text item num of numsText) as string
    set num to num + 1
   end repeat
   set AppleScript's text item delimiters to oldDel as string
  else
   set numsText2 to numsText
  end if
  set the clipboard to numsText2
 end if
end repeat

[crarko adds: When trying the examples, you need to actually type the text into the entry box; copy and paste didn't always work. It takes a few minutes to get used to the spaces to change modes, but it does work. The source code, a compiled version of the app, and a picture of the virtual keypad are mirrored here.]

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[227 views]

Refresh a widget in Dashboard

Thu, 22 Jul 2010 14:30:00 GMT

Refresh a widget in Dashboard
Jul 22, '10 07:30:00AM • Contributed by: Anonymous

To refresh a widget in the Dashboard, open the Dashboard, select a widget, and press Command-R. There is a slick little animation, and the widget will refresh.

[crarko adds: I've seen this before, but on searching didn't find it here as a hint. Here is a previous hint with a list of other interesting modifier keys. It looks like the wiki mentioned there is no longer active, so I'll see about creating a new one. Thanks to reader Reuven Volnoboy for pointing this out.]

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[202 views]

Time Machine: Mount backup disk on demand

Wed, 21 Jul 2010 14:30:00 GMT

Time Machine: Mount backup disk on demand
Jul 21, '10 07:30:00AM • Contributed by: syzygies

It is both inconvenient and less safe to keep backup volumes mounted when not in use. A mounted volume is more prone to corruption, and open file dialogs needlessly spin up mounted volumes, contributing to a user experience latency that is most apparent if the primary drive is solid state.

By creating an /etc/periodic/hourly directory modeled after the existing /etc/periodic/daily directory, and adapting com.apple.periodic-daily.plist, there is a place to put a script that handles mounting and unmounting the Time Machine backup disk, and launching Time Machine.

Scripts that implement nightly tasks can be placed in the /etc/periodic/daily directory, which is run at 3:15 AM by /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.periodic-daily.plist. Using sudo in Terminal, create the parallel directory /etc/periodic/hourly and the parallel file /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.periodic-hourly.plist.

Then clone the file com.apple.periodic-hourly.plist from com.apple.periodic-daily.plist, replacing each instance of daily by hourly, and replacing the StartCalendarInterval by a StartInterval of 3600 seconds. Specifically, replace:

<key>StartCalendarInterval</key>
<dict>
 <key>Hour</key>
 <integer>3</integer>
 <key>Minute</key>
 <integer>15</integer>
</dict>

with

<key>StartInterval</key>
<integer>3600</integer>

The syntax for this file is documented by the man page launchd.plist(5). Now, after restart, any script placed in /etc/periodic/hourly will be run every hour as super user.

Turn off Time Machine in System Preferences, but leave the correct backup disk selected. One can still launch Time Machine from the command line or a script, by calling backupd-helper. Our script will mount and unmount the backup disk as necessary, and call Time Machine by this mechanism.

One can create a similar script to automate SuperDuper! backups. One can reverse engineer a replacement for backupd-helper by watching SuperDuper! as it runs using the command line command ps -ax | grep SDCopy. Calling SDCopy is unsupported, but it has worked flawlessly for me for years, and opens up the possibility of updating folders as easily as volumes.

You can suggest that Apple implement this functionality for Time Machine, by providing feedback at Mac OS X Feedback. SuperDuper! requests that I not document this functionality for their SDCopy tool, so you should ask them to support mounting and unmounting backup volumes on demand.

Together, these scripts implement the software portion of silencing my external drives. To complete this task, one can either use passively cooled external enclosures, or replace the fan on an actively cooled enclosure. See Modding the WiebeTech RTX220-QJ for an example of how one might do this.

Here is the Time Machine script, written in Python. I have hard-wired my backup disk and log file directory, so the script needs to be adapted for use on a different system. (In general, one should never run any script as super user that one doesn't completely understand.)

#!/usr/bin/env python

# place in /etc/periodic/daily to run nightly (or hourly if set up):
#
# sudo cp -f timemachine.py /etc/periodic/daily/667.timemachine
# sudo cp -f timemachine.py /etc/periodic/hourly/667.timemachine

import re
import datetime
import time
from subprocess import Popen, PIPE

# do executes a shell command, returning stdout and stderr

def do(cmd):
 p = Popen(cmd, shell=True, stdin=PIPE, stdout=PIPE, stderr=PIPE)
 (fi, fo, fe) = (p.stdin, p.stdout, p.stderr)
 fi.close()
 msg = fo.read()
 fo.close()
 fe.close()
 return msg

# mounted checks if vol is mounted

def mounted(vol):
 pat = r'/Volumes/(\S+)\s+[(](.+)[)]'
 msg = do('/sbin/mount')
 vols = dict(re.compile(pat).findall(msg))
 return vol in vols.keys()

# disks returns a dictionary associating e.g. 'Flash' to 'disk0s2'

def disks():
 pat = r'Apple_HFS\s+(\S+)\s+.+(disk\d+s\d+)'
 msg = do('/usr/sbin/diskutil list')
 vols = re.compile(pat).findall(msg)
 return dict(vols)

# sleep waits a bit

def sleep():
 time.sleep(30)

# mount_volume returns pair (now mounted?, was mounted?),
# after attempting to mount volume for "name" as needed

def mount_volume(vol, logfile):
 if mounted(vol):
 (now, was) = (True, True)
 else:
 was = False
 diskID = disks()
 mountable = diskID.keys()
 if vol in mountable:
  do("/usr/sbin/diskutil mount %s >>'%s' 2>&1" % (diskID[vol], logfile))
  sleep()
 now = mounted(vol)
 return (now, was)

# unmount_volume unmounts volume

def unmount_volume(vol, logfile):
 do("/usr/sbin/diskutil unmount '/Volumes/%s' >>'%s' 2>&1" % (vol, logfile))

# run Time Machine
# Time Machine has finished when 'backupd' is no longer running

logdir = '/Local/Backup Logs'
backupd = "/System/Library/CoreServices/backupd.bundle/Contents/Resources/backupd-helper >>'%s' 2>&1"

def start_backupd(logfile):
 do("echo 'starting Time Machine' >>'%s'" % logfile)
 do(backupd % logfile)

def backupd_running(logfile):
 return do("ps -ax | grep [b]ackupd >>'%s' 2>&1" % logfile)

def timemachine(vol):
 now = datetime.datetime.now().strftime("%F %H-%M-%S")
 logfile = "%s/%s (Time Machine)" % (logdir, now)
 (tnow, twas) = mount_volume(vol, logfile)
 if tnow:
 start_backupd(logfile)
 sleep()
 while backupd_running(logfile):
  sleep()
 if not twas:
  sleep()
  for i in range(1,8):
  sleep()
  unmount_volume(vol, logfile)
  if not mounted(vol):
   break

# execute (replace 'Time' by name of Time Machine volume)

timemachine('Time')

[crarko adds: I haven't tested this one. The python script is mirrored here. As advised, be sure to gain an understanding of what the script does before attempting to use it.]

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Currently 4.67 / 5
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(3 votes cast)

[194 views]

HP all in one now can scan

Wed, 21 Jul 2010 14:30:00 GMT

HP all in one now can scan
Jul 21, '10 07:30:00AM • Contributed by: gordonlbuchanan

I was having problems with my HP PSC 2110 all-in-one printer and in the process of troubleshooting was tinkering with the System Preferences for it. I just randomly clicked on the Scan button and the clicked Open Scanner. Up popped a scan window with 'Scanner is warming up.' Then it showed a preview window and a Scan button. I was completely blown away. I have been trying to get this scanner to work with Leopard and Snow Leopard for years.

This was after applying the most recent HP Printer Drivers v.2.4.1 for Mac OS X v10.6 update, so that is likely the fix.

[crarko adds: I haven't tested this one. It's nice to see the functionality returned to multi-function printers, even if it takes quite a while to happen. Remember to try the latest driver updates when they come out.]

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Currently 0.00 / 5
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[189 views]

Measuring screen elements in pixels

Tue, 20 Jul 2010 14:30:00 GMT

Measuring screen elements in pixels
Jul 20, '10 07:30:00AM • Contributed by: adipoos

Measuring elements on the screen quickly and easily can be really important for all sorts of tasks. I often use the excellent Free Ruler app for this but don't always want to waste time opening it up.

For super-quick measurements just use the built-in screen capture command (Cmd-Shift-4) to drag and measure the element you're interested in instead. Click and drag to measure and to avoid taking a screenshot simply press the Escape key before releasing the mouse button.

I'd not really thought of this as a hint until a fellow designer was astounded when then they saw me doing this, so I thought I would share!

[crarko adds: Free Ruler has been mentioned before but this is a nice quick alternative.]

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Currently 4.33 / 5
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(3 votes cast)

[225 views]

10.6: A Service to show/hide hidden files

Tue, 20 Jul 2010 14:30:00 GMT

10.6: A Service to show/hide hidden files
Jul 20, '10 07:30:00AM • Contributed by: colmiak

There are many ways to show and hide the various hidden files and folders in Mac OS X. This one is an update to an older Automator workflow method. The previous method was to create a plug-in in Automator; now a pair of Services are used, so this hint only applies to Snow Leopard. Refer to the previous hint for usage in either Leopard or Tiger.

Here's how to do it:

Launch Automator and choose Service as your template. (Be careful in the next steps if you copy and paste the code that the apostrophes and quotes come through as plain text.)
On the left side, use the search bar to find the 'Run Shell Script' action (it's in Utilities) and drag three instances of that action over to the right side.
At the very top on the right where is says 'Service receives selected' choose 'files or folders' in 'Finder.'
In the first 'Run Shell Script' box type the following:
defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles -bool TRUE
In the second box type the following:
osascript -e 'tell application "Finder" to quit';
In the third box type the following:
osascript -e 'tell application "Finder" to activate';
Save the file as Show Hidden Files.
Now go back to the first 'Run Shell Script' box at the top and change the word TRUE to FALSE.
It should now read:
defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles -bool FALSE
Save this file as Hide Hidden Files.

That's all, now when you right click a file or folder, these options will show up at the bottom of the list.

To delete these Services go to ~/Library/Services and just move both files to the trash.

[crarko adds: I tested this, and it works as described.]

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Currently 4.00 / 5
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(1 vote cast)

[264 views]

Add custom keyboard shortcuts in Terminal

Mon, 19 Jul 2010 14:30:00 GMT

Add custom keyboard shortcuts in Terminal
Jul 19, '10 07:30:00AM • Contributed by: asmeurer

In Terminal, under the Keyboard tab of a theme, you can add custom keyboard shortcuts. However, if you try to add a custom shortcut that types a modifier key, you will have some difficulty. This is because the entry form seemingly makes it impossible to enter a modifier key or the escaped octal number for it.

The way around this is to type a backslash \, which will enter \\. Then arrow key left and type a forward delete. This will delete one of the backslashes, allowing you use the remaining one as an escape. You can, for example, use \033 to emulate the Option key. Another option is to look up the octal value for the key you want in the table at this Wikipedia article, and type the corresponding control sequence. For example, option is ^[, or Control-[. It also turns out that this is the same as escape, so you can just press the esc key if you want Option.

So if you want option-left and option-right to act like they do in normal Mac OS X Cocoa text boxes, you can map option-left arrow and option-right arrow to \033b and \033f, respectively (see, this is actually two hints in one!).

Note: I encountered a bug where it wouldn't let me close the pull-down sheet. The solution is to click on the + beneath the sheet, like you are adding a new shortcut, and it will work and let you close that.

[crarko adds: I tested this, and it works as described. Remember on a laptop keyboard in order to type a forward delete you may need to use 'fn-delete' combination.]

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Currently 3.00 / 5
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(3 votes cast)

[280 views]

Quick Look and images: zoom in and out

Mon, 19 Jul 2010 14:30:00 GMT

Quick Look and images: zoom in and out
Jul 19, '10 07:30:00AM • Contributed by: renaultssoftware

If you're using Quick Look on an image, you'll appreciate the following trick for zooming.

Once you've opened the QL window on a JPEG or other image file, simply press Option and the pointer will change to a magnifying glass with a plus sign in the middle. Click somewhere on the image to zoom in.

Drag the cursor around to move around, or use the scroll wheel (2 fingers on trackpad) to move around. Option-Shift-click to zoom back out.

[crarko adds: I tested this, and it works as described. It doesn't work on PDF's, which is a bummer.]

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Currently 4.50 / 5
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(2 votes cast)

[319 views]