Macintosh on Jackenhack

Atom Editor Platformio Hangs at startup endless restart - fixed

Sat, 25 Jul 2020 00:00:00 +0000

When installing the excellent Atom Editor with Platformio-ide, the main window inside the editor would hang on my new Mac. I uninstalled the program and deleted the .atom directory and tried to reinstall, the application would freeze the main window, and I had to force-quit the program. After a lot of experiments, I finally found a way to fix the problem.

(Having a problem with the Atom editor asking to restart over and over? Jump over here)

Hackintosh AMD Shutdown Problem with Fenvi FV-T919

Thu, 28 May 2020 00:00:00 +0000

After finally building my first Hackintosh, I decided that the AMD Ryzen™ 3900X processor would be perfect, although Apple never made a Machintosh machine with an AMD processor. I used the Gigabyte X570 Aorus Elite motherboard because it has everything I need for my build. But I decided to upgrade my working machine with a Bluetooth/Wifi PCI-E card to be able to use the SideCar function in macOS. Being able to connect Bluetooth equipment is also lovely.

After Googling around, I found a card that filled all my needs. It’s the Fenvi FV-T919, a Bluetooth 4.0, and 802.11 a/b/g/n/AC compatible Wifi-card that uses ICs that are supported in macOS directly, so no patching needed.

But after installing the card, there was a problem when trying to shut down the machine from the macOS side; the computer would shut down and immediately start up again. Fortunately, I’ve found a fix for the problem.

Hackintosh Water Cooling Fan Problem

Thu, 13 Feb 2020 00:00:00 +0000

When building my AMD Hackintosh, I decided to prepare for a future upgrade of my CPU. I based my current build on an AMD Ryzen 3900X, but I plan to update it to a Ryzen 3950X. So I decided to install a CPU water cooling system.

MacBook Netflix Flicker Flashing in Full-screen

Tue, 25 Dec 2018 00:00:00 +0000

I had an annoying problem on my 2015 MacBook Pro Mac OS when watching movies on Netflix using Safari. When in full-screen mode, the display would flash/flicker a couple of times a minute. Well, after digging around, I found a solution for it.

Why Does the screen keep flashing when watching Netflix?

Some MacBook Pro’s have dual graphics cards. Mac OS switches between them depending on what kind of work you are doing, and by switching cards it saves batteries. Unfortunately, the built-in Intel graphics cards are the reason for the flickering and flashing. So we need to turn on the high-performance graphics card when watching Netflix.

MacOS Remove Purgeable in High Sierra

Tue, 06 Mar 2018 00:00:00 +0000

I’ve written an article on how to remove the purgeable portion on a hard disk on MacOS, but in High Sierra, Apple has changed the file system from HFS+ to APFS. Because of that, my old guide doesn’t work. So here is how to remove the Purgeable part of the disk in MacOS High Sierra.

Search System Files in Finder Mac OS

Sun, 08 Oct 2017 00:00:00 +0000

Finding System Files in Finder

Don’t you hate it when you need to find a .plist settings file or any other file that is in one of the Mac OS system files folders? I do. So here is a little tip on how to do global system files search directly in the Finder.

MacOS How To Remove Purgeable on Hard Drive

Thu, 20 Apr 2017 00:00:00 +0000

Can’t Remove Purgeable Disk Space

Note: If you have MacOS High Sierra installed, you need this guide instead.

When trying to install Bootcamp on my MacBook Pro, I had to delete a lot of files to get enough space to be able to accommodate for a Bootcamp partition on the drive. But even after removing around 60 GB of storage, MacOS Sierra could still not make a large enough partition for Windows. When checking with Disk Utility, it showed that indeed I had enough space, but there was a part called Purgeable that was impossible to move. No tools from Apple are available to handle this, but here’s how I fixed it.

(not actually my disk, forgot to take a screenshot)

Python Generators for System Administrators

Tue, 26 Jan 2016 00:00:00 +0000

Generator functions and Python. Doing your administrative stuff faster.

Often when I need to monitor something on one of my linux servers, I always gravitate towards these papers. I always forget how to use them, so putting them here is for me as much as it is for you. Go though the PDF presentation about Python Generators for System Administrators. and fiddle around with the example code. I’m pretty sure you can find stuff you need to to and you will be amazed of the speed of the code. It took a while for me to wrap my thick head around it, but the end result is great!

Use LTspice IV Windows Version on Mac OS X

Wed, 21 Oct 2015 00:00:00 +0000

Running LTspice IV on Mac OS X

Before I start testing a new idea for an electronic circuit and building it on a breadboard, I usually want to check it with LTspice. It’s a fantastic piece of software for testing almost any kind of component. Nearly all manufacturers have a spice equivalent for most of their parts. But there’s a snag. The Mac version of LTspice is a piece of crap. Having to run a virtual PC or reboot using BootCamp feels unnecessarily slow and convoluted. But there’s a way of running it as a “normal” Mac application. Here’s how to do it.

Arq Backup for Mac OS X Now Supports Google Cloud Storage Nearline

Thu, 19 Mar 2015 00:00:00 +0000

There’s one thing that I fear when it comes to my storage and that is to lose all the pictures I’ve been taking for all these years. I have seen customers of mine that have lost all their images due to a hard disk crashing and seen the tears. I usually do my regular backup using TimeMachine on my Mac to an Apple Time Capsule. But my photo library in Adobe Lightroom is too big to fit on the SSD drive used in my MacBook Pro, and TimeMachine doesn’t do a backup of external drives. So I use rsync to make a backup to my NAS which uses RAID–1 for extra protection. But I don’t want to rely on a single backup. A fire, burglary or simple hardware failure makes me uneasy. So I also do an off-site backup using the excellent Arq backup program.

MultiMarkdown 4.7 Released

Tue, 17 Mar 2015 00:00:00 +0000

MultiMarkdown has just been updated to version 4.7. MultiMarkdown 4.7 Released. Unfortunately it looks like my biggest gripe with MultiMarkdown still isn’t fixed.

Faster WiFi Speed With Your Mac

Sun, 22 Feb 2015 00:00:00 +0000

Getting better speed over WiFi

Most people today have their computers, phones and media players connected via Wi-Fi. But is your wireless network operating at the highest rate? Well, there’s a couple of things you can do to increase both the reach and your connection speed with some simple configuration changes. Let’s see if we can improve your Wi-Fi speed.

Clearing the Icon Services cache in Yosemite

Mon, 19 Jan 2015 00:00:00 +0000

“furbo.org · Clearing the Icon Services cache in Yosemite”

After installing or updating a system to Yosemite, I have seen blank (missing) icons on several Macs. I have also seen cases where the desktop doesn’t get updated after a change to the document icons in the application itself (which happens as developers update their apps to use the new icon guidelines.)

Saving this link for later. Looks like a good thing to know.

Resetting Mac OS X Printing System

Sun, 11 Jan 2015 00:00:00 +0000

How to Reset the Printing System in Mac OS X to Fix Annoying Printer Problems | OSXDaily

How to Reset the Printing System in Mac OS X to Fix Annoying Printer Problems

This little trick was new to me. Good to know.

Apple seeds OS X Yosemite 10.10.2 beta with focus on Wi-Fi, Mail and VoiceOver

Thu, 08 Jan 2015 00:00:00 +0000

“Apple seeds OS X Yosemite 10.10.2 beta with focus on Wi-Fi, Mail and VoiceOver”

AppleInsider:

Apple on Wednesday issued a new beta build of its upcoming OS X 10.10.2 maintenance update, once again asking developers to focus on Wi-Fi, Mail and VoiceOver alongside general system compatibility testing.

I hope Apple manages to fix the Wi-Fi problem that I have with MacBook Airs since upgrading to Yosemite. Constantly dropped connection and the only solution to the problem? Turn off and then on the network again. The machines worked fine before upgrading and It’s very intermittent.

Yosemite Mac OSX wifi problems

Tue, 30 Dec 2014 00:00:00 +0000

Mac OS X Yosemite was released 16th of October. Naturally I installed it on all my machines. My new work computer, a MacBook Air 13" worked perfectly before the upgrade, but after the installation I’ve had constant problem with Wi-Fi. No problems what so ever before upgrading, so obviously something is screwed up with Yosemite. My private machine, a mid-2014 MacBook Pro Retina has no problems at all.

When searching through Apples support forum, there’s a lot of similar stories (and also a lot of noise.) it’s incredible that Apple still haven’t fixed the problem, with the network connection going down every five minutes. The only fix is to turn of wifi and turn it back on again. Incredible…

Must-Have Mac Utilities

Wed, 29 Oct 2014 00:00:00 +0000

[caption id=“attachment_3666” align=“aligncenter” width=“580”] Josep Ma. Rosell[/caption]

Great Utilities for Mac OS X

Here’s my list of applications I can’t live without on my Mac. It’s the first thing I install when setting up a new machine. Maybe you’ll find one you like?

Airmail updated to version 2.0

Mon, 20 Oct 2014 00:00:00 +0000

Airmail 2.0

A new version of Airmail has been released in conjunction with the new version of Mac OS X called Yosemite. It’s been redesigned to match Apples new look of the operating system and I love it. I’ve written before on my switch from Apples Mail to Airmail and what I like about it, and now there’s more to love. Here’s a list of some of the new features in version 2.0:

Little Snitch 3 Privacy Monitor and Controller

Sun, 21 Sep 2014 00:00:00 +0000

Little Snitch 3 your network connection monitor

I have a couple of applications that I always install on a new Mac. Little Snitch 3 is one of them. They are the essential software I need to have installed to be productive and secure. Little Snitch by Objective Development is one of them. I’ve been using it for more than ten years now, and I wouldn’t dream of running a Mac without it installed. What Little Snitch 3 essentially does is monitor all outgoing traffic from your open applications and processes and gives you the ability to allow or deny that traffic. It is an excellent way of seeing what kind of information is sent from applications without your knowledge or consent. And it’s a great way of stopping traffic that “Phones home” without your explicit permission. When an application tries to send out something over the network, it gets intercepted by Little Snitch, and you can then allow or deny the connection, either temporary or permanently via the dialog box that appears. So Little Snitch is always there, protecting your privacy.

A Quick Test of the Blogo 2 Blogging Application

Mon, 15 Sep 2014 00:00:00 +0000

Blogo 2

Update: After using Blogo 2 for a while I decided to use Marsedit 3 instead. It’s a much more mature product right now.

I decided I wanted to try a new blogging application and stumbled onto Blogo 2. After installing it I had problems at first because I could only see the first 16 pages of content on my blog. But after contacting their support, they found out the problem (a weird character in one of my posts) and even logged in and fixed it. So my initial impression of the support for the application is very good. I just wished that the application supported Markdown and have a way of synchronising to Dropbox so I can switch between my computer and my iPad. But for quick posts like this (and if everything works because I haven’t pressed the Publish button yet) this could be a useful application. And there is sync with Evernote so that might work in a pinch.

JPEGMini an easy way to reduce size of large photos

Wed, 10 Sep 2014 00:00:00 +0000

JPEGMini

What if you could reduce the size of all the jpeg pictures on your hard disk? Do you have problems sending full resolution jpeg images via email because of size restraints? Is your iPhoto library too large? Let’s face it; pictures is one of the things that sucks up space on your drives. It’s even more annoying if you are using a newer Mac with an SSD disk where cost is premium. Upload speed when sending emails or uploading images to the web can be slow and annoying. An application called JPEGMini claims to help you with reducing your pictures with up to five times while retaining all the quality. I got a bit curious if the team at JPEGMini and their patented image compressor really could reduce large JPEG photos without losing quality. I’ve tried the application before when I wrote my article about comparing the best jpeg compressor applications for web use. But even though JPEGMini is geared more towards large megapixel pictures, not small images usually used on web pages, my test shows that it stacks up well against the competition even on more modest photographs. Many web pages now use pictures optimized for high-resolution images like for Retina display and high-resolution mobile devices, so the use of an image compressor is getting even more useful for web use.

But how well does JPEGMini retain quality on megapixel images in JPEG format? How much do you lose in quality by using compressing?

Corsair K70 Clicky PC Gaming Keyboard on a Mac

Thu, 21 Aug 2014 00:00:00 +0000

Using a Clicky PC Keyboard from Corsair on a Mac

If you have followed this blog, you probably know that I love clicky keyboards. But getting a Buckling Spring or even a Cherry MX Blue keyboard specifically made for Macintosh isn’t easy, at least not here in Sweden. So the way to go for me was to get a PC gaming keyboard.

Airmail for Mac a Great Replacement for Apple Mail

Thu, 14 Aug 2014 00:00:00 +0000

Update to the update 2018

Still my favorite email client, and I’m now also blessed with a version for iPad and my iPhone. It’s up to version 3. It never crashes, and the search is fast and excellent. Best email client ever!

Update 2016-02-16

I’m still using Airmail now, two years after I wrote this post. It has never failed me in any way. It’s now up to version 2. I guess Apple has probably fixed a lot of the problems they had back then when connecting to Gmail. And let’s face it, Google changed a lot from the original IMAP standard, so everyone had to keep up. But I’m sticking with Airmail 2. Now there’s even an excellent version for Airmail for iOS. And you’ll feel right at home. It also syncs your settings from your Mac OS X application, so now I have an HTML signature on my iPhone. Yay! The only complaint is that they did the app for iPhone only and not an iPad version. In a perfect world, it should have been a universal app. But hopefully, they’ll fix that in the coming months.

Airmail, my new favorite mail client

After Mac OS X 10.8, Apple Mail has been going downhill by every update. It’s weird because the iOS Mail app is rock solid. I have my email domain on Google Apps, and I know that Gmail doesn’t follow the IMAP standard, instead choosing to do it their way. So they use tags instead of folders, etc. The blame has to be put on Google for not following standards but is a significant player; you can pretty much set your own rules. Anyway, Apple Mail has become a slow, unreliable application although they have fixed some of the more severe problems in the latest release. For the first time in many years, I was on the lookout for a new email client software.

Time to find a new Mail Client

I wanted to be able to have both of my private and work email accounts in the same program but have them separate to make life easier, and after searching the net, I found an application called Airmail. The feature list is comprehensive to the point of me not wanting to list all the features here, but follow the link to get a lowdown on all the things the application can do. I’ll go through the things that persuaded me to switch.

Mac OS X Finder Missing Sidebar Shared Computer Icons

Mon, 07 Jul 2014 00:00:00 +0000

I started to have a problem with Mac OS X Finder where the Shared computers in the Finder window sidebar didn’t show up. I couldn’t even change the Sidebar settings in Finder Preferences. So I did some digging around and found out how I could fix it, but also how stupid I am.

Going Paperless With Evernote and Any Scanner On Your Mac

Tue, 19 Mar 2013 00:00:00 +0000

[caption id=“attachment_2704” align=“alignleft” width=“272”] Photo by phrawr[/caption]

Going paperless

Tired of drowning in stacks of papers? Want to go paperless? Here’s how I moved all my documents to the cloud and cleared up a lot of the clutter at home. I used my old trusty photo scanner, because when all the old papers are scanned and achieved, I only have to scan the new inflowing papers, not the insane stacks of paper I had previously.

Scanning Workflow

The easiest route is to buy an advanced duplexed document scanner like the highly regarded and award winning Fujitsu ScanSnap iX500 duplex document scanner. It comes with all the software you need and you just put in a stack of papers, receipts or business cards and away it goes.

There’s also a small portable scanner called Doxie Go that looks interesting, with rechargeable batteries and a SD card slot.

But I don’t have the money to buy one now so my old flatbed scanner, the Canon CanoScan 8800f, now discontinued and replaced with the better Canon CanoScan 9000F have to do at least for now. It’s not really made for scanning large amount of papers, but it does the job. I’ve made what I think is a pretty good workflow so I’ll try to describe it. Maybe you can find some nuggets here.

Battery Draining Applications on Macbook Pro

Sun, 17 Mar 2013 00:00:00 +0000

Better battery life Macbook Pro with gfxCardStatus

Update: Just installed Mac OS X 10.8.4 and now it works much better. Fantastical, Growler, Hardware Grower, Scrivener and Tweetbot now works without switching cards.
Later models of Macbook Pro computers comes with dual graphics card. This makes it possible to use a low performance card when not using graphics intense applications, and automatically switch to the faster, but less energy efficient card if needed. But how do you know which card is currently active? There is a great application available called gfxCardStatus that shows you when the computer switches, and even uses notifications.

If your on the move and on battery power, you can force the computer to use the Integrated less power draining graphics card. If you need full speed, just select the Discrete card. The third alternative is to have it in the normal Dynamic Switching Mode. But there’s a snag when using Switching Mode. A lot of applications forces the Macbook Pro into using the Descrete high performance battery draining card, for no apparent good reason. Let’s examine that.

Amazon Glacier Cloud Backup with Macintosh Using Arq 3 Backup Application

Mon, 10 Dec 2012 00:00:00 +0000

Check out my article on using Qrq with a Google Cloud Storage Nearline. It’s cheaper than Amazon Glacier.

Being a photographer, I have a lot of pictures on my hard disks. Using a Canon 5D Mark II with it’s 23 megapixel sensor shooting in RAW doesn’t help. My main backup is two different NAS servers doing alternating TimeMachine backups every other hour, a feature added in Mountain Lion. This is great, because if one backup unit breaks down or gets stolen, I still have another copy on the other NAS. But what if both got stolen? Imagine the horror? So I’ve been searching for an offsite backup solution that’s cheap and just works. And now I think I found it.

SD-Card is read-only in Mac Macbook Pro card reader - solved

Fri, 02 Nov 2012 00:00:00 +0000

After getting my Raspberry Pi I used the one built-in on my MacBook Pro, but the SanDisk SDHC-card showed up as read-only in finder on my mac, and Disk Utility refused to format it. The write protection switch on the card was correctly set, so that made me a bit baffled. But it seems that the internal card reader on the MacBook Pro is a bit finicky.

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Make Safari browser Faster, More Secure and Crash proof

Mon, 26 Mar 2012 00:00:00 +0000

Safari Browser

Safari, the standard web browser that’s included with Mac OS X is fast, stable and has some great features. But there are some ways of improving it to make you’re browsing experience even faster, more secure and pleasurable. Here’s a walkthrough of my favorite extensions for Safari.

Tactile Mac Clicky Keyboards for Typists

Mon, 27 Feb 2012 00:00:00 +0000

Choosing an excellent keyboard for your Mac

Let’s face it, Apple produces some great products, but there are two things the past years that they aren’t that good at. They can’t make usable mouses, and the keyboard is less than stellar. The laptop keyboards are ok as far as laptop keyboards go, but after you’ve tried a “REAL” keyboard, you will become a keyboard snob. Thankfully Apple stopped using proprietary connectors many years back, so you can buy any mouse for PC and use that instead. Even USB keyboards made for PC works after changing a setting, by switching the alt-command keys. But you won’t get all the unique keys for controlling iTunes, volume and other settings. The funny thing is, that if you want to find a good keyboard, you see the most extensive selection of keyboards with good, tactile and clicky response among all the PC gamer keyboards. Most of them look horrible though.

I’ve been working with computers since 1979 and here’s my list of the best keyboards ever produced. And I’ll try to give some tips on getting your hands on a tremendous clicky keyboard.

Speed up MacBook Pro by installing a SSD disk

Sat, 25 Feb 2012 00:00:00 +0000

SSD drive and extra disk for more speed, instead of DVD drive in MacBook Pro

Changing out your hard disk in your MacBook Pro to an SSD disk is a great way of increase the speed of your machine. And I’m not talking about a little faster, where talking about the feeling of getting a new machine. But a SSD is still expensive and are limited when it comes to storage size. So it’s not going to be able to replace your big standard disk. The solution is simple. Replace your internal disk with a SSD disk, then remove your DVD drive and install a large 2.5" disk for your bigger files. Replace your DVD? Yes, do you use it anymore? I’m not. You need a special bracket to be able to install the extra disk, so you have to buy it. But many installation kits for replacing the DVD player also includes an external USB case to install the DVD into, so you still have access to one if you need. I bought my installation kit from Ebay for next to nothing, but didn’t include the case. As I said, I’m a modern Mac user and don’t use DVD. Hint, hint.

Disk never sleeps in Mac OS X - how to fix it - updated

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 00:00:00 +0000

[caption id="" align=“alignright” width=“448”] Image by DigaoSPBR[/caption]

My internal hard disk would continuously spin on my MacBook Pro and never goes to sleep. I replaced my internal drive on my MacBook Pro with an SSD disk, which made a massive difference in speed. At the same time, I removed the DVD unit and installed a new 500gb drive instead. The extra disk went to sleep when not in use, but then started within a couple of minutes or less. Here’s what I did to fix that problem.

My favorite commands in .bash_profile on Mac OS X

Wed, 24 Nov 2010 00:00:00 +0000

Here are some additions to my .bash_profile for making life easier. I especially like that completion now ignores case. Makes navigating the file system so much faster. Give them a spin. [cc lang=“bash”]export HISTCONTROL=erasedups export HISTSIZE=10000 shopt -s histappend set completion-ignore-case on [/cc]

GPS tagging on the cheap

Sat, 09 May 2009 00:00:00 +0000

Read a newer article on how to do this using an iPhone instead.

I just love gadgets. That’s why it’s nice to find that I bought a Garmin eTrex a long time ago. Haven’t used it in years, but then when Apple released the latest version of iLife 09 with the map function in iPhoto I realized that it is very cool to have all the images geo tagged. So I found a program called GPSPhotoLinker, a program that downloads GPS data and pictures and by the date/time on the pictures manages to add longitude and latitude information in the picture info. When you import pictures with this information iPhoto can use that to show it on maps and make it searchable. And when you upload pictures to Flickr, it also uses the location information place your picture on a map. Very cool.

Mac OS X 10.5.2 hangs on wake from sleep

Wed, 21 May 2008 00:00:00 +0000

I have had this annoying problem with my Macbook Pro. Sometimes when waking the machine from sleep, the machine can not connect to the selected Airport network and then hangs with spinning pizza of death.

Apples next update to 10.5.3 looks like it will fix it. Hopfully Apple will release it soon…

From Fixed list of Mac OS X update 10.5.3 - Joining AirPort network after wake issue resolved

JackenIAX and multiple lines

Sun, 19 Mar 2006 00:00:00 +0000

I finally have a version of JackenIAX that supports multiple lines. I have added so you can choose to output background music for the calls on hold. There’s a lot of testing, and I also have to rethink the user interface to be able to handle multiple calls. But i think it’s going to be cool.

Apple hates games

Tue, 28 Feb 2006 00:00:00 +0000

So Apple released a new Intel Mac Mini today. And they use Intels GMA950 for graphics. How stupid is this? So this machine is a no-go for me. I’m so disappointed.

Looks like it works on Intel Mac

Sun, 26 Feb 2006 00:00:00 +0000

I just received a mail from a user of JackenIAX. He’s running a patched version of Mac OS X on a generic PC, and now the program works on his machine. Cool! So now I guess JackenIAX is working on Intel Macs as well. Debugging via proxy (I don’t have an Intel Mac) is not the way to go. You could press the Donate button on this page, and I promise to buy a Intel Mac for debugging. Nudge Nudge…

New features in JackenIAX

Thu, 23 Feb 2006 00:00:00 +0000

I’ve added a couple of new features in JackenIAX.

Added a symbol to indicate when you got new voice messages in your Asterisk server. Rewrote all of the code for the indicator symbols. Nothing you will notice, but I feel good about it. Now the codec selection actually work. Input validation of all preferences.

Problems on the other end

Mon, 20 Feb 2006 00:00:00 +0000

As you may know I recently released my new program for VoIP for the mac. I have written instructions on the home-page how to get a free account at FWD Free World Dialup to test. It seems they have a lot of downtime, so I get a lot of bug reports. I really need another free IAX provider to recommend. Anyone knows about one?

Apples silence and my Powerbooks echo

Thu, 26 Jan 2006 00:00:00 +0000

Still having problems with looping echo on my Powerbook G4 15" There’s a new website about the problem, so go there and sign up if you experience this problem.

It’s incredible that Apple has chosen to keep this problem quiet. Instead of admitting that they have a problem with the latest 15 and 17" Powerbooks. Instead they give lame excuses and tells the customer that they can only run one audio program at a time. But even that doesn’t work. Give it enough time, and this could become a PR nightmare for them. If they just admitted that they have a problem and that a fix is on the way, but right now no one even knows if they are going to fix this.

Logos, Intel and Apple Computer

Fri, 30 Dec 2005 00:00:00 +0000

After reading stuff like this and this, I wonder Is it only me who sees the connection? There’s been a lot of discussions on the net about Apple getting a bit of the Intel “Intel Inside” payoff and if they consider putting the logo on the new macs? My uneducated guess is that Mr Jobs actually made Intel change their logo to something worthy putting on a Mac. Just my guess. But I’m known to be insane…

TextMate

Thu, 15 Dec 2005 00:00:00 +0000

I have had a bit of a snag in my program Im writing, so to do something else for a while. So I tried to install Ruby On Rails, a much talked about web developer framework. And after reading all the hype, I just had to see what it was like. So off to Ruby By Rails homepage to read up on it. They have a presentation area that has a couple of Quicktime films demonstrating Rails programming. And rails looks good! But another thing caught my eye, the guy managed to write code fast and easily it seemed. And the guy doing the demonstration was doing it on a Mac OS X machine. The speed and the way of working with text really blew me away. But nowhere could I find the name of the text editor. So I had some googling to do. And I found it. It’s called TextMate. So I wanted to buy it so I could use it to program my new VoIP software client. But I don’t have much money to spend on software right now, being totally broke, but after seeing the price €39 I bought it immediately, you can’t complain at that price. The integration with XCode looks good. I haven’t had any problems so far. It’s nice to see that you can find great software from small firms and download and buy them directly.

Compiling

Wed, 23 Nov 2005 00:00:00 +0000

The IAX client I’m writing is coming along nicely. It’s now in a state that makes the program usable. And today I made changes so I could compile a universal binary. And the program works on my PPC mac, but I use some libraries I needed to change the makefiles for, so I don’t know if they work on a Intel Mac. It would be cool if I could get the first release to support universal binaries, so hopefully I can find someone who has a developer machine, or a pc with a hacked Mac OS X for Intel on it.

Hibernate on your older Powerbook or iBook

Tue, 15 Nov 2005 00:00:00 +0000

On the latest versions of Apples Powerbook, there is a function called hibernate. Normally when you close the lid on your Powerbook to let it go to sleep, forgetting to plug it in to a charger, all your unsaved data will be lost. With hibernation activated, you just plug in your Powerbook with the depleted battery and press start. Now the desktop comes up, just the way it was when you put your machine to sleep. But this only works on the new machines? Well, some people beg to differ. Go read it and see if you can hack your machine to get it to work. I did it on my Powerbook G4 867ghz and have had no trouble so far.

Apple Pages

Sun, 06 Nov 2005 00:00:00 +0000

I’m currently looking for a new job, so I needed to write a CV and some other stuff. So I thought that this would be an excellent opportunity to try out Apple Pages. Sure, it’s a bit buggy and slow in some instances, but over all it’s actually a pretty decent program. It won’t replace Microsoft Word for power users, but for people like me, who need to write simple documents, it’s perfect. My guess is that Apple have not done to well selling this program. And if they go the normal route, they’ll just stop updating it and let it die. This is a lesson that Apple really need to learn from Microsoft. They have to stick to it, improving the program, and the buyers will come.

Change SIP in iChat AV

Wed, 07 Sep 2005 00:00:00 +0000

In apples voice/video chat program, it appears that it uses some kind of SIP protocol to communicate. But Apple, why not implement SIP phone ability into iChat AV? Being able to make voice phone calls to other SIP phone systems would be really cool.

Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger memory problems

Sun, 04 Sep 2005 00:00:00 +0000

I’ve been generally happy with tiger on my powerbook. The Spotlight search really has helped me finding my stuff. But I’ve had problems with slowdowns after working with my computer for a couple of days. I never turn of my computer, just putting it to sleep when I’m done working, and after a couple of days the machine would get slower and slower. I finally gave up and started to search for the problem. Turned out that Dashboard (when loaded) ate memory like a hog! My guess is that their is a memory leak when using some of the widgets. But for me, Dashboard is to slow to be of practical use for me, so I opted to disable it. And now the machine works great again.

Fix for constantly running fan after 10.3.8 update

Fri, 11 Feb 2005 00:00:00 +0000

[caption id=“attachment_2955” align=“alignleft” width=“400”]©John Lillis[/caption] I got fed up with the fan that’s running constantly on my Powerbook 12" rev b 867mhz after installing the 10.3.8 Update. So here’s how you do it:

Download Update 10.2.8 and use Pacifist to extract /System/Library/ExtensionsAppleADM103x.kext from MacOSXUpdate10.2.8.pkg to the desktop.
Do a backup of AppleADM103x.kext from your startup disk at /System/Library/Extensions to your home folder.
Copy AppleADM103x.kext from your Desktop (the one you extracted from 10.2.8) to /System/Library/Extensions, you’ll need to enter the admin password to do that. Start Disk Utility and do a repair permissions on your start volume. Problem solved. Just for good measure, reset the parameter-RAM by holding down Command-Alt-P-R at startup. My machine now turns on the fans at 148 Fahrenheit instead of 125 Fahrenheit.

For some reason Apple choose to change the temperature when the fan starts on Rev.A Powerbook 12" after Mac OS X 10.2.8 from 148 Fahrenheit to 125 Fahrenheit. This gives the result that the fan runs almost constantly due to the fact that the powerbook operates normally at 125 Fahrenheit. I did this hack back when Apple changed stuff in the 10.3.2 update, and they haven’t updated AppleADM103x.kext until 10.3.8.

Annoying fan

Thu, 10 Feb 2005 00:00:00 +0000

After updating to 10.3.8 Apple managed to lower the temperature that the fans turn on and off. So now when doing medium light work the fan goes on. And it drives me crazy. My guess is that they only changed the values one or two Fahrenheit, but it’s just at the point where my normal work load is. I tried the old trick to replace the kext for the fan control, but to no avail.

Running powerbook fan with Update 10.3.8

Wed, 09 Feb 2005 00:00:00 +0000

I just upgraded to 10.3.8 and Apple has managed to fuck up it up for the second time. On my Powerbook G4 867 12" the fan now runs constantly. This is the second time a software update has done this. But this time it’s worse, now it’s on constantly, not just when the computer is a little hot. This is going to drive me nuts, so I’ll probably try to replace the kext driver for the fans later on. That was the way to do it the last time. So if your running a Powerbook G4 12" (first model) wait a bit if you don’t want to listen to a constant breeze…

It's a real secret

Mon, 10 Jan 2005 00:00:00 +0000

Back in 1982 I used to work for Apple answering Apple II support questions by phone. A couple of times people would call and ask questions about the Macintosh. This was two years before it was released! I guess Apples confidentiality is a lot better today.

First Mac rumor on the internet.

Little Snitch makes sure Mac applications doesn't call home

Mon, 13 Oct 2003 00:00:00 +0000

Little Snitch keeps you covered

Use Little Snitch to monitor what developers of programs sends home. Then you can stop that specific traffic. More and more programs phone home with information to the software company. Sometimes it’s harmless, like checking if a newer version is available, but sometimes they also send data like serial numbers and your registration information. So is there a way for you to control what programs can do? Yes, there is! There’s an excellent program called Little Snitch that monitors all communication from applications on your Mac OS X machine and asks you if the information is allowed to be sent over the internet.