Posts Tagged 'MacOS'

Logout due to inactivity

Problem: Start recording for a concert and leave the computer alone during the concert. After 60 minutes the computer attempts to logout, thus stopping the recording as well.

Solution: Turn off “Log out after 60 minutes of inactivity” in the Security system preferences.

This solution eluded me because I forgot it was there. I’m wondering if this was a default setting for 10.4. On other network machines, I control the logout via the server. This machine, while on the network, was not setup to follow the server. It was messing up all on its own.

Idle Computers will automatically Turn Off at 9pm

In an effort to be more green, I’m having the computers turn off at 9pm.  This only happens if the computer is idle, meaning no active programs are running.  So, if you are working on a computer at 9pm, it won’t suddenly turn off without warning.

New Applescript to Log into iLocker

applescriptWhen you log into the computers an applescript will run to guide your login to your iLocker account. Its a pretty simple script that asks you a few questions, opens fetch and applies your answers to the right places.

If you op out when you first login, you can always launch the iLocker script later.  Its called Fetch iLocker and its in the applications folder (as a run-only applescript app).

I tried other ways to do this. One, use applescript to mount volume but I kept getting errors. Two, use Automator but I couldn’t get a variable in the URL field of the “Get Specified Servers” action and therefore, the specific user area would not pass through to the “Connect to Servers” action. So lastly, using Fetch seems to work every time.

Here’s the script if you interested.

set myUsername to “”

set Dialog1 to display dialog “To connect to iLocker, please enter your BSU user name (otherwise, press Cancel)” default answer “”

set the myUsername to the text returned of Dialog1

set myPassword to “”

set Dialog2 to display dialog “Please enter your BSU password” default answer “” with hidden answer

set myPassword to the text returned of Dialog2

tell application “Finder”

activate

open application file “Fetch.app” of folder “Applications” of startup disk

end tell

tell application “Fetch”

activate

make new transfer window at beginning with properties {hostname:”ilocker.bsu.edu”, username:myUsername, password:myPassword, initial folder:”users/” & myUsername}

end tell

When good batteries go bad…

Here’s a couple of pictures of my bloated battery from a MacBook Pro (2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Due).  You might remember an early post about replacing the battery when it was barely distorted.  Now its expanding more each week.  I need to get this to the recycler before it explodes all over my desk.

MacBook Pro Battery_1

MacBook Pro Battery_3

Can’t write or delete from the scratch disks

ST7_ignore ownershipProblem: Pro Tools will not allow me to write to the secondary scratch drive except to folders that I’ve previously written.  Plus, when I try to delete files off the drive it asks for a administrator name and password.

Solution: Get info on the file shows that the user is not the owner of the file. Plus, inspection of the drive permissions shows that the user is not the owner. If I check the “Ignore ownership on this volume”, whomever logs into the computer will be allowed to read, write and delete as necessary.  This was previously unchecked (as shown in the picture).

Use your Mac to help with Spelling

I’m not sure when the Mac operating system started this function but its certainly helpful in 10.5.

In some applications with automatic spell check, the incorrectly spelled word will be underlined.

spelling

If you control (ctrl) click on the word, a menu will appear with spelling corrections and much more. (If the word is selected, you can also right-click to get the same contextual menu.)

spelling-help

Second, I’m constantly using the dictionary widget to help with spelling and word choices.

dictionary-widget

The problem with the Dictionary Widget is that it doesn’t give you suggestions if you misspell the word.  However, you can delete a few letters and click on the letter on the left-hand side to see dictionary entries.  So, in the picture above, you would click on the W to see the list.

Keyboard shortcuts in Firefox

This one’s from Trevor. Most of the time, the quickest way to work in any program is to use the program’s keyboard shortcuts. The time it takes you to grab the mouse, move it and select takes far more time than just hitting a key combination to do the same task, especially if your hands are already on the keyboard.

Trevor got tired of using his mouse to select between tabs in Firefox. I have to admit, its been a frustration of mine too.  I’ve always used Command-T to create tabs and Command-W to delete them. And, option-mouse click on a link opens that link in a new tab. But I’ve never figured out how to scroll between tabs. As it turns out, Firefox has several shortcuts to do this and many other things.  Check out http://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/keyboard+shortcuts

Trevor likes Control-tab to move to next tab on the right and Control-shift-tab to move to the left.  This is similar to the MacOS trick of Command-tab to switch between open applications.  Or, command-tilde(~) to switch between active windows in same window. tilde and tab are next to each other and my brain doesn’t always tell my fingers where to go.

I might use ‘CMD-OPT-right arrow’ to move between tabs to the right and ‘CMD-OPT-left arrow’ to go left.

I can’t decide which one to commit to memory.

Either way, these shortcuts work great.  Thanks Trevor for finding them!

Where’s my Mouse!

With dual monitors that are separated by distance (ie. in studio 1 where the LCD display on the wall is an extension of the desktop), I often lose my mouse. I only use the top monitor to display certain windows (like my video and meter plugin), ones that I don’t need to manipulate. If you arrange the monitors with one directly on top of the other, then your mouse will naturally jump up to the top monitor as expected.  However, most of the time I’ll want to get to a menu on the bottom monitor but overshoot it and unwillingly get on the top monitor. And by the time you realize what you’ve done, you’ve moved your mouse a mile and a half out of the way. If you arrange the monitors side to side, you solve the overstepping menu item problem but now you’ll unexpectedly lose your mouse with a stray movement side to side.

Today I noticed that John Fishell came up with a solution.  (He says it was the result of fit of rage due to always losing the mouse). He arranged the monitors corner to corner.  Now you can only get to the top monitor if you point the mouse in the absolute corner of the monitor. This is a horrible way to arrange them if you need to constantly get from monitor to monitor.  However, in my Pro Tools mixing scenario, it is the perfect way to go.

display

Student Login Change

Each time you log into a computer at the studio, the computer deletes the old student area and moves in a fresh copy. That way, the computers stay consistent from one day to the next. In the past, the login script copied the previous student area to a separate folder. This was a safety net.  If you forgot to back something up, there would be a chance to get it back. The problem was that these copies add up and clog the hard drive. And, if I didn’t catch it in time, it would leave the computer unresponsive.

I scraped the whole save-the-old-student-directory safety net. Now, every time you login, the previous student area is deleted and the template student area is moved in.

Where did I save my work?

I sometimes wonder where I am saving the current document. That is, as you work and you do a command-s, the document will naturally save on the hard drive in the place where it was previously saved. But what if you want to change the name and save it in the same folder as the original. If you go to the file menu and select “save as”, the application will often bring up the last place you saved a document but it might not be relevant to the current working document.  So, that is no help.  You could do a quick search for the name of document.

Here’s another way. [I believe this has been a feature for a long time.  I just forgot about it--until now]. Command-click on the window name (which is the same as the document name). This will bring up a drop down menu showing the path.  But wait, there’s more. You can open any of those directories by simply directing the mouse to the folder and clicking again. To make the menu disappear, click outside it. [Update: In Leopard (10.5), you can either Command-Click, Control-Click, or Right-Click (that is if you have your mouse setup with a secondary button). In Tiger (10.4), use Command-Click.]

applicationpath

This seems to be a feature of the Macintosh operating system as it also works in the finder.

applicationpath2

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