[Mac 101] Ask your questions here!

[runforyourlife]

anyway mine is fixed.

 

[Laneige]

anyone has issues with auto adjust brightness for imac?
i set to lowest but its not adjusting when the room is bright (windows/daylight)

so far it only managed to adjust once and thats it. doesnt adjust when i set to darkest/brightest and ticking the auto adjust box.

 

[Geforce3]

Just got a 13inch MBPRD, and I'm using firefox. I am wondering if it's possible to use alt+s (like in a windows machine using firefox) to post quick reply in HWZ forum and other forums. Can't seem to find any information to allow that to happen in my macbook.

Thanks in advance

 

[minus2]

anyone has issues with auto adjust brightness for imac?
i set to lowest but its not adjusting when the room is bright (windows/daylight)

so far it only managed to adjust once and thats it. doesnt adjust when i set to darkest/brightest and ticking the auto adjust box.

Try repairing your permissions.

Spotlight > Type 'Disk Utility' > Select your main partition > Verify and fix permissions

 

[Laneige]

thanks.
the msg...

means what???


Verifying permissions for “Macintosh HD”

Group differs on “Library/Preferences/com.apple.alf.plist”; should be 80; group is 0.

Permissions differ on “System/Library/Frameworks/CoreGraphics.framework/CoreGraphics”; should be lrwxrwxrwx ; they are lrwxr-xr-x .

Permissions differ on “System/Library/Frameworks/CoreGraphics.framework/Resources”; should be lrwxrwxrwx ; they are

Permissions differ on “System/Library/Frameworks/CoreGraphics.framework/Versions/Current”; should be lrwxrwxrwx ; they are lrwxr-xr-x .

Permissions verification complete
lrwxr-xr-x .


thanks

oh ya i missed verify disk, will do later

 

[Errz]

think of getting mac mini and DIY fusion drive.

would it be better to have a bigger SSD size or a 128GB is more than enough for fusion drive?

 

[honeyNsugar]

hi my iPhone 4 home Button is not responsive at times. the call function also have problem . sometimes when making a call . the caller on the other end can't hear me while I can hear the person . these problems are on off basis . sometimes the phone works perfect . any idea how to fix ?

 

[negativzero]

think of getting mac mini and DIY fusion drive.

would it be better to have a bigger SSD size or a 128GB is more than enough for fusion drive?

I really don't recommend fusion drive. You're just increasing the points of failure on the single partition.

Have separate ssd and hdd instead. For data and os.

 

[Errz]

noted.

just found out i cant use my 21" imac 2010 as screen for mac mini

only works for 27"

I really don't recommend fusion drive. You're just increasing the points of failure on the single partition.

Have separate ssd and hdd instead. For data and os.

 

[davidktw]

I really don't recommend fusion drive. You're just increasing the points of failure on the single partition.

Have separate ssd and hdd instead. For data and os.

On the contrary, I encourage using Fusion drive. Your concern on increasing the points of failure is noted, however, the correct mitigation to this is not separating them. The correct approach is redundancy and backup.

Storing just OS binaries on the SSD is underutilizing the fast device. Once most of your OS binaries are loaded into the memory, SSD will have little benefits to the overall system.

When you buy a SSD, you want everything to be fast if possible. Loading your actual data should be fast too if that is why you have a SSD in the first place. Why should loading my data may be a video, photo, excel file, word document be slow in the HDD when I have a SSD ? These are the actual data that will get work done. Browser doesn't get work done, reading the /Application folder doesn't get work done. Bulk of the time will be working on the data, not the OS binaries. Because numerous applications will be likely using the same shared libraries, you will find loading multiple applications normally don't read from the disk a lot since other applications would have loaded these shared libraries into the memory as file cache.

SSD in the fusion drive concept is working as a working memory set. That's why the Mac OS X core will slowly move frequently accessed files from the harddisk into the SSD. Unless your working memory set exceed the SSD size, you will find most of the time you ought to be loading and writing to the SSD instead of the HDD. The HDD end up as an archival storage that stores the rest of the data that you can easily access without going to "another storage device" perceived from an abstract fusion drive concept.

 

[Laneige]

Does anyone has any sites etc to recommend for the list of unix/terminal commands?
Thanks

 

[noobiee]

Hi guys

I have problem with flash videos on my mbp late-2011

The sound is okay but the video is not at all smooth, it will show the same frame for few seconds with the sound going smoothly and then skip to a new frame.

this make watching flash videos like youtube impossible.

I am 100% sure its not the bandwidth problem as I have no problem watching on my desktop.

anyone with the same problem or solution to help me?

my flash player is 11.6.602.180 if this helps

 

[davidktw]

Does anyone has any sites etc to recommend for the list of unix/terminal commands?
Thanks

SS64 | Command line reference has some.
You can find more there.

There is no need to remember unix commands, because you wouldn't be able to so call remember them by reading. You need to use them. Other than shell scripts commands which are largely similar across all shell scripts except each also have some of their unique ones, the rest are not commands.

The rest are actual unix utilities that are accessible from your execution path denoted by $PATH in all unices.

For eg: "ls" is a utility, "source" is a command.

Interestingly some commands are not necessarily command or utility. Depending on which shell and your distro, you can find "echo" can be either a command or utility, "cd" can be a command or utility.

You see the beauty of unix is all of these utilities or command works almost seamlessly between one and another, with the powerful shell as your glueing platform. That is why commands like this is possible and extremely useful

find / type f -name '*.log' | grep '^prefix' | xargs -i gzip {}

You need to work with a chosen unix frequently and through this method understand the availability of vast number of utilities and commands as well as how each flavour of them differs from other flavours.

For eg. Just the utility AWK alone, there are GAWK, MAWK, NAWK, MKS AWK etc. Each have its own slight differences.

That's why it is easy to start be a unix administrator, but not easy to master as one.

Welcome to the beautiful unix world! Go pick up a book on Using Linux and it will get you started.

 

[Laneige]

was searching for some information on erase/format HD and came upon this post. This information is good for those with laptops and not sure if its been discussed before...

worth a read for those who want to prevent anyone from accessing yr data or wiping out yr data from the mac. but i have a Qn... now that firmware is locked, does this mean the person cannot even replace the hd manually? like will he be able to boot up from the new HD instead?

Set a firmware password
The biggest security risks occur if your Mac is stolen or physically compromised. Even if thieves can’t log into your account, they can gain access to the data on your Mac using one of the many special start-up modes built into all Macs, such as booting from an install DVD and resetting your password, using Target Disk Mode to make your Mac act as an external hard drive, or booting into the Unix-style Single User Mode.

You can, however, place a firmware password on your Mac. This password is written into the firmware chips on the Mac’s motherboard using either the Open Firmware standard on PowerPC Macs or Extensible Firmware Interface (EFI) on Intel Macs. Regardless of platform, the free tool from Apple for implementing a firmware password is called the Open Firmware Password Utility. Apple provides complete steps for setting a firmware password on its support site.

If you or anyone else tries to use a special start-up mode, the user will be required to enter the firmware password. This can significantly secure personal, business or educational Macs against tampering. However, be warned that if you forget a firmware password, there is no way to reset or remove it.

Fifteen easy fixes for Mac security risks | Macworld


edited:
i tried this firmware password but is thru ML disk utility... n its stated that setting the firmware password makes it impossible to add or replace the HDD/ CD rom drive without password. so its pretty advance! Those with laptop shld try this

 

[neobear]

Hi , can anyone recommend me a shop to repair iMac other then official service providers? Thanks !

 

[PetPet]

Hi , can anyone recommend me a shop to repair iMac other then official service providers? Thanks !

It's highly recommended that you head back to the AASP to avoid getting ripped off etc.

 

[Laneige]

Hmm doing erase now on imac. Long part so hmm
I use systemsetup -getsleep n all 3 (computer display sleep) is 10mins. Now no more OS inside so no preferences setting(plus don't know if it's default by mac)
Managed to set computer to never but can't do anything to disk -> never sleep

Try a few commands (searched online) n still can't get it done
Any idea?

 

[Kijori]

can the HDD of an iMac (late 2009 model) be changed easily? mine shipped with only 500GB and it's running out of space.

 

[Laneige]

can the HDD of an iMac (late 2009 model) be changed easily? mine shipped with only 500GB and it's running out of space.

no its not easy
they took back my imac when they replaced my HDD. its too much of a hassle to replace on the spot.
first u have to remove that thick lcd out, detach that lcd panel from yr graphic card? the cables quite thin ones... n maybe u can check youtube for any video

but before that, pls go apple site n check if yrs is under the replacement policy or not, if yes then u jin happy liao
FOC replacement for seagate HDD

 

[clokwerk0]

Found a good deal for Magsafe on HWZ! He is selling the 60W and 85W for any Macbook.

Search for 'Kelvin Magsafe'

I presume 'Kelvin MagSafe' & maxwell_555 are one and the same? Otherwise, don't really see any compelling reason for a 'happy customer' to spam this sub-forum. Even to the extend of digging up old threads.