I was really pissed when I realized that iSync had disappeared after upgrading to OS X Lion. Suddenly, I had no mean to synchronize my cellular phone with my computer. I find this type of attitude very rude from Apple. Well, by chance I did not really upgrade. In fact, I installed OS X Lion [...]
Recently, I was unable anymore to turn off AirPort on my Macbook Pro. Other people reported having the same problem, and it seems related to Snow Leopard. Some people had the reverse problem: They were not able to turn on AirPort. Here is the solution that worked for me: Open the following folder: /Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration Delete these [...]
Sometimes, there is a lot of activity on my Macbook Pro drive, and I would like to find out what is causing all these Disk I/O’s. I found this thread that can help: http://superuser.com/questions/89266/whats-causing-all-the-disk-activity-on-os-x There are two suggestions on that thread. Either using ‘iotop -C 5 12′ or using ‘fs_usage’. What I would like to [...]
After I had read a post about someone who managed to boot his Macbook Pro from an external drive using a PPA Int’l eSata ExpressCard, I ordered such a card too. However, it did not work fro me. My external drive would not mount. I never found out why, but after I upgraded to Snow [...]
Sometimes when I hear my hard drive grinding, and I am not doing anything special on my Macbook Pro, I’m wondering what process is suddenly using the disk so heavily. I had been looking for a tool that would tell me what processes are causing the disk I/O’s for a while when I discovered that [...]
Sometimes, it is usefull to see hidden files in Finder. It can be achieved by issuing the following command in a shell: defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles TRUE Finder has to be restarted in order for the new setting to take effect. To hide the hidden files again, relace the word TRUE by FALSE in the [...]
Henrik M. posted a neat solution on Apple’s discussion board to to have Front Row display video on an external monitor or TV. First, you have to get the ID of the external display using this utility: http://rapidshare.com/files/54473723/displaysInfo.zip, and then enter the following command in a shell: defaults write com.apple.frontrow FrontRowUsePreferredDisplayID 12345678 where 12345678 should [...]
After the misadventure with my nGear eSata EpressCard, I returned it, and I ordered a PPA Int’l eSata ExpressCard. This card uses the JMicron chipset and thus was recognized automatically by my MacBook Pro (OS X v10.5.5). It was not easy to find an ExpressCard with that chipset in Canada. Of course, it would have [...]
The nGear eSata ExpressCard froze my Macbook Pro twice. And because my laptop froze, a partition even got corrupted on my external drive. Not very safe for my backups!
Well, well, despite what the tech. support guy from nGear told me, there eSata ExpressCard is not using the JMB360 chipset but rather the Sil3132 chipset which I wanted to avoid. In fact, when I talked to the guy, he did not know off hand, so he checked the drivers supplied with the card. As [...]