Update to OSX 10.6 – Snow Leopard

Hi there 2 days ago I got my Snow Leopard DVD – yeah. After making a full backup (time machine) of my system I started the simple update process. I just deselected some unused languages and let the system do the rest. After 20-30 minutes the Installation was aborted by a failure which was not described in detail. Afterwards I checked the file system and found a not repairable filesystem error. I rebooted the system, made some filesystem checks using the harddrive utility program and after an additional attempt of updating I did it and everything was working fine. If anybody has accounted the same problem and knows details, please post a comment here.

Jing, image and video capturing of your screen

At this site you will find a very usefull proggi which allows you to capture images of your desktop or produce videos of things happening on your desktop, including your web cam and so on. This is quite a nice piece of software. Check it out.

7ZipX – 7Zip for OSX

Hi there for expanding 7z files you need this proggi here. Just download, doubleclick .dmg file and drag and drop app to your programms. See screencast here.

iMovie – Photo Booth does not start – Quartz Extreme Error!!

Today I encountered a problem when starting iMovie. A small dialog box appeared telling me that I need a graphic card which supports Quartz Extreme. After pressing the ok button iMovie shutdown. I never had this before, but after googling around a litte I found out that quite a bunch of people has this problem. It seems that OSX starting at version 10.5.2 got this problem when prior working with an additional external display or when the machine comes back from suspend mode. A simple logout and relogin does the thing as mentioned here but I would appreciate when Apple’s developer would fix this bug. There is enough information and hints on the web to pin down the bug. There is no need to reboot your machine as mentioned in some articles, after a new login quartz is coming up ok. I have not checked if there is allready a bug opened at apple for this.

iSquint – convert .flv to .mov

As a user of the firefox downloadhelper plugin and apple user I want to have my videos in mp4, mov or mpeg format. Downloadhelper generates .flv files which have to be converted. iSquint may here be the tool of choice. It is no longer supported and there is no more development on the tool but it works flawless for me. Simply drop files you want to convert for your iPod or iPhone to the list within the gui, press start, that’s it. Download Link.

Samba Share am Desktop einblenden

Heute habe ich auf dem iBook meiner Tochter angefangen das Backup via TimeMachine auf einen Samba Share einzurichten – was das geht nicht, doch das geht schon – den gewünschten SMB Share verbinden über – Gehe zu – Server – Server auswählen – Share auswählen, fertig, dann einfach ein Terminal Fenster öffnen und folgendes eingeben:

defaults write com.apple.systempreferences TMShowUnsupportedNetworkVolumes 1

dann wird der gemountete SMB Share zur Auswahl angeboten bei TimeMachine. Mein Problem war dass ich den Share nicht sehen konnte. Es war zwar korrekt und /Volumes gemounted, allerdings kein icon im Finder und auch kein Icon am Desktop, bei meinem Notebook funktionierte das perfekt. Lösung: ist zu finden in den Finder Einstellungen – die Option “Verbunden Server” in der Gruppe “Diese Objekte auf dem Schreibtisch anzeigen” aktivieren. Das wars.

Blank Screen Screensaver for Leopard

Hi out there I am back again. A few weeks ago I decided to move from linux to mac (ok ok, don’t blame me ). The one thing I am really missing is the functionality of a Blank Screen Screensaver which has been present in 10.4 but is now missing on my new leopard mac. Therefore I created one for all the others I found on the net missing this function to save there screens for a maximum of lifetime. You can download the screensaver file here. Download the file to your desktop, rename it to “Blank Screen.qtz” and move it to “/Library/Screen Savers” on your mac (you need root privileges to do this), then goto your screensaver settings dialog and select “Other” – “Blank Screen”, voila ready.

Cheap/Free Software for the apple mac user

Cheap software for the mac user:

See the list below of needfull things for the adult mac user. I will also provide a downloadable list including the homepage links for each tool, a little later.

- Wondershare DVD to PSP Converter    works fine
- VPNClient – Cisco new install, works fine
- VLC – Video Player
- StuffIt Expander -  unzip of archives
- Skype – you know that peace of cake
- Route Tracer – visuall traceroute
- Remotedesktopverbindung.app – microsoft remotedesktop for apple
- Openoffice 3.0 – replacing neooffice at my machine, openoffice in mac look and feel
- JellyfiSSH.app – ssh connection manager
- JBidWatcher – ebay bidder
- JAP – Java Anonymous Proxy, anonymous surfing
- iToner – Ringtones for iPhone Transceiver, if you use a official jailbreaked, use garageband
- iStumbler – WiFi Finder
- Google Earth – you know that too
- Fluid – run web applications in own window without browser
- fasterMac.app – mac tuning (better for g4)
- Disk Inventory X.app – visual disk inventory application
- Cyberduck – ftp client
- BitRocket – bittorrent client
- Smultron – good editor
- Skitch – simple imageediting
- macports – specialists only – port linux programs to mac
- porticus – like macports
- freemind – free mindmanager
- Vodafone Mobile Connect – software for vodafones umts card/modem
- Firefox 3.0 – new firefox instead of camino
- xrsync – folder sync tool, backup utility
- PodWorks – shows your songs on your ipod/iphone, you can also download them to disk
- Burn – cool dvd/cd… burn utility, very simple
- Audacity – audio file editor usefull for editing mp3 files or producing your own ringtones
- 7zx- pack or extract 7zip files
- DiffMerge – diff tool for text files/documents
- VirtualBox – Virtualization Software, run windows on a mac or a Linux