Hijinks Inc.

Category: Tips

  • Terminal Tips: Part 4

    [10] defaults write com.apple.dock no-glass -boolean YESTerminal.app
    Leopard only. Replaces the 3D dock with a 2D one. Requires killall Dock to take effect.

    [11] defaults write -g NSNavPanelExpandedStateForSaveMode -bool TRUE
    This sets the save dialogue to the expanded view as default. Requires restart. Replace TRUE with FALSE to disable.

    [12] sudo chmod 0 /System/Library/CoreServices/Spotlight.app
    This command removes the spotlight icon from your menu bar. Type 755 instead of 0 to re-enable it. Requires killall Spotlight command to take effect.

  • Terminal Tips: Part 3

    Yay! More terminal commands!Terminal.app

    [7] whois
    It’s a handy way to quickly track down registration/contact information about domain ownership. Simply enter whois domainnamehere.com.

    [8] defaults write com.apple.screencapture type jpg
    If you use the screen shot function, you may at times want to change the format it stores the images in. Where jpg is in the code you can change it to whatever format you want, png, bmp, gif, etc. You will need to restart for the changes to take effect.

    [9] defaults write com.apple.dock persistent-others -array-add '{ "tile-data" = { "list-type" = 1; }; "tile-type" = "recents-tile"; }'
    This command creates a new stack in your dock so you can view recently used Applications. A quick killall Dock command is required for the change to take effect.

  • Terminal Tips: Part 2

    Continuing from where my last post left off, here are a few more Terminal commands.Terminal.app

    [4] defaults write com.apple.dashboard mcx-disabled -boolean YES
    Deactivates Dashboard. Requires the dock to be relaunched to take effect, so remember to type killall Dock and press enter. Replace YES with NO to enable again.

    [5] say ______
    Not very useful, but kinda fun. Typing say followed by whatever you want, results in your computer speaking the inputted text to you.

    [6] ifconfig
    Shows you all sorts of useful information about your network connection, including IP and MAC address. You can even access connection specific information by adding en0 (ethernet card), or en1 (airport) to the end (ie. ifconfig en1). Or if you’d like to disable a connection, try something like ifconfig en1 down (replacing down with up will bring the connection back online).

  • Terminal Tips: Part 1

    Terminal is a fantastic way to customize random little settings in OS X, but it’s hard for new Mac users to know what commands do what. So over the next few days I’ll be posting random Terminal commands that I’ve found useful.Terminal.app

    [1] defaults write com.apple.dashboard devmode YES
    This will allow you to drag widgets out of Dashboard and onto the desktop. In order for it to take effect, the dock to be relaunched, so next you’ll type killall Dock and press enter. Now, if you click and hold on a widget in the dashboard and press F12 to return to the desktop, the widget won’t disappear with the rest. To reverse, change YES to NO.

    [2] defaults write com.apple.CrashReporter DialogType none
    Disables the application unexpectedly quit dialog that usually appears when an application crashes. Replace none with prompt to enable again.

    [3] defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles TRUE
    Shows hidden files in the finder. Replace TRUE with FALSE to hide hidden files again.

  • iPhone Syncing Error

    I’d recently added a few new email accounts to Mail.app and when I went to sync my iPhone it threw back the following error:

    “iTunes could not sync mail accounts to the iPhone “Aaron Nelsen’s iPhone” because an error occurred remapping record identifiers.”

    Here’s what ended up fixing it for me: Next time you go to sync, click on the info tab in iTunes and uncheck the Sync selected Mail accounts box. Click Apply.

    Close iTunes and disconnect your iPhone.

    Next, open iSync (Applications -> iSync)

    Open the iSync preferences. Hit “Reset Sync History”. Confirm your choice when it asks for confirmation.

    Close iSync. Open iTunes, connect the iPhone and try syncing again. You will need to go back to the Info tab and recheck the Sync selected Mail accounts.