More Mac tweaks

1. Problem with USB

The InsanelyMac forum has this nice article that helped me trouble shoot Mac USB problems. The was just a single file usb_fix_1.3.mpkg.zip, that solved all USB plug and play problems on Mac.

2. Widgets for Dashboard

There are several widgets available for the Mac Dashboard.

3. Setting up the screen resolution

From this site, I learn how to change the screen resolution. Works for me

If your screen resolution is not ok then do the following: Press F8 when you boot OS X and then write “?video” this will show you all the possible resolutions. For example that you want 1280×1024×32 then again in the boot write “Graphics Mode”=” 1280×1024×32” and if everything goes well and your computer boots with the right resolution, you have to add it to “com.apple.boot.plist” to make it permanent. Now how you edit com.apple.boot.plist; First of all you need to back it up; you can find it in ‘/Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration’. From there copy it in a backup location. Open terminal and type: sudo -s cd /Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration pico com.apple.boot.plist There you add this after the other options: <key&gt;Graphics Mode</key&gt; <string&gt;1280×1024×32 </string&gt; Then CTRL+O to save it CTRL+X to exit. Another way to edit it is to copy it in your desktop open it with ‘textedit’ and there you add this: <key&gt;Graphics Mode</key&gt; <string&gt;1280×1024×32 </string&gt; Save it and then copy paste it in ‘/Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration’ so as to replace it (it will ask for administrator password).

Next perhaps, I should try repeating all these again with my nVidia card fixed on the mother board.

Getting the Mac to work

To set up the Mac to work in a way I want, I did the following:

1. Positioned the Dock on the right.This helps me run Windows in Coherance mode.
2. Download manager : iGetter
3. Torrent client : Vuze (Azureus)
4. Browser : Firefox 3
5. Feed reader : RSS Owl
6. Archive handler : Stuffit Archive Manager
7. pdf reader : Adobe reader
8. Set up NTFS read-write using this life hacker article
a. Installed MacFUSE Core for Leopard (1.5)
b. Installed NTFS-3G for OS X
c. From the Disk Utility, Unmounted the NTFS disk
d. From the Disk Utility, Mounted the NFTS disk again

At least I can do a few basic things now!

To Mac or not to Mac, that is the question

A week after Mac, it has still failed to sweep me off my feet.

I don’t know if 2 gigs of RAM is indeed too small to handle three operating systems at the same time. But things become so slow when I try to run three operating systems together. Also, getting all the operating systems to read all the hard disks at the same time looks difficult too. I operate 6 portable hard disks to keep my data. So with data transfer becoming a chore, some times it looks like the windows way was simple.

Debian too runs on a Mac. But Mac had a much smaller range of applications to choose from. There are sadly no equivalents to the small but powerful FlashGet and uTorrent in Mac. Azuerus seems to be a complicated program to do a simple thing.

In the place where I live, we lose electric power many times a day. When we have power back, I need my PC needs to return to what it was doing even if I’m not sitting in front of it. There seem to be a few problems in getting the Mac to do it. But I think, I’ll eventually tide over it.

I think I need to live through this period of difficulty before I learn to shuffle data between NTFS, ext3 and HFS+. Not to mention, that the keyboard bothers me too. I surely cannot unlearn the windows shortcuts because I need to use windows at work. Remembering how to do it on a Mac with a keyboard is clearly an extra load on the head.

Apple, XP, Linux

On Debian, again

I didn’t realize that months had passed by since I changed my default boot OS to Win XP.
Now I’m on Debian again.