OS X Daily

Easily Mount an ISO in Mac OS X

Bill Ellis — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 04:48:12 +0000

If you’re wondering how to mount an ISO image in Mac OS X, it is very easy. In the Terminal type the following command: hdiutil mount sample.iso with sample.iso being the path to the image you want to mount. After the checksum is completet, your ISO will appear mounted on your Mac OS X desktop - that’s it. You you can actually mount virtually any other disk image type with hdiutil as well, so give .dmg .img a try too.

Three ways to change the short username in Leopard

William Pearson — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 14:30:36 +0000

A while ago I made a typo when creating my short username in a fresh Mac OS X install, I figured it wasn’t a big deal and that I could change it easily in the User accounts system preference pane, but boy was I wrong. Unfortunately, changing your short username is not a matter of typing a new name in a field, but thankfully Macworld magazine has a fantastic write up on three ways to change the short username in Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard.

The first tip, involving the creation of an alias by accessing an ‘Advanced Options’ area within the Accounts preference pane, is pretty nifty. You can access this area by doing the following:

Step 1): Unlock the Accounts preference pane by clicking on the lock icon
Step 2): Right click (or Control click) on the name of an account in the list and choose “Advanced Options” from the resulting menu.

So that’s where you create an alias and do some other fancy things, but this isn’t really a solution to the short username problem I had. So what else can we do? Read the Macworld article for more:

Macworld: Change the short username in Leopard

How to flush your DNS cache in Mac OS X

Bill Ellis — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 00:19:02 +0000

If you’re a systems administrator or a web developer, chances are you’ll have to flush your DNS cache every once in a while to get things straightened out serverside. Flushing your DNS cache in Mac OS X is actually really easy, and there are two different commands to use, one for Leopard and for Tiger. Depending on your version of OS X, open your Terminal and follow the appropriate directions below:

Flush your DNS Cache in Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard

Launch Terminal and issue the following command:
dscacheutil -flushcache
All done, your DNS has been flushed. On a side note, the dscacheutil is interesting in general and worth taking a look at, try the -statistics flag instead for some stats.

Flush your DNS Cache in Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger

Type the following command in the Terminal:
lookupd -flushcache

That’s it, that’s all there is to it. Now your DNS settings should be as you intended them to be.

How to spoof your MAC address in Mac OS X

William Pearson — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 17:04:19 +0000

A MAC address is a unique identifier assigned to your network card, and some networks implement MAC address filtering as a method of security. Spoofing a MAC address can be desired for multiple reasons, and it is very easy to spoof your MAC address in both Mac OS X 10.4 and 10.5. For the purpose of this article, we are going to assume you want to spoof your Mac’s wireless MAC address. So without further ado, here’s a 3 step process on how to do it:

Retrieving your current MAC address

First, you’re going to want your current wireless MAC address so you can set it back without rebooting. Launch the Terminal and type the following command:
ifconfig en1 | grep ether
You’ll know see something like:
ether 00:12:cb:c6:24:e2
And the values after ‘ether’ makeup your current MAC address. Write this down somewhere so you don’t forget it. If you do, it’s not the end of the world, you’ll just have to reboot to reset it from a change.

Spoofing a MAC address

To spoof your MAC address, you simply set that value returned from ifconfig to another hex value in the format of aa:bb:cc:dd:ee:ff

For this example, we will set our wireless MAC address to 00:e2:e3:e4:e5:e6 by issuing the following command:
sudo ifconfig en1 ether 00:e2:e3:e4:e5:e6

The sudo command will require that you enter your root password to make the change.

Verifying the Spoofed MAC address worked

If you want to check that the spoof worked, type the same command as earlier:
ifconfig en1 | grep ether
Now you will see:
ether 00:e2:e3:e4:e5:e6
Meaning your MAC address is now the value you set it to. If you want to further verify the spoof, simply login to your wireless router and look at the ‘available devices’ (or attached devices) list, and your spoofed MAC address will be part of that list.

If you want to set your MAC address back to its real value, simply issue the above ifconfig commands with the MAC address that you retrieved in step 1. You can also reboot your Mac.

Enjoy!

Highlight Stack Items on Hover

Bill Ellis — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 03:35:08 +0000

Here’s a great tip that creates a nice hover effect when your mouse goes over an application (or folder) within a Leopard stack. Why this isn’t enabled by default in Leopard is beyond me, because it makes navigating within stacks a whole lot easier. Don’t miss out, here’s how to activate it:

Launch the Terminal and type the following command:
defaults write com.apple.dock mouse-over-hilte-stack -boolean yes

then, you’ll have to restart the Dock by issuing the following command:
killall Dock

To disable the hover highlights, type:
defaults write com.apple.dock mouse-over-hilte-stack -boolean no

Useful Quick Look Tips from TUAW

William Pearson — Sat, 05 Jan 2008 22:49:24 +0000

Quick Look is likely the only feature in Leopard 10.5 that I actually notice and something I would certainly miss if I went back to 10.4, it’s just too useful. The Unofficial Apple Weblog has a decent post listing 10 useful Quick Look usage tips, some are built right in and won’t require modification, while others will require 3rd party plugins to use. Here’s the full list, minus the detail:

1. Identify files on remote machines.
2. Preview the contents of Zip files (plug-in required).
3. Preview the contents of a folder (plug-in required).
4. Examine snippets of code with syntax highlighting intact.
6. Prep your iWork documents for use with Quick Look.
7. Enhance TextMate.
8. Preview fonts.
9. Quick Look and Cover Flow.
10. Send images to iPhoto.

If these sound appealing, read more at TUAW: 10 ways to get the most out of Quick Look

Make Finder desktop icon sizes huge

David Mendez — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 16:18:15 +0000

The Mac OS X desktop is attractive, highly functional, and very customizable, but by default the maximum icon size is 128×128, which is pretty large but if you have a huge monitor or you’re visually impaired you may want larger icons. This is where the command line comes in, where you can force the Mac OS X desktop to display icons as large as 512×512 pixels! Launch the Terminal and type the following commands:

defaults write com.apple.finder DesktopViewOptions -dict IconSize -integer 256
You can set 256 to whatever number you want, as high as 512, just be aware that it can get a little ridiculous, and 512×512 pixel icons will take up the vast majority of your screen.

Next, kill the Finder to relaunch it and see the changes
killall Finder

Reverting the changes is a matter of setting the integer variable to a smaller number.

Source:MacOSXHints.com

Change the 10.5 Leopard Dock from 3D to 2D

William Pearson — Tue, 25 Dec 2007 05:50:14 +0000

The appearance of the new Dock in Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard has caused somewhat of an uproar in the Mac community, some of whom even claim it looks like it belongs in Windows Vista. If you’re totally insulted by the new 3D dock, or if you just prefer the old Dock appearance, it’s very easy to change and you don’t need to be a super Mac genius to figure it out. Simply launch your terminal and type the following commands:

defaults write com.apple.dock no-glass -boolean YES

then you will want to kill the Dock to relaunch it without the glass effect:
killall Dock

to get the reflective 3D Dock back, simply type the following:
defaults write com.apple.dock no-glass -boolean NO

again, you will want to kill the Dock to relaunch it. Enjoy!

Use Quick Look from the command line

Bill Ellis — Tue, 25 Dec 2007 05:34:34 +0000

Quick Look is a nice feature added in 10.5, I use it often for glancing at the content of various documents and it certainly beats launching an application. If you’re an avid command line user though, you may be browsing through a directories contents and wondering just what is that JPG or DOC file. Wonder no more, because you can easily use Quick Look from the command line:

From the command line, use the following syntax:

qlmanage -p filename.jpg

This will launch a Quick Look window with whatever file is specified as ‘filename.jpg’, the file type can be anything that Quick Look is compatible with (which seems to be just about everything).

The qlmanage command has other abilities, here is the full flag list, courtesy of qlmanage -h:

Usage: qlmanage [OPTIONS] path... -h Display this help -r Force reloading Generators list -p Show a preview of the documents -t Show thumbnails of the documents -s size Size for the thumbnail -f factor Scale factor for the thumbnail -c contentTypeUTI Force the content type used for the documents -g generator Force the generator to use

Note that you can have Quick Look launch in the background by using the following command, allowing you to continue using the Terminal as usual:

qlmanage -p filename.jpg &

Cool Firefox tip - Instant on-page text search

David Mendez — Sun, 16 Dec 2007 18:49:39 +0000

Here’s a really cool Firefox tip that was just passed along to me. You can instantly search for any text on a web page by hitting the forward slash and typing that word. So for example, you want to find “Firefox” on this page, you would type /firefox - that’s it! The first instance of “Firefox” will appear highlighted. This slash search feature is really just a shortcut to Command-F but it’s a lot faster if you ask me. This works across all platforms I have tried. Oh, and if you want to find the next instance of that word, hit Command-G (or Control-G if you’re in the Windows world). Check out more great Firefox tips.

Paintbrush - a Microsoft Paint clone for Mac OS X

Paul Horowitz — Fri, 14 Dec 2007 19:31:41 +0000

Many of us who converted from a Windows PC to a Mac may long for the amazing artistic capabilities allowed within Microsoft Paint. Ok so maybe that’s a bit dramatic, and we all know that Microsoft Paint is pretty crappy, but that’s also why it was fun. Thankfully, developers in the open source community saw this available niche and went to action, creating Paintbrush, a uniquely Mac OS X clone of a Microsoft Paint-type application. The features are exactly as basic as you’d expect. Check out the screenshot or download instantly below:

Developer home
Download now

Navigating Mac OS X with only the keyboard

Paul Horowitz — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 15:28:16 +0000

If you’re an avid typer it can be annoying to have to interrupt your flow to use the mouse and navigate around OS X. So instead of dealing with that frustration, try using the keyboard, which can be used to access a lot of common things you would otherwise do with the mouse. No list is perfect, but here’s a few useful keyboard commands and tips that I use on a regular basis that let you navigate through Mac OS X using only the keyboard.

Control-F2 : Navigate to the menubar (then use arrow keys)
Control-F3 : Navigate to the dock (then use arrow keys)
Command-Tab : Switch applications
Command-` : Switch windows within the current application
Command-H : Hide current app or Finder
Command-Option-H : Hide everything but the app in use
Command-N : Launch a new Finder window (Finder only)
Command-O : Open a Finder folder (Finder only)
Command-D : Duplicate selected File or Folder (Finder only)
Command-Delete : Move the selected item to Trash (Finder only)
Shift-Command-Delete : Empty Trash (Finder only)
Begin typing the name of a Folder or File and it will become selected within the Finder
Use arrow keys to navigate around the items within a Finder window

Quick Look files from the Trash

Paul Horowitz — Sat, 08 Dec 2007 09:26:46 +0000

Thanks to Quick Look in Leopard, you no longer have to drag files from the Trash to check them out. Simply hit Command-Y while on any file within the trash folder and Quick Look will behave as normal by launching a preview of the file contents. This great tip was found on TUAW (and screenshot was borrowed from them as well, obviously).

Mac OS X Christmas & Holiday desktop app fun

Bill Ellis — Sun, 02 Dec 2007 20:49:50 +0000

It’s that time of the year again Mac users! The holiday season is now here in full force, and part of the fun is customizing your Mac to be with the season. Here’s our three favorite apps so you can deck out your Mac desktop in the holiday spirit.

Snowfall - a beautiful falling snow screensaver for Mac OS X

This is as good as it gets in terms of holiday screensavers - it’s what Apple uses in the Apple Stores during the holidays! Screenshots do not do this justice, download yourself and see.
Download SnowFall now

MacLampsX - Christmas lights for your Mac OS X desktop

Holiday lights are a huge part of the season, so why not put them on your Mac? There are plenty of customization options for bulbs, blinking, and more.
Download MacLampsX now

X-MasTree - a Christmas tree for your Mac desktop

X-MasTree is a little app that places a Christmas tree on your desktop, complete with a countdown to Christmas Day itself. There’s settings to customize the lights, tree, and more.
Download X-MasTree now

Happy Holidays from OS X Daily!

Want more holiday stuff? Check out these articles:
Five Holiday apps to spread cheer on your Mac OS X desktop

SantaSnaps - a Christmas themed photo booth clone

Easily convert a Boot Camp partition to VMWare

David Mendez — Sun, 02 Dec 2007 19:33:48 +0000

Many of us intel Mac OS X users installed Boot Camp partitions so we could run Windows or Linux on the same machine as our Mac. Boot Camp is great, but it’s annoying when you have to reboot just to access the other operating system, which is why something like VMWare is so useful. If you’ve been using Boot Camp for a while though, you probably don’t want to lose what you’ve been working on within that partition. Good old MurphyMac has a great and easy to follow screencast on how to convert your Boot Camp partition to a VMWare Virtual Machine - no more rebooting!

MurphyMac Screencast: Convert Boot Camp partition to a VMWare Virtual Machine