Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with mac and linux

How do I make a map from GPS data?

Kadin2048 — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 12:38:05 -0800

How do I turn my GPS track logs into a nice-looking trail map? Do I need a GIS package? I'd like to make some high-quality maps of the hiking trails near my house. I have a handheld GPS, and I already have the downloading and conversion to GPX of the track logs worked out. However, that's as far as I've gotten. Starting from this big pile of data, which needs to be cleaned up substantially, how do I get a nice vector map?

I can load the track files into Google Earth right now, but that's not really what I'm looking for. I need some way to edit the tracks, choose how they're represented (some are the actual trails, some represent the boundaries of the park, some are surface roads, etc.), add labels, and generally turn it into something that people can use.

It seems like this is getting into GIS territory, but I admit to knowing next to nothing about GIS packages or really what they do, beyond a vague idea that it has something to do with maps. Do I need a GIS package? If so, which one? I'm willing to spend some money on this (although not the $2500 that ArcGIS apparently costs). Windows, Mac and Linux are all options, although Linux/Mac are preferred.

Some things I've looked at include GRASS, which seems to be raster-based; GeoServer, which seems intriguing but seems like more of a middleware/server component than a desktop editing application; Mapyrus, which seems something like what I'm looking for; and QCAD, which isn't a GIS at all but a CAD program, but maybe that's more what I need?

I've seen surveyors working with GPS units, so I know there must be some way of transforming that data into useful maps — how do I bridge the gap?

Re-purposing laptops: I want more than a picture frame.

alexherder — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 08:30:15 -0800

When it comes to re-purposing old laptops, it seems like the only option people really talk about is to turn it into a picture frame. There's got to be more that an old iBook can do... right? My girlfriend has a 5-year old iBook G4 running OS 10.3 (Panther) which has simply outlived its usefulness as an every day, primary computer. It's got 256mb RAM and a small-ish hard drive but can't handle Office, iTunes, or Firefox (let alone any 2 of those at once) without breaking out the color-wheel-of-death.

I bought her a new MacBook last month which she loves but she is refusing to get rid of her old iBook. I have a slightly newer (about 4-years old) iBook of my own that I am selling on eBay but she is not interested in parting with her "old friend." I don't understand her need to hold onto this old laptop, nor do I seek to dissuade her of the notion. I asked her if we could possibly try to figure out some way to re-purpose it rather than let it sit on a shelf gathering dust and she agreed, now the question is, what to do with it?

I've seen threads about this in a number of places (including here and on lifehacker) but it always seems to come down to file server or picture frame. Our house has a server (Ubuntu 8.04, reasonably speedy) and we have no need for a digital picture frame. I was thinking about using it as a firewall (but it only has one NIC) or as a thin client but I'm not sure where to start. I used to run Ubuntu PPC on my old iBook but kept running into issues due to the x86 vs PPC architecture. The other idea I had was as a "kitchen" computer for recipes and watching TV/streaming radio while cooking, but we already use her new MacBook to do this and that seems to work fine.

In the end, I think we've got enough computers in our house, but she wants to keep this one. So... I turn to you, dear readers. What possible use can we squeeze out of my girlfriend's "old friend"??

Port logging on a Linux/Mac home network

plaidrabbit — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 11:39:46 -0800

Looking for a program for Linux (or Mac) that will record what ports I'm using during a given period of time. About to switch from a basic home router to a Debian router/DHCP box using IPRoute as the firewall - problem is, I'm not 100% sure what ports I'm using with different programs. I know that I could look for a standard port listing, and just highlight which ones are used by programs I have, but I'm sure I'd either forget one, or find that it's not using a standard port. The opposite thinking, which is to block everything, and start opening them as needed, will cause me to have to SSH into the box every single time something doesn't work for the next week or so; not a pleasant thought either.

Is there anything out there that will simply watch and record the port usage of my home network for a given period of time? Since this is not mission critical, and more about me learning Linux server administration than a need for home network security, I was planning to leave the process up for a week (or so), thinking that most everything that I might use would get used at some point in that period of time. Then, I could simply print out the port list, make sure that those ports are properly forwarded and/or open in my configuration, and have no issues when I made the switch-over.

I'm happy to put something (a linux box) between my current router and the net in order to get this info, but I'd rather just be able to sniff things as they're set up now (if only out of laziness). I'm also willing to install something on each computer, as long as it doesn't take up too many resources.

I gotta think something's out there, but my Google-fu is failing me today. Thanks in advance!

Printers that will work with Windows, OS X and Linux?

northernsoul — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 19:11:51 -0800

Looking for a printer that will work with Windows (Vista), OS X and Linux. My second hand HP Laserjet 5N is on it's last legs and it's time to replace it. One thing that was great about it was that it has support for Windows, OS X and Linux, and I run in mixed environment. First party support for Windows and Mac is a must, and I can live with third party support for Linux as long as the drivers are quality, although I'd prefer first party. My budget is $200 - $300 Canadian. I'm open to refurbs, especially HPs, since I can attest even their old printers are (usually) built to last. Any suggestions?

How best to export a Journler diary?

zenja72 — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 18:18:07 -0800

How best to export a Journler diary? I have used Journler since I got my Mac a year ago, and have built up a fairly large journal. I really like the program, but it seems it's been abandoned; the developer switched from donationware to paid software with the latest release, but I haven't paid for my license yet. I don't plan to purchase one if it's abandoned, what with Snow Leopard on the horizons, and a possible computer move in the next year.

So, looking forwards, what's the best way to export my Journler? My ideal solution would be using a free (preferably open source) solution that is available for Mac and Linux (been experimenting with Ubuntu lately). TiddlyWiki would be great, as it's portable. Thanks very much in advance.

Can my heterogenously equipped family video chat with each other?

pharm — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 06:40:29 -0800

Cross-platform video conferencing: Linux/OSX/Windows. Is it possible? My geographically spread family covers the gamut of modern operating systems. Is there a video chat application (or inter-operable set of applications) that we can all use to talk to each other online?

Last time I looked, video conferencing only really seemed to work if both ends were using the same application & there was certainly nothing available that covered Linux, Mac and Windows. Even Mac & Windows seemed problematic. Have things improved? Can I just get everyone to install Skype?

Catching that Intrepid Ibex

photomusic86 — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 17:57:21 -0800

How can I use Ubuntu (running as a virual machine on VirtualBox with OSX 10.5) to improve my computing experience? After some initial problems, I finally got VirtualBox to run Ubuntu 8.10, which is cool, but I'm not sure what to do with it. Born and raised on a Mac since OS 7, I'm not used to Linux, or even Windows (which I might run at a later date). Why should I use Ubuntu, and what for?

How do I get Kubuntu running under Parallels on my Mac to see the internet?

jeffreyclong — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 08:11:51 -0800

How do I get Kubuntu running under Parallels on my Mac to see the internet? I am a new Parallels user. My Mac came preinstalled with Windows XP under Parallels and it sees the internet fine. I just created a Kubuntu virtual machine. It boots fine, but I can't use the internet with it. I get a "could not connect to host" when I type any address into Konquerer. I played with the Parallels network settings, setting it to airport, default, host only, and shared. Nothing works. Is there something I need to do inside of Kubuntu to get it to work? Anything else I need to do in Parallels to make it work?

Thanks

How do I tell my Mac that I'm me?

grumblebee — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 07:17:27 -0800

Question about changing my terminal prompt (and other matters) in an OS X Bash shell. I'm not the most experienced Unix guy, but I can usually figure things out. But this one has me stumped: I just got a slightly-used Macbook Pro. The previous ower -- Michael -- gave me his admin password. So I went into System Preferences, Accounts and created a new admin, grumblebee. Then I deleted Michael.

All went well until I opened terminal, where I saw that the prompt looked like this:

michaels-mackbook-pro: ~Grumblebee

(I know that ~Grumblebee isn't part of the prompt. I just wanted to show you that I'm logged in as me and it's finding my home directory. It's just the prompt that's wrong.)

I tried to edit etc/baschrc, but it said I didn't have permission.

How can I change the prompt and is it likely I'll encounter any other problems connected to changing users?

Help me understand Boot Camp and its limitations, please!

DMan — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 18:09:42 -0800

I'm purchasing an iMac sometime this weekend (yay!) and I'm trying to figure out how I want to partition the drive for Boot Camp... So I'm getting a new iMac, and as a computer engineering student I can definitely see where I'll want to test hardware or software on multiple platforms--Windows XP is a necessity, and I'd love to have Vista and Linux if possible.

So, first off, is this possible? I've seen some stuff recently about Linux being difficult to install on a Mac with Boot Camp, is that true? And also, can I have both a XP and Vista installation on my computer, on separate partitions? I have OEM versions of both OS's.

If this is possible, what's the best way for me to partition the drive, space-wise? Out of the 3 I'd like to install (XP, Vista, and Linux) I know for a fact I'll be using XP the most, mainly for gaming but also for Office and a few other Windows-only apps. So I was thinking about 60GB for XP, and the bare minimum for Ubuntu. So assuming I can install all those OS's, how much space should I save for each one? I'd rather partition it all at once rather than go back and do it later.

My final question is a bit more simple. Would I be able to create a separate partition on the drive to store my music? Rather than create a new copy of the music on each partition, I'd rather have a separate "Music" drive. I can't use an external because the only one I have is going to be used for Time Machine.

To recap:

- Can I install Windows XP, Vista, and Ubuntu on my iMac along with Leopard?

- What's the minimum space I'd need for Vista and Ubuntu? Drive is a 500GB; I'd like to leave, at bare minimum, 300GB free on the Leopard partition.

- Can I easily create a separate partition for music? About 20 GB would be all I'd need.

Thanks for all the help! I'm new to Apple computers, so this should be interesting.

I can haz printjob? Wirelessly?

FlyingMonkey — Fri, 09 May 2008 15:19:53 -0800

We have two Mac laptops, an older Compaq laptop running some flavor of Linux, an HP inkjet printer, and a wireless router. Please help me set up the Linux laptop to play (semi-) wireless printserver for the Macs. I have a MacBook Pro, and my fiancée a MacBook. Both are from 2006, running Tiger.
I also have a Compaq laptop, from about 2003, now ostensibly running Linux but mostly taking up space on a spare desk. (It's been a year and change since the Linux---some form of Ubuntu, I believe---was installed, so an upgrade is probably in order here.)
Finally, I have an HP Photosmart C3180 inkjet printer, which runs via USB; a wireless router (a Linksys, if it matters); and a wireless card for the Compaq.

I'd like to set things up so that the printer can be plugged into the Compaq, through which I can print wirelessly from the Macs. Can this be done?

(Among the potential complicating factors: We have no outside network service. This thing would be completely isolated. Also, while I used to be fairly decent with Linux, it's been several years since I used it on a regular basis, and I was never great with networking.)

How to copy one large file from Linux to Mac OS X

beniamino — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 14:52:33 -0800

I want to copy a 6.5Gb file from my Linux machine to my Macbook running Tiger as quickly as possible. I have a USB drive. What is the best way to do this? I have tried: Copying over ethernet (very slow), creating an hfsplus partition (couldn't get it working in Ubuntu), creating a FAT32 partition (won't write files > 4Gb), creating an ext3 partition (can't read it as extfsx never got updated for Tiger). I don't need a shareable filesystem in general, I just want to move this one file. I can't help thinking there is some brilliant method involving dd, but I'm not sure exactly what.

How can I become a really effective web developer using Windows?

Deathalicious — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 21:45:57 -0800

What are some tips/resources for someone very familiar with web development on mostly Mac/Linux who now needs to do web development on Windows? I'm looking for tips on applications, techniques, useful websites. This really is web development, not design, so I'm more interested in development tools, resources/books on Microsoft technologies and how they work. etc.

WIFI card that has drivers for OS X Leopard and can be sued for Backtrack

antisocialiting — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 07:41:50 -0800

Looking for a WIFI card that has drivers for OS X Leopard and can be used for Linux distro Backtrack..PS I have Hackintosh so I Have a hackintosh and am looking for a WIFI card that has drivers for it in OS X Leopard and one that is usable in the Linux distro Backtrack.
thanks in advance for any and all help

What's the best way of distributing a DVD over the Internet?

amcewen — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 03:37:06 -0800

What's the best way of distributing a DVD over the Internet? I'm thinking probably bittorrent for transmission, but what format? ISO? A set of VOBs, etc.? Basically, I decided to make a DVD of some of the excellent TED Talks to give to a friend - I figured a DVD would be better as it wouldn't require him to sit in front of his computer to watch them.

As the TED Talks are creative commons, I thought other people on t'Internet might like a copy and so I'm looking at how to share it with everyone.

I'm trying to make it easy for people to use (it's going to be tricky enough if they have to install a bittorrent client), so want to distribute it in a format that can be burnt to DVD easily on Windows, Mac and Linux. Preferably where I can provide a short set of instructions and pointers to suitable software for each platform.

The easiest for me would be a mirror of the DVD structure - so AUDIO_TS and VIDEO_TS folders containing .VOB files - but I've also come across ISO files or .CUE/.BIN files.

Which should I pick? (and if it's one of the latter, does anyone have any recommendations for software to create them on Windows XP?)

Sharing MAc Screen with Linux

nivekraz — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 11:54:07 -0800

How do I change the resolution of my Macs desktop when sharing the screen and viewing on a linux machine using tightvnc? I am screen sharing my Mac Mini w/ leopard. I can log in and see the screen using TightVnc on a Linux machine. However, I can only get full resolution that is painfully slow over the Internet. The low quality options on the VNC viewer have no effect and I can't find anysettings on the Mac to lower the quality.

How can I justify needing a non-XP system?

imperium — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 03:15:31 -0800

I work in a digitally backward environment (locked down XP builds), and am constantly frustrated by it. However, if I can make the business case, they will, I believe let me run my Mac on the network (and let my boss run his Linux machine). Can anyone help me make that case? We're based in our local democratic institution, you see, and my boss has his own independent democratic mandate, which strengthens our hand. We're about to start making better use of the internet, including blogging, better website usage generally, and posting regular videos of his work. I'm thinking this might be the excuse we need to force the institution to allow our non-Windows machines access.

What can we not do on Windows, therefore? It's an IE-only network, in theory, without Realplayer access (which is nuts), and there are several other similar restrictions. I'm looking for apps which might be necessary for blogging or video purposes and for which there's no substitute XP app whatsoever.

The real reason is the constant crashing, slowness, and reduced functionality of Windows compared to the other two OSes, but we can't use that reason!

Authentication across Windows, Linux, and Mac

remi — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 06:22:57 -0800

How do you use a single authentication system for different kind of servers, systems, and workstations? We're a small Web development business of less than 20 employees. Currently, we have three local servers:

Server A, using Windows Server 2003, is the "main" server for putting all of our document (including financial data) and most of our projects. For development and testing, we also host Web sites there which require a Windows server, ASP and MS SQL. It's also our main DHCP and DNS server.

Server B, Fedora Core 6, is mainly for hosting projects requiring Linux, PHP or ColdFusion, and MySQL. It's the backup DHCP and DNS server.

Server C, Windows Sever 2003 Web Edition, is for hosting projects requiring ColdFusion and Windows.

We have various kinds of workstations at the office: Windows XP, Windows Vista, Ubuntu, Fedora, and Mac OS X 10.4.

Our biggest annoyance at the moment is authentication. Every employee has a different account for everything. Windows file shares, Linux file shares, Linux shell accounts, MySQL, MS SQL...

Server A already has Active Directory set up, though I'm not too familiar with it. (I'm more of a Linux system administrator.) I tried some ways to combine all one employee's accounts together, but it just won't work. One of the ways I tried was to set up PAM on server B to use LDAP or other mechanisms supposedly supported by the server A, but it doesn't work.

Now, I'm wondering, are there any methods to make the authentication process of every service work together?

I'm not even sure where to start to set this all up. Any suggestions will be appreciated! Thanks in advance!

Pimp my GUI!

Barmecide — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 10:53:45 -0800

Help me find all those small but necessary apps, as well as the fun and ostentatious bells and whistles, for my new desktop (linux)! What are your favorites? My mac is finally sliding over from crufty to decrepit. I've priced out and ordered the parts and will (hopefully) be spending the next week tinkering with my new Linux desktop (though probably with an XP partition for games.)

I've flirted with Linux on and off since 98 or so, so I'm comfortable with the install, file system, xorg, etc. However, every linux box I've setup has been for a server role, so any funtional GUI, no matter how hideous, was just fine.

Help me discover all of the extras.
What are your favorite little addons? Your flashy, totally unnecessary extra flairs? Your time-saving (or wasting) widgets? Your bling!

Setting up a Linux-Mac OS X Dual Boot?

WCityMike — Wed, 22 Aug 2007 14:27:00 -0800

I would like to make my Intel iMac dual boot a Linux variant. I'd appreciate any help you could provide me. Specific questions inside. First, I'd appreciate it if you could explain the difference to me between a window manager and a Linux operating system. For example, there is GNOME and KDE, and my understanding is that these are window managers -- and there is Ubuntu and Red Hat, which are operating systems, yes? What does a window manager do that an operating system doesn't? I'm so used to seeing operating systems that are integrated with their window managers (i.e. Mac OS X and Windows) that I'm not sure I understand where one ends and the other begins. What window managers would you recommend? What variant of Linux would you recommend? I'm leaning towards Ubuntu, since I've heard it referred to the most on Lifehacker.

Second, I must admit, I'm slightly nervous. Even though this is moderately major surgery on my Mac, I'd appreciate any reassurance you can give. I do backup, but my backup drive isn't large enough to backup everything; right now it's got everything but my music backed up, and for obvious reasons, I'd rather not lose all my music. (A large chunk of it is backed up on DVD, but most definitely not all.) My understanding is that Apple's Boot Camp application can alter the partitions on my hard drive without erasing what's there already ... even if I'm not installing Windows.

As that relates, the instructions I am planning to work off of are both here and here. I'm wondering if there is a "Complete Idiot's Guide to Setting Up a Dual-Boot on Your Mac with Linux" website that is even simpler ... or if you guys have "dumb-dumb" instructions to follow. I can follow these directions fine, but if I would just like to lower the chance of me doing something stupid while setting this up. (BTW, I can anticipate someone saying, "Linux isn't for dummies, and if you're concerned about it being over your head, you shouldn't attempt this dual boot." To which I'd reply that I'm purposefully underestimating my skills here because I'd rather more safely follow idiot-level instructions than somewhat perilously follow moderate-level instructions. But my request for idiot-level instructions shouldn't be interpreted to mean that I am an idiot.)

Finally, any advice as to Linux variant? Or window manager? Or applications? (Preferably with linkage?) Or general anecdotes about what to do as a Linux beginner?

Why am I doing this? Well, I have pretty much tweaked everything I want to tweak on my Mac, and I would like a new operating system to play around with, and Windows XP might have some interest for me, but it's $190 on Amazon for even just the Home Edition, which is about $190 more than Linux.

Cross-Platform KVM

normy — Fri, 06 Apr 2007 07:11:58 -0800

Hardware for a platform agnostic: KVM switching. Three boxes:
i) Windows XP. The main desktop/development/work/business, heaviest use machine.
ii) Linux (Ubuntu). Older box with a big drive. Mainly used as a file server/backup and some programming. I'm not a Linux god, but getting into it more.
iii) Mac Mini. Media streaming and just for the fun of messing with it.

Is there a KVM solution that's affordable (under $200, say?), reliable, and relatively plug-and-play? Is this even possible without hours of pain with drivers and configuration grief? A wireless solution not essential, but an option.

I'm a software guy, and hardware tends to bore the pants off me, as long as it works I tend not to care much, so feel free to answer as if I'm an idiot. I'm not a gamer. Pointers to what I should be looking for or good resources to start reading up most appreciated, thanks.

Reinstall Mac OS on G3 iMac after installing Linux?

AmbroseChapel — Mon, 19 Mar 2007 12:50:24 -0800

Reinstall Mac OS on G3 iMac after installing Linux? I have an old 333MHz G3 iMac (the first generation of the "fruity colours" model).

I installed YellowDog Linux on it. No dual-boot, just linux.

Now I'd like to return it to use with Mac OS X or even OS 9 and I can't seem to do so.

I can boot from the installer disks OK, but the OS X installer disk thinks for a while then gives me a forbidden/ghostbusters symbol, and the OS 9 installer just gives me a mouse and a blank screen.

Presumably they don't recognise the existence of the HD because it's not formatted the right way? So what can I do to reformat the disk in HFS, or whatever I would need for the installers to acknowledge the existence of that enormous 6GB drive?

Installing Linux on my Mac's external hard drive

Aanidaani — Fri, 22 Dec 2006 15:36:18 -0800

Is there anywhere I can find step-by-step instructions for installing a Linux distro (Ubuntu in particular) on my PowerBook G4's external hard drive? I currently use a PPC-based PowerBook G4 and I'd like to be able to install Linux on my external hard drive, so that I don't have to mess with my laptop's internal hard drive. The drive can be connected using Firewire 800 or USB 2.0, so that's not an issue. I've searched all over for help but no one seems to have a good answer or a step-by-step guide to doing this. Any help would really be appreciated!

I need to install linux on a PPC G4 Powermac at work.

govtrust — Sat, 25 Nov 2006 14:25:28 -0800

I need to install linux on a PPC G4 Powermac at work. What distro should I use? I work at a copy shop. I am looking for a linux distro which supports PDF and is easy to administer. Also we are currently using itunes for music, what would be a good replacement?

Make my Gnome OSX'y

ChrisR — Sat, 21 Oct 2006 14:16:16 -0800

How do I configure Gnome (on Fedora Core 5, if it matters) and X11 to act like OSX with respect to keyboard input? I've migrated my home PC to OSX, in a dramatic change of direction, and I love it. However, for consistency's sake I'd like to keep all of my computer interaction consistent, and it's unlikely that I'll be replacing my Linux desktop at work with a Mac any time soon (or ever).

So, how can I make it work in the same way? Ideally, what I want is the same keystrokes on my 104-key keyboard for both OSs for text navigation and (to the extent that it's possible) application shortcuts. The only caveat is, none of these changes may break Emacs :)

Even incremental improvements are welcome.