Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with mac and os

The processor cost of upgrading

WhackyparseThis — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 06:21:49 -0800

Upgrading from OS X 10.4 to 10.6: Does it use more CPU? I have a Mac Mini 1.66GHz that suffers from overheating problems when placed under stress. I'm looking at upgrading for the extra utilities such as Time Machine and Quicktime Pro, but i am concerned that a newer OS may place more pressure on my weakened computer. Does 10.6 run the computer harder than 10.4?

Buggy finder OS x 10.5.8

cg2 — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 09:43:43 -0800

Buggy finder in OX 10.5.8 Recently my finder has gotten really buggy - even though I have disabled spaces and expose they will spontaneously launch. Also when I open folders in the finder they will flash repeatedly before stopping and letting me click into them. I also have a hard time renaming files by clicking into the file name on the finder. Does anyone have any ideas??? Thanks!!

Really weird Snow Leopard font problem

ferdinandcc — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 21:51:19 -0800

I just upgraded to Snow Leopard, and since then, some of my fonts are MAJORLY screwed up in iWork '09 (Pages, Keynote and Numbers). Specifically, my entire extended family of Hoefler Text.

Here's a screenshot of what my Hoefler Text fonts look like inside Pages:
http://www.ferdinandcc.org/hoefler1.png

(The menu should read as follows: Engraved, Engraved 2, Roman, Roman Alt, Roman SC, Regular, Italic, Alt, Italic SC, Italic Swash SC, etc.)

And here's Hoefler Text in action (Hoefler Text Regular appears fine, but Italic looks screwed up):
http://www.ferdinandcc.org/hoefler2.png

The fonts worked just fine under Leopard, and also work fine in my other apps I've tested them in (TextEdit, Pagehand, Scrivener), and they also show up just fine in Font Book and Fontcase.

Here's what I've tried so far to repair the issue:

1. I reinstalled the fonts. Didn't work.
2. I used AppZapper to get rid of all traces of iWork, then reinstalled iWork off the disc. Didn't work.
3. I repaired disk permissions. Didn't work.
4. I entirely deleted ALL Hoefler Text font files out of both my user/library and my /library. This is where things got really weird. When I deleted Hoefler Text, it quit appearing in Font Book, TextEdit, etc. but in Pages, et. al it was still there!
5. I purchased FontDoctor and scanned my font folders. No problems there. However, when I copied all my Hoefler Text fonts to a folder on my desktop and then scanned that folder alone, it said the fonts were incompatible with this system (but if that's the case, then why do they work in every other application on my Mac, including Font Book?)

Note: the file type is PostScript Type 1 outline font.

These fonts are very important to me, as they're part of my organization's corporate branding guidelines and are used in all our documents and publications!

How do I select what I toggle to in OS X's pop-up windows?

helios410 — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 18:39:36 -0800

Mac OS X Filter: In Finder, when a pop-up menu shows up, say to empty the trash or cancel, I toggle through the buttons/options by pressing tab, but how do I actually select what I toggled to with a keyboard shortcut? '

jumpy mouse disease

krautland — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 12:47:01 -0800

my logitech mouse is jumping around frantically on os x. it's behaving completely normally one second and then it's off somewhere entirely different the other. lots of details inside. I purchased a logitech RX720 mouse a while back without realizing it was meant for windows only. being the hackjob that it is logitech's own control center refused to accept it accordingly and the site didn't provide any drivers. not to worry, macs still let you use such mice, they just don't have customizable a right button. alas, I wanted that right button, so I installed steer mouse, which I was assured was much better. fast forward a week of perfect behavior and my mouse is back to jumping around.

here's what I've tried thus far:

- I have changed batteries.
- I have uninstalled steer mouse and just used 10.4.11 to run the mouse.
- I have changed the surface below the mouse (it's an optical mouse. I tried a black mousepad, a yellow folder, a white piece of paper).
- I've tried to look for obvious smudges though I avoided looking into the laser hole for obvious reasons. or am I being overly cautious?

I'm ready to throw this dreck into the can and accept that this mouse (which sadly I can no longer return) needs to be replaced. other mice previously worked well with my mac book pro. I don't know what the issue is.

you are this little logitech mouse last hope. share ideas of suggest a painless death for it because I am ready to go postal on it.

Choose Details in OS X

reenum — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 17:43:43 -0800

Mac OSX Filter: How can I change the details displayed for files in a directory while in list view? This may be a really easy question, but Google has failed me thus far.

When I used XP and viewed directories as lists, I could go to View and then click on 'Choose Details' to pick which file info I wanted displayed.

I can't seem to figure out how to do this on Mac OSX.

The reason I want to do this is because I listen to a lot of podcasts, and the title in the file info is often more instructive than the filename.

Is there any way to 'Choose Details' on Mac OSX?

Seeking a permanent solution for my Wacom tablet woes.

iamkimiam — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 17:09:30 -0800

Sometime around the beginning of this year, my Intuos2 Model 0608-U 6"x8" Wacom tablet driver stopped loading upon login and restart. I reinstall it every time I login/restart. All of the tips, tricks, workarounds suggested by both Wacom and Apple do not work. I am running Mac OS 10.5.7. Is there anything left to try? The tablet works after I reinstall. I have tried uninstalling, disk repair, permissions, reinstalling (various versions of the tablet driver) in all possible combinations. Is anybody else having this problem? What has worked for you?

I'm looking for a permanent solution that does not cost $$. I will reinstall indefinitely if I have to, but it is getting tiresome. Thanks!

How much is "some" in C programming?

joshrholloway — Sun, 31 May 2009 06:45:51 -0800

How much of C do I need to learn before moving on to Cocoa, and what's the best resource for learning it? I'm very interested in programming for the Mac and iPhone, but I have no real prior programming experience. On the recommendation of an AskMeFi answer, I bought the latest edition of the Hillegass book. However, it states something like "this book was written for those who already know some C programming and something about objects." So how much is "some"? What resources will best help me learn the parts of C I need to know before moving on to Cocoa? I want to hit the ground running, so if there is a good crash course out there, what is it?Are there any video resources?

still a pc.

jak68 — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 16:08:17 -0800

Is there any way today to run a mac application on windows? (without the whole mac OS, preferably, though I'd consider that too). I figure since both are using intels now, and windows runs successfully on macs, and universal binaries for many mac apps are out now, and there's rosetta and other ways to bridge ppc and intel worlds for apps, if there was some way that you could run (within I guess an emulator or virtual machine) a single mac app (via a universal binary maybe) on windows (either xp or vista).
If the ansewr to that is a resounding no, then I'd ask, well is there any way to run mac os on windows the way they've been running windows on intel-based macs?
Thanks!

OS X 10.5.6 Dock remains hidden

the_binary_blues — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 14:20:33 -0800

I have OS X 10.5.6 and Logitech V470 bluetooth mouse. 1. When I hide the dock it stays hidden and there is no way for me to get the dock to reappear without turning off autohide 2. My courser works sporadically a. sometimes it will only work on some area's of the screen b. sometimes it won't recognize clicks Are these related? and can I fix this? will the plist file removal work?

my computer is:
I have a macbook 2.16GHZ Intel Core 2 Duo
with 2GB of SDRAM
running OS X 10.5.6

Free de-duper for mac?

catatethebird — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 09:37:56 -0800

What is a good FREEWARE duplicate file remover for mac os x? I just switched from windows to a new macbook pro, and I've got a lot of dupes - music, pics, and other documents and files. I only want to delete exact duplicates, not different versions of songs or pics that were edited and left under the same name.
I used Doublekiller in windows because it compared checksums, and allowed you to see the location of each dupe and choose which to delete. I haven't been able to find anything similar for mac.
If there are no freeware programs that do this can anyone reccomend a (cheap) paid app with those capabilities?
Searches don't lead to anything that seems to do quite what I want.

rockin' remote desktop style

crapples — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 13:02:13 -0800

My friend and I want to be able to work on the same Garageband file on a server somehow. Is there a way to set up one of our machines as a server that both of us can access? We are not on the same network (in fact we are a thousand miles away from each other). We are both using OS X Leopard.

Software for .gpx files on a Mac

jcdill — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 18:50:32 -0800

Software to process and display (map, etc.) .gpx files on a Mac I don't have a GPS yet, although a friend is sending me her old unit. Today I went on a mountain bike ride with a group, and someone else had a GPS with him and recorded our ride. After the ride, I downloaded the .gpx file from his GPS to my MacBook Pro (OS X 10.5.5). I uploaded the file to a site (mapmyride.com) to map the ride, which was cool. I'd like to map the ride on my Mac, and also map the altitude changes, etc. It would be super to find software that was open source or freeware.

How to make finder display a previously ejected usb deivce

alitorbati — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 15:05:57 -0800

How do I make my mac recognize an already plugged in usb device? If I attach a usb device to my mac, it automatically shows up in my finder sidebar and when I am finished using it, I can simply click the eject button next to it.
If I don't disconnect the device, is there any way to make finder refresh the 'Places' heading? Is there any way to make the device show up besides unplugging it and plugging it back in?

Where does mac store thumbnails of photos and videos?

guptaxpn — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 09:33:01 -0800

Where does mac store thumbnails of photos and videos? e.g. Finder thumbnails an SD disk I have plugged in that I pulled out of my digital camera. (where are those thumbnails?) e.g. A folder of movies are thumbnailed.

OS Font issues... Need HELP!

Vanna79 — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 13:55:08 -0800

HELP! I am going nutty. Some of my MAC OS fonts and some web page fonts display as Black with a white outline which makes it very difficult to read. It happens in all browsers as well. I assume it is a font issue but have no idea how to fix it or which font it is affecting.

Seeking software for searching network drives on Mac OS X

jewzilla — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 21:32:28 -0800

In Mac OS 10.5.4, I have a shared disk (on a Time Capsule) with a lot of files, and I would like to be able to search for files on it quickly. Spotlight will not do the job because it won't index network shares. Can anyone recommend third-party software (like Copernic on the PC) that will index a network share? It would be sufficient to search only filenames. I don't even care much about freshness of the index since I rarely change or add the contents of the drive. There are probably close to 100,000 files.

Ugly bittorrent ratio needs a facelift

alitorbati — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 17:03:31 -0800

Is there any software of Mac OS X that will protect my bittorrent seed/leech ratio? I'm looking for something like GreedyTorrent, but for mac. Obviously, freeware is preferred but I'm willing to hear any suggestions. Please don't use this post to encourage me to seed more. I seed as much as I can on one of my computers but my mac just won't do it.

Also, can anyone suggest any reasons that my mac is extremely finicky about seeding any torrents I get from what.cd? I'm using Transmission, if it matters.

Thanks!

La Zona Muerta.

Zé Pequeno — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 06:07:37 -0800

I came home yesterday to find that we've now got internet in our house - great. The only problem is, though I'm able to get a perfect signal in the sitting room, which is where the wireless router is situated, if I go the five metres or so from there to my bedroom, the connection rapidly deteriorates to the point that I can't even open Metafilter. I'm running a Macbook with a fully-udated version of Tiger, so what gives? I should mention that the signal bar is FULL, even in the bedroom. However, though there's a long list of wireless networks that appear when I'm in the sitting room, this list dwindles to five or six once I get to my room. It's unusual because I *always* seem to pick up a signal when other people are unable. I used to be under the impression that my Mac had been gifted with an overly potent Wifi card. And now this?

I live in a fairly old suburban Barcelona apartment block. In between the sitting room and the bedroom are a lavatory and kitchen. To my knowledge, my room is not lined with lead.

One suggestion I read from someone was to ensure the router is broadcasting on a specific channel, as opposed to auto. I just checked, though, and it's connected to Channel 6.

I'd appreciate any help.

MacFilter

bad grammar — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 20:00:22 -0800

Why can't I pick up and drag my Mac's desktop folders smoothly? Often they don't move at all, or they snap back as if on rubber bands when I move and drop them. Specifics: I have a MacBook from 2006 with Mac OS X 10.4.8. I am using a 1024 x 640 setting for the display.

The problem is minor but it makes tidying up the desktop (manually) rather difficult.

Can any Mac Project Planing Software export to Microsoft Project?

UMDirector — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 11:40:32 -0800

Is there anyway to export something from OmniPlan or similar Mac Project planner and get it to open in Microsoft Project? Omniplan and other SAY they open in Project but in reality they export an XML that Project etc doesn't really like. I need something that will actually open, not say that it will. I tried a number of products but they all gave me the faux export.

Man Attempting to Move Leopard

indiewizard — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 07:41:38 -0800

Great MeFites, I come bearing but a humble request. I bought a MacBook Pro about six months before Leopard was released. When it finally came out, I installed it on a partition on an external drive, which I would boot from (because OS X is awesome like that, amirite?) so I could test out all my apps. Now I'm ready to commit to Leopard full-time - what's the best way to go about transplanting my Leopard partition? In my head, I would copy everything precious to the external drive, and then go into Disk Utility and select "Restore" (I'm not in front of my Mac right now, so I don't know the exact option, but it's a tab that comes up in the main pane when you select the root drive in the left-hand pane), where I would select Leopard as the source, and my internal drive as the destination. However, the internal drive is just slightly bigger than the Leopard partition - would this present a problem?

Also, what are my other options? Specifially, Carbon Copy Cloner comes to mind - is this what I need?

Also also, I would like to merge my Adium chat logs - any programs available? If this isn't possible, I'll settle for simply copying them to my Documents folder, and using Spotlight.

A thousand thank-yous in advance.

Connect Canon HG10 video to Mac os X

willep — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 17:02:20 -0800

Mac osx/canon hg10 cannot get stills off camera. Video yes, stills no. We're supposed to have a baby any day now and this sucker ain't behaving (the camera-mac connection). I haven't had this kind of problem with a mac in 10 years. I can get iMovie to find my Canon HG10 thru USB cable but not Final Cut Pro of iPhoto or Image Capture. That would be fine except that iMovie does not download images from still mode.

I have everything Canon has for download, I have iPhoto, etc. I have another Canon still camera that works fine in all programs.

I saw this thread was closed.

I've looked: no one else seems to have this problem and Canon isn't aware of it... thank you.

Yay, I can ask questions! Time to upgrade my printer!

doctor.dan — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 00:50:31 -0800

Howdy all! My first question on ask.MeFi so I'm all excited. My standard ink printer is starting to show its age and I think its time to upgrade (woohoo). Looking for any good suggestions. Finding a good laser isn't the hard part, the hard part is trying to fit it in with what I want: Colour laser (I'm expecting to mostly print text with an image in the text here and there, nothing too colour intensive)
Duplex built in, or at least a cheap addition
Mac OS compatible (postscript support would also be nice, but I won't lose any sleep over it being absent)
Networked (not absolutely necessary, but strongly preferred)

The most important condition though is that it needs to be cheap, I'm just a poor little student.

Setting up subdomains for a LAN?

unSane — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 07:37:22 -0800

How do I give my computers subdomain names on my local network? For example, mylaptop.mynetwork.com, mydesktop.mynetwork.com, momslaptop.mynetwork.com, kids.mynetwork.com and so on? Do I have to set up some kind of local DNS or is there an easier way to do it in the router? I am not concerned at this point about being able to access the subdomains from the WAN although that would be handy later. It's the LAN I'm interested in. (Obviously I am using Bonjour right now but for I want to use the subdomains too). I own mynetwork.com and it points to a static IP. My LAN router is firewalled behind that. It's a WRT54G running DD-WRT. I have a spare computer I could run DNS on but I'd rather not have to do that. Everything is Macs running OS X, mostly Leopard.