Jun 27
Jun 05
From Macworld:
CLIX includes a default database containing more than 450 Terminal commands that perform useful actions in OS X—many of them usually inaccessible—categorized by the aspect of the interface they affect (Dock, Finder, Security, and System, for example).
Double-click on any command, and CLIX presents a dialog box that shows a title, a category, and a description, as well as the command itself. To execute the command, click on the Run button (you can use the Copy button to copy this output to the Clipboard for pasting into another application). You can also edit or customize commands in the Command Line field.
Because you’re working with valid, proven commands, CLIX is a useful tool for learning Unix. But what really won me over was CLIX’s ability to store personalized commands—either in the default database or in a new database. This feature is so useful on its own that CLIX may become a reference guide for your collected Unix tidbits even if you never touch its default database.
Some of the commands in CLIX’s default database do pretty serious things, so read a command’s description before running it; if you don’t understand the command, then don’t run it. This is especially true for commands that require administrative access.
May 19
Every now and then, there’s a need to crawl your hard drive to see if you have the same junk in multiple places. Here’s a utility I found for doing just that. Caution - don’t just start deleting everything everywhere that has the same name, or your computer is toast.
Apr 25
Lost your OSX password for your user account?
1. Reboot.
2. Hold Apple+S while restarting.
3. The mac will come up in single user mode. Type this:
/sbin/mount -uw
/sbin/SystemStarter (I didn’t actually need this)
passwd [username]You’ll be prompted to type the new password for that user.
4. Type “reboot”.
Now, if you’re thinking “OMG my password does nothing to prevent people accessing my files?” then you’re quite correct. You can also boot off an OSX install cd and break passwords similarly. So, you’re probably wanting to know how to protect yourself from that.
You’ll want “Open Firmware” which can be installed from your OSX installation CD at /Applications/Utilities/. It’s also graphically installable off the “Utilities” menu on the disk.
What it does:
- Blocks the ability to use the “C” key to start up from an optical disc.
- Blocks the ability to use the “N” key to start up from a NetBoot server.
- Blocks the ability to use the “T” key to start up in Target Disk Mode (on computers that offer this feature).
- Blocks the ability to use the “D” key to start up from the Diagnostic volume of the Install DVD.
- Blocks the ability to start up a system in Single-user mode by pressing the Command-S key combination during startup.
- Blocks a reset of Parameter RAM (PRAM) by pressing the Command-Option-P-R key combination during startup.
- Blocks the ability to start up in Verbose mode by pressing the Command-V key combination during startup.
- Blocks the ability to start up in Safe Boot mode by pressing the Shift key during startup.
- Requires the password to use the Startup Manager, accessed by pressing the Option key during startup (see below)
This doesn’t prevent anyone from yanking the drive and hooking it up in another computer, or accessing your data in a few other obscure ways. For that, check under System Preferences and consider enabling File Vault.
Apr 25
Microsoft shows the world why DRM sucks bigtime.
MSN Entertainment and Video Services general manager Rob Bennett sent out an e-mail this afternoon to customers, advising them to make any and all authorizations or deauthorizations before August 31. “As of August 31, 2008, we will no longer be able to support the retrieval of license keys for the songs you purchased from MSN Music or the authorization of additional computers,” reads the e-mail seen by Ars. “You will need to obtain a license key for each of your songs downloaded from MSN Music on any new computer, and you must do so before August 31, 2008. If you attempt to transfer your songs to additional computers after August 31, 2008, those songs will not successfully play.“
Apr 08
This comes from “esx3_partition_align.pdf (page 1 of 10)
Our testing validates the assumption that VMware VMFS partitions that align to 64KB track boundaries result in reduced latency and increased throughput on the EMC CLARiiON CX series of networked storage systems. Partition alignment on both physical machines and VMware VMFS partitions prevents performance I/O degradation due to track misalignment. Creating VMware VMFS partitions using VirtualCenter 2.0 or later results in a partition table aligned on the 64KB boundary as storage and operating system vendors recommend.
Throughput Increase: Min = 2% Average = 12% Max = 62%
Apr 08
I ran into a machine that had like 16 local area tunnel virtual adapters today. Weird. I tracked it to this:
http://www.mydigitallife.info/2007/09/09/how-to-disable-tcpipv6-teredo-tunneling-in-vista/