m2cw – my 2 cents worth

note to myself:

if the login from a cloned disk does not work, use this little tip:

Q(17): I’ve booted from the clone, but it presents me with a login screen and won’t accept my password. What do I do?
A: Occasionally (but rarely), the NetInfo database does not copy properly. Often this is because the target disk was not formatted before cloning. The fix is fairly easy:

Reboot into single-user mode (hold down command+s during boot). When prompted, type:

fsck -y
[repeat until it no longer says that the Filesystem was modified]
mount -uw /
cd /var/db/
rm .AppleSetupDone
cd netinfo
mv local.nidb local.nidb.bak
exit

As the system boots, you will get the Apple Setup Assistant. Enter your name, password, etc (be sure to use the same short name). You should be able to get in just fine now.

one more thing, if scheduled tasks don’t work:

Hello everyone.

I have identified a problem with running scheduled tasks on Tiger. Apparently Apple changed the format used to write out files. When CCC writes out the scheduled tasks, a null character is written in between every character in the script. As such, the shell cannot execute the file (“bash: Cannot execute binary file”). The workaround is to run the following command in the Terminal whenever you create a scheduled task:

Code:
sudo perl -p -i -e ‘s/00//g’ /etc/ccc.*

Just copy/paste that command into the Terminal application (in /Applications/Utilities), and provide your admin password when requested.

This will be resolved in 3.0.

Mike

here is the original forum entry at ccc

god, i love it when i’m right… 😉

here was my prediction 4 (!) months ago.

here is where i was right:

a. apple would introduce a video ipod – that was not too difficult as the rumor sites were always predicting it!
b. i said in september – well, it happened in october
c. i said it will be itunes 5 – it’s now called itunes 6 (because apple pretty much skipped itunes 5 – it was only out for 2 or 3 weeks!)
d. i said: pvr/mp3/photo – well, close enough: it’s a video / mp3 / photo player (i was wrong with the recording feature!)
e. bigger screen (and jonathan ive’s genius) – the form, look & feel factor are very close to the older generation ipods and it has a slightly bigger screen! (excatly what i thought it would be like)
e. download music videos, tv shows, movies – right, except for the movies but that will happen sooner or later (see also below)

now two things that need to be discussed:

1. video recording: the new ipod cannot record videos (yet) but there is already a tutorial on how to put dvds on the new ipod. and soon there will ways on how to put recordings from elgato’s eyetv and from tivo on the ipod.

2. watching imovie content on it – now that is a bit more delicate and i was hoping for a more integrated approach but nonetheless apple has a way of importing imovies to the ipod with quicktime pro. now you need quicktime pro (around EUR 30 – so no big deal) but i would say this should come with each ipod!

all in all i was completely right! AND had no input from any outside sources!

i wish i could do this more often… predicting the future is fun!

update: here is how to convert eyetv to the ipod and apparently elgato is already working on an upgrade! (update 3: apparently this does not work! let’s hope for a quick update by elgato themselves…)

update 2: seems like apple has another “how to” here for imovie. apparently nothing else required…

i’m a mac-head. always have been, always will be…

in my new job i’m forced to use a wintel machine (a fujitsu siemens – oh lord, what a drag…). that’s why i decided to start a series on my blog about what bugs me about windows as there has been a blog entry by russell beattie with which i whole-heartedly disagree.

so without any particular order i will put together my gripes i have with windows now that i have to use it.

so here we go: why, oh why are word/excel/powerpoint acting differently in handling windows? what i mean? why is each document in word or powerpoint a separate “task” in the taskbar? and why does excel not behave in this way? if i want to switch between excel sheets, i need to go to the “window” menu and switch or, even worse, i have to minimize the sheet (which then all of sudden appears on the bottom of the overall excel window) and “maximize” the sheet i’m looking for while in word i can just switch between windows by selecting them in the taskbar!

this is one suite of programs from one and the same vendor (microsoft). what are they thinking?

almost a number two: but if you have a lot of windows open the taskbar is UNUSABLE! because you just don’t know which of the open windows you want to switch to… (that’s for those people that keep complaining about the dock in mac os x where i don’t see the open windows if i don’t want to. instead i can use “expos

here are my 5 cents worth of predictions regarding the ipod video:

first the facts:
1. apple is preparing itunes 5 (we arrived at 4.9 after that comes 5) and that means: new functions, new layout etc.
2. steve jobs always said: “mobile video makes no sense”… from an interview with david pogue, nyt:

First, he said, on a video player, “there

remember my last post?

well, then read this: stay foolish. because god rewards fools!

steve jobs’ commencement speech at stanford last week:
‘You’ve got to find what you love,’ Jobs says

the best quote:

No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don’t want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life’s change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.

Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma – which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of other’s opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.

he is simply an amazing person!

my good old friend, martin r., gave me a siemens sk65 to play around (yes, for free and yes, forever and yes, not sim-locked!). i’m currently charging it but of course already played with it and i must say: so far, so good! the keyboard flip-out is really cool and makes writing emails/sms etc. so much more easy. the “blackberry built-in” option is tempting…

unfortunately the phone is not mac-compatible which means transferring my contacts (and syncing in general) will be a pain in the a… if at all possible (isync would be so easy!)

oh well, i’ll write more when i tested it more… 😉

MacFixIt – Special Report: Preparing for Mac OS X 10.4 (Tiger) Installation — Avoiding issues before and after updating

Macworld UK – Xserve may win server market

Gui Avoider

best quote:

I