Secrets preference panel updated for Snow Leopard
My Clippings November 12th, 2009 by System
Automatically pulled from Google Starred
Filed under: OS, Software, Odds and ends
From time to time we have shared hidden settings in applications which can be used to “tweak” an app’s behavior, such as forcing Snow Leopard’s dictionary to reuse the same window or make the print dialog expanded by default. These settings are normally changed using the Terminal.app which can be daunting to some.
Secrets is a (free!) preference panel which has collected a bunch of these settings and made changing them as simple as checking a box or choosing from a drop-down panel of possible choices. It includes settings for about 40 different applications, from Apple applications such as Mail, iCal, iChat, Finder, Front Row, Keynote, DVD Player (and more) to third-party applications including Adium, Audio Hijack Pro, BBedit, EyeTV, VMware Fusion, and TextMate (just to name a few). Some applications have a lot of hidden settings, and some have only one or two.
If you see a setting but don’t know what it does, click it and Secrets will show a brief explanation (these are also available on the Secrets website, but they are easier to read in the preference panel). If you change a setting which requires you to restart the application, Secrets will tell you, and even give you a “Quit This” button. (It’s usually best to make these changes when the app isn’t running.)
Unfortunately at least one of the secret settings from 10.5 doesn’t seem to work in 10.6. That is, the setting to turn HelpViewer into a regular (instead of floating) window. There may be others.
I’m off to explore and see what new goodies Alcor (the developer of Secrets, who you may also know as the creator of Quicksilver) has uncovered.
Thanks to the recently-revived Hawk Wings site for bringing this to my attention. If you use Apple’s Mail.app, Hawk Wings is a great site for tips and information.
Update: We seem to have taken down the Secrets website (oops!) but you can download the preference panel from a mirror (zip) (166kb).
TUAWSecrets preference panel updated for Snow Leopard originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 05 Nov 2009 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Tags: Apple, cli, email, Google, Inc., Information, IO, Leopard, ma, Mac, man, quick, Snow Leopard, terminal, wind, XP
Learn to Compile Software from Source Code [Terminal Tips]
My Clippings October 28th, 2009 by System
Automatically pulled from Google Starred
Normally, installing a new application is no more difficult than double-clicking an installer and hitting Next a few times. For those very rare occasions when an app’s source code is all that’s available, Wired details how to compile it yourself.
As the post acknowledges, it’s not a comprehensive guide, since some apps are build using very different tools, and they don’t all work the same (particularly on Windows). That said, it’s a good starting point, and worth a read even if you’re just interested in how some apps go from hand-written code to compiled binary executables. (I said interesting, not necessarily exciting.)
Do you ever compile from source? When and why do you do it? Share your experience in the comments.
Access a Windows 7 Installation in Mac OS X with VirtualBox [Windows 7]
My Clippings October 22nd, 2009 by System
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Tech thinker Anil Dash gets "uncharacteristically nerdy" and breaks down the process he used to install Windows 7 in Boot Camp—and then get access to it from OS X, without rebooting, using the free virtualization software VirtualBox.
This isn't installing Windows 7 by itself into a new VirtualBox image/appliance—it's taking the hard disk installation made with Boot Camp and making it accessible from VirtualBox in OS X. It's only two terminal commands on top of the standard VirtualBox setup and startup, and it's a pretty handy tool for quickly opening a Windows 7 program you need or testing out a web site in a Windows-only browser. Hit the link for Dash's quick run-through, and tell us if you've got any additional VirtualBox-on-Mac tips in the comments.
Tags: cli, Google, IO, ma, Mac, man, quick, terminal, VirtualBox, wind
Concurrent Remote Desktop Sessions in Windows XP SP2
Windows October 19th, 2009 by Shai Perednik
Ran into this post while trying to get concurrent remote desktop connections working. Havn’t tried it, but it should work.
Quoted from source below:
I mentioned before that Windows XP does not allow concurrent sessions for its Remote Desktop feature. What this means is that if a user is logged on at the local console, a remote user has to kick him off (and ironically, this can be done even without his permission) before starting work on the box. This is irritating and removes much of the productivity that Remote Desktop brings to Windows. Read on to learn how to remove that limitation in Windows XP SP2
A much touted feature in SP2 (Service Pack 2) since then removed was the ability to do just this, have a user logged on locally while another connects to the terminal remotely. Microsoft however removed the feature in the final build. The reason probably is that the EULA (End User License Agreement) allows only a single user to use a computer at a time. This is (IMHO) a silly reason to curtail Remote Desktop’s functionality, so we’ll have a workaround.
Microsoft did try out the feature in earlier builds of Service Pack 2 and it is this that we’re going to exploit here. We’re going to replace termserv.dll (The Terminal Server) with one from an earlier build (2055).
To get Concurrent Sessions in Remote Desktop working, follow the steps below exactly:
- Download the termserv.zip file below and extract it somewhere. (You have to be registered to see the file)
- Reboot into Safe Mode. This is necessary to remove Windows File Protection.
- Copy the termserv.dll in the zip to %windir%\System32 and %windir%\ServicePackFiles\i386. If the second folder doesn’t exist, don’t copy it there. Delete termserv.dll from the dllcache folder: %windir%\system32\dllcache
- Merge the contents of Concurrent Sessions SP2.reg file into the registry.
- Make sure Fast User Switching is turned on. Go Control Panel -> User Accounts -> Change the way users log on or off and turn on Fast User Switching.
- Open up the Group Policy Editor: Start Menu > Run > ‘gpedit.msc’. Navigate to Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Terminal Services. Enable ‘Limit Number of Connections’ and set the number of connections to 3 (or more). This enables you to have more than one person remotely logged on.
Tags: Build, Extract, IO, ma, Microsoft, Remove, terminal, way, wind, workaround, XP
Command-Line Copy&Paste With xclip (Debian/Ubuntu)
My Clippings October 8th, 2009 by System
Automatically pulled from Google Starred
Command-Line Copy&Paste With xclip (Debian/Ubuntu)
xclip is a command line interface to the X11 clipboard. It allows
you to put the output of a command directly into the clipboard so that
you don't have to copy&paste from the terminal manually (which can
be a tedious task especially if the output is very long). It also
allows you to put the contents of a file directly into the clipboard.
Tags: cli, command line, Google, IO, ma, man, terminal, Ubuntu
