Webspace of Eric Brodeur

Perspectives on storytelling and digital cinema technology

Tag Archive: Macintosh

Disabling Dashboard, Time Machine, and Spotlight

Posted Jan 27, 2011 by Eric

These tips come courtesy of my assistant editor Monty Bass. We implemented them on our post-production Macs to save a few CPU cycles and remove extraneous application prompting.

Disable Dashboard

From a Terminal prompt, enter the following commands followed by [Enter]:

defaults write com.apple.dashboard mcx-disabled -boolean YES

killall Dock

Disable Time Machine Prompts

From a Terminal prompt, enter the following command followed by [Enter]:

defaults write com.apple.TimeMachine DoNotOfferNewDisksForBackup -boolean YES

Disable Spotlight Indexing

Open System Preferences then click Spotlight.

Select the Privacy tab and add every internal and external disk volume you don’t want to index. You will need to mount them first.

read more
Filed Under: Apple
Tags: , , ,

Moving your Mac Documents folder to Dropbox

Posted Jan 01, 2010 by Eric

Apple logoUntil Dropbox provides a feature to easily redirect your local folders to the cloud-based Dropbox, you need to use symlinks or consider abandoning the default Documents folder on your Mac.

Being a purist, I wanted to keep using the entire Documents folder without symlinks for new subfolders I wished to place into Dropbox. This forum post at Apple Discussions provides a quick and easy solution.

Word of caution: if you drag the contents of a folder (such as Documents) into Dropbox and shortly thereafter change your mind (and drag it back) you may find all of those files are deleted from Dropbox and you Mac. Be sure to have an up-to-date Time Machine backup before you perform large file moves.

read more
Filed Under: Apple, Internet
Tags: ,

Download links for Mac OS X Standalone updates

Posted Oct 07, 2009 by Eric

Apple logoI'm in the midst of creating different volumes (or partitions if you will) to maintain specific versions of Mac OS X, Final Cut Pro, and Avid Media Composer. Part of the process is following the compatibility version matrix for Media Composer.

In my situation, the matrix suggests 10.5.5 and QuickTime 7.5.5 for my copy of Media Composer 3.13. Starting with a clean installation of 10.5.0, I remembered there are Delta and Combo updates for each revision. Curious to know more I found this page at The X Lab.

The author provides some background on the update process and a list to Apple Support for notes and downloads of each Mac OS X revision. Although Snow Leopard is missing you can find every "point" update from 10.2 through 10.5.

read more
Filed Under: Apple
Tags:

Be warned: not all OS X 10.5 install discs are equal

Posted Aug 17, 2009 by Eric

Apple logoToday I’m wiping our Mac Pro because DVD Studio Pro 4.2 stopped working. Re-installing DSP didn’t correct the problem and FCS Remover was of no help. Google and Apple Support didn’t provide a solution either.

I wasn’t sure where the original OS X installation discs were located in the office so I grabbed my personal Leopard DVD before I left the house. After some backup of data I popped in my disc, restarted, and crashed. Restart…crash…and again.

This discussion thread at Apple Support identified the restart problem. Apparently you cannot use a 10.5.0 installation disc due to a bug with the Mac Pro’s nVidia 8800 GT video card. Only discs with version 10.5.2 and greater will work.

Fortunately I located the Mac Pro’s original installation discs (OS X 10.5.4) and the process continued flawlessly.

read more
Filed Under: Apple, Final Cut Pro
Tags: ,

Repaired Mac? Prepare for a licensing reboot

Posted Apr 15, 2009 by Eric

Apple logoThe Apple Genius didn’t mention it although a thought was swimming around inside my head. Would my software would need to be re-activated or re-licensed with a new logic board installed?

Not many of my applications (that I’ve re-launched) have required me to re-enter my license key; none have complained about already being registered. However, other services are more strict.

My Carbonite backup required a “transfer” operation via their web site which didn’t work. It took four days to re-upload my User folder.

MobileMe was no longer syncing. No errors, just out of date; events added on iPhone didn’t show in iCal and vise-versa. I re-registered my MacBook Pro in MobileMe System Preferences, backed up iCal/Address Book, and re-synced. Fortunately, no data loss or duplicate items.

iTunes informed me the computer wasn’t recognized and needed to be re-authorized, taking one of my five precious slots. Further reading revealed these slots can be reset to zero once you reach 5, thus recovering wasted slots.

That’s the worst of it…so far.

read more
Filed Under: Apple
Tags:
Powered by WordPress. Theme: Motion by 85ideas.