134 replies to this topic

[phb]

Here is how convert plist binary files to plain text files (or XML files editable on Text editors) and viceversa:

From binary to text (XML):

plutil -convert xml1 some_file.plist

From text or XML to binary:

plutil -convert binary1 some_other_file.plist

Cool tip! Thanks!

[John the Geek]

Here are some more cool tips:

It was already mentioned that if you press Apple Opt and 3 you capture the whole screen to a file on your desktop, and if you press Apple Opt and 4 you get to select the part to capture, but if you press Apple Opt 4 and then press the spacebar, you get to capture any window just by clicking it, even if it's mostly covered up.

If you turn on Full Keyboard Access in System Preferences, you can tab between buttons and select then with your spacebar. The glowing blue button waits for the Enter key, but the normal button with the blue glow around it tabs and responds to Spacebar.

At startup you can press the T key to turn your computer into a Firewire drive. Hook it up to another computer, not just a Mac either, and you can use your Mac's optical drive and hard drive on the other computer. (Note that Windows will not see a Mac formatted drive by default though.) You, of course, need a firewire cable too.

=)

[Colonel]

I'm surprised that nobody put in OS X's hidden Tetris and Text Adventure

To play OS X's hidden tetris, you:

1. Open the finder
2. Open Applications
3. Open Utilities
4. Open Terminal
5. type "emacs"; click enter
6. Press ESC + X at the same time
7. Type "tetris"
8. Play Tetris! Use the arrow keys to move and rotate the blocks, and press the space to make the blocks fall.

To play the Text adventure, you just type Just type "emacs -batch -l dunnet" (without quotes) into the terminal and it will bring up and old school text based game.

I think the OS X developer's were REALLY bored when they made it.

[John the Geek]

I think the OS X developer's were REALLY bored when they made it.

Those are both emacs easter eggs, not OS X. Starting with Mac OS X the developers were no longer allowed to hide easter eggs, since being hidden they are never tested and could cause bugs.

emacs is an included Unix app, Apple did not write it.

=)

[dadeef]

Create an Alias of your movie directory on another drive to the Movies directory. Now you dont have to copy your movies to the Movie directory on Front Row/Media Central!

[Pippin]

I forgot an important bit with the widgets drag tip for OSx86 -

For the drag/F12 trick to work, first you have to open terminal and type:

defaults write com.apple.dashboard devmode YES (return)

You might have to do this as root or sudo the command.

Then either logout and login again or reboot and your widgets can now be dragged onto the desktop. Sorry I forgot this vital bit of information.

-S

Ok now I've got this on my desktop...



But I don't know how to close it? Dashboard can't do anything with it anymore...

[Metrogirl]

Ok now I've got this on my desktop...



But I don't know how to close it? Dashboard can't do anything with it anymore...

No problem, Pippin. Start to drag the widget and while you are still moving it quickly press F12. The dashboard will open and you can then stop moving the widget - it will now be restored to the dashboard. You must still be dragging it when you hit F12 - if it's not moving it won't be affected.

[Pippin]

Haha so simple so simple!! Thank you very much MetroGirl!!

[hanschien]

As previously posted holding down F12 ejects
Alt + F12 ejects 2nd drive if you have two.

Hold Ctrl + F12 = shutdown prompt
Hold Ctrl + Windows Key + F12 = reboot

Shift + Scroll Wheel = scrolls left to right

Firefox
Ctrl + Scroll = navigates back/forward
Windows + Scroll = increase/descrease text size

[A Nonny Moose]

Those are both emacs easter eggs, not OS X. Starting with Mac OS X the developers were no longer allowed to hide easter eggs, since being hidden they are never tested and could cause bugs.

emacs is an included Unix app, Apple did not write it.

=)

Actually, Mac easter eggs stopped around OS 8 or 9. Before that, the Mac OS was riddled with them. They are in OS X, but they are usually text files, like the Mrs. Fields cookie recipe

[Colonel]

Here's a real OS X one. You can see the developer's of Mail.app

1. Go to Applications folder on your Hard Drive
2. Look for Mail
3. ctrl-Click the app and choose "Show package"
4. Look inside for folder Contents - Resources
5. Look for "senders.tiff" and open it with Preview
6. After seconds you can see the other layers to the right of the window. These 8 "people" are the developers of Mail

[hanschien]

One feature I use the most is the scroll wheel on you mouse, enable the "middle mouse button" to "all windows" in Dashboard & Expose in System Preferences.

[bishopdante]

OK newbs, here's some stuff from OS 7.5.

To access the folder structure back to the root (Mac HD) command click on the title bar of a finder window.

in a finder window start typing the name of a file to select it.

or use the arrow keys to select an item in the finder. To open hid Command down. To go back a level hit command up, to do either of these and close the window behind hold the option key. Keeps your fingers on the arrow keys for super fast file navigation.

In list view in a finder window, hit command right to reveal folder contents, command left to close. Command option right reveals all folder contents. This works in dialogue boxes too.
(it used to be in System 7.5 Cmd right and left to cycle disks, and Cmd up and down to open/close)

Command option W closes all finder windows.

Make clippings, rather than copy/paste to the clipboard. Drag a selection onto the desktop and keep it there.

Some cool ones that appeared in OS8

When you drag something onto a folder/disc, hit space to open the folder's window up. Spring loaded baby. It don't work too good in X these days, too much weird tab bar stuff.

Right click! On everything!

Some OSX only useful finder tweaks

Command Shift A selects applications tab
You can also drag icons to the title bar! Put a regularly used navigation item like Adobe Bridge, Firefox or iPhoto next to the forward/back buttons. Then it's conceptually just another form of window. Object Oriented stuff is amazing isn't it.

Say you have a folder open and you want to copy it. Just click and hold on the folder icon on the title bar, it should pull off. You can then put it where you like.

To get rid of the weird windows style tab bar stuff on the side of the Finder window, hit Command option Tab. If you don't have a huge display this means you can see more stuff. Also, like an older finder window, it keeps all the windows you've seen open, rather than having a back button. To stop the screen from filling with finder windows, hold down the option key when opening : option doubleclick, cmd optionO, Cmd option down etc.

You can stick folders on the dock provided that you put them to the right hand side of the line. Right click to get a menu. It's just like the old apple menu. Except more of them. And upside down. Stick your hard disc in it and browse it in submenus. Or your documents folder.

[size=4]Some Essential Photoshop tweaks that nobody knows but everybody should:

Switch off all palettes : TAB
Switch to fullscreen/fullscreen no menus : F

This goes for Illustrator too.

A little known QuarkXpress feature: hold command option shift delete with an object selected. An alien wanders on screen, and zaps your item with a raygun, and it disappears in a tacky orange gradient effect. I'm serious. It works in 3.3. I dunno if it's still there, i've defected to InDesign.

[John the Geek]

Here's a fun one... (especially if you're running Boot Camp)

Use your remote to choose your OS

- At startup hold the Menu button on your remote. (This is the same as holding Opt)

- You'll see the different OS choices on screen. Now use your remote to select the OS you want.

- Press the Play button on the remote to boot into that system.

[non sequitur]

i just know ill use the remote sitting a foot away from my keyboard just because i can.

[A Nonny Moose]

Go under the Help Menu and search for "Human Interface Guidelines"

You'll get a handy dandy list of system shortcuts and all the keyboard shortcuts you should be using when developing applications.

[BRP]

Lots of people quickly stumble upon the fact that Macs have easy-to-access text-to-speech capabilities. If you were paying attention to the Macintosh debut in 1984, you would almost certainly remember the first thing the public HEARD the Mac do (relive the memory).

But the terminal command makes things easier... in Panther and Tiger you can just open up the Terminal and use the "say" command (if you still use an older version, use AppleScript through

osascript -e "Say \"Thing you want to say\""

"man say" if you want help on how to use it. Use SSH or remote login of any sort for much fun to be had while you're away! (Inspired by A Mac OS X Hints "tip" with lots more fun to be had with AppleScript)

[afterall]

i have a question, when im using finder, and if i wanna go back, instead of using the mouse is there any key shortcut? i'm on a powerbook g4. and it's "backscape" with PC

thanks guys

[John the Geek]

i have a question, when im using finder, and if i wanna go back, instead of using the mouse is there any key shortcut? i'm on a powerbook g4. and it's "backscape" with PC

thanks guys

To go back a window in the Finder press Apple [
Similarly you can navigate forward with Apple ]

Once you select a file or app you can open it with Apple O


Now for another hint:

If you open your Keyboard Shortcuts preferences and set Full Keyboard Access to All Controls you can tab between buttons that have a blue glow around them and select them with the spacebar, this works in situations where the default button [ press return key ] is in dark blue, but the other clear buttons will have a blue glow around them. Tab that blue glow around and select with the Spacebar.

The "About this Mac" dialog window has these sort of buttons you can tab with, if you want a quick test to see if it's working.

=)

[afterall]

oh my god i love u. thanks a lot!