macosxhints.com other hardware tips

Digital audio-in passthrough with AppleTV2

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 07:30:00 -0800

I have an Apple TV2 hooked up to a DVI monitor by HDMI, an arrangement which doesn't support audio.

As the Apple TV2 also has SPDIF optical out, I connected this into my 2011 iMac's optical input so I could hear the ATV sound from the Mac. Looking at the sound input in System Preferences, I could see the connection was working, but I heard nothing from the iMac speakers, even though they were chosen for output. Then it dawned on me that the iMac likely didn't support audio passthrough.

I recalled that QuickTime Player could record audio from an input. So in QT I chose New Audio Recording, chose 'Digital in' as the input, and then slid the volume slider so I could monitor the audio. Works like a treat. There's no need to actually record anything in QuickTime Player.

[crarko adds: A clever solution. I have my Apple TV2 hooked up using the standard HDMI setup, so I did not test this.]

Logitech Solar Keyboard and the Scroll Lock/Num Lock keys

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 07:30:00 -0800

I'm a happy user of the Logitech Solar Keyboard for Mac -- never having to change batteries is quite liberating. However, this keyboard lacks a few things, including dedicated Scroll Lock and Num Lock keys, that you may find on other keyboards.

I don't use those two keys often, but I do use them while working in Excel. After some trial and error, and some Googling, I figured out how to turn them on and off. (Because there aren't any physical keys, there aren't any indicator lights for these keys' states. Instead, you have to look at Excel's onscreen indicators, at the lower right corner of the worksheet.)

Scroll Lock: Press Shift+F14.
Num Lock: Press Shift+Clear (on the numeric keypad).

I'm not sure if these shortcuts work on other Logitech keyboards or not.

[crarko adds: The hassle of dealing with batteries has kept me away from wireless keyboard ...

USB 3 on a Mac

Mon, 19 Dec 2011 07:30:00 -0800

It's worth noting USB 3 devices are faster, even with USB 2. Here's something you may find interesting.

While Mac's don't support USB 3 yet, USB 3 is backwards compatible with USB 2, which is what recent Mac's have. USB 3 used in under USB 2 conditions (which I'll call USB 3/2 to save typing) is much faster than USB 2.

For example, the ADATA S102/16GB USB 3 memory stick is about 50% faster than even the fastest USB 2 stick I've found.

And for more of a surprise, how about this: the $19 Transcend USB 3 card reader (TS-RDF8K) is nearly twice as fast as my fastest USB 2 card reader (500MB copied in 11 sec vs 20 sec.)

So, if you're into moving data from your camera faster, get a USB3 card reader even if your computer doesn't support USB 3 yet. As usual, however, YMMV.

[crarko adds: I don't think I have any USB 3 devices around to try this. I'm sure we'd all appreciate it if folks who do try this tip and post their results, hopeful ...

Use the Apple external SuperDrive on (almost) any Mac

Fri, 11 Nov 2011 07:30:00 -0800

Since the launch of the MacBook Air, Apple produces a nice external optical drive, which unfortunately does not work on every machine; only MacBook Air and some Mac mini models. It was long believed it was due to a hardware limitation, but it is actually due to Mac OS X, as we shall see.

First of all, why use the Apple drive? There are several reasons. The first one is that it is quite nice-looking. It also uses a slot-in, more convenient than fragile drawers, it can play a DVD without changing the DVD drive, as it is considered as 'Apple-supplied drive' by the system and responds to the Eject button on Apple keyboards.

It also has two drawbacks: it is quite expensive and its USB cable is ridiculously short and non-removable. But finally, I found it to be more practical than the other drives I tested.

I could not test the handling on many machines; I had a 2009 17-inch MacBook Pro (when working), a 2006 MacBook (which does not work) and a 2010 Mac mini o ...

How to clean Apple Mighty Mouse video

Wed, 05 Oct 2011 07:30:00 -0700

This hint points to a really in-depth, hi-resolution take-apart tutorial (on Youtube) about opening, cleaning and closing a dirty wireless Apple Mighty Mouse, presented in English. This is the way to do it after you've tried cleaning the ball from the outside 100 times. Save your mouse from the scrap heap.

Here's the link.

[crarko adds: We've run other hints on this before, and it's been quite a popular topic. A video tutorial seems like a good follow-up.]

Copy extensions from 10.4.11 to 10.5.8 for Rage Pro cards

Thu, 04 Aug 2011 07:30:00 -0700

Rage Pro cards were not supported in 10.5.8 so you can copy the ATIRage .kexts from /System/Library/Extensions of a 10.4.11 drive to your new one. It will update the kext cache and then reboot. You will no longer have no extension loaded in the system profiler for your video card. I'm not sure what benefit this has but I still can't play Wolfenstein because it won't load OpenGL. This works fine in 10.4.11.

[crarko adds: I admit to having a weakness for the G3/G4 towers. I loved my Blue and White G3. Anything which prolongs their life is a good tip.]

10.7: Prolific 2303 based USB to Serial adapter drivers

Tue, 02 Aug 2011 07:30:00 -0700

If you have a Prolific 2303 based USB to serial adapter and it no longer works under Lion, installing the Snow Leopard 64-bit driver may fix the issue.

Download the driver from Prolific's site here.

[crarko adds: I post this as a generic hint; if a device breaks under Lion check with the vendor to see if 64-bit drivers are available for it.]

Delay Before Going into Sleep Mode

Wed, 15 Jun 2011 07:30:00 -0700

I had been experiencing a thirty second delay when I tried to put my iMac into Sleep mode.

I discovered that after I hooked up a USB modem to receive faxes that I had left the 'Receive faxes on this computer' option checked in the Receive Options of the Fax preferences. Unchecking that box enabled me to go into Sleep mode with no delay.

[crarko adds: USB devices have often been culprits in Sleep problems with Macs for a long time, as indicated in these previous hints. Checking them out is always a good step in troubleshooting problems with Sleep/Wake from Sleep.]

Swap Command and Alt keys on USB keyboard

Wed, 01 Jun 2011 07:30:00 -0700

Today I ruined my silver Apple keyboard by spilling coffee on it and had to switch back to an old PC keyboard with a German layout. Which is a fine keyboard with one very annoying attribute: the Control (Windows) and Alt keys are swapped, the bottom keys are from left to right: Ctrl - Windows(Command) - Alt - Space. It can drive you crazy. So I searched for a solution but it was not as obvious as I had expected.

With Snow Leopard the mapping can be changed via System Preferences » Keyboard, there choose 'Modifier keys...' and in the Dialog remap Alt (Option) and Command. However, some applications, like Eclipse, do not get these changes.

So, I would like to swap the modifiers further down at the input driver level. There are descriptions how to modify AppleUSBKeyboard.kext. That seems to be outdated since I can not find AppleUSBKeyboard.kext on Snow Leopard (10.6.7) anymore. But looking at ...

Mapping volume and eject keys to 3rd-party keyboard

Thu, 19 May 2011 07:30:00 -0700

If you have a keyboard that does not have eject and volume controls natively (like Das Keyboard), you can map them using KeyRemap4MacBook (it works for more than MacBook though!). This is kernel level mapping, so the keys act native, contrary to solutions provided by Quicksilver or Spark.

Download and install KeyRemap4Macbook. Despite the name, it works for any Mac, not just the Macbook.

You can search through the preferences and see if any of the built-ins work for you. I chose to do my mappings manually, as it allows you to map any key to any key.

Open up your private.xml through the "Misc & Uninstall" tab of KeyRemap4Macbook. The following code maps Insert, Home, and Pageup to Volume Down, Up, and Mute respectively. Those keys are pretty useless anyway, so you probably won't miss them. If you wanted to map them to something else, you can do that here. If you want syntax on different keys, ...

Cinema Display FireWire cable length nuisance solution

Thu, 05 May 2011 07:30:00 -0700

Here's how to simply use the FireWire 400 hub in your 30" Cinema Display (DVI) with the dual-link adaptor, without the massive nest of unused cable just so the FireWire from the display can reach your computer.

You've upgraded to a new machine with a Mini DisplayPort, and want to keep using your dual-link DVI display. The cable is rather long, and includes USB, but no FireWire. You could try to plug the FireWire into your machine, but the slack they give you is so little, you get a nest from the coiled dual-link adaptor. And its even more awkward if you use a 400-800 adaptor stub.

Here's what I did. Get a normal male-male FireWire cable (800-to-400 if your machine has an 800 port), and just plug it into the back of your Cinema Display. Now you can still hook up 2 FireWire 400 devices thru the monitor: one using the unused port on the back of the Cinema Display, and one using the unused male connection at the end of the monitor's own cable.

Explanation: th ...

Play World of Warcraft with a Joystick/Gamepad in 10.6

Mon, 11 Apr 2011 07:30:00 -0700

World of Warcraft, as many other games, doesn't have native support for a Joystick or Gamepad.

The solution is to map axis and buttons to key strokes using a device mapping software. I've tried USB Overdrive and ControllerMate. These are my conclusions:

USB Overdrive: Easy to use but limited in functionality. The main drawback is that it takes ownership of the Magic Mouse and converts it into an ordinary 2 button mouse. The programmer seems working hard to fix this issue. Stay tuned.

ControllerMate: Very powerful, a bit daunting at first. It kept my Magic Mouse controlled by the Operating System. It can even create virtual devices mapped to the Joystick that can be used by any application.

My World of Warcraft Configuration:

Create a Virtual Mouse and map the Joystick Y axis (or alternatively, the Rotation axis) to the Virtual Mouse Y a ...

Enable trim support on Apple and third party SSD�s

Tue, 29 Mar 2011 07:30:00 -0700

The folks at hardmac.com have found a way to modify a system extension that came with the 10.6.7 update, to enable trim support on pretty much all SSD drives that support trim.

I tested their modified extension on an OCZ Vertex 2 SSD in a mid 2009 MBP running 10.6.7 and 10.7 and both system info report trim support: Yes.

Here's the link to the article.

As noted by them, the fact that system info reports that trim support is on, doesn't mean it's actually working until another way of checking it is found in OS X.

[crarko adds: This procedure involves editing a kernel extension by hand with a hex editor. I'll put it out here as a possibility if you really think you need it, but if you mess up (especially on a MacBook Air) you may be looking at a wipe/reinstall, so make sure you have a complete backup of the system before attempting this. Proceed at your own ...

iPad Charging

Fri, 04 Feb 2011 07:30:00 -0800

Just in case people are not aware, although an iPad connected to a computer displays 'Not Charging' (this is the case on my MacBook Pro, with or without power cord and on my MacPro) the iPad is actually charging albeit slowly, works great overnight.

[crarko adds: My understanding is that there is enough power provided by the USB port to charge the iPad when it goes into sleep mode. That's obviously not the case while it's syncing with iTunes so it shows the 'Not Charging' message. Macworld ran an article covering the topic of iPad charging that gives a great detailed explanation of what is going on.]

Swap Opt and Command Keys on a Logitech K800

Fri, 14 Jan 2011 07:30:00 -0800

This hint details how you can swap the Command and Option keys on the Logitech K800 lighted wireless keyboard. This hint is necessary because the K800 does not respect the Modifier Keys settings under System Preferences » Keyboard.

To accomplish this you will need an older utility, a previous staple before its functionality was incorporated into the Keyboard pref pane, called Double Command.

First, download and install Double Command. Then, go into the Double Command pref pane and specify 'Command Key acts as Option Key' and 'Option Key acts as Command Key.'

Now, and this is the backwards-seeming part (Necessary if you have a portable. Otherwise, you can skip.) Go to System Preferences » Keyboard, and select 'Modifier Keys...' In this dialog box, use the pulldown to select your built-in keyboard on your laptop, and configure the Option Key to act as Command, and the Command ...

A fix for a USB scanner not found issue

Tue, 23 Nov 2010 07:30:00 -0800

For a while I have been trying without success to scan directly from my iMac. Surfing the web suggests I am not the only Snow Leopard user who has experienced the problem of getting a Mac to recognise an all-in-one USB printer/scanner.

The troubleshooting tips from the Apple knowledgebase article USB and FireWire Quick Assist did not provide the solution. However, one of them made me think there might be another type of device causing a conflict. I got my iMac, running Snow Leopard 10.6.5, to recognise my USB connected HP Photosmart C7280 by removing two unconnected cell/mobile phones from my computer's list of paired Bluetooth devices.

[crarko adds: I haven't tested this one. The relationship between USB and Bluetooth is something to be on the lookout for when troubleshooting peripheral problems in general.]

iPad: Indirectly save a file from iWork to Dropbox

Thu, 18 Nov 2010 07:30:00 -0800

In iWork for the iPad, there are options to transfer documents by email, sharing on iWork.com, copy to iDisk, copy to WebDAV, or send via iTunes to a USB connected computer.

An option which is not available, but often very useful, is to get the document into Dropbox for sharing. There is not an easy way to do this if you don't have a computer handy to connect with.

There is a somewhat complicated way, documented in the Dropbox help forums, made by user Krissi B. Here is a summary of the process. You'll need an iWork.com account, a Dropbox account, GoodReader for iPad, and of course one or more of the iWork apps for iPad. We use Pages for the example here.

1. In Pages: Home/All Docs View, send/email your chosen file to iWork.com. You shouldn't have to worry about changing the 'Pages' format, because GoodReader should allow the 'format download' option.

2. Open GoodReader app ...

Catch the iPad start screen after app purchase

Fri, 15 Oct 2010 07:30:00 -0700

Something I dislike about purchasing an app on the iPad is that there is no queue system in the App Store, so if you want to purchase a few different apps, you type in your password on the first app to download it, and the App Store closes and the the Home screen slides away taking you far from the App Store icon to rest at the page where your new app will live. One solution is multitasking on iOS 4, or even folders (if all your icons are in folders and you only have one or two pages then its not difficult to swipe back to the App Store) but you can't do this on the iPad (yet).

Something I've discovered is that after the App Store closes, right as the screen is about to swoosh you away to Page 11, if you quickly put your finger down and 'hold on' to the Home page, you won't move away and when you let go, you'll stay put and you can immediately click on the App Store again while the program downloads and installs. It is slightly faster than waiting to go to the end page and ...

Set the language of apps in a jailbroken iOS device

Mon, 11 Oct 2010 07:30:00 -0700

This hint works for apps that have different languages available and choose one depending on the OS's default language settings. For example you want to have iOS localized to German but have Plants vs. Zombies in English.

Go into the filesystem (via SSH or PhoneDisk) to the application's folder (e.g. /Users/Applications/ALOTOFNUMBERSANDCHARACTERS/NameOfTheApplication).

If there are folders like en.lproj or de.lproj (these are the localization resources) you can easily swap their names. So, if you want the English app on a German device, rename the en.lproj into en.lproj.bak and the de.lproj into en.lproj.

Next time you start the app it should be English, or whichever language you selected.

[crarko adds: I haven't tested this one. It's a reasonable thing to want to do, and I checked to see if the iPhone Configuration Utility allowed for this; it doesn't. The apps themselves can allow for overriding the default language as a prefere ...

How to bulk select photos on an iPad

Wed, 29 Sep 2010 07:30:00 -0700

Recently I needed to delete 2,000 photos from my iPad manually. Manually clicking on each photo to select it for deleting would take forever. So I figured out this combination of gestures to do it faster. After coming back from a holiday to Europe I had several thousand photos on my iPad. I had already synced to the Mac, and now needed to delete them from the iPad. The only method I could see would be to turn off syncing. But that also meant that photos I wanted to keep on the iPad got deleted as well. I could have done that and just resynced the images I wanted back to the iPad, but I wanted to just remove some of the images. Looking in the Photos app I could not find any method for bulk selecting the images I wanted to delete. I tried several things and eventually found some tricks.

Trick 1: Multi-selecting images. Normally you tap an image to select it for emailing or deleting. I found that if you tap and hold your finger on the image for a second or two, you c ...