Tips 'n Tricks | Mac Sage

Coda, The Developer’s Tool

by patrick

Every once in a while, someone comes up with a tool that makes you wonder what you ever did before using it. For me, Coda is that tool.

If you work on websites, you should take a close look at Coda. Coda has these tools built in: text editor, file transfer, source control system, terminal (SSH), website preview, and resource library for HTML, CSS, Javascript, and PHP.

The interface is clean and doesn’t get in the way of doing work. In Edit mode, the code is color-coded for easy identification.

edit

There’s a very cool CSS editor built in that allows you to quickly add and change your style sheets with a very nicely designed visual editor.

css

When you need to preview your work, there’s no need to fire up a browser. Coda provides a built-in preview tab.

preview

If you need to SSH into your server, Coda provides that too.

ssh

And if you’ve forgotten that bit of PHP or CSS or Javascript, Coda provides a built-in reference library. You can even add more of your own.

bookshelf

Working with Coda on site development is like a dream within a dream!

There is also a good collection of third party plugins that extend Coda’s functionality. Check out their site at: http://www.panic.com/coda/

TubeTV To Download and Convert YouTube Video

by patrick

YouTube has become the place to go for video on the web. However, if you want to download and reuse video from YouTube, you usually run up against two issues: 1) How to download the file; and 2) How to get the file into a format that is usable.

There are several web-based ways to download and convert YouTube video, but this little application is the best I’ve found so far. TubeTV gives you a browser-like window to search YouTube (and other popular video sites), and then “grab” the video and convert it according to the settings you specify in the Preferences.

This process saves a file to your local drive that is ready to be viewed. I haven’t found anything else that works so well and makes it so simple.

See this article on hacking Apple TV to enable SSH.

Check it out: TubeTV

Using Your Mac As A Wireless Router

by patrick

If you’ve recently purchased an iMac, chances are that it came with Airport wireless built in. If you have cable or DSL service, but have yet to purchase a wireless router, then you’re in luck. You can turn your iMac into a wireless router for your home or small office. Here’s how:

First, here’s a basic diagram of what is needed. 1) A cable or DSL modem, which typically provided by your internet service provider; 2) a Mac (with built-in Airport wireless) which is connected to your modem via an ethernet cable; and 3) any number of laptops which have wireless capability.

Next, you will need to configure the Mac (connected to your modem) to share it’s internet capability to wireless devices. To do this, open your System Preferences and click on Sharing.

In the Sharing Pane, click on the Internet tab to bring up Internet Sharing. In this window, you want to select Share your connection from Built-in Ethernet in the drop down menu. Then, you want to select Airport from the “To computers using:” list.

Then click on the Airport Options… button to configure some wireless security options. You don’t want to be sharing your wireless connection with the whole neighborhood.Here, enter a WEP password which will be required from the laptop wishing to join your new wireless network.

I have found this to be an excellent solution for folks who don’t have a wireless router, but would like occasional wireless access in the home or small office.

NOTE: (5-15-07) Some of you have expressed some difficulty when trying to join a non-Mac device to this wireless setup. Apparently, there are some issues around which encryption scheme you choose. Take a look at this Apple Doc for some possible answers: WireLess Encryption

Mounting USB Drive in Single-User Mode

by patrick

I recently encountered a Mac that would not boot properly. However, it did boot into single-user mode and allowed access to the file system via the command line interface. Since I had recently purchased an external, portable USB drive, I wanted to offload my important files to the USB drive before reformatting and reinstalling a fresh system. Here are the steps I took:

Connect USB drive to Mac and boot into single-user mode (cmd-s)
At prompt type:
```
/sbin/mount -uw /
```
then hit return
At prompt type:
```
/sbin/fsck -fy
```
then hit return
At prompt type:
```
ls /Volumes
```
then hit return. This should provide a list of mounted volumes. It’s likely that your USB drive will not show. If this is true, then you will need to create a sharepoint in the /Volumes directory. You do this by using this command (in this case, we are creating a directory called “usb”):
```
mkdir /Volumes/usb
```
then hit return
Next we need to identify the disk number of the USB drive. This is done with this command:
```
ls /dev/disk*
```
then hit return. The system will list the disks like this:

In most cases, the USB drive will be the last disk number listed (in this case: disk0s3).
Now, to mount this disk to your sharepoint, type the following command:
```
/sbin/mount_msdos /dev/disk0s3 /Volumes/usb
```
then hit return. NOTE: In this case, we are using disk0s3 since it is the last listed. Yours will likely be different. Also note that my Western Digital USB drive uses the msdos format. Yours may not.
If this is mounted properly, you will be able to see the contents of your USB drive by using this command:
```
ls /Volumes/usb
```
then hit return
If you have successfully mounted the USB drive, you may now copy files using the cp command. (In this example, I will copy a file named “testfile” and assume the Mac has a volume named MacHardDrive.) For example:
```
cp /Volumes/MacHardDrive/testfile /Volumes/usb/
```
then hit return.

You can use this method to copy entire directories from your ailing Mac to the USB drive. In my case, I copied the entire user account directory over to the USB drive so I would keep settings, mail, music, pictures, and files in my Documents directory.

StartUp Key Commands

by patrick

I’ve been doing some troubleshooting lately and find this list of startup key commands very helpful:

Mac

X during startup – Force Mac OS X startup
option – (eventually) brings up a screen with startup volume choices
Option-Command-Shift-Delete – Bypass primary startup volume and seek a different startup volume (such as a CD or external disk)
C – Start up from a CD that has a system folder
N – Attempt to start up from a compatible network server (NetBoot)
T – Start up in FireWire Target Disk mode (very handy for plugging your Mac into another as an external hard drive)
Shift – start up in Safe Boot mode and temporarily disable login items and non-essential kernel extension files (Mac OS X 10.2 and later)
Command-V – Start up in Verbose mode.
Command-S – Start up in Single-User mode
cmd-opt-p-r – Zap PRAM. Hold down until second chime.
cmd-opt-n-v – Clear NV RAM. Similar to reset-all in Open Firmware.
cmd-opt-o-f – Boot into open firmware
hold mouse click – force eject a CD/DVD

Mac Intel

Press C during startup Start up from a bootable CD or DVD, such as the Mac OS X Install disc that came with the computer.
Press D during startup Start up in Apple Hardware Test (AHT), if the Install DVD 1 is in the computer.
Press Option-Command-P-R until you hear two beeps. Reset NVRAM
Press Option during startup Starts into Startup Manager, where you can select a Mac OS X volume to start from. Note: Press N to make the the first bootable Network volume appear as well.
Press Eject, F12, or hold the mouse button Ejects any removable media, such as an optical disc.
Press N during startup Attempt to start up from a compatible network server (NetBoot).
Press T during startup Start up in FireWire Target Disk mode.
Press Shift during startup Start up in Safe Boot mode and temporarily disable login items.
Press Command-V during startup Start up in Verbose mode.
Press Command-S during startup Start up in Single-User mode.
Press Option-N during startup Start from a NetBoot server using the default boot image.