The Apple Thread - The Bear and Badger

Yossarian

A place to ask for help, advice and generally discuss anything realated to OSX, iOS, iPods and the state of Steve Jobs's new liver. how the company will survive without his Jobsness at the helm.
But first, some useful advice and links.

Technical Support
If you're having technical issues, by all means fire away. There are certainly people on this board who may well be able to give you an idea of what is causing a particular issue. Having said that, if the problem is hardware related, you will probably end up having to visit your local Genius Bar or an Apple Authorised Service Provider anyway. There's only so much diagnosis that can be done via short descriptions on the internet. If you do have to visit a service provider and you are under warranty the service provider will bill Apple directly for the repair. If you are unsure as to whether or not you're under warranty, you can find out by chucking your serial number in here.

Often, minor issues with the OSX software itself is caused by issues with permissions. If OSX is playing up, it's always worth trying to repair your permissions. If that doesn't solve the issue, you can also try repairing your hard drive.

If these things don't solve the issue, the next step may be an erase and install of OSX (that guide is for Snow Leopard, if you have an earlier version of OSX, the process is much easier). Please note that the 'erase' part of 'erase and install' refers to all of your software, files and folders including any iLife applications (iPhoto, iMovie, GarageBand iWeb, and iDVD) which you should have on a seperate disc that came with the machine.

It is possible that an archive and install will deal with the issue, but it is equally possible that this will simply keep whatever it was that was causing the issue. On a similar note, immediately restoring from a Time Machine backup may simply copy the issue back onto the machine. I would suggest making selective backups of what you really want to keep onto a hard drive or USB stick and just copying them over to the same place once the reinstall is completed. If you are using this method, you will find lots of useful stuff hidden in the Library folder in your Home Folder (not the one on the root drive) such as preference settings for individual applications, templates, saved games etc. Personally, I have a look through the Library Folder, and the Application Support Folder contained within it, and copy any folders relating to applications I want to continue using (and that haven't been playing up on me) and put them back into the same place once the install is completed.

Similarly, minor issues with iOS devices may be solvable through a hard reset, (although that guide is for iPhone, it will work on iPads as well) whilst a device that isn't responding to that may have to be put into recovery mode and have a forced restore from iTunes.

iPods can also be reset.

If you have an issue with sound only coming out of one channel of your audio jack on your iPod or iPhone, check that there isn't any fluff in the bottom of the headphone socket stopping the headphones from being inserted properly. This can usually be fixed with some compressed air or a paperclip (although if you go down the paperclip route and end up damaging something, don't blame me).

Online Resources
If you wish to do any upgrades or repairs yourself, iFixit will provide all of the guides and advice you need, as well as selling the necessary tools and parts. If you want to upgrade your RAM, I find Crucial to be very good, they sell good quality RAM, have fast service and their system scanner tool will tell you exactly how much RAM you have, how much you can fit, and will take you straight to their relevant page so you can see how much it might cost.

You can also find some excellent websites for help with issues and troubleshooting, including Apple's own support pages and the MacRumo(u)rs forums.

To find the latest or older versions of software and applications, or to just try and find out if a particular piece of software exists, check out MacUpdate and CNet Downloads (nee VersionTracker).

Other Websites
For Apple news, rumours and speculation, you could do worse than to check out the previously mention MacRumors (which inludes the excellent buyer's guide which works out when a product is likely to be refreshed based on the average time between refreshes and the amount of time since the last refresh) or Appleinsider.

For keeping up with useful new apps and software, I personally use Lifehacker, despite the fact that the ultra-organised, super-productive lifestyle that it promotes makes me feel like one of the laziest people in the world.

Software
I'm planning to add to this section in the future with useful software. I'm open to suggestions as to what to add here so please chuck in the apps and applications you use and I'll add them to this OP.

Anything Else?
If there are any tips that you'd like to add, software you use, resources you find useful or anything else you feel should be added, please put them here and I'll update as needs be.

[Deleted User]

I got a bag of them at lunch, red delicious.
I realised when I got back to work their sell by is tommorrow, fucking One Stop.

Frosty

They're apples.

They're not going to disintegrate into a bag of mould as soon as it hits midnight on the day of the sell by. They last fucking ages.

[Deleted User]

Just had one, was already on its way, not crisp any more.

Frosty

You're a big fusspot.

zomg personal attack!

[Deleted User]

I know how I like my apples tis all

Coopers Green

That OP is hard to read with those tinted bars. How's about a wee edit there, @Yossarian?

Rev

I got a mackbook form my late father, and there is a keychain thing going on that I have no idea what that is all about. I'm going to ignore it until it becomes important,

Yossarian

Coopers_Green said:
That OP is hard to read with those tinted bars. How's about a wee edit there, @Yossarian?

Yeah, it'll get sorted. I did a quick copy paste job last night but couldn't be arsed reformatting as I'd already been pissing about with the directory for hours.

Yossarian

revelthedog said:
I got a mackbook form my late father, and there is a keychain thing going on that I have no idea what that is all about. I'm going to ignore it until it becomes important,

Give me more details and I might be able to help you with it.

Coopers Green

Yossarian said:

Coopers_Green said:
That OP is hard to read with those tinted bars. How's about a wee edit there, @Yossarian?

Yeah, it'll get sorted. I did a quick copy paste job last night but couldn't be arsed reformatting as I'd already been pissing about with the directory for hours.

Fanks dahlin.

google

I have an Apple TV now (2nd Gen) and I'd like to turn it into a media center.

When is the untethered jailbreak coming?

Elmlea

google said:
I have an Apple TV now (2nd Gen) and I'd like to turn it into a media center.

When is the untethered jailbreak coming?

I thought the 2nd gen ones were already super-hackable? Everyone at work appears to have one, I can ask tonight if you like?

google

Elmlea said:

google said:
I have an Apple TV now (2nd Gen) and I'd like to turn it into a media center.

When is the untethered jailbreak coming?

I thought the 2nd gen ones were already super-hackable? Everyone at work appears to have one, I can ask tonight if you like?

please do.

I'm on latest firmware though :-(

Mod74

You bought a second hand Apple TV? They're only $99 new aren't they?

google

Mod74 said:
You bought a second hand Apple TV? They're only $99 new aren't they?

I was given it.

My TV has better media capabilities than the Apple TV.

Mod74

I'd like a Smart TV. Need to wait for this one to break first really though.

google

Mod74 said:
I'd like a Smart TV. Need to wait for this one to break first really though.

It took a few hours to properly configure my PC/router to understand where my media lives and make it available on my network - but once that was done, it's the easiest thing in the world. The TV takes 5 seconds to connect to the network and is already hooked up for Netflix/Hulu/etc.

It's great!

Dejure

My Apple TV's going to get a lot more use once Mountain Lion launches and you can mirror everything on a Mac to an HDTV. I've got a 2nd gen but I'll probably buy the new one for 1080 soon. I'm a genuine sucker for the Apple ecosystem.

google

Dejure wrote:

My Apple TV's going to get a lot more use once Mountain Lion launches and you can mirror everything on a Mac to an HDTV. I've got a 2nd gen but I'll probably buy the new one for 1080 soon. I'm a genuine sucker for the Apple ecosystem.

Sorry, what?

So you have an .avi file on your Mac and the TV is able to duplicate the file and run it using the Mac's processing power?

Dejure

Sounds about right (fingers crossed).

LinkÂ (Apple)

Link (Unofficial Testing)

Bob

I want to reformat my Macbook and bring it back to spanking new condition. The only problem is I don't want to have to back it up. I only need my 40Gb of music.

Does anyone know where I can get a free programme to let me pull it back of my iPod after I've reformatted it with out iTunes trying to sync it first?

Yossarian

The only programmes I know of are paid.

What type of iPod is it? If it's a Classic (which it sounds like it is) then, when it's plugged into iTunes, you can switch on Disk Mode (IIRC, if not it's something similar) which will allow you to use the unused space as an external Hard Drive. You may have enough room left over to just back everything up on to the free space.

Mod74

One to watch out for if you fall into that user scenario

http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/12/05/07/filevault_security_hole_discovered_in_os_x_lion_1073.html

Bob

Yossarian wrote:

The only programmes I know of are paid. What type of iPod is it? If it's a Classic (which it sounds like it is) then, when it's plugged into iTunes, you can switch on Disk Mode (IIRC, if not it's something similar) which will allow you to use the unused space as an external Hard Drive. You may have enough room left over to just back everything up on to the free space.

It is a classic. It's a 120Gb as well so it should have plenty of space.

I might just pay the Â£8 to re-register the programme I used last time.. save the tears if it went wrong.

Blue Swirl

Since running the last Software Update (the one that included the security patch that purged really old versions of Flash), my Mac has been booting into Windows 7, despite OS X being the default.

Much weirdness. Anyone else getting this?

Yossarian

A question for the more advanced Mac-heads out there.

I'm trying to get Sick Beard running on my Mac and it involves Terminal stuff. Most of it I'm getting by on just by following the instructions online, but I keep on being told to 'cd' to a certain file. How do I do this? I've tried a few things but nothing seems to work.

Also, a few of these instructions involve using the Sudo command. I may not know much about the Terminal, but I know that Sudo can be dangerous. Are there any particular commands that I should be wary of with this?

Cheers in advance.

Mod74

cd is just change directory

http://www.computerhope.com/unix/ucd.htm

Yossarian

Cheers Mod. I knew CD was change directory, I just didn't know what to type afterwards to get me where I wanted to be.

WorKid

Incidentally, anyone wanting to make a TV into an awesome media hub jobby, try
Sumvision Cyclone Nano 1

Android based - even plays angry birds! - media player.

(Not got one myself but really looking for an excuse to)

Mod74

@yoss It's often easier to just browse to where you need to be using the normal graphical file browser and right click and select Command Prompt Here, if Mac has such a feature.

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