Mac Mini Media Centre ° The Hickensian ° Hicksdesign

Relocating the Movies folder to the external hard drive was as easy as using an alias, but the iTunes library is a bit more troublesome. It should be as easy as choosing the new location in iTunes Preferences > Advanced, but I couldn’t manage to do this and retain paths. Everytime I wanted to play something, I had to select the new path to the file.

Instead, I created a folder on the hard drive, and rather than copy across everything manually, I chose this new folder as the library location in the advanced preferences, and used ‘consolidate library’. This not only copied everything across, but this time updated the paths to the media files, and everything plays as it should!

via hicksdesign.co.uk

ah ... so That's the magic method to moving your iTunes library ...

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UsingMac.com - Mac Tricks and Tips, Wallpapers and Applications for Mac Users

50+ Mac Applications with Great Interface

via usingmac.com

I was tempted to quote the entire page. it was way way way too long.

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Secrets

Check out this website I found at secrets.blacktree.com

it's a database of those command line tweaks for mac os x ... but not all of them are such gems as those webpages before

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25 Terminal Tips Every Mac User Should Know | Mac|Life

13. Establish A Secure Connection

SSH connections require less bandwidth and system resources than screen sharing.

SSH, or secure shell, opens a Terminal session on a remote machine, so all commands are then executed in the remote Terminal rather than the local one. The connection is encrypted, meaning none of the traffic passing between the two machines can be read if intercepted.

To get started, first make sure that SSH log-ins are enabled on the remote Mac by opening System Preferences and selecting the Sharing pane. Check the box next to Remote Login, and the SSH service will activate.

To connect to a remote computer via SSH, open the Terminal on the local machine and execute this command: ssh -l username remote-address.

Replace username with your username on the remote Mac and remote-address with the remote Mac’s IP address. (The remote IP address is listed in the remote machine’s Sharing pane when you click on Remote Login.) Press Return, and enter the remote username’s password at the prompt. SSH will connect you to the remote machine. (If you’re asked to add the remote machine to a list of known hosts, press Y for yes.)

Once you’re connected, you can execute any Terminal command remotely.

 

14. Freak Out Your Roommates

Your Mac’s reading voice won’t win an Oscar, but it’s plenty good for gags.

There are hundreds of useful remote commands, but let’s get you started with a good gag. If you know that someone else is using the remote computer, SSH into the machine, and execute say “Ouch. Don’t press the keys so hard.”

The remote machine’s default voice will read the statement over the speakers. This is even funnier if can do it from a laptop in the next room. (Please use this power responsibly. Impersonating deities or the Department of Homeland Security is bad form.)

Pranks aside, say can quickly create a machine-read audio book from a text file. Execute say -o savedaudio.aiff -f file-to-read.txt. Say will convert the file and save it as savedaudio.aiff in the Terminal’s current directory.

via maclife.com

had to strip the pictures out ... but still, something fun to try in the inordinate amounts of downtime that I may or may not have ...

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25 Terminal Tips Every Mac User Should Know | Mac|Life

When the Dashboard appears on our Desktop, it’s usually because we missed the delete key and hit F12 instead.

We’ve always liked the Dashboard in theory--on occasion, we’ve even downloaded widgets for it. Unfortunately, we never get around to using them, and our aging Mac laptop could use the extra RAM to run real apps. If you’re in the same boat, free up some system memory by terminating the Dashboard with two quick Terminal commands. First, set its default to Off by executing defaults write com.apple.dashboard mcx-disabled -boolean YES. Second, kill and restart the Dashboard and Dock with this command: killall Dock.

via maclife.com

this site's a little too wordy ... but this one could be useful ... if my laptop was aging ... well, maybe Spore'll run faster? Dunno.

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Useful Mac OS X Terminal Commands « Art Of Geek

Change a file’s type code to make an AAC file an iTunes/iPod audio book

/Developer/Tools/SetFile -t 'm4b ' filename.m4b
Note: You must have the Mac OS X developer tools installed for this command to work!

This gem of a command will set the type code of a file to ‘m4b ‘ (there is a space after the ‘b’), which tells iTunes it’s an audio book. This is required if you have ever ripped an audio book from CD, and want iTunes to see it as an audio book. The file must be an AAC file, and you need to change the file extension to .m4b. The truth is, this command can come in handy any time you need to implicitly set a file’s ‘type’ or ‘creator’ codes. You can view the SetFile man page for help by typing man SetFile at the terminal prompt and hitting return.

That’s all the time (and commands) we have for today folks! I’ll post more in a future article!

via artofgeek.com

from one of the linked sites ... I wonder if I'm doing the same thing by going to Track Info and setting them as type 'Audiobook' instead of type 'Music'?

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Handy Mac OSX Command Line Tricks | Snipe.Net

Drag Widgets Out Of Dashboard Onto Desktop
I love the widgets in the Dashboard, but being a former Windows user, I always forget they’re there. It never even occurs to me to click on my dashboard. To keep important widgets handy, drag widgets from your dashboard onto your desktop. You need to re-launch the dock for this to take effect by typing “killall Dock” and hitting enter. If you click and hold onto a widget in the dashboard and then press F12 to return to the desktop, the widget won’t disappear with the rest.

defaults write com.apple.dashboard devmode YES

type this to reverse it:

defaults write com.apple.dashboard devmode NO

Remember to type killall dock to restart your dock before the changes will take effect.

Add Spaces to Your Dock

If you’re like me and constantly mis-click and launch the wrong application (xchat instead of terminal, since they have similar icons and because I am dumb), adding spacers into your dock to visually separate the icons can be a big help. By adding spaces, you can group related icons together for ease of use, but have just enough of a visual difference to prevent you from spastically clicking on the wrong ones (like I do). For example,my dock looks something like this:

In your Terminal prompt, type:

defaults write com.apple.dock persistent-apps -array-add '{"tile-type"="spacer-tile";}'

When your dock restarts, you’ll see a spacer in the right-side. You can click and drag this spacer to wherever you need, and you can re-run that command in your Terminal window to create as many spacers as you want. And just like any other dock icon, you can right+click and remove, or just drag it off the dock to get rid of it.

Remember to type killall Dock to restart your dock before the changes will take effect.

via snipe.net

more dock and dashboard wizardry ... I might as well quote the entire site ... ^_^

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Handy Mac OSX Command Line Tricks | Snipe.Net

Enable half-star ratings in iTunes (via Lifehacker)
If you’re a music buff who uses iTunes, and the five-star rating system isn’t quite granular enough for you (“do I really like it, or do I really, really REALLY like it?”), this handy command will enable half-star ratings in iTunes.

To set this up, just type:

defaults write com.apple.iTunes allow-half-stars -bool TRUE

via snipe.net

oh my. I've been avoiding using stars because of my OCD, but now ... *must resist urge to re-rate EVERY SINGLE SONG IN MY COLLECTION*

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Handy Mac OSX Command Line Tricks | Snipe.Net

Force All Links in Safari to Open in New Tabs Instead of New Windows
If you can’t stand it when links create a new browser window and prefer them to always open in a new tab, type:

defaults write com.apple.Safari TargetedClicksCreateTabs -bool TRUE

via snipe.net

yay google docs the non-multi windowed (aka organized) way!

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How Can I Ditch Cable and Watch My TV Shows and Movies Online? - Streaming Television - Lifehacker

How Can I Ditch Cable and Watch My TV Shows and Movies Online?

Dear Lifehacker,
I'd love to get rid of cable and stream all my favorite TV shows right from the internet. What do I need to know before I take the plunge?

Signed,
Ready to Cut the Coaxial

Photo by sociotard.

via lifehacker.com

perhaps the first thing I'll end up trying is that antenna mentioned at the bottom ...

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Free and Easy Remote Access with VNC Reverse Connections » Raymond.CC Blog

via raymond.cc

if I set this up ... might I be able to use my laptop as a redirect server? either that or it should be an easier way to help mom. But then again, we use CrossLoop now ...

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