Tag: os x

Recover Administrator Account on Mac

If you lost your Administrator Account on your Mac for whatever reason here’s what you can do to recover it.

Boot into Single User Mode by Restarting your Mac and pressing and holding ⌘ + s
Using the Terminal:

Check the dive (I skipped): /sbin/fsck -fy
Mount the drive as read-write: /sbin/mount -uw /
Remove the Apple Setup Done file: rm /var/db/.AppleSetupDone
Restart the system: reboot

Upon restarting the system you’ll go through the setup process and create a new admin account.  Using that you can restore or give admin status to another account if so desired.

Link:
https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/164331/i-dont-have-administrator-account-on-my-mac

Using your Sony Camera and Canon DSLR as a Webcam on Mac OS X Without a Capture Card

During the COVID-19 Shelter-in-Place we’ve been on video conferences a lot more than usual. To use your Sony Camera or Canon DSLR as a webcam without a capture card here are some things you can do.
I have successfully tried this with a Sony RX100 VA and a Sony A7ii and a Canon SL1 though not every model works.  You will need CamTwist for either camera and additional software for Sony and Canon.

Install CamTwist for both Sony and Canon.

  1. Install CamTwist
    1. http://camtwiststudio.com/download/
  2. Start CamTwist
  3. Open Preferences
  4. Set your video size, I use Custom and 1920×1080
  5. Set your Frame rate, I use 30. 
  6. You will have to restart CamTwist for the changes to go into effect.

Sony (kind of a hack)

Sony cameras must support Display Live View which can be seen here https://support.d-imaging.sony.co.jp/app/imagingedge/en/devices.

  1. Install Sony Imaging Edge Desktop.
    1. https://imagingedge.sony.net/en-us/ie-desktop.html
  2. Install Sony Remote from the Imaging Edge application.
  3. With your camera set the USB Connection to PC Remote
    1. For the RX100 VA (new sony menu) it was under Setup3
    2. For the a7ii (original sony menu) it was under ……
  4. Turn on your camera
  5. Plug in a micro usb cable to your camera and the computer.
  6. Start Imaging Edge Desktop
  7. Click Start for Remote
  8. Double Click on your Camera with the pop up.
  9. The Remote Application should show up with a live preview.
  10. Start CamTwist
  11. Select Desktop+, then click Select
  12. Under Settings unselect Full Screen and select Confine to Application Window.
  13. From the Select from existing windows select Remote (Remote)
  14. Select Resizeable selection.
  15. Click Select capture area. 
  16. Position the rectangle over the live preview.
  17. When you start your video conference software, like zoom, go to Prefences->Settings->Video->Camera and select CamTwist.

Note that you must leave the Remote application running and up on the screen but you can obstruct it and put other windows on top of it and still use it as a webcam.

Canon

For a list of supported Canon Cameras go here: https://github.com/v002/v002-Camera-Live/blob/master/CAMERAS.md

  1. Install Camera Live, I’ve linked a stable release as of today.
    1. https://github.com/v002/v002-Camera-Live/releases/download/11/Camera.Live.zip
    2. Their github (for coders)
  2. Turn on your Canon DSLR.
  3. Connect your usb cable to the Canon and the computer.
  4. Start Camera Live
    1. You should see Active for your camera in Camera Live.
  5. Start CamTwist
  6. Select Syphon
  7. Click Select
  8. In the Settings section under Syphon Server select Camera Live.
  9. When you start your video conference software, like zoom, go to Prefences->Settings->Video->Camera and select CamTwist.

Brew Package Manager for Mac

Homebrew, via the command brew, is a package manger for Mac like apt-get is for Debian.
brew installs packages to their own directory /usr/local/Cellar and then symlinks their files into /usr/local/bin.

Basic Usage:
Install brew
/bin/bash -c “$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/master/install.sh)”

Update Homebrew
brew update

Install an App
brew install wget

Uninstall an App
brew uninstall wget

Upgrade an App
brew update wget

Remove stale file and outdated downloads
brew cleanup

Analytics:
Recently brew has turned on analytics recording from your device to a google cloud server.  If you wish to disable this you can run
brew analytics off

Or you can enter the following in your environment, .bash_profile
export HOMEBREW_NO_ANALYTICS=1

Links:
https://brew.sh/
https://docs.brew.sh/Analytics

Bootable USB Installer for Mac OS

Apple has created a guide here: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201372

Their instructions state that you should do download and create the installer only if you are using Sierra (10.12.5), El Capitan or higher (10.11.6).

1.  Download MacOS.
    * El Capitan
        * http://updates-http.cdn-apple.com/2019/cert/061-41424-20191024-218af9ec-cf50-4516-9011-228c78eda3d2/InstallMacOSX.dmg
    * High Sierra
        * https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/macos-high-sierra/id1246284741?ls=1&mt=12
    * Mojave
        * https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/macos-mojave/id1398502828?ls=1&mt=12
    * Catalina
        *  https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/macos-catalina/id1466841314?ls=1&mt=12
Installers for each of these macOS versions download directly to your Applications Folder as an app named Install macOS Catalina, Install macOS Mojave, or Install macOS High Sierra. If the installer opens after downloading, quit it without continuing installation.

Note: El Capitan downloads as a disk image.  Open the disk image which installs an app named Install OS X El Capitan in your Applications Folder.  Create bootable media from this app, not the disk image.

2.  Insert USB Drive, minimum size of 12 GB
3.  Open Terminal.
4.  Type one of the follow into the Terminal, replacing MyVolume with the USB Drive:
    * El Capitan
        * sudo /Applications/Install\ OS\ X\ El\ Capitan.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia –volume /Volumes/MyVolume –applicationpath /Applications/Install\ OS\ X\ El\ Capitan.app
    * High Sierra
        * sudo /Applications/Install\ macOS\ High\ Sierra.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia –volume /Volumes/MyVolume
    * Mojave
        * sudo /Applications/Install\ macOS\ Mojave.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia –volume /Volumes/MyVolume
    * Catalina
        * sudo /Applications/Install\ macOS\ Catalina.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia –volume /Volumes/MyVolume
5.  Follow the prompts to complete the creation of bootable USB Drive.

Using your Bootable MacOS Drive
1. Plug in your USB Drive.
2. Use Startup Manager or Startup Disk preferences to select the bootable installer as the startup disk, then start up from it. Your Mac will start up to macOS Recovery.

Note: The Internet is required to get information specific to your Mac model, such as firmware updates, not for the installer.

OSXFuse File Damaged

The following is copied word for word from apmouse‘s answer on stackexchange.com.

Under special circumstances, Mac OS X adds the extended attribute ‘com.apple.quarantine’ to a file which was e.g. downloaded from the internet. This can also happen to files within the BoxCryptor Folder. If an encrypted file has this extended attribute set, you receive the “is damaged” error message when trying to open the plaintext file in the BoxCryptor Volume.

x) Open Terminal (Applications -> Utilities)

y) Run the following command (substitute the path):

$ xattr -r -d com.apple.quarantine /path/to/encfs/mount/point

Source: http://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/129966/files-wrongly-considered-as-damaged-in-encfs-volume

Sometimes I will just apply this to a whole directory of my photos:
xattr -r -d com.apple.quarantine *

Apple WIFI dropping constantly

Switched from Ubuntu to OS X a year ago, specifically a Macbook Air.  “It just works” is what Apple likes to claim.  While I know that’s marketing, you shouldn’t say it if you can’t back it up.

I feel like I’m using Linux again with all sorts of wifi issues, buts due to driver issues.  A company that controls the platform has no excuses there.  Seriously, I’ll be working and all of a sudden my WIFI drops.  God….

And their trackpad seemed like a nice touch at first, gestures were cool.  However after a year it has given me carpel tunnel syndrome where as a normal touch pad never has.  I like gestures but if it’s a choice between gestures and my health I’ll gladly give up stupid gestures.

Anyway… wifi… some say it’s bluetooh, others speculate other things….. god damnit.  For my tracking purposes…

Updated to 10.7.3. Wifi drops constantly.
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3704573?start=0&tstart=0

Wifi constantly dropping in Lion
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3190651?start=15&tstart=0

Bluetooth disrupts Wi-Fi  – not sure about this one

Wifi dropping discussion
http://www.ilounge.com/index.php/backstage/comments/os-x-lion-serious-wi-fi-disconnect-problems-for-macs-and-solutions/

Apple’s solution from the above link – did not work
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4628

A new hope…
http://osxdaily.com/2012/08/02/fix-os-x-mountain-lion-wireless-connection-problems/
Change MTU to 1453
MTU is maximum transmission unit which is the largest packet size allowed over the network.  This setting can be problematic for some networks.  They recommend using 1453 which “is just small enough to maintain a consistent connection with most networks but just large enough to not cause any slowdowns, it’s the magic number and an old cisco networking secret.”