PortAuthority 2.0 brings Unix apps to Macs

Code by Kevin has released PortAuthority 2.0, a graphical user interface for the MacPorts package management system for Mac OS X. MacPorts is a powerful command-line tool for installing and updating a variety of Unix-based applications for the Mac. "Its power, though, comes at the cost of some complexity; in the past the only way to utilize MacPort...

published on Wednesday, the 25. April 2007, macintosh-news-network

Use a Sony Reader PRS500 with the Mac

The Sony Portable Reader -- the PRS500 -- has no official Mac support. But with the help of the libprs500 library, I was able to get a modest but very useful level of functionality without resorting to SD cards. You need to install a few bits, like Python 2.5, to use libprs500 -- the easiest way is probably to use MacPorts. Once you?ve got libprs500 installed, though, you can start to do fun things. For instance, I've created a simple PDF Services wrapper script that lets me print and transfer anything onscreen to the PRS500 automatically. Full details on this are available in this post on my blog. [robg adds: Normally I'd want to reproduce the blog posting in full here. However, it's quite detailed and not completely OS X related, so I left it as a link -- the PRS500 looks like a nifty machine; too bad there...

published on Friday, the 2. March 2007, macosxhints

Update to the latest Dev Tools before compiling software

This may seem like an obvious hint, but I have been caught out by it a couple of times. When installing software using Fink or DarwinPorts (aka MacPorts), make sure you have the latest version of Apple's Developer Tools (Xcode) installed (free registration required to download). Developer Tools is ignored by Software Update -- and using an old version tends to cause software to fail to compile. I keep getting caught out by these failures, and after making sure I have the latest version of Fink, doing fresh installs, permission repairs, etc., I finally remember to check the developer site for a new version.

published on Wednesday, the 7. February 2007, macosxhints

A simple MacPorts and Fink update script

If you use the MacPorts and Fink package managers, you might find it useful to be able to update both package managers with one simple command. I wrote the following simple script which does just that:#!/bin/bash#the script updates MacPorts and Fink packages;if [ "$(whoami)" != 'root' ]; then echo "You have no permission to run $0 as non-root user." exit 1fiport selfupdateport -d syncportindexport upgrade installedapt-get updateapt-get upgradefink -q -y selfupdatefink -q -y update-allJust create a file containing that code and save it, say, to your home folder. Assuming that the file's been saved as ~you/updf (where you is your short username), just cd to that directory and make the code executable:chmod u+x upfgIf it's not already set, you might also add the line PATH=$PATH:~you to your profile. T...

published on Friday, the 29. December 2006, macosxhints

Use 'screen' as a serial terminal emulator

I often have to do router configuration via a console port, so I use a Keyspan Serial Adapter to get access. Two problems then present themselves: ZTerm is a horrible Mac OS X app. It hasn't been updated in five years or so, and isn't a Universal Binary. The developer doesn't seem in any hurry to rectify the situation. It is not worth the shareware fee in its current form. Minicom requires installation of Fink or MacPorts and is overly complex. Solution: Use screen, Terminal, and a little AppleScripting. First, launch Script Editor and type/paste in the following code: tell application "Terminal" do script with command "screen /dev/tty.KeySerial1" set number of rows of window 1 to 100 set number of columns of window 1 to 80 set background color of window 1 to "black" set normal text color of window 1 to "green" set custom title of window 1 to "SerialOut" end tell Compile and save as an app from within Scri...

published on Tuesday, the 14. November 2006, macosxhints

Another method of streaming audio via iTunes

Looking through various hints (like this one, or on the icecast mailing list) about making your own streaming station with iTunes, I wanted something relatively simple. I just wanted to route all sounds coming from my Mac to a UNIX system (Solaris, in my case), and something like icecast was far more powerful than what I needed. I decided to make it UNIX way with maximum offload of a task to my Solaris box. Preparation for solution is quite simple: Get and install Soundflower -? this is the key component that'll allow routing of all sounds elsewhere. Either from Fink or with DarwinPorts (now known as MacPorts) install EsounD package (we'll need the only esdrec utility from there, in fact) On UNIX box prepare...

published on Monday, the 13. November 2006, macosxhints