Synopsis

I used OSX full time at work from May 2003 to March 2005. I barely touched it until 2012 when I started with OSX 10.7. This document describes sticky points encountered, fixes, and work arounds.

Entries

• 2012-04-26:
  Problem: Search in Outlook is not finding messages it should.
  Work around: Rebuild the indexes on the Mac. Run:
  sudo mdutil -E /
  Note this will take a few hours and Spotlight (command-space) will not be available until it completes.
  See: http://aaltonen.us/2011/03/21/outlook-2011-for-mac-search-troubles/
• 2012-04-25:
  Problem: Bluetooth tethering will not connect.
  Last night and again today I tried and tried to get the Mac to connect to the internet through my phone.
  Work around: Some posts in the internet indicate the Mac does not setup some part of networking after the computer wakes from sleeping.
  I don't have clear instructions but it looks like a few things need or may need to be done:
  
  • Un-pair the phone and Mac.
  • Enable bluetooth tethering on the phone. (Do this *before* pairing.)
  • Pair the phone and Mac.
  • At this point I am able to send a file from the Mac to the phone over bluetooth.
    
    The bluetooth "Connect to Network" does nothing that I can tell. Nothing gets written to files in /var/log/ and logcat on the Android phone shows no activity.
  • Reboot the Mac. Wifi was turned off and ethernet was not plugged in.
  • Click the bluetooth icon in the menu bar.
  • Go down to the name of the phone.
  • Click "Connect to Network".
  • At this point it connected fine.
  
  The other thing that works is to use the phone's wi-fi hot-spot feature instead of bluetooth.
  
  See:
  https://discussions.apple.com/thread/2399936?start=0&tstart=0
  http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=425199
  
• 2012-04-18:
  Problem: Alt key does not work in iTerm2.
  Fix: Open the iTerm profile preferences for the Default profile -> Keys tab -> Left option key acts as -> Set it to "+Esc".
  
• 2012-04-18:
  Problem: Mouse scroll direction.
  You can touch the trackpad and move up/down to scroll. At first it feels odd because it's backwards but after a while it's okay. The problem is I plugged a mouse in. (Dell 2-button.) The scroll is reversed on the mouse. You can change the direction of the mouse scroll wheel in System Preferences -> Mouse -> Move content in the direction of finger. The problem with this is it changes the Trackpad setting as well (System Preferences -> Trackpad -> Scroll direction natural). I want the two settings to be independent of each other.
  Work around: None found.
  
• 2012-04-18:
  Problem: No USB ports on the right edge of the MacBook Pro.
  This is a problem because I use my right hand for the mouse and need to unwrap more mouse cord to bring it around behind the Mac. I would be fine using the trackpad but in Outlook to move a message from an IMAP folder to local folder involves: click with one finger, drag with second finger, hold the Command key, and release the click.
  Work around: None.
  
• 2012-04-18:
  Problem: The glossy screen on the MacBook gets annoying glare.
  Work around: I suggest you check out the matte screen before you buy.
  
• 2012-04-05:
  Problem: I can't find my home directory in the Finder.
  Fix: Go to the menu: Finder -> Preferences -> Sidebar . Check your username under Favorites .
  
• 2012-04-05:
  Problem: MacPorts doesn't support Xcode 4.3. This error appears:
  Error: Couldn't determine your Xcode version (from '/usr/bin/xcodebuild -version').
  Work around:
    xcode-select -switch /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/
    ln -s /Developer /
    ln -s /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/Platforms/MacOSX.platform/Developer/SDKs /SDKs
  
  See:
  http://stackoverflow.com/questions/9323738/unable-to-get-macport-functionality-after-installing-xcode-4-3
  
• 2012-04-05:
  Really? : MacPorts "port install mercurial" downloads and compiles many things including ncurses, perl, and python.
  
• 2012-04-05:
  Problem: MacPorts "port selfupdate" failed with:
  ---> Updating MacPorts base sources using rsync
Error: /opt/local/bin/port: port selfupdate failed: Error synchronizing MacPorts sources: shell command failed (see log for details)

  Fix: rsync was blocked by a firewall. I switched to a different internet connection. (I have a few types of connections at work.)
  
• 2012-04-05:
  Installed: iTerm2
  Installed: xcode (see post below)
  Installed: Command Line Tools for Xcode (see post below)
  Installed: MacPorts
  
• 2012-04-04:
  Problem: I went to the apple menu and chose to restart. Now the screen is grey and the mouse cursor is the spinning beach ball.
  Work around: I waited a few minutes and then went for lunch. A few minutes later the system rebooted.
  
• 2012-04-03:
  Tip: Take a screenshot with:
  screencapture -x -t png capture.png
• 2012-04-03:
  Tip: Text to speach via:
  say "This is a test."
• 2012-04-03:
  Problem: Trying to get something to start at login.
  Fix: Create a .plist file in ~/Library/LaunchAgents and run "launchctl load ./local.my.plist".
  Work around: n/a
  See: http://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/8166/running-a-command-whenever-mac-boots-up-with-launchctl-plist
  
• 2012-03-30:
  Problem: Why is it a such pain to get Xcode?
  
  I installed Homebrew but it can't do anything without Xcode. I go to http://connect.apple.com/ like brew says to do. Why would I need to create a "developer account" and specify platforms I develop for in order to install the compiler tools?
  
  I filled out the form and wait and wait and wait some more for the verification code to arrive in my email. The code arrived.
  
  I go to the website to download Xcode. It opens up the Mac App Store program. Where is the download link? Install link? Oh! Click the word "Free" and it changes into an install link.
  
  I have to enter the developer email and password. Didn't I just sign up? Don't you know who I am? It wants to confirm my secret question and answer. It fails because my year of birth is missing. When I signed up it didn't ask for the year but to download it does.
  
  I see a link to unsubscribe from email newsletters. I click it. It asks for my email address. Really? I just logged in. The software doesn't know who I am? Come on.
  
  Next it wants a credit card number! To download a free compiler!
  
  At this point I wonder if I can run Ubuntu on this hardware.
  
  I installed GCC without Xcode but brew would not work. It reported the Xcode installed was 4.0 and 4.3 was needed. Rather than mess with it I removed the folders Homebrew added to /usr/local and chown/chmod it back to normal.
  
  Fix:
  Work around:
  Option 1: Install GCC without Xcode.
  Option 2: Bypass the App Store. (Thank you Mike!)
    a) Go to https://developer.apple.com/
    b) Click "Member Center" in the top nav
    c) Enter your AppleID (read: the email you used to sign up) and password
    d) From the Developer dashboard (IMHO not very useful), click "Mac" under "Dev Centers" and then click "View All Downloads" ... or, visit this URL: https://developer.apple.com/downloads/index.action
    e) Download whatever you want, including Xcode 4.3.2. I'd also recommend "Command Line Tools for Xcode" if you're compiling stuff.
  See:
  http://blog.strug.de/2011/09/homebrew-without-xcode-save-15-gb/
• 2012-03-30:
  Problem: It's been nearly seven years since I last used OSX and the spinning pinwheel still causes my heart to jump every time I see it even if only for a moment.
  Fix:
  Work around:
  See:
  
• 2012-03-29:
  Problem: How do you lock the screen?
  Fix:
  part 1) Require a password to unlock.
  System Preferences->Security
  part 2) Create a "hot corner" or a keyboard shortcut to start the screensaver.
  System Preferences->Desktop & Screen Saver->Hot Corners
  See: http://www.macworld.com/article/1049080/lockscreen.html
  http://www.macforbeginners.com/page.php?id=184
  Update: Synergy2 seems to break the screen saver hot-corner (but not the Mission Control hot-corner). The fix was to add a lock icon to the menu bar.
  http://www.bartbusschots.ie/blog/?p=175
  
• 2012-03-29:
  Problem: ctrl-o does not work in the terminal.
  Fix: Add this line to your .bash_profile :
  stty discard undef
  See: http://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/3253/ctrl-o-behavior-in-terminal-app
  
• 2012-03-29:
  Problem: ctrl-/ does not work in the terminal. This is the emacs undo command.
  Fix: None found.
  Googling led me to read "Control-/ is a feature of X11 and is not supported by Cocoa or Terminal."
  Work around: ctrl-_ works. Note this is ctrl-shift-minus and not as easy to type.
  See: http://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/24261/how-do-i-send-c-that-is-control-slash-to-the-terminal
  
• 2012-03-29:
  Problem: wget is not installed.
  Fix: Not fixed yet.
  Work around: Setup this alias:
  alias wget="curl -O"
  See: http://www.mymacosx.com/terminal/wget-replacement-macos.html
  
• 2012-03-29:
  Problem: ispell and aspell are not installed. Emacs flyspell mode doesn't work.
  Fix: Not fixed yet.
  Work around: Don't use flyspell.
  See:
  
• 2012-03-29:
  Problem: How to highlight to copy? X11 has a copy/paste buffer but also a Primary selection feature. This lets you highlight with the mouse and then middle click to paste the highlighted text (but it doesn't use the copy/paste buffer).
  Fix: Not fixed yet.
  Work around: Nothing yet.
  See: http://www.jwz.org/doc/x-cut-and-paste.html
  
• 2012-03-29:
  Problem: Where is the Meta key in the terminal? I often use alt-m in emacs to move the cursor. ctrl, alt, and command don't work.
  Fix: Terminal->Preferences->Settings->Keyboard and check "Use option as meta key".
  Work around: Press and release teh Esc keep to enter the Meta key.
  See: http://xenodium.com/blog/?p=732
  
• 2012-03-19:
  Problem: Focus-follows-mouse is missing.
  Fix: No fix exists.
  Work around: No work around exists.
  See: http://steve-yegge.blogspot.ca/2008/04/settling-osx-focus-follows-mouse-debate.html?m=1