Installing openSUSE Tumbleweed on MacBook Pro 13 inch (late 2011)

It's been awhile since I looked at my old Macbook Pro 13 inch from late 2011, with 125GB SSD and 8GB RAM. I've been on occasion posting articles about how to install Linux distributions on it and thought I'd give openSUSE a try this time.

This is a machine I've taken on trips around the world and back in the day ran many sessions, workshops, and demos sharing all that developer goodness.

Below are the steps and adjustments needed to get openSUSE working on these laptops in no time.

The first step is to pick between the two options that are available to us for the desktop. I've chosen openSUSE Tumbleweed, which has the promise of "You install it once and enjoy it forever. No longer do you have to worry every six months about massive system upgrades that risk bricking your system."

The second step is to get an USB stick big enough to hold the openSUSE Tumbleweed iso image. Note we are not worried about version numbers, as you "...get frequent updates that not only address vulnerabilities or squash bugs, but reflect latest features and developments, such as fresh kernels, fresh drivers and recent desktop environment versions."

Installing Fedora 41 on Macbook Pro 13 inch (late 2011)

This weekend I decided to update my old Macbook Pro 13 inch from late 2011, with 125GB SSD and 8GB RAM. 

It's a machine I've taken on trips around the world and back in the day ran many sessions, workshops, and demos sharing all that developer goodness.

Last time we checked, this was installed using Fedora 37, so how about an update to Fedora 41?

Below are the steps and adjustments needed to get Fedora 41 working on this laptops in no time.

Want to hide your osX (macbook) desktop icons

This is just a quick hint as to how to hide desktop icons (all of them) in a temporary fashion.

I create a lot of video demos that make it a pain when I have my personal icons to documents, folders, and other content I don't really want to have posted all over the Internet.

Here is how to do it:

Hide Desktop Icons

Launch Terminal and type the following:
defaults write com.apple.finder CreateDesktop -bool false

Kill the Finder so that it relaunches:
killall Finder

Files are now discretely hidden in home folder’s “Desktop” directory. To reverse, open Terminal and type the following:

defaults write com.apple.finder CreateDesktop -bool true

Kill the Finder so that it relaunches and they are back.

If you want to automate these into a single click of your mouse button, just put this into a file, make it executable, create an alias, and drop the alias file onto your task bar. One for icons on and one for icons off: #!/bin/bash

# 1. copy this code to file iconson.command
# 2. make executable with 'chmod +x iconson.command
# 3. make alias file and drop onto menu bar
#
defaults write com.apple.finder CreateDesktop -bool true

killall Finder


#!/bin/bash

# 1. copy this code to file iconsoff.command
# 2. make executable with 'chmod +x iconson.command
# 3. make alias file and drop onto menu bar
#
defaults write com.apple.finder CreateDesktop -bool false

killall Finder

Now you can clean your desk for screencasts and video capturing and put it all back when you are done by clicking on the files!

Taking screenshots on an OS X Macbook

I was looking for the various ways to make a screenshot on my macbook and wanted to log these for future reference.


Each capture sequence below saves a file to your desktop, unless you add a Control key to any sequence which will give you the capture as a copy to the clipboard.

Also see the Grab utility for more complex captures, including recording desktop activities.

• Entire desktop - Cmd + Shift + 3
• Specific area - Cmd + Shift + 4, gives crosshairs that can be positioned for click and drag
• Single window - Cmd + Shift + 4 + Spacebar, gives a camera that highlights windows to be captured

Syncing iPod Touch with iTunes broken after upgrade to Snow Leppard (osX 10.6)

I upgraded my macbook osX from 10.4.x to 10.6.x this last week, it was just time. I also came into a nice iPod Touch, so expected to sync it just fine with my iTunes as I had been doing with a smaller iPod Nano I have.


After the upgrade though, I plugged in the iPod Touch and nothing happens. I did the remove and install iTunes (including upgrading to version 10) as the support suggests online, but to no avail. It appears I needed to remove much more of my setting that were scattered around my system from the original iPod Nano. Here is all I had to do:

1. Quit iTunes.
2. In the Finder, choose Go > Applications.
3. Locate iTunes and then drag it to the Trash.
4. Choose Go > Utilities. If Utilities is not available under Go, then choose Go > Go to Folder, type in /Applications/Utilities/, and then click Go.
5. Open Activity Monitor.
6. In the process list locate and select iTunes Helper. Click Quit Process. When asked if you really want to quit the process, click Quit. 
7. Quit Activity Monitor.
8. Open System Preferences (choose Apple > System Preferences).
9. Choose View > Accounts and then click Login Items.
10. Look for the iTunesHelper entry and select it, then click the "-" button to remove it from the list.
11.  
12. Quit System Preferences.
13. From the Finder, choose Go > Go to Folder
14. Enter (without quotes) "/System/Library/Extensions" and then click Go.
15. Locate the file "AppleMobileDevice.kext" and drag it to the Trash.
16. Choose Go > Go to Folder.
17. Enter (without quotes) "/Library/Receipts/" and then click Go.
18. Locate the file "AppleMobileDeviceSupport.pkg" and drag it to the trash.  Note: This file may not be present in Mac OS X v10.6 or later; skip to the next step if this is the case.
19. Remove any other file ending with ".pkg" that has iTunes in the title (such as "iTunesX.pkg").
20. Restart your Mac.
21. Empty the Trash. This should fully remove iTunes.

Now you have done the basics, but there was more needed for the old iPod Nano settings:

1. In the Finder, choose Go > Go to Folder and type in ~/Library/ and click Go.
2. Locate the iTunes folder and then drag it to the Trash.
3. Choose Go > Go to Folder and type in ~/Library/Preferences/ and click Go.
4. Locate the preference files that have names beginning with com.apple.iTunes and move them to the Trash.
   File Names should be:
   • com.apple.iTunes.eq.plist
   • com.apple.iTunes.plist
   • com.apple.iTunesHelper.plist
5. Choose Go > Go to Folder and type in /Library and click Go.
6. Locate the iTunes folder, and then move it to the Trash.
7. Choose Go > Go to Folder and type in ~/Library/Preferences/ByHost/ and click Go.
8. Locate the preference files that have names beginning with com.apple.iTunes and move them to the Trash.
9. Empty the Trash. This should fully remove the files and folders associated with iTunes.

Now go get the newest iTunes and install it. This took care of all my problems, just plugged in the iPod Touch and it sorted itself out just fine!

Convert disk IMG to standard ISO on a Macbook

This is not rocket science but born from a need to get something done in daily usage of a macbook and captured here for posterity.

With any luck this will help not only myself, but someone out there struggling with the same problems I encountered.

This will work for an IMG file or DMG.

I stumbled on the need for this after creating a DVD on my Macbook and wanting the generated IMG file to be in a standard ISO format.

Just use the command line:

// for IMG files.
$ hdiutil convert input.img -format UDTO -o output.iso

// for DMG files.
$ hdiutil convert input.dmg -format UDTO -o output.iso

Fixing the macbook "server-error-service-unavailable" problem

With my macbook this was happening any time I tried to add a printer, remote or USB local. The problem was that the cupsd was not running. To start it the following command should be run:

$ SystemStarter start PrintingServices

This was not working so I updated cups from 1.2.8 to 1.2.12 (see sourceforge cups site for the last dmg package available) and modified both /etc/hostconfig and /private/etc/hostconfig to ensure CUPS would start by removing the cups line.

Restarted and all was well again. The Printer Setup Utility auto detects my usb HP printer for the first time after just turning the thing on.

If you want to stop or restart the cupsd nicely you use:

$ SystemStarter stop PrintingServices

$ SystemStarter restart PrintingServices

Some tips on how to cleanup iPhoto

I am not a power Macbook user when it comes to the i[fill-in-the-Apple-application-here] anything. I am a simple user with over 5 years of pictures on my Macbook. So when I noticed the iPhoto application was really getting slow and that all my disk space was about gone (80GB!), it was time to look deeper into this.

Just a few tips here, but they radically cleaned up my iPhoto disk waste:

1. Empty the trash - seems like a no-brainer, but I was unaware that iPhoto had it's own trash bin. Just follow the menu entry to clean out those deleted pictures: iPhoto -> Empty Trash. This got me over 9 GB of disk space back.
   
2. iPhoto Diet - this is a very nice tool which will allow you to scan your entire library of pictures for more iPhoto nonsense (chuff, duplicates, and even more stuff you don't want to know about). 

This second tip took some time as I have something like 3500 plus photos. But patience pays off and I now have gotten rid of an amazing amount of crap in iPhoto. It even performs better now.

Creating an ISO image from DVD on macbook

When copying a DVD on my macbook I was sure there must be some way to do it without buying software or having to download lots of new burning applications. Here are the simple steps needed to do it:

# insert DVD and lookup the device your DVD is mounted on,
# (partial output shown here, look for the Name field).
#
$ drutil status
 Vendor   Product           Rev 
 MATSHITA DVD-R   UJ-857D   GAND

           Type: DVD-ROM              Name: /dev/disk2

# unmount the disk.
#
$ diskutil unmountDisk /dev/disk2
Disk /dev/disk2 unmounted

# create a local iso file from the DVD.
#
$ dd if=/dev/disk2 of=mydvd.iso bs=2048

# you can test the iso file with 'hdid mydvd.iso'
# and/or burn it by inserting a blank dvd and burn
# the iso using Disk Utility app.

Macbook - Macports MySql server complete install HowTo

Some time ago I setup MySql on my macbook using macports and the comments I got about this post included some useful information to automate starting MySql on startup.

Here is the complete process to get mysql server working (mysql5 in my case):

# install server and the launch script
# needed to start it. (I like the -v option
# to see what is happening.)
#
$ sudo port -v install mysql5 +server

# initialize the setup as mysql user.
#
$ sudo -u mysql mysql_install_db5

# start mysql and set your root password.
#
$ sudo -u mysql /opt/local/lib/mysql5/bin/mysqld_safe &
$ sudo /opt/local/lib/mysql5/bin/mysqladmin -u root password '[new_passwd]'

Now it would be nice if this all started on bootup instead of the last command above. Here are the steps to include it in the automated launchd configuration:

# Create the launchd directory.
#
$ sudo mkdir -p /Library/StartupItems/LaunchDaemons

# Now create a launch plist file:
#
$ sudo vim /Library/StartupItems/LaunchDaemons/org.mysql.launchd.mysql.plist

# Here is the XML you need to put into the plist file:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple Computer//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" 
"http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
<key>Label</key>
<string>org.mysql.launchd.mysql</string>
<key>ProgramArguments</key>
<array>
<string>/usr/local/mysql-max-5.0.24-osx10.4-i686/bin/mysqld_safe</string>
</array>
<key>KeepAlive</key>
<true/>
<key>SuccessfulExit</key>
<true/>
<key>RunAtLoad</key>
<true/>
<UserName>
<string>_mysql</string>
<GroupName>
<string>_mysql</string>
</dict>
</plist>

# Finally, need to load this into launchd or you can just
# reboot to have it picked up automatically.
#
$ sudo launchctl

launchd% load /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/org.mysql.launchd.mysql.plist
launchd% exit

I would also like to point to VelociPeek where Eric (another software man in the Eric club!) details more in this area.

Turning your macbook into a router

Maybe there are more of you out there that have had some reason to need a home network that would work through your macbook, so here is my solution for creating your own home network through your macbook.

I recently moved, had problems with ISP's not delivering on their promises so that I was left with out an Internet connection. I was able to sort out a wireless connection through one of my new neighbors, so that was solved, but what about the rest of my network here at home? Since the macbook comes with a wireless connection and an ethernet port I see no reason not to use it as a temporary router until some ISP can hook up my house.

Once you have a connection over the wireless card on your macbook, you will need to adjust the System Preferences to allow your wired home network to connect over your macbook's ethernet connection as follows:

System Preferences -> Sharing -> Internet (tab) | Firewall (tab) | Services (tab)

Internet: within this tab you need to select the route you wish to share in your home network, in my case it is the wired Ethernet card so I chose Built-in Ethernet.

Firewall: within this tab you can select the ports or services you wish to allow through your macbook's firewall; I selected only Network Time and Remote Login - SSH.

Services: within this tab you set the services you wish to activate on your macbook, up to you what you want to open up here.

I stopped and started the Internet and Firewall services with the provided buttons and as long as the macbook is on, connected through both the wireless and wired Ethernet connections you should have a working home network.

Should you have any problems, try turning off the firewall as a test to whether the home network works at all. Most problems come from a firewall settings being too strict (no, I am not advocating dropping the use of a firewall, just simplifying your testing for you...).

Mac security update causing cups failure: Symbol not found: _cupsFileRead

Today I wanted to print over my home network using the cups system on my macbook, but BOOM, got this message when starting cupsd:

Link (dyld) error:

Symbol not found: _cupsFileRead
Referenced from: /usr/sbin/cupsd
Expected in: /usr/lib/libcups.2.dylib

Seems the last security updates have borked out all pre-cups v1.3.5 printing systems. When looking at the cups download site you also find the following note from Apple:

"We are no longer providing binaries for Mac OS X since CUPS 1.3.x is not fully compatible with Mac OS X 10.4.x. You can compile and install CUPS 1.3.x from source, however most of the GUI administration tools provided in Mac OS X will no longer work."

It was a source tarball download of v1.3.5 and configure, make, make install for me to get the cups server to run again. A few gotcha's I ran into:

• it seems printers configured with the standard preferences tools on the macbook don't work over cups.
• using the localhost:631 administrative interface to adjust your configuration changes the permission (group set to lp instead of wheel) on the entire tree /private/etc/cups/*

Another posting of this issue can be found here on the Apple Support Forum which describes installing the cups v1.2.12 also solves this issue and allows you to work with the preferences tooling to install printers again. I did not try this one yet as I am comfortable setting up printers by hand or with the cups admin web page (not forgetting to adjust the permissions on your /private/etc/cups).

Macports update

How to upgrade / update your macports software (both packages, repo, and installed software:

$sudo port selfupdate
$sudo port -d sync
$sudo portindex
$sudo port upgrade installed

Undo a Macbook Linux dual boot setup

I have been running my macbook with a bootcamp and rEFIt enabled dual boot. Ubuntu Linux and osX on two seperate partions. I decided to undo this and put Linux in a virtual machine setup with Parallels. Here is what I had to do:

First off I needed to win back the partion I had created with bootcamp, so I started the assistant you can find in Applications -> Utilities and choose the option to reclaim my extra partition. A restart was needed which still shows me the rEFIt menu with osX and Linux as choices.

To remove this menu you can follow the instructions at the rEFIt project:

Removal when using rEFItBlesser

While booted into Mac OS X, rename or remove the “efi” folder. For a 100% clean
de-installation, also remove the folder “rEFItBlesser” inside “Library/StartupItems”.

Removal for manual installs

First, open the “Startup Disk” preference pane and select “Mac OS X” as the operating system to boot. This will re-bless your Mac OS X volume and instruct the firmware to boot from it. After this, rename or remove the “efi” folder.

Troubleshooting

If Mac OS X no longer starts up after removing rEFIt, boot from the Mac OS X Install Disc (hold down the ‘C’ key while booting) and run “Startup Disk” from the “Utilities” menu. There, select “Mac OS X” on your hard disk as the operating system to boot.

After this I installed Parallels and put Kubuntu 7.04 on that. There were a couple of hitches to the process so here are my tips:

• memory must be <= 512MB
  
• at the boot prompt enter live vga=790

A good detailed step-by-step for the installation can be found at SimpleHelp. Good luck!

Vim for your Macbook

As a long time Linux user and open source developer, this is one of the things that makes my Macbook feel like home. It is a ‘must have’ and you can find all you need to know at the Vim Mac OS X site.

It is also easy enough to install via the 'ports' if you have that installed:

# This will currently give you Vim v7.0.224.
#
$ sudo port install vim

Note that you need to be careful and ensure that you are using the ports version in /opt/local/bin/vim and not the Mac version I found in /usr/bin/vim (v6.2). I altered my PATH variable to point to first the /opt/local/bin before searching /usr/bin to solve this.

Mac ports failing with configure.cppflags error

I was trying to install some software on the macbook I have using the macports but kept getting this error:

$ sudo port install [any-package]
Error: Unable to execute port: invalid command name "configure.cppflags"

I did some searching around and found the Portfile was setting the CPPFLAGS incorrectly. The fix was to edit this file (split the long file name):

/opt/local/var/db/dports/sources/     \
rsync.rsync.darwinports.org_dpupdate_dports/  \
devel/gettext/Portfile

# find this line.
#
configure.cppflags  
-no-cpp-precomp

# and replace it with this line.
#
configure.env CPPFLAGS="-no-cpp-precomp"

MacPorts MySql server install howto

I have a nice new macbook and wanted to setup my development tools; eclipse, php, macports, and mysql. Here is the steps to get mysql server working (mysql5 in my case):

# install server and the launch script
# needed to start it. (I like the -v option
# to see what is happening.)
#
$ sudo port -v install mysql5 +server

# initialize the setup as mysql user.
#
$ sudo -u mysql mysql_install_db5

# start mysql and set your root password.
#
$ sudo -u mysql /opt/local/lib/mysql5/bin/mysqld_safe &
$ sudo /opt/local/lib/mysql5/bin/mysqladmin -u root password '[new_passwd]'