from the desk of stinkpot

using sudo was giving me the warning: sudo: /var/db/sudo owned by uid 501, should be uid 0 to fix: iMac://usr/bin/sudo chown -R root /private/var/db/sudo

to make the volumes folder visible in the mac finder, open up the terminal and type in the following command: $ sudo SetFile -a v /Volumes thanks irrelevant!

to get an hp scanjet 5550c scanner working on a mac running snow leopard (10.6): install macports run on the command line: > sudo port install sane-backends xsane > scanimage -p –resolution 150 –format=tiff > checklist.150.tiff

my time machine backup is stored on a linux file server which i connect to wirelessly.  lately, my time machine backups have been extremely slow; my recent attempt to run disk utility on the drive failed with the error: “Disk Utility cannot repair Time Machine.” here’s a solution that i found on jthon’s place, which [...]

when trying to install emacs using macports on my new snow leopard install, i got the following error: foo://opt/local/sudo port install emacs —>  Computing dependencies for emacs —>  Fetching emacs —>  Verifying checksum(s) for emacs —>  Extracting emacs —>  Applying patches to emacs —>  Configuring emacs —>  Building emacs Error: Target org.macports.build returned: shell command [...]

let’s say you’ve gone and done something rash and created a DIY time capsule. how do you restore from the backup if your hard drive goes belly up? get a working hard drive and install a fresh copy of os x create a new user (try and give that user a username different from your [...]

to sync ical with google calendar and have both update each other: go to ical -> preferences -> accounts enter your gmail account as your username under address, fill in the following: https://www.google.com/calendar/dav/CALENDAR_ID/user, where CALENDAR_ID is your full gmail address. hit ok, and voila, sync’ed calendars!

i recently installed some massive hard drives in my server box.  given all that space, i thought it’d be perfect to have the mac’s in my house all backup via time machine to those drives.  here’s how i got things working. enable sharing on the macs by opening the terminal and entering the command: > [...]

i tried starting matlab and got the following error in my console: 1/13/09 9:39:16 PM [0x0-0x1d01d].com.mathworks.matlab[139] dyld: Library not loaded: /private/var/automount/mathworks/BLR/devel/bat/Amake/build/3gp/install/5172124/maci/hdf5/lib/libhdf5.0.dylib turns out that the problem was trying to start matlab by clicking on the “matlab” executable.  instead, try clicking on the “startmatlab” alias.

my console was full of the following errors, despite having internet sharing disabled on my mac: 12/30/08 6:32:37 AM com.apple.launchd[1] (com.apple.InternetSharing) Throttling respawn: Will start in 10 seconds the solution: simply activate, then deactivate all of various forms of internet sharing in the sharing preference pane.  not really sure why it worked, but it did.