keyboard shortcuts

Apr 27 2009

RetroMac Special– a Look Back at 9

Steve Jobs may have held the funeral service, but the OS now termed a classic is far from dead.

Years of Mac OS programming has left us a legacy of great software and freeware for Mac OS 9. This week we’ll take a look at a few of my picks…

FileCM

Most of these enhancements mimic what were envied Windows features that have since been incorporated into OS X. The first of which is FileCM by Andy Finnell. This indispensable add-on comes in the form of a Contextual Menu item.

filecm1 RetroMac Special a Look Back at 9

When installed, FileCM adds the ability to copy files from one folder and paste them into another with a “right” or control click.

filecm1 RetroMac Special a Look Back at 9

Going one step beyond OS X, it also allows you to cut a file from one location to paste elsewhere and allows you to paste items as an alias. Nice.

Joke Ridge

This control panel adds the ability to open Windows “Joliet” formatted CDs without file name truncation. This may not seem like a big deal, but when you have to rename a dozen or so GRAPH~01.JPG files, you won’t be laughing.


Natural Order

Another quirky little feature of OS 9 was it’s habit of listing numbered files out of order.

naturalorder1 RetroMac Special a Look Back at 9

As cute as that was, it’s nice to see things in their “natural order”. This System Extension by Stuart Cheshire fixes the Finder’s and other applications’ dialogue boxes to list numbered files like this:

naturalorder2 RetroMac Special a Look Back at 9

Essential? No, but it is a great fix. This is the first and only of today’s utilities that will function in the “classic mode” of OS X.

Jerry’s Finder Patch

Before you get scared by the idea of a “patch”, know that Jerry has this down to a science. This self applying patch to your Finder adds useful keyboard shortcuts for things like sleep and shut down along with a slew of other enhancements. Jerry’s redefined Finder also has a larger memory heap and a “quit finder” command.

jerrysfinder RetroMac Special a Look Back at 9

Install it for yourself to find its many more features, but remember, should something go wrong and cause you to lose your data (including your 700 megs of ABBA mp3′s) it’s not our fault. I claim no responsibility for your music tastes. Having said that, I have never had a problem with this patch, or ABBA.

Until next time, keep it real with the Classic OS.

Brian

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Apr 27 2009

Building a mini DJ

The media capabilities of the Mac mini make it quite the party animal. This certainly isn’t the only way to rock the party with your mini, but it is the only way I’m going to detail for you here.

What you’ll need

  • Your mini
  • Wireless option of your choice (Bluetooth/Airport)
  • Another Mac (a laptop preferred) or Bluetooth phone for wireless control
  • Video projector, preferably with DVI input)
  • Mini-jack to RCA cable
  • Amp/mixer and speaker system
  • USB mic

The projector and audio hardware are available at many rental stops. If you have any ties to a college campus, they are ideal places to rent projectors inexpensively.

miniDJ Building a mini DJ

If the rental guy fails to mention it, I should say that video burn-in is death to projectors, so you’ll want to have a screen saver going on your mini.

So, let’s put it together. It is a good general rule with audio equipment to start with all levels at zero. In order to get all the preamp equalization we can from iTunes, you’ll want to bring your iTunes and speaker-output levels to about 75% and adjust the mixer or amp accordingly.

I’m not going to get too deep on software here, but you’ll want to run a remote control solution. For Bluetooth control from your mobile phone, grab Salling Clicker ($19.95) or Romeo (Free). To modify the playlist, and iTunes, from another Mac get iHam on iRye (Free) or netTunes ($19.95). Each one of these are well documented, so I’ll leave you with those.

Now, to give you a voice we’ll use a USB mic. Utilities like LineIn can help mix your mic with the music. And, I don’t want to encourage too much of this, but this mic will open up the floor for some karaoke, provided you bring the music. Oh, and please don’t send me any tapes.

Put it all together and you’re rocking. And this is just the beginning. Don’t get bored – there are plenty of visuals out there, many of which are controllable live via keyboard shortcuts.

Brian

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Dec 8 2008

MacUpdate Holiday Bundle offers $450 worth of software for $49.99

mupromo 20081207 214239 MacUpdate Holiday Bundle offers $450 worth of software for $49.99MacUpdate recently posted their latest bundle of Mac software. Included among the $450 worth of software in the MacUpdate Holiday Bundle are must-haves like Drive Genius 2, DefaultFolder X 4, LittleSnitch 2 and WhatSize 4. If it included only those four items, it would still be a savings of $126.90…but it also includes 6 other apps. Here’s the full list:

  • Drive Genius 2 ($99): Currently the highest-rated disk utility on the market and used by Mac Geniuses at Apple Stores, Drive Genius diagnoses and repairs problems with your hard drive, optimizes your system, and much more. Buyers will receive a link to download a bootable DVD image of the software to burn, which can be used to boot and fix any Mac that can run Mac OS X 10.5, including Apple’s newest laptops.
  • DefaultFolder X 4 ($34.95): Fly through Open & Save dialog boxes at lightning speed.
  • VirusBarrier X 10.5 ($69.95): Fast, simple, and non-intrusive anti-virus software for your Mac and iPhone
  • RapidWeaver 4 ($79): Create powerful, professional-looking Web sites quickly and easily.
  • MacGourmet Deluxe ($44.95): Like iTunes for food, track recipes, plan meals, manage wines, and more.
  • LittleSnitch 2 ($29.95): Monitors your network connection to make sure your Mac only sends out what you want it to.
  • KeyCue 4 ($27): Displays full keyboard shortcuts for all your applications; learn them and work faster.
  • MacPilot 3 ($19.95): Access hundreds of hidden features to customize and improve your Mac OS X experience.
  • WhatSize 4 ($12.99): Effortlessly identify files that are hogging disk space and that you don’t need anymore.e
  • iVolume 3 ($29.95): Ensures all your iTunes tracks play back at the same level, so you never have to adjust the volume individually.

My only reluctance in buying these bundles lately has been that I already have licenses for so many of the applications already. I’m sure you have the same problem if you’ve bought a few MacUpdate bundles or MacHeist bundles in the past.

Note:

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