Posted by theMusicManNo Comments »
For me Spaces, a new feature in OS X 10.5, is one of the biggest productivity boosters. Currently, I have 8 spaces set up each with its own grouping of related applications.
The way I have chosen to group my applications is primarily by task. I have a space for e-mail and organizational applications, one for browsers, one for web development software, another for graphic design software, another for VMware fusion and so on. I made sure to go into the System Preferences>Expose & Spaces>Spaces and set the applications to launch in their respective spaces. However, it is better to set some applications to launch in any space -for instance Terminal.app.
I do a lot of development with MySQL and while there are nice GUI applications for it I prefer to go to the command line a lot to test SQL and administer the MySQL server, but I hate having to switch to another space to just run a command so I have set Terminal.app to launch in any space. That way if I am in another space and the fan kicks into high gear I can open Terminal.app again without being switched to another space and find out what’s going on.
There are times though that Spaces has become unresponsive and at first this was very annoying because I had to quit all applications logout and log back in. However, I have discovered an alternative.
Open Terminal.app and enter at the prompt:
This should restart the Dock and since Spaces is tied to Dock also fix that pesky issue of Spaces not responding when you are trying to switch applications.
Posted by theMusicManNo Comments »
If I am using the command line to do something I sometimes forget all the options/capabilities of the different commands. If you are like me then no fear man pages to the rescue. At the prompt type:
And magically the manual for that command will appear. If there is more than a screens worth of data to display you can continue to hit the space bar to page through the manual. When you get to the end it will seem that you are stuck, but no problem just type shift-zz. This will close the manual pages and bring you back to the command prompt. (I know this works if your default command line editor is vi.)
Posted by theMusicMan1 Comment »
Under OS X 10.5 Disk Utility in /Applications/Utilities seems to be broken when you try to repair disk permissions. I have found that using the diskutil application from the command line can provide a more flexible and at least right now more convenient experience. If you are having trouble repairing permission just head to Terminal.app. Once open at the prompt type:
- $ login admin (The short name of an administrator account on your computer)
- $ password: (You will be prompted to enter that administrator’s account password)
- $ diskutil repairPermissions /
This could take some time so only do this is you have at least 30 minutes to let your computer chug away. If you want to monitor the processes that are used while the program is running type apple-T while in Terminal.app and at the prompt type:
A real time command line processes view will display. Activity Monitor, the application found in /Applications/Utilities, provides a GUI for viewing the same information and more. When diskutil starts the process that will consume a lot of the CPU will be installdb. After a while some other processes will take over which are diskutil, repair_pac, mdworker and DiskMange. To exit top just type ctrl-c or close the tab that it is running in. However, ctrl-c will bring you back to a command prompt if you have other things you want or need to do from the command line.
Posted by theMusicManNo Comments »
When you type apple-tab you will notice a transparent rounded corner box appear with icons for all of the applications currently running on your computer displayed.
If you keep holding down the apple key and then type q you will quit the application that is currently highlighted in the box. Keep on typing q and you will work your way through quitting all applications open. You will have to stop and address any notice given by the applications, like say if an application prompts you to save a document. However, after saving the document just type apple-tab again and then your on your way.
Some people use apple-tab as an application switcher and that seems like its intended purpose. I usually just click on the application icon in the dock of the application that I want to switch to. To each his own.
