Sunday, October 24, 2021

Recent Questions - Ask Different

Recent Questions - Ask Different

macOS dictation: Using typographic apostrophe

Posted: 23 Oct 2021 11:33 PM PDT

I am trying my luck using macOS's dictation feature, but there's on thing that annoys me.

Dictation correctly picks up my abbreviations, but insists on using straight apostrophes ('):

I think it's amazing isn't it?

… instead of the proper typographic apostrophe ('):

I think it's amazing isn't it?

This is so even if I select Edit | Substitutions | Smart Quotes.

It's not hard to replace the apostrophes, and I have created a simple Text Service to make it easier. But it is annoying that I have to do that.

How can I get Dictation to use the proper typographic apostrophes?

partially missing `man` or `info` guide of bash

Posted: 23 Oct 2021 08:10 PM PDT

It seems my man or info manual is not complete, for example, man readline gives No manual entry for readline

I'm on mac, with bash 5.0.18 installed using homebrew

GNU bash, version 5.0.18(1)-release (x86_64-apple-darwin19.5.0)  Copyright (C) 2019 Free Software Foundation, Inc.  License GPLv3+: GNU GPL version 3 or later <http://gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html>    This is free software; you are free to change and redistribute it.  There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law.

What would be the reasons ? How should I fix this ? Thanks

update, I also have this issue on my centos 8, with bash version

GNU bash, version 4.4.20(1)-release (x86_64-redhat-linux-gnu)  Copyright (C) 2016 Free Software Foundation, Inc.  License GPLv3+: GNU GPL version 3 or later <http://gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html>    This is free software; you are free to change and redistribute it.  There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law.

Early 2011 Macbook pro RAM Question [closed]

Posted: 23 Oct 2021 08:13 PM PDT

Does anyone know If I can upgrade to a DDR3 Ram speed of 2400MHz? or is 1600mhz the max? thanks!

How do I duplicate a photo before editing it on my iPad?

Posted: 23 Oct 2021 07:18 PM PDT

How do I duplicate a photo before editing it on my iPad? When I first bought my Apple laptop years ago, there was a simple way to simply choose 'duplicate picture' and so you can go in and edit it while you keep the original intact. That functionality seems to have disappeared! Evolution or devolution?

Cannot Exclude Swap Directory from Spotlight: The item couldn't be added or removed because of an unknown error

Posted: 23 Oct 2021 05:48 PM PDT

Since my Macbook Pro (Big Sur 11.6) is burning through its battery power really quickly with mds_store clocking the most CPU usage, running the following command

sudo fs_usage -w -f filesys mds_stores

shows that /System/Volumes/VM/swapfile10 is commonly being used by mds_store. Running sudo fs_usage | grep /System/Volumes/VM/swapfile10 shows that this file is constantly being used by Brave Browser.

However, when I tried to exclude /System/Volumes/VM/ from being indexed by Spotlight by going to System Preference > Spotlight > Privacy, I get a Privacy List Error, stating that

The item couldn't be added or removed because of an unknown error.

enter image description here

How can we fix this and exclude the directory from Spotlight indexing?

RAID 0 set disappeared after reboot

Posted: 23 Oct 2021 05:00 PM PDT

MacOS 10.14.6

I ask this before I accidentally cause further trouble and data loss.

Created a RAID 0 set using something like

diskutil appleRAID create stripe RAID APFS /dev/disk0 /devdisk1

Used for database storage, not boot partition.

Set worked perfected until computer restart. Partitions visible in diskutil, but RAID has disappeared.

Is it possible to reinstate the set without data loss, and so that it will persist after reboot? Should I have used UUIDs rather than /devs/disk ?

Thanks

Recover contracts with old country code, new iPhone in a new country

Posted: 23 Oct 2021 01:39 PM PDT

I just bought a new iPhone, with iOS 15 after moving to another country. But after getting a new SIM and transferring all the data, the countries area codes got messed up.

I have the old contacts in the old country configuration 09XXXXXXXXXXX

In my new country, I use a local cell number, and they are 06XXXXXXXXX.

However I found out that the contacts of my last country did not get the new area code of the country, just a few of them. Therefore I have to manually set up the numbers again, and I have many numbers that I don't want to loose.

It is annoying, because most of my contacts are now messed up, and in WhatsApp more than half of my friends appear as unknown numbers. Now I cannot contact them properly.

Is there an smarter way to fix it, rather than manually changing the country codes?

Software / Script Request: compare two folders, make sure every file in one has an alias in the other (difficulty: different folder structure)?

Posted: 23 Oct 2021 01:40 PM PDT

I am a musician who manages a set of plugins via this method:

  • All plugins are installed to /Library/Audio/Plug-ins/VST in no particular order (plugins typically are a single file with a .vst extension)
  • I have a separate folder in my Documents where I have separate subdirectories (e.g. ~/Documents/VST/Instruments, ~/Documents/VST/Reverb) where I have aliases of the .vst sorted into appropriate categories. I point my audio software (Ableton) at the aliases folder and am then able to navigate them in an organized fashion within the app interface.

MacOS adds an "Alias" suffix to aliases by default so, for example, i would like to consider these two equivalent:

  1. /Library/Audio/Plug-ins/VST/SuperCompressor.vst
  2. ~/Documents/VST/Compressors/SuperCompressor Alias.vst

I will often add or remove plugins from the original folder and not necessarily remember to create an alias, or remove ones that link to now non-existent files.

I would love to have a script (or several scripts) to compare the contents of /Library/Audio/Plug-ins/VST and ~/Documents/VST/ (including its subdirectories) and then do these two things:

  • If any files in the former don't have aliases, create them in an "unsorted" subfolder
  • If any aliases in the latter refer to non-existent files, move them to the trash.

Is this possible? I'm thinking it might have a little bit of extra complexity because it's not an exact replica?

Thanks!

Can't delete corrupted .png.icloud in MacBook Pro M1

Posted: 23 Oct 2021 12:49 PM PDT

Recently one of my friends sent me some screenshot files from WhatsApp and I downloaded it to my MacBook, those files were screenshot.png.icloud files. Once they are on my downloads folder, I can't open, copy, move or delete those files. When I try to delete these files, I get this error message "The operation can't be completed because an unexpected error occurred (error code -50).". I can open, copy, move, delete every other files, but not .png.icloud files. Since those images can't be opened, I think they are corrupted. But those files can't be even deleted.

Solutions I tried which non of them worked,

  • Restarted the MacBook and tried deleting the files and didn't work.
  • Restarted MacBook in Safe Boot and tried but didn't work.
  • Created, a different administrator account and tried to access the my account's download folder but I couldn't get access to the download folder from that account.
  • Did a first aid check on Macintosh HD from Disk Utility and no error's identified.

This should be a bug in macOS 11.6 as I think. Does any one know a work around for this issue. Or maybe how to force delete it or something similar ?

Hardware - MacBook Pro M1, 1TB, 16GB Software - macOS Big Sur Version 11.6

I need to retrieve my password to get administrator access back in macOS High Sierra [duplicate]

Posted: 23 Oct 2021 01:49 PM PDT

I have a MacBook Pro that I have forgotten my administrator password to. I believe I last logged into it in 2018, so I am still using macOS High Sierra because I can't upgrade without being in the Admin setting.

I have still been able to work some on my Mac because my son helped me set up another user account for myself back then.

I have tried with Apple Assistance in the past when I still had my 3 year coverage Service Plan upon purchase of my Mac, but we could not get in then either.

I need to add a DAW to my computer for making music, as well as, connect my other music producing and recording equipment for which I bought my Mac for.

How to find out what app owns a menu bar item?

Posted: 23 Oct 2021 12:11 PM PDT

One of the items in my menu bar is just blank. Totally transparent. How do I find out which app/program owns it?

FileVault users who are unable to delete files by shell command from Terminal Recovery Mode, here's what to do

Posted: 23 Oct 2021 02:50 PM PDT

This solution applies to FileVault users who are unable to modify permissions of pesky directories (file folders) or files themselves, in order to delete them.

Working with Terminal while in Recovery Mode is required. However, you are still able to access the contents of this thread from within there, which Jean shows how to do, below.

All: please edit if I forgot anything. Here are the steps

  1. Open Terminal
  2. Drag, from the Finder, the file(s) or directories you wish to delete. Drop the folder into Terminal. This will simply make the path of the file(s) or folder(s) visible. Write this down, if necessary, as the path to the file/folder you wish to delete, must be entered entered manually (into Terminal) upon booting your computer into Recovery Mode.
  3. Write down your Stack Exchange username and password
  4. Boot in Recovery Mode by holding Command + R from a cold boot
  5. Click on your username (Big Sur), enter your password, then click Next to ultimately enter into Recovery Mode. (This step might be unique to FileVault users).
  6. Click Utilities (top menu), then select Terminal.
  7. Enter Command + N to produce two working Terminal windows.
  8. From the Terminal prompt, type /Applications/Safari.app/Contents/MacOS/safari (this is case-sensitive)
  9. When Safari loads, enter https://apple.stackechange.com and fill-in your username and password retained from Step 1 (this entire step, is only to ask for help if you get stuck)
  10. Locate the Disk ID for your drive labeled APFS Volume ⁨Macintosh HD - Data⁩ by entering, from the command line; diskutil list internal [enter]
  11. Now proceed-on to the steps defined by Jean_JD in the solution just below, with the green check. The first command will require you to apply the Disk ID you acquired through Step #8 (for me, this was "disk3s5" but for you, it likely will be different)

Using Terminal in Recovery Mode to Delete files or directories using -rm command (not working)

Posted: 23 Oct 2021 01:43 PM PDT

I use File Vault, if that matters.

Goal: use Recovery Mode to inoculate a folder on my desktop called Applications, which I did not place there.

Recovery mode attempts to delete were fruitless "no directory found" was the common response to these various commands (note, the 2nd-to-last had a typo and was therefore re-executed below it).

enter image description here

Edit: Details for context:

  1. The directory folder is named Applications. I never made this directory--it just showed up on my desktop well over two years ago.
  2. Trying to delete the directory from within Finder ⟩ Desktop, results in the Core Audio sound called "Boop."
  3. Unable to change permissions on the directory or files.
  4. Previous attempts to delete the directory from within Terminal, using various rm and rm -r commands, did not work.

How can I copy an MP4 to my Apple TV and play it locally without the Apple TV Mac app?

Posted: 23 Oct 2021 07:22 PM PDT

I want to play an MP4 clip on loop on my Apple TV (4th gen). But I want to do this in an area where the Wi-Fi signal is spotty (ruling out AirPlay). Apparently the Apple TV Mac app supports copying of MP4 files to the Apple TV, but Catalina is required, and I have reasons not to update to Catalina.

I tried VLC for Apple TV, and it performed terribly. It couldn't even cache a 100MB MP4 and loop it - kept freezing and spinning a progress wheel. (It also refuses to remember the credentials to connect to my local network, which while not a deal-breaker, is very annoying.)

So what other options are there? Thanks.

Can you update an iPhone from an .ipsw without losing all settings?

Posted: 23 Oct 2021 06:03 PM PDT

I want to upgrade an iPhone SE (1st gen) from iOS 14.3 to 14.8, not iOS 15.

(Evidently, Apple added the code that allows you to stay on the iOS 14 track at a later date, as it only shows options for upgrading to iOS 15.)

I've downloaded the correct .ipsw file and verified the sha1 checksum on theiphonewiki.com.

Will restoring from that wipe all the settings? (apps, network, home screen layout etc. etc.) and if so, is there any way I can back the settings up first? Remember I'm upgrading (from 14.3 to 14.8), not downgrading, should that make a difference…

(I am currently running iTunes on macOS Mojave.)

Thanks.

How can I persuade macOS finder to start when normal methods fail?

Posted: 23 Oct 2021 04:03 PM PDT

Scenario:

  1. Recently re-booted macOS 11.6 (but happens from time to time over last few years). Spinning beach ball in all Finder windows.
  2. right-click Finder icon in dock and select Relaunch. Finder windows disappear but don't reopen.
  3. Click Finder icon in dock, and little light comes on for 0.5 sec and then turns off. No windows open.
  4. Try command line open .. Nothing happens.

What else can I try short of rebooting?

Clarifications for a controlled upgrade of a VirtualBox-ed Catalina

Posted: 23 Oct 2021 09:09 PM PDT

For some tests, I need to deploy a precise setup: MacOS 10.15.4 with Xcode 12.3. My MacMini 2018/2020 is running 10.15.5 with VirtualBox 6.1.12. I have a running VM with 10.15.0 which I snapshot after installation. My plan was to then do a manual upgrade to 10.15.4 thanks to the corresponding combo update, as I do not want to jump to the latest Catalina version.

The process of the manual update is to mount the dmg file, which then shows the pkg file that starts the upgrade process when run, and asks to reboot at some point to finalize everything. The reboot doesn't take me to the upgrade process, but back to the 10.15.0.

There are many blog posts and guides regarding what to do when you go through the more classical path of having an update be downloaded to /Applications/Install macOS xxx.app.

My guess is that at some point, both ways of upgrading follow the same process (eg reboot to some kind of "upgrade partition" that will overwrite the OS files, reboot to upgraded OS). I would like clarifications on the parts where these upgrade paths differ, so that I can troubleshoot what is preventing me from reaching 10.15.4.

In the past, I did similar things with 10.14 and my notes on the topic don't show such an issue (rather issues with lack of APFS support in VirtualBox at that time). In particular, I think the partition layout has changed since then.

Essentially, what I tried so far:

  • start manual upgrade process through the .pkg, reboot
  • interrupt boot by hammering Esc, reach some kind of grey and blue boot manager (is that VBox or Apple stuff? this is not the VBox EFI shell, there is a text-based UI menu with "Device Manager"/"Boot Manager"/"Boot Maintenance Manager")
  • explore partitions, looking for an EFI boot file (I spotted the recovery one, can't find the "regular" one nor the "upgrade" one)
  • boot

For example, I wonder if the pkg is partially extracted and that I am supposed to find a boot.efi somewhere on the "System Data" partition. If so, where should I look for it? Do I have a more "sysadmin" way of deploying this upgrade, in particular without reboot?

SSD issue on macbook pro

Posted: 23 Oct 2021 07:04 PM PDT

I tried to install FreeBSD on a Macbook pro 2015(early) and it totally formatted my SSD.

When I tried to rollback to macOS from the recovery menu, I cant see my SSD(although the laptop is working with freeBSD).

Is there a way to hard format the disk to the apple file system instead of trying to find my way around with the recovery menu?

Essentially, I want to make the SSD visible to the recovery menu so I can go back to macos.

Thank you for your time!

iMovie does not see my Mini DV tapes

Posted: 24 Oct 2021 12:06 AM PDT

I am trying to import Mini DV on my 2020 MacBook Pro. My camera is a 22 year old Sony HDR-HC7E. I have a 400 to 800 Firewire cable, and 2 Apple adaptors - Firewire 800 to Thunderbolt 2 and Thunderbolt 2 to 3. I have tried using iMovie which sees that a camera is plugged in but cannot import the video. I have also tried LifeFlix and it did not import the video either. My Sony camcorder is not on the list of camcorders supported by iMovie. Is there another software I could use to capture my videos?

Can people access my iphone data by opening it up

Posted: 23 Oct 2021 11:06 PM PDT

My iphone is faceid and pin protected. My apple id is two step authentication on.

It's not working now, so I sent it to a repair man to fix. However, If he opens up the phone, and takes out the storage chip. Can he use that storage on another phone of his ?

iPad Not connecting to MacBook Air via USB

Posted: 23 Oct 2021 05:03 PM PDT

I have a 6th generation iPad, and a Macbook Air late 2015. Up until today, I've had minor issues connecting it via USB (such as the charge cutting in and out), but nothing I haven't been able to get by. Today, my iPad is not connecting at all.

So when I plug in my iPad to my Mac via USB, nothing happens. It is not charging nor is it connected. I cannot mirror it via iMovie or zoom.

I have tried the following:

Many different USB wires (They all connect my phone no problem, but not my iPad)

Cleaning the charging port with a toothpick.

Restarting both devices.

Also do note: if I plug my iPad into the wall, it charges immediately. I don't need my iPad to charge, I just need it to be connected so I can mirror it. This is extremely important for my job. Does anyone have any advice?

Thanks!

Recurring system.log process: "com.apple.dpd: Service exited with abnormal code: 75" - Catalina 10.15.7

Posted: 23 Oct 2021 03:02 PM PDT

I've been trying to remove this weird recurring process that happens every second in my system.log:

Sep 27 23:45:12 User-iMac com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] (com.apple.dpd[1749]): Service exited with abnormal code: 75  Sep 27 23:45:12 User-iMac com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] (com.apple.dpd): Service only ran for 0 seconds. Pushing respawn out by 1 seconds.

It'll also randomly throw this SIGKILL message:

Sep 27 23:51:14 User-iMac com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] (com.apple.mdworker.shared.05000000-0200-0000-0000-000000000000[2434]): Service exited due to SIGKILL | sent by mds[122]

I've tried a few things so far:

  1. Disabled SIP in recovery mode, ran sudo mount -uw / in terminal after booting and removed the com.apple.dpd.plist file from System/Library/LaunchDaemons
  2. Re-formatted my hard drive and did a fresh install of Catalina. Repeated the above step.

I've been Googling non-stop so has anyone experienced this or know how to fix it? Thanks!

kernel_task uses up over 50% cpu usage until I open Activity Monitor

Posted: 23 Oct 2021 10:11 PM PDT

My mac is slower than it used to be a week ago. I may have downloaded some sort of malware, but I did a Malwarebytes scan and it found absolutely nothing on my computer. I also personally scanned through all the files and found nothing suspicious.

The problem is that when I open Activity Monitor, it displays a very high cpu usage for a second, then it immediately goes down. I have seen examples of this where the virus only activates when the cpu usage is not shown.

I am completely up to date with my OS and software updates, so I am very certain that the operating system itself is not the problem.

Dial long USSD code on iPhone

Posted: 23 Oct 2021 01:08 PM PDT

I am trying to dial a USSD code like this: 

*222*88*56167828873588501034*123*344*6842371612#

But when I press the call button nothing happens, however if I delete the # character at the end, the iPhone tries to call by an instant and then the call ends.

Some shorter USSD codes can be dialed, for example:

*222*88*8202117*04450*234567#

I need suggestions to force long USSD code to be dialed and to know if there is any way to program it in Swift, in that case I could make an app that forces the iphone to dial the codes.

AppleScript : do JS on different Safari windows

Posted: 23 Oct 2021 08:05 PM PDT

I'm using some script which basically get text from safari, click button and fill up textfield.

e.g :

tell application "Safari"      set texttograb to do JavaScript "document.getElementsByClassName('the_variable_as_text')[0].value;" in document 1      do JavaScript "document.getElementsByClassName('text-entry')[0].value=" & quoted form of myText in last tab of window 1      do JavaScript "document.getElementsByClassName('Approve-button')[0].click();" in last tab of window 1  end tell

This work perfectly but I have a change in my workflow and I need to use different safari window.

How can I refer one javascript to one specific safari window and the other to a different window. Especially when some tab might have the same URL/Name ?

I remember seeing that a while back (when the tab happen to have the same name but I never manage to run a script which refer to the window id

Otherwise I suppose I can use another web browser (e.g one safari the second safari technology preview) as a workaround but that not really ideal and limit to two windows

any idea how can I found the window ID and refer to it in AppleScript/JS ?

Keyboard for IPA, open back rounded vowel "ɒ"

Posted: 23 Oct 2021 01:35 PM PDT

I need to write/modify a keynote using many characters from the international phonetic alphabet (IPA). Currently, I am doing this on an iPad within Keynote.

I started by copying and pasting the characters, since many of them don't appear while keeping press a key like for example the "Open back rounded vowel a" ɒ.

Is there any keyboard that could be used in order to allow entering these characters by just keeping pressed key a?

Is there Spotify-Connect-Equivalent functionality for Apple Music?

Posted: 23 Oct 2021 12:18 PM PDT

I have an Apple Music subscription and iTunes 12.2 on an HTPC (Windows) which his my primary music player. I want to use my iPhone to control what I play. I've tried the Apple Remote app, which works, but it only allows me to choose music that I've added to my library. It does not allow me to look up an arbitrary song from the cloud (whatever the term for this is - it's the functionality under the "New" section of iTunes on OSX) and play it from the Remote. If I want to do that I have to do it directly on HTPC, which is not acceptable.

Basically I just want Spotify Connect functionality for Apple Music. If it's from the Remote app, great. If it's from the Music app, great. What has been the most successful approach from others with a similar need?

Uninstalling macOS App Extensions from System Preferences

Posted: 23 Oct 2021 10:58 PM PDT

I'm a developer, but it is more of a user-centric question.

How can one "unregister" a Finder Sync (or any other, presumably) OS X / macOS App Extension so that it disappears from System Preferences > Extensions?

I've removed the app that's hosting it (FinderSyncTest), but it still shows here:

How to remove 10.10 Application Extension

How can I remove a VPN service when the remove button is disabled?

Posted: 23 Oct 2021 01:36 PM PDT

I added a VPN config. Now I want to remove it, but the - button is gray and disabled.

I checked some answers from this Apple Support Communities thread:

In Terminal: networksetup -listallnetworkservices
In Terminal: networksetup -removenetworkservice networkservice
In Terminal: networksetup -listallnetworkservices

…but I cannot remove all.

How can I fix this issue?

Software Screen Tinting, or Colour Overlay for Mac Users with Dyslexia

Posted: 23 Oct 2021 11:15 PM PDT

There are students at the school I work at who are dyslexic, and have the specific strand of dyslexia which doesn't deal well with black text on a white background. One way you overcome this with print is you put a coloured film over the text you're reading - and it really amazing how it improves their comprehension and their fluency (you can see an example of the overlay here).

I'm looking for a way to 'tint' the screen with software in the same manner on the mac. There is a windows solution, and a paid solution, but I'm looking for a free, cheap or built in way to achieve the same result. I've googled, and found a couple discussions but no solution.

Are any of you aware of any software or system preferences I can use to either:

  • tint the whole screen a colour (ideal)

  • change the background colour of windows / documents to one similar to the tint (better than nothing)

  • achieve a comparable result.

If you have dyslexia and have found a workaround for this challenge I'd be really grateful for your input as well!

I thought that this would be achievable with the color setting in System Preferences but I don't think it allows the tinting sense. I might be wrong though.

Thanks for your help!
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