Monday, March 7, 2022

Recent Questions - Ask Different

Recent Questions - Ask Different

Application for continuous decibel measurement [closed]

Posted: 07 Mar 2022 12:35 AM PST

Anybody heard about an iOS app that allows for continuous measurement of noise level (in decibels presumably) that allows to export the results of the measurement? I'm thinking about a graph/raw data export of noise levels over longer periods of time (hours).

Windows move to different displays and Spaces whenever Mac goes to sleep

Posted: 06 Mar 2022 09:14 PM PST

This is a problem I've experienced in the past, but it seems to have gotten much, much, much worse under Monterey. It's a fairly simple problem: Whenever my computer wakes from sleep, none of my windows are in the places I left them. They sometimes move on the display they're supposed to be on, but more often, they move to other Spaces. If it helps, I use two large external displays on a MacBook Pro with the lid closed.

I've tried using Display Maid to save and restore window positions, and while this helps somewhat, it can only restore windows to their previous coordinates on the current screen. It has no knowledge of Spaces whatsoever.

Any ideas?

How does one find their DUID for IPv6 on MacOS?

Posted: 06 Mar 2022 06:54 PM PST

I recently was setting up IPv6 on my home network and while setting up several nodes noticed that the DHCPv6 server was using these DUID strings to identify clients as it assigned IPv6 IPs to the various hosts.

NOTE: DUID is the following:

The DHCP unique identifier (DUID) is used by a client to get an IP address from a DHCPv6 server. It has a 2-byte DUID type field, and a variable-length identifier field up to 128 bytes. Its actual length depends on its type. The server compares the DUID with its database and delivers configuration data (address, lease times, DNS servers, etc.) to the client.

Where can I find this on the client side via the CLI on MacOS?

References

How can I animate fill color in Keynote like it's in PowerPoint?

Posted: 06 Mar 2022 09:17 PM PST

I'm trying to fill color animation in Keynote since PowerPoint is really not smooth. Everything is good at the beginning but when I play with animation I found I can't find such an animation in Keynote. I can't believe Keynote does not support this function. This is what I am trying to implement:

enter image description here

I don't use gifs because I need to control the step of color changing. It's easy to implement this in PowerPoint by using fill-color animation. What is the corresponding feature in Keynote?

I'm currently using two shapes with different colors to archive this effect, but it's not intuitive.

Stop Safari omnibar suggesting website root

Posted: 06 Mar 2022 05:46 PM PST

How can I make Safari's omnibar take me to https://www.evernote.com/client/web (for example) instead of https://www.evernote.com/ when I type evern into the omnibar and press enter.

At the moment, even though I purposefully deleted it from my history, it takes me to evernote.com (the homepage of that website) instead of to my most frequently-accessed page and the page I would like the suggestion to land me on.

Option and command key are switched for a keyboard on my mac?

Posted: 06 Mar 2022 01:27 PM PST

I just connected a keyboard I haven't used in a while. For some reason the option and command keys are suddenly switched.

I went into settings > Keyboard > Modifier Keys and everything is at default (nothing is swapped). I need to swap them in the modifier keys setting in order for them to be unswapped (i.e. I need to set cmd -> opt and opt -> cmd in the settings in order for cmd = cmd and opt = opt).

I'm on macos monterey 12.2.1 and use a ERGO K860 Keyboard.

Any ideas what the issue is?

Pasting UTF-8 into Terminal (zsh) does something weird

Posted: 06 Mar 2022 04:28 PM PST

Is there an environmental setting that makes pasting text into Terminal work differently from typing it in directly?

I reported this as a bug, but maybe there's some environmental setting.  After the first failure, I put the command in a script to send them as a demo, but it worked when I ran the script.

The command is

echo "ΕΡΤΥΙΟΚΗΑΖΧΒΝΜ" | tr [:upper:] [:lower:]

The string is Greek letters typed with the keyboard set to Greek.  Behavior is the same whether I use the keys and fingers or the Keyboard Viewer and mouse.

locale is en_US.UTF-8 and TextEdit is set to always use UTF-8. I put the command in TextEdit, copied it to clipboard, and pasted into Terminal (with stdin containing the Greek string). Result:

zsh: no matches found: [:upper:]

If I swap the classes, I get

zsh: no matches found: [:lower:]

If I save the file from TextEdit, give it a chmod 700, and run it, it does what it should, no error message.

If I change the command to convert Greek to Latin with

echo "ΕΡΤΥΙΟΚΗΑΖΧΒΝΜ" | tr "ΕΡΤΥΙΟΚΗΑΖΧΒΝΜ" "EPTYIOKHAZXBNM"

(instead of using classes), then it works pasted or in script.

If I type echo "" | od -xc and paste the Greek between the quote marks, I see that the characters are not ASCII. So Paste from clipboard must be doing something other than changing the characters.

NOTES:

(1) the tr command fails only when pasted and it contains neither = nor ?, so escaping those is not a solution, and this is this is not a duplicate of zsh: no matches found

(2) It's plausible that zsh might treat [:xxx:] differently from bash, but what we have here is zsh/Terminal treating pasted text differently from typed in text.

Replaced Macbook Pro 13 2014 battery but lost some keyboard functions (1QAZ, backspace button and lower brightness)

Posted: 06 Mar 2022 07:14 PM PST

I replaced my MacBook Pro 13" (2014) battery but when I turned my MacBook on all was good except that I lost the functionality of 1, Q, A, Z, Backspace, and Lower Brightness keys. I went back several times to detach and reattach the keyboard ribbon but it has not helped.

I have done a PRAM, AHT, SMC, and Apple diagnostics. Even downloaded a keyboard remapping programme. Nothing has worked. I am sure that the keyboard ribbons are securely connected so unsure what this issue is.

I have assignments due and having to carry an external keyboard is a pain. Any help would be appreciated.

Waking up iPhone causes the alarm's volume to reduce after a few seconds

Posted: 06 Mar 2022 10:11 PM PST

I'm using iPhone 12 with iOS 15.2, and I have set alarms with custom ringtones from the music library which is synced from my laptop (macOS 12). When the alarm is triggered and the ringtone starts playing, if I tap the screen to wake up the iPhone, the ringtone's volume reduces after a few seconds. If I leave it alone, the alarm will altogether stop after 15 (or is it 30?) minutes. These behaviors are 100% reliable.

How can I modify these default behaviors? I.e. How can I set the reduction of volume and the timeout of alarms?

Mapping OPTION + MINUS key in skhd

Posted: 07 Mar 2022 12:14 AM PST

I would like to map out the key combination Opt+- to shift focus to another monitor using yabai using skhd. Something like this:

alt - MINUS : yabai -m display --focus recent

However, I have not been able to figure out what to put in for "MINUS". I know that skhd can take keycodes as arguments. However, I'm not sure how to get the keycode for -. I used the Key Codes application and put in the values I got there but none seem to work.

Key Down      Characters: -      Unicode:        45 / 0x2d      Keys:       -      Key Code:   27 / 0x1b      Modifiers:  256 / 0x100

Disable Fn + C OSX Monterey using Karabiner elements

Posted: 06 Mar 2022 10:20 PM PST

I'm an emacs user. I personalized my .emacs' file to uses Fn+C + C (C-c C-c)to evaluate buffers (more confortable for me); however, OSX Monterrey uses Fn+C to open Control Center, so I cannot run my emacs buffers. I didn't find any solution to disable Fn+C, so I'm trying with Karabiner-Elements, but it seems this only remap the key combination. Is it possible to remove the Fn+C combination for any OSX instruction and free it to be used only in emacs? Thanks

Here my config for the keys meta and control:

;; Change Meta for function  (setq mac-function-modifier 'control)  (setq mac-control-modifier 'meta)  (setq mac-option-modifier nil) ;; free key alt

enter image description here

How to manually delete Safari's DNS cache?

Posted: 06 Mar 2022 08:07 PM PST

Develop > Empty caches (cmd alt e) isn't clearing Safari's DNS cache.

I made some changes to /etc/hosts and those changes are reflected in all my other browsers, and ping and getent hosts, but Safari still loads the previous website.

I have also tried sudo killall -HUP mDNSResponder and that doesn't help Safari forget the previous address.

Finder icon thumbnails not showing

Posted: 06 Mar 2022 06:00 PM PST

This is a popular issue with new mac updates. I tried every possible tip for correcting it (deleting quicklook files, viewer options, etc.) and FINALLY found the solution on another ask site.

I just made an account so I can't answer other versions of this question (How to fix Finder won't show icon previews, Why can't I see thumbnails in the finder?, Mac OS X icon preview or thumbnail problem, etc.) So this is me asking the question and providing the answer for others.

enter image description here

Image transcript: Basically I opened up Activity Monitor, searched for a process called "com.apple.quicklook.ThumbnailsAgent," forced quit that process, and Relaunched Finder in the Force Quit menu. Worked like a charm.

After upgrade from Big Sur 11.2 to Monterey 12.1 Safari ignores HOSTS

Posted: 06 Mar 2022 09:01 PM PST

For over 10 years I have been using the HOSTS file to block ads and other nasties on both macOS and Windows PCs. (Refer: https://winhelp2002.mvps.org/hosts.htm)

It has worked flawlessly, until the macOS upgrade to Monterey 12.1.

The new behaviour was noticed on both my MacBook Pro (early 2015) and Mac mini (2018).

With Firefox, ads continue to be blocked just as before.

I can now only block ads in Safari (15.2) by using a content blocker e.g. Adblock Plus.

It seems as though Safari on Monterey is ignoring the HOSTS file. I have tried restarts of Safari and the Mac and flushing the DNS cache, all to no avail.

As a test I added www.nytimes.com to the hosts file. On Firefox, the site doesn't appear to exist. Safari opens it as per usual - so it is definitely ignoring HOSTS.

Anyone else noticed this issue?

Update: the issue only occurs when Hide IP address for Trackers and Websites is selected; it does not occur when Hide IP address for Trackers only is selected.

My understanding is that browsers should never ignore HOSTS as they may be required for Intranet and other redirects/blocks.

iPhone shuts down and restarts when connected to charger

Posted: 06 Mar 2022 10:44 PM PST

My iPhone 11 pro stops on occasion after connection to the charger, shuts down and restarts after a few seconds. When it is done, the sim card is ready without the need for pin code. I am not sure when the behaviour has started to appear. iOS 15.1. What would be the cause and how can I fix it? Thank you very much for your assistance.

Thunderbolt monitor running at 30Hz when second monitor connected

Posted: 06 Mar 2022 04:01 PM PST

I have a macbook pro (15 inch, 2018, Radeon Pro 560X) to which I plug 2 external monitors: a LG 32UL950 4K over thunderbolt & an old ASUS full HD over HDMI. The problem is when the ASUS is connected then the LG is only running at 30Hz. enter image description here

When connected alone it's fine at 60Hz. enter image description here

This machine is supposed to support 4 4K@60Hz screens. Any idea how to fix this? (I can't confirm it but I think this issue started with one of the latest macOS updates, 11.3 or 11.4)

EDIT: Display preferences enter image description here

If my iCloud storage is full, does Reminders and Contacts still sync?

Posted: 06 Mar 2022 05:04 PM PST

I bought a new Macbook Air and my 5 GB free iCloud account is filling up quickly. Does Reminders and Contacts still sync even if I used up all my iCloud? If yes, what if I add photos to my 100's of task in reminders, will it still sync?

TouchID not filling passwords on Safari and just showing passwords stored inside Safari, not Keychain

Posted: 06 Mar 2022 07:07 PM PST

I am using BigSur for the first time today, after unboxing a new iMac M1.

I migrated all my stuff from an old iMac with Catalina, to this one, using a time machine backup.

The new machine is working well but everything related to passwords is a mess.

I have been using macOS for 15 years. I have billions of passwords for websites on keychain.

Now, on this new machine, when I visit a site that requires username/password, the field username appears filled but when I click on the password field, I am offered the option to unlock the passwords using touchID. This feature fails 100% of the time. If instead of using TouchID I type my mac password I see only the passwords stored inside safari, not those on Keychain. But the keychain passwords are there.

Any way to make this work as before?

Show telephone symbol in Calendar when using arbitrary video conferencing tools

Posted: 06 Mar 2022 03:00 PM PST

Due to the current situation I'm using a lot of video conferencing software to meet with other people.

I organise my daily schedule using Apple Calendar Version 11.0 and noticed that when I'm using a Zoom link as the location for an event, a nice telephone symbol appears. When clicking on it I get redirected to the said link and can conveniently open Zoom.

enter image description here

However, when I use less popular video conferencing tools (e.g. https://bigbluebutton.org/) this doesn't work.

enter image description here

Is there a way to achieve the same behaviour for less popular tools as for e.g. Zoom?

Attach unique attachment to email using apple script to send email to different users

Posted: 06 Mar 2022 11:04 PM PST

I'm new to apple script:

Does anyone have an example of using an AppleScript to send individual emails with unique attachments for each email using an excel list? (Lots of examples out there sending emails with an attachment, but no one seems to have done it with different attachments for each mail???)

Basically I have an email list in excel which holds all email addresses and file names

and

a Folder with each excel file in it.

I want to send the email to user in email list and attach file to email and on a loop until complete. Each person should receive the same email but will have different file attached.

Can someone provide example please?

Dell Color Laser 1320c with Mac OS 10.15 Catalina: FX Docuprint Driver - Set Paper Tray option

Posted: 06 Mar 2022 10:06 PM PST

I followed the two answers from Dell Color Laser 1320c with Mac OS 10.15 Catalina: Filter failed including removing and re-adding the printer. These were very helpful - thank you! By using the FX Docuprint C525 A-AP v3.2 Driver software I can now print via the manual feed but not the paper tray.

In the print dialogue screen I did not see all the content from the previous post: enter image description here

Maybe I'm missing something in this Layout step? Maybe I need to be in "Admin" mode or something?

In the printer settings I can choose from:enter image description here

No matter the choice output only prints via the manual feed.

In the print job Presets from Pages I see that the Fuji Xerox is set for the alternate paper source. Maybe if this could be changed I'd be in business?

Thanks in advance for any insights and suggestions!

Using an sd card for extra space on bootcamp

Posted: 07 Mar 2022 12:06 AM PST

I finally got bootcamp working on my Mac so I could play windows steam games on it. The only problem is that I don't have enough storage on bootcamp to download games from steam and I ran out of space on my Mac to put more space on bootcamp. I bought a 64 gb sd card to fix this, but I can't figure out how to actually store the sd card storage on my mac. I converted the sd card to an external drive but that still didn't solve it because I can only partition the sd card and I can't add it to my mac's storage. I also can't add the external drive to my bootcamp storage, and whenever I try to use it on bootcamp (like installing steam on it or installing steam games) it won't work. Is there any way to just add the external drive to my main Mac storage or to the bootcamp storage?

Sorry for the long rant it's really frustrating me lol any help at all would be really appreciated!!

Can Adobe Photoshop Elements 2020 app in the App store construct and print multi month wall calendars?

Posted: 06 Mar 2022 02:04 PM PST

I have an iMac ( 2017 ) running Catalina 10.15. A year and half ago when I was running Mojave I purchased Adobe photoshop Elements 2019 directly from Adobe . The program was very glitchy but did function after a fashion.

When I upgraded to Catalina, Elements got even worse and the only solution Adobe wanted to offer was to get me to pay more money and then to continue to do so. When I bought Elements 2019 it was not available in the App store and now it is.

My question is this: is the ability to design and print the multipage wall calendars that are part of the Adobe purchased app, still available in the App store version?

How do I reorder the programs in the 'open with' window of a file?

Posted: 06 Mar 2022 03:14 PM PST

I want to reorder (not change the default program) the programs suggested in the menu when I click on 'open with' for a file.

I don't want to add or remove programs, just sort them for easier selection.

Is this possible natively or with another program or launcher?

Greyed out/inaccessible files on File Sharing server on Mac OS

Posted: 06 Mar 2022 07:36 PM PST

My company has a single file sharing Mac Pro computer that every user connects to. Occasionally a user will drop a file in a folder for another user to access, but the the files will be greyed out and are inaccessible to the other user, while a different user can see and access it as normal. Sometimes dropping a file will cause a user to just have spinning ball and will not drop.

It has worked well enough for a few months now, but this problems has been becoming more frequent.

Everyone, which is about 20 users all with iMac or Mac pros, connects to the file sharing Mac Pro using the same registered username and password. I have everyone connected via SMB. The file sharing Mac Pro has a Drobo via USB that hosts all the files. All the permissions are set to write and read for everyone.

Any idea on how to fix this? Do I have this setup correctly?

Is there an external SSD enclosure compatible with OWC Aura SSD?

Posted: 06 Mar 2022 10:44 PM PST

I have bought an OWC Aura SSD that I have used to expand the memory of my previous Macbook. Now, for various reasons, I would like to use the Aura SSD as an external drive. Is there any enclosure available which is compatible with it? Apparently, the Envoy enclosure it was delivered with is not - it is only intended to be used with the original Apple SSD. I found the following disclaimer in the product description:

"Important Note: The OWC Envoy enclosure has been specifically designed for use ONLY with the factory SSD found installed in Apple MacBook Air and MacBook Pro with Retina display mid-2013 and later models. Do NOT attempt to install or use the OWC Aura SSD in the Envoy as you can damage the Aura drive, the Envoy enclosure or both and such damage is not covered under warranty."

OWC Aura SSD product description

Copy & Paste from iPhone to Mac doesn't work (Universal Clipboard)

Posted: 06 Mar 2022 01:56 PM PST

Using macOS Sierra (latest 10.12.1) on iMac and iPhone (iOS 10), copy/paste (Universal Clipboard) doesn't work. All necessary connections and accounts are turned on and connected.

How to change keyboard type if that option is no longer visible?

Posted: 06 Mar 2022 11:34 PM PST

I am using an EU keyboard layout and the button below the ESC key is "double quotes" on OSX 10.10.3

Suddenly that key is automatically changed to the < >| key

I checked keyboard layout and it is correct.

I think the keyboard assistant (which asks you to press the button near the left shift) can solve this issue, but I can't find that utility. System Preferences > Keyboard no longer shows Change Keyboard Type.

How can I find/open that Keyboard Assistant or make that Change Keyboard Type button appear again?

Autocomplete for MacOS

Posted: 06 Mar 2022 11:50 PM PST

What applications can add a general autocomplete feature to all text fields in MacOS?

There're text expanders, like the built-in one and TextExpander, but they don't suggest things while typing and do not learn from the previous input.

iOS has both of these features, but I didn't find similar apps for MacOS.

How to view Root directory and subdirectories in Finder?

Posted: 06 Mar 2022 07:12 PM PST

Apparently, the Macintosh HD icon on the desktop points to the root directory but it is not showing all the contents.

Some of the files and directories are the same as those which I see when I perform an ls on / dir in Terminal, but most other directories like /usr, /bin, etc are not visible.

I'm assuming that for security, Mac OS X isn't showing the rest of the files and directories. Is there a way to change this behavior so as to make it like we view root folder in Linux?

Edit: just found the following here:

The Finder and the Terminal show different contents for the root directory. Some items in the root directory are not visible in the Finder. This reduces visual clutter and enhances simplicity. If you are familiar with a UNIX-style command line you can use Terminal to view all items in a directory.

As per this note, Terminal has to be used to view all the items. So, what do others do? Use terminal or there is some other way?
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