Switcher with questions (loooong post)

[John Jacob]

Hi folks,

I am the proud owner of a new (bought at the end of June) 12"
Powerbook with a combo-drive. WHile I am EXTREMELY happy with my
purchase (all the more so since, contrary to the rumour mills, no
updated Powerbooks have been released yet ;-), I do have a few vexing
questions that I would appreciate assistance on.

1. Mount points
Being an old UNIX geek, the first thing I did with my Powerbook was to
repartition and reinstall Mac OS X, without Classic (which I have no
need for). My original idea was to set up the following partition
scheme.

Partition 1: / 32 GB
2: /Users 5 GB
3: /var 2 GB
4: /tmp 1 GB

Or something like that. However, I couldn't figure out a way to mount
a partition at a mount point other than /Volumes/..., and I finally
had to install Mac OS X on one big partition. Is there a way to mount
a partition at an arbitrary mount point in OS X? This would be great
because I could reformat and reinstall everything when Panther is
released without hosing my user stuff in my home directory.

On a related note, there is a link at [url]http://www.osxfaq.com[/url] about
somebody's guide to creating swap files on a dedicated partition, but
the link seems to be down. Anybody know a mirror?

2. Admin user
Since I am leery of doing all my regular work from an Administrator
account, I created the following user accounts on my Powerbook.

a. Short name - admin; Long name - System Administrator. Admin account
b. Short name - john; Long name - John Jacob. Regular user account
c. Short name - guest; Long name - Some Idiot. Restricted user account

I do my regular work from my "john" account, and use the "admin"
account to install software. When I install software or try to change
certain system preferences, I get an authentication dialog box that
asks me to enter an administrator user name and password. By default,
this authentication dialog would display the long name of the admin
account ("System Administrator"). When I entered the password,
authentication would fail. But if I changed the user name to the short
name ("admin") and entered the same password, authentication would
succeed!! This had me stumped for a while.

One day I discovered the explanation when I was looking around the
"Netinfo Manager" application. I saw that "root" had a "realname"
field with the value "System Administrator", and needless to say,
"admin" also had a "realname" field with the same value. root is not
enabled on my powerbook (I believe it is disabled by default, and I
have never tried to enable it).

So my question is, can I SAFELY change the value of the "realname"
field for either "root" or "admin"?

3. X11 console
I have installed Apple's X11.app (beta 3). From an xterm, if I type
the following command (may be slightly different since I am posting
from my WinBlows PeeCee at work)...

setenv MANPATH /usr/man:/usr/local/man:/usr/X11R6/man:/usr/share/man:/Developer/Tools/ManPages;
xman

I can start the "XMan" application. However, I have configured the
exact same command in the "Applications" menu of X11.app, and when I
try to start XMan through this menu, nothing happens!! Does X11.app
have a console or something that I can view to see what is going
wrong?

4. Login screen background
Is there a way to change the background of the login screen from the
default (ugly) blue background to something of my own choice? I have
been able to do this in WinBlows by changing registry settings; it
would be nice if the Mac let me do this too.

5. Sleep password
Is there a way to force my Powerbook to ask for a password upon being
woken up from sleep?

6. Battery calibration
When I purchased my Powerbook, I calibrated the battery as explained
in the manual. A week or two later, I visited my parents for a
weekend, and I took my Powerbook with me, but I forgot to take my
power adapter. The Powerbook was fully charged when I went to visit my
parents, and I ran it off the battery until the battery got completely
drained and it turned itself off - effectively calibrating the battery
one more time. Is this harmful or will this reduce battery life in any
way?

From battery, with the screen at minimum brightness, volume at
minimum, and processor speed "reduced" in energy saver options, I get
an estimate of 5 hours and 30 minutes of battery life with the battery
fully charged. Within a few minutes, this goes down to the low
4:10's... It then goes down linearly and around two hours later, it
shows battery at approximately 55% and just over two hours of life
remaining. I haven't measured further than this. Is my battery life
similar to what everyone else gets?

7. Hostname and domains
I have set the rendezvous name of my Powerbook to "pleaides". Now when
I open a terminal, I see an environment variable HOSTNAME set to
pleiades.local. Is this the hostname of my Powerbook? What does .local
mean? What are domains? Also, how can I remove the ".local" from the
HOSTNAME environment variable for use in my prompt? - afraid I am not
that great a Unix geek :(

8. Newsreader woes
I am located in Bangalore, India and I use dialup to access the
internet from my Powerbook. Unfortunately, I can get downloads of only
3 KBps (bytes, not bits) with the internal modem. I have two
newsreaders - MT-NewsWatcher and Thoth. With both of these, when I set
up my news server, they start to download te list of newsgroups, and
are still downloading even after over two hours. I can't stay
connected for longer than this since I am staying with my cousins and
can't tie up their telephone line for too long. Even after I
disconnect, both Thoth and MT-NewsWatcher remain in a hung state and I
have to kill them. When I try to start them up again, they remain in a
hung state until I delete their preferences. Is there any way I can
use these newsreaders without a fill list of newsgroups, or am I stuck
with groups.google.com until I can move into my own apartment and get
a DSL connection?

9. Best magazine
Since I am limited to slow download speeds for the time being, it is
difficult for me to download new / updated software for my Powerbook.
I purchased my Powerbook in Canada, and I had burned a CD of useful
software while there, and that is all the software that I have on my
Powerbook. I know many Mac magazines come with CDs of Mac software for
subscribers. Any recommendations on the best deal? MacFormat costs 78
UK pounds for 13 issues, and each issue comes with 2 CD's. Which are
the other Mac magazines, and how do they compare, value wise?

Thanks in advance for all answers ...

- John

[Bev A. Kupf]

On 6 Aug 2003 00:19:09 -0700,
John Jacob (johnjacob@usa.com) wrote:

> 3. X11 console
> I have installed Apple's X11.app (beta 3). From an xterm, if I type
> the following command (may be slightly different since I am posting
> from my WinBlows PeeCee at work)...
>
> setenv MANPATH /usr/man:/usr/local/man:/usr/X11R6/man:/usr/share/man:/Developer/Tools/ManPages;
> xman

Do the following. Create a file in your home directory (/Users/john) with
the following content:

#!/bin/csh
setenv MANPATH /usr/man:/usr/local/man:/usr/X11R6/man:/usr/share/man:\
/Developer/Tools/ManPages
/usr/X11R6/bin/xman

Save this file as xman.sh and make it executable (chmod +x xman.sh)

Now edit the X11 Applications menu and add the following item to it
Name: xman
Command: /Users/john/xman.sh
and then save your changes.

You should be able to launch xman selecting the xman item on the
Application menu. This works for me.

> 5. Sleep password
> Is there a way to force my Powerbook to ask for a password upon being
> woken up from sleep?

I haven't found a sleep wakeup password. You can set the screensaver
to require a password, and have the screensaver kick in at a shorter
interval than you have sleep kick in. That way when you wake from
sleep you'll be required to enter a password. However, this won't
work if you start sleep by selecting it from the Apple menu.

> 8. Newsreader woes
> Is there any way I can
> use these newsreaders without a fill list of newsgroups, or am I stuck
> with groups.google.com until I can move into my own apartment and get
> a DSL connection?

I don't know -- I use slrn from within Terminal, and I think you can
configure it to do this -- but I am not sure.

Bev
--
Bev A. Kupf
Bev's House of Pancakes

[Lambert Dickmeis]

In article <a13fe10a.0308052319.4d4f0e0e@posting.google.com >,
[email]johnjacob@usa.com[/email] (John Jacob) wrote:

> 5. Sleep password
> Is there a way to force my Powerbook to ask for a password upon being
> woken up from sleep?

The preferences panel Sleeptight will do that.

<http://versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/20244>
--
Lambert Dickmeis

[nosplam@yahoo.com]

> Jacob <johnjacob@usa.com> wrote:

> I know many Mac magazines come with CDs of Mac software for

> > subscribers.

Be careful in your expectations. Verify that the magazine subscription
includes the disk you see at the book store (in the plastic wrap).
For example, I subscribed to Mac Addict here in the States for about
$1.50 per issue. The bookstore price was about $7.00. My home
subscription did not include the monthly disk. I was disappointed
by this and cancelled my subscription the next year. Macworld was
the same way -- highly expensive, but with disk in the store.

[Kevin_Stevens@hotmail.com]

On Wed, 6 Aug 2003, John Jacob wrote:

> 1. Mount points
> Being an old UNIX geek, the first thing I did with my Powerbook was to
> repartition and reinstall Mac OS X, without Classic (which I have no
> need for). My original idea was to set up the following partition
> scheme.
>
> Partition 1: / 32 GB
> 2: /Users 5 GB
> 3: /var 2 GB
> 4: /tmp 1 GB
>
> Or something like that. However, I couldn't figure out a way to mount
> a partition at a mount point other than /Volumes/..., and I finally
> had to install Mac OS X on one big partition. Is there a way to mount
> a partition at an arbitrary mount point in OS X? This would be great
> because I could reformat and reinstall everything when Panther is
> released without hosing my user stuff in my home directory.

Yes. I didn't move the other system directories, but I created a Data
partition when I installed, and simply soft-linked /Users over there.
Works fine even when adding/deleting users or running permissions checks.

There *is* a way to have partitions show up other than that under
/Volumes, but I don't remember it offhand. Basically /Volumes is where
the automounter puts things, so you need to mount them manually (or in
NetInfo) if you want them elsewhere.

> So my question is, can I SAFELY change the value of the "realname"
> field for either "root" or "admin"?

Probably; I've certainly done it for user accounts. Make a separate
administrative user beforehand in case you get stuck.

> 4. Login screen background
> Is there a way to change the background of the login screen from the
> default (ugly) blue background to something of my own choice? I have
> been able to do this in WinBlows by changing registry settings; it
> would be nice if the Mac let me do this too.

Just rename the file - it's one of the Desktop backgrounds. I have mine
show up as the Jaguar pattern. ;)

> 5. Sleep password
> Is there a way to force my Powerbook to ask for a password upon being
> woken up from sleep?

Yes, in the Screen/Power settings just like Windows.

KeS

[nospam]

In article <pan.2003.08.06.16.26.59.237629@ix.netcom.com>, Patrick
Mills <plmills@ix.netcom.com> wrote:

> On Wed, 06 Aug 2003 02:37:52 -0700, nospam wrote:
>

> > In article <a13fe10a.0308052319.4d4f0e0e@posting.google.com >, John Jacob
> > <johnjacob@usa.com> wrote:

>

> >> 4. Login screen background
> >> Is there a way to change the background of the login screen from the
> >> default (ugly) blue background to something of my own choice? I have
> >> been able to do this in WinBlows by changing registry settings; it would
> >> be nice if the Mac let me do this too.

> >
> > /library/desktop pictures/aqua blue.jpg

>
> I have the same question as the OP, but this answer doesn't make sense to
> me. On my Powerbook, the above-referenced folder does indeed have the
> file you referenced ('aqua blue.jpg') but it also has *all* the available
> background pictures.
>
> What I and the OP want to know how to do is change the background for the
> *login* screen (not the background of the current user's Desktop).
>
> Is there a trick here that your answer contains that I'm not seeing?

no trick..i guess its not as obvious as i thought:)

the login screen background is /library/desktop pictures/aqua blue.jpg.
if you want a different image, then rename your new image to aqua
blue.jpg and replace the original file.

[jemmy ducks]

In article <ld-AA69C7.20465706082003@news.t-online.com>, Lambert
Dickmeis <ld@suespammers.org> wrote:

> However, when you
> sleep your machine by closing the lid of a powerbook, you're not asked
> for a password when you open it again. That's where SleepTight comes in,
> which I mentioned in my previous post.

Panther adds the ability to require a password for waking from sleep
(under the "Security" settings).

[Mark Conrad]

In article <a13fe10a.0308052319.4d4f0e0e@posting.google.com >, John
Jacob <johnjacob@usa.com> wrote:

> X11 console - -
> I have installed Apple's X11.app (beta 3)...<clipped>...

You might already have tried this, but if not it _might_ help you
with X11. From book "Dr. Mac" subtitle: "The OS X Files"

....bottom of page 568 -

"Go to fink.sourceforge.net and download and install fink. This
is a port of the debian dpkg manager which makes it _much_ easier to
do things that would otherwise be quite challenging, like compiling,
configuring, and installing the Xfree86 X11 system."

Mark-

[Patrick Mills]

On Wed, 06 Aug 2003 11:06:36 -0700, nospam wrote:

>>
>> What I and the OP want to know how to do is change the background for
>> the *login* screen (not the background of the current user's Desktop).
>>
>> Is there a trick here that your answer contains that I'm not seeing?

>
> no trick..i guess its not as obvious as i thought:)
>
> the login screen background is /library/desktop pictures/aqua blue.jpg. if
> you want a different image, then rename your new image to aqua blue.jpg
> and replace the original file.

Ah - now I see. Well -- that's *kind* of a trick, isn't it? :-)

Seems kind of a non-Macish kludge, but I suppose one could write a slick
little GUI to do the selection and swapping of files, to make it seem a
bit more friendly.

PLM

[John Jacob]

"Bev A. Kupf" wrote:

> "jemmy ducks" wrote:

> > "Lambert Dickmeis" wrote:

> >> However, when you
> >> sleep your machine by closing the lid of a powerbook, you're not asked
> >> for a password when you open it again. That's where SleepTight comes in,
> >> which I mentioned in my previous post.

> >
> > Panther adds the ability to require a password for waking from sleep
> > (under the "Security" settings).

>
> The vast majority of those who run OS X have version 10.2.x. For them
> looking for a password for waking from sleep under the Security settings
> is not an option *right now*. OTOH, using SleepTight is.
>
> As the author notes on this page:
> [url]http://www.ragingmenace.com/software/sleeptight/index.html[/url]
> SleepTight is for Jaguar users -- not Panther users.
>
> Bev

Thanks, I have 10.2.6 - unless you can get me Panther ;)

However, I realise I don't need SleepTight. I was under the impression
(stupid of me) that the only way to sleep my Powerbook was by
selecting "Sleep" from the Apple Menu - I didn't know I could make it
sleep just by closing the lid. Now that I know that, all I need to do
when I need to sleep my Powerbook is activate the screensaver by
moving th mouse to a corner, and then shut the lid. Hey presto, when I
open the lid again, my Powerbook asks for a password!!

Thanks everybody, for all the help!!

- John

[John Jacob]

"sam grey" wrote:

> "John Jacob" wrote:
>

> > 8. Newsreader woes
> > I am located in Bangalore, India and I use dialup to access the
> > internet from my Powerbook. Unfortunately, I can get downloads of only
> > 3 KBps (bytes, not bits) with the internal modem. I have two
> > newsreaders - MT-NewsWatcher and Thoth. With both of these, when I set
> > up my news server, they start to download te list of newsgroups, and
> > are still downloading even after over two hours. I can't stay
> > connected for longer than this since I am staying with my cousins and
> > can't tie up their telephone line for too long. Even after I
> > disconnect, both Thoth and MT-NewsWatcher remain in a hung state and I
> > have to kill them. When I try to start them up again, they remain in a
> > hung state until I delete their preferences. Is there any way I can
> > use these newsreaders without a fill list of newsgroups, or am I stuck
> > with groups.google.com until I can move into my own apartment and get
> > a DSL connection?

>
> The newsreader Halime (available at [url]www.versiontracker.com[/url]) *might* help
> you on this score. It's designed to be an offline newsreader so it might
> factor in such variables as you describe above. I've always found it to be
> a little more clunky compared to MT-Newswatcher, so I don't use it much,
> but you might check it out. It's freeware.
>
> If nothing else, using Halime, you can download articles to read offline so
> you're not tying up the phone by reading them in real time.

Thanks, I'll give Halime a try ...

[John Jacob]

[email]nosplam@yahoo.com[/email] wrote:

> > "John Jacob" wrote:
> > I know many Mac magazines come with CDs of Mac software for

> > > subscribers.

>
> Be careful in your expectations. Verify that the magazine subscription
> includes the disk you see at the book store (in the plastic wrap).
> For example, I subscribed to Mac Addict here in the States for about
> $1.50 per issue. The bookstore price was about $7.00. My home
> subscription did not include the monthly disk. I was disappointed
> by this and cancelled my subscription the next year. Macworld was
> the same way -- highly expensive, but with disk in the store.

Thanks for the heads up. I'll verify that before I subscribe.

- John

[D.F. Manno]

In article <58f7670d.0308060742.7f38eb15@posting.google.com >,
[email]nosplam@yahoo.com[/email] (nosplam@yahoo.com) wrote:

> > Jacob <johnjacob@usa.com> wrote:
> > I know many Mac magazines come with CDs of Mac software for

> > > subscribers.

>
> Be careful in your expectations. Verify that the magazine subscription
> includes the disk you see at the book store (in the plastic wrap).
> For example, I subscribed to Mac Addict here in the States for about
> $1.50 per issue. The bookstore price was about $7.00. My home
> subscription did not include the monthly disk. I was disappointed
> by this and cancelled my subscription the next year. Macworld was
> the same way -- highly expensive, but with disk in the store.

Macworld will not sell you a subscription with the CDs--the CDs are
strictly for newsstand sales.
--
D.F. Manno
[email]dommanno@netscape.net[/email]
"If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what
they do not want to hear." (George Orwell)

[Victor Eijkhout]

[email]nosplam@yahoo.com[/email] <nosplam@yahoo.com> wrote:

> I subscribed to Mac Addict here in the States for about
> $1.50 per issue. The bookstore price was about $7.00. My home
> subscription did not include the monthly disk.

Strange. I get a CD with each issue in the mail.

V.

--
mail me at lastname at cs utk edu

[D.F. Manno]

In article <1fzdcvq.q0gsgf1a2mgrfN%see.signature@for.address> ,
[email]see.signature@for.addr[/email]ess (Victor Eijkhout) wrote:

> [email]nosplam@yahoo.com[/email] <nosplam@yahoo.com> wrote:
>

> > I subscribed to Mac Addict here in the States for about
> > $1.50 per issue. The bookstore price was about $7.00. My home
> > subscription did not include the monthly disk.

>
> Strange. I get a CD with each issue in the mail.

MacAddict has two different subscription, one with CD and one without.
If you order your subscription through one of the discount services,
you get just the magazine, no disc (although you can upgrade the
subscription to receive the disc for $1 an issue).
--
D.F. Manno
[email]dommanno@netscape.net[/email]
"If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what
they do not want to hear." (George Orwell)

[garygorb]

In article <BB59EC3596681BB5ED@10.0.1.3>, Simon Slavin
<slavins@hearsay.demon.co.uk@localhost> wrote:

> In article <a13fe10a.0308052319.4d4f0e0e@posting.google.com >,
> [email]johnjacob@usa.com[/email] (John Jacob) wrote:
>

<snip>

> >HOSTNAME environment variable for use in my prompt? - afraid I am not
> >that great a Unix geek :(

>
> Names ending in .local are zeroconf (which Apple calls
> 'Rendezvous') domain names. Everything is working as
> designed and there is no cause for alarm.
>

`uname -n|cut -f1 -d.` gets you the hostname without ".local".

[Andy Mulhearn]

On Thu, 7 Aug 2003 6:44:50 +0100, John Jacob wrote
(in message <a13fe10a.0308062144.19bcac44@posting.google.com>) :

> "sam grey" wrote:

>> "John Jacob" wrote:
>>

>>> 8. Newsreader woes
>>> I am located in Bangalore, India and I use dialup to access the
>>> internet from my Powerbook. Unfortunately, I can get downloads of only
>>> 3 KBps (bytes, not bits) with the internal modem. I have two
>>> newsreaders - MT-NewsWatcher and Thoth. With both of these, when I set
>>> up my news server, they start to download te list of newsgroups, and
>>> are still downloading even after over two hours. I can't stay
>>> connected for longer than this since I am staying with my cousins and
>>> can't tie up their telephone line for too long. Even after I
>>> disconnect, both Thoth and MT-NewsWatcher remain in a hung state and I
>>> have to kill them. When I try to start them up again, they remain in a
>>> hung state until I delete their preferences. Is there any way I can
>>> use these newsreaders without a fill list of newsgroups, or am I stuck
>>> with groups.google.com until I can move into my own apartment and get
>>> a DSL connection?

>>
>> The newsreader Halime (available at [url]www.versiontracker.com[/url]) *might* help
>> you on this score. It's designed to be an offline newsreader so it might
>> factor in such variables as you describe above. I've always found it to be
>> a little more clunky compared to MT-Newswatcher, so I don't use it much,
>> but you might check it out. It's freeware.
>>
>> If nothing else, using Halime, you can download articles to read offline
>> so
>> you're not tying up the phone by reading them in real time.

>
> Thanks, I'll give Halime a try ...

Halime is free but still under development and as a result a bit unstable -
at least the lates rc is. If it barfs andn you haven't save, it loses all
context so you download all the messages again and have to find the ones you
haven't yet read.

I'm trying HogWasher at the moment and it's been solid as a rock and very
usable. Nice long eval period as well.

Andy

[John Jacob]

garygorb <ggorbet@houston.rr.com> wrote :

>
> `uname -n|cut -f1 -d.` gets you the hostname without ".local".

Works like a charm! Thanks!