Filed under: Features, Troubleshooting, Ask TUAW
Ask TUAW: External Front Row, iSight mirroring, booting from an external hd and more
It's time again for Ask TUAW, our weekly feature where you ask the questions and we make up the answers... er, I mean carefully research and determine the optimal solutions. This week we'll be tackling questions about using Front Row on an external display, mirroring on an iSight, multiple external displays on a MacBook, timezones in iCal, booting from an external hard drive, and more!As always readers' suggested answers are most welcome! Please leave your questions for next week in the comments.
PowerLlama asks
Every time I reboot my mac, I have a folder in my trash bin called "Recovered Files." What is recovering these files? Can I delete them? Is something messed up with my hard drive?
This Apple Support Doc has your answer. You probably don't need to worry as they're probably just the result of an application crash. In all likelihood you can just get rid of them, but I would suggest looking through them first to see if there's anything important. If not, just empty the trash and don't worry about it. It really unlikely that there's any kind of hardware problem.
Becky asks
Does anyone know of a piece of software that takes the current view from an iSight and
puts it in a window on the screen (not mirror reversed). Doesn't need to record video or do anything else: just needs to show what the camera sees. Both PhotoBooth and the Video Preview option of iChat show a mirror image. I'm a teacher, and I use my MacBook in class (hooked up to an LCD projector), and sometimes I want to demonstrate an action in real time - fold your paper here, push this button on your calculator, etc.
You need iGlasses ($9.95) from ecamm which has a mirror setting that will essentially undo the automatic mirroring. So if you install it and hit the checkbox the image will essentially be de-mirrored. This should work for nearly application that has a video interface.
Al asks
I am trying to use Front Row on a second, external display (tv). I want Front Row to start on that display rather than the primary (computer) one. I can't seem to find a way to achieve this though. Any suggestions? Apart from making the external display the primary one (with the menu bar).
The whole point of Front Row is to take over the display, so I don't think it's possible to do what you want. Might I suggest just using some other media software such as MediaCentral ($29.99), which supports using different window sizes. In fact, Pure Mac has a nice list of media center software that may be of interest to you.
Jonathan asks
I'm a Programmer and i live by a dual screen setup, however i have a problem. I've got 2 *19" displays (VGA & DVI) and a Macbook C2D 2.0Ghz. What is the best way to run both displays(spanning) from the macbook either directly or indirectly connected to it. Heres a few ideas i've seen already get a second machine connect the display to it, and and run a vnc type app, on the macbook and use the second machine as a client. matrox dual head 2 go, however this supports a max resolution of 2048768 not the 25601024 i need. Is there another solution, or do i need to drop bank on MBP?
The problem is the rather underpowered Intel GMA 950 graphics card in the MacBook. The Matrox is the only solution I know of, and if you check out the Matrox compatibility page you can see that only the MacBook Pro supports the resolution you want. If you have a second machine you might try ScreenRecycler, though I have never used it myself. Since you presumably are mostly displaying text it might work well for you particular application.
Wouter asks
I travel a lot and am working in different timezones. When I am in Europe I can set time settings to GMT +1 but then all my appointments in iCal move a couple of hours. It would be nice if there is some workaround so iCal neglects the timezones.
Well as your fellow reader Rich pointed out you can turn on iCal's timezone support in the Advanced Tab of iCal's preferences. If you activate that iCal will put a little drop-down menu in the top right of the interface that allows you to select a different time zone than the one the computer is set to.
KR asks
How can I run an OS off of my external firewire hard drive. I don't want to partition my local hard drive and run it via bootcamp, which I know would be the best option. So is there a way to install it on an external drive and boot it up from there.
Well it's easy to run OS X from an external hard drive. Just install it there (or make a bootable copy with something like SuperDuper). Then hold down the option key when starting your Mac and you'll be able to select the external hd. As far as Windows goes it's much harder. Officially, Windows does not support booting from an external hard drive, either FireWire or USB. Unofficially someone has gotten it to work with a USB 2.0 hard drive (not FireWire) and has posted instructions. It still requires you to install Boot Camp to prepare to Mac to use Windows at all, but it does apparently work. Obviously, I have not done this myself and so have no direct experience with this.
This information is provided for your entertainment. Neither TUAW nor this author can be held responsible for any problems arising from the use of the information provided here.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
jit82 said 8:29PM on 9-05-2007
Question for next week
What's the best way to access my mac from a windows computer in a remote location? I'm currently using logmein, but I wonder if there's some other VNC client I should use.
Also, how can I set up folder sharing with windows computers without the shared folder be my "public" folder? I have tried with "Sharepoints" but when someone in a pc tries to open my shared folder (other than the "Public" one) it asks them for my user password (that i don't want to share)
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Alan said 9:07PM on 9-05-2007
@jit82: You might try putting an alias the folder you _do_ want to share in your Public folder. Or, just use your Public folder, although I imagine you have your reasons not to.
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Adam said 10:00PM on 9-05-2007
You can set FrontRow to work on a second display by setting it as your primary display. Just go to system preferences, then displays, cick on the arrangement tab. Then drag the white bar from your main display to the other one (this reassigns the external as the primary display and it will have the finder and dock on it). When you open front row it will run off that display. When you unplug your computer from your TV it will default back to having the primary display be the only one connected. I dock my MacBook every day like this.
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Jay said 10:51PM on 9-05-2007
Hi, I'm reposting this from last week because I got the comment in earlier today, so it might've been too late to get an actual response.
Hi TUAW! I've been looking around for a simple solution to this problem, but so far I've had no luck.
I'm a terrible planner - I always seem to find myself agreeing to hang out with friends when I had already planned dinner with my girlfriend the week before for that same night. Either that, or with her teaching and going to grad school classes, I lose track of where she is at certain times of the day, and this sometimes leads to strife between us.
We both have MacBook Pros and use iCal as our primary calendars. Is there any way that we can sync up our calendars, to where I can open iCal on my computer and see what she has going on, and she can do the same thing for me? Is this a .Mac feature? Is there a way to do it outside of .Mac?
Thanks in advance...this could prevent a lot of problems in my relationship :)
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PowerLlama said 10:55PM on 9-05-2007
Hey, you answered my question. Thanks!
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joe said 11:55PM on 9-05-2007
Re: Becky's question and TUAW's answer...
Call me cheap, but I'd save my money and just use Quartz Composer. It's easy. Short answer:
In Quartz Composer, run a Video Input generator to a Sprite rendered, then set the Y Rotation in the Sprite renderer to 180. Voila.
Or, for the less-experienced, the long answer:
0) Start Quartz Composer. If it's not installed, I forget exactly how to do it... google for how to install it. (It comes on your OS X install disk, BTW)
1) Hit cancel when the wizard pops up asking you what you want to do.
2) In the 'search in libraries' box, search for 'video' and drag the generator called Video Input to the gridded area of the Editor window (not the checkerboarded Viewer window).
3) Do 'search in libraries' again for Sprite and drag the renderer Sprite to the right of where you dragged Video Input.
4) Drag a line from the circle next to where it says 'image' on the Video Input box to the one on the Sprite box. At this point you should see video in the checkerboarded Viewer window. (If you don't see a viewer window, hit the Viewer button in the upper right of the editor window.)
5) Open the Inspector window if it's not already opened, and inspect the Sprite box. Use the chooser bar (I forgot what those are really called) that says 'Information' and choose 'Input Parameters.' Then, change the Y Rotation value to 180. At this point, the video in the Viewer window should be how you want it.
5.5) Adjust the Width and Height in the Inspector as you see fit if your webcam image in not filling the whole Viewer window. Oh, and save this to somewhere convenient. You'll probably be able to open the saved copy up in Quicktime Viewer now. No need for all the interface of Quartz Composer to get in your way while teaching.
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lakiolen said 1:48AM on 9-06-2007
@Jay
You can each set up a Google Calendar and import both of them into iCal.
@Adam
Unfortunately, as it says in the article, Al wants to do it without changing which display is the primary.
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Paul Hunt-Terry said 2:07AM on 9-06-2007
I currently use and sync a Palm TX to my Macbook. It's mostly used for the PIM stuff (contacts calender world clock etc) with web browsing via WiFi and a bit of GPS navigation on holidays and trips. Ignoring the GPS use (I also have that on my Nokia N73) can the new iPod Touch replace the Palm TX?
There's been a lot of coverage of the music, video and web browsing abilities, but how do the basic PIM function fare?
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Nic said 3:46AM on 9-06-2007
@ Jay - Plaxo, syncs all sorts of calendars plus contacts and the advantage over the gcal import or icax type calendard subscription methods is that it lets you edit and publish.
I would guess you would both have individual calendars in ical and then both sync using Plaxo. I use it to sync my work macbook, home PowerMac and office Outlook machine for contacts and calendars, works great, even has a plugin for Thunderbird to sync contacts there as well.
One word of warning BACKUP your contacts and ical's before starting, I ended up blanking all the calendars on the machines and then restoring just on one and sync from there as I had problems with the different versions of the 'same' calendar I started with.
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Davy said 7:04AM on 9-06-2007
A question:
How do I view webmail like Yahoo and Hotmail on a mail client like the Mail app included in OS X?
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Bob said 10:48AM on 9-06-2007
For KR's question:
If you are willing to use Parallels instead of boot camp, it supports installing Windows on external Drives. I have XP and Vista installed on an external drive for testing purposes and it works amazingly well. Parallels packages the OSes in a way that you can easily copy and paste them to another drive if needed for backup or even moving back on to your internal drive.
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victor said 11:05AM on 9-06-2007
I did once see an option within PhotoBooth to set the iSight mirror reverse on/off. Since I'm at work and thus (sadly) on a Windows PC, I can't verify where this option is found, but I'm pretty sure it's there. Unless I'm misreading her question, this should accomplish what Becky is trying to do without having to purchase/install any other software.
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keith said 12:22PM on 9-06-2007
@jay -- as lakiolen said, you can use Google Calendars.
To kick it up a notch and get bi-directional, fully automated sync between gCal and iCal, download and install the fantastic gCalDaemon: http://gcaldaemon.sourceforge.net/
As a bonus, GCalDaemon can also proxy all your google contacts (gmail) to AddressBook / Thunderbird, by presenting itself as a local LDAP server.
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Jonathan Stieglitz said 12:32PM on 9-06-2007
I finally found the TUAW Name and E-mail information saved in the Other Forms check box of the AutoFill tab in Safari Preferences. I've deleted that and entered my E-mail and password under Current Users in the comment section.
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Jonathan Stieglitz said 12:37PM on 9-06-2007
Didn't work
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jit82 said 1:25PM on 9-06-2007
@Alan
thanks for answering on the folders, I'll try that
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bobm said 1:52PM on 9-06-2007
Question for Next Week:
I have a Perl script I want to run when I login.
I put the script in Accounts->Login Items
But it doesn't execute. I think it's because the finder doesn't associate .pl files to Perl (it opens in TextEdit).
Any suggestions?
thx
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Mike (mdipi) said 2:02PM on 9-06-2007
Question for next week:
My Safari RSS bookmarks no longer display the number of unread RSS articles next to the bookmark name on the bookmark bar. I've looked through preferences and settings but can't seem to find anything about the issue. Is there any way to get my feeds to show the unread articles again?
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brzy said 3:44PM on 9-06-2007
@ Al and Adam:
I also want Front Row on my secondary monitor (TV). This post tells of an Applescript, which, when combined with a Keyspan remote, allows for setting Front Row to display on the secondary monitor. The Applescript could probably be activated with some other special remote and software such as Darwiin remote. I'm heading over to Darwiin remote now to see if I can get my Wiimote to work with the Applescript.
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brzy said 3:46PM on 9-06-2007
argh, forgot the link! sorry!
http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20051201230156840
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