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Ask TUAW: MacBook Pro sleep problems, multiple Firefoxes, Christmas music and more

by Mat Lu Jan 9th 2008 at 11:30PM

In this edition of Ask TUAW we'll tackle MacBook Pro problems, running multiple versions of a program, hiding Christmas music in iTunes, making audiobooks, and more.

As always your suggestions are most welcome, and questions for next week should be left in the comments. And now, to the questions!

Shawn asks:

I have a 15" 2.2 ghz macbook pro and was wondering if it might be defective. The problem is a wake-from-sleep issue. When I close the lid (that's usually how I put it to sleep), and open the computer, the screen responds fine. For periods greater than 20 or so minutes however, the screen is blank, and the system is unresponsive. This forces me to restart the computer, or wait about 5 minutes, after which the screen turns on but the mouse is a bit buggy.

I would first suggest resetting the System Management Controller, as that is the chip in the MacBook Pro which controls power management. If that doesn't do it, you may need to take it in to an Apple Store.


Patrick asks:

okay, so since the latest and greatest software update, my MBP's internal keyboard and trackpad stop working after i put my computer to sleep. now if it sleeps, i have to either hard boot or plug in a usb mouse to shut down. help please!!!!

Have you installed the MacBook Pro Software Update 1.1? This was supposed to fix this problem. If that doesn't work I've seen it suggested that repairing permissions may help. You might even try the tip above about the System Management Controller, but if all else fails I'd take it in to an Apple Store.


JonB asks:

I'm currently enjoying using the new firefox 3 beta with the new beta mac theme (Proto). However, one of my favourite firefox extensions, firebug, hasn't been updated to work with the firefox 3 beta. Is there any way to run Firefox 2 alongside the Firefox 3 beta, so I can still use firebug when I need it?

The problem with trying to run both at the same time is that they will attempt to read and write to the same preference files, etc. However, I think you can probably get around this using rooSwitch ($14.95) which will create a separate profile for each one. That way you can keep them separate. You will not be able to run them at the same time, but you should be able to easily switch back and forth.


Jeff asks:

Now that Christmas is over, what should I do with my Christmas music? I don't want my christmas music showing up in my iTunes Music folder when its not Christmas, but I also don't want to have to re-rip it next year. What should I do with it all?

Several readers have suggested various solutions. One thing you could do is create a separate iTunes library to keep the Christmas music in. You can do this simply by holding down the option key while launching iTunes.

Personally, I think a better option would be just to create a Smart Playlist without the Christmas music in it, then use that Smart Playlist as the foundation for other playlists, etc. if what you want is to avoid having the Christmas music come up in Party Shuffle or other randomized playback. To do this, just select all of the Christmas music and assign it the genre of "Christmas." Then create a new Smart Playlist as follows:


Name it something like "All except Christmas" and then use it as the basis of whatever it is you want to do (Party Shuffle, etc.).


Elliot asks:

What is the best way to turn ripped cd as an 'Audiobook' in iTunes? I have seen one or two tutorials that require the mp3s to be converted into AAC and then to rename every .m4a to a .m4b and re-add folder to library, but this seems a little long winded. I know it could be automated but I was wondering if there are any other slicker solutions already available?

I haven't used it myself but I believe Audiobook Maker does pretty much what you want. It will basically automate the process you've described. It's open-source and a free download.


Johnny asks:

While I'm on the road with my MacBook, I want to access files that are on my Mac Mini at home. How do I do this? I've done searches online for "Mac OS file sharing," but nothing I've tried has worked. The way I envision it, I would use the Finder menubar, select Go -> Connect to Server... and then enter the IP address of my MacMini. By the way, I have a NetGear WGR614 v4, and I imagine that whatever you suggest involves some sort of port-forwarding. I think I've managed to get Personal Web Sharing enabled, but all I see is an Apache web server thing.

Far and away the the easiest thing to do (if you're running 10.5 on both machines) would be to use one of Leopard's new features: Back to my Mac, which will automate this if you've got a .Mac account, or iChat screen sharing if you don't. Of course, the latter option would require you to have iChat running on the mini all the time, and in either case you could never allow it to go to sleep. Here's a nice tutorial that explains what you need to do. Perhaps the best way to actually transfer the files is just to use iChat itself.

Turning on File Sharing is a prerequisite for Back to my Mac, but it may be quite slow because the AFP protocol was apparently designed more for local networks. You can turn on File Sharing in the Sharing Preference Pane. Since you'll need to track your dynamic IP if Back to my Mac isn't doing it for you, you'll also probably need to use a dynamic update service like DynDNS. You'll also need to open port 548 on your router. Frankly, you're probably better off with either Back to my Mac or the iChat method.



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Steve Pearson

I've got a 15 in 2.4 SR MBP and have had all the same problems with waking from sleep. I ran a terminal command to disable "safe sleep" and that seems to have fixed the problem. Safe sleep writes the RAM contents to the hard drive before going into sleep, which takes a longer time for the computer to go to sleep and it wastes hard drive space (your amount of RAM plus some). After disabling safe sleep, the sleep problems are gone. Here's a link to the instructions.

http://www.windley.com/archives/2007/10/fixing_macbook_pro_sleep_problems.shtml

January 20 2008 at 5:03 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Disconnect

For Firefox, you don't need nightly tester tools or any commercial apps or anything. Just open a terminal and run /Applications/Firefox 3b2.app/Contents/MacOS/firefox -Profilemanager (adjust the path for wherever FF is installed). That'll open the profile manager - select "Create Profile" and set up a new profile and uncheck "Do not ask at startup" .. Now both versions of Firefox will prompt for a profile selection. (I named mine "Firefox2" and "Firefox3".) And they can both run at once on different profiles.

January 18 2008 at 9:02 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Brett

Seriously... those may be the worst ideas I've seen for dealing with Christmas music. PLEASE update this post to show how to deal with these songs in a better way. My suggestion:

1. Find all Christmas songs... assign them the genre "Christmas".
2. With all "Christmas" genre songs selected... right click on any song and choose... "Uncheck selection".
3. With all "Christmas" genre songs selected... right click on any song and choose... "Get Info". At the bottom of the menu, change "Skip When Shuffling" to Yes.

Step 2 resolves iPod syncing. You can simply tell iTunes to not sync any unchecked song and save space on your iPod for the non-Christmas music.
Step 3 resolves any library shuffling or Party Shuffle issues. Even if a song is added to a playlist it will be skipped.

Note: Remember to undo these steps next December when you want to start listening to them... otherwise your Christmas playlist will play one song and then stop... skipping over all the remaining songs.

January 13 2008 at 4:01 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Phil

Question for Next Week:

My first question is about "Folder Actions." I would like to setup a folder action for my downloads folder that automatically moves .abr (Photoshop brushes) files from my Downloads folder into the brushes folder for Photoshop (Applications/Photoshop/Presets/Brushes). I have looked online for tutorials but, couldn't seem to find any. If you could point me in the direction of a decent tutorial or explain how this is done that would be great.

Second question is about software update. When I run software update I am told that there is Pro Applications Update 2006-02 available to download. I click install and it downloads the update but then says "the update can't be installed and the package was moved to the trash. To try again, please launch the update from the Finder." But, there isn't a package that is in the trash. Is there a file that says that the update is still needed or is there a place where I can download this update from on the web?

Thank you.

January 13 2008 at 12:42 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
jonericrumpf

Regarding Jeff's question about Christmas music.

I would copy the MP3/AAC files on to a DVD-R/RW and then trash the originals from the iTunes Library. When Christmas comes around again, pop in the DVD and re-add them to your iTunes library.

January 13 2008 at 12:26 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
mathmonkey

Another question:
Under Leopard I've been getting odd 'PC Server's showing up in the sidebar under 'Shared'. I've read that it could be my Airport Express or my shared printer, but I'd love a utility to view the traffic coming through my network. Can I just be a voyeur to any web traffic on my own network? I do have WPA2 set up, but have trusted visitors regularly and don't want to go to MAC address restriction. Thanks, TUAW.

January 12 2008 at 1:27 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
artifex

Mat, a question for next time:

I had a boot icon editor for my PPC Mini, and changed the default apple image to a happy mac icon. Loved it until I clean installed Leopard, erasing it. I was wondering, is there a similar program or some other method for changing the boot icon on an Intel Mac, too?

January 11 2008 at 11:06 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Patrixck

This is a different Patrick. But I have the same problem as the Patrick that wrote in. Only since the last software update (bringing be to 10.5.1), my MBP 2.4's keyboard and trackpad do not work 98% of the time after waking from sleep. I have to use a usb mouse to restart to get the keyboard to work.

This is different from the keyboard randomly not responding, as I used to have that problem (though it seems that has been solved). Now I just want to be able to sleep my computer without having to restart!

January 10 2008 at 9:31 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
some guy

I have a swing arm iMac with USB 1.1 that I'm sync-ing my iPhone on. It mostly works but it's pretty finicky and I've read that moving the iPhone to 1.1.2 will make it worse. Any solution for getting USB 2.0 to the iMac given that it can't take a PCI card (short of upgrading it to a newer Mac)?

January 10 2008 at 5:27 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
bob

Re: Audiobooks

I use Audiobook Builder (http://www.splasm.com/audiobookbuilder/) and it works very well (for me at least). It allows me to attach a cover and set the encoding level as well as how much time in each .m4a (or .m4b), itunes treats the books as books and I have no large complaints.

my audio cd collection is only about 20 books but all of them have converted cleanly. It beats carrying around the cd..

January 10 2008 at 2:42 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
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