UNIX Articles on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog

Timed command-line screenshots

by Erica Sadun (May 20th, 2013)

A TUAW staffer recently asked if there were a way to snapshot the exact same region of the screen over and over at timed intervals without buying third-party software. There is, but it depends on your comfort with the command line. If you're experienced in Unix scripting, read on. If not, you may ...

The benefits of fast user switching

by Kelly Hodgkins (Feb 18th, 2013)

I've never used fast user switching on my Mac, but Rob Griffiths of Macworld presents several compelling reasons why enabling this Unix-based feature makes sense. He points out that working in a multiuser environment lets you troubleshoot issues without mucking up your current system setup. ...

New command line tools in Mountain Lion manage encryption, sleep and sharing

by TJ Luoma (Jul 30th, 2012)

For fans of the Terminal, Mountain Lion brought some new command-line utilities. Perhaps the most notable is fdesetup, which Apple explains briefly: "fdesetup allows third-party management tools to enable FileVault, determine encryption status, capture and manage recovery keys, and add users to a ...

Daily Mac App: GeekTool

by Megan Lavey-Heaton (Sep 14th, 2011)

GeekTool was released as a free download on the Mac App Store a few weeks ago, and it's remained at the top of the download chart since. It's been around for years, and we've featured it a couple of times on TUAW, but the MAS release allows it to reach a new audience. Unlike the GeekTool of ...

Five Dropbox tips for Mac Unix nerds

by TJ Luoma (Dec 14th, 2010)

Dropbox is already a very powerful utility for Mac OS X, but if you're knowledgable in Unix, you can make it even better. Here are five ways that you can use Unix to get more out of Dropbox. 1. I wanted to update my copy of the HTML processing tool Tidy today. I was happy to find instructions for ...

Rudix, a lightweight way to add new Unix utilities

by TJ Luoma (May 4th, 2010)

Rudix offers a collection of Unix utilities which do not come with OS X by default. When setting up a new Mac I always install these Unix utilities: wget, ncftp, lynx with SSL support, and the GNU Core Utilities. I compile them manually whenever possible, despite options like MacPorts or Fink. I ...

SDK devsugar: Re-signing applications

by Erica Sadun (Feb 9th, 2010)

TUAW's devsugar series helps introduce developers to tools and tricks that they might not yet be familiar with. Today's tip centers on signing already-compiled and already-signed applications with a new custom signature. A while back, I posted about a way to sign already-compiled applications ...

Manually schedule Software Update 'the OS X way' with launchd

by Brett Terpstra (Jan 10th, 2010)

In response to a Macworld article, TidBits' Chris Pepper elaborated on ways to run Software Update, Apple's means of delivering updates and patches, on your own schedule. Beginning with the fact that Software Update schedules its next update based on the time it's currently being run, setting the ...

Mac 10.6 comes with license to kill

by TJ Luoma (Sep 3rd, 2009)

The name's Leopard... Snow Leopard... and how I wish it was 10.7 instead of 10.6 so I could extend these hokey James Bond allusions further. That said, it is closer than the truth than you may think. Apple has given Snow Leopard a license to kill... but this doesn't have anything to do with ...

3.0 firmware release expected at 10am PT/1pm ET, quick Terminal tip to check

by Erica Sadun (Jun 17th, 2009)

Hey, iPhone 3G owners: Please do not download the 2,1 firmware files listed below. They are for the 3G S and will not work on your phone. Read the whole post for details. The correct firmware for the 3G will start with "iPhone1,2" instead. If you were up all night waiting for the new iPhone OS to ...

ExpanDrive 2.0 expands to Amazon S3

by Brett Terpstra (Apr 27th, 2009)

I had to do some extensive testing before I got too excited, but after a conversation with the developers I'm pleased to announce that ExpanDrive 2.0 is out. We've mentioned it before, but to recap: ExpanDrive allows you to mount remote servers as drives directly accessible in Finder. With a ...

Tweets (and whatever else you want) on the desktop with GeekTool

by Mike Schramm (Mar 10th, 2009)

Mat posted a while back about the magic of GeekTool -- it's an app that allows you to run Unix scripts and show logs in a good-looking pane right there on your desktop. Mac OS X Tips recently did a post about how to put your iCal events up there using a script called iCalBuddy, but industrious ...

Revisiting the randomized signature AppleScript, now with API goodness

by Brett Terpstra (Feb 10th, 2009)

When I shared an AppleScript last week which created randomized signatures using TextExpander, I promised to revisit it when the iheartquotes.com API started working again. It's working right now, but it seems to go up and down; check this link before you try the script and make sure you get a ...

Cocktail 4.3 Leopard edition released

by Mike Schramm (Feb 9th, 2009)

It's Cocktail time yet again -- the intrepid folks at Maintain are updating the Leopard version to 4.3, and bringing more utility than ever to the already extremely popular and versatile Unix function and OS X tweaking app. The new version adds the ability to clear harmful files off the system ...

Maintenance utility Cocktail 4.1.4 released

by Mike Schramm (Sep 10th, 2008)

All the way since back when I started using a Mac, the program that's been most recommended to new Mac users in my experience isn't Adium, Transmit, or Quicksilver (although those are certain all terrific apps/reasons to be a Mac owner) -- Cocktail is the one that I've seen on the Top 10 Mac apps ...