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Mac OSX Noob thread of OSX noobs

A

Ambitious

Member
tl;dr: .ogm with subtitles to a more common format, without quality losses or anything.

I got a Panasonic BD75 BR player and an external HDD a while ago. The player has an USB slot, so I decided to put all my media on the HDD and connect it to the player.

The supported formats according to the official technical descriptions and some reviews are: AVCHD, DivX, DivX HD, JPEG, MKV, MP3

It plays nearly all my video files, downloaded ones and self-recorded ones.
But I got a bunch of .ogm files which the player doesn't even try to play, their filenames are just displayed in grey, they're not selectable.

These files contain one audio track and subtitles in two languages. I tried nearly any combinations of options in Handbrake (file format, video codec etc.), with no satisfying results.
Either there's a massive quality loss, or the subtitles are missing, or it's possible to select and start the videos but they stop playing immediately.
The player of course supports multiple languages and subtitles, btw.

According to VLC, the video codec is "MPEG-4 Video (DX50)" and the audio codec is "A52 Audio (aka AC3) (a52)"

Of course I also tried other converter apps, but I got the same problems.
 
K

Ken Masters

Banned
Mr. Wonderful said:
It's the newer, very standardized set of APIs from Apple that are the reason why Apple applications are so smooth and stable-feeling, as opposed to Apple's older Carbon coding. Applications must be 100%(?) Cocoa to be 64-bit.
Click to expand...

They are same as before but when you go into full screen it's just like an apple app now (transition is just as smooth), don't know if that helps
 
M

mrkgoo

Member
Treefingers said:
Not sure why you would want to add pictures there but the folder is located at /Library/Desktop Pictures
Click to expand...

I too am curious as to why you want the images to show up there. The only reason I can think of is perhaps you want a random rotating source of the default Apple ones PLUS a few of your own.

But yeah, don't mess with the stock stuff is the best advice. Make your own folder and use the + to link to it.
 
D

deim0s

Member
lawblob said:
Not sure what the best thread is to ask.

I am looking for a very basic, simple IM client I can ask the people working on my account team to install on their computers to use at work. Some have Macs, some PCs. Looking for something really simple.
Click to expand...

Mac users can use Adium and PC users can use Pidgin. Your team can decide which service to use... gtalk, MSN, YM!, etc.
 
P

Pachimari

Member
Yea, I made my own folder.

But it was actually just for one single Lion wallpaper (I think it's from the beta) to add in the stock 'desktop picture' folder.
 
D

dc89

Member
GAF HELP!

Now I don't class myself as a noob but here goes.

My GF's 2008 iMac crashed before and it had to be manually powered on and off again. After doing that it would not boot in to the OS.

So I did the usual disk permissions and repaired the disk. It said there was some errors on the disk and it put them right. So I tried to reboot and this time I got the dreaded ? in a folder flashing.

So I rebooted using the DVD again and went back to disk utility and NO HDD was showing. Instead only the DVD drive and a drive called Media which has 0mb data and can't be wiped etc.

Has the HDD failed?
 
P

Pyrokai

Member
Need help if you guys would be so kind: Can't mount/access SD card

Brand new SD card and SD card USB reader. Insert SD card into reader and use like USB drive, right? Not working. Nothing shows up on my desktop. What am I doing wrong? Any way to force mount it or something?
 
S

StopMakingSense

Member
Pyrokai said:
Need help if you guys would be so kind: Can't mount/access SD card

Brand new SD card and SD card USB reader. Insert SD card into reader and use like USB drive, right? Not working. Nothing shows up on my desktop. What am I doing wrong? Any way to force mount it or something?
Click to expand...

Does it show up in Disk Utility?
 
N

noah111

Still Alive
^The lint-free cleaning cloth it comes with doesn't do the job? Just use that to wipe down key by key in a scrubbing motion. Then just wash your hands and it should feel better.
 
M

mrkgoo

Member
CrudeDiatribe said:
I have used isopropyl alcohol for plastic computer parts (keyboard, case, etc). No idea how it affects the MacBook Pro, if at all.
Click to expand...

Protip: don't use it for the trackpad. My friend used it for his trackpad once, and it stuffed it up temporarily. It did go back to working, so maybe it was just messing with the capacitance, but is it really something you want to try on YOUR computer?

And anyone want to hazard a guess as to why MSN Messenger 7 was updated for Lion.....but MSN Messenger 8 was not?
 
Meus Renaissance

Meus Renaissance

Member
This may sound stupid but...I'm going on a long international flight soon and they dont have any ports to plugin a power charger; only USB ports. Is it possible to charge, or at least keep a MBP on, using a USB cable?
 
S

show me your skeleton

Member
i've been trying to make a boot-camp partition & install windows 7 on my macbook pro for a while now. was able to do it once but i got rid of the partition in a fit of stupidity. anyway, since installing lion i appear to run in to trouble, with the bootcamp assistant unable to download the drivers/whatever files it needs. any help?
 
edgefusion

edgefusion

Member
show me your skeleton said:
i've been trying to make a boot-camp partition & install windows 7 on my macbook pro for a while now. was able to do it once but i got rid of the partition in a fit of stupidity. anyway, since installing lion i appear to run in to trouble, with the bootcamp assistant unable to download the drivers/whatever files it needs. any help?
Click to expand...

When you've installed Windows put in the disc that came with your MBP and it will install the Boot Camp drivers. They probably won't be the latest ones though so update immediately.
 
B

BGBW

Maturity, bitches.
show me your skeleton said:
i've been trying to make a boot-camp partition & install windows 7 on my macbook pro for a while now. was able to do it once but i got rid of the partition in a fit of stupidity. anyway, since installing lion i appear to run in to trouble, with the bootcamp assistant unable to download the drivers/whatever files it needs. any help?
Click to expand...

The bootcamp assistant is just that, an assistant. You can manually partition the harddrive with Disk Utility and then boot with the Win 7 CD. Once Win 7 is up and running do what edgefusion said and use the MBP disc to install the drivers.
 
D

Dreams-Visions

Member
StreamToMe has created a DESKTOP client for OSX.

http://projectswithlove.com/streamtome/index.html

Free for a limited time.

For those not familiar, StreamToMe has been an iOS app for years that allowed you to connect to a local or remote server (that has their free ServeToMe app running on it), and stream HD video from any folder on your computer, as well as photos and music (either by folder or via your iTunes playlists). It's just like AirVideo on iOS devices, but handles music, and photos as well.

screenshot20120419at129.png


Long has it been a desire of mine to have a desktop client that could make it easy for me to stream videos from my media server computer to my 17" laptop screen. That day is here. It currently maxes out at 720p, but in many cases, that will be a reasonable sacrifice to not have to take the time to copy some video file onto an external HDD, to connect to my laptop to watch something on my network.
 
A

Ashhong

Member
I'm not sure if this is an OSX problem or Chrome, but I am sitting here on my MBP with Chrome open, not touching the computer, and suddenly Chrome asks "Are you sure you want to leave this page", which only comes up if I try to quit it. What the hell? Like a ghost is using my computer...
 
S

scorcho

testicles on a cold fall morning
here's a nice utility that some may find useful - XtraFinder - http://www.trankynam.com/xtrafinder/

from their website -
XtraFinder brings extra features to Mac Finder.

• Arrange folders on top.
• "Copy Path" menu.
• "Show Hidden Items", "Refresh", "New File", "Copy to", "Move to", "Launch as Root" ... actions.
• Cut & Paste.
• "Contents" menu displays contents of folder.
• "Select..." action let you quickly select items in a Finder window.
• Path bar enhancements: Spring-loaded, Contents menu.
• Maximize on Zoom.
• Automatically arrange items by Name in Icons View.
Click to expand...

for those just coming over from Windows, or who've missed some Windows features like file cut & paste, or keeping folders on top, this program is for you. adds enough shortcuts to make file-managing in Finder a far easier task.
 
1

123rl

Member
I have a 2011 Mac Mini. I downloaded a widget to check temperatures and other stats. Apparently my CPU is hitting 85 degrees Celsius. This sounds way too high. I've noticed it gets extremely hot and the fans kick into full speed very quickly. Should I take it to Apple for an exchange?
 
N

noah111

Still Alive
^Nope, you have to holt alt/option every time, as far as I know. Though of course, you can set the default startup hard drive of choice from the settings, but that doesn't seem to be what you're asking for.
 
M

Mr. Wonderful

Member
123rl said:
I have a 2011 Mac Mini. I downloaded a widget to check temperatures and other stats. Apparently my CPU is hitting 85 degrees Celsius. This sounds way too high. I've noticed it gets extremely hot and the fans kick into full speed very quickly. Should I take it to Apple for an exchange?
Click to expand...

Does it hit 85 degrees while under load? This is normal for Macs. But yeah, it's pretty hot. Especially considering you most likely have the integrated GPU model.

Hope that things improve with Ivy Bridge or Haswell.
 
Chuckpebble

Chuckpebble

Member
So uh, dashboard widgets, are they dead or what? Was just thinking I'd use one to keep track of the hockey playoffs while I finish my final projects for school. ESPN one that comes with is blank and I can't find any other sports ones.
 
N

noah111

Still Alive
^Yup. Another one that does something similar (though perhaps in a less 'pretty' way) is GrandPerspective, I sometimes use both actually. Esp. for examining my external HDD's when i'm running low.
 
Chuckpebble

Chuckpebble

Member
Melhisedek said:
I wanted to try out programing so what software would you guys recommend? I would try out C++ and Ruby most likely for starters
Click to expand...

I used Textwrangler for my C++ class a while back. I just installed the developer tools off of my OS disk and used g++ in the Terminal.app as a compiler.

Textwrangler is basically a free/lite version of BareBones software's flagship editor BBedit. It more than served my needs with powerful find and replace features and built in syntax coloring based on the file extension of the document you're working on.
 
V

Valkyr Junkie

Member
So what's the deal with Apple's final fix for FlashBack? After installing it does it have a tendency to detect a lot of false positives when it says "FlashBack was detected and cleaned"? I've been reading on a couple of Mac forums, and there seems to be a whole lot of other individuals that had performed all of the various checks to see if they were infected, passed those checks, and then the Apple update says they were infected.

I have barely touched my Macbook since the new iPad was released, don't ever use Safari, don't visit any sites that use Java, and would have only used my laptop for browsing GAF and streaming local content to my TV. If my machine was in fact infected, then I don't see how the estimations of only ~600k machines infected could be even remotely accurate.
 
wolfmat

wolfmat

Confirmed Asshole
Valkyr Junkie said:
So what's the deal with Apple's final fix for FlashBack? After installing it does it have a tendency to detect a lot of false positives when it says "FlashBack was detected and cleaned"? I've been reading on a couple of Mac forums, and there seems to be a whole lot of other individuals that had performed all of the various checks to see if they were infected, passed those checks, and then the Apple update says they were infected.

I have barely touched my Macbook since the new iPad was released, don't ever use Safari, don't visit any sites that use Java, and would have only used my laptop for browsing GAF and streaming local content to my TV. If my machine was in fact infected, then I don't see how the estimations of only ~600k machines infected could be even remotely accurate.
Click to expand...

You're rationalizing a stochastical process you have no influence on — infection. That's not reasonable though.

It's really hard to figure out how you got infected after the fact. So you'd have to either go with the assessment of the doctor (Apple), or ignore him and live with the symptoms, or ignore him and he was wrong. The numbers are really biased against you here. It makes more sense to just assume you were unlucky if you can't actually rule an infection out.

Edit: I just realized I'm using the "but what if there is a God" argument here, haha.
 
Meus Renaissance

Meus Renaissance

Member
I'm having a problem here. In List view, there is a noticeable delay in navigating through certain folders. For example.

User > Downloads (it is slow opening this and slow going back to User when clicking on the back arrow).

When I change the view to Icons, this issue disappears. I thought it may have something to do with the folder sizes but I can't replicate this issue in folders that are larger than Downloads*. I've Verified Disk and Repaired Permissions on advice but that hasn't resolved it. I'm currently in the process of re-indexing the HDD through Spotlight to see if that helps




*Downloads is just one of the folders this affects.
 
Z

ZZMitch

Member
How do you check what you have downloaded from Software Update?

I was just wondering because I wanted to make sure I got the Java update that kills the flashback virus but I don't know where to check.
 
M

mrkgoo

Member
ZZMitch said:
How do you check what you have downloaded from Software Update?

I was just wondering because I wanted to make sure I got the Java update that kills the flashback virus but I don't know where to check.
Click to expand...

You could just run Software Update again - if it doesn't prompt you to download it, then you already have it.

There is also a place to check in the system profiler (or was it system preferences? Or was it software update itself? It was one of the three). You can click a tab within to 'installed software'.

Last and most under the hood is to go to /library/receipts where there is a plist that records all installation activity.

Sorry, not at my mac to give more clear pointers.
 
V

Vinterbird

Member
Kazerei said:
So what's a good Mac alternative to MSN Messenger? I've been having problems with signing in, and none of these solutions are working. I'm ready to just give up and try something better.
Click to expand...

Depending on your situation there are probably two useful solutions.

If you have multiple devices, PC, Mac, iOS and want all of them on the same MSN client, then I would recommend Trillian. It does continues conversation across all of the devices, so if you go between your Mac and PC, you can continue a chat without logging on and off, and you can pick up your phone and keep going if you leave your desk.

It's really really cool, but the updates are few and far between which sucks, but they seem to be picking up the pace.


The other solution is Adium, which is amazing for everything. It is solid and allows you to alter it to suit your needs.


Also I need help with a app for dividing up my screen for applications.

Right now I've set up a permanent space for Twitter on the right side of my screen, and Chrome running next to it, but sometimes I need to have two Chrome instances side by side, which Better Touch Tool and it's snap function has been great for.

But then I allocated room for Twitter, which needs to be permanent, so I was wondering if it is possible to segment of the screen, so it only snaps within a specific area like this:

VjFGd.jpg



Is there a app or a setting that will allow me to do something like this?
 
V

VOOK

We don't know why he keeps buying PAL, either.
I would say Adium but they removed multiple sign ons a while back. I stick with it because it works, but I'd like something that..

1. Doesn't look like MSN from the early 2000's.
2. Isn't shit.

And it's impossible.
 
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