Is Google the new Microsoft?

October 31, 2007 at 11:59 am · Filed under Uncategorized

Not yet, at least in terms of market capitalization. By that measure Google now ranks as the 5th largest company in the United States. Microsoft is the only other tech-centric company in the top 8, and ranks third with a market cap of $333 billion.

Source: Silicon Insider

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Macintosh OS X Disk Utility: “The underlying task reported failure on exit”

March 21, 2007 at 9:35 am · Filed under Uncategorized

My old PowerBook (G4, Tiger 10.4.9) started running very slowly after I installed the last set of Software Updates. I attempted to do a Verify with Disk Utility, after which I was going to run a repair. Upon running Disk Utility’s “Verify” function, I got the following error: “The underlying task reported failure on exit” and the “Repair” button was still disabled.

After poking around on the Apple Support site, I found a knowledge base article describing how to perform ‘fsck’ by booting into Single User mode. Here’s the drill. And, don’t use this method unless you absolutely need to; if Disk Utility is available and will perform the functions you need to, go that route. It took a bit longer to find this than I thought it would; hopefully it will help someone else out there get their Mac back up and running.

1. Reboot in Single User Mode
   a. Shut down your Macintosh.
   b. Restart your Macintosh by pressing the on/off button. Immediately depress and hold the Apple key + the ’s’ key.
2. Your computer will boot into Single User Mode. If you’re not used to this, it will be a black screen with white text. It looks nothing like OS X.
   a. As the computer boots, it will spout out some information about its startup sequence.
   b. When it has completed booting, you will be left with a command-line prompt that should look like this:localhost:/ root#
   
   At that prompt, type:
   
   /sbin/fsck - fy
3. The above command will start the File System Check.
4. When it is complete, you will get a response. If you get a response that includes “***** FILE SYSTEM WAS MODIFIED *****” repeat the fsck command until fsck tells you that all is well. The all is well message will look something like this: ** The volume [name of volume] appears to be OK

   As soon as you get the above message, reboot by typing this at the command prompt:
   reboot
   

That did it for me - I was back up to full speed again. This article on the Apple Support site would be the place to start.

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Speeding up email on OS X

March 5, 2007 at 3:34 pm · Filed under Applications, Uncategorized

If you use Mail.app, there’s a great tip being floated around that reduces the size of a database that Mail uses to store information. You have to open the Terminal to do it, but it is very straightforward.

1. Quit Mail
2. Open Terminal
3. Type:
   cd ~/Library/Mail
   sqlite3 Envelope\ index
4. A prompt for sqlite will appear (sqlite>). At the prompt, type:
   vacuum subjects;
   There will be a short delay, and then the prompt will return.
5. Type Control-D to close Terminal.
6. Restart Mail

Hopefully you’re noticing a speed gain-it was definitely noticable on my machine. This was seen over on Hawk Wings.

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Resetting root password on OS X

March 3, 2007 at 2:42 pm · Filed under Uncategorized

What is my root password on the Mac? I set my root password a LONG time ago, and cannot recall what I had set it to. For installing MySQL and getting ROR up and running, I remember that knowing my root user account password is a must. Luckily it’s incredibly easy to reset the password.

1. Get your OS X Install Disk and put it in your drive
2. Open the CD (if it doesn’t open a folder view on its own) and double click the “Install” icon. You don’t end up reinstalling the OS - don’t worry about that.
3. When the option comes up, restart the computer as if you are going to reinstall the OS. When the computer reboots, after selecting your language stop.
4. In the toolbar, under “Utilities” menu, select the “Reset Password Option.” Select the System Administrator/Root user and enter the password you want to use.

After that, you exit the password reset utility and quit the installation. That does it…

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