After a couple of hours using it I will definitely not miss it anymore!

The first thing I tried was to kill the Vmware application via the Activity Monitor of OS X. But I wasn’t successful. After I’ve started VmWare again the same screen as above was displayed for the XP machine. What a bummer! So how to process? After searching a while on Google I found the solution. You simply have to kill the process which handles this machine. Grep the output of ps to get a list of all Vmware related processes:

henrik$ ps -ef | grep vmware
0 31737 1 0 0:00.00 ?? 0:00.01 /Library/Application Support/VMware Fusion/vmnet-dhcpd -cf /Library/Application Support/VMware Fusion/vmnet8/dhcpd.conf -lf /var/db/vmware/vmnet-dhcpd-vmnet8.leases -pf /var/run/vmnet-dhcpd-vmnet8.pid vmnet8
0 31745 1 0 0:00.00 ?? 0:00.00 /Library/Application Support/VMware Fusion/vmnet-dhcpd -cf /Library/Application Support/VMware Fusion/vmnet1/dhcpd.conf -lf /var/db/vmware/vmnet-dhcpd-vmnet1.leases -pf /var/run/vmnet-dhcpd-vmnet1.pid vmnet1
0 31776 1 0 0:08.81 ?? 0:11.93 /Library/Application Support/VMware Fusion/vmware-vmx -E de -D h5VWrEgtEdEDLwAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA= -# product=1;name=VMware Fusion;version=2.0.4;buildnumber=159196;licensename=VMware Fusion for Mac OS;licenseversion=6.0 build-159196; -@ pipe=/var/folders/w2/w2myuXRLE1q1Ex7puQAPYk+++TI/-Tmp-//vmware-henrik/vmxebfd750b90971fa0;readyEvent=6 /Volumes/data/vmware/Windows XP Professional.vmwarevm/Windows XP Professional.vmx
501 31781 153 0 0:00.72 ?? 0:04.42 /Applications/VMware Fusion.app/Contents/MacOS/vmware -psn_0_14101874
501 31795 13404 0 0:00.00 ttys000 0:00.00 grep vmware

As you can see the process with the id 31776 is the one for the Windows XP guest. Run the following command to do a hard switch-off:

henrik$ sudo kill -9 31776

Now you can start the machine from scratch and it should be started as expected.

Everyone who is affected by this problem should ask the local Apple dealer for a replacement!

As a circumvention it was possible to use Safari and change its download folder to the specified location. From now on Firefox and Thunderbird are using this folder to store the temporary files. It’s not the best solution but I’m fine with that because I do not use Safari and I’m not interested in its download folder. But with the release of Safari 3 this isn’t possible anymore. The newer versions are using an other way to store its download folder settings and don’t touch ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.internetconfig.plist anymore. So how it can be easily changed without using a plist or hex editor?

It’s just easy. Download one of the former versions of Safari and use it to change the download folder. There is a project called Multi-Safari which gives you the possibility to run different versions of Safari in parallel. So grab the latest Safari 2 release, open the preferences, and select another download folder location. It looks like that the best solution is to use ~/Library/Caches/TemporaryItems (NS_OS_TEMP_DIR) where all contained files will be deleted on restart. If you want to have the files deleted on exit of Firefox or Thunderbird you can also add the preference browser.helperApps.deleteTempFileOnExit and set its value to true. That’s all.

Please remember that this is just a workaround. It would be nice to see bug 311292 fixed in a timely manner.

Does anyone of you also have this problem? I could imagine that this regression was caused by the latest Apple update 2007-009 which also half-killed my OS X installation.

Update: The button I talked about isn’t cancel itself, sorry. What I mean is the optional button e.g. “Delete from Disk” within the following image:

Update 2: See comment 4 for the solution.

I used dmesg to get closer which module or application is responsible for the behavior but didn’t really find anything for the moment. But probable VMware Fusion could be the reason. After trying to restart from the installation DVD it doesn’t even recognize my keyboard. Holding down the c key doesn’t start the installation procedure. I had to do several reboots to be able to get it running. But no errors were found. It’s enough for today.

If anyone can help me I would be very happy.

Update (20.12.2007): It’s time to respire. After several hours and with the help of some friends I got the problem solved. Now my MacBook is running fine again. But what’s happen? Lets try to explain…

As I have written in the last post I got some trouble with Keychain. All my stored passwords were invisible until I restarted my system. No idea what happened at this point but meanwhile I think its causing all the trouble from yesterday.

I had to start my MacBook in Single User Mode – just holding Cmd+S immediately when booting. I opened the system.log (cat /var/log/system.log) again and found the information that the “Setup Assistant” has crashed. Why the Setup Assistant? I don’t want to setup a new profile! But it looks like that it forwards you to the login screen if a profile already exists. Anyway, if an application crashed the CrashReporter puts a file with log information in /Library/Logs/CrashReporter. For the “Setup Assistant” it’s called “Setup Assistant.crash.log” and looked that way:

Host Name: hostname
Date/Time: 2007-12-20 20:30:04.095 +0100
OS Version: 10.4.11 (Build 8S2167)
Report Version: 4
Command: Setup Assistant
Path: ./Setup Assistant
Parent: sh [2]
Version: ??? (???)
PID: 283
Thread: Unknown
Link (dyld) error:
Library not loaded: /System/Library/Frameworks/SecurityInterface.framework/Versions/A/SecurityInterface
Referenced from: /System/Library/Frameworks/PreferencePanes.framework/Versions/A/PreferencePanes
Reason: no suitable image found. Did find:
/System/Library/Frameworks/SecurityInterface.framework/Versions/A/SecurityInterface: unknown file type, first eight bytes:
0xD9 0xD5 0x05 0xF9 0x20 0xA1 0x63 0xD7
/System/Library/Frameworks/SecurityInterface.framework/Versions/A/SecurityInterface: unknown file type, first eight bytes:
0xD9 0xD5 0x05 0xF9 0x20 0xA1 0x63 0xD7
/System/Library/Frameworks/SecurityInterface.framework/Versions/A/SecurityInterface: unknown file type, first eight bytes:
0xD9 0xD5 0x05 0xF9 0x20 0xA1 0x63 0xD7

Here you can see that there is a problem with the SecurityInterface library. Due to some strange bytes at the beginning of the file it’s not recognized as library. It has to be replaced with a working one. But where can I get it? Running the Darwin console doesn’t give me a chance (or I didn’t found it yet) to mount the dmg of the update. I asked several people if they could send me their file. Here you have to take care about your system. You need a version which fits to your OS X version! If you have a MacBook it has to be compiled for an Intel processor. Otherwise the PPC version is the correct one.

I downloaded the file with my other box and was able to retrieve it via scp from its file system. Now I replaced it locally:

$ cd /System/Library/Frameworks/SecurityInterface.framework/Versions/A/
$ mv SecurityInterface SecurityInterface.bad
$ mv /var/root/SecurityInterface .

That’s all. Now you should reboot your system and login as usual.

To avoid such problems in the future I will make a complete backup of my system files and also store the updates dmg file locally!

The trigger to have a deeper look at possible address book features was an email I received on Monday. Someone answered the message I sent him a while back and annotates that I used the wrong address. So my first thought was: “Don’t have I set his primary address correctly?” I decided to have a look for. But where can I see what’s the primary address? I cannot find it anywhere. I searched Google and had to read that it’s not possible by default. The address book automatically uses the first entered address as the primary one. Only when you are using distribution lists you can select the primary address of a contact within the edit mode. But that’s not the same. I want to have it set globally. Thanks Apple!

But to my surprise I found a fascinating website. For the first time I got the information that the address book can be enhanced by plug-ins. There are also mentioned some basic information. Take the time and read it!

To solve my own issue I downloaded and installed the plug-in ‘Set primary Addresses‘. After a restart of the address book you have an additionally context menu entry when hovering over an email or home address to set it as the primary one. As I was able to see the wrong address was set. So I corrected the entry and tried it again from within Thunderbird. And yes, Thunderbird takes the correct address now.

After that is working now, I also wanted to give the Google Maps Plugin a shot. I tried the one which was mentioned at the site above but wasn’t able to get it to run. I did a search and after trying several plug-ins I found a solution which is working for me. Just installed I’m able to see where contacts are living in high quality. Even directions are possible and you can immediately print the route if you plan to visit a friend. Cool!

That’s just the beginning. Be surprised while exploring the hidden address book features.

I opened Adium to check if a friend is online. But instead of getting my contact list a password dialog was shown. Damn, what’s that? Most of my passwords are stored within Keychain. Why I have to enter a password now? Afraid of the thing happened I started the Keychain application and I was taken my breath away. No password, certificate or notes were visible. All entries were completely gone! The only thing I saw was a bright and white background. But that’s not what I wanted to see!

I was ebbed between waiting to finish the burning process or executing a restart immediately. Finally I decided to wait because there is no reason why it should getting worse. While the burning process wasn’t finished I restarted Keychain but without luck. It seems that all my stored sensitive data was lost. But stop! Let’s run a restart first… After taken the DVD out of my drive I did a restart. All the while I hold my fingers crossed. Please, please, please give me back my data… In such situations a restart takes a really long time! I entered my password and opened Keychain after my profile was loaded…

The applications window was shown and what I saw made me really really happy! All the entries were visible again and saved me from hacking them in again. I still have no idea what’s happened here and why they are back again. But I’m glad to have them back and I’m still interested for an explanation.

Anyone of you who had a similar experience? What was your result? Did you get back your stored passwords?

I asked several people who are still working on OS X for a longer period of time. But no one was able to give me a hint. So I started searching the web. I got this nice shortcut overview but no system wide shortcut is given. Now, while writing this post, I found this HIG document from Apple. It’s quiet interesting but once again a keyboard shortcut isn’t mentioned.

I’ll stop searching right now and hope that someone, who reads my post, could help me. I would be deeply grateful. Thanks!

With more than 300 new features and additionally bugfixes this is the biggest release of Mac OS X ever launched. Improvements were made for the Finder, the Dock and many more. New applications like the Time Machine or Spaces add missing core features. Feel free to explore all that on the Mac OS X website.

As we know Apple there is no update available for existing Mac OS X users. Only customers who bought a Mac with Tiger in October can get an upgrade for 8,95 EUR. Anyone else has to buy the full version. But they are not too expensive. A single license of Leopard costs 129 EUR while a family license (for 5 members of one household) costs 199 EUR. Both versions can be bought by Amazon. If you order it before December you can even get a coupon over 10 EUR. Just enter following code at the end of your order request: AMZNLPRDAPPL.

Let the Leopard run!

But now it’s time for you. If you are fine with an alpha release and you want to help finding regression bugs you are welcome. It’s really simple how to use this brand new feature. Due to we don’t have an UI currently, you have to add some hidden preferences. It can be done by directly modifying your prefs.js within your profile while the application is closed or with the help of the config editor. The following three lines you have to add:

user_pref("ldap_2.servers.osx.description", "System Address Book");
user_pref("ldap_2.servers.osx.dirType", 3);
user_pref("ldap_2.servers.osx.uri", "moz-abosxdirectory:///");


That’s all! Start Thunderbird to write a new mail or browse through your addresses within the address book. You will be surprised!

Update: Also users of Thunderbird 2 still have the possibility to use that feature. It doesn’t come with an official build of Thunderbird but there is a custom build available. If you are interested then have a look at following forum entry on Mozillazine.

Nach dem Durchforsten mehrerer Blogs und Bugreports auf Bugzilla bin ich auf Bug 302433 gestoßen, der mich der Lösung näher gebracht hat. Es ist möglich, den temporären Ordner für Mozilla-Applikationen (ab Firefox 2.0 / Thunderbird 2.0) zu ändern, indem unter Safari der Download-Ordner geändert wird. Leider gibt es keine System-Einstellungen mehr, da sie Apple entfernt hat. In meinen Augen sind das aber immer noch zwei komplett verschiedene Verzeichnisse. Temporäre Dateien wünsche ich nicht in meinem Downloadverzeichnis. Außerdem sollten Mozilla-Anwendungen diese Systemeinstellung selbst vornehmen können.

Bis jetzt bin ich jedoch erst einmal froh, dass der Desktop wieder sauber bleibt. Mit folgenden zwei Schritten kann das Verhalten erreicht werden:

1. Es muss manuell über den Config-Editor eine neue Pref hinzugefügt werden, da es kein User-Interface für diese Einstellung gibt. In Firefox erreicht man ihn mit Eingabe der Adresse “about:config” in der Adresszeile. In Thunderbird ist er in den erweiterten Einstellungen versteckt. Sobald der Editor geöffnet ist, kann über einen Rechtsklick in die Pref-Liste das Kontextmenü aufgerufen und die neue Pref “browser.helperApps.deleteTempFileOnExit”
   vom Typ boolean eingefügt werden. Sie muss den Wert true erhalten.
2. Es ist Safari zu öffnen und unter den allgemeinen Einstellungen das Download-Verzeichnis festzulegen.

Ab jetzt wird das eingestellte Verzeichnis als temporäres Verzeichnis verwendet, der Desktop bleibt sauber und alle temporären Dateien werden beim Beenden von Firefox, Thunderbird und SeaMonkey gelöscht.

Update: Die Anpassung ist weiterhin durchführbar, auch wenn neue Safari-Versionen die oben genannte Systemeinstellung nicht mehr ändern. Schaut bitte in mein folgendes Posting.

Mit Mac OS X 10.4.8 alias Tiger beginnt jetzt auch ein neues Kapitel für mich. Bereits die ersten Stunden zeigten die klare Benutzerführung dieses Betriebssystems, aber auch wie ich mich umzugewöhnen habe. Es arbeitet sich damit doch um einiges anders. Wie oft versuchte ich bereits ein Fenster mit einem Doppelklick in der Titelleiste zu maximieren, als es plötzlich im Dock verschwand. Geschweige denn vom Ein-Tasten-Trackpad. Eine wahre Herausforderung!

Die Entscheidung für den Kauf fiel mir zuerst nicht ganz so leicht. Bereits mehrfach hörte ich, dass MacBooks einiges mehr kosten, als “normale” Notebooks. Eine Recherche zeigte aber, dass diese Behauptung in keinster Weise stimmt. Ähnlich ausgestattete Notebooks z.B. von Lenovo liegen gleich ca. 200,- EUR darüber und da ist noch keine Versicherung über 3 Jahre mit dabei, wie sie Gravis anbietet. Da verzichte ich doch gern auf einen TPM-Chip. Letztendlich habe ich mich für ein MacBook mit 2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo Prozessor entschieden. Weiterhin wurde die kleinere Festplatte gegen eine 120GB HDD ausgetauscht und auch 2GB RAM waren notwendig. Mit diesem Innenleben sollte ich jetzt meine Arbeiten für die nächste Zeit ohne Probleme erledigen können. Und so sieht es aus:

Nach den ersten Antastversuchen in Mac OS X musste ich feststellen, dass dieses Betriebssystem nicht gerade klein ist. Es waren bereits 18GB vom System und zusätzlichen Programmdateien belegt. Auch nach einer kompletten Neuinstallation sind schon 15GB belegt. Ein Blick ins Dateisystem zeigte, dass iLife ’06 den größten Teil für sich beansprucht. Speziell GarageBand 3 mit knappen 9GB an Programmdaten ist nicht ohne. Somit sei Mac OS X selbst erst einmal entlastet. Löschen werde ich im Moment zumindest noch keines der Programme, zumindest nicht solange sie nicht ausgiebig getestet wurden.

Mehr zum Thema folgt in den nächsten Tagen…