Recently in General Category

This blog has gone pretty quiet recently, despite the fact there is plenty more to say.

Also, this blog is not limited to discussing Mac S/W hacks. The following hardware related news has caught my interest recently.

Core Box
Core Crib

The intent of these projects is to sell Apple Macs that are built from spare parts and assembled in non apple cases. This seems to work out cheaper than Apple's retail and is the closest I've yet seen to a legit mac clone solution in years.

In relation to my recent article on rolling your own Mac OS X CD, it seems that for those who are interested, an overview of the Mac OS X .pkg format might be useful

The information I present here is mostly based on reverse engineering. As a result, there are probably huge gaping holes in the information I outline. If anyone has corrections and additional information, then please advise me. I have discovered Apple does provide some information on packages, but they don't detail some of the files commonly found only in Apple packages.

Most third party developers are recommended to not use the package format, unless the facilities it offers are necessary. Instead the drag and drop application bundle from a mounted disk image is the recommended install option.

Our shiny new operating system has been around for a while now. Even to the most die-hard it has become obvious that Mac OS X is here and here to stay. So the big question is not IF one should update, but WHEN.

Being a cross-platform person, I spend a lot of time on the dark side ie. Windows

Although I have extensively used Virtual PC, nothing beats having a real honest to goodness i386 architecture to run Windows.

But you don't want two keyboards, mice, monitors etc. And more than one person should be able to utilise the x86 box at the same time.

For a long time Citrix have been offering products which satisfy these requirements. I make extensive use of this at work and have been involved in building Citrix servers (which is an odd, patience testing task)

However, Citrix don't have a huge commitment to the Mac, their Mac client was actually deveopled by Insignia (they also developed the only competition Virtual PC ever had SoftWindows)

Almost a year after the release of OS X, there is no sign of an OS X native Citrix client, so until today, my only way of running Citrix was via Classic, which was frustrating.

But, I noticed that Citrix have recently released an update to their Java ICA client.

This client has always been unfriendly to the mac, but mostly worked (albeit slowly as all java did under OS 9). However I have had two issues with the java client under OS X

1. Program Neighborhood would crash on launch - that's a biggie as it's half of the client solution

2. Keyboard input was ignored, another major show stopper

Well, the latest ICA Java version (v6.20.1205 - 11/12/01) finally fixes the program neighborhood issue and as a result finally gives me a fix for the second issue via the newly accessible program neighborhood

I am now in ICA heaven (or as close as I can be until a truly native ICA client is released). This of course begs the question, is Java a truly native application environment for OS X?

Anyway, thanks MRJAppBuilder I now have double clickable applications for the two modes of Citrix ICA Client operation and more importantly, now that Program Neighborhood works, I can set my keyboard type which allows Citrix to recognise my text input

To read how to set this up for yourself, click for

I've been experimenting with this recently.

Currently I have a utility CD, booting OS 9.2.1 and chock full of goodies for fixing almost any mac problem. I also have similar for x86 machines but am sorely limited by a reliance on DOS and the plethora of network/scsi drivers required for widespread support.

With my own Mac constantly running OS X these days, it makes some degree of sense to start thinking of bootable OS X CDs and the ability to repair/optimize/hack from a CD boot.

The default OS X install/upgrade CDs are bootable, but will only launch installer.app. This can be changed by editing /etc/rc.cdrom on the CD prior to burning. However most apps expect to be able to save their preferences and make unnecessary assumptions about write-access.

I have managed to modify a 10.1 CD to launch Terminal rather than Installer, however Terminal fails as it is opening a window. It is either looking for a file which does not exist on the CD or is expecting to have write access.

These problems have been resolved on other operating systems with the usage of a RAM disk. Is this an appropriate path to follow?

Closer inspection of the rc.xxxx scripts is required and any suggestions are welcomed.

So you excitedly got your hands on a copy of Office X and in your haste to see this app in all it's Aqua glory, you made a typo on the registration.

Although one could potentially re-install the entire suite, a more mac-hack friendly solution is presented below.

1. Use a utility like file buddy to make the file "OfficePID" visible.

   This is usually located in /Applications/Office v.X/Office/OfficePID

2. Move this file to the trash.

3. For each user who has run office, remove the following preference files:

   Carbon Registration Database

   Office Registration Cache X

   Microsoft Office Settings (10)

   These are all located in $HOME\Library\Preferences\Microsoft

4. Re-launch any of the Office v.X apps and you will prompted to re-register them. Make sure you have your serial number handy at this point.