Reinstating a missing Bluetooth device (Mac OS X)

For some reason, my Bluetooth device disappeared from my Macbook Pro. When I clicked on the Bluetooth status and/ or went to check via Systems Preference - Network, it said my Bluetooth device was not installed.

Which was strange because it was working fine just before I shutdown the Mac.

I searched the Apple Support forums. There were a few similar problems reported and most solutions required a reboot. Specifically, I did this and it worked:

Resetting PRAM and NVRAM

1. Locate these keys: Command-Option-P-R keys. You’ll need to press them once you restart your Mac.
2. Shut down the computer, and then turn it back on.
3. Quickly press and hold the Command-Option-P-R keys before the gray screen appears.
4. Continue holding until you hear the startup sound for the second time.
5. Then release the keys.

Source: docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=2238

Which wireless router should I get?

I wanted to get a wireless router for my HDB apartment (I was using a fixed LAN point) but I wasn’t sure which brand to get. So I asked my usual IT/ Mac gurus.

Within a few emails, I went from “almost clueless” to “confident buyer” — thanks to Lucian, Kevin and Siva.

I’m happily blogging this while connected to the wireless router I’ve successfully set up a few minutes ago. I bought a Linksys product, if you must know. I’ve used their product before and have found it reliable. Their customer service was also pretty good.

There are plenty of product reviews out there, but nothing beats receiving affirmation and second opinions from trusted and knowledgeable friends.

Since the guys were generous in sharing what they know, I’ve decided to compile my own FAQs on buying a wireless router. NOTE: Any mistakes in this post are mine alone.

***

Q: Do different brands (of wireless routers) make a difference? For instance, I had the impression that Belkin is top of the range.
Apparently they do. The differences lie with the WIFI chipsets from the different manufacturers.

For instance, Linksys seems to have a good track record of compatibility with Apple products, while Belkin was a “maybe” and some feel Netgear was a “less than safe choice” if you have a Mac.

Getting a good router means a better Internet experience. Invest in a good one!

Q: Some routers end with “B”, “G” and “N” in their name. What’s the difference?
They refer to the wireless networking standards.

The 802.11b (B-series) is older. The 802.11g (G-series) standard comes next. Then there’s the newer, faster 802.11n (N-series) specification which has been drafted but not made standard by the IEEE yet.

The G-series is sufficient for most uses. It’ll be your broadband speed that’s your bottleneck, rather than the router. 802.11n is probably good if you move a lot of files wirelessly between computers on the same network.

Q: I saw product claims like “5x faster” etc. Does the router really improve download speeds?
The answer is ‘no’ if you’re just using the router without using the manufacturer’s propriety WIFI cards.

“5x faster” probably refers to the G-series when compared to the older B-series. You usually need to use additional WIFI cards with the router to enjoy the faster speeds. The packaging might say something like “For optimal performance, you will need to use the following [brand name] products…”

Q: For a 4 to 5-room HDB flat, would a wireless router with a 400ft range will suffice? Do I need to get a booster?
The range would usually suffice if you can place the wireless router in the middle of your home. If that’s not possible, try moving the router antenna (p.s. I found that just shifting the antenna towards the direction of a previously less-than-favourable-reception area improved the signal by 10 to 15%).

Q: I tested my connection speed via speedtest.net. Why is it that upload and download speeds differ?
It’s usual to have faster download speeds than uploads (most users will download stuff rather than upload, so it makes sense to ensure majority of users are happy). The ISPs don’t expect home users to run servers. But this is slowly changing, as more of us do VoIP, upload youtube videos, host game servers, do remote computing etc.

I have Mac. Should I then get the Airport or can I use the other routers?
The wireless routers work the same (Macs and PCs are able to use either brands). Your final decision may be the cost, your trust in the brand, and the design (i.e. coolness) factor. Cost-wise, Apple products can cost up to SGD$100 to SGD$150 more than another brand that might adequately serve your need (all I needed was just to surf the net, and my usage isn’t that heavy).

Comment: I hope the sales guy don’t give me that “how come you’re asking me such simple questions” look. Most times, I end up feeling stupid when I try to buy IT stuff. It’s like these people expect customers to know the products already.
If they want your business, they are supposed to be answering “stupid” questions! And you will find out that lots of questions turn out not to be “stupid”.

Unable to ‘Empty Trash’ problem (i.e. How to delete locked files in OS X)

Recently I encountered this problem when trying to empty my Trash folder — the process kept being interrupted by an error message: “The operation cannot be completed because the item “wmphelp.htm” is locked”.

I hit the Continue button and there were similar messages: “WMPIcon.gif” is locked… “windowshade.gif” is locked…

Here’s a sample screenshot (from Otterman):

Clearly the problem were with files related to Windows Media Player I deleted earlier. I had about 300 over files in the Trash folder so I needed to find a solution quickly.

I emailed the folks in the me@n list (thanks folks!). Their suggestions included:

1. Repairing the file permissions with Disk Utility before attempting the Empty Trash operation.
2. Manually checking the offending file to ensure that I had Read/ Write permission
3. Press Option + Empty Trash

Tried suggestion #1 (even booting from a startup disk and running Disk Utility from the CD) but still had the error message.

Tried suggestion #2 but problem was those specific file names weren’t in the Trash folder.

Suggestion #3 didn’t work either.

In the end, Siva aka Otterman provided the solution. He suggested “Cmd +Option + Shift + ‘Empty Trash’”.

It worked beautifully!

Even scared me a little ‘cos there was no prompt to confirm the Empty Trash operation. Hit those combinations and it cleaned out everything in the Trash folder immediately.

I’m still not quite sure why the offending file couldn’t be deleted (even though I had permission to delete it). But at least now I’ve picked up this neat trick with the keyboard shortcut.

Siva has more details about deleting locked files in OS X at this post. Excerpt:

In Finder:

• cmd-delete = move selected item to trash
• cmd-shift-delete = empty trash (with warning prompt; locked files not deleted)
• cmd-option-shift-delete = empties trash without dialog, included locked files

GarageBand: How to create stereo tracks

My friend, Lekowala, texted me: “How do you get the guitar tracks to go stereo?”

I don’t know about other GarageBand users, but here’s how I do it. There are two main ways:

1. Use the “Chorus –> Spread Stereo” effects setting
2. Create a duplicate track, then adjust the Track Pan settings to create a Left and Right track

METHOD #1: CHORUS - SPREAD STEREO (click on the image to see larger sizes)

GarageBand records in Mono (I’m using iLife ‘06). At the Track Info panel, under Input, it says “Channel 1 (Mono)”. It’s still Mono even if you select “Channel 1 & 2 (Stereo)”.

“Chorus” effect. You can instantly hear the difference.

One easy way to get the stereo effect is to select the “Spread Stereo” option from the

If you don’t want to use any effects to distort your original recording, here’s an alternative to using the Chorus Spread Stereo effect.

METHOD #2: Track Pan settings (click on the image to see larger sizes)

After you’ve recorded your track, make a Duplicate Track. Then copy the recording (from your first track) and paste to the duplicate track.

Click on the “Track Volume/ Pan Curve” button (i.e. the little triangle icon). The choose “Track Pan“.

Adjust the tracks to pan to the left and right respectively.

TIP: If you can’t seem to be able to get both tracks to have the same Pan curve number, don’t stress yourself out. Seems there’s always a +1 difference between the left and right pan. In my case, I have the top pan track set to “-34″ and the bottom track to “+35″. You can never get “-34″ and “+34″.

Out of curiosity, I searched if there were other related blog posts/ sites. Here’s a few, although some may not have specific instructions on stereo tracks:

• Homerecording.About.com - An introduction to GarageBand
• Apple.com Mac 101: GarageBand
• Synthtopia.com - Advanced audio effects in Garageband and GarageBand Tips and Tricks
• TidBITS - Tips and Tricks for recording with GarageBand (this one talks about recording two tracks at once, so maybe that’ll help)
• Apple’s Garageband manual - PDF file (it covers the basics of using GarageBand)

My home “recording studio” and equipment

At the April 2007 Songcraft Songwriting Circle meetup, Betty shared that she wrote a song for a friend as a farewell gift, which was recorded with help from a friend (who had professional recording equipment). That led me to described how I recorded and edited my music. Some of the participants seemed to want to know more — about the equipment used etc. I had a feeling they were thinking “It couldn’t be that simple”. But it is!

Basically, you need this sort of setup:

• (A) Computer & software (i.e. your “recording device” and sound engineering studio)
• (B) Input device (could be the instrument itself, like the electric guitar. Or a microphone, in the case of vocals or instruments without built-in pickups)
• (C) Instrument (guitars, piano, your voice etc.)

(A) Computer & Software

The computer is the heart of my “recording studio”. But it’s nothing without the software. The Mac comes bundled with GarageBand. You can use a free one like Audacity for Windows and Mac (though it’s way less sophisticated as compared to GarageBand).

You may or may not need a peripheral device like a Griffen iMic (a USB audio interface/ adaptor). It’s useful if you want to record more than one input device at the same time (e.g. vocals and guitar) and your computer only has one input mic jack.

(B) Input device (for vocals)

I’ve got nothing fancy. Just a standard microphone that came as part of a headphone set. The recording quality is quite acceptable. You can always enhance it with the software. Examples: “Lady of Shalott” and “Take Me Away“.

(C) Instruments
I tend to feature more guitars in my works. I’m a Joe Satriani wannabe, heh.

The one on the left is a Yamaha “Vester” with a Floyd-Rose floating bridge. Bought it around 1990. Some years later, I replaced the original pickups with EMG active pickups.

The one on the right is straight-from-factory Epiphone Les Paul Standard, bought last year in 2006. I’ve always wanted to own a Les Paul but I still find Gibsons beyond my price range. An Epiphone is more than good enough. Chapter 7 of this book says the same thing — that between a Gibson and Epiphone, the difference is quite subtle. Besides, I feel it’s the sound engineering aspect (which depends on the computer & software) that makes the real difference to the sound.

Another example of a home studio setup (from an earlier post)

[Click on image to see notes]

BTW, if you’re keen to find audio file hosting/ podcast services, check out Dave’s Imaginary Sound Space. It’s pretty comprehensive.

And if you have pics of how your home studio looks like, feel free to leave a link.

Freeware: “Burn” - Burning/ Copying application for Mac OS X

Thanks to Siva for the alert. I’ve never used Roxio’s ‘Toast’, so I don’t know it compares to this open source alternative called ‘Burn‘. See: burn-osx.sourceforge.net

The other day I used it to copy photos of my Beijing vacation to CDs, and Burn (version: 1.62u) proved easy to use and worked without a hitch. I like how it shows how much disk space would be taken up for the files selected for burning. There’s also a drop-down list to let me choose the formats (Mac or PC).

I haven’t tried out the burning process for Audio and video files. Not sure how different is that. Also haven’t figured it it allows a “CD to CD” burn (has anyone tried that?)

What I’ve confirmed is that the software doesn’t support Multi-session burns. Disk Utility is still needed for that purpose if you want to perform multiple burns to a CD (note: Disk Utility multi-session burn doesn’t work for DVDs).

Technorati Tags: apple, mac freeware

Troubleshooting your Macbook/ Macbook Pro wireless access

Like Otterman, I experienced some problems in connecting my Macbook Pro to my home wireless router. I followed the workarounds he posted at his blog. Problem solved. Thanks Dude!

This worked for me:

Delete all “Preferred Network” listings then re-establish. One surprisingly effective AirPort Base station-specific fix for an inability to connect to wireless networks involves deleting all stored preferred networks, then re-establishing any used listings. Here’s the process:

1. Open System Preferences and select the “Network” pane
2. Select “AirPort” and click “Configure”
3. In the “By default, join:” pull-down menu, select “Preferred networks”
4. Delete the network(s) you regularly use from the list
5. Launch the “Keychain Access” application located in Applications/Utilities.
6. Click on the “Kind” filter at the top, and look for “AirPort network password” entries. Delete them.
7. Restart, or log out then back in.
8. Repeat steps 1-3, this time re-adding your regularly used AirPort networks to the list using the “+” button.
9. Restart or log out then back in.

Refer to alternative workarounds here.

Best Freeware Mac OSX Apps

This is a useful reference if you want some Mac OSX freeware:
http://alej745.tripod.com/grassknucklers/Blank.html
Out of the 13 items listed there, I’ve used four of them. I don’t have a need for the rest at the moment. To be honest, it was really Lucian’s naming of his computer that pushed me to blog this! LOL.

Technorati Tags: apple, mac freeware

Perian (Codec for Apple QuickTime, for Mac)

I’m blogging this just in case I need a reference in future. Having hunted for OSX Quicktime codecs, I can appreciate something like Perian (an almost all-in-one Quicktime component):

Perian is a Quicktime component that will allow you to play all kinds of files including the most popular ones. (Divx, XviD, FLV, AVI ). The list goes on. Also supported are MS-MPEG4 v1, MS-MPEG4 v2, MS-MPEG4 v3, DivX 3.11 alpha, 3ivX, Sorenson H.263, Flash Screen Video, Truemotion VP6.

Via FreeMacWare.com

Technorati Tags: quicktime, apple, codec

How to do Multisession Burns with Mac OS X

[Originally posted at Rambling Librarian]

Update, 1 Sept 06: The steps below work only for CDs, but not for DVDs. See discussion in the comments section below.

Click on images to see larger-sized pictures:
1) Find and start the Disk Utility application. Look in the “Applications” -> Utilities folder

2) Create a new Image: File -> New -> Disk Image from Folder

3) Select the folder with the files to be copied, then click on the “Image” button. NOTE: Only folders can be copied, not individual files. Each time you want to copy the file, you might want to create a new folder and place the file in that folder.

4) IMPORTANT STEP: Select “read/ write” for Image Format (if not, the CD or DVD will be closed). Click on “Save”.

5) Wait while the Image (.dmg file) is being created.

6) Once the image is created, you’ll see this screen. Select the image from the Disk Utility window and click the “Burn” icon.

7) Insert the CD/ DVD. If this is a brand new disk, you will see this dialog box. IMPORTANT - select “Leave disc appendable” if you want multisession burning later on. Then click “Burn”.
Wait while the files are being copied to the CD/ DVD.

9) Follow steps 1 to 8 the next time you want to copy to the disk. When you reach step 7 and insert the previously recorded disk, you will see this dialog box. The difference is that now you see the “Append” button instead of “Burn”. IMPORTANT — Remember to select “Leave disc appendable” before clicking Append.

Technorati Tag: mac os x