Max Clark » osx

HOWTO Create ISO on Mac OS X

Max — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 18:40:19 +0000

Found here:

1. Insert CD/DVD source

2. Fire up a Terminal, you can then determine the device that is you CD/DVD drive using the following command:

$ drutil status Vendor Product Rev MATSHITA DVD-R UJ-835E GAND

Type: DVD-ROM Name: /dev/disk1 Cur Write: 8x DVD Sessions: 1 Max Write: 8x DVD Tracks: 1 Overwritable: 00:00:00 blocks: 0 / 0.00MB / 0.00MiB Space Free: 00:00:00 blocks: 0 / 0.00MB / 0.00MiB Space Used: 364:08:27 blocks: 1638627 / 3.36GB / 3.13GiB Writability: Book Type: DVD-ROM

3. Unmount the disk with the following command:

$ diskutil unmountDisk /dev/disk1 Disk /dev/disk1 unmounted

4. Create the ISO file with the dd utility (may take some time):

$ dd if=/dev/disk1 of=file.iso bs=2048

5. Test the ISO image by mounting the new file (or open with Finder):

$ hdid file.iso

6. The ISO image can then be burnt to a blank CD/DVD.

Speed up a slow Terminal by clearing log files

Max — Fri, 21 Jan 2011 17:12:09 +0000

Terminal has been getting slower and slower for me on launch. For whatever reason this morning I finally spent a couple of minutes on Google and came across this gem:

Speed up a slow Terminal by clearing log files.

In short:

cd /private/var/log/asl/
ls *.asl
sudo rm !$

This clears out OSX’s system logs and results in an instant launch of terminal again.

HOWTO Install OS X on a Dell Mini 9

Max — Mon, 04 May 2009 18:27:23 +0000

I just finished installing OS X on my Dell Mini 9 pic (as an aside – probably one of the best form factors I have owned for a traveling laptop). The instructions here:

How-To: Install Mac OS X – DellEFI Method

are pretty good. I followed Section 2 Part A. One thing to note, when booting the system via the “small” USB drive you will have to press “esc” and select the larger USB drive to boot from. The syslinux/isolinux on the small USB drive will continue to boot in a loop until you break the cycle. Other than that everything worked like a charm right from the start (camera, audio, wifi, etc…).

I still need to install and tweet some additional settings and my 16 GB USB drive will always be close by (6 GB installation). Additional links and information are below – enjoy.