Bluetooth unavailable? Reset SMC!

I don't know when did this happen: bluetooth in my MacBook suddenly becomes unavailable. System profile shows me no bluetooth device is detected. Just last week I transfered some photos from my cell phone to my MacBook, and now this?

After some googling, I found the solution: Reset the SMC unit. OK, unplug the AC adapter, remove the battery, hold on the power button, and 5 seconds later, my bluetooth is back.

My friend il actually had another problem with his MacBook: iSight no longer works. Guess what he did...... Reset SMC!

What else CANNOT be fixed by resetting SMC?

Play rmvb format using MPlayer

MPlayer is my favorite media player on Mac OS X. I really don't understand the great disparity in terms of user numbers between VLC and MPlayer, as shown on osx.iusethis.com. In my experience, MPlayer plays more formats than VLC does and has better subtitle support. I don't mean to diminish VLC but I think at least these two players should be similar in every aspect.

In any case, both MPlayer and VLC are way better than the bloated RealOne player. However, sometimes I need play rmvb file but it is not supported by MPlayer out of box. In this case, first download RealOne, then copy all the bundles in

RealPlayer.app/Contents/Frameworks/HXClientKit.framework/HelixPlugins/Codecs

to

/usr/local/lib/codecs

If you don't have the second folder then create it first.

Oh, don't forget to delete RealOne afterwards.

Tips on ssh

1. Use ssh-keygen to generate key pairs

# ssh-keygen -t rsa -b 2048

ssh-keygen can generate both RSA and DSA keys. While you can specify any key length for RSA keys (in the example it is set to 2048 bits), the key length for DSA is always 1024 bits as required by the government. RSA is also faster when it comes to verify the key.

After ssh-keygen generates the key pair, put id_rsa.pub to ~/.ssh/ on the remote machine and rename it to authorized_keys.

Now enjoy remote login without having to input your password. (Of course you have to make sure the physical access to your machine is secured.)

2. Use ssh_config to specify ssh setting

You can put the configuration into the file ~/.ssh/config. Below is an example

Host short
  HostName long.server.name
  User name

Then you only need input

# ssh short

instead of

# ssh name@long.server.name

For more options, man ssh_config.

A 'Perfect' iTunes Equalizer Setting

I recently came across this post on MacOSXHints.com. The modified equalizer sounds amazing. Simply copy the applescript below and run it in script editor

tell application "iTunes"
 tell EQ preset 1 -- the Manual setting which you can then save
  set band 1 to -8
  set band 2 to -5
  set band 3 to -3
  set band 4 to -4
  set band 5 to -5
  set band 6 to -6
  set band 7 to -4
  set band 8 to -2
  set band 9 to 0
  set band 10 to -3
  set preamp to 6
 end tell
end tell

This is how it looks.

Save the preset and enjoy!

Change the background of TeXShop

Sometimes I need use LaTeX to generate equations in white color for my Keynote presentation (copy/paste from TeXShop). It is then necessary to change the background of TeXShop, otherwise nothing can be seen. There is a hidden preference just for this:

# defaults write TeXShop Pdfbackground_R 0.5
# defaults write TeXShop Pdfbackground_G 0.5
# defaults write TeXShop Pdfbackground_B 0.5

Change the values back to 1 to get white background or you can change it to any value you prefer.