'fix a troubled Mac'

Update Version 2.4.0

• Significant re-write, extensive update to ‘Running a Mac Studio’ Chapter P27-70
  
• Revised ‘Setting up an Internet Connection’ P28
  
• Revised ‘Configuring a Router’ P30-33
  
• Revised & Simplified ‘Setting up a Domain Name’ P34-37
  
• Revised & Updated ‘Setup a Mac OS X Server’ P38-45
  
• Added a new sub-section ‘Mac OS X Server Initial Configuration’ P46-70
  
• Updated: ‘Should I salvage parts from my dead Mac?’ P102
  
• Revised and updated ‘Work with Directory Services’ P140-141
  
• Revised ‘The (active) Users folder’ P165
  
• Updated ‘Time Machine for incremental temporary backups’ P174
  
• Updated ‘disc image creation using hdiutil’ P177

visit http://fixa.troubledmac.com for more information

'fix a troubled Mac'

Update Version 2.1.8

• Updated Software References to include 10.6 compatibilty P7
  
• Revised ‘Directory Repair - Diskwarrior’ & ‘Added ‘File Recovery - Data Rescue’ P61
  
• Updated ‘Emergency Firewire Drive Layout’ P68
  
• Updated ‘Emergency Firewire Drive Tools’ P69
  
• Revised ‘Reset the Power Management or System Management’ P80
  
• Replaced ‘firewire hard drive issues’ with ‘Common Hardware Problems’ P84-85
  
• Updated ‘Migration Assistant’ P101
  
• Revised ‘Make a sparseimage ready for ASR’ P106
  
• Added ‘Using SuperDuper!’ P107
  
• Revised ‘Restoring from another volume’ P108-109
  
• Added ‘disable HFS+ journal (journal magic is bad)’ P116-117
  
• Simplified ‘Command line trouble shooting’ P118
  
• Added ‘could not disable ignored permissions’ P140
  
• Revised ‘Virtual Memory and free space requirements’ P142-144
  
• Added: ‘Time Machine backup failed’ P145
  
• Added: ‘I’m stuck in GMT timezone’ P146
  
• Updated ‘Have a maintenance plan’ P156
  
• Updated ‘Background maintenance tasks’ P156
  
• Major re-write ‘Backing up Mac OSX’ P160-168
  
• Updated ‘TCP/IP Firewall’ P186
  
• Updated ‘Additional TCP & UDP Ports’ List P187
  
• Minor layout & image improvements, correct errors, update references to 10.6
  

visit http://fixa.troubledmac.com for more information

'fix a troubled Mac'

Update Version 2.0.0

• Updated: 'TCP/IP number rules (IPv4)' P20
  
• Major revision: 'Setup a Mac OSXServer' P27-29
  
• Added: 'How to setup a server - hardware basics' P29
  
• Added: 'About hard drive capacities' & 'About RAID storage' P30
  
• Added: 'How to setup a server - software basics' & 'JBOD or RAID' P31
  
• Revised: 'Mac OSX Server configuration suggestions' P32-37
  
• Revised: 'Mac OSX Server configuration suggestions' P32-37
  
• Updated: 'Holistic backup strategy' P40
  
• Updated: 'Method 1 - Firewire Target disk Mode' P92
  
• Updated: 'Method 2 - Portable firewire enclosure or spare ATA-FW bridge' P93
  
• Added: 'Method 3 - Using purpose built technician tools' P94-95
  
• Updated: 'Method 4 - Using an iPod' P96
  
• Added: 'Method 5 - Using a thumbdrive' P97
  
• Added: 'Method 6 - Using an SD flash memory card' P97
  
• Revised: 'Method 7 - Transferring files via IP networking over ethernet cable'’ P98
  
• Updated: 'Method 8 - Transferring files via IP networking over Firewire' P99
  
• Revised: 'Reset user account on startup' P121
  
• Updated: 'Using the Get info window to fix permissions' P141
  
• Updated: 'the (active) User folder' & 'Moving your User folder' P153
  
• Revised: 'Setting up new Network connections' P170-171
  
• Revised: 'Setting up a TCP/IP connection' P172-173
  
• Revised: 'Setting up Appletalk' P174
  
• Added: 'Setting up a VPN connection' P178
  
• Revised: 'Setting up Airport (wireless)' P179-181
  
• Revised: 'Setting up File Sharing and Remote Access' P184-185
  
• Added: 'Application Firewall' & 'TCP/IPFirewall' P186
  
• Updated: 'TCP & UDP Port numbers used by Mac OSX' P187
  
• Revised: 'Not able to send mail (SMTP forwarding)' P191-192
  

visit http://fixa.troubledmac.com for more information

'fix a troubled Mac'

Update Version 1.9.9

• Updated: Software references to reflect Mac OSX version compatibility P7
  
• Updated: VNC Client P39
  
• Updated & Revised: “Have a backup plan” P154-155
  
• Added: “Time Machine for incremental ‘temporary’ archiving” P156
  
• Added: “Creating executable applications of superduper! scripts” P157
  
• Added: “Running SuperDuper! scripts from within Butler” P158
  
• Added: “Manual encrypted disc backup using FreeDMG” P158
  
• Added: “Manual bulk disc image creation using hdiutil” P159
  
• Added: “Backup to iPhone using MacFuse and MacFusion” P159
  
• Major revision of: “How do I transfer Mac OSX System to another volume? P96-99
  
• Added: “Converting a sparse .dmg to a compressed” .dmg P100
  
• Added: “Make a sparse .dmg ready for Apple software restore ASR” P100
  
• Major simplification of: “How do I restore Mac OSX System from another volume?"

visit http://fixa.troubledmac.com for more information

'fix a troubled Mac'

Update Version 1.9.8

• Updated Software references to reflect Mac OS X version compatibility P7
  
• Updated references and compatibility notes for 10.4 & 10.5
  
• Minor revisions to Chapter 1 "Be your own IT support" P9-14
  
• Minor revisions to Chapter 2 "Running a Mac Studio" P18-27
  
• Revised: "How do I transfer my Mac OS X to another drive?" P96-101
  
• Revised: "Reset Password with command line" P115
  
• Revised: "Corrupt Cache" P117
  
• Updated: "Do some housekeeping" P118
  
• Updated: "Problems with LaunchServices" P120
  
• Updated: "Permissions problem with Leopard - Unknown User" P134
  
• Revised: "Virtual Memory and free space requirements" P136
  
• Revised: "The Nature of Fonts" P148
  
• Updated: "Setting up an Airport network - software basestation" P170
  
• General updates, minor improvements, edits and corrections P2 to P197
  

visit http://fixa.troubledmac.com for more information

'fix a troubled mac'
PDF Update
Version 1.9.7

• Revised "Setup remote access - About VNC" P38-39
  
• Updated "Essential disk repair utility - Diskwarrior" P57
  
• Updated "Intel & PPC on a single drive" P67-70
  
• Revised "Correct Jumper settings for ATA/IDE drives" P74
  
• Revised "Testing hardware components (RAM)" P82
  
• Revised "Moving Mac OS Xto another drive" P94-95
  
• Added "Repair invalid sibling links" P109
  
• Revised "Editing Global Preferences" P121
  
• Added "Changing a username and it"s shortname" P122
  
• Added "What is LaunchCFMApp?" P141
  
• Revised "GPG Keychain" P188
  

visit http://fixa.troubledmac.com for more information

'fix a troubled mac'
PDF Update
Version 1.9.6

Sixteenth publication, 197 pages, current Mac OS X 10.4.8

• Revised 'Software References'; included PPC/Rosetta/Universal Code types P7

• Added 'Youch my Mac is too hot!'; adjusting fan speed P82

• Revised 'Flashing startup disk?'; added Intel bless command P112

• Revised 'Virtual memory problems'; added 'delete support files' and 'sleep images' P136

• Added 'Rosetta applications not launching' P139

• Added 'open using Rosetta'; forcing code to run as PPC rather than Intel P139

• Revised 'Printing problems'; added 'troubles adding a new printer?' P147

• Revised 'Having a maintenance plan'; added 'launchd editing with Lingon' P148

• Added a new chapter titled 'Backing up Mac OSX' P151-158

• Added new content 'Network backup using rysnc & launchd P156

• Added new content 'Generating encrypted key for automatic SSH-2 login' P157

• Added new content 'Creating shell script for rsync backup over a network' P157

• Added new content 'Setting up a CDMA device', 'Bluetooth modem' etc P164-165

• Revised 'Setting up Airport'; added preferred network options etc P166

visit http://fixa.troubledmac.com for more information]]> Sun, 22 Oct 2006 22:38:52 +1000 pdf-book-update-196-1

'fix a troubled Mac' update

• v1.9.8 (will be released mid February)

  It is aimed at users about to upgrade to
  Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard (which includes me:)

• v1.9.9 (will be released late February)

  Will be the final 10.3 and 10.4 version
  and will include more 10.5 compatibility
  information and solutions.

• v2.0.0 (will be released mid March)
  Will be a 'paid upgrade' if you don't have
  a subscription. It will include full support
  for 10.5 including Leopard specific screenshots
  and fully tested command line support as well
  as revised information for Mac OS X server,
  TCP/IP networking and Hardware troubleshooting.
  

visit http://fixa.troubledmac.com for more information

'fix a troubled mac'
PDF Update
support for Leopard (soon)

just dropping a line to say i haven't forgotten my readers...
and that, yes, i will be writing for Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard,
but not just yet...

Leopard support is still preliminary for a lot of the productivity
and troubleshooting tools that i've written about in the Book.

For a start, iDefrag and Diskwarrior are still not fully compatible.
AppleJack isn't working, SuperDuper won't backup, my USB HDSPA modem
still isn't supported, nor is my printer. So until these issues are sorted out,
there is no way i'm going to break my productive and stable environment of
10.4 Tiger, for a beta testing period on Leopard that will likely be filled
with swearing and utterances like, why upgrade when nothing was broken??

Considering this, i know there are hundreds of you out there expecting
me to be on the forefront of the bleeding edge of technology. I don't
want to break this to you, but i'm very cautious when it comes to making a
major Mac OS X upgrade. In addition to this, i just can't see any
compelling reason(s) to upgrade.

As a result of this caution, Leopard is not my main OS environment, and
hence, is not involved in any troubleshooting. Besides, all the principles
and techniques i've written in the book, should still form a solid basis
for getting one out of trouble.

I'll be doing an intrim upgrade to cover 10.4.11 over the next 2-3 weeks,
which will involve some prelim compatibility notes for Leopard, as well
as some new additional backups techniques i've been practicing lately.

On a final note, make sure you backup your work. I suffered a hard drive
crash the other day and counted my lucky stars that i actually heed my
own advice.

visit http://fixa.troubledmac.com for more information

'fix a troubled mac'
PDF Update
is in the works

Yes, i'm still alive and well. Sorry it's been quite a few
months since the last update, just dropping a line to
say i haven't forgotten my readers...

An update is in the works.

I've been busy doing IT support for a Film Company
that is currently shooting on location and soon
filming in the Australian outback. (Hint Hint)

visit http://fixa.troubledmac.com for more information