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I recently began using a new 12" PowerBook G4 laptop computer (with an external monitor, keyboard, and mouse). I love it. But as any mac user knows, sometimes things do not just "work out of the box" like they are supposed to do. So this page lists a couple of problems I've run across and solved.
A: Yes. Let's say you use MATLAB to generate a plot of one set of data, that has 10,000 points. Let's say that most of these points are redundant, or nearly so. (In other words, most of them lie on lines between adjacent points.) You can simplify the plot in illustrator by selecting the "Path" that results, and doing Object->Simplify... Check "Preview" and "Show Original" if you want to make sure the simplification looks enough like the original.
A: Yes, AI saves hidden layers to PDF, even if you say that you don't want the result to be editable by AI, and even if you are saving to a PDF file format that doesn't support layers. This is a little annoying, but there is a workaround (without creating multiple AI files). Make hidden layers "Templates" as well (an option in the "Layers" palette). Then they will not be saved. Note, however, that you need to switch back if you ever want to show and save the hidden layer, because even if it is showing, a template layer will not be saved.
A: This is truly an annoying problem. When trying to use Software Update or Safari, you get a message that says you can't connect to the server. But if you try IE or any other browser (for example) there is no problem. This appears to be related to a recent security update that came with the Mac OSX 10.3.8 update (see this link.) As suggested by someone in that post, there is something strange going on with the proxy settings (under SystemPreferences->Network->Aiport->Proxies, for example). If you create a new network location, all of the proxy options are unchecked, and everything will work fine! If I then go and uncheck the "Automatic Proxy" option with my original network location, that works again too.
A: Type SHIFT-A to toggle the mouse. (Yes, I admit, I often use PowerPoint.
Of course I would not dream of writing a paper using Word.)
A: It is possible you have a power manager problem or are trying to insert a bad disc (see the slot-load troubleshooting document from Apple -- both of these are very unlikely, surprise, surprise). However, you probably have a mechanical problem instead (see this forum thread). So, try the following: tip the keyboard up and away from you, at about a forty-five degree angle, and tap or shake very lightly. You may hear a small click from inside the CD drive. If so, congratulations, you've solved your problem! (Anybody know what's really going on here?)
A: I have no idea. Please let me know if you do.
A: For some reason, if you created the alias using the OSX Finder command
File-Make Alias, TeXShop will find the file but won't be able to actually read
it, so none of your references will show up. Instead, created a link manually by navigating
(in a terminal window) to the directory in which you want the alias, then typing the following
(fill in PATH to the complete file path):
ln -s PATH/bibfile.bib
A: With a finder window (or file navigation window in an application) open,
type COMMAND-SHIFT-G. A window will pop up, where you can type in
the path of your hidden file/folder directly.
A: This is an option in your pine configuration file. Open .pinerc (in your home directory
on the remote machine) with a text editor. Change the lines
normal-foreground-color=
normal-background-color=
to
normal-foreground-color=black
normal-background-color=white
(or whatever you'd like).
ZeroLink: unknown symbol '...'
Fix: There are several reasons you might get this error. One of them is if you forgot to
provide code (in your *.cpp file) for a virtual class function (i.e., virtual void foo();
in your *.h file). You shouldn't get this message
if you didn't provide code for a non-virtual function (I'm not sure why).
somelibrary.a has no table of contents, add one with ranlib(1) (can't load from it)
Fix: Locate the library somelibrary.a and execute ranlib
somelibrary.a.
You should be able to compile now.
A: You'll notice that the vanilla spell-checker in TeXShop is useless, because it doesn't recognize LaTeX tags. The problem is the dictionary, not the spell-checker. You should download cocoAspell (which is a Mac OS X implementation of Aspell, a custom dictionary). Before you use it, make sure you go into "System Preferences->Other->Spelling", enable the dictionary you want (e.g., American English), and click the checkbox to turn on TeX filtering (ignoring TeX commands). Then, in TeXShop (or whatever), select the dictionary you just enabled in the "Check Spelling..." dialog box.
texexec to output PDF files of the correct paper size?
A: Use the option --paper. For example, if you want to extract pages 1--3 of the file in.pdf (which
is of letter-size) and save them to the file out.pdf, use...
texexec --pdfselect --paper=letter --selection=1:3 --result=out.pdf in.pdf
Note: Claus Gerhardt has rewritten the pdfselectc script to offer an additional dialog for the papersize. Thanks, Claus! (He also reminded me that his scripts can be easily modified to add this kind of functionality yourself.)
A: Thanks to Marc Pawliger, I finally have the answer!
"It's not that easily found, but pick Advanced> PDF Optimizer and choose
Compatible with: Acrobat 5.0 and Later in the popup menu at the top of the
page. The file will save as PDF 1.4. I didn't check whether links are
preserved, but I would expect them to be. --marc"
Workaround: It is very easy to extract pages if you have a TeX installation (see the
TeX on Mac OS X page -- I recommend the version from Wierba's i-Installer together with
the front-end TeXShop). Claus Gerhardt has written a macro "pdfselectc" which puts a wrapper around texexec --pdfselect
(see the man page for texexec for more information). The old version of pdfselectc did not have a way of
setting the paper-size (look here for a fix) but the most recent version does!
A: There are (at least) two possible problems. First, in order for your macintosh to correctly identify the display (so it shows up in the displays menu) you need to either connect everything in the right order or select "Detect Displays" in the displays menu. The right order is... (1) Put your mac to sleep, (2) Connect the cable from the external display to your miniDVI-to-VGA or miniDVI-to-DVI adapter, (3) Connect the miniDVI-to-(VGA or DVI) adapter to your computer, (4) Wake your computer from sleep.
The second problem occurs when you are trying to connect your powerbook (which is capable of sending digital video (DVI) signals) to a digital display or projector (which is capable of receiving DVI). Look at the cable that comes out of the projector—most likely, it is actually a VGA-to-DVI adapter, since most computers even today are only capable of sending analog video (VGA) signals. So your cable hookup is... DVI powerbook -> miniDVI-to-VGA adapter -> VGA-to-DVI adapter -> DVI projector. When your computer detects displays, it says, "Oh, this projector is capable of receiving DVI, so I'll send out DVI signals." These signals are corrupted by the conversion to and from VGA, and arrive at the projector as garbage. So what you'll notice is that the projector is detected correctly (you can check by looking in the displays menu of the systems preferences) but you get no picture.
Fix: Buy a DVI-to-DVI cable to connect the display/projector directly to the miniDVI-to-DVI adapter that comes out of your powerbook.
Workaround: Fake out your powerbook as follows... (1) While your computer is on, attach only the miniDVI-to-VGA adapter. (You'll notice that a ghost VGA display shows up in the displays menu at this point.) (2) Now attach the VGA-to-DVI cable from the projector to the miniDVI-to-VGA adapter. You should now see an image from the projector. (3) Do not under any circumstances select "Detect Displays" from the displays menu, because then your computer will (correctly) identify the projector as DVI-capable, and start sending out DVI signals to be corrupted by the VGA connection, and you won't get a picture any more.