OS X Odds & Ends: Tenon on xTools; Preview crash; Startup problem solved?; more
OS X Odds & Ends: Tenon on xTools; Preview crash; Startup problem solved?; more
Font problem causes Preview to crash OS X Rob Steward writes: "I opened a PDF file with a missing font in Preview and it brought down the entire GUI - blank purple-blue screen, no Force Quit option, no login (thankfully, I could still telnet to send a Shut Down command). The exact same PDF in Acrobat simply said that an embedded font could not be used - but otherwise worked."
Startup problem with clicking hard drive: a solution? A few readers have described a problem where OS X fails to startup accompanied by a loud persistent clicking from the hard drive. Nian Wang suggests the solution may be a< variation of one that affected Mac OS 9 as well: the Startup Disk System Preferences and/or control panel does not find a valid System to start up. One solution is to start up with the Mac OS 9.1 CD, open the StartUp Disk control panel and select a startup disk from there. All should then work. [Note: we suspect that holding down the Option key at startup - and selecting a startup drive from the screen that appears - might also work here.] [See also this previously cited Forums thread for more on startup problems.]
Adaptec install error Jason Warren was unable to get the Adaptec AVA--2906 & PowerDomain2930U 1.0b4 software to install on his G4/466 with an Adaptec 2906 SCSI Card installed. He kept getting the message: "There were errors installing the software. Please try installing again."
GPGMail installer A reader has put together an installer for GPGMail 1.04 for Mac OS X. "It's built from the 1.04 patched version mentioned here. GPGMail is a bundle for MailViewer.app (on Mac OS X Server) and Mail.app (on Mac OS X), providing a front-end to GPG for some operations.
Update: Peter Jurg replies: "The package contains GPG, an open source alternative for PGP, but no plugins or whatsoever for Mail.app." Another reader clarfies: "The installer is not for GPGMail (which does not work with Mac OS X 10.0); it is only for the command line GPG."
OS X vs. NeXT software In case you had any doubt as to the extent Mac OS X is based on NeXT Software, take a look at the Readme.pdf file from the Developer Tools CD in the Documentation/Cocoa/DevEnvGuide directory. It states: "The PDF files in this directory comprise NeXT Software's on-line help for Project Builder and Interface Builder (also known as OPENSTEP Tools and Techniques)...Although the environment has been extended and enhanced for Mac OS X...most of the information...is still valid."
Update: Mark Carroll adds: "For that matter, if you put an image in a TextEdit .rtfd document and then use BBEdit to look at the contents of the enclosed TXT.rtf file, you'll see references to 'NeXTGraphic.'"
Save retyping in Terminal We moved yesterday's items on saving retyping in Terminal to the Using Terminal report. We also updated the item today with two new tips.