Virtual Desktops

Apparently this is the good virtual desktop manager for OSX these days. I'm running it and it seems pretty good so far. I haven't got all the must-haves figured out (moving windows between desktops, etc.) but as I do, I'll document it here (or try to...).

Use the System Preferences > Accounts > Login Items to start it automatically.

Update: It seems that Desktop Manager messes up (resets) my finely-tuned mouse speed every time I change desktops. Has anybody else seen this? Solution? Grrr...

Launch Xterm from the dock

Download this Xterm.App and add it to your dock to get a quick one-click Xterm launcher. To install, just mount the disk image, drag the application to your /Applications folder and then drag that to your dock. This AppleScript app enables to you quickly launch an Xterm. The app will exit immediately after starting the Xterm to you can use it over and over again. It will also start X11 if it's not already running.

Get your F1 - F12 keys back on a Powerbook

To use the F1 - F12 keys as function keys by default (you don't have to hit fn+F1, etc.), check the "Use the F1-F12 keys to control software features" box in the Keyboard control panel.

(Of course, this means you have to hit fn+F1 to adjust the screen brightness, etc.)

Control in the right place (for Unix users, anyway...)

10.4 has a nice option for re-mapping the Caps-Lock key: System Preferences > Keyboard & Mouse > Modifier Keys...

Grab the first pull-down (Caps Lock) and set it to "^ Control". You can also change the Control key to Caps Lock if you want to swap them instead of just getting rid of Caps Lock.

Shift-Insert in xterm

When using an external keyboard, the "Insert" key (along with many others) doesn't send the right keycode. While I have no idea how to get Insert working again in Aqua, in X11 it's rather simple to fix with xmodmap. The line you need is:

keycode 122 = Insert

The one nice thing is that Apple already has xmodmap in the global xinitrc (/etc/X11/xinit/xinitrc). Just place your xmodmap entries in ~/.Xmodmap and restart X!

However, to keep this map change from being overwritten when the window manager (quartz-wm) starts, you must disable keymap syncing by typing:

defaults write com.apple.x11 sync_keymap -bool false

Focus-follows-mouse, or "I hate clicking to focus"

Well - Apple, seeming to just not "get it" about Unix users, (even Windows can do this guys....) doesn't seem to have a way to change their Quartz WM to focus-follows-mouse mode. However, there seem to be ways of making particular applications do focus-follows-mouse:

• Terminal
Type this in the terminal prompt:

defaults write com.apple.Terminal FocusFollowsMouse -string YES

To deactivate it, change YES to NO

• X11
Type this in the terminal prompt:

defaults write com.apple.x11 wm_ffm -bool true

Mouse Issues

If you use a Microsoft Intellimouse USB mouse, you may want to download and install Intellipoint for Mac OSX

You can use this to bind the wheel button to Command+Click (Action: "Click", Modifier: "Command") so you can open links in a new tab in Firefox (a pox on you, Mozilla).

Be sure to disable Intellipoint functions for the X11 application, or you won't be able to middle-click in Unix applications. To do this, click the 'Add' button underneath the droop-down menu at the top of the window. Click OK in the warning dialog, and find the X11 application (usually installed in /Applications/Utilities/X11) and click "Choose". Then, check the "Disable Intellipoint features..." to get your middle button back in X11.

Add NRAO site cities to the Dashboard Clock

As root, apply this patch to the World Clock widget to get Charlottesville, Green Bank and Socorro in your world clock.

cd / ; sudo patch -p0 < worldclock.diff

Use an SSH-Agent frontend to manage your keys

This SSH-Agent is a front-end to the ssh-agent included in the OSX BSD layer. Configure your identities (keys) in this app and add it to your login items. When it starts up, it will prompt you for the passphrase for your default identities (the ones you mark as default) and then OSX's 'ssh' command will automagically see your keys in either Terminal or xterm.

Forward SSH Trusted

OSX 10.4 uses OpenSSH 3.8, which is a bit paranoid about it's X11 forwarding. To make X11 forwarding useable, you need to set the following option in your ~/.ssh/config (or /etc/ssh_config):

ForwardX11Trusted	Yes

cdfinder: change shell pwd to what finder is showing

This lovely little script invokes an applescript to grab the directory that the front-most finder window is showing and changes your shell to that directory.

cd "$(osascript -e 'tell application "Finder"' \
  -e 'set myname to POSIX path of (target of window 1 as alias)' \
  -e 'end tell' 2>/dev/null)"

You can add this as a shell function in your .bashrc for easy access

cdfinder()
{
  <code from above>
}