July 10, 2008

Mac OS X Terminal Commands Tweaks You Can't Resist To Use

You must be familiar with the
Terminal in Mac OS X Leopard , the command line world. Here are some
terminal commands which you can use to customize your Mac. I have tried
many, but these are few which are most useful and amazing. You can
reverse the commands by replacing YES with NO.

If you have
already used them then just have a look at the list. I recommend you to
copy the whole commands and paste them in the terminal.

[1] Add An Exposè Button To The Desktop
This
hack adds a big blue button onto the desktop to enable you to use
exposè. Clicking on it shows all the windows from one
application (F10 default), option clicking it shows all windows (F9
default).


defaults write com.apple.dock wvous-floater -bool YES
killall Dock


[2] Set The Screen Saver As The Wallpaper
This
is one of the coolest tweak. This command sets the currently selected
screen saver as the desktop background. Use command + . to stop while
in Terminal.

/System/Library/Frameworks/ScreenSaver.framework/Resources/ScreenSaverEngine.app/Contents/MacOS/ScreenSaverEngine -background


[3] Changing the Format Of Screen Shots

If you use the screenshot function,
you may want to change the format of the images. Where jpg is in the
code you can change this to the format your want, png bmp gif etc. You
need to log out and back in again, or restart for the changes to take
effect.

defaults write com.apple.screencapture type jpg


[4] Enable The Path View In Finder

One
of may favourite hacks as it lets you see the current path of the
Finder window you are in. It makes life easier as the path is easily
visible on the top of the finder window.



defaults write com.apple.finder _FXShowPosixPathInTitle -bool YES

[5] Recent Applications, Documents, Servers Stack

This
command creates a new stack in your dock so you can view the recently
used Applications. I have kept it permanently in my dock.


defaults
write com.apple.dock persistent-others -array-add '{ "tile-data" = {
"list-type" = 1; }; "tile-type" = "recents-tile"; }'


[6] Skip Disk Image Verification
If
you want to save some time you can skip the disk image verification for
a disk image. Potentially risky as a whole load of things could go
wrong without you knowing.

com.apple.frameworks.diskimages skip-verify TRUE


[7] Disable Crash Dialog Prompt
Disables
the unexpectedly quit dialog that normally appears when an application
crashes. Replace "none" with "prompt" to enable again.

defaults write com.apple.CrashReporter DialogType none

[8] Drag A Widget Onto The Desktop
Another cool tweak, this command enables widgets to be placed onto the desktop. Drag a widget around
and press F12 to drag it onto the desktop. Repeat the process again to
drag a widget back onto the dashboard. This may need you to log off or
restart for it to take effect.


defaults write com.apple.dashboard devmode YES


[9] Change The Login Picture
If you get a bored of the space picture used on the login screen,
you can change it with this little bit of code. Change the file
location in the second half of the string to the exact file location of
your chosen picture.

defaults
write /Library/Preferences/com.apple.loginwindow DesktopPicture
"/System/Library/CoreServices/Finder.app/Contents/Resources/xxxxx.png"


[10]Gradient Behind A Stack Item

It enables you to put a small gradient behind an icon. It makes your stack look cool with the gradient following your mouse.


defaults write com.apple.dock mouse-over-hilte-stack -boolean YES
killall Dock



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1 comment:

  1. July 10? Oh well, I'll try anyway:
    I'm still looking for the tweak that allowed me to shut down Leopard from the Apple menu WITHOUT dialog and WITHOUT holding down the option key. (Same as Shut Down by itself, without 3 dots.) That setting didn't transfer to Snow Leopard and I don't remember what it was. I must have done that before I started saving tips like that. If you know what it is, please let me know! I keep forgetting to hold down the option key...

    ReplyDelete