Thursday, February 22, 2018

Homebrew and Homebrew-Cask

Homebrew: The missing package manager for macOS
https://brew.sh/

Homebrew-Cask extends Homebrew and brings its elegance, simplicity, and speed to macOS applications and large binaries alike.
https://caskroom.github.io/

Monday, February 19, 2018

Early 2015 MacBook and late 2015 iMac 27'' 5K, target display mode alternative solution

Late 2015 iMac 27 5K doesn't support target display mode anymore, so early 2015 Macbook could not use it as display with target display mode.Plus This model MacBook doesn't come with thunderbolt port, one USB-c type only.

Obvious workaround will be old fashion remote desktop then. Apple's remote screen works, but it could not scale and the screen response depends network condition if it is via WiFi.

Then I got a Apple Thunderbolt 3 to Thunderbolt 2 adapter from BestBuy, however MacBook won't recognize it at all. Called Apple support couple times, and eventually they told me the usb type C port on this early 2015 MacBook is not really Thunderbolt 3, it is just USB 3.1 Gen one,  and 5Gbps is its maximum bandwidth, so the adapter won't work for it, and I could not use it for thunderbolt 2.0 conversion at all. (This is from Ajay Divakaran post on http://www.ajaydivakaran.com/imac-retina-and-target-display-mode/)

This leaves me to another try with USB 3.0 IP networking. after a good amount of google searching, I found one USB 3.0 cable with build-in switch: JUC500 from J5 Create. It is used for file transfer between two computer with USB 3.0 via smart Data Link protocol. (I did think about USB 3.0 cross over, but none of them available could be used for data transfer) I found the driver for IP over USB on OSX via HoRNDIS, which was build to share internet connection via USB cable for OS X, since Apple never provides its own driver for it. This driver was written some years ago, so it is for USB 2.0, and it is halfplex for some reason, so iPerf shows around 240Mbps throughput. I could not blame them at any rate. They was build to do they was meant to do, but not my case here. :-(

Eventually I went for ancient old cross over Ethernet cable with 1Gbps bandwidth, and of course I need a USB C to ethernet adapter for MacBook as well from eBay. This good old fashion connection was recognized by iMac ethernet port and Macbook USB type c port right away. With their own private subnet, 1Gbps connection via VNC connection (scaleable) could be an acceptable alternative for the missing target display mode finally.


VNC headless mode on Raspberry Pi low remote desktop resolution

Connecting to Raspberry Pi without keyboard and monitor connected via VNC viewer, but default display resolution is 640x480, which is too small and could not be scaled up.

After google for a while, link below provide the solution to change VNC screen solution:

https://www.realvnc.com/en/connect/docs/raspberry-pi.html

The term is headless and  To change the resolution, run the command sudo raspi-config, navigate to Advanced Options > Resolution, and choose an option. HDMI mode: Force

Thanks realvnc, and I learned something new.

Raspberry Pi 3B no video output

New Raspberry Pi 3B from MicroCenter, connected to TV via HDMI connection but there is no video signal on the screen.

Got a replaced Pi from MicroCenter again, and there is still no video signal, then I realized there is something else wrong, other than just bad video output.

Looking back to instruction guide, it mentions that using keyboard to type 1 or 0 depend on video cable connection, then I realized that initial NOOB boot needs keyboard!

Once I got keyboard connected, boot screen show up on TV right away.

After Raspbian OS is installed successfully, you can boot it without keyboard and monitor.

Sorry, MicroCenter.

App Store: macOS needs to repair your Library to run applications. Type your password to allow this.

Mac OS Sierra Version 10.12.6

New company Macbook Pro (15-inch, 2017) with VMware AirWatch and Enterprise Connect pre-installed after initial power on.

App Store crashed with error prompt: "macOS needs to repair your Library to run applications. Type your password to allow this. "

Quick google result to clean up files in ./Library and /Library about com.apple.appstore did not help, so I just look into error log: "You don’t have permission to save the file “Preferences” in the folder “Library”."

OK, it is about permission then,  so search it again and result from apple works:
 https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT203538

The procedure is to reset home folder permission, which could affect multiple applications, such as Preview, TextEdit, and even iTunes, not only App Store, but also Safari memory usage!