Preventing iTunes to automatically backup your iDevice

I don't know about you, but I get very annoyed when I have to wait for iTunes to finish the backup of my iPhone or iPad. There is no option in iTunes to disable automatic backup.
Follow along this post explain how to accomplish that.

• Quit iTunes
• Open Terminal
• Type or copy and paste the line below

defaults write com.apple.iTunes AutomaticDeviceBackupsDisabled -bool true

That prevent backup to happen, but allows you to manually do it at your own will 'ctrl clicking' the device icon, like in the picture

To revert the original backup behavior

defaults write com.apple.iTunes AutomaticDeviceBackupsDisabled -bool false

or completely get rid of the key AutomaticDeviceBackupsDisabled added with defaults write

defaults delete com.apple.iTunes AutomaticDeviceBackupsDisabled

What about if you don't even want to be able to perform a manual backup?

defaults write com.apple.iTunes DeviceBackupsDisabled -bool true

To revert the original backup behavior

defaults write com.apple.iTunes DeviceBackupsDisabled -bool false

or completely get rid of the key DeviceBackupsDisabled added with defaults write

defaults delete com.apple.iTunes DeviceBackupsDisabled


Footnote
I tested this hack on a Macintosh with iTunes 10.5.2 and worked as expected with iPhone 4, iPad and iPad2.

Enable FTP service in OS X Lion

OS X Lion does not have anymore the option in System Preferences, to activate the FTP server.
Fortunately the daemon is there, just dormant.

To wake it up launch Terminal and type

sudo -s launchctl load -w /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/ftp.plist

You can disable FTP anytime typing the following command

sudo -s launchctl unload -w /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/ftp.plist

Enable Administrator in Windows 7

To enable the Administrator account in Windows 7, the quickest way is running a Command Prompt session with Run as administrator

At the prompt type

net user administrator /active:yes

At this point it is recommended to assign a good password.

To disable the Administrator account

net user administrator /active:no

Cables. Who cares?

A few days ago I was struggling with a desktop multifunction Samsung printer.

Everything was fine except, the scanner.

The MFP was hooked up to a PC with a USB cable.
Whenever I tried to scan a document, an error panel appeard saying Hardware I/0 error.
I removed and downloaded the latest drivers from Samsung support site without luck.

Changing the USB cable with a new, good shielded, not too long one, removed the impediment.

PowerMac G5 DP using one processor

Suddenly a PowerMac G5 Dual Processor started having kernel panic after a few minutes from start up.

It turned out that one of the two processors was faulty.

A Google search reported that in a DP PowerMac, if the first processor is damaged, usually the computer does not even boot up.

While, if it is the second, it shows the behavior I experienced.

I was able to circumvent the problem leaving the processor in its place.

To do so, you must enter Open Firmware.
Immediately after the startup sound, press and hold the key combination Command-Option-O-F
Release the keys when you see a white screen that says "Welcome to Open Firmware."

At the prompt type

setenv boot-args cpus=1

and hit return. If the syntax was correct you got an OK result.
Now type

mac-boot

hit return and the operating system boots.
I tested the reliability of the new mono PowerMac :-) by running Grapher, find the program inside Utilities folder, with a few windows drawing 3D animations for more than two hours and no crash at all.

Beware! Reissue the Open Firmware procedure if you reset PRAM

Backup strategy with rsync

Everyone knows backups are important.
But usually everybody doesn't care much about them until an unrecoverable event happens.
So, why wait for that very moment, if, with a little bit of effort, you can have a rock solid data backup strategy.

A very good review on how to use the standard *nix rsync program to backup your valued electronic data.

Easy Automated Snapshot-Style Backups with Linux and Rsync

Mac OS X print presets

Let's say you have a color laser printer installed in your system but you usually print in black and white.
It is very likely that the printer presets are in color.
So, every time you need to print a document, and you need it B/W, you have to go through the printer settings and choose the appropriate parameters.
That could eventually become annoying.
Yes, it is possible to create one or more personalized presets to choose from, before hitting the Print button, but that is not always the perfect solution.
There are programs, i.e. the MS Office suite, that have a nice little button with a printer, which sends the document directly to the print queue, bypassing the print dialogue screen.

If you want to modify the "Standard" presets there is a straightforward solution. Just fire up your browser and fill the URL bar with the address below or just click the link

http://localhost:631

It'll be presented the CUPS (Common UNIX Printing System) page. From there, you can change whatever you want regarding the printer or printers settings that will became the new defaults.