Category Archives: networking

fixed : 5V 4A car adapter for Samsung Optical SmartHub SE-208BW

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Question :

I have a Samsung Optical SmartHub SE-208BW (all-in-one : WiFi-DVD player, media streamer,  WiFi-router and DVD+R burner), and since it is capable of streaming DVDs and HardDisk content to my iPhone/iPad using the Samsung SmartHub iOS-app, I thought it would be a great idea to use it in my car also.

However, if I power it using the USB-cable that comes with the SmartHub, it is limited to not act as a WiFi-device. So… I need a ‘dedicated’ car-adapter for it…

But… the power needed is 5V and 4A minimum… that’s a really rare combination… and Samsung does not sell any car adapters for the SmartHub, neither do they have any recommendation on a good solution…

What options do I have ?

Answer :

The Samsung Optical SmartHub SE-208BW is a rather unique piece of equipment. Combined with an iPhone/iPad and the SmartHub-app, it is a really versatile solution …if you keep in mind that it still has some little flaws…

If you ask Samsung how to power the Samsung Optical SmartHub SE-208BW in your car, they will recommend using a cigarette-lighter-to-220V-transformer…

…that’s a stupid ‘solution’, since transforming from 12V to 220V and back to 5V is both a complete waste of energy resources and it will drain your car battery…

So… after elaborate search and testing, I’ve found a ‘real’ car adapter solution for the SmartHub ; you should create a car-adapter yourself consisting of these three parts :

1- a USB to 5V DC Barrel H power cable like this one :

USB to 5V DC Barrel H power cable

2- a USB Y-connection cable (2x USB-male to 1x USB-female) like this one :

USB Y-connection able

3- a 5V 4.2A dual-USB car adapter ; at this moment, there is only one product like this that actually works :

5V 4.2A dual-USB car adapter

If you join these 3 parts together into, you’ll have exactly the car adapter you need for the Samsung Optical SmartHub SE-208BW.

Enjoy !

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fixed : Time Machine backup error “sparsebundle in use”

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Question :

When Time Machine tried to backup today, it returned an error saying “Time Machine Error. The Backup disk image ….sparsebundle is already in use”. As I am the only one using this backup, I hoped that just trying to do the Time Machine backup manually would help… but it didn’t… it returned the same error…

Restarting my Mac didn’t help either…

How can I fix this ?

Answer :

The “sparsebundle already in use”-error occurs if something went wrong during the last backup (which could be because your Mac froze during the Time Machine backup). In that case your Mac did not properly disconnect from the Time Machine backup, so you will have to do so manually.

Fixing this is rather simple :

If you still have ‘the old’ Airport Utility 5.6 on your Mac (more info on this can be found here : https://macmanus.nl/2012/02/02/airport-utility-6-lost-the-option-to-configure-connected-printers/ ), you should do this :

–  open Airport Utility 5.6 (which is in the Utilities folder inside your Applications folder)

– select your Time Machine backup drive on the left (e.g. your Time Capsule)

– click on the “Manual” button

– then select the “Disks” icon

– and click on the “Disconnect All Users…” button

– then exit AirPort Utility 5.6 and run Time Machine normally

– …and do not forget to check in the time Machine Preferences if Time Machine is switched ‘ON’

if you do not have AirPort Utility 5.6 (since your Mac has OSX 10.8 “Mountain Lion” in stalled, which only has the stripped-down AirPort Utility 6 without the “Disconnect All Users”-option), you could either download and install AirPort Utility version 5.6 (directly from Apple : http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1482 ), or you should try this :

– shut down your Time Capsule a.k.a. “pull the power plug” (or other Time Machine backup drive)… and leave it disconnected for about 5 minutes or so

– restart your Mac

– power up your Time Capsule a.k.a. “plug the power cord back in” (or if you have some other sort of Time Machine backup drive, turn it back on)

– go to the Time Machine icon in the Finder’s top menu bar and click “Back Up Now”

– …and do not forget to check in the time Machine Preferences if Time Machine is switched ‘ON’

That’s it !

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tip : using Evernote on an iBook G4 or iMac G5

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Question :

I have Evernote running on my iPhone, my iPad and my MacBook, but I would also like to use it on my old Mac which has a Power-PC (G4/G5) processor.

On the Evernote-website I can only download the latest version of Evernote, which is Intel-Mac only…

How can I use Evernote on my old iMac G5 and iBook G4 ?

 

Answer :

If you are running MacOSX 10.5 “Leopard” on your PPC-Mac (G4/G5), you can use the previous version of Evernote, which can be found here :

http://cl.ly/1I3a0Y3f26282k3p2a0E

If you are still running MacOSX 10.4 “Tiger” (or newer) your only option is to use the online version of Evernote, which can be accessed here :

https://www.evernote.com/Home.action

fixed : 10.7.5 refusing to see the Atheros AR9280

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I must admit the title might be a little misleading, since I have not had anyone claiming problems like the “WiFi: no hardware installed”-error with the Atheros AR9280 AirPort-card and MacOSX 10.7.5 yet, but still…

…that is probably due to the fact that the MacOSX 10.7.5 updater doesn’t overwrite the IO80211Family.kext system extension. So if you are upgrading from an earlier version of MacOSX 10.7 “Lion” which you had already ‘patched’ for use with the Atheros AR9280, you won’t get any (new) issues…

Anyway…

If you do get the “WiFi: no hardware installed”-error after upgrading to MacOSX 10.7.5 (e.g. from MacOSX 10.6 “Snow Leopard” or earlier), you can just do the same ‘patch’ of reinstalling the old IO80211Family.kext system extension. Instructions for doing so can be found here :

https://macmanusnl.wordpress.com/2012/05/17/1074_refuses_to_see_atheros_ar9280/

Enjoy !

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fixed : add sound to Screen Sharing

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Question :

I am using OSX’s built-in Screen Sharing option to control the Mac in our living room, when I am in another room with my MacBook – it’s great !

But sometimes I would like to listen to a video or a music track that I’m playing on my ‘living room Mac’ and Screen Sharing doesn’t support that…

What can I do ?

 

Answer :

There’s a simple and FREE utility that will help you out on this one : Soundfly

Just download and install Soundfly on both Macs and then run “Soundfly” on the ‘sound sending Mac’, and “Soundfly Receiver” on the ‘listening Mac’… it’s that simple…

You can download Soundfly here :

http://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/26855/soundfly

UPDATE : the latest version can be downloaded here :

http://www.abyssoft.com/software/soundfly/

 

Thanks to Graham Johnstone for this updated link 😉

fixed : 10.8 refusing to see the Atheros AR9280 (same error as in 10.7, including alternative solution !)

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Question :

After installing OSX 10.8 “Mountain Lion” on my Mac which has an Atheros AR9280 AirPort-card, I am not able to get any WiFi-connection, and when I click on the (piece-of-pie shaped) AirPort-icon in the upper menubar in the Finder, it indicates “WiFi: no hardware installed”. How can I fix this ?

Answer :

—- updated answer ——

if you get a “WiFi: No Hardware Installed”-error, get the KextUtility for OSX 10.8 and install the Edited Atheros Kext for Lion*3

—– original answer ——

Thanks to Thomas and Josh, I can now present to you the solution to the “WiFi: no hardware installed”-error in OSX 10.8 “Mountain Lion” :

if you encounter the “WiFi: no hardware installed”-error after installing OSX 10.8, do this :

– go to [your hard disk] –> System –> Library –> Extentions –> IO80211Family.kext

– CTRL-click on the IO80211Family.kext and select “Show Package Contents” from the pulldown menu

– then go to Contents –> Info.plist and drag the Info.plist to the Desktop

– CTRL-click on the Info.plist (the one on the Desktop) and select “Open with –> TextEdit” from the pulldown menu

– then, inside the Info.plist file, find and delete these line (found near the end) :

<key>OSBundleRequired</key>
<string>Network-Root</string>

– then select File –> Save to save the edited version of the Info.plist on your Desktop

– then, drag the Info.plist from the Desktop back onto the original version that is in System –> Library –> Extentions –> IO80211Family.kext –> Contents

– in the warning window that pops up, click on “Authenticate” and type your administrator login and password

…that should be it !

now your AR9280 should be recognized by OSX 10.8 “Mountain Lion”, and the “WiFi: no hardware installed”-error should be gone

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FYI :

the original solution by Thomas (based on the directions from Josh) can be found here :

https://macmanusnl.wordpress.com/2012/02/11/10-7-3-refuses-to-see-the-atheros-ar9280/#comment-446

info : setting up Back To My Mac through a TG712 modem-router

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Question :

How do I setup my Thomson TG712 modem-router to allow me to use the the Back To My Mac function of my Macs ?

Answer :

Here’s how to turn on Back To My Mac when you have a TG712 modem-router :

– on your Mac, go to Apple —> System Preferences —> iCloud

– then put a check mark at “Back To My Mac” to turn the service on

– if there’s a “More…”-botton click it, just for your information ; if a warning is listed, read it, keep it in mind, and don’t bother…

– then open Safari (or any other internet browser) on your Mac, and type the web based control panel’s IP-address of your router-modem as the URL ; for the TG712 router- modem, the IP-address is 192.168.1.254

– in the web based control panel, go to “Toolbox” (in the menu on the left) –> “Games & Apps Sharing” (in the menu on the left)

– then in the middle of the page, at the bottom, from the “Choose a task…” list, click on “Add a game or application to a local networking device” (the first link in the list)

– in the page that opens, put check marks both at “Use UPnP:” and “Use extended security:”

– and set the “Game or App”-dial (the one that is initially at “ABC (Another Bittorent Client)”) to “Back To My Mac”

– set the “Device”-dial to your Mac (which is the Mac that you would like to use with Back To My Mac, so probably your Mac-server or desktop-Mac)

– just to be able to trace possible errors, put a check mark at “Logging”

– then click on the “Add”-button

– wait for the router-modem to restart

– logout by closing the browser-page with the web based control panel on it

Now you should be able to log into your (home) Mac, when being at a remote location (if there’s internet connection there…)

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