Tag Archives: 10.11 El_Capitan

fixed : install OSX 10.10 Yosemite on unsupported Macs

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Question :

I read somewhere that it is possible to install the latest version of OSX 10.10 Yosemite on my Mac, even though the official installer refuses to install.

Can you give me any directions ?

 

Answer :

Installing newer versions of OSX on slightly older Macs that do not meet the official system requirements can be done using MacPostFactor (MCPF).

MacPostFactor (MCPF) also supports installing OSX versions up to OSX 10.10 Yosemite on older Macs. And a new version that supports installing OSX 10.11 El_Capitan is in the works.

For more info (and downloads), go to the info page on MacRumors.com :

http://forums.macrumors.com/threads/os-x-yosemite-on-unsupported-macs-guide.1761432/

or see the (less readable) official page of the MacPostFactor team :

http://osxhackers.net/MCPF/

…in short :

!!! THIS IS FOR (RATHER) EXPERIENCED MAC-USERS ONLY, AND SHOULD NOT BE DONE ON YOUR ‘ONE AND ONLY’ MAC !!!

!! REMEMBER : DO FOLLOW THE COMPLETE INSTRUCTIONS THAT CAN BE FOUND HERE : MacPost Factor info page on MacRumors.com

…that should be it !

enjoy !

😉

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fixed : use unsupported scanner in OSX 10.11 El_Capitan

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Question :

I have a Canon CanoScan LiDE 20 that used to work perfectly in MacOSX 10.6 Snow Leopard. But now I’ve bought a new Mac which runs OSX 10.11 El_Capitan, I can’t seem to install it, since Canon doesn’t update the drivers anymore.

What can I do ?

Answer :

In OSX 10.7 Lion, 10.8 Mountain Lion, 10.9 Mavericks, 10.10 Yosemite and 10.11 El_Capitan, any TWAIN-supporting scanner can be used without any additional software.

A list of supported scanners for OSX 10.9 Mavericks can be found here.

Here’s a quick step-by-step instruction :

– connect your scanner directly to your Mac using a USB-cable

– open the System Preferences

– then click on “Print & Scan”

– then, just below in the list of printers on the left, click on the “+”-sign

– that will bring up the “Add”-window, which enables you to add a new printer or scanner

– if your scanner is TWAIN-supporting, it will show up there, and you just need to select it and click on the “Add”-button

– then it will be listed in the previous (“Print & Scan”) System Preferences window, and if you select it (and you put a piece of paper or a photo in the scanner), a Scanning Preview window will show up, allowing you to scan your document to file or eMail or something else…

but…

…for some printers, like the Canon CanoScan LiDE 20 and LiDE 30, the TWAIN-drivers are not included in OSX. In that case, you will need to install some generic (FREE) TWAIN-drivers :

IMPORTANT : do not forget to read this entire post, even all the notes at the bottom ! e.g. if you have an old CanoScan scanner, you might have to reinstall TWAINbridge.app also !

– for OSX 10.11 El_Capitan, download and install these files (in this same order) and restart you Mac after doing so, then your scanner will also show up in the “Print & Scan” System Preferences :

LibUSB for OSX 10.11

SANE Backends for OSX 10.11

SANE Preference Pane for OSX 10.11

TWAIN SANE Interface for OSX 10.11

– for OSX 10.10 Yosemite, download and install these files (in this same order) and restart you Mac after doing so, then your scanner will also show up in the “Print & Scan” System Preferences :

libusb.pkg.tar.gz

sane-backends.pkg.tar.gz

SANE-Preference-Pane.pkg.tar.gz

TWAIN-SANE-Interface.pkg.tar.gz

– for OSX 10.9 Mavericks, download and install these files (in this same order) and restart your Mac after doing so, then your scanner will also show up in the “Print & Scan” System Preferences :

libusb.pkg.tar.gz

sane-backends.pkg.tar.gz

SANE-Preference-Pane.pkg.tar.gz

TWAIN-SANE-Interface.pkg.tar.gz

– for OSX 10.8 Mountain Lion, download and install these files (in this same order) and restart your Mac after doing so, then your scanner will also show up in the “Print & Scan” System Preferences :

libusb.pkg.tar.gz

sane-backends.pkg.tar.gz

SANE-Preference-Pane.pkg.tar.gz

TWAIN-SANE-Interface.pkg.tar.gz

– for MacOSX 10.7 Lion, download and install these files (in this same order) and restart your Mac after doing so, then your scanner will also show up in the “Print & Scan” System Preferences :

libusb.pkg.tar.gz

sane-backends.pkg.tar.gz

SANE-Preference-Pane.pkg.tar.gz

TWAIN-SANE-Interface.pkg.tar.gz

– if these files do not turn into regular .pkg-files when you click on them, you need unTAR-software like this :

The Unarchiver

– if you get an error-message telling you you can’t install this software (these drivers) since the are not from Apple-appoved developers, you need to :

– open the System Preferences

– then click on “Security & Privacy”

– then make sure the “General”-tab is selected

– click the padlock in the lower left corner and provide an Administrator name & password to unlock the padlock

– then at “Allow applications downloaded from:” select “Anywhere”

– and exit the System Preferences to make this setting stick

Note #1 :

TWAIN-supporting drivers (like SANE and the ones that come with OSX) will enable you to directly scan from within various applications like Photoshop, MS Word, GraphicConverter, OmniPage and OSX’s built-in Image Capture. [ please also read Note #7 and #8 for more tips on this ! ]

Alex Scheider has written a special SANE scanner app for OSX 10.7 and newer, you can download it here. A screenshot can be found here. [haven’t tested it, so feedback on this is welcome]

Note #2 :

when using the SANE drivers, you will probably not be able to use the ‘one click’-buttons that are on the scanner itself…

Note #3 :

if your scanner lets you scan the first time, but after shut-down and restart scanning seems impossible because OSX can’t find the scanner, just plug-out the scanner’s USB-cable and plug it back in and everything should work again…

Note #4 :

if the “Scan”-button remains grayed-out, make sure that you have selected an area to scan… (put differently : if “Selection:” is set to “Off”, you will need to select an area to scan before the “Scan”-button will be ready to use…)

Note #5 :

if you get a distorted scan when scanning in landscape view (or any other rotated view), just scan normally in portrait view and rotate the scanned image afterwards (in Preview app or another image editing program, like Photoshop or Graphic Converter)

Note #6 :

if you are not able to scan as a JPEG (.jpg-flie), just scan as a TIFF (.tif-file) and convert the scanned image afterwards (in Preview app or another image editing program, like Photoshop or Graphic Converter)

Note #7 :

if your scanner doesn’t show up in Image Capture (especially in OSX 10.9 Mavericks), use this workaround :

go to System Prefecences –> Printers & Scanners –> [your scanner] –> Scan –> Open Scanner

Note #8 :

if your scanner doesn’t show up in Photoshop (especially in OSX 10.9 Mavericks), try this workaround :

go to Applications –> Adobe Photoshop CS# –> Adobe Photoshop CS# –> type “CMD” + “i” key-combo (on your keyboard) –> (in the Get Info window) select “Open in 32 bit mode” and exit Get Info

then open Adobe Photoshop (CS#-version) –> File –> Import –> SANE

Note #9 :

another option that might just work to get SANE drivers to connect with ImageCapture and Photoshop (especially if you have an older CANON scanner) is (re)installing the TWAINbrigde.app that Jan Egil has ready for download on his website.

for now, there is no version of TWAINbridge.app that runs in OSX 10.11 El_Capitan, the alternative seems to be to use the old CanoScan Toolbox 5.0 software that can be found on the Canon website or here

Credits :

Matias Ellert and the Open Source developers of the SANE project

…and a special thanks to Mónica, Jorge Blasio, torrealta, dencho, BobD and Jan Egil for Note #7, #8 and #9 ! [see comments below]

If you encounter any problems with these SANE drivers for OSX, try contacting Mattias Ellert directly as indicated here.

If you want to un-install the TWAIN SANE drivers, either use an un-installer application like AppCleaner or follow the instructions for manual un-install as outlined in Mattias Ellert’s FAQ (last question & answer).

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fixed : how to stop Safari’s autocorrect when I typ my eMail-address ?

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Question :

Recently I have encountered some extremely frustrating behavior of Safari :

whenever I need to typ my eMail-address in any online form, Safari screws up my eMail-address even though I’m 100% sure I’ve typed correctly !

I’ve figured out that this is because the automatic spelling corrector in Safari doesn’t recognize my name when I typ it without any capitals, and then thinks I’ve made a typo (even before I have typed the @ in my eMail-address) and then instantly autocorrects it to some similar word from the dictionary…

How can I stop Safari from such idiotic and frustrating behavior ?

 

Answer :

The spelling corrector in Safari isn’t a separate spelling corrector, but it’s OSX’s system-wide spelling corrector. So the simplest option is to either shut off OSX’s built-in spelling corrector alltogether, or to learn it to recognize your eMail-address.

Here’s how to do that :

– go to the Apple-icon top-left in the main menu bar

– in the pulldown menu that appears, click on “System Preferences”

– in the “System Preferences”-window that opens, click on “Keyboard” [in OSX 10.11 El_Capitan and OSX 10.10 Yosemite] or “Language & Text” [in OSX 10.8 Mountain Lion and MacOSX 10.6 Snow Leopard] (for other versions of OSX and MacOSX, you might need to click on one of the other icons)

– in the “Keyboard”-window (or “Language & Text”-window) that opens, click on the “Text”-tab

– then click on the “+”-button below the “Replace/With”-table

– then, at “Replace” typ the part of your eMail-address that is on the left of the @-sign (normally, that would be your name without capitals, sometimes with a dot or an underscore between your first and your last name), and at “With” typ exactly the same (so, the left part of your eMail-address)

Note : to shut of OSX’s automatic spelling corrector entirely, you could remove the checkmark in front of “Correct spelling automatically”, but I would suggest the method mentioned above as the better option

…that’s it !

enjoy 😉

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fixed : custom Quartz-filters are not available system-wide

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Question :

In the past, I used to create my own custom Quartz-filters in ColorSync Utility, and they were instantly available system-wide in MacOSX. Now, in OSX 10.8 Mountain Lion and OSX 10.9 Mavericks ( and OSX 10.10 Yosemite and OSX 10.11 El_Capitan ), I don’t have access to my Quartz-filters anymore…

What is wrong ? And how can I fix this ?

Answer :

In the latest versions of OSX [*], there seems to be a bug preventing OSX to find Quartz-filters stored outside of the ‘official’ “Filters”-folder that is inside the “Library”-folder in the “System”-folder… so, since all custom-made Quartz-filters are stored inside the “Filters”-folder that is inside the (invisible) “Library”-folder in the User’s “Home”-folder, your custom-made Quartz-filters are not found by OSX…

The solution is to just move them into the right (official) “Filters”-folder. [**]

(Yep, it’s that easy…)

For an in-depth step-by-step guide for doing so, follow the procedure outlined here.

NOTES :

[*] this bug was solved/removed with the introduction of macOS 10.12 Sierra

[**] put differently :

In all versions of OSX from OSX 10.8 Mountain_Lion up to OSX 10.11 El_Capitan,
new Quartz-filters created in Colorsync Utility are/were automatically saved in :
~/Users/[username]/Library/Filters/
But all other applications (including e.g. Preview) weren’t able to access or use them as they could only load Quartz-filters from :
~/System/Library/Filters/
and – only if you created the following folder manually – from :
~/Library/Filters/
So you had to manually move your custom Quartz-filters to :
~/Library/Filters/
to be able to use them in Preview.app and alike

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fixed : Reduce File Size makes PDF unreadable

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Question :

I have created a PDF of 4 pages in the Preview app, but I can’t eMail it to anyone because it turns out to be a 39MB file…

I know the probable cause, because some of the pages are entire A4-size pictures scanned as JPEG at 300dpi…

So I tried to use various ways of saving (or exporting) as PDF from within Preview, but they all end up with the same oversized 39MB file… except for one : the “Reduced File Size” filter from the “Export” option gives me a 240kB file that turns out to be completely unreadable…

Isn’t there any simple way to get a readable PDF of about 5MB or so ?

 

Answer :

Yes there is, but unfortunately it’s rather tricky to set up at first (since there is still no option in Preview, nor in “Save as PDF”, to adjust the PDF-output on the fly… and on top of that : there is a bug in the latest versions of OSX that prevents self-made Quartz-filters from ColorSync Utility to be accessible throughout OSX…)

Here’s how to :

1- open the ColorSync Utility that is in the Utilities folder within the Applications folder

2- if no window opens, click on File –> New Window

3- then click on the “Filters” tab

4- then click on the “+”-button in the bottom-left corner to create a new Quartz-filter

5- type “Reduce File Size 75dpi”, then click on the small round button (with the small white triangle in it) at the end of the line

6- from the pulldown menu select “Add Image Effects Component > Color Image Sampling” and now some adjusting options appear, leave most of them as-is, only at “Resolution:” type “75 pixels/inch” (so leave the other options empty and leave “Quality:” at “High”)

7- repeat this last step, but this time select “Add Image Effects Component > Grey Image Sampling” from the pulldown menu (so set “Resolution:” to “75 pixels/inch” here also)

8- tripple-check to make sure that the name of the Quartz-filter is “Reduce File Size 75dpi” and the “Resolution:” is set to “75 dpi/inch” at both instances… if that’s not the case : correct it before continuing (just retype at the correct spot)

OPTIONAL : click on the “+”-button again to create another new Quartz-filter, call it “Reduce File Size 120dpi” and repeat the above procedure, just set “Resolution:” to “120 dpi/inch” this time (…and you can even repeat this for other resolutions like 100 dpi/inch)

9- now close ColorSync Utility

10- now, in the Finder, press the ALT-key on your keyboard and select “Go” from the upper menu bar, in the pulldown and extra (ghost) folder called “Library” will appear, click on it and in the Finder window that opens, select the “Filters” folder (there you will see the Quartz-filters you’ve just created in ColorSync Utility)

11- then, in the Finder open another (new) Finder window and open the (regular) “Filters” folder that is in the “Library” folder in the “System” folder also (there you will see all the standard Quartz-filters available throughout OSX)

12- put both of these Finder windows side-by-side, then select the Quartz-filter files you’ve custom created, and drag them into the other “Library” folder (the one in the “System” folder)

13- then you get an authentication warning message that you need administrator rights to add anything into the folder, so type your administrator password and the custom Quartz-filter files will be moved into the System’s “Filters” folder

UPDATE : from OSX 10.11 El_Capitan on, you will see a grey NoEntry-sign when trying to access the System’s “Filters” folder ; this is due to El-Capitan’s SIP (System Integrity Protection) feature ; to solve this follow these extra steps :

  • instead of moving your self-made Quartz-filters into the ~/System/Library/Filters folder, you should move them to the ~/Library/Filters folder
  • since that last folder doesn’t exist by default, you will have to create it first
  • to do so, go to ~/Library in a Finder-window and click on the Sprocket-icon (a.k.a. GearWheel-icon) and select “New Folder” from the pulldown list
  • when prompted, enter you administrator’s name & password to allow this new folder to be created
  • when done, move your self-made Quartz-filters info this newly created folder at ~/Library/Filters

14- close all open windows

15- select the PDF file that’s too big and open it in the Preview app

16- in the Preview app, go to “File” and from the pulldown menu, select “Export” (do not select “Export to PDF” or “Save” or “Print” !!!)

17- in the window that appears, choose a (new) file name and a location to save the size-reduced PDF-file, then set “Format:” to “PDF” and at “Quartz Filter:” select “Reduce File Size 75dpi” and click the “Save”-button

18- then go to the Finder and select the newly created size-reduced PDF-file and right-click and select “Get Info” (or use the CMD+I key-combo), in the window that opens, check the file size (note : any file up to about 5MB can easily be sent as an eMail attachment)

19- then open the size-reduced PDF in the Preview app and check if the text is still readable… if  all text has turned fuzzy, do a new Export from the original PDF but choose another Quartz-filter (like 100dpi or 120dpi… if you didn’t create those, redo the entire process to create them and make them available throughout OSX)

20- that’s it ! you now have created a very handy and quick PDF size reduction option within the Preview app !

Enjoy !

😉

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fixed : install OSX 10.8 Mountain Lion on unsupported Macs

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Question :

I read somewhere that it is possible to install the latest version of OSX 10.8 Mountain Lion on my Mac, even though the official installer refuses to install.

Can you give me any directions ?

Answer :

Updated answer :

MLPostFactor has been succeeded/replaced by MacPostFactor, and is now being updated by a new crew of programmers. MacPostFactor also supports installing OSX versions up to OSX 10.10 Yosemite on older Macs. And a new version that supports installing OSX 10.11 El_Capitan is in the works.

For more info (and downloads), go to the info page on MacRumors.com :

http://forums.macrumors.com/threads/os-x-yosemite-on-unsupported-macs-guide.1761432/

 

Original answer :

Yes, thanks to the guys from MLPostFactor, it’s now possible to install OSX 10.8 Mountain Lion (even 10.8.4) on these older Intel-Macs :

Early 2006 (and newer) versions of the iMac and Mac mini

Late 2006 (and newer) versions of the Macbook, MacBook Pro, Mac Pro and Xserve

Early 2008 (and newer) versions or the Macbook Air

…and I must say : “(in my case) it runs smoother than MacOSX 10.7”, but there are a few downsides, especially these ones :

– regular OSX updates are disabled, you can only use a special OSX-update routine

– some (but very little) software is not compatible due to various reasons ; e.g. PhotoBooth, Little Snitch

– the SMB client is not working properly (the SMB server is), so file transfer is crippled

– it’s provided “as-is”, so no support from anyone (neither the developer nor me), and no guarantee it will fully or even partially work in your case (especially not if you do not strictly follow all of the directions !!)

…in short :

!!! THIS IS FOR (RATHER) EXPERIENCED MAC-USERS ONLY, AND SHOULD NOT BE DONE ON YOUR ‘ONE AND ONLY’ MAC !!!

What you need :

– one of the Intel-Macs mentioned above (running MacOSX 10.7 Lion and at least 2GB of RAM)

– an official version of the OSX 10.8 installer, (re)downloaded from the Mac App Store inside your Applications Folder (sorry, pirated versions don’t work…)

– the 32-bit MLPostFactor v3.0 installer-patcher (should be put inside your Applications folder also) you can download from here :

http://www.osxhackers.com/Download.html

or alternatively :

http://mac.softpedia.com/get/System-Utilities/MLPostFactor.shtml

– a full backup of your current harddrive running OSX 10.7 Lion and all your personal files (simply put : “a Time Machine backup of your Mac”)

– a partition of 8GB to create the patched OSX 10.8 installer on ; according to the official directions this should be a partition on your main harddisk called “Install”, but it turns out that ‘if you dare’ you can also use an 8GB USB-stick or an 8GB partition on an external USB- or FireWire-harddisk for this [simply put, MLPostFactor does what Lion DiskMaker does AND includes a patch that’s needed for older Intel-Macs]

– a partition of at least 10GB called “ML” to install the new (patched) OSX 10.8 Mountain Lion onto ; this is will to be your final, ‘new’ harddrive for your ‘old’ Mac… it turns out that ‘if you dare’ you can assign this to your current MacOSX 10.7 Lion harddrive [provided you have a good (TimeMachine) backup]

Exact directions on how to install can be found here :

http://www.osxhackers.com/Installation.html

…or the video that HackerWayne (one of the MLPostFactor developers) has issued :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YqMgrPKfrqM

You should follow the step-by-step instructions above, but just to give a quick impression of the routine :

– make a Time Machine backup and make sure both the OSX 10.8 installer and MLPostFactor are in you Applications folder

– run MLPostFactor to create the patched installer (8GB) for OSX 10.8.4 (or an other version if you prefer that one for some reason…)

– reboot from the patched installer and install the patched OSX 10.8 onto (the desired partition of) the internal harddrive

– this will either end in an error or a white screen (seemingly ‘hung’)

– reboot from the patched installer and run MLPostFactor from there onto the partition you have just installed OSX 10.8 on (= your internal harddrive)

– then reboot from the fresh OSX 10.8 partition (= your internal harddrive)

– 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

!! REMEMBER : DO FOLLOW THE COMPLETE INSTRUCTIONS THAT CAN BE FOUND HERE :

http://www.osxhackers.com/Installation.html

or the ‘official’ video :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YqMgrPKfrqM

…that should be it !

enjoy !

😉

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