Question : My kids asked me which computer games I liked to play when I was their age. I said I was most fond of an arcade game of a cartoonish Rambo-guy in camo clothes who fought dinosaurs trying to rescue little bunnies, using various cartoon-guns like a whipped cream shooter… I think it was called Peter Power or something… I would love to show the game to my kids (and play it myself once again)… but if I remember correctly it was no longer playable when OSX abandoned the Calssic mode…
Is there any way to let my kids play it themselves ?
Answer : Yes, there is. The game is called Power Pete (released by MacPlay) and was Best Arcade Game of 1995. The origanal developer Pangea Software re-released the game in 2001 as Mighty Mike. And recently, Pangea has granted a developer known as Illiyas Jorio the honours of releasing a FREE version of the game that works on all recent computers running current-day versions of macOS, Windows and Linux. The current version of Mighty Mike can be found on GitHub. The download link is provided on the Pangea website :
Even though Pangea Software’s website states that Jorio’s version of the game will work on “Mac OS X and 11” (probably refering to all Mac OSX 10.x versions up to macOS 11 Big_Sur from 2020) the latest release on GitHub (Mighty Mike 3.0.2) is even playable on the current version of macOS (macOS 15 Sequoia) and not only on Intel-based Macs, but also on the current Silicon-based M1/M2/M3/M4 Macs.
Just keep in mind that the graphics haven’t been updated, so you will get that pixelated retro-feel also… and you can still adjust the settings to play it with a joypad or game controller instead of your keyboard.
Question : Back in the good old days of MacOSX we used to have direct access to our scanners using a one-click link (or ‘alias’) on the Desktop or in the Dock that was easily recognisable through a custom name and custom icon… most of the time this was referred to as the Desktop Scanner feature… But with the introduction of macOS 13 Ventura that changed, Apple decided to make everything worse and more complex… access to Scanners was now hidden behind layers of multi-clicks… [click] Apple menu [click] System Settings [scroll down] Printers & Scanners [click] preferred scanner [click] Open Scanner… And then the Image Capture application will open…
Anyway… in macOS 13 Ventura it was still possible to create a customised link in the Dock to have some kind of Desktop Scanner… but in macOS 14 Sonoma even that does no longer work… with some hocus-pocus you might be able to create a working link with a customised name, but the icon won’t be customisable, so quickly finding the correct scanner isn’t easy… Utter & unnecessary bogus… Why ???
Isn’t there any option to have a ‘good old’ Desktop Scanner ?
Answer : Yes, it is still possible to get a Desktop Scanner with a customised name and icon… but it’s no longer possible to get it in the Dock, you can only get it on the Desktop… and it takes some work to set it up…
Note : since macOS 14 Sonoma uses the Signed System Volume (SSV) to protect original Apple Apps from being tampered with… it is no longer possible to even customize the icon of alias to an original Apple App and put that in the Dock…
To create a Desktop Scanner for an already installed scanner, do this :
in macOS, click on the Apple-icon (top-left) in the upper menu bar
in the pulldown menu that appears, click on System Settings
in the window that opens, scroll down the menu bar on the left and click on Printers & Scanners
then, on the right, in the Printers chapter, click on the scanner you want to create a Desktop Scanner for
in the window that opens, click on Open Scanner and the Image Capture app will open and the Image Capture app icon (an icon of a generic grey photo camera in front of a black background with tiny photos on it) will appear in the Dock ; if you did not have it installed in the Dock previously, it will be in the ‘recent apps’ chapter of the Dock (between the ‘docked apps’ on the left and the ‘docked files, links & folders’ on the right)
in the Dock, CMD-click on the Image Capture app icon and a finder window will open highlighting the Image Capture app (in the Utilities folder in the Applications folder)
now, CTRL-click on Image Capture in the Dock
in the popup menu that appears, click on Make Alias
in the smal grey popup Finder window that appears asking for your password, typ your computer password (the password you use to unlock your Mac from sleep) and click OK
then, drag&drop the “Image Capture alias” that was just created and highlighted in the Finder window onto your Desktop
then, on your Desktop, CTRL-click on the alias named Image Capture and in the pulldown menu that appears, click on Get Info
in the Image Capture Info window that opens, at Name & Extension, change the name to the name of the printer you want to have the Desktop Scanner for
then, find the custom icon you want to give to your Desktop Scanner and drag&drop it onto the tiny icon top left, if it’s an .icns icon file, or copy-paste it from another Get Info window it it’s a JPG, PNG or folder icon
>> if you already have a custom icon for your scanner, use that one
>> if you do not have a custom icon for your scanner yet, search in Google Images for “icon [name of your scanner]” and download that as a .icns icon file or as a .jpg, .jpeg or .png picture
now, if you don’t already have one, create a new folder on your Mac (e.g. inside your Documents folder), name it “Custom Icons” and save your custom scanner icon there, as you will probably need this again for every mayor upgrade of macOS from now on…
now, back in the Image Capture Info window, make sure you put a checkmark at “Locked” (just above the “More Info” chapter) to make sure you do not accidentally delete the Desktop Scanner
then, close the Image Capture Info window using the tiny red button top left
and in the Applications (Finder) window that is still open, you will see the “Image Capture alias” is still there… so, CTRL-click on it, choose “Move to Bin” and type your computer password in the popup window to remove it… then close the Applications (Finder) window
now you have a one-click Desktop Scanner on your Desktop, just like the old days !
move the Desktop Scanner to the most convenient place on your Desktop and you’re done…
Question : Back in the good old days of MacOSX we used to have direct access to our printers using a one-click link (or ‘alias’) on the Desktop or in the Dock that was easily recognisable through a custom name and custom icon… most of the time this was referred to as the Desktop Printer feature… But with the introduction of macOS 13 Ventura that changed, Apple decided to make everything worse and more complex… access to Printers was now hidden behind layers of multi-clicks… [click] Apple menu [click] System Settings [scroll down] Printers & Scanners [click] preferred printer [click] either Printer Queue or Options & Supplies… And then the Print Center application will open… (where Options & Supplies can be accessed by clicking on the ‘sprocket’/’gear-wheel’ icon…)
Anyway… in macOS 13 Ventura it was still possible to create a customised link in the Dock to have some kind of Desktop Printer… but in macOS 14 Sonoma even that does no longer work… with some hocus-pocus you might be able to create a working link with a customised name, but the icon won’t be customisable, so quickly finding the correct printer isn’t easy… Utter & unnecessary bogus… Why ???
Isn’t there any option to have a ‘good old’ Desktop Printer ?
Answer : Yes, it is still possible to get a Desktop Printer with a customised name and icon… but it’s no longer possible to get it in the Dock, you can only get it on the Desktop… and it takes some work to set it up…
Note : since macOS 14 Sonoma uses the Signed System Volume (SSV) to protect original Apple Apps from being tampered with… it is no longer possible to even customize the icon of alias to an original Apple App and put that in the Dock…
To create a Desktop Printer for an already installed printer, do this :
in macOS, click on the Apple-icon (top-left) in the upper menu bar
in the pulldown menu that appears, click on System Settings
in the window that opens, scroll down the menu bar on the left and click on Printers & Scanners
then, on the right, in the Printers chapter, click on the printer you want to create a Desktop Printer for
in the window that opens, click on Printer Queue and the Print Centre app will open and the Print Centre app icon (a dark grey generic printer icon) will appear in the Dock ; if you did not have it installed in the Dock previously, it will be in the ‘recent apps’ chapter of the Dock (between the ‘docked apps’ on the left and the ‘docked files, links & folders’ on the right)
in the Dock, CMD-click on the Print Centre app icon and a finder window will open highlighting the Print Centre app (in the Utilities folder in the Applications folder)
now, CTRL-click on Print Centre in the Dock
in the popup menu that appears, click on Make Alias
in the smal grey popup Finder window that appears asking for your password, typ your computer password (the password you use to unlock your Mac from sleep) and click OK
then, drag&drop the “Print Centre alias” that was just created and highlighted in the Finder window onto your Desktop
then, on your Desktop, CTRL-click on the alias named Print Centre and in the pulldown menu that appears, click on Get Info
in the Print Centre Info window that opens, at Name & Extension, change the name to the name of the printer you want to have the Desktop Printer for
then, find the custom icon you want to give to your Desktop Printer and drag&drop it onto the tiny icon top left, if it’s an .icns icon file, or copy-paste it from another Get Info window it it’s a JPG, PNG or folder icon
>> if you already had a custom printer icon available on this Mac before you upgraded to macOS 14 Sonoma, you might be able to find it in Finder > Go > Computer > [My Computer] > Library > Printers > Icons (or maybe in any other folder inside that same Printers folder) ; if so, it will be an .icns icon file
>> if you already have a custom icon for your printer, use that one
>> if you do not have a custom icon for your printer yet, search in Google Images for “icon [name of your printer]” and download that as a .icns icon file or as a .jpg, .jpeg or .png picture
now, if you don’t already have one, create a new folder on your Mac (e.g. inside your Documents folder), name it “Custom Icons” and save your custom printer icon there, as you will probably need this again for every mayor upgrade of macOS from now on…
now, back in the Print Centre Info window, make sure you put a checkmark at “Locked” (just above the “More Info” chapter) to make sure you do not accidentally delete the Desktop Printer
then, close the Print Centre Info window using the tiny red button top left
and in the Utilities (Finder) window that is still open, you will see the “Print Centre alias” is still there… so, CTRL-click on it, choose “Move to Bin” and type your computer password in the popup window to remove it… then close the Utilities (Finder) window
now you have a one-click Desktop Printer on your Desktop, just like the old days !
move the Desktop Printer to the most convenient place on your Desktop and you’re done…
Ever since I upgraded to macOS 13 Ventura, after each reboot, I get a warning saying “Legacy System Extension – Existing software on your system loaded a system extension signed by “MATT INGALLS”, which will be incompatible with a future version of macOS. Contact the developer for support.”
What is this about ? And what can or should I do about it ?
Answer :
The reason you get this warning is because you have installed the SoundFlower extension on your Mac. SoundFlower is a FREE system extension that lets you route sound from one application to another. That can be useful to record audio from your Mac, among others…
But… development on SoundFlower seems to have stalled… the latest developer who took over the SoundFlower-project from RogueAmoeba was Matt Ingalls (so that’s where te warning comes from…) but he hasn’t released any new versions recently…
The last version that was released only runs on Intel-Macs (so not on M1 and M2-Macs) and will not be compatible with macOS 14 Sonoma and beyond…
Note : clicking ont the “More info” button in the warning window will lead you to this info on Apple’s website, but it will not give any useful info on SoundFlower
If you want to follow up on Apple’s advice to ‘contact the developer’, you can contact Matt Ingalls here to request a new release of SoundFlower or if you are looking for the latest info on the SoundFlower-project, look here : https://github.com/mattingalls/Soundflower/releases
If you want to remove the Soundflower-extension that is causing this warning, do this : [ a big thanks you to celticparrotj for posing this question ] – click somewhere on the Desktop to open the Finder – make sure that “Finder” is visible next to the Apple-icon in the far left of the top menu bar – select “Go” from the top menu bar – in the pulldown menu that appears, click on “Go to Folder…” – in the search field of popup window that appears, type the following text : /Library/Extensions/ – then hit the [Enter]-key on your keyboard – in the window that opens, the “Extensions” folder will be highlighted and its content will be visible – select the “Soundflower.kext” file and drag it to the Trash – in the popup window that appears, type the password that unlocks your Mac and click “OK” – then empty the Trash – and close all Finder windows
Whenever I need to scan (or sometimes even to print) anything, I need to go into System Preferences, then Printers & Scanners, then click Open Scanner…
Isn’t there a one-click solution to do this ?
Answer :
Yes there is.
Back in the days of MacOSX there used to be an option for this called “Desktop Printer” : that would put a shortcut-link of your printer on the Desktop. And you could do the same for your scanner.
——————– UPDATE ———————–
With the introduction of macOS 14 Sonoma the solution outlined in this post is no longer possible – if you are running macOS 14 Sonoma, go here for the current solutions :
——– if you are using macOS 13 Ventura or previous you can also use the solution below —–
Nowadays, for some reason, this option is gone, and no easy alternative is given by macOS… so you will have to create some thing yourself… the easiest way is to put both your Printer’s and your Scanner’s icon in the Dock. To do so, do this :
go to Apple menu (Apple-icon top-left in the top menu bar)
when the pulldown menu appears, select “System Preferences”
in the window that opens, click “Printers & Scanners”
if there is no such option, click on the raster-icon (top-center) first and it will appear
in the window that opens, click on your scanner (in the list on the left)
if your scanner is not yet in the list, add it first by clicking the Plus-icon at the bottom and following the on-screen instructions
now your scanner opens in the main part of the screen (on the right)
click the “Open scanner” button
now, the Scanner-window will open, and the scanner’s icon will appear in the Dock
CTRL-click (right mouse button) on the Scanner’s icon in the Dock
from the popup-menu, select “Options”, then “Keep in Dock”
now, the scanner’s icon will be moved to the left and it will stay in the Dock even after you close the scanner software
so, next time you want to scan anything, just click on the scanner’s icon in the Dock to open the scanner software
That’s it !
Note : creating a direct link icon in the Dock for your printer can be done in the same way
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