Bezipped is free compression, archive utility for Mac OS X
Posted by Dennis SellersBezipped is a new, and free, file compression and archive utility built on top of the bzip2 command line tool that comes with Mac OS X.
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Software Updates & New Release Highlights For Week Ending 2008-08-02
Apple's Security Update and iTunes minor update received the bulk of the attention this week, but there were a few other post-worthy items as well: Sequence - 1.0.1 - The now $19.00USD innovative screen capture utility fixes a bug in video compression. I had not noticed the “é” in the name now (I believe that came with the actual 1.0 release) but am happy to report that QuickSilver still brings it up after hitting “se”. 10.5 only, tho, as it makes extensive use of a number of Leopard-only features. CLIX - 1.8.1d - After just mentioning it CLIX gets an update which adds built-in command-group sharing (.clix files) from within the application (sends an e-mail with an attachment, but thankfully does not open up Apple Mail to do so). It does incorporate address book lookups and enables you to choose from all available Apple Mail accounts (for the sending part). Again, it's free and works on 10.4 & 10.5 (Intel & PPC). QuarkXPress - 8.0 - I do not do much desktop publishing at all these days, and – when I do – Pages provides most of what I need. Back in the pre-OS X days I used to be a QuarkXTension developer and still attempt to use Quark shortcuts in apps where I am doing more publishing-like activities. The app link goes to their 60-day demo (warning: 517MB, but pretty quick over cable modem) download where you can try some of the web features (Flash and Web Authoring Tools) and enhancements to tools that I cannot believe took this long to get into the program. I realize both Quark & Adobe use the “it's for professonals” and “piracy” excuses for their software prices, but $799.00 seems a bit much, even for this highly extensible program. 10.4 & 10.5 compatible (Intel & PPC) Centre - 2.14.1 - This is a server-side app which requires a number of other components, but it can be setup on either OS X workstation or server and is a full-featured, web-based student management system that incorporates significant functionality into an open source program. I had not fully tried it on OS X prior to this release (I've done most of the installs on Linux), but this release works great and may be something institutions on a budget may want to investigate before the new school year starts. Free!, and OS X 10.1+ Citrix ICA Client - 10.00.601 - A minor update (fix for XenDesktop connections) to this mostly-enterprise tool for running Windows apps remotely (you need the Citrix server software for this to work). Free and 10.3.9+ Flip4Mac WMV - 2.2.1.7 - Telestream fixes a security vulnerability in their substitute for Windows Media Components in QuickTime and also improves some existing features. My installed version did not find the update (even with a manual check), so you, too, may want to grab this on your own and update manually if you use it. 10.3.9+ and pricing starts at free! Flip4Mac Drive-in - 1.0.0.72 - Flip4Mac has another app out (in beta) that requires a full review, but you need to go and grab this beta soon if you want an easy way to get DVD's (that you own!) onto your system and also want to avoid the full price of $59.00USD for the finished version (users who activate the beta prior to 2008-08-15 are eligible to purchase for $19.00USD). 10.4 & 10.5 (Intel & PPC) VMware Fusion - 2.0b2 - Again, this is an app that requires a full review to do it justice, but if you are a VMware Fusion user you really should kick the tires with this pre-release as it significantly improves so many aspects of running virtual machines on your system (and not just Windows). 10.4 & 10.5 (Intel-only) and $79.99USD (but you can often find great deals with much more palatable prices). Accordance - 8.0.4 - This great Bible search & reference tool (exclusively OS X) releases a minor update to fix bugs in 3D map processing. They support a wide range of Mac operating systems and pricing really varies depending on the packages you want (all related to license fees). OmniPlan - 1.6 beta 2 - I dislike Microsoft Project, but have enough large projects on my plate that I wound up grabbig OmniPlan when it first came out just to help keep things in some semblance of order. It is less complex than Project (which is Windows-only), runs on OS X and has all the features I need. This beta fixes bugs, but I encourage OmniPlan users to give it a spin and provide feedback to the Omni folks since they are a solid bunch of developers who do a great deal for the Mac community. 10.4 & 10.5 (Intel & PPC)
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Dare to be Creative releases iArchiver with German localization
Posted by Dave MertenDare to be Creative has announced iArchiver 1.4, an archiving and file compression utility for Mac OS X Tiger and Leopard. With iArchiver, users can archive and backup their files in popular formats such as 7zip, Zip and DMG. Based on popular demand from users in Germany, Austria and Switzerland,...
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TUAW first look: Papaya personal filesharing
Filed under: SoftwarePapaya is a new utility for personal file sharing, and TUAW got a chance to put through its paces. We were pretty impressed with the ease of use it provides for getting your files across the office... or the globe. Papaya provides a simple window and a multitude of methods for adding files to be shared. You can drag on to it, manually select files, snap a picture with your iSight or add the currently playing track from iTunes. You can even paste text snippets onto it for quick sharing of code or prose. It allows for the creation of folders - which it can automatically archive and compress at the time of download - and a web interface for navigating remote libraries. Papaya sets itself up as a web server on port 6900 and takes very little network configuration. When you add a file to Papaya, it automatically copies an address to the clipboard (an option in the preferences) which you can send directly to another user. While I wouldn't recommend broadcasting that address far and wide, it makes for a very convenient means of getting a larger file where it needs to go, without dealing with an interim server. Papaya provides Quick Look previews, and the web interface is iTunes-like and easy to navigate. It can also resize images and define its own folder hierarchy without disturbing your original files. The files are served from where they exist on your drive, everything else is handled on-the-fly. It even provides access control on a per-file basis. Basically, it's file sharing at its most personal. If you need to share files with friends, family or co-workers quickly and conveniently, give it a shot. The download is free, but a license will cost 20 Euros which, with the current state of the U.S. Dollar, is almost $32. While Papaya is extremely fluid and well though out, I do think that's a bit of a high price point for a file sharing utility, especially considering it's a convenience layer over the built-in functionality of your mac. Fluid to use and pretty to look at, to be sure, but you'll have to make the decision as to whether the convenience is worth the price.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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BetterZip is a better zip
Filed under: Software, Leopard, DealsWith zip support built into OS X a third-party compression utility has to bring something special to the table, and BetterZip does. Basically it allows you to open and inspect archives without expanding the whole thing first. This can be useful if you only want a few of the files that are compressed within an archive. It also does compression naturally, including encryption, splitting large archives, and stripping out Mac specific hidden files to make archives more cross-platform..BetterZip supports a bunch of formats which should cover just about anything you'll run into on the net: ZIP, SIT, TAR, GZip, BZip2, RAR, 7-Zip, CPIO, ARJ, LZH/LHA, JAR, WAR, CAB, ISO, CHM, RPM, DEB, NSIS, BIN, HQX, DD. Finally, the developer has also put together a great Quick Look plugin that supports most of the same formats. BetterZip is normally $19.95 and a demo is available but as it happens it's on sale at MacUpdate Promo until Monday evening for half-off ($9.95)Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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app4mac releases Sequence 1.1
Filed under: Multimedia, Software Sequence, a screen capture utility developed by App4Mac, has been revised to version 1.1. This is a free update for registered users. For capturing screenshots or video of Mac screens, Sequence takes advantage of multithreaded code and 64-bit support for compression. Capturing DVD playback and audio is easy, and it's possible to record from your iSight and screen at the same time. With the voice recording function, you can narrate the screen capture for easy creation of screencasts.Documentation for Sequence is now built into the application, which can be used to develop training videos, product demos, tutorials, and archiving streaming video. Mac OS X 10.5 or later is required.Sequence is available from App4Mac for $29. Localized versions are available in French and simplified Chinese.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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Tales From The Command Line: Where Has My Bandwidth Gone? (iftop &Â SurplusMeter)
I believe I can safely say that the primary objective for users running OS X is to connect to the Internet to read mail, check out web sites, chat with friends, download new apps or grab/share multi-media content, etc. With bandwidth caps staring to become all the rage by the mega-providers, knowing how much you are consuming may be critical knowledge to hold back the costs/fees on your monthly bill. This post covers two of three key programs for managing bandwidth: iftop (a command-line utility) and SurplusMeter (a GUI tool). The third utility - lsof (another command-line utility) - will require a dedicated article in-and-of itself. How Much Am I Consuming? SurplusMeter is a small tool from the fine folks over at SkoobySoft with one mission: to show you how much bandwidth you are consuming with the option to enter any known caps to ensure you are not over your limit. You can download SurpluMeter directly from their site. It is a PPC binary compatible down to OS X 10.3.9. For those who want to live life on the wild side, you can grab the source code and compile it yourself. I have built an OS X 10.5 compatible Universal Binary version which you can download via this post. No matter which way you decide to go, it is important to copy the application to your local volume as it runs an agent program - which runs in the background collecting bandwidth data - that will make it difficult to remove mounted volumes if you keep it running. The main view of SurplusMeter is fairly straightforward. You can set which day to start the monthly tracking period on and specify your known bandwidth cap - which can also include upstream usage. Monitoring can be paused if you know you will be moving between networks, the collected data can be reset and you can even choose which interface to monitor via their “English” names vs OS X short device names (e.g. “Ethernet port” vs “en0“). For my example, I did a short sample of bandwidth on my AT&T 3G ExpressCard, hence the PPP modem selection. If there were hiccups during program execution or you know of other bandwidth usage on your connection not emanating from your Mac, you can add bytes to the current data collector. Similarly, you can also remove bytes if you were measuring data on an interface that moved between networks. SurplusMeter is kind enough to store its data in ~/Library/Application Support/SurplusMeter/surplusmeter_data.plist in a very human- and machine-readable format (a well-annoted Apple plist) so you can do what you like with it: In general, it is a great, special purpose utility to have around. What's Going On Here? SurplusMeter tells you that you are using bandwidth, but does not provide any further details. This is where tool number two - iftop - comes into play. You can grab a pre-built package of iftop (”interface top”) from AFP548.com or grab the source and try your hand at building it (you may need to download some support libraries). Users of various “ports” tools should be able to find iftop in one of the repositories. Where the command-line tool top provides a mechanism for determining what processes are consuming precious system resources (in a very similar fashion to the Activity Monitor application), iftop does something similar for network usage on a particular interface. You will need some more technical information to run iftop successfully. First, you will need to know which network interface you want to monitor. To find out which interfaces you have on your system, open Terminal.app and run the command: ifconfig -l My output from that shows: lo0 gif0 stf0 en0 fw0 en1 vmnet8 vmnet1 ppp0 Interface en0 generally is equivalent to “Ethernet” and en1 is usually equivalent to your AirPort card. ppp0 would refer to most modems, including 3G cards. Additional interfaces may be related to a VMware or Parallels install, your local firewall interface or other local types of network devices. With Terminal.app open, run iftop -h to see what the command line options are for the tool: Synopsis: iftop -h | [-npbBP] [-i interface] [-f filter code] [-N net/mask] -h display this message -n don't do hostname lookups -N don't convert port numbers to services -p run in promiscuous mode (show traffic between other hosts on the same network segment) -b don't display a bar graph of traffic -B Display bandwidth in bytes -i interface listen on named interface -f filter code use filter code to select packets to count (default: none, but only IP packets are counted) -F net/mask show traffic flows in/out of network -P show ports as well as hosts -m limit sets the upper limit for the bandwidth scale -c config file specifies an alternative configuration file For this example, the most useful options are “-i” to let us choose which interface to monitor and “-P” to show which ports are in use. The tool requires elevated privileges to work so you have to run the following to start your view: sudo iftop -P -i ppp0 (again, replace “ppp0” with “en0” or “en1” or whatever interface you need to monitor). You should see something similar to the following screen upon successful execution (minus the annotation): The main part of the display lists, for each pair of hosts, the rate at which data has been sent and received over the preceding 2, 10 and 40 second intervals. The direction of data flow is indicated by arrows, . So in this example, where I started iTunes just after kicking off iftop, we can see that: 166.129.237.160 (my local machine) made a series of http (web) requests to Apple servers some of Apple's servers do not resolve from IP addresses to host names the average transfer rate over 40 seconds is between 0.2 kilobytes and 9 kilobytes per second After quitting iTunes and running for a while, then letting it sit “idle” (not actively doing network activity), you can see that the pattern of usage can change dramatically. While iftop can let you see more of what is going on, it cannot tell you which applications or processes are causing the usage. You can infer quite a bit (i.e. http traffic is most likely coming from your browser - but this is not necessarily the case as shown by the last screen), but finding out core details is where lsof can be of real value and will be covered in our next installment. While I have presented a free way to monitor bandwidth usage, Guy Meyer has a set of tools - Net Monitor & Net Monitor Sidekick which do something similar but are not free (the Sidekick program is in beta which is expired so I was not able to test it). If you are using any of these or similar tools to monitor bandwidth utilization, drop a note in the comments to share your insights with TAB readers and keep an eye out for our post on lsof!
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Ecamm updates iPhone Drive
Filed under: iPod Family, Software, iTunes, iPhoneGallery: iPhone Drive 1.4 Mac and iPhone/iPod developer Ecamm has just released a major upgrade to their iPhone Drive utility. iPhone Drive allows you to access the user data on your iPhone or iPod touch, both read and write. With it, you can copy files to and from the user partition. So if you need to bring some important files along with you, this utility turns your iPod or iPhone into a portable drive. What it doesn't do is this: It does not create a general-use USB device. You need iPhone Drive on both ends--to put data onto your system and to take it off. The new 1.4 version provides four major upgrades: you can play any song from your onboard music library directly from the utility, you can access your SMS message archive and call history, and you can view the photos you've snapped using your onboard camera. Obviously these last three options are limited to iPhones only but despite the name, the software works with both iPhones and iPod touches. These upgrades join iPhone Drive's existing feature repertoire that includes file I/O and read-only access to your music, ringtones, podcasts, audio books and notes. The 1.4 upgrade is free to users who registered versions 1.3 and earlier and $19.95 for new users.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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Hidden Gems In Leopard:Â OpenSnoop
I have a confession to make: I have not always been a Mac person. For the period of time between the retirement of System 9 and Panther (yes, it took Apple showing a real commitment to Unix for me to give them a shot again), I abandoned our fine operating system for greener pastures, well, green screen at least. Work drove me into Windows (as it has for about 90% of the workers out there) but my real outlet was anything Linux, BSD or Solaris-related. There was nary a distro that did not cross my hard drive (virtual or otherwise) and I was very happy programming, scripting and living life on the command line, with an occasional, lingering trip into X11 when necessary. OS X changed all that, since Apple managed to make Unix look very good while keeping all of the real power that lies beneath the GUI.Now, one may be able to argue the aesthetics of  Leopard (hey, Panic should be happy, it took Leopard to finally drive me into purchasing CandyBar), but none can dispute the gems that await those who dare to invoke the Terminal, and I'll be taking the opportunity over some of the coming posts to dwell on the nuggets that bear a deeper look. For those that are not as comfortable with the more textual side of their systems, I'll be making these trips as painless as possible (you may not need to delve into the Utilities folder to find the Terminal icon at all). The first stop is a little utility called opensnoop. Leopard ships with something called DTrace that gives developers and administrators the ability to take a peek at what all running code is doing in a flexible and dynamic way. Giving DTrace the coverage it deserves is beyond a simple blog post, but there are some smaller utilities - like opensnoop - that take advantage of the power of DTrace, but on a more targeted scale which are worthy of a minor exposition.The main purpose of the opensnoop utility is to provide a report of file opens as they occur. Curious as to what really happens when Safari opens a web page? Want to see what files are accessed from that latest program you downloaded? You can find the answers with opensnoop. If you can get to a terminal prompt, the simplest way to see what this utility does is to just type: sudo opensnoop Non-Terminal folks can just run the OpenSnoop.app application from the OpenSnoop App Archive (354KB ZIP file). (Either way, you'll be asked to enter your password since opensnoop requires higher-level privileges to run.) Output will look something like the following, though your listing contents should be very different: UID PID COMM FD PATH 501 286 SystemUIServer 17 /System/Library/CoreServices/Menu Extras/Spaces.menu/Contents/Resources/SpacesBackground.pdf 501 218 Finder 11 /.vol/234881026/571978 501 286 SystemUIServer 17 /System/Library/CoreServices/Menu Extras/Spaces.menu/Contents/Resources/SpacesBackground.pdf 501 286 SystemUIServer 17 /System/Library/CoreServices/Menu Extras/Spaces.menu/Contents/Resources/SpacesBackground.pdf 0 110 WindowServer 4 /var/log/windowserver.log 0 110 WindowServer 4 /var/log/windowserver.log 501 286 SystemUIServer 17 /System/Library/CoreServices/Menu Extras/Spaces.menu/Contents/Resources/SpacesBackground.pdf For each line: UID is the numerical ID of the owner of program that has the file opened. PID is the process ID of the program that has the file open COMM is the actual name of the process (this is something we care about) FD is the numerical file descriptor (ID) of the file being accessed PATH is the full OS X path to the file being accessed (this is also something we care about) The sample output is what occurred when I switched to/from Spaces 1 & 3. Just that simple case shows how interesting opensnoop can be since we see that the SystemUIServer and WindowServer were both invoked when I worked just a little bit with Spaces and that SpacesBackground.pdf was loaded from one of the Spaces app bundles. While this is useful in-and-of itself, we can use opensnoop for more targeted and detailed inspection. The following command: sudo opensnoop -avgn Safari (Non-Terminal users can run the SnoopSafari.app from the archive) Produces the following output when I tell it to go to google.com: TIME STRTIME UID PID FD ERR PATH ARGS 8071248908 2008 Jan 10 21:33:13 501 1153 17 0 /Users/bob/Library/Caches/com.apple.Safari/Cache.db-journal Safari 8071249029 2008 Jan 10 21:33:13 501 1153 18 0 /Users/bob/Library/Caches/com.apple.Safari Safari 8071249636 2008 Jan 10 21:33:13 501 1153 24 0 /var/tmp/etilqs_rjFUOz2TEh7AaoG Safari 8075981916 2008 Jan 10 21:33:18 501 1153 18 0 /Users/bob/Library/Caches/Metadata/Safari/History/.tracked filenames.plist Safari 8075982865 2008 Jan 10 21:33:18 501 1153 18 0 /Users/bob/Library/Caches/Metadata/Safari/History/http:%2F%2Fgoogle.com%2F.webhistory Safari 8075983663 2008 Jan 10 21:33:18 501 1153 18 0 /Users/bob/Library/Caches/Metadata/Safari/History/http:%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2F.webhistory Safari 8075984521 2008 Jan 10 21:33:18 501 1153 18 0 /Users/bob/Library/Caches/Metadata/Safari/History/.tracked filenames.plist Safari 8075980917 2008 Jan 10 21:33:18 501 1153 18 0 /.vol/234881026/713654 Safari 8077969298 2008 Jan 10 21:33:19 501 1153 18 0 /Users/bob/Library/Safari/.dat0481.441 Safari 8077966383 2008 Jan 10 21:33:19 501 1153 18 0 /Users/bob/Library/Safari/.dat0481.440 Safari 8080982146 2008 Jan 10 21:33:23 501 1153 18 0 /Users/bob/Library/Safari/lock/.dat0481.442 Safari 8080983115 2008 Jan 10 21:33:23 501 1153 18 0 /Users/bob/Library/Safari/lock/details.plist Safari 8081191826 2008 Jan 10 21:33:23 501 1153 18 0 /Users/bob/Library/Safari/lock/details.plist Safari 8081192743 2008 Jan 10 21:33:23 501 1153 18 0 /Users/bob/Library/Safari/lock Safari 8081193635 2008 Jan 10 21:33:23 501 1153 18 0 /Users/bob/Library/Safari/.de0481.443 Safari The extra fields are the Unix-coded time, the translated timestamp, the error code (if any) and the file being accessed. This is a more verbose listing, but we will not see any file data from application other than Safari. You can substitute “Adium” or “Finder”, etc for “Safari” on the command line and I've included SnoopAdium.app, SnoopFinder.app and SnoopFirefox.app within the archive. Hopefully, you are beginning to see the power of this small utility.While there are many options for you to explore within opensnoop, one of the more interesting ones is the “-x” flag, which only displays the failed opens (I've included SnoopFailed.app in the archive as well). It's always good to peek at what applications are looking for but cannot find, especially if you are having trouble with your system or a particular application.I'm working on a more generic GUI front-end to opensnoop and will let you know when I have something worth sharing. These apps were all built with the extremely useful Platypus tool (which is in my developer folder once again post-Leopard install). If there's a particular “snoop” app you'd like me to whip up, drop a note in the comments and I'll do my best to crank'em out (I'll post the other apps either on my .Mac iDisk or my personal site).
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10.5: Compress a file or folder via drag and drop to Dock
Inspired by this hint about the Screen Sharing application in /System » Library » CoreServices, I found another small but very nice application there. Drag Archive Utility to your Dock (or toolbar or sidebar). Now, you can drag a folder onto the application, the result of which will be a compressed archive in the same location. If you don't like the default .cpgz format but prefer ZIP, or want to have another destination for all archives, just open the utility and change its Preferences. [robg adds: This is the application that was mentioned in this hint yesterday. It's the program that replace BOM Archive Helper in 10.4, to handle all the background compression and expansion tasks. As noted in yesterda...
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How-To: Upgrade to Leopard
There are some things you can do prior to installing that I sometimes recommend. Many of these things are not guaranteed to work (and some people actually say will do more harm than good). I, for one, don't see an issue with the basics that some recommend: Start by repairing permissions: either run Disk Utility from your hard disk while in OS X, or do so from the Tiger DVD. Make sure you are currently at Tiger 10.4.10 (as of this writing, 10.4.10 is the latest public version, with .11 on the way). Backup Like with any other OS upgrade, you'll want to back up all of your data (duh). The trick I used for my system upgrades/moves previously, and with the Leopard beta, was to run an exact copy to a Firewire disk using SuperDuper. SuperDuper is nice because you can at least make an exact copy of your disk that works well in the demo mode. To get advanced features, you have to buy a license. SuperDuper will also take careful looks at system files, Spotlight info, etc., and is good about copying the correct data while leaving system-specific files behind. I'm typing this on my new MacBook Pro, where I've used the Migration tool to safely move from my “backup” Firewire drive. Leopard continues the Migration Assistant, and even improves on it, so unless we hear reports that it no longer works, you can most likely safely migrate from a Firewire backup made with SuperDuper. This works well even when moving between PPC and Intel Macs. I mainly recommend this strategy, even though Leopard asks you to back up prior installing. The reason being, Leopard's backup uses Time Machine, which right now, I'm not sure would work with pre-Leopard copies of OS X. If for some reason, you need to bail out, and are stuck on Tiger, this is the safest bet. At this point, with your backup safely in your hand, and everything updated, you can go ahead and stick in the Leopard DVD, and follow the instructions to reboot and start the process. Here's where you can vary: 1. Some folks say it's okay to simply do an “upgrade” install over a previous version. Usually, Apple does a fairly good job at keeping their installs clean and stable (unlike a certain other OS maker - ahem). With Leopard, however, we're seeing some major changes to core files, and the introduction of dozens of new frameworks, so this may be a case in which it's wise to not do a straight upgrade. 2. The next option - if you didn't use SuperDuper to make a good backup earlier - is to do the old-fashioned “Archive and Install”. I've used this in the past, and it's actually very useful in recent versions of OS X, where you can use the Migration Assistant on your rebooted fresh install to copy the files you want back over from your old archived copy of OS X. Fair warning, though: you're going to need enough free space (read: a huge hard drive) to handle a copy of all of the data currently on your drive. 3. If you already have a backup (courtesy of SuperDuper), you can do a clean install of OS X. This is also known as “Erase and Install”, and does as it says - it wipes your drive clean before loading a standard new install of the OS. It, like the archive and install option, will provide the Migration Assistant, so you can get all of your data back from the Firewire disk. Sure, you can use a second hard drive in your Mac Pro, but everybody knows you've already filled that up with your illegal downloads of the last few seasons of “Lost” and “Star Trek: Voyager”, right? It's okay, I won't tell anyone. The Easy Part: The actual install After you select the type of install you want, you'll be asked a few other easy-to-answer questions, and you'll be guided through the rest of the process before it just copies the files. After that, you'll restart the computer, and you may or may not need to run through the Migration Assistant before you can be on your merry way, enjoying your new copy of Leopard with all of your old stuff still intact. Make an updated backup Once you're confident with your Leopard install, you can erase that Firewire drive, and activate Time Machine. Unfortunately, as I was writing this, MacRumors discovered that Apple may have pulled the feature allowing Time Machine backups to Airport hard disks. I guess we're back to plugging in the drive the old-fashioned way. how to, leopard, upgrade