My wireless signal won’t go through my walls.

Now this wouldn’t be a problem in a new house with an open floor plan. I’ve lived in houses where I get signal out on the street sitting in my car and that was running of a 802.11 G router 5 years ago, so I understand my situation is unique.

Here is my current setup.

1. Airport Extreme 802.11N – Main Router
2. Airport Express 802.11N – Extender
3. Airport Express 802.11G – Extender w/ USB Printer

My current wireless clients are as follows

1. Macbook Pro 802.11G (2007)
2. Macbook Pro 802.11G (2006)
3. iphone 3G
4. iphone 3Gs
5. PC Server 802.11N

So I toiled and strained for days trying to get the mixture right. And because I’ve got different classes working with each other it was truly a matter of getting the right device to initialize in the correct sequence. So know this Paduan. If you too are trying to setup a new wireless network, using your Airport Expresses as Wireless Extenders, do the following.

Reset everything and unplug everything. Start in sequence.

1. Plug in your Modem (Cable/DSL)
2. Attach your main wireless router (Airport Extreme 802.11N) to your modem via ethernet.
3. Register to the Airport Extreme 802.11N’s network on your main client laptop.
4. Open Airport Utility on your laptop.
5. Run through the assisted setup.
6. Make sure to check the box that reads Allow this network to be extended
7. Once this is completed and the router has reset to a solid green state, plug in the wireless device (in my case, an Airport Express 802.11N)
8. Using the same laptop, you should now see the second device show up in the Airport Utility window.
9. Select the device and run through it’s setup. (it will ask you to “switch” networks)
10. You are setting up the Airport Express to join the existing network and “extend” it’s range. Any other setup will screw everything up so make sure to check the box when you’re asked.
11. Once you’ve got the green status light a glowing on the second Airport Express, you can check on your overall network health under the Advanced > Statistics Tab in the Airport Utility application.
12. At the bottom of the window you’ll see a Logs and Statistics button. Select that to bring up a real time graph of all the wireless traffic on your network.

The most important thing to remember is to reset EVERYTHING FIRST and work in sequence to make it perfect. If you skip a step or get a little lazy, I swear to you you’ll end up spending days trying to get the mixture right.

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So I found the only way to correct the issue was to boot from the Install DVD. Create a new ADMIN user account and get rid of the old one.

Only problem was, when you delete a user account that has created all your folders and files, unless you create a user account with the same shortname, you will be kicked to the curb with nothing on but a pair of socks and your files laughing at you from the upstairs window. This has never happened to me in real life but I imagine it’s tantamount to the same thing… Ahem.

Here’s what you do to fix it. Change file Permissions.

2 ways you can do this. The beaatch way, which would be go to every single Get Info window and change them one by one, deleting the offending _unknown user and installing your own account with read & write permissions or, get a bazooka and do the lot all at once.

I don’t know about you, but I’m going for the bazooka every time. My bazooka? FileXaminer. First time I’ve danced with this lovely lady and we’ll see how many times she steps on my toes.

Well that was breathtaking! What would have taken me probably the rest of the weekend one by one took me about 2 minutes to complete. And that was lagging. If I had to “do it again”, 30 seconds max to change the User & Group Permissions & the Owner, Creation Date, Preview Icon… the lot. Amazing piece of software and as your Bazooka salesman, I highly recommend this fantastic piece of software which you can download from the lovely people over at Gideon Software. Or just click http://www.gideonsoftworks.com/releases/fex-leopard.dmg to download the software right away.

So now my permissions are all fixed. Hope you find this useful.

_theSheik

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My dad is really, really good at email… and streaming public radio via iTunes… and using Voice Recording Software… and Skype, he’s really good at Skype… and leaving absolutely EVERYTHING OPEN. He never closes anything. He has had a computer since 1994 and yet for some odd reason, he never learned to Quit out of an open application. Now this is not exactly a skill I would put at the top of the must learn pile, but if you have a slow computer, and you have 25 OPEN APPLICATIONS, you might want to look into it. I’m just saying.

So here is an awesomely simple way to solve this age old issue.

1. First up, get a Mac.
2. Open Automator
3. Select Library in the left column
4. Select Calendar or iCal in the left column
5. Drag Get Specified iCal Items to the Main Window
6. Click the Add or + Button in the “Get Specified iCal Items” Window
7. Choose which Calendar you want to control your Techy Events. I created a new calendar called Tech Support, I think if you leave it blank Automator will create one for you called… Automator.
8. Now select Utilities in the far left column of Automator
9. 2nd column, scroll down to the Q’s and drag “Quit All Applications” over to the Main Window.
10. In the Main Window make sure Ask to save changes is checked.
11. In the Do not quit: window you can select applications you would like to leave open no matter what. I have selected my Mail, Firefox, Quicksilver, iCal & Skype. A quick way to get this combination right is to open all the Applications you love, close all the Applications you don’t and then select the Add current applications button
12. Select File > Save as Plug-in…
13. Give it a relevant name. I called my Quit All Applications. 10 points for originality.
14. Select iCal Alarm in the drop down menu.
15. Click Save.
16. Automator now opens iCal if it isn’t already open and adds a new event on the current date and time.
17. Double click the event to edit it’s guts.
18. Make it repeat however often you wish. For my father I selected it to run Every day at 9am. That way he starts fresh every morning. Set yours to whatever frequency you wish.
19. Click Done and you are away.

That’s all there is to it folks. No more sneaky applications chewing up your memory in the background without your knowledge. And no more excuses for the lazies, or the ones who just don’t know any better.

A final note. Remember to save and save frequently.

_theSheik

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Enjoy. This is the best Mac software out there. Big thanks to opensourcemac.org for the research.

Web Browsing

Mozilla Firefox
The premier free, open-source browser. Tabs, pop-up blocking, themes, and extensions. Considered by many to be the world’s best browser.
Download Page

Camino
Based on the same Mozilla foundation as Firefox, Camino is a more native OS X app. Fast and simple.
Download Page

Video Player / Video Podcasting

Miro
Beautiful interface. Plays any video type (much more than quicktime). Subscribe to video RSS, download, and watch all in one. Torrent support. Search and download from YouTube and others.
Download Page

IM – Instant Messaging

Adium
Connect to multiple IM accounts simultaneously in a single app, including: AOL IM, MSN, and Jabber. Beautiful, themable interface.
Download Page

Email

Mozilla Thunderbird
Powerful spam filtering, solid interface, and all the features you need.
Download Page

RSS

Vienna
Very nice, native RSS client.
Download Page

RSSOwl
Solid cross-platform RSS client.
Download Page

Peer-to-Peer Filesharing

Cabos
A simple, easy to use filesharing program. Gnutella network.
Download Page

Transmission
Very nice torrent downloader.
Download Page

Running Windows Software on Macs

Q Emulator
Run Windows programs on your Intel Mac at near native speed. Works on G4 / G5 Macs too, but much slower.
Download Page

Podcasting

Juice
Solid podcasting client.
Download Page

Video Playback

VLC
Plays more video files than most players: Quicktime, AVI, DIVX, OGG, and more. Pretty good interface.
Download Page

MPlayer
The interface and buttons are not as nice or as Mac-like in feel, but it may play even more video files than VLC.
Download Page

Perian
A plugin that allows quicktime to play additional video formats. (Included in Democracy Player.)
Download Page

iPod Ripping

Senuti
Get music off of your iPod onto any computer.
Download Page

iPodDisk
Copy music off your iPod in the finder, like a regular disk drive.
Download Page

DVD Ripping

Handbrake
DVD ripper and MPEG-4 / H.264 encoding. Very simple to use.
Download Page

CD / DVD Burning

Burn
CD and DVD Burner.
Download Page

Privacy

Vidalia
This TOR frontend keeps you anonymous on the web using military-grade techniques. For use with Firefox see: TorButton.
Download Page

Word Processing / Office Suites

Bean
Very fast and easy to use word processor. Live word count, autosaving, more.
Download Page

NeoOffice
Built on OpenOffice.org. Big, full featured suite of tools for word processing and spreadsheets. Compatible with Microsoft Word documents and OpenDocument Format.
Download Page

AbiWord
A word processor. Leaner and quicker than OpenOffice. Compatible with Microsoft Word documents and OpenDocument Format.
Download Page

Wifi Scanning

KisMac
The best wireless scanner for Mac. Find wireless access when you’re on the go.
Download Page

Sound Recording

Audacity
Simple sound recording tool.
Download Page

Graphics, Photo, Publishing

Seashore
Based on Gimp, but doesn’t require X11.
Download Page

Xee
Fast image viewer and image browser.
Download Page

Gimp.app
Photo editing application that rivals Photoshop in features (requires X11).
Download Page

Inkscape
Vector graphics application (requires X11).
Download Page

Scribus
Desktop publishing. Complicated install, but a nice app.
Download Page

FTP / SFTP

Cyberduck
Very good all-around ftp program.
Download Page

OneButton FTP
Simple, fast FTP, with a focus on "advanced queuing".
Download Page

Fugu
Not as polished as Cyberduck, but has a side by side interface showing your files and the remote files.
Download Page

HTML / Text Editing

Smultron
Text / html editor. Integrates with Cyberduck for editing websites.
Download Page

Nvu
Visual tool for making websites (WYSIWYG html editor), comparable to Dreamweaver.
Download Page

IRC

Colloquy
Great IRC client.
Download Page Some more specialized free and open-source Mac apps. If you want too see proprietary apps too, check out BestMacSoftware.org

Media Center

Centerstage
Full-screen interface for playing audio, video, and photos. Connect it to your TV.
Download Page

Note Taking

Freemind
An innovative application for note taking and outlining. Takes time to get used to, but some people swear by it.
Download Page

Personal Finance

Cashbox
Simple, easy to use application for managing personal finances.
Download Page

Buddi
A personal finance and budgeting program, aimed at those who have little or no financial background.
Download Page

MSN Chat

AMSN Messenger

More Web Browsing

Shiira
Fast, nice web browser.
Download Page

SunriseBrowser
Good webkit-based browser created with special tools for web designers.
Download Page

Seamonkey
Full-featured Mozilla browser, used to be called ‘Mozilla Suite’.
Download Page

PDF Viewer

Skim
PDF viewer.
Download Page

Screensaver

Electric Sheep
Immersive, trippy screensaver.
Download Page

More Filesharing

Tomato Torrent
Download torrents. Nice and simple.
Download Page Also see: Poisoned – Azureus

3D Graphics and Modeling

Blender
Powerful 3D Modeling software.
Download Page Also see: Persistence of Vision Raytracer – Art of Illusion – Wings 3D – Quesa – Open Media Toolkit

MP3 Management

iEatBrainz
Fills in the correct metadata (title, artist, etc) for MP3s in your collection.
Download Page

Planetariums and Outer Space

Celestia
Open-source 3D planetarium software. Akin to traveling through space (outer space).
Download Page

Stellarium
"Renders realistic skys in realtime." See what you would see if your city wasn’t so light-polluted. Used in real planetariums.
Download Page Also see: macORSA – Orbit Reconstruction, Simulation, and Analysis

Comic Viewer

Jomic
Read digital comics.
Download Page

Dance Dance Revolution

Stepmania
Dance Dance Revolution clone. Can connect to external dance pads.
Download Page

Games

Cube
Nice first-person shooter.
Download Page

Marathon: Aleph One
Engine for Bungie’s free FPS series Marathon. Play online, solo play with rich original story, many total conversions and thousands of maps.
Download Page

Zombies
3D zombie strategy game.
Download Page

Armagetron Advanced
3D Tron game.
Download Page

BZFlag
First-person tank game.
Download Page

Battle for Wesnoth
Fantasy / Strategy Game
Download Page Also see: Snes9X (SNES emulator), Frozen Bubble, PySol for Mac (card games), PLANESHIFT (3D Fantasy MMORPG), VDrift (drift racing simulation).

del.icio.us Client

Cocoalicious
Let’s you easily post to del.icio.us.
Download Page

Free File Hosting

CC Publisher
Host Creative Commons video or audio files for free on archive.org with this easy uploader.
Download Page

Quick Links

 Viewers Comic viewer: Comical
Comic viewer: FFView
OpenDocument viewing application: ODF Viewer

RSS and Usenet
RSS Reader: Feed
Cross-platform RSS reader: BlogBridge
RSS video podcast player: I/ON
Usenet Reader: OSXnews

IM, IRC, Chat
Multi-IM: Fire
Powerful IRC client: X-Chat Aqua
Videoconferencing client: XMeeting
PBX / Voip system: Asterisk

Graphics and Art
Draw on a moving canvas: Cosmic Painter
Image editor: Seashore
An artwork scaling calculator: Scaletron!
A Paint-like program designed for pixel-pushers: Pixen
A VRML/X3D Browser: FreeWRL
Video
Realtime Editing and Effects System: Jahshaka
Video transcoder: ffmpegX
MPEG convertor: MPEG Streamclip

Music and Audio
OGG Vorbis encoder (ogg is an open source audio codec): Ogg Drop
Music notation: LilyPond
Play and compose live music: Miraton
Max/MSP style realtime music and multimedia environment: Pd
Manage chords, lyrics, and projection: OpenSong

Wifi / Networking
Discover open wifi networks: iStumbler
A Prism/Prism2 driver 802.11: WirelessDriver
Fast, lightweight VNC client: Chicken of the VNC
VNC server providing remote access to the GUI, keyboard and mouse: OSXvnc

Utilities
Book management: Books
CD / DVD Burning: SimplyBurns
Disable sleep on a Mac: InsomniaX
Protect your laptop with a car-alarm style alarm: Multialarm
Remove extra languages from OSX to save disk space: Monolingual
System event notifications: Growl
System performance monitors: MenuMeters
Virtual desktop tool: Desktop Manager
Virus checker: ClamXav
Share mouse and keyboard between 2 or more computers: SynergyKM and Quick Synergy
Check available RAM: Memtest
Monitor CPU, RAM, battery, CPU temp, network, I/O, and more: X Resource Graph
Control your Mac via Bluetooth: Romeo

Writing and Typesetting
Screenplay writing and pre-production support: Celtx
Bibliography manager, BibTeX .bib format: BibDesk
Typesetting – TeX previewer for Mac OS X: TeXShop
Typesetting: iTexMac

Education
Education course management system: Moodle
Student information system: Focus / SIS
Another student information system: Centre

Programming
Development platform: Eclipse
SQL Editor: YourSQL

Math and Engineering
General purpose computer algebra system: Yacas
GNU S language: R
MATLAB style rapid engineering and scientific prototyping / data processing: FreeMat

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