Leopard Tricks Tips and Tools

It’s with great regret that I announce the sale of this web site and domain. I just do not have time to work on it any more, especially now that we’ve just added a new addition to our family (which now makes two little tikes).

During it’s peak, LeopardTricks.com had over 25,000 subscribers, and very regular updates and contributions.

Recently I’ve started adding video’s to each post (starting with the oldest) for each tip and trick. I wish I had time to continue this, it’s great fun.

The site does bring in some income through banner advertising, however not nearly as much as it was (or could) if someone who knew what they were doing was running the site. Contact me for more information on income.

I’m asking $4,000 USD. Paid by paypal. Or by direct bank transfer if you are in Australia. Included is the entire web site (files / database), and domain name. I can arrange to transfer the web hosting over at an additional yearly cost, or, provide / find your own hosting.

Lots of potential for someone who has time to further cultivate the site

Feel free to contact me for more information. James

written by James \\ tags: for sale

as taken from Mactalk

I admit it, for the last fifteen years or so I’ve been almost exclusively Windows-centric. I’m sure there’s a Mac-specific term for this but I haven’t found it yet. So, I’ll use sysprep for now.

What do I mean? In Windows there’s a set of tools available that lets you build a reference computer with all the latest updates, pre-installed drivers and software and your own configurations. Then you strip out all the bits that make it a unique computer such as user profiles and their associated passwords, unique computer identifiers and so on. At the end of this you have a reference install of Windows that you can take an image of and deploy to other computers. The first time you boot on a new computer it goes through some basic setup stuff and away you go.

Because I run a computer business that sells (and services) Apple computers I’ve been looking for a way to achieve the same sort of thing. What follows in this article is the results of a some in-depth research and putting together bits and pieces from various sources.

My result is a disk image (.dmg) file that I can use to restore on any current version of Mac hardware (laptop and desktop – although untested on a Mac Pro) that will have a user environment I’ve already configured and with additional software that I’d like available. It hasn’t got any pre-existing users created but runs the standard Apple welcome/setup process when first booted up instead – that way you get to create a new user profile for the new owner of the computer.

So, the process…

written by James \\ tags: image mac, sysprep

I received an attachment via E-mail and wanted to print it straight away.

1. So, I saved the document.

2. Selected it in Finder (not opened it) in Space 2

3. Then used the “File > Print” in Finder

4. The document was opened and printed

5. My word processor closed automatically again

In the meanwhile I was working on a document in a different Space.

written by Hans@Tricks \\ tags: Finder, printing, word processor

from Klara:

Alt+Cmd+D hides the dock and pressing the same brings it back.

written by James \\ tags: dock, Finder, OS X

While clicking around in Exposé I noticed a couple useful features that might not be so obvious right away.  Once in Exposé you can navigate through your applications and windows in a variety of ways.

Lets explore!

Firstly, get into Exposé (for all windows).

Pressing the “tab” key will switch between Exposé windows for only the selected applications.  If you have the Dock showing notice the selected application highlighted as you switch between different ones.

You can also navigate between application windows within Exposé by clicking on the application icon in the Dock.  Clicking unopened application icons will close Exposé.

With Exposé open you can also switch between windows by using the arrow keys as well as mousing over each item.  If you press the “spacebar” the selected item will come into focus while remaining in Exposé.  This option will give you a clearer preview of the selected window.  If by chance you selected the wrong window preview fret not.  You can still switch between selected application windows by with the arrow keys as well as mousing over the original orientation of the other windows.  This navigation method applies to Exposé for all windows as well.

Stay tuned for more great tips.

written by Justin Wah Kan \\ tags: expose, navigation, tips

Hey all, just a quick post to let you know that we’re keeping up to date with technology and further networking leopardtricks.com to various social networking sites.

Firstly, we’re adding more and more video’s to the site (youtube). You can see them embedded right here on the site, or at www.youtube.com/somethingmac.

We’re in the process of creating a facebook page. Make sure if you are on facebook that you “become a fan”.

I’ve been using twitter for a while now, and I’ve had my personal account linked to the front of this site. I’ve finally set up a dedicated leopardtricks account. Be sure to follow it!

You can chat to me any time on Skype. (text chat, I don’t do much voice or video)
Be sure to subscribe to our RSS feed

written by James \\ tags: facebook, feedburner, skype, social networking, twitter, youtube

I tested this in Leopard (10.5.8) but it should work with Snow Leopard (10.6.x). Please comment telling me if it does work in 10.6.x.

In Terminal, type the following

defaults write com.apple.dock mouse-over-hilte-stack -boolean YES;killall Dock;killall Terminal

Terminal will close, and your Dock will flash. Open a stack, and you now have a gradient when you mouse over an icon.

I know it’s old. Just thought I would post it here. Also, to reverse it, copy and paste the same code, but replace YES with NO.

written by colbyludwig

Ever get sick of the boring glass “3D” dock?

Try this simple trick to change it to 2D:

open “terminal” and type:

defaults write com.apple.dock no-glass -boolean YES; killall Dock

written by James \\ tags: dock, Leopard, OS X, Snow Leopard, visual