Ich verwende Dashboard eigentlich nie und hab es daher auch meist komplett deaktiviert.

Heute kam mir aber in den Sinn dass es irgendwie möglich sein muss Dashboard Widgets auch direkt auf dem Desktop zu betreiben, anstatt eben in der angedachten Umgebung Dashboard.

Nach kurzer Suche auch die Lösung gefunden.

Step 1: Developer Modus für Dashboard aktivieren
Dafür kurz ins Terminal wechseln und folgenden Wert aendern:

defaults write com.apple.dashboard devmode YES


Step 2: Dashboard neu starten
Der einfachste Weg ist sicherlich ein fixer Logout. Mit dem folgenden Login wird Dashboard neu gestartet inkl. dem aktivierten Developer Modus. Ich verwende für sowas gerne MainMenu (Tip), da der Logout ja eigentlich unötig ist um Dashboard neu zu starten.

Step 3: Widget auf den Desktop verfrachten
Und hier kommt der eigentliche Trick. Öffnet Dashboard (sollte auf F12 liegen im Normalfall, wenn nicht in System Preferences -> Expose & Spaces den Shortcut gegenprüfen).
Innerhalb Dashboard selektiert ihr euer Wunsch-Widget mit der Maus, haltet diese gedrückt und verlasst Dashboard wieder mittels F12.
In der Folge sollte sich das Dashboard schliessen, das selektierte Widget jedoch weiter sichtbar sein.

Tips am Rande:

• Um das Widget wieder vom Desktop zu entfernen einfach den obigen Ablauf umdrehen. d.h. Widget mit der Maus selektieren und selbige gedrückt halten, F12 um Dashboard zu öffnen, Widget loslassen und erneut F12 um Dashboard wieder zu schliessen.
• Dashboard Widgets auf dem Desktop liegen ebenenmässig über den sonstigen Programmen. d.h. es wird jegliches Programm überdecken, was die Verwendung natürlich leicht einschränkt.

Denke trotzdem ein netter Trick. Ich konnte keine Probleme im ersten schnellen Test unter 10.5.4 feststellen, jedoch habe ich auch wenig Widgets zur Auswahl.

Und nun die finale Frage:
Nützt das jmd so ? Und was sind eure Lieblings-Widgets ?

Found that hint on the great fsckblog.

Safari comes with a good defaults-command:

defaults write com.apple.Safari TargetedClicksCreateTabs -bool true/false

The defaults command is a toggle and defines it Safari 3.1 opens links in a new window or in a new Tab.

The long version howto change a default value:

1. Open Terminal.app (in /Applications/Utilities/)
2. Enter the command as posted above. Keep in mind that you have to use either true OR false.
3. Press enter and done

If you are not used to command-line you could easily use Secrets to enable to change this setting.

But to be honest, i am really wondering why apple has to “hide” such features for usual mac-users. Shame on you Apple.

The next stumble: Secrets

The project is hosted at Google Code

Secrets lets you customize many Mac OS settings that are hidden or incomplete.

Many of these values can harm your system if used improperly. Use it at your own risk.

Its a prefPane which allows access to many (hidden) system- and application settings. Usualy those settings can be accessed via command-line (defaults) but aren’t we mac-users ? aren’t we always looking for a gui-based solution ? for sure we are….so get it. The application is developed by the Quicksilver team and currently in beta-status.

Found that application via daringfireball.net

Yeah we all love Time Machine….or at least the idea behind it

Unfortunaly many users do hate the dialog which pops up, each time you plug-in a new external device.

So … if you have already defined your backup-target and Time Machine is working as suppose,d there is an easy way to disable this dialog for new disks plugged into your mac.

• Open Terminal.app
• Enter:
  • defaults write com.apple.TimeMachine DoNotOfferNewDisksForBackup -bool YES

If you want to enable this dialog again, just replace YES in the command above with a NO and done.

Hope you enjoy this hint (based on macosxhints.com)

The default setting of TimeMachine let you backup only to directly connected drives (usb & firewire i guess) but not to the network.

Well sounds pretty far away from perfect…at least for me.

To enable the network support open Terminal.app and enter the following:

defaults write com.apple.systempreferences TMShowUnsupportedNetworkVolumes 1

Now TimeMachine should support unsupported network volumes.

Just found that nice article on MacWorld.com

quote as teaser:

One of 10.5’s new features that I use quite often is the built-in screen sharing. You can use screen sharing from iChat, which is great for family tech support, but I’m referring specifically to screen sharing in the Finder. With multiple machines in the house, I often want to see the screen on a given machine while seated at another. In the pre-10.5 days, this was doable, and not overly difficult—you had to click a couple buttons to enable things, then run a VNC viewer app to make the connection. But with 10.5, the viewer is now built into the system. Screen sharing is based on Apple’s full Remote Desktop package, which offers more control over exactly how remote screens are shared. Luckily for us, Apple left at least some of that functionality in the more-limited screen sharing application—it’s just disabled by default.

First, here’s a potentially easier way to share the screens of other Macs on your network. First, realize that the screen sharing feature is just an application. It resides in /System/Library/CoreServices, under the tricky name of Screen Sharing. Find it now, and drag it onto your Dock, or into your sidebar, or your toolbar—whichever you prefer for quick launch access.

Read it….

My conclusion:

1. To run Screen Sharing without using Finder -> Shared, drag:

/System/Library/CoreServices/Screen Sharing.app

to your Dock

2. To enable Screen Sharing’s Bonjour Browser, open Terminal.app and enter:

defaults write com.apple.ScreenSharing ShowBonjourBrowser_Debug 1

3. To enable Sceen Sharing’s ARD-like toolbar, open Terminal.app and enter:

defaults write com.apple.ScreenSharing \
'NSToolbar Configuration ControlToolbar' -dict-add 'TB Item Identifiers' \
'(Scale,Control,Share,Curtain,Capture,FullScreen,GetClipboard,SendClipboard,Quality)'