The following is a post from the most excellent Nick McSpadden. It is very well written and I am proud that it is the first article published on this site using the new submissions page. Looks like it’s time to change the banner from my Notes from the Underground, er, I mean, Field, to just Notes from the Field! Greetings! This is a sort of follow-up to my guide on managing Firefox, this time focusing on managing Google Chrome. I’m working on current Chrome version 18 (which just today got updated to 19), and I don’t know for sure how far back this will work, but I think anything higher…
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Deploying and Managing Firefox: The Rough Guide
Another Great Article Submitted From Nick McSpadden: After working with this for a bit, I’ve come up with a step by step installation process for Firefox 10 ESR + CCK deployment on Mac OS. Firefox CCK Guide – Part I Most of the information about add-ons that you’ll need is in Mike Kaply’s blog: Integrating Add-ons into Firefox 1) Install CCK Wizard in Firefox 10 ESR 2) Run and configure CCK Wizard the way you want 3) Save the CCK data into a “CCK” folder anywhere you’d like. This folder will contain: cck.config cck.xpi xpi/ directory 4) When done, open up CCK/xpi.config 5) Copy the contents of the id=<name> key…
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Apple Configurator 1.0.1 Released
Apple has released version 1.0.1 of the Apple Configurator tool. To install the first update to Apple’s new tool, go to the App Store on a computer that has Apple Configurator installed, click on Updates and then click on the Update button for Apple Configurator. The update has a number of new features and fixes. The first is that Enterprise Apps can be installed. Previously, when you went to install internally developed applications, you would get an error that the installation could not proceed. Another great fix is that commas are now escaped when importing application codes from the VPP spreadsheets (a comma in a CSV/comma separated value would kill…
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Managing iOS Devices with Apple Configurator
My traditional interpretation of Apple’s vision on how iOS devices are used is that everyone has an AppleID. That AppleID enables them to access their apps from any iOS device they own or Mac that they own. That AppleID enables them to access mail, contacts, calendars and even files through iCloud. That AppleID also allows users to remotely wipe their device through Find iPhone and track their friends iOS devices (as in social networking via breadcrumb tracking) through Find Friends. All of this “Just Works” in a consumer sense. And it even allows for a little sharing of content across devices you own. However, larger organizations need more. They need…
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Paths in Title Bars
When I install a new system that I am personally going to be using, one of the few tweaks I make is to configure the Finder to show me paths in the title bar. This just keeps me from the occasional Command-click on the folder name and keeps me abreast of where I am. Mostly it’s helpful in list or icon view as. To enable full paths use defaults to write an _FXShowPosixPathInTitle key into com.apple.finder.plist. The key should be boolean and we’re setting it to true. After about 30 seconds new windows should show with the path in the title bar: defaults write com.apple.finder _FXShowPosixPathInTitle -bool YES I actually…
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More repairPermissions
Yesterday I looked at using diskutil to repair the permissions on a boot volume. You can also use diskutil to repair the permissions on a non-booted volume provided that there is a valid Mac OS X installation on that volume. To do so you would simply provide the path to that volume rather than to the blessed boot volume. For example, if the disk that we mentioned in the previous article were called Seldon and it was in a host booted to target disk mode then you would simply provide the path /Volumes/Seldon as before: diskutil repairPermissions /Volumes/Seldon In the event that you are scripting and want to take into…
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The Lighter The Touch… Imaging & Support
When it comes to system imaging, the most important aspect is to be methodical. If there is an error, the last thing you want to do is try 3-4 different things to see if one fixes the problem. Bust out the scientific method and find out exactly what the problem is. Because you’re about to make a change, en masse, that is going to have a resounding impact on the ecosystem that is your environment. And the smaller the change, or the light the touch, that you make then the less likely you will be to introduce a support nightmare in some other part of the enterprise. Many environments have…