binaryfactory.ca

Here are a few quickies I learned in the past few days:

10.5.6 upgrade

10.5.6 seems to be easier to install from 10.5.5 than 10.5.4 . 10.5.4 to 10.5.5 only messed up the video on my test, and I did not bother fixing it before going to 10.5.6 , which as usual messed with my keyboard, but not with the trackpad. With the help of the on screen keyboard, I was able to re-install the Video kexts and keyboard kext from this pack (Thanks Vivarey! – http://files.binaryfactory.ca/windtools/10.5.6%20upgrade%20pack%20v2.zip ). A reboot later, and the keyboard/trackpad are working fine, USB is working fine, webcam works.

Sound switching

Another thing I found out is sound switching to headphones, which didn’t work properly in 10.5.4, and I had some issues with my first 10.5.6 that I did not bother fixing with (not related to the update).

You will need the CHUD tools as well as a switch script. Install CHUD and run the switch script to switch audio output. I have indexed the script in Quicksilver so I can easily trigger it – however, it will prompt for a sudo password. It is doable to compile an applescript with the password embedded, however, I don’t mind typing the password in and hate hard-coding passwords into scripts, as well as storing them. Get the switch.sh script here: http://files.binaryfactory.ca/windtools/switch.sh . As far as CHUD goes, I am not allowed to distribute it but you can get it from Apple for free if you register as a developper, or maybe you can find it somewhere else!

USB Problems

While I was back on 10.5.4 , I experienced USB troubles related to Kernel/Extension mismatch. My USB mouse would sometimes only work when plugged in at boot, and sometimes my iPhone would just not be recognized. I have not used this new install for too long on 10.5.6 but for now everything seems to work fine. So if you are experiencing USB mismatch issues with an older version, especially if you have used the MSIWindOSx.iso installer, you might want to try updating it.