Snow Leopard: access "hidden" files in file selection ?
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From: Tom Stiller on 16 Jan 2010 11:20 In article <0197ef4a$0$10141$c3e8da3(a)news.astraweb.com>, JF Mezei <jfmezei.spamnot(a)vaxination.ca> wrote: > Wes Groleau wrote: > > > I haven't installed TextWrangler on this disk, but if I remember right, > > it has a directory view that allows double-click on a filename to edit, > > which also shows dot-files. > > > It has "open" and "open hidden" separate menu options. I guess for a > "user" that uses text wrangler for editing text, the "open" is fine and > that person doesn't want to see the crud and hiden files/directories. > > But for a system manager, "open" should, by default, show everything. > Having to remember to always use "open hidden" is a nagging thing. Apple makes the first user defined after a new install an administrator and for many users, that's the only one that gets defined. Those same users are not likely to need to mess with the "hidden" files. -- Tom Stiller PGP fingerprint = 5108 DDB2 9761 EDE5 E7E3 7BDA 71ED 6496 99C0 C7CF
From: Paul Sture on 16 Jan 2010 11:32 In article <00ff572d$0$27828$c3e8da3(a)news.astraweb.com>, JF Mezei <jfmezei.spamnot(a)vaxination.ca> wrote: > If I press the key where the / would be located on a US keyboard (to the > left of the rifght side SHIFT key), I get the � character (as it > should). No special treatment. No, this isn't Windows or X11. For shortcuts you shouldn't be looking at where the US key would be. Look at where it is on your own keyboard. The only pitfall I've come across here is where a shortcut involves either a Shift or Alt and I need one of those already to get the desired character. If I am not mistaken this has got better with successive versions of OS X. For example at one point (back in Panther or early Tiger days?) Command-Shift-: (Spelling and Grammar dialog) didn't work because my keyboard layout needs Shift to get a colon. It works now. Of course if you find a really tricky combination, you can always put your keyboard into US layout, and touch type. -- Paul Sture
From: Jolly Roger on 16 Jan 2010 11:59 In article <00A97A15.A0EDCFC4(a)SendSpamHere.ORG>, VAXman- @SendSpamHere.ORG wrote: > In article <jollyroger-9F5B1E.21013315012010(a)news.individual.net>, Jolly > Roger <jollyroger(a)pobox.com> writes: > >In article <00A979AB.500C7556(a)SendSpamHere.ORG>, > > VAXman- @SendSpamHere.ORG wrote: > > > >> In article <jollyroger-0C8C6D.17183215012010(a)news.individual.net>, Jolly > >> Roger <jollyroger(a)pobox.com> writes: > >> > >> >Most every experienced system manager I know is not put off by the > >> >command line. Quite the contrary, they appreciate that in many ways, > >> >it's much more efficient than graphical user interfaces. > >> > >> Familiarity breathes contentment. Put your OSX experienced system manager > >> in front of a VMS system and let's see how far he goes. JF is used to the > >> command line wherein commands predicate function. For example, if you > >> want > >> to search for a string in a file, the command is SEARCH, not grep. If you > >> wanted to copy a file it's COPY, not cp; RENAME, not mv; DELETE, no rm. I > >> think you could be a little fairer as he tries to understand what seems to > >> be a rather cryptic interface for someone coming from a well organized and > >> concise system. > > > >It seems like you're saying showing hidden files in the Finder is useful > >as a learning tool, to help someone get familiar with the Unix file > >system that is normally obscured. I don't recall ever having done that > >to learn the Unix file system, myself; but whatever gets the job done. > >: ) > > I'd been on unix long before I touched OSX. I'll bet many here, as the > true Mac zealots, who came up through the ranks of the Mac predecessors > to OSX are not that well versed in unix -- the underpinnings of OS X. I learned *nix long before Mac OS X came along as well, but even back then, I didn't use the *nix GUI applications to access hidden files. There is a natural (to me, anyway) boundary between things that are hidden from GUI windows and things that aren't. And I've never found myself thinking "I wish I could edit this mySQL config file in Kedit, dammit!", because the command line is second nature to me. -- Send responses to the relevant news group rather than email to me. E-mail sent to this address may be devoured by my very hungry SPAM filter. Due to Google's refusal to prevent spammers from posting messages through their servers, I often ignore posts from Google Groups. Use a real news client if you want me to see your posts. JR
From: Jolly Roger on 16 Jan 2010 12:00 In article <paul.nospam-3CAE72.15091116012010(a)pbook.sture.ch>, Paul Sture <paul.nospam(a)sture.ch> wrote: > In article <0197ef4a$0$10141$c3e8da3(a)news.astraweb.com>, > JF Mezei <jfmezei.spamnot(a)vaxination.ca> wrote: > > > Wes Groleau wrote: > > > > > I haven't installed TextWrangler on this disk, but if I remember right, > > > it has a directory view that allows double-click on a filename to edit, > > > which also shows dot-files. > > > > > > It has "open" and "open hidden" separate menu options. I guess for a > > "user" that uses text wrangler for editing text, the "open" is fine and > > that person doesn't want to see the crud and hiden files/directories. > > > > But for a system manager, "open" should, by default, show everything. > > Having to remember to always use "open hidden" is a nagging thing. > > File an enhancement request to TextWrangler's authors for an extra > preference? There's no need for it, when in Mac OS X 10.6, you can simply press Command-Shift-. in the standard Open dialog box to see hidden files. So choose File > Open, then press Command-Shift-. - big deal! -- Send responses to the relevant news group rather than email to me. E-mail sent to this address may be devoured by my very hungry SPAM filter. Due to Google's refusal to prevent spammers from posting messages through their servers, I often ignore posts from Google Groups. Use a real news client if you want me to see your posts. JR
From: Jolly Roger on 16 Jan 2010 12:07
In article <00cd153f$0$23338$c3e8da3(a)news.astraweb.com>, JF Mezei <jfmezei.spamnot(a)vaxination.ca> wrote: > Jolly Roger wrote: > > > It seems like you're saying showing hidden files in the Finder is useful > > as a learning tool, to help someone get familiar with the Unix file > > system that is normally obscured. I don't recall ever having done that > > to learn the Unix file system, myself; but whatever gets the job done. > > It isn't so much the .hidden files I am after, it is the unix > directories such as /etc /usr /volumes etc. > > This is sort for a crash course for me. It isn't a question of exploring > the system to learn, it is a question of finding ways to convert all the > functionality I have on VMS to Unix. So there is a lot to learn ASAP. > > So having the easiest tools to find what there is in Unix is very > useful, and the finder one one such useful tool to look/explore to find > out where apps , config files etc are located. > > Just as an example: on VMS, TFTP files would be located in > TCPIP$TFTP_ROOT:[name_of_device] . So, I had to do some research (Mr > Google is of help here) to find out that by default, they are located in > /private/tftpboot and that there is no securirty that restrict > "device1" to the subdirectory "device1" under that root directory. > > And yes, /private is one of those directories which are hidden by the > finder and by the dock. I agree that, for someone in your situation, having the ability to show hidden files in Finder windows would be helpful. What I am afraid of is that novice users who read these groups getting the mistaken impression that it's somehow a good idea to show hidden files in Finder windows always without first understanding the difference. I think the default should be not to display hidden items. -- Send responses to the relevant news group rather than email to me. E-mail sent to this address may be devoured by my very hungry SPAM filter. Due to Google's refusal to prevent spammers from posting messages through their servers, I often ignore posts from Google Groups. Use a real news client if you want me to see your posts. JR |