| |
|
The magic of Pseudo..
you got root! |
|
|
For those of you who haven't encountered this little marvel yet, Pseudo as an OS X
app by Brian Hill, which allows you to run applications as "root". Any application.
Even the Finder. If the usefulness of this isn't immediately apparent, read on..
I guess you'd better get yourself a copy of Pseudo first. Try here, or better still, here! Pseudo is Shareware. $15. Brian has a most mature attitude towards shareware, pay or not, the app works perfectly, with no nags and no limitations. That's the kind of attitude that makes me want to cough-up! If you like Pseudo, pay the fifteen bucks. It's well worth it, apart from the interface that is.. Sorry Brian, but that old "Pierrot" clown face Icon really sucks! so I altered my copy to a nice skull (this of course is to remind us that messing about as root can be deadly), and removed the icon altogether from the drop-box window so that it was more compact. While you must not distribute this altered version of Pseudo you can grab this neat brushed-metal super-cool skull pseudo here. note: if you use this version regularly, you still send the fifteen bucks to Brian! The latest version is 1.2.3 and has the following updated capabilities..
Install Pseudo wherever you like and also drag it into the dock, or Finder window toolbar, convenient for dropping stuff onto. The desktop would also be fine, if that's your bag. I keep a fruitmenu of all my favourite "root apps". Most handy. Okay, you've Got Pseudo! Now let's do some funky root stuff.. First, you need to understand this whole "root user" concept. In simple terms, the root user is the "Super-User". With "root" you can perform any task you like as if you owned the system, which of course, you do. You can perform any of the tasks which as a regular admin are impossible, like moving and deleting system files. You could potentially cause a lot of damage too, though not nearly so much as attempting these same tasks in a Terminal session. Root is a user. Remember that. Root has a home folder, a library folder, prefs, and all the other things a regular user has, only with more power. Your new root home folder is here.. /private/var/rootThis is a neat idea. From now on, whenever you run an app as root with Pseudo, it will store all its stuff in this special home folder. This is most useful when performing tricks like this.. Funky trick no.1: Running a second Finder as root.. This is the reason most people get into Pseudo. With this wee trick, the days of Logging - out - logging - on - as - root - deleting - one - file! - and - logging - back - on - again - are - OVER! Moving, copying, deleting, and importantly seeing all those system files will now be a doddle. And here's how.. (nicked from my OS X trilogy, part II) i. Make a copy of the finder. You'll find the original in "/System/Library/Core Services". I know it looks like there are two finders in there, but one is a wee dummy, you want the big one! Copy it onto the desktop. Remember, when you upgrade to Jaguar/Panther, you'll need to make a fresh copy of the new Finder. The old one won't work any more. ii. Rename the new finder to "root finder" ..or something like that. It can live on the desktop now, or anywhere else you want to keep it. iii. Drag-and-drop the root finder onto Pseudo ..giving your admin password when asked. That's it! In a moment or two a new Finder will appear, a finder with Super Powers! The only trouble is, it looks exactly like your regular Finder. This could make it tricky to tell which one you are actually using. Of course, you could always quit your regular finder, as I often do (courtesy of the excellent TinkerTool) but there's a more elegant solution.. The first thing to do is set the global window background to a different color , or better still, a different picture (CTRL-J) Now at least your windows look different. Of course, some windows won't be globally set, so why not use a different desktop picture altogether! This makes it very obvious which Finder you're using at any given time. "Easy" you say: system preferences app > chose a new picture. Aha! but remember, because you want to make changes the "root" finder, in the "root" home folder, you'll also need to use a "root" system preferences! Just drop your System Preferences application onto the Pseudo icon, or the drop-box if Pseudo is running, and Voila! Now you can alter system preferences for ROOT. It's a good idea to first copy over any preference panes you might need into your root library.. /private/var/root/library/PreferencePanes Create the folder if it doesn't exist (with your root finder, of course) The most important one to copy is TinkerTool so that we can..
In Jaguar/Panther, the desktop picture is independent of the Finder, which is probably a good thing, however it does mean that your Pseudo Finder will share a desktop picture with your regular Finder, which is wee bit weird. Just so there's no confusion, I've started quitting my regular Finder immediately after launching the Pseudo Finder. This is a good method because apps launch very quickly in Jaggy. Funky trick no.2: Process Wizard Wizardry .. Process Wizard is cool. In geek-speek, it is a process priority controller. In other words, it allows you to speed up and slow down applications. The need for speed is obvious, but why would anyone want to slow down an application? Well, slowing an app down means it uses less CPU cycles, and that leaves more CPU cycles free for the apps you want to speed up! And anyway, many apps, particularly background apps (and some foreground ones, like the±wire, for instance) simply don't need a lot of cycles to do their stuff. Process Wizard comes with its own menu item, so it's always handy. Check this..  Note, the pop-up info box which sure spoils the image, but provides some useful data about whatever app you hover the mouse over. The pull-down menu at the top allows you to choose Applications, Background Apps, Other user processes, and Non user processes. Neat stuff. But there is a downside.. Because it works it's magic as root, Process Wizard needs to get your authorisation every time you alter something, this quickly becomes annoying. The solution? Run it pseudo'ed! I keep it in my startup items, except not the application itself, but the pseudo launch document. At startup, pseudo pops up, launches ProcessWizard as root, and then quits again, mission accomplished; you can speed up, slow down, and even kill apps without having to go through all that password palaver, ever. Hit the slider and away you go. Remember, although this can really make your applications fly (if you are doing nothing but working in, say, photoshop, it would be madness not to give it the lion's share of the CPU), clearly, running Process Wizard as root isn't recommended for a public workstation! In that case, just run it normally. Hey! Pseudo just got better! Now that you've opened a couple of apps with Pseudo, you might notice that it has an "Open Recent" menu item. All your Pseudo-ed apps are there! If you check out Pseudo's preferences, you'll see that there's an option to "Show System-Wide Menu". Turn that on. Now, whenever Pseudo is running, there will be a "Pseudo menu" in your menu bar, and you can activate any of your root apps from that. Very cool indeed. You can also clear this menu if it ever gets cluttered. That's about it dudes. Apart from a couple of exceptions, just about any app will let you run it as root, with all the power that entails. Some, like the Finder, will even let you run regular user and root versions simultaneously! Anyway, have fun, and remember.. |
 I am root! |
| Be careful out there.. | |
|
;o) cor |
|
| random word from corzblog: tech |
speedy gonzales timer say this page generated in 0.000 seconds | hcet :golbzroc morf drow modnar |
