A file renaming trick for iViewMedia Pro

Category: Mac, Category: iView Media Pro

Originally posted on my iBlog 19 March 2004

Summary: How to strip things from file names in iView Media Pro (v. 1.5.6).

I had a large number of files with file names of this form: 25_1_101-150.pdf. I wanted to removed everything after the dash (in this case "150"). Yes, I could probably do it with Applescript. But there was an easier way. I did it with my favourite image cataloguing workhorse, iView Media Pro (yes, it works with pdf files). Here's how I did it.

To remove the -150 part of a large number of files of this type, even if the number of characters after the "-" varies, do the following.

iView Media Pro

Select all of the files to be altered

Use Action: Batch Rename... for the three following actions

Replace String "." with nothing

Replace String "-" with "."

(Now, the above file looks like 25_1_101.150pdf)

Convert, select Strip PC extensions

(This conveniently removes any small length of text after and including the ".")

Now, Add String ".pdf", trailing.

Voilá.

Let's see iPhoto do that!

How to connect to OSX from Windows XP, from inside a corporate network

Category: Mac, Category: MS Windows

Originally posted on my iBlog 11 April 2005 (for interest only; I've since moved to TeXShop with NeoOffice to open Word files).

Summary:: This is fun. With very little set-up, I can connect to my PowerMac hard drive from any Windows machine on our Lincoln university intranet.


These instruction were written for OSX 10.2.8 but have been used successfully with Panther to 10.3.9.

Setting up Mac to share to intranet Windows machines

1. Go to Apple: System Preferences: Sharing and turn on "Windows File Sharing." When on, take note of the setting at the bottom of the window. In my case, it reads, "Windows users can access your computer at \\123.45.6.78\jon [IP address masked for iBlog]. To choose which Windows users can log in, open Accounts preferences and edit their user information."

2. Go to Apple: System Preferences: Accounts, click your user name and "Edit User", and make sure that "Allow user to log in from Windows" is checked. Check this also for any other users you want to have access from an XP computer.

3. Note that this alone does NOT work. There is an additional, more obscure step, which I discovered from the web. The trick involves the Workgroup that a user belongs to. From Lincoln, any machine seems to automatically place LU in front of any username entered. There is no way around this I can find. The trick is therefore to tell the Mac to expect this. Here's how it's done.

Open up Applications: Utilities: Directory Access. Unlock Directory Access for modification, by clicking on the padlock and entering your password. On the Services window, click SMB (which is samba) and click "Configure...". The default is for the Workgroup to be set to "Workgroup", but this will also display all of the other root server folders on the network. Select "LU" instead.

That's it.

Accessing the Mac from an XP machine on the intranet

1. Look in My Network Places: Novell Connections: LU for the Mac. In all likelihood, it won't show up. (It hasn't ever, yet.)

2. Click the Start button in the bottom right, and select Search: For Files or Folders.

3. This opens a window with that dog in the bottom left corner. From the left panel, select to search for "Computers or people." It will asking you what you are looking for. Select "A computer on the network." It will then ask you which computer you are looking for. Type in Computer name:\\123.45.6.78\jon (or whatever else you read from the Sharing window in OSX). Search.

4. This will bring up the computer (the first time I did this it brought up the IP number, and the second time it brought up the name "Samba 2.2.3a(build 26)(123.45.6.78)"). Double click on it and it will ask for the user name and password. Use the short user name (mine is "jon") rather than the long user name (mine is "Jon Sullivan," and this does not work). Type in my OSX password.

And you're in!