Fix on myByways

Fix Web Background Videos That Do Not Auto-play in Safari on iOS

Sun, 10 Sep 2023 00:00:00 +0000

I recently encountered a situation where Safari would not play background videos in web pages! I initially assumed the page was broken… until I realized mine was the only iPhone with this behaviour, yet I am on the latest iPhone and iOS version. I finally figured what was different with my setup, and how to solve this issue.

SDXL 1.0 with SDXL-ControlNet: OpenPose (v2)

Fri, 18 Aug 2023 00:00:00 +0000

As promised in my last post, today I am testing out Thibaud Zamora’s SDXL-controlnet: OpenPose (v2) model using ComfyUI. I keep saying I’ll keep my posts short but never do…

Fooocus KSampler Custom Node for ComfyUI SDXL

Thu, 17 Aug 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Recently I tried Fooocus by Lyumin Zhang (Illyasviel) which fulfills its promise to allow one to “Focus on prompting and generating” - it is certainly easy to use! But shortly after its release, someone has “ported” the code to ComfyUI as a Custom Node! So of course it’s time to test it out…

Configure a mouse for macOS trackpad-like gestures

Sun, 16 Jul 2023 00:00:00 +0000

A short post about setting up a mouse on macOS to mimic trackpad gestures.

Running Steam in Game Porting Toolkit

Wed, 14 Jun 2023 00:00:00 +0000

In my previous post, I managed to get Whisky, with Apple’s Game Porting Toolkit, working on macOS Ventura without Homebrew. Here I manage to get Steam running after jumping through hoops.

Disabling macOS Print Job History Files

Fri, 11 Nov 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Did you know the macOS Printer service (Common UNIX Printing System, or CUPS) keeps a copy of every single print job ever? Here’s how to change this default behaviour.

Running x86 docker images in Multipass on an ARM M1 mac

Fri, 29 Jul 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Did you know it is possible to run x86_64 Docker containers on an ARM-based M1 mac? It’s quite staightforward with Multipass and Docker (if you are new to Multipass, check out my Multipass for Docker containers on macOS post from a few months ago).

Script to re-map MacBook Pro function keys

Sun, 19 Jun 2022 00:00:00 +0000

In my last post, “Re-mapping physical function keys on MacBook Pros” I used the hidutil tool to re-map the function keys on a Mac without a touchbar. I’ve since created a script to more easily apply changes.

Re-mapping physical function keys on MacBook Pros

Wed, 15 Jun 2022 00:00:00 +0000

One common ask from M1 (Apple Silicon / ARM) MacBook Pro users is to be able to re-define what the top row of physical function keys do, for example, to change the Dictation (F5) key to decrease the keyboard backlight brightness and DND (F6) to increase it, similar to other Macs. Here’s how to do that… and more!

Modifying the Grav Feeds Plugin Output

Sat, 05 Feb 2022 00:00:00 +0000

There are a couple of things I don’t like with the feeds produced by the standard Grav Syndication Feed Plugin. Fortunately, the feeds are generated via Twig templates that can easily be customized!

AirPlay Receiver on an unsupported mac with Monterey

Wed, 17 Nov 2021 00:00:00 +0000

While waiting for macOS Universal Control, I wanted to try AirPlay Receiver. Unfortunately, it is not supported (“locked”) on my older macBook. But recently I stumbled upon Mr. Macintosh’s “Airplay BLOCKED on Monterey? How to unlock it!” video on YouTube!

DNS settings to fix emails being marked as spam

Sun, 07 Feb 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Recently a number of emails sent from one of our domains was getting tagged as spam by the receipent. Here are some things I learnt trying to fix this problem…

Fix mechanical keyboard keys 1678923450

Sun, 06 Dec 2020 00:00:00 +0000

I suddenly experienced a strange issue today - the row of number keys on my 1stPlayer DK 5.0 Lite mechanical keyboard, i.e. the keys from 2 to 9, would output the wrong number! Specifically, hitting all numeric keys in order would output 1678923450 instead of 1234567890. This happened while gaming and I have no idea what caused it.

VirtualBox very slow on Windows 10

Mon, 23 Nov 2020 00:00:00 +0000

I found that Oracle VM VirtualBox 6.1 was running very slowly on my brand new Windows 10 PC.

Initially I thought it was to do with VirtualBox, e.g. insufficient cores or memory, the display controller (VBoxSVGA), insufficient video memory, etc. And then I thought it might be an AMD thing, so had a look at BIOS, e.g. nested AMD-V, etc.

Local Grav PHP ZIP Extension workaround on macOS Catalina

Tue, 28 Jul 2020 00:00:00 +0000

The Apache and PHP bundled with macOS Catalina 10.15 does not include the PHP ZIP extension. Grav (specifically, the Problems Plugin) detects this issue, and Grav will not run! Here is a workaround.

Fixing issues with VirtualBox Guest Additions for Ubuntu 20.04

Sun, 31 May 2020 00:00:00 +0000

I recently installed Ubuntu 20.04 LTS (Focal Fossa) (dated 23 April 2020), with the intention of creating a VM using VirtualBox 6.0.22 (released 15 May 2020). I had issues with VirtualBox guest additions, and this is how I solved it.

Fixing high-DPI (retina) screenshot metadata

Sun, 10 May 2020 00:00:00 +0000

On my MacBook Pro with retina display, when I take a screenshot, the image is saved with a DPI of 144. But, using ImageOptim to compress the image with Strip JPEG/PNG Metadata enabled will remove (or reset) the DPI setting to 72 DPI - resulting in a double sized image when displayed in Preview and Quick Look. Here is how I correct this.

De-bounce butterfly keyboard double keypress with Karabiner-Elements

Fri, 24 Apr 2020 00:00:00 +0000

Grrr, to no one’s surprise, my MacBook Pro with butterfly keyboard is experiencing keyboard issues. In my case, a keypress on “j” is often triggered twice, resulting in “jj”. And with the lockdowns, I don’t want to risk a repair! So, here is a quick workaround using Karabiner-Elements v12.9.0.

Fixing Grav Admin Panel URL redirect on a local computer

Tue, 17 Mar 2020 00:00:00 +0000

While testing out Grav, it’s quite easy to setup a local instance on a macOS computer, since macOS already comes with a suitable web server (Apache 2.4.x and PHP 7.x). I never realized I didn’t actually describe how I set it up, but just wanted to point out one important change.

Fixing Windows 10 100% disk by stopping SysMain

Tue, 21 Jan 2020 00:00:00 +0000

I just spent hours trying to figure out and fix a Windows 10 machine that was taking 100% disk, 100% RAM and about 50% CPU with absolutely nothing running. Of course, I initially blamed the user… then, a misbehaving (hidden, background) app… then, malware / virus… the, a runaway Windows Defender… then, a hard disk / hardware failure… but ultimately discovering the culprit is - drum roll - Microsoft Windows itself! As usual!

Windows Permission Problems Copying From NTFS HDD

Wed, 26 Dec 2018 00:00:00 +0000

Today I tried to copy files and folders off a USB hard disk (NTFS formatted) on my Windows 7 desktop. I encountered multiple files with permission problems. The manual method to change permissions is very tedious, so I created a script (DOS batch file) to do the same.

Installing Mojave in Parallels, and UI glitches running Electron Apps

Sun, 18 Nov 2018 00:00:00 +0000

I got macOS Mojave 10.14 / 10.14.1 installed in Parallels very easily! But encountered some graphics issues with certain apps… and managed to find a workaround.

Grav with PHP 5.6 ini_set() fix

Sun, 01 Apr 2018 00:00:00 +0000

On my hosting provider, there is a slight tweak needed to get Grav to run on PHP 5.6. Here’s the solution:

Fixing PowerPoint Slide Show on External Monitor

Sat, 27 Jan 2018 00:00:00 +0000

I’ve been experiencing this problem for a while - when presenting using Microsoft PowerPoint for Mac 2016 (version 15) on an external monitor (or LCD projector), PowerPoint used to both the presentation slide show and the Presenter View on my notebook display, instead of Presenter View on the notebook and the full-screen slide show on the external monitor. Recently, I found the solution!

Verse contacts missing and sync not working in iOS 11

Tue, 26 Sep 2017 00:00:00 +0000

I upgraded my iPad to iOS 11.0.0 last night - and this morning realized that my IBM Verse contacts had disappeared from my iPhone! I didn’t update my iPhone, nor did I make any changes of significance lately. Most upsetting! Here’s a guide to restoring your contacts.

Fixing PowerPoint TIFF images and fonts

Fri, 25 Aug 2017 00:00:00 +0000

Microsoft PowerPoint 2016 for Mac (aka version 15) has a strange quirk - when I copy and paste images from Preview or most other applications, the image gets copied in Tagged Image File Format (TIFF). The image is practically uncompressed (or possibly minimally compressed), resulting in very, very huge PPTX files! Plus: Removing unwanted font references.

Workaround for YouTube PiP using iOS Safari with a Workflow.is Action Extension

Sat, 29 Apr 2017 00:00:00 +0000

It’s pretty easy to get Picture in Picture (PiP) in Safari on macOS - just a right-click twice - and if that didn’t work, I described simple workaround by disabling JavaScript. Here I have a Workflow.is App based workaround to enable PiP in YouTube in Safari on iOS. This allows me to surf (or work) while having a video running in a tiny floating window on my iPad.

macOS FileVault and Sierra Update get stuck when running concurrently

Sat, 22 Apr 2017 00:00:00 +0000

So I got a new MacBook for work and I didn’t realize upon next reboot, the enterprise profile had mandated FileVault encrypt the start up disk, and Apple had recommended an upgrade to macOS Sierra at the same time! You can imagine triggering both simultaneously upon reboot didn’t go well at all!

New iCloud Settings in iOS 10.3 fixes iCloud for Numbers

Sun, 09 Apr 2017 00:00:00 +0000

Apple has noted that a number of users may experience an issue with iCloud setting being enabled after upgrading to iOS 10.3. For me, I had quite the opposite experience, as iOS 10.3 finally enabled some iCloud applications that I had never gotten working for a long time!

Exclude folders to speed up Time Machine backup

Wed, 12 Oct 2016 00:00:00 +0000

My Time Machine backups have started to take longer and longer to process and complete. I realized that excluding folders containing temporary, frequently changing and large files would quite dramatically speed it up.

Re-enable Apache and PHP after macOS Sierra update

Wed, 12 Oct 2016 00:00:00 +0000

Recently I realized that the latest macOS Sierra 10.12 upgrade also updated Apache and PHP to newer revisions (2.4.23 and 5.6.24 respectively), but reverted to the default configurations. My previous post on Enabling Apache and PHP on OS X 10.11 needed a slight change too.

Disable JavaScript to enable Picture-in-Picture on macOS Safari

Tue, 04 Oct 2016 00:00:00 +0000

Safari 10 on macOS Sierra has a useful Picture-in-Picture (PiP) feature to playback HTML5 videos in a small “always-on-top” window, just like on iPads with iOS 9+. To activate, just right-click a playing video and select Enter Picture-in-Picture. However, not all web videos seem to allow this, as they pop up their own menus without the PiP option. Here are two ways to try to enable PiP.

Enable Mac Full Keyboard Access, but beware!

Wed, 24 Aug 2016 00:00:00 +0000

On my Mac, by default, the keyboard cannot be used to navigate and trigger dialog box buttons. To “fix” this shortcoming - enable Full Keyboard Access to use the tab key to navigate controls! But beware of downsides too…

Ricoh Aficio MP driver does not work on OS X

Mon, 25 Jul 2016 00:00:00 +0000

I was recently at an office using a Ricoh Aficio multi-function printer. I downloaded the PPD Installer version 2.2.0.0 (dated 17/09/2014) for OS X 10.11 from the Ricoh Aficio MP 2510/3010/2590/3090 driver page. But no matter what I tried, the printer either could not be found or would print blank or garbled pages…