Category Archives: Mac OS X

Enable dual screen support on AMD Radeon 6870 under OS X 10.8

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To enable the dual screen support on a multi-monitor Hackintosh equipped with an AMD Radeon HD 6870 under OS X Mountain Lion (this works with the current 10.8.4 too), enter the following shell code into your Terminal session:

sudo perl -pi -e 's|\x00\x04\x00\x00\x04\x03\x00\x00\x00\x01\x00\x00\x12\x04\x05\x01\x00\x04\x00\x00\x04\x03\x00\x00\x00\x01\x00\x00\x22\x05\x04\x02\x00\x08\x00\x00\x04\x02\x00\x00\x00\x01\x00\x00\x11\x02\x06\x04\x00\x02\x00\x00\x14\x02\x00\x00\x00\x01\x00\x00\x00\x00\x03\x05\x04\x00\x00\x00\x04\x02\x00\x00\x00\x01\x00\x00\x11\x02\x01\x03|\x00\x04\x00\x00\x04\x03\x00\x00\x00\x01\x00\x00\x12\x04\x04\x01\x00\x04\x00\x00\x04\x03\x00\x00\x00\x01\x00\x00\x22\x05\x05\x02\x00\x08\x00\x00\x04\x02\x00\x00\x00\x01\x00\x00\x11\x02\x06\x04\x00\x02\x00\x00\x14\x02\x00\x00\x00\x01\x00\x00\x00\x00\x03\x05\x04\x00\x00\x00\x04\x02\x00\x00\x00\x01\x00\x00\x11\x02\x01\x06|g' /System/Library/Extensions/ATI6000Controller.kext/Contents/MacOS/AMD6000Controller

This is a single line of a code, mind you. After the patch completes, rebuild the system cache using the following commands or any other method you prefer:

sudo touch /System/Library/Extensions
kextcache -system-caches

Reboot, and you’ll have dual screen support.

Locating Photo Stream files in Finder on OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion

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If you ever wanted to access your Photo Stream files directly on your Mac, this one is for you, the files are located in:

~/Library/Application Support/iLifeAssetManagement/assets/sub/

Just hit command – shift – G in Finder and paste the above path and click Go. You’ll see a list of directories with random hashes, each containing a single file synced from the iCloud. To remove the directories from the view, filter by type Image, and optionally create a Smart Folder.

The hunt for the fastest SSD: Winter 2013 edition

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In the market for a SSD replacement of your mechanical hard drive? Are you tired of synthetic benchmarks and holy wars in SSD forums? I’ve got some pure numbers here for the most popular models: Samsung 830, OCZ Vertex 4, Crucial M4 and the new Samsung 840 Pro, all tested under Mac OS X 10.8.2 with Blackmagic Disk Speed Test.

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Additional Gigabit Ethernet ports for your Mac

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Apple Thunderbolt Gigabit Ethernet adapterIf you need additional Gigabit Ethernet ports for your Mac, there are several options depending on what accessory ports you have on your Mac. If you have one of the latest models with Thunderbolt ports, you can use the Apple’s own Thunderbolt to Gigabit Ethernet adapter.

However, if your Thunderbolt ports are used up for devices that do not support Thunderbolt daisy chaining, you can go with a USB 3.0 Gigabit Ethernet adapter from StarTech. Requiring an additional driver installation, this adapter is also backwards compatible with USB 2.0 ports too, but your real network throughput will be limited to 480Mbps due to USB 2.0 standard bandwidth limitation.