abednarz.net » os x

Disk Fragmentation & OS X: When Does it Become a Problem?

bed — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 21:07:27 +0000

Disk fragmentation is an old problem that has affected every operating system throughout history. File fragmentation occurs when a single file isn’t located in the same physical location on the disk, but is scattered around. OS X does a great job at minimizing file fragmentation by rewriting files in contiguous space when a file is opened, is under 20MB and contains more than eight fragments. This works quite well to prevent heavy file fragmentation, but what it doesn’t prevent is free space fragmentation.

Using Git With OS X: 6 Tools to Get You Up and Running

bed — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 19:59:11 +0000

Want to know how to use Git under OS X? Hit up my latest article at The Apple Blog to find out.

Text navigation shortcuts in Parallels 4

bed — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 08:07:13 +0000

The most annoying thing with running windows in a Parallels virtual machine, is that the default key mappings for navigating text is different between windows and OS X:

Windows:

Go to end of line = End
Go to start of line = Home
Go to next word = control-right arrow
Go to previous word = control-left arrow

OS X:

Go to end of line = command-right arrow
Go to start of line = comand-left arrow
Go to next word = option(alt)-right arrow
Go to previous word = option(alt)-left arrow

Parallels by default remaps the text copy, cut & paste from command-c to control-c, command-v to control-v etc. Why oh Why didn’t it do this for text navigation I bemoaned over and over, frustratingly trying to remember which OS I was using and switching to the right one.

Then, today, I had a moment of clarity. It was so obvious. I felt stupid for not looking for it before. Behold the screen shot below and now I am calm and relaxed with a unified text navigation scheme.