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Instructions to make Snow Leopard use Base 2

Thank you! Thank you! Thank You!

I don't understand why Apple changed it in the first place. Making the OS report the WRONG files sizes, and HD space just to avoid "confusion" from uninformed users is stupid. It makes SL inconsistent with EVERY other OS, aside from it being wrong. The bottom line is One KB = 1024 bytes, One MB = 1024 kilobytes, etc... Just because Apple says something else doesn't make it true.

Thanks for giving me a way to make my computer report the CORRECT file, and HD sizes!
 
Agreed! Thanks a bunch!!!
Thanks to God, we don't have to bend to Apple's practical stupidity (implementing "right thing in the wrong place") and fanboy's resistance and bullying.
 
this isnt working for me..

I tried the switchdisksizespace terminal exec provided (run under root) and get the confirmation message that my system is now using base 2.. however after restarts i get no change in finder file size readings.

I'm running 10.6.1

hmmm... i would really love if i could get this working.

Thanks in advance!
 
colorkite said:
I tried the switchdisksizespace terminal exec provided (run under root) and get the confirmation message that my system is now using base 2.. however after restarts i get no change in finder file size readings.

I'm running 10.6.1

hmmm... i would really love if i could get this working.

Thanks in advance!
Click to expand...

You doing /percepting?/ something wrong, it works here from first try.
10.6.1
 
Thank you so much, brkirch. Awesome idea, neatly done.

To all you other guys: SI units are great. And it took a long time against strong resistance to enforce the use of standardized lenghts, volumes and weights. (Although there are certain areas and countries where this doesn't apply - and the world still lives with it.) Problem is: Whenever one "authority" (yeah, let's call Apple an authority) does a solo attempt, it's doomed to be a failure.

When I concurrently use files from Mac OS X and over the network from physical or virtual Linux or Windows machines, everything looks just plain wrong. Or when Thunderbird measures the size of mail attachments, when muCommander displays file sizes, when Photoshop calculates the file size while exporting an image for the web ... This list could go on and on and on and on.
... Hell, even Time Machine offered me to use that 465 GiB a/k/a 500 GB drive. (OK, that's probably a bug Apple is going to fix, but ...)

Believe one thing: Neither SI conformative or non-SI conformative units are the enemy: Inconsistency is.
And know one more thing: The current state that Snow Leopard is inconsistent compared to any known version of Linux or Windows (or BeOS or OS/2 or VMS or AmigaOS or TOS or CP/M or ... or .... or ... ) is just intolerable.

If Base-10 units are easier comprehensible for non-tech guys, and when those people use just Apple applications which all display the file sizes consistenly to one another - well, then so be it. ... Silently ignoring the fact for a moment that the rest of the WWW still speaks Base-2 in terms of download sizes - and will still speak Base-2 for a long, long time, I assume.

But as a tech guy juggling with different operating systems and cross platform applications I need to be able to view my file sizes "Pre-Snow Leopard style" which is consistent with the rest of the wide-wide IT world.
 
brkirch said:
I made a minor bug fix to the command line utility that switches how Foundation framework calculates sizes, just redownload from:
http://files.me.com/brkirch/72zto4

The bug fix is just to ensure HFS+ compression is reapplied after patching the Foundation framework to base 2; it should save 7546941 bytes, or about 7.2 MiB. If you have already used the earlier version of the command line utility then just run the newer version twice.
Click to expand...

hi mate, have you thought about putting up a little webpage for this tool? might make it easier to keep track of updates (looks like 10.6.2 needs a new version).
thanks again
 
hippy dave said:
hi mate, have you thought about putting up a little webpage for this tool? might make it easier to keep track of updates (looks like 10.6.2 needs a new version).
thanks again
Click to expand...

I second that - I mean, both actually:

(a) Put up a little homepage. Doesn't need to be fancy, just a central point to find the tool. ... Perhaps a PayPal donation button? :) I'd be willing to pay.

(b) On Mac OS X 10.6.2 switchDiskSizeBase reports

Code: 
Cannot patch Foundation framework; either it is not version 6.6 or it is corrupted
 
I am tempted to remove that check from the source and try it, but I am scared it could crash my system. Hopefully the author will post an updated version soon. If any other brave soul wants to try it, let us know what happens.
 
clmason said:
I am tempted to remove that check from the source and try it, but I am scared it could crash my system. Hopefully the author will post an updated version soon. If any other brave soul wants to try it, let us know what happens.
Click to expand...

ZOMG!!1 Kids, never try this at home when your parents are not there with you. :rolleyes: No, it would be suicide to patch the new Foundation framework with the old patch file.

Just.

Don't.

brkirch needs to create a new version that works with the new Foundation framework. The check is important not to apply the old patch to a different file.
 
I've updated my utility that switches how Foundation framework calculates sizes so that it works with 10.6.2:
http://web.me.com/brkirch/switchDiskSizeBase_3.zip

hippy dave said:
hi mate, have you thought about putting up a little webpage for this tool? might make it easier to keep track of updates (looks like 10.6.2 needs a new version).
thanks again
Click to expand...
GeroZ said:
I second that - I mean, both actually:

(a) Put up a little homepage. Doesn't need to be fancy, just a central point to find the tool. ... Perhaps a PayPal donation button? :) I'd be willing to pay.
Click to expand...
Yeah a website for updates seems like a good idea, I'll try to get one up within the next day or so.
 
[delete brainfart]

I could have sworn there wasn't any new posts today about 10.6.2 and this patch when I posted.


Anyway, thanks for updating this. I can't stand seeing Base 10 when I prefer and am more than used to base 2.
 
brkirch said:
I've updated my utility that switches how Foundation framework calculates sizes so that it works with 10.6.2:
http://web.me.com/brkirch/switchDiskSizeBase_3.zip
Click to expand...
thanks for the quick update :D
sorry to be a pain, but i can't run it on my old core duo macbook because it's compiled as an x64 binary, any chance of a 32bit version? tried compiling myself but i guess i'm missing some libraries.
thanks again!
 
never mind, after a quick googling i figured out how to compile it. i'm attaching the 32bit build in case anyone else needs it... :)
(original license file & source code included in the zip, i haven't changed anything, just recompiled for i386.)

edit: removed.
 
Just a short note: It's true the system should reboot after applying the patch - in either direction.

But if you're so happy to have found the new 10.6.2 compatible version right after firing up your favorite mail program and you still have to go like a gazillion unread messages -

In that case, it should be enough for now to just restart Finder. Keep your Alt key pressed and right-click on the Finder icon in the dock. The last item should now be "Restart". Bam - base 2.



brkirch - repeating, where's that "Donate" button? I owe you one ... again.
 
Yeah! Exactly what it needs, together with an RSS feed to stay tuned. ... And even a PayPal donation button - I assume my donation got through, right?

Thumbs up!
 
GeroZ said:
Yeah! Exactly what it needs, together with an RSS feed to stay tuned. ... And even a PayPal donation button - I assume my donation got through, right?

Thumbs up!
Click to expand...
It did, thanks! I won't be able to actually accept it until my PayPal account is verified which apparently will take two to three days, but it does show up in my account. BTW just so you know I accidentally cleared the comments when I fixed the file name of one of the pages (or rather iWeb did without warning me that it would).
 
I get the following error with 10.6.2:

Code: 
Cannot patch Foundation framework; either it is [U]not a supported version[/U] or it is corrupted
:(


Any chance to manually reinstall the framework that's needed? Thanks.



edit:
On the MBP15 switchDiskSizeBase build 3 had no issues, only on the Mini
 
brkirch, any ETA of a version for 10.6.3? I assume it needs to be updated.
 
D A said:
brkirch, any ETA of a version for 10.6.3? I assume it needs to be updated.
Click to expand...

I think I will wait for this before I update as well. Of course, maybe Apple has decided to add this as a preference in 10.6.3, which would be even better. If anyone has any good news from 10.6.3, please let us know!
 
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