Need Help With Terminal

[godbout]

Hey Guys and Gals,

I need your help! OK so when I open the terminal I usually get:

Aluminium:~chris$

Because I have my Computer name set to Aluminum in file sharing. When I opened it this morning I get:

zinc:~chris$

??? I can't ever recall putting zinc in for any systems settings (infact I don't ever recall typing zinc on this computer until now). Also, when I change my comps name to something else it is not reflected in Terminal or X11. What is going on with this??

Thanks

 

[godbout]

Also, while I have a thread open, I would also like to know how to mount a network drive permanently. Thanks

 

[peterparker]

Hey Guys and Gals,

I need your help! OK so when I open the terminal I usually get:

Aluminium:~chris$

Because I have my Computer name set to Aluminum in file sharing. When I opened it this morning I get:

zinc:~chris$

??? I can't ever recall putting zinc in for any systems settings (infact I don't ever recall typing zinc on this computer until now). Also, when I change my comps name to something else it is not reflected in Terminal or X11. What is going on with this??

Thanks

Are you using DHCP? The prompt is using your hostname. Type "hostname" in terminal and see what it is.

 

[godbout]

Are you using DHCP? The prompt is using your hostname. Type "hostname" in terminal and see what it is.

I am not using DHCP I have a static IP. You were right about the host name... hahaha I am in a chem department... should have figured... for some reason it is usually Aluminium though... Thanks for your help!

 

[yellow]

Also, while I have a thread open, I would also like to know how to mount a network drive permanently. Thanks

And since it has nothing to do with this thread, you should probably start a new thread.

No such thing as a "permanent" mount for a networked drive. If the network, remote disk, remote server, whatever, goes bye-bye, then the mount is gone. Beyond that, you need to specify more info on what the remote mount is and how you will be mounting it. NFS? SMB? AFP?

 

[godbout]

And since it has nothing to do with this thread, you should probably start a new thread.

No such thing as a "permanent" mount for a networked drive. If the network, remote disk, remote server, whatever, goes bye-bye, then the mount is gone. Beyond that, you need to specify more info on what the remote mount is and how you will be mounting it. NFS? SMB? AFP?

Alright, yeah I should have made another thread for the drive mounting or at least editted my first post to include the second question. How many times does someone ask two unrelated questions in thread, probably never right? Anyways that is niether here nor there. It is SMB and I simply mount it through the finder: Go>Connect to Server>"Server Address". This is not much of a pain but what I would like is to have it rest on my desktop so that when I have the ability to access the drive I can without having to mount it first. It would probably not take long to find out how to do it but I thought if someone happened to know off hand then they could help out. Thanks.

 

[grapes911]

It is SMB and I simply mount it through the finder: Go>Connect to Server>"Server Address". This is not much of a pain but what I would like is to have it rest on my desktop so that when I have the ability to access the drive I can without having to mount it first. It would probably not take long to find out how to do it but I thought if someone happened to know off hand then they could help out. Thanks.

This is the best you can do:
1. Mount the drive (make sure you add the password to the keychain)
2. Control click on the drive and select "Make alias"
That alias will now mount the drive when you click on it. It won't even ask for the password if you saved it.
My Extra steps:
3. Move the alias to a folder (I have a folder in my home directory. I named "server" and I have all my servers there)
4. Drag the alias from that folder to the dock (near the trash can). Now you can access the server from the dock.

 

[godbout]

This is the best you can do:
1. Mount the drive (make sure you add the password to the keychain)
2. Control click on the drive and select "Make alias"
That alias will now mount the drive when you click on it. It won't even ask for the password if you saved it.
My Extra steps:
3. Move the alias to a folder (I have a folder in my home directory. I named "server" and I have all my servers there)
4. Drag the alias from that folder to the dock (near the trash can). Now you can access the server from the dock.

Thanks!
That is exactly what I wanted

 

[grapes911]

Thanks!
That is exactly what I wanted

No problem. Glad I could help.

 

[belvdr]

I am not using DHCP I have a static IP. You were right about the host name... hahaha I am in a chem department... should have figured... for some reason it is usually Aluminium though... Thanks for your help!

OS X does a reverse lookup on your IP address when you launch Terminal. It doesn't necessarily take the name you put into the Sharing preference. So, either:

1. You are getting a dynamically assigned address and it changed.
2. Someone changed DNS.

 

[yellow]

Alright, yeah I should have made another thread for the drive mounting or at least editted my first post to include the second question. How many times does someone ask two unrelated questions in thread, probably never right?

The point is, when other people have the same question and SEARCH for the answer, when the thread is dealing strictly with their problem it's much easier to find, rather then wading through a completely unrelated thread looking for their answer.

 

[yellow]

Thanks!
That is exactly what I wanted

Please note, the aliases quite often break (annoyingly so). You might want to create an Applescript compiled app and throw it in your Dock so you can click on it and use it to mount the drive whenever it's not mounted.

 

[grapes911]

Please note, the aliases quite often break (annoyingly so). You might want to create an Applescript compiled app and throw it in your Dock so you can click on it and use it to mount the drive whenever it's not mounted.

Really? I have about 6 of them on my computer. They've been working fine for about 6 months. No problems.

 

[opusthe2nd]

In a terminal do: sudo vipw

Then you will see just what you have for users.

 

[grapes911]

In a terminal do: sudo vipw

Then you will see just what you have for users.

?
Doesn't vipw preform a consistancy check on password files. Why would you do that for the current problem? Am I missing something?

 

[feakbeak]

Please note, the aliases quite often break (annoyingly so). You might want to create an Applescript compiled app and throw it in your Dock so you can click on it and use it to mount the drive whenever it's not mounted.

An alternative that lets you just use UI rather than scripting is Automator (if you are on Tiger). I use Automator to auto-connect my network shares each time I log in - works well for me.

 

[grapes911]

An alternative that lets you just use UI rather than scripting is Automator (if you are on Tiger). I use Automator to auto-connect my network shares each time I log in - works well for me.

I've never had problems with my network mount aliases, but now you guys are getting me paranoid. Can you give a little run down of how you do this?

 

[feakbeak]

I've never had problems with my network mount aliases, but now you guys are getting me paranoid. Can you give a little run down of how you do this?

I haven't tried the aliases before so that might have worked fine for me. I was just posting my Automator suggestion as yet another alternative solution.

The Automator script for doing this was straight-forward and very short but I don't recall the exact names of the actions to use. I'll post more details and/or the basic outline of the Automator workflow that is needed for this task. The only strange thing I noticed was that I couldn't connect to several network shares with one Automator workflow, when it would run it only ever connected to the first one. I wrote individual workflows for the three network shares I use all the time. I did this right when Tiger came out, so that might have been a bug that has been fixed since - I'll have to play with it again. Then again, AppleScript probably wouldn't have this issue at all...

If we're going to go into this much depth we really ought to start a new thread for others who search on this topic. Or maybe we should just make a new wiki entry in the OS X > Networking sections of the Guides section. Yeah, that sounds like a better idea. I'll start a new page in there about shares with what I know and post a link in this thread and then others can add what they know. I'll try to get around to it this evening or tomorrow.

 

[grapes911]

If we're going to go into this much depth we really ought to start a new thread for others who search on this topic. Or maybe we should just make a new wiki entry in the OS X > Networking sections of the Guides section. Yeah, that sounds like a better idea. I'll start a new page in there about shares with what I know and post a link in this thread and then others can add what they know. I'll try to get around to it this evening or tomorrow.

Thank you. I appreciate this. I am really interested in learning more.

 

[opusthe2nd]

?
Doesn't vipw preform a consistancy check on password files. Why would you do that for the current problem? Am I missing something?

No, it doesnt. From what I read at the beginning, he was unsure of where zinc came into play. Guess I didnt read enough.

 

[yellow]

Really? I have about 6 of them on my computer. They've been working fine for about 6 months. No problems.

So far I haven't found any rhyme or reason for them working or failing. I support a very large number of Macs, all of which use multiple mounted networked drives on a daily basis. When I was initially testing as we were moving to AD, and I was using aliases of the mounted drives, on about 55% of the Macs, the aliases would just up and fail. Never could figure out why. All the Macs are virtually identical in OS/installed bits&pieces. The user would be prompted to "fix" the alias blah blah, which just became a pain in the ass, so I solved it by making an Applescript application the users can click on in the Dock to remount errant disks. This was created in Panther era, so I've not used Automater in Tiger to update this... too many Macs to touch to do that.