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Ask TUAW: Video codecs, Apple Keyboard, software RAID and more

Mat Lu
Updated ·4 min read

In this round of Ask TUAW, we're going to be tackling questions about video codec support, using the Aluminum Apple Keyboard in Windows, getting file paths, setting up a software RAID, sharing an iPhoto library between users on the same computer and more.

As always your suggestions are most welcome, and questions for next week should be left in the comments. And now to the questions!

kbv136 asks

I use VLC for all my video files but in Leopard I cant make them work in the "Preview", "Quick View", or (most importantly) "Front Row". When I play the video in all there of these places there is simply just a black screen, no video or sound. Preview and Front Row worked in Tiger. How do I fix this? On a related note, I tried to fix this by reverting playback to Quicktime, but again in Leopard QT will not play a .avi file. I think I just need a download to fix that, but I cant find it. What is it?

All of these, Quick Look and Front Row, depend on QuickTime. What you're missing are the correct codecs to play these files (AVI is actually a wrapper, like MOV, and so your files could be in any of a variety of codecs.) To solve your problem you probably just need to install a couple of codec packages. First, download and install Perian which may be all you need if they're DivX or Xvid files. If you have any Windows Media files you'll also need Flip4Mac which you can download for free from Microsoft.


greg asks

Is there an app or trick that will ensure that all of the files/folders I have in a particular folder on my mac are also on another networked drive?.... I don't want to sync the drives per se, since I think that would destroy the file structure on the PC. I just want to make sure that files I have on my mac are also on the PC.

If you can mount the networked drive on your Mac then it's no problem. The solution I generally recommend is ChronoSync ($30) which will easily allow you to sync a folder on your Mac with a particular folder on your networked drive. There are other synchronization solutions, including some your can roll yourself for free, but this is probably the easiest.


Jeff asks

is there a patch out for the new Apple Keyboard in bootcamp? Question marks and varies other Characters do not work on the windows side. Also num lock in is off by default. The new keyboard does not have a num lock button on it. How would one enable this?


I found a couple of sites that may help. This site has mirrored the Apple keyboard drivers that are included with Boot Camp. Secondly, this site suggests that the numlock problem can be solved by hitting the "the Clear key that sits above the 7 key."


Ram asks

I use my Mac at work (in an all PC office). When I'm working on files off the server, I wish I could send my PC co-workers the file path formatted for their Windows Explorer address bar. Get Info shows me the file path, but I can't copy/paste it (it's non-selectable); it also isn't formatted the way I need it. Any solutions?

There are a number of ways to get the file path for a file in OS X. One of the easiest is the handy FileUtilsCM (free) from abracode. It will allow you to right click a file in the FInder and copy its path to the clipboard. The prefs for FilesUtilsCM even allow you to specify that the path be in Windows format.


Noel asks

I had one 250 Gb hard drive, and when it got full i bought a second. The two drives are "daisy chained" together so i only plug in one firewire cable into my macbook. Since it is possible to have one drive act like 2 by partitioning, i was wondering if there was a way to have my two 250 Gb hard drives act like one 500 Gb drive.

Yes, you just need to set up a software RAID using the Disk Utility application to set up a "concatenated set." This Apple Support Doc has some more details.


Carl asks

I have iPhoto 08 and have used my own account on my MacBook Pro to add all of our photos. My wife has her own account on the laptop, but insists upon using mine because "that's where the photos are." Is there any (easy) way to share the library between accounts? I've read something about putting it on an external drive, but that's not much of an option for someone on a laptop-it rather defeats the idea of portability.

I've never done this myself, but there is a way to do it in 10.4 using Access Control Lists. Check out this hint over at Mac OS X hints for more details.