BeTips.net

If you ever need to kill the Tracker (for example, you might have changed the Tracker settings file and want them to take effect without having to reboot), there are several possible methods. All of these work… pick your poison:

• Bring up Team Monitor with Ctrl+Alt+Del, select Tracker in the list, and click the Kill button.
• Use the Vulcan Death Grip: Right-Ctrl+Alt+Shift+Click on Tracker’s entry in the Deskbar.
• The super-secret shortcut (Tracker must have focus for this to work):
  Cmd+Option+Shift+Ctrl+Q (so with a PC keyboard you have to press Alt+ Right-Ctrl + Shift + Left Ctrl + Q, but of course it’s much easier to use the left WinKey rather than Right Ctrl).

Note that the old Ctrl+Alt+Shift+Z no longer works.
To restart the Tracker, open a Terminal and type:

/system/Tracker &

or bring up Team Monitor and click „Restart the Desktop“.

Windows and BeOS have very different behaviors when copying a folder to a location that already contains a folder of the same name. Both systems will offer a „Replace?“ dialog, but saying yes to this dialog in Windows will cause all new files to be added to the existing folder, while BeOS will overwrite the entire folder.
For example, if you drag a folder called „config“ into your home folder and say yes to the „Replace?“ dialog, you will wipe out your entire ~/config directory, which would be bad. R5 will allegedly include a number of more sophisticated options for handling this scenario.

There are a few places in BeOS where you might find yourself wanting or needing
the hexadecimal equivalent of a given color.
If you have a copy of roColor, you can
derive hex values easily from within BeOS. If you’d like a full equivalency
chart, just search the Web — they’re all over the place. However, the vast
majority of those charts list only the 256 colors in the Netscape color
palette. The list below is far more complete, and offers more than 1,000
different colors with their hex equivalents.

f0f8ff aliceblue
faebd7 antiquewhite
ffefdb antiquewhite1
eedfcc antiquewhite2
cdc0b0 antiquewhite3
8b8378 antiquewhite4
7fffd4 aquamarine
7fffd4 aquamarine1
76eec6 aquamarine2
66cdaa aquamarine3
458b74 aquamarine4
f0ffff azure
f0ffff azure1
e0eeee azure2
c1cdcd azure3
838b8b azure4
f5f5dc beige
ffe4c4 bisque
ffe4c4 bisque1
eed5b7 bisque2
cdb79e bisque3
8b7d6b bisque4
000000 black
ffebcd blanchedalmond
0000ff blue
0000ff blue1
0000ee blue2
0000cd blue3
00008b blue4
8a2be2 blueviolet
a52a2a brown
ff4040 brown1
ee3b3b brown2
cd3333 brown3
8b2323 brown4
deb887 burlywood
ffd39b burlywood1
eec591 burlywood2
cdaa7d burlywood3
8b7355 burlywood4
5f9ea0 cadetblue
98f5ff cadetblue1
8ee5ee cadetblue2
7ac5cd cadetblue3
53868b cadetblue4
7fff00 chartreuse
7fff00 chartreuse1
76ee00 chartreuse2
66cd00 chartreuse3
458b00 chartreuse4
d2691e chocolate
ff7f24 chocolate1
ee7621 chocolate2
cd661d chocolate3
8b4513 chocolate4
ff7f50 coral
ff7256 coral1
ee6a50 coral2
cd5b45 coral3
8b3e2f coral4
6495ed cornflowerblue
fff8dc cornsilk
fff8dc cornsilk1
eee8cd cornsilk2
cdc8b1 cornsilk3
8b8878 cornsilk4
00ffff cyan
00ffff cyan1
00eeee cyan2
00cdcd cyan3
008b8b cyan4
b8860b darkgoldenrod
ffb90f darkgoldenrod1
eead0e darkgoldenrod2
cd950c darkgoldenrod3
8b6508 darkgoldenrod4
006400 darkgreen
bdb76b darkkhaki
556b2f darkolivegreen
caff70 darkolivegreen1
bcee68 darkolivegreen2
a2cd5a darkolivegreen3
6e8b3d darkolivegreen4
ff8c00 darkorange
ff7f00 darkorange1
ee7600 darkorange2
cd6600 darkorange3
8b4500 darkorange4
9932cc darkorchid
bf3eff darkorchid1
b23aee darkorchid2
9a32cd darkorchid3
68228b darkorchid4
e9967a darksalmon
8fbc8f darkseagreen
c1ffc1 darkseagreen1
b4eeb4 darkseagreen2
9bcd9b darkseagreen3
698b69 darkseagreen4
483d8b darkslateblue
2f4f4f darkslategray
97ffff darkslategray1
8deeee darkslategray2
79cdcd darkslategray3
528b8b darkslategray4
2f4f4f darkslategrey
00ced1 darkturquoise
9400d3 darkviolet
ff1493 deeppink
ff1493 deeppink1
ee1289 deeppink2
cd1076 deeppink3
8b0a50 deeppink4
00bfff deepskyblue
00bfff deepskyblue1
00b2ee deepskyblue2
009acd deepskyblue3
00688b deepskyblue4
696969 dimgray
696969 dimgrey
1e90ff dodgerblue
1e90ff dodgerblue1
1c86ee dodgerblue2
1874cd dodgerblue3
104e8b dodgerblue4
b22222 firebrick
ff3030 firebrick1
ee2c2c firebrick2
cd2626 firebrick3
8b1a1a firebrick4
fffaf0 floralwhite
228b22 forestgreen
dcdcdc gainsboro
f8f8ff ghostwhite
ffd700 gold
ffd700 gold1
eec900 gold2
cdad00 gold3
8b7500 gold4
daa520 goldenrod
ffc125 goldenrod1
eeb422 goldenrod2
cd9b1d goldenrod3
8b6914 goldenrod4
00ff00 green
00ff00 green1
00ee00 green2
00cd00 green3
008b00 green4
adff2f greenyellow
000000 grey0
030303 grey1
050505 grey2
080808 grey3
1a1a1a grey10
ffffff grey100
1c1c1c grey11
1f1f1f grey12
212121 grey13
242424 grey14
262626 grey15
292929 grey16
2b2b2b grey17
2e2e2e grey18
303030 grey19
333333 grey20
363636 grey21
383838 grey22
3b3b3b grey23
3d3d3d grey24
404040 grey25
424242 grey26
454545 grey27
474747 grey28
4a4a4a grey29
4d4d4d grey30
4f4f4f grey31
525252 grey32
545454 grey33
575757 grey34
595959 grey35
5c5c5c grey36
5e5e5e grey37
616161 grey38
636363 grey39
0a0a0a grey4
666666 grey40
696969 grey41
6b6b6b grey42
6e6e6e grey43
707070 grey44
737373 grey45
757575 grey46
787878 grey47
7a7a7a grey48
7d7d7d grey49
0d0d0d grey5
7f7f7f grey50
828282 grey51
858585 grey52
878787 grey53
8a8a8a grey54
8c8c8c grey55
8f8f8f grey56
919191 grey57
949494 grey58
969696 grey59
0f0f0f grey6
999999 grey60
9c9c9c grey61
9e9e9e grey62
a1a1a1 grey63
a3a3a3 grey64
a6a6a6 grey65
a8a8a8 grey66
ababab grey67
adadad grey68
b0b0b0 grey69
121212 grey7
b3b3b3 grey70
b5b5b5 grey71
b8b8b8 grey72
bababa grey73
bdbdbd grey74
bfbfbf grey75
c2c2c2 grey76
c4c4c4 grey77
c7c7c7 grey78
c9c9c9 grey79
141414 grey8
cccccc grey80
cfcfcf grey81
d1d1d1 grey82
d4d4d4 grey83
d6d6d6 grey84
d9d9d9 grey85
dbdbdb grey86
dedede grey87
e0e0e0 grey88
e3e3e3 grey89
171717 grey9
e5e5e5 grey90
e8e8e8 grey91
ebebeb grey92
ededed grey93
f0f0f0 grey94
f2f2f2 grey95
f5f5f5 grey96
f7f7f7 grey97
fafafa grey98
fcfcfc grey99
f0fff0 honeydew
f0fff0 honeydew1
e0eee0 honeydew2
c1cdc1 honeydew3
838b83 honeydew4
ff69b4 hotpink
ff6eb4 hotpink1
ee6aa7 hotpink2
cd6090 hotpink3
8b3a62 hotpink4
cd5c5c indianred
ff6a6a indianred1
ee6363 indianred2
cd5555 indianred3
8b3a3a indianred4
fffff0 ivory
fffff0 ivory1
eeeee0 ivory2
cdcdc1 ivory3
8b8b83 ivory4
f0e68c khaki
fff68f khaki1
eee685 khaki2
cdc673 khaki3
8b864e khaki4
e6e6fa lavender
fff0f5 lavenderblush
fff0f5 lavenderblush1
eee0e5 lavenderblush2
cdc1c5 lavenderblush3
8b8386 lavenderblush4
7cfc00 lawngreen
fffacd lemonchiffon
fffacd lemonchiffon1
eee9bf lemonchiffon2
cdc9a5 lemonchiffon3
8b8970 lemonchiffon4
add8e6 lightblue
bfefff lightblue1
b2dfee lightblue2
9ac0cd lightblue3
68838b lightblue4
f08080 lightcoral
e0ffff lightcyan
e0ffff lightcyan1
d1eeee lightcyan2
b4cdcd lightcyan3
7a8b8b lightcyan4
eedd82 lightgoldenrod
ffec8b lightgoldenrod1
eedc82 lightgoldenrod2
cdbe70 lightgoldenrod3
8b814c lightgoldenrod4
fafad2 lightgoldenrodyellow
d3d3d3 lightgray
d3d3d3 lightgrey
ffb6c1 lightpink
ffaeb9 lightpink1
eea2ad lightpink2
cd8c95 lightpink3
8b5f65 lightpink4
ffa07a lightsalmon
ffa07a lightsalmon1
ee9572 lightsalmon2
cd8162 lightsalmon3
8b5742 lightsalmon4
20b2aa lightseagreen
87cefa lightskyblue
b0e2ff lightskyblue1
a4d3ee lightskyblue2
8db6cd lightskyblue3
607b8b lightskyblue4
8470ff lightslateblue
778899 lightslategray
778899 lightslategrey
b0c4de lightsteelblue
cae1ff lightsteelblue1
bcd2ee lightsteelblue2
a2b5cd lightsteelblue3
6e7b8b lightsteelblue4
ffffe0 lightyellow
ffffe0 lightyellow1
eeeed1 lightyellow2
cdcdb4 lightyellow3
8b8b7a lightyellow4
32cd32 limegreen
faf0e6 linen
ff00ff magenta
ff00ff magenta1
ee00ee magenta2
cd00cd magenta3
8b008b magenta4
b03060 maroon
ff34b3 maroon1
ee30a7 maroon2
cd2990 maroon3
8b1c62 maroon4
66cdaa mediumaquamarine
0000cd mediumblue
ba55d3 mediumorchid
e066ff mediumorchid1
d15fee mediumorchid2
b452cd mediumorchid3
7a378b mediumorchid4
9370db mediumpurple
ab82ff mediumpurple1
9f79ee mediumpurple2
8968cd mediumpurple3
5d478b mediumpurple4
3cb371 mediumseagreen
7b68ee mediumslateblue
00fa9a mediumspringgreen
48d1cc mediumturquoise
c71585 mediumvioletred
191970 midnightblue
f5fffa mintcream
ffe4e1 mistyrose
ffe4e1 mistyrose1
eed5d2 mistyrose2
cdb7b5 mistyrose3
8b7d7b mistyrose4
ffe4b5 moccasin
ffdead navajowhite
ffdead navajowhite1
eecfa1 navajowhite2
cdb38b navajowhite3
8b795e navajowhite4
000080 navy
000080 navyblue
fdf5e6 oldlace
6b8e23 olivedrab
c0ff3e olivedrab1
b3ee3a olivedrab2
9acd32 olivedrab3
698b22 olivedrab4
ffa500 orange
ffa500 orange1
ee9a00 orange2
cd8500 orange3
8b5a00 orange4
ff4500 orangered
ff4500 orangered1
ee4000 orangered2
cd3700 orangered3
8b2500 orangered4
da70d6 orchid
ff83fa orchid1
ee7ae9 orchid2
cd69c9 orchid3
8b4789 orchid4
eee8aa palegoldenrod
98fb98 palegreen
9aff9a palegreen1
90ee90 palegreen2
7ccd7c palegreen3
548b54 palegreen4
afeeee paleturquoise
bbffff paleturquoise1
aeeeee paleturquoise2
96cdcd paleturquoise3
668b8b paleturquoise4
db7093 palevioletred
ff82ab palevioletred1
ee799f palevioletred2
cd6889 palevioletred3
8b475d palevioletred4
ffefd5 papayawhip
ffdab9 peachpuff
ffdab9 peachpuff1
eecbad peachpuff2
cdaf95 peachpuff3
8b7765 peachpuff4
cd853f peru
ffc0cb pink
ffb5c5 pink1
eea9b8 pink2
cd919e pink3
8b636c pink4
dda0dd plum
ffbbff plum1
eeaeee plum2
cd96cd plum3
8b668b plum4
b0e0e6 powderblue
a020f0 purple
9b30ff purple1
912cee purple2
7d26cd purple3
551a8b purple4
ff0000 red
ff0000 red1
ee0000 red2
cd0000 red3
8b0000 red4
bc8f8f rosybrown
ffc1c1 rosybrown1
eeb4b4 rosybrown2
cd9b9b rosybrown3
8b6969 rosybrown4
4169e1 royalblue
4876ff royalblue1
436eee royalblue2
3a5fcd royalblue3
27408b royalblue4
8b4513 saddlebrown
fa8072 salmon
ff8c69 salmon1
ee8262 salmon2
cd7054 salmon3
8b4c39 salmon4
f4a460 sandybrown
2e8b57 seagreen
54ff9f seagreen1
4eee94 seagreen2
43cd80 seagreen3
2e8b57 seagreen4
fff5ee seashell
fff5ee seashell1
eee5de seashell2
cdc5bf seashell3
8b8682 seashell4
a0522d sienna
ff8247 sienna1
ee7942 sienna2
cd6839 sienna3
8b4726 sienna4
87ceeb skyblue
87ceff skyblue1
7ec0ee skyblue2
6ca6cd skyblue3
4a708b skyblue4
6a5acd slateblue
836fff slateblue1
7a67ee slateblue2
6959cd slateblue3
473c8b slateblue4
708090 slategray
c6e2ff slategray1
b9d3ee slategray2
9fb6cd slategray3
6c7b8b slategray4
708090 slategrey
fffafa snow
fffafa snow1
eee9e9 snow2
cdc9c9 snow3
8b8989 snow4
00ff7f springgreen
00ff7f springgreen1
00ee76 springgreen2
00cd66 springgreen3
008b45 springgreen4
4682b4 steelblue
63b8ff steelblue1
5cacee steelblue2
4f94cd steelblue3
36648b steelblue4
d2b48c tan
ffa54f tan1
ee9a49 tan2
cd853f tan3
8b5a2b tan4
d8bfd8 thistle
ffe1ff thistle1
eed2ee thistle2
cdb5cd thistle3
8b7b8b thistle4
ff6347 tomato
ff6347 tomato1
ee5c42 tomato2
cd4f39 tomato3
8b3626 tomato4
40e0d0 turquoise
00f5ff turquoise1
00e5ee turquoise2
00c5cd turquoise3
00868b turquoise4
ee82ee violet
d02090 violetred
ff3e96 violetred1
ee3a8c violetred2
cd3278 violetred3
8b2252 violetred4
f5deb3 wheat
ffe7ba wheat1
eed8ae wheat2
cdba96 wheat3
8b7e66 wheat4
ffffff white
f5f5f5 whitesmoke
ffff00 yellow
ffff00 yellow1
eeee00 yellow2
cdcd00 yellow3
8b8b00 yellow4
9acd32 yellowgreen


If your Be machine is connected to the net via a proxy server or behind a firewall, you’ll find you can’t do anything online from the Terminal, since Terminal doesn’t understand proxy settings. However, there is a workaround for FTP — you just have to type in the commands a little differently. To get to ftp.be.com for instance, do this:
ftp your.firewall.ip.address (this connects to your firewall)
anonymous@ftp.be.com (this line tells the firewall to FTP elsewhere)
username@email.address (regular address you give as password for anon. FTP)
That should get you in with most proxy servers, but not all of them. Notably, it will probably work with Apache in proxy mode, but won’t work with, for example, SOCKS. Other popular proxies, such as WinGate, have their own syntax for handling similar situations — consult your proxie’s documentation for details.

The hostname field in the Network preferences application should not be blank. If it is, your outgoing mail will not be sent (with the current version of the BeOS).
You can put anything in this field, but a single word with only alphanumeric characters is best. Something like „cantBeBlank“ works fine; so does „feersum-endjun“.
Don’t add your domain to the hostname. In other words, use „cantBeBlank“, not „cantBeBlank.company.com“. Doing so can trigger another bug in the current release…

I was taking screen-shots of Chart for some quick background images, preparing my box for an upcoming demo, when I hit upon a neat way to impress your friends.
I spend a lot of time simply editing files and running Terminals in different workspaces, nothing really compute intensive. So, as a makeshift screen-saver, I run Chart full screen, full blast, 100% stars, in one workspace and switch to it whenever I leave the machine. Thanks to BeOS’s emphasis on responsiveness, I often forget that I left it running after I switch back, even though it’s taking up about 100% CPU. I love Chart, you see.
So, as I was putting Chart-shots on the other workspaces, it hit me: since I don’t really mess with the icons on the desktop when Terminalling or StyledEditing, why not move a couple of these apps to the Chart workspace, push Chart to the back, and get the overall effect of an animated desktop image?
Just eye-candy, but boy is it fun.

When you’re saving a document, be sure and use the GoTo menu at the top of the save dialog box. You can put your most-used folders (such as Desktop, MP3, home, or Downloads, etc) in the GoTo folder. Just navigate to the folder, and then click GoTo and Add Current Folder. See also Remove Items from the GoTo Folder.

This is an add-on to the Tab Completion tip.
If you’re trying to remember the name of a particular command, and can only think of the first one or two letters, just type those letters and hit Tab twice. All available commands starting with that letter or letters will appear in a list.
The same trick works when constructing a command looking for the names of files to operate on — typing a letter and hitting Tab twice will show a list of all allowable filenames.

BeOS‘ file-type handling is based on MIME types — the Internet standard for identifying file formats by their extensions. But you can also dial in file types on the individual or directory level. In other words, every HTML file on your system doesn’t have to be associated with a single application, as it does on Windows.
As on the Mac, files will by default inherit the filetype of the application that created them. If that app can’t be found, as is often the case with files you download from the Net, a filetype will be guessed by the file extension (if there is one). In other words, you get the best of both worlds: Mac-like intelligence about knowing who created what, and Windows-like convenience of having files from alien systems automatically associated as long as they have an extension (like .txt or .html).
To change the filetype of a single file, right-click it and choose Addons | Filetype. When the dialog pops up, drag a file that already has the association you want on top of the dialog. Alternatively, if you know what you’re doing, you can edit the MIME type manually.
When you close the panel, you’ll be asked if you want to save the new association. Say yes and you’re all set.

If apps hang and either won’t go away or are interrupting other apps, open up Terminal, and type
ps
This will display a list of all running processes. Each process has an associated ID# at the left of the screen. Type
kill 123 [where 123 is the ID of the app that’s misbehaving]
and it will die. If it doesn’t die, try the super killer:
kill 123 -9
If you don’t want to scan through the whole list of running processes and you know the name of the naughty app, use grep to find its ID quickly:
ps | grep appname
which will display just the lines in ps that contain that appname.
If the machine has become so unstable that you can’t even open Terminal, try switching to another workspace with the F keys (Alt+F1, Alt+F2, etc.) and try running Terminal from there. Another option if you can’t open a terminal is to get on another machine and telnet into your BeOS machine. You can then kill the offending app remotely. It’s a good idea to have a copy of ProcessController on your system to handle process and app management graphically. To be certain Tmanager and/or Terminal will be launchable on an unstable system, just have them launch automatically upon boot by launching them from your UserBootScript. That way they’ll already be open and ready to handle contingencies.