[Workaround] QE/CI Apps not working on SL with GMA4500

[debugbr]

Note: I'm so sorry for any english mistakes. I'm doing my best. I'm brazilian, so you can talk in portuguese (not spanish - it's not the same thing!!!, PLEASE ) since I can answer. If you post something in portuguese, please, translate to english, so other users can help too. Thanks!

 

Note: This topic is only for GMA4500 users using workaround to make it work with GMAX3100 FB driver to get native resolution. Don't ask me about any other hardware, ok? Thanks!

 

Note: This topic was edited to add here a workaround for the problem (original post). The original title was "Preview can't open images". If you don't know what I was talking about, look the original post below.

 

Most important note ever: Sorry guys, but DO NOT PM me about this topic! I won't answer! Your problem and its solution can help a lot another guy here So, share your problem.. and the solution, if it has one

 

 

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GMA4500 Snow Leopard Apps workaround

 

Hello guys. First: I'm not a GMA4500 Driver or QE/CI or whatever developer. This is a "workaround" to make some apps work on Snow Leopard with GMA4500 native resolution workaround. Yes, a workaround for another workaround. Sorry, it's the best I can do (for now).

 

As far as I know, some apps (like Preview) aren't working on Snow Leopard with GMA4500 native resolution workaround. They used to work on Leopard. A lot of people are talking about QE/CI missing.. but these apps really changed so much from Leopard? Well, I've found a way to make them work.

 

For now, I can help you guys with a few apps only. I know this is stupid, but you'll need the Leopard versions. I'm not gonna post the files here. If you don't have these files, get a Leopard copy somewhere (you know where ) and extract things you'll need on this post from there.

 

Ok, let's go.

 

Note: since this is a workaround, not a patch/fix, apps may crash. Don't blame me, a normal user, if you did something wrong. I'm trying to help.

 

My current setup (commands below are based on this setup)

 

• Pre-workaround folder: /Workaround/
  
• Leopard 10.5.8 installation: /Volumes/OSX/
  
• Backup folder: /Backup/
  

Preview.app

 

Needed files:

• Preview.app (/Volumes/OSX/Applications/Preview.app folder)
  

cp -r /Volumes/OSX/Applications/Preview.app /Workaround/
mv -f /Applications/Preview.app /Backup/
cp -r /Workaround/Preview.app /Applications/
cp /Backup/Preview.app/Contents/Info.plist /Applications/Preview.app/Contents/Info.plist
ln -s /System/Library/Frameworks/Quartz.framework/Versions/A/Frameworks/QuickLookUI.framework /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/QuickLookUI.framework

 

For Grab app:

 

Needed files:

• Grab.app (/Volumes/OSX/Applications/Utilities/Grab.app folder)
  

cp -r /Volumes/OSX/Applications/Utilities/Grab.app /Workaround/
mv -f /Applications/Utilities/Grab.app /Backup/
cp -r /Workaround/Grab.app /Applications/Utilities/

Note: for this one, you don't need to change the Info.plist file. Go figure...

 

For screencapture (terminal screenshot app):

 

Needed files:

• screencapture (/usr/sbin/screencapture file)
  

cp /Volumes/OSX/usr/sbin/screencapture /Workaround/
mv /usr/sbin/screencapture /Backup/
cp /Workaround/screencapture /usr/sbin/

 

So, you know some other app which is not working on SL and was working on Leopard? Tell me!

 

 

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Original Post

Hello guys.

 

Some days ago I noticed that I can't take screenshots. Even screencapture is not working. Ok, whatever. I can survive with this. But I thought: "hey, why not trying to open the binary file of screencapture on my Leopard installation and see if it works on SL?"... well, it worked. But when I tried to open the image on Preview, it didn't open. I got a grey window. Yeah.

 

So I was wondering if was only my screenshots.. nha. Got my microSD card from my cellphone, inserted it into a reader, connected, bla bla. Finder can get thumbnails from the photos (JPEG 1280x1024). Now when I try to open on Preview, they don't open. I get the same grey screen. Weird, right?

 

Yes, I tried repairing disk permissions. Didn't work. I was wondering if OSX has some JPEG/PNG/TIFF/whatever libs for working with images and maybe something is really messed up there.

 

So, any ideas?

 

 

Just in case, I'm providing you a screenshot (took using screencapture binary from leopard installation, not SL one) of the problem.

 

 

 

Thanks in advance and sorry for any english mistakes

 

PS: photoshop works. I can open the images there, but starting photoshop only to see a photo it's an overkill, right? It's like killing a mosquito with a nuclear bomb or whatever.

[debugbr]

Since you installed snow have you ever been able to take screen shots etc or is this something that has changed. I t may be that you don't have video hardware acceleration. Open chess & see if you can move the pieces.

I don't remember very well, but I don't think so.

 

Chess is working. Slow, since I don't have hardware acceleration, but it's working.

 

just noticed in your signature "GMA4500 (native resolution only, unstable on SL. That will be the problem

How can it be a problem with the video driver if I can take screenshots using the screencapture from Leopard on SL? I'm using the same hack for GMA4500 from Leopard on SL (modified for SL, of course). So I don't think this could be the problem.

 

You can see that on the screenshot. I call the screencapture binary file from /Volumes/OSX/, which is my Leopard 10.5.8 installation. My SL 10.6.2 is in /Volumes/Snow/. It works on SL, but the original one from SL is not working.

 

EDIT: Preview works fine for PDFs. So, it's a image-only problem.

 

EDIT: running Preview from terminal I can see the errors:

sh-3.2# ./Preview

2009-12-17 10:27:04.042 Preview[205:903] invalid pixel format

2009-12-17 10:27:04.043 Preview[205:903] invalid context

... not only 2 errors - they repeat a lot of times

 

 

EDIT: I'm trying to reinstall the GMA4500 hack. Without it, on safe boot, I can't open images yet.

[debugbr]

bump?

[debugbr]

Hello guys. Today I've reinstalled SL.. 10.6.2, always.

 

Even without loading the GMA4500 driver (or hack, whatever), I still can't open images.

BUT yesterday I got Preview from Leopard working on SL. What happened? Worked!

 

So, here's what I get: I can't take screenshots and I can't open images (jpg, tiff, png, whatever). Preview works with PDF files as usual. Leopard binaries work on SL (Preview needs a folder copied or linked, at least).

 

Since nobody found a solution, here's what I'm gonna do: I'm gonna rename Preview app and copy the Leopard one. Then, I'm gonna copy screencapture from Leopard and put it on SL (so I can take screenshots).

 

At least I got my GMA4500 stable on SL (since Mr Walker said this could be the problem heheheh)

[aNeGaTiVe10]

hey i got the same problem can you please help me. thank you

[debugbr]

hey i got the same problem can you please help me. thank you

Sure. Do you have a Leopard installation working? If yes, this will be easy. If not, then I need to send you some files which I don't know if I can do (license - I don't know which one Apple is using for binary files from original installation).

 

Anyway, I can't do it right now. I'll post tonight a mini "how-to" after fixing the problem here. I can't do it right now since I have some stuff to work with.

 

 

Ah, but you could try something to make sure it's the same problem: could you please try to open a terminal and type 'glxinfo' there? You're supposed to see some info about GL (I guess) there, but I see something like "Invalid pixel format" on terminal. If this happens to you too, then you have the same problem.

 

PS: do you have a GMA4500?

[phoenix789]

I t may be that you don't have video hardware acceleration.

 

+1

 

Try to watch a DVD. If you can't you don't have QE

Or see if you have a transparent menubar, if you don't, you don't have QE.

[debugbr]

Try to watch a DVD. If you can't you don't have QE

Or see if you have a transparent menubar, if you don't, you don't have QE.

I don't have QE/CI. I know that. But I didn't have it on Leopard too and I could see images and take screenshots there. The hack is the same (modded for SL), so why I couldn't do the same on SL? This is the problem.

 

Something changed from Leopard to SL on Preview and screencapture. I don't know what, but I know that it's stopping me from taking screenshots and using Preview for photos.

[aNeGaTiVe10]

hey i checked it and its the same problem dude. i only have SL installed on the HD.

[debugbr]

bump for huuuuuuuuuge edit (took 1h to edit lol)

[kalel83]

Since you installed snow have you ever been able to take screen shots etc or is this something that has changed. I t may be that you don't have video hardware acceleration. Open chess & see if you can move the pieces.

 

EDIT

just noticed in your signature "GMA4500 (native resolution only, unstable on SL. That will be the problem

 

you can move chess pieces without hardware acceleration, my current install of snow is proof of this. i forget all the tests, but if you open up front row and it doesn't work, that's one of the sure fire ways to see

[debugbr]

you can move chess pieces without hardware acceleration, my current install of snow is proof of this. i forget all the tests, but if you open up front row and it doesn't work, that's one of the sure fire ways to see

Yes, we can move chess pieces without hardware acceleration. We already know that. But we can't open imagens on Preview and take screenshots. I guess they are important things we all need to be able to do.

 

What's the cause of this weird problem? We don't know. Looks like a problem with hardware acceleration, but I didn't see anyone saying for sure it's the hardware acceleration the problem. But one thing I can say for sure: I'm not the only one who noticed this problem on our scenario (GMA4500 + Snow Leopard).

 

So, my goal with this topic is to allow people with the same problem to be able to open pictures on Preview and take screenshots using grab/screencapture, which are things I do everytime on OSX.

 

 

Ok, about Front Row... I never saw it working. It opens to a black screen here. I don't even know what it does If it needs a real hardware acceleration, nevermind. It won't work using Leopard version. I'll test when I have time on Leopard, but I guess it won't work anyway. I tried to open Front Row from my Leopard partition, but it didn't work. It just forked out another process and closed the one I was watching on terminal.. go figure lol

[the_gunners]

could you please share needed files from your 10.5.8 installation, since i only have SL installed...

[debugbr]

could you please share needed files from your 10.5.8 installation, since i only have SL installed...

Sorry, I can't. As far as I know I can't post original Apple files here. Please, get a OSX Leopard instalation DVD (you know where to get one..) and extract the files you may need from the packages.

 

And now I removed Mac from my laptop, since I'm not working on it anymore.

[the_gunners]

Sorry, I can't. As far as I know I can't post original Apple files here. Please, get a OSX Leopard instalation DVD (you know where to get one..) and extract the files you may need from the packages.

 

And now I removed Mac from my laptop, since I'm not working on it anymore.

 

for preview still not working

 

Dyld Error Message:

Library not loaded: /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/QuickLookUI.framework/Versions/A/QuickLookUI

Referenced from: /Applications/Preview.app/Contents/MacOS/Preview

Reason: image not found

 

any clues ?

 

 

but grab and capture screen using command+shif+3 is working now !!

[gsw953]

Instead of Preview I am using JustLooking,its free and works great.I think there could even be a new topic for us with x4500 graphics for apps we use to get around having no QE,we all know VLC for dvds but there are others,Transbar for transparent menu bar,Freakshow instead of Photoboth, Skype instead of ichat i'm sure there are more too.

Using these replacement programs help make having no QE more acceptable until there is a working solution

[debugbr]

for preview still not working

 

 

 

any clues ?

 

 

but grab and capture screen using command+shif+3 is working now !!

 

Fixed. Please execute that last new (the new one) on preview code block. This should fix your problem, I guess.

[remeinic]

hello, i have tried your method for screencapture and preview.app. it works great. i just would like to ask wether my Menubar in SL can be customize becoz i have tried to change the SL theme, and i did it, but the menubar isnt change according to the theme i applied.

i also have Leopard 10.5.6 and the menubar can change with the theme i applied.

hope you can help me. thank a lot.

 

p/s : the menubar in SL is white.

[debugbr]

hello, i have tried your method for screencapture and preview.app. it works great. i just would like to ask wether my Menubar in SL can be customize becoz i have tried to change the SL theme, and i did it, but the menubar isnt change according to the theme i applied.

i also have Leopard 10.5.6 and the menubar can change with the theme i applied.

hope you can help me. thank a lot.

 

p/s : the menubar in SL is white.

 

Sorry, as far as I know, you can't use this "workaround" to fix the menubar.

[remeinic]

Sorry, as far as I know, you can't use this "workaround" to fix the menubar.

 

ok. thats ok. i wish someone can tell me how to fix this.

btw. thanks for your cooperation.

 

another thing i discovered are when i open itunes ( it has view option such as list, grid, cover flow)

but when in cover flow, it doesn't work. does you have same problem?

 

p/s : i already update into 10.6.3 but still get the same result.

[debugbr]

another thing i discovered are when i open itunes ( it has view option such as list, grid, cover flow)

but when in cover flow, it doesn't work. does you have same problem?

 

Yes. The reason it doesn't work is because we don't have QE/CI.

[remeinic]

Yes. The reason it doesn't work is because we don't have QE/CI.

i just wanna ask wether if you have same problem like me? - have the same white menubar in Snow Leopard?

[debugbr]

i just wanna ask wether if you have same problem like me? - have the same white menubar in Snow Leopard?

 

Yes, I do have this problem.

[remeinic]

Yes, I do have this problem.

 

i finally can change the white menubar. type this in terminal and apply snow leopard theme.

"defaults write -g AppleEnableMenuBarTransparency -bool NO"

[Shubhanyu]

Instead of Preview I am using JustLooking,its free and works great.I think there could even be a new topic for us with x4500 graphics for apps we use to get around having no QE,we all know VLC for dvds but there are others,Transbar for transparent menu bar,Freakshow instead of Photoboth, Skype instead of ichat i'm sure there are more too.

Using these replacement programs help make having no QE more acceptable until there is a working solution

 

gsw, man you rock! Transbar makes lack of QE very acceptable and JustLooking makes it even more so! Being unable to view images in Preview was proving completely unacceptable and here comes a program that is lightweight as well as useful... Preview will open PDFs and JL all the others. Thank you, gsw!