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Mod About This Mac!

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How to Mod About This Mac!

UPDATE 2015: OS X Yosemite - Page 23

UPDATE! Change Your Monitor's Name! See Below! 12/19/12

Sorry about the last Post. I tried to edit it, After it was done I click save and it ended up deleting my whole post. I have no idea what happened.

Anyway its been updated with New Pictures!

So I took a day off from work today and figured out how to change everything inside About This Mac,

and because this community has helped me achieve all this I thought I would give back and post a tutorial

for anyone who wants to be able to mod their "About This Mac" Section. Previously I was only able to mod the

specs part, Now I'm able to swap the picture of the mac to my Case, Along with Change the Model and Year.

Here are some examples of what your About This Mac box can look like!

ATM.jpg

MacNes.jpg

MacClassic.jpg

G4Cube.jpg



Here is Exactly what you will need.

TextWrangler. APP Store!

If you want to change the pictures you'll need Img2Icns.

Disclaimer. Please DON'T Use this guide to Rip People Off! Just because you can do it, doesn't mean you should!

Also Be sure to Backup any files you modify, What you do is on you! If it don't feel right Don't do it! I'm not responsible for anything!

If you feel lucky then continue...

Lets start with the simple stuff first.

Part 1: Change your Model Name and Year

It took me 2 hours for Unix to grep search my hard drive for the keyword "Mac mini" (As that is what my system definitions where)

First enable hidden files.

defaults write com.apple.Finder AppleShowAllFiles YES

killall Finder

You'll want to navigate to /users/administrator (or whatever your user name is)/library/preferences/ and edit the file com.apple.systemprofiler.plist

Open with TextWrangler. In TextWrangler, Depending on your System Definitions, there will be a string that says either Mac Mini, Mac Pro, iMac Etc. You can change this to whatever you like. Anything in the Brackets are on Line 2 of About this Mac. I changed mine to "Mac Mega (Late 2012)"

As seen in this image, The Text "Mac Pro" is on the first row of About This Mac Overview Tab. In Brackets Early 2008.
AboutThisMacStrings.jpg


Save and Close. If you want to see if it works, Close any About this Mac windows and reopen them. If no changes then reboot.

Part 2: Specs.

If you doing this on Lion You might want to checkout this video, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rh11Ml3QYEY

If not then continue.

Although I left mine exactly as it was since everything was set correctly, you can change the specs to whatever you like.

Navigate to System/Library/CoreServices/Loginwindow Right Click LoginWindow and choose Show Packages /Contents/Resources/english.lproj/AboutThisMac.Strings

Open with TextWrangler.

To change your Processor Modify the string for Key
ABOUT_BOX_SINGLE_PROCESSOR_FIELD_FORMAT

To change your Memory Modify the string for Key
ABOUT_BOX_MEMORY_FIELD_FORMAT

OLDNEW.jpg


IF your using a Computer with Multiple Processors, (Real MAC PRO) or Hackintosh with Dual Processors (Exists?) Then edit:
ABOUT_BOX_MULTIPLE_PROCESSORS_FIELD_FORMAT

Save the File, If you receive this error:
OperationError.jpg


Click OK then File > Save a Copy. Save this copy to your Desktop. Don't Overwrite your backup!!!

Move the copy to System/Library/CoreServices/Loginwindow.app/Contents/Resources/english.lproj/AboutThisMac.Strings

You should now see:

ABTM.jpg


Part 3. More Specs!

Part 2 helped you modify the first About This Mac windows. When you click More info... then you'll see even more specs in another About this mac "Overview" window.

To change these specs, Navigate to /Applications/Utilities/System Information Show Package Contents /Contents/Resources/English.lproj/SPInfo.Strings Open with TextWrangler.

This file has several more specs you can modify. You can even go through and change the labels if you like. Ex Processor to CPU. I prefer not to do that.

To change the Processor Specs: Go to key MAC_CPU_TEXT
Currently the field is %1$@ %2$@

IF YOU WANT IT TO SAY Processor or Graphics or Whatever its supposed to say Leave in the "%1S@ " <--- Two Spaces There

After that You can change this to whatever, I changed mine to "%1S@ 3.59 GHz Intel Ivy Bridge Core i5" (Without Quotes) as that is what I have.

OldNew2.jpg


You may or may not need to restart for these settings to take place.

Part 4: Adding your own Mac Image to About This Mac

Now you can add your own Mac Case to the About This Mac "Overview" tab. I got the picture of my case from the place I bought it at, Microcenter. They had a decent shot of the front of the case which is what I used. Check to see if you can find your case online somewhere and use that pic, otherwise get out a camera

First thing to let you know of, You'll be replacing the image of whatever mac is in your About this Mac Overview Tab. This also replaces the image of other Macs on your network. For example I have two Mac Pros at home, If my system definitions was set to a Mac Pro then I would have to replace the image of the Mac Pro hense I would not see the same image of a Mac Pro on my network. Makes Sense? I hope so. If thats an issue change your system definitions to Mac Mini or iMac. Most people don't have 2 Mac Pros at Home, But I Do! :)

Navigate to System/Library/CoreServices/CoreType.Bundle Show Package Contents /Contents/resources.

I would switch to Coverflow view mode. Top bar in the finder choose the 4th option. Allows you to see a preview of the icons.

Navigate downwards till you find the same mac you see in about this mac.

My Mac Pro was at com.apple.macpro.icns.

MacPro.jpg


Create a backup copy of this if you are using Mac Pro definitions.

If you have a new image ready. You can open this image up in Preview or Photoshop. Remove the white using Instant Alpha.

For this example I'll use a BitFenix Prodigy Arctic White as I've notice many are using this case. I'll even upload the finished icon to this thread.

Copy the image and open up in preview. Click the Show Toolbar Icon then Instant Alpha

Preview.jpg


Click and drag till the background white turns red. Don't drag too far otherwise the case will start to turn red as well.

Prodigy.jpg


Press the backspace key and if it asks to you to convert to PNG then select OK.

Keep keying out the rest of the image. (Under the Handles to delete the rest of the white) Save it to your desktop. Make sure its in PNG format.

Open up Img2Icns. Drag the desktop document to IMG2ICNS and select Icns

img2icns.jpg


Copy the Icns file into System/Library/CoreServices/CoreType.Bundle Show Package Contents /Contents/resources.

Rename com.apple.macpro.icns to com.apple.macpro.icns.bak then rename your .icns file to com.apple.macpro.icns

Upon restart your new Case will be in About This Mac Overview section.

newabtm.jpg


BTW Use this same method to Mod your Displays. Change the Apple Cinema Icons to Whatever you have for a display. com.apple.cinema-display.icns

cinema.jpg


I will try upload some icons for people to download. Take a snapshot of your about this mac page and upload it so we can see.

BTW, Don't forget to turn off Hidden Files

defaults write com.apple.Finder AppleShowAllFiles False

killall Finder

Here is some more information if you need it.
http://tekwik.com/2012/10/customize-the-about-this-mac-screen/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rh11Ml3QYEY



EDIT: One More thing, If you want you can edit the apple logo seen on the first About This Mac screen.

ATMnewApple.jpg


This is simply a PNG file located at:

System/Library/CoreServices/Loginwindow.app/contents/Resources/MacOSX.Png and [email protected]

Rename the orginals files with .bak at the end is case something happens.

Throw in your new Apple Logo and restart. If you like what I have you can download it in my Attachments. If you want to Make your own I suggest using
Charcoal Font. That I believe is Close to Apple's Font for OS 10. Myraid Pro was recommended as well!


UPDATE! Change Your Monitor's Name!

I know this isn't what I was exactly shooting for in this post, (Having two different monitor images) But I'm getting closer. I found out how to change the monitors name. So if your like me and have simply "Syncmaster" or "VA912-4SERIES" as your
About this Mac Displays monitor name, then you might want to change it. The change is quite simple.

Before
before_zps4a6c2dc0.jpg


After
after_zps6473c4b8.jpg


Following the original methods of this tutorial to Save and Edit files the change is located in /System/Library/Displays/Overrides/Contents/Resources/English.lproj/Localizable.strings

Open with Text Wrangler.

The point of this file is to tell the system when a monitor is plugged in called "Whatever" that is changes it from "Whatever" to "Dell Whatever"

For English this doesn't do a whole lot. The only difference here is "Unknown Display" is changed to "Display"

This file makes more sense for other languages. For Example The file will read "Color LCD" in english and Display it in Japanese as "カラー LCD"

However we can use this file to our advantage.

At the bottom of the file (Above </dict>) Type in:

<string>WHATEVER YOUR MONITOR IS CALLED NOW</string>
<key>WHATEVER YOU WANT IT TO BE CALLED</key>

You Find out what it called from About this mac Display Section. Copy the Name.
*Don't Copy the " Display" Part!

For Example Mine Read for both monitors:

<key>SyncMaster</key>
<string>Samsung SyncMaster 2232BW</string>
<key>VA912-4SERIES</key>
<string>Viewsonic VA912b</string>

Save a copy to desktop, Drag over original, (Make A Backup first!) and Reopen ATM or Restart.

Please Bare With Me on having multiple display pictures! I'm So Close!!!

Thanks!
 

Attachments

  • MacOSX.png
    MacOSX.png
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  • prodigy.icns.zip
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Mod About This Mac 10.8!

You sir, are awesome.

This should totally be featured on the website
 
Mod About This Mac 10.8!

awesome guide man , this is very cool, as tony i also liked the nes version . it is very nostalgic . cool work ! thanks for sharing !
 
Mod About This Mac 10.8!

Wow! I made the Home Page! Thanks for all the comments. I'll be updating this thread after work tonight to include more pictures and Probably a youtube video of the whole thing. Thanks again.

I'm Not Sure what happened to my Posting. Sorry Tony, Can you make my new post active "Mod About This Mac 10.8! With Pictures!"

Thanks!
 
Mod About This Mac 10.8!

I agree with all above - Well done! :thumbup:

Like Tonymacx86 I particularly like that NES artwork with the Macintosh a close second.

The article deserves a front-page slot - hopefully it may even get to Golden Thread status because it is shaping-up to be a nice, simple and clear tutorial for all.

:)
 
Mod About This Mac 10.8!

Doing a global Spotlight search on my machine, I can't find the file com.apple.systemprofiler.plist

Could it be hidden or locked from editing?
 
Mod About This Mac 10.8!

Doing a global Spotlight search on my machine, I can't find the file com.apple.systemprofiler.plist

Could it be hidden or locked from editing?


Sorry, Forgot to mention that some of the files are hidden.

Open Terminal and type

defaults write com.apple.Finder AppleShowAllFiles TRUE

Then you'll have to relaunch Finder

In the same terminal type

killall Finder

When your done you might want to rehide the files. Use the same method but with FALSE instead of true.

Good luck.
 
Mod About This Mac 10.8!

Muhahahahaha! :clap:

screenshot20121118at030.png
 
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