Fixing “Failed to connect to settings endpoint” Error in Microsoft Teams App on the Mac

Filed Under Computers & Tech on October 15, 2020 | Leave a Comment

As of October 2020, if you go to Microsoft’s site and download the very latest version of Teams and install it on a brand new Mac running the very latest version of macOS with all patches applied and all the default settings set, the Teams app will fail to log you in because it thinks it can’t see the internet. You’ll get a cryptic error that includes the phrase “Failed to connect to settings endpoint”.

The fix for this is really simple, but it took me for ever to find, so I figured I’d share it with the world and perhaps save other some stress ?

Tagged with: tutorial • macOS • Microsoft • Teams

Sep

6

Pondering Apple’s App Store Conundrum

Filed Under Computers & Tech on September 6, 2020 | Leave a Comment

I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about the whole App Store model in the last couple of months, and that goes double this month with Epic’s choice to use the release of the next major version of their iconic Fortnite game as an opportunity to pick a fight with Apple.

Three things have become extremely clear to me. Firstly, there are no saints or Satans in this drama. Secondly there are no simple solutions — every possible way forward I can conceive of involves tradeoffs. Which makes my third realisation all the more stark — things simply can’t continue as they are. Users are increasingly finding themselves stuck in the middle and having a worse experience for it, and regulators all around the world are taking note. The status quo simply cannot stand, so change is coming, the question is simply what change, and who’ll be in the driving seat.

When I started writing this post I had no idea how I’d end it. I chose to write it precisely because I needed to organise my thoughts, and writing helps me do that. It took a while, but eventually the fog cleared and I was able to marshal my thoughts into a coherent suggestion for how Apple could resolve all this in a positive way.

TL;DR — I think Apple should take the initiative and act before they have a poor solution forced on them, and that they don’t need to throw everything out and start over, but can evolve the current system into one that has a bright future by making just a few important changes.

Tagged with: Apple • opinion

Jul

26

TTT Part 39 of n – Advanced TMUX

Filed Under System Administration, Computers & Tech on July 26, 2020 | Leave a Comment

This post is part 39 of 39 in the series Taming the Terminal

In the previous instalment we learned how to use the tmux as a replacement for the screen command which has been deprecated on RedHat Enterprise Linux (and hence CentOS too). In this instalment we’ll take TMUX to the next level, making use of the fact that a single TMUX session can contain arbitrarily many windows, each consisting of arbitrarily many panes.

As a reminder from last time â€” in the TMUX-universe, sessions contain windows contain panes. By default a session contains one window which contains one full-width and full-height pane. Windows can be thought of as stacking behind each other, like tabs in a browser, and panes are arrayed next to each other within a window.

Tagged with: command-line • tutorial • Taming the Terminal • tmux

Jul

11

TTT Part 38 of n – TMUX (A Screen Alternative)

Filed Under Computers & Tech on July 11, 2020 | Leave a Comment

This post is part 38 of 39 in the series Taming the Terminal

Since we covered the screen command in instalment 36, it has been deprecated in Red Enterprise Linux 8, and the official advice from Red Hat is to transition to the tmux command. Having been a fan of screen for years, I was skeptical, but I shouldn’t have been â€” tmux can do everything screen can, it can arguably do it better, and, it can do much more than screen ever could!

Tagged with: command-line • tutorial • Taming the Terminal • tmux • screen