Chip Loder

Technical Writer

Chip is a 30-year Apple industry veteran, is author of 18 commercial Mac software products, and is a former Apple and Sony employee. He began hacking away on Apple computers on the Apple II+ in high school in the mid 1980's, then moved on to the Mac in the early 90's. In a previous life he created the game developer audio tools for Playstation 2 at Sony, and worked on the New World OpenFirmware found in late 90's Macs.

Latest Articles from Chip Loder

How to run new macOS versions on older Macs using OpenCore

Apple removes support for old Mac hardware in new macOS releases. Here's how to run modern macOS on older Macs using OpenCore.

Chip Loder | 1 year ago

How to use PDF Debugger to inspect a PDF file's code

Apple ended direct PostScript file support in macOS Sonoma, but you can still peek inside PDF files to see what they contain, by using PDF Debugger.

Chip Loder | 1 year ago

How to turn color photos black and white on iPad

The Photos app in iPadOS has a host of useful image correction tools. Here's how to use your iPad to turn color photos into black and white.

Chip Loder | 1 year ago

How Apple has changed Option key behavior in macOS Sonoma

The Mac's Option key has been used for decades to control desktop apps. Here are the changes in macOS Sonoma.

Chip Loder | 1 year ago

How to connect an Apple 30-inch Cinema Display to a modern Mac

If you just can't let go of your 30-inch Cinema Display, there's a way to connect it to your modern Mac with a simple adapter. Here's how.

Chip Loder | 1 year ago

How to get started using Metal Developer Tools for Windows

With the release of macOS Sonoma, Apple has also updated the current versions of Metal developer tools for use in Windows. Here's how to get and use them.

Chip Loder | 1 year ago

How to turn your vintage Mac into a Steam gaming machine using Bazzite

If you have an old iMac from the early 2000s, you can breathe new life into the hardware by turning it into a Steam gaming machine. Here's how.

Chip Loder | 1 year ago

Understanding Agentized LLMs: How to avoid making rogue AI

Recent advances in AI and the release of ChatGPT have sparked new interest in AI as a tool. Agentized LLMs are the latest attempt to make highly-specialized AIs, and to avoid them going rogue.

Chip Loder | 1 year ago

Optimizing Metal: Ways to improve code made for Apple's graphics framework

There is a vast array of ways to optimize your Metal graphics code to get top performance. Here's how to get started getting your code into better shape for the Metal framework.

Chip Loder | 11 months ago

How to run an Apple I on your Mac with OpenEmulator

The Apple I was Apple's first-ever computer, and you can try out computing history by emulating it using OpenEmulator. Here's how.

Chip Loder | 1 year ago

How to move your Home directory in macOS Ventura

In macOS Ventura you can move your user's Home directory to a larger or faster external drive. Here's how.

Chip Loder | 1 year ago

How to move or change your Apple Music library folder in macOS Ventura

The Apple Music app normally stores your media in your user's home folder, but it can consume a lot of space. Here's how to change its location.

Chip Loder | 1 year ago

How to install Apple's Game Porting Toolkit via a third-party installer

Apple's Game Porting ToolKit can be a bit tricky to install onto macOS. Now there's a third-party installer that makes the process much simpler.

Chip Loder | 1 year ago

How to get detailed macOS system info using uname

If you happen to be using Terminal, you can get quick system info through it using the uname command. Here's how to use the command line term in macOS.

Chip Loder | 1 year ago

How to refurbish a 2012 13-inch MacBook Pro

Older MacBook Pros are still a viable option for mobile work in this day and age. Here's how to refurbish a 13-inch MacBook Pro from 2012 and bring it up to scratch.

Chip Loder | 1 year ago

Building for Apple Vision Pro: Using the visionOS sample code

The Apple Vision Pro will bring an entirely new class of spatial apps to users. Here's how to get started by checking out Apple's sample code.

Chip Loder | 1 year ago

Understanding MetalKit: Getting started with Apple's graphics framework

MetalKit is a high-level framework which makes getting to grips with Metal easier. Here's how to get started using Apple's 3D framework.

Chip Loder | 1 year ago

Getting started with WidgetKit: Making your first macOS Widget

Widgets have been around on macOS and iOS for years. Here's how to use Apple's WidgetKit to create your own versions.

Chip Loder | 1 year ago

How to fix the Apple Music 'error -54' on macOS

Error -54 can sometimes appear when you edit your Apple Music Library on your Mac. Here's how to get past the issue and back to listening to your music.

Chip Loder | 1 year ago

How to install and use Game Porting Toolkit in Xcode

Apple's Game Porting Toolkit launch at WWDC offered a way for developers to see how Windows games ran on Apple Silicon before porting it to macOS. Here's how to install and use the toolkit.

Chip Loder | 1 year ago

All the changes in Metal: Performance HUD, shader assistance, more

For two consecutive years at WWDC, Apple improved Metal, with Metal 3 running on Apple Silicon Macs and on iOS and tvOS devices. Here are the big changes to Metal in the forthcoming iOS 17 and macOS Sonoma.

Chip Loder | 1 year ago

Why Apple uses integrated memory in Apple Silicon -- and why it's both good and bad

Apple's Unified Memory Architecture first brought changes to the Mac with Apple Silicon M1 chips. There are clear architectural benefits for the hardware — and it is both good and bad for consumers. Here's why.

Chip Loder | 1 year ago

Understanding MetalFX, Apple's graphics performance booster

While Metal is Apple's fast graphics rendering technology for games, MetalFX adds improvements to make it shine on Apple Silicon. Here's how MetalFX works.

Chip Loder | 1 year ago

Getting started with Apple Vision Pro developer software

Apple released its visionOS SDK and developer tools on Wednesday, along with more info about developing for Apple Vision Pro. Here's an overview of what it is, what it can do, and how to get started.

Chip Loder | 1 year ago