.htaccess and rewrite on mac

[eluser]learning_php[/eluser]
its an apache apache 404 error.
with my .htaccess file in the mysite root folder as the following:

Code:

<IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
  RewriteEngine on
  RewriteBase /
  RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
  RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
  RewriteRule ^(.*)$ index.php/$1 [QSA,NC,L]
</IfModule>

and by base url is set to localhost:8888/mystite/

Which URI protocol should i be using as i currenlty have it set to Auto?