[Abbas]

Although I still use PC's heavily, I decided to pick up a 12" ibook and am liking it. However, this is my first attemp at a Mac and I had a few questions- wondering if anyone can help

1) In the PC, you have a BIOS when you start- is there such a thing in Macs? If yes, how do I access it

2) What exactly is the Mac loading when you starup and have that grey screen and Aplle logo along with the rotating icon- is it the drivers?

3) I'm so used to double clicking on a Windows Menu bar to maximize and restore it. On Macs, it minimizes instead- any way to change this action in Macs?

4) For creating a new file in Windows, I would simply right click, select New and then the type of file. How would I do this on a Mac.

5) Is it possoble to map network drives so they automatically load at startup? And instead of having their icon on the dektop, can it be inside a folder? I connect to about 6 drives and the desktop becomes very cluttered.

6) In the Mail application, is there a way to move to the next message? Right now, it seems as though I have to close a message and click on the next message from the main window list. Would be a lot easier if the Mail Message view had the Next/Previous buttons.

Thanks- I'm sure more questions will pop up.

-Abbas

[CharlesS]

Originally posted by Abbas:
Although I still use PC's heavily, I decided to pick up a 12" ibook and am liking it. However, this is my first attemp at a Mac and I had a few questions- wondering if anyone can help

Welcome aboard. I'm sure you'll find many of us will be glad to help you with your questions. I'll take a crack at these:

1) In the PC, you have a BIOS when you start- is there such a thing in Macs? If yes, how do I access it

Holding down Command-Option-O-F at startup time gets you into the Open Firmware screen. Alternatively, if all you want to do is change the boot disk at startup, holding down the Option key while starting up the machine or rebooting gets you into the boot selector. There is also an nvram command line tool that lets you manipulate the Open Firmware settings without actually having to boot into Open Firmware.

Last but not least, if all you want is to lock down the OF settings so people can't change them or boot from an external disk or single-user mode without a password, there is an Open Firmware Password utility included in the Applications/Utilities folder on Disk 1 of the OS X install CDs which does just that.

2) What exactly is the Mac loading when you starup and have that grey screen and Aplle logo along with the rotating icon- is it the drivers?

A detailed description of the OS X boot process can be found here:

http://developer.apple.com/documenta...tup/index.html

If you have the developer tools installed, these docs will also be found in your Developer folder. There are also docs for many other aspects of the system that you may be interested in.

3) I'm so used to double clicking on a Windows Menu bar to maximize and restore it. On Macs, it minimizes instead- any way to change this action in Macs?

Only through third-party hacks. On the Mac, you should get used to not always having your windows full-screen - since the menu bar is always at the top and the full width of the screen, it's not necessary to have the windows huge. Plus, many of us have found that we can work more efficiently when we are able to see more than one window on the screen at a time.

4) For creating a new file in Windows, I would simply right click, select New and then the type of file. How would I do this on a Mac.

Not sure exactly what you're wanting to do here - I usually just open whatever app I would use to create the file.

5) Is it possoble to map network drives so they automatically load at startup? And instead of having their icon on the dektop, can it be inside a folder? I connect to about 6 drives and the desktop becomes very cluttered.

In the Finder's Preferences screen, in General, there are some check boxes that let you choose what shows up on the Desktop. Servers are one of the items you can leave out if you don't want them there. The servers will still appear in Go -> Computer and the Finder sidebar.

As to how to automatically map a network drive... hmm, that used to be fairly easy to do in OS 9, but to be honest I'm not sure of an easy way in OS X. I suppose you could mount the drive, make an alias of it, and stick the alias in your login items - that would probably work. Alternately, there might be a way to make an AppleScript to mount the drive, and put that in the login items. Hmm...

edit: This AppleScript will do the trick:

Code:
mount volume "afp://username@server.com"

If you want to automatically enter your password, you can do this:

Code:
mount volume "afp://username@server.com" with password "password"

Of course, the second method is pretty bad security-wise, for the obvious reasons. A better solution would probably be to just click the "Options..." button in the password prompt window and check "Store password in keychain" instead of putting the password in the script.

6) In the Mail application, is there a way to move to the next message? Right now, it seems as though I have to close a message and click on the next message from the main window list. Would be a lot easier if the Mail Message view had the Next/Previous buttons.

Not sure about this one - you could of course view the messages in pane mode, and use the arrow keys to switch between them. This probably isn't what you want, though.

[jasong]

Just to simplify what Charles said on #5, you can mount your network drives, open System Preferences click on Accounts and then go to the Startup Items tab. Simply drag the network drive icons into the Startup Items window. If you want your network drives to mount without prompting you for a password each time, click the options button and add your password to the keychain (make sure you click the save preferences button).

Question #1, there is a ton of information on the web about Open Firmware (the Mac analog to a PC BIOS). Just Google "Open Firmware"

Question #2, if you want to see what is going on, hold down command (the apple key) V when you hear the startup chime. This will boot the system in Verbose mode, which simply means it will show you what is happening rather than the pretty gray apple and blue progress bar.

Question #3, I just want to reiterate what Charles said. You rarely want to work with an app at full screen on a Mac. It's just one of the differences.

Question #4, I've never found anything on a Mac that fully replicates this. I do remember a CMM (contextual menu plugin) that did something similar. For those who don't know, on Windows if you right click in the Explorer, one of the options is New > where you can choose a new folder, as well as a new document of almost any type that has a program on your computer. So you could create a new InDesign document, a new Word document, a new text file, etc. Fairly useful, especially if you are creating a new project folder where you know you will need certain types of documents, you can simply create them all in one shot without having to switch apps.

Good luck with your Mac!

-- Jason

[JKT]

Originally posted by jasong:
Question #4, I've never found anything on a Mac that fully replicates this. I do remember a CMM (contextual menu plugin) that did something similar. For those who don't know, on Windows if you right click in the Explorer, one of the options is New > where you can choose a new folder, as well as a new document of almost any type that has a program on your computer. So you could create a new InDesign document, a new Word document, a new text file, etc. Fairly useful, especially if you are creating a new project folder where you know you will need certain types of documents, you can simply create them all in one shot without having to switch apps.

I guess the closest thing in OS X is the Services menu for those apps that support it. However, some apps (such as Mail) will have a Dock contextual menu item that will allow you to e.g. create a new message window but it'll depend on the app.

[Gavin]

1) In the PC, you have a BIOS ... how do I access it

generally there is not much to do there like with a pc. There are some tricks for locking it up so you can't start in single user mode, etc. And there are some cases where you can recover from a bad system problem by resetting the factory specs (rare). But people don't usually fiddle with it. I think it's all command line, no menus or visible options.

2) What exactly is the Mac loading when you starup and have that grey screen and Aplle logo along with the rotating icon- is it the drivers?

All sorts of stuff. It's basically doing what a unix machine does when it starts up. Like oin a linux box lots of text goes by while it loads the kernel and does low level startup. The grey screen just keeps you from having to look at it.

3) I'm so used to double clicking on a Windows Menu bar to maximize and restore it.

That drives me nuts, there used to be a thing called window shade back in os 8 (?) which was very useful. There's no way to turn it off. I think there is a shareware thing that changes the behavior.

5) Is it possoble to map network drives so they automatically load at startup? And instead of having their icon on the dektop, can it be inside a folder? I connect to about 6 drives and the desktop becomes very cluttered.

OS X has samba so you can do the whole windows file sharing thing.

a how to:
http://www.gsd.harvard.edu/inside/co...xmap_howto.htm

similar but it talks about mounting on startup:
https://engineering.purdue.edu/ECN/R...20020903120455

This stuff has changed with each version of the system so don't be surprised if the screenshots don't quite look like your computer.

also try
%man smbclient
in the terminal for the command line tools

google for 'smb map drive os x startup'

6) In the Mail application, is there a way to move to the next message?

no buttons, but you can use the up and down keys in split screen mode. At the very bottom of the window there is a little dot, double click it, or grab it and drag it up.

[NeilCharter]

1. I would seriously not mess around the OS X basic system, unless you really know what you're doing. The basic OS is designed to be left alone, even by apps. This is obviously different with Windows and is one of the reasons why OS X is so stable.

2. If you are concerned about the time taken to boot the PB, you can simply put the machine to sleep by closing the lid. This is pretty energy efficient and means there is no wait to access your account. My PB is always on and typically only reboot after installing updates.

3. Yeah minimize doesn't work the same way on a Mac. I actually like the fact that in windows clicking on the dock icon will minimize the window. I hope that some time Apple will include that for OS X. Saying that the expose buttons knida do something similar.

4. It is true that Windows rely heavily on the right mouse button for contextual imputs.

OS X has been providing more functionality using a two button mouse, but it is still not up to par with windows.

More use is made of keyboard shortcuts. For example, a new window is Command key (Apple) - M.

The good thing with keyboard shortcuts on a mac is that the use is consistant through the OS and third party apps. In Windows, I often get annoyed because in some programs Ctrl-X will copy and in others only a right click selection will work. Even within the same program, one may have to use the keyboard to copy in one situation and use the mouse in another. Very annoying and time consuming.

[CharlesS]

Originally posted by jasong:
Just to simplify what Charles said on #5, you can mount your network drives, open System Preferences click on Accounts and then go to the Startup Items tab. Simply drag the network drive icons into the Startup Items window. If you want your network drives to mount without prompting you for a password each time, click the options button and add your password to the keychain (make sure you click the save preferences button).

Huh, you're right - this works! You don't even have to make an alias of the server - just drop it into the login items. Sweet!

[Abbas]

Thanks for all the responses- great stuff!

Two more things I thought of- I'm moving from Outlook in Windows and I see that we have Entourage and Mail for OS-X. Which one is preferable? I liked the fac that Outlook stored all the information in ONE file and thus, whenever I needed to format my PC (once in 6-8 months), I could backup that file and format, re-install and get everything up an running. As per my understanding, Mail keeps all mails in seperate files right? Is there an easy way to recover in case you need to format the O/S? Or does Entourage do what Outlook does?

Next, how often do you guys format a Mac OS? Is this something practiced on the Mac at all? Yesterday, I got a Kernel Panic on the Mac (I think the memory module I added isnt that good even though it tested fine in memtest), and after restarting it asks for my password. Strange thing is that my password does not seem to work. I know the password is right as it had asked me a few times before when installing an application.

-Abbas

[juanvaldes]

mail does use the mbox standard. If you so desire to backup your mail simply copy ~/Library/Mail/

When you restore just put the folder back in this location and mail will find it.

As for restore the OS, never.

Welcome

[CharlesS]

Originally posted by Abbas:
Next, how often do you guys format a Mac OS? Is this something practiced on the Mac at all?

Some people like to reformat once in a while, apparently for the "fresh and clean" feeling they get from it. If the hard disk was badly hosed, this could be necessary... but about 99% of the time, you are not going to want to reformat. OS X rarely gets messed up enough that you would need to reinstall it, and even if this were to happen, you can just use Archive and Install instead of reformatting, which moves your old system files into a folder, installs a completely clean system, and leaves your old data, preference files, applications, etc. intact. Welcome to the Mac.

Yesterday, I got a Kernel Panic on the Mac (I think the memory module I added isnt that good even though it tested fine in memtest), and after restarting it asks for my password. Strange thing is that my password does not seem to work. I know the password is right as it had asked me a few times before when installing an application.

Hmm, I've never seen that before. I'd probably just boot from the install CD and use the "reset password" feature which is in one of the menus.

[Spheric Harlot]

Re: The full screen/maximize thing.

One of the differences on the Mac is that the whole interface is so pervasively drag-and-drop (FAR more than on Windows - see the auto-mount-network-drives-on-startup tip above) that it's much more effective to work with the depth of the interface and layers of open windows. Anything blocking the entire screen is generally unnecessary and quite an annoyance.

Though with Exposé, the annoyance is greatly reduced on small screens. BTW, if you wish to drag an object/selection/file/attachment/etc. from one window into another, while you're dragging (i.e. holding down the mouse button), Exposé and Apple-Tab will still work.

This makes drag-and-drop the basic, universal theme of the entire interface.



Re: New file creation.

Universal keyboard shortcut: Apple-N



Re: Mail

When you're in split-screen mode (just drag the separator bar up), you can step through emails by the screenful with the space bar.



Re: Format and reinstall

I've been a Mac user since 1989, and the only time I've EVER *had to* format/reinstall the OS (not counting fresh setups after partitioning or on new hardware) was in 1990, after an unrecoverable hard disk crash. My iMac DV 400 is currently running on a four-year-old install of OS X continually updated until 10.3.7. (BTW, last virus was in 1992, IIRC - only ever had two.)



Welcome to Macintosh.


-s*

[jasong]

One thing to note re: Mail and Entourage. Mac OS X 10.0 - 10.3.7 Mail uses the Unix MBox format, so each folder is essentially one file (i.e. Folder "Bills" contains 100 messages, but is actually one file called "Bills.mbox". I believe this is changing in 10.4 Mail where each message will be its own file. This is so Mail can be searched using Spotlight, the new system-wide search mechanism in Tiger. You want Spotlight, it will redefine how you interact with your computer. I am using the MSN Desktop Search Beta, and Spotlight is so much better it is scary.

Anyway, the point of this is: I would stick with Mail/Address Book/iCal over Entourage because it will integrate with everything much better. Also, in terms of backing up your mail. Simply backup your ~/Library/Mail folder ("~" means your Home) and you will have all of your mail. Even better, simply backup your home folder and if you ever have an OS disaster, you can reinstall, use the same user name, and then just copy your home folder back over again and your are all done. Seriously, recovering a Mac OS X catastrophic failure is so much easier than windows.

Anyway, have fun!

-- Jason

[NeilCharter]

I personally like Mail over Entourage. My wife though prefers Entourage since it is very close to Outlook on a PC.

It really does depend what you want from your mac. If you are willing to learn some new stuff then go for mail - the junk filter is superb and the general look and feel vastly superior to entourage. Mail should be able to import all your mail from outlook.

On the otherhand if you want the intergrated mail/calender/addressbook approach use entourage.

The thing with macs is that in reality there is more choice about how to do something than on a PC - you decide what is best for you.

[CharlesS]

Originally posted by jasong:
Even better, simply backup your home folder and if you ever have an OS disaster, you can reinstall, use the same user name, and then just copy your home folder back over again and your are all done. Seriously, recovering a Mac OS X catastrophic failure is so much easier than windows.

Unless the hard drive gets completely hosed, you don't even have to do this much. Just archive and install. The system gets reinstalled, your old home folder and all the documents inside it stay exactly where they are. Total time to have your system working exactly the same way it was before you had to reinstall: The time it takes the installer to run. It's that simple.

[jasong]

Right, I should have been more clear. The one time I have had to do this was due to a hard drive failure, I've never managed to screw up my system despite the useless crap I've installed on it. I even have a machine that has gone from OS 8.0 > 8.1 > 8.6 > 9.0 > OS X Public Beta > OS X 10.0 > 10.1 > 10.2 > 10.3.7 (thanks to XPostFacto). These are upgrades each time. I can't believe it, but this machine (Beige G3 with a G4/400 upgrade) runs quite well serving iTunes, network backup, and DVarchive.

All that aside. The method for backing up I mentioned was more to illustrate how simple OS X can be, I wasn't promoting it as a great method for backing up, even if it does usually protect what's most important - your data.

-- Jason

[Groovy]

Originally posted by NeilCharter:


3. Yeah minimize doesn't work the same way on a Mac. I actually like the fact that in windows clicking on the dock icon will minimize the window. I hope that some time Apple will include that for OS X. Saying that the expose buttons knida do something similar.

sure it does and it is better than windows because you can launch and hide from the
dock and why the icon is meant to STAY in the dock forever unlike windows default
taskbar where when app quits it disappears from the taskbar.

click it launches it or brings it to front if already running
right click HIDES it (or option click for 1 button mouse users)
for me it is even easier. I have a 5 button mouse and one of my
extra buttons is set to OPTION+CLICK.

you can also change the dock prefs for how all that works

[NeilCharter]

Thank you Mr Groovy I did not realize you could hide using a single click on the dock.

That is really cool, because one of the annoying things with the windows implementation is if you accidently click on the active app / document it will minimize it. With the mac implementation you can't make that mistake so easily.

You learn something everyday. This is what is great about the wonderful world of macs.

Cheers,

Neil

[Groovy]

Originally posted by Abbas:
Although I still use PC's heavily, I decided to pick up a 12" ibook and am liking it. However, this is my first attemp at a Mac and I had a few questions- wondering if anyone can help

1) In the PC, you have a BIOS when you start- is there such a thing in Macs? If yes, how do I access it

2) What exactly is the Mac loading when you starup and have that grey screen and Aplle logo along with the rotating icon- is it the drivers?

3) I'm so used to double clicking on a Windows Menu bar to maximize and restore it. On Macs, it minimizes instead- any way to change this action in Macs?

4) For creating a new file in Windows, I would simply right click, select New and then the type of file. How would I do this on a Mac.

5) Is it possoble to map network drives so they automatically load at startup? And instead of having their icon on the dektop, can it be inside a folder? I connect to about 6 drives and the desktop becomes very cluttered.

6) In the Mail application, is there a way to move to the next message? Right now, it seems as though I have to close a message and click on the next message from the main window list. Would be a lot easier if the Mail Message view had the Next/Previous buttons.

Thanks- I'm sure more questions will pop up.

-Abbas

1) really no need to mess with it unless you want to add security levels
so others can't mess with it lol

2) about the same kind of stuff on any OS. drivers, artwork, daemons, libs etc...

3) yes read my post above

4) yes there are a number of CM's that do this. In fact you can even script
your own (very easy to do) to go BEYOND that and send any app commands
to not just make a blank new file here but to do all sorts of stuff like add to
that file your company logo to the header etc... so it is all ready to go for
you to get down to biz and not have to do the redundant stuff.

5) yes all my PC's here mount on my G5 at startup/login Read the other posts
the info is there.

6) not sure. I have never used mail app, I use Eudora.

7) http://www.macosxhints.com/ <------- Go there ASAP lol

[Groovy]

Originally posted by NeilCharter:
Thank you Mr Groovy I did not realize you could hide using a single click on the dock.

That is really cool, because one of the annoying things with the windows implementation is if you accidently click on the active app / document it will minimize it. With the mac implementation you can't make that mistake so easily.

You learn something everyday. This is what is great about the wonderful world of macs.

Cheers,

Neil

NP

granted some of this stuff is not so obvious and i blame apple.

The good news though if there is no apple way to do it at least apple has made it so
you can script it or do CM's , or services etc... to do it.

[NeilCharter]

Mac Help does actually list the shortcut.

Fact is I've rarely use the help.

This is one of the few occasions when it have been useful.

[USNA91]

Welcome to the club, Abbas. I joined less than a month ago, myself!

It will take some time to get used to the Mac, and some frustration, but once you learn the differences it gets much easier. I find myself "fighting" the computer much less than I first did, although I must admit to still having some issues. The whole "one menu bar for every program" thing is a particular peave of mine, but I'm getting used to it.

If I might be a bit rude for a moment, I'd like to throw out a quick noob question or two to the folks here rather than starting another thread, and perhaps the answers may be of use to you, too.

1) Is there any way to change the mouse pointer(s)?

2) Is there any way to change the icons in the dock and/or in Finder?

3) How do I associate a file type with a particular program? For example, I'd like all JPG files to open with PhotoShop Elements, but so far it seems that I will have to open every single file individually in order to set it up. I have a few thousand images, so I'm hoping there is a shortcut.

4) Are there any third-party replacements for Finder?


That's it!

I hope you enjoy your Mac as much as I am enjoying mine. Now that I've resolved a few bug issues with some software I bought, it's becoming quite fun. Hell, I'm able to use this computer at the office instead of my issued PC! LOL!

[Abbas]

Thank you everyone- these forums are indeed very helpful and I'm sure with a little more patience, I should be able to navigate the O/S much better. One thing that I really dont like is the single button mouse. Since I am on an ibook, I did some research and found this utility called Sidetrack which definitely helps in making your track pad a two button device. Things just get so much more convenient with a two button mouse if you dont want to reach out for the keyboard.

Originally posted by USNA91:

3) How do I associate a file type with a particular program? For example, I'd like all JPG files to open with PhotoShop Elements, but so far it seems that I will have to open every single file individually in order to set it up. I have a few thousand images, so I'm hoping there is a shortcut.

I know that right-clicking gives you a pop-up menu which has an "Open With" option and in there, just like Windows, you can use the "Open this application everytime with this kind of document" checkbox. Seriously- invest in a two button mouse or the Sidetrack software- us Windows converts need the right click to make the transition a lot easier


-Abbas

[RedHerring]

Originally posted by USNA91:

3) How do I associate a file type with a particular program? For example, I'd like all JPG files to open with PhotoShop Elements, but so far it seems that I will have to open every single file individually in order to set it up. I have a few thousand images, so I'm hoping there is a shortcut.

I'm fairly new to the Mac myself... but I know the answer to this one Haha.

Ctrl+click/Right-click on a file of the type you want to associate... choose "Open With..." and then go to "Other" (even if the program you want to use is in the list). In the dialog that appears, choose the program you want to associate your files with and then check the "Always Open With" option at the bottom of the dialog.

There may be another way to do this that I don't know about. But this one seems to work for me!

[CharlesS]

Originally posted by USNA91:
Welcome to the club, Abbas. I joined less than a month ago, myself!

It will take some time to get used to the Mac, and some frustration, but once you learn the differences it gets much easier. I find myself "fighting" the computer much less than I first did, although I must admit to still having some issues. The whole "one menu bar for every program" thing is a particular peave of mine, but I'm getting used to it.

If I might be a bit rude for a moment, I'd like to throw out a quick noob question or two to the folks here rather than starting another thread, and perhaps the answers may be of use to you, too.

1) Is there any way to change the mouse pointer(s)?

Only through third-party hacks.

2) Is there any way to change the icons in the dock and/or in Finder?

Yes! Just click on any file, folder, program, or disk (basically, just about any icon that appears in the Finder!) and choose Get Info from the File menu. Click on the icon that appears in the upper left, and paste in any picture to make it the icon for that file.

3) How do I associate a file type with a particular program? For example, I'd like all JPG files to open with PhotoShop Elements, but so far it seems that I will have to open every single file individually in order to set it up. I have a few thousand images, so I'm hoping there is a shortcut.

Click on one of these files, Get Info, go to "Open With", choose the app you want, and click Change All.

4) Are there any third-party replacements for Finder?

There's something called Path Finder which is quite popular and gets good reviews. I haven't tried it, but you can find it by searching for it at www.versiontracker.com.

[USNA91]

Originally posted by CharlesS:

Yes! Just click on any file, folder, program, or disk (basically, just about any icon that appears in the Finder!) and choose Get Info from the File menu. Click on the icon that appears in the upper left, and paste in any picture to make it the icon for that file.

Kewal!

Click on one of these files, Get Info, go to "Open With", choose the app you want, and click Change All.

Negative. I tried that. That only seems to work for the individual file in question. So far, I've had to do that for EACH file....

ETA: Woops! Wait a minute! I didn't see "Change All". Let me look...

ETAA: Nope. Mine says "Always open with", and it only does it for the one file.

There's something called Path Finder which is quite popular and gets good reviews. I haven't tried it, but you can find it by searching for it at www.versiontracker.com. [/B]

Thanks!

[USNA91]

Originally posted by RedHerring:
I'm fairly new to the Mac myself... but I know the answer to this one Haha.

Ctrl+click/Right-click on a file of the type you want to associate... choose "Open With..." and then go to "Other" (even if the program you want to use is in the list). In the dialog that appears, choose the program you want to associate your files with and then check the "Always Open With" option at the bottom of the dialog.

There may be another way to do this that I don't know about. But this one seems to work for me!

Got it!

In order for it to work, you need to right-click on the file and select "Get Info". In the subsequent window it will ask what program to use, and then ygive you the option to "Change all". That did it.

Thanks!

[CharlesS]

Originally posted by USNA91:
Got it!

In order for it to work, you need to right-click on the file and select "Get Info". In the subsequent window it will ask what program to use, and then ygive you the option to "Change all". That did it.

Thanks!

Uh, yeah, that's kind of what I said... (Click on one of these files, Get Info, go to "Open With", choose the app you want, and click Change All)

[hecateh]

just read through this looking to see if anything might help me! I am also a windows convert, been using my g5 since march and i love it, seems like X was designed so well us (ex)windows users cant find anything because its where its meant to be. I still cant get used to a 1 button mouse! I just had to replace it! :-)

Seen some interesting tips which I may be using myself :-)

[jasong]

I can't say enough about SideTrack. If you want to make it even more useful, map the trackpad corners to exposé and then make the sides scrollable. I like my trackpad more than a mouse now.

-- Jason

[USNA91]

Originally posted by CharlesS:
Uh, yeah, that's kind of what I said... (Click on one of these files, Get Info, go to "Open With", choose the app you want, and click Change All)

Yeah, I know. The thing is, I didn't know where "Get Info" was!

[USNA91]

Originally posted by hecateh:
I still cant get used to a 1 button mouse! I just had to replace it! :-)

Me too!

Give me two buttons and a scroll wheel, baby!

[NeilCharter]

I think Apple's stance on buttons on mice are based on two things.

First, plenty of 3rd party mice are available and it's important to Apple that these guys continue to support Macs with these type of peripherals.

Second, use of a two button mouse can cause physical damage to the hand. The one buttoned mouse definitely causes less stress.

Saying that I ditched my Apple mouse once I realized how useful two button (and a wheel was).

GetInfo is really useful. You can change permissions, program association AS WELL AS changing the icon. Simply cut and paste the picture. Change the picture of an app and it's alias in the dock should change.

[cpac]

Originally posted by USNA91:
Yeah, I know. The thing is, I didn't know where "Get Info" was!

thankfully its not only available from a contextual menu, but can also be accessed from the keyboard (command-i), menus(File->Get Info), and even a toolbar button (that blue circle with a white "i").

I did not find two button mice compelling until the addition of a scrollwheel - that has made it a very nice adition for me, but I do think that allowing developers to rely on contextual menus (as M$ has) makes for more sloppy and less refined interfaces. I'd prefer Apple' developers remain concerned with making things simple and straitforward enough for all those users out there with single button mice...

[Groovy]

Originally posted by USNA91:
Yeah, I know. The thing is, I didn't know where "Get Info" was!

haha well I never use finder menus myself like it appears charles does.
I always right click, I have like 50+ options in the CM menu that pops up
(note all at the top level of course. One is called File Utls with a bunch of
sub options etc... ) anyway many of them i wrote myself like

Gather Items

which i wrote to do 1 thing and do it well. Select all the files and folders you
want then right click and the CM pops up and select Gather Items which makes
a new time stamped folder right there like this

Gathered Items (Tue, Dec 21, 2004 08.37.58 PM)


then it moves EVERYTHING you had selected into that folder I use it daily.
it is part of this AWESOME add on OnMyCommandCM

http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/16242


users like me write and send in commands for OnMyCommandCM
and there are a TON of commands in the package now.

[khufuu]

Originally posted by Groovy:
sure it does and it is better than windows because you can launch and hide from the
dock and why the icon is meant to STAY in the dock forever unlike windows default
taskbar where when app quits it disappears from the taskbar.

Um... that's why Apple calls it a 'dock' and MS calls it a 'taskbar'.

Once you close a process (or task) it has to disappear from the taskbar because it's no longer running. Actually, from a GUI perspective, Apple's dock is a combination of a the 'start' button and a taskbar which is actually kind of inconsistent and confusing.

[Spheric Harlot]

Originally posted by khufuu:
Actually, from a GUI perspective, Apple's dock is a combination of a the 'start' button and a taskbar which is actually kind of inconsistent and confusing.

But much more practical.

In OS X, there is no real need to distinguish between running/non-running applications, since there is no need to quit applications. So keeping items in the same location permanently takes UI precedence.

[Spheric Harlot]

One other thing to note about the one-button mouse is that it FORCES developers to assume that users only have one button, which means:

There is ALWAYS a menu option for what you want to do with a right-click.

This is a very, very good thing.

[theolein]

Originally posted by Spheric Harlot:
But much more practical.

In OS X, there is no real need to distinguish between running/non-running applications, since there is no need to quit applications. So keeping items in the same location permanently takes UI precedence.

This is just wrong. I don't know if you've ever taken OSX to the limit where it actually runs out of RAM and has to swap data out to disk. The OS slows to a crawl making it all but useless for complex tasks.

This isn't only a problem in OSX, but in all OS's which use disk paging for swap space when RAM runs out of space, such as Windows and Linux. It's perfectly normal. Leaving all your applications open is fine as long as you have free RAM, but it is not good once your machine starts having to use VM extensively.

[Spheric Harlot]

Originally posted by theolein:
This is just wrong. I don't know if you've ever taken OSX to the limit where it actually runs out of RAM and has to swap data out to disk. The OS slows to a crawl making it all but useless for complex tasks.

This isn't only a problem in OSX, but in all OS's which use disk paging for swap space when RAM runs out of space, such as Windows and Linux. It's perfectly normal. Leaving all your applications open is fine as long as you have free RAM, but it is not good once your machine starts having to use VM extensively.

This is ONLY a problem when you're switching between applications.

In which case, if you'd quit the one app and launch the other, you'd have an at least equal wait. Thus, it really doesn't make much of a difference. (Also, I find that OS X handles these situations MUCH more gracefully than Windows NT/derivates.)

Assuming, of course, that you have enough free space on the hard drive.

-s*

[Cadaver]

Originally posted by USNA91:
Me too!

Give me two buttons and a scroll wheel, baby!

Logitech MX1000 Laser mouse, baby!

[CharlesS]

Originally posted by Groovy:
haha well I never use finder menus myself like it appears charles does.

Actually, I use Command-I. But File -> Get Info is usually easier to explain to new users, though.

[USNA91]

Originally posted by Cadaver:
Logitech MX1000 Laser mouse, baby!

If someone would only build a silver version without an external antenna or recharger....

I travel a lot, so the recharger type doesn't work for me, and I HATE that damned USB antenna hanging off the starboard side....

Yes, I now about that silver BT mouse, but I've heard mixed reviews. Plus, I don't think I'd find it comfortable.

Hey, I figure if my right hand is going to spend so much time holding it, I may as well be picky.

That doesn't sound right, does it?

[Cadaver]

Originally posted by USNA91:
Hey, I figure if my right hand is going to spend so much time holding it, I may as well be picky.

Hey now, this is a family-friendly forum?

[ApeInTheShell]

You do have to click on the application icon once it is loaded in the Dock and select 'Keep in Dock' so it won't disapear when you quit the application. In another instance, you can drag n drop the app icon on the Dock to keep it there.

One of the things i like about Mac OS X is that when you close a window it does not quit the application. Also, allowing the user to see more than one window is visual feedback.

Another thing I find an advantage is lack of hotkeys in applications. I can't accidently press Ctrl W on the Mac while I am typing fast. There are no unexcepted errors. I just like my Mac. It makes me warm and fuzzy inside.

[Amorya]

Originally posted by hecateh:
I still cant get used to a 1 button mouse! I just had to replace it! :-)

Don't worry about that - plenty of Mac users dislike a one button mouse. (I'm not one of them, but think it's great that we have the choice either way )

Originally posted by NeilCharter:
I think Apple's stance on buttons on mice are based on two things.

First, plenty of 3rd party mice are available and it's important to Apple that these guys continue to support Macs with these type of peripherals.

Second, use of a two button mouse can cause physical damage to the hand. The one buttoned mouse definitely causes less stress.

The second one is my reasoning... I got a bit of RSI from a crappy default mouse once and it put me off them for ages!

Apple also has another reason though. According to them, there should never be any REQUIREMENT to use a contextual menu. This is because the contents of such a menu is not obvious to newbies. So if they ship a one button mouse, developers are less likely to make such a requirement!

Amorya

[Spheric Harlot]

Originally posted by ApeInTheShell:
You do have to click on the application icon once it is loaded in the Dock and select 'Keep in Dock' so it won't disapear when you quit the application. In another instance, you can drag n drop the app icon on the Dock to keep it there.

Another thing I find an advantage is lack of hotkeys in applications. I can't accidently press Ctrl W on the Mac while I am typing fast. There are no unexcepted errors. I just like my Mac. It makes me warm and fuzzy inside.

#1: ctrl-W may not work, but Cmd-W will.

#2: you can just drag the open app to a different location on the dock and it will stay there.

[alphasubzero949]

Originally posted by jasong:
Even better, simply backup your home folder and if you ever have an OS disaster, you can reinstall, use the same user name, and then just copy your home folder back over again and your are all done.

I completely agree as I just had one disaster of my own (60 GB of data wiped out by one renegade program!). I fed CD after CD containing all of my music, movies, photos, documents, and everything in the Library and I was all set. However, some preferences will cause the system to be a little quirky. It's better to let the fresh system recreate your Apple prefs (the ones called com.apple.xxxx.plist).

[Boondoggle]

Originally posted by CharlesS:
Huh, you're right - this works! You don't even have to make an alias of the server - just drop it into the login items. Sweet!

Useing the startup items in the system prefs works fine, with 2 exceptions. First, on a Portable, the finder will beachball for some time looking for your server(s) if you're not in the vicinity.

Second, for me at least, clicking the "Hide" button does not work.

What I do is create an alias of the actual folder on the drive that I want to access, and then either put it in my Finder Toolbar, or in the Dock. Clicking on that both mounts the drive and takes me to the folder in one swell foop. And when I power up at Starbucks, etc, I don't have to suffer through the beachball.

If you don't use an alias, the Finder looks for the original item and you get a question mark in place of the icon if i is not mounted. I use custom icons to represent the systems the various drives are in. B&W G3, etc.

For some reason though, the aliases don't seem to identify the network drives if the IP addresses changes. Apparently this aproach is not Rendesvous enabled. So I use reserved IP's.

bd