[Kaps]

I am helping a friend out. He has been using a Lombard under OS 9 and recently purchased a second hand G4 PowerBook running OS X (Panther). We have a couple of questions regarding the migration:

1) Is there an easy way to change the account name to his name rather than the person he bought it from. If it requires using terminal, is there a web site with good instructions on how to do this. Also, there are a couple of accounts that he would want to delete (completely and permanently). Same question: is there an easy way to do this or good instructions if not so easy. (I myself have been using OS X for a while and am more technically oriented.)

2) There are things in OS 9 that he likes that are not in OS X. There are probably shareware/freeware for these. He would like:
- The old Apple menu for OS X
- Window shade
- Platinum Finder/System sounds for OS X
- Multiple Clipboards (e.g. CopyPaste)

3) He won't be booting in OS 9, but he will be using Classic a lot (at least in the beginning since a lot of his applications are OS 9). What extensions should he turn off (i.e. they would be needed if started in OS 9, but not in Classic).

Thanks!

[bowwowman]

1) Is there an easy way to change the account name to his name rather than the person he bought it from. Also, there are a couple of accounts that he would want to delete (completely and permanently). Same question:

Answer: You can create a new admin account, transfer over anything you want to keep from the old accounts, then delete them.

2) There are things in OS 9 that he likes that are not in OS X. There are probably shareware/freeware for these. He would like:
- The old Apple menu for OS X = Fruit Menu
- Window shade = yes but cant think of it right now
- Platinum Finder/System sounds for OS X =xSounds
- Multiple Clipboards (e.g. CopyPaste) = yes, look on versiontracker for all of these

3) He won't be booting in OS 9, but he will be using Classic a lot (at least in the beginning since a lot of his applications are OS 9). What extensions should he turn off (i.e. they would be needed if started in OS 9, but not in Classic).

Answer: anything that required direct access to the hardware resources, like networking, graphics, virtual memory ect

[Chuckit]

Originally posted by bowwowman:
- Window shade = yes but cant think of it right now

It's called WindowShade X by Unsanity.

[cpac]

[side note]

All those things your friend requested are available, as mentioned above.

However, I would recommend that your friend learn, and get used to, the OS X way of doing things. It is a very different operating system, and the longer/more he expects it to act like OS 9, the more he is likely to run into trouble and get frustrated.

(e.g. windowshade was great in OS 9, but with X, we've got minimize to the dock and expose, not to mention a lot more single-window apps (tabbed or otherwise).)

In other words, he should be ready to learn and adapt; OR if he was happy with OS 9, he should have just stuck with that.

[/side note]

[Turnpike]

good point, cpac. The people who are most upset by the differences between OS 9 and OS X are the people who do everything to pretend they are still living in OS 9. Perhaps they really thought it was better, or perhaps they have just been refusing to get used to the new way of doing things and are thus upset when they find the things that are different.

As for replacing CopyPaste... there is a CopyPaste X, but when I tried it it seemed bloated and cluttery. QuickSilver's clipboard module does exactly what I want, and I already use QuickSilver, so it's a good choice for me. Try QuickSilver, it might clean that up for ya

[Chuckit]

I definitely think he should try going without WindowShade. Minimizing in OS X is so elegant that it's almost painful to use WindowShade now. The only case where WindowShade was useful was seeing behind a window, and now you can just drag them out of the way and see (or even better, use Exposé).

[CharlesS]

Originally posted by cpac:
[side note]

All those things your friend requested are available, as mentioned above.

However, I would recommend that your friend learn, and get used to, the OS X way of doing things. It is a very different operating system, and the longer/more he expects it to act like OS 9, the more he is likely to run into trouble and get frustrated.

(e.g. windowshade was great in OS 9, but with X, we've got minimize to the dock and expose, not to mention a lot more single-window apps (tabbed or otherwise).)

In other words, he should be ready to learn and adapt; OR if he was happy with OS 9, he should have just stuck with that.

[/side note]

Exactly. If you have Exposé, you don't need WindowShade. If you've got folders in the Dock, you don't need the Apple menu. And as for system sounds - ugh! They are one of the most annoying things ever. That's a feature I used to turn on on unsuspecting family members as a practical joke.

[Chuckit]

Originally posted by CharlesS:
And as for system sounds - ugh! They are one of the most annoying things ever. That's a feature I used to turn on on unsuspecting family members as a practical joke.

No kidding. They seemed completely random. "Okay, dropping a file on a folder should make...a swirly rattling noise. Dragging a window should sound like you're tightening a nut, of course..."

[Kaps]

Thanks for all of the replies. I'll pass on the information.

In terms of a fresh install, the computer came with a lot of software that he can't re-install. So he would like to keep the current account. Where do we go from here

A follow up question from me: When it came to OS 9, I knew how to troubleshoot fairly well (extensions, rebuild desktop, zap PRAM, preferences, etc. etc. plus I had my repertoire of utilities) When it comes to OS X, I'm pretty much lost. What are the basic utilities that everyone should have and how often should they be used. Also, what are the standard trouble shooting technics. I do have a couple of excellent books?Ted Landau's Disaster Relief (I also have Sad Macs...) and David Pogues Mac OS X Missing Manual (only for 10.1 though). They are both excellent references, but a little hard to read cover to cover. Is there any "5 Page" summary of basic troubleshooting technics?

Thanks!

[Big Mac]

Originally posted by CharlesS:
Exactly. If you have Exposé, you don't need WindowShade. If you've got folders in the Dock, you don't need the Apple menu. And as for system sounds - ugh! They are one of the most annoying things ever. That's a feature I used to turn on on unsuspecting family members as a practical joke.

There are still a couple of occasions in which I miss WindowShade. It was helpful at times to be able to roll a window up to see the one behind it. Transcribing the contents of one window to another in situations when copying the contents would not work, for example. WindowShade would even allow you to continue typing in the destination window while it was collapsed. These are things you cannot do with dock minimization or Expose. The loss of WindowShade was never a big issue for me, but its functionality has not totally been replaced.

To the original poster's most recent post, OS X does not require that much troubleshooting. The main issue with an OS X transition is the need to familiarize one's self with the new directory structure, where important user files are stored (Libraries), permissions and the like. The troubleshooting step people most often speak of is repairing permissions (with Disk Utility), but it's not usually a very important issue. There are also some automated housekeeping tasks that OS X may not get to perform if your Mac is asleep or off in the middle of the night. To remedy that, all you'll need is an application like MacJanitor or Cocktail. Cocktail is high on many people's lists, and it performs additional maintenance tasks. If a user is having a problem with the OS, it's a good idea to see if the problem occurs when a different account is logged in. If the problem doesn't appear with a different user, you can narrow your troubleshooting to the Home folder of the impaired account. Finally, if other efforts fail, just perform a clean install, or in OS X parlance, "Archive and Install."

[chris v]

Originally posted by Kaps:
Thanks for all of the replies. I'll pass on the information.

In terms of a fresh install, the computer came with a lot of software that he can't re-install. So he would like to keep the current account. Where do we go from here

Thanks!

Just make a new user account, and see how things work. No need to delete the old one until you're happy with the way the new one is set up. Enable fast user-switching in the Accounts Preference Pane (click "Login options" at the bottom of the user list) so you can keep both accounts logged in and switch back and forth painlessly while working on this. All accounts have access to the Applications folder at the root level. you should be able to access the apps there and launch them from any user account

.If there are apps at the user level, copy them to the new user by logging in as the old user, copying them to the Shared folder in the Users directory, then log into the new account and put them where you'd like. This should ensure proper permissions.

[larkost]

Originally posted by Kaps:
In terms of a fresh install, the computer came with a lot of software that he can't re-install. So he would like to keep the current account. Where do we go from here

They weren't proposing a fresh install, mearly creating a new admin user, and then deleting the old one. Applications are usually stored outside of your user folder, so they are available to everyone. You can do things any way you want, but that is the recommended/usual way. Once you get used to the directory structures this will make sense.

You should also pay attention to what user the computer is set to auto-login into.

As other have said. Have him use the OS for a while without rushing to add haxies to make it more like MacOS 9. Once you get over the "this isn't what I amused to" hump it is a much better experience.

[mAxximo]

Originally posted by Turnpike:
good point, cpac. The people who are most upset by the differences between OS 9 and OS X are the people who do everything to pretend they are still living in OS 9. Perhaps they really thought it was better, or perhaps they have just been refusing to get used to the new way of doing things and are thus upset when they find the things that are different.

The old “Fear of Change”/”Unwillingness to Learn New Things” fallacy. Madonna...
The people who are most upset by the differences between OS 9 and OS X are the people who just can't believe how much cleaner, transparent and productive things were when they used to *just work* as oppossed to the interface and functionality mess we have now where the beachball is king, everything lags and applications stop responding at the drop of a hat.
When after 4 years one finds that the MacOS is STILL so much better at so many things than OS X now *that's* upsetting.

[chris v]

Originally posted by mAxximo:
The old “Fear of Change”/”Unwillingness to Learn New Things” fallacy. Madonna...
The people who are most upset by the differences between OS 9 and OS X are the people who just can't believe how much cleaner, transparent and productive things were when they used to *just work* as oppossed to the interface and functionality mess we have now where the beachball is king, everything lags and applications stop responding at the drop of a hat.
When after 4 years one finds that the MacOS is STILL so much better at so many things than OS X now *that's* upsetting.

We? Do you have a mouse in your pocket?

Your drone has long since worn thin, dude.

[Turnpike]

It should also be noted that if you DO, indeed, decide to reinstall the operating system (for whatever reason) you won't lose the programs you have... the /Applications folder should remain untouched, aside from making sure the default apps are there, if I recall correctly. Whether or not registered shareware will remain registered, I do not know, and it might depend on the individual app... but of course these -would- be illegal and have almost certainly already been removed, right?

But yes, simply create a new user with admin privs... everything should be fine. Make sure you move everything over from the old account (if you've saved docs, ripped tunes, et cetera) before you delete it. Anything that is in /Users/olduser/ won't be accessible (at least not without root privs) to your other user... anything elsewhere in the system (/Applications, for example) should be fine. Just in case, though, I'd leave the old account around for a few weeks before you decide to dump it, just to make sure everything is running smoothly.

Also, I heard rumors that Tiger will have a way to change the short user name easily, but I'm not sure of this. Not that it helps any now, but if he's planning on getting Tiger anyway and doesn't want to bother with moving stuff around, it could be useful.. if what I heard was true

[Judge_Fire]

Please note, that apps like Windowshade X have progressed beyond being OS 9 lookalikes and often incorporate new, fine features.

With this app, for example, you can render windows partially transparent (less distracting, but viewable) or (my favorite) float any window to have it remain on top while working with others. Great for keeping iChat, Console or QuickTime Player right there while doing other stuff.

J