[MDWeezer]

My 250gb external disk just took a dive and I have replaced it with a 300gb firewire disk. When getting it setup with iTunes and such to store my library I decided that I'm going to do a fresh OSX install first. So I've backed up everything and will do a re-install soon.

There are some things I'm going to do different this time than last time but I was curious what everyone else does to run a very effecient multi-user system?

• I'll be setting up 3 base accounts: Admin, development, myself, my fiance.
• I'll be sharing a single iPhoto and iTunes library between the accounts. (stored on the 300gb external disk.
• I'll run monolingual to get rid of all languages except for english.

Can anyone recommend anything else? It's a G4 Mac Mini that I will most likely replace with a Core 2 Duo Mac Mini (assuming they're available) when Leopard is released. But since it is a G4 it's a bit pokey at times.

Thanks a lot

[Cold Warrior]

why all those accounts? It seems excessive and actually a hindrance to work.

[MDWeezer]

Originally Posted by Cold Warrior 

why all those accounts? It seems excessive and actually a hindrance to work.

My fiance browses the web, checks email and plays with iPhoto.

I use a variety of apps and hide the dock and all sorts of things that she wouldn't like. Plus we can each be signed into our own Google accounts and other online accounts.

The Admin account is for admin purposes only, the rest of the accounts will be user accounts.

Development is for any XCode and Rails work I do and I like to have a clean account for it so things don't get mixed in with my own user account. I can also leave tools and such open, switch accounts and leave it as is and go back to it later.

[TETENAL]

It would make more sense to deselect additional languages in the Installer and not install them in the first place instead of deleting them with Monolingual afterwards (which is kind of not supported).

[chris v]

Originally Posted by TETENAL 

It would make more sense to deselect additional languages in the Installer and not install them in the first place instead of deleting them with Monolingual afterwards (which is kind of not supported).

A lot of the apps have language resources within the application package, so even if you don't install additional languages with the OS, you'll still have multiple language resources within the apps themselves. You can save yourself another 500 mb or so of drive space, running Monolingual or Delocalizer after an install, even if you deselect additional languages.

[Chuckit]

Originally Posted by Cold Warrior 

why all those accounts? It seems excessive and actually a hindrance to work.

Makes sense to me. He doesn't want to run as an admin user all the time (good security), his fiance has different needs from him, and he doesn't want to trash his normal account with alpha programs.

[MDWeezer]

Originally Posted by Chuckit 

Makes sense to me. He doesn't want to run as an admin user all the time (good security), his fiance has different needs from him, and he doesn't want to trash his normal account with alpha programs.

Exactly.

The only thing though, this is my first Mac (bought it when it was released) and now that I'm more of a poweruser, I'm really wanting more power. So I'm going to stick with this G4 for as long as I can and replace it with another Mac Mini upon Leopards release and hopefully a 64-bit processor gets put in the Mini.

Plus my fiance has a digital Rebel SLR and if she starts shooting RAW I would like to invest in Aperture for her.

But yes, multiple accounts + fast user switching is a very good thing; not to mention keeping an admin account for various security reasons.

I guess I'm mostly looking for tweaks to clean up the system (like removing languages) to free up some space and any other processes I can tweak for a little more performance.

[drnkn_stylz]

Monolingual is a good idea. If you don't use Garageband, don't install all the loops, which take up a lot of space.

It seems you have a lot of accounts for no reason. Why not make your account the admin, and do your development work in there? It sounds like you will have the right to 3 different users for no reason. Just combined them.

[larrinski]

Originally Posted by drnkn_stylz 

Monolingual is a good idea. If you don't use Garageband, don't install all the loops, which take up a lot of space.

It seems you have a lot of accounts for no reason. Why not make your account the admin, and do your development work in there? It sounds like you will have the right to 3 different users for no reason. Just combined them.

I think he has the right idea with having admin seperate. I run a set up very similar. It is not too difficult to switch between accounts. In fact it is very simple...

[MDWeezer]

Originally Posted by drnkn_stylz 

Monolingual is a good idea. If you don't use Garageband, don't install all the loops, which take up a lot of space.

It seems you have a lot of accounts for no reason. Why not make your account the admin, and do your development work in there? It sounds like you will have the right to 3 different users for no reason. Just combined them.

Easy. I don't want to run in admin all the time, like we mentioned above; security reason and good practice.

My account, which will mostly be photography and media work will be just that.

The development account will have my Rails tools, XCode, and whatever documentation I have open and would like to leave open. That way, I can leave the desktop as is and jump over to my account to read my feeds etc etc.

I could also do this with virtual desktops, which I'm going to consider but I don't see this as too many accounts. I just like to keep it clean, that's all.

[MDWeezer]

Originally Posted by larrinski 

I think he has the right idea with having admin seperate. I run a set up very similar. It is not too difficult to switch between accounts. In fact it is very simple...

Exactly. Fast user switching is incredible.