[cmeisenzahl]

I've been out of the Mac loop since Systems 6 & 7, so I have some catching up to do.

If anyone can help me with these questions and/or point me to FAQs and more info I would really appreciate the assistance.

1.
When my 12" iBook arrives from Apple next week, what version of OS X can I expect to see on it?


2.
Does the Mac OS have an automatic update tool over the web like Windows Update does?


3.
Is it true that I can print directly to PDFs without any 3rd party software?


4.
What are some of the absolutely most useful pieces of freeware, utilities, etc. that are "must-haves"?



5.
Are all the usual UNIX utilities really included w/ OS X?


6.
I ordered mine w/ the 80GB HD and 256MB RAM, if I plan to add another 512MB in a few weeks, is that likely sufficient? No photoshop work or games. Just some light image editing and plenty of office type apps.


7.
Do you guys use OpenOffice? Is there something better?


8.
Safari or Firefox?


9.
What am I not even thinking to ask about? :-)

Pointers to more info much appreciated.

Thanks in advance and have a great day!

Chris

[Dr.Michael]

Welcome back in the club.

Originally posted by cmeisenzahl:

If anyone can help me with these questions and/or point me to FAQs and more info I would really appreciate the assistance.
1.
When my 12" iBook arrives from Apple next week, what version of OS X can I expect to see on it?

10.3.x x>5

2.
Does the Mac OS have an automatic update tool over the web like Windows Update does?
3.
Is it true that I can print directly to PDFs without any 3rd party software?

yes and yes

4.
What are some of the absolutely most useful pieces of freeware, utilities, etc. that are "must-haves"?

ten users, ten answers.
Have a look in the software forum. Theres a sticky with the greatest free/shareware tools.
Well - launchbar !

5.
Are all the usual UNIX utilities really included w/ OS X?
6.
I ordered mine w/ the 80GB HD and 256MB RAM, if I plan to add another 512MB in a few weeks, is that likely sufficient? No photoshop work or games. Just some light image editing and plenty of office type apps.

yes and yes

7.
Do you guys use OpenOffice? Is there something better?

Open what?
Sorry to say, coming from linux, open office sucks. Try it yourself, its free.
I use - M$ Office 2001 and 2004 (2001 is cheap now if you buy your licence used - great classic app).
But theres more: Mariner Write, Mellel, Nisus, iWork.

Personally I use BBedit for most of my work (Text Wrangler is free now).

8.
Safari or Firefox?
9.
What am I not even thinking to ask about? :-)
Pointers to more info much appreciated.
Thanks in advance and have a great day!
Chris

If you are new, Buy the Missing Manual from David Pogue. Tons of useful info and great to read.
Enjoy!

[cmeisenzahl]

Thanks very much Dr.Michael!

[sminch]

hey chris,

i got my ibook about a month ago and have been using neooffice/j pretty much every day since then, and am loving it. no issues at all, and loads better than the appleworks wp. i'd totally recommend it (just make sure you remember to dl the patch as well).

got to second the suggestion to get the missing manual - this book is fantastic.

sminch

[nbn22385]

My opinion:


4. What are some of the absolutely most useful pieces of freeware, utilities, etc. that are "must-haves"?

Quicksilver, Camino, Poisoned, Adium, OmniOutliner (school notes), Candybar, Pixadex, Shapeshifter. (the last 3 are because i am a gui customizing junkie)



8. Safari or Firefox?

Camino (imo ) I have tried about 6 different browsers and it's my favorite.


9. What am I not even thinking to ask about? :-)
Pointers to more info much appreciated.

This might seem obvious, but learning the keyboard shortcuts helps a lot in OSX. (Hiding apps, minimizing, switching apps, file related stuff).

[ghporter]

<opinion>
Use whatever browser you're comfortable with, at least to start. People won't really laugh behind your back if you use IE. Ok, maybe they will, but who cares? There are STILL some business sites that are coded specifically for IE, and standards be damned. (Bad HTML coder. No soda. No pretzel! Must punish! You WILL learn ADA! HAAAAAAA!!!!!) Sorry, I got carried away-or almost did, but I slipped past them.
</opinion>

Really, if you have a ton of experience with a specific software product, why throw away all of it just because it isn't "in?" I use Firefox on both my (wife's) iBook and my Dell laptop-and the differences are so small that sometimes I forget which platform I'm using to surf. If later you find that you're interested in doing things differently, you can wade in, instead of diving into the deep end all at once.

Being a switcher should be FUN! Don't worry too much about how you're doing a thing on your iBook; enjoy that whatever you're doing IS ON an iBook!

[ericssonboi]

4. Two links for everyone.

One great site..
http://android8.users.whitehat.dk/wo...ndex.php?p=255

MacNN Top 5 Useful/Shareware Programs
http://forums.macnn.com/showthread.p...751&highlight=

[Forte]

7.
Do you guys use OpenOffice? Is there something better?

I use Neolithic Office for Java (more commonly known as 'NeoOffice/J'), personally. It's OpenOffice.org (not the same as OpenOffice, hence the added '.org'), but not X11-based. I find it quite stable, and indispensable for what I use it for. It's free, too. Get it here - http://www.planamesa.com/neojava/en/index.php .

8.
Safari or Firefox?

Personally, neither - I use just use Mozilla Suite. In the end, it's all down to what you feel most comfortable and happy with using.

[cmeisenzahl]

Thanks very much guys, I really appreciate the help!


Chris

[Agent69]

I will respond to only three specific points:


4. Quicksilver, Firefox, and SubEthaEdit (free for non-commercial users).

5. Python, Perl, Ruby, Apache, Postfix, Vim, and Emacs are included if you install the BSD stuff during install.

8. I use the G4 Optimized Firefox. I like Firefox because I think that it does the best job rendering websites.

[Agent69]

Oh, and for software, check out http://www.macupdate.com