[hornsofglass]

Tomorrow will mark my first full week with this new iBook, my first mac.
It is also my first experience with owning a laptop and wireless internet.

The 12" size is perfect. anyone contemplating getting an iBook , and trying to decide if you shouold go for the 12" or 14", get the 12. The sheer portability of the thhing is wonderful, and by comparison now, the larger notebooks look monsterous and bulky.

The mac OS is simply beautiful, and very intuitive, even for a longtime windows user like myself.

with the exception of just a few problems (printing resolution isn't as good on my HP 1350v as it is on my XP machine - must be a driver issue), and the fact that i'm still learning what this thing can do and getting used to it, this is by far the best computing experience that ive had.

Now, if my girlfriend would just get back from Africa with my digital camera and my iPod (these products need to meet each other damnit).

anyone have any tips or apps that i, as a new user, should try?


rick

[namen]

I am in the exact same position as you. This monday will mark one full week for me also. I am thrilled with the performance of my new ibook.

I have replaced Safari with Camino and installed NetNewsWire for my RSS reading. Still looking for a few good apps myself.

[bartman00]

My old 500mhz ibook won me over to the mac side too. I was a long time Mac hater till I started using osX.

[oreo75]

ME TOO!!! I got my iBook on Friday & love it. I was planning to keep my pc, but I don't know if I'll bother now.

This is the one good thing to come out of getting divorced, I get my ibook. My ex is not a mac fan & won't let me have one.

[AleroLeanne]

Congrats (not on getting divorced but on getting the iBook).

My husband and I have come to an understanding...I get all the mac stuff I want (including an iBook) and he can buy a mustang (I'm a GM fan).

I hope to order mine shortly...at least before the end of the month. I can't wait!!!

You guys all post pics of your new iBooks if you'd like - I'd love to see 'em!

[oreo75]

The divorce is a good thing.

[iKwak]

Happy iBook user here.

[SFZoll]

yeah, I've had my iBook G4 since November 03 and it is a great computer. I have had Internet Explorer crash and that's pretty much it in terms of crashes, and I really like the wireless networking.

I suggest that if you want to edit images and don't have the cash or desire to spend a lot of money on Photoshop, download Gimp. Install X11 Windowing from the disks that came with your iBook or download it from Apple and then install Gimp. So far I've only used it to resize and correct some images downloaded from my digital camera, but it is rather straight forward and runs well. Oh, and it is FREE. Nothing better than that.

p

[hornsofglass]

well, it's been over a week now and I'm liking the thing even more. (actually I'm sitting in bed right now, typing this. how cool is that?)

I have firefox (9, i hate this new default theme) installed as my primary browser (just don't like the boookmarks function in Safari). If I could figure out how to have my bookmarks always on the left side of the screen and not in the "bookmark bar" or a separate window, AND have a button to make a new tab on the toolbar (I know I can use keyboard commands, but I like the convience) I would use it as my default.

Got the httpmail hotmail attachment for Mail.app, and Thunderbird for Usenet.

Round everything else out with Toast Titanium 6, Photoshop, Freehand, and Office 2004 (student edition)and I'm all set.

Now I just need a nice bluetooth mouse. The size and price of the Bluetake mouse appeal to me, but i'd like the 4th and 5th buttons of the MS one.

all in all, a 12" iBook, with an extra 512 RAM a few 3rd party programs, and a wireless network...

I'm in love.

r.

[Il Duce]

I'm in love.

I still feel like that, and I've had my ibook nearly 3 years

ibooks are awesome little machines

[hoorah]

Originally posted by hornsofglass:
anyone have any tips or apps that i, as a new user, should try?

If you're used to trackpad scrolling on a PC, I suggest installing the freeware SideTrack trackpad driver.

OS X has a good system firewall for blocking incoming connection requests. Enable it in the Sharing pane in System Preferences. In order to block unwanted outgoing requests (programs that phone home, known ad and spyware sites, etc.), invest in Little Snitch.

Adium X is the best instant messaging client for any platform, and it's freely available under the GPL license. It combines iChat's address book integration (it's fun but not incredibly useful, so try it out), gaim's multi-protocol support, and an interface that is better than even Apple's. I would consider using iChat or the official AOL client for file transfer, however.

OS X comes with lots of optional system services (ssh, web hosting via Apache, and file sharing over ftp, AFP, or Network Neighborhood). You may enable these in the Sharing pane. As long as you're careful about not opening yourself up to any security risks, you may wish to consider specifying advanced sharing settings with the optional SharePoints preference pane.

Synergy is a good interface to iTunes, but others have their own personal favorites. Old versions even fetch cover art from Amazon.com. I've yet to discover a powerful ID3 tag editor for OS X (if one exists, someone ought to post here), but iTunes offers some good scripting capabilities to make the situation tolerable. You ought to take a look at a page called Doug's AppleScripts for iTunes.

Also be sure to apply software updates on a regular basis. Apple makes this process simple, it's less painful than on Windows, and there have been some important security and AirPort updates in the past couple of weeks.

If you have any obscure devices that are unsupported in OS X, Microsoft Virtual PC has good (but slow) USB emulation. Otherwise, avoid Classic and Windows applications. If a program does not exist for OS X, there is usually a Mac equivalent that is as good or better. Office 2004 on the Mac is good, but so is Office X if you apply all the updates.

If you came to OS X from Linux, you're in luck. The Fink project has already packaged lots of freely available Unix apps, and other resources (like Darwinports) exist. A good place to find hints about how to perform Mac-specific tasks on the command line is http://www.macosxhints.com/ (which is also a good site for general OS X tips).

Adding a 512 MB memory module helps a lot. If you're able to afford it, consider upgrading to 1024. You will save if you order memory from a third-party supplier (Crucial has a good reputation and so do several others, but be careful about what you buy). If you have AirPort Extreme (another good investment), be sure to use version 3.4.2 of the AirPort drivers if you have above 1 GB of RAM

You don't need Toast to burn a CD (the Finder, iTunes, Disk Utility, and other apps have some burning capabilities), but I've heard it's good software. You may want to invest your money elsewhere unless you find the built-in tools cumbersome.

QuickTime works well, but VLC is another good tool to have around.

I'm not too familiar with it, but DiskWarrior is considered to be a good disk repair utility. It's a bit expensive, so I use Apple's built-in one.

Of course, there is lots of other good software out there, lots of which comes pre-installed. Good luck looking, and VersionTracker is a good place to begin.

[Mrjinglesusa]

Originally posted by AleroLeanne:
Congrats (not on getting divorced but on getting the iBook).

My husband and I have come to an understanding...I get all the mac stuff I want (including an iBook) and he can buy a mustang (I'm a GM fan).

I hope to order mine shortly...at least before the end of the month. I can't wait!!!

You guys all post pics of your new iBooks if you'd like - I'd love to see 'em!

Nice. My wife likes PC's so I get my Mac stuff (17" iMac, 14" iBook) but I ALSO want a new 2005 Mustang. She paid for our honeymoon to Fiji so she gets a new car before me (Lexus). Someday that Mustang will be MINE!

[Mrjinglesusa]

Originally posted by oreo75:
The divorce is a good thing.

Got out of a terrible marriage and found the love of my life, my soul mate. Plus, she puts up with my Mac obsession.

On topic: I love my 14" iBook. Wireless internet is awesome and this little machine rocks. I feel bad for neglecting my iMac. Finally got around to applying about 10 software updates yesterday on it.

[Lancer409]

Originally posted by hornsofglass:
well, it's been over a week now and I'm liking the thing even more. (actually I'm sitting in bed right now, typing this. how cool is that?)

I have firefox (9, i hate this new default theme) installed as my primary browser (just don't like the boookmarks function in Safari). If I could figure out how to have my bookmarks always on the left side of the screen and not in the "bookmark bar" or a separate window, AND have a button to make a new tab on the toolbar (I know I can use keyboard commands, but I like the convience) I would use it as my default.

Got the httpmail hotmail attachment for Mail.app, and Thunderbird for Usenet.

Round everything else out with Toast Titanium 6, Photoshop, Freehand, and Office 2004 (student edition)and I'm all set.

Now I just need a nice bluetooth mouse. The size and price of the Bluetake mouse appeal to me, but i'd like the 4th and 5th buttons of the MS one.

all in all, a 12" iBook, with an extra 512 RAM a few 3rd party programs, and a wireless network...

I'm in love.

r.

where can i get the hotmail attachment thing..?

[Londor]

where can i get the hotmail attachment thing..?

http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/mo...&mode=feedback