Getting a mac

Spyral

Getting a mac but i have some problems :

can i just drag and drop my backed up documents folder to a mac from my external hard drive ?

can i get msn to work on it ?

firefox ?

anything else i should know coming from a PC ?

BuffyBot

Spyral wrote: »

Getting a mac but i have some problems :

can i just drag and drop my backed up documents folder to a mac from my external hard drive ?

Generally yes

can i get msn to work on it ?

Yes

firefox ?

Yes

anything else i should know coming from a PC ?

Like?

PeakOutput

Spyral wrote: »

anything else i should know coming from a PC ?

ye the msn for mac is **** as i was advised a few months ago go for adium

if you have been using gom player it wont work on mac but vlc does

leopard is cool

if you use things like rapidshare etc then speed download is a must

good look getting used to the @ symbol not being where it "should" be


im a noob to macs aswell but i cant see myself going back

conor2007

ahah
true , i always do that , always mix it up

generally everything you did or can do on a pc you can do on any mac

Spyral

got it today yay

next question. what is the little black cloth you get with it for ? the screen ? its the only thing i can think of


cheers

conor2007

dunno
i didnt get one - genral cleaning , case/screen

babypink

PeakOutput wrote: »

good look getting used to the @ symbol not being where it "should" be

it is where it should be!!!!

PDD

Congrats on the Mac Spyral :-) Ive only switched recently two and its been mostly good since. One or two small things do bug me coz the shine has really come off Apple in general for me, its good but dont believe the hype.

Two things that got me was that there is no cut and paste in OS-X, the reasoning behind this truely escapes me esp when they have keyboard remapping in system prefferences to facilitate windows keyboards. Also if you like your hierarchical folder structure for file browsing then you will have to choose between handful of very poor paid alternatives to finder.

Creamy Goodness

i know finder doesn't allow cut, but i think it's the same with all unix based operating systems, it's so that you have to copy the file and then delete the original if you need to.

nice little fail safe i thinks.

now don't get me started on where the # key is on macbooks (i know the shortcut) it's annoying if you're a coder and it's very odd they didn't give it a key of it's own considering a lot of configuration files use # as a comment.

Spyral

Im posting this from a mac ... wheee... slight scuff on the ", <" key but its an individuating mark which can be ok. Besides good typists don't look at the keyboard ... speaking of which getting used to a smaller one will take getting used to!

haven't got a clue how to do anything yet.... i find the manual a little lacking in the info department... luckily i picked u "switching to a mac for dummies"

so yay overall but will need to spend time learning... time i dont have at the minute lolz !!

Cheers for the help. I'm sure I will be posting many more threads asking "how do i make it do the tea :P"

the cmd as opposed to ctrl thing gets confusing esp when you ahve a ctrl and a cmd key !!! eeek !

Spyral

Im finding it difficut to figurewhere programs and stuff go.. additionally is there a word processor or just that silly notepad thing ? addionally do I HAVE to to got "makintosh HD" to get it every time ?

additionally i've /dl-ed and am using firefox... is the one icon just it ? no program folder with tonnes of bits and bobs ? just one .dmg file that I double click on to make it work ?

finally when i press the f1 or f2 key say it effects the screen - brightness and darkness... do i not have to push the fn key ? or is it fn+f1 that actually = f1 ?

Wizoom

You can't cut and paste, but you can move files, effectively doing the same thing. Just hold the option key (or ctrl or apple key I can't remember which, experiment) and drag the file to the new location. Hey presto, no original left behind, file in new location. There's some sort of issue in Leopard with this, but I've never encountered it. As long as you have time machine active it's not a major issue anyway!

Wizoom

Spyral wrote: »

Im finding it difficut to figurewhere programs and stuff go.. additionally is there a word processor or just that silly notepad thing ? addionally do I HAVE to to got "makintosh HD" to get it every time ?

additionally i've /dl-ed and am using firefox... is the one icon just it ? no program folder with tonnes of bits and bobs ? just one .dmg file that I double click on to make it work ?

finally when i press the f1 or f2 key say it effects the screen - brightness and darkness... do i not have to push the fn key ? or is it fn+f1 that actually = f1 ?

Programs go in the Applications folder. Word processor - download OpenOffice I think it's called? Or pay for iWork. Also a new Mic. Office coming to Mac in the new year. Not sure what the problem is with Macintosh HD, you'll have to clarify that one.

And as for firefox, you open the .dmg and drag the icon for Firefox into your applications folder to install it properly. .dmg files are like mounted CDs, and can be ejected in Finder after you've finished installation. To see the contents of Firefox app itself, right click (control click or two fingers on the trackpad and click) and select show package contents.

For the fn options, go to keyboard options in system preferences and select the option there which is something to do with Function keys - not at my Mac right now so I can't check the exact wording but I'm sure someone will be able to. But if you aren't going to change it, then yep, fn + f1 or whatever to access the actual f1 key.


EDIT: Stab in the dark on the Mac HD problem - next time you use TextEdit or any other program: to make a shortcut stay in the dock, right click it's icon in the dock when it opens and select "keep in dock" or whatever way it's worded. That will stop you having to go into Finder every time to select it. The dock size, magnification, etc, can be modified in the Dock pane of system preferences - handy if you have a lot in it, or just love making your Mac even more of a lady-magnet
Hope this helps!

Spyral

EDIT: Stab in the dark on the Mac HD problem - next time you use TextEdit or any other program: to make a shortcut stay in the dock, right click it's icon in the dock when it opens and select "keep in dock" or whatever way it's worded. That will stop you having to go into Finder every time to select it. The dock size, magnification, etc, can be modified in the Dock pane of system preferences - handy if you have a lot in it, or just love making your Mac even more of a lady-magnet

thanks. i think its the system shock from a lack of right click or something... I will stick in a USB mouse with 2 buttons ... it might make life easier.
that said i like the idea of the progs in the .dmg being like images.. seems more tidy...

Creamy Goodness

you shouldn't be running the program from the .dmg all the time,

you mount the .dmg image and then install the application to your applications folder which is keyboard shortcut option+shift+A installing an application is normally a simple drag and drop of the application to the application folder.

Gordon

Cremo wrote: »

now don't get me started on where the # key is on macbooks (i know the shortcut) it's annoying if you're a coder and it's very odd they didn't give it a key of it's own considering a lot of configuration files use # as a comment.

Its above the 3 on my American laptop. Changes if I use British keyboard though! So you could shift over to the American system for coding when needs be?

Creamy Goodness

i can get it using alt+3 but it's not printed on the keyboard, i'm using the american keyboard layout as well.

Gordon

Hm, alt 3 gives me the actual pound symbol £

Creamy Goodness

oops i actually have irish keyboard settings. it just would of been nice of them to have the symbol somewhere on the keyboard like for example on the number 2 key they have 2 (obviously) the @ symbol and the € symbol.

you get the @ by pressing shift and 2.
you get the € by pressing alt and 2.

same thing with 3
you get the £ by pressing shift and 3.
you get the # by pressing alt and 3.

ZENER

Spyral wrote: »

thanks. i think its the system shock from a lack of right click or something... I will stick in a USB mouse with 2 buttons ... it might make life easier.
that said i like the idea of the progs in the .dmg being like images.. seems more tidy...

All new Macs come with a Mighty Mouse which has 2 buttons. By default though the mouse is configured as a single button device. To enable the second button go to System Preferences (from the Apple Menu) > Keyboard & Mouse settings and enable the Right mouse button as Secondary Button.

The shift key is just above the ctrl button on the keyboard by the way

Welcome to Mac !!!

Edit: As for M$ office, Neo Office is an excellent replacement and is FREE to download. I prefer it to Open Office myself - Open Office just looks wrong on the Mac as it doesn't adhere to the menu styles etc.

ZEN

Spyral

got open office installed, can use expose, music is sorted, mouse can right click (yay) firefox installed properly... I think thunderbirds are go... now what to do with this thing aside from type up essays and edit pictures lol

Spyral

If I want to throw a file into the trash, some pictures from my backup folder as i copied it straight over and i dont need some of them.

it says 'Finder requires that you type your password' and then even if i do it doenst delete so I'm gettin a bit hacked off. have tried googling it but dont understand what the remedy is.

I'm not sure why this is happening or why this has started. I'm the only user on my computer and don't have other users?

Its getting annoying i want to delete a duplicate of some music that i took form my external hard drive. its really annoying !!

EDIT : fixed it... the folder was locked... !! aargh !!

conor2007

never use linux , if that annoyed ya ^

Spyral

whats that program that's been mentioned.. begins wiht an A i think.. like msn only better supposedly...?

BFassassin

Adium?

Spyral

yeah that's it. i'm still having firefox related issues. I cannot unmount it at the moment. currently I have it in the dock firefox on my desktop and firefox.dmg there too.

Its a bit confusing!

ZENER

Spyral wrote: »

yeah that's it. i'm still having firefox related issues. I cannot unmount it at the moment. currently I have it in the dock firefox on my desktop and firefox.dmg there too.

Its a bit confusing!

It's simple !
Close Firefox if it's already opened.
Double click the .dmg file.
Inside you will find the Firefox icon.
Drag it to your applications Folder.
Eject the Disk that appeared after you opened the .dmg file
Delete the .dmg file.
Open the Applications folder and drag the Firefox application to the dock.

Done !!

ZEN

heggie

you should also try the alternatives to pc apps, such as Camino for browsing, and Apple Mail for email, they work great imo

ZENER

heggie wrote: »

you should also try the alternatives to pc apps, such as Camino for browsing, and Apple Mail for email, they work great imo

Agreed 100%. I honestly believe the new converts don't realise that the Mac comes with these apps supplied and installed. Safari is a very capable and fast browser. Mail and iSync and Addressbook have provided all the PIM functionality I've ever needed. Firefox on the Mac doesn't really make sense IMO. On Windows and alternative to IE is a must so Firefox fills a need - anytime I've used Firefox on the Mac I've been disappointed with its performance and sluggishness. Camino is way better than Firefox and keeps the Mac look and feel.

If you want to use PC apps then use a PC, why change if it already does everything you need ? It's a little like spending a fortune on a holiday and spending all your time in the Irish bar !!!

The mods have provided an excellent sticky on this forum to assist new comers choosing alternative apps and help them get to grips with the new OS, poster of these threads are encouraged to read the sticky first.

Don't get me wrong here, I don't in the least mind helping someone in trouble but there is an obligation on the poster to have at least researched the system and the problem app before posting.

It's terrific to see so many new Mac users here but come on guys - make an effort to get to know your new OS !

ZEN