New Mac user

[Prince]

Well, my faithful Dell bit the dust last week. This gave me the opportunity to chose a new computer. Based on my research, needs and various friends input, I decided on an iMac. I know there is a little learning curve, but so far, I like it. The last time I used a Mac was in college, probably 1993.

My wife and I have an extensive music library and large amounts of photo's. Based on everything I've seen, Mac's are great for both of these. Also, the lack of threat from viruses was a big plus. I love the simplicity of it all.

Any advise for a newbie?

I might check back with questions as I get used to everything.

 

[endcycle]

Well, my faithful Dell bit the dust last week. This gave me the opportunity to chose a new computer. Based on my research, needs and various friends input, I decided on an iMac. I know there is a little learning curve, but so far, I like it. The last time I used a Mac was in college, probably 1993.

My wife and I have an extensive music library and large amounts of photo's. Based on everything I've seen, Mac's are great for both of these. Also, the lack of threat from viruses was a big plus. I love the simplicity of it all.

Any advise for a newbie?

I might check back with questions as I get used to everything.

NICE.

Max out your ram. Have at least 2 gigs, preferably 4. You're going to LOVE your mac. You don't need newbie advice, either - they just make sense out of the box (and I say this as a windows / linux network admin who's only had a bit of mac experience).

 

[soapbox]

Welcome to the Mac. I wrote a document for friends and figured I'd share it here. Warning: this is a long post. I am long-winded. Sorry.

I hope you and others find it useful.

--

Before I jump into software, there's a few things about the Mac OS that you can do to make things more useful for your personal preferences.

First: I like the Dock, but I don't like it at the bottom of the screen. I put it on the right hand side of the screen. You can change the dock's location in System Preferences/Dock.

Second, I really like Exposé, but on a laptop, by default you can't just press F9 to get Exposé, instead you must press Fn-F9 (you can change this behavior in System Preferences). So I also key Exposé to activate when I move the mouse to the lower left corner of the Finder screen.

Third, I like to put a few folders into the Dock so I can click-HOLD and they'll spring open, without having to put all applications I want to use in the Dock. I always put Applications and Utilities in the dock, and maybe Documents too.

Fourth, I use custom icons for some folders (like Utilities, since Applications already has its own icon). It helps with visual recognition and makes it easier to find certain folders that I use frequently.

Fifth, drag several folders to the sidebar in the finder windows. This is a real boon for finding things fast. It really beats digging through folders.

Use iSync and iCal to synchronize your gadgets and your appointments. There are thousands of iCal calendars you can subscribe to, that automatically add things like Alabama football games to your calendar. See http://icalshare.com/

There are also a few Desktop Widgets that I like. You may think other ones are more useful. Various widgets let you check Gmail, see what movies are playing, check the weather, track flights, track packages, and keep up with Alabama football, etc. These widgets are almost always free. You can add five or six without having any impact on your system, but like any resource, if you put twenty widgets on the Dashboard, your system will have to keep track of them, and it can slow things down.

OK next, let's talk about "Launchers". Maybe you don't care that you have to click on an icon in the Dock to launch a program. Maybe you don't go to the Applications or Utilities folder often, since you can put all the programs you use into the Dock. Plus, now, with the 'spring-loaded' folders in Leopard, you can get to a lot of files quickly too, all with the mouse. And you can find files pretty well with Spotlight. (cmd-space)

Instead, what if you could slap a few keys and start typing what you want (be it a website, document, application, photo, etc.) and have the Mac find what you want, and then fire it up without having to grab the mouse? I'm impatient. I'm lazy. And I think the mouse is a bit slow and too much work just to launch a program. So I like launchers.

OK, so maybe you don't need a launcher. But a lot of people have paid money for a launcher (LaunchBar), and there's a free/open-source launcher that's equally good (Quicksilver). Again, this is a tool that might not be for you. Don't get either one of these programs yet. Use your Mac and then return to this list in a month or two. Also, check out the demos I liked to

Quicksilver: download at http://blacktree.com/

LaunchBar: http://obdev.at/products/launchbar/index.html

Adium -- chat software (much the same as iChat), worth a look, though doesn't support video chat at the moment. If you have more than one or two accounts on various chat systems (AIM, google chat, yahoo chat, icq, jabber, MSN messenger, etc.) then Adium really comes into its own, because it supports almost *all* messenger clients and accounts. iChat supports AIM and Jabber, and that's it. So, take your pick (you can't run both at the same time, but you can install both iChat and Adium on the same computer, and use whichever makes the most sense at the time).

Skype -- a good choice for internet telephony. One tool, not perfect, and not all things to all people, but I've used it and like it.

Growl -- A fantastic add-on. This one is top-five. It allows an application to make a small, short-duration pop-up window that informs you about something. Maybe you finished downloading a large file, or someone sends you a text-message while you're web-browsing (instead of looking at your chat program). Install this without hesitation. Once it's installed, go to system preferences and play with it.

OmniGrowl -- a Growl add-on, $10 shareware. Might be worth a look if you really fancy Growl.

Skitch -- drawing program, worth a look for casual use.

For a more advanced (but still free) drawing program, you can get Inkscape. You'll need to install X11 from the Leopard Install DVD (should be in optional installs. maybe?). Inkscape is the free, "open-source" competitor to Adobe Illustrator. I like it a lot, and I'm an old-time Illustrator user (since 1994). Inkscape isn't superior in all ways to Illustrator or anything like that--it's just free, and I like how it works.

Firefox -- plus a few add-ons; get the Firefox 3 beta 5

• Flashblock -- good for cutting down pop-up and annoying ads
• Forecastfox -- nice weather info in the lower right corner of your browser window
• Adblockplus -- if you're fanatical about not seeing ads, this is the way to go.

Get comfortable with Google online applications (Google Reader, e.g). Start by making an iGoogle page for yourself. Gmail, Google Reader, and limitless addons make a great start page, "what I usually do on the internet at a glance".

SideNote: you may like this, but it might not be for everyone. A free application, allowing you to keep notes, photos, etc. in a little slide-out drawer on the side of your Finder screen.

GraphicConverter ($40), a cut-down Photoshop, a great and venerable (and very frequently updated) tool.

Parallels ($varies, about $80, and you may need to purchase a copy of Windows). If you need to run Windows on your Mac, Parallels is a great way to do it. If you want to run Windows *without* having the Mac OS available (maybe you only have 1 GB of RAM and need all of that for Windows), you could install Apple's Boot Camp (free). Then, when you turn on the machine, you can choose between the Mac OS and Windows. The other operating system is unavailable, at least, until you reboot.

Stuffit Expander: a necessary utility to un-compress files you download. Use a throwaway email address to register.

VLC -- a must-have video player. This is near the top of the list.
get it here.

Flip4Mac Quicktime plugins (play WMV on Quicktime)

iSquint -- convert video for your iPod. Free version, plus a premium version that obviously does a lot more.

Miro player -- "turn your computer into an Internet TV". Download free video content that's customizable by "channel". Cool.

RealPlayer -- unfortunately some content on the Internet is still in Real format.
Download here. (be sure to get the "free" player, not their over-hyped "pay" versions)

Consider NeoOffice if you don't feel like dealing with MS Office ($149 and up), though the PowerPoint 'clone' isn't so hot.

Synergy -- adds a little iTunes control bar to the top of your screen. Useful, inexpensive, and convenient. On the other hand, it takes up a significant chunk of that top menu bar.

CopyPaste: Allows you to keep a bank of frequently used "paste" information.

Similar to CopyPaste, iSnip is worth a look too.

MenuMeters -- very helpful "system load" indicator; if one of your CPUs is running at 100% and you aren't doing something you think is processor-intensive (compressing video, playing a game, etc.), you can really improve your Mac's performance--and battery life, if you're not plugged in-- by figuring out what's chewing up all that CPU time and shutting it down. This sounds tougher than it is. Use Activity Monitor and you'll see what's happening.
Download here.

Desktop Manager -- this might be overkill unless you find Apple's "Spaces" a bit awkward for managing more than one desktop. I like Desktop Manager a LOT, especially in a laptop setting, though Spaces now does more or less the same thing as Desktop Manager. Hold off on this one until you've played with Spaces for a few weeks.
Download here.

 

[Confuzius]

I played around with OSX 10.5 for about a week on my PC as a hackintosh before I gave it the boot because it didn't play nice with my ATI video card.

Definately Adium is an incredible program, I wish it was ported to Linux, blows all the others out of the water. Growl is also cool and quicksilver a must.

Hmmm... I've got a new Nvidia card now, maybe it's time to give it another shot.

 

[Prince]

Great links. Thanks Soapbox.

So Quicksilver allows you to launch right off of the screen?

I'll have to try that one.

 

[soapbox]

Great links. Thanks Soapbox.

So Quicksilver allows you to launch right off of the screen?

I'll have to try that one.

You're very welcome. And yeah, Quicksilver is neat (similar to LaunchBar, which I paid for and don't regret).

I know that a lot of my posts end up being one-liners or similar, so I need to occasionally offset the brevity of Wit with the verbosity of The Academic.

Jesse

 

[ouch]

Welcome to the Mac. I wrote a document for friends and figured I'd share it here. Warning: this is a long post. I am long-winded.

Gee. I was hoping that if I got a Mac, I wouldn't have to do all of this.

 

[Beast]

I use Quicksilver at work and at home on my Macs. If I want to launch Firefox, I hit control-spacebar and start typing F-i-r... and by then it's pretty much figured out that I wanna use Firefox, and then I press enter and BLAMMO, Firefox opens. That's basically how you launch an app using Quicksilver. There's a TON of other things that Quicksilver can do, but I'm just keeping it simple for now.

Also, there's always the desktop vs. laptop debate.. The laptop will cost more and you'll be limited to a 17" screen unless you run an additional external monitor. I have iMacs at work and home, 20" and 24" and I love them. I wish I could take my design work with me sometimes (well, a lot of times) but if you're sure that you'll be doing most of your work at home, then I'd go with an iMac. The Mac Pro is just overkill for MOST people. I do HEAVY photo work, layout, a little video here and there, and my iMacs are fine for that.

Any questions, feel free to PM me.

Great links. Thanks Soapbox.

So Quicksilver allows you to launch right off of the screen?

I'll have to try that one.

 

[soapbox]

Gee. I was hoping that if I got a Mac, I wouldn't have to do all of this.

Actually, good point. I'm a nerd. A geek. I work in IT. You can get by just fine on a Mac doing none of what I recommend. I think that my essay was for those who want to do a little more than email and web browsing, without grabbing Terminal, vi, and the XCode tools, and going nuts.

I should have specified.

Jesse

 

[Prince]

Gee. I was hoping that if I got a Mac, I wouldn't have to do all of this.

But you can't spend all your time on B&B right?

 

[ouch]

Heck, this is just a minor pastime. I subcontract most of my B&B responsibilities to my annoying miniature Mothra singing fairies.