The Official HOW DO I USE MY MAC? Thread.

Thanks for all the tips and suggestions. I'm getting more used to the Mac as I use it. I did install the FreeCell game referenced in Maggie's post. I was a bit worried about installing freeware. Who knows what's really in it? But I'll keep my fingers crossed. With that, and the chess program that came included, I have all the games I need. And I repeat that there's gonna be no Bill on this computer!

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(TJandGENESIS @ Sep 20 2006, 12:30 AM) [snapback]322145[/snapback]</div>

Can I have Juliette Lewis come over and nibble on my toes instead? Or, better yet, can I nibble on her toes? I'd unplug my flash drive ten times a day without unmounting it, if I could nibble on Juliette Lewis's toes.

Seriously, though, yes, I know about unmounting devices (which the Mac calls "ejecting.") It's because Unix and its sisters don't necessarily write to files immediately. Unmounting forces the OS to clean up any unfinished business. Linux is the same.

I bought my printer today. An HP Laserjet 1022, $200 plus tax. And I only wasted 20 or 30 sheets of paper getting it set up. It even has a separate feeder useful for envelopes, and NeoOffice has a slick envelope formatting tool. I decided against a cheapo. Some of the inkjet printers cost less than their cartridges, but the cartridges have a tenth as much ink as the ones for the more expensive printers. It's a real scam: they give you a shoddy printer practically free, and then shaft you on the ink. And I have no use for an all-in-one. I already have a scanner, and I use eFax for faxing, which has the significant advantage of giving me access to both receiving and sending faxes from my laptop when I travel. The eFax "printer" driver doesn't work right, but it's not necessary, since I can send a fax by emailing it to eFax.

All things considered, this is perhaps the smoothest new computer experience I've had. The first being my old Kaypro 2X.

And NeoOffice seems to be working fine. Except that it would not read the Word document my sister sent me.

 

SOME MORE MAC USAGE QUESTIONS:

Is there a keyboard shortcut to display the Finder and make it the active program? I use it so much that it's a nuisance to have to move the mouse pointer all the way over to the bottom left of the dock. CMD-TAB will scroll through and make it active, as indicated on the menu bar, but that does not cause it to be displayed.

In Windows I used Irfanview for simple image-editing tasks. Specifically changing BMP to JPG files (etc.) and changing the resolution of an image to reduce the file size (for emailing or use as an avatar). iPhoto will crop pictures, but won't change the resolution. I don't care to spend hundreds of dollars on Photoshop when all I ever do to images is change the file type or the resolution/file size. Irfanview is free, but seems to be unavailable for the Mac. The Gimp might work, but it requires X11, which I have been unable to install (see below).

I tried to install X11 from the distribution disk, but it would not install. So I tried to install it from a download. I downloaded the .DMG file, went through the steps, until it told me I could not install X11 because a newer version was already installed! So I tried to delete the .pkg file which the .dmg file had created, and it told me I cannot delete it because I don't have permission. I clicked on Get Info and Details, and it tells me I am the owner and I have permission to read and write the file (so I should also have permission to delete it). What's going on??? (Two issues: installing X11 and deleting unwanted files. This is not the first time I have been unable to delete a file.

In windows I can create a desktop shortcut that opens my browser to a specified site, so I don't have to first open the browser, and then go to bookmarks. Is there a way to do this on the Mac?

More questions are bound to be forthcoming. Thanks.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(DavidTO @ Sep 23 2006, 11:13 AM) [snapback]323957[/snapback]</div>

CMD-TAB causes Finder (or whatever program I select) to be displayed as the active program, in the menu bar at the top of the screen, but does not cause its window to appear. If I use CMD-Tab to select the Finder, I see "Finder" in the menu bar, but I do not see the Finder window on the screen. I am not trying to hide the other applications. I am trying to bring the selected program to the front, and give focus to its window so I can begin typing without having to click on it.

If I have a program minimized but running (in the right-hand portion of the dock) and I use CMD_TAB to select it, it still remains minimized. I can select an action from the menu bar, but until I do that, I do not see its window at all. And if I then go back to the program I was running (e.g., typing this reply in Firefox) I cannot type into the reply window until I click the mouse on or in the window.

I am running OS X 10.4. I tried to find the build number, but offhand I don't know where to find it. But it should be the latest release.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(DavidTO @ Sep 23 2006, 11:13 AM) [snapback]323957[/snapback]</div>

I think so. Actually, I do not want to be, normally, but just yesterday I saw that I am listed as admin. I am the only account on the computer. I'd rather have a separate admin account that I log into only when needed. But apparently I am admin, and I still could not delete those files.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(DavidTO @ Sep 23 2006, 11:13 AM) [snapback]323957[/snapback]</div>

I don't use Safari. I use Firefox. I tried this and nothing happens.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(fjef @ Sep 24 2006, 03:52 AM) [snapback]324188[/snapback]</div>

A thousand thanks!!! This worked. I had not previously found the Export button. They don't make it easy to find, nor is it intuitive to use. But doing what you suggested I can do what I need to do.

One less problem!

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(fjef @ Sep 24 2006, 08:25 PM) [snapback]324515[/snapback]</div>

Thanks. Both worked.

My Build number is 10.4.7

To drag the bookmarks I had to open "Manage Bookmarks." I had been trying to drag directly from the bookmarks drop-down menu.

I like Firefox. That's all. Maybe it's the baby duck syndrome. Firefox is the first browser I used other than IE, which, being MS, is of course garbage. But I like Firefox more than Safari. Hey, I wish I could have WordStar again. That was one beautiful, sensible word processor that actually worked. It did EVERYTHING I need a word processor to do, and it ran on a machine with 64 kilobytes of RAM!

 

I have downloaded and installed both VLC and Flip4Mac, and neither of them will play WMV files. VLC plays the sound only, with an error window. Flip4Mac gives only an error. These are not copy-protected files.

I see that Microsoft offers a version of Media Player 9 for the Mac. But I am very reluctant to install anything from MS on my Mac. If anyone can write a program that would make the Mac vulnerable to malware, it would be Microsoft.