I recently bought a Mac Mini, And I thought I'd talk about my experiences in the transition from Windows XP to Mac OS X.
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2005-07-06
Two weeks is a very short experience, it will be interesting to see what the author thinks in two months.
To me it seems--and the author touched briefly upon it-- that the biggest obstacle to switching is stranded application costs. I use Dreamweaver and Photoshop and MS Office on a regular basis--these apps taken together cost more than the computer. Perhaps with Mactel and Wine this obstacle will be lessened.
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it's clearly not an in depth product review but rather one individual's personal experience in transitioning from XP to the MAC.
I feel it is something other XP users may find very useful and informative.
If you want a byte by byte comparison there are tons of those out there.
not sure why you are looking to undermine the guy's piece.
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RE[2]: short time frame
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The best thing to do is to keep the Windows version than make the switch to Mac OS when your version are being obsolete. That's what I've done. Virtual PC is also a good solution for some softwares.
Some editors give also Mac/Windows versions on the same CD/DVD and they offer discount if you upgrade from Windows to Mac.
Member since:2005-07-07
Yes, after a longer time it would be better.
I switched from Windows/Linux to my Mac ~4 Months ago, and I am really extremly happy. I just can't imagine to work with Windows or Linux anymore.
For me, Mac is really a "just works" experience, and I am very happy about that at home.
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One annoyance I've had after shelling out on a superdrive for my mini is the fact that it doesn't write or READ multiple session DVDs. I actually couldn't believe that when I found it out.
Another thing is the Apple (azerty, bluetooth) keyboard. Nice keyboard ... until you realise there is no pipe symbol on it, or curly braces or tilde (~). And that for a unix-based OS ! Thankfully you can create custom keymaps with the great Ukelele ( http://scripts.sil.org/cms/scripts/page.php?site_id=nrsi&item_id=uk... )
So would I give up my mac mini? Sure, if you can pry it from my cold dead hands :-)
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Sorry, here's a Roxio forum post confirming : http://boards.support.roxio.com/roxio/board/message?board.id=000002...
I was sure I read it in their FAQ also but I can't find it. Works fine for multisession CDs though. Hence the claim it can do multisession 
Dragon Burn claims to do multi-seesion DVD, but don't bother - it's a piece of crap that doesn't work.
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On my keyboard (Belgian layout), I have the pipe symbol at ALT-SHIFT-L and the curly braces at ALT-N.
Sure, I had to look for them too.
It is indeed sad that they are not printed on the keyboard themselves...
But since I know where they're located, it isn't a problem for me anymore.
With the keyboard viewer, you can find more of these "hidden keys".
Member since:2005-07-06
Yeah I eventually found them too, but now I have them mapped to were they should be. This is especially handy if you have to use generic keyboards at work, less confusion.
But I still say it takes a special kind of sadist to 'hide' the pipe on a unix machine and curly braces on an OS whose main programming language is a c variant :-)
On a good note quality and battery time for the bluetooth version is excellent.
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It's true. On an (french) AZERTY Mac keyboard, some keys are hard to find/use. Windows/PC AZERTY keyboard layout is far better but requires the use of Alt Gr key.
But after a few days/months, you get used to the AZERTY Mac keyboard and pipe and braces are quite easy to use.
Anyway, you can always use a Windows USB Keyboard on a Mac Mini or PowerMac, so it's not a real problem.
Member since:2005-07-12
until you realise there is no pipe symbol on it, or curly braces or tilde (~).
I don't know azerty keyboards but I would be very suprised if this is true (e. g. on swiss-german QWERTY keyboards, you'll find | on [OPTION]+[7] and ~ on [OPTION]+[n], which is not obvious when you're used to Windows or Unix).
A good way to find symbols on the keyboard is to activate the input menu on the menu bar (in 10.3.9: System Preferences > International > Input Menu > "Show input menu in menu bar" ==> flag of the currently activated keyboard layout appears in the menu bar), then choose "Show keyboard viewer" from the menu unter the flag. Holding special keys like [OPTION] will show you the keyboard layout with special keys pressed.
Member since:2005-07-06
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I have an Apple bluetooth keyboard and not only does it have the pipe symbol, but it also has the curly braces AND tilde. Did you just make all that up?
Maybe the Belgians pissed off Steve Jobs or something. And don't make me post a picture of my keyboard ;-) (is yours azerty btw?)
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What I'd like to know though is can you use the Mini for doing day-to-day graphics editing in Photoshop and Illustrator, for not terribly complex work. It can't be slower than my current 1.4 Ghz Celeron, right? So I'm looking forward to transition to Mac, but it's interesting to know how fast it is compared to normal G4s and iMacs.
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I'm looking forward to transition to Mac, but it's interesting to know how fast it is compared to normal G4s and iMacs.
Check out the Macintosh Performance Comparison ( http://www.macintouch.com/perfpack/comparison.html )
My advice is to go to your local mac dealer and play around with the display machines for a while, I spent almost 2 days there before forking over my hard earned cash :-).
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If you load up the mini with a Gig of RAM it would have no problems whatsoever of running Photoshop. I have a couple Macs at home including an older iMac G3 DV edition running at 600Mhz and it runs OS X and everything I throw at it just fine believe it or not. A 1.25 G4 is way faster. You might consider Adobe Elements though if you don't want to fork over your first-born for the CS2 suite as it has most of the functionality of Photoshop at a fraction of the price. I have both Elements and the Adobe CS suite and I find myself using Elements more often.
Member since:2005-08-17
I've been using a G3 900 with tiger to do Print work on a regular basis (once a month) and web work with all the aps open all the time.
this is a G3 iBook with sucky graphics.
Why would it be hard to do stuff on a 1.4Ghz G4.
what is wrong with you poeple?
I mean there has not been a computer that you couldn't use to do this work on since the G4 500, and Athlon 1Ghz.
I think people are too nice to sucky software devs like Adobe and Macromedia who write Bloto application upgrades that are USELESS on older hardware.
anyway all this too say that there is no reason that a G4 1.4 with enough ram could not be used to work on daily.
especially if you get a faster external drive.
This is not a game machine that needs to render polygons.
man.
the thing that always gets me is that if you got an ID magazine design annual or even ComArts design Annual most of the people who win are not using your best of the best machines, as they actually are working , not Wyning.
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The mini runs as fast as the standard Mac laptop, but the HD seems run slower on the low end 'A' model. For general use it can run just abount anything outt of the box, using standard PC keyboards, mice and monitors. Products like PhotoShop, Final Cut and CAD software run fine, but you will want to pump up the memory as these apps are RAM hogs and the OS reserves half of your memory for itself.
For better performance I generally attach or boot from an good external FireWire (Lacie) drive and use it as a post production rendering station for Film, DVD and Broadcast media. It also costs far, far less than a dual G5 and runs quieter as well.
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Thought I'd add my two cents that it's NOT just Windows and Mac OS X...but Linux too and the issues surrounding using any OS.
In fact, I did a podcast with this as the main theme: http://borsch.typepad.com/ctd/2005/08/ctd_for_august__4.html
Windows has critical mass of the desktop. The kicker? No one cares anymore since the future is the internet as platform. Think about the last time you headed to the computer store to buy that new shrink-wrapped software application. Probably not lately, huh? Bet you're signing up for web services aren't ya?
Member since:2005-06-29
I'd much preffer buying a boxed product from the local computer stores than having to run something off the internet. In my opinion that whole Internet as a platform thing should not happen any time soon, the internet isn't reliable enough to be my OS and I preffer to own what I have, not rent it.
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You don't need to pay for Photoshop all over again You can exchange your current version for the Mac version. You need to contact Adobe for this. I found this link:
http://www.adobe.com/support/pdfs/lodexchange.pdf
I couldn't find anything on the Adobe site. I don't think they want customers to know about the possibility so that you end up buying the app again. Don't take know for an answer.
Maybe the same thing applies to Macromedia products as Adobe acquired Macromedia lately.
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The proprietary Microseft Windows XP : Used for 3-4 hours. Piss poor hardware support, no standard tools included, zero interoperability with existing network (NFS, X, SSH).
OS X : Unix-like, great hardware support and integrated seamlessly into hour BSD/Linux/Solaris network.
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I bought an ibook for my wife last December just because I didn't want to deal with fixing her computer every now and then, just for THAT. Let me tell you that I have not had to "fix it" not ONCE. The only issues she has is that she cannot log in to her company's Microsoft Exchange network, and certain websites that are IE only, like banking, Yahoo Launch, MTV ??? So I think for personal use they're great, but do not recommend it for work. Performarce is great, I especially like the accelerated desktop, and the feeling that it does not get in your way. I personally use a windows laptop because I didn't want to spend the extra $$$. It runs all the programs I need, although desktop performance is ok (I customized my install with nlite, so I can tweak it in case you asked). Are macs worth the extra price not to have any technical issues? Or do you rather put with windows? I guess it depends if whoever's getting it is counting on you for tech support. hehehe
Member since:2005-08-26
Smart, smart man.
I personally don't want to waste time with supporting a "tool" I'm supposed to be using. Hence why I don't have a Windows box at home. I do use it right now at work, but only because I'm forced to. I can't believe how common minor problems that aren't hardware related pop up.
Member since:2005-07-06
Here here. I did the exact same thing. Got her an iBook, wireless network, set it up and left.
I don't even know the passwords on this thing anymore.
We ran into the iBook logic board problem but that was resolved promptly, and I finally stuffed another 512M into it (we were using the stock 128M for almost a year -- quite usable, just slow transitions from app to app).
I shared the printer on my W2K box, and the durn thing Just Worked (though I recently reinstalled the printer, so now it's broken for her...I'll get 'round to it soon enough).
Member since:2005-06-29
I tried something similar, but found that sharing the printer from Windows using Zone Alarm as my firewall causes all the other computers on the network not to be able to communicate with that Windows box or the printer connected to it.
I'm aware that Zone Alarm can be set up to allow specific IP addresses, the problem is that all the computers have to use DHCP and the IP addresses do change quite regularly. What firewall do you use?
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The problem is that the ip address of the laptop is not from an internal network but rather whatever my ISP assigns to it. That means that if I set it up to accept an entire IP range, everyone else with the same ISP could wind up with one of the ip addresses within that range and thus get around my firewall.
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she should be able to login to her office's exchange network if mail is set for IMAP (not sure if entourage supports it, i would think so as it is another MS product).
or is she wanting to be able to login to the domain and be on the network itself? i would think that should be doable if she connects to the server?
as for the rest, i would prefer to spend the money on a mac and be able to use my computer and know what is going on with it and have control.
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I got one at work, fell in love and bought one at home. Key upgrades are memory and hard drive. 1 gig ram is a must have. Also, replacing the hard drive (ships with a 4200 rpm drive (or was it 4600 drive?)) Hitachi makes a 7200 rpm drive that is the same physical size. It makes all the difference in the world. If the mac mini had a built in dvd burner and a better video card, I'd never want for anything else. Like the author, I've used windows since it first ran on top of dos, and have been using linux on the desktop for a while. I have a variety of machines, and am now wanting to sell my x86 Ubuntu based laptop to get a powerbook. It's infectious. Everything about OS/X works well. Setting up my bluetooth phone to talk to it? Not a problem. Picking up the tiny box and plugging it into my hdtv for photo slideshows? Not a problem. I have very few complaints, all of which aren't worth putting in writing.
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2005-07-06
I use imovie and idvd on my mini. Right now I have a 1.4ghz mini with 512mb ram and an external 160gb hd. I just ordered a second 160gb hd, a 1gb stick of ram, and an external dual layer pioneer drive. The mini is great for that stuff, but idvd takes forever to render video. Hopefully things will change now. I plan on raiding the 2 external hds. I may also upgrade the internal hd to a 60gb 5400rpm WD hd and get an external enclouser for the exsisting internal hd. I had planned on building a custom cube with 2 1.6ghz g4s, but the mini and my powerbook meet my needs. I can't wait for the g5s to become dirt cheap! ;-p
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Because many Windows users seem to hate Macs even though they've never used one for more than a minute or have not used one since the MacII was the latest and greatest. Those bad apples need to see the folly of their ways.
I also have a variety of hardware.
1 Mac Mini
1 Powerbook G4 15"
1 Dual G5
1 ThinkPad T41 w/SP Pro
1 Dell something or other with FC4
I do think Windows is a blight on computing, but there are 1 or 2 Windows-specific apps I use.
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First of all, the Mac OS has ALWAYS used dragging to the trash as a means of unmounting volumes/disks. The difference in OSX is that if you are dragging a volume, the OS changes the trash icon to the eject icon so it is clearer what you are doing.
Secondly the Apple bluetooth keyboard does have a pipe and a tilde AND curly braces... JEEZ!
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Secondly the Apple bluetooth keyboard does have a pipe and a tilde AND curly braces... JEEZ!
I have oficially sunken to a new low, I am posting a crappy low grade picture taken with my Zire71 to prove an argument on the interweb. Low and behold the freakish keyboard : http://www.tyr.be/images/freakishkeyboard.jpg
And yes, the keys are there, but not printed on the keyboard and not in their usual place (alt+shift+l ? please!). To avoid further angry zealotry - I like the keyboard, honest I do.
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Ok, I am not a MAC user, so don't take this as a flame:
FTA:
"In general, Office: Mac 2004 does what I want, and supplies the functionality I use on Windows XP with Office 2003 Pro, Filemaker 7 Pro was surprisingly very easy to learn and re-write some of my old Access DBs into Filemaker 7 Pro DBs, though one thing I can't find thus far is queries, but I'm sure they're there. FireFox 1.0.6 I've replaced with Safari 2.0."
Question 1: How is the compatibility between the version of Office XP and the version equivalent to the MAC? I once had to edit a resume in w2k pro and office 2000 and had a hard time making some changes, the resume was done on a MAC with Office (unknown version).
"So far I haven't really come across any media files or such that are un-useable, only media I can not access is Yahoo's Video Launch service, but thats due to it requiring Netscape 4.7 being installed when accessing using Mac OS X, which is a bit sad when you consider how old Netscape 4.7 is."
Question 2: Changing the User Sting Agent, does that help the specific issue with Yahoo?
Member since:2005-06-29
Answer to Question 1: Mac: Office 2004 comes with a compatibility checker, which I use when saving files that others will edit, and it tells you what features previous Mac: Office and Windows Office users won't be able to use / access.
Answer to Question 2: If anybody can tell me how to change the user string in Safari, I'll try it.
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there is probably better but u can try that:
http://www.lordofthecows.com/safari_enhancer.php
like defaults.. whatever
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One of my buddies spoke to me awhile ago about being able to use the debug menu to change the "User String Agent". Looks like the above poster:
Anonymous (IP: 85.176.217.---)
"there is probably better but u can try that:
http://www.lordofthecows.com/safari_enhancer.php
like defaults.. whatever"
Has provided a link and a way to get into the debug menu. FYI: I am not sure if this is the same way my buddy has his set up. Here is some additional information:
List of some "User String Agents"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_agent
Enable Debug via Terminal
http://www.activewin.com/tips/tips/apple/safari/1.shtml
Enable Debuy via GUI (commercial / donationware)
http://simon.incutio.com/archive/2003/11/06/easytoggle
Hope this helps.
PS: Thanks for the info on the Office compatibility!!!
Member since:2005-06-29
But thing is, the vast majority of systems arent supported by Mac OS X Devkit release, 90%+ of graphics cards dont even work in anything other than VESA2.0/3.0 wow a real show of the power of Quartz.
To get somewhere near the actual speed and capabilities of Mac OS X devkit you need an SSE3 Capable CPU, only those with the latest x86's will have that support.
Also, I guess there will be teething problems with Intel-Mac's when they first appear much like there are teething problems with any architecture switch
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what about VLC? http://www.videolan.org
plays all sorts of media formats..
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2005-08-17
hey
so you need to be specific as to what CAD programs you sue at work, and to what purpose.
There are plenty of Mac CAD programs on the ma for ue in a variety of fields.
the thing is compatibility wiht whatever windows/Unix program you use at work.
The Main mac program is Vectoworks, but there are a bunch of others like Velum , Archicad, etc.
A really good place for more CAD on the mac info is : http//:www.architosh.com
lots of cad info.
hope this helps.
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You can easily create a "Start" menu in the Dock which operates much like XP's Start Menu. One way is to just drag your main Hard Drive icon into the Dock to the right of the separator bar. Then EVERYTHING on the drive will unfold from the Dock icon in hierarchical fashion. Another way is drag only the Application folder into the Dock. A third way is to create a folder of Aliases [Short Cuts in XP terminology] for whatever you want in your "Start" menu, including multiple levels of folders. This way your "Start" menu will show only what you want it to show, but you will have to manage it by adding new items & deleting unused items. I have the entire Hard Drive "docked" but seldom use it because it's so easy to get to apps & docs via the Finder & Dock.
As you become more familiar with OS X Tiger you'll discover a multitude of neat tricks.
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I found the most useful way of launching applications is using Quicksilver:
http://quicksilver.blacktree.com/
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2005-06-29
That's why the move to intel is so important. You should be able to get a lot more bang for your buck.
256M ram is just not enough today. And the processor is weak. By the time you buy the monitor, keyboard, upgrade the ram you're over a thousand dollars and the machine is much weaker then what you can get from Dell.
But the move to intel is more important for Apple notebooks. They were woefully underpowered and way overpriced. The last hurdle for Apple seems to be the bang for your buck processor.
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First welcome to Mac,
This site here is very good for your Mac CAD needs
http://www.architosh.com/
You didn't mention if you have iLife installed or not. It's a series of programs that are mostly consumer oriented, but come in handy, especially iPhoto. iMovie, iDVD and the rest of the iLife suite makes it very easy to do a occasional video, burn a dvd movie to send to family and whatnot. You have a Combo drive, not a Superdrive, so unfortunately burning DVD's is out of the question (oops) but you can buy a external DVD burner with a Firewire 400 port and Toast software.
A bit flamboyant, but a nice video showing iLife features.
http://pulsar.esm.psu.edu/Faculty/Gray/graphics/movies/iLife04_m480...
If your missing the Windows "Start Menu" you can simply drag any folder, including the boot drive, to a area on the Dock near the Trash can and it will make a alias. When clicked on, will popup a menu and sub-menus.
These sites will keep one in touch with the Mac online world
http://mac.zicos.com/
http://www.systemshootouts.org/processors.html
http://www.macsimumnews.com/index.php
http://www.ifoapplestore.com/index.html
http://138.202.192.14/~trembath/smon/tco.html
Eventually if your starting to crave more power, to do video, 3D game, record HDTV, RAID O and basically b*tch slap down heavy duty jobs as well as MULTI-TASK several heavy duty jobs at once. Then start looking at the Dual processor PowerMac G5's (8 RAM slots and PCI-X) and either 23" or 30" Apple High Res Display.
It's like driving a Hummer instead of a Toyota, and you won't need to upgrade very much as it's expandable.
http://homepage.mac.com/hogfish/PhotoAlbum2.html
A couple of neat Mac OS X tricks is Spell Checking, which can be found in the Edit menu across all programs and my favorite, Command (Apple) + Control + D and mouse over any word. It pops up a instant Oxford dictionary and thesaurus.
A book I recommend getting is Mac OS X Tiger: The Missing Manual.
There are a lot of neat tricks that one usually only finds out by reading.
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I've had my mac mini for about two months now.
Although it has 512mb of ram, It was disturbingly slow.
MacOSX survived 1month, then i installed Ubuntu Colony3 instead. Much much faster now. (And more enjoyable)
Nope. If I'm gonna use MacOSX it has to be much faster.
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Weak processors? G4 maybe out-performed by the G5, but I don't think the G4 is a weak CPU, I used to have a Nix box than had a Via C3 900Mhz CPU, use one of those for almost 2yrs and see what a "Weak" processor is, even then the C3 wasn't weak, it's just that it's designed for certain tasks.
Member since:2005-06-29
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The G4s are weak compared to current offerings in Intel/AMD notebooks and overpriced for what you get. That's one of the primary reasons for the switch to Intel. You basically had no choice with the IBM chips.
Now that notebooks are overtaking traditional desktops in sales, Apple will be in a much better position to offer a much large variety of notebooks.
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Unfortunatly if your recieving and then transfereing files to Win users, you might want to run the free ClamXav anti-virus.
Win viruses don't affect a Mac, unless your running M$ programs on a Mac, then it can affect those apps, not Mac OS X itself usually.
I dumped all M$ products off my Mac and have only been annoyed by Spam. Which if you train Apple Mail's "Junk" filter, should take care of a lot of it.
If you really need a powerful email program and don't mind spending $90, then Mailsmith is very nice, it's Spam Sieve is great. If you get PGP, Mailsmith will integrate that too.
Carbon Copy Cloner, Little Snitch, RCDefaultapp, Hardware Monitor, OnyX, Xupport, Cronnix, Snapz Pro X are some of the great utility software that I personally use.
Appleworks is a cheap combination of word processing, spreadsheet (both read and write M$ files) drawing, painting, presentation and database. It's only like $79. Then of course there is NeoOfficeJ which I use as well.
TV on a Mac awards have to go to Elgato's EyeTV, 200 for analog NTSC/PAL signals and EyeTV 500 for ClearQAM/ATSC digital HDTV signals (mind you only the "free" HDTV, not HDCP encrypted, you need a *cough* seperate device for that 
) To record HDTV well, a Dual processor PowerMac G5 is recommended, before the Intel based Mac's arrive with draconian DRM.
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As a long time Mac user I find it difficult to view the excellent drag-and-drop capabilities as coming from NeXT. Apple and Mac developers have traditionally included comprehensive drag-and-drop support since at least the System 7.1 days, and probably earlier. Apple also had things like clippings in 7.5 or 7.1 Pro.
The second bit is that dragging a floppy to the trash can does make sense in a historic context. At one time, you ejected the disk but it remained on the desktop (this was so that you could easily access multiple floppies on a hard driveless system). To get rid of an ejected disk icon on the desktop, you simply dragged it to the trash.
Member since:2005-06-29
Watch this NeXT demonstration performed by Steven Jobs from 1991, you will see, the drag-and-drop system almost identical to how it is in Mac OS X now, you will see ancestor to XCode's Interface designer as it is now, and the Dock.
Quicktime required: I also advise that you watch it at 50% of its normal size, as the conversion doesnt seem to have gone to well.
http://pulsar.esm.psu.edu/Faculty/Gray/graphics/movies/jobs_NS30_de...
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There's a Mac version of WMP, you can just download it. (Along with RDC client, MSN Messenger, and Outlook 2001 for Classic if you want them.)
http://www.microsoft.com/mac/downloads.aspx
As some have said, MPlayer and VLC will work as well, but they don't yet support the latest WM codecs which you will need to play some newer streaming stuff.
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Have you been to architosh?
http://www.architosh.com/
I have several friends who use Vectorworks 11.5 as their main workhorse of architectural as well as mechanical design. They have said the prefer it over AutoCAD... though I couldn't give you the specific reasons why.
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I'd use VersionTracker to look this up. There are three different applications that I can see online for MacOS X.
also... I'd toss VersionTracker.com into your Bookmarks Bar... it's invaluable when looking for software.
http://www.versiontracker.com/php/search.php?PHPSESSID=fd7832ace102...
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Hi Andrew:
I've a friend here in Sydney (top design awards etc) who runs their whole CAD business off Mac. Not sure what they're using but...
A Mac CAD software list can be found here:
http://www.pure-mac.com/cad.html
As was mentioned, the OmniGroup's OmniGraffle Pro is also worth a look - for visio compatibility.
As to how to mod Safari for user-agent changes and other goodies...(Look for Enabling Debug Menu):
http://pimpmysafari.com/blog/
Safari for developers
http://developer.apple.com/internet/safari/
http://webkit.opendarwin.org/
For some image editing (other than PhotoShop) - check out:
LiveQuartz: http://www.rhapsoft.com/
SeaShore (GIMP for Mac): http://seashore.sourceforge.net/
Various: http://www.freemacware.com/category/photos/
Apple Mail plugins (some of which are out of date):
http://www.tikouka.net/mailapp/
VersionTracker is a good resource and macosxhints.com
All the best.
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2005-07-27
One feature I love after switching to OS X is its built-in spell checker. Any Cocoa app supports it. In Safari, for example, you enable it with Edit->Spelling->Check Spelling as you type. Most other apps support it as well (Mail, iChat, TextEdit, etc).
So now when I mispell a word (I just did), it underlines in red, I right-click and choose the correct spelling. No more misspelled words. Now readers don't know I'm actually an idiot.
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Ok for those who don't know, the author has an AZERTY keyboard, it's used mainly in France and you see AZERTY instead of QWERTY on the top letter row. There are many other differences, mainly symbols keys which are used for accentuated letters like "é". On these keyboards, and on many other international Apple keyboard flavors, the tilde "~" key is not present, instead used for a more "local" symbol. Same thing on the French-Canadian keyboard, which is (fortunately) a QWERTY Keyboard with extra accentuated letters.
At least on the Mac, accessing extra characters not shown on the keyboard don't require typing Alt-NNN which means typing 3 keys to get one extra character. On the Mac, Option and Option-Shift combinations cover almost every extra "hidden" keys, and the keyboard palette can help you find these.
As for dragging volumes to the trash (which on OS X, changes to an eject symbol in that context ), as it was mentioned, it's there for historical reasons since it was there in the first Mac System. It was meant as a shortcut, as the official way was to use the "Put away" menu command.
Now to eject volumes on OS X, I never use the drag-to-trash command. The best way to eject volumes on Panther and Tiger is to click on the little eject symbol at the right of volumes that appear in a Finder window's left side-bar.
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Welcome, I switched two years ago. Two free apps I can't live without: Himmelbar and Acid Search.
Himmelbar gives quick and easy access to applications not in the Dock but still in the Applications Folder.
AcidSearch brings the Google bar in Safari to life.
Go to Versiontracker.com and read the reviews.
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Member since:2005-06-29
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You guys almost make me feel jealous with your switcher stories. I haven't got one and I won't be having one anytime soon. I've never owned a PC and to switch to Windows just to have a switcher story seems like overdoing it.
I could move to Linux or sundry systems, but I don't really feel like arcane rituals involving dead chickens, runed candles and blood [or kool aid, whatever is more readily available] just to get my computer to talk to my printer [just joking about the kool-aid, guys ].
So it turns out I'm the old hand and many of you are the new guys. Hey, welcome to the club.
I agree with one of the earlier posters that another recent-switcher-story may not be the most newsworthy, but what does strike me is that I hear [here and otherwise] quite a number of stories of people taking the plunge and, overall, actually liking it. As someone whose been through some interesting times public relation-wise, it is quite refreshing to read and hear so many good stories instead of being the token-doofus for owning a Mac instead of a sensible Windows box like-everybody-else.
This is a good thing for Apple and Microsoft alike. Apple will see a lot more development on the platform making it an intresting and viable proposition for home and business users, but also for Microsoft because they will be forced to take care of the quality of their products. Everybody wins. And I'm certainly not dissing the Linux people, you're here to stay. We need you to stir up trouble, you're an essential part of a healthy IT-eco system. Open source is the lifeblood of this sick [as in mentally depraved] and twisted industry.
Go forth and make great stuff, all of you!
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A classic, this one. This sort of thing is both the despair and the delight of Cupertino Marketing. The delight, because it tells them that the faithful will carry on buying whatever they put out until they die, and there's no reason to worry about informed comparisons to the alternatives out there. That's the good news. The bad news is that as the uncommitted read this sort of stuff, they conclude that you have to be in a truly weird state of mind to be 'an Apple person', and they want to stay well away from it.
So if you are Cupertino, you say to yourself, I can always sell to these guys, and that's great, because....as long as I am selling to these guys, I'm probably not going to sell to many other people....and that's not so great at all....
The greatest weakness a company can have may strike it and its customers as an enormous strength: the uncritical adulation of a niche market.
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"A classic, this one."
Not a very original post, and not really tied to the ongoing threads. You seem to lump the "Mac Faithful" together due to some sort of cognative dissonance and stereotype you have built for yourself.
Yes, we like our Macs. No, the G4 is not underpowered and overpriced. To be underpowered it would not do it's job. To be overpriced, it would also be incapable of producing. I find Macs do both their jobs and
I find the whole, "well, my $150 intel pentuim four is at 2.8 Gigaherz overclocked so it ownz everything as far as productivity", to be mastabatory self-maniupulation. It ain't the tool it's what you do with it.
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Yes, it will be very easy to get this kind of reputation and really hard to shake it.
I can tell you one thing though: although I am in general a serious afficionado of all things Macintosh, calling me uncritical... let's just say that not too many people in my user group would call me uncritical. I have voiced many concerns against developments on the platform [from 7.5.1 on] and if you think YOU are the original complainer about equipment that's too expensive, that ship has sailed A LONG TIME ago. Until something like 5 years ago, I thought that Macs were awesome computers but they were hugely expensive. The top of the range now is still not what I would call cheap but compared to a time when they cost $5600+, there's a huge difference.
As far as comparing goes, I'm also not a greenhorn on other platforms. I have been using Windows since it was first released [everybody at work was swooning over it, as an Amiga driver I was far from impressed], so it's not as if I haven't set eyes on a different platform. I've also used a few 'Nixes when Apple was still playing with the pre-X systems. I'm biased, yes definitely, but I'm NOT uninformed. Small difference, huge consequence.
The weird state of mind is a personal thing, I don't see that in too many Apple users. Weird is the nature of the beast, but then we live in a weird world.
Weird to me is: being called uncritical when I hear news stories for years mentioning the massive economic damage caused by viruses and malware attacking PCs. Yet, everybody heralds them as the far superior platform. I haven't spent a day worrying about viruses in the 11+ years I've driven a Mac.
I'm wondering why you guys put up with all that misery when you have an alternative that's painless. "Hi, welcome. Do come in and make yourselves comfortable. Can I get you a nice, cool glass of sparkling water?" "Thanks, we're fine. We just pumped a tank full of sewage out of the drain pipes, we're good for a while." Whatever floats your boat, partner.
I'm not saying that a Mac is impervious, that would be the kind of uncritical thinking that you seem to think I'm engaging in. But the UNIX platform and its offspring has been around for a while, wouldn't you agree, and yet it seems to largely miss out on the kind of vulnerabilities the Windows platform has been suffering from for quite some time now. Yet Unix systems have been hosting a lot of interesting data. I'm not dissing the Windows user, but if you think I'm not critical, why are you and others like you, if you're using Windows at all, not posting outside the Redmond campus demanding something better than what's been inflicted on you for all these years [again, assuming you're using Windows].
And to use Linux and its many flavors as a desktop computer. I'm not saying Linux is a bad system, but the thing is, when you try to run some hardware on it, like say a DVD player or a photo camera, you have to hope and pray that you can get the thing to recognise there's something happening in the periphery, much less have it working flawlessly.
Would I use it in a server environment? Absolutely. No question about it. Would I use it on my desktop? No. Is it an interesting intellectual challenge to get it up and running? Hell yes! But you see: I can't be bothered. It's just too much work between the dishes, the laundry, mopping the floor, paying the bills and the ton of other zany stuff I do running my household. I just can't afford to spend 3 nights in a row to try and get my camera connected so that I can print my goddaughter's birthday pictures. I know it's a dumb and trivial thing, but you know: life is dumb and trivial [some of the time at least]. I can't afford the time to battle with my system just to see whose got the bigger balls. I want the memory card to plug in, import the pictures, do some crap with it in iPhoto/iMovie/iDVD and ship it out.
It's just too much trouble to call forth the gods of past and present so that they may grant me the wisdom of selecting the right jumper switch and adjusting the correct ini setting. This is the 21st Century, man. I've got too much stuff to do, not enough time to do it in. I'm sure I can't be the only one.
It has to work now, not tomorrow, and if it 'just works' than that's just enough for me.
This will sound weird to you, but I'm absolutely not second-guessing your personal choices. Live like you want to live, baby. You have my every good wish.
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Open "System Preferences" then click on the "International" preference pane in the "Personal Section", then select the "Input Menu" tab, in the input layout list, activate "Keyboard Viewer" and "Character Palette", then enable the "Show input menu in menu bar" option at the bottom of the window if it isn't already enabled.
In the menu bar, you will see that a small flag with the current keyboard input layout (it should be a Belgian flag) has been added; click on the small flag to open the Input menu, then select "Show Keyboard Viewer" and a window presenting the physical layout of your keyboard will appear.
Press and hold any of the three modifier keys (shift, alt/option and apple/command) or any combination of these keys to see the hidden characters available to you; you can also click on the right (+) widget (zoom) of that window to switch between a small and a large view of the keyboard.
Hope this helps.
And seriously, get David Pogue's Missing Manual for Tiger, it's an invaluable and fun read.
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You can get a version of Vectorworks from the web site, they actually send you a CD. It's quite good and has had no problems opening any of my AutoCAD files (many with layers upon layers and 3D), but the demo won't save, so I can't really "use" it. It's expensive for me at the moment, but if your business depended on CAD, it would pay for itself very quickly.
Member since:2005-06-29
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if u compare hadware specs a dell might seem a better deal
but its got windows on it
u need virus software
u have to buy apps to get the functionality of a mac.
remember these macs come ready to go with everything most users will ever need or want
mac users are highly critical…of windows 
with good reason dont you think
have u used a mac for anything???
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Wonder what will happen if MS will try to include a... hm... web browser ?!... in Windows, may have asked someone in ye olde times.
If MS ever tried to include some office suite component, development tool, any other decent applications they already produce - all linux geeks would cry to the awful monster.
If Apple does it (and it does it *well*), they are teh bestest.
Someone should visit ye olde clue shoppe more often, and it's not me
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For dashboard i think the trick is to use it for things you want to switch to quick and then switch away. I don't find a lot of the widgets that useful for that reason but I do use it a lot with:
calculator
post it notes
what the score is of the Giants game
calendar
translation (useful in my work)
Chris Christensen
blog: http://chris2x.com
blog: http://chris2x.com/store
podcast: http://amateurtraveler.com
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Forgive me if I'm wrong, but it seems that the overall consensus of opinion here is that OS X is a superior -- albeit quirky -- operating system, but that current Apple hardware is underpowered and, ahem, 'in transition'. Even those who own and love their Macs seem to agree.
I've wanted to try out Apple's stuff since OS X was introduced (I even bought all my software and licenses in preparation). But after reading through this thread, I really don't see the point in spending (it looks like) a thousand plus bucks to buy and outfit a mini that's semi-serviceable (faster hard drive, tons of RAM, DVD writer, etc.) And then there's the question of screen resolution across the entire product line.
So, I think I'll either wait for MacIntel or try to get, er, the Mac OS X86 up and running.
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Something you haven't touched on yet that is very key to the difference between a Mac and a PC is this.
- Applications are self contained. Have you noticed how most Mac apps don't have an install routine? Just drag and drop the app to your desktop and fire it up. If you like it, move it to your Applications folder and it still runs! Try moving a Windows app. If you want to delete it, just drag the app to your Trash. There is no mingling of files with your system directory! All app prefs are stored in a seperate Library file system instead of a registry. I was absolutely amazed the first time I was able to completely reload the OS and all my apps still ran! Very *nix in this sense.
I switched almost 2yrs ago now and I continue to be amazed at how well my eMac works. I use it much more often that my previous PC and I have spent less than 10hrs in the last 2yrs troubleshooting anything. I've had a few apps crash but never the OS and the only time I reboot is when an update requires it.
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Hey Andrew Youll, in FileMaker queries are handled in two ways: 1) searches for rapid queries, and 2) calculation for stored queries and or other functionality. I've worked with a number of different databases and while I do love to be able to run a line of SQL, I'm far more enchanted with FileMaker capacity to allow you to define reports from head to toe. Not just listings of results, but summaries, cross-tabulations, auto-updating text, if/then, and case situations on numbers and text, store text, sound, images, movies, PDFs, and a host of other data types, and once all that's done, you can still build scripts to take one report and compare it to or add components of it to another to build a third report, have that report outputted as a PDF file, then send it to a work list, the schedule it to run once a week at 8am, and never touch it again for years.
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with 256 MB of RAM?????
The conventional wisdom is that you need at least 512 MB to enjoy the performance. I've always upgraded the memory of every Mac I've owned and it has always been a great investment. Even before minis came with 512 MB standard, the demo models at the Apple Store always seemed to have been outfitted with at least that amount.
I'm happy you are enjoing it so far.
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I recently made the switch as well, and I am very pleased that the GIMP for Mac version is quite robust. Take a look. Also, another vote for OmniGraffle. I went out and bought the Professional version after using it once. For newsreading, I went with Hogwash, since it supports multiple servers. Adium for chat (I'm not a fan of the Jabber interfaces to MSN and the like). I also went with fink, and then I installed openoffice.org. It took a day to build the version 2 beta, but it is sweet!