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Mac OSX Noob thread of OSX noobs

MCX

Banned
LCfiner said:
yup. dual layer burners are standard
Thank you.

Guys, my friend has a white Macbook with Tiger installed on it. I'm going to get a retail Snow Leopard disk for her because Tiger's so outdated. However, a friend from university told me that it can't be done without first installing 10.5 Leopard. ??? Is this really required or can I somehow go from Tiger -> SL without the hassle of dealing with Leopard? Thanks.
 

Bukana

Member
I have a question and I am sure there is no answer or solution to it.



When I save a photo , I want it automatically added to iPhoto library without opening the app and drag the photos to it, is this possible !?
 

thatbox

Banned
MCX said:
Thank you.

Guys, my friend has a white Macbook with Tiger installed on it. I'm going to get a retail Snow Leopard disk for her because Tiger's so outdated. However, a friend from university told me that it can't be done without first installing 10.5 Leopard. ??? Is this really required or can I somehow go from Tiger -> SL without the hassle of dealing with Leopard? Thanks.
If you buy the reasonably priced Snow Leopard you are theoretically only supposed to upgrade from 10.5 if you want to follow the license to the letter. There is nothing technically preventing people from using the US$30 version to upgrade from Tiger, though.
 

MCX

Banned
thatbox said:
If you buy the reasonably priced Snow Leopard you are theoretically only supposed to upgrade from 10.5 if you want to follow the license to the letter. There is nothing technically preventing people from using the US$30 version to upgrade from Tiger, though.
Thanks, so no Leopard after all. Does that also work for clean installs? Her machine is bogged down with clutter and messed up settings - she needs a blank slate. (Backups have already been made.)
 

hirokazu

Member
MCX said:
Thanks, so no Leopard after all. Does that also work for clean installs? Her machine is bogged down with clutter and messed up settings - she needs a blank slate. (Backups have already been made.)
Yeah, there's no restrictions in the software with what you can do with the Snow Leopard installer. Upgrade from Tiger, clean install, it's all cool. Slap yourself on the wrist for not following the licence, LOL.
 

Futureman

Member
I probably asked this before, but what's the best place to buy RAM?

My friend has an older MacBook... white plastic one. Probably from around 2007 I'm guessing as it's running Tiger. We need to upgrade the RAM so we can put Snow Leopard on his machine.

edit: I think he has 512MB of RAM right now... and looking at Apple's specs on old MacBooks... the only ones to come w/ 512 were the 2006 models w/ 512MB (2x256MB) of 667MHz DDR2 SDRAM (PC2-5300).
 
LCfiner said:
yup. dual layer burners are standard
Though it would be really nice if they included faster speed drives in their products. Ripping music takes twice as long on my Macbook than it does on my parent's desktop PC due to drive speeds. I understand maybe the Macbook not having a 48x+ CD drive, but for people buying iMacs with only a 24x CD drive, it's kind of pathetic, especially if you're using the iMac for video production and need to be burning a lot of DVDs.
 
Futureman said:
I probably asked this before, but what's the best place to buy RAM?

My friend has an older MacBook... white plastic one. Probably from around 2007 I'm guessing as it's running Tiger. We need to upgrade the RAM so we can put Snow Leopard on his machine.

edit: I think he has 512MB of RAM right now... and looking at Apple's specs on old MacBooks... the only ones to come w/ 512 were the 2006 models w/ 512MB (2x256MB) of 667MHz DDR2 SDRAM (PC2-5300).
http://www.newegg.com

Don't buy the Mac specific RAM unless it's cheaper. Any RAM that matches those specs will work.
 

X-Frame

Member
Futureman said:
I probably asked this before, but what's the best place to buy RAM?

My friend has an older MacBook... white plastic one. Probably from around 2007 I'm guessing as it's running Tiger. We need to upgrade the RAM so we can put Snow Leopard on his machine.

edit: I think he has 512MB of RAM right now... and looking at Apple's specs on old MacBooks... the only ones to come w/ 512 were the 2006 models w/ 512MB (2x256MB) of 667MHz DDR2 SDRAM (PC2-5300).
I bought my 2x2GB sticks from Newegg and they were very cheap.
 

Foov

Member
I will be getting a macbook hopefullly in a couple days, just wondering what the best media player there is out there?
 
Foov said:
I will be getting a macbook hopefullly in a couple days, just wondering what the best media player there is out there?
MPlayer OSX Extended.

use VLC Media Player if you need additional volume (like if you need it to fill a room. VLC offers 400% the normal volume + an EQ that allows you to do even more than that).

but MPlayer Extended is easily the best I've used yet.
 
Liu Kang Baking A Pie said:
perhaps just for music.

rhfb said:
iTunes is the best music/podcast/ect player, but I still prefer VLC for any video.
you should give MPlayer a go. I find it to be less glitchy. and subtitles have black borders around them making them easier to read.

also seems to eat less cpu.
 

X-Frame

Member
K2Valor said:
I just wish I could access the iPhoto library (the originals) without having to open iPhoto

That is one thing I like about Picasa over iPhoto .. Picasa doesn't duplicate your pictures I don't think.
 

mrkgoo

Member
K2Valor said:
I just wish I could access the iPhoto library (the originals) without having to open iPhoto
Why?

What do you need to do so badly that you can't open iPhoto and retrieve your photos?

iPhoto is your photo library. Need a photo for something? Open your library and go find it.

If you love navigating folders and stuff, then by all means, you can quit using iPhoto.

For the life of me, I never understand why people love to access files manually for general use. We have these wonderful programs that retrieve files so that we don't need to. It's the like having assistant to find a file for you or having to go through your drawers yourself to find it.


There are some exceptions, no doubt, but generally, I much prefer programs manage my files for me.


And for the record, the iPhoto Library can be set to reference images from your own organisation structure (though I don't recommend it), and you can just open up the iPhoto Library to find the original images - the iPhoto Library 'package' is just merely a masked folder. That is also not recommended, however.
 

mrkgoo

Member
X-Frame said:
That is one thing I like about Picasa over iPhoto .. Picasa doesn't duplicate your pictures I don't think.

It duplicates files for a reason - it becomes the manager of your photos, and it's great at doing that. The idea is that you import into iPhoto and delete the source file.

There's also duplication of images for editing purposes to be non-destructive, which is also a great idea. We have hundreds of gigabytes, and most of us never use the space, but like to hoard it anyway.
 

Chris R

Member
Dreams-Visions said:
perhaps just for music.


you should give MPlayer a go. I find it to be less glitchy. and subtitles have black borders around them making them easier to read.

also seems to eat less cpu.
Never had any glitches with VLC and never use subtitles so I'll just stick to VLC :D
 

vatstep

This poster pulses with an appeal so broad the typical restraints of our societies fall by the wayside.
Since iPhone 4 requires Leopard (and I'm still on an Intel MacBook with Tiger), I've decided to finally upgrade. I just bought the $29 disc, since I know it works even though Apple doesn't want you to use it. I've decided that I'm gonna do a clean install, but I've never even done an OS upgrade on a Mac, period. Does anyone have any suggestions for walkthroughs of the process? I found this one but some of the comments suggest that it wasn't very good. Sorry for the noobness.
 

notworksafe

Member
Walkthrough for a clean install? Backup your stuff onto an external drive, put in the DVD and that's about it.

A clean install wipes your whole HDD and reinstalls from scratch, so it's pretty easy to handle.
 

mrkgoo

Member
vatstep said:
Since iPhone 4 requires Leopard (and I'm still on an Intel MacBook with Tiger), I've decided to finally upgrade. I just bought the $29 disc, since I know it works even though Apple doesn't want you to use it. I've decided that I'm gonna do a clean install, but I've never even done an OS upgrade on a Mac, period. Does anyone have any suggestions for walkthroughs of the process? I found this one but some of the comments suggest that it wasn't very good. Sorry for the noobness.

I just put the thing in and press upgrade, but then I was going from Leopard.
 

MCX

Banned
vatstep said:
Since iPhone 4 requires Leopard (and I'm still on an Intel MacBook with Tiger), I've decided to finally upgrade. I just bought the $29 disc, since I know it works even though Apple doesn't want you to use it. I've decided that I'm gonna do a clean install, but I've never even done an OS upgrade on a Mac, period. Does anyone have any suggestions for walkthroughs of the process? I found this one but some of the comments suggest that it wasn't very good. Sorry for the noobness.
http://www.youtube.com/user/bullychris#play/uploads/0/NhLUcng-kog
 

vatstep

This poster pulses with an appeal so broad the typical restraints of our societies fall by the wayside.
Thanks. I think I've got it, just a little paranoid since I've never done an OS upgrade on a Mac. Seems ridiculously easy, though. Probably gonna do it tomorrow since it's getting late.
 

notworksafe

Member
Serious question: What's the point of Twitter apps on the computer? I just keep a browser tab with the website open. I get the point of them on the iPhone, but maybe I'm just missing something when it comes to the desktop apps.
 

LCfiner

Member
notworksafe said:
Serious question: What's the point of Twitter apps on the computer? I just keep a browser tab with the website open. I get the point of them on the iPhone, but maybe I'm just missing something when it comes to the desktop apps.


eh, for me it’s just the compact size and clean UI.

it’s easier for me to leave the window off in a corner instead of having an extra safari window open and resized to fit in a corner.
 

MDJCM

Member
Dreams-Visions said:
MPlayer OSX Extended.

use VLC Media Player if you need additional volume (like if you need it to fill a room. VLC offers 400% the normal volume + an EQ that allows you to do even more than that).

but MPlayer Extended is easily the best I've used yet.

Agreed, im glad others have found this too, so much neater than VLC, good keyboard commands.

I like using the bracket keys for slowing down playback
 
I have a question mates - The latest version of Fusion - It says it has direct x9 support. Does that meant, that it can use the graphics card capabillities from Windows in the Mac enviornment?

In other words - Could you play games through WMware in OSX?


I have a much older version of Fusion, and games could only run through the integrated graphics.


Boot Camp is cool, but it's annoying having to dual boot, just to play a game I think!
 

MDJCM

Member
Bukana said:
I have a question and I am sure there is no answer or solution to it.



When I save a photo , I want it automatically added to iPhoto library without opening the app and drag the photos to it, is this possible !?
Good question, i'd like to know this too
 

bionic77

Member
Getting the 15" MBP tomorrow. Getting the base unit but undecided on whether to upgrade to high few screen? What say you GAF?

My current pro has matte and this is for the wife and she wants glossy so that is not an option.
 

bionic77

Member
MDJCM said:
Hi res is deffo worth it. I always thought the 15"'s screen was a bit low-res as standard
Thanks for the reply.

For some reason my Apple store only lets you buy the high res screen (wife changed her mind and got the matte) for the i7 model so I had to order it online. Now we won't have to share my old ass Core Duo MBP (which still runs really well).
 

Futureman

Member
I bought a 500GB Lacie external HD. When I plug it in, the only thing that comes up is the "Lacie Setup Assistant." When I run it, it says I need to install Rosetta to proceed.

How do I just use it on 10.6 here?
 

Futureman

Member
Bukana said:
I have a question and I am sure there is no answer or solution to it.



When I save a photo , I want it automatically added to iPhoto library without opening the app and drag the photos to it, is this possible !?

There's probably some way with Automator?
 

MCX

Banned
Futureman said:
I bought a 500GB Lacie external HD. When I plug it in, the only thing that comes up is the "Lacie Setup Assistant." When I run it, it says I need to install Rosetta to proceed.

How do I just use it on 10.6 here?
You can try formatting the external HDD to Mac OS X Extended (Journaled) and see if that helps. That's all I can think of.
 

theultimo

Member
Vigilant Walrus said:
I have a question mates - The latest version of Fusion - It says it has direct x9 support. Does that meant, that it can use the graphics card capabillities from Windows in the Mac enviornment?

In other words - Could you play games through WMware in OSX?


I have a much older version of Fusion, and games could only run through the integrated graphics.


Boot Camp is cool, but it's annoying having to dual boot, just to play a game I think!
Vmware..no

Parallels, hell yes.
Here is a comparison:
Edit: this is one I was talking about:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-gH-OLoxjQ8


Note: not all games work and there is about a 10 to 30 percent overhead. However, you can play crysis...in a vm using parallels ( not amazingly well, but playable)
 

Sean

Banned
Silicon Knight said:
How can I stop iPhoto from starting up automatically after I plug in my iPhone?

Launch Image Capture. You will see something like this in the bottom of the left sidebar:

8dc8f


Just change the drop down option to "No Application"
 
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