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Mac OSX Noob thread of OSX noobs

U

UtadaBarkley

Member
Bowser said:
There's a couple of little minor annoyances that I have with the Air that pushes me towards the MBP (no built-in ethernet port, no backlit keyboard, no dvd-drive which is big for me cause I like to watch dvds on my laptop); but, I am starting to warm up a bit to it. Definitely am going to play around with one at the Apple store, I'm just worried, mainly, about the lack of a dvd drive (I don't want to waste space ripping my DVDs onto a 128GB hard drive; though I suppose I could rip them to my portable external HD and watch off of that?). Also, I plan on installing Windows on my Mac and running either bootcamp or virtualization so I'm not sure how the Air would handle that either.
Click to expand...

If you're doing that (vm) definitely don't skimp on the machine then. You'll want to get a MBP with at minimum 4GB of RAM. Read back a few posts. VM is not for the Air.
 
B

Blackhead

Redarse
JeffDowns said:
Probably not, because of what you just said. You don't do gaming, graphics, etc. So what could they release besides a faster machine that would be worth waiting for?
Click to expand...
Possible improvements besides a faster CPU include a better glossy screen, or a matte screen option, a SSD drive in the base models and removing the SuperDrive for a lighter, slightly thinner machine. The 13" MBA bests it in many of the tests, which is insulting for a 'Pro' machine, but some folks are holding out for the MBP refresh because the need the extra ports and expandability of the Pro line. I'm also hoping Apple updates the 13" before Black Friday but I guess they are steering folks to the MBAs this holiday season :/
 
B

Bowser

Member
JeffDowns said:
If you're doing that (vm) definitely don't skimp on the machine then. You'll want to get a MBP with at minimum 4GB of RAM. Read back a few posts. VM is not for the Air.
Click to expand...

I'm starting to look more into the Air and I'm wondering, how would the Windows performance be if I just used bootcamp instead of virtualization? Would it still need 4GB of RAM? The only thing I'd really use Windows for, now that I think about it, is Excel (I read that iWork is pretty good and I was planning on getting that for simple word processing and what not, but standard Excel is something I need for work). I don't think I would be adverse to rebooting my laptop everytime I needed to use Windows, but who knows.
 
U

UtadaBarkley

Member
Bowser said:
I'm starting to look more into the Air and I'm wondering, how would the Windows performance be if I just used bootcamp instead of virtualization? Would it still need 4GB of RAM? The only thing I'd really use Windows for, now that I think about it, is Excel (I read that iWork is pretty good and I was planning on getting that for simple word processing and what not, but standard Excel is something I need for work). I don't think I would be adverse to rebooting my laptop everytime I needed to use Windows, but who knows.
Click to expand...
Why not just use the Mac version of Excel then, and forget about running Windows all together? Office for Mac is pretty inexpensive, especially if you happen to be a student.

But yes, Bootcamp is much less resource intensive than running Windows in OS X via virtualization.
 
U

unpurposed

Member
I'm looking at getting a new 15" MBP, but one thing that I'm concerned about is the screen options. I don't want a glossy screen, but I'm not sure what the quality difference between the glossy and the matte are and I can't seem to find any comparisons.

Can someone who has worked with both comment on the different options?
 
A

Ashhong

Member
unpurposed said:
I'm looking at getting a new 15" MBP, but one thing that I'm concerned about is the screen options. I don't want a glossy screen, but I'm not sure what the quality difference between the glossy and the matte are and I can't seem to find any comparisons.

Can someone who has worked with both comment on the different options?
Click to expand...

I guarantee everyone here will recommend the matte screen, especially if you already don't want a glossy screen. The matte is said to produce more accurate colors.
 
B

Bowser

Member
JeffDowns said:
Why not just use the Mac version of Excel then, and forget about running Windows all together? Office for Mac is pretty inexpensive, especially if you happen to be a student.

But yes, Bootcamp is much less resource intensive than running Windows in OS X via virtualization.
Click to expand...

Last I remember, Office for Mac had some compatibility issues with certain add-ins such as Solver in Excel, but this is for Office for Mac 2008 and it was 2 years ago (I know because we had to use Solver extensively in one of my classes my junior year and my friend who had a Mac had to use her PC netbook for the class because of some of the compatibility quirks). It could be different now though.

edit: just want to point out that even the MBA's 1.86GHz Core 2 Duo processor would probably feel like lightspeed considering I'm still using the Lenovo z61t that I got before my freshman year of college (Summer 2006) running Windows 7 on a T2500 2.00Ghz Intel Core Duo processor with 2 GB of RAM :lol
 
D

Dreams-Visions

Member
LCfiner said:
Ha ha. I had been pimping glims for ages. Its quite good, although I require fewer of its functions now that safari 5 supports basic extensions.
Click to expand...
why the fuck didn't you tell me! :lol it addresses all my complaints about Safari (custom search engines, webpage icons/thumbnails).

also, I used Chrome all day...Flash rapes Chrome. it uses at least 100% more CPU than Safari does. and drove my CPU up 20C higher than Safari OR Firefox.
 
A

Ashhong

Member
I've been having some weird issues with dragging files around. Sometimes, not always, when I drag a file around it wont "release" the file until I do a 3-finger tap.

I click and drag it around the file with 1 finger, then move it around with a second, and it just stays in that "dragging" state until I tap with 3 fingers. I feel like it's something to do with BetterTouchTool but I don't know what it is...
 
D

Dreams-Visions

Member
Ashhong said:
I've been having some weird issues with dragging files around. Sometimes, not always, when I drag a file around it wont "release" the file until I do a 3-finger tap.

I click and drag it around the file with 1 finger, then move it around with a second, and it just stays in that "dragging" state until I tap with 3 fingers. I feel like it's something to do with BetterTouchTool but I don't know what it is...
Click to expand...
welcome to OSX.

this is how they designed it to work. you have to wait about .5 seconds for something to fully release. coming from Windows, you'll find this very irritating. you'll have to learn to adjust by clicking once at the end of your drag. You can also combat it with BetterTouchTool by checking the following box:

BTT-->Touchpad Settings-->"Activate experimental dragging"

it's a check box appearing next to text written in extremely small font. very last check box below the large "i" in the circle.

the BTT setting will fix much of it, but not 100%.
 
A

Ashhong

Member
Dreams-Visions said:
welcome to OSX.

this is how they designed it to work. you have to wait about .5 seconds for something to fully release. coming from Windows, you'll find this very irritating. you'll have to learn to adjust by clicking once at the end of your drag. You can also combat it with BetterTouchTool by checking the following box:

BTT-->Touchpad Settings-->"Activate experimental dragging"

it's a check box appearing next to text written in extremely small font. very last check box below the large "i" in the circle.

the BTT setting will fix much of it, but not 100%.
Click to expand...

Nono, it's not that issue. I've been on OSX for over a year now and never had this problem. It doesn't release at all, until I do a 3 finger tap. However I deselected some option in BTT dealing with "aggressive 3-finger tap" and it seems to be fixed. We'll see.
 
H

hEist

Member
so, after 1 year on my MacMini, i'm thinking of getting a Notebook. But i don't know if a MacBook Pro oder an Air.

Are the new Air's fast? Or should i stick with Macbook Pro?
 
D

Dreams-Visions

Member
Ashhong said:
Nono, it's not that issue. I've been on OSX for over a year now and never had this problem. It doesn't release at all, until I do a 3 finger tap. However I deselected some option in BTT dealing with "aggressive 3-finger tap" and it seems to be fixed. We'll see.
Click to expand...
oh okay. i'll remember *not* to check that one.
 
H

hirokazu

Member
Dreams-Visions said:
welcome to OSX.

this is how they designed it to work. you have to wait about .5 seconds for something to fully release. coming from Windows, you'll find this very irritating. you'll have to learn to adjust by clicking once at the end of your drag.
Click to expand...
Isn't this described behaviour the Drag Lock feature, and isn't it disabled by default?
 
B

Blackhead

Redarse
I have a AT&T Uverse which handles the cable, phone line and internet services. It comes with its own router which isn't wireless-n. I'd like to get a dual band airport extreme to replace AT&T's box but I'm not sure how to set it up. I'll want to connect a macbook, iPad, wireless storage and future appletv/boxee on one band and leave the other network for everybody else. I'm also hoping to finally use those sexy features like wake-up-on-LAN, back to my mac, guest networks and port forwarding. Will this be easy to set up, and maintain, and how do I go about doing so?
 
X

X-Frame

Member
Doytch said:
Actually, there's a better way than what I said. Run this command in the terminal (for each file):
Code: 
touch -t [[CC]YY]MMDDhhmm[.ss] FILENAME
Replacing FILENAME obv, and the square brackets mean that the fields are optional. So,
Code: 
touch -t 209901311234 FILENAME
Would set 2099, 31 January, 12:34. Should do the trick.
Click to expand...

I tried this but I am getting "No such file or directory" .. what is the problem here? I'm dragging the file from one of my folders into the Terminal window with no luck.
 
Z

Zaraki_Kenpachi

Member
Does iTunes change the metadata (I think that's what it's called) for a video file? So like if I rip a TV series and then import into iTunes and add the data for Season, episode, and description, will the file itself hold that data so if I open it in another program it will have the added data of season #, episode #, etc. or do I have do to something else to have that saved to the file itself?
 
D

Doytch

Member
X-Frame said:
I tried this but I am getting "No such file or directory" .. what is the problem here? I'm dragging the file from one of my folders into the Terminal window with no luck.
Click to expand...
Hmm, that's weird. Here's the thing, say you run these two touch commands:
touch nonexistantfolder/nonexistantfile.txt
touch nonexistantfile.txt

The first will fail with the error you gave, but the second will actually create a file called nonexistantfile.txt. So obviously we've got our path messed up a bit.

Could you c/p the full location of the file (from the Where field in the Show Info pane) and the command you're entering?

Also, I just realised the date I gave you will set a wrong date. Use a command like this: touch -t 3001311234 /Users/mpd/Documents/foo.cpp
 
D

Dreams-Visions

Member
hirokazu said:
Isn't this described behaviour the Drag Lock feature, and isn't it disabled by default?
Click to expand...
no, it's not the described behavior. and to your point...no, OSX by default retains a temporary dragging lock when you double-tap + move windows which lasts for about .5 seconds before release. With "Drag Lock" it holds onto the window until you tap somewhere no matter what. It's considered a feature and can only be mitigated in BetterTouchTool (though not completely defeated). It's very noticeable (and frustrating) if you're not used to tapping to release a window and are moving your mouse fast. for example, a double tap to move a window to one side of the screen, followed by quickly moving your finger off the pad and putting it back on to move the cursor somewhere else faster than .5 seconds will result in the window moving with the mouse cursor unless you wait for the allotted time as if you never took your finger off the touchpad.

if you click + move, however, no such issue occurs.

this is just an issue with the touchpads on MBP's and I assume the new desktop touch pad. not with mice.
 
O

osknoes

Member
Hi guys!

I bought a MBP last week. Usually the startup\boot time was around few seconds ( I would say less than ten). Today I did install iLife11 and system updates, including a mix of applications updates and ios as well. now my startup time is around 30 seconds :\

Do you know any way to monitor it, or to have any idea why\what is taking so long ?

Edit : Also, any recommendation to keep it clean. Is CleanMyMac worth the 30$ ?

Thanks! ( mac noob here, in case it was not clear enough )
 
V

VNZ

Member
osknoes said:
Hi guys!

I bought a MBP last week. Usually the startup\boot time was around few seconds ( I would say less than ten). Today I did install iLife11 and system updates, including a mix of applications updates and ios as well. now my startup time is around 30 seconds :\

Do you know any way to monitor it, or to have any idea why\what is taking so long ?

Edit : Also, any recommendation to keep it clean. Is CleanMyMac worth the 30$ ?

Thanks! ( mac noob here, in case it was not clear enough )
Click to expand...
By holding down "v" when you turn on the machine it will boot in "verbose mode", ie. the usually hidden UNIX textual boot info is displayed. I have no idea what to make of that stuff though... Nor do I know how to keep down boot times. :) I really see no point in rebooting particularly often.

As for cleaning, Onyx is free and could be worth a try for some maintenance. Cleaning up all the different boot caches might improve boot times?
 
D

Dreams-Visions

Member
long boot times are usually a function of startup apps.

Preferences --> Accounts --> Login Items

Might want to consider disabling some of them and testing. You'll likely find your culprit there.
 
O

osknoes

Member
Dreams-Visions said:
long boot times are usually a function of startup apps.

Preferences --> Accounts --> Login Items

Might want to consider disabling some of them and testing. You'll likely find your culprit there.
Click to expand...


I only have gmail notifier and iTunes helper... I'll take a look at Onyx.
 
J

Jasoco

Banned
Dreams-Visions said:
long boot times are usually a function of startup apps.

Preferences --> Accounts --> Login Items

Might want to consider disabling some of them and testing. You'll likely find your culprit there.
Click to expand...
Well, those Startup Items are different from actual ones that start up with the boot up. Those ones in the Login Items are loaded AFTER the user logs in. They wouldn't have anything to do with an extended boot time. Just a longer login time.

Look up a program called Lingon. It will show you all the stuff that is actually being loaded at boot. Both system and user specific Agents and Daemons.
zwf5e8.jpg
 
F

Firestorm

Member
What do press to reurn to the beginning of a line in a text editor or word processor? So the equivalent of the Windows "Home" key.
 
B

Bowser

Member
You guys have seriously got me considering the MBA. I think I might go with a tricked out 13" and have it as my primary computer. I want my next laptop to last me at least 4-5 years, so I think it'll be worth it to pay the extra for the bump in processor speed since it's already an old processor.
 
L

LCfiner

Member
Firestorm said:
What do press to reurn to the beginning of a line in a text editor or word processor? So the equivalent of the Windows "Home" key.
Click to expand...


CMD-back arrow key (use fwd arrow key to jump to end of line)
 
J

Jasoco

Banned
Dreams-Visions said:
oh wow, thanks for the tip!

though I must say, I have disabled apps that slowed my boot time in the Login Items window.
Click to expand...
Which ones may I ask? I'm always interested in learning.
 
A

AlexMogil

Member
Dreams-Visions said:
why the fuck didn't you tell me! :lol it addresses all my complaints about Safari (custom search engines, webpage icons/thumbnails).

also, I used Chrome all day...Flash rapes Chrome. it uses at least 100% more CPU than Safari does. and drove my CPU up 20C higher than Safari OR Firefox.
Click to expand...


I just wish to goodness Safari could render a gif without dragging the system down to its knees. It's the only reason I keep Firefox installed.
 
D

Dreams-Visions

Member
Jasoco said:
Which ones may I ask? I'm always interested in learning.
Click to expand...
at one point in the past, it was the iTunes Helper. that was a few builds ago, but I installed an iTunes update and it added 15 seconds to my update time.

I disabled the helper and all went back to normal. idk.
 
U

UtadaBarkley

Member
FYI, Office 2011 is just...amazing. Seriously. Pages seriously looks like a joke compared to this. Plus Office is actually affordable which is shocking in itself.
 
J

Jasoco

Banned
Dreams-Visions said:
at one point in the past, it was the iTunes Helper. that was a few builds ago, but I installed an iTunes update and it added 15 seconds to my update time.

I disabled the helper and all went back to normal. idk.
Click to expand...
Which part do you consider the boot time? I consider the grey screen boot time and blue screen login time. The grey happens while the OS is loading essential stuff before any users have been logged in. The blue appears when the loginwindow process has started which is when all your personal startup items should be loading. 15 seconds? That seems way too long. Is that during the blue or the grey?
 
D

Dreams-Visions

Member
Jasoco said:
Which part do you consider the boot time? I consider the grey screen boot time and blue screen login time.
Click to expand...
the time from the apple logo to the blue screen.

basically just counting the revolutions that spinning wheel does before the blue screen appears.
 
L

loosus

Banned
I bought a copy of MacOS X Snow Leopard for $20, and I'm going to try virtualizing it soon using VirtualBox. I want to get a feel for MacOS X without throwing down the full hardware -- at least until I know how to use it to some discernible degree.

I have a few questions...

I know a little bash (Linux). Will that help me at all using a terminal window in MacOS? I've heard it's Unix-based.

Can it be joined to an Active Directory domain?

Is it two-button mouse helpful?
 
S

Sean

Banned
AlexMogil said:
I just wish to goodness Safari could render a gif without dragging the system down to its knees. It's the only reason I keep Firefox installed.
Click to expand...

That's not a problem anymore on Snow Leopard (64-bit Safari) for me. They still don't play at quite the same speed compared to FF but it doesn't beachball anymore either.
 
A

AlexMogil

Member
Sean said:
That's not a problem anymore on Snow Leopard (64-bit Safari) for me. They still don't play at quite the same speed compared to FF but it doesn't beachball anymore either.
Click to expand...
I wish I had the same experience. I'm running the same environment on an i5. It's not like gifs are the norm, but when there's an animated image posted on GAF... Eek.
 
H

hirokazu

Member
Dreams-Visions said:
no, it's not the described behavior. and to your point...no, OSX by default retains a temporary dragging lock when you double-tap + move windows which lasts for about .5 seconds before release. With "Drag Lock" it holds onto the window until you tap somewhere no matter what. It's considered a feature and can only be mitigated in BetterTouchTool (though not completely defeated). It's very noticeable (and frustrating) if you're not used to tapping to release a window and are moving your mouse fast. for example, a double tap to move a window to one side of the screen, followed by quickly moving your finger off the pad and putting it back on to move the cursor somewhere else faster than .5 seconds will result in the window moving with the mouse cursor unless you wait for the allotted time as if you never took your finger off the touchpad.

if you click + move, however, no such issue occurs.

this is just an issue with the touchpads on MBP's and I assume the new desktop touch pad. not with mice.
Click to expand...
Oh, I see. Yep, that seems to happen with my Magic Trackpad as well. I've never noticed it on MacBook trackpads before for some reason.

EDIT: Oh, I've never noticed because I've primarily used older MacBooks with a separate click button, which I used to click and drag. I've never really gotten used to the newer ones where the Trackpad itself clicks, including the Magic Trackpad, so I use tap and drap with those.
 
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