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Mac OSX Noob thread of OSX noobs

U

UtadaBarkley

Member
Mecha_Infantry said:
Browsers are a bitch sometimes, there's no one that is perfect :(

I've almost had enough of Safari's beachballs, but it intergrates so amazingly with the OS. I like Chrome but it's randomness and data privacy issues worry me, Firefox is just uuuuuuuuuurgh for me now

I might run with SVRWare Iron/Chromium and a nightly Safari webkit as I hear it cuts down on beachballs. What's our resident Web Developer Liu Kang/Gruber got to say about this?
Click to expand...

When you say it integrates so amazingly with OS X? Give me an example? Maybe I've just haven't used it enough to see what you mean.
 
U

UtadaBarkley

Member
On another note, is anyone using a Magic Mouse? I love the looks, but the lack of ergonomics is making my hand cramp and just feel weird after using it for an extended period. I feel like it's going to cause me to have arthritis. Seriously.

Am I just holding it wrong? Would a trackpad be better?
 
L

LCfiner

Member
JeffDowns said:
When you say it integrates so amazingly with OS X? Give me an example? Maybe I've just haven't used it enough to see what you mean.
Click to expand...

1. a) system dictionary support in text boxes (text transforms, auto correction, etc) and 1b) right click on any word and you can look it up in mac OS X dictionary. a little panel can pop up with the definition, thesaurus, etc. better results than google definitions, imo.

2. system keychain support. useful for filling out forms. start typing first couple letters of your name, all fields then fill in (i think there are extensions that do this on other browsers)

3. Chrome does not (last I checked) support Mac OS X services, selectable from the menu or from the right click menu. these were greatly expanded and made easier to discover in Mac 10.6. you can create automations and commands and have them available as a system service. eg: send text to sticky note. they can come in handy.
 
U

UtadaBarkley

Member
LCfiner said:
1. a) system dictionary support in text boxes (text transforms, auto correction, etc) and 1b) right click on any word and you can look it up in mac OS X dictionary. a little panel can pop up with the definition, thesaurus, etc. better results than google definitions, imo.

2. system keychain support. useful for filling out forms. start typing first couple letters of your name, all fields then fill in (i think there are extensions that do this on other browsers)

3. Chrome does not (last I checked) support Mac OS X services, selectable from the menu or from the right click menu. these were greatly expanded and made easier to discover in Mac 10.6. you can create automations and commands and have them available as a system service. eg: send text to sticky note. they can come in handy.
Click to expand...

Ah... Good points, especially for the dictionary. Keychain stuff doesn't apply to me since I use LastPass. How I EVER lived without LastPass is a total mystery to me.

I want to love Safari, as I like keeping my system as stock as possible, but I just can't do it. The way the address bar works in safari is just inferior to that of Chrome imo. And when you click in the address bar in Safari, it doesn't automatically highlight all text so that you can start a new query, you have to double click which is annoying for me. I prefer the way Safari handles flash/html5, and I want to use it, but every time I do, I end up going back to Chrome.

Secondly, the "omnibar" in Chrome is excellent. You can do everything from one bar, no need for a separate search bar, which is nice.

Safari seems to be a lot more stable, so I'll definitely give it that. Although that may just be due to the fact that I use Chrome so much more.
 
njean777

njean777

Member
JeffDowns said:
Ah... Good points, especially for the dictionary. Keychain stuff doesn't apply to me since I use LastPass. How I EVER lived without LastPass is a total mystery to me.

I want to love Safari, as I like keeping my system as stock as possible, but I just can't do it. The way the address bar works in safari is just inferior to that of Chrome imo. And when you click in the address bar in Safari, it doesn't automatically highlight all text so that you can start a new query, you have to double click which is annoying for me. I prefer the way Safari handles flash/html5, and I want to use it, but every time I do, I end up going back to Chrome.

Secondly, the "omnibar" in Chrome is excellent. You can do everything from one bar, no need for a separate search bar, which is nice.

Safari seems to be a lot more stable, so I'll definitely give it that. Although that may just be due to the fact that I use Chrome so much more.
Click to expand...

How do you look up dictionary terms? i always forget how...

Also i like chrome but safari is my favorite browser on mac, it just works so well and after using it i cant quit it.
 
M

mollipen

Member
JeffDowns said:
Secondly, the "omnibar" in Chrome is excellent. You can do everything from one bar, no need for a separate search bar, which is nice.
Click to expand...

In a way, I kind of hate the omnibar, because now I have no ability to use any browser but Chrome. I can't count the amount of times I've started up Safari or Firefox for some odd reason, tried to do a Google search, not understand why it wasn't working, and then remembered the URL bars in those browsers don't work like that.
 
L

LCfiner

Member
The nice thing about browsers nowadays is that there's enough variety out there to satisfy anyone's browsing style and habits.

compare this to the Mac browser landscape back in 1998.
 
U

UtadaBarkley

Member
shidoshi said:
In a way, I kind of hate the omnibar, because now I have no ability to use any browser but Chrome. I can't count the amount of times I've started up Safari or Firefox for some odd reason, tried to do a Google search, not understand why it wasn't working, and then remembered the URL bars in those browsers don't work like that.
Click to expand...
I know, that's exactly how I feel. If Safari just had that one feature, It'd be more usable for me.
 
C

criesofthepast

Member
I have a pair of Dell speakers I want to use with my iMac but they only work when I plug them into the headphone jack. I use my headphone jack quite a bit usually at night when everyone is sleeping. Is there a reason why they don't work when I plug them into the Audio In/optical digital audio port?

I know nothing about audio so forgive me if this is a dumb question.

Oh, the speakers are at least 5 years old but they are better than the internal iMac speakers. Harman/Kardon is the brand name.
 
L

Liu Kang Baking A Pie

Member
criesofthepast said:
I have a pair of Dell speakers I want to use with my iMac but they only work when I plug them into the headphone jack. I use my headphone jack quite a bit usually at night when everyone is sleeping. Is there a reason why they don't work when I plug them into the Audio In/optical digital audio port?

I know nothing about audio so forgive me if this is a dumb question.
Click to expand...
It's the audio in port.

Headphone port is the audio out port.
 
T

The Technomancer

card-carrying scientician
Okay, so this is weird. Yesterday I use internet sharing on my MacBook to get my Wii online for Netflix, same as I do any other day. Today when I try to turn on internet sharing the "sharing" screen says that its on, but my Airport icon never transforms into the arrow, and my Wii isn't getting any signal. Anyone else ever run into this before.
 
K

Kraftwerk

Member
Ok im really frustrated and need help D:<

Got my 13' mac book air.Everything is awesome EXCEPT i have really slow wireless connection.I tinkered with it for a few hours thinking im doing something wrong,or not setting it up properly.My friend comes over and he has a HP envy and we sit in the same place and we did a test on speedtest.net to compare things.I barely got 1mb/s and he got 18mb/s.....seriously pissed me off.We kept repeating the test over and over in different areas of the house and always the same thing.
I put the fucking macbook NEXT TO THE MODEM/ROUTER and got 3mb/s.WTF!!
Sorry if im not making sense but i don't know what else to do.
Should i just take it back to the store? My friend says my wireless card or w/e you call it is busted.

more info:

My internet speed is 25mb/s
Macbook air (2010) 13 inch
Everything is up to date
 
M

mollipen

Member
The_Technomancer said:
Okay, so this is weird. Yesterday I use internet sharing on my MacBook to get my Wii online for Netflix, same as I do any other day. Today when I try to turn on internet sharing the "sharing" screen says that its on, but my Airport icon never transforms into the arrow, and my Wii isn't getting any signal. Anyone else ever run into this before.
Click to expand...

Happens sometimes. Turn sharing off and then back on, and it should kick in again.
 
H

H_Prestige

Banned
Kraftwerk said:
Ok im really frustrated and need help D:<

Got my 13' mac book air.Everything is awesome EXCEPT i have really slow wireless connection.I tinkered with it for a few hours thinking im doing something wrong,or not setting it up properly.My friend comes over and he has a HP envy and we sit in the same place and we did a test on speedtest.net to compare things.I barely got 1mb/s and he got 18mb/s.....seriously pissed me off.We kept repeating the test over and over in different areas of the house and always the same thing.
I put the fucking macbook NEXT TO THE MODEM/ROUTER and got 3mb/s.WTF!!
Sorry if im not making sense but i don't know what else to do.
Should i just take it back to the store? My friend says my wireless card or w/e you call it is busted.

more info:

My internet speed is 25mb/s
Macbook air (2010) 13 inch
Everything is up to date
Click to expand...

Something is busted in there. Have it replaced ASAP.
 
W

White Man

Member
JeffDowns said:
On another note, is anyone using a Magic Mouse? I love the looks, but the lack of ergonomics is making my hand cramp and just feel weird after using it for an extended period. I feel like it's going to cause me to have arthritis. Seriously.

Am I just holding it wrong? Would a trackpad be better?
Click to expand...

I could never get used to it. For me, it seemed too slim and it would quickly become uncomfortable. That slimness might be why I could never get comfortable using gestures on it, too.
 
U

UtadaBarkley

Member
White Man said:
I could never get used to it. For me, it seemed too slim and it would quickly become uncomfortable. That slimness might be why I could never get comfortable using gestures on it, too.
Click to expand...
What are you using as your secondary input device? Logitech? Mighty Mouse? Trackpad?
 
Bboy AJ

Bboy AJ

My dog was murdered by a 3.5mm audio port and I will not rest until the standard is dead
Jeff: I far prefer the magic trackpad. It's one of the reasons I switched to a Mac.
 
wolfmat

wolfmat

Confirmed Asshole
Jasoco said:
The trackpad on the MacBooks is amazing. I haven't used a mouse in months.
Click to expand...
It isn't really suited for any sort of graphics-oriented work like 3D modeling or pixel painting, but it sure is a cool gadget for browsing the web and shit!
 
T

The Technomancer

card-carrying scientician
Ugh, letting it sit over night, two restarts, and about ten attempts later and the Airport icon still isn't switching and I'm still not broadcasting any signal. Anyone ever run into anything persistent like this before?
 
U

upandaway

Member
JeffDowns said:
On another note, is anyone using a Magic Mouse? I love the looks, but the lack of ergonomics is making my hand cramp and just feel weird after using it for an extended period. I feel like it's going to cause me to have arthritis. Seriously.

Am I just holding it wrong? Would a trackpad be better?
Click to expand...
I'm not really feeling anything after using it. I have the jell bump thing for my wrist though which helps my hand be a lot higher. Usually my palm is far enough from the mouse that I could fit another mouse in there.
 
wolfmat

wolfmat

Confirmed Asshole
The_Technomancer: Sounds like a settings fuckup.

System Preferences -> Sharing
Share your connection from: Ethernet
To computers using: AirPort

Set a password under "AirPort Options…"

Then tick the box for internet sharing on the left

Connect from Wii as if your MacBook was a WiFi router with said password

That should be it.
 
H

hirokazu

Member
JeffDowns said:
On another note, is anyone using a Magic Mouse? I love the looks, but the lack of ergonomics is making my hand cramp and just feel weird after using it for an extended period. I feel like it's going to cause me to have arthritis. Seriously.

Am I just holding it wrong? Would a trackpad be better?
Click to expand...
Yeah, I wrote about switching to Magic Trackpad a few pages back. In terms of mediating the issue, I feel as if I need to give the computer a good rest all together and wait for it to heal up before it can get any better. I've switched to using the other hand half the time.

I love the Magic Trackpad's gestures with BetterTouchTool, but I should probably alternate use between it and my old, but good contoured Microsoft mouse too, just to mix things up.
 
M

Mecha_Infantry

Banned
Man,

I know Macs generally are less software error prone that Microsoft machines, but the fucking hardware sometimes sucks!

I've had this issue recently where if I shut my lid on my Late 2008 MBP and then take it out of sleep with an external display connected, the MBP screen won't turn on, but the external one will. It happens like 7/10 and always at the worse damn time...

Urrrgh..
 
M

mollipen

Member
Mecha_Infantry said:
Man,

I know Macs generally are less software error prone that Microsoft machines, but the fucking hardware sometimes sucks!

I've had this issue recently where if I shut my lid on my Late 2008 MBP and then take it out of sleep with an external display connected, the MBP screen won't turn on, but the external one will. It happens like 7/10 and always at the worse damn time...

Urrrgh..
Click to expand...

Unless I'm misunderstanding your situation... isn't that what is supposed to happen?
 
M

Mairu

Member
shidoshi said:
Unless I'm misunderstanding your situation... isn't that what is supposed to happen?
Click to expand...
yeah I don't see the problem there... if you don't want it to load on the external display unplug the display?
 
J

Jasoco

Banned
shidoshi said:
Unless I'm misunderstanding your situation... isn't that what is supposed to happen?
Click to expand...
Wait, is he talking about it being closed or open when it comes on? Because if it's closed then yes, that's what's supposed to happen. If you have a keyboard and/or mouse connected with an external display it lets you run it closed. I misread. I thought he said it wasn't turning the internal display on when he opened it.
 
M

Mecha_Infantry

Banned
Sorry if I wasn't clear

Basically I sleep it by shutting the lid, then wake it by opening the lid, and then the MBP display doesn't show. Only the external monitor…
 
G

GodfatherX

Member
Anybod having issues with iLife 11?

Specifically iPhoto? It is slow as hell now, taking 3-4 minutes to load. Running on a late 2009 13" MBP
 
J

Jasoco

Banned
Mecha_Infantry said:
Sorry if I wasn't clear

Basically I sleep it by shutting the lid, then wake it by opening the lid, and then the MBP display doesn't show. Only the external monitor…
Click to expand...
Yeah, that's not normal I wouldn't think.
 
J

Jasoco

Banned
hirokazu said:
Yeah, the previous iPhoto update was 9.0.1, it was primarily meant to fix library import issues. Today's 9.1 is a bigger update. Should be fine, just do another backup before installing.
Click to expand...
Ugh. Nope. Didn't work. The update still fucked up iPhoto. I had to go back to 9.0 again. What gives, Apple? It's a fresh new installation of iPhoto.
 
D

Dupy

"it is in giving that we receive"
I'm actually having a new issue with iPhoto '11. When I move a photo from one album to another it copies the photo so it appears in both albums (dumb functionality but whatever). The problem comes when I try to delete the duplicate photo. Now it deletes the photo in BOTH albums when I've only selected the photo in one of them.

Anyone have this issue?
 
C

ciD_Vain

Member
Hey guys, i'm looking to buy a new mac, preferably a laptop. Which model do you think I should get? And what kind of upgrades should i do?

I need something that could also run windows as I want to be able to run programs like 3DS Max, and UDK as well as run Maya and ZBrush. Thanks for the help. I would go straight to a PC but I can't leave OSX once going Mac.
 
Bboy AJ

Bboy AJ

My dog was murdered by a 3.5mm audio port and I will not rest until the standard is dead
Of course iLife 11 runs like shit. I thought it was my iMac 2.0 C2D but Apple's software isn't ever any good until their x.2 release or something. Same with their hardware. That's just how it is with them.
 
L

Liu Kang Baking A Pie

Member
ciD_Vain said:
Hey guys, i'm looking to buy a new mac, preferably a laptop. Which model do you think I should get? And what kind of upgrades should i do?

I need something that could also run windows as I want to be able to run programs like 3DS Max, and UDK as well as run Maya and ZBrush. Thanks for the help. I would go straight to a PC but I can't leave OSX once going Mac.
Click to expand...
There are three laptops, and they all have obvious use cases, dude.
 
V

Vox-Pop

Contains Sucralose
help me GAF! I'm freaking out.

I'm trying to sync my music on my mac to the music on my external hard drive. What's the best way to do it when all the folders are names of artist. I don't want duplicate songs or files overwritten. I just want to add the songs that are not in my external hard drive.
 
A

AlexMogil

Member
Mecha_Infantry said:
Sorry if I wasn't clear

Basically I sleep it by shutting the lid, then wake it by opening the lid, and then the MBP display doesn't show. Only the external monitor…
Click to expand...


I am going to go way out on a limb here... but is your MBP plugged in to electric when you do this?
 
A

AlexMogil

Member
ciD_Vain said:
Hey guys, i'm looking to buy a new mac, preferably a laptop. Which model do you think I should get? And what kind of upgrades should i do?
Click to expand...

Buy as much as you can afford with a screen you scan work with, just leave the RAM upgrade off and do it yourself. You're looking 15 or 17 with that stuff and happy Windows virtualization. The rest of it depends on what you want and how much you are willing to spend.
 
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