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Mac OSX Noob thread of OSX noobs
- Thread starter koam
- Start date
Phobophile
A scientist and gentleman in the manner of Batman.
mrkgoo said:
If all they did was simply create a new user, wouldn't this person have noticed a second account on the login screen? Unless Apple set their diagnostic account to log in automatically, which would be kind of weird.
Phobophile said:
I think it depends on the preferences. I've seen many different logins - where it prompts you, where it autologs in, where it gives you icons from a list. I don't think it's that weird to have it set that way - who knows they probably do that, and are supposed to delete the account, but forgot the last part.
Primetime21
Neo Member
Trying to set up an HTPC but it seems everytime I think I find an answer I find another problem.
So far I have got the HD TV, Mac Mini(Aug 2009), Mini DVI-HDMI, 3.5 mm jack to RCA sound cable.
Theoretically if I hook up the mini through the HDMI and plug in the RCA cables into my stereo system, I will get video and audio?
I really hope I have gotten some of these things right as I am just a mac specific keyboard away from (hopefully) making a somewhat decent HTPC setup. Tell me if I got anything wrong because it is not to late to cancel both adapters/cables.
So far I have got the HD TV, Mac Mini(Aug 2009), Mini DVI-HDMI, 3.5 mm jack to RCA sound cable.
Theoretically if I hook up the mini through the HDMI and plug in the RCA cables into my stereo system, I will get video and audio?
I really hope I have gotten some of these things right as I am just a mac specific keyboard away from (hopefully) making a somewhat decent HTPC setup. Tell me if I got anything wrong because it is not to late to cancel both adapters/cables.
Mecha_Infantry
Banned
HDMI carries both digital audio and sound
Primetime21
Neo Member
Mecha_Infantry said:
But it is converting through mini-DVI which is sadly video only.
Zaraki_Kenpachi
Member
Primetime21 said:
You should get both yes. I have a macbook pro and go mini display port to dvi and a 3.5mm from my macbook to my tv. It should work going to your stereo but it may act up if you just go to your tv since I don't know if it can take 3.5mm or rca audio while using and hdmi input but with a stereo I see no problem.
DJ Crimson
Banned
So I just won an Mac Mini on eBay with Applecare along with Windows Vista Business dual booted on it. What would be the first thing I should do with it? Have problems buying used computers but I haven't owned a computer since April and been using PS3's internet browser since...
DJ Crimson
Banned
Yea, I used to own an iBook and got sick of that shit after 3 years. Piece of shit hardware, already familar with the OS unless they updated a couple of things the last 1-2 years. Yea, the boot discs are also included.mrkgoo said:
UnluckyKate
Member
DJ Crimson said:
Check if it's Intel so you can install Snow Leopard maybe.
DJ Crimson
Banned
Snow Leopad comes with it along with it's boot disc. Guess I should of been more desciptive in the original post.:lolUnluckyKate said:
criesofthepast
Member
My mac pro has started to make a hissing noise on the left side where you plug in the AC adapter. It only happens when it is in use and running off AC power. It sounds almost like air being let out of a tire. It doesn't happen all the time but it has happened more than a handful of times now.
I'm wondering if it's the battery. It's at 348 cycles and 80% health right now. I still get 2 hours of battery life though so I'm in no rush to get a new one just yet. Can I use this battery until it completely dies or can that harm the computer somehow?
I'm on SL if it matters.
I'm wondering if it's the battery. It's at 348 cycles and 80% health right now. I still get 2 hours of battery life though so I'm in no rush to get a new one just yet. Can I use this battery until it completely dies or can that harm the computer somehow?
I'm on SL if it matters.
DJ Crimson said:
I'm going to suggest a clean install with Snow Leopard. What were you tired of? And why go back, Jack?If Leopard is new to you, I'd say there have been a few improvements.
criesofthepast said:
Macbook Pro? I'm going to suggest that your battery is miscalibrated - should be lower than 80% health after 400 cycles (unless you have the new non-user replaceable battery). Sounds dangerous. Is that hissing et battery or the adaptor? You can run your macbook pro without battery to check (but don't knock the cable while battery is removed).
Mecha_Infantry
Banned
criesofthepast said:
I had the SAME PROBLEM! But it disappeared weirdly. I searched the Apple support page and they said to take it in straight away. But it then just disappeared..so :S
DJ Crimson
Banned
I wasn't tired of OS X at all, its just the hardware that was in the iBook was ancient. Couldn't run shit and slow as fuck on even the simpliest programs.mrkgoo said:
criesofthepast
Member
I calibrated about 2 months ago but I will try again. The sound comes directly from the AC adapter port. I'll try without the battery.mrkgoo said:
edit: Can't really tell. I think I hear it still but not as much. Right now I'm running off battery with nothing plugged in and I don't hear anything. Completely silent. Pretty weird.
Garou
Member
criesofthepast said:
This is probably that old defect regarding the power-saver-mode on the CPU. The first generations of MB and MBP had that happen. The system signals the CPU, that it can power down a bit which creates that hissing noise in some cases because of the slightly changed voltage.
You can easily confirm that: Power up your Mac plugged in and without any applications open. Then you should be able to hear it. Then open Photo booth. If the noise disappears, it is the CPU.
There is an easy way to fix it: Install ShhhMBP from http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/22091
(The page says that it only works on first generation MBP, but I have also tested it successfully on 2nd Generation MBs, so you shouldn't worry about it)
The only downside to this solution is, that your CPU doesn't enter the C4-power-saver mode which might reduce battery life a little.
Got Snow Leopard for Christmas, it's amazing how much snappier it is even on my ancient MacBook, thought that might be because of the extra gig of memory and new 500 gig hard drive I put in, but I'm not sure; in 10.4 (yeah I'm a little late to a bunch of parties) I could be doing basic things and almost all my memory would be used up, now the vast majority of it is just sitting there, feels like the extra gig was unnecessary.
Anyway, is there a way to reset every folder's view to the default I've come up with? I know you can do it on a per folder basis, but that seems like it'd be a hassle.
Anyway, is there a way to reset every folder's view to the default I've come up with? I know you can do it on a per folder basis, but that seems like it'd be a hassle.
I'm halfway saved up for my new MacBook Pro. I can't wait. Especially since this poor thing (My current 2007 white MacBook) is holding on for dear life waiting. Hopefully I should have saved up enough by the time the next round of MBP's come along probably in January or so. I cannot wait.
Ok, so... I'm having a serious issue with my mac. After upgrading to Snow Leopard last week, certain visual elements have stopped appearing: buttons in Safari, Mail, and iCal, the search entry field for Finder, and basically and type of form field option in a browser (radial buttons, check boxes, etc.). Even the red, yellow, and green window buttons are not visible.
I don't know if it matters at all, but I had been running the iTunesesque theme via Magnifique on 10.5, in order to have the marble style effects on scroll bars. Interestingly, that effect is still in place, even though I have disabled the theme in Magnifique several times and rebooted Finder.
So, my question is, how the heck do I fix this without doing a full reinstall? I have a feeling the system's image library files for these assets are just missing, but I have no idea how to replace them. And considering the amount of garbage on my laptop right now, I'd really rather not have to do clean install of 10.6.
Screenshots:
http://i46.tinypic.com/4hz47a.png
http://i48.tinypic.com/33v0y1t.png
Thanks for any help you guys can give me.
I don't know if it matters at all, but I had been running the iTunesesque theme via Magnifique on 10.5, in order to have the marble style effects on scroll bars. Interestingly, that effect is still in place, even though I have disabled the theme in Magnifique several times and rebooted Finder.
So, my question is, how the heck do I fix this without doing a full reinstall? I have a feeling the system's image library files for these assets are just missing, but I have no idea how to replace them. And considering the amount of garbage on my laptop right now, I'd really rather not have to do clean install of 10.6.
Screenshots:
http://i46.tinypic.com/4hz47a.png
http://i48.tinypic.com/33v0y1t.png
Thanks for any help you guys can give me.
Try a full reinstall anyway. Snow Leopard is designed so as you can just install it and not worry about backing up files. (Do it anyway of course) Reinstall and update to .2 and see if it is fixed. If not, try clearing caches, and delete your themes completely.
Hell, try that first. Download Onyx and clear all your caches. Then get rid of the themes completely. (You can reinstall it later when you make sure there is a Snow Leopard compatible version.) Enough changed in Snow Leopard with the UI and how things are done that I'm not surprised a themer program could screw it up. Those things can be dangerous. You should always disable them before upgrading to a whole new version. (i.e. 10.5 to 10.6 to 10.7 etc...)
Anyways, I just discovered the new iTunes has an option for the store to take up the full width of the iTunes window! It gets rid of the sidebar when in the store so I don't have to make the window huge or scroll horizontally. Awesome! This makes me much happier. I HATED that the new store layout was meant for a wide iTunes window. With this option it is much better. Click the X and it returns the sidebar.
Hell, try that first. Download Onyx and clear all your caches. Then get rid of the themes completely. (You can reinstall it later when you make sure there is a Snow Leopard compatible version.) Enough changed in Snow Leopard with the UI and how things are done that I'm not surprised a themer program could screw it up. Those things can be dangerous. You should always disable them before upgrading to a whole new version. (i.e. 10.5 to 10.6 to 10.7 etc...)
Anyways, I just discovered the new iTunes has an option for the store to take up the full width of the iTunes window! It gets rid of the sidebar when in the store so I don't have to make the window huge or scroll horizontally. Awesome! This makes me much happier. I HATED that the new store layout was meant for a wide iTunes window. With this option it is much better. Click the X and it returns the sidebar.
Mecha_Infantry
Banned
Jasoco said:
Are you in the USA? If so, what are you doing with the white Macbook, have you designated anyone to give it to?
I was going to pop it on eBay and see what I got for it actually.Mecha_Infantry said:
It has a problem, but it is an unknown problem. It could literally be anything.
- It overheats and shuts down abruptly if I try to do anything that pushes it to 85ºC+. Which is anything to do with H.264, a lot of YouTube stuff, even Photoshop once in a while.
- The fans make a HORRIBLE grinding noise. Like terrible. If you are in a room with no sound, you will notice it. It is worse than an Xbox 360. Sometimes its louder.
- The Logic Board is probably going too, maybe, because I assume it fried at some point.
- The processors literally choke on stuff it used to play like a trooper before. Especially 720p video which ran fine back in the day, now won't play without a lot of dropped frames.
- The original 80GB HD died so I can't even sell it with a HD now.
- It won't even play fullscreen video on an external monitor, even if it's not HD, without stuttering.
- Once in a while the audio processor decides to take a shit and audio becomes garbled and stutters, but is fixable by unplugging or replugging the speakers.
- The palmrests have gotten the "cracks" again.
- The plastic is full of scuff marks.
- And somehow something sharp with a corner made a scuffed dent in the plastic between the V and F keys. So weird. It even dented the V key itself. In order for it to damage the plastic without breaking a key, it would have to be extremely soft plastic.
It's just so aged it's sad. The keyboard topcase was replaced once, on the last day of my 1-year warranty. The day I SHOULD have bought AppleCare. I didn't get AppleCare which would have avoided this whole thing. So it's my own fault. And I used to use it to rip and encode DVD's 24/7. It was never shut down. I probably shouldn't have done that, but it was the only Mac I had with an Intel processor and I needed my DVD's to be ripped. It probably fried something in there with all the constant ripping.
Thing is, it could be a simple fix, or it could cost hundreds of dollars to fix depending on what is wrong. I can't find THAT out unless I pay $75 to have the people at MacOutfitters look at it. And at this point, it's just better to get a new MacBook Pro. I usually keep my old Macs. I still have my iMac G4 that's dying and an iBook G3 with a dead Airport card as well as my Mac mini with the dead FireWire port. I haven't decided what I would start bidding at if I did sell it. I thought I'd fixed it a while ago when I reset the SMC. It went away and worked fine for a few months. Then went back to its old tricks. Resetting hasn't worked again.
Apple couldn't even refurbish it because they'd probably end up replacing every part at which point it becomes a ship of Theseus.
Jet Grind Radio!
Banned
Can anyone recommend a media player that plays FLV, WMV, AVI, and MKV files? I know I had another one before I reformatted, but I can't remember what it was called.
UnluckyKate
Member
Jet Grind Radio! said:
MPlayer OSX Extented 2:
http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/36331
Jet Grind Radio!
Banned
That was it. I knew it had an innocuous name like MPlayer. :lolUnluckyKate said:
Another application question, is there a good backup program for OSX that isn't Time Machine? I want my external formatted in such a way that I can use it for Windows and OSX, but Time Machine requires it to be formatted just for OSX.
DeathbyVolcano
Banned
Jasoco, where's that option in iTunes for the store to take up the entire window? I can't seem to find it.
edit: nevermind
edit: nevermind
Splash Wave
Member
I just formatted my hard drive in order to install Snow Leopard. Since installing, I've noticed that it's much more bare-bones than if I had used my original discs. I haven't begun re-installing programs and stuff, so should I just: format again, use my original discs, then install snow leopard on top of it?
Jet Grind Radio! said:
I just use QuickTime and Perian, for anything else, VLC tends to do the trick.
Jet Grind Radio! said:
Can you partition the drive first, one in each format, and then use the Mac HFS+ for Time Machine?
Jimmy Stav said:
What do you mean bare bones? Snow Leopard is a much cleaner install - most people installing SNow Leopard over Leopard regained some space.
If you mean like iLife Apps are missing, that's because SNow Leopard doesn't have iLife. Original restores discs for MAcs include iLife, but the OS does not.
I thought you could just install SNow Leopard without an existing installation.
Particle Physicist
between a quark and a baryon
Jimmy Stav said:
Your original OS disk does not have iLife. It is on a separate disk that you should have received. I think it is called 'Software Bundle.' You can just install that in Snow Leopard, without having to do all that crap you mentioned.
Tony Rocky Horror
Member
What's the best alternative for Microsoft Word for Mac?
I'm kind of fed up with it, with it's unintuitive interface..
I'm kind of fed up with it, with it's unintuitive interface..
Phobophile
A scientist and gentleman in the manner of Batman.
Banzaiaap said:
Pages.
The iWork suite is pretty slick and can export files to Microsoft Office-compatible extensions.
UnluckyKate
Member
Phobophile said:
This.
iWork is super easy to use and really powerfull. Plus, it's design is really user friendly if you know Mac OS X.
NekoFever
Member
I use SuperDuper, and that'll let you back up to a disk image on any external drive.Jet Grind Radio! said:
I've had it since before Time Machine arrived and still use it because it creates bootable backups. When the HDD failed in my old iBook I ran the whole thing from my FireWire drive until a replacement arrived, which meant although it wasn't exactly portable any more, I didn't have to stop working while it was out of commission. When the new HDD was in I just used SuperDuper to clone it all back over to the new blank drive and carried on from where I left off.
DJ Crimson
Banned
I hate to be one of these type of people but what programs in general would you recommend? My computer is arrived on the 7th and got to get a few programs preferably free before I move. Also what is the best internet browser available at the moment? I love Firefox and it's add-ons but I heard it's been getting worse.
Jet Grind Radio!
Banned
Can you give us a hint at what you want?DJ Crimson said:
DJ Crimson
Banned
Pretty much anything that can be useful. Off the top of my head, looking for something that rips .rar, .zip, et cetera, that is pretty good. Kind of hard to think what I would need since I don't have the damn thing yet.
H_Prestige
Banned
Does anyone know of a good firefox theme that looks just like Safari? I've seen plenty of themes that have a Safari "look", but never like the real thing.
Mecha_Infantry
Banned
H_Prestige said:
This is mine, not a huge difference; but I don't know how much you want it to look like Safari
http://www.takebacktheweb.org/H_Prestige said:
movie_club
Junior Member
can i create a network on my macbook while plugged in with ethernet to broadcast wifi for things like itouch, ds and so forth??