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Mac OSX Noob thread of OSX noobs

tsigo

Member
Afloat lets you modify window behavior (keep on top, stick to dekstop, change transparency) as well as resize and move from anywhere. And open source to boot!
 
Quick question... I have this Bluetooth keyboard that is aggrivating me. After a few minutes of not typing, it gets disconnected. I imagine this is just the keyboard shutting down to save batteries; cool. When I strike a key to wake it up, it takes me through the identification process again (hit the key to the right of left shift, hit the key to the left of right shift). It also does this when I reboot the Mac. This sucks. It doesn't happen when I use the keyboard on a PC, so I'm wondering if it's a MacOS configuration thing that I just haven't been able to figure out.
 
Does anybody get this weird glitch when using Safari on the HTML5 beta?

Screenshot2010-04-18at34418AM.png


When ever I move my cursor to the video list on the right side of the page this happens.

Screenshot2010-04-18at34012AM.png


EDIT - I'm referring to the moving of the pictures that are in the way of the screen and not the changing of HTML5 to H.264 (I changed formats up while listening to see if that would move the screens back after they've already moved).
 
hey guys, can anyone recommend a comprehensive list of the better utility programs for OSX? for things like system monitoring, UI customization, etc? Just your favorites will be fine.
 

mrkgoo

Member
Dreams-Visions said:
hey guys, can anyone recommend a comprehensive list of the better utility programs for OSX? for things like system monitoring, UI customization, etc? Just your favorites will be fine.
I use the widget istat pro for my system mo itoring. Last thing I want is dozens of icons in my menu bar.
 

Gav

Member
Question for anyone who knows how to use Pages.

I have a document that im working on, about 70 pages so far.
The first section/chapter has roman numerals for page numbers. I then want to start the numbering again as 1, 2, 3... etc.
Whatever I try, i cant get this to work. Played with new sections, page numbers by sections, restarting page numbers etc etc. But every time, the numbers come in as the next one after the numerals.

EG. I want it to go i, ii, iii, iv, 1, 2, 3, 4...
But whatever i try, it will always go i, ii, iii, iv, 5, 6, 7, 8...

Edit: Fixed it, finally. Layout section in the Inspector to the rescue!
 

btkadams

Member
i'm looking to upgrade my macbook pro's memory since during my ableton sets, the program stutters the audio maybe once or twice during the 3 hours. i mean, it like stops audio for half a second and then comes back in. it's really irritating to me and i'm sure it is for the people dancing too. i have the base model 15" macbook pro early 2008 so i only have 2gb memory.

it says on this page on apples site:

Apple said:
2GB (two 1GB SO-DIMMs) of PC2-5300 (667MHz) DDR2 memory; two SO-DIMM slots support up to 4GB

my macbook pro is running snow leopard. would it not work with 8gb memory? i'll have to deal with only a 4gb upgradE? i just feel like i might as well go for 8 to eliminate any possible memory problems.
 
btkadams said:
i'm looking to upgrade my macbook pro's memory since during my ableton sets, the program stutters the audio maybe once or twice during the 3 hours. i mean, it like stops audio for half a second and then comes back in. it's really irritating to me and i'm sure it is for the people dancing too. i have the base model 15" macbook pro early 2008 so i only have 2gb memory.

it says on this page on apples site:



my macbook pro is running snow leopard. would it not work with 8gb memory? i'll have to deal with only a 4gb upgradE? i just feel like i might as well go for 8 to eliminate any possible memory problems.
might not be the best answer, but....just call Apple's support line. I find that they get to the phone quickly (short hold times), speak good english (because they're Americans), and can answer all of those questions definitively.

I'd certainly recommend you move up to at least 4GB no matter what the answer they give you is.

is there an equivalent to the Windows Task Manager in OSX so that you can monitor how much CPU/Memory individual apps are using? Because that could probably give you an idea of how much of each you're using now.
 

VNZ

Member
Dreams-Visions said:
is there an equivalent to the Windows Task Manager in OSX so that you can monitor how much CPU/Memory individual apps are using? Because that could probably give you an idea of how much of each you're using now.
There sure is.
 
Dreams-Visions said:
might not be the best answer, but....just call Apple's support line. I find that they get to the phone quickly (short hold times), speak good english (because they're Americans), and can answer all of those questions definitively.

I'd certainly recommend you move up to at least 4GB no matter what the answer they give you is.

is there an equivalent to the Windows Task Manager in OSX so that you can monitor how much CPU/Memory individual apps are using? Because that could probably give you an idea of how much of each you're using now.

Have you never had to force quit an app before?
 

luoapp

Member
btkadams said:
i'm looking to upgrade my macbook pro's memory since during my ableton sets, the program stutters the audio maybe once or twice during the 3 hours. i mean, it like stops audio for half a second and then comes back in. it's really irritating to me and i'm sure it is for the people dancing too. i have the base model 15" macbook pro early 2008 so i only have 2gb memory.

it says on this page on apples site:



my macbook pro is running snow leopard. would it not work with 8gb memory? i'll have to deal with only a 4gb upgradE? i just feel like i might as well go for 8 to eliminate any possible memory problems.

Check the activity monitor to see if the memory is the bottleneck. 2GB mem is a lot of memory after all.
 

btkadams

Member
Dreams-Visions said:
might not be the best answer, but....just call Apple's support line. I find that they get to the phone quickly (short hold times), speak good english (because they're Americans), and can answer all of those questions definitively.

I'd certainly recommend you move up to at least 4GB no matter what the answer they give you is.

is there an equivalent to the Windows Task Manager in OSX so that you can monitor how much CPU/Memory individual apps are using? Because that could probably give you an idea of how much of each you're using now.
luoapp said:
Check the activity monitor to see if the memory is the bottleneck. 2GB mem is a lot of memory after all.
ive checked it and the cpu usage is always around 20-35%. the memory is about 80% used constantly. could that be a clue that i should upgrade my memory? maybe when the audio stutters its spiked up to 100% use on the mem. the 80% used is when nothing is running except ableton. wifi is off, bluetooth off, and all other programs off aside from iStat.


EDIT: could there be other bottlenecks causing it? hdd speed?
 
btkadams said:
ive checked it and the cpu usage is always around 20-35%. the memory is about 80% used constantly. could that be a clue that i should upgrade my memory? maybe when the audio stutters its spiked up to 100% use on the mem. the 80% used is when nothing is running except ableton. wifi is off, bluetooth off, and all other programs off aside from iStat.


EDIT: could there be other bottlenecks causing it? hdd speed?

Could you screencap your activity monitor with all the apps running in it via apple shift 4
 

luoapp

Member
btkadams said:
ive checked it and the cpu usage is always around 20-35%. the memory is about 80% used constantly. could that be a clue that i should upgrade my memory? maybe when the audio stutters its spiked up to 100% use on the mem. the 80% used is when nothing is running except ableton. wifi is off, bluetooth off, and all other programs off aside from iStat.

HT1342_01-Mac_OS_X_10_6-Activity_Monitor.png


There are different types of "usuage". If 80% of memory is "actively" in use, it's very likely causing the stuttering problem. But given the memory price being so low nowadays, I will say, just fill it up :D
 

btkadams

Member
im probably reading this all wrong so heres some snaps of each section. thanks for all the help guys! when i was saying 80% active i meant that there was about 20% inactive without noticing theres one called active too lol.


CPU:
2c05567dc6b97fbbb9abaf9f7888746e.png


MEMORY:
f05fe5acc42c7ebe47c3481446dd5463.png


DISK ACTIVITY - IO:
d0851d51a11052d55e56d8c6759f1f0b.png


DISK ACTIVITY - DATA:
b6212a1b7f96727230ddbc6c10c468b4.png



what do you guys think??



*****ALSO please note that this is during me running through the set for about 5 minutes. i'm not sure as to how they would look 2 hours into the set. i wouldn't be doing any more complicated things as i am near the beginning though. another things is that my set has about 80 songs queued up for me to click to play at any moment. it might be that my drive is too slow or something and thats why it would stutter when i clicked one? i wouldn't know. i'm not that in tune to computer stuff.*****
 

Ashhong

Member
luoapp said:
HT1342_01-Mac_OS_X_10_6-Activity_Monitor.png


There are different types of "usuage". If 80% of memory is "actively" in use, it's very likely causing the stuttering problem. But given the memory price being so low nowadays, I will say, just fill it up :D

what memory are you looking at that its low? memory prices have only gone up in the past...year or so. they are ridiculously high compared to last year IIRC
 

Salazar

Member
Ok. Help needed.

I'm on a MB Pro, Mac OSX 10.6, using Safari, and every time I delete my cookies, they come back. Any reason / fix ?
 

btkadams

Member
Ashhong said:
what memory are you looking at that its low? memory prices have only gone up in the past...year or so. they are ridiculously high compared to last year IIRC
i dont even know how to read the activity monitor's memory report to be honest.

id prob only buy 2 2gb sticks which are reasonably priced id say. 61 bucks each?



*******EDIT: hey i just noticed a setting in ableton that shows cpu usage set to 50%? i raised it to 80 which is the max. maybe this will stop the problem. ill have to get back to you guys. but also is 2 2gb sticks for 61 bucks each a bad deal?
 

luoapp

Member
btkadams said:
i dont even know how to read the activity monitor's memory report to be honest.

id prob only buy 2 2gb sticks which are reasonably priced id say. 61 bucks each?



*******EDIT: hey i just noticed a setting in ableton that shows cpu usage set to 50%? i raised it to 80 which is the max. maybe this will stop the problem. ill have to get back to you guys. but also is 2 2gb sticks for 61 bucks each a bad deal?

I think it's not bad. I've seen 49 for 2gb, but 12 dollars are not too much. As for the CPU usage, I have no experience with ableton, but if you want to really find the root problem you can use a CPU log software like this,
http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=848597
 
tsigo said:
Afloat lets you modify window behavior (keep on top, stick to dekstop, change transparency) as well as resize and move from anywhere. And open source to boot!
this would be amazing if it could just make the window border transparent...I dont know why i want an aero/glass style window theme for mac os...but i do :(
 

Ashhong

Member
btkadams said:
i dont even know how to read the activity monitor's memory report to be honest.

id prob only buy 2 2gb sticks which are reasonably priced id say. 61 bucks each?

61 bucks???? man..a year ago that would have cost so much less. my friend got 4gb of DDR3 ram for his MBP around 50 before the price spike. i guess its not so bad in terms of ram prices today..
 

MDJCM

Member
Hitokage said:
Get the following:

Perian (Codec pack for Quicktime, which means OS codec support)
Flip4Mac WMV (Windows media support in QT)
Mac RealPlayer (It's not evil in unix form, and you might need it so have it around)
MPlayer OSX Extended (Best media player for the Mac)

I definitely agree with this, except Real Player, my .RMs work fine on MPlayer Extended, which is really good
 

RubxQub

φίλω ἐξεχέγλουτον καί ψευδολόγον οὖκ εἰπόν
Is realplayer used for anything but old porn these days?
 

MDJCM

Member
How do you guys find out the total file size of a selected bunch of files? Its really annoying how it opens different "Get Info" windows for each file

RubxQub said:
Is realplayer used for anything but old porn these days?

:lol

exactly
 
Damn it! The Youtube HTML5 beta on Safari is ridiculous! Now the picture won't pop up a lot of the times and I can't scroll through the video anymore.

Screw it! I'm signing off the beta! WTF Youtube! Seriously WTF!
 

dream

Member
MDJCM said:
How do you guys find out the total file size of a selected bunch of files? Its really annoying how it opens different "Get Info" windows for each file



:lol

exactly

ctrl-Get Info should do it.
 

lupin23rd

Member
Two quick questions:

- can I go from 10.4.11 directly to snow leopard with that $30 upgrade?

- recently I've noticed safari give me rhe spinning wheel of death quite often and most times I have to hard reboot, i've seen a few solutions but it's come back, is this something serious?

Maybe time to get a MacBook pro :lol
 

LCfiner

Member
lupin23rd said:
Two quick questions:

- can I go from 10.4.11 directly to snow leopard with that $30 upgrade?

- recently I've noticed safari give me rhe spinning wheel of death quite often and most times I have to hard reboot, i've seen a few solutions but it's come back, is this something serious?

Maybe time to get a MacBook pro :lol


1. yes.

2. potential hard drive problem. run disk utility after booting from install DVD and run repair disk to see if it finds anything.

make sure you have a backup.
 

LCfiner

Member
Silicon Knight said:
Question: how does one make a screen of an app likt this (see above)? So clean, with the shadow and all. :)

* Command-Shift-3: Take a screenshot of the screen, and save it as a file on the desktop
* Command-Shift-4, then select an area: Take a screenshot of an area and save it as a file on the desktop
* Command-Shift-4, then space, then click a window: Take a screenshot of a window and save it as a file on the desktop
* Command-Control-Shift-3: Take a screenshot of the screen, and save it to the clipboard
* Command-Control-Shift-4, then select an area: Take a screenshot of an area and save it to the clipboard
* Command-Control-Shift-4, then space, then click a window: Take a screenshot of a window and save it to the clipboard

there are also dashboard widgets that let you click a button to save a screenshot from the options above.
 

btkadams

Member
LCfiner said:
* Command-Shift-3: Take a screenshot of the screen, and save it as a file on the desktop
* Command-Shift-4, then select an area: Take a screenshot of an area and save it as a file on the desktop
* Command-Shift-4, then space, then click a window: Take a screenshot of a window and save it as a file on the desktop
* Command-Control-Shift-3: Take a screenshot of the screen, and save it to the clipboard
* Command-Control-Shift-4, then select an area: Take a screenshot of an area and save it to the clipboard
* Command-Control-Shift-4, then space, then click a window: Take a screenshot of a window and save it to the clipboard

there are also dashboard widgets that let you click a button to save a screenshot from the options above.
i always forget these ugh
 
LCfiner said:
* Command-Shift-3: Take a screenshot of the screen, and save it as a file on the desktop
* Command-Shift-4, then select an area: Take a screenshot of an area and save it as a file on the desktop
* Command-Shift-4, then space, then click a window: Take a screenshot of a window and save it as a file on the desktop
* Command-Control-Shift-3: Take a screenshot of the screen, and save it to the clipboard
* Command-Control-Shift-4, then select an area: Take a screenshot of an area and save it to the clipboard
* Command-Control-Shift-4, then space, then click a window: Take a screenshot of a window and save it to the clipboard

there are also dashboard widgets that let you click a button to save a screenshot from the options above.
Wow, thanks man! Ik have been a Mac user for 3 years now, and these shortcuts are still new to me. :)
 

fireside

Member
Has anyone gushed about Smart Scroll yet? It adds momentum scrolling to pretty much everything and it's awesome. Probably old news but it's the first thing in a long time to make me smile while browsing the web on my computer.
 
Hey guys


I'm wanting to guy a Mac Mini for my HTPC, but I am not sure if it's a good time to. I was looking at the Macrumours guide and they said it's mid-cycle which is worrying. The base processor is 2.26 with a 9400 graf card, which I hope can handle my 10-17GB .mkv bluray rips

Anyone else out there with a mac mini as their HTPC running 1080p? Also, is it a good time to get it right now? I only have 22GB left on my MBP too, so I would like to get it asap, or just wait and dump the files onto an external
 

RubxQub

φίλω ἐξεχέγλουτον καί ψευδολόγον οὖκ εἰπόν
Mecha_Infantry said:
Hey guys


I'm wanting to guy a Mac Mini for my HTPC, but I am not sure if it's a good time to. I was looking at the Macrumours guide and they said it's mid-cycle which is worrying. The base processor is 2.26 with a 9400 graf card, which I hope can handle my 10-17GB .mkv bluray rips

Anyone else out there with a mac mini as their HTPC running 1080p? Also, is it a good time to get it right now? I only have 22GB left on my MBP too, so I would like to get it asap, or just wait and dump the files onto an external
I use a Mac Mini as my HTPC and it can indeed run 1080p movies on it, and this is on the model before this upgrade.

Haven't done it with an mkv file rip of a blu-ray before, but it plays 1080p trailers without a hitch.

I've got to think that the current models would be pretty worry free.

Love it so much, it's my favorite Mac in the house.

You won't be able to use Front Row to access your content, though, as I'm almost positive that iTunes doesn't play mkv files. You'd most likely end up using Plex or Boxee instead of the built in Front Row, which are fine alternatives.
 
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