What is Digg?349 Comments
- robrohan, on 12/26/2008, -2/+193It's a nice list, but using "C" to mean the control key and "O" to mean the option key is very confusing. If the author is around, I would highly reommened you either spell out "Control" "Option" and "Command" keys or use somethiing like "ctrl" "alt" and "apple key".
I've been using mac for a few years now so these tips weren't new to me, but when I read "You can do a right click by holding down C and clicking" I tried holding down C and clicking to see if that did something I wasn't aware of - I think this article actually confuses the issue. - inactive, on 12/25/2008, -10/+143This article hits some major points, but I have a few more suggestions for new Mac users.
Turn on Expose immediately. You can do this by going to the Apple symbol at the top left corner of your screen, click System Preferences/Expose and set Expose to appear using the "Hot Corners" option. The "All Windows" and "Desktop" functions are the most useful. Basically, when you want to see all your open windows, you will activate the hot corner that corresponds to "All Windows," and to see the desktop and clear away all open windows, you will activate the hot corner that corresponds to "Desktop."
I would also suggest setting up your iChat ID as soon as possible. iChat is very powerful. Boot Camp can be used to install Windows on a partition. I wouldn't use more than 50 gigs, because once you get into OS X, you won't see much need for Windows except for games.
If you're a MS Paint user, download Paintbrush or Sea Shore. They're free. I would also download the following free software:
Firefox
for sites that don't work with Safari (it's not as many as there used to be).
Handbrake
for decrypting and ripping DVDs.
Azureus
for bit torrenting.
NeoOffice
for your word processing, spread sheet needs.
VLC
for multi-media, although Quicktime Pro will open just about everything. VLC will open everything.
Flip4Mac
for playing video with proprietary Windows codecs.
Quinn
a textris clone
Snes9x
for playing Super Nintendo ROMs
Pac the Man X
a Pac Man clone.
Otis
a very cool puzzle game
The best paid apps are:
EyeTV
to watch and record cable television, digital/analog television or plug in your console on your Mac. EyeTV is included with various USB dongles, which you can order from Elgato.com.
Microsoft Office for Mac or iWork.
If you have loads of Office documents, Office for Mac is your best bet, but iWork fully supports Windows formats as well.
Adobe Creative Suite
Expensive as all hell, but if you need to do graphic manipulation, there is nothing better.
Final Cut Studio
Expensive, but the best thing on the market for video editing. Buy Final Cut Express or use iMovie if you're a casual video editor.
Quicktime Pro
For your Multi-Media needs.
Sixtyforce
will allow you to play Nintendo 64 ROMs.
Monopoly
from GameHouse, a very fun port of this immortal game.
Scrabble
another great port, hours of endless fun. - vawksel, on 12/26/2008, -8/+119lol. We got an internet expert here, everyone watch out.
- holyreality, on 12/26/2008, -2/+72***** azureus, go for transmission. much better than the beta utorrent for os x....
and yeah, quicksilver is pretty mandatory as well. - ciano, on 12/26/2008, -1/+57I don't think anyone who never used a mac would know that the author meant the command key when he said "C" key.
- fugazied, on 12/25/2008, -1/+40The 2 biggest things that wowed me, after 10 years of windows and moving onto Mac where Quicksilver and the new spotlight. In spotlight I could type a few characters and find EVERY file on my laptop whose name contained the term, and every document in which the term appeared (pdfs, txt files, everything). It changed the way I use computers, don't have to dick around in windows explorer anymore or perform a 10 minute windows search to find a lost file. Expose, time machine, spaces and stacks were also pretty exciting after using windows for so long.
- ofenza, on 12/26/2008, -0/+33digg this guy up. the C and O on the article were really annoying. It's command/cmd and option/alt.
- Protoss, on 12/26/2008, -0/+33I was thinking the same thing. This is an article for new Mac users, why the hell not explain the actual keys? I know it took me a while (still have trouble) remembering wtf the "Command" key is.
- Spuy767, on 12/26/2008, -0/+33Transmission works very well. Azureus used to rock, but since those for profit ***** took it over, it sucks major balls.
- xavier20xg6, on 12/26/2008, -1/+33uTorrent is great but Transmission is my personal favorite
- Dav3ster, on 12/26/2008, -2/+33"Just got a new Mac for Christmas and feeling a little bewildered?" No. I did not get a new Mac for Xmas. Socks and Chocolate aplenty. Macbook Pro? I should be so lucky! I hate Santa - must have been on the naughty list again...
- mk2ja, on 12/26/2008, -0/+30Buried for being so confusing.
C is used to mean both the Command key and the Control key in the first paragraph. And O is used for option, too. There's no explanation for what the abbr's mean, so I think it'd be worse for new Mac users to read this and then try to figure out what in the hey the author is talking about. - digitalpencil, on 12/26/2008, -0/+29Quicksilver. I swear my productivity is halfed simply by its absence.
edit: oh, and azureus sucks, use uTorrent (still beta but works flawlessly) and you missed perian. otherwise good list. - popwesa, on 12/26/2008, -2/+30Then don't read articles that aren't targeted to you in the title.
- ctrlfreak13, on 12/26/2008, -0/+27The article doesn't even refer to the C key as the control key, the "C" key as they refer to it is the command key (also the apple key). This makes it even more confusing since it never actually calls it by any of these names and there is a control key on Macs.
- Tolocore, on 12/25/2008, -24/+48I hate the freshness of a newly installed OS. So uncustomized. Give me 2 days and i will transform it into a customized beast.
Great article though - Renton, on 12/26/2008, -2/+25And I bet that mouse would work if you plug it into a mac.
- carbonfilament, on 12/26/2008, -0/+19I came to make just this note. This makes the article completely aggravating and unclear.
- kashk5, on 12/26/2008, -1/+19That tip was overly complicated. The author could have provided the simple answer of just dragging an application to the Trash. Applications like AppZapper are just for those people who don't like random files cluttering their machine. However, unlike Windows, these files don't adversely affect the system in any way if left behind.
- avatarpalin, on 12/26/2008, -3/+21Fake Start Button
Goto your Hard Drive (icon top right corner) > Drag the "Applications" Folder to the right hand side of the runway on the dock (That's the strip that separates running apps for apps that are on the dock).
Now Right Click on it (the one on the dock) and choose 'Display as - Folder' and "View As - List"
Presto Fake Start button.
...Or do what I do, whatever you want to run just press 'Command + Space' and that makes Spotlight popup, then just type the three letters of whatever you want to run, then press enter when it appears... Changes my life, got me girls and my guitar solo's rock even harder.. - scottstevenson, on 12/26/2008, -0/+16The command key on the newer keyboards actually says "Command" on it and doesn't have an Apple logo.
- LennyX, on 12/26/2008, -1/+17NeoOffice's main purpose was to make OpenOffice more Mac-like. Since OpenOffice 3.0 is more like a normal Mac app I don't think there's much need for NeoOffice anymore.
- inactive, on 12/26/2008, -2/+18Dude, seriously, we don't give a ***** that you hate Macs and I don't see any Mac users here talking about how pretty Macs are, so get the sand out of your vagina and go play with your Xbox or something. Your little rant is not going to stop people from buying Macs.
- luchid, on 12/26/2008, -0/+16Flip4mac and VLC are not needed. Perian is much more useful since it provides that functionality to Quicktime. Also, I second the need for Quicksilver and uTorrent.
- soopafly, on 12/26/2008, -1/+16Solution: Plug that mouse into your friend's laptop. Problem solved.
- billraydrums, on 12/26/2008, -1/+16Get acquainted with the trackpad. I have the older Macbook Pro and just discovered if you lay two fingers on the trackpad and click, that gives you a "right click" behavior.
- Spuy767, on 12/26/2008, -12/+27I hate articles filled with painfully obvious *****.
- jtbandes, on 12/26/2008, -0/+14⌃⇧⌥⌘. http://blog.macromates.com/2006/multi-stroke-key-b ...
- FrederikNS, on 12/26/2008, -0/+13Correction: Mac OS X is an Operating System, a Mac is a PC.
- HamNCheese, on 12/26/2008, -0/+13The "Command" key is no longer known as the "Apple" key on modern hardware. In fact, there is no Apple symbol on the keyboard anymore. "Command" or "cmd" should be used instead.
- louiebaur, on 12/25/2008, -3/+16Found a few new things to do with my mac and its a few months old. Thanks
- DelMonte, on 12/26/2008, -0/+12You can always get a right-click behavior on a Mac by doing a control-left-click.
Also, the Mac OS has been designed so that you are rarely forced to right click. Except in a few rare instances, every command is accessible through a left-click (trough the menu bar or pop-up menu in the application tool bar for example). - inactive, on 12/26/2008, -1/+13In windows, you just have to press the super key and start typing.
- carbonfilament, on 12/26/2008, -2/+13I'm amazed that there's not a quick tutorial on Exposé in there. The first thing you should do on a new OSX install is open system preferences, go to Expose/Spaces and set it up. Spaces can wait - its buggy sometimes anyway.
Stop two in the system pref pane should be Keyboard+Mouse. Enable right click on USB mice and especially new multi touch trackpads get them setup the way you want. The multi touch trackpad is amazing once you have it setup right. Two finger scrolling, tap to click, two finger tap to right click - all useful things.
See my advice in an earlier reply for setting up your dock. Most users that see my dock are amazed at how fast you can access things.
I would resist the urge to download and install a lot of things quickly and load up your machine with things it might not need. For my purposes a QT pro license and Perian take care of 95% of my multimedia needs.
I use safari for my browser - although I do use a hack that lets me load plugins manually, I was sick of flash ads loading automatically and blasting my ears off. (I sometimes have my machine tied to a 500w stereo amp and studio monitors for sound editing)
Other useful things:
Beware that you have to hold the eject key for a short time before it responds - this is an annoying firmware update from a couple years ago when recent switchers were complaining of accidently hitting the eject key and ejecting their media. I did the firmware update on my desktop and then thought my eject key was broken for a week until tech support told me to just hold it down for a second. I've also run into a behavior that apple considers normal - which is that if you tap and drag a window to move it on a trackpad, its possible to lift your finger completely from the trackpad and then continue dragging the window. There's a space of about .75 seconds after you lift your finger from the trackpad that if you put it back down you'll drag the window again. This drove me nuts until I got used to it, and apple claims its normal behavior and refused to help.
Command+Option+Control+8 inverts your screen. On laptops this is great because you can turn the backlight way down and still have high contrast. If you can't recharge soon that will extend your last half hour to about an hour.
Also something interesting is that recent switchers often don't realize what the option key does. Click on the drop down menus in the menu bar and try pressing the option key and you'll see what I mean. It does more in some apps than others, but I find it very helpful. Also if you travel a lot it allows you to type things like éôü ¥ £ ¢ œ etc with two keystrokes. Try it - it changes the whole keyboard.
I've never needed a printer driver for my mac, ever. Every usb or ethernet printer just works right away. The only thing I use the printer prefpane for is to set the default.
The default behavior for the expose key on laptops is "all windows" command+Expose key will get you the desktop.
You can change an Icon for a folder or app by: select it in finder and right click>Get info. Then select the icon in the window that pops up. You can copy and paste icons directly to or from there once it is selected. This is great for making custom folders to sit in the dock. There are lots of free icon sets to let you customize the look of your interface.
Command+Shift+3 takes a JPG of your screen and saves it to the desktop. Command+Shift+4 changes your mouse to a crosshairs so you can select a partial screen grab to accomplish the same thing.
There are lots more little tips and stuff, but that should get you started. - mrBitch, on 12/26/2008, -0/+11@luchid RE: " Flip4mac and VLC are not needed. Perian is much more useful since it provides that functionality to Quicktime. Also, I second the need for Quicksilver ... "
Agreed, Perian + Quicktime > VLC - houndeyex, on 12/26/2008, -9/+20MrBuryMan
- AmyVernon, on 12/25/2008, -4/+15wow, Clak. Thanks.
- kashk5, on 12/26/2008, -0/+11It also got the first tip wrong when it tells you to Command + click to get a right click. It's actually Ctrl + click. Another reason why the author should have typed out the names of the keys.
- suppaibeg, on 12/26/2008, -1/+11Why the hell is he calling the Command key the 'C' key and the Option key the 'O' key. Thats just going to confuse newbies.
There is no more Apple symbol on the keyboards and the Command key now has the word "command" on it. And the option key has always said "option". - HolyChimp, on 12/26/2008, -0/+10Instead of VLC, go for Perian as luchid says, but don't stick with Quicktime. Try NicePlayer. Combined with Perian it's basically VLC with a much nicer OSXie interface. One of the few Mac apps I miss.
- carbonfilament, on 12/26/2008, -1/+11Also, most mac apps don't leave trash laying around your system. "Installing" involves dragging the app from a dmg to the apps folder, and "Uninstalling" involves dragging the app to the trash.
It takes two seconds, just does what its supposed to, and thats it. Also, if you're curious if the app is leaving a trail behind, look in USER(or system)>Library>App Support>APPLICATION FOLDER If there's one there you've deleted the app you can chuck it. - AzzX, on 12/26/2008, -6/+151. Don't bother
- billraydrums, on 12/26/2008, -0/+9 was using the control key. Big "DUH" moment!
- holyreality, on 12/26/2008, -7/+16dumbass.
- AppleMacStud, on 12/26/2008, -0/+9That's what I thought until many Mac users started to complain about how slow OpenOffice launches and how sluggish it feels overall. NeoOffice still integrates into a Mac environment better whereas OpenOffice still feels like a port. Also NeoOffice still offers more features than OpenOffice.
- HalsMyPal, on 12/26/2008, -3/+11actually on vista you can do the same search at the bottom of the start menu and it refreshes as you type. actually it is quite handy because it becomes active for typing whenever you press the windows key or start button so you can do one button searches.
- sandbird, on 12/26/2008, -1/+9I've built and modified several PCs in the past. I know how to keep a Windows installation secure and malware free. I happen to be fairly technically savvy.
I bought a Mac 6 years ago because I was in school for graphic design. I quickly noticed that my time spent on maintaining the computer had shrunk to virtually zero. HDD defragging? Spyware scans? Update anti-virus? All gone. OS updates? Utterly painless. The PC sat unloved and forgotten and was taken out of service after a while. Since then we have bought two more, and the first Mac we bought is still chugging along. These things are painless to use - and as an added bonus, they run nearly silently.
But, hey, if they're a fashion statement, that's just gravy. - Rikkochet, on 12/26/2008, -2/+10Get over yourself. The only thing worse than a rabid Apple fanboi are the rabid anti-Apple fanbois.
It's a ***** computer. Let people buy them. Shut up. Do something useful. - CaptOblivious, on 12/26/2008, -1/+9You're a bit fixated there McNash, try to relax.
And exactly what is wrong with a good context menu?
Too confusing? -
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