Newbie: Using Peripherals on a Mac ?

[retrospek]

Hi all,

I'm expecting my Mac Mini to arrive soon. I've never used a Mac before and have a question on using USB peripherals with it.

With a Windows PC you should nearly always load the peripheral software onto the PC before you actually plug the peripheral into the machine itself.

Is this the same with a Mac ? Or doesn't it matter ?

For example: I have a Kodak digital camera that plugs into USB. Should I load the Kodak Mac software before I plug it in ? or can I just plug my devices into the Mac without the software ?

Sorry for the Newbie question :D I guess Mac forums are going to get quite a few of these Newbie questions during the coming weeks :p

Mark
UK

[robbieduncan]

Digital Cameras: just plug them in. OSX supports most cameras. Printers: just plug them in. Video Cameras (DV) just plug them in. It just works :D

[Peterkro]

Generally speaking just plug it in an the mac will recognize it.I personally don't know about the camera but even if it needs kodak software doing it afterwards will be fine.

[H&Kie]

As for my camera (canon) and scanner, I can just plug it in. Only note that it's wise to put your camera into trash before plugging out (that is, if your Mac sees the camera as a external drive). My brother has a minolta camera and, after he forgot to move his camera to trash, his pictures got erased when plugging out.

[crazzyeddie]

I wouldn't install the camera drivers unless they give you some added functionality that you can't live without. iPhoto does basically everything that all the free camera software does, and now with the latest version, alot more.

[KCK]

I wouldn't install the camera drivers unless they give you some added functionality that you can't live without. iPhoto does basically everything that all the free camera software does, and now with the latest version, alot more.

Heck most of the time a new camera will not even come with drivers for OSX ( but they almost always come with a CD of drivers for Windows)

[retrospek]

Thanks for the quick replies everyone....

Now I just need for the Mini to arrive ! My current ship date is 28th January, but I'm in the UK and not sure if this means it will arrive at my house on the 28th, or if I need to wait another week for it to be delivered..

Thanks,
Mark

[jsw]

FWIW: I have an older Kodak digital - five years old, in fact - and my Macs accept it with iTunes with no Kodak software installed. As mentioned above, you seldom need to install anything. The one noticeable exception is mouse software - if your mouse has a scroll wheel, for example, you probably need to load software to recognize it (the buttons will work, but not the advanced features).

[Bear]

Thanks for the quick replies everyone....

Now I just need for the Mini to arrive ! My current ship date is 28th January, but I'm in the UK and not sure if this means it will arrive at my house on the 28th, or if I need to wait another week for it to be delivered..

Thanks,
MarkIn general, that wpuld be the ship by date. So as to when you get will depend on when it actually ships (yes, Apple does sometime ship before the ship by date) where it is shipping from and if you paid for expedited shipping. As I understand it, Apple does some shopping from Irelean, so the shipping delay may not be that long.

Have fun with it when it does arrive.

[crazzyeddie]

FWIW: I have an older Kodak digital - five years old, in fact - and my Macs accept it with iTunes...

I hope you mean iPhoto, or else im missing some really cool feature of iTunes! :eek:

[SodaPopMonster]

FWIW: I have an older Kodak digital - five years old, in fact - and my Macs accept it with iTunes....

:eek: umm....your camera plays music?

or do you just not have iPhoto and iTunes thinks it's an iPod Photo? :confused:

[jsalzer]

I'm running a Kodak without any of the Kodak software installed. The one potential (minor) issue that I run into is that if I plug the camera in without iPhoto launched first, it launches iPhoto but doesn't load the camera. So, I have to launch iPhoto first, then plug in the camera. (Or, if I forget, the camera causes the Mac to launch iPhoto, then I have to repress the "share" button after it's loaded.) Again, minor issue when compared to dealing with Windows.

Enjoy your new Mac!!!!!!

John.

[mduser63]

The one noticeable exception is mouse software - if your mouse has a scroll wheel, for example, you probably need to load software to recognize it (the buttons will work, but not the advanced features).

My experience has been that scroll wheel mice also "Just Work." I guess if you have a scroll wheel mouse with a bunch of extra buttons you might need drivers, but a standard three-button scroll wheel mouse is supported natively in OS X. I'm using one right now.

[Cybernanga]

Logitech, Targus, and dare I say it Micosoft mice, work fine, with no need for any drivers, all them mice I'm talking about are 2 button, with scrollwheel (also usable as a button)

All the features work with no need for any set-up. That's the beauty of Mac, it's plug-n-play, instead of plug-n-pray. ;)