How did you learn about Macs?

[mad jew]

So, there is a massive wealth of Mac-based knowledge here in our forums. I was just wondering how you guys learn about Macs, where you get your information etc.

For me, it's a matter of reading stuff around here, at the Apple Support Forums and through general personal use at home.




Also, a little off topic (despite being Post #1) the basis of this thread is partly because I'm a little bored because there are no real rumours pertaining to the new Macs. Does anyone else think this will be the case for the next year or so until the first Intel Macs start coming out?

 

[gwuMACaddict]

i think most of my (very limited) knowledge has come from tinkering around with the OS's in my spare time and making my own mistakes, figuring things out. (obviously not hard with a mac)

and by looking things up on here.

 

[dubbz]

For me, it's a matter of reading stuff around here, at the Apple Support Forums and through general personal use at home.

Mostly the same for me, minus the Support Forums. Rarely visit them.

Also, a little off topic (despite being Post #1)

Is that even possible?

 

[RacerX]

Well, my background comes from years of working with both Apple and NeXT computers. With every new release comes a handful of new features and changes to the systems, which (when taken at that pace) is not that overwhelming.

I was lucky that I already had a ton of NeXT experience when Apple bought NeXT and so it was pretty easy for me to transition and learn about Mac OS X with each change in it's development history (from 1997 to the current release).

On the hardware end... I love to tinker, so I have a ton of Macs and service manuals on almost all of them, and I spend time playing with different hardware (plus I'm always kept in front of the newest hardware by my clients).

I guess the best way to describe it is that I've been in an environment that is saturated with information of this type for more than 15 years. And it doesn't hurt that I'm something of an information junky.

 

[yenko]

Just playing around with them since the Apple II. Did a lot of reading and experimenting. Sometimes I still feel like I have no idea what I'm doing, but eventually it comes together.

Compared to what computers did in 1983 or thereabout, what we have today was unimmaginable then. I love it.

Anybody remember HyperCard?

 

[Dane D.]

Read alot

Read alot of forums, trail and error, but mostly just using the Mac. Ever since 1984, I have been following Apple and started using them when the Mac IIcx came out. Before that I avoided computers because I couldn't get DOS. I hated computers, but the Mac was a blessing. Showing my age but when I went off to college we were still using punch cards.

As for the Mac/Intel combo, I have have mixed emotions. Part of me wants to keep the Mac hardware different from the masses. Part of me also wants the Mac to be using the same hardware so we can finally see just what OS is better.

 

[Duff-Man]

Duff-Man says....the first home computer I had was an LCIII in the early 90's. At work it was always a DOS (then windows) environment so when it came to the Mac I basically had to teach myself...there was no great easily accessible resource like these forums back then. Luckily for me I am somewhat technically inclined and not afraid of computers at all so I just tried things, experimented, started buying MacWorld and MacUser etc....and it has just blossomed from there. When I find the time I would like to get to know a lot more about the UNIX core of OS X though - that is a bit of a weak spot for me now....oh yeah!

 

[yenko]

Also, a little off topic (despite being Post #1) the basis of this thread is partly because I'm a little bored because there are no real rumours pertaining to the new Macs. Does anyone else think this will be the case for the next year or so until the first Intel Macs start coming out?

I keep having this dream that Steve will surprise us just before Christmas with a Dual-DualCore Power Mac running at 2.0 Ghz, L1, L2,L3 cache, each having 4Gig, and a buss running at full 2Ghz. Then I wake up and realize ...... it was a dream.

..........maybe I could start a vicious rumor.........

 

[mad jew]

..........maybe I could start a vicious rumor.........

You know you want to...

 

[killuminati]

Anything I know is from just fooling around with the OS, or from here. All of my computer knowledge on windows and macs is just from figuring it out myself. I'v never actually had anybody teach me anything.

 

[macartistkel]

Oh the very first time I used a mac was maybe 3rd grade playing Oregon Trail!! I was addicted to that game and my elementary school only had macs. But then when I got to high school my school had a bunch of computers like with DOS garbage. Then my first year in college put me back on the macs and I have been buying and using them ever since!! I get my tech help from mainly the Mac IT guy at my company, magazines, and of the MR forums!

 

[Xtremehkr]

From my Uncle, who is a really good teacher. Later, from a best friend, whose step mother was a volunteer teacher, very good in her own right.

In-between there was a long stage where I went with what was being used most. Owned a Compaq and was very disappointed.

After getting sick of that, I visited a computer store with an extensive range of PCs and ended up leaving with an Apple.

I have a tendency to support the underdog, for whatever reason. But after looking at everything that was available, I came to conclusion that Apple offered me the best deal, despite being the underdog. And so, the deal was sealed.

Have been happy ever since.

 

[yenko]

You know you want to...

..................think of the people..........the broken dreams........

 

[slooksterPSV]

I read, I test, I learn from other OS's, I learn from other concepts (Networking for example). I just test mainly, if it doens't work - don't worry I can reinstall the OS.

 

[eva01]

Its all i have ever really used

 

[840quadra]

High School, I used to support some of the last 68k Macintosh computers produced, and some of the first PowerPC comptuers. I took classes (during college) that were in regards to Macintosh Hardware and software (up to OS 8.5) and on older PowerPC chips. During this time the G3 B&W came out and rocked my world.

I ended up landing a job as an IT contractor. I ended up having a few clients with Macintosh environments in the Minneapolis Minnesota area that nobody else in our company could support. In 2000 .COM came, and I was laid off of that job.

I just recently got back into Macintosh computers (early 2005) and started building on my collection of apple computers that I had been collecting since 1999 (starting with my Quadra 840av a computer I loved using in HS). The funny thing is, the first computer I bought in 2005 was a B&W G3, a computer that was just introduced during the end of my Macintosh training, and one that I had never had the chance to use before I owned one!.

I now read this site, and many Developer sites in regards to OS X. I am a Unix / Microsoft support engineer at a Minnesota Datacenter, so the Unix portion of OS X is what brought me back to the Macintosh, and since replaced all of my X86 equipment (except my work laptop and old P450 "firewall") at home.

I love my Macs, and hope the transition back to X86 (thanks Apple) is smooth in 2006 and beyond!

 

[840quadra]

I guess the best way to describe it is that I've been in an environment that is saturated with information of this type for more than 15 years. And it doesn't hurt that I'm something of an information junky.

Indeed!


I thought I was a well rounded Macintosh user in regards to knowledge, until I met up with you on Macrumors!

 

[mad jew]

So it seems that not many people learn from magazines then. Interesting...

 

[mrjikey]

My brother first got me onto macs about three or four years ago, that's when I bought my first comp which was an iBookG3, and last week I just recieved my second comp which is a PowerBookG4(which i love)but I'll always have an empty spot where my iBook was.

 

[Blue Velvet]

So it seems that not many people learn from magazines then. Interesting...

I find magazines a waste of time. Many of them seem more concerned with plugging their cover-mounted CDs and keeping their advertisers happy than providing interesting and valuable content.

This forum and a couple of other sites provide all the fix I need.

 

[iBlue]

i think most of my (very limited) knowledge has come from tinkering around with the OS's in my spare time and making my own mistakes, figuring things out. (obviously not hard with a mac)

and by looking things up on here.

saved me the typing. exactly ^ that ^

 

[ahunter3]

Probably 70% of what I've ever known about Macs I learned from sheer trial and error, most of it being astonishingly self-explanatory. Like the first time I configured a Mac for participation in an AppleTalk network and TCP over ethernet. Plugged the cable into the transceiver (remember those?), went into the AppleTalk Control Panel, went "hmm...", clicked a couple things, hey, I see printers, I see computers! Went into TCP/IP, went "hmm..." again, this thing called DHCP seemed like the only variant that might work without knowing stuff I didn't know, so I picked that, launched a browser and whaddaya know!

Of the things I didn't figure out on my own, I learned from:

• Info-Mac Digest. Back before the web, this moderated email digest was not only the single best source & info on shareware & freeware, it was also an ongoing classroom. I went from appallingly ignorant n00b to savvy tinkerer and inpromptu tech-support for other Mac users mostly thanx to Info-Mac.

• The Macintosh Bible. Back when the IIfx was the fastest box and System 7 was described in a chapter titled "Things to Come", this tome brought me up to date on the history, technotrivia, and upgrade paths for what I had and what else was out there. I think I had version 3, they kept popping them out every couple years.

• Applied Engineering's TransWarp '030 board. Because having it popped my cherry for taking Torx screwdriver in hand and disassembling the hardware, plugging in boards and chips and cards and drives and whatnot. (It also gave me an appreciation for sheer power, a 40 MHz '030 w/16 MB RAM in an SE was like a turbocharged Porche engine in an old Volkswagen bug, man that was a cute li'l sleeper! That thing ran almost as fast as a Quadra!)

 

[_bnkr612]

Trial and Error. Error and Learning. Learning and Remembering. Remembering and MacRumoring...

 

[katchow]

Just playing around with them since the Apple II. Did a lot of reading and experimenting. Sometimes I still feel like I have no idea what I'm doing, but eventually it comes together.

Compared to what computers did in 1983 or thereabout, what we have today was unimmaginable then. I love it.

Anybody remember HyperCard?

Back in the day i remember constantly trouble-shooting to get print jobs to run. Anyone remember dinking with conflicting system extensions (oh, and fonts). I've felt a little spoiled with OS 10.

Hypercard was a lot of fun. I use to write a lot of flow-chart adventures when i was younger

 

[fayans]

Trial and Error. Error and Learning. Learning and Remembering. Remembering and MacRumoring...

Trial and Error. Error and Learning. Learning and Remembering...Mine stops here

Needless to say this one great forum coupled with its Mac "geniuses" definitely taught me 80% of what I know about Mac.

How could I not say "Thank You"