Brand new Mac (& ex. Windows) user needs to be put in his noob place!

[kerunt]

Hi all,

So yesterday I finally made the plunge, went out an bought a base 20" iMac (will be most likely upgrading to 4GB of ram in a little bit). Instantly hooked it up to my 24" LCD, and entered Mac-heaven.

I'm slowly getting used to the whole experience and "Mac way" of doing things... lots of things I like, some not so much. Hopefully I'll get used to everything pretty fast!

Now, I need some basic explainin' how to do some things:
- How do I cut text? I've got copy/paste mastered (command + c/v), but what I would expect to be command + x doesn't do anything.
- When saving files within Firefox, how come none of my mounted locations come up? I have a windows box on the network, and I would like to save certain files (.nzb, .torrent) directly to that machine (specific folders, too). Currently I have to save them to the Mac, then pop open finder and copy/paste the files to the windows machine.
- Is it possible to delete files via the delete key? I hate having to drag stuff all the way down to the trash can in the dock. Feels like an eternity. Is there a shortcut that I'm missing? How about permanent delete (like SHIFT+DELETE in Windows) that would bypass the trash?
- Mouse movement. It's weird and it's pissing me off. I've set my mouse speed to the max, and that seems to be decent, however it's almost as if the mouse speed is not linear but on a downward curve. I want the same mouse sensitivity regardless of whether I'm moving it all the way across both monitors or just a word of text. For long movements, the mouse is nice and fast. For short movements it's considerably slower and takes me forever to get it where I actually want it. I'm almost afraid to launch Quake live with such mouse trickery!

Any tips would be much appreciated!

(Already got the home/end keys working properly!)

 

[bartelby]

To put files in trash:

(command) + backspace


To empty trash:

(command) + SHIFT + backspace

 

[kerunt]

To put files in trash:

(command) + backspace


To empty trash:

(command) + SHIFT + backspace

Ahhh! Of course! I've tried every combo with the smaller delete key, but not with the backspace! Thanks!

 

[ravenvii]

Command + x works for cutting. I've just tried it.

You can save to mounted volumes in the save dialog. Did you try clicking the downward arrow on the right of the "Save as:" field?

Mouse tracking is accelerated. It's just the way it is. But you can change it to non-accelerated with software - SteerMouse can disable it, I'm sure USBOverdrive can as well. If you have a Logitech or Microsoft mouse, you can try their official driver/preference pane, they should have acceleration options as well.

Do you know that you can right-click in OS X, right? If you don't know the shortcut but don't want to drag the item all the way to the trash, just right-click it and send it to the trash. Just a friendly FYI.

 

[kerunt]

Command + x works for cutting. I've just tried it.

I just tried it and it does work, but I can swear I tried it at least 10 times earlier today and it wasn't working. Maybe it had something to do with that home/end button fix for Firefox that I applied just a little while ago.

You can save to mounted volumes in the save dialog. Did you try clicking the downward arrow on the right of the "Save as:" field?

Cool, will try that out.

Mouse tracking is accelerated. It's just the way it is. But you can change it to non-accelerated with software - SteerMouse can disable it, I'm sure USBOverdrive can as well. If you have a Logitech or Microsoft mouse, you can try their official driver/preference pane, they should have acceleration options as well.

I've got one of those classic old-school white Microsoft 3-button optical mice. Can't use anything else, all other mice feel like crap compared to this one. I've never used any software for it, but I'll look around and see if MS has something available. If not, will check out that other software you mentioned.

Do you know that you can right-click in OS X, right? If you don't know the shortcut but don't want to drag the item all the way to the trash, just right-click it and send it to the trash. Just a friendly FYI.

Right click? Oh, do Macs support that now? Yes, I know about right click -> send to trash. Takes just as long as dragging the item to the trash icon. (Largely because of the mouse speed problems I described earlier.)

Thanks for the help!

 

[BlueRevolution]

Give the mouse a day or two. You'll learn to like it.

Games aren't affected by the mouse acceleration.

 

[Xorro]

Kerunt,

I am a recent covert too (n the last 2 weeks). For copy and paste, think whatever you did on Windows Ctrl + something, is replaced by command+ something. E.g. command+a = select all.

A nightmare when I go back to work in the morning and I'm doing command+c to copy and command+q to quit, only to find it doesn't work on Windows. heh heh.

There are loads of keyboard short cuts listed here http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1343

The mouse bugs me too, not to mention the fact that the bluetooth mighty mouse keep loosing connection.

 

[kerunt]

StreerMouse seems to have helped with the mouse issue! I like the movement much more now.

Saving to mounted devices works, too!

Thanks for the link to common shortcuts and to everyone else!

Edit: Hmm, the home/end keys are still problematic in some applications. For example, I use Aptana Studio for web development, and instead of going to the beginning/end of the current line, the home/end buttons go to the beginning/end of the file, respectively. Have to use command + left arrow / command + right arrow to go to the beginning/end of a line... annoying :/

Is it possible to disable certain system sounds/alerts?

I would like to keep the default mail notification alert in Mail, but mute absolutely all other system sounds. I went into System Preferences -> Sound and put the 'Alert Volume' to zero, but some sounds are still getting through

 

[agentphish]

you mentioned quake....

Try out Urban Terror - based on quake, completely free and cross platform.

Not helpful with your questions, but a fun suggestion.

 

[kerunt]

you mentioned quake....

Try out Urban Terror - based on quake, completely free and cross platform.

Not helpful with your questions, but a fun suggestion.

Looks cool, but a bit too "CS-like" for my taste. Quake Live is also free and browser-based, so you can play it on any computer that supports Flash. Plus, I'm addicted to railgun action on instagib maps

//edit
I take that back. Quake Live does work on several browsers, but Windows only for now . Mac and Linux versions are under development... bah.

 

[Consultant]

Is it possible to disable certain system sounds/alerts?

I would like to keep the default mail notification alert in Mail, but mute absolutely all other system sounds. I went into System Preferences -> Sound and put the 'Alert Volume' to zero, but some sounds are still getting through

I set mine:

Alert volume, very low or off
OFF: play user interface sound effects
OFF: play feedback when volume is changed
OFF: playfront row sound effects (I disable the keyboard shortcut for front row)

 

[Wheaty]

Welcome to the world of Mac! I binned my PC for a mini 10 days ago, and I'm loving it. Quiet, fast efficient now that I'm learning the keys..

As I didn't spot anyone mentioning it have a look at the link to the keyboard guide on this site, I have found it very useful, I have a quick link to it on the desktop at the moment for when I get stuck.. which is quite often as I'm on a windows keybaord still.

http://guides.macrumors.com/Keyboard_shortcuts

So far my only regret is my PS/2 tracker ball is unwilling to work no matter what adapter I use. I thought this might be the case, but as a modern equivelent is still about £60 I'll stick to using my wacom for a bit Longer.

Wheaty

 

[Wheaty]

Oh, with your mouse..

on the Apple site you can download MS Intellipoint drivers 6.0
This will work for most MS mice and keyboards in the last 5yrs. However should it not like yours, version 5 is still available on the MS site, somewhere, but I cant spot the link that I used (I needed it for an old MS keyboard 1/2 the keys didn't work)