New Aluminium Keyboards and the "Fn" key

[kwfl]

under sys prefs> keyboard> general, there is a checkbox saying

use all F1, F2 etc. keys as standard function keys. when this option is selected, press the Fn key to use the special features printed on each key.

the question is, where is this Fn key.

in Laptops, it is there, down the bottom-left

where is it exactly in the new aluminium keyboard because in couldnt find it.

thanks.

 

[Eidorian]

There is no fn key on the Apple Keyboards.

 

[arkitect]

There is no fn key on the Apple Keyboards.

errmm, yes there is…

Just under F13...

 

[Eidorian]

errmm, yes there is…

It's not on my White Wired Keyboard. They replaced help with fn on the Aluminium one.

 

[arkitect]

It's not on my White Wired Keyboard. They replaced help with fn on the Aluminium one.

Note the topic title: New Aluminium Keyboards and the "Fn" key

Just under the F13 key…

 

[kwfl]

oh gosh, is that the best place to put it?!

i thought somewhere near the command and option key is appropriated.

below the F13 key, what a joke


anyway, thanks for your help

 

[richard.mac]

its on the bottom-left of the macbooks and the new wireless keyboard and on the delete, page up/down, home/end section on the new desktop keyboard. its used to press the standard F keys while not using hardware and software controls of F1-4 & F7-13.

my white apple keyboard doesn't have an fn key as F1-16 are not labelled for hardware or software controls. i do however have exposé and dashboard set from F9-F12, front row for F14, brightness for F15-16 and the volume and eject controls are labelled above the numpad.

 

[glennifer]

fn key

whew, i would have never thought to look under the F13 key. I am two weeks into my new imac, a windows converted person....I am about throw this darn thing out the window and get a PC again....(sorry, i am just very frustrated with the system. I keep hearing how much better than windows is, but have yet to see it...)

 

[Jasoco]

oh gosh, is that the best place to put it?!

i thought somewhere near the command and option key is appropriated.

below the F13 key, what a joke


anyway, thanks for your help

Yes. It is the BEST place to put it. The Help key was useless. People always hit it by accident, unknowingly, causing Help to open up while they weren't expecting it taking its sweet time and resources and causing the current app you were typing in to become unfocused.

Yes, it is the BEST place to put it. If you put it by the modifiers, sure it's like a laptop keyboard, but this isn't a laptop keyboard. It's a desktop keyboard.

Replacing Help is the BEST idea.

Too bad I don't use desktop keyboards anymore. Seeing as I am a laptop user now.

 

[p0intblank]

whew, i would have never thought to look under the F13 key. I am two weeks into my new imac, a windows converted person....I am about throw this darn thing out the window and get a PC again....(sorry, i am just very frustrated with the system. I keep hearing how much better than windows is, but have yet to see it...)

What problems are you having?

 

[Bobbi Flekman]

whew, i would have never thought to look under the F13 key. I am two weeks into my new imac, a windows converted person....I am about throw this darn thing out the window and get a PC again....(sorry, i am just very frustrated with the system. I keep hearing how much better than windows is, but have yet to see it...)

For the Windows converted the simplest explanation for the location is "Where the Insert key used to be".

The missing Insert key is one of my pet peeves as I frequently use Norton Commander under Windows/DOS. Insert would select single files/folders, so you could copy/move/delete/whatever them. I resorted to changing an obscure Windows key to modify another key to tkae Insert's place.

Then again, the Mac keyboard wasn't built for Windows, so I shouldn't b1tch about it, but it remains annoying.

 

[glennifer]

What problems are you having?

it's more of a familiarity with the system. I liken it to having my right hand chopped off, and have to learn to write with my left hand. i.e. I *have* to do it, but I don't like it.

BUT Specifically:
1. DVD does not recognize DVDs, it keeps telling me that i am putting in a DVD from Region 6 (China).
2. Data CDs are not recognized.
3. both itunes and iphoto have completely bastardized my filing system for my music and images, e.g., i had all of my mp3s in files as *I* liked them to be. when i imported into itunes, it just decided to file them the way it wanted to. considering i have a little over 10000 songs, it makes it exceedingly difficult to find music I want. the same goes for iphoto.
4. Excel: I am a heavy excel and other MSO user...and all of the shortcut keys are not what they were in MSO.
5. Glitchiness of apps. My imac came w/ 1 gig of ram. so i figured i needed more memory, and purchased 4 gigs. although it was very easy to install (actually, very, very, very easy), the apps have not stopped their 'glitchiness' ...screen saver, google earth, etc. my PC with 512 mb of ram worked better. 4 gigs! and it's not any better! (and yes, the ram i bought was the right ram)
6. imac will only recognize mpegs. it does not recognize wmv, avi, etc. my PC recognized all media. i am especially annoyed with this, b/c macs are supposed to be superior to PC for media.
7. itunes makes music 'm4p' files, and i cannot share them w/ my pc. my pc always made mp3s, and was universally accepted by any system. i hate this about itunes.
8. i would prefer to use a media player like winamp, but imac does not recognize the software
9. i had to search and d/l a driver for my scanner. crazy, eh? macs are supposed to magically recognize all hardware. not.
10. screen image capture. the mac webiste says one thing, Command+Shift+3, but nope. i have to launch grab, and then use the menu to do so. PC was simply ctrl+prnt scrn

the list goes on. these were at the top of my head. the things i listed are not a matter of getting used to the OS, but not having an analgous PC counterpart.

 

[ayeying]

1. are you sure your not using bootlegged dvds?
2. can't answer that, but it is possible you burnt the cds for windows read only. it is possible.
3. for iTunes, you can import them to the library WITHOUT actually importing them into the hard drive. Just make a folder in Music, put all your music in there, in iTunes, don't select "Import songs into folder" or some setting like that in Advanced. iPhoto, its a little more complicated, but it should be similar.
4. use the Apple/Command key instead of the CTRL.
5. Use leopard more often, it'll speed up.
6. Flip4Mac, download it. Download divx also and vlc.
7. m4p are protected m4a(aac) files. Thats whta you get for buying DRMed music. Doesn't mean anything. On windows, I think it does the same thing. you can convert to mp3 also, you look in the preferences setting.
8. Winamp is not made for OSX thats why it doesn't work. Use quicktime, it produces better bass with the HD sound card then winamp anyways.
9. not everything's plug and play, no matter what os.
10. it works for me, you're not doing it right. command is the apple key, next to the space bar. it'll save on desktop as a png file.

using a new os is different, but most of your complaints are not really valid when you haven't taken the time to look at the preferences and set it to your own personal settings. No one, unless your using someone else's pc, tends to use default settings for anything.

 

[Father Jack]

Note the topic title: New Aluminium Keyboards and the "Fn" key

Just under the F13 key…

There isn't even a f13 on the BT Aluminum keyboard.

The function keys only go to f12 ....

SORRY JUST FOUND IT ......
It was hiding at the bottom left of the keyboard

 

[glennifer]

are you sure you are not using bootlegged dvds?

1. are you sure your not using bootlegged dvds?
>>yep i'm sure.

2. can't answer that, but it is possible you burnt the cds for windows read only. it is possible.
>>beats me, maybe.

3. for iTunes, you can import them to the library WITHOUT actually importing them into the hard drive. Just make a folder in Music, put all your music in there, in iTunes, don't select "Import songs into folder" or some setting like that in Advanced. iPhoto, its a little more complicated, but it should be similar.
>>I have done that already. twice. still created its own folders

4. use the Apple/Command key instead of the CTRL.
>>i know the splat key. i am talking about keys such as F4, which toggles through various lockings of a cell, including other various functions.

5. Use leopard more often, it'll speed up.
>>I don't get it. Leopard is my OS, and I use it every day. not sure how i can use it more often.

6. Flip4Mac, download it. Download divx also and vlc.
>>I have heard about those, thanks. but, again, i am disappointed by the fact that i have to go and d/l things. i was told by the cool katz at the mac store that i would never have to do that, and it would recognize any media i put on the nifty machine.


7. m4p are protected m4a(aac) files. Thats whta you get for buying DRMed music. Doesn't mean anything. On windows, I think it does the same thing. you can convert to mp3 also, you look in the preferences setting.
>>Windows does not do the same thing. when i rip a CD it converts directly to an mp3, and i can do with it as i please. when i d/l music from amazon on PC, again, mp3, and is not locked out. but i have found the conversion setting on itunes, thankfully.

8. Winamp is not made for OSX thats why it doesn't work. Use quicktime, it produces better bass with the HD sound card then winamp anyways.
>>i guess i will have to. i miss the freedom to d/l any media player i desired . being that the mac is the superior media machine, i expect better.

9. not everything's plug and play, no matter what os.
>>that's not what "Jasmine" with the cool glasses and lip rings told me at the mac store. "you can plug anything you want into this machine, scanners, cameras, printers, anything, and it will recognize it and off you go"nnnnnnope. -- and as a clarifier, the scanner is not from, say, 1994; i got it in 2007.

10. it works for me, you're not doing it right. command is the apple key, next to the space bar. it'll save on desktop as a png file.
>>I know the splat key. I have done precisely what the apple website instructed me to do so. still, it does not work. i have to start up 'grab' and use the menu to do either a screen capture, or selection capture.

using a new os is different, but most of your complaints are not really valid when you haven't taken the time to look at the preferences and set it to your own personal settings. No one, unless your using someone else's pc, tends to use default settings for anything.

>>considering you have answered, at, 40% of my complaints/questions, and still at that telling me to 'get used to it', I would say they are still valid. and considering my being a heavy computer user, I am rather familiar with modifying preferences. I have been taken by the mac marketing empire. I was tricked. mac is basically a large corporation, masking itself as otherwise, and that makes me even more upset. live and learn i guess.

 

[Inconsequential]

1. All the DVDs work here.

2. Sometimes my MBP drive doesn't pickup custom burnt DVDs even when it was the MBP which wrote them Oh well external HDs > DVDs.

3. Seems ok to me the way it imports but each to their own.

4. Again, oh dear you need to learn new shortcuts! Oh noes! (I use both systems regularly BTW)

5. No issues here with 2Gb, and Lightroom regularly uses it allll up!

6. Ummn, you have to go and download software for the PC too.

Windows even needs DVD Decoders I need to download MPC and a codec pack for XP, I just need Flip4Mac and VLC on the MBP.

7. Change the file format to 320kbps MP3. Job Done.

8. Freedom!? Its a different system did you expect EVERYTHING to be the same? I've never used Winamp and I have never seen the reason too, iTunes FTW.

9. Should have done some research before diving in, I spent MONTHS researching this MBP before I got one, and i've been using macs since I was 6.
Im sure there is a driver out there somewhere.

10. Your doing it wrong, it works here, it worked on my iBook, and both my PM G4s running tiger and leopard.

 

[glennifer]

1. All the DVDs work here.

1. All the DVDs work here. 2. Sometimes my MBP drive doesn't pickup custom burnt DVDs even when it was the MBP which wrote them Oh well external HDs > DVDs.
>>"Knockaround guys" and "Fightclub" neither worked, it kept telling me I was in region 6 - china. these DVDs are storebought, nothing special, they work on my PC, and they work in my DVD Player. I don't know what else to tell ya...

3. Seems ok to me the way it imports but each to their own.
>>OK..

4. Again, oh dear you need to learn new shortcuts! Oh noes! (I use both systems regularly BTW)
>>I dont mind at all about learning new shortcuts, i am all about learning. but the 'advanced techies' at the mac store had no clue. i asked if there were translators between mac and pc for excel, and again, no clue. that is what is frustrating to me....it's not about learning new shortcuts, it's about searching and finding them.

5. No issues here with 2Gb, and Lightroom regularly uses it allll up!
>>ok...i'll keep on it

6. Ummn, you have to go and download software for the PC too.
>>Ummm, no i didn't

Windows even needs DVD Decoders I need to download MPC and a codec pack for XP, I just need Flip4Mac and VLC on the MBP.
>> i played a vast amount of DVDs on my PC, and never needed to go look for decoders. i don't even know what a decoder is!

7. Change the file format to 320kbps MP3. Job Done.
>>ok

8. Freedom!? Its a different system did you expect EVERYTHING to be the same? I've never used Winamp and I have never seen the reason too, iTunes FTW.
>> I know, how dare i expect to use more than one type of software on my imac...

9. Should have done some research before diving in, I spent MONTHS researching this MBP before I got one, and i've been using macs since I was 6. Im sure there is a driver out there somewhere.
>>I found the driver, so it's all good now. I guess i should have done more research.

10. Your doing it wrong, it works here, it worked on my iBook, and both my PM G4s running tiger and leopard.
I'm not doing it wrong. I'm not doing it wrong. I'm not doing it wrong. Don't tell me I am doing it wrong. I have tried the keyed shortcut many, many, many times, and no dice. what can i say?

 

[Quillz]

Cmd+Shift+4 lets you grab a selection of the screen. Cmd+Shift+4+Space will snap the current window you have open.

 

[XianPalin]

3. both itunes and iphoto have completely bastardized my filing system for my music and images, e.g., i had all of my mp3s in files as *I* liked them to be. when i imported into itunes, it just decided to file them the way it wanted to. considering i have a little over 10000 songs, it makes it exceedingly difficult to find music I want. the same goes for iphoto.

6. imac will only recognize mpegs. it does not recognize wmv, avi, etc. my PC recognized all media. i am especially annoyed with this, b/c macs are supposed to be superior to PC for media.

7. itunes makes music 'm4p' files, and i cannot share them w/ my pc. my pc always made mp3s, and was universally accepted by any system. i hate this about itunes.

3. Itunes.. preferences.. advanced tab, uncheck "Copy files to iTunes music folder when adding to library". I have all my mp3s on a usb drive, and use "file.. add to library" and select a folder to import all my mp3s (you can do the root folder)

6. You need to install Perian (perian.org) and Flip4Mac and you will be able to play almost and file in Quicktime, otherwise get VLC or Mplayer.. occasionally I will have to use one of those for subtitles or if the audio has a weird delay in quicktime.

7. Itunes.. preferences.. advanced.. importing tab. From here you can change it to import your cds as MP3 or whatever you want, and set the quality, etc.

Sorry if some of those are repeats from earlier. I didn't read most of it because it seemed like there was a lot of silly arguing going on.

The one thing I've seen stated was some complaining about having to install software... it takes like 2 seconds and you never have to do it again. You have to install a lot of software on a PC to get some things to work as well, and for the most part it's more of a pain. Most things are fairly simple to do on either system, but you do have to have a little patience and ask for a little help if need be.

 

[steinlager]

Have you tried backing everything up and Erase & Install Leopard again?
I had the glitchiness problem when I first upgraded to Leopard, but after another Erase & Install everything works perfectly fine.

That's always another option.

 

[scaredpoet]

BUT Specifically:
1. DVD does not recognize DVDs, it keeps telling me that i am putting in a DVD from Region 6 (China).
2. Data CDs are not recognized.

I'm getting the impression that there's a problem with the hardware itself, a defective DVD/CD burner on your Mac. Defects do happen. You mgiht want to take it back and have it looked at.

3. both itunes and iphoto have completely bastardized my filing system for my music and images, e.g., i had all of my mp3s in files as *I* liked them to be. when i imported into itunes, it just decided to file them the way it wanted to. considering i have a little over 10000 songs, it makes it exceedingly difficult to find music I want. the same goes for iphoto.

Both iTunes and iPhoto are designed so that you can search for the content you want and it's deisplayed for you, rather than you looking through the whole list.

It' a different philosophy and definitely one that takes a lot of getting used to. I went through the same frustration when I switched from Windows, but it was brief once I calmed down about it.

5. Glitchiness of apps. My imac came w/ 1 gig of ram. so i figured i needed more memory, and purchased 4 gigs. although it was very easy to install (actually, very, very, very easy), the apps have not stopped their 'glitchiness' ...screen saver, google earth, etc. my PC with 512 mb of ram worked better. 4 gigs! and it's not any better! (and yes, the ram i bought was the right ram)

The RAM probably isn't the issue here. But what kind of glitchiness are we talking about? Glitchiness can mean a lot of things, and it'll be hard for people to help if there's not much detail to go by.

6. imac will only recognize mpegs. it does not recognize wmv, avi, etc. my PC recognized all media. i am especially annoyed with this, b/c macs are supposed to be superior to PC for media.

Forget about downloading all the individual codecs. Download Flip4Mac to view WMV files, and thenjust download Perian for everything else. It's two components and you'll have all the codecs you need. They're also free, and self-update. Once you've got them, Quicktime should recognize everything you need.

Let me also point out: Windows actually doesn't recognize everything out the box. Every time I've done a fresh windows install, I've had to go and hunt down Divx, Xvid, 3iVx, Quicktime, Real Player, AND install DVD player software. Windows really isn't much different. You just think it all works because you're accustomed to jumping through those Windows hoops, and not so much the Mac hoops.

At the end of the day, I'd rather prefer to download two items than six.

7. itunes makes music 'm4p' files, and i cannot share them w/ my pc. my pc always made mp3s, and was universally accepted by any system. i hate this about itunes.

Under preferences, there's an advanced section. Select it and click on importing. You should be able to select Mp3 encoding from that pane.

M4ps are generally downloaded from the iTunes store. You CAN play those on Windows, but you'll have to download iTunes for Windows. The reason is that record companies have forced Apple to put DRM on the music files, restricting their play. The way around it (and you may not like this - blame record companies) is to keep buying CDs and import them into iTunes.

8. i would prefer to use a media player like winamp, but imac does not recognize the software

VLC player is a good alternative. Give it a try.

9. i had to search and d/l a driver for my scanner. crazy, eh? macs are supposed to magically recognize all hardware. not.

You didn't try Vista when it first came out, did you?

Anyway, this has been asked and answered. Sorry you didn't like that the Apple store rep was all too smarmy for your taste. Recognize that she's not an Apple god, she's just some random person who earns a paycheck. If she really new everything about Macs, she'd be writing software for them or designing new ones, not working retail and selling them.

All stores have smarmy know-it-alls. Have you walked into a Best Buy lately?

The best way to avoid all that is to do the research online, know what you want, and then just walk into the store and get it. When the sales droids start giving their schpiel, wave them aside, tell them you know what you want, and have them go get it for you. If they continue schpieling, make it clear they're about to lose a sale.

And if you do want to/have to look around, just cut them off with a quick "I'm just looking, thanks," when they try to strike up a conversation.

This works well in Apple stores and plenty of other stores too. They might make a face, but really, you just want to get out of their fast, and if they don't realize that you're doing them a favor by minimizing the interaction time, then maybe they need to find a better job than retail.

[Note to those who work in retail: I did retail for 18 grueling months when I got out of college, so I know the score. Don't like how customers view you? Please do what I did and look for a more rewarding career. I manage UNIX, Windows and Mac servers and workstations now, love my job, my clients love me, and I get paid tons more. It's really not that hard.]

the list goes on. these were at the top of my head. the things i listed are not a matter of getting used to the OS, but not having an analgous PC counterpart.

There are plenty of analogous counterparts actually. they may not have all the same names as on Windows, but the alternatives exist. You simply have to calm down, and ask around. People will gladly help you... even if you are occasionally peppering your responses with the sarcastic "I thought Mac were supposed to be soooo great..."

Macs aren't perfect, but they are actually pretty great as long as you keep your cool.

Maybe the change in the way OS X is just not for you. Can I ask why you "have to" use a Mac as you've stated earlier in this thread?

 

[bankshot]

I just came across this thread, hopefully I can add a few helpful suggestions for glennifer.

1. DVD does not recognize DVDs, it keeps telling me that i am putting in a DVD from Region 6 (China).
2. Data CDs are not recognized.

As scaredpoet also suggested, I suspect there may be something wrong with the physical DVD drive. Might want to get it checked out, as that does not sound like normal behavior.

3. both itunes and iphoto have completely bastardized my filing system for my music and images, e.g., i had all of my mp3s in files as *I* liked them to be. when i imported into itunes, it just decided to file them the way it wanted to. considering i have a little over 10000 songs, it makes it exceedingly difficult to find music I want. the same goes for iphoto.

The only suggestion I can offer here is to try the iTunes/Photo way for a while and you may find that soon you don't care how the underlying directory structure is laid out. And if you think about it, why should you care? You want to manage the songs and photos, not a bunch of files and directories, right? That's what iTunes and iPhoto do for you.

I used to be extremely picky about how my music was laid out on my hard drive. I wrote my own custom programs to import songs into a very specific directory structure because I hated the way that any other program did it. I spent hours and hours making sure the files were all named properly and in the right place.

Then several years ago I switched to iTunes. It was difficult at first, giving up that sense of control. I hated it for a long time. But one day I realized that it was actually easier this way, as I no longer had the burden of worrying about where files were or exactly how they were named. iTunes took care of this for me, and gave me a good interface for finding them, so why should I care about the details which were now made irrelevant?

The search field in the top right is fantastic for finding exactly what you want instantly. The browser pane (Cmd-B in any view) sorts by genre, artist, and album. Playlists are easy to use. Smart playlists are incredibly powerful and completely indispensable to me now. And in the rare event that I need to find a particular song file? Find the song in iTunes, then right-click and select Show In Finder.

It's similar in iPhoto. Hope this helps.

4. use the Apple/Command key instead of the CTRL.
>>i know the splat key. i am talking about keys such as F4, which toggles through various lockings of a cell, including other various functions.

I don't think F4 does the same thing on Excel/Mac (unfortunately) but just in case this is the problem: as the first post in this thread talks about, there is an option in System Preferences to toggle whether function keys by default operate as F1-xx or whether they operate as the special functions listed (brightness, volume, playback, etc). Depending on how that toggle is set, it may or may not be one source of apparent trouble.

But you may have already known that.

5. Glitchiness of apps. My imac came w/ 1 gig of ram. so i figured i needed more memory, and purchased 4 gigs. although it was very easy to install (actually, very, very, very easy), the apps have not stopped their 'glitchiness' ...screen saver, google earth, etc. my PC with 512 mb of ram worked better. 4 gigs! and it's not any better! (and yes, the ram i bought was the right ram)

As scaredpoet pointed out, you need to be more specific. And I'll disagree with scaredpoet and say that the RAM may very well be the problem here. General "glitchiness" is quite often caused by bad memory -- especially if that means applications crashing. I very strongly recommend thoroughly testing your memory to make sure that it's ok. The best way to do that is by using memtest, as explained in this guide.

7. itunes makes music 'm4p' files, and i cannot share them w/ my pc. my pc always made mp3s, and was universally accepted by any system. i hate this about itunes.

It sounds like you got it worked out with creating mp3 files, but let me just chime in and say that there was probably some confusion on this thread due to the fact that you typed "m4p" and probably meant "mp4" -- an easy mistake. "mp4" is MPEG-4, or AAC, which is how iTunes is setup to import files by default. "m4p" is Protected MPEG-4/AAC, which is what you get when you buy songs from Apple's iTunes store (unless you buy iTunes Plus songs, which are plain old unprotected mp4). I don't believe it is possible for a regular user to create an m4p file from importing CDs or whatever.

I think this caused a little confusion in the other responses.

9. not everything's plug and play, no matter what os.
>>that's not what "Jasmine" with the cool glasses and lip rings told me at the mac store. "you can plug anything you want into this machine, scanners, cameras, printers, anything, and it will recognize it and off you go"nnnnnnope. -- and as a clarifier, the scanner is not from, say, 1994; i got it in 2007.

Yeah, unfortunately the sales people at the Apple Store are no better than those at Best Buy or Circuit City. They don't really know anything beyond a learned script, and too often that script is overly simplified as you found out. As always, the best way to get real answers is to do the research yourself.

My HP all-in-one with scanner did need drivers when I got it a couple of years ago in order to use the scanner part (printing worked out of the box). I have just recently upgraded to Leopard, and I haven't tried scanning anything yet. But I suspect I will need to reinstall drivers in order to do that -- which makes me nervous, because the drivers are older than the new OS, and whether on Windows or Mac, I hate doing that kind of installation!

10. screen image capture. the mac webiste says one thing, Command+Shift+3, but nope. i have to launch grab, and then use the menu to do so. PC was simply ctrl+prnt scrn

That's pretty bizarre. As ayeying said, the file ends up on the Desktop. I'm sure you've already checked there. Again, this suggests to me that something's wrong. You might try creating a new user account (easy to do in the Accounts pane of System Preferences) and try it from that account. Sometimes permission problems might screw this up, but I wouldn't normally expect that from a new machine. Again, it's odd.


As a last note, let me just say that one of the worst things about using the Mac is dealing with the fanboys. You've seen that in this thread already. Comments like "Your doing it wrong" [sic] and "your complaints are not really valid" are really antagonistic and unhelpful. On behalf of those of us who understand your valid complaints and wish to help, let me apologize.

Unfortunately no computing platform is trouble free, no matter how much their marketing lies and tells you otherwise. Most of us here find the Mac platform to be less troublesome than Windows, which is why we prefer it, but only the fanboys deny that anything ever goes wrong. Here's hoping you get your issues worked out and can move on to enjoy the many benefits of the Mac platform.

 

[Inconsequential]

Windows even needs DVD Decoders I need to download MPC and a codec pack for XP, I just need Flip4Mac and VLC on the MBP.
>> i played a vast amount of DVDs on my PC, and never needed to go look for decoders. i don't even know what a decoder is!

I've just done a reinstall of XP SP2 here. I put a DVD in and it says it does not have the decoder for MPEG 2/DVD "click here" to search for it...

DivX/xvid = VLC
WMP = Flip4Mac.

So, yes you do need to download decoders on some systems and a decoder is so it can take the file and play it..

 

[glennifer]

I just came across this thread, hopefully I can add a few helpful suggestions for gle

I just came across this thread, hopefully I can add a few helpful suggestions for glennifer.

As scaredpoet also suggested, I suspect there may be something wrong with the physical DVD drive. Might want to get it checked out, as that does not sound like normal behavior.

>> I finally figured it out. turns out it was the one disk that was having problems, not sure why. i have played 5 DVDs since then, and they have been fine.

The only suggestion I can offer here is to try the iTunes/Photo way for a while and you may find that soon you don't care how the underlying directory structure is laid out. And if you think about it, why should you care? You want to manage the songs and photos, not a bunch of files and directories, right? That's what iTunes and iPhoto do for you.

I used to be extremely picky about how my music was laid out on my hard drive. I wrote my own custom programs to import songs into a very specific directory structure because I hated the way that any other program did it. I spent hours and hours making sure the files were all named properly and in the right place.

Then several years ago I switched to iTunes. It was difficult at first, giving up that sense of control. I hated it for a long time. But one day I realized that it was actually easier this way, as I no longer had the burden of worrying about where files were or exactly how they were named. iTunes took care of this for me, and gave me a good interface for finding them, so why should I care about the details which were now made irrelevant?

The search field in the top right is fantastic for finding exactly what you want instantly. The browser pane (Cmd-B in any view) sorts by genre, artist, and album. Playlists are easy to use. Smart playlists are incredibly powerful and completely indispensable to me now. And in the rare event that I need to find a particular song file? Find the song in iTunes, then right-click and select Show In Finder.

It's similar in iPhoto. Hope this helps.

>> yes, you are right about all the above. the problem i have run into, is there are a few thousand songs (out of 10,000) that are not 'tagged' properly, and thus have *only* a name, no artist, no album, no genre, etc...when looking in finder, they are listed as unknown artist....i am frustrated, b/c i dont have the time or the gumption to go back and 'tag' all of them. i dont know what to do at this point...any suggestions?

I don't think F4 does the same thing on Excel/Mac (unfortunately) but just in case this is the problem: as the first post in this thread talks about, there is an option in System Preferences to toggle whether function keys by default operate as F1-xx or whether they operate as the special functions listed (brightness, volume, playback, etc). Depending on how that toggle is set, it may or may not be one source of apparent trouble.

But you may have already known that.

>>I have worked through most of the problems, and am getting used to the new format. Command + T is the F4 function, fyi.

As scaredpoet pointed out, you need to be more specific. And I'll disagree with scaredpoet and say that the RAM may very well be the problem here. General "glitchiness" is quite often caused by bad memory -- especially if that means applications crashing. I very strongly recommend thoroughly testing your memory to make sure that it's ok. The best way to do that is by using memtest, as explained in this guide.

>> Turns out, that it is only Google Earth that is glitchy. I dont know why this is. everything else is smooth.

It sounds like you got it worked out with creating mp3 files, but let me just chime in and say that there was probably some confusion on this thread due to the fact that you typed "m4p" and probably meant "mp4" -- an easy mistake. "mp4" is MPEG-4, or AAC, which is how iTunes is setup to import files by default. "m4p" is Protected MPEG-4/AAC, which is what you get when you buy songs from Apple's iTunes store (unless you buy iTunes Plus songs, which are plain old unprotected mp4). I don't believe it is possible for a regular user to create an m4p file from importing CDs or whatever.

I think this caused a little confusion in the other responses.

>> I have made imports into mp3s...however i think i may becoming too resistant to new digital formats. if m4p and/or AAC are the new better formats, then I simply need to adapt and go with them. but i do still have problems, in that i cannot load an m4p file onto my 'mp3' player, and no, it's not an ipod, it's just a cheapie (but i like it so!)

Yeah, unfortunately the sales people at the Apple Store are no better than those at Best Buy or Circuit City. They don't really know anything beyond a learned script, and too often that script is overly simplified as you found out. As always, the best way to get real answers is to do the research yourself.

>> yes, you are right. I am getting more well adjusted. i was hoping for miracles, and unreasonably so. someone on this thread asked me 'why did you even get a mac if you are so resitant to it?', and it is b/c i acknowledge its superiority to windows/pc...just a matter of getting used to it.

My HP all-in-one with scanner did need drivers when I got it a couple of years ago in order to use the scanner part (printing worked out of the box). I have just recently upgraded to Leopard, and I haven't tried scanning anything yet. But I suspect I will need to reinstall drivers in order to do that -- which makes me nervous, because the drivers are older than the new OS, and whether on Windows or Mac, I hate doing that kind of installation!

>>I found the driver, and things work groovy now...except for the fact that it wont fax from my pdf ...so that's still a problem.

That's pretty bizarre. As ayeying said, the file ends up on the Desktop. I'm sure you've already checked there. Again, this suggests to me that something's wrong. You might try creating a new user account (easy to do in the Accounts pane of System Preferences) and try it from that account. Sometimes permission problems might screw this up, but I wouldn't normally expect that from a new machine. Again, it's odd.


As a last note, let me just say that one of the worst things about using the Mac is dealing with the fanboys. You've seen that in this thread already. Comments like "Your doing it wrong" [sic] and "your complaints are not really valid" are really antagonistic and unhelpful. On behalf of those of us who understand your valid complaints and wish to help, let me apologize.

It's ok...I am just having growing pains, I need to not be so impulsive on threads and getting frustrated...it's a new OS, and i will learn it in time.

Unfortunately no computing platform is trouble free, no matter how much their marketing lies and tells you otherwise. Most of us here find the Mac platform to be less troublesome than Windows, which is why we prefer it, but only the fanboys deny that anything ever goes wrong. Here's hoping you get your issues worked out and can move on to enjoy the many benefits of the Mac platform.

one problem that has been consistent since day 1...is the "Spotlight" feature. it does not find files like i want them too. I know it is intuitive, and will find characters/words *within* documents, however, it is not finding the ones i want. Specifically, I have about 7000 pdfs of medical literature (i am a researcher), and i have them all archived properly in the document name. however when i type in specifically what i know the document name to be, it will not retrieve that document. it's odd, and frustrating. i even went through re-indexing the computer. any thoughts on this one??

thank you for all your help, really.

 

[ToddJ]

Is another way to 'page down' without using the Fn key? I do that on my laptop, but it doesn't work as well on the full size aluminum desktop keyboard since the Fn is in a different place.