New Guy With Questions

[politenessman]

My wife very graciously gave me her old iMac over the weekend. I was using an old Acer 1810tz as my main PC, with Linux/XFCE. Now I have this iMac and I'm trying to get to grips with it, but I have some questions.

I've been a Linux user for many years and I'm used to the way Linux/Unix machines work, but I'm struggling with this mac and I wonder if you folks can help?

1. How do I edit the mouse menus? I'm used to right click > applications, and I can't seem to make this thing do that. I assume there are config files for creating the menus given that they are contextual, but so far I have been unable to find them.

2. One of the features of Linux that I have become very used to over the years is the highlight/paste 3rd mouse button function. Does anyone know how to enable this on OSX?

3. Cut and paste of files and folders seems to be disabled in Finder. Is there a way of enabling this? I do a lot of file manipulation, and selecting, dragging etc, is just way too slow, especially given that the finder doesn't allow for tabs - which brings me to my next question - how do I enable tabs in finder? I'm assuming there must be a tab function someplace but so far I've not been able to find it.

4. I'm used to working with multiple desktops and I notice that OSX allows for this but is there some way that I can:

- Right click on a window and send it to another desktop?
- put a list of desktops in the task bar (at the top) so I can switch between them quickly ...
or...
- is there a fast way to switch between desktops (like a mouse scroll button for instance)
... Yes I know about mission control but its an awful and slow way to move around so I'm looking for a faster, better way.

The applications I am using are much the same as the Linux apps I had on my other machine, but is there a good version of Conky for OSX?
I'm using XRG and I'm not very happy with it so far.

.. and lastly - how do I turn the dock off?

Thanks!

 

[Spink10]

Tabs in finder are coming in 10.9 Mavericks

 

[mirz2000]

1. How do I edit the mouse menus? I'm used to right click > applications, and I can't seem to make this thing do that. I assume there are config files for creating the menus given that they are contextual, but so far I have been unable to find them.
...

.. and lastly - how do I turn the dock off?

Thanks!

Mouse settings are under System Preferences (grey gear picture on dock), mouse is listed under hardware.

Dock is also found under system preferences under "personal" section. You can hide it there, or right click on the dock itself on the line that separates apps from open documents (once you enable right click, that is).

Wish I could help with the other questions, but I am not familiar with those functions! I am sure someone else will know though.

 

[politenessman]

Mouse settings are under System Preferences (grey gear picture on dock), mouse is listed under hardware.

Dock is also found under system preferences under "personal" section. You can hide it there, or right click on the dock itself on the line that separates apps from open documents (once you enable right click, that is).

Wish I could help with the other questions, but I am not familiar with those functions! I am sure someone else will know though.

You can hide the dock but there doesn't seem to be a setting to shut it off. I'm assuming its in the start up config someplace .... I was hoping someone could shed some light on that for me.

As for the mouse settings, yes but there is no place for editing the menus there, and its that I am looking for.

 

[allan.nyholm]

My wife very graciously gave me her old iMac over the weekend. I was using an old Acer 1810tz as my main PC, with Linux/XFCE. Now I have this iMac and I'm trying to get to grips with it, but I have some questions.

I've been a Linux user for many years and I'm used to the way Linux/Unix machines work, but I'm struggling with this mac and I wonder if you folks can help?

1. How do I edit the mouse menus? I'm used to right click > applications, and I can't seem to make this thing do that. I assume there are config files for creating the menus given that they are contextual, but so far I have been unable to find them.

2. One of the features of Linux that I have become very used to over the years is the highlight/paste 3rd mouse button function. Does anyone know how to enable this on OSX?

3. Cut and paste of files and folders seems to be disabled in Finder. Is there a way of enabling this? I do a lot of file manipulation, and selecting, dragging etc, is just way too slow, especially given that the finder doesn't allow for tabs - which brings me to my next question - how do I enable tabs in finder? I'm assuming there must be a tab function someplace but so far I've not been able to find it.

4. I'm used to working with multiple desktops and I notice that OSX allows for this but is there some way that I can:

- Right click on a window and send it to another desktop?
- put a list of desktops in the task bar (at the top) so I can switch between them quickly ...
or...
- is there a fast way to switch between desktops (like a mouse scroll button for instance)
... Yes I know about mission control but its an awful and slow way to move around so I'm looking for a faster, better way.

The applications I am using are much the same as the Linux apps I had on my other machine, but is there a good version of Conky for OSX?
I'm using XRG and I'm not very happy with it so far.

.. and lastly - how do I turn the dock off?

Thanks!

The question regarding right-click contextual menus and access to Applications can fixed by using a tool called FinderPop - at www.finderpop.com - you can open the FinderPop Items folder and create aliases to your most used applications there or I believe even have the whole Applications folder shown in the contextual menu by right-click using a setting in the FinderPop preferences which is situated inside System Preferences.

And no - you can't turn the Dock off completely - however you can hide it away to some degree using the hide function of the Dock itself. And if you prefer use DragThing to replace what you just closed out of. However, as you will find - all windows minimizes to the Dock so this thing with having a replacement dock like DragThing is not often the ideal solution.

About the issue of cut and paste- not sure if this following feature was implemented with Lion but in later OS X you can use the Alt+Cmd+V to cut and paste after you've copied the items.

 

[benwiggy]

You will find that OS X is less amenable to customisation than Linux. Generally, things are the way they are, and trying to alter them to work/behave/look a different way is not worth the trouble.
("Consistency of user experience between individual computers.")

AFAIK, you can't edit the contextual menus or turn off the Dock.

Cutting files in the Finder is disabled, as there is only one pasteboard, and it's easy to over-write a file that is no longer held on the disk. However, there is a way of moving a file in two steps: Copy it, and then <alt> Paste, which moves it.
This is essentially the same thing.

Tabs and better monitor support/Desktops coming in Mavx.

 

[TimothyB]

4: On Spaces, I hope to also learn if there's more features and control options with Mission Control too. But for now, I mainly use ctrl left or right to quickly jump between desktops.

I just got my first Mac after a few years of using one at work. I loved using Expose and Spaces to juggle all my apps, but until this last week, I didn't know those features were replaced with mission control. It's fine and all, but where's all the options and customization they use to give you?

So far, it hasn't been as bad as I thought. I can still use ctrl + left or right to quickly move through the new horizontal desktops. In Snow Leopard, I used the ctrl arrow keys to jump around 9 desktops in a square grid. An overlay would pop up as you moved so you were always a few spaces away from any space and never got lost, but I never used all 9 spaces, but it was nice to have.

Control up and down have new behaviors. Up shows mission control for a snapshot of everything and lets you drag items to another desktop. In Mission control, you can partially spread out a group of overlapping windows with the mouse wheel, but not the same as expose. Down does an expose like behavior for the current application.

Other things. I disabled the dashboard from having a space since I didn't use it enough. Each desktop can have it's own background, which normally I wouldn't care, but could be a way to keep track of where you are.

Maybe those controls will be fast enough for you.

EDIT: My experience above is Mountain Lion, didn't realize I was ended up in the Lion section. Hopefully it still all applies.

 

[politenessman]

Thanks for all the replies.
I did the mavericks upgrade last weekend and that has helped a lot. I now have some sort of contextual applications right click menu which is really nice, and tabs in finder has helped although a better file manager would of course be the best solution - finder is just ... arghh..

I love the hardware; compared to my old laptop, this thing screams along and running virtual machines (something I do a lot of) is much much better.
Sadly I still feel limited by the OS which is disappointing, but the hardware is making up for that somewhat.

My biggest issue now is running serial ports (for router and switch configs) and keystroke issues with SSH and telnet, and oddly enough, keystrokes for vi/vim.

 

[TimothyB]

The finder is basic, and sometimes confusing when you want to find a place, but I love how quickly you can move through folders with the keyboard. Maybe Windows has shortcuts, but OSX feels natural and makes sense.

Command Down, this opens into a folder, Command Up moves back a folder, plus highlights the folder you were in. Use up/down arrows to navigate files. If you have a list view and want to expand a folder, highlighting it and pressing right, left to close it.

There's no cut and paste for files. But if you command-c a file, then I believe option-command-v for paste, this will move the file.

Some third party software:

DropShelf lets you drag a file to the edge of your screen and drop on a temp shelf. Keep dropping files onto it for a stack, from several locations. Then drag the pile to a new directory and import into an application. Create several shelfs at once. I think this will come in handy when organizing files, especially off the desktop.
http://pilotmoon.com/dropshelf/

Then there's software to add features to the Finder, like split folders, such as TotalFinder, but I think there's a free alternative called XtraFinder. You already have a big feature back, tabs, thanks to Mavericks.

The TotalFinder guy also makes a program called TotalSpaces to simulate OSX's old spaces feature, but he also released TotalSpaces2 just for Mavericks. This might give you options to quickly jump to the desktop you want with a shortcut, assign programs to certain desktops, etc.

It's cool there's a lot of software out there to customize OSX for better productivity, but sadly, some of it comes at a cost, while most are worth it, it really adds up if you just switched to Mac and want it all.

 

[satcomer]

Since you Linux 'linux' guru the networksetup in Terminal is done with networksetup. So just do

man networksetup

So use this to mess around with the network setup via the Terminal.

 

[politenessman]

Since you Linux 'linux' guru the networksetup in Terminal is done with networksetup. So just do

man networksetup

So use this to mess around with the network setup via the Terminal.

Not sure what you are trying to say here. I have no issue with the network set up. I can connect to my networks just fine.

Perhaps you are referring to my issues with keystokes in SSH and telnet? That is a keyboard mapping issue rather than a network issue, for instance:

Lets say I have an SSH connection to a linux machine, and I am editing a config file in vi (something I was trying to do recently). There is no insert key on the MAC keyboard, so moving between insert and overwrite mode can be a problem. I've read some work arounds online but no one seems to have one that works easily.

Same applies when working in terminal via USB to serial for Cisco configs - very difficult to create the break keystokes - in fact I haven't found a way to do that yet, although to be honest I haven't tried that hard - had other things going on.

If anyone has work arounds for these issues, I would be interested in knowing what they are.

 

[satcomer]

On a Mac use /Applications/Automator.app to watch you do the scripts and save it as an application. So next time you could just double click the application to startup what you told it to do.

Plus you can create your own keyboard shortcuts through System Preferences->Keyboard, Shortcuts mini-tab, highlight "app shortcuts" and add you own shortcuts for Terminal.