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New PB Owners... the first 10 steps

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Dalriada

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Aug 26, 2004
277
0
Moorlough Shore
So I finally broke the bank and ordered a new 15" Powerbook and, forgive me for a kinda newbie question, was wondering what's the first 10 things you would do after switching on a brand new PB out of the box (apart from standing back in awe) ???

Have looked through the best 10 apps for OS X thread so I'm talking more from a configuration side or tweaking the best OS there is out there (by the way I hve Pogues's excellent Missing Manual already)

Much appreciate any input. Thanks !!
 
Dalriada said:
So I finally broke the bank and ordered a new 15" Powerbook and, forgive me for a kinda newbie question, was wondering what's the first 10 things you would do after switching on a brand new PB out of the box (apart from standing back in awe) ???

Have looked through the best 10 apps for OS X thread so I'm talking more from a configuration side or tweaking the best OS there is out there (by the way I hve Pogues's excellent Missing Manual already)

Much appreciate any input. Thanks !!
Click to expand...

Hi, and welcome to the fold!

Congratulations! The 15" PowerBook is an excellent choice, not too big, not too small ... just right!

Anyway, once you turn it on it will walk you through some configuration. If you connect via ethernet make sure the network cable is connected before you turn it on so the network can be configured properly. If you're going to connect via wireless, choose that option when prompted, and have your wireless password handy. Part of the configuration is a registration process, where your information is sent to Apple. You'll also have the opportunity to sign up for .Mac if you care to. Once everything is configured the Mac OS X Desktop will come up, and more than likely the Software Update app will launch if there are any updates to apply.

As part of the configuration you will create a user account and password. The password is case sensitive. Mac OS X by default will set your account to log in automatically, so you won't be prompted for a user name and password. If you want to change this go into System Preferences, Accounts (under System), and click on Login Options.

Let's see, once this is all done you can start importing any digital pictures into iPhoto, get all your MP3s into iTunes, the sky's the limit! You've got an excellent resource in David Pogue's book. To see what's available softwarewise check out versiontracker.com. Lots of shareware/freeware for Mac OS X. Also, there's an app called GraphicConverter installed on your PowerBook that's pretty decent for editing/converting image files. Between that and the added editing capabilities in iPhoto 5 you might not even need Photoshop. Just play, explore, and enjoy your new PowerBook!

Regards,
Marc
 
Thanks Marc for yr quick reply. I was curious to see what preferences most users jump too... i.e. making the Dock transparent... placing their Home folder in the Dock etc..etc.. My former Mac was running OS 9 so I guess I'm a newbie for OS X.
 
I turn the Dock magnification off, hide the Dock and move it to the right of the screen (there's an interesting thread about people's Dock behaviours around)

Play around in the desktop/screensaver tab and get those preferences as you like them.

Install Synergy and Quicksilver and anything else you've found in trawling through the forums.

Then I'd just start opening up the applications and playing with them - hit Expose a few times, try some keyboard shortcuts and have fun!

One thing that is fun for a while is turning on speech and asking your Powerbook to tell you a joke. Or using the Terminal to run emacs and playing some of those games.
 
Dalriada said:
Thanks Marc for yr quick reply. I was curious to see what preferences most users jump too... i.e. making the Dock transparent... placing their Home folder in the Dock etc..etc.. My former Mac was running OS 9 so I guess I'm a newbie for OS X.
Click to expand...
You're welcome. Personally, I don't do much customizing, other than making the Dock a bit smaller, and changing the background every now and again. I personally can't stand AutoHide, but everybody's different. By default, Expose hotkeys are F9 (All Windows), F10 (Application Windows), and F11 (Desktop). The problem with this is, if you have a PowerBook with a backlit keyboard, F9 and F10 are the brightness controls for the backlight. You could always map Expose to screen corners, but you might hit them accidentally (I know I always did!). If you go into System Preferences, Keyboard and Mouse (under Hardware) there is a checkbox to "Use the F1-F12 keys for custom actions". If you check this box the F keys will function as F keys; to get the other function (volume up/down, screen brightness up/down, ect you would have to hold down the fn key. That's what I wound up doing. There are so many options; Mac OS X is infinitely customizable. You could spend all day changing this, tweaking that, and never get any work done!

Regards,
Marc
 
Callibrate your battery. First, connect the power adapter and fully charge the battery. Next, unplug the adapter from the 'Book and drain the battery until it goes to sleep. Re-plug the adapter into the 'Book and you're good to go.
 
jdechko said:
Callibrate your battery. First, connect the power adapter and fully charge the battery. Next, unplug the adapter from the 'Book and drain the battery until it goes to sleep. Re-plug the adapter into the 'Book and you're good to go.
Click to expand...
That is a myth nowadays for the most part.

Hi! and welcome to the Mac community. Soon, you will kindly (or not) disregard all PeeCee components from now on. OS X is definatly better than OS 9. It looks a ton better. You will notice alot of people staring at you when you pull it out. All of the computer illiterate people at my school, all they notice is - " What is that cute little light on your screen? Why does it light up? is it glow in the dark?" ha ha

Anyways, the iApps are amazing and you will find them much better then the Windows counterpart. Just make sure one thing. When you get it - Browse MacRumors!


kyle
 
First thing i would do is adjust the energy saver settings. I use my Powerbook most of the time as a desktop replacement, so I turn off things like harddrive standby (very annoying on external fw hd). And CPU to max Power...

Then, i'd install Little Snitch to control which programs are allowed to use network connections.

Also, I'd switch from Aqua to Graphite and set the Graphite desktop pic.

I'd use a screen saver with minium processor usage (Powerbook will stay as quiet as possible).

Don't forget about those software updates.

But, most settings really, really depend on what you use your Powerbook for. The factory settings are a good starting point, and will satisfy most users.
 
Thanks MadRobby, appreciate yr hints. My Powerbook also will be mainly a desktop replacement although will be allowed out in the big world. Hope this thread develops further with loads of great ideas (and will keep me busy until my PB hits town) :D
 
can somebody post a link to that best software thread please? I can not seem to find it.
 
mslifkin said:
...Let's see, once this is all done you can start importing any digital pictures into iPhoto, get all your MP3s into iTunes...
Click to expand...

How do you transfer music from a Wintel computer to a mac with the meta data (i think its called) and still have it organized? Is there a way?
 
I put a bunch of my photos into a single album titled "Desktop Wallpapers", and from there, you can set it so that your desktop wallpaper changes every 5 minutes (or at whatever frequency you want) using only images in the iPhoto album that you specify.
 
Software threads:

Free software thread

All software thread

Welcome to the Mac world. You'll like it.

Don't forget the RAM. Make sure you've got at least 512 (standard now), 768 is better. More, if you're manipulating huge files. It's easy to install yourself.

Open System Prefs, and play with each one. Careful with FileVault! Lots of people have lost data with that one... Make sure the firewall is on.

Check out the software threads above. Loads - and I do mean loads - of stuff in there.

Enjoy trouble free (mostly) computing! It's a lot different.
 

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quidire said:
Most MP3s store their metadata (ID3 info?) in their files... what information are you afraid of losing?

-RS
Click to expand...

The ratings i spent about 16 hours total on choosing what stars to give to the song. that sucked
 
Battery monitor

SlimBatteryMonitor changes the size, color, time remaining/% of battery life indicator. Saves a bit or room from the Apple display plus adds colors. Just installed this on my wife's iBook. Pretty slick app.

SlimBatteryMonitor

Cheers
 
runninmac said:
The ratings i spent about 16 hours total on choosing what stars to give to the song. that sucked
Click to expand...

Is it in iTunes/win? If so, you might be able to find a file that on Macs is named iTunes Music Library.xml

copy that file to your Mac as something else. Import all your music, and it will generate an iTunes Music Library.xml file.

Here is the thing; I have no idea if the file formats are the same; they are likely to be, but no worries, we can check.

Make sure the old library.xml file is renamed to something else, such as iTunes.experiment then copy it into //Users/(your short username)/Music/iTunes
use Finder to go to //Users/Applications and launch Terminal
cd Music/iTunes
diff -u "iTunes Music Library.xml" iTunes.experiment

Post what results here.

I assure you, we can probably make sure those ratings get preserved.

you do not need to fiddle inside Terminal to use the Mac; I come from a Unix background; sed and awk are my friends. If the formats are not too different we can fix this all without too much work.

Good Luck!
 
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