osx noob dmg/app questions

[BabaG]

i've just been downloading and installing some utilities and such
and am not clear on the formats they appear in. some come as
simple app files which open directly while others come as dmg's
which, while they also run without extraction, seem to require an
extra mounting or extraction step. could someone point me to an
explanation of the differences and whether there's a way i can
eliminate the extra step in the running of the dmg's?

and, btw, thanks to 4np for helping get samba running. works
fine now.

thanks,
BabaG

 

[WildCowboy]

Try this...

 

[TheAnswer]

The .dmg file is a disk image file...it's supposed to mount on the desktop. If you decide you want to keep that application, you need to drag the application's icon to the applications folder on your hard drive, this will install the application there and then you can eject and trash the .dmg file

 

[BabaG]

oops. TheAnswer appeared as i was typing. thanks!

thanks wildcowboy. still a little unclear on the disk image, though.
must it always be mounted as a virtual device, or can i do
something as simple as drag the files it contains to the applications
folder. the article does not make that clear to me.

thanks again,
BabaG

 

[WildCowboy]

As TheAnswer said, once you mount the disk image, you should drag the application that's in there to your Applications folder. You can then eject the mounted disk and delete the .dmg file.

Edit: And it looks like we're all set now!

 

[BabaG]

yup! thanks again to you both. boy is this easier than wxp.
and waaayy easier than linux!

 

[valdore]

I had to download Stuffit Expander for a particular app dilemma.