Slowly getting used to OS X after 15 years of windows... NEED HERLP PLZ!!!

[jbusse]

1. In windows I got the hang of sizing windows easily, I could organize windows nicely on the screen vert or hoizontal - with OS X its a CHORE so far and the green resize button seems to have NO ryme or reason, no matter what I do, even after I have both positions the green button can seem to move the app somewhere other than laying on top of the dock, it goes on top of the dock... to me that is sloppy and driving me nuts.

2. I got file sharing to work with my xp machine MAJOR YAY - I had to use the smb://blah/blah/ nomenclature because Im on a dynamic IP wireless network... I really would like to get Remote desktop running, I downloaded that from Microsofts mactopia - if I could get this going then I'd really never have to get on the PC again. Despite getting file sharing to work through the finder CONNECT TO SERVER method, I cant get my mac to print off the XP machine...

3. I ordered a mac mouse, I opened it. I realized any generic 2 button mouse worked and it gave me some extra menu options that were helpful. Why are they still selling 1 button? Will Apple take the brand new mouse back or am I stuck with it?

I would love to get links to resources that will help me solve the above, as well as any other really high quality mac sites...

Im falling in love, but I have to get past her quirks...

Thanks

Jim

 

[Sharewaredemon]

not sure about networking issues, but i think apples return policy if 10 days, if you haven't used it there will be a full refund,
and if you have, i think there is a handling charge,

as for the extra options when right clicking,
you can get these same functions by holding control and left clicking (or clicking on a single button mouse.

Some features I like about panther (os 10.3.x) are that when you command tab (the same as alt tab) a window appears and you can select your app by moving the mouse and letting go, OR the normal way of hitting tab.
ALSO while command tabbing you can perform two basic options, quiting the app without having to bring it to front (hold command, hit tab till the app you want to quit is lableb and highlighted, and hit "q" this will quit the app. You can also hit "h" to hide the app.


There are TONS of keyboard shortcuts in apples operating system, some of them you will never need, some of them you will (well to me) not be able to live without. There is a full list on the apple website at: http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=75459

hope this helps

 

[latergator116]

1. In windows I got the hang of sizing windows easily, I could organize windows nicely on the screen vert or hoizontal - with OS X its a CHORE so far and the green resize button seems to have NO ryme or reason, no matter what I do, even after I have both positions the green button can seem to move the app somewhere other than laying on top of the dock, it goes on top of the dock... to me that is sloppy and driving me nuts...

To resize windows in OS X, drag the box in the lower right hand corner of the window. I agree with you that the green button is totally useless. Also, to easily view all your windows in a particular app, press the F10 key. (you might have to go in to system preferences> expose, to configure this.)

 

[jbusse]

command key

I like to mouse for as much as possible, I know windows is hated here, but I could mouse almost anything really easily in XP - the command key doesnt exist on my ghetto logitech keyboard but I tried your suggestion on the pbooks keys and I can see that being really cool and very usable... I'll have to buy a big apple keyboard to plug in..

Thanks for that tip.

 

[jbusse]

The green key is going to make me cut myself

I did configure expose corners and that is helping some, thanks for the tip.

 

[javabear90]

I like to mouse for as much as possible, I know windows is hated here, but I could mouse almost anything really easily in XP - the command key doesnt exist on my ghetto logitech keyboard but I tried your suggestion on the pbooks keys and I can see that being really cool and very usable... I'll have to buy a big apple keyboard to plug in..

Thanks for that tip.

I think that the windows key does the same thing. or just press keys in that area....

 

[jsw]

I like OS X, but I am forced to agree that the "green button" and the "only can resize with the bottom right corner" things are major annoyances.

And, yes, Apple should - but won't - sell multi-button mice.

However - Exposé and the F9/F10/F11 keys are quite cool and almost make up for the other stuff.

 

[TEG]

The Green Button has a great rhyme and reason... You can set the size you want your app, and use it to change the app to the minimum needed to see all info (ie in Safari, to the largest image, or forced text space). It doesn't maximize because Apple has always believed that being able to easily access the desktop is a high priority, they don't believe in M$ belief that the Desktop is Useless.

Also, I love the one button mouse, but I have a multi-button for gaming. The single is so simple, and you really can't screw it up. The extra menus come from M$ originally, and Apple included them to entice switchers in OS8. There is no use for them, because the menu bar is always in the same location, there is no need to search for the appropriate menu four your function.

TEG

 

[jbusse]

TEG

I hear ya on the desktop availability - I think I can get used to it - in the past 30 mins I have been using expose, Im liking it - I have show all apps in top left and I just throw my mouse up there and boom... thats good times..

the mouse issue is tougher, in mac word, its so much easier to right click to correct mispells etc than having to go find a menu choice and open a new dialog...

I just need to find the nuiances and learn to make them intuitive for me, I cant see people who make such beautiful hardware making an OS and apps that suck - that is just counterintuitive...

Having said that - Entourage seems to suck compared to the newest version of Outlook for XP... you cant even do some basics like have the open item close when you reply or forward.. Thats absurd.

My last bitch would be - all the letters in my apps and text in the browser all seems FAT and BOLD when its actually just Arial font...I dont like the sort of fat fuzzy look... I like sleek and clean - the fat and fuzzy doesnt take advantage of this killer display.

Like I mentioned before, the more I use it and learn it, the more I love it..

 

[jsw]

The Green Button has a great rhyme and reason... You can set the size you want your app, and use it to change the app to the minimum needed to see all info (ie in Safari, to the largest image, or forced text space). It doesn't maximize because Apple has always believed that being able to easily access the desktop is a high priority, they don't believe in M$ belief that the Desktop is Useless.

I respectfully disagree. Now that we've got Exposé, we could use a full-screen button - meaning all the screen below the menu bar and some distance above the bottom to leave room for the Dock. The desktop is always a button or mouse move away. Heck, I can have a full-screen window, start a drag from it, hit F11, drag to my desktop or wherever, hit F11 again, and never exit my "full-screen" app.

Also, I love the one button mouse, but I have a multi-button for gaming. The single is so simple, and you really can't screw it up. The extra menus come from M$ originally, and Apple included them to entice switchers in OS8. There is no use for them, because the menu bar is always in the same location, there is no need to search for the appropriate menu four your function.

TEG

Again, I respectfully disagree. The control/right mouse click is fundamentally useful in OS X - tell me it's easier to click on something and go all the way up to the menu bar to get "Open with..." than it is to right click for the option. It's not. Same with other right-mouse options. Scroll wheels/pads on mice make browsing easier. Why move the mouse over to scroll? Why have to use the keyboard? A modern mouse will let you use your finger to scroll. Apple was supposed to be about ease-of-use. Multi-button scroll mice are easier to use, faster, and more efficient. They're not bad just because MS/Sun/Unix used them first.

I love the Mac, but, seriously, how hard is it to screw up ANY mouse once you've used them for more than a minute? My three year old can use one just fine, and if she doesn't screw it up, I'm guessing most people won't either.

 

[jbusse]

Safari

Now that I have started to use tabbed browsing in Safari, Im thinking that its awesome and doubt I'll go back to Explorer

 

[candan9019]

My last bitch would be - all the letters in my apps and text in the browser all seems FAT and BOLD when its actually just Arial font...I dont like the sort of fat fuzzy look... I like sleek and clean - the fat and fuzzy doesnt take advantage of this killer display.

If you go to system pref->appearance, then you can turn off text smoothing up to a larger font. Can't turn it completely off for some reason. I think text smoothing gives OSX a more polished look than windows though.

 

[Lincoln]

Use a password

jbusse

I have had trouble getting Remote Desktop to work too.

I spent hours looking at this; in the end all I did was assign a password to the Windows Account on the PC that I wanted to remote control and bingo, it worked.

It must be some security feature that Microsoft put in place.

Hope this helps.

 

[Nermal]

I cant get my mac to print off the XP machine...

Go to Apps -> Utilities -> Printer Setup Utility.
Go to Add.
Choose Windows Printer from the first popup button.
Choose your Windows workgroup from the second popup button.
You should be able to see the computers in the list below, and should be able to continue through to the shared printer.

Note: If your Windows workgroup is not named WORKGROUP, you should tell OS X:

Go to Apps -> Utilities -> Directory Access.
Double-click SMB.
Specify the workgroup name (don't touch WINS Server).

Hope this helps

 

[JFreak]

apple has a strong reason to keep the one-button mouse. apple thinks that a mouse is by definition "a device that can point and click". simplicity. AND, the most important effect of such a mouse is that developers will have to think about their user interfaces a little more (than windows developers who do ****ty interfaces) - because everything must be usable with a single mouse button. hide features behind a control-click (or right click, whatever) and you are hiding the features from most users. not good. so the one-button mouse philosophy leads to better user interfaces and i just love it how software is much more usable in macintosh than in windows/linux.

and you keep your left hand on the keyboard most of the time anyway. it's not so hard to press control key once in a while... if you know that's what you need. in windows side (our office uses a lot of windows clients) people seem to click everywhere when searching for something. that's productive? no. and the scroll wheel too, people cannot drag a page anymore, even if it's really long, they just keep scrolling and every now and then take some sick leave because their right hand hurts so badly.

one-button mouse rocks! i agree, it takes a little getting used to, if you come from the dark side but it's worth it!

 

[Vanilla]

...hide features behind a control-click (or right click, whatever) and you are hiding the features from most users. not good....

So why if you go to iPhoto as but one example is there a neat right click/ctrl-click only menu? Open up the app, right-click on any pic and you'll get a menu that groups together functions that are spread across multiple menus. Its a nice feature, but clearly they (Apple) believe in using the right-click paradigm, its not just Microsoft.

So given that Apple uses the same paradigm why is it deemed to be "better" to force people to lean forward and use their left-hand to press the CTRL key and their right hand to click on a mouse when one wants to display such a menu? Equally why is it deemed to be easier to force people to take their hand off the mouse and use the up/down arrow to scroll through a page?

I must stress that I absolutely do not have a problem in Apple selling a one-button mouse, for many people it will be their preferred choice and there are clear advantages in using it as an introduction into computing for children as but one example. I do however have a problem in not having any choice in the matter other than using a 3rd party product.

We're probably not going to agree on this, which is fair enough, each to their own I guess and I am also conscious of hijacking this thread so I'll stop for now. I really just wanted to counter the criticism that Right-click menus are the sole preserve of Microsoft and therefore highlight that fact that in my opinion its slightly perverse to then force the user to use a combination of keystrokes and mouse action to utilise them.

Vanilla

 

[Diatribe]

First of all congrats to everyone that switched and is happy with the purchase. A mac just feels different. I just switched 4 months ago so I know.

I agree that Apple should get out the two button mouse with the touch scroll wheel that they patented a while ago. I currently use a Logitech Mx700 and it just makes using exposé so much easier. I hate that you cannot assign key combinations to exposé but rather one button only. I hope they give you more options on this one, because when dashboard arrives it's going to be a mess since I don't have any hot corners open any more and I hate to reach up to the F keys.
Regarding the green button... I suppose when you have a small monitor you'd like to have full screen more often, but even on my 12" I like the concept of expanding the window just as much for be to be able to see the entire content. What's the use in maximizing ichat for example?
I do have my gripes with OSX too but they are so few that I hardly care.

 

[Timelessblur]

Now that I have started to use tabbed browsing in Safari, Im thinking that its awesome and doubt I'll go back to Explorer

Hell I never used Safari (cannt on a windows computer) and I given up using IE for the most part.

I switch over to firefox because of it tab browsing. You do need to keep IE around because some sites just dont work right with a netscape based brower and they need IE


As for the mouse there is a simple solution. Take that one button mouse put it in some desk never to be seen our heard from again. After you do that plug in at least a 3 buttum mouse with a scroll while and I think you switching on the mouse will be a lot easier. I know a lot of make user who take there mouse for the mac and sell them. (hell that what I would do if I had a mac desktop. that one button mouse would be the first thing to go)

 

[St Soichiro]

TEG

the mouse issue is tougher, in mac word, its so much easier to right click to correct mispells etc than having to go find a menu choice and open a new dialog...
<snip>

I started using a Mac last year after ~20 years of Windows, so I understand most of your concerns. Am on my second PB now, which serves as my only computer. So needless to say, I am very, very happy!

Try sticking with the one-button Mac mouse. It is very powerful in combination with the <control>, <option> and <apple> keys. My left hand (I am right-handed) usually sits right by these keys on the bottom left of the key board. That also allows for easy use of keyboard shortcuts. I have found keyboard shortcuts to be very useful - maybe more than the mouse at times. And faster too. There are a lot of them. Some that I use all the time:

<apple> c to copy
<apple> v to cut
<apple> q to quit an application
<apple> w to close a window (or a tab in Safari)
<shift> <apple> q to log-out
<apple> h to hide an application
<apple> m to minimize a window
<apple> t to open a new tab in Safari
<shift> <apple> <right/left arrow> to switch between tabs in Safari

I could go on an on - there are so many good ones, and probably some that I am yet to discover!

Try sticking with the one-button mouse, learn to use short-cuts and give it one week. If it does not work for you then you can use one of the several regular two-button mice out there.

Finally, for customizing the dock (so that, for example, hidden applications have a transparent icon) use TransparentDock from http://www.freerangemac.com (no affiliation).

Have fun and keep posting any other issues/comments you may have.

 

[jbusse]

Thanks

St..

Thanks for the shortcuts, I really dont like using the keys but I'll have to get used to it and the web site you posted with the dock changing shareware was killer - I downloaded it and find it VERY useful, Im a UI Nazi and without the changes that the little tool gave, I found it lacking..

Awesome stuff..

 

[Timelessblur]

Also a lot of the windows short cuts are cross copitible. ctrl--* (* being any letter) are the same on windows and mac. (I learned a lot of the window comans on an earily mac OS and they moved over to windows 95 very easily).

 

[bertagert]

jbusse:

I posted this link in another thread but thought it would work here as well. Its a guidline for developers switching their applications from windows to os x. However, as techie geek as it sounds, it is actually an easy read and gives a lot of reasons why os x is the way it is compared to windows. Things such as: program installers, mulitple windows, etc.

As per your questions:

1. Try opening up safari. Go to a web site and shrink the safari window a bit (make it half the size in any direction). Click on the green button and you'll see it expands the window to fit all the information in the window. Clicking it again will bring it back to the half size again. Like you, I find it screwy but is somewhat useful when viewing web sites or spread sheets.

2. What Nermel said.

3. Apple does need to get on with it and just have two or more buttons on their mouse. Not sure this will ever change.

All in all, read the article I linked to. It will explain a few more reasons why os x is the way it is and most of the things you find annoying will actually make perfect sense. It did for me anyway.

 

[Sharewaredemon]

there is also a way to logout without having the logout box come up

command, option, shift, q

 

[Whigga Spitta]

Being a recent switcher, I try to use both a three-button mouse AND shortcuts. It makes the transition easy and the OSX advantages CLEARLY apparent.

P.S.-- I love tabbed browsing and the shortcuts available with it

 

[Skiniftz]

The Green Button has a great rhyme and reason... You can set the size you want your app, and use it to change the app to the minimum needed to see all info (ie in Safari, to the largest image, or forced text space). It doesn't maximize because Apple has always believed that being able to easily access the desktop is a high priority, they don't believe in M$ belief that the Desktop is Useless.

Also, I love the one button mouse, but I have a multi-button for gaming. The single is so simple, and you really can't screw it up. The extra menus come from M$ originally, and Apple included them to entice switchers in OS8. There is no use for them, because the menu bar is always in the same location, there is no need to search for the appropriate menu four your function.

TEG

Oooh look - you use a DOLLAR sign instead of the S in MS !! Wow you must be really mature.