tips for a recent switcher

[jhomayne]

i only recently took delivery of my lurvely new iBook and i have had great fun working through my cd and photo collection and lovingly arranging them perfectly in itunes and iphoto and i swear even if the ibook didn't work i'd prefer it over a pc laptop anyday even if i could only look at it!

anyway, my point being, i was wondering if there are any "recommended" first steps for a mac newbie (regarding system prefs. appearance. programs to acquire. etc) as i did a little searchy but couldn't find much.

any help much appreciated.

james

*apologies in advance if this has to be moved*

 

[vraxtus]

i only recently took delivery of my lurvely new iBook and i have had great fun working through my cd and photo collection and lovingly arranging them perfectly in itunes and iphoto and i swear even if the ibook didn't work i'd prefer it over a pc laptop anyday even if i could only look at it!

anyway, my point being, i was wondering if there are any "recommended" first steps for a mac newbie (regarding system prefs. appearance. programs to acquire. etc) as i did a little searchy but couldn't find much.

any help much appreciated.

james

*apologies in advance if this has to be moved*

There's a lot out there GUI adjustment wise... check out www.macupdate.com for downloads.

I'd recommend a few cool iTunes visuals and maybe some nice backgrounds from wallpaper.deviantart.com.

If you are using a multi-login you can change the background image at the login screen by replacing a file called "Aqua Blue.jpg" in your Library->Desktop Pictures directory.

 

[jhomayne]

aha! i was hoping that there was something more interesting than the standard itunes visual out there!

 

[vraxtus]

aha! i was hoping that there was something more interesting than the standard itunes visual out there!

Geforce and Whitecap are the most well know... I actually found some pretty cool ass ones though... I can't remember the names offhand but one looks like a glowing tube and the other is somewhat like a LED sound monitor except there are no trails on the LED so it looks somewhat like "stairs".

 

[virividox]

get vlc to play certain media files

cocktail for maintenance

 

[mac_gal]

What kinds of things are you looking for exactly?

For instant messaging, I'd go with Proteus.
www.proteusx.com

 

[jhomayne]

What kinds of things are you looking for exactly?

For instant messaging, I'd go with Proteus.
www.proteusx.com

nothing in particular really..

just things like 'for this activity, use this program' and stuff

 

[Nspace]

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=75459

/\ some keyboard shortcuts to get to know

 

[Whigga Spitta]

Since you enjoy the appearance of your iBook so much, may i suggest ClearDock? A great GUI mod which I install on every Mac I work with (although I too am a recent switcher). ClearDock is more OS X-like than the standard Apple setup.

 

[sinisterdesign]

always something to learn

i clicked on this forum b/c i was going to offer some sage advice to a new member of the Mac family, instead i got some good little suggestions. for some reason, i hadn't installed the ClearDock haxie, even though i use ShapeShifter (that's lots of fun if you haven't tried it yet). also, the VLC app is a nice little video player. i had been using MPlayer a lot lately, but VLC is very responsive, especially when resizing.

ok, here are my additions:

http://www.iconfactory.com/ – icons out the wazoo

http://blog.wired.com/cultofmac/ – daily blog that just makes you proud to be a Mac user (see today's blog on why Mac users are smarter, written by a Linux guy)

http://www.resexcellence.com/ – everything you need to trick out your iBook (go get Shapeshifter and visit the 'themes' section)

http://www.ipodlounge.com/ – if you didn't get one w/ your iBook, do not pass go, go directly to your local Apple Store. you won't regret it.

http://www.panic.com/ – these guys just write great little apps (and beautifully designed interfaces. wow, that new 'drag & download' feature is pretty cool. never seen it b4)

have fun w/ those & have fun w/ that iBook...