Arty's Mac Week

[arty]

Quick update: I've got my emails working beautifully with the OS X version of Thunderbird, which looks a great deal nicer than the Windows one incidentally. The profiles are indeed compatible between platforms so it was just a file copy to get it working. Most impressive! The cursor misbehaves a little when composing emails but otherwise it's perfect.

I've also begun using an external 250GB HDD I had lying around not being used (!). I'm intending to copy all of my less-often used documents and other bits and pieces onto there allowing easy transfer between computers and less faffing around on my PC; I'm hoping eventually to get to the stage where I truly only use the PC for games, though I'm a little way from that yet.

For other users of external hard discs with Macs: Is there an OS X equivalent to the 'Safely Remove Hardware' utility in Windows XP? So far I've just been dismounting the drive, but I've not been able to find any definite info on the 'net as to whether this also 'stops' the USB device.

At some point I intend to write up all of my switchy thoughts into some sort of long, rambling document. I know others have done this, but it might be useful to someone and probably won't cause any harm.

Thanks again for all the responses so far. I do read all of them

arty

 

[Will_3rd]

For other users of external hard discs with Macs: Is there an OS X equivalent to the 'Safely Remove Hardware' utility in Windows XP? So far I've just been dismounting the drive, but I've not been able to find any definite info on the 'net as to whether this also 'stops' the USB device.

The right click or ctrl click should be enough to remove it safely, when I do it on my external HDD on my iBook it stop the disk from spinning and powers it down into some kind of sleep.

Usually stays powered down until I switch it off or plug in the USB cable again.

 

[Will_3rd]

xACT is pretty good for FLAC -> AIFF conversion, or vice versa.

Tried to get my hands on it, but it seems to have gone AWOL from Version Tracker, got any other links?

 

[Doug]

It's on MacUpdate.

 

[Will_3rd]

It's on MacUpdate.

cheers mate

 

[tsinc80697]

For other users of external hard discs with Macs: Is there an OS X equivalent to the 'Safely Remove Hardware' utility in Windows XP? So far I've just been dismounting the drive, but I've not been able to find any definite info on the 'net as to whether this also 'stops' the USB device.

apple+e = eject device is easiest way i find

 

[arty]

apple+e = eject device is easiest way i find

Nice tip

On the subject of keyboard shortcuts, is there an equivalent to Windows+L (lock workstation) in OS X? I've found the option to lock the machine after an idle period but I'm really looking for a quick global shortcut I can use when leaving my Mac for a few minutes. I've got it to ask for a password when coming out of sleep mode, which is great, but something to use when the computer is still running would be particularly helpful.

Currently trying to find a free Mac alternative to Illustrator. I've tried Inkscape, but it's a bit horrible unfortunately

arty

 

[unknowndomain]

Nice tip

On the subject of keyboard shortcuts, is there an equivalent to Windows+L (lock workstation) in OS X? I've found the option to lock the machine after an idle period but I'm really looking for a quick global shortcut I can use when leaving my Mac for a few minutes. I've got it to ask for a password when coming out of sleep mode, which is great, but something to use when the computer is still running would be particularly helpful.

Currently trying to find a free Mac alternative to Illustrator. I've tried Inkscape, but it's a bit horrible unfortunately

arty

Yeah you could set the screensaver to ask for a password in the Pref > Security panel and then set the screensaver to activate when you move the mouse to one of the corners in the pref > expose & dashboard panel

 

[arty]

Yeah you could set the screensaver to ask for a password in the Pref > Security panel and then set the screensaver to activate when you move the mouse to one of the corners in the pref > expose & dashboard panel

I gave this a try, but I've settled on using the Keychain Access option for a little padlock icon on the status bar thingy which I can choose a 'Lock Screen' option from. OS X definitely needs a single shortcut for this feature - hopefully it'll appear in Leopard

EDIT - Just discovered the iCal calendar application. What a great little program to include with an OS; I'll have to see if there's a way I can sort of incorporate a summary of day's events onto the desktop or something.

EDIT 2 - And I've found a rather nice Widget to do exactly that: iCal Events. Very smooth

arty

 

[x1m]

On the subject of keyboard shortcuts, is there an equivalent to Windows+L (lock workstation) in OS X?

The slightly longwinded way is to goto Keychain under Applications/utilities, goto the preferences and turn on show status. This will give you a small keychain menu next to the clock, which gives the option to lock the screen. It's not a keyboard shortcut, but only takes two clicks once up and running.

Just found this also:

http://www.macworld.com/weblogs/macosxhints/2006/01/lockscreen/index.php

Useful.

 

[arty]

The slightly longwinded way is to goto Keychain under Applications/utilities, goto the preferences and turn on show status. This will give you a small keychain menu next to the clock, which gives the option to lock the screen. It's not a keyboard shortcut, but only takes two clicks once up and running.

Actually, I'm already using this as I mentioned in my last post.

Just found this also:

http://www.macworld.com/weblogs/macosxhints/2006/01/lockscreen/index.php

Useful.

Yep, I'd also seen that and tried it but two keyboard shortcuts together seems a bit too 'hacky' for me. The padlock is a nice, clean solution, even if it doesn't have a straight shortcut

Thanks anyway.

arty

 

[arty]

OK, update:

I've found that Apple Mail / Mail.app / Mail is a somewhat nicer application under OS X than Thunderbird, so I've moved my emails across into it and now use it full-time for emails. I really like the way you can view the emails from multiple inboxes separately or together. The interface is simple but seems to offer everything I need from an email client; the system-wide address book is a nice bonus, too.

On a similar note, I've just this evening discovered the program iSync - in fact, I was reading the 10.4.9 Update thread which mentioned new phone support in the program, and that piqued my interest. I fired the program up, pressed the 'Scan' button, selected my SE W810 phone and with nary a hitch sync'ed up all of my calendar appointments (from iCal) for the next year. To my astonishment, it actually worked! I tried sync'ing my phone with Windows XP when it was new but that required a fairly tedious degree of faffing and installing proprietary software, and as I didn't have a calendar program I used regularly I fairly quickly abandoned the idea. I'm now hammering my address book into shape so that too can be synchronised. Excellent

For people who have never used OS X, I think the biggest revelation for me personally is just how usable many of the Apple programs which come with it actually are. OK, so I pretty much expected Safari and Mail to be usable, but iCal and iSync have really impressed me. Add the Dictionary and Stickies widgets into the mix and you've got - for me - a very usable computer out of the box. On Windows, IE7 and Outlook Express are both acceptably good pieces of software, but that's about it for the ones the OS comes with. I'm not under any illusions about OS X having every application with every function anyone will ever need - far from it, of course - but the suite of applications you get as part of your computer are a pretty good set.

Now for my weekly question: Why is it that some applications in OS X have a brushed metal look (e.g. Safari) whereas others have a smoother, slightly more plastic look (e.g. Mail)? Is it down to the age of the programs? I would have expected all application windows rendered using the OS X window manager to look more or less the same. It's not particularly jarring, but I am curious.

Next up: I need to find a really good text editor and settle on it. My current favourite is TextMate, but it doesn't seem to support tabbed windows...

arty

 

[gavsim]

Textmate is great and does support tabs, you need to create a project first though, File -> New Project - you then have an easy to use project view and can have multiple files opened in tabs. If you really want to see the power of textmate have a look here: http://macromates.com/screencasts Textmate is a very powerful editor, I don't know where I would be without it.

 

[Will_3rd]

Now for my weekly question: Why is it that some applications in OS X have a brushed metal look (e.g. Safari) whereas others have a smoother, slightly more plastic look (e.g. Mail)? Is it down to the age of the programs? I would have expected all application windows rendered using the OS X window manager to look more or less the same. It's not particularly jarring, but I am curious.

An oft asked question, something to do with different stages of development as you suggested perhaps. I think you can unify the look of OSX with various programs which can improve the cosmetic styling.

You might want to give UNO a go.

http://gui.interacto.net/

 

[arty]

Textmate is great and does support tabs, you need to create a project first though, File -> New Project - you then have an easy to use project view and can have multiple files opened in tabs. If you really want to see the power of textmate have a look here: http://macromates.com/screencasts Textmate is a very powerful editor, I don't know where I would be without it.

Thanks; their site appeared to be down last night so I couldn't take a look at those. I'd be primarily using it for PHP, HTML, XML, XSLT and CSS, though I do dabble with Python, Ruby, SQL and C#*occasionally. I just need to get myself into the mindset where paying €39 for a text editor isn't too abhorrent

An oft asked question, something to do with different stages of development as you suggested perhaps. I think you can unify the look of OSX with various programs which can improve the cosmetic styling.

You might want to give UNO a go.

http://gui.interacto.net/

Thanks, I'll take a look at that

/gets back to updating his now-synchronised address book...

EDIT - Forgot to mention, my bro has seen me using my Mac and has now decided he wants a 15" Macbook Pro rather than the Vaio laptop he was planning to buy. I hope I haven't unwittingly become some sort of repellent 'evangelist'

arty

 

[PeterNem]

It's interesting to read posts from the point of view of somebody who is convering from windows to mac for home use.

I have no option but to use windows at work, and that is all I have ever used at home, but I took the plunge on Thursday evening and overed a 24" iMac which should arrive on Tuesday.

Last time I used a Mac for any amount of time was back at school 6 or 7 years ago and at the time I wasn't really a fan, but from the brief bit I've seen of OllyM's macbook and from speaking to a few friends who have switched from Windows to Mac I think it'll be a good move.

I don't really game on a desktop computer anymore, all I do is mail/browse/IM/IRC/Office type stuff, so not anticipating too many problems

 

[Matt]

Mail is a great app, as it keeps it simple, and email shouldn't be complicated The one thing about it that is annoying is that it seems to be optimised for non-widescreen displays. There's a small plugin that fixes that though (and makes the preview go to the right of the email list, not below).

BluePhoneElite is a cool program to use with your phone as well

 

[arty]

It's interesting to read posts from the point of view of somebody who is convering from windows to mac for home use.

I have no option but to use windows at work, and that is all I have ever used at home, but I took the plunge on Thursday evening and overed a 24" iMac which should arrive on Tuesday.

Last time I used a Mac for any amount of time was back at school 6 or 7 years ago and at the time I wasn't really a fan, but from the brief bit I've seen of OllyM's macbook and from speaking to a few friends who have switched from Windows to Mac I think it'll be a good move.

I don't really game on a desktop computer anymore, all I do is mail/browse/IM/IRC/Office type stuff, so not anticipating too many problems

The main reason I've been trying to keep this thread up to date with thoughts, observations, discoveries and questions is for other people who have considered moving from a Windows PC to a Mac. I may at some point try to write it up into a fairly full guide / document, but I'm sure there are plenty of those around already so I'm not sure how much use it would be.

I've never actually seen one of the new iMacs in the flesh. 24" must be absolutely huge, considering my TV is 'only' 32" and still seems enormous to me even for a telly!

Mail is a great app, as it keeps it simple, and email shouldn't be complicated The one thing about it that is annoying is that it seems to be optimised for non-widescreen displays. There's a small plugin that fixes that though (and makes the preview go to the right of the email list, not below).

I actually prefer it below - text reads from left-to-right, after all, so having more horizontal space for an email preview makes sense to me

BluePhoneElite is a cool program to use with your phone as well

Wow, that looks incredibly cool, but I'll probably just stick with my phone's texting abilities for now

arty

 

[Will_3rd]

EDIT - Forgot to mention, my bro has seen me using my Mac and has now decided he wants a 15" Macbook Pro rather than the Vaio laptop he was planning to buy. I hope I haven't unwittingly become some sort of repellent 'evangelist'

Soon...by next the full moon you will be an evangelist

I used do it without even realising, now I'm more self controlled though

 

[Deleted member 651465]

Nice tip

On the subject of keyboard shortcuts, is there an equivalent to Windows+L (lock workstation) in OS X?

Shift-Command-Option-Q

For a list of more handy shortcuts visit:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=75459