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Mac OSX Noob thread of OSX noobs

K

koam

Member
Okay, so I got my first ever mac this past week and so far, i'm loving it. It takes a bit of getting used to and i figured, gaf can give me, and other osx noobs a hand.

What are the essential, free (and possibly not so free) apps that i should get?

I bought Office for Mac using a discount we have at work but what about apple only stuff?

Here's what i'm using, feel free to tell me if there's better alternatives, P.S I don't want to run wine, Parallels or even boot camp, i don't want windows on this machine in any form.

Text Editor: Textmate
FTP: Filezilla for mac
IDE for PHP: nothing yet, any ideas?
Shell access: Nothing, i was using Bitvise tunnelier on windows, can't find an alternative yet
MP3: Using itunes
Chat: Adium
Browse: Cycling between firefox and safari
Backup: manually backing up to my external drive for now (i'm running that ntfs fod mac thing). Should I be using time capsule?
Torrent: utorrent
video: VLC (Wow it's way better than the windows port)

I have a few questions as well.

1) Is there a way to import all my pictures into iPhoto (i have like 20GB of pics from the past 12 years or so) without actually copying them onto my macbook and just loading them up into iphoto with all the iphoto features?

2) Same for itunes and my music.

3) Is there a way to make it so that pressing red on an app actually closes it, or better yet, adding a fourth icon for force close?

4) How do you force close an app if it isn't reponding?
 
T

Tobor

Member
A lot of questions, but real quick: Use cmd+Q to close apps, and get Caffeine, Skitch, and the Hulu desktop app.
 
2

2 Minutes Turkish

Banned
Speakign of which, do Macs have an application that works in a similar vein to Acronis True Image?

I don't really like how Time Machine works as far as image restoration goes (not that Time Machine IS image restoration),
 
aparisi2274

aparisi2274

Member
I used to uTorrent for mac, but after having issues with it, I swtiched over to Transmission. I highly recommend it.

Also, I downloaded the beta of ACDsee Pro for Mac, because I hated iPhoto.

Also, I think its free, but I use StuffIT for my rar files.
 
P

PhoncipleBone

Banned
For torrent I have been using VUZE. Granted I have only had my mac for about three or four months, so I am still fresh with it too. Congrats on the purchase.
 
A

Ashhong

Member
I recommend Transmission for torrents, and I personally use Quicktime with Perian for my video needs.

theres also a good thread here already with good advice, duno what it was called though...
 
P

PhoncipleBone

Banned
Tobor said:
A lot of questions, but real quick: Use cmd+Q to close apps, and get Caffeine, Skitch, and the Hulu desktop app.
Click to expand...

There is a HULU desktop app? Where?

And I also recommend getting Little Snitch. Great program for controlling your network access.

For dashboard programs I got a few different programs that are nice. One automatically finds the lyrics for whatever is playing in iTunes and updates the file automatically. I will find out the name and let you know. It is rather handy. There is also an album artwork finder that works the same way.
 
M

Marty Chinn

Member
Unfortunately, iPhoto won't let you use it without it trying to build its own library of pictures. I store all my photos on a network server and I was really irritated that it wanted to copy everything locally. It made the software unusuable for me.

iTunes wants to do the same thing to but at least if you're using it to put stuff on an iPod or iPhone you can just copy stuff off the network directly into the device. Otherwise it wants to try to create it's own libray. One way that I got around it is fortunately my server lets me use an add on that lets me setup an iTunes library from it and then I can just have iTunes on my local computer just find the network share off that.

I really wish Apple's software was more network friendly.
 
K

koam

Member
Remember guys, this is a noob thread, can you please explain what the apps are, i've never used osx before so i have no idea what some of these apps are.
 
H

Hitokage

Setec Astronomer
koam said:
I bought Office for Mac using a discount we have at work but what about apple only stuff?
Click to expand...
iWork?

Text Editor: Textmate
Click to expand...
Free: TextWrangler. Nonfree: BBEdit.
FTP: Filezilla for mac
Click to expand...
Transmit (Nonfree)
Shell access: Nothing, i was using Bitvise tunnelier on windows, can't find an alternative yet
Click to expand...
Terminal with command-line ssh.
Browse: Cycling between firefox and safari
Click to expand...
I prefer Camino, but pretty much everything but IE is on Mac so find out which works best for you.
Torrent: utorrent
Click to expand...
I use Azureus/Vuze, but mostly out of habit, so feel free to ignore me on this.
video: VLC (Wow it's way better than the windows port)
Click to expand...
Get the following:

Perian (Codec pack for Quicktime, which means OS codec support)
Flip4Mac WMV (Windows media support in QT)
Mac RealPlayer (It's not evil in unix form, and you might need it so have it around)
MPlayer OSX Extended (Best media player for the Mac)

4) How do you force close an app if it isn't reponding?
Click to expand...
Apple menu in the top left, then Force Quit(if it won't open, click on another window first). Also, click and hold or right click on the Dock icon, and Quit will change to Force Quit if it's locked up.
 
A

Alfarif

This picture? uhh I can explain really!
aparisi2274 said:
What is Skitch??
Click to expand...
skitch is the end all be all of screenshotting. I'm not on my mac right now, but trust me on this. You will thank me later.

Transmission for torrents. You will thank me.

Cyberduck for FTP. I love it so much.

Pixelmator for graphics. Look online for a discount code. I love it. We use it for a lot of our graphic needs.

I will answer iPhoto and itunes questions later if someone else doesn't.
 
B

botkiller

Member
My favorite two shortcuts that took me a few months of owning a Mac to discover:

Command + Shift + Delete = Empty Trash
Command + Shift + N = Create new folder
 
B

Battlezone

Member
Lots of people are going to suggest lots of great programs, but there's one I've never actually seen mentioned here before, and the Aqua interface haters will LOVE this:

I just found this puppy this weekend: http://magnifiqueapp.com/

What is it? Well, it's a theming app. And before Liu Kang comes in here screaming about how awful most custom themes are (and they are), I will point you to a little theme within this app called iTunesque. Apply that, restart your Finder, and voila:

2_d8e4ecbc836fc04312e09333f97495ec_1.jpg


No more ugly Aqua interface! There may have been other hacks or ways to do this, but this is a system wide change, and I have yet to run into an application where the skin doesn't get borked. And it uninstalls with one click, so if you need to go back, it's no problem.
 
S

Sean

Banned
Transmission is a much better bittorrent client imo: http://www.transmissionbt.com/ Free and open source and awesome.

1) I don't think you can do that with iPhoto. A workaround may be to hold down the option key when launching iPhoto to create a new Library on your external pictures hard drive. Or you can try out Google's Picasa on the Mac which lets you do what you want.

2) iTunes supports this I believe. Go to Preferences > Advanced and you can uncheck "Copy files to iTunes Music folder when adding to library".

3) I would recommend getting used to the keyboard shortcuts. One of the great things about OSX is how the shortcuts are pretty much standard across all apps. cmd (command) + q is what you use to quit apps, cmd + w is what you use to close windows, cmd+s for saving files, cmd+p for printing, cmd+c and cmd+v for copy/paste, etc.

4) There are several ways to force quit an unresponsive app. You can click the apple logo in the menu bar (top left of your screen) and choose "Force Quit..." from the menu. Or you can launch Activity Monitor (which is the equivalent of Window's task manager) and quit the app that way (highlight it and press Quit Process). Or even easier you can simply right click on the dock and choose "Force Quit".
 
K

koam

Member
Alfarif said:
skitch is the end all be all of screenshotting. I'm not on my mac right now, but trust me on this. You will thank me later.

Transmission for torrents. You will thank me.

Cyberduck for FTP. I love it so much.

Pixelmator for graphics. Look online for a discount code. I love it. We use it for a lot of our graphic needs.

I will answer iPhoto and itunes questions later if someone else doesn't.
Click to expand...

So it's like snagit on windows?

2) iTunes supports this I believe. Go to Preferences > Advanced and you can uncheck "Copy files to iTunes Music folder when adding to library".
Click to expand...

iPhoto has the same thing, i tried unchecking it, it copied them anyway for some reason.
 
P

Phobophile

A scientist and gentleman in the manner of Batman.
Marty Chinn said:
Unfortunately, iPhoto won't let you use it without it trying to build its own library of pictures. I store all my photos on a network server and I was really irritated that it wanted to copy everything locally. It made the software unusuable for me.

iTunes wants to do the same thing to but at least if you're using it to put stuff on an iPod or iPhone you can just copy stuff off the network directly into the device. Otherwise it wants to try to create it's own libray. One way that I got around it is fortunately my server lets me use an add on that lets me setup an iTunes library from it and then I can just have iTunes on my local computer just find the network share off that.

I really wish Apple's software was more network friendly.
Click to expand...

Preferences -> Advanced -> uncheck "Copy items to the iPhoto Library"

Works EXACTLY like iTunes. The picture gets added to the GUI library but doesn't get copied to the default photo location in Pictures/iPhoto Library.
 
T

Tobor

Member
koam said:
So it's like snagit on windows?
Click to expand...

More than that, I think, I've never used snagit. You can take screenshots, drag in images and edit, take camera pics, and host all from one app. It's nice.

Picture1-1.png
 
K

koam

Member
How do i disable ichat on startup? Is there a place on osx that shows all the apps that run when your mac boots up?
 
A

Ashhong

Member
Marty Chinn said:
Unfortunately, iPhoto won't let you use it without it trying to build its own library of pictures. I store all my photos on a network server and I was really irritated that it wanted to copy everything locally. It made the software unusuable for me.

iTunes wants to do the same thing to but at least if you're using it to put stuff on an iPod or iPhone you can just copy stuff off the network directly into the device. Otherwise it wants to try to create it's own libray. One way that I got around it is fortunately my server lets me use an add on that lets me setup an iTunes library from it and then I can just have iTunes on my local computer just find the network share off that.

I really wish Apple's software was more network friendly.
Click to expand...

uh, just go to itunes preferences and change the settings. uncheck "copy files to itunes music folder". can also be done in iphoto.
 
H

Hitokage

Setec Astronomer
Oh yeah, Home and End on a mac keyboard controls the scrollbar, not the text cursor. If you want to move the cursor to the beginning or end of a line use Command+Left or Command+Right. If you want to move the cursor one word at a time use Option+Left or Option+Right.

If you're wondering what the Option key does when it isn't used with Command in a keyboard shortcut, check out this page: http://tlt.its.psu.edu/suggestions/international/accents/codemac.html
 
S

SnakeXs

about the same metal capacity as a cucumber
koam said:
How do i disable ichat on startup? Is there a place on osx that shows all the apps that run when your mac boots up?
Click to expand...

System Prefs -> Accounts -> Your Account -> Login Items

Also right click it in the Dock, and check or uncheck Open at Login.
 
B

Buckethead

Banned
Helpful Shortcuts
CMD + W = Close Window
CMD + H = Hide Window
CMD + SHIFT + 4 = Custom-Size Screencap
CMD + CONTROL + D = Dictionary (for those big words)

Applications
UnRarX is handy (and free) if you do a lot of torrenting, you'll need a RAR Archiver sooner or later. 7zX is good for .zip files.
If you're paranoid about someone messing with your shit, iAlertU is pretty awesome. It takes a screenshot using your iSight of the perp and e-mails it to an e-mail address of your choosing before they can say "poop in a bucket"!

For icon creation, use the one-two punch of IMG-2-ICNS and IconDroplet. The first coverts an image (preferably a transparent PNG to a ICNS) and the latter takes the ICNS to an icon file.
Also recommend you shelling out $15 or whatever it is for CandyBar. Makes swapping icons and docks real nice and easy. Yes sir.

To change icons the ghetto way
-Right click "Get Info" of Folder/App
-Right click "Get Info" of Icon
-Click on Icon in top left - Should have glowing blue border (Click)(The paper icon)
-CMD + C (Copy)
-Click on Folder/App's Icon in Top Left - Should have glowing blue border
-CMD + V (Paste)
 
M

Marty Chinn

Member
Phobophile said:
Preferences -> Advanced -> uncheck "Copy items to the iPhoto Library"

Works EXACTLY like iTunes. The picture gets added to the GUI library but doesn't get copied to the default photo location in Pictures/iPhoto Library.
Click to expand...

I asked about this and googled it and both instances said you couldn't do this and that you should use Picassa if you wanted to do something like that. I swore I looked in the preferences but I'll check again. It was highly irritating cuz I wanted to use it to organize some photos for Mother's day but ended up using something else cuz I couldn't get iPhoto to do what I wanted. I'll give it another shot.
 
P

polyh3dron

Banned
The best Mac video solution is NOT VLC as many would think. Get NicePlayer and the Perian Codec Pack (both from VersionTracker, the one-stop Mac freeware shop) and you can play ANYTHING. It even supports the MKV graphic subtitles that give VLC trouble.

The only thing NicePlayer won't do is give you the Dolby Digital 5.1 optical output like VLC can do.

Also, it's a MILLION times better than MPlayer. I've tried them all.

Also, if you have a PS3, go to nullriver.org and get Medialink, you'll be able to stream your iTunes and iPhoto libraries as well as all compatible video files to your PS3. They also offer a similar app for the 360.
 
T

The Librarian

Banned
Buckethead said:
Helpful Shortcuts
Apple + W = Close Window
Apple + H = Hide Window
CMD + SHIFT + 4 = Custom-Size Screencap
CMD + CONTROL + D = Dictionary (for those big words)
Click to expand...
Thanks for this. I usually took a screen capture and cropped the portion I wanted, but not anymore.
 
M

Mobius 1

Member
Get Candybar (shareware) to customize some icons and the Dock, highly recommended for when you want to pimp your setup on the desktop threads.

PS3 Media Server for all your media to console streaming needs (works with the X360 also)

Times (not free) is my favourite RSS reader, it looks like an actual newspaper, lovely GUI there.

Xee for image viewing

AppCleaner for uninstalling annoying applications that behave like in Windows (i.e. spreading files all over your system)
 
T

The Librarian

Banned
Tobor said:
A most excellent light image editor. I use it for all my down and dirty image editing and resizing. Perfect for what I need it for. Try it.
Click to expand...
I've been using something called Seashore but I'll definitely give this a whirl.
 
A

Ashhong

Member
polyh3dron said:
The best Mac video solution is NOT VLC as many would think. Get NicePlayer and the Perian Codec Pack (both from VersionTracker, the one-stop Mac freeware shop) and you can play ANYTHING. It even supports the MKV graphic subtitles that give VLC trouble.

The only thing NicePlayer won't do is give you the Dolby Digital 5.1 optical output like VLC can do.

Also, it's a MILLION times better than MPlayer. I've tried them all.

Also, if you have a PS3, go to nullriver.org and get Medialink, you'll be able to stream your iTunes and iPhoto libraries as well as all compatible video files to your PS3. They also offer a similar app for the 360.
Click to expand...

to expand on this, you need PS3 Media Server. stream movies to your PS3, its awesome.

im going to assume you got the new unibody. you need Multiclutch. set shortcuts to 3 finger swipes and rotations. its AWESOME
 
O

Ollie Pooch

In a perfect world, we'd all be homersexual
koam said:
4) How do you force close an app if it isn't reponding?
Click to expand...

not sure if someone addressed this yet - coudlnt see anything

apple-option-escape will bring up a simple 'task manager' sorta thinga nd you can choose an app and kill the process. if you want control over more 'hidden' stuff, you can use the activity monitor (applications-->utilities-->activity monitor) to kill processes.

Ashhong said:
to expand on this, you need PS3 Media Server. stream movies to your PS3, its awesome.
Click to expand...

i couldn't get this to work on my mbp :(
 
B

Buckethead

Banned
Also, if you want to mess with any app's preferences the shortcut is CMD + ,

If you want to drag shit out of your Taskbar just hold CMD and drag it out or re-arrange it how you see fit.
 
S

Sean

Banned
A bit surprised this has not been mentioned yet, but use Expose... it's awesome and I couldn't imagine OSX without it.

1) System Preferences > Expose & Spaces
2) Set it up via keyboard shortcuts, hot corners (moving your mouse to a corner of the screen), or map it to a button on your mouse.

Here's a video (from when it was introduced in 2003) showing how it works and what it does: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ktTNcj0fAM4
 
A

Alfarif

This picture? uhh I can explain really!
Marty Chinn said:
Unfortunately, iPhoto won't let you use it without it trying to build its own library of pictures. I store all my photos on a network server and I was really irritated that it wanted to copy everything locally. It made the software unusuable for me.

iTunes wants to do the same thing to but at least if you're using it to put stuff on an iPod or iPhone you can just copy stuff off the network directly into the device. Otherwise it wants to try to create it's own libray. One way that I got around it is fortunately my server lets me use an add on that lets me setup an iTunes library from it and then I can just have iTunes on my local computer just find the network share off that.

I really wish Apple's software was more network friendly.
Click to expand...

I'm a little confused by what you mean. My iTunes library is on a network drive. The only Windows computer I own can use it, my Macbook can use it, and when people come over, I point them to the drive and they can use it. None of my music is actually copied into an iTunes folder... it's all separated by Genre, then Artist, then Album title.

20090615-mw9e8yw3stb1482b6chkdn4suw.jpg

20090615-g81i2s2mxmsr5w81qqgq1djhya.jpg


Or am I completely misunderstanding what you mean?

iPhoto works somewhat the same way. I once had a bunch of wallpapers that weren't copied into a library, but referenced by iPhoto. They lived completely independently of the library. Go under Advanced in the Preferences and uncheck "Import to iPhoto Library" and when you add something, it shouldn't get imported, but referenced by iPhoto. I never opened the package to see if that was the case, but I don't see why it would be otherwise.

Edit: I see that this has already been addressed. Sorry about that.
 
A

Ashhong

Member
julls said:
i couldn't get this to work on my mbp :(
Click to expand...

i forgot what i did, but it did take a lil research. one thing i had to do was manually change the IP address that it was using for my mac.

who shares files between Mac and Vista? half the time my Vista computer isnt found by my Mac. i have to manually input the ip address into the "go to server" in finder. sometimes though its jsut there on the sidebar and i dont know why...
 
T

Tobor

Member
Sean said:
A bit surprised this has not been mentioned yet, but use Expose... it's awesome and I couldn't imagine OSX without it.

1) System Preferences > Expose & Spaces
2) Set it up via keyboard shortcuts, hot corners (moving your mouse to a corner of the screen), or map it to a button on your mouse.

Here's a video (from when it was introduced in 2003) showing how it works and what it does: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ktTNcj0fAM4
Click to expand...

Yeah, I love Expose.
 
aparisi2274

aparisi2274

Member
So here is something I have been trying to figure out since I switched over to mac. When I work in windows, I can highlight several files and then just hit the delete key and it will put it in the trash, but when I do it on my mac, nothing happens, and I have to drag the files to the trash myself, or right click and hit move to trash.

Is there anyway to just hit the delete key and send it to the trash??
 
A

Alfarif

This picture? uhh I can explain really!
quadriplegicjon said:
^^^^^^ do you have a link to that wallpaper? i like it. :)
Click to expand...

http://i42.tinypic.com/5n4zvd.jpg

Here, I uploaded it to tinypic for you.

I've been collecting a ton of wallpapers. I'm up to around 600+ ... they include images of all sizes. I'm very thankful that OSX knows how to "fill in the blanks" with a lot of them instead of making them look like cheese on my desktop. My collection exploded once I made the switch.
 
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