Apple : I've finally succumbed...

[TrimTheKing]

...and am moving over to The Other Side, and have just bought myself a 27" iMac!!! WooHoo

My pc is royally p!$$ing me off and given I built it when I was into PC gaming and video encoding it is now not really the correct spec for me with what I do with a home computer. Bearing in mind it was built in 2005 thought, and is still on its original XP install and up until it got a frigging virus about 6 months ago was still running as sweet as cherry pie, it doesn't owe me anything and once rebuilt will go down into the cavern to serve as a large capacity NAS box and Crestron controller for my home and AV automation.

Everything I want to do, iTunes, Photo tinkering, Sketchup, Browsing is probable better served by a Mac than a PC anyway, so I have taken the plunge for the first time ever.

It's not purely a home decision, we are doing a lot of development work on integrating iPhones and iPad's into our corporate network at the moment so it won't do me any harm at all upping my apple/Unix skills anyway...

The iPad that I also ordered on the other hand, that is purely an extravagance! Thank God the firm have had a better year this year and are back to paying decent bonuses!

So come on, I know we've got quite a few Apple owners here, share the love. What do I need to know? Tell me the good things I need to buy/download/steal

Cheers

Mark

 

[dedee]

Well done Mark, you wont regret it.

Only non Apple s/w I have is Office for Mac as I always ran in to niggly problems with the open source office type clones when moving docs or spreadsheets from Mac to PC.

Andy

 

[Steve Maskery]

No, you won't regret it.

However...

I have found that the Mac is not the answer to all my dreams. In fact, I use mine mainly as a very extravagant surfer and email client.

It does come with lots of software, but I found that much of it was disappointing. So I still find myself using the PC for video editing, for PaintShopPro and yes, even for Sketchup. I don't like the way the mouse works on the Mac.

Plus, it has a few niggles that I can't solve. For example, there is an Applications directory and an icon on the dock to access it. I click on the icon I want and it opens a completely different Application! Several Icons open up Cinema Tools instead of what they should, and several others always open Spotify!

If I go in to the Apps directory via Finder, all is well. I could fix that on a PC, but I've no idea how on a Mac.

So yes, your IT life will be better, but not paradise....
Cheers
Steve

 

[Eric The Viking]

I don't like the way the mouse works on the Mac.

You can plug any ordinary two-button + scrollwheel mouse into the Mac and it will work as per PC. The MS mouse used to come with a control panel thing, but I don't think it's been necessary since OS 10.2.

I use ordinary mice all the time, as I don't like the Apple mouse either - pretty but very, very uncomfortable for me. They're also a pain to re-cable, but that can be done too...

 

[Jacob]

No, you won't regret it.

However...

I have found that the Mac is not the answer to all my dreams. In fact, I use mine mainly as a very extravagant surfer and email client.

It does come with lots of software, but I found that much of it was disappointing. So I still find myself using the PC for video editing, for PaintShopPro and yes, even for Sketchup. I don't like the way the mouse works on the Mac.

Plus, it has a few niggles that I can't solve. For example, there is an Applications directory and an icon on the dock to access it. I click on the icon I want and it opens a completely different Application! Several Icons open up Cinema Tools instead of what they should, and several others always open Spotify!

If I go in to the Apps directory via Finder, all is well. I could fix that on a PC, but I've no idea how on a Mac.

So yes, your IT life will be better, but not paradise....
Cheers
Steve

Sounds like things have been moved about. Just dump the icons which don't work (click on it and choose "remove from dock" option) and put in new ones - i.e. drag the app icons you want, to the dock. It doesn't move the app it just installs an icon.
I've had a MacBook Pro for 3 years and it has been absolutely fault free in every respect.
I had it partitioned (for an OU course) to simulate a PC (with Windows installed) and this was OK too. Both systems in parallel, though I expect that with time it would have picked up PC viruses and other probs so I dumped windows as soon as possible..

 

[Steve Maskery]

Eric, Jacob, thank you.

It's not the icons in the dock which don't work, it's the icons in the Apps directory which opens up when the Apps icon is clicked. But the same fix may well work, I'll try it.

S

 

[Steve Maskery]

The other problem is that sometimes the Mac loses the network connection. My printer is still attached to my PC so if I want to print something from my Mac, it has to go via the network. Occasionally the Mac loses the connection and the only fix is to reboot the Mac. I suppose I have to do that a couple of time a month.

But at least it has never, ever crashed on me, and hung no more than a handful of times in over a year.
S

 

[Eric The Viking]

The other problem is that sometimes the Mac loses the network connection. My printer is still attached to my PC so if I want to print something from my Mac, it has to go via the network. Occasionally the Mac loses the connection and the only fix is to reboot the Mac. I suppose I have to do that a couple of time a month.

But at least it has never, ever crashed on me, and hung no more than a handful of times in over a year.
S

There are some cross-platform networking issues. It happens with ours too sometimes.

Two thoughts that may help:

Try static IP addresses (reserve them on the router (or whatever is doing DHCP) so it won't try to give them to other devices.

Failing that, consider getting a separate network-->USB adapter for the printer, so it doesn't need to be on the PC (both machines see it over the network instead). I think the last one I bought from Scan was about £17 - they _shouldn't_ be expensive. Good ones will do Appletalk for the Macs, so you don't need anything fancy.

Mac-PC interconnectivity depends to an extent on Samba (built into MacOS since 10.3, IIRC). It works well, but is let down by the PC side of the house usually. Ours is complicated by an ancient PC server (Win 2000) doing DHCP, so our Windows network _never_ looks correct in the 'network neighbourhood', even though you can happily map to machines the server can't theoretically see.

Weird update: I just had a look at our network, and pretty much everything that should be visible was (and you could map to it)! This is probably a world first -- must be the weather. The one Mac that's currently switched on is running 10.5 - expecting bad weirdness when the others (10.4) get turned on tho...

 

[Chems]

It's not purely a home decision, we are doing a lot of development work on integrating iPhones and iPad's into our corporate network at the moment so it won't do me any harm at all upping my apple/Unix skills anyway...

What sort of software do you use for your iPhone/iPad coding. Do you write in Assembler Code?

 

[RogerS]

You won't regret it, Mark. If you record a lot of stuff off the internet/iPlayer then iRecordMusic is pretty good although support is non-existent...not that it needs very much.

I use Delicious to maintain my CD library...just hold the CD barcode up to the camera and it does the rest!

 

[Jonzjob]

I took the plunge too with an iMac 21 1/2" and got PSP Elements8, but I use a Wacom wireless tablet and use the pen and the Magic mouse. A great combination that lets me scroll all over my photos with my left hand and the accuracy of an A5 graphics tablet with my right. OH uses the mouse with the tablet and we are both happy.

We also went totally overboard and got a Macbook Pro 13 a couple of months back and the finger pad is my favorite. 1, 2, 3 or 4 finger combinations allow everything. A USB mouse is also attached and is seldom used!

Not sure why the Apps shoud load different to the icon Steve? There may be some kind of corruption and it might be worth deleting them and reloading them again? But before you do that, have a look and ask on here http://www.mac-forums.com/forums/ . I am a member on here and they are very helpful...

 

[Steve Maskery]

Thanks, I do have an account there.

It's weird. Take the Utilities folder for example. If I access it via Finder, it opens and all the progs inside work correctly. But select the Utilities folder from the popup when Apps in in the Dock and I get the Cinema Tools. Every time. And the Utilities is just a folder, not even an App itself. Other progs open Cinema too. Some work correctly. Some open Spotify.

I don't have anything dodgy installed, indeed I don't have much more than came with it. Sketchup (which I don't use, see above), Cyberduck, Spotify, Chrome, Firefox. That's probably it. I have tried free versions of some other apps but then not installed the full versions.

Am I right in thinking I can insert the Installation disk and run it without destroying my current configuration?
S

 

[SketchUp Guru]

Steve and Mark,

Get a standard inexpensive USB type mouse for your iMacs. Just plug them in. They'll work and especially for SketchUp, you'll find it a big help. Put the Mac mouse in the box or better yet, sell it to someone who won't be using SketchUp.

 

[petermillard]

It's weird. Take the Utilities folder for example. If I access it via Finder, it opens and all the progs inside work correctly. But select the Utilities folder from the popup when Apps in in the Dock and I get the Cinema Tools. Every time. And the Utilities is just a folder, not even an App itself. Other progs open Cinema too. Some work correctly. Some open Spotify.

That is weird - sounds like 'Cinema Tools' (whatever they are!) might have been dragged into the Applications folder in the dock at some point?? The Apps folder in the dock is basically just a shortcut - if you drag it out of the dock it'll disappear in a cloud, then you can drag a fresh copy back into the dock from the finder window; actually, you might want to try doing that the other way around...

Am I right in thinking I can insert the Installation disk and run it without destroying my current configuration?
S

Never done it, but yes, that's what I understand is supposed to happen. As always, a Time Machine or Carbon Copy Cloner backup beforehand will provide some peace of mind.

@ the OP - one thing I find invaluable is a little dashboard widget called CharacterPal - brilliant for finding all those oddball characters (like º ø ∞ © - and their keyboard shortcuts) that you need from time to time. If it wasn't free it would be well worth the money

Oh, and SimpleNote on the iPad & iPhone is highly recommended, too.

HTH Pete

 

[RogerS]

.... For example, there is an Applications directory and an icon on the dock to access it. I click on the icon I want and it opens a completely different Application! Several Icons open up Cinema Tools instead of what they should, and several others always open Spotify!

If I go in to the Apps directory via Finder, all is well. ....
Steve

Are you saying that you have an icon in the dock that, when clicked, opens your applications directory? (Is this the icon that is part o the group to the extreme right of the dock...past the little separator?).

That, having opened this directory, when you click on an icon - say Front Row - that it opens a different application?

EDIT: This link has some ideas. http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jsp ... &#12632503

or here

http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jsp ... &#12339385

 

[Jacob]

[...- sounds like 'Cinema Tools' (whatever they are!) might have been dragged into the Applications folder in the dock at some point??

It's part of "Final Cut Pro". It sounds like your mac has been well used by previous owner and just needs tidying up. Not mac problems as such, but previous user problems

Am I right in thinking I can insert the Installation disk and run it without destroying my current configuration?
S

Yes but you are advised to back up anything you want to keep. It will retain some of your previous users settings too, unless you do a clean re-install. You might then need to download updates, depending on what is on your disc. Good idea - a complete fresh start. Or take it to Gordon Harwood and ask them to do it.

 

[Steve Maskery]

Ah! I did try out FCP when I first got the machine. I decided I preferred what I knew (Premiere), so I didn't stump up the cash and went back to using my PC.

Actually one of the reasons for buying a Mac was to have a simpler video editing system, and iMovie, at least the Demo, seemed to fit the bill perfectly. The problem is that whilst simpler, it is nowhere near as functional, and all my clips which were downloaded from camera to PC in widescreen were displayed as 4:3. I spent an hour on the phone to Apple in the USA trying to get the Mac to recognise a 1:42 pixel rather than a square one, without avail. Hence my return to the PC.

I've dragged Cinema Tools to the Trash and now something else wrong opens up instead. I think I have some cleaning up to do.

Thanks for that.
Steve

 

[Steve Maskery]

.... For example, there is an Applications directory and an icon on the dock to access it. I click on the icon I want and it opens a completely different Application! Several Icons open up Cinema Tools instead of what they should, and several others always open Spotify!

If I go in to the Apps directory via Finder, all is well. ....
Steve

Are you saying that you have an icon in the dock that, when clicked, opens your applications directory? (Is this the icon that is part o the group to the extreme right of the dock...past the little separator?).

That, having opened this directory, when you click on an icon - say Front Row - that it opens a different application?

EDIT: This link has some ideas. http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jsp ... &#12632503

or here

http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jsp ... &#12339385

Sorry Roger, missed all this.

Yes, that is exactly what I mean. I'll read up on the links, thanks.
S

 

[Steve Maskery]

Roger for Prime Minister!

Whoo-hoo!

S