Soompi Mac User Group

[j79]

I got a hold of the developer build and decided to throw it on the PowerBook...

First impressions:

Fairly stable. The semi-transparent menu bar was hideous. Really like Spaces.

Didn't get a chance to play with Time Machine (didn't want to set up an external for it...). Wasn't very impressed with the "Flip View" for Finder (might be nice for a folder filled with photos) but the "Quick View" is very handy.

The new Dock grew on me (after a while, didn't mind the new "perspective") but really don't like the blue glowing orbs to indicate an open Application (prefer the black arrows).

Stacks are interesting. Would prefer them to be available outside of the Dock... (maybe a stack of files on the desktop...)

In my screenshot, I applied a hack to the menu bar which is the reason it's opaque. Here's one more screenshot "earlier" in the day. The hack wasn't applied and I was demonstrating Stacks...

Personally, Spaces is what will make Leopard a must own for me. While Virtual Desktops are rather "old news", it's a welcomed feature. What's great is you can bind applications to specific "spaces" which will allow them to launch in that specific space -- switching between applications (alt-tab) will automatically move you to that space. And you can get an overview of all your spaces moving windows and applications around. Very slick.

[shortee28]

hmmm.... i'm still debating whether or not to get leopard..

usually i'd want to just cuz i want the latest...

just by viewing your screenshots, i'm not really liking the new flipped dock...

maybe it'll take time for me to get used to as well.. but i don't know...

and i have to agree with you with the blue glowing orbs..

i'd prefer the black arrows, i like simple things..

i'm not exactly quite clear on how stacks operates

i'm more of a hands on learner.. so i think i should find a way to test that out myself..

by the way, on the dock in the first screenshot, is that the icons for CS3?

cuz i recall one of my friends mentioning its new icons..

if it is... i think its dumb, i'd prefer and actual image...

this one's soo boring.. anyways!

as for spaces, once again, i think i need to experience that myself before i can make a judgement...

thanks for the post btw j79...

[Guest SeviE]

Hi.

I see most of you guys use Mac for surfing. Anyone uses them for hardcore gaming? Because im deciding between a 15"4 2.4gHz (similar to Brusky's Mac) for gaming. Of course il use bootcamp to play the game.

[Guest zenigame]

I love macs! Looking forward to Leopard.

PowerMac G5

[wonny]

hey to all you mac users...

my current laptop (IBM) is dying, basically screwing up...i need a new laptop..

so i was condsidering getting a macbook and had a few questions to ask =]

- does it support other languages? ie can u type in another language?

- was is hard/ confusing to switch to mac from windows?

- do you/can you still use basic windows programs on it, eg word internet explorer

- is there something like the 'control panel'?

im sorry if these questions have been answers before or are just stupid,

but thankyou in advance for answrering them ^^

[Guest chriskong37]

hey to all you mac users...

my current laptop (IBM) is dying, basically screwing up...i need a new laptop..

so i was condsidering getting a macbook and had a few questions to ask =]

- does it support other languages? ie can u type in another language?

- was is hard/ confusing to switch to mac from windows?

- do you/can you still use basic windows programs on it, eg word internet explorer

- is there something like the 'control panel'?

im sorry if these questions have been answers before or are just stupid,

but thankyou in advance for answrering them ^^

hi there,

im the owner of a thinkpad t60, like it quite alot but have a macbook pro which i use here and there. from my experience i can answer your questions:

1. yes, mac's support typing in foreign languages and displaying them. i find the chinese characters in mac displayed more smoother compared to vista or xp (this is just my opinion).

2. i found it quite hard to switch from windows to mac, hence i still use windows as my main os. it was mainly because i became so conditioned to the way windows worked and i had little time to relearn an os. general differences between a mac, the dock (ovious), shortcut keys (example, a new tab in firefox was CTRL+T in windows, in mac it is ALT+T). i could not find any "device/hardware manager" in mac which i had gotten so use to in windows. theres more, so ill add them when i revisit my mac.

3. most major companies make mac compatible counterparts compared to their windows suites. for example, theres a version of photoshop, firefox, divx for mac. messenger plus isn't compatible. microsoft do produce a office suite (containing: word, excel, powerpoint and entourage [their version of outlook for mac]) for macintosh however it does not compare to what they produce for windows imo. theres a version of windows media player for mac as well, but this is version 9 and quite old. microsoft use to make internet explorer designed for mac however this has been discontinued and consumers encouraged to move to apple's browser "safari" (i ended up moving to firefox on the macbook). there is also a version of msn messenger for mac (however, does not compare to windows live messenger on windows and messenger plus will not run on it). word of warning though, if you use nokia, their phone suite will not work on a mac, im not sure about other manufacturers.

4. "system preferences" is mac's version of the control panel for their operating system. its simplistic and easy to use and has what most people need. to access system preferences, one would click on the apple powerswitch icon (as i call it) located on the dock, see j79 post, its the 2nd icon to the left.

note: mac will release "bootcamp" out of beta in their next release leopard (10.5) which will allow users to run both mac and windows in a multiboot environment. so this will allow you to have both os'es.

hope this helps!

[Guest .......]

i have the osx, but how do you screenshot on a mac?

[Guest chriskong37]

Last question, is there anything I can do about the MSN messenger because MSN messenger in Macs doesn't have the features that windows have. (Like sharing files)

WELL,,, from what i know there messenger on mac doesnt compare to windows live messenger and i predict that it probably never will. its prolli one of those perks microsoft has for people using windows.

if you would like features like sharing folders, etc you will prolli need to use windows on your mac.... i suggest that you run virtual pc on your mac. this will allow you to run windows and os x at the same time (windows would run in a smaller window while os x would run in the background). however, one needs a genuine copy of xp or a microsoft operating system to do this. another suggestion i can think of is bootcamp which will allow you to run windows on your mac: http://www.apple.com/macosx/bootcamp/.

there are alternatives to msn that use the microsoft messenger network. one is called 'amsn' (im not sure what difference there is between msn from microsoft and the customised amsn made by an individual). a quick google for it should be able to explain what differences there are for ryou.

this is all i can think of, sorry if it isnt much help.

[Guest zenigame]

For screenshots

command (apple) + shift + 3

for entire desktop

command + shift + 4

for selected portion

command + shift + 4 and spacebar

for selected window

[shortee28]

2. i found it quite hard to switch from windows to mac, hence i still use windows as my main os. it was mainly because i became so conditioned to the way windows worked and i had little time to relearn an os. general differences between a mac, the dock (ovious), shortcut keys (example, a new tab in firefox was CTRL+T in windows, in mac it is ALT+T). i could not find any "device/hardware manager" in mac which i had gotten so use to in windows. theres more, so ill add them when i revisit my mac.

you're answers a pretty accurate... just a quick correction.... for a new tab in firefox, it's command(apple)+T not ALT+T

Hello,

I was going through this topic when I saw this thread. I'm using a imac and I'm encountering tons of problems because it's kind of not user-friendly at times and I go crajee. But my dad gave this mac to me and told me that I'm going to love it. But no, I'm not loving it. I can't download so many things because the system doesn't support what I want to do. T_T(example clubbox)

But there's a good thing about macs though I think it's very fast.

Last question, is there anything I can do about the MSN messenger because MSN messenger in Macs doesn't have the features that windows have. (Like sharing files)

i don't use msn on my mac, nor amsn. i use an application called Adium. you can customized the way it looks and log on to various accounts at once. not only can you log on to msn but yahoo, aol, icq etc. a few more. you can choose your own sounds when someone messages you or you message them, when they come online or offline as well. i used the supermarioworldsounds for a long time. it's pretty cool. and you can have all your conversations in one window with everything tabbed so that way if you're talking to like 10 people, you won't have 10 windows open. it's a lot neater. only thing is that you can't see any of those handwriting things or nudges from the regular msn...CLICK HERE to see a preview of my desktop that i posted in another forum topic, cuz it shows what my adium window looks like. you can customize it anyway you want... to the far right, its in like a transparent black.

i have the osx, but how do you screenshot on a mac?

cmd(apple) + shift + 4 = selection of screen

cmd(apple) + shift + 3 = entire screen

cmd(apple) + shift + 4 + space bar = current window

_edit

zenigame already answered the screenshot question before i even realized it.. my window was on the reply portion for about an hour before i actually wrote my reply :blush:

[Guest .......]

for the screenshots, do we SAY command like "apple, command" or is there a button..? HAHHA cuase i dont think i have a button for commanding. . . =)

edit.______

OH WAIT. is it the actual apple button? like with that weirdo cursivey squareish thing? HAHHAHA

[Guest zenigame]

for the screenshots, do we SAY command like "apple, command" or is there a button..? HAHHA cuase i dont think i have a button for commanding. . . =)

edit.______

OH WAIT. is it the actual apple button? like with that weirdo cursivey squareish thing? HAHHAHA

Haha yeah, the apple key is the command key

[j79]

i'm more of a hands on learner.. so i think i should find a way to test that out myself..

by the way, on the dock in the first screenshot, is that the icons for CS3?

cuz i recall one of my friends mentioning its new icons..

if it is... i think its dumb, i'd prefer and actual image...

this one's soo boring.. anyways!

LOL. totally agree...the icons are pretty boring. When I first dragged them into the dock, I placed them alphabetically. tonight, I realized that you can organize them like this:

They're still boring, but at least now I feel like I got my own adobe rainbow in the dock...

[wonny]

thanks for ur help chriskong37!

i till dnno if ill get mac...but ill think about it a bit more~

[Guest chriskong37]

you're answers a pretty accurate... just a quick correction.... for a new tab in firefox, it's command(apple)+T not ALT+T

haha... whoops, just too used to the locations and naming of the keys on a windows keyboard i guess~~~ i also use the developer build that a friend who visits regulary has (osx86 or something its called)

thanks for ur help chriskong37!

no problem. im not a pro but wouldnt mind answering anyone elses questions re a mac =]].

okai well since im here, my mac:

17" macbook pro.

- 2.4ghz intel core 2 duo

- 2gb ddr2 ram

- 160gb sata harddrive

- nvidia geforce 8600m gt

- and my favorite, the isight camera. perfect for photo booth =]]

[shortee28]

LOL. totally agree...the icons are pretty boring. When I first dragged them into the dock, I placed them alphabetically. tonight, I realized that you can organize them like this:

They're still boring, but at least now I feel like I got my own adobe rainbow in the dock...

eww, rainbow... :/ who does rainbow anymore? =p ahha jks jks

at least there's that application where you can change the icons on the dock..

i don't know which other ones there are but i know there's one called candybar...

so if you don't like those icons, you can probably change them...

i know a couple of my friends use it, i never did, simply cuz i was just lazy...

haha... whoops, just too used to the locations and naming of the keys on a windows keyboard i guess~~~ i also use the developer build that a friend who visits regulary has (osx86 or something its called)

no problem. im not a pro but wouldnt mind answering anyone elses questions re a mac =]].

okai well since im here, my mac:

17" macbook pro.

- 2.4ghz intel core 2 duo

- 2gb ddr2 ram

- 160gb sata harddrive

- nvidia geforce 8600m gt

- and my favorite, the isight camera. perfect for photo booth =]]

you have the sexy mac that i wanted instead of my black macbook.... i never got it for a few reasons, its outta my budget, and its bigger than my back.. haha... i'm small, and the 17" is just too big(although i need a bigger screen :/ hence, i'm looking for a monitor still).... 15" is still too big.. i had the 12"powerbook, if only they had the macbook pro in 13" or 14"... the silver is much sexier *sigh* damn i sound like a nerd... =) but i love my macs

[Guest dhillman]

does anyone know a free download manager/accelerator for mac osx?

[Guest toxic-apple]

hi everyone!

I just bought a macbook! and very excited to use it.

However, I can't seem to get .wmv file to open and winrar!! (since i download k-mv, mp3 a lot)

So I thought of downloading this: window media player for mac!! [i love love window media-- itune is not my favorite]

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsme...p9/default.aspx

After downloaded it, the icon doesn't show up!!! only a Windows Media.sitx document saying that it needs an application. Then it give me the list of application! i'm confuse.

So I can't install it without an application to open the file first. Which one from the list they give me? or should i just download a .sitx program to open it? I bet inturn it will just ended up needing another program to open that file.

HELP PLEASE HELP!!! and don't tell me to download anything from download.com which is full of viruses.

(my dell is now in heaven waiting for my Mac to be next in-line)

I always seem to get lots of virus since i watch and download lots of thing online about k-drama

Another question is If there is an Anti-virus program that i could buy or download (a real anti-virus program that doesn't give you more virus and takes up much space) FOR MAC?????

Last question, can i just download winrar? would it convert music? or Mac wouldn't take it either?

thank you for reading. Hopefully someone out there will understand what i'm talking about.

p.s.

is this a Mac club? do i need to say I want to join first in order to ask question?

[Guest zenigame]

For playing .wmv --> http://www.flip4mac.com/wmv_download.htm

For antivirus --> http://www.clamxav.com/

For archived files --> http://wakaba.c3.cx/s/apps/unarchiver.html

These are all great programs that I run on my mac. I'll try to think of some other must have programs, hopefully these will help for now.

[Guest chriskong37]

hi everyone!

I just bought a macbook! and very excited to use it.

However, I can't seem to get .wmv file to open and winrar!! (since i download k-mv, mp3 a lot)

So I thought of downloading this: window media player for mac!! [i love love window media-- itune is not my favorite]

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsme...p9/default.aspx

After downloaded it, the icon doesn't show up!!! only a Windows Media.sitx document saying that it needs an application. Then it give me the list of application! i'm confuse.

So I can't install it without an application to open the file first. Which one from the list they give me? or should i just download a .sitx program to open it? I bet inturn it will just ended up needing another program to open that file.

HELP PLEASE HELP!!! and don't tell me to download anything from download.com which is full of viruses.

(my dell is now in heaven waiting for my Mac to be next in-line)

I always seem to get lots of virus since i watch and download lots of thing online about k-drama

Another question is If there is an Anti-virus program that i could buy or download (a real anti-virus program that doesn't give you more virus and takes up much space) FOR MAC?????

Last question, can i just download winrar? would it convert music? or Mac wouldn't take it either?

thank you for reading. Hopefully someone out there will understand what i'm talking about.

p.s.

is this a Mac club? do i need to say I want to join first in order to ask question?

hey toxic-apple,

okai first of all. there is a version of winrar for mac, here's the link: http://www.rarlab.com/rar/rarosx-3.7.0.tar.gz

it's a trial version however and does not have a graphical user interface, that is it doesnt have fancy graphics and that so I assume that it sorta looks like dos (for windows)/terminal (for mac).

i've never heard of winrar being able to convert music oO;;;.

as for the .sitx file: i dont think that has anything to do with windows media player or the application as the installation worked fine for me and i was able to play videos. i think the issue may lie with the video you have downloaded and that it has been compressed to save megabytes and download time (common practise).".sitx" is a file extension for files archived/"zipped" using a program called StuffIt Expander (downloadable here for free: http://www.stuffit.com/mac/expander/download.html). You'll need to get version 10 or later as "sitx" is the newer compression method they use. after you expand the video or ".sitx" file it should work fine in windows media player. i havent had much experience with windows media player on mac as i use divx for mac, but i hope this helps.

as for antivirus programs, mac doesnt really need them as most viruses are written for computers that run windows. you may get viruses in an email or something but these viruses wont really do anything on your mac compared to when a windows user receives it. viruses are like software with certain system requirements: some need/will only run on windows and some mac (so there is a chance that you might be unlucky to get a virus for mac, however mac viruses aren't as widespread compared to windows' viruses as the market share more mac is around 2% [correct me if im wrong anyone]). i have a program just for peace of mind. i use symantec norton antivirus for mac v.10 and it comes with regular updates, and the whole shibang that you've gotten use to with windows. if your not looking to pay money for virus programs however i suggest something like ClamXav. apart from nav and clamxav i cant recommend any other as i think those are the only two players in the mac environment. in general, im sure you wont mind forking out a few dollars for norton antivirus just like i did.

however it is important to have a firewall protecting you. so i assume you have enabled firewall protection?

hope this helps.