Just switched to OS X from Windows... not so impressed.

[pyrorwd]

Final Cut Pro is a professional video editing app and typically doesn't like to play nice with various video codecs, as it's designed, and used by most, to edit with DV/HDV(starting in v5)/Uncompressed video, and typically is not used to import, say, a DivX video downloaded off of BitTorrent.

Now, since you have Azureus and Limewire in your dock, and, speaking honestly, neither of those programs have many legitimate uses, I'll assume that you're getting the video files through those programs, and possibly FCP. I don't have any problem with that, I'm just making an assumption so I can give you some more precise advice.

Now, if you don't really intend to learn and use Final Cut Pro, don't bother. It's easy enough to open up and play with the clips, but you will waste hours trying to do simple things that you could easily do in iMovie. If you get the DivX codec (http://www.divx.com/) you will be able to play DivX compressed movies in Quicktime, and therefore import them into iMovie. Final Cut Pro isn't always as nice, and usually the easiest way to go about getting video from different codecs into it is to convert it using Ffmpeg (http://homepage.mac.com/major4/) to DV or the like.

I'm a film student and I come from Premiere Pro, etc, so I'm very familiar with media and I don't try to import temporal codecs in FCP. FCP was actually one of the driving reasons to get a g5, A LOT of the editing market share is held by FCP, and to some degree Motion. I really like compressor from the experience I've had with it. Azureus/Limewire aren't there to get media to edit from.

 

[pyrorwd]

I've used Windows for 10 years, and am a power user (.NET developer, Windows Server 2003 Pre-installation specialist, also grew up on DOS). I switched because of the UNIX base of OS X and was sick of Windows. It took me a couple of months to get used to the mac way of doing things, but now I prefer it. I know all the keyboard shortcuts in windows, but the mac ones now make more sense (btw, I very rarely use the mouse on OS X).

Thanks for the info, I can't say I yet prefer the application vs instance method, but hopefully soon I'll see the light.

 

[radiantm3]

I've used Windows for 10 years, and am a power user (.NET developer, Windows Server 2003 Pre-installation specialist, also grew up on DOS). I switched because of the UNIX base of OS X and was sick of Windows. It took me a couple of months to get used to the mac way of doing things, but now I prefer it. I know all the keyboard shortcuts in windows, but the mac ones now make more sense (btw, I very rarely use the mouse on OS X).

Just some comments and suggestions I have:
Have you ever heard of the Multiple-document Interface? You probably have. It's something that was really big in the days of Windows 3.1, and has been sort of phased out as the years went by. Some programs on Windows still use it (Adobe Reader is a perfect example), Microsoft Office XP and higher kind of use it, but it's more of a hybrid and isn't consistent (MS Project acts differently to MS Excel or MS Word). Alt+tab doesn't work to switch between child windows in MDI apps. Ctrl+tab does that. OS X is based on MDI. Some programs on OS X do close when you close the window (such as System Prefs), but this is not default behaviour (I'm a developer on OS X now too, and have to actually code it in such a way to do this). A couple of shortcut keys that you might find helpful here are:
cmd+q - quit the whole application
cmd+w - quit the currently focussed window
cmd+h - hide the currently focussed application (you can cmd+tab back into it, and it helps to get rid of screen clutter - far superior to minimising, but is similar to minimising an MDI app in windows).
cmd+opt+h - hide all other apps in the background
cmd+opt+click on dock icon (or any window in other app) - hide all apps and focus clicked app
opt+click on dock icon (or any window in other app) - hide current app and focus other app (no other apps are hidden)
ctrl+F2 - open the menu bar
ctrl+F8 - open the menulings (keyboard layout, volume control, clock, etc)
cmd+space - open the spotlight search box (if using the default keyboard shortcuts)
(btw, I very rarely have a need to use Exposé)

In Finder, if you have the "Show warning before emptying trash" option selected, but don't want that to come up at a particular time, hold down the option key with the appropriate shortcut key (cmd+opt+delete for deleting a file, and cmd+opt+shift+delete for emptying trash). Also, when shutting down the computer, you can option-click on the "Shutdown", "Restart", and "Logout" items in the apple menu to skip the count-down screen. (option bypasses a lot of the confirmation dialogs).

Another thing to note in Finder - to open something, DON'T press enter/return like in Windows. That has the same effect as pressing F2 in windows (i.e. rename the file). Press cmd+o instead.

I hope some of these tips help. If I think of more, I'll post them.
Give it time, and you'll appreciate the differences. I do.

EDIT:
I just remembered a few other things that might be annoying or hard to get used to. Below are some differences between the Windows and OS X text editing keyboard shortcuts:
Windows -- OS X
Home -- cmd+left arrow (except in Macromedia products and older versions of MS Office, where Home does it)
End -- cmd+right arrow (ditto)
Ctrl+Home -- home (except it doesn't move the cursor)
Ctrl+End -- end (ditto)

Very informative post. Just wanted to add that the adobe apps also use the home/end keys instead of cmd-left/right which is very annoying.

 

[OutThere]

I'm a film student and I come from Premiere Pro, etc, so I'm very familiar with media and I don't try to import temporal codecs in FCP. FCP was actually one of the driving reasons to get a g5, A LOT of the editing market share is held by FCP, and to some degree Motion. I really like compressor from the experience I've had with it. Azureus/Limewire aren't there to get media to edit from.

Alright...so what codecs are you looking for? Your original post asked about various codecs and Final Cut Pro, so I was looking to give you a hand...I love FCP and have spent thousands of hours using it...if you're having trouble with it feel free to post in the Digital Video forums and ask any of the very knowledgeable people floating around here.

 

[ray_uk]

Thanks to everyone who's posted

Thanks to everyone who's posted, ive really been able to find a brilliant amount of tips in here, being a recent switcher myself.

I to grew tired of the windows interface but I can now at least use my windows box free from an antivirus, firewall and adware or spyware, in its current state disconnected from the internet only used for playing games.

I now use my mac for everything else, its taken a bit of getting use to but its been smooth sailing from there on in, I got the 20 inch 2ghz imac that ive now maxed out with 2gb's of ram, gotten a 300gb external HDD and external 16 speed DL dvdrw thats faster then the one the mac has shipped with, all of these have been great additions to the Mac, The next BIG addition will probably be a nother external HDD and as soon as the 500gb internal HDD come down in price i'll shove one in the Mac to.

However before that im thinking about getting an M - audio 49es keybaord.

 

[kiwi-in-uk]

... However before that im thinking about getting an M - audio 49es keybaord....

I am about to leave UK, and have an M-audio 49 keyboard for sale.
If you really are in UK (and some of the words you use suggest you are not), pm me and see what we can do ...

 

[solvs]

Thanks for the info, I can't say I yet prefer the application vs instance method, but hopefully soon I'll see the light.

I still have issues with it. I wish I could find a hack to close programs by clicking a button. Does help with things like FireFox and QT that I tend to open a lot. Preview and TextEdit too. If you leave them in your Dock you don't even notice after awhile.

Oh, and to make things more like Windows Start Menu, you can make an alias folder with your apps or folders in them and right click to bring them up as lists. Put it in your Dock next to the Trash. Or just put your Applications folder in there (simple as drag and drop). You can customize your sidebar in the Finder too. Everything is pretty drag and drop.

 

[hopejr]

I still have issues with it. I wish I could find a hack to close programs by clicking a button. Does help with things like FireFox and QT that I tend to open a lot. Preview and TextEdit too. If you leave them in your Dock you don't even notice after awhile.

Just use the keyboard (cmd+q)

Oh, and to make things more like Windows Start Menu, you can make an alias folder with your apps or folders in them and right click to bring them up as lists. Put it in your Dock next to the Trash. Or just put your Applications folder in there (simple as drag and drop). You can customize your sidebar in the Finder too. Everything is pretty drag and drop.

I forgot about that one. I've had the Applications folder on my dock for so long that I forgot it wasn't default (it's funny when I use other ppl's macs and start wondering why the hell they dragged it off lol).

 

[ray_uk]

I live in Nottingham, so ive bought the bulk of my stuff at the KCRS in broadmarsh, but yeah your right im not from the UK originally. Having read the bulk of the reviews of the 49es on Apples site I was a bit worried at the rate at which some of them broke, so I spoke to the guy in the store about that and he said that if anything ever goes wrong with it they would swap it out in store as opposed to refer me to the manufacturers, which appears to have happened to some of the people whose keyboards have broken or failed.

 

[.Andy]

This thread illustrates probably one of the best things about Macs. 106+ posts helping your every concern Pyrorwd . The mac community is one of the best features built into OSX......If you're not impressed with that I don't think anything will impress you!

 

[solvs]

Just use the keyboard (cmd+q)

I know, but sometimes the keyboard is all the way over on the other side of the couch.

 

[skullsplitter]

Text resize keys

I don't know if this is relevent or not:

In Safari

Veiw>Customize toolbar

Then add in the text resize option

Then you can have your screen fullscreen at your preferred veiwing size

 

[oingoboingo]

i've been using mac os x for about the past month and find it rather slow. i'm finding myself mostly booting into the command-line and running x instead.

Your signature says you're running OS X 10.2.8 on a beige G3...and you're wondering why it's slow?

 

[Mitthrawnuruodo]

In Safari

Veiw>Customize toolbar

Then add in the text resize option

Or forget about the buttons and just use cmd-+ and cmd-- to increase/decrease text size...

 

[mum4d]

To get Safari to go full screen you need to install SAFT.

You get 2 options:
1. Full screen = Exactly what it says "Full Screen"
2. Max Screen = uses all the available window space but leaves the top finder bar and the dock.

You can also run it in kiosk mode. find it here
http://haoli.dnsalias.com/Saft/

 

[wrldwzrd89]

To get Safari to go full screen you need to install SAFT.

You get 2 options:
1. Full screen = Exactly what it says "Full Screen"
2. Max Screen = uses all the available window space but leaves the top finder bar and the dock.

You can also run it in kiosk mode. find it here
http://haoli.dnsalias.com/Saft/

You don't need Saft for Max Screen mode...that can be done with a JavaScript bookmarklet (mentioned earlier in this thread).

As far as Saft's Full Screen and kiosk modes go, I don't see the point of going full screen (even removing the menu bar) because that is not very Mac-like for an application that wasn't designed to be full screen. The kiosk mode could be useful if someone wants to use a Mac as a public terminal - I hope the developers of Saft put in some sort of password-protected key combination to escape kiosk mode (the password could even be the password for the currently logged-in account, or even an administrator name and password).

 

[hopejr]

I know, but sometimes the keyboard is all the way over on the other side of the couch.

ROFL!

 

[tekmoe]

I don't have any useful information to provide for the OP but I would like to make a comment on my switch expierence...

Back when I first bought a mac in November '04, I was having difficulties adapting to the OS. I would try and do things that I did in Windows. I would not call them bad habits, just different methods of achieving standard operations. Moving to a new OS meant I had to relearn these operations. Now that I have been using mac for exactly one year now, I am very comfortable with moving around inside of it. I strongly believe that I have fully adapted to this wonderful OS. Before, I would think, "Why can Windows do this and mac can't?" Now I ask myself, "Why can mac do this and Windows can't?" hehehehe.

It's all about how you perceive things. Moving from any OS to another is usually going to be a challenge. It's like moving to a new world. You have to be able to explore it in new fashions unlike the last world you were living in. If you can't, you will get lost and will want to travel back to the old world in which you called home...

 

[hopejr]

That reminds me, I now think get annoyed on Windows when to duplicate a file I need to copy, then paste it back to the same folder (ctrl+c, ctrl+v), instead of just cmd+d, or moving a file with spring-loaded folders, which I like (however, on Windows, you can just cut and paste, just as good imo).

 

[Morn]

>>>Apps staying open without a window in OS X is not a shortcoming because a window does not equal the application itself. In windows, the main window is the application. You are just used to the windows way of thinking. Remember, Mac OS has always been designed around the idea of multitasking. Windows has not and you can start to see all the flaws as people are doing more things at a time with their computer.


Actually in 1984 macos was a single task OS, and had the same behabour, requiring you to go file>quit to exist an app after closing all it's windows. Then you'd get back to the finder and able to start a different app. OSX has the same behaviour because it's what mac users expect. And it actually has advantages, but I wonder if it could be improved by adding an extra button on title bar to quit the app perhaps on the right side.
Also I'd like a faster way of accessing multiple windows than expose or right clicking on dock. Maybe a list of the open windows coming up with a magification like effect on the dock. Actually I wish microsoft tried something like that also, would solve the problem of the task bar even though it allows quick access to any window regardless of application, information overload, clutter and mess. One problem with that is that you end up with just a list, not much in the way of visual association. So something like that would only work efficently in safari where you have an icon for each web site.

 

[solvs]

And it actually has advantages, but I wonder if it could be improved by adding an extra button on title bar to quit the app perhaps on the right side.

I would love this. Switchers would too because that's what they're used to. If it's not in Leopard, maybe someone will create a hack.

 

[radiantm3]

I would love this. Switchers would too because that's what they're used to. If it's not in Leopard, maybe someone will create a hack.

What is so hard about command-q? I don't want extra buttons if they aren't necessary.

 

[radiantm3]

>>>Apps staying open without a window in OS X is not a shortcoming because a window does not equal the application itself. In windows, the main window is the application. You are just used to the windows way of thinking. Remember, Mac OS has always been designed around the idea of multitasking. Windows has not and you can start to see all the flaws as people are doing more things at a time with their computer.


Actually in 1984 macos was a single task OS, and had the same behabour, requiring you to go file>quit to exist an app after closing all it's windows. Then you'd get back to the finder and able to start a different app. OSX has the same behaviour because it's what mac users expect. And it actually has advantages, but I wonder if it could be improved by adding an extra button on title bar to quit the app perhaps on the right side.
Also I'd like a faster way of accessing multiple windows than expose or right clicking on dock. Maybe a list of the open windows coming up with a magification like effect on the dock. Actually I wish microsoft tried something like that also, would solve the problem of the task bar even though it allows quick access to any window regardless of application, information overload, clutter and mess. One problem with that is that you end up with just a list, not much in the way of visual association. So something like that would only work efficently in safari where you have an icon for each web site.

I should have said OS X. I don't have much experience with the pre OS X days.

 

[qtip919]

Ive noticed people posting the ability to "hide others" ... (ie, command+option+H)...

this is a great option, but what I was hoping for was the ability to minimize all of my unused open windows TO the dock...

does anyone know if there a way to do this?

 

[hopejr]

Yes, there is. Hold down the option key while clicking the minimise (yellow/middle) button on the title bar - this will minimise all the windows. Then click on the window you want.

Oops, just realised what you meant. No, only can be done for the current app.