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

[solvs]

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

Post # 111:

sometimes the keyboard is all the way over on the other side of the couch.

It wouldn't be in your way if you don't use it, but for those of us who use it with Windows constantly it would be helpful. Why should I have to use the kb or go up to a menu or right click on the dock to close something? It's a minor inconvenience, but an inconvenience none-the-less.

 

[BollywooD]

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.

Or you could use Freeware app - Quick Access, and add everything into your contextual menu! I tried alot of menu bar hacks Tiger Menu, XMenu etc... but have settled on Quick Access, I have all my commonly used apps (which arnt in my dock) as well as links to various important folders i frequent often.


http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/16169

 

[Morn]

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

It requires you to use the keyboard, what if the mouse is closer to you.

 

[Mitthrawnuruodo]

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

It requires you to use the keyboard, what if the mouse is closer to you.

Then, as earlier suggested, ctrl-click (or, if you have a one button mouse click'n'hold) on the Dock icon and choose quit.

 

[p0intblank]

I've only read the first two pages of this thread, but so far I must say... I'm disgusted by people like you. What ever happened to giving something a fair chance? Don't be so fast to jump to conclusions. Look around, try things out. What is so hard about switching between applications and windows with different keys? In my opinion it is better that way. That's how it should be. And regarding the mouse acceleration, that's something you are going to have to get used to. I'm fine with controlling my mouse now. I admit it annoyed me at first, but now it's just an everyday thing I do. I've become accustomed to it and you will too soon. And like others have been saying, I can't believe you made such a large investment and you are putting the OS down this quickly. Maybe you should've gotten yourself a Mac mini instead...

I don't mean to sound like a total ******, but seriously, man... give it a chance.

 

[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?

Doesnt anyone else out there wonder about doing this?

I really like have multiple items on my doc since they give me 1 button-click access to them...This, in my opinion, is a strength of Windows. I really like the new taskbar with the compiled instances of IE or other apps. I find that I actually like to go from window to window using my mouse.

I have started to use alt-tab more, but I still prefer mouse navigation...

 

[hopejr]

Doesnt anyone else out there wonder about doing this?

I really like have multiple items on my doc since they give me 1 button-click access to them...This, in my opinion, is a strength of Windows. I really like the new taskbar with the compiled instances of IE or other apps. I find that I actually like to go from window to window using my mouse.

I have started to use alt-tab more, but I still prefer mouse navigation...

Why don't you just right-click on the program's dock icon and select the window you want? That's sort of like the window groups on the task bar in windows (a feature they added in XP iirc).

 

[jayscheuerle]

Wrong priorities

Sorry Windows fans, if you're going to want to use OSX, you have to learn OSX, not just wish that it was more like Windows. They have differences and the question of efficiency is more a matter of preference and comfortability. OSX is not going to offer a dozen different ways to do things because a group of people clamor for them. It doesn't take a lot of personal knowledge to realize that Steve Job's mantra is "my way or the highway", so learn OSX and quit expecting it to behave like the OS you're trying to ditch or hit the road. OR put your hopes on 3rd party developers that like yourself, have come from Windows backgrounds and are misguidedly shoring up OSX's "inefficiencies", instead of working on their own inefficient ability to learn and become proficient in another simply different way of doing things. Trust me, you'll get better at them with use and practice. One never gets better at something by whining about it... - j

 

[Morn]

>>Then, as earlier suggested, ctrl-click (or, if you have a one button mouse click'n'hold) on the Dock icon and choose quit.

That's like 2 times the mouse clicks!

 

[Mitthrawnuruodo]

>>Then, as earlier suggested, ctrl-click (or, if you have a one button mouse click'n'hold) on the Dock icon and choose quit.

That's like 2 times the mouse clicks!

No, it's click (or right-click), choose and release... still one mouse click...

 

[epochblue]

It's possible I missed something...

....but if you want something to act LIKE Windows, just use Windows.

I understand the frustration of switching from one OS to another, especially when you're switching to something whose usability paradigms are wholly different, but that doesn't make it an inferior operating system, or even less usable.

In a forum such as this, where you're likely to find lots of hardcore Mac fans, it's more constructive to simply ask for help rather than damning with faint praise and saying things like, "I could do this in Windows, why doesn't OS X act more like that?" What you should be asking is, "I'm used to this feature in Windows, is there something comparable in OS X?" If there's not, then try to grow accustomed to "the OS X way," often times you'll likely find it actually makes more intuitive sense. Perhaps you won't; like anything else, it's a personal thing.

You're switching operating systems....it's just like remodeling your house...the same stuff is there, it's just in a slightly different place. It'll take some readjusting, but I trust that in the long run you'll find yourself happier that you made the switch.

Good luck with the switch, I hope you stick with it.

 

[Whistleway]

Okay. As a non-Windows user, the idea of restoring trash makes no sense. I put things in there to get rid of them, not as some sort of file purgatory. Years ago, when hard drive space was more valuable, I emptied the trash a couple of times per day. I haven't emptied my trash her at work since September 5th because I still have 16GB available (just in case!). Why would somebody use an area labeled "trash" as a holding bin?

Sure, I could see the rare "D'oh!!" instance where it would be valuable, but I think that part of the essence of OSX and Apple in particular is simplicity and straightforwardness, not a lot of dialog boxes, helpers, or options. Emptying the trash empties the trash. They leave it up to 3rd parties to develop applications like "Dumpster Diver" or "Landfill Looter" to retrieve things that have been long since thrown away.

The iPod is a distilled essence of this Apple philosophy, or to be more specific, the scroll-wheel itself. Say what you want about the limitations of the device, but the navigation via scroll-wheel is close to perfect. I really don't think anything else comes close.

Trying to defend the lack of a restore button is pure BS. Gimme a godamn break !!

 

[jayscheuerle]

Trying to defend the lack of a restore button is pure BS. Gimme a godamn break !!

Actually, what you're looking for is a crutch. Mac users are used to not having such a device, so they base their approach around not having one. The only reason for needing one is because you rely on it instead of developing better organizational skills. The entire idea behind a trash can or recycling bin is that you put stuff in there you no longer want. It doesn't disappear immediately. The time between putting it in there and emptying the trash is the room that you leave to change your mind. Taking it out of the trash is restoring it once.

A restore button just cushions lazy users. I'm sure there are people who not only want a restore button, but a revive button, and a resurrect button.

 

[jadekitty24]

Let's let everyone stick to what they want. Let's not try to change those who are stubborn and just want things the way they've always been. Let's know that we all choose what is right for us, and the best we can do is inform the uninformed.

(and let's all agree that jadekitty24 is right when she says Macs are better )

 

[savar]

Hey all,



Well I've been using windows for a long time (admin) and for all these innovations, I feel like a noob on the mac. I bought a 2x2.3 G5 with a 23" HD display. So I went to a mac store and asked a rep a few things and the guy was basically saying 'windows is the worst thing that happend to the computer industry' and 'I don't want to make os x like windows, why do you want to copy windows?' and in the end he said "I'm going to be honest, maybe you should just stick to windows".

I must say I don't understand a word of what you're claiming this guy said. Write a book? I think you're leaving out parts of the conversation here. But I agree with his conclusion...you might just like Windows better. If I were you I would have gotten some experience with it before dropping 5k on one...

Reading some of the threads here, I got the distinct feeling that A LOT of people are IT novices (no offence of course) (like the person who suggested finding out your parents' router IP will get you in trouble with the law). Power users DO NOT use the mouse to switch between windows. I've heard from MANY people that work for apple that "A 7-year-old could use OS X". I used to get upset when explorer would give you warning message ONCE about going into C:/. Finder just decides that you shouldn't see half the folders at the root of your drive because you're too stupid not to break them.

No, most people here aren't IT pros. There aren't many Mac IT pros because macs represent a small market for IT, and when macs are serviced, the machine/admin ratio is much smaller than for PCs.

A lot of people are faster with the keyboard. With expose, I'm certainly faster with the mouse. I hate using the keyboard to tab through windows, but it is possible on Mac OS X. If you want something more powerful than whats built-in, I'm sure there's a cheapo shareware product out there to give you more features.

If you want to see all your files at the root level, you can type "ls -al /" in the Terminal. As an IT pro, I assume you know that. In the mac world, if you want something to be hidden in finder, you include its name in a hidden file called .hidden in the same directory as the file. If you edit /.hidden, you'll be able to reveal a bunch of those hidden folders in Finder that you're not able to see right now. As far as I know, however, files or directories that begin with a '.' will never display in Finder.

I'm the opposite, I keep more files hidden than even the default install. When I want to see those files its pretty easy to hit cmd-shift-G and type in a path. But I do most of that stuff in Terminal anyway.

3) How can I find an equivalent key shortcut that switches to finder and does command + N (new window), anywhere and in any application (like winkey + E)?

You'll probably need a 3rd party app to do this. It might be possible to map an AppleScript or Automator script to an f-key, but I've never done it.

4) Can I make the finder actually view the root of the drive (/) and not just some stuff that it wants to show me and my user folder.

See above, basically, edit /.hidden from the terminal. (This works on other directories too, such as ~/.hidden, etc.)

6) Can Alt-Tab cycle windows instead of applications. Does not help me if I have 6 finders open. (Aware of Command + `)

Not yet...its been proposed this might be a feature of 10.5.

7) Is there a true screen locking solution (like winkey + L)? (I'm aware of keychain lock... you can still control things like eject button and mute/volume buttons while LOCKED.)

Wow, you ask tough questions. There's no way of doing this, that I know of. Again, there might be freeware out there to do this.

8) How much ram is necessary for Tiger to run smoothly? (I have 512mb at the moment with 2gb coming soon (x800 256mb video) and it runs somewhat crappy at times. Doom 3 CLEARLY seizes up for a few moments when it's paging.)

Clearly depends on what apps you're running. OS by itself I'd say go no lower than 512. I have 640 and I do pretty well juggling a few things, but I rarely edit video, play high-end games, or anything of that nature. I'd be shocked if 1GB isn't enough for 95% of home users.

I wish I could help more, but honestly you're asking to do a bunch of things I've never even thought about doing. There are probably shareware apps out there that do a lot of it, but I can't name them because I've never needed one.

 

[savar]

- Edit the address to javascript:self.moveTo(0,0);self.resizeTo(screen.availWidth,screen.availHeight);

Now you got yourself a Full Screen button...

Note that it will only be true full screen if the Dock is hidden. If the Dock is visible, it will not cover that (which is not available).

I keep my dock on the left -- I dont like shortening the available area for vertical documents.

The above script is a clever idea, but it goes underneath my dock when I run it.

 

[Mitthrawnuruodo]

I keep my dock on the left -- I dont like shortening the available area for vertical documents.

The above script is a clever idea, but it goes underneath my dock when I run it.

That's because it's set to put the top left end of the Safari window at the top left of the screen (no matter where you got your Dock).

Let's say your Dock is 44 px wide, then try:

javascript:self.moveTo(44,0);self.resizeTo(screen.availWidth,screen.availHeight);

 

[savar]

That's because it's set to put the top left end of the Safari window at the top left of the screen (no matter where you got your Dock).

Let's say your Dock is 44 px wide, then try:

javascript:self.moveTo(44,0);self.resizeTo(screen.availWidth,screen.availHeight);

Yeah, I understand the reason it doesn't work...but my dock won't always be the same size and I don't want to edit a bookmark every time I add or remove something from the dock.

A better solution would be if Safari moved the window sideways. It does this anyways for the green button, and it already knows how wide the dock is because it sized the window correctly. Sigh...

 

[Mitthrawnuruodo]

Yeah, I understand the reason it doesn't work...but my dock won't always be the same size and I don't want to edit a bookmark every time I add or remove something from the dock.

A better solution would be if Safari moved the window sideways. It does this anyways for the green button, and it already knows how wide the dock is because it sized the window correctly. Sigh...

OK, try something like:

javascript:self.moveTo(screen.width-screen.availWidth,0);self.resizeTo(screen.availWidth,screen.availHeight);

That should work nomatter how wide your Dock is...

Edit: I just found out this isn't a problem in Firefox. FF will "honor" the Dock, even it's at the left and you tell FF to move to the top left, FF will not go in under the Dock... must be a Safari thing...

 

[hopejr]

If you want to see all your files at the root level, you can type "ls -al /" in the Terminal. As an IT pro, I assume you know that. In the mac world, if you want something to be hidden in finder, you include its name in a hidden file called .hidden in the same directory as the file. If you edit /.hidden, you'll be able to reveal a bunch of those hidden folders in Finder that you're not able to see right now. As far as I know, however, files or directories that begin with a '.' will never display in Finder.

/.hidden was deprecated as of Tiger. Finder just doesn't show those directories anyway.

Files that start with a '.' are hidden in all *nix operating systems, unless you do 'ls -a'.

To display all the folders in the root directory, you can use a tool called OnyX to show all files (it's a shareware app, but I can't remember where to get it).

 

[savar]

OK, try something like:

javascript:self.moveTo(screen.width-screen.availWidth,0);self.resizeTo(screen.availWidth,screen.availHeight);

That should work nomatter how wide your Dock is...

Works like a charm...thanks for suggesting that.

 

[hopejr]

I stumbled across this link today (when trying to find out what the hell the "help" button on my apple keyboard does):

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=75459

It's about the OS X keyboard shortcuts. There's stuff in there that even I didn't know.

 

[generik]

Since this is a switchers' thread I have a couple questions to ask too.

I can switch between apps using Apple-Tab, but how do I switch between Windows? (ie: Say I have many Safari windows, and I want to switch between them)

Can I activate menus using the keyboard only?

What's the funny key with with the symbol that looks like a slide, with a dash on the top? (in Safari look at view source)

Thanks

 

[wrldwzrd89]

Since this is a switchers' thread I have a couple questions to ask too.

I can switch between apps using Apple-Tab, but how do I switch between Windows? (ie: Say I have many Safari windows, and I want to switch between them)

Two ways to do this:
Mouse user's way: activate the relevant Exposé mode, click the window you want.
Keyboarder's way: Command+` (that key just below Escape, that you describe in your third question) - only works for the current application

Can I activate menus using the keyboard only?

Sure can. You'll need to enable full keyboard access first - this can be done in System Preferences, in the Keyboard and Mouse pane. If you have the relevant keyboard shortcut in there enabled, you can do this from the keyboard too! The default is Control+F1. To send the focus to the menu press Control+F2, then use the arrow keys to navigate the menu options and Return to select a menu option.

What's the funny key with with the symbol that looks like a slide, with a dash on the top? (in Safari look at view source)

~ is a tilde. ` has several different names - I call it a backtick. See my answer to your first question for what it's used for.

Thanks

I love helping out others, especially new/prospective switchers. You're very welcome.

 

[hopejr]

~ is a tilde. ` has several different names - I call it a backtick. See my answer to your first question for what it's used for.

No it's not, it's the alt/option key. To see what I mean, click on the flag in the menu bar and then "Show Keyboard Viewer". That can show you what all those weird symbols are. Another place to look is at http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?path=Mac/10.4/en/cdb_symbs.html