Switcher trying to get acquainted with Panther

[TIGERmac]

Hey everyone,

My new iMac G5 has arrived, and I'm trying to get acquainted with the "Mac way" of doing things. After working with Windows exclusively for over 12 years, I need a little help!

First, what is the proper way to install things in Panther? Are you supposed to drag and drop the application somewhere? I neglected to do this when installing Quicksilver, and now I have what appears to be a white disk mounted on my desktop. Is this normal? I tried dragging it into the trash, but it won't let me do that.

Secondly, is an alias similar to a "shortcut" in Windows? I've dragged a couple of these into the trash, and I hope I'm not deleting anything important. Additionally, if I drag an application "icon" into the dock from...say...the applications folder (in the finder) will I mess anything up?

Every time I download something, it appears on my desktop. Is this the recommended place? If I want it somewhere else, do I open finder and just drag it into the appropriate folder?

Also, how do I remove an application from the dock?

How do I access the firewall settings? I've heard there are a few good programs that help you customize these settings more easily. Any recommendations?

Anything else that may benefit me?

I'm more than likely going to buy David Pogue's "The Missing Manual" for Panther, but any help that you can provide in the meantime would be great!

Please forgive me if these questions have been asked (and answered) before.

Thanks!

 

[Peterkro]

I'm a little tired as its 1.15 in the am here.First a lot of apps will mount as a drive on desktop,just open and drag app to application folder,there be a readme some apps have installers.Then drag drive to trash to unmount.Alias yes just icons drag to Dock or out of Dock(whoosh gone in a puff off smoke)just alias's do what ever you want.Downloads Safari prefs change to whatever you want(downloads folder or whatever).Firewall in system prefs.Feel free to ask more.And welcome.

 

[Phat_Pat]

Mac is super simple.(well..... you know) Sometimes you may find yourself thinking to hard. For instance to add/remove things from the dock just drag them there. When you drag them off they poof off smoke.

they're real easy to get aquatinted with so play around with your new mac.

and enjoy it

500th post!!!

 

[timnosenzo]

My new iMac G5 has arrived, and I'm trying to get acquainted with the "Mac way" of doing things. After working with Windows exclusively for over 12 years, I need a little help!

Welcome

First, what is the proper way to install things in Panther? Are you supposed to drag and drop the application somewhere? I neglected to do this when installing Quicksilver, and now I have what appears to be a white disk mounted on my desktop. Is this normal? I tried dragging it into the trash, but it won't let me do that.

The white disk contains the software, soft of like a zip file. Drag the application from inside there to your applications folder. It's not allowing you to "eject" the image because you're probably running the application from there. Just like Windows won't let you delete files that are in use.

Secondly, is an alias similar to a "shortcut" in Windows? I've dragged a couple of these into the trash, and I hope I'm not deleting anything important. Additionally, if I drag an application "icon" into the dock from...say...the applications folder (in the finder) will I mess anything up?

Aliases are essentially shortcuts. Most programs can be deleted by simply trashing them. If you're trashing things from your Applications folder, you're basically uninstalling the software. Messing anything up depends on what you're deleting.

Every time I download something, it appears on my desktop. Is this the recommended place? If I want it somewhere else, do I open finder and just drag it into the appropriate folder?

That's the default preference, but it can be changed if you like.

Also, how do I remove an application from the dock?

You can remove an icon from the dock by simply dragging it out. The application can't be running at the time though.

How do I access the firewall settings?

Open System Preferences, click on Sharing

I've heard there are a few good programs that help you customize these settings more easily. Any recommendations?

No help here, sorry.

I'm more than likely going to buy David Pogue's "The Missing Manual" for Panther

Good book!

 

[Thom_Edwards]

some of this may sound repititious compared to the other posts, but after reading them i can see how you might still have some questions.

some apps have actual installers, just like in windows. double-click it, choose the install location (applications folder is highly recommended) and click the install button. other apps, like what you are describing, are delivered in a disk image. open up the disk image just like you would any ole disk and drag the app into the applications folder.

if you drag-and-drop something to the dock, it, in windows speak, puts a shortcut in the dock. the dock cannot hold any 'real' files--only aliases/shortcuts to items. so when you drag-and-drop something off the dock and it goes poof, you've just removed the alias and not deleted the app.

i personally don't know of any good apps that make the firewall settings simpler. setting up a firewall is pretty platform agnostic...

i don't not recommend the missing manual, but you will definitely want to check out http://www.macdevcenter.com. that is o'reilly's mac specific site and has all kinds of mac goodies.

good hunting and godspeed

 

[wrldwzrd89]

Hey everyone,

My new iMac G5 has arrived, and I'm trying to get acquainted with the "Mac way" of doing things. After working with Windows exclusively for over 12 years, I need a little help!

First, what is the proper way to install things in Panther? Are you supposed to drag and drop the application somewhere? I neglected to do this when installing Quicksilver, and now I have what appears to be a white disk mounted on my desktop. Is this normal? I tried dragging it into the trash, but it won't let me do that.

Secondly, is an alias similar to a "shortcut" in Windows? I've dragged a couple of these into the trash, and I hope I'm not deleting anything important. Additionally, if I drag an application "icon" into the dock from...say...the applications folder (in the finder) will I mess anything up?

Every time I download something, it appears on my desktop. Is this the recommended place? If I want it somewhere else, do I open finder and just drag it into the appropriate folder?

Also, how do I remove an application from the dock?

How do I access the firewall settings? I've heard there are a few good programs that help you customize these settings more easily. Any recommendations?

Anything else that may benefit me?

I'm more than likely going to buy David Pogue's "The Missing Manual" for Panther, but any help that you can provide in the meantime would be great!

Please forgive me if these questions have been asked (and answered) before.

Thanks!

The way applications in Mac OS X are installed depends on the application. There are 3 kinds of installers:

1. Drag to the Applications folder to install (make a new Finder window using File->New Finder Window in the menubar - Applications will be in the sidebar on the left, and it works as a drag target - drag something on it and release, and the item is moved there)
2. Double-click the .pkg or .mpkg to start the installation process and follow the steps (icon looks like an open box)
3. Double-click the installer application to install and follow the instructions (icon varies depending on the designer of the installer application)

For all installs, after installing the application, eject the disk image and run the local copy in your Applications folder.

Aliases are identical to Windows shortcuts in most respects. One advantage aliases have over Windows shortcuts is that they won't break if you move the original item the alias points to.

For downloads, there's a preference for changing the location in your web browser; whether this is Safari, Internet Explorer, Netscape, Firefox, etc. doesn't matter. The location of the preference depends on what web browser you're using.

You can't remove a running application from the Dock. Drag an inactive application/document/etc. out of the Dock and it disappears with a poof.

The firewall can be turned on in Sharing inside System Preferences. One program that can be used to configure the firewall in a graphical way is BrickHouse .

 

[decksnap]

Also try playing around with the panel in the lefthand side of your finder window. The folders listed there are aliases to important folders just like the dock is to applications. So you can customize your finder by dragging folders in and out of this area so you'll always have one-click access to important places.

Customize the functional buttons of your finder window by selecting view>customize toolbar... from the menu at the top of your screen. Here you select what icons you want to have showing across the top of each finder window. (delete, burn, path, view, etc...)

 

[crees!]

I highly recommend you pick up The Missing Manual by David Pogue. I read through it before I got my 1st Mac a year ago and when it arrived I was up and running like I had been using it all along. It's a great book as it gives feature comparisons between OS X and Windows. Like I do this in Windows, how to I do it on OS X. It's good stuff.


http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/t...f=sr_1_1/103-0889984-4586258?v=glance&s=books

 

[Vanilla]

The answers above pretty comprehensively cover your queries but in terms of a book recommendation, as a fellow recent switcher I can personally recommend David Coursey's book Mac OS X for Windows Users: A Switchers Guide

When I first started with my PowerBook, it really helped me get over the initial nervousness as I tiptoed around OS X while still stuck in a windows mindset, getting me quickly up to speed.

Vanilla

 

[munkle]

Here's a website I stumbled on today, contains a few articles on getting to grips with OSX, worth checking out.

 

[TIGERmac]

Thank you!

Thank you all for the very helpful tips! After just a few days of OS X, I'm becoming much more comfortable with it. I had to laugh today when I caught myself trying to control+click on a Windows PC. I'm amazed how quickly I've become accustomed to the command+click and control+click routine.

I will definitely pay a visit to the bookstore and pick up a book or two. It's amazing how everything "just works." I never imagined that computing could be this easy and fun. I'm hooked.

God bless you Steve Jobs & Apple!

 

[NickFalk]

Another fairly obvious (?) tip is to actually use the built-in "help"-function. It is actually quite helpfull - go figure.

 

[snickelfritz]

It's worth mentioning that prior and after OSX software installations, you should "repair permissions" on your system drive, using the Apple Disk Utility. (open disk utility, select your system drive, then select "repair permissions" at the bottom of the window)
This is just good basic housekeeping, and will keep your system functioning reliably.

Here's a nifty little OSX trick you may not have seen: you can drag any file to the top bar of any "metal" Finder window to create a shortcut, sort of like a window dock.
The files will appear at the top of all Finder windows.
(ftp and maintenance utilities are particularly handy in this location, and it also prevents the system dock from becoming cluttered with dozens of little apps and utilities)

Cheers,
snick

 

[ravenvii]

Just in case you don't know, you can buy just about any third-party mouse, and it'll work just dandy on the Mac. I use a Microsoft Intellimouse Optical with my Mac. I dislike the Apple one-button mouse, and need my right click. Plus the other buttons I use for expose (instead of using the keyboard). If you install drivers for the mouse (Microsoft provides Intellipoint drivers for the Mac), you can assign those extra buttons to just about anything, just like on Windows.

(don't be offended if you do, believe it or not many people don't)

 

[absolut_mac]

I highly recommend you pick up The Missing Manual by David Pogue. I read through it before I got my 1st Mac a year ago and when it arrived I was up and running like I had been using it all along. It's a great book as it gives feature comparisons between OS X and Windows. Like I do this in Windows, how to I do it on OS X. It's good stuff.


http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/t...f=sr_1_1/103-0889984-4586258?v=glance&s=books

This book is excellent for beginners...

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/stores/detail/-/books/0764543938/103-3654892-9962255

Virtually everything else can be found in David Pogue's book mentioned above.