Discussion Forums > Technology
So, I uh... bought a mac. WTF do I do?
Remak:
I bought a mac recently too. First thing I did was buy and install Lion (the new os). It's only 30 dollars and worth it. The swipes make life + using it so much easier and faster ;D.
(click to show/hide)The best thing is now I use chrome with three windows in full screen and use the swipes to switch windows. So much faster than clicking tabs with the mouse.
- Three fingers sideways to switch programs/applications/windows
- Two fingers sideways to go back for forwards in browsers/finder windows/etc
- Three fingers up to show all programs (if you get lost and are trying to find an open application with the just normal three sideways)
- Four fingers pinched brings up a screen filled with application logos and names like on the ipad. Use two fingers to move between screens
(click to show/hide)(Each screen looks like it holds 40 logos. This might be able to be changed in settings if you want more per page. But I don't want that)
and you can start up a new application from anywhere if you want to do something. No need to go back to finder and open the applications folder. ;D
- A bunch of other cool swipes that I haven't bothered to use. There's something for zooming in on any content, I don't remember it since I never use it.
Then I installed chrome and rearranged my appbar.
Next installed, xCode, Adium (all-in-one im client), Colloquy (irc).
Then I opened chrome and imported my bookmarks + settings.
Then I opened bootcamp, and set up windows with 180gb of space.
Did my usual stuff for windows (I used ninite to install most of my programs, and then downloaded a few that wern't on the installer).
Went back to osx, and installed microsoft office, eclipse, handbrake (file converter), skype, silverlight (for netflix).
Then I went to wallbase.cc and downloaded ~50 wallpapers and set osx to switch backgrounds every 30 minutes.
Oh, I changed the default language to japanese, I think you probably wont want to do that. ;D
Then I connected my mac and windows through ethernet and transferred over my itunes library and a few other important documents and set up/organized those in finder.
I think I did a few other things as well. And some of those are completely out of order, but.. it's a good enough idea.
To install a file, download the dmg and then open it and the os will "mount" it. You'll see a drive icon appear on your desktop, open that drive and drag the application to what ever folder you want to install it in. (I always use applications folder).
Now I have my mac and windows set up to replace my old computer. ;D. I think this was what you were looking for. If it's not ask where I messed up at. :laugh:. Or if you are confused at anything I said, ask that too. :-\
Err edit, just realized that the first thing I did was set up the network so that it could connect to the internet.. but that doesn't count, right? ;D
Ultra_Magnus:
--- Quote from: AceHigh on January 11, 2012, 04:59:06 PM ---
--- Quote from: GoGeTa006 on January 11, 2012, 04:44:17 PM ---so if you're not retarded you'll find your way around really fast and realize that the OS is way better. . .
--- End quote ---
OS's primary function is to be intermediary link with an interface between applications and the hardware on which they run. Thus the quantity of the programs capable on running using an OS is directly proportional to the usefulness of an OS. I am sure you are familiar with the fact of how few applications a Mac OS can run in comparison to it's main competitor, so please don't spread blatant lies like that. Maybe your words will hold any truth to them the day when I can run all my games, CAD/CAM and JTAG applications on an Apple made OS.
--- End quote ---
The are OSX programs for most things these days, sure a few extremely niche things aren't catered for like FPGA development, but they are certainly the exception rather than the rule.
And your logic is rather flawed, if that were true we would all still be using MS DOS. The operating system is as much about the user interface it provides and how it blends applications together as just running them.
Bob2004:
--- Quote from: GoGeTa006 on January 11, 2012, 05:33:20 PM --- (click to show/hide)
--- Quote from: AceHigh on January 11, 2012, 04:59:06 PM ---
--- Quote from: GoGeTa006 on January 11, 2012, 04:44:17 PM ---so if you're not retarded you'll find your way around really fast and realize that the OS is way better. . .
--- End quote ---
OS's primary function is to be intermediary link with an interface between applications and the hardware on which they run. Thus the quantity of the programs capable on running using an OS is directly proportional to the usefulness of an OS. I am sure you are familiar with the fact of how few applications a Mac OS can run in comparison to it's main competitor, so please don't spread blatant lies like that. Maybe your words will hold any truth to them the day when I can run all my games, CAD/CAM and JTAG applications on an Apple made OS.
--- End quote ---
I will admit mac has many "compatibility" issues, and I know that if all those games/programs had enough support for mac the mac would run them even more efficiently than windows. . .
from what I know (and feel free to correct me) the deal with MacOS (based of unix) is the way they manage the RAM memory
Windows fragments it as it goes along, MacOS keeps defragmenting it as it goes along, taking more space than required per program (so you could say it can run less programs if you were to saturate it) but the problem on windows systems is that the excess of fragmentaion in the RAM memory eventually causes that fatal crash, program not responding and ultimately OS freeze. . .which to this day I havent seen MacOS freeze (i've seen programs freeze but not the "I have to hold down the power button to shut it down" freeze
(click to show/hide)
Windows:
open word (requires 1 kb of RAM) (Windows grabs 1 kb of RAM)
open winamp (requires 2 kb of RAM) (windows grabs 2 kb of RAM)
open IE (requires 4 kb of RAM) (windows grabs 4 kb of RAM)
open new word file (requires 2 kb of RAM) *Windows now has fragmented Word RAM into 2 parts*
open new IE tab (requires 2 kb of RAM) *Fragmented IE RAM usage*
so your RAM looks like this:
(NOTICE RAM IS FRAGMENTED INTO 5 PIECES)
WORD 1KB| WINAMP 2KB | IE 4KB | WORD 2KB | IE 2 KB | etc. . .
while doing the same thing on a mac would look like this:
(NOTICE RAM IS FRAGMENTED INTO 3 PIECES)
WORD 3KB used (10 KB available) | WINAMP 2KB USED (10 available) | IE 6KB USED (10 available)
and as those 10 kb are filled, the RAM is defragmented and allows for more memory than its required
thats what I've understood
--- End quote ---
GoGeta, that's not really how it works (and quite honestly, UNIX doesn't really handle it too much differently to Windows anyway). And even if it was, fragmentation is irrelevant, since RAM is direct-access - it doesn't take time for the drive head to move back and forth to read from different locations, like a hard disk, so fragmentation doesn't have any effect on speed at all. And any gaps in between files aren't wasted space, since data can just be split up into several parts, so it can all be filled up if needed.
From my perspective, OSX is basically just Linux, except you have to pay for it, and it isn't customisable (so if you don't like, say, the Desktop environment, well, tough, you're stuck with it - Unlike Linux where you can switch to KDE, Gnome, whatever, as you like. Also, am I right in thinking it's impossible to get root access in OSX? Or have I misremembered that? It's been a while since I've used it).
Macs themselves just seem to be slightly shinier PCs with an irrational hatred for right mouse buttons (I know many newer Macs have two-button mice now, but none of the ones I've ever used do, and seriously - they are really irritating to use).
Macs and Mac OS aren't particularly bad, as such, they just don't do anything that something else can't do better, and since Macs tend to be about double the price - why bother?
Ultra_Magnus:
--- Quote from: Bob2004 on January 11, 2012, 06:52:31 PM ---Also, am I right in thinking it's impossible to get root access in OSX? Or have I misremembered that? It's been a while since I've used it).
--- End quote ---
Macs have sudo.
--- Quote from: Bob2004 on January 11, 2012, 06:52:31 PM ---Macs themselves just seem to be slightly shinier PCs with an irrational hatred for right mouse buttons (I know many newer Macs have two-button mice now, but none of the ones I've ever used do, and seriously - they are really irritating to use).
--- End quote ---
OSX always feels like linux (well, its actually BSD, but meh) with a nice shiny interface, which isn't a bad thing to me at all. One of the things I love about my macbook pro is the touchpad, to right click you just tap with two fingers, its ambidextrous too.
AceHigh:
--- Quote from: Ultra_Magnus on January 11, 2012, 06:45:56 PM ---And your logic is rather flawed, if that were true we would all still be using MS DOS. The operating system is as much about the user interface it provides and how it blends applications together as just running them.
--- End quote ---
At present time Windows can run more programs than MS DOS, so it's better. In the past when Windows 1.0 was first released, hell yeah MS DOS was better! The day when Apple OS can run more programs than Windows, I will pirate it immediately without any fanboy reservations. However if things running on Apple's OS could also run on Linux, I guess I would grab that one first because of it's flexibility towards the hardware.
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