mosker

Can someone explain this to me?

When I bought the MacBook, I couldn't really imagine using many of the iLife applications that come with it. I'd like to try Garage Band to record a book to tape for Suzanne's youngster, but I haven't gotten that far yet. iMovie and iDVD? I'm sure that's cool for some people, but what possible use could I find for them?

Quite a bit actually. I've been using iMovie to create a movie project with video footage from someone else and then burning it to a DVD with iDVD. Both applications are incredibly easy to learn and one of the many cool features it offers is the ability to add soundtrack and photos, complete with transitions. You can even create Quicktime previews of your project, which makes it so much easier to collaborate with someone who isn't there with you.

I do have one complaint though: on Friday evening and Saturday morning it will not render transitions. I follow the same steps as any other time, click the button, and it looks like it's going to work, but it won't finish processing. It's very bizarre. On Thursday evening and Saturday evening, everything works great. This has happened twice now and I can't find a way to resolve the problem, other than just waiting. I thought maybe the virus scan was updating, but when I looked at what processes were running on the computer, I couldn't find any conflicts. Besides, it's not like a virus scan update takes close to 24 hours.

Sometimes, you really do have to spend money to save money

I've had my MacBook for about three weeks now, and I have to admit that the iLife software--it's pretty cool. I have even managed to edit a series of videos into a very cool little movie for Suzanne and burn it to a DVD. With a cool menu and everything. She said it was much better than she expected, and what better compliment can you ask for from your sister? Did I mention that it's cool?

A growing concern that I've had, though, is the seeming incompatibility of my peripherals. It was bad enough when I couldn't print over the network anymore, but then I discovered that my computer did not recognize the scanner. It's not like I use the scanner everyday or anything, but I do use it often enough that I was going to have to replace it sooner rather than later. I found a piece of software that would supposedly make it work, but the starting price ($39.95) was almost as much as I paid for the scanner, so I passed. I decided to just cut my losses and replace it with something that could talk to the Mac.

And then I realized that my film scanner was not supported either. Konica-Minolta has gone out of the photo imaging business and isn't producing drivers to support either Vista or the latest Mac OS. It's not like my film scanner was high-end even when bought it, but I had to work pretty hard to justify the purchase. No way can I afford to buy another, particularly when there are windows to replace.

And then I stumbled on that software again. The product info page claimed that both the scanners are supported, except for the part about how not all of the scanners listed are actually supported in all versions of the OS. Not encouraging. There was nothing else but to download the trial and put it through its paces. It actually works! And really well! I cannot tell you how relieved I am. The trial period lasts 30 days, but I've already plunked down my money.

I really don't want to clean my office

Near the end of last summer I made a concerted effort to really organize my home office. I rearranged the shelves and moved the filing cabinet, but the fall semester started before I finished putting everything where I wanted. Not suprisingly, it didn't get much better over the winter, and now my desk is piled high with recipes and junk mail and articles I haven't had time to file. Pretty much everything in the room belongs there, but it definitely is not in it's proper place. Saying that it is overwhelming really downplays the state of things.

I cleared corner of the desk for the laptop and tried to get to work. I've managed to stow my bookbags and backpacks on a shelf in the closet and cleared a stack of archived files off a shelf, but then I decided that it was far more important to get the scanner to work with the new computer. Can we say denial? I still can't get the drivers and software to install correctly, and the web searching I've done suggests my efforts are probably futile. I gave a lot of thought to software for the Mac, but I didn't even consider that my peripherals would not work for me. Printing is also a problem because I can no longer print over the network. Yes, I realize how high-maintenence that makes me sound, but sometimes you just want what you want.

Oh, and did I mention that unless I download the EasyShare software from Kodak, it doesn't see my camera? Grrr. I hate that software. It's easy enough to download the images with a memory card reader, so I'm going to wait to see if I'm willing to download the horrible software that believes it should do my thinking for me. Okay, okay, all my peripherals are several years old, so maybe it's not all Apple's fault.

Shortcuts

I am all about shortcuts. Well, keyboard shortcuts anyway. I knew that the key combinations on the Mac keyboard would be different than for Windows, but I didn't really anticipate the amount of adjustment I would need. Yeah, sure, I could move my hand a few inches to use the trackpad and just point to what I need, but frankly, that just seems unreasonable. I mean, my hands are already on the keyboard--why should I have to move them? Naturally enough, I spent the first few days with my new MacBook trying to figure out as many shortcuts as I could.

There are plenty of website that list keyboard shortcuts for Mac OS X, but my favorite so far is from Dan Rodney, because he took the radical step of including a guide to Mac's menu symbols. That is incredibly helpful for the Mac novice. Sure, I knew that ^ meant the ctrl key, but the odd little backward-slash with a tilde, that it represents the option key? is so not obvious.

Generally speaking, if you use Ctrl+something in Windows you can use Cmd (the apple key)+something in Mac. Not surprisingly, it works the other way around too. When I finally figured out that Cmd+L in Firefox moves the cursor to the location bar (or URL field) in Mac, I tried Ctrl+L in Windows and discovered it works there too. Other things don't work quite as well. F5 in Windows will reload your page in a web browser. F5 on a Mac, by default, increases the volume. To reload the page in Firefox for Mac (I haven't tried it in Safari), press Cmd+R.

I made a few changes to the system preferences for the keyboard and trackpad that have made me much happier. Yes, some of them make the machine operate more like Windows, but you've got to go with what you know.

In order to use the function keys as function keys, I selected the "Use the F1-F12 keys to control software settings" on the keyboard tab. Now I have to press the Fn key in combination with the function keys to change volume and brightness, but I can live with that.

The trackpad settings were the first thing I changed. I had to be able to use the trackpad to scroll and I wasn't prepared to lose right-clicking, so I made these changes in the trackpad settings:

And a great source for keyboard shortcuts (and where you can reassign shortcuts if you want) is the Keyboard Shortcuts tab:

If you want to be able to tab between the controls in dialog boxes, be sure to click the All controls radio button at the bottom of this dialog.

I haven't quite figured out the appropriate modifiers keys to control the directional keys. The page up, page down, home, and end keys live with the up, down, right, and left keys. I preferred having dedicated keys for each, but once I figure it out I'm sure it'll be fine. Oh, and what's up with the delete key? The delete key lives on the keyboard where the backspace key is on a Windows keyboard (there's no backspace key), and it functions like a backspace key. If you want to delete, as in the way a Windows users understands it, you have to press Fn+delete. Again, I'm getting used to it, but it doesn't make as much sense to me.

Note: the images are larger than what I normally post. I don't yet have access to the photo apps I normally use to resize, but I hope to remedy that soon.

Truth in advertising?

Have you seen the series of commercials from Apple? The ones with the guys, one who is a Mac and the other a PC, who play off on every Mac and PC stereotype ever written? I love them. Not only is it one of the most innovative advertising ideas I've seen in a long time (we talk about them in the office every time a new one comes out) but they absolutely hit the mark every time. Uncomfortably so, some times.

Yeah, well, I bought a MacBook.

I have been a Windows user almost since there has been a Windows operating system. I work in IT in an organization that uses only Windows. This is a huge decision for me, but to be frank, I am just so tired of jumping through hoops in order to have a reliable computer. I could blame it all on Dell, who empower only a select few within their organization to provide customer service, but that would not be fair. I am also sick of trying to force Windows to do what I want to do when I want to do it. Yes, I know how to make it work, but that doesn't mean I want to spend the time to make it happen. And that's to say nothing of the time I spend trying to help friends and family who have far less patience.

My friends are joking that this acquisition increases my "cool factor", but I'm actually concerned that it's bringing out my inner geek. I spent a couple of days trying to figure out how to transfer my email from Outlook Express on Windows to Mail on the MacBook. I was ultimately successful, but it was not easy. (The folks at the Genius Bar don't even provide that particular service.) And printing, yeah, well, I'm still working on that.

I'll try to post about my experience in switching from Windows to Mac. As someone I know said "it's just a computer", but I think I will like it. And I have to say that visiting an Apple Store is an amazing experience for a Windows user. Not only do they seem to know what they're talking about, they seem happy to answer questions.