Re: Newbie Questions

On 2005-08-10 01:16:52 -0400, Scott Meyers <Usenet@xxxxxxxxxxxx> said:

FWIW, I have the low-end Mac mini with 512MB memory.

I too have a Mac Mini with 512MB. I also have a top-of-the-line Dell laptop that I have lost complete interest in. Don't need it, don't want it.

Questions:
- I've found the help to be really bad.  I went to Finder>Help>Mac Help and
  typed "view photos" into the search box in the upper left corner.  I
  got back the following topics:  "Setting up a web site", "Using spotlight
  to search for items," and "Folders for your personal items."  What I was
  hoping for was information on how to view photos using e.g., iPhoto.  Am
  I doing something wrong?

I don't use "i" anything. No need for it. That would definitely include iPhoto. For this, get a freeware program called FFView.

http://www.feedface.com/

- The mini has a jack for audio out, but doesn't seem to have one for audio
  in.  Is that really correct?


Yes.  Get a USB device for input.

- I downloaded Firefox, installed it and browsed the net with it. Now, a
couple of reboots later, I can't find it. It's not listed under
Applications, and though spotlight can find folders with Firefox in the
name, it doesn't seem to find an application I can run. How can I find a
program that I know is on my disk somewhere? [Some time goes by.] Okay,
maybe I didn't install it. I just found a file named Firefox 1.0.6.dmg
in my Download directory, and if I double-click on that, I see
Firefox.exe, and if I double-click on that, I run firefox. Do I have to
do something else to actually install the program? - When the machine starts up, there are a number of apps in the dock, e.g.,

You ran FireFox off of a virtual drive. Didn't like Safari? I prefer OmniWeb myself -- you can set preferences for individual websites with it. Generally you have not installed a program unless you personally dragged it into the applications folder.

  iChat, iPhoto, Safari, etc.  How do I control what is listed there?  I'd
  like to get rid of some stuff I know I won't use (e.g., iDVD) and add,
  say, Firefox....

I assume you are talking about the Dock at the bottom center of the screen. Drag items off of it and they will literally vanish in a puff of smoke. Drag other programs onto it and they will appear. If they are running, a small black triangle appears below them. Note that you can move them around, even running programs that don't normally reside at the bottom of the screen. Do THAT with Windows.

- Using Clover-Tab to switch among applications seems to sometimes bring
  the switched-to app's body window to the foreground and sometimes not.

Clover = Command. So that is Command-Tab. Cool! I never tried that before. You could just click on the icon of the running program in the doc. Personally, I prefer to have four desktops with one or two applications running in each. That's another freeware program called: Desktop Manager.

http://mac.softpedia.com/get/Utilities/Desktop-Manager.shtml

(The menu bar at the top of the screen usually changes.) For example, it seems to not do it if I have a Finder help window up, and it seems to
also not do it when none of my apps is the current app. (When none of
them is the current app, using Clover-W has no effect.)

The menu bar at the top of the screen is context sensitive to whatever program is open. When you get used to it you won't be able to do without it. All Command-W does is close a window. Like CTRL-W in Windows.

- The Finder seems to always open a small window sort of in the middle of
  the screen.  I keep resizing and moving it, but the next time I open a
  Finder window, it's back to its old size and shape.  How can I make it
  come up in the size/location where it was last time?

Shrink the window into the Dock by clicking in the yellow center button in the top left of the window. Then click it -- next to the trash can -- when you want to reopen it.

- How can I play a song with iTunes without bringing up an iTunes UI?  For
  example, I'd like to be able to double-click on an mp3 file and have it
  start playing without changing the screen dispay in any way.

I don't think this is possible. Just close the window when it comes up. Closing windows on a Mac doesn't always quit the program. In the case of iTunes, the song will keep playing even though the window is closed.

- The Finder seems to show my folder contents using icons by default.  Each
  time I visit a directory, I have to change the display mode to show what
  Windows calls a detailed view, i.e., one line per file showing size,
  type, last modification date, etc.  How can I tell the Finder that this
  is the default view I want to see?

I had this problem for a while. I had a much bigger problem with this in Windows.

There are six buttons below the three colored ones at the top left of the finder window. There are first the left and right arrows that work like a browser's. The next three are for icons, detail view, and some other strange animal. Click the center of those three, close the finder window, and then reopen it. The detail view should remain. If you then open folders from the little triangle to the left of folders then this view will always be maintained. Otherwise, you have to set this for each individual direcftory -- tell me if you find differently.

- I have a bunch of .mpg files I'd like to play one after the other.  I can
  play each in QuickTime by double-clicking on it, but what I want is the
  moral equivalent of a video playlist so that the clips will play one
  after the other.  I tried plopping them all into an iTunes list, but that
  only got me audio.  How can I drag a bunch of .mpg files somewhere such
  that they'll play sequentially?

I have a program called Graphic Converter. A lovely little program. I have a media folder with subdirectories for various movie files and pictures -- several folders in all subordinate to the main folder. When Graphic Converter starts up it asks what mode I want to start up in. If I choose Slide Show and then select that main media folder, it shows -- in random order -- all the pictures and movie clips all mixed in together with eachother. I could have set the Slide Show to show things in order and limited it to a certain directory only. Maybe you're interested in this:

http://www.lemkesoft.com/en/graphcon.htm

BTW, I'm not terribly impressed with your posting this message with MicroPlanet Gravity v2.60. Isn't that a PC-only application?

Usenet messages and downloads:  Unison
Usenet binary posting:  Cocoa Newspost
Movie Ripping:  Mac The Ripper
Movie Burning:  Popcorn
Spread ***:  Mariner Calc
Word Processing:  Nisus Writer Express
E-Mail:  Thunderbird
Free Pool 8-ball Game:  fooBilliard.

Enough for the moment. Now put the damned PC down and don't touch it for a month unless you have to at work for work. Stop it!

.