Santa brought me a mac iBook - how do I use it

Miscellaneous Topics
#21

[quote]jbanes - Thanks a million for the ucontrol link! I had to compile the source code, but it works great so far! I’m a happy left handed mac user now. :slight_smile:
[/quote]
You’re welcome. :slight_smile:

[quote]I looked at some of the other stuff as well. I had already got vlc, based on a recommendation from another forum. It does seem to be great.
[/quote]
Excellent choice! I use VLC for all of my video watching as well. Not even Quicktime Pro seems quite as nice.

[quote]- Does anyone have any recommendations on burning software?
[/quote]
How about, “I try to avoid it whenever possible?” ;D Check VersionTracker for a few very nice wrappers for burning CDs and DVDs. You should see a few good recommendations.

[quote]- How do you make a disk image show up with a background when you open it. I’ve downloaded several .dmg files. When they get mounted and then opened, they sometimes have backgrounds in the finder window. How is that done?
[/quote]
Open the folder, click on “View|Show View Options”, and select the “Picture” radio button at the bottom. Be warned that this is a very tricky thing to do for DMG files. Most of the time the image points to everywhere but the copy embedded in the DMG. If you want to create install files, I highly recommend FileStorm. It will save you quite a few headaches. :slight_smile:

#22

Buring software: Try Dragon Burn, I haven’t used it but, I’ve heard good things. I usually just use the stuff built-in to finder or the iLife apps.

CVS, I use SmartCVS when I have to. But for my work I’ve switched to Subversion (http://subversion.tigris.org) and find the command line for subversion is actually fast and easy to use, though there are GUIs that run on Mac.

On One Mouse Button:

It’s that way because it is supposed to be easier for most non-technical people. My father who has been using Windows for several years STILL asks “When to a left-click and when do I right-click?”, of course he also asks “When do you single-click and when do you double-click?” so there is basically no hope for him ever…

Though I prefer 2 buttons and a scroll-wheel. Anything more than that is too much if you ask me. I never use the middle button. Someone once told me that UI studies of years gone by indicated that 2 buttons was the sweet spot for function vs. confusion.

#23

So I want at least a 512 Meg SODIMM for my iBook. I look at Crucial, per swpalmer’s recommendation. They list a 512 sodimm for about $120’ish. They list the 1Gig version for $330’ish. Checking around, I see about the same thing from everyone. Why, oh why oh why?

If a 256Meg is about $50, then a 512Meg at about $100 seems resonable. Why can’t I find a 1Gig for about twice the price of a 512? I’d really like to just max the memory out, but I’m not willing to pay $300’ish for the memory.

Anyone have suggestions?

Regards,
Dr. A>

#24

It’s a case of demand… more 256 units are made than 512 than 1024 units.

#25

I added 256 to my iBook to bring it up to 512. Works great although I kind of wish I had sprung for a 512 chip.

I can run eclipse, tomcat, mysql, itunes, firefox, mail, ichat, dreamweaver (several which are memory hogs) concurrently without much problem. but i think that’s about pushing it.

Eclipse 3.0 runs well. i’m very happy with it’s performance. Even though it runs faster on my 1.8 ghz p4 I choose to work on my iBook every time. I’ll have to try smartcvs. I just use eclipse built in cvs right now.

I’ve installed subversion server on my mac server but have been having trouble getting the subclipse plugin to work in eclipse.

So my basic suggestion is get as much memory as you can comfortably afford. But dont break your bank to max out. I saw great gains with just a 256 chip.

#26

I went looking about and found that newegg.com has a 1 gig stick for about $200. Given what you said bwbrooklyn, I may just get the 512 afterall. Anyone have any other experience with going from 256?

Dr. A>

#27

here is some additional tips:

  • definitely go for as much RAM as you can buy. no matter what, you will be using all of it. i have 512 in my powerbook, and it’s mostly OK, but when running Eclipse i can’t run Photoshop and iPhoto (two other mem hogs) at the same time comfortably. OS X is very good about multitasking so you will kind of want to never quit any apps :slight_smile:

  • use Cyberduck for ftp. it’s free, open source, and works extremely well. it’s no-fuss, better than all other ftp programs i know on the mac (and i have tried a few). plus, it’s free :slight_smile:

  • get iPulse (http://www.iconfactory.com/ip_home.asp). i always have this running. it looks way cool and displays ALL your system stats, like mem use, HD, swapping, processor use, system processes, network I/O, and more in one small window.
    in the beginning, it looks like a swirl of colors on your screen with which you can impress geek and non-geek friends alike. but after a while, you get used to what is what, and you can see instantly what your system is doing. it’s fantastic.
    for examle, i can see when i am running out of memory and when the swap file is accessed, and how much… :b

  • OS X supports windows via SMB. usually, however, it’s a lot faster to use ftp. just make the mac an FTP server with one click :slight_smile: (System preferences - sharing - click on ftp or windows for smb). ftp usually works at network speed, whereas windows sharing is a lot slower.