Be all end all APPLE MAC THREAD

[chipwhich]

I just switched to a macbook pro. I will post my reasons later. I have LOTS of criticisms...and at the end of the day, I am not sorry I have switched...but wow some things are frustrating....none more than the fact that I had to buy VMWare and Windows 7 to run in it because i needed IE for a website. More on that later.

But for the mac lover...I need help. I posted a thread a while back about getting a Mac Mini for my kids. I went the Ubuntu route, which works well as a dummy web browser, but low and behold I couldn't get a Webcam to work with FLASH.

Now that I have a Mac, it's the only thing my kids want to use.

In looking at the Mac mini, it appears I will have the same problems with webcams I did in Ubuntu.

Is there a webcam available for the mac mini which supports imovie and flash? Other than surfing the web thats all my kids care about. Apparently the answer is no.

Anyone have any advice on webcams and a mac mini?

[MissU28]

hahaa BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

[Big Weirdo]

Ive had PC and Ive had Apple.

They both suck. Im so tired of technology. Its no good until the 8 millionth version of whatever comes out.

[chipwhich]

hahaa BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Thats how I am feeling. The $599 mac mini I was considering will require a new keyboard, mouse, and adapter cable for the monitor, and a camera. I might as well buy the $999 laptop and save money....but I was looking to go cheap.

[Blackest Eyes]

I just switched to a macbook pro. I will post my reasons later. I have LOTS of criticisms...and at the end of the day, I am not sorry I have switched...but wow some things are frustrating....none more than the fact that I had to buy VMWare and Windows 7 to run in it because i needed IE for a website. More on that later.

But for the mac lover...I need help. I posted a thread a while back about getting a Mac Mini for my kids. I went the Ubuntu route, which works well as a dummy web browser, but low and behold I couldn't get a Webcam to work with FLASH.

Now that I have a Mac, it's the only thing my kids want to use.

In looking at the Mac mini, it appears I will have the same problems with webcams I did in Ubuntu.

Is there a webcam available for the mac mini which supports imovie and flash? Other than surfing the web thats all my kids care about. Apparently the answer is no.

Anyone have any advice on webcams and a mac mini?

You could probably find a second hand iSight on eBay or something for a good amount. Made by Apple and should integrate with zero issues with a Mac Mini.

I am wondering about why you had to buy VMWare Fusion & Windows 7 to run a certain website though. I'm interested to hear the criticisms as well. If you have any Apple questions at all, feel free to shoot me a PM...or just post them here There are some odd things about Apple's OS when you first start using it, but with anything computer related, there is a learning curve.

[chipwhich]

You could probably find a second hand iSight on eBay or something for a good amount. Made by Apple and should integrate with zero issues with a Mac Mini.

I am wondering about why you had to buy VMWare Fusion & Windows 7 to run a certain website though. I'm interested to hear the criticisms as well. If you have any Apple questions at all, feel free to shoot me a PM...or just post them here There are some odd things about Apple's OS when you first start using it, but with anything computer related, there is a learning curve.

My company timesheet web based application is all asp based.

https://www.gotimeforce.com/

Doesn't work in firefox or safari. I works partially, but not fully so I had to have windows to execute different stuff.

[chipwhich]

Here is my initial review of my experiences with a Mac. Given my kids love of it, I was hoping to stay Mac

First off I have always been adamently against the Mac for 2 reasons:

No Internet Explorer

I uses complicated Microsoft Office documents with extensive codes, formatting, etc. They don't work in OpenOffice or any of the free tools. So concerns over office compatibility were and still are a worry even with MacOffice.

My technical background. Unix guru.

Apple's I have owned in my life: Apple II+

What I bought. Laptop Macbook Pro. Price about $1999 plus MacOffice Home addition $150.

Why I switched/changed my mind:

I was in the market for a new laptop for my company/work. I went to BestBuy with initial excitement over Windows 7. Here is what I realized while I was in the store (with Apple boxes in the same room). Viruses aside, right off the bat when buying a Windows machine it's already bloated with crap from the manufacturer (be it dell, hp, gateway). 90 days free virus scanners, hp/dell/gateway auto update crap, registration popups, etc. On the Apple what you get is simple, a clean OS install.

Before you read my likes and dislikes, a week into it I am thrilled I bought the machine. No regrets. I still don't know if Mac Office is totally compatible. On day one I already had to go to my PC to accomplish something. The web based timesheet I bought for my company is all ASP based. Wow how did I end up doing that. It won't work correctly in Safari or Firefox. Just as I thought, it's a Windows world and I need Windows on occasion.

Things I like:

The Hardware (minus the mouse with no left and right click buttons)....well ok if my fat fingers hit it right it can do it.

The display is outstanding.

I equate this to driving a ferrari now instead of the old oldsmobile.

I love that I can open a terminal, run vi, and sudo to root. Just because I can I am a UNIX guy at heart.

I love the free tools. My kids are already creating movies with iMovie.

Security...even though I am logged in as admin, I am not root. So by default I am not king of the OS, just partial king.

Speed, the OS and everything on it just run great.

Things that I hate:

Finder. I like looking at the entire TREE structure as a drive. I want to start from C: or / and navigate the tree. Don't hide the filesystem from me.

Apps that I use don't work well (I know it's not Apples fault but they work in Windows. Apple versions are an afterthought). I use a storage utility/shared drive for my work called Jungledisk. Its a network drive that mounts to the computer. It's created by Amazon. On the Mac I always have to delete cached files to make sure the files are updated and correct. On the Windows version, that happens automatically. Big headache...because I may forget this.

Jungledisk doesnt start as a service (I may not have figured out how to do this, and it may be possible, but it's annoying to have to manually start it.

I use thunderbird as a mail tool which requires a sigblock to be loaded from a text file. I used textedit on the mac. The stupid tool won't save as ascii text, only as different types of formatted text (rtf, etc). It won't load right on my mailtool. I like notepad for stuff like this. I ended up using Word to do this.

Files, I can sudo from the command line and access my kids files for word and open them. Through finder, it wont let me navigate there even though I am admin.

Printer, my HP printer driver installed as Admin works great, but wasn't available to all other users on the computer. Got it working but it required extra.

[Blackest Eyes]

Before you read my likes and dislikes, a week into it I am thrilled I bought the machine. No regrets. I still don't know if Mac Office is totally compatible. On day one I already had to go to my PC to accomplish something. The web based timesheet I bought for my company is all ASP based. Wow how did I end up doing that. It won't work correctly in Safari or Firefox. Just as I thought, it's a Windows world and I need Windows on occasion.

Office for Mac is totally compatible with Office on the PC. The only issue you may run into is with macros on Office for Mac. They don't handle macros as well as the PC version for some reason...weird since it is made by the same company. Not sure why your web based timesheet won't work properly. Have you tried using it in Opera or Camino?

Things I like:

The Hardware (minus the mouse with no left and right click buttons)....well ok if my fat fingers hit it right it can do it.

Do you just not like that it is all one large button? You can click anywhere and it is a left click. You can click with two fingers and it is a right click. You can even set the bottom right corner of the trackpad to be a right click. In Safari, you can swipe through webpages with three fingers. If you have multiple applications open, you can use 4 fingers and slide backwards on the trackpad to reveal expose and slide 4 fingers forward to show your desktop. The trackpad is awesome.

I use thunderbird as a mail tool which requires a sigblock to be loaded from a text file. I used textedit on the mac. The stupid tool won't save as ascii text, only as different types of formatted text (rtf, etc). It won't load right on my mailtool. I like notepad for stuff like this. I ended up using Word to do this.

Is there a reason you use Thunderbird as opposed to either Mail or Entourage? Just wondering.

[PCS]

Damn Mouse took awhile for me to get used to when I first bought the Mac. It's all good now,but yeeesh.

[Sweet Sassy Molassy]

If you have a USB mouse plug it and get going, it'll work. I hate the Apple mouse, seems to be a preference thing, though (I know some who hate it, others who love it).

As far as getting Jungledisk to start automatically go to System Preferences > Users/Accounts > Startup Items: Add Jungledisk to the list of startup items and it should now launch anytime you bootup/login.

As a web designer I hate TextEdit for coding purposes because it's default setting opens all docs as RTF. You can change this by going to the TextEdit preferences window (located in the TextEdit app menu) you'll see an option that will allow you to turn auto open and save as RTF off and your problem should be fixed. I personally use TextWrangler which I love, though unless you're a coder it really won't do much more for you.

If you don't like icon view you can switch to list view, which is probably more familiar to you, you can even switch to column view (which I prefer), both makes it easier to navigate through the entire system starting from the top level of the HD down. In view options you can set that as a global setting or window specific (you'd probably need global).

In-terms of accessing your kids files that's a much longer and technical discussion delving into the concepts of system permissions, groups and users (you being a UNIX guy I'm sure that's nothing new to you). What you're trying to do is possible I just don't feel like typing it from my iPhone right now, nor do I feel like boring anyone else here who couldn't care less about the subject.

In regards to your printer drivers requiring more work to get going for all users that shouldn't be the case because it should give you option of making it available to only your user or all of them. So I'll chalk that up to an "ID 10T" error (sorry couldn't pass up the opportunity to make the joke).

Either way, if you have any questions about anything send me a PM or if you're on AIM/iChat/GChat get my info and I can definitely help you out. Also, don't let Blackest Eyes fool you, he's merely an apprentice, where I'm a Mac Jedi Master.

[mardi gras skin]

The Hardware (minus the mouse with no left and right click buttons)....well ok if my fat fingers hit it right it can do it.

Do you have an older machine?

On the newer machines, clicking the trackpad with one finger its the same as a right click. If you click with two fingers its the same as left click. The lack of buttons makes room for a huge track pad. Its more functional and easier to use than the old dedicated button system. The entire track pad (including the 3 finger functions) is terrific.

This had to be a learning curve issue.

[chipwhich]

Not sure why your web based timesheet won't work properly. Have you tried using it in Opera or Camino?

Haven't tried them, but the website is written in .ASP which is proprietary Microsoft.

Do you just not like that it is all one large button?

Wow you just taught me something new. Didn't know about the 4 fingers. :laugh:

I don't like that sometimes with 1 finger it accidentally pops up the menu like it thought I two fingered it. It gets annoying.

Is there a reason you use Thunderbird as opposed to either Mail or Entourage? Just wondering.

None other than I haven't switched to something else, it's what I used on Windows and has 1000's of emails in it.

[hockeysc23]

You didn't have to buy VMware. You could've installed a microsoft partition using boot camp which is free.

As for getting in cheap it doesn't happen with Mac unfortunately.

I just got a new iMac 24" happy self christmas

[chipwhich]

If you have a USB mouse plug it and get going, it'll work. I hate the Apple mouse, seems to be a preference thing, though (I know some who hate it, others who love it).

As far as getting Jungledisk to start automatically go to System Preferences > Users/Accounts > Startup Items: Add Jungledisk to the list of startup items and it should now launch anytime you bootup/login.

As a web designer I hate TextEdit for coding purposes because it's default setting opens all docs as RTF. You can change this by going to the TextEdit preferences window (located in the TextEdit app menu) you'll see an option that will allow you to turn auto open and save as RTF off and your problem should be fixed. I personally use TextWrangler which I love, though unless you're a coder it really won't do much more for you.

If you don't like icon view you can switch to list view, which is probably more familiar to you, you can even switch to column view (which I prefer), both makes it easier to navigate through the entire system starting from the top level of the HD down. In view options you can set that as a global setting or window specific (you'd probably need global).

In-terms of accessing your kids files that's a much longer and technical discussion delving into the concepts of system permissions, groups and users (you being a UNIX guy I'm sure that's nothing new to you). What you're trying to do is possible I just don't feel like typing it from my iPhone right now, nor do I feel like boring anyone else here who couldn't care less about the subject.

In regards to your printer drivers requiring more work to get going for all users that shouldn't be the case because it should give you option of making it available to only your user or all of them. So I'll chalk that up to an "ID 10T" error (sorry couldn't pass up the opportunity to make the joke).

Either way, if you have any questions about anything send me a PM or if you're on AIM/iChat/GChat get my info and I can definitely help you out. Also, don't let Blackest Eyes fool you, he's merely an apprentice, where I'm a Mac Jedi Master.

Wow GREAT help. Thanks. I will make the changes to JD and textedit right now.

[chipwhich]

Do you have an older machine?

On the newer machines, clicking the trackpad with one finger its the same as a right click. If you click with two fingers its the same as left click. The lack of buttons makes room for a huge track pad. Its more functional and easier to use than the old dedicated button system. The entire track pad (including the 3 finger functions) is terrific.

This had to be a learning curve issue.

Brand new machine. For some reason sometimes when I slide one finger across the mouse I touch the mouse pad funny and it thinks it was a right click so the menu pops up. (No I am not clicking in the lower right corner of the pad). In any event, the random menu popups irritate me.

[hockeysc23]

Brand new machine. For some reason sometimes when I slide one finger across the mouse I touch the mouse pad funny and it thinks it was a right click so the menu pops up. (No I am not clicking in the lower right corner of the pad). In any event, the random menu popups irritate me.

With the bigger trackpad I found I accidentally in my normal hand posture on the keyboard my left thumb hits part of the trackpad. Thus thinking it's two fingers instead of one for the normal popups. If not maybe change the sensitivity of the track pad?

[Henry]

Damn Mouse took awhile for me to get used to when I first bought the Mac. It's all good now,but yeeesh.

You can buy a regular mouse for $20 and it works on a Mac just like a PC mouse. Just so you know.

[Blackest Eyes]

Also, don't let Blackest Eyes fool you, he's merely an apprentice, where I'm a Mac Jedi Master.

:hysterical::saber:

[mardi gras skin]

Brand new machine. For some reason sometimes when I slide one finger across the mouse I touch the mouse pad funny and it thinks it was a right click so the menu pops up. (No I am not clicking in the lower right corner of the pad). In any event, the random menu popups irritate me.

I prefer more control so I disabled the tap option. I have to push the track pad down like a button to make it work. I have to use a little more force than the light tap but I don't have to deal with accidental input from the mouse.

[chipwhich]

I prefer more control so I disabled the tap option. I have to push the track pad down like a button to make it work. I have to use a little more force than the light tap but I don't have to deal with accidental input from the mouse.

Nice i like it much better now. Just changed it. The mouse seems to move around the screen better too.

[SoCalSkins]

Why would you use VMware? Use bootcamp and you are done. Windows runs great on Mac hardware.

I have not booted my Mac into the Mac OS in over a year.

[chipwhich]

Why would you use VMware? Use bootcamp and you are done. Windows runs great on Mac hardware.

I have not booted my Mac into the Mac OS in over a year.

Because I am not interested in running windows on a Mac. I am interested in running a Mac and popping up the windows vm when needed.

vmware imo is the best out there for running windows/linux virtually.

I installed windows and basically now have a templated baseline windows install. If windows gets gooped up, I just roll back to my templated copy.

[Pwyl]

. Not sure why your web based timesheet won't work properly.

.

It probably has client-side VBscript

And

Doest boot camp allow for running mac OS and windows at the same time? It would seem pretty inconvenient to have to reboot twice just to fill out a time sheet.

[Blackest Eyes]

It probably has client-side VBscript

And

Doest boot camp allow for running mac OS and windows at the same time? It would seem pretty inconvenient to have to reboot twice just to fill out a time sheet.

With boot camp you need to reboot unfortunately.

[PCS]

You can buy a regular mouse for $20 and it works on a Mac just like a PC mouse. Just so you know.

Umm. I knew that. :paranoid: