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Windows notebook sold, macbook on the way, need some advice

post #1 of 18
7/24/06 at 7:41pm
Thread Starter 
Hey folks, I just sold my cl56 and will now be purchasing a macbook. This will be my first mac, I've found software that will address most of the stuff that I do on my windows notebook, but have been unable to find replacement software for dvdxcopy, which I use to back up my dvd's onto my hard drive so I can watch the movies on business trips and create backup copies for my archives. I'd prefer to pay little/nothing, does anyone have any suggestions?

Thanks.
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post #2 of 18
7/24/06 at 8:45pm
*tear* for the CL56, it was my 2nd choice to the Uniwill in my sig when I was buying.


mac the ripper has a good reputation from what i know.


some other progs i know of that might help your cause:

IM Clients -- Audium and Fire
Browsers -- Firefox, Camino
Email -- Thunderbird
Office -- NeoOffice
Media Player -- VLC
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post #3 of 18
7/24/06 at 9:02pm
Mac the ripper will let you get them to the HDD, from there the native DVD player should be fine for you to watch.

none of the other programs recommended by abf will help you watch DVDs from your Mac HDD.
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post #4 of 18
7/24/06 at 10:26pm
Thread Starter 
thanks for your responses. One more question, the first thing I did with my pc's was a clean install of the OS. I know apple doesn't load you up with junk software like pc manufacturers do, but i've also heard that the stock install of OS X is not very efficient in terms of HD space. Any thoughts?

thx!
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post #5 of 18
7/24/06 at 10:53pm
my other software was just GENERAL crap he might find useful for the overall experience, nothing dvd-related.

that said, yeah...generic installs feature most of the langauges and printer drivers and all that junk that you're most likely never gonna use, so a clean install is a good idea to free up a few gigs.
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post #6 of 18
7/25/06 at 1:27am
Once you rip the disk with MacTheRipper you can open the Video_TS folder with DVDPlayer and it'll play. You'll need to use software like Popcorn if you want to reencode the video for a 4 gig disk assuming you want to burn any but Popcorn isn't free. There's also an all in one solution called DVD2One, which isn't free, but saves you from having to use two separate programmes...but that's only if you will be burning copies, otherwise MacTheRipper is all you'll need.

You can do a fresh install if you want. You'll get about 2.5 gigs back if you pare down OS X—ie, not installing all the printer drivers and languages, etc—plus you have the option of not installing iLife or just installing parts of it.
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post #7 of 18
7/25/06 at 5:24pm
Thread Starter 
Thanks for your advice folks, I really appreciate it. I have another question (I won't say its the last cuz I'm sure I'll have plenty as I make this transition), on my current windows computer I use pocket dvd wizard to make smaller versions of my dvd movies to view on my windows smartphone. Can anyone recommend a similar program for the mac that will allow me to turn a DVD into a 100-200mb mpeg file?

Thanks!
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post #8 of 18
7/25/06 at 7:52pm
Thread Starter 
Oops, got another question for you all. Right now I use microsoft paint alot to edit simple images for my website. I know, I know, its pathetic, but because its so dumb I can't screw things up too much. Is there any equivalent mac program that would provide simple drawing tools like paint does? Also, I use Publisher to create documents, I noticed that office for mac does not include publisher, any suggestions for a similar program for mac?

Thanks!
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post #9 of 18
7/25/06 at 7:59pm
for photo editing there is always GIMP, the poor man's (free as in beer) photoshop.... http://www.gimp.org/macintosh/
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post #10 of 18
7/25/06 at 10:21pm
joebob,

Here is the address on the Apple site where they clearing house downloads:

http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/

You can use the search functionality here to find lots of good software. One nice thing here is they will let you know right up front if it is Universal or not (always try to get Universal so that the app does not need to use Rosetta).

For example, under Image Editing is a very capable tool named LiveQuartz:

http://www.apple.com/downloads/macos...ageeditor.html

Apple generally does an excellent job keeping the downloads section up to date, making this a very good location to use as a "hub" for downloads.
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post #11 of 18
7/26/06 at 1:21am
Handbrake is what people usually use to convert video from one format to another.
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post #12 of 18
7/26/06 at 1:32am
Thread Starter 
thanks for the help folks, I really appreciate it.

BTW, you guys should check out what your name description looks like when you don't load images, its quite amusing .
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post #13 of 18
7/26/06 at 2:49am
huh?
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post #14 of 18
7/26/06 at 3:03pm
Thread Starter 
Turn off image loading in your web browser and then load this page, you'll see some amusing comments underneath our names.
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post #15 of 18
7/26/06 at 4:16pm
Yes, the comments are funny.

You can also see them with images loading by positioning your mouse pointer over the little colored square. If you want a real laugh, hunt up and read the various threads about "whoring for reputation" that are in the forum (notebookforums, not just Apple).
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post #16 of 18
7/26/06 at 4:28pm
I did turn off images but didn't see anything.
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post #17 of 18
7/26/06 at 7:49pm
We are referring to the reputation comments, like yours where it asserts you are sleeping with other board members for reputation points.
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post #18 of 18
7/27/06 at 12:54am
Yes, I found that out after hovering my mouse but, again, I did not see them when I turned off images.
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