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just got my first mac

post #1 of 21
3/14/05 at 11:41am
Thread Starter 
i just got my first mac: a mac mini (the $600 one from the store). i like it so far, just not gotten used to os x yet. any advice for me?

i plan to upgrade the ram later
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post #2 of 21
3/14/05 at 10:31pm
get some media on there and give iDVD a whirl. iMovie is pretty cool too for basic video editing. play my friend, play.
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post #3 of 21
3/14/05 at 11:04pm
Search the forum for my Mac Beginner post.
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post #4 of 21
3/15/05 at 11:49am
Thread Starter 
thanks. yeah i would love to play with idvd, but i don't have the superdrive, or an external.
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post #5 of 21
3/15/05 at 11:55am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Kakaze
Search the forum for my Mac Beginner post.
i tried searching and couldn't find it
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post #6 of 21
3/15/05 at 12:21pm
twoodcc,
here's the link for Kakaze's post.

i'm assuming that u have another computer aside from the mini? i'm guessing it is also a PC. if it has a DVD burner in it, feel free to play w/ iDVD on the mini. this is bc u can network between a PC and Mac by simply using an ethernet cable or if u have the wireless built into the mini, via the wireless network (assuming u have a wireless router), or for that matter via a direct plug into yourrouter. u can save your projects as images and then burn on another Mac or in the event it is a PC, u can simply mount the imageand copy the video_ts folder over to your other machine and burn from there.

if u r interested in networking or file sharing via ethernet, give a look @ Kakaze's thread. if u have any further questions give a look at apple's support pages. most stuff is pretty straight forward to find w/ basic searches. if u have any problems or questions from there feel free to ask.
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post #7 of 21
3/15/05 at 3:04pm
congrats and have fun!
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post #8 of 21
3/15/05 at 4:10pm
sorry to moan.

but dont expect any help from this site your better off going to a mac forums with expirenced mac users, sadly due to the lack of moderation of these forums in the past most macs users leave this place.

for the mac mini, i suggest you up the ram, with 512 or 1 gb it will be a LOT faster things. intorducting someone to a entier OS is not very easy. tell us the kinda stuff you want to do and it would be easier for us to help you.
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post #9 of 21
3/15/05 at 8:41pm
actually bob i think there are a few people here that are pretty mac knowledgable and helpful. To me the chances of getting the RIGHT info are higher here than a lot of other sites.. there just aren't as many posters. If you feel you have some questions you would like an answer to, feel free to post up and i'll do MY best to answer them.

Also, you seem to have a good deal of knowledge Bob, so don't sell yourself short.

Cheers
-rs
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post #10 of 21
3/15/05 at 10:29pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by triadone
twoodcc,
here's the link for Kakaze's post.

i'm assuming that u have another computer aside from the mini? i'm guessing it is also a PC. if it has a DVD burner in it, feel free to play w/ iDVD on the mini. this is bc u can network between a PC and Mac by simply using an ethernet cable or if u have the wireless built into the mini, via the wireless network (assuming u have a wireless router), or for that matter via a direct plug into yourrouter. u can save your projects as images and then burn on another Mac or in the event it is a PC, u can simply mount the imageand copy the video_ts folder over to your other machine and burn from there.

if u r interested in networking or file sharing via ethernet, give a look @ Kakaze's thread. if u have any further questions give a look at apple's support pages. most stuff is pretty straight forward to find w/ basic searches. if u have any problems or questions from there feel free to ask.

thanks for the link and help. yes, i actually have 3 PC's. 2 of them have a dvd-burner. that would be great to be able to burn from the mini on the pc. or even making the movie on the mini and then transferring over seems nice.

what files are compatiable with mac and pc? i know mp3's and mpeg's. what about word documents? do i have to have MS word for mac to read them and stuff?

thanks
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post #11 of 21
3/16/05 at 1:18am
Any file can be read on a Mac and PC provided you have a programme that can read it.

Apple's new word processor, nay page layout programme, is able to read and write Word docs though I don't know how well it does it. And, if you feel like running X11, OpenOffice.org can read Word files. And of course there's Office for Mac as well.
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post #12 of 21
3/17/05 at 5:02pm
DL a program called MacJanitor and get familiar with System Prefs tab, as most of your inner workings are found in there. Also it helps to make a DT icon for your Utilities folder. Other than that, just explore. I also bought a copy of the Mac How to Handbook (Mac Addict Publication) and it has a lot of useful tips and stuff for new Mac users. Good luck, and enjoy.
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post #13 of 21
3/17/05 at 9:01pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Kakaze
Any file can be read on a Mac and PC provided you have a programme that can read it.

Apple's new word processor, nay page layout programme, is able to read and write Word docs though I don't know how well it does it. And, if you feel like running X11, OpenOffice.org can read Word files. And of course there's Office for Mac as well.
you forgot neoffice the cocoa version of openoffice, meaning no X11 needed

http://www.neooffice.org/

and check out http://www.versiontracker.com/macosx/ and http://www.macupdate.com/ for mac software.
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post #14 of 21
3/17/05 at 10:17pm
native abiword is also available for mac iirc.
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post #15 of 21
3/18/05 at 4:38am
NeoOffice is Java, but yeah it can do Word as well.
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post #16 of 21
3/20/05 at 4:12pm
Quote:
what about word documents? do i have to have MS word for mac to read them and stuff?
TextEdit will open Word documents, though not all features will show up right if the Word doc has a lot of advanced formatting. http://www.microsoft.com/mac/ has a free trial of Office for Mac, and also some other programs like Windows Media player (not crap on the Mac due to it just being a player), MSN Messenger, Remote Desktop and information about Virtual PC.

The best way to learn the Mini is to not be afraid of it. If you ever blow up the system too badly, pop in the restore DVD and choose the option to "Archive and Install". That will keep your user files and programs, but reinstall the base system.

And best hint I can think of, if it makes sense, it is probably the way to do it. "How do I uninstall a program?" Drag it to the trash. "How do I install a program that doesn't have an installer?" Drag it to where you want it. Just remember, it is not Windows.
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post #17 of 21
3/20/05 at 10:45pm
Thread Starter 
thanks for the reply. i'm still learning. if i have any questions, i will post them here
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post #18 of 21
3/21/05 at 4:34am
also goto versiontracker.com and pickup a copy of cocktail.. and consider buying diskwarrior for a just in case situation.
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post #19 of 21
3/21/05 at 12:04pm
Thread Starter 
thanks for the info.
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post #20 of 21
3/21/05 at 8:59pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by twoodcc
what files are compatiable with mac and pc? i know mp3's and mpeg's. what about word documents? do i have to have MS word for mac to read them and stuff?
thanks
Just about everything save .exe files are cross platform as long as you have the right program. If you do any downloading at all, I'd download the latest version of stuffit expander (stuffit.com). It's like the swiss army knife of winzip-type programs. As for Word files, Appleworks will read and write .doc files just fine, but since it really hasn't been updated in the last half decade the user interface is very dated. I'd advise you shell out the $80 for iWork if you're going to do any major word processing tasks. One last note, because of the way everything had to be shoehorned in there, upgrading the Mac Mini isn't easy and it voids the warranty.
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