The New Mac
To celebrate a friend getting a new Macbook, I’ve decided to post some links to good switching hints (i.e. how to get used to the new simplicity) and what I install on my new Macs.
First, a link to a guide on switching from PCs to Macs:
The Lifehacker Guide. Covers things like what the main keyboard shortcuts are, what hiding, minimizing, and quitting do, and how to install programs.
Also, a good page on most of the Mac OS X keyboard shortcuts.
EDIT: More keyboard shortcuts that Apple doesn’t list
The one useful thing most people don’t often learn is that when switching applications (Cmd-Tab), you can hold down the command button and let go of Tab. This keeps the switching bezel open, and you can then do things like hit ` (above the left Tab) to go backwards (easier than hitting Shift-Tab), Q to quit the selected application, or H to hide the selected application. Also, Cmd-` switches between the windows of an application, though I find Expose to be more useful there.
And next, all the freeware I install:
Quicksilver, for ultimate keyboard access to everything.
Windows Remote Desktop Client, for remote access to random PCs.
Perian, a set of almost all codes for Quicktime, so that you can play XviD files, random other AVI compression formats, etc.
Windows Media Components for QuickTime (a.k.a. Flip4Mac), which allows you to watch Windows Media files in QuickTime.
VLC, which is actually all you need, but it’s nice to have everything work with QuickTime, too, as the interface is a bit nicer.
Adium, a good all-in-one IM client.
TextWrangler, one of the best free text editors in the world. It supports regular expressions, which is rather key, but also good things like zapping all non-ASCII characters, straightening or curly-fying quotes, etc.
Cyberduck, a free, good FTP/SFTP/SCP program. That’s all there really is.
TeXShop and the TeX Live package, which installs all the goodies, like LaTeXiT (mini PDF clips of equations that you can drag-drop to Keynote or Powerpoint or wherever), and BiBDesk (bibliographic references manager for LaTeX).
Transmission, a really light BitTorrent client that’s simple enough to use and isn’t the massive memory-hog/behemoth that Azureus is.
Stuffit Expander, which opens archived files. Most of the built-in stuff works just fine (opening zip files, etc.), but sometimes Mac stuff, especially older stuff, is in SIT compression, which requires StuffIt Expander.
X11, an X-Window system implementation. This is for running UNIX/Linux GUI programs. For some reason, it doesn’t come installed by default, but it’s on the Apple install/restore disk. Try something like “Optional Software” or something. This is necessary to use things like MATLAB or Fink. Install this before Fink.
The customizations I do:
Turn on two-finger scroll and two-finger click: This is the laptop equivalent of the scroll wheel and right click (e.g. Ctrl-click). Do this in the Keyboard & Mouse preferences panel.
Customize my Dock: I personally find the magnification pretty, but annoying. So I turn it off. I don’t like hiding it. Your mileage may vary. I also don’t like random links in my dock. In fact, I like it as small as possible.
Show all file extensions: This is in the Finder preferences, under the Advanced tab. Extensions show me what files are, even if the icons get screwed up sometimes.
Spring-Load Folders: OS X is great for drag-drop support, and part of that is via spring-loaded folders, which is that if you drag an item over a folder, it’ll pop open the window so you can drill down to where you want to drop the file. Enable it (if it isn’t on by default) in the General tab of the Finder preferences.
Make desktop icons huge: I drag-drop a lot of things, like images from web pages, links, files, text clips, and so on, so having huge icons on the desktop helps. Also, it encourages me not to leave too much clutter on my desktop. Thus, when I was on the desktop, with Finder as the active application (see the bolded menu item at the top left), I selected View > Show View Options, and set my icons to 88 x 88.
Turn of Caps-Lock: Does anyone actually use this key? I really get annoyed by accidentally hitting it, so I turn it off. Go to Keyboard & Mouse, click on the Keyboard Tab, click the “Modifier Keys…” button and change the mapping for Caps-Lock.
Turn off “illuminate keyboard in dim ambient light”: Yes, it looks cool, but I know my way around the keyboard, so I don’t need this feature; I’d rather have the extra battery life.
Turn Bluetooth off: I don’t use Bluetooth, so I’d rather save the battery life.
Set Expose corner mouse shortcuts: I mouse with my right hand, which means that when I’m dragging stuff, Expose keyboard shortcuts are a little inaccessible, so the mouse shortcuts help a lot, especially the Desktop shortcut.
