h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

hello, i am back...

it looks like the mac group has become a bit more busy!

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... something like that...

Is it really?

As the owner of a shiny new iMac (17" flatscreen) - - I thought I might joint. After all, I need to learn how to use the thing properly!


182827

It is, and you just did... Welcome aboard!

Great! Thanks Peet.

I've never used a Mac before and in some ways it is quite different from my old PC. I confess to not having the hang of it yet, although I can do some stuff. When mine arrived, I didn't have the manual and from what I see, the manual is a dozen pages long. I'm used to much more substantial information. I like to be able to sit and go through it. As I haven't got a printer attached yet - my existing printer doesn't seem to fit the Mac - I obviously need a connection something or other - I can't print stuff off either.

Other than that, it's pretty, it's fast and it has sound.

What model is your existing printer?

It's a Cannon BJ-200 (a gift someone gave me). I also have a Hewlett Packard Deskjet 340. They both have enormous connection thingies.

Those both require a parallel port to connect them, and getting one of those for the Mac would cost you as much as getting a cheap new printer...

You need a printer with a USB (Universal Serial Bus) connection. The cheapest I know of is the Lexmark Z25 1200 dpi colour inkjet, which is going for £29.99 in PC World, or £27.99 on their website which you'll have to figure out for yourself as commercial sites get moderated away... (Hint, PCWORLD are a COmpany in the UK... )

Before you buy a printer, check that your Mac has drivers available, or that Mac drivers are supplied. Also, bear in mind that the cheaper the printer, the more expensive it tends to be to run; manufacturers virtually give away printers these days, but add all sorts of tricks to prevent you using anything other than their own-brand expensive inks...

I think you're right. Gosh those are cheap. I did find, when I first connected the Canon, that it ran out of ink fairly quickly and the tiny ink replacement cartridge cost around £18 to replace.

One of the features I'm really missing on the mac is the ability to right click. Is there something similar that I can do?

The equivalent on the Mac is a "long click", i.e. just hold the button down in a single spot till a menu appears. Doesn't work everywhere, and is no help in drag-and-drop situations, though, where an "Option-click" would be used instead... (Hold down the "Option" key while clicking...)

My most up-to-date Mac still uses OS 7.5, so things may have changed a little since then.

Oh, and Canon cartridges are refillable; £18 would buy a 250ml bottle of ink, which would refill the cartridge about 25 times if you were careful...

Hi! Welcome to the Macintosh World. If you hold down the CTRL key and click, it's the same as a right click. Has similar effects, though less extensive than in Windows. If your Mac is brand new, it will have come with OS X, which will automatically recognise USB mice with two buttons and scroll wheel. I bought a MacAlly Micromouse for mine (about £30) and it worked right out of the box (no drivers necessary for X, maybe for OS 9).

I chose that model 'cos it's small and suits my iBook, but for a desktop you may prefer something larger. Any (?) of the Microsoft mice will do,also other MacAlly models, Kensington, Logitech, etc.

Peet is right about checking for printer drivers. When X came out, hardly any printers worked with it. The situation is much better now - have a look at the Epson range, or HP. If you don't get the proper drivers in the box, you can d/l most of them. Visit www dot epson dot com (don't know HP's site, but it can't be difficult to find).

Peet - I probably shouldn't have posted this here but don't yet know enough about these boards to redirect Zarquon... (do you all have such long-winded names?

PS you might like to consider Logitech. simply because their drivers write quotes from Marvin in the Console Log - unless they've fixed that now

Thanks, Peet!

I'll try that. (the long click)

As for the ink - what just ordinary Stephens/Watermans? Or do you mean a specialist ink?

Another question. When using Alladin Spring Clean, it doesn't remove the duplicate files, it seems to think I will know which ones are duplicates. How can I tell?

The ink is special... If you put anything else in there it'll clog in seconds and you'll have to throw away both the cartridge and print head. Not recommended...

I'm afraid I don't know Alladin Spring Clean... The only package of theirs I use is Stuffit Expander.

OK, Peet! Hi Oldfogey (I think we did a simulpost)!

So, If I'm getting a large bottle to refill it, what do I ask for?

I'll consider getting a different mouse, although I quite like this Pro Mouse. Not immediately, though - and yes, I've got OS X.

Duplicate files and folders - I wouldn't worry. How many of them can you have acquired on a brand new machine? They don't usually do any harm unless you're running out of space. Relax., you're a mac owner now. If you were meant to be an anally retentive filing clerk, you'd have bought a PC.

Amy

Hi Zarquon

You should be wary of SpringClean - I've got it (came with something else - Norton?) but never used it. Some people on the Apple forums claim to have had problems. I think Peet's got a link to the Apple site on "The Orchard" main page - click the orange (if you're in Alabaster, don't know otherwise) title above.

Otherwise try http: //discussions.info.apple.com/ (NB no www, and omit the space I put in to avoid creating a link). You may have to login - but I think you can just browse without that.

We're getting a really twisted thread here, no?

Oooh Amy - I immediately thought must stand for !

But you're absolutely right of course - and the disks these days are so huge that what's a few Mb between friends

Yes, oldfogy, I've got SpringClean with Norton System Works for Mac. I used it with my PC and had no problems, it did stuff automatically. Here, it seems, I am being asked to choose what to get rid of, without actually having sufficient information, which I'm reluctant to do.

Luckily at present, I have loads of spare space, so it isn't a problem. Later, maybe.

I'm test driving Brunel at present *ducks*.