#263224 - 24/08/2005 01:52
Mac Mini as a TV-room media player
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 20/12/1999
Posts: 31597
Loc: Seattle, WA
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I'm considering purchasing a Mac Mini, plugging it into the VGA port on my TV set, feeding it a codless keyboard and mouse, and using to play media files.
Anyone have any idea (a) if this will work well, and (b) what cordless keyboard and mouse I should get?
I'll also need an 802.11 adapter for it, right? It'll be connecting to my wireless network.
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#263225 - 24/08/2005 01:58
Re: Mac Mini as a TV-room media player
[Re: tfabris]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 20/12/1999
Posts: 31597
Loc: Seattle, WA
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Ooo, if I get one of the higher-end models, it comes with built-in Airport and Bluetooth, so I could theoretically just get a bluetooth keyboard and mouse and be done with it. Right?
Anyhoo, is there any chance that the video playback on one of those things would be substandard? Or perhaps have incompatibility problems with things like Divx or Xvid playback?
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#263226 - 24/08/2005 02:38
Re: Mac Mini as a TV-room media player
[Re: tfabris]
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pooh-bah
Registered: 12/02/2002
Posts: 2298
Loc: Berkeley, California
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Yup, bluetooth and airport is the way to go. All you'll need is the power cord and display cable.
The mac mini should work fine for playing the video. VLC is the best for playing diverse video formats, though the interface isn't the greatest. It supports plugins, so perhaps it has stuff for easy to use remote controls.
The only problem with the mac mini that I can see is that it won't be able to play apple's latest and greatest high def trailers, but pretty much nothing besides a powermac can these days.
Matthew
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#263227 - 24/08/2005 03:23
Re: Mac Mini as a TV-room media player
[Re: tfabris]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 12/11/2001
Posts: 7738
Loc: Toronto, CANADA
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You'll probably have best results with VLC and MPlayer and very seldomly need to use QuickTime player. Apple's DVD player is also nice if you ever need to use it. At this time you're looking at having to use all these tools from the finder with a mouse and keyboard (or remote controlling the OS UI). Unfortunately there aren't any media front-ends available yet in a polished enough state to consider for full-time usage. But at least thyere are a few being developed that may eventually fit the bill. I was considering the Mac Mini with an external HD to run as a music server and also to play media. Then I decided I'd really like to have a PVR again (right now) so I ended up building another PC. I'd much rather be running a Mac for this purpose because the video driver software and controls are better (and I can influence their development  ) but alas, it's the lack of the third-party software that prevents this right now. Bruno
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#263228 - 24/08/2005 03:26
Re: Mac Mini as a TV-room media player
[Re: hybrid8]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 20/12/1999
Posts: 31597
Loc: Seattle, WA
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Good points. I don't mind using the Finder to play video files, I don't need a front end. Front ends are for Tivos (which I've got already).
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#263229 - 24/08/2005 05:56
Re: Mac Mini as a TV-room media player
[Re: tfabris]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 17/01/2002
Posts: 3996
Loc: Manchester UK
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MythTV (or at least the frontend) works wonderfully on my iBook talking to my linux backend. They've even got the mythvideo plugin working on the mac with mplayer so you can watch your xvid/divx videos too. I considered using a mini for a frontend, then an offer came up at my local computer shop and I built a discless shuttle with a silentx PSU for half the price of the mini.
_________________________
Cheers,
Andy M
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#263230 - 24/08/2005 11:54
Re: Mac Mini as a TV-room media player
[Re: tfabris]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 08/03/2000
Posts: 12338
Loc: Sterling, VA
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Quote:
I'm considering purchasing a Mac Mini, plugging it into the VGA port on my TV set, feeding it a codless keyboard and mouse, and using to play media files.
Have you read that the latest Tivo Desktop software lets you send media to your Tivo? I'm not sure how much of it you can do (what file types for instance). I know you have a DirecTivo, but I did you do those hacks that were posted here, and did it open up the ability to use Tivo Desktop?
_________________________
Matt
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#263231 - 24/08/2005 15:55
Re: Mac Mini as a TV-room media player
[Re: tfabris]
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addict
Registered: 23/09/2000
Posts: 498
Loc: Virginia, USA
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How do you get your media? Do you encode it yourself? Even after acquiring all the codecs I could find I still can't play all of the *ahem* adult oriented content i've downloaded from who knows where on the internet. And I've yet to find one player that does everything well. Sometimes it has to be WM, sometimes VLC, sometims QuickTime. Maybe there's a solution and I haven't found it but the availability of players and codecs is definitely less than in the Windows world.
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#263232 - 24/08/2005 16:20
Re: Mac Mini as a TV-room media player
[Re: Dignan]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 20/12/1999
Posts: 31597
Loc: Seattle, WA
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Dignan: My tivo is a high-def DirecTivo, and I haven't hacked it yet. My understanding is that so far it's not as hackable as the regular DirecTivos, that they're still perfecting the features. But anyay, I'd also like to have a PC that can let me surf the web from my couch too, so I've got other reasons for wanting the media player to be on a computer, too.
Dylan: The media files I want to play are episodes of television series that I've missed. For example, as soon as I get this hooked up, I'm going to hunt for a couple of episodes of Battlestar Galactica that I missed during my relocation period. I actually don't use any of the online services if I can avoid them, I've got friends who run their own media server, they bittorrent the files themselves, and I just leech files off of their server with SFTP. Most of the time they are Xvid or Divx.
I've also been having a lot of Mac Envy lately. Well, let me be more specific: OSX envy. I figure it would be fun to have a Mac just to play around with it. So as long as it'll network and play Divx/Xvid files, I'm golden.
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#263233 - 24/08/2005 16:39
Re: Mac Mini as a TV-room media player
[Re: tfabris]
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old hand
Registered: 15/02/2002
Posts: 1049
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It does, as others have said, using the VLC program. We've been doing this on the GF's new powerbook.
Makes sense to have OS X envy. It's great. Bill G and his minions couldn't produce anything as nice in a thousand years.
J
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#263234 - 24/08/2005 16:42
Re: Mac Mini as a TV-room media player
[Re: tfabris]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 08/06/1999
Posts: 7868
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Quote:
so I could theoretically just get a bluetooth keyboard and mouse and be done with it. Right?
Yep. And heres the cool part. Out of the box, you can plug the Mac Mini into your VGA cable and power, and thats it. On bootup, if it doesn't see a USB keyboard and mouse, it will bring up some instructions to pair a bluetooth keyboard and mouse. It will basicially be one of the first of many "hey, that makes sense" moments if it's your first major experience with OS X.
Another control solution that you might want to look into is the ATI Remote Wonder. This last I saw at least worked with the DVD player and iTunes, and I think will work with MPlayer and VLC, but I'm not certain of that. I'll have to dig mine out later to see, as I may be getting a Mini soon for similar use in the living room.
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#263235 - 24/08/2005 16:51
Re: Mac Mini as a TV-room media player
[Re: tfabris]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 25/12/2000
Posts: 16706
Loc: Raleigh, NC US
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Quote:
the higher-end models, it comes with built-in Airport and Bluetooth
They do, but it's important to note that the addon Airport+Bluetooth costs the exact same amount as if you had it specially configured, installation and all (assuming you're near an Apple Store) and that way you won't get reamed on their exorbitantly priced memory.
_________________________
Bitt Faulk
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#263236 - 24/08/2005 16:51
Re: Mac Mini as a TV-room media player
[Re: tfabris]
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enthusiast
Registered: 27/09/1999
Posts: 200
Loc: Berkeley, CA
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Quote:
My understanding is that so far it's not as hackable as the regular DirecTivos, that they're still perfecting the features.
TyTool has some trouble with some HD stuff, but everything else pretty much works.
-Z
_________________________
-Zandr
Mk.IIa #010101243 currently getting a 500GB SSD. More spares in the shed.
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#263237 - 24/08/2005 16:53
Re: Mac Mini as a TV-room media player
[Re: n6mod]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 25/12/2000
Posts: 16706
Loc: Raleigh, NC US
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Do you have an HDDirecTivo that you've hacked? If so, please point me at the instructions you used. I desperately need it to make calls over IP ever since I got VoIP phone service.
_________________________
Bitt Faulk
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#263238 - 24/08/2005 16:57
Re: Mac Mini as a TV-room media player
[Re: Dylan]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 25/12/2000
Posts: 16706
Loc: Raleigh, NC US
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Quote:
Even after acquiring all the codecs I could find I still can't play all of the *ahem* adult oriented content i've downloaded from who knows where on the internet.
Download the K-Lite Codec Pack. I've not had any trouble viewing any of my *ahem* adult oriented content since installing it. It includes Real Alternative, Quicktime Alternative, and Media Player Classic, too. I have some issues with MP Classic, though: it's slow when reading from network drives and it resets its zoom setting with each clip it plays.
_________________________
Bitt Faulk
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#263239 - 24/08/2005 17:01
Re: Mac Mini as a TV-room media player
[Re: tfabris]
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addict
Registered: 23/09/2000
Posts: 498
Loc: Virginia, USA
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Divx and xvid have QuickTime plug-ins, which means you can use them in lots of OS X apps. Or, as others have said, there is VLC. Though if you drink the Apple kool-aid you won't like open source apps that don't behave like native OS X apps. (Full disclosure: I've been successfully brain washed by Steve Jobs in the past 6 months.) http://labs.divx.com/archives/000057.htmlhttp://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/25128Those are the codecs. Believe it or not, I actually like the new Real Player for OS X. I'm not sure if it uses QT plug-ins or it's own codecs. But it played the things I've tried so far. Here's a new player that I haven't tried yet that looks promising. It works with QT plug-ins. QT itself is a pretty weak media player. But like Windows Media codecs there are other front ends that have access to the video playback engine.
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#263240 - 24/08/2005 17:04
Re: Mac Mini as a TV-room media player
[Re: wfaulk]
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addict
Registered: 23/09/2000
Posts: 498
Loc: Virginia, USA
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Quote:
Download the K-Lite Codec Pack.
Yes, K-Lite solved all my Windows codec problems but, AFAIK, there's nothing so comprehensive for OS X.
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#263241 - 24/08/2005 17:08
Re: Mac Mini as a TV-room media player
[Re: wfaulk]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 08/06/1999
Posts: 7868
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Quote:
They do, but it's important to note that the addon Airport+Bluetooth costs the exact same amount as if you had it specially configured,
The recent update to the Mac Mini line bumped all models to 512mb RAM, and the $600 price point includes wireless lan and bluetooth now. So the $100 over the $500 model now gets you:
Airport/Bluetooth ($99 option)
80gb hard drive (40gb more space then the $500 model)
1.42 gHz proc instead of 1.25ghz.
Loss of the 56k modem. (the $600 one offers it as a $29 addon, it comes standard at $500)
The only difference between the $600 and $700 model is the 4x DVD (-/+) writer now.
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#263242 - 24/08/2005 20:41
Re: Mac Mini as a TV-room media player
[Re: wfaulk]
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enthusiast
Registered: 27/09/1999
Posts: 200
Loc: Berkeley, CA
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There's a funny code you can use to make it call Tivo over IP, something like ,401# or something.It still has to call DirecTV if you use it for PPV, though. (After some limit in the card is reached, anyway)
As to hacking it, search for 'killhdinitrd' over on Deal Database
That's the way in, and once you've done that, it's not much different than a Series2 DTiVo.
EDIT: Here is the thread you want.
Edited by n6mod (24/08/2005 20:44)
_________________________
-Zandr
Mk.IIa #010101243 currently getting a 500GB SSD. More spares in the shed.
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#263243 - 24/08/2005 21:45
Re: Mac Mini as a TV-room media player
[Re: drakino]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 12/11/2001
Posts: 7738
Loc: Toronto, CANADA
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The Remote Wonder will work with any application so long as it has a standard bundle identifier. MPlayer unfortunately doesn't, but it's easy enough to remedy. I think I'll include instructions on how to do the modification in the release notes for the upcoming version of RW. I've already got profiles made for VLC and MPlayer and a bunch of other programs that I'll throw in as defaults with the next version. The new (forthcoming) Remote Wonder software also supports all three models of remote: original bulky RW, sexier but with horribly small buttons RW2, and the new smaller but with more buttons RW-Plus. And a brand new interface (which like the last, I also designed ) Bruno
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#263244 - 25/08/2005 10:31
Re: Mac Mini as a TV-room media player
[Re: n6mod]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 25/12/2000
Posts: 16706
Loc: Raleigh, NC US
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Quote:
There's a funny code you can use to make it call Tivo over IP
Yeah, I know that part, but I still have to hack it to enable the USB ports.
Quote:
Here is the thread you want.
Thanks!
_________________________
Bitt Faulk
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#263245 - 26/08/2005 05:53
Re: Mac Mini as a TV-room media player
[Re: tfabris]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 20/12/1999
Posts: 31597
Loc: Seattle, WA
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Okay this is THE BUSINESS.
I'm on my couch typing this with an apple bluetooth keyboard, with the bluetooth wireless LED mouse next to me. The thing tracks great on the couch cushion. The internet connection is a secure WPA link to my DSL modem. Finding the wireless adapter's MAC address (for my DSL modem's exclusion list) and inputting the wireless WPA key worked flawlessly the first time. This is really REALLY cool.
The industrial design of this Mac Mini, and the mouse and keyboard I'm using, is fantastic. There are lots of tiny little touches that make this stuff so very cool. Like the DVI-to-VGA adapter has the attachment screws made in a very cute way, they're more like little scroll wheels than twisty-knobs. And the way the power cord plugs into the power brick is cool, how it goes flush with the casing when it's plugged all the way in.
The only problem is the VGA input on my TV accepts only a brain-damaged subset of screen resolutions on the VGA cable, none of which are proper 16:9 resolution. I guess I'm going to have to use the Mac Mini on the TV's DVI input instead, which will accept a better range of screen rezzes. That means the high def Tivo goes Component, which really isn't so bad now that I think about it. I'll probably do that work tomorrow morning some time.
Haven't tried playing any videos on this machine yet. How does one use a Mac to connect to a Windows share on the LAN?
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#263246 - 26/08/2005 11:25
Re: Mac Mini as a TV-room media player
[Re: tfabris]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 27/06/1999
Posts: 7058
Loc: Pittsburgh, PA
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Quote:
How does one use a Mac to connect to a Windows share on the LAN?
From Finder, Command-K then type in smb://servername/sharename
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#263247 - 26/08/2005 12:19
Re: Mac Mini as a TV-room media player
[Re: tfabris]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 25/12/2000
Posts: 16706
Loc: Raleigh, NC US
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Quote:
The only problem is the VGA input on my TV accepts only a brain-damaged subset of screen resolutions on the VGA cable
If you know the timings that your monitor expects, you could try using DisplayConfigX to match it.
_________________________
Bitt Faulk
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#263248 - 26/08/2005 13:15
Re: Mac Mini as a TV-room media player
[Re: wfaulk]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 20/12/1999
Posts: 31597
Loc: Seattle, WA
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Thank you very much, Bitt and Tony. That's fantastic information. I'm going to mess with both of those things today. Next macintosh question: Is there a way to make it so that the keys HOME and END do what I'm used to when in a text edit field? I'm used to using them to jump to the end or beginning of a text line as I'm editing it. They seem to do nothing on the Macintosh. I wonder why the keys are there if they don't do anything. Irritatingly, CTRL+LEFT and CTRL+RIGHT will go to the beginning and end of a line, but I'm used to using those key combinations to jump from word to word in a text edit. So they do the opposite of what I'm used to. I know this isn't Apple's fault that I grew up on Windows. But the question remains.
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#263249 - 26/08/2005 13:21
Re: Mac Mini as a TV-room media player
[Re: tfabris]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 20/12/1999
Posts: 31597
Loc: Seattle, WA
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Gah. Is there a freeware alternative to DisplayConfigX?
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#263250 - 26/08/2005 13:32
Re: Mac Mini as a TV-room media player
[Re: tonyc]
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addict
Registered: 23/09/2000
Posts: 498
Loc: Virginia, USA
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Quote:
Quote:
How does one use a Mac to connect to a Windows share on the LAN?
From Finder, Command-K then type in <a href="smb://servername/sharename" target="_blank">smb://servername/sharename</a>
Command-K... I may have already said this here (I said it in some forum) but I think long time Mac users have a special part of their brain that remembers arcane keystroke combinations. It's all in the menus too but I find it interesting that the OS and user base that popularized the GUI uses so many keyboard shortcuts.
Anyway.... if you've got a share or folder on a network drive that you use a lot, the way I like to make it easily accessible is to drag it over to the lower left pane of the Finder or the right side of your dock. Then it mounts the network drive (including pulling your logon info from Keychain) when you click the folder. This is the closest in concept I've found to mapping a network share to a driver letter in Explorer.
My other Windows to Mac switcher tip is to drag the Applications folder to right side of the dock. Then you can hold a left click on the folder (or right click if you're using a real mouse) and get a Windows Start menu like launcher for your apps. You'll have to grab the Apps folder from the "Machintosh HD" root, not the alias in the left Finder pane.
X vs XP is a useful site for learning how things work differently than Windows.
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#263251 - 26/08/2005 13:33
Re: Mac Mini as a TV-room media player
[Re: Dylan]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 20/12/1999
Posts: 31597
Loc: Seattle, WA
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Ooo, good tips, thanks Dylan.
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#263252 - 26/08/2005 13:43
Re: Mac Mini as a TV-room media player
[Re: Dylan]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 25/12/2000
Posts: 16706
Loc: Raleigh, NC US
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Quote:
I find it interesting that the OS and user base that popularized the GUI uses so many keyboard shortcuts.
It has always been part of the Mac UI design spec, back to the very first one released in '84, for most things to be accessible via the keyboard. The GUI is there for less commonly used features.
The Windows UI design spec states ... uhhh ... is there a Windows UI design spec?
_________________________
Bitt Faulk
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#263253 - 26/08/2005 14:01
Re: Mac Mini as a TV-room media player
[Re: wfaulk]
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addict
Registered: 23/09/2000
Posts: 498
Loc: Virginia, USA
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Quote:
The Windows UI design spec states ... uhhh ... is there a Windows UI design spec?
I came across this interesting article last night on the development of the Win95 UI.
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#263254 - 26/08/2005 14:26
Re: Mac Mini as a TV-room media player
[Re: wfaulk]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 18/01/2000
Posts: 5683
Loc: London, UK
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Quote:
is there a Windows UI design spec?
There certainly used to be one, but I don't know if it's been updated for Windows XP recently. It definitely used to state that there should be a way to accomplish all given tasks using the keyboard.
For most Microsoft apps, this is still the case.
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-- roger
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#263255 - 26/08/2005 14:55
Re: Mac Mini as a TV-room media player
[Re: tfabris]
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member
Registered: 24/10/2000
Posts: 106
Loc: San Jose, CA
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Quote:
How does one use a Mac to connect to a Windows share on the LAN?
You can do this a couple of ways. First way is to browse the network in Finder. Next way (and the way I use) is to use the "Go To" menu entry in Finder and "Go To" a server. It will ask for specific connect info (a URI) or you can browse the network from there.
You can do a connect to smb://servername/sharename at that point
If you want to automatically mount remote shares you can frob your startup/login items in system preferences.
-- Gary F.
_________________________
Eeyore, Original Owner -- Mk II 80 Gb, Blue
S/N #090000803
Tigger, 2nd Owner -- Mk IIa, 80 Gb, Blue
S/N #40103789
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#263256 - 26/08/2005 15:01
Re: Mac Mini as a TV-room media player
[Re: wfaulk]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 08/03/2000
Posts: 12338
Loc: Sterling, VA
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The average Windows user doesn't know most of the keyboard shortcuts, but that doesn't mean there isn't one for nearly everything. Hell, most of the people I run into don't know a single one, including cut/copy/paste. They'll see me using it and stop me so I can show them. It's as if it's the most amazing thing they've ever seen on a computer.
I, on the other hand, wouldn't be able to use a computer if I didn't have Ctrl+x/c/v.
And I'd also be very frustrated with the same shortucts Tony is battling with.
_________________________
Matt
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#263257 - 26/08/2005 15:29
Re: Mac Mini as a TV-room media player
[Re: tfabris]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 27/06/1999
Posts: 7058
Loc: Pittsburgh, PA
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FWIW, Option-left and Option-right do what you expect Ctrl-left and Ctrl-right to do.
As for why Home/End are virtually worthless keys, you got me. Though, since Powerbooks don't have specific Home/End/PgUp/PgDown keys (you have to do Fn-Left for home, Fn-Right for End, etc.) I think maybe they figured "let's make surethe same key combination can be used when people don't have full keyboards." That's just a guess though, it's more likely theyre just trying to be different.
My biggest disappointment with OS X Tiger is that they did little or nothing in the way of adding more keyboard shortcuts. Not necessarily Windows ones, but Windows-like ideas like the ability to use the keyboard to open menu items, sane keyboard behavior in modal dialogs, etc. Sometimes I think Apple needs to understand that just because Microsoft thought of it first (or copied it from Apple and made more use of it, depending on your religious beliefs) doesn't mean it's a bad idea.
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#263258 - 26/08/2005 15:44
Re: Mac Mini as a TV-room media player
[Re: Dignan]
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addict
Registered: 23/12/2002
Posts: 652
Loc: Winston Salem, NC
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Crap, when I work in Photoshop, I've got one hand on the mouse and the other flying across the keyboard. As if Windows doesn't have enough shortcuts, Photoshop multiplies it by 100. My traditional hand-stance is the three fingered jockey on the Shift+Ctrl+Alt buttons.
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#263259 - 26/08/2005 17:33
Re: Mac Mini as a TV-room media player
[Re: Cybjorg]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 08/03/2000
Posts: 12338
Loc: Sterling, VA
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Quote:
Crap, when I work in Photoshop, I've got one hand on the mouse and the other flying across the keyboard. As if Windows doesn't have enough shortcuts, Photoshop multiplies it by 100. My traditional hand-stance is the three fingered jockey on the Shift+Ctrl+Alt buttons.
Hehe, that's exactly what I'm like too. I can't tell you how annoyed I get by this situation: there's a program I use regularly, it involves having multiple windows open, and it doesn't follow the Windows shortcut of Ctrl+W. My biggest gripe with Paint Shop Pro is that it uses Ctrl+F4 to close individual images it has open. Did they not realize that this makes no sense? They've mixed Alt+F4 and Ctrl+W to make a very awkward "shortcut." I shouldn't have to move my hand much at all to hit a shortcut. I usually hit Alt+F4 with my thumb+middle finger, and Ctrl+W with my pinky+middle finger. Ctrl+F4 requires me to move my whole arm in order to pull it off with one hand.
Phew! Sorry, had to vent. I love PSP, but this is the only thing that irritates me about it.
_________________________
Matt
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#263260 - 26/08/2005 17:37
Re: Mac Mini as a TV-room media player
[Re: Dignan]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 25/12/2000
Posts: 16706
Loc: Raleigh, NC US
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Actually, that's one thing I do know about Windows UI design. Some things that can work on both full windows and MDI windows use the same keystroke except with Alt for full windows and Ctrl for MDI windows. You'll find a lot of things that use Ctrl-F4. Most of them probably also use Ctrl-W, but I think that's a more recent one popularized by Netscape, honestly.
Also, feel free to blame the designers of the IBM PC-AT for putting your Control key in an awkward location.
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Bitt Faulk
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#263261 - 26/08/2005 18:07
Re: Mac Mini as a TV-room media player
[Re: wfaulk]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 08/03/2000
Posts: 12338
Loc: Sterling, VA
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Interesting. That makes sense. I guess I just haven't run into that keystroke very often, and find Ctrl+W so nice to have that it sticks out when I can't use it. Quote:
Also, feel free to blame the designers of the IBM PC-AT for putting your Control key in an awkward location.
Ctrl+F4 is the only thing I've ever found it awkward for. Otherwise, it's very easy to rest my pinky on it and use my index and middle finger for the other keys.
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Matt
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#263262 - 26/08/2005 18:38
Re: Mac Mini as a TV-room media player
[Re: Dignan]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 25/12/2000
Posts: 16706
Loc: Raleigh, NC US
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Those of us with real computers have the Control key immediately to the left of the A key. Much easier to use and it puts the nigh useless CapsLock well out of the way so as to avoid being accidentally hit.
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Bitt Faulk
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#263263 - 26/08/2005 19:29
Re: Mac Mini as a TV-room media player
[Re: wfaulk]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 08/06/1999
Posts: 7868
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Quote:
Most of them probably also use Ctrl-W, but I think that's a more recent one popularized by Netscape, honestly.
I think this mostly came from the Mac side, where Apple-Q quits programs, and Apple-W closes windows.
Oh, Tony, quick spelling checker hint for Safari, right or control click a form, go to Spelling, and turn on "Check Spelling as You Type". That will be saved in Safari preferences and turn on the red underline for mis spelled lines. I'm not sure why that isn't on by default like it seems to be in every other text area in the OS.
Also, you can right click any word anywhere and get Search in Google, Spotlight, or a dictionary lookup. In the dictionary application preferences, you can set the popup to be a little tab that open from the word instead of being in a seperate window.
http://macosxhints.com/ is a great hints site for all kinds of things that I try to eyebal at least once a week.
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#263264 - 26/08/2005 20:09
Re: Mac Mini as a TV-room media player
[Re: Dylan]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 23/09/2000
Posts: 3608
Loc: Minnetonka, MN
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Quote:
My other Windows to Mac switcher tip is to drag the Applications folder to right side of the dock. Then you can hold a left click on the folder (or right click if you're using a real mouse) and get a Windows Start menu like launcher for your apps. You'll have to grab the Apps folder from the "Machintosh HD" root, not the alias in the left Finder pane.
Thanks for this tip that is a great idea.
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Matt
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#263265 - 26/08/2005 21:01
As long as we are talking mac keyboard shortcuts....
[Re: msaeger]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 23/09/2000
Posts: 3608
Loc: Minnetonka, MN
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As long as we are talking mac keyboard shortcuts....
With windows in firefox or IE I can type empegbbs then hit control + enter and it puts in the www .com parts is there a combo on the mac that will do this ?
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Matt
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#263266 - 26/08/2005 21:42
Re: Mac Mini as a TV-room media player
[Re: drakino]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 20/12/1999
Posts: 31597
Loc: Seattle, WA
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Quote:
right or control click a form, go to Spelling, and turn on "Check Spelling as You Type".
Works great, thanks!
Too bad that new fancy mouse doesn't have a wireless option yet. I'm stuck with the 1-button wireless mouse at the moment.
Now, another macnewbie question. In Windows you press ALT plus a letter to select a menu item. I can't seem to get the menu items on the mac to be keyboard-selectable like that. Do I have to use the mouse for all menus?
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#263267 - 27/08/2005 00:24
Re: Mac Mini as a TV-room media player
[Re: tfabris]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 27/06/1999
Posts: 7058
Loc: Pittsburgh, PA
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Quote:
Now, another macnewbie question. In Windows you press ALT plus a letter to select a menu item. I can't seem to get the menu items on the mac to be keyboard-selectable like that. Do I have to use the mouse for all menus?
Yup. See my post above re: Apple not taking cues from the few good things Microsoft does to Windows.
You can, in many apps, set Keyboard shortcuts for menu items. Also, if you go into System Preferences, Keyboard & Mouse, Keyboard Shortcuts you can set up shortcuts for specific apps that way. But there's no way to navigate the menus with the keyboard the way you can in Windows. There might be a 3rd party app out there to do it, but I haven't seen it.
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#263268 - 27/08/2005 05:38
Re: Mac Mini as a TV-room media player
[Re: tfabris]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 08/06/1999
Posts: 7868
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Quote:
Too bad that new fancy mouse doesn't have a wireless option yet.
You do know that you can use any other bluetooth mouse out there as well. I myself use a Logitech MX900 on my Mac, and it works just fine to allow me to avoid the control-clicking to get context menus open. That, and I love having a scroll wheel. (Or a scrolling method on a touchpad).
Quote:
I can't seem to get the menu items on the mac to be keyboard-selectable like that. Do I have to use the mouse for all menus?
System Preferences, Keyboard and Mouse, Keyboard Shortcuts. There, I see "Move Focus to the Menu Bar" defaulted to Ctrl-F2. Once thats selected, arrow keys work to navigate all the menus.
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#263269 - 27/08/2005 10:57
Re: Mac Mini as a TV-room media player
[Re: drakino]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 27/06/1999
Posts: 7058
Loc: Pittsburgh, PA
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Quote:
System Preferences, Keyboard and Mouse, Keyboard Shortcuts. There, I see "Move Focus to the Menu Bar" defaulted to Ctrl-F2. Once thats selected, arrow keys work to navigate all the menus.
Hn, I stand corrected. Being able to jump right to each menu individually the way you can in Windows would be a bit more useful, but at least they're starting to get the idea.
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#263270 - 27/08/2005 18:08
Re: Mac Mini as a TV-room media player
[Re: Dylan]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 17/12/2000
Posts: 2665
Loc: Manteca, California
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Quote:
Command-K... I may have already said this here (I said it in some forum) but I think long time Mac users have a special part of their brain that remembers arcane keystroke combinations.
Sometimes it's just easier to quote the shortcut, than to tell some one, Go the the menu bar, select XXX... and so on. Especially if it's a newbie who hasn't learned GUI jargon yet. That kind of thing gets to be self sustaining.
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Glenn
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#263271 - 30/08/2005 23:36
Re: Mac Mini as a TV-room media player
[Re: Dignan]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 12/11/2001
Posts: 7738
Loc: Toronto, CANADA
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There's no keyboard shortcut in Windows for creating a new folder. That's been sore-spot with me since Win95. And I haven't noticed anyone release any freeware to correct it.
And on the Mac the shortcut to rename a file or folder is Return/Enter. Which I'd prefer would allow me to launch instead of having to use cmd-O for Open.
Bruno
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#263272 - 30/08/2005 23:42
Re: Mac Mini as a TV-room media player
[Re: hybrid8]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 08/03/2000
Posts: 12338
Loc: Sterling, VA
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Quote:
And on the Mac the shortcut to rename a file or folder is Return/Enter. Which I'd prefer would allow me to launch instead of having to use cmd-O for Open.
Wow, that would annoy the hell out of me. That would probably turn me off right there. Why would they make it so difficult? I mean, it isn't very logical to assign the more common action to the more difficult keystroke.
I agree that it would be very nice to have a "new folder" shortcut. It hasn't bothered me too much, as it's nice that "folder" is always the first item in the "new" list.
I'm still interested in trying out Macs, but unfortunately not interested enough to spend the money that would otherwise go towards new components for a new PC. For the amount I'd spend on a mini, I'd be able to buy the Shuttle and CPU that I want, and have a little left over for the video card.
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Matt
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#263273 - 30/08/2005 23:50
Re: Mac Mini as a TV-room media player
[Re: drakino]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 12/11/2001
Posts: 7738
Loc: Toronto, CANADA
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You can also turn on Full Keyboard Access and allow selection of all controls with the tab key and cursor keys. Just make sure you remember that SPACEBAR selects/activates the currently highlighted item and that RETURN selects/activates the default item. That's a little unintuitive to me, but so many things on the Mac are. I'm still keeping all digits crossed hoping for a good text editor in the style of TextPad, UltraEdit or EmEditor. BBEdit and TextWrangler or anything else on the Mac are just not there (it's one of the reasons I use VNC/RDC a lot to my PC). Worst of all is any editor using Apple's built-in text controls. Ugh. Scrolling a page causes the view to jump around instead of moving smoothly line by line. So Tony, how is the video playback now that you've set everything up? Bruno
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#263274 - 31/08/2005 02:15
Re: Mac Mini as a TV-room media player
[Re: Dignan]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 25/12/2000
Posts: 16706
Loc: Raleigh, NC US
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Honestly, if an icon is selected, chances are you just clicked on it, and it's easier to click on it again (quickly) than to press return. So it seems to me that the more common thing has gotten the quicker accelerator, since it's more likely that you're scrolling through icons with the arrow keys to rename them than to open them.
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Bitt Faulk
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#263275 - 31/08/2005 02:41
Re: Mac Mini as a TV-room media player
[Re: wfaulk]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 08/03/2000
Posts: 12338
Loc: Sterling, VA
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Yes, that's the more common thing if you are navigating with the mouse, but if you have your right hand on the keyboard where the enter/return key is located, chances are that you got to that directory with the arrow keys.
The way I operate, I usually have my left hand firmly planted while using the computer. It may move slightly to reach some keys (function keys, perhaps), but otherwise it's either sitting on ASDF or layed somewhere aroung those keys. The right hand is the workout hand. It's the one I see as performing double duty on the mouse/keyboard/numpad.
That's how I operate, but I suspect that this is how Windows was intended to be used. You'll notice that the majority of the common shortcuts use the keys intended for the left hand (X, C, V, Z, S, W, and R for example).
That's just the way I do it, I can't speak for anyone else. So no, there is almost no time that I've gone to a directory by mouse and would find it more convenient to press enter/return than use my left hand to press the F2 key.
Damn, we've gotten into a religious debate, haven't we? I just want to say that I find this discussion very interesting, and I'm interested in how others operate their computers on this level. I've described how I use Windows, what's the feel on Macs?
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Matt
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#263276 - 31/08/2005 02:46
Re: Mac Mini as a TV-room media player
[Re: Dignan]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 25/12/2000
Posts: 16706
Loc: Raleigh, NC US
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Personally, I find that all GUI-based systems are easy to use for beginners but difficult to use for experts. But that describes both the WIndows and Mac markets, in my opinion. At least Apple has put some power-usability into its OSes for quite some time in the form of AppleScript, or has at least tried to. Automating anything on a Windows machine is an exercise in aggravation.
Quote:
So no, there is almost no time that I've gone to a directory by mouse and would find it more convenient to press enter/return than use my left hand to press the F2 key.
Well, no, but if you're seriously going to rename a file using only your left hand, then you're probably not in much of a rush to begin with.
Edited by wfaulk (31/08/2005 02:49)
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Bitt Faulk
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#263277 - 31/08/2005 05:19
Re: Mac Mini as a TV-room media player
[Re: wfaulk]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 08/03/2000
Posts: 12338
Loc: Sterling, VA
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Quote:
Well, no, but if you're seriously going to rename a file using only your left hand, then you're probably not in much of a rush to begin with.
That is true. I can see some reasoning for it, although I would still say that with how Windows operates, it would still be an unintiutive action for the enter key, which is generally used to perform actions, usually the same actions as the left mouse button. switching up the use of the key would be confusing. F2, on the other hand, is used in many applications as a rename key (I use it in Excel all the time).
Quote:
Personally, I find that all GUI-based systems are easy to use for beginners but difficult to use for experts.
That sounds like a good assessment.
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Matt
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#263278 - 31/08/2005 05:51
Re: Mac Mini as a TV-room media player
[Re: hybrid8]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 18/01/2000
Posts: 5683
Loc: London, UK
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Quote:
There's no keyboard shortcut in Windows for creating a new folder.
Alt+F, W, F.
Or: Press the context menu key (that one between the right-hand Windows key and the right-hand Ctrl key). W, F.
OK, it's three keypresses, but it's still pretty quick.
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-- roger
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#263279 - 31/08/2005 06:31
Re: Mac Mini as a TV-room media player
[Re: hybrid8]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 20/12/1999
Posts: 31597
Loc: Seattle, WA
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Quote:
instead of having to use cmd-O for Open.
Ah! Was wondering about that. My first instinct when creating a new folder is to press ENTER after naming the thing, which of course just name-edits it again. Was wondering what the keyboard option to open that folder was.
Quote:
So Tony, how is the video playback now that you've set everything up?
Paraphrasing what I said in the other thread: With Quicktime, video playback is terrible, because the Divx and Xvid codecs don't seem to work right. I have some Divx video files of my own musical performances, and they don't play right. So I simply installed Mplayer and all is well, that works fine for video playback.
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#263280 - 31/08/2005 07:20
Re: Mac Mini as a TV-room media player
[Re: Dignan]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 08/06/1999
Posts: 7868
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Quote:
I'm still interested in trying out Macs, but unfortunately not interested enough to spend the money that would otherwise go towards new components for a new PC. For the amount I'd spend on a mini, I'd be able to buy the Shuttle and CPU that I want, and have a little left over for the video card.
Well, you could always test drive a Mac Mini for 30 days and return it if you don't like it. Honestly, no amount of talk on the web is going to convince you. I personally tinkered with OS X on release day for about 3 hours at the local Apple Reseller. That experience allowed me to justify $500 on a used iMac. From there, I got to know the OS better, and also started to notice some nice Apple designs. The iMac I had was completely fan less and very quiet. From there, I sold the iMac for $600, bought a G4 Cube for about $700 and started using the Mac for more and more things. When it finally came time to replace my PC laptop, it was replaced with the Powerbook, and I don't regret that decision in any way. But none of it would have likely happened had I not taken the initial dive and got the iMac to see how things would work.
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#263281 - 31/08/2005 13:01
Re: Mac Mini as a TV-room media player
[Re: Dignan]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 25/12/2000
Posts: 16706
Loc: Raleigh, NC US
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Quote:
with how Windows operates, it would still be an unintiutive action for the enter key, which is generally used to perform actions, usually the same actions as the left mouse button. switching up the use of the key would be confusing. F2, on the other hand, is used in many applications as a rename key (I use it in Excel all the time).
?
Apple shortcuts are unintuitive because someone else does it differently? I can understand the argument that it would be difficult for you to transistion, but claiming that they're inherently unintuitive is disingenuous.
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Bitt Faulk
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#263282 - 31/08/2005 15:14
Re: Mac Mini as a TV-room media player
[Re: wfaulk]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 08/03/2000
Posts: 12338
Loc: Sterling, VA
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Quote:
Quote:
with how Windows operates, it would still be an unintiutive action for the enter key, which is generally used to perform actions, usually the same actions as the left mouse button. switching up the use of the key would be confusing. F2, on the other hand, is used in many applications as a rename key (I use it in Excel all the time).
?
Apple shortcuts are unintuitive because someone else does it differently? I can understand the argument that it would be difficult for you to transistion, but claiming that they're inherently unintuitive is disingenuous.
That's not what I said. At least, that's not what I meant. I appologize, I'm not getting enough sleep this week and I can't seem to get my thoughts out straight.
Forget any comparing to Windows. My complaint, in this specific instance, was that the behavior of the enter key as the keystroke for renaming a file is unintuitive. However, I have a question: is it generally the case that, in the rest of the OS, the enter key is used to rename items? If that is not the case, then I find this to be a poor use for that key. If the same key performs completely unrelated actions depending on the context, I find that unintuitive. But remember, I'm only talking about this one key, and just on MacOS. I am not saying that the entire OS is unintuitive. I'm certainly not saying that there is no unintuitive behavior on a Windows OS (that would be impossible to claim).
So that's enough of this crazy debate over a tiny thing like how the enter key behaves. I appologize for going all crazy on it. It's just that I generally pride myself in at least being able to get around Windows quicker than most (my boss and coworkers are always pretty impressed), so little things like shortcuts and keyboard actions are extremely important to me.
THAT SAID...
Tom, thank you very much for informing me of that Mac Mini trial. You are correct, no amount of convincing here could make me interested in a Mac because I'm actually already interested! Really, I am! If it weren't for the money issue, this program probably would have tipped me over the edge already.
The problem is, even after a trial, I still wouldn't be able to justify the expense. I don't have much money to spend on something like this right now. I'm saving up to buy an apartment, and any disposable income goes to either my social life or tech stuff that I see an immediate need for. Therefore, my next PC purchase will remain a PC, as it is more cost effective. I can update my computer now for FAR less money than buying a whole new compareable Mac.
Again, sorry for all the annoying posts about enter keys
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Matt
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#263283 - 31/08/2005 16:20
Re: Mac Mini as a TV-room media player
[Re: Dignan]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 25/12/2000
Posts: 16706
Loc: Raleigh, NC US
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No problem. I get caught up in stupid debates for no reason sometimes.
That said, I'm not sure where else in the OS you could rename files.
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Bitt Faulk
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#263284 - 31/08/2005 19:30
Re: Mac Mini as a TV-room media player
[Re: Roger]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 08/07/1999
Posts: 5549
Loc: Ajijic, Mexico
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Alt+F, W, F.
Only from within "Windows Explorer" or "My Computer" If you are out "on the desktop" so to speak, I don't think you can create a new folder without using the mouse.
tanstaafl.
_________________________
"There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch"
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#263285 - 31/08/2005 19:35
Re: Mac Mini as a TV-room media player
[Re: tanstaafl.]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 08/03/2000
Posts: 12338
Loc: Sterling, VA
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Quote:
If you are out "on the desktop" so to speak, I don't think you can create a new folder without using the mouse.
Quote:
Or: Press the context menu key (that one between the right-hand Windows key and the right-hand Ctrl key). W, F.
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Matt
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#263286 - 31/08/2005 19:45
Re: Mac Mini as a TV-room media player
[Re: Dignan]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 08/07/1999
Posts: 5549
Loc: Ajijic, Mexico
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Or: Press the context menu key (that one between the right-hand Windows key and the right-hand Ctrl key). W, F.
Ummm... I have some little difficulty doing that... 
And, yes, I have macros programmed into every one of those programmable keys!
tanstaafl.
Attachments
263803-mck142.jpg (405 downloads)
Edited by tanstaafl. (31/08/2005 19:51)
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#263287 - 31/08/2005 19:53
Re: Mac Mini as a TV-room media player
[Re: tanstaafl.]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 08/03/2000
Posts: 12338
Loc: Sterling, VA
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That makes sense It appears that your only other option in that case is Shift+F10. Let me be the first one to say that that is an awkward keystroke I'm sure this has probably been posted before, but I haven't really thought about how long it is. I'll have to look through those sometime to see if there are any that I might want to use... I'm still annoyed that I can't bring up my start menu at home with a middle-button mouseclick.
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Matt
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#263288 - 01/09/2005 01:19
Re: Mac Mini as a TV-room media player
[Re: Dignan]
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addict
Registered: 10/11/2000
Posts: 497
Loc: Utah, USA
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Tony said: Quote:
Was wondering what the keyboard option to open that folder was
On the Mac, besides Cmd-O, you can also do Cmd-down arrow.
Dignan said:Quote:
I'm still annoyed that I can't bring up my start menu at home with a middle-button mouseclick.
Tried Ctrl-Esc?
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-Aaron
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#263289 - 01/09/2005 03:31
Re: Mac Mini as a TV-room media player
[Re: adavidw]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 08/03/2000
Posts: 12338
Loc: Sterling, VA
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Quote:
Dignan said:Quote:
I'm still annoyed that I can't bring up my start menu at home with a middle-button mouseclick.
Tried Ctrl-Esc?
Yeah, long story. I had a long thread about it a while ago. Basically Logitech took the option out of their software. It was there in Mouseware, not in Setpoint. Ctrl+Esc can't be entered because Esc escapes out of the configuration window. Oh well. I think people are working on user-made addons.
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Matt
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#263290 - 01/09/2005 14:40
Re: Mac Mini as a TV-room media player
[Re: drakino]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 08/03/2000
Posts: 12338
Loc: Sterling, VA
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Quote:
Well, you could always test drive a Mac Mini for 30 days and return it if you don't like it.
Well, that idea is out. That's a shame.
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Matt
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#263291 - 08/09/2005 06:47
Re: Mac Mini as a TV-room media player
[Re: tfabris]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 20/12/1999
Posts: 31597
Loc: Seattle, WA
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Okay, here's another question. Some menu items show me that I can use a keyboard shortcut to open them. For instance, here in Safari, the keyboard shortcut for "Reload Page" is swizzlestick-R. Dunno what the real name for the four-leaf-clover symbol is, I call it swizzlestick. Sue me. Anyway... Some of the menu items have another shortcut symbol to the left of the swizzlestick thingy. It looks kind of like this: Code:
_ _
\_
What the heck key is that? I don't see one labeled that on my keyboard.
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#263292 - 08/09/2005 07:38
Re: Mac Mini as a TV-room media player
[Re: tfabris]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 23/08/2000
Posts: 3826
Loc: SLC, UT, USA
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That's the symbol for the Option key. Think of it as the Alt key on PCs.
PS... the swizlestick is called the command key, or apple key (technically the OPEN apple key... ahh remember the days of the open AND closed apple keys?)
PPS... RTFHD... in the Finder type cmd-? and in the search box type "symbols special keys". You should get a help entry that shows all the command key symbols. The Mac Help docs are pretty amazing and have tons of info... give 'em a search! There's even entries on full keyboard control.
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#263293 - 08/09/2005 08:26
Re: Mac Mini as a TV-room media player
[Re: loren]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 08/06/1999
Posts: 7868
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Quote:
or apple key (technically the OPEN apple key... ahh remember the days of the open AND closed apple keys?)
I still get strange looks when I call it open apple when I'm at my local Mac reseller. Guess I haven't moved on from that term yet, even though a shop selling Apple hardware since resellers existed has moved on.
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#263294 - 08/09/2005 13:32
Re: Mac Mini as a TV-room media player
[Re: drakino]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 25/12/2000
Posts: 16706
Loc: Raleigh, NC US
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Ah, Open Apple-Ctrl-Reset. The first three-finger salute.
_________________________
Bitt Faulk
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#263295 - 08/09/2005 18:24
Re: Mac Mini as a TV-room media player
[Re: loren]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 20/12/1999
Posts: 31597
Loc: Seattle, WA
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Quote:
That's the symbol for the Option key. Think of it as the Alt key on PCs.
My keyboard has both an Option and and Alt key. If I remember correctly (it's upstairs and I'm not), they're two different things.
So if the menu shortcut says
-\_ <clover> W
Should I be pressing ALT CLOVER W or should I be pression OPTION CLOVER W?
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#263296 - 08/09/2005 18:27
Re: Mac Mini as a TV-room media player
[Re: tfabris]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 25/12/2000
Posts: 16706
Loc: Raleigh, NC US
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Does your "Option" key not have the -\_ thing on it? Regardless, -\_ is Option, Cloverleaf is Command, and Alt is Alt.
Edit: Or does Option also say Alt on it? I think it might. Regardless, -\_ is Option and Cloverleaf is Command. I don't think I've ever heard anyone talk about Alt with Macs.
_________________________
Bitt Faulk
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#263297 - 08/09/2005 19:22
Re: Mac Mini as a TV-room media player
[Re: wfaulk]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 23/08/2000
Posts: 3826
Loc: SLC, UT, USA
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On most mac keyboards, the option key also has alt written on it.
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#263298 - 08/09/2005 20:44
Re: Mac Mini as a TV-room media player
[Re: loren]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 20/12/1999
Posts: 31597
Loc: Seattle, WA
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Ah. I was getting "control" and "option" mixed up.
Yeah, the three keys to the left of my space bar are, in order from left to right:
1. Control
2. Alt Option (no symbol)
3. Aplle Cloverleaf.
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#263299 - 09/09/2005 00:53
Re: Mac Mini as a TV-room media player
[Re: tfabris]
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old hand
Registered: 15/02/2002
Posts: 1049
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The cloverleaf is called the "Command" key, and its use is pronounced "Command R", or whatever.
FWIW,
Jim
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#263300 - 16/09/2005 06:19
IM Clients
[Re: tfabris]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 20/12/1999
Posts: 31597
Loc: Seattle, WA
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So what's the best all-in-one Instant Messenger client for OS X?
I googled a few, but they all seem to have limitations compared to Trillian. One says it won't do IRC except through redirection from a Jabber server or some such. Another says it won't allow multiple different account connections to the same network. Another requires that I install and X Windows server onto OS X in order to work.
Anyone have preferences?
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#263301 - 16/09/2005 08:02
Re: IM Clients
[Re: tfabris]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 13/07/2000
Posts: 4180
Loc: Cambridge, England
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Quote:
Anyone have preferences?
I use Gaim on Linux and Windows, but I suspect that's the one you refer to as needing an X server. Gaim's own FAQ refers people made nervous by this, to Adium.
Peter
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#263302 - 16/09/2005 09:56
Re: IM Clients
[Re: tfabris]
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addict
Registered: 05/05/2000
Posts: 623
Loc: Cambridge
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I use proteus. It's the prettiest of the lot and has some nice features which has lead to it gaining a reputation for putting new features over fixing bugs, but it was taken over by new developers a year or so ago and it has become very stable. There's no IRC support that I'm aware of, but it supports more or less every IM network and does allow multiple accounts for the same network. http://www.defaultware.com/proteus/
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#263303 - 16/09/2005 11:44
Re: IM Clients
[Re: peter]
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old hand
Registered: 07/01/2005
Posts: 893
Loc: Sector ZZ9pZa
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A second vote for Adium from me. I find its quite well thought out and a nice balance of configurability and simplicity. You get nice message notifications if you install Growl alongside it. Plus, its based on libgaim, so there are many network plugins around and its fairly stable.
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#263304 - 16/09/2005 11:56
Re: IM Clients
[Re: tfabris]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 27/06/1999
Posts: 7058
Loc: Pittsburgh, PA
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Adium is the king. I highly recommend the Strong Bad icon/sound sets.
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#263305 - 16/09/2005 12:22
Re: IM Clients
[Re: tfabris]
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enthusiast
Registered: 18/02/2002
Posts: 335
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I was thinking about using a mini to do something similar and have a few questions. I spent about thirty minutes drooling over a mini the other day and im thinking about buying one.
Can you let us know what you ended up running resolution wise? Were you able to get 16:9 resolution? What type of tv set is this? Is there something that can do dvd streaming with menus over SMB ?
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#263306 - 16/09/2005 13:41
Re: IM Clients
[Re: tonyc]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 23/08/2000
Posts: 3826
Loc: SLC, UT, USA
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Ditto for Adium, but for video and audio chat iChat is pretty damned amazing.
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#263307 - 16/09/2005 17:19
Re: IM Clients
[Re: eliceo]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 20/12/1999
Posts: 31597
Loc: Seattle, WA
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Thanks, everyone, for your suggestions. I shall try Proteus first, because multiple accounts per service is critical to me (more so than IRC for the mac. I don't necessarily need IRC in the living room).
Now, to answer eliceo:
Quote:
Can you let us know what you ended up running resolution wise? Were you able to get 16:9 resolution?
Yes, I am running the native 16:9 resolution of the panel, 1366x768. It works and looks perfect.
The catch is: I tried getting that resolution from the analog VGA connector, and couldn't, even with using a third-party utility to set custom resolutions and refresh rates. The only way I could get the mac to properly feed the TV at its native resolution was to use the digital DVI connection to the TV set. Then everything just worked perfectly with no futzing.
The irony is, the reason I didn't do that in the first place was because I had the Tivo hooked up to the DVI connector. And the Tivo had its own set of problems with the DVI connection that were making me mad. Simply switching the Tivo the component connector solved all THOSE problems too, and the quality is fine. So I killed two birds with one stone by switching the Mac to the DVI connector.
Quote:
What type of tv set is this?
I wanted a different one, couldn't get it, and had to settle for a Polaroid 32" flat-panel LCD. I don't remember the model number, but it was only about $1600.00.
Quote:
Is there something that can do dvd streaming with menus over SMB ?
I don't know about DVD streaming specifically, but I a) Would just shove the disc in the slot on the front of the mac and up comes the mac DVD player, and b) don't use the mac to watch DVDs anyway because I compared picture quality with the stand-alone DVD player, and I liked the look of the stand-alone DVD player better.
The main thing I discovered was that trying to get certain sorts of media playing in Mac Quicktime was a PITA, so I just gave up and installed MPlayer, and now I'm happy as a clam and can play essentially any video format. I'm sure that there's a player (perhaps even quicktime, the mac DVD player, or Mplayer) that'll play the DVD VOB files directly across the network if that's what you want. I've never tried it, the only media files I play are Divx and Quicktime and such.
Oh, and one other trick:
I couldn't get any sound out of MacMAME. Didn't know why. Turns out that you need to go into the main system control panel and set the MIDI synthesizer sampling rate to 44.1khz instead of 96khz which is the default. Just wanted to put that out there in case anyone else is getting a Mini.
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#263308 - 16/09/2005 17:25
Re: IM Clients
[Re: tfabris]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 27/06/1999
Posts: 7058
Loc: Pittsburgh, PA
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Quote:
because multiple accounts per service is critical to me
Adium supports multiple accounts per service, FWIW.
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#263309 - 16/09/2005 17:32
Re: IM Clients
[Re: eliceo]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 25/12/2000
Posts: 16706
Loc: Raleigh, NC US
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Quote:
Is there something that can do dvd streaming with menus over SMB?
Have you tried VLC? It doesn't use SMB (and I'm inclined to say that SMB's a bad choice for that anyway), but it does claim to support streaming DVDs. I'm not sure if it does menus, but it's worth a shot.
_________________________
Bitt Faulk
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#263310 - 16/09/2005 17:56
Re: IM Clients
[Re: tfabris]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 08/06/1999
Posts: 7868
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Another vote for Adium here as well. I used to use Proteus (version 2-4), but got tired of the problems with it and moved to Adium 0.80. Managed to keep all my history with a Proteus to Adium converter, and now since Adium keeps each chat session as a separate file, I can search for things via spotlight.
IRC, I use X-Chat Aqua. Works identically to X-Chat, but adds a few Aqua interface specific things.
Most multi IM programs on the Mac don't include IRC, or they do a poor job of it. Jabber conference room support in Adium isn't all that great either currently, but plans are in place to make it better for 0.90.
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#263311 - 16/09/2005 18:04
Re: IM Clients
[Re: tfabris]
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enthusiast
Registered: 18/02/2002
Posts: 335
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I can play vobs over smb right now. What I would really like is a way to play dvds with menu support using DVD-->HDMI input. Im surprised that the mac didnt look better than a regular dvd player especially when using DVI. Hrmm. On the other hand wireless stuff on my tv would be sweet too.
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#263312 - 16/09/2005 18:05
Re: IM Clients
[Re: wfaulk]
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enthusiast
Registered: 18/02/2002
Posts: 335
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I'll check that out when I get home. Why do you think SMB is a bad choice?
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#263313 - 16/09/2005 18:09
Re: IM Clients
[Re: eliceo]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 25/12/2000
Posts: 16706
Loc: Raleigh, NC US
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It's neither a high-throughput filesystem nor responsive to sluggishness.
That is, a system that is designed to stream video will respond to congestion or other slowness by lowering quality. Reading a file directly from a normal network filesystem is going to skip and jerk and pause and otherwise screw up when something bad happens, which it will.
I guess what I'm saying is that for a DVD player app, you don't really care about every little piece of data. If you miss a few, it's not so bad. You want it to keep progressing in real time through the media. On the other hand, SMB is going to try to get you every bit of data, in order, no matter how long it takes, and no matter if that one bit halfway through is going to take three hours, blocking the rest. (Obviously, the app could do more random file access than that, but something like WiMP isn't going to.)
_________________________
Bitt Faulk
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#263314 - 16/09/2005 18:26
Re: IM Clients
[Re: tonyc]
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pooh-bah
Registered: 12/02/2002
Posts: 2298
Loc: Berkeley, California
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Another vote for Adium. Never tried the others, but I was happy with Adium and even happier with the last upgrade. It's so much prettier than any windows IM client, and on top of that works better too. The logging and the aliases are what I really like.
Matthew
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#263315 - 16/09/2005 18:26
Re: IM Clients
[Re: wfaulk]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 25/12/2000
Posts: 16706
Loc: Raleigh, NC US
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I have been taken to task elsewhere for implying that SMB sucks. However, if you can play VOBs via SMB currently, then you can use a utility to extract the DVD data to your hard drive (DVDShrink comes to mind) and use a number of DVD players to play that instead of a disc. I believe VLC will do it, but I'm sure there are other choices, too.
_________________________
Bitt Faulk
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#263316 - 16/09/2005 18:32
Re: IM Clients
[Re: tonyc]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 20/12/1999
Posts: 31597
Loc: Seattle, WA
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Hm. Okay, I'll try both Adium and Proteus. Thanks.
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#263317 - 18/09/2005 11:42
Re: IM Clients
[Re: tfabris]
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addict
Registered: 05/05/2000
Posts: 623
Loc: Cambridge
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You might want to try Colloquy for IRC. http://colloquy.info/
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#263318 - 18/09/2005 12:27
Re: IM Clients
[Re: matthew_k]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 24/01/2002
Posts: 3937
Loc: Providence, RI
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And Adium does Zephyr if you're crazy enough to be from somewhere that uses it, so Adium has big points in my book.
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#263319 - 21/09/2005 05:20
Re: IM Clients
[Re: Daria]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 20/12/1999
Posts: 31597
Loc: Seattle, WA
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Okay, yeah, Adium is the business.
There's only one thing I'd like to do with it that I can't figure out how. I want to take all the ICQ names and have it change the "number" into the "nick". Even if I go View, Contact Name format, User Name (Alias), I don't see their nick unless I manually edit the alias and paste their nick in there by hand. Tedious.
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#263320 - 21/09/2005 06:11
Mail Checkers
[Re: tfabris]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 20/12/1999
Posts: 31597
Loc: Seattle, WA
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Okay, that's sorted. Now on to Mail Checkers.
I'm looking for a universal mail checker for OSX that will check Hotmail, Gmail, and Yahoo mail accounts, and notify me. As a bonus, maybe it could actually launch that account and sign into it for me. Right now, Trillian does all that for me on the PC side (Yahoo and Hotmail are native, Gmail is a plug in).
I just tried "eCheck 0.5" and it's, um, bad. It gets odd error messages that overflow its user interface and cause the program to malfunction. I'm now wondering how to deinstall the thing.
Anyone got any ideas?
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#263321 - 21/09/2005 09:44
Re: Mail Checkers
[Re: tfabris]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 08/06/1999
Posts: 7868
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Quote:
I'm looking for a universal mail checker for OSX that will check Hotmail, Gmail, and Yahoo mail accounts, and notify me.
Well, OS X is Unix, and there are a ton of programs out there that will suck mail down from Yahoo and Hotmail. GMail can be forwarded elsewhere, and also allows POP, so any normal POP checker should work with it.
Specifically, I use FetchYahoo and Hotwayd (with fetchmail) on my server to help users have all their mail on my service, while keeping their established e-mail addresses ay Yahoo and Hotmail. FetchYahoo just runs as a script, and Hotwayd runs as a service turning a Hotmail account into a POP accessible one. Both programs should allow redirection of e-mail to somewhere else, including a local file that Mail.app will be happy with.
While it may not be the exact answer you want, it may be a suggestion into a way of changing how you read your e-mail off these free services.
Oh, and random GMail hint. drakino+empegbbs @ gmail.com is a perfectly valid address. It seems GMail uses the + to allow the creation of throwaway addresses. If I didn't already have this on my own server, I'd be very tempted by that to move to GMail.
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#263322 - 21/09/2005 16:24
Re: Mail Checkers
[Re: drakino]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 20/12/1999
Posts: 31597
Loc: Seattle, WA
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Well, I'm specifically wanting to keep those as webmail services, and most emphatically, deliberataly, and specifically NOT forwarding them or POP-retrieving mail from them. All I want is new mail notification for those locations.
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#263323 - 21/09/2005 17:40
Re: Mail Checkers
[Re: tfabris]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 19/01/2002
Posts: 3584
Loc: Columbus, OH
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Quote:
Well, I'm specifically wanting to keep those as webmail services, and most emphatically, deliberataly, and specifically NOT forwarding them or POP-retrieving mail from them. All I want is new mail notification for those locations.
masochist.
_________________________
~ John
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#263324 - 21/09/2005 17:55
Re: Mail Checkers
[Re: tfabris]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 25/12/2000
Posts: 16706
Loc: Raleigh, NC US
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You could go to eCheck's web site and click on "Un-installing eCheck". However, it has existed for less than a month. Give the guy a bug report.
_________________________
Bitt Faulk
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#263325 - 22/09/2005 02:02
Re: Mail Checkers
[Re: wfaulk]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 12/11/2001
Posts: 7738
Loc: Toronto, CANADA
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It would be a lot mroe useful if it weren't a widget. Everyone seems to be in a scramble to make widgets for absolutely everything, disregarding the fact that some things just don't serve much of a purpose as a widget. Or at least should have an equivalent desktop-deployable version.
Yes, you can drag a widget to the desktop. But when you recall dashboard it will pop back to the dashboard.
Dashboard is the number two most underwhelming feature in Tiger. Right next to Spotlight - number one with a bullet because it barely works and most definitely does not find/index all files (even when searching by something as simple as filename).
Bruno
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#263326 - 22/09/2005 04:20
Re: Mail Checkers
[Re: hybrid8]
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addict
Registered: 10/11/2000
Posts: 497
Loc: Utah, USA
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Quote:
Yes, you can drag a widget to the desktop.
Huh?
Explain how. That sounds useful.
_________________________
-Aaron
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#263327 - 22/09/2005 06:53
Re: Mail Checkers
[Re: wfaulk]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 20/12/1999
Posts: 31597
Loc: Seattle, WA
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Quote:
You could go to eCheck's web site and click on "Un-installing eCheck".
Doing so produced no effect. When I clicked on that link, the screen didn't change. It's almost as if the scripting on the web site didn't work with Mac Safari. I was rather frustrated by that.
Anyway, I figured out how to uninstall it by going into the more detailed screens of the dashboard (clicking on the plus sign).
Quote:
Give the guy a bug report.
I'm pretty sure the problems I'm having fall under his descriptions of known issues. But anyway, the program really sucked to begin with. Based on the errors the program was having, I got the impression that it was coded up rather sloppily, and I don't think bug fixes are going to solve the root problem of the way he architected the thing.
Case in point. One of the errors was that it was having trouble parsing the headers in Hotmail and displaying the unread count. Instead of there just being an "x" or some other error icon in the unread count, the entire user interface filled up with words like "NAN" (not a number) and "Unable to Parse". These words caused the other parts of the user interface (such as other mail accounts that it COULD parse) scroll off the bottom and be unreachable with the mouse.
Just knowing that he coded it in such a way as to allow out-of-range server return values to cause his entire screen to become unsusable means that I don't have confidence that the program is going to get any better.
In the meantime...
That instant messenger client lets me launch an AppleScript function when it detects new mail at Hotmail or Yahoo. Any chance I could just program it do do the same thing that Trillian does in the same situation (launch Yahoo / Hotmail and log in for me)? Anyone know where would I get started learning how to do that in AppleScript?
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#263328 - 22/09/2005 07:42
Re: Mail Checkers
[Re: tfabris]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 23/08/2000
Posts: 3826
Loc: SLC, UT, USA
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Quote:
Anyone know where would I get started learning how to do that in AppleScript?
Open Script Editor and type Cmd-?
As I mentioned in another post, you'll almost always be pleasantly surprised at how good Apple's Docs are for their programs. To see the library of commands available for Adium, in the Script Editor type Cmd-Shift-L to open the Library window, then click the Plus sign and find the Adium application. Once it's added to the Library, Double click it to see all available commands for it in Applescript along with explanations. Super sweet.
You might also Google "Adium Applescripts" to find some examples.
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#263329 - 22/09/2005 07:47
Re: Mail Checkers
[Re: loren]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 20/12/1999
Posts: 31597
Loc: Seattle, WA
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Coolness. I shall do preciesly that, thanks.
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#263330 - 22/09/2005 09:14
Re: Mail Checkers
[Re: tfabris]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 08/06/1999
Posts: 7868
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Tony, you may want to poke at Automator to get started first. It's kinda a quick drag and drop applescript editor that in some cases may do exactly what you need, and failing that at least give you a good start. Apple's site has a ton of automator scripts now, and odds are some functions are already out there so you don't have to start with nothing. Quote:
Right next to Spotlight - number one with a bullet because it barely works
Spotlight for me has been pretty useful. I threw on about 5 gb of technical PDF and webpages on my Powerbook,and can search for specifics usually faster then some of the web tools we have internally. Since it also can show results from e-mail where a lot of technical discussions go on, I find myself getting answers to problems quicker then I used to. Add to that the fact that my mail reading is so much easier now with about 20 smart folders instead of my old manual system of folders and filters, and well Spotlight is now a must have feature for me.
I completly redid my work e-mail to just have the IMAP folders be 2000-Q1, 2000-Q2 and so on. Then the smart folders setup I have a "Product" folder that has e-mails that talk about an MSA1000, or EVA, or whatever. Then I have other smart folders for certain e-mail lists, and certain groups of people. Lastly, I have a "Last Day" "Last Week" and "Last Month" folders to quickly glance to see if I missed anything.
I'm really considering doing similar to my home e-mail as well, but the one disadvantage would be losing the universal access I now have. Currently the exact folder structure is in the web interface, Mail on the Mac, or Thunderbird on the PC.
Dashboard, well, it has some use for me, but only in having a calculator right there instead of using Quicksilver to launch the app. I could easially live without it.
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#263331 - 22/09/2005 14:18
Re: Mail Checkers
[Re: drakino]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 12/11/2001
Posts: 7738
Loc: Toronto, CANADA
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Spotlight only finds "some" content. That's a big proiblem because you never know what you're missing. That problem exists on the desktop as well as mail. I have verified this on my machine as well as other peoples' computers. And I'm talking about simple search criteria like filenames and standard headers in mail like FROM, TO and SUBJECT.
When searching files you can't set a NOT operand on any of the search criteria. Big minus.
Mail smart folder also have some really odd bugs. For instance, I can have a smart folder with 10 different criteria, all on the subject, with the whole thing set to match ANY. If I add one more criteria set to BODY and type "the" as the match word, it should produce a much bigger smart folder, right? Because in addition to the specific subject matches it will pick up anything with the word "the" in the body. The results? It brings back a handful of messages only. Much LESS than before adding the "the" body criteria.
I also can't stand that the whole folder has to be set to match ANY or ALL criteria. Basically this is an OR operand between all criteria or AND. I want to be able to use both, allowing me to have a few items that MUST be matched and a few which are optional. For instance, a smart folder for all mail from "John" that includes the words "hockey" OR "baseball" in the subject. Can't do that now.
Just recently I was searching for a filename I knew existed on my machine. Not within any hidden or system domain either. It didn't find the file nor a few others that also should have matched my partial text. I located them myself in the finder and opened one. Did the search again. Now it would find the file I opened but not the others. I had to open one at a time in it appropriate application to get Spotlight to recognise them. If it worked 100% 100% of the time or never worked, those two extremes I could deal with. This unknown is a big problem though.
Bruno
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#263332 - 22/09/2005 14:23
Re: Mail Checkers
[Re: adavidw]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 12/11/2001
Posts: 7738
Loc: Toronto, CANADA
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1. Open Dashboard with F12
2. Click the "+" icon in the bottom left (the more dashboard widgets button)
3. Click and drag any widget into the dashboard area - DO NOT RELEASE THE MOUSE BUTTON
4. Press F12 (while still holding the mouse button)
5. Release the mouse button
The widget will now be on your desktop and can be dragged around while alwayys floating over other windows.
Pressing F12 again to access the rest of the dashboard will cause the widget on your desktop to be hidden with all the other widgets when you close the dashboard. And you can't put it back on your desktop unless you drag it from the "more widgets" area. lame.
The steps above to get it to appear on your desktop are from Apple, so it's a supported procedure. The whole widget system is just something that wasn't thought through very carefully though. It's so much an ugly hack with terrible usability.
Bruno
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#263333 - 22/09/2005 16:02
Re: Mail Checkers
[Re: hybrid8]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 24/12/2001
Posts: 5528
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The NOT and OR operators are undocumented in spotlight at the moment. The syntax is a bit odd and picky which is probably why it's undocumented.
You can use the NOT operator by doing empeg(-rio) if you wanted everything with empeg in but not rio. | is OR and space is AND so don't add any extra ones to your query.
foo|bar(-baz) is foo or bar but not baz.
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#263334 - 25/09/2005 14:40
Re: IM Clients
[Re: wfaulk]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 25/12/2000
Posts: 16706
Loc: Raleigh, NC US
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Quote:
I have been taken to task elsewhere for implying that SMB sucks.
For the record, I just did some tests on my home network. I tested my (Samba) file server's disk throughput by timing reading an avi, then timed it again tossing it through the IP stack using netcat, then to my wireless Windows laptop via netcat, then reading it from that laptop using SMB. I got something like 48.55Mbps read from disk, 39.13Mbps when tossing it through the IP stack, 3.5Mbps over the network via netcat, and 1.32Mbps over the network via SMB. I'm going to go back and do it via wired ethernet, too, but SMB shouldn't have two-thirds overhead.
Edit: 35.6Mbps over 100Mbps ethernet via netcat and 22.7Mbps over 100Mbps ethernet via SMB
It would seem my wireless network royally sucks.
Edited by wfaulk (25/09/2005 15:59)
_________________________
Bitt Faulk
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#263335 - 25/09/2005 15:58
Re: IM Clients
[Re: wfaulk]
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member
Registered: 19/03/2002
Posts: 144
Loc: Florida, USA
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the default buffer sizes are small.. can't remmeber why exactly, but I bet the Samba FAQ is where I saw it. it even shows where to set the buffer to 8mb in the config
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::: shadow45
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#263336 - 25/09/2005 17:15
Re: IM Clients
[Re: shadow45]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 27/06/1999
Posts: 7058
Loc: Pittsburgh, PA
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Yeah, what he said. The send and receive buffers should be at least 8192. Actually, this just jogged my memory that I had been meaning to test out larger values, and after a short test, it appears bumping the buffer up to 65536 seems to have bumped up my speed by 20% or so.
Right now, here's the relevant line in my smb.conf:
socket options = TCP_NODELAY, IPTOS_LOWDELAY, SO_KEEPALIVE, SO_SNDBUF=65536, SO_RCVBUF=65536
Those other flags are things I've found along the way that were also said to improve performance.
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#263337 - 26/09/2005 05:31
Re: IM Clients
[Re: wfaulk]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 08/06/1999
Posts: 7868
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Try the tests using a Linux SMB client and server. Odds are, you will see speed improvements there as well. While Windows SMB implementation isn't the greatest, a lot of tweaking has gone into Samba, to the point I now use it in most situations, no matter the OS.
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#263338 - 27/09/2005 18:36
Microsoft Word .DOC files on macintosh
[Re: tfabris]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 20/12/1999
Posts: 31597
Loc: Seattle, WA
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When I tried to open a .DOC file on the mac, it installed and ran a 30-day trial version of Microsoft Office 2004 for the Mac. Which is nice, but I'm not certain I want to buy the full version just to open the occasional Doc file.
I notice OpenOffice.Org doesn't have a final Mac port yet, so what other options do I have?
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#263339 - 27/09/2005 18:43
Re: Microsoft Word .DOC files on macintosh
[Re: tfabris]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 25/12/2000
Posts: 16706
Loc: Raleigh, NC US
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First, tell people not to distribute proprietary files that don't necessarily even look the same on different computers running the same version of Word.
Second, try NeoOffice. I haven't given it a shot yet, but it ought to be pretty good. Let me know.
There's also icWord, which is a $20 viewer.
You can also try using the builtin TextEdit app. That'll probably support it enough for you to read the text, anyway.
Edited by wfaulk (27/09/2005 18:46)
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Bitt Faulk
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#263340 - 27/09/2005 19:06
Re: Microsoft Word .DOC files on macintosh
[Re: wfaulk]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 20/12/1999
Posts: 31597
Loc: Seattle, WA
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Quote:
Second, try NeoOffice. I haven't given it a shot yet, but it ought to be pretty good. Let me know.
Aha. That's an openoffice port I didn't know about. Good. I'll give that a shot.
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#263341 - 27/09/2005 20:50
Re: Microsoft Word .DOC files on macintosh
[Re: wfaulk]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 08/06/1999
Posts: 7868
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Quote:
You can also try using the builtin TextEdit app. That'll probably support it enough for you to read the text, anyway.
Panther added initial .Doc support, and Tiger enhanced it quite a bit to support tables and such. You may want to try this first before other solutions, since it's already built in.
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#263342 - 28/09/2005 02:19
Re: Microsoft Word .DOC files on macintosh
[Re: drakino]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 20/12/1999
Posts: 31597
Loc: Seattle, WA
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Gah. I assumed that, because double-clicking on the DOC file launched the Microsoft Office installer, that there wasn't any native support for the file format. Ah well. I'm sure I'll enjoy this OpenOffice port I just installed.
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#263343 - 28/09/2005 07:21
Re: Microsoft Word .DOC files on macintosh
[Re: tfabris]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 08/06/1999
Posts: 7868
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Quick tip in case you don't know. Right click a file, and go to Open With. That works similar to how it does on Windows. If you want to open it just once with a different program, pick a program in that menu. Otherwise, to change what opens that type of dicument by default, choose "Other", then pick the application and check "Always open with".
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#263344 - 28/09/2005 12:03
Re: Microsoft Word .DOC files on macintosh
[Re: drakino]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 12/11/2001
Posts: 7738
Loc: Toronto, CANADA
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Download the control panel RCDefaultApp - that will let you set defaults for true filetypes, file-extensions, URL types, etc... Very handy program.
Bruno
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#263345 - 28/09/2005 12:32
Re: Microsoft Word .DOC files on macintosh
[Re: drakino]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 25/12/2000
Posts: 16706
Loc: Raleigh, NC US
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Quote:
Right click
Or Ctrl-Click if you have a single-button mouse. Or you can click and not let go for a while, IIRC.
_________________________
Bitt Faulk
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#263346 - 28/09/2005 15:56
Re: Microsoft Word .DOC files on macintosh
[Re: wfaulk]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 23/08/2000
Posts: 3826
Loc: SLC, UT, USA
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Quote:
Or you can click and not let go for a while, IIRC.
That only works on the Dock from my experience.
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#263347 - 28/09/2005 16:01
Re: Microsoft Word .DOC files on macintosh
[Re: loren]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 17/01/2002
Posts: 3996
Loc: Manchester UK
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Quote:
Quote:
Or you can click and not let go for a while, IIRC.
That only works on the Dock from my experience.
and Firefox/Thunderbird
_________________________
Cheers,
Andy M
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#263348 - 12/10/2005 15:49
Re: Microsoft Word .DOC files on macintosh
[Re: andym]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 23/08/2000
Posts: 3826
Loc: SLC, UT, USA
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Looks like you'll have a fun new app to play with on that mini
Front Row -- A new way to experience media. Music, photos, and video from Sofa. Remote control. Apple style. Looks like an iPod shuffle. Music interface from iTunes but with great full screen display.
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#263349 - 12/10/2005 16:21
Re: Mac Mini as a TV-room media player
[Re: tfabris]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 08/03/2000
Posts: 12338
Loc: Sterling, VA
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Hey Tony, it looks like Apple just announced a remote control with a whopping six buttons  . It sounds like it's context-sensitive, but given that it's Apple, it'll probably work pretty well.
_________________________
Matt
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#263350 - 12/10/2005 16:24
Re: Mac Mini as a TV-room media player
[Re: Dignan]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 30/04/2000
Posts: 3810
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Definitely interesting. The real question is whether Apple has come up with an easy way to share iTunes files between apps. Right now, I've got a big G4 tower in the office. If I could buy a Mac Mini to use as a DVD player and everything else, that would be attractive, but I'd want them to be able to share my music files (most likely, mounted from my file server). Let's hope some kind of multi-machine-sharing is part of the story.
EDIT: Apple has now updated their web site, with some screenshots of FrontRow and the cute remote control, which seems to be all about being a part of the new iMac G5. It's entirely unclear if there's a Mac Mini variant on this.
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#263351 - 12/10/2005 16:55
Re: Mac Mini as a TV-room media player
[Re: DWallach]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 08/03/2000
Posts: 12338
Loc: Sterling, VA
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_________________________
Matt
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#263352 - 12/10/2005 17:34
Re: Microsoft Word .DOC files on macintosh
[Re: loren]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 24/12/2001
Posts: 5528
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So it's MCE but by Apple?
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#263353 - 12/10/2005 18:12
Re: Mac Mini as a TV-room media player
[Re: DWallach]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 23/08/2000
Posts: 3826
Loc: SLC, UT, USA
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Dan: Since the multi machine library sharing has been built into iTunes for a long time, i'm pretty sure it'd work the way you are saying... unless I'm missing something? I have all of my music shared out via iTunes on my main PC, which is picked up as a shared library on my powerbook so I can listen to it all from there.
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#263354 - 12/10/2005 18:23
Re: Mac Mini as a TV-room media player
[Re: loren]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 24/12/2001
Posts: 5528
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You can share it from machines that don't have iTunes by using mt-daapd. It'll only let you stream though, if you want to transfer the actual files over then you'll have to mount a network share etc...
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#263355 - 12/10/2005 18:43
Re: Microsoft Word .DOC files on macintosh
[Re: loren]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 08/03/2000
Posts: 12338
Loc: Sterling, VA
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Sorry, Loren. I didn't see your post about Front Row before I made mine... 
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Matt
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#263356 - 12/10/2005 18:44
Re: Mac Mini as a TV-room media player
[Re: loren]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 30/04/2000
Posts: 3810
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What I'd *like* to do is keep all my content on my file server and mount it from multiple Macs. This would also make things simpler for syncing data to my laptop for DJing. If I have to run everything through iTunes, then I loose some of the functionality that I'd otherwise want.
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#263357 - 12/10/2005 18:46
Re: Mac Mini as a TV-room media player
[Re: DWallach]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 23/08/2000
Posts: 3826
Loc: SLC, UT, USA
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What's keeping you from doing just that? Mounting it on different macs?
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#263358 - 12/10/2005 19:47
Re: Microsoft Word .DOC files on macintosh
[Re: loren]
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pooh-bah
Registered: 12/02/2002
Posts: 2298
Loc: Berkeley, California
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It doesn't seem that you can order Front Row and the remote seperatly. Seems short sided seeing as the mac mini is the obvious candidate for the remote.
Matthew
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#263359 - 12/10/2005 19:49
Re: Mac Mini as a TV-room media player
[Re: loren]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 30/04/2000
Posts: 3810
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Quote:
What's keeping you from doing just that? Mounting it on different macs?
If I go that route, I have to be careful to never have more than one iTunes running at the same time, otherwise changes to the XML flat-file database might not be saved. Also, at least when I tried doing this from the Mac to the PC, I ended up being able to copy over the music files fine but my playlists ended up not working. I need to try again with the newest iTunes and see if the situation has changed.
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#263360 - 12/10/2005 19:52
Re: Mac Mini as a TV-room media player
[Re: DWallach]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 24/12/2001
Posts: 5528
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Ah. If you want to be able to modify stuff from various computers then no, it won't let you do that. The best you can do is serve it out via DAAP and be content with just listening and selecting tracks.
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#263361 - 12/10/2005 20:56
Re: Microsoft Word .DOC files on macintosh
[Re: matthew_k]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 30/04/2000
Posts: 3810
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Quote:
It doesn't seem that you can order Front Row and the remote seperatly. Seems short sided seeing as the mac mini is the obvious candidate for the remote.
Rabid speculation:
Remember when Apple said that this was "the year of HD"? My dual-1GHz G4 tower doesn't have enough juice to do 1080i in real-time, so I presume the Mac Mini (with only a single G4, up to 1.4GHz) is similarly disinclined. It's entirely possible that the G5's can do it, but I don't really know.
Maybe Apple is saving up a "Mac Mini AV" for when they switch to Intel processors (and/or fancier graphics cards) that can handle HD. They're starting out with content at toy resolutions, mostly to convince Hollywood that FairPlay can work. Then, maybe next year, we'll finally see all of this HD stuff happen for real.
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#263362 - 12/10/2005 21:44
Re: Microsoft Word .DOC files on macintosh
[Re: DWallach]
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pooh-bah
Registered: 12/02/2002
Posts: 2298
Loc: Berkeley, California
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Yup, my Top 'O The Line POWERbook that they're still selling can't do HD. You can't even get the thing with a decent high resolution/definition screen.
It can still play video and music just fine. A remote for the mac mini seems like a no brainer. A USB IR sensor wouldn't cost much, even if they did have to paint it white.
Ah well. If you want OSX, you run it on what Steve wants you to run it on.
Matthew
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#263363 - 12/10/2005 21:48
Re: Microsoft Word .DOC files on macintosh
[Re: matthew_k]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 20/12/1999
Posts: 31597
Loc: Seattle, WA
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Quote:
A remote for the mac mini seems like a no brainer. A USB IR sensor wouldn't cost much, even if they did have to paint it white.
I've got an ATI remote wonder plugged into my Mac Mini right now, as a matter of fact...
I need to take the time to set it up a bit more, such as programming keys and stuff.
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#263364 - 14/10/2005 19:23
Re: Mac Mini as a TV-room media player
[Re: tfabris]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 20/12/1999
Posts: 31597
Loc: Seattle, WA
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Okay, next Mac question.
I have enabled Windows File Sharing on the mac mini. I have told it that all the accounts on it can use windows file sharing.
But unless I'm logged in to one of those accounts, I can't connect to the share. I can only connect to the share when I'm actually logged in.
Can that be fixed somehow? So that someone could connect to a share when it's just sitting at the login screen. You know, like Windows NT does.
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#263365 - 14/10/2005 19:29
Re: Mac Mini as a TV-room media player
[Re: tfabris]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 25/12/2000
Posts: 16706
Loc: Raleigh, NC US
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Is the machine actually network accessible at all during those times?
_________________________
Bitt Faulk
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#263366 - 14/10/2005 19:40
Re: Mac Mini as a TV-room media player
[Re: wfaulk]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 20/12/1999
Posts: 31597
Loc: Seattle, WA
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Quote:
Is the machine actually network accessible at all during those times?
Good question. I don't know.
You mean, like, respond to a ping?
And, if it didn't, why would that be?
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#263367 - 14/10/2005 19:45
Re: Mac Mini as a TV-room media player
[Re: tfabris]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 20/12/1999
Posts: 31597
Loc: Seattle, WA
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Interesting. Okay, it doesn't respond to a ping when I'm logged out.
Is there a setting that turns off the AirPort when I log out?
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#263368 - 14/10/2005 19:49
Re: Mac Mini as a TV-room media player
[Re: tfabris]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 20/12/1999
Posts: 31597
Loc: Seattle, WA
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#263369 - 14/10/2005 19:58
Re: Mac Mini as a TV-room media player
[Re: tfabris]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 25/12/2000
Posts: 16706
Loc: Raleigh, NC US
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Super. Tell me what you changed so I can fix it on my Mini.
_________________________
Bitt Faulk
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#263370 - 14/10/2005 21:00
Re: Mac Mini as a TV-room media player
[Re: wfaulk]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 20/12/1999
Posts: 31597
Loc: Seattle, WA
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Network properties, airport, there's an "options" button at the bottom, and then in that dialog there's an option to disconnect from wireless networks when you log out.
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#263371 - 17/10/2005 00:57
Re: Mac Mini as a TV-room media player
[Re: tfabris]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 25/12/2000
Posts: 16706
Loc: Raleigh, NC US
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Hunh. When I click that Options button, nothing happens. Well, the button turns blue for an instant, but nothing beyond that.
Ideas?
_________________________
Bitt Faulk
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#263372 - 17/10/2005 01:19
Re: Mac Mini as a TV-room media player
[Re: wfaulk]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 17/12/2000
Posts: 2665
Loc: Manteca, California
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Only the obvious question. Is the user you are logged in as, an admin?
That panel won't give you the time of day if not.
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Glenn
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#263373 - 17/10/2005 01:36
Re: Mac Mini as a TV-room media player
[Re: gbeer]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 25/12/2000
Posts: 16706
Loc: Raleigh, NC US
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Yup. It's greyed out otherwise. I'm clearly clicking the button, it just doesn't make anything happen. It's really academic at this point anyway, though, as it's not disconnecting the network when I log out.
_________________________
Bitt Faulk
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