Just bought a Mac Mini...

[slick]

and i need some help

well, i am new to macs, i've just always wanted to try the "most advanced OS in the world" or whatever it is that apple claims. so far, i like it, but i was wondering what is some good software to use with it?
i downloaded firefox because i use that on my windows based pc's and love it, anything else worth getting to make my apple usage better?
i signed up at appleinsider.com but i cant post there yet, sucks. i hope someone here has a mac and can help out.

 

[ZackT]

Quote:

Originally Posted by slick and i need some help well, i am new to macs, i've just always wanted to try the "most advanced OS in the world" or whatever it is that apple claims. so far, i like it, but i was wondering what is some good software to use with it? i downloaded firefox because i use that on my windows based pc's and love it, anything else worth getting to make my apple usage better? i signed up at appleinsider.com but i cant post there yet, sucks. i hope someone here has a mac and can help out.

Firefox is supposed to be great but now you're on a Mac I'd suggest you try Safari, it integrates really well and has a nifty Google search feature that snaps back. Make sure you play with the F keys, esp F8 F9 10 11 etc. Cool time-saving stuff stuff. iTunes is addictive with so many ways of sorting and rating your songs. Have fun!

ZT

 

[MichaelFranks]

what functionality is it that you desire?

 

[slick]

right now i am using itunes to rip some of my cd's. i plan on using the mac mini for everyday stuff, internet and mail, simple picture editing and extracting from my digicam, playing music, and word processing (does word exist for mac's? i have a lot of word and excel doc's i use). thats about it, i know its a mac mini and i am limited because of its speed and such, but doing any of the above mentioned and any other "cool" things found on mac's would be all i need.
right now i am searching for an ftp client so i can upload pics to my website, i use leapftp on my windows systems, any freeware available for me to do this on a mac?
i downloaded firefox out of habit, but safari is nice, i'm using it now, i might remove firefox if safari satisfies me.

i have one question though, how do i get the mac mini to stop making that annoying sound when its turned on? its coming out of the speaker in the mini.

 

[grawk]

Word exists, but you probably got iWork with your mini. It's file compatible. You can get office for mac, if that doesn't cover your needs.

Obviously photoshop is the top of the heap for image editting, but you can get gimp etc for free.

Check out www.versiontracker.com, that site keeps track of almost all mac software. Then there's www.macosxhints.com for a LOT of tricks and tips.

 

[AlanY]

iWork doesn't come free with the Mac Mini, only Appleworks does. iWork is worth the extra money though. It includes Pages, a really nice new word processor with sophisticated features for laying out visually complicated documents.

You can also download NeoOffice/J, which is a version of OpenOffice customized for the Mac. It has very good compatibility with Microsoft Office (Word/Excel) documents and is roughly equivalent in power to Office, but the downside is that it is partly written in Java and so is terribly slow to load and is not really practical for heavy work if you haven't added any memory to your Mac mini (beyond the initial 256MB).

 

[slick]

Quote:

Originally Posted by grawk Word exists, but you probably got iWork with your mini. It's file compatible. You can get office for mac, if that doesn't cover your needs. Obviously photoshop is the top of the heap for image editting, but you can get gimp etc for free. Check out www.versiontracker.com, that site keeps track of almost all mac software. Then there's www.macosxhints.com for a LOT of tricks and tips.

thats some good stuff right now. downloading gimp, might as well, its free

i know i will be on macosxhints for a while.
i dont think i got iworks, i have appleworks, is that similar? maybe i'll buy iworks if its cheap, $200 or whatever it is for office 2004 is steep for me, i only do simple things with word and excel.
thanks for the help, i really appreciate it.

 

[grawk]

There's also openoffice, which is free...

 

[Mr.Radar]

Quote:

Originally Posted by slick thats some good stuff right now. downloading gimp, might as well, its free i know i will be on macosxhints for a while. i dont think i got iworks, i have appleworks, is that similar? maybe i'll buy iworks if its cheap, $200 or whatever it is for office 2004 is steep for me, i only do simple things with word and excel. thanks for the help, i really appreciate it.

iWorks is $79 and it includes Pages (Apple's word processor) and Keynote (Apple's presentation software, like PowerPoint) and is much more advanced than AppleWorks (and AppleWorks hasn't been updated since about 2002~2003 so iWorks is also much newer). iWorks, however, does not include a spreadsheet or database program (like Microsoft's Excel and Access products). Another option to check out is NeoOffice which is a Mac OS X optimized version of OpenOffice.org (although it isn't done by the same people as OpenOffice.org) that does include a spreadsheet program.

 

[slick]

i'll try out neooffice, its free right?

another quick question, where is the uninstaller for stuff? or basically, how do i uninstall? if i get neooffice, i want to be able to remove appleworks, no need for it to take up my space if i'm not using it.

 

[AlanY]

Except for a handful of exceptions, there is no need for uninstallers on OS X. Just drag the application to the trash if you don't want it any more, then empty the trash.

Likewise, you've probably noticed that the majority of OS X apps have no need for an installer, either. Just drag the app to where you want it, and it's installed.

 

[slick]

i was thinking it was something easy like that, but i didnt want to try it until i was sure, thanks for the tip.

and for those that are not annoyed by me yet, another question, how do i access hotmail with the mail app in os x? outlook is easy to configure, just pick hotmail, lol. but i dont have, nor know where to get the smtp or whatever it is to configure it in mail app.

 

[grawk]

I don't use hotmail, but there is a thread on macosxhints:

http://forums.macosxhints.com/showthread.php?t=36321

 

[slick]

found it, httpmail plugin, thanks.

just wondering something, a lot of the stuff that i download for the mac had specific downloads for specific versions, like "this version is for panther 10.3 only". with tiger 10.4 just around the corner, how will these apps work if an apple with panther is upgraded to tiger?

 

[grawk]

hard to say, I'd guess most will work