Hi man, I thought .mac/mobile me was a subscription service? The
reason I didn't sign up was because I thought the screen said it was
going to be over $100 per year. Of course, I don't care about drm
protected content, and I already have my own hosting for email and
websites and such, so I just hit skip. Did I read it rong?
Best,
erik burggraaf
Certified Technician
Assistive Computing LTD Support and training
Sales department: 888-828-2445
Support and Training: 888-255-5194
Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Website coming soon
On 8-Nov-08, at 11:42 PM, Mitchell Smith wrote:
Hi Barry,
I'll try and answer a few of these questions for you.
Bootcamp: yes you hold the option key down during boot up, then
arrow to the OS you want to boot from and press enter. So for
example I have my Macbook configured to boot Leopard by default and
have XP installed on a second partition. I would hold option during
boot up, then right arrow to XP and press enter, as Leopard would
automatically be selected on that screen.
Office: The OpenOffice.org 3.0 seems to work reasonably well. I
have only tried the word processor, but have heard others have had
success with the spreadsheet application etc.
Podcasts: I still use Juice for this under Windows, but for the
most part ITunes 8.X looks really accessible, so I'd probably give
that a shot.
Speaking of ITunes you also asked about an Apple ID for the ITunes
store. This is just a way to authorize your computer to play DRM
protected content and buy music from the ITunes store. If you just
want to import your own stuff you don't really need an Apple ID, but
if you want to make purchases or play DRM protected content you will
need to sign up for an apple ID. You can either use a mobile ME
account for this if you have already created one (this used to be
called a dotMac account) or you can sign up for an Apple ID using
your existing email address. I guess the best way to describe it is
sort of like a Microsoft Passport for the Mac.
I hope this helps.
Cheers,
Mitchell
----- Original Message ----- From: "Dj Paddy" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "General discussions on all topics relating to the use of Mac OS
X bytheblind" <[email protected]>
Sent: Saturday, November 08, 2008 7:16 AM
Subject: Finally here
Folks,
My gorgious little Mac Book pro has arrived today. it came with
Boot Camp and Vista already installed and configured.
I'll say what I've learnt already from a five minute conversation
with my good friend Erik Burggraaf who's on this list and what I've
managed to come across in my own time today. Then I'll probably ask
a few questions.
First a bit of background. I've been using PC's for 16 years or
more and am on my second Computer Science Degree. So I am very much
a self confessed geek! I've used all the Windows OS's bar Vista. I
am looking forward to installing Vmware Fusion and getting Linux up
and running on here.
The only time I ever used Mac was in my sighted days and that was at
least 10 years ago at school, where I only really used the Word
Processor and played Shuffle Board!
Erik told me about the useful,
key layout,
bottom left fn, ctrl, options , command.
ctrl options is vo keys,
ctrl options f8 quick start guide for voice over (I did go through
this and am finding the VO key combinations not to awkward to perform)
ctrl options k for keyboard help and esc to turn off (well impressed
with this).
fn f1 lower brightness fn f2 raise brightnesss (handy I expect for
battery and prevent nosy parkers in the lab looking at my screen! )
fn f11 lower volume fn12 raise volume.
f13 top right - eject cd.
The eject CD was a relief as I rang Erik in a bit of a flap because
I'd one stuck in there. It's really brought me back to, "day one",
with a PC this Mac. Only I am finding partly because of experience,
and going through the tutorial it's fairly intuitive.
I've found Boot Camp and can reboot into Vista and vice versa.
I've had a look at Itunes Front Row, System Preferences, messe arund
with the different voices for voice over, had a look at Mail but not
set an account up in there yet. I've also looked at the Dock, and
Safari.
Oh yes and although i heard Eriks when i stayed there in August/
September the sound system still blows me away on this!
I have the Voice Over Daizy manual here and am planning on looking
at it this evening.
Several questions though.
1. Boot Camp.
Does anyone know the exact keys and timing for when to press them to
select the OS on power-up?
I read on,
http://www.winsupersite.com
It was Options and then you used the arrows to select the OS, but
that was for Tiger.
2. Apple account/ID or something?
I got prompted for this to enter the Itunes store? I dont' have one
do I? There wasn't a create.
3. Mail.
Can I setup an apple mail account to use in there untill such time
that I may decide to migrate my various other mail accounts into the
Mac World?
4. Voice Over and HTML.
Having used Windows Screenreaders I've gotten used to being able to
navigate these like I could in a word processor because of the
buffer the text is placed into. How to I intract with HTML like
this or...?
I've landed on several HTML Text in Help files and when I do VO Down
Cursor to Interact it just bongs at me. though I can Interact with
other things.
5. Podcasting.
What application is people using for this? I've noticed Podcast
Catcher in Utilitys but again it's asking me for a password along
side my username?
6. Format Of USB Sticks.
Do I need to turn USB ports on in Mac OS? If so how? When I
plugged my USB stick in nothign happened. At first I thought this
was because it was FAT32, but was expecting something?
If I need to format a USB Stick to use on the Mac any stps on how to
do this and how do I get it to see a FAT32 disk just so I can format
it to Mac OSX format? Or do I need to go use Partition Magic on
Windows to prep the disc?
7. Updates/maintenance
I have airport tuned on and it connected to my WIFI Network. Will
the system auto update and run cleanups or is there somewhere I can
go to configure this stuff?
8. Office Suite.
What one are people using and if Open Office how do I obtain it and
install it? Never installed an App onto a Mac but have heard
something about dropping them onto the Dock or into the Apps
folder? no Wizards or Unzipping packages?
9 Further learning.
Any recommended resources other than the Voice Over Daisy manual for
teaching myself?
Thanks heeps for any and all answers, I knwo this is a lot but I'm
pressed for time as I was meant to have had this system 7 weeks ago,
(granted it means I got the new Mac Pro now), but I need to get up
to speed here as quickly as possible for final year projects.
Dj Paddy
