FINISHED: Apple / MacOS Tip a day for a year !

Saturday 25th April
Tip 163 – Unix [8] – File deletion


rm – This deletes or ReMoves the file PERMANENTLY (destroy).

Switches

i – confirm each file deletion
r – remove non empty sub directories
f – force delete ie the opposite of “i” ie do not ask

Examples

rm –f temp*.* – Delete files starting with ‘temp’ and without asking for permission.
 
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Sunday 26th April
Tip 164 - TP[1] - Uploading images to TP using the Mac


If you want to upload your pictures to this actual forum then I will explain how using your computer.

First you need to resize your picture to 800x800 as a jpeg at 200Kb or less...

You have Lightroom so select your picture(s) and select EXPORT then set this to jpeg, 800x800, sharpen for screen, 80% quality. This should give you images of 130-190Kb each. You can do it individually and keep upping the quality till it is just under 200Kb if you prefer or use photoshop with my TP scripts.

Now you have your pictures at 200Kb or less you need to upload them....

  1. Click on Galleries near the top of the screen whilst in TP
  2. Click on Upload Photos near the top right of the screen
  3. You will see it says Select the photos you wish to upload from your computer: then to its right [Choose File] no file selected you need to click on [Choose File]
  4. You will now see the MacOS file selector appear, use this to locate the first file that you have re-sized then click CHOOSE in the bottom right.
  5. Now repeat the above two steps to select two more images if you like.
  6. You may fill in the next three fields on the upload screen OR fill them in individually later.
  7. Click Upload/Submit
  8. Your pictures are now in YOUR gallery on TP.

Using your pictures in a thread...


When you are in a thread and wish to insert a picture you can do so by inserting the image command which is
this is easier to do than you might think because the actual command is given to you.

When I just uploaded a picture of my granddaughter in order to complete this explanation it showed my (under the image) the line (MINUS THE "X"s which I had to add to avoid the thread changing this to a picture!):

Code:
[Ximg]http://www.talkphotography.co.uk/gallery/data/500/lilymay140K.jpg[/Ximg]

This is what we would add just like this:

lilymay140K.jpg


If I want to add an existing picture I simply go to my own gallery by clicking on GALLERIES then MY PHOTOS then click on the picture and the insert line will again be underneath.

This avoids having to set up alternative accounts and allows other people on TP to see your work more easily.

Hope this helps.
 
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Monday 27th April
Tip 165 – Unix [9] – Miscellaneous commands


date

This displays the current date.


cal

This displays the month calendar for a date.


cat

This displays the contents of a file, unless the file is quite short it will fly off the screen very quickly. For that reason you may want to use the “| less” option to display the information one screen at a time.
cat can also be used to add the contents of one file to another using the “>> filename” option eg. cat filea >> fileb
 
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Tuesday 28th April
Tip 166 - Hardware - Is my computer under warranty?


Click this link, type in your serial number and find out :)

Check warranty
 
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Wednesday 29th April
Tip 167 - Hardware - Apple Care


Apple care will increase your warranty to 3 years rather than the 1 year that comes with your computer. It also extends the warranty of any mice, keyboards and monitors bought with them. It is not cheap though and for a macbook pro for example it costs £273.

It is transferrable world wide and so the tip is, just buy it from another country and type in the serial number :) When the exchange rate was more favourable I upgraded my mac pro's warranty for £60 by getting it from the USA by ebay. You can currently find Macbook pro Applecare on ebay for about £100 saving you around £173.

Your Apple computer must be under 1 year old (see tip 166) and the Applecare also extends your telephone support to 3 years rather than 3 months :)
 
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BlooTip (sorry if this has already been posted.


Click this link, type in your serial number and find out :)

Check warranty

And to easily find your serial number, without faffing about with boxes and manuals etc, is to click on About This Mac and double-click on the version number. (y)
 
Just a quick note to say a big thanks for all your time and effort on all this cowasaki - it's very much appreciated. (y)(y)
 
BlooTip (sorry if this has already been posted.




And to easily find your serial number, without faffing about with boxes and manuals etc, is to click on About This Mac and double-click on the version number. (y)

No it hasn't yet, it was going to be the next one :) I have to make the numbers up somehow ;)


Only joking....
 
Just a quick note to say a big thanks for all your time and effort on all this cowasaki - it's very much appreciated. (y)(y)

Thanks, it is starting to get much harder to think of things that people are going to want to know. I am going to start going through the Apps next then hopefully Snow Leopard will be released so I go through the changes with that! 16 to go before I even get to half way :help:
 
Thursday 30th April
Tip 168 - MacOS[91] - Downloading updates


When new updates are released by Apple you can download them manually rather than letting the auto updater download them for you.

Why would you do this? I hear you ask....

Well if you download each one as it comes out and write it to your external backup then it makes re-installing MacOS much quicker and it also allows you to install the backup on more than one Apple computer. I can download the upgrade once and install it on all 8 of our machines. Just make sure that if you have any non intel machines you download the COMBINED version of the upgrade.

Here for example is the latest update:

http://support.apple.com/downloads/Mac_OS_X_10_5_6_Combo_Update
 
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Thanks, it is starting to get much harder to think of things that people are going to want to know. I am going to start going through the Apps next then hopefully Snow Leopard will be released so I go through the changes with that! 16 to go before I even get to half way :help:

That's the classic problem with knowing your subject so well I'm afraid - with all that knowledge inside your brain, it's hard to imagine just how inept some new mac users (like myself,) can be! :thinking::D

Looking forward to reading more...
 
Friday 1st May
Tip 169 - Hardware - Computer specs


Do you know your computers specifications?

Click on:

APPLE :: About this Mac :: [More Info...]

for an extremely detailed window of all your computers specifications.
 
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That's the classic problem with knowing your subject so well I'm afraid - with all that knowledge inside your brain, it's hard to imagine just how inept some new mac users (like myself,) can be! :thinking::D

Looking forward to reading more...

I do try and spread them out amongst the really simple (like the last one) and the quite complicated such as the UNIX commands. If people have any ideas then please PM me. I get LOTS of people asking me questions directly via PM and if the response is suitable it is added to the Tips !

So if for example you asked me via PM "How can I change the voice of the built in Apple speech" I would answer you and stick it on as the next tip.........
 
Saturday 2nd May
Tip 170 - MacOs[92] - How do I change the Mac Voice?


You need to open the Speech preference panel by clicking:

APPLE :: System preferences... :: Speech

Then click on [Text to Speech]

Now near the top of the screen you will find the field "System Voice:" which will default to "ALEX". You can click on this and change this to Bruce, Fred, Vicky, Kathy or Victoria. You can also change the rate of the speech.
 
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Sunday 3rd May
Tip 171 - MacOS [93] - Adjusting how the time is displayed on the menu bar


You need to open the Date & Time preference panel by clicking:

APPLE :: System preferences... :: Date & Time

Then click on [Clock]

You can now adjust a number of things such as: whether the clock is digital or analog; whether the seconds are displays; whether the day is displayed; whether the time separators flash and whether the time is displayed as 24 hour clock or not.
 
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Monday 4th May
Tip 172 - MacOS [94] - Announcing the time at varying intervals.


You need to open the Date & Time preference panel by clicking:

APPLE :: System preferences... :: Date & Time

Then click on [Clock]

You can now click on the box next to "Announce the time" to turn this feature on or off. Once this is on you can alter the frequency of the announcement and the voice used.
 
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Tuesday 5th May
Tip 173 - MacOS [95] - Setting the time automatically over the internet


You need to open the Date & Time preference panel by clicking:

APPLE :: System preferences... :: Date & Time

Then click on [Date & Time]

You can now click on the box next to "Set date & time automatically" then change the drop down next to it to "Apple Europe (time.euro.apple.com)"
 
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Wednesday 6th May
Tip 174 - MacOS [96] - Delete unused icons from System Preferences


Open system preferences by clicking:

APPLE :: System Preferences...

You can now remove icons from below the line "Other" by right clicking them and selecting "Remove XXX from system Pane"
 
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Thursday 7th May
Tip 175 - MacOS [97] - Make your computer BLACK & WHITE


Open "Univseral Access" by clicking:

APPLE :: System Preferences... :: Universal Access

Then click on the tab [seeing] and click on "Use grayscale"
 
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Friday 8th May
Tip 176 - MacOS [98] - Change the contrast of your display


Open "Universal Access" by clicking:

APPLE :: System Preferences... :: Universal Access

Then click on the tab [seeing] and use the Contrast slider.

OR

Hold down [CTRL] + [ALT] + [CMD/Apple] then use [,] and [.] to increase or decrease the contrast.
 
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I don't think anyone is reading this thread anymore ;) The day/date hasn't coincided for about 6 weeks!! I have just had to fix it :)

I thought I was up to date and now I am back to yesterday :bonk:
 
Saturday 9th May
Tip 177 - MacOS[99] - Flash the screen on errors


Open "Universal Access" by clicking:

APPLE :: System Preferences... :: Universal Access

Then click on the tab [Hearing] and click the box "Flash the screen when an alert sound occurs".
 
Sunday 10th May
Tip 178 - MacOS[100] - Ejecting a disc without a keyboard


You can eject a disc stuck in the drive by holding down the mouse button whilst turning on your Mac.
 
Monday 11th May
Tip 179 - Applications - Setting up MAIL for a new mailbox


Run Mail and Click FILE >> Preferences

You will now see the following screen:

TIP179a.png


Click [+] in the bottom right of the window and you will be presented with the following window:

TIP179b.png


Complete the fields with the details as labelled and click [continue], you will now see the following window:

TIP179c.png


You need to change the top field to the type of account which will normally by POP (post office protocol) but may be IMAP.

Type into the field "Description" what you want to call this account within MAIL.

In the next field "Incoming Mail Server" you need to type the name of the mail server which you will be given by your ISP then in the field "USER NAME" you need to type your user name as given by your ISP. This will normally be either username or username@isp.co.uk but it might be something else, you need to check. The password will be that given by your ISP but it will be copied from the first screen

then click [continue]

The window will then show that the computer is trying to connect to the mail server.

Once this has happened another window will appear:

TIP179d.png


This screen asks the question "Use secure sockets layer SSL" this will normally be no so click [Continue]

TIP179e.png


Now it is time to set up the outgoing mail for this account. Type in a description for the outgoing mail server then type it's name into the next box, it will probably start "smtp." but not always. If this server requires authentication then click the tick for that and include the user name and password again.

(you may not know if the server requires authentication, if you do not know then just don't click it and when you test it and find that it does not work you can always add it later)

Now click [continue]

once again MAIL will try and test the connection, if it fails it could well be that the question about authentication was wrong so try it the other way

Once past that screen you will be this window:

TIP179f.png


This screen asks the question "Use secure sockets layer SSL" this will normally be no so click [Continue]

Finally you will see a screen confirming the details with the tick box "Take account online". You can click this then click [create] your mailbox will now be added to the list.
 
Excellent set of hints here Cowasaki, thanks for continuing to post them.

Quick qn: how do you take a snapshot of an application window without having to take a full screenshot then cropping it? I notice you do this for the many images you use to illustrate your tips. I use Skitch, but can only do screen shots of selected areas, not application windows. Any ideas? Ta.
 
I don't think anyone is reading this thread anymore ;) ......

Oh, I am following this religiously ... but sorry if I don't drop in a word every now and then, or if I miss one of the tips.

I am not particularly new to Apple / Mac .. have been using these "new" Macs for close to 2 years, but my knowledge is rather limited I am afraid.
 
Im still reading it!

Re : The Applecare tip. I keep forgetting to get it. Do they still honour serials bought in the US? I plan to buy mine from eBay.
 
By any chance, do you know how to change which graphics card my 17" MBP is using .. and is there any reason to choose one over the other?
 
Excellent set of hints here Cowasaki, thanks for continuing to post them.

Quick qn: how do you take a snapshot of an application window without having to take a full screenshot then cropping it? I notice you do this for the many images you use to illustrate your tips. I use Skitch, but can only do screen shots of selected areas, not application windows. Any ideas? Ta.

Screen shots have been covered to death, I think tip 59 coverered that but it has certainly been done. Have you read the list on post 2. I will update the list in the next few days.
 
By any chance, do you know how to change which graphics card my 17" MBP is using .. and is there any reason to choose one over the other?

Wail,

One of them is quicker than the other BUT uses more power so shortens the battery life. I will do this as the next tip but not having one here means I will have to do it later!
 
Im still reading it!

Re : The Applecare tip. I keep forgetting to get it. Do they still honour serials bought in the US? I plan to buy mine from eBay.

As far as I know it is worldwide. I bought my mac pro in the uk and applecare from the us. It should be ok with a us computer and irish applecare (seem cheapest at the moment)
 
I'm still reading, as a mac novice I've learnt some really useful things. (y)

A quick question if I may, I haven't found how to get into the printer preferences for my Canon Pixma printer, where do I find them?:shrug:

Mark:)
 
Tuesday 12th May
Tip 180 - MacOS[101] - Change graphics card on unibody Mac


Goto "Energy Saver" preferences

APPLE :: System Preferences... :: Energy Saver

Now you can select the graphics card using the options at the top of the window.

The high performance one

9600M GT

Life expectancy of 7 hours

Select "Higher performance"

The bettery life card

9400M

Life expectancy of 8 hours

Select "Higher battery life"


Once you have changed graphics cards you then need to logout and log back in at which point your laptop will card to the new card. The lower performance card is more than up to handling surfing etc and gives you a longer battery life and less heat.
 
I'm still reading, as a mac novice I've learnt some really useful things. (y)

A quick question if I may, I haven't found how to get into the printer preferences for my Canon Pixma printer, where do I find them?:shrug:

Mark:)

Will go through this later
 
Wednesday 13th May
Tip 181 - MacOS[102] - Access printer specific configurations


Goto "Print & Fax" in System Preferences:

APPLE :: System Preferences... :: Print & Fax

You will now see the following screen:

TIP181a.png


Now on the left hand side you will see a list of the printers attached to your computer or available on your network.

Click on one of these and then click on [Open Print Queue...]

You will now see the following screen:

TIP181b.png


You can now see the jobs that are waiting to be printed, if any, and above to the right you can see "Utility". Click on this. If this is not there then access the same option via the menu bar, click on [Printer] and it is in this menu. The printer I am using for this is the HP6280c which is a multifunction device hence the [Scanner] option.

You will now see the following screen (or YOUR printer's equivalent):

TIP181c.png
 
Thursday 14th May
Tip 182 - MacOS[103] - Adding/removing a printer


Goto "Print & Fax" in System Preferences:

APPLE :: System Preferences... :: Print & Fax

You will now see the following screen:

TIP181a.png


Now on the left hand side you will see a list of the printers attached to your computer or available on your network and below it you will see [+] or [-].

To remove a printer click on it in the list and then click on the [-] button then confirm this.

To add a printer click on the [+] button.

You will now see the following screen:

TIP182b.png


(Your window might have one of the other tabs selected if you have used add printer before as MacOS brings back the last tab used here, if this is so just click on "Default")

You will see that in the list are all the printers that your computer can see, these will be all the printers shared on your network or attached via USB/Firewire. You will also see suedo-printers which are software programs that act like a printer and perform certain tasks such as Adobe's PDF printer or a fax sender.

Select the device in the list and MacOS will try and populate the three lines at the bottom of the screen.

If the bottom line shows as "Please select a driver or printer model" then click on the arrows next to this comment and select the driver to use. If it is not there then abort and install the drivers for your printer following the specific instructions for that printer then start this process again.

Once all three boxes are filled (as in the example) click on [Add]
 
Friday 15th May
Tip 183 - MacOS[104] - Creating a PDF file


This is somewhat useful as you can create a document viewable on any computer and most PDAs etc and that cannot be edited easily.

This was a task that required extra software but the functionality is built into MacOS and is accessed just like printing.

Create your document just like you would do in order to print it and select PRINT via FILE :: Print

TIP183a.png


Now at the bottom left you will see [PDF] click on this and you will see another menu:

TIP183b.png


You can can select which size of PDF to save as. If you are creating a presentation quality PDF for inclusion on a CD etc then just click "Save as PDF..." the other option of interest would be "Mail PDF" which produces a PDF of acceptable quality but small enough to email.
 
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Ooo oo I have just reached 6 months !!!!

Blimey that was a slog........ Still got the iLife apps and Snow Leopard to go though so should be able to keep going.
 
(y) thankyou cowasaki .. that was very kind of you :)
 
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