sharing the mac with my wife

[cristiancassett]

Hi, I'm getting crazy trying to share my mac (osx 10.3) with my dear wife.
Why is so complicated? I basically would like to have two different accounts where we have different desktop and settings but would like to share all files and applications. But everithing seams to be bloody complicated.
Thanks for helping.
Cristian

[powermac]

Have you used system preferences to set up the accounts? Explain, please what it is you can't do.

[Cam]

I share with my wife just as you desire. We used System Preferences to set up two users. Once logged in as me, I use system preferences to customize my side, and she does the same. Each user has its own environment. You get your own set of folders under your home account. Unless she logs in as you she cannot see them. You can exchange files through a public folder dropbox.

[cristiancassett]

Yes I have created two users and moved the Itunes music and Iphoto library in the shared folder. The music works but I still can't see the pictures on my wife user Iphoto althougth I have given her read and write privileges on the library folder and all it's content (the folder looks still banned from her account).
Another thing that I noticed is that the applications don't update on her account once i've updated one on mine.
What I would like to do is to literally have just different desktops and settings but have everithing else in common. How can I do that, or at least get as close as possible?
Thanks guys for helping.
Cristian

[fryke]

For the applications, it should be easy as long as they are located in /Applications and not somewhere else. Any user can use applications located in /Applications. But if you put them somewhere within your home folder: No go.

[FlashMac]

You could try moving the iPhoto library and iTunes library into a folder and modify the permissions so you both have read and write priveledges - I did this when I shared with my gf, its like the drop box but with read as well as write. Make an alias on the desktop to drop things in that you want to tranfer between the two accounts.

[Cam]

From apple support, for iPHOTO 6 it appears they are starting to make sharing easier than the route you are taking.

Sharing your photos between computers on a network

If your computer is connected to any other computers over a local network, you can share the photos in your library, albums, slideshows, books, calendars, and cards with up to five of those computers. The computers need to be in the same subnet as your computer (see the Network pane of System Preferences to see what subnet your computer is in).
To share your photos on a network:

1. Choose iPhoto > Preferences.
2. Click Sharing at the top of the Preferences window.
3. Select the "Share my photos" checkbox, and then choose your entire library or only the albums, slideshows, or books you want to share.
4. Type a name for your shared items in the "Shared name" field, and a password if desired.

The shared name you enter appears in the iPhoto Source list on computers set up to look for shared photos on your network. If you select "Require password," users will need to enter that password before they can see your shared photos.

You need to leave iPhoto open for users to see your shared library and albums on other computers.

[Cam]

Other pages at apple indicate earlier versions also had this feature.