sharing the mac with my wife

C

cristiancassett

Registered
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
 
Have you used system preferences to set up the accounts? Explain, please what it is you can't do.
 
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.
 
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
 
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.
 
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.
 
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.
 
Most of us have only shared some information, for example iTunes sharing is common. So it appears like we are not helping you fully because we had not considered sharing absolutely all our applications. The OS is initially set up so that users have separate information. If you are going to share absolutely everything one could argue you really only need one user account. Maybe set up a few folders for private documents, which might be easier than setting up many applications to share.

Havind said that, there seem to be a couple of routes to sharing. One is to put the data to be shared in a folder you both can see (by changing permissions of the folder) and then pointing both applications to this shared data. If your thread is seen by enough people there will be someone that has gone this route for each application, but you might not find anyone that has gone this route for all applications. The other route to sharing is that it appears many of the applications now allow for sharing without you moving files. I found the iTunes instructions at apple.com/support and posted on another thread. Below is the built-in sharing of the address book. Again a simple search on "sharing address book" came up with this official route.
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Sharing your address book with others

If you have a .Mac account, you can share your address book over the Internet with friends, family, and colleagues that have .Mac accounts.

To share your address book online:

1. Choose Address Book > Preferences, and click Sharing.
2. Select the "Share your Address Book" checkbox.
3. Click the Add (+) button. From the list that appears, select the email address of a person you want to have access to your address book. Repeat for all the people with whom you want to share your address book.
4. Select Allow Editing if you want the person to be able to make changes to your address book.

The users you entered can now subscribe to your address book by opening Address Book and choosing File > "Subscribe to Address Book."
 
If you don't have a dot Mac account then you probably have to go through the first route I mentioned (moving all the appropriate data to a shared folder).
 
The devil is in the details, and why you have to find someone with experience or keep trying yourself. The exact location and name of the data and preference files are fairly obscure in OS X - which is why off the top of our heads we have not recalled exactly which ones to move. Figuring out how to change the applications to tell them to look somewhere else for the data is an other tricky operation - and it would help to find someone that has done this previously. So if there is a way within the program itself to share that would be my recommendation.
 
Thank you guys but I've given it up, I've decided we'll use the same account because its too complicated otherwise. It would have been very practical being able to work on two different account but sometimes the shortest way is the longer one (does it make any sense?). I hope mac osx developer will take in account this lackings for future releases.
Ciao a tutti. enjoy every minute of life like it's the last one.
Cris
 
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