The first few weeks with my new PowerBook

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elspif

Registered
Well, after a few weeks of using my new powerbook I thought I just post some of my observations of OS X. My overal impression is very positive coming from win2k but still a few questions/frustrations mostly I suspect caused by my own ignorance so please read my remarks and let me know if it's caused by OS X still growing up or me being an uneducated user.

Fonts issues - putting fonts in subfolders of ~/library/fonts/ have them not show up in my applications. so need to put them straight in that directory. However putting all my fonts in there like that make MS Office crash, I just read a thread that said it's due to one of the fonts being corrupt so I'll look into that. Is there no easier way to manage fonts without buying a extra application of around 100USD (=100Euro's) ? Why can't I put fonts in a subfolder?

System settings - there's a few smaller issues that I'm not sure how to change.
-Overal volume is quite low, within iTunes it's ok but that has it's own internal volume settings. all other applications have a low volume. The settings in system preference are limited. Also I'm used to being able to select a input source but in the system settings I can't, even if I insert an external mic I can't just directly put it trough to my speakers. do I need to install additional software to do this?
-I can't just cut and paste files in the finder. I have to drag and drop which forces me to have 2 open windows.
-OS X doesn't remember the way i want my windows. it keeps resetting to a defaults that doesn't work for me, anyway to chan ge this? for example everytime I open my Macintosh HD window it shows it with only half the icons in view, so everytime i drag the window to a larger format then next time I have to do it again! Any idea's how do have the system remember my settings?

Things I really like about OS X:
-iTunes is flippin great! What a nice application. Definitely better than winamp or anything else I've used. It's way easy and still does everything and more that I want.
-Love the way OS X does CD Burning, couldn't be easier.
-The interface is pleasant, fast and I could find my way around from day 1
-Overall performance good, even large PSD's giving no problems.

Anyway I'm very excited with my PowerBook and it goes like a train. I feel alot more productive with it and even when getting my files from my old system I can't help myself from wanting to go back to my Mac before i do what I have to.

Well, al I can say is yeah baby, I'm glad to own a mac now.
 
Originally posted by elspif
-OS X doesn't remember the way i want my windows. it keeps resetting to a defaults that doesn't work for me, anyway to chan ge this? for example everytime I open my Macintosh HD window it shows it with only half the icons in view, so everytime i drag the window to a larger format then next time I have to do it again! Any idea's how do have the system remember my settings?
Click to expand...

Glad to hear you are enjoying your mac experience :)

To make window settings stick you have to open your HD window like you described, then just put everything the way you want it...then close the window again right away without doing anything else. Now when you open the window again everything you set should be the way you wanted it. You do this for any window you want remembered.
 
Also I'm used to being able to select a input source but in the system settings I can't, even if I insert an external mic I can't just directly put it trough to my speakers. do I need to install additional software to do this?


actualy you will want to buy an iMic
but why would you want to go through speekers?

and right now there really isn't a reason to record anything (or at least in my opinion)
 
JetosX:
I like to record what we play with our band so I remember the songs when they are gone. I found a great app to do this: SoundStudio. Very good I can even adjust the input levels, only bummer is that it costs 20bucks that I don't have.

Izzy:
I tried that but still when I restart my powerbook it uses the old settings. Like when I click on my HD icon on the desktop, I get the folder with 'applications', 'users', 'library' etc. and the applications folder is always un aligned. Not that it matters much (under windows this was just as much a strange thing) but it would be nice to have it remember the positions, it would at least prevent my RSI from getting worse.

I wonder if my mac not remembering the window positions has something to do with messing around with the user priviledges. Someone else installed the OS but not to my liking so I changed the user name etc, being logged in as root (since I couldn't find any other way of doing this). I can't really see any problems now but I wouldn't know where to look to see if there is a priveledge problem. Any help would be appreciated.
 
i would only sugest you do that if you know Unix.

i didn't quite understand what you ment but if you are locked out of the admin log in
you can reset the administrative password, Put in an OS X CD.
Restart holding down the C key and once everything has started up under one of the menus there should be something that says reset password (or something like that)

but like i said i am not quite sure what you ment :rolleyes:
 
I was just wondering if the fact that OS X is not remembering my window settings could be related to me not having the correct priviledges to change the window settings. There is no other indication that this is the case so I doubt it.

Could be there be any other reason it's not remembering the window settings?

On another note, I am REALLY getting frustrated with my fonts. Is it true that you can't put folders within subfolders in any of the font folders? I still can't get alot of my fonts to work. And most of them only show up in photoshop not in Freehand. I'm really getting pissed off and this is costing me way too much time. Anybody any tips at all? I know about font managers but don't want to spend money on them I think the OS should support things like this not some third party tool. I shouldn't have to buy extra software to get fonts to work.

Also I removed my Myriad font and it's still loading up in Photoshop but it's in none of the five font folders, I don't understand. Anybody have a clue? Could it be stored in the font cache files in the fontcollection folders?

spif
 
Oh yeah, in photoshop I have al these chinese fonts I don't want to use, is it safe to delete them from the system library. I know it's not really necessary but does OS X need these fonts in my english only mac settings?
 
Elspif:

I'm not very knowledgeable about fonts in OS X, but did you know there are actually FIVE font folders: your fonts inside your Home folder, the main font collection in /Library/Fonts, network fonts, system fonts, and Classic fonts! (BTW, Classic is the pre-OS X emulator that lets you run older Mac programs)

If you are having trouble with "classic" programs, you might try putting the fonts there: /System Folder/Fonts.

I highly recommend David Pogue's _Mac OS X: The Missing Manual_ from O'Reilly Press. It is $25US, but it's worth it. Good for beginners or anyone new to OS X. Font information is found on pages 332-337 among other places.

I'm jealous of your Powerbook. I love my iBook, but come on! I want a PowerBook!

Oh, well. Good luck. I've only had a Mac for a year, so I'm still learning.

Doug
 
Originally posted by elspif
Oh yeah, in photoshop I have al these chinese fonts I don't want to use, is it safe to delete them from the system library. I know it's not really necessary but does OS X need these fonts in my english only mac settings?
Click to expand...
they arn't that big but there is a program Monolingual (click to view info/download), And what it dose is it removes unwanted lanugage resources to free up some space. Now if there are some languages you still want or need it will let you keep them.
i like it it's free ad nice so have fun
 
Hey JetosX thanx for all your help.
I am aware of the five (or more, if you have more than one user) fonts folders and I've tried every single one of them. But none seem to support subfolders. I find that a bit of a flaw in OS X, i hope 10.2 fixes that. As i am not a full time designer but do alot of design stuff but mostly flash if OS X fixes this it would at least justify the 129$ in stead of having to buy a font manager.

As for that link, thanx but I think with the iTools changing into .mac it's somehow not reachable anymore. Could you email it to me directly to stefan dot subscribe at eight dot nl (you know replace the dot with . ) [just my paranoya with spam ;) ]

I hope I can figure the font thing out quickly though. Once again thx for your help
 
OK, I got it now. It was never in a iTools account. wonder why i got a apple.com 404... hmmm anyway got it now and will check it out soon.
 
I had given up hope for an answer to my question but will ask one more time.

Does OS X support fonts that are in subfolders? If so why does my PowerBook G4 not?

They don't show up in photoshop, freehand word or whatever. This is really a problem as i'm starting to get more fonts and I shouldn't have tocopy every single font file out of a subfolder. I though Mac was supposed to be easier ;) :confused:

Please let me know if I'm doing something wrong or if there is a workaround. Surely there are some OS X users out there who have run into this before, or do you all have something like suitcase? No I do not want to spend 100 bucks on that when I beleive that should be part of the OS (especially with the new 10.2 being another big amount)

any help would be great
:cool:

Oh JetosX, the download to that file doesn't work. It's hosted on an iTools account that has been cancelled I think. If you know of any other place to get let me know.
 
Found the Monolingual program, worked good it freed up some disk space. Thanx for the tip.

I'm wondering if the font problem could be resolved by putting the font files in the mac os 9 filder because they do show up in os 9.

Any idea's?
 
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