mac newbie
OK I finally made the switch and have a new 17"MBP and a refurbished Mac Pro on their way (I'm pretty sure it's Andy's fault by the way).
Anyway I decided to opt out of the $99.00 One-on-one option and have decided to try and transfer my PC files. e-mail, pictures, etc over myself. I was wondering if anyone has any recommendations on a program that will help expedite the process for me? I'm about half way through this thread but yowzer there's like 394 pages. Googling I found Move2Mac and Parallels(I plan on running straight OSX and no Windows so this one might be overkill). Are these any good or are there better solutions out there?
For Firefox, I copied my FF profile from my PC, and it started on the Mac exactly as I had it on the PC. Google this as well for step by steps. An even better idea is to install Xmarks on your Firefox/IE on the PC and the Mac, and sync.
Safari will import bookmarks from the PC as well with the Import function. Xmarks is available for Safari as well.
Googling I found Move2Mac and Parallels(I plan on running straight OSX and no Windows so this one might be overkill). Are these any good or are there better solutions out there?
I don't know anyone that's used Move2Mac. Like cmason said, you can just drag stuff straight from one machine to another. Look at the names of the folders inside your Windows and Mac user accounts: They're almost identical. My Documents on Windows = Documents on Mac, My Pictures on Windows = Pictures on Mac, and so on. You can just move your files from a Windows user folder to the same one on the Mac side, like from My Music on Windows to the Music folder on the Mac. User preferences and configuration files are inside your Library folder.
If you have been using a mail client on Windows, you can try importing the mail files into Apple Mail.
Parallels is one of the two top PC virtualization environments sold for the Mac. The other one is VMware Fusion. Both are quite good and competing head-to-head. Both have new versions out to support Windows 7. I use Parallels and am happy with it, but I don't use it for heavy-duty work, and only occasionally. Ars Technica just gave Parallels one of their exhaustive reviews if you want to read that. There is also a free one called VirtualBox.
OK I finally made the switch and have a new 17"MBP and a refurbished Mac Pro on their way (I'm pretty sure it's Andy's fault by the way).
I was wondering if anyone has any recommendations on a program that will help expedite the process for me?
Thanks
Jim
Hey Jim. I just went through this a couple of weeks ago. I actually bought a little device...I think it was a USB to USB connector cable with a little gadget in between--the basic thought being connect the two, and transfer your files over the USB cable. All that said, I didn't even break the thing out of the box. Not sure what your home network looks like, but my old PC was hooked to a lynksis router and my new iMac had built in wifi. I simply shared out the folders I wanted--My Documents from my C Drive, and my entire D drive. Once they were shared on the PC, they showed right up in my Finder on the iMac. I simply dragged and dropped them on to my Western Digital drive I had hooked up to my iMac. It was a little slow, but I didn't have to pay a penny to do it (returned the USB cable).
Looks like it will be a whole easier than I thought. Guess I'm still thinking like a PC guy, you know things can't be that simple right? Every thing should be here next week so I'll let you all know how it goes.
Had a bit of a billing issue with Apple and my credit card company last night at 20:00. Gave Apple a call and they networked us in with my credit card company and had everything sorted out in 15 minutes, and that was on Black Friday and right at quitting time to boot. And they say customer service is dead. Guess they forgot to tell them that at Apple.
My macpro had it's 3rd birthday today. Same hassle free experience as Andy and, hopefully, I will post a similar story in another 3 years
My Mac Pro just turned 3 last month. I just upgraded to a Canon 7D which more than doubles the number of megapixels the machine must process per frame, and I wasn't sure if I would feel a performance slowdown in Lightroom. Crossed my fingers and was happy to find that it doesn't feel any less responsive, I don't need a new computer. Looks like I could be hanging on to this Mac Pro for another 3 to 5 years...
Well, it's covered by Applecare, so call Apple ASAP. There might be some magic over-the-phone stuff to do.... Next choice is to go to a Genius Bar.... last choice would be to send it in to Apple - no matter what, they'll fix it or replace!
Dropped-off today at the store. New motherboard to be installed next week.
Now pondering the purchase of the extended applecare warranty.
Now pondering the purchase of the extended applecare warranty.
I would say worth it, mine has already paid for itself in the battery. Plus when call for questions, like why my Airport is being troublesome and not letting me connect to a USB drive, they will still answer the questions.
I am still using CS3, not sure there is a reason for me to go to CS4, but each time I launch an application of CS3 I get the Adobe Updater failed report under Snow Leopard.
So I googled it and found the directions at http://kb2.adobe.com/cps/408/kb408711.html and well they are not exactly the clearest thing I have read. I asked a programmer friend of mine, and he came up with this as the code:
I am still using CS3, not sure there is a reason for me to go to CS4, but each time I launch an application of CS3 I get the Adobe Updater failed report under Snow Leopard.
So I googled it and found the directions at http://kb2.adobe.com/cps/408/kb408711.html and well they are not exactly the clearest thing I have read. I asked a programmer friend of mine, and he came up with this as the code:
.
snip
.
</plist>Curious - did you place the file in /Library/Preferences or in Users/USERNAME/Library/Preferences? A lot of the adobe & apple plists are in the later location.
Wireless woes
My wife's MacBook (4.1) is having frequent wireless failures, generally timeouts. They are not application specific--Safari, Firefox and Thunderbird all show the same problem. Other machines on my home net (XP, Win2K and Win7) are working fine.
Running OS-X 10.5.7. The problems started about two months ago, and I cannot tie them to any config or installation changes that I have made. Looking at some of the Web resources, I see that complaints are not uncommon, but Apple seems to be stonewalling the issue. I suspect that some automatic system software update may be responsible, but I haven't been able to find the update history.
Are there any (preferably free) tools I can use to help diagnose the problem? I know little about the exciting world of OS-X, so I'm at a bit of a loss here. All advice welcome.
My wife's MacBook (4.1) is having frequent wireless failures, generally timeouts. They are not application specific--Safari, Firefox and Thunderbird all show the same problem. Other machines on my home net (XP, Win2K and Win7) are working fine.
Running OS-X 10.5.7. The problems started about two months ago, and I cannot tie them to any config or installation changes that I have made. Looking at some of the Web resources, I see that complaints are not uncommon, but Apple seems to be stonewalling the issue. I suspect that some automatic system software update may be responsible, but I haven't been able to find the update history.
Are there any (preferably free) tools I can use to help diagnose the problem? I know little about the exciting world of OS-X, so I'm at a bit of a loss here. All advice welcome.
Disable/uninstall any and all browser add-ons/plug-ins and see if that helps? Your wireless is secured (WPA AES) I hope - so no one else is piggy-backing on your network. Also - get something like KisMac and monitor the wireless connections around you. Are others using the same channel as yours (if so - change your channel to one that no one else is using).
Disable/uninstall any and all browser add-ons/plug-ins and see if that helps? Your wireless is secured (WPA AES) I hope - so no one else is piggy-backing on your network. Also - get something like KisMac and monitor the wireless connections around you. Are others using the same channel as yours (if so - change your channel to one that no one else is using).
Given that I have used four other machines (plus an IPod Touch) on the same net without problem, I think the reasonable place to look is on the MacBook. I am using Safari straight out of the box and Firefox extensions are disabled. I tried changing the net channel some time ago, and while it seemed to help for a time, it has not proved to be a durable solution. In any event, I don't see why a Mac should be more susceptible to interference than my other machines. Nevertheless, I'll give KisMac a whirl and see what it reports.
How do I find the update history of the OS and drivers? The built-in help was no help, but I'm sure it has to be there somewhere.
Given that I have used four other machines (plus an IPod Touch) on the same net without problem, I think the reasonable place to look is on the MacBook. I am using Safari straight out of the box and Firefox extensions are disabled. I tried changing the net channel some time ago, and while it seemed to help for a time, it has not proved to be a durable solution. In any event, I don't see why a Mac should be more susceptible to interference than my other machines. Nevertheless, I'll give KisMac a whirl and see what it reports.
How do I find the update history of the OS and drivers? The built-in help was no help, but I'm sure it has to be there somewhere.
Yeah - I was just shooting for some quick trouble-shooting. Not much else I can offer here. Perhaps a posting over at MacRumors.com's forums?
How do I find the update history of the OS and drivers? The built-in help was no help, but I'm sure it has to be there somewhere.
Open System Profiler, click Software/Logs, click Software Update.log
The consumer-oriented help files usually don't go to this level of assistance. You're more likely to find it in Apple's online support database or forum. As for this particular piece of info...I just guessed. There's all kinds of arcane info in System Profiler.
My wife's MacBook (4.1) is having frequent wireless failures, generally timeouts. They are not application specific--Safari, Firefox and Thunderbird all show the same problem. Other machines on my home net (XP, Win2K and Win7) are working fine.
Running OS-X 10.5.7. The problems started about two months ago, and I cannot tie them to any config or installation changes that I have made. Looking at some of the Web resources, I see that complaints are not uncommon, but Apple seems to be stonewalling the issue. I suspect that some automatic system software update may be responsible, but I haven't been able to find the update history.
Are there any (preferably free) tools I can use to help diagnose the problem? I know little about the exciting world of OS-X, so I'm at a bit of a loss here. All advice welcome.
The instructions didn't exactly correspond to what I could see in the network systems preferences window, but I did add a new location and it made no difference. I installed KisMac and it discovered a dozen wireless nets in range but none was using the same channel I'm using. I also updated the OS to the latest 10.5 release, but nothing changed.
I am starting to suspect hardware--the airport icon doesn't show full signal strength even when the machine is right next to the router. The machine is no longer under warranty, and I'm guessing it will be quite pricey to repair (relative to the machine's worth). One solution would be a very long ethernet cable (it works fine when cabled to the router), but that's a little inconvenient. Another idea would be to attach a USB wireless dongle instead of the airport interface. Anybody have experience with this on a MacBook?
The instructions didn't exactly correspond to what I could see in the network systems preferences window, but I did add a new location and it made no difference. I installed KisMac and it discovered a dozen wireless nets in range but none was using the same channel I'm using. I also updated the OS to the latest 10.5 release, but nothing changed.
I am starting to suspect hardware--the airport icon doesn't show full signal strength even when the machine is right next to the router. The machine is no longer under warranty, and I'm guessing it will be quite pricey to repair (relative to the machine's worth). One solution would be a very long ethernet cable (it works fine when cabled to the router), but that's a little inconvenient. Another idea would be to attach a USB wireless dongle instead of the airport interface. Anybody have experience with this on a MacBook?
Which model? Many have slots you just slide the Airport Card into. I think they're $50-70ish? I guess the newer laptops have the airport hardwired in, though. I forget when that changed.
I'm also pretty sure that if it doesn't have an easy to change card, then it's the motherboard that needs replacing.
As you can tell, I'm a bit foggy on these details, haven't been keeping up. For years, perhaps.
Which model? Many have slots you just slide the Airport Card into. I think they're $50-70ish? I guess the newer laptops have the airport hardwired in, though. I forget when that changed.
I'm also pretty sure that if it doesn't have an easy to change card, then it's the motherboard that needs replacing.
As you can tell, I'm a bit foggy on these details, haven't been keeping up. For years, perhaps.
There is no model number visible--it's just a low-end white MacBook that's about 18 months old. The sys info says it's a MacBook 4.1. It does not have any expansion slots at all as far as I can see. That's why a USB solution occurred to me.
I saw two other suggestions - one was to create a new user on the MB and see if that new user had the same problem(s).
Also this post suggests a possible link to printer driver conflicts.
I'll try the new user tomorrow and see if that helps. The printer drivers have not changed since we got the machine, and it prints OK, or at least it did when the net connection was working. Thanks for the suggestions. I appreciate it.
</plist>Curious - did you place the file in /Library/Preferences or in Users/USERNAME/Library/Preferences? A lot of the adobe & apple plists are in the later location.
I placed it in "/Users/BradfordBenn/Library/Preferences" which does not work. However from your post I tried placing it in "/Library/Preferences" and that seems to have worked<img src="https://us.v-cdn.net/6029383/emoji/clap.gif" border="0" alt="" >
I placed it in "/Users/BradfordBenn/Library/Preferences" which does not work. However from your post I tried placing it in "/Library/Preferences" and that seems to have worked
I am still using CS3, not sure there is a reason for me to go to CS4, but each time I launch an application of CS3 I get the Adobe Updater failed report under Snow Leopard.
So I googled it and found the directions at http://kb2.adobe.com/cps/408/kb408711.html and well they are not exactly the clearest thing I have read. I asked a programmer friend of mine, and he came up with this as the code:
So I tried it and still got the failed report.
Anyone do this successfully or can point me in the right direction?
I think you solved it, but I recently had the same issue and found this from adobe.
I did it manually as posted on that page and it worked for me. I did it both for the Adobe Updater 5 & 6.
Comments
OK I finally made the switch and have a new 17"MBP and a refurbished Mac Pro on their way (I'm pretty sure it's Andy's fault by the way).
Anyway I decided to opt out of the $99.00 One-on-one option and have decided to try and transfer my PC files. e-mail, pictures, etc over myself. I was wondering if anyone has any recommendations on a program that will help expedite the process for me? I'm about half way through this thread but yowzer there's like 394 pages. Googling I found Move2Mac and Parallels(I plan on running straight OSX and no Windows so this one might be overkill). Are these any good or are there better solutions out there?
Thanks
Jim
I use Gmail , so I didnt have to move email, so I dont have any info on how to do that. (this might help: http://guides.macrumors.com/Moving_Email_from_PC_Outlook_to_Apple_Mail)
For Firefox, I copied my FF profile from my PC, and it started on the Mac exactly as I had it on the PC. Google this as well for step by steps. An even better idea is to install Xmarks on your Firefox/IE on the PC and the Mac, and sync.
Safari will import bookmarks from the PC as well with the Import function. Xmarks is available for Safari as well.
I don't know anyone that's used Move2Mac. Like cmason said, you can just drag stuff straight from one machine to another. Look at the names of the folders inside your Windows and Mac user accounts: They're almost identical. My Documents on Windows = Documents on Mac, My Pictures on Windows = Pictures on Mac, and so on. You can just move your files from a Windows user folder to the same one on the Mac side, like from My Music on Windows to the Music folder on the Mac. User preferences and configuration files are inside your Library folder.
If you have been using a mail client on Windows, you can try importing the mail files into Apple Mail.
Parallels is one of the two top PC virtualization environments sold for the Mac. The other one is VMware Fusion. Both are quite good and competing head-to-head. Both have new versions out to support Windows 7. I use Parallels and am happy with it, but I don't use it for heavy-duty work, and only occasionally. Ars Technica just gave Parallels one of their exhaustive reviews if you want to read that. There is also a free one called VirtualBox.
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Hey Jim. I just went through this a couple of weeks ago. I actually bought a little device...I think it was a USB to USB connector cable with a little gadget in between--the basic thought being connect the two, and transfer your files over the USB cable. All that said, I didn't even break the thing out of the box. Not sure what your home network looks like, but my old PC was hooked to a lynksis router and my new iMac had built in wifi. I simply shared out the folders I wanted--My Documents from my C Drive, and my entire D drive. Once they were shared on the PC, they showed right up in my Finder on the iMac. I simply dragged and dropped them on to my Western Digital drive I had hooked up to my iMac. It was a little slow, but I didn't have to pay a penny to do it (returned the USB cable).
~jb
CTU Photography
Looks like it will be a whole easier than I thought. Guess I'm still thinking like a PC guy, you know things can't be that simple right? Every thing should be here next week so I'll let you all know how it goes.
Had a bit of a billing issue with Apple and my credit card company last night at 20:00. Gave Apple a call and they networked us in with my credit card company and had everything sorted out in 15 minutes, and that was on Black Friday and right at quitting time to boot.
Jim T
My macpro had it's 3rd birthday today. Same hassle free experience as Andy and, hopefully, I will post a similar story in another 3 years
My Mac Pro just turned 3 last month. I just upgraded to a Canon 7D which more than doubles the number of megapixels the machine must process per frame, and I wasn't sure if I would feel a performance slowdown in Lightroom. Crossed my fingers and was happy to find that it doesn't feel any less responsive, I don't need a new computer. Looks like I could be hanging on to this Mac Pro for another 3 to 5 years...
Now pondering the purchase of the extended applecare warranty.
GreyLeaf PhotoGraphy
I would say worth it, mine has already paid for itself in the battery. Plus when call for questions, like why my Airport is being troublesome and not letting me connect to a USB drive, they will still answer the questions.
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Hello All-
I am still using CS3, not sure there is a reason for me to go to CS4, but each time I launch an application of CS3 I get the Adobe Updater failed report under Snow Leopard.
So I googled it and found the directions at http://kb2.adobe.com/cps/408/kb408711.html and well they are not exactly the clearest thing I have read. I asked a programmer friend of mine, and he came up with this as the code:
[PHP]<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
<key>Disable.Update</key>
<true/>
</dict>
</plist>[/PHP]
So I tried it and still got the failed report.
Anyone do this successfully or can point me in the right direction?
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GreyLeaf PhotoGraphy
My wife's MacBook (4.1) is having frequent wireless failures, generally timeouts. They are not application specific--Safari, Firefox and Thunderbird all show the same problem. Other machines on my home net (XP, Win2K and Win7) are working fine.
Running OS-X 10.5.7. The problems started about two months ago, and I cannot tie them to any config or installation changes that I have made. Looking at some of the Web resources, I see that complaints are not uncommon, but Apple seems to be stonewalling the issue. I suspect that some automatic system software update may be responsible, but I haven't been able to find the update history.
Are there any (preferably free) tools I can use to help diagnose the problem? I know little about the exciting world of OS-X, so I'm at a bit of a loss here. All advice welcome.
GreyLeaf PhotoGraphy
Given that I have used four other machines (plus an IPod Touch) on the same net without problem, I think the reasonable place to look is on the MacBook. I am using Safari straight out of the box and Firefox extensions are disabled. I tried changing the net channel some time ago, and while it seemed to help for a time, it has not proved to be a durable solution. In any event, I don't see why a Mac should be more susceptible to interference than my other machines. Nevertheless, I'll give KisMac a whirl and see what it reports.
How do I find the update history of the OS and drivers? The built-in help was no help, but I'm sure it has to be there somewhere.
GreyLeaf PhotoGraphy
Open System Profiler, click Software/Logs, click Software Update.log
The consumer-oriented help files usually don't go to this level of assistance. You're more likely to find it in Apple's online support database or forum. As for this particular piece of info...I just guessed. There's all kinds of arcane info in System Profiler.
Dgrin FAQ | Me | Workshops
The instructions didn't exactly correspond to what I could see in the network systems preferences window, but I did add a new location and it made no difference. I installed KisMac and it discovered a dozen wireless nets in range but none was using the same channel I'm using. I also updated the OS to the latest 10.5 release, but nothing changed.
I am starting to suspect hardware--the airport icon doesn't show full signal strength even when the machine is right next to the router. The machine is no longer under warranty, and I'm guessing it will be quite pricey to repair (relative to the machine's worth). One solution would be a very long ethernet cable (it works fine when cabled to the router), but that's a little inconvenient. Another idea would be to attach a USB wireless dongle instead of the airport interface. Anybody have experience with this on a MacBook?
Which model? Many have slots you just slide the Airport Card into. I think they're $50-70ish? I guess the newer laptops have the airport hardwired in, though. I forget when that changed.
I'm also pretty sure that if it doesn't have an easy to change card, then it's the motherboard that needs replacing.
As you can tell, I'm a bit foggy on these details, haven't been keeping up. For years, perhaps.
Dgrin FAQ | Me | Workshops
Also this post suggests a possible link to printer driver conflicts.
GreyLeaf PhotoGraphy
There is no model number visible--it's just a low-end white MacBook that's about 18 months old. The sys info says it's a MacBook 4.1. It does not have any expansion slots at all as far as I can see. That's why a USB solution occurred to me.
I'll try the new user tomorrow and see if that helps. The printer drivers have not changed since we got the machine, and it prints OK, or at least it did when the net connection was working. Thanks for the suggestions. I appreciate it.
You also might want to check and see which version of the Airport Firmware you're running. May not be up to date on that machine.
Dgrin FAQ | Me | Workshops
I placed it in "/Users/BradfordBenn/Library/Preferences" which does not work. However from your post I tried placing it in "/Library/Preferences" and that seems to have worked<img src="https://us.v-cdn.net/6029383/emoji/clap.gif" border="0" alt="" >
Thanks
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GreyLeaf PhotoGraphy
First the MacBook Air cr*pped out on me. Fine - things happen. It's under warranty. I hope to have it back soon.
Then yesterday I upgraded to 10.6.2 on the MacPro and added a second external drive (firewire chained to an existing firewire-based external drive).
What a cluster-@&%$%@!.
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2251884&tstart=0
GreyLeaf PhotoGraphy
I think you solved it, but I recently had the same issue and found this from adobe.
I did it manually as posted on that page and it worked for me. I did it both for the Adobe Updater 5 & 6.
It booted - Yeah!!
Then the kernel panic started immediately after logging on.
Rebooted and all seemed fine. Signed the repair sheet and went on my merry way.
At home, opened the computer to see another kernel panic. Cr*p.
Rebooted. Another kernel panic.
SMC reset.
Better. I start to use the computer.
No - hold on. Still getting panics.
Phoned Apple. Told to do a PRAM reset.
Hey - not bad. The Air stays on. I can't get to the internet because of where I was. No problem. I will go home and play with it.
Spoke too soon. Kernel panic.
Cr*p.
GreyLeaf PhotoGraphy
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