Introduction to Mac Operating System: OS X Tiger

Transcription

1 Introduction to Mac Operating System: OS X Tiger Switching the Computer On 1. Press the round button on the front of the computer to turn the computer on. If the screen is black, but the lights are lit on the CPU and the monitor, shake the mouse or press any key on the keyboard. This will roust the computer from Sleep Mode. 2. You may see a login dialogue box. If this happens, login as uisguest. The password is uisguest [all in lowercase]. Mac and Windows Differences 1. Mouse buttons. The Mac mouse has a single button whereas a Windows mouse has two buttons. To display a contextual menu in a Mac environment, control+click on an object. 2. Keyboard shortcuts. Most keyboard shortcuts are the same on the Mac as in Windows. However, substitute the Command key [apple and clover leaf] for the Ctrl key, and the option key for the Alt key. 3. Menu bars. There is only one Menu bar across the top of the screen on the Mac. In Windows, a separate bar appears at the top of every window. 4. Force quit. If the computer freezes up, usually you will see the turning rainbow pinwheel. First, try to quit the application that you are currently working in. To do this, click anywhere on the desktop and choose Apple > Force Quit. If you cannot use the mouse, then use the 3-key shortcut for Force Quit: option + Apple + esc. By hitting these three keys together, a Force Quit Applications dialog box appears. Select the name of the application and click on Force Quit. 1

2 Mac Interface Menu Bar Items Across the top of your computer screen is a menu bar. Listed below are options that may be useful while using the Macintosh computer. Apple Menu About this Mac > More Info This will display the System Profile, a software and hardware overview as well as devices and volumes chart that might be helpful to you. Apple System Profiler is a utility that monitors the computer as well as its external devices. 2

3 System Preferences System Preferences is an essential utility for the Mac user. Users can change the screen resolution, QuickTime plug-in settings, adjust sound options, Energy Saver preferences, etc. For example, The Input tab in the sound preference shows you external devices such as microphones and their signal. This is important when troubleshooting the absence of sound when trying to record to a sound program. Note: The Energy Saver preference should be set to Never so as not to interfere with rendering video and sound. Recent Items The Recent Items option lists applications, documents, and servers that you have used in the last day or two. Recent Items is a quick way to navigate to current files without having to search for them. Sleep, Restart, or Shut Down When you select one of these options under the Apple Menu, a dialog box will appear. If you do nothing [and depending upon the option you have selected], the computer will automatically carry out the function in approximately 120 minutes. Controlling Volume To control volume, go to the top-right of the monitor and click on the speaker icon. Use the slide bar mechanism to control the volume. 3

4 File Menu Select File > New Finder Window. The file management window will be displayed. Use the Column View as often as possible as this will help you get acquainted with file management on a Mac. Documents folder is the default for saving documents. Creating a New Folder Get Info To create a new folder, select File > New Folder. An empty folder will appear on the desktop. When the box below the folder is highlighted blue, you can type in a name for the folder. To edit the name of a folder, click on the text-box below the folder icon, wait until it turns blue, and then type in a name. The Get Info menu item allows you to find out important information on file size and file ownership if you need to change permissions on locked files. 4

5 Find Find helps you locate files that you may have inadvertently lost. To access Find: 1. Choose File > Find. A dialogue box appears. 2. Select the hard drive or external media where you think the file may be located. 3. Type a search word into the text field. 4. The search results will be displayed in a few seconds. 5. Click on an item to see which folder the file is nested in. View Menu Go Menu View allows you to look at the files in your folder as a list, as icons, or as columns. Changing the view to list can be very helpful if you open a folder, know you have a file in there, but cannot seem to find it. You can also use the Clean Up or Arrange options to organize an untidy desktop. You can access the many areas of your computer using the Go option. Perhaps most important is the ability to go directly to the Applications folder and to Connect to Server. Connect to Server This option allows you to transfer files to a Mac server. To find a server: 1. Select Go > Connect to Server. 2. Specify the server and click on Connect. 3. Enter your username and password, and click on Connect. The server will now be displayed on your desktop. Printers Information Technology Services has two printers for patron use, 1) Media Lab Color Printer and 2) Media Lab B&W LaserJet. You print and pay for your color prints at the Front Desk. The default printer for the computer is the Color Laser. 5

6 Exposé Exposé gives you instant access to any open window with a single keystroke. Display all open windows as thumbnails, view windows of the current application, or hide all windows to quickly locate a file on your desktop. Spotlight Dashboard Spotlight and Find are not the same in OS X Tiger. With Spotlight, you always find what you are looking for, even if you do not know where to look. The Spotlight search field gives you instant results encompassing not only files, folders and documents but also messages in Mail, contacts in Address Book, ical calendars, System Preferences and applications. Dashboard is home to widgets: miniapplications that let you perform common tasks and provide you with fast access to information. With a single click, Dashboard appears, complete with widgets that bring you a world of information real-time weather, stock tickers, flight information and more instantly. 6

7 Common Desktop Icons Your OS X Tiger desktop by default should have the following: hard drive icon labeled Macintosh HD and a panel on the bottom of the screen called the Dock. The icons in the Dock represent the different software packages on the computer. Roll over each icon to reveal its name. Click on an icon to launch a program. You know that an application is active or on if a tiny black arrow appears on the bottom of an application icon. If you do not see the Dock, go to the Apple menu at the top of the screen. Select Dock > Turn Hiding Off. If you are not able to open a particular program from the Dock: Go to the Application folder, in the Hard Drive. Find the program that you want to use and doubleclick on its icon. Hard Drive Double-clicking on the Macintosh HD icon reveals folders that are contained in the operating system and applications/programs. Trash The Trash is located at the far right of the Dock. The Trash is where unwanted files are placed for eventual deletion. To get rid of an unwanted file, drag it and place it in the Trash. Note: Sometimes the computer cannot trash a file because the application that created it is still open or active. You must quit the application and then trash the file. If the file you wish to trash is locked, hold down the option key as you drag the file to Trash. Eject Another important function that Trash serves is to eject removable media such as CDs, flash cards, zip disks and other external devices plugged in via USB. During these processes, the trash icon turns into an Eject symbol. You also disconnect servers in the same way. To eject a CD or disk, drag it to Trash and the disk will pop out of the CPU. 7