The Mac market just gets bigger and bigger

Apple Daily Report ^ | Wednesday, January 28, 2015 | Dennis Sellers

[Morpheus2009]

I have been considering that as well. Macbook Pro, to be exact. After a few years of saving up, it will very well be worth the price.

[Morpheus2009]

Hasta la Vista!

That’s how I felt about Windows Vista!

[Morpheus2009]

It’s actually possible, it is called a “Hackintosh”.

http://www.hackintosh.com/
http://lifehacker.com/the-always-up-to-date-guide-to-building-a-hackintosh-o-5841604

[TEXOKIE]

We were gobsmacked with the Windows 8.

We. Hated. It.

Just bought a Mac Pro laptop yesterday.

Got it out of the box today. “Oh Frabjous Day!”

I decided to be deliberate in going through the set up. Smart Phone did not give us a tutorial of any kind, that we could find, nor did Windows.

Mr. Pro started talking to me. When I could not hear what he was saying, I think I missed an opportunity.

After that, I was given as my only option the choice to go through the tutorial on Voice Over Commands. The display MacPros in the store don’t talk to you.

I wrote the commands for each key ALL down. Finally got to the part where you practice them. some of them I was not able to successfully complete even with going back and trying the page again. Kept getting thrown into the “interact with the button” message, which was the “continue” button. The thing actually by passed the practice on the commands. I’m sure I was doing it wrong. But how am I supposed to know?

Finally got to the Review skills page. Unable to complete that page because of my unsuccessful “practices”.

Started over. All of this unsuccessfulness took over 2 hours. I’m not going to give up, but not sure at this point what to do other than give it another shot tomorrow.

*sigh*

[SamAdams76]

The MacBook Pro is a mind-blowing machine. I bought one back in 2012 and it still looks brand new and is blazingly fast. I’m typing this post on it in my hotel room. This machine has travelled the entire country with me and commutes to NYC just about everyday. What a workhorse.

[Star Traveler]

If all you’re used to from before is Windows, it is going to be different. Now, “different” is sometimes interpreted by others as “bad” ... but actually it is only “different”.

I would say to not get too complicated at first. Just do simple stuff first, don’t memorize everything, and just gradually get used to the user interface. Do e-mail, web browsing and some simple file stuff, like copying files, duplicating files, moving them around ... stuff line that.

Then you might get a beginner book on the Mac, according to the operating system version you have (which should be the most current).

If you are close to an Apple Store, then take advantage of their free help and some free classes.

I pinged Swordmaker, who has a ping list for Apple users, so you might get on that. He also might be able to offer some suggestions for you.

That’s a good computer you have, so enjoy it!

[Star Traveler]

Yep ... and I want one! ... but not quite yet. I’m rotating out some other devices first.

[Swordmaker]

I am confused as to what you are attempting to do. Why are you using voice over? Are you sight impaired? If not, don’t use it. It’s unnecessary.

Let me know what you are trying to accomplish.

[TEXOKIE]

Thanks for your reply. I appreciate the reminder that it is a good machine. I have not yet lost that vision. I agree that I shouldn’t do a lot of complicated stuff first, and the first thing we did was to buy a beginner book for it. But it doesn’t take me back to the very beginning of taking it out of the box and setting it up and what to expect with that.

The problem as that the only set up I’ve been able to do is tell it what language and country. After that I hit a wall. Nevermind being able to access email, and all the easy stuff you said.

Closest apple store that I know of is a few hours away.

Thanks for your concern for my plight. I’m sure I’ll get there, and once more I find it is my fellow FReepers who provide a key to arriving at a desired outcome!

[TEXOKIE]

I’m confused too!

I in no way wanted to use the voice over. But that is what was presented to me when I opened the lid. It started talking to me and telling me that to do the set up I would need to use voice over commands. I was never presented with an option to not have the voice over, unless it was an implied thing and I waited to long to exercise it. AFter that, all I’ve been allowed is to go through the tutorial. It kept taking me there.

My impression (or hope) was that the setting processes were going to be using the voice over, and somewhere along the way there was going to be a place I could (intelligently and with full understanding) make a decision to get rid of it.

I had no clue what a voice command was or was for. Never seen an apple at work before outside of a store. No clue what to expect, especially in an initializing procedure.

I had the presence of mind to take a lot of pictures of various screens I encountered, as well as notes of what my decisions and thinking were at a different stages. Perhaps if it becomes an issue, and is needful, I can reconstruct fairly accurately my experience.

Maybe it will be a new day tomorrow, and it will all be different.

Thanks for your gracious concern!

[Swordmaker]

I in no way wanted to use the voice over. But that is what was presented to me when I opened the lid. It started talking to me and telling me that to do the set up I would need to use voice over commands. I was never presented with an option to not have the voice over, unless it was an implied thing and I waited to long to exercise it. AFter that, all I’ve been allowed is to go through the tutorial. It kept taking me there.

You know, I haven't started a new Mac with Yosemite on it. . . so it may actually start with voice over for vision impaired users with an option to switch it off on the second welcome screen. On previous OS X versions, the option was on the second welcome screen was to turn it on.

You can turn off Voice Over by pressing Command & F5 simultaneously.

[papertyger]

After Jobs left (kicked out by Sculley) and until he came back, Apple reverted to the standard “business model” of other companies, put in place by those “from other companies” and it just did not work.

That, if for no other reason, is what I like about Apple.

Jobs proved that the modern day robber barons, who are constitutionally incapable of admitting/recognizing a saturated market or profit equilibrium, are NOT the defining practitioners of Capitalism.

He proved the "higher profit at any cost" mindset is NOT Capitalism, but it's dullard, vain, and supercilious, ugly sister.

[TEXOKIE]

Thanks. I will give that a try.

LOL! I had it on the charger yesterday, and I needed to move it after the green light came on. I had only closed the lid. When I turned the light off in the room, I saw it had a little white light on the side, but didn’t perceive what that might be.

I went to bed. Woke early this morning, and realized ... oops. I had not pushed the off button. Closing the lid does not shut it off. Fortunately, my sleep cycle was shorter than the battery discharge cycle!

I’ll report back!

Thanks again!

[Swordmaker]

I went to bed. Woke early this morning, and realized ... oops. I had not pushed the off button. Closing the lid does not shut it off. Fortunately, my sleep cycle was shorter than the battery discharge cycle!

You do not need to unplug or turn off a Mac. The Mac actually takes care of general housekeeping duties while it sleeps. In fact the best way to keep a Mac up to snuff is to never turn it off. Just close the lid and let it go to sleep. The system handles the charging.

Nor do you need to worry about the batteries. They do not get a memory like older batteries did. They'll be fine. You do not ever have to discharge it to nothing. Just let your Mac handle it for you. Even if you do accidentally allow it to get to the point of battery exhaustion, the Mac will save whatever work you have in progress and shut down before exhaustion for you.

[TEXOKIE]

Well, that is really good to know! Thanks so much!

Darlin and I are going to have a late lunch, and then I plan to delve into it once more.

I confess to feeling trepidacious....

Will report back. ... or more likely - will holler for help and/or hints! *sheepish grin*

Thanks again for helping!

[TEXOKIE]

LOL! OMG!! You are going to think I’m an idiot... or at least a maroon! And you would be right!

First of all, the command F5 did the trick, [thanks!] but then I discovered that because I had never used a laptop before, I was forgetting that you have to use the little pad thing to boss around the cursor.

Where’s the picture of the head slap?

sheesh

Well, at any rate, now that we have our communication problems with the device solved, we can at least now deal with the other stuff! We think. That may be outrageously optimistic, but once in a while the sunshine does break through!

I’ll continue to check in with reports, and requests for clarification, I’m sure!Thanks for you and the other macFReepers for being there!

[Swordmaker]

LOL! OMG!! You are going to think I’m an idiot... or at least a maroon! And you would be right!

You have some unlearning to do. Once you do, you will find things a lot easier to do. One thing I would suggest you do is go under the Black Apple menu and select System Preferences. . .

Do some exploring there. The Track Pad settings are there. You can turn on Tap to Click, Secondary click by using two fingers to tap, and Three Fingers to scroll, etc. Once you get used to using them, it makes things much easier. . . and you'll find you can't get along without them. Explore the general settings, Desk Top & Screen Savers, and the Dock.

OS X Yosemite System Preference

The button at the top of the window with all the dots returns you to the main home window for System Preferences. This Window also has Users & Groups, where you will set up different users. You should set up a STANDARD user account now for your every day computing and have one ADMIN account for installing software. This will keep your computer safe while surfing the internet.

Prnters & Scanners is where you will set up your printing.

If you are worried about security of your data, Security & Privacy is where you turn on the Firewall (it is off by default and most Mac users leave it that way) and you can turn on FileVault to encrypt your hard drive to a 256bit AES standard using your password as a key. . . which is also entangled with the computer's 128bit UUID, giving you a key that is the 128 bits plus the length of your passcode. For someone to break into it without your password theoretically would take billions of years to decipher.

Be sure to set up an iCloud account with an AppleID. Your AppleID will allow you to reset your password to your computer should you ever forget it. . . and if you turn on FindMyComputer, you can use that AppleID to locate your computer and to remotely erase the data and lock it from being used by the thief. Only you can get into your computer. Make your AppleID password different from your computer password. Do select a hard to guess PASS PHRASE using non-dictionary words, numbers, and keyboard symbols. Make it something you cannot forget. If you forget it, you CANNOT recover anything, . . and Apple cannot help you. They will not have your key and there ARE NO BACKDOORS.

creating a random nonsense passphrase that is easy to memorize using dice.

Take any book, subject matter is unimportant, and a pair of dice. Open the book to a random page. Roll the dice and note the total of the dice. If the results are odd, turn backwards that many pages, if even turn forward that many pages. Roll the dice again and then if odd, count upward from the bottom of the page on the left, the number of lines of the total, if even, downward from the top of the right side page the number of lines of the total of the dice. Roll the dice again, and note the total. If the number is odd, count the total number of words from the left of the total on the dice, if even from the right. That is the first word in your passphrase.

Repeat the process until you have a passphrase of four to six words, choosing a new starting page randomly each time. This will result in a random passphrase that is completely nonsensical but easily memorized. Add a random number of your choice to the phrase and a keyboard symbol. Done.

Using the US Constitution and an on-line dice roller, this is what I came up with:

shall which Continuance & Inhabitant punish 2 coin

Drop out the spaces and you are finished.

shallwhichContinuance&Inhabitantpunish2coin

Memorizing six words is easy. . . and the symbol and number positions also simple. Voilá, a random nonsense passcode impossible to guess and not crackable. Need a shorter password? Set your number of words for fewer rolls of the dice. . . or set a rule that says, "find the nearest word in either direction that is five (or four if you want even shorter) letters." Then that is your word. Simple.

[TEXOKIE]

Thank you for your kind sage advice! I’ve printed out the instructions you outlined, and as I am still going though the set up process, this will help a lot!

I’ll check back in!