New Mac for me?
After a regrettable clunk at precisely the right spot on my wife’s Thinkpad, we’re short a laptop with a screen that consists of fewer than 867 pieces. So, I bought a white MacBook thinking that we’d cycle machines, giving my wife my son’s Powerbook (she only uses it for Web access), and giving him the white Mac. But now I’m thinking I’ll keep the white MacBook and give my son my haunted black MacBook. He is a less-intensive user than I am, so I’m hoping the gremlins will atrophy. And the new white MB’s processor speed and graphics capabilities are marginally better than the year-old black MB, or so I believe. (Take this as a plea for disabuse.) (My son is very happy to take either MB as an upgrade to his PowerBook, so no need to call in the authorities.)
I transferred data from my black MB via firewire during the set up. (Windows, I hope you’ve noticed this feature. It saved me at least a full day of reinstalling and configuring.) If nothing else, this may help determine whether the gremlins live in the black MB’s hardware or software. It’s all working so far, except for the Apache server, but this feels more like a configuration error than a bug . (Yes, I turned on Sharing.)
The white MB, however, has no Enter key, which I had at times mapped to a forward delete key. (I generally have turned off the remapping sw for fear that it was gremlin fodder.) Any suggestions for which key to remap and which sw to use to do it?
Any other white MB-specific hints or tips? And do you think I’ve downgraded myself? So far, it seems pretty sweet…
Categories: mac
For forward delete on a MacBook, hold down the fn key and press delete.
MiGrant, thanks. I know. I’m looking for a one-key solution. I should have been clearer…
No Enter key?? I guess I’m not an Apple kind of guy. What do you do usually instead of an Enter key?
In a perverse way, I like the idea of pushing a delete key to perform an Enter function, as it reminds me of clicking the Start area on my PC to shut it down.
There’s a Return key where you expect it, but the black MB has an extra enter key to the left of the cursor arrows. It doesn’t serve much purpose if you’re not entering numbers, so it’s perfect for remapping to something useful, like forward delete. The lack of a forward delete is a well-known complaint about Macs. Like only including a one-button mouse, only letting you a resize a window from the bottom right corner, and not providing access to all file management capabilities when in an open/close dialogue, it’s stupid.
The Apache problem was that I had to create a config file telling the server to give me permssion. The step-by-step is here.
Ah, now I think I get it. Thanks.
One white MB-specific problem is that the white plastic picks up skin oils creating unsightly yellowish smudges. After quite a battle, I found them easy to remove with the ‘magic’ white micro-fibre sponges that go under various names in the USofA. I cut off a small piece, dampen it and scrub gently. It’s magic!!
The screen also responds well to a damp microfibre cloth. I find it attracts dust almost as fast as a CRT monitor.
Other observations: I’ve almost dropped the Dock entirely, preferring to use Spotlight (Cmd-space, then the first 2-3 letters of the app’s name & Return.) I switch apps with Cmd-tab. Time Machine has lifted a great weight off my shoulders, it will be even better when I get an Airport Extreme.
My MB has an Enter key to the right of the right Cmd key. YMMV.
Ian I, thanks for the smudge hints.
I use Quicksilver the way you use Spotlight. I love Quicksilver. And I too use Cmd-Tab instead of the dock, although I also keep the dock…I’m not sure why. Maybe I’ll drop it. I run into it accidentally (I use auto-hide) far more often than on purpose.
My white MB has an option key to the right of the right Cmd. I haven’t found anything that can address the right option key as opposed to the left one :(
I’m also a big fan of the Time Machine. It is by far the best backup system I’ve seen, where best = easy and reliable. I have owned a variety of backup systems, going back to tape cassettes. The tape systems were incredibly difficult and time-consuming and I never once succeeded in backing up from one. Wow was that bad technology!
I found a remapper that lets me remap the right option key independent of the left:
http://www.pqrs.org/tekezo/macosx/keyremap4macbook/index.html
Time Machine rocks! It’s already saved my butt a couple of times.
8tThank’s.8c I compleatly disagree with last post . znb
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