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Calling all Mac boffins...

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18:40 / 27.09.05

So, work recently bought me a brand-stinking-new Powerbook Mac computer to use instead of my half-dead PC. But, as always, there are problems to overcometh...If you can help, I'd apprectiate it muchly!

1) Work blocks all incoming messenger conversations apart from Port 80. I've tried all the ones I know - ICQ, AIM, Yahoo, MSN, others...but none of them will connect, because of this. Google talk, a web-based browser, is my only apparent solution, but it is, sorry to say, a bit crap.

Does anyone know of any messenger clients for Mac (Operating with system X) that work on Port 80?

2) My system seems to think it's American - When I log on to Websites, or use spellcheck in Word, it corrects properly-written English words to the American spellings, and all the sites I visit think I'm American/using an American computer. Can I change my settings to 'be' English, and how???

3) There's no pound key on my keyboard - You know, like the one from the bottom right side of the telephone keypads. Can I find one somewhere on the computer? Is there one? How do I type it?

4) I'm having some problems with my Ipod too...Should it/can it be charging from the Powerbook whilst the powerbook is off, and...How do I delete individual songs from my Ipod? And download a single album AS a single album into my laptp library, and NOT have the songs lindividually spliced between the other songs already in the library?

5) Mac mail, to work from my place of work, needs to be changed from SMTP to an Imap server. How sir? How?

6) Key lights? Do I have sany? And how to turn them on?

18:50 / 27.09.05

Another Mac newbie here. I bought mine online, from the US, and unsurprisingly it's also devoid of a '£' key. Mine is caps + 3, where the 'hash' sign is. Try that.

18:52 / 27.09.05

Alt + 3! Cheers Ganesh!

19:52 / 27.09.05

Have you switched yr OS over to British english? can you see a union flag in the toolbar at the top? If all you see is the stars and stripes then click on it and pull down to switch...

ONLY NICE THINGS

19:57 / 27.09.05

iPod - shouldn't be charging from a deactivated Powerbook, I think. Deleting songs from your iPod - you do this with iTunes and synchronise. Find the song in iTunes, right-click it (or single-mouse equivalent), select "clear", and then "remove" and "move to trash".

Albums - if you have an Internet connection, most albums will have ID online - click on the Advanced tab in iTunes and select "Get CD Track Names". If not, once you've entered all the songs, select them all and right-click, go to "Get info" and enter a value in the "album" field for all of them. When you next synchronise with your iPod it should appear as an album. Same applies to artist.

Or am I misunderstanding your question?

20:14 / 27.09.05

For whole albums only on the iPod, I just let the library do as it will but then press the album bar at the top and all the songs from that album magically recongregate in oneness. Then I can create a playlist and just import them all to that for ease of access. I seldom use the library to play stuff alone because it's a clanjamphrie of podcasts, spoken word, classical and different musics that is too jarring to shuffle.

Or you could just select that one album from the albums option on the Pod.

I am not a mac boffin though. There may be much simpler ways to do all that you want.

20:18 / 27.09.05

1. There are a few browser-based IM clients. Can't remember the URLs, but try googling for "aim browser client" and so on. N.B. Google Talk is not web-based, though it may use port 80.

2. Check System Preferences / International.

3. That's not a pound sign, that's a hash. Forget what Americans call it, clearly it's not a pound, nowhere in the world does that symbol represent the word "pound".

4. No, the iPod will not charge when linked to a computer that is off, because there is no power going to the computer and thus none to the iPod. If you want to delete individual songs, go into iTunes, select the iPod from the menu on the left hand side, find the song and press delete. I'm not sure what you mean with the album thing, can you clarify?

5. Set up a new account in Mail.app and it will give you the option of it being POP or IMAP. You can't change midstream as far as I know, but if you're changing to IMAP the mail should still be on the server.

6. I dunno. If it's a new Powerbook, probably, I've got them. Try turning all the lights off and seeing if the ambient light sensor notices and lights up the keys. On mine, when you go to System Preferences / Keyboard & Mouse, there is a checkbox called "Illuminate keyboard in low light conditions" which you might need to turn on.

20:19 / 27.09.05

Charging your ipod from a disconnected mac isn't a good idea because it aggressively drains your ibook's/powerbook's batteries. plug the powerbookinto the mains and both should charge fine...

semioticrobotic

20:27 / 27.09.05

I might recommend Adium for chat. Just google "Adium X".

20:52 / 27.09.05

. That's not a pound sign, that's a hash. Forget what Americans call it, clearly it's not a pound, nowhere in the world does that symbol represent the word "pound".

In my mind I associate the pound sign with 'pound' as in 'push really hard.' For what it's worth.

Also have you tried AIM Express on java chat applet? Or has work blocked that too?

21:08 / 27.09.05

I'm new to Mac and have a basic question: what's a good solution for backing up critical files to CD now and then? I don't want to buy any hardware or subscribe to anything, unless consensus swings that way. I'm hoping for pretty good backup to cd with cheap software.

I assume this is a good thread for this, but flame me if not...

21:17 / 27.09.05

Insert CD, open the CD icon that appears on the desktop, drag files to be backed up to the CD, click the "burn" icon that appears.

21:31 / 27.09.05

The easiest and cheapest way to do that is to burn those files onto CD- yr mac should have cd burning capability - all you have to do is put a blank CD into the drive and drag and drop the files you want to back up onto the cd icon. When you are finished ejecyt the cd and it will burn the data oto the disk...

21:35 / 27.09.05

Okay...

Thanks to everyone for the help thus far. Solid. So this is where we're at...

1) Nope, Aim express and Adium not working. Only messenger services going through Port 80 will work, unfortunately. Javachat isn't even a messeger service, Cherie. This is the most important thing for me to get fixed. The 'boffins' in my IT department tell me there is ONE messenger service they know of which is compatible with Mac and works on Port 80, but they told me they thought it was Trillian - Which isn't downloadable on ther Mac. Damn it!!!

2) AM on British English preferences>settings; says so 'up there' but...Now the problem is, for example, when I register for a new hotmail account, their system, instead of referring me to a .co.uk email address, as it would if it detected I was from the UK, which I am, refers me straight through to the .com one, as if it thinks I'm American. i think it's an issue with the Safari browser, but can't be certain how to sort it.

3) Fixed. Nice one.

4) I-pod sorted too...BUT...my problem is letting the Mac just sit there, plugged in, and turned on, to recharge the Ipod...It just turns off/the screen goes black after a while. And I have to keep turning the Powerbook back on. How do I make sure it stays on until the Ipod is fully-charged?

5) Okay, now know how to setup the IMAP account, but, how to get an Imac email account? Do I already have one?

6) Hey where precisely IS the option to turn on the 'illuminate keyboard?' I couldn't find it. Any more help with turning on the keylights would be appreciated eh? Turned the house lights off...No lights in keyboard, so I guess no ambient light sensor. I have a 12" Powerbook. But the Help menu doesn't have any info on this...

Thanks again guys. You're all stars in my book.

21:37 / 27.09.05

thanks folks!

23:12 / 27.09.05

4) ... I have to keep turning the Powerbook back on. How do I make sure it stays on until the Ipod is fully-charged?

Apple Menu -> System Preferences -> Energy Saver

Now, since you've got a laptop you're going to want to change these settings when you're moble, but to keep the machine up set the "put the computer to sleep when..." slider to "Never" and uncheck the "put the hard disk(s) to sleep when possible."

As I understand it you want the exact opposite settings when you're untethered in order to conserve battery charge.

00:08 / 28.09.05

Thanks Lekvar!

Three to go!

00:32 / 28.09.05

6) Key lights? Do I have any? And how to turn them on?

Unfortunately, no you don't. Not on a 12". But neither do I (Titanium 15") and I've lost no sleep over it...

Your iTunes Library problems sound like a simple case of sorting out your preferences: Click on the 'Artist' bar in the main window (as opposed to 'Track', 'Album', or whatever's highlighted in blue) and that should re-order everything a bit more to your liking. Also, turn on Browse (the eye symbol in the top right) to search/play albums directly (or artists, and genre if you want - see main preferences). In the square in the top left corner, next to 'Name', control/right click to get more options of what fields you can see in the library.

1) Work blocks all incoming messenger conversations apart from Port 80

Well, that's just it. Unless you can sweet-talk the IT people, you're probably not going to have much success. Annoying, but true...

00:54 / 28.09.05

Wicked! Nice one...

1, 2 and 5 to go, power people!!!

ONLY NICE THINGS

06:11 / 28.09.05

A MAN MAY TURN OFF THE LIGHTS IN HIS LIVING ROOM AND SIT FOR QUITE SOME TIME WAITING FOR THE LIGHTS ON HIS 12" POWERBOOK TO COME ON BECAUSE HE HAS NOT READ FAR ENOUGH DOWN THIS THREAD. A MAN MAY THEN FEEL SLIGHTLY FOOLISH AND SHUT THE LID OF HIS POWERBOOK. THUS MAY A MAN FIND HIMSELF SITTING IN THE DARK LIKE AN IDIOT.

13:57 / 28.09.05

Regarding messengers: I think you may be able to set up a proxy that will forward your communications through port 80. However, I'm at work right now and thus (a) on a PC and (b) not able to spend enough time pissing about to find out precisely what needs doing. Will investigate further at home.

We're The Great Old Ones Now

14:01 / 28.09.05

May I add to the questions list?

I migrated myself from a laptop to a desktop, and now Backup and iDisk seem to be at war. Backup keeps complaining that it the iDisk is wrong and would I like to wipe it and start again, but it doesn't seem to matter if I say yes or no, I just get error messages...

Any thoughts?

15:32 / 28.09.05

5) Okay, now know how to setup the IMAP account, but, how to get an Imac email account? Do I already have one?

I'm not sure what you mean. There is no such thing as an "Imac email account". If you mean a .mac email account, well, you have to pay for that, go here if you're interested but personally I don't think it's worth the money. You certainly don't need it.

If you mean an IMAP email account, well, you have to pay somebody for that too usually, the .mac email account is actually IMAP, but why are you asking how to use IMAP if you don't already have an IMAP account? Actually, that question goes for the .mac thing as well.

16:59 / 28.09.05

3. That's not a pound sign, that's a hash. Forget what Americans call it, clearly it's not a pound, nowhere in the world does that symbol represent the word "pound".

My phone company & the electronic lady in my voice mail calls it a pound key -- the hash mark below the 9 on the telephone. I have no idea what that's a "pound," though.

Everyone knows it's really a sharp.

ONLY NICE THINGS

17:03 / 28.09.05

I believe it's because that is where a pound sign would be on a nice, proper cash register.

£ = pound sign.

17:47 / 28.09.05

Javachat isn't even a messeger service, Cherie.

Uh, yeah I know. What I meant was, if you go to AIM Express it will open up a chat applet (which I thought was java-based but whatever), thus allowing to use AIM without downloading any software. From what it sounds like though your IT department has quite likely blocked the software.

18:04 / 28.09.05

Javachat isn't even a messeger service, Cherie

But full marks for being rude to people who are trying to help you out, Coin.

22:32 / 28.09.05

Oh bugger off.

22:44 / 28.09.05

OK, I'm off to indulge in a bit of buggery.

ONLY NICE THINGS

23:22 / 28.09.05

Is this the John Cage invitational? I kind of need to know...

15:55 / 09.10.05

My generous and selfless girlfriend gave me an iBook for my birthday, but I'm a complete Mac newbie and I'm hoping some Apple-savvy Barbeloids will take pity on the new bug at the back of the class and guide me through the unfamiliar parts of this wonderful world of white and silver.

My first plea is for advice and recommendations on kitting out my virginal machine with the basic bells and whistles. I've already spent an afternoon like a kid in the Gadget Shop adding groovy widgets to my dashboard, but having done some surfing I've noticed that I'm going to need to install a few things to get everything working properly. Firstly, I notice that I can't view some video (eg. trailers on imdb) within my browsers (currently switching between Safari and Firefox). Apparently I need WMP plugin from Microsoft, but in order to get this it seems I need to get 'Stuffit' first to unpack the file. I gather this costs money which seems like a bit of a swizz, and for all I know there might be something far better for general unzipping purposes. So, my questions:

What plugins should I get for my browser(s) (for video in particular, but keen to hear recommendations/suggestions more generally), and how should I get them?

More broadly, is there anything you'd suggest a Mac newbie get hold of to enhance a box-fresh iBook?

16:14 / 09.10.05

I also have some questions regarding my lovely but slightly mystifying iBook, which comes with the additional twist of having been bought off eBay and shipped from the US.

Firstoff, it doesn't seem to have the capability to play DVDs. How might I go about changing this? I'm not sure whether hardware or software is required. If the former, are there going to be any problems with the fact that my iBook's a dodgy non-registered one?

Secondly, I'm having problems with iPhoto. Now, I'm used to using a combination of the Microsoft package (on my old PC) and the cropping/framing thing that came with my Canon digital camera. It allowed me to 'collect' photos that I found online or sent to me as email attachments, crop, resize and play around with them (to make message-board avatars, say). iPhoto doesn't seem to do that. It may well reflect my own technical inadequacies rather than Apple's, but I can't seem to work out how to 'grab' an image and store it in iPhoto (on the PC, it was a simple case of right-clicking). iPhoto also seems more complicated in that it doesn't allow cropping/resizing as easily.

I'm sure Photoshop for Macs would solve the problem, but it's very very spendy, and probably not worth it for my purposes.

Keith, like a scientist

16:35 / 09.10.05

Ganesh, your iBook should be able to play DVDs. It certainly has the ability to. The problem you may be running into is that it's likely defaulted to Region 1, instead of...er, UK is Region 2, I believe. Is that right?

You are suppose to be able to insert a non-Region 1 disc into the drive and be presented with a dialog asking if you want to change the Region code to another Region.

You can only switch it five times, after the fifth time it will permanently change it to the last thing you selected.

Just to be absolutely sure you aren't having a missing software problem, go to Applications and find DVD Player.

Also, go to System Preferences and click on CDs & DVDs. The last item is "When you insert a video DVD" - make sure that is set to "Open DVD Player"

*

16:37 / 09.10.05

You only need Stuffit Expander to unpack a file, and this is either a free download here or may have come preinstalled. I'm not sure about WMP plugins, as I usually stick to QT and waste time and energy grumbling at people using formats I can't view.

I highly recommend this enormous site for all your freeware and almost-freeware Mac downloads. Other than that— I don't know, what do you want to do with it?

'Nesh, did it come with a DVD drive or just a CD/CDR drive? If you don't know, you can find this information by looking under the apple menu, where it says "About this Mac" and clicking "More Info" in the resulting window.

You can put any photos you want into your iPhoto library, simply by saving it into that directory. In addition, when you right-click or control-click an image in your browser, "Save to iPhoto Library" is an option. Cropping is easy in iPhoto, just edit the photo within the program. Resizing it seems to only be a function of the export process, so you have to Export the file in order to resize it.

Photoshop is very spendy. But check out MacUpdate which I linked to above; they're bound to have a freeware or shareware image editing program.

Ah, and Smoothly— a two-button mouse. A two-button mouse.

16:44 / 09.10.05

sentimentity - *mwah*

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