The Menu bar (File, Edit, Window, Help, etc.) of options is along the very top for any application on the Mac. Not at the top of the application itself, but at the top of the Mac's screen.
It took me a while to get used to this change. I have retrained myself now. Remember this so you are not fumbling around...
Saturday, April 28, 2007
Monday, April 23, 2007
CrossOver Mac (another Windows VM)
Macworld article on CrossOver Mac.
I haven't tried CrossOver, and am quite happy with the application compatibility provided by Parallels.
I haven't tried CrossOver, and am quite happy with the application compatibility provided by Parallels.
Saturday, April 14, 2007
VPN-for-hire protection
This is a good article in the Seattle Times on VPN services one could use with their Mac laptop. I have not tried any of these services.
Tuesday, April 10, 2007
ComputerWorld article on Parallels
ComputerWorld has a good article on the latest version of Parallels.
Browser and Email
I started using the Mac's default web browser Safari, but I like Firefox better and so have been using that browser.
The Mac's default Mail client has been working fine for me. I used Thunderbird on my previous Windows laptop. Each email client is slightly different but provide similar levels of functionality, and so I stayed with the Mac product.
The Mac's default Mail client has been working fine for me. I used Thunderbird on my previous Windows laptop. Each email client is slightly different but provide similar levels of functionality, and so I stayed with the Mac product.
Friday, April 6, 2007
Experiences with Parallels
Parallels is an incredible piece of software. It allows you to seamlessly(!) run Windows XP as a window on the Mac.
Installation is easy. Install Parallels, and then feed it the CD and license key for Windows XP. It looks just like you're installing Windows on a new computer. Once done, one must point the IE web browser to update.microsoft.com multiple times to download all the latest fixes. I also installed an anti-virus program on the Windows installation.
One lesson learned on this. I used the option in Parallels to quickly and easily create a typical virtual machine (VM). This works great, but note that it only allocates 8 GBytes of disk space. I strongly encourage you to think about the total disk space you may need for Windows and related software, and allocate the disk space when creating the virtual machine. Parallels does allow you to create a second drive later, but one cannot enlarge an existing NTFS drive/partition unless you have software such as Partition Magic. Plan ahead.
Parallels will dynamically manage the memory footprint on the Mac. I have 2 GBytes of RAM on my Mac and so using 512 MBytes or even 1 GByte of RAM for Windows/Parallels is not a problem. One can also dynamically change the Screen Resolution for Windows, and Parallels will automatically resize the window.
Newer versions of Parallels provide a more transparent perspective into the virtual machine. I have yet to play with these features.
Installation is easy. Install Parallels, and then feed it the CD and license key for Windows XP. It looks just like you're installing Windows on a new computer. Once done, one must point the IE web browser to update.microsoft.com multiple times to download all the latest fixes. I also installed an anti-virus program on the Windows installation.
One lesson learned on this. I used the option in Parallels to quickly and easily create a typical virtual machine (VM). This works great, but note that it only allocates 8 GBytes of disk space. I strongly encourage you to think about the total disk space you may need for Windows and related software, and allocate the disk space when creating the virtual machine. Parallels does allow you to create a second drive later, but one cannot enlarge an existing NTFS drive/partition unless you have software such as Partition Magic. Plan ahead.
Parallels will dynamically manage the memory footprint on the Mac. I have 2 GBytes of RAM on my Mac and so using 512 MBytes or even 1 GByte of RAM for Windows/Parallels is not a problem. One can also dynamically change the Screen Resolution for Windows, and Parallels will automatically resize the window.
Newer versions of Parallels provide a more transparent perspective into the virtual machine. I have yet to play with these features.
Wednesday, April 4, 2007
T + many. "insert dork here"
I'm up and running, everyday use of the Mac, and generally things are going well. I even got a wireless/cellular data card (model USB720) from Verizon Wireless and am impressed with the performance (1507 kb/s down, 680 kb/s up). I used speedtest.net to obtain those metrics.
Last night I got flustered over nothing. I was using Terminal to connect to my Linux server, and then was using the emacs editor on Linux to edit some Perl scripts. The command keystrokes (e.g. save file) didn't seem to be working and I thought there was a difference in the keystroke mapping between Windows and the Mac. Nope. PICNIC (problem in chair, not in computer). Turns out I was just so used to the position of the keys on my previous Windows laptop that I was simply entering the wrong keystrokes.
So once again I am finding this to be a relatively seamless transition (ignoring my own stupidity).
Last night I got flustered over nothing. I was using Terminal to connect to my Linux server, and then was using the emacs editor on Linux to edit some Perl scripts. The command keystrokes (e.g. save file) didn't seem to be working and I thought there was a difference in the keystroke mapping between Windows and the Mac. Nope. PICNIC (problem in chair, not in computer). Turns out I was just so used to the position of the keys on my previous Windows laptop that I was simply entering the wrong keystrokes.
So once again I am finding this to be a relatively seamless transition (ignoring my own stupidity).
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