Intro to the Apple Macintosh Operating System, OSX Introduction. The Apple Macintosh Operating system or OS, is one of the oldest operating systems in use on a personal computer 1. It has been designed to be what is called a graphical user interface, or G.U.I. Prior to the invention of Apple s G.U.I, all computers were operated by typing commands on a keyboard usually with a black and green screen. Apple revolutionised this process by adding a mouse and pictures to click on. The whole structure of the Mac s OS is based around the idea that users see what it is they The desktop of my Computer, highly personalised as all modern personal computers usually are, showing a finder window listing the contents of the hard drive. are working with and treat it as a real object that they can move around their desktop, just like a real world desk. It is really only a metaphor though as complex computer messages are being sent to the brain of the computer and then to the screen. Currently the version of this Operating system, is version 10 or X. Knowing how to work with this tool is an important part of your studies and knowing how to work with more than one operating system will only improve your chances of getting a job in the future. There are generally considered to be 3 main operating systems in the computer world, Apple Macintosh, Linux, and Windows. All have their relative merits. We choose to use the Apple system because it is simple to set up simple to run and with each incarnation becomes more and more stable. It as an operating system which few viruses can attack, and things like Mal-ware 2 from web sites and e-mail cannot attack your computer either. The Menubar Across the top of the screen on all the computers you use you can see the Menubar, which forms part of the software that runs the computer, called the Finder. After the picture of the apple, it has from left to right the following words:- Finder, File, Edit, View, Go, Window, Help. These words are used to run the computer itself and do things like open files, or get help from the built-in help system. They have drop down menus, this one shows the Mac Help sub-menu, [worth noting is the short cut key combination that lets you quickly access this information. The keys are held down together, and are the apple or command key [apple] on the keyboard and the question mark[?] key.] The first function here that I want you to get acquainted with is the Apple menu and it s related submenus, seen here on the right. Using About this Mac you can find out technical stuff about your computer Footnotes 1. http://inventors.about.com/library/weekly/aa121598.htm 2. Malware is a generic name given to software that adversley affects your computer and is transmitted secretly and without your knowledge, often through e-mails and websites. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/malware 1
such as, it s size and processor speed, how much disk space you have etc. If your computer is connected to the internet you can also check to make sure you computer s software is up to date. Next are the System Preferences these control many aspects of your computer s look and feel. You can customise the look and feel of your computer set the correct date and time, control the sound input and output, calibrate your monitor, connect to other computers, the list is pretty exhaustive. Next is the Dock preferences. The dock is where you store things like icons that give you quick access to your applications, or even keep often visited web sites or other files you need handy and quick access to. It can be set up to sit on the left of the screen, or the right of the screen or the bottom of the screen, the icons can be made to magnify and their size can be changed as well, finally you can set up the dock to have the icon appear and disappear as you move the mouse down towards them. Finally you shut down the computer from this menu, put it to sleep or in a multiuser environment log out and let some one else use it. System Preferences Starting at the top the System Preferences are, Appearance, governs how you make it look. Controls Dashboard and Exposé two applications that allow easy multi-tasking. Desktop and screen saver, lots of pretty picture stuff in here, you can even add your pictures to the desktop or screen savers. Dock is another way to access the controls on dock. International allows you to set up your computer to type in other languages, Security is a feature disabled to you, I think you understand why, and finally Spotlight is a way of finding stuff on your computer this can be automated to an extent as well. There are many more controls available to you and some that aren t. Play with the controls you will learn lots about computers and how to manage files as a consequence. Finder This allows you to set the preferences for it, as an application, something common to all computer applications, as well as empty the trash, hide any other applications that are running in the background, or hide the finder and bring the applications to the fore. 2
File Starting at the top. You can choose to create what is called Finder Window, or a new folder to contain any kind of file you want to add to your hard drive. Smart folders are about making places to store frequent searches you may undertake regularly, this folder will track any changes that have occurred recently and help you find things as you need them. If you frequently burn the same items to a disc, create a burn folder that contains those items. Whenever you need to create a disc with those items, just open the burn folder and click Burn. Open is fairly self explanatory. Open with allows you to choose which application that you wish to use to edit the file or data you are dealing with, handy for opening pictures as the operating system defaults to Quicktime and or Preview for most pictures. Print too is pretty straight forward. Close window closes the front most window in front of you the short is apple [apple] + W. A very useful feature is the Get Info command, [apple] + I, this tells you the size of the file selected and lot s of other handy things. Duplicate allows you to duplicate the selected item. Make Alias allows you to make a shortcut to the object in concern, once made you might want to move it to the desktop for east future access. Show original [apple] + R when used on a highlighted alias takes you to the original. The Favorites folder is a place where you can add aliases for applications, files, folders, and servers so you can access them easily. You can add the Favorites folder to the Finder s sidebar for even more convenient access. So add to favourites adds the selected item to this place for you. Create Archive, Archiving files and folders creates a copy of the items in a compressed file. Archived files take up less disk space than uncompressed files, so archiving is useful for making backup copies of your data or sending information over the Internet. Move to trash puts the chosen file in a the Trash or as we call it in Australia the bin, a word of warning here, the file is still on your hard drive and to really get rid of the file you need to go to the next step, which is finder>empty trash. The next menu option Eject, ejects any removable media you have plugged into your harddrive, whether it is a CD or Thumbdrive or even a network connection. Burn Disc allows you to, funnily enough, burn a CD ROM or DVD ROM. Find helps you find files on your harddrive or any externally, mounted drive. Edit. Allows undo if one is available Also allows you to Cut Copy and Paste As well as Selecting all the objects you want at once. Show Clipboard allows you to see what it is you have copy and pasted recently. 3
View This menu item allows you to decide how you view the contents of a window. Each way of displaying the contents of a window has it advantages, and is often a personal preference. The three views are, as Icons, as List, and as Contents. As Icons, shows the icons in the window, irrespective of date of modification, or name. As List shows a list of the items in the window and can be sorted and ordered by chosen several of the options at the top of the window such as Date Modified Name or Size. Which options are dependant upon the way your options have been set. As columns, shows the inter-relationship of the folders and files within your hard drive. This sometimes called a hierarchy or even path. Clean up cleans up any files you select. Arrange by is only available when you have as Icons chosen as your method of displaying window contents, and the choices available to you are, by name, by date created, by date modified, by size, by kind, and by label. Hide toolbar allows you to hide the toolbar on each window, which can also be customised using the Customise Toolbar command. Finally show view options allows you to choose how much or how little is shown in each window. Go This allows you to quickly navigate to other places on your hard drive or a network if connected to one, note the shortcut keys here, these will allow you to easily move around your hard drive with out the aid of a mouse. Window This menu item allows you to move around and modify the size of the windows that you have open, even hiding other windows from the front. Help The Last item on the menubar is Help Help is for, you guessed it, help, if you get stuck you can use this to bring up an application that will guide you through the process of learning how to do anything you could possibly need, it is application specific too so if you want help in Photoshop, it s there ready and waiting for you. A window with show as Icons showing A window with show as List showing A window with show as Columns showing 4
Shortcuts for the Finder Use these shortcuts to work with the Finder. Action Jump to the search field in a Finder window Define a search using multiple criteria Open your home folder Open the Desktop folder Open the Computer area Open the Network browser Open the Applications folder Open the Utilities folder Select the next icon Select an icon by the first letter of its name Select the next alphabetic item in a window Select the previous alphabetic item in a window Select a group of icons Add an icon to the selection Select adjacent icons in a list Select or deselect non-adjacent icons in a list Select the name of the icon Align icons as you drag them Copy a file instead of moving it Move a file between from one volume to another Make an alias to a file instead of moving it See the pathname of the current window Open a folder in a separate window In list view, open the selected folder In list view, open each level of folders within the selected folder In list view, open all folders within the selected folder In list view, close the selected folder In list or icon view, open the selected folder In list or icon view, show the folder containing the current folder Open a new window showing the folder that contains the current folder and close the current window Open a new window showing the contents of the current folder and close the current window Make the desktop active Move the selected item to the Trash Empty the Trash Empty the Trash without any warning or when it contains locked files Shortcut apple-option-f apple-f apple-shift-h apple-up Arrow (in some cases) apple-shift-d apple-shift-c apple-shift-k apple-shift-a apple-shift-u Arrow keys Letter key Tab Shift-Tab Drag the pointer across the icons Shift-click Shift-click apple-click Return apple-drag Option-drag the file s icon to new location Command-drag the file s icon to new location apple-option-drag the file s icon apple-click window s title Choose an item from the pop-up menu to open it apple-double-click Right arrow apple-option-right Arrow Option-click the disclosure triangle Left Arrow apple-down Arrow apple-up Arrow If no Finder windows are open, opens a window showing your home folder apple-option-up Arrow apple-option-down Arrow apple-option-shift-up Arrow apple-delete apple-shift-delete apple-shift-option-delete Hold down the Option key, then choose Finder > Empty Trash 5