Macintosh Stuff by Michael Bach

Motto 1: If there were no Macintosh, we would all still be staring at “C:>”

Motto 2: Don’t anthropomorphize computers. They hate that. — Anonymous

My first home-built computer was the Nascom in 1978. My personal comparison of Macintosh and Windows/Intel. Most people will not want to read this (“10 billion fleas cannot be in error”), but you might: Always work on the bright side of life... As of 2002 things have changed a little, since we have moved to Mac OS X.

→Mac-Hilfsprogramme (German)

Info Links

Programming Links

Bild!!!  

Macs in Vision- and other Research

Tips

 

Some little known Keyboard Shortcuts

For OS X Dave Polaschek has compiled a comprehensive new list.

Apple has recently provided a list of OS X shortcuts. A recent German version is Xshorts. A comprehensive collection from Mac OS X Power Tools.

Here are exerpts which I often use:

OS X, on boot
alt = opt system picker (from open firmware)
shift forces fsck and repairs if necessary, then “safe boot”
mouse down eject removable media
c boot from CD ROM
t target disk mode
r force PowerBooks to reset screen
n start up from a network server
x

force Mac OS X startup
cmd-v ‘verbose’: show console messages during boot
cmd-s single user mode
cmd-opt-p-r
Zap PRAM. Hold down until second chime
cmd-opt-shift-delete Choose startup disk

OS X, after login
ctrl-eject Sleep, Restart, Shutdown dialog
cmd-ctrl-eject restart
cmd-opt-eject sleep
cmd-ctrl-opt-eject shutdown
cmd-tab switch between open applications
cmd-shift tab switch between open applications in reverse orde
cmd-h hide current application
cmd-opt-h hide all but current applications
cmd-opt-d hide the Dock
opt-mute (or volume up/down) open Audio Preferences
cmd-shift-3 screen shot to disk
cmd-shift-ctrl-3 screen shot to clipboard
cmd-shift-4 partial screen shot to disk
cmd-shift-ctrl-4 partial screen shot to clipboard
cmd-opt-esc Force Quit

OSX, Finder
cmd-shift-a open Applications folder
cmd-delete move item to Trash
cmd-shift-delete delete items in Trash
cmd-shift-n new folder
   

OSX, complient applications
cmd-a select all
cmd-n new window
cmd-w close window
cmd-opt-w close all open windows
cmd-m minimize window

OSX, all applicatons

cmd-opt-eject sleep
ctrl-eject

Shutdown, Restart & Sleep Dialog

 

Shutdown, Restart & Sleep Dialog

r restart
s sleep
esc cancel
return shutdown

 

OS9, Startup, Boot-ROM phase

+
+
PRAM reset Reset des Parameter-RAMs (betrifft: AppleTalk status, Serial port configuration and port definition, Alarm clock setting, Application font, Serial printer location, Key repeat rate, Key repeat delay, Speaker volume, Alert sound, Double-click time, Insertion point blink rate, Mouse speed, Startup disk, Menu blink count, Monitor depth, 32-bit addressing, Virtual memory, RAM Disk, Disk cache)
all extensions off Start ohne Systemerweiterungen
  boot from external disk Starten von externem Laufwerk
  boot from CD ROM Starten vom CD-Laufwerk
  become a FireWire hard disk (G4 and later models, "Target Disk Mode" Betrieb als externe FireWire-Festplatte (ab G4-Rechnern)
  Force PowerBook to reset the screen  
  select boot drive Startlaufwerk auswählen
 
OS9, Startup, System phase
 
OS9, System
  Screen capture Bild vom ganzen Bildschirm anlegen
  screen capture rectangular selection (System 7.6) Bild anlegen von rechteckigem Ausschnitt
  screen capture of a window (System 7.6) Bild vom einem Fenster anlegen
  Cancel Abbrechen
  Power on/off Ein-/Ausschalten
  Restart Neustart
  Sleep Ruhezustand
  Sleep Ruhezustand
  Sleep Ruhezustand
  Spin down Festplatte anhalten
  Debugger (resume with "G") Debugger (weiter mit "G")
  Abort program (best to restart afterwards) Programmabbruch (dann Neustart)
 
OS9, Finder
  Rebuild Desktop (at the end of the boot sequence) Schreibtischdatei neu aufbauen
  Close all windows Alle Fenster schließen
  Collapse folders alle Ordner schließen
  Put away (also eject disk, removing icon) Weglegen (Wechsellaufwerk auswerfen)
  Activate erase disk command on insertion of disk Laufwerk löschen beim Einlegen
  Select desktop (from file dialogs) Zum Schreibtisch (in Dateidialogen)

 

Always work on the bright side of life... top

Since I both work on Macintoshes (“The Bright Side...”) and Windows PCs (“The Dark Side...”) I have an everyday experience of the two worlds. This is a very personal account, many people will disagree, well, that's fine. But the years have worn me thin, more than a decade of misinformation from the dark side brittles. There is lies, statistics, and Microsoft information...

Furthermore, I assume that I will sound arrogant. I do not really intend to do so, but the general tenor simply arises from years of frustration with misinformed PC users and administrators, full of prejudices. Thus –erroneously, I know– I conclude that I also can air my prejudices, tho I like to call them “experiences”.

Note added 4 years later: Much has changed, for instance the entire lab has moved to Mac OS X. For an “OS shootout” see here. End of note.

Ok, here goes: