Firefox installation(understanding how macs install)
I had to install firefox several times for it to work, but this was not the programs fault, just me getting used to the way macs work.
When you download firefox it appears as a "disk image" and a downloaded file ".dmg" i believe is the extension. Now after I installed firefox the first time, I erased both of these. I didn't want to clutter my desktop, and low and behold when I clicked on firefox in my dock a big "?" appeared in the center. Now after I installed it the right way (I.E. moving the disk image into my applications folder) I erased both those things a second time. I still got a question mark, but I reopened it from the application folder and dragged it into my dock, and it works great now.
Last edited by precisionelite; 09-12-2006 at 08:13 PM.
I think that when you put an item on your dock, wherever you dragged it from first, that's where it will look. that's why I got the question mark. Correct me If i'm wrong guys, i'm still very new to this. But i'm still very much loving macs!
I'm stuggling with mac osx a bit too. It just doesn't seem as flexable as good old windows! I'm no windows expert, but if I wanted to do something, chances are I could find a waym of doing it fairly logically. On the mac I'm going to where I'd expect something to be and there's no sign of it. I have to go and search in some totally unlinked folder. I'll get used to it I guess!
Mac Specs: Mac Pro Quad 2.66GHz Intel Xeon W/3GB Ram & 250GB HDD
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cam
I'm stuggling with mac osx a bit too. It just doesn't seem as flexable as good old windows! I'm no windows expert, but if I wanted to do something, chances are I could find a waym of doing it fairly logically. On the mac I'm going to where I'd expect something to be and there's no sign of it. I have to go and search in some totally unlinked folder. I'll get used to it I guess!
It's mentioned many times here. Forget what you know about windows.. I switched a few months ago myself and you can't compare the two or expect things to be somewhere you think that it would be in windows. Mac OSX is a lot easier than Windows. Thats where I was having a problem. I was always looking for the hard way to do things and come to find out its much easier in OSX. For example, installing and uninstalling. I was trying to find an Add/Remove equivilent and couldn't find it. Come to find out all you do is drag the program where you want it to go (application folders, desktop, etc) and it's installed. To uninstall you just drag it to the Trash. Easy. It took me a little bit to get used to it but after a few weeks i was very confortable with it. And except for maybe one or two programs i have been able to find a Mac equivilent program to do what i need to do. Burn CD/DVD's, rip them, edit pics, resize pics, etc. Give it a little time and you will get the hang of it
Mac Specs: MacBook 2.0GHz White, 512MB RAM, 60GB HDD
In response to your original post, you don't move the disk image into the Applications folder! What happens is this:
1) You download a disk image
2) You double click it, and a mounted volume appears (the white disk) and a finder window
3) You drag the application icon from within the finder window into the Applications directory (you may need to press command-N to get a new finder window)
4) You drag the mounted volume and disk image from the desktop to the trash
5) You drag the application icon from Applications to the dock
The disk image is 'mounted' as if it were a removable drive. Both the mounted volume and the disk image are temporary and should be discarded once installation is complete.
Thought I'd add that the mounted volume needs to be 'ejected'...
ie:
the trash icon is replaced with an eject icon and as you drag the mounted volume over it, it becomes highlighted...and then the mounted volume vanishes (is deleted)!
The .dmg file just goes to the trash...
It wasn't too long ago that I didn't know what to do with these files... :dive:
