Basic navigation & SSH query from a Linux switcher.

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Hello, Mac world.

I'm a Linux user who just got a new Mac; so far everything's reasonably familiar. The dock is a bit more cluttered than I'm used to from AWN (and perhaps you can tell I've been thinking of going Mac for a long time when I'm configuring my Linux box to look Mac-like with AWN), but that's fine. I can fix that in my own time.

I realize this community is more used to helping people switch from the Windows world, so what I'm asking is probably going to seem a bit arcane, since the more important part of my query is something impossible to do at all in Windows.

The first snag I'm running into is navigation. The terminal is pretty familiar to me, of course, but if I use "cd .." I can access the whole filesystem of the computer as God intended, but in the GUI, it seems a bit more restrictive. In a new Finder window I can't seem to drill up any further than my home folder, or tell it in plain terms where I want to go. How can I access the entire system in the Finder the same way I can in bash?

Secondly, I intend to use my Mac primarily for web development (Specifically, playing with embedded Ruby). I like the fact that all 3 of my favourite programming languages (Ruby, Python, PHP) are installed by default, and that I can SSH into my web server without installing bugger all, but I'm also accustomed to being able to switch between command-line and GUI at will. Is there any way to make Finder connect to a remote computer via SSH? I know this can't be done in Windows without installing third-party software -- a pain in the ****, since I never use a Windows box unless it's someone else's and I can't install third-party software -- but I'm accustomed to being able to connect to my web host via Nautilus in a GUI and edit source files directly in gedit. I'm not yet sure what the Mac equivalent of gedit is (I literally opened up the box containing my MacBook an hour ago), but I'd like to be able to browse my web server in a GUI on my Mac as well.

I tried "Connect to a server" in Finder -- it's the same in Linux -- but it prepends afp:// to the server name I provide and I have no idea what the deuce afp:// is. Replacing it with ssh:// didn't help. Using afp:// failed to connect. I have no problem connecting via SSH in the command prompt, for the record. I'm thinking that probably my whole problem is that Finder is not the Mac equivalent of Nautilus, but without knowing what GUI app I should be trying to use, I also don't know how to google my question.

I intend to tackle using SSHFS to mount my web server as a directory on my Mac later, but it's getting late and I need sleep. I presume I'll need to install MacPorts to get that working. If anyone can anticipate any problems I have and provide pointers, I'll greatly appreciate it.

EDIT: Oh yeah: Is it possible to temporarily disable the trackpad on a MacBook (non-Pro)? My old Linux laptop has become a full-time media server, so I just hooked its mouse up to my Mac. I know the Mac's trackpad is more versatile than what I'm used to, but I want to get accustomed to Mac before I start exploring that functionality. A standard 2-button, one-scrollwheel mouse is more familiar to me for now.
 
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Mmm. Okay, five ways to get to your filesystem root:
  1. Show your hard disk(s) on the Desktop. (In the General pane of the Finder's preferences, there's a checkbox...)
  2. Command-click (or secondary-click) on the title of any open Finder window, or open document in any Mac application
  3. Show the Path bar (View > Show Path Bar) in any Finder window
  4. Use Column view (View > as Columns) in any Finder window, and scroll to the far left
  5. In the Terminal: cd / ; open .
There's prob'ly some I'm forgetting. Anyway...

AFP is the Apple Filing...oh, just Google it. Anyway, the Finder does not support SSH browsing (it's AFP, SMB/CIFS, NFS, WebDAV, or nothing. Sorry.) There are third-party GUI client applications, but you should probably skip straight to MacFUSE if that's how you'll be working.

There's no supported way of disabling the trackpad. If you don't want to use it, just ignore it.
 
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Citizen Bleys
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[*]In the Terminal: cd / ; open .

This seems to be the only way to navigate, say, /usr/bin in the GUI, but upon further research, this appears to be an intentional behaviour. Perhaps I'll have to see if I can get Nautilus installed...it should be possible.

AFP is the Apple Filing...oh, just Google it.

xD Will do.

There's no supported way of disabling the trackpad. If you don't want to use it, just ignore it.

Alas, it does like to move my cursor while I'm typing, but at least it hasn't highlighted and deleted a large block of text on me. Seems Apple got the sensitivity setting on it right, unlike the OEMs of every other laptop I've ever had.
 
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One of the navigation options that I forgot is Go > Go to Folder... which will let you type a path to an invisible folder.

You can also force the Finder to display invisible files thusly:
Code:
defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles yes[/b]
Then log out and log back in to relaunch the Finder *

*[size=-2]Unix geeks will typically just kill the Finder to force it to relaunch. This always struck me as unnecessarily violent, but it is faster and doesn't involve losing your session[/size]
 
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Citizen Bleys
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You can also force the Finder to display invisible files thusly:
Code:
defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles yes
Then log out and log back in to relaunch the Finder *

That sounds about perfect, I'll try it when I get home (Didn't bring my notebook to work, I'd get nothing done).

I actually like that OSX defaults to hiding the dangerous bits, as long as there's a way for those of us comfortable under the hood to get at the good stuff :)

*[size=-2]Unix geeks will typically just kill the Finder to force it to relaunch. This always struck me as unnecessarily violent, but it is faster and doesn't involve losing your session[/size]

This forum needs a :laugh: smiley xD
 
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1.8 GHz i7 MBA 11" OSX 10.8.2
For easy commandline access I use shellhere with finder.
Etresoft Programming Site: ShellHere
You drop it in the finder toolbar and if you have a folder selected it opens a shell in that folder, otherwise it opens it in the current directory.

For navigation I use the previously mentioned View-> show path bar
You can also CMD-Click the folder name at the top and it will show you a folder tree from the top to where you are.

For SSH/FTP I use either commandline or Fugu
Research Systems Unix Group: Fugu

For FOSS software I use macports or fink - lately I've been using mainly macports
The MacPorts Project -- Home
Fink - Home

If you have a multi-touch trackpad - before you write it off - try better touch tool
Great Tools For Your Mac By Andreas Hegenberg BetterTouchTool & SecondBar
Gets you left, right, middleclick, also has that snap feature and hotkeys to move/resize with the mouse like you can in linux. (without having to grab a titlebar or stretch corner.

I bought pathfinder because some basic things like cut/paste and show hidden files were missing/hard to get to.
Path Finder 5 by Cocoatech
I aliased CMD-. as show/hide hidden files/folders inside pathfinder.
 

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