Learning OS X

Hi everyone!

I recently purchased an ibook G4 with OS X 10.5.7 installed and have since found out I cannot upgrade to Snow Leopard due to hardware incompatibilities.

Now, I bought the laptop to learn everything I can about OS X as I am an IT professional and wish to further my knowledge of OS X (So far I've only had to deal with Windows and Linux distros).

Will learning about OS X by using OS X 10.5.7 be enough to grasp a firm understanding of the inner workings of a Mac OS?

Ants473 said:

Will learning about OS X by using OS X 10.5.7 be enough to grasp a firm understanding of the inner workings of a Mac OS?

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Technically speaking...you can upgrade to OS 10.5.8 for free via "Software Update".

Otherwise (IMHO) you can learn quite a bit about OS X from OS 10.5.8. There really aren't "TONS" of differences from the latest OS of 10.6.5.

- Nick

This is a great start.
Apple - Find Out How - Mac Basics
and this book
Amazon.com: Mac OS X Leopard: The Missing Manual (9780596529529): David Pogue: Books

As far as a more specific understand of the OS, I think it takes a bit of time playing around with it.
The information you will find here on MF is invaluable, but I think that link and that book are really good to get the ball rolling.

Thanks for the replies guys! I'll be sure to check out those two links too.

Welcome Ants and to answer in short Yes it will be ... Dont know if you have your sources but just a few to get you started ...


Mac Switching 101
Mac 101
MacTricksAndTips ~ 100 Essential Mac Apps
Mac OS Keyboard Shortcuts
Mac OS Menu Bar Items
[URL="Mac downloads ~ Apple"]Mac downloads ~ Apple[/URL]

So there is a bit of reading there. As i goes for Apps we dont know what you are into, but ill list a few that most people have and you can look them up in the 100 Essential Apps URL i gave ...

Adium ~ Chat Client
Growl Notifications
SuperDuper or CarbonCopyCloner ~ Both make bootable copies of your HD
HandBrake ~ Video Converting
Burn ~ As it says A Burning App
Transmission ~ p2p client
Skitch ~ Screen capture and more
VLC ~ Video player that plays most codecs and does a lot more
Perian and Flip4Mac Makes watching certain codecs easier ... This is Essential IMHO
Audacity ~ Play with Music App
CandyBar ~ Mods all your icons, and dock
MainMenu or Oynx ~ Does the same as Disk utility only more thorough
Quicksilver ~ Works like Spotlight but way way better and does so much more
StuffitExpander ~ Opens Zip and rar files and more
Lil Snitch ~ Firewall type App that looks at your incoming and outgoing traffic
and last but certainly not least .....
AppTrap ~ Once installed it sits in System Preferences and deletes all associated files of anything that you put in the trash ...

Should keep you busy for a while lol
Hope it helps some

Cheers

I've had Mac for 25 years, and just upgraded to a new MBP and the latest OS, 10.6.4

Was running 10.5, and it's fine and you can learn a lot for sure. But I really like the upgrades in 10.6, particularly with the one button trackpad on the Macbooks and the options it offers—tapping, swipping... Love how fast I can compute and surf now, really feel this was one of the best Mac upgrades ever...

(more than ever, I really wonder how PC users can use those Windows mouses and pads with multiple buttons and and scroll wheels...?!)

pigoo3 said:

Technically speaking...you can upgrade to OS 10.5.8 for free via "Software Update".

Otherwise (IMHO) you can learn quite a bit about OS X from OS 10.5.8. There really aren't "TONS" of differences from the latest OS of 10.6.5.

- Nick

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Except probably everything an IT professional should know about, like the underlying tech upgrades! Granted you don't really witness them in action, so yea, you can learn enough, though really you should have gone with an intel mac so you could use snow leopard, and I'm surprised as an "IT Professional" you weren't aware that the older powerPC chips wouldn't run the newest OS...

DarkestRitual said:

...though really you should have gone with an intel mac so you could use snow leopard...

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Yes this probably would have been the better route if the OP was really focused on learning OS X. Maybe the OP came across this G4 iBook really cheap...and is taking a more casual low-cost approach.

Just a thought,

- Nick

As a 2 year Mac convert, Leopard is perfect to start out with. Imho... I still haven't found much of a reason to switch to Snow Leopard yet though its only $29.
OS 10.5.8 is still perfect for me.

pigoo3 said:

T
(IMHO) you can learn quite a bit about OS X from OS 10.5.8. There really aren't "TONS" of differences from the latest OS of 10.6.5.

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10.6 was a "minor upgrade" to OSX. Apple concentrated on efficiency and performance, rather than adding a bunch of new features. So 10.5 and 10.6 are very similar.

toMACsh said:

10.6 was a "minor upgrade" to OSX. Apple concentrated on efficiency and performance, rather than adding a bunch of new features. So 10.5 and 10.6 are very similar.

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10.6 was a major upgrade in terms of performance. This computer with Leopard on it was much slower than this computer with 10.6 - it's been a noticable difference.

toMACsh said:

Apple concentrated on efficiency and performance, rather than adding a bunch of new features. So 10.5 and 10.6 are very similar.

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I agree with this ........ BUT

DarkestRitual said:

10.6 was a major upgrade in terms of performance. This computer with Leopard on it was much slower than this computer with 10.6 - it's been a noticable difference.

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I agree more with this. When i had my White MB and i upgraded from X.5 to X.6 the system performance difference was so utterly noticeable ........
I would have payed 5x more for SL if i had of known it had that much better performance than Leopard .....

DarkestRitual said:

Except probably everything an IT professional should know about, like the underlying tech upgrades! Granted you don't really witness them in action, so yea, you can learn enough, though really you should have gone with an intel mac so you could use snow leopard, and I'm surprised as an "IT Professional" you weren't aware that the older powerPC chips wouldn't run the newest OS...

Click to expand...

Thanks for your post. I'm a little confused as to what part of my question was puzzling. I had already made known that I wish to "further my knowledge of OS X (So far I've only had to deal with Windows and Linux distros)."

I've had NO experience on them. I am purely in this to learn. At present my job does not require extensive knowledge of OS X, so I decided to go cheap and pick up a iBook G4 for $300.

Anyway, again, thanks everyone for the advice, I'll be sure to pop back into the forums if I need any more help!

I meant "minor upgrade" only in reference to new features. Apple apparently agrees; look at the price.

I hear ya, but research, my friend! Research!

Actually, 300 bucks is a nice pick up, though. Definitely will help ya learn a bit.

ranger72 said:

I am repping 6string and TattooedMac for the links to the Mac tutorials. They are already helping me to understand the mac Operating System.

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Muchly appreciated ranger. Glad we could help (im sure i speak for 6string as well)
Remember though if you have any specific questions find the right sub-forum and be sure to ask away. Is why we are here lol

Cheers

Thank you; I will.

I have just finished reading the reputation link and I think I found that my repping won't count until I have more time and posts on the board.

My heart was in the right place. It will come in time.

ranger72 said:

Thank you; I will.

I have just finished reading the reputation link and I think I found that my repping won't count until I have more time and posts on the board.

My heart was in the right place. It will come in time.

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The appreciation counts as thanks enough

TattooedMac said:

Muchly appreciated ranger. Glad we could help (im sure i speak for 6string as well)
Remember though if you have any specific questions find the right sub-forum and be sure to ask away. Is why we are here lol

Cheers

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At least why the veterans are here! The more you learn from the great minds here, the longer you stay and more you want to help out in the future!