Just got a Powerbook...couple of questions

Just picked up the 17" Powerbook with 1 gig of ram. This thing rocks...Got a couple of questions though.

1. Is there anyway to get it where I can close the lid of my labtop and it will just turn off the monitor and not force the system in standby. I like to leave my IM client open and when I close the lid it shuts it off?

2. Whenever I come back after awhile, my blueteooth mouse needs to be reconected. Is this how it is suppose to operate or am I doing something wrong?

3. I insstalled firefox to use as a broswer. It created a "disk drive" icon named firefox on the "desktop" of my powerbook. It also created a .dmg file. If I delete these, it wont run properly....How do I move these to where firefox will still function properly?

4. At my university...all the macs there on the buttom of the screen have every program categorized under menues. Such as one will be web broswers...then it will display a list...how do I set that up just so its not as cluttered down there?



Thanks in advance !

well for firefox, just double click the dmg file and it should extract a folder and in the folder will be the shortcut to fire fox. Then you can delete the dmg and "eject" the disk.

AGray34 said:

1. Is there anyway to get it where I can close the lid of my labtop and it will just turn off the monitor and not force the system in standby. I like to leave my IM client open and when I close the lid it shuts it off?

Click to expand...

Short answer...no.

4. At my university...all the macs there on the buttom of the screen have every program categorized under menues. Such as one will be web broswers...then it will display a list...how do I set that up just so its not as cluttered down there?

Click to expand...

One way to do this is to put aliases to these apps in a folder, then drag that folder to the Dock. When you click and hold on the folder in the Dock, you should get a contextial menu with those aliases in it.

1. Is there anyway to get it where I can close the lid of my labtop and it will just turn off the monitor and not force the system in standby. I like to leave my IM client open and when I close the lid it shuts it off?

Click to expand...

Yes:
You need to plug in an external monitor (even just one of the adapters should work) and the powerbook will stay active even whilst shut.

This does NOT work on iBooks.


Alternatively check out screen spanning doctor (<-Google me!). It's an app designed to enable iBooks use multiple displays, but also contains a hack to make them stay awake whilst shut.
May work on PB's too, might fry it though too!

What happens if I eject this "firefox" icon?


Also, it seems whenever I opened it, my norton would pop up and browse EVERY single file in the context menu...

Why does it do that?

because it wants to make sure there rnt any viruses attached.

1. Is there anyway to get it where I can close the lid of my labtop and it will just turn off the monitor and not force the system in standby. I like to leave my IM client open and when I close the lid it shuts it off?

Click to expand...

OK, long answer....NO.

Technically it can be done by adding an external monitor. This however would defeat your purpose as you described it, as you metioned that you want the monitor's display off. It is also a good idea to run your PB with the lid closed, as the majority of the heat generated needs to escape via the keyboard. With the lid closed, you are relying solely on the vents and the outer case to dissipate heat...not a good choice IMHO. Also, by keeping the PB active with the lid closed, you are obviously draining more battery power than if you just let it sleep (assuming you don't have it plugged in). Also keep in mind that when you use your PowerBook with the display closed, you can't take advantage of Video Mirroring. If you have both a VGA and S-video source connected to the PowerBook, only the VGA device, usually an external display, will have an image.
Connecting an external monitor increases the power requirements of the PowerBook. Therefore, you must use the AC adapter whenever the PowerBook is connected to an external monitor. The PowerBook will not wake up if the power adapter is not connected, and if you disconnect the power adapter the computer will go to sleep.
It would be alot easier to just leave the lid open, and get a basic black screensaver, or turn the contrast down on the display. If you decide that you want to close the lid and you are looking for a IM/chat client that will "pause" when you close the lid, I would suggest Adium. You can find it on versiontracker.com or just do a google search for it. As soon as I open the lid on my iBook, Adium reconnects automatically...if I left it on when I closed it.

This however would defeat your purpose as you described it, as you metioned that you want the monitor's display off. It is also a good idea to run your PB with the lid closed, as the majority of the heat generated needs to escape via the keyboard. With the lid closed, you are relying solely on the vents and the outer case to dissipate heat...not a good choice IMHO. Also, by keeping the PB active with the lid closed, you are obviously draining more battery power than if you just let it sleep (assuming you don't have it plugged in). Also keep in mind that when you use your PowerBook with the display closed, you can't take advantage of Video Mirroring. If you have both a VGA and S-video source connected to the PowerBook, only the VGA device, usually an external display, will have an image.
Connecting an external monitor increases the power requirements of the PowerBook. Therefore, you must use the AC adapter whenever the PowerBook is connected to an external monitor. The PowerBook will not wake up if the power adapter is not connected, and if you disconnect the power adapter the computer will go to sleep.

Click to expand...

Ok, I see what you're saying, but:

a) I don't think he's worried about conserving battery life? Maybe I'm wrong though!

b) Why not just dim the PB's screen and plug in an adapter to fool the PB into thinking there is a screen attached? (Anyone tried this?) Or use the hack? No screens would be on that way.

c) The powerbook's are designed to be able to run with the lids shut, that's why the display hinge ventilation area is a lot broader than on the iBooks, they blow more heat out the back, as opposed to up through the keyboard. I personally wouldn't leave it on all the time like this though either, but since this is an intended design feature included by Apple, it would also be covered by warranty, if anything DID go wrong.


Not flaming you here mind you! I personally also just use AdiumX

AGray34 said:

What happens if I eject this "firefox" icon?

Click to expand...

What it does when you open the firefox file after you download it is mount the file then extracts the data in that file. So after you extract whatever is in the .dmg file then you no longer need the file you downloaded. So when you eject it, it just unmounts the initial image.

As long as you have extracted the stuff from the .dmg file and put the firefox folder or icon on your hard drive somewhere, then itll work just fine.

AGray34 said:

1. Is there anyway to get it where I can close the lid of my labtop and it will just turn off the monitor and not force the system in standby. I like to leave my IM client open and when I close the lid it shuts it off?

Click to expand...

Sleepless. Or don't close it at all, and just turn the brightness all the way down to 0 using the F1 key.

2. Whenever I come back after awhile, my blueteooth mouse needs to be reconected. Is this how it is suppose to operate or am I doing something wrong?

Click to expand...

Nope. Make sure 1) You have the latest firmware for both your bluetooth module and mouse 2) The mouse batteries are fully charged and 3) you don't move the PowerBook and mouse out of range of one another