Command Windows File and Directory Structures

Sorry this is a bit longer than I meant it to be.

I am the proud owner of a 12" Powerbook. It's absolutely beautiful and just what I wanted. I've had it for two weeks. I wanted small, compact, usable and I've got it! I'm happy I'm not even cross about the Macbook that came out the next day - well only a little bit. Next a Mac Mini......

But I'm a long time computer user - more than 20 years, right back to the TRS80, Commodore64, Amiga, DOS, CPM then my first XT machine running DOS 2.11. Could do quite a bit of coding back then when it was needed, mosty in BASIC. Then into the Microsoft spiral, like everyone else. I never had an apple because, here in Australia there were few sellers and they were extremely expensive due to the poor exchange rate between the US and AU dollar.

I run a home network with a 3800MHz 64bit monster with 2 GB RAM - everthing it could possibly have, in it or on it. An AMD Socket A 3200MHz with most stuff was built for my other half who is rapt in the 19" screen and how good those great graphics on the web look, I have a 3 year old AMD1900 laptop - All running XP Pro, I run an older 800MHz box with 256MB RAM with Suse 9.3 on it. I use an ADSL 4 port adsl2+ modem/router. Possibly a little over the top for my personal use, I just love building and fixing computers. I have a passion for removing malware and viruses. I belong to a couple of big forums that do that for windows users.

Then I saw a mac being used by my uncle, a graphic designer and I wanted one. They were just too expensive because I could build my PCs for economical high end results. But I kept thinking that the mac laptops I was seeing looked sooo much better than my laptop. I stood in the mac shop and played with powerbooks till I got the hang of the basics.

Software isn't an issue for me. If I need it I will find it somewhere. I've lurked here since I brought it home out of the box. It worked straight out the box - network and all. The internet was working immediately and there is one shared folder on the main XP machine and one shared folder on my powerbook. I've installed the stuff I wanted, like firefox, thunderbird, text editor that does what I want, Neo office - I use Sun Star Office or Openofice on the others anyway, I found a decent game of spider solitaire. My iPod is happy. :black:

A few things I really miss:

Where is the "Delete" key - how do you make the backspace key delete instead? I have the laptop keyboard which perhaps has some limitations.

Where are the list of keyboard commands and shortcuts?

How do I tab between open applications?

How do I clear the desktop - as in the equivalent of Windows Key + D minimises all apps to the taskbar?

How do I use the arrow keys to go from word to word instead of letter by letter.

I use text editors for lots of my notes. I'd love a tabbed text editor cos I'm used to EditPadPro but that will wait.

How do I open a terminal or X window and get access to the command line so I can see the file and directory structure. Even Linux and Unix let you get that far. I don't want to be compiling a kernel or anything. I just want to be able to look at the guts and I can't find them. That's one of the parts of a computer that I really love.

I've discovered some of the little things I wanted by reading here and trial and error, but I'm still needing some help here.

This is a nice forum - I'm glad I joined up.

Stavros is my nick - but I'm female, it's just always stuck to me since I got into computers

Have a look in the 'system preferences' 'keyboard and mouse' and then the tab 'Keyboard shortcuts'.

Most application keyboard shortcuts are written in the menu's at the top of the screen.

The 'terminal' application and a few other programs that maybe of interest to you (like console) can be found in Applications/utilities.

Not sure about the rest but I'm sure someone else will help out.

Glad your enjoying your powerbook.

I can answer a few of these for you:

The delete key seems to be where it always has been for me in windows: Backspace and delete do the same thing for me. I guess it depends on the App you are using.

Their are lots of shortcuts, find it in OS Help. Click Finder then click Help, Mac Help. To use keyboard shortcuts, you need to turn on Universal access in System preferences. look up using keyboard shortcuts in the Finder help.

The saying goes: Lose control (CTRL) and take Command (CMD or the Apple key). So, to switch between apps, hold CMD + TAB. Keep the CMD key held down and you can use the mouse to select or even close programs without switching to them by pressing CMD + Q. If you had a shortcut you used in windows such as CTRL+V for paste, the equivelent in Mac is often CMD+V.

To reveal the desktop, use Exposé. Press F9, F10, F11, F12 to see what it does. To minimize an App, Press CMD+M. To hide apps, press CMD+H. To hide other apps but the currently focused one, press ALT+CMD+H.

To skip words, it depends on the program. If it complies with Apple rules, it will be like this: ALT+Arrow skips words, CMD+Arrow goes to END/Begin of line, CMD+UP/Down goes to Begin/End of document. The traditional PGUP/DOWN/HOME/END keys navigate the window rather than the cursor. Some apps though try to map the keys like windows.

To open terminal, you'll find it in the applications folder or you can use spotlight (the search button in the top right) to find it.

If you really want to get started, there is a great book called Easy Mac OS X that uses simple visual steps on how to use OS X and it's various apps. Might be a bit simple for you but it is a great 10 minute read.

stavros said:

Sorry this is a bit longer than I meant it to be.

A few things I really miss:

Where is the "Delete" key - how do you make the backspace key delete instead? I have the laptop keyboard which perhaps has some limitations.

fn+backspace, also, alt+backspace will backspace delete a word at a time.

Where are the list of keyboard commands and shortcuts?

look in preferences>Keyboard and mouse

How do I tab between open applications?

Command+Tab, command is the key with the apple and four clover symbol on, you can also use expose F9 so show all application windows, or F10 to show all windows in the current application. A cool idea you might want to try is to set it so one of these expose effects can be triggered by moving your cursor into one of the corners, you can do that in preferences>Dashboard and expose

How do I clear the desktop - as in the equivalent of Windows Key + D minimises all apps to the taskbar?

F11, this is another expose function. Again, you can add it as a corner hotspot.

How do I use the arrow keys to go from word to word instead of letter by letter.

alt+arrowkeys, also note that ctrl+arrow keys will move you to the start/end of line

I use text editors for lots of my notes. I'd love a tabbed text editor cos I'm used to EditPadPro but that will wait.

not sure myself, i would be suprised if there isn't one around though.

How do I open a terminal or X window and get access to the command line so I can see the file and directory structure. Even Linux and Unix let you get that far. I don't want to be compiling a kernel or anything. I just want to be able to look at the guts and I can't find them. That's one of the parts of a computer that I really love.

The program you want is called Terminal, see your Applications/Utilities folder. Set the background colour to black and add a slight transparency, looks really cool

I've discovered some of the little things I wanted by reading here and trial and error, but I'm still needing some help here.

yes, its always worth trying different combinations with alt/ctrl/shift/command. Also, have a good look in the preferences just to see if there is anything that u might want to change.

This is a nice forum - I'm glad I joined up.

Stavros is my nick - but I'm female, it's just always stuck to me since I got into computers

Click to expand...

Hope that helps, welcome to the forum!

to tab between open windows in a particular program use apple + `. also after strinking apple + tab, the appl+ ` can be used to go in reverse order from apple + tab.

i use hot corners for the f11 function and f9 expose functions.

enjoy your new mac!!

Thank you all for your answers

I have now found everything I felt I was missing . I don't even have to learn new commands for the terminal window. I already know lots of them, which is rather nice.

I love this machine.

How heat tolerant are these laptops? My XP laptop is useless once it gets hot - it just freezes. Even browsing and email kill it. As heat is a hardware issue and it seems a little short on ventilation, I'm interested in this. Where I live temperatures well over 38C 100F are common through summer.

The fans should kick in when it gets hot good enough to cool it down, shouldn't be a problem but then i don't live in such a hot country. neye: