First Mac (Home) :D

[Steve21]

So after opening the shiny boxes, and having a quick play. Is there anything essential you think I need to download/change config wise, from a default Lion setup?

 

Thanks,

Steve

[mac_shinobi]

Install all the apps you want / need / use on an admin account, setup a standard account and use the standard account.

 

I normally enable the firewall and allow relevant apps that I am going to use and enable stealth mode ( system prefs --> security --> firewall tab )

 

Depending on the apps installed it may make items startup at login after selecting the relevant user account ( user & groups --> Login Items )

 

I have keka ( for zip files ) there is also unrar X, mplayer ( both the mplayerX and mPlayer Extended ) ones silver and ones blue, google chrome, firefox, Adium ( multi chat client ), I purchased disco for burning discs, but they are giving away a free code from there website, not sure what the difference is between free and paid ( I already have my code for that )

 

MS Office 2011 , vmware fusion 3 and whatever else you download, install or purchase from the app store, maybe super duper or Carbon Copy Cloner to make a bootable image once you have everything so if it does go sunny side up you have something to fall back on ?

[Steve21]

Mmm cool cool

 

Do Macs not have any 2nd partition "amg everything broke, lets fix it" option from your bootable comment?

 

Steve

[mac_shinobi]

Mmm cool cool

 

Do Macs not have any 2nd partition "amg everything broke, lets fix it" option from your bootable comment?

 

Steve

 

Lion has it on the same drive as the bootable drive so if the hard drive dies you have to use the bootable util for lion which was brought out afterwards, I have a bootable ext hdd which has snow leopard on so I can at least install SL and I have the bootable img for Lion on a few diff hdd's just in case seeing as I have an SSD as my boot drive

 

Lion Recovery Disk Assistant

 

I have not got around to using the above util to make another HDD bootable etc as need to get another SATA 2 HDD - if anyone has any they dont need that are in reasonable condition lol

[Steve21]

Ah that's cool Thanks

[mac_shinobi]

Still not perfect but at least they fixed it pretty quick unlike a certain dhcp issue on win 7 ( cough cough ). Gotta poke some fun at both of them really

[Arthur]

Do Macs not have any 2nd partition "amg everything broke, lets fix it" option from your bootable comment?

If you have a brand new Thunderbolt-equipped Mac Mini or MacBook Air you will actually have two. The first is located on your HDD/SSD and the second on Apple's servers.

 

1. Recovery Partition. This is a small ~800MB bootable partition on your HDD/SSD and enables you to re-install Lion, restore from a Time Machine backup, reset passwords and access Disk Utility, Terminal and Safari.
   
2. Lion Internet Recovery. Exactly the same as the above, but downloaded directly from Apple's servers. This is really cool since it works even when you have a completely blank disk. See the description below for more info.
    
   

   Lion Internet Recovery lets you start your Mac directly from Apple's Servers. The system runs a quick test of your memory and hard drive to ensure there are no hardware issues.
    
   Lion Internet Recovery presents a limited interface at first, with only the ability to select your preferred Wi-Fi network and, if needed, enter the WPA passphrase. Next, Lion Internet Recovery will download and start from a Recovery HD image. From there, you are offered all the same utilities and functions as Lion Recovery. (Source)

Re-installing Lion via either of the methods mentioned above will still require you to be connected to the Internet to download the rest of the operating system files (several gigabytes!). The Lion Recovery Disk Assistant which MacShinobi linked to will simply create a copy of the recovery partition on an external HDD or flash drive. It doesn't change the fact that this is it not the full Lion installer so will require an Internet connection.

[Steve21]

If you have a brand new Thunderbolt-equipped Mac Mini or MacBook Air you will actually have two. The first is located on your HDD/SSD and the second on Apple's servers.

.

 

iMacs don't? Guess will need to setup the internet recovery thingy Being my new devlopment machine might be dying a lot

 

Steve

[Arthur]

iMacs don't?

From what I can tell, no. The Internet Recovery feature is hardware-dependant and looks like it is only available on the new optical drive-less Mac's. This means you are left with the recovery partition on the HDD.

 

Another option would be to find a copy of the full Lion installer (a.k.a. InstallESD.dmg) and create your own bootable Lion installer on a USB flash drive or SD card. This will not require an Internet connection.

 

Edit. You could also do what MacShinobi mentioned and use Carbon Copy Cloner or SuperDuper to create a bootable clone of your HDD once you have Lion and your apps setup exactly how you want them.

Edited August 27, 2011 by Arthur

[FN-GM]

Welcome to the club

 

I would install some Antivirus, i use Sophos. To be fair the product seems ok and its free for Mac home users.

 

as @mac_shinobi said vmware fusion is a must. I have Windows 7 in a VM and dont bother with bootcamp anymore.

 

Have a look at time machine for your backups.

 

I use Paragon NTFS so i can write to my NTFS formatted drives. I think there are free versions out there though.

[Steve21]

Welcome to the club

 

I would install some Antivirus, i use Sophos. To be fair the product seems ok and its free for Mac home users.

 

as @mac_shinobi said vmware fusion is a must. I have Windows 7 in a VM and dont bother with bootcamp anymore.

 

Have a look at time machine for your backups.

 

I use Paragon NTFS so i can write to my NTFS formatted drives. I think there are free versions out there though.

 

Aye didn't know Sophos was free for macs, will have to take a look at that. Need to do some tinkering with settings before backup I think hehe

 

Silly question, but can you use an Imac as an external monitor for a windows pc, aswell as other way (Know you can use VGA/DVI for Mac)

 

Steve

[mac_shinobi]

From what I can tell, no. The Internet Recovery feature is hardware-dependant and looks like it is only available on the new optical drive-less Mac's. This means you are left with the recovery partition on the HDD.

 

Another option would be to find a copy of the full Lion installer (a.k.a. InstallESD.dmg) and create your own bootable Lion installer on a USB flash drive or SD card. This will not require an Internet connection.

 

Edit. You could also do what MacShinobi mentioned and use Carbon Copy Cloner or SuperDuper to create a bootable clone of your HDD once you have Lion and your apps setup exactly how you want them.

 

Ive just made one external hdd a SL bootable installer so I can install SL and from there have the ESDInstall.dmg for Lion so will do it that way. Just need to get some time and stop being lazy and make a bootable backup

 

There is virtual box instead of vmware fusion, parallels is another one but I prefer either virtual box or vmware fusion myself

 

I have a 2008 Mac Pro so not exactly a new mac tbh, so does that mean the recovery partition is a waste of space ?

Edited August 27, 2011 by mac_shinobi

[FN-GM]

Silly question, but can you use an Imac as an external monitor for a windows pc, aswell as other way (Know you can use VGA/DVI for Mac)

 

Steve

 

Nope, the mini display port on it is an output and not an input.

[Arthur]

can you use an iMac as an external monitor for a Windows PC, as well as other way (Know you can use VGA/DVI for Mac)

No. The Windows PC would have to support Target Display Mode. None do.

 

In our 2011 iMac review I mentioned that you could use the new iMac as an external display if, and only if, you had a Thunderbolt cable connecting it to a 2011 MacBook Pro. When I reviewed the iMac, you couldn't buy a Thunderbolt cable. Now you can.

 

The process is pretty simple. Just connect any 2011 MacBook Pro to any 2011 iMac via a Thunderbolt cable. Hit Cmd + F2 on the iMac's keyboard and boom, your brand new iMac is now a secondary display for your MacBook Pro. Note that you need a modern Apple keyboard for this to work. Older Apple keyboards and some non-Apple keyboards won't send the right key code and will refuse to activate target display mode on the iMac.

 

The iMac has to be fully powered on when this happens. You do lose all keyboard/mouse support on the iMac, however the machine doesn't go to sleep when in this mode - it'll remain on, although likely in a low power state. Any applications you have open on the iMac will remain open. Any music playing on the iMac will continue to play and you don't get use of the iMac's speakers from your MacBook Pro.

 

For 2011, this is admittedly an odd usage model. I'm not sure how many people want to connect their brand new MacBook Pro to a brand new iMac and use the latter as just a display. Down the road I can see this being a good feature as it lets you upgrade to faster MacBook Pros and still use your iMac as a larger display if you'd like. (Source)

 

See also...

http://www.tuaw.com/2011/05/03/target-display-mode-missing-in-action-on-new-imacs/

http://blog.macsales.com/10899-target-display-mode-and-thunderbolt

[Steve21]

Damn damns Getting too many screens on desk as it is lol. Would have been nice to have a 27in for windows aswell.

 

You know it's bad when someone who's played with Windows PCs most his life goes to put a cd into a Mac and goes err, which way up Silly thing should have a label!

 

Steve

[Arthur]

I have a 2008 Mac Pro so not exactly a new mac tbh, so does that mean the recovery partition is a waste of space?

If I had to re-install Lion I would use the bootable flash drive I created as I don't fancy wasting hours waiting for Lion to be downloaded from Apple's servers. However, I reckon it's worth keeping as a backup just in case the flash drive gets lost. You also need to keep this partition if you want to use encrypt your HDD using FileVault 2.

 

By the way, if you purchased Lion through the Mac App Store, whenever Apple releases an OS update such as 10.7.1 they also update the Lion installer too, so it has the update integrated into it. Much better than with Snow Leopard etc. where you would have to buy another DVD if you wanted the updated discs (as you know ).

Edited August 27, 2011 by Arthur

[TJIT]

Perian tool kit, it enables Quick Time to play most video files.

 

Plex if you would like to turn you iMac into a Media PC that will play most video formats.

[Steve21]

That's cool.

 

Anyone got any suggestions for (preferably free) photoshop style Program?

 

Assuming the norm paint.net etc isnt mac-able (but will double check)

 

Thanks all

Steve

[TJIT]

Try GIMP GIMP - for Mac OS X

[Arthur]

Anyone got any suggestions for (preferably free) photoshop style Program?

Pixelmator (£20.99) and Acorn (£34.99) are very good (much better than GIMP). I have both, but neither are free. There's also Photoshop Elements 9 (£54.99), but the reviews aren't particular good.

 

By the way, the price for Pixelmator will double when v2.0 is released soon. Anyone who buys it now through the Mac App Store will get a free upgrade.

[Steve21]

Mmm pixelator looks cool.

 

Thanks

Steve