Sunday, March 16, 2008

Migrate to Mac

As a long time Windows user, the start experience of using Mac is quick challenge, but it is really worthwhile to spend some time to learn Mac.

Mouse Configuration

First, it is the mouse click. By default, my new Mac's mouse is configured with both left and right mouse buttons being same. Since the outside appearance of the mouse does not show these buttons clearly, I thought there was not right click button! Finally, I found the configuration from System Preference, where you can configure the right click as the secondary button. I changed it and it works!

Home and End Keys

As I mentioned that I installed Firefox in my Mac since I am not happy with the limitations of add-ins available for the Safari, and all the tabs opened in the previous session cannot be restored. Actually, there are some places where some scripts are provided to enable this feature, but I don't like this way. What happens if I change my Mac or I get another one like laptops. I have to recall to do this again. In addition to this, Firebox has more features available and I know it very well.

The problem I had when I first used Firefox in Mac is that the Home and End keys do not work in the same way as in Windows. It was very frustrating without the feature. I always to want to highlight all the text and retype new works or links again. I searched on web for solutions. There are some suggestions to configure Home and End keys for Firefox. It is very interesting to know that some configuration can be set in my home's Library folder. Basically, you can add your configuration for keys.

However, I found out this actually is not necessary at all. Some one suggested to use the default Mac keys to resolve the issue. That's very simple. You just have to learn the Mac first. Don't force the Mac in the same way like Windows. For example, Command + left arrow key is equivalent to the beginning of the current line and the combination of right arrow key is to the end of the line. That's very simple and solves my problem!

By the way, the Command key is very similar to Control key in Windows, or PC I should say correctly. Command + C is for cut, Command + V for paste, Command + A for select all, Command + Z for undo, and so on. For Firefox, Command + L is to jumping the current focus to Address bar control. I have not find out a short-cut to move to google search bar control yet.

Learn Mac 101

I realized that I have to spend some time to learn Mac OS and basics, just like I did for Windows long time ago. I have been keeping learning Windows all the time as well. Therefore, the basics of Mac is very important for me. I think this is the right step to migrate to Mac. Apple's Mac 101 is a great resource to start.

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