Questions from a new MAC user...

[Choirgirl]

I had my first MAC VD&D class today. I'm taking the class because I want to have a 10 loads of fun while learning something new. I know it will cost a small fortune too. Here are my questions:

I'm learning In Design. I thought the program was so awesome when we used it in class, I shopped around for it. One clerk suggesed an Adobe page editor or something. He says it is much better than in design.

1) Is that so?

2) Can I expect to find software packages for MAC. For example...Dreamweave, In design, PageMaker,...?

3) How do you get a MAC to run a PC program or vice versa? What is that all about anyway?

4) Any recommended reading for a newbie MAC users?

[joshSCH]

4) Any recommended reading for a newbie MAC users?

No, just a video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3CrQjfgvqJQ
:D

and this

[lasher511]

Wow Josh links to a video based around OS 9 and a microsoft fanboy page. Seriously josh why even bother posting on here at all. She was looking for some constructive advice not just some random mac suck links that are no help at all. So you don't like Mac we get it. If you think people want to hear Crap like this then start a thread called why mac sucks so that people know to avoid it. But do not ruin legit posts just because you have a personal dislike of Macs.

Hi Choir girl and welcome to Daniweb.

I assume you are talking about website design here?

I tend to use 2 programs for website development NVU a free program made by mozilla which you can download from a link i will include below and Adobe Dreamweaver. Both programs are reasonably similar in that they both do the job quite well and where one can not do a particular task (usually NVU) the other will be able to do it.

The main difference between the two programs i obiously the price as dreamweaver will cost you quite a large sum of money but definatly well worth it in the long run.

To answer your third question you can not acctually get a Mac to run a Windows program unless you are using an older Mac in which case there is a program you can get that is not compatible with intel based Mac's Called WINE (link is below). These days there are alot of programs that you can get for both windows and Mac its just a matter of finding the right installer for the job or if for some reason there is not a version of the program you want quite often you can find a free/low cost alternative for Mac that will work just as well if not better.

If you really find that you really want to run a specific windows only program then on the new intel based Macs you can install windows using 2 different methods.

1. Boot Camp

Boot camp is a free Beta release(Final release will come with 10.5 Leopard) Basically what this program does is it allows you to partion your hard drive and install windows on it in order to run windows natively and also burns all the drivers you will need once windows has been installed. The Disadvantage to this option is you will need to shut down your computer every time you wish to change from OSX to Windows.

2. Parrallels

This program will cost you $79.99 but will allow you to run a copy of windows while still in OSX and you wont have to shut down. This program is also compadible with Boot camp so if you already have a copy of windows installed using boot camp you are able to start up that machine using parallels. This method is very effective as this means that when you need the best performance possible from windows you can shutdown and start that up and when you just need to do a small task you can just use parrallels to run the exact same machine.

As for your last question i do not have very much advice for beginners as Mac is pretty straight forward however if you find you have any questions or need some help with something then feel free to message me and i will do my best to help.

Links

Parrallels
http://www.parallels.com/en/products/workstation/mac/

Wine
http://sourceforge.net/projects/darwine/

Boot Camp
http://www.apple.com/macosx/bootcamp/

NVU
http://www.nvu.com/download.php

[joshSCH]

Well, I was obviously kidding around since she posted in the wrong forums.. I do not normally 'ruin' posts like this, but I was tired and bored last night lol..

That was a rather long and insightful post lasher.

[lasher511]

As an add on to my earlier post you can also get a program by the name of VMware Fusion that does the exact same stuff as Parallels only it is free. Forgot about that one completely when i posted yesterday.

VMware Fusion

http://www.vmware.com/products/beta/fusion/

[Choirgirl]

That you, Lasher, for the wealth of information. I'm really curious about Dreamweaver- so thanks for the glowing reccommendation. I owe you one...

[Choirgirl]

Josh, I've always used a PC, and I am ready for something new! Maybe it's because all the PC software I buy for it is work related. I can make magic happen with EXCEL...even spend hours reading about it. MAC's seem to be more fun oriented...at least for now.

[joshSCH]

Try linux for a change in scenery :)

[John A]

>How do you get a MAC to run a PC program or vice versa?
There's also Codeweaver's Crossover Office, which is basically a commercial version of Wine. It provides far better application support than Darwine, and gives you a nice interface to manage everything.

Another link I'll toss in is NeoOffice, which is an OS X port of OpenOffice, an MS Office clone. If you don't buy Microsoft Office for Mac, I recommend downloading NeoOffice, given that you're probably going to need it at some point or another.

>Any recommended reading for a newbie MAC users?
macworld.com has some excellent how-tos, articles, and reviews. Their magazine is pretty good, too.