Converting to Mavericks

[french frank]

On my iTunes there's a menu label "Controls", which has various settings for shuffling. You need to make sure that shuffling is turned off.

I don't see that in the iTunes window - but I ctrl clicked on the icon in the dock where shuffle was ON (so I had turned it off). I thought there should be something.

At least the tracks are listed in order now and it's just started with No 1!

Oops! now I see where you mean that Controls are listed :-) And I see the Shuffle option (now Off))

[hedgehog]

I'm also still on 10.6.8 and see no reason to change. However I have recently had problems with repeated kernel panics, which I'm told is a problem with mid-2010 MacBook Pros. I had the main motherboard replaced just within warranty and that was supposed to cure it. It stills happens, but I try to ignore it. Updating, I am told, could cure it, but no-one seems very confident - and it would also mean changing my email, which I don't want to do. I'll probably put up with it until I need a new computer.

Oh just read this! I have this problem and was told an Apple software update would fix it but it didn't. I haven't had anything replaced and try to ignore it as well, though I'm not so sure the constant crashing is good for the hard drive. Best remedy is to keep clear of anything pictorial or you tuby on internet......

Apple faithfuls have asserted that Mavericks might well solve the problem. I might well try it though I hate clean installments because, although not losing my POP account e-mails they get consigned to an archaic archive and I lose the links to attachments etc and the odd application that I rarely use until I've just done a system update then ceases to function.

Actually I'm seriously considering buying an Ipad air for internet and daily chores and leaving the laptop to the rest.

[Stunsworth]

I'm finding iTunes seems to shuffle my CD tracks. I can't get it to play the whole CD through in the right order. How do I stop it doing that? (I've had Mavericks on both my machines for a few months but don't often play CDs on the iMac).

FF, do you mean it shuffles the tracks of an individual album - ie play all the tracks of an album, but not in the right order, or does it shuffle tracks between albums - ie play a track from one album, then a track from another, then a track from another etc?

[Dave2002]

Actually I'm seriously considering buying an Ipad air for internet and daily chores and leaving the laptop to the rest.

Maybe!

I know people who really like iPads, who don't get on with regular computers. I use mine quite a lot, but I do get frustrated because there are things it can't do, or can't do well. I used to find mine helpful at work, but since I gave that up that has been less of an issue.

Good things - portable, long battery life, with the 3G or 4G options helpful when mobile. Also the GPS is sometimes very useful, though if abroad one needs to remember to load up Navfree maps beforehand, as the inbuilt map app connects to mobile networks - bad news if abroad - but Navfree doesn't have to. New models have cameras, and can be useful for photos and even videos. Can be good for downloading or watching iPlayer video, though these aren't 100% guaranteed, and that can be a real pain, particularly for series. We got to episode 5 out of 6 episodes of the last Line of Duty series, and although the last episode was downloaded independently on 3 or 4 different devices (2 x gen 1 ipads, 1 x Google Nexus, and I think also a gen 3 iPad), playback worked on none of those machines. Eventually had to get a copy from someone who'd saved the video. We have recently experienced playback failures again of programmrs "saved" !! For a long train journey.

One person i know hates her iPad, and says it's useless for serious work, and wishes she hadn't been told (clearly erroneously in her case) that it could be used for a lot of serious work, and she says she would have been happy to spend more and get a proper portable computer. However, this does rather ignore the fact that iPads have had good battery life, while it's only some of the current generation of laptops which can have batteries which can go for most of the working day. Also few laptops have mobile communications (3G/4G) built in.

Her favourite videos are those of iPads being microwaved (don't try this at home), and the German chopping board video.

Bad things - typing nothing like as good as on a proper keyboard, though will work with an Apple wireless keyboard - or others.

Whether you "should" buy an iPad depends on whether money is significant, what your work or patterns of use are, etc. For the sort of use some people have, the Google Nexus is smaller, cheaper, and seems to do what's required by them, though the base models only have wifi. It has a very clear screen.

[Stunsworth]

One quick point regarding iPads. The wifi only models don't have gps. You need to buy one with wifi + cellular to have gps available.

I use use mine every day. It's true that typing is easier on a laptop, but for me that's easily outweighed by the portability of my iPad mini - and you could always use a Bluetooth keyboard if required.

[french frank]

FF, do you mean it shuffles the tracks of an individual album - ie play all the tracks of an album, but not in the right order, or does it shuffle tracks between albums - ie play a track from one album, then a track from another, then a track from another etc?

Switching off Shuffle (once I'd found it) has cured it - but it shuffled the individual tracks on the one CD: I was trying to do my listening to Op 132 for my Forum 'homework' . Annoyingly, WNO sent me a promotional CD a couple of weeks ago and I threw it away because I thought it was faulty!

Does anyone else miss 'Spaces'? Is there anything like it on Mavericks?

[Stunsworth]

FF, thanks for the update.

I don't use the facility, but spaces are still available in Mavericks. See this link...

http://support.apple.com/kb/PH14155

I've just checked, and they're also still available in Yosemite - the replacement for Mavericks that's due in a couple of months. I'm currently running the public beta of Yosemite on one of my Macs - I'm not brave enough to install it on my main machine though.

[Dave2002]

Has anyone found out how to "really" use Spaces and/or multiple virtual desktops in OS X - or indeed in other systems for that matter?

On a leptop there isn't enough screen space for such systems to be really effective, but on a larger screen or set of multiple screens having good contol over what's shown could be very helpful.

I have never found these systems as helpful as I feel they should be. I may want to work on two documenta side to side, and also to copy and paste from browsers into text. What I really dislike is when trying to find and insert some text the display gets overlaid, and then multiple actions are then needed to find and re-arrange thw documents I'm working on, and clear the subsidiary files/documents off.

There are some other tasks and contexts for which much more sophisticated desktop management systems could be useful.

There are some Apps which help a bit, but I really have found these supposedly easy to use desktop systems very primitive, and overhyped. for me they are a small step in the right direction, but there's a very long way to go before these can be considered satsifactory.

[Stunsworth]

Dave, I use two monitors on my 'main', Mac. It makes copying things a lot easier. Also in Lightroom I have the library on one monitor and the selected photo on the second. Similarly in Photoshop I have the palettes on one monitor and the image on the other.

[hedgehog]

Dave, I use two monitors on my 'main', Mac. It makes copying things a lot easier. Also in Lightroom I have the library on one monitor and the selected photo on the second. Similarly in Photoshop I have the palettes on one monitor and the image on the other.

I do more or less the same Stunsworth - good monitors are not too expensive these days. Thanks for the feedback on the I pads - I probably will get a model without the phone - really just for internet and reading and movies etc in lounge chairs and.....

My laptop is otherwise very good. The slightly odd thing is that I had a mac pro (desktop & still use it for quite a few things) and also now a mac mini for serious music stuff and had the laptop for everyday stuff and am now considering another "split" on it. Something not quite right there................

[Stunsworth]

Thanks for the feedback on the I pads - I probably will get a model without the phone - really just for internet and reading and movies etc in lounge chairs and.....

There's meant to be an Apple event at the beginning of September where it's expected that the new iPhone will be announced. It's also possible that there'll be new iPads too, if so it's also possible that the GPS facility may be added to the wireless version. In any event I'd wait to see what's announced (if anything) if for no other reason that the older version may be sold off more cheaply than it is currently.

[Lento]

Re: Bluetooth keyboard

Love mine: makes iPad far less frustrating.

[Dave2002]

Dave, I use two monitors on my 'main', Mac. It makes copying things a lot easier. Also in Lightroom I have the library on one monitor and the selected photo on the second. Similarly in Photoshop I have the palettes on one monitor and the image on the other.

It isn't the size of the screen which is the main problem, but the way the windows etc. are or may be organised. As I wrote earlier, there are some Mac OS X apps which help a bit - I think one was called Project Desktop. The point is that there can frequently be times when one only wants a subset of all possible files, a subset of all possible apps, and a subset of all possible screen layouts. Maybe I haven't been using the desktops correctly (go on, blame it on the user ...) but I still contend that working with what is currently available is not really good enough.

I have colleagues who have gone the two monitors route, though some have now reverted to using the 27 inch Mac.

Some tasks are also quite complex, but that shouldn't prevent users from trying to csrry them out.

[Dave2002]

Re: Bluetooth keyboard

Love mine: makes iPad far less frustrating.

Certainly helps, though makes the device a bit less portable.

Dragon Dictation in extremis is a very useful tool. A contact went to a conference having decided only to take an iPad, because of battery life, size and weight considerations. She was then asked to summarise the meeting in a report which was not a previously agreed task, though she had done this at some previous meetings. Started off trying to use the iPad - as is - hopeless! Back up plan was to borrow a laptop, but in fact in the end discovered that dictating in to the Dragon App gave a sufficiently good approximation to what was required that tidying the text up on the iPad wasn't impossible. still not really recommended though, but sometimes needs must.

Perhaps being stuck in a foreign hotel room is sufficiently boring that it gives one determination to complete tasks using tools which are available.

[Lordgeous]

I have one running 10.6.8 too, and I don't want to change that one as it has a copy of AppleWorks which still runs. That package won't run on later systems, though I am looking into ways of getting 10.6.8 to run on a virtual system. However, although I know that's possible, I really think it's quite a faff, and I've still not got round to it.

Regarding Appleworks, which earlier was Clarisworks, when I first met that I didn't like it too much, and I wasn't too fond of the drawing package either. Then, as I discovered how to use it, and I also had a considerable need to produce diagrams, I came to the conclusion that it was actually easier to use than many other drawing packages. It has, for me, a good balance between ease of use and power to get jobs done. I am surprised that Apple have effectively ditched this, or at least the drawing and painting parts of the package. I have also a Windows version, but it's not so good as the versions which run on Macs.

Two programs which might just be suitable replacements for the AppeDraw part of AppleWorks are Eazydraw and Ingaglio, and there are work arounds for importing files into Pages. Unfortunately neither of these are cheap enough to purchase as replacement for software which is already functioning well enough on 10.6.8, except perhaps for some who really do need to use this kind of software every day.

http://www.wilmut.webspace.virginmedia.com/notes/aw/page3.html

http://purgatorydesign.com/Intaglio/index.html

One other tool I like from the past is the calendar program for the Palm Pilots, which I found offered useful ways to codify events, and there isn't anything quite like it. In that case there were two versions - one for PCs, and one for Apple, and the Apple one was significantly better. That program may not even work on Mac OS X, which is why I keep a very old machine to run that on!

I'm on 10:8:5 - does anyone know of a programme that will open old Clarisworks text files? Cheers!