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Mac Forum / Country Specific / Australian Mac Group / October 2004picked up my new ibook today .. few newbie questions
Got my first mac today, and have been tinkering for a while. First question is how to install apps. Apps i've downloaded seem to be distributed as disk images. So far i've grabbed mozilla, firefox, gimp and X11, but i'm not sure about the right place to put the images. The first one i downloaded seems to have ended up on my desktop and gave me the opportunity to put an icon in the dock. Having the application's files on my desktop doesn't seem right. What's the right process to go thru to install an app that would be available to all users ? Where's the standard app install directory ? e.g. c:\program files\ on a PC or /usr/local/ on a linux box. PS: i got the 14" 1.33GHz iBook with dvd-burner, 786MB RAM, keyboard and carry bag. Took 1 week to arrive. Simplest place to put apps is /Applications. Apps are often distributed in disk images but you don't need to keep the image once the app is installed. Disk images should be mounted (double-click it) to find out what they contain. If it contains an installer run it and it will probably put the app in the Applications folder for you. Some images will contain the app as a file package. In this case just drag it (copy) from the image into the Applications folder. Put icons in the dock if you want. (I've put my Applications folder into the dock to give me quick access to things I don't want in the dock.) Once you're done, there's no reason (apart from backup) to keep the image file, so eject the disk and trash the image file. scott > Got my first mac today, and have been tinkering for a while. First question > is how to install apps. Apps i've downloaded seem to be distributed as disk [quoted text clipped - 8 lines] > PS: i got the 14" 1.33GHz iBook with dvd-burner, 786MB RAM, keyboard and > carry bag. Took 1 week to arrive. >Got my first mac today, and have been tinkering for a while. First question >is how to install apps. Apps i've downloaded seem to be distributed as disk >images. So far i've grabbed mozilla, firefox, gimp and X11, but i'm not >sure about the right place to put the images. Typically you mount the image (double-click on it) and then copy the application file to your /Applications folder. In most cases all the related files are part of the application bundle which Finder presents as being a single icon. But really you can put them anywhere you like. You're pretty much stuck leaving all the Apple stuff in /Applications -- the software update tool doesn't deal well with those being moved -- but everything else can go anywhere. Some people partition their disks so that they have a boot volume large enough for the OS, swap, and the bundled applications, and then put everything else on a different volume. Simplifies matters if you have to nuke the OS for some reason. Matt >>Got my first mac today, and have been tinkering for a while. First >>question is how to install apps. Apps i've downloaded seem to be [quoted text clipped - 13 lines] > then put everything else on a different volume. Simplifies matters if > you have to nuke the OS for some reason. I'm not sure if i've done the right thing, but it seems to be working. X11 was pretty obvious. I put the dmg file into /Applications/X11 and opened it, and was presented with an installer. Afterwards i removed the dmg file an X11 is still working. Some went for mozilla. I'm still puzzled though, when i run mozilla, an icon appears on the desktop that looks like a generic 'volume' icon. When i close moz, it goes away. However, while it is there, double clicking on it gives me the chance to put a shortcut to mozilla whereever i like. Have to keep tinkering .. Next question : fonts .. how do i control the default GUI font ? I was hoping to switch it to a non-AA font to improve crispness. Other than that, having never used a mac before in my life, i've found it exceedingly intuitive. > Matt > I'm still puzzled though, when i run mozilla, an icon appears on the desktop > that looks like a generic 'volume' icon. When i close moz, it goes away. > However, while it is there, double clicking on it gives me the chance to > put a shortcut to mozilla whereever i like. Actually what you are doing might work but it is not how it should be. What you must have done at some stage is drag the Mozilla icon onto the Dock, from inside the mounted dmg Volume. This creates on the Dock an alias (shortcut) to this Mozilla application file. But this Mozilla application resides inside the dmg Volume. So when you click on the icon on the Dock, it has to mount the dmg Volume, which then appears on your Desktop, *then* it can launch Mozilla. What you should do is the following: Double click on the dmg Volume (or mount it by clicking on the Dock icon!). Drag off the Dock the existing Mozilla icon. When you let go of the button, it disappears in a puff of smoke, with the corresponding sound effect (cute). Drag the Mozilla application from the mounted dmg Volume, into your Application folder. Drag *this* Mozilla icon from the Application folder to the Dock, which will create a Dock alias pointing to the application in the Dock (that's better!). Then you can drag the mounted dmg Volume to the trash (eject). Then find the dmg file itself, and trash that also. Cheers. >> I'm still puzzled though, when i run mozilla, an icon appears on the >> desktop that looks like a generic 'volume' icon. When i close moz, it [quoted text clipped - 8 lines] > icon on the Dock, it has to mount the dmg Volume, which then appears on > your Desktop, *then* it can launch Mozilla. I think i've got it sorted now. opened the DMG, dragged things out, deleted DMS and then put icons on the dock. I've gone back to the apps i've installed and sorted them out. (gimp, moz, x11, openoffice) > What you should do is the following: Double click on the dmg Volume (or > mount it by clicking on the Dock icon!). Drag off the Dock the existing > Mozilla icon. When you let go of the button, it disappears in a puff of > smoke, with the corresponding sound effect (cute). Drag the Mozilla hehe .. very cute. Actually, is there some way to reduce the eye-candy ? > application from the mounted dmg Volume, into your Application folder. > Drag *this* Mozilla icon from the Application folder to the Dock, which [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] > > Cheers. |
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