Re: mac filing system

[David Auerbach auerbach@xxxxxxxx]

There are a dozen easy ways on the mac to make your life simpler.
Flash started you off on one; note that you can drag any oft-used
folder to the sidebar and have it as a permanent destination.
PathFinder is a nice better version of the Finder that adds some
conveniences to the Finder and you might like that. Note the "filter
by name" window for instance.
 Probably the niftiest add-on is LaunchBar. It does many things in
the simplest way. Relevant example: hit its trigger key
(default=command-space) then type the name of the folder you want.
Once you type enough letters (usually 2-3, you'll see it list at the
top of the screen, select it, hit return and boom, it's open in Finder
(or PathFinder). Same for opening applications, contacts, etc. ).
 But you need to spend a few minutes learning some very very basic
stuff. Once you do, those minutes will be returned to you with
interest.
 There are also lots of ways to make your note taking easier; there
are cheap simple programs that well and are designed for precisely
what you want to do. Notebook, Mark/Space notebook, Things (though it
does more than that), etc.



David Auerbach
Department of Philosophy & Religion
Box 8103
NCSU
Raleigh, NC 27695-8103


On Sep 27/09, at 7:22 AM, Andy Turnbull wrote:
With xy I can open a new file and specify exactly where I want to
store it -- eg \a\notes\disaster\volcano or whatever.
With the mac I just get to name the file and I'm giving a list of
directories or places to put it -- and anything I have not used a
lot recently is not on the list. The best way I have found (with the
help of a mac 'genius bar' type is to put the file on the desktop,
then open folders to find the directory or subdirectory I want to
store it in and drag and drop it there. It works, but it's a drag.
Also -- one of my directories (\a\notes) has more than 500 files in
it, and it's a nuisance dragging the cursor down the line to find
them. I know I can type the first letter and jump to that section of
the list, but it's still a lot slower than just typing the path and
name of the file I want to open. Textwrangler (the only decent
writing program I have found for the mac) can open files by name --
but it won't accept directory/file name and it's very slow working
through a few thousand files. Since some of the names are duplicated
in different directories, it often makes up a list and asks me to
choose. Even when everything else I'm working on is in the same
directory, it wants to search the whole machine.
Things are hard to find because when I use the search command, (the
little magnifying glass doohickey on the top-right) it just gives me
names, and I have to put the cursor on the names, one by one, to
find out where the files are. I have to really want something to
find it on the mac, because otherwise I may forget why I wanted it
before I find it.
One thing I do a lot of is type random thoughts into my 'notes'
directory. (that's why it's so big). I note the thoughts on cards
first, (while I'm out walking, or whatever) and when I set down to
type I may have entries to make in 10 or 20 directories, in random
order. With xy it's no sweat -- open files and store them, one by
one -- but with the mac it's a much longer process to find and open
a file, and it's a drag.
On the other hand, I like reading things on the mac and I like the
keyboard, so I keep it. I'm tempted to get a new mac and run windows/
xy on it, but since the days of dos I've found major disappointments
with every new machine I've bought, (too many of them!) and I'm
getting to the point where I don't expect any new machine to be much
good.

andy t
----- Original Message ----- From: "David Auerbach" >
To: 
Sent: Saturday, September 26, 2009 10:45 PM
Subject: Re: WinXP screen buffer
On my mac I put things directly into subsubsubsubdirectories all the
time. Unless I'm not getting what you mean?



David Auerbach
Department of Philosophy & Religion
Box 8103
NCSU
Raleigh, NC 27695-8103


On Sep 26/09, at 8:37 PM, Andy Turnbull wrote:
Interesting. I have a mac i book that's wonderful to travel with --
it's the only laptop with a really portable charger -- but I think
the file system sucks. I work in directories sometimes three and
four levels deep, and with the mac I can't put anything directly
into a directory and its sometimes hard to find things.

Still -- I agree that the dell looks like a nice machine, and the
price is right. My only hesitation now is that I have too many
laptops already, (four of them). If someone would come out with just
a plug to replace that fool extension cord, it would be neat.

andy t

----- Original Message -----
From: Myron Gochnauer
To: xywrite@xxxxxxxx
Sent: Saturday, September 26, 2009 7:37 PM
Subject: Re: WinXP screen buffer






  but to run mac os on it? why?


 My motivation was to see how this kind of thing works, in case I
buy a Mac to run Windows on under Fusion. Running OS X on the PC
would not be the same, I know, but it's the inverse of what I'm
considering. And I might want to use my existing Lenovo PC to run
Mac music-composing software (Digital Performer).



Most of my programs are Mac, and I am comfortable with OS X. The
Dell Mini 10v is smaller and much cheaper than anything Apple
offers, so it might provide a nice supplement to my large Macs. I
run Windows on an HP notebook that can operate as a "tablet PC",
which is very convenient for PDF-music-score reading on a piano.


Myron




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