Introduction
A couple of weeks after its unveiling, the budget-priced Mac mini has begun shipping. Targeted at would-be switchers and ?adders,? the mini is easily the lowest-priced Mac desktop ever. There are always Mac owners who are looking to upgrade older equipment or looking to own a small form factor Mac. Many of those have snapped up Mac minis.
However, some of the new Mac mini owners are Windows or Linux users who have always wanted to fool around with Mac OS X, but have been turned off by the Apple?s price structure. A dual-CPU G5 tower will set you back at least two grand, while the least expensive iMac runs US$1,299. Even a good, gently-used Mac costs far more than comparable x86 gear. Now that Apple has a stripped-down Mac desktop available, the curious have finally begun taking the plunge.
As anyone who has ever switched platforms will attest, there is always a bit of a learning curve involved. Differences in how applications and the user interface behave can be great, and even when there is similarity across platforms, the small differences can be just as maddening.
One thing the Mac mini does not have is a comprehensive ?welcome to OS X? guide. Printed documentation included with the mini is scanty ? primarily EULA and warranty information, and Apple has never been one for flashy tutorials. That?s why we at Ars have pulled together a short list of things every newcomer to Mac OS X needs to know.
This guide is not intended to be comprehensive and answer every conceivable question Windows and Linux users will have about their new platform. What it does intend to do is give you the lowdown on some basic things: window management, accessing your Windows box from the Mac, and application behavior.
Registration
When you turn on your Mac for the first time, you?ll be greeted with some music and the wold ?Welcome? flashed on your screen in what seems like all the languages of the world. Eventually, you will be taken to the registration screen.
Unlike Windows, you will not be required to activate your copy of Mac OS X. What Apple does want from you however, is your personal information ? name, address, phone number, e-mail. Some people find that intrusive. If you are one of those folk, simply hit Command-Q (see the next section if you don't know what the Command key is) when it prompts for your name and you will be given the option to skip ahead to the account creation section of the setup program.
Your keyboard and you
Assuming you didn?t want to drop US$29 on an Apple keyboard, you can use your PC keyboard with your Mac. If you have a PS/2 keyboard and mouse, you can buy a US$15 USB adapter and use it with your Mac. I have an Eluminx PS/2 keyboard shared between my Shuttle and G5 using such an adapter.
The keys function identically to their Windows counterparts. However, there are two significant differences. The Mac has an additional "modifier" key, referred to as the Command key. It's the one with an outline of an Apple and the little cloverleaf-like symbol on it. There is no Windows equivalent, but your Windows key will map to it on your PC keyboard.
A basic Apple keyboard. The Command keys are on either side of the spacebar
The Command key functions very similarly to the Control key in Windows. Many keyboard shortcuts translate easily from Windows to OS X. Control-V to Command-V for paste, Control-W to Command-W to close a window, etc.
In a similar vein, the Alt key in Windows and Linux becomes the Option key in OS X. The Control key has the same function on a Mac, but it has a much more minor role in Mac OS X. The Num Lock key is rather pointless on the Mac. Your numeric keypad is simply that ? a numeric keypad that cannot be toggled to page up, down, etc.
Accented and other "nonstandard" characters can be entered by key combinations. For example, to get an acute e (?), you would press Option-e and then e again.
Looking on the front of your mini, you will notice the absence of a button to eject CDs and DVDs. The Apple keyboard has a key for this above the numeric keypad. If you are using a non-Apple keyboard, the F12 key will eject discs from the optical drive.
In many OS X applications, the ?home? and ?end? keys do not behave as you might expect. Instead of functioning as they do in Windows, the keys will scroll accordingly to the end of the page or document while the cursor will remain in the same place. Microsoft Office apps behave as you would expect them, but hitting ?end? in an application like Mail will scroll you down to the end of the message while keeping the text insertion point exactly where it was before. Also, Home and End will take you to the beginning and end of a document respectively, rather than the line. However, Command-left arrow and Command-right arrow will take you to the beginning and end of the line in many applications.
Of mice and men
Any USB mouse will work out of the box on Mac OS X. On two-button mice, the right button performs the same right-click function as it does on Windows. Scroll wheels should also be automatically detected. If you have a Microsoft, Logitech, or Kensington mouse, you can download the Mac OS X utilities/drivers for your particular model to enable additional functionality.
KVMs
A complete rundown of KVM switches is outside the scope of this review. However, since most adders will want to use a KVM to share a single keyboard and monitor between a PC and Mac, a few words are in order. DVI KVM switches are more expensive, and we at the Orbiting HQ have had varying degrees of success with them. We have heard good things about the Linkskey 202AUSK, as well as some of the Gefen models. I use a Iogear Miniview myself, using VGA instead of DVI.
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