Shiny new MacBook has usability problems
We just each got a shiny new MacBook laptop from work. This will replace my main Linux workstation at the office. I have been struggling hard to fine tune this Macbook for better productivity. I am not new to OS X. I have a MacMini at home but use it mainly for surfing and watching movies. There are some basic things that are very useful but not available on other operating systems (even on OS X).
Clipboard:
In X Window, you have like two clipboards that you can use: Ctrl-C/Ctrl-V and middle mouse button to paste a selected text. If I want to login to a server, I Ctrl-C the password and select the server IP. Then, I middle-click the mouse on a terminal for ssh. When it asks for the password, I simply Ctrl-V. In OS X, I have to do this in two shots. Cmd-C/Cmd-V the server IP and then Cmd-C/Cmd-V the password. I have yet to see something to solve this “problem.” This is not a new feature. I’ve been using this in X Window for over 10 years now.
MacBook Touchpad:
What were they thinking in designing this?? There is no secondary or tertiary button. Just one large button. No right-click. No scrolling. To scoll, you have to use 2 fingers. Unlike Dell laptops where you use the right border of the touchpad to scroll. A real PITA.
Mail.App:
There are some real usability problems with Mail.App. You cannot have multiple identities in Mail.App. But there is a trick where you can have multiple e-mail addresses but only the same sender name: in the e-mail address box, you put several addresses separated by a comma. This ressembles to a hack. There are options missing in the contextual list (when you right-click on a mailbox folder for example). You have to select the mailbox and then go on the top navigation bar to do your thing. I almost installed Thuderbird because of this. Mail.App has trouble creating a copy of sent e-mails on the IMAP server and there is a loop somewhere. “INBOX.INBOX.INBOX.INBOX.Sent Messages” folder is created on the mail server. This is solved by specifying an IMAP folder to be used as a Sent folder (Select the folder, do not right click, go in Mailbox menu (top bar), Use this Mailbox for). Another hack.
iChat:
It is impossible to close/quit iChat if you have not configured an account there. There is no escape/cancel option in the iChat account setup. Try it. The video chat on Bonjour is quite cool though.
Lock Desktop:
How do we lock the Mac OS X desktop? In Windows, I just do Windows key + L and leave my desk. I had to install the Locker widget on the dashboard.
Software Update:
The OS X software update is larger than Windows Service Pack 3. Seriously! We are not talking about upgrading Tiger to Leopard. Just a point upgrade on a brand new Macbook. Leopard to Leopard. This is not an old inventory (There is already the MobileMe reference on it).
Screen:
Screen is a software for managing several (SSH) sessions. The use of Cmd and Ctrl at the same time is very troubling in screen. To go to the next screen, you type Ctrl-A+N. To paste something, it’s Cmd-V. Imagine you want to copy the same command you just typed in another screen window and go back to the original window. You have to:
- select text
- Cmd-C
- Ctrl-A + N
- Cmd-V
- Ctrl-A + P
I use this to copy the same configuration on 2 servers. The switch between Ctrl and Cmd buttons is very annoying to say the least.
X-Window with KDE or Gnome is still the killer working environment for any IT professional (unless you develop for .Net). Kmail does the job for any insane amount of e-mails. Konsole is the original multi-tab terminal software. I am working to get the same amount of productivity on OS X. If you have any tips to improve productivity, just leave some comments. Thanks.
Jame said,
August 7, 2008 @ 12:43 am
Here are a few quick tips that help.
To right click (most functions you expect show up…. use ctrl and click at the same time, that gets you the context menu. or plug in your multi-button mouse. You can configure the buttons all you want.
I typically don’t use a mouse, but the ctrl-click works fine. There are also some secret tricks with apple-click too. Play around
stefan oetter said,
August 7, 2008 @ 2:08 am
download sidetrack to get scrolling on the right/left top/bottom of your trackpad
in system preferences and security set a password up for locking your desktop
use command-option-escape to quit any program that is being a PITA
set up an applescript for your passwords and assign them to a function key
Eddy Young said,
August 7, 2008 @ 2:23 am
Rememeber the first principle when “switching”: don’t fight the system
For quick screen lockup, press the On/Off button.
Touchpad: Ctrl-Click (Ctrl-single tap) will emulate a right-click. Also, set up the touchpad for two-finger tap.
Eddy.
Leo said,
August 7, 2008 @ 2:32 am
trackpad prefs, select two finger click to set Right-Click mouse button, placing two-fingers on trackpad then clicking button is same.
You can also use the screen saver to lock the screen, setting a hot corner or whatever.
Lava said,
August 7, 2008 @ 3:24 am
You should have perhaps did a little Google search before going off on your rant.
The touchpad “issue” is a non-issue - go to System Preferences > Keyboard & Mouse > Trackpad and click on “For secondary clicks, place two clicks on trackpad and click the button”
Works much better than a physical button because your thumb doesn’t have to constantly move from left to right.
I think you need to do a google search because I have no idea what you’re doing with Mail.app, as I have multiple IMAP accounts set up without any problems, and can switch between any account with a click. Not sure what you are doing with your mail.
Try hitting Command-Q to quit apps - should work every time.
You can lock desktops by turning on the screen lock feature in System Preferences > Security. It will require a password every time the computer wakes up from Sleep or after the screensaver activates, which can be immediately activated by enabling a hot corner in System Preferences > Screensaver
Why don’t you try hitting Command-space to activate Spotlight, type “Terminal” and then start an ssh session. Type Command-N to open a new terminal window and begin another session. To switch easily between multiple Terminal windows, hit Command-tilde (which will cycle through all open windows for that app only while Command-tab cycles between running apps)
The size of a software update has no bearing as to its quality or purpose. It is what it is. As if “point releases” by some rule must all be 10 MB or less. Apple does things its own way, and Software Update can include substantial updates to core libraries like Core Animation, Core Audio, iLife app support, and dozens of other major and minor improvements, even if Apple chooses to call it 10.5.x. Look at what the software update does instead of assuming that every point release by definition must be “trivial.”
Your so-called “usability problems” mostly are a consequence of your (at this point) ignorance about how the Mac works and desire to make the Mac into an X Window system. The process is a lot easier if you stop being so hostile to learning. Think of it this way - you can travel to a foreign country and be miserable because the food sucks and there’s no McDonald’s and they don’t speak English, or you can go with an open mind to relish a new and different culture. It’s really up to you how you want to approach things, but you’re already setting yourself up for failure with this bad attitude, sorry to say. You may also find the natives are more friendly and helpful, too, if you displayed a better attitude.
Macboi said,
August 7, 2008 @ 5:35 am
Stupid bitch, buy a dogturd Dell then with the piece of shit Vista you will like it
Richard Dalziel-Sharpe said,
August 7, 2008 @ 9:05 am
Hi,
To save yourself a lot of anguish try to put yourself in this situation. You have been driving an english car with a manual gear box that has not been converted to US usage and has its steering wheel on the right hand side. Then you got into a US car which has an automatic gearbox and steering wheel on the left hand side, it would take some time to acclimatise yourself to the chang.
The switches are all in the wrong place the pedals dont seem right, everything seems to be made different just to confuse.
But they are both cars, and they will both do the same job, get you from A to B.
Computers are the same they get you from A to B in the sense of achieving a purpose. Some OSes do this job easier or better, but being different does not make them better or worse.
Stéphane Lee said,
August 7, 2008 @ 7:45 pm
I installed SideTrack for the touchpad which let you scroll on the right border. Mail.App is behaving quite well after indexing about 60k of e-mails in my IMAP folders. There are about 100k e-mails that I have dropped.
I don’t see “For secondary clicks, place two clicks on trackpad and click the button” on the trackpad preference or anything ressembling this. I have one IMAP account but several e-mail addresses. There is a concept of identities where you can use several e-mail addresses in the From: line.
I guess that OS X does not work well out of the box. There are a lot of tweakings to do in order to have a usable system.
Eddy Young said,
August 8, 2008 @ 6:12 am
On second thought, I think the two-finger tap feature is not available for the MacBook.
Eddy.
Hans said,
August 8, 2008 @ 5:55 pm
I think it’s time to read macworld, dude
Patrick Ng said,
August 9, 2008 @ 10:44 am
The two-finger tap feature has been available since the first-generation MacBook. In fact, it was one of the first thing I enabled on my first ever Mac computer.
I prefer to use the two-finger feature to scroll, because it allows me to scroll both vertically and horizontally.
Get Keychain to show its status in the menu bar, then select “Lock Screen.” However, in doing so, Keychain will launch the screensaver which is very CPU-intensive on the MacBook.
System Preferences->Keyboard and Mouse->Trackpad tab->” Tap trackpad using two fingers for secondary click”
Patrick Ng said,
August 9, 2008 @ 11:09 am
Leopard’s terminal software is also multi-tab. Cmd+T will create a new tab.
That is true. Like you, I was surprised to not be able to right click on a folder and select “Use this Mailbox for…” But, like Eddy said, don’t fight the system. My transition to Mac OS X was relatively smooth because I expected to things differently than on WIndows/Linux.
If there is one thing I miss in OS X is the ability to use hot keys for the menu bar items. For example, Alt/Option+F won’t activate the file menu. You have to use ctrl+F2 to activate the Apple menu, and the navigate using the arrow keys: time consuming.
Stéphane Lee said,
August 9, 2008 @ 2:08 pm
Still don’t see ” Tap trackpad using two fingers for secondary click”
Screenshot: http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3146/2747452768_31581a98ab_o.png
I prefer iTerm which has bookmarks. You have to choose the Xterm keyboard instead the default Global one in the iTerm options.
I noticed that the MacBook does not lie flat and that the heat sink exhaust is tucked at the base of the screen. Not enough surface area for proper heat dissipation. 76C is my record so far.
Later on, I’ll put a post on the best tools to install in order to kickstart your experience.
Patrick Ng said,
August 9, 2008 @ 3:01 pm
That’s weird. Mine looks completely different from your screenshot. A call to Apple is probably the best solution.
I’ve not recorded my highest temperature, but I think I’ve hit this high once while importing a lot of photos into iPhoto. Most of the time, mine sits on a notebook stand to increase airflow.
Patrick Ng said,
August 10, 2008 @ 6:44 pm
@ Stéphane
Do you like the Mac mini? I bought one in January, but had to return it when the sound card died. Does yours get as hot as the MacBook?
Stéphane Lee said,
August 10, 2008 @ 8:48 pm
The sound card on the MacMini is quite freaky. Re: http://www.stephanelee.com/2007/09/03/macmini-prone-to-radio-interference-macmini-catches-radio-station-without-tuner.html
But I quite like the MacMini. For one, it is quite silent unlike other desktops. And it takes little space on the desk. It supports 1920x… resolution and it is great to watch movies or TV: http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3236/2751836674_a92b38241b_o.jpg
The Plaid Cow said,
September 10, 2008 @ 10:31 pm
You are correct–Mac OSX is not setup well out of the box for a power user that knows exactly what they want to get out of it.
Thanks for the tips on Inbox.Inbox.etc It has been driving me batty for a while. The configuration of this could be so much better.