Introduction to Computers Mac

Mac OS Basics Like Linux it was based on UNIX Instead of being open source, Apple decided to make their design proprietary Mac OS is a very closed system, designed only to run on certain hardware and software It’s possible to get around some of these limitations with third party software, but it requires work

Mac OS Versioning The current MAC OS version is OS 10, or OS X. It has been around since the early 2000’s, but it is kept up-to-date by having different versions We can refer to these different version as either their number (10.12) or their name (Sierra) Each version provides new features and utilities like new versions of Windows

Mac Keyboard Keys The Mac keyboard has a few different keys that Windows users will not be familiar with, or may work differently than they expect Command works like the control key in Windows. For example, if I wanted to copy some text, I would use command-c and command-v Control is used for other keyboard shortcut commands, including control-click to “right click” Option usually works in conjunction with control or command to alter keyboard shortcuts. For example command-h hides the current app, command-option-h hides all apps except for the current app Function is used to access the F1-F12 keys. Without pressing this, the function keys will perform different system functions. This may be familiar to laptop users

HFS+ File System and System Compatibility Stands for Hierarchical File System The important thing to know about this is that Mac uses different file types and stores files differently than Windows, so a hard drive created in a windows computer will be incompatible in Mac OS and vice-versa Mac OS will not recognize Windows programs since it does not use .exe files and will not be able to run them. Instead they use .app files

How An App Works in Mac OS An .app file is actually a directory Remember in UNIX files and directories are not differentiated. A directory is just a file that lists other files An app file is a directory that holds the necessary files to run the app on the system, including the UNIX executable To install an app Mac OS will use a .dmg file. This is a disc image file, and when run it creates a virtual disc drive that contains all of the files to install in a compressed format Due to how .app files work, when installing most applications you can usually just place the .app file in your applications directory, and to uninstall it, just remove it

The Dock This is the equivalent of the taskbar in Windows The dock is where currently running apps will be displayed This is where we can add frequently used apps and frequently accessed files and folders for quicker access Apps get added to the left, and files and folders get added to the right, called the stack On the far right is the trash. This works similar to recycle bin in Windows

Mac OS Settings Just like Windows, we have a lot of customization options for features The main difference between Mac OS and Windows for settings is that Windows requires you to apply changes, while Mac OS applies the changes as soon as the option is selected

Spotlight Utility Spotlight allows you to search your computer for files, applications and folders Its functionality has been expanded to to also search the internet and provide quick answers to questions for example asking the weather or currency conversions

Mac OS Menu Bar Apple menu - view system info, configure system options, and access power options App menu - like Windows 8 app bar this is a context sensitive menu bar for the open app Status menus - shows the status of your computer and offers quick access to certain functions

Finder App This is the Mac equivalent of file explorer in Windows Left hand side has your favorites, which is populated by frequently used folders as well as user-added folders

System Preferences This is a unified location to change system settings, including OS appearance, desktop appearance, security, network settings, etc. Equivalent to Control Panel in Windows Searchable. When you enter a search item, it will highlight the appropriate categories for that entry

Key Chain Password and security utility Holds system root certificates as well as website passwords, router passwords and network logins You can also use it to store secure notes, banking information for example Can be encrypted so that you need to login in order to see its information

Mission Control Allows you to see all running applications and refocus the computer like alt + tab in Windows Accessed by pressing control + up or dragging an app to the top of the screen Allows us to access multiple virtual desktops like task view in Windows 10

Terminal App Equivalent to Windows Command Prompt Commands are similar to Linux, since both were built on Unix For example; pwd displays the present working directory Great tool for troubleshooting for networking and file permissions

Force Quit When an app becomes unresponsive you may need to force it to quit You can do this by bringing up the force quit window from the apple menu or by pressing command + option + escape For critical system functions, the option to force quit will change to relaunch, since we cannot run the system without it