Dubstepforum.com

I scallied my mates unused Macbook recently and need some pointers on what's hot and what's not on Macs for making music. I'm going to try to put together a Mac version of the free portable music software pack as well.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

- How does one install/uninstall things on Macs?

- If I plug in my usb pendrive/HD, will there be any problems plugging them back into a PC?

- Any advice on taking files across platforms? Will files currupt?

- Will files saved on a Mac version of OpenOffice/Reaper/Live/Reason work on their PC counterparts assuming it's the same version?

- What is the best free RAR/Zip unpacker for Mac?

- Can I run PC software without loading Bootcamp? How do I load Bootcamp?

- Without doing a full HD wipe/clean install, do you have any tips on optimising a Mac full of shite?

-------------------------------------------------------------------

More questions as I think of them.

Thanks!

Pat

futures_untold wrote: - If I plug in my usb pendrive/HD, will there be any problems plugging them back into a PC?

I know this: I bought an external earlier this year and was trying to get some shit off of my roommate's macbook. it didn't work. apparently when you first fire up the HD it gets formatted to PC or Mac (I probably did this myself when I first got it).

I know my roomie formatted his HD for his Mac when he first got his.

but the USB stick doesn't have this problem.

- How does one install/uninstall things on Macs?
Drag it to the trash
- If I plug in my usb pendrive/HD, will there be any problems plugging them back into a PC?
i've had no problems with this yet
- Any advice on taking files across platforms? Will files currupt?
i can't think why something would corrupt like a basic file etc...stuff like projects (cubase etc) or other things, i dunno
- What is the best free RAR/Zip unpacker for Mac?
Unrarx
- Can I run PC software without loading Bootcamp? How do I load Bootcamp?
Pass
- Without doing a full HD wipe/clean install, do you have any tips on optimising a Mac full of shite?
trash the 'shite', trash unwanted languages (there's a free programme fo this outthere..aswell as other tools for optimization, as far as space clearing, thats your call, there's also other things specific for production, like turning off running clocks (screen savers, HD sleep to 'Never')...also turn off animated effects for the icons/windows, panel etc.

- How does one install/uninstall things on Macs?
Sadly, it's still the "drag it to the trash" thing since alot of applications are self-contained, but if you can spend a few bucks you should definently get AppZapper, it's an excellent third-party application that takes care of that.

- If I plug in my usb pendrive/HD, will there be any problems plugging them back into a PC?
No, that works, but the full on harddrives needs to be formated for mac but pendrives are no problems.

- Any advice on taking files across platforms? Will files currupt?
Uhm, no they wont magically change in any way but obviously most applications won't work with another software...

- What is the best free RAR/Zip unpacker for Mac?
UnRarX is good enough but it actually fails every now and then, don't be cheap, get StuffIt.

- Can I run PC software without loading Bootcamp? How do I load Bootcamp?
Bootcamp is included with OS 10.5+ and yes, you can use VMWare as a virtual machine running Windows in a seperate window and there's even full drag&drop compability!

- Without doing a full HD wipe/clean install, do you have any tips on optimising a Mac full of shite?
Just don't. Use SuperDuper (or if you're 10.5+, Time Machine) to clone the drive and then just wipe it clean and restore it later.

the new imac 24 is least screen size wise. once we install logic 9 on it and get the duet and mpk49 running again think i may spend my next few lunch breaks messing about

Stuffit expander FTW. App zapper is necessary to actually get rid of everything (there's always bull shit left over). My mac formatted external HD doesn't work to PC, however apparently if you format it for PC first it will work with both. Haven't tried yet though. Omni disk sweeper is good for clearing other stuff that you don't need and generally making it run faster.

green plan wrote:Stuffit expander FTW. App zapper is necessary to actually get rid of everything (there's always bull shit left over). My mac formatted external HD doesn't work to PC, however apparently if you format it for PC first it will work with both. Haven't tried yet though. Omni disk sweeper is good for clearing other stuff that you don't need and generally making it run faster.

For me it's half and half. Companies who pre-format their hd's for macs seem to actually work on both, but it's never 100% and you can't really depend on it.

tastyfake wrote:

green plan wrote:Stuffit expander FTW. App zapper is necessary to actually get rid of everything (there's always bull shit left over). My mac formatted external HD doesn't work to PC, however apparently if you format it for PC first it will work with both. Haven't tried yet though. Omni disk sweeper is good for clearing other stuff that you don't need and generally making it run faster.

For me it's half and half. Companies who pre-format their hd's for macs seem to actually work on both, but it's never 100% and you can't really depend on it.

Unless the company didn't format their hdd with HFS+, it won't work. Mac's can detect and modify FAT16/32, but PC's can (sometimes) read HFS, but can't write to HFS, or HFS+.

As for App zapper, I would recommend AppCleaner. You can tweak it to where as soon as you drag an application into your recycle bin, the program starts and finds all the associated files along with it for you to delete as well. Plus it's free.