Thursday the rabbi rebooted
Jul. 4th, 2003 05:07 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
cellioAt morning services the rabbi asked me if I could help him fix a problem with his Mac. From his not-very-technical description it sounded to me as if he had somehow corrupted a shortcut on his desktop. I decided it would be easier to pay a house call than talk him through it on the phone, so I stopped by after work.
Now I'm not a Mac person. Tried 'em when they came out in 1984, had one on my desk at work a few years later (1989?), even ported an application from X-Windows to Mac once (1990), but I don't really know how to use them, never looked again when they became more mature, and never became one with the UI philosophy. I figured I could puzzle it out on my own, but with him looking over my shoulder while I did so I feared leading him down too many bad search paths that he might internalize.
So I chatted briefly with a co-worker who uses a Mac. He showed me how to get a file browser and that what windows calls a shortcut the Mac calls an alias. Most of my instincts were correct. In an oh-by-the-way manner, he said that if the mouse has one button rather than two, you get right-click by control-clicking.
I am so glad he made that off-hand comment! The Mac in question does in fact have a one-button mouse, and the odds that I would have guessed that key combination are low. I would have instead concluded that Macs only have one mouse menu.
So fixing his problem was in fact trivial; I deleted the old shortcut (not gonna try to fix what I can easily recreate), found the application, and created a new shortcut. I watched him reboot and then use it successfully. Mission accomplished in just a few minutes. I explained what I was doing at each step (and he didn't know about control-click either); I wonder how much he'll internalize. (His kids convinced him to get the Mac, from what I understand. But they're all away for the summer.)
I realized on the way out that I missed an opportunity: I should have told him that the price of computer consulting is rabbinic consulting, and gotten him to give me pointers to some responsa I've been wondering about. Ah well; maybe later. :-)
Now I'm not a Mac person. Tried 'em when they came out in 1984, had one on my desk at work a few years later (1989?), even ported an application from X-Windows to Mac once (1990), but I don't really know how to use them, never looked again when they became more mature, and never became one with the UI philosophy. I figured I could puzzle it out on my own, but with him looking over my shoulder while I did so I feared leading him down too many bad search paths that he might internalize.
So I chatted briefly with a co-worker who uses a Mac. He showed me how to get a file browser and that what windows calls a shortcut the Mac calls an alias. Most of my instincts were correct. In an oh-by-the-way manner, he said that if the mouse has one button rather than two, you get right-click by control-clicking.
I am so glad he made that off-hand comment! The Mac in question does in fact have a one-button mouse, and the odds that I would have guessed that key combination are low. I would have instead concluded that Macs only have one mouse menu.
So fixing his problem was in fact trivial; I deleted the old shortcut (not gonna try to fix what I can easily recreate), found the application, and created a new shortcut. I watched him reboot and then use it successfully. Mission accomplished in just a few minutes. I explained what I was doing at each step (and he didn't know about control-click either); I wonder how much he'll internalize. (His kids convinced him to get the Mac, from what I understand. But they're all away for the summer.)
I realized on the way out that I missed an opportunity: I should have told him that the price of computer consulting is rabbinic consulting, and gotten him to give me pointers to some responsa I've been wondering about. Ah well; maybe later. :-)
Title...
Date: 2003-07-04 03:09 pm (UTC)Re: Title...
Date: 2003-07-04 03:47 pm (UTC)They're good books, if a bit dated. Almost all are mysteries. Sometimes the mystery takes a back seat to the story-telling, but that's fine with me.
Re: Title...
Date: 2003-07-08 06:27 am (UTC)I seem to recall that the ways that women are dealt with are particularly, well, dated. Also remember that a fictional character is not a valid halachic authority, no matter how authoritative his claims seem to be. :-)
Re: Title...
Date: 2003-07-08 06:58 am (UTC)Also remember that a fictional character is not a valid halachic authority, no matter how authoritative his claims seem to be. :-)
Especially a fictional character who's not even written by a rabbi. :-)
(no subject)
Date: 2003-07-04 03:12 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2003-07-04 03:49 pm (UTC)I have enough trouble sometimes switching between keyboard sometimes; switching between interfaces that are similar on the surface would probably be a real pain.
So what does the thing-to-click-on in the upper right corner do? I did that once or twice by accident, though it didn't seem to do any harm.
(no subject)
Date: 2003-07-04 08:42 pm (UTC)I'm not as familiar with version 10 of the Mac system, but on the older version like I have on my ancient laptop, there are three buttons on a window's titlebar:
* An empty box on the left: makes the window go away altogether.
* A box with a smaller box nested within it on the right: switches between the size you set the window at and full screen.
* A box with two horizontal lines across it on the right: switches between showing the full window or just its titlebar.
(no subject)
Date: 2003-07-04 10:05 pm (UTC):)
(no subject)
Date: 2003-07-08 06:31 am (UTC)Yeah, but I still don't like it.
In the old system, the close was on the left, and the windowshade/resize on the right. So there was very little chance of hitting the wrong button accidentally. Now, the red close is just a little hop away from the other buttons. And while red for close seems to make sense, I'm not sure the other colors really track well.
Ah, well, Panther's going to really change things around...
(no subject)
Date: 2003-07-04 10:02 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2003-07-04 07:09 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2003-07-08 06:24 am (UTC)I have mixed feelings about this. For most things, I actually don't mind having only one mouse button. (And, yes, I've used 3-button mice since '91, so I have experienced the joys of 3 button mice.) One nice thing about one-button mice is they're mousidextrous. So I can move it to the other side of the desk without fiddling with preferences or anything.
On the other hand, it seems than many games really need that second button...