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30 Days with Mac OS X

It's supposedly the best of both worlds - the stability and security of a Unix operating system with an easy end-user interface. It's Mac OS X, and we spend 30 days using it to find out what Apple has to offer over Windows. The "30 Days" saga continues...

Installing Applications

System Update

Shortly after my first boot, System Update started up. I hid every other program I was using (with the exception of TextEdit) and started it up. Many programs needed to be updated, but it was done automatically. One update in particular updated my operating system from 10.4.7 to 10.4.9. It noted that this and QuickTime would require restarting the system when they completed.

I pressed the button to install all of these items and it proceeded to download and automatically install the updates. It prompted me for my password and to agree to a few EULAs, but I was able to continue working while it downloaded and installed. When it was done, I restarted the computer.

On the Mac Mini, the machine rebooted not once, but twice, and after a long wait. When it finally did come up, there were instructions for a Mac Mini EFI Firmware Update 1.1. Essentially, I was to shut down the computer, hold down the power button till the power light started to flash, then release it. Installing the firmware went without a hitch and booting up after that went much more quickly.

I only needed to reboot once using the MacBook, so it appeared that the latest firmware had already been installed.

Downloading and Installing Files

Downloading and installing files is simple, but people used to Windows and Linux may not immediately grasp the idea. I opened up Safari to download a freeware instant messaging program called Adium. Clicking on it downloads a .dmg file, is short for "Disk iMaGe," but it just makes me think of "damage." If the mounted .dmg file contains an application, Safari will prompt you and make sure you want to continue. Then it will automatically mount the .dmg file. “Mounting” is essentially creating a kind of virtual disk on your desktop. Adium - and most other kinds of downloadable Mac programs - come in this .dmg format. Safari will also unzip other types of compression (.zip files, .tar files, .gzip files, etc.) automatically.

After it is mounted, a Finder window showing the contents of the .dmg file will appear on the screen. (You can unmount it by dragging it to the trash or right-clicking it and selecting “Eject.”) Typically, the application is a self contained, single icon, which can be dragged directly to the applications folder. If this is not self-intuitive, some programs, such as Adium, make this humorously clear. Once dragged to the Applications folder, the program can be launched.

Adium installed perfectly. However, this is not the only way to get applications on the Mac. There are also .pkg files - which are more like typical install files (.exe on Windows, .deb on Ubuntu/Debian Linux).