• Network shares. I’ve got a Network Attached Storage (NAS) device, with shares for files, music, and photos. I spent the better part of an hour trying to get these shares remapped. I could do "Connect To Server.." in Finder and the share contents would be displayed, but I’d get no icon on the desktop or in the Finder window to show that the drive was actually mapped. For some reason, about 50% of the time, I couldn’t connect to the share anyway – I’d get a message saying that the device could not be found. Strange and annoying behavior.
• Backup. I have several backup jobs that run and archive to the NAS. Since the upgrade to Leopard, all of the backups that have run have failed. I had to go into the configuration for each backup job and make sure that the correct share was specified. This is where it got confusing – apparently there’s some subtle difference between smb://nas/files and smb://nas/files. The destination that was specified before the upgrade failed, while the destination created after the upgrade works. I have noticed that SMB shares now use a different icon, so there may be something happening behind the scenes that’s not obvious.
• Bootup. On my MacBook, Leopard takes about 3 times as long to boot as Tiger did. Not a big deal, considering I rarely reboot, but still annoying.
• The dock. I don’t have the issues with the updated dock that others have complained about. I do miss the little black arrow telling me which applications are running – the little white blob is much harder for me to see, so I can’t tell at a glance what’s open. I’m sure somebody will come out with a utility to fix this soon.
• Java. Where is Java 6? I had been under the impression that Java 6 was coming with Leopard, and was sorely disappointed when it was missing. This means that I’m still going to be stuck loading up a virtual machine to develop, since the apps I work on rely on Java 6. Not a show-stopper, but still a pain.

The only issue that is really a problem is the network drive issue. I’ve been able to get the shares to map on my notebook, but the shares absolutely refuse to show up on my mother-in-law’s Mac Mini. This means that her data isn’t getting backed up at all right now. Am I missing a setting somewhere to make mapped network shares visible/hidden? I looked but I couldn’t find anything that looked promising.

Maximizing windows – the little plus actually is for maximizing the window, but it only maximizes to what the application developer thought should be the maximum size. A bit disconcerting, but once you get used to the other window management techniques that the Mac offers, it’s not such a big deal. The only complaint I have sometimes is that the maximum window size is a bit small for a 13 inch laptop screen.

Mousing – this has become more of a both-hand technique than I’m used to from the Windows world. I think I’ve pretty well got the hang of hitting the ctrl key to get contextual actions, and have almost mastered using the command key as a replacement for the Windows CTRL key. It’s not too bad, but I still have moments of forgetting what key to use when I just want to open a new tab in my browser.

My last complaint was about the function keys, and getting them to perform function like activities. I still haven’t figured this one out, but I’ll admit to spending no time looking for the answer. To be honest, I haven’t missed the "regular" functions provided by the function keys.

technorati tags:macintosh, mac, laptop, gadgets, macbook

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I like to think of myself as a very knowledgable computer guy – I’ve been doing it for a living for quite some time now. I have to admit that I’m going to have to learn the ins and outs of the Macintosh operating system. Are there any good tutorials available for folks like me who are used to the Windows (and even KDE/Gnome) way of doing things? I mean, I’m figuring out that closing a window in not the same as actually exiting a program, but things like being able to maximize a window are still eluding me. Is this even something I want to do? Perhaps there are window management tricks I need to learn instead of making my windows take up the whole screen.

And the mouse! The built-in trackpad has a single button, but I can plug in a three button USB scroll mouse and have something happen when I use each button. How do I emulate these actions with a single button? I’ve noticed that for some things, holding the mouse button down longer brings up a context menu, but some context menus I can’t seem to access. Do I also need to press a keyboard key?

Lastly – I can’t get the function keys to perform function commands. Even if I hold down the "fn" key while I hit a function key, I still get the "alternate" action. I’m sure it’s just another setting that I haven’t stumbled across yet.

technorati tags:laptop, macbook, macosx, macintosh, learning curve, gear, gadgets, geek toys

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