Returning to the fold

[davidlevine]

To celebrate the completion of my novel, I am planning to buy myself a brand new iBook. This would be my first Macintosh since I emigrated to Windows in 1996, so I would appreciate some advice. Specifically, I would like recommendations for websites, newsletters, and books about "how to get the most out of your new Macintosh."

I'm a professional software engineer and user interface designer with a couple decades' experience using Windows and UNIX, so I'm not looking for "the gentle introduction to the Mac for newbies." But I will have some newbie questions, like "how do I add a printer?" and "how do I determine my adapter's MAC address?" and "what freeware is must-have?" I am particularly interested in information on integrating the Mac into a Windows-based Wi-Fi network.

What I'm really hoping to find is something like Woody's Office for Mere Mortals... a weekly e-newsletter full of information (and some opinions) that I could use to "trickle charge" my brain. I can't keep up with the volume on Slashdot or most email lists. But I also need a couple of good reference web sites... places to start when I have a question.

Thanks in the proverbial advance.

Comments

[bohemiancoast.livejournal.com]

Everyone's mentioned the Missing Manual as a good example of a book that solves the newbie questions and also has some geekier stuff. Pogue has written a specific version of this for switchers (http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/switchmacmm/).

Unless your printer is most obscure, your Mac will find it and have a driver for it; it takes a little while to discover it the first time (a minute or two maybe) and then you can print. This is brilliant when you're using other people's networks.

Panther made Windows networking work much better (don't have tiger yet) -- but I would say that my PCs now have XP and that seems to have helped quite a lot too. Prior to that my main cause of reboots was losing the Windows network.

My blog started as a switching blog -- 3 years ago! But you can still read all the old entries at Macadamia (http://www.kittywompus.com/macadamia/).

Apple has various switching advice (http://www.apple.com/switch).

Integrating macs into Windows-based WiFi -- you turn the Airport card on, wait for it to find the network, type in the WEP key if you have one, and tell it it's a trusted network and you want to be able to join it in the future.

I've never found a particularly good reference site for switchers; the place I start when I have a question is Google.

[bohemiancoast.livejournal.com]

I have just realised that my website doesn't actually have a direct link to the switching part of my blog anymore (which wasn't in Movable Type). Which is probably a mistake; I must sort out my blog. You can read the first entry here (http://www.kittywompus.com/macadamia/2002/03/09.html) and then follow on through the calendar.