Mac Update: What do you mean read the manual?

When I got my Mac a few weeks ago I opened the box expecting to see a nice hefty manual that I would either have to pour through or ignore depending on how I felt. I was surprised to see what amounted to a few pamphlet sized handouts. The PowerBook user's guide is only 107 pages (including the index) and the "Welcome to Panther" guide (the Mac Operating System is also known as Panther) is only 24 pages... in colour no less! Being the experienced PC user that I am, I emotionally needed a monster manual that I could ignore and consult only if desperately needed. A quick trip to my local mega-bookstore resulted in "Mac OS X Panther Edition: the Missing Manual". I knew that there was something missing... :) Since then I've been happily ignoring the manuals and stumbling my way around the software and hardware. Then the inevitable happened. I ran across a question I couldn't sort out myself. "Can I unplug my Mac PowerBook from its power cord while it is turned on? Do I need to turn it off first?" I can hear the Mac users giggling. Whaaaat? How is a novice Mac user supposed to know these things. I've also never owned a laptop and so don't know what to expect from a PC let alone a Mac. So I grabbed my PowerBook user's guide and started at page 1. This is unusual for me to do... I like to skip to the pertinent parts but I was being patient. It is amazing how readable the user's guide is, way to go Apple! It's also amazing how much you can learn by reading the manual. Stunning revelations include:

• How to control the sound levels. Muting! Who'd a thought?
• Scrolling with two fingers using the track pad. Wow!
• One location for doing software updates (Apple - System Preferences - Update)! Cool. Don't think that there is a PC equivalent... but then again it has been a long time since I read a manual.

All that and I am only on page 30! Screen Captures I also wanted to determine how to do screen captures. I sorely miss my ALT-PrintScreen keyboard combination. I use this quite frequently on my PC to create screen captures to include in WORD or to create images for my web site. On a Mac, sadly, this is somewhat more involved. To view your shortcuts go to Apple - System Preferences - Keyboard/Mice - Keyboard Shortcuts. I like the fact that you can save a selection or a screen automatically to a file. In the PC world you need extra software to do this... I think. However the keyboard short-cuts are a bit awkward. I may try to come up with an alternate combination. Frozen programs and frozen computers PC users will be intimately familiar with the "Blue Screen of Death". This happens when your computer has had enough and locks up. Your only recourse is to reboot and hope. I became familiar with the Mac version called the SBoD or "Spinning Beachball of Death". I didn't know what it was but I did know what no cursor action means. What I didn't know was how the heck to get out of it! There's no handy reset button on my PowerBook (or so I thought). "The missing manual" to the rescue (pg. 686 if you're curious)!

• Clicking on the Dock to quit the item wasn't an option. Mild Concern.
• Clicking on the Apple menu and clicking force quite wasn't working. Butterflies starting to churn in stomach.
• CTRL-Apple-Power button didn't work. Panic set in.
• Hold Power button for 5 seconds. Whew, it worked.

For a while there it was touch and go but the manual saved my bacon and my sanity. I can't wait to see what else the manuals have in store for me. Hmmm, just realized I still don't know if I can safely unplug my laptop from the power adapter while it is running. Can anyone help? References Pogue, David. "Mac OS X Panther Edition: The Missing manual". 2003