A.7. The Setup Assistant When the Mac restarts after a basic installation, an Erase & Install installation, or an Archive and Install installation where you didn't also click "Preserve Users and Network Settings," the first thing you experience is some jazzy music and a fancy parade of 3-D, computer-generated translations of the word "Welcome." Once Apple has quite finished showing off its multimedia prowess, you arrive at a Welcome screen. Once again, you're in for a click-through-the-screens experience, this time with the aim of setting up your Mac's various settings. After answering the questions on each screen, click Continue. The number and sequence of information screens you'll encounter depend on whether you've upgraded an existing Mac or started fresh, but here are some of the possibilities: -
Welcome . Click the name of the country you're in. (At the bottom of this screen is a special message for visually impaired people: "Do you need to hear instructions for setting up your Mac? To learn how to use VoiceOver to set up your computer, press the Escape key now.") If you do so, you're treated to a crash course in VoiceOver, the screen-control/screen-reading software described on Section 15.5.1.1. This, by the way, is the only time you'll be offered this tutorial, so pay attention. (Hint: Here are the basics. Hold down the Control and Option keys and press the arrow keys to highlight different elements of the screen, hearing them pronounced. When a new window opens, press Control-Option-Shift-W to read the contents of the window. Press Control-Option-Space bar to "click.") -
Do you already own a Mac ? If you choose "Transfer my information from an other Mac," the installer will assist you in sucking all of your old programs, files, folders, and settings from the old Mac to the new one. You have to help it , however, by connecting a FireWire cable between the two Macs, and then restarting the old Mac while holding down its T key. ("FireWire connection established.")Yes, that's right: the installer is putting you into FireWire Disk Mode (Section 7.2.1) for super-high-speed transfer. When you click Continue, you're offered checkboxes for four categories of data that you might want to import from the old Mac: Users (that is, the Home folders for the existing accounts); Network & other settings; Applications folder; and Files and folders. The bottom of the screen lets you know how much stuff you've tagged for transferring, and how much disk space remains on the new Mac. When you click Transfer, the data-copying process begins. -
Select Your Keyboard . Different countries require different keyboard layouts. For example, if you choose the Canadian layout, pressing the ] key on a U.S. keyboard produces the § symbol. Click Continue. -
Select a Wireless Service . This is your chance to introduce the Mac to any wireless networks in the vicinity. Click the network name you want to join, if you see it. If you don't see it, click Rescan to make the Mac sniff again in an attempt to locate the network. Or if there's no wireless service at all ”hey, it could happen ”click Different Network Setup. In that event, you're offered choices like Airport wireless, Telephone modem, Cable modem/DSL modem, Local network(Ethernet), and "My computer does not connect to the Internet." (Bummer!) When you click Continue, you may be asked for specific information ”the local access number, account name, and password, and so on ”regarding your Internet account. See Chapter 19 for advice on filling in these settings. -
Enter Your Apple ID. Here, you're offered the chance to type in, or create, an Apple ID ”which is your email address. An Apple ID doesn't cost anything, but it makes life easier if you want to buy songs from the Apple Music Store, order gift books or prints from iPhoto, and so on. (If you have a .Mac account ”see Section 19.7.2 ”put that account info here.) FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTION
Selective Installs | | Whoops! I accidentally trashed my copy of the Calculator. How can I get it back? Do I have to reinstall the whole, seething, 2 GB mass of Mac OS X ? Fortunately, no. If you know the secret, you can install only specific components of Mac OS X without having to install the whole darned thing. What you need is Pacifist, a shareware program that lets you install individual files and folders from the archipelago that is the collection of Mac OS X installation discs. Technically, the Mac OS X installer is composed of dozens of sub- installers known as .pkg package files, which the installer opens one after another. That's the point of Pacifist ”it lets you open an individual .pkg file. Pacifist can also check existing installations and find missing or altered files. You can download it from the "Missing Cd" page at www.missingmanuals.com. |
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Registration Information . This is your chance to become a grain of sand on the great beach of the Apple database (and to set up your own "card" in Mac OS X's Address Book program).
Tip: If you're not interested in providing your personal information to Apple, or if you've already done so during a previous installation, press c-Q. A message offers you Skip, Shut Down, and Cancel buttons . If you click Skip, you jump straight ahead to "Create Your Account," below.
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A Few More questions . Where will you primarily use this computer? What best describes what you do? Do you want to get junk mail from Apple? -
Create Your Account . Most of the steps up to this point have been pretty inconsequential, but this is a big moment. You're about to create your account ”your Administrator account, in fact, as described in Chapter 12. All you have to do is make up a name, usually a short variation of your name and a password. Choose carefully , because you can't easily change your account name later. If you're the only one who uses your Mac, it's perfectly OK to leave the password blank empty. What you come up with here is extremely important, especially if several different people use this Mac at different times, or if other people connect to it on a network. See Section 12.2.1 for details on creating a password and a hint that will help you remember it.
Note: The rest of the setup process involves the creation of an Internet account. If your Mac was already connected to the Internet (in Mac OS 9 or Mac OS X), Mac OS X 10.4 is kind enough to absorb those settings and take you straight to the Select Time Zone screen described below.
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Select Time Zone, Set the Date and Time . These screens help you set your Mac's built-in clock ”a surprisingly important step, because it determines how the files you create will know whether they are older or newer than other versions. (To change the date, either click the appropriate date on the calendar, or click its digits and then type over them using your keyboard. To change the time, you can either drag the clock's hands ”fun! ”or, again, click the digits above it and then retype.) -
Your .Mac Billing Information . If you have a .Mac membership, Apple cheerfully lets you know when it will expire. -
Thanks For being a .Mac member . Aw, shucks. -
Thank You . This screen clues you in on some of the excitement you're about to have with Tiger. ("Organize messages using Smart Mailboxes. Access handy widgets. Video conference with your colleagues.") When you click Go, you wind up at the Mac OS X desktop, just as described in Chapter 1. |
