Sysadmin Field Notes

August 20, 2005

So my "switch" is so far going pretty well. I don't have any of my data from Eric's computer yet, so that will be another fun thing to get running, but in no particular order, here are some things that I haven't figured out yet. Comment if you want to, or if you know the answers...

• Should I switch the control/command key with the modifer menu? I think I have to because of needing to use windows computers so much. I think not switching will just confuse my fingers...
• What's the "Mac Standard" shortcut for moving to the end or beginning of a line. home/end doesn't seem to work. Emacs keys work in some places but not all...
• In general, what on earth is with the keyboard shortcuts. Emacs works someplace out of the box (cool!), others have different ones...I'm confused and there doesn't seem to be a master cheat sheet. Is there a canoncial geek option that people know about?
• Printer; our only printer right now is a offficejet 6110x all-in-one hooked up to my wife's computer. It was easy to find and setup; easier than attaching a network printer in windows and orders of magnitude easier than in linux. Only problem is when I print, I just get blank pages. It's using a gimp driver for a fall back model. Maybe I should install the hp drivers for mac, but they are like 60 MB, and if they are anything like the windows drivers include a bunch of useless things that seem to actively interfere with the system's proper operation...
• Finally, what's the mouse of choice? I went with my ancient logitech one, but I still don't get the middle button to open in a tab under firefox, and the right click doesn't work everywhere (like in iTunes).
• Safari or Firefox? Safari actually seems pretty good, and is too fast to believe. That's pretty compelling...and has Emacs editing keys, which I can't yet make go with ff. But I lose type as you find...

So there 'ya go. Easy enough to poke around in and get stuff done, but I've not yet got the stuff I need to be totally productive yet.