Macintosh Basics

A.  Introduction
B.  The Mac screen and basic system operations
C.  Starting a Mac
D.  Turning your computer off
E.  Starting an application
F.  Saving a document
G. Quitting an application
H. Copying Files
I.   Deleting Files Files
Edited 2/25/98 3:00 p.m.

A. Introduction; Arriving on the scene in 1984, the Macintosh operating system is now familiar to most computer users. Derived from user friendly techniques developed at Xerox PARC, it became the operating system that future computers would strive to copy. "Windows 95" is the most recent of these copies. A mouse is used as a pointing device, icons represent elements of hardware and software, and pull down menus give choices. A metaphor of a desktop completes the basic elements of the Macintosh system. For the first time user of the Mac system or as a review for a previous user we will now give a brief overview of the Macintosh operating system. We will treat only the most important functions of the Mac screen and basic operations.
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B.The Mac screen and basic system operations

Figure 1
Screen Items
  1. Hard Disk Icon 
  2. "J Ross", my server files 
  3. "Server", programs 
  4. "Jim Ross", name of disk on desktop 
  5. Trash Can, to erase files 
  6. Pull down menus 
  7. Window title 
  8. Close Box 
  9. Documents on "Jim Ross" disk 
  10. Vertical Scroll Bar 
  11. Horizontal Scroll Bar 
  12. Zoom Box 
  13. Mouse Pointer 
  14. Zoom Box 
  15. Balloon Help Menu 
Functions
  • SELECT move the mouse pointer to the icon, a disk, file, or application, then click once 
  • OPEN move the mouse pointer to the icon, a disk, file, or application, then click twice rapidly. 
  • DRAG move the mouse pointer to the menu, text, or object, then press and hold the clicker on the mouse and pull (or "drag") the mouse. 
Release the mouse when: 
  1. the object you are dragging is outlined in the position you want 
  2. the menu item you want is highlighted 
  3. the text you want is highlighted (or "selected" as it is also called). 

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C. Starting a Mac

There are slight variations on how to start computers dependent on the model and how they were setup. Just remember each component must be started

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D. Turning your computer off
A two step process
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E. Starting an application
A two step process
  1. Find the application icon by clicking opening windows on the lab server are your personal computers hardrive.

  2. Place you mouse in the middle of the application and click 2 times (Apple calls this double click).
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F. Saving a document
A multi step process
  1. Drag the File menu of any application and choose Save as...
  2. Click in the Save as.. entry box in the dialog box that opens and type a file name for your document.
  3. The name you see, "INTRO_MAC.html" is my name for this document you are now reading
  4. click the mouse pointer on the  and the contents of your startup screen will appear. Scroll down and click/select your floppy's name. My floppies name is Jim's Disk
  5. click the mouse pointer on the  and your file will be saved
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G. Quitting an application
A one step process
  1. Drag the File menu of any application and choose Quit
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H. Copying Files
One of the following
  1. From the hard drive to a floppy; drag the file icon to be copied to the disk on which you want to make the copy. When the disk becomes gray release the mouse and the copy will be made
  2. From the hard drive to a window; drag the file icon to be copied to the window on which you want to make the copy. When the the file icon is in the window, release the mouse and the copy will be made
  3. From the a floppy to another floppy; copy the file from the original floppy to the hard drive of the lab computer. Eject the floppy, insert the new floppy and copy from the lab hard drive to the new floppy. Delete the hard drive file, see below, after completing the copy process.
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I. Deleting Files
A two step process
  1. Drag drag the file icon to be deleted to the trash can icon. The trash icon should turn dark before you release the mouse.
  2. Choose Empty trash from the File menu and the file will be deleted
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