Dumb Mac newbie questions
 

As you may know, I have said goodbye to Windows and am now a Mac user. PC users spare me the usual "if you had a PC you wouldn't have to worry about that" horseshit. My PowerBook is currently running OS 10.2.8, and Panther is in the mail from Apple. My first question pertains to how downloads are handled. When I download an install file (MSN Messenger for example), it places the installer on the desktop, and then an icon what looks vaguely similar to a CD-ROM drive. What is this icon and why does it disappear when I reboot? What is the difference between a .sit file and the file that "PC equivalent: unzips" from it? Why not just have a "pre-unzipped" file to d/l?

My second issue pertains to .avi playback. I have been pissing around for a few days trying to get any program to fucking play .avi's. The DivX site said the QuickTime player is what is used, but that doesn't work. I have the DivX decoder, and the 3ivx codec, which I also read is needed. Any ideas anyone? Briefly, will Panther address any of these issues?

Just double click the drive looking thing. It'll open up and you can drag the application into your application folder.


as for your second problem, go to www.versiontracker.com and search for a program called VLC

Also, head on over here to find out about some neat tricks with Panther that aren't widely known.

The file that you download is a installer disk image (.dmg). That is the current preferred installer for download files. When you double click it, it mounts the disk image and you can install from that, most of the time, it is just dragging the app to the Applications folder. When you are done, just drag the .dmg to the trash and it will unmount. Alternativley, it will unmount on shutdown.

Really, all your problems would be solved if you just went back to PCs. Lol.

The final word:

http://mplayerosx.sourceforge.net/

Forget Quicktime. This plays most every different format would need right from the word go - NO CODECS to worry about installing.

It kicks ass.

Fuck that shit. Lol.

As for the .zip and .sit question, they both can be decompressed using Stuffit Deluxe (version 8 is out). It will de-compress zip, sit, tar (unix) etc...

And if I understand your question right, files are compressed to a) save space when you download them
b) download one file instead of many

For the Icon that disapears, it's usualy the mounted installer (like a virtual drive) that doesn't stay mounted when you reboot. Many of the updates you get come as .sit (stuffit format), then after decompression they make an executable file ".dmg" which then becomes mounted as the funny looking icon. If you drag it to the trash, it will likelly show the eject button instead of trash (your unmounting or ejecting).

Hope I'm not repeating others advice and wish you good luck with your new machine :-)

The best player for most video media (and DVD's for that matter) for OS X and Linux is <a href="http://www.videolan.org">vlc</a>. Try that and you'll never go back.

Agreed, VLC is what I use for stuff Quicktime will not play ( if you don't purchase a codec.) Welcome to Mac! Buy what you want, use what you love.