Apple's latest operating system, known as OS X (10), features a new interface called Aqua. Aqua is simply a GUI to allow the user to interact with the OS, in this case, UNIX, in a point-and-click click fashion, and never really have to use the commandline interface, at least most of the time. This short tutorial is an attempt to help anyone new to Aqua get a basic understanding of how it works, and get you up and running as quickly as possible. For those who prefer a commandline, that option is readily available. This document's focus is on using Aqua.

Once you have logged in, you will be presented with Aqua, the OS X interface. The main screen, or Desktop of OS X is also called the Finder. Briefly, from the top of the screen to the bottom you will find:

• The menu bar, which also contains the Apple menu in the upper left corner.
• Icons for the locally mounted volume, such as the hard drive, usually on the right side of the screen.
• At the bottom of the screen, you'll find the Dock. The Dock is your docking station for application and document aliases.
• Additional drives such as CD/DVD and remotely mounted volumes will also appear when they're mounted. Drag these icons to the Trash, the last icon to the right in the Dock, to unmount or eject them.

The Finder is your main tool for negotiating around OS X. This is where everything can be assessed from. Here are brief descriptions of how to navigate your way around the system using the Finder:

• To see the contents of a volume, i.e., the hard drive, double-click it, and a Finder window opens.
• To open multiple Finder windows, for something like moving files between folders, type Cmd-N. (The "Cmd" or Command key, is the key with the Apple icon, to the left or right of the space bar).
• You may also open subdirectories in new Finder windows by double-clicking on their icons.
• To get back to the Finder, click on a blank area of the desktop. This will bring Finder to the foreground.

You can also do some basic file manipulations from the Finder using the following keyboard and mouse combinations:

• To rename a file, click its name and wait a moment for the editing cursor to appear in the name field. You can type in pretty much any name you want, including spaces. However, it's not a good idea to start a file name with a ".", "/", "-", or use quotation marks. Also keep in mind that OS X is a UNIX system, and you might want to assess your files from a terminal window.
• To copy a file, hold down the Option key while you single-click and hold on it's icon. Drag the file's icon outline to another dir ectory, or the Desktop. Release the mouse button when you have the icon in place, and the file copies. (This is not an alias or link).
• To check a file's properties, select it by clicking on it once, then type Cmd-I. A dialog box will open, and here you can make changes to a file's attribrutes, like changing ownership and permissions, and which application will open the file.
• To see other options for the selected file or folder, hold down the Control key while clicking on the icon.
• To delete a file, drag it into the Trash. However, the file is not deleted until you Empty The Trash.
• To empty the Trash, drag the mouse cursor over the Trash Can icon, and hold down the mouse button. In a moment or two, a menu will pop up offering the choice to empty the Trash. Select it.
• Alternatively, the Trash may be emptied by: Selecting it under the "Finder" menu on the Desktop, or holding down the (Shift-Cmd-delete) keys. Until you empty the Trash, any file can be retrieved by double-clicking on the Trash Can icon, and click-dragging the files or directories out of the Trash Can.

You can change your icon views in the Finder, or Desktop, by doing the following: Bring the Finder to the front again, and select "View/Show View Options" from the menu bar. Here you can set icon size, label position, and other preferences for how items appear on the Desktop.

You can also change other aspects of your personal Desktop space. To do this, at the Finder, click-hold on the Apple menu, and select System Preferences. A dialog box with several icons will open, and you can make quite a few changes to your personal user space, although some are only available to an administrator. Some things you can do:

• Set applications to autostart when you login.
• Set or change your password.
• Change the Desktop picture.
• Other changes such as display resolution, a sreen saver, and etc.

One of the best ways to learn about using the System Preferences panels, is to experiment. You can't really break anything, and it's easy to change back.

You can also easily mount directories on remote hosts you may have accounts on. Along with Apple's own file sharing protocol AFP (AppleTalk Filing Protocol), commonly known as AppleTalk, OS X has a builtin SAMBA client. SAMBA uses the SMB (Server Message Block) protocol created by Microsoft, which allows client machines to login to Windows servers. In Computer Science, in addition to Windows servers, the SAMBA service is available. From the Finder, you can mount your home directories using either protocol. Here are some examples:

• To mount a directory on a CS SAMBA server:
  • By default, you will log into the CS Samba server using your IU ADS username and password and it is not necessary to create a local Samba password. There are a few special cases where this isn't true as explained in the CSG FAQ webpage "How do I access my UNIX home directory from a PC on campus or at home?".
  • Go to your OS X Desktop, go to the "Go" menu at the Finder menu bar at the top of the screen, and select "Connect to Server...". A dialog box "Connect to Server" will open.
  • At the top of the box, you will see "Server Address". In the space below that, enter the host name of the server with the volume you want to mount, along with your username. Examples:
    • CS Home directory - smb://ads;username@samba1/username
    • CS /nobackup directory - smb://ads;username@samba1/nobackup/username
    • CS /scratch directory - smb://ads;username@samba1/scratch/username
    • CS research directories - smb://ads;username@samba1/data
  • Click on the "Connect" button, and a new box opens. Enter the following:
  • Name: Your IU ADS username.
  • Password: Your IU ADS password.
  • "Remember this password in my keychain" is optional.
  • Click the "Connect" button, and in short order the directory's icon will appear on the Desktop. You can assess and manipulate your files just as if they were on the local hard drive, and drag-copy files between the local system, and the remote directory. You may also access and manipulate remote files from a terminal window as well.
  • As noted above, simply drag the icon of the remote directory to the Trash to unmount/logout. Don't worry: your files won't be erased as OS X knows the difference between a mounted, remote host, and a directory. You can however, delete remote subdirectories and files by dragging them to the Trash.
• To mount a directory on an AFP server:
  • At the Finder, go to the "Go" menu at the Finder menu bar at the top of the screen and select "Connect to Server...".
  • The 'Connect to Server' dialog box will open.
  • In the "Server Address" space at the top of the dialog box, enter the name of the AppleTalk hosts, and your username, you wish to connect to. Example: afp://some.hostname.edu/username
  • Enter your password for your account on that particular host, and click Connect.
  • If there is more than one volume available on the AFP host, there will be a dialog box showing what those volumes are. Click on the volume you wish to mount, and click the "OK" button. You can select multiple volumes by holding down the or (Apple) keys while clicking on the volumes you wish to mount.
• To mount an ADS/Windows host:
  • Select "Connect to Server" in the "Go" menu in the Finder.
  • Fill in the "Server Address" space with your IU ADS username, hostname, and the path to the volume you wish to mount in the following format:
    • smb://ads;username@bl-csci-hostname/path/to/volume
  • Enter your ADS password in the dialog box that opens. Shortly, the volume will mount on the Desktop.
  • As noted above, drag the icon of the remote directory to the Trash to unmount/logout.
• Alternative method for mounting ADS/Windows, and AFP remote volumes.
• There are two other ways to connect to remote Windows and AppleTalk volumes.
  • 1. Select "Connect to Server" under the 'Go" menu at the Finder. Click on the "Browse" button in the "Connect to Server" dialog box. A Finder window will open, and all available ADS/Windows, and AppleTalk hosts will be listed. Find the host you want, and select it. Click on the "Connect As" button to the right of the hosts' icon. Enter your password in the dialog box.
  • 2. Open a Finder window by double-clicking on the icon of any mounted volume, such as the local hard drive. In the Finder window, look for "Shared" on the left side. Under "Shared", look for "All..." and select it. All available Windows and AppleTalk servers will be listed.
• Note: With both of the above alternative methods, getting a complete listing of all available servers may take a while, as ALL available Windows and AppleTalk hosts on the IUB campus will be listed. It's much quicker to use the "Connect to Server" method at the Finder if you know the name of the host.

Of course the real reason to use any computer, is not to just play around with the interface, but to get work done using applications. Below are some pointers on how to start, stop, and if necessary, kill applications.

• To start an application, single-click on it's icon in the Dock, or go to the "Go" menu at the Finder menu and select Applications and double-click on the application's icon, or open a Finder window by double-clicking on the volume (hard drive or mounted media), navigate to the application's icon, and double-click on it.
• To exit an application, bring the application to the foreground by clicking on one of its windows or the application's icon in the Dock. Click-hold on the application's name at the left end of the Finder menu, and select Quit. Alternatively you can press Cmd-Q. Closing an application's window does NOT close the application itself.
• To kill a misbehaving or frozen application from the Finder, Press the Cmd-Option-Esc key sequence for a task list, select the application from the list, and click the "Force Quit" button.
• To create easier access for a frequently used application, select the application with a single click and hold down the mouse button, then drag the icon's image to the Dock. An alias will appear that will require a single click to launch.
• To move or delete the alias (the application must be closed first), just drag it either to another spot in the Dock or away from the Dock altogether to delete it.

The biggest change to Apple's operating system with OS X, is it is now a UNIX system, complete with terminal window access. To open a shell to the UNIX core, open: Applications/Utilities/Terminal. If you are familiar with UNIX and the commandline interface, you'll feel right at home. Nearly all of the most common UNIX commands are available via the terminal window, including things like grep, ps, ls, cp, remote SSH logins, and so on. You will also find editors like EMACS, VI, and PICO available. The default shell is tcsh, but csh, and bash are also available.

OS X is a BSD/Darwin-based UNIX, and thus has many of the things you'd expect to find on any UNIX system, abeit some additions, and a few minor changes to the directory structure. The discussion of UNIX on OS X is beyond the scope this document, but if you are new to UNIX, and want to learn some basics, here is one of many good online tutorials: Mac OS X Command Line 101

Last, but not least, how do you logout? Click on the Apple on the Finder menu bar, and select Log Out. All your running applications will close, and the login window will appear. While you should remember to save any work before you log out, you will be reminded by applications before they close if there are any unsaved documents.

This document is intended to help those who may be new to OS X, and it's Aqua interface, to get a quick start. It is by no means anywhere near a complete guide for using OS X. One way to learn more, is to explore the interface, and discover for yourself what is available, and how things function. And of course there are lots of documents on the Internet, and commercially available books.

[Return to the FAQ index]