[X-Newbies]

[Steven Rogers]

On Nov 4, 2006, at 12:51 PM, J wrote:

> I wasn't aware that this was a newbie 'programming' list.

Package systems like MacPorts aren't just for programmers. There are  
a lot of programming tools in there, but there are also a lot of  
specialized tools that have nothing to do with programming, like math/ 
science and audio/video programs (and a few lame games). There are  
plenty of things about it that aren't newbie topics - but just  
knowing that package systems exist and what they are (they install  
software and keep it up to date, like Software Update in the Apple  
menu) is appropriate for newbies. It's a huge free resource that is  
just one of the ways in which the whole family of Unixy systems  
(which now includes OS X) is different from the PC.

> Can you direct people to a list that just does basic newbie  
> questions such as how things work on OS X?
> What with all the different but similarly named folders it is hard  
> to tell which you can trash and which you can't anymore. I recently  
> had a start up problem that was fixed beautifully by trashing whole  
> folders of things you would never imagine could be trashed....

If the question is "what can I safely trash": you can probably get by  
OK by not trashing anything except Applications that you installed  
and now want to loose, and things in your own user area, like your  
Documents, Music, Movies, etc. folders. However, some people like to  
keep things "cleaned up" and that question is more like "what is the  
*most* I can delete without goofing things up" - that's a much more  
complex question. There are lots of little things related to fonts  
and preferences and temp files that *might* potentially be deleted or  
optimized, but even just font management alone is whole micro-science.

Generally, I would say that it is not worth the time and aggravation  
to dig through the system to remove every little temp file an unused  
preference that you can. Sometimes you need to do that to fix a  
problem, or keep an old marginal system going, but I wouldn't do it  
as a matter of course. For the average user using the machine in an  
average way, just leave all that "system-ish" stuff alone. It is far  
more efficient time-wise, and you won't have to worry about how to  
fix something you accidentally goof up. If you're feeling like "Oh,  
how will I, a newbie, ever learn all the obscure files I need to  
delete to keep my machine in tip-top shape like those experienced  
people", then just forget about it. While they're tweaking obscure  
files, listen to some great music.

If you're thinking along the lines of "I fixed this startup problem  
by deleting some obscure files, so maybe there is some list of  
obscure file locations I should be checking and cleaning?" - well,  
that's probably debatable, but I would say that it is much easier to  
address specific issues than to try to prevent them with this sort of  
"cleaning" activity.

Of course, there are considerations that might change that - e.g. you  
have several machines to administer, you have machines with lots of  
users, you're running a critical business application, etc. - but in  
that case we're not talking "newbie" advice anymore.

SR