Hi guys,

This weekend I was reading a manga (ダウと) on my new Macbook Pro and
had the time of my life. The Mac is so good for reading manga its crazy.

Spaces is Mac's version of the virtual desktop. It allows you have 4 desktops while
only using one screen. Press Fn-F8 and you'll get a 4-way split screen view of all your desktops. Hit any number from 1 to 4 and you'll go to that screen. You can even set applications to open on specific screens.

My setup so far:

Screen 1 - iTunes (set to listen to the torrentech podcast at http://radio.torrentech.org/listen.pls) and Safari (for jgram.org). Torrentech plays ambient, techno, drum and bass, dance, house, trance, etc

Screen 2 - Mac Leopard built-in Japanese-Japanese and Japanese-English dictionaries (open to full screen view). The dictionaries have FULL examples sentences for most entries (often 3 or more).

Screen 3 - Anki (for obvious reasons) and Stickies (the built-in Mac sticky notes applications. I use it to store sentences that I don't understand at all. These are the sentences I bring to my conversation partners every week. When I finish going over them with my conversation partners, I enter them into Anki :-)

Screen 4 - Simple Comic (for reading manga). Cmd-F to full screen. Right-click on image for magnifying lens.

Transitions between virtual desktops are ultra smooth. It almost makes you feel like you're warping into each screen. Put on your favorite music in iTunes and you'll forget that people are even around you.

Anyway, after a lot of messing around with coming up with a good setup for reading manga on my computer, I think i'll stick with this one.

What does everyone else use?
Maybe there are additional ways to make my setup
easier. I also have 3G wireless internet AND a wireless USB
rechargeable bluetooth mouse. So I can do this anywhere.

Thanks.

Here is how the 4-way split-screen (Fn-F8) looks like:

Full-size Image URL: (http://img32.imageshack.us/img32/9118/picture2xbq.png)

Cool stuff, reminds me that I haven't toyed around with multiple desktops since back when I first discovered Litestep, et cetera.

Quote:Screen 4 - Simple Comic (for reading manga). Cmd-F to full screen. Right-click on image for magnifying lens.

Really? When I right click I just get a contextual popup menu. A magnifying lens would be so useful! Any hints on what I'm doing wrong?

I think you might have a really old version of Simple Comic.

Simple Comic now has a built-in auto update. So everytime there is a new version, it asks if you want to update. If you say yes, it updates Simple Comic automatically and restarts
the application. I have the latest version on my Mac.

"Loupe" is the magnifying lens.

From old release notes:

Jul 28, 2008
issue 36 (Merge 1.7 changes back into 1.6 branch.) commented on by arauchfuss - Merged in loupe toggle on right click. Removing the context menu. Also merged in the option key scroll-wheel control of loupe size and diameter.

It's really awesome because when you right click, it gives you a magnifying lens at the exact spot where the mouse cursor is (and the default zoom is very big :-)

Excellent, thanks! Got it all working now, I didn't realise what "Image Loupe" was.

Psh Linux is where it's at! *random elitist linux stuff about how it can do everything*.

On topic though, that looks roughly similar to how I have my linux setup. I've been using Linux for many years now, and whenever I have to use a windows system the UI bothers me the most! If I ever get sick of fixing things that aren't broken (and fixing what I broke while fixing what wasn't broken), I think I'll get a Mac instead of go back to Windows...

Common Linux users, let's take over the thread!

Oh yeah, here's my setup:

Top Left: Entertainment/slacking off screen- Safari open to google reader and RevTK, as well as VLC playing whatever video I have on at the time
Top Right: Work screen- Anki, EPWING reader and the spreadsheet I'm working on currently (KM1kyuu).
Bottom Left: Evernote
Bottom Right: Organisational Screen- iProcrastinate homework planner, my Uni timetable and my calendar.



EDIT: I have multiple windows open per space (instead of just 1 like you) because I'm rocking a 30 inch monitor.

kyeenak Wrote:Common Linux users, let's take over the thread!

OK.

dwm + 17-inch monitor + 17 inch monitor + 25 inch monitor

Here's a screenshot of my desktop in a typical session where I might be adding KO2001 sentences (also, random code to fill some space):



Full size image:

[url=http://4side.org/desktop.png][/url]

One key feature that the Mac has that beats out Linux is multitouch gestures:

For example:

pull down two fingers = scroll

push two fingers on trackpad = right click

swipe three fingers forward(or back) = to navigate between slides and photos

swipe four fingers down = Expose (i.e. gives a scaled view of all open windows in a desktop)

swipe four fingers up = see your desktop (without the clutter of open windows)

swipe four finger across = switch apps (just like Alt+Tab in Windows)

And you can also define your own multitouch gestures for just about anything (using Multiclutch).

Also, multitouch is great way to reduce RSI from typing or using the mouse.

chamcham Wrote:One key feature that the Mac has that beats out Linux is multitouch gestures:

For example:
swipe four fingers down = Expose (i.e. gives a scaled view of all open windows in a desktop)

swipe four fingers down = see your desktop (without the clutter of open windows)

And you can also define your own multitouch gestures for just about anything (using Multiclutch).

Multitouch is nice. I might point out though, that things like Expose and viewing your desktop are only necessary if you're using a window manager that permits the unwanted behavior of windows covering each other and being minimized

Awesome... I so want to go buy an overpriced Apple laptop for this.

vosmiura Wrote:Awesome... I so want to go buy an overpriced Apple laptop for this.

Absolutely

Blank Wrote:OK.

I use opensuse, with KDE 3.5 and openbox. I don't use any of the flashy graphics stuff though, I like it plain and simple.

I miss my old multi-monitor setup I had in the states, but I got rid of my monitors and desktop computer when I moved to Japan. I only have a $600ish laptop now. I have my laptop hooked up to my 24" TV as a quasi-monitor and/or to watch films while I do normal computer stuff on my laptop screen.

chamcham Wrote:One key feature that the Mac has that beats out Linux is multitouch gestures

I've never used a Mac aside from at my old university to surf the web a little, so I don't know what you can and cannot do. However you can program just about anything to do anything in Linux. Window management using different combinations of mouse buttons/wheels. Also a personal favorite is using the caps lock key to switch language inputs, hold control + capslock to toggle capslock, and of course death to the windows key!

Above all else it's free! However for people trying to immerse themselves in Japanese will find it's pretty hard with Linux. Aside from the occasional Japanese-only software, just about everything is in English.

I'd take advantage of the spaces thing for sure if I didn't like to see everything in front of me in the same screen. I tried to couple times to get used to it, but I'm so disorganized that I wouldn't be able to designate apps to certain screens like you do. I was raised windows (duh har) so I don't mind a bit of window overlapping. I have to say, though, that all the language configurations and a dictionary for each language alone makes Macbook worth the cost (...almost)

Just want to add that I'm a sysadmin and I use Windows, Linux (Redhat and Debian), Solaris, and Mac on a daily basis. So I'm not a Mac head by any stretch of the imagination.

In fact, I'm typing this post right now on my Ubuntu Linux box at home.
Lately, OS X has really taken me in. Everything is so stytlish, tightly integrated and
working out of the box.

I love work on Linux command line and config files and such, but Apple designers are really great at user interfaces. I've used many window managers/desktops (for ex. WindowMaker, XFCE, KDE, GNOME, and a whole host of other window managers). But apple really nailed it with their interface.

chamcham Wrote:Everything is so stytlish, tightly integrated and
working out of the box.

I'll have to agree. I've used pretty much only Linux for the past 5-7 years, and Windows before that, so I don't have much Mac experience. However it looks great.

While Linux has a lot of freedom, sometimes it's just a huge pain. If/when I need to go a little more "main stream", I'd go for a Mac over Windows. For the average computer using, it's more than enough. Also I've heard you can actually run a lot (most? all?) of unix code. Although I have say iHate how everything starts with "i".

Back on topic, cheers for Anki and multi-platform support! Wait a second...

Here's me (Click any image for full screen)

HP 22" touchscreen all-in-one PC with Windows 7. I press win+# and it jumps to the program with that number in my jump bar on the left hand side.



Manga, Anki, Winamp, Firefox. All support programs on the right in the windows jump bar.

When reading manga I just scroll around with my fingers like on the Iphone.

Also I press Press win+tab to show everything open - then I touch the screen for the program I want to be using.



If I need to input a Kanji I drag my fingers　on the screen to pop up the writing pad and then write out the Kanji and it then inserts it into whatever text field I was in prior to dragging my fingers.



*Quick rundown - In Windows 7 all of your programs can live in their shortcut on the jump bar. Say for example, you click on the Firefox icon I have in the photos. The first time it opens Firefox. The second time you click on it it pops it up. If you have three or four Firefox windows open you hover over the icon to see previews of them all.

I can also peg files to shortcuts. For example, if you right click on my Adobe Acrobat icon it can show any Acrobat files I want to peg to it.

Although it may sound like a plug for Windows 7, it's really just showing some of the cool advantages it has for me when studying.

I just use Irfanview keeping it on the left side with Anki in the upper right and my kanjitown notepad on the right. I have firefox ready for tabbing if I need to look something up (unusual because manga is so easy to understand + I mostly read manga with furigana so far). I have iTunes with podcasts in the background or winamp playing stuff.

That's all I need. So lame-comp users like me, do not despair. It doesn't make such a huge difference in the end.

Haha, This has been a feature in Linux for ages. With compiz fusion, you can have as many desktops as you like, neat effects like windows wobbling when you move them, magnifying glass etc.

Just for the record: Linux had this multitouch feature for years. Scrolling with two fingers on the trackpad, middle-click with two fingers, right-click with three fingers, all this "just works" on a current Ubuntu.

It may not be as sophisticated as some of the Mac gestures but it's still pretty useful.

I use a Mac on a 55" display mainly for browsing, media, etc. A Vista desktop on a 24" monitor for most stuff at home. The large screen is nice for having things side by side; Anki, online dictionaries, spreadsheets. At the office I have a lot of things multitasking on XP, dual screen, and one or more Linux virtual machines running in VMWare.

People like what they get used to; I'd rather work in Windows over others though I do use Linux & OSX part of every day, and some things are not convenient on Windows. OSX has things that I like, but also things that I dislike such as the shared menu bar at the top, and window resizing.

Anyhow, it would get a lot more acceptance from me if I could run it on other things than Macs as I already own various PCs & laptops and like to build / upgrade my own.

Foxit Reader in Fullscreen (using Alt+2 and CTRL+M for magnification). I change to Anki and the Wadoku Jiten using ALT+TAB. If an unknown word isn't already in Anki, I'll add it right away using the definitions & examples from Wadoku Jiten.

Since we're sort of on the topic, anyone interested in a good manga viewer for Windows might wanna try out Hamana http://miyano.s53.xrea.com/

I've tried most of the alternatives and this one is by far my favorite, although not so well known. Its fast and loaded with features great for reading manga or comic books.

I use this on windows, http://hirvine.com/blog/1548/manga-meeya...ding-tool/
Comix on Linux.

Blank Wrote:

kyeenak Wrote:Common Linux users, let's take over the thread!

OK.

dwm + 17-inch monitor + 17 inch monitor + 25 inch monitor

nice, wmii here (on a debian macbook)