really simple mac questions

[a2cute2control]

I'm a real newbie, about to switch to ibook...anyway i few questions I need to have answered.

1) Do you really need the airport extremem base for wireless networking, or can another wireless router work. The apple one is so much more expensive...any idea why?...problems, etc.

2) Yes i know d/l from p2p is bad in some cases, but can someone tell me of ares works on macs. It's a killer program, or do you people use some other p2p program and just shy to talk about it.

3) any other webcams besides isight work with the ibook. Once again it's more expensive and my webcam now works fine.

4) messenger, I hear lots of talk about a program that incorporates aim, yahoo, icq, msn into one, but it seems like there is hassel involved. Also, in some cases you cant transfer photos, webcam , etc. does ichat use messenger contacts?

Thank-you so much for all the info....i've been waiting for an update, but i just might bite the bullet and go all out and splurge. 14'' superdrive....any suggestions.

 

[NeoMayhem]

I'm a real newbie, about to switch to ibook...anyway i few questions I need to have answered.

1) Do you really need the airport extremem base for wireless networking, or can another wireless router work. The apple one is so much more expensive...any idea why?...problems, etc.

2) Yes i know d/l from p2p is bad in some cases, but can someone tell me of ares works on macs. It's a killer program, or do you people use some other p2p program and just shy to talk about it.

3) any other webcams besides isight work with the ibook. Once again it's more expensive and my webcam now works fine.

4) messenger, I hear lots of talk about a program that incorporates aim, yahoo, icq, msn into one, but it seems like there is hassel involved. Also, in some cases you cant transfer photos, webcam , etc. does ichat use messenger contacts?

Thank-you so much for all the info....i've been waiting for an update, but i just might bite the bullet and go all out and splurge. 14'' superdrive....any suggestions.

1. No, any 802.11b/g router will work fine.
2. Acquisition is amazing, BitTorrent is also great.
3. There is a driver to enable a lot of USB web cams, yours should work.
4. Adium is the best chat app on mac, simple and works with all services.

 

[a2cute2control]

sweet. thanks for all the info. Adium is capable of sharing files and webcams and whatnot???

I have a logitech messenger webcam, and I've been looking around for info to see of it is supported by mac, but no luck...especially with tiger. I know it might be a little off topic but does anyone know of a driver or anything.

Also, when I do pick up the 14'' ibook superdrive, is it really worth it for the extra cash for the dvd burner, or is it worth it to downgrade and buy an external one....although kind of defeats the purpose of a laptop. thank-you all.

nice to know the mac community is so supportive.

 

[mac-er]

3. There is a driver to enable a lot of USB web cams, yours should work.

Where is this driver?

 

[Sharewaredemon]

sweet. thanks for all the info. Adium is capable of sharing files and webcams and whatnot???

Well you can share files, and you can have buddy icons.... but you can't do webcams with Adium. I've never really liked the idea of a webcam, but that's just how I feel, you like them and unfortunately, webcam support is a bit lacking outside of using it with AOL through iChat.

Also, when I do pick up the 14'' ibook superdrive, is it really worth it for the extra cash for the dvd burner, or is it worth it to downgrade and buy an external one....although kind of defeats the purpose of a laptop. thank-you all.

It depends, on thing you need to think about is how often you are going to want to be burning DVDs away from home, doing this up a lot of battery and so you might feel that having an external burner is better. In my view, I'd rather have a superdrive though.

nice to know the mac community is so supportive.

Well I can't speak for other forums. But from my experience here, this forum is very supportive, and quite good with new users.

For future reference, if you haven't already been told/know about this, use the search feature in the forums section before posting a new thread, as a lot of people get very annoyed when people post threads when there are already countless ones out there that answer the questions the people are asking.

 

[m-dogg]

sweet. thanks for all the info. Adium is capable of sharing files and webcams and whatnot???

I have a logitech messenger webcam, and I've been looking around for info to see of it is supported by mac, but no luck...especially with tiger. I know it might be a little off topic but does anyone know of a driver or anything.

Also, when I do pick up the 14'' ibook superdrive, is it really worth it for the extra cash for the dvd burner, or is it worth it to downgrade and buy an external one....although kind of defeats the purpose of a laptop. thank-you all.

nice to know the mac community is so supportive.

well that depends - do you think you're going to have to burn dvds on the fly when you're out and about? or would it be able to wait until some point when you are home at your desk (or where ever you'd store your burner)? I personally tend to encode/burn my DVD's just before I go to bed and leave it...unless I'm in a pinch for some reason, which is rare.

 

[wordmunger]

Where is this driver?

Google is your friend.

 

[a2cute2control]

thanks so much for the link....


another question, does mac for messenger support cam?...it's great for overseas friends