InformIT: Mac OS X Unleashed > The Mac OS X Setup Assistant

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The Mac OS X Setup Assistant

The first time Mac OS X boots, it will run an installer assistant that helps set up the basic features of your new operating system. This installation process is actually much more streamlined than Mac OS 8 or 9, and should take only a few minutes. During the procedure, your network settings will be configured and registration details will be sent back to Apple. If you do not have the necessary information present, you should collect it before proceeding.

Country

The first step of the setup process is setting your country. By default, the Mac OS X installation shows only the countries specific to the distribution area of the software. Even though OS X supports multiple languages out of the box, the packaging and other materials are localized. If your country is not listed, click the Show All button, as shown in Figure 2.16.

Figure 2.16 Select your country then click continue to move on. If your country isn't listed, click the Show All check box.

Click the country name in the list to highlight and select it. After making your choice, click the Continue button to move on.

Keyboard Layout

The second step of the installation is almost identical to the first: You choose the keyboard layout that Mac OS X will use, based on country. The same rules from the last step apply here. If you don't see your country in the default list, click the Show All check box to display all the available layouts. Figure 2.17 shows the layout selection screen.

Figure 2.17 Now, choose your keyboard layout.

Again, click the name of your choice to select it, and then click Continue to move to the next step.

Registration Information

Now, you'll need to do some typing. This step requires the completion of a registration form that will be sent back to Apple and serve to register your Mac OS X purchase. Of the fields shown on the form (displayed in Figure 2.18), only the e-mail address and company/school fields are optional. All other data must be completed in order to proceed. If you're concerned about how Apple will use your data later on, click the Privacy button for Apple's full information disclosure policy.

Figure 2.18 Enter your personal information to register the Mac OS X software with Apple.

Click Continue to move to the next part of the registration.

The second page of the registration process asks for a few pieces of user information—where you will use your computer and what profession you are in. This is, again, required information.

Clicking Continue after filling out this final registration form will greet you with a Thank You screen. Don't get excited; there are still quite a few steps to complete!

Create Your Account

Mac OS X is different from previous versions of the Macintosh operating system in that it is a true multiuser OS. While Mac OS 9 offered the capability to let different users log in to the system, the base OS didn't really understand the difference between users. Multiple users couldn't be running processes simultaneously, nor could multiple people access the system simultaneously.

Mac OS X requires multiple users in order to operate. Each user has a private password that is used to access the operating system. This helps to keep programs from interfering with each other and creates the stable environment that you're going to love. If you're thinking to yourself, "I live in an apartment by myself (except for a small fluffy Pomeranian). Why would I want to password-protect my machine? I just want to sit down and use it!" Don't fret—Mac OS X can be configured so that you start your computer and begin working immediately, the same way you have since 1984. You'll learn more about user accounts and their purpose in Chapter 11, "Additional System Components." and Chapter 24, "User Management."

In step 4 of the setup process, you will configure your first user account. This information will be used to control your access to the system and to prevent unauthorized changes from being made to your software. The account creation screen can be seen in Figure 2.19.

Figure 2.19 Create the account you'll use to access your Mac OS X system.

Because this is likely to be new territory for many Mac users, the account setup fields are explained here:

Name— Your full name. This can be used to log in to the system and will be used by Mac OS X to identify you while you are using your computer (software registrations, and so on).
Short Name— The short name is the name of your account. This identifies you to the underlying Unix operating system and should be comprised of eight or fewer lowercase letters or numbers. Spaces and punctuation are not allowed. If this is confusing, just think of your e-mail address. If you've registered with your ISP, you've given it your full name (like you did in the previous field) and you picked a username that is used for logging in to the system and accessing e-mail. This is the same idea. Mac OS X will pick a default value for you, but you're welcome to change it to anything you'd like.
Password— The Password field is used to set a secret word or string of characters that Mac OS X will use to verify that you are who you say you are. Passwords should normally be easy to remember, but should contain a mixture of uppercase and lowercase characters as well as numbers or symbols.
Verify— Type the same string you entered into the Password field into the Verify field. This is used to make sure that the password you typed is actually what you intended.
Password Hint— The password hint is exactly what it implies: something that will remind you of your password. If you attempt to log in to your system three times without success, the hint is displayed. For machines that are used in public computing labs, it's best to keep this something very general, or not supply a hint at all. It won't take someone long to figure out a hint such as "My password is my last name and my first name reversed."

Click Continue to proceed to the fifth stage of the Mac OS X installation: Internet setup.

Internet Setup

After creating your Mac OS X account, Mac OS X will prompt you regarding your Internet configuration. There are four possible options: sign up for EarthLink with promotional code, sign up with EarthLink without promotional code, skip Internet setup, or use an existing Internet connection. These choices can be seen in Figure 2.20.

Figure 2.20 Choose to set up an EarthLink account, use an existing ISP, or forego any network configuration.

If you choose either of the EarthLink options, you'll be guided through the process of signing up for Apple's preferred ISP. This involves providing contact and billing information. For more information on EarthLink, please check out http://www.earthlink.net/.

If you already have Internet access, but don't have all the information required to connect to your network or dial in to your ISP, I suggest skipping this step for now—you can jump ahead to "Selecting a Time Zone."

If you do know how your Internet access should be configured, select the I'll Use My Existing Internet Service radio button, and then click Continue to begin setup.

Choosing a Connection Method

Mac OS X will now display ascreen where you can choose the method by which you connect to the Internet. Figure 2.21 shows the five potential choices for setup:

Telephone Modem— Choose this if you use your computer's modem to dial in to an ISP.
Local Area Network (LAN)— A local area network configuration assumes that you are connected to a network directly. This is usually the appropriate option for businesses or educational institutions.
Cable Modem— Cable modems provide high-speed broadband Internet access to the home. You can obtain speeds similar to dedicated T1 lines for a fraction of the price.
DSL (Digital Subscriber Line)— DSL service tends to be a bit pricier than cable modem access, but is also more stable and has the potential of offering higher bidirectional transfers than a cable modem.
AirPort Wireless— The AirPort selection should be used if you are part of an AirPort or other 802.11b-based network. If you do not have an AirPort card installed, this option will be grayed.

Figure 2.21 Choose your Internet connection method.

Choose the option that best represents your method of accessing the Internet, and then click Continue.

Modem Configuration

If you chose to configure your system to connect with your Mac's modem, you should make sure that you have your account information handy.

Here you will need to enter several pieces of information that help your computer dial and log in to your ISP:

User Name— This is the username given to you by your ISP. It is not the username you picked while creating your Mac OS X account.
Password— Again, this is the password for your ISP's dial-in account. It is not related to the password you set for your Mac OS X account.
ISP Phone Number— The phone number used to access your ISP.
Outside Access Numbers— Typically needed for company or hotel connections, if you need to dial additional digits to access an outside line, place them here.
Do You Have Call Waiting— If you choose Yes for this question, Mac OS X will attempt to disable call waiting before calling the ISP.

Click Continue to move to the second screen of your dial-in configuration.

The final step of setting up your modem is telling the system what type of modem is connected to your computer and how it is hooked up. The second screen of the modem configuration has only two settings:

How is your modem connected to the computer?— Choose the type of connection between your computer and modem. Users can choose Internal Modem or USB Modem if the modem is an external model.
What kind of modem do you have?— There are well over 100 modems supported within Mac OS X. Choose your model from the pop-up menu. Most systems will have an Apple Internal Modem installed.

When finished, click Continue to move to the iTools account setup.

LAN/Cable/DSL

Because the setup of these three connection types is identical, they will be covered here under a single section. It is assumed that the reader already has the information that is needed to configure their network settings. Although a short description is given here, you can learn more about TCP/IP networking in Chapter 9, "Network Setup."

If you've chosen one of the three LAN/Cable/DSL options, you should see a screen like that of Figure 2.22.

Figure 2.22 Your LAN/DSL/Cable configuration screen should look like this.

Connection Type— The first step for your network configuration is to choose the connection type. There are three options: Static IP Address, BootP Server, and DHCP Server. If you're using a cable or DSL modem, the proper choice is likely DHCP Server, but your ISP should know for certain. LAN users might need either DHCP or a static IP address—ask your system administrator to be safe. BootP is no longer widely used.
IP Address— The IP address identifies your computer on the network. For DHCP/BootP users, this value is set automatically. Other users can ask their net work administrator for the appropriate address.
Subnet Mask— A subnet mask resembles an IP address but is used to tell your system what part of its IP address identifies the network it is attached to. For DHCP/BootP users, this value is set automatically. Other users can ask their network administrator for the appropriate mask.
Router Address— The router address is another IP address that tells your computer where to send information that should leave your local network. For DHCP/BootP users, this value is set automatically. Other users can ask their network administrator for the appropriate address.
DNS Hosts— A DNS (domain name server) translates between number IP addresses and the names you see on the Internet (such as www.apple.com). Your ISP will usually supply at least two DNS entries for your use. Most DHCP/BootP users will have this configured automatically, but also can supply values manually. Contact your network administrator or ISP for the appropriate settings.
Domain Name— If you're part of a LAN, you're most likely part of an existing domain. For example, machines on my local subnet are part of the poisontooth.com domain. This information is optional.
Proxy Server— If your LAN requires the use of a proxy server to access outside resources, enter the address of the proxy here. Your network administrator can provide this information. This configuration is for a Web proxy.

After setting up your information, click Continue to move on to the iTools account setup.

AirPort Configuration

There are two parts to setting up your computer to use an AirPort network: choosing the AirPort network and configuring TCP/IP. The AirPort wireless network is just an access method; it doesn't necessarily automate the process of configuring your computer's network settings.

Figure 2.23 shows the AirPort network selection screen.

Figure 2.23 Choose the AirPort network to connect to.

Select the AirPort network to use for your connection and then fill in the appropriate information. Use the LAN/Cable/DSL section as a reference—the settings will be identical. Click Continue to enter the information to identify your computer on the AirPort network.

Click Continue to proceed with iTools setup.

iTools Setup

Mac OS X integrates Apple's iTools with the operating system. If you don't have iTools, get it! Through Apple's iTools service, you gain access to a free e-mail account, 20MB of personal storage, personalized electronic greeting cards, and more!

Mac OS X does not require that you have an iTools account to set up the system. In fact, it will create an account for you, use an existing account, or let you skip iTools for the time being and set it up later. The first screen of the iTools configuration presents you with these three options.

If you already have an iTools account, click the radio button in front of "I'm already using iTools," and then enter your username and password in the supplied fields. These are not necessarily the same as the username and password you used when you set up your Mac OS X user account.

If you'd rather not use iTools at the present time, choose "I'm not ready for iTools."

Finally, if you want to set up an iTools account right now, click the "I'd like to create my iTools account" radio button.

Click Continue to finish configuring your computer.

Creating an iTools Account

If you've selected the option to create an iTools account immediately, you should see a registration form similar to that of Figure 2.24.

Figure 2.24 Register with iTools during the Mac OS X setup.

You'll need to fill out all the fields in the registration form. Apple requires that all the information be present to establish an account. This information will be stored in your account, but you should make a note of it in case of you need to re-enter it at some point.

User Name— A 3–20 character name (no spaces) that will be used to uniquely identify your iTools account. This is unrelated to your Mac OS X username.
Password— This is 6–8 characters to protect your account. The password you choose protects all information stored on your iDisk and all your iTools e-mail. Choose a password that mixes uppercase and lowercase letters and numbers.
Password (to Confirm)— Enter the same password as in the previous field. This will be used to verify that you typed what you think you typed!
Password Question— Provide a straightforward question that only you can answer. This will be used to retrieve your password in case you forget it.
Password Answer— The answer to your password question. You must type this exactly in order to access an account you've lost the password for.
Birth Month— The month in which you were born. This, along with your Birth Day and Password answers, will help recover lost passwords.
Birth Day— The day on which you were born.

Click Continue to save your network settings and connect to the Internet. Your computer will then attempt to contact Apple and send the registration information you've entered. If the registration information can't be sent, you'll be prompted either to try again or click Continue. As with everything during the setup steps, this can happen later, so don't worry if the connection fails.

E-mail Setup

There are only a few more steps before you can start playing with OS X. The remaining settings help configure your environment so that your system is ready to use when you log in for the first time.

Mac OS X includes its own e-mail client that supports advanced features and a look and feel that matches the OS X environment perfectly. In the Set Up Mail screen, shown in Figure 2.25, you can enter the data needed to access your iTools e-mail or another account.

Figure 2.25 Set up your e-mail accounts for use within the Mac OS X mail program.

You can choose between your iTools (Mac.com) e-mail account and another account by clicking the radio buttons beside Use my mac.com account only or Add my existing e-mail account. You can always add accounts from directly in the application at a later time.

Email Address— The e-mail address to use with your Mail software (such as yourname@mac.com).
Incoming Mail Server— The server that holds your messages until you retrieve or delete them. The iTools mail server is mail.mac.com. Your ISP or network administrator should be able to supply this information.
Account Type— The Mail application supports two types of access: POP and IMAP. POP service downloads mail directly to your computer each time it logs in. IMAP, in contrast, keeps the mail on the server until you delete it—this allows you to access the same messages from multiple computers. iTools e-mail supports both types. Most ISPs support only POP-based mail. Check with your network administrator or ISP to be sure.
User Account ID— The username used with your e-mail account. This is the part of your e-mail address to the left of the @ symbol. This is not necessarily the same username used when setting up Mac OS X.
Password— The password used to access your e-mail account. Again, this is not necessarily (unless you chose to make it so) the same password used when setting up Mac OS X.
Outgoing Mail Server— The mail server used to deliver messages to the Internet. The iTools outgoing mail server is smtp.mac.com. Your ISP or network administrator should be able to supply this information.

Click Continue to move on to the next step—setting a time zone.

Selecting a Time Zone

Finally, a few simple steps! One of the last setup steps is configuring the time zone your computer is located in. Setting a time zone is important for applications that receive information from outside of the local area—such as e-mail. Without the time zone properly configured, e-mail software cannot display the correct time on incoming messages from other zones. Mac OS X will display a small world map, shown in Figure 2.26.

Figure 2.26 Choose a time zone for your computer.

To choose a time zone, first click your location on the map. The highlight will move to where you clicked and the name of the most commonly used zone (EST, PST, and so on) will be displayed in the lower-left corner of the map.

Next, click the pop-up menu to change to the appropriate zone within the highlighted region. For example, I live in Ohio, so I click on the Eastern United States, and then choose U.S.A. - Eastern from the pop-up menu.

Click Continue when you've chosen the appropriate zone.

Setting Date and Time

We've arrived at the last step in the Mac OS X setup process—setting the day and time. This step requires little explanation. A screenshot of the configuration window is shown in Figure 2.27.

Figure 2.27 Set the date and time.

The date and time are configured by interacting with the clock and calendar displayed on the setup screen. To set a date, you can use the arrows near the top of the calendar to navigate through years and months, and then click the day on the calendar graphic to choose a specific date.

Dragging the minute hand on the clock can be used to set the time; this is slow, but it works just like setting an analog wristwatch. Click the AM or PM in the lower-right corner of the clock graphic to alternate between AM and PM. Alternatively, you can click the hour, minute, or second position in the digital clock display, and then use the arrows to the right to change the current setting. If you'd rather not use the arrows, you can simply type in a value after choosing the component of the time you want to adjust.

When the clock is set, click Continue.

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