Kingston Mac Workshop

 

Length : 2 days
Cost : 650$/person for 2 days + tax, includes lunch
Where : Kingston City Hall (room details for participants only)
Infos : Contacter  marioblais@me.com
 Minimum of 5 participants needed.

 

Apple Macs are seeping into the home and enterprise worlds (unboxing about 16 million of them annually) and you may have to face supporting it, some will say « live with it ». It may also be a matter of missed business opportunities… With 10-20 years of hammering away on other systems, you have all the practical experience needed to come and have serious fun getting to know macOS’s Unix underpinnings, it’s GUI environment and included tools. The stated goal for these 2 days of hands-on is to provide better support to your clients and actually get troubleshooting knowledge with real-life activities and situations. You’ve got what it takes… it’s just called something else on a Mac!

While this is not an Apple Certified course, I am an up-to-date certified trainer (since 2005) and have built this contents to fit where official training doesn’t, to answer wide ranging questions and to kick start anyone that wishes to begin software support on this popular and fun platform. macOS 10.11 (El Capitan) or 10.12 (Sierra) will be used in this class. Information on getting Apple Certified can be found on Apple’s training website.

Prerequisites

You have a few years knowledge on other operating systems in a support-oriented environment.  This class if for tech support personnel.

You did spend a real 30 minutes watching some Mac GUI basics :

Mac OS X: Anatomy of a Mac (4 min.)

Mac OS X: Finder Basics (4 min.)

Mac OS X: Using the sidebar (3 min.)

Mac OS X: PC to Mac – The Basics (15 min.)

Hardware supplied

  • I will supply some MacBook laptops with a fresh 10.10 install
  • We can reformat and reinstall my laptops as needed
  • Internet access will be supplied

BYO Hardware – save 50$

  • You can bring your own Mac (laptop, iMac or mini with accessories) as long as it has OS X 10.8 or newer installed and running (we’ll try to not erase it!)
  • Get a 75$ rebate on the 2-day workshop
  • You have an administrator account on it, and you know its password
  • Fresh system install PREFERED but not mandatory
  • There is NO firmware password installed
  • You are invited to bring USB disks/keys and other gadgets, Firewire and Thunderbolt cables and accessories (I do bring some), Mac software installers from your stash and 1980’s writing devices (pen and paper)
  • (optionnal) A Windows laptop to connect to, migrate profiles to a Mac, …

Two-day contents

  • Welcome to OS X! Quick background on its Unix history and first setup
  • Let’s crack that admin password
  • Mac GUI – 10+ minutes
  • Create and manage multiple users
  • System Prefs, naming your Mac and opening access to a remote admin
  • System reinstall : brand new or over existing system
  • Target Disk Mode using Firewire or Thunderbolt
  • Recovery HD – tools and features
  • Data recovery and migration
  • Terminal and the command line
  • Using Verbose and Single User modes
  • Boot drive (root) file system structure and important directories
  • Getting to know and navigate through the invisible stuff
  • Monitoring system activity, getting to log files
  • Applications and utilities included with any Mac
  • Installing Applications using different methods, « uninstalling » them
  • Securing user and system passwords with the Keychain
  • OS X Security : technologies built-in
  • Sharing resources : files, screens, P2P filesharing, command-line access
  • Using Spotlight to find anything, specially metadata
  • Setting up TimeMachine for your backups, restoring files or whole systems
  • Repairing your hard drives, managing disk images (.dmg)
  • Printer and peripheral drivers, where are they, how to…
  • OS X’s startup sequence
  • « control launchd, and you control the Mac »
  • … and your questions to add much spice to this four course meal!

Documentation

All participants get an electronic document (long webpage output in PDF).  I encourage students to acquire official Apple reference documents to (optionally) prepare for a certification test if they so desire.

– OS X 10.11 El Capitan Support Essentials  (Peachpit.com)

Enrollment/payment

Since this is a small class, I take care of all requests manually through email.  Businesses can have invoicing done after the event provided they supply a P.O.  Individuals that wish to pay in advance can do so via this specific event’s PayPal button I will provide.

Fun learning assured.

 


Mario BlaisCert_Trainer_Blk_1ln
Apple Certified Trainer
Apple Certified Technical Coordinator
Apple Certified Support Professional