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OS X
So, now that OS X has been out a few days and people have had a chance to put it though its paces, let's take a look at it. Upside.com wonders if the new OS was released half-baked. Ars Technica puts it through its paces with a very thorough review. O'Reilly plans to release tech books covering OS X, so if your bookshelf isn't full yet, you can add a few more. Certain major software projects are already being tried on OS X - look out Adobe. And finally, we know it's not April 1, but we thought the picture of OS X on a Visor was cute. Any other good links to reviews? Post them below.
Config: Rev 1 Blue and White G3 400Mhz, 256MB, 1 9 GB UltraSCSI 2 HD, 1 8.4 GB ATA HD.
I was previously running MacOS 8.6, and I chose to wipe my 8.4 GB HD and copy my old system folder over en masse, mainly because I have ProTools/Powermix, Bias Peak, and Reason all happily coexisting on that system, and I'll be damned if I screw up that happy accident for *any* new OS.
So, I installed 9.1 on the 9 GB, then installed OS X. The initial 'welcome' screen played the QT movie that others have written about, but the music was what caught my attention. It was almost certianly remixed Portishead - no one else does the ambient vibraphone thing like they do.
I chose to skip the internet set-up. I connect to SBC DSL via PPPoE and I was a little apprehensive. I shouldn't have worried. It took 2 minutes with the Internet Connect App. I selected Built-In Ethernet, the protocol pulldown menu changed from PPP to PPPoE, and I selected that. Typed in my username and password, and I had IP connectivity.
I was installing off an Apple Internal CD, which has a reduced software set, so I used my new connection to go the apple.com and download a copy of OmniWeb. Slick little browser, that. Clean, small, uncluttered. My wife used to work for AT&T Wireless (a large NeXTSTEP installation) and she had nothing but good things to say about OmniWeb, and she was right.
I spent most of the rest of the night digging around for printer drivers for my Epson Photo 1200, to no avail. It would recognize it from the USB bus, but listed it as unsupported. Supposedly there were new drivers from Epson available via iDisk, so I created a new iTools account and dug around in there for a while, but was unable to find them. I did download some nifty software, though.
Some people have bitched about the anti-aliased fonts being blurry or hard to read. I can see how this could happen. I have an Apple Studio Display 17", which has a Mitsubishi Diamondtron tube with a
I was able to hang a few processes, which were easily killed off via ProcessViewer (second thing I aliased to the Dock, right behind the terminal). Click on process, Apple-Shift-Q. Gone.
My explorations were cut short by the fact that I had to go run errands, but I expect to spend most of tonight screwing around with it, and I expect that I'll be able to give better anecdotal evidence about OS X in the new future.
Don Negro
Don Negro
Perl 6 will give you the big knob. -- Larry Wall
I'm really surprised more people in the media haven't commented on how much NeXT there is in MacOS X. The common battlecry is "it's based on UNIX", or with a little more specificity, "it's based on BSD". Look, the truth is, this is NeXTSTEP (or OPENSTEP for you 4.2 fans) with a funny interface.
Let's review. There is a BSD layer, yes, but it's no more BSD than NeXTSTEP had. Think back to 1990. Imagine yourself sitting in front of a big black cube. Open up a shell, and you'll find it's tcsh. Look around at the file system. You'll see it's strikingly similar to MacOS X today, virtually the same layout.
Most important are the runtimes available. The primary runtime, now called "Cocoa", was formerly just called OPENSTEP. It's Objective-C, and all objects inherit from NSObject (NS - NextStep, get it?). You can get access to a lot of these objects through Java as well, but mostly you use Objective-C to write native MacOS X applications.
The display layer, now called "Quartz", is Display PostScript at its heart. You'd be more accurate to call it "Display PDF", but since PDF is really an extension of PostScript... well, you get the idea.
Oh, and applications are "bundles" (really just directories that encapsulate their internal components and expose a single icon) that end in a ".app" extension. That is so very, very NeXT.
The good news is that there are so many core enhancements since OPENSTEP 4.2. This is not your father's OS. The tight integration into the system of a really rather decent Java VM is a delight. Quartz has come a long way since the initial Display PS. The mere fact that InterfaceBuilder.app and ProjectBuilder.app are included for free is marvellous.
I was a NeXT Computer booster from way back, I've always had a soft spot for them. And MacOS X just confirms what I knew was going on in 1996 -- NeXT bought Apple, not the other way around.
(And thank God, too.)
-Seth
As a user who's been through many unices and been heartbroken by all the UIs it's been through, I could really see OS X being my final home. I enjoy the antialiased graphics in all my applications. I enjoy the built in UI. I enjoy the general low pain-in-the-ass factor that I have with either UNIX or Windows when it comes to software installation, hardware installation, or any other maintanence task.
Apache is pre-installed. I installed PHP and mysql within ten minutes, and am fully up & running. GCC 2.95.2 comes on the development CD, and project builder's got a fairly nice editor. I installed bash 2 and vim 5.7, and I can't say I've ever been this comfortable on any other computer in my life.
Sure, customizing the windowmanager of the week (and I've been through it all when it was actually like that back when fvwm95 was the rage) is fun for a while, but I have SHIT TO DO. The biggest attribute I must give many people who need to customize X to the very limits, who need to install 400 themes, or any other truly useless overtweaking activity is TOO MUCH TIME ON THEIR HANDS.
Armed with a shell prompt and the easiest to use GUI I've ever known on UNIX (because Mac OS X is a UNIX, remember that!), I've never been happier.
And, the fact that I don't have to put up with the PC architecture's completely fucked up hardware is wonderful. A 64bit cpu that does up to 4 GFLOPS is wonderful in my mind. I enjoy not using an interrupt controller dated to 1979 (yes, I know all about the APICs, but how many devices use the little fuckers?).
Also remember that macs have a longer lifetime than PC hardware. A pentium is barely usable, while a normal powermac is fine under OS 9. Sure alot of macs will be obsoleted by OS X, but many still run OS 8 or 7.x with glee. All that an old linux box really says is "router."
So, before everyone goes off into their non-linux tirade, ask yourself, what are you in it for? A quick reaction to show your 3733+3ness, or a genuine love for a good every day use & programming environment?
One of the biggest plusses now is that your grandmother (no, not the one that sends patches to Alan Cox, the other one) will probably most likely use UNIX with you :-)
--
Care about electronic freedom? Consider donating to the EFF!
Sure, it has little in common except the whole 4.4Lite source base. Oh, and all the shims so it can use FreeBSD device drivers and filesystems. Oh, and the systemcall interface, which native OSX applications can/do use (unlike WinNT where you wither have a GUI, or you have Posix, but it is almost impossible to have both).
How do you think it started out? It was MACH when NeXT built it, which had a BSD single server on it (not 4.4 at the time because 4.4 wasn't available). NeXT put their own windowing system on top because they felt (like many others) that X sucks.
Duh. What do you think Linux is? It is an easy way to use all that existing Unix app code.
Actually that is a bit far from the mark since Apple isn't getting a huge amount of mileage from existing Unix apps (mostly they don't have a friendly UI, and the ones that do need to use a new API for the UI anyway!).
Why should it matter that Apple chose BSD to reuse existing code? Isn't that the reason to choose an OS? What's next? Bitching at Red Hat for choosing Linux so they can use all that existing Linux software? Well, duh, of corse.
Statement by sorry statement:
- Apples products have always been inferior. Er, and you base this opinion on... ?
- I'm talking from a software Engineering point of view. Ah, OK. So you don't like the API's then? Tell me, could you list a single API of any sort? How about a MacOS API? Or are you just truly talking out your butt as you seem to be?
- Up until OS IX/X, OK, first of all MacOS 9.x & MacOS X 10.x are completely different beasts, you can't logically lump them together.
- it didn't have a real operating system, Ah, it may not have one up to your exacting standards but yes, MacOS pre-X does have an OS. It doesn't have protected memory and relies on cooperative multitasking instead of preemptive multitasking but yes, it's there and in every sense a "real" OS.
- no command shell, So that's your criteria? Righ, MacOS doesn't ship with one. There are third-party ones but then the whole idea of MacOS was to get *away* from the command line & use a WIMP (Windows-Icons-Mouse Pointer) interface.
- no real easy to use interface, Er, the MacOS GUI(s) aren't easy-to-use? I don't think you'll find a lot of agreement there. Ranging from novices to power-users most agree that Mac's GUI(s) are their strongest feature. Not perfect but arguably better for the vast majority of folks then anything else availiable out of of a box.
- just a GUI, that's it That's right, a GUI floating in space, no OS below it... (Hint: Go check the root directory "System Folder" on any Mac, more particularly check the files "System" & "Finder" on any pre-X MacOS.)
- If you wanted extra, you had to buy it. Such as?... This differs from?...
- Apple is certainly better then Microsoft in every ascpect in GUI and OS stability design MacOS >X is more stable then Win2K?! (choke) Heck I like Macs but not even I can say that one without giggling. Easier to maintain, yes. More productive, yes. More stable, not. MacOS X is shaping up to be far more stable OS but with MacOS 9.x Mac'ers were just happy it's the "most stable release in years"; note no one saying it's rock-solid stable like a *nix box usually is. The fact is that much of the unstability comes from third party patches but the point that it's easy to destabilize the OS remains (try holding down the mouse - freeze everything.) Sorry Honey but right there you've completely marked yourself as a clueless goober.
- but the lack of a command shell in early versions Again what's with the command shell? You got some sort of prompt fetish? What, exactly, would you have wanted this for and why do you believe Apple didn't include it if it was so critical?
- and that of a good advertising department killed Apple Yeah, that 1984 commercial sank without a trace... Look, Apple has had good campaigns & bad campaigns but most will agree that the early ones were excellent and some of the more recent ones have been pretty good. Name any company that's had 25 years of unqualifiedly great advertising... None.
- Former Apple products were nowhere near that of UNIX Er, first of all back then *nix's were big iron / big ticket items. Name one consumer OS that was comperable to a *nix... Uh huh. Look here son, you gotta go reading more then the textbook-for-dummies before you go lecturing your betters on the history of computing (the back issues of Byte would be a good start.)
- The problem with Unix and its precursor, Mulics, Not. Unix's name is a play on the name "Multics" but they're not related, not in any significent way. As someone who had a Multics account trust me on this.
- is that they were made for users who already knew how to use a computer and not for beginners As to being written for novices / power users, back then we were all novices & by definition power users. There was no concept of different skill levels, the wonder was that any of this worked at all & there was certianly darn little to compare it to.
The problem with Monday-morning Quarterbacking is that you had to have watched the game, or at least read about it. You, heck I'm not even sure you're literate much less conscious or capable of critical thought.Do your parents know you're on their computer? Isn't it your bedtime? Or naptime? Mebbe when you grow up you'll learn to write about what you know, in the meantime be quiet, don't fidget, pay attention & mebbe you'll learn something.
I don't read ACs: If a post isn't worth so much as a nom de plume to its author then I wont bother either.
PDF is PS based.
PDF is not DP based.
PDF can be thought of as a sorta-objecty-oriented extension of PS. It's not the interpreted PS like PS v.2 but rather a 'chunky' version with elements in it that can be often pulled out & manipulated independantly.
-- Michael
It is hoped that PDF will continue to evolve & that in mebbe two generations it might be a fully object-oriented which would lead to some really interesting features like distributed rendering, multiple views, etc.
I don't read ACs: If a post isn't worth so much as a nom de plume to its author then I wont bother either.
You'd think nobody had ever done so before. That Linux version n.0 sprang from the earth complete, perfect, without errors or missing parts.
Heck, MS Windows 9x has gone through, what, 9 revisions and it *still* has fundimental technical flaws and persistant bugs (some of which are both trivially reproducable & trivially fixable.)
Now Apple finally get's an OS out the door, doesn't spend the next decade polishing it in the lab and now folks want to diss it?
Puh-lease.
Wait 'till July when Apple ships the darn thing on their hardware. Wait 'till it's been through a patch cycle or two. Wait 'till the developers have finally gotten their asses out of beta and shipped some product, there's some more native applications out there. Wait 'till Apple & third parties have had a chance to go in & fix some of the booboo's, some folks have had an 'itch to scratch' & used the Open Source 'Darwin' to muck about a bit and rework things. Then stop comparing, well, apples to oranges and instead compare MacOS X to any other .1 OS.
In the meantime Apple has just released a consumer *nix with more shipping copies then any other *nix. It's includes a number of innovations: XML-based 'scripts' to GUI-ify the notoriously idiosyncratic *nix et al configuration files, a non-X rendering layer based on the public format PDF, and of course the immensely productive Nextstep-derived object-oriented Cocoa development environment.
Finally it's gotting *nix into more houses & businesses then anything else has, all of the press regarding GNU/Linux et al notwithstanding.
I don't read ACs: If a post isn't worth so much as a nom de plume to its author then I wont bother either.
Ok I am going to try to lay this all out without sounding anything like a flame. This OS release is sort of the poster child for unfinished software releases. This OS is for all purposes Public Beta II. If you go read the discussion boards for installation on Apple's site or the forums on MacFixit you will see how many problems this OS has. It won't even run on my G3 Lombard Powerbook. There are so many threads on what could be causing it. Ram, Processor, Font folder in the wrong place. All suggesstions give tips... none of them make the OS get past installation on my system. The install took 2 and a half hours on my laptop. 9.1 runs fine without any problems. I have used recent internal builds of OS X without a problem either... except for kernel panics... which I figured would go away with the release version but they haven't according to the discussion threads. So DP4, Public Beta, 4k56 and 4k60 all ran nicely on my powerbook. But the Official release will not run at all. Apple says they do not know but are working on it. I don't see any progress. And another pet peve I have developed is that Apple has all but forgotten the lombard powerbook. They only care about the pismo and Ti. The lombard is probably the most needing of a firmware update but every firmware update is for the pismo. Anyway. I love OS X.. just waiting for it to actually work and for Apple to get their heads out of their asses. :)
IRNI
From my experience, you run out of memory pretty fast. I've got a old 7100/80 at work I kick around on every now and then, and it has 64 megs. Right now, the OS has reserved 15.1 megs, and it's using about 95% of that. IE has 11.9 megs reserved, and is using about 80% of that. Outlook is using about 50% of the 8.8 megs it. If I launch Excel and Word, then all my physical memory is suddenly "used" and if I run other apps, I have to use the virtual memory.
They don't recommend upgrading an existing system at all.
I think that is sage advice from Microsoft for the average home user. Obviously the same doesn't apply for people who know what they're doing. Upgrading from Win9x or NT to 2000 works "sort-of". You get a usable box, but you'll probably start having problems in a week or two.
Clean installs are the way to go, hands down, but most home users can't handle this without shooting themselves in the foot. They'll do something like reformat their box and install their new OS okay, but they didn't have the foresight to download Windows XP versions of their drivers before they did so, so now they're sitting there, running in 640x480 with 16 colors, and they're caught in a Catch 22. Without drivers for their crappy Winmodem, they can't connect to AOL to download the XP versions of their drivers...
This is why for most people, it makes more sense to just wait until you get a new computer, unless you have a technical friend who is willing (or can be bribed with pizza) to spend an entire Saturday at your house, installing the new OS for you. Or, will let you bring your box over to his place, where he can use his cable modem to grab drivers and BIOS updates, etc. as needed.
In short, upgrading from Win9x to XP isn't going to be as simple as popping in a CD and clicking "Upgrade". On the surface, it will be, but the user isn't going to have a very good experience with the OS, and Microsoft will start hearing the same sort of complaints that Apple is suffering right now.
---
When in danger or in doubt, run in circles, scream and shout. --Robert A. Heinlein
One of the most impressive things about this OSX release for me is the developer tools that are included. You get Project Builder and an Interface builder that are IMHO some of the best damn tools I have seen for rapid project development. NeXT is definately showing its presence here.
Visit Jonesblog and say hello.
This whole "bsd based" thing has gotten way out of proportion. The fact is, it has little in common with bsd other than the fact that there is a bsd interface to the mach kernel that is there for the sole purpose of allowing it to run unix programs such as apache, sendmail, etc. Most people seem to think that it started out as BSD and apple built their own window system on top, which is far from the truth. The BSD stuff is a convenient way for apple to use existing software, nothing more.
My Secret Knowledge..
.4 release
/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/xinit/xinit
... back to Aqua...
Step 1, read the docs:
Step 2, Download from Darwinfo.com XFree86 binaries. (Was a december release)
Step 3, Download the binary update from ftp.XFree86.org (4.0.3)
Install all.
Download XonX
decompress
go to terminal
startx
OPTIONAL
Download and install WindowMaker binary from darwinfo.org
Install NATIVE OSX/Darwin WindowMaker onto OSX (Doesn't run from Linux box, runs locally)
modify
(I removed startup items that are default and added )
/usr/local/bin/wmaker &
xhost +
I can now choose to compile and run programs natively, or telnet into my Linux machine, type in
export DISPLAY=192.168.10.4:0.0 (my OSX machine)
... the run something such as
/opt/jbuilder4/bin/jbuilder
/usr/local/mozilla/mozilla
etc etc etc, it's working fine for me...
... hit CTRL-OPTION-A
thats it....
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Would you like a Python based alternative to PHP/ASP/JSP?
I am in the same boat.. I bought a G4 two weeks ago and I am quite happy with it. (I bought the bottom of the line G4 466)..
It's about as fast as linux in feel of the os, but less buggy. Yes, even though Mac people are complaining, it's 100% imporovment over gimp or kde in terms of stability and 'togetherness'.
I can use Mozilla, IE, and I nabbed up a copy of Microsoft Office 2001.. Basically I am set. I have a full screen XWindows server running next to the aqua, I can hit CTRL-CMD-A and it bounces from the full screen XWindows server back to Aqua. This is helpful when I feel like running a i386 based program or just want to play with XWindows.
If you do go for the bottom of the line (466 G4), you should probably buy some more ram
Oh, and if you use Visio.... there is a native OSX (well, carbon) program out that will let you build Visio compatible documents.. for about $200 you can buy the Windows and Mac OS9/X license and use it at home and work.. Windows or Mac. But I use visio quite a bit for flow charts and network diagrams.
But, to me user experience was worth more than a few hundred dollar difference between a comparable PC based system. Unix with style
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Would you like a Python based alternative to PHP/ASP/JSP?
From pricewatch.com:
$95 - 533 celeron w/ MB
$31 - 128 M RAM
$7 - Mid Tower case
$134 - Geforce 2 64M GTS
$4 - 100Mb ethernet card
$42 - DVD Drive
$15 - Logitech Keyboard
$3 - Logitech Mouse
$119 - 17" monitor
$66 - 10 Gig HD
=================
$516
--
A mind is a terrible thing to taste.
"A mind is a terrible thing to taste."
...visit www.macgimp.org. Presently, it's all still a bit fiddly though - so be warned. A screenshot of the GIMP (running fairly happily, it seems) can be found here.
I mean, even if this OS produces everything it claims to, is it really worth an intel user to switch over when you can get a duron/celeron box for 500, and the cheapest way to get a mac is an iMac for about 8 or 9 hundred and then you have to suffer through a 15" monitor?
So your Duron/Celeron box for $500 comes with a 17" monitor? Really? That's incredible.
At least the iMac has a monitor, while it may be overpriced, there is a price-point that is very succesful in all platforms of Computer sales that is right around $800-$1000. The iMac isn't geared toward the power user, rather, toward Joe Friday who wants a computer for the internet, word processing, email, and his 5 year old kid to play "Reader-Rabbit" on.
And let me know where I can buy that $500 Duron/Celeron with that nice big 17" monitor.
It's only when we've lost everything, that we are free to do anything...
The good:
Java actually works. Programs that are pure Java are able to run just fine. This is an amazing step for Macintosh.
The bad:
Running java programs on a mac is not easy. I had to use a command line to run all my software. Since this is the first command line on a Mac, I assume that Mac users will not be willing to go that route. Neither class files or jar files are double clickable. By contrast, jar files on windows are associated with Java and open right up when you click on them. Apple does have a tool that will package your as a Mac Application. However, it appears that it can only be run on a Macintosh and as a GUI. Since I don't develop on a Mac, this isn't really a good option. I would consider switching, but if I did, then I would like to be able to build everthing from a make file, so I'm hesitant.
Apple has done a poor job of porting the MRJ, the java hooks into the Mac OS. Specifically, I was upset to find that the command for opening a web browser hasn't been implemented. I have a crossplatform class for opening a web browser from Java, but as of yet have not been able to get it to work with OS X. This can be done on other systems by using a command line, but applications on OS X appear as directories on the command line, and most Mac apps don't accept command lines anyway.
I also consider the MRJ to be a poor solution because after using these system specific classes your applications will not compile on other systems that do not have these libraries. You have to jump through hoops using the Reflection API in Java to be be able to find the classes at runtime so that your stuff will compile on other systems.
Overall:
I'd say Java on the Mac is good enough. I'll start supporting OS X as a platform that my programs run on. Provided they don't have to open a web browser, and given that the user has a bit of command line savvy.
Hub
The biggest problems with OsX so far are speed, which is the #1 complaint, especially with native OSX apps, ironically. A problem also is the actual decline in usability from os/9 to os/x, which stems from changes to the finder and the general methodolgy of the thin. Memory consumption is a big issue that all reviews seem to note. Another one is that IE performs really badly in its beta-carbonized form.
On the bright side, most reviewers seem to agree that the Unix underbelly really gives os/x strength in terms of usability, and a VM subsystem that is more robust and general purpose, rather than the flakey patchwork that was os/9. Most reviewers seem to agree that OS/X has alot of potential yet to be fulfilled on the usability side and the performance side, and thus suggest waiting until July or thereabouts, when apple will start preloading computers with a newer version of os/x for the masses.
I read the Ars review with some interest.
I've been running OS X since March 24th or so, thanks to Staples selling it early, and I've personally been very impressed with it.
I'm a long-time UNIX geek and recent Mac convert. (Despite the initially seemingly-high pricetag, the quality of the hardware and support is unbeatable.)
I don't think it's fair to say the OS was shipped "unfinished" or "half-baked". From time to time, you have to decide what bugs and problems you can live with, and get stuff out the door. (How long was 2.4 in development? If I'm not mistaken, since I'm not a Linux person, Linus finally slapped a code freeze on it, did he not?)
Yes, I have to boot into OS9 to watch DVD's. Windows doesn't ship with a DVD player (Media Player doesn't count. I don't use it to play my mp3's, I won't use it to watch my DVD's) and certainly has issues, and Linux has been not-ready-for-primetime since its inception.
Aqua is eyecandy, and a lot of it is probably overkill to some of our more utilitarian users, but there's a whole lot of config files and resource forks just waiting to be hacked. Lots of sites exist, as a matter of fact, devoted to such things.
Applications - well, I hardly ever have to run anything in Classic. I've found an email application, an mp3 player, a web browser, AIM, a LiveJournal client (addict? me? never...) and other things that I need for daily happiness, all either Carbonized or already Cocoa. The only things I need Classic for are things like Photoshop and Dreamweaver - and it works just fine for those. Not every application I'll ever use is available yet - but stuff I need on a daily basis is all already supported in OS X.
The only real caveat I've heard about its support, in fact, is a lack of real MIDI support. But I've heard that's being worked on.
Plus, if you think something's missing - add it. Apple couldn't get ssh included, but many many people have gotten OpenSSH installed and working with a minimum of hassle.
It needs a bit of work, but the potential within OS X is huge. I'm looking forward to watching it grow.
"During your times of trial and suffering, when you see only one set of footprints, it was then that I was riding the pogostick."
A good traveller has no fixed plans and is not intent on arriving.
You can easily plug in some larger POS monitor to the Standard VGA output port.
- passion
i've been using MacOS X since Developer Preview 3, and following the Ars write-ups as well: they're always very well done. this latest review of OS X final is excellent, but i think John goes overboard on bashing the interface. the issue with Aqua is that it borrows a lot of interface workings from the UNIX, NeXT and Windows world, and isn't 100% Mac. this is infuriating to Mac die hards, but to people like me who have only owned a Mac for a couple of years (with a primarily UNIX background before that) i'm right at home with Aqua.
the reports of MacOS X being "half-baked" are over the top. yes there are some things missing from OS X, and yes it's not as "polished" as MacOS 9, but it's hardly as "unfinished" as many of the reviews would suggest. first of all any of the "unfinished" bits are interface-only; the guts of MacOS X are excellent. of course to Mac people the interface is the computer, which is where all of these reports come from.
so why is it unfinished? well first of all the UI is quite slow for certain functions. mostly it's the transparencies and other Aqua-isms that can't be accelerated with a typical 2D graphics card, so the CPU is working overtime to render the screen under heavy loads. many of the slow downs can be directly seen in the Mac's most important application, the Finder, which is why you'll hear the Mac folk screaming bloody murder. many have suggested that as Quartz (the UI rendering engine) is optimized for 3D cards, the interface will speed up substantially.
admittedly there are some bugs in the interface, especially related to classic applications (as noted in the Ars Technica review). sometimes these can cause UI lockups and stalls that for Mac-users, looks like a complete OS hang. Apple of course needs to work these thigns out before OS X gets pre-installed on all Macs in July.
all in all i'd say that MacOS X is an excellent operating system with great potential. but at the same time this release was not highly trumpeted by Apple for good reason. it's not designed to instantly replace every Mac-users desktop tomorrow, but rather to bring in the early adopters and determine what the priorities are for everyday Mac users. it's still a fully-functional OS, and i use it every day outside of work for general net use and development, and to that end, it works phenomenally.
but the question is, should the current release of OS X be the "final" release? i'd say yes. again, i'm not a long-time Mac user (and really, i only got a Mac to use OS X), so i don't see the interface as lacking substantially. and while the MacOS 9 interface is nice, it's not the be-all and end all, and things needed to be changed. the UI as it stands is extremely useable (for instance, i prefer it in its current state to every single Linux interface i have ever tried), and any changes from here on in have to be made by getting it in the hands of as many people as possible to make it better. it's a painful process for Mac users religiously tied to their interface, but in the end i think it'll make for a better UI.
so the bottom line: i wouldn't suggest it to my not-so-computer-savvy Mac friends, but to anybody even reasonably familiar with UNIX, you'll feel right at home.
- j
I mean, even if this OS produces everything it claims to, is it really worth an intel user to switch over when you can get a duron/celeron box for 500, and the cheapest way to get a mac is an iMac for about 8 or 9 hundred and then you have to suffer through a 15" monitor?
I am sympathetic to Apple's plight. They probably rightly feel that by adanoning a unique hardware platform they destroy the gravy train.
Apple has a superior product. No question.
But until I can buy OS X for my cheap and available hardware platform, my interest is going to be limited to reading these interesting threads on /..
Sorry if this is not directly germane to the topic at hand. But its the everpresent problem, right?
www.avacal.com -- the home page of pete shaw
I like OS because it's X-tream. I also want to run Windows XP! And Linu-X! I'll be so XXXXing leet....
G.H.
ALL YOUR BASE ARE OVER ALREADYJust wait till some crappy band steals your nic.
Let me begin by saying that I used to be a rabid, frothing at the mouth Linux/UNIX advocator. I've been using Linux exclusively for nearly two years.
.Xdefaults file, testing new values for Netscape and emacs until everything is the way I want.
Anyways, when I found out about Mac OS X, I was very excited. I wanted to try it. The interface looked so incredibly well done. Whoever says that Windows has a nice user interface must be joking; I think that the Windows GUI is extremely bland.
So I bought an iMac 233 for a steal over at eBay. I ran Mac OS X Public Beta for many months in anticipation of the final release.
The day the final release came out, I was so impressed with Apple hardware and the beta, that I ran out and bought one of the new iMacs just so that I would have the extra speed boost in running OS X.
Anyways, let me say that I have not been disappointed in the slightest! OS X is everything that Linux should have been. It's powerful enough for the command line lovers, but elegant enough for the common desktop user. I don't care what anyone says; Linux is not ready for the common user.
Common Linux scenario. I'm running KDE with some GNOME apps, along with Netscape 4.77 and emacs. Say I want to change my computer's theme. That means I have to find a KDE theme, a GTK theme (and figure out how to install it from KDE), and edit my
That's just too inconvenient. In fact, after running OS X for a week now, I found that there were a lot of annoying inconveniences that I put up with in Linux that I don't have to deal with in OS X. It got to the point with Linux where I was saying, "I'm so tired of constant sysadmin battles... I just want something that works." You know what? Mac OS X just works.
Not to mention the fact that I find Apple hardware far superior. There's none of the Intel Driver Hell that I've dealt with using other OSes. I plugged in my iMac (which was equipped with CDRW, ethernet, modem, etc...) and everything worked, no tweaking necessary.
What I like the best is the XonX program that a bunch of sourceforgers are working on. By hitting Command-Alt A, I can switch back and forth between my old XFce desktop and my new, spiffy Aqua desktop.
To those who say that Apple hardware is too expensive... yes, the powermacs and the cubes are still fairly high in price. If you're looking to play around with OS X, pick up an iMac. They're very reasonably priced machines that pack a lot of power.
Emacs. Yes, it has emacs. Runs in text mode.
:)
Porting, sure you probably can. It includes developer tools. Thank you Apple!
No built in X-Server. "There is no X in MacOS X". You can use an X server as a standalone application just like you can in Windows and OS9.
Don't know about NFS.
It runs a beta of IE now, and Office is being ported.
So, since game developers writing games for OS X will basically be writing their games for a Unix based OS, does this mean that we will see more ports to Linux since it will be considerably less work to port them over?
Mac OS uses proprietary Carbon and Quartz APIs instead of the POSIX and X11 APIs we're used to on *n?x boxen. But good abstraction layer libraries such as Allegro will solve much of the problem.
Will I retire or break 10K?
Well, I've had it on my iBook (466Mhz, 10GB/HD, 192MB Ram) and I have to say that it's all been pretty painless.
Installation was easy. Bung in CD. Wait 20 mins. Reboot.
Stability is good. No kernel panics (yet).
To me, startup time is irrelevant (within reason). I put the machine to sleep when I don't use it, anyway, so startup time is approximately 2 seconds.
I spent the weekend getting as much carbonised stuff as I could in replacement for the Classic stuff I'd been running before, which has meant that I've been able to get underway with most things. True Classic really does hog resources, but the long term plan is that you won't be running it much any more. Just some 'old favourites' that don't get updated will stay running under Classic. It wouldn't surprise me if in a few years time, Classic is dropped.
Games run OK too. Played the Sims with no noticable problems. (Apart from the dock trying to pop up when you move the mouse to the bottom of the screen, but you can quickly sort that out...)
True, it loves RAM, but this is all short term stuff. Computing power and RAM is on the up, and this is a new release. I'm going to put as much RAM in my machine as I can (320MB, I think) and I should hope things should kick along nicely. I guess that this is the chance you take when being an early adopter. RAM prices have nosedived recently, so I'll be upgrading.
I'd just like the right printer driver for my HP printer now... (not included in the set that was shipped on the CD, unfortunately). This means I've got to reboot under 9.1 to print, but as I only print about 3 documents a week, it's not a big issue.
Only real gripe - some of the apps are fairly ropey (Mail in particular), but that's not an operating system problem. I think we shall be given a good few updates in the next few months. Fine by me.
Generally, I'm pretty happy with it. Apple did the right thing releasing it early (*). Only then can developers start running apps on it.
(* - Early is a subjective term. We should have been using this 4 years ago....)
M.
P.S. OS X on a Visor - Pah. Damn article posted on April Fools day.....
They're hardly shy -- most of the company brass (especially Steve and Avie "Mr. Mach" Tevanian) are NeXTies. It's just that they've subsumed it so completely that to all intents and purposes old-line cubers have been grandfathered as Mac folks (I guess, anyway).
What does bug me is that Apple doesn't push the fact that "their" tech (i.e. NextStep) was the base of the very first implementation of the World Wide Web. They should have been pushing that to a near-ridiculous degree when Rhapsody first shipped; after all, what better way to plug your server OS than to emphasize that it ran the first web server?
(And, yes, it's fair to say that. Scratch X, find OpenStep; there was even an issue of MacAddict a while back that showed how to activate the old Next look on Cocoa apps.)
/Brian
Okay...
I'll give you this much -- the interface of the shipping version of OS X is an inexcusable kluge. Apple painted themselves into a corner with the Public Beta interface and wound up having to go back and return the Apple menu to where it belonged, but they screwed up by not really making it the Apple menu we all know and love.
I'm inclined to believe there's some NextStep interface baggage involved there. So be it. But make a working Apple Menu -- the old way -- as soon as possible. Put an Apple Menu Items folder in my home directory so it's as easy to manage as the original. That can't be so hard.
The interface isn't *awful*, mind you; it's just not very Mac-like and will take way too long to get used to. The finder isn't bad at all. The dock... well, I could take or leave that, but the use of the dock as a control strip replacement doesn't quite wash with me.
BTW, a quick history, for those of you not quite Mac-savvy enough to know about the nifty little gadget we've come to know and love: the Control Strip started out as a way for PowerBook users to control various system functions. It was intended solely for PowerBook users and was rigged to run only on those systems, but enough people found it useful that it was hacked to ignore the machine type. Apple got the hint and made it general system software in the next release, for both desktop and mobile. Its function was merged into the dock in X, which works, but it's a bit... oh, messy?
/Brian
Comment removed based on user account deletion
Here's the link
Keeping
Well I have been running OS X on my iBook (firewire) since March 27th and personally I'm quite impressed. Just to give some background:
- osx.html ) has a precompiled Bash install for you . . which is quite nice. And for you Python freaks a precompile version is here too ( http://tony.lownds.com/macosx/ ).
/Users to /Home . . but those are just little geeky pleasures I find that make it more user friendly . . I'm sure my mom as a mac user would care less.
.in fact I really have expierenced many problems at all . . it hasn't crashed once. I was sad to find out that Fortune wasn't available . . "sniffle" . . but I just grabbed the source from somewhere and compiled it. wheeee.
iBook (firewire) G3 366 320mb of Ram (okay so that is a little more than average) no DVD or CDR/W
I upgraded OS X to build 4L5 (10.0.1) ( http://osx.macnn.com/news.php?id=4812 ) with the "unreleased" update that is floating around. Now for me . . . OS X is light and snappy . . I hear quite random things when I read through all the boards and newsgroups though.
Classic apps are not as fast . . but are certaintly usable. SO far I have played with Photoshop 6, Dreamweaver UltraDev 4, and Freehand 9 in classic emulation mode.
Also . . I should probably point out that I have used linux before . . I also have a full time BeOS (please don't go bankrupt!!) box at home too . . that said I use the command line and unix functions everyday . .
The default shell is TCSH . . which I found odd . . but whatever . . I think it comes with ZSH and CSH installed too. This site ( http://www.savagetranscendental.com/data/OSX/bash
I have installed the hack called Docking Maneuvers ( http://homepage.mac.com/isleep/ ), which lets you move the "dock" to the right, left, and top . . instead of just the default bottom.
I've had to go through and make some "compability" fixes . . creating symlinks for things like cc to gcc . . or
Speaking of which, the OS install in about 10 minutes, I rebooted . . configured the PPPoE to work with my Verizon DSL and walla I was on the internet . . so for my mom . . that being done in like 12 minutes is purty nice.
Hmm . . I'm quite enjoying it . . I haven't expierence the number of problems with IE 5.1 beta that most people have .
Yeah, none of them except this one.
Burn Hollywood Burn
BBspot Interviews Apple CEO Steve Jobs
this reminds me of the immortal Dilbert comic where the boss walks in from some idiot leadership meeting and suggests they install a "SQL". Dilbert then (knowing his boss doesn't kown diddly) asks him if he already knows in which color he wants the server
the point to the whole story is the joke about the colors isn't so absurd anymore...
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sigamajig...