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BSD User's Review Of OS X
Lally Singh writes: "Getting bored with the latest distribution? Or getting tired of searching for drivers for your 8 bit soundblaster (in)compatible? Then listen to one BSD user's opinion of Mac OS X. And stop complaining about the hardware. Give a Powermac or one of the portables a chance before knocking on it."
Our friend's browser count for Mac OS X is a little low. He includes:
Internet Explorer, OmniWeb, and Mozilla.
He neglects: Opera and iCab and Lynx. I'm posting this from iCab, which
I love (though it can't seem to handle hotmail and crashes on a few things, it's overall snappier than IE. I can almost quit and restart it
in the time it takes IE to come up with a new window after switching
back from another app). I don't know how any Unix geek could possibly
leave lynx out of the pantheon of browsers.
As for Mozilla: uch. I can't even get beyond the splash screen on my
machine. I almost think it doesn't count.
Libertarianism is rich wolves and poor sheep playing gambler's ruin for dinner.
You can install unknown utility to get OS X going on any 603 powermac. search www.versiontracker.com for it.
- Kaos games and encryption systems developer
Here are instructions to get the FreeBSD ports tree installed on Mac OS X (& GNU-Darwin). I've had pretty good luck with it :)
Had the same screen problem with mine. I orignally thought it was scratches, but the helpful folks at Apple tech support said it was grease from my fingers on the edges of the keys. A decent LCD screen cleaner got them all of without a problem.
My biggest problem is with the rubber feet that fall off. Without the feet, air doesn't pass under it as well, and it can get quite hot. Apple sent me two sets of replacement ones for free, just for the asking, though.
The first run of batteries were missing a rubber gasket, which lead to the falling out problem. Got a free swap-out on that.
Other than those three problems, it's been a great machine. And it's amazing how non-embittering it is to have minor problems like these when the company admits to the issues, apologizes, and overnights a fix.
My video compression blog
I am that guy...
At the time Apple did not have the Developer Tools available for download. I actually waited for a few weeks and finally resorted to Darwin, which is the same tools anyway, minus the Project Builder apps.
But after 10.0.4 came out they also made many of the tools available to ADC members. Regardless, the tools I got from Darwin already worked.
Brennan Stehling - http://brennan.offwhite.net/blog/
Interesting.. I'm typing this on an iBook with a 21" VGA monitor running at 1280x1024 right now..
Despite the fact that the GNU project has been around for every bit as long as the Mac (since 1984), they still don't have an OS that my mom could install and use.
Have you tried SuSE Linux 7.2, or Mandrake 8.0? Both install very nicely. SuSE will auto-detect your hardware for you, setting up X and so on. If you can install a Microsoft OS, you can install SuSE Linux 7.2. And if you can use a Microsoft OS, then you can use SuSE Linux 7.2 as well.
Check it out, if you get the chance.
It's a 136Mb download, so if you're not on broadband then picking up a retail copy of Mac OS X is the easiest way to get them on CD - the tools CD isn't shipped with new systems, but it's in the box if you buy it at retail.
-dair
I bought MacOSX as soon it was available, I gave up on it, because I had to switch to MacOS9 to play DVDs.
You can swtich back next month.
- Scott
Scott Stevenson
Tree House Ideas
The iBook's LCD only supports 1024x768, but the card in it supports much higher... which you see if you hook it up to another monitor.
Do you own one? Sorry, but anyone here can go to Apple's support boards, Macintouch.com, MacNN, whatever, and confirm that:
The new iBook does NOT support dual displays (only mirroring)
You CANNOT drive an external display at any resolution greater than 1024 x 768.
Both of these apply to both MacOS 9 and X. If you've somehow hacked it to make it work, back it up with a URL or something. Believe me, there are lots of people pissed because it doesn't work, and we're all eagerly awaiting your reply telling us how to do it.
P.S., I suspect you will not reply, because you'll do the research and find that you're wrong. There's a guy further up in this thread, that claimed the same thing, then never came back to back it up. (I really do wish you weren't wrong - these issues are the only thing stopping me from buying this machine).
> a mix of BSD and NeXT
NeXT's kernel was already BSD/Mach.
Ben "You have your mind on computers, it seems."
I'll stop complaining about their hardware as soon as they stop charging $350 to UPGRADE from a GeForce2mx to a GeForce3 and selling 256 MB sticks of memory for $400.
I have no problem with Apple charging a premium for their nice cases, friendly OS, and good quality motherboards. I DO have a problem with them using "clone-PC" quality commodity parts and charging for them as if they engineered them in their own R&D department.
OS-X seems fairly cool from the little I've seen of it. I was especially happy to see that a full Java 2 implementation is available on it.
Apple did a good job with this.
One thing to check out is the Gnu/Darwin project here : http://gnu-darwin.sourceforge.net/
ebw
Based on what? The MHz? The G4 500 Mhz performs roughly the same as PIII 1 Ghz. I heard a rumor recently that may explain this MHz myth on why Apple's chips haven't hit the GHz barrier yet: Intel and their x86 competitors (AMD, etc) count both the rising edge and falling edge of the clock cycle, while Motorola (makers of the Apple CPUs) count only the rising edge.
The One Rule Of Chess You'll Ever Need: Don't play someone who carries a kit in their bookbag.
Hertz is Hertz.
It means times per second. It refers to a full clock cycle, up down and back around, including rising and falling edges.
Worst rumor ever. And I only use a mac at home.
It means times per second. It refers to a full clock cycle, up down and back around, including rising and falling edges.
I believe the guy was referring to fetches on the rising and falling edge of the bus clock. AMD does this, maybe others do too?
"If you need to work with Photoshop all day buy a Mac, the price difference per MHz is irrelevant if you make your money doing this type of work. "
Not anymore.
More and more professionals run Photoshop on Intel simply because for the price of high-end Mac they can get outrageously equipped PC.
Apple has a rather bad habit of introducing a very competitive machine and then not bothering to update it until it's quite uncompetitive. The best time to buy is right after introduction. There are rumors about new TiPBs in the late September time frame.
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I just sold my DUAL G4 533 because it was the worst OS I have ever used in reguards to:
Happly I got what I paid for it when I sold it, but I am very very unhappy with OS X. Its a great OS as far as something that has no specialized use, but A Mac is SPECIAL!
Apple really messed up going with a mix of BSD and NEXT!
Its got the sense of UNIX in some of the structure but then NEXT gets its foot in the door and it makes no sense. Its not logical in its structure other then the NetInfo database, but even that isnt that great. Apple is great in some respects and bad in others. I have thought of them as a cheapo linux server (old 7200) for a little kid. Other then that apple is not gonna do so well untill they get their shit together.
"Not my manner of thinking but the manner of thinking of others has been the source of my unhappiness." - M