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Flirting With Mac OS X

Posted by Hemos on from the opening-up dept.

An anonymous reader wrote to us with an article on Byte from Moshe Bar about flirting with using OS X. Taco and I are both strongly considering beginning to use OS X as a primary laptops - anyone else looking at doing this? And anyone from Apple that can get me a good price on super TiBooks? *grin*

34 of 971 comments (clear)

  1. Laptop is apple's strength by Duds · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I'm certinally considering a Mac laptop. I don't really get on with the design desktopwise, but as a laptop something like the powerbooks look really nice.

    Plus what I want in a notebook is low power consumption, good screen, easy access to the smaller number of things I need to DO with my laptop.

    Plus of course new toy syndrome :)

    I actually think Apple should be stressing this market a lot more than they are.

  2. Asthetics by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

    Even if you hate Macs with a vengence, at least give them credit for looking look.

    All who want to attack the TiPBook's looks should go look at themself in the mirror.

  3. Mac Laptops by Naikrovek · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I thought about this for a while, but the keyboards that come on Mac laptops leave A LOT to be desired. shallow keys, half-height arrow keys, etc.

    And don't get me started on Trackpads v. Trackpoints. If Apple had Trackpoints (the little nipple between G, B, and H on your keyboard) I think i could overlook the keyboard.

    And one button mice... We all know that is not enough.

    Sure, I can get an external keyboard & mouse, and I would if i were *given* a powerbook, but to me, that's just like having a Mac desktop, because it would never leave my desk. But, if were to *buy* a Mac, it would have to be a desktop, where I can replace the peripherals with something I like.

    The point: they should try to make a few more people happy. I would have switched long ago if they had a full size laptop keyboard (every key full size) and a three button trackpoint pointer. I want a Mac in a Thinkpad case.

    my two cents on the "Switch" campaign.

    1. Re:Mac Laptops by MoNickels · · Score: 5, Interesting

      The point: they should try to make a few more people happy. I would have switched long ago if they had a full size laptop keyboard (every key full size) and a three button trackpoint pointer.

      You mean they should make *you* happy.

      It's a different computer: use it differently. As a long time trackpad user, you'd have to squeeze my testicles in a vise to get me to use a laptop with the orange knob right in the middle of the keyboard. I've tried it, repeatedly, and it sucks. It's an infuriatingly useless device. I onced worked in an office where Thinkpads with such idiotic cursor-manipulating devices were standard. Everyone there was a Windows user, not converted Mac users, and a majority of users had mice. They couldn't stand the stupid thing.

      Same goes for the two- and three-button trackpoint pointers. Again, I've used them, and repeatedly. It almost requires two hands to use! In fact, that's how most people do it: with two hands. What a logistical and tactical waste of effort. But a one-button trackpad, it's a one-handed device. And you can keep your other hand on the keyboard to control-click, which is natural since that hand is often using other modifier keys, as well.

      Part of the reason Windows and Unix users have problems with the Mac's one button (and whine incessantly about it, to such a degree that you want to put *their* testicles in a vise), is because they tend to be unused to the click-and-hold action. On a modern Mac, this will get you the exact same action as the right-click menu. What in God's name you need a third button for, besides having another part to break, beats the hell out of me.

      --

      Wordnik, a dictionary project which aims to collect

    2. Re:Mac Laptops by Negatyfus · · Score: 2, Interesting

      I've also grown used to the mouse wheel...

    3. Re:Mac Laptops by mccalli · · Score: 5, Interesting
      As a long time trackpad user, you'd have to squeeze my testicles in a vise to get me to use a laptop with the orange knob right in the middle of the keyboard. I've tried it, repeatedly, and it sucks. It's an infuriatingly useless device.

      Whereas I hate trackpads and never use the damned things if possible.

      I like Dell's approach on the Inspiron I have - put both on the machine, let the user decide.

      Cheers,
      Ian

    4. Re:Mac Laptops by digitect · · Score: 3, Interesting
      if you're upset that Apple's don't have multiple mouse buttons and are too dense to push the Option, Control and Command keys in their stead (hang on a minute, that means you've got - effectively - FOUR mouse click types!) then you're just being deliberately perverse. The modifier key system is GOOD, and gives NOTHING away to the multiple mouse button approach IMHO.

      Serious CAD software requires multiple mouse buttons. In AutoCAD 2000 and later, the right mouse hand can control selection, zoom, pan, context menus, and command enter if you are fortunate enough to have three buttons and a scroll wheel. Meanwhile, the left hand is very busy hopping all over the keyboard entering the hundreds of possible commands. With some experience, the CAD user can almost draw without looking down at the keyboard. Except...

      We used to use Logitech mice at our firm, but the mouse software was buggy with AutoCAD, requiring the user to hold down the Ctrl key with the left hand while using the right hand mouse scroll button just to zoom around the drawing. This defeated the whole purpose of having zoom on the scroll button: single hand zoom and pan control! My left hand effectively became multi-modal again which requires considerable more thinking (read: slower) effort during production.

      A single button mouse might make sense for dinky little point and click word processing but all serious CAD and graphics software (and probably other serious industry-based software) provide much more power at the mouse hand. Apple continues to hold on to this paradigm because it likes both the design implications and the tradition. But it is one of the major reasons Micros~1 ate it for lunch ten years ago: lack of options.

      --
      There is no need to use a SlashDot sig for SEO...
    5. Re:Mac Laptops by gig · · Score: 3, Interesting

      > As long as harddisks don't improve drastically in
      > speed or RAID becomes standard, I don't see GBit as
      > neccessity.

      RAID is standard on the Mac. You open Disk Utility and set it up with a few GUI switches.

      I routinely move huge amounts of data between my PowerBook and PowerMac. They both came with gigabit Ethernet standard, and theh ports also do their own sensing so you don't need a crossover cable. Apple was ahead of the curve going to 10/100 just like they are ahead of the curve going to 10/100/1000 because their customers work with lots of data for desktop users. DV movie clips, huge print jobs, multitrack audio. Macs keep their value and get used for many years longer than you would expect, and it's stuff like this that does that. Gigabit Ethernet has been standard on pro Macs for 18 months or so and those machines are going to be great servers later on, with their FireWire and 802.11 antennaes and Gigabit Ethernet and lots of empty PCI slots.

      My PowerBook usually has two FireWire drives hooked up to it while I'm working, and my PowerMac has 4-6 drives hooked up at all times, so the big pipe between the machines means no waiting for data no matter where it is.

  4. Go for it. by matthew.thompson · · Score: 5, Interesting

    10 months ago I used Linux and Windows at home exclusively but wanted a laptop for taking stuff to work and writing on the train.

    None of the Windows laptops cut it with battery life or displays so I looked at the iBook. I plumped for the 600Mhz DVD Rom drive beast. It's since been with me to Singapore - great for watching DVDs, work most days, bed for writing, downstairs infront of the TV for emailing, the kitchen for recipes. (I got the airport card as well - nothing to break off so I don't feel scared using wireless networking while actually moving!)

    I use nothing but OS X on the beast (Up the RAM to at least 384Mb) and it's great. Proper terminal window to connect to my personal servers, MS RDP client for configuring Works' Windows 2000 boxes. Internal modem for connecting to other networks, Bluetooth for connecting whilst on the train. Best of all IT JUST WORKS.

    I've definately reached the point where I no longer want to have all my machines as play toys - the iBook is a workhorse and just keeps on slogging. It'd without a doubt the best PC I've bought so far.

    My Name's Matthew Thompson and I'm a system administrator and freelance journalist.

    --
    Matt Thompson - Actuality - Insert product here.
  5. yep, but I was urged to wait a while by evil+superstar · · Score: 1, Interesting

    Just this week I have decided to wait a while, since a friend told me he got rumours that the line-up would be refreshed and there might be a price shift in a month or so...

    but yeah, been using MacOS X at the office, and it takes a while to get used to it coming from linux, but it's definitely nice.

    And of course you can make your laptop dual bootable :-)

  6. Make the change!!! by RealTC · · Score: 2, Interesting
    Well, several months ago I switched over from using Linux/Windows to OSX under an iBook. If it wasnt for OSX then there would've been no way the change would have happened. The best thing about OSX is that:-

    1) You have a BSD backend...command line baby!!!!
    2) Its very stable....very very stable!
    3) its not windows......important part!
    4) Has a totally cool desktop.
    5) The iBook doesnt heat up as much as the Intel/AMD laptops and is efficient with battery power.

    Sure, you have just one mouse button, but mostly I use an external wheel mouse or trackball anyway with 2 buttons.

    And no, this isnt an ad for Apple, but after getting tired of XP crashing it was a good persuasion(typo?) to move to OSX.

  7. Not looking back by weefle · · Score: 3, Interesting
    I have three boxes under my desk at work. One running Windows XP, one running Debian, and one running Jaguar. The Windows box has been awakened from sleep maybe three times since Jaguar came out, and all three times it was to run NessusWX or some Novell client application that won't run on Mac OS X. I have used the Debian box for netselect a few times (can't seem to find a Mac OS X port for that one yet), and that's about it.

    But the Mac... Mail.app filters my junk mail very efficiently. Chimera does tabbed browsing almost as well as Galeon. iCal is young but already extremely cool, letting me keep track of my schedule and tasks. Terminal.app's ANSI colors suck, but it's a good emulator otherwise. Oh, and Fink and XDarwin let me sudo apt-get install gimp and almost anything else I could do on my Linux box.

    Oh, yeah, and I can run Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.

    I've switched, and I can't see going back.

  8. Power conservation on these ain't so great by signal7 · · Score: 2, Interesting


    I have an iBook with OSX.1 on it. The power management features of the OS are very poorly implemented in comparison to the way they were in OS9.2. Previously, you had different options depending on if you had the laptop on battery or AC power. In OSX.1, you only get one profile for both.

    Add to that the fact that sleep/wakeup operations while it's plugged into a live network sometimes put the machine in a coma, and it truly sucks. I eventually removed the magnet that causes it to sleep when the lid was closed just becuase it would be more stable.

    I'm seriously hoping they fixed these issues in Jaguar.

    --

    --
    I have no sig.

  9. Re:Ugh, where to begin... by firewort · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Regarding wireless cards:

    The Apple Airport Card has an antenna which runs within the inside of the laptop. In the iBook, the antenna runs up the sides of the screen frame. In the Powerbook, it runs along both sides of the palmrest. In the Thinkpad, there is no internal antenna- the card simply juts out the side.

    Antennae make a difference, and Apple engineering did pretty nicely when they incorporated the antennna in the whole product line, desktops included. It's hard to fault this good technical design advantage.

    Regarding DVD Playback:
    For a long time now, on Windows and on Mac, people have defeated region limitations, either by flashing the DVD drive with new firmware, or by using other software. It's pretty common. Of course, commerical skipping is still an annoyance.

    --

  10. I switched 6 months ago by deadsquid · · Score: 5, Interesting
    I purchased a Ti back in April to replace my Vaio and ThinkPad X21. I was tired of switching between Linux and Windoze on a regular basis, and wanted something that would allow me all the toys I wanted, the office apps work demanded of me, and a development platform that could go where I went. I also wanted integrated wireless - I _hate_ the antennas that stick out.

    I've had a mixed bag of an experience. I'm very used to right clicking items for properties/context-sensitive menus, and the "click-and-hold" drives me insane. That few tenths of a second is just enough to interrupt the flow of using the trackpad, and I use a two button mouse whenever possible.

    The click-and-hold also makes the dock less than useful for navigating around the apps if you have multiple windows/instances open and are looking for the familiar "taskbar" approach. I also find the jumping icons instead of a simple flash to grab my attention annoying. I have a couple other beefs about the interface, but nothing I can't deal with. Navigation between apps is icky, and that was my point.

    I use the powerbook (funny how we don't call it a laptop) in a variety of places and have a serious beef with the "Location" feature for networking. When I switch to a known area, and switch the location, it seems if chance plays heavily into whether the net connections are used. It's very unreliable, but I seem to have found the majiic sequence necessary to get it to work most times.

    That all said, I'm pretty happy with the rest. The apps that make up OSX, such as the DVD player, iPhoto, and iTunes are well thought out, and I wish they were available for other platforms. Third party software has helped with things like PocketPC support, and apps I'm used to with other OS's.

    I use Office X (thank you Microsoft, for not allowing me to upgrade cross-platform and fucking me for some more $, thank god for tax writeoffs) so I can use Entourage, Word, Excel, and PPoint as office apps, and I prefer the OSX versions to their windoze counterparts. This lets me fit into the environments of most of the companies I work with. StarOffice/OpenOffice is ok, but I prefer to use the Office Suite when I can.

    Finally, I have mysql, apache, and a bunch of mods installed so I can do app development/screwing around without the need for another box or rebooting/using an emulator when I want to use. It's also really nice to have a console/term window on an environment designed for use by regular folk.

    The hardware itself is mostly great - beautiful screen, three types of networking, firewire, usb, and the combo drive, and battery life kicks ass. The gripes I have are its size and weight (it's a little too big for my tastes, I was spoiled with the X21), the trackpad could have been designed a little better and including scrolling capabilities would have been nice, and a hd light would have been welcome as I sit and wait for stuff to launch, wondering if it's doing anything.

    All in all, I'm happy with the switch to the Ti as my laptop. I don't think I'd use it to replace my desktop, as I still can't play CS and a bunch of other games on it, but for a all-in-one travelling companion it's very hard to beat. I'm happy I made the switch.

    --
    Idiot, n. A member of a large and powerful tribe whose influence in human affairs has always been dominant
  11. Re:I did enjoy this part of the article: by sh4de · · Score: 4, Interesting

    OS X uses tcsh by default, but bash is available as of version 10.2. Prior to that, fans of bash just downloaded the source and compiled it.

    Furthermore, 10.2 stripped the default tcsh shell to its factory set-up. All the nifty aliases that were in 10.1 are now available in /usr/share/tcsh/examples.

  12. Re:I did enjoy this part of the article: by dschuetz · · Score: 3, Interesting

    So if you cd'd to this directory... /export/home/sandyd/cvs/mozilla/xpcom/tools/regist ry/macbuild/CVS ...you'd like that to appear in your prompt?

    I had my prompt set to a wacky little awk script that parsed out the last three components of a path, so I'd have something like:

    [root@anywhere ...registry/macbuild/CVS] #

    as my prompt. Worked pretty well. Damned if I know where the code is anymore, though, I've never customized my Linux environments as much as I did the NeXT I used 5-10 years ago.

    Also, in NS 3.3+, a special escape code could change the titlebar of the Terminal.app window. So I eventually dropped the path in the prompt and stuck it up in the titlebar instead. Was very nice.

  13. OS X on an iBook by eparkin · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I've been using my 700mhz iBook for roughly 3.5 months now and I have to say, I'm never going back to Linux as a day-to-day machine. I will however keep my FreeBSD server(s) for now.
    I'm lead software architect for a financial firm developing fairly large applications (as well as a couple of necessary kludges in this business). I needed a machine (preferably a laptop) which would give me the freedom to move about while taking my development environment with me.
    My first foray into real computers started in 1986 when I bought my first Amiga 1000. I progressed through multiple Amigas (I ended up running a 12 Line BBS (Somerton Telecomm) from 1987-1996) and became quite used to certain ways of doing things. Mostly the command line interface and it's unix slant towards directory paths and commands. We used to bust on Macs because they didn't offer anything for the power users.
    I moved to WinTel PC's in the latter half of 1996. I was at first enthralled with some of the really "neat" stuff I was able to do, but that lasted about 3 months. The current version of Slackware Linux at the time was installed, and I had a dual boot machine. Win 95 & Slackware. I did my perl development in Slackware, along with website development. Eventually bought my wife her own machine and that too was a dual boot.
    Flash forward to roughly 2 years ago. The wife was getting fed up with Win2000 Professional. She went 100% Mandrake Linux. (She's a professional illustrator). Loaded with a SCSI Scanner, The GIMP, etc. she was good to go. I was running FreeBSD in various versions (I still do).
    Started seeing and hearing more about these OS X laptops, the iBooks and the TiBooks. Did a bunch of research, decided to go with it and bought a 700mhz iBook w/Airport Card and 640MB of ram/30GB hard drive. I've enjoyed its ability so much that I went and bought an identical one for my wife. She loves it as well. Still have to install Gimp on hers (I have it on mine), but again, she is not only using her Linux box for Scanning because i don't have Gimp installed yet for her to touch up her comic strip (www.doemainofourown.com). That'll happen soon.
    End result. Jaguar is killer, and it runs super quick on the 700mhz iBooks. 10.1.5 was decent, and I've heard the older versions of OS X were abysmal so I can understand where some people are coming from. Try it, you'll love it.
    My iBook: 700mhz, 640MB ram, 30G HD, Java, Python, Perl 5.8, PHP4, MySQL, Mozilla 1.1, Chimera, GCC 3.1, NetBeans 3.3.2. Ati Radeon 16mb onboard. OpenGL 1.2.. Runs like a dream. Oh, and a firewire webcam.. who needs a video camera when you have one of those.. (iBot).

    As a side note: I only found that the majority of people who bitch about OS X and Apple, and about it not being free, are the people who can't afford them. This is their problem, not Apples.

    --
    /* eparkin - Software Architect, Perl/Python Coder, Ex-SCCA Rallycar Driver, FreeBSD & Mac OS X User */
  14. Same here, .. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

    I haven't switched on my home pc's (Windows & Linux) since I have my powerbook. Better still, next week my parents are getting their iMac. No more windows support for me :-)

    I've been a valuable customer for Microsoft over the last 20 years. Now, they are not going to get another penny from me. They've crossed the line too many times, but finally, Apple is a contender. If it weren't for Mac OS X, I'd still be shouting at my windows box.

  15. Switched, then Switched Back by rjamestaylor · · Score: 3, Interesting
    I *did* switch to using a TiBook G4550 w/ 768MB RAM as my primary laptop. This worked well until my web development went from general public-access sites to b2b sites that had standardized on Win/IE[56]. The result--I switched back to Win2k on my Toshiba 2805. Supporting a Windows world via MacOSX is not pleasant.

    There were other reasons why I wasn't ultimately satisified with OSX (pre Jaguar...I never did see Jaguar), so see my journal on the subject for more info.

    --
    -- @rjamestaylor on Ello
  16. Switching, switching, switching by Dixie_Flatline · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I had OSX on my G3 300 Powerbook. I sold it to someone in California. Then I sold one of my mountain bikes. It looks like I'm selling my PC as well. Why?

    So I can buy me a sweet Dual-G4. Sure, I'll only be able to buy the bottom model, but dual 867s is more than enough for me to do my daily grind on. OSX on the Powerbook sold me. I loved it so much, but I'll admit that it was occasionally a bit laggy. It was excellent for being a remote terminal when I had headless machines around me. I only half switched before, because of the cost. I've decided now that I'm sick of fighting with my machines. The cost of my time is now more than worth the money I'm going to spend. I'm sick of trying to get things like Gnome 2.x to compile (took me a week because of some Xft problems) and then discovering that Gnome 2.x is possibly the worst user interface that I've ever had to beat my head against. I know where I stand with OSX. I start up the computer, it works. I do my work on it, that's all. Add Space.app into the mix, and I've got multiple desktops, and the world is a glorious place. :)

    So Hi. I'm Jan Sacharuk, and I'm a games programmer.

  17. Re:Ugh, where to begin... by firewort · · Score: 3, Interesting

    You're obviously reading much more into my earlier reply than I actually wrote.

    Moshe Bar isn't a Mac user- he's a linux user. Accusing him of being as stupid as a Mac user is inaccurate and ill-deserved. He chose his words poorly, and you, like many others, understood that he ties wireless performance to the OS.

    For a Mac, that's almost the case, since it's pretty rare that you would use anything other than the Apple Airport card for wireless (although for those of us with older powerbooks, or other needs, it is possible to use proxim, cisco, and lucent cards. Users of those cards are not in the majority.)

    Moshe Bar's primary language isn't English. You'll forgive this apparent error. I'm pretty certain that he was simply citing the experience and obsvering that the kid with the iBook got signal where he didn't- and that he knows as well as anyone that OS isn't a factor.

    As for Fair Use, and Apple, I never claimed that Apple protects fair use. You assigned that to me.

    I only suggested that there are ways in which you can do what you want, and Apple won't prevent you from doing them. They don't assist you, but they stay out of your way, which is worth remembering.

    Apple protects itself from liability. Shipping a DVD Player application without region management and anti-commercial-skipping would be, as a business decision, suicidal- like asking the MPAA to joust, when you're armed with a dead flower instead of a metal spear.

    Haven't they got enough problems, having shipped the iPod, which the RIAA would readily like to outlaw?

    --

  18. Not now, guys!? Please consider NOT switching. by puppetluva · · Score: 2, Interesting
    Here's why you should NOT switch to a MacOSx machine.
    1. You are locked into the hardware. What if Apple does something you don't like in the future? What are you going to run, TurboLinux? Forget it. The only distro that treats all platforms the same is classic debian. If you think that getting packages/support on other platforms besides x86 is just as easy, think again.
    2. Microsoft controls Mac adoption. Think I'm kidding? I was a HUGE mac fan and Mac administrator years ago. Macs started to get popular, so what does M$ do? They fail to release an update to Mac Office FOR EIGHT YEARS. Apple almost goes down the toilet. This will happen again if it is in M$'s best interest. I think that the only reason M$ supports Apple is that Apple can steal the Unix crowd's user-base. M$ is secretly happy about the "switch" ads because they sound so much like Linux advocacy and can confuse the Linux/BSD crowd into going with proprietary software. THEY WILL SWITCH LINUX USERS BEFORE M$ USERS. In most cases, M$ users have no choice, and hence no mobility towards MacOSX in most cases.
    3. Open Office.org's health is good for everyone. Switching to the Mac enables people to use M$ Office blissfully without contributing bugfixes, comments etc. to OpenOffice --which we all own the rights to use. It just got good enough to replace M$ Office. Don't jump ship now - we are taking over - it just takes time. (You've seen the fruits of our the community's labor, so you know I'm not just blowing smoke).
    4. The IPod doesn't support Ogg. No players will support Ogg unless people ask for it. IPod means MP3 or WMA formats ( I think ). If you are switching for the IPod, ask Apple to support linux first - or use gnupod. IPod is like a vote for proprietary codecs. We have just gotten free codecs for audio and video (The Ogg Family). . . we should support them.
    5. You waited for: good, free GUI desktops, mozilla, OpenOffice, XMMS, etc. etc. etc. NONE OF THIS WOULD HAVE BEEN CREATED IF WE HAD ALL BEEN MAC USERS ALL THIS TIME.
    6. Believe it or not, Slashdot and linux are wedded. If there was no Linux talk here, a major percentage of the audience would be elsewhere. If Cmdr Taco and others are no longer going to "live the life", this forum will lose its credibility. I'm not here for the articles on space travel and I suspect MANY others aren't either.


    I don't work for Sun, I don't work for RedHat or any other distro. My choice of helping out with linux works for everybody though. Please stay in the game.

  19. It Just Works. by tyler9680 · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I bought a TiBook 667 (512 Mb RAM, DVD/CD-RW, etc etc) in late August (so I could get Jaguar with it) and I haven't been happier. Before then I was a Windows XP user, where I used Linux for development. OS X really has the feel and power of Linux, but also has a wonderful UI. I think that is what hooked me on the Mac. I had looked at both Apples and PCs before buying. It was the fact that I could get all the nice parts of the Linux environment and the excellent user interface, but not have to worry about Windows crashing every two seconds. I installed the fink package manager and with that I've gotten most of all my favorite Linux applications. I plugged in my digital camera and it just worked. I plugged in my printer and it just worked. I added an external mouse (because trackpads are annoying after a while) and it just worked. I think you can see where I'm going with this.

    Having said all that, its not without its drawbacks. Jaguar is not perfect, sometimes applications flip out and close for no reason, albeit this is rare. The software support is close to but not quite up to par with what I can get on Windows (insert flame here). That being said, I can't think of many more gripes I have for it.

    Bottom line:
    If you want a good powerful development/multimedia portable solution this is it, however I wouldn't just replace your desktop all the way. I still use my desktop quite a bit, its just nice to have the option of the portability.

  20. I flirted, I adored, I switched by al3x · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I'm happily typing this on a new white iBook 700MHz, rather decked out with a 40GB harddrive and 384MB of RAM. It may not have the raw horsepower of my roommate's Dell Inspiron 8200, but it also weighs a third of that behemoth, has more than twice the battery life, and most day-to-day operations feel faster, and the whole experience is more pleasurable. What do I mean by "pleasurable?" Example: as a longtime Linux user, I prayed for decent antialiasing system-wide (well, except for the terminal). OS X's PostScript-driven graphics layer makes everything look gorgeous, sharp and readable. It's like looking at a printed page, maybe better. And I can keep my terminal and anything under x-font size unantialiased if I so desire. That's pleasurable. It makes the machine I interact with hours a day enjoyable to use. Things just work, by and large. If I want to tinker, I can, but after years of spending hours and hours to get, well, ANYTHING working (somewhat self-inflicted: I used Gentoo, which I still love on the server side along with OpenBSD), it's amazing to just plug in devices and have them work the way they should. I forget who said it, but "Linux is only free if your time is worthless." With college, I don't have the time to tinker endlessly to get a printer working when I've got a paper due. There are tons of open source apps that have either been ported or are being natively developed for OS X. This is a slow transition for the Mac community, however, and you'll still find lots of shareware and commercial programs out there, particularly in the utilities/customization arena. But as someone who's learned to accept that commercial development works for some products and open source for others, I think the OS X community has the right idea in accepting and supporting both. I could go on for hours about how nice it is to have an OS that's actually integrated with its hardware, all the little aesthetic details and polish that Apple throws in, but most readers have heard it all before. I can safely say that as someone who's lived and breathed Linux (with forays into *BSD) for the last six years, I feel utterly satisfied with my switch, and I can reccomend it to anyone looking for a great desktop (or laptop) platform.

  21. MacOS X Security by herwin · · Score: 3, Interesting

    The security boffins at Qinetiq in the UK like Mac OS X a _lot_--it's locked down out of the box! Unlike certain unnamed vendors, Apple takes security seriously and is extremely responsive in releasing security updates.

  22. prices not so unreasonable, considering... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

    My Wallstreet (1998 powerbook) was showing its age earlier this year and I decided it was time to get a new computer. For my use, a laptop is essential, so I did some window-drooling on the TiBooks. While I was at it, a PC friend said I should consider a PC. Not wanting to be a platform-biggot, I said "ok, what'cha got in mind?" He suggested a Compaq and gave me a URL. I went to their site and spent time checking boxes and looking around.

    Now bear in mind I don't like buying hardware that's outdated by the time I sign for it at the door, so I get high-end. I did my best to match a high-end TiBook. (minus the larger hard drive) Final tally: TiBook: $3600. Compaq: $3200. He couldn't believe the total, until I rattled off the huge list of things the Compaq he pointed to me was missing that I had to add on. Sure, it started at like $1400 but it was an empty shell at that price. All of these things come standard on the TiBook. That's what people miss - There's only a few models of Apple computers, and even the low-end ones come with things that you have to shell out lots of money for on the other platforms.

    What would I lose for that $400 in savings? Gigabit ethernet. 802.11b wireless. Better speakers. Digital video out. Half the battery life. Drop either the Windowed OS or Unix. Slot loading DVD/CD-R. Oh, and that beautiful TiBook look. Ouch! Now the jury was still out on the processor speed though... the Compaq of course has a higher mhz rating but the G4 can't be compared on CPU speed. We put that to the test a few months after I got the TiBook, using Distributed.Net's client as a "balls to the wall" benchtest of raw computational power. Based on keyrates on my laptop vs his desktop of similar speed as the Compaq, we determined a 4.6ghz machine was required to overtake my TiBook.

    I couldn't resist the griiiiiiiiin.

    Last month I installed X on a server. OK now lets work on getting Apache set up and ... what? OK, the box is checked, now what? What do you mean "that's it"? OS X is like the power of Unix combined with the simplicity of Macintosh, and it's a beautiful thing.

    I will freely admit that Macintosh is not for everyone, but they certainly have their place, and it's a bigger place than most people realize.

  23. I committed to the switch yesterday. by crankyspice · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Read all about it on my blog. A quick look at my resume will tell you I'm a Linux fan from way back, but I like what Apple has done... A UNIX for all intents and purposes, with lots of mainstream applications (Office should I choose to sell my soul even further, Photoshop and Premiere, the Macromedia Flash authoring tool, Warcraft III). All without using WineX (none of my PCs are fast enough to run WineX, though they're fast enough for everything else I do), or jumping through hoops. I used to love fiddling with Linux distros; now I'm working full time, consulting as a PHP/Perl programmer, and in law school, so I just don't have time. Hence, MacOS X...

    --
    geek. lawyer.
  24. Re:Not on an ibook! by TellarHK · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Well, with 10.1.5 I would have probably agreed with you. I bought the iBook based on my desire to try OS X, and really had started to feel a significant amount of buyer's remorse. The video card in my model doesn't support Quartz Extreme, it only has 64M of RAM base (upgraded to 192 with a luckily compatible cheap stick of 128M) and it's the G3 500 Mhz model with none of the extras.

    Prior to acquiring Jaguar, I was seriously considering selling the iBook. It just wasn't -fun- or even pleasant to use under a lot of circumstances. It was sluggish, and I knew it was a model at the end of a generation of hardware. Now that I have Jaguar installed, it has a whole new lease on life. The video responsiveness is much improved, in just about all circumstances. It's still no GeForce, but for an ATI Rage, it's clunking along decently.

    --
    My own pointless vanity vintage computing page
  25. Firewire Target Mode by DJ+FirBee · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Built in Firewire
    Built in Firewire that works all of the time unlike Sony Vaio.

    Firewire Target Mode
    Connect your laptop via firewire to your desktop and back up absolutely everyfile on your laptop to your desktop. This rocks!

    Dual Monitor Capability
    Run your browser/Telnet in on your laptop display and your development stuff on your squanking huge monitor. All built in to the Powerbooks.

    Ethernet with auto-crossover detection
    You don't need a crossover cable to connect computer to computer. The circuitry does the 1,2 to 3,6 crossover stuff for you.

    Runs really quiet.

    Big honking screen at more than 1152 X 768
    nice screen baby!

    USB stuff works on Macs!

    Real FTP Server that configures quick and works.

    Light laptop with built in Airport support.
    light enough to run to the crapper with

    OSX
    Really cool multimedia Apps. Bash shell, GCC, blah blah blah. Same laptop. OS9 apps in cool classic compatibility (like vmware) mode.

    All conspire to make a Powerbook the laptop on choice for this geek.

    This is my second post ever on slashdot. The first wasnt formatted. I have run linux since 1.12. I was an engineer for Cisco, so I have at least some geek karma.

    I lurve my Mac enough to get a user account on /. to rant about it. This beats running Linux on even the coolest of thinkpads.

    Your gonna love it guys. The hardware alone is worth it.

  26. focus follows mouse? by binaryfeed · · Score: 2, Interesting
    I might have considered switching to OSX full-time (I have an iLamp^H^H^H^HMac) if I could figure out how to have the focus follow the mouse pointer, as well as a few other "goodies" that I like about KDE. Here they are, in no particular order. I would like all of these without running a rooted X-Server:
    1. focus follows mouse
    2. multiple desktops
    3. key bindings to avoid the necessity for using the mouse, i.e. -- "warp"ing to different apps / desktops, etc.
    That being said, here are the things I dislike about KDE:
    1. Kclipboard sucks ... I wish I could only have the X clipboard active in non-KDE apps (the only one I use is Emacs) and everywhere else I'd just like the sensible Ctrl-C, Ctrl-X, Ctrl-V
    2. more difficult to do multimedia stuff (iPhoto, iTunes, iDVD, iMovie are all amazing pieces of software)
    3. need CodeWeavers to run MS Office
    Anyone managed to get either of these desktop environments into the state that I want? I'd love to hear about it.
  27. Re:Review of iBook, by a 'Switcher' by Etcetera · · Score: 3, Interesting


    A little trickier. I have yet to find a really good text editor under OS X that I like.

    Try BB Edit (Lite = free, Pro = commercial). It's generally considered to be the BEST text editor for the Mac. I wish something like it was available for the PC.

    I used to use the Remote Desktop feature of MS's Netmeeting. Now I use VNC and the OS X VNCThing client to access my Windows desktop.

    Not sure if that's the same as MS's Terminal Server Client, but if so, MS just released a freeware version of that for the Mac as well.

    --
    Hire a Linux system administrator, systems engineer,
  28. User review by K'tohg · · Score: 4, Interesting

    My account of a Linux geek turned Mac

    I loved Linux, BSD, Sun, etc. anything with a propper Bash shell. I would hiss at others as they entered the room with there new Windows ME based hardware. I would scower at others with their up-side-down Apple logos and their shinny happy faces. *shudder*

    With Mac OS X all of that has changed. Now I'm one of those shiny happy faces. So why did I switch. Simple: "Based on Unix." Yup That's why. When I saw that a nice and functinoal interface that didn't get in the way ontop of a Unix environment I was almost sold.

    Hardware

    The hardware is very superior. First thing I noticed is compatability. Not once has my machine fretted about hardware. It has been very polite by either supporting my hardware 100% or nicely letting me know that it doesn't know how to talk to the device.

    My TiBook came with two USB ports, A Firewire port, A 1000 Kb/s RJ-45 Jack, A monitor port, S-Video port (with Composite Addapter), 56 Kb/s V.90 Modem and a PCMCIA slot. Eveyone I talk to is amased by the slot loading DVD drive.

    The keyboard is nice. It's slim and black with white letters. That in my book is cool. However the keys are weak and shallow. And the Control key is in the upmost worst spot it could be. So thanks to the ease of use of USB I use my "Happy Hacker Keyboard" Plus a Logiteck Optical mouse (3 button w/ wheel).

    As for power my machine really kicks but. I got the lower end model at 550 MHz G4 and it's fast. Most of the time I have multiple apps running. Photoshop, Word, iTunes, Mozilla, Terminal (w/ multiple ssh and updatedb at 0000 midnight) and my machine doesn't break a sweat (It's got a fan too)

    By far my favorite feature is "sleep mode" all I do is close the lid and the machine suspends itself and a spiffy glowing pulsing LED turns on lighting up the room like a night light. It's that simple. I even had the battery drop out and when I quickly returned it in a panic I found everything was still ok. It is roubust and durable. And it's mad from titanium.

    The only two draw backs I saw is the pain on the edges chip off needing a paint job at somepoint. And the price. Apple hardware although superiour is more expensive.

    Interface

    So far OS X is the best desktop for a Unix environment I have ever seen. It out trumps GNOME and KDE and tottaly obliverates Windows. I may loose some geek factor in favor of ease of use but to be honest Terminal is for those geek things. It it intuitive enough for a kid yet powerfull enough for a serious gamer. Allot is already customizable by default. The look and feel can be customized by a third party app. A few of the Enightenmant features I miss. Mainly the middle mouse button paste. The virtual destop is missing too. And most missed is the sloppy focus. But aside for that the interface is easy and doesn't get in my way Like so many others.

    In my eyes OS X compares as if it were just another windows manager on a really well made BSD Distribution. If it ever came to Intel it would rule the world but the hardware is why you should by a Mac. In fact you should get it because it will remove some of the extra thought you use to use the machine and put it to better use. Really the interface does a descent job of freeing you from thinking about it as much. But I'll save more propaganda for more qualified reviewers than myself.

    pros
    • Easy to use
    • fast
    • dependable
    • perfect multitasking
    • compatability w/ windows networks, Unix, And good hardware compatability.
    • Looks uber slick
    • This is the Docker pants amung computers
    cons
    • It's a little pricey
    • Doesn't have as much commercial software (But you Unix geeks should be used to that)
    • $120 for an upgrade from 10.1.5 to 10.2
    • It places fear and resentment to those companies who have been sleeping around with Microsoft

    Please forgive the poor quality of this review it's my first time. Questions/comments can be addressed in emails or slashdot reply posts.

    I am proud to say my Mac is 100% OS X. I have deleted my Virtual PC's so no more windows and Classic (OS 9) has been remove. Fink [sf.net] saved my sanity.

    --
    > SELECT * FROM brain_cells WHERE synaptic_rate > 0
    0 row returned
  29. Reliable yet not utterly boring by seawall · · Score: 2, Interesting
    IBooks are just enough different to be a little fun yet still manage to be useful and reliable.

    That combination doesn't happen every day.

    I work on Linux and Windows machines mostly. I like Linux a lot. There are things I like in Windows. Solaris is in there too and pleasant enough (and before that: BSD on Vaxen, Primos, CP/M and even CDC and IBM card walloping).

    The thing is: After dealing with Linux, Solaris and Windows all day, they just aren't that amusing.

    The iBook I'm using is reasonably fast with Jaguar, small, light, reliable, has a decent screen, a keyboard/touchpad I can live with (and I usually dislike touchpads). It can run most of what I need and most of what I want and it has just enough difference to be fun.

    I find I had missed fun.

    That "It Just Works" means I can carry around a machine I find fun. Neat.

    Eventually it may stop being fun but for now, I like it a lot.