I'd love to hear anyone's experience using one of these systems with pro audio software. That's the only reason I need a faster machine than my little 2gHz Macbook...
Specifically, I have an Mbox2Pro & Apogee Duet (both firewire), PTLE 7.4.2, Live 5 (yeah i know), Logic Studio 8. Experience with any combination of these would be useful.
I'd use KDE happily & lovingly if only I could disable the damn "tap-to-click" on my trackpad! I've been unsuccessful every time I've tried, leading to constant accidental clicks...
OSX shows you what it's about to do. If you're copying, there's a big green "+" on top of the pointer. If you're making an alias (="shortcut", roughly =a symlink), there's a big curved arrow (like on top of alias icons) on top of the pointer. Otherwise, you're moving. No need to guess.
If you see that you're about to do the wrong thing, just don't let go of the mouse button, and add the appropriate modifiers (command=move, option=copy, cmd+opt=alias).
Privileges, an ordinary user can't mess up the entire system. Unless the user is *really* stupid, they are not root and therefore do not have Write privileges on system-critical files. So even if you ran "rm -rf/" as a normal user, you would only lose the files you had access to and not break the system.
Nowadays, that's a backwards priority, and we need to stop prioritizing system over data, if you ask me. Most computers of these UNIXy machines (OSX, Linux, even NT-based windows for the point of discussion) folks use nowadays are essentially single-user, or at most a family. It's exactly the user's files that are important. If I (or a trojan) nuke my OSX system, I can just pop the Tiger install disc back in & be back up in an hour (or two, allowing for third-party software installation). If I lose all my data (either due to stupidity or malware), I've lost months of work, unless I've backed up. (Kudos to Apple for simple backup in Leopard...)
The idea that the system is more important than the data is a relic of shared-use UNIX workstations, if you ask me.
Ahh good point about the re-encoding. But I keep some stuff on my ipod in Apple Lossless already, so re-encoding wouldn't be necessary there. Plus I'd be interested to see how much processor it takes; streaming from my macbook (or previous powerbook) didn't seem to spike the usage particularly more than normal, non-streaming playback.
I can think of lots of situations where it would be useful, though:
at a friend's house
away from the computer at home, like say in the living room where the nice stereo is (with an APExpress)
anytime you wanna essentially have the remote control & library in one place
broadcasting free music to the packet sniffers in the neighborhood
With WiFi, I naturally assumed that it would stream to an Airport Express. But I haven't found anything about that on Apple's site, or anywhere else. Anyone?
I don't need another web browser or built-in itunes, but streaming would be real nice.
Right click is ALWAYS control-click on OSX. Programs may assign other things to opt-click or shift-click or "hold down all the vowels & click," but control click is always the same as right clicking with an external mouse.
You can just use the middle (scroll-wheel) mouse button, or hold command & click with left (or only) mouse button, to open a bookmark in a new tab in firefox/osx.
That's not true. It's easy to change your shell (using NetInfo Manager, included with every copy of OSX). bash is default, and zsh, csh, ksh, wish, tcsh, tclsh are also included by default.
File Manager is fairly easy to replace, though the only other decent option I know of is Path Finder.
Icons are trivially easy to replace using the built in Finder's "get info" window-- just copy & paste 'em in there.
Window themes are the only thing that are a bit of a hack to change (though certainly not "illegal")--the tools I know of are somewhat unstable, the best supposedly being ShapeShifter. But if I recall, it's a bit of a hack on windows as well...
So yeah, I guess that makes you 25% right, 75% wrong.
Just FYI, Camino does all those things you listed, exactly like Firefox. The only difference is the keyboard shortcut (which you said you didn't know) for google search (cmd-shift-L instead of cmd-K).
The versioning FS is nice, but it's really just a pretty UI on something that VMS had a couple of decades ago.
And in fact OSX is just a pretty UI on something that NeXT & BSD had a 10-15 years ago, too, right? Come on, why are you complaining that they're gradually incorporating more & more great, solid (new & old) ideas?
Perhaps because a lot of people don't need a powerful GPU? I do audio & music with my computer. A fast CPU is crucial, and the GPU doesn't matter at all. Same is true even for most 2D graphics & video work. 3D graphics and games are the main things that benefit from a nice GPU. Sure, many 2D gfx filters could be offloaded (like CoreImage does), but most apps aren't coded that way. Me, I'll take the digital audio input & output (first time the consumer lappy has had audio input of ANY kind, nice!) over a fancy GPU any day.
Well, in your case, I'd say that Mac's built-in system-wide spellchecking might be worth whatever your price differential is.
You got "incldude," "warrenty," "panal," & "intentional" (instead of "intentionally") all in one paragraph! Ow, my Powerbook's screen is all red just from typing that!
That's not true at all. I'm a gigging musician, and my (disposable) email address is on my website. I get gig requests all the time through that address. If someone writes me asking me to play their wedding, and that email gets tossed in the spam bin, and I never respond (or even respond late, because I checked my spam bin too late), they just think I'm a flake (and perhaps tell their friends that), and I'm out of a gig. I may never know they even wrote, so I have no reason to complain upstream.
The point is I want emails from random people to get through to me, as long as they don't mention viagra or mortgages. People use email in different ways-- just because you only want to hear from people you know doesn't mean everyone has the same requirements.
There are utilities available with which you can switch the Command and Option keys around so that on PC keyboards they are on the location you would expect.
Tiger (the latest OSX, included with all Intel Macs) includes this functionality. Open the "Keyboard & Mouse" preferences, and click "Modifier Keys." Remap to your heart's content.
(Of course remove whatever linebreaks & spaces slashdot decides to add.) It's a little unintuitive figuring out which profile is which. Here's what I have:
for AC: better energy: profile #1 normal #2 better perf: #3
Slashdot Mirror
Specifically, I have an Mbox2Pro & Apogee Duet (both firewire), PTLE 7.4.2, Live 5 (yeah i know), Logic Studio 8. Experience with any combination of these would be useful.
Thanks!
Gnome doesn't have this problem, so I'd always assumed it wasn't X, but a KDE design decision. I'll try that when I get home though.
I'd use KDE happily & lovingly if only I could disable the damn "tap-to-click" on my trackpad! I've been unsuccessful every time I've tried, leading to constant accidental clicks...
That's why *I* patented Napster & you didn't!
OSX shows you what it's about to do. If you're copying, there's a big green "+" on top of the pointer. If you're making an alias (="shortcut", roughly =a symlink), there's a big curved arrow (like on top of alias icons) on top of the pointer. Otherwise, you're moving. No need to guess.
If you see that you're about to do the wrong thing, just don't let go of the mouse button, and add the appropriate modifiers (command=move, option=copy, cmd+opt=alias).
Nowadays, that's a backwards priority, and we need to stop prioritizing system over data, if you ask me. Most computers of these UNIXy machines (OSX, Linux, even NT-based windows for the point of discussion) folks use nowadays are essentially single-user, or at most a family. It's exactly the user's files that are important. If I (or a trojan) nuke my OSX system, I can just pop the Tiger install disc back in & be back up in an hour (or two, allowing for third-party software installation). If I lose all my data (either due to stupidity or malware), I've lost months of work, unless I've backed up. (Kudos to Apple for simple backup in Leopard...)
The idea that the system is more important than the data is a relic of shared-use UNIX workstations, if you ask me.
Ahh good point about the re-encoding. But I keep some stuff on my ipod in Apple Lossless already, so re-encoding wouldn't be necessary there. Plus I'd be interested to see how much processor it takes; streaming from my macbook (or previous powerbook) didn't seem to spike the usage particularly more than normal, non-streaming playback.
I can think of lots of situations where it would be useful, though:
With WiFi, I naturally assumed that it would stream to an Airport Express. But I haven't found anything about that on Apple's site, or anywhere else. Anyone?
I don't need another web browser or built-in itunes, but streaming would be real nice.
p
Right click is ALWAYS control-click on OSX. Programs may assign other things to opt-click or shift-click or "hold down all the vowels & click," but control click is always the same as right clicking with an external mouse.
You can just use the middle (scroll-wheel) mouse button, or hold command & click with left (or only) mouse button, to open a bookmark in a new tab in firefox/osx.
That's not true. It's easy to change your shell (using NetInfo Manager, included with every copy of OSX). bash is default, and zsh, csh, ksh, wish, tcsh, tclsh are also included by default.
File Manager is fairly easy to replace, though the only other decent option I know of is Path Finder.
Icons are trivially easy to replace using the built in Finder's "get info" window-- just copy & paste 'em in there.
Window themes are the only thing that are a bit of a hack to change (though certainly not "illegal")--the tools I know of are somewhat unstable, the best supposedly being ShapeShifter. But if I recall, it's a bit of a hack on windows as well...
So yeah, I guess that makes you 25% right, 75% wrong.
Just FYI, Camino does all those things you listed, exactly like Firefox. The only difference is the keyboard shortcut (which you said you didn't know) for google search (cmd-shift-L instead of cmd-K).
That's why I get a thousand monkeys banging on Bluetooth keyboards to write all my operating systems.
Though all the Shakespeare transcriptions in between software updates get a little old.
And in fact OSX is just a pretty UI on something that NeXT & BSD had a 10-15 years ago, too, right? Come on, why are you complaining that they're gradually incorporating more & more great, solid (new & old) ideas?
Kinda spiteful there, bub. Are you implying that the Indian workers somehow did something wrong by accepting their job offers?
I almost hate to point this out, but yes it will. You can install Windows on a Mac & dual boot. This is old news already...
Perhaps because a lot of people don't need a powerful GPU? I do audio & music with my computer. A fast CPU is crucial, and the GPU doesn't matter at all. Same is true even for most 2D graphics & video work. 3D graphics and games are the main things that benefit from a nice GPU. Sure, many 2D gfx filters could be offloaded (like CoreImage does), but most apps aren't coded that way. Me, I'll take the digital audio input & output (first time the consumer lappy has had audio input of ANY kind, nice!) over a fancy GPU any day.
kinda interesting that those actual exploits you dug up were two years old.
love,
fanboy
Well, in your case, I'd say that Mac's built-in system-wide spellchecking might be worth whatever your price differential is.
You got "incldude," "warrenty," "panal," & "intentional" (instead of "intentionally") all in one paragraph! Ow, my Powerbook's screen is all red just from typing that!
That's not true at all. I'm a gigging musician, and my (disposable) email address is on my website. I get gig requests all the time through that address. If someone writes me asking me to play their wedding, and that email gets tossed in the spam bin, and I never respond (or even respond late, because I checked my spam bin too late), they just think I'm a flake (and perhaps tell their friends that), and I'm out of a gig. I may never know they even wrote, so I have no reason to complain upstream.
The point is I want emails from random people to get through to me, as long as they don't mention viagra or mortgages. People use email in different ways-- just because you only want to hear from people you know doesn't mean everyone has the same requirements.
I'll be sure to hand 'em over when i get 'em, then.
Tiger (the latest OSX, included with all Intel Macs) includes this functionality. Open the "Keyboard & Mouse" preferences, and click "Modifier Keys." Remap to your heart's content.
Dude, I never trust the technological prognostications of someone who uses backslashes in urls. (http:\\www.microsoft.com)
Disabling it wouldn't be necessary, if he didn't give out free accounts to anyone who wants em.