As I mentioned in an earlier post be very careful with some of the copying/archiving utilities that come with Mac OS X. Many of them are not intended to copy Mac files, these utilities often strip metadata and resource forks and end up ruining files.
Instead you need to use alternate tools included with Mac OS X such as ditto, CpMac, and hdiutil. There are also 3rd party utilities such as the tar replacement hfstar (located at the bottom of the page), and the rsync replacement RsyncX.
And it doesn't copy resource forks or Finder data so it can mangle copies on Mac OS X pretty easily...
Don't use rsync on Mac OS X unless you don't mind possibly corrupting your files irreversibly. Instead you could either roll your own solution by doing copies with the ditto command, which has an option to preserve resource forks and metadata, or you can get RsyncX, a rsync implementation that does handle these sort of issues correctly. You can learn a little more about copying and backing up files in this MacDevCenter article.
You can run the Aqua GUI without hardware graphics acceleration and it runs fairly well without it. In this case, however, there would be plenty of hardware graphics acceleration available since the machine is expected to have a ATi RADEON 9800 Pro (R350) or a ATI R420 as the video card. These cards are fully supported under Mac OS X and thus could be used to run Aqua and Quartz Extreme.
I too have struggled through a configuration of CUPS, coupled with samba printer sharing for windows users no less. A couple weeks later, when OS X 10.3 came out, I was amazed at what Apple had done for a front end to CUPS. It's extremely intuitive, and a vast improvement to previous OS X printer configuration schemes.
And you know what? Apple keeps on doing this over and over again. People wonder why Macintosh users are so loyal, it's because you really can just sit down at the computer and do stuff, you hardly ever have to crack a manual or fiddle with weird configuration stuff.
I'm just as technically competent as the next geek but I have to work with hard to configure Windows and Unix stuff at work all day. When I sit down at home I don't want to have to fool around with that sort of stuff, I just want to get to work. For me that means a Mac.
Hey, a Mac might not be right for everyone and I'm always a proponent of using what works for YOU but I know so many people who were diehard Windows or Unix users who finally gave Macintosh an honest try and were blown away at the experience. Yeah, at first they were a bit clumsy because they were used to doing things a certain way but once those habits wore off they were much more productive.
The only thing that's "proprietary" in the mac is the motherboard and processor.
Even the processor is not exclusive to Apple. Pretty much every processor that Apple has ever used were also used in other computers. For example motherboards with a PowerPC 970 processor (what Apple calls a G5) are being sold through Terrasoft Solutions, the makers of Yellow Dog Linux. Terrasoft Solutions also sells their own computers based off the G3 and G4 as well as selling Macintoshes preloaded with both Linux and Mac OS X
Apple is no worse than any component PC you would build yourself and actually uses high-quality parts in putting together a Macintosh. In general, Macs are well-known for their high build-quality. Certainly when you compare a Mac to a similarly built PC (that means the EXACT same options) you start to see that the prices of the two are not that different.
As for Mac OS X, yes it contains proprietary parts - mostly in the GUI. However, it also uses a ton of open-source programming. Not only that but Apple contributes back quite a bit to the open source community. Apple is also highly responsive to its users and often reacts fairly swiftly to user feedback. There have been many cases where user suggestions have been implemented in the next minor point release of the operating system. Major bugs and security issues are often fixed within a week or so.
Actually the least expensive brand-new Mac is the eMac which sells for $799. Yes it costs more than some no-frills, no support, bare-bones, maybe it will work in 3 months, homebuilt PC. However that eMac will also be built from way better parts than that plain-vanilla PC you are talking about.
Some of us get our 'deals' by paying 10 cents on a dollar and settling for gear that's 2 or so years old.
Hey, whatever works for you. Unless you run the latest gee-wiz-bang 3d action games those 2 year old Macs will do the job without a hitch, that's for sure. I went for the G5 because I happened to have some cash saved up and I managed to get rid of my old Mac for a decent amount which helped to cover the cost. Combine that with the developer savings and it was perfect.
You can definitely get some good deals on perfectly useful Mac equipment if you shop around. $20 each for a G3 and a Powerbook sounds like a steal to me.
iWouldn't mind an iPod at all. But iDo mind forking out so much of my money.
I've heard that a lot of places are selling the 3rd generation, 10 gig iPods for $150. That's a pretty good deal, it's probably within striking range of most people.
(Why oh why won't Apple give free ones to the Apple Developer subscribers?)
There's always your hardware discount! I signed up for the Apple Student Developer Program recently. It cost me $100 for a year subscription. I got a free copy of Mac OS X 10.3, the monthly mailings, a bunch of promotional stuff, and a one-time 20% discount on hardware.
I saved like $600 on my G5 through the program, between all of the stuff I got I figure I got like $800 worth of stuff for my $100 membership. Not a bad deal at all. Apple treats its developers pretty well.
The battery replacement stories were already covered here on slashdot and many other websites a few months ago.
Not only that but Casey Neistat is the same guy who went around defacing Apple posters and putting up videos of how Apple was cheating him with bad batteries. The thing Casey forgot to tell everyone was that Apple had already instituted a replacement battery program and that many 3rd party companies were offering battery replacement services. He ruined his own iPod because he was too cheap to spring for having a professional replace the battery for him for a few extra bucks.
Casey Neistat also screwed over some of the people who hosted his video by not posting information about the battery replacement services. The providers gave him the hosting on the condition that Casey would give a balanced viewpoint on the problem and would link to the replacement programs.
Lol, yep. I use vi so infrequently that I ALWAYS forget this kind of stuff. That's why I use pico, at least it has the little 2-line command reminder at the bottom of the window. Like I said, vi is no doubt powerful but it gives you NO hints on how to use it. They should at least have a little status line at the bottom of the window that tells you how to get help and a few other common commands.
No doubt if you use vi a ton and know it inside and out then it is a great editor. However, I mostly use the GUI (through BBEdit as I mentioned) to do editing so I never really take the time to learn vi. And vi is so unforgiving to those who have not studied its ways...
Thankfully apple's project builder don't provide as much support for creating command line tools as gui ones
Uh, sure it does. Go to File->New Project then scroll down and choose Standard Tool. Boom, a project is all set up for you to build a basic C-based command-line tool. You can also choose C++ Tool, CoreFoundation Tool, CoreServices Tool, or Foundation Tool for different libraries and programming languages.
Personally I'd recomment that a mac user NEVER touch terminal.
In the end, the terminal is just another tool on your system. Just because someone works mainly with a GUI doesn't mean that they are not able to comprehend the command-line. Yes, the first couple of times that someone uses the command-line they are going to make some dumb mistakes but if they have a decent guide then those mistakes can be kept to a minimum and have minimal negative impact.
You might as well say that it's not worth if for a person who has never programmed to learn BASIC or C. If they don't take the first steps then how do they learn in the first place? If you are going to do anything on a computer you have to start somewhere, no matter if you are used to a GUI or not.
I must find some pico users to have flamewars with over that one...
Heh, I'm a pico user but I'm not a zealot over it. I use pico when I want to do some simple, quick editing in the command-line environment. For anything more complex I use BBEdit, which does pretty much everything that vi or emacs does except with a nice GUI.
But hey, use whatever works for you. Vi is certainly powerful enough. I just can't be bothered to take the time to learn all the commands, vi has a pretty high learning curve.
I know this was aimed at Allen but I'll answer for myself. Hell yeah I'm going to be at GenCon. I was actually thinking of running a few Paranoia events. Even if I don't run a couple I'm sure I'll participate in some.
In other words you can't admit that you've been shown just how dumb you are. I love how the anonymous cowards always try to cover their ignorance with pretending they were trolling. Face it, you were dumb and someone caught you at it.
Opening up new horizons is part of fixing the problems on Earth. Not only is the space program generating research that is highly applicable to current Earthly problems*, it is also providing for an eventual safety valve where disaffected members of society can go off to a Moon or Mars colony to start a new life rather than remaining on crowded Earth.
An example of this can be seen in the early pioneering days of the United States. Sure it was a tough, difficult, and often deadly trip west but many people did it anyways in order to start off new. Many of those people had been feeling stifled in the eastern cities and so they went west, relieving the social caldrons which were beginning to boil over.
The fact that there was an open frontier allowed people to be innovative and to take a chance that they might get a piece of land of their own and maybe even have their own business. It provided the poorest person with the opportunity to be successful and to pass their success on to their children. When there are no frontiers this is much harder to do.
* Such as medicine, hydroponics, closed ecosystems, energy sources, micro-mechanization, robotics, etc.
That got me to thinking about other game songs that were floating around. One of my favorites was for Cthulhu:
Sung to the theme of "Tiny Toon Adventures'"
We're slimey, we're squishy, we're all a little fishy, and in this adventure we'll be feasting on your brains. We're abysmal creatures, with gross horrific features. In Cthuloid adventures, lose alot of sanity. So here's Miskatonic U. where all the creatures dwell, take a look at a mythos book and find yourself in hell. Your guns aren't defective, they just aren't real effective. Our feast of human flesh and souls is about to start. Your magic, and voodo will not stop Great Cthulhu. Don't eat with the Tchoo Tchoo, and the Migo steal your brain! Here's Narly, Tsathoggua, over there's Cthugha, don't forget Ithaqua, and Hastur hates his name. So here's sunken R'lyeh where the angles are all wrong. You'll lose your soul, and go insane if you stay there too long. We're slimey, we're squishy, we're all a little fishy, Our feast of human flesh and souls is about to start. And now we'll eat your heart.
I'm an Alpha Complex Dandy (Sung to the tune of Yankee Doodle Dandy)
I'm an Alpha Complex Dandy. Alpha Complex do or die. A new clone version of my last five clones. Like them I know I'll soon die. I've got an Alpha Complex sweetheart. Teela is my Alpha Joy. Troubleshooters find the Commies. Beat the mutants senseless. I am an Alpha Complex boy!
I'm an Alpha Complex dandy. Troubleshooter do or die. A clone replacement of my former self. Soon I will probably fry. I've got to serve my friend Computer. If I don't, I know I'll die. Kill the Commie infiltrators, Also Troubleshooters. I am an Alpha Complex guy!
I'm an Alpha Complex Commie (Subversive version of the above)
I'm an Alpha Complex Commie. Alpha Complex do or die. A new clone version of my last five clones. Like them, I know I'll soon die. I'm not an Alpha Complex sweetheart. Girls are just the same as boys. Commie mutants beat computers. Troubleshooters, phooie! I'm not an Alpha Complex toy!
Well the thing is I didn't say "begging the question" I said "begs more questions". It's similar but not the same, I didn't think about the similarity until after I submitted the post. If I could have edited it I would have but...
I figured I'd just post the mea culpa and head off criticism. Ahh well, to err is human but to really mess things up you need a computer.
Generally a contrived answer that is self-consistant is better than a simple answer that begs more questions.
And before the pedants strike - yes, I do know what "begging the question" means. I know the works I used were similar even though they don't point towards the same meaning.
In the original Superman, didn't Ma Kent make Kal-El's first clothes out of cloth from the interior of the ship that brought the baby to Earth? I always thought the cloth itself, coming from Krypton's red sun atmosphere, would be less impervious to damage in Earth's yellow sun environment.
That explanation always sounded fishy to me. The material won't get ruined by extreme heat/bullets/corrosive chemicals but it can be cut with scissors and tailored with a needle? Hmm...
At least the "impervious field" explanation is internally-consistant, no matter how contrived it sounds. Generally a contrived answer that is self-consistant is better than a simple answer that begs more questions.
So where is all the high value aluminum trinkets not obtained through bauxite processing? Aluminum use to be a precious metal, and now it isn't. I'm sure naturally occurring aluminum has some crystalline properties that processed aluminum doesn't, and yet there is no market for "natural aluminum".
Well there is the most famous one of them all, the cap to the Washington Monument. That aluminum was produced from the mineral corundum - a form of aluminum oxide. Corundum is the base mineral that rubies and sapphires are formed out of, chemical impurities in the aluminum oxide form the characteristic red and blue coloration.
Pure aluminum is pretty much never found free in nature. This is because aluminum, like most metals, is reactive enough to have combined with oxygen. There are many forms of aluminum oxide, you can read more about it here.
My 4 years experience with clusters show that after the first two months of burn-in where many components fail, you aftewards have a higher MTBF than with PCs used "normall"
Lol, you're right. Think of these as "extended pre-tested" machines! Virtually guaranteed to have a lower rate of failure because they've been burnt-in already and the chances of a manufacturing defect affecting operation is lower!
Kidding aside, these machines are gone through Apple's refurbishing program. I've bought about 20 refurbished iMacs from Apple for a lab I run and have had nothing but solid performance from all of them for the past 4 years. Apple's refurbishing program has a good reputation for producing machines that match brand new reliability.
Slashdot Mirror
As I mentioned in an earlier post be very careful with some of the copying/archiving utilities that come with Mac OS X. Many of them are not intended to copy Mac files, these utilities often strip metadata and resource forks and end up ruining files.
Instead you need to use alternate tools included with Mac OS X such as ditto, CpMac, and hdiutil. There are also 3rd party utilities such as the tar replacement hfstar (located at the bottom of the page), and the rsync replacement RsyncX.
And it doesn't copy resource forks or Finder data so it can mangle copies on Mac OS X pretty easily...
Don't use rsync on Mac OS X unless you don't mind possibly corrupting your files irreversibly. Instead you could either roll your own solution by doing copies with the ditto command, which has an option to preserve resource forks and metadata, or you can get RsyncX, a rsync implementation that does handle these sort of issues correctly. You can learn a little more about copying and backing up files in this MacDevCenter article.
You can run the Aqua GUI without hardware graphics acceleration and it runs fairly well without it. In this case, however, there would be plenty of hardware graphics acceleration available since the machine is expected to have a ATi RADEON 9800 Pro (R350) or a ATI R420 as the video card. These cards are fully supported under Mac OS X and thus could be used to run Aqua and Quartz Extreme.
And you know what? Apple keeps on doing this over and over again. People wonder why Macintosh users are so loyal, it's because you really can just sit down at the computer and do stuff, you hardly ever have to crack a manual or fiddle with weird configuration stuff.
I'm just as technically competent as the next geek but I have to work with hard to configure Windows and Unix stuff at work all day. When I sit down at home I don't want to have to fool around with that sort of stuff, I just want to get to work. For me that means a Mac.
Hey, a Mac might not be right for everyone and I'm always a proponent of using what works for YOU but I know so many people who were diehard Windows or Unix users who finally gave Macintosh an honest try and were blown away at the experience. Yeah, at first they were a bit clumsy because they were used to doing things a certain way but once those habits wore off they were much more productive.
Even the processor is not exclusive to Apple. Pretty much every processor that Apple has ever used were also used in other computers. For example motherboards with a PowerPC 970 processor (what Apple calls a G5) are being sold through Terrasoft Solutions, the makers of Yellow Dog Linux. Terrasoft Solutions also sells their own computers based off the G3 and G4 as well as selling Macintoshes preloaded with both Linux and Mac OS X
Apple is no worse than any component PC you would build yourself and actually uses high-quality parts in putting together a Macintosh. In general, Macs are well-known for their high build-quality. Certainly when you compare a Mac to a similarly built PC (that means the EXACT same options) you start to see that the prices of the two are not that different.
As for Mac OS X, yes it contains proprietary parts - mostly in the GUI. However, it also uses a ton of open-source programming. Not only that but Apple contributes back quite a bit to the open source community. Apple is also highly responsive to its users and often reacts fairly swiftly to user feedback. There have been many cases where user suggestions have been implemented in the next minor point release of the operating system. Major bugs and security issues are often fixed within a week or so.
Actually the least expensive brand-new Mac is the eMac which sells for $799. Yes it costs more than some no-frills, no support, bare-bones, maybe it will work in 3 months, homebuilt PC. However that eMac will also be built from way better parts than that plain-vanilla PC you are talking about.
Hey, whatever works for you. Unless you run the latest gee-wiz-bang 3d action games those 2 year old Macs will do the job without a hitch, that's for sure. I went for the G5 because I happened to have some cash saved up and I managed to get rid of my old Mac for a decent amount which helped to cover the cost. Combine that with the developer savings and it was perfect.
You can definitely get some good deals on perfectly useful Mac equipment if you shop around. $20 each for a G3 and a Powerbook sounds like a steal to me.
I've heard that a lot of places are selling the 3rd generation, 10 gig iPods for $150. That's a pretty good deal, it's probably within striking range of most people.
There's always your hardware discount! I signed up for the Apple Student Developer Program recently. It cost me $100 for a year subscription. I got a free copy of Mac OS X 10.3, the monthly mailings, a bunch of promotional stuff, and a one-time 20% discount on hardware.
I saved like $600 on my G5 through the program, between all of the stuff I got I figure I got like $800 worth of stuff for my $100 membership. Not a bad deal at all. Apple treats its developers pretty well.
Also according to Penny Arcade iTunes is very very tempting...
Casey Neistat also screwed over some of the people who hosted his video by not posting information about the battery replacement services. The providers gave him the hosting on the condition that Casey would give a balanced viewpoint on the problem and would link to the replacement programs.
Lol, yep. I use vi so infrequently that I ALWAYS forget this kind of stuff. That's why I use pico, at least it has the little 2-line command reminder at the bottom of the window. Like I said, vi is no doubt powerful but it gives you NO hints on how to use it. They should at least have a little status line at the bottom of the window that tells you how to get help and a few other common commands.
No doubt if you use vi a ton and know it inside and out then it is a great editor. However, I mostly use the GUI (through BBEdit as I mentioned) to do editing so I never really take the time to learn vi. And vi is so unforgiving to those who have not studied its ways...
Uh, sure it does. Go to File->New Project then scroll down and choose Standard Tool. Boom, a project is all set up for you to build a basic C-based command-line tool. You can also choose C++ Tool, CoreFoundation Tool, CoreServices Tool, or Foundation Tool for different libraries and programming languages.
In the end, the terminal is just another tool on your system. Just because someone works mainly with a GUI doesn't mean that they are not able to comprehend the command-line. Yes, the first couple of times that someone uses the command-line they are going to make some dumb mistakes but if they have a decent guide then those mistakes can be kept to a minimum and have minimal negative impact.
You might as well say that it's not worth if for a person who has never programmed to learn BASIC or C. If they don't take the first steps then how do they learn in the first place? If you are going to do anything on a computer you have to start somewhere, no matter if you are used to a GUI or not.
Heh, I'm a pico user but I'm not a zealot over it. I use pico when I want to do some simple, quick editing in the command-line environment. For anything more complex I use BBEdit, which does pretty much everything that vi or emacs does except with a nice GUI.
But hey, use whatever works for you. Vi is certainly powerful enough. I just can't be bothered to take the time to learn all the commands, vi has a pretty high learning curve.
I know this was aimed at Allen but I'll answer for myself. Hell yeah I'm going to be at GenCon. I was actually thinking of running a few Paranoia events. Even if I don't run a couple I'm sure I'll participate in some.
Hope to see you there!
In other words you can't admit that you've been shown just how dumb you are. I love how the anonymous cowards always try to cover their ignorance with pretending they were trolling. Face it, you were dumb and someone caught you at it.
Opening up new horizons is part of fixing the problems on Earth. Not only is the space program generating research that is highly applicable to current Earthly problems*, it is also providing for an eventual safety valve where disaffected members of society can go off to a Moon or Mars colony to start a new life rather than remaining on crowded Earth.
An example of this can be seen in the early pioneering days of the United States. Sure it was a tough, difficult, and often deadly trip west but many people did it anyways in order to start off new. Many of those people had been feeling stifled in the eastern cities and so they went west, relieving the social caldrons which were beginning to boil over.
The fact that there was an open frontier allowed people to be innovative and to take a chance that they might get a piece of land of their own and maybe even have their own business. It provided the poorest person with the opportunity to be successful and to pass their success on to their children. When there are no frontiers this is much harder to do.
* Such as medicine, hydroponics, closed ecosystems, energy sources, micro-mechanization, robotics, etc.
Many, many more to be found at the Cthulhu Hymnal webpage.
Well there is this song:
You can find similar songs here
They have already made this adjustment. You can see the two versions of Steve Jobs here.
Well the thing is I didn't say "begging the question" I said "begs more questions". It's similar but not the same, I didn't think about the similarity until after I submitted the post. If I could have edited it I would have but...
I figured I'd just post the mea culpa and head off criticism. Ahh well, to err is human but to really mess things up you need a computer.
And before the pedants strike - yes, I do know what "begging the question" means. I know the works I used were similar even though they don't point towards the same meaning.
That explanation always sounded fishy to me. The material won't get ruined by extreme heat/bullets/corrosive chemicals but it can be cut with scissors and tailored with a needle? Hmm...
At least the "impervious field" explanation is internally-consistant, no matter how contrived it sounds. Generally a contrived answer that is self-consistant is better than a simple answer that begs more questions.
Well there is the most famous one of them all, the cap to the Washington Monument. That aluminum was produced from the mineral corundum - a form of aluminum oxide. Corundum is the base mineral that rubies and sapphires are formed out of, chemical impurities in the aluminum oxide form the characteristic red and blue coloration.
Pure aluminum is pretty much never found free in nature. This is because aluminum, like most metals, is reactive enough to have combined with oxygen. There are many forms of aluminum oxide, you can read more about it here.
Lol, you're right. Think of these as "extended pre-tested" machines! Virtually guaranteed to have a lower rate of failure because they've been burnt-in already and the chances of a manufacturing defect affecting operation is lower!
Kidding aside, these machines are gone through Apple's refurbishing program. I've bought about 20 refurbished iMacs from Apple for a lab I run and have had nothing but solid performance from all of them for the past 4 years. Apple's refurbishing program has a good reputation for producing machines that match brand new reliability.