There's also a PowerPC version of Debian if you want to use apt-get (which, although I have never used it myself, is supposedly comparable to BSD's ports).
Since it doesn't appear that there will be a separate story talking about the other new announcements at MacWorld Expo, here are some of the highlights most interesting to Slashdot readers:
- The Power Macs were subtly altered. The former build-to-order dual 533 MHz model is now a standard configuration from the Apple Store (which means retailers will start carrying it as well), and there's an option to purchase a 733 MHz model with a CD burner in place of the DVD-R/CD-RW combo unit (saving $400 in the process).
- Those wild new iMacs have at least upped the specs slightly for the graphics chipset; still Rage 128-based, but at least there's more memory (16 MB) on board. Plus, the 500 and 600 MHz models are the new G3 chip with the full-speed onboard 256K cache.
- The Cube now offers the GeForce2 MX card as a build-to-order option (standard w/ CD burner on the high-end model). Guess ATi's still on Apple's shit list to some extent.
- Fellow Mac users should try running Software Update and see if they get CarbonLib 1.2.5.
- The $49.95 5-pack of DVD-R disks is finally available from the Apple Store, but the estimated ship time is 45 days.
Now, if I could only get a Flower Power G4 Cube..... mmmmmmm....
The Mac forums are blazing with commentary on the new iMac colors. Personally, I kind of like them, and hope they do a good job of stimulating interest in a highly overlooked demographic; women computer users. Anything that brings computing power to a wider audience can't be a bad thing. Besides, the effect is supposed to be slightly 3Dish, with the pattern all the way through the case instead of merely stuck onto the surface. I can't wait to see one in person.
I submitted this, but it didn't make the cut, and since I fell below the 26-karma level (for no apparent reason; I haven't moderated in a while, got modded up a few times, and still it falls....but I digress) I have no fear of posting it here.
Remember the Wired article talking about how profane Steve Jobs was at a recent reseller meeting? We even talked about it just the other day. Well, MacNN has a different take on the subject after talking to some of the attendees.
MacNN mentioned this patent being granted to some company nobody has heard of that supposedly covers using OS-level software to write CDs and DVDs...in other words, some of the very things Apple introduced a couple of weeks ago. D'oh!
--
Linux has had massive amounts of media attention dumped upon it in the last 18-24 months and is available for use on cheap-ass PCs that most companies were about to throw out.
Apple is still perceived as a dead or dying maker of overpriced, underperforming goofy-looking hardware which only works with a one-button, hockey-puck mouse. (Note that none of this is actually true...well, anymore.)
I love using Mac OS X, and I would enjoy seeing it deployed as widely as possible at work and in schools, but Apple has a very long and painful road ahead of it if it means to suck marketshare away from Linux, especially in businesses. Perhaps they could start by spending some of that USD4,000,000,000 in cash on better advertising?
Heh. I was thinking idly of flaming you to hell and gone, but then I remembered the wise words of Dalton from Road House -- "Be nice." Works every time. (Plus I accidentally watched it again last night on TNT.)
I got my Pismo in March too, so I figure getting 18-24 months out of it is a good deal (I kind of like the BatBook shape better anyway).
Ah, but I was referring to the logic board, not the case. With the exception of the G4, it's basically the same overall design (i.e. not one of the UMA-2 based boards, which will probably be on the next upgrade in 9-12 months). It has been reformed to fit in the new slimmer case, but the underlying motherboard technology is very similar, if not identical.
My Pismo also supports one gigabyte of RAM, although Apple never sold it with such a configuration. The UMA-2 machines are supposed to all be PC133, so I'm sure eventually the PowerBook will support it. Hopefully by then it will be cheaper and battery technology will have advanced to make up for the extra power consumption of the faster bus.
And, the graphics chipset is actually the same as my model, a Rage 128 Mobility with the same 8 MB of VRAM. That's my biggest disappointment. I was hoping the Radeon Mobility chipset would be available, or that they'd at least bump up the VRAM to 16 MB. Dell sticks up to 32 MB in their Inspirons, but Apple still leaves only 8 MB in their PowerBook, iBook, and iMac, and 16 MB (by default; the 32 MB Radeon is an option) in the Cube and bottom-level G4 desktop. Boo!
I like the TiBook, but I'm waiting until the next revision to unload my Pismo for one.
The TiBook is essentially the most recent PowerBook (a.k.a. Pismo) with a G4 stuck in it. Same basic logic board design and such. What about running on the new 133MHz-bus Power Macs?
Macintosh users have no right to gloat either--using the Mac OS isn't much easier than using Windows. The Finder and Chooser may sound intuitive, but just try to find a running Mac application after minimizing it, or choose to eject a CD from the CD-ROM drive by pressing the Eject button (silly me).
First of all, there's no such thing as minimizing an application in Mac OS. You can windowshade individual windows, and you can hide applications. Running apps show up in the Applications menu under Mac OS 7-9, and in the Dock in Mac OS X. Not exactly rocket science.
Second, what Eject button? Only the most recent Macs have a keyboard eject button for the CD. Older models let you simply highlight the disk and select Eject from the Special menu (and no, it no longer leaves the ghosted icon on the desktop, and hasn't for at least two years). Again, not the world's toughest job.
Yes, there are flaws in how Mac OS has become more complicated and less differentiated from its x86-based bastard twin, but ZDNet really ought to investigate these things a little before posting rude and inaccurate comments on them. (Oh, who am I kidding. Ever since Jason O'Grady went to work for the big Z last January his PowerPage site has gone from a once-valuable PowerBook resource to a constantly-broken, never-informative, ad-driven puff piece and is the only Mac site running on Windows. But I digress.)
As for whether Linux is too bloated, I think companies whose operating systems barely fit on a 1.1GB Virtual PC partition with an office suite shouldn't throw stones.
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Re:I liked the product rating feature.
on
Deja.com Vu!
·
· Score: 2
It was in dire need of good moderation (ala Slashdot).
Mostly out of curiosity, do you mean that both it and Slashdot need good moderation, or that it needs moderation as good as Slashdot's?
The Macintosh, for example, has no concept of multiple users (OS X not being covered).
Before any other Mac users rush in to flame the reviewer by pointing out that Mac OS 9 in fact does support multiple users, I would like to point out that it, in fact, does suck rocks and is incredibly brain-damaged compared to even Windows 9x's multiple-user capabilities. About the only thing it's good for is putting up a login password at startup (which can quite easily be circumvented) and for impressing your easily-impressed friends by using the voiceprint verification password thingy, which never works unless you:
a) are in a silent room
b) are speaking into a wired microphone
c) are setting it up for the first time (always fails after then)
> -- I use Macs for work, Linux for education, and Windows for cardplaying.
Then, in your user bio you claim that you use w98 at work.
Mmmm.
Technically, they're both true. My job is to do tech support for the Macs at our location. However, the company uses a total POS call-tracking system that only runs under Windows (no, it doesn't have any web interface) and uses Outlook to schedule the calls. So, I had to have them buy a copy of Virtual PC for me to use solely with this one program and Outlook. Hence the "forced to use" part.
You're right, though, I should probably make that a little less contradictory.
62.Does your organization provide any special benefits or working conditions that you particularly like? (please specify)
Sure; for our company Christmas gift we got a bag of microwave popcorn and a hockey puck with our company logo on it, since apparently our big marketing coup this year was to sponsor a "play of the game" segment for Washington Capitals games. Bonus? What's that?
Looking for a buzzword-heavy sinking ship? come work with me!
Assholes. I can't wait until my Oracle DBA class is finished and I can get the fuck out of technical support.
even Apple has a dual-processor system available, fer chrissakes. Soon AMD-baseds dual-processor motherboards will be available. What are the guys at Intel smoking?
Maybe they're trying to emulate Motorola's slide into desktop-processor oblivion...
It would be fascinating to prowl through these pages in a few years, especially the polls (which aren't normally viewable on slashdot once they're off the main page). Hey Rob, how about setting up a permanent archive of the election stories?
Personally, I'm happy with my choice of Gore. I'm also quite pleased that I didn't have to kill or be killed for my chance to vote. Those of you reading this who served or serve in the armed forces, thanks much.
Slashdot Mirror
Try either Yellow Dog or SuSE's PowerPC distribution. Both should support the same platforms that LinuxPPC supports.
There's also a PowerPC version of Debian if you want to use apt-get (which, although I have never used it myself, is supposedly comparable to BSD's ports).
Or, wait two weeks and swallow the blue pill....
--
This isn't the first time Harlan has complained about author's rights. See these two examples from the IMDB...
--
Since it doesn't appear that there will be a separate story talking about the other new announcements at MacWorld Expo, here are some of the highlights most interesting to Slashdot readers:
- The Power Macs were subtly altered. The former build-to-order dual 533 MHz model is now a standard configuration from the Apple Store (which means retailers will start carrying it as well), and there's an option to purchase a 733 MHz model with a CD burner in place of the DVD-R/CD-RW combo unit (saving $400 in the process).
- Those wild new iMacs have at least upped the specs slightly for the graphics chipset; still Rage 128-based, but at least there's more memory (16 MB) on board. Plus, the 500 and 600 MHz models are the new G3 chip with the full-speed onboard 256K cache.
- The Cube now offers the GeForce2 MX card as a build-to-order option (standard w/ CD burner on the high-end model). Guess ATi's still on Apple's shit list to some extent.
- Fellow Mac users should try running Software Update and see if they get CarbonLib 1.2.5.
- The $49.95 5-pack of DVD-R disks is finally available from the Apple Store, but the estimated ship time is 45 days.
Now, if I could only get a Flower Power G4 Cube..... mmmmmmm....
The Mac forums are blazing with commentary on the new iMac colors. Personally, I kind of like them, and hope they do a good job of stimulating interest in a highly overlooked demographic; women computer users. Anything that brings computing power to a wider audience can't be a bad thing. Besides, the effect is supposed to be slightly 3Dish, with the pattern all the way through the case instead of merely stuck onto the surface. I can't wait to see one in person.
--
We are the priests of the temples of Syrinx!
--
The result is that the stuck on men, who are set from box only with other stuck on women, not not.
This is the single funniest line I have see on Slashdot in the past six months.
--
I submitted this, but it didn't make the cut, and since I fell below the 26-karma level (for no apparent reason; I haven't moderated in a while, got modded up a few times, and still it falls....but I digress) I have no fear of posting it here.
Remember the Wired article talking about how profane Steve Jobs was at a recent reseller meeting? We even talked about it just the other day. Well, MacNN has a different take on the subject after talking to some of the attendees.
Er, if you care.
--
MacNN mentioned this patent being granted to some company nobody has heard of that supposedly covers using OS-level software to write CDs and DVDs...in other words, some of the very things Apple introduced a couple of weeks ago. D'oh!
--
Linux has had massive amounts of media attention dumped upon it in the last 18-24 months and is available for use on cheap-ass PCs that most companies were about to throw out.
Apple is still perceived as a dead or dying maker of overpriced, underperforming goofy-looking hardware which only works with a one-button, hockey-puck mouse. (Note that none of this is actually true...well, anymore.)
I love using Mac OS X, and I would enjoy seeing it deployed as widely as possible at work and in schools, but Apple has a very long and painful road ahead of it if it means to suck marketshare away from Linux, especially in businesses. Perhaps they could start by spending some of that USD4,000,000,000 in cash on better advertising?
--
Heh. I was thinking idly of flaming you to hell and gone, but then I remembered the wise words of Dalton from Road House -- "Be nice." Works every time. (Plus I accidentally watched it again last night on TNT.)
I got my Pismo in March too, so I figure getting 18-24 months out of it is a good deal (I kind of like the BatBook shape better anyway).
Love the groundhog pic on your site, BTW.
--
Ah, but I was referring to the logic board, not the case. With the exception of the G4, it's basically the same overall design (i.e. not one of the UMA-2 based boards, which will probably be on the next upgrade in 9-12 months). It has been reformed to fit in the new slimmer case, but the underlying motherboard technology is very similar, if not identical.
My Pismo also supports one gigabyte of RAM, although Apple never sold it with such a configuration. The UMA-2 machines are supposed to all be PC133, so I'm sure eventually the PowerBook will support it. Hopefully by then it will be cheaper and battery technology will have advanced to make up for the extra power consumption of the faster bus.
And, the graphics chipset is actually the same as my model, a Rage 128 Mobility with the same 8 MB of VRAM. That's my biggest disappointment. I was hoping the Radeon Mobility chipset would be available, or that they'd at least bump up the VRAM to 16 MB. Dell sticks up to 32 MB in their Inspirons, but Apple still leaves only 8 MB in their PowerBook, iBook, and iMac, and 16 MB (by default; the 32 MB Radeon is an option) in the Cube and bottom-level G4 desktop. Boo!
I like the TiBook, but I'm waiting until the next revision to unload my Pismo for one.
--
The TiBook is essentially the most recent PowerBook (a.k.a. Pismo) with a G4 stuck in it. Same basic logic board design and such. What about running on the new 133MHz-bus Power Macs?
:-]
Now, what's more impressive is that it also boots on a non-upgraded Power Mac 7300, thanks to the instructions found at StepWise. Even runs pretty quick, too.
Besides, who needs more than one mouse button anyway?
--
...because I live in a county where this is now illegal.
:-]
P.S. Merry Christmas to everybody else who can't sleep.
--
sigh...
Macintosh users have no right to gloat either--using the Mac OS isn't much easier than using Windows. The Finder and Chooser may sound intuitive, but just try to find a running Mac application after minimizing it, or choose to eject a CD from the CD-ROM drive by pressing the Eject button (silly me).
First of all, there's no such thing as minimizing an application in Mac OS. You can windowshade individual windows, and you can hide applications. Running apps show up in the Applications menu under Mac OS 7-9, and in the Dock in Mac OS X. Not exactly rocket science.
Second, what Eject button? Only the most recent Macs have a keyboard eject button for the CD. Older models let you simply highlight the disk and select Eject from the Special menu (and no, it no longer leaves the ghosted icon on the desktop, and hasn't for at least two years). Again, not the world's toughest job.
Yes, there are flaws in how Mac OS has become more complicated and less differentiated from its x86-based bastard twin, but ZDNet really ought to investigate these things a little before posting rude and inaccurate comments on them. (Oh, who am I kidding. Ever since Jason O'Grady went to work for the big Z last January his PowerPage site has gone from a once-valuable PowerBook resource to a constantly-broken, never-informative, ad-driven puff piece and is the only Mac site running on Windows. But I digress.)
As for whether Linux is too bloated, I think companies whose operating systems barely fit on a 1.1GB Virtual PC partition with an office suite shouldn't throw stones.
--
It was in dire need of good moderation (ala Slashdot).
Mostly out of curiosity, do you mean that both it and Slashdot need good moderation, or that it needs moderation as good as Slashdot's?
--
The Macintosh, for example, has no concept of multiple users (OS X not being covered).
Before any other Mac users rush in to flame the reviewer by pointing out that Mac OS 9 in fact does support multiple users, I would like to point out that it, in fact, does suck rocks and is incredibly brain-damaged compared to even Windows 9x's multiple-user capabilities. About the only thing it's good for is putting up a login password at startup (which can quite easily be circumvented) and for impressing your easily-impressed friends by using the voiceprint verification password thingy, which never works unless you:
a) are in a silent room
b) are speaking into a wired microphone
c) are setting it up for the first time (always fails after then)
Can't wait for OS X.....
--
> -- I use Macs for work, Linux for education, and Windows for cardplaying.
Then, in your user bio you claim that you use w98 at work.
Mmmm.
Technically, they're both true. My job is to do tech support for the Macs at our location. However, the company uses a total POS call-tracking system that only runs under Windows (no, it doesn't have any web interface) and uses Outlook to schedule the calls. So, I had to have them buy a copy of Virtual PC for me to use solely with this one program and Outlook. Hence the "forced to use" part.
You're right, though, I should probably make that a little less contradictory.
--
from the survey:
62.Does your organization provide any special benefits or working conditions that you particularly like? (please specify)
Sure; for our company Christmas gift we got a bag of microwave popcorn and a hockey puck with our company logo on it, since apparently our big marketing coup this year was to sponsor a "play of the game" segment for Washington Capitals games. Bonus? What's that?
Looking for a buzzword-heavy sinking ship? come work with me!
Assholes. I can't wait until my Oracle DBA class is finished and I can get the fuck out of technical support.
--
Think so, eh?
--
Why, in a two story iMac, of course.
Oh...my...god.
I'm going to have a permanent psyche-scar now....
from the article:
"...circumstantial evidence suggests this species is a member of the DSL community..."
Mmmmm, high-bandwidth sharks...
even Apple has a dual-processor system available, fer chrissakes. Soon AMD-baseds dual-processor motherboards will be available. What are the guys at Intel smoking?
Maybe they're trying to emulate Motorola's slide into desktop-processor oblivion...
It would be fascinating to prowl through these pages in a few years, especially the polls (which aren't normally viewable on slashdot once they're off the main page). Hey Rob, how about setting up a permanent archive of the election stories?
Personally, I'm happy with my choice of Gore. I'm also quite pleased that I didn't have to kill or be killed for my chance to vote. Those of you reading this who served or serve in the armed forces, thanks much.
You may choose not to use it, but IE is very much available for Mac OS X.
Although I must admit, I still use iCab on my SE/30, since Netscape and IE have failed to update their browsers for 68K machines.
Funny, when I was growing up, I was told the world would end at 6:28:15 AM on February 6, 2040....
As I grew older, though, the powers that be extended the deadline to 29940, so we're OK.
(Mac developers will understand.)