its only a short matter of time (5 years I guess) before gcc and associated free software stuff is not ported to PPC
Nonsense. People still maintain Linux (with gcc and GNU tools) ports for Motorola 68k machines, even though the 68k Amigas, Ataris, HPs, Macs, and Suns are all far more than five-years-discontinued. Support for OS X on PPC is going to dry up, sure, but PPC Linux support won't be going anywhere.
Similarly, Linux on PA-RISC will be a going concern years after nobody bothers with HPUX on PA-RISC anymore. It's a hell of a lot easier to have to adjust just for the hardware than for both the OS and the hardware.
People keep saying this, and I have no idea why. I got eMac Panther DVDs on eBay, and used them to install OS X on a used G3/400 blue-and-white with no problem whatsoever. Now, I can't install iLife or Classic off the DVDs, but the operating system itself? No problem at all.
So what? It's not as if David Brin said it in Salon.
Er, yes, he did. That he said it via an attributed quote doesn't change that Brin used the statement as direct support for an argument in an opinion piece. He was not merely reporting, he was making a statement.
Captain Antilles, commanding officer of the Tantive IV, appeared in Episode III when he was given the droids, and was killed by Darth Vader holding him up by his throat and crushing it early in Episode IV. C-3PO mentions to Luke in Episode IV that his most recent owner was Captain Antilles. He is called Captain Colton in the novelization of Episode IV.
Wedge Antilles of Rogue Squadron, who appeared as a fighter pilot in the Battle of Yavin in Episode IV, the Battle of Hoth in Episode V, and the Battle of Endor in Episode VI, is an entirely different person.
Further, neither of those two are Bail Antilles of Alderaan, who was one of the nominees for Chancellor in the Senate vote that installed Palpatine in Episode I. Bail Antilles of Alderaan is furthermore not the same person as Bail Organa of Alderaan, who appeared in Episodes II and III.
An example is the fact that, in the original SW trilogy, the Force is available to anyone willing to commit herself to the ideals of the Jedi. Obi-wan Kenobi offers to teach Han Solo how to master the Force,
Just because David Brin said it in Salon doesn't mean it's true.
You are invited to sit down with the laser discs, video tapes, or DVDs, and study them thouroughly. As soon as you find the line where Obi-Wan offers to train Han, post it exactly here, along with the preceeding and following lines from other characters. Try the novelization or NPR's radio drama, too. Go on.
a barcode scanner that works with my Mac (hence PS/2 CueCats are no good... )
Others have pointed out the existence of USB barcode scanners. I'd just mention that PS/2-USB adapters can be picked up for $7-8 shipped on eBay, so you could use a CueCat just fine.
I wouldn't be so hasty in predicting dual-booting Windows/OS X machines,
I would. Why? An Apple VP just got through predicting it.
To quote a CNEt article: After Jobs' presentation, Apple senior vice president Phil Schiller addressed the issue of running Windows on Macs, saying there are no plans to sell or support Windows on an Intel-based Mac. "That doesn't preclude someone from running it on a Mac. They probably will," he said. "We won't do anything to preclude that."
Apple has not said they will never license OS X to other PC manufacturers.
On Monday, answering questions about x86 Macs, Apple senior vice president Phil Schiller said, "We will not allow running Mac OS X on anything other than an Apple Mac."
So, while there may be some question as to whether that means "We will take technical measures to prevent it from running on non-Apple computers", or just "our license agreements will prohibit it from running on non-Apple computers", it's pretty clear that Apple won't be licensing OS X to other PC manufacturers.
First, no, it isn't going to be Open Firmware. The Apple docs say they won't be. Even if it were, Open Firmware is a well-documented open standard (IEEE-1275) invented in 1988 by Sun. Windows NT for SPARC and Windows NT for PPC both booted from Open Firmware.
Second, Windows already supports HyperTransport, given that it's an AMD-invented technology used in Athlon 64 systems. If Apple uses HyperTransport in its new PCs (and it hasn't said one way or another), Microsoft already has the code written.
Third, Apple has said nothing about the chipsets, but the current back-room OS X for Intel runs on standard Intel chipsets, as does x86 Darwin. It seems likely, given the new alliance with Intel, that Apple will continue to use Intel chipsets. It would be rather pointless busywork for both hardware and software divisions to invent a new one and write OS X drivers.
Also, Apple has some rather mean legal dogs that would likely bite anyone who tries to circumvent their restrictions for money.
Yep.
On the other hand, they don't seem to care much about those who circumvent their current restrictions noncommercially -- see XPostFacto, Mac-on-Linux, and PearPC.
No problem. Mac-on-Linux already does it for non-Apple PPC boards.
When Mac OS X talks to the hardware, it does so through Darwin. Darwin is open source. Therefore, almost everything you need to spoof Mac OS X into thinking it's running on OS X is learnable from Darwin
Which doesn't mean there'll be anything more than a EULA line just like the one that's in the current OS X EULA. A line that doesn't stop OS X from being run on non-Apple PPC machines under Mac-on-Linux; it just means it's not allowed.
Switching to a non-x86 standard architecture for the intel processors would allow them to still have the same kind of architecture lock in that they currently have with the PPC based systems
What lock? Currently, Mac-on-Linux lets you run Mac OS X on non-Apple PPC hardware.
It'll probably violate the OS X x86 license agreement, but it'll almost certainly be possible to run OS X on your generic clone PC within weeks of release with some open-source layers -- Mac-on-Linux x86 edition, maybe (if Apple really went nuts) some custom-compiled bits of OpenDarwin to replace OS X x86 code. The modifications to OS X required to make non-Darwin-layer code both hardware dependent and not trivially emulatable would be very painful.
If we assume that every single Mac sold ever was still in service as of 2005/1/1 (51.044 million) . ..
And that the number of all other personal computers in the installed base on 2005/1/1 equaled only the number of IBM clones sold in 2003-2004 alone (320.795 million, for a combined Mac+Others installed base of 371.839 million) . ..
Then the Mac had an installed base of 13.7% (51.044/371.839) of personal computers as of January 1, 2005.
The actual intervals were: 10.0-10.1: 6 months (March 24 to Sept 25) 10.1-10.2: 11 months (Sept 25 to August 23) 10.2-10.3: 13 months (August 23 to October 24) 10.3-10.4: 18 months (October 24 '03 to April 29 '05)
What's their best processor? The Pentium M, aka the P3, aka the P3 with modern fab and some marketing spin.
The P3 being just a somewhat revised, better-process P2; and the P2 being a somewhat revised, better-process Pentium Pro. Which was introduced in 1995. The Pentium M is a supercharged 686.
Slashdot Mirror
Electronic paper will be available in your area when fusion power meets your region's power needs.
A single specification with multiple competing suppliers is dangerous and uncompetitive?
Good, I'll remember that for the next time somebody complains about Internet Explorer not following standards.
its only a short matter of time (5 years I guess) before gcc and associated free software stuff is not ported to PPC
Nonsense. People still maintain Linux (with gcc and GNU tools) ports for Motorola 68k machines, even though the 68k Amigas, Ataris, HPs, Macs, and Suns are all far more than five-years-discontinued. Support for OS X on PPC is going to dry up, sure, but PPC Linux support won't be going anywhere.
Similarly, Linux on PA-RISC will be a going concern years after nobody bothers with HPUX on PA-RISC anymore. It's a hell of a lot easier to have to adjust just for the hardware than for both the OS and the hardware.
But the bible says the world is only 6000 years old
Where?
From the OED:
Optimize
2. a. trans. To make the best or most of; to develop to the utmost.
Optimal
Best or most favourable, most satisfactory
Pessimize
trans. To make the worst of; to take the most unfavourable view of.
Pessimal
Worst or least favourable; that is at the worst possible extreme.
"All keys can be 'any' key, so just hit any key."
The screen said, "Press any key to continue".
So I hit the Shift, Alt, and Ctrl on the right; then the Shift, Alt, and Ctrl on the left; then Caps Lock, Scroll Lock, Num Lock, and Pause.
Then I filed a bug report, because almost 10% of the keys on my 101-key keyboard wouldn't cause a continue.
The eMac install will not work on a Mac mini
People keep saying this, and I have no idea why. I got eMac Panther DVDs on eBay, and used them to install OS X on a used G3/400 blue-and-white with no problem whatsoever. Now, I can't install iLife or Classic off the DVDs, but the operating system itself? No problem at all.
So what? It's not as if David Brin said it in Salon.
Er, yes, he did. That he said it via an attributed quote doesn't change that Brin used the statement as direct support for an argument in an opinion piece. He was not merely reporting, he was making a statement.
Captain Antilles, commanding officer of the Tantive IV, appeared in Episode III when he was given the droids, and was killed by Darth Vader holding him up by his throat and crushing it early in Episode IV. C-3PO mentions to Luke in Episode IV that his most recent owner was Captain Antilles. He is called Captain Colton in the novelization of Episode IV.
Wedge Antilles of Rogue Squadron, who appeared as a fighter pilot in the Battle of Yavin in Episode IV, the Battle of Hoth in Episode V, and the Battle of Endor in Episode VI, is an entirely different person.
Further, neither of those two are Bail Antilles of Alderaan, who was one of the nominees for Chancellor in the Senate vote that installed Palpatine in Episode I. Bail Antilles of Alderaan is furthermore not the same person as Bail Organa of Alderaan, who appeared in Episodes II and III.
An example is the fact that, in the original SW trilogy, the Force is available to anyone willing to commit herself to the ideals of the Jedi. Obi-wan Kenobi offers to teach Han Solo how to master the Force,
Just because David Brin said it in Salon doesn't mean it's true.
You are invited to sit down with the laser discs, video tapes, or DVDs, and study them thouroughly. As soon as you find the line where Obi-Wan offers to train Han, post it exactly here, along with the preceeding and following lines from other characters. Try the novelization or NPR's radio drama, too. Go on.
a barcode scanner that works with my Mac (hence PS/2 CueCats are no good... )
Others have pointed out the existence of USB barcode scanners. I'd just mention that PS/2-USB adapters can be picked up for $7-8 shipped on eBay, so you could use a CueCat just fine.
I wouldn't be so hasty in predicting dual-booting Windows/OS X machines,
I would. Why? An Apple VP just got through predicting it.
To quote a CNEt article:
After Jobs' presentation, Apple senior vice president Phil Schiller addressed the issue of running Windows on Macs, saying there are no plans to sell or support Windows on an Intel-based Mac. "That doesn't preclude someone from running it on a Mac. They probably will," he said. "We won't do anything to preclude that."
Apple has not said they will never license OS X to other PC manufacturers.
On Monday, answering questions about x86 Macs, Apple senior vice president Phil Schiller said, "We will not allow running Mac OS X on anything other than an Apple Mac."
So, while there may be some question as to whether that means "We will take technical measures to prevent it from running on non-Apple computers", or just "our license agreements will prohibit it from running on non-Apple computers", it's pretty clear that Apple won't be licensing OS X to other PC manufacturers.
The story is The Feeling of Power
First, no, it isn't going to be Open Firmware. The Apple docs say they won't be. Even if it were, Open Firmware is a well-documented open standard (IEEE-1275) invented in 1988 by Sun. Windows NT for SPARC and Windows NT for PPC both booted from Open Firmware.
Second, Windows already supports HyperTransport, given that it's an AMD-invented technology used in Athlon 64 systems. If Apple uses HyperTransport in its new PCs (and it hasn't said one way or another), Microsoft already has the code written.
Third, Apple has said nothing about the chipsets, but the current back-room OS X for Intel runs on standard Intel chipsets, as does x86 Darwin. It seems likely, given the new alliance with Intel, that Apple will continue to use Intel chipsets. It would be rather pointless busywork for both hardware and software divisions to invent a new one and write OS X drivers.
Also, Apple has some rather mean legal dogs that would likely bite anyone who tries to circumvent their restrictions for money.
Yep.
On the other hand, they don't seem to care much about those who circumvent their current restrictions noncommercially -- see XPostFacto, Mac-on-Linux, and PearPC.
No problem. Mac-on-Linux already does it for non-Apple PPC boards.
When Mac OS X talks to the hardware, it does so through Darwin. Darwin is open source. Therefore, almost everything you need to spoof Mac OS X into thinking it's running on OS X is learnable from Darwin
Mac-on-Linux is perfectly capable of running Mac OS X on those non-Mac Pegasos boards.
The OS X 10.4.1-on-Intel dev kit includes a Pentium 4 processor computer.
Which doesn't mean there'll be anything more than a EULA line just like the one that's in the current OS X EULA. A line that doesn't stop OS X from being run on non-Apple PPC machines under Mac-on-Linux; it just means it's not allowed.
Switching to a non-x86 standard architecture for the intel processors would allow them to still have the same kind of architecture lock in that they currently have with the PPC based systems
What lock? Currently, Mac-on-Linux lets you run Mac OS X on non-Apple PPC hardware.
It'll probably violate the OS X x86 license agreement, but it'll almost certainly be possible to run OS X on your generic clone PC within weeks of release with some open-source layers -- Mac-on-Linux x86 edition, maybe (if Apple really went nuts) some custom-compiled bits of OpenDarwin to replace OS X x86 code. The modifications to OS X required to make non-Darwin-layer code both hardware dependent and not trivially emulatable would be very painful.
If we assume that every single Mac sold ever was still in service as of 2005/1/1 (51.044 million) . . .
.
And that the number of all other personal computers in the installed base on 2005/1/1 equaled only the number of IBM clones sold in 2003-2004 alone (320.795 million, for a combined Mac+Others installed base of 371.839 million) . .
Then the Mac had an installed base of 13.7% (51.044/371.839) of personal computers as of January 1, 2005.
(Sales figures provided )
There is no non-ludicrous way to reach a figure of 16% for the Mac installed base. The numbers just don't work.
When you can sell an OS upgrade every twelve months for $130, who needs hardware profits?
Depends what you mean by "few".
The actual intervals were:
10.0-10.1: 6 months (March 24 to Sept 25)
10.1-10.2: 11 months (Sept 25 to August 23)
10.2-10.3: 13 months (August 23 to October 24)
10.3-10.4: 18 months (October 24 '03 to April 29 '05)
For an average interval of 12 months.
What's their best processor? The Pentium M, aka the P3, aka the P3 with modern fab and some marketing spin.
The P3 being just a somewhat revised, better-process P2; and the P2 being a somewhat revised, better-process Pentium Pro. Which was introduced in 1995. The Pentium M is a supercharged 686.