Prius Owners and Mac Users

LOL!!!

MACS!!! PCs !!!!

Here's a nickle, kids. Get a real OS...

http://www.sun.com/software/solaris/get.jsp

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(priusham\";p=\"90746)</div>

Isn't the x86 version free now?

One of our network admins has a... pile... of sun boxes sitting on his desk. It's almost like has a sentimental attachment to them.

 

Congrats Dave.

You're probably running Safari but it's best with a two button mouse. You can enable tabs by holding the ctrl key (Or option or command, don't remember as I use a two button mouse and Mozilla). I don't like Safari so I use...Mozilla. Internet Explorer hasn't supported Mac for years, thank goodness, as they have constant security problems. Don't worry about online banking on a Mac running Safari or Mozilla. You're secure!

And you'll like that .Mac account for backing up, blogging, hosting your website. And they've got plenty of free stuff to download. Good bargain as I pay more to webhost my domain elsewhere.

First thing you want to do is get a thin cloth and put it over your keyboard when you close the unit. It's so thin that some of the keys have been known to scratch the screen when it's closed. Don't use alchohol or ammonia to clean the screen. I use Kensingtom screen guardian and lint free cloths.

If you want to know some great toys to buy let me know. I've got a nice Sony portable speaker and some cool USB stuff. (flylight, flyfan) If you do graphics...get a Wacom tablet. You'll never use the pad again. If you have a few different cameras get a SanDisk 8 in 1 card reader. Sometimes it's more convenient than attaching the camera to the computer with a cable.

Go to Versiontracker and get a few things: MacJanitor, CacheOutX, TinkerTool, OmniOutliner, OmniGraffle, Fishpad.

Some productivity software I love is Inspiration. I also can't do without the Macromedia Studio MX suite.

I have both Appleworks with Keynote and Office with Powerpoint. If you go for Keynote there are a bunch of places for you to get themes. Some free, some cost but the ones you pay for are awesome.

Don't go broke in the iTunes store!

 

I found a dc-dc power supply for the MAC Mini. It's only a $100 too. It will also provide 12vdc to a touch screen, survive cranking the engine (not sure that is needed with the Prius) and other options desired in a car computer.

CNX-P1900 at MP3Car.com

As long as I can find a good GPS solution and touch screen display I think I will be trying my first MAC - inside my Prius.

 

Nope. I'm hardcore Windows!

 

I'm not that much of a geek, but I have a couple of kids who talk this strange language none of us understand whenever they're together. There are a couple of tales about reliability I've gotten from them.

I've used a Mac since my son who was working for Computerland talked me into it in 1985--back when we had to play switch the disc to use some programs. I had to choose between the 128k and the 512k (and I get unsure when it comes to the sizes of memory, K, MB, GB, etc., because I don't use those terms enough.) I upgraded that to a MacPlus that was still running in 1999 with external floppy and hard drives--the gal I sold it to only wanted a word processor. The kid talked me into adding a hard drive. I wanted to get a 40 MB, but he convinced me that I should get a 100MB, even though "I'll never fill that!!" Oh, and I have had a 3-button mouse.

My son went on to do networking and programming for one of the largest banks in the country. He said that he had to repair a lot of PCs when the banks started using them in-house. When he commented that they hadn't had anything like as many problems with Macs, they agreed, but said, "but this is the wave of the future."

Another son is a programmer and hard-line PC user. When he added memory to my computer, he said, "Ewwwwwwww, I touched a Mac. When I ran into some problems (which turned out to be a compatability issue between a music program--Sibelius, I think it was--and the HP printer), he referred me to his best friend who was a freelance programmer for both platforms. The friend told me, "I don't know where to take a Mac to get it fixed; they just don't break. I haven't had a Mac break in 10 or 15 years, but my PC's break all the time."

The main reason I keep using the Mac is, of course, familiarity, even though I use a third son's PC when I visit him. I have done things like fill hard drives so full that I had to use a floppy to be able to erase something so that I could even open the computer with the hard drive, and I purchased one of the Power Computing clones. In the 90's I seemed to be a computer genius to some of my fellow teachers in a fairly small school district because I knew how to put in a repair floppy and follow the directions, which usually got back their data. I will undoubtedly get another Mac when I buy again.

But I still have no clue what those kids are saying.

Beth

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(ScubaX\";p=\"90718)</div>

I guess you didn't read many of those hits either, The Keyspan serial USB adapter works fine in both OS X and 9 - I have one.
http://www.keyspan.com/support/macosx/usa/

There is no problem with NMEA data on OS X - have a look and see what is out there. There is a possibility that your hardware may not be compatible but there is no problem running GPS software on a Mac and connecting most GPS devices...

 

I use an iMac at home (writing on it now) and a PC at work. Some programs I like are not available for the Mac, so I installed Virtual PC for occasional use. My thoughts on the PC-Mac controversy are online here: http://www.uprm.edu/biology/profs/marimutt...cvirtualpc2.htm.

 

Linky no worky :goodmorning: :sleeping:

 

Bye Bye to this thread - I smell smoke UNDER the water. Yep- there are the flames.

Watts D. Hour

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(ScubaX\";p=\"90733)</div>

And the kool-aid is fine!

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(priusham\";p=\"90746)</div>

I'm with Jonnycat -- I think Linux has pretty much put Sun out to pasture.

At my job, Suns workstations and servers were all over the place in the late 80s and through much of the 90s.

But now, if you need a Unix system for development, Linux works very well, and at a fraction of the cost.

 

Yes Solaris is free for x86 in non-commercial use.

I love Jonnycat26's avatar!

 

Well my hunt for GPs solutions on a Mac Mini continues but the results so far are not very promising.

Delorme use to make Street Atlas for the Mac, but stopped a couple years ago for lack of sales.

The forums for Delorme were only about 5 topics all about the same two things: why don't they make the software for a MAC and can VPC work.

Delorme's answer is they have no plans to do so. And the MAC users were pretty unanimous that in Virtual PC, the software is "painfully slow".

In a Magellan forum they said it would run, but crash also in VPC. The GPSr will connect and there are solutions for most things except uploading maps to to the GPSr. So VPC is possible for the map upload, but slow and unstable.

Route 66 made in Britain, does not look that well developed with features as compared to Delorme. Also with Delorme there is Topo software that I use allot to plan my hikes. If Delorme Street Atlas runs slow on a MAC in VPC, Topo 5 will grind it to a halt. It is very graphic intensive.

Here are some forum comments from MAC users on GPS software:


I would LOVE to see a mac version of Street Atlas. I have had success running SA2004 on an ibook through Virtual PC, however, it was was painfully slow. I would think that some of that would be corrected by the larger capacity and speed in a Powerbook.

If you already have Virtual PC this is an ok solution but if you do not it is a very expensive workaround.



I already have tried that. It was too slow for my tastes, because I want to use it with my GPS Card to provide turn-by-turn directions. Ah well....i guess we shall have to wait and see what happens next.





I love MACS! - but this is one of the reasons that I use a PC everyday. Most GPS devices will connect to a Mac through a serial connection but may need a USB adapter for newer Macs. There is mapping software for Macs - even some shareware. Try searching MacUpdates or VersionTracker.

Virtual PC works but is a difficult method to put yourself through. Your system will run much slower even if you have a really beefy one. I use a G4 Powerbook 17 with 1 GB of Ram and a 60 GB HD - it is rather painful to run apps through VPC.

IS IT POSSIBLE THOUGH? YES.

Most of the newer mapping software is only available for the Darkside (Windows.) Personally, I'd rather switch and enjoy using a computer, rather than fighting with a Mac forcing it to do Windows.


Some comments about Route 66 from Versiontracker:

mjim: I use Route 66 USA on a Powerbook G4 and my wife uses it on an iBook G4. Both are running Mac OS X 10.3.7. It works great for both of us. I have not had any problems with it at all. Both of us use Globalsat Bluetooth GPS receivers. I travel extensively throughout the United States and it has been fairly accurate. She has traveled in Canada and found it accurate there. Sometimes when searching for hotels it does show them in a different location than they actually are but it also provides a phone number so you can call on the cell phone and while looking at your map figure out how to get to the hotel. It is not as good a Street Atlas for Windows, but it is all there is for Macs running OS X. Maybe they will develop an upgrade soon, but so far all queries to them indicate nothing new.

Horrid in many respects..

SUGGESTION: Buy Virtual PC and Street Atlas USA for the PC!

This is first generation shareware quality.

1. The program is horribly slow
2. Somebody doesn't know about the Human Interface Guidelines
3. Where the hell is the ability to mark anything for your own personal use (only push pins?)
4. If you create a category, there is no way to remove it! All errors are permanent!!! Not even edit capabilities to correct entry errors.
5. Database of locations is sadly lacking compared to SAUSA (try Game Stop)
6. No route marking?
7. To mark several locations with Push Pins, I had to go to Yahoo Maps to find the real location on several streets without addresses (numbers).
8. Almost all functions cannot be accessed by Hot-Keys or Menus, only by the toolbar.
9. Toolbar icons are impossible to distinguish if you have any kind of vision impairment
10. The search function is severely limited and difficult to understand.
11. It takes up a HUGE amount of space.
12. Overlays for data like route markings, personal markers, labels (There are no label functions?!?), push pins (chuckle), regions, etc., should be saved as separate files, so that you can swap between them as needed (and would allow public transporation utilities and the like to build overlays for people who own the program). However, how can a program without a save, export, or import function possible have something so NECESSARY in a mapping software?

I.m not totally sure, yet, but the only thing going for this, is that the street database (the vectors) are pretty accurate.

Screw Rand McNally, I think the Thomas Brothers company needs to get in on the electronic map business... They did California maps the BEST, surely they could do a better job with this.

It's too bad I waited too long to install and try to use this, because I'm now stuck with it, CompUSA won't take it back..

Pick up a map at the gas station!

This software is not even worth shareware. Lets just hope that Rand McNally starts making software for the Mac so we don't have to use this garbage. You would think the most important thing in mapping software is finding out where your going. good luck figuring that out. In fact, good luck figuring anything out with this software. The only thing this software is good for is locking up your system.

 

I just love innovation, especially within the high-tech sector. The Powerbook Mac, Ipod and Prius are all very much progressive products that set the bar higher. This was written on a powerbook g4.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(priusham\";p=\"91026)</div>

Thanks... Orange cats really are the best.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(bookrats\";p=\"91021)</div>

It's really a shame, because Solaris is a very nice OS. And Sun has given us Java, which for all of it's warts early on in life, is a really great language and platform to code on.

I mostly use Linux at work, and our big iron is either Solaris or AIX. I'm switching to OSX at home because... well, Linux at home is getting a bit much. With OSX I can have my unix environment for working at home, and have the ease of use of the mac interface.

Most of the programmers I know are switching to OSX for their work. It's great for java development, and you can download and run GCC. Most unix programs will just recompile and work.

I guess the only programmers still using windows are the VeeBee programmers... but they're not really programmers anyway.

 

Johnnycat,

Does that mean that those programming for Windows are doing it on other platforms?

What platforms (not including the game machines), have the most developement for new programs?

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(ScubaX\";p=\"91078)</div>

All of my windows development, believe it or not, occurs on a Unix box. This does include front end applications. But I don't do games, just business apps, and they're a bit easier to make cross platform.

I don't know what you mean by development for new programs tho...

 

Well I was looking at where is the most development. The obvious answer to me is Windows, but maybe with commercial development it is Unix systems.

Since most software available at the local electronics store is for Windows that would be obvious at the consumer level, but what about for all areas? Such as software being developed for industry, military or wherever. I would assume the most programmers are employed at either Windows development or gaming platforms.