Prius Owners and Mac Users

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(ScubaX\";p=\"91089)</div>

Well, most of your industrial applications may have windows clients (along with various other platforms) but the heavy lifting happens on a *nix based system almost every time. Unix has traditionally been dominant in the backend/mid levels, and I don't think that's changing.

With Apple moving to a unix based platform, there have been odd little ripples through the development world. Adobe has started to support Linux on more levels than before, and why not? All they have to do is a few bits of conditional code and a recompile. It's not a huge amount of effort, and the benefits are nice.

Windows does have the consumer market, but they're already starting to lose their grip a little. Not so much on the OS level, but the application level. The emergence of Firefox speaks volumes about how little people trust MSFT to produce secure code.

There's also going to be another ripple with the XBox 2. It's PPC based, not X86 based. Will there be more mac games (and the mac market is actually decent today, not at all like the pre OSX days)? Perhaps... but one thing is for certain... the easy ports of x86PC based games to the XBox are most likely over.

So it's a bit long winded, but it breaks down like this. Most consumer development happens on windows. Most heavy lifting development happens on platforms other than windows.

 

Very interesting -- I switched to Macs full time back in 2001, and have never looked back (though I still run Windows XP for a few things via Microsoft's VirtualPC).

 

Like someone else said earlier, it boggles me that anyone that has used a Mac for a week would prefer to use a PC. I have to have a PC because a couple of applications I occasionally need weren't written for Mac, but I RDC to the PC from my G5. For most of what I do (computational biology), Mac is perfect. I can't imagine trying to do it without Unix.

I love my Powerbook too. And I'm typing this reply on my wonderful little G4 Cube. I even have another Cube in the closet, in case I spill coffee on the first one.

And yes, the parallels between Mac and Prius are pretty evident I think. Both worth being a little more expensive because they're elegant, superior, beautiful tools that were designed well by people who get it.

 

im not abandoning windows. too much investment and work commitment to do that. but so far (after a day and half) this has been a welcome change of pace. the ease of my ability to effortlessly connect to any network is amazing. i have connected my printer (attached to my win 2000 machine) to my network, already "borrowed" bandwidth from two different wireless benefactors, i have figured out how to do a lot.

to test, i have just printed out my gas chart for my Prius with a file stored on my XP machine, that was written by my Excel 97 file on on win 98 machine printed by my laser printer attached to the win 2000 machine. akk that controlled right here from my Mac.

now my network runs flawlessly, but it took HOURS if not days to get it all set up and working right. that doesnt include the several hours a week of running anti-virus, malware, etc to protect it.

granted XP has made this stuff easier than it has ever been before (if anyone has experience with NT, you will know what im talking about, but with the Mac, i know nearly nothing about what it can do and already i have done quite a bit. it was not this easy on windows and it may never be

 

Lots of typical OS religious comments already on this long thread... Suffice it to say I managed Windows Advanced Server support for a large corporation for a number of years and this is what I own at home:

original iMac - guest house
iMac DV - daughter
eMac - mother-in-law
Powerbook G4 15 (Titanium) - son
iMac G4 17 (luxo) - wife
Powerbook G4 17 (Aluminum) - mine

Creative and choherent echnology. It's in my car and my computer...

Later,
Gary

 

Here's hoping that Toyota is better with batteries than Apple.

http://money.cnn.com/2005/05/20/technology...dex.htm?cnn=yes

NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - The Consumer Product Safety Commission announced Friday that Apple Computer is recalling a rechargeable battery used in its iBook G4 and PowerBook G4 computers, due a risk of overheating and fires.

The commission's statement said Apple is recalling about 128,000 of the batteries sold in the United States.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Jonnycat26\";p=\"91069)</div>

That's exactly my rationale for moving to OSX from Windows in a nutshell. I'd also add that I'm choosing OSX over Linux at home because of being able to buy fairly mature and solid off-the-shelf software, rather than recompiling (and constantly tweaking) open source stuff.

For work, open source is great; for home, I just want a good working computer, with as little dinking around as possible.

Plus, with the VirtualPC package on the Mac, I can make the transition gradually -- don't have to do everything overnight.

 

Re: Mac & You

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(stanepstein\";p=\"90534)</div>

I know I'm only 22. That doesn't mean something wasn't 'back in the day' to my perspective. I started using Apple computers in approximately 1990. I used them for a few years in schools and immediately preferred PCs once I started using them.

What can I say? I haven't been around that long but hey. We all have our own perspectives...

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(ScubaX\";p=\"90823)</div>

Sorry... the period at the end of the sentence became part of the link and that's why it did not work. Try now: http://www.uprm.edu/biology/profs/marimutt...cvirtualpc2.htm

 

I started with Apple II #20665... I'm 39. I feel old!

Gary

 

welll no recall here although the case does get warm when sitting on my lap. nothing major though

 

Me too. That and Commodor PETs. Then I got an Atari 800.

 

A couple of observations. First this board is very much like the early days of the CompuServe Mac Users Group board. Same feel. I remember the days of doing my own cable for my modem so I could run Red Rider and connect using my Mac. A lot like installing my EV switch. I see a lot of similarities in the two communities. Those were the days and these are the days! Second is that as far as the intuitive feel of the GUI. There really was a lot of research done at XEROX PARC on the GUI in the early years. Where to put the menu bar, the trash can etc. etc. Apple licenced all of that and built it into the Mac. I am very fond of quoting one of my mentors. "In the absence of data you can have any opinion you wish" Well there is data. One final word. Dave you can borrow a little band width from me when you need it! BTW I did set up my Garmin iQue initially using VPC and a program called Missing Sync. It does a fair job at syncing with the iQue. I have to admit that I now borrow time on a PC to build the map data base to place on the iQue because the VPC on a G4 is very very slow (I think it took about 12 hours to compile a nearly 256 data base). I wonder how it is on a dual G5 but unfortunately my wife will not let me get one. Oh well.

 

Well I bought my first MAC product yesterday, a MacWorld magazine. It has a section on the Mini and accessories and a disk with GPs programs on it. Well, I can load all my maps and do waypoint and what ever I need from the PC. I will continue to use that GPS in other vehicles or when hiking.

I'm interested in using the Mini for a car computer because of the size, power supply, and power of the computer. The only negative I have found is the availability of software, in particular GPS real time mapping software. The two solutions I have found so far are Route 66 and using VPC with Delorme's Street Atlas.

Route 66 is reportedly filled with inaccuracies and slow. SA under VPC is also slow under a G5 and I am sure much slower on a Mini with G5.

I really want the Mac Mini as the solution because it meets the other requirements. Any other suggestions on software for real time mapping?

 

For those of you looking for a GPS and mapping program try this site. I have used this combination in the past with my PowerBook and it worked for me. It uses a variety of map databases. They have information on cables and GPS receivers. http://www.gpsy.com/ Try them.

 

i will probably get the mac map program. any recommendations for GPS receiver BlueTooth required.

as far as slow what is the difference on the Mini and the G4 as far as speed? my Processor is 1.67 Ghz i believe and i have a Gig of RAM. this is supposed to be the fastest book they have (at least that is what i asked for. i still have time to return it if they lied to me)

 

The fastest Mini is a 1.42 Ghz both a G4. The G5 is too hot for lap tops and the form factor of the Mini. I have been thinking that the iMac with its G5 processor would make a good luggable. I am going to look into how easy it would be to remove the stand on the back. I rarely use my PowerBook with out plugging it in. I lugged around my original 128 and later up graded to a Fat Mac in a carry case for years. That would be the way to edit hi def video on the run. I would really like to have a Mini in my car. That would give you a lot of options for Nav, maybe running Attila's scanner program, data bases such as gas milage. The mind boggles at the possibilities.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(ScubaX\";p=\"91480)</div>

So it's not that much different than my Prius's built in navigation system then.

 

I should have added that had it not been for Apple offering OS X, I'd never had considered a Mac OS based system, ever. OS X combined with the elegance and thoughtfull hardware design won me over.

XP has some nice features, I guess, but I marvel at how slow my XP system is at work, even running on fast equpiment. Even doing basic stuff it just grinds to a halt occasionally. The worst is when you've got the typical LAN situation and you've got networked drives mapped, and you simply click down on the File Open dialog, where the drives are mapped and it just sits there frozen until it recalculates your drive mappings situation. And the whole 3-finger shutdown/reboot "feature" is something I never liked. Then there's the hideously complicated system registry, with "keys" for everything under the sun. It's like a big welcome mat for trojans and badly written software to get in there and just moondance all over the place.

 

well i read that Route 66 is accurate enough but not compatible with several GPS systems out there. Delorme is pathetic and weak for location. decent maps and features.

it looks like a tough uphill climb for this and no one seems to have any specific solutions here.

as far as XP slowness, you are right about it being slow sometimes. my desktop's clock speed is more than twice as fast as my G-4, but sometimes i get a delay just opening explorer. sure if the hard drive is sleeping then i would expect a delay but most times, that is not the case. on a laptop i would expect a delay because of the power saver feature but on a desktop that has been used fairly regularly for several minutes there is no excuse for it. my XP does not have any background tasks running either. turned nearly all that stuff off except for what i have to have running