Prius Owners and Mac Users

I'm both a Prius and Mac owner/user!

 

I just ordered a PowerMac Dual 2Ghz G5 machine from Amazon.com last night.

As Buzz Lightyear would say, "I'm ON MY WAY!"

I'll start a separate thread on this over at Fred's; I've already gotten answers for a lot of my questions, but have some specific ones for y'all there.

Thanks for the comments -- this thread (and a few other things) finally got my nascent Windows exorcism plans to a concrete stage.

 

They can take my MAC when they pry it from my cold, dead hands... I expect to feel the same way about my new Prius.

 

Macs rule!
Prius' rule!

-- Apple since '82
-- Hybrid since '05 :mrgreen:

 

Ditto for me. Machead since 1989 and Prius owner since 2004.

12" iBook
14" iBook
G4 Sawtooth desktop upgraded to 1.5 GHZ, dual monitors, multiple HD'S, CD burner, OSX Tiger, etc.

 

Looks like I will have to give up on the Mac Mini idea for the car computer. While it was a great choice hardware wise, it does not meet the requirement for GPS software. Route 66 is the best out there for the Mac, and it has a lot of complaints from its users. VPC is slow and has as many complaints as the Route 66 software. So unless Delorme changes their minds and put out Mac software, the car computer must me PC based.

Once the project is underway, I will start another thread on its progress.

 

may not be a Mac mini, but i have results on a G4 powerbook, Route 66 and the Holux GP 231 in FHOP

http://priuschat.com/forums/viewtopic.php?...p?p=93810#93810

 

I bought my first PC in 1984 and my first Mac in 2003. I've bought my last PC, but not my last Mac.

Right now I'm trying to figure out how to get my PowerBook (with its built-in Bluetooth) talking to my Prius. That seems like the best away around the crippled Motorola v710 that Verizon just sold me.

BTW, this is my first post here. Great to find this place!

 

Well, my new PowerMac is now up and running in my office. (Love the breathing light when it's in sleep mode.) Quite a dramatic brick of aluminum. (I guess the same could be said for my Prius. :lol: )

Well, at least in my case, we can answer the age-old question: what came first -- the Prius or the Mac?

Hey Jonnycat: Did you decided to get a Mac? Which model?

[hr:a8d91d0bd3]
It'll be a while before I make it my day-to-day working machine -- a lot of conversion work to be done; I'm currently just dinking around with it, learning the ins and outs, etc. (One reason I haven't been posting to PriusChat lately.) I plan to erase the entire hard drive and re-install Tiger this weekend.

Nice to be back (and Mac).

 

Jeff,

Don't forget to repair disk permissions after you install software. That goes a long way in keeping your system clean.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(jkash\";p=\"99015)</div>

Jeff, just to make sure I understand -- you mean set up file permissions differently than the way the Mac sets them by default?

I'm very familiar with Unix file permissions, and had plan to modify user accounts directories accordingly; but if you have any specific recommendations, I'd love to hear them. (Or if you have some good links on the subject, that would be appreciated too.)

The basic Unix structure seems to me to provide a much better security foundation; i.e., when I do something like switch a firewall on or off, I have to type in the admin password. But the more I can do, the better.
[hr:e0988809ed]
An issue I've heard a lot of discussion about: create a separate Administrator account, and set your normal, "work" account as a non-Admin account in OS X? Or just let your normal "work" account be an Admin account?

In Windows, I highly recommend the latter; on the Mac, because you're prompted for your admin password before most "system-level" changes are made, there's been a lot of comments from friends not to worry about having a separate Admin account.

(Though you can always use "fast switching" to log into your Admin account immediately. Cool graphic effect too when you switch )
[hr:e0988809ed]
Thanks in advance!

 

You're way over my head. I mean going to Applications/Utilities/Disk Utility and repairing the permissions.

I've never set up a separate Admin account either. Never has been a problem.

I hope that helps.

 

This whole discussion has been reset as Mac OS will move to Intel chips in 2006 CE. It's not the CPU, but the OS. Check it out for yourself by viewing the recent World Wide Developers Conference held in San Jose:

http://www.apple.com/quicktime/qtv/wwdc05/

Apple has been running the Mac OS on Wintel machines for five years.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(skruse\";p=\"99112)</div>

It is the OS, but the OS does run on a CPU, and the software is complied for a CPU.

Personally, I can't fathom why they'd go to Intel. The chips run hotter, they're not as efficient, etc. If they were going to make the jump to x86, the Athlon 64 is a much, much better way to go.

 

athlons run hot too, but they are still twice as fast as intel

 

Athlons may be faster one day and then Pentium the next. They both run too hot and consume too much power. Your thinking just cpu while Apple is taking in the whole picture including MB manufacturing, memory and what ever else they made this business decision on.

I run a video capture card in my PC that has a recommended list of MB's and CPU's. While there are about 18 intel based made by a multitude of manufacturers recommended, only 1 with an AMD CPU. They also list a series of AMD's chip set that won't work and only one older Intel that works poorly. When I built my system, it had to fit into that list of working CPU's and chip sets. Maybe Apple has done the same thing?

I don't think Apple cares who the current speed contest winner is; I think they care more aboput who fits the business model they have envisioned for the next decade for Apple. And as any Apple fan will tell you, Steve has great insight into the future for his company.

 

[hr:38e5114b12]
And on a more serious side: Three very insightful articles (I think) re: the move to Intel chips by Apple:

• Picking up the Pieces: Mourning the PowerPC: The last page is the best -- a very good technical Q&A about what the move to Intel actually means.
  [*]David Pogue considers the MacIntel Alliance: David Pogue also gives a good Q&A -- a little more low-tech, but very clear.
  [*]Hell Freezes Over realistic roadmap of how & when Mac models will over to Intel (at least I think so). (Also techy).
  

 

My own take on the situation:

I returned from a business trip a week ago to find:

• My new PowerMac dual G5 2 GHz (and 21" Samsung LCD monitor) have arrived (I'm moving from XP to OS X)
• The news about Apple switching to Intel
  • 
    As a friend wrote me: timing is everything. :lol:
    
    The long and short of it is, I'm not sending it back. I wanted OS X, and I
    wanted a machine that will last 5 years or more (given that I'm doing what
    I do now on a home computer -- a safe bet, based on experience.)
    
    I'm tired of a computer that I either have to throw away in 3 years
    because the new OS/software requires a faster processor and more RAM; or
    that I have to reinstall from scratch (taking, in my case, a full weekend)
    because the XP registry has gotten "gunked up" and is slowing down
    everything with it. Enough.
    
    In the long term, if I want Mac OSX, this is good news. This opens up a
    lot of possibilites for Apple -- routes they can take in the future.
    (And, as the article below points out, it makes Microsoft nervous. And
    that's ALWAYS a Good Thing.)
    
    In the short (5-year) term, I'm not particularly worried. I expect that
    for almost any application I use, it's written in completely high-level
    code -- so cross-compiling for either G5 or Intel is nada. I don't care
    if a company sells one fat binary or two processor-specific ones -- I
    can't see this being a particularly difficult thing to do (for the type of
    apps I would use.)
    
    All I know is, after ~15 years, it's nice to come back to Mac.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(ScubaX\";p=\"99243)</div>

Actually, on my HP Athlon 3400, the system usually runs so cool that the fans will shut off. The CPU, if you enable it in power management, will throttle itself down to 700mhz if you're not pushing it, and at that speed, it runs very, very cool.

Intel runs hot, Yes. AMD does not.

 

I think Apple's argument Re: Intel/IBM PowerPC/AMD chips and heating was that Intel was taking more significant steps towards making their high-end chips cool and power-efficient enough for laptops than IBM was.

As to "why not AMD instead of Intel" -- well, a lot of people are asking that.