[jlazo]

Spasse-

What do you use for file transfering and network integration for your Mac and PC and server? I have been using Dave 3.1 for X, but have some trouble with Airpor being consistant.

[wgscott]

I am now running OS 10.1.2 on three macs at work (including one very old I mac and my ibook, as well as a 2x800 Mhz processor machine) and a two year old imac at home.

To understand OS X, you have to realize that Mac has fully modernized their operating system by upgrading it to one (called Unix, of which linux is a "flavor") that has been around for almost 30 years.

This is a major advantage because it means that a lot of really smart dedicated people have worked for over a quarter of a century trying to "get it right" and improve things. Unix has a very strong open source committment, which means that every computer geek in the world can modify and improve the operating system and its associated programs and share the results with you and me, and none of it is secret. You know exactly what you are dealing with. It is infinitely customizable, so if you don't like it, you can change it on a variety of levels short of revising the operating system itself, although you can even do that.

Since I do most of my "real" computer stuff on unix machines, upgrading to OS X was a liberating experience that changed the way I looked at Macs.

My initial preference for Macs over PCs was ease of use and straightforwardness, and (until Windows 2000 Prof.) better stability.

Then when Linux came along I put that on a PC at work and decided that I probably wouldn't buy macs any more since I could use my PC as a computer and then reboot it into Windows whenever I had to do something that I couldn't do on a Unix/Linux machine. But with the PC in Linux mode and two SGIs and an iMac, I didn't boot into windows a lot. I found it too "hard" to use, in the sense that it seemed to require the ability to mind-read what the microsoft engineers thought I would want to do and then try to trick the OS into doing what I actually wanted to do.

My attitude is that a good operating system shouldn't get noticed, but OS X does have some definite asthetic qualities (icandy). A good OS is one that you don't have to work around, second-guess, or trick into doing what you want it to do.

The advantage of unix (linux is a type of unix) is that it is infinitely customizable. The advantage of this is impossible to overstate. Mac OS X attempts what several linux releases have done, as well as SGI Irix, Sun unix (Solaris), etc, have all tried to do, which is to make unix more user-friendly through GUIs (graphical user interfaces) to perform typical tasks without disabling the command line feature that is infinitely customizable and for that reason millions of times more useful. OS X does a remarkably good job with this.

It is new and a bit buggy and clunky, but for me the advantages of having it be a unix operating system is so far and away better than toggling (rebooting, really) back and forth between linux and an operating system I never liked anyway, that it is pretty clearly superior and on an upward trajectory.

The entire unix portion of the operating system (called Darwin) is also now public domain, which means that you can basically put all sorts of extremely sophisticated free software on it, just like you can with linux. So if you don't want to pay $600 for adobe photoshop, install GIMP instead for free. It is almost as good. Mac also gives you for free a microsoft-office + photoshop equivalent package called Appleworks. It is in some ways better than the alternative. I still think microsoft word is better, but I am more familiar with it. When you consider what you are getting, including this stuff, it is actually a more economical alternative in my opinion.

As for processor speed, there is more going on than merely clock speed. My 150 MHz SGI is faster than my 450 MHz PC. I think it has to do with I/O but I don't know enough about computers to be sure.

I have the 17" flat panel with my G4 2x800 Mac and I have to say it is by far the nicest computer I have ever had. The flat panel is among the best made, and my eye strain has gone down considerably. If you go the mac route, I would definitely take a close hard look at the new flat-panel iMacs. I am currently trying to rationalize buying one for home.

If you are simply looking at how much hardware you get for the buck, I would buy a Compaq laptop. But if you want a great operating system, think very carefully before rejecting the mac option.

It is a lot like choosing between a BMW with a manual transmission and a Lexus with a very unresponsive automatic transmission. You could argue forever about which car is better, but any driver would eventually benefit from a good manual transmission, especially when there is essentially the option to go into a very good automatic transmission mode any time you feel like it. That, in essence, is what you get when you buy a mac -- a vastly superior transmission on a perfectly excellent car.

As for networking, you should ask Aragorn, but I've networked my macs with Solaris, linux, Windows and Irix operating systems and it is entirely unproblematic and straightforward. Unix is probably the original networking operating system, and has many extremely useful features like NFS built into the core of the operating system. I don't know a lot about computers, and I was able to network mine with a minimum of fuss.

As marks noted, adding periferal devices or downloading digital photos, mp3s, etc, is all completely automated and is literally point and click. I bought a new nikon coolpix for my wife for Christmas and never had to unwrap the CD that came with it. The mac software was native and better. Mac also just recently came out with new photo software called iphoto. It is sweet. And free.

[wgscott]

Originally posted by MarkS
Installing a printer driver is easy.

1.) Insert the CD.

2.) Click on the driver's icon and drag it onto the System Folder.

3.) Release the mouse button.

4.) Restart the computer.

Done.

The stuck CD is also simple, ....

Mark

In OS X it is highly probable you will not have to install a driver. All of the standard ones come with OS X. Also, you will not have to restart the compture. In other words, you just plug any external device in and you are done.

One of the other advantages is that if a given piece of software hangs or something else goes wrong, you shouldn't have to reboot the system. I very rarely turn mine off. Usually it is because I have to move the comptuter or there is a scheduled power outage or some other disruption. OS X crashes are extremely rare, thanks to the way unix handles memory.

I think the printer driver installation problem probably was a result of the CD drive problem. Was it a slot drive? Those apparently were troublesome, although I have one on mine at home and find it a distinct advantage when a 2 year old is putting CDs in the computer.

Yes, my 2 year old daughter and 4 year old son with developmental problems can use OS X.

[wgscott]

Originally posted by jlazo
Spasse-

What do you use for file transfering and network integration for your Mac and PC and server? I have been using Dave 3.1 for X, but have some trouble with Airpor being consistant.

In OS X the easiest thing to do is open up a terminal window and just type ftp hostname
or sftp username@hostname

For network integration, it depends what you want to do. For appletalk, all you have to do is go to "go" in the finder menu and open up "connect to server". Then you can mount whatever remote disk you want.

If you want to do this on a more permanent basis, you should NFS your clients together. The easiest way is to download a freeware gui (as this is where OS X unix is rather nonstandard and a pain in the ass) http://www.bresink.de/osx/NFSManager.html

If you prefer to do it by hand, I can instruct you. You might also want to get a book called "OS X Unleashed" by Ray and Ray, which is one of the best computer books I ever read.