A happy tale -- From FreeBSD/Linus to OSX

Hi:

A little more than a year ago I switched my primary computer use from FreeBSD to OSX by purchasing a Macbook Pro. Shortly thereafter I purchased a 27" iMac.

My experience with the switch was stellar! All of my bash scripts, ssh keys worked out of the box. My FreePascal code re-compiled flawlessly. I am rather thrilled to have UNIX machines with a working, stable GUI.

I have replaced my Linux server with a Mac Mini running OSX Server. It is now providing all my personal email, web, internal DNS, and VPN services, as well as new useful services such as Profile management of my iPhones and iPads, software update and caching services. Great stuff! Three Time Capsules provide excellent router/NAT services as well as plenty of redundant backup space for all the machines as well as the 4TB Thunderbolt Raid which I bought from Apple along with my iMac.

One thing I still miss sorely is OSX's lack of focus following the mouse pointer option. It still messes me up!

Getting used to the arcane directory structure of these BSD systems has taken a bit of getting used to, and has caused me hours of frustration, but that is getting slowly better.

I have one real beef with regard to cut/paste where pasting text has the nasty habit of overwriting stuff it shouldn't, or rather, stuff I didn't intend it to overwrite.

Multi media is outstanding! Bowers and Wilkins NM1s connected to the iMac, an airport express driving a stereo amp/speaker system, and 4 Bose airplay speaker systems fill my apartment with wonderful sound from iTunes.

One beef here too. I am a chord-never. I have high-speed (101/35) cable internet only. All of my "Video" watching is done on the 27" iMac screen from many online sources. Which is great except for the fact that I can't divert the audio to any of the Airplay systems which, by design, have a 2 second buffer delay making video/audio synch clumsy at best with Airfoil.

Overall, I am more than thrilled! This stuff mostly just works.

Always glad to hear good stories.

Welcome to the forum!

Makes me wonder how many of us came to Mac/OS X via Linux or BSD.

I got sick of Windows but was to cheap too pop for a Mac right off the bat, so I spent 6 months with Linux.

That was long enough to decide I didn't want to go back to Windows (ever) and make me really miss having an off the shelf OS. Tried a plain Jane MacBook and was hooked. Have never looked back.

RavingMac said:

Makes me wonder how many of us came to Mac/OS X via Linux or BSD.

I got sick of Windows .....

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I got sick of Windows when Windows 3.1 came out. I had been an avid DOS user up until then. There was no Linux back then, so I started using SCO Xenix, the only NIX which would run on Intel CPUs. Then I started working on AT&T UNIX systems, then Solaris .... that started me off on my career as a systems admin. When Linux became stable, it became my OS of choice. In time, my love of Linux faded, mainly because of terrible library incompatibilities between distributions, so I went with FReeBSD for a long time. I always railed against Apple's GUI-Only interface and their file incompatibility with anything else on the planet. Then, a miracle happened, Apple switched to BSD UNIX, then I knew what I would use when I retired.

Now, retired, I just want some UNIX machine which works out of the box. Not having to fiddle with libraries, compiling software, and tweaking the system scripts, is the freedom which OSX has brought.

RavingMac said:

Makes me wonder how many of us came to Mac/OS X via Linux or BSD.

I got sick of Windows but was to cheap too pop for a Mac right off the bat, so I spent 10 YEARS with Linux.

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Cough,,Fixed..


I have always loved OSX. I remember when Apple switched from OS9 to OSX. I was still in the Navy at the time and started to buy an eMac for myself. My uncle at the time was going through a nasty divorce, and being that he and I are very close as he was my Grand Parents youngest. Only about 12 years in our age. He was the one who taught me programming and got me into computers 20+ years ago. That said. I felt like giving him the eMac I bought for myself and was going to buy me one. Well I forget the ignorant reason I never did get me one. I instead built me a new PC to run Linux on once again.

Moving a long 10 years later. I ended up needing a solid, safe, portable solution for my wife and I to do our online banking while traveling abroad. I wasnt about to buy another PC that would crap out and die randomly or, overly bulky in design. The Mac Book Air 13" looked like a solid buy. Also its wasnt Win8. After getting it for her/us, mostly her.. hehe I got to thinking. Ya know I really like that MBA and I am trying to go past hobbyist photographer and Macs are traditionally better for photography. So I got a Mac Mini. And very happy with it. Matter of fact all our computers in the house now are Macs. The days of PCs are gone. I expect more and more people looking for a real desktop to go Mac.

SailingCyclops said:

..........
Now, retired, I just want some UNIX machine which works out of the box. Not having to fiddle with libraries, compiling software, and tweaking the system scripts, is the freedom which OSX has brought.

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Was a avid DOS user for many years also. Even back when it was PC DOS.

I really loved GNOME 2 Desktop. I still do, but the new gnome shell mess isnt the future. I also got tired of arguing with them. Lots of drama and I will leave it at that. Used Ubuntu longer then any other distro. I started with Slackware, quickly moved to Mandrake for about 2 weeks and then got a real distro "RedHat" which I used for about 2 years then picked up a copy of SuSE. WOW.. SuSE 7.1 was my first SuSE version.. Loved it.. Everything about it screamed refinement. Except for their package manager which had more issues then a bad poltergeist movie. Used SuSE till about 10.2 i think and then tried Ubuntu 5.10. I was sold. One disk install. Gnome2.. Not overly modified. I liked it. Then it all went down hill from there.. The issues was popularity.. All the wanna be, dont know crap, but still wanna be a programmer fan boy had to work on this project, that project. It became a total cluster chuck.. Between that and got tired of having to re compile every multimedia app just to listen to music or watch a freaking movie. It just lost its thrill.. The old BB King song, "The Thrill is Gone", yea thats it..

So here I am. If I need the terminal its on my dock. I dont have to worry about compiling my video drivers, dont have to worry about recompiling my kernel and making sure my source files are included for every freaking module..

Mac is Unix made simple and easy..

Exodist said:

So here I am. If I need the terminal its on my dock. I dont have to worry about compiling my video drivers, dont have to worry about recompiling my kernel and making sure my source files are included for every freaking module..

Mac is Unix made simple and easy..

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OSX is Certified UNIX . And yes, it's stable and works as it should. Just like Solaris, AIX, SCO, HPUX, and BSD. Some years ago I toyed with the idea of buying a Solaris laptop from SUN. But it was too expensive, and by the time I could afford it, it was no longer offered for sale. Obsoleted by the then popular Linux. A mistake in my opinion.

I still use Linux. I run an off-shore VPS running CentOS, mainly for VPN services, some web and file services, and the occasional seed-boxing. But it's a dream to manage, ssh shell access only, no GUI or multi media to fret over. Stable as a rock with uptime's in the months.

I wonder how many folks who now use Macs came from the same world we came from? Most, I think, switched from M$ WinDoze! Yeah, I still have this deep down loathing of Gate$ware!

Exodist said:

Between that and got tired of having to re compile every multimedia app .....

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One fundamental utility on OSX is very broken though; SED! I had to compile gsed for my Macs because OSX's version is terribly broken.

Interesting reading Exodist! I started with DOS also and loved it. My first Linux was Slackware then I moved on to Mandrake then Suse which I stuck with for a long time.

Mixed in between all that was OS2 which I liked at the time and early Macs with System 6 and up.

Long live OS X. I'll never go back.