I think it's time to switch

[cwa107]

Haven't found any freeware ones. Check out unsanity.com, have one called Mighty Mouse (gives you 2 week trial period, and then only $10). Lists 3 sites for additional cursors (1 is down right now), but still over 400 cursor sets on the other 2.

Am not using this myself, but I have already purchased a couple of their products. Their products seem to be pretty well thought out for the tweaker with plenty of options.

Thanks Bob, exactly what I was looking for.

 

[cwa107]

For those of you that have been following this thread, you may know that one of the things I've been after during my switch is to understand the inner workings of OS X.

I feel like I know Windows inside and out and can basically troubleshoot and repair just about any problem blindfolded. In OS X, I feel a little more lost and have been after the kind of 'nuts and bolts' information not generally available so that I can understand how exactly the OS works in comparison to my previous knowledge of both Windows and Linux.

Well, today I happened across this page:

http://osxdaily.com/2007/01/22/what-happens-in-the-mac-os-x-boot-process/

...which describes the OS X boot process in detail. I found this to be invaluable.

Anyway, I hate to keep dredging up an old thread like this and I don't know if there's anyone out there that feels the same way as me and might be interested in articles related to the inner workings of OS X. If indeed any of you are, I will continue to update this thread with little nuggets like this that I come across. Let me know.

Thanks.

 

[Brown Study]

. . . I will continue to update this thread with little nuggets like this that I come across. Let me know.

It isn't mentioned in this thread, and you may know about it, but holding down the Command and V keys at startup evokes the "verbose" mode, a line-by-line accounting of some of the startup procedures, at least.

Type will nearly fill the screen — not as much when booting into single-user mode — then disappear when the GUI kicks in, so you'd have to read it quickly if you're searching for a problem. It would mean more to you than it does to me.

 

[cwa107]

It isn't mentioned in this thread, and you may know about it, but holding down the Command and V keys at startup evokes the "verbose" mode, a line-by-line accounting of some of the startup procedures, at least.

Type will nearly fill the screen — not as much when booting into single-user mode — then disappear when the GUI kicks in, so you'd have to read it quickly if you're searching for a problem. It would mean more to you than it does to me.

I didn't know that - but thanks, that's a great tip.

 

[DeathtoToasters]

Wow...this thread has been a light at the end of the tunnel.

Your first post has been my feelings for the past few years.

I am currently typing on a 40 day old $3500 Toshiba Tablet PC ( I love the tablet programs) and am cringing the thought of Vista....the scary thing is, I don't know why.

I am a big fan of the Michael Hyatt Blog and here is something he wrote and sums up my feelings exactly:

http://www.michaelhyatt.com/workingsmart/2005/04/why_i_ditched_m.html

"The best part of the Mac experience so far is that the technology simply works. I have yet to experience software conflicts, viruses and spyware infections, and endless tinkering and tweaking. Installing a printer, an Apple Airport Express, or some other peripheral is easy and painless. The bottom line is that I am simply spending more time getting real work done. And that’s what I was hoping for by making the switch."

Some of the questions I have are mainly concerning networking with other computers on the same domain which are made up of all different OS's.

For example my home network consists of:

XP Pro Desktop
XP Pro Laptop
Linux File Server
(2) XP Pro Servers

All connected through a gigabit network system using gigabit wired then a Dlink dgl-4300 108mb wireless router.

The Linux server is actually just a basic Raid Server. So I have the drives mapped on all the PC's. I don't directly access the Linux OS....I assume this is possible on a OSX but don't have a clue how easy or hard it is.

So programs are not my big worry....and it is not really computability either, I KNOW it can do this, but I don't want to have to spend months figuring stuff and tweaking stuff only to find I am 'make it work in a round about way'....just like a XP machine.

Thoughts?

 

[cwa107]

Wow...this thread has been a light at the end of the tunnel.

Your first post has been my feelings for the past few years.

I am currently typing on a 40 day old $3500 Toshiba Tablet PC ( I love the tablet programs) and am cringing the thought of Vista....the scary thing is, I don't know why.

I am a big fan of the Michael Hyatt Blog and here is something he wrote and sums up my feelings exactly:

http://www.michaelhyatt.com/workingsmart/2005/04/why_i_ditched_m.html

"The best part of the Mac experience so far is that the technology simply works. I have yet to experience software conflicts, viruses and spyware infections, and endless tinkering and tweaking. Installing a printer, an Apple Airport Express, or some other peripheral is easy and painless. The bottom line is that I am simply spending more time getting real work done. And that’s what I was hoping for by making the switch."

Some of the questions I have are mainly concerning networking with other computers on the same domain which are made up of all different OS's.

For example my home network consists of:

XP Pro Desktop
XP Pro Laptop
Linux File Server
(2) XP Pro Servers

All connected through a gigabit network system using gigabit wired then a Dlink dgl-4300 108mb wireless router.

The Linux server is actually just a basic Raid Server. So I have the drives mapped on all the PC's. I don't directly access the Linux OS....I assume this is possible on a OSX but don't have a clue how easy or hard it is.

So programs are not my big worry....and it is not really computability either, I KNOW it can do this, but I don't want to have to spend months figuring stuff and tweaking stuff only to find I am 'make it work in a round about way'....just like a XP machine.

Thoughts?

MacOS is built on top of BSD which is a UNIX variant (similar to Linux). So, the same protocols and file sharing programs are built into it. For example, you'll use SAMBA for file/print sharing with Windows machines. Mac OS can join an Active or Open Directory domain too, so no worries there.

Mac OS does a good job of obscuring some of these programs/daemons behind pretty/easy-to-use GUIs, but they are still there and it has every bit of capability as a Linux machine.

It sounds like you're ready for a Mac. I think Vista will do more to sway people over to the Mac than any new feature or product Apple can produce!

 

[Brown Study]

Way back when in this thread you posted this:

I can't believe how quickly I'm eating up disk space. My 700m also has an 80GB drive and I have a ton of stuff installed on it. I think I'm eating up around 30GB of space - and that's with an installation of Ubuntu on it.

You may have come across the freeware app Monolingual since posting this, but if not, this reply from March 2006, might be helpful. (The reply condenses the information and intervening posts while including a quote of a mild warning I included about leaving all versions of English, etc. U.S. English is at the bottom of the list, so double-check the entire thing.)

The poster regained 2.5 gigs of space in his laptop by dumping all the languages he doesn't need. I had regained about three gigs, as I recall (I use it after running software updates, as well).

Another freebie, TrimTheFat, strips the unneeded architecture code from universal-binary apps. I have a G4, so it removes the Intel code. I assume it would remove the PowerPC code on Intel machines. It informs the user of the amount of space regained. The app downloads with it's own warning, but if you're wary of using it, duplicate an app first and run TrimTheFat on the dupe.

Both are available at versiontracker.com and macupdate.com.

 

[cwa107]

Way back when in this thread you posted this:You may have come across the freeware app Monolingual since posting this, but if not, this reply from March 2006, might be helpful. (The reply condenses the information and intervening posts while including a quote of a mild warning I included about leaving all versions of English, etc. U.S. English is at the bottom of the list, so double-check the entire thing.)

The poster regained 2.5 gigs of space in his laptop by dumping all the languages he doesn't need. I had regained about three gigs, as I recall (I use it after running software updates, as well).

Another freebie, TrimTheFat, strips the unneeded architecture code from universal-binary apps. I have a G4, so it removes the Intel code. I assume it would remove the PowerPC code on Intel machines. It informs the user of the amount of space regained. The app downloads with it's own warning, but if you're wary of using it, duplicate an app first and run TrimTheFat on the dupe.

Both are available at versiontracker.com and macupdate.com.

Thanks, someone had either recommended Monolingual or something similar later in the therad, which did help me to regain a bit of space. Either way, I appreciate your helpful posts as always. +1 rep!

 

[DeathtoToasters]

How about media players for the mac.

See this is one of my worries....just because I use a mac, does that mean I NEED to use Itunes and quicktime?

I know I can still use my ppc....so I am not worried about that.

BTW is there a big difference between a Core Duo and a Core 2 Duo?

Thanks

 

[cwa107]

How about media players for the mac.

See this is one of my worries....just because I use a mac, does that mean I NEED to use Itunes and quicktime?

No, there are a number of different players that run on Mac. Of course, if you must use a Windows-only player, you can always do so with Bootcamp or Parallels. Many of the popular players for Linux (like VLC & Realplayer) are ported to the Mac. Also, I believe Microsoft has a Mac OS port of Windows Media Player. The bottom line is that you are NOT limited to iTunes and Quicktime.

I know I can still use my ppc....so I am not worried about that.

BTW is there a big difference between a Core Duo and a Core 2 Duo?

Thanks

I've heard that real world performance differences are negligible - 10-15% in some applications. However, the Core 2 Duo is a full 64-bit processor, so you may see applications in the future that take better advantages of its 64-bit extensions.

 

[DeathtoToasters]

No, there are a number of different players that run on Mac. Of course, if you must use a Windows-only player, you can always do so with Bootcamp or Parallels. Many of the popular players for Linux (like VLC & Realplayer) are ported to the Mac. Also, I believe Microsoft has a Mac OS port of Windows Media Player. The bottom line is that you are NOT limited to iTunes and Quicktime.



I've heard that real world performance differences are negligible - 10-15% in some applications. However, the Core 2 Duo is a full 64-bit processor, so you may see applications in the future that take better advantages of its 64-bit extensions.

Sweet...I am on the phone with an apple store now.

They have a 15" Core 2 DUo 2.16, matte screen (which I want anyway), 1 GB Ram, 120 HD, 128 MB ATi Video for $1799. I figure with my keeping one of xp laptops, if I run into a service issue, I will be safe for a few days.

Plus I will get the $99 pro care priority service.

Thoughts?

 

[cwa107]

Sweet...I am on the phone with an apple store now.

They have a 15" Core 2 DUo 2.16, matte screen (which I want anyway), 1 GB Ram, 120 HD, 128 MB ATi Video for $1799. I figure with my keeping one of xp laptops, if I run into a service issue, I will be safe for a few days.

Plus I will get the $99 pro care priority service.

Thoughts?

Sounds like a decent price on a very nice machine, but check them on the Applecare pro warranty - that usually runs a few hundred more dollars. I know even with our Employee Purchase Program, it would run me about $300 for the standard care. So, either they're offering some sort of incentive or you're being misquoted.

 

[cwa107]

Question: Is there any sort of maintenance or tuning needed to keep Dashboard running smoothly? I don't believe it was this way when I first used it, but these days, when I bring up Dashboard it takes a full minute before I start seeing my widgets become active. Something appears to be amiss.

 

[Alexis]

Widgets needing to retrieve info from the web can slow the rest down if the site their visiting is slow.
What happens if you deactivate everything apart from calculator?

 

[cwa107]

Widgets needing to retrieve info from the web can slow the rest down if the site their visiting is slow.
What happens if you deactivate everything apart from calculator?

Yep, that fixes it - it's almost instantaneous once I have everything else deactivated. So, I take it I just need to scale down the number of Widgets I keep open. I'll keep that in mind. Thanks for your input.