no choice but to switch....have many questions

Ok guys, longtime computer repair guru, linux/windows, programming...PC has just pushed me over the edge this past week. lol be gentle!

My beloved dually died, (RIP Brainiac), and after adding costs, repairing it is stupid because it will either just break again or ill hafta upgrade SOMETHING ELSE. This is after i just bought a brand new nVidia 5700LE and a gig of ram (server ram is NOT cheap)

And after assembling my bros dually, it crashes for no reason!!!!

So once agian, i have huge projects due soon, and im out a workhorse machine yup..never fails.

So heres what i did to my dually to kill it, Ran discreet combustion, 3dsmax, AEFX, premiere, avid, photoshop, just CONSTANTLY..im an aspiring videographer...thank god for college software programs! i would run linux on the side just to keep my mind able to handle programming.

So im faced with a decision....try to repair my dually, which is going to cost atleast another 300$+ just to getit booted, then god knows how much to upgrade from dual 1.2ghz AMDs...putting my total well over 1,500$ ...not to mention the DIY watercooling system i was making ...

OR, just bite the bullet and get the mac. Im an SMP guy, but im in college, and im legally blind, (my only income is social security) so i would go for the dual 1.8ghz powermac g5. My college apparently is elgible for the discount, which takes it down to about 1700$, which isnt too bad.

I heard (but i cant seem to find) a discount for the impaired?...i need dual monitors, i assume i could just use my VGA ones? I know, this isa long thread, but i wanna make sure these things are what i think they are before i go and spend that much. So if anyone can asnwer even just 1 at a time, id be very greatful.

Now im notta mac newb, but i could know more. My old photography teacher gave me her old G3. Isnt the best, but considaring its 11 years old running all original parts, and osx2 no problem, (and im positng from it now) i think its safe to say id be alright....plus it looks like i wouldnt hafta upgrade a G5 for many years..

THeres problems ive encountered though,

1. CANNOT connect to the windows network. I have in the past, but lotta times it wont. I think its because im using a crossover cable to get to my router. i NEVER could get samba to work both ways on osx or linux. THe mac could read/write, but the windows comps wouldnt see it, or if something went mac-win-mac, the file became corrupted.

2. PRINTING!!! ive never been able to network print to the family windows computer (XP) that has a canon S300 (USB) through linux/osx/bsd. I never really persued it, id just end up emailing it to myself and printing form windows.

3. MP3 CD player, yea i have onea those, im one who takes only what i need..i love the ipods, but dont have the funds...ive burned CDs from win/lin, and it can read it, but as far as i know, win cannot read cds burned from a mac...not audio CDs, just data CDs...i dont think the MP3 player would read it (i could be wrong)

4. NTFS. i have a 120gig drive (and a small raid array) from my dually. The 120 contains all final products, thousands of MP3s, word documents, etc...I read mac CAN in fact read NTFS (doesnt surprise me) but how about write? The G5's DO have IDE correct? The raid array im not too worried about, the people whom i was working for know my machine went down. Would i have t convert the drive to HFS? how hard would that be?

5. 32 bit apps, i know the g5s are 64bit, ive never screwed with opterons, how do these things take 32 bit apps? slower? faster? no speed change? i ask because i got a ton of free software with the G3 (os9/x) and i really like it, i just dont wanna compromise any speed. Also, when i buy programs, do i have to buy a 64bit version? or if i get an upgrade to tiger (when it comes out) will i need a special version? im thinking in terms of XP-64 here.

6. Portage, anyone ever screw with gentoo on osx?(it does exist, its just portage inside osx) i really really like the fact its linux underneith, when i get lost on this mac (which now is rare) i bust out Konsole (or whatever it is), but for some reaosn, i cant install the developer thing (it just errors), but id imagine on a new beefy mac it wouldnt. i have many linux apps i like (GAIM, cinelerra, jahaska) just wondering if anyone here has done it

7. Parts from the comp, i think my DVDRW drive will work on mac...ill test it on my g3 to be sure...but i have an ATI wonderVE i love (when it works) any word on those? also anyone familliar with bios flashing a PC card to work on mac? i know the risks, i already quadro modded my nvidia card..i dont game much, the 64mb 5200 does in fact suck..if i coud replace it w. a modded 5700 iwould, but the only game i play is quake 3..so i see no problems there

8. HEAT/NOISE, ok try sleeping with 3 PSUs, and 11fans running while an all nite render goes, NOT PLEASANT. not to mention i dont have AC up here, and i love my fish, and the dually kinda raises the temps to unkind temps

9. Adobe plugins, (premiere, AEFX, PSCS) i have a ton for PC. any word on if theyll work on mac? i assume the .dll dependant ones are out.

10. Firewire, yea i SHOULD know this, but i have a samsung miniDV that i shoot everything with. i tried plugging it into a G5 before, and the teacher brought up SOME kind of player ( i have no idea what) but we only got a blank screen. In windows, there are no drivers for it to work in firewire mode. It has a mem card too, would it act as an external drive just like windows?

11. 5 button belkin mouse, i LOVE IT, i use the left/right for browsing in mozilla/IE/Explorer..its a USB but with a PS/2 adaptor, could i get any use?

12. Maya/Cinema4D...hows it work on mac compared to PC? im crushed they dont have my 3dsmax, but maya is more multiplatform capeable, i hafta learn it sooner or later

13. Network renders, (AE, combustion, maya) how do they act when mixed G5 to x86?

14. WINE for OSX, hows it act? i know theres a RISC to CISC version for osx, i dont really have any heavyweight apps id need, but some light junk.

thats it...for now guys lol

Now, after talking to my 1 friend whos had the guts to just toss his compaq in favor of an iBook, hes totally happy...and chances are even if some of these problems cant be solved ill still go for it...i love doing movies and
such, but the frustration of PC is just unbearable

whatever help you can provide, thanks in advance...

well ill attempt some of this

VGA monitors not a problem you get a DVI>VGA adaptor in the box, you will just need a card with dual output (cant remember which one it is though)

1) Samba ive found to be pretty easy if you just read through the smb.conf file (i hope this is the same in macosX) if you get stuck on it then feel free to PM me if you cant find what your looking for i MIGHT be able to help

2) IME printing depends on the printer and how good the drivers are so you might have to play but once samba works its not a problem is it!

3) not sure because as long as the ISO standard is the same it should make no difference

4) i doubt that mac can do NTFS (not sure) linux still has write support as "unstale" still as M$ keep moving the goal posts

5) i doubt that there will be any difference for 32bit apps and Tiger is as ive read the first fully 64bit OS from apple

6) ? pass this to someone else

7) I know that some GFX cards can be flashed but im not really up on that

8) Mac are quite and im sure that you will be able to sleep at night

9) ? again ill pass

10) search the samsung site first

11) Belkin do support mac so there might be drivers for it?

12) ? pass again

13) should work fine i think if you can physically do it

14) there is virtual PC so it works in that respect without M$ blocking you from using it like Wine .


Phew hopefully that has helped

i havent done portage on mac os but i am familier with it , ive installed gentoo a few times, do you have X11 installed ? it might be failing some dependencies , as for gaim there are some alternatives if you cant port it over ... as for the Photoshop plugs , i belive most will , but your right about the dll ones i doubt they will .

ok guys thanks.

my problem is, it said X11 required the developer CD, which i downloaded, but it wouldnt install.

anyways, thanks, so far its looking up.

EDIT: any word on the disability discount? and where on their site can i find the location of an apple store near me? i know there is one, a friend of mine bought his iBook , but hes in florida now, so ...

you can search your location here , http://www.apple.com/retail/

yuck, quite a drive...oh well...

dumb question, the G5s have regular IDE right?

I belive so