Re: Hacked again

On May 28, 7:20 pm, jami...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (Jamie Kahn Genet)
wrote:
Mark (newsgroups) <marknewsgro...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

<snip>

I have only ever owned PCs, never even considered buying a Mac since I
am un-informed about them. I've always considered them to be a niche
market for people wanting to pay a premium for a nice looking machine,
free from the issues associated with Windows (viruses mostly). I don't
mind looking after my own house and skipping paying this premium, and
I don't mind that my PC looks ugly. Also, I've been concerned about
not being able to run any game I choose on the Mac.

So now I am close to ordering a new PC, and building it myself. I've
ruled out a Mac, but want to know if I'm overlooking something. I want
control over the parts I use, I want it to be reasonably priced (as
in, close to as cheap as I can get), and I want to squeeze as much
performance out of it as possible. I want to use the new PC for multi-
boxing WoW and potentially playing more contemporary games which will
require a lot of processing power.

I have a few questions.

Is the above possible if I went the Mac route?

Building your own? No, not unless you build a hackintosh as they're
informally called:

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OSx86>
<http://lifehacker.com/software/hack-attack/build-a-hackintosh-mac-for-u
nder-800-321913.php>

Thanks, not an avenue I want to pursue.

There is the very powerful (up to two 2.93GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon 5500
series processors and 32GB RAM)), very pricy Mac Pro (Apple expandable
desktop solution) which has expansion bays and slots for you to add
extra drives and PCI Express cards, but you say price is a factor so I
doubt you'll be willing to spend so much :-)

Nope :-)

I'm going to snip most of the Mac stuff as it's not something I want
to pursue. The premium isn't something I'm willing to pay, I'd rather
squeeze some extra power out of a homebuilt PC. But thanks for the
info.

Are there a lot of games that don't run on Macs?

Yes, many Windows games do not have Mac or Linux ports. However native
gaming on the Mac is not some barren desert as certain folk would like
to make out :-) See <http://www.insidemacgames.com/> for the latest Mac
gaming news. A couple of my favourite Mac game developers:

Ambrosia Software <http://www.ambrosiasw.com/games/>
Freeverse <http://www.freeverse.com/games/?view=mac>

I probably spend 90% of my time running Mac games (e.g. WoW, Spore,
Quake series, SMAC/X, Escape Velocity, Glider Pro, AvP - just to mention
a few favourites) as opposed to games without a Mac version (requiring
the software below).

Interesting thank you.

Using Crossover <http://www.codeweavers.com/products/> (a commercial and
more polished implementation of WINE that I recommend) or the free WINE
<http://www.winehq.org/> you get almost no performance impact, providing
the Windows software in question works well with Crossover/WINE (many
popular games and commercial apps do). For an explanation of what WINE
is see: <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wine_(software)>

Also of course you can install Windows on a separate partition that Boot
Camp <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boot_Camp_(software)> (included in
OSX to help you install Windows on your Mac) will non-destructively
create for you, so you can boot natively into Windows and run full speed
there. Of course now you can't access your Mac apps at the same time
which is why Virtualisation and Crossover/WINE are more popular. The
upside to Boot Camp is your Mac just became a full speed ordinary
(though rather more attractive IMO ;-) ) Windows PC.

Virtualisation, Crossover/WINE, DOSBox, and dual booting also work great
in Linux.

This same question applies to if I went the linux route. What other
options do I have under linux and what are the implications of
emulation software for multi-boxing, will it suffer?

My experience running Windows apps under Crossover or WINE in Linux is
limited so I'll pass this over to others. I can tell you I've run WoW
and a few other Windows apps this way briefly and it seemed to work very
well. But having access to a Mac I did not continue the experiment
longterm as I prefer to play and work in OSX if I can.

Fair enough, though this is probaby something you'll want to get more
experience of before giving a decent recommendation of Linux and WINE
to gamers. Having read about Wine over the years my impression has
always been that it will work for many games, but not all, you will
take a performance hit, and it will in some cases require a fair bit
of configuration.

Having said that, perhaps it's time to get my hands dirty and try it
out myself. I wouldn't mind creating a dual boot Linux/Windows PC and
giving it a bash. Time is a limiting factor though, I have hardly any
free time so spending it setting all this up isn't very appealing to
me.

What I'm trying to get at, is that people quickly recommend linux or
Mac as solutions, but there are a number of unaddressed concerns about
this. I'd appreciate if someone could fill in the gaps in my knowledge.

Obviously for either Mac or Linux you'll have an adjustment period (I'd
suggest buying one of David Pogue's Missing Manuals or a similar
reference to your new OS), but using the software mentioned above you
can still run most of your important Windows apps side-by-side with your
Mac or Linux apps, and you still have the option to still boot natively
into Windows when you really need to (say for the latest and greatest
Windows game which might not yet run well in Crossover/WINE or fast
enough in Virtualisation).

Yup.

However if you're happy with Windows, know how to keep yourself secure
(and don't find that a drag), and hardware customisation and
optimisation is your thing, I'd really suggest sticking with Windows
(and maybe trying the Windows 7 beta which is pretty damn good after the
debacle that was Vista).

If you're not happy with Windows, money is an issue, and you must
customise your hardware, I'd suggest giving Linux (or a hackintosh if
you're brave and can live without Apple warranties/support) a go.

I think when this new PC comes I want to give dual booting Linux/
Windows a go. I am always paranoid about being compromised and frankly
a little sick of worrying about it. I would enjoy it if I could get
virtualisation to work fully under Linux with no issues (no or little
compromise on performance for one).

However, it does strike me that dual booting defeats the point. I'm
still going to want to browse the web at times while gaming under
Windows native boot, and a chain is only as strong as it's weakest
point.

Thanks for the reply, useful info.
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: The Windows People
    ... Auto or any games that he talks about. ... all the Windows people on here. ... The same goes for Mac OS X and Linux. ...
    (comp.sys.mac.advocacy)
  • Re: Initial experiences moving to Mac
    ... 2Ghz Intel Core Duo processor a few weeks ago. ... Mac platform is to replace both my Linux boxes ... and my Windows boxes (for music and occasionally other stuff Linux ...
    (comp.sys.mac.advocacy)
  • Re: The Windows People
    ... I've noticed a lot of the Windows people here seem to push their ideas ... Auto or any games that he talks about. ... The same goes for Mac OS X and Linux. ...
    (comp.sys.mac.advocacy)
  • Re: [OT]: OS as religions (was: Raw Convertors)
    ... update for the Mac was 768 Mbytes!!!! ... inthe shop for PC, XBox, PS3 etc but Linux? ... If you want games for Linux, you have to buy games for Linux, ... Windows machines. ...
    (rec.photo.digital)
  • Re: The Windows People
    ... I've noticed a lot of the Windows people here seem to push their ideas ... Auto or any games that he talks about. ... The same goes for Mac OS X and Linux. ...
    (comp.sys.mac.advocacy)