Re: long time Linux user considering switching to OS-X

> Things I do 95% of the time are:
>
> - emacs and GNU applications like gnuplot
> - Latex, Mathematica
> - C and sometimes Fortran programming
> - a lot of number crunching
> - shell scripts and standard Unix utilities (awk, sed, etc)
> - Powerpoint, Word, etc.

These things are not a problem on a Mac.

> Main reasons why I'm thinking to switch to OS X:
> 2. It'd be nice to have wireless, ...

This was the main reason I bought an iBook. I still use Linux on my
desktop machine.

> My main concerns about switching:
> 3. OS-X is slow. Or is it?

The hardware is slow. PPC G4 is an old chip, and it can't compete with
a Pentium M. That's changing of course :)

> 4. I will still use various Linux machines. Is compatibility an issue?
> will all my C programs and Unix scripts work
> with NO hassle? will I have to relearn a different kind of Unix?

OS X has quirks, especially coming from Linux (which has quirks). If
your shell scripts interact with the system (ie: /proc, /dev, etc) you
will have to change them. If your C programs are coded to little
endian (bad!) then you will have to fix your non-portable code :) OS X
is also a bit un-Unix-like in that many settings (mostly GUI stuff) are
stored as "preferences" which you access with a program. Not
everything is stored in text files. The startup process is different
too, although supposedly it is quite good in 10.4 (I'm on 10.3 here).

> 5. will I have to tinker just as much as with Linux?
No, not at all. You will have to tinker with it a little to get X11
forwarding in the Mac terminal program. There is none of this
"hardware doesn't work" crap.

> 6. I've actually gotten used to a few Windows things (but I can live
> with the Mac equivalent I guess).

You just need to get used to using the Apple key instead of control for
cut, copy, and paste. I would also recommend an Apple Keyboard. They
are cheap and nice to type on.

As for price, iBooks are a much better deal than Powerbooks, especially
when both machines have obsolete chips. Get a cheap iBook and try to
get 1GB of ram (for Mathematica especially). Later, when they perfect
dual-core Powerbooks I would look at one of those.

.

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