Re: Are you folks MAC or PC?
- From: "piperut" <rbehunin@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: 20 Dec 2005 13:19:01 -0800
Little Green Eyed Dragon wrote:
> In article <WNGdncNiw9xR_DXeRVny2Q@xxxxxxxxx>, "Paul" <me@xxxxxxxxxxx>
> wrote:
>
> > You forgot to mention SGI computers.
> >
> > In all reality you are starting a flame war. In the early days, even though
> > the MAC's specs were not as impressive on paper as PC's, MAC's were better
> > at processing digital media. However, PC's have overtaken the MAC's on
> > speed and have a greater software compatibility (and price).
> >
> > I have used MAC's at work and don't like them. Personal choice. But, you
> > have opened a HUGE can of worms and asked for an opinion.
>
> Your correct but:
>
> The question begged- is software the primary consideration or hardware.
>
> Imop -Apple still makes superior hardware at a premium price and can be
> counted on to support their product (I've been an Apple user since
> 1982). If you can afford the cost of Apple machines they are better
> quality wise -over a longer lifespan, PC's do have more types of
> software and are subject to bugs of all types but are perhaps more cost
> effective for some people.
>
> That being stated Unix-Linux based OS's are quite superior to either of
> the former Operation Systems if one is inclined to learn and use them
> and from what I know can be installed on both types of hardware.
>
> Sorry couldn't resist adding some fuel >:-D
> --
Unix, Linux, FreeBSD, Solaris and the like - the main drawback is
hardware support.
You have to be really carefull when purchasing hardware. Some hardware
(like printers, network cards, modems, and such) will not work, or will
not work properly under these systems.
That being said, a number of the Operating Systems come with almost
everything you need.
SuSe 10.0 sells for $59,99 and has a double layer install disk, a
double layer source disk, and 5 install cds. You can also set you
install source to the packman website for installing additional
software.
Scientific Linux you download for free and has 4 or 5 install CDs. It
has an auto update feature.
FreeBSD has two install CDs.
Ubuntu (I am not sure I spelled that one correctly) has one install
disk, and then does a complete install on-line.
College Linux has one install disk and does a complete install on-line.
Redhat is expensive to purchase, but has a similar package to
Scientific Linux.
Mandrake is now called something else, but has a similar package to
Scientific Linux and Redhat. I am not sure of the cost of this one
since the name change and the ... oh the French have a different name
for it but it is similar to the Chapther 11 bankruptcy/reorg thing in
the U.S. This is now called Mandriva Linux.
There are other distributions available.
http://www.linux.org/dist/list.html has a listing of most hte linux
distributions. If one distributions doesn't work, you might try
another. I am still attempting to get one working on my laptop.
(Laptops are difficult...)
I have SuSe 10.0 running on my main computer at home. I use it for
most computing at home. I have a couple of limitations on it right
now. Some of the problems I have managed to work out by tryining
different settings, and others I have not.
For photo editing programs, GIMP is really close to Adobe Photoshop.
FL-Photo is similar to Picasa. However, FL-Photo will renumber the
exported photos while Picasa does not.
FL-Photo also creates html files in the exported directry. Both of
these features could be a good or a bad thing depending on how you look
at it. KDE has some other photo organizing programs.
GIMP will import Canon RAW files, while FL-PHOTO will not. One of the
other photo programs, and I forget which one now will also deal with
Canon Raw files. I do not know about Raw Nikon files.
Another piece of hardware you have to be careful purchasing is
scanners. I have a UMAX Astra 2200 scanner that does up to 4x5 slides
and negatives. This scanner works in both windows and linux. However,
some of the newer UMAX scanners only work in windows. The 2200 scanner
will work on either a usb port or a scsi port.
Most the distributions come with, or you can download Sane, and Kooka
for scanning.
Zip drives work fine in linux now. Years ago they did not.
If you get a printer that does not work, it will be a paper weight.
Check out printers on www.linuxprinting.org prior to purchasing one or
you will not like the printer.
Most the distributions come with OpenOffice as an office suite. Some
of them also come with Koffice. SuSe 10.0 also has some other office
packages.
I am attempting to get something called QDVD author to work to create
slide shows that will play on a dvd player. I have managed to get
linux to print 13x19 prints on my Epson Stylus 1160 printer now.
Printing large format prints was one of the tasks I used to boot into
windows for. The dvd thing is one of the last few tasks.
The other task is to create greeting cards... I am unable to find a
program similar to Printshop or Printmaster for linux.
Now the SuSe system comes with a whole bunch of software packages that
you have to pay extra for in Windows. Office software, irc clients,
desktop publishing, email clients, there is even a program to keep
track of your beer making recipes (however, the beer making program
doesn't really adapt itself to mead making recipes...I may need to
contact the author about that one...)
Gramps is a genealogy program you can download.
Mp3 programs, and dvd programs you have to download.
So there are a number of programs you can find...it is a less expensive
option.
However, getting a linux or unix system set up can be a chore.
roalnd
.
- References:
- Are you folks MAC or PC?
- From: baker1
- Re: Are you folks MAC or PC?
- From: Paul
- Re: Are you folks MAC or PC?
- From: Little Green Eyed Dragon
- Are you folks MAC or PC?
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