Re: A convert to Apple needs friendly advice

James Taylor <spam-block-@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>:
> I am a London based Linux and RISC OS user who is in need of a
> new laptop and I've heard good things about MacOS-X.

For what it's worth, I have a very similar background -- I used RISC OS
and various unixes, latterly mainly Linux, for over a decade before, last
year, buying a Power Mac. I was so happy with it, I bought an iBook this
year too.

I bought a Mac because I was tired of running Linux on crappy x86 hardware
and fighting to get things working; I didn't have the time to be the true
computer hobbyist which Linux demands, I just wanted things to work. The
Mac offered the best of both worlds for me: a pretty GUI and modern
hardware which just works on top of a rock solid unix which allows me access
to all the software I've been using for years and years. I still run Linux
on my server, but I am happy just to use Macs as my desktop machines now.

> Am I correct in thinking that there are just four models in
> the current range of Apple laptops: 12" iBook, 14" iBook,
> 12" PowerBook, and 14" PowerBook? Am I correct in thinking that
> the innards of the lowest spec. machine can be upgraded to those
> of the highest? If not, which aspects cannot be upgraded, and how
> much would I miss them?

These questions can be answered by having a quick look at Apple's UK Store:
<URL:http://www.apple.com/uk/thestore/>. Click on stuff and look around;
you can even play with the various upgrade permutations.

> Susie wants to be able to play DVDs (from various regions).
> Will an iBook allow that, or is it limited to just one region?
> Can it play them at full screen and full frame rate?

Yes.

[...]

> What is the track record of MacOS-X on security matters such
> as viruses, worms, spy-ware, email & browser bugs, open ports,
> buffer overflows, and application macros? Is it necessary to feel
> paranoid and hide behind constantly updated security software,
> or is it more like RISC OS where nobody can remember the last
> time a virus was even seen? Does MacOS-X have a robust
> permissions system that protects system files from modification
> by the user or any insecure software the user might be running?

Yes, it's BSD. To do anything important, you have to enter the `root'
password. There are no OS X viruses. There haven't been any. There are
regular security updates.

> Both Susie and I have been put-off by the shiny white plastic
> look of the iBook, which reminds us of a cheap kitchen appliance
> (think kettle or toaster). Susie is an incurable aesthete, and
> I just want something that won't look tacky in a professional
> environment. Matt black would be far more to our taste. The
> brushed aluminium PowerBook we saw looked *much* smarter, but
> the price seemed way too much to pay for cosmetic considerations
> alone. Do Apple produce any better looking laptops at a more
> reasonable price?

I'm rather surprised you'd say this -- I have a 12" iBook and I think it's
rather lovely. Compared to my 3 year old Dell laptop, it's absolutely
stunning -- smaller, lighter, and just generally more attractive. The
`shiny white plastic' is the same stuff the iPod is made of, so if you
don't like that, then you're out of luck.

> I am used to a three button mouse on both Linux and RISC OS.
> The purpose of the three buttons are particularly well assigned
> on RISC OS and greatly contribute to the fluidity of everyday use
> and productivity; not just in the OS but in all the applications
> too. I am worried that a one button mouse will cramp my
> productivity considerably. I've heard that it is possible to get
> a three button mouse for the Mac but I imagine that the
> assignments of these buttons are not well integrated into the
> operating system or applications. In fact, I suspect they may
> even be arbitrarily assigned by the driver software supplied with
> the mouse and not actually recognised as separate buttons by any
> other part of the system. Can anyone offer enlightenment or
> reassurance on this matter?

I find I can work very effectively with a one-button mouse, except when
I'm using X11, where I have to hold down various keys whilst I click. It
doesn't bother me greatly.

> And now for a philosophical question: Coming from a RISC OS
> background with some experience of Linux, I am acutely aware of
> the importance open source, open file formats, and open protocols.
> I naturally *hate* Microsoft and everything their ruthlessly
> monopolistic practices have done to the world. As a minority
> platform, RISC OS has a culture of supporting open file formats,
> and, like Linux, many of the applications are hackable or
> customisable in ways the original author never imagined.
> My experience of MacOS is that it is a very *closed* system,
> ie. it is not possible to look "under the hood" of either the OS
> or the applications, and it is not customisable or hackable
> beyond what the software authors foresaw and allowed for. This
> makes me nervous because I am used to being able to fix problems
> by investigating and tinkering under the hood, or even enhance
> software by writing programs that convert application file
> formats, or by writing glue-code that calls the command line
> interfaces (or other APIs) of the applications I use. I do not
> wish to place any of my data into a proprietary file format that
> ties me to one particular application, and which might crash and
> corrupt my data. Has the advent of MacOS-X's BSD underpinnings
> brought with it a cultural revolution resulting in more of the
> kind of openness I'm used to? Or are the OS and apps all still
> very closed black boxes?

It depends what you want to do. OS X is a fully-fledged unix, so you can
tinker with it to your heart's content. There're also ports of a huge
amount of open source software. See <URL:http://www.darwinports.org/>
<URL:http://fink.sf.net/>

The former is slightly more BSD in concept, the latter more Linux (you
can even use apt-get). Both more or less work, though, despite my Linux
tendencies and the fact that fink should feel like Debian, I generally
find Darwinports works better for me. There's nothing to stop you having
both, though, since they install stuff in different places.

You can install X11, which lets you use things like GNOME and KDE
(if you really must), or, better, the GIMP, OpenOffice (although this is
available natively as NeoOffice), and so on.

On top of that, you can just compile stuff and it'll work. I read mail
and news in mutt and slrn, just like I have for God knows how long, and
both of which compiled out of the tin.

Obviously there's still loads of shareware out there (just like for RISC OS).
I don't know much about that, though.

> Finally, I am a web developer and Perl programmer and I want to
> be sure that I can do my development work entirely on the laptop.
> This means that I would need at least Perl, Apache/mod_perl,
> MySQL (or a DBI accessible equivalent), a decent programmer's
> text editor, good graphics creation & conversion software, and
> a good modern web browser that fully supports all the latest
> standards. Are all these things possible? Are they pre-installed,
> or easy to install? Are they likely to cost much money?

Your Mac will come with vi and emacs. You can easily get the GIMP. Safari
is a decent web browser which comes with OS X, but you can get Firefox or
Mozilla instead. Perl and Apache come as standard. MySQL is also available.
They're all free.

I hope this helps somewhat.

b.

--
Enjoy responsibly.
.

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