Re: A convert to Apple needs friendly advice

On 31/8/05 5:22, in article ant3116370e6fNdQ@xxxxxxxxxxxx, "James Taylor"
<spam-block-@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> Which is the biggest and/or best Apple specialist in London where
> my friend Susie and I can play with the full range of machines
> and get plenty of one-to-one expert advice on any necessary
> peripherals or additional software? (I'm in Fulham but can travel.)

The Apple Store on Regent Street.

> 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

No, the PB models are 12", 15" and 17".

> 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?

With iBooks and PBs? The only after-purchase upgrades you can do are RAM,
and if you're capable the hard disk's swappable. (But changing the HD's
generally awkward. I don't think many people bother.)

> 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?

All commercial DVD playing software limits you to one region. (The software
lets you switch regions a maximum number of 5 times, and that's that. You
can often find unofficial firmware updates on the net that get around this
limitation.)

Non-commercial DVD playing software like VLC plays multi-region.

> What level of USB is supported? Is it always possible to

Nowadays, USB 2.

> connect with any camera, printer, scanner, MP3 player, or
> other storage device, or do you have to choose the device
> carefully based on a list of known to work USB devices?
> Is there such a list?

OS X comes with built in generic drivers for various kinds of USB devices,
so pretty much everything *just works*.

As far as printers go, you should check with the manufacturer. Most of HP's
printers work fine, for instance.

> What is the Bluetooth support like? Is it stable and mature?

It is very good. Better than Windows's, apparently. Bluetooth 2's supported
as well. (I can't find any other BT 2 devices out there :-)

> Has anyone experienced difficulties getting the Mac to talk
> to mobile phones, cameras, printers, or the like? Is there
> a list of known working devices?

No problems, but I've only paired with a Palm and a MS mouse. Both fine.

> What about wireless ethernet (Wi-Fi)? Which 802.11 standards
> are supported? Is there anything proprietary or even just quirky

11b and 11g are both well supported, and have been for *years*.

> about MacOS Wi-Fi? Can I assume 11g frequencies and speed are
> fully supported, or is it still only 11b? Are the 11X
> authentication mechanisms supported, and the 11i encryption
> protocols such as TKIP and especially CCMP (AES)? If not, how
> soon can I expect these standards to be supported?

Not dead sure. The 802.1X config panel lists these authentication mechanisms
(it calls them protocols): TTLS (MSCHAPv2, MSCHAP, CHAP, PAP), TLS, LEAP,
PEAP and MD5.

> Are Bluetooth and Wi-Fi fitted as standard? If not, what are the

They can be.

> costs involved in getting them fitted? Can they be fitted

They can essentially only be fitted when you buy the machine. Otherwise you
have to get external Bluetooth dongles and so on - naff.

> The printer on my home office LAN is currently connected to my
> Linux box and is accessed via IPP (Internet Printing Protocol).
> My RISC OS machine just prints to a postscript file which is sent
> via IPP to the Linux box which then converts it to the HP PCL
> format required by my laser printer. Does MacOS-X support the
> IPP protocol? If not, what is my best bet for network printing?

Yes. It uses CUPS behind the scenes.

> 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

Viruses, worms and spyware are non-existent. Email clients don't do stupid
thing like Outlook, so are OK. Browser bugs get fixed relatively quickly,
but there's nothing to stop you installing Firefox et al.

Apple tends to issue security updates every month or so fixing any known
problems in the third party Unix bits and bobs.

> 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 uses FreeBSD's extended POSIX flags (immutable, etc) and Tiger also
supports ACLs.

> 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 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

They're not *required*, though the right button is quite well supported for
the same sort of things as Windows.

Almost nothing uses 3 buttons apart from X11.

> 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

Ugh, you're an open source zealot. MS *can* make good software. There's
*some* good Linux software. MS also write crap software, and there's loads
of crap software for Linux too.

> My experience of MacOS is that it is a very *closed* system,
> corrupt my data. Has the advent of MacOS-X's BSD underpinnings
> brought with it a cultural revolution resulting in more of the

Yes.

> by Microsoft, its file formats, protocols, bugs & viruses.
> Is it possible to read and write the common MS formats (Word,
> Excel, PowerPoint, Access) *without* using Microsoft software
> or inadvertently letting a single penny slip Microsoft's way?

Open Office is available, if that answer's your question. (It is as good and
compatible on OS X as it is on other platforms, ie not desperately.)

> 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?

All available. Tiger includes perl 5.8.6, apache 1.3.something (install 2 if
you want), MySQL's available and so is PostgreSQL.

No web browser supports the latest standards on any platform. But Firefox
and Opera are around if you don't like Safari.

Text editors are personal things. Xemacs and emacs are around, there's a
nice free editor called TextWrangler, and a commercial version of the same
called BBedit.

> PS. Is anyone planning to visit an Apple showroom in London
> who might be able to team up with us and offer the kind of
> power-user insights that sales staff tend not to possess?
> It's a long-shot, I know, but it would be invaluable to us.

There's a Mac Expo happening in October or so. Several of us will be there.

Cheers,

Chris

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