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Operating Systems => macOS => Topic started by: ghostofra on 25 November 2005, 03:08

Title: About The Mac
Post by: ghostofra on 25 November 2005, 03:08
Hi I am currently a linux user and I am quite happy with the os but was considering buying one of those mini macs as I cant afford one of those nice bigger machines that apple makes and i have a few qustions to ask about the os i know it's based on the unix platform.
#1 consern usability. I need a strong os and machine as i do Audio and movies personal and work related.
#2 also i like to play the ocasional game. Is their many games for mac?
#3 Security like unix/linux is anti virus need or dose it use the same root structure were a good firewall is only needed?
Thanks to all that can help clearfy these qustions for me :)

Mutch Thanks
Brian(Ra)
Title: Re: About The Mac
Post by: cymon on 25 November 2005, 05:07
MacOSX is based off BSD, so that answers questions one and three with a solid yes. There are many games for the Macintosh, including ports from Windows games, and many of the Free *NIX games end up ported over.
Title: Re: About The Mac
Post by: Dark_Me on 25 November 2005, 05:48
It is, or so I'm told also possible to get software which will allow you to use Windows software on you shiny new Mac (lucky bastard). Not sure if it's an emulator or not.
Title: Re: About The Mac
Post by: WMD on 25 November 2005, 06:41
Quote from: ghostofra
Hi I am currently a linux user and I am quite happy with the os but was considering buying one of those mini macs as I cant afford one of those nice bigger machines that apple makes

Good for you.  I bought a laptop from them and I love it. :)

Quote from: ghostofra
#1 concern usability. I need a strong os and machine as i do Audio and movies personal and work related.

Macintosh is the premiere audio/video platform.  The Mac Mini may be a little weak for that kind of stuff, though.  Anything with a G5 will fare much better (the iMac is $1300, though).

Quote from: ghostofra
#2 also i like to play the occasional game. Is their many games for mac?

The game selection numbers somewhere between Windows and Linux.  And there's lots of simple/abandonware stuff out there that still works and is still fun.

Quote from: ghostofra
#3 Security like unix/linux is anti virus need or dose it use the same root structure were a good firewall is only needed?

Mac OS is just as secure (or obscure, as some would argue) as Linux, so no AV is needed - although firewall is always good to have.  It comes with one but it's turned off by default.
Title: Re: About The Mac
Post by: ghostofra on 25 November 2005, 08:16
Thank you all for answering thes qustions for me Now to head off to microcenter to play with one going to take time to get used to the 1 button mouse idea.
Title: Re: About The Mac
Post by: Dark_Me on 25 November 2005, 09:24
It's not one button anymore. It only looks like it.
Title: Re: About The Mac
Post by: WMD on 25 November 2005, 09:45
Plus you can plug in any USB X-button mouse you want, and have it work....
Title: Re: About The Mac
Post by: Dark_Me on 25 November 2005, 11:13
Without drivers. :eek:
That goes for a lot of hardware. Like tablets.
Title: Re: About The Mac
Post by: Aloone_Jonez on 25 November 2005, 11:31
Quote from: Dark_Me
It is, or so I'm told also possible to get software which will allow you to use Windows software on you shiny new Mac (lucky bastard). Not sure if it's an emulator or not.

It's Darwine and it's an emulator and so it's very slow and it's not too good either. I haven't used it acctually but I know this as it's a WINE port to Mac and WINE isn't very good. Yes I do know that WINE isn't a hardware emulator for Linux (just Windows API) but the Mac's hardware is totally differant to the 86x hence Darwine is an emulator. If you like DOS games there's DOSBox for Mac but it's very very slow even slower than on than it is on the 86x (more hardware emulation is required) I've been told it's equivalent to a 486 (at best) on a brand new Mac!
Title: Re: About The Mac
Post by: Dark_Me on 25 November 2005, 15:19
Isn't Apple switching to Intel CPU's? Which would mean that the hardware would be x86, unless x86 is the arcitecture. Therefore someone just has to port WINE to run on OSX.
Title: Re: About The Mac
Post by: WMD on 25 November 2005, 19:28
Quote from: Aloone_Jonez
It's Darwine and it's an emulator and so it's very slow and it's not too good either. I haven't used it acctually but I know this as it's a WINE port to Mac and WINE isn't very good. Yes I do know that WINE isn't a hardware emulator for Linux (just Windows API) but the Mac's hardware is totally differant to the 86x hence Darwine is an emulator. If you like DOS games there's DOSBox for Mac but it's very very slow even slower than on than it is on the 86x (more hardware emulation is required) I've been told it's equivalent to a 486 (at best) on a brand new Mac!

I think he was talking about Virtual PC.
Title: Re: About The Mac
Post by: sjor on 25 November 2005, 19:37
On the Intel Macs, you will be able to install Windows as a secondary OS, so you won't actually need Virtual PC. Not that I'd want to...
Title: Re: About The Mac
Post by: Kintaro on 2 December 2005, 14:14
You should keep in mind that their are copies of OS/X for x86 floating around, even some with patched kernels that support SSE2 only processors. So if you really want to be sure before you shell out some coin on new hardware, it is worth trying.

Also I would like to point out that Apple have always in my experience made the most reliable desktop computer hardware available, and even if your not happy with OS/X you can always run Linux on your Mac anyway which is a bonus.
Title: Re: About The Mac
Post by: cymon on 3 December 2005, 04:24
Quote from: Aloone_Jonez
It's Darwine and it's an emulator and so it's very slow and it's not too good either. I haven't used it acctually but I know this as it's a WINE port to Mac and WINE isn't very good. Yes I do know that WINE isn't a hardware emulator for Linux (just Windows API) but the Mac's hardware is totally differant to the 86x hence Darwine is an emulator. If you like DOS games there's DOSBox for Mac but it's very very slow even slower than on than it is on the 86x (more hardware emulation is required) I've been told it's equivalent to a 486 (at best) on a brand new Mac!



Sort of. Darwine is not an emulator, it is a translator for the Windows system calls. It contains the QEMU F/OSS x86 emulator, but that is just so it can use x86 instructions. I am a bit sad about the Intel Macs, it is my belief that the PowerPC architecture is far superior to the x86.
Title: Re: About The Mac
Post by: worker201 on 5 December 2005, 23:18
Quote from: cymon
I am a bit sad about the Intel Macs, it is my belief that the PowerPC architecture is far superior to the x86.


That might be true.  But the way I heard it, Apple wasn't having their processor demands met.  They needed fatter processors to go in the PowerBook, and IBM wasn't making one.  And the G6 wasn't set to arrive on time.

Well, whatever.  As long as Apple doesn't put any of that Celeron crippleware in the Macs, it'll be okay.
Title: Re: About The Mac
Post by: themacuser on 14 December 2005, 08:14
Quote from: worker201
That might be true.  But the way I heard it, Apple wasn't having their processor demands met.  They needed fatter processors to go in the PowerBook, and IBM wasn't making one.  And the G6 wasn't set to arrive on time.

Well, whatever.  As long as Apple doesn't put any of that Celeron crippleware in the Macs, it'll be okay.



OS X for intels runs on a celeron. Maybe a cheaper celeron Mac Mini?
Title: Re: About The Mac
Post by: cymon on 14 December 2005, 21:26
Celerons are terrible. I have one here, it irks me. It has the power of some old pentium three.

The G5 was running way too hot to put in a notebook, the thing would be huge with all the fans and it would have little battery life.
Title: Re: About The Mac
Post by: Orethrius on 15 December 2005, 06:02
Quote from: cymon
Celerons are terrible. I have one here, it irks me. It has the power of some old pentium three.


I object to your passing comparison of P3s and Celerons.  My P3 runs Slackware flawlessly, thankyouverymuch.  :cool:
Title: Re: About The Mac
Post by: solemnwarning on 16 December 2005, 15:40
AMD > * > Intel :)
Title: Re: About The Mac
Post by: Dark_Me on 17 December 2005, 03:00
*?
Title: Re: About The Mac
Post by: Lead Head on 17 December 2005, 03:04
a pentium 3 is far faster than a celeron at the same clock speeds. if you were to take a 1.8ghz p3 and a 1.8ghz celeron. the p3 would seem closer to around a 2.4-2.8 p4
Title: Re: About The Mac
Post by: worker201 on 17 December 2005, 04:41
A thought:

Celeron is to Pentium as 486SX is to 486DX2

Is this true?  Is the Celeron missing the math co-processor?  Or is it fucked up in some other way?
Title: Re: About The Mac
Post by: Lead Head on 17 December 2005, 04:45
Celeron=Missing huge amount of cache,
the socket 370 celerons had 128k l2 cache
the socket 478 have 256k-512k l2 cache. the equivalent p4 would have 512k and 1mb
the lga775 celerons have 512k l2 cache(the p4s have 2mb or 4mb for dual core)

and the dothan celerons have 1mb l2 cache with the pentium Ms have 2mb

in the Netburst world, cache makes a hige differnce

considering a duron with 64k l2 cache pwned a cleron with 128k l2 cache
Title: Re: About The Mac
Post by: piratePenguin on 17 December 2005, 17:12
Quote from: Dark_Me
*?
* is a wildcard for everything.
Title: Re: About The Mac
Post by: WMD on 17 December 2005, 19:20
Quote from: Lead Head
Celeron=Missing huge amount of cache,
the socket 370 celerons had 128k l2 cache
the socket 478 have 256k-512k l2 cache. the equivalent p4 would have 512k and 1mb
the lga775 celerons have 512k l2 cache(the p4s have 2mb or 4mb for dual core)

and the dothan celerons have 1mb l2 cache with the pentium Ms have 2mb

in the Netburst world, cache makes a hige differnce

considering a duron with 64k l2 cache pwned a cleron with 128k l2 cache

Not all correct information.

The Socket 370 did in fact have 128k...but so did the first 478s.  The Celeron D (both 478 and 775) have 256k, and no Celeron to date has 512k.  You are also correct about the Celeron M.

The Celeron also always has a lower bus speed: today's go no higher than 533MHz, and the original Celerons were 66MHz (when the P2 was 100).  Usually, they keep the Celeron bus at half the speed of the highest Pentium bus.

The statement that cache makes a big difference "in the Netburst" world is a bit misleading.  It matters on ALL architectures.  The duron "pwning" the Celeron would have nothing to do with this (I never even heard of that happening, anyway).
Title: Re: About The Mac
Post by: Lead Head on 17 December 2005, 19:33
usually a duron beats a celeron at the similar clock levels, even though the duron has less cache
Title: Re: About The Mac
Post by: hm_murdock on 17 December 2005, 20:43
Usually the Duron fries as the fan fails because the intense HEAT OF THE SUN(TM) that the Duron bleeds off destroys the fan's mechanism. AMD runs too hot to be practical for much more than space heaters.

As for running games on Mac. Nearly anything you want has been ported. If it hasn't, then fuck it. You won't run it. VPC won't run it, and none of the other emulators will either.

If you give a fuck worth about games that aren't MMOs or RTS, get a fucking game machine. I hear the playstation is pretty good.
Title: Re: About The Mac
Post by: skyman8081 on 17 December 2005, 20:50
Total Annihilation has a mac port.  Therefore, every single GOOD RTS game is on the Mac.  Oh yeah, and there are games by this fly-by-night company called "Blizzard."  Their games are not very good, but they're there if you want them.
Title: Re: About The Mac
Post by: MarathoN on 17 December 2005, 21:12
Eh?

Warcraft 2 is a really good game, after that Blizzard went shit. :)
Title: Re: About The Mac
Post by: Lead Head on 17 December 2005, 21:17
Quote from: hm_murdock
Usually the Duron fries as the fan fails because the intense HEAT OF THE SUN(TM) that the Duron bleeds off destroys the fan's mechanism. AMD runs too hot to be practical for much more than space heaters.

As for running games on Mac. Nearly anything you want has been ported. If it hasn't, then fuck it. You won't run it. VPC won't run it, and none of the other emulators will either.

If you give a fuck worth about games that aren't MMOs or RTS, get a fucking game machine. I hear the playstation is pretty good.

thats why i can run my a64 3000+ at idle with the fan unplugged with the STOCK heatsink. with the fan plugged in it idels at about 23-27c
Title: Re: About The Mac
Post by: solemnwarning on 17 December 2005, 21:45
My Athlon XP 3200+, fan is running at half speed temp is 43.5C
Title: Re: About The Mac
Post by: Lead Head on 17 December 2005, 21:57
stock heatsink?
Title: Re: About The Mac
Post by: hm_murdock on 17 December 2005, 22:17
You're asking for trouble. It's gonna BURN.
Title: Re: About The Mac
Post by: Orethrius on 18 December 2005, 03:26
Quote from: hm_murdock
You're asking for trouble. It's gonna BURN.

 We won't know that until we see a week-long lull in his posting activity. ;)
Title: Re: About The Mac
Post by: hm_murdock on 18 December 2005, 09:30
Hmm... we shall see!