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The Mac and the Dinosaur


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Has anybody had any success in getting PBS to work on a MAC ?? I tried under parallels and had no success - its a reason why we still need to have a PC in our house.

Thanks

huh.gif

We got Web bid now - don't need that PC no more.

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That acknowledged, a computer, like any good tool, should be transparent to the user's intentions. The PC environment especially with Vista, requires too much attention. Vista constantly interferes with one's work, creating typos all over the place as keyboard input is missed - an hourglass is Vista's trademark and the user's constant companion.

I have owned both and stayed with the PC. I didn't find the Mac intuitive at all, maybe because I had used PCs from the old DOS days.

I run Vista on my present system and quite like it, and I can't think of any problems that have occurred with it. Maybe I am just lucky though.

Did have a HDD failure on a Dell machine but I think that can happen to any machine, but you can specify what brand of HDD you want.

Re the hourglass comment - are you sure you were running Vista - it uses a little arrow going around in a circle.

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I wasn't told that - must be new

So now there is really no need for a PC @ our house .....

Are you really an Air Canada pilot? If you haven't heard of this you better check your email status with ACPA because I've received something like 14 emails about it. There have also been several items about it on Aeronet.

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Windows and DOS emulation has been around on the Mac for at least 15 years. VirtualPC ran only on PowerPC and newer, not sure about SoftPC but I remember running emulation on my Quadra 950 and IIfx in 1994. Didn't work worth crap on my Color Classic, but was slow but adequate on the others. Performance was hardly stellar, but Windows was pretty much crap in those days and DOS was crap from the day Edlin was written.

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Moon, I seem to remember that at one time you were a diehard Mac man...? Hmmm?

First computer I ever learned to operate was a Mac Classic II. 2 MB of RAM; I think it had a 40 MB HDD. The screen was about 5" high and 7" wide, if that. That little machine cost nearly $2500, if memory serves back circa 1993. That little machine pumped out a PHENOMENAL amount of work using Clarisworks 1.0.

But it wasn't mine - I was using it on behalf of an "organization", to which some on this forum were actually part of!! wink.gif

Anyway, I went and bought my own machine as I too was jaded by the evil DOS out of Seattle. It worked well for what I needed it to do but it was a program-loading nightmare. Every new program needed a specific combination of extensions (DLL in PC-speak) as some programs caused unused but active extensions to interfere with each other.

Well a deal came up when I thought I needed a laptop. I got an IBM ThinkPad. After not too much adjusting, it became a dream to operate. I was feeling more and more isolated with my Mac as most of the newer files I needed access to were produced by Gates-go-getters, and my Mac just didn't have the guts to handle Word, Excel and some other stuff. Then, I had huge difficulty getting it online after moving out west. I tried for 3 years, spending muchos bucks at Mac dealers to get me online only to get home and have more problems. Concurrently, I got my first virus on the laptop.

Did I finally realize what some here call the obvious? Nope. Got rid of the virus and haven't had one on 5 different PC's in 11 years.

I'm sure Mac has gotten rid of most of the ancient problems I remember. Virtual PC was just coming out back then, but my "new" Mac didn't have the brain power to handle it. And I wondered if the Mac system and software were so great, why were they copying those folks from out west?

I know when IBM first developed an operating system that used a mouse, the Apple eaters said that IBM really stood for "I wanna be a Mac."

They might have been right back then, but together with my success with Windows 95, 98, Millenium, XP, XP Pro and even, yes, Vista, and the extra cost for Mac equipment, I'm not looking to change anytime soon.

That a good enough testament for ya, Tango Niner? rolleyes.gifbiggrin.gif

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Moon, MS Office was available for the Mac with a GUI before Windows even came on the market. It was at one time the single most popular app for the Mac, and no Mac existed that "didn't have the guts to handle it."

Amelio's biggest mistake was to knuckle under to Gates' threat to discontinue MS Office for the Mac, that led to Microsoft getting access to the Mac ROM code that led to Windows.

Actually, we referred to IBM as:

In Bleakest Mordor; or

It's Better Manually.

I first went online on my own account in 1987 through a UBC server, text-based only and on a Mac. Mac users required far less effort and had far fewer problems than PC users. All of the people who I helped at that time, ALL, were PC users, without exception. Not sure why you would have a problem going online with a Mac as online access was one of the fundaments of the architecture.

No matter, ancient history now, welcome to the cult.

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Are you really an Air Canada pilot?  If you haven't heard of this you better check your email status with ACPA because I've received something like 14 emails about it.  There have also been several items about it on Aeronet.

Spouse of an AC Pilot - and we don't talk about PBS on a regular basis tongue.gif

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....and another thing: The young'uns got their old man his own iPod for fathers day.... biggrin.gif Wow! Are these things ever cool! ...been busily gathering every scrap of music I can on cd, or these machines, and stuffing it all into iTunes...

What a changed world! laugh.gif ... imagine what changes will our kids see eh!? ....wow....

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Hey Mitch,

If you get MAC lap or desk top make sure it is one you want. I have a six year old powerbook and works just as well as the day I got it. Froze, I think three times in that time. Want to get a new one but too cheap (Am pilot you know). Looking for a good excuse or breaks down.

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Mitch;

Be sure to give some thought to the bitrate you choose for ripping the CDs. Hate to have to go back and do it all over (not that I know anyone that's had to do that).

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First computer I ever learned to operate was a Mac Classic II. 2 MB of RAM; I think it had a 40 MB HDD. The screen was about 5" high and 7" wide, if that. That little machine cost nearly $2500, if memory serves back circa 1993. That little machine pumped out a PHENOMENAL amount of work using Clarisworks 1.0.

But it wasn't mine - I was using it on behalf of an "organization", to which some on this forum were actually part of!! wink.gif

Anyway, I went and bought my own machine as I too was jaded by the evil DOS out of Seattle. It worked well for what I needed it to do but it was a program-loading nightmare. Every new program needed a specific combination of extensions (DLL in PC-speak) as some programs caused unused but active extensions to interfere with each other.

Well a deal came up when I thought I needed a laptop. I got an IBM ThinkPad. After not too much adjusting, it became a dream to operate. I was feeling more and more isolated with my Mac as most of the newer files I needed access to were produced by Gates-go-getters, and my Mac just didn't have the guts to handle Word, Excel and some other stuff. Then, I had huge difficulty getting it online after moving out west. I tried for 3 years, spending muchos bucks at Mac dealers to get me online only to get home and have more problems. Concurrently, I got my first virus on the laptop.

Did I finally realize what some here call the obvious? Nope. Got rid of the virus and haven't had one on 5 different PC's in 11 years.

I'm sure Mac has gotten rid of most of the ancient problems I remember. Virtual PC was just coming out back then, but my "new" Mac didn't have the brain power to handle it. And I wondered if the Mac system and software were so great, why were they copying those folks from out west?

I know when IBM first developed an operating system that used a mouse, the Apple eaters said that IBM really stood for "I wanna be a Mac."

They might have been right back then, but together with my success with Windows 95, 98, Millenium, XP, XP Pro and even, yes, Vista, and the extra cost for Mac equipment, I'm not looking to change anytime soon.

That a good enough testament for ya, Tango Niner? rolleyes.gifbiggrin.gif

Indeed sir, your testament is quite adequate! smile.gif

I had a Mac SE for many years and it was a fine machine.

I will admit this: during the crucial "this way or that way" turning point period when you bought your ThinkPad, Apple was beginning their Dark Ages. The low-powered Macs of the mid-nineties were pretty bleak offerings, and market share hit its lowest ebb (the turnaround year was 1998, when Saint Jobs rose from the ashes, iMac in hand, and made his triumphant return!!)

So I can't blame ya. And if you're happy with what you've got, how can anyone complain?

T9 cool26.gif

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"But will he ever return, naw, he'll he never return and his fate is still unknown...dahde dahhhde dahdahdah, da de dahdahdah...etc... "

I cannot believe that the venerable Capt. Hudson know the lyrics to a song by the Dropkick Murphys entitled "Skinhead on the MBTA" (Metropolitan Boston Transit Authority)

Celtic punk does indeed rule.

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Perhaps the "Venerable Captain Hudson" remembers those lyrics, or something very close to them, from the Kingston Trio version from the early '60s.

What was the name of that song- I've had those lines going round and round in my head but couldn't come up with the title.

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Well guys, you've created a monster. This morning I drained the battery on my iphone watching Kingston Trio videos on youtube. They are absolutely amazing. I enjoyed their ( I assume original) version of "MTA". Tom Dooley reminded me of "99 to life" by Social Distortion.

"The Sloop John B." is not a Beach Boys song, but is a Bahamian folk son that pre-dates the turn of the last century.

Leadbelly, Pete Seeger, Dylan, the Kingston Trio, folk, punk, rap. Protest songs are protest songs, and if one takes the time to listen, they all speak to you across cultural lines.

Thanks.

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  • 2 months later...

Mu desktop PC is due for an update and instead of going out and spending ~$1000 on another PC I'm considering either a Macbook Pro or iMac. Any recommendations? I would be using it for internet, multimedia, and some photo editing (if I decide to take up photography as a more serious hobby).

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20 inch iMac for the home is plenty unless you do A LOT of photo editing and have the room for a 24 incher.

If you are going to travel with it, a 17 inch MBP is big. It's more a portable computer than an actual laptop. I use a 13 in MB and it's plenty for me as I use it the same way you plan to.

Other recommendations? DO IT!!

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