Mr. Scott, You know the drill

by Anand Lal Shimpi on 2/12/2004 12:07 AM EST
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  • Anonymous - Wednesday, February 18, 2004 - link

    Anand,

    Just a few comments:

    1) Mail's spam filter improves with time. Leave it in Training Mode, then, when you receive a spam message, right-click it and mark it as junk. In the future, similar messages will also be marked as junk.

    2) Adium is the best AIM client on OS X. Alphas have been released almost every day for the past few months; not just February. Viewing of away messages are in there, if you use the libgaim protocol. File transfers are automatically accepted. Complete File Transfer support will be in by the beta.
  • Adam K - Wednesday, February 18, 2004 - link

    jeffosx,

    What might save you considerable time would be to learn how to make X-Tech-X Setup (6.3 is still free from Major Geeks) make a registry file for you that tweaks all of your favorite settings for you with one (or two) click(s) of a button. Then your wife might get off your back a bit. :)

    That is great that Mac OS X sucked you into DV, digital photography, and music. I like OS X too. However, I have found overall better price/performance from PCs.

    Consider this: I like Windows XP PCs AND OS X PCs.




  • Anonymous - Tuesday, February 17, 2004 - link

    Anand,

    I don't have time to read all the replies, so if my suggestion has been posted, I apologize.

    Another way to transfer your mail is to use an intermediary IMAP server. There are any number of free servers you can setup on the dualie, copy them over from Outlook and just use that as your "local" store (which you can use from _any_ IMAP client) or copy them into Mail.app.
  • jeffosx - Tuesday, February 17, 2004 - link

    Adam K
    I found OSX somewhat humbling in the sense that it took away my feeling of wonder when I got something working on my PCs. I wasnt really a power user as it often consisted of following a guide on the net that someone else wrote. Sometimes I did it myself but all in all spent far too much time tweaking and my wife would ask why on earth we needed all this stuff when nothing ever seemed to be produced from the well oiled and superbly tweaked PC.

    My Mac got (sucked) me into DV, digital photography and music so much that I rarely even play games on my Mac or PCs. I make videos of the kids and author a DVD for the grandparents, put the latest photos on the net with a click of a button.
  • jeffosx - Tuesday, February 17, 2004 - link

    Adam K
    I found OSX somewhat humbling in the sense that it took away my feeling of wonder when I got something working on my PCs. I wasnt really a power user as it often consisted of following a guide on the net that someone else wrote. Sometimes I did it myself but all in all spent far too much time tweaking and my wife would ask why on earth we needed all this stuff when nothing ever seemed to be produced from the well oiled and superbly tweaked PC.

    My Mac got (sucked) me into DV, digital photography and music so much that I rarely even play games on my Mac or PCs. I make videos of the kids and author a DVD for the grandparents, put the latest photos on the net with a click of a button.
  • Anonymous - Monday, February 16, 2004 - link

    Good thing i asked, because i was thinking 'enthusiast tools' were more along the lines of software for tweaking hardware. (something like Apple's free Reggie SE, that lets you examine and modify CPU and PCI configuration registers)

    anyway, you can get PPC motherboards, but there's nowhere near the x86 market.
  • Adam K - Monday, February 16, 2004 - link

    "I can't answer the enthusiast tools thing because i don't know what you mean by enthusiast tools. thats why i asked for examples."

    Check out these:

    http://www.anandtech.com/mb/index.html
  • Anonymous - Monday, February 16, 2004 - link

    I can't answer the enthusiast tools thing because i don't know what you mean by enthusiast tools. thats why i asked for examples.

    as for manipulating the hardware, the power macs are capable of easy upgrading such as adding memory, HDDs, optical drives, PCI/graphics cards. even processor upgrades are available. Thats just about everything except the motherboard. and you can overclock that. (in fact, i think you can even overclock some models through a software interface)

    www.xlr8yourmac.com has some info on possible tweaks.

    one interesting thing is using Open Firmware (BIOS to much of the non x86 world) to enable a video card to use dual monitors on systems that dont support it.

    T Money: there's a lot you can do just by changing settings in open firmware
  • T Money - Monday, February 16, 2004 - link

    You have to give examples, because otherwise you're making sweeping generalizations, which are almost always by default wrong. You said that hardware ont eh mac couldn't be manipulated, but quite clearly it can, it just takes more than changing a setting in the BIOS. So give some specific examples and we'll tell you whether there is an equivilent item for the macs.
  • Adam K - Monday, February 16, 2004 - link

    Why not answer your own question, anonymous?

    Why must I give you some examples of “enthusiast tools” that are available for the Windows based PC if you already are capable of “show[ing] me that they [similar tools] already exist” for the Mac based PC?

    Educate me how the hardware might be "manipulated" in “many ways.” I am very interested.
  • Anonymous - Sunday, February 15, 2004 - link

    adam k: linux is far more configurable than windows. would you say that all power users have dumped proprietary windows in favor of linux, which gives them far more control over the hardware?
  • Anonymous - Sunday, February 15, 2004 - link

    "It seems I am confusing a “power user” and an “enthusiast.” You see, a “power user” to you sounds like a regular “Joe user” to me. "

    The difference is that a power user knows how to use the tools. Joe users dont bother to learn anything. a power user will know every keyboard shortcut in the apps they use.

    "If I am misunderstood, please clarify exactly what a power user is…I helped my parents how to use the features available to them in their operating systems. At times they are running several applications at the same time. Does that make my parents “power users” by your definition?"

    No. power users probably would have figured out what work they were doing, found the stuff they needed to do it, and taught themselves how to use the stuff.

    "Power means to control, rule, and command."

    Thats one kind of power. but 'power' in power user is not saying its a user who wants that kind of power. the power user is all about getting work done in the most efficient manner. that normally means buying good stuff and using it well. joe regular will buy cheap stuff and not know why they bought it.

    "I hardly feel like I am really in control of the hardware Mac OS is connected to."

    Thats because you don't know how to use a Mac.

    "Apple should loosen up its proprietary licensing enough so that a few enthusiast tools can be developed. That is all I am asking."

    You'll have to give examples of 'enthusiast tools' before I can show you that they already exist (if they do).

    "The simple fact that the core hardware cannot be manipulated at all is frustrating."

    The hardware can be manipulated in many ways, similarly to how one might modify a Windows based PC.

  • Lucian - Sunday, February 15, 2004 - link

    Adam K said, "I asked Anand how the ATI Control Panel functions in OS X."

    You can find a brief description and screenshot here: http://www.insidemacgames.com/reviews/view.php?ID=...
  • Adam K - Saturday, February 14, 2004 - link

    I am sure Anand will give the Mac platform a good, thorough evaluation.

    Anand has earned the rare honor of being respected by consumers and corporations; I hope he can influence Apple as he has Nvidia and Dell...
  • Cooncat - Saturday, February 14, 2004 - link

    I think you make some good points, upgradeability certainly could be better especially (wtf is up with only one optical drive bay in the G5?)...I think the reason people (me included, sorry bout that) are kind of going after you is you seem to be making a lot of statements about a platform that it doesn't sound like you've spent much time actually *using*. Now, for all I know you could have 5 macs in your house right now and you are really speaking from your experiences with the system...but it seems to me like you've never really taken the time to sit down and give the mac platform a good thorough evaluation, like Anand is doing right now. You can criticize the mac platform all you want, i do it all the time, but at least do it from a well informed viewpoint.
  • Adam K - Friday, February 13, 2004 - link

    “You complained about lack of DirectX support in OS X for God's sake.”

    The quote above is quite incorrect. I asked Anand how the ATI Control Panel functions in OS X. I am curious about the antialiasing and anisotropic filtrering in OS X.

    I never claimed to know everything about OS X. That was your assumption.

    What I did say, no repeat, over and over again, was what I think is missing from the whole OS X platform: configurability, customization, and upgradeability (with respect to the hardware).
  • Damien Sorresso - Friday, February 13, 2004 - link

    Adam K,

    If you don't want to be called ignorant, then do some research before you post. When you make uninformed statements, someone calling you ignorant is more a statement of fact than an insult. You obviously don't have a clue about the workings of Macs (OpenFirmware; keyword is "open"). You complained about lack of DirectX support in OS X for God's sake. I don't care if you have used Macs before, that's a baseless and ignorant complaint. Perhaps you would like to convince Microsoft to license DirectX to other operating systems.

    Bottom line, you're an enthusiast, not a power user. Power users are people who have a heavily customized operating system setup optimized to their workflow habits (with some nifty eye candy thrown in, too). The really good ones get their system running reliably under such conditions (or at least that was the case with OS 9 and Windows 9x/Me -- Windows XP and OS X can run pretty well regardless of what hackery you've done most of the time). For example, I have about 7 hard drive partitions (System, swap, homes, media, scratch, emergency, video scratch) laid out toward the goal of avoiding fragmentation. Not something normal users do. So what does that make me, if not a power user? I'm not a "power user" because I don't want to continually screw with my machine's hardware?

    Would I like to be able to build my own Mac? Yeah, sure, but the main reason is so I could easily replace my motherboard or CPU if one gets fried. I was curious as to what the inside of my G4 looked like when I first got it, and I took it apart. It didn't work when I put it back together, but thankfully I was still under warranty, so the repair cost nothing. Had I not been under warranty, it would've been a nice chunk of change, I'm sure. That's the advantage of the PC commodity market. Otherwise, I can replace just about any other component in the machine with any PC part (HDD, DVD/CD-RW, et cetera). And sure, I like tinkering with things, but the ability to tinker with a system isn't the main selling point. The main selling point is how well it will do what I want it to do BEFORE I start messing with it.
  • John Public - Friday, February 13, 2004 - link

    Adam K,

    You do make excellent points that should not be ignored, especially in this cross-platform forum. Be careful when you mix statements of fact and statements of opinion, however.

    Hardware on the Mac can be manipulated via Openfirmware. Fan speeds can be manipulated. Voltages are manipulated via the decades-old method of using soldering irons (i.e. actual hardware manipulation, as opposed to register-based manipulation). Openfirmware on the Mac contains many different commands that are not documented, even within Apple. I believe that your loss of control when dealing with Mac hardware stems from your lack of familiarity with its hardware and just how differently it evolved from its PC counterparts. The Mac "enthusiast" simply has to be a little more old-school about modifications than his or her PC counterparts, in my opinion.
  • Eug - Friday, February 13, 2004 - link

    Yeah, we're getting into semantics here, but to me the power user one who wants a powerful computer so he can get his work done quickly and done well.

    A power user is often willing to spend the money on say a P4 3.4 to get P4 3.4 performance, instead of wasting time buying a Prescott 2.8 and trying to overclock it higher with lapping and watercooling, etc., to get a few more frames out of UT2003.

    Indeed, if you want bragging rights for hardcore overclocking you should check out guys who actually stick watercooling in a Power Mac and adjust bus speeds by soldering resistors. These guys are hardware enthusiasts to be sure, but for all we know they're just doing it for the hell of it, and not to get any extra work done.
  • Lucian - Friday, February 13, 2004 - link

    The (large) majority of people who buy computers, PC or Macs, have no desire to control their hardware in such a way that you defined. They want to take the computer out of the box, plug it in and be productive. Apple will never do such a thing, and I don't know why they would. I have much more important things to do than to fiddle with my hardware all day and put my system at risk of being unstable.
  • Adam K - Friday, February 13, 2004 - link

    Thanks for the helpful replies.

    It seems I am confusing a “power user” and an “enthusiast.” You see, a “power user” to you sounds like a regular “Joe user” to me. If I am misunderstood, please clarify exactly what a power user is…I helped my parents how to use the features available to them in their operating systems. At times they are running several applications at the same time. Does that make my parents “power users” by your definition?

    Power means to control, rule, and command. I hardly feel like I am really in control of the hardware Mac OS is connected to. I do not think it is outrageous that others agree. Apple should loosen up its proprietary licensing enough so that a few enthusiast tools can be developed. That is all I am asking. The simple fact that the core hardware cannot be manipulated at all is frustrating.
  • Eug - Friday, February 13, 2004 - link

    Adam K said: "I consider a power user a user who wants to have control of all of the hardware and software connected to the system. The more control, the better."

    Adam K, not really. Your main assertion here is if it can't be overclocked, then it ain't for a power user. The problem is that the VAST MAJORITY of power users will never overclock their machine. They will simply pay the $$$ to get the performance they want. You're describing the hardware enthusiast, which is worlds different from true power user trying to get work done.

    Adam K said: "It seems that the computing world cannot have a discussion about different platforms without users from the different platforms associating themselves with their platform of choice."

    You're working again from an incorrect assumption. I'm typing this message from my Windows box which I built with my own bare hands. (I've never even owned a Power Mac.) This home-built box has had multiple overclocked CPUs in it, but in the end I quickly realized that if I want POWER I really should just pay for it, instead of buying lower GHz parts and overclocking the bejeezus out of them.

    Indeed, what this heavy duty overclocking has taught me is how to appreciate a good case design when I see it. And it seems to me that the G5 Power Mac design is perfectly suited to my impression of what a power user wants. It's expensive, but it's well-designed and extremely overbuilt. The Power Mac G5 simply exudes quality.
  • OoTLink - Friday, February 13, 2004 - link

    Yeah ern that raises a great thought..

    If you prefer to use gnome or blackbox, use XDarwin.

    If you prefer to use KDE, use apple x11.

    IMHO the best thing you can do is install apple x11, set that up with KDE, turn around and install XDarwin and set that up with blackbox (simply have an xinitrc that you change for either case).

    I really prefer blackbox' minimal GUI :)

    Probably the easiest way to install xdarwin is through fink (if you want to make that even easier grab finkcommander of versiontracker), or at www.xdarwin.org. :)
  • OoTLink - Friday, February 13, 2004 - link

    Admittedly, OS X is not as readily customizable as windows (where you can change the button size, window control size, and whatnot to any shape size or color) -- this is a function that's almost belittled by even KDE's window options..

    OS X can certainly do such things if you sit back and hack... it just doesn't come as easily, nor was at the time seen as a direly essential function. I suggested a few weeks ago that apple try to implement a DPI function into their OS where one slider could adjust the element sizes for EVERYTHING globally (this would work really well, would it not?).

    As far as I'm concerned, and as far as my experience takes me, OS X as a whole is far more flexible than windows. With a few things (fink, namely), I can set up just about any rather popular BSD program on my g4 with ease. Currently I have xdarwin running blackbox, gkrellm (extremely handy and space efficient for me), and xmms (I don't know why, it's just cool). If you're willing to take a slight functionality hitch you can even kill aqua and run XDarwin or X11 seperately (though I've not done this at all with 10.3 yet so I don't know how easily done it is).

    If you have any plans to try running a webserver on your machine, do check out www.entropy.ch for PHP and MySQL (as well as an abundant amount of other) installers, resources, etc.

    ONE thing that should be kept in mind is that while the part of the plan was to use OS X as it was "meant" to be, *raises eyebrow* there IS no preset way. This is the beauty of a system with soooo many uses. You can run OS X as anything from a webserver to a computer for a 5 year old... to put it shortly the "experience" as it was meant to be is running xdarwin, along with 20 other vanilla OS X apps and be playing a game with a compiler running...

    It's also considered a typic experience for a 10 year old to be playing put put's revenge.

    Anand, having come from using windows machines daily myself.. I found the floating toolbars in just about every productivity app, along with the single anchored menubar to be EXTREMELY awkward to get used to. Unfortunately I think this is one of those things that takes time to get used to, however it is much easier (hey you're on a cinema display like I am.. try this!) to have 2 or 3 documents lined up next to each other with only one toolbar at the top.. this suddenly becomes sooo much more convinient.
  • _Em - Friday, February 13, 2004 - link

    I am glad to see that most people haven't taken Adam K. to task as a hellbound MS Windows/PC zealot; he does make some very valid points as well as a few misinformed points. However, Anand has already covered most of these issues in his early posts, so it might be more useful for us to provide information where possible, more than opinion (if anyone disagrees, feel free to do so :).

    One of the things I have loved about OS X is that with the combination of OpenFirmware (lovely Forth console), the BSD/Mach kernel underpinnings, and such open technologies as OpenGL/SDL, I can do just about anything with my mac, given a bit of time and research. Even with the old MacOS, I was able to upgrade my Color Classic from a 16Mhz 540x420, max 12MB RAM beast to a 50Mhz, 640x480, 36MB RAM powerhouse. My old iMac DV SE (400Mhz G3) has on-board jumpers for adjusting clock speed up to around 1.8Ghz IIRC, and this is one of Apple's "disposable" computers.

    In short, the Mac platform has a different breed of power user, who is interested with different aspects of tweaking their machine, compared with the regular PC power user.

    What does this have to do with Anand's dual G5 box? Well, I'd love to see him delve into OpenFirmware and "Haxie" level exploration at some point in the future; I remember the first game of Pong I played in the OpenFirmware "BIOS", and I have to say that the freedom to explore and create is great -- even if the base hardware is limited and expensive. There are a lot of things you can do to tweak a Mac (performance or otherwise) that won't void your warranty.

    Also, try installing KDE under XWindows on the Mac; it opens up all sorts of new areas of "tweaking" and UI customization.

    And finally, on the Gaming front...
    I've never liked using the latest and greatest games, but as far as classic games and emulated games, the mac has more than you can shake a stick at. A dual G5 should be able to run just about anything out there in those fields :)
  • Anonymous - Friday, February 13, 2004 - link

    I'd have to agree with adam k on the hardware enthusiast point. hardware enthusiasts often want DIY boxes, and you cant get that with the Macintosh platform.

    w.r.t. how far you can overclock the G5 CPU with air/water cooling: I think one major reason you don't hear of these and other common hardware experiments being tried with Macs is because Macs are expensive. The average hardware enthusiast doesn't have $2000+ to blow on a computer just to possibly burn it out with OC or short it out with water. OTOH if you look in the right places you can find people who have taken used Macs and done things with them.

    1337 is a (IMO lamer) form of 'elite'/'leet'/'l33t'. it's a term from the early days of networked computers -> people needed a new way to say how cool they were with computers so they said that they were elite. this has degenerated into 1337 among lamers and script kiddies.
  • Anonymous - Friday, February 13, 2004 - link

    I'd have to agree with adam k on the hardware enthusiast point. hardware enthusiasts often want DIY boxes, and you cant get that with the Macintosh platform.

    w.r.t. how far you can overclock the G5 CPU with air/water cooling: I think one major reason you don't hear of these and other common hardware experiments being tried with Macs is because Macs are expensive. The average hardware enthusiast doesn't have $2000+ to blow on a computer just to possibly burn it out with OC or short it out with water. OTOH if you look in the right places you can find people who have taken used Macs and done things with them.

    1337 is a (IMO lamer) form of 'elite'/'leet'/'l33t'. it's a term from the early days of networked computers -> people needed a new way to say how cool they were with computers so they said that they were elite. this has degenerated into 1337 among lamers and script kiddies.
  • Lucian - Friday, February 13, 2004 - link

    Adam K,

    There seems to be no "flamefest" going on here, but if there is, you seemed to have set it off with your comments regarding what _you_ think an "enthusiast" should be. You came off as a "typical PC user" to many of the Mac users who are reading this blog and I can't say I blame them for fighting back.
  • Adam K - Friday, February 13, 2004 - link

    It seems that the computing world cannot have a discussion about different platforms without users from the different platforms associating themselves with their platform of choice.
    I don't understand it. I grew up using Macintosh computers. My first laptop (which cost me $5,000) was a Powerbook 3400c, in 1997. Only recently did I buy a PC. That should not matter. But for some of you, it seems, this is another PC vs. Mac flamefest discussion; therefore you force me to identify myself amongst you to earn your respect, which I personally find quite childish.

    I have been attempting to point out a couple things that the Macintosh platform does not offer for the enthusiast (thanks, anon for the clarification). I consider a power user a user who wants to have control of all of the hardware and software connected to the system. The more control, the better.

    I stated several times that OS X is excellent. There are several advantages to the owning a Macintosh. Need I repeat myself again? I think it is extremely immature to, rather than address my questions, attack what you do not understand.

    And I have no idea what 1337 means.






  • Adam K - Friday, February 13, 2004 - link

    That's great that you guys take cheap shots at me, rather than listening to what I am saying.
  • Damien Sorresso - Friday, February 13, 2004 - link

    Adam K's complaints can be summarized as follows:
    I don't like Macs because I can't overclock them to make myself feel 1337.

    Anand has already said that it's not a gaming platform. You said it again, only with more sweeping implications that are completely baseless -- meaning that Macs are good for nothing because you can't overclock them. That would make your comments utterly redundant.
  • Anonymous - Friday, February 13, 2004 - link

    I'd say that Apple has just chosen sane defaults for most things so that most people don't need to change them not "Everything is predetermined by Apple," becauses most software stuff can be changed.

    No, you can't build a mac from generic parts, which is definitely bad for the enthusiast market. "Isn’t possible? Why not?" because Apple doesn't want it to be (kinda sucks).

    "I read that there is Open GL support in OS X but nothing about Direct 3d,"
    Direct3D is part of Microsoft's Windows DirectX API, which Microsoft does not develop for Macintosh. In non MS Windows operating systems OpenGL is the graphics standard. It is also the standard for scientific applications (and id games - quake3, doom3, etc).

    Enthusiasts are people who use and tweak computers for the computers sake. a power user is a person who uses (and only when necessary, tweaks) the computer for the sake of getting work done (some people are both). A power user is more likely to buy a good system, good tools, learn how to use them and then just get work done. without tweaking anything.

  • T Money - Friday, February 13, 2004 - link

    That link should have worked, but here's a link to the PDFs with a hard link to the web version as well:

    http://www.kernelthread.com/mac/osx/pdf.html
  • jasonsRX7 - Friday, February 13, 2004 - link

    Adam K,

    Just because you're not overclocking a computer doesn't mean you're not pushing the limits of what it is capable of. You're not a poweruser just because you've tweaked some ram timings in the bios.

    Sometimes I get the feeling that PC enthusiasts spend ridiculous amounts of money on overclocking, watercooling, and tweaking a $300 computer to perform like a $500 one. After all is said and done, they end up spending a lot of time benchmarking, and looking at, their neon windowed wonders, but spend precious little time using them for anything productive.

    I don't disagree with that practice, because I think it's fun and educational for a lot of people. But I do disagree with the concept that a computer isn't a good value just because you can't overclock it. When everything is built and put together, it's what you use the computer for that counts, not how many extra 3dmarks you were able to tweek.

    Adam K, I'm sure you're a pretty sharp guy, so I encourage you to get out of the mindset that the only good values are the inexpensive ones. Quality is worth paying more for in some cases, and when time is money, a trouble free quality product can often times pay for itself.

    If you're a real technology enthusiast (not just a PC gamer) then you'll appreciate that there is another whole world of networking, servers, and real workstations out there that are very interesting in their own right, even if they're not going to be getting 95fps in Doom 3. In these cases, cost is much less of a factor than capabilities, and it's the capabilities that make them interesting.
  • Judge_Fire - Friday, February 13, 2004 - link

    The focus of power-userness varies. Some people are interested in the system level of things, wanting direct access to hardware and OS details. When executed properly, system tweaking will benefit the above layer of using applications on said system. However, there are inherent risks, which might cause instability. Some people, on the other hand, focus on the inter-application level of power use, in which Macs IMHO excel. There are as many approaches to this as there are users, probably.

    On the issue of memory, here's Apple's kernel programming guide on memory: http://developer.apple.com/documentation/Darwin/Co...

    So if you want to tweak, you can download the darwin source and roll your kernel ; )

    J

  • Mimizuku no Lew - Friday, February 13, 2004 - link

    Adam K:

    "Virtual memory is predetermined; or at least the algorithm for allocating its size is there is no tab for virtual memory in the system preferences…uh huh…"

    Virtual memory under OS X is dynamic, with the OS creating new swapfiles as required. Unlike Windows, which uses a single swapfile (in its default configuration - I know that you can create extra swapfiles on other disks if you want), OS X uses multiple smaller swapfiles and creates and deletes them on the fly.
  • Eug - Friday, February 13, 2004 - link

    Judging by his posts, Adam K seems to consider a "power user" to be an overclocking gamer.

    But I found this line from his post interesting... :)

    "Maybe if you are one of those who likes everything to work right out of the box, don’t like worrying about viruses, worms, Trojans, and Windows Update, and have application support in OS X I can’t say that I blame you."
  • Lucian - Friday, February 13, 2004 - link

    AdamK,

    As a PC user, you may see Apple's lack of hardware options and configurability as "limitations" but many Mac users do not see it as so. Many people (3-5% of all computer users) find it perfectly acceptable to spend more money on a computer _package_ (hardware and software) that is integrated, works perfectly out of the box, and needs no tweaking. Despite that fact that enthusiasts (i.e. overclockers, "modders", etc) are so numerous and there are many sites dedicated to them (HardOCP), their numbers are small in comparison to the overall number of PC users. You are simply projecting your desires as an "enthusiast" onto Apple. Apple will never become a platform for "enthusiasts", nor would I ever want them to. Macs cater (or try to) to the largest demographic on this Earth, and that's Joe Consumer. Despite the fact that you claim you are a "power user", your arguments are old, overused. and not necessarily true. I mean, come on, you don't even know if OpenGL and/or Direct3D is integrated into Mac OS X!
  • Brent S - Friday, February 13, 2004 - link

    Sorry man, but true enthusiasts and 'power users' don't bitch about not having those dandy little SoftBIOS pieces of crap. Real enthusiasts use a soldering iron. And that, my biased friend, is a cross-platform tool.
  • cyberman - Friday, February 13, 2004 - link

    Anand, the reason Office v.X looks (and maybe opperates) different than Office on Windows, is because the two are made by completely different teams. There's no code sharing or anything. The only requirement is that the mac version be able to read the same file format as the pc version.

    As for keybindings, check out /System/Library/Frameworks/AppKit.framework/Versions/C/Resources/StandardKeyBinding.dict

    That contains default key bindings for all cocoa apps (but NOT carbon apps). Most of it is emacs style stuff. ("^" means control, "~" means option, "$" means shift, and "@" means command (the key next to option with an apple on it))

    You can customize the key bindings, make this file: ~/Library/Keybindings/DefaultKeybinding.dict

    And check out:
    http://developer.apple.com/documentation/Cocoa/Con...

    for some more info

    P.S. you should DEFINATELY install the developer tools (i.e. the cd labeled XCode)

    P.P.S. if you're looking for random esoteric settings and whatnot, look at anything in /System/Library that ends in .plist and isn't info.plist or version.plist

    P.P.P.S when you're tired of the finder not showing invisible files, type this in a terminal window:
    defaults write -g NSUnixExpert Yes


  • Adam K - Friday, February 13, 2004 - link

    Look, Cooncat, there is no need to call me ignorant. I never called you any rude names, now did I?

    I stated several times that both platforms have there merits, but I emphasized that the Apple platform is limited to what Apple has integrated into their operating system and BIOSes.

    The Macintosh platform has little viability in todays enthusiast market due to the fact that there is little value in buying a Macintosh computer. Yes, if you have the likes of $3,000-$5,000 to pay for a computer system, the Apple platform is an option; but for an "enthusiast," that same power would cost significantly less.

    Of extremely high value to the "power user" is a powerful motherboard with an integrated BIOS that has variable options for CPU frequency (if not locked by manufacturer), front side bus of the processor, voltage, CAS latency, RAS to CAS delay, RAS Precharge, TRAS, to mention a few basics.

    This world of "pushing the limits" of today's computing is simply not available in the Macintosh hardware world. That is why it is boring after a while for me. I mean, great, the OS is definately excellent. I have never had a complaint about the OS. It is stable and does not require advanced user configuration to function decently. It has some configuration options available that make it possible for the user to customize elements of the OS that further enhance the user's experience.

    I wonder if the 2.0 GHz CPUs that Anand has are capable of going any higher. I wonder how high they can go on simply air cooling at the default voltage. The next thing that comes to mind is how fast the cpu could operate with water cooling. But these are not options for todays Mac user. That is why I don't think Apple's and their associated hardware are as interesting as they could be.

  • Cooncat - Friday, February 13, 2004 - link

    to the person above...I find it hard to believe that someone who claims to be a "power user" could be so ignorant. Is it so hard to accept that both platforms have merit? What exactly do you "powerfully" use your computer for, if you don't mind me asking? Because I find osX to be a very productive work environment, it lets me get what I want done fast and without being intrusive. But I suppose if you really meant "power gamer" then yeah, I guess you're right.

    And no, it's not possible for abit or asus to make mac MBs. Do a search for "mac clone" and you will see why.
  • Adam K - Friday, February 13, 2004 - link

    Oh, and Anand, I am curious: when you get your hands on the 9800 series for Mac, what is the CP like? I read that there is Open GL support in OS X but nothing about Direct 3d, and am curious about the functionality of the Radeons in the Mac OS. How is filtering implemented?

    And are there any third party apps to overclock the Radeons in OS X? Or are you stuck at stock? That can't be any fun...
  • Adam K - Friday, February 13, 2004 - link

    Yes, I know that the Macintosh platform is spiffy and all.
    But OSX is hardly the power-user platform like Windows is. Everything is predetermined by Apple, or so it seems.
    Virtual memory is predetermined; or at least the algorithm for allocating its size is there is no tab for virtual memory in the system preferences…uh huh…
    And it’s not like I can put together a Macintosh, right? Or am I wrong there too? But last time I checked the local computer stores all I could find were pre-built Macs. Why don't Abit, Asus, or some reputable motherboard manufacturer make a motherboard for the Mac enthusiast? Isn’t possible? Why not? I mean the Apple platform is never going to be an "enthusiast" platform until we can get our hands on something of real value. Like, for example, the P4C@2.4 GHz. I don't know if too many of us are going to shell out $3,000 USD to buy a system that is so limited. I mean like, WOW, it works out of the box, imagine that! Well for me “works” is not enough. I want more power and I don’t think $3,000+ for what Anand is describing is worth it. Maybe if you are one of those who likes everything to work right out of the box, don’t like worrying about viruses, worms, Trojans, and Windows Update, and have application support in OS X I can’t say that I blame you. But for now, at least, for the “power user,” the Mac is, after a little while, just plain boring
  • Lucian - Friday, February 13, 2004 - link

    In my experience, the only types of applications that installed an uninstaller were Microsoft's IntelliPoint and IntelliType software. BTW, if you are using a MS mouse and/or keyboard with your G5, I highly recommend installing those drivers. They are quite powerful and allow a great deal of customization.
  • Damien Sorresso - Friday, February 13, 2004 - link

    I would hate for Trillian to be ported to OS X. Not that it isn't functional, but the UI is awful. As you use more and more well-designed OS X apps (read: anything by OmniGroup), you'll become more and more spoiled by aesthetics and UI cleanliness.

    And, Anand, Adium 2.0a currently updates on a nightly schedule. When it's done, it'll blow everything else out of the water. Mac OS X front-end plus libgaim backend is a winning combination for open source. Adium is a great example of how well open source and OS X can work together to produce excellent applications.

    About uninstallers ... they generally aren't needed. There are some duplicitous software companies out there which litter your home directory with invisible files, but deleting the application is enough in about 99% of all cases. Any application that needs an uninstaller will be installed with an installer package. And OS X does have a built-in uninstaller, sort of.

    Install the developer tools, and you'll get a command-line binary that is used for making installer packages. This utility also reads the /Library/Receipts directory and will allow you to uninstall installer packages; each installed package (.pkg) leaves a receipt with information about what it installed and where. There is a GUI front-end available for this utility called DesInstaller. I'd recommend checking it out. I'd also recommend keeping VersionTracker.com on your favorites list and checking it daily. The quality of Mac shareware is generally excellent.
  • Anonymouse Too - Friday, February 13, 2004 - link

    Try here:

    http://developer.apple.com/technotes/tn/tn1061.htm...
  • Anonymous - Friday, February 13, 2004 - link

    That http://www.kernelthread.com/mac/osx/ URL doesn't work.
  • T Money - Thursday, February 12, 2004 - link

    To the person who commented that the mac BIOS (OpenFirmware) is too limited. I suggest you do some reading into it (in fact, it might be something you want to do too Anand). The OpenFirmware is a very powerful set of low level instructions. I recomend you read this article, which includes a nice introduction to the power of OpenFirmware (including how to set up ssh within it)

    http://www.kernelthread.com/mac/osx/
  • Adam K - Thursday, February 12, 2004 - link

    http://www.ecommercetimes.com/perl/story/32837.htm...

    This comes as no suprise to me that Mac's are finding their way into the offices of scientists. My brother, who recently earned his Ph.D in microbiology relies heavily on a program called Macvector, which he says is user friedly and enables him to translate DNA into protein, to search for reading frames, and make graphical maps of plasmids. He also uses PC's. He sees clearly that there are advantages to both platforms.

    And yes, there is little need for "administration" on a Mac. I have mentioned this before. You can give a Mac to your Mom and she could use the internet, check email (and open and click on every link embedded into the email), write documents and presentations, and not come running to you every week with a new virus or confused about which Windows Update to download. Yes, there are security vunerabilites with the Mac OS but nowhere near the degree to which the Windows holes are exploited.

    I guess since there are now two people writing as "Adam," I thought I would call myself "Adam K," so nobody gets too confused.
  • cbum - Thursday, February 12, 2004 - link

    re the comment above on special char messing up on crossplatform transfers: find the fonts that work both ways.
    e.g., I often get times new roman docs, with screwed up greek and other letters. My first step is the insist on standard times font, and the problems are gone.
  • LSDiesel - Thursday, February 12, 2004 - link

    ...nice experiment - happy "adding" :))

    also, please try sometimes to not think only 'windows' way, try to explore and discover some things... os X is joy to work on and feeling natural...

    HINT: drag & drop works systemwide -> app(e.g. photoshop); many open window;drag one; expose; select other;drop object/image/etc.

  • garage band - Thursday, February 12, 2004 - link

    Apple posted update to Garage Band today on web site
    http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/garageband....

    "clarifies specific alert dialogs regarding system performance."
  • Carl - Thursday, February 12, 2004 - link

    To convert your Outlook email use a $10 application called Outlook2Mac. Otherwise, import your Outlook mail into Netscape, then export to mbox format. Other options can be seen here:

    http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20021...
  • SeraphsSati - Thursday, February 12, 2004 - link

    "Hmm, isn't Unreal 2004 64bit? So witha 64bit cpu its amazing!?"

    -me
  • Anonymous - Thursday, February 12, 2004 - link

    Hmm, isn't Unreal 2004 64bit? So witha 64bit cpu its amazing!?
  • Nick - Thursday, February 12, 2004 - link

    Fire is not very good at all and it'll get on your nerves and make you want trillian. Use iChat AV for a while and you'll never want to go back. It's that much better.
  • joe - Thursday, February 12, 2004 - link

    I like to thank you for your web site. From time to time, I follow your site. I do this more from the viewpoint of following investments in various companies. Although not a power user, I want to know the strength and weaknesses of the products. In many cases, your opinion on products is as important, if not more important, than the analyst community that follows the companies. You are the best reviewer that I have found on the web. You are straight forward, accurate, and very complete in your analysis. Most of all I appreciate the honesty and intergrity of your work. Keep it up.
  • SmurfTower - Thursday, February 12, 2004 - link

    Well you're in good company Anand.

    Scientists: The Latest Mac Converts
    http://www.ecommercetimes.com/perl/story/32837.htm...


    "For our landing site work, we always get the highest-end desktop Mac we can find, so we just got one of the G5s with dual 2-GB processors and 8 GB of RAM," Golombek told the E-Commerce Times. "We are dealing with Canvas files that are a gigabyte in size. They're huge, huge files, so we need every bit of performance we can get."

    According to Golombek, Macs traditionally have been superior in handling images. Although PCs may have caught up in this regard, he added, the Mac's ease of use and computational power ensure he has no plans to switch to another platform.
  • SmurfTower - Thursday, February 12, 2004 - link

    Nice little tip - if you click once to place the courser click again to highlight the word in Safari, Finder or just about anything in Panther ex: www.Anand.com it will highlight the word before the periods and not include the rest of the garbage. I have longed for this since I bought 10.1 .

    You must try iChat AV with iSight (or a firewire based cam) and another Mac user, the video/audio quality is amazing. Full-screen vid chats!. I've only tired it out a handful of times but each time it made me feel like a little school girl ;). Its not full-screen but here's a sample (Snapz Pro is another amazing app)

    Scroll and look for one that says -Record your ichat video session for later review!-
    http://www.ambrosiasw.com/utilities/snapzprox/scre...

    Check out the capturing quality of a DVD with snapz pro. It could change the way people read and see your reviews.
    http://www.ambrosiasw.com/utilities/snapzprox/imag...
  • Eric - Thursday, February 12, 2004 - link

    One more comment about URL completion: it's also possible to type in something like anandtech/weblog. Safari will add www and .com to the part before the first /. Just discovered that this morning on an intuitive stab in the dark.
  • Anonymous - Thursday, February 12, 2004 - link

    Hey Anand, have you tried out UT2004, What do you think of the game, do think its better than UT2003???

  • Adam - Thursday, February 12, 2004 - link

    http://episteme.arstechnica.com/eve/ubb.x?a=tpc&am...

    The above and the post right after are a decent reference for some of the places to dig through if you want to be sure you fully uninstalled an application.
  • aristotle - Thursday, February 12, 2004 - link

    I don't see a need for an uninstaller. Those preference files are miniscule with todays large HDs. They don't bother anything and never get loaded if the apps is deleted. Very few apps install Application support files and those too are ignored by the system.

    Hopefully if apps start being developed on windows with .NET with developers following the guidelines, people will have a drag and drop experience on the PC by storing everything in the Assembly directory (with the app) except for settings files stored in the user directory.
  • PorBleemo - Thursday, February 12, 2004 - link

    I would like to see some Forums Database Benchmarks with this thing paired with some SCSI drives.
  • NeutronMonk - Thursday, February 12, 2004 - link

    That's funny about CNTRL+Enter; for me, it was just the opposite- I hated (stiil hate :) ) the way IE would go to MSN to search for the site instead of going directly to it when you hit enter! It wasn't until I downloaded MyIE on my home-brew Athlon rig that I discovered CNTL+Enter in the preferences. Just another little reason that I use my Macs 90% of the time- the Athlon is good for gaming, though, and required for AutoCad. That's why I have a KVM switch!
    P.S. Anand, I second the notion about adding a Mac section to your site. I know a lot of power users that use both platforms and would really appreciate it.
  • Randy Decker - Thursday, February 12, 2004 - link

    Two comments. Buy more RAM. I have a Dual 2 ghz with 2.5 GB of RAM. The extra RAM significantly improves overall smoothness. I don't know if you have your G5 hooked up to audio but the optical digital out to a surround sound amp is a great feature. Try it with GarageBand.
  • jasonsRX7 - Thursday, February 12, 2004 - link

    Well if he gets a Treo 600, it will work. I have a Treo 600 and sync it with all my Macs and PCs and it works beautifully. Anand, you will absolutely love the Treo if you get it. It's a wonderful device. Blackberry's are great, too... but the T600 is really incredible. I rely on it heavily for all my calendaring (with iCal and Outlook) and I use it with my laptop for wireless internet access anywhere that I have a signal.
  • ravedave - Thursday, February 12, 2004 - link

    http://www.brighthand.com/article/Whats_Not_in_Cob...

    Sorry anand looks like palm is dropping OS X support with OS 6.
  • Brazuca - Thursday, February 12, 2004 - link

    Keep track of your crashes, required restarts, freezes, etc.

    Push the system to the limit. Abuse it. See if you can bring it down with heavy usage.

    I find that X is amazingly stable (Word crashes, but...). It is one of my favorite things about it, I can get work done instead of worrying about if the OS will crash when I try to print.
  • Tyler - Thursday, February 12, 2004 - link

    I read of this 30 day excursion from a NCSU based messageboard (which I'm sure Anand is familiar with) and being a VERY recent Mac user myself, I decided to come and check out the blog.

    I think that the PC->Mac process and quirks must be pretty similar because I found myself asking almost exactly the same questions I have been reading about here. Luckily most have been easily fixed (aka the Mouse tracking and scrolling).

    Unfortunately I am now completely on a Mac, as the IT department here has seen fit to take my PC (an aging Compaq P3 450) to be refitted and reinstalled with useful stuff. So here I sit on another aging piece of hardware, an Apple G3 Blue Tower which I installed OSX on (I told em I was going on strike if I had to use 9.2 any longer) and it is actually working out fairly well.

    I am actually VERY impressed how well OSX runs on this machine, especially with 1gb of ram and a few raided scsi drives. The graphical prettiness has been turned down a bit automatically, so I don't get some of that fluffy beauty that G4/G5 users get to experience, but this system is still amazingly useable.
  • MacAdam - Thursday, February 12, 2004 - link

    A couple of things to watch out for. There a few places that apps commonly leave files behind which will get missed by just trashing to uninstall (ex: application support files, prefs, .plist files, etc). For that reason I actually wish that more developers bundled a simple uninstaller with their applications people could use who want to cleanly remove things without hassle.

    As for BlackBerry support hopefully Apple will add that to iSync, but I'm not holding my breath. There's been no official PocketPC support on the platform so it's been left to third party commercial software for quite a while. Palm is now going that way as well since they've just officially dropped support for the platform (so no support for Palm OS Cobalt and beyond).

    As for a AnandTech Mac section, that would be wonderful. Reputable, well documented and thorough third benchmarks are near impossible to come by in the Mac Community so you'll be doing us a huge service.
  • cj - Thursday, February 12, 2004 - link


    Macs don't need no stinking www or .com, etc. =)

    Just type 'anandtech' and hit enter.

    That was such a big surprise to me when I switched to Mac 2 yrs ago.

    This stuff is the real brilliance of Apple stuff.
  • jasonsRX7 - Thursday, February 12, 2004 - link

    Another vote for Proteus. It's not free, and it's not open source, but it's still got the best interface and is way more functional than Adium (for services other than AIM anyway). Proteus has arguably the best interface of any instant messenger for any platform. I wish I could find one like it for Windows.

    If you just want to use AIM, then iChat is pretty slick, too. I'm looking forward to trying out the video chat with AIM users as soon as my iSight comes in.
  • Eug - Thursday, February 12, 2004 - link

    Anand, I'm probably repeating the obvious with most of my comment, but here goes...

    You already commented on the need for for video RAM. I agree, with two huge Cinema Displays (*drool*) and a bazillion windows open, 64 MB is likely insufficient.

    However, it sounds like you really need more system RAM as well. For what you do 1 GB is really pushing it. Add another 1 GB (or even better yet another 2 GB) and you'll be happier.

    It will be interesting once you start using Exposé more with Photoshop. As you know, OS X treats every window separately. Exposé would not work nearly so well, if Mac OS X used the Windows XP model. In Photoshop for Windows, all open pictures open within the app. An Exposé'd desktop with Photoshop using the Windows model for Photoshop would be useless, since all photos would remain in Photoshop. OTOH, open 20 photos in Photoshop for Mac OS X, and every one of them will be treated separately for Exposé.

    Oh and the 2.6 GHz now and 3.0 GHz by summer rumours seem rather optimistic. Judging by the rumour mill out there, one would hope for 2.4-2.5 GHz soon, and 3.0 GHz likely significantly later (Q4?). But who knows... ;)
  • ViRGE - Thursday, February 12, 2004 - link

    Just a quick FYI about Mail's spam filter: it learns as time goes on. If you let it sit in training mode long enough to get a good grip on everything, Mail has one of the best spam filters on hand; you just have to teach it.
  • thePurpleGiant - Thursday, February 12, 2004 - link

    One more vote for Proteus. Very, very nice interface and extremely easy to setup.

    Unfortunately I find it a little buggy sometimes, but I find it much more polished and user-friendly than Fire or Adium.
  • Adam - Thursday, February 12, 2004 - link

    Another issue folks have with Apples is cross platform compatibility. Not many people even know that you can transfer Microsoft Office files between PC's and Mac's simply by renaming the file.
    For example, let's presume that you create a MS Word document on your Macintosh, and want to open it on your PC. You simply send the document to the PC via email and then add the appropriate filename extension to the Word document: .doc, as voila, your document will open.

    The same applies to every other MS office file.

    The only problem is sometimes symbols and fonts won't transfer perfectly; but that is easy to fix.

    :)
  • Josh Bryant - Thursday, February 12, 2004 - link

    hahahahahahahahahaha, I find it soooo funny that you spent forever looking for the short cut in Safari. Just return will do. Oh, and if you are using a domain with .org, .net. and .ca or whatever, just type the address plus the suffix and it will also fill in the rest for you after return.

    Sounds like you are discovering it well but you need to stop listening to whoever is sending you advice. Fire? Who the hell recommended that? You have to be kidding me. Try proteus. And I am guessing that you need all the other clients but if you could just use AOL, iChat is amazing. Especially with the menu extra, it totally eliminates the need of a buddy list.
  • Adam - Thursday, February 12, 2004 - link

    I really like this Anand. I think that your openmindedness may help to bridge the gap between the "I only use PC's" people and the "I only use Mac's" arrogance. The simple truth: both platforms have their advantages and disadvantages.

    At this point, unfortunately, the Macintosh operating system is hardly configurable to my liking. With Windows we have a much greater ability to strip down the OS than the Mac OS. The BIOS is, too, extremely limited.

    It leaves me to imagine what kind of performance increases we would see by lowering CAS latency, increasing the front side bus, or overclocking the processor. Hopefully you will help bring along these much needed advances that would draw the enthusiast community to experiment more with Mac hardware.
  • MacDuff - Thursday, February 12, 2004 - link

    Oh, and BTW you may know of this site, already, but http://www.barefeats.com is a site dedicated to testing Macs -- as well as some Mac vs PC benches. Also, http://www.macsurfer.com is THE BEST way to keep current on Mac events and news.
  • MacDuff - Thursday, February 12, 2004 - link

    I used to use proteus, as I liked the UI better than Fire. I haven't used it for a while, due to an issue with Yahoo at the time, and a weird floating window redraw bug. But maybe it's time to go back.

    I am thoroughly impressed with the positive and adventurous attitude you have during this "experiment"! Kudos for moving beyond your traditional beliefs and diving in! :)
  • DeviousRhesus - Thursday, February 12, 2004 - link

    If you create a Macintosh review section for your site, I would forever worship you. Your methodology in testing PC components has always been top notch, and the lack of that kind of insight has made living in Mac world tough for PC enthusiast converts. Please, please, please review hardware for us! Maybe even complete new Apple systems as they're released? Something in the way of [i]sane[/i] reviews, PLEASE!

    Forever your humble servant,
    The Immortal Primate
  • Erikveland.com - Thursday, February 12, 2004 - link

    Proteus is definitly THE multi-client for OS X. Fire is a piece of crap UI-wise. Configure Proteus with different shades and transparency levels of aqua-blues and it'll blend into your desktop like...well...butter.
  • Alex - Thursday, February 12, 2004 - link

    Another vote for proteus. You can find it here: http://indigofield.com/
  • Anonymous - Thursday, February 12, 2004 - link

    Have you tried Proteus as your Trillian replacement? Trillian was my client of choice on win32, and I've found Proteus to be a suitable replacement. It's actually got some neat features that Trillian doesn't (or at least, didn't the last time I used it).
  • Lucian - Thursday, February 12, 2004 - link

    All the keyboard shortcuts you needed to know:

    http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=754...

    I knew that link would come in handy some day. =)
  • Ken - Thursday, February 12, 2004 - link

    Regarding keyboard functionality for OS X, you might want to play around in System Preferences -> Keyboard & Mouse -> Keyboard Shortcuts. While the key shortcuts you can change/create require a menu choice to hook to, it's a very handy way to modify (either system wide or on a per-application basis) the keystrokes that activate certain functions.

    Fun Tip of the Day: if you need something to play with for no particular reason, try Image Capture. Plug in a digital camera or scanner and share it through Rendezvous on your local subnet, or over the internet. Free web cam software that generates its own web page! If your camera is new enough, you can even snap pictures with it over the web interface, or set it for time lapsed pictures that dump to system memory without using up your card, with no drivers or extra software required.
  • Anonymous - Thursday, February 12, 2004 - link

    There was something about the Mail junk filter that required you to actually empty the apps 'trash' folder in order to update the filter rules or something... maybe it was in an older version?

    For productivity, check out the little Calculator, btw. You can do currency and unit conversions from the menu, you can display a paper tape and change the values _in_ the tape for alternate totals and you can even activate hidden plug-ins for graphing...

    Or how you can float Stickies notes on top of all apps for note taking (just drag text or images in or copy/paste)

  • Brent S - Thursday, February 12, 2004 - link

    Discovered your blog yesterday and I am actually riveted by your Mac experience so far. Anandtech used to be my mecca back in my PC days, but then I got an iBook and became an Apple Paladin ;)

    As far as instant messenging clients go, Adium is the way to go for now. You need to use the LIBGAIM version of AIM, as it is the most up to date protocol and the focus of development. Using this, you definitely get away message viewing through context menus, and you get some basic file transfer ability (receive sans-UI). Also, its logging features are downright awesome. Take a look under its advanced configuration panel and you'll find that there is plenty of tweaking to be had. It is both an end-luser and power user app.

    One hint to finish it off. cmd-, is the Apple mandated standard for the Preferences of any given app. Most apps adhere to this.
  • Lucian - Thursday, February 12, 2004 - link

    Mac hardware section at AnandTech? Where do I send my resumé? =)
  • Michael2k - Thursday, February 12, 2004 - link

    Oh, another thing about ram usage; OS X believes free ram is wasted ram, so as it goes along it will try to cache and fill up every single byte of ram possible... Which is smart, when you think that idle CPU and idle ram are wasted resources : )
  • Michael2k - Thursday, February 12, 2004 - link

    OMG, I didn't know that!

    Of course I've just used autocomplete; type three letters and tab and enter.

    You might also find your system will speed up dramatically with more ram. My PowerMac won't boot with PC ram, but if I leave in the original ram, and then populate the other slots with PC ram, it works fine (at least stable *enough*). Do you think the same is true of the G5? You have 4 more open slots, have you tried throwing in the OCZ ram?
  • David Smith - Thursday, February 12, 2004 - link

    Safari (and Camino and Omniweb, I think) will automatically will in www and .com if you try to load just the center part of the address.
  • Jesse Thompson - Thursday, February 12, 2004 - link

    In response to Safari's auto-complete. If you just type in anandtech without the www. or .com and hit return, Safari will add the www. and .com for you.
    jesse ;-)
  • lookmark - Thursday, February 12, 2004 - link

    It's always interesting reading about a new user's experiences to OS X, esp. nice detailed ones like yours.

    re: Safari - Safari autocompletes URLs from its History--if you've been to www.anandtech.com recently (and frequently), just start typing "ana..." and Safari will fill in the rest, and just hit Return.

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