# More computer problems. :(



## Ray Dunakin (Jan 6, 2008)

My DSL went out a few days ago, just got it fixed today (I hope). Unfortunately, my hardware died last night! The same one that crashed in June and had to be replaced. I'm running on the backup external drive for the moment but will probably have to take the computer into the shop and most likely will be several days, at best, before I get it back. Last time took a month!


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## Jerry Barnes (Jan 2, 2008)

Get a Mac Ray!


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## todd55whit (Jan 2, 2008)

Ray sorry to hear that. Good luck with the fix. 


Jerry How easy are the mac's? I have always had a pc, but with all the vista stuff and virus junk, next one might be a mac?


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## JEFF RUNGE (Jan 2, 2008)

Go to a mac store for a few hours and find out how to do EVERYTHING on it that you do now on your PC. Take a list or you will forget some things. Then decide if you can live with the compromises you have to make. For me is was easy, I was gaining way more then I was giving up. Only problem is now my wife wants one !!! And remember you can run windows and Leopard OS at the same time so you can toggle back and forth. but that requires some extra software called boot camp I think.


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## George Schreyer (Jan 16, 2009)

If you want to dual boot and run a Mac under Windows, the utility to set it up is called Boot Camp 

If you want to run Windows at the same time as the Mac OS, there are two apps that do it, Parallels and VM Ware Fusion.


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## Ray Dunakin (Jan 6, 2008)

Jerry, I _have_ a Mac! I've had nothing but Mac's since 1990. My G3 is probably 10 years old and still running strong. I use it for all my old software that runs under the old OS. Unfortunately I can't get online with it anymore. 

It's this new iMac that's giving me trouble. It's less than two years old.


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## SteveC (Jan 2, 2008)

Oops!

Maybe it's a good idea to look before leaping, eh.

Ray, sorry to hear about your problems with the computer, hopefully it won't take as long to repair, and you're back on-line doing your thing without further problems.


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## Jerry Barnes (Jan 2, 2008)

I got mine when I retired 5 1/2 hears ago, still going strong. I may update my OS someday, but holding off.


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

Ray, what kind of computer is it? I might have a few spares lying around here. 

Let me know, 

Greg


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## Ray Dunakin (Jan 6, 2008)

Greg, it's a 2.4 Ghz iMac 2600.


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

Sorry, no spare mac parts... 

I'm not rich enough to afford macs... 

Greg


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## ralphbrades (Jan 3, 2008)

I am a dyed in the wool Apple user... All the family computers are Apples. My wife is a convert from Windows. She found this on "The Guardian" web site, and we both enjoyed reading it -I hope you do too.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentis...ac-windows 


regards

ralph


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## Semper Vaporo (Jan 2, 2008)

Posted By ralphbrades on 29 Sep 2009 10:37 PM 
I am a dyed in the wool Apple user... All the family computers are Apples. My wife is a convert from Windows. She found this on "The Guardian" web site, and we both enjoyed reading it -I hope you do too.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentis...ac-windows 


regards

ralph 





I have to admit that I have not used a MAC since it came in that tall, all- in-one, square footprint case (that was parodied by the "Bloom County" comic strip that gave it legs so it could walk around) so I know little of nothing about the present version of the hardware or the operating system or the total experience of using one, now.

But if it is SOOOooo much better than Winders-arama then it must be some humdinger of a system. 

I have very little problem with my computer running Windows XP SP3. I have more problems with my TV locking up and not being able to make it change channels (I have to unplug it and plug it back in to regain control of any functions... including On/Off) and my washing machine is trickier to get from "Wash" to "Rinse" on my command when I need to get the tub emptied on my whim instead of letting it complete its cycle in its own good time. Most of the problems I do have with Winders is of my own doing by messing with things that I bet I would be messin' with on a MAC if I had one.

I do stress my computer a lot: running a dozen programs at the same time and having 2 to 4 dozen web pages open in tabs in Internet Explorer at times.

I do wonder though, and maybe one of you MAC users can advise me about this:

I am a computer programmer by trade. I have programmed big Mainframes (IBM 1401, 360, Collins 8500), Minicomputers (Collins 8311, HP-2100/21MX, Dec PDP-8, PDP-11) and microprocessors (Motorola 6800, MOSTEC 6502, INTEL 8080, 8086; Motorola 680x0, Intel 80x86). I have used many different computer languages (Machine code [i.e.: programming in ones and zeros or Octal/Hex], Assembly code [same as Machine code but using mnemonic words to describe the ones and zeros of the command instructions], and the so called "High Level" or "Compiled" languages (Fortran, COBOL, ATLAS, at least a dozen flavours of BASIC, Pascal, and a half dozen purturbations of "C" and many, many others) and I have created my own programming languages for specialized situations.

I really liked programming in some of the Assembly languages, (especially for the C-8311, 6800 and 6502). I never liked the Intel processors and Pascal and "C" are poor languages designed for idiots. I spent many, many of my latter years of employment becoming extremely proficient in Visual BASIC for Winders.

I still do enjoy writing some software in Visual BASIC. I have a program that I wrote for Windows 3.0 that I have kept enhancing and updating over the years such that I still use it (I know it works in Windows Vista, too). The program is used by about a dozen people besides me.

I don't want to give that program up... I wrote it, it works the way I want it to, it does what I want, and that is that!

So, my question to you MAC "monks"... How hard would it be to move my most favourite program to the MAC? I doubt if the object code could just be "installed" and the program work. I know I would have to make some changes to my code because it reads/writes things from/to the Windows "Registry" and I have no idea what the MAC OS has that might be similar. I also make some graphics calls for screen displays that would probably have to altered to operate within the MAC environment. But is there a language similar to Visual BASIC available to do these alterations in? 

And an emphatic: NO! I will not ever use Pascal or any flavour of "C" ever again! And I really do not want to learn yet another language at this point in my life.

I also see no point in buying a MAC and then running a Windows Simulator on it... I have run simulators before (I have written them!) and I know they would be nearly as vulnerable to malware as running Winders on the real hardware... and would just be slower still.... so what is the point to gain the advantage of a MAC (whatever that advantage is for MAC programs) and then chuck the advantages and revert to a slower and supposedly more difficult OS just to run my program in the backgound whilst I do all the stuff I do now in the foreground.

Anybody know?



51.2.399


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## Joe Bartolini (Jan 2, 2008)

Jerry B
Do NOT upgrade the OS on that old computers of yours. You will just be asking for troubles. It is probaby underpowered for any of the newer OSes available now. Why screw up something that is working good enuff. When your current computer stop working go out and spend a few hundred for a new system. 


Joe


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## afinegan (Jan 2, 2008)

I use all flavors of operating systems on a daily basis. They are all good in there own way. 
Make sure the programs you want, can run on the system you are buying. That is the only basic rule I can see. 

Mac's can crash just as much as windows pc's, but since the hardware in a mac is more quality controlled and the software is specifically written for that hardware, they come across being more stable 
The mac osx operating system is considerably more polished than windows also. There are malware and virus for a mac, don't kid yourself, its just not as widely used as windows, and doesn't has as many gaping security holes that windows has. 


-=Complex Wizbang Lingo Zone=- 
As for programming on a mac: 
Mac OS X uses FreeBSD as a reference code base which is unix/linux. All new mac's come with intel processors nowdays. 

As for programming languages: 
Apple provides a customized/optimized GNU CC, with backends for C, C++, Objective-C and Objective-C++. 
For Java, two compilers are included: javac and IBM's jikes. 

Most of the world runs on code that is based on C. (and no, I am not just saying that) 

There is no registry in a mac program, you can copy most mac programs from computer to computer without any type of installer. The icon you see on a mac program is basically a folder that contains an xml based registry type file(with your program settings) and the compiled program itself. I am not a OSX guru, but this is what I have seen when hacking my dell mini 9 hackintosh  (which is running Snow Leopard 10.6.1 flawlessly atm, all hardware support hehe) 

IMO its a lot better to be designed in this way, no over bloated registry to deal with! 

Some more info on programming in OSX 

http://osxbook.com/book/bonus/ancie...mming.html


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