I've fallen in love with.... a Mac!
by Mike Stoddart · in General Discussion · 09/24/2002 (9:07 pm) · 34 replies
I was playing around with some new Macs in my local(ish) computer store. Ok, so I was in Futureshop, which if you know the store is not a good thing to admit.
Anyway, I'm a staunch Windows and Linux PC man. I've never owned a Mac, nor had the opportunity to use one.
I managed to spend a few minutes today fiddling with some new Macs running OSX. I know that I shouldn't form such an opinion based on such a short timeframe but I loved it! I really did; I thought the GUI was incredibly gorgeous and slick. It makes Windows look horrendously ugly and dull. The colour scheme was incredibly to look at and the icons just blew me away.
Performance was ok, but remember I wasn't really doing anything of interest on the machine. But still, I can't get over how many lightyears ahead of Windows (2k and XP) the GUI is. Where the OSX GUI was sleek and simple, the XP interface just seemed so overly complex.
I should point out that I spent the same amount of time playing with an XP based PC as I did the OSX maching.
Please don't treat this as the start of an argument as to which OS or GUI is best. I'm not starting a flame war; I'm just pointing out some very quick thoughts based on my first interaction with Microsoft's enemy.
My brother uses Macs in his job, and I'm extremely jealous right now!!
Anyway, I'm a staunch Windows and Linux PC man. I've never owned a Mac, nor had the opportunity to use one.
I managed to spend a few minutes today fiddling with some new Macs running OSX. I know that I shouldn't form such an opinion based on such a short timeframe but I loved it! I really did; I thought the GUI was incredibly gorgeous and slick. It makes Windows look horrendously ugly and dull. The colour scheme was incredibly to look at and the icons just blew me away.
Performance was ok, but remember I wasn't really doing anything of interest on the machine. But still, I can't get over how many lightyears ahead of Windows (2k and XP) the GUI is. Where the OSX GUI was sleek and simple, the XP interface just seemed so overly complex.
I should point out that I spent the same amount of time playing with an XP based PC as I did the OSX maching.
Please don't treat this as the start of an argument as to which OS or GUI is best. I'm not starting a flame war; I'm just pointing out some very quick thoughts based on my first interaction with Microsoft's enemy.
My brother uses Macs in his job, and I'm extremely jealous right now!!
#2
Now if I could just figure out why torque gives me such miserable framerates...
09/24/2002 (10:23 pm)
OSX is far and away the best development platform I've ever seen. It's got all the *ux tools if you want 'em, kickbutt free tools if you prefer a gui. And the only way I've been able to crash it is by attaching a gui debugger to the windowserver & pausing the thread. Pausing init works too...Now if I could just figure out why torque gives me such miserable framerates...
#5
09/25/2002 (12:55 am)
I didn't even know Texas Instruments made home computers. My first computers were Atari 600XL, Atari 800XL, and Commodore 64. I miss Atari BASIC. Back in my day, we had to type in our own games. If you were lucky you had a 3-2-1 Contact laying around with the code already written for you. T'weren't none of this double click nonsense! :) 
#7
Memorable moments... that was on one of my first machines, an Apple II+. My dad used to program games for a long-since defunct company, MicroFun, so I got to grow up in my younger years with that Apple, an Atari Computer (don't remember which one), a Commodore 64, and some form of IBM-Compatible (pre-Tandy).
Ah yes... those were the days! =)
(And for the record, after the announcment of Palladium, I've been looking into getting a conspiracy-free Mac. Very nice machines, can't wait to earn the pennies to buy myself one!)
09/25/2002 (3:20 am)
I remember adventure, but I don't know if it was the 'new' or 'old' one. My father was stuck in that game for years, until him and I sat down (I was around 6-9) and played it. He couldn't get past the dragon, and I suggested that he "choke dragon". My dad laughed, but typed it in anyway, and instantly stopped laughing when the screen filled with text.Memorable moments... that was on one of my first machines, an Apple II+. My dad used to program games for a long-since defunct company, MicroFun, so I got to grow up in my younger years with that Apple, an Atari Computer (don't remember which one), a Commodore 64, and some form of IBM-Compatible (pre-Tandy).
Ah yes... those were the days! =)
(And for the record, after the announcment of Palladium, I've been looking into getting a conspiracy-free Mac. Very nice machines, can't wait to earn the pennies to buy myself one!)
#8
But I do remember playing Adventure. That game rocked.
09/25/2002 (8:01 pm)
TI-994/A? Wow, that was my first machine, too. I was a little young to code, then...But I do remember playing Adventure. That game rocked.
#9
Well, that other machine was actually my first computer. Well, my dad's. He sold them for Xerox and I couldn't tell you how much they cost.. $5000? Somewhere in that range.
There was an extended version of Adventure by...umm... Steve Jackson, I think, for the TI. I'm talking about a much smaller (yet somehow very entertaining) one written in Perl or something on a CP/M operating system.
No hard drive. Monocrome text (not even CGA). Two 8 inch disk drives.. mmmm baby. lol
I gotta say though that nothing beats saving all your hard work to the TI-994/A's cassette tape only to find out it magically disappeared. ;-)
Eric
09/25/2002 (8:19 pm)
LOL!Well, that other machine was actually my first computer. Well, my dad's. He sold them for Xerox and I couldn't tell you how much they cost.. $5000? Somewhere in that range.
There was an extended version of Adventure by...umm... Steve Jackson, I think, for the TI. I'm talking about a much smaller (yet somehow very entertaining) one written in Perl or something on a CP/M operating system.
No hard drive. Monocrome text (not even CGA). Two 8 inch disk drives.. mmmm baby. lol
I gotta say though that nothing beats saving all your hard work to the TI-994/A's cassette tape only to find out it magically disappeared. ;-)
Eric
#10
Dang I loved that dog but there were times ... ;)
- Melv.
09/25/2002 (10:56 pm)
Apart from writing a boulder-dash game in Z80 assembly on a ZX-Spectrum over a period of two months (mostly through the night) and to be a few days from completing your hand-crafted manually-linked chunk of code and have your dog find the cassette appetising enough to chew it up and render your hard work useless (and a slightly mauled "Complete Spectrum ROM Disassembly" book)!Dang I loved that dog but there were times ... ;)
- Melv.
#11
09/25/2002 (11:08 pm)
I guess I was lucky, I never had any such catastrophies. Well, once when I was still in single digit ages I thought I could "program" my Atari 2600 by drawing a picture on a piece of cardboard and shoving it into the cartridge slot. The Atari didn't like it to much, but it didn't break. I decided to give up "programming" for a while and created my own basketball "arcade" out of a shoebox and cardboard cutouts of people. I can't remember if that was before or after I began construction of the space station in my front yard. Man, I was a wierd kid!
#12
BLASPHEMY!!!! ;) jk
Hey Eric,
I used to have one of them TI994A's as well. I started programming on one of them (in basic LOL)
09/25/2002 (11:40 pm)
I have one thing to sayBLASPHEMY!!!! ;) jk
Hey Eric,
I used to have one of them TI994A's as well. I started programming on one of them (in basic LOL)
#13
09/26/2002 (4:46 am)
Melv, Eric, you guys sure put me in my place, I thought it was impressive that my first love was a packard bell with a pentium running under 100 mhz.... I mean... I have toasters with better processors than that!!!! ;)..... but ya, you guys just made me realize what a kid I am :(
#14
09/26/2002 (6:56 am)
I don't remember what the machine was, but my friend's dad had a computer of sorts at home, that had a text golf game on it. This must have been at least 19 to 20 years ago. Any ideas?
#15
09/26/2002 (7:41 am)
Mike: Sounds like maybe one of the old, slime-green screen-colored Radio Shack computers (the first machines on the market, if I'm not mistaken.) I seem to remember those having some sort of weird text-sports games... (My grandfather had one, but it's been so long it's all a fuzz of casette tapes and 9-inch monitors to me..)
#16
09/26/2002 (7:44 am)
Yeah it was probably Radio Shack, or Tandy as it was in the UK then. I loved that damned game! I spent hours at my friend's house playing it. They probably got sick of seeing me!
#17
My high school was quite proud when we got a room full of those.
@ Eric...lol... wait until we break out some Pong and Odyssey stories. ;-)
Eric
09/26/2002 (7:51 am)
TRS-80?My high school was quite proud when we got a room full of those.
@ Eric...lol... wait until we break out some Pong and Odyssey stories. ;-)
Eric
#18
09/26/2002 (7:59 am)
I think this particular machine pre-dated the TRS-80. I remember playing the TRS-80 later on though.
#19
09/26/2002 (8:01 am)
oh man, I dont even know what odyssey is..... my first game was Super Mario Brothers and Duckhunt, I think I got it for my 5th birthday ;)
#20
I was the envy of my block because I had two 5.25 inch floppy drives on it, so I could run two disk games without swapping.
Man, I used that thing right up until the 486 came out.
09/26/2002 (8:16 am)
I still remember my first program on my packard bell... I don't recall the model name, but is was equipped with one of those blazing fast 4.7 Mhz 8088 processors.I was the envy of my block because I had two 5.25 inch floppy drives on it, so I could run two disk games without swapping.
Man, I used that thing right up until the 486 came out.
Torque Owner John Garrison
Overall it is a great OS that I am sure will get better with Maturity. It does seem harder to keep a internet connection up that it should be with BSD as a backend, but again, 10.2 is supposed to fix that. I just don't really have $129 to throw at it right now.