MacBook: Who is using one. Pros - Cons ??
I have a 2013 one I bought second hand (9 months old).
Pros: I turn it on and it works.
Cons: $$.
The only expense has been a new charge cord and I bumped up the ram 4 years ago.
We bought a basic Apple Macbook in 2000 that is no being used by my 7 year old grandson for games. BUT he is starting to complain its too slow.
With in a year of the mac book every computer in our system was Apple. 7 Macbook Pros and 5 IMac 21" pros.
Con was singular;
Initial HARDWARE acquisition cost was 26% higher based on the quoted price from the dealers I dealt with for equal/comparable product at the time.
Learning curve was steep but short!
Pro;
The windows based sytems had a secondary quote attached to the hardware quote for SOFTWARE and Licencing/renewal. That pushed initial acquisition costs to just a bit over 50% higher on the Windows systems AND the annual licence fees were some what less BUT perpetual for as long as you run the software. I already owned licence for the software I was using and was subject to renewals already but need additional new suites for the 4 newly deployed systems.
Software included on the Apple product!
When you turn it on, it works 999 times out of a 1000!
4 of those lap tops were still running and all the Imacs were all running when we traded up 4 years ago.
NO software renewal fees for 20 years adds up. AND annual hardware costs dropped drastically. We've only done 1 complete system update in 2016 where we were rotating at least a 1/3 of the system every year prior to moving to Apple.
Support requirement dropped to almost NIL. Hacking issues, viruses etc etc pretty much non existent. So much so that you don't even think about it really.
Over all it cut our annual computer budget by very well over 50%.
ALL 3 of our servers are now Apple. 1 Is 5 years old and 2 are 2 years old. The data robot bank is over 1000 terabytes, so the servers got their work cut out for them and we (Son now) can't afford for them to go offline.
This is my fourth MacBook. They do cost a little more upfront but they mostly have no problems. The OS is functional and things have appropriate names and hierarchies.
I only had one windows machine in the late '90s and absolutely hated it. There was no logic to the OS and it was generally full of bugs and creepy-crawlies !
I run an ad and tracker blocker which is free ( Ghostery ) and I pay for an email server that gets rid of most junk mail. There is peace in my little computer world ;D
I've been running PC's for 20 years, never been hacked, no virus issues. I run Firefox with Ghostery, Noscript, Adblocker, and FBPurity add-ons which keep all the crap away. ;D Never had a hard drive failure, never had any of the Laptops fail, the older ones got slow as program bloat gets bigger. ;D I do hate that windows changes little subtle things all the time, like the search feature to find a program. You have to use Corona now, which I seen no point in except some HA collecting data. No idea yet what searching for say 'Powershell' is going to tell them, other than the obvious. I wonder how many $$ that is worth these days? :D
MacBooks only excel if you like:
1. Instant startups from idle.
2. Seamless operation. All programs run and must be certified by Apple as being reliable. No crashes.
3. Complete connectivity between all Apple devices, easily and instantly.
4. No glitchy programs.
5. Complete network functionality-no drop outs.
6. iCloud coverage behind the scenes.
7. Behind the scenes automatic and intelligent backup (I've lost enough data with Windows machines that backups are crucial.) MacBooks back up behind the scenes and I've never lost data.
8. Migration of software that's backward compatible, not causing lost data or forcing fixes.
9. Virus protection is not an issues, nor the ridiculously lengthy anti virus scans of Windows machines.
10. Macs come with everything needed, add ons are not required.
In my other job, for 32 years I ran Windows machines, of various manufactures. At home I'd run Macs, and be so frustrated when I had to go back to work and deal with the idiosyncrasy of Windows.
They are more expensive, but they are better machines.
I've lost data on Windows machines, I've had unrecoverable crashes, and had my email hacked on Windows machines. I've never had that happen on Macs.
I use a MacBook Pro.
Do you use iMovie for your videos?
I've been doing some stuff with iMovie on my phone but its way to small to be comfortable. Thinking about a Ipad Pro or a MacBook just so I can use that app.
I am tired of Again.....again. 'Nother New Laptop (https://forestryforum.com/board/index.php?topic=101524.msg1578574#msg1578574)
I ordered this today: LINK (https://www.apple.com/shop/buy-mac/macbook-air/space-gray-apple-m1-chip-with-8%E2%80%91core-cpu-and-7%E2%80%91core-gpu-256gb?part=MGN63LL/A)
iMovie comes with Mac and is one of the the easiest and most intuitive video editors to use. I've made videos with it, and even though its free, it's better than 90% of the video editors out there.
I also use the other Mac product, Final Cut Pro, which is a professional video editor.
Avoid MacBook models with the butterfly keyboard and you should get a fine machine. The Touchbar gets mixed reviews.
Most models are difficult to upgrade components like RAM and storage. Get what you need at purchase, max RAM available for the model under consideration is suggested.
The Apple ecosystem plays nicely with Apple products (iPhone, Apple TV) less so with outside vendors. For example, if you have to type text on an Apple TV it can automatically Handoff text entry to an iPhone or iPad.
Siri is good at limited tasks, and works best with Apple's default apps.
The new Apple M1 macs are receiving positive reviews.
Quote from: clearcut on December 19, 2020, 11:00:13 PMMost models are difficult to upgrade components like RAM and storage.
Actually impossible as the RAM and SSD storage are soldered to the system board. Not removable, and no expansion slots. If the RAM or SSD go bad, the machine is toast.
Having said that, they work pretty well, especially if you have an Apple "ecosystem".
It's just their lack of serviceability and some questionable design issues puts me off them. I like to tinker with old computers, fix them up, upgrade them etc. Basically impossible in the Apple system.
Dumpster dive some old i3 boxes, throw in a recycled Xeon CPU from China, a new SSD, max out the RAM, fit a 2nd hand GPU and you have a pretty sweet Linux box for about $100 ;D
Quote from: YellowHammer on December 19, 2020, 08:56:26 PM
I've lost data on Windows machines, I've had unrecoverable crashes, and had my email hacked on Windows machines. I've never had that happen on Macs.
As I said earlier, I've not experienced any of those issues on my Toshiba laptops. But I used to run PowerMacs at work, and those crashed all the time. When you seen the spinning disk, you was going down. :D And the Classics always crashed with removeable media, they locked up. When I wrote my undergrad thesis the prof insisted on me using a Mac SE to write it and the Stats software on the data processing. After awhile and so many crashes he let me do my writing on a non-Mac machine. :D :D
I run robust programs and none of those have ever crashed.
Right now some hand weavers are having a heck of time with the latest Apple OS. It does not like the drivers to run compudobby looms. And it is not a software issue, definitely the OS. This software (I know of at least 2 different programs than run on Mac) is updated regularly and not flaky at all on previous versions nor does it screw up on Windows 10 or previous versions back to XP.
I regularly run a GIS and GPS software, never had issues. Office 2013 has always worked great, I use Excel more than any of the rest. Photoshop is also solid.
They finally fixed the new Facebook so it doesn't lag when typing or crash when uploading a file. Bad code, not the browser.
I have been Mac-A-ttacked!! :P Will it be a good move or a $1K mistake, time will tell?? smiley_dizzy
I hope it's something simple because they are machines that only 'authorized' service centres do work on, except a few service people know where to order the parts and fix them when the warranty is gone. For far less.
Quote from: Magicman on January 14, 2021, 08:46:16 AM
I have been Mac-A-ttacked!! :P Will it be a good move or a $1K mistake, time will tell?? smiley_dizzy
It is one attack you will realize was not an attack at all and you will wonder whay you resisted so long. It is very probable that you will still be using it in 10 years.
This MacBook Air is the same except different. smiley_dizzy There are some features that I really like and others (photos) that I am still unsure of. I have downloaded some pictures and uploaded/posted them but I have not gotten comfortable with the resizing app yet.
A Grandson plans to come later this week and tutor both Marty and myself. :P
I kept the "return box" beside my chair for a few days but yesterday I moved it to the closet. I have 30 days to return it. ::)
EDIT: I just downloaded Firefox. Wow, it just like coming back home..... :)
'Nother EDIT: All Bookmarks transported!! 8)
The proverbial "back in business" ? :D
We are a house divided. I do PC/andriod and my bride does Mac/iphone. There are some neat features to her Apple stuff but it does operate a bit different, at least to me.
Thankfully the PC Laptop did not die, just slow to boot up. Matter of fact I still have the fully operating "backup" PC Laptop, so I now have two spares. This Mac has a Word Processor and Spreadsheet, and I am hoping that my spreadsheet files will move without me having to "code up" a new one here. That or I can easily use the PC spreadsheets as they are.
I absolutely love this "Trackpad" and the boot up speed is phenomenal. :o We both have iPhones and PatD uses an iPad for her stuff.
Another EDIT: I prefer to resize my photos (640X480) before uploading because the upload goes much faster. With the PC, I could resize and upload several photos at the time because there is a checkbox in the top left corner. I can not find a checkbox with the Mac, so each task has to be done individually. I have learned how to do it, but it really slows down my picture posting. :-X
And maybe the last EDIT: I already had/have an "Image Resize" App on my phone so my dilemma is solved. :) I believe that this was my last hurdle to overcome before making a final decision. ;D
Using Finder, select the images you wish to resize.
Open or Open With Preview (Mac OS's default image viewer – a useful tool for images and PDFs)
Edit / Select ALL
Tools / Adjust Size (select appropriate options)
OK
I'm not a huge fan of Numbers nor Pages. I prefer Google Docs and Sheets as I can use Windows or a Chromebook to edit on the go. Office and LibreOffice run the same as on Windows.
Sidecar (Mac OS) allows you to use a newer iPad as second touchscreen.
Office was was originally designed for Macs, and are easily available. So you can still use Word, Excel, etc.
Just buy Office for Mac.
I use mainly Excel these days, and not just number crunching. Use it in design by making use of cell formatting and color. I have used Access quite extensively and wrote two database programs for it, one for tracking wood trucking and another for timber cruise data. I've used Word a lot in the past, but I'm not writing reports much these days, although occasionally use it to document how I did a certain task, sometimes a one of thing that I might forget in 2 years.
That's all for now. ;D
Don't forget about Airdrop on your Mac, where you can transfer pictures and video effortlessly to each machine, as well as iCloud, which allows you to access them over any and every IOS device you have automatically. Take a picture with your phone, plug in j. To charge for the evening, sit down with the Mac, and everything is there at your fingertips.
I also love that my IPhone and Mac are always connected when within range, so when my phone rings, I simply answer it on my Mac.
Selecting multiple pictures on a MacBook air:
1) open photos
2) hold down command key for the duration
3)use the trackpad to 'hover' over photo
4) click trackpad to select photo
5)Remembering to hold down the command key, move cursor to next pic, click trackpad, etc
Thank You, I needed that. :P
I still am not doing well with Preview although I have resized a few pictures.
EDIT: Yeah, I resized and uploaded multiple photos!! Your "command" tip did it. smiley_thumbsup
You are quite welcome, Magic Man.
David Pogue I believe is the gentleman's name. I think he has a series called "the missing manual" for Macs. Phenomenal resource.
"Thank you (God) I needed that"... Was how I was exposed to Mac products through my little sister whom I house/pet set for 2 years to the day in Richmond Virginia.
I can't say it enough. It is I who wish to thank you, and many others, present or not, for this vast cornucopia of knowledge and effort.
Willy
Thank you Sir, ordered. :P
A Grandson is coming this week which will be helpful, but I have already done all of the day-to-day stuff.
It's funny when the first home computers were on the market, the motherboard schematic and the programming manual was included. Now it's a secret, unless you go digging. ;D
My son convinced me 7 years ago this month to buy this mac, still runs, battery is still good, i have problems with photo's but that is just me. I am not fussy on everything costs on a mac, but no virus, no worries, it just works, along with my phone. My GF has a mac 14 years old, leaves it plugged in and she still uses it for her old editing programs she likes.
As far as bootup time on PC's, you can have instant on if you just power up and down with the power button. You don't need to do a deep cycle shutdown or restart every time you use your PC. You'd only need that when updating. Mine comes right back up and ready to go in less than 2 seconds. :D
The Grandson came and I learned a few nice shortcuts. :P Now if I can remember them.... ::)
@Magicman (https://forestryforum.com/board/index.php?action=profile;u=10011) I know how you feel!
There is no question that I am keeping the Macbook Air. The Trackpad, Bootup speed, Battery life, Battery recharge time, Physical size/weight, etc. are all deal makers. Firefox is transparent with what I was already accustomed to.
I can easily resize my photos on my iPhone "Image Size" app and quickly upload them thus avoiding the, to me, cumbersome and multi-step "Preview" app on the Mac. I have always had the phone's Image Size app, just never used it. Recent photos are automatically transferred to and viewed in the Mac and I choose which or whether to actually upload them.
If/when I get a text or phone call I get a notifier like I do here on the FF. I can then respond to either on the Mac if I desire.
Not trying to convince anyone, just stating my thoughts (so far).
The interoperability of apple devices is nice. They function together really well and just seem to work the way you want without jumping through hoops. I'm on pc for desktop and laptop but my ipad and iphone work together very well and I appreciate the synergy. I especially like how text messages show up on both devices. Do they show up your laptop too?
Maybe someday I'll move to apple for the desktop but no real reason to at this point.
Good report MM. I'm glad your new laptop is working out for you.
I don't recall ever having to resize photos when uploading them from the apple Photos app. It must resize them automatically because my photos are usually 17 to 26 MB.
After I have opened the FF photo upload page I open the Apple Photo App and select the photo(s) I want to up load and drag and drop to the "Or drop photos here" box and let the computer do the rest.
To select more than one photo in a row hold down the shift key and click with track pad on the first and last photo that you want to move the release the shift key.
To select more than one photo that is not in a row hold down the command key and click with the track pad the photos you want to move then release the command key.
Then you can click (and hold down) on any of the selected photos and drag and drop all of them to the "Or drop phots here) box.
This photo of a deer trimming the vegetation around the flower garden at my back door was 25.2 MB, (select, drag, drop) no resizing was required.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/18975/_DSC4912.jpg?easyrotate_cache=1611340537)
Thank Jeff for that, not Apple. Give credit where it is due. :D Windows can do much the same as Apple. I have programs that I need to use that are not available on Mac computers. I just don't have any issues with the hardware or functionality and I get done what I have to get done. ;D
This one was 3.4 MB
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/11009/003.JPG)
Quote from: SwampDonkey on January 22, 2021, 02:33:14 PMThank Jeff for that, not Apple. Give credit where it is due.
smiley_thumbsup
I know little about the inner workings of computers, software and websites.
I once compared my usage of a computer to a circular saw to a bunch of extreme computer enthusiasts the look on their face was priceless, I had to explain my comment to them " if I turn it on I want it to work". ;D
Yes, the FF software can/will automatically resize your photos when uploading them to your Gallery. My situation is that I have relatively slow internet service and I have found that if I resize them they will upload really fast. If I do not it's like watching paint dry. There really is not a great difference between this Mac and a PC and I am aware about using the Command key to select multiple photos.
I had no problem with getting another PC except that I have had several bad experiences with several bad PC's and had grown weary. :-X I probably could have spent the same $$ and gotten another PC and been OK.
I did not make my final decision whether to keep or return this Mac until last evening.
My son just told me that the little black Macbook the Grandson was using for games that we bought in 99 died this week so he bought his wife a new MacBook Air fully maxed out and passed the 4 year old 15" MacBook Pro that she was using to the Grandson. He's pretty pumped over it as in; " Grandpa, I can play ALL the games now and it's so fast!"
He started on an IPad at 16 months and he can do more with Grandma's Iphone than Grandma can.
Also has an IPhone 7 that is very tightly tethered to his Dads phone and has no sim card in it at this point.
I couldn't get my version of EXCEL files to transfer so I closed out last years spreadsheets on the PC. I then built all of my formulas in my new Mac "Numbers" spreadsheet files for this year. It's a bit different but the principal and formulation is the same so I am up and running. Printing them is much easier.
I am loving this "jet fast" speed.
This is just an update on the MacBook. I have been using it for 4 months and everything that I said in Reply #32 above still applies. Without question I absolutely love this thing.
Yes, I am handling pictures differently now but even that is much faster and more convenient. "Pages" and "Numbers" are serving me very well as my word processor and spreadsheets. A bit differently but overall the same.
No, I am not suggesting that everyone nor anyone dash out and buy a Mac but for me, switching was a good decision.
smiley_thumbsup smiley_thumbsup smiley_thumbsup
Very glad to hear that MM. Macs rule. They just work, and work fast.
Don't forget about Macs being much more virus proof than PC's. My Mother just got mega hacked on her not too old Windows PC. The thieves blew right through Windows Defender, dropped all her firewalls, stole some bank stuff, personal identity, and then proceeded to use that information to attack every single bank account she has. Police reports were filed, banks accounts were changed, this was a total mess, taking weeks to clean up.
We locked things down, I got the PC back to clean it up, and after just a few hours of working with it, I was reminded how cumbersome it was. It was like going back to a vehicle without power steering and power brakes.
Anyway, we talked her into getting a new MacBook Pro, which wasn't hard when she realized that our whole family with quite a large diversity of occupations including dentists, engineers, business managers, nurses, etc had switched to Macs years ago. The first few days were not easy for her getting up on the learning curve, but as she said, it was more learning how to skip steps than relearning new ones. She said instead of doing A, B, C, D, E, F, and D like she did with a PC, instead, with a Mac she started at A, skipped all the steps in between and and went directly to step D.
She likes the Mac so much, she switched to an iPhone, and loves that, also, because the Apple interfaces are so similar. She is 81 yers old.
Glad you're having great luck on your Mac. smiley_thumbsup
But, I re-iterate as I said before, I have no issues with Toshiba laptops. They work and do what I need to do. :) Now rebranded as Dynabook, I will certainly buy one without hesitation when the time comes. Had the current one 8 years now without fail. ;)
I am chasing one gremlin that may or may not be me. Occasionally while typing a reply my text jumps to random places within the previously typed text. I am not convinced that the trackpad is causing it because I have disabled the "touch" option and have to actually "click" the touchpad to move the curser. I am also careful to not touch the trackpad while typing.
Maybe someone has an answer for me?
If it were me, I'd get a mouse and stop using the trackpad. Trackpads are problematic for me. The problem is likely from inadvertent finger or hand contact with the trackpad. Just a guess coupled with my personal trackpad difficulties. It would at least be helpful to try a mouse while you're trying to figure it out. Bluetooth probably the best mouse option.
This has been an ongoing problem that is annoying at times (Reply #43 above) when my cursor jumps to somewhere other than where I am typing. While doing some searching tonight I found an APP called "False Tap Stop" that may prevent this jumping. $2.99 which would be a small price to to pay if it works. Anyway, I downloaded the APP and so far while typing this, nothing bad has happened and the cursor has stayed where it belongs and has not jumped to somewhere else on the screen. OK, I'm being long winded and trying to create a long post like some of our members, but I normally do not have that much to say. Heck, I have already typed more than I know.
I don't know where/when/how the $2.99 gets paid. Maybe it will be added to my iPhone account like when I buy an App for it, but how does it know? The iPhone APPS are certainly different from this MacBook APPS. I pay a phone bill but I don't have a MacBook bill. ???
Yup, I could just delete and abandon this reply, but someone else might be experiencing this same problem and this could help them. I'll see how it goes and come back here and post the results; either good or bad.
I typed all of the above which set a record typing text without a hiccup, sooo maybe.
That's usually a problem on any laptop with a touch pad, if you hit the pad with a thumb or something the cursor moves to the pointer. Isn't there a touchpad on/off toggle key to silence the touch pad when typing? The pad sometimes has a LED come on when silenced.
My situation is that I have "Tap" disabled on the Trackpad. I have always used Click instead of Tap. Apparently at times the Trackpad sees a random touch as a tap and sends the cursor to some odd place and if you are not watching the screen, your text is inserted at that random odd place. This would not only happen when typing replies here and other forums, but when typing in the word processor.
Maybe I finally Googled the correct question and was sent to "IFIXIT" where many users were complaining and looking for the answer to: Cursor jumping randomly when typing. Yup that is exactly what was happening with me and after reading several pages of responses, I downloaded the APP "False Tap Stop" which hopefully will correct my situation.
I typed the above without any issue. :)
I am back to the drawing board because the APP disappeared....I think. :-X
I am back to the drawing board because I was typing a reply, just random stuff, typing this to create a long reply and it jumped again. Thankfully I deleted the reply before I accidentally hit the post button. Heck it has jumped twice imes three t four times while typing this. The previous is what is happening.
I have discovered a new word; mishit. I was typing about making a mistake and hitting the wrong key and had to Google to see if it was a correct word. It's all in the pronunciation: mĭs-hĭt′ I actually think that what it looks like is more correct about how I feel.
Anyway, "False Tap Stop" didn't fix anything or either I have not correctly applied it. I did restart and even did a hard shutdown/reboot
.
That is weird, you'd think they'd have that behaviour solved with $$billions of dollars behind their name. On my laptop, I'd have to tap it twice in rapid succession to move the cursor, once for the click bar.
Lynn hope you get your problem solved
Started in the 80s with a cpm machine and no knowledge of how to run the darned thing and it drove me crazy.
Got along for a while then upgraded to an msdos for a few years.
Heard good things about apple so bought an apple IMAC g5 machine. nothing but trouble right out of the box.
Keyboard went within the first month and a tech was sent and replaced it, next the main board went and I had to make an appointment with a so called mac genius to get it looked at.
Took a few weeks to get this taken care of.
after about 3 years of some other minor issues. the hard drive crashed and I lost EVERYTHING. apple store couldnt retrieve any of it.
My final move with this machine was like the old cartoon hit any key with a guy wielding a sledge hammer.
I literally smashed the thing which was very satisfying.
I know lots of folks have good luck with apple stuff, but this experience was similar to my Ford experience in the early to mid 90s with an explorer and a f100
all pcs here now, and android phone, but wife is an iphone user.
Im still somewhat of a Luddite with electronic stuff
end of rant.
One of the misconceptions about virus software is that one solution works. Sometimes two or three don't work. There are viruses, trojans, sniffers, root kits and other stuff. I have a whole gamut of software that I have collected that looks for different things. Most are free in basic form. I have at least four different programs watching at all times. Malwarebytes is good base to start with.
A key component of any security software is one that examines all the browser files for issues. My PC scans a lot. I back up a lot.
As for Apple/Mac. Great products but I detest the proprietary lock down of the devices and the incredibly high prices. A thousand bucks for a phone? SMH.
The app disappeared? Maybe you should have paid for it! :D
If you can, disable the trackpad or simply remove the software driver for it.
This is not a virus situation.
The app didn't disappear, it was just lost, well from me anyway but I found it. I did get an invoice for the $2.99 today so I entered a sorta complaint so I can be refunded if the issue is not corrected. I don't mind 'playing the game'. I'll get Apple's technical support involved.
Why on earth would I even consider removing/disabling the trackpad ?? :o
You can change the trackpad's sensitivity under Apple preferences. I've never had a problem like that on any of the 5 Macbooks I've had and I'm a terrible, clumsy typer. I've also never had to change the trackpad sesitivity....
I have the sensitivity set to max. Actually touch is disabled and I have to click which is also set to max. Apple has issued a case number and given me some steps to take. I'll mess with it this afternoon.
This is more of a nuisance than anything because I do much more reading than I do typing. I first mentioned it a year ago and the sky hasn't fallen yet. The reason for this latest interest is that I was curious and did a search to see if others were experiencing the same issue.
No issues here with a 10 year old MacBook using touch.
I did have to change the battery recently, it still worked fine but had swelled up a bit and caused the click not to work well.(the battery is under the pad)
My thumbs apparently have a magnetic halo around them as anytime they get near a trackpad something happens. So I went with a USB mouse and disabled the trackpad. Its better to have no movements messing things up than dealing with the inconvenience of a mouse.
I hated laptops with that cursor button in the middle of the keyboard. You was always flicking a key. :D I'm on laptop, and have been for over 20 years. I like a mouse a lot better than the pad. I never move the laptop from the desk unless the power is out. I take it to another room that uses generator power, and still use the mouse on a small table. ;D
Trust me, sometimes I am doing some fine detailed mouse dragging that would be a complete mess up using a pad. It's fine for point and click, but when you have to draw/trace with it like a pencil, forget it. :D A stylus is probably better again, but I haven't a touch screen or pad for that, and doing fine.
I have no idea what fixed what but it appears to be fixed because I have not had an instance of the cursor jumping in about a week. Actually I am sorta hesitant to make a declaration.
I did download an App called False Tap Stop, even though I do not have Tap enabled. I made a complaint to Apple about the situation and also to the App editor. The MacBook did an update and restarted several times during the update. Of course I have deleted my History and Cache.
Before now, I would have had to chase the cursor more than once while typing a reply this long, so maybe.....
Many laptops now have touch screens, I have to remind my wife who likes to point at things on my screen. Points can be clicks, even without fully contacting.
JJ
Am I the only person on the forum that's not using Mac or Windows? When I was working it was an all Windows environment. We had a fairly large network spanning multiple buildings spread out over several miles on a one campus. We needed a backup system, NAS, and a network monitor system to alert us to outages before the users realized there was a problem. I turned to Linux. It's a free OS that runs on MAC or PC hardware replacing the original operating system. It's fast, stable and free to use and not prone to virus attacks. There are many different distributions of Linux. Each a little different from the other. I personally have always liked the Debian distribution or others based off of it.
If you have an old computer laying around that you don't use anymore because it's become too slow you might want to try loading it with Linux just to try it out. It installs out of the box with software most people will need. Usually Libre Office, Firefox and Thunderbird are installed by default or available to install through their software manager. There are still a few distributions for the older single core Pentium computers. The computer I'm using now is probably 10 years old. I use it every day and I'm very satisfied with it. I still have to support Windows for my family, But I don't intend to ever use it again.
After rereading this it kinda sounds like a commercial. Sorry about that. I've been using computers since way before there was a Windows or Apple operating system. I still believe that Linux is the way to go if you just want to get things done.
Quote from: RetiredTech on March 10, 2023, 08:02:03 PMAm I the only person on the forum that's not using Mac or Windows?
Nope, my "daily driver" is running Linux Mint. Most of our clients are of course running Windows desktops, but the back end mail and file servers we support generally run Suse Linux. I prefer Mint because it looks more like Windows, making swapping between the 2 systems easier. Like you say, you run can Libre Office / Chrome / GIMP etc that work exactly the same as the Windows version.
My machine is a franken-puter, with assorted salvage parts, and has 2 old Xeon CPUs from 2012. They aren't fast, but that's still 12 cores / 24 threads. I think the CPUs go for about $10 now, and a "new" Chinese system board (probably with salvaged server support chips), some 2nd hand ECC server RAM and a couple of cheap Snowman CPU coolers. Makes a good machine for a couple of hundred dollars.
Ditto on using Linux on older hardware. Especially if you upgrade the old box to a SSD and fit an extra stick of RAM. I do wonder if more folks will try it when Win 10 drops support in a couple of years, and leaves a HEAP of perfectly good PCs unsupported? I've got some "retired" 7 and 8 gen I5 machines here, perfectly good units, 8gb RAM and SSDs, but they don't officially support Win11. Fantastic Linux machines though. But you can run it on older hardware that would struggle with Win10, like an older Core 2 machine, but you will enjoy it more if it's got an SSD and the RAM maxed out. But hardware like that can be picked up for free, and a new SSD is maybe $30? So there is really no $ excuse not to have a play with it.
Home - Linux Mint (https://linuxmint.com/)
BTW, The Forum itself runs on a Linux box, along with 95% of the Internet.
Back in the day, Apple and Commodore both had a linux machine in limited markets. Both based on Motorola 68xxxx cpu's. The only Mac one I saw was at the university forestry department running ESRI's Arcview and ArcInfo, which was designed on Linux before it shifted to Windows. The more senior forestry faculty mostly ran Macs, the younger faculty had PC's. Commodore had the Amiga 3000UX but poor marketing. They figured you could put computers in Zellers and Kmart and they'd sell themselves. :D At the university book store they had them on display for sale, but they didn't have a clue what they were selling. If you asked questions, you likely did more research about them already then they ever did. :D It could run all system 6 or 7 software for the Mac as well, with Shape Shifter, but no Mac networking hardware. And could run PC 286 based software with the bridge card. It read Apple and PC disk formats with it's own hardware. We actually used TRS80's for spruce budworm modelling exercises. Not the most reliable computers. Brian Sergeant was always fixing the darn things. :D :D Finally PC's filled the room. :D When I took a mechanical engineering course, it was drafting, and we used CAD software some on an IBM XT, ran CADKEY. They were pricey PC's, but they were also built solid, great keyboards. I think pricing killed the IBM brand PC market share in time. Yet the data centers around here are IBM on the side of the buildings. McCain Foods has one near here, it's a global food processor. And IBM set up shop recently in the nearby city. I use Windows here because that's where all my softer is I need. Some of it isn't even written for Mac machines. I don't know of any GPS software out there for Linux. It has QGIS I think, but that isn't GPS. GPS software allows you to make your own custom map for your GPS and upload there in GPS format. A lot of software can upload a map, but it's GPX not GPS, GPX is a track, and not a custom map. There is a big difference. You can delete a GPX file in the GPS, but not a custom map. A custom map can be turned off/on. Software installs/deletes custom maps in order to work properly. There is no weave software for Linux either unless it's expensive industrial software costing thousands. Is there much for video editing?
Amiga OS was it's own special brew. It wasn't Linux based as it came out about 10 years before Linux.
It's one of the "Could have been" stories. Amiga machines were ahead of their time, compared to the other PCs in the late 80s. But they lost their way, and IBM compatibles won the race, with Mac coming in 2nd place, but still in the game.
I actually have an Amiga 2500 under my desk. I should see if it still works... If I remember right it's got 2.5mb of RAM and a 40 mb hard disk. Probably about the computing power of a modern toaster. :D
Meanwhile the last computer I bought has a 4 core CPU, 4 gb of RAM, and 32gb of storage. Runs off a USB wall wart and cost ~$100. It's also not much bigger than a credit credit card, and runs Linux just fine.
Modern equivalent of the old C64 computer might be this. Except it's running Linux on an ARM cpu, and is all open source. But it's about 1000X the compute power and storage...
https://www.raspberrypi.com/products/raspberry-pi-400-unit/
They had a unix/linux machine which was a full port of AT&T Unix System V Release 4 , the Amiga 3000UX had a 25 mhz 68030. The neat thing about the A3000 was you could boot to different OS's from a startup screen. The base model booted to just Amiga OS and had no Unix installed, but you can boot to 1.3 or 2.1, currently there is 3.5 but that needed a ROM and maybe one of the co-processors upgraded for video and it does have the chip slot for it. The reason for both is that V2.1 broke some older software and games. The A3000 was the only Amiga that didn't have flicker on the screen, it had a de-interlacer. I owned a none unix version in the day. I've had commodore machines for 40 years. :D The Amiga 3000UX or base model had the AmigaOS as well. I've got a A4000 with a 50 mhz 68040 and has 24 bit graphics with a 16.8M pallette. It's got 16 MB of fast ram and 4 MB of chip ram. I believe 4 MB of chip ram is the limit anyway. Back in the era, it blew other machines with the same CPU out of the water and it was multi-tasking, not just window flipping.
You can build a new C64's now based on the MOS 6502 and the SID chips. There is a board from evo64 and new cases are available. There are modern chips being made for the board. I think it's a bit spendy, but doable. :D
I owned several of the Commodore computers back in the day. The first the Vic20, the C64 and the last was the C128. I think I still have a c64 upstairs along with a Timex Sinclair. Those were fun days.
Back on the Linux side, I haven't bought a new computer for myself in many years. I have several single board computers running OMV for my home NAS boxes. An old Chromebox running linux to drive a couple ZFS drive arrays that run my backups. A couple old laptops sitting in a corner running Linux that watch a network share where I send my TV recordings to be re-encoded to mp4s. My wife's old laptop now running Debian serves as our Jellyfin media server. My upgrades for many years have been other peoples Windows machines they don't want repaired. You're right though, an SSD and maybe a little ram make excellent upgrades. Many times the old spinning hard drive is the problem to start with.
I'm glad I'm not alone sitting here surrounded by Linux. Windows made a good living for me, but I don't miss it in the least.
Quote from: Ianab on March 10, 2023, 09:07:51 PMNope, my "daily driver" is running Linux Mint.
I forgot to mention that the LMDE version of Linux Mint has matured into a pretty good system itself. Plus it's based straight off of Debian instead of Ubuntu. It used to break a lot when it was based on the bleeding edge Debian. Now they've dialed it back to the current stable version and it seems pretty solid.
This kinda turned into a chainsaw thread for techies, and I have no idea what y'all are talking about. :D