My issue with OSX as desktop unix is probably a leftover from my love of linux - there appears to be a dearth of open applications readily available for it, and I'm not thrilled with its package management. Yes, there is MacPorts - but its ugly (this was a year or more ago, now - perhaps it's better these days). There are probably a few other efforts out there that are similar - but nothing I've seen to match apt-get or Yum, in terms of simple package management and overall ease of application management. I lost my love for watching applications compile some time ago, but I haven't lost interest in running some standard applications on my desktop. My memories if installing a standard AMP-suite, plus a few things like memcached, etc, for some testing locally ... are not fond.<div>
<br></div><div>Sadly (perhaps? my wallet doesn't think so) I'm happier with a solid desktop linux distro, and a good wine-descendant, like crossover. My needs include the ability to play games, good virtualization (vmware server 2 seems pretty solid - I like it better than parallels for many tasks - except perhaps running windows integrated with the unix desktop), and lots of applications support. Having things in more traditional locations, and having an environment that's comfy because its what I work with, are both nice pluses.</div>
<div><br></div><div>*shrug* thats me.</div><div><br>-Silas.</div><div><br><div class="gmail_quote"><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex;">
________________________________<br>
From: Nate Duehr <<a href="mailto:nate@natetech.com">nate@natetech.com</a>><br>
To: CLUE talk <<a href="mailto:clue-talk@cluedenver.org">clue-talk@cluedenver.org</a>><br>
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2009 2:05:48 AM<br>
Subject: Re: [clue-talk] OT: Request to borrow Mac OS 10.5.X install disc<br>
<div><div></div><div class="h5"><br>
Do it. You'll want the mega-disk-space if you do any virtualization of<br>
other OS's. Also max out the RAM.<br>
<br>
Also invest in a similar sized external USB drive and point Time Machine<br>
at it.<br>
<br>
Automated backups are a wonderful thing, and an added bonus I didn't<br>
know until we bought my wife a new iMac a few months ago, is that Apples<br>
machine "migration" software is flawless... plugged the wife's Time<br>
Machine drive in, waited 30 minutes, and everything including all her<br>
applications was set up properly... on her new machine. It even copied<br>
the older versions of Apple apps onto the machine but was smart enough<br>
NOT to overwrite the new iLife suite's applications. Launched those,<br>
they properly imported the data from the older versions, and I went to<br>
bed early that night, after making sure I had a whole evening to<br>
dedicate to migrating her from one machine to another.<br>
<br>
It was so painless, I might just forget how to use tar. LOL!<br>
<br>
Sorry, I know it's a Linux list, but I just had to share. OSX is what<br>
desktop Unix SHOULD be. Sad maybe that it's not 100% open, but hell...<br>
if I can get things done and not screw around with it... I'm an awfully<br>
happy camper. A six-pack of Jolt and all-nighters just don't cut it for<br>
this "old guy" anymore, unless I'm building something interesting, or<br>
working on a presentation or something about something new/interesting.<br>
Rebuilding machines from bare metal is an utter waste of time, these<br>
days... unless I'm at work and getting paid for it. :-)<br>
<br>
Virtualization, machine images... all this new fun stuff makes life<br>
better. Still having a great time with computers, but not wasting so<br>
much of it fighting with the desktop... the Mac just "stays out of my<br>
way" most of the time, and does its job. Not the cheapest machines I<br>
ever bought, but worth it if you're past that stage where bare metal<br>
migration of Linux machines to new hardware is "interesting"...<br>
<br>
Nate<br>
--<br>
Nate Duehr<br>
<a href="mailto:nate@natetech.com">nate@natetech.com</a><br>
<br><br>
</div></div></blockquote></div><br></div>