grantfinlay wrote:
> I didn't get a manual with my mac!
> Had only ever sent the odd email before but despite that managed to
> find my way around the controls with osx. found it easy actually..
> can't work my partners pc though!
> G.
Lately the manuals, such as they are, only occur in the help files. Or
pdf's. There is a distinct lack of troubleshooting info, I think because
of the attitude that this OS is so perfect it has no problems. The
reality is it's pretty light duty, when pushed hard it breaks.
OSX does not give that many problems with a limited set of software and
fairly simply configured off the shelf computer. Especially since new
macs arrive with the OS installed and almost no setup needed. But try
moving over 320 apps, and 6 Ultra 160 SCSI hard disks and 5 removable
drives to OSX. Even though I replaced about a third of the apps with OSX
versions, and abandoned most of the rest, losing functionality, there
are still interesting things that are less than desirable occurring.
Because the dock did not have room I have over thirty of my most
important apps with aliases on the desktop. Have not had that sort of
need since early in OS7. Really miss the capabilities of the apple menu.
The latest, OSX can't even copy a measly 30 gigs/6600 files without
slowing gradually to a hang. That's my master audio disk I was backing
up, mostly larger files. I did not even try to do the 20 gig/220,000
file copy or the 20 gig/75,000 file copy I needed to do after that. Just
booted up OS9, that did the copys at the full Ultra 160 speed. Those,
and many more like them have been my lot for the last month. When I made
the move I moved with the intent of not going back, but not because I
thought I was moving to a better OS. Because there is really no choice,
I seriously considered moving to windows and rejected that.
I'm a mac guru, (I guess), have used macs (and the Lisa before that)
since they first came out. (and before that mainframe OS's that were
just like or were unix) For production work in a number of fields, sound
is only part of what I do. I fully understood the inner workings of the
mac OS. I will get OSX tamed, but it sure would be a lot easier if there
was at least basic documentation to hunt down the problems. I'm not
interested in becoming a unix hacker. I've got real work to do.
It started with the OSX installer containing a rom image that could not
boot my G4. I had to dissect the installer CD, patch in a rom that
worked, burn a new bootable installer CD. That was after dissecting my
G4 numerous times to try and find a non-existant hardware problem.
Then there is the fun game it will play. Spin down the hard disk every
three letters I type, then freeze while it spins back up, to go down
again three letters later. Locking it from spinning down has no effect.
I finally went to running some apps in the background that accessed the
disk frequently to get some work done. It only does that game at random
intervals, but it sure slows things down.
I do like that it will spin down disks independently as they are not
needed. That is a improvement over OS9. It just has quaint notions as
to what's needed.
Going to be interesting to see what new and novel stuff is in 10.3, and
I don't mean what they keep talking about. Wonder if it will boot my G4
or if I'll have to patch it first.
I've been putting off my usual fall sound processing. Going to have to
start doing some on it soon. I still have my full production OS for OS9
if things get really tight. Though I'm really resisting bailing out OSX
that way. Eventually OS9 won't be there to save it.
Note that OSX is easy compared to windows. But, compared to all the
functionality experienced mac folks used in the Mac OS it's a whole lot
closer to windows and very annoying to work with. Really awkward in a
lot of spots, very poorly thought out. And ugly to look at, too much
white glare, too large a type, poor window organization, unnecessary
clutter, etc. My customized OS9 setup has nice restful color
organization, makes long sessions a lot more comfortable. Somehow I'll
fix that in OSX.
Walt
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