Free software and the Mac

[Thomas Milne]

On Tue, Apr 23, 2013 at 8:37 PM, Dave Cramer <davecramer-Re5JQEeQqe8AvxtiuMwx3w at public.gmane.org> wrote:

> I use a mac for my desktop as well. You seem to have found your way
> around. There are some rather not nice things.
>
> 1) Just this morning my computer failed to start after shutdown. You have
> to unplug it and wait a while, or remove the memory. Make sure you have a
> backup machine to search for the solution to these problems
> 2) If you replace the hard drive, which I just did you have to 1) pay
> apple to do it, or 2) buy a special cable and a regular HD and very
> carefully do it yourself, 3) buy software to control the fan speed and very
> carefully do it yourself.
>

I will probably never want to do that, I don't even think I could. The
newest iMacs are like permanently sealed or something. Not worried, we have
Apple Care :-)


>
> Oh, almost forgot do yourself a huge favour and find a way to run time
> machine, when the hard drive in question failed I was able to completely
> restore my machine; albeit in 20 hours. This feature alone is worth a huge
> amount of time
>

Someone showed me Time Machine, it looks pretty cool. Will definitely be
setting that up. I've got a 1TB external with eSATA connection. Apparently
I have to invest in a Thunderbolt to eSATA adapter which is NOT CHEAP. Oh
well, it will be very handy I am sure. Another cool thing is I have a 27"
display that I also want to connect and have dual displays :-)


> I use a drobo which I wouldn't recommend as it's flaky, but I've already
> got 600 bucks into it, so I'm not about to toss it.
>
> Candidly I think apple has seen it's best days, but I'll still use it for
> a couple more product cycles
>
> Dave Cramer
>
>
> On Tue, Apr 23, 2013 at 7:36 PM, Thomas Milne <
> thomas.bruce.milne-Re5JQEeQqe8AvxtiuMwx3w at public.gmane.org> wrote:
>
>> So I finally convinced my boss that our family needed a "family" computer
>> and that the best choice for a variety of reasons is a new iMac :-)
>>
>> It is awesome. Besides being ten times faster than what I've been used to
>> it is so easy to use though some things take too many mouse clicks. I have
>> been using Linux for about ten years so there are some weird things to get
>> used to like installing apps and so on (no more package manager) but
>> overall it had been really nice.
>>
>> I was happy to see a lot of free software is available for Mac same as on
>> Linux, especially Transmission and Gimp. I saw that there are even package
>> managers for Mac to install these apps, namely Fink and MacPorts.
>>
>> Anyone have any experience with these on Mountain Lion? I am still so new
>> with the Mac I suppose I have a greater fear of making a mess of it.
>>
>> Any free software tips or tricks for Mac appreciated :-)
>>
>
>


-- 
Thomas Milne
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