Oh. My. God.

[tyggerjai]

So the Beige G3 got a RAM upgrade this morning, to 128 Meg, and now it's running OSX.

And now I'm a believer. Thank the goddess I pay the bike loan off next week - I must run out immediately and buy a Mac.

The UI is ... is .... just stunning. Quirks, of course, but this is *decades* of serious usability research - I've been through the entire install process, update process, and installing a fair whack o' software - the "unpack .bin to .dmg, unpack .dmg to installer, click installer, click run" process is .... dubious, but bearable, and that's my most serious problem. And there's probably a "Just install from the .dmg.bin" option that I'm missing.

MY biggest quibble? I'm used to the finder dropdown being on the right of my topbar.

That's it. So the Beige G3 will be getting more RAM and probably a hard drive upgrade, and coming home, I suspect.

Mmmm. Thank god I discovered this *after* turning down the chance to buy a secondhand iBook, otherwise I'd be broke again.

sol.
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Comments

Macs are sooo evil!

[meleah.livejournal.com]

*Tell* me about it man.. I'm so in lust with the damn thing. I thought for sure I could avoid this silly mac/pc crap. I still hate the classic environment with a passion, if I have to run OS9 to use a program, I'll avoid using the program.. OSX is just so.. mmm. I'm so sucked in. And for me its not so much the techy stuff as just the sexiness of it all.

And now I'm feeling the need for an iPod, and all its groovy accessories. I can't pay the damn bills but I need an iPod. Really.

Macs. Pure evil.

[blarglefiend.livejournal.com]

The installer thing makes more sense once you know what's going on: the .bin is an unnecessary anachronism that some people still wrap their stuff up in. It's a wrapper containing the data and resource forks in a single file.

The .dmg (Disk Image) files don't need wrapping. The OS recognises them by their extension. So really all you should be getting is a .dmg, possibly compressed with gzip but even then that's not necessary as you can make compressed disk images.

So you're mounting a disk image, just like you'd mount a CD-ROM, then you're running stuff on it. Even then, a lot of software doesn't have this stupid "run an installer" crap -- even Microsoft Office is a "drag this folder somewhere on your hard disk" install, which is how things should be in the absence of a neato-keen-whizz-bang package manager.

And if you're planning to sell your soul for a new Mac, wait a bit until the G5 boxes are available. If I have a job next year, I am *so* talking to Satan about a dual-G5!

*nodnod*

[tyggerjai.livejournal.com]

And stuff I download with Safari (mmmmm, safari) just seems to mount itself, so I just need to drag the app over. I downloaded vim.tgz, and it unpacked everything down to the .pkg onto the desktop.

Mmm. Oh, it's all very lovely.

And I dunno about the G5. I mean, yes, obviously, but given how well the Beige G3 266 with 128 Meg runs OSX, I'm thinking entry level eMac with Superdrive and a little more RAM. Not even an iMac.

sol.
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Re: *nodnod*

[blarglefiend.livejournal.com]

Yes, Safari has Extra Magic Goodness thrown in for good measure.

I'm astounded that an old G3 runs it "well" with only 128MB. I used to run it on a G3 iMac DV/SE with 384MB and it was OK, but not brilliant, and I find it rather pokey on the 256MB G4 iMac I have at work...

Hey, if you want to wait, I might be able to do you a deal on an 867MHz G4 PowerMac at the end of the year...

Re: *nodnod*

[tyggerjai.livejournal.com]

FSVO "well", of course.
I'm not running iMovie, or anything :)

I'm not really loading it - I'm running Safari, X11, VNCserver, and iChat at the moment, and it runs acceptably - I was expecting it to be a dog, so "well" may simply mean "not as bad as I had expected", but it's perfectly usable - the Dock animations are a little chunky when apps come in and out, but it's animated, and not truly grinding.

My expectations are low, of course, which is why I want a G5 :)

But certainly, if you're looking to get rid of a G4, I suspect I'll be in the market. I have just paid off the bike (or near as dammit) so now I can save for a MAc !

sol.
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[longi.livejournal.com]

Quirks, of course, but this is *decades* of serious usability research

Research my arse. It's the same damn desktop NeXTStep had a decade ago, which is basically what OSX is, the NeXTStep Kernel and GUI with a spitshine after NeXT folded and Apple bought them out.

And, of course....

[tyggerjai.livejournal.com]

As the years of "Linux not ready for the desktop?" debate shows, the spitshine is, in fact, what counts in a GUI :)

I'm sure NeXT was lovely, but I'm also sure either there was some serious usability research behind it (in which case my statement is perfectly true, it's just that the research wasn't done by Apple), or it's had some serious research since. You don't get a GUI like that (and I'm talking the whole package here - installer, system alerts, the lot) without some serious thought. I'm not talking "desktop", I'm talking the whole experience.

I am, however, more than happy to accept that apple got the good stuff from NeXT. Doesn't change the fact that it's seriously good.

sol.
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Re: And, of course....

[blarglefiend.livejournal.com]

However much was changed between the last Openstep release and the current Mac OS X, one thing is worth remembering: both products have the same -- widely very well regarded -- tech guy in charge. And a lot of the same developers, too.

That seems to have worked out pretty well.