til I’m Black and Blue…

Because of my current WW2 kick, I bought “Saving Private Ryan” on DVD today. I’m guessing that I’ll get a chance to see it while I’m in Germany. I think they have a pool at the hotel so I hope to get a chance to go swimming as well. My WW2 kick is because of … Continue reading “til I’m Black and Blue…”

Because of my current WW2 kick, I bought “Saving Private Ryan” on DVD today. I’m guessing that I’ll get a chance to see it while I’m in Germany. I think they have a pool at the hotel so I hope to get a chance to go swimming as well.

My WW2 kick is because of one of my favourite films: The Great Escape: which I have on VCD and DVD. Handy because I’ve watched it several times this year alone. There’s also the RPGs: Reichstar, Gear Krieg, Brave New World, Godlike and the Delta Green Karotechia stuff. On the computer game front there’s Return to Castle Wolfenstein and Medal of Honour: Allied Assault – the latter has just shipped for the Mac so that’s another one for the shopping list.

I’m meant to be attending a graduation this Thursday as well – not my graduation but I’ll be up at the top wearing a suit and a gown and congratulating my students. I’m thinking this might indeed be the last year I’ll teach – the problem being that they aren’t offering the subjects that I want to teach and not on the kit I would use for the subjects. I’ve always gone by the rule that if it stops being fun then stop doing it. You know – do it til it hurts. As the song says, til I’m Black and Blue.

I’ve also got the developer tools reinstalled now that I have my completely silent 40 GB hard disk in the Powerbook. It means that I can restart my “Learn Java in 21 days” course. Note that I’m not expecting to learn Java in 21 days or even 21 weeks but I want to start with something and I’ve an online course to do as well which should help.

It’s so nice having plenty of disk space again. I guess it’ll take me a few weeks to fill this up as I tend to just not delete things. I’ll have to be a bit careful as the summer brings Jaguar and I’ll want to do a nice clean install of it. Having enough room to back up to is always a good idea. I’m using about 12 GBytes right now and that includes 400 MB for the developer tools and over a Gig for a couple of games – both of which can be deleted in a second.

Buying a computer

A very good friend of mine asked me one of those questions today. What things should we look for when purchasing a new computer.? Is lap top better than the desktop?? The price range is from $4000 – $5000 (AUS).? Is IBM better than MAC? etc A few years ago I’d have been 50-50 on … Continue reading “Buying a computer”

A very good friend of mine asked me one of those questions today.

What things should we look for when purchasing a new computer.? Is lap top better than the desktop?? The price range is from $4000 – $5000 (AUS).? Is IBM better than MAC? etc

A few years ago I’d have been 50-50 on this and talked about the pros and cons of Macs and PCs. These days I’m older and wiser. Reason is that most of people who I advised to buy a PC did go and buy one and those who I advised to buy Macs all bought Macs. From the Mac guys I get an email every now and then with a question or two but for the most part they seem happy. From the PC guys I got dozens of emails and even though I’d not had any part in the actual buying and wasn’t paid for my advice and even said that a Mac would be a better option – they’d gone ahead and bought a PC and were now having problems. I helped them as best as I could until the point where I was routinely spending one night a week fixing PC problems for free.

Time to knock that on the head.

These days I’m more prgamatic. Sure, if you have an application you need that is only on the PC then buy a PC. By all means. But don’t come crying to me for support. I’ll help you but I cost a lot per hour. Conversely it means I now have more time to devote to helping the Mac users in the province and beyond for free.

So why buy a Mac? I’d have to go thru some of the reasons to NOT buy a Mac.

Here’s some great pages on the subject:
http://www.apple.com/myths/
http://www.apple.com/switch/

A lot of the reasons to NOT buy a Mac come down to a couple of really poor ones. The first is usually that the guy saying so is a Windows user and, well, there’s more windows machines out there. He doesn’t know the Mac or if he does he only remembers the little black and white models that came out in 1984 which are still being used around the world. He doesn’t know that Apple were the first computer manufacturer to have a mouse, the first to implement colour on machines and the first with both the floppy disk and the CD-ROM. Ignorance is his only weapon.

The second is a little more esoteric. For some reason, because this guy uses Windows there’s this “urge” that everyone else must use Windows and if you don’t then you’re some sort of ‘luser’. I personally couldn’t care what people use – I’m extremely pro-choice. If you are happy with windows then “Yeehaw”. I’m extremely happy for you. I’d note that I don’t know *anyone* who is happy with Windows. Some don’t mind it but for the most part they are ignorant of the alternatives.

Now…onto the meat of the question. A machine for Aus $4000-5000. Is a desktop better than a laptop. Hmm. I use laptops because I move around a lot and not just for travel. Sometimes I check email in the lounge in front of the TV. Sometimes my IM windows are open when I’m cooking in the kitchen. Sometimes I’m sitting in the car and typing up a letter or a story. Sometimes I’m in bed. I prefer laptops. The portability comes at a price. Laptops are always going to be slower than desktops because of disk speed (disks are slower to conserve on power) and don’t generally have the same cool features. Laptops also cost more.

If it were me I’d recommend an LCD iMac with SuperDrive. It’s not cheap at $4399 but then it’s well specc’ed. The processor is fast despite the fact it is 800 MHz. The MHz rating really has very little to do with the speed of the machine. The iMac is self contained and only weighs about 20 lbs so it takes up very little space and is easily carried about using the neck as a handle. The machine comes with 60 GB of hard disk which can be expanded using FireWire to almost anything. And it has the SuperDrive. A disk drive that can read CDs, burn CDRs and CDRW disks, read DVDs and …write DVDs. This last thing is a big deal especially when coupled with a digital video camera. Edit down four hours of holiday video into 1 hour of highlights with transitions and fades. Add it to a DVD with a slide show of camera stills and you’ve got a little treasure that will play in any commercial DVD player. And as DVD Players are now less than Aus $300, a lot more people have them.

To me that’s a great benefit especially for a family situation. Give the grandparents DVDs of the grandchildren and get DVDs of the grandparents so that you can remember them better in the future – they aren’t with you all the time you know.

At the end of the day I don’t know what she will pick and…well…it doesn’t bother me. There are other benefits to being a Mac user. Macs are easier to use. They last longer as well. There’s extra care taken in making sure they work. No manufacturer is perfect but the percentage of returns for Apple is less than 10% of the industry average. Mac users have a sense of community – for example – there are a dozen Mac User Groups in Australia.

http://www.apple.com/usergroups/find.html

Apple also provide their members with free email, free web space, heaps of free and high quality software. There’s other advantages but a lot of them apply to me in my specific situation. I have the choice of Windows, Linux, BSD and others but I choose to use a Mac. Because, for me, it’s a better machine.

Man…

Okay, so I’ve registered the domain and I’m working on the web design for the public image of the new company. Understand that it’s not a career change but an excuse to work on some of the most exciting technologies out there. Instead of closing down buildings and doing audits I’d like to be working … Continue reading “Man…”

Okay, so I’ve registered the domain and I’m working on the web design for the public image of the new company. Understand that it’s not a career change but an excuse to work on some of the most exciting technologies out there. Instead of closing down buildings and doing audits I’d like to be working with WiFi, XServe, Quicktime Broadcaster, MPEG-4 and a dozen other things that I just find interesting.

Meggan currently has been to the Nursery three days out of the last week and has managed to pick up a cold. It’s so sad seeing a tiny child with sniffles, nose-whistles and a cough. I feel so sorry for her. Wish I could do more but we’re treating her the best way we can. She doesn’t like coughing and who can blame her.

Also….ordered a 40 GB hard drive for my laptop today. It’s a Toshiba model with “Fluid Bearings” which, by all accounts, is meant to make it quieter. It cost a packet and cleaned out my computer slush fund which means the new G4 will take a bit longer. My 20 GB drive should be back from IBM next week so I’ll need to look for an enclosure for it. Seen one recently for $59 which might just do the trick.

And…the dates for Germany are confirmed. I fly out on Monday the 17th and back on Wednesday 19th. Boo.