I've been using OS X as my primary OS since last June; I was a desktop Linux user before that. I used to say that Linux was the best desktop Unix, but now I think I have to recommend OS X.
I use the current XDarwin (X on X) daily, with the rootless window manager OroborosX. Aside from a few hiccups with mouse and keyboard emulation (X really wants a 3-button mouse, but I still use the Mac 1-button model), it's great. It's very nice to be able to run commercial stuff at need without VMware or other such kludges. I have MS Office; I also have nmap, emacs and vi, TeX, pine, lynx, perl, samba, ncftp, apache, etc. A few things are missing. For example, you can't print from the command line or be a NetInfo server. (NetInfo looks a lot like NIS+; go into the NetInfo Manager to enable the root account or set up NFS shares). Many of the missing things are present in OS X Server, which I'm playing with a bit also. It feels like a throwback to me to have separate client and server versions of the OS, but I suppose it's consistent with the Apple mind-set to protect ordinary users from complexity. If you have a family, you'll love iMovie, iDVD, and iPhoto. There's nothing comparable on any other platform. Cheers, Lisa -- Dr. Lisa Koch Asst. Dean for Educational and Computer Technology College of Engineering, Northeastern University 230 Snell Engineering, 360 Huntington Ave, Boston, MA 02115 [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- 617.373.4430 On Wednesday, March 27, 2002, at 05:30 PM, Dima Shcherban wrote: > > Dear folks, > > A few days ago, I got a chance to play with a laptop with new MAC OS. It > was very brief chance, so I wonder if anybody has a longer experience. > > I don't really use GUI, but my wife likes it a lot. In addition, this is > a > time for me to buy a new family laptop and I was thinking if this new MAC > will make a reasonable compromise. > > Questions: > > 1. Are there any real differences bertween that MAC version of UNIX with > conventional UNIXes, which we are accustom to? > > 2. Is underlying UNIX usable by itself, or not? > > 3. Is it possible to build any third party software of this UNIX. How > about X? > > 4. Is it setup simillar to NeXT, previous attempt of "Macintosh UNIX"? > > I would appreciate any pointers. > > > -------------- > > Dimitri (Dima) Shcherban > > Phone: 800-445-2588+1+43507 > or: 508-249-3507 > Hopkinton ext: x43507 > Cellular: 508-633-8192 > Pager: 877-563-1780 > email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Pager email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > > --- > Send mail for the `bblisa' mailing list to `[EMAIL PROTECTED]'. > Mail administrative requests to `[EMAIL PROTECTED]'. > --- Send mail for the `bblisa' mailing list to `[EMAIL PROTECTED]'. Mail administrative requests to `[EMAIL PROTECTED]'.
