Apple Vs. PC...

[Rick Denney]

It took me over a week of scouring all sorts of computer forums to finally locate drivers that would work for everything.

I seriously wanted to revert the Vista box back to XP, but was afraid of orphaning all the hardware on the machine, or having to go to great lengths to find drivers that would work. Gateway (who makes eMachines) has not offered a reversion path, though many of the big companies are doing that.

That might still be a challenge if I load Linux on it.

In the ham shack, the software I use for a software-controlled communications receiver will run on Vista (in XP compatibility mode), but it blue-screens the machine from time to time.

I found a Vista driver for an expensive USB-based four-port RS-232 box, and it worked. But the contest logging software I use (N1MM), though some have run it on Vista machines, would not talk to my radio the way it's supposed to. And after running for ten minutes or so, it would blast video memory which would spray bits of the desktop to the wrong parts of the screen, making it impossible to reach the restart command. And Vista doesn't have a keyboard path to a shutdown that I could find (XP does--"Start", up-arrow, enter, enter). If you can't control the mouse or read the screen, you're left with the Big Red Switch. And on that box, that means unplugging it from the wall.

N1MM is free software--I can't call them up and complain that it doesn't work on my moron of a machine.

Then, there were attempts at running rig control and dx logging software that would interface with my receiver control software. There are a few (dxlab being the one that offered the best hope), but they all broke on Vista when trying to communicate with my radio, and they all eventually brought the machine down.

Then there was the issue of having to say "Yes, I really, really, really do want to do that" 1,483,492 times for each program I wanted to install. I finally figure out how to turn that crap off, and now it just scolds me for being unsafe when it boots up. Do I need to pay money for a computer that scolds me because I want it out of my way? Huh? If I wanted a parent instead of a computer, I would have bought an Apple. I think it was IT security geeks who designed this OS, not users.

Last weekend, I spent half a day at a hamfest in Baltimore, and saw these IBM-branded desktop boxes. They had new (but small--40G--hard disks), CD writer/DVD players, a dual-monitor video card, USB (though 1.1), a floppy disk drive (a rare find these days), TWO (count 'em!) serial ports, a network port, an easy-to-open case, and a decent keyboard. They were loaded with XP-Pro, and had 2GHz P4's in them. I spent ten minutes loading my ham shack software on it, and everything worked perfectly, first time. $125, with 1.25 GB RAM, and the only scolding was when I turned off automatic update (I live on a dialup). I wish I had bought two. Now, I need to back that sucker up (there are no disks with this guy, though the XP authentication sticker is on the box).

By the way, I've NEVER had a virus on any of my machines, even without a software parent scolding me.

If Vista were the only option, I would look seriously at Apple. I have used Microsoft all these years because, unlike Apple, it didn't get in my way when I wanted to do something a low level. Vista has taken away the only advantage MS ever had, and given up the reputation for stability that XP had (finally) earned.

I don't know what I'm going to recommend for my customers.

Rick "machine owner, not machine slave" Denney

[The Jackson]

Unfortunately, my paint software is is COMPLETELY incompatible with Vista

You even tried compatability mode?

[willbrett]

The Jackson Wrote:

You even tried compatability mode?

There was an issue with the software I was trying to use. It would lock up right in the middle of installation EVERY time. I contacted the software company, and they claimed to be working on a new version that would run on Vista. It's been almost 4 months, and there's still no new version.

-Brett

[Carroll]

I've coded in assembly language on a Wang RPN calculator, FORTRAN on a UNIVAC (with punch cards) BASIC on a RS Model 4 , Atari, and Commodore 64, COBOL and PASCAL on numerous IBM boxes. I can code whatever I need to but I choose not to. I use a Mac now. I have my computer start up at 4 a.m., download my e-mail, sort through the junk, and then have my mail waiting for me when I check it at 6. I do a bunch of Finale work, have my machine process the work, start printing and turn itself off... while I go to bed. I sometimes have repetitive tasks like: open a file, transpose to concert E flat, change the name of the tune, print the file, save as another file name. I can set up my Mac to watch me... do it once... and then have it apply these actions to all selected files.

But please, do not let me influence your choice. The more people who use these machines... the more attractive a target for virus writers.

[MaryAnn]

I'd sure like to know how you figured out how to do all that...I bought an iMac three years ago on the urging of friends, after 20 years at work on a PC. ... everything that is intuitive for me, either does nothing or does something completely bass-ackwards on the Mac. For example, alt-W goes between windows in a standard PC program; the same hand motion on the Mac *closes* the program. Many things like this; I'll know how to do it on a PC, and simply cannot find out how to do something that should be very, very simple, on the Mac, because of different terminology that is used to talk about it (like back when I had to switch from Lotus to Excel; same problem.) I basically gave up trying to get any good at using the Mac, and although it is my home computer, I continue to stumble along and avoid using it unless I have to. The only benefit I can see at this point in time is lack of viruses from going online.

That said, there is simply no way I would buy a home computer with Vista on it; I'd rather deal with the Mac. My dear brother now works for Microsoft and goes apoplectic when I talk about Vista. At work we are on XP Pro, and will stay there until something else that is stable comes along.

MA

[Todd S. Malicoate]

Mac computers may look cooler but windows beats all. It was first before mac and better. It actually has history behind it.

Troll? Or just trying to get the post count up?

You decide...

[The Big Ben]

I'd sure like to know how you figured out how to do all that...I bought an iMac three years ago on the urging of friends, after 20 years at work on a PC. ... everything that is intuitive for me, either does nothing or does something completely bass-ackwards on the Mac. For example, alt-W goes between windows in a standard PC program; the same hand motion on the Mac *closes* the program. Many things like this; I'll know how to do it on a PC, and simply cannot find out how to do something that should be very, very simple, on the Mac, because of different terminology that is used to talk about it (like back when I had to switch from Lotus to Excel; same problem.) I basically gave up trying to get any good at using the Mac, and although it is my home computer, I continue to stumble along and avoid using it unless I have to. The only benefit I can see at this point in time is lack of viruses from going online.

Sounds like you should have followed your experience and stayed with something familiar. And it's also too bad you can't just load up XP like on one of the Macs with Intel processors.

I use a limited number of keyboard commands for what I do and they are all the same on the two platforms. I don't do anything fancy with word processing or spreadsheets. Are the keyboard equivelents the same on, say, Excel, on both platforms?