Systems / Rigs
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Jump to : Rigs This page is just a quick look at my computer systems or rigs, as they are often called. I run a number of rigs each with a different operating system (for the most part). A few months ago I built a new 1.4 GHz AMD System. This computer is now my primary workstation, and is running Windows 98 and Windows Professional 2000 (dual boot). I fix / build computers for friends and relatives so I tend to inherit some of the old parts. Hence, the abundance of hard drives (I actually, still have more laying around). I started using Mac OS X when it first was released to the public and love it. I really can't say enough good things about it. I feel that Mac OS X has to potential to be a major player in the *consumer* operating systems market. I believe a lot of people have become frustrated with Windows and are looking for an alternative that will really work. They are looking for an operating system that doesn't crash, is secure, and is easy to use. Now, you are thinking "Linux has all that and more, plus it's free. Linux is the obvious choice." Perhaps, but Linux is lacking major software vendor support (i.e. Adobe [Photoshop], Macromedia [Dreamweaver], MS [Word, Powerpoint, Excel], .....), and this is a major problem for Joe Consumer who wants to run the same programs which he uses at work, on his old machine, and at a friends' home. It is true that Linux has a large number of programs which can do the same job as the afore mentioned programs, but they are different programs. People inherently don't like change, so this is a real turn off. They would already have to learn a new OS; why would they want to learn new programs?. Yes, this isn't all that difficult, but for someone who just wants the computer to work (i.e. your grandmother, parents, or anyone who uses a computer for "getting the job done" and nothing more) they will have a difficult time switching over and re-learning everything. I'm not trying to say anything bad about Linux, but they just don't have the major vendor support the public wants. This is where Apple and Mac OS X comes in. Mac OS X has this major vendor support. So, the average consumer
will really consider this as an alternative. I must conceed that
a number of the major software vendors are still working on native
OS X versions of their programs still -- they can run in "Classic
Mode" which is pretty much just Mac OS 9.2. So, OS X may not
quite be ready for prime time yet. I'm a Unix guy so Mac OS X with
it's BSD roots is very appealing to me. You can even run X (server)
on Mac OS X (ten, not "X"); if you don't know what I'm
talking about don't worry (the unix/linux guys will). This means,
the large number of programs which run on BSD systems can be ported
over to OS X with the right tweaking (sometimes more, sometimes
less). I'm not sure which programs have been ported, but I do know
that GIMP (a Photoshop alternative) and nedit (a very nice text
editor w/ syntax highlighting) work on OS X. |
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Custom Built AMD 1.4 GHz Athlon Thunderbird with dual monitors-- this is my primary workhorse, second to my G4 running OS X
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Custom Built Pentium II 450 MHz -- this is my linux development / experiment box
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Sun Ultra 1 -- this is my Solaris development / experiment box
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Apple Macintosh G4 -- this is my graphics design and secondary computer system
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