The Apple Ate The Penguin – happy ending?
Well, I did it. I determined that purchasing an Apple Macbook Pro was the approach I should take to meet my personal/business computing needs at my workstation. What drove me to this decision? Well, I just can’t stand it when an OS screws me over without giving me recourse. That was the case a few weeks ago when I upgraded my Ubuntu Linux from 9.04 to 9.10. After upgrading I was presented with this error. I still haven’t been able to resolve the issue, even by going through Ubuntu’s fix recommendation (nor did the other many fixes I tried work). I lost sound (i.e. no Skype), printer/scanner capabilities, I couldn’t do a Find/Replace in RPGNextGen (the oddest of all the errors), and there were many other things that just aren’t working (probably because the drivers for those things aren’t matching the alternate kernel I have been booting into).
I have been contemplating moving to a Mac ever since Jon Paris has been giving it rave reviews. I have also heard from many others (Niels Liisberg, Mike Wills, Thorborn Anderson, etc) that love their Macs and are doing the same types of things that I need to accomplish (i.e. IBM i developer, survive in a Microsoft world, remote user, road warrior, music production, etc).
I am giddy right now because I haven’t had a new laptop in about 4 years (I have a T42 IBM Thinkpad). I ended up getting a Macbook Pro 17″, 4GB RAM, 500GB 7200rpm + AppleCare for a grand total of $3,074 (ouch, we will have to see if it was worth it). I plan on upgrading the RAM to 8GB for $400 (Apple was charging $600) and hopefully can go to a 256GB SSD (Solid State Drive) by the end of this year for around $500 (currently costs $700) – the SSD data transfer rates are AMAZING! Three thousand dollars is a lot of money to spend, but my time is worth a lot on both the billable hours front and also lessening frustration. I have yet to hear of ANYBODY not liking their Mac – that speaks volumes to me. Not that I won’t have problems, but having LESS problems is what I am reaching for. Same mindset I have for IBM i – yeah, I run into issues, but it is so much less than other programming stacks that it keeps me on the platform.
So, am I crazy for switching? Note I will still have Ubuntu on about 4 computers in my house because it does work for some scenarios. Who else is using Mac for their workstation? What downsides have you found?
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Well as it was you who instigated the LinuxDesktop4i midrange group, can you turn out the lights behind you.
Personally I will give up my Linux desktop when they pry my cold, dead fingers from it. ;-)
The reality is that OSX isn’t that far from Linux as I understand it. I think many of the same questions and pursuits that happen on Linux also need to happen on Mac. For example, coming up with a non-Windows development toolset for RPG programmers – which is a lot of what LinuxDesktop4i list is about.
So the lights will most definitely stay on as there is a need for the list IMO :-) Do you disagree?
aaronbartell.com
That is pretty pricey, but freedom from the integration hassles will be nice. Curious though, what does the Mac give you that Windows/7 doesn’t?
I haven’t really used Windows 7 so I can’t say much on that front, though I hear it is getting much better reviews than Vista. In the end I just view Windows as a platform that missed the mark and can’t catch up with itself except for creating flashy things on top of an ugly pig.
One thing that drove me nuts about Windows is that after about 9 months it was so bogged down by *something* that it would require me to reformat. Those *somethings* were usually virus scanners and the like. That was probably my favorite thing about Linux – it ran fast all the time even after 1.5 years.
But we shall see if Mac is good or not. I don’t plan on giving it any handouts for comments :-)
aaronbartell.com
Welcome to the light Aaron!
As far as cost goes – the speed of finding files and emails alone made up for the additional $.
Your figures also include the cost of Applecare I believe. That really is a great service. Not just the additional hardware warranty but the fact that you can call real people on the phone and actually get answers. And all of the ones I have spoken to have been in Canada or the USa and I could understand every word they said.
Like you I have tried Ubuntu (although not to the depth you have) and I’m just not enough of a geek to deal with it. For limited stuff like file or web serving – or as a way of making an otherwise too old machine usable for email etc. it is great. But while there is a lot of help out there on the web 99% of it assumes that you speak Unixese and I not only don’t speak it – I have littel desire to learn to the depth required to use it as a day to day OS.
Looks to me as if Windows 7 has mostly got it right – by copying OS X features in many cases – but I have no desire to go back to MS. I just don’t trust them not to screw it up again. Like you I got sick to death of having to constantly tweak and/or reload the machine just to keep the performance level acceptable. Even then I had to pay out for more memory to keep the sucker going. My Mac has been in use for 2.5 years now and apart from running out of free hard drive space, which is causing an occasional slow down, still runs as well as the day I got it. I rarely reboot, Time Machine is a dream for backups, and installing and removing software – oh joy joy happy joy! No registry mess – it just works.
I too use a MAC as my workstation in my home, got it 1.5 years back and still working fine with OSX 10.5, never come across pressing power button to restart the laptop in between my work.
Only downside I’m having is I cannot run RDi or WDSCi in MAC but I have RPG Next Gen. If i need anything in windows or linux I have install them using Parallels (Virtualization).
Although MAC is bit expensive, but worth getting one.
The thing that has kept me from moving to Mac is that I spend half my time connected to an AS/400. Are you doing that by having a partition of Windows XP running in your Mac? And if so, does that work well? And if you are not doing it that way, how are you connecting to IBM machines?
Yep, I spend most of my time connected to an AS400. I use tn5250j for telnet and RPGNextGen.com for editing RPG source. Works well. I can also easily access files in the IFS using “Finder” (Mac’s Windows Explorer). Note that the key mappings for TN5250j are still a little bit goofy. I am working on resolving that now.
Also, as of the latest Snow Leopard release the Mail and iCal apps do bi-directional communication with Microsoft Exchange 2007 – very nice for business users!
That doesn’t sound very convenient to me (compared to Client Access) but I am getting pretty sick of booting my PC. Thanks.
Dave, You can use Parallels software which you can create virtual machines and load windows, then you can use Client Access without any problem.
You can enjoy multiple worlds using Parallels.
:-( Sorry to hear this but that’s how it goes. Totally understand why you did it! OSes should just work. :-)
I just upgraded my desktop (dual boot) from Ubuntu 9.10 32 bit / Windows XP to Ubuntu 9.10 64 bit / Windows 7 64 bit. The only issue I had was getting CA 5250 emulation working. In the end I did but took a little fiddling. It’s fun trying to get 32 bit pgms to behave in 64 bit environment. I tried TN5250 and found it annoying. I didn’t try TN5250J though.
I need to give RPGNextGen another shot.
Oh the only reason I dual boot to Winblows is for when we do “team building” at lunch time. Our current “team building” pgm is Call Of Duty. :-D
Enjoy your Mac and keep us informed how it goes.
another + point is The Mac is not immune to viruses, Trojans, backdoors, adware, spyware, and other nefarious applications. The main difference between Macs and Windows is that no successful viruses written for OS X have shown up in the wild. Because of the nature of OS X and its security model.
So you don’t have to wary much about virus guards (saves some money)
Use some Virtualization software if you need Windows / Linux in the same machine
Thanks, Chamara. I have been looking for somebody who is running that. Is it stable? I’ve heard that in the Mac world you never have to reboot but how is the stability in Parallels and in the XP environment that it supports?
Dave,
Yes Parallel supports well with XP even the key board mapping is grate, basically Parallels gives you the freedom to rum multiple worlds (OS) without any problem.
i hate to rain on the virus parade but the reason OS X hasn’t had as many viruses, etc. is simply due to the market share. if you want to infect the majority of users you go where the largest market share is. Mac is “ok”, M$ sucks, Linux is too “geekified” for me (like Jon i haven’t the time nor desire to dig that deep) but that’s the nature of the beast. M$ has the market share and is a bigger target. unfortunately the “best” OS is IBM i which is too gridlocked by IBM to make it available to a PC platform (if only…) but we have to live with the hand we’re dealt. since it vast majority of software packages i use for work (and play :D) only run on WinBlows i’m stuck in that rut.
The way I always understood it, and I am no expert, is that Linux (and somewhat inherrently Mac OSX) is less prone to viruses because of the way things are architected an not simply because they aren’t as popular. I am not completely convinced on the popularity thing because I would have to imagine Linux and Unix were much more popular as servers on the internet long before Windows became popular as a server environment.
Does anybody have a link that supports any of these views?
aaronbartell.com
just google OS X security flaws http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla%3Aen-US%3Aofficial&q=security+flaws+in+os+x+2010&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=
there’s about the same number of flaws found in OS X as there are in windows. each flaw is a point of entry/exploit that can be used. i saw a nice write up and interview session with several individuals from various areas of expertise in OS vulnerablities not long ago i’ll see if i can dig it up…
>there’s about the same number of flaws found in OS X as there are in windows.
Where is this documented? or rather, what is your source?
found it http://news.cnet.com/8301-27080_3-10444561-245.html
Thanks for looking that up Tommy. I have been somewhat ignorant on that topic. The thing I struggle with is what they lump into the virus and security vulnerability camp. For example, take this excerpt from the article: “Viruses are a diminishing percentage of what we’re seeing,” said Randy Adams, director of technical education at ESET. “A lot of attacks have to do with social engineering and that kind of attack is platform agnostic.”
So does that mean when I get a “Lose weight in 2010 by attending this event” on Facebook because a friend was dumb enough to click, that I am infected if I also click on it? In this case, as I understand it, the “social engineering virus” would only be on my facebook account and not necessarily on my laptop, correct?
aaronbartell.com
my understanding of it is that the networking site is simply used as a delivery method. for this type of attack i would *assume* (bad word) that it would be more suited to deliver malware, trojans, browser hijackers, etc. than an actual virus
As a Ubuntu 9.10 user (primarily), Mac owner (I use the browser), and IBMi programmer, the only issue I see here is that you got yourself in a predicament based on a presumption that nothing should go wrong. This happens all the time, even with IBMi upgrades – we had a recent obscure hardware conflict. Nonetheless, to reach out and spend $3K on a hitherto unused OS based on friendly testimonials as a solution vs. leaping to a backup (there was a backup right?) and continue life as normal… well, I don’t know what to say. I don’t think you’ve given us the full picture. The only thing I can knowingly resolve this to is that there is a woman involved. I could be wrong, but that’s why I have my Mac…
ha! Thanks for your witty response Darron. I had been looking at Apple for awhile wondering if it would be in my future. The good thing is over the years I have positioned myself well to switch from one desktop to the next fairly seamlessly because of the applications I use and also because of the approach I take to backing up (yes I had a backup – I learned that lesson early on in my career).
My Mac adventures really only have had one blatant flaw that is completely unacceptable, which I will bring up in the review I will be doing in the near future.
aaronbartell.com
Aaron
I have had a MAC desktop for about 4 years and have been trying to get to grips with it ever since I bought it. I have parallels installed with XP but that went side ways when I upgraded to the New Mac OS, I suppose one day I will get round to fixing it up again :-)
My view is simple, its another OS and has just as many faults as any other until you get used to how to manage it. I also run Gentoo and have been doing so for about 10 years, I did have Ubuntu installed on a number of servers and desktops, but to be honest just love the Gentoo set up so much more. That said I am thinking of moving to a new version of Linux which has been created by the original developer of Gentoo, he had a falling out with the development team because the ideals he started out with were being eroded by the new developers to such an extent he felt he needed to get back to basics! Such is the Linux space, there are always new versions appearing and disappearing all the time..
I develop on the IBM i most of the time although I have been looking at WPF and Silverlight for Windows, I just think it makes sense to look at emerging technology and having a C background they seem to be easy to get involved in. The biggest problem with the Mac OS I found is a lack of good development tools for what I do all the time, PHP and C for the IBM ‘i’. I like the WSDc and PHP eclipse IDE, I just wish IBM would provide a PHP module for WSDc then I would be all set! Jumping from WSDc to Studio 7 and then back again as I develop various IBM i code to run natively and then switching to Studio to develop the PHP code to interface with it or write the WSDL code is a real pain! If Mac had a single integrated IDE which could develop for the IBM ‘i’ and Linux etc I would go for it! I tried eclipse, netbeans etc and adding various plug-ins to get similar functionality to WSDc but nothing ever stood up to the test? I don’t write RPG so I have no idea if the tool set you mention is any good.
So to wrap all this up, Mac is OK, it is not a golden light that shadows everything else around but it does provide some benefits over the competition. Windows 7 as much as I hate to say it has been very stable and fast so far! Yes as usual it has some flaws but its is ten times better then Vista and XP has so many patches it is slowly grinding to a halt. I have many issue with MS software in general (a recent project using Expression Web 3 deleted every line of PHP code from every file when I updated a linked directory in the website root) but Windows 7 is certainly getting my nod of approval so far. Maybe thats because the others were so bad? :-)
I hope you get what you need from Mac, I certainly would not say I hate it, but I also feel it has some attributes which need improving.
Chris…
PS: i5 New Generation Computing is now called Simply ‘i’
Thanks for your thoughts Chris. I agree that every OS has it’s bad and good parts. I had a doozy with Mac a few weeks ago that I will report on in an upcoming post. Overall I would call Mac an expensive version of Linux – but because of the many good points that Linux doesn’t have I would have to say that it is worth it I think (though I still need more time to be fully committed to saying that).
Thanks again for the post,
aaronbartell.com