Apple

Posted by: _hardcore_

Apple - 27/01/2005 18:52

Hi,

I've allways liked the design of the apple computers - but hated the OS. Now since the OS X was introduced i have been tempted a couple of times to buy one of the gorgeus powerbooks.. I've been a pc (win+linux) user for nearly two decades - and even though my current Ibm T40 suits me just fine - i want to try an apple powerbook.

The last couple of year i've using my groupwise mail client and word, excel, powerpoint, visio, photoshop, nearly 99% of the time that i spend infront of the computer.

Groupwise 6.5 client comes in a mac version. Word comes in a mac version (which i gather is more or less file compatible?! with Windows word XP) so that should be no problem. I'm connected to a Novell network, using iFolder (web based fileservices) and ndps printers (also mac compatible) - for the rest i could settle for virtual pc (does it have full usb support for my karma?)

What are the pros and cons of switching to a powerbook - is there any major drawbacks ??

I'm really tempted!

--Kaare
Posted by: loren

Re: Apple - 27/01/2005 19:08

Everything you listed has a Mac counterpart that is file compatible. I've never used groupwise however so you've got me on that one.

I've said it before and i'll say it again, switching to this Powerbook has been one of the best things i've done in a long time. I got so sick of the PC headaches. Everything i've wanted to do on this thing has either just worked or been stupid easy to figure out. The workflow is just phenomenal with apps like Quicksilver, Sidetrack, iTerm, and Expose. The only thing i've had to use Virtual PC for so far is for my GPS. Having a *nix under the hood is so amazing I can't even tell ya. If you are Linux savvy you'll love it.

As for the Karma... correct me if i'm wrong here those who have them... but doesn't iTunes work out of the box with the Karma? I was floored when Kelly's Riot just popped up in iTunes so i'd imagine the Karma would as well.

I did have to have my logic board replaced for a RAM slot issue, but it took a whopping DAY to get it back from the Apple store here in SF. Talk about support man. Unbelievable. If you don't have a local service center repairs turnarounds are what... 2 weeks at most from what I gather?

You might want to wait a bit.. the new speed bumped powerbooks are supposedly a couple weeks away, and the G5's are just around the corner.

I can't recommend them enough!
Posted by: drakino

Re: Apple - 27/01/2005 22:39

No, the Karma does not work with iTunes. I usually keep the Karma ethernet attached and use RMMLite or JEmplode to send music over to it. Firmware upgrades do require a Windows machine however, but that does include working from VirtualPC.

Honestly if you like using Linux, a Powerbook should be a good fit. You get some awesome apps out of the box for doing mundane things like photo managment, plus can bring over most Linux apps using Gentoo for OS X or FINK.

Visio might be the problamatic application. I know there are several similar apps on the Powerbook (Including Omnigraffle that may come with your Powerbook, it did mine), but I don't know if any have Visio compatibility.

*Edit* Just read the Omni page closer, it looks like Omnigraffle Pro can read and write to Visio 2002 files. Guess there is some good coming out of the move to XML by Microsoft in their Office apps.
Posted by: phi144

Re: Apple - 27/01/2005 23:36

I second the recommendation on the Powerbook. I agree with Loren. I couldn't be happier with mine.

Loren, I read the comment about iTunes working with a Riot. I had one sitting in a drawer for a year and a half. I dug it out and plugged it in and I see iTunes DOES pick it up. I noticed it didn't show the right amount of disk space but all the songs were there. I'll charge it up and see what happens. I wouldn't mind having it sit near the stereo.

Thanks for the tip.
Posted by: andy

Re: Apple - 28/01/2005 08:44

Quote:
Guess there is some good coming out of the move to XML by Microsoft in their Office apps.


If you've ever looked at the XML that they create you might conclude that it is just as "easy" to reverse engineer a binary proprietry file format as it is to parse the Office XML files...

Mind you, I just ran across a similar case on the Mac. I was trying to find out how to read Garageband files in my app. Apple don't publish the file format and have said they have no plans to. I was suprised and delighted when I opened a Garageband file to find it was XML. Delighted that is until I read further down the file and found the <data></data> node that contained all the interesting stuff in a single base64 encoded block. So much for the openness of XML
Posted by: tman

Re: Apple - 28/01/2005 11:09

Quote:
I was suprised and delighted when I opened a Garageband file to find it was XML. Delighted that is until I read further down the file and found the <data></data> node that contained all the interesting stuff in a single base64 encoded block. So much for the openness of XML

Nice. Do you get the feeling that the programmers got told to make it XML at some late point in development?
Posted by: andy

Re: Apple - 28/01/2005 13:06

I think it to do with some of the builtin stuff in Mac OS X. I think it is a plist file, which contains XML.

It looks like of like this:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple Computer//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
<key>$archiver</key>
<string>NSKeyedArchiver</string>
<key>$objects</key>
<array>
<string>$null</string>
<dict>
<key>$class</key>
<dict>
<key>CF$UID</key>
<integer>2</integer>
</dict>
<key>DfTestModelCheckboxValue</key>
<false />
</dict>
<dict>
<key>$classes</key>
<array>
<string>DfTestModel</string>
<string>NSObject</string>
</array>
<key>$classname</key>
<string>DfTestModel</string>
</dict>
<dict>
<key>$class</key>
<dict>
<key>CF$UID</key>
<integer>5</integer>
</dict>
<key>DfLogicModelLogicSong</key>
<dict>
<key>CF$UID</key>
<integer>4</integer>
</dict>
</dict>
<data>q8BHEwUXABUABAAkCRXwAAAAAAQAAAkV+fwJFfykCReYOglpsZAAlgAAAJYA AAABAQAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAIAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAwAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAJFoc0AAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAknwAAST4AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAP////8AAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAwMEAAQoAAAAAAAAAABk

etc, etc...
Posted by: drakino

Re: Apple - 28/01/2005 15:28

Yeah, the OS X preference for config files and other things is .plist files, aka XML. By what I understand, they have an API that makes it real easy for a program to save settings to ~/Library, similar to the API hools in Windows to save to the registry.

The use of XML by both Trillian and Proteus made it pretty simple to migrate my massive IM list over, keeping my custom renamed contacts and metacontacts in the move.
Posted by: hybrid8

Re: Apple - 28/01/2005 15:42

Is Proteus *THE* IM to use on the Mac? I've been meaning to post about this since getting my PowerBook (here's another vote for going Apple mobile).

Currently there's still no text editor to match TextPad for Windows, but the closest seems to be BBEdit/TextWrangler (TW features most of BB's features and was recently made free).

Bruno
Posted by: DLF

Re: Apple - 28/01/2005 15:47

Quote:
blah blah blah...

*Edit* Just read the Omni page closer, it looks like Omnigraffle Pro can read and write to Visio 2002 files. Guess there is some good coming out of the move to XML by Microsoft in their Office apps.


Seriously? When I read the 'XML' announcement from M$, I honestly thought it was a joke. You're saying it has been proven to actually facilitate cross-platform file-sharing betw. differing Mac/PC apps?!
Posted by: DLF

Re: Apple - 28/01/2005 15:55

Ahh, a 64-bit encoded block o'crap inside an XML data wrapper, eh?

That 'xplains it....
Posted by: drakino

Re: Apple - 28/01/2005 15:57

Proteus was ok back when I switched, but has made some bad moves in my eyes. It has recently been taken over by another company who is improving the problems introduced by versions 3 and 4, but it is slow going.

Adium seems to be the popular one these days to go for. I'm probably going to switch to it if I ever reload my Powerbook, but that might only be around the time Tiger comes out.
Posted by: loren

Re: Apple - 28/01/2005 18:45

Been using Adium from the get go. No voice or video though... use iChat AV for those if needed.
Posted by: hybrid8

Re: Apple - 29/01/2005 05:05

Do either Proteus or Adium support any type of encrypted chat? I know Fire does, but the last time I used it, the UI left a lot to be desired.

Adium looked decent from what I saw on the web page. But I didn't see anything that made it stand out over Proteus. I'll likely try both of them.

Bruno
Posted by: loren

Re: Apple - 29/01/2005 13:53

Not sure about encrypted chat. Hadn't even looked for it in Adium.
Posted by: _hardcore_

Re: Apple - 29/01/2005 19:38

Quote:
Everything you listed has a Mac counterpart that is file compatible. I've never used groupwise however so you've got me on that one.

I've said it before and i'll say it again, switching to this Powerbook has been one of the best things i've done in a long time. I got so sick of the PC headaches. Everything i've wanted to do on this thing has either just worked or been stupid easy to figure out. The workflow is just phenomenal with apps like Quicksilver, Sidetrack, iTerm, and Expose. The only thing i've had to use Virtual PC for so far is for my GPS. Having a *nix under the hood is so amazing I can't even tell ya. If you are Linux savvy you'll love it.

As for the Karma... correct me if i'm wrong here those who have them... but doesn't iTunes work out of the box with the Karma? I was floored when Kelly's Riot just popped up in iTunes so i'd imagine the Karma would as well.

I did have to have my logic board replaced for a RAM slot issue, but it took a whopping DAY to get it back from the Apple store here in SF. Talk about support man. Unbelievable. If you don't have a local service center repairs turnarounds are what... 2 weeks at most from what I gather?

You might want to wait a bit.. the new speed bumped powerbooks are supposedly a couple weeks away, and the G5's are just around the corner.

I can't recommend them enough!


It's hard not to be convinced into buying a powerbook.. One thing that i forgot to mention - i hardly ever play a game at all, last game i played regulary was raptor back when it was released in '94(?)..

I think i'll wait a month or so, before i buy anything - want to wait for a G5 or a faster G4 powerbook.

Thanks for the feedback.

\\Kaare
Posted by: _hardcore_

Re: Apple - 29/01/2005 19:42

By the way - can you recommend any apple related forums/sites ?

\\Kaare
Posted by: drakino

Re: Apple - 29/01/2005 19:57

I find the boards at MacNN to be ok. For the most part my questions have been answered pretty quickly. Just keep in mind it is a high volume board, so things like e-mail subscriptions to threads you post in become even more useful.
Posted by: _hardcore_

Re: Apple - 29/01/2005 21:43

Thanks - just read an article on anandtech linked from macnn (about the powerbook) - made up my mind and ordered a 15" powerbook..

\\Kaare
Posted by: loren

Re: Apple - 29/01/2005 23:52

Hahah... couldn't hold off could ya! There's also some forums on apple's website, but they aren't the best. They are surprising low volume though.

I highly recommend Sidetrack (turns the sides of your trackpad into scroll bars and corners into whatever you want), and Quicksilver (hard to describe, but it allows super fast access to files without touching the mouse). Those two apps I can't live without on my Powerbook.

I spent all of last night moving my mail and address book out of Entourage and into the Apple Mail, Address Book, and iCal programs, which are damn nice. I now have everything synced in my phone and various places. Entourage is needless bloat. If iPhoto would only catch up to something like iView Media Pro (it's getting close with iPhoto5) then i'd be all about the iLife apps. =]

God I love how it all just works together!
Posted by: drakino

Re: Apple - 30/01/2005 02:36

Quote:
(it's getting close with iPhoto5)


So you have iLife 05? Is it worth the $80 upgrade fee? The old price of $50 I could probably justify without much thought, but $80 is a bit harder. I may just wait to get a new powerbook (or a mini) sometime this year and just get it bundled.
Posted by: hybrid8

Re: Apple - 30/01/2005 02:52

You ordered already anyway, but I just wanted to let you know you won't be seeing a G5 Powerbook any time soon. Hopefully that makes you feel even better about your purchase.

Bruno
Posted by: hybrid8

Re: Apple - 30/01/2005 03:06

I was just talking to someone today about scrolling with the pad. I mentioned that the OS didn't support this natively but that someone must have written a tool for it. Now I know the name of such a program, thanks. I'll give it a shot. I don't have the pad click ability enabled because it drove me up the wall no matter how I set it, but I can see muself using the scrolling. Mac OS X definitely spoils you on the keyboard shortcuts - when they're used consistently.

iLife... For me, mostly fluff unfortunately. I don't get the chance to use anything except iTunes once in a while. But I agree, iDVD and iMovie are pretty good. I have no interest in Garageband though and iPhoto has always bee sub-par (and that's being extremely kind).

I'm going to move all my archived mail over to Thunderbird and then see how well I can get a scheduled backup going and if I can also get at it from my Windows machines (using TheBat with multiple machines was very easy). I've had the PB since August but have yet to sync it with my phone (T68i). There a really neat application that will put up nice caller display messages on your screen when someone calls on your phone - gets the info from your address book - you can answer or reject the call right from the computer too (though you have to use the phone to talk - for now). Makes using any bluetooth phone with Mac OS much nicer. I forget the name as I don't have it installed right now, but I'll post it when I remember.

I don't have my PB very customized or anything, I just do day-to-day with Firefox and a number of other programs.

Microsoft Remote Destop Conection client to connect to my PCs at home (so I rarely ever actually use them hands-on anymore).
TextWrangler (now free) text editor.
MPlayer (with Mac OS X GUI) for playing movies - I only use QuickTime player for movie trailers.
RCDefaultApp to define what application is used for various URLs, file extensions, filetypes, etc.. Invaluable.
Will probably start using Web Confidential (Mac and Windows) for password (and other info) storage.

Still need a really good Hex editor (looking for something as good as Hex Workshop for Windows ideally.

Bruno
Posted by: drakino

Re: Apple - 30/01/2005 03:11

Quote:
There a really neat application that will put up nice caller display messages on your screen when someone calls on your phone - gets the info from your address book - you can answer or reject the call right from the computer too (though you have to use the phone to talk - for now). Makes using any bluetooth phone with Mac OS much nicer. I forget the name as I don't have it installed right now, but I'll post it when I remember.


Address Book does this. As long as a bluetooth phone is paired, it puts a bluetooth icon in the bar. Turning that on will pop up a caller ID display with answer/reject/send SMS options.
Posted by: hybrid8

Re: Apple - 30/01/2005 03:13

But you have to see the way this other program does it - and the confirguration options. It's just extremely slick.

Bruno
Posted by: _hardcore_

Re: Apple - 30/01/2005 13:10

Quote:
Hahah... couldn't hold off could ya! There's also some forums on apple's website, but they aren't the best. They are surprising low volume though.

I highly recommend Sidetrack (turns the sides of your trackpad into scroll bars and corners into whatever you want), and Quicksilver (hard to describe, but it allows super fast access to files without touching the mouse). Those two apps I can't live without on my Powerbook.

I spent all of last night moving my mail and address book out of Entourage and into the Apple Mail, Address Book, and iCal programs, which are damn nice. I now have everything synced in my phone and various places. Entourage is needless bloat. If iPhoto would only catch up to something like iView Media Pro (it's getting close with iPhoto5) then i'd be all about the iLife apps. =]

God I love how it all just works together!


Nope.. Couldn't hold off.. Actually the movie clips from the article at Andantechs website sold it to me.. I'm a sucker for a smooth interface.

By Browsing Apples website i found a nifty product that i ordered along with the powerbook. Its the device called "Griffin PowerMate" - looks like what i've been missing for a couple of years!..

\\Kaare
Posted by: _hardcore_

Re: Apple - 30/01/2005 13:17

Quote:
You ordered already anyway, but I just wanted to let you know you won't be seeing a G5 Powerbook any time soon. Hopefully that makes you feel even better about your purchase.

Bruno


Thanks.. I more or less of that opinion after reading a little at the macnn.com forums! - so i thought, what could i loose! I'm a first time Apple buyer - surely i wouldn't be able to notice the difference..

\\Kaare
Posted by: loren

Re: Apple - 30/01/2005 17:24

Bruno: RE: scrolling. SideTrack allows you to use the corners of the pad for tapping without enabling the entire pad for clicking, which i hate as well. I just use the corners for Expose functions, and the upper right to simulate a right click. It takes a little getting used to but there are plenty of ways to modify the sensitivity so that it works well for you.

The program you are talking about is BluePhoneElite I think. I use it... it's definitely slick. The SMS browser built into it is super useful if you SMS alot.

Tom: I just say that about iPhoto from using it at Macworld. I can't justify the $$ either.

Kaare: The Powermate... that's another cool gadget that I can't justify. What are you planning on using it for?

EDIT: Hahah... the bug is going around. After destroying two old PC laptops with viruses and spyware to the point where I don't even want to bother with them... Kelly has decided to go pick up an iBook today, which means an ever so dangerous trip to the Apple Store!
Posted by: _hardcore_

Re: Apple - 30/01/2005 20:44

Quote:
Kaare: The Powermate... that's another cool gadget that I can't justify. What are you planning on using it for?

EDIT: Hahah... the bug is going around. After destroying two old PC laptops with viruses and spyware to the point where I don't even want to bother with them... Kelly has decided to go pick up an iBook today, which means an ever so dangerous trip to the Apple Store!


As i read alot of large dokuments on my pc today, rather than printing them out on paper - i missing my scrollwheel alot!!.. My only work pc is a IBM T40 and i dont care to attach a mouse only for the scrollwheel, but this powermate device seems to be just what i've been looking for! It'll also come in handy when editing snowboard movies!!

\\Kaare
Posted by: andy

Re: Apple - 30/01/2005 21:12

Quote:
Just read the Omni page closer, it looks like Omnigraffle Pro can read and write to Visio 2002 files. Guess there is some good coming out of the move to XML by Microsoft in their Office apps.


Looks like Microsoft took an extra step recently as well:

http://www.microsoft.com/office/xml/default.mspx

They have actually published all the schemas for Office 2003 and documentation, with a non restrictive licence.
Posted by: drakino

Re: Apple - 31/01/2005 14:59

So, you might want to check with Apple today, since all the Powerbooks got speedbumped.
Posted by: Jerz

Re: Apple - 31/01/2005 15:29

They look nice but where are the memory card slots? Am I missing something?
Posted by: matthew_k

Re: Apple - 31/01/2005 15:44

Polishing the credit card at the moment, getting ready to purchase. I've been waiting for these things since at october.

Do I need/want the 128mb vram? I don't play games, so it's entirely a planning for "when tiger comes out" decision. I have no plans to be driving a 30" LCD with it unfortunatly, so that argument doesn't hold water.

Matthew
Posted by: drakino

Re: Apple - 31/01/2005 15:56

Memory card slots? As in slots for CF, SD, MMC, and other cards? Apple laptops don't include these, and I am glad actually. With changing memory standards, it is not likely a laptop with these slots will support everything after being a year old. The 15 and 17 inch models do have PCMCIA slots though, and card adaptors work fine in there. And all models have USB2, and work fine with the standard USB card readers. I have a very tiny one for my memory stick duo media that my camera takes, it just sits in a pocket in my laptop bag for the rare times it is used.

If you are asking where the memory DIMMs are, all powerbooks have memory access via a screwed down panel on the bottom of the case.

Regarding the 128 VRam, do you intend to have a second monitor attached frequently? If so, that dedicates half the ram to one screen and the other half to the second screen. Expose can get noticibly choppy with several windows open and only 32mb per display.

For now, that is about the only advantage if you have no plans on gaming on it. Core Image in Tiger seems to be used by Dashboard and such, so it is more eye candy pulling on the GPU. Likely though, 64mb will be plenty even for the dashboard effects on a single screen. Dual screen, and it could become choppy again.
Posted by: hybrid8

Re: Apple - 31/01/2005 16:36

I'd go for the extra 128MB VRAM before I would go for the extra processor speed from 1.5 to 1.67GHz.

BTW, Mac OS X's VRAM is allocated such that you don't make a hard split when multiple displays are active. If you need more memory on one and not on the other, that's fine. Only the memory allocated for the viewable display itself is allocated at all times. And at least a couple of backbuffers I suppose. But, 128MB is definitely preferrable to 64MB, especially when using shader programs, large textures, a lot of z buffers, etc. When 3D becomes trivial to use in Tiger you'll be seeing the graphics subsystem stressed a lot more often by many more applications besides games.

Bruno
Posted by: drakino

Re: Apple - 31/01/2005 17:32

Ahh, good to know about the memory split. I was thinking it was even, as system profile always shows 32 on the CRT and 32 on the laptop LCD, even when kicking in something like World of Warcraft on one screen.
Posted by: _hardcore_

Re: Apple - 31/01/2005 20:09

Quote:
So, you might want to check with Apple today, since all the Powerbooks got speedbumped.


Grhh... I just noticed that - guess what DHL is delivering to me early tomorrow? I can't really wheter or not i feel cheated :-)

\\Kaare
Posted by: matthew_k

Re: Apple - 31/01/2005 22:26

Where did you order it from that they shipped it out that quick? You're sure it's not an updated one, they're supposed to be shipping this week.

Matthew
Posted by: _hardcore_

Re: Apple - 01/02/2005 05:49

Quote:
Where did you order it from that they shipped it out that quick? You're sure it's not an updated one, they're supposed to be shipping this week.

Matthew


I'm more or less certain that it's not one of the new ones. I didn't order it directly from the apple store, as they had no in stock - instead i found a local apple pusher with around 30-40 in stock of the model i wanted. The only thing that i know i will be missing if it's one of the old ones is the trackpad scroll feature - the rest of the new "features" are more or less upgradeable. I did order it with the large gfx card - i do have a 100gb 5400rpm hdd sitting here at the table, just waiting to beinstalled. Was supposed to install it in my t40, as i've run out of space.. And i did get it with 1gb of extra ram.

Enhanced illuminated keyboard? - hmm, think i can live without it. And i bet that my use of word wouldn't put strain on the 1.5ghz cpu :-)

See, still trying to convince myself..

\\Kaare
Posted by: loren

Re: Apple - 01/02/2005 07:28

You won't miss the trackpad upgrade if you use SideTrack as i'd mentioned above. . . well, with the exception of being able to scroll around a page willy nilly as it appears you can do. Your locked to one axis at a time. The faster and + compatible burner is all i'd miss.
Posted by: drakino

Re: Apple - 01/02/2005 07:31

Quote:
+ compatible burner is all i'd miss.


You have a + compatible burner now according to this.
Posted by: loren

Re: Apple - 01/02/2005 08:38

Ah, so it was a software thing. Hm. It's the faster I really care about. + compatibility ain't no thang =]
Posted by: hybrid8

Re: Apple - 01/02/2005 20:53

It'll be interesting to see if the double-finger trackpad scrolling has anything at all to do with new hardware or if it's strictly software. If it's software, then we may see it in the next version of that cool trackpad driver replacement you mentioned above. Still need to install it.

The illuminated keyboard is included on all 15 and 17" Powerbooks going back 2 iterations. Very useful when the room is dark. Very annoying when it's not (makes it harder to read the keys if there's light in the room)

Bruno
Posted by: wfaulk

Re: Apple - 01/02/2005 21:06

I thought it was supposed to determine the amount of ambient light and brighten and dim accordingly. Or is that only the display?
Posted by: matthew_k

Re: Apple - 01/02/2005 21:29

Just to pick a nit, the backlit keyboard was optional on the 15 up until now... I beleive the ambient light sensor is supposed to turn on the keyboard backlight and control the screen brightness, but I've never used it.

Matthew
Posted by: hybrid8

Re: Apple - 01/02/2005 22:41

I'm pretty sure it was only an option on the 1.33GHZ model. The 1.5GHz I had didn't have an option to drop the backlit keyboard. The main point is that it's not something new. It's been around a long time. Infact, Apple dropped that feature in development at one point and then added it back. Had me thinking it wouldn't make it into this revision. I didn't know ahbout the other tweaks until now (because I hadn't used the protos much) - BT 2.0, double-finger track pad scrolling & motion sensor.

The keyboard lighting does come on wih the ambient light sensor. But it can get triggered just by shadow when the room is otherwise bright enough to clearly see the keybooard. The letters are visible because of contrast. Dark letters on lighter silver keys or bright letters on dark keys. When the light in the keys is just bright enough to make the letters blend into the silver keys, it's virtually impossible to make them out. Very annoying. You can alter the brightness of the keys - or turn them off - as long as they've been activated by the sensor. Cover both speaker grills with your hands and you can see them light up.

The newest Powerbooks are definitely constructed better than the previous ones as well. The latching mechanisms on the top cover are much better than the previous (which can be easily damaged when putting the machine back together after internal upgrades).

Bruno
Posted by: _hardcore_

Re: Apple - 02/02/2005 07:06

Quote:
You won't miss the trackpad upgrade if you use SideTrack as i'd mentioned above. . . well, with the exception of being able to scroll around a page willy nilly as it appears you can do. Your locked to one axis at a time. The faster and + compatible burner is all i'd miss.


Nice, mised your point with sidetrack. All i need is the ability to scroll downwards in a document. Scrolling in all directions is really no issue. At the same time, i have to mention that on my current t40 the scroll'ing feature is hardly useable, so i've lived without the feature for nearly two years.

\\Kaare
Posted by: _hardcore_

Re: Apple - 02/02/2005 07:08

Quote:
Just to pick a nit, the backlit keyboard was optional on the 15 up until now... I beleive the ambient light sensor is supposed to turn on the keyboard backlight and control the screen brightness, but I've never used it.

Matthew


I was only an option on the entry level powerbooks, ie. the 1.3ghz - on the 1.5ghz model is was mandantory.

\\Kaare
Posted by: wfaulk

Re: Apple - 02/02/2005 14:11

Quote:
it's virtually impossible to make [the keycaps] out. Very annoying.

It also occurs to me that maybe you should learn to touch-type.
Posted by: hybrid8

Re: Apple - 02/02/2005 15:03

I don't generally have to look at the keyboard to type, but I still find it distracting to have an otherwise blank slate under my hands. I've never been really good with the small impresions on the F and J to figure out orientation - and the flat keyboard just makes it harder to feel where the keys line up.

Bruno
Posted by: matthew_k

Re: Apple - 02/02/2005 15:05

Quote:
I've never been really good with the small impresions on the F and J to figure out orientation

So they aren't putting them on the d and k keys these days in cupertino? That's great news, as the nipples being in the wrong place used to frusterate me every time I sat down at a mac.

Matthew
Posted by: loren

Re: Apple - 02/02/2005 23:34

Nope... F and J where they should be. That used to drive me nuts too. Hm.... I wonder when they made the switch... i didn't notice.
Posted by: Dylan

Re: Apple - 02/02/2005 23:48

Quote:
Everything you listed has a Mac counterpart that is file compatible.


Is there free software that will work with Word and Excel documents or do I have to buy MS Office? It doesn't need to have all features of MS (in fact, I'd rather it didn't) but I would like more than bare bones word processing and spreadsheet functionality (better then WordPad).
Posted by: julf

Re: Apple - 03/02/2005 07:41

Quote:
Is there free software that will work with Word and Excel documents or do I have to buy MS Office? It doesn't need to have all features of MS (in fact, I'd rather it didn't) but I would like more than bare bones word processing and spreadsheet functionality (better then WordPad).

OpenOffice.org. I use it on Linux, Mac and Win XP. On the Mac, it's not very well integrated with the rest of the environment (it uses it's own UI/style under X11), but it does everything MS Office does...
Posted by: David

Re: Apple - 03/02/2005 09:28

NeoOffice might be worth a look. It is basically OpenOffice with a Java layer to provide a Mac interface. I've not used it myself, but I've heard good things about it.
Posted by: hybrid8

Re: Apple - 03/02/2005 12:48

Excel is limited to 65K rows, OpenOffice, last I checked was limited to 32K. That's not doing everything Office does. Plus its word processor looks bad. Really really bad.

Apple has their own word processor out now as part of iWork. Too bad they don't have a spreadsheet with decent row support (65K is still pathetic). It's not free, but it also doesn't break the bank. Plus, you don't get stuck using (bad) "free" software. There are other costs beyond sticker price.

There are also free or low cost reader applications to work with Word files (I don't know about Excel..)

Bruno
Posted by: julf

Re: Apple - 03/02/2005 12:56

Quote:
Excel is limited to 65K rows, OpenOffice, last I checked was limited to 32K.


Ahh. Hadn't realized that. Don't do spreadsheets with > 32K rows that often. And I would argue that if you have more than 1000 rows, you are using a spreadsheet for something it was not intended for - and then 64K is almost as bad as 32K.

Quote:
Plus its word processor looks bad. Really really bad.

True. But not quite as bad as MS Word.
Quote:
There are other costs beyond sticker price.

Absolutely. The thing that is priceless to me is portability across platforms (as someone who uses Windows, Mac, Linux and BSD on a daily basis).

Posted by: hybrid8

Re: Apple - 03/02/2005 13:33

A spreadsheet is a great tool for data mining and manipulation before such data is ready for a database and/or before such a database and associated browsing tools are completed.

I'm all ears if someone has something else to suggest that I can pick up and use immediately to batch correct fields within a very large file (CSV source with up to 20 columns or so). A lot of the correcitons I'm making require visually seeing the data in a grid-like presentation to identify inconsistencies visually.

Whether most people will require greater than 65K isn't the most important detail. The program could be engineered to support it and it isn't. It's the same thing as MS telling someone they won't need more than "X" amount of memory on their computer.

Word and Excel for Mac OS X look quite decent. Apple's new "Pages" program looks very nice and seems to overlap into Page Layout (ala PageMaker, InDesign, etc..) while still presenting a very clean interface (which may or may not be easy to use - I'll have to see).

Now if only someone would make a very fast text editor that does proper macro recording and playback. The more I use TextWrangler (free editor from the BBEdit guys, nearly identical), the more underwhelmed I am. TextPad for Windows is the king.

Bruno
Posted by: hybrid8

Re: Apple - 03/02/2005 13:39

I installed Sidetrack last night. So far really liking it. Need to use it for a longer period of time to get used to the corner clicks I've set up.

Also finally installed "Path Finder" - an alternate file manager which can be run in place of the standard Finder. A bunch more setup/config options and a lot of extra shell-like functionality thrown in. My main reason for seeking this out was to get proper file sorting into browser views: Folder at the top, and not intermixed with files in the standard back-asswards Mac way (I've been hating that about Mac OS for over 10 years).

Bruno
Posted by: wfaulk

Re: Apple - 03/02/2005 13:40

vi continues to be the king of text editors, IMO. There's a GUI port of vim for MacOS X.

I'd say that the proper tool for massive amounts of data before you're ready to put it in a database is a database. You can create and drop tables pretty easily, and GUI "raw"-ish interfaces are plentiful.
Posted by: mlord

Re: Apple - 03/02/2005 15:21

Quote:
you don't get stuck using (bad) "free" software.


Exactly. With OpenSource software, you're not stuck to a proprietary file format, nor to a continuous revenue stream of updates from the vendor just to stay "compatible".

But hey.. spend yer monies how ya pleases to!

Cheers
Posted by: hybrid8

Re: Apple - 03/02/2005 20:24

Names. If it takes me longer to find an implement a temporary solution than it does to do all the mangling in Excel, then it's not a viable option. I haven't been able to find anything that will do the job yet.

I will agree that vi is powerful, but for something to be KING it has to offer more than a text editing engine. The UI tacked onto the Mac OS X version (or any platform for that matter) would have to be evaluated.

My requirements are modest, but most editors fail here or there. TextPad is the only thing I've found so far that has not limited anything I've wanted to do.

Bruno
Posted by: wfaulk

Re: Apple - 03/02/2005 20:58

How are you importing this data into Excel? Without knowing what problem you're trying to solve, I don't know how to solve it. Honestly, I don't use a database that way much, so I'm probably not the right guy to ask, but I've seen a lot of DBAs use some apparently powerful front-end tools.

Personally, I never use any of the vi GUIs. Waste of time and space. (Except for under Windows, which has virtually no text-mode interface.) You're not editing pictures, you're editing text.

TextPad is the nicest thing I ever found for Windows (beyond vi), but it doesn't do much more than allow you to edit text. There don't seem to be any advanced features that aid in editing text, only a nice UI.

Quote:
for [a text editor] to be KING it has to offer more than a text editing engine

Oh. It sounds like you'd be more of an emacs man. I'm pretty sure it comes with a kitchen sink in addition to its email client, news reader, lisp interpreter, and autofellator.
Posted by: hybrid8

Re: Apple - 03/02/2005 22:13

What I meant is that you can stuff the same basic engine into a lot of different packages and they'll not all be of the same quality. Without a GUI I would never be able to remember but a few of the hundreds of features/functions that are possible from a menu system. it would also be a lot harder to construct complex queries, replaces, macros, etc. and manage them (saved favorites, etc.)

Some people have a need for SFTP, I don't. Functions of other programs (news client, email, etc.) is fluff. If I hated a GUI that much I'd use a terminal for everything. But then I'd likely not use a computer for very much at all any more. Likewise, all you need is a canvas and a pencil (or paints if you prefer) to gget down with artwork. The GUI should allways be an asset, not a hinderance. And in TextPad it is definitely an asset.

Bruno
Posted by: hybrid8

Re: Apple - 03/02/2005 22:21

It's not importing into Excel that's of benefit. it can be easily placed into a database. it's all about the editing. I have about 80000 rows and 6-10 columns. The first column indicates where the data came from (let's say 6 different IDs there), then we have a BRAND column, a MODEL column, category column and then a few columns of other stats like Part No, Equiv Part No. etc.. I need to sort by one or more columns to put the rows into different grouped blocks to weed out duplicates on select columns and copy/merge data from select cells. A lot of entries are missing information. I'm using these groupings to be able to fill in some of the missing info. Such as category after sorting by model - where I can then highlight a range of rows and change the category contents for just those items.

This is super easy to do with a spreadsheet. With a database lacking a spreadsheet-like interface, it would require custom queries be created and then custom code for the different merging functions and more work for fills, etc. I don't know how to link up Excel to a DB back end right now. In the end this data will be used as part of a much bigger DB with a lot more info and things will be linked in many more complex ways than simply by row and manual sorting. But we're not there yet and need to process this data to get some other work done.

Bruno
Posted by: TigerJimmy

Re: Apple - 03/02/2005 23:19

The whole point of 4th generation languages is to do things like this. You can do much of it in Excel, but that's like fixing your car with a crescent wrench. What you're describing is "select where" functionality. Nothing beats SQL for this, and it is one of the simplest of tasks that you can do with it. You can do some very, very complicated data manipulation with just a few lines of SQL. I'm no SQL expert, but problems like these are why it was invented.

FWIW,
Jim
Posted by: Dignan

Re: Apple - 04/02/2005 01:15

My 2 cents:

I don't think large Excell files are good. I ran into one person at work who couldn't do a mail merge with Word because the table she was trying to use had over 3100 rows and columns out to BT. Guess what, it doesn't work!

But I do agree with Bruno that I have yet to find something to replace MS Office (sadly). Openoffice isn't exactly a joy to use. Abiword isn't too bad, but also not great.
Posted by: bonzi

Re: Apple - 04/02/2005 05:39

Well, for that kind of manual data editing and cleaning-up (as in "I don't know what I have to change untill I see it") spreadsheet is pretty handy. However, a decent database front end is much better. Here you can still do manual changes, but for anything involving more that a row or two you write an SQL one-liner instead. I usually end up using combination of SQL and 'visual inspection' to find inconsistencies, but mostly SQL to fix them. (The tasks were similar to yours, albait in different 'domain' - once is was food safety lab parameters (kind of sample, lab, what is measured, method, instrument, limits, units etc), the other parameters defining retail banking products). That was not fun
Posted by: bonzi

Re: Apple - 04/02/2005 05:50

Quote:
Personally, I never use any of the vi GUIs. Waste of time and space. (Except for under Windows, which has virtually no text-mode interface.) You're not editing pictures, you're editing text.

I cannot imagine working on Windows without Cygwin. It does not quite lets you think you are on an actual operating system, but comes pretty close. However, I still find myself using a GUI version of vim (mostly launched by an one-letter alias from bash, but also from explorer context menu) more often that not. Then again, GUI and text version of vim differ mostly in more readable syntax highlighting and a few usefull menus...
Posted by: wfaulk

Re: Apple - 04/02/2005 13:55

Quote:
If I hated a GUI that much I'd use a terminal for everything.

Hmm. I resemble that remark.
Posted by: wfaulk

Re: Apple - 04/02/2005 13:56

Quote:
GUI and text version of vim differ mostly in more readable syntax highlighting

Not if you have a 256-color xterm.
Posted by: Daria

Re: Apple - 04/02/2005 14:35

It wasn't until the other night that I noticed the ambient light sensor was dimming my display in some cases. Very weird.
Posted by: bonzi

Re: Apple - 04/02/2005 14:56

Quote:
Not if you have a 256-color xterm.

Hm, true, Cygwin's bash is just an ordinary DOS prompt, meaning at most ANSI, meaning 16 colors...
Posted by: wfaulk

Re: Apple - 04/02/2005 15:54

Maybe you could use PuTTY to ssh to localhost....
Posted by: _hardcore_

Re: Apple - 04/02/2005 16:52

Hi all..

First post from my powerbook g4 - just wanted to let you know!..

//Kaare
Posted by: matthew_k

Re: Apple - 04/02/2005 20:03

Bruno, I suppose you're the person to ask about this - is there any possibilty of splitting the dual-link dvi and convincing it to drive two seperate external monitors? I saw some chatter about this on some message boards, but figure it isn't possible or Apple would be marketing it as a feature.

Matthew
(Who's waiting for his student developer status to be confirmed so his 15" SD w/ 128vram can be ordered)
Posted by: hybrid8

Re: Apple - 04/02/2005 20:48

Do you have a squeaky spacebar?

Bruno
Posted by: hybrid8

Re: Apple - 04/02/2005 20:56

It's impossible to use the dual link DVI connector to drive two independent displays. It's only attached internally to a single display controller, that's point number one. Dual link DVI also works by sending odd pixels to one link and even to the other, so even if any type of "splitter" were made it would be rather useless. Because, it's only a single display. Back to point number one.

If someone wants multiple displays on their Powerbook, they should seek out the company DigitalTigers ( http://www.digitaltigers.com ). Tell them I sent you and that I should really get a little kickback for the sales referral. (I'm serious).

Bruno
Posted by: wfaulk

Re: Apple - 05/02/2005 02:16

Hey. You don't happen to know a product that'll do NTSC- or HDTV-out from a laptop, do you? I'd like to be able to play AVIs on my TV, but I don't really feel like having a dedicated computer for it.
Posted by: hybrid8

Re: Apple - 05/02/2005 04:25

All Mac notebooks have TV output, NTSC and PAL. And all recent ones support HDTV resolutions/modes over DVI. If you don't have a Mac notebook and yours doesn't have TV output capability, then you'll have to find something that takes VGA signal and converts to NTSC. They exist, but I don't know any brand/product information.

It's possible to have TV-out capability wired up through a DVI or VGA port if there's no dedicated SVIDEO/Composite ports. You'd have to check the documentation for your machine to know. Then you'd use an adapter from the notebook vendor. Our latest Mac cards have analog TV lines wired to their DVI ports for instance.

I just finished watching Equilibrium on my PowerBook connected to my TV.

Bruno
Posted by: _hardcore_

Re: Apple - 05/02/2005 07:19

Quote:
Do you have a squeaky spacebar?

Bruno


Eh? You'll have to explain it to me (English is not my native language!)

//Kaare
Posted by: hybrid8

Re: Apple - 05/02/2005 15:05

My Spacebar made a noise whenever I'd press it on the right side. it was very annoying. Through much (much) typing over the past four months it seems to have gone away. It's been reported by other people with their Powerbooks as well, so I thought I'd ask.

Bruno
Posted by: tfabris

Re: Apple - 05/02/2005 16:59

Quote:
You don't happen to know a product that'll do NTSC- or HDTV-out from a laptop, do you?

Also keep in mind that if your HDTV happens to have a five-wire RGBHV input (like mine), then all you need is the proper cable. An RGBHV input is usually five ganged RCA plugs color-coded red, green, blue, white, and yellow.

The RGBHV input on an HDTV is just the same a VGA output. All you need is to get what's called a "breakout cable", which converts the VGA D-sub connector into five RCA connectors.

I built one of these breakout cables myself with Radio Shack parts, but they can be bought at places like bettercables.com .

On my PC, I have to run the PowerStrip utility to tweak the scan frequencies slightly so that it all looks right on the TV. I don't know how much control a Mac will give you over the scan frequencies, you could research that.
Posted by: drakino

Re: Apple - 05/02/2005 17:42

Display Config X gives similar control on a Mac.
Posted by: _hardcore_

Re: Apple - 05/02/2005 20:12

Quote:
My Spacebar made a noise whenever I'd press it on the right side. it was very annoying. Through much (much) typing over the past four months it seems to have gone away. It's been reported by other people with their Powerbooks as well, so I thought I'd ask.

Bruno


Ahh, that simple.. Nope - sofar nothing's wrong with the powerbook. I have som difficulties connecting to my groupwise server, but hopefully i'll be able to work out a solution.. I'm blazed away with the clearness of the fonts.. Reading a large document, or a web page is SO much quicker on a mac than on a win pc - simply because the fonts are much much more reableable and friendly to the eyes..

//Kaare
Posted by: wfaulk

Re: Apple - 07/02/2005 15:04

Quote:
All Mac notebooks have TV output, NTSC and PAL. And all recent ones support HDTV resolutions/modes over DVI. If you don't have a Mac notebook and yours doesn't have TV output capability, then you'll have to find something that takes VGA signal and converts to NTSC. They exist, but I don't know any brand/product information.

My Mac notebook is now too slow to play the majority of AVI files out there without some serious slow framerate issues.

I was looking for something for my PC laptop, as it's capable of playing everything I want. I just want it to use the TV and it has no TV output. I just thought you might know of something other than a VGA-to-NTSC adapter. It seems like there ought to be a simple Firewire or USB2 or PCMCIA adapter that would be a display for the PC on which I could full-screen a video player application. I just can't come up with any reason why no one makes something like this, but no one seems to.
Posted by: peter

Re: Apple - 07/02/2005 15:16

Quote:
It seems like there ought to be a simple Firewire or USB2 or PCMCIA adapter that would be a display for the PC on which I could full-screen a video player application. I just can't come up with any reason why no one makes something like this, but no one seems to.

Bus bandwidth. Updating an 800x600, 32bpp display 25 times a second is 48Mbytes/s -- too much for Firewire or USB2, and probably too much for PCMCIA. PCI and USB are still much faster.

Peter
Posted by: wfaulk

Re: Apple - 07/02/2005 15:35

Your idea is demonstrably untrue based on the fact that people have been doing realtime Firewire NTSC video input for years, and that's certainly FW400. I'll admit that it's near the threshhold, but not there.

NTSC is 720x540, tops, but if we're talking about setting it up as a Windows display, let's assume the worst since it's not going to wander back and forth. The framerate is 29.97fps. Assuming 32bpp, that comes to a little under 356Mbps, which is well less than Firewire's 400Mbps.

PAL maxes out its resolutions at 768x576 and has a framerate of 25fps. Again assuming 32bpp, that's 337.5Mbps.

Both of those numbers are also under USB2's max bandwidth of 480Mbps, though I wouldn't be surprised if USB2's overhead put them just over. Still, if you reduce that 32bpp to 24, you get 267Mbps and 253Mbps, which are both well under both limits.

I'll admit that (1080i) HDTV resolutions would be too great, even for FireWire800, at a little under 1.2Gbps, best case. 720p resolutions could probably fit in FireWire800, though.
Posted by: peter

Re: Apple - 07/02/2005 15:54

Quote:
Your idea is demonstrably untrue based on the fact that people have been doing realtime Firewire NTSC video input for years, and that's certainly FW400.

Uncompressed?

Peter
Posted by: wfaulk

Re: Apple - 07/02/2005 16:38

Hmm. Good question. Perhaps not. I was specifically thinking of extracting video from real-time non-digital sources (usually VHS VCRs), but there is a box that sits in between that could be doing DV compression. Still, if it is, a box to do DV decompression would be fine by me.
Posted by: tman

Re: Apple - 07/02/2005 17:18

Dunno if it's suitable but there is the Telegnosis USB 2.0 -> VGA adapter
Posted by: wfaulk

Re: Apple - 07/02/2005 17:26

Well, I want a USB->NTSC adapter, so no. But proof of concept nonetheless.
Posted by: hybrid8

Re: Apple - 07/02/2005 17:36

All (near) broadcast quality Firewire input products do compression or bring in already-compressed content. Either DV, MPEG-Something (2 usually) or some (semi-)custom solution.

There are PC-Card video adapters available.

http://www.bizrate.com/buy/products__att247--34512-,cat_id--405.html

Your laptop's PCCard slot/software must support ZV (ZoomedVideo)

Just do a Google search for "zv card"

BTW, have you tried MPlayer on your aging Mac?

Bruno
Posted by: wfaulk

Re: Apple - 07/02/2005 17:58

I believe so, but it's worth double-checking.
Posted by: hybrid8

Re: Apple - 08/02/2005 03:26

These are VGA to TV converters:

Small and $105 from the place linked.
http://www.baber.com/baber/products/tview_micro.htm

Larger and includes a remote and a $199 price tag.
http://www.baber.com/baber/products/tview_gold.htm

This ADS unit comes with a small remote and can be found for less than $80:
http://www.adstech.com/products/TVEliteXGA/intro/XGA128intro.asp?pid=XGA-128

You can also go with a device I've mentioned before from DVDO - an HDTV upconverter - which can be used with any number of video sources, including VGA and DVI computer connections. That goes for about $1500 and is the side of a consumer DVD player - maybe a little overkill for your purpose.

Bruno
Posted by: tman

Re: Apple - 08/02/2005 11:38

On a side note, anybody know if this means my Mini is defective? If I watch a DVD on my Compaq DVI monitor at it's max of 1280x1024 or 1280x960 then I get pink flickery lines overlaid all over the screen. If I use 1152x870 or below then it appears to work fine.

Using the VGA dongle and the VGA input on the monitor works with no problems at 1280x1024. The odd thing is that the monitor works fine with my PC using DVI at any resolution.
Posted by: peter

Re: Apple - 08/02/2005 12:02

Quote:
On a side note, anybody know if this means my Mini is defective? If I watch a DVD on my Compaq DVI monitor at it's max of 1280x1024 or 1280x960 then I get pink flickery lines overlaid all over the screen. If I use 1152x870 or below then it appears to work fine.

Using the VGA dongle and the VGA input on the monitor works with no problems at 1280x1024. The odd thing is that the monitor works fine with my PC using DVI at any resolution.

That's interesting, Hugo's does the same thing onto his 1280x768 plasma. It doesn't need to be a DVD, either: that lovely astronomy-photos screensaver does it too.

Peter
Posted by: tman

Re: Apple - 08/02/2005 12:13

Quote:
That's interesting, Hugo's does the same thing onto his 1280x768 plasma. It doesn't need to be a DVD, either: that lovely astronomy-photos screensaver does it too.


Hmm... Just tried it again and yeah, I get exactly the same pink lines when I'm using most of the screensavers. Wonder what is causing it. I'm going to "lug" it around to a friends later tonight and try it again there.
Posted by: hybrid8

Re: Apple - 08/02/2005 14:32

Sounds like a 3D problem (DVD and those screensavers pass through our OpenGL driver) - in which case it's the fault of someone here. I'll have someone in the office test that out. This is with a stock 10.3.7 OS install?

Bruno
Posted by: tman

Re: Apple - 08/02/2005 19:38

Yeah. It's a stock 10.3.7 install.

I tried my mini on a friends HP LCD with DVI and it worked fine at all resolutions. Tried his mini on my Compaq LCD and it had exactly the same flickering pink lines. Bit odd that it only occurs on certain DVI LCDs?
Posted by: hybrid8

Re: Apple - 09/02/2005 15:53

That sounds like a ROM problem then... It might already be a known issue, I'll check.

Bruno
Posted by: hybrid8

Re: Apple - 09/02/2005 19:54

Good and bad news....

The good news is we're pretty sure what the "problem" is. The bad news is there likely won't fix unless it comes from Apple.

Given the symptoms and details, this looks like a TMDS coherency issue. TMDS Receivers made by Ti and Si are supposed to be compatible but in reality need some slightly different support in the TMDS transmitter. On some panels (using the TMDS receiver the graphics chip is tweaked for) , noise will be seen at higher resolutions (generally at 1600, but can also be at 1280).

With some chips, we can toggle between coherent and incoherent modes for our TMDS transmitter. On our retail products with such chips, customers can use our ATI Displays control panel to change this setting themselves (this is also found in the Windows CP) - it's labeled something like "Alternate DVI Mode" or some such. Unfortunately there is no way to toggle this in the Apple OEM driver. And it would be up to Apple to request this feature and/or implement their own control for it.

There might already be a bug report filed at Apple about it. My suggestion is to call Apple and let them know this is a problem for you.

Bruno
Posted by: tman

Re: Apple - 09/02/2005 20:40

Thanks for looking into this Time to work out how to actually use this complimentary support thing that Apple keep saying I've got. I've looked through the Apple support site a few times and I still can't find where I can actually open a support case!

Looking in the discussions part for the Mac Mini shows there are quite a few other people experiencing the same issue.
Posted by: mcomb

Re: Apple - 09/02/2005 20:49

Quote:
There might already be a big report filed at Apple about it.


A longshot maybe, but the video drivers appear to have been updated as part of today's OS 10.3.8 update...

  • Improves DVD Player compatibility when playing a movie (using certain ATI Radeon cards) to an external widescreen TV with a 16:9 aspect ratio.
  • Resolves an issue in which a "flicker" could be seen when navigating DVD menus in DVD Player on certain PowerBook G4 computers.


-Mike
Posted by: tman

Re: Apple - 09/02/2005 21:05

Nope. No such luck. Still the same problem.
Posted by: hybrid8

Re: Apple - 09/02/2005 22:38

It's not fixed in any software update. It can't be without some type of control to toggle the coherency. If it's set the "other" way, then many more panels will (potentially) have a problem.

For those that have this problem... Look in Display Properties and see if there are refresh rates offered for your display. DVI panels don't normally show refresh rate, but check anyway. If you do, see if you can specify 60Hz (in case it's using 75Hz). Alternately, someone (I think Tom) mentioned a tool in this or the other Apple thread that allows you to alter display mode list. Another program to create custom modes is SwitchRes. See if your display(s) will support the desired resolution at 60Hz. Most panels are 60Hz, but a number support 60 and 75 annd the OS might be making only the higher mode.

Anyway, this isn't a guarantee, but a sugggestion in case it's not the coherency issue (alone) causing the problem. Just hope no one at work gives me sh*t for providing this much info.

Bruno
Posted by: matthew_k

Re: Apple - 21/02/2005 17:06

My 15"/1.67ghz/128mb vram/SD was delivered by the fedex man an hour ago, and I'm having the best President('s/s') Day that I can remember.

The thing really is a piece of art. Coming from Dells, it's just a new experience that's hard to describe. Everything is so much better thought out. The screen latch is amazing. I'd read about it, but never seen it in action. I'm not sure if the powerbooks at the Apple Store are set up so you can close them, but if they are, make sure to check it out the next time you're in one. The latch fully retracts into the top of the screen until you close the lid. Then, as the screen almost closes, magnets pull the hook down out of the screen so that it latches closed.

The AC adapter is similarly well engineered, to the point that I'm regretting having ordered two after market power supplies that were half the price.

Matthew
Posted by: loren

Re: Apple - 22/02/2005 01:42

Congrats!

I've been meaning to do a write up of must have/try apps. I've discovered quite a few lately. Make sure and check macosxhints.com if you have a question on how to do something not so obvious. There's some brilliant stuff there and versiontracker.com for your software needs. =]
Posted by: hybrid8

Re: Apple - 22/02/2005 02:51

You should also appreciate the enhanced lift action of the new top (screen) half. The older models aren't bad in this department, but the protos of the new model i've played with at work feature some nice efinements that makes lifting the screen so much better feeling. Hard to describe - just easy and smooth with no resistance when compared to other generations. As I've mentioned before (I think) the enclosure is also better physically engineered - the top half of the keyboard part has a much nicer internal latching mechanism to hold it all together - this isn't something you'll see, but should play out with increased longevity of the unit proper.

Bruno
Posted by: mlord

Re: Apple - 05/03/2005 17:41

Quote:
Excel is limited to 65K rows, OpenOffice, last I checked was limited to 32K.


65K in OpenOffice2 now, and it looks a lot prettier than before, as well.

Cheers