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iMac / Mac OS X initial experience

Macnoto lent us an iMac. It has been sitting in our sarang for a few weeks. I haven't had a chance to play with it since I was way too busy with things.

When I had a chance to play, it was converted to GNU/Linux Debian by Andika. Well, Linux is Linux. Although, it is impressive, I didn't want to play with it. I logged in into the iMac, but it was no different than my Intel-based Debian.

My encounter with Mac was way back in 1987 when I did my grad studies. I even played with Linux on PowerPC sometimes around 1996 or 1997 or perhaps earlier. At that time, when I typed fdisk (or was it df?), then system went panic. It reminded me of my earlier experience with GNU/Hurd. It went panic with df. Anyway, I don't want to play with this iMac in GNU mode. I want to play it native!

So, today, I have a chance to try it. Andika has restored this iMac into dual boot mode. I rebooted the machine in the Mac OS X mode, and here I am typing this entry on a iMac with Safari.

I hate to admit that I am lost in this new Mac environment. I don't know how to eject the DVD! (ouch). I do love the environment. It's so slick. It makes me want to buy a Mac. Right now I am saving my money to buy a PDA or something that could replace my Nokia 6100. (I was thinking of buying that HP/iPaq or O2.) Other than that, I want to buy a Mac. I am not sure whether I should buy a MacMini or an iBook. I need to replace my Fujitsu Lifebook. It's so slow. The thing is my Lifebook has been good to me (to my back). It's so small that is easy to carry and yet usable. But, it's too slow for my need now. After getting my mobile gadget, somekind of a Mac is in the horizon.

In case you have not noticed, I am a Mac fan (or an Apple fan, or Steve Jobs fan to be exact). My window manager in my Linux desktop is usually Afterstep, my MS Windows-based notebook has FlyakiteOSX (which turns my MS Windows into a Mac OS-X-like environment), and Aqua Dock.

The thing I like about this new Mac is the OS. It is based on UNIX. (Not really UNIX if you want to be precise.) I used to work on a NeXT workstation. In fact, I started my WWW experience at the time Tim Berners-Lee launced his WWW and HTTP(d). He used a NeXT workstation and I used a NeXT workstation. (At that time nobody wanted to use this NeXT workstation at work / at the University. Everybody wanted a Sun workstation. I did have a Sun workstation on my desk at that time.) NeXT operating system (NeXTstep) blew me away at that time. It is unfortunate that they went belly up. Perhaps, it was ahead of its time. In short, I would expect that this OS X will take that NeXT elegance and taste to the next level. I will tell my experience in future blog entries.


So, now, how do I eject the DVD? *blush*

Comments

Anonymous said…
there are more than one way to eject the dvd in mac:
1. press & hold the F12 key
2. from the finder, drag the dvd icon to the trash icon at the dock

if you want both a mac and friendly to your back, i think you can't go the ibook route, as it is relatively heavy, 2.3 kg compared to my thinkpad x20 which weighs only 1.6 kg. the lightest mac you could carry around is the 12" powerbook G4.

but if you don't mind the weight, the 12" ibook G4 is the best bang for the buck. not as hot as the powerbook, have superior wifi range than powerbooks (because powerbooks used metal casings that reduce the wifi signal power), and more rugged than powerbooks (the metal casing of the powerbooks are dent prone). the only ibooks drawback from their powerbooks counterpart are:
1. bigger dimension
2. heavier
3. max 1024x768 screen resolution
4. only had a mirror mode with dual screen, but can be hacked easily
5. less max memory
6. don't have the motion detector hardware as in the newest powerbooks
w said…
Dear Mas Budi,

welcome to Mac. unfortunately i dont have that much to say, as I too am a recent convert. I look forward to more of your Mac musings.
I was an undergrad when Steve Jobs came out with the NeXT machine. I really wanted one. Too bad the X machines never caught on, i agree with you that it was a machine well ahead of its time.

cheers.
avianto said…
Welcome to the Mac world =) At last...

Enjoy the world of Aquanite, Cocoaism and Carbonize.
Budi Rahardjo said…
My next exploration is in Bahasa Indonesia. It's available in my other blog at rahard.modblog.com.
Enjoy ...

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