Posts Tagged ‘os x’
Five Reasons I Would Switch (Exclusively) to Linux
Yesterday I took a look at some of the applications that I’d miss if I decided to switch away from Mac OS X to using Linux exclusively. I felt that wasn’t quite fair as there are some really compelling reasons to switch to Linux and I really didn’t give it much chance (publicly that is). Here’s five reasons I do want to make the switch.
Aptitude
Good package management is absolutely critical on any OS that one is going to be developing or serving data off of. Sure, you can download and install packages as needed, but if those packages aren’t bundled up nicely (as often happens with open source software ported to OS X or Windows), installing those packages become a pain. Need to install an application with its dependencies? No problem! Just do an apt-get install (or use yum or yast, etc. pick your poison). Sure, there’s projects like Macports, but let’s face it, you can’t beat a good native package manager.
Usable OpenOffice.org
Yes, I know that OpenOffice.org runs on Mac OS X. However, every time I’ve seen it run on OS X it’s much slower than running it in Linux on slower hardware. Even using the NeoOffice product, it seems like it just isn’t as responsive or load nearly as fast as running OOo on Linux.
Gnome / KDE (i.e. choice)
One could argue that the Linux desktop managers offer too many options, but being able to theme (nicely, not like those lame underwater themes everyone ran on Windows 98) and tweak everything is definitely a bonus. One Linux box can look exactly the same or dramatically different than the next. The important thing is, it’s all up to the user. OS X looks beautiful, but freedom is worth something as well.
Hardware Freedom
I don’t violate the EULA by installing Linux on standard PC hardware. That’s a pretty compelling argument for Linux right there. I will agree that the Mac hardware is pretty dang slick and nice, but having the freedom to run my OS on the machine of my choice is a very important deciding factor in choosing which OS I will use. I also only have to mention virtualization and Apple loses out big-time there as it won’t allow OS X to be licensed to run in a virtualized environment (except for the server).
Native X11
I know that you can run X11-based applications on OS X, but what a pain in the butt. They’re slow to start, the keyboard options change and the window management is terrible. Seriously, run GIMP on a Mac and then use it on Linux. You won’t go back.
Tags: apple, linux, os x, ubuntu, virtualization
Filed under Tech Trends :
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Jul 31st, 2009
Five Apps That Are Keeping Me On OS X
I’ve been a Linux and OS X user for some time. Recently I’ve considered switching exclusively to Linux (Ubuntu specifically), but there’s a few applications that I need that are going to prevent me from doing so. If you’re a Mac user, be sure to check these applications out if you haven’t used them before as I find them invaluable.
Spotlight
Yes, I know that there are other multi-purpose search tools for Linux that have much more functionality, but none seem to be as fast or slick. Spotlight also integrates into other applications on my machine making it easy to search for applications, text in a document, text in an email, or even my web history very quickly and from one place.
Evernote
You can access Evernote in the browser, but it’s just not the same. The client in OS X does a great job of integrating with the iSight and
no matter how good the web app has gotten, it still can’t beat the thick client for speed and usability. The thick client also integrates with Spotlight (see above 
) which adds an even better experience with both applications.
1Password
I’d hate to see what would happen if I tried to survive without 1Password. Just having my saved logins accessible to multiple browsers is enough to make it worth buying this little app. If you’re using an iPhone or iPod Touch the deal gets even sweeter with syncing to your device as well, but I don’t have that luxury.
iChat
On the surface it’s just a Jabber client, but iChat goes beyond that to offer a slick screen and file sharing capability that is second to none. Sure, there’s other products out there that work ok, but none seem to be nearly as easy or convenient.
iPhoto
When it comes to photo management for consumers, iPhoto can’t be beaten. The application looks great and has the features you’d expect from any photo management software. It can manage events, albums, etc.. However, the integration with other applications in the iLife suite as well as a few new features in iPhoto make it unbeatable. With iPhoto 09, Apple introduced its face recognition technology to allow you to search through photos for pictures of an individual person. It also allows direct uploads to Facebook and Flickr, making it much easier to publish photos online for free.
Tags: apple, os x
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Jul 30th, 2009
Native Zimbra Syncing to OS X Snow Leopard, But Not The Way We All Thought
One of the biggest features that Apple is touting of the new version of OS X is native Exchange integration. Native Exchange integration is a great feature for Apple since not even Windows offers it. Being a Zimbra fan, I was hoping that Snow Leopard had implemented this via ActiveSync rather than Exchange’s Web Services. It turns out that this is not the case, but it looks like we may still get native syncing just not the way we all thought.
According to a Zimbra forum thread, this will likely happen via CardDAV and CalDAV. Zimbra has CardDAV support slated for version 6.01 which is supposedly scheduled around the same time as Snow Leopard. One of the new, not-so-hyped features of Snow Leopard is the use of CardDAV for Address Book Server along with (of course) support for CardDAV on the client side. OS X as well as Zimbra have supported CalDav for some time so calendar syncing. While it’s not quite as simple as we would have liked, it appears we’re still getting the native syncing that we were hoping for, just not the way that seemed obvious from the beginning.
Update: As @thebitnix points out, it’s not a bad thing that native sync with Zimbra isn’t happening via the Exchange protocols. It was just unexpected that it would happen via different methods.
Tags: apple, os x, snow leopard, zimbra
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Jun 19th, 2009
OS X 10.5.7 Finally Arrives
The seventh update to Apple’s OS X “Leopard” has finally arrived. The update was rumored to arrive on Friday, but the rumor mill apparently was wrong this time. The update weighs in at a hefty 449MB and includes loads of updates for several components of OS X, including: Apache, Bind, iChat, Kerberos, Flash, PHP, Ruby, Safari, Spotlight, and X11. Along with the updates for the OS X, Apple also released a security update for both Safari 3 and 4. The update mirror seems fairly slow from my Internet connection, so be patient. The update is available via Software Update on your Mac and does require a reboot.
Tags: apple, os x
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May 12th, 2009
Sharing Printer from Ubuntu to Mac OS X
Quite often we read about how small things are so much more complicated on Linux than on Windows. I set out on a journey today to add a printer via USB to my Ubuntu desktop and share it out to my MacBook at my new apartment. If there’s one thing in this sick, twisted world that I hate, it’s printers.
Given that background, I was shocked at just how easy it was to setup the printer, share it out, and connect to the shared printer using my Macs and other Linux machines on my home network. The printer that I worked with was just a cheap inkjet – an HP Deskjet D2330. I had a heck of a time with the driver for OS X directly connected, so I wasn’t expecting much. I plugged in the USB cable and voila, my Ubuntu desktop popped up a message that the printer was ready to rock. I opened up OpenOffice.org and printed out a doc just to make sure my desktop wasn’t just playing with my heartstrings. Sure enough, it printed my doc just fine.
Now, on to sharing. Doing a little poking around in the GUI, I found the printer configuration at System -> Administration -> Printing. Under the policies, the “Shared” check box was checked, so I popped open the System Preferences on my MacBook and tried to add a printer. I couldn’t find the printer in any of the discovered list. A quick Google search reminded me that the CUPS configuration web GUI could be found at: http://localhost:631 when CUPS was installed and running. I navigated to the page and found the check box called “Share published printers connected to this system”. I checked it and clicked “Change Settings”. When prompted to authenticate, I used my desktop login username and password.
When I flipped over to my MacBook, I opened up System Preferences again, added a printer and there my printer was. I clicked add and it was ready to go within moments.
After my successes on my MacBook, I decided to press my luck just a bit more by adding my Linux laptop as well. On my laptop, I run Xubuntu 9.04 and it was almost as easy to setup. I just opened the printer configuration window via Applications -> System -> Printing and clicked on the new printer button. The Xubuntu machine scanned for printers on the network, discovered my printer and added it. I can’t say I’ve had nearly that smooth of an experience adding any sort of printer to Windows.
Tags: apple, hardware, os x, ubuntu
Filed under How-Tos / Tips :
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Apr 27th, 2009
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