Mac vs Windows

[editor]

I want to buy a mac next time round. I'm bored with my windows box.

Get Dell's new beefy Renegade box - it's bonkers and looks like Satan's own gaming machine!

http://www.dell.com/html/us/products/ces/index.htm

 

[jæd]

Get Dell's new beefy Renegade box - it's bonkers and looks like Satan's own gaming machine!

http://www.dell.com/html/us/products/ces/index.htm

I like their mobile computer concept thing... Just doesn't look too upgradeable...

 

[Dask]

It's worth remembering if it wasn't for the iMac, PC's would still be using PS/2 & Parallel ports from printers and keyboards.

 

[Kid_Eternity]

It's worth remembering if it wasn't for the iMac, PC's would still be using PS/2 & Parallel ports from printers and keyboards.

You're talking about them switching to usb right? I also thank em for ushering in the end of floppy disk usage with the first iMacs.

 

[Dask]

You're talking about them switching to usb right? I also thank em for ushering in the end of floppy disk usage with the first iMacs.

Yeah I'm talking about the start of USB, and the end of the floppy drive.

 

[Kid_Eternity]

Yeah I'm talking about the start of USB, and the end of the floppy drive.

I see, didn't realise one began the other...

 

[Pingu]

Get Dell's new beefy Renegade box - it's bonkers and looks like Satan's own gaming machine!

http://www.dell.com/html/us/products/ces/index.htm

*senses the sound of gamers jaws dropping, closly followed by the sense of them looking at their wallets in despair*

 

[Kid_Eternity]

*senses the sound of gamers jaws dropping, closly followed by the sense of them looking at their wallets in despair*

Very perceptive!

 

[Dask]

I see, didn't realise one began the other...

It didn't.

But the legacy of the floppy drive was on it's way out, just as USB arrived on the scene. There is no connection between the 2, that's just how it happened.

Those Dell machines look good, although I reckon that Gaming PC will be redundant by the time it actually comes out, as is the case with most pre assembled gaming machines.

 

[Kid_Eternity]

It didn't.

But the legacy of the floppy drive was on it's way out, just as USB arrived on the scene. There is no connection between the 2, that's just how it happened.

Those Dell machines look good, although I reckon that Gaming PC will be redundant by the time it actually comes out, as is the case with most pre assembled gaming machines.

Any wealth off hardcore gamer wouldn't buy one without considering upgrading five minutes after purchase...

 

[tom k&e]

I don't think anything's about to come out that will imeadiatly beat 4 7800s.

That thing will literaly cost about $5000

 

[editor]

It's worth remembering if it wasn't for the iMac, PC's would still be using PS/2 & Parallel ports from printers and keyboards.

Err, Apple may have hastended the demise of legacy ports in PCs, but they didn't invent USB, with the standard first being developed in 1995 - the first iMac didn't appear until 1998.

It started to appear on some PCs around 1997 and you could even buy a fascinating book on Developing USB PC Peripherals for Windows (steady at the back, there) in the same year, although one reader wasn't impressed:

A promis but not deliver Book!!!,

 

[Dask]

I never said Apple invented USB.

All I said was that without the iMac the take up of USB devices would of been considerably slower, as there where hardly any usb devices available at the time before it's launch.

 

[Dask]

Any wealth off hardcore gamer wouldn't buy one without considering upgrading five minutes after purchase...

It must be an expensive and heart breaking being an exteme gamer.

I'm glad I like MAME and SNES games best and don't have to worry about all that nonsense.

 

[tom k&e]

I never said Apple invented USB.

All I said was that without the iMac the take up of USB devices would of been considerably slower, as there where hardly any usb devices available at the time before it's launch.

Yeah, the iMac with it's mighty 1% market share must have been a really big factor in USB adoption rates

 

[Addy]

Err, Apple may have hastended the demise of legacy ports in PCs, but they didn't invent USB, with the standard first being developed in 1995 - the first iMac didn't appear until 1998.

It started to appear on some PCs around 1997 .....

This is true.
I remember having to buy a USB header bracket as and additional extra for my motherboard on my first x86 pc.
The power of USB never really came to light within households until Windows 98SE made use of the Plug and Play abilities of it.

 

[WWWeed]

As nice as it looks, I'd still rather bulid my own! Anyone know what price its gonna be in the uk roughly??

 

[jæd]

Yeah, the iMac with it's mighty 1% market share must have been a really big factor in USB adoption rates

Well... It hastened the demise of floppy disks as Apple were the first mainstream supplier to ship a computer without a floppy drive. Before then no-one would dare. Think paradigm shift, etc... Apple were also one of the first to start using USB keyboards/mice...

Windows didn't get USB support until 98SE sometime in 1999...

 

[Kid_Eternity]

It must be an expensive and heart breaking being an exteme gamer.

I'm glad I like MAME and SNES games best and don't have to worry about all that nonsense.

It is but thankfully i'm not one.

 

[editor]

Windows didn't get USB support until 98SE sometime in 1999...

From August 1997, actually.

http://www.umax.co.uk/support/technotes/f112B.htm

 

[Velouria]

All together now!

VMS.. VMS... VMS... VMS... yay, go VMS w00t!

yay!
If Urban75 ran on VMS ...

Welcome to OpenVMS(TM) Operating system, Version 7.3-1

Username: EDITOR
Password: 

Welcome to OpenVMS Version 7.3-1 on node URBN75
  Last interactive login on Friday, 6-JAN-2006 17:12 
  Last non-interactive login on Thursday, 5-JAN-2006 03:30

    You have 1314 new mail messages

$ show users
$ sh us fen_ /fu
      OpenVMS User Processes at  6-JAN-2006 5:55 PM
    Total number of users = 1,  number of processes = 1
 Username    Node     Process Name    PID        Terminal
 FEN_BOY     URBN75   FEN_BOY         2180012D   URB7236:
$ stop /id=2180012D
$ mc authorize mod fen_boy /flag=disuser
%UAF-I-UAFMOD, system authorization file modified
$ sh us fen_ /fu
%SHOW-I-NOSUCHUSER, no processes found for user FEN_
$ sh us velou /fu
      OpenVMS User Processes at  6-JAN-2006 5:55 PM
    Total number of users = 1,  number of processes = 1
 Username    Node     Process Name    PID        Terminal
 VELOURIA    URBN75   VELOURIA        218003AD   URB7256:
$ stop /id=218003AD
$ mc authorize mod velouria /flag=disuser
%UAF-I-UAFMOD, system authorization file modified
$ sh us velou /fu
%SHOW-I-NOSUCHUSER, no processes found for user VELOU
$ eoj
  EDITOR     logged out at  6-JAN-2006 17:57.03.45

 

[fen_boy]

yay!
If Urban75 ran on VMS ...

Welcome to OpenVMS(TM) Operating system, Version 7.3-1

Username: EDITOR
Password: 

Welcome to OpenVMS Version 7.3-1 on node URBN75
  Last interactive login on Friday, 6-JAN-2006 17:12 
  Last non-interactive login on Thursday, 5-JAN-2006 03:30

    You have 1314 new mail messages

$ show users
$ sh us fen_ /fu
      OpenVMS User Processes at  6-JAN-2006 5:55 PM
    Total number of users = 1,  number of processes = 1
 Username    Node     Process Name    PID        Terminal
 FEN_BOY     URBN75   FEN_BOY         2180012D   URB7236:
$ stop /id=2180012D
$ mc authorize mod fen_boy /flag=disuser
%UAF-I-UAFMOD, system authorization file modified
$ sh us fen_ /fu
%SHOW-I-NOSUCHUSER, no processes found for user FEN_
$ sh us velou /fu
      OpenVMS User Processes at  6-JAN-2006 5:55 PM
    Total number of users = 1,  number of processes = 1
 Username    Node     Process Name    PID        Terminal
 VELOURIA    URBN75   VELOURIA        218003AD   URB7256:
$ stop /id=218003AD
$ mc authorize mod velouria /flag=disuser
%UAF-I-UAFMOD, system authorization file modified
$ sh us velou /fu
%SHOW-I-NOSUCHUSER, no processes found for user VELOU
$ eoj
  EDITOR     logged out at  6-JAN-2006 17:57.03.45

HAHAHAHA Congratulations that's the geekiest post I've ever seen on U75

 

[Pingu]

HAHAHAHA Congratulations that's the geekiest post I've ever seen on U75

awaits edited solaris\linux\whatever log file entries being posted.

IT ONLY COUNTS IF YOU EDIT IT IN VI

 

[Dask]

Yeah, the iMac with it's mighty 1% market share must have been a really big factor in USB adoption rates

Before the iMac was released, Windows-based machines shipped with both USB and legacy connections, providing little incentive for third-party hardware manufacturers to create USB peripherals. Therefore, some credit the iMac for the proliferation of USB devices, also allowing current Macintosh users to use a large selection of cheap devices, such as hubs, scanners, storage devices, mice, and cables. A third-party cottage industry sprang up around the iMac. Via the USB port, hardware makers could make products compatible with both PCs and Macs (sometimes Mac driver software was required). Oddly, although USB was invented by Intel and was also available on the PC, many of these USB peripherals were made of translucent coloured plastic, a trend that continues. After the iMac, Apple continued to remove legacy peripheral connections and floppy drives from the rest of its product line; other computer makers have started to follow suit.

 

[tom k&e]

Oh my god, a quote from the ever reliable wikipedia, now I have been verily pwned, whatever will I do. It's not like the place is a famous refuge for mac fanboys & linux zealots. Not at all.

And as it says "some claim". Like some claim that the holocaust never happened.

 

[Dask]

You obviously know far more about it than me or the Mac fanboys who wrote the wikipedia entry then.

Infact why don't you correct the wiki entry so that it's factually correct, considering you seem to know soooo much about this subject.

 

[tom k&e]

You obviously know far more about it than me or the Mac fanboys who wrote the wikipedia entry then.

Infact why don't you correct the wiki entry so that it's factually correct, considering you seem to know soooo much about this subject.

To be fair, it is factually acurate. It does violate WP:WEASEL though.

 

[tom k&e]

Yep, because for £ 399 it should be a lot bigger...

Well seing as you can get a similarly specced PC laptop at the same price...

 

[editor]

Oh my god, a quote from the ever reliable wikipedia, now I have been verily pwned, whatever will I do. It's not like the place is a famous refuge for mac fanboys & linux zealots. Not at all.

Actually, Apple's decision to use USB-ports only had a significant impact on the widespread adoption of USB standard. Apple didn't invent it, neither were they the first to use it, but this quote explains the part they played in developing its popularity:

Enter the iMac.

The original "bondi blue" iMac was the first computer to offer USB ports without offering "legacy" ports. That's right -- no serial ports, no ADB. This changes the network effects. Before the iMac showed up, there were many millions of PC users who had no USB ports and perhaps a couple of million who had a USB port and also legacy ports. The biggest market in 1998 was in serial and parallel ports (or joystick ports, PS/2 ports, and so on) -- there was no reason to target the USB market. That would just restrict your audience.

The iMac presented a ready-made market of users who chose the Mac line for its graphics capability. In turn, the iMac offered a captive audience of users who would buy a USB peripheral but would not buy any other kind of peripheral. These users provided a market for USB peripherals that wasn't facing competition from other port choices. The result was a flood of USB devices in white-and-blue plastic. This was a crucial turning point that created a reason (tied to a proven system choice) to prefer USB to non-USB ports.

Once adoption was foist onto this substantial segment of users, the technical merits of the technology won out easily. USB's technical superiority (for most peripherals) to the conglomeration of a half-dozen different port types was unambiguous.
http://www-128.ibm.com/developerworks/library/pa-spec7.html

 

[jæd]

You obviously know far more about it than me or the Mac fanboys who wrote the wikipedia entry then.

Infact why don't you correct the wiki entry so that it's factually correct, considering you seem to know soooo much about this subject.

I think you can safely ignore Tom -- I don't think I've ever seen a post from him that is accurate or useful.