Matthew E
scholastic sledgehammer
Reged: 01/24/04
Posts: 925
Loc: Whitby, Ontario, Canada
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Jumping ship sorta from my 11 Years of Windows expereince to the Intel based iMac so i can dual boot.
Just wondering if there are any mac-related websites out there that are as good as CN is for Astronomy? any help would be great thanks.
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NexStar 114GT
NewStar 10” Dob with Moonlite CR-1
Short Tube 80mm
6mm Radian
14mm Radian
Celestron Ultima Barlow
Celestron NexImage - on order.
Durham Region Astronomical Association
Royal Astronomical Society of Canada - Toronto
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ClownFish
Post Laureate
Reged: 04/26/05
Posts: 5734
Loc: Islamabad, Pakistan
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before I get into the Mac websites, let me first tell you that Apple is past due for an iMac upgrade. I expect a new iMac announcement any time, but before September probably.
CF
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Learn all about Polar Alignment and Manual Guiding on my website at www.PetesAstrophotography.com! Or visit my Foreign Service Blog!
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Matthew E
scholastic sledgehammer
Reged: 01/24/04
Posts: 925
Loc: Whitby, Ontario, Canada
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hmm so perhaps i will wait, i wont need a new PC until we move in to our house sometime in september.
Should i expect a price reduction on the current iMacs?
Thanks for the heads up!
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NexStar 114GT
NewStar 10” Dob with Moonlite CR-1
Short Tube 80mm
6mm Radian
14mm Radian
Celestron Ultima Barlow
Celestron NexImage - on order.
Durham Region Astronomical Association
Royal Astronomical Society of Canada - Toronto
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ClownFish
Post Laureate
Reged: 04/26/05
Posts: 5734
Loc: Islamabad, Pakistan
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Price reduction? Not always. At least, not until the new ones come out, and then you can find lots in the Refurb section of their store.
Some of my favorite mac websites:
www.macintouch.com
www.macosxhints.com/
www.macrumors.com
www.opensourcemac.com
www.bmac.org
www.macfixit.com
www.pure-mac.com
www.insidemacgames.com
CF
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Learn all about Polar Alignment and Manual Guiding on my website at www.PetesAstrophotography.com! Or visit my Foreign Service Blog!
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Tom L
Reged: 01/07/04
Posts: 29880
Loc: Sunny Oregon
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I found a good Mac OSX website that answers a lot of questions for Windows users jumping feet first into the Mac pool. When I get home tonight and on my MacBook I'll send the link (hope I remember).
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Tom 
Tele Vue 102mm f/8.6 on an EzTouch
Vixen 80mm f/5 A80SSWT on a grab-n-go mount
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Tom L
Reged: 01/07/04
Posts: 29880
Loc: Sunny Oregon
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Also, I'm still trying to understand why anyone would honestly want to dual boot into WinXP. The Mac is not tuned for WinXP and if it is apps you are looking for, just wait for the universal apps.
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Tom
Tele Vue 102mm f/8.6 on an EzTouch
Vixen 80mm f/5 A80SSWT on a grab-n-go mount
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Matthew E
scholastic sledgehammer
Reged: 01/24/04
Posts: 925
Loc: Whitby, Ontario, Canada
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Well, i would like to have the best of both worlds, use MAC OS to gain experience in it, and have WinXP in my back pocket for compatibility concerns, i honestly cant think of why you wouldnt want that!!!  why wait?!?!?
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NexStar 114GT
NewStar 10” Dob with Moonlite CR-1
Short Tube 80mm
6mm Radian
14mm Radian
Celestron Ultima Barlow
Celestron NexImage - on order.
Durham Region Astronomical Association
Royal Astronomical Society of Canada - Toronto
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bicparker
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 02/07/05
Posts: 1455
Loc: Plano, TX
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Tom,
You piqued my curiosity. You mentioned that Mac's aren't tuned for XP? What does that mean? If you are talking about the Intel Mac's I wouldn't think it would make any difference (certainly not an endian one). Are you referring to a firmware layer difference? In any case, from what I understand, Windows XP performance using BootCamp is pretty impressive.
I think the real downside of BootCamp is that you can't read/write across the OS partitions/volumes from within an OS.
I think you are right, though, that there is some good news in the universal binaries. I have noticed significant improvements in apps as they have turned UB, though I have no way of knowing if that is because of their being a UB or because of better code design (which can be more enforced by universal design requirements).
I personally think that if someone wants an iMac, they should just get one and not look back. The current lines of Intel iMacs are great machines.
David M.
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Bic Parker
17.5" f/5 dob
10" f/10 SCT
5" f/8 refractor
80mm f/6 refractor
66mm f/6 refractor
Plus a few others out of the rotation
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Tom L
Reged: 01/07/04
Posts: 29880
Loc: Sunny Oregon
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First, here's the link, Mathew... http://macosx.com/forums/
These forums appear to run by a knowledgable group of people. Hope it helps you...
I own lots of 'puters...several WinXP notebooks and desktops at home so I keep my MacBook clean of MS products...and I am NOT against MS products...Since most Windows users that move to a Mac will more than likely keep their Windows systems alive and well, I would think most would want to try to keep WinXP off their new system. Apple and the developers for the Mac are working on creating universal applications as quickly as they can. By this time next year I suspect all the major and most of the minor app will be universal. Apple took the development of applications...and the tools to make them, seriously and I've read they did a very good job of it.
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Tom
Tele Vue 102mm f/8.6 on an EzTouch
Vixen 80mm f/5 A80SSWT on a grab-n-go mount
Edited by Tom L (08/09/06 11:47 PM)
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Tom L
Reged: 01/07/04
Posts: 29880
Loc: Sunny Oregon
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David,
The test suite that notebook and desktop computers go through to recieve that little sticker that says "Designed for Windows" is not trivial and is very extensive. The test suite has also been around and evolved over many, many years...these are the WHQL tests. Unfortunately, MS is not requiring them for Vista (they have new requirements for that OS!). Anyway, a lot of effort is spent by the big OEMs to make sure that their systems pass these tests. Apple, fortunately, doesn't have to bother with this...but this will be a roadblock into the corporate network for Apple until they start to adopt several of the industries IT-required initiatives...
I think of the MacBook as a sleek Porsche as of now...the other lumbering WinXP systems HAVE TO meet the MS requirements so they can preload WinXP on their boxes.
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Tom
Tele Vue 102mm f/8.6 on an EzTouch
Vixen 80mm f/5 A80SSWT on a grab-n-go mount
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Greg K.
Reged: 12/11/03
Posts: 10139
Loc: Clifton Park, NY
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I'm not sure it makes much difference in the real world (the corporate world often anything but.  ) since much of the hardware going into Intel Macs is PC in origin anyway, so the drivers and compatibility are going to be pretty solid.
FWIW, I usually build my own PCs, and they do ok with XP even without the little sticker.
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NexStar 11 GPS
Orion SkyView Pro 8EQ w/ Autostar
15x70 Celestron SkyMasters
Orion 90mm Mak
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imjeffp
Senior Space Cadet
Reged: 09/30/03
Posts: 4497
Loc: Cedar Park, Texas
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A good resource for Mac-using astronomers:
http://www.davidillig.com/astromac.shtml
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Blog
ST80 • AT80EDT/LXD650
ETX-90/DS-2000 • 10" LX200 Classic ("The Quarter-Meter Telescope at the Heritage Park Observatory")
SPC900NC • DMK21AF04 • Digital Rebel XT
  
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kestrel0222
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 05/21/06
Posts: 2338
Loc: Milford, Michigan
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I have been using Windows for many years and I am considering jumping ship to get the new Mac myself. Will this new OS be hard or easy for a long time Windows user to learn? 
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Tom
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ClownFish
Post Laureate
Reged: 04/26/05
Posts: 5734
Loc: Islamabad, Pakistan
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It will be a little different at first, so it's best to get a book that shows how to do things in OSX vs Windows. Here's some info to help:
http://www.apple.com/support/switch101/
http://the.taoofmac.com/space/HOWTO/Switch%20To%20The%20Mac
http://safari.oreilly.com/0321168895
CF
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Learn all about Polar Alignment and Manual Guiding on my website at www.PetesAstrophotography.com! Or visit my Foreign Service Blog!
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kestrel0222
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 05/21/06
Posts: 2338
Loc: Milford, Michigan
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Thanks, that will be a great help! 
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Tom
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LivingNDixie
Lord of Ferrets
Reged: 04/23/03
Posts: 15918
Loc: Hoover, AL
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This may be a dumb question, but is it true with a Mac you don't get as many virus because they are not written for Macs. I have heard this, however I NEVER d/l anything from an email I don't know or a website that I don't either.
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Preston
Celestron 11" Nexstar GPS XLT
Tak FS 78
Lunt LS60T/Ha 60mm f/8.33 (on order)
Vixen Porta Mount
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ClownFish
Post Laureate
Reged: 04/26/05
Posts: 5734
Loc: Islamabad, Pakistan
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I download TONS and never fear about opening email attachments. I have never seen a virus, nor do I know any Mac user who has. Virtually all viruses are written to take advantage of Windows vulnerabilities. I, and every Mac users I know, do not even own any anti-viruis software of any kind.
CF
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Learn all about Polar Alignment and Manual Guiding on my website at www.PetesAstrophotography.com! Or visit my Foreign Service Blog!
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rboe
Numbfinger
Reged: 03/16/02
Posts: 40419
Loc: Phx, AZ
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Virus: True, but don't expect that to remain so. If they become more popular more will be written for them.
Learning the OS X will be "fun". Some things will be very frustrating. Other things you'll think 'why doesn't everybody do it that way?". Still others are just different. No better nor worse.
Get your self a two button mouse though. They work with a Mac and it will remove one level of frustration if you can use both buttons.
After a while though things will work fine for you, you just have to make it through the first week or two without shooting something. I found it just as bad going from a Mac to Windows back in '93. 
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Ron
NS11GPS
Pronto
16" dob
15X70 Obies
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LivingNDixie
Lord of Ferrets
Reged: 04/23/03
Posts: 15918
Loc: Hoover, AL
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Well the new Mac is going to wait till after the car is paid off this summer. My work has started this thing where you get gift certificates for doing good work or passing certifcations. I got one when I passed a part of the CIA exam (Auditing exam not the government agency). I was going to keep them since I will get two more since there are three more parts to take (last past doesn't get the gift certificate instead a pay raise). Apple is one of the companies that participates in this program
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Preston
Celestron 11" Nexstar GPS XLT
Tak FS 78
Lunt LS60T/Ha 60mm f/8.33 (on order)
Vixen Porta Mount
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bicparker
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 02/07/05
Posts: 1455
Loc: Plano, TX
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Tom,
Thanks for the reply. I had forgotten about those "made for windows" compatibility stickers and why they were there. I thought that was not so much for tuning purposes as they were driver compatiblity with windows.
Howwever, I remember that back in the late '80's, Intel redid some of the x86 instruction set so it would run more optimally with Windows (I remember Intel discussing that at a HALPC meeting back then). Their redefinitions were made using a model of frequency of instructions. So I was curious as to whether that was still going on with some hardware manufacturers or not.
Anyhow, thanks Tom.
Bic
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Bic Parker
17.5" f/5 dob
10" f/10 SCT
5" f/8 refractor
80mm f/6 refractor
66mm f/6 refractor
Plus a few others out of the rotation
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