I just had one of my

Linux

  renderers go down in my cage - poor bastard of a

mac

 hine's HD has been running non-stop for about 6 years now. Sheesh, you call that reliability? 

But I digress. What I am doing is using a cheap little

Mac

 Mini with a dual core Intel to run Parallels, and then in Parallels running Red Hat 9 and

Apache

  1.3 with a custom built shared object hanging off it as this old

mac

 hine did. It flies! It's much faster than the dual proc

mac

 hine that the site used to run on. Also, since its a virtualized environment, I can copy the whole mess onto another

mac

 hine effortlessly. Virtualization rocks, under

OS-X

  it's a snap. The part about this that is so cool, is that this all revolves around compiling Kylix (Delphi for

Linux

  in a virtualized environment on my

Mac

  - something that I'd wager isn't done much  ( : for good reason, really) into shared objects for

Apache

  - it's a bit persnickety to get it all working in a perfect environment... doing it on a

Mac

  is wild - and given the skittish nature of Kylix I didn't think it could be done.

For anyone else considering Parallels, it is fantastic - on my notebook I have an instance of 95, 98, 2000, 2003 and XP for testing and emulating a few clients installations. Well, the 95 and 98 were just fer old times sake... The new "Coherence Mode" allows me to run IE right on my desktop side-by-side with Safari, FF ro Windows and FF for

Mac

 . For me anyway, the ability to snap through all the primary browsers so quickly during WH site testing is really a time saver. I also have some of my clients now running

Mac

 s (they wanted to switch) but they had custom built apps that only ran in Windows - well install Parallels and Voila! They work beautifully!

Parallels Perk yeah yeah, I know...

Just thought I'd share.
/p

A couple months ago my old laptop died so I buy an A8J ASUS, to be honest i had no idea what a Core2 Duo is but it seems to make a big difference.
Anyway i install

ubuntu

 

linux

  on it. Before when i would generate the

markov

  would take up all the cpu. (i use the

markov

  written in

erlang

  and talk to it with a socket form an external program. Anyway the

ubuntu

  bar shows 2 cpu , and while i am generating i still can do other stuff.

Anyway i digress. Point is that i after i stopped having to build my own computer out of stuff i pulled out of the garbage, i no longer bother with

learn

 ing  about hardware .

It ap

pear

 s i could have buy a mini

mac

  for same price i pay for my ASUS ? (I pay like $1000 US) Also from my understanding all of the gcc tools and libs work fine with OS X. Maybe next time i will consider some sort of

mac

 .

On my laptop i run vmware. Basically it is so i can run MS Explorer. I have been scripting MS Explorer with

Perl

  OLE. That way i do not have to dig thru all of the stupid

ajax

  calls etc that some silly sites put up . VMWare runs pretty good on my laptop. While my ms explorer is doing it's stuff in the VM I can work on other stuff. (granted it a memory pig, but my laptop have 1.5 G memory).

What is the advantage of parallels over VMWare ?

Parallels runs on a

Mac

 , VMWare doesn't AFAIK.

GCC etc all comes with the

Mac

  - well, it all comes on the install CD, they don't come with all of that on the box to start with. On the CD they have a "developer tools" option - load that and you've got everything you'd be expecting.

It is worthwhile considering if the price makes sense - a

Mac

  Mini for me is about 599 - that's a pretty fast dual-core Intel box with all the necessary peripherals already installed - in a really small footprint.

VMWare runs on

Mac

  as "VMWare Fusion", but its still beta but expected to released as final soon. Featurewise they are nearly the same, except it is said, that VMWares support of hardware acceleration and 3D software is solved a little bit better or has a better performance. Other than that expect nearly the same abilities and behavior, even the price is the same.

Ok, if you really want a advantage of vmware over parallels: there are a lot of free images of virtual

mac

 hines for it out there in the

net

 , and you can use them with 'fusion', no matter if they are created on Win,

Linux

  or a

Mac

 . Don't know, if there are such images for parallels too ... but if you always create your virtual

mac

 hines by yourself, you can neglect that fact

Interesting... I should look at VMWare then also.

I now have several clients (medical, mostly) using Parallels because they want to go

Mac

 , but need a practice management ware that is only for Windoz to run. With Parallels I have the icon for <that> app in their dock, they click it - it fires up the correct virtual

mac

 hine in "coherence mode" - which means that the window is open on the

Mac

  desktop just as if it is a native app - the confusion factor is pretty low, which is pretty important for them  :

/p

Hope this is not thread hijacking but..........

I'm in the market for a new laptop, my old one has some components that are becomming dodgy (including the screen) so it has been relegated to running as a pseudo server running Fedora (my current "attack platform" ;-) )

Anyway, perk has forced me to consider

Mac

 s   

http://store.

apple

 .com/133-622/WebObjects/australiastore.woa/6484021/wo/Th3eHsZfr4SP2EpwmD9gB4EiHvC/8.?p=0
looking at the 2GBRAM and 120GB HDD options, I have to stay under 2K so I can keep living in the same house as my missus  Promised that was the ceiling.

This particualar beastie represents excellent value as far as I can see but I'm interested in other's opinions. This would be a big step for me as I develop heavily using Windows do

tnet

  and lots of gcc C++ stuff (I don't think this would be a huge leap) as well as the usual

apache

 ,

PHP

 ,

Javascript

  mix but most of that's handled on my servers.
Now I know there would be a fairly steep

learn

 ing  curve but that doesn't really bother me, I owe no great allegiance to any OS, especially no Bill's.

Questions;

1: Does the vmware/parallels image have to be licensed for say XP?

2: Is the vmware/parallels environment robust enough to run something like Visual C++ Express?

3: I'm assuming I could have a dual boot Fedora Core 6/7 and

Mac

  OS X v10.4 Tiger?

4: How far away is Leopard? Can I upgrade easily/cheaply?

In a pinch i could do any do

tnet

  dev on an old Windows box the kids use, but that's not ideal of course.

Any input much appreciated guys, this is a big decision! 

Cheers,
td

[edit]
Just found these which are also a definite option, they can be purchased without an OS and, IMHO are cheap for what they are although not a name brand. I could install the

linux

  OS of choice and still run Windoze, etc. using vmware.

http://au.zepto.com/Shop/Notebooks.

asp

 x
[/edit]

At the core, it's an OpenBSD box... with all the associated greatness...



Parallels and VMware do not come with a Windows license - they simply allow the operations of other OSs. You will need an XP or Vista or 2000 install disk to create the image. Personally I have 95, 98, 2000, 2003, XP and a RedHat 9 instance running. Effortless to get them going.



It's literally another

mac

 hine. Unlie VirtualPC and the like, Parallels allows the gues operating system a sort of "tunnel" through to the processor to run natively. So you lose about 10% of total

mac

 hine performance to allow the guest operating system, but other than thatm the instance is a for-reals instance of <whatver you install>.



DualBoot is for rookies. Using Parallels you can simplye boot up into

OS-X

 , then launch whichever other OS you want. CAVEAT: if you want to run many guest OSs at the same time you'd better have enough RAM to run them all or your

mac

 hine will start to crawl...


October, and I don't know. It looks like I'll be upgrading on the benefits of the upgrade alone. But Tiger is worth the conversion all in and of itself.



I understand. It was concerning to me (when I was making the decision to switch) about having other

mac

 hines. Now I have one... and it does everything. Everything. On top of that, I have 2 dual-head graphics cards on it so I have 4 monitors on my

Mac

 . That's 1/2 of it's total potential... I can put up to 4 dual head graphics cards on this beast. But I am ADD enough already...



IMO: Lots of folks talk about

Mac

 -only software... and all kinds of proprietary answers that are all bullshit. I have clients on

Solaris

  only,

Linux

  only, Windows (many different versions) only and

Mac

  clients. I have to connect to a huge variety of direct connections, wireless connections, Windows servers, Samba servers,

Mac

 s servers... jeepers the list of ways that I have to connect is almost retarded. Add to that I have a boradband card and need to connect to Sprint broadband whenever I can't do something else.

Windows boneheads can't even come close to how fast I can connect to ANYTHING. My ability to adapt to <the current environment> is beyond anything I've ever used. I've been a windows MoFo since 3.1. That's how I've made my money. I'm a

Mac

  guy though since 1985... and when my main Windows

mac

 hine died 2 years ago I left Windows as my development platform and went all

Mac

 .

I'll never go back.

Someone want to debate me? Bring it on. I've done it all. I've been in tech for 30 years. I've never seen a better

mac

 hine. Fishing truth.

Bring it on Windoz lackies

/p

(BTW - spent the day drinking Captain Morgans on the beach today... I'm in the right mood hehe...)

Thanks perk,

I knew I could rely on you for an answer (I think the rum helped actually).

So your opinion is full steam ahead with the

mac

 book huh? That's what I thought it would be 

Well, it's not a done deal, but I'm closer to a decision, thanks.

Cheers,
td

Hmmm that is not really a selling point
Fuking

ubuntu

  running samba connects to a windoze share better then a windoze

mac

 hine.
Windoze

mac

 hine 1/2 the time can not find the share,

ubuntu

  finds it right away lmfao.
Probably freedos has better connectivity then windoze 
All aside i like windoze users

Now that

mac

 

mac

 hines are lower in price, and basically they are running a fancy version of

linux

 , probably i will switch over in a couple of years.

Here's the kicker that did me: World class GUI with *n[u|i]x OS... stable as shit yet and all the benefits of a great GUI. I run about 5 terminal windows on a virtual desktop with all my other stuff... I get all the benefits without (virtually) any of the downsides.

No lie, and I'm not just being biased here: the

Mac

  is the best

mac

 hine I've ever used, soup to nuts. I could not imagine handling all of the different client shit I have to with a doz

mac

 hine or a strictly *nix box... it's the juice.

BTW: it's been 3-olive vodka a Stella Artois since dinner time so I'm no less stupid ... 

/p

Well, I did more research today and since the

mac

 book is intel based, cheaper than the alternative I'm looking at, equally powerful, capable of running Fedora if I decide to go that way at a later date, a name brand so probably/possibly higher quality, comes with a world class OS, etc. It seems to be pretty much a forgone conclusion that I'll go this way. I looked at developing on Tiger and it would ap

pear

  that cocoa, the object oriented framework, is aimed at development in objective C. Carbon, the other alternative can be used from C++ but is procedural in nature, no biggie, there's always the open source alternatives to fall back on especially when you take parallel's compatability mode into consideration. Anyone aware of C++ dev tools under tiger?

Good thing you're not driving perk :-)

Cheers,
td

Yep, as Perk said, its said to be released end of october and will be $129,-. From what I heard an upgrade is much easier than under Win 'cause you simply can install/copy it over your old (Tiger) installation, system settings are kept and no  needing to do things like formating the disk before the upgrade/installation of the new version. Its like if you upgrade your Fedora, old files are replaced by new versions of it ... and in fact OS X is based on FreeBSD, a UNIX, the procedure is just the same  .
But if you ask me, october isn't far and if you want to save your $129,- I would wait, otherwise, buy it now



Take a look at Trolltechs QT4 --> Website, its a CrossPlattform Development Environment, which means, you can write your Code under

MAc

  OS X and if you want, compile it later under Win or

Linux

 , which has bindings to the native GUI-APIs of each OS.
QT is available under a GPL - license if you develop open source apps and a commercial license for - ... mh commercial projects .
BTW, its the toolkit, KDE uses and because of its crossplattform abilities in version4 a lot of apps of the new KDE4 will be able to run natively under OS X and Win without needing X11 anymore and using  their native GUIs.
So I highly recommend it.

Can't wait that long I don't think but I know what you mean, thanks.




Very cool, I used to code some QT and kdelib stuff on redhat yonks ago, bet it's changed a bit since then but this is very good news, thanks again proton. Their license used to suck badly too I remember.....

You're new aroung here but you rock already... lol.

Thanks,
td

You can even just go with an Eclipse and straight-up C++ rig if you wanted... the

mac

 hine is that standard. The C++ work I did to create the

PHP

  extension was built on my

Mac

  using VI and gcc. 'Bout as old school as can be.

Question TD - why C/++/Object/Cocoa etc? Work thing?

Eclipse, never heard of it b4 but it too is a good option, excellent, ap

pear

 s to be no shortage of options, I did suspect as much but this is new territory so........



Yeah, I'm all over that part like stink on a monkey, be right at home with all the GNU tools on the command line.



No, not at all, as you know I like coding in C++ (it's my favourite regardless of whether that's a good or bad thing) and I just would be more comfortable knowing there are options for developing native apps. on my new platform of choice (plus it's sounding like I may be able to do cross-platform stuff much easier). I'm comfortable with the answers you and proton have been able to provide. It's more a "warm and fuzzy feeling" thing than any real necessity.

When you get back perk, give me a ping so we can talk more about this and a couple of other things.

Cheers,
td

Eclipse is an open source IDE that started around Java but there are plugins for just about every contemporary language... I've heard there's even an ObjectADA plugin  :

Will do the return-home-pingage... but PM me if there's something you want in advance of that...

/p

Lol, it's all coming together

http://trolltech.com/company/newsroom/announcements/press.2007-07-10.3777186202

No

Mac

  version, but it can't be far away ;-)

Cheers,
td

i've used eclipse for java and even tried it with

php

  and

python

 . i hate it.
i didn't have any real problems in java but i found the

php

  and

python

  plugins buggy. 
if you go to

linux

 , kdevelop maybe? i haven't tried it but it looks nice. i don't know if you can run kde apps in

osx

 .

I must confess that I do not care for Eclipse either, although it does have a lot of support.

TD I am using the hell out of BBEdit right now and I like it quite a lot. TextWrangler is a freeware scaled down version, but the $99 (if I remember correctly) for BBE is well worth it. WELL worth it. I've been using it for just about al of my text editing needs for around 6 months, has not dissappointed.

/p

eclipse is based on java.
java = compile once crash anywhere.
do

tnet

  is based on java
do

tnet

  = compile once and crash only on windoze

getting further off topic...
though i disagree with 'java = compile once crash anywhere' there is alot that sucks about java (and do

tnet

  by extension).
there is even more that sucks about java's community, architecture, and general way of doing things.
anyone ever see that south park episode where one of them move to san francisco, everyone there likes to smell their own farts?
that's what Java Enterprise Architects Engineer EJB Design Pattern Nazis are like.

An IBM AS/400 POWER3

mac

 hine running

Mac

 

osx

 ?

a slashdot rumor 




I've never even heard of objectada

This chinese flashcard/dictionary program I found, zdt, is the first desktop program I've ever used that was made in eclipse. I must say I'm impressed.

... wouldn't be surprised actually... it's 'nix at the core, competent crackers could certainly get past the

Apple

  imposed hardware limitations ... considerably beyond me anymore, but definitely within possibility

jep, its known under "

OSx

 86" or "hackintosh" and regarding images ap

pear

 ed shortly after

Apple

 s intel transition ... of course they can be found at the known sources 
the whole thing incl. compatibility is discussed e.g. at http://wiki.

osx

 86project.org/wiki/index.

php

 /Main_Page and http://forum.insanely

mac

 .com/index.

php

 ?showforum=85

runs even at AMD 

It would ap

pear

  I can run kdevelop if I want to (may require compiling from source for 3.4.x, 4 should run natively). Shit I do a lot of my C++ coding in vim at the moment (VisC++ on doze) so I can get something working, there are many possibilities.

Cheers,
td