February 12, 2002
Using NeXTSTEP, er, MacOS X
Some observations upon receiving the new Apple Macintosh
G4 computer (768MB RAM, 2 HD's - 60 and 80GB, Apple Cinema Display):
- I'm drunk with awe for this CinemaDisplay. It's big. It's crystal clear.
And for some reason the plastic smells like a new car or someting -- my
room has this "New macintosh" smell from the packaging. I'm sure the fumes
are toxic, right?
- I'm not sure I like the keyboard. I'm so used to a Fujitsu PC keyboard.
The keys on this Apple keyboard feel mushy. I suppose I'll get used to it.
- I definitely am not taking a liking yet to the Apple Pro Mouse. It's optical,
which is cool, but there's only one button! :-) And it doesn't have the
incredible sensitiviy that I'm used to -- the slightest movement and the mouse
cursor should move. This is different than cursor speed (which I upped to
"fastest"). It seems that sometimes the mouse has to think for a few
milliseconds and consider whether or not it indeed has moved. It's the
optical reader no doubt. Well, I moved it, ok, mouse? So the cursor should
move to. There's a subtle 10-20ms latency (maybe worse than 20ms) sometimes
when I move the mouse, regardless of surface the mouse is on, and this latency
becomes distracting. I want to be able to work at the speed of thought,
not at the speed of the mouse's thought.
- The damn computer is called "User Name". How do I change it to be something
else? I have created a new user, but the default admin user on the machine
was called "User Name" (w/ a userid of "username") with Admin privileges.
I can't figure out how to rename the computer.
- Print Center was weird. Too unixy -- what's with all this "LPR via IP"
stuff to get this machine to talk to my LaserJet 4000N? Not very user
friendly. I'm surprised there wasn't an option to scan the LAN and find
any printers hanging off of it.
- I love how exquisitely beautiful the packaging for the CinemaDisplay and
G4 are. The boxes, the styrofoam packing material inside, custom-molded,
just excellent. I haven't seen this kind of attention to detail since,
well, I bought my last NeXTstation...
- It's so AWESOME to be working in NeXTSTEP again! :)
- I have already had one D'Oh! moment:
Upon picking up the G4 and taking it out of its box, and removing the
wrapping, and plugging stuff in and setting it down in the stand (throne?)
I'd prepared for it, what did I do but stick my thumb in the big shiny hole
in the front, reaching something that felt like a taut aluminum foil, which
I continued to push inwards.. something instinctual told me to stop doing that,
so I stopped. Probably in the nick of time. Only when I read the documentation
did I realize that's the speaker and you're not supposed to stick your
feelthy fingers in there... :-)
- There's a bad pixel on my CinemaDisplay. I am now obsessed with it. I
hadn't noticed it until I put a DVD in to try out the DVD Player. (I put
GLADIATOR in :). Whle watching the opening battle sequence, I noticed a
bright green pixel that wouldn't go away, located about one inch from the
right side of the screen, and three inches up from the bottom. Bright
green. Permanently on. Bright green. I am obsessed with this bad
pixel. Nothing I can do will make it go away. Hmm, now I notice that
it's visible even when there is a white background in that are of the
screen -- the pixel shows up as a dark red, almost black pixel when
there's a white background around it, and a bright green pixel when
there's a black background around it. I am having grumblings about how
one should not have to spend $2499 and get a flawed 22" LCD monitor. Sigh.
I am trying to rationalize the fact that 1,638,399 other pixels work ok. :-/
Posted by brian at February 12, 2002 01:09 AM
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