Mac OS X 10.1?

So we saw good reviews about 10.1, which seemed to be a big improvement over 10.0, and decided to try it (iBook). I can't get over how easy it was to hookup with the Airport card, even to a Linksys base unit rather than Airport base. The ads say XP will make you jump and fly, but there's a _real_ feeling of freedom in walking out in the yard and still being connected to the 'net.

What do people use for FTP? Fetch? I was a bit surprised to not find something built in (other than the BSD terminal command line version).

How much of the standard supplied software is from u$oft? Obviously iE is, but is that it?

What's the best alternative browser? I tried installing mozilla, but httpS won't work for me yet. It also seems to be a OS 9 version; did I get the wrong one?

What's the deal with PC printers incompatibility (or difficulty in working around)?

What's the best image processing option? Should I go for imagemagick?

Bob S.

Hi Bob -

I use OS X 10.1.2 as my primary OS (and have been using earlier versions for over a year now), so if you have any questions I'll be happy to help.

As for Microsoft software, the only thing included is Internet Explorer. While you might want to hang on to it for those sites that require it (boo, hiss), I can personally recommend OmniWeb, at http://www.omnigroup.com/. It's a small company, but they're very devoted and responsive. The browser is great, and while it doesn't have 100% feature-parity with IE, it's definitely getting better every release. It also happens to work pretty well with our web panel, etc. so that's not a worry.

There IS an OS X version of Mozilla, not just a classic version. Do a search on VersionTracker and you'll find a copy (http://www.versiontracker.com/macosx/). This is also a good place to find more OS X software.

I'm not sure about printer compatibility, but I've had no trouble printing to the HP printers here in the office. I don't print much, though, but it has never been a problem for me.

Image processing? Depends on what you mean by that. I personally use Photoshop in classic for everything I do, but that's a pretty expensive option for some people and it's kind of annoying to have to run a copy of OS 9. Adobe is supposed to come out with a native version in Q2 of next year. Photoshop is about the only thing keeping my OS9 partition alive.

As for FTP, I personally use NetFinder. Fetch is an old standby that works pretty well, too. Any of these you can find on VersionTracker.

10.1 was definitely an improvement over 10.0. It's the first version I would consider setting my mom up with, if all of her apps get ported over.

Suffice to say, OS X is starting to attract both the Unix geeks and Windows users around here. Just in the last couple of months I've seen a Linux user switch mostly to OS X on his new iBook, and one of our dev people has supplemented his Windows box with a shiny new TiBook. A couple others bought Macs earlier this year. I can definitely say that Macs are catching on here (especially laptops it seems).


- Jeff @ DreamHost
- DH Discussion Forum Admin

Oh yeah... And if you do database/coding stuff, remember that it comes pre-installed with Apache, PHP, and Perl. Just install MySQL and you pretty much have the same environment on your computer as our servers.

For me, this speeds up development quite a bit. I can save files and not have to wait for the delays inherent to FTP. It's instantaneous. Then, when you're ready and everything is tested, just upload everything to your site in one shot. Nice and easy.

Also, if you haven't tried it already, buy a copy of BBEdit for Mac OS X. It's quite possibly the best text editor that has ever existed (yes, I am from time to time prone to exaggeration :>).


- Jeff @ DreamHost
- DH Discussion Forum Admin

EditPlus2 ;-)

Thems fighting words! :>


- Jeff @ DreamHost
- DH Discussion Forum Admin

Thanks for the tips. I will check out the suggestions.

Yes, I found out I had installed the Classic Mozilla instead of the OS X version. Things are working better now.

On printers, I the iBook didn't find our shared/networked printer (on a PC), and I read about needing PCMacLan for the PC or DAVE for the Mac, or printer server hardware. Then there's apparently some issue about being a postscript printer.

By image processing I mainly mean taking scanned or digital camera photos, adjusting the size and quality/file size, and an occasional photo touch up.

Bob S.