Page 1 of To the MAC Guru`s ;) Recomend me some software

hey guys, i`m trying to "go mac" i quite like the Os (running OsX versions ranging from panther, through tiger, & into leopard) my only "official" one is tiger, built into my Mac Mini, i got it to early to qualify for the cheap update, (grr) but if i can do everything i want, i`ll save & buy the family pack, which imo, is Great value, compared to M$ 5 OsX leopard licenses for £129 :)

essentially, the things i`m stuck with are

Gaming (not gonna cure that one, so an M$ partion will be left running my Legit copy of Vista, purely for gaming)
Streaming HI-DEF video content from the other pc`s around the house, Now, i have VLC installed, but there are quite a few files it won`t play properly, & in some cases won`t play at all, for instance, the average files sizes depending on quality are, 4+ gig, 7+ gig, & 12+gig, the 4 gig files play fine, but the 7 gig files pause & jump every minute or so (like a buffer effect) & the 12 gig files simply won`t play (1080i/p) yet on the same machine they run under Win XP perfectly, in exactly the same hardware config :/ (1.66ghz core duo Mac Mini with 512meg ram)
Burning/Converting i`m hating Toast, (Roxio Toast Titanium 7.1.3) & on the quite rare occasion i need to burn or convert stuff, i find Nero perfect for my needs, ie, creating a standard DVD from an AVI etc, or burning .ISO`s etc is there anything that works in a similar way on the Mac ?

& one aimed at Milo :) are you still using OsX as your main Os on your "pc" ? if so, how are you getting along with it, & what pitfalls have you encountered so far :)

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are you still using OsX as your main Os on your "pc" ?
I was...then I installed the itunes & quicktime updates which f[at]dekc it up :(
I had to re-install OSX then. I then thought, OK, do a Time Machine back up and revert to that if needed. But Time Machine doesn`t work on my build. Strangely, the updates worked after a rebuild.
So that has put me off a bit to be honest. Its a nice OS...but my familiarity with Windows always wins. Especially with the Mrs using the computer as well, since she has no interest in using OSX.

For burning CDs/DVDs I used something called "Burn", a very simple burning application.
burn-osx.sourceforge.net/
Never got Toast to work (licence issues ;))

I use Toast all the time; find it mostly fine to use.

Do you know you can burn with built-in software on the Mac, much like a PC? When the empty disc appears on your desktop, drag and drop your stuff onto the icon. And you`re away!

Especially with the Mrs using the computer as well, since she has no interest in using OSX.

you give a choice !!!!!!! :p

i know what you mean about it being a hassle running OsX on a normal pc, i still never got it to boot without the disc in, & since putting all my drives back inside the machine it won`t boot into OsX at all :( & the max res i could get was 1024 x 768, whils the G4 happily runs @ 1920 X 1200 on 8mb gfx lol,,,,, (& there don`t seem to be mac drivers for 8800 nvidia cards :( )

thanks for the burning proggy :) i`ll give it a go on the G3 & the G4 :)

EDIT= forgot to say, if i get the pc running OsX properly, i might use parallels instead of bootcamp, as the machines over powered for most things, & parallels runs both Os`s at the same time, even allowing cross installation of most programs, & "live" drag & drop between the platforms.

This item was edited on Monday, 28th January 2008, 16:14

Chris........if you decide not to use your upgrade to Leopard, I know someone who would gladly buy it from you for his Mac Mini ;)

Also, where did you get your `evaluation` copy of Panther? I`ve also got a G3 500 Imac slot loader, but with a cd, and can`t find anything torrentwise to upgrade with.

Chris........if you decide not to use your upgrade to Leopard,

man, your rubbing it in :) read it again,, i didn`t qualify for the upgrade :( despite the fact that when i ordered my mac mini (via telephone) i told them i was gonna wait till Leopard came out, & they told me i`d get upgraded for FREE (x2 grrrrr) when i asked about it they simply said that wasn`t true :/ & i`d have to pay :(

as for panther, i`m running tiger on a 350mhz slot loader (the pre firewire model) & tiger runs perfecly, even down to the dock magnification with no slowdown, tho of course the apps run as you might expect on a 350mhz model :) how much memory do you have installed ?

& i only have the cd-rw fitted, so we where in the same boat, kinda lucky i have an insane amount of torrent sites in my faves lol.....

check you email ;)

This item was edited on Monday, 28th January 2008, 17:04

They`re buggers aren`t they? :(

I`m sure my mini would run with well, upgraded it to 2gb ram, and running 2 250gb Minimax`s for extra HDD expansion.

Will check my mail now - feeling all excited :D lol

Did you have to make any Bios or firmware changes to your slot loader when installing Tiger? i only ask cos I know before putting Jaguar on, I had to check that it was running a specific version.

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(1.66ghz core duo Mac Mini with 512meg ram)

I dont think thats going to be anywhere near enough, to be honest. You need to at least go to crucial and see how much memory you can stuff in. Especially with something like VLC. If you had quicktime files, or used quicktime as the player it might be better. Quicktime is an actual part of the OS, like DirectX, so apps using that have a slightly lower cost.

Youll get used to toast. I hated it at first, now i just mildly dislike it.

Get carboncopyclone for your drive images. Its a life saver. Dump a good, clean os image on a usb drive and it will save your life. Because you can boot from any device, you can boot from the usb if the internal hdd goes down or the os falls over. Or you f*** something up.

get little snitch if you have any moody software.

Uhm....Mactheripper rips your dvds...cant really think of anything else...

I dont think thats going to be anywhere near enough, to be honest.

ah, but the point is, slim little OsX can`t do it, but it runs Perfectly under big bloated old XP on the same machine via bootcamp, i even tried a few full Blu-ray dvd sample files (the full file comes in at 30gig) & even those play fine, yet the supposedly lighter less "bloated" OsX can`t do it :(

i will be putting ram in, the only reason i havn`t gone upto 2 gig yet is i`m cautious to crack it open before the warranty runs out & as i say, it does everything i need it to perfectly well, it`s only when i run it in mac Os that i struggle with it :/ it actually runs XP & Vista much better than an equivalent pc, i`m guessing the closed driver set is the reason, but nice all the same :)

i got little snitch :) but i think i`ll try the mac os version of peerguardian on my legit copy first, as the M$ version doesn`t talk to apple anyway, & i`ll deffo need that, so it may save me installing another proggy :) carboncopyclone looks like a real gem, i wonder if it`ll work on the G3 machines :) if it does, it`ll be very handy, as i`m probably gonna end up with around 4 or 5 imac G3`s before i build to top spec (700mhz/DVD/airport/dual firewire/1024meg ram) picking up cheap machines & bits to make one up, as the 700mhx machines are still going for over £100 on there own, & since i can now totaly strip & rebuild an imac (inc crt) in less than an 45 mins :) having an Os ready made would be dead handy, i think i`ll look into it & see if it`ll work, i know the shotcut on new mac`s is pressing the Alt/Apple key on startup, but as far as i know, the only other startup option for the G3 is holding ctrl/C to make it boot from cd.......

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i will be putting ram in, the only reason i havn`t gone upto 2 gig yet is i`m cautious to crack it open before the warranty runs out & as i say, it does everything i need it to perfectly well, it`s only when i run it in mac Os that i struggle with it it actually runs XP & Vista much better than an equivalent pc, i`m guessing the closed driver set is the reason, but nice all the same

I upgraded mine in warranty, and TBH its not that bad. A long as you`re cautious and follow one of the instruction vids on You Tube its simple. I`m cack handed and can`t do delicate things to save my life, but this was easy. Just make sure you buy the right putty knife (99p from Wilko did me!) :)