Off-topic PC/Mac rant moved here

[navigator7]

Alison wrote some time back.....: "Scott: Has anyone tried this with a Mac computer yet? Our Shopbot is controlled by a iMac running XP on Parallels."

I'm going to try exactly that. I did have a 3D printer running on an iMac via Bootcamp and windoz XP. No problems. ever.

Parallels seems the way to go as being on the windoz side is like a death sentence. I'm always looking for reasons to escape and really don't want to go back.

If Scott can write an app for the iPhone why can't he write an app for Mac users that will run a ShopBot?

Macs running a ShopBot would be like P-51's going into battle against a bunch of WW1 Folkers


48162.jpg

No pressure Scott.
;-)

[adrianm]

So what's the difference between running XP on a Mac and XP on a PC of the same spec then?

Modern Macs are just PCs at the end of the day.

I remember my father-in-law raving about his new Mac when he got it last year and how he would never go back to Windows. His PC was six years old and was running Windows 3.1.....

The problems with SB3 are to do with the software itself rather than the platform in my opinion.

[navigator7]

I don't tire of a platform rant...do you, Adrian?
;-)

Modern Macs are just PC's at the end of the day?

If you prevent a windows machines from accessing the internet or opening files then I'd have to agree with you.

A Mac cost three times as much as a comparable PC.
I've got 5.
Of the five two have crapped. One was dropped on a padeye on a barge on a rainy night and kept on running for another three years.
The oldest.....an old iMac has a dull screen.....and well...it just looks cute now.

All have run without fail and without protection from the junk on the internet.
I have no virus protection on any machine. I don't even know what to do with virus protection if I had it?
The machines just do what I want when I want to do it.

When I worked for a PC based bizness.....there was always some techie coming in to get a PC machine running right.
I've never had a problem with a Mac... and never paid someone to fix something. That is worth something to me.

My Mac CAD programs are simply a breeze to run.
I can't wait to open either program to do something.
3D Cobalt (Mac and Windoz based 3D and 2D) is fantastic except extruding text really sucks. "That" is a real heart breaker.
I downloaded Aspire prepping for my next voyage into commerce.
There is a lot going on behind Aspire and I understand all that. But it has that damned stodgy windoz behavior all tarred and feathered and stuck up that keeps the program from being free. It is not even close to Cobalt ... at least the test version is no better.
I thought it would be killer on fonts. Nadda. Everything does True Fonts fine but after that it just hard work.

I run PowerCADD as a 2D program for simple creation. It's better than using a pencil for design. It's font ability is tremendous.
I can import pic's, bmp's, gifs, jpegs, pngs, pdfs, dwg, dxf and can export to everything useful for carving designs on a ShopBot.

In 1996, I worked at a place where I needed to know Autocad or get left in the dust. Teaching yourself autocad is doable....but after a week of frustration trying to create a simple design I gave up. I was leaking acid I was so frustrated. Somehow I got tangled up with Powercadd. I bought a Mac and Powercadd and in about two hours after downloading the program I created a finished drawing I could not complete after a weeks worth of cussing.
I've been on both sides of the fence.....Paid to learn and paid to do.
In about three days...long time Autocad guys were asking me why my drawings were so much prettier and BTW...How did you create that line????
If I was going to pay people to be productive on a CAD program I'm not going to use a pile driver to crack nuts.

Work on a job site building a home. Each guy has a different hammer. Some have a free hammer. Some found a hammer. Others bought a hammer they like. I have a titanium hammer. It cost a bunch but everyone wants to use it because it drives harder with less effort.
Tools are like the old pricing adage: Cheap Fast and Good. Pick two.

What is needed is a Mac based g-code writer. A MacBot!

Ok...I'm done. Your turn!
;-)

[adrianm]

I was an Apple dealer for a while back in the late 80's, early 90's when Apple still made their own stuff rather than assembling components.

I've got no particular axe to grind either way. In 30 years of working in the IT industry I've used just about every OS and language there is.

They've all got their own strengths and weaknesses but I do feel that Windows gets a lot of undeserved stick. There are a huge number of urban myths around it.

It does sound like that you've found two programs that you really like that happen to run on a Mac.

Personally I do tire of platform rants. It's one of the main reasons I called time on my very succesfull IT career. Never a day went by without some argument over PC/Mac, Unix/Windows, Oracle/Informix, C++/Java etc etc.

It's almost tribal/religious at times.

Personally I just use whatever is the cheapest, most reliable way to solve the problem at hand.

For me, at the moment, that is Vectric software, a ShopBot and a PC with Windows.

Note the order I list them. That's my priority.

[navigator7]

@ Adrian,

They don't make a tongue-in-cheek icon that I am aware of.
Suffice it to read: " ;-) " is my way of lubricating dialog.
Even though you tire of platform rants...you gotta admit.....it's like talking religion and politics. Everybody says don't do it but it's so much fun!
;-)

An Apple Dealer? And you quit?

I live 300 miles from civilization. I had the shock of my life recently traveling to Seattle. An Apple store in Bellevue, Wa had more people in it's store before 0900 than in the entire mall! The Bellevue Mall was a ghost town except for the Apple Store.
Not only was the place packed, you could only get in via a previously arranged online appointment! No phone ins. If you wanted to shop, great. Shop. But if you had an issue...as I did with my iPhone, I had to wait until somebody didn't show for an appointment. That took 1.5 hours.
There were employees outside the store preventing people from entering as the occupancy rule was violating fire department regulations. There was a 100' long waiting line to get into the store.
If you had an appointment and you were at the end of the line...if they called your name you were in!

There were nearly as many people in the Apple store as my home town. Talk about culture shock!
I can only dream of owning a business with a waiting line and then figuring out how to make the line (Or Vector as Aspire calls it) as short as possible.

Regardless my iPhone issue was fixed quickly, and on my way out the mall I passed a Dell reseller. It was closed.
I can only guess all the activity was over Apple's iPhone, iTunes and iPod.
Maybe one day Apple stores will be full of Carhartt wearing machinists groveling for a chance to buy the new "iCode"????
Insert: ;-)

On a more serious note......
What is it about apple programming that has caused it to miss out creating machine code?

The exe file?

A 6% market share?

I just don't get it?

Chuck

[rb99]

I think the reason was Autocad and vectors were dos based programing. Apple's were integrated into big printing machines in the 70's as the control interface, and they became the printer's computer, used more for photo and print type applications. Photoshop was apparently created from the programs used to make the first Star Wars movie.

So the dos guys used plotters, and the Mac guys used bitmaps. It was not too long ago that if you wanted to run vector software and a plotter you would have no choice but go pc.

Also everything Mac was completely ripped off Sun Computers.


RIB

[khaos]

yup 6% market share. Not to mention overpriced hardware. When the G-series chip were in play there was a value over cost argument. Now with intel chipsets why pay more for less. As a software guy I know plenty of my contemporaries who love their MAC. The app I see them using the most on their MAC... Windows. lol.

Once market penetration becomes worth the hassle then maybe things will change.

A Lexus or Caddy SUV is obviously more SUV than a Bronco but economics control peoples choices. Thats why there are more broncos.

iDont.

<dialog lubricated>

[Gary Campbell]

Chuck...
There is a possibility that if you dont install the SB3 software on a reccommended system, there will be little or no tech support. I am sure others have done this. Order a machine yet?
Gary

[mikeacg]

Chuck,

I have an IMac, a G3 and a MacBook. What software would I need to add to my system to test drive the SB3 software for you before you buy a machine? I use both platforms everyday so I don't quite understand the elitist attitude on either side of this debate. I use Windows (Tajima, Magellan, QDT, Wilcom) for my embroidery business, Windows for my Bot/Vectric (Aspire, Partworks V2, Partworks 3D) software, Windows (Illustrator and CorelDraw) for my laser work, Mac (Photoshop, Quark and Illustrator) for my graphics business, Mac (Dreamweaver) for my website design service, Mac for SketchUp, etc. I use whatever works the best for the application. If I can help you make an informed decision, just let me know.

Mike

[harryball]

I've never had a long term relationship with a mac work out. It evetually does something stupid that is purely a limitation of some engineer/designer/lawyer that ticks me off. I've seen macs turn from a love relationship to flying out of a second story window.

I just say no. :-)

Friends don't let friends use macs.

/RB