Can you run the latest OSX on a Mac that is 6+ years old?
motorollin: Why would you want to?
Funny how people lambast Microsoft if the latest version of Windows won't work on such an old computer, but Mac people have no trouble buying brand new hardware all the time.
motorollin: I really don't understand why you are getting problems like that. I have never had a message like that, and have been using Macs for several years.
I've been using Macs since '95. I was also the system admin for a fleet of Macs at my college newspaper office. Oh, the horror stories I could tell -- especially about OS8. A clean install of that system was a non-stop crashfest. Just putting an audio CD in the drive caused a lock-up (the 8.1 "superpatch" released 6 months later finally fixed that).
Apple only puts effort into the stuff that matters to casual users. At the low-level, MacOS and OSX have always spit out tons of indecipherable error numbers.
Sorry, but I'm
really sick of people telling me they have no problems with their Macs, but simply putting any DVD in the drive of my mini gave me "error -5862" or some similar crud, with no way to figure out what the problem was. After lots of google searches, I eventually found out that the problem was a region mis-configuration. My DVD region was set to 0 (unset), even though the machine is a US model. WTF? Was it just not initialized properly at the factory? According to several forums I've read, I'm not the only one that has had this problem.
I mean, how is it I can use an install of Windows for years at a time, get one BSOD every 6 months, and never get a virus, but my Mac mini crashes just by trying to make an NFS connection and I regularly get error messages I can't decode?
Colin Camper: I can argue with that! You are accessing the internet are you? Even through NAT you cannot access many websites before you start picking up spyware/malware.
I've been doing it for 10+ years with no problems. I've never, ever had a virus, and I don't have anti-virus software on my machine (well, OK, I install something about once a year to actually LOOK for stuff, but I never find anything).
Meanwhile, people ask me to repair their computers all the time, and all I find is spyware and viruses... and AOL.
Everybody uses AOL and AIM! Blech!
Bottom line: you cannot hold the OS responsible for 3rd party software.
On this note, I find it interesting that people brag about security on UNIX. So long as an application (like a web browser) can access your Home folder, your data is at risk. It doesn't matter if you are running as root/administrator or not. The OS is replacable. Your data is not.
Moving on or not, the computer industry is not making much progress.
srg86: All it needs is a good firewall (mine is in my router), decent antivirus (I use avast!) and don't look at attachments of e-mails from people you don't know.
I have a NAT, and that's it. I've found that anti-virus software generally pokes around too much in kernel mode and will make your system unstable. Especially Norton. I don't trust any software that tries to protect me automatically.
I must say, though, that Outlook Express is pretty braindead when it comes to attachments, such as the infamous "file.doc {50 spaces} .pif"
bloodline: I've never had a Windows installation that hasn't needed a complete reinstall after about 12 to 18 Months...
Win95 was a nightmare. I had to re-install it every 3-6 months. My current system, Win2K, hasn't been re-installed in four years and I use it every day for both gaming and programming. Oh yeah, and with an Apache/MySQL combo in the background, it still boots in ~20 seconds.
My ex-boss just bought a new Prescott-based computer for his store, and it takes more than two minutes to boot up. It's a Hewlett Packard, loaded with background processes and Norton Internet Security. Need I say more?
I wonder how long it'll be before he calls me, asking me to re-install it. He didn't get the "backup CD" option, either, so it will only re-install by copying one hard drive partition onto another (another terrific, modern innovation. Ugh.)
