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Bhang
Joined: 31 Jan 2003
Posts: 641
Location: Classified |
 Tue Feb 03, 2004 2:51 pm
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SWAMPGAS:
I know nothing of Mac.
Say I was interested in buying a high-speed system for multi-media/internet use. What kind of specs would you suggest to me if money was not problem? |
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Swamp Gas
Joined: 06 Jun 2001
Posts: 4254
Location: On a Hill in the Lowlands |
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Tue Feb 03, 2004 4:36 pm
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Bhang,
I'd go for the dual 3ghz G5 Mac, coming out this summer. A G5 running the same clock speed as a Pentium 4 or Xeon, will out perform it by 50%. Much more efficient use of clock speed. RISC (G5) vs CISC (Pentium). Combine that with dual 1+ GHZ front side bus, and you have a screamer. Digital audio I/O, Firewire 800, and USB 2.0. The G5 (IBMM 970) is also a 64 bit processor. Mac OSX is an extremely robust multitasking, multithreading OS. It runs rings around Windows, which still feels like a rickety old fart, even with a dual 3.6 GHZ Pentium machine we use a work. It's just an inferior OS. BTW, I work in multimedia development, and we use all Macintosh's. We had 10 videos running on a dual 867 G4, all at full frame rate, AND could render a Lightwave 3D animation, AND surf the Web, all without blinking.
Here's the other side of the coin. Microsoft is a sleaze company. The company I work for, will not put in Windows XP, because of security holes. Bill Gates made no bones about the Adavpi files, and how you allow Microsoft to peek around your machine when they update the OS. Gates and Microsoft are also in bed with Homeland Security, and love the implication of this:
http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~rja14/tcpa-faq.html
TCPA/Palladium.....A Police-State Model for your computer and the Internet itself. Read that article very carefully. Intel and AMD are being pushed into implementing this. IBM is going all Linux for their own servers, and dropping Windows. The nice thing about being at 5% of the total, like Apple, is nobody is writing viruses, and when they do, OSX is like a Brick $#@#! in stability and protection. In running Macs for 20 years now, I've had only one virus back in 1988, called "The Worm".
Steve Jobs of Apple said emphatically that he will not implement TCPA in any Macintosh. He even went further and stated a consortium of Linux people and Apple will create a new Internet if it came down to it. Good for him! A CEO with a conscience.
If you want a good deal, you could get a dual 867 MGZ G4 for about $1000 right now, and it will outperform a dual 1.5 GHZ Pentium. I'd be patient though, and wait for that dual 3GHZ G5. Mech has a Dual 2 GHZ G5, and I'll let him tell you about it.
[Edited 3 times, lastly by swamp gas on 02-03-2004] |
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the professor
Joined: 10 Jan 2003
Posts: 1164
Location: heartland USA |
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Thu Feb 05, 2004 7:58 am
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Wow, you really know your stuff! BTW is there a pro tools music software for a Mac? also on the later model of that Mac how much more do you think the price will drop within a year? reason I'm asking is I'm going to be updating my mother board and go to a 64 processor and am thinking that with the more problems that I hear and experience with Windows if I should just scrap the whole system entirely and change to a Mac, I'd hate to get rid of my Alienware if I didn't have to. |
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Swamp Gas
Joined: 06 Jun 2001
Posts: 4254
Location: On a Hill in the Lowlands |
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Thu Feb 05, 2004 3:36 pm
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Hi Prof,
Yes, There is ProTools for Mac. I have been using Mac and PT for 16 years now, including the flagship SoundDesigner. I also use, Bias Peak, MOTU Digital Performer, Final Cut Pro, Adobe After Effects, AudioUnits and VST Plugins (B3, Fender Rhodes, PPG Wave, Minimoog, Series 5 Moog, Yamaha CS-80, Arp Odyessy, Mellotron (The complete Moody Blues collection also), Orange Micro Vocoder, Yamaha DX7, Grand Piano (VERY authentic), all sorts of Surround Plugs. Outboard Akai Z8 24 bit sampler, Oberheim Xpander, Roland RSS-10 3D Processor, and assorted little boxes.
There is also this strange problem with MIDI and Digital Audio sychronization in PCs that Macs don't have. I was talking to the guy who engineered the movie Titanic at a party, and they had to change from PC's to Mac early on in the project.
Believe it or not, we have a 2 GHZ PC at home, but it used to test web design on the PC side. Virtual PC workd very well in the Mac also, but I got the PC for nothing, and the "real deal" is more comforting to final test on. BTW, if you miss PC stuff, a dual 2 GHZ G5 Mac will run Virtual PC at the equivilant of a 1 GHZ Pentium 4 in speed. Not bad for emulation, and more than enough for 95% of PC software. So there would be no loss, and Macs can read PC doscs with no problem. Can't do that the other way round.
The price will drop within 6 months, as the dual 3 GHZ comes out. You'll be able to get a dual 2 GHZ, for around $1800 by that time. Now remember, you don't need to buy any other cards. It has 24bit/96 khz audio built into the motherboard, as well as video processing hardware, much like the old Commodore Amiga from the 80's. The G5 is simply a more powerful Video and Audio Processor. You also don't need ethernet cards, since that is built in too.
Hope this helps, and anything else, I'll be glad to help.
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JerseyBluEyz
Joined: 09 Jul 2003
Posts: 1257
Location: Northeast |
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Thu Feb 12, 2004 6:39 am
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Swamp: Any input on the new Microsoft critical update? I sure have not installed it yet. I've been getting the update message for about 5 days now! As if I want to make another hole in my block of swiss cheese!
http://news.independent.co.uk/digital/news/story.jsp?story=490084
Microsoft warns of 'critical' Windows security flaws
AP
11 February 2004
Microsoft has warned customers about "critical" security problems with its Windows software that could let hackers quietly break into their computers to steal files, delete data or eavesdrop on sensitive information.
The US software giant, which learned about the flaws more than six months ago from researchers, said yesterday the only protective solution was to apply a repairing patch it offered on its website. It assessed the threat to computer users as "critical" - its highest rating.
A Microsoft security executive, Stephen Toulouse, said the flawed software was "an extremely deep and pervasive technology in Windows" and urged customers to apply the patch immediately.
The US Department of Homeland Security also warned Americans about the software problems with e-mails sent across its new national cyber-alert system.
Yesterday's disclosure comes just weeks before Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates delivers a keynote speech in San Francisco at one of the industry's most important security trade conferences. Microsoft has struggled in recent months against a tide of renewed criticism about security risks in its software, the engine for computers in most of the world's governments, corporations and homes.
"This is one of the most serious Microsoft vulnerabilities ever released," said Marc Maiffret of eEye Digital Security, which discovered the new Windows flaws.
"The breadth of systems affected is probably the largest ever. This is something that will let you get into Internet servers, internal networks, pretty much any system."
Maiffret said some computer systems that controlled critically important power or water utilities were vulnerable.
Maiffret predicted hackers would try to unleash a damaging Internet infection within weeks. Unlike earlier vulnerabilities that spawned such attacks, hackers can exploit the newly-disclosed flaws to break into susceptible computers using dozens of methods, making any defence far more difficult.
"The race will be on," agreed Marcus Sachs, a former White House adviser on cybersecurity.
Researchers at eEye discovered the problems last July and agreed to keep quiet about them until Microsoft could fix them. Maiffret complained that the delay between eEye's discovery and yesterday's public disclosure by Microsoft was "just totally unacceptable" because Windows users were broadly vulnerable during the period.
Toulouse said Microsoft took months because it wanted to ensure that a single repairing patch solved any related problems. "We really took the steps to make sure our investigation was as broad and deep as possible," he said.
Maiffret and Microsoft said they were unaware anyone had yet attacked Windows computers using the technique, although eEye had successfully tested the method to break into its own computers.
Microsoft's disclosure occurred just days before a presidential advisory council submits recommendations to the White House about ways technology companies should respond to major software vulnerabilities that could affect national security. The 54-page report, obtained by The Associated Press, cautions that "long delays in remediation can result in prolonged risk to end users".
The problems affected a technology in the newest versions of Windows known as "abstract syntax notation", a way to share data across different computers. Some of Microsoft's built-in security features - such as its Kerberos cryptography system - rely on the flawed software.
Microsoft urged consumers to apply the repairing patch immediately if they were using Windows NT, Windows 2000 or Windows XP versions of its software, or its Windows NT Server, Server 2000 and Server 2003 software commonly found in corporations.
To download the Microsoft "patch", go to www.microsoft.com/security/.
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Mech
Joined: 06 Jun 2001
Posts: 8237
Location: THE 4th REICH USA |
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Sat Feb 14, 2004 6:03 am
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TOO SCHWEEEEEEEEEEEET!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Man! I'm drooling now!
I could use a 4400 GHZ processor!
[Edited 1 times, lastly by Mech on 02-13-2004] |
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Bhang
Joined: 31 Jan 2003
Posts: 641
Location: Classified |
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Sat Feb 21, 2004 10:42 pm
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Swamp Gas:
Thanx 4 the input, it is duly noted and you have convinced me to invest in a mac. Maybe you should look into a salesman position over there with apple? 
It took me awhile to find this site after I asked you about the specs, I did not neglect you. Thanx again! |
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Swamp Gas
Joined: 06 Jun 2001
Posts: 4254
Location: On a Hill in the Lowlands |
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Mon Feb 23, 2004 5:41 pm
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You're welcome Bhang!
Here's some more info on Mac OSX.
It wa selected, along with Unix BSD, as the safest operating systems.
http://maccentral.macworld.com/news/2004/02/20/osxserver/index.php?redirect=107752546 3000
Study shows Mac OS X Server among most secure in world
By Brad Cook
February 20, 2004 1:25 pm ET
British cyber security firm mi2g recently announced the results of a study that names Mac OS X one of the most secure online server operating systems in the world, alongside the Berkeley Software Distribution (BSD) family of Open Source systems. The study also showed that Linux is currently the most-breached online server OS.
The study was conducted by mi2g's Intelligence Unit, which looked at the overall number of attacks against government and private sector online servers, as well as the percentage of successful attacks, for the month of January. Linux bore the brunt of 80 percent of the overall attacks, followed by Microsoft Windows at 12 percent and BSD and Mac OS X at 3 percent, together.
The total number of successful attacks, according to mi2g, was 17,074, of which Linux accounted for 13,654, Windows 2,005, and BSD and Mac OS X 555. Looking strictly at successful attacks against government servers, Linux comprised 57 percent of those, followed by Windows at 35 percent and BSD and Mac OS X at 0 percent, which the company notes is a first for that category.
mi2g also saw a stark contrast between January's percentage of successful attacks against government servers and the situation six months ago, when Windows was at 51 percent and Linux suffered just 14 percent of the breaches. DK Matai, the company's executive chairman, noted that "the swift adoption of Linux last year within the online government and non-government server community, coupled with inadequate training and knowledge of how to keep that environment secure when running vulnerable third party applications, has contributed to a consistently higher proportion of comprised Linux servers."
Matai added: "Migration to Open Source can be fool's gold without adequate training and understanding of the impact that third party applications can have on overall safety and security. Windows administrators deserve some credit for having consistently reduced the proportion of successful online hacker attacks, but the real credit has to go to the developers and administrators of BSD and Mac OS X for maintaining such an excellent track record."
The company estimated that the overall economic damage from server attacks worldwide during January was somewhere between US$2.34 and $2.86 billion. 54.3 percent of all attacks were against micro businesses and home-based computers with always-on Internet access. 41 percent of the attacks were against small businesses with sales below $7 million, 3.5 percent were against companies with sales between $7 and $40 million, and 1.3 percent were against firms with sales in excess of $40 million. mi2g noted that the numbers exclude attacks caused by viruses, worms and Trojan Horses.
[Edited 1 times, lastly by swamp gas on 02-23-2004] |
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