Only on a Mac

alternateorg on March 29, 2000

SO I am a lone MAC user in a 100+ co. that runs all windows & NT. After completing a multimedia project for a trade show using powerpoint (which sucks) with embedded quicktime movies and animations running millions of colors and 30fps, there was a request to use a wintel machine for the show. The project was created on a G4 400, and with 50 megs RAM dedicated to powerpoint, the presentation ran smooth and seamless. Well, I tried running a few of the animations (which I DOWNSAMPLED) on a few pc’s, and this P3 650Mhz with a 16Meg graphic accelerator just choked. So I tried about four other systems and got even worse results. So in the end I had my mac at the trade show and have ammo to lob at the engineering kooks. Feel free to Send your support

ByeByeBe

alternateorg on March 28, 2000

Well… the experiments have been completed, and the verdict is in:

The BeOS runs on a G3/4 based Mac running VirtualPC.

Only there’s one problem: It sucks. The speed is hardly what you’d expect from Be (even running on an emulated processor; Win98 is faster) and the graphics cards aren’t supported (at least natively). So you end up with a slow OS in black and white at only 640×480. That about wraps it up for me and my Be fantasy. Maybe I can find a $300 PC to run it on….

Cops are smart

alternateorg on March 28, 2000

Another brilliant advancement in law enforcement. Apparently in England they are going to start scanning people’s airplane tickets for cocaine and heroin.

What exactly are they going to do when they find some? Arrest you because you let some coke fiend handle your boarding pass? The next time I go to England I hope I remember to roll my ticket up in a tube shape and dip one end in powdered sugar.

FreeBe

alternateorg on March 28, 2000

For those of you who care… Be, Inc announced FreeBeOS 5 today. In case the name isn’t enough clue: It’s BeOS 5. And it’s free. To download. http://free.be.com. If you can get in, that is. I keep having problems connecting to the site.

Now, because the new BeOS is strictly software based (no disks used to install) I’m willing to bet it can be run on a G3 or G4. Here’s how:

1. Seeing as how all BeOS releases from here on out are going to be x86 based, install Connectix VirtualPC on your machine
2. Using your newly installed Win98, download BeOS from the aforementioned URL.
3. Because BeOS runs solely within Windows (but not really… it’s complicated) I bet you can fool it into thinking you’ve got a POS Intel processor.

I will post my results when I can get a socket connections to be.com. If anyone tries this and fails/succeeds, please let us know. You can post to your heart’s content in the Alternate forum.

Microsoft gets it right?

alternateorg on March 26, 2000

I’ve been using the beta version of the new Microsoft Internet Explorer 5 for Macintosh over the last few months and I have been extremely satisfied with its performance and stability. I think for once it might be possible that the folks over at Microsoft are actually thinking straight… or maybe they are just scared of the competition and its keeping them on their toes. Anyhow, I think the things people want in a browser are a decent looking customizable interface, fast rendering times, a small file size, a free download, and fairly standard HTML rendering. I think it might just be available for download right here a day before its actual announced release.

[ tell me how wrong I am in the forum ]

Don't Quit Your Day Job

alternateorg on March 26, 2000

A Superior Court judge in Brazil ruled in favor of a former employee of a brewery worker who sued his employer for alcoholism. The countries largest brewery, Brahma, was ordered to pay a former employee $30,000.00 in damages plus a lifetime pension equal to his monthly salary of $2,500 a month. Apparently, after leaving the company in 1992, he figured his alcoholism was caused by his former employer and sued in 1996. He claimed the brewery made him drink 13-17 pints of beer every day, but now has switched brands and prefers Cachaca exclusively.

Microsoft Again

alternateorg on March 25, 2000

Cisco ended the day with a market capitalization of $579.2 billion, slightly ahead of Microsoft’s $578.2 billion.

Does this mean the end of Microsoft?

As Sony rolls out playstation 2, MS is way ahead of the game by introducing X-Box (?) due for release sometime in the next ten years.

Rack Mounted iMacs?

alternateorg on March 24, 2000

I find myself, being a sys admin, in the position of having to find hardware for servers on a regular basis… Today I saw this link over at slashdot about someone who hacked together a rack mounted (1U) server made from a $999 iMac. I am excited at the possibility of being able to put Linux for the PPC on one of those babies and get a fast as fuck server in 1 unit of rack space for less money and less space then the dopest VALinux rack mount servers around!

Word!

Supergood

alternateorg on March 24, 2000

If you are into disjointed, thought-provoking art sites, check out superbad.com. Cool concept…I’ve never had the same experience twice in the 10-15 times I’ve been there.