Fashion Girls

Christmas Round-Up - Computer Edition

So, does this look different from my earlier posts, as you read it?!?  (The answer should be "no.")  I am typing it on my New And Improved Computer - an iMac.  Yep, I took the plunge, and I'm now the proud owner of a beautiful piece of hardware.  The 24" screen necessitated my making a change that I have not made since 1994 - I actually needed to adjust the levels on my computer desk.  (Actually, I removed an intermediate shelf, which used to hold the monitor.)  My computer desk is a brilliant piece of furniture that I bought from IKEA years ago - it looks like spare hardware from the space shuttle, but I love, love, love it.  And now, I love the appearance of the computer on it.

I'm still stumbling through using the iMac itself.  Some things are becoming automatic already; others, not so much.  Mark has been a patient teacher, and he's ported over virtually all of my files.  I'm running Parallels, so that I can continue to run the WordPerfect files that have been my writing bread and butter since the beginning of this journey.  In theory, I'm also running DreamWeaver there, although - in practice - I'm having some trouble with wireless connectivity under Windows XP (none, under Leopard.)  The wireless problem is perpetuating one that I was having on my Dell desktop before the conversion - I've had the HelpDesk guys at work scrambling on it for weeks, without results.  (I can get wireless connectivity like a breeze, but I can't stay on the Internet for longer than three minutes.)  Sigh - I'll dig back into that one next week.

In any case, I'm pleased with the change so far.  (Annoyed by a few things, but that's to be expected, eh?  Is there any perfect computer system?)

Further reports, as warranted :-)

Mindy, pleased with her new toy, er, um, work tool
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Welcome to the Mac side of the Force. :) I switched a few years ago and haven't regretted it once.

I jumped from PC to iMac two years ago and at that time gave up on trying to make WordPerfect work on the clunky platform they had then that allowed you to run Windows programs within the Mac. How does Parallels work? I'm using an acceptable word processor called Nisus Writer, but I suppose if I could easily use WP I would go back in a shot.
With Parallels, you install the emulator software on your Mac, then click through its not-very-pretty-but-functional interface to launch Windows. Within Windows, you can install and run any Windows based program.

I am running Leopard, so I open up a new space for Parallels. You can go full-screen with Windows, using keyboard commands to switch back to a standard desktop. Working full-screen, I couldn't tell that I was working in Parallels, until I looked at the Apple logo at the bottom of my monitor.

Caveats:

1. You need to have an Intel chip in your computer.

2. You need to have a copy of Windows, installable via whatever DRM or workaround you have.

3. You need to have a copy of WordPerfect, installable via whatever DRM or workaround you have.

4. Parallels is ugly, but you only see its interface for a minute or so, as you launch Windows. It runs quickly and efficiently - experts say that they get up to 90% of speed; I have not noticed any speed deficit with the programs I've run (WordPerfect, DreamWeaver, and a recipe program called MasterCook.

Good luck, if you go down that road!
Glad to hear it is going well, especially since I am planning to make the switch when one of my boxes next needs replacing. And I am *very* pleased to hear that you can run WordPerfect via Parallels. I, too, love that bit o' software (ever since I was running it on 5 1/4's in DOS :), and would hate to have to give it up, even for a Mac.
Lovely to hear you like your Mac :) Looking forward to seeing what you write on it :)
ooooo a new computer. How fun! I'd love one of those.

Congrats on making the jump! It won't be seamless, but soon you'll be just as adroit at Mac as you were at Windows.

WordPerfect! How I miss it. Haven't used it in ages... 1995, maybe?
I love your icon for this comment! :-)
Thanks! I made it myself, so please adopt and use at will if you're so inclined!

(Anonymous)

Mindy, I'm not sure which tools you are having trouble with dropping your connection. If you're using "Terminal" and ssh, open up a "Terminal" window. Create a file called ".ssh/config" (the dot before ssh is important!)

In that file put these two lines:

ServerAliveInterval 60
ServerAliveCountMax 3600

This will keep ssh from dropping the connection after 3 minutes of inactivity. (Which my Mac did reliably until I installed said file last month.) As I recall, "ServerAliveInterval" is how often your computer pings the computer you ssh to in seconds, and ServerAliveCountMax is the maximum number of pings.

adrianne@indra.com