World: r3wp

Yep...I'm with Ashley.  If you want a computer to use, get a Mac. 
 If you want to stick it to the man, use GNU/Linux, but do so knowing 
that whizbang feature X will be lacking or require gnome level tinkering.

If you want to be a lemming, go Windows, sorry I mean, if you like 
mainstream, go Windows.

Ashley, can you explain in a little more detail how your setup works 
for you? i.e. why two minis, is the iBook just for traveling, etc.

as many monitors as big as you can afford :) possibly all on dvi 
digital

linux + wine works better than i had expected. but, of course, linux 
has its pains too, so only go for it if you know what to expect.

Gabriele; Really?  Is it just my small brain...but I can't focus 
on more than a webpage, an editor or altme  and gizmo and that all 
fits fine on on a 15" lcd.  When I work on the 21" that the graphic 
designer uses, I just get distracted.  I sit beside the 21, a 19 
but prefer to work on the 15.

well, right now i have three altme windows open. i can tell you, 
that two big monitors really help with that :)

also while working on qtask i used to have the debug console on one 
monitor and the editor / browser on the other. how much faster it 
was than when i was using one monitor only!

Ahh, you have one of those multi-tasking brains huh?  Juggle when 
you read  :)

it's not that you multitask much. it's that you have a bird-eye view 
of things.

altme does not have any way to notify you of new messages if the 
window is covered (let's not talk about the sound option ;)

this way, i notice new messages and can respond quicker (especially 
new messages from Carl ;)

Yeah, I find that too distracting.  At corporate they had walls of 
monitors.  I watched the staff ignore a big red dot for many minutes 
before I mentioned it.   They get swamped in data...but yeah I see 
your point.

another thing that has been *really* great is using vim vertical 
split after stretching it to cover both monitors :-) eg. vimdiff. 
it does not even compare to using it on a single monitor where you 
see only half of the line.

That I can see being useful...  I do stuggle with side by side compares...

Well, struggle's not the right word...but I can see it being better 
with diff -y

Without tabbed Konsole I might freak out a ltitle, but with...tabs 
15 inch is nice for focus

Enjoy the big screens.  :)

Ashley, can you explain in a little more detail how your setup works 
for you?

 Sure. I run a home office with two studies. Each has a Mac mini (plus 
 Cinema display) for day-to-day work. My study also has a TabletPC 
 connected to a 1280x1024 VGA LCD display. I use this for REBOL development 
 and demos away from home.


The iBook is located in the other study and is used by my better 
half when running Windows software related to our finance company 
(CRM/Sales software distributed via the professional body we belong 
to, no Mac or Linux option available). We also use the iBook when 
showing non-IT people stuff (e.g. a spreadsheet showing how much 
their portfolio could be worth if they geared it) and when attending 
training sessions.


The ADSL modem has an ethernet connection to Airport express, which 
in turn has the MFC plugged into its USB slot. The Mac's pick up 
the printer automatically, the TabletPC runs Bonjour and does the 
same. Everything, including the TabletPC, detected the Network without 
issue. It really has been as simple as, 1) Unpack, 2) Plug-in, 3) 
Use. I've also noticed that WinXP running on the iBook is a lot faster/smoother 
than on the TabletPC as it installs 'clean' (i.e. piggy-backs off 
the Mac's Network and Hardware support).


Large screens are a must if you write and or read a lot of documents. 
A 1920x1200 screen lets you do a slideshow on a PDF document and 
read the pages side-by-side. On wide screens I always have the task-bar/dock 
on the right to maximize the vertical display area.

Ahhh, a multi-room setup. Excellent info, and most helpful. Thanks 
very much Ashley.

And one more: I'm using a 2TB NAS system (Thecus) to store shared 
things. Works great (things to add: automatic backup to Amazon S3 
(now you know why I want it)). Than I have two PCs (1 Desktop and 
1 Laptop) and 1 Mac Mini (Intel)


The Mac Mini is a totaly cool machine. Silent, fast, and it just 
works.


Hence, my next desktop will become a Mac Pro. Hopefully VMWare works 
than.

VMWare is x86 only though ....

To get rid of reinstalling everything I have packed two things into 
a VMWare:

1. My office stuff. Only office and some add-ons nothing else. (To 
keep it alive)

2. My development setup. Everything configured, compiler, include 
paths etc. Totally self contained.


Than one that I don't use that much for some apps like graphics stuff.

robert, VMWare should work fine now in MacOSX?

I haven't tried it, but good hint, if it's available I give it a 
try.

I heard that Parallels eats a lot of memory and degrades in performance 
over time, so VMWare is perhaps better.

Going for a VMWare for development was my best decision. I hate it 
to setup/move complex environment with different compilers etc. As 
long as you have enough memory, you don't feel a speed difference. 
For some things I even have the feeling it's faster.

So: NAS (and use Gigabit ethernet), VMWare for stuff you will use 
for years and don't want to reinstall and keep protected by wild 
software setups, and if everything you need is available for Mac, 
go for a Mac.

Ah, and I have one more VMWare for testing software.

BTW: For single apps, going with application virtualization is a 
good choice too. You can get Office packed into 4 EXE files.

I have ordered my guys to prepare new notebook for me. Recently I 
have Core Duo Dell, but one month after purchase keyboard broke and 
now USB ports don't work well. Vista today ruined my whole REBOL 
USB pen directory, damned. It finds my usb pen on some ports every 
30 secs. What is more, I have 7200rpm drive, battery lasts only some 
two hours. Now I will have well, Dell once again, this time with 
slower HD but 2 GB RAM. I was at VMWare presentation for our datacenter 
just yesterday and I really liked it, so I am putting it on my notebook 
too ...

The more I can virtualize the "still Windows only apps" I will move 
away from this crappy PC stuff.

That way I can finally not hesitate to try Syllable, some Linuxes, 
etc. Man, Vista is so useless. So much of wasted resources imo. XP 
SP2 just does everything you need.

Yes, and as soon as MS forces you to use Vista I'm switching to Mac 
:-)

Mac is rather expensive here though ....

Are you sure OS-X is better than Vista? OS-X is friendly Linux, no? 
Why not e.g. Ubuntu? :-)

Isn't it there yet? :-)

Yes, but it's worth the money. If I save 20h per year by using a 
Mac the ROI is more than enough.

OSX just works. It's really nicely done. Covers the whole Unix core 
from user, but you can still get access to it.

My girlfriend needed 15 minutes to switch from Windows to Mac and 
haven't asked me anything since than... So it has a good WAF = women 
acceptance factor.

WAF - LOL :-)

Robert - still working with REBOL from time to time? :-) We'll upgrade 
SAP BW this year and SAP next year. I just wonder, if there is anything 
better for reporting than BW :-) Not everything is covered by that 
and e.g. in financial area we got some other offer. That whole area 
so overlaps with various offers, that it is kind of difficult to 
get myself oriented :-)

Robert, doing the same here. Pulled my last WinXP out behind the 
shed a few weeks ago and shot it. Just need some way to get encap 
for windows working again.

The more I can virtualize the 'still Windows only apps'

 ... you can even replace Windows itself these days without resorting 
 to Wine. Check out ReactOS ( http://www.reactos.org/), quite a few 
 forum posts indicating that folks are running it on Mac under Parallels 
 ... there was even mention of REBOL/View running on it.

Ashley, well it's a bit early to switch to it. But my needs for Win 
only apps is really vanishing. I think getting Office for Mac would 
be enough to switch. And of course, doing my own transition phase 
to find all the equivalent tools on Mac.

I downloaded the reactos livecd, and couldn't find any pc that it 
would successfully boot.  I also tried the LivePC version and it's 
highly unstable

I'm building a computer system for my friend. The motherboard comes 
with a magnetic ring which is supposed to reduce interference. But 
which cables is it supposed to go on ? (I think I've seen it in another 
system around the front led/power/reset cables.)

the ones going to the front panel

thanks, Graham.

I'm considering getting the new Apple iPhone.  Does anyone have any 
ideas or opinions on what it would take to get rebol to work on that 
platform?  Or is that an unrealistic goal?  What would it take to 
get rebol to work on that platform?

A web-based console?