davide@cs.qmw.ac.uk (David Edmondson) (05/03/90)
In article <11881@portia.Stanford.EDU> kocks@jessica.stanford.edu (Peter Kocks) writes: >I use unix (on a dec machine) and a mac all the time and I don't see >why people would want to use Mac AUX as a substitute for the Mac. The >only people with any real reason for using unix are programmers. >-PK >kocks@jessica.stanford.edu We are a computer science department and use A/UX for teaching since it lets you use Mac Applications as well as unix, this does not disagree with what you have said. However the experience of also looking after a lab of macs with a mix of MacOS and A/UX would incline me suggest that anybody who looks after publicly accessible Macs should consider using A/UX2 when it becomes available. A/UX gives you proper access control so your Geography Mac lab doesn't get filled with Engineers printing project reports and throwing away your carefully installed graphical database to install their CAD package. Using our "blow" package we can re-install the disk image every night to ensure that the machines are clean and up to date. We also have the facility to control who can use which machines and when and to throw them off (after a suitable warning) if they outstay their welcome. File serving can be done automatically, you don't even have to call up AppleShare. I'm sure many or all of these things can be done under MacOS but unix puts them all together rather than having to rely on half a dozen proprietory or shareware utilities. The Mac, like all personal computers, is designed to sit on someone's desk and be cossetted. When they are put in a shared environment they get filled with trash and generally abused. In answer to your question people might well want to use A/UX as a substiute for MacOS (even if they are not programming or doing other unixy things) if: a: They have to administrate shared labs of macs. b: They want to use a shared lab of macs which are consistent and available. Dave -- David Edmondson ARPA: davide@cs.qmw.ac.uk Dept of Computer Science JANET:davide@uk.ac.qmw.cs Queen Mary & Westfield College UUCP: davide@qmw-cs.UUCP Mile End Road AppleLink: UK0087 LONDON, E1 4NS, UK Tel: 01-975 5250 (Fax: 01-980 6533)
jbr0@cbnews.ATT.COM (joseph.a.brownlee) (05/03/90)
In article <11881@portia.Stanford.EDU> kocks@jessica.stanford.edu (Peter Kocks) writes: >How often does the Mac crash because of some application going nuts? >The used to happen all the time, but it rarely happens to me anymore. >Really, it rarely does. [...] I belive you, but some of us run some rather ill behaved applications. My worst offender is Deluxe Music Construction Set 2.5. If you use it for more than 15 minutes, you are almost guaranteed to lock up, or at the very least, have it decide that it no longer wants to accept any text you try to enter, requiring that you exit and start the application over again. I occasionally have problems with MacTools from Copy II 7.1 and Pixel Paint 1.1, too. I'm sure many readers know of other widely used applications that cause problems. At least many companies fix bugs. In the last update to DMCS, Electronic Arts did not fix ONE BUG that I have found in the program. I am seriously thinking of abandoning DMCS, myself. -- - _ Joe Brownlee, Analysts International Corp. @ AT&T Network Systems /_\ @ / ` 471 E Broad St, Suite 1610, Columbus, Ohio 43215 (614) 860-7461 / \ | \_, E-mail: jbr@cblph.att.com Who pays attention to what _I_ say? "Scotty, we need warp drive in 3 minutes or we're all dead!" --- James T. Kirk
paul@taniwha.UUCP (Paul Campbell) (05/04/90)
In article <7997@goofy.Apple.COM> dwb@sticks.apple.com (David Berry) writes: > Meg of memory. Since A/UX runs the MacOS in 32-bit mode, the lowest > non-ram address is the ROM at 0x40800000. At least in theory we could > create a mac with as much as 4 gazillion bytes of memory. Currently no no no ..... 0x40000000 is only ONE gazillion :-) Paul -- Paul Campbell UUCP: ..!mtxinu!taniwha!paul AppleLink: CAMPBELL.P "The current plan is to replace the flag with one with alternating vertical black and white stripes of varying widths - this is thought to better represent the country's system of government ..."