• Registered: 2009-05-28
  • Posts: 244

Topic: Mac OS X / macbook #!

OK, so I want to play with an iphone, and it seems using Mac OS X is required to develop, and mac hardware is the only sensible solution for a hassle and harassment-free existence.  Surely some anti-trust types should be piping up that Apple are illegally using one market to leverage another?

Anyway, here I am in Mac OS X, already missing #!.  User-friendly perhaps, but a bit pretentious is my summation.  And restrictive - forget "screenshot of the day" or whatever.  You can't even change the system font.

I cant wait to get #! on dual boot, and there looks like a good guide here: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/MacBook
Has anyone else tried this with #! on a macbook 3,1 and lived?

Also, as I will be spending some time in SOX, err, OS X, anyone have any tips to make it a bit more like #! ?

PS. Oh hell, the keyboard doesn't even have a "delete" key to erase chars to the right, only "backspace" - I was thinking the hardware would make a great #! machine (expecially since I have the all-black plastic one) even if I couldn't get on with OS X ....Grrr.

Last edited by jackbang (2009-11-19 06:44:24)

  • pvsage
  • Internal Affairs
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  • From: Section Six
  • Registered: 2009-10-18
  • Posts: 6,009

Re: Mac OS X / macbook #!

That ubuntu forum link should get you going just fine.  It *is* of course possible to install Hackintosh on any x86 box, but as you pointed out, there are clear legal issues and potential hardware issues.

while ( ! ( succeed = try() ) );
  • Registered: 2009-05-28
  • Posts: 244

Re: Mac OS X / macbook #!

yeah, thanks pvsage, I did a lot of reading about hackintosh, and was going to try for a vmware solution, but it looked a bit sketchy, and then a decent deal on a used macbook came up.

However, it's very clear why people like movie moguls and recording execs might like apple.  You can't move for adverts, and "opportunities" to buy stuff, it's payware all the way.  Even OSS stuff - for example, NTFS-3g,  open source freeware, right?  EUR25 for OSX.  Ext2 driver?  $39.95.  Etc, etc.  Not that I'm criticizing those providers, I guess they've put the work in to port to mac and add features so are entitled to charge.

I can see I'm ONLY going to use this OS for iPhone SDK.  Surprised there's no charge for that.  What's that you say?  You have to pay $99 for the privilege of a key so you can sign your apps, which you need to do to install on iphone, regardless whether you want to publish them or not?  It's not the future I signed up for, that's for sure.

PPS.  This lack of delete key is really bugging me.  Which smart-aleck thought that one up.

Last edited by jackbang (2009-11-19 11:53:52)

  • fox
  • #! Junkie
  • Offline
  • From: Peterborough, Ontario, Canada
  • Registered: 2009-05-10
  • Posts: 361

Re: Mac OS X / macbook #!

jackbang wrote:

...
PPS.  This lack of delete key is really bugging me.  Which smart-aleck thought that one up.

Mac users don't make mistakes. smile
Seriously, I have both CrunchBang and Ubuntu running on virtual machines on my 13" MacBook Pro and they run very well.  VirtualBox is better than Vmware Fusion for CrunchBang and either are good for Ubuntu.  I have one problem with CrunchBang running on Fusion that I haven't been able to solve - when you expand the window it is running in, the menu font gets very large.  The problem seems to be that I can't force the 96 dpi text in openbox.  The helpful folks on this forum can tell you how to normally do it, but I think that the Vmware Tools take over that job and no one in the Vmware Forums has so far been able to tell me how to fix this.

Mac user with Linux tendencies
#!CrunchBang Statler & UNE 10.10 on Acer 1810TZ (OCZ Vertex 60gb SSD)
#!, Mint LMDE & Peppermint Ice on MSI Wind U100 (Gigabye Atheros b/g wireless)
Various linux virtual machines on a Mac mini, an iMac and a MacBook Pro
  • Registered: 2009-05-28
  • Posts: 244

Re: Mac OS X / macbook #!

LOL.  Steve Jobs doesn't make mistakes, anyway.

Very interesting about VM's, do they go full-screen, or are you stuck with the oversized (IMHO) apple menubar, and window titlebars for everything?  How about using an ext3 physical partition as the disk image for virtualbox, so I could use virtualbox, and/or dual-boot?  I read that the disk partitioning scheme is a bit tricky to figure out for this.

  • Registered: 2009-05-28
  • Posts: 244

Re: Mac OS X / macbook #!

BTW, I miss tint2, which I use in multi-screen mode.  I can see all four virtual screens, and the list of apps on each one, and can go instantly to any one by clicking.  In OS X, the desktop switcher seems to be the "show spaces in menubar" option, which just gives you a pulldown list of desktops.  Is there anything better?  I know there's expose, and various stuff, but none of it from the mouse?