I'm considering moving from Linux to a Mac and would like to lurk around a
few active Mac newsgroups for a while. This one doesn't seem very active.
Can anyone suggest a good one for a newbie.

In article <pan.2005.05.10.19.50.32.433651@suse93.com>,
Charlie <charlie@suse93.com> wrote:

> I'm considering moving from Linux to a Mac and would like to lurk around a
> few active Mac newsgroups for a while. This one doesn't seem very active.
> Can anyone suggest a good one for a newbie.

The most active that I watch is:

comp.sys.mac.system

Other Mac news groups I follow are:
comp.mac.misc
comp.sys.mac
comp.sys.mac.comm
comp.sys.mac.hardware
comp.sys.mac.hardware.misc
comp.sys.mac.hardware.storage
comp.sys.mac.misc
comp.sys.mac.portables
comp.sys.mac.printing

There may be more active Mac groups.

And remember that as with many forums, the people posting are often
either having problems, or are annoyed at something. And of course we
have our share of Trolls and similar annoying contributers.

Welcome aboard, and hope you get your first Mac real soon now. As a
Linux user you will most likely want 'fink.sf.org' and 'iterm.sf.org'
just for starters. Just something to keep in the back of your mind for
after you get your first system.

Bob Harris

On Wed, 11 May 2005 00:38:02 +0000, Bob Harris wrote:

> In article <pan.2005.05.10.19.50.32.433651@suse93.com>,
> Charlie <charlie@suse93.com> wrote:
>
>> I'm considering moving from Linux to a Mac and would like to lurk around a
>> few active Mac newsgroups for a while. This one doesn't seem very active.
>> Can anyone suggest a good one for a newbie.
>
> The most active that I watch is:
>
> comp.sys.mac.system
>
> Other Mac news groups I follow are:
> comp.mac.misc
> comp.sys.mac
> comp.sys.mac.comm
> comp.sys.mac.hardware
> comp.sys.mac.hardware.misc
> comp.sys.mac.hardware.storage
> comp.sys.mac.misc
> comp.sys.mac.portables
> comp.sys.mac.printing
>
> There may be more active Mac groups.
>
> And remember that as with many forums, the people posting are often
> either having problems, or are annoyed at something. And of course we
> have our share of Trolls and similar annoying contributers.
>
> Welcome aboard, and hope you get your first Mac real soon now. As a
> Linux user you will most likely want 'fink.sf.org' and 'iterm.sf.org'
> just for starters. Just something to keep in the back of your mind for
> after you get your first system.
>
> Bob Harris
Thank you

In article <pan.2005.05.10.19.50.32.433651@suse93.com>,
Charlie <charlie@suse93.com> wrote:

> I'm considering moving from Linux to a Mac and would like to lurk around a
> few active Mac newsgroups for a while. This one doesn't seem very active.
> Can anyone suggest a good one for a newbie.

Why don't you attend a meeting of a local Macintosh Users Group. You can
find a list of user groups on Apple's web site.

In article <pan.2005.05.10.19.50.32.433651@suse93.com>, Charlie
<charlie@suse93.com> wrote:

> I'm considering moving from Linux to a Mac and would like to lurk around a
> few active Mac newsgroups for a while. This one doesn't seem very active.
> Can anyone suggest a good one for a newbie.

I am not sure you need any newsgroup before getting the Mac. Just get it.
Make sure to install at least Mac OS 10.3 with all BSD and X-Windows
stuff, and upgrade quickly to Mac OS 10.3.9. Fink
<http://fink.sourceforge.net/> is an automated UNIX installation for
Mac's, but picking down GNU stuff and installing the traditional BSD way
in /usr/local seems fine that too.

--
Hans Aberg

Hans Aberg wrote:
> In article <pan.2005.05.10.19.50.32.433651@suse93.com>, Charlie
> <charlie@suse93.com> wrote:
>
>>I'm considering moving from Linux to a Mac and would like to lurk around a
>>few active Mac newsgroups for a while. This one doesn't seem very active.
>>Can anyone suggest a good one for a newbie.
>
> I am not sure you need any newsgroup before getting the Mac. Just get it.
> Make sure to install at least Mac OS 10.3 with all BSD and X-Windows
> stuff, and upgrade quickly to Mac OS 10.3.9. Fink
> <http://fink.sourceforge.net/> is an automated UNIX installation for
> Mac's, but picking down GNU stuff and installing the traditional BSD way
> in /usr/local seems fine that too.
>

I will respectfully disagree; as a Mac newbie who is very used to *BSD,
I find the MacOS interface daunting.

X11 was darn near impossible to find and install on the new iBook; the
doc indicated the software was on one disk, when it was in fact on
another (DevTools _only_ - the actual X11 "user" software is only
available from the Apple website - another hunt job made easier by hints
from the newsgroups).

Fink is another help - but I only found out about Fink from another hint
in the newsgroups. The doc available (in general) on the iBook itself
needs updating, and finding information about Panther on the Apple
website is impossible, now that Tiger is the current rage. Again, the
newsgroups have been invaluable in (temporarily) steering me away from
Tiger, and waiting until the bugs and incompatibilities have been shaken
out.

The list of NG's posted earlier was good information - thanks!

In article <4JKdncH6CareRB7fRVn-hw@comcast.com>, Brad Hamilton
<brMadAhaPmiSlton@coMmcAasPt.Snet> wrote:

> >>I'm considering moving from Linux to a Mac and would like to lurk around a
> >>few active Mac newsgroups for a while. This one doesn't seem very active.
> >>Can anyone suggest a good one for a newbie.
> >
> > I am not sure you need any newsgroup before getting the Mac. Just get it.
> > Make sure to install at least Mac OS 10.3 with all BSD and X-Windows
> > stuff, and upgrade quickly to Mac OS 10.3.9. Fink
> > <http://fink.sourceforge.net/> is an automated UNIX installation for
> > Mac's, but picking down GNU stuff and installing the traditional BSD way
> > in /usr/local seems fine that too.

> I will respectfully disagree; as a Mac newbie who is very used to *BSD,
> I find the MacOS interface daunting.
>
> X11 was darn near impossible to find and install on the new iBook; the
> doc indicated the software was on one disk, when it was in fact on
> another (DevTools _only_ - the actual X11 "user" software is only
> available from the Apple website - another hunt job made easier by hints
> from the newsgroups).

Actually, I recall that one too. The URL's should be
http://www.apple.com/macosx/features/x11/
http://developer.apple.com/qa/qa2001/qa1232.html
One really needs broadband to hunt for such links.

> Fink is another help - but I only found out about Fink from another hint
> in the newsgroups.

I have installed it, but not used it yet.

>The doc available (in general) on the iBook itself
> needs updating, and finding information about Panther on the Apple
> website is impossible, now that Tiger is the current rage. Again, the
> newsgroups have been invaluable in (temporarily) steering me away from
> Tiger, and waiting until the bugs and incompatibilities have been shaken
> out.
>
> The list of NG's posted earlier was good information - thanks!

I am not saying to not use whatever sources available. But do you think
one needs those sources even before getting a Mac?

Some of those Mac quirks are really strange. For example, pick up a three
button USB mouse -- all three buttons are useful in the Mac OS Finder. The
notebook/pocketbook mouses from Logitech/Kensington are good.

It is as though Apple has not realized the true power of the new OS they
are developing. Or perhaps it is Steve Jobs forcing Mac's to be sold with
one button mouses, and poor documentation on BSD UNIX and X11, stuck in
the past. Apple once thought one button mouses superior to three button
mouses, that full keyboards were unnecessary, and that a GUI (Graphical
User Interface) should replace a shell. The latest Mac OS X suffer some
bit, still, of these dogmas. It shows, for example, in that if the user
friendly GUI features that Apple has thought out are not sufficient for
you, then you are left out in the cold. The saviour in Mac OS X is the BSD
UNIX, so one can script, if necessary.

--
Hans Aberg