tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6815203.post2354416572291097762..comments2023-10-20T20:18:51.797+09:00Comments on Blues Tea-Cha: QUARTERLYearningsSTATEMENTBlues Tea-Chahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08059204853265535952noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6815203.post-45701181763247684772009-05-15T00:34:00.000+09:002009-05-15T00:34:00.000+09:00Thank you for your comment. I agree that the MacBo...Thank you for your comment. I agree that the MacBook Pro is a great way (or the only way) to use 3 operating systems in one machine, with a good feel and with everything working -- altho I haven't used the Parallels Desktop yet. However, the 15" is a little big to carry around comfortably, in my opinion. I prefer(ed) Apple's smallest 12 or 13" notebooks and a 21" desktop -- if one can afford to have a laptop and a desktop, which I do by running them for years. <br /><br />I am experiencing the sluggish go-and-eat-lunch-and-come-back-to-see-if-the-page-has-loaded kind of performance you allude to on my 2004 21" iLamp at this moment. (It's probably my fault for having 9 apps, 20 windows and 50 tabs open.) As I DO want to keep ONE piece of Apple hardware (preferably under 5 years old) around and working, a Mac Mini replacement for this is sounding better. I am doing work on this machine, so it is impairing my productivity. Being able to run Parallels would be a plus. Yes, I've almost convinced myself. But where would this one go? <br /><br />AT the moment Mandriva seems to be working as well as or better than Ubuntu for me here. I decided to experiment with the little sucker eee 4G as a test bed for different LIVE CD/USB Linux distributions before I commit myself too much to one distro, so I have been downloading Fedora, openSUSE, and Vector Linux Light Live (in addition to Ubuntu and Mandriva) to do some comparisons. I realized I need a Live CD (or bootable IMG disk image), multilingual OS, Asian Language support, preferably support for the Eee and the PPC platforms, and a beginners' distro. That's narrowed my options down a bit. As I am becoming more committed to Linux than Apple, I may put YDL (Yellow Dog), openSUSE, Ubuntu, Fedora, or another distro on the Macs around here as well, to get more experience with it-- in a dual boot configuration. <br /><br />If you haven't thrown the Toshiba aside too hard or too far, why not use it as a test bed for a different OS? You already KNOW Vista sucks on it. There is free virtualization or emulation software in Linux as well that allows you to run XP and/or Vista as a process (?) in a window. SO you could run various OSs or ISOs or IMGs from a CD or as a virtual whatever. Google around for a user experience with a Linux distro that has good support for a Toshiba tablet. It's also possible that Windows 7 will be a hit and give it a new life. Are you ready to reformat the Vista and try something else?Blues Tea-Chahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08059204853265535952noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6815203.post-8845316467195245962009-05-14T23:21:00.000+09:002009-05-14T23:21:00.000+09:00I have recently thrown aside a Toshiba tablet that...I have recently thrown aside a Toshiba tablet that I used for the last two years - it was pre-configured with Vista and I struggled for those two years with incredibly bad performance. I was blinded by my desire to have a tablet system -- and did appreciate the flippable screen and pen usage for web browsing, NY Times reading, etc. I was pushed to the breaking point a few weeks ago -- it seemed half of my computing time was waiting for it to wake or dealing with a "not responding" message. This after optimizing with both maximum memory (4GB!) and minimal software load. I would get a great deal of satisfaction out of smashing it against a brick wall but I think I can squeeze some use out of it without trying to rely on it on a day-to-day basis. I'll go smash something else and imagine the Toshiba logo shattering onto the pavement.<br /><br />So -- I've tossed it aside and am *very* happily working on my MacBook Pro (15" 2.6Ghz, 4GB). The beauty of this system is the addition of Parallels Desktop 4.0 for Mac. In combination with the MacOS Spaces utility I am able to simultaneously run as many operating systems as I desire. I am currently running the core Mac OS - of course - but within Parallels I have three other machines - the new Windows 7 RC, Ubuntu 9, and Windows XP.<br /><br />Full screen mode and very good performance makes working in these virtual machines seem just like being there. Full hardware support - USB scanners, bluetooth, it's all there.<br /><br />I've made a giant leap from the shackles of Vista to the freedom of running whatever program I need in the environment that best supports it.<br /><br />Praise be to the software gods. Amen.Mike Fennemanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02510406861729023247noreply@blogger.com