Re: gEDA-user: OT: Recommendations for laptop?

[Stephen Williams <steve@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Stuart Brorson wrote:

> My old laptop has gotten old and is starting to act like it should be
> retired.  I use it for hacking (including working on gEDA stuff on
> those now rare occasions when I get to it), writing, accessing the
> net, and as the primary computer when I travel.  Its replacement (if I 
> go that route) would be heavily used on a sporadic basis.  It should
> be reasonably fast & have a large RAM.  My main tasks involve using
> OpenOffice and the various gcc tools (and gEDA related stuff).

I'd have to say I'm terribly spoiled by my Macbook Pro. It cost
me a pretty penny, but I simply will not buy anything else for myself
or my family, period. (For desktops and servers, I still go Linux.)
I'm going to sound like a commercial, so forgive me in advance.

It is BSD-ish UNIX with most of the familiar Linux/UNIX/etc stuff
built in, so you'll feel right at home. There are also package
repositories (I use fink) for the traditional open source software
packages, so installing the usual cast of Linux-universe tools
is pretty debian-like. Even geda!

The Pointy-Clicky interface is very nice, simple, clear and artfully
elegant. Even sysadmin is elegant, and "Just Works." (Apple has
pretty much defines "It Just Works.") When you start getting into
advanced trickery (for example, I have TimeMachine backing up to
my LInux server!) your Linux skills will serve you.

OpenOffice, FireFox, gimp, and many other familiar monsters have
native Mac binaries/installers. QT supports Mac, so many of the
KDE tools port trivially to the mac.

Development tools for the Mac, including all the SDKs, compilers
and documentation, are *free*, and are gcc based. (Xcode includes
gcc C/C++/Objective-C.)

I just can't say enough good things about my Mackbook Pro. The
only glaring issue, is the price.

-- 
Steve Williams                "The woods are lovely, dark and deep.
steve at icarus.com           But I have promises to keep,
http://www.icarus.com         and lines to code before I sleep,
http://www.picturel.com       And lines to code before I sleep."


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