The official thread for any and all discussion related to Apple Inc.

[IronManForever]

1. Thanks for Steermouse, will try.
2. Coversutra? What for and why free? Checking out.
3. I have not yet bought a USB CDMA Modem. I have to buy one, cheap and best and one that works with Mac OS.

4. I needed 3d games to tell my friends that Macs have games too, they call me insane for buying it. noobs!

5. Yes, I should tell you guys what I want to do and then it will be easier for you to recommend software. But I am out learning thing, exploring what all can be done. Something that Mac rocks at. So I needed to know some great apps. Thanks anyways!
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Nice websites I got looking for Free / Open Source Softwares..

Open Source Mac => Nice and simple.
FreeSMUG => A bit more content.

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Dont know how to take it, Apple just updated the White Macbook to whatever I ever needed, wanted. Anyways, life goes on.

 

[SunnyChahal]

I can help you out with Mac games and the friends who call you insane have seriously no idea of what you own.
First you need to know the basics. EA and Cider are working on developing games for Macintosh platform. Cider is a software which emulated Windows games on Mac. Although there is a wealth of native games too.
Let's start then:
1.Need For Speed Carbon ciderport,runs very well on my 24" iMac with all eye candy on.
2.Tomb Raider Anniversary,fully native for Mac OS X.
3.Urban Terror,counter strike-type game,even better,free,open-source and fun. I also play it on Vista and we have a thread for all Urban Terror players in the gaming section.
4.Call Of Duty 4 Modern Warfare,fully native masterpiece form Activision. I tried out on my Bro's 20" iMac and it performed comparatively better on Mac OS X Leopard than XP on the same machine. Burn your friends' eyes with this baby!
5.GTA San Andreas,another cider port which works as it should. Don't expect much out of it but your MacBook may pull it out with every setting maxed out.
6.Spore. Dunno much,never tried,seems good fun.
7.Unreal Tournament 2004. Need one say more?
8.Warcraft 3: Reign of Chaos and Frozen throne,never played them either but you must give them a shot if you like strategy games.
9.Neverwinter nights. Again a strategy game.
10.Sims 2,ciderport,utterly boring but many like it. So may you.

These are all the games I recommend,for more info here."]here[/URL].

 

[IronManForever]

^^
Wow, thats pretty good.
I can deduce that Cider is similar to running games on Linux with WINE/Cedega(commercial fork)?

In windows, I have seen the MacBook handling games well, FIFA 09 maxed out at native. But the lappy heats up alot while gaming.
I like strategy games also. I also like Sims.

BTW ceck the url..
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I registered for Coversutra, thanks goobimama.

 

[goobimama]

It's Goobi btw.

And by the way, gaming on the Mac? That's like trying to do productive work on a PC!

 

[gxsaurav]

And by the way, gaming on the Mac? That's like trying to do productive work on a PC!

Ahem Ahem ...

 

[IronManForever]

There aren't many who like the looks of this macbook compared to white one, Isn't it? Apart from diehard apple fanboys, that is.
I mean it looks too much like a pc notebook, and I lose the advantage of exclusivity.

One of my friends was complaining it looked too simple!
He was like 'We can't say anything as you're the geek, but this looks too plain (imagine someone complaining simplicity!) Also 2usb ports, no card reader; what's so special?'
I said, 'gimme a break! I just bought it! I mean seriously, how many ports you gonna need when you're on the go? For home, I have a hub.. And card reader, why do I need it? I have bluetooth, WiFi which are good enough for all that comes upon me. I also have a USB card reader if I ever need it.

In the forum here we have linboys, winboys, macboys.. yet there's understanding despite some big quarrels and it fun!

In my case, I think I should not care to explain them, even though they are among my best friends..

 

[jamesbond007]

BTW IronMan what is your equation with the Hulk ??

 

[IronManForever]

^ I'm stronger. Expecially after the unibody upgrade.

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What I think of the OS X mouse acceleration.

Since I bought my mac, my experience has been marred time and again by the way OS X handled my Logitech USB mouse. I tried it with the other mice that I owned, all in vain. It just did not work. It felt as if I was using it on mud.

Increasing the tracking speed may sound like the immediate solution, and it sems to compensate somewhat. And thats it, it just 'seems' to compensate but does not actually.

After goobi dropped a hint, I sat down google-ing. I found out that many users had these kinda problems. Not just ones who switched from Windows. I have used many OSes till date and have never had to take things like these into consideration.

It is interesting to note that things were different in the Mac OS 9 days. Mouse acceleration curve was much better then, more intuitive. But out of nowhere, Apple thought of going different with its OS X. And this is what we have since.

Now there are users who did not feel any difference. There are those who feel this is better. And there are users like me for whom this is simply not workable. It is simply NOT a thing to get used to, you simply cannot get used to this without getting mad. It is very inaccurate for users like me. And after a few minutes, I have pain all over my forearm and wrist, because of trying to compensate for the OS's behaviour. And yes, users like me exist.

It is not one of those Windowsy habits that you guys must be thinking. No, I have used Ubuntu, openSUSE, Fedora, Mandriva, FreeBSD, OpenSolaris and none have this kind of variation.

Isnt it quite obvious, if one has used it for over a week and is not getting used to it? Isnt it downright a 'problem'?

Luckily, this has been so for 8 years or so, and we have solutions. Sharewares like USB Overdrive (the Guiltyware?), Steermouse both of which are powerful but expensive for what they do. Should I pay 20$ for just tweaking mouse acceleration? Of course, for me it will be a big change, but on the software level, its a minor thing. Steermouse is a time limited trial. I hear USB Overdrive isnt, I have yet to check out.

Another 'free' solution is MouseFix. It is a very basic app. Just changes some strings in the mouse driver which is 'bad' as the author says, maybe to popularise the tweak. This solution does not have an option of customisable presets, but I havent tried it to be certain.

No good free solution is available that I know of, as of yet. I'd want something that allows me to change the acceleration of mouse just like the tracking speed in 'System Preferences'.

I'm off to check if USB Overdrive is not time limited, and have just downloaded MouseFix. Meanwhile let us hope that the curve is smoothened out in the next iteration of Mac OS. Better still, We'd want an option to change mouse acceleration along with tracking speed in the Preferences. That'd do good for all I believe.

What dya think, good enough for a blog entry?

 

[jamesbond007]

Guess what I am busy doing ??

*img230.imageshack.us/img230/5949/picture2qr0.jpg

Oh I am lovin' it, wish there was 'Kiss to Confirm' and not 'Click to Confirm'

 

[IronManForever]

^^ Duh! ..
--------------------------
Few stupid questions..

Guys, any idea when Leopard 10.5.7 update will arrive?
What will happen if someone applies 10.5.7 update over 10.5.5 directly?
Why does my MacBook have 10.5.5 update? I think 10.5.6 was available when the unibody macbooks were out?

 

[goobimama]

@IronMan: I haven't used the Mac with a logitech mouse, so I can't say. But OS X's acceleration is definitely different from windows. With Windows it is more immediate, jerky. On OS X, there's a pick up and slow down of the cursor.

Can you get used to it? If you keep thinking about it, no. If you just keep using it without knowing that such things as acceleration exist, it is definitely something you can get used to. You can also use a mouse on Windows without any problems later on. It's like riding a bike with gears on the left side and then switching over to an Enfield with the gears on the right. After a point of time you don't think about either.

If this bothers you a lot, I'd say SteerMouse is your solution. Did you give the trial a spin?

 

[IronManForever]

@IronMan: I haven't used the Mac with a logitech mouse, so I can't say. But OS X's acceleration is definitely different from windows. With Windows it is more immediate, jerky. On OS X, there's a pick up and slow down of the cursor.

Can you get used to it? If you keep thinking about it, no. If you just keep using it without knowing that such things as acceleration exist, it is definitely something you can get used to. You can also use a mouse on Windows without any problems later on. It's like riding a bike with gears on the left side and then switching over to an Enfield with the gears on the right. After a point of time you don't think about either.

If this bothers you a lot, I'd say SteerMouse is your solution. Did you give the trial a spin?

NO!! not after all that I've written! I know you didnt read it.

Yes, I did try steermouse. It does seem to improve. But I am having a hard time caliberating it to the best settings. I have not been able to match it with my Windows PC.

If you pay attention, OS X one is actually jerky. I can actually map the whole acceleration curve.. The mouse moves very slow at first, and when user tries to compensate for it by moving faster, it overshoots the target. That actually, is whats jerky.

Its not everyone who faces these problems. And yeah, its not that I cannot manage it at all, but its irritating. Maybe its what you said, I'm paying much more attention to it than I should.

<I'm thinking of getting Apple Keyboard and Mighty Mouse along with a good 22" Full HD display. That way my setup would be complete.. or maybe not.. >

 

[goobimama]

Your MacBook shipped with 10.5.5. You can directly upgrade to 10.5.7, when it arrives.

As for the mouse-issue, I haven't used a logitech whatever mouse so I can't say. I did notice some jerky movement when I was forced to use an iBall lazer mouse though (I know that's not the case here). However note that the Mighty Mouse is a love-hate thing. Some people just can't stand the prick. The ball also gets dirty. I like the prick though, but that might just be fanboy-speak.

And I don't think you get full HD 22" displays. Or do you?

 

[SunnyChahal]

Full HD monitors start from 24".
@Ironman Did you try any of the games that I mentioned?

 

[Pat]

Its not everyone who faces these problems. And yeah, its not that I cannot manage it at all, but its irritating.

To be honest, I never ever felt any difference in mouse movement on Leopard.

 

[IronManForever]

^ I trust you. Everyone is born different though, and I just maybe among them.

Your MacBook shipped with 10.5.5. You can directly upgrade to 10.5.7, when it arrives.

Good. I do not have a good internet connection, so downloading the 10.5.6 was something I did not wish to do.

As for the mouse-issue, I haven't used a logitech whatever mouse so I can't say. I did notice some jerky movement when I was forced to use an iBall lazer mouse though (I know that's not the case here). However note that the Mighty Mouse is a love-hate thing. Some people just can't stand the prick. The ball also gets dirty. I like the prick though, but that might just be fanboy-speak.

My mouse is pretty good under windows. Lets see what I can do about mighty mouse, I did get to try it out but not for long, so cant judge.

And I don't think you get full HD 22" displays. Or do you?

Full HD monitors start from 24".

Talking about inventions, Samsung has shown a 7inch Full HD display.
Dell XPS 1530 laptop offered the option of getting Full HD resolution with it. (15 inch screen)
Apple's Macbook Pro 17" offeres Full HD screen.

Full HD resolution is actually 1920x1080. Though 1920x1200 is also regarded as Full HD resolution, maybe becaue of the same horizontal pixel count, maybe because it can accomodate Full HD picture.

What I am looking at is BenQ E2200 HD which is 21.5" 16:9 aspect ratio Full HD screen at 1920x1080. We'll see more of 16:9 inch screens soon, with major manufacturers already releasing their models. BenQ is among the early adopters. As we will have more players soon, I think I should wait.
The BenQ one should look good at my desk though, and it's in matte finish, which I love.
..
I'm a kinda guy who HATES 24" Full HD screens. I prefer a higher pixel density. Give me a 20" Full HD screen at a sensible price and I'm buying it today. (we're gonna have those soon)

IronMan.

@Ironman Did you try any of the games that I mentioned?

I tried Urban terror and it exceeds my expecatations out of the platform.
As I said, my Internet sucks, so I have to forget that such things exists. Will try later. Thanks for your effort.

 

[jamesbond007]

^^^ Seriously dude whats with you guys!! Sometime back there was this guys who got a new Mac and was really worried about Temperatures!! Harddrive Temp, CPU temp, battery temp and what not. And now you talk about Scrolling!!

In my opinion, the MacBook's trackpad is the best trackpad any laptop can have!! Trust me I've used a lot of Notebooks and I've found that MacBook's the best. I don't know about the latest glass trackpads though.

Rule of thumb is, when you get a chance for a change try to adapt to it and see it fits. Give the change a chance!! In my case I've given a fair chance to Mac OS and today I am a Mac and I am proud of it and looks like I may never go back

 

[SunnyChahal]

^^^ Seriously dude whats with you guys!! Sometime back there was this guys who got a new Mac and was really worried about Temperatures!! Harddrive Temp, CPU temp, battery temp and what not. And now you talk about Scrolling!!

It was me

 

[IronManForever]

@jamesbond007
seriously, you haven't really understood the situation, have you?

 

[jamesbond007]

^^^What!! Did you just say that you rate people's IQ by the number of their posts ??!!
I got 622 posts, what's my IQ ??