My 2006 Mac Pro

[jfalberti]

This is my dual monitor setup on my Mac Pro 1,1. OS X on left, and Windows on the right. Best of both worlds on one machine. Running current versions of both OSes, as well as current apps. Not bad for a machine that's 8 years old. And it's fast too. 15 - 20 seconds max boot time. Windows is running in a VMware Fusion VM from the Boot Camp partition.

 

[bagintheback]

That looks great! How do you like Windows 8? I'm strangely drawn to it even after 8 years of being loyal to OS X.  A 20 second boot time sounds wonderful. Have you installed a SSD?

 

[jfalberti]

I like Windows 8.1

It's a good OS, but I've moved to Windows 10 Tech Preview. So far, it's what Windows 8 should have been.

I did install a 128 GB SSD, but I paired it with a 1 TB HDD to make a Fusion drive. Yosemite is a great OS too. I love the flexibility of running OS X and Windows side by side. I can shre files between both systems very easily.. On the Fusion drive, OS X manages what is stored on the SSD and the HDD. Files such as the OS and applications that are used the most are stored on the SSD portion and the rest are on the HDD. If a file on the HDD gets more use, then it gets automatically moved to the SSD and vice versa.

 

[aeoliandave]

Joe, I took your advice a few years ago and put Fusion/WinXP on my 17" Macbook Pro. For traveling purposes it lets me use my favorite older Windows programs for photos, video & general file sorting in Explore.
Although I'm now well-versed in OSX I still find PC more Davy-friendly.
After a horrible time spent with VISTA, I have not bothered with Window's apologetic improvements. Ever again, fingers crossed.

 

[jfalberti]

Hi Davey!

It's really nice to hear from you.

I too had a horrible time with Vista. Seems that if it came pre-installed on a PC, it was better than installing it from scratch, since the manufacturer had to insure it worked. I installed Windows 7 and it has run great. What apps are you running under XP?

 

[oliveoiltinfoil]

Finally, someone who likes windows 8. I don't know what the big fuss was about when it came out a couple of years ago now, when people were saying it was poo. I have found it to be very reliable and very stable. I also have a windows phone so the two work together really well.

I was a MAC person a few years ago, but got sick of the updates and, at the time at least, you had to pay for them, not to mention I just thought the systems were far too overpriced. My opinion anyway, they do at least make some sexy looking machines.

Have any of you seen windows 10 yet? It looks incredible and really rather good. There is still the metro themed tiles going on, but it looks like it built on windows 7 this time, if that makes sense. It is also coming to windows phone and all their tablets. Looks like Microsoft now know where they are going.

 

[jfalberti]

Yes

I'm running Windows 10 Beta in a VM on my Mac Pro. It runs very well, and has the best of Windows 7 and Windows 8.X all rolled into one. So far it's very stable and all my apps are working fine so far.

 

[oliveoiltinfoil]

That is very good to hear. MS have sorted themselves out now. Does anyone know how these android laptops are doing? And chrome books? There was a fuss made about them when they came out, but that all seems to have gone quiet now?

I was speaking to a friend of mine who is manager at a local currys and he was explaining the android tablet sales etc. Basically the last 2 to 3 years, tablet sales have sky rocketed but now they are slowly diminishing. Not only because computer OEM's are now making lapotps with much better specs such as 1TB hardrives and touchscreen for £350, but because people have got these android tablets and iPads and realised that they aren't actually that productive. You can surf the web, but that's it. Playing candy crush and asking google where the nearest toilet is isn't productive. Its cleaver, but not that useful.

I know that when Siri was launched on iPhone, 80% of users stopped using it within the first 2 weeks.

 

[marks_here]

Well I went around with my iPad mini holding it up & talking in it & people asked me what it was & I said it was the proto to the iPhone 8 that I was trying it out & don't know when it will be launched...people are so gullible & you know I'm just a nutter for doing that!!

 

[aeoliandave]

Apps I continue to enjoy on XP

Apps I continue to enjoy on XP. Oh, I know there are better out there but These I've been using for years, I'm familiar and quite proficient with them so have no need to upgrade.
Mozilla Firefox & Thunderbird versions for both OSs
Paint Shop Pro 6 - all visual image manipulation from A1421 Ipod Touch, Pentax Optio WS80 or Blackberry Z10 cell. Recently began processing aerial pix and video from BLADE 350 QX2 Quad Copter w 2-axis & tilt gimbal mounted CGo1 camera. I use the Ipod as a wifi monitor on the 7 channel controller.
Roxio Easy Media - manipulating & burning CDs for the car changers. MP3 conversions.
Cakewalk Pro 9 - for editing perforated Roll Scan midis, any midis for that matter.
Pinnicle STUDIO 9 - for editing and making movies on BlueRay.
Microsoft Streets & Trips - still invaluable for planning trips long and short. I like to have a visual map sometimes in addition to the Garmin Nuvi realtime GPS.
Power DVD player
Microsoft Office 2006

Not a gamer but I still spend time revisiting the worlds of MYST (Apple version on Pro), URU and Myst III, IV Revelation, RIVEN and Douglas Adams' Starship TITANIC

I have 3 desktops, one with XP Pro, one with Win 95 (for roll scanner software) and a 2000 Apple CUBE enhanced with a DVD burner. 24" wide monitor or beam to the 50" Samsung TV.
3 laptops, a Win 95 Fujitsu for the portable roll scanner, 15" E-machines Win 98 that plays back midi file compilations through a digital piano, and the beloved 17" Macbook Pro also running XP so when I get home all my collected materials are transferable to any machine. 10 years of backups on 6 portable USB HDs.

Since my computer use is essentially recreational I prefer working with what's familiar, ie user interface.
I have no need to update any of these or printers although it is soon time to upgrade the Pro's OS. Almost forgot the two Blackberry 64GB Playbooks. Everything an ipad can do in a much sturdier and atractive package. Better sound, too.
But that's just how I roll...

 

[niclonnic]

Nice setup!

It's good to hear that you like Windows 8.1! I personally found Windows 8 too confusing for me, which is why, to this day, my family uses Macs. I thought I'd share my main computer here.

The family computer in my home is a 2011 iMac 27". My dad bought it as a family gift for Christmas of 2011. It has a 2.7 GHz quad-core "Sandy Bridge" Intel Core i5 processor, 12GB of RAM (originally 4GB) and AMD Radeon HD graphics. It has been a huge hit with my family. My mom, sister and I absolutely love it. This iMac originally shipped with Mac OS X Lion, and has been upgraded to Mountain Lion, Mavericks and now Yosemite.

The iMac is FAST! It is the computer that I use to write all my Vacuumland posts.

BTW, I also have an iPad mini 2, a Nexus 4 phone and a Pebble smart watch. I love my toys. I'm getting an iPhone 6 pretty soon.

Here is a pic of my iMac. (Yes, that is a Logitech solar keyboard on my desk; Apple's wireless keyboard is kept in a drawer.)

 

[jfalberti]

Thanks Nick

That iMac is a very nice system. My Mac Pro is configured as follows:

2 Xeon 2.66 ghtz quad core processors (eight processor cores total)
24 GB RAM
1.128 TB Fusion drive
2 Wester Digital 1 TB HDD
1 Ati Radion HD 4870 GPU with 1GB Video RAM

Software wise, it has:

OS X Yosemite installed on the Fusion drive, and an emergency boot copy on one of the WD drives.
VMware Fusion 7
Windows 10 Technical Preview (Boot Camp and VMware)
OpenSUSE 13.2 (VMware)
Office 365
Ans wsell as all the usual suspects.

This machine flies. I gave Windows 2 dedicated processor cores, and 4 GB RAM, and it is happy as a clam. Of course, when I boot the machine natively into Windows, it has full utilization of all the hardware, except the drives formatted for OS X.