Mac
| helios wrote: |
|---|
| regular (and by that, I mean heterosexual) |
Oh, you!
I agree, though, that is a better idea.
| (and by that, I mean heterosexual) |
iMac should be fine with running games on any OS, the baseline versions aren't exactly powerful enough to run games at the higher settings (considering a Radeon 4670/5670) but they should be fine. The computers at my school use Radeon 4550s and they run Battlefield 2 just fine (heh.), so I wouldn't expect lag to be extremely bad. Your best bet would still be the 5750 model, but at $2,000 I wouldn't blame you if you went with the baseline anyways.
To be honest, the best thing to do is get some research done on the graphics cards used in the iMacs and fine the one that seems to do what you need without being overkill.
| Is the iMac capable of running said games under OS X (not Wine or Bootcamp)? |
The answer to this question obviously depends on the game - you need to know which specific game you want to play. Then search in descending order (if no, go to the next line):
1. Is there an OS X version?
2. Does it run on Wine?
3. If no to both, you will have to play it under a virtual machine or Bootcamp.
One example - I use Ubuntu as a server to run MySql. When in Windoze, I used SQLyog, which turned out to an indispensable tool for me. Turns out, it installs and runs under Wine magnificently.
If you are a programmer, you should be technical enough to understand the basics of binaries/executables, virtual machines, and reverse-engineered APIs like Wine. Learn about them and most of the questions you posted should be answered.
| Finally, about what you said about FreeBSD, does that mean that it can simply execute OS X AND Linux executables? That would be epic, since I could easily port and install everything I have on my trusty Ubuntu right now. |
No - you obviously need to recompile on OS X, but in general, porting from Ubuntu to OS X (or finding packages that work on both) is easier than say, porting from Ubuntu to Windoze. In other words, many, if not most of the packages that are available in Ubuntu are available in OS X. Many basic *nix utilities come pre-installed or are trivial to install: awk, make, sed, perl, python, gcc, Mysql, Ruby, etc... ...basically, if you looking for something on OS X, go in descending order:
1. Is there an OS X pkg file for it?
2. If not, get the source code and built it yourself in OS X.
It used to be that you needed to go to 2. sometimes, but these days, you can almost always find an existing pkg, especially for more complex programs.
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| you obviously need to recompile on OS X |
Nah - as far as I'm concerned, no need for a compatibility layer.
I'm a programmer, not a sysadmin - so if I can port code my code into any *nix-like variant, I am happy - whether it's BSD, System V, SunOS, Solaris, Linux, OS X, or whatever flavor, I don't really care - if I can do something like open a BSD socket, spawn a Posix thread, link with readline or curses, then I have no complaints. So from that perspective, since huge chunks of OS X are derived from FreeBSD and NetBSD, I am much happier with OS X, than say, with MacOS.
I care about as much about OS-wars as I care about language-wars (which is absolutely nil).
I'm a programmer, not a sysadmin - so if I can port code my code into any *nix-like variant, I am happy - whether it's BSD, System V, SunOS, Solaris, Linux, OS X, or whatever flavor, I don't really care - if I can do something like open a BSD socket, spawn a Posix thread, link with readline or curses, then I have no complaints. So from that perspective, since huge chunks of OS X are derived from FreeBSD and NetBSD, I am much happier with OS X, than say, with MacOS.
I care about as much about OS-wars as I care about language-wars (which is absolutely nil).
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Nope - looks like every OS likes to use its own package management system...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Unix_history-simple.png
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Unix_history-simple.png
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closed account (z05DSL3A)
| I am much happier with OS X, than say, with MacOS. |
| So... No Ports? Nope - looks like every OS likes to use its own package management system... |
OS X does have several ports systems offered for it (just not integrated). The most notable is DarwinPorts.
Assuming I understood what you meant by ports.
-Albatross
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closed account (z05DSL3A)
The MacPorts Project: [formerly called DarwinPorts] http://www.macports.org/
Fink: http://www.finkproject.org/
Fink: http://www.finkproject.org/
Ports is the name of FreeBSD's package management system.
MacPorts and Fink are OS X's equivalents, but they are not compatible with FreeBSD Ports (which is what helios was asking).
MacPorts and Fink are OS X's equivalents, but they are not compatible with FreeBSD Ports (which is what helios was asking).
closed account (z05DSL3A)
I know, I just mentioned them because Albatross bought it up and the OP may be interested.
I think helios is just pulling your chain. :0)
I think helios is just pulling your chain. :0)
These are the requirements they state at SteamPowered.com (for L4D2):
OS: MacOS X 10.6.4 or higher (Snow Leopard Graphics Update required)
Processor: Dual core Intel processor, 2GHz or better
Video Card: ATI Radeon 2400 or higher / NVIDIA 8600M or higher
And these are the lowest technical specifications (as in, the "worst"/cheapest baseline model) for the iMac:
3.06GHz Intel Core i3 processor with 4MB level 3 cache; supports Hyper-Threading
ATI Radeon HD 4670 graphics processor with 256MB of GDDR3 memory
That seems to suffice.
The Mini is out of the question, because the video card was rubbish. Surprisingly enough, the processor was up for the job, though. (Do note that the requirements given above are minimum, not high.)
So that's that, I'm just going to safe/earn/beg for money for that darn iMac. I'll continue posting questions here, though, like:
What is Hyper-Threading? (Seen above behind the Processor)
Can anyone give a few examples of what kind of games can run on Wine?
OS: MacOS X 10.6.4 or higher (Snow Leopard Graphics Update required)
Processor: Dual core Intel processor, 2GHz or better
Video Card: ATI Radeon 2400 or higher / NVIDIA 8600M or higher
And these are the lowest technical specifications (as in, the "worst"/cheapest baseline model) for the iMac:
3.06GHz Intel Core i3 processor with 4MB level 3 cache; supports Hyper-Threading
ATI Radeon HD 4670 graphics processor with 256MB of GDDR3 memory
That seems to suffice.
The Mini is out of the question, because the video card was rubbish. Surprisingly enough, the processor was up for the job, though. (Do note that the requirements given above are minimum, not high.)
So that's that, I'm just going to safe/earn/beg for money for that darn iMac. I'll continue posting questions here, though, like:
What is Hyper-Threading? (Seen above behind the Processor)
Can anyone give a few examples of what kind of games can run on Wine?
| What is Hyper-Threading? |
| Can anyone give a few examples of what kind of games can run on Wine? |
That'd be ol' laziness looking around the corner. *sigh* I'll google it and see what I can get. :P
| The Mini is out of the question, because the video card was rubbish. Surprisingly enough, the processor was up for the job, though. (Do note that the requirements given above are minimum, not high.) |
My Mac Mini is from late 2006 and it's holding up surprising well for non-gaming purposes; I still use it as workstation in the office. When I retire that machine one day, I'll certainly turn it into a server.
It's unfortunate that Apple has been increasing their prices for Mini's - if they were willing to sell them for $400-700, I think they would sell boatloads of them; they are actually quite fun to use as a server, with their low power consumption, no noise, and small footprint. At a lower price point, they would appeal to first-time buyers and hobbyists.
However, with the advent of the new iMacs (with i3-i7 plus a nice monitor, as reasonable prices, for an Apple), there is even less incentive to go for a Mini these days.
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About the pricing (sales, namely):
A few friends told me that if you:
1) Buy an iMac for commercial purposes you get 20% discount.
2) Buy an iMac for school / studying purposes you get 10% discount (and some nice other things from time to time).
Yet, I can't seem to find any of such things (let alone their details) on the Apple site. Either I'm just plain stupid/blind or it's not there.
A few friends told me that if you:
1) Buy an iMac for commercial purposes you get 20% discount.
2) Buy an iMac for school / studying purposes you get 10% discount (and some nice other things from time to time).
Yet, I can't seem to find any of such things (let alone their details) on the Apple site. Either I'm just plain stupid/blind or it's not there.
1) is an Apple Developer's Discount
http://developer.apple.com/programs/adcbenefits/hardware/usa.html
2) is an Apple Educational Discount
http://store.apple.com/us/browse/home/education_routing
2) has been around and is reliable. 1) seems to be in flux - the policies may be stable in the U.S., but outside, some places seem to be phasing it out. So YMMV.
http://developer.apple.com/programs/adcbenefits/hardware/usa.html
2) is an Apple Educational Discount
http://store.apple.com/us/browse/home/education_routing
2) has been around and is reliable. 1) seems to be in flux - the policies may be stable in the U.S., but outside, some places seem to be phasing it out. So YMMV.
At 2, they (according to my friend) threw in a free iPod or similar from time to time, but, again, I can't find any details on this at the site. :/