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kaosfere
Nov 1, 2003, 11:03 PM
Hey everyone. Been lurking on the forum for several weeks, figured I'd finally register and introduce myself.

I'm a 24 year old life-long geek living in Austin, TX. Work right now is at the IBM facility here, where I serve as an AIX administrator for IBM's Developer Relations website.

I've been at the keyboard since I was 5, when my parents bought me a TI 99/4A. I loved that little machine, and have one that I bought again in a fit of nostalgia, several years ago, sitting in the closet.

My OS of choice for the last seven or eight years has been Linux. I started off installing Slackware onto an ancient 386; Slackware was chosen because it still offered 5.25" disk images. I self-taught myself enough to make Unix slinging a semi-lucrative profession. Over the years, I've mucked around with Linux, FreeBSD, NetBSD, SCO Unix, Solaris, AIX, and more.

Recently, however, I've been getting tired of the runaround. I still believe that Unix is a strong contender in the server world, and I think Linux might have a good future as a desktop operating system, but I spend enough time dealing with b0rken OSen at work that I don't have the energy any more to be a member of the Kernel of the Week club, keep up with 200 different software packages, fix all manner of mangled software dependencies, figure out why X won't hold a decent refresh week this week, and so on, ad infinitum. It's too much like work.

I've been interested in Macs for years, but never really thought much about owning one (aside from an old Performa I bought to screw around with) until OS X came out. Wow... Unixy goodness, with a slick candy-coated interface on top of it? Sign me up!

Money always got in the way, though, until this year, when my girlfriend offered to buy me a nice computer for Christmas. The first thought that popped into my head was "PowerBook!" I did some research, and soon -- barring great misfortune -- will have a 1.25GHz 15" AlBook on the way. I'm looking forward to getting it into my grubby little hands.... although I'm rather trepidatious about all the problems I've been reading about. I'm a bit of a perfectionist, and I know I'm going to be scouring my screen looking for dead pixels and white spots. Hopefully this shipping delay that's popped up recently is due to Apple trying to solve some of those problems.

At any rate, I've probably rambled on enough. I'm beginning to think this should have gone into Switch Stories, but I figured that could wait until I'd actually switched. :)

Nice to meet y'all.



tazo
Nov 1, 2003, 11:13 PM
Go away panther blue!

seriously tho welcome to macrumors.

rainman::|:|
Nov 1, 2003, 11:19 PM
you are one lucky SOB... a powerbook is almost tradeoff enough to have a girlfriend...

welcome :)

pnw

cb911
Nov 1, 2003, 11:25 PM
Welcome!! :D

the new PB's are swweeeett! :D so i don't think you should be worrying yourself about problems.

if there is anything wrong though, just keep calling Apple and sending it in until they fix it. you shouldn't have any problems though, Apple is definitely above standard when it comes to their hardware. :)



Originally posted by tazo
Go away panther blue!

seriously tho welcome to macrumors.

what's up with that? i've seen Panther Blue around here.... but what's he got to do with anything?:confused:

Stelliform
Nov 1, 2003, 11:33 PM
Originally posted by kaosfere

Money always got in the way, though, until this year, when my girlfriend offered to buy me a nice computer for Christmas.

:eek: Now that's a girlfriend! I am having to talk my wife into getting me an iPod. But we all know you stop trying to impress your significant other after marriage. :D

I think you will love the powerbook. I am a switcher and I find the Mac users to generally be more perfectionists than PC users. My TiBook doesn't have one dead pixel. I had one get stuck twice, but it went away.

kaosfere
Nov 1, 2003, 11:38 PM
Originally posted by Stelliform
:eek: Now that's a girlfriend! I am having to talk my wife into getting me an iPod. But we all know you stop trying to impress your significant other after marriage. :D

Well, it's not entirely altruistic. I've got a metric buttload of old PC gear that I've had hanging around for ages, and she's sick of living with it. The deal was she'll spend three grand on a new computer if I get rid of everything: my two huge Rubbermaid containers on the floor in the kitchen; the closet full of old monitors; the other closet half-full of serial terminals and ancient laptops and... all of it. ;)

I couldn't say no. :D

MrMacMan
Nov 2, 2003, 12:27 AM
Welcome to the boards and hope you have a pleasant stay in the world of the Mac User.

:o

As for the boards don't curse or flame and your fine, well along with no racial/sexual stuff.
Also don't piss off the Moderators. :rolleyes:

Have fun, nice to meet you.

:)

Flowbee
Nov 2, 2003, 12:32 AM
*Starts filling house with old computer gear in hopes that wife will make same deal*

bousozoku
Nov 2, 2003, 12:49 AM
Welcome!

If you've been working with AIX daily, you'll enjoy Mac OS X. I used to work with AIX 4.3.x and SMIT and it was a nuisance, but better than the old ways of editing text files directly.

I think you'll like just being able to use the machine. That's why I've been using GUI machines since the late 1980s. The fact that I can switch to a shell and do work makes it twice as sweet. ;)

tpjunkie
Nov 2, 2003, 11:16 AM
Welcome to the community, and congrats on gettting a PB...


Panther Blue is this newbie with about 50 posts per day....I think Tazo was making a joke.

wdlove
Nov 2, 2003, 02:03 PM
Welcome to MacRumors kaosfere. I'm sure that you will enjoy your new 15" PowerBook. You are trully lucky to have a girl friend purchase a laptop as a gift. Does she happen to be Mac owner?

I'm sure if you have been around for awhile that you already know what a great group of members we have. Enjoy posting.

tazo
Nov 2, 2003, 03:04 PM
Do as I say not as I do Kaosfere....

Do as I say...

:o

Phil Of Mac
Nov 2, 2003, 06:23 PM
The AppleCare message boards seem to indicate that Apple has solved the white spot problem and all new PowerBooks will not have white spots.

I'm contemplating sending mine in for repair sometime.

baby duck monge
Nov 2, 2003, 09:22 PM
welcome! welcome! and would you put in a good word for me with your girlie?

krossfyter
Nov 3, 2003, 06:47 AM
welcome young noob. beware of eye's evil doll and rower cpu's big feet.

Rower_CPU
Nov 3, 2003, 01:45 PM
Originally posted by krossfyter
welcome young noob. beware of eye's evil doll and rower cpu's big feet.

*STOMP STOMP STOMP*

Este vato...si los pies son grandes...;)

Mr. Anderson
Nov 3, 2003, 01:50 PM
Originally posted by krossfyter
welcome young noob. beware of eye's evil doll and rower cpu's big feet.

I don't know whether to be happy that I wasn't mentioned in that statement or not ;)

D

cb911
Nov 4, 2003, 06:45 PM
Originally posted by tazo
Do as I say not as I do Kaosfere....

Do as I say...

:o

what are you on about? seriously, what's going on here? is this a big joke or something?:confused:

tazo
Nov 4, 2003, 06:51 PM
Originally posted by cb911
what are you on about? seriously, what's going on here? is this a big joke or something?:confused:

It was a simple joke man....lay off :)

jamesatzones
Nov 4, 2003, 07:10 PM
Welcome to both the forums and the Mac side, you will enjoy your PowerBook...

King Cobra
Nov 4, 2003, 09:11 PM
I don't see the reason for bringing up Panther Blue in this thread. I know his style of posting and writing way too well for him to fake an introduction thread (again).

Regardless, I want an aluminum Powerbook... :p

And, yes, beware eyelikeart's multi-persona extraordinary kewpie dollface. :eek: :eek: :p