[G4] Sound and other concerns

[Eric Wood]

Hello John,

I have no audio input whatsoever from Apple on this machine. I was quite
shocked to say the least - it broke a tradition as old as the Mac itself
of including some kind of microphone input (but then, the iMac began a
new tradition of dropping legacy technology, didn't it?). I was just
watching the WWDC07 when I decided to take a net break and saw your
message, by the way. I love the look of Leopard and would love to use
it. I have to wonder how well it runs on anything older than a G5 with a
really nice video card, however.

One thing I like about the Linux experience is it's done away with the
pre-Intel Mac's traditional slow web browsing performance. But going
back to audio, I was just trying to record from an AV source converted
to the sound card's line-in, and I found it playing through my left
speaker only. But speaking of Audacity, it is indeed what I was trying
to use. I haven't tested a different stereo input yet, however, so I
don't yet know where that problem's at.

I've seldom touched MS Office. I'm using evolution for email now, and
OpenOffice 2 comes standard on this system. I so seldom use any office
apps, however, that I haven't tested it much. One limitation, though, is
that it can't open a ClarisWorks or AppleWorks document.

Linux does, like so much other software, tend to favour the x86
platform. Even Apple's doing that, now. I'm surprised at how much
PowerPC support exists, though. Fedora started with Fedora Core 5, which
is only about a year ago now! Yet it's a very good release that they
make, and I prefer it over Ubuntu, SuSE or Yellow Dog. Being as familiar
with its workings as I am, I find it the most functional of the lot.

Blah dee blah. All for now.

Eric

On Fri, 2007-06-15 at 17:12 -0700, John Niven wrote:
> Hi Eric,
> 
> Well that's a bit like a breath of fresh air :-)
> 
> I find that mostly mac lists are somewhat less
> technical than others. Thats OK, and probably reflects
> the type of user that like their systems for reasons
> other than the technical.
> 
> Compared to mine, your system is pretty powerful. I
> have tried Ubuntu and other variations of Linux. I
> have used older pc hardware for this as both a
> learning excercise and an attempt to get something
> close to the Mac experience out of these otherwise
> wasted boxes. I even tried it on my G4, but frankly I
> come up with this reasoning. 
> 
> The core advantage of Apple hardware is it can run
> MacOS. 
> 
> No other hardware can do this. If I can run a MacOS on
> a system then I do. Other hardware is easy and cheap
> to get hold of. Most Linux is written for the x86
> platform anyway. 
> 
> I think that Apple owes alot to the open source
> community. I find OSX has tranformed the value of my
> Apple hardware in my work. I interface with Unix (Sun)
> systems all the time. With X11 this is a natural. I
> also run Microsoft Office, and use Entourage to read
> my company mail and plan meetings through an otherwise
> PC only Exchange server. I can also handle all the
> documents that my PC workmates send me.
> 
> I'm all for open source (free is good!) but I cannot
> justify running anything other than MacOS on an Apple
> machine.
> 
> BTW I have a Digidesign Audiomedia III PCI soundcard
> in my "Audio" G4. The only problem is it limits me to
> Jaguar. I run an older version of Protools on it. Very
> cheap on eBay. 
> 
> But doesn't your G4 have a built-in sound-in
> (Mic/line) input? You can also download Audacity and
> be recording for free. 
> 
> Cheers,
>             John
> 
> --- Eric Wood <ewood at izoom.net> wrote:
> > > Eric here. I've just joined the list and want to
> > say hello. I have a G4
> > > "digital audio" model with an OWC G4 1.6 GHz dual
> > upgrade, a Radeon 9800
> > > card, 1.5 gigs of RAM and Fedora Linux 7. 
> 
> 
>        
> ____________________________________________________________________________________
> Get the free Yahoo! toolbar and rest assured with the added security of spyware protection.
> http://new.toolbar.yahoo.com/toolbar/features/norton/index.php
>