Re: Xy on Mac OS X

[flash flash@xxxxxxxx]

Russ (and other OSXies),

Good to hear from you again; you dropped under the radar for a while.

≪Have [you] confirmed that Snow Leopard will NOT run on the Powerpc
macs? (I had heard that that was speculation, probably true, but hadn't
heard anything for certain.)≫


There are conflicting reports. For example:

http://lowendmac.com/ed/hatchett/08jh/macintosh-future.html
http://www.maclife.com/article/snow_leopard_for_intel_macs_only
http://www.gizmodo.com.au/2008/06/source_os_x_106_snow_leopard_will_support_powerpc_chips-2.html

I would certainly welcome SnowLo for PPC, as it is marketed as being
smaller than Leopard--more quality and stability instead of more
features, and less RAM consumptive. So, theoretically, it should run
better on a PPC than Leopard would. But that depends on the drivers and
APIs of course, not just on the amount of RAM available.


The chief advantage of SnowLo for us Xywriters, as mentioned previously,
is that (so we are told) it will offer a native Windows environment, not
an emulated/simulated one. This means that Windows will have all the
Mac's RAM available to it; unlike Virtual PC running in Tiger, which is
allotted only about a quarter of the Mac's total RAM. Whether SnowLo
will offer a real native DOS environment is anybody's guess. (Some will
say that Miccosoft hasn't offered a real native DOS environment for some
years (viz. VDM, virtual DOS machine), but that is another kettle of fish.)


≪Leopard, as i understand, WILL run on Powerpc macs. but the installer
won't let you install it if your machine is under 800Mhz, i think.
(There ARE ways around this...), but if it is powerful enough, and
having a robust graphics card doesn't hurt either, then i think you can
install Leopard.≫


There are some caveats to getting Leopard to run on PowerPC hardware.
Overdimensioning helps, to be sure. On a PPC laptop, you're limited to 2
GB RAM, and while Leopard will run in 2 GB of RAM, it won't run as fast
or as efficiently as Panther or Tiger in 2 GB of RAM--Leopard consumes
more RAM than its predecessors, leaving less for apps of course. Leopard
on an overdimensioned G4 tower has a better prospect of success than on
a laptop. However, not all the apps you had running in Panther/Tiger are
sure to re-install or run in Leopard. There was a watershed between
Tiger and Leopard, more so than between Panther and Tiger.


≪My version of VPC is still running ok under Tiger.≫ Maybe better than
it would under Leopard on the same hardware. Never change a running system.


I just bought a MacPro with 10.5.6 Leopard factory installed; I haven't
yet tried to get Xy running on it. I have so many things to do right
now, apart from feeling my way around the Leopard, and anyway Xy is
still happily editing away on both my w2k machine and my G4-Panther
laptop, so there's no real hurry to try it out on the MacPro/Leo. I will
send a report if and when.


I also just ordered Dragon NaturallySpeaking ver10 from Amazon, on
Harry's recommendation; can't wait to feed it to Xy. It is said to be
able to distinguish words (content) from punctuation from formatting
commands from computer commands. But will it learn "left guillemet" and
"right guillemet" when I'm in expanded mode? Will it execute "mode
flashing"??


Cheers,