For a reality check, is there anybody on this forum that is actually using a MAC to control or interface directly with a robotic gizmo? MACs have a lot of style and a cool factor, but they are generally limited as to any serious application expansion capability. The usual question is “how do I do this on my MAC?”, with the usual answer “you can’t”.
I totally agree - I tried using a mac up in our art department at a pinch one day, because the network that controlled the majority of the PCs in the school was down (C2K)…well…it couldn’t even log into the config page, which was HTML, so it really should have had no trouble across a bog-standard LAN cable.
We got a few dozen of the brand new ones and they’re very nice to look at, but not great to work on - the mice are really sluggish and you can’t change the setting!?
Anywho…back to my Vista PC… 
But seriously, the macs come into their own in regards to creative work, although PCs still hold their own.
I just wish the majority of computers in our school weren’t Pentium 4…
theChipmunk
Where’s the “PC, so long as it’s not VISTA” option?
Yes! So true!
yeah i agree im not a fan of vista… i hope they try to improve with windows 7 coming around next year… For now i like my leopard OS because its reliable and easy to use… and its fast.
There is a segment of the population who are probably better off on a Mac. Unfortunately, the Mac people think that segment is much larger than it actually is. I’ll leave it at that.
lol, agreed!
What about Windows 7, codenamed Vienna? From some published articles it looks as if microsoft will be starting the new windows platform from scratch instead of implementing older windows versions into each newer OS with just updates. If this new OS is entirely new codebased IMO it could litterally destroy almost all competition with MAC pcs in the future.
Yeah, I’m gonna keep my XP machines running until Windows 7 is ready… I’m skipping Vista.
And I have a linux VPS, which I never have to worry about. 
Agreed! 
I miss my Radio Shack Color Computer!
OK>I think those were BEFORE my time.
early 80’s lol
i’m mac to the core (no pun intended). Been using them since i started at Art college in '87. I run my own business now and we only use macs and every company i’d worked for previously has been 100% mac too.
But that’s the graphic design industry for you…
I had previously run windows under emulation - to test websites for browser compatibility.
When i bought my robonova i used to run the software on my intel macbook, running bootcamp/XP SP2, but the usb/serial adaptor made it all very hit and miss - to a point of blind frustration. 
I’ve had better luck running the kondo app in bootcamp on the macbook - because it’s got a usb interface - pity the app is so shoddy and in japanese. 
when i bought an RB1000, i was back to a blinkin ‘old’ serial interface and just couldn’t face the hit-n-miss usb/serial adaptor malarky again, so i gave in and bought a tiny IBM thinkpad with XP and a dock with a serial input. It does the job, but i’m still not a fan of the windows experience.
There’s no doubt that there’s a complete dearth of 'bot related control apps for the mac and it’s a real pity that nobody has the time inclination to port stuff over.
most other graphic designers i know are like me - they’d happily spend money on expensive robotic ‘toys’ and have them sitting around the studio - and tinker with them when there’s a few free minutes. But of the ones i know - it’s only me who hasn’t been put off by the PC only software side of things.
I know why it’s PC only - 99% of developers have grown up with PC/windows and just as i wouldn’t use a pc for my business, they can’t see a reason why they should get into macs.
On the subject of the phoenix - i recently loaded parallels onto my macbook pro and have been running XP as a virtual machine. I had an idea that i could run PEP on my mac version of Excel and drag and drop the exported files into XP and load them into SEQ. But as ever Microsoft was there the piddle on my parade - excel for mac doesn’t support the activeX macros inside PEP - so the buttons don’t work, which means PEP doesn’t work.
I just wished apple made a nice middle-end desktop thats more powerful than the iMAC but less powerful then the mac pro… then i would be sold.
Whats your ingame name?