[OS X] first experiences with MacBook Pro (OS X on intel)

[Andy Jacobson]

Howdy,

	I recently got my hands on an intel mac, one of the new "MacBook  
Pro" laptops.  Some things that I used on powerpc systems don't run  
at all, some work passably, and some are just fine.  Note that Apple  
provides this "rosetta" translation software so apps written for  
powerpc will operate under intel, with a nominal speed hit.  In no  
particular order:

	Codetek Virtual Desktop does not work.  Pager shows up, but desktops  
do not work.  Email sent to support at codetek.com, but there's been no  
reply.  They have a history of being really slow to issue new  
versions in response to OS changes.  Too bad!  This is the only focus- 
follows-mouse (without raising the window) solution I've found.  I  
really miss it!

	Desktop Manager only works after applying a hack:  see e.g., http:// 
forum.osx86project.org/lofiversion/index.php/t12363.html

	Virtue, a new entry into the virtual desktops world, does work as  
advertised.  Unfortunately, one of the things that's advertised is  
that there's no pager window (just a popup).  This is the one I'm  
currently using.  Configuration and operation is a little quirky, but  
it shows promise for rapid development.  NOTE:  Virtue is descended  
from Desktop Manager and might only work because I applied the  
mach_inject hack above for Desktop Manager, I dunno.

	MS Office:  works.  I wouldn't (and haven't) noticed any slowness  
due to rosetta translation.

	Ferret:  works, using rosetta.  No noticeable slowness.  Ferret's  
postscript output still sucks.

	Fink:  limps along.  No g77 or fortran available, thus many packages  
not available.

	R:  not available through fink, but boy, the OS X version directly  
from www.r-project.org is *really* good.  Frequently with R via fink,  
I found add-on packages that required a newer version of R than was  
available, so I think I'm going to stop battling fink and use this  
R.app.  Includes a gui, if that's your preference.  Also:  R is the  
first to OS X/intel with a fortran compiler! --includes gfortran.   
Thus, all packages compile and work.  Amazing!

	X Resource Graph:  alternative to gkrellm, works.

	iTerm:  universal binary (i.e. intel native executable).  Still  
quirky prefs.

	Firefox:  universal binary, works great.  Have noticed no problems  
with extensions, but don't use them very heavily.

	Aquamacs:  universal binary, works fine.  Keeps getting better, too.

	Other things that fink does not have:

		LAM/MPI
		octave
		gkrellm (runs for a while, then dies)

	Things that fink does have:

		teTeX
		netCDF
		imagemagick
		gv

	If you think of anything in particular you'd like to hear about  
regarding the intel system, please let me know and I'll see if I can  
get an answer for you.

	Best,

		Andy
	

--
Andy Jacobson
andy.jacobson at noaa.gov

NOAA Earth System Research Lab
Global Monitoring Division
325 Broadway
Boulder, Colorado 80305

303/497-4916