Digital BW, The Print

on 9/10/01 10:17 AM, Jerry Olson at jerryolson@... wrote:

> Johnny, are you using OS X? Can you print with all the Epson desktop
> printers without hassles using OS X? I didn't think you could, so
> haven't upgraded yet.

I've got OS X installed on a separate partition and I've been experimenting
with it but I'm not ready to transition quite yet. In particular, the OS X
10.1 update which is due out in the next couple of weeks promises to make
the system much more stable, and faster too. Luckily you can run it in
tandem with your present OS 9 system which makes life simpler.

Because Photoshop doesn't yet run natively in OS X I still run it
exclusively in OS 9.2.1. However I'm really warming to OS X. It really feels
like the future. It feels a million miles removed from the current Intel
crop. I think on a fast G4, and even more so on the G5 which is due out
later this year or early next, it is going to rock. It already runs WAY more
apps than I expected it to, and rather gracefully at that. I think the Epson
drivers are now working okay although I haven't proved it for myself.

If you have the disk space I recommend installing it someplace and tinkering
with it... you slowly start to see what all the fuss is about.

However I do have two reservations about the whole situation. The first is
that for new apple purchasers who buy a CPU right now they get a mess of a
system, with both OS X and OS 9 installed. That's all right for geeks like
me but my niece is getting a G4 when she goes to study art at school and
she's not going to 'get' what's going on AT ALL.

Secondly, OS X is a beautiful piece of work BUT I think we have to kiss
goodbye to the adage that the Mac is easy to use. OS X is very complex and
powerful, and it has a beautiful surface sheen, but I think it is no easier
to use than (say) Windows 2000 or Windows ME. No harder either, but you get
the feeling the Mac just went from being the friendly little volkswagen
beetle to a purring V8 Jaguar.
-- 
John Brownlow

http://www.pinkheadedbug.com