MAC

[crossfade]

Amen to that. Our club frequently has guest speakers on artistic or photographic subjects, and quite frequently they bring their own laptop, frequently a mac, as artistic types are wont to use. They expect to use our projector for their show, but often they do not bring a DVI to VGA adapter, so the club now has one of those to accommodate the Mac types.

Accomodate the Mac types? What if the guy showed up with a PC laptop that has only DVI output?

[Barry Beckham]

Well, I think that would make him a bit of a dope wouldn't it. If a lecturer can't work that out, my advice is don't invite him.

[cjdnzl]

Accomodate the Mac types? What if the guy showed up with a PC laptop that has only DVI output?

Good point. However, PC's with DVI outputs are fairly uncommon - Alienware comes to mind - but I have yet to have a guest speaker turn up with a DVI-equipped PC, whereas it's common with macs. But my main point, albeit I might not have said it too well, is mac people seem to be generally uninformed about what PC's can do, and seem to have this opinion that macs are somehow superior - which they aren't, they're just different.

[cjdnzl]

Well, I think that would make him a bit of a dope wouldn't it. If a lecturer can't work that out, my advice is don't invite him.

Ha. But you only find out when he falls over. When he's scheduled to be the nth speaker, fronts up with his computer - which he hasn't mentioned till now - and wants the setup changed to accommodate his machine, and then can't make it go, the show organisers wear the blame.

[Barry Beckham]

This is why I like to take all my own kit for a demo and rely on no-one. All I would need is a screen. We have learned that we cannot even rely on a camera club to have a power cable to reach the projection point, so we even have one of those in the car, just in case.

I even have a spare PC and Projector if the demo is an all day one.

[Barry Beckham]

While we have the Mac users attention.

How do I create a video tutorial disk packed with Photoshop videos that will self boot on a PC and Mac including interactive menus and options. I cannot find a way and when I make a video tutorial for a PC the file size may be 100MB, but the equivolent Quicktime can be almost twice that size.

I am talking here of large videos at 1024*768 and I will not compromise quality of image or sound.

Is there a way to please the Mac users that I am missing.

[Barry Beckham]

That doesn't sound very satisfactory and there is a lot that can go wrong with what is a simple autorun interactive disk.

The main problem I think I have menetioned before when told off by Mac users for not creating my disks dedicated to them is that I would need a Mac to be able to test links and features, which is what I have done for years for PCs.

There is no getting around this, it would be like writing software without beta testing.

I just don't sell enough disks to come close to justifying a Mac purchase, especially for the tiny number of Mac users that make up the computer market.

No, it has to be a simple process or Mac users will just have to find the videos and work from them, which is what I do now

[nobeefstu]

Barry,

You need to create a hybrid (HFS/ISO 9660) CD-ROM.

Check this program for use on Windows :

MacImage for Windows

http://www.macdisk.com/macimgen.php3

Autorun on a MAC note:

"You should note that numerous users block this feature because they fear that this could be an open door to viral attacks. Therefore, you should never consider that your autostarting CD-ROM will actually autostart, and you should add in the root folder a read-me file to instruct the user about what to do."

As for an interactive menu ... that another story to think about.

[Barry Beckham]

The trouble with that idea is it doesn't give me anything I can't do now by just adding QuickTime videos to a Windows disk. Windows users get a full auto boot and interactive menus using Videos for WMP. Mac user have to find the Mac Video folder and play the QuickTime videos manually.

Seems that's the best I can do.

Tom

I used to use PTE buttons for my disks many moons ago, but that way of working is a little amateurish to what I have now. PTE buttons don't have the flexibility for what I want. To create a multimedia disk that viewers can navigate around easily and quickly needs dedicated software and I already have that sorted. For Windows PC's of course.

[nobeefstu]

Barry,

I did a little thinking on your interactive menu since last nights post ... I would think that a Flash Menu system should work very effective on a MAC.

I have an older SwishMax program thats very effective for menu construction ... Im sure the newer versions have expanded more possibilities now.

Tom would have to verify how well these files play on a MAC and what issues to look out for.

*You are venturing into making CDS and menu operations compatable to both systems ... theres going to be alot of thought and learning to think both ways.

[crossfade]

Maybe PTE mac slideshow buttons can run mac apps, something to test.

I've tried doing that and it doesn't work well. Usually it crashes on the Mac, and if you can get it to work on the Mac it wont work on the PC (but at least it gives an error and not crash). You can't have one project make both. You need to maintain two projects with different app names.

[Barry Beckham]

I think the last few posts just about sum up this issue. It would take considerable effort and cost to reach a tiny proportion of the computer market that I can reach anyway if I stay with what I do now. Albeit with a less than slick product for Mac users, but then so what, Mac users are used to that

[crossfade]

I think the last few posts just about sum up this issue. It would take considerable effort and cost to reach a tiny proportion of the computer market that I can reach anyway if I stay with what I do now. Albeit with a less than slick product for Mac users, but then so what, Mac users are used to that

What do you mean by Mac users are used to a less than slick product?

[Barry Beckham]

Well, Mac users have been buying my disks for the past 2 years since I started to include a copy of all videos in Quicktime format and slide shows in Mac format where I can. However, it is just not the same as I can produce for PC's, yet Mac users seem happy to purchase them. So, they are used to them and if autorun isn't a feature of Macs then Mac users are used to searching a disk for what they want. I guess !!!

I know what you thought, you thought I was having a pop at Mac users didn't you ?

I bet you were limbering up there to defend Mac users

No, I only have a pop at Mac users when they whinge about the lack of this and the lack of that, but that would never happen here.

[crossfade]

Well, Mac users have been buying my disks for the past 2 years since I started to include a copy of all videos in Quicktime format and slide shows in Mac format where I can. However, it is just not the same as I can produce for PC's, yet Mac users seem happy to purchase them. So, they are used to them and if autorun isn't a feature of Macs then Mac users are used to searching a disk for what they want. I guess !!!

Personally, I hate autorun and have it disabled. Sometimes I don't want to run whatever it is and just want to copy a file off the disk.

I know what you thought, you thought I was having a pop at Mac users didn't you ?

I bet you were limbering up there to defend Mac users

sorry to disappoint you, but I was just wondering what you meant. I use both and they each have benefits. I've never heard of a Mac being called not slick.

No, I only have a pop at Mac users when they whinge about the lack of this and the lack of that, but that would never happen here.

Lack of what?

[Barry Beckham]

You need to read the earlier posts or I will have to repeat the same thing I wrote above. See my post for the 1st November replying to Geoffrey

Its just that some folk get too wrapped up in the tools they are using to such a ridiculous degree. Show me a computer that will make my images better, have more impact, become sharper, stand out from the crowd and I will throw away my PC and take up with the new wonder machine. PC/Mac ? just tools to do a job and neither will make a better slide show or a better image. Lets concentrate on the end result and not how we get there.

[crossfade]

You need to read the earlier posts or I will have to repeat the same thing I wrote above. See my post for the 1st November replying to Geoffrey

Its just that some folk get too wrapped up in the tools they are using to such a ridiculous degree. Show me a computer that will make my images better, have more impact, become sharper, stand out from the crowd and I will throw away my PC and take up with the new wonder machine. PC/Mac ? just tools to do a job and neither will make a better slide show or a better image. Lets concentrate on the end result and not how we get there.

That Mac users run Windows? That's an advantage, not lack. It's nice to be able to do both on one computer.

I know people think Windows has all the software and Macs don't and must run Windows to do anything but nothing could be further from the truth.

Sure there is Windows software that doesn't exist on Macs like PTE but there is Mac software that doesn't exist on Windows like Aperture. Some runs on both like Photoshop. Pick the tool that works the best.

[Barry Beckham]

Tom

By the time that all happens I would be pushing up daisies I think

Crossfade

Exactly, but I had one guy email me who took his time to tell me what a crook he felt I was. My crime was not providing my video disks in Mac format. Apparently it was my sworn duty to do so (it says it in the Apple Mac Bible I am told) and if he had his way I would have been flogged for not doing so.

Since then I have lost my usual patience with Mac users who have that attitude, but I have the perfect reply these days. Lets see your superiour pictures:P That usually does the trick.

Personally, I would love to try a Mac, but not a 5 minute fiddle in a store, but a real 2 week use doing what I do now with my images. Without that real life test its almost impossible to pick the tool that works as you say. Most people will end up with the computer they use, because that is what their mate uses so they go with that.

[crossfade]

Exactly, but I had one guy email me who took his time to tell me what a crook he felt I was. My crime was not providing my video disks in Mac format. Apparently it was my sworn duty to do so (it says it in the Apple Mac Bible I am told) and if he had his way I would have been flogged for not doing so.

Did he buy anything or is he just complaining? Did you say they were Windows only and did he buy them anyway? If so tell him he got what he ordered.

Or did you say they work on a Mac but it was just a folder of movies, no executables? That I could see where he might have been expecting more but its out of line to say youre a crook.

[Barry Beckham]

No, it was before I stated to add Quicktime movies to the disks and they was PC only. His beef was that I had the audacity not to make a dedicated disk for Mac users. Unless he has come back since then and purchased on line he bought nothing, we was just a Mac Moaner. I have had this a few times

[crossfade]

No, it was before I stated to add Quicktime movies to the disks and they was PC only. His beef was that I had the audacity not to make a dedicated disk for Mac users. Unless he has come back since then and purchased on line he bought nothing, we was just a Mac Moaner. I have had this a few times

sounds like a customer you don't need and could never make happy anyway.

[Barry Beckham]

Yes, your probably right

[gwignall]

Geoffrey

I emigrated from the UK to Australia, because I liked the lifestyle that Australia offeres and I knew what the limitations were and what the differences would be between the UK and Australia before I made the move. I didn't get here and then start bleating that this wasn't as good as the UK or that doesn't compare. We pays our money and we make our choice and we do so because we have decided the advantages far outweigh the disadvantages. Mac users have done the same and they would have to be daft not to realise that the depth of software is not available for macs as it is PC's. However, I am not stupid and accept that this is all part of the charm of Macs and I don't have any quarrel with that at all. I am sure Macs are a great machine, but rightly or wrongly the whole world uses PC's and for what I do I have little choice but to stay with PC's. Quite often though, it almost seems like a complaint from Mac users. How dare PTE not be available for my Mac.

To be honest, Mac users should be over the moon that PTE is being developed for Macs and I hope Igor gets back all the time and cost he will have to put in to develop PTE for such a small percentage of computer users. I doubt it is no means certain.

Just to be clear: It is not that Mac users wish to 'Run Windows' - Far from it - we wish to AVOID 'Windows'.

Yes, that is the common cry and I suspect it is true for the majority including yourself, but there are loads of Mac users out there who run Windows too, so they can enjoy the breadth of software available and there is nothing wrong with that either.

It just gets tedious when a guy sidles up to me at a demo, puffs out his chest and in one of those irritating voices says " Well, you know of course I use an Apple Mac, far better than PC's", then proceeds to buy PTE software from me.

When I point out that it will not run on a Mac, I am told. Oh thats OK I have wondows installed too. Now this isn't an isolated thing.

Never, mind I am sure it just me who wants to shove the disk down the guys throat.

Hi bb

Ok! - points taken on your considered response.

I will settle for 'Boot Camp'!

Now: is there another thread regarding Boot Camp Vs 'Parallels' or 'Fusion'?

Cheers

Geoffrey

ps I still love my MacBook

[crossfade]

Now: is there another thread regarding Boot Camp Vs 'Parallels' or 'Fusion'?

The main difference is Bootcamp requires you to reboot while VMWare and parallels let you run Windows apps at the same time as Mac apps.

I use VMWare and PTE works great. Create a Mac show from PTE and if you set up shared folders, you can launch it right away on the Mac side. You can run the Windows slide show in VMware too. I've given up on a Mac PTE.