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Re: Mac laptops and Tech Comm

Subject: Re: Mac laptops and Tech Comm
From: jimmy -at- breck-mckye -dot- com
To: <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com>
Date: Sun, 26 Feb 2012 23:49:42 +0000

Were you aware that you can run a Windows application on a Unix-like OSes with WINE? The performance and behaviour of different programs varies, but I have had some success using it on my Linux partition.

As you mention, Java applications should work reasonably well - they're supposed to be OS and processor-architecture independent (at least in theory). You should also be able to run some open source XML-handling applications (though you might have to compile these yourself).

That being said, I wouldn't recommend a laptop for 'serious' use unless portability is a real requirement. Laptops are rather expensive for what you get, cannot be upgraded and are vulnerable to overheating. Creating a compact computer means a lot of compromises on build quality.

On 26.02.2012 23:20, Tony Chung wrote:

Macs is teh awesomes. Phill Snow Leopard would have more tech info.
But as a TechCom I can't do my work ONLY on a Mac. The biggest
challenge I found was that Microsoft Word cannot generate bookmarks
from headings. As far as anyone knows, it will never be able to do so.
So, Word-only documentation requires a Windows version at least to
generate output.

The next challenge is that most other common TechCom tools like Adobe
TC and Madcap Flare are Windows only. At least InDesign runs on both
Mac and PC; but who in their right mind would author technical
documentation in InDesign, with 0 potential for reuse?

The good news is that the DITA community is waking up to the prospect
that Macs are used more and more in technical environments. The DITA
Open Tool Kit has always worked on Mac OS X (with some futzing).
Actually, pretty much any Java based program can run on Mac. Now the
low-cost Bluestream XDocs has a Mac OS X version (I would like to
think I had a hand in pressuring them to rebuild support for Mac!)

Mac firewire ports are 9-pin connectors. Most built-in PC firewire
ports are only 4-pin, so you'd need an adapter, regardless of which
machine you get.

USB 3.0 may be faster, but I don't think the throughput is consistent,
whereas firewire offers consistent throughput at the expense of
hot-pluggability.

I personally like the consistency of Mac hardware over the multitude
of PC brands on the market. Maybe that could change.

-Tony


On 2012-02-26, at 9:03 AM, Craig Cardimon <craig -dot- cardimon -at- gmail -dot- com> wrote:

I had no idea about the double-booting. Seems like the Mac is rather more
versatile than the venerable PC.

On Sun, Feb 26, 2012 at 11:40 AM, Gene Kim-Eng <techwr -at- genek -dot- com> wrote:

If a firewire port is the only issue, just shop for a PC that has one. If
you want to be able to run Mac apps and still work with Windows tech comm
apps, Macs can be dual-booted to run Windows with no performance hit since
they now use Intel processors.

Gene Kim-Eng

----- Original Message ----- From: "Craig Cardimon" <
craig -dot- cardimon -at- gmail -dot- com>

I might be in the market for a laptop one of these years, and I am
starting
to think a Mac might be a better investment, but I need to be able to do
technical writing on it.





--
Cordially,
Craig Cardimon -- "The Duct Tape Writer"

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Follow-Ups:

References:
Mac laptops and Tech Comm: From: Craig Cardimon
Re: Mac laptops and Tech Comm: From: Gene Kim-Eng
Re: Mac laptops and Tech Comm: From: Craig Cardimon
Re: Mac laptops and Tech Comm: From: Tony Chung

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