On 8 Feb 2004, at 1:10 PM, lazarus wrote: > I know nothing about this stuff, so I'm just asking this in all > innocence. I'm intending to build a computer in the next six months. > Is it possible to build a Mac, or will I need to buy one pre-built? If you're buying a PowerMac, you have some configuration options, but for the most part you will not be able to have the exact same degree of flexibility you would have with a PC. > Also, I need to use a 5-button optic scroll wheel mouse due to some > physical limitations. I use the two buttons on the sides to back- and > forward- page in Explorer. Is this possible in the Mac OS? And is > the right click menu functionality available in OS X? These are a > couple of the things that I actually like in the x86 world. Yes you can; Logitech and other companies provide drivers so that their mouses have full functionality. I'm using a 3-button + scrollwheel Logitech mouse right now on my machine, and the buttons and scrollwheel work *without* the customized driver. If I installed that driver, I would have further customization options, but all 3 buttons and the scrollwheel work without them. However, check to see whether the mouse maker's driver supports application-specific customization to be sure. > And, to be honest, there are things about Explorer I actually like > over Netscape. Weird, I know, but go figure. Netscape can run on > x86, can Explorer be used on Mac? Internet Explorer 5.2.2 is installed standard on the Mac; there is also the home-grown Apple browser Safari (based on KDE Konqueror) that is much faster. Of course Mozilla and Netscape are also available. Since this is my first foray into this, I'll add some additional comments. I've used Windows since 95 (including 98SE (shudder), 2k pro, and XP pro), and I've used Macs since 1984. Along the way, I also programmed on various unix boxes, including Sun, SGI, and various DEC machines. When it came time to replace my home computer out of my own pocket about a year ago, I chose Mac. Yes, there are small annoyances, but much less than with any of the other options. For example, I've *never* had to download a driver, for instance (this is with two printers, an external hard drive, external floppy, and two flash card readers). Patching is much less painful, and certainly less frequent. Sleep is much more reliable than suspending a Win2k machine. And I'm at home with the terminal/X11 installation. I can add most of the Linux open source community utilities and applications via fink (from a tty-version of nethack to xemacs). No machine is perfect, and Apple is no exception - sometimes the patches are buggy for a small number of configurations (I've not had a problem yet). As for the interface and user experience of the Mac side, I would recommend the site X vs. XP, which tries to look openly at the different pros and cons of each. www.xvsxp.com ed -- Ed Hahn / ehahn at isochronism.com "It don't mean a thing if it ain't got an even swing!"