Date: Thu, 17 Apr 2003 05:19:12 GMT From: Rob Levandowski <roblnopsamhiz.com> Subject: Re: A Macintosh Computers and A Saab?
In article <b7b6s9$ci8cc$1nopsam52899.news.dfncis.de>, Grunff <grunffnopsam.com> wrote: > I will elaborate. Much of my computing need is of a > scientific/technical nature. This means not using the kit out of > the box, but modifying it and/or adding to it's functionality. > > So, say I wanted to interface a piece of equipment with my > computer. With a PC, it's a doddle, the open architecture means > the bus is standardised, and I can do whatever I want. With a > Mac, unless I can buy the correct card from Apple, no chance. I'm not sure I see the issue. An Intel-architecture PC will give you several PCI slots, a few USB ports, perhaps a FireWire port or two, and -- if it still includes legacy ports -- two serial ports, a parallel port, and maybe an ISA slot or two. A tower Mac will give you several PCI slots, at least two USB ports, and at least two FireWire 400 ports (and a FireWire 800 port on new ones). Are many scientific devices using serial, parallel, or ISA interfaces? The Mac's interfaces to PCI, USB, and FireWire are all open-source. Unlike Microsoft, where you must take the APIs as handed to you, Apple lets you see the guts of the operating system's IO code (IOkit) as part of the Darwin open source program. There's even other ways to interface lab equipment. For instance, National Instruments makes the GPIB-ENET/100, which interfaces GPIB (IEEE 488) instruments to Ethernet. It's supported under Mac OS X. -- Rob Levandowski roblnopsamhiz.com (Opinions expressed are solely my own and not a statement from my employer)
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