I'm about to switch.......

protostarprotostar
Posted:
in macOS edited January 2014
....to Linux. I have grown frustrated with OSX. Very frustated. Why you ask? Well because it just doesnt work. It starts with iTunes. Ill leave my eMac asleep for a while than a day (no longer) and when I wake it back up and open iTunes (to listen to Breaking Benjamin 'cause they rule) I get the spinning wheel and then I get a message saying that my library file is corrupted and it will attempt to build a new one. This really angers me because I had various settings in iTunes (equalizers,etc.) and I would have to reset them all. Then some other apps just wont work. For example I use Netscape and for some reason sometimes when I try to open it I will receive an error message saying "Mozilla has unexpectedly quit." The answer to this problem is to delete the Mozilla(Netscape) library files in my home folder and reinstall Netscape. But again this frustrates me because I had various bookmarks saved and I didnt want to rebookmark every site I had saved. Other apps I have downloaded such as Firefox didnt work and I got the error "Unmountable file system" when I tried to install them. Again this really angers me because I have dial-up and such programs take a long time to download. All of this problems are solved if I just simply reinstall the OS but this is very time consuming as I have to back up all my files to my ext. hard drive and reconfigure various setting and reinstall various applications. This brings me to another point. Sometimes if I restart my computer and go to my picture folder some of my files will just be randomly corrupted (by the way, does anyone know of a slideshow program similar to Windows Fax and Picture Viewer for OS X?)

If you can help me out with these porblems it would be greatly appreciated. I think OS X is awesome and really dont want to switch. And for the record I did run the Apple hardware test and everything came up clear.



P.S.:Had anyone had any experience with Yellow Dog Linux?

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 19
    a_greera_greer Posts: 4,594member
    Well, I am also ready and soon will be switching: FROM Linux+Windows XP Pro TO Mac, Why? well, the windows part is obvious, and linux, well, I cannot run commercial software like Photoshop, I cannot get a lot of hardware working properly, and when you go to a vender like D-Link, they say "Linux? well...good luck...you are on your own" If you are looking at a server on a shoestring, hell yea go linux, but for the desktop, in reality, there are two choices, Mac and Windows.



    And by the way, anything you may have purchased in ITMS will not work in linux unless you crack it.



    Also on linux, if you want to update your system, welcome to recompilation of the kernal...in a command line, not terribly difficult, but not for the faint of heart.



    If you do not care about iLife, or anything else that apple offers that OSS just doesnt, then go for it.



    Also: some things you describe sound like bad dependencies, when was the last time you repaired?



    also, have you run system update lately?



    Hey, that unmountable file system thing, were you downloading the linux/unix binary or the binary specificly for OSX?
  • Reply 2 of 19
    mr. memr. me Posts: 3,221member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Protostar

    ....to Linux. I have grown frustrated with OSX. Very frustated. Why you ask? Well because it just doesnt work. It starts with iTunes. Ill leave my eMac asleep for a while than a day (no longer) and when I wake it back up and open iTunes (to listen to Breaking Benjamin 'cause they rule) I get the spinning wheel and then I get a message saying that my library file is corrupted and it will attempt to build a new one. This really angers me because I had various settings in iTunes (equalizers,etc.) and I would have to reset them all. Then some other apps just wont work. For example I use Netscape and for some reason sometimes when I try to open it I will receive an error message saying "Mozilla has unexpectedly quit." The answer to this problem is to delete the Mozilla(Netscape) library files in my home folder and reinstall Netscape. But again this frustrates me because I had various bookmarks saved and I didnt want to rebookmark every site I had saved. Other apps I have downloaded such as Firefox didnt work and I got the error "Unmountable file system" when I tried to install them. Again this really angers me because I have dial-up and such programs take a long time to download. All of this problems are solved if I just simply reinstall the OS but this is very time consuming as I have to back up all my files to my ext. hard drive and reconfigure various setting and reinstall various applications. This brings me to another point. Sometimes if I restart my computer and go to my picture folder some of my files will just be randomly corrupted (by the way, does anyone know of a slideshow program similar to Windows Fax and Picture Viewer for OS X?)

    If you can help me out with these porblems it would be greatly appreciated. I think OS X is awesome and really dont want to switch. And for the record I did run the Apple hardware test and everything came up clear.



    P.S.:Had anyone had any experience with Yellow Dog Linux?



    It is a poor craftsman who blames his tools.



    Although any particular particular computer may be a lemon, none of your problems are typical. I gather that you are a recent convert from Windows, but you have yet to turn your back on Windows. The Mac is not some odd variant of the mess out of Redmond. You have to learn MacOS X on its own terms.



    If you follow through on your decision to switch once again, you will find that you have traded one set of problems for another. Eventually you may come to realize that the biggest problem with your computer lies between the keyboard and chair.
  • Reply 3 of 19
    protostarprotostar Posts: 272member
    Yeah I did blame OS X because all of the Mac users said it just works. And thats what I expect it to do, just work. I am not a software guy. My specialty is hardware. I can install operating systems (Windows,OS X, Linux) and configure them to do what the average user wants but beyond that I not that great. Im trying to change this by reading various technical manuals but I have not gotten anywhere near guru status.



    I went to Mozilla's site and dl'ed the binary specifically for OS X and no I havent updated my system since I bought it. (I have dial-up and this would take an EXTREMELY LONG TIME
  • Reply 4 of 19
    mr. memr. me Posts: 3,221member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Protostar

    Yeah I did blame OS X because all of the Mac users said it just works. And thats what I expect it to do, just work. I am not a software guy. My specialty is hardware. I can install operating systems (Windows,OS X, Linux) and configure them to do what the average user wants but beyond that I not that great. Im trying to change this by reading various technical manuals but I have not gotten anywhere near guru status.



    I went to Mozilla's site and dl'ed the binary specifically for OS X and no I havent updated my system since I bought it. (I have dial-up and this would take an EXTREMELY LONG TIME



    The fact is that the Mac and MacOS X do "just work." The problem is not that you updated your system. However, I would bet dollars to donuts that you modified it in ways that you don't understand. A surprisingly large number of people who experience problems declare how smart they are. Expertise takes time. Mucking with your system is fine for people who understand the system and are willing to accept responsibility when they screw it up. However, I have very little patience with people who screw up their systems and then blame the system for being screwed up.
  • Reply 5 of 19
    code mastercode master Posts: 344member
    Perhaps you have some bad hardware? When harddrives fail, you start getting random errors all over the place. Have you run a good disk utility on the drive? (Not Apple's)
  • Reply 6 of 19
    gene cleangene clean Posts: 3,481member
    a_greer:



    Quote:

    Also on linux, if you want to update your system, welcome to recompilation of the kernal...in a command line, not terribly difficult, but not for the faint of heart.



    Please do not post stuff like this if you don't know what you're talking about.



    Updating the system on Linux is no different than Mac OS X; you can either do it through a GUI based app/manager, or through the command line.
  • Reply 7 of 19
    keilwerthrebornkeilwerthreborn Posts: 129member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Code Master

    Perhaps you have some bad hardware? When harddrives fail, you start getting random errors all over the place. Have you run a good disk utility on the drive? (Not Apple's)



    Good call, there, and nice of you to be polite to the guy.



    Original poster, did you set your drive up using file systems other than HFS+, or anything like that? Just a thought, because you seem to be having mainly disk/file system related errors, and I believe that some Mac OS software will have problems with non-HFS+ partitions.



    Rest assured, anyhow, that those aren't typical problems, and most likely won't return once you can get them fixed.
  • Reply 8 of 19
    placeboplacebo Posts: 5,767member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Protostar

    Yeah I did blame OS X because all of the Mac users said it just works.



    It has for me for the past four years.
  • Reply 9 of 19
    zapchudzapchud Posts: 844member
    Some info about the computer setup from the original poster would help this thread immensely.



    But as somebody else said, this sounds suspiciously like a hard-drive fault, not a software fault (well, you could blame the software for not handling hardware fault, but since no OS, to the best of my knowledge, actually do this, the claim is rendered invalid as of today, if the actual hardware is failing). Also, do you have free space on your hard-drive, Protostar?
  • Reply 10 of 19
    chromoschromos Posts: 191member
    Did you buy any third-party RAM? I agree with the others: when you have generic errors like this across lots of apps you have to look at the hardware first, not the software.
  • Reply 11 of 19
    protostarprotostar Posts: 272member
    Quote:

    Perhaps you have some bad hardware? When harddrives fail, you start getting random errors all over the place. Have you run a good disk utility on the drive? (Not Apple's)



    All I have run is Apple's disk utility. Do you know of any good third party utilites?



    Quote:

    Original poster, did you set your drive up using file systems other than HFS+, or anything like that? Just a thought, because you seem to be having mainly disk/file system related errors, and I believe that some Mac OS software will have problems with non-HFS+ partitions.



    The drive is set up using the Mac OS Extended files system (journaled)



    Quote:

    Some info about the computer setup from the original poster would help this thread immensely.



    It is a 1Ghz G4 eMac. It originally came with 128MB of RAM but I upgraded it to 1GB using two 512MB DIMMs I bought from Crucial. I also have a 160GB external hard drive as well. I have a 40GB internal HD with around 27 gigs of free space.



    I really hope the hard drive isnt failing as some of the posts suggests. This would be disastrous as I have alot of important data on the internal HD. But I have already taken the necessary precautions and backed up my data to the ext. HDD.
  • Reply 12 of 19
    cygy2kcygy2k Posts: 11member
    You could always try getting a new 40GB drive from CompUSA, etc for around $30 after rebates, sometimes less. Try installing that and then reinstalling all of your apps/system from scratch and you will be amazed at how well it will work. I promiss you that it will run better than new and you won't have any of those data errors.



    Good Luck!
  • Reply 13 of 19
    code mastercode master Posts: 344member
    DiskWarrior comes to mind as a good disk utility program.



    Getting a new drive may be easy, but he shouldn't have to pay anything for it if he's still under warrantee. Though, it's probably more of a hassle to go through the warrantee process.
  • Reply 14 of 19
    zapchudzapchud Posts: 844member
    I suggest installing OS X on your external drive. Then see if the problems persist.
  • Reply 15 of 19
    dfilerdfiler Posts: 3,420member
    Also try to eliminate faulty memory (or memory socket) as the cause of the problems. Take the first dimm out of the first socket and see if the problem goes away. Next, try without the second dimm in the second socket.



    And... try to eliminate the external drive as the issue.



    This definately smells of a hardware issue. (Most likely the harddrive)
  • Reply 16 of 19
    protostarprotostar Posts: 272member
    I have another question. If my hard drive was about to fail shouldn't I be getting SMART alerts? I opened the disk utility and it said the SMART status was verified which means the HD is ok.
  • Reply 17 of 19
    thininethinine Posts: 71member
    What version of OS X are you using? Whatever it is, you really need to update to the latest version. Unless you pay for your dialup by the hour, just let it download overnight and be done with. Then see if the problems still exist. But from what you say, I think a fresh install might be the best thing. Backup, reformat, install, update, and then put your data and apps back. The system should be a lot better after that. And you'll know if it's a hardware problem, since there shouldn't be any troubles with a fresh install.
  • Reply 18 of 19
    aplnubaplnub Posts: 2,605member
    Do you have Virex Anti-Virus software running? That junk messes up my iMac everytime I load it. So I stopped using it and not one problem since.



    Eric
  • Reply 19 of 19
    naghanagha Posts: 71member
    step 1:

    ask for help. you're obviously having some problems and they can be solved.



    step 2:

    provide information - beyond hardware. we need to know what machine you're running, which OS, what software, what additional devices that may or may not be attached and specific circumstances recreate your problems.



    step 3:

    create a new user and see if your problems persist. if they're gone, you'll have reduced it to damaged settings within your preexisting user folder.



    na



    ps, i don't come to this forum often but i'd be happy to help ya via e-mail:



    u b e r n

    @ m a c . c o m
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