[CS-FSLUG] Mac OS

[Nathan T.]

Hi list folk

I keep feeling like I'm coming back to this, but I've searched through
my e-mails and as far as I can tell since I've been on the list using
GMail I haven't asked any of these questions (at least not anywhere
that's easy to find).

First off I wanted to get an idea of what OS X was like. I'm not
referring to one of Apple's guided tours, but rather screenshots of
what dialogs look like, the things that Apple doesn't seem to make
readily available. For example I know that the button ordering in OS X
is different, "No" comes before "Yes" in confirmation dialogs from
what I've heard, but where do others fit in? I had a look on Google
and I didn't see anything beyond normal configuration dialogs and
pictures of standard applications, I was really hoping to see some
save dialogs and confirmation dialogs as well as other components of
the OS.

Another thing that's on my mind is how well OS X runs with 512 MB of
ram. I have had a look around and I can readily get a Mac Mini locally
that has a Core Solo processor and 512 MB of ram. The only thing I'm
unsure about is whether that is enough ram for OS X, especially
considering that the Mac Mini line has a video card sharing the system
ram. Would 512 be enough to multitask while still getting decent
performance? By decent performance I mean more than just having a
small handful of apps up at time, at work I am frequently reminded to
close applications if there's more than three or four running so the
windows machines don't become too unstable :-P .

I am curious as well, the Mac keyboards have F-keys going up past 12.
I doubt I could readily get a Mac keyboard up here, I haven't seen any
in stores, in which case would I be stuck without the functionality
provided by the extra F-keys?

How well do Mac Mini's handle being on KVMs? I already realize they
don't have PS/2 ports any more, so I'm thinking a normal USB and VGA
KVM will do.

One last question I can think of for the night is what kinds of free
software is available for Macs, and how that software is installed. I
would want OO.o, but as far as I can the closest thing to a native
port is several versions behind and uses Java in the porting process.
Does that even run at a reasonable speed (thinking of the java
components here), and then what kinds of other useful applications are
free for OS X?

I'm looking forward to some answers, in two weeks time I get another
pay-check and I think I may have enough to get a Mac Mini without
leaving myself short on cash. I am really having a hard time wrestling
over whether trying something I may not like at all would be worth the
expense.