Re: [MacPerl-Forum] Help with Macintosh machine & perl

[Bruce Van Allen <bva@cruzio.com>]

At 4:13 PM -0500 2/23/00, Michael Loll wrote:
>Ok, so I've been introduced to MacPerl and I want to get a machine up and
>running with MacPerl 5.  Except I don't have a mac machine.  I have no idea
>how mac machines are organized in terms of what is considered a "high end"
>mac and what is considered a "decent" mac etc .. I'm talking about like
>speed/power etc.
>
>Can anyone reccomend some web sites or info?  I'm really interested in using
>the interfacesd to the mac toolbox (especially the speech), and I need to
>get a mac machine up and running.  I'm coming from a windows/unix
>background.

Here are some suggestions and some attitude:

If you're buying new, _any_ Mac will do fine with anything Macperl 
can do, IMO, so base your decision on your budget or your office 
color scheme (:-), rather than speed/power/clock rate.

If you buy new, connecting older devices will be a challenge. For 
most computing uses, you don't need the latest and greatest Macs -- 
they are over-powered for what most people use them for (get a TV/VCR 
if you want video playback). If you 'need' to be near the bleeding 
edge, working in [Mac]Perl puts you closer than having this week's 
'fastest machine in history'.

If you're shopping used, well, I still have have MacPerl running on a 
Mac SE-30 bought in 1988, alongside some newer machines. Actually, 
rather than saying I have Macperl "running" it would be more 
informative to say that I get useful work done with MacPerl on all of 
these machines. But I don't ask the SE-30 to do some tasks, 
especially anything related to so-called 'multi-media'. If you want 
sound/speech, you'll have more fun with a faster machine and a recent 
version of the Mac OS (9 is current, get at least 8.5).

At minimum, get a machine with a "PowerPC" processor chip, rather 
than one with an older "680X0" series chip. The PowerMac 7500 and 
7600 are very solid machines, with lots of expandability (including 
for G3 and G4 processor upgrade cards). You can get a 7500 or 7600 
for under $500.

Whatever the machine, add lots of RAM, so you have 128 MB or more total.

To "get the machine up and running", be sure it's plugged in ;-). To 
get started with MacPerl, get the book MacPerl Power and Ease by this 
list's own Chris Nandor and Vicki Brown; it comes with a CD with the 
almost-latest distribution of MacPerl.

Check out the archives of this list for speech-related postings, and 
for info about Chris Nandor's Glue module, which he's developed 
(post-book) as a way to get AppleEvents into play directly from 
MacPerl.

HTH.

1;

- Bruce

_Bruce_Van_Allen___bva@cruzio.com__Santa_Cruz_CA_

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