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Old 08-01-2017, 08:28 AM   #11
Padgett
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Not really TM related but have lost track of the number of operating systems/computers I've known. Started with Assembly language and Fortran II on a SEL-800, then a number of IBM mainframes, PGPs, Eclipses. When worked at GDFW I used to come in at 6pm and leave at 6am so I could get complete use of the system & did not matter if needed to reboot a few times. Was about then I had my own 10MB 18" platter and didn't know how I'd ever fill it. Got very good at 16kb overlays.

Learned UNIX sometime in the '70s but have never been a good typist so the long names and case sensitivity were a bother.

Since the early 80s have had mainly PCs but at various times had different things that ran interpretive BASIC (Commodore, Sinclair). Had an Apple II, SE, Lisa, and various Macs both Motorola and Intel. Currently have a '08 MacBook that just became obsolete.

But my employer was mainly PC so that has been my main system, tend to have what I support. My main desktop is a frankenPC that may still have parts from the 80's and has removable drives so can choose the OS but running Win10-64 creator's and feeding multiple 27-28" LCDs at the moment.

Most of the Androids I've seen were BusyBox Linux based but I like my Galaxy S5/Android 6 (latest in a number of them). Talks to both my cars and my Sony wristwatch. BTW OS/X & iOS are Linux under the covers also

Apples are great computers for people who do not like computers, they require little thought to use. What they do they do very well, problem is that do not do very much & Apple treats memory/storage as a profit center (have a 64GB SD card in my S5).

So Apple has a place mainly IMNSHO for those with a lot of peer pressure and more money than branes.

Funny thing is that under the covers Apples and PCs both pay big bucks to Intel. C'est la meme chose.
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Old 08-01-2017, 09:00 AM   #12
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OSX and iOS are derived from the CMU Mach kernel and the BSD runtime. Linux is not in there, although if they made it today Linux would probably be the choice.

I am the original author of Busybox.

In using Linux desktops since 1991, I have once had malware installed from outside on Wordpress on my public server. Only an update of Wordpress was necessary. No other viruses, and I don't use a firewall or any anti-virus software. That's one problem in 26 years.

Linux has fine GUIs that are easy for normal folks to use.
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Old 08-01-2017, 10:53 AM   #13
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Wow. Thank you for the clarification by a SME. So Berkley predates Linux and is a Unix variant. Guess I have to dig to tell the difference any more.

My Columbia VP-1600 luggable was supposed to come with a Unix variant but was delayed (memory says BSD/86 but this was in 1983 & was never delivered)
Used to deal with people at Carnegie Mellon quite a bit but was another lifetime.
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Old 08-01-2017, 06:32 PM   #14
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We had the Fourth Berkeley System Distribution (BSD) in 1981 when I started at the NYIT Computer Graphics Lab. There were earlier ones for PDP-11. We ran it on one of the first VAX 780s to leave Digital. It's the one that gets taken apart in "The Soul of a New Machine". I have the front panel of Pixar's VAX-780 on my office wall.

There were about a dozen people in Cory Hall on the Berkeley campus who were doing the ARPA contract to add virtual memory and other features that were important for image processing and computer graphics to Unix. I got to Pixar in 1987 and all of the BSD folks except for Bill Joy were members or guests of the Pixar ski cabin. Bill Joy could afford his own mountain by then.
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Old 08-01-2017, 07:10 PM   #15
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In 1981 my PC was an Eclipse, by '84 I had a 11/780 and wrote a UUENCODE/DECODE in DCL to be able to pass files to another machine on the Isle of Long. Received a commendation from the Prez at the same time the telecommunication folk yanked my long distance access for "excessive usage". Was back the next day and the last time I ever saw a usage report.

But in that period was mainly trying to make a Mil-Std-1750A into a test machine (not easy to do ASCII on a machine that used words not bytes). Finally got an AFR changed and substituted 11/34s for the 1750s that never worked, saved a bunch of money & my boss was made a VP.

Was then sent to DC to try to make all of the different devices the FAA was using communicate with each other, encountered the BRAIN virus, wrote a throwaway to get rid of it so I could get back to my real job. Next thing I knew my office was the antivirus lab for the corporation. And so endeth the '80s.
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Old 08-01-2017, 09:12 PM   #16
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Quote:
Originally Posted by HoMiPa View Post
Off topic to the ransomware, but does it HAVE to be a Macbook? As in, is that the requirement? I only ask because I got my daughter an Alienware as her high school grad gift, because she was majoring in theatre, specifically set design. The Alienware has amazing graphics capabilities, because it is designed for hardcore gamers. She graduated this past spring, and the Alienware served her very well. Not only is it built like a tank (she's dropped it down entire flights of stairs, while open, and running, with nary a hiccup), but I can't count the number of times she was the ONLY one in some of her classes that could even do the work while in class. Her Alienware would chew right through the graphics programs and spit out her design, while everyone else's computers would be slogging through the work at a snail's pace. There were even times when the school's desktop computers couldn't handle the 3D graphics design work, and students would spend hours just sitting, waiting..... If you can swing an Alienware, there isn't anything that can come close to how well it handles graphics.

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As to Alienware (or gaming computers in general), they can be very good graphics systems for a good price but if peer pressure is forcing an Apple (a Macbook Pro is $2k+ and they want full retail for a '15 model), I'd take a look at the refurbished store.

Personally I do not care for them (a $2k notebook without a touch screen ?) and Apple is famous for stopping upgrades after 8 or so years even if capable but have friends who will have nothing else.

Bottom line: Moore's Law hit a periodic plateau about 2014 and the only real improvement since than has been inexpensive SSDs (I have a hot-rodded 11" 2in1 with four-core Atom processor, a 500GB SSD, and 8GB of RAM that can outrun an i7 with a rotating drive. And has a touch screen).
The requirement for the MacBook Pro comes from the College of Architecture/Design. It's not peer pressure. And this on top of already paying a $2000 premium per semester for design classes. Auburn's College of Architecture must be "special". We are looking into refurbished. Just have to see how it compares to the student discount. Or maybe apply the discount to a refurb unit.

OP, My husband is currently in the process of using an Avast program to unencrypt my files. Go to Avast website and look for malware programs. You have to know what your malware is named. Mine is "Global" or something like that. The idea is you create a copy of a good file. Then let the ransomware encrypt that file. Then you upload a copy of both the good file and the encrypted file to the Avast program. The program will take hours to figure out the encryption, but this is supposed to do the trick. (((Fingers crossed)))

UPDATE: Avast didn't work. So I've lost all my files. Nothing to be done at this point. Factory reset for me.
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Old 08-02-2017, 05:40 AM   #17
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Quote:
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The requirement for the MacBook Pro comes from the College of Architecture/Design. It's not peer pressure.

UPDATE: Avast didn't work. So I've lost all my files. Nothing to be done at this point. Factory reset for me.
Wow. That's a shame. Even some of my daughter's profs commented on 'her' smart choice of selecting an Alienware for all the various graphics programs she had to use. Specifically, the 3D lighting design program notoriously crashed even the school's desktops - but never her Alienware.

Sorry about your loss of files.
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Old 08-02-2017, 06:26 AM   #18
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Well if it must be an Apple... Years ago illustrators and journalists liked them because they did what was needed without a dash-1 the size of a phone book.

Guess you need it before scholl starts but Apple always has a once-a-year discount around black Friday.

BTW with a docking station it can be used at home or in a dorm room with real keyboard, mouse, and a couple of big monitors. With a setup like that a UPS is also a good idea.
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Old 08-02-2017, 09:48 AM   #19
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Well, I have better news today. My husband switched from Avast to Emsisoft. It took a few tries because there are many versions of the globe ransomware. Mine was globe3 as it turns out. So we did find a program that worked. My files are free!


Quote:
Originally Posted by HoMiPa View Post
Wow. That's a shame. Even some of my daughter's profs commented on 'her' smart choice of selecting an Alienware for all the various graphics programs she had to use. Specifically, the 3D lighting design program notoriously crashed even the school's desktops - but never her Alienware.

Sorry about your loss of files.
Alienware sounds great! It would be nice if we had a choice, but I'm sure they have their reasons. I'll tell my daughter about the Alienware--she may already know about it--for future reference.


Quote:
Originally Posted by Padgett View Post
Well if it must be an Apple... Years ago illustrators and journalists liked them because they did what was needed without a dash-1 the size of a phone book.

Guess you need it before scholl starts but Apple always has a once-a-year discount around black Friday.

BTW with a docking station it can be used at home or in a dorm room with real keyboard, mouse, and a couple of big monitors. With a setup like that a UPS is also a good idea.
Good to know!
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Old 08-05-2017, 11:38 AM   #20
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The best defense against ransomware is having solid backups of all your files.

Then if you get infected, it becomes a nuisance (having to reload) rather than a disaster (losing all your data).

What should you backup? Only what you care about keeping!

Our house has been a Ubuntu Linux shop for several years now. For the very few things that I can't avoid running Windows for, I use Virtualbox virtual machines of Windows 7 and 10.

For anyone still mourning XP, I suggest you check out Lubuntu (http://lubuntu.me/). The desktop will seem quite familiar and easy to get used to.
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