[AfterBurner_1]

Meet the MacTalkers Lite
JMD

Good evening and welcome to another edition of Meet the MacTalkers!
This week we have the pleasure of hearing from forum member JMD. Thanks to JMD for taking the time to complete the questions and give an insight into who he is.

JMD

What does your username and avatar mean?
Back when I first signed up (a long time ago), I tended to use my initials for most logins to make things easy to type. Now, I tend to use 'macdownunder' for most things. I haven't changed my Mactalk login, not sure that I can? I've never found an avatar that suits me, but if I ever find one - you'll see it on Mactalk!

Occupation?
I'm a paramedic and work in the emergency management field. 2009 has been a busy year!

Location?
Eastern suburbs of Melbourne.

What's your poison?
I can't turn down a strong iced coffee.

One strange fact about yourself?
Probably doesn't sound strange around Mactalk, but when I tell friends that I have a collection of over 300 Apple computers, I tend to get a strange look. I've got pretty much every machine from the Apple ][ through to the end of the G3 era, and a few of each era since then. The collection also extends to Apple peripherals including monitors, storage devices, cameras, Newtons, iPods and printers. I've actually lost count of the total number of individual items now. I just love to see how technology has evolved, especially where current technology is still catching up with the potential demonstrated years ago. I also enjoy pushing old technology to the limit.

When, where and how did you realise Mac is the way to go?
Well, I started using Apple computers in 1980 and was pretty heavily into Basic and Pascal programming for the Apple ][. The Apple //gs gave me all the GUI goodness that I craved at the time. I finally decided to get a Mac IIsi in 1991 and have used a Mac as my main computer ever since.

What's in your Dock?
Probably too much. I just love EyeTV and transcode my favourite shows for my AppleTV. I use Firefox, Tweetdeck and still use Eudora for email. I can't do without the Terminal and System Preferences of course. I have an Xserve and use Server Monitor, Server Admin and Remote Desktop to check on it from time to time. I keep the Calculator and TextEdit close to hand, and have iTunes, iPhoto and VLC for my media content. Because of work I need Word and Excel handy. I also have Mactracker for my collection and JBidwatcher to try and get all the good stuff from eBay.

Worst OS X application you have used?
I've seen a few horrors, but have managed to blot them from memory.

If you ever met Steve Jobs, what is one question you'd love to ask, but wouldn't be able to bring yourself to do so?
Why did you ever hire John Sculley as CEO?

Favourite 'Steve Moment'?
I love the whole idea of the 'Stevenote' and 'one more thing'. Great showmanship and seems to resonate with the Apple community.

Jobs or Woz, who's your favourite?
Well, being an old Apple ][ user, I've got a soft spot for the Woz. He was a great engineer. But Jobs was the saviour of Apple and has stamped his personality on the organisation, so I've got lots of time for him.

Who will be Steve's successor?
I'm sure there are lots of good choices from a business point of view, but I don't see any obvious successor to provide such the 'visionary' role of Jobs.

What is your dream Apple Product?
I love the idea of the Knowledge Navigator (Knowledge Navigator - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia). I know we have many parts of it today, but the complete package would be awesome.

Worst Apple product you've used?
I had lots of trouble with the Apple //c that I used during the late 80's. Bad plastics, core dumped too much etc. But all my other Apple machines have worked pretty well.

Your first Mac?
My first Apple computer was an Apple ][ Europlus in 1980 with 48k RAM and two 5.25" floppies. I loved that machine - still have it, fully tricked out with graphics tablet, Profile hard drive etc. My first Mac was a Mac IIsi in 1991. That was a great machine too. First Mac that could be easily overclocked (which I did of course!)

What Macs are you using currently?
I'm using a PowerMac G5 DP2.0GHz with a 23" Acrylic Cinema Display at home, and a White Macbook CoreDuo 2.0GHz. (I envy my wife's White iMac C2D 2.0GHz!)

The terminal & the Mac ideology: Yay or Nay?
Absolutely Yay! Having started out in DOS3.2.1 and playing with Linux a lot, I am happy to play in Terminal and often do - but only when needed. I loved the idea of AU/X (which predated OSX and saw Mac OS 7 on top of BSD unix) and was sad to see it go. OSX is a great successor.

What Mac related websites/forums/podcasts do you frequent?
I follow the Mactalk Forums of course! I also follow the RetroMacCast (RetroMacCast - Where great old Macs live again!) and the 68K Macintosh Liberation Army (Index page – 68k Macintosh Liberation Army Forums). They have some great information on keeping your old Macs ticking along and then some.

One thing you could add to OS X?
I'd love to see Clarus the Dogcow resurrected. Moof! I miss that little guy doing his tricks when I'm printing (Dogcow - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia). There were a lot of little quirks like this in the old Mac OS that were not renewed in OSX which I think is a shame.

Size of your iTunes library (number of tracks)?
Well I've only got 1533 music tracks, and 652 video tracks which I stream to my Apple TV. I run my iTunes library off my Xserve and share and stream to the rest of our home network. It keeps us entertained!

Do you own an iPhone? What are your thoughts on the device?
Yes, I have an iPhone (3G). I managed to convince my boss, his boss and my wife to all buy them as well! I love the device, but wish it was less restricted and more fully developed in some areas. Can't wait for 3.0 to be released. I also wish it didn't rely so heavily on iTunes for MS-Outlook syncronisation at work.

If applicable, what does your other half think of your interest in Macs? Given my obsession, I'd consider my wife to be very understanding. In fact, I think she has decided "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em" because she has got both an iPhone and iMac in the past 6 months!

Apart from Macs what are your other hobbies and interests?
While it is related to my Mac obsession, I enjoy home stereo and theatre and have a reasonably large sound system set up in my lounge (a Yamaha / JBL 7.1 arrangement). I also enjoy photography, but haven't had much time to concentrate on it much.

How long have you kept your mobile number for?
I'm still using the same basic number that I got when I purchased my first Motorola analog brick back in 1990. It got upgraded for digital (ie the extra '4'), but the main number is still the same.

Do you use or have Protection for your Mac?
No. As you can probably guess from my interests, I tend to buy computers second hand and they are usually well outside the warranty period.

Is the future Intel?
I guess so. I don't really have a preference, I've seen Apple move from the 6502 to 65816, 680X0, ARM, StrongARM, PPC and now Intel. Provided the transition is smooth I don't mind too much where they go - provided it makes sense. I do rather enjoy running OSX, WindowsXP and Ubuntu concurrently in separate 'spaces' on my Macbook though!

When did you join MacTalk and why?
I joined on 26th January 2004, from memory I saw some chatter on Usenet about it, took a look and just stayed. I tend to lurk more than I post (but you probably already knew that!)

Finally, which one member do you want to see interviewed next week?
leon

[AfterBurner_1]

reserved for comments etc.

Comment 1: will finish when i get away from school and it's draconian filter system which is blocking my ISP.