Assorted Questions from a Prospective Mac User

I'm a current user of Linux and Windows XP who is seriously considering
an upgrade to an iBook G4 with Panther so that I can perform all of my
web browsing / word processing / entertainment tasks alongside the UNIX
programs I need to run (and yes, I know about Cygwin ) ). I'm
presently a bit unfamiliar with the Mac side of things, and despite my
best efforts on Google, there are a few questions regarding Mac OS X
that I wasn't able to resolve...

1) It appears that Dantz is no longer offering an Express version of
their Retrospect backup software. Does anybody have any
recommendations for a similar, good backup package that would allow
me to create backup sets spanning multiple CD-RWs and symmetrically
encrypt my backed-up data, and not require me to sign up for a .Mac
subscription?

2) Does the Apple-provided X11 server for Panther support subpixel font
rendering (or even regular font smoothing)? If not, are there any
X11 servers for OS X that do?

3) Are there any personal firewall software packages for the Mac that
provide a similar level of control and logging to that of Kerio
Personal Firewall, a.k.a. Tiny Firewall, on Windows?

4) Panther does have a built-in secure shell daemon, right?

5) I've read that one can print to an LPD queue over a network (such as
a Windows XP print server running Microsoft's Print Services for
UNIX) from a Mac box. Would I likely be able to install the
vendor-supplied drivers for my Canon S750 on the iBook such that I
could use those, instead of the gimp-print drivers, when printing to
my Canon as a network LPD printer? (I realize I might not be
approaching this question from the correct perspective.)

Thanks a bunch if you're able to take a stab at any of these!

--
We all do no end of feeling, and we mistake it for thinking.
- Mark Twain

In article <bp99cu$k68$(E-Mail Removed)>,
Mark Shroyer <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

> I'm a current user of Linux and Windows XP who is seriously considering
> an upgrade to an iBook G4 with Panther so that I can perform all of my
> web browsing / word processing / entertainment tasks alongside the UNIX
> programs I need to run (and yes, I know about Cygwin ) ). I'm
> presently a bit unfamiliar with the Mac side of things, and despite my
> best efforts on Google, there are a few questions regarding Mac OS X
> that I wasn't able to resolve...
>
> 1) It appears that Dantz is no longer offering an Express version of
> their Retrospect backup software. Does anybody have any
> recommendations for a similar, good backup package that would allow
> me to create backup sets spanning multiple CD-RWs and symmetrically
> encrypt my backed-up data, and not require me to sign up for a .Mac
> subscription?

It seems to still exist, but I'm not sure if Express was ever actually a
for-sale product or if it was just the version that OEMs bundled with
likely backup devices. There's Retrospect Desktop as an alternative.

> 4) Panther does have a built-in secure shell daemon, right?

Right.

G

Mark Shroyer wrote:
> I'm a current user of Linux and Windows XP who is seriously considering
> an upgrade to an iBook G4 with Panther so that I can perform all of my
> web browsing / word processing / entertainment tasks alongside the UNIX
> programs I need to run (and yes, I know about Cygwin ) ). I'm
> presently a bit unfamiliar with the Mac side of things, and despite my
> best efforts on Google, there are a few questions regarding Mac OS X
> that I wasn't able to resolve...
>
> 1) It appears that Dantz is no longer offering an Express version of
> their Retrospect backup software. Does anybody have any
> recommendations for a similar, good backup package that would allow
> me to create backup sets spanning multiple CD-RWs and symmetrically
> encrypt my backed-up data, and not require me to sign up for a .Mac
> subscription?

Whats wrong with a combination of tar and GPG or AESutil?

>
> 2) Does the Apple-provided X11 server for Panther support subpixel font
> rendering (or even regular font smoothing)? If not, are there any
> X11 servers for OS X that do?

AA fonts are possible, you need to configure Xft to make it work

What Linux apps are you wanting to run?

>
> 3) Are there any personal firewall software packages for the Mac that
> provide a similar level of control and logging to that of Kerio
> Personal Firewall, a.k.a. Tiny Firewall, on Windows?
>

yes

Little Snitch

OSX has a built in firewall for everything else (remember its BSD UNIX
with eye candy)

> 4) Panther does have a built-in secure shell daemon, right?

yes openSSH 3.6.1p1

>
> 5) I've read that one can print to an LPD queue over a network (such as
> a Windows XP print server running Microsoft's Print Services for
> UNIX) from a Mac box. Would I likely be able to install the
> vendor-supplied drivers for my Canon S750 on the iBook such that I
> could use those, instead of the gimp-print drivers, when printing to
> my Canon as a network LPD printer? (I realize I might not be
> approaching this question from the correct perspective.)
>

cannot comment about windoze XP as never seen it

> Thanks a bunch if you're able to take a stab at any of these!
>

On Sun, 16 Nov 2003 20:48:10 -0500, Mark Shroyer wrote:

> 3) Are there any personal firewall software packages for the Mac that
> provide a similar level of control and logging to that of Kerio
> Personal Firewall, a.k.a. Tiny Firewall, on Windows?

Firewall capability is built in to OS X (both Jaguar and Panther) in the
form of a GUI front end to ipfw(8), which can do pretty much whatever you
want.

> 4) Panther does have a built-in secure shell daemon, right?

Yes, /usr/sbin/sshd. And enabling it is a point-and-click operation.

> 5) I've read that one can print to an LPD queue over a network (such as
> a Windows XP print server running Microsoft's Print Services for
> UNIX) from a Mac box. Would I likely be able to install the
> vendor-supplied drivers for my Canon S750 on the iBook such that I
> could use those, instead of the gimp-print drivers, when printing to
> my Canon as a network LPD printer? (I realize I might not be
> approaching this question from the correct perspective.)

If Canon provides Mac-compatible drivers, then yes.


--
Dave Seaman
Judge Yohn's mistakes revealed in Mumia Abu-Jamal ruling.
<http://www.commoncouragepress.com/index.cfm?action=book&bookid=228>

In article <bp9gqm$1b5$(E-Mail Removed)>,
Dave Seaman <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

> > 5) I've read that one can print to an LPD queue over a network (such as
> > a Windows XP print server running Microsoft's Print Services for
> > UNIX) from a Mac box. Would I likely be able to install the
> > vendor-supplied drivers for my Canon S750 on the iBook such that I
> > could use those, instead of the gimp-print drivers, when printing to
> > my Canon as a network LPD printer? (I realize I might not be
> > approaching this question from the correct perspective.)
>
> If Canon provides Mac-compatible drivers, then yes.

Further to that: Canon drivers are in Panther, and Mac OS X printing
uses CUPS so you can even get at it from your web browser if you wish!

Cheers,

Matthew.

TheMartian <get_frelled_spammer@no_frelling_spam.spam> wrote:

> Whats wrong with a combination of tar and GPG or AESutil?

Or Carbon Copy Cloner. I find CDs too unreliable, so I use ccc to backup
to an external drive. Pretty painless, and drives are pretty affordable.

V.
--
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