Mac Beta Application suggestions...

[MacSteven]

My turn...

C'mon people, would a little research hurt you? Apple-->About this Mac-->More Info... and click PCI/AGP Cards. Right there in front of your face is the graphics card model and manufacture. Was that hard?

actually.... no.

This is what System Profiler had to say about my video card:

ATY,RV280M9+:

Type: display
Bus: AGP
VRAM (Total): 32 MB
Vendor: ATI (0x1002)
Device ID: 0x5c63
Revision ID: 0x0001
ROM Revision: 113-xxxxx-115

now this is what I have to say about my video card... it's an ATI Mobility Radeon 9200 with 32 megs of VRAM... While System Profiler is can be very useful, i'm pretty sure that what it told me about my card model wasn't in the "choose ur video card list"

Speeds- Apple has only put systems out at certain speeds. They are not so many of them.. so you might as well just put an exac number, since each unit is different, and should probably be tested.. You can have an exact test of all hardware, instead of a good guess of PC hardware.

Holy fucking crow... THEY DON'T NEED TO KNOW YOUR EXACT MODEL NUMBER! All Macs basically operate the same, they're all PowerPC issues, they all run the same operating system. Geez...

besides being extremely obnoxious here, no, they don't operate at the same speeds. my old iMac DV with a G3 running at 400 MHz is NOT basically the same as my iBook G4....

As for:

but I'm sure that it would be helpful for you guys to know whether or not somebody's G4 chips is running at 1.5 GHz or 500 MHz

They ask that. Thats kinda the whole "CPU speed" thing.

Then put 500Mhz-1Ghz... not that hard. Same for the rest of you.

Once again... ur wrong. The option that I should have and did put was "Power PC G4 (Mac)"... and if i choose that then i can't choose
500Mhz-1Ghz at the same time...

And for everyone else who posted their specs here.... DON'T! Enter them in your application.

We posted our specs here to include information that we were not able to enter in the application.

Honestly, knowing whether I have a 933 Mhz G4 or a 1.5 Mhz isn't THAT big a deal, but they're doing a beta test, and we're trying to help by providing them with all the information we can. If they can use it, great. If they can't, then it doesn't hurt.

Sorry if you got in my wrath, ignorance just bugs me

You're not sorry... you're rude and obnoxious.............. and ignorance bugs me too.

(which is why it would really suck if somebody corrected me on something... which is definitely going to happen lol)

Really, none of this is worth getting all fired up about.

i guess ur right...

[kreiggers]

Hey everyone, lay off Hijikamuza-whatever!

If you saw his earlier post he brags about developing for *nix/Gentoo, so he cant help it if he can't recognize a bad application with a crappy UI. Or have any recognition of users belonging to the same species as him.

Let him cling to the one last thing he's got - his smug sense of superiority - and lets try to not provoke him anymore.

[MacSteven]

allright...

[SPOOF]

OK, so...first, I feel badly for anybody feeling as if they got talked down to. I didn't do it, and I will assume that wasn't the intent, but rather frustration, of the poster.

I will, however, also say that the form was a bit on the sparse side for information. Having been the Beta Test Lead for another game, I can say that models, even with the same speed processors and graphics cards and such, CAN have different issues. Those, however, are usually found out during the process of it all.

That being said. I've been lead mac beta tester for Dark Horizons: Lore, I've beta tested a few other games as well. I do beta work for Subrosasoft.com as well, and also do a lot of beta testing for Apple themselves, where I used to work as well. I am a dual degree student in Computer Science and Communications: Graphics/Multimedia tracks, and have done my fair share of developing as well in both aspects, so I can appreciate both sides of the issues. Sometimes this is in helping the other users, as I'm happy to do (just ask), and other times the developers by asking for more info that is needed, or testing things seen to get that info.

And now, for the machines:
15" AlBook 1.5Ghz G4, 768MB, 128MB Radeon 9700 Mobility (OS X Client)
15" AlBook 1.25Ghz G4, 512MB, 64MB Radeon 9600 Mobility (OS X Client)
B&W G4 450Mhz, 640MB, RAGE 128 Pro (OS X Server)
G4 400, 320MB, Rage 128 Pro (OS X Client)
AMD K6/2 400Mhz, 320MB, SoundBlaster 16, ATI Rage IIc AGP (Win 2kServer, Linux Server/Client multiboot)
P2 300Mhz, 256MB, Generic Sound/Graphics (Linux server)

There are others, but those are the ones I use actively each day...I don't know how far back on the performance scale they're looking to go, so...

[mbarr]

Most of us can read directions. We aren't idiots. If I was applying for the PC beta, the form would have been just fine. We aren't. Introvision & Ambrosia sent out a message requesting MAC beta testers for a port of Darwinia. You need to calm down.

See: If you are going for a web app.. then it's not such a big deal which machine you are on, or the exact speed. You don't really care, other than an OS version, or version of the Browser. Fine. They aren't.


They are trying to get a varied test platform, for the MAC. That means *EVERYONE* will be starting on a relativly similar platform. Finding the one option out of a huge list of soundcards is not crucial to being able to beta & give good feedback and bug reports.


With a port to a hardware base this small, you want to know what the system types are. There are different memory speeds, and buses etc, and the difference between single & dual processor is pretty major. OS X actually uses both processors, and has SMP. No PC from 4 years ago can be confused easily with a PC of today. You specify the Chip type & the speed. End of story. My G4 powermac is 4.5 years old, and has very different technology than the iBook G4 from march, yet both are 500-1gz g4's. There is no way to tell from what they asked, and it will matter.

Apple has changed the various logic board designs to improve speed, even when keeping similar chips. They will have different bugs when you try to do high level graphics.

So: relax. calm down. Don't assume everyone in the world is an idiot. They asked for Mac beta testers, and wanted diversity in the system type. Something tells me they'll be making a Mac specific beta application page in the near future.

There really isn't a reason to use foul language when we are just trying to help out. And, btw- I did fill out the app page, as is. This whole thing wasn't posted as "HELP ME, I can't find the setting" it was an effort to improve their control on the beta process.

[adamda]

Just in case this thread is actually used to pick Mac beta testers due to a lack of specificity with the automated form, I'll post my good ol' Macs specs here.


iMac DV Special Edition 400mhz (G3)
256mb RAM
512k L2 Cache
100 MHz System Bus
ATI 8MB SGRAM Video Card (can't find a name)
Harman/Kardon designed sound system
Mac OS 10.2.8
Monitor Resolutions: 640x480, 800x600, 1024x768

[Alku]

Just in case this thread is actually used to pick Mac beta testers due to a lack of specificity with the automated form, I'll post my good ol' Macs specs here.

For the same reason, here are my specs.. again

PowerPC G5 DP 1.8Ghz
1.25Gb DDR SDRAM
ATI Radeon 9600 XT 128MB
L2 Cache (per CPU) 512KB
Bus Speed 900MHz
Generic PowerPC Sound Card (well the only mistake i made in the form, i choosed some IBM card which had (PowerPC) in the end.)
Mac OS X 10.3.5

Hopefully these will help

[mbarr]

You guys aren't being very nice.. I'm quickly getting jealous.. My little laptop just doesn't have the power.
And after playing with a client's new 2.5 ghz G5 DP... I rather want one!

To those of you with the G5 DP's.. Lucky!



My poor iBook G4 is starting to get worried that my attention may wander. It'll live.

[Darksun]

There will probably be a Mac Sysinfo tool, like the one for the Windows beta test. This will add in all the relevant system specs when it comes to debugging. This stage, IV just need a rough idea of specs.

[Nacente]

True. I just submitted my system with incorrect specs. I actually have 640mb of ram, not 512mb. Yes, it is the first generation iBook G4. I got it in Jan '04.

Yep, me too.

[Feather]

Just in case this thread is actually used to pick Mac beta testers due to a lack of specificity with the automated form, I'll post my good ol' Macs specs here.

Sounds like a plan .
I've got a dual G5 at home, but here at school I use:

14 inch 1.2 ghz G4, new generation
512mb RAM
512kb L2 Cache
133 MHz System Bus
ATI Mobility 9200 video card (32 megs of vram, the stock video card)
Built in sound card
Mac OS 10.3.5

And Hijuku:
Apparently you have something against macs? Owning a mac doesn't make us computer illiterate. I don't discriminate against PC users, despite their clunky operating system and shoddy machines. Whoops, there goes my record.. .

And working (did they actually pay you? what did your "developing" actually entail?) some place I've never even heard of doesn't impress me. I don't care if you programmed half life yourself, it doesn't make you better than other forum-goers. Think before you post. I remember on the EV Nova beta boards, we had a nice, friendy community for quite a while. Since it's a beta, there should be less people on the boards. Why not seize the oppurtunity to have a great, flame and spam free board?

[Mad_Big_Sausage]

I have also done the alpha and beta testing for Vendetta-online and there you just had some field you could fill in. Just type what you have, could have saved a little trouble for the devs here.

[rant]

Quick maths lesson:

4050 registered users. Let's presume 90% applied for the beta test.
4050 * 90/100 = 3645

Imagine reading through 3645 "hand written" applications.
How much time would that take IV?

Let's estimate 4mins per application. (To read and evaluate)
3645 * 4 = 14580mins = 243hrs (solid work without breaks)
Avg work day of 8hrs --> 243hrs becomes 30.735 days (without days off)

And let's not pretend that every application will be accurate, legible or make sense.

eg. CPU = That thing in my box.
RAM = some.

How many unique specs would be lost because people didn't write the right thing?

On the other hand though, you could write a short program. It would't take very long to write. (Definitly < 30.735days)
This program could give the applicant a choice of a variety of specs that you are interested in and they could choose depending on their setup.
The program might even be able to compile all the information for easy access and shorten the time needed to sort through 3645 applications.

This program, they call ironically "THE BETA TEST APPLICATION".

[/rant]

Sorry to those I've offended. It's just a rant.


Anyway:

You guys aren't being very nice.. I'm quickly getting jealous.. My little laptop just doesn't have the power.
And after playing with a client's new 2.5 ghz G5 DP... I rather want one!

To those of you with the G5 DP's.. Lucky!



My poor iBook G4 is starting to get worried that my attention may wander. It'll live.

Having a lower end system can be a good thing. It is probably safe to say that Darwinia will work on a 6GHz CPU but will it work on a 600MHz? That's what the testers are for. IV want a range of systems, not the best 100.
The system I applied with is low end too and I made it into the beta. Don't get disheartened!

[Jaradus]

You really don't have to submit your specs here, I just rounded. Right now they're just looking for a pool of people to choose from. When you are chosen, then they'll most likely get your exact (or close enough) specs.

If you guys are really obsessed with submitting accurate data, then one of you reporgram the PHP database so that it includes what you want to put in.

[mbarr]

You guys aren't being very nice.. I'm quickly getting jealous.. My little laptop just doesn't have the power.
And after playing with a client's new 2.5 ghz G5 DP... I rather want one!

To those of you with the G5 DP's.. Lucky!



My poor iBook G4 is starting to get worried that my attention may wander. It'll live.

Having a lower end system can be a good thing. It is probably safe to say that Darwinia will work on a 6GHz CPU but will it work on a 600MHz? That's what the testers are for. IV want a range of systems, not the best 100.
The system I applied with is low end too and I made it into the beta. Don't get disheartened!

Nah - I'm not worried - The devs are much more likely to need to test on standard iBook than on the G5's- they probably have the G5's in house, but aren't likely to have a consumer laptop with a 12" screen.



My laptop was just starting to be jealous of the big computers, that's all
It wants to grow up just like them!

[Jaradus]

My laptop was just starting to be jealous of the big computers, that's all
It wants to grow up just like them!

Err...

You have a laptop so why would you want a bigger computer?, unless you mean as in bigger screen (pats his 15" PowerBook).