New Mac user questions

[mixerboy]

Hi guys, I've a few questions I hope you might be able to help me on.

Ok, I've been using a 001/LE system for several years on a PC.

I've recently been given a G4 Mac, 733mhz/1gb with OS 10.3.

My plan is to pick up an old Mix system.


So my first question is about opening PC pro tools files in the mac. If I have saved with enforce mac compatibility will the mac be able to just open the file?

Now I also have an Mbox2 mini with pro tools 8 on another PC elsewhere in the house. I've not had a chance to play with it yet but I see this setup as a composition thing really. Somewhere to be creative rather than record/mix.
But if I save a pro tools 8 session can my pro tools 6.4 open that?

My other question relates to the mac being connected to my home network and the internet. The Mac is just for audio and I don't want internet access on it but I'd like to be able to open sessions (if I can share between 6.4 mac/8.0 PC). My concern is viruses and such if the Mac is on the network. Can anything be done to protect it?

Now, regarding the Mac itself. Is it true that I can only have a hard drive up to 128GB on this Mac? What about firewire drives for audio?

The graphics card has a normal monitor output and some other plug? I use dual screens on the PC so I want to set the Mac up for this. Will I need a new dual graphics card and can anyone tell me where I might get one?

As a Mac virgin please forgive me for so many questions. I'm sure there is more but I'll leave it there for now.

[peterle]

yes you can open pc pt-sessions on mac.
mac-pc compatibility is necessary for the other direction: mac to pc

Pt 8 sessions have to be saved as pt 6 (look in the save as dialog)
to open them in Pt 6.41

about viruses ... i never had one on my mac , at least i didnt
noticed them , which doesnt mean they dont exist or will in
the future

HD size is indeed hardware limited (ide controller) to 128 mb,
so far i know, you could try a bigger one and split them in smaller partitions , but i am not sure for this g4 model if this works.
the os should then be on the first partition.
but maybe i am here wrong...
my g4 dual 1ghz can get bigger hd`s and i am not sure
about your g4 , do a google search

your graphic card may have a vga and a dvi connector ,
check with systemprofiler which modell you have , there are
dvi to vga adaptors available. But not every graphic-card
is dual monitor capable. ATI 9500 (or 9800) is one of theese models
where you can use two monitors.

regarding your mac in general:
to be honest a single g4 733 may be a bit slow with osx ,
a faster model 1ghz or dual cpu model would make more sense,
you need also enough ram , i would recommend 768mb at
minimum on 0sx, the more the better.

and of course we ,the holy duc, forgive you your questions ;-)

regards

[Chris Lambrechts]

Once you go MAC you never go back.


Don't worry too much about it ... just use it. I would suggest you take your time to explore your OS for a couple of hours.

Also read yourself through some of the stickies at the top of this forum ... OSX troubleshooting etc ... it will help you get to know your OS better and at the same time build experience for future troubleshooting.

Other then that ...enjoy and welcome to the club

Chris